RevGals Friday Five: It's a Winter Friday Five

Singing Owl says: I am so sorry for the lateness of the Friday Five. I’ve had two emergencies this a.m. and now my computer keeps crashing. I hope I can get this posted!

The picture is out a window at my place, complete with screen. 😉

Brrrr! Baby, it’s COLD outside! At least that is the case where I am this morning. We are in a January deep freeze. Have a cup of hot tea and tackle five easy seasonal questions.

1. What is the thermometer reading at your house this morning?

I think it was around -2.

2. Snow—love it or hate it?

Love it–I just hate the extreme cold. I’m 37 years old and still walk down the street trying to catch snowflakes on my tongue. I ignore the looks. People need to learn to have a little fun.

3. What is winter like where you are?

I’m in Chicago, so very cold and very windy, and we do have snow. Although we’re supposed to be in the 30s by tomorrrow. Woot!
4. Do you like winter sports? Any good stories?

Nope, I stay in as much as possible in the winter. Although the two or three times I’ve ice skated, I’ve really enjoyed it.

5. What is your favorite season, and why?

Fall because of the wildness in the change of the season. And Halloween–my second favorite holiday.

Bonus: Share a favorite winter pick-me-up. A recipe, an activity, or whatever.

Good old fashion hot cocoa and cuddling with The Hubby.

And I really liked Singing Owl’s picture, so I swiped it.

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Church vs. Community

Mak had this to say over at Swinging from the Vine:

One of the things I’ve discovered in my time in the church world is that church friendships are almost exactly like work relationships, except people see each other even more infrequently. This applies perhaps even more so to leaders – even amongst each other. Which means you’re “friends” or at least “friendly” as long as you go to the church. Leave the church and you can pretty much bet that’s the last you’ll see of anyone at the church. I’m guilty of contributing to this and participating in it as much as any one but it must stop.

This has been a contention of mine for some time with churches I have attended. I see people for a couple of hours on Sunday then don’t see or hear from anyone during the week. Now when I attended Northside, there was a very good reason for this: I had a forty minute commute to church, and I wasn’t the only one. It’s hard to be a part of each other’s lives when everyone is so spread out.

It’s one of the reasons I am planting a church. I want to not only plant a church, but start a community here in the South Loop. I want people who live here to worship and minister in their zip code. I am very parish oriented. I think it comes from growing up in a small town. Even living in cities I attended churches I lived close to. I want to create a worshiping community where people I go to church with, I see in the grocery store or Target, and pass on the street because we live in this area. Living in the same area will also promote organic community. It’s easier for people to get together for dinner or coffee if they don’t have to commute 40 minutes one way first. Forming small groups should happen more naturally as well.

Mak, I also agree with your post about Christians needing friends outside of the church they attend. This is doubly so if you are on staff or the pastor. But that will have to be another post because I need to go get supper on.

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Prayer Request: This time for me

I have found a lump under my right armpit. I have had breast cysts before, but this lump is over my ribs. I have an appointment to see my doctor on Feb. 4. Please pray that it is something benign. My mom’s oldest sister had breast cancer, so it does run in the family. And I do not like how close this lump is to lymph nodes. Thank you.

Shawna

P.S. to self: remember to call Mom so she does not read about lump here first. She doesn’t like it when she reads stuff like this and I haven’t called. Can’t blame her. I’d probably be just as aggravated if it were the other way around. Probably nothing–I would be just as aggravated. That is one of the great things about family: parents are always parents and children are always children. Anyway that’s how it is in both my family and Tracy’s family. Oh yeah, probably should let in-laws know as well, so Father-in-law does not read this first before phone call. Okay, end of very long P. S.

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Short Hops: MLK, Immigration, and a Poem

Sally has a beautiful, haunting poem about The Samaritan Woman up on her site.

Instead of simply celebrating Martin Luther King Day, Dustin Wax at Lifehack has a list of things we can do to continue making King’s dream a reality in 12 Ways to Make MLK’s Dream a Reality. Here are a couple of them:

Re-examine what you “know”: It turns out our minds are full of racist stereotypes, even among the most saintly people. We act every day on things we “know” are true, without realizing that those “facts” are grounded only in stereotypes, not reality. Consider:

  • The lowest violent crime rates in the US are found in Hispanic neighborhoods.
  • White teens are more likely to use and sell drugs than any other teenagers — even drugs like crack that we associate with minorities.
  • Almost all school shootings have been carried out by white students.

None of these facts conforms to our expectations, which are shaped more by the stereotypes we’ve internalized and the sensationalist media than by actual experience.

Think community: Kant’s Categorical Imperative states: “Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law”. What he meant in a nutshell was that you should act the way you wish everyone would act. Don’t just ask yourself if your behavior is in your own best interest, but if it also makes your community better (which, if you think about it, is also in your best interest).

In The Outrage of Outsiders: Why So Many People Dislike Christians (Hat tip to Gord), Journey with Jesus has an article about a three year study that resulted in David Kinnaman’s book unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity… and Why It Matters. He found that an overwhelming majority of young adults view Christianity with quite a bit of hostility. They see us as judgmental, bigoted, and extremely critical and unaccepting. All I can say is can you blame them? When you have people constantly telling you (or yelling at you) that you’re going to hell for one reason or another, I’d have to say you wouldn’t like them. May be the church (particularly the evangelical church) needs to take its cue from Jesus and the Christians in the New Testament instead of the “hellfire and brimstone” preachers of the 30s and 40s revivials.

Following the example of Jesus, the first Christians broke down social barriers. They disregarded religious taboos that judged people as ritually clean or unclean, worthy or unworthy, respectable or disrespectable. They subverted normal social hierarchies of wealth, ethnicity, religion, and gender in favor of a radical egalitarianism before God and with each other: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).

In a word, the first believers were generous. They demonstrated authentic transparency, not moral superiority or ulterior motives. Like their Lord, they exuded compassion rather than condemnation. They lived out of gratitude not fear, and had a reputation for empathy rather than fault-finding. The first followers of Jesus were people of self-sacrifice, not self-interest. They insisted that God was like a tender father, not a vindictive tyrant, and encouraged every person without exception to believe what the psalmist said: “This I know, that God is for me” (Psalm 56:9).

Pastor Dan over at Street Prophets reminds the right-wing, anti-immigration crew that they Can’t Fool the Faithful: Immigration is a Moral Issue, Not a Political Football. American Christians are going to have to decide are we going to be Americans first or Christian?

Pastors and people in the pews know that inhumane raids, deportations, local anti-immigration ordinances, and racist sentiment against various groups of immigrants fly in the face of the Lord’s admonitions to not “oppress the stranger” (Ex. 23:9) or “pervert the judgment of the stranger” (Deut. 24:17). Instead, the Lord taught us to “love the stranger as ourselves” (Lev. 19:34), and “allow the stranger to live among us” (Lev. 25:35). Christ’s teachings in the New Testament reaffirm the Lord’s commandments of inclusion by urging us to welcome the stranger. He promises that as we provide for the stranger (or “alien,” NIV), we are serving Him (Matt. 25:35-40). How many of these politicians really want to deport Jesus?

And may be those anti-immigration people need to remember who the illegal immigrants of 300 years ago were. Bet the Native Americans wished they had built a big, honking wall right after we started showing up. (I saw a great cartoon of this, but I don’t remember where. If you know, leave a link in the comments, and I’ll update this post.)

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Jan 20 Sermon: Salvation to the Ends of the Earth

Jesus: Salvation to the Ends of the Earth

Isaiah 49:1-7; John 1:29-42

 

 

“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth” (Is. 49:6) This is what God says to God’s servant in Isaiah 49. It is too light a thing for you only to raise up and restore Israel. That just isn’t enough for my servant: you are going to be a light to the nations: the very nations that destroyed you and now hold you in exile. Yeah to those nations. You’re going to bring my salvation to the ends of the earth–that’s right the ends of the Persian Empire you are a part of, and no it’s not small. It’s not enough that just Israel is restored: you are going to show to the world the kind of God I am, and they will see my light and salvation. Wow, what a job description. And this is after the servant sighs, “I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity.” May be he should have stopped there, but no, he goes on, “yet surely my cause is with the LORD, and my reward with my God.”

 

 

This phrase has been going through my mind all week: It is too little of a thing for you just to save your own people, or one people, or just those who are like you and you agree with. That is too little of a thing for the servant of God. In the context of Isaiah, God is telling this to the Jews. The Jews that are in exile. The Jews that are enslaved and indentured by other countries. They’re not at all sure about this whole return to Jerusalem thing anyway. They know what they’re going to find: rubble. They know what they’re going to have to do: rebuild. That’s why the servant thinks they have labored in vain. But oh no, that’s not all God has in store for the Jews. God has a much bigger plan, a much broader agenda. Much bigger than the Jews wanted. And let’s face it, most of the time bigger than we want.

 

 

As we discussed last week, the servant of God began as Israel, then Jesus fulfilled these passages, and as the Body of Christ, we are now the servant. And what does God tell us? It’s too light of a thing to reach out just to our neighbors, just to our friends, just to those who look like us and agree with us. As God expected Jesus, and as God expected Israel, God expects us to bring God’s light to the nations and God’s salvation to the ends of the earth. Admittedly in Chicago, this is a little more palatable since the nations have come to us. But still it is a monstrous call, to say the least. It’s enough to make a pastor freak out. It’s enough to make most churches freak out. What are we going to do with this call?

 

 

Let’s take a look at how Jesus started. This week our Gospel is from John. Right after Jesus’ baptism in John’s Gospel, John is pointing him out to his disciples and yelling everywhere he goes: “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!” John’s disciples start paying attention, but two actually do something about John’s testimony. Two of them started following Jesus. When Jesus ask them what they are seeking, they answer that they want to know where he is staying or abiding. Jesus tells them to come and see, and the two abide with Jesus for the afternoon. The next day the two bring two more to Jesus. Andrew brings his brother, Simon, whom Jesus renames upon meeting, and Phillip brings a sarcastic Nathaniel. In all the gospels Jesus starts the same way, with two to four people. He starts small–he does start with the Jews, and it is only later after his resurrection that his light goes to the nations of the world. And then it takes some doing on God’s part to get the Jewish Christians out of Jerusalem and taking the Gospel to the ends of the Roman Empire.

 

 

God’s call is to take God’s light and salvation everywhere. We do begin in our homes, buildings, and neighborhoods. That is what we are supposed to do. But we are always to keep in mind that is not where we stop. God’s call is still for God’s love, compassion, and salvation to go to the ends of the earth. God’s call is still for us to show God’s light to people that are not like us, to people who don’t agree with us, with people who could be our enemies. Yes, we are small, but so was Jesus and the first disciples. The mission to be light to the ends of the earth always starts small. It grows as we give faithful witness to Jesus and live how he commanded us to live. As more and more of us live this way, people will start asking questions, and then we can say to them “Come and see.” Come and see what this Jesus person is about. Come and see why he makes such a difference in our lives. Come and see why we believe he is the Son of God and Savior of the world. Come and see the light to the nations and the salvation to the ends of the earth. And like John the Baptist that’s what we have to remember. We are not the light. We are only witnesses to the light. And as we live as faithful witnesses to the light of Christ, people will see his light, his love, and his compassion in our lives.

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Office hours cancelled for 1/17

Due to a sinus headache, I will not be keeping my office hours at Hi Tea from 2:00–4:00 today. Thank you for your understanding. If you need to talk to me over the weekend or next week, please call or email me.

Shawna

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Jan 13 Sermon: Not By the World's Rules

This week’s sermon was written around having a lot of discussion, which we did. Please feel free to add your own insights as to how you see Jesus represented in our world that does not line with this week’s Scripture readings.

Isaiah 42:1-9; Psalm 29; Acts 10:34-43; Matthew 3:13-17

Jesus: Doesn’t Play by the World’s Rules
Isaiah 42:1-9; Matthew 3:13-17

The Message:

“Take a good look at my servant.
I’m backing him to the hilt.
He’s the one I chose,
and I couldn’t be more pleased with him.
I’ve bathed him with my Spirit, my life.
He’ll set everything right among the nations.
He won’t call attention to what he does
with loud speeches or gaudy parades.
He won’t brush aside the bruised and the hurt
and he won’t disregard the small and insignificant,
but he’ll steadily and firmly set things right.
He won’t tire out and quit. He won’t be stopped
until he’s finished his work–to set things right on earth.
Far-flung ocean islands
wait expectantly for his teaching.”
God’s Message,
the God who created the cosmos, stretched out the skies,
laid out the earth and all that grows from it,
Who breathes life into earth’s people,
makes them alive with his own life:
“I am God. I have called you to live right and well.
I have taken responsibility for you, kept you safe.
I have set you among my people to bind them to me,
and provided you as a lighthouse to the nations,
To make a start at bringing people into the open, into light:
opening blind eyes,
releasing prisoners from dungeons,
emptying the dark prisons.
I am God. That’s my name.
I don’t franchise my glory,
don’t endorse the no-god idols.
Take note: The earlier predictions of judgment have been fulfilled.
I’m announcing the new salvation work.
Before it bursts on the scene,
I’m telling you all about it.”

(The Message)

In the Christian tradition, we affirm that these verses find their ultimate fulfillment in Jesus. Can that be? Is this the same God who as some Christians affirm tells us to go invade other countries because of their heathen populations? Is this the same Christ that if you follow and obey him, he’ll bless you with everything you every wanted including a Rolls Royce? We hear a lot about Jesus through different religions, different Christian denominations, and through our culture and media. What are some of the things you’ve heard about Jesus?

Let’s look at Isaiah again. What does this passage say the servant of God will be like and what will he do? How will he act?

How does this line up with what we’ve grown up hearing about Jesus in church? In politics? In popular culture? In the media?

Originally these verses were written for the Jewish exiles. They were to be the servant of God who would be a light to the nations, and show the nations God’s love and power. As I said earlier, Christians very early on identified this passage and the Servant of God with Jesus; in fact, Matthew quotes part of this passage in his baptismal account. The Church is the body of Christ, and we are to be Christ in our world. How does what you see in churches line up with this passage in Isaiah? How about what you hear from either the Religious Right, the Religious Left or American Christendom in general?

Now let’s turn our attention to the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist:

Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

John’s baptism was one of confessing sin and repenting. Also to be baptized by someone meant that you put yourself under that leader’s authority. John was rightly confused when, the One John had been saying would come and baptize with fire and Spirit, came to him to be baptized. So why did Jesus do it? What does it mean that this was the proper way to “fulfill all righteousness”? This is what one of my seminary professors, Roger Hahn, had to say about it:

In Jewish thought righteousness was conduct that pleased God or was in accordance with God’s will. Jesus’ humility in obeying God and identifying with his people is an important lesson to us. Personal status is never a reason to disobey God nor to distance ourselves from the people God loves.

Again we see the servant of God submitting to God’s will in humility by submitting to John’s baptism. By doing this he is identifying himself with the people he came to save from their sins–us. He didn’t let his status as God’s Son stand in the way of obeying God, even if it looked like he was submitting to John’s authority. John, Jesus, and God all knew better. God affirms this was God’s will when the voice from heaven says, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased,” and echo of Isaiah 42:1, “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights.”

What does this humility and submission tell us about Jesus? Again how does it differ from other things we have heard about Jesus from churches, American Christendom, political views, and what our own culture has to say about Jesus?

And if the Church is the Body of Christ in this world, doing the things that Jesus did, then what does that say about us? What things do you see the Church doing that does not reflect the picture of Jesus we have in our Scriptures this week? What do you see that the Church is doing right? When have you seen the Church acting like Christ? What can we do better?

Summing up what we’ve talked about what do you think is the biggest way you see Jesus being misrepresented in our world? What is the church’s biggest misrepresentation? In our lives, how are we misrepresenting Jesus? And how are we being faithful ambassadors to Jesus? Think of one way you would like to more accurately reflect Christ in your world this week. Pray about and if you feel comfortable tell a friend about it. Then wait and see what happens. I’m sure we’d all love to know what God does in response to your humility and submission.

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Big Praise!

Tracy flew back to D. C. yesterday. This morning’s CT Scan showed that the liver infection was gone! Praise God!

Thank you for all of your prayers and support.

Shawna

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A Delay in Usual Programming

I have been sick since yesterday. If you have sent email or left a comment, I will be replying at the end of the week when I hope to feel better.

Shawna

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Epiphany: King of Just the Jews?

Jesus: King of Just the Jews?
Matthew 2:1-2

In her sermon, “Home By Another Way” Barbara Brown Taylor tells this story: Once upon a time there were three–yes, three–very wise men who were all sitting in their own countries minding their own business when a bright star lodged in the right eye of each one of them. It was so bright that none of them could tell whether it was burning in the sky or in their own imaginations, but they were so wise they knew it did not matter all that much. The point was, something beyond them was calling them, and it was a tug they had been waiting for all their lives.

Each in his own country had tried books, tried magic, tried astrology and reflexology. One had spent his entire fortune learning how to read and write runes. Another lived on nothing but dried herbs boiled in water. The third could walk on hot coals but it did nothing for him beyond the great sense of relief he felt at the end.

They were all glad for a reason to get out of town–because that was clearly where the star was calling them, out–away from everything they knew how to manage and survive, out from under the reputations they had built for themselves, the high expectations, the disappointing returns. And so they set out, one by one, each believing that he was the only one with a star in his eye until they all ran into one another on the road to Jerusalem…

The Wise Men, the Magi, the Three Kings, or even the Three Wise Guys have always been a part of the Christmas story. Normally they are just like us, only dressed in fancy robes. Unless you’re at the children’s Christmas pageant, and then they’re normally in bathrobes. But they are nonthreatening, normally, white men or boys all dressed up with some expensive gifts. We don’t see how different they are from Mary and Joseph in particular or the Jews in general. Or how this would look to Matthew’s mainly Jewish Christian readers. Matthew tells us that the Wise Men came from the East. They were probably from Persia, what is now Iraq and Iran. What was Assyria and Babylon. Why is this significant? Because these two countries destroyed Israel over the course of about 100 years with the climax of Babylon destroying Jerusalem and taking its people into captivity. This part of the world did not hold good memories for the Jewish people.

Another reason this is odd is that these men were not followers of the Jewish God. They probably worshiped many gods, and as Barbara Brown Taylor noted, they were astronomers and astrologers, which is why they knew the significance of the star. Most likely they were priests who used many practices forbidden by the Hebrew Scriptures: divination, magic, and astrology. They were not kosher. Why in the world would they be seeking the King of the Jews?

That goes back to the exile in Babylon. One of the Jews taken was Daniel. You’ve probably heard the story of Daniel and the Lion’s Den. He was thrown into a pit filled with lions, and they did not eat him because God had shut their mouths. That’s the same Daniel. He was a lay-prophet, and he worked for King Nebuchadnezzar–the same king who destroyed Jerusalem. He was one of the king’s top advisors. Although this cannot be proved, there is a story that Daniel reaffirmed a prophecy given in Numbers 24:17 that “a star shall rise out of Jacob [Israel]” that would be a great king and savior and deliver his people from their enemies. Daniel told the Babylonian mages to watch for this star. Whether or not Daniel did this, one fact remains: not all of the Jews returned to Judah after the exile. Communities of Jews remained in Persia and were there during this time. They knew about this prophecy in Numbers and looked forward to the coming of their Messiah to free them from other countries and empires that had dominated and ruled them for the last 500 years.

Seeds sown throughout the years finally ripened and bloomed along with an astrological belief: when a great leader was a born a new star would appear in the skies. It’s said this happened when Alexander the Great was born. A merging of Jewish belief and astrological teachings merge to send the Wise Men on their way to find this new king.

This time instead of invading Jerusalem, the descendants of the Babylonians, came to worship their new born king. But the Jewish establishment was not so happy to hear about this new King of the Jews. They didn’t even know where he was supposed to be born until they looked it up. The Roman appointed king, Herod, “was frightened.” Herod was a paranoid leader who had killed three of his own sons and his favorite wife to insure his own throne. And when Herod was troubled, so was Jerusalem. After it was discovered that this king was to be born in Bethlehem, Herod told the Wise Men to go and find him, then let him know, so he could go and worship himself. But Herod had other intentions.

The Wise Men went on their way and found what they were looking for again with the star guiding them. It led them to a house–yes a house, not a stable–where they found Mary and Jesus. Then these foreign strangers who were priests who served other gods, knelt down and worshiped Jesus, the king of the Jews. They gave him expensive gifts that would make a king gasp, let alone a poor peasant family. They gave frankincense, gold, and myrrh. All gifts and signs of royalty, wealth and power.

Then we are told that the Wise Men were warned in a dream not to return to Jerusalem but to go home by a different way. And that is where our text for today ends. That is because last Sunday was the Sunday when the rest of the passage is read. Infuriated, that the Wise Men had not come back and fearful of his throne, Herod sent troops to Bethlehem to slaughter boys under the age of 2. But again a dream comes–this time to Jesus’ adoptive father Joseph and tells Joseph to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt until Herod had died.

So what are we to make of this King of the Jews? Foreigners who are pagan priests travel a great distance to worship a king that has no authority over them. While the Jews (and Herod was a Jew) are frightened, troubled, and Herod attempts to have this new king assassinated. Is Jesus just the King of the Jews?

According to Matthew: no. And Matthew starts at the beginning of his gospel showing that Jesus’ coming was not just for his own people, but all people. Even the most unlikely of people: like a group of priests from a country that once enslaved Judah and worshiped many other gods and not the one God of the Jews. The people who ought to have been worshiping Jesus and proclaiming him their leader are frightened and trying to kill him. What does this say about the Son of God? What does it say about who can come to Jesus, worship, and be accepted?

As I said earlier, the Wise Men are from what is now Iraq and Iran. What would we do if an Iraqi or Irani–who was not a Christian–came to see who this Jesus person is? How would we react? What happens when people who aren’t like us come to see if this Jesus really is King and God’s Son? Do we let them worship and give the gifts they have? Or do we put certain requirements on them that they have to meet first? We have no record of Mary protesting the Wise Men worshiping Jesus or telling them how they were worshiping was wrong. Can we do the same thing for those, who like the Wise Men, come to find out about this King? It is worth noting, that in Matthew no Jews come to worship Jesus–only Gentiles and pagan Gentiles at that. What does that say to Christians who think that certain requirements need to be met before we let people worship?

And what does this say about Jesus: at this point an infant whose only concerns are being fed and sleeping? Matthew clearly announces that Jesus in not just King of the Jews. He is King to whoever comes to him. Jesus will not be Savior to only the Jews, but to everyone who will come and follow him. That is how Matthew begins his gospel and that is what happens throughout his gospel. Jesus is for everyone–not an elite few. He’s not just for the ones who carry his name and claim him as their Savior. He is for everyone: Jew, Gentile, Pagan, Muslim, and Christian. Are we ready for the Savior who will let anyone come to him no strings attached?

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