Nothing relieves the weary sermon listener quite like sitting under the tree in our courtyard following the worship service. Just today the last of our four moveable benches got refurbished by Bob S and his son-in-law, Ken. They are now rock solid and should serve us for years to come. Just last month Jim O and Ken B rebuilt the permanent bench closer in around the tree. Thanks to all four gentlemen for your craftsmanship.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Refurbished Benches
Nothing relieves the weary sermon listener quite like sitting under the tree in our courtyard following the worship service. Just today the last of our four moveable benches got refurbished by Bob S and his son-in-law, Ken. They are now rock solid and should serve us for years to come. Just last month Jim O and Ken B rebuilt the permanent bench closer in around the tree. Thanks to all four gentlemen for your craftsmanship.
Being Peacemakers in Church, Part 2
Being Peacemakers in Church, Part 2
That whole "bear with one another" thing, instead of jumping ship at the first sign of conflict.
That whole "bear with one another" thing, instead of jumping ship at the first sign of conflict.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
I, Me and Thee
I love Agatha Christie's Belgian detective Poirot. Television's Masterpiece Mystery is currently showing a new Poirot series (once again starring David Suchet) on Sunday nights. This week's program was a take on Christie's novel Appointment With Death, wherein the little detective stumbles upon murder in his midst while touring an archaeological dig in the Middle East. The whole story is tragic, with the "right" mean person being murdered by sympathetic characters with a "very good reason". Turns out the murderers are the long lost parents of a young lady who was the adopted daughter of the mean person who was murdered, and as the rediscovered parents profess their love for one another and for their daughter given up long ago, they kill themselves right in front of everyone, including their daughter. Horrible! But so very... Christie; so very... Masterpiece Mystery. I love it ; ) .
At the end of the program, after all has been wrapped up and Poirot is about to leave (perhaps to solve a murder on the Orient Express in his spare time), the little Belgian approaches the young lady who has lost so much and offers comforting words. She demurs a bit, expressing how awful it all is and regretting deeply the sudden discovery and loss of her real parents, wondering how she can go on. Poirot responds:
We, like the characters in Appointment With Death, can sure make a mess of things, for ourselves and for others, by our sin. Honest folks recognize this fact, as does the Apostle Paul. Mimicking John Doe Sinner, the writer of the letter to the Romans admits, "I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do... What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" (7:14-15, 24).
Notice all the personal pronouns in the confession above. "I" and "me" very definitely point to the individual self. The Romans 7 man or woman owns his or her sin/sin nature/sinfulness, then is compelled to ask, How can I go on? Who will rescue me from this body of death?
Anyone who has observed the little Belgian detective Hercule Poirot knows he often refers to himself in the third person. Instead of saying, "I have a headache," he might just as easily say, "Poirot, he has a headache." Referring to himself in the third person allows Poirot, I suppose, to maintain a frame of mind that observes the world objectively, even himself. But there are times when Poirot allows himself to own an intimate moment by using "I" or "me". It's disarming, charming and real, and you see that the detective is more than his "little gray cells": he's also human. And human beings need rescue and help. We need to know that our sin wounds and separation from God and one another can receive healing and wholeness. Like the young lady in Appointment With Death, we need to be encouraged that "there is nothing in the world so damaged that it cannot be repaired, because without this certainty we should all of us be mad."
What certainty do Christians have that our personal/corporate sin damage can be repaired? Nothing less than the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the Sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering" (8:1-3 NIV). Me. Singular me. Me, myself and I. Me. Well, almost "me". Paul's actual word here, put in strict English, is "thee", meaning "you", singular you. Paul is proclaiming to the Romans that just as they should have personally identified with the "I" and "me" of Romans 7 in their unconverted states, each one of "you" Romans who "are in Christ Jesus" and in the process of having your sin damage repaired by the Spirit of Christ within.
Just as Poirot shared truth with the damaged young lady, allow me to share truth with you now: as wretched as we know ourselves to be, Christ Jesus sets you (thee) free from the guilt and control of sin.
At the end of the program, after all has been wrapped up and Poirot is about to leave (perhaps to solve a murder on the Orient Express in his spare time), the little Belgian approaches the young lady who has lost so much and offers comforting words. She demurs a bit, expressing how awful it all is and regretting deeply the sudden discovery and loss of her real parents, wondering how she can go on. Poirot responds:
"Ah, Mademoiselle, there is nothing in the world so damaged that it cannot be repaired. I encourage you to know this, because without this certainty we should all of us be mad."
We, like the characters in Appointment With Death, can sure make a mess of things, for ourselves and for others, by our sin. Honest folks recognize this fact, as does the Apostle Paul. Mimicking John Doe Sinner, the writer of the letter to the Romans admits, "I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do... What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" (7:14-15, 24).
Notice all the personal pronouns in the confession above. "I" and "me" very definitely point to the individual self. The Romans 7 man or woman owns his or her sin/sin nature/sinfulness, then is compelled to ask, How can I go on? Who will rescue me from this body of death?
Anyone who has observed the little Belgian detective Hercule Poirot knows he often refers to himself in the third person. Instead of saying, "I have a headache," he might just as easily say, "Poirot, he has a headache." Referring to himself in the third person allows Poirot, I suppose, to maintain a frame of mind that observes the world objectively, even himself. But there are times when Poirot allows himself to own an intimate moment by using "I" or "me". It's disarming, charming and real, and you see that the detective is more than his "little gray cells": he's also human. And human beings need rescue and help. We need to know that our sin wounds and separation from God and one another can receive healing and wholeness. Like the young lady in Appointment With Death, we need to be encouraged that "there is nothing in the world so damaged that it cannot be repaired, because without this certainty we should all of us be mad."
What certainty do Christians have that our personal/corporate sin damage can be repaired? Nothing less than the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the Sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering" (8:1-3 NIV). Me. Singular me. Me, myself and I. Me. Well, almost "me". Paul's actual word here, put in strict English, is "thee", meaning "you", singular you. Paul is proclaiming to the Romans that just as they should have personally identified with the "I" and "me" of Romans 7 in their unconverted states, each one of "you" Romans who "are in Christ Jesus" and in the process of having your sin damage repaired by the Spirit of Christ within.
Just as Poirot shared truth with the damaged young lady, allow me to share truth with you now: as wretched as we know ourselves to be, Christ Jesus sets you (thee) free from the guilt and control of sin.
Consumer Debt Has Disproportionately Negative Impact On Poor
From The Huffington Post, an article about the general use of debt on the entire economy and how it hurts most the poor; just what Dave Ramsey has been warning us about. In a way, it's not too different from gambling's practical effects on the poor; the lure of easy money keeps many people down and enriches a few.
Credit Cards Transfer Money From Poor To Rich Households: Study by Nathaniel Cahners Hindman.
Credit Cards Transfer Money From Poor To Rich Households: Study by Nathaniel Cahners Hindman.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Monday, July 26, 2010
Commissioning August's Ministers
On Sunday we commissioned two of our own as they prepare to leave us during August to minister in two completely different settings.
Michelle C is heading to the Netherlands to assistant direct the Dutch European Continentals, a ministry/mission using performing arts.
Matthew K leaves this Sunday for a month as a staff intern at Quaker Meadow Camp.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Another Softball Win
Nice job tonight by our softball guys against Bell Friends, winning 20-18 behind a 17 run second inning.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
I Am The Romans 7 Man
Or at least I was.
But am I something more?
Who is the "I" of Romans 7? Is it...
- Paul being autobiographical?
- Paul representing Jews?
- Paul representing humanity generally?
- Paul representing carnal Christians?
In our study through Romans, I have adopted the narrative of Dr. Ben Witherington in his wonderful commentary on Romans. Witherington suggests that the "I" of Romans 7 is two people: Adam (vss. 7-13) and a representative of Adam's kin--Joe Anyone--who is facing a crisis of faith under the conviction of his sin (vss. 14-25). The two "I"s are made distinct by the change of verb tense. Paul uses the rhetorical device of impersonating each character, as an actor in a play.
Romans 7:7-25, some of the most difficult to interpret verses in all of scripture, is merely part of what Paul is teaching about the Christian experience. It's tempting for us as Christians to adopt Romans 7 as THE Christian experience, because it seems to happily explain (and excuse?) our continued duplicity (and weakness?) when it comes to sin and righteousness.
But Paul is clearly saying something much more. The key, in my opinion, is Romans 7:5-6, wherein Paul establishes an outline for the rest of Romans 7-8. "For when you were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code."
Notice the change of verb tense, from past to present: "when you were controlled by the sinful nature... But now...we serve in the new way of the Spirit..." The rest of Romans 7-8 fills out this outline of past and present:
- Adam's sin is defined by the law (and we are all in Adam), vss. 7-13
- Adam's kin all need rescuing from our slavery to sin, vss. 14-25
- Through Jesus Christ the law of the Spirit of life set us free from the law of sin and death, 7:24-8:39
Let's get back to what really bothers us about Romans 7, the fact that how Paul describes our experience with the enticement/entrapment/escapelessness (inescapability I should say, I just wanted to keep the alliteration going) of sin reflects so well our personal realities.
Remember our Romans narrative: Paul is writing to mainly Gentile Christians, with a few Jewish Christians sprinkled in. Roman Gentiles were aware of a philosophical concept known by the Greek term akrasia, meaning "lacking command over oneself". (See Jesus and Paul's use of akrasia in Matthew 23:25 and 1 Corinthians 7:5.) Ancient pagan philosophers grappled with humanity's duplicity in knowing the good they ought to do but their seeming inability to do that good consistently, acting instead on the sinful passions inside them. Ovid writes, "Desire persuades me one way, reason another. I see the better and approve it, but I follow the worse." Epictetus writes, "What I wish, I do not do, and what I do not wish, I do." Sound familiar? "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate to do," Romans 7:15. Paul is using the rhetorical device of mimicking that which the Roman Gentile Christians already knew and probably approved, the plain truth that on our own we are powerless over sin, our true master from which we plead to be redeemed. "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord!" Romans 7:24-25.
But Paul is clear: Romans 7 is the way it used to be for the Gentile and Jewish Christians he is addressing in his letter. Now "we serve in the new way of the Spirit... You are controlled not by the sinful nature [no longer is sin your master] but by the Spirit..." Romans 7:6, 8:9.
I am the Romans 7 man, in that this was my existence prior to being rescued by Jesus Christ and set right in the new way of His Spirit. But why does Romans 7 seem to beautifully describe the real me, even the Christian me, with all my faults? Because I continue to work out my salvation, I continue to face temptation, I continue in my infirmities and sin sickness.
But, but, BUT... sin is NOT my master. Jesus is.
Monday, July 19, 2010
66th Wedding Anniversary
Guess who is celebrating thier 66th wedding anniversary this Wednesday?
Lindy and Ruth K!
Join me in showering them with cards.
Lindy and Ruth K!
Join me in showering them with cards.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Congratulations, Softballers!
Yesterday our team defeated the good folks from Friends Community-Brea, 20-5, getting our season off to a good start. Our pitching, batting and fielding all performed consistently. Nice job, fellas.
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