While working in my shop on a woodworking project, I put on an old CD of the songs of Jim Croce. A wonderful trip down memory lane was enjoyed as I sanded and glued stuff together. "Leroy Brown", "Alabama Rain", the dangers of messing with the wife of jealous man, and the heartbreak of the loss of a wife and a best friend at the same time were great to hear again.
But then there was one of his songs that always seem so deeply theological that I wonder what the story is behind it in Croce's life. I am not sure that it was played and heard as much when Croce was alive, and I am not sure people would call it one of his favorites. The song is the "Dear John" message to a young woman who was expecting a whole lot more from her boy friend than the singer could give. It is called "Lover's Cross." "I never was much of a martyr and a regular guy would not do, I can't hang upon no Lover's Cross for you." Then he hopes that she will be able to find somebody who can fit the bill for her, but "he will have to be some kind of super Guy, or maybe a super God."
My mind races towards Good Friday. Is the song suggesting that there is a limit to our human love and that Paul is probably right that there are not many places where one person will die for another person? That what happened on Good Friday had to have in it something more than just a human love for humanity. That a regular guy would not do, but that there was something present in the Cross that was a "super God." Jim Croce's song acknowledges that for some of us we do not have the love or the endurance or the ability to make those kinds of sacrifices. On the Lover's Cross on Good Friday there something more than just an innocent man who got caught in a bad place.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Labels All Mixed Up
My first job as a minister was at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, N.C. I was an assistant minister. It did not take me very long in that position, working with the Pastor, to discover that in the world of theology and politics, the labels are all mixed up. Those who are called "conservatives" should really be called "liberals" and those called "liberals" should really be called "conservatives."
I still think that the labels are all mixed up. Labels do have a way of changing and names given to groups stay the same but the groups often change. But basically, it seems to me that it is the Christian who most wants to be faithful to the story of Jesus, i.e. the most conservative Christian, who wants to conserve the message of Jesus, who ends up being the most liberal in the political arena. It is the Christian who is called the most conservative who ends up being the one who engages in the most twisting and changing of the Biblical story.
Take the debate about marriage currently alive in our political process. Those who are called "conservatives" declare that the Bible demands that marriage be between one man and one woman. It is the "liberal" Christian who is supposed to be twisting and distorting the Biblical story to suggest that marriage in the Bible has no such narrow definition. But if one reads the Bible carefully, there is the Creation story of Adam and Eve where it is declared that a man needs a helpmate. So there is presented the idea of one man and one woman. But no sooner do you leave that story than you begin to have the story of the patriarchs who have multiple wives. Then there are the stories of David and Solomon who have lots of wives. These are all people God continues to bless. Family arrangements come in all shapes and forms in the Biblical, and one must not forget the "arrangement" of Mary and Joseph in the birth of Jesus. Those who are called "conservatives" edit and pick the portion of the Bible they want and are thus the "liberals" who are changing the story, while those who are called "liberals" are really the ones who want to conserve the whole body of tradition.
The Christian who wants to live and maintain the Beatitudes in life, to conserve the ethical values of that sermon, will be described as a flaming liberal in our current political cultures, while the one called a conservative Christian will be the one who makes the most adaptations to the tradition.
The labels are all mixed up and backwards, but the differences remain the same and the struggle to be faithful would not be any easier if we got the labels right. Jesus invites us to follow him and that is not easy no matter what we call ourselves.
I still think that the labels are all mixed up. Labels do have a way of changing and names given to groups stay the same but the groups often change. But basically, it seems to me that it is the Christian who most wants to be faithful to the story of Jesus, i.e. the most conservative Christian, who wants to conserve the message of Jesus, who ends up being the most liberal in the political arena. It is the Christian who is called the most conservative who ends up being the one who engages in the most twisting and changing of the Biblical story.
Take the debate about marriage currently alive in our political process. Those who are called "conservatives" declare that the Bible demands that marriage be between one man and one woman. It is the "liberal" Christian who is supposed to be twisting and distorting the Biblical story to suggest that marriage in the Bible has no such narrow definition. But if one reads the Bible carefully, there is the Creation story of Adam and Eve where it is declared that a man needs a helpmate. So there is presented the idea of one man and one woman. But no sooner do you leave that story than you begin to have the story of the patriarchs who have multiple wives. Then there are the stories of David and Solomon who have lots of wives. These are all people God continues to bless. Family arrangements come in all shapes and forms in the Biblical, and one must not forget the "arrangement" of Mary and Joseph in the birth of Jesus. Those who are called "conservatives" edit and pick the portion of the Bible they want and are thus the "liberals" who are changing the story, while those who are called "liberals" are really the ones who want to conserve the whole body of tradition.
The Christian who wants to live and maintain the Beatitudes in life, to conserve the ethical values of that sermon, will be described as a flaming liberal in our current political cultures, while the one called a conservative Christian will be the one who makes the most adaptations to the tradition.
The labels are all mixed up and backwards, but the differences remain the same and the struggle to be faithful would not be any easier if we got the labels right. Jesus invites us to follow him and that is not easy no matter what we call ourselves.
Friday, April 17, 2009
"All Things in Common"
If there is an aspect to the Christian faith that "scares the pants" off most of us, it is the hint of "socialism" in Acts. The early Christians gathered together in community and shared all of their possessions. Each contributed as was able; each took what was needed. The story of the couple who sold their farm and tried to pretend that they had given all of the proceeds to the "pool" is a very scary story. It cost them their lives.
This notion that we are all in this together and need to share all of our resources together may be traced through the Old Testament prophets as well. The health and well being of a society is how it cares for all of its people. The anger of the prophets at the business leaders who grabbed the land of the small homeowner by fraud and foreclosure is the heart of Amos.
There is a fundamental reality that this is God's creation and we are all his children and so we must all care for each other and make sure we are enjoy and participate in the blessings of creation. Obviously there are going to be some who have more than others, but there has to be a constant concern that the gap between the rich and the poor does not become too wide.
G.K. Chesterton in June of l921 was writing about the industrial revolution and the economic energies of that time. "It was a race of competition, of commercial adventures, of scientific inventions, and one which was run not only boldly but blindly; by men who shut their eyes to all other realities -- to agriculture, to art, to religion, to the romance of living. But above all they shut their eyes to the one thing which demanded most attention in a democracy, or anything attempting to be a democracy. They shut their eyes to the distribution as distinct from the accumulation of wealth. They said that Birmingham was growing richer when they meant that one man in Birmingham was growing richer, and ten men were growing poorer. They would not see that their machine of capitalism was not creating capitalists but proletarians, was not making merchants but beggars."
It is this aspect of the Christian faith which now looks at the last ten to fifteen years in this country and sheds a tear that we have not focused on the one thing that we need to focus on if we are to be Christian people; "the distribution as distinct from accumulation of wealth." In the last decade the rich have gotten much richer, the middle class has shrunk, and the poor have gotten poorer. The rich have gotten richer by a machine of capitalism that has suddenly collapsed and put all of us in jeopardy. There is a reality that we are all in this together, and if we will not share the blessings then we will all share the pain.
The Christian faith does believe that there is a great fulfilment of the intentions of creation when we hold all things in common, that we understand that we are all entitled to benefit from the blessings of creation. One of our disciplines as people of faith is to watch that the distribution of wealth does not become evil.
This notion that we are all in this together and need to share all of our resources together may be traced through the Old Testament prophets as well. The health and well being of a society is how it cares for all of its people. The anger of the prophets at the business leaders who grabbed the land of the small homeowner by fraud and foreclosure is the heart of Amos.
There is a fundamental reality that this is God's creation and we are all his children and so we must all care for each other and make sure we are enjoy and participate in the blessings of creation. Obviously there are going to be some who have more than others, but there has to be a constant concern that the gap between the rich and the poor does not become too wide.
G.K. Chesterton in June of l921 was writing about the industrial revolution and the economic energies of that time. "It was a race of competition, of commercial adventures, of scientific inventions, and one which was run not only boldly but blindly; by men who shut their eyes to all other realities -- to agriculture, to art, to religion, to the romance of living. But above all they shut their eyes to the one thing which demanded most attention in a democracy, or anything attempting to be a democracy. They shut their eyes to the distribution as distinct from the accumulation of wealth. They said that Birmingham was growing richer when they meant that one man in Birmingham was growing richer, and ten men were growing poorer. They would not see that their machine of capitalism was not creating capitalists but proletarians, was not making merchants but beggars."
It is this aspect of the Christian faith which now looks at the last ten to fifteen years in this country and sheds a tear that we have not focused on the one thing that we need to focus on if we are to be Christian people; "the distribution as distinct from accumulation of wealth." In the last decade the rich have gotten much richer, the middle class has shrunk, and the poor have gotten poorer. The rich have gotten richer by a machine of capitalism that has suddenly collapsed and put all of us in jeopardy. There is a reality that we are all in this together, and if we will not share the blessings then we will all share the pain.
The Christian faith does believe that there is a great fulfilment of the intentions of creation when we hold all things in common, that we understand that we are all entitled to benefit from the blessings of creation. One of our disciplines as people of faith is to watch that the distribution of wealth does not become evil.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Do we ever listen to ourselves?
Sitting in the congregation of a Holy Week Service, being the one who listened instead of speaking, I had to marvel at the patience of the people in the pews. Or the deafness of the people in the pews. Or maybe it is the hope of the people in the pews. But it was amazing to me to listen to what we sang and said.
The first hymn was When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, on which the Prince of Glory die, my richest gain I count but lost, .... And yet I am not sure that in these economic times any of us would be willing to lose our jobs or homes or car or 401(k) for our Christian faith. Think about George Beverly Shea singing "I would rather have Jesus, than silver or gold..." and yet I suspect that when push came to pull that would not be the choice many of us could make. I am not sure I could go all the way with that.
The next piece of music was "Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world, red, and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world." Oh, Muslim children? Hispanic children who are born here by illegal immigrants? Gay children (gays had to be born sometime), children in our welfare system? African children? And then if that statement is true does it mean that Jesus' death on the cross brought salvation to all those children too? Does that song suggest universalism? Do we really listen to what we sing.
The last hymn was "My Jesus I love Thee, I know thou art Mine..." My first encounter with this kind of language was when Paul Scherer, one of my heroes, said "Hogwash, Blessed Assurance Jesus is Mine, is a heresy, Blessed Disturbance, we are His." Jesus is not ours. If there is any hope it is in our being His. He claims us as his children, not that we "own" him.
This same confusion was told to a friend of mine who has a mountain of difficulties she is living through. Her friend told her that she was in the midst of a great battle between God and Satan, and She would have to be strong, keep the faith, to make sure that God won. So the great hope of God's victory of death and evil is now resting on the shoulders of my friend and if she does not "keep the faith" God will lose to Satan. Who wants that kind of God? If my friend has any hope it is that God will stay faithful to her while she rages in pain, doubt and frustration at the life she has been given.
Perhaps it is a sign of the patience and love of God that He will allow so many confusing and contradictory to be said about him by his friends. No wonder some people have so much trouble with the question of faith.
The first hymn was When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, on which the Prince of Glory die, my richest gain I count but lost, .... And yet I am not sure that in these economic times any of us would be willing to lose our jobs or homes or car or 401(k) for our Christian faith. Think about George Beverly Shea singing "I would rather have Jesus, than silver or gold..." and yet I suspect that when push came to pull that would not be the choice many of us could make. I am not sure I could go all the way with that.
The next piece of music was "Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world, red, and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world." Oh, Muslim children? Hispanic children who are born here by illegal immigrants? Gay children (gays had to be born sometime), children in our welfare system? African children? And then if that statement is true does it mean that Jesus' death on the cross brought salvation to all those children too? Does that song suggest universalism? Do we really listen to what we sing.
The last hymn was "My Jesus I love Thee, I know thou art Mine..." My first encounter with this kind of language was when Paul Scherer, one of my heroes, said "Hogwash, Blessed Assurance Jesus is Mine, is a heresy, Blessed Disturbance, we are His." Jesus is not ours. If there is any hope it is in our being His. He claims us as his children, not that we "own" him.
This same confusion was told to a friend of mine who has a mountain of difficulties she is living through. Her friend told her that she was in the midst of a great battle between God and Satan, and She would have to be strong, keep the faith, to make sure that God won. So the great hope of God's victory of death and evil is now resting on the shoulders of my friend and if she does not "keep the faith" God will lose to Satan. Who wants that kind of God? If my friend has any hope it is that God will stay faithful to her while she rages in pain, doubt and frustration at the life she has been given.
Perhaps it is a sign of the patience and love of God that He will allow so many confusing and contradictory to be said about him by his friends. No wonder some people have so much trouble with the question of faith.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Heaven - new life?
Easter always does it. At least, it should. Easter and talk of the resurrection ought to provoke from us some reflections on life after death. What is this resurrection? What is this new life that is being talked about? Where is this paradise that Jesus promises the thief that they will share? If Easter does not do it for us, then usually the death of a loved one does.
It is one of those questions that we ought to reflect upon and discuss, but we need to be careful about what we claim this paradise, this heaven, this new life will look like. A lot of questions and very little dogma. It was several years ago when Eric Clapton lost his young son that he wrote about "Tears in Heaven." There he ponders the question of time, age, and personality. Would his young son remember his father's name? What age will they both be when Eric gets to heaven? Who will be different in heaven? "Will he know my name?" "Will he be the same?" Will we be able to recognize others? Not long ago I was listening to some old CD's and heard in a song, "Will We Burn in Heaven, like we do down here?" I am not sure exactly what that means but I took it to mean will there be passions and desires in heaven? We will want something so badly we can taste it? Certainly there would be those who might suggest that if there are no emotions and passions then heaven will be rather bland and boring. A friend told me during March Madness that heaven is where every team wins. Which may sound good at the beginning, but soon loses its favor when winning would then mean nothing. Streets of gold loose their value when all the streets are gold.
The image that has always carried me was the child in the womb. For nine months it is total darkness, food provided through a tube, and always wet, but suddenly with birth comes light, dryness, eating and air. Nothing in the new life is like the old life, except that everything that was being done in the darkness and the wet was preparation for the new. If the child in the womb had questions, like why didn't I have anything to play with? Those questions just disappear and become unimportant in the new place. My faith hopes for something of the same thing at death. We will be born into a new life that this one has been preparing us for but is totally different. But like the child in the womb I have no more knowledge of what that new life will look like than she does. The best I know is "In life and death, we belong to God."
It is one of those questions that we ought to reflect upon and discuss, but we need to be careful about what we claim this paradise, this heaven, this new life will look like. A lot of questions and very little dogma. It was several years ago when Eric Clapton lost his young son that he wrote about "Tears in Heaven." There he ponders the question of time, age, and personality. Would his young son remember his father's name? What age will they both be when Eric gets to heaven? Who will be different in heaven? "Will he know my name?" "Will he be the same?" Will we be able to recognize others? Not long ago I was listening to some old CD's and heard in a song, "Will We Burn in Heaven, like we do down here?" I am not sure exactly what that means but I took it to mean will there be passions and desires in heaven? We will want something so badly we can taste it? Certainly there would be those who might suggest that if there are no emotions and passions then heaven will be rather bland and boring. A friend told me during March Madness that heaven is where every team wins. Which may sound good at the beginning, but soon loses its favor when winning would then mean nothing. Streets of gold loose their value when all the streets are gold.
The image that has always carried me was the child in the womb. For nine months it is total darkness, food provided through a tube, and always wet, but suddenly with birth comes light, dryness, eating and air. Nothing in the new life is like the old life, except that everything that was being done in the darkness and the wet was preparation for the new. If the child in the womb had questions, like why didn't I have anything to play with? Those questions just disappear and become unimportant in the new place. My faith hopes for something of the same thing at death. We will be born into a new life that this one has been preparing us for but is totally different. But like the child in the womb I have no more knowledge of what that new life will look like than she does. The best I know is "In life and death, we belong to God."
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
The Smaller Different World
One of the facts of my life is that I have moved almost every five years of my life until I came to Henderson,N.C. and we have now been here almost 16 years. While that has made maintaining friendships difficult, it has had the blessing of showing me how many different ways in this country we can do things, and it has shown me how very much we are all alike.
I have had the blessing of being able to travel to different countries. I have been to Mexico, Costa Rica, Scotland, Ireland, Spain, Turkey, Italy, and Canada. Again, the education has been how much variety there is in doing the same things. All children play with dolls, but the dolls are look so different. We all keep warm in the winter, but the way it is done is so different.
Vance Granville Community College had a Cultural Fair about a week ago. That fair brought to Vance County the educational opportunities that all my travelling has given me. There in that room was a chance to see how many different ways there are to do the same thing. And some of the ways that other people do things are really good. At least it looked that way by the number of people who came by the Latin American booth to get food.
The Cultural Fair at Vance Granville Community College is a little piece of what we are all beginning to understand. Especially in light of the G-20 meeting in London. This is a great world getting smaller. There are more and more people who want better education, better homes, better transportation. better quality of life. There are lots of ways of doing those things, but some of those ways will have to change if we hope to preserve the earth.
God has given us a great planet and many resources. One of the greatest resources is the variety and creativity of all these different cultures and traditions. We are invited by God to be stewards of the earth. We have only a few years left to do that or we will have passed the tipping point for the preservation of all of us. God has given us a great world. God has given us great creativity in an amazing variety of cultures. Now we have to all come together to find the best way forward for the good of all of us. One thing is for sure. The American current standard of living and the way we support that standard of living cannot be the standard for the next three billion people in India and China. Out of the God-given creativity of all of us we have to find a different way.
I have had the blessing of being able to travel to different countries. I have been to Mexico, Costa Rica, Scotland, Ireland, Spain, Turkey, Italy, and Canada. Again, the education has been how much variety there is in doing the same things. All children play with dolls, but the dolls are look so different. We all keep warm in the winter, but the way it is done is so different.
Vance Granville Community College had a Cultural Fair about a week ago. That fair brought to Vance County the educational opportunities that all my travelling has given me. There in that room was a chance to see how many different ways there are to do the same thing. And some of the ways that other people do things are really good. At least it looked that way by the number of people who came by the Latin American booth to get food.
The Cultural Fair at Vance Granville Community College is a little piece of what we are all beginning to understand. Especially in light of the G-20 meeting in London. This is a great world getting smaller. There are more and more people who want better education, better homes, better transportation. better quality of life. There are lots of ways of doing those things, but some of those ways will have to change if we hope to preserve the earth.
God has given us a great planet and many resources. One of the greatest resources is the variety and creativity of all these different cultures and traditions. We are invited by God to be stewards of the earth. We have only a few years left to do that or we will have passed the tipping point for the preservation of all of us. God has given us a great world. God has given us great creativity in an amazing variety of cultures. Now we have to all come together to find the best way forward for the good of all of us. One thing is for sure. The American current standard of living and the way we support that standard of living cannot be the standard for the next three billion people in India and China. Out of the God-given creativity of all of us we have to find a different way.
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