Revolution Episode 2 July 31, 2009
Posted by joejames in Uncategorized.Tags: Justice, Peace, Revolution, Revolution Episode 2
add a comment
What will be the title for Episode 2 of Revolution? The theme will involve Peace and Justice (Restorative Justice). So what will we call it? Here are the possibilities:
Songs of Peace and Justice
Songs of Justice and Peace
Just Peace
Let Justice Roll Down
Peace Like A River
The Peaceable Kingdom
The Peaceful Revolution
Blessed Are The Peacemakers
Not sure what to do? I do know you better be there: Sept. 19th, @ 7 PM at the BLC.
Sunday Bloody Sunday (Lyrics by U2) July 30, 2009
Posted by joejames in Uncategorized.add a comment
One of our songs for Revolution Episode 2: Songs of Peace and Justice
I cant believe the news today
Oh, I cant close my eyes and make it go away
How long…
How long must we sing this song?
How long? how long…
cause tonight…we can be as one
Tonight…
Broken bottles under childrens feet
Bodies strewn across the dead end street
But I wont heed the battle call
It puts my back up
Puts my back up against the wall
Sunday, bloody sunday
Sunday, bloody sunday
Sunday, bloody sunday (sunday bloody sunday…)
(allright lets go!)
And the battles just begun
Theres many lost, but tell me who has won
The trench is dug within our hearts
And mothers, children, brothers, sisters torn apart
Sunday, bloody sunday
Sunday, bloody sunday
How long…
How long must we sing this song?
How long? how long…
cause tonight…we can be as one
Tonight…
Tonight…
Sunday, bloody sunday (tonight)
Tonight
Sunday, bloody sunday (tonight)
(come get some!)
Wipe the tears from your eyes
Wipe your tears away
Wipe your tears away
I wipe your tears away
(sunday, bloody sunday)
I wipe your blood shot eyes
(sunday, bloody sunday)
Sunday, bloody sunday (sunday, bloody sunday)
Sunday, bloody sunday (sunday, bloody sunday)
(here I come!)
And its true we are immune
When fact is fiction and tv reality
And today the millions cry
We eat and drink while tomorrow they die
The real battle yet begun (sunday, bloody sunday)
To claim the victory jesus won (sunday, bloody sunday)
On…
Sunday bloody sunday
Sunday bloody sunday…
Top Ten Reason’s Why It’s Okay to say “Personal Relationship With Jesus” July 29, 2009
Posted by joejames in Uncategorized.add a comment
1> Because it is impossible to know “about” God, it is only possible to know him.
2> Because we need to be reminded that he know us.
3> Because it reminds us that he is somebody, and some body of belief.
4> Because in that “personal relationship” he will tell me it’s not about me, that His love is for everyone – even my enemies.
5> Because some people can’t be Christian without being Southern Baptist, and you can’t be a Southern Baptist without saying “Personal Relationship with Jesus” 100 times per day. So, whatever keeps you in Christ…
6> Because sometimes we rely too heavily upon the church (or others within the church) to do our relational work with God for us.
7> Because it’s a good metaphor for a God that “counts the hairs on our heads”
8> Because it’s intimate, and Americans struggle with authentic intimacy.
9> Because it takes great faith to be in real relationship to that which you cannot see.
10> Because, though never explicitly said, it is actually everywhere in scripture. (As long as you know the “you” of that relationship involves even those you hate and despise).
The Examen Questions July 29, 2009
Posted by joejames in Uncategorized.Tags: Community, Confession, Examen, Prayer
add a comment
Read Matthew 25:31-46
1> Where did I see Jesus today?
2> Where did I miss seeing Jesus today?
Read Psalm 32
1> For what moment am I most grateful for today?
2> For what moment am I least grateful for today?
This is the Examen. Our life group has been doing it all summer. 6 weeks now to be exact. Each Monday evening, we come together and share the “top four” from our previous weeks reflections. I cannot tell you how formative this is. And perhaps the simplest thing we have ever done. It would be well worth your time and energy to form your own Examen group.
For resources on the Examen read Foster’s book “Prayer” or find the great little booklet, “Sleeping with Bread”
Top Ten List: Why We Should Never Say “Personal Relationship with Jesus” July 27, 2009
Posted by joejames in Uncategorized.add a comment
This is partially in reaction to something… so I am sure it will get me in some form of trouble. So I preemptively want to say “Calm Down. I am only about 9/10’s serious.” This is my Top Ten Reasons why we should never again say, “Personal Relationship With Jesus” If you want a much more serious version, talk to me in person. I am serious about the title, just not all ten points here given. Hope you can enjoy this.
i. Because it’s not in the bible.
ii. Because the Jews never saw themselves as disconnected in any sense from their people – the people of God
iii. Because it sounds like a Southern Baptist, and that is altogether a bad thing.
iv. Because it rewards our self-centered lives
v. Because it promotes the Western Rugged Individual approach to spiritual development. “I can do it on my own!”
vi. Because it is unethical to do a series about the necessity of community and then 8 months later promote personal spiritual formation.
vii. Because it is impossible to have a personal relationship with Jesus apart from community – and rarely is that said or acknowledged.
viii. Because it further fragments our already divided and fragmented lives.
ix. Because it allows for a hermeneutic that would interpret “love your enemies” as “That is for me personally, but when people fly planes into buildings, they have to die.”
x. Because it’s not in the bible
Communion Thoughts: July 26, 2009 July 26, 2009
Posted by joejames in Prayer.Tags: Communion, Eucharist, Lord's Supper, Worship
add a comment
The following communion thoughts were delivered at the Southwest Church of Christ July 26, 2009.
It has become an inevitable part of my life, that I frequently find myself having conversations about faith. Just ask my wife. Every family gathering, every time we get together with friends, every time I have a lunch, or coffee with someone, and so on.
And as I find myself in these conversations with people I’ve only recently met or become friends with, and it becomes known to them that my particular family of faith is a Church of Christ, I get certain other inevitable questions. Among those asked are this one:
“Don’t you guys take communion every Sunday?” or some version of that. To which I reply, “Yes, we do.” You know what’s next… “Why?”
So why? Why do we gather here at this table every week? Is it only because of an early example in Acts 20? Or is there deeper meaning and purpose behind it?
Here is how I have learned to reply, something like this…
“The question is why not? I mean communion is basically a commemorative meal of bread of wine, body and blood, that memorializes the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord and Messiah. And we need that, don’t we? I mean we need to be reminded and to be shaped by that memory, don’t we?”
There are so many other things that shape our lives, and often we aren’t even aware of them. There is the Western assumption that “stuff” brings value to our lives, and so we are reminded by every commercial on TV, that we aren’t truly valuable until we own this or that. Then there is the assumption that we have certain rights that we must protect at all costs – if someone impinges on my rights or freedom, they become my enemy, and they have to die, or at least be jailed. Then there is the assumption that we are basically good people – that we live in a Christian Nation, and stand for justice and morality, so we stand before God, basically good and holy.
But the cross reminds us otherwise, doesn’t it? Doesn’t the cross remind us that our real value is found in Christ’s love for us, even while were still enemies of God? Doesn’t the cross remind us that love, not violence, is the only thing truly frees us? Doesn’t the cross remind us that we are broken before God, deeply sinful, and in desperate need of mercy?
It does remind us of all these things. And so we come to the table. And not just any table, the Lord’s table. And not just any Lord, a crucified Lord. And as we gather each week and reflect on this memorial, we somehow, through the power of the Spirit of Christ that dines with us, take the shape of the cross. As a community, by this meal, we take the shape of the cross – we become an alternative community. We become, like Christ, willing to serve the world in the way he chose to, to become humble, serving even our enemies, even if it costs us everything, because that is true love.
Those serving the bread will pass it now. Take a piece and hold it. After I bless it, we’ll take it together as a family.
Prayer for the bread:
Heavenly Father, we come to you humbly thanking you for this one true sacrifice. We ask that, as we reflect together on the cross, and the body of Christ (broken for our rebellion), that you work in us to shape us into a family that would love the world in this way. That we might somehow, through the power of your spirit, take the shape of our crucified Lord. And we pray, Father that this be our witness to the world and our faithfulness to the Way of your Son, Jesus. Amen.
Please take the cup as it is passed to you.
Prayer for the wine:
Father, as we continue in prayer, we want to again thank you for the atoning work of the blood of Jesus. As we take this cup, Father, please remind us of our own sinfulness. More than that, remind us that we have been freed from sins power and grip, and that because of this blood, we are truly free to be your people. “O Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.” Amen.
Heaven and Earth # 5: Jewish Hope & Greek Ghosts July 20, 2009
Posted by joejames in Biblical Interpretation, Culture, Eternity, Evil.Tags: Resurrection, Heaven, Messiah, Jewish Hope, Greek Philosophy, Greek Theology, Greek Idealism, Death
7 comments
This week we defined what it was the Jewish people hoped for. We read where the Jews saw the “sea” is the source of evil (Psalm 77, 114, 69, 93, etc.) We especially looked at Daniel 7 where four beasts that rule the kingdoms of the world, rose up out of the “sea” and exercised oppressive rule over the world.
So what did the Jews hope for? Quite simply, God! Which is not typically what we do today, is it? We like to put a face on evil, and pretend it is both apart from us, and something we can manage (or kill). But the Jews resisted this temptation. (And Paul urges Christians to resist putting a face on evil too! Eph. 6:12) They named the “sea” as the source of evil in the world. And you can neither manage or kill the sea! Neither can you pretend it isn’t there (especially if you live on the coast). You simply have to trust God and repeat over and over that “Mightier than the breakers of the sea, God on high is mighty!” (Psalm 93).
And that is the point – trusting God. Not our own devices, not our weapons, not our armies, not our guns, not our words, not our money, not our influence…. just God.
And this is precisely what the Jews hoped for – God. And they had little or no illusions of a “here-after” deliverance. They hoped specifically for a Messiah. A in time and history, with flesh and blood, redeemer, to come and set them free.
So, why have we “spiritualized” and “privatized” this hope? Instead of longing to see God save “us” we think more about God saving “me”. And instead of God offering real, in-time-and-history deliverance, we look for the time when we can get “our mansion over the hilltop”. We sing songs that say “When I die… I’ll fly away!”
You quickly get the impression that we have no hopes for God intervening in human history to redeem and deliver his people. But he has. And he is! So what happened? Greek philosophy happened!
Homer wrote that when Achilles tried to embrace his dear friend Patroclus, he flitted to and fro like a “psychai” or a ghost. Later in the Odyssey, Odysseus meets his mother in the land of the dead and she is but a “shade” or shadow, and “cannot be clasped”.
Plato, who invented the university, later built on this and said, “how will we get people to obey the law, serve in our armies, and be good citizens, if they believe that they afterlife is but of gibbering ghosts and a gloomy underworld? Rather the youth should be taught the true philosophy: that death is not something to be dreaded but a welcome friend that frees the soul from the prisonhouse of the body, to live blissfully as “psychai” forever on the Island of the Blessed.
Sound familiar? The sad truth is that “I’ll fly away” is wonderful Greek Philosophy, but it is terrible biblical theology.
I wonder, what do you believe happens when you die? This will be the starting point of our discussion this next Sunday. We will look closely at the scenes surrounding Jesus’ own death and resurrection to see what we can glean… but in the mean-time, what do you believe? What have you been taught?
Seriously Wrestling July 17, 2009
Posted by joejames in Capitalism, Church, Discipleship, Humor.Tags: Church Marketing, Consumerism, Evangelism, Fun, Vacation Bible School
add a comment
‘WOW’ was a great time, as usual, at Southwest this year. But it leaves me, as usual, wrestling with the same question. Namely, is it part of our discipleship to “not take ourselves too seriously”?
There has been some criticism that the drama at the end has gone beyond the functional in any sense, and reached a point of pure entertainment. Now, I wrestle with the value of WOW myself. But to this particular criticism, I say “Is there a law against the people of God coming together and having fun?” But my own response here begs another question of me… “If ‘WOW’ is merely the people of God coming together to have some fun, shouldn’t we name it what it is… fun?”
The confusion comes to me in the what we ‘name’ WOW as an event – namely, do we construct the WOW event as ‘evangelism’ or outreach? If so, why? If we do this as a way for the community church shoppers to come and see what we are all about, I hope what they “see” at WOW is not what they “get”! I mean, my hope would be that in a world gone mad with consumption, that we wouldn’t market ourselves and endear people with marketing methods and then bait-and-switch them with the truth of the gospel (the same gospel that flies in the face of consumer-driven social structures).
So, my struggle is both private and communal. Am I taking myself too seriously? Does that hinder my own discipleship? And is my communal life at Southwest shaping us into a people that knows how to have fun and be full of life, or is it shaping us into a people that employs consumerism as a means to an end?
Wrestled with this for years now! Perhaps, if I didn’t take myself so seriously…
Heaven and Earth Class (Intermission) II Peter 3 July 13, 2009
Posted by joejames in Bible Study, Biblical Application, Biblical Interpretation, Church, Eternity, Ethics, Textual Study, Theology.Tags: Heaven, Hell, II Peter
add a comment
We had a break in the class this week, as we went and listened to Mike Leatherwood talk about spiritual formation. He talked about 3 things that we must have in order to be formed into the likeness of our Master and King, Jesus of Nazareth – Vision, Intention, Means.
In our own class, we have been talking about Heaven & Earth (and Hell). More than that we want to be thinking of what this renewed vision of the Coming Aeon means for us now. I wanted to post II Peter 3 here, and see if we could discuss (this week) what we find there. Look for Vision, Intention, and Means in this passage that deals with the Coming Aeon.
(2 Peter 3) This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you; in them I am trying to arouse your sincere intention by reminding you 2 that you should remember the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets, and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken through your apostles. 3 First of all you must understand this, that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and indulging their own lusts 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since our ancestors died, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation!” 5 They deliberately ignore this fact, that by the word of God heavens existed long ago and an earth was formed out of water and by means of water, 6 through which the world of that time was deluged with water and perished. 7 But by the same word the present heavens and earth have been reserved for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the godless. 8 But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. 9 The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed. 11 Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire? 13 But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home. 14 Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish; 15 and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation. So also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 speaking of this as he does in all his letters. There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures. 17 You therefore, beloved, since you are forewarned, beware that you are not carried away with the error of the lawless and lose your own stability. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
Heaven and Earth Class: Week 4 (Hell Cont’d) July 6, 2009
Posted by joejames in Uncategorized.5 comments
This week we took some time to further discuss Hell. I continued to make my case that Hell is annihilation. Again, my key texts were – Isaiah 66 – Matthew 10:28 – Revelation 18 – Revelation 21:1-8 – John 3:16 – and of course my definition of the word for eternal “Aionos”.
I also made my case that the purpose of the Gospel is not to rescue individuals from Hell. Rather atonement makes possible a life with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Indeed we are saved by Jesus’ atoning sacrifice – but the biblical picture is much more robust than a view that says Atonement is solely to save individual soul’s from burning in Hell.
Atonement is so much more. Atonement (or the cross) secures the table at which we commune with God and others. Atonement frees us from the empire’s clutches, because in His sacrifice Jesus unmasked the principalities and powers and showed them for who they are – weak, cowardly, fearful, murderous, and full of deceit. Atonement forgives and redeems – and this forgiveness makes possible a new way of life – a life like Jesus Christ. The biblical view of sin is not just past immoral behaviors. Rather sin (especially in Paul’s writings) is seen as a force over our lives that seeks to enslave and oppress us. The cross frees us from this enslavement and gives us power to confront our evil oppressor and break the chains and cycles of sinful behavior.
So then, a limited view of atonement (or the cross) leads to a skewed view of hell – at least it leads us to assume that atonement is only to rescue us from hell and that such rescue is the sole purpose of the gospel message. Such misuse of hell in the role of the gospel has led to all kinds of evil tactics and means that are intended to get people to come to Christ. So when people “come to Christ” they are not so much “coming to Christ” as they are “fleeing hell”. It’s no surprise then, that so many Christians do not understand the “way of Christ” that they have been “called to” and thereby form whatever comfortable religion that suits their previous sinful life-style. Because (remember) they did not necessarily turn from a “way of life” as much as they turned to the belief that Jesus has saved them from an arbitrary future place called hell. If such belief is all one needs to go to heaven, then there is no real reason to embody the radical way of Christ envisioned in Jesus’ sermon on the Mount.
We also talked about Lazzarus in Luke 16. We read it both literally and figuratively. My contention was that either way you read it, it still does not disprove my case that hell is annihilation. Just that prior to the final destruction there is a period of torment and conscious punishment (I like to think of them as natural consequences).
So thoughts? Further Questions or Comments?
Peace -
Joe
