Being the Church – Page 8 – LOVE | ACCEPT

Tragedy and a Theological Loss For Words

Two tragedies have intertwined themselves in my mind as I worked today. One is a current news story not unlike the heart breaking incident with Addie Kubisiak that broke our hearts last winter. It appears that a women has kept the bodies of infants who she possibly miscarried wrapped in plastic in various parts of her home. Little else is known at this point. The other story was a reminder of the destruction of a young family on a downtown Denver street at the hands of a drunk driver who plowed through a red light running over the entire family as they crossed the street to get hot chocolate last November. This picture can still bring me to tears: Becca Bingham still keeping her children close as she escorts them into the arms of their savior.

While the professional theologians can spend their time immersed in the Word in an effort to bolster certain theological positions or to identify certain Greek or Hebrew structures, the Pastors of this world must search the Scriptures to help provide answers to a world that asks of our God, why, why why? Why does He allow these things to happen? How does one answer the problem of Evil in a world that has little concept of what total depravity means. What can the pastor offer to the father who must now face life alone and broken?

How do you tell this father (sitting leftmost in the picture in the front pew) to go on despite this tragedy. Theologian Steve Camp insists that we give it to him straight: there is no way to know whether or not his children are in heaven being comforted by the Lord Jesus or condemned to an eternity in Hell. Camp looks sideways and says, c’mon, we all know that you Pastors just say that the children received a special mercy just to comfort the father, knowing all the while that it isn’t true. Here is his post on this subject: Weekly Dose of the Gospel.

While Camp correctly asserts that even babies are inflicted with a sinful nature from before their birth, the theological positions on infant condemnation are not as clear cut as he likes to proclaim as he posts on a variety of subjects. It does not appear that the Lord viewed those unable to make a conscious decision to accept Him as under condemnation:

Matthew 18:3 – And he said: “I tellyou the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Matthew 19:14 – Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

These are the condemned? There are indications throughout Scripture that persons are held to a different moral standard of responsibility and we must consider them carefully before exclaiming that the Scriptures are silent. Deuteronomy 1:39 for example:

And the little ones that you said would be taken captive, your children who do not yet know good from bad –they will enter the land. I will give it to them and they will take possession of it.

All is not as cut and dried as some would like to make it. It may be nice to be insulated from tragedy and be able to speculate and make proclamations about the destinies of the men, women, and children who we all come into contact with on a daily basis, but it comes with a responsibility. As for me, I would rather walk among the wounded and help them to trust the same sovereign, merciful God that I trust. Lord Jesus, bring us peace.

Gracism: I Will Life You Up

In Gracism, David Anderson highlights Paul’s analogy of the body in 1 Corinthians 12 as a call for unity in the body, with all members weak and strong contributing to good of all other members. No division of any kind is approbated for God designed his body so that each is reliant on the other and none are to stand alone. Anderson roots much of his book in verses 21 – 26:

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, , while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

Doing Life Together From this passage, he distills seven principles for the Gracist to put into practice.

“Special Honor” – lifting up the humble among us.
“Special Modesty” – protecting the most vulnerable among us from embarrassment.
“No Special Treatment” – refusing to accept special treatment if it is at the detriment of others who need it.
“Greater Honor” – God, as a Gracist, has given greater honor to the humble.
“No Division” – when the majority helps the minority, and the stronger help the weaker, it keeps us from division within the body.
“Equal Concern” – having a heart as big for our neighbors as we do for ourselves.
“Rejoices with it” – when the humble, or less honorable, are helped, we are to rejoice with them.

In applying the first principle, the Gracist is committed to locating and lifting up those who are the fringes or our churches, our communities, and our cultures. This includes those who are in any kind of minority or in need of a voice at the table because their own is too weak or quiet to be heard. It takes extra effort to locate these brothers and sisters but as Paul teaches, these parts are indispensable to the whole and require special honor.

When we who perceive ourselves to be in the majority or in a position of authority attempt to put this into practice, David gives a word of caution in selecting our approach. There are many ways of offering ‘special honor’ that can be misperceived or denigrating to the very people that we are attempting to honor. Prayer is most appropriate but we can remove any authoritarian barriers by also asking the recipeint of our prayer to be in prayer for us, making us all equal in our need of the grace of God. We must be sure that any attempt that we make to lift others is seen by them as honoring to other than ourselves. He gives the excellent example of his church adopting a community in which they could come and serve and lift the people of that community. A wise leader cautioned him on his use of the term adopt as it connotes an authoritarian position over the weaker community, diminishing them and making them feel like children. A better term, he opined, would be to partner with the community, humbling the church and lifting the community to equal places at the table.

Who are the people in your world that need Special Honor?

“Please Don’t Let Him Be Black!” « That NEW Adage

This piece (“Please Don’t Let Him Be Black!” ) must have extraordinarly hard for the writer to author but he put himself out there in an unpopular position. Give it a read – repent if your church fits his accusation – and bless him with a comment.

Jubilee in the Age of Racism

[The following was written by one of my spiritual mentors, H. Malcolm Newton. I was unable to find an online link to the old document so it is transcribed word for word here. It was originally published in the Faculty Column of a journal called Focal Point.]

The Mark Fuhrman developments in the O.J. Simpson case as well as the Million Man March in Washington D.C. tend to confirm the view that those failing to learn from history are condemned to repeat it. It was simply a matter of time before circumstances exposed the deep-seated racial hatred running rampant in American society. Both incidents reveal that America is descending into “a state of psychological apartheid.” They reveal what “the future is going to be, unless the church grabs hold of its prime directive: to be God’s reconciling agent in the world” (Dr. Bill Pannell, The Coming Race Wars).

The Bible records the response of faithful people to events and issues. It is action arising from the foundation of biblical witness, church tradition and a a community of faith. Jesus’ call to repent and turn away from the destructive forces that permeated his society was followed by an invitation to be part of a new community of faith. The church cannot be just another social institution; it must be a new social reality presenting an alternative way of life.

The challenge is for Christian leaders to resurrect a new vision of hope and faith in the face of the spiritual nihilism and material decay in our inner cities. How does the church do theology (ministry) in light of such challenges? Strict doctrine, speculative theology and political ideology cannot be the basis for action. The church must root itself again in the values of the kingdom and live a theology of response.

Foundation to reconciliation is a theology of creation. Scripture records that God created the earth and the whole of creation is his. God gave Israel the use of the land, but it was not their possession: “No land shall be sold outright, because the land is mine, and you are coming into it as aliens and settlers” (Leviticus 25:23). Stewardship of God’s creation became a crucial aspect of Hebrew theology. The Torah taught that the right of property was subordinate to the obligation to care for the weaker members of society, such as the poor, the homeless and the stranger (Leviticus 25:35).

The year of release established a universal release of debts and freedom every seven years to all enslaved for debt (Deuteronomy 15). In the 50^th year, the year of jubilee was celebrated (Leviticus 25) in which all land sold returned to its original owner or his heirs. The jubilee year met three basic demands for justice: remission of debt, liberation of slaves and redistribution of land.

God designed jubilee to protect the poor and weak. The Hebrew nation, however, strayed from this system of justice. God stood strongly with the poor through the prophets who frequently pronounced judgment on the nations because the poor had been oppressed, exploited and denied justice (Amos 5:7-13). God judged the nations because they had reneged on their promise to observe the jubilee and Sabbath years (Jeremiah 34-35).

Jesus’ message proclaimed the ethic of jubilee: release of the captives, recovery of sight to the blind and good news to the poor. At the beginning of his ministry, Jesus read the words of the prophet Isaiah, saying that these words had come true:

The Spirit of the Lord…has anointed me; he has sent me to announce good news to the poor, to proclaim release for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind; to let the broken victims go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor (Luke 4:18-19).

In Jesus the reality of jubilee was present.

The church must raise the question, what is the level of pain and hurt that minorities, and in particular black males, are experiencing in this country that they are attracted to Louis Farrakhan, a non-Christian? The evangelical church missed the opportunity to proclaim the good news to the poor because it has failed to understand the justice issues related to the poor. Farrakhan is trying to fill that void.

Evangelical leaders need to be empowered for a ministry of reconciliation. It is time that evangelical ministries become deeply involved in addressing the consequences of systemic violence, child abuse, battered women and gang violence as well as rivalry and conflict between and among ethnic groups. The culture of confrontation and violence taking hold in our cities is making new demands on the Christian community who can no longer ignore the pain and suffering of their brethren. Christians must validate the integrity of that pain and hurt in order to speak to the crisis in people’s lives. At the same time, Christina must talk seriously about agape strategies (love-informed strategies) and how to allow the grace of God to transform those lives and the society in which they live.

Christian leaders must proclaim to the drug user and drug dealer, the homeless, the prostitute and the gangs that Jesus is the Christ and that is the good news! The sin-bound, blind, brokenhearted and despairing need healing. The captive and oppressed need transformation. The devastated and ruined cities need repair.

As the presence of Christ in the world, the church is to become the embodiment of jubilee. Based on Scripture, I call upon churches, church agencies and the academic, theological communities throughout the country to consider, discuss, debate and take action. Establish “Adopt a Gang” programs that evangelize youth in gangs; commission missionaries to serve as court advocates for black and Latino juveniles; train street-corner evangelist to work with youth involved in drug trafficking; establish rape crisis centers and services for battered women; provide counseling for abusive men.

The crises generated by the capitalist urbanization process present an opportunity for the emergence of new moral and intellectual leadership. “The ascension of Farrakhan as a pivotal figure in the black community is a result of the failure of black church leadership to develop a coordinated program of evangelism and rehabilitation for black males” (Eugene Rivers as quoted in Christianity Today). If we, the community of faith,–black and white—rise to the occasion, we may be able to retrieve a generation cut adrift. If not, we will have brought down the judgment of God on ourselves for reneging on Jesus’ promise of jubilee.

Prof. H. Malcolm Newton is [was] assistant professor of World Christianity and director of Globalization at Denver Seminary.

Here is a PDF of the original article newtonessay.pdf

Gracism and Racism

Anderson defines racism as ‘speaking, acting or thinking negatively about someone else solely based on that person’s color, class or culture’ in Gracism. It is productive to add an aspect of power on the part of the racist that extends over the oppressed but we can continue in our discussion of David’s book without it. In beginning to lay the foundation of his ideas, Anderson begins by making the case logically and theologically that inclusion within the body of Christ makes sense in this day and age. Not only does the Bible make a clear case for reaching out to all people but it also makes clear our reliance on one another.

The excursus of 1 Corinthians 12 begins with an observation of Paul’s insertion of a reference to race and culture in verse 13:

For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body–whether Jews or Greek, slave or free–and we were all give the one Spirit to drink.

The apostle didn’t casually mention the union of all members of the body and then toss in this reference to race and culture. In fact, it can be argued that this applies a filter through which the remaining verses of this pericope are to be read. A new reading of the verses 14-27 points us to action; anyone who may feel, look or truly be ‘unpresentable’ or ‘weaker’ must be handled, and even honored, differently. The Church body should never be content with those that surround them, they must constantly be looking toward the fringes looking to include other parts of the body who something to contribute to God’s mission.

We as the body are confronted with questions that derive from this idea. We must ask ourselves first if our church, small group, or Bible class represents a group that Christ would assemble, being inclusive as He was. We must confront our choices by asking if we are perpetuating segregation among Christians and simply justifying it with my preferences and comfort? Those who militate for multi-ethnic churches within the Body must prepare for disagreement. Anderson recounts an attack from an African American man who felt that his message was against the black church, calling him a menace. His reply is stark where he says:

I’ve never read a text of Scripture that outlines God’s design for a one-race church….As much as I love the black church and at times miss it, there will be no black church in heaven. There will be one church and it will be multicultural. One bride, not a harem, is what Jesus is coming back for.”

A sobering thought for those who insist on continuing in unicultural ministry. Are you truly reflecting your Lord?

An Introduction to Gracism

book cover I’ve put this off for some time because discussions of the racialized Church that I have been involved in have devolved along the lines of Emerson’s conclusion in Divided by Faith: Caucasians can never understand any other race because of the blinders of their “dominant” position in the world. I don’t believe that to be correct and, for now, we’ll leave it to another day. I’m going to start a new series discussing the ideas in David Anderson’s new book Gracism: The Art of Inclusion. Anderson is the Pastor of Bridgeway Community and the author of two other highly recommended volumes, Letters Across the Divide and Multicultural Ministry. In his latest work, David offers an encouraging way of bridging ethnic and racial divides within the Church that works around the analogy of the body that Paul offers in 1 Corinthians 12. Anderson expands on the idea that every member of the body needs every other member and that none are to be minimized or excluded. Especially applicable to the overall theme are verses 22 and 23:

On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor.

What separates David’s thinking about race is that he views racial problems as being equal opportunity. All people, regardless of skin color, can be racist because it is a sin, not just skin, problem and because of this endemic sin, everyone can also be a victim of this evil. He says “There must be an answer to dotism [racism & bigotry of all types] that doesn’t leave people feeling left out, judged and discriminated against. … There must be a theological response to racism in the culture and racial segregation in the church. Right? There is–its’s gracism.”

The Seduction of Compromise

Compromise is a winsome suitor. She will tempt you with promises of peaceful agreement on all sides if only you are willing to lower your standards to meet the needs of the other side. It is a seductive ploy, tempting you to soften your position with a siren song of calm and a self-image of one who is not stubborn but willing to consider the ideas of others. The trouble that compromise brings though is that it never ends. Once you have compromised what you believe to be right, it will be expected from you again and again until one day you are no longer able to compromise any further, then what? Will you stand on your principles then?

2 Timothy 4:3-4 says “For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” For the pastoral leadership, compromise is death. The temptation comes to the pastor in the form of concerns about the size of one’s church or the retention of a congregation. Murmurs will begin about how other churches do things, or about how happy a family would be to stay if only the Sunday school did such and such, or worship will be limited to the same 15 songs because a musician that you ‘need’ will not learn any others… and so on and so on. The pastor will say, ‘I’m a servant of the people’ and he or she soon becomes a people pleaser.

The trouble is, people are rarely satisfied and will continue to demand that you compromise. One day, you’ll look up and decide that you are not going to compromise any longer, that you are going to stand on your principles and guide the church according to your original vision…often looking at suddenly empty seats where the family you changed ‘A’ for used to sit. And over there is a chair where so and so who you changed ‘B’ for used to sit and so it goes around the auditorium. You were afraid they wouldn’t stay if you stuck to your guns in the first place and it turns out they wouldn’t stay anyway because you were unwilling to make them more and more comfortable.

The work of God is not about making people comfortable, it is about making them uncomfortable. Uncomfortable with their sinful state, uncomfortable with their lack of concern for justice, uncomfortable with their lackadaisical relationship with the Father, uncomfortable period. God has given you, the shepherd a vision for where the sheep are to be led. There are no shortcuts on this path and the journey is hard. Don’t let one little wandering sheep pull the entire flock off of the path. Do what’s right from the beginning.

Fluttering on the Church gate: [25] Theses

This is an older post at the Vintage Christianity blog but well worth your time to read. The brother puts some challenges to the modern church, many of which can’t help but bring us to convicition. [25] Theses: The New Reformation-Against All, For All

Clearing Our Temple

In John chapter two, we catch a glimpse of the Jesus we don’t often picture in our minds. The meek, gentle curly haired, soft featured Jesus turns into the gigantic, whip wielding terror who overturns tables with his eyes blazing and the chords of the flail snapping as His righteous anger intersects with His love for the Father’s house. Rather than Jesus meek and mild, we see the Lord, mean and wild. Perhaps, on this glorious Sunday morning, we too can be deeply troubled by the unrighteousness that we encounter, in the Lord’s house or on the way there. Let your heart be stirred by the same things that stirred Jesus. Let it be driven to action by oppression and prejudice and usury and all of the things that affect God’s people. Do something outrageous of your own…Jesus did.

Be blessed this day.