Theology of the Cross 5

Theology of the Cross 5 | Lent 5 | 25 March 2007

Theology of the Cross: what does this mean for the Church’s and especially for this congregation’s life and mission?

A Tree on Your Back

1. We meet you, O Christ, in many a guise,
your image we see in simple and wise.
You live in a palace, exist in a shack;
we see you the gardener, a tree on your back.

2. In millions alive, away and abroad;
involved in our life, you live down the road.
Imprisoned in systems, you long to be free;
we see you, Lord Jesus, still bearing your tree.

3. We hear you, O man, in agony cry;
for freedom you march, in riots you die.
Your face in the papers we read and we see.
The tree must be planted by human decree.

4. You choose to be made at one with the earth;
the dark of the grave prepares for your birth.
Your death is your rising, creative your word;
the tree springs to life and our hope is restored..

–Fred Kaan, 1966

The cross of Calvary forms the ultimate type and reality of God’s characteristically hidden and paradoxical, sacramental presence in the commonest things, situations and people. Interpreting scripture, sacraments, everything in our lives and in the world with "What preaches Christ."

• Last week we talked some about God’s action and presence in the sacraments – considered a “means of grace” in this tradition – and began imagining ways we can be a means of grace in the world around us.


• It’s impossible to separate out today’s discussion topics, so I’ve suggested some texts and ideas to get us started.

A Theology of Baptism

Galatians 3:26-29; Titus 3:5-8; 1 Corinthians 12:12-13; Romans 6:1-14; Ephesians 4:4-6; Mark 1:4-11; Matthew 3:11-17; Luke 3:15-22

Theologian Jürgen Moltmann describes baptism as “sign, witness, representation and illumination of the Christ Event”; we can claim the same about the Eucharist. We know Jesus Christ as sovereign, prophet and priest; alive in Christ, we participate in that royal, prophetic priesthood. Especially in regard to those roles, how can our lives signify, witness to, represent and illuminate the birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ?

Contextualizing Baptism

We are baptized for events like 9/11; we are baptized to be the Christ alongside our friends, relatives and neighbors; we are baptized to not be an exclusive community, but to risk reaching out to image and model Jesus Christ to the world – including those who are culturally, ethnically, chronologically, occupationally, educationally different from us; to recognize Jesus Christ in others and to be the presence of the crucified and risen Jesus Christ in their lives.

A Theology of the Eucharist

1 Corinthians 10:16-17; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; Mark 14:22-25; Matthew 26:26-29; Luke 22:14-20; Luke 24:30-31; John 6:33; John 6:51; John 6:56

Jesus said, “Do this!” Do this liturgical action?

Contextualizing Eucharist

Jesus says, “I am the Bread of Life; I am the Vine!” In every culture, grain products form a substantial nutritional base; the grain may be rice, wheat, corn, wheat, barley...the fruit of the vine is a potent and pervasive biblical symbol, and beyond there and then, lately we’ve been learning a lot about grape’s benefits! In the power of the Holy Spirit, God calls the church—

• As the body of the risen Christ, the Bread of Life, to nourish the world, especially the stranger, the outcast and the ‘other’


• Like the Eucharist, to reveal Jesus’ crucified body in its redeeming brokenness


• To reveal Christ’s risen body in its liberating wholeness


• As branches of Jesus, the Vine, to pour out our lives to those around us

9. What does the cross mean for each of us as individuals?

Galatians 3:1-5; 2 Corinthians 5:16-21; Ephesians 1:17-23; Matthew 28:16-20; Luke 24: 44-49; Acts 1:6-8; 2 Timothy 2:8-13; 1 Peter 2:9-10

10. What does the cross mean for this church community?

From Water Buffalo Theology: Suffering because we’re involved with others, involved with the other; participating in the “glory of the crucified Lord”. My note: the same Paul of Tarsus also talks about “the glory of the children of God!” And isn’t our glory as God’s offspring also a crucified glory and a risen glory?

11. What does all of this mean for our nearby neighbors?

When I was on staff at the church in City of History, I wrote their Mission Statement:

We are the people of God, forgiven and set free by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ; by the power of the Holy Spirit we are called together and sent into the world as witnesses to his resurrection. God calls us, a servant people, to proclaim in word and action the presence of the risen Lord to all those whom our lives touch, especially in this community.

The author of Water Buffalo Theology talks about “neighborology”—the word about the neighbor! The Bible and Jesus Christ reveal God’s attachment to the world of creation to the point of learning and knowing us so completely as to walk in our sandals (Tevas, or flip-flops or boots or snow boots...) and to die a physical death, just as all of us inevitably will. Especially in the shadow of the cross, how can we practice neighborology?

© Leah Chang 2007

Theology of the Cross 4

The class also will get a 2-page handout with some Heidelberg Catechism and some Q&A from the 1998 Study Catechism of the PC(USA); I chose those two because Luther's Small and the Shorter Westminster probably are more familiar in this country.

Theology of the Cross: what does this mean for the Church’s and especially for this congregation’s life and mission?

Here we will take the wine and the water;
here we will take the bread of new birth,
here you shall call your sons and your daughters,
call us anew to be salt for the earth.

Give us to drink the wine of compassion;
give us to eat the bread that is you;
nourish us well, and teach us to fashion
lives that are holy and hearts that are true.

Marty Haugen, Here in This Place/Gather Us In, © 1982 GIA Publications, Inc.

I, the Lord of font and cup,
covenant to lift you up.
Splash the water, break the bread; pour out your lives.
Faithfully my love you’ll show,
so their hearts will always know,
They are mine eternally...

© Linda LeBron, 2002

Theology of glory vs. theology of the cross: Theologians of the cross build their theology in the light of God’s own revelation of himself, particularly God’s self-revelation in Christ crucified. The cross of Calvary forms a paradigm and model for God’s characteristically hidden and paradoxical, sacramental presence in the commonest things, situations and people.

•Interpreting scripture, sacraments and everything in our lives and in the world with “What preaches Christ.” Especially look for God’s hidden yet apparent presence and for “Types of Christ.” Imagine the classic attributes of God through the lens of the cross!

8. The Cross and the Sacraments

Study Catechism of the Presbyterian Church (USA), 1998

Question 70. What is the main difference between baptism and the Lord’s Supper?

While I receive baptism only once, I receive the Lord’s Supper again and again. Being unrepeatable, baptism indicates not only that Christ died for our sins once and for all, but that by grace we are also united with him once and for all through faith. Being repeatable, the Lord’s Supper indicates that as we turn unfilled to him again and again, our Lord continually meets us in the power of the Holy Spirit to renew and deepen our faith.

a. A Theology of Baptism

Galatians 3:26-29; Titus 3:5-8; 1 Corinthians 12:12-13; Romans 6:1-14; Ephesians 4:4-6; Mark 1:4-11; Matthew 3:11-17; Luke 3:15-22

Theologian Jürgen Moltmann describes baptism as “sign, witness, representation and illumination of the Christ Event.” We can claim the same about the Eucharist.
In baptism, God and the church claim us in covenant...baptized, we live reborn into the water of Jesus’ birth and we are alive in the fire of his death—the transforming, rebirthing power of the cross. As a baptized people, we no longer live under the reign of death, its idols and its artifacts, but in the alternative community countering the individualisms of covetousness, greed, commoditization, consumption, superfluity, satiation, and (ultimately) despair.

b. A Theology of the Eucharist

1 Corinthians 10:16-17; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; Mark 14:22-25; Matthew 26:26-29 ; Luke 24:30-31; John 6:33; John 6:51; John 6:56

Jesus said, “Do this!” Do this liturgical action? In the Eucharist, the entire church and all creation in every age and time comes together; this is an action of the whole, entire church! Farmers, vintners, truckers, weavers, potters, storekeepers, builders, bakers, more... Moltmann said Christ’s invitation is prevenient. William Stringfellow says (paraphrased, from An Ethic for Christians and Other Aliens in a Strange Land) the Bread and Cup are “tokens of the Resurrection” and these “tokens...are discerned as the Word of God indwelling all creation and transfiguring human history.” Martin Luther: the ubiquity of the risen and ascended Christ.

• Recall Israel and desert manna, enabling God’s people to live precariously in the wilderness
• Bread = nourishing = body that is broken unto death and raised to new life
• Christ’s body = revealed in the breaking of bread / body
• Church = Body of the risen Christ = nourishing the world, especially the stranger, the outcast and the ‘other’
• Church / reveals Jesus’ crucified body in its redeeming brokenness
• Church / reveals Christ’s risen body in its liberating wholeness

Heidelberg Catechism, 1563

Question 76. What is it then to eat the crucified body, and drink the shed blood of Christ?

It is not only to embrace with believing heart all the sufferings and death of Christ and thereby to obtain the pardon of sin, and life eternal; but also, besides that, to become more and more united to his sacred body, by the Holy Ghost, who dwells both in Christ and in us; so that we, though Christ is in heaven and we on earth, are notwithstanding “flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone” and that we live, and are governed forever by one spirit, as members of the same body are by one soul.

The Holy Supper...but it means more. Through the Holy Spirit, who lives both in Christ and in us, we are united more and more to Christ’s blessed body. And so, although he is in heaven and we are on earth, we are flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone. And we forever live on and are governed by one Spirit, as members of our body are by one soul.

© Leah Chang 2007

Theology of the Cross 3

Theology of the Cross 3 | Lent 3 | 11 March 2007

Theology of the Cross: what does this mean for the Church’s and especially for this congregation's life and mission?

All Who Love and Serve Your City

1. All who love and serve your city,
all who bear its daily stress,
all who cry for peace and justice,
all who curse and all who bless,

2. In your day of loss and sorrow,
in your day of helpless strife,
honor, peace, and love retreating,
seek the Lord, who is your life.

3. In your day of wrath and plenty,
wasted work and wasted play,
call to mind the word of Jesus,
"I must work while it is day."

4. For all days are days of judgment,
and the Lord is waiting still,
drawing near a world that spurns him,
offering peace from Calvary's hill.

5. Risen Lord! shall yet the city
be the city of despair?
Come today, our Judge, our Glory;
be its name, "The Lord is there!"

Words: Erik Routley © 1969 by Stainer & Bell Ltd., administered by Hope Publishing Co., Carol Stream, IL 60188

Theology of glory vs. theology of the cross: Theologians of the cross build their theology in the light of God's own revelation of himself, particularly God's self-revelation in Christ crucified. In addition, the cross of Calvary forms a paradigm and model for God's characteristically hidden and paradoxical, sacramental presence in the commonest things, situations and people.

• Law and Gospel; interpreting scripture and life with "What preaches Christ."

6. Paul and his ilk; Martin Luther: the cross as Weltanschauung, as an all-encompassing worldview. Why?

Romans; Philippians—texts we looked last Sunday.

2 Corinthians 5:16-21 – we are a new creation; ministry of reconciliation

Colossians 1:15-20 – Christ reconciled all to himself, making peace through his shed blood

Colossians 2:9-15 – buried and raised with Christ, who disarmed and made a public spectacle of the powers and authorities

Hebrews 12:1-3 – for the joy set before him endured the cross; not the when or why of bad things happening to good people, but the how of God blessing us and all creation

Acts 1:5-8 – restore the Kingdom to Israel? In the power of the HS we are witnesses from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth!

Luther spoke about "The God Who became small for us in Christ"—small enough to die.

From Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Nachfolge (Discipleship): "When Christ calls us, he bids us come and die…to go one's way under the sign of the cross is not misery and desperation, but peace and refreshment for the soul, it is the highest joy...we do not walk under our self-made laws and burdens, but under the yoke of him who knows us and walks under the yoke with us."

Great Ends of the Church 6: The exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the world—that's us!

To the five Reformation solas – Sola Scriptura, Solus Christus, Sola Fide, Sola Gratia, Soli Deo Gloria – theologian Martin Marty adds a sixth: Cross Alone - Sola crux.

7. Some familiar theologians of the cross

Especially look for God's hidden yet apparent presence and for "Types of Christ." Today's discussion primarily is about discovering lives that preach Christ crucified – and risen. However, it's not only about being the presence of Christ to and for the world, living a responsive yet unassuming servant lifestyle that may take us to the Cross of Calvary; it also includes recognizing the presence of Christ in the world and in our neighbors. Matthew 25:31-40 – Lord, when did we see you hungry…”

For starters, here’s a very short list: Bonhoeffer; Dorothy Day; Gandhi; Martin Luther King; Desmond Tutu; Mother Teresa; us! Who else comes to mind? Some of our relatives, friends and neighbors? In the church and out of the church? Christian and not? Describe and explain.

A few days I was listening to Lionel Richie's song, "Endless Love." "My love, there's only you in my life; you're every breath I take; you're every step I make, and I want to share all my love with you. Two heart, two hearts that beat as one…and love, I'll be a fool for you—my endless love" reminds me of God's love for us in Jesus Christ and of the foolish love any theologian of the cross has for all creation.

Considering these theologians of the cross—including us, particularly vis-à-vis our immediate neighbors, how do we become fools for love? Paul describes the cross as a scandal, a stumbling block to trip into and fall over to Jews who emphasize keeping the law to the extreme, and as complete foolishness to Greeks—or to anyone who aspires to high levels of intellectual pretense. Think about both of those aspects!

© Leah Chang 2007

Water Buffalo Theology notes

Over on my main theology blog I've posted the handouts for last Sunday's and tomorrow's Theology of the Cross classes:

• Class notes for Theology of the Cross 1

• Class notes for Theology of the Cross 2

Since I've been blogging on a reasonably regular basis on all my blogs, this time I'm not cross-posting from there to here. However, today I'm posting here the 2-page handout of some of my ideas from Water Buffalo Theology I'll give the class tomorrow. Ages ago I blogged most of my notes from our online discussion; Water Buffalo Theology, which is ecological theology, liberation theology and an offering in the Christian-Buddhist dialogue formed the main impetus towards my wanting to develop a course on the subject for the local church. We used the 25th anniversary edition of the book, published by Orbis—no surprise, right?! On Amazon I discovered Kosuke Koyama has written what I assume is a companion book, No Handle on the Cross: An Asian Meditation on the Crucified Mind.

Water Buffalo Theology notes | Theology of the Cross class 2

During spring 2003 I participated in an online discussion of Water Buffalo Theology by Kosuke Koyama on the old United Church of Christ forums; WBT is liberation theology, ecological theology and an offering in the Christian-Buddhist dialogue. The book contained a lot of theology of the cross and lots of Luther (except for the chapter based on the epistle of James...). What struck me most about the book were the contrasts the author drew between Christianity and Buddhism! My notes added up to around 40 pages—here’s a very small sample of the notes I posted during the conversation.

Part I: Interpreting History | Chapter 1: Theological Situations in Asia and the Mission of the Church

In the Church our formal symbols are scriptures and sacraments. But how about the symbolic meaning of potluck dinners, committees, worship style, social and political activism? Thailand’s cultural symbols include sticky-rice, bananas, and the rainy season; the state of Maine might include blueberries and lobsters. For San Diego, try Big Box retailers (like the rest of the country), surfers and surfing.

More thoughts about Hong Kong, homecoming and us:

Though initially it may sound astounding to make Jakarta or anywhere else “as central as Jerusalem,” if the person and work of the crucified and risen Jesus Christ is not for Jakarta just as much as it is for Jerusalem, he truly is not Lord of all.

Koyama asks where Hong Kong can celebrate homecoming; I believe Hong Kong will be able to celebrate homecoming (after all, isn’t homecoming the ultimate thanksgiving?) within a community gathered not only to perfunctorily and ritually evoke the presence of the risen Christ in Word and Sacrament, but when that assembly attests to the presence of the Christ in each other, having gone slowly enough to ignore at least some of the noisiness of commerce and consumerism, having decided to seek the welfare of the place where they are rather than seeking the wellbeing of their purses and properties: looking outward to the other’s interests and inward to a relational and re-creative self.

Chapter 3: Gun and Ointment | The Future of the Christian World Mission in Asia

Kosuke Koyama says Jesus’ anointing shows, “the substance and manner of God’s participation in history.” During Holy Week 2003 I blogged about Jesus’ anointing! Rather than being anointed by the temple hierarchy and the theological establishment – all guys – to reign alive in the material glory of sumptuous palatial opulence within the humanly established imperial structure, Jesus was anointed into his death in the glory of the cross by a woman, who because of gender and caste could have no part in the temple array. That woman, who to us is nameless, anointed Jesus at the house of a person totally outcast from polite society, far outside of the world’s sanctioned arrangements and expectations but right within God’s order that invalidates and inverts most imaginings of what should be: the way of the Cross.

Prayer and hymn singing in the vernacular is one of Luther’s Marks of the True Church; I’m convinced Evangelism in the vernacular also needs to happen for the Church; what would evangelism in the vernacular mean to us? For Luther, suffering and persecution also defines the true Church. At the end of chapter 3, Koyama asks, “How can the Christian mission do this [stand against the guns and give passionate encouragement to all the ointments] unless it begins itself to live under the sentence of death?”

Chapter 4: The “Efficiency” of the Crucified One in the World of Technological Efficiency

In Chapter 1 the author describes Christianity’s way as slow! And now he’s writing about the amazingly “inefficient investment” of God’s nomadic peregrinations in the desert to learn the people’s hearts and to teach them one does not live by bread alone. In this context, investment is an interesting word! But God also remains faithful to providing for our material needs, and partly because of this he logically observes, “The Lordship of God has a historical substance…It is the crucified Jesus Christ in Golgotha under Pontius Pilate.” Koyama calls Jesus of Nazareth a “spiritual” Messiah, but asks if technology should be our Messiah. However, I’ll ask if technology is part of God’s provision for our physical, earthly needs? Or is technology humanity’s answer to our wants?

Part II: Rooting the Gospel | Chapter 6: Aristotelian Pepper and Buddhist Salt

Our particularly Western propensity is to equate love with emotional attachment, rather than the agape “will to love,” but the Bible and Jesus reveal God’s attachment to the world of creation as a passionate - an ardent and erotic - attachment!

Chapter 7: Neighborology

From Kosuke Koyama, the book’s author: “How can anyone be a teacher of religion unless he is at home with the language of the people?”

Chapter 8: The Wrath of God in a Culture of Tranquility

Introducing the chapter on page 68, he asks, “What is the matter with this God,” who becomes perturbed to the point of wrath?! This God is no human invention! On page 72 the author says the theology of the God not-in-history “is also the theology of God who is held captive in the continual cyclical flow of cosmic time and cannot meaningfully be moved to wrath.” This essentially is a domesticated God, of course. Finally, the not-historical God is a God continuous with humanity, with no disruption between finite and infinite.

Part III: Interpreting Thai Buddhist Life | Chapter 12: Cool Arhat and Hot God

Covenant is a hot concept, since real relationship never is cool. Buddhist holy life is lived to escape completely from existence, while Christian holy life is lived in order to be completely engaged in existence. God creates in order to have a creation to become attached to! As Koyama aptly says, this covenant-awareness has given sharp focus to history-awareness. Theologically speaking, history is the experience of covenant; evangelism means bringing the experience of covenanted relationship lived within history rather than outside of history.

Chapter 13: Apostle James in Thailand

Moving away from Luther! This chapter concisely describes how we need to live out our lives in Christ both hot-ly and cool-ly! Again Koyama reminds us the Buddha’s type of detachment includes detachment from even the very idea of oneself. Risk also is a hot concept, and Jesus calls us to a life of constant risk, but a life that shows no partiality, coolly imitating our God who “is not partial.” To become involved in the world without becoming attached to the world, or more accurately, without becoming attached to the powerful pull of the world’s fleeting, ephemeral and corrupting pleasure. Page 122: if we’re cool, “the King of Death cannot seize” us! That is so Jesus, so Paul!

Part IV: Interpreting the Christian Life | Chapter 15: Tokyo and Jerusalem

Koyama says God’s first and fundamental gift to us is “the constant awareness that we are under the judgment of the Word of God.”

Chapter 18: Three Modes of Christian Presence

A hidden presence, a sacramental presence to the world. Suffering because we’re involved with others, because we’re involved in neighborology! Participating in the “glory of the crucified Lord”—the same Paul of Tarsus also talks about “the glory of the children of God!” And isn’t our glory as God’s offspring a crucified glory and a risen glory? Professor Koyama reminded us of Luther’s, “subject to none; subject to all.”

I’ll close by quoting: In this eschatological hour, God calls us to share the pathos of God, God’s pathos toward all scattered things which are held together in the glory of the crucified Lord.

theology of the cross 2

theology of the cross 3 on march 09, 2007

1 february 23, 2007

2 March 2, 2007

Theology of the Cross: what does this mean for the Church's and especially for this congregation’s life and mission?

Knowing You

1. All I once held dear, built my life upon,
all this world reveres and wars to own,
all I once thought gain I have counted loss,
spent and worthless now compared to this.

Chorus:
Knowing You, Jesus, knowing You.
There is no greater thing.
You're my all, You're the best, You're my joy,
my righteousness; and I love You, Lord.

2. Now my heart's desire is to know You more,
to be found in You and known as Yours,
to possess by faith what I could not earn,
all surpassing gift of righteousness.
Repeat Chorus

3.Oh, to know the power of Your risen life,
and to know You in Your suffering,
to become like You in Your death,
My Lord, so with You to live and never die.
Repeat Chorus

By Graham Kendrick – based on Philippians 3:7-11; © 1993 Make Way Music

Theology of glory vs. theology of the cross: Theologians of the cross build their theology in the light of God’s own revelation of himself, particularly God’s self-revelation in Christ crucified. In addition, the cross of Calvary forms a paradigm and model for God’s characteristically hidden and paradoxical, sacramental presence in the commonest things, situations and people.

• Domesticated gods: Egyptian imperial religion; Roman imperial religion; Jerusalem Temple; contemporary consumerism
• God of the bible: dynamic, free and elusive; the God who raises the dead
• Three uses of the law: Martin Luther and John Calvin
• Law and Gospel; interpreting scripture with “What preaches Christ.”

Throughout scripture, especially look for God’s hidden yet apparent presence and for "Types of Christ"

4. Paul, Mark and Jesus of Nazareth

Mark

4:35-41 – Boat on the turbulent lake; who is this?! Even the wind and the waves obey him!
8:1-9 – loaves and fishes; provision for the people.

Philippians

1:21-24 – To live is Christ; to die is gain.
2:1-11 – look to the interest of others; humbled himself unto death on the cross; Jesus is Lord
3:7-11 – count everything as loss in order to gain Christ; knowing Christ and the power of his resurrection; becoming like him in his death.

5. Mark, Paul and Jesus the Christ

Romans

3:21-26 – Righteousness from God apart from the law, but the law attests to it. Justified by grace!
3:27-31 –the law still remains in its entirety; cross as both judgment and grace; the cross of Calvary is both God’s No and God’s Yes to the world.
6:1-10 – Baptized into death and resurrection; united with Christ in both death and resurrection; no longer slaves to sin.

• Revelation 22:1-5 – the River of Life flows from the throne of God—from the cross.

8:1-4 – because of IX, we no longer live under the law’s condemnation
10:1-4 – Christ is the end of the law; righteousness for all who have faith in Christ

Mark

Particularly in Mark’s gospel, the journey to Jerusalem and to the cross is incessant and focused.

1:1-13 – gospel of IX, Son of God; IX baptizes with the HS; Jesus’ baptism; God’s claim on him. Spirit drove Jesus into the desert.
5:35-43 – raising Jairus’ daughter from death [sleep?!]; giving her food.
8:27-29 – Some say John the Baptist; some say Elijah. Who do you say I am? The Christ!
9:35 – to be first, you must be the last and the servant of all.
10:35-40 – you do not know what you are asking; baptism; cup; places you’re prepared for.
10:43-45 – servant is the greatest; first is slave of all. Jesus, the Human One came to serve and to give his life as a ransom.
14:22-25 – Last Supper; broken body; blood of the covenant.

© Leah Chang 2007

Church Prayer Rug

To illustrate theology of glory, yesterday I gave the class a copy of this old blog. A little overdone and overdrawn, but I believe it makes the point!

In my mailbox this week I found what has become an Lenten annual, another blatant example of idolatry, another human attempt to create a god in its image, another slot-machine divinity of jumbo payoffs, a deity completely congruent with one of contemporary American society’s most brazenly unsubtle gods—consumerism. From a skinny envelope I unpacked purportedly a face of Jesus, sketchily represented crowned with a thorny tiara; four-color printing is the graphics industry standard, but this is a two-color likeness! In addition, nowhere in the mailing could I find either a web address nor an email address.

Next Sunday, continuing its journey through the liturgical year, the church reaches Palm Sunday, with Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem, city of prophets and in ages past, home to the Temple that for the Jews formed the axis mundi between earth and heaven—Jerusalem, the biblical City of God. Following the Revised Common Lectionary, the gospel chronicles the church reads during Lent consistently focus on Jesus’ going to Jerusalem and to the cross. Crucifixion Friday turns into Resurrection Sunday, with its astonishing empty grave: in God’s system you cannot have Easter unless Friday precedes it.

Returning to the Church Prayer Rug! Conceptually, it is closely related to the common contemporary practice of consumer-driven and marketing-modeled churches, as in “let’s study the location, the demographics, traffic flow, in-migration and even out-migration (likely I’ve missed a slew of necessary statistical assessments), and then decide what the people will be clamoring for and what consumer options they’ll be needing so our church can offer the right menu to meet their needs.” Is that biblical?! Martin Luther would call it an example of that humanly always-popular Theology of Glory! The designation Church Prayer Rug (contrasted with simply Prayer Rug, or other possibilities, such as Tribal Meditation Rug, Rya Prayer Rug, Dhurrie Prayer Rag, Acrylic Broadloom Whatever…) reveals a lot, too!

Jesus: friend of sinners, companion of outcasts, Son of God, Son of Humanity, liberator of women, freer of slaves, lifter-up of underdogs, putter-down of overdogs, political upstart and rouser of the rabble, challenger of the religious establishment, yet Servant, Lord of all creation, Pantocratur...but...talk about a domesticated god, idolatry?! This one is offset printed, not even engraved, flattened onto a flimsy 11” x 16” sheet of not non-acid-free paper; due to the paper’s quality (not!) I doubt it would qualify as a kitchen god, since exposed to any light for any length of time, it would crumble and fade; not surprisingly, the legend on the B-side is phenomenally unbiblical:

“This Prayer Rug is soaked with the Power of Prayer for you. Use it immediately, then please return it with your Prayer Needs Checked on our letter to you.”

Tucked into the envelope with the rug itself there’s a list of testimonials citing Rugged Benefits. They include, “Blessed with $46,000.00 after using prayer rug...;” “God blessed me with over $5,000.00”; “Received $10,000 in a financial blessing...”; “I’ve gotten a new car and a job,...”; “...17 acres of land...;” “Big 6 room house...” To assuage doubters, the *they* who sent me the Church Prayer Rug even threw in a spiritual boon, “Praise God! it is so wonderful to know that my husband is saved...”

A pair of scripture verses justifies the Prayer Rug endeavor:

• Evening, and morning, and at noon, I will pray and he shall hear my voice. Psalm 55:17
• God can do anything. Mark 10:27

At the time I wrote this blog, my email signature included pleading lines from the hymn,

Make Our Church One Joyful Choir

1. Make our church one joyful choir on this glad and festive day
and by song invoke the fire that invites our hearts to pray:
Shape us, Christ, to live and claim all it means to bear your name.

2. Bend us low by song and prayer, low enough to lift the cross
and to take the weight and bear love’s uncounted final cost:
Shape us, Christ, to live and claim all it means to bear your name.

3. Lift us up by song and prayer till the way we deal with loss
and our acts and words of care trace the pattern of your cross:
Shape us, Christ, to bear your name.

4. Bend us, lift us, make us strong, send us out with wind and fire,
so the world may hear the song that we offer as your choir:
Shape us, Christ, to live and claim all it means to bear your name.
Amen, amen, amen!

Thomas H. Troeger | © 1994 Oxford University Press, Inc.

“Shape us, Christ, to live and claim all it means to bear your name!” Bend us low by song and prayer, low enough to lift the cross; and to take the weight and bear love’s uncounted final cost…and our acts and words of care trace the pattern of your cross:

Shape us, Christ, to live and claim all it means to bear your name!

To bear the name of Jesus Christ! One of the greatest theologians of the cross insisted,

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” Galatians 2:20a

For Jews in Jesus’ time, the Jerusalem temple formed a gathering place and holy space connecting earth and heaven; for us Christians, the cross of Jesus Christ is the axis mundi between humanity and divinity! Our baptism into the cross affirms our creation and re-creation in God’s image—that particular part of our Imago Dei is one of certified cross-bearers! Living and claiming all it means to bear the name of Jesus Christ means in us, the Church, Jesus still is friend of sinners, comforter of the sorrowful, liberator of the oppressed, companion along the way, forgiver of offenses; because of us, Jesus still is in this world, still carrying the cross. The Holy Spirit calls all of us who – in the words of the Apostle Paul – are “in Christ,” to become and to be cross-carriers; for everyone our lives touch, God calls us to span what often seems to be a very far distance between heaven and earth. Amen!

original blog on desert spirit's fire!

Kinsperson Redeemer

Notes from research I did to supplement printed material for a study based on the book of Ruth, emphasizing the Kinsperson Redeemer concept. In the world of the Hebrew Bible as well as today in this "world of the earth" (as Job 37:12 reads in Hebrew), we constantly encounter and engage in real battles with forces not of this earth. Sometimes they're obvious and visible, though more often they're not; in my experience they tend to be conventional circumstances and commonplace situations, and in my extensive experience, they frequently need redeeming!

In the Jubilee text of Leviticus 25, regarding "untrimmed vines" and other matters, God commands:

You shall count off seven weeks of years—seven times seven years—so that the period of seven weeks of years gives you a total of forty-nine years. Then you shall sound the horn loud; in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month—the Day of Atonement—you shall have the horn sounded throughout your land and you shall hallow the fiftieth year. You shall proclaim release throughout the land for all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you: each of you shall return to his holding and each of you shall return to his family. That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you: you shall not sow, neither shall you reap the aftergrowth or harvest the untrimmed vines, for it is a jubilee. It shall be holy to you: you may only eat the growth direct from the field. . . . Do not wrong one another, but fear your God; for I the Lord am your God.

If your kinsman is in straits and has to sell part of his holding, his nearest redeemer shall come and redeem what his kinsman has sold.

The nearest redeemer, closest kin had the responsibility of redeeming his kinsman's lost opportunities. Personal note: "lost opportunities," for whatever reason, is exactly what I need to get bought back!

Continuing with the topic: If a person was forced into slavery, his redeemer purchased his freedom. In the case of overwhelming debt, the kinsman stepped in to redeem his homestead and let the family live.

Another note from me: in Hebrew culture, "debt" and "Sin" essentially are synonymous.

More from the actual notes: If a family member died without an heir the kinsman married the widow and grew a son in order to hand down his name to future generations (Deuteronomy 25:5-6; Genesis 38:8; Ruth 3-4). In case of murder, the redeemer acted as blood avenger and pursued the killer (Numbers 35:12-34; Deuteronomy 19:1-3). Originally kinsman marriage applied only to brothers, but by Ruth's time it had extended to any close relative.

Another word: reclaim, get back, regain, retrieve, recover, repossess, recoup, rescue - notice all those "re" words, and they all have economic implications!

The Kinsperson Redeemer:

• Had to be close kin, near relative to the one needing redemption.
• Had to be able to pay the ransom or redemption price in full—to "possess the ability to redeem."
• Had to be willing to redeem the fallen relative out of love and free will as an act of grace; he couldn't be coerced or forced.
• Had to be free and unbounded himself

Here's a compendium of references I discovered in my research, coupled with margin notes from my old RSV:

The English words "kinsman" (Ruth 3:9) and "redeemer" (Job 19:25) both translate the Hebrew goel. The word means "to set free" and has two different meanings:

1. To redeem or buy back what was lost.
2. To require blood, to avenge—only someone near of kin could seek vengeance.

In Hebrew, Kofer means the redemption price; Goel described things consecrated to God (Leviticus 27:13-31), about God as redeeming humanity (Exodus 6:6; Isaiah 43:1; 44:22; 48:20; 49:7), and those persons redeemed by God (Isaiah 35:9; 51:10; Job 19:25). The right of redemption and the office of redeemer belonged to the nearest kinsman, or "near of kin, near relative" (Leviticus 25:25; Ruth 3:12; 4:1, 6, 8, etc.). "I am the LORD . . . I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments" (Exodus 6:6).

Related to the familiar agora/town square/marketplace, the word agorazo means "to buy," or "to buy in the bazaar"; exagorazo means, "to buy out of the marketplace" with the intention the person so purchased might never return to such a state of slavery again, so that unbounded liberty became a permanent state of being: *delivered* from bondage into freedom.

• Leviticus 25:25
• Job 19:25 Though Job complained that no one came to redeem him, he still proclaimed Yahweh would be his Goel/Redeemer! "As for me, I know that my redeemer (kinsman) lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth" (Job 19:25).
• Ruth 4:3-6 Boaz redeemed Ruth

Distribute; dispense = distribution; dispensation

Go on over to the groc store and redeem your cents-off (is that all you get?!) coupon!

Ransom; release; deliverance; liberation # # #

Nature and Mission of the church | response

Here are my notes from our October, 2006 Faith, Order and Witness meeting; the following is my response to questions for our sub-committee.

1. Does this study document correctly identify our common ecclesiological convictions, as well as the issues which continue to divide us?

Notwithstanding this document's small size, it lines out well many of the historical and current concerns - especially regarding authority and apostolicity - between the Anglican and Roman Catholic communions and those Protestant church bodies who, while also considering themselves “Apostolic” view apostolic succession as happening in a different way, while (of course) being there all along. The more we read and discuss divergence and convergence in our FOW meetings, along with discussions in an online intentional community I recently joined, the more acutely aware I've become of how very Western - not simply Protestant - my perspective is. The church bodies in the Orthodox tradition bring to us and to the world at large a different way of being church, differing devotional practices and differently-focused theology that we need to consider and possibly integrate into our own.

2. Does this study document reflect an emerging convergence on the nature and mission of the Church?

Here's a personal answer: from The Nature and Mission of the Church, as well as other documents we've reviewed, it becomes clear that polity truly is an adiaphora. Nonetheless, I continue to be stuck in the Reformer's “Word and Sacrament” definition of church (possibly adding the Reformed insistence on ecclesiastical discipline), which means whenever I worship with a supposedly independent community that has no regular or well-defined sacramental practice, I have serious questions as to their status as the Body of Christ and in the Body of Christ! However, despite claiming sacraments as a Means of Grace, I find no reason to quibble with churches that have a sign of grace or effective sign of grace interpretation of the sacraments! Here I'll mention that churches that theologize about “means of grace” and “effective sign of grace” use the term sacrament while the “sign of grace” churches typically use ordinance. It's interesting the document doesn't discuss other ordinances some church bodies also officially consider sacraments. Hebrew Bible scholar Walter Brueggemann, who is huge on obedience, points out that in spite of their derivation from scripture, doctrine and theology are human constructs, but God's call to obedience is unequivocal.

Oh, “Does this study document reflect an emerging convergence…?” Short answer: yes!

3. Are there significant matters in which the concerns of your church are not adequately addressed?

I constantly wonder how to respond to the word church! Historically, “church” was reserved exclusively for the local called-out, gathered-in assembly of Believers in Christ and Followers of the Way and for the worldwide Body of Christ, with terms like synod, presbytery, conference and diocese used for intermediate entities, though currently we seem to consider judicatories expressions of the Church!? It sure does feel like it when we're worshiping together! So I'll respond from my current experiences, mainly within a pair of local churches in the theological tradition of Reformation (both are Formula of Agreement churches, too), and simply say both of them are struggling mightily with surviving into an uncertain future and with redefining their life and mission, while their pastors are hoping to find ways to help them faithfully be the exhibition of the Reign of Heaven to the world, and especially to discover ways to draw their neighbors into the exciting, risk-filled adventure of ministry in the Name of Jesus Christ!

But to add a slightly glib denominational viewpoint, the current discussions and emerging divisions between the ELCA, UCC and PC(USA) among the headquarters (Chicago, Cleveland and Louisville), judicatories and local churches is confusing people in the pews and making them ask whatever happened to the old cultural Christianity they used to know and be comfortable with, though they don't use those words.

4. Insofar as this study document provides a helpful framework for further ecclesiological discussions among the churches:

How can this study document help your church, together with others, take concrete steps towards unity?

Ecumenical discussion remains among the mainline, both Roman Catholic and Protestant, which at least in our local Faith, Order and Witness committee includes church bodies such as the typically more conservative LC-MS and Church of the Nazarene. Among churches formed from the many 19th Century Restoration movements, only the Disciples of Christ ordinarily participates in ecumenical dialogue, and in fact has become a mighty ecumenical force. Again I'll ask, “What is my church?” and say I've discovered one of the best and most visible things I can do is to mention in passing to people that I recently worshiped in a church of a different tradition or style or I'll be attending an ecumenical worship service (always adding the sorrow of not being able to share Eucharist officially, since most of these liturgies are Service of the Word), or that I serve on an ecumenical committee, and sometimes I'll tell them snippets of our most recent discussions. Even from reasonably biblically and theologically informed people, I usually get a “Why?” reaction, or occasionally, “I don't know why we all can't just get together,” without the remotest awareness or appreciation of the historical, practical and theological reasons for separation.

It is striking that for the most part this document uses “Eucharist” for the Lord's Supper with “Holy Communion” now and then. Eucharist indeed has become the ecumenical word, just as it was the early church's, but Christians in the more conservative churches who don't participate in ecumenical dialogue won't say Eucharist, and in the churches of my current participation , “Holy Communion” is the terminology I always hear from people in the pews. When the pastors and I are discussing theology or liturgy, we say “Eucharist.”

What suggestions would you make for the future development of this text?

I like ¶ 81 about our participating actively in the ongoing restoration of creation in a way consistent with God's reconciling presence in the world, but throughout this document I'd far prefer more references to creation than simply to human beings/humanity and the world. The authors rightly claim there's never simply a single focus to human interpretation of God's ongoing sacramental activity in the world; I'll add the church needs to continue acting sacramentally in and for the world and for all creation.

Besides forming a bond among God and community, I'll say baptism also is a boundary defining the church's perimeter and parameters as well as excluding and in some ways forming a barrier against those who are not of the church in some sense. In and for the world becomes in the church, too - the Church and the churches become bounded containers for people and sacraments.

¶ 77 references social, economic, cultural (etc.) institutions that preserve human life; I'll include the church as a life-preserving and sustaining institution, too, as well as living organism. Again, baptismal relations and locations: events measurable in time and space, but located and interrelated with Christians in all ages and engaged with the world in all times and places.

theology of the cross 1

Here's the handout the class will get on Sunday.

Theology of the Cross: what does this mean for the Church's and this congregation's life and mission?

Rise, Shine, You People!

1. Rise, shine, you people! Christ the Lord has entered
Our human story; God in him is centered.
He comes to us, by death and sin surrounded,
With grace unbounded!

2. See how he sends the powers of evil reeling;
He brings us freedom, light and life and healing.
All men and women, who by guilt are driven,
Now are forgiven.

3. Come, celebrate, your banners high unfurling,
Your songs and prayers against the darkness hurling.
To all the world go out and tell the story
Of Jesus' glory.

4. Tell how the Father sent his Son to save us;
Tell of the Son, who life and freedom gave us.
Tell how the Spirit calls from every nation
The new creation.

Text: Ron A. Klug

1. Theology of glory vs. theology of the cross:

Theologians of glory build their theology in the light of what they expect God to be like, inventing God to look something like themselves. Theologians of the cross build their theology in the light of God's own revelation of himself, particularly God's self-revelation in Christ crucified. In addition, the cross of Calvary forms a paradigm and model for God's characteristically hidden and paradoxical, sacramental presence in the commonest things, situations and people.

• Domesticated gods: Egyptian imperial religion; Roman imperial religion; Jerusalem Temple; contemporary consumerism
• Reign of death
• God of the bible: dynamic, free and elusive; the God who raises the dead
• Dietrich Bonhoeffer: "God's unfathomable condescension!"
• Martin Luther: "God without strange work is God without proper work."
• Three uses of the law: Martin Luther and John Calvin
• Law and Gospel

Heidelberg Disputation

19. That person does not deserve to be called a theologian who looks upon the invisible things of God as though they were clearly perceptible in those things that have actually happened [Romans 1:20].

20. He deserves to be called a theologian, however, who comprehends the visible and manifest things of God seen through suffering and the cross.

21. A theologian of glory calls evil good and good evil. A theologian of the cross calls the thing what it actually is.

22. That wisdom which sees the invisible things of God in works as perceived by man is completely puffed up, blinded, and hardened.

2. Hebrew Bible roots/wellsprings

Especially look for God's hidden yet apparent presence and for "Types of Christ"

• Genesis 9:12-16 Noah! God disarms
• Exodus 6:6 - God redeems, frees, liberates us with an outstretched arm and judgment
• Exodus 25:17 - a mercy seat, Gnadenstuhl - more Luther!
• Amos 7: Plumb line in the city
• Leviticus 25: 25 Ruth 3, 4 - Right of redemption; office of Redeemer
• Exodus 19, 20 - Moses and the Sinai Covenant
• Isaiah 45:15 - a hidden God
• Job 19:25 - Job's Redeemer lives
• Isaiah 43:1 - our Creator God becomes our Redeemer; a lot of redemption throughout 2nd Isaiah, the exilic Isaiah

3. Reading and interpreting scripture through a cruciform lensIn Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God, and particularly in the cross of Calvary, we meet the definitive revelation of the Holy God who fills heaven and earth; for this Jesus, it's not primarily about spectacular signs and sensational miracles, but about the Sign of Jonah—death and resurrection. Separating out gospel, "What preaches Christ" from the rest of the text. Particularly in Mark's gospel, the journey to Jerusalem and to the cross is incessant and focused.

• Matthew 17:1-9 - Transfiguration; sign of Jonah
• Matthew 12:40; Luke 11:29 - Sign of Jonah
• Romans 3:27-31 - the law still remains in its entirety; cross as both judgment and grace; God's Yes and God's No to the world.
• Romans 8:1-4 - because of Jesus Christ, we no longer live under the Law's condemnation
• Revelation 22:1-5 - the River of Life flows from the throne of God—from the cross

© Leah Chang 2007

Day of Pentecost Year A

Here's the handout content plus the texts I typed out for myself as the group leader—thought I'd post all of it (actually, in the other Years A I hadn't included the scripture texts so they didn't get blogged).

• Pentecost | 50 days after Easter
• In the Jewish calendar, Pentecost commemorated God's giving the Sinai Covenant - the Mosaic law
• The Christian Pentecost celebrates the fullness of the Spirit unleashed on all creation, enabling us to keep the new law of life in the Spirit and restoring all creation
• Whitsunday - British Isles term, white robes worn by those baptized on Pentecost
  
• Feast of Weeks or Harvest | Exodus 23:16; 34:33; Leviticus 23:15-16[17-22]; Firstfruits: Numbers 28:26; Deuteronomy 16:10, 16; 2 Chronicles 8:13
• Disciples = taught
• Apostles = sent

Psalm 104:24-34, 35b – this is a creation narrative!

²⁴ How many are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.
²⁵ There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number—living things both large and small.
²⁶ There the ships go to and fro, and the leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.
²⁷ These all look to you to give them their food at the proper time.
²⁸ When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things.
²⁹ When you hide your face, they are terrified;
when you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust.
³⁰ When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth.
³¹ May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in his works—
³² he who looks at the earth, and it trembles, who touches the mountains, and they smoke.
³³ I will sing to the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
³⁴ May my meditation be pleasing to him, as I rejoice in the Lord.
³⁵b Praise the Lord, O my soul. Praise the Lord.

1 Corinthians 12:3b-13 | 1 Corinthians 12:8-10—Gifts of the Spirit:

1. a word of wisdom - Sophia v.8a
2. a word of knowledge - gnosis v. 8b
3. faith, trust - pistis v. 9a
4. gifts of healings - v. 9b
5. workings of powers [miracles] v. 10a
6. prophecy v. 10b
7. discerning of spirits v. 10
8. types of tongues - glossolalia v.10
9. interpretation of tongues - once again, glossos v.10

1. The Spirit has come to the church and into the world in particular and collective senses, enabling the community as the body of the at once Crucified and Risen Christ to bear fruit in word and deed; without the Spirit there is no witness!
2. How does this congregation demonstrate the variety of the various gifts of the Holy Spirit Paul describes? How do we complement or complete one another?

Acts 2:1-21

• Acts 2:3, 4, 11 "tongues" is glossos
• Acts 2:6, 8 "tongues" is dialect, as in languages.
• Acts 2:15b It's only nine in the morning, third hour of the day; in the New Testament Day Watch the Third hour is from 6-9 a.m.
• Peter referred to the Hebrew prophet Joel 2:28-32 to substantiate this event as the arrival of the Day of the Lord when everyone, men, women, slaves, free - everyone, including even the "least of these," would experience God's abundant and impartial grace through the Spirit's reign.
• Name of the Lord - to know a person's name is intimacy with them and a kind of power over them.

1. in all of these texts for the Day of Pentecost, Spirit is Pneuma rather than the Paraclete Jesus promised in last week's (Easter 7) text from John 16:7; but John 16:13 Jesus speaks of the Pneuma=spirit of truth
2. The Spirit came to individuals gathered in community, "all together in one place."

John 20:19-23 - this is Easter Sunday evening

¹⁹ On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" ²⁰ After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
²¹ Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." ²² And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."

Locked doors for fear of... - any ideas on this? Secrecy, hiddenness and shame - how does Jesus unlock doors, hearts and minds and open up lives?

Or John 7:37-39

³⁷ On the last and greatest day of the Feast [of Weeks, the spring harvest feast corresponding to the fall harvest Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkoth, Leviticus 23:33-36], Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. ³⁸ Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." [Or If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me. And let him drink, ³⁸ who believes in me.] ³⁹ By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

Feast of Weeks or Harvest: Exodus 23:16; 34:33; Leviticus 23:15-16[17-22], (Firstfruits Numbers 28:26), Deuteronomy 16:10, 16; 2 Chronicles 8:13

The Feast of Weeks celebrates the time of the grain harvest, from barley through wheat. John's version of the gift of the Spirit emphasizes the authority the gift of the Holy Spirit imparts to the church. What observations can you make about the Pentecost account in the book of Acts, especially reflecting on the Psalm and the Corinthians texts?

Easter 7 A | Sunday after Ascension Thursday

...another "recently rediscovered" handout I prepared for the study group I facilitated during spring 2005, which, after all, was lectionary year A. This particular one is not at all typical of me; maybe I was tired?

Acts 1:6-14

• Acts 1:6-8 “Will you now, at this time, restore the kingdom to Israel? Jesus’ reply: “The question is wrong!!!!!”
• Not about recapturing and re-appropriating specious past grandeurs, but about the work God call us to right here and right now.
• “What you’ll get is the Holy Spirit!” You’ll receive the Holy Spirit so you can be Jesus’ witnesses and live as Jesus’ presence in the world; from now on, the world will discover Jesus’ presence within the presence of the community of the church, in our living as Jesus’ witnesses “as far as the ends [eschaton] of the earth.”
• Acts 1:10-11 “why do you stand looking up at heaven?!” Like us at times, the disciples wanted to gaze at the heavens, to wait for Jesus’ Second Coming, and forget God calls us to transform this world, living as the presence of the Risen Christ in the heaven of right here and right now.
• We need to remember it’s all God’s activity—we have the Holy Spirit and don’t need to imagine accomplishing all of this under our own steam.
• Regarding Jesus ascendancy to the Father’s Right Hand of sovereignty, as Martin Luther insisted, the “Right Hand of God” - God’s sovereignty - is everywhere: in Wittenberg, Marburg, London, San Diego, Tokyo…absolutely everywhere, all the time. God’s heaven is right here and right now.

John 17:1-11

• Jesus prayer for one-other-ness among God, Jesus, and disciples of all generations in the continuity and unity of the community of the church. Last Sunday, in John 14:18, Jesus promised he would not abandon the church; in the lections for Easter 6, Jesus promised to send the Spirit to accompany us and indwell all creation.

Acts 1 and John 17

• Jesus gave the gospel to the disciples (including us!), who still communicate the gospel to the world through the church.
• Within this community of the church, we can help one another experience eternity in the midst of time and discover the eternities of God’s sacramental self-revelation in the ordinariness of everyday life.
• In God’s arrangement, it always is about the community—both Acts 1 and John 17 are about the person’s nurture, sustenance, challenge and transformation within the faith community, continuing the pattern in the earlier Old Covenant communities, in which peoplehood happens as God forms and re-forms a community for Himself and for the world.

Easter 6 A

More Bible study notes I prepared for the adult class I facilitated during spring 2005; I'll try to get the rest of the notes, etc., I found this afternoon formatted and blogged in a couple of days.

Acts 17:22-31; Psalm 66:5-20; John 14:15-21

Earlier in the Acts 17 narrative, Paul and Silas had been released from jail and gone to Berea, where Timothy and Silas remained; all the while they'd been preaching Christ and resurrection; verse 17:6b is the famous "turning the world upside down!" Immediately before this speech to the Areopagites, Paul had been talking with Epicurean and Stoic philosophers—and Paul constantly has been preaching resurrection from the dead! Contrast this with Paul in his epistles determining to "preach only Christ crucified."

Acts 17:23 unknown god by Epimenides, from Crete; 17:24 Lord of sky and land—Lord of all creation!

Acts 17:26b The Message: "Plenty of time and space for living!"

Acts 17:28 We live and move in him; quoted from Aratus of Cilicia, Paul's native province; Aratus was born in 310 b.c.e., and he "said it well: 'We're the God-created.'"

In the John 14 text, the word for love consistently is agape; Jesus calls us to love with the same love with which God loves us!! Here, Jesus says to fully live in God's way of agape love we must know and keep his commandments; in order to make this possible, Jesus promises the Spirit of God. In this text, the you pronouns all are plural! The New Testament always is about the faith of the called-out and gathered-in community; for each of us, our faith is rooted in the community, nourished in the community and lived out in the community.

A paraclete - literally called alongside - stood up with someone who was on trial in a court of law. The paraclete did not speak to the judge at all but spoke only with the person on trial to support and guide them through it. Jesus assured the people when they loved with God's impartial and all-embracing agape love, the Paraclete, this Spirit of Truth about the person and work of Jesus Christ would be with them and in them.

Here are some English-language versions of the Greek parakletos:

• advisor
• advocate
• comforter
• consoler
• counselor
• encourager
• friend
• helper

Easter 5 A

Well, yes—we're currently in lectionary year C and not even in Lent yet, but this afternoon I found notes I'd prepared for several Bible studies I facilitated during spring 2005. Whenever time allows, I virtually always have notes for the class and myself to follow. Somehow it proves I've prepared and also gives us something concrete to work through.

Easter 5 A: Rock; The Word in the World!

1 Peter 2:1-10 | Stones, Rocks, Bricks, and Other Substantial Building Material

• Stones: hard, heavy, smooth, rough, impenetrable, permanent, won't easily decay; there also are many different kinds of stones. Is anyone here a geologist?
• The solidness, safety and security of rock, brick, concrete or any kind of masonry as walls or building foundations.
• 1 Peter 2:4 Living Stone, Source of Life.
• 1 Peter 2:5 "present yourselves" (that's us!) as building stones for a sanctuary [holy place, dwelling for God, community in which the Holy Spirit of God dwells in the world: Shekinah] vibrant with life! What aspect of being "living stones" do we offer this faith community and the greater community?
• 1 Peter 2:6, 7 Jesus Christ the cornerstone; foundation [Isaiah 28:16] [Matthew 21:44; Psalm 118:22]
• 1 Peter 2:8 Stumbling block, stone to trip over, boulder in The Message version - the stumbling block, "scandal" of the cross! Paul says preaching "Christ crucified," is a stumbling block, scandal, to Jews and foolishness to the gentiles [1 Corinthians 1:23]
• 1 Peter 2:9 Our royal, prophetic priesthood [Revelation 1:6]; different versions or translations of this text?
• Jesus assertion he'd build the Church on the rock of Peter/Rocky's confession of faith!

John 14:1-14 | Jesus Christ and the Church: the Word in the World

John's "many mansions—many rooms" text often is considered a parallel to Matthew's Sermon on the Mount and Luke's Sermon on the Plain; just as in those homilies, this text is not about a future eventual location but about a here and now commission to respond in the Spirit to opportunities and situations God keeps offering us along with the relationship we need to remain in to do the Word. How can we live as God's Word in the world? For starters, let's try thinking about contrasting attitudes and behaviors: scripture versus popular culture or scripture versus the media. On the internet I found a few ideas to get us started:

The world encourages: "Seek your place in the world."
Scripture says: "Seek first the kingdom of God."

Popular culture says: "Find yourself."
Scripture says: "Lose yourself, so you can find life!"

The self-improvement industry says: "Be your own self-made person."
Scripture says: "I call you to become members together of one body."

Advertising tells us: "Look to your own needs and interests."
Scripture says: "Take on the attitude of Jesus, who took on the nature of a servant."

The world out there insists: "Be at the top of your game."
Scripture says: "Be crucified with Jesus."

A Treasure in Earthen Vessels

¸.•´¯*)¸¸,ø¤* ¸.•'´¯) A Treasure in Earthen Vessels: An instrument for an ecumenical reflection on hermeneutics | Faith and Order Paper 182 | November 1998 ¸.•´¯*)¸¸,ø¤* ¸.•'´¯)

This afternoon while I tried to organize and throw away some stray papers, I discovered hard copies of several things from a couple years ago (not unusual), but I did find it unusual that I hadn't blogged any of them! Unlike now, in those days I wasn't quite so quick to blog almost everything for storage and safekeeping. However, I'm delighted I discovered them, and here's the first. File properties gave Monday, 14 March 2005 as the date I created the original, which I did to help prepare for moderating the discussion at Faith, Order and Witness.

Some of my ideas:

A friend who'd seen the traveling Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit emailed me she felt she'd touched "the hand of God!" In 2 Corinthians 4:7 Paul explains, "We have this treasure in earthen vessels…" During the Coronation ceremony the British monarch receives a Bible, given with the words: "to keep your Majesty ever mindful of the law and the Gospel of God as the rule for the whole of life and government of Christian Princes, we present you with this Book, the most valuable thing this world affords. Here is wisdom; this is the royal law; these are the lively oracles of God." Touching the pages of scripture with our own hands, actually feeling the pages of God's grace-filled rule for covenantal living, the commandments, together with the Gospeled Good News, in a tangible intimation of the way Jesus of Nazareth's birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension brought the Good News texts into real-life! We can look at Divine wiseness, living revelation and prophecies in the same way we'd read any current book or magazine, and in a way concretely and actively related to our actual everyday world.

As someone recently observed on a theology site I belong to (my paraphrase):

The Church is in fragments; the contemporary situation of the church reminds me of our faithful predecessors in biblical times carrying those earthly treasures necessary for daily sustenance (water, wine, grain, etc.) in earthen vessels. Sometimes one of the vessels would fall and break; under similar circumstances, we would throw the shards away, but they found a use for them: with paper not yet invented, and papyrus expensive, they used the fragments as writing material! Those fragments, which we call ostraca, still exist until this very day, providing us with insight into the culture and thought of those early times. We might say: "The jar is broken, long live the pieces!"

My own notes, continued:

In the Reformation tradition an objective and sensible sign is sufficient for the presence of the Church, and that is the Means of Grace—Word and Sacrament; God chooses the Earthen Vessels of Church, Scripture and Sacraments to proclaim His presence in our midst, and within the physical pages of a book we find a living witness of God's past activity at the same time we discover hope for our future--a Word of resurrection from death: a Word of Life! The Holy Spirit creates Christians by acting upon the subject – as in the relationship between Potter and clay – by our living in a community formed by Word and Sacrament.