I'll start with a caveat: I rewrote my sermon last night because trying to fit a format went against everything I am as a preacher. I was not being faithful to my calling and more importantly my text. I had 20 minutes, and had to fit the format, so I did so in the best way possible....
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=FEC39A5003386DFF
“Alas! and did my Savior bleed
And did my Sovereign die?
Would He devote that sacred head
For such a worm as I?”
“At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light,
And the burden of my heart rolled away,
It was there by faith I received my sight...”
That refrain was written in 1885 at attached to Isaac Watt’s lyrics 178 years after their inception. I grew up singing that song, as did many of you, and every time I read this passage of Scripture it floats back to the surface of my mind. There’s wisdom in that song. There is power in that song. There is truth to that refrain that if we would just return to it and reflect on it we might answer some of the problems our church in our generation is struggling with.
In seminary, and in church in general, we often hear people appeal to the early church. “We should do it like the ‘early church’ did it,” they say with a hopeful voice. “But that’s not how the early church did it!” “Man, I wish we could do it just get back to the early church!” Well, ministers: I’m pretty sure they weren’t talking about the early Corinthian church. Here is a city, rich in history, full of beautiful architecture, people from all over the Mediterranean world, and all the skills, talents, job histories, cultural contexts, and historical alliances and rivalries, and social classes have all converged on this one city. Now I know well meaning Christians who evoke the early church are referring to the congregations and stories reported in the book of Acts (not counting that whole Ananias and Saphira incident, because let’s be honest that got messy). The church, at least the one at Corinth, was riddled with theological problems, rampant sin (especially of the sexual nature), social class divisions, and factions. It is to the last of these we look today.
In the Graeco-Roman world eloquence and education went hand in hand. If you had one, it was generally assumed you had the other. A Ph.D. meant “you sure could talk purty.” And when smooth, poetic words from your mouth it was naturally understood that you also knew what it was you were talking about. Schools taught rhetoric from the get-go, and it wasn’t just a public speaking class in high school. But we all know that eloquence and education can come together, but some have made entire careers out of developing one and not the other. Some brilliant theologians belong at their desks writing, reading, and grading. And some preachers, speakers, and teachers could definitely use a few hours with Drs. Wilhite, Brewer, and Sands.
And this is the culture in which Paul works. He helped to start the church at Corinth, and then he moved along. Now he’s in Ephesus and he’s hearing some crazy stories about these crazy Corinthians and the kinds of things they are getting themselves into. Someone has come along and “built upon the foundation” which Paul had lain only a few years before, and because this teacher, or possibly these teachers, have some sweetness of tongue the Corinthian Christians are lapping it up. Factions have developed around these personalities, and they are attacking one another, planting seeds which steal nutrients from one another and erecting buildings which topple into each other.
God graciously uses a diverse group of people to build up and to edify His church which stands on His foundation, which is His Son.
MOVEMENT ONE (3:5-8)
We all have different roles, but one aim.
Explanation:
“What then is Apollos? What is Paul?” Notice here that your text says “what” – not “who.” Which is strange, since Paul and Apollos are people, right? But Paul has no interest in comparing and contrasting and weighing the strengths and the benefits of Apollos versus Paul. See they’re different. Sure, they’re both Jews. But Paul is a Palestinian, and Apollos an Alexandrian, and he’s got some Alexandrian training. Acts tells us that he was “a Jew... a native of Alexandria, a learned or eloquent man... capable or powerful in the Scriptures” and that he had been “instructed in the way of the Lord and enthusiastic in the spirit he came and teaching accurately about the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John.” He was then further trained by Priscilla and Aquila at Ephesus, where Paul is now. And yet for some reason Paul, who could attack Apollos’ background, and we might expect him to, has chosen to forgo that. Rather than comparing the “who’s”, he compares the “what’s”. And what does he answer? “Servants [διακονοι] through whom you believed as the Lord assigned to each.” Rather than going against Apollos, rather than saying “this is my faction: we win” Paul is saying “we can’t have factions because we’re both servants!”
“I planted, Apollos watered. But GOD gave the growth. So neither who plants nor he who waters are anything, but only GOD, who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wage according to his labor.” Notice this about the roles which Paul has just mentioned: the planter and the waterer share the same aim, they have the same goal, the work toward the same end, but it’s GOD who gives the growth. Notice that if Paul or Apollos were the giver of the growth, then whoever could give the most growth is most to be revered. In this way, Paul almost seems to say, “I did my task; Apollos did his task. But the glory is God’s! Because we’re just there – He wrought it!”
Lived Experience:
Whether we are on a church staff planning and guiding the path the body will take to spread the Gospel or simply teaching on Sunday morning, we understand gifts and roles. If you were to take a Bible study leader from a senior adult class, and take one from the children’s program, and swap their positions but not their methods or their lessons for the day you might get some phone calls. The senior citizens would find it rather difficult to “Jump, stomp, shout, and spin” like the grade school kids. Likewise if you spent an hour or so calmly but loudly discussing the passing on of the “wisdom of your age” to the next generation or how to deal with the death of everyone you’ve known and loved since your childhood you would have some confused or depressed children when mom or dad arrived to draw them out of “kid’s praise.”
Application:
The leaders of kids and senior adults have the same aim: teaching the people. They have different roles, though, suited to different needs. The elderly are often tasked with grounding the church in what it has historically been, and the young are often tasked with ensuring that they continue to spread the Word of God and ensure that it is spread in a relevant fashion. Neither is better or more important than the other. Just because you don’t share the same gifts or talents as your peers, as the people you went out with Saturday or have lunch with on Sunday, that doesn’t mean you are less well equipped to accomplish the work to which God has called you: it simply means you are equally equipped to accomplish the different tasks. ***And perhaps Saturday dinner or Sunday lunch can be better spent sharing with one another the specific vantage points you have for watching the work of God in the place to which you are called.*** Each year we send some to Africa, some to China, and some to Kentucky, and yet we don’t judge between the men and women who go to different places. The roles change, but the aim, the glory of God, remains the same.
Transitional Sentence:
Sometimes different roles are mistaken for different foundations, and we start building poorly.
MOVEMENT TWO (3:9)
Whatever your role, you belong to God.
Explanation:
Let’s transition back then to Paul’s metaphor in verse 9: the field and the building. Paul is rather specific here in his verbiage. There are other words for field and there are other words for building. The words that Paul specifically chose refer to a field that is being cultivated, to a building that’s more like an ongoing construction sight.
Lived Experience:
And you don’t plant all the same things in the same fields. Once a friend of mine made us some jalapeños, stuffed with cream cheese and wrapped in bacon and the grilled to what I would call “culinary conversion,” it was that beautiful. But Donny is a professional chef – not a professional gardener, and he’d grown habanero peppers mere feet from the jalapenos. It was a fantastic meal, and it was filled with tears and that sound you make when you are trying to suck air in across your tongue because blowing air out just wont cut it. In the same way, when we design buildings we don’t design a military barracks with the same accommodations as a daycare. We don’t build restaurants like airports.
Explanation:
Many translations read something like “For we are God’s coworkers [or fellow workers], you are God’s field, God’s building.” In English and out of context this is can be misleading. A literal, word for word translation with emphasis might read “GOD’s are we co-workers, GOD’s field, GOD’s building are you.” “Co-workers” does NOT mean that we work alongside God. In fact, that might be heresy. Take Acts 17:25: “Nor is he [God] served by human hands, as though he needed anything...” No, the co-workers are Paul and Apollos, and they are one, as in verse 8, and they BELONG to God. So too the field and the building. The syntax, or order of words, is significant here: the possessor, GOD, is mentioned FIRST three times in a row, despite the fact that it is unnatural.
Application
Whoa to we who forget who’s we are! When we forget who it is that brings the growth, who it is that owns the men and women who minister in the church, and who it is that owns the field, the building, we start to break up, to wander around, and to look into ourselves rather than up to our God!
Transitional Sentence:
Paul now leaves the agricultural metaphor behind and pursues the construction metaphor.
MOVEMENT THREE (3:10-12)
The Foundation, which is Jesus Christ, is lain already, and no other can stand in His place.
Explanation:
“According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it.” Do you remember what I said about Corinth and the architecture there? It was once known for amazing buildings, and the people there certainly understood about the “skilled master builder,” the construction foreman. He was responsible for the integrity of the building, and was liable if he did not do it perfectly. Great care was taken by those master builders, since causing a death from a collapse could cost them their lives!
“And no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
Lived Experience:
Most of us have heard what a foundation means to a house. Anything in a home can be rebuilt, torn out, put in, remodeled, whatever. Everything is fluid and can be repaired with a little bit if duck tape. In a car, if the chassis is bent the car is pretty much done. In a house, when the foundation cracks, so does everything else that stands upon it.
Application:
Often we find our loyalties misplaced and our times and fortunes misplaced, we are caught up like the Corinthians chasing peripheral issues upon which to build... Not that these issues are unimportant. The “doctrines of grace.” Spiritual gifts. Women as head pastors? All are valid issues, valid discussions, important, heartfelt topics that need to be discussed... as a family.
Do you remember the story of Joshua? When the LORD was questioned, when Israel was considering infidelity, unfaithfulness yet again, what did Joshua say? “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” I don’t know about you, but when I slam into something my car can’t move, I want to be in a Volvo... or a tank. When the storm comes, or when the Day of fire is upon us, I want to have the best foundation, the one that won’t ever crack. I want to be able to sing “On Christ the solid rock I stand!” I want to be able to calmly look to Paul and say, “You were right, man. There really is NO OTHER FOUNDATION on which I can stand.”
Truly, we have different gifts, different skills. Some of you are fantastic preachers, some of you will write theology, some you will teach children what it is to believe. Some of us will go to the mission field, preach our hearts out, and spread the Gospel. You may go out in blaze of glory, or you may be snuffed like a candle in the night.
Some will plant, some will water. Some will spread the Gospel far, and some will be used to root it deep. But it is God who gives the growth, God who gets the glory. And I’m so thankful he uses diverse people like you and like me and there is ONE foundation for all that we do. And we encounter and we build upon rightly that foundation time and again when, and only when, we can be found “at the cross, at the cross where [we] first saw the light.
Amen.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Not on bread alone...
I'm back in Waco (sigh?) and I need to get to bed, mostly so I can be ready for work tomorrow. But before I do I have a need to write somethings down about my weekend. Not really coherent thoughts, exactly, but a brief and editable journal of what this weekend held.
PLAY BY PLAY
I wanted to stay home, maybe play some video games (which I do about once every six months for about a day) and just chill. Me and Park Dog could have spent the weekend just hanging out in Waco recovering from the weeks that have passed and preparing for those soon to come. Instead, we spent the weekend running around all over the place. And just when I think I know what's best for me, God shows me better...
Friday night I went to Common Grounds on my way out of town, intending to stop by for a few and chat with friends on my way out. I ended up staying for a couple of hours, enjoying myself, listening to Charlie Hall, laughing (a lot), and talking with those I don't see regularly. Surprise blessing number one.
Saturday I played with my sister and her friends after a nice long more than 6 hour sleep... And that night I went to a friend's house and enjoyed wine and cheese for her birthday. Now, you may not know me, but wine and cheese is... well, lets just say its just one step below communion on my list of favorite meals. And I really had two options: get in a hot tub with a myriad of attractive women and pretty much ignore any covenant I might have made, OR I could drive back to Waco with Park Dog. I don't know if you know this, but Waco kind of sucks. And yet the Spirit spoke. It reminded me of who I am, who's I am, and what I am. So in to my car I climbed for the trek "home." Before PD was fully settled, before my backside hit the seat, I was FILLED with praise. I'd made a good decision because God refuses to give up on me, bringing closer to completion that work which he began. I just could not stop thinking about how much the "me" in me wanted to back there, flirting away, trying to prove something to myself and to others - trying to prove to God that if He wont meet me needs, I will. And yet HE grabbed hold and reminded me of all that I desire so much more fully than that.
As I'm driving home I desire to stop in Belton and spend the night, allowing me to go to Vista the next day. I'd had my heart set on Vista all weekend, and I was realizing there was no way I could go, at least not without driving all the way to Waco, dropping PD off, and returning to Belton, and then heading home after church to get back and let her out. Asa, however, went out of his way to find a place for her to stay the night so that I could stay in Belton... and it was GOOD. He and I got to talk until the early hours of the morning. It has been SO LONG since Ace and I got quality time, and he let me pour out on him what was going on in my head and my heart and he gave quality feedback too. (Ace, should you happen to read this, I cannot express my thanks for that, as it allowed so much more to happen to me.)
Sunday I woke up and headed off to church. I love the Vista. I love their mission, their people, their understanding of worship. That church is about as home for me as it gets at this point. Dave preached straight from the text. Imagine that: a preacher who relies on the Bible to preach and to change lives... weird. Afterwards we went to lunch, and I got to spend quality time with old friends. And then I got to spend time talking with one guy I'd met the night before and two people I'd never met at all, "and behold, it was exceedingly good." The guy at lunch was the same I'd met the night before, and he was generous enough to offer PD a place to stay, and actually took care of her most of the day, allowing me to experience so many more blessings I wasn't even looking for.
This afternoon I got to have a discussion, to hear the thoughts and to challenge and be challenged by the responses of people I value greatly. The topic was actually a passage we'd recently covered in Scriptures 4, and it reminded me with ever phrase we uttered that I don't hate seminary, but only realize it when I get to practice what I'm learning here.
Then we met a wonderful lady who needed some groceries. She gardens, she paints, and she cares more about the needs of others than she does her own. Remember that woman who gives a mite, and yet because she gives out of her poverty she has given so much more than any around her? Yeah, well I met her. I pray to God, genuinely, that you do too. We talked with her, and she smiled. Oh man did this lady smile when she saw Dennis and he simply took the time to care and to talk with her. Before we left we prayed with her. She cried, and it was the only kind of tears a guy can stand. You know, those tears that are there for all the right reasons. See we brought her groceries, we listened to her, we cared about her, we prayed for her, and we thanked God for her - we got to DO the Gospel for her. Sometimes I forget how abstract the concept of missions feels when I don't do it for so long. Yet all it takes is watching the love of Jesus wring one smile or one tear to remind me.
Then I got to talk some more with the guy from lunch and another student seeking a degree in Christian Ministry... and before I left, I got to pray for them. They were solid guys, with powerful convictions, and amazing stories of their experience with God so far and their zeal for whatever future He has for them. That's the faith of a child Christ calls for: a faith that says "I don't know what's next, but I know my Daddy is big enough and knows enough to accept that come what may He is not surprised and He's been preparing me for this task for a long while." (I realize children don't talk like that... yet.)
And again I wasn't all the way in the seat of my car when praise filled my soul like air my lungs. It was deep, and it was beyond my power to call it up. My God is big. He changes hearts. He makes a difference.
LESSONS LEARNED
*Sometimes I forget that God knows exactly what He's doing and exactly what I need. He doesn't ask for my opinion because He doesn't need my counsel.
*God puts different people, old and new, in my path when I need them most and when they need me.
-Another friend was going through almost the same emotional and spiritual roller coast I was at the same time. Now we get to rejoice together, and it answered some questions I had about next year too.
-God is moving. I don't know exactly what He's up to, but I know that I want to be part of it no matter what.
-I want to do something overseas as soon as possible. I've never been on an overseas mission trip, and I believe this to be the greatest lacking in my spiritual formation ever. Prepare yourselves for support letters.
-I desire to be in a committed relationship which is moving towards marriage. This is not a new lesson at all. This will come as a shock to MANY who never expected this to come for me. What I did learn this weekend was that God has not abandoned this in my life. Just when I think I'm never going to meet that woman, I meet or hang out with at least 3 women this weekend who fit my two greatest criteria for a wife:
She's gotta love Jesus more than anything in this whole freakin' world, and
She's gotta make me laugh A LOT, and I've gotta make her laugh too.
Tall order, but He's not running out of Sovereignty or Grace any time soon. And I don't have to usurp that authority to get what I think I need: He's God and He's got me, and that's more than enough for me.
The bottom line: My Sovereign God is GOOD, He loves me, and nothing gets past Him or takes Him by surprise. He's constantly ready, always aware, and always working out his plan in my life and in the world. More simply, "My God is so big and so mighty, there's nothing that He cannot do." (Thank you, Veggie Tales)
"I love the LORD, because he has heard
my voice and my pleas for mercy.
Because he inclined his ear to me,
therefore I will call on him as long as I live." Psalm 116:1-2
PLAY BY PLAY
I wanted to stay home, maybe play some video games (which I do about once every six months for about a day) and just chill. Me and Park Dog could have spent the weekend just hanging out in Waco recovering from the weeks that have passed and preparing for those soon to come. Instead, we spent the weekend running around all over the place. And just when I think I know what's best for me, God shows me better...
Friday night I went to Common Grounds on my way out of town, intending to stop by for a few and chat with friends on my way out. I ended up staying for a couple of hours, enjoying myself, listening to Charlie Hall, laughing (a lot), and talking with those I don't see regularly. Surprise blessing number one.
Saturday I played with my sister and her friends after a nice long more than 6 hour sleep... And that night I went to a friend's house and enjoyed wine and cheese for her birthday. Now, you may not know me, but wine and cheese is... well, lets just say its just one step below communion on my list of favorite meals. And I really had two options: get in a hot tub with a myriad of attractive women and pretty much ignore any covenant I might have made, OR I could drive back to Waco with Park Dog. I don't know if you know this, but Waco kind of sucks. And yet the Spirit spoke. It reminded me of who I am, who's I am, and what I am. So in to my car I climbed for the trek "home." Before PD was fully settled, before my backside hit the seat, I was FILLED with praise. I'd made a good decision because God refuses to give up on me, bringing closer to completion that work which he began. I just could not stop thinking about how much the "me" in me wanted to back there, flirting away, trying to prove something to myself and to others - trying to prove to God that if He wont meet me needs, I will. And yet HE grabbed hold and reminded me of all that I desire so much more fully than that.
As I'm driving home I desire to stop in Belton and spend the night, allowing me to go to Vista the next day. I'd had my heart set on Vista all weekend, and I was realizing there was no way I could go, at least not without driving all the way to Waco, dropping PD off, and returning to Belton, and then heading home after church to get back and let her out. Asa, however, went out of his way to find a place for her to stay the night so that I could stay in Belton... and it was GOOD. He and I got to talk until the early hours of the morning. It has been SO LONG since Ace and I got quality time, and he let me pour out on him what was going on in my head and my heart and he gave quality feedback too. (Ace, should you happen to read this, I cannot express my thanks for that, as it allowed so much more to happen to me.)
Sunday I woke up and headed off to church. I love the Vista. I love their mission, their people, their understanding of worship. That church is about as home for me as it gets at this point. Dave preached straight from the text. Imagine that: a preacher who relies on the Bible to preach and to change lives... weird. Afterwards we went to lunch, and I got to spend quality time with old friends. And then I got to spend time talking with one guy I'd met the night before and two people I'd never met at all, "and behold, it was exceedingly good." The guy at lunch was the same I'd met the night before, and he was generous enough to offer PD a place to stay, and actually took care of her most of the day, allowing me to experience so many more blessings I wasn't even looking for.
This afternoon I got to have a discussion, to hear the thoughts and to challenge and be challenged by the responses of people I value greatly. The topic was actually a passage we'd recently covered in Scriptures 4, and it reminded me with ever phrase we uttered that I don't hate seminary, but only realize it when I get to practice what I'm learning here.
Then we met a wonderful lady who needed some groceries. She gardens, she paints, and she cares more about the needs of others than she does her own. Remember that woman who gives a mite, and yet because she gives out of her poverty she has given so much more than any around her? Yeah, well I met her. I pray to God, genuinely, that you do too. We talked with her, and she smiled. Oh man did this lady smile when she saw Dennis and he simply took the time to care and to talk with her. Before we left we prayed with her. She cried, and it was the only kind of tears a guy can stand. You know, those tears that are there for all the right reasons. See we brought her groceries, we listened to her, we cared about her, we prayed for her, and we thanked God for her - we got to DO the Gospel for her. Sometimes I forget how abstract the concept of missions feels when I don't do it for so long. Yet all it takes is watching the love of Jesus wring one smile or one tear to remind me.
Then I got to talk some more with the guy from lunch and another student seeking a degree in Christian Ministry... and before I left, I got to pray for them. They were solid guys, with powerful convictions, and amazing stories of their experience with God so far and their zeal for whatever future He has for them. That's the faith of a child Christ calls for: a faith that says "I don't know what's next, but I know my Daddy is big enough and knows enough to accept that come what may He is not surprised and He's been preparing me for this task for a long while." (I realize children don't talk like that... yet.)
And again I wasn't all the way in the seat of my car when praise filled my soul like air my lungs. It was deep, and it was beyond my power to call it up. My God is big. He changes hearts. He makes a difference.
LESSONS LEARNED
*Sometimes I forget that God knows exactly what He's doing and exactly what I need. He doesn't ask for my opinion because He doesn't need my counsel.
*God puts different people, old and new, in my path when I need them most and when they need me.
-Another friend was going through almost the same emotional and spiritual roller coast I was at the same time. Now we get to rejoice together, and it answered some questions I had about next year too.
-God is moving. I don't know exactly what He's up to, but I know that I want to be part of it no matter what.
-I want to do something overseas as soon as possible. I've never been on an overseas mission trip, and I believe this to be the greatest lacking in my spiritual formation ever. Prepare yourselves for support letters.
-I desire to be in a committed relationship which is moving towards marriage. This is not a new lesson at all. This will come as a shock to MANY who never expected this to come for me. What I did learn this weekend was that God has not abandoned this in my life. Just when I think I'm never going to meet that woman, I meet or hang out with at least 3 women this weekend who fit my two greatest criteria for a wife:
She's gotta love Jesus more than anything in this whole freakin' world, and
She's gotta make me laugh A LOT, and I've gotta make her laugh too.
Tall order, but He's not running out of Sovereignty or Grace any time soon. And I don't have to usurp that authority to get what I think I need: He's God and He's got me, and that's more than enough for me.
The bottom line: My Sovereign God is GOOD, He loves me, and nothing gets past Him or takes Him by surprise. He's constantly ready, always aware, and always working out his plan in my life and in the world. More simply, "My God is so big and so mighty, there's nothing that He cannot do." (Thank you, Veggie Tales)
"I love the LORD, because he has heard
my voice and my pleas for mercy.
Because he inclined his ear to me,
therefore I will call on him as long as I live." Psalm 116:1-2
Sunday, April 12, 2009
"Χριστός Ανέστη!" "Αληθώς Ανέστη!" (Christos Anesti! Aleithos Anesti!)
"Χριστός Ανέστη!" (Christos Anesti!)
"Αληθώς Ανέστη!" (Aleithos Anesti!)
"Christ is risen!"
"Truly, He is risen!"
This is sometimes called the Paschal Greeting, and you can wikipedia or orthodoxwiki it as such. It is the essence of the event which we commemorate today. Yesterday I wrote a post with the intent of explaining how one disciple might have felt between the crucifixion and the announcement of the resurrection. Today I write as he might have felt after, as I feel now. I write as a 21st century Christian.
Jesus, Paul, and others in the Christ's corporeal day read the Old Testament (the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings) not as one who was living those times, but as one looking back on those times in light of the Cross. This is how I recommend we read them as well. Karl Barth described it like this: before Christ, all history looked forward to the Cross; after Christ all of history looks back on the Cross. John Piper says that the incarnation (Christmas) is less important than the resurrection (Easter), since Christmas is an event in preparation for Easter.* (The Eastern Church would disagree, and so would I, but it's a semantic difference for the most part.) You and I can read the New Testament and the Old Testament in light of the Work of Christ in Bodily Form, and also in light of our experience of God (the existential/postmodern hermeneutic). Which brings me out of my intro into the beginning, which was the end... in a sense. In fact, the reason I ended the post with it yesterday is just that: it SEEMED like the end, but in light of what followed we KNOW it to be only the beginning.
___________________________________
"Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, 'Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!' And having said this he breathed his last."
"καὶ φωνήσας φωνῇ μεγάλῃ ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς εἶπε· πάτερ, εἰς χεῖράς σου παρατίθεμαι τὸ πνεῦμά μου· καὶ ταῦτα εἰπὼν ἐξέπνευσεν"
Since I'm not translating the entire Bible to be read on a regular basis, I'm allowed to translate this as roughly and literally as I like. "And speaking / sounding / voicing with a great / loud speech / sound / voice, Jesus said 'Father, into the hands of Yours I commit / deposit / entrust the spirit of me.' And this being said, he breathed out."
At face value, this sounds like a cry of dereliction, or at the least like he cried out in desperation and resigned himself finally to die. One Mexican revolutionary, Zapata, said "prefiero morir de pie, que vivir de rodillas," or "I would prefer to die on my feet than [continue] to live on my knees." Another man said "Don't tell them it ended this way: tell them I said something different." Either way, death puts life into perspective. And when life is in short supply, the words we choose are usually meaningful ones. If Luke recorded this as Jesus last words, he must have seen some value in them. Was it to increase the desperation in the reader? Perhaps. Was that the only reason he chose to record this? I doubt it. Jesus has one last thing to say, and he says it loudly. It's not whispered, and he doesn't tell his disciples "Okay, team: this is what you should say before you bite the arrow..." He voices audibly, greatly in fact, this phrase.
Before we started calling Genesis Genesis, we called it "brsht brh 'lhm," or "By way of beginning God created..." Without titles, you called a book what it was, or what it's first few words were. Its something akin to "You know that song, the Chickitey China song..." For instance, "Eli Eli, lema sebachtani" is a reference to Psalm 22, a prophecy about the Christ. That's another rant for another day, but in the same path as this one. Read Jesus death in Luke 23 and stop at verse 46. His last words point us to that which he did not have time or voice to say, but which he desired us most to see, so now let us read those. Psalms, 31, noticing verse 5.
"In you, O LORD, do I take refuge...
You are my rock and my fortress
and for your name's sake you lead me and guide me...
Into your hand I commit my spirit,
you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God.
I hate those who pay regard to worthless idols
but I trust in the Lord.
I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love,
because you have seen my affliction; you have known the distress of my soul,
and you have not delivered me into the hand of my enemy;
you have set my feet in a broad place.
I have become like a broken vessel.
For I hear the whispering of many-- terror on every side--...
But I trust in you, O LORD;
I say, 'You are my God...'
Oh, how abundant is your goodness...
Blessed be the LORD for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me...
I had said in my alarm / haste,
'I am cut off from your sight'...
LOVE THE LORD, ALL YOU HIS SAINTS!
The LORD preserves the faithful...
BE STRONG, and let your heart take courage,
all you who wait for the LORD!"
I could include the entire psalm, then I fear you wont read the text for yourself. So many options available, so many ways to say what He wished to say, and he chose this particular verbiage. Christ, in the most public and obvious place, shouts a reference to a psalm of David. And not just any psalm, he chooses one that screams of the steadfast love, the "hesed" (choke yourself as you say that and you'll likely get it right), of God. This is the OT equivalent of grace.
So what's the point? Jesus wasn't hanging there on the cross going, "Damn... how the heck did I get up here? I deserve better, what with being God and all. Gee, dad, would you pick up the phone (why does he have a cell if He never answers the thing?)?" He instead gives a hint. A hint some may have, and some clearly did not, understand. I wouldn't have gotten it. And yet here we are, this side of the cross, looking back to Christ, who was looking up. All eyes are on Him, and he says "LOOK! THIS is what the steadfast love, the enduring grace, the true covenant, the GOOD NEWS looks like!"
I feel defeat, and I've experienced dark times. The first chapter of the book "Crossing Myself" describes darkness and depression pretty well. The disciples understood darkness. They felt abandonment like never before. And somehow Christ, who was the one who truly experienced the deepest aspects of the very event, "for the JOY set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of God."
"Easter" as a term comes from the general revelation of the NEW LIFE the earth experiences in nature. And God is gracious, he reminds us annually of newness.
Easter for the Christian is different, particularly in impact. We celebrate today that Jesus got up, but not just because of the event, but because of the meaning. "Christ is risen" is more than a declaration of an event that happened 2000 years ago. It is a recollection of the sign, the symbol, the seal, of the STEADFAST LOVE, the GRACE, the GOSPEL of GOD! New Life isn't just about nature flourishing yet again. New life is RESURRECTION, both of the KING and of those who taste, see, and know to which KING they truly belong.
"In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God." (Gal 4:3-7)
*Sermon entitled, "The Son of Man Must Be Lifted Up" - fantastic exposition of Christ's understanding of the Old Testament as a preview to Himself
"Αληθώς Ανέστη!" (Aleithos Anesti!)
"Christ is risen!"
"Truly, He is risen!"
This is sometimes called the Paschal Greeting, and you can wikipedia or orthodoxwiki it as such. It is the essence of the event which we commemorate today. Yesterday I wrote a post with the intent of explaining how one disciple might have felt between the crucifixion and the announcement of the resurrection. Today I write as he might have felt after, as I feel now. I write as a 21st century Christian.
Jesus, Paul, and others in the Christ's corporeal day read the Old Testament (the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings) not as one who was living those times, but as one looking back on those times in light of the Cross. This is how I recommend we read them as well. Karl Barth described it like this: before Christ, all history looked forward to the Cross; after Christ all of history looks back on the Cross. John Piper says that the incarnation (Christmas) is less important than the resurrection (Easter), since Christmas is an event in preparation for Easter.* (The Eastern Church would disagree, and so would I, but it's a semantic difference for the most part.) You and I can read the New Testament and the Old Testament in light of the Work of Christ in Bodily Form, and also in light of our experience of God (the existential/postmodern hermeneutic). Which brings me out of my intro into the beginning, which was the end... in a sense. In fact, the reason I ended the post with it yesterday is just that: it SEEMED like the end, but in light of what followed we KNOW it to be only the beginning.
___________________________________
"Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, 'Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!' And having said this he breathed his last."
"καὶ φωνήσας φωνῇ μεγάλῃ ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς εἶπε· πάτερ, εἰς χεῖράς σου παρατίθεμαι τὸ πνεῦμά μου· καὶ ταῦτα εἰπὼν ἐξέπνευσεν"
Since I'm not translating the entire Bible to be read on a regular basis, I'm allowed to translate this as roughly and literally as I like. "And speaking / sounding / voicing with a great / loud speech / sound / voice, Jesus said 'Father, into the hands of Yours I commit / deposit / entrust the spirit of me.' And this being said, he breathed out."
At face value, this sounds like a cry of dereliction, or at the least like he cried out in desperation and resigned himself finally to die. One Mexican revolutionary, Zapata, said "prefiero morir de pie, que vivir de rodillas," or "I would prefer to die on my feet than [continue] to live on my knees." Another man said "Don't tell them it ended this way: tell them I said something different." Either way, death puts life into perspective. And when life is in short supply, the words we choose are usually meaningful ones. If Luke recorded this as Jesus last words, he must have seen some value in them. Was it to increase the desperation in the reader? Perhaps. Was that the only reason he chose to record this? I doubt it. Jesus has one last thing to say, and he says it loudly. It's not whispered, and he doesn't tell his disciples "Okay, team: this is what you should say before you bite the arrow..." He voices audibly, greatly in fact, this phrase.
Before we started calling Genesis Genesis, we called it "brsht brh 'lhm," or "By way of beginning God created..." Without titles, you called a book what it was, or what it's first few words were. Its something akin to "You know that song, the Chickitey China song..." For instance, "Eli Eli, lema sebachtani" is a reference to Psalm 22, a prophecy about the Christ. That's another rant for another day, but in the same path as this one. Read Jesus death in Luke 23 and stop at verse 46. His last words point us to that which he did not have time or voice to say, but which he desired us most to see, so now let us read those. Psalms, 31, noticing verse 5.
"In you, O LORD, do I take refuge...
You are my rock and my fortress
and for your name's sake you lead me and guide me...
Into your hand I commit my spirit,
you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God.
I hate those who pay regard to worthless idols
but I trust in the Lord.
I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love,
because you have seen my affliction; you have known the distress of my soul,
and you have not delivered me into the hand of my enemy;
you have set my feet in a broad place.
I have become like a broken vessel.
For I hear the whispering of many-- terror on every side--...
But I trust in you, O LORD;
I say, 'You are my God...'
Oh, how abundant is your goodness...
Blessed be the LORD for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me...
I had said in my alarm / haste,
'I am cut off from your sight'...
LOVE THE LORD, ALL YOU HIS SAINTS!
The LORD preserves the faithful...
BE STRONG, and let your heart take courage,
all you who wait for the LORD!"
I could include the entire psalm, then I fear you wont read the text for yourself. So many options available, so many ways to say what He wished to say, and he chose this particular verbiage. Christ, in the most public and obvious place, shouts a reference to a psalm of David. And not just any psalm, he chooses one that screams of the steadfast love, the "hesed" (choke yourself as you say that and you'll likely get it right), of God. This is the OT equivalent of grace.
So what's the point? Jesus wasn't hanging there on the cross going, "Damn... how the heck did I get up here? I deserve better, what with being God and all. Gee, dad, would you pick up the phone (why does he have a cell if He never answers the thing?)?" He instead gives a hint. A hint some may have, and some clearly did not, understand. I wouldn't have gotten it. And yet here we are, this side of the cross, looking back to Christ, who was looking up. All eyes are on Him, and he says "LOOK! THIS is what the steadfast love, the enduring grace, the true covenant, the GOOD NEWS looks like!"
I feel defeat, and I've experienced dark times. The first chapter of the book "Crossing Myself" describes darkness and depression pretty well. The disciples understood darkness. They felt abandonment like never before. And somehow Christ, who was the one who truly experienced the deepest aspects of the very event, "for the JOY set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of God."
"Easter" as a term comes from the general revelation of the NEW LIFE the earth experiences in nature. And God is gracious, he reminds us annually of newness.
Easter for the Christian is different, particularly in impact. We celebrate today that Jesus got up, but not just because of the event, but because of the meaning. "Christ is risen" is more than a declaration of an event that happened 2000 years ago. It is a recollection of the sign, the symbol, the seal, of the STEADFAST LOVE, the GRACE, the GOSPEL of GOD! New Life isn't just about nature flourishing yet again. New life is RESURRECTION, both of the KING and of those who taste, see, and know to which KING they truly belong.
"In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God." (Gal 4:3-7)
*Sermon entitled, "The Son of Man Must Be Lifted Up" - fantastic exposition of Christ's understanding of the Old Testament as a preview to Himself
Saturday, April 11, 2009
A Dark Saturday...
This Easter holds special meaning for me. Partly because God has stirred my soul, partly because I'm submitting to what work He is doing. (Last year I thought I'd be home by Easter, and instead I had to spend it treating it like every other day.) Yesterday, Friday, I read the story of the crucifixion. Not the whole account, just the part the part about Christ being tried and hung on a tree. I was so frustrated by the cultural norm of wishing people "Happy [holiday]," in this case Good Friday, without ever realizing that its a Holy Day, and that's what makes it Good. So I read the story and I stopped, not allowing myself to continue.
I've spent some of yesterday and today thinking about what today means. We gloss over today. Not many took off of work to observe what today is. Today is dark. In fact, today a storm looms over Cedar Park. There's a chill in the air, water falls intermittently, not sufficient to clean anything, but enough to make dreary the mood of most. Everyone's taking refuge indoors, huddling together, some with family and some with friends, unaware of what's going on, or rather what we commemorate today is going on.
And so today I think what it would have meant to be a disciple that day. "It's dark and dreary today. The sun went black yesterday, and light has some, but somehow it just isn't the same. Jesus died yesterday. He was beaten, he was scourged, he was mocked, and he was crucified. He hung there, barely breathing, between those two thieves or murderers or rebels or whatever they were. They didn't deserve to go the say way He did... But you know what's even worse?" I think as my throat feels scratchy and my voice cracks. "I DID NOT stand with Him! I had the opportunity to go with Him, and I cowered in fear. And maybe it is just as well; maybe he wasn't who he said he was. If he was, though... If He was the Christ, then I'm no better than that thief next to Him! In fact, I'm worse - at least that guy had the guts, the gall, to even in his naked shame defend Jesus to the other, and to beg to join Him, wherever He went!"
"But its over now. He's gone, and I don't know what to do. Some think there's more to come. Some think we were all fooled. Peter's going fishing, and the way he said it sure didn't sound like he was coming back. I don't know what I'll do. I just know I'm confused. Maybe we missed it, you know? What if He meant us to understand something, what if He knew what was coming, as He often did...?" I smile, remembering. "Why couldn't He give us some FINAL hint?! Something to cling to, some hope, even if a false one?! I JUST WANT TO BELIEVE, but all I have to cling to are what words I could hear from my place in the crowd... in the crowd, instead of next to him..."
"Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, 'Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!' And having said this he breathed his last."
(And like the disciples then, I think we so often miss what Jesus was saying. I'll explain why tomorrow...)
I've spent some of yesterday and today thinking about what today means. We gloss over today. Not many took off of work to observe what today is. Today is dark. In fact, today a storm looms over Cedar Park. There's a chill in the air, water falls intermittently, not sufficient to clean anything, but enough to make dreary the mood of most. Everyone's taking refuge indoors, huddling together, some with family and some with friends, unaware of what's going on, or rather what we commemorate today is going on.
And so today I think what it would have meant to be a disciple that day. "It's dark and dreary today. The sun went black yesterday, and light has some, but somehow it just isn't the same. Jesus died yesterday. He was beaten, he was scourged, he was mocked, and he was crucified. He hung there, barely breathing, between those two thieves or murderers or rebels or whatever they were. They didn't deserve to go the say way He did... But you know what's even worse?" I think as my throat feels scratchy and my voice cracks. "I DID NOT stand with Him! I had the opportunity to go with Him, and I cowered in fear. And maybe it is just as well; maybe he wasn't who he said he was. If he was, though... If He was the Christ, then I'm no better than that thief next to Him! In fact, I'm worse - at least that guy had the guts, the gall, to even in his naked shame defend Jesus to the other, and to beg to join Him, wherever He went!"
"But its over now. He's gone, and I don't know what to do. Some think there's more to come. Some think we were all fooled. Peter's going fishing, and the way he said it sure didn't sound like he was coming back. I don't know what I'll do. I just know I'm confused. Maybe we missed it, you know? What if He meant us to understand something, what if He knew what was coming, as He often did...?" I smile, remembering. "Why couldn't He give us some FINAL hint?! Something to cling to, some hope, even if a false one?! I JUST WANT TO BELIEVE, but all I have to cling to are what words I could hear from my place in the crowd... in the crowd, instead of next to him..."
"Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, 'Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!' And having said this he breathed his last."
(And like the disciples then, I think we so often miss what Jesus was saying. I'll explain why tomorrow...)
Thursday, March 19, 2009
How to Know What Degree a Person is Pursuing Based on the Car They Drive...
So I've developed a system I use while crossing campus. You see, based on the car someone drives you can usually get a good picture of what level of education they have received. I know what you're thinking: the better the degree, the better the salary, the nicer the car. Well you're wrong... OH SO WRONG!
Undergraduate Student:
Vehicle: Acura - BMW, Mercedes. Domestic models include Corvette's and similar.
Condition: Virtually new, good condition. May have dings from stray runners on the Bear Trail.
Crosswalks / Pedestrians: Does not stop; probably not paying attention, doesn't care, or has a place to be.
Payment: None (at least for student)
Graduate Student:
Vehicle: Kia, Ford - Honda, Toyota
Condition: Moderate. May have dings from now aging Grad Student returning from Bear Trail, unable to stand on his or her own power.
Crosswalks / Pedestrians: Does not stop; disgustingly sleep deprived, only vaguely aware of surroundings / state of consciousness.
Payment: Small - Moderate, depending on marital status and time between Undergraduate and Graduate pursuits.
Ph.D or D.Min Candidate:
Vehicle: Huffy (bicycle) - Kia, Hyundai. Probably made in Taiwan.
Condition: It's not pretty. Probably has dings from everywhere, including childs' seats and skulls.
Crosswalks / Pedestrians: Does not stop; likely no longer has functioning brakes / knees, feet / aging brain.
Payment: None. They may get bills, but they aren't making payments :-)
Undergraduate Student:
Vehicle: Acura - BMW, Mercedes. Domestic models include Corvette's and similar.
Condition: Virtually new, good condition. May have dings from stray runners on the Bear Trail.
Crosswalks / Pedestrians: Does not stop; probably not paying attention, doesn't care, or has a place to be.
Payment: None (at least for student)
Graduate Student:
Vehicle: Kia, Ford - Honda, Toyota
Condition: Moderate. May have dings from now aging Grad Student returning from Bear Trail, unable to stand on his or her own power.
Crosswalks / Pedestrians: Does not stop; disgustingly sleep deprived, only vaguely aware of surroundings / state of consciousness.
Payment: Small - Moderate, depending on marital status and time between Undergraduate and Graduate pursuits.
Ph.D or D.Min Candidate:
Vehicle: Huffy (bicycle) - Kia, Hyundai. Probably made in Taiwan.
Condition: It's not pretty. Probably has dings from everywhere, including childs' seats and skulls.
Crosswalks / Pedestrians: Does not stop; likely no longer has functioning brakes / knees, feet / aging brain.
Payment: None. They may get bills, but they aren't making payments :-)
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Apostrophe to Sarah Pierpont by Jonathan Edwards [c. 1723]
(Why say again what has already been said better than I could articulate it myself?)
They say there is a young lady in [New Haven] who is beloved of that almighty Being, who made and rules the world, and that there are certain seasons in which this great Being, in some way or other invisible, comes to her and fills her mind with exceeding sweet delight, and that she hardly cares for anything, except to meditate on him--that she expects after a while to be received up where he is, to be raised up out of the world and caught up into heaven; being assured that he loves her too well to let her remain at a distance from him always. There she is to dwell with him, and to be ravished with his love and delight forever. Therefore, if you present all the world before her, with the richest of its treasures, she disregards it and cares not for it, and is unmindful of any pain or affliction. She has a strange sweetness in her mind, and singular purity in her affections; is most just and conscientious in all her actions; and you could not persuade her to do anything wrong or sinful, if you would give her all the world, lest she should offend this great Being. She is of a wonderful sweetness, calmness and universal benevolence of mind; especially after those seasons in which this great God has manifested himself to her mind. She will sometimes go about from place to place, singing sweetly; and seems to be always full of joy and pleasure; and no one knows for what. She loves to be alone, and to wander in the fields and on the mountains, and seems to have someone invisible always conversing with her.
(Seriously, is anyone NOT in love with Sarah at this point?)
They say there is a young lady in [New Haven] who is beloved of that almighty Being, who made and rules the world, and that there are certain seasons in which this great Being, in some way or other invisible, comes to her and fills her mind with exceeding sweet delight, and that she hardly cares for anything, except to meditate on him--that she expects after a while to be received up where he is, to be raised up out of the world and caught up into heaven; being assured that he loves her too well to let her remain at a distance from him always. There she is to dwell with him, and to be ravished with his love and delight forever. Therefore, if you present all the world before her, with the richest of its treasures, she disregards it and cares not for it, and is unmindful of any pain or affliction. She has a strange sweetness in her mind, and singular purity in her affections; is most just and conscientious in all her actions; and you could not persuade her to do anything wrong or sinful, if you would give her all the world, lest she should offend this great Being. She is of a wonderful sweetness, calmness and universal benevolence of mind; especially after those seasons in which this great God has manifested himself to her mind. She will sometimes go about from place to place, singing sweetly; and seems to be always full of joy and pleasure; and no one knows for what. She loves to be alone, and to wander in the fields and on the mountains, and seems to have someone invisible always conversing with her.
(Seriously, is anyone NOT in love with Sarah at this point?)
Monday, December 1, 2008
What is Worship?
This is the essay I wrote for Christian Worship at Truett, which was taught by Dr. Terry York. If you open a Southern Baptist hymnal and look towards the end you will find an index of the contributing authors. You will find his name in that list.
My Theology of Worship
When I was in high school my church decided it was time to hire a new, more experienced, full time youth minister. They gathered a panel of “experts” to aide in the interview process: parents of youth, a few teens, some singles. Aside from the pastoral staff in the interviews, few if any in the room had any experience in youth ministry other than the one we were all currently involved it, and even fewer had any training. As tense as that was, I can only imagine how much more it must been when a person comes to interview for the positions of lead pastor or worship pastor (verbiage varies). When people ask “What is worship?” they usually want an abbreviated answer. At this point, I doubt I could give one.
Worship loosely defined
Worship is a declaration of the worth of God. This dynamic flows in many directions. The believer’s task of showing the value of God to them for onlookers is worship. So too is the task of showing God, the one being worshiped.
But worship is more than a “declaration,” is it not? Declaration can carry a connotation of intellectual assent to various propositions about some topic, in this case God. But worship ought to be more than an intellectual endeavor. It is an experience – one which overflows from the recognition of the work of God in the heart, mind, and life of the believer. It should not be dependant upon circumstances, but on the revelation of the Divine in any circumstance. One of songs which I cannot help but sing when things fail to follow the plan I have carefully outlined for them starts like this: “Blessed be Your name in the land that is plentiful / Where Your streams of abundance flow / Blessed be Your name / And blessed be Your name when I'm found in the desert place / Though I walk through the wilderness / Blessed be Your name.” And it usually closes with “You give and take away / You give and take away / My heart will choose to say / Lord, blessed be Your name.”
“Worship is the fuel for mission’s flame”
As long as I am borrowing from other Christian’s hearts put into print, I might as well point to this idea which has become central to my idea of worship: “worship is the fuel for mission’s flame.” That is, the overflow of worship is missions. Overflow here can come in two senses. First, when a person knows and declares or experiences the glory of God they will naturally share the gospel with others. Second, that when a persons heart is so filled with the worth of God it will, like a cup that is filled beyond its capacity to contain the substance within it, pour out over the edges and touch and eventually soak everything with which it comes into contact.
This statement also reflects another way in which worship fuels missions: sometimes the act of or response to worship is missions. When a person is called to Africa, or China, or Australia, or New Orleans, or Delaware, or to the impoverished in Waco or Austin they are made able to do the things which missions requires because though they were sent[1] by the voice of God, they are enabled and encouraged by their knowledge and experience of the worth of God (which is His glory).
And still another aspect can be seen from this idea. That is, that “missions exist because worship does not.” When I try a really great wine, or discover a new game, or make a new friend, or hear some hilarious joke or anecdote, or enroll in some class, or experience anything that transcends the basic, mundane, “day to day” I find a desire to share that flavor, to invite others to that game, to introduce that friend at large, to tell that joke, or to tell others how “ashamed” I am to be so excited about a class, etc. So too it is with missions then, for when a believer recognizes the glorious worth of God: we want others to share in the goodness of that experience alongside us: we desire others to know and experience our joy and to declare the goodness of it alongside us for whoever the audience may be. In the case of worship and missions, that audience is the God who initiates it and the people He seeks to declare His love to.
Worship is an expression
C. S. Lewis wrote of the Psalms that before he came to faith that they appeared to him as an old woman begging for praise. Later, after he began to believe, he came to recognize this truth: that the fulfillment of joy is the expression of it. Lovers do not (or at least should not) declare their love for one another out of duty, but because the expression of that joy in one another is the fulfillment of it. Just as in missions worship is expressed, so in all of the Christian life, what we do is an expression, whether positive or negative, or how we evaluate the worth of God. The movie Batman Begins raised an interesting question for a friend of mine, which he asked many of us: “Is it who you are underneath, or what you do that matters?” The question is sophistry; it sounds like a wise endeavor on the surface, but fails miserably once the surface is scratched and the core is revealed. They are effectually the same thing. A physical heart is only so useful as it pumps, a brain so useful as it accomplishes its complex functions, a lung so useful as its expansion, contraction, and absorption. If it ceases to function is it still a heart, a brain, a lung? In essence, yes. But in the accidental properties which make it distinct and valuable it fails to be of use. All that to say this: a Christian who fails to worship by deed, which includes expression in many respects, may retain the title of Christian, but fails to be useful or effective. In this sense, I think, do Paul and James dialogue and come to agreement. “Faith without works is dead”[2] (James 2:26, see also 2:18, 20).
Worship understood as an event
I have made it thus far into the question without referring to worship as or encapsulating worship into a single event held generally on a Sunday morning. This is intentional and crucial to my understanding and theology of worship as a Christian concept. I do not, however, deny the connection of worship as a whole with a worship service. I simply do not see them as a 1-to-1 comparison. The format and planning of a worship service should inform, influence, and facilitate worship. It should also be informed by worship. As discussed significantly in my first semester at Truett, the planning of a worship service is intensely complex and possibly political. And with good reason too, for ever single aspect of that service affects worship itself. There is a Latin maxim which captures this idea well: lex orandi, lex credendi.[3] It loosely means “the law of worship is the law of belief.” Theology and worship are affected not only by what you include in a service, but also by what you exclude. And when you do include something, the manner in which you do it is extremely important.
Let me make this more concrete. The planners of a worship service need to decide whether or not to celebrate the Eucharist the following Sunday. If they do not include it, they deemphasize its importance in Christian worship and make a statement about its efficacy. If they do include, they must realize that ritual carries connotations of Roman Catholic Sacramentalism and a doctrine of Transubstantiation which has been severely misunderstood by the gross majority of Americans for man years. It also connotes to many young people of the ideas of “dead ritual” and “stale faith.” Getting beyond this is a struggle in itself, but now they must decide what to call the event. Is it the Eucharist? Communion? Lord’s Supper? The Eucharist carries those Roman Catholic ideas most strongly, but the Greek ευχαριστω literally means “I give thanks; Communion emphasizes coming together as a body; Lord’s Supper terminology raises ideas about a meal together, as well as specific recollection about the Passion Narrative. All are beneficial in their time and place. So after placing all the names in a hat and getting the eldest of the elders to pick one (with his left hand, without looking, on a Thursday afternoon, etc.), we have to decide just how we are going to perform the non-sacramental sacraments. What liturgy do we use: that of the Gospels, or of Paul? How should it be served: separate elements? intinction?[4] Who is going to hand it out? If it is the pastor, does that elevate him too highly? Can men and women both serve in this capacity? Is it a “come and get it” buffet, where we deemphasize the pastor but also deemphasize the unity found in common and mutual submission to a single authority who answers to the body as a whole? And what will we serve? Saltines or club crackers or Hawaiian bred? Welch’s grape juice or Yellow Tail Merlot or a basic California red, or perhaps the actual blood of a recently slaughtered lamb?[5] Am I being facetious? Absolutely, but “a lot of truth has been said in jest.”
The inclusive / exclusive language debate is also a hot one. A few days ago I was watching a Saturday Night Live sketch in which a guest preacher, played by Ashton Kutcher, has geared up to preach a sermon at an all African-American[6] church. He opens with, “I’d like to start by reading you some Scripture tonight. ‘Now Abraham had two children, one by his wife and another by a slave—“ at which point the regular preacher immediately cuts him off, warning him, “Now that just ain’t gonna work in a black church!” Why bring that up? Because it points out issues that are alive and “well” in the Free Church tradition today. Jesus may “love all the little children of the world: red and yellow, black and white,” but many Asian and Native American families do not hear this song the same way a middle-class white suburbanite might.
On a doctrinal front, those who speak or sing from the pulpit, stage, or front of the cafeteria must live in the dynamic tension of preaching what they believe to be the truth without alienating those whose essential doctrine is sound, but who may disagree on more minute issues. One church might quote John Piper or Jonathan Edwards extensively and so alienate the informed Arminians and Open Theists in the room, while another church might quote Foster, Boyd, or Yancey so many times that now the staunchest of Calvinists and Arminians band together (for the first time in a while) to rid the community of the heretics.
The influence of the class on my understanding of worship planning
Probably the most beneficial part of the class, for me, was the worship planning project. Being put into groups of people from various backgrounds and asked to put together a service for a theoretical church of which we all had different conceptions was difficult, to say the least. There was almost a sense of bureaucracy involved, constantly needing approval on various drafts on what seem to be the most minute of issues, although they clearly matter to someone, if only a small contingent.
As for the lectures, three things have stuck with me all semester and continue to influence the way I think about worship. First, Dr. York gave a scenario of a very real, potentially painful event. One family in the church just had a child born to them, while another lost a child that same week. Perhaps they both had the same medical complication. How do you both celebrate with the one and grieve with the other in the context of a community which cannot be divided like assets in a divorce?
Second is the idea of the cycle in at least four parts: Entrance, word, table, sending out.[7] As per John Wesley and countless theologians throughout the ages, there is something valuable to be said for methods, rituals, and processes which help the individual Christian by serving as a structured framework on which to stretch the canvas which bears the mural of their experience.
Last but not least is the idea of “dynamic tensions.” It has been a prevailing thought in my life for the last few years that hard and fast answers don’t come often in the Christian life. Most of the Christian life, in fact, is meant to be lived “in the tension,” between two extremes. This is beneficial, though. Rules and regulations allow a unit to move independent of a central authority and function effectively, as in the Marine Corps. I don’t need a General or Sergeant Major to tell me when to get my Marines chow or to call a “cease fire” on the range. I am an NCO and I know the rules. Living “in the tension,” though, requires us to rely constantly on the guidance of the Holy Spirit, on prayer, on Scripture, and on the wisdom and experience of the community of faith.
[1] Greek: μισσεω, “I send.”
[2] A good understanding here might exchange the word “dead” for “barren.”
[3] This is actually an abbreviated version of the maxim “egem credendi lex statuat supplicandi,” popularized by St. Prosper of Acquitaine
[4] This is the practice of dipping of the bread into the wine and consuming the elements together.
[5] That eldest elder is going to have a busy week.
[6] Even here inclusive language is an issue.
[7] I have here changed the vocabulary to suit my understanding, but the thought is the same.
My Theology of Worship
When I was in high school my church decided it was time to hire a new, more experienced, full time youth minister. They gathered a panel of “experts” to aide in the interview process: parents of youth, a few teens, some singles. Aside from the pastoral staff in the interviews, few if any in the room had any experience in youth ministry other than the one we were all currently involved it, and even fewer had any training. As tense as that was, I can only imagine how much more it must been when a person comes to interview for the positions of lead pastor or worship pastor (verbiage varies). When people ask “What is worship?” they usually want an abbreviated answer. At this point, I doubt I could give one.
Worship loosely defined
Worship is a declaration of the worth of God. This dynamic flows in many directions. The believer’s task of showing the value of God to them for onlookers is worship. So too is the task of showing God, the one being worshiped.
But worship is more than a “declaration,” is it not? Declaration can carry a connotation of intellectual assent to various propositions about some topic, in this case God. But worship ought to be more than an intellectual endeavor. It is an experience – one which overflows from the recognition of the work of God in the heart, mind, and life of the believer. It should not be dependant upon circumstances, but on the revelation of the Divine in any circumstance. One of songs which I cannot help but sing when things fail to follow the plan I have carefully outlined for them starts like this: “Blessed be Your name in the land that is plentiful / Where Your streams of abundance flow / Blessed be Your name / And blessed be Your name when I'm found in the desert place / Though I walk through the wilderness / Blessed be Your name.” And it usually closes with “You give and take away / You give and take away / My heart will choose to say / Lord, blessed be Your name.”
“Worship is the fuel for mission’s flame”
As long as I am borrowing from other Christian’s hearts put into print, I might as well point to this idea which has become central to my idea of worship: “worship is the fuel for mission’s flame.” That is, the overflow of worship is missions. Overflow here can come in two senses. First, when a person knows and declares or experiences the glory of God they will naturally share the gospel with others. Second, that when a persons heart is so filled with the worth of God it will, like a cup that is filled beyond its capacity to contain the substance within it, pour out over the edges and touch and eventually soak everything with which it comes into contact.
This statement also reflects another way in which worship fuels missions: sometimes the act of or response to worship is missions. When a person is called to Africa, or China, or Australia, or New Orleans, or Delaware, or to the impoverished in Waco or Austin they are made able to do the things which missions requires because though they were sent[1] by the voice of God, they are enabled and encouraged by their knowledge and experience of the worth of God (which is His glory).
And still another aspect can be seen from this idea. That is, that “missions exist because worship does not.” When I try a really great wine, or discover a new game, or make a new friend, or hear some hilarious joke or anecdote, or enroll in some class, or experience anything that transcends the basic, mundane, “day to day” I find a desire to share that flavor, to invite others to that game, to introduce that friend at large, to tell that joke, or to tell others how “ashamed” I am to be so excited about a class, etc. So too it is with missions then, for when a believer recognizes the glorious worth of God: we want others to share in the goodness of that experience alongside us: we desire others to know and experience our joy and to declare the goodness of it alongside us for whoever the audience may be. In the case of worship and missions, that audience is the God who initiates it and the people He seeks to declare His love to.
Worship is an expression
C. S. Lewis wrote of the Psalms that before he came to faith that they appeared to him as an old woman begging for praise. Later, after he began to believe, he came to recognize this truth: that the fulfillment of joy is the expression of it. Lovers do not (or at least should not) declare their love for one another out of duty, but because the expression of that joy in one another is the fulfillment of it. Just as in missions worship is expressed, so in all of the Christian life, what we do is an expression, whether positive or negative, or how we evaluate the worth of God. The movie Batman Begins raised an interesting question for a friend of mine, which he asked many of us: “Is it who you are underneath, or what you do that matters?” The question is sophistry; it sounds like a wise endeavor on the surface, but fails miserably once the surface is scratched and the core is revealed. They are effectually the same thing. A physical heart is only so useful as it pumps, a brain so useful as it accomplishes its complex functions, a lung so useful as its expansion, contraction, and absorption. If it ceases to function is it still a heart, a brain, a lung? In essence, yes. But in the accidental properties which make it distinct and valuable it fails to be of use. All that to say this: a Christian who fails to worship by deed, which includes expression in many respects, may retain the title of Christian, but fails to be useful or effective. In this sense, I think, do Paul and James dialogue and come to agreement. “Faith without works is dead”[2] (James 2:26, see also 2:18, 20).
Worship understood as an event
I have made it thus far into the question without referring to worship as or encapsulating worship into a single event held generally on a Sunday morning. This is intentional and crucial to my understanding and theology of worship as a Christian concept. I do not, however, deny the connection of worship as a whole with a worship service. I simply do not see them as a 1-to-1 comparison. The format and planning of a worship service should inform, influence, and facilitate worship. It should also be informed by worship. As discussed significantly in my first semester at Truett, the planning of a worship service is intensely complex and possibly political. And with good reason too, for ever single aspect of that service affects worship itself. There is a Latin maxim which captures this idea well: lex orandi, lex credendi.[3] It loosely means “the law of worship is the law of belief.” Theology and worship are affected not only by what you include in a service, but also by what you exclude. And when you do include something, the manner in which you do it is extremely important.
Let me make this more concrete. The planners of a worship service need to decide whether or not to celebrate the Eucharist the following Sunday. If they do not include it, they deemphasize its importance in Christian worship and make a statement about its efficacy. If they do include, they must realize that ritual carries connotations of Roman Catholic Sacramentalism and a doctrine of Transubstantiation which has been severely misunderstood by the gross majority of Americans for man years. It also connotes to many young people of the ideas of “dead ritual” and “stale faith.” Getting beyond this is a struggle in itself, but now they must decide what to call the event. Is it the Eucharist? Communion? Lord’s Supper? The Eucharist carries those Roman Catholic ideas most strongly, but the Greek ευχαριστω literally means “I give thanks; Communion emphasizes coming together as a body; Lord’s Supper terminology raises ideas about a meal together, as well as specific recollection about the Passion Narrative. All are beneficial in their time and place. So after placing all the names in a hat and getting the eldest of the elders to pick one (with his left hand, without looking, on a Thursday afternoon, etc.), we have to decide just how we are going to perform the non-sacramental sacraments. What liturgy do we use: that of the Gospels, or of Paul? How should it be served: separate elements? intinction?[4] Who is going to hand it out? If it is the pastor, does that elevate him too highly? Can men and women both serve in this capacity? Is it a “come and get it” buffet, where we deemphasize the pastor but also deemphasize the unity found in common and mutual submission to a single authority who answers to the body as a whole? And what will we serve? Saltines or club crackers or Hawaiian bred? Welch’s grape juice or Yellow Tail Merlot or a basic California red, or perhaps the actual blood of a recently slaughtered lamb?[5] Am I being facetious? Absolutely, but “a lot of truth has been said in jest.”
The inclusive / exclusive language debate is also a hot one. A few days ago I was watching a Saturday Night Live sketch in which a guest preacher, played by Ashton Kutcher, has geared up to preach a sermon at an all African-American[6] church. He opens with, “I’d like to start by reading you some Scripture tonight. ‘Now Abraham had two children, one by his wife and another by a slave—“ at which point the regular preacher immediately cuts him off, warning him, “Now that just ain’t gonna work in a black church!” Why bring that up? Because it points out issues that are alive and “well” in the Free Church tradition today. Jesus may “love all the little children of the world: red and yellow, black and white,” but many Asian and Native American families do not hear this song the same way a middle-class white suburbanite might.
On a doctrinal front, those who speak or sing from the pulpit, stage, or front of the cafeteria must live in the dynamic tension of preaching what they believe to be the truth without alienating those whose essential doctrine is sound, but who may disagree on more minute issues. One church might quote John Piper or Jonathan Edwards extensively and so alienate the informed Arminians and Open Theists in the room, while another church might quote Foster, Boyd, or Yancey so many times that now the staunchest of Calvinists and Arminians band together (for the first time in a while) to rid the community of the heretics.
The influence of the class on my understanding of worship planning
Probably the most beneficial part of the class, for me, was the worship planning project. Being put into groups of people from various backgrounds and asked to put together a service for a theoretical church of which we all had different conceptions was difficult, to say the least. There was almost a sense of bureaucracy involved, constantly needing approval on various drafts on what seem to be the most minute of issues, although they clearly matter to someone, if only a small contingent.
As for the lectures, three things have stuck with me all semester and continue to influence the way I think about worship. First, Dr. York gave a scenario of a very real, potentially painful event. One family in the church just had a child born to them, while another lost a child that same week. Perhaps they both had the same medical complication. How do you both celebrate with the one and grieve with the other in the context of a community which cannot be divided like assets in a divorce?
Second is the idea of the cycle in at least four parts: Entrance, word, table, sending out.[7] As per John Wesley and countless theologians throughout the ages, there is something valuable to be said for methods, rituals, and processes which help the individual Christian by serving as a structured framework on which to stretch the canvas which bears the mural of their experience.
Last but not least is the idea of “dynamic tensions.” It has been a prevailing thought in my life for the last few years that hard and fast answers don’t come often in the Christian life. Most of the Christian life, in fact, is meant to be lived “in the tension,” between two extremes. This is beneficial, though. Rules and regulations allow a unit to move independent of a central authority and function effectively, as in the Marine Corps. I don’t need a General or Sergeant Major to tell me when to get my Marines chow or to call a “cease fire” on the range. I am an NCO and I know the rules. Living “in the tension,” though, requires us to rely constantly on the guidance of the Holy Spirit, on prayer, on Scripture, and on the wisdom and experience of the community of faith.
[1] Greek: μισσεω, “I send.”
[2] A good understanding here might exchange the word “dead” for “barren.”
[3] This is actually an abbreviated version of the maxim “egem credendi lex statuat supplicandi,” popularized by St. Prosper of Acquitaine
[4] This is the practice of dipping of the bread into the wine and consuming the elements together.
[5] That eldest elder is going to have a busy week.
[6] Even here inclusive language is an issue.
[7] I have here changed the vocabulary to suit my understanding, but the thought is the same.
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