Day 896 - Stop, Look and Listen

A Reflection on Pentecost for the Chattanooga Urban Ministry

OT Reading: Genesis 1:1-4

NT Reading (1): John 15: 26-27, 16:4b-15

NT Reading (2): Acts 2:1-21

Every one of us has found or will find their way into a moral dilemma. You will confront a situation that offers several difficult choices with little or no guidance to choose. You will find none of them particularly attractive, or perhaps you find yourself just unable to decide on the “right” choice because the choices contradict your view of "how things should be."

It could be that someone has confronted you over the merciless killing of Christians by ISIS/ISIL in Syria and Iraq. They demand we take up arms and slaughter the soldiers of ISIL/ISIS.  Is this an act of revenge? Or is it an act of justice? How does it fit into the teaching of Jesus? How should we fulfill our patriotic duty to serve our country?

Perhaps you are aware of someone stealing supplies from work, or a relative selling drugs out of their parents' home. What should you do?

Perhaps you are in anguish over the loss of a pastor. Whenever there is someone in anguish over a loss, there likely is another in joy over it. What should both do?

Perhaps you are aware that your ancestors participated, perhaps only vicariously, in a lynching? Does historical racism encourage unrecognized racism?  What should you do?

Ultimately in each case you must answer the question, “Does my answer conform to a consistent understanding of my Christian belief?” That requires that you pursue a confidence in such understanding, even though you may feel you are totally unequipped to make such decisions.

Sunday was Pentecost, and I suggest the answer to what equips you to answer such questions lies in its significance.

Pentecost is the day we mark as the appearance of the Holy Spirit described in Acts (2:1-21). The disciples and a large crowd of curious Jews and Gentiles from all over the Mediterranean were gathered in Jerusalem when the spirit of enlightenment came up on them all. Everyone could understand the words spoken in the language of the other visitors. (Luke does not tell us what they actually spoke.)

{This passage has been distorted over the years as justifying an exuberant shouting gibberish in an emotionally charged worship service. It is called “speaking in tongues.” But in actuality, everyone was speaking in their own language but everyone heard it as their own.  The key to setting aside the distortion of “speaking in tongues" (gibberish) is found in  the two verbs used to describe the reaction of the people.

The first verb is amazed, (Acts 2:6,7) that in Greek means they were so bewildered by the experience that they almost fail to comprehend what one has experienced. The second verb is astonished that in Greek means the listeners marveled in wonder at the experience. The context of being astonished can be either negative or positive. Here people in the crowd clearly reacted in both ways - thousands believed the experience was from God (we have to jump ahead to read Acts 2:40-43), and negative – some sneered (Acts 2:13) and said the people speaking were drunk on new wine. There is no question everyone heard and understood what was spoken, something you cannot say about "speaking in tongues" as is practiced in the present day.}

Following the rest of the passage in Acts, we could say understanding what each was saying in their own tongue caused many in the crowd to “stop and look.” If you read the link to Acts 2: 13-43, you will see that they also listened to Peter as he explained the significance of this event in the context of Joel’s apocalyptic prophesy and then explained to the crowd the significance of Jesus as the Messiah and then they understood by the force of the Spirit the guilt of their act to crucify him.

John’s Gospel, on the other hand, described the Holy Spirit/Paraclete in a way that validates this stop, look and listen/understand idea. Jesus speaks to the disciples who are so distraught with His message that He shall be crucified and leave them helpless that they fail to understand the significance of what Jesus says (16:5-6): “But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’  But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts.” (Are they amazed?)

What shall they do next? Jesus promised that help will come from the Father in the form of the spirit of Truth that will guide, if not impel them in what to say and do as witness to the faith (15:26-27).

He repeats this message again in 16:5-11. In v8 Jesus promises the spirit of enlightenment will come and prove (some translate prove as convict) the world wrong about sin because the world does not believe in Jesus, and prove righteousness or justice because Jesus shall overcome the judgment of death invoked by the Roman world, arising and going to the Father. His resurrection and ascension finally will bring about the same judgment of condemnation on the world (actually says, the ruler of the world) that hates Jesus. 
       That is, what the world proclaims as moral and good, light and right, will be revealed as unrighteous folly and guilt. This is not really a collective guilt of the world, but a guilt of the forbearer of persons of every generation that are hostile to Jesus. [Does this passage strike you odd in our age of pluralism wherein we often hear and accept criticism of Christianity but do not see it as particularly hostile to Christianity?]  

Vv 5-11 tell us this Holy Spirit will bring us the truth about Jesus.

Essentially vv 5-11 give us the first message about the presence of the Paraclete. It validates or affirms the risen Lord by its presence among us.

But there is more. Vv 13-15 (A passage that challenged even Augustine and Thomas Aquinas) says that the Paraclete will teach or bring the truth about things to come to the disciples (and by extension to us). While many prefer to read the declaration of things to come in 16:13 as a promise of future revelation of the truth, we also find in v7 that Jesus says he brings them the whole truth of the Gospel and its import to the future already. This passage does not imply some prophesy about revelation in the future.

Finally we come to the heart of the problem - the solution to our questions about finding the answer to difficult questions such as what to do about the merciless killing of Christians by ISIS/ISIL in Syria and Iraq, illegal activity by your neighbor (or relative) and perhaps even what we should do about racism and the wounds on society caused by past links to racism such as past lynching African-Americans, or the current search for a new pastor.

The key is that the Paraclete is an intercessor with the guidance in a way of life in conformity with Jesus’ teaching, not that far removed from OT ideas expressed in passages such as Ps25:4-5 and 143:10. The key in 16:13 is that Jesus has promised the Paraclete as his continuing presence to teach us and enable us to interpret in each coming generation the contemporary significance of what Jesus has said and done. That is, it is NOT a promise of prophesy, per se, but of a fundamental understanding of what Jesus means for one’s own time, and, as Jesus was God’s presence among the Disciples as a human, so too the Paraclete is God/Jesus’ presence among humanity conveying to us what God means to us today.

The world, Paul’s world of flesh, is a loud, noisy and distracting thing. John may have called it evil, or Satan's world of darkness, but Paul describes the world of flesh as our entire existence, all our feelings and experience in this boiling, troubling and tempting world of our life begging us to live for today. If we love Jesus and do not hate Him as this world does, and we are committed to living as Jesus did, that is to love God and love our neighbor the way God loves our neighbor, we must stop, look around and listen for that wind over the water expressing how we ought to act to reveal the truth of Jesus in our present time.

We can use another word for “Stop, Look and Listen:” discernment of what living for today really means.

If you stop, look and listen, and hear the Spirit, you know that light is good and will discern how you are called to live and act accordingly as Jesus representative in this old world.

       This is the essence of good, practical Reformed radical theology.

Amen.

Day 888 - Friend, Can You Spare a Dime?

A reflection on idleness for the Urban Outreach Ministry, Chattanooga, TN, May 18, 2015

I'm letting the readers have more time to consider the two questions I posed in my last post (Day 882) on the issue of lynching before I post my comments  - so please keep thinking about those questions. 
Today, my post deals with a different perspective on the imperative of radical Christianity to engage in personal action. It also touches on the old and difficult problem of friendship, and when to offer a hand up not a hand out, a predicament I face on a daily basis and do not often to a good job. The following post is a slight change from the UOM sermon because the audience for these posts is different. The original version is a devotional given on Jan. 17, 2013.

Friends, we ask that you pray for our work spreading the Good News to others as we have done with you and be safe from the evil people among you who don’t like what we preach. Not everybody is as faithful as you are. We are really proud of you and confident that you are going to keep on loving the Lord and doing his work for the sake of Jesus Christ.

But we have a problem that we need to talk to you about. We know some of your friends are just getting by watching us all work while they watch or just talk. They are quick to give advice and stick their nose in other people’s business but when it is time to do some work like the rest of us, they find a way to disappear or hide in the bathroom. You need to avoid them because they are stumbling blocks.

You know the way they act is not the way we taught you to be. We asked that you imitate us, not them. You see how we work when we are here. We do not sit around and let you all do the work and cook the meals, we pitch in on the daily chores and then work night and day on our own jobs for the sake of you and for the Lord, because we don’t think we should place an added burden on you.

Understand that it is written in the Law that pastors have the right to accept your food and gifts and let you do the work around this place to help us while we attend to the work of the Spirit for you; but we pitch in and work because we want to be sure we are a good example to you.

Remember we said that anyone who is not willing to work shouldn’t eat the fruits of your labor, so we say, no...we don’t say it, we command and urge it in Christ’s name that those among you who are just cruising and living off of the rest of us, those who spend time complaining about things and meddling, to be quiet, don’t argue with the boss and just do the work required of you, earn your own way and help everyone else.

If you do this, not only will it become a good life-long habit that will serve you and your fellow friends well, you will be strong and never get tired of doing what is right and you will always be a sign of goodness to your family.

As important as working as we do is to your own good, it is even more important to your lazy buddies who are traveling about, laughing, complaining and watching you work, because they will be ashamed of their own behavior.  You need to give them up as friends until they get right with the Lord because they will try to drag you back down - but don’t treat them as enemies because they are not. Remember, just like you, they are God’s children so warn and encourage them as fellow believers remembering you once walked in their shoes.

I’ve just read you my "modern" paraphrase of this scripture: 2 Thessalonians 3:1-15. 

       I hope its words guide us in our actions within our congregations and in our daily lives. However much we may find uncomfortable parallels to the idleness of slackers that Paul described, in our current social setting, idleness and the problem of self-support may take on different forms compared to Paul's time.

       We have great luxury in our modern time. We have denominations that have money to provide emerging groups the wherewithal to develop worshipping communities that bring back those who have wandered away, or been chased out of their worshipping congregations.

       This money, however, is the precious fruit of someone's past labor. Mainline denominations are shrinking and often new members today think of giving to the congregation (and denomination) in the same way they see membership in the YMCA - pay your annual $125 dues and enjoy it for the year. Thus in our Presbytery, what is a $2.5 million fund for developing new congregations becomes a $2 million the next year, and so on until all the money is gone in a few short years. Depending on a "grant" (the modern equivalent of a "handout") can only last so long before the pot is empty. We all have to look at these grants as "hand ups," that is, as an investment in the hard work of the recipients.

       Emerging new worshipping communities and their pastors then face inescapably the same problem Paul and the Thessalonians faced. They must work to build the financial resources to stand by themselves. This is not an easy task. Some would say it is really unfair.  Whether it is unfair or simply a hard task, it is a reality for us all, and in the small congregations scattered around the rural and suburban areas, it has been for some time.

       For example, if the basic minimum full time salary package for a pastor in the PC(USA)  is about $60,000 (I'm using approximate numbers), that means an emerging congregation must come up with $5,000/month JUST to pay for the pastor. If there are 30 active worshippers (probably an overestimate for the average new worshipping community), they need to give about $2,000/yr just to meet the pastor's salary and expenses. That is only $38.50/week but how many are prepared to do it? (How many years does it take to grow from 1 or 2 to 30?)

       Furthermore, that leaves no money to support programming, other staff, even minimal worship space, office expense and governance at the presbytery and national level. The reality is a worshipping congregation with a paid full time pastor probably needs close to twice that $60,000 just to scrape by. Thus our thirty-person worshipping community needs to  come up with about $77/week, or $4,000/year, or the earnings of 1.2 days/week for a person making minimum wage working full time.

       The reality of emerging congregations is that they often are young, in lower paying jobs and in some cases, may have little experience with the obligation to support the work of their congregation and find $77/week a serious economic burden. (The earliest house churches depended on patrons.) The reality for pastors of emerging congregations is they probably are going to have to eschew the luxury of a full time pastorate and work a second job. 
       As I said earlier, one might ask if the demand to be a "tentmaker" is fair. After all, the PC(USA) has a ~$7+ Billion endowment and gets anywhere from 7-18% return in interest annually ( $490 Million to $1.26 Billion). Why does the church not use some of that?? 

       The question of how PC(USA) uses it massive economic resources, or for each of us, how we use our own, is a valid one. The reason PC(USA) does not use part of its resources may be varied and depend on the practical arguments of bankers and CPA's, but deep down there is involved in all this a peculiar social perspective related to how one sees and protects self-interest. Very rich persons desire to preserve wealth, while the poor spend it particularly on relationships. "Slackers" however we define them, desire to depend on others. I am certain in a fit of candor at one time or another we can all place ourself in one of those "boxes."
       Paul rightfully cites the Law as justification for asking for full support by the worshipping community, e.g., the denomination, (referring, for example to Exodus 28, Leviticus 2:1-10 where the  Levites (priesthood) were set aside only to do the Lord's work with the support of the people) as his claim to a full time salary for pastors. But he then revises this reasoning, because he understands working a job for the building up of the worshipping congregation and its work in the world, in which it lives but is not a part, builds a good habit for everyone, pastors included.  It is a good habit that makes everyone far more appreciative of the obligation they impose on others, a congregation on the pastor when it decides it cannot support the pastor, the pastor on the congregants when the congregant does or cannot give and the pastor expects a full time wage. No easy answers are apparent to me. In an ideal situation we would all pitch in and do our own part.
       

       So, the reality of small and embryonic congregations is inescapable. We can't wait around for some organization to decide to shell out funds to carry our burden of spreading the Good News. Clearly Paul doubted that we can learn how to serve the Lord without working for it. 
     The problem for large congregations who can afford to pay their pastor large compensation packages (even more than $100,000/year) is they are becoming increasingly smaller congregations. (The average age of a Presbyterian congregation is about 60-65, we are dying off.) It may not be fair but all folks are going to have to work with their own two hands to serve the Lord and breathe fresh air in our hearts, or the Church as we know it will simply fade away and be replaced by another entity.
       The New Testament lectionary reading today is John 17:6-19. This passage is the prayer by Jesus before his arrest and crucifixion. He prays for the safety and well being of the Disciples and by implication the well being of all subsequent persons who proclaim the Good News. Verses 14 -19 state, "I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world." The connection of that prayer to this 2 Thessalonians passage may be that we need to rely on this prayer as a promise the Lord will take care of us all.

       Perhaps Henry Richard Niebuhr (with Wilhelm Pauck and Francis P. Miller) was right 80 years ago. The true test for the survivability of the modern Church is whether its congregants and pastors have the faith to eschew idleness, complacency and nationalism (not to mention arguing over polity) in deference to the hard work of being a member of a worshipping community practicing the two great commandments. Remember HRN's famous question the "Church" it must ask of itself, "What must we the Church do to be saved?" His rejoinder was a statement of absolute confidence in God, "If the Church fails its mission, the Lord will replace it with one that does."

       Perhaps it is time to roll up our sleeves, put trust in the prayer of Jesus and figure out how to get the hard work done?

Grace and peace,

Amen.

Day 882 - A Hard Day's Night (I've been working like a dog)

If you are wondering why no new posts the last two weeks, these past two weeks have been a combination respite/vacation, a visit a long-term ex-pat friend who has come to the US for a few weeks, completing a major home construction project; move a woodland garden so we can build a garage, tilling and planting a 1200 sf garden for outreach at Northside Presbyterian Church, and helping a couple of folks in our urban ministry with difficult housing, health and food problems. 

Now that I'm close to fully rested (ha!) a new post will appear soon. It deals with the subject raised by one of my associates here in town, who probably is too young to appreciate the complexity of life in the South for a pre-teen/teen child of either race in the 1950's and 1960's. He seems inordinately obsessed with a recent new and telling publication (actually one could call it a reprise) on the sordid history of lynchings (mob rule) in the South in period of the post-civil War to mid 1900's and borders on suggesting all Caucasian Southerners are guilty for this vile history by inheritance.

The quite detailed and difficult article is prepared by the Equal Justice Initiative, titled, "America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror." You can google it, if you do not read the NYT.  If you do not know much about that part of Southern history you should read the report, but be advised it as gruesome as a photo-documentary on the Holocaust of WWII.

I encourage you to read it, not to infuse a guilt trip on you (there are plenty of people doing that purely for political purposes), and especially not to endorse any broad indictment of a Southerner because of their regional identity. (That is the blatant bigotry itself.)

I do challenge you to consider this question that will be the subject of an upcoming post, "What obligation do we have as a people, not as Southerners, or "Yankees" but as fellow travelers to correct or remediate the consequences of past human history. A closely related question you may wish to consider as an alternative is, "Is there such a thing a collective sin, or is all sin fundamentally a consequence, or responsibility, of personal activity or inactivity of the self?"

Grace and peace,