Today, All Hallow's Eve, also doubles as Reformation Day, the 492nd commemoration of the somewhat historical event of Martin Luther nailing his 95 Theses to the door of a church at Wittenburg. I'm not sure how i feel about celebrating such a day. The Reformation, for being a movement with the purpose of restoring the Church, ripped it completely apart. Since then, the Church has been split down the middle, and into hundreds of separate denominations and ideologies. I really, really love the Church, feeling it an under-emphasized (or neglected) aspect of Christian teachings and theology, and i feel called to serve her. So, do i commemorate this day? Probably not. But, nonetheless, it is a significant moment in the history of the Church
Jared over at The Gospel-Driven Church, is commemorating Reformation Day by making his own 95 theses for the American Church today. I really like his blog, and recommend checking it out. The 95 theses are split into five parts:
Part One: discipleship
Part Two: community
Part Three: the Church
Part Four: the pastorate
Part Five: purpose
One of my favorite quotes is by none other than St. Augustine, who said "The Church is a whore, but she's my mother." Even though the Church of Jesus Christ is broken and wounded with divided loyalties, we are still called to love and honor and serve her. Amen.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
A Theology of Swearing
Words are only symbols for the meaning that we attribute to it, and they only carry the meaning that we give to them. Language is kind of random like that. It's why, in the 90s, teenagers could get away with using the word "bad" to refer to something something good, or "wicked" as something super cool. I can make up any word and give it any meaning i want (this is actually kind of fun, if you get a good word and it catches on with friends).
And we get so worked up over the little things like words someone once defined as "swear words," and don't bother worrying about the meaning (or lack of meaning) we attached to the rest of our vocabulary. Which is a worse sin, if i say the word "fuck," or if i say "Jesus is Lord" without really meaning it? Our words either don't carry any weight at all, or we've given too much weight to the wrong ones.
Stop worrying so much about swearing. It has no meaning except for what you give it, and it has no power unless you choose to submit to it. Worry instead about the words you say, and be deliberate in your speaking. When we lack meaning in our words, we can deceive ourselves and others, and it leads to a life of hypocrisy where we say one thing and do another. Be deliberate in all that you do, but i think a great place to begin this is with the words that we say. Maybe it starts with not saying anything at all.
*Disclaimer: Unless it's funny or circumstantially called for, i think swearing is really stupid as well. In light of 1 Corinthians 10, in which Paul advises that "Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial," and talks about working to not offend brothers even if your conscience is clear, i do not regularly swear, because many Christians do take offense to it and see it as a sin. But what really gets me is when those who do take offense get so worked up about such a tiny sin, and that was the point of this post.
And we get so worked up over the little things like words someone once defined as "swear words," and don't bother worrying about the meaning (or lack of meaning) we attached to the rest of our vocabulary. Which is a worse sin, if i say the word "fuck," or if i say "Jesus is Lord" without really meaning it? Our words either don't carry any weight at all, or we've given too much weight to the wrong ones.
Stop worrying so much about swearing. It has no meaning except for what you give it, and it has no power unless you choose to submit to it. Worry instead about the words you say, and be deliberate in your speaking. When we lack meaning in our words, we can deceive ourselves and others, and it leads to a life of hypocrisy where we say one thing and do another. Be deliberate in all that you do, but i think a great place to begin this is with the words that we say. Maybe it starts with not saying anything at all.
*Disclaimer: Unless it's funny or circumstantially called for, i think swearing is really stupid as well. In light of 1 Corinthians 10, in which Paul advises that "Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial," and talks about working to not offend brothers even if your conscience is clear, i do not regularly swear, because many Christians do take offense to it and see it as a sin. But what really gets me is when those who do take offense get so worked up about such a tiny sin, and that was the point of this post.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Reclaiming Christians for Christ
There's a fundamental difference between serving the world and your own desires in a Christian manner, and serving Christ in a way that leaves no room for anything else and reaches out to the world from that foundation. This is a distinction that i think many American Christians do not get, nor do they want to get. Because it's a reality that is not easy to swallow. It may be a subtle distinction in our own eyes, but it is one that goes to the very core of who we are.
I'm realizing more and more just how clever we Christians are at deceiving the world and ourselves. We are very capable of looking and acting like we're serving Christ, when in fact we can be submitting to the world's demands on our life, adding in the pursuit of our own desires. We have been so twisted up and turned around that the world's demands become our desires, and we don't realize the difference. It's easy to say that the world is bad, especially when we see on the news reports of disease, war, greedy CEOs, starvation, rape, murder, etc.--you know, the big stuff that is obviously the result of sin in the world. But we miss out on the little things--the more dangerous things--because we don't realize how great an influence the world has on our lives.
I'll give an example, on that has been frustrating to me recently. (By the way, i'm just as guilty as anyone of all this, so i can't point the finger without four pointing back at me (cheesy, but i like that image. It works.)) Last week on our campus, we had a Living Single for the LORD emphasis week. Some monks, with whom i got to go up and live last January, came and talked about this Biblical alternative that is given to us in order to more fully devote ourselves to Christ and the ministry He has given us. Being a typical Christian campus, i think the majority of the students shut it out after the first message, and were frustrated that these guys were telling us that we couldn't get married if we wanted to be good Christians, and saying things along the likes of, "I just don't feel that that calling is for me, and I'm really looking forward to getting married, and GOSH DARN IT, I WANT TO HAVE SEX!"* I would argue that the people who reacted this way, although completely allowed to do so, have completely missed the point. If we are to be followers of Christ, true disciples, we have to be willing to put Him first, ahead of all things, which means that we have to be willing to give up all other things if He were to ask us, including marriage and sex.
That's one example, but this applies in so many areas of life. How we act and what we say are so often determined by an analytical look at what is socially acceptable in the world's eyes, how we pray with each other is done in a way that avoids awkwardness, and how we live in community is done in a way that is comfortable and encouraging for us, but doesn't leave us too vulnerable. All these things make us slaves to the world's standards.
We have become worldly Christians, rather than Christians in this world.
We have been set apart (read: made holy) to have a new identity, separate from the world, and to have a new purpose, a new mission, and a new Master of our lives. This does not mean we withdraw from the world, but we invade it, secure in our identity as the Church of Jesus Christ our Lord and Master, unwilling to yield to any other lord or submit to any other way of life that might tempt us. We are foreigners in this land, and we do not belong to it. We must submit our lives only to the Authority and Lordship of Jesus Christ. Nothing else must have our devotion. Nothing else is worthy of our devotion. This world is passing away, and so we grab on to and commit ourselves to the only Eternal One who will serve as the foundation of all that we are and will be.
Our Enemy is very good at making us like accidental traitors in this war. People that in reality serve the world when they think they are serving Christ. People that claim to be "sold out" for Christ when they have no notion of what that term means. People that proudly do their own thing and call it Christian while ignoring the call that God has placed on their lives. People that serve the world's purposes, disguising them as "Christian."
Looking back at what i've just written, it is harsher than i set out to make it. But i'm not convinced it was unnecessary. I am convinced though that we need more table-tossing and whip-cracking in our Christian communities. Those that fit the profile that i've gone through include my brothers and sisters in Christ, and i the chief among them. I want to see, in myself and in the community i live in, a renewed devotion to our Lord Jesus. I want to see a renewed passion for the Gospel. I want to see purpose and intention in following Jesus. I want to see the Holy Spirit ruling and directing our lives. I want to see Christians reclaimed for Christ.
*Not a real quote.
As a quick aside, we Christians are probably the horniest people on earth. We just repress it to the point where it manifests itself in other ways, like getting married way too young and then adding to the highest divorce rate of any faith group.
I'm realizing more and more just how clever we Christians are at deceiving the world and ourselves. We are very capable of looking and acting like we're serving Christ, when in fact we can be submitting to the world's demands on our life, adding in the pursuit of our own desires. We have been so twisted up and turned around that the world's demands become our desires, and we don't realize the difference. It's easy to say that the world is bad, especially when we see on the news reports of disease, war, greedy CEOs, starvation, rape, murder, etc.--you know, the big stuff that is obviously the result of sin in the world. But we miss out on the little things--the more dangerous things--because we don't realize how great an influence the world has on our lives.
I'll give an example, on that has been frustrating to me recently. (By the way, i'm just as guilty as anyone of all this, so i can't point the finger without four pointing back at me (cheesy, but i like that image. It works.)) Last week on our campus, we had a Living Single for the LORD emphasis week. Some monks, with whom i got to go up and live last January, came and talked about this Biblical alternative that is given to us in order to more fully devote ourselves to Christ and the ministry He has given us. Being a typical Christian campus, i think the majority of the students shut it out after the first message, and were frustrated that these guys were telling us that we couldn't get married if we wanted to be good Christians, and saying things along the likes of, "I just don't feel that that calling is for me, and I'm really looking forward to getting married, and GOSH DARN IT, I WANT TO HAVE SEX!"* I would argue that the people who reacted this way, although completely allowed to do so, have completely missed the point. If we are to be followers of Christ, true disciples, we have to be willing to put Him first, ahead of all things, which means that we have to be willing to give up all other things if He were to ask us, including marriage and sex.
That's one example, but this applies in so many areas of life. How we act and what we say are so often determined by an analytical look at what is socially acceptable in the world's eyes, how we pray with each other is done in a way that avoids awkwardness, and how we live in community is done in a way that is comfortable and encouraging for us, but doesn't leave us too vulnerable. All these things make us slaves to the world's standards.
We have become worldly Christians, rather than Christians in this world.
We have been set apart (read: made holy) to have a new identity, separate from the world, and to have a new purpose, a new mission, and a new Master of our lives. This does not mean we withdraw from the world, but we invade it, secure in our identity as the Church of Jesus Christ our Lord and Master, unwilling to yield to any other lord or submit to any other way of life that might tempt us. We are foreigners in this land, and we do not belong to it. We must submit our lives only to the Authority and Lordship of Jesus Christ. Nothing else must have our devotion. Nothing else is worthy of our devotion. This world is passing away, and so we grab on to and commit ourselves to the only Eternal One who will serve as the foundation of all that we are and will be.
Our Enemy is very good at making us like accidental traitors in this war. People that in reality serve the world when they think they are serving Christ. People that claim to be "sold out" for Christ when they have no notion of what that term means. People that proudly do their own thing and call it Christian while ignoring the call that God has placed on their lives. People that serve the world's purposes, disguising them as "Christian."
Looking back at what i've just written, it is harsher than i set out to make it. But i'm not convinced it was unnecessary. I am convinced though that we need more table-tossing and whip-cracking in our Christian communities. Those that fit the profile that i've gone through include my brothers and sisters in Christ, and i the chief among them. I want to see, in myself and in the community i live in, a renewed devotion to our Lord Jesus. I want to see a renewed passion for the Gospel. I want to see purpose and intention in following Jesus. I want to see the Holy Spirit ruling and directing our lives. I want to see Christians reclaimed for Christ.
*Not a real quote.
As a quick aside, we Christians are probably the horniest people on earth. We just repress it to the point where it manifests itself in other ways, like getting married way too young and then adding to the highest divorce rate of any faith group.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Intentionality
I don't know if intentionality is a real word. But i'm using it. Because it fits. And i can.
I am currently called by the Lord my God to live single. I have felt this calling on my life ever since just over a year ago, at the beginning of my junior year of college. You can read more about that decision if you want here and here. It was at a time when i really felt the Lord calling me to a deeper walk of discipleship with Him, to devote my life more fully and completely to His purposes. I read 1 Corinthians 7, the famous passage where Paul talks about living celibate for the sake of Christ. He talks about how if one is called to live single, then they can devote more of themselves to the Lord's service and to ministry, without having their interests divided between a family and ministry, and i thought Yes! This is great! This is what i want to do! Serve God fully! And when i committed myself to not pursuing dating in order to try and discern God's call on my life, it was fantastic. My relationships with female friends grew immensely, and this time with pure motives on my part, and i just had a better outlook on life.
A year later, and i'm struggling. At the end of this past summer, i decided that i needed to renew my commitment for another year, because i had been slacking off. And so far this semester, it has been one large struggle to maintain a pure heart and mind in intentionally being single. My old thoughts and habits have begun to return to me. Doubt crept in. Did i rush into renewing this commitment? Am i just supposed to get married and stop trying so hard, when all i do is fail?
This week is a spiritual emphasis week here on our campus, about Living Single for the Lord. It is being put on by the same monastic community that i visited last J-term, and i learned an immeasurable amount about living single from them. Through having them here, God has reminded me why He called me to this in the first place--for the sake of ministry. I haven't been called to live single for this time in my life just for kicks and giggles. I've been called for a purpose. I have been called out so that my life can be more fully devoted to the Lord's service. This is what i'd forgotten. This is what i'd been missing, and why i'd been struggling. I was missing the intention behind the action.
As Christians, we are all called for the purpose of sharing and spreading the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to the world, investing ourselves in the Kingdom of God and showing the love and light of Christ to all those around us. We can do that whether we're dating, married, widowed, or single. It's just a matter of serving this purpose the best you can in whatever situation you are in. But those who have been specifically set aside for singleness have the purpose of being single-mindedly devoted to this work. I've been missing out on the intentionality and the purpose of what i've been called to. My heart has not been focused and devoted to the Lord throughout this discernment process, which makes the whole process kind of pointless.
We are all called to live with intention. We are all called to one purpose. We are called to live deliberately serving the Kingdom, not just by accident or just when we feel like it. But all the time, on purpose, for a purpose. Some are called in different ways than others. But our purpose remains the same, all glory to God.
I am currently called by the Lord my God to live single. I have felt this calling on my life ever since just over a year ago, at the beginning of my junior year of college. You can read more about that decision if you want here and here. It was at a time when i really felt the Lord calling me to a deeper walk of discipleship with Him, to devote my life more fully and completely to His purposes. I read 1 Corinthians 7, the famous passage where Paul talks about living celibate for the sake of Christ. He talks about how if one is called to live single, then they can devote more of themselves to the Lord's service and to ministry, without having their interests divided between a family and ministry, and i thought Yes! This is great! This is what i want to do! Serve God fully! And when i committed myself to not pursuing dating in order to try and discern God's call on my life, it was fantastic. My relationships with female friends grew immensely, and this time with pure motives on my part, and i just had a better outlook on life.
A year later, and i'm struggling. At the end of this past summer, i decided that i needed to renew my commitment for another year, because i had been slacking off. And so far this semester, it has been one large struggle to maintain a pure heart and mind in intentionally being single. My old thoughts and habits have begun to return to me. Doubt crept in. Did i rush into renewing this commitment? Am i just supposed to get married and stop trying so hard, when all i do is fail?
This week is a spiritual emphasis week here on our campus, about Living Single for the Lord. It is being put on by the same monastic community that i visited last J-term, and i learned an immeasurable amount about living single from them. Through having them here, God has reminded me why He called me to this in the first place--for the sake of ministry. I haven't been called to live single for this time in my life just for kicks and giggles. I've been called for a purpose. I have been called out so that my life can be more fully devoted to the Lord's service. This is what i'd forgotten. This is what i'd been missing, and why i'd been struggling. I was missing the intention behind the action.
As Christians, we are all called for the purpose of sharing and spreading the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to the world, investing ourselves in the Kingdom of God and showing the love and light of Christ to all those around us. We can do that whether we're dating, married, widowed, or single. It's just a matter of serving this purpose the best you can in whatever situation you are in. But those who have been specifically set aside for singleness have the purpose of being single-mindedly devoted to this work. I've been missing out on the intentionality and the purpose of what i've been called to. My heart has not been focused and devoted to the Lord throughout this discernment process, which makes the whole process kind of pointless.
We are all called to live with intention. We are all called to one purpose. We are called to live deliberately serving the Kingdom, not just by accident or just when we feel like it. But all the time, on purpose, for a purpose. Some are called in different ways than others. But our purpose remains the same, all glory to God.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
My First Philosophical Musing
Going through my philosophy notes in preparation for my midterm tomorrow, i came across something we did the very first day of class. We were asked to distinguish between facts and values. Nothing ever really came of this (i think it was just intended to make us start thinking philosophically), but i rather liked the definition i came up with:
Facts are knowledge about reality.
Values are the reality of our worldview.
Interesting to think about. Back to studying for me.
Facts are knowledge about reality.
Values are the reality of our worldview.
Interesting to think about. Back to studying for me.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)