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The Great Okay Commission (Luke 24:44-49 Acts 1:1-11 ) 05/04/2008

Once upon a time, there was a zealous man who was ready to do whatever God wanted him to do. It was rare to find someone as ready to give away all that he had, to forswear all of his hopes and dreams, to lay aside his things, his good name, his friendships-everything-- in order to do that one thing that God wanted him to do. And so, the zealous man made a journey across the land and up onto a mountain, where a wise woman was known to live as a hermit, spending her time in prayer and meditation. Her reputation, of which she was totally unaware, was that she was so attuned to the voice of God that anyone who truly wanted to know God's will over a matter could do no better than to seek her out and ask her advice. And so, the zealous man sought out the wise woman to ask her a single question, "What does God want me to do?" continue...

Paul and the Pagans: Earth Day and the Christian Faith (John 14:15-21; Acts 17:16-33) 04/27/2008

This past Wednesday was Earth Day, as most of us are aware. One would think that people of the Christian tradition would welcome a day that encourages us to celebrate the earth, to pursue better methods of environmental stewardship, and to promote sustainable practices as we live in some kind of community with others of God's creatures on this sphere. After all, our sacred texts begin with a story of creation that a hymn of praise to the creator, filled with awe and wonder at the great lights, the nourishing waters, the flora and the fauna that accompany the human creatures on their journey toward the great Sabbath. If we could quit pretending that the ancient Hebrews had any interest whatsoever in producing a dry-as-toast, polemical scientific textbook, then we can appreciating the majesty of how human life is situated within the interdependence of the earth and all of its parts, even from the very beginning. Yes, one would think that a community that is informed by the creation stories of Genesis would welcome Earth Day, as well as the ethical imperatives of environmental stewardship that come with it. continue...

Stephen's Apocalypse (I Peter 2:2-10; Acts 7:54-60) 04/20/2007

It is a powerful vision. So powerful, in fact, we recognize it easily as the climatic moment of early cinema, that moment when the victims are facing weal and woe, utter defeat and conquest, then, suddenly, a bugle sounds and the cavalry comes riding in with a dust-filled passion, ready to rescue and save. It was the same vision behind many of the stories of knights errant, those traveling heroes of a romantic age, who would show up at just the right moment to save a woman's honor, or to rescue a distraught king. This powerful vision even finds its way into the way we tell history- if this is the way that we remember our participation in wars of the past, it becomes a compelling argument for our participation in wars of the present. This vision has even found its expression in religious imagination- the idea that the gods will allow chaos to reign only so far, and then divine intervention into the affairs of humans is necessary. Surely this vision ranks as one of those 'primordial stories' that anthropologists find to be common across multiple cultures, or one of the 'primitive stories' that seem to be locked into our subconscious set of fears and hopes-at least among men. At any rate, it continues to be the plot of many action movies today, with bulked up gun-wielding heroes playing the part of the cavalry, knights, and gods of lore. The vision makes entertaining cinema, it makes entertaining history, and it even makes entertaining religion-just when it seems that evil has become too powerful for any hope to linger, rescue comes riding in on a cloud. Whether that cloud is a cloud of dust, a cloud of smoking weapons, or a cloud bearing the descent of a warrior god from the heavens, we can say, "Lift up your heads, your Savior is coming!" continue...

Evangelism and the Possibility of a New Community (Acts 2:42-47) 04/13/2008

The second chapter of Acts is a fascinating and seamless story. It begins with 120 disciples of Jesus gathered in an upper room, awaiting what Jesus called "the promise of the father." The chapter ends with over 3,000 souls living out their faith by radically reordering their lives and community. Moreover, this chapter tells a story that connects this emerging Christian church to promises that were spoken years before by the prophets and that were expressed in the most ancient liturgies of the Hebrew people. It is rare that we can find any single chapter of Scripture that holds together such interwoven pieces of salvation history to the extent that this chapter does. continue...

Hearts, Cut and Burning (Acts 2:36-41 ; Luke 24:13-35) 04/06/2008

I read an article in Presbyterians Today by Kristine Haig this week, which questioned the way that we celebrate Easter. Primarily, the Kristine's concern is that we have associated Easter too much with the changing of the seasons from winter to spring. I think I experienced that most distinctly this year when I took Abby into a store to look for an Easter dress and found myself saying over and over, "It's going to be way too cold to wear that on Easter this year." It is true that the floral décor, the light and springtime clothes, even sunshiny graphics that we use to denote our Christian celebration of Easter are all signs that winter has ended and spring is here. And, of course, our cultural secularized embrace of Easter is emphatically a celebration of spring. Anytime we put a bunny rabbit and eggs in the same picture, we simply have to admit that we are engaging in something that has its roots in a pagan fertility celebration. continue...

Overcoming the Power of Death (I Peter 1:3-9; Acts 2:22-32) 03/30/2008

This past Tuesday, the Bible Study group in which I participate was wondering about the followers of Jesus and their different responses to the resurrection. On the one hand, Jesus had been clear with them that he would be crucified and then raised from the dead. So, one would think that when Jesus was raised and appeared to his companions that they would have remembered his words, perhaps even had been anticipating his return, and received him with open, believing arms. On the other hand, one person in our group asked, "So, how do you think you would react if someone you knew, someone you saw die, were suddenly to appear and say, 'Hi, I'm alive again'?" Most of us agreed that we might have soiled ourselves and would need some time to process the reality of a resurrection. There is a radical difference between the general idea of a resurrection-which we readily accept and wholeheartedly celebrate on Easter Sunday-and the possibility of a real and personal, even bodily encounter with a resurrected person. continue...

Easter Redefines Everything (John 20:1-18; 19-31) 03/23/2008

Throughout the season of Lent, we listened to stories that we called "Narratives of a Vulnerable God." In those stories we saw how God repeatedly accommodates to our vulnerability, by joining us in our struggles and our journeys. Most expressly, we saw last week how Jesus, God's own presence among us, was betrayed, handed over, denied, and ultimately put to death on the cross. continue...

My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me? (Matthew 26:1 - 27:61) 03/16/2008

In his work, Against the Heresies, the early church father Irenaeus criticizes quite a few theologies that he considered heretical. One of those heresies was the way that a theologian named Basilides understood Jesus. If Irenaeus' account is correct, Basilides taught that Jesus could not truly suffer, because he was divine. So, as the Roman guards led Jesus to the cross and compelled a passerby named Simon of Cyrene to carry Jesus' cross for him, Jesus pulled a fast one and switched bodies with Simon. In the end, it was the unfortunate Simon who died on the cross in great torment and suffering as Jesus stood off to the side laughing at the foolishness of his enemies before ascending back to the heavens. Beliefs like those attributed to Basilides are often called "docetism," which means that Christ only 'appeared' to suffer.1 continue...

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God (Judges 2:11-23; Matthew 23:37-39) 03/02/2008

In July of 1741, the Presbyterian theologian Jonathan Edwards preached a sermon to the congregation of Enfield, Massachusetts1, entitled "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." Some people argue that it is the most famous sermon in American history. It is certainly a sermon that continues to be read in Bible Colleges and Seminaries today for a variety of reasons. Some schools read this sermon for its historical value, a stark demonstration of the kind of preaching that sparked and sustained the "Great Awakening" in the early history of the United States. Other schools read this sermon for its contemporary value, since the folks of Enfield were considered half-hearted in their Christian commitment. This is the same kind of audience that John Wesley would preach to in the near future, using sermon titles like, "The Almost Christian" to make the point. The study of this sermon as a contemporary concern begins with the notion that our cities today are very much like the Enfields of the past; half-hearted and lax in their Christian discipleship. It would not be difficult to feel that the same kind of moral and religious laxity is overtaking our country today if you read the article in the Des Moines Register last week about the shifting trends in faith and church in the United States. continue...