Godgrown

Updates from October, 2011 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

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  Mark 8:20 am on October 10, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

  “Slow Cuts” Over Short Cuts 

  

  This is a great time of year to take the “slow-cuts” over the “short-cuts” on our ways to work, errands, etc — the leaves are changing, the final climax of 2011′s symphony is upon us!

  In our day, there’s little respect given to the longer, sometimes meandering, but always intentional paths that lead us to our destination.  We’ve devised GPS systems and shot things into space in hopes of finding the quickest, most fuel-efficient way from A to B.  The least amount of time and energy from where I am to where I want to be.  That’s the generally accepted path.  But Jesus had another route he took…

  Matthew 12:1-21 is an amazing fulfillment of the entire Old Testament – it reminds me of a mountain climber after several days of hard work, finally reaching the summit.  Or an engaged couple after months of waiting, finally hearing wedding bells.  In Jesus’ day, Jews and Gentiles alike were awaiting a traditional form of kingship – uprising, rebellion, and more – but Jesus instead quotes Isaiah 42; and remind us that the King Isaiah anticipated was different – “he will not fight or shout” –

  The route to power through force and might has been tried, time and time again.  Its the quickest and easiest route to power in our world.  It works too!  Revenge, abuse, murder, cheating… they are all names for the same boulivard in the human heart – the highway that leads to “what I want.”  Trouble is, we end up in the ditch.

  The way Jesus points to through his life (and specifically in Matthew 12) describes a new way.  Not another short-cut or get rich-quick-scheme; his is the only way not to trample over the weak and the outcast in your establishment of power.  Some people think that power is inherently bad - I disagree.  Power is like currency – it is amoral, it is the wielder of that power that invests himself into that power and through that power he becomes more of who he already is.  If you are a jerk, then with power, you will be an even BIGGER JERK!

  But Jesus saw that his power was displayed through weakness, through healing the poor on the Sabbath, through dying on the Cross, and being raised by the Power of God.

  — Jesus, I believe that you will eventually see the final victory – “Finally his cause for justice will be victorious.” I wait for that day – when we don’t have to take the compromised shortcuts in life, but all of us will be on the pathway you showed us – to the relational Kingdom of God.

  I choose today to participate in that “slow-cut” toward freedom.

  I want to find a way to cut out all my power grabs, personally, and in society. Help me Father to learn what areas of my life need a “lower-archy” introduced, so that I do not “crush the weakest reed, or put out a flickering candle…” You spoke out of a confidence of who you are as a Messiah. Let me be just as confident in my practices.

  
   

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  Mark 8:44 am on September 15, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

  Where You Meet Matters 

  Sometimes it is the obvious thing that remains so hard to see.

  Lately I’ve been struck by the context in which the Christians in the First Century gathered to experience the Life and Community of Christ.  I’ve also been struck by the truth that the context of the New Testament is miles apart from the context we Twenty-First Century Westerners experience the Christian life.  

  For example:

  • Early Christians were persecuted and killed by the government, we are privileged by government.
  • Early Christians met huddled in homes, around a table; we meet in buildings that rival huge coliseums and event centers.
  • Early Christians made the “one-anothers” a central element to their faith, their gatherings and their relationships; we struggle to adapt the 54 “one-anothers” into a typical Sunday worship gathering.

  If we want the New Testament to be most applicable to our lives, we should assume the context of the New Testament!Over the past 6 years, as my wife and I have experienced the Christian life through the “house church” context – we’ve seen passages of scripture come to life that we never quite understood before.  Let me give you a quick example.  Read 1 Cor 11:7ff – Paul is talking about the Lord’s Supper, chastising the Corinthian Christians for causing division in the house church gatherings between the rich and poor members – the rich came early and brought all the nicest foods and wines – getting drunk, sick… while the poor showed up with nothing to eat, coming in after a long day’s work.  If this isn’t a problematic potluck, I don’t know what is!  

  There is just so much more sense that is made in this passage when the church meets in the home.  In fact, most English translations get the last phrase wrong – and it has troubled many Christians’ interpretation of the Lord’s Supper for years.  Paul warns (in the English translations anyway) that some people who incorrectly take the Lord’s Supper will get drunk, sick…and some have even… “died”– that word died has caused the fear of many that if we don’t have the right mind when we take the wafer and grape juice shot glass, that we’ll be struck dead.   Looking at the Greek however, the word is “fall asleep” not “die” – and while that can be a euphemism, think about it logically – when you eat and drink too much, you get sick and you fall asleep.  It just makes sense.  And it makes the most sense in a household context.  

  Think about the teachings of Jesus on reconciliation with a brother in Christ, Mt. 6 and Mt. 18.  Think about each time that Paul communicates to the elders and deacons in the Pastoral Epistles.  In every case they are meeting in a network of house churches!  

  I’m no patternist, I don’t believe in legalistically recreating First Century culture.  But if we want to live out the kind of life that Jesus invites us to – we can’t just pick and choose what that life is!  It is a matter of becoming family, living like family, acting like family – God’s Family.  Jesus invited his disciples to a Table.  The early Christians invited their seeking friends to their Table.

  In the End, we will all gather in the New Jerusalem around the banquet Table of God.

  Table Fellowship is Christian Fellowship.

  

  Website Hosting, Mark W, and Rusty Wimberly are discussing. Toggle Comments

   
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    Rusty Wimberly 2:43 pm on September 15, 2011 Permalink

    I’ve wrestled with this subject over the past 3 years now and most people still don’t get it. I fully agree, the form follows function. The place we gather will most often determine what happens when we gather. With house church being a great forum for “one anothers” it seems to be challenging for other things such as preaching, teaching, outreach and extended times of gifted ministry. The building setting could be more conducive for teaching, evangelism and community outreach…maybe? The bottom line in our culture is some people are not going to feel comfortable coming to a strangers house. All in all, we all need to be reminded that church is not defined by the building but in order to actually follow the Lord in discipleship we need to do it in community. 

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    Mark W 11:57 am on September 17, 2011 Permalink

    Rusty — good thoughts! We are finding that having a mix of “regularly scheduled events” both in and out of homes helps new guests feel welcome, AND it keeps the focus off “event” but places faith back into “all of life” where it should be. The book AND by Halter/Smay has been very helpful. Have you read it?

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    Mark W 11:57 am on September 17, 2011 Permalink

    Rusty — good thoughts! We are finding that having a mix of “regularly scheduled events” both in and out of homes helps new guests feel welcome, AND it keeps the focus off “event” but places faith back into “all of life” where it should be. The book AND by Halter/Smay has been very helpful. Have you read it?

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    Website Hosting 6:57 am on January 19, 2012 Permalink

    Really interesting thought and interesting post..

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  Mark 8:26 am on September 12, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

  Darwin, Survival and the Weakest 

  What really blows my mind about the Way of Jesus is that it is 100% opposed to the basic mantra and premise of Darwinian evolution.  Even Darwin, a Christian himself, must have seen the irony in this.  The basic premise to remember from 9th Grade biology class is something like this:

  “This world’s basic fundamental principle is: ‘Survival of the Fittest’” — only the strongest will make it to that momentous stage of reproduction and thus pass on their DNA.

  Jesus however, pointed his disciples to an entirely different set of principles — he set us free from a “survival” paradigm for something much, much better…

  Jesus says that it is not about the “Survival of the Fittest,” but the “Redemption of the Weakest.”  It is in this context that the Kingdom of God is played out in this world, acting as a heckler to the clanging chorus chanting the Darwinian refrain from their Grand Temple – the Marketplace – where contending organisms, organizations, corporations and conglomerations all compete for the “#1 spot” before they are trounced and more lives are ruined (both the rich and the poor).

  OK – so I’m off my soap box.  What does this look like in the practical?

  It means - Not caring or “fighting for your rights” – something we Revolutionary Americans have drilled into us – Jesus points us not to defending our respect from others, but by being a servant with no expectation of worldly recognition.

  It means that finally admitting to ourselves and confessing to our sex-obsessed culture, that “We can live without sex, but we cannot live without love.” (a quote by Shane Claiborne)

  It means, in the end, that your survival is not up to you, and in fact, there is no such thing as “survival,” it is a myth – for even the mighty T-Rex, King of the Reptiles, which should have ruled the earth, was subject to the way of all things – we are all dust, and to dust we shall return.  

  The “Fittest” among all of us is Death Himself.  Only he will “survive.”

  This may come as a “downer” to most, (myself included) but when the striving for survival melts away, in Christ we can seek  a grander goal – Redemption.  The word communicates so much:

  Redemption: (noun) An outside force bringing you to safety and completing in you your original and greatest potential. (my own definition)

  When its no longer up to you and “survival” is no longer the goal, then being the “fittest” no longer preoccupies every moment of your existence, and you can give yourself over to better things – like compassion, grace, and promoting the dreams of others.

  I’m not saying that “Survival of the Fittest” doesn’t exist in the world (Just watch any of the Mac Vs. PC commercials… or Animal Planet), I’m just saying that its not the only show on tonight.  Take a deeper look at the road that an Evolutionary Ethic takes you and takes our society.  Maybe Jesus’ basic commandments “Love the Lord your God with everything…and love your neighbor as yourself” is a good retort that creates dissonance in the siren-song of our culture – and brings us to a new matra:

  Redemption of the Weakest.

  

  Mark W, and Kate are discussing. Toggle Comments

   
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    Kate 3:10 pm on September 12, 2011 Permalink

    Since I feel the need to support my namesake, I will share 2 comments: 1) Fittest does not necessarily mean strongest.  Fittest is really referring to the most successful given the constraints of the environment.  Thus things that have supported greater human survival, like compassion and helping others (not violence and raping), tend to have been genetically and socially passed on.  (Side note: There has been a lot of recent research in psychology providing more evidence that we are “hardwired” to help others.  For example, if you do things with the specific goal to make yourself feel better, you feel good momentarily.  If you do things to make others feel better, you feel good over a longer period.)  2) Survival refers to genes, not to actual people, although the person needs to survive long enough to produce children. 

    An idea you might find interesting that we discuss a lot in one of my labs is that idea that “survival of the fittest” might actually promote a specific mix of genes in a population and not just one specific gene.  So, for example, what is the ideal mix of introverts and extroverts for a population?  Conservatives and liberals?  Theists and atheists?

    Thanks for this brief respite from work!  Hope you and Katrina are doing well.

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    Mark W 3:57 pm on September 13, 2011 Permalink

    Kate — Thank you so much for the thoughtful, intriguing comment!  
       I may have written this post with more provocation than was necessary, something I kick myself for only after its been published.  I actually think that there is a lot of realism/truth to Darwinism’s basic premise – and I think your interpretation of that premise is really cool — (eg. “fittest = most successful given constraints…”)  
       I realize that it is historically suspect to try to force two figures from very different times/places into a conversation – comparing Darwin’s and Jesus’s outlooks on life may be like trying to compare the works of Mozart and Shakespeare.  
       So moving forward cautiously on that point, I do think that the popular application of “survival of the fittest” is something that existed long before Darwin, even in Jesus’ day, and that Jesus’ teachings reorients the Darwinian basic premise. 
       In Jesus’ mind, success in life looks nothing like the definition of success society-at-large is trying to sell us.  They are ladders leaning up completely different walls.  One points to amassing as many points as possible (points = cash, relationships, toys, even things like “benevolence” etc)…the other sees the renunciation of self-promotion, for the sake of deeper truer life.  One teaching Jesus is famous for is “If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?l Is anything worth more than your soul?” — 
       What do you think?  Are there conflicts in the essential ends…and means… for the teachings of Jesus, or are they complimentary?  
       Here’s a confession – although I see Jesus’ teaching one thing – I’m basically not living it out.  If I’m being honest with myself, I still seek self-promotion.  Dang it.

       I hear you saying in your comment that “compassion and helping others” have helped human survival as a whole — sort of a “macro” picture of Darwin’s claim, rather than focusing on the fate of one person.  And I find that really interesting/worth thinking more on.  My first blush response is, “Who was the caveman who made the switch?”  What I mean is – how does a society evolve from violence as the best strategy for survival to compassion, helping others?  When a society (say, like 3rd Century Ireland) is filled with violence and fear from Druidic gangs terrorizing towns and villages all over, how does a guy like St. Patrick turn the tide and reinterpret “survival of the fittest” to mean “community, peace, gardening, self-sacrifice,” etc?  This kind of holistic, systemic sea-change stuff really intrigues me.
       Again, thanks for your response.  Hope this comment is a positive contribution…and not just my usual blathering. I’d love any more thoughts/push-backs.  
    Peace! ///Mark