“Who We Are: An Excursus for the ‘Folks Back Home’, part 0”

I love my home church. Of course many of us would say this. There is always a certain affection we carry with us for the “folks back home.” But when I look out over the crowd at Calvary Christian Church, I feel, or rather see, something more than love. I see a vision.

And not just for one church, but for the whole denomination. A group of people who came together in faith to discover and hold to that which is necessary to live as such a community. The primacy of scripture, Christian faith that transcends denominational hatred, a desire to rekindle the spirit of the early churches.

There is something amazingly powerful in a church that truly believes. A community of people filled with faith, hope and love. Sincerity, Charity, Compassion, Patience, Passion. These are the things revolution is made of. When I look out over that congregation I see God’s calling hovering. I see expectation, I see commission. I see vision. I see new dreams.

God’s call is out ahead of us. God’s purposes, God’s kingdom waiting for actualization. A spirit of resurrection waiting for dry bones. But God’s purposes are an outstretched hand. An expectation. God allows us to participate in his work but we are also allowed to falter, to stumble even to fail.

In Matthew 28 we see the disciples encounter the resurrected Christ. They’ve now seen Christ undergo the cross and pass through the other side of death. In verse 17 they are moments away from the Great Commission. From receiving God’s great call for their lives. But even there they falter. The word in question in v. 17 is ἐδίστασαν, traditionally rendered as “doubted”. But this doesn’t quite encapsulate the full nuances of the word. The root word, διστάζω, has a very distinct image to it. It is, quite specifically, the image of one standing at a crossroads, wavering, indecisively. Doubt and hesitation about the road ahead. “And having beheld him, they worshiped him. But some/they wavered”

This is where we stand. We’re at the crossroads of something different. All we need is already here. In the face of the God who has already gone out before us, all we have left is the choice. Are we ready to go?

Unexpected Interruptions, Prayers for Peace

(I had a clear plan as to how this new blog would begin. There is a schedule and thematic cycles and crafted arcs of rhetoric and theology. But real life does not conform to these patterns.)

At this very moment there is a wave of unrest rippling through the world. Though the chain of events is long and complex it first truly came to light in the ongoing series of protests which began in Tunisia in December and culminated in the ousting of the ruling leader in mid-January. Now similar, though notably more volatile protests are sweeping across much of the Arab world. Yemen and Egypt have both erupted in violent protest and resistance to the long-standing governments and the Tunisian protests are still ongoing over the formation of their new ruling government. Dozens of other peoples, in nations like Yemen, Algeria, Jordan, are also engaging in acts of protest and dissent against governments which seem to have failed the interests of their communities.

The response to such a movement is difficult to see. In our American democratic sphere we have a natural tendency to applaud popular movements and calls for elections. It strikes a nationalistic chord that resonates throughout the American mythos. But the American response is not the sole perspective nor perhaps should it be our dominant lens with which to interpret the ongoing situations of our neighbors.

Despite our lines in the sand and geographic distinctions, we are first and foremost Christ-followers. How does God see the current mood and movements in our world?

First, I think we have to say that God is for the free will and well being of all people, regardless of place, race or nationality. If we are to love our neighbors and our enemies, our brothers and sisters, the least of these, Jew, Gentile, Roman and Greek, then its safe to say that our burden of service and love clearly extends to our international neighbors as well. What we would wish for ourselves we should seek for others, our aims, our support and happiness extended to our brothers and sisters everywhere. For this reason, the intolerable conditions which plague nations across the world are the immanent concern of the Church.

However, the God of Israel and the God of Christ is a God of peacemaking. As Martin Luther King was quick to ascertain, the God of Christ is not just the God who seeks the freedom of the oppressed and downtrodden but also the God who seeks to redeem their oppressors, the God of crucified Palestine and Rome alike. As many pray for resolution and freedom, and some even put bone and skin and go to stand in physical solidarity with revolution around the world, we must remember too that Christ treasures each life, that each soul is indelibly stamped with the imago dei, the image of God.

For this reason, we must pray as much for peace as change. Our desire for good is coupled with (not tempered by) our belief that the God of peace blesses those who seek the good of their people but in love and patient endurance, not violence.

Lord God, bless peacemakers everywhere.
Let our swords rust.
Beat our guns into ploughshares and saxophones.
Teach us tongues of peace,
Songs and Prayers of peacemaking.
Teach us to unsettle through love
and not violence,
through open hands
and not fists.
Teach us the revolution of friendship
that the whole world may share in the double victory.
Amen.