Action

“Therefore prepare your minds for action; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed” 1 Peter 1:13 NRSV

This section of text intrigues me primarily because of the “therefore” and what the therefore requires of the reader. Prior to this text Peter tells his readers that they are saved because of “the outcome of [their] faith”. In light of this salvation (therefore) they are to, as the original text puts it “gird up the loins of your mind” or “prepare your minds for action. The placing of these texts next to one another is important, especially because when an author uses “therefore” he is practically yelling “Hey look at these texts together!!!”

This section of text captures something that I think in modern America, many people have forgotten about. The message of the gospel is often designed to show the listeners how they can benefit from hearing the gospel, but Peter has taken the message of the gospel to its proper end. Peter is saying… since you have received salvation of your souls because of your faith; prepare your minds for action.

As Christians, we are called to act in response to our salvation, to gird up the loins of our minds in response to the grace which we have received. In other words, the acceptance of Christ in baptism is simply the first step in a life of action, a life of service to others that a Christian performs in response to the grace which he or she has received.

Are you ready for action?

God is Good

“God is good all the time” is quite an amazing theological statement. This statement is fairly unique to the Judeo-Christian heritage. In many cultures, especially those with a plurality of gods, deities often are fickle characters that are good if one does what is required of him or her by the god. What an interesting statement then, to say that our God is good all of the time! This would be especially interesting in the Greco-Roman world, this type of plurality of gods permeated the culture.

And yet, what is perhaps more interesting is the circumstances under which the phrase (or others like it) were uttered. The Jewish people had no country of their own, no king or kingdom. And yet, God is good.

The story of Joseph is excellent at expressing the fact that God is good during times of difficulty and during times of greatness. Joseph’s story spans across a good ten chapters towards the end of Genesis. The story of Joseph details not only personal triumphs and failures, but also nation-wide abundance, and famine. Joseph is put in charge of a large estate, and God is good. Joseph is thrown in jail based on false charges, and yet God is good. There are seven years of abundance followed by seven years of famine in the land, and still God is good.

We come from a heritage with a rich theology that realizes that both in times of famine and in times of plenty, out God is in control, and our God is good, what an encouraging place to be!

Evan Almighty

The movie Evan Almighty recently came out on DVD so I finally got a chance to watch it. I thought it was pretty good, there were some good morals and values in it, but there was a quote that really stood out to me as something. A short plot synopsis: A man, wanting to change the world is tasked by God to build an ark in preparation of an impending flood. This of course causes job issues and family issues as Evan reluctantly begins his task. At one point in time, Morgan Freeman, who portrays God in the film is talking to Evan’s wife, who had prayed that their family could be closer, and he says: “Let me ask you something. If someone prays for patience, you think God gives them patience? Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient? If he prayed for courage, does God give him courage, or does he give him opportunities to be courageous? If someone prayed for the family to be closer, do you think God zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings, or does he give them opportunities to love each other?”

What an interesting idea! I don’t know about you but I often have the expectation that God will zap-fry me some patience or self-control or whatever but I don’t think often enough about what spiritual development really looks like. Spiritual disciplines, are just that, and like any other discipline, they require training to become proficient in them.

And God Said

Well, I’m in a new place in the Newsletter, and when I found out, the first thing I wanted to know was how big the column was, how many words I could write, so I could plan accordingly. Unfortunately, there is less space in this new location (maybe you don’t see that as unfortunate!), but this change got me thinking about the nature of words, and how powerful they are. In the Genesis narrative, God’s creative power is unleashed by the speaking of words. Physical existence began with the intonation of “Let there be…” John writes that Christ himself is the Word, and that he is life (John 1:1ff). Words have the ability to unite countries and cultures, or to cause holocausts.

The word, whether spoken or written is powerful. But perhaps more exciting than the power of the word, is the fact that God’s word is “living and active, sharper than any double edged sword it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Heb. 4:12). This text is heartening, because we are told that unlike written word, the Word of God is living and active, it has ongoing action within out lives. So not only is the Word powerful, it is relevant, it has the life to convict us and to encourage us, and that is a comforting thought, and it leaves me with a question:

How is the Word of God speaking into your life?

Oasis

I spent my time this weekend at the Oasis conference where we discussed outreach to the Muslim community. It was an opportunity to learn more about the Islamic faith and to understand how to reach out to the Muslim community in our everyday lives, by simply inviting another person to share in your life.

There were many interesting facts presented during the weekend, including the fact that 85 – 90% of Muslims in America are not simply non-militant, but also want to be integrated into American culture. Sadly, we heard many accounts of Muslims that had not been asked into a Christian’s home at all for years on end during their time in America.

There are many misperceptions within the Islamic community about Christianity, primarily because they do not have a chance to interact with Christians, so the images that they receive are solely from American TV, broadcasting shows like Desperate Housewives, or Britney Spears’ latest mistake. Often the perception is that a white American is a Christian, so many people who are acquainted with neither America nor Christianity are often under the impression that Christians act the way they see people act on TV.

The most eye-opening portion of the weekend was when the group took a trip to a mosque and witnessed a weekly service, the equivalent of our Sunday morning services.

All of this leads to the conference’s main point of the weekend, which was exploring what I call life-based ministry, which I referred to earlier. The Oasis method of ministry to Muslims is difficult, but not demanding. It does not require that one moves across the world to lead an underground church in the heart of an Islamic country, instead there is something that I know this church body can do, because I’ve experienced it!

The way that the Oasis group recommends ministering to the Muslim community in America is quite simple. One must only strike up a conversation with a Muslim, and become a friend.

Perhaps opening your home to a person from another country, and another religion is a difficult thing to conceive of, I would encourage you to start with something perhaps a little easier, Inviting Gilbert, Kate, and Cole into your home would be an excellent ministry to them, as well as a great way to expand your personal ministry to those around you!

The Story

If you have read my column regularly (thanks!) then you will know that I enjoy watching movies and television, and particularly fond of searching for glimpses of God within those forms of media. What you may not know is that I also enjoy reading, novels, short stories, even theological journals (in small doses). I love a good story.

I think that most anyone can resonate with that idea; there is something about a story that is very powerful. We are people of stories, and not just Americans, but all people, are people of stories. From the caveman’s writing on the walls, to ancient oral tradition from all reaches of the globe, people have been formed by stories of their ancestors, and others. Stories fueled by fear, anger, love, hope, desire, despair and longing are common in any culture.

Stories have infiltrated every form of media; we have books, books on tape, plays, newspapers, television, movies, movies on television, all concerned with telling stories. There is something about a story that reveals truths in our lives in such a powerful way, that it makes other things, like textbooks for example, seem dry in comparison. Cultures are defined by their stories, their narratives forming them and reflecting their form simultaneously. There is a lot of power in stories.

Now you may understand why I try to take in media, because it is the framework which holds our stories. Not only am I a part of those stories, and they a part of me, but with careful consideration, they are also reveal much about myself as well as the culture around me. With careful consideration, a movie transforms into a short dossier on the culture of which I am a part, and of which we are trying to transform.

There is more value in media, however and again, if you have read my articles on a regular basis, you will see that I often talk about spiritual or Biblical truths found within the movie or TV show that I am talking about. Part of the reason that there are Biblical truths within our media is because we are a culture arisen from Christianity, and though not all media makers are Christian, they do all come from a culture formed from Christianity. Furthermore, that I believe that there is one great story: that of God’s working in the world and all stories, in some way, reflect the one great story. Watching media with a discerning eye, not only strengthens your ability to see God in the everyday, but it also offers an opportunity for one to examine oneself, and the culture that surrounds us, a useful tool when thinking about evangelism.

1 Corinthians 13: The Communal Life

The following is a rough transcript from class that i don't have enough time to reformulate into a proper blog post, but I think it has some good thoughts, so ill pot it anyway.

We have been talking about why we have joy for the past few months, this week I’d like to talk a little about what that joy looks like, or how it plays out in our lives. Paul might encourage us this way: “Become who you have been called to be”.

Eph 4:22-25

You were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, ²³and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, ²⁴and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.Rules for the New Life25 So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbours, for we are members of one another.

Much like what we talked about on Sunday night, what we are going to talk about tonight, are not rules that we must follow to be Christians, rather we are asked to step into this type of life, to become what we have been called to be in response to the Joy that we have been given.

Throughout the New Testament, we are given examples and encouragement to become what we have been called to be within the community of Christian believers. The cross changes not only ourselves, but the way that we act within the community of believers

1 Pet 5:5

In the same way, you who are younger must accept the authority of the elders.^* And all of you must clothe yourselves with humility in your dealings with one another

Philippians 2:1-4

If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, ²make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. ³Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. ⁴Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.

In John 13:34 Jesus says:

“Just as I have loved you, you should love one another”

There are many other texts in the New Testament that talk give encouragement to the readers to live in unity and love with one another, but we are going to focus in on 1 Corinthians 13

What was happening in Corinth that Paul had to write this text?

This text is often used at weddings as an encouragement for the bride and groom to live with one another in love, and while that is an acceptable application, its original intent and purpose was for the body of believers as they walked through life together.

Like most families, the Church family in Corinth was not perfect; Paul had founded the church and stayed there for about a year and a half (Acts 18), which is certainly not enough time to teach new converts the way to live in community with each other. The whole book is filled with specific advice from Paul to the Church in Corinth about the problems that they are having in their community. There is evidence of the community conflict peppered through the text, in 1:10; 3:3,4 ; 5- end of the book. Paul instructs his readers on how to become what they have been called to be.

One of those problems the problem dealt with in chapter 13 was that there were people in the community who believed they were better than others because of the spiritual gifts that they had been blessed with. These people, had the ability to speak in tongues, and all of Chapters 12 through 14 deal with this problem that had arisen.

In Chapter 12 Paul reminds his readers that the community of God is like a body, and as such it has different parts that function, not only differently, but co-operatively. The body does not attack itself, but it works together so that the whole body may be strengthened.

Immediately following this, Paul launches into his discussion on community life, and how that life is characterized by love:

1 Cor 13

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ²And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast,^* but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant ⁵or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ⁶it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. ⁷It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. ⁹For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; ¹⁰but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. ¹¹When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. ¹²For now we see in a mirror, dimly,^* but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. ¹³And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

What is Paul Saying here?

Paul is careful to make sure that his readers understand that their gifts are secondary to the gift of love, and that the love for one another within the community is more important than their individual gifts.

What does this mean though?

Paul has quite a high view of love in this chapter, and it is more than what we often consider it to be. For Paul, love, especially within the community of God, is self-sacrificial, it is putting another’s needs before our own, and doing things that are in the other person’s, or the community’s best interest. It is a love that is characterized by the things that it does or does not do, it is an active love.

What does having an active love look like here at the CSC?

In the Corinthian context, Paul tells the church in Corinth that their gifts are not given to them simply so that the person with the gift is encouraged and edified, but instead -just like the parts of the body exist for the benefit not of themselves, but the body - so too the members of the community of God are given gifts to strengthen and encourage the whole body of believers.

Paul also wants his readers to know the importance of love and unity within the body of believers