CCBlogs thinking critically, living faithfully

Luke 9.

As the old folks would say, we had a very “anointed” Bible study this morning which began at Luke 9.51:

When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.

This verse begins Luke’s journey to Jerusalem, ending 19.48, the centerpiece of Luke’s gospel, unique to him. He portrays Jesus’ life (and that of Christians) as a journey to the theological center, to the cross.

I’m told a seeker church doesn’t display the cross because seekers don’t know what it truly means. I couldn’t agree to that, because without the cross there is no true Christianity, only cheap grace, cotton candy choruses and sermons for simpletons.

Twice in this chapter Jesus predicts his suffering and death at the hands of religious and political authorities. The cross did not result from a miscalculation on Jesus’ part or manipulation by Judas. From before the foundation of the world, a cross was erected in the heart of God. That’s why, Jesus continues:

23‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. 25What does it profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves? Luke 9 NRSV.

What is the cross?

For Jesus and people of his day it was the instrument of capital punishment imposed on those guilty of heinous crimes against the rule of the Empire. Therefore, these people were put to death in the most brutal way possible, in order to terrorize the population into abject subjugation. Roman citizens were exempt.

“Take up your cross daily” did not bring to mind silver or gold necklaces or jeweled art objects reverently, prominently displayed in temples. Today we might say “take up the noose or electric chair.” Crucifixion was intended to be the most extreme example of cruel and unusual punishment.

To take up the cross for Americans, raised in the dust and gunsmoke of the Old West, means to face the violence at the heart of our culture. Inner city residents, people of color, and the poor know violence at a level that the privileged classes cannot comprehend. Whole continents, like Africa and South America, regions like Tibet, and most of the poor in the two thirds world experience the violence of destitution.

Gandhi said, “Poverty is the worst form of violence.” On the cross and the resurrection God conquered violence, without resorting to violence. We wage the peaceful war of justice.

When the disciples shared their pitiful feast of five loaves and two fish with the crowd of thousands (women and children do count), each disciple gathered a basket full of left overs, more than he began with. So it is with group Bible study when it works: even as faciliator/teacher, you end up with much more than you began with.

Thanks be to God!

Ken Follett’s 1989 novel Pillars of the Earth is mesmerizing. I happened on the made-for-TV series, episodes 1 & 2, and went to the Kindle book. I love all things medieval, and a novel about building a cathedral is a find. Sadly, as Follett acknowledges in the Preface, he doesn’t believe in God, he barely tips his hat to the devotion that inspired medieval builders and artisans; also, his characters are totally modern, not medieval, personas. I don’t recommend the book for other reasons. It’s a great story and Follett a great craftsman; plot drives it more than character and you won’t find literary beauty in its pages.

For the people of Trinity United Methodist Church, Richmond, Virginia

UM Hymnal #188. Tune: Gift of Love. Meter: LM

Occasional verse

Two hundred twenty years of grace
You’ve given this community,
Two hundred twenty years of praise
To God, O holy Trinity!

Standard verses

Your Church, Almighty God, we are,
Upon the rock of faith we stand,
We are your people, near and far,
Who hear and do what you command.

We are your people, called to praise
the God who made the earth and sun,
Who counts the number of our days—
the Father, Holy Spirit, Son.

A royal priesthood, not a place,
A holy nation, not a race,
We all have known amazing grace,
And turn our eyes to Jesus’ face.

We are your body, not our own,
We live together, not alone,
For sinners, saints and martyrs home,
Built for your praise, of living stone.

We are a people who complete
The Savior’s mission as we serve
Our neighbors who live down the street
Or past the far horizon’s curve.

Your love, O God, makes of us one,
Despite our vast diversity,
Like Father, Holy Spirit, Son,
Three Persons, yet one Trinity.

 [Children’s Verse]
Your altars, Loving Trinity,
where little sparrows nest their young—
there we will always long to be,
for it’s to you that we belong!

SEASONS OF THE CHURCH YEAR

Advent

Called out of darkness into light,
Called out of loss to priceless gain,
Awaiting dawn in dark of night,
We find your joy still shines through pain.

Christmas (for children)

Not like the inn that had no room,
But like the manger, soft and warm—
we make a space for Christ newborn,
to keep the Baby safe from harm.

Epiphany

Arise and shine! The light has come!
From every land the Wise arrive
To worship Christ, your only Son,
And in abundant life to thrive.

Lent

Return to Me, thus says the Lord,
with fasting, grief, and honest tears,
O rend your hearts, let go your swords,
And I’ll restore the wasted years.

Easter

We give you thanks, we sing your praise—
Your mercies last through all our days,
You sent the Christ the world to save,
You raise us up from our dark grave.

Pentecost…Ps 126

We are the workers in your field—
May us your Spirit now employ:
Who go forth weeping, bearing seed,
Will bring the harvest home with joy.

Copyright © 2010 by John Hamilton

Upon recommendation I read The Alchemist by best-selling Brazilian author Paulo Coelho. A fable/parable novel, it has some great insights into why we don’t pursue our dreams.

What bugs me about the book is its New Age-y themes. Although Christ appears in the book, there are a crystal shop, omens, Melchizedek, and the mysterious Urim and Thummim as well.

Many people may be blest by the book, but I have a feeling of dys-ease about stuff like this, born of Isaiah’s prohibition of the occult (8.19-20).

Today’s Christians have yet to decide where the boundaries are about the occult. Yeah, that includes Harry Potter—all volumes of which I’ve read and admire.

If you compare Narnia to Potter, however, you notice the difference between books drenched in the Bible and the Holy Spirit (Lewis) and books which commend virtue but do not provide a foundation for it (Rowling). The culture has lost much of its Christian light.

I don’t like closed-minded critics, and hope not to be one.

This issue belongs among those like food offered to idols (1 Cor. 8). Some say such things as witches have no life, hence are harmless; while, for others, witchcraft is a grave danger to life in Christ.

Coelho’s book was a good read, a fast read. I especially liked the prologue to the 10th anniversary edition. My dream has been to write and publish, which I’ve done only a little. Perhaps Coelho will encourage me not to let go of that dream yet.

The Pilgrimage, same author, is an autobiographical/fictional account of the author’s pilgrimage along El Camino de Santiago de Compestelo (Way of St. James in northern Spain), which he describes as a life-changing event. Would it answer some of my questions?

Your insights are welcome.

(You may prefer first to read the I Will section at the end of this post.)

I love the Bible—having read it, learned it by heart, taught it, preached and (I hope) lived up to it all my days. I believe by composing, preserving, and passing down through generations these scriptures the Hebrew, Jewish and Christian peoples have sought to hear (often succeeding in  hearing) the true Word of God.

Darkness (whatever you understand it to be) also loves to use the Bible, however, creating diversion, division and hatred, and causing pride, hypocrisy. and legalism. Darkness also wrongly uses texts like Zephaniah to persuade us there’s no hope, no use, no future—when by God’s grace there is hope, there is a point, there is a bright future for all who listen and follow the God of light and love.

Zephaniah, one of the 12 short books at the end of the OT, gives End of the World crazies a reason to celebrate! Try this:

“I will sweep away everything from the face of the earth”
—declares the Lord.
“I will sweep away [humans] and beast;
I will sweep away the birds of the sky
And the fish of the sea….
And I will destroy [humankind]
from the face of the earth”—declares the Lord. (Zeph 1.2-3, TANAKH)

The note says the Hebrew may mean the total destruction of an area of the earth, rather than total annihilation. Either way, I’d rather not.

 For the Hebrew prophet, the issue of ecology is morality, not science. Science is a tool, a good tool, in the hands of good people. But science alone cannot correct this problem.

The prophet Hosea, much earlier than Zephaniah, makes the connection crystal clear:

…”there is no  honesty and no goodness
And no obedience to God in the land.
[False] swearing, dishonesty, and murder,
And theft and adultery are rife;
Crime follows upon crime!
For that, the earth is withered:
Everything that dwells on it languishes—
Beasts of the field and birds of the sky—
Even the fish of the sea perish.” (Hosea 4.1b-3)

A scholar I can’t name said that Bible study involves two questions: what? and, so what?

“What” tells the message, “so what” the meaning for your life.

Zephaniah, Hosea said… So what? For decades pop culture has laughed at the bearded guy in a monk’s robe waving a placard “The End is Near.” Preachers don’t talk about this stuff so much any more. But Nature programs now routinely document the imminent extinction of species and decimation of habitat. “Mass extinction event” is part of our everyday vocabulary.

Yet, nothing changes.

BP makes bad decisions to speed things up and boost profits; and, millions of gallons of crude oil foul the Gulf of Mexico. A natural environment that cannot be valued is mired for a century or more. If (or when!) the stuff gets into the Gulf Stream, who knows what worldwide destructive impact is possible.

Here’s what I think:

We know of several civilizations which flourished, depleted their resources, and vanished from the earth: Easter Island, the Mayans, the culture centered in Angkor Wat, Southeast Asia. It’s very likely that is happening again, except this time on a global scale. Perhaps, if humans are utterly stupid, greedy and blind, we can cause a mass extinction event.

There aren’t enough tears to weep, when you realize that. Nevertheless:

• reach out my hand and heart to all who strive to follow the Wisdom Tradition of their culture. 
• speak out for justice and well-being of individuals and eco-systems.
• do my best to understand my position of privilege, and deconstruct as much of that as I can.
• strive to live as St. Francis and Gandhi lived, though I can’t reach anywhere close to their level.
• follow Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, living in accord with
  • the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7),
  • the Great Commandments (love God, others, self), and,
  • the Ten Commandments.

Saw a great film, entitled Freedom Writers, about a young idealistic teacher in the hard inner city L.A. schools who connects with students nobody wanted and made a difference. Highly recommended.

Amazon’s digital reader Kindle is available FREE for PC and is amazing. I’m enjoying it very much. In a few years a physical book, like candles for light, will be an art object. I never would’ve believed it.

What justifies your life?

Soldiers who die at 18 years old don’t get to live. John Keats, one of the greatest English poets, died at 26. In the 2/3 world infant mortality snatches thousands before they even get a name.

So, does your manner of life, and the outcomes of your actions, indicate you, rather than they, are worth living?

(A question I ask myself)

 In my Southern U.S. evangelistic culture winning another to faith in Christ is #1. Bearing the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, generosity, fidelity, self-control (Galatians 5.22-23)–also makes your life worthy. Compassion for the least of these Christ’s sisters and brothers is equally validating.

The dominant American culture, however, prizes beauty, wealth, pleasure, and fame as achievements of the life well lived.

As an example of a worthy life, I think of Habakkuk, the obscure poet/prophet of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament.

His name evidently refers to a plant. It lacks a God-element so common in Hebrew names, like “Je-” or “Jo-” or ”Yah/jah” short for Yahweh, or “El,” a word meaning God. (Example: Elijah)

Nothing is known about him, except that his “little” book reveals first-hand knowledge of the 7th century BCE, when Babylon was the enemy of God’s people.

In “Bel and the Dragon” (an addition to the book of Daniel found only in Greek translation, not in Hebrew), the prophet Daniel finds himself once again in the lions’ den, this time for killing a dragon worshipped by his Babylonian rulers, and not for one night, but for six days. The Spirit of God lifts Habakkuk by the crown of the head and carries him and the stew he has made to provide Daniel food. As a metaphor of someone who nourishes you spiritually in tough times, this story is right on the money.

Summing up, his life is worthwhile because:

1. he asks great questions.
2. he states simply one of the greatest principles of religion.
3. he experiences the majesty of God.

 (1) The prophet has seen violent, wicked people destroy righteous people. He asks, how can God tolerate such evil? That question has yet to be answered. The best questions are like shovels; they help us dig a foundation that weathers the storm, not by giving us answers but by bringing us face to face with the living God (as Job’s questions brought him, Job 42). If I could ask one or two great questions, that would keep my life from being wasted.

(2) He stated the heart of biblical religion in a few words. Habbakuk 2.4b says:

“The righteous will live by their faithfulness.” (TNIV, courtesy Bible Gateway)

The righteous, those who live by the Torah of God, wait patiently through the storm and trust God without wavering. According to one rabbi in the Babylonian Talmud, this statement “encapsulates all the commandments” (Jewish Study Bible, p. 1229). It is cited in Romans 1.17; Galatians 3.11; and, Hebrews 10.38-39—and is bedrock of Christian faith.

The concluding hymn of the book elaborates on faith in trial:

Though the fig tree does not bud
       and there are no grapes on the vines,
       though the olive crop fails
       and the fields produce no food,
       though there are no sheep in the pen
       and no cattle in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
       I will be joyful in God my Savior.

The Sovereign LORD is my strength;
       he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
       he enables me to go on the heights.  (3.17-19 

(3) Habakkuk experiences exalted moments, when he sees the glory of God:

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD
       as the waters cover the sea. (2.14)

But the LORD is in his holy temple;
       let all the earth be silent before him.”  (2.20)

 In the final analysis, I believe, our worth rests in our being created by God and redeemed by Christ. But, if at the end of my days, I could look back on a page or two of writing anywhere near the insight and majesty of Habakkuk’s, I’d feel pretty damn good about my days.

We rented the DVD of Les Mis 10th Anniversary Dream Castand it’s amazing. It conveys the cruelty of society and the grandeur of a crush soul transformed by human and divine mercy from bitterness to compassion. I wonder how deeply changed we are when we view it live or on screen, however. It bugged me that the audience roared with laughter when Mme. Thenardier appeared. She’s every bit as cruel as Mme. LaFarge. Why laugh?

What does the Lord require of you,
but to do justice, love mercy,
and walk humbly with your God? Micah 6.8

Translators note that “humbly” also means wisely or prudently.

I’m rambling all over the place. But the question is, What does the Lord require of me? That’s the question.

There are several attempts to sum up the Law. The Ten Commandments. Psalm 15 boils it down to 11 clauses. Jesus reduces it to two stated + one understood: (1) love God with all your being, (2) love your neighbor, (3) as [you love] yourself.

But the prophet called Micah achieves an elegant simplicity:

•  justice,
• mercy,
• wisdom (which presumably engenders humility).

In Matthew 23.23-24 Jesus condemns the legalists who tithed the herbs in their garden but”neglected the weightier matters of the Law—justice, mercy, and faithfulness.” (TNIV) NRSV translates the same three virtues.

Do justice. Treat everybody fairly, or to go to the spirit of the Law: generously. Treat people as God treats them. For God sends rain on the just and the unjust. For the average American, the problem is that the people abused by our system are largely invisible. They may be the poor on the other side of town, or the destitute on the other side of the world. For us much of the world is as familiar as the dark side of the moon. So doing justice may require us to open our eyes and learn about people we never see, we never think of—people we have no intention of harming, but whom we do harm because of where and how we live.

Love mercy. This term mercy is a great Hebrew word hesed. It stands for love within covenant. It means that God requires us to treat the stranger kindly, that is, like kindred. Why? Because, it’s not the preacher or the deacon, not the brother or the sister, but it’s we ourselves who are standing in the need of God’s love.

Finally, walk humbly, wisely with God. Like Enoch did, like Adam and Eve in the garden did, like Jesus did. Walk is a metaphor throughout the Bible for life. How we live, day by day, hour by hour, must reflect God’s love and mercy to us.

Sorry if this post is a bit preachy. I’m preaching to myself. I’m none too happy with how I’m “burning daylight” as the Bard says.

“There’s a special Providence in the fall of a sparrow…. Readiness is all,” Hamlet tells Horatio just before his death.

I think that’s what God requires. Readiness for whatever God pleases. I hope to do better at that this coming week than I have in the past.

I saw a news piece on the anti-immigrant law in Arizona. (So much for “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free”!) 

I ordered a book called Underground America: Narratives of Undocumented Lives from the Voices of Witness series.

Okay, there are: trash, debris, and 2000 corpses lying in those deserts; there are huge health care costs in border cities due to foreign nationals seeking medical care here.

Before we strap on our guns and form our posses, can’t we ask,  Haven’t the poor, the suffering, the people willing to die for freedom always come to America? Isn’t that part of our national DNA?

Can’t we ask, what would Jesus do? Isn’t there something in the Good Book about “I was a stranger and you took me in”?

I find that blogging takes discipline and persistence, neither of which I’ve practiced lately. I wrote a dismal piece last night, but pulled it this morning.

At late night, I do have energy to write. The classic writers would call it “my Muse”; ancient Christian writers “the unction of the Spirit.” I guess I’ll have to let a draft sit overnight before posting it.

I’ve tackled several intellectual projects (1) to fend off brain deterioration and (2) to avoid anxious brooding about moving into an elder community:

• For Father’s Day my darlin’ girl gave me Cesar Chavez: a triumph of spirit by Griswold del Castillo and RA Garcia (University of Oklahoma, 1995). I’m delighted. As the preface says, Chavez is the closest thing Latinos have to a national hero; his model was St. Francis of Assisi, whose biography sent me into orbit last year.
• I’m doing my 2nd annual audio survey of Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets. By this time I get about 70% of the Elizabethan speech. The survey reminds me how much I love the Bard. Penguin issued the plays in single volumes that are easy to hold while listening to the Arkangel disks.
• Films I’ve seen:
  • Bright Star, an exquisitely filmed telling of John Keats’ and Fanny Brawne’s love affair. Keats began to show symptoms of the TB of which he died at 26. Because he was poor, they couldn’t marry. It struck me deeply. On my desktop I put a shortcut to Project Guttenberg’s file of Keats’ 1820 volume of verse.
  • The Blind Side. Yes! That from a guy who doesn’t enjoy sports films a lot.

So I’ve got a lot on my plate. Why? For the same reason people climb Everest or run marathons.

I need input especially at the moment, as we are researching residential elder communities. Dad kept promising he would make his move to community living when the time was right; but in fact he delayed until we children had to make wrenching decisions for him. I don’t want to do that.

The African model of community has much to teach us. Why do American elders prefer to hole up in isolated homes, rather than gather in clusters of care? I don’t want to be dependent, or lose freedom; but neither do I want to be alone.

As Boomers age, we’re going to force society to adjust as we have through each decade. When we were school age, cities and towns had to build schools. Now they will have to change to accommodate large numbers of older adults.

A culture without elders, in effect, suffers from sociological Alzheimer’s. That’s America. We need to reach back to Native American traditions about elders (and others), to season our culture with wisdom that cherishes elders, rather than disposing of them.

As I write, it’s a minute into July 3rd. Having lost the habit of frequent blogging, I find this a good time. First, the input:

• I’ve started listening through my audio Shakespeare, all 37 plays and the sonnets, which I aim to do every year. Don’t ask me why. It’s like some men climb Everest or run the marathon. This is my challenge. I’m experimenting with the quiet nighttime hours of 9-12 for this project. Of course, beyond listening lies understanding!
• Bright Star, an exquisite film about the love story of John Keats and Fanny Brawne. Keats was poor, unable to support a wife. In the early 1800’s, he couldn’t marry. Worse, his brother Tom died of TB and John soon followed, at age 26. But in his short lifetime he developed a sublime poetic voice. I’ve never understood poetry. What verse I wrote was impossibly obscure. Says Keats in this film, “You don’t understand the lake; you luxuriate in it!” That makes sense to me.
• Film The Blind Side. Yes!
• Cesar Chavez: A triumph of spirit. Univ. of Oklahoma, 1995. A gift from my darlin’ girl for Father’s Day. The Preface quotes Dolores Huerta, cofounder with Chavez of United Farm Workers: “Cesar believed in the philosophy of St. Francis of Assisi, ‘You can’t feel the pain of the poor unless you are one of them.’” Having just read a biography of Francis, I was pleased to find this connection.

Disclaimer: it will take me a month or two to listen through Shakespeare, and at least that long to finish the book. Not only that, I put a shortcut to Keats’ 1820 volume at Project Guttenberg on my desktop—so I’ll get back to you on when I complete all this stuff.

I felt deep sadness after watching the film Bright Star, at losing such a bright talent so early in his life. Stupid, I know, to get caught up in the emotion. I did, nonetheless. I worried about being poor myself.

As a Baptist preacher all my days, pastoring small churches, I wasn’t rich. A friend of mine said, “Anybody who becomes a Baptist preacher for the money is a damn fool.” Don’t get me started.

Why I have plunged into this intellectual frenzy clearly is to keep from thinking about our process of moving into community housing for elders. We’ve been going through papers, shredding, shredding. For years people put social security numbers on everything; I’d be surprised not to find it on old breakfast cereal boxtops. Now all those scraps of paper have to be sorted and destroyed because of identity theft.

I’m keeping representative bits of writing. Most of the curriculum I tossed. Kept the dramatic monologues. I’d love to make that a book some day. A story here, poem or lyric there. The rest gets tossed in the trash.

Perhaps my epitaph could have something about being shredded in it. Who knows.

The reality, no matter how it feels—God promises the reality is: the triumph of spirit. Not only in Chavez’s life, but mine and yours as well.

In these very hot days of summer, I look out from my air conditioned space with gratitude for the cool air, aware of so many people who have to sweat out the heat.

I face the unenviable task of going through boxes of papers and old records. We’ve been throwing things out right and left, but still have so much stuff.

Foster’s Celebration of Discipline has a chapter on simplicity that’s very helpful. He’s a bit phobic when it comes to asceticism. While that can be overdone and legalistic, it’s entirely possible to take an ascetic’s view of life consistent with Christianity.

While we consider making a move, we’re slapped in the face with how expensive Continuing Care communities are. I’m sure the founders of these places never imagined $100,000 entry  and $4000-$5000 monthly fees. I’m also sure many elders won’t be able to afford them. We certainly can’t.

But I have to admit, along with anxiety, I feel a sense of adventure. I’ve always wanted to simplify my life. Most of the world lives on much, much less. Certainly Jesus did. Why can’t we?

In my sifting through papers, I found a folder of dramatic monolgues I’ve presented to churches through the years. I’m going to submit these for publication, fool that I am. It probably is a useless exercise, but it’ll be fun. Lillenas is a great publisher of dramatic materials for church. Since all these have been performed, I can submit them.

In Yaoundé, Cameroon, the ground has been broken for the African Counseling Center building and the foundation is being constructed. Our friends hope to have this segment of construction completed before the onset of rainy season in September. Construction will then be halted by weather until November. Workers sleep on site to prevent theft of building materials. Please pray for:

• safety of workers as they build
• no theft
• completion of this phase before the rainy season.

 The Reverend Dr. Jean-Emile Ngué retired from the Protestant Council of Churches after eight years. Please pray for him and his family in the transition, which involves moving from the home provided the Executive Director. There are currently ten persons in the household, including children orphaned by HIV/AIDS.

 Mr. Samuel Lindject has finished his first year of Seminary with very high grade point average, while also serving as Clinical Director of the ACC.

It’s been some time since I’ve written regularly for this blog. I confess it’s easy to get out of the habit. And I do my best writing very early in the morning, 2 or 3 o’clock and haven’t been making myself get up.

Life is very exciting for us now. My darlin’ girl has had a couple close calls and is not as strong as she was, because her dialysis Rx is not right. Consequently, we’re contemplating a move to a retirement community within six months or less.

We had a realtor friend look over the house two years ago, and recommend changes to make it salable: new roof, new heating/AC. So the big ticket items are taken care of, and it’s the small details now.

I’ve been downsizing my library. It’s amazing, the joy I feel, knowing my commentary sets are now in Ghana and Zambia. I need to cut further, though. A retirement apartment won’t hold all the books I have.

Funny, isn’t it, how your perspective changes from accumulating to giving away. But that’s my spirit now—it’s not a negative one.

We’re looking forward to not having a yard to keep up, to having help with routine chores, freeing my darlin’ to do the work she’s called to do.

But despite clear evidence of God’s Providence, it’s a scary thing to contemplate. I pray that we’ll do more than talk about it.

 Our friends in Africa are also making a transition for different reasons, but in some ways similar. As you read the blog, do send up a prayer for us all.

Isaiah 46 compares gods that are burdens to bear, and the One who bears us:

Listen to me…All…who have been carried since birth,
Supported since leaving the womb,
Till you grow old, I will still be the same,
When you turn gray, it is I who will carry,
I was the Maker, and I will be the Bearer,
And I will carry and rescue you.  Isaiah 46.3-4 TANAKH