Halloween: Yes or No?
One person argues that the Puritanical fear of the occult and the general evangelical hatred towards the Roman Catholic Church is what originally created the fear of Halloween. Perhaps, he argues, we have come to believe our own propaganda?
A Theology of the Land
tallskinnykiwi talks about and quotes Christian farmers who are doing what they can to bring justice and equality to what Paul called “the whole created order.”
In later clarifying the second mistake (don’t do announcements at the beginning), Easum says:
…announcements at the beginning of a worship service so deadly- because they violate every media tenet as well slap as our culture in the face. Most younger people today do whatever they can to avoid watching a commercial on TV. Imagine what a media savvy twenty-something feels when subjected to five or ten minutes of commercials up front before they have the chance to decide if they like what’s happening in your worship.
And if you say, “That’s tough. We don’t bow to the culture,” you’re missing the point. The way to be counter-cultural is not by intentionally turning people away with your methodology. The way to be counter-cultural is to make the worship so appealing that the Holy Spirit has time to speak into their lives and transform their hearts into followers of Christ. You can’t do that if you run them off at the beginning of the service.
I don’t know Easum personally. He seems to have reasonably valid credentials for talking about church growth and church marketing, but I wonder if we have lost something in this message of making the Holy Spirit “appealing.”
There is nothing all that “appealing” to me about Jesus. He didn’t hold nice services and invite lots of people to hear him. In fact, he tried very often to turn people away or keep what he did a secret. What do we do with this Jesus in light of modern church marketing?
I’m not sure I have the answers, but I would appreciate any thoughts on the matter.
I was talking to Sarah recently about how to teach ownership to students and children. I have no children of my own, but I do (eventually) want to teach in some capacity. I have my history credential, but there are no jobs this year. The question remains how teach Christ’s message to children and in the same breath teach them about ownership?
The Christmas photo reminds me of many Christmases where my brothers and I would fight over who gets to light the candles at Advent. It also brings back many memories of fights over shared toys and anger when my brothers would destroy “my” legos or when games on the super nintendo would get erased and we would have to start over. Needless to say, I was taught from a very young age the idea of ownership and sharing. But how would Jesus have us live and think of ownership?
It is here that I turn to the book of Luke (9:3-6):
He said to them, ‘Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money—not even an extra tunic. Whatever house you enter, stay there, and leave from there. Wherever they do not welcome you, as you are leaving that town shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.’ They departed and went through the villages, bringing the good news and curing diseases everywhere.
Jesus sends the disciples out with nothing and they are required to depend on others. It is quite a thing to lose your independence in America. I have only seen a few people really lose it in my lifetime and it would seem now they have no choice but to obey him. I don’t think this passage is talking to everyone for all times, but I do think there is a kind of message in the text that reminds us that the “independence” we often talk about in America is not what Jesus had for the apostles. He taught them utter dependence on the communities they were to live in. Perhaps we would be wise to follow in those footsteps.
Perhaps we would be wise to depend and trust one another in a Christ filled community.
Perhaps we would be wise to play together in a way that ownership becomes secondary to friendship.
Perhaps we would be wise to begin the project of really getting to know each other.
There’s money-lenders inside the temple
That circus tiger’s gonna break my heart
Something so wild turned into paper
If you love me, then that’s your fault
There’s money-enders inside the temple
This crystal city’s gonna fall apart
When all their power turns into vapor
If I miss you, well that’s my fault
-Conor Oberst, Lenders in the Temple
After recently reading Mark’s thoughts on Jesus Loves me and Wes’ thoughts on the Withering Fig Tree, I decided I needed to write a theologically laden thought.
The thought begins on many long walks or in silent shadows when I think about the fairness of God. I think of Saul stripped of his kingdom because he wouldn’t follow some very tall orders from Samuel. Can Saul really be blamed that Samuel was late in getting to a meeting? Can Saul really be blamed for the extreme pressure put on the leader of a country to make a decision in the heat of the moment? I read the story which Wes so eloquently spoke on in his post:
“The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then he said to the tree, ‘May no one ever eat fruit from you again.’ And his disciples heard him say it… In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!’” Mark 11:12-14 & 20-21
I again come back to the basic question: Why would he expect a fig when it was not the season for figs? Why does he expect the impossible? Why does he utterly destroy it when what he wanted was a miracle?
Why does he expect so much out of season?
How can he?
Apparently Jesus doesn’t expect ordinary.
He expects a commitment of life in and out of season.
Apparently he really does take faith seriously
He expects a serious faith in all seasons of life.
[The following is a parable; for those who don't know the definition of parable is a fictional story designed to impart some deeper truth beyond the story. Comment on the story after reading explaining how the story makes you feel.]
Not long ago, I heard a story of a Vietnamese leader of a city. His son was getting married and he wanted to throw a huge party for him. He owned a huge brewery, and gave his hired hands the day off to hand out invitations to all his friends and family.
The servants passed out over a thousand invitations, but the majority of them called and said they couldn’t make it. One of his servants was even mistreated by the people he invited. They began to beat him with a baseball bat.
The leader was so angry at the shame brought on his family that he called up one of the ruling military junta. He showed the junta the list of guests he had invited to the party and said he would provide $100 for each head brought to him dead. The city was in an uproar as the junta descended upon the city.
All of the thousand people on the list were found and brought out to the public square. Their families were forced to watch with their eyes open as the military shot them through the head and burned down their houses. All of them were found and the military junta made $100,000 in fees from the rich leader.
“I will show them how it feels to be rejected and truly shamed,” the leader replied after he had given the junta their pay. “I will bring in the disgraced and the downtrodden. They will come to my son’s wedding and then all those who should have come, but didn’t, will be left outside in the cold.”
And it was so.
The servants brought the homeless, the destitute, and the sick to his son’s wedding. One woman was angered to see that the leader of the city had brought a convicted rapist into the party and a convicted drug dealer. He opened up the jails and let the worst criminals, the ones who had raped and sexually abused children, sit in the front row. This was the way of the leader of the city. They had all been given the best clothes to wear, no matter what they had done.
Suddenly, however, he noticed that one man was still dressed in filthy clothes.
“What are you doing here?” the leader of the city asked.
The man said nothing.
“You dare to come into my son’s wedding without proper attire? Get OUT!”
And at that the servants grabbed him and through him out into the cold.
Usually I like to put comics in my links, but today I felt it would be inappropriate. The links in this installment are not going to be fun interesting links. I hope that they disturbe you into action.
1. Human Trafficking: It’s real and we are complicit if we just let it happen on our watch in this global world.
3. Here is an excerpt from Father Stephen’s touching story from a porch in Narazeth:
I noticed that this man was looking at me – staring would be more accurate. I looked down a couple of times, but he never broke his gaze. Our eyes met and I walked over to him. I do not speak Polish – only a little (very little) broken Russian. But I took a chance and greeted him. He smiled. I told him in my poor Russian that I was an Orthodox priest from America.
Tears came to his eyes. The smile remained. I was dressed in my cassock wearing my gold cross (which I blessed at every shrine I visited). This kind-eyed man reached over and lifted my cross to his lips. He kissed it, and I gave him a blessing (in Slavonic).
His polite reply, complete with tears was: “Znamie Bog!” (”God is with us”). Indeed He was with us that day on the porch in Nazareth. The Christchild uniting two believers with few words between us. The pilgrim’s smile and tears spoke volumes. I will never know his story or his name – but I will remember that God is with us!
3. In a time of great economic recession, perhaps you can learn from this comic some fundamental principles of resume writing.
5. Peter Rollins talks about convictions in Christianity:
6. Chad says that putting Christ back in Xmas is about more than mantra, but it is about our practice vs. what we say we practice.
7. I want to speak more about Scot McKnight’s discussion at Jesus Creed on conversion. Some like Chad rightly point out that there is no “magic formula” to conversion. Nick notes that there is NT Wright’s analogy of the difference between alarm clock salvation that happens suddenly and those that wake up smoothly (you might also read his views on apolgetics, I enjoyed them). Ted as well sees the importance of “nurture” in the conversion process. Dan suggests that we need to make room for all types of conversions that Scot talks about. I also want to share this quote from Matt:
Context is a fundamental part of this discussion. Our Western Christian context is dramatically different than our brothers and sisters in, for instance, the Congo. “The gospel is like a multi-faceted diamond, with different aspects that appeal to a different people in different cultures. It has depths we have not fathomed. It defies every attempt to reduce it to a neat formulation.”
Also interesting is the debate that begins as a result of talking about conversion. While John argues that Jesus is not a product and that we must get to know him (not just through a ‘one-time-prayer’), Joey points out that prayer is a way to get to know God. So what is the part of prayer in conversion? Does God listen to prayers of non-Christians who are ‘in process’ of becoming Christian? Nick Mitchell (in good Baptist fashion) argues that we need to have a better definition of conversion in order to have any sort of conversation about it. Here is what he says:
There is a moment when a person passes from death to life, from being in adam to being in Christ. It is NOT a process for a person to be in Christ. Yes, there are events that lead up to that moment and events that follow nut there is a moment nevertheless. If a person confesses with their mouth that Jesus is Lord and believes in their heart that God raised him from the dead they will be saved. It is that confession and belief ‘moment’ when a person is saved. Yes a person may read books or they undergo convincing but there comes a decisive time when, whether aware of it or not, they pass from death to life.
I have just finished reading The Call to Discipleship by Karl Barth (you can see my review of the book here). It is a succint read into the thoughts of Barth on the question of what it means to be a disciple of Christ.
Barth begins by saying about the man who said to Jesus he would follow him wherever he went (Luke 9:57-58). Barth says:
He is obviously one who has presumed to do this on his own initiative. And his [Jesus'] answer is the terrible saying about the foxes that have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, ‘but the son of man–whom he is going to follow–hath not where to lay his head.’ He does not realize that it is that he thinks he can choose. He does not know how terrible is the venture in which he commits himself in the execution of this choice.
No one of themselves can or will imagine that this is their way, or take this way. What Jesus wills with his ‘Follow me” can be chosen only in obedience to his call: ‘Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water’ (Matt 14:28). Without being bidden by Christ, he could not do this. It has also been noted that there can be no conditions. The man mentioned [above]… lacked true discipleship, not merely because he offered it to Jesus as a matter of his own choice, but because he also made a condition: “Let me first say farewall to those at my home.”
I have never been a fan of Calvinism (and that is not necessarily what Barth is arguing for here), but I think that the idea of choice goes to show how well off we are. A famous phrase in America is that we want to change the world. As with almost all phrases which have been repeated over and over again in an American mantra, they mean almost nothing. How do these people want to change the world? Perhaps some would say they want to change the world ‘for the better,” but to what better end do they wish to change the world and why do they think they have the answer as to why their world is best? Choice and change are all a result of comsumeristic tendencies that have killed many disciples in America. At this time of Christmas, we need to consider how we might obey without putting conditions on our obedience.
With the era of good feelings coming with the election of Barack Obama, there are some good things like the beginnings of electricy coming to the Helmand Province.
While, such good things are happening, thanks to google blog search I was also able to find out through Michael’s blog that there is an humanitarian crisis going on in Afghanistan as a result of a coming winter famine. Approximately a third of the country will be without food and water.
The LA Times has shown that there is an increasing call to abort central government and begin working with tribal warlords:
Confronting the prospect of failure after seven years in Afghanistan, the U.S. military is crafting a new strategy that is likely to expand the power and reach of that country’s tribal militias while relying less on the increasingly troubled central government.
The solution seems relatively simple: give them food. What’s the problem? Well, taliban leaders and other people within Afghtanistan keep killing humanitarians aid workers. Michael explains further on his blog that:
Part of the reason for the increase [in humanitarian aid worker deaths] has to do with the fragmented nature of many conflicts since the end of the Cold War. In places such as Afghanistan, Darfur and Somalia, there are a bewildering array of warlords and armed groups, and community acceptance isn’t much of a security guarantee if bandits control the surrounding roads…Furthermore, many Western aid agencies have agendas, such as support for women’s rights, which put them directly at odds with religiously motivated insurgents like the Taliban – who, for instance, go to great lengths to attack girls’ schools.
What’s more? These aid workers are considered part of the occupying western forces. It is very difficult to combat these types of things in our world. There is very little you can do except try to make deals with the warlords that kills the least amount of people, but what should the Christian response to this conflict be? Over at the council on foreign relations they say:
“[David Patraeus calls for] possible government reconciliation with the Taliban; and cooperation with neighboring countries, including Pakistan and Iran. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, speaking on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Budapest in October 2008, said he favored some form of reconciliation in Afghanistan, though he acknowledged not knowing “how it would evolve.” A week later, during a speech at the U.S. Institute for Peace in Washington, Gates was unequivocal in his support of bringing tribal elements into the fold. “At the end of the day the only solution in Afghanistan is to work with the tribes and provincial leaders in terms of trying to create a backlash … against the Taliban,” the defense secretary said.”
It appears that our duty as Christians is at is has always been: to serve Christ in all things. If we go as workers to Afghanistan we will give our two cloaks until we have only one, we will take any form of persecution and return it with love, and we will LISTEN. I cannot overemphasize that we will listen instead of talking so much.
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