ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
March 31, 2023
Is anyone else having a hard time believing tomorrow is April 1? This happens often—I wake up one morning and say to myself, “Wow! Where did the month (week, year, decade) go?” There were certain things that needed to be accomplished in March, and unless I stay up all night tonight, they will probably need to wait until April or possibly May.
I am not smart enough to understand all the discussions happening around time and how it is considered a social construct and has no inherent meaning outside of the meaning we give to it in the moment. We need to agree upon certain metrics for determining what time it is and how it is structured to help society move. Of course, as I write those words, I don’t necessarily know that to be true, as I have nothing to which I can compare it—to prove or disprove.
Most scientists would say the universe is 13.7 billion years old and the earth is a little more than 4.5 billion years old. That means the universe existed approximately 9.15 billion years before the earth came into existence, yet the word “year” is a metric of time entirely tied to the earth, as a year is that time it takes for the earth to travel around the sun. Of course, what else would we use?
Some folks probably dropped off this Etching before reaching this paragraph, and that is understandable. Yet I have been pondering the word everlasting lately, and reflecting on the use of it by the poet in Genesis 49, where we read of the blessings of the eternal mountains and the wealth of the everlasting hills. In a time (probably a poor word to choose here) when people thought the earth was a flat disc with a dome over the top, and families thought in terms of many generations, but not even a few million years, what would everlasting or eternal mean? And can mountains, something made of earth, be eternal or everlasting? Even if that is poetry, what is it suggesting? And is the idea of something being eternal or everlasting a social construct? And since the metric we use for time is based on movement, the movement of our planet through space—what happens if everything stops? There is no longer time as we know it, and is that eternal?
I’m not intending to spew nonsense or confuse. What I am pondering is the notion of what it means to speak of God as eternal. Is our definition and God’s definition anywhere even close to the same?
May the questions I have and the exploration of possible answers to those questions be a holy experience, O God. There is so much that I assume may not be what I thought it to be, and so much more than I have ever even thought of pondering. Be my guide through eternity, if something like it even exists. Amen.
Month: March 2023
03-30-23
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
March 30, 2023
Everyone likes a parade. Well, almost everyone. I can remember two parades in which the high school marching band participated despite bitterly cold temperatures and drizzle. Yes, I was in that band. Trying to play a saxophone with chattering teeth is not an easy thing to do. But as miserable as I was, looking at the sparse crowd along the route (mainly family members of those in the parade), it was quite apparent that they were even more miserable. On that Palm Sunday, I believe everyone was having a wonderful time. Well, almost everyone. The crowd was enthusiastic, and I can imagine how the disciples loved all the attention. But I’m going to suggest that Jesus was not grinning from ear to ear. I have no proof, just a hunch. He was riding a donkey, a counter-symbol to the Roman leader who had just entered Jerusalem at the main gate riding a majestic stallion. He came into Jerusalem through the side gate, headed not to a place of prestige and safety but to a cross. Everyone likes a parade. Well, almost everyone.
Great God, call me to engage the week that lies ahead. Invite me to enter the parade with the understanding that it will lead me to a place where cheering crowds are no longer found and there might be those who wish to squelch my message of love. Amen.
03-29-23
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
March 29, 2023
Guest Writer: Rev. Mariah Newell
Matthew 10:34– “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace but a sword.
I have never particularly loved this Scripture, but I should probably clarify. I have never particularly loved how this Scripture is often interpreted and applied. Many times, I hear this as a justification for violence. That, “See, even Jesus realized that sometimes violence is the answer and he would have been armed if he was here on Earth today.” I can see how that could be an interpretation of this text. However, it doesn’t seem to match the life of Jesus in practice. As Jesus is being arrested one of the Disciples pulls out a sword and cuts off a guy’s ear to try and protect Jesus to which Jesus says, “Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” (Matthew 26:52) But I thought he came to bring a sword? I will offer this thought. Swords fight, but they also serve to divide. The metaphor Jesus uses goes on to talk about family and the community. That he came to turn family against one another. This is one of the places where Jesus tells us to take up the cross and follow him. It is more likely Jesus was not talking about weapons, but using a metaphor to communicate that Jesus did not come to bring peace and uphold the status quo in attempt to make everyone “happy.” Jesus came to invite difficult conversations that would upset family dinners, because he knew that God’s true peace and justice was on the other side. I think that is really difficult to sit with in a climate that seems to consistently be in tension. Where it seems scary to spark a conversation with a stranger because they might be someone we fundamentally disagree with. As a conflict averse person, I don’t love this interpretation either, but I do think it fits Jesus as a whole better than one encouraging us to physically fight it out. I want to find hope that Jesus invited the tension because ignoring the tension doesn’t usually do any good. So, I think I’ll hold onto the hope that God’s community of love, inclusion, and wholeness on the other side of the disagreements… is ultimately worth moving through the tension.
Loving God,
Make me brave to welcome the tension of the world around us. You did not come to keep things how they are or bring them back to where they used to be. You bring a sword to divide us from what we’ve known and bring us into what you are building. Invite us again into that work and give us the courage and compassion to accept it. It is in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
03-28-23
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
March 28, 2023
Yesterday, I posted a quote from the New Testament scholar, NT Wright. It said:
“Jesus’s resurrection is the beginning of God’s new project not to snatch people away from earth to heaven but to colonize earth with the life of heaven. That after all is what the Lord’s Prayer is about.”
It appears to have struck a chord with a handful of people. Wright has an amazing capacity to clearly articulate a feeling, a spiritual hunch people have been carrying around for a while. As I think about the violence yesterday in Nashville, but also in my friend Kelly’s town of Macomb, Illinois, where one person was shot and 10 were injured, I cannot prayerfully reflect on these two acts of violence without acknowledging that there have been another 131 mass shootings in the United States just this year.
What do followers of Jesus (I can only speak from my faith perspective) need to be doing right now? If we are brutally honest with ourselves, then we need to say out loud: This looks nothing like the ideals of heaven being made real on earth.
Holy God, each Sunday we pray with humility and hope, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Do we mean it? Do we simply expect you to do it? Since Jesus was heaven being enfleshed on earth, then we as the Body of Christ ought to be giving flesh to your marvelous vision for creation. Give us another nudge. Amen.
03-27-23
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
March 27, 2023
Prayer for the Week:
Merciful God,
where there are those who are lonely,
may the Body of Christ see them
and engage them in holy fellowship;
where there are those who are injured,
may the Body of Christ see them
and provide a healing salve;
where there are those who are lost,
may the Body of Christ see them
and offer to walk alongside;
where there are those who suffer injustice;
may the Body of Christ see them
and seek to do the work of true justice;
where there are those who are hopeless,
may the Body of Christ see them
and be agents of hope;
where there are those who are afraid,
may the Body of Christ see them
and help form a place of respite;
In our prayer, Merciful God,
we acknowledge all those who suffer,
while also claiming our place
in the Body of Christ.
May our collective gifts
come together
in service to the world.
Amen.
03-26-23
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
March 26, 2023
One of the great questions with which Christians find themselves struggling is, “What does unconditional love look like in real-life situations?” I am thinking specifically when someone’s actions are unhealthy, destructive, or even abusive. Can love also include boundaries? Is it okay to say, “I love you, and I am not going to allow you to hurt me anymore”? Are there moments when choosing to love and protect one person will have others feeling as if you are not showing love to them? It is complicated! This is only one of the reasons it is important to be in a faith community where we have people who will talk with us and even challenge us on the topic of Putting Love First In All Things. It is good to have an honest friend who can say to you, “You can love someone and still tell that person, ‘No!’” I even had someone say to me one time, “I can’t yet show the love of Jesus to Person A, but maybe you can show that love right now.” I hope to see you in worship today! Together, we can continue to lean into this amazing calling of Putting Love First In All Things.
Continue to help me, O Spirit of Life and Love, navigate the depth and complexity and messiness of Putting Love First In All Things. Amen.
03-25-23
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
March 25, 2023
Have you ever heard someone say to another person, “Hey! Show some compassion!” It is typically used when someone is oblivious, or worse, indifferent, to the suffering of another. Yet, can something like compassion be demanded? In Matthew 9:36, we read how Jesus saw the crowds and had compassion for them. The Greek word we translate as compassion is one of my favorite Greek words. It is: splagchnizomai. To be moved in your entrails is a simple translation. It sort of sounds like something that occurs when you’ve eaten a bad oyster, but in a rather literal and earthy way, it describes the ache we feel when we see pain, suffering, injustice, loneliness, or hopelessness. It is a sort of gut punch that doesn’t subside until something is done. That is not an emotion that can be demanded. It is rooted in the knowledge that all life is interconnected, and what impacts one person or creature negatively impacts me in a similar way. I feel it in my entrails, not because someone has told me to feel it that way, but we hurt for one another because we have acknowledged this deep connection we have—through God—with all living things.
Create within me, O God, the capacity for true compassion. Amen.
03-24-23
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
March 24, 2023
“Is tomorrow trash day?” This is a question asked a lot around our house. Part of it could be due to bad memory, but part of it is due to the actual trash pickup occurring one or two days late. And we just learned the pickup days are changing again in a few weeks, after another change that occurred less than a year ago. This sort of thing came to mind as I was praying a few days ago, specifically focusing on confession and repentance during this Lenten Season. How do we remove what should not be left within us? How do we leave egoism, anger or even hatred by the curb? How do we bag up fear and insecurity so someone can take them far enough away that we won’t notice their stench? People might guess that ‘intentionality’ is one of my favorite words. I use it a lot, and that speaks to how I view the Christian life. I just finished a great conversation with one of our church members about how challenging and discomforting the Gospel really is. It is important for us, not to intentionally ignore all those parts that we do not like, but to intentionally struggle with the Gospel as a whole. Part of that intentional work is recognizing the unhealthy and unhelpful stuff we carry within us that keeps us from truly engaging the Gospel, and unleashing the Gospel within us and through us. Maybe your bag won’t be full, but don’t let it sit around the house until it is. As we know, trash that just sits begins to really stink.
Lord God, I’ve got some stuff. Some not-so-healthy or beneficial information. Some of it I have chosen, and some of it has been imposed on me. Whatever the cause or circumstance, I come before you in prayer seeking to confess and acknowledge some of those things that hinder my relationship with you and the Gospel. Wherever I can let go and put some real distance between me and what was never your hope for me, may it be so. Amen.
03-23-23
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
March 23, 2023
I grew up hearing about the National Benevolent Association. Though the word ‘benevolent’ was not a common word for a young kid, I had heard stories about the six women in St. Louis who gather for a Prayer Meeting. The year was 1886, and these women from First Christian Church were praying “about the plight of the homeless and helpless.” Some of these women went from house to house, from church to church, collecting money. Their work gave birth to the NBA (the other NBA).
This Sunday, Mark Andersen, the President and CEO of the NBA, will be with us at Cypress Creek Christian Church. Mark is a lifelong Disciple from Peoria, Illinois, and I first crossed paths with Mark because both of us were attending Phillips University in Enid, OK, though Mark was graduating as I was entering (he’s a lot older). NBA is one of our denominational agencies that will benefit from our Special Easter Offering (which will take place in a few weeks). A portion of your gift will support our General Church’s Health and Social Service Ministries, or what we call the National Benevolent Association.
Don’t miss Sunday. You’ll absolutely love Mark, and it will provide a face that you can attach to the amazing ministry that started at a little Disciple congregation in St. Louis more than 135 years ago.
Where the hands and feet of Christ are needed, Merciful God, may your Spirit animate this body called the church. Let us be the servants that Jesus taught us to be. Amen.
03-22-23
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
March 22, 2023
How would you describe the experience of compassion? What are the repercussions of compassion? Jesus brought both words and actions to the people who were like sheep without a shepherd and who were dealing with all kinds of illness (Matthew 9). The church has always struggled to balance word and action. Sadly, there have been times when we’ve been all words and devoid of action. Other times, we have failed in our capacity to articulate what we really are claiming to believe. Those times when church has been most impactful have consistently seen words reinforced by actions and actions explained in words. Most of us can come up with a definition of compassion, but actions are powerful. Yet for the act of compassion to reach the height of its power, it needs to be packaged in a theological framework that clarifies God’s involvement and why the act of compassion happened in the first place. About this time last year, I helped the person in front of me at the grocery store when he did not have enough money to buy diapers and formula. He thanked me and then asked, “Why did you help?” I stumbled with my answer, even being a bit dismissive of the question. But how much more impactful is an act of compassion when the answer to WHY includes an affirmation of the person’s value as one of God’s beloved, especially if the person is feeling embarrassed or ashamed because of what has occurred.
Provide to me, O God, a heart full of compassion and the capacity to explain how you have continued to model compassion for all. Amen.
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