what is hanging in the balance now?

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory, which is the Spirit of God, is resting on you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, a criminal, or even as a mischief maker. Yet if any of you suffers as a Christian, do not consider it a disgrace, but glorify God because you bear this name. For the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God; if it begins with us, what will be the end for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And

“If it is hard for the righteous to be saved,
what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”

Therefore, let those suffering in accordance with God’s will entrust their lives to a faithful Creator, while continuing to do good.

1 Peter 4:12-19; NRSVue

Wherever you are as an American on the political spectrum here, you’ll have grave concerns about the past, present and future. We have lived in a privileged existence, and it looks like that is under great stress at this time. One thing most Americans agree on is that democracy itself is at stake here. There is even a so-called Christian disdain against democracy, aligned to some extent with the Christendom of the past, focused on implementing a “Christian” order. That is another subject in itself.

Another matter is just where our priorities should lie as followers of Christ, Christians in that sense. We now live in a different setting in America compared to those who lived at the time of Peter’s writing. Rome was then in charge with no ands, ifs or buts about it. In the rule of Caesar, there was no representation of the people. Now we have that, and as Christians we do well to advocate for what we consider to be good. We still have that freedom at the moment, but the problem now is that everything seems more than less partisan in the limited two-party system here.

What has happened in my lifetime since the 1960s and gaining momentum from the 1980s and 90s up to the present day is a culture war which initially was a reaction to the government telling a Christian institution that it could no longer bar Blacks from its spaces. That was the basis of the founding for the “Moral Majority.” After a few years abortion became the issue which they found united and gave momentum to their cause. The fallout from this race based, abortion, religious freedom platform has been great. There is little to no incentive to work with the other side on issues like abortion, and all kinds of other issues. We’re at a place now where there’s one side spurred on by Christians who want to take over entirely, be the ones in charge, with others in line according to that. So it’s a challenging time since there are a host of Jesus-followers and others who are opposed to that.

What is hanging in the balance now? I think for us as Christ-followers, it’s a time of purging, salvation for us in that sense. What does our faith tell us about the good we ought to be doing? Where do our priorities lie? Is it about our own protection and freedom? Or is it with the values which Jesus taught us: to love our neighbor, to be the neighbor when anyone is in need. To welcome the stranger, the refugee. To advocate for fairness for all. To stand against racial and gender discrimination, particularly right now against the transgender community. To stand against war and the destruction of innocents such as is happening in Gaza, both Israel and Hamas utterly failing in their use of horrific violence.

So all of that and more are important to us as Christ-followers. We won’t be uniform exactly in how we think and approach such matters. But there are certain things that forever should mark us. We don’t advocate force of any kind. We rather appeal by words, and mainly by works, by what we do. We are willing to stand with those who are considered the dredge of society, in the way, a nuisance or even danger which needs to be pushed to the side, cancelled, even eliminated. We stand for the humanity of all. We look for solutions to problems, not imagining there will be perfection in such in this life but pushing toward that ideal.

With that, what do people see in us? Democrats? Republicans? MAGA followers? Patriotic Americans? You fill in the blank. Rather, shouldn’t they be seeing people who are not known as any such, but rather as Christians in the sense of which Peter talks about above? Followers of Jesus, as Jesus taught and lived in the four gospel accounts? Yes, that. That alone is our identity from which we live. There’s no doubt that we all have our opinions on political matters of this world. But we are in allegiance to one Lord, Jesus. Our following of him means that all peoples are embraced as those whom God loves. We continue on in that way, expecting difficulty, maybe even suffering. But the only way we’re to live in this life as followers of Jesus.

imagining a better world

Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD!
Why do you want the day of the LORD?
It is darkness, not light,
as if someone fled from a lion
and was met by a bear
or went into the house and rested a hand against the wall
and was bitten by a snake.
Is not the day of the LORD darkness, not light,
and gloom with no brightness in it?

I hate, I despise your festivals,
and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them,
and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals
I will not look upon.
Take away from me the noise of your songs;
I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
But let justice roll down like water
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

Amos 5:18-24; NRSVue

In the prophetic imagination (see Walter Brueggemann) there is always room for not only a better world, but one in which not only are the poor taken care of, but in they flourish. But notice that this imagery, explicit in many places unlike the passage above, is preceded by often thunderous judgment.

There is no room for this kind of vision in much of the theology today. It’s a “left behind” rapture hope that confines the world to hell on earth, claiming that things will get worse and worse until the Lord returns. And worse, that the believing ones will be raptured out before the final hell breaks loose on earth. All of that is a profound misreading of Scripture. But to begin to understand that, you must start reading the Hebrew prophets, in our Bibles from Isaiah through Malachi.

What the prophets do over and over again is to call the people of Israel and Judah to account, and then after that the nations which were empires, and primarily for their mistreatment of the poor, the widow, the orphan, the alien. A relative few living in lavish luxury off the backs of others. That’s the story again and again in the prophets. You actually see the beginning of that in Solomon with inklings before, warned against in previous writings.

One common theme taken for granted in the circles I have lived in is that God changes the heart of individuals and that can impact society, but rarely is it thought that God can actually change society. Yes, personal regeneration is an important part of that, but what is imagined in Scripture is a societal change in the here and now, not in the sweet by and by. We are held accountable by God to imagine a world in which all human beings flourish on earth. In which war is not only frowned upon but rejected. God in Scripture is not the God of the popular theology that reigns in our time. God expects better. God will judge. And in the end, make no mistake about it, better will come. God will see to it, but it won’t be apart from us.

choose your words carefully, or be silent

They hate the one who reproves in the gate,
and they abhor the one who speaks the truth.
Therefore because you trample on the poor
and take from them levies of grain,
you have built houses of hewn stone,
but you shall not live in them;
you have planted pleasant vineyards,
but you shall not drink their wine.
For I know how many are your transgressions
and how great are your sins—
you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe
and push aside the needy in the gate.
Therefore the prudent will keep silent in such a time,
for it is an evil time.

Amos 5:10-13; NRSVue

In this lament over Israel’s sin (see NRSVue heading) we are told that it was an evil time and therefore dangerous to speak the truth. Much evil was being done under the guise of righteousness (see Amos 5:18-27).

We live in that time today. It is a time of not loving one’s neighbor as one’s self, so no matter what such people say, they’re not loving God. They can go to church, sing worship songs and keep doing that, but if they’re not pursuing justice for the poor, the oppressed, the refugee, the stranger, the marginalized, if they’re not trying to listen and understand, then there’s no truth in them. Truth in the way I’m referring to here is present only where there’s love. Otherwise you might say something which is technically correct, but in God’s eyes there’s no truth if that is not accompanied with love.

During such times one must measure their words, whether to speak up at all, and what to say. This should always be the case regardless. I think the current times in which we live can help us in that we’re forced to discipline our tongues, to weigh what we say. Again, that should be so during any time, but when the times are evil, one has no choice, unless they’re not prudent. It used to be in the nation I live, the United States, you could speak your opinion without fear of reprisal, even violence. Such is not the case anymore.

I know that most people from the tradition I was in for many years think that religion and politics, or they would say faith and politics don’t mix. In God’s Word, Scripture, such is not the case. You cannot separate the two. The difference is that the good news in Christ is a good news of God’s rule, yes, called a kingdom, which is political through and through, about all of life, and found today in the church.

One more word. We must be careful for another reason. None of us has all of the truth pinned down, and in a sense we don’t understand anything thoroughly. But that does not exempt us from making judgments and advocating for what is right and just, and resisting what is wrong. Sometimes we need to ask questions, and then perhaps call some things into question, and then actually call some things out. But we best beware and be aware, because these are not innocent times.

full of goodness

I myself feel confident about you, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another.

Romans 15:14; NRSVue

First on Paul’s list about his confidence in the believers in Rome to whom he was writing was that they were filled with goodness. Filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another reminds me of a staple in our Mennonite group and among many Mennonites, the truth that we’re called to discern together what God is saying to us in Scripture. But back to the point of this post: Goodness characterizes Christ and those who truly follow Christ.

To be full of goodness. What does it mean? What is good, in the first place? That we’ll have to determine with the Spirit’s help from both Scripture and life. Love is certainly at the heart of it. What will love do in any given situation? What did Jesus do? What is the body of Christ called to do? These and others we could think of are important questions in considering this.

Good works are talked about again and again in Scripture. Giving to the poor or alms giving. Helping those in the fellowship and those outside of it. A heartbeat for the world and especially for the poor, the outcasts, the stranger or alien, this is all to be a part of the mark of Christians, followers of Christ, the church- Christ’s body.

We’re not referring to perfection here, but we are certainly referring to our passion, goal, and what it really means at the heart to truly follow Christ. We are willing to advocate in the way of Christ, the way of peace for those who are being marginalized and traumatized, and too often by other professing Christians. Make no mistake about that. We stand opposed to that, not at all to win any culture war, but simply out of love.

Is the gospel of Christ really the power of God for salvation to all who believe (Romans 1:16-17)? If so, then that is the only power we’re going to put our hope in to move the hearts of people, and yes, even to change systems of greed and wrong. The Spirit will help us, but we must follow. God the source of this in Christ for us.

entrusting ourselves to God

Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

So Abram went, as the LORD had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot and all the possessions that they had gathered and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran, and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. From there he moved on to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east, and there he built an altar to the LORD and invoked the name of the LORD. And Abram journeyed on by stages toward the Negeb.

Genesis 12:1-9; NRSVue

The story of the faith of Abraham begins here. Often the emphasis is put on the passage in Genesis 15 when God takes Abraham out into the night sky and asks him to count the stars, which then must have been magnificent in all their stellar wonder. Then telling “Abram” at the time (as here), “So shall your descendants be.” Then Abraham believing God’s word, and God reckoning it to Abraham as righteousness. And of course the other, Abraham’s willingness to follow through on God’s word to sacrifice his son Isaac. Both are talked about in the New Testament. And often there’s an emphasis on the first in the idea that it’s our faith alone that justifies, but we get some seeming push back from James who insists that works must follow for faith to be authentic, pointing to Abraham’s willing sacrifice of his son.

All of this needs to be considered in the entire narrative we find in the Hebrew Bible/ Christian Old Testament. And we find there a story of a human just like us, yes surely gifted in some good ways like we are too, but also not having everything together, and his life along with his wife Sarai (later, Sarah) unavoidably open for misunderstanding and false judgment from others, and as it turns out unavoidably needing the miraculous blessing of God. Everything about their experience cried out as contradictory to God’s initial and ongoing promise as spelled out right at the start in the passage above. It ended up being a matter of entrusting themselves to God. And within what turned out to be a rather long drawn out existence as strangers, even aliens, in a foreign land, but the land of promise for what would be the base of what God was going to do through Abraham and Sarah for the world.

Abraham is the father of all who believe. And this is not just a matter of believing and that’s it. It’s no less than entrusting ourselves, our lives fully into God’s hands. And involved in that is always the idea that this concerns all of life. I don’t entrust myself to God and then go and do whatever. We entrust ourselves to God so that we might live in the will of God, a different life entirely than what we would live otherwise. Nothing less than that.

light exposes darkness

Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness; rather, expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly, but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that becomes visible is light.

Ephesians 5:11-14a

One of the things I like best about scripture, and particularly the Prophets is how the light of the vision they cast within “the prophetic imagination” exposes the moral and spiritual darkness around them. There is no letup in what they did, Jeremiah being one good example. And we have more than echoes of that when we look at Jesus and his ministry. Jesus in fact brings this art to perfection.

But what happens when darkness is emboldened to come out without apology into the full light of day? And what happens when it is not only not exposed for what it is, but celebrated? I am thinking particularly of the prophetic strain of care for the poor, the marginalized and the oppressed, refugees and immigrants. What happens when their cause is not only belittled, but even panned and worse, called evil? We have what is happening today with so-called people of God being quiet, or explaining it away, even defending it. Part of the mess we are in today.

resident aliens

Jesus answered, “My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom belonged to this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.”

John 18:36; NRSVue

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Once you were not a people,
but now you are God’s people;
once you had not received mercy,
but now you have received mercy.

Beloved, I urge you as aliens and exiles to abstain from the desires of the flesh that wage war against the soul. Conduct yourselves honorably among the gentiles, so that, though they malign you as evildoers, they may see your honorable deeds and glorify God when he comes to judge.

For the Lord’s sake be subject to every human authority, whether to the emperor as supreme or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing right you should silence the ignorance of the foolish. As servants of God, live as free people, yet do not use your freedom as a pretext for evil. Honor everyone. Love the family of believers. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

1 Peter 2:9-17; NRSVue

Stanley Hauerwas has made “resident aliens” well known among those interested in such things. This is an apt description of us as Christ followers, believers in Christ, Christ’s body in the world- the church. We are not tied to any government, yet we live respectably as residents among them, subjecting ourselves to their governance as long as it doesn’t contradict Christ’s calling to us.

At the same time we’re aliens wherever we are. As followers of Christ we don’t follow the ways of the world, and we don’t align ourselves with any earthly government or authority. We live under such authority, but we’re not united with them. We are an entity in and of ourselves, distinct from anything of this world.

This is what Scripture tells us, and the early church of the first three centuries seems to have lived this out. It was easier for them to do so since they were at best held at arm’s length by the ruling authority, the Roman empire at the forefront. But after Constantine the church no longer was persecuted but joined to the hip of the state. Church and state as it were, were wedded together. In fact the only ones who could serve in the Roman military were those who were Christians in name. Before that as far as we can tell in the preceding centuries, Christians not only could not serve in the Roman military, but rejected outright any such service, refusing to kill under any circumstances, citing the teaching and example of Christ.

We wish the best for all government political entities and pray for them and aspire and seek to do good for all. And we thank God for their service.

We reside with all, but as aliens. Not really belonging but present and seeking to live at peace with all. As we await the return of our Lord when we’ll no longer be aliens, but at home at last with everyone for ever.

God’s help upstream

ר Resh

Look on my suffering and deliver me,
for I have not forgotten your law.
Defend my cause and redeem me;
preserve my life according to your promise.
Salvation is far from the wicked,
for they do not seek out your decrees.
Your compassion, LORD, is great;
preserve my life according to your laws.
Many are the foes who persecute me,
but I have not turned from your statutes.
I look on the faithless with loathing,
for they do not obey your word.
See how I love your precepts;
preserve my life, LORD, in accordance with your love.
All your words are true;
all your righteous laws are eternal.

Psalm 119:153-160

Oftentimes we feel like we’re rowing upstream, in other words, against the tide. While so many others are going with the flow, doing what everyone else supposedly does. And we can be looked on as strange and even estranged as a result.

During such times we need to hold on to God’s word and God’s promises, and not be moved from them. It’s all too easy for us to forget them for a moment in reaction to our trouble and troublers. Instead we need to continue to look to God and his word. Believing that God will help us to continue on in his will and way in and through Jesus.

 

 

The United States and us fearful Christians

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.

….All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

….Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

Hebrews 11-12

July 4 is upon us, this being the holiday weekend preceding it. And if there’s one thing for sure, so many of us, and I’ll include myself, are hardly past the election fervor, caught up in a presidency which may turn out to be the most polarizing in US history, aside from Abraham Lincoln’s presidency during those tumultuous and horrific Civil War days. Hardly any of us like what is going on in US politics, many for similar reasons, others of us for different reasons, some of the concerns being the same across the board. It is a difficult time for a good number of reasons in a nation which is not only polarized, but threatening to be on the edge of being torn apart.

The question on this post is this: When push comes to shove, just where does our confidence lie? What do we think will win and save the day, and why? And just why are we so upset and fearful?

This is not meant to be a critique of the United States, but there’s no doubt there have been seismic changes in society, and that the liberal, progressives have been all but dismissive of the conservatives. And there’s no doubt that the conservatives themselves have written off the liberals. You have few moderates, who by many would be seen as wishy washy and weak kneed. As far as I’m concerned, while I do have opinions about US politics, and especially concerning issues of the day, none of that matters in comparison to the main point of this post. While those things have an important and provisional place, they are not at all on par with what now follows.

We as Christians, and especially the older generation of us, which includes myself, and I plead guilty, we have lost our focus and therefore are weak in our faith, and weary, in danger of losing heart. Oh yes, there will be some who will fight to the bitter end either for the Democratic Party, or for the Republican Party, or their version of what they think America needs, and won’t seem to have lost any heart at all. They have a lot of hope for good, and to avoid what isn’t good through the federal, state and local government. And again, it’s not like that has no value at all. But we in Jesus are actually called to something else, even while at the same time we pray and humbly participate according to our convictions for the good of the state.

Our goal is something better, something much more. It is to be a follower of Jesus in whatever culture we’re placed, to announce and live out the good news of the kingdom of God in Jesus, in the truth that Jesus is King with the hope that follows. We should be those who are commended for our faith in God, both confident and assured that God will fulfill his promises come what may. And that includes whatever we may face in coming days, years, or generations, should the Lord tarry.

We need to quit thinking and from that acting as if all depends on what is happening or not happening in Washington, D. C., as hard as that might seem to us, for some of us for different reasons. Our eyes need to become fixed on Jesus, period, who shows us the way as the pioneer and perfecter of faith, and of course, is the way. Faith, plain naked faith, and I mean the faith that is in the God revealed in Jesus, that is what we live for, and if need be, die for. While at the same time we faithfully pray for those in government, and hope for the best for the nation, and the world.

That is our calling. This is what we Christians in America should be known for. In and through Jesus.

See Andy Stanley’s compelling message, Fix Your Eyes, which inspired this post.

 

finding home

Like a bird that flees its nest
    is anyone who flees from home.

Proverbs 27:8

From an old song comes the well worn saying: “Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home.” We feel at home at home, for sure. It’s an escape, and more than that, it’s our abode. It’s where we’re acclimated into hopefully a place where we can rest. Of course to both build and maintain a home requires work. But home ought to be above all a place we can leisurely enjoy.

God made us for home. In a sense, humans were made to be at home in fellowship with God, in Jesus taken into the communion of the Triune God: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. But God made humans also to be earthly dwellers in communion with each other. And even to have a relationship with animals, I’m thinking of pets. This is why the biblical promise of heaven coming down to earth and becoming one with it when Jesus returns is so appropriate. God will come to earth to dwell with his people. In the meantime, God lives with us in Jesus as Emmanuel (God-with-us).

So our true home is right where we live on earth, renewed in Jesus, and in God in and through Jesus. Both.

So we are at a loss, and lost when we stray from either. Especially basic for us is to find our home in God, but we are earthlings, made from the dust of the earth, so that this wonderful world in the end renewed in the new creation at the resurrection in and through Jesus is also our home. We can’t get too much of either, as we now live in the world to be renewed when God makes all things new through Jesus.

“This world is not my home,” refers to the world system, which like Babel of old (Genesis 11) is estranged from, and in opposition to God. So that this life is not our final home. We are strangers here, pilgrims on a journey, looking for a better, heavenly country (Hebrews 11).

We pray for those who have strayed from their true home, that they would find it in God. And we long to be more and more at rest in that, as well. While we fulfill our calling to work and be stewards of this good earth God has entrusted to us. Knowing that our work someday won’t end, though the toilsome labor due to the curse imposed on it will. At Jesus’s return.

Home.