In an era when everyone is crying out for the right to marry, the wisdom of the Apostle Paul might be good to heed. Paul penned some pretty shocking words about the single's "better" life to a society that almost worshipped marriage. His words echo to us in this day when we still frame our society around the institution of marriage. Our understandings of personal meaning have been influenced by Hollywood more than Scripture. We've been raised to think that true happiness of body, soul and spirit is hinged upon the discovery of the "one" even though for Bible believing people, our founder and main frontman were both single dudes.

1 Cor. 7:32-35,38:
"I want you to be free from the concerns of this life. An unmarried man can spend his time doing the Lord’s work and thinking how to please him. But a married man has to think about his earthly responsibilities and how to please his wife. His interests are divided. In the same way, a woman who is no longer married or has never been married can be devoted to the Lord and holy in body and in spirit. But a married woman has to think about her earthly responsibilities and how to please her husband.  I am saying this for your benefit, not to place restrictions on you. I want you to do whatever will help you serve the Lord best, with as few distractions as possible...So the person who marries his fiancée does well, and the person who doesn’t marry does even better."

Paul has a few other things to say about relationships and the spiritual life, not a lot really, but a few instructions and allusions connected to the divine purposes of human relationships but the focus is never about self-actualization or perpetuation of humanity. The real emphasis of the New Testament is upon the Kingdom of God and the pursuit of knowledge and experience of God within the believing community.

"So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus," Galatians 3:26-28.

I share these things not to dishonor or demean marriage, I've been happily married for almost 23 years, but to encourage singles to regain their confidence as those on the "better" path. If one desires to deepen their spiritual life, the call is to devote themselves to The Lord, not another person.

The church needs more apostolic people like Paul and in order for that to happen they must embrace the life of holiness that offers one's body and soul to God without the many distractions of marriage.

Join us for our next Coffee Talk, where we'll examine relationships and spirituality. It will be at 10 a.m., June 1 at Morning Sun Bakery. Blauer is a panelist.

Photo by Eric Blauer

In the Old Testament God was dead serious about his people understanding that they were to maintain a rhythm of work and rest as an integral part of worship. 

Exodus 31:14-15 reads, "Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it is to be put to death; those who do any work on that day must be cut off from their people. For six days work is to be done, but the seventh day is a day of Sabbath rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day is to be put to death."

The severity of the punishment against violating the Sabbath always informs my contemplation of the biblical call to rest in the New Testament. Work and rest are vibrant strands of deep theological meaning in the scriptures. It's imperative to understand what God does and what he calls us to do in our relationship with the divine. This knowledge lies at the center of proclaiming the good gospel of Jesus.

Our church incorporates a fall and spring prayer retreat each year into our church community life. These are times to practice prayer both together and separate. The work of life and ministry in a local church require a purposeful commitment to cultivate healthy soul care. Retreating away was a regular practice of Jesus and an example he left for all of us who often feel too thin in our day to day lives.

"Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them,'Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest'," said Jesus in Mark 6:31.

We all need to have times of prayerful reflection where we can face our souls as they truly are and not ignore them through the myriad distractions available to us.

This year we've retreated at Mt. Schweitzer Chapel. Right now the sun is shining strong and the snow is quickly melting into roaring streams cascading down the beautiful hillsides. The warm light of Spring is unleashing a living stream of life for the valleys.

This imagery is in the backdrop as we bring our souls before The Lord on the mountain. As we obey the command to stop doing and practice just being in His presence, we too begin to thaw. We start awakening in deep places, our dormant gifts are stirred, our love rekindled and our anticipation revived.

I'm not driven to these retreats out of fear of disobedience to law but I'm lured here out of longing for a real rest for my soul. I find my inner life is gently reset in purposeful prayer in ways that projects, causes, entertainment, parties and play can never truly recharge or renew.

In light of the some what ominous Old Testament Sabbath commands I can see that my worth to God is not based on what I perform or provide. His care for me is rooted in a joyful acknowledgment that he delights in me, for me, not just for what I accomplish in or for his kingdom.

I encourage you to find your own "mountains" to go up to and meet with God. The renewal found in doing so, will benefit all the other areas of your life.

Hundreds rally for immigration reform in downtown Spokane. Tracy Simmons/SpokaneFAVS

Jesus was a refugee and and an immigrant and experienced the same fears, dangers, hardships and opportunities that many similar displaced or fleeing people face today.

My thoughts and practices on the issue are formed by biblical scripture in the Old and New Testament, the life experience of Jesus and my work with post-resettlement issues with refugees and immigrants through the work of our Community Resource Center in East Central Spokane.

My support or rejection of various Immigration policies being presented or voted upon now is based on a foundation of biblical teaching rooted in God's welcoming grace of redemption and salvation as told in the story of Israel, the life and work of Jesus and the witness of the early Christian church. These teachings and narratives have been at the root of many peace and justice movements in our world and continue to inspire and inform religious activism and justice-based political policy today.

My involvement with strangers/refugees, and particularly refugees from Burma and Iraq over the last seven years has enlightened me to the nativity story in ways I had not fully comprehended in the past. Seeing that Jesus and his family experienced the struggles and sufferings of the ‘refugee’ in their early years brought a new and profound admiration for the solidarity that God has with the poor. He not only has had compassion and helped them, but he became one to save one. The incarnation took on a beauty of identification with the least of these, the poor, oppressed and the marginalized in a new way for me through seeing the stranger/refugee plight in the gospel narrative.

Refugee Experience: Military invasion and occupation: "...Augustus, decreed…"Luke 2:1-5 "At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. He took with him Mary, his fiancée, who was now obviously pregnant."

Refugee Experience: Military invasion and occupation: "Laid Him In A Manger…"
Luke 2:6-7 "And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born.  She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them."

Refugee Experience: Forced displacement and relocation: "Flee to Egypt…"Matthew 2:13-15 "When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod."

Refugee Experience: Military and Religious violence, intolerance and humanitarian atrocities: "Kill all the boys"
Matt 2:16 "When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi."

Refugee Experience: Inability to Repatriate : "He Was Afraid To Go There… "Matt 2:21-22 "So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there."

My intent in sharing this realization was to help us realize that the New Testament's call to see Jesus in the ‘stranger’ has the same implication as the ancient Israelite had in ‘remembering’ the stranger, because he has been a stranger in a foreign land as well. This ‘historic remembrance’ was at the root of much Old Testament ethical teaching, especially when it came to laws relating to care for the ‘stranger’ in Israel. I also wanted to show how there was a radical change in the New Testament, related to the words used for ‘stranger’ and how in Jesus we have a new and higher law of love to follow, that embraces any ‘stranger’ in a more exacting and challenging way than even was expressed in the Old Testament laws. God’s favor for the poor, his special love for the Stranger is for us, most powerfully witnessed in the incarnation.

Biblical Guidance for care for “the stranger”

Key Biblical Historic recollection:
Deuteronomy 10:17-19  “For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe.  He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger,(Hebrew = ‘GER’) giving him food and clothing.  Therefore love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Deuteronomy 24:19-22  “When you reap your harvest in your field, and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the stranger (GER), the fatherless, and the widow, that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow.  When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow.  And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this thing.”

Deuteronomy 27:19  “Cursed is the one who perverts the justice due the stranger, the fatherless, and widow.  And all the people shall say ‘Amen!’”

Numbers 15:15 “One ordinance shall be for you of the assembly and for the stranger (GER) who dwells with you, an ordinance forever throughout your generations; as you are, so shall the stranger be before the LORD.  One law and one custom shall be for you and for the stranger who dwells with you.”

Deuteronomy 26:9  “He has brought us to this place and has given us this land, “a land flowing with milk and honey”; and now, behold, I have brought the first fruits of the land which you, O LORD, have given me.’  “Then you shall set it before the LORD your God, and worship before the LORD your God.  So you shall rejoice in every good thing which the LORD your God has given to you and your house, you and the Levite and the stranger who is among you.  When you have finished laying aside all the tithe of your increase in the third year – the year of tithing – and have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your gates and be filled, then you shall say before the LORD your God;  ‘ I have removed the holy tithe from my house, and also have given them to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all Your commandments which You have commanded me; I have not transgressed Your commandments, nor have I forgotten them…”

4 Hebrew words for stranger:

GER – someone who chooses to immigrate and be part of the native people.(Proselyte)

TOSHAV – a temporary dweller, a migrant.  The root means to “sit”

ZAR – simply means stranger, not part of a the larger context.

NOCRI – a true foreigner who does not wish to be part of the native people, nor to keep their laws.

When the bible speaks of forbidding a stranger to partake of Israel’s holidays or in any way denying them the normal rights due to the native born, the word for stranger is (Nocri) or (Zar). A NOCRI was not allowed to be king or ruler of Israel - Deuteronomy 17:15. A NOCRI could be charged interest - Deuteronomy 23:20, whereas a GER apparently could not be charged interest – Leviticus 25:35. A NOCRI was forbidden the Passover as is a TOSHAV, but a GER was allowed to eat it but he had to be circumcised like the native born Israeli. Exodus 12:43.  However, the TOSHAV was allowed to use the cities of refuge – Numbers 35:15.

Incarnation recollection:Matt. 25:35 - as you did unto the stranger, you did unto Jesus!  The Greek word in this passage is the one the LXX used to translate the Hebrew word NOCRI!

One convicting aspect of dealing with refugees and immigration comes to light when one looks at the World Refugee Statistics. You can view a map of the world put out by UNHCR that shows the stats regarding world refugee numbers, receiving countries and places of origin.

Some of the top refugee critical zones are Afghanistan(2,887,123), Iraq(1,785,212) and Pakistan(1,740,711), (Syria probably would be in the top five now as a result of the current conflicts there.) All areas of conflict that our government is currently or recently  engaged in military operations. This is a fact, not a value judgment. It’s a situation that is one that we must face, understand and respond once one knows the truth.

Whatever the situations that got us there, keep us there or prevent or encourage us to remain in these wars; the fact that a massive humanitarian crisis is resulting cannot be ignored. As a church that works so very hard in the resettlement of refugees, this crisis is one that we feel a special sense of urgency to educate and engage people about.

Mercy and compassion call us serve the suffering, regardless of what created the suffering. It's like a divorcing set of parents, the child doesn’t need to know ‘whose fault’ it is…that wont change the suffering…the child simply needs support and care and love, while the parents move through their personal crisis. The stranger/refugee needs support and care as well, no matter who is more responsible in creating the situation that made them a refugee. This is where most of the work of Christians and churches resides — helping, motivated out of mercy and compassion.

But God is a God of justice too. It is an incomplete work of love to only rescue drowning people in a river, if you do not go up the river to see who is throwing them in the river, and do what you can to stop whoever or whatever is throwing people into the water.

This is the work of justice and it’s often what gets people into hot water. Loving people who have been hurt is always applauded, standing up to the abuser isn’t always considered ‘Christian mission or ministry.” This situation gets extremely difficult when our own country is culpable in the refugee crisis. That isn’t to say we are not doing enormous good or that the USA isn’t seeking to ‘stop evil’ from happening as it relates to terrorists…it is, but this is where the whole subject gets really tricky…because some Christians disagree with the premise that we must kill to heal or make war to create peace…etc…etc…if you have read here long enough, you know I’ve wrestled with these issues deeply and extensively.

Christians must tackle the tough issues of justice and mercy, especially when 43 million refugees are suffering. These numbers demand that Christians stand up and engage the issues that are creating such a tremendous crisis, even if that means people will disagree or dislike our positions, discussions or actions. To do nothing is to stand before Jesus and say, ”Lord, when did you come to us as a Stranger?”(Matthew 25:31-46) and that’s a situation I'm sure all Christians would want to work hard at avoiding.

The future is going to be full of complex problems that can be navigated with love or fear, I hope we can find ways to be welcoming and wise in the days ahead. May we all be able to reflect back on a lives lived in love, mercy and justice like Job recounted when he faced suffering:

Job 29:12-17:
12 ...I rescued the poor who cried for help,
    and the fatherless who had none to assist them.
13 The one who was dying blessed me;
    I made the widow’s heart sing.
14 I put on righteousness as my clothing;
    justice was my robe and my turban.
15 I was eyes to the blind
    and feet to the lame.
16 I was a father to the needy;
    I took up the case of the stranger.
17 I broke the fangs of the wicked
    and snatched the victims from their teeth."

For more thoughts on immigration reform read this week's Viewpoints.

"The couple is a little principality that votes its own laws and is constantly in danger of falling into despotism or anarchy," Pascal Bruckner

by Lel4nd/Flickr

Jesus talked about marriage and it's challenges and opportunities and the deep mysteries of its path in Mark 10 6-9:

"But ‘God made them male and female’ from the beginning of creation. ‘This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.’ Since they are no longer two but one,  let no one split apart what God has joined together.”

A man must leave his parents and as the older translations phrases it: "cleave" to his wife.

The couple begins a journey of discovering and becoming 'one'. A reality pictured in the gift of natural physiology, passionate sexuality and even deeper in holy act of procreation but its not fully matured without years of faithful witness, honest struggle and joyful celebration.

Oneness is a discipline like learning music. A good marriage takes years of learning, practice and mistakes but produces beautiful music, similar and unique to each couple.

Oneness often blooms into otherness, an intended fruit of intimacy called family. The gift of togetherness expands, exposes, exhilarates and exercises oneness in profound and provoking ways.

As is the nature of love, it produces a life meant to turn outward as it nourishes a healthy inwardness. A dance that grows from individuality, to duality to unity to trinity, a divine experience of love mirrored on earth as it is in heaven.

A mystery of the greatest mystery, and as such, it's a sacred expression of love and in my understanding of faith and truth, a holy sacrament of grace.

I believe that the misunderstanding and misuse of this sacramental experience is at the root of tremendous dysfunction and destruction in our souls, homes and culture.

Who we are within becomes magnified by the realities of married life and the soul work required in marriage forces us to grow or go.

In marriage we face who we are and by God's grace and work we fall toward who we should become or we will revert backwards into isolation and selfishness. This crucible can destroy or create, it's the sanctifying fire of transformation.

Marriage is a sacred circle of death and resurrection, one that should be entered with fear and trembling as much as passionate intoxication and longing communion.

If you choose to marry, you both will never be the same, in fact, you can't or your marriage will end in defeat.

Ecumenical diagram From Brian McLaren's book "Finding Our Way Again: The Return of the Ancient Practices."

Brian McLaren uses the above diagram his book "Finding Our Way Again: The Return of the Ancient Practices" to describe the opportunities and challenges of unity between Christian denominations, groups and ministries. The four quadrants represent general groupings of streams of Christian groups. The triangles in the corners in each square represent the people who will choose to be the farthest away from the others, every group has its isolationists. The circle in the middle represents that space where one can interact, learn, fellowship and work with others from different traditions. I love this visual tool because it helps people see where they are at in the practice of their ideological and theological social connections.

Many people have experienced wide-swinging pendulum extremism, cranky-fundamentalism, mushy, ooey-gooey spirituality and judgmental, cold, untested and ungracious idealism. We all have to work at unity with others in every sphere of life in order to serve the better good for all.

This diagram doesn't even address the challenges of interrelations between different faiths, it's meant to highlight the dynamics going on within Christian circles, let alone extending friendship or fellowship to those outside the Christian religion.

The challenges are difficult and the more open the table we set for others the easier it will become to listen, understand and appreciate the differences of other groups, beliefs and even religions. But as a version of an evangelical, I see a dead-end for any cooperative or relational pursuit that calls for people to abandon their square, deny the core truth and way of Christ or  imply that they need to embrace an "all paths lead to the same destination" paradigm.

Conservative Christians see life as a call and commitment to believe, trust and follow Christ and to love and serve others as a response and overflow of that life. Love opens our hearts to others but not with the intent of evicting Christ from his interior throne and enthroning other lords along with him. For many of us this is where the dividing lines start emerging, when unity starts pushing towards what we perceive as idolatry.

As a Christian who holds to the Bible as my standard for life and faith, I believe there's lots of room for different beliefs on secondary matters, if you seek to hold to a simple core set of biblical truths.

Ephesians 4:3-6:

"Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all."

This paradigm allows for a healthy circle of growing connections be they shallow or deep and yet, maintains the sacred space of conscience and convictions. I hope this freedom is protected in our attempts to be a welcoming group of personal faith, interfaith and non-faith people.

My neighbor was oppressed with a devil of addiction that mercilessly held him in its clutches until he recently died from cancer. The ugly disease took root in his esophagus and grew until it took his life this last November.

I found out about his death a few days ago.

I had been noticing some renovations being done on his house this month and when I saw his wife waiting for the bus, I took the opportunity to ask her about the new construction. She explained that her husband had died and the work was the result of money from his death.

I was stunned and ashamed that such pain and suffering took place across from my home and I didn't know about it. I felt the sting of conviction and the ache of compassion flush my soul. His wife is a Christian and she shared about his battle with alcohol and the desperate desire he had to be free but how his freedom was never fully realized. His wife warmly retold how he died in faith and how God's mercy and goodness were tangibly present the day he died in their home. She was at peace, even though she now faces life without him, as a handicapped woman who lives day in and day out in a wheelchair.

This encounter reminded me of the Easter story of Mary Magdalene and the witness of her past possessions recounted in Mark 16:9 & Luke 8:

"When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons."

I also remembered the afternoon her husband came over to our church building distraught and slightly drunk. He shared about his horrors, his hopelessness and how the addiction was wreaking destruction in his life. In his storm he asked for Jesus to help him and invited God to come into the mess and save him from his problems. We prayed and talked a bit. I encouraged him to join us in the Sunday service, but he didn't come that week. He visited one service one year but that was the extent of his connection with our church gatherings. I wasn't sure how to proceed and now wish I'd pushed into his life much more than I did. I feel like I failed him as a friend and a pastor.

I've struggled with trying to be a good neighbor and a pastor, all on the same block. It's a strange pressure that is at play in my relationships. I fumble a lot with finding how to be invitational but not placing my neighbors into awkward positions if they choose not to participate or respond to church activities.

Living life in this neighborhood makes for many tensions and trials and those neighbor challenges often crisscross with our missional intentions. One elderly neighbor is often drunk and belligerent. He's cussed at my wife and been racially derogatory to some of our other neighbors. We've had to break up domestic violence with one neighbor when a screaming man was throwing a woman onto the hood of his car. I've had to call the police on drug dealing with one neighbor when it overflowed into a drugged out man in my yard. I've been hit up for money at my front door by other neighbors, had my kids' bikes and toys stolen and plucked needles and beer cans out of my yard. At times I find myself wanting to hide from all the drama and trauma and retreat inside the refuge of my own home but I know that God has called us to be present here as good people not and good pastors.

This week I rededicated myself to being better at good neighboring and as one more home became a widow's residence on my street, the gospel call rings ever clearer.

"Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you," James 1:27.

I pray I can learn to better love and pastor those around me, both inside and outside our church in East Central, Spokane.

The Rev. Alan Eschenbacher and Rev. Liv Larson Andrews lead a Holy Week service together. Eric Blauer/Spokane Faith & Values

Being united in spirit takes effort, it doesn't come easy, and it won't be as true and deep as it could be if left uncultivated. It's like staying married, it requires paying careful attention to one another, celebrating the goodness, beauty and grace in those we love or desire to grow closer to in life. You have to work at love, especially among various different denominations and religious backgrounds.

Ephesians 4:3-5:
"Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father, who is over all and in all and living through all."

During Lent and Holy Week this year, I led our church in a series of purposeful efforts to enter the story of Easter through a number of different experiences. We gathered together every Wednesday of the 40 days of Lent for song, conversation, scripture, prayer and reflection. We told the story of Jesus and his temptations from many angles on Sundays and spent private times of devotion and study in materials we provided to focus our hearts and minds on the meaning of this season of death and resurrection.

We culminated our season of worship by joining together with different churches each night of Holy Week.

On Thursday in East Central Spokane at Jacob's Well, we scripted out the Last Supper giving people different parts to read. Our gospel narrator led us and we acted out the foot washing and Passover supper, with all the tension and tenderness of love, humility, betrayal and sorrow.

On Friday we gathered together with Pastor Dave Wilkinson and The Porch and Pastor Justin Bryeans of Kaleo in Otis Orchards, in West Central and spent an evening of contemplation at seven experiential stations of the cross. Through a guided call and response of scripture and sharing in song we meandered through the aching gospel moments of Good Friday.

On Saturday we joined Salem Lutheran and All Saints Lutheran in Browne's Addition. This was a special evening for me since it was my first experience of worship with Lutherans. We were led and participated in a full evening of walking through the story of redemption. We started around a fire outside, a candle was lit and like the people of Israel we headed out into the sidewalks following the "pillar of fire." We ended up inside the church in a fellowship hall where various people sung and read portions of the story of salvation from Genesis to the gospels events. Holding our own candles, we listened, sang, prayed, danced and laughed. Children filled Noah's Arc with stuffed animals, actors played scripture characters with thespian power and readers told the story of faith with passion, joy and a sacredness that was truly special. Then we gathered around a fount of water for baptisms and welcomed a baby, a child and a father into the faith through a wonderful liturgy of water, oil and prayer. Then we sang our way into the main sanctuary, where the acoustics caught our voices and amplified them with a expanding sound that truly felt otherworldly. There we sang, prayed and then gathered around the Eucharist table, where we drank from the holy cup and ate the bread of Christ, presided over joyfully by the Rev. Liv Larson Andrews and the Rev. Alan Eschenbacher. We ended the night eating fruit, crackers, chocolate and cheeses on the altar table.

Resurrection Sunday we returned to Jacob's Well, where I pastor, and spent the morning in song, scripture, commissioning and celebrating Jesus, the Christ and risen Lord. The fullness we all had experienced over this holy season was as one person put it like "The cork had pOpPeD!!!" The depth of celebration that came from diving so deep into the story made this Easter my favorite one so far in my faith journey.

One last reflection, I was especially blessed because in all my travels this week, I saw, heard and participated in the Easter story with many of you! Brothers and sisters I wouldn't have come to know without the work and witness of Spokane Faith and Values!

I've had my own "coming out" experience these last few years, not in my sexuality but in my social connections. I've been introduced to a wider breadth of Christian and non-Christian thinking and experience through places like Spokane Faith & Values. This interaction has forced me out of a few theological and relational ghettos.

Before I started engaging in dialogue and debate and taking time to listen to the "other", my box of ministerial experience was more manageable than it is now. When you are exposed to different points of view, you can no longer return to a time when you hadn't heard or seen the world from a different point of view. It humbles you to discover that you've had blind spots, naive thinking and shallow positions and reasoning based on a lot of privilege.

Now I "see and hear" so much more than I ever did before and it's provoking me in many ways these days. Recently I received a letter from a local church and organization that I was thinking about joining for a conference. But after reading this letter I saw the way women were purposefully prohibited. It stood out to me as if certain words were printed in bold type.

I realized that I had been sensitized to the discrimination of women by my interaction with women leaders, pastors and activists, some who've become my friends. I read this through their eyes and became offended and hurt for them. I realized that I didn't want to go where they wouldn't be welcomed.

I wrote a letter asking more questions I had about my observations and expressed my disappointment to the pastor hosting the event. I got the response I anticipated, that they believe the Bible teaches that women are not called to elder/pastor life. I don't have all the answers to these issues but I know I won't attend their event and I'm pretty sure I'm OK with that, thanks to the interaction with the women, men and readers of Spokane Faith & Values.

Sgt. Tim Martin, an infantryman with Headquarters and Headquarters Company of the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, shows evidence of the long journey after returning from Operation Buffalo Thunder II at Forward Operating Base Spin Boldak, Afghanistan, July 2, 2012. photo by DVIDSHUB on Flickr/http://bit.ly/16zSMpM

I'm attending a two day event being presented by the U.S.Army called "Building Healing Communities for Veterans Conference" hosted at Gonzaga University School of Law. It was billed as an initiative to help faith-based organizations and religious institutions, and to help churches equip understand, support and provide safe and healthy places for veterans, soldiers and their families.

I was invited by Pointman Ministries, one of the local co-hosts of the conference. The regional leader of this ministry is a member of our church and through his outreach and advocacy, our church has been connected and engaged in the challenges and opportunities of ministry with and among veterans here in Spokane. 

But I must be honest, I've struggled quite a bit with the issues of violence in the Bible, war, Jesus's teachings on non-violence and especially as a pastor, how to be anti-war but pro-soldier. I often wonder if this is possible when I am confronted with the many fruits of war as presented in this conference: post traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, suicide, disabling body injuries, marriage problems and divorce, sexual violence, homelessness, unemployment, spiritual and moral injury and the resulting faith identity struggles.

Here are the serious questions I wrestle with as I seek to be present to the human realities, sufferings, consequences, temptations and needs of a war-based culture and nation.

How can we wade deep into this mass of suffering and not begin to address the root of these aliments? I live and work among addicts and most of these problems are the result of an addiction to alcohol and other drugs. Would I be helping an addict by only addressing the consequences of their addiction without truly turning to the addiction itself?

How can a faith community support, care, attend, teach and work towards healing those serving or in post-service?

What is our responsibility in teaching and example before someone joins?

How can we be a welcoming faith community but not lose our moral or spiritual convictions about war?

How do we relate to people who have been connected to a community of men and women in ways war can only galvanize people and not be perceived as dishonoring or antagonistic to the very sources of joy and companionship that many veterans rely upon?

How do we promote a healthy view and expression of national identity and honor as Americans without confusing our identity and responsibilities as Christians?

These questions produce a fair amount of turmoil in me as my heart breaks for the sacrifices and sufferings of my fellow American service men and women and yet I find my mind enraged by the hypocrisy, deception, coercion and injustice of mishandled and misused theology, nationalism and economics.

We cannot ignore these matters, they are at the core of much of country's ills and yet, it seems the faith and military community both seem to ignore or dance around the matters I have pointed out. I hope these issues will be wrestled with more in this conference and in our churches for the sake of the soul and lives of our fellow Americans.

What questions or answers have you come to in dealing with these matters?

by LyndaSanchez/http://bit.ly/10Tikhl

I believe spiritual community is the result of God's grace, the presence of his spirit and the practice of faith and forgiveness done in love. I'm not convinced true community is simply found, it's grown.

I think Dietrich Bonhoeffer best described the challenges and costs of community in his book "Life Together":

“Innumerable times a whole Christian community has broken down because it has sprung from a wish dream. The serious Christian, set down for the first time in a Christian community, is likely to bring with him a very definite idea of what Christian life together should be and try to realize it. But God’s grace speedily. Shatters such dreams."

This 'wish dream' is at the core of most failed attempts to cultivate healthy community as groups or even couples. When we place ourselves at the center of our hunger for community, we end up judging where people or institutions fail to meet our expectations or needs. The result is disillusionment and if it happens enough people often abandon the pursuit of giving themselves to the journey of 'us' and build a "personal" spiritual experience disconnected from others or minimally practiced.

Jesus prayed for a true unity that would be sustained by resurrection life, able to rise again and again. This communal life is unable to be put to death by human failure and sin.

Love will overcome broken hope where God is welcomed and received and people are willing to keep walking together.

It will be tough but the joy of time invested is worth the pain of building community.

I am currently watching three very different cable TV series: "The Walking Dead," "The Vikings" and "The Bible". All of them contain plenty of similar themes: the dead coming to life, bloody, unmerciful violence, scandalous sex and record breaking ratings that will drive entertainment producer's choices for years.

But the one series that troubles me the most is "The Bible." I'm two episodes into it and I'm already watching more out of duty than pleasure. I've been uninspired by the characters, the cinematography is average and most of all, the message is distracting. I anticipate, or hope, the producers of "The Bible" series will redeem themselves as the show moves towards Jesus Christ, we will see.

Because of revolving around the dark side of redemption in the biblical story, I fear many people will become more skittish of the Bible through this series. I am particularly disturbed by the genocidal, blood thirsty God being portrayed. The focus upon the 'terror texts' in this series seems irresponsible in light of many people suffering from sectarian and religious violence in this world. If all they focus upon is a group of religious zealots killing people in the name of God or for Israel, I think sincere and curious people will be turned off, be they Christian or not. If the producers are banking on viewers sticking with the show until the 'real' message comes through, I think they will have done more harm than good by the time they get there. As far as story telling goes, up to this point, I think the series falls flat, even though the material should be providing them with some of the best human and divine tragedies and glories ever penned.

I find myself divided between the content in "The Walking Dead" and "The Vikings" and "The Bible" series. The first two show's blood, sex and power themes are connected to human stories that are full of recognizable human yearnings, fears and dilemmas. The same content in "The Bible" is jarring to the human soul when commanded by God and unfolds without meaningful context. One is shocking in its visceral horror, but the other is horrifying in its moral and spiritual implications. One leaves me hoping for better people and places ahead like a dusk but with promise of morning, the other seems to darken the already fragile dawn.

In contrast to "The Bible," "The Viking"s episode the other night introduced a young monk named Athelstan, who in a few short scenes captured my heart and stirred my faith. To me, one quote from this character held more identifiable faith in the midst of fear than the four hours of the religious program's many characters.

"Without the word of God there is only darkness," ~ Athelstan, an Anglo-Saxon monk speaking to the pillaging viking, Ragnar

I am not sure where all these series will end up and I don't endorse every aspect of any of them, I am just giving my thoughts as I travel along through these stories. I am glad that we are able to discuss these matters due to the gift of these shows and hope meaningful dialogue will result.

My critiques are not meant to just cast a negative light on "The Bible" series, but are intended to voice honest feedback from the very people producers are trying to capture. If we don't weigh in on these matters, we may not be part of shaping emerging entertainment quality and message.

Ecumenism often becomes a meaningless social or religious platitude and at its worst a Trojan horse when it is misunderstood or misused.

I think many people try to force an ecumenical cohesiveness when we should be fostering a pluralistic engagement.

The definition of pluralism is, "A state of society in which members of diverse ethnic, racial, religious, or social groups maintain and develop their traditional culture or special interest within the confines of a common civilization."

WHAT IS PLURALISM?

Below is the description of pluralism from Harvard University's The Pluralism Project by Diana L. Eck:

1. Pluralism is not diversity alone, but the energetic engagement with diversity. Diversity can and has meant the creation of religious ghettoes with little traffic between or among them. Today, religious diversity is a given, but pluralism is not a given; it is an achievement. Mere diversity without real encounter and relationship will yield increasing tensions in our societies.
2. Pluralism is not just tolerance, but the active seeking of understanding across lines of difference. Tolerance is a necessary public virtue, but it does not require Christians and Muslims, Hindus, Jews and ardent secularists to know anything about one another. Tolerance is too thin a foundation for a world of religious difference and proximity. It does nothing to remove our ignorance of one another, and leaves in place the stereotype, the half-truth, the fears that underlie old patterns of division and violence. In the world in which we live today, our ignorance of one another will be increasingly costly.
3. Pluralism is not relativism, but the encounter of commitments. The new paradigm of pluralism does not require us to leave our identities and our commitments behind, for pluralism is the encounter of commitments. It means holding our deepest differences, even our religious differences, not in isolation, but in relationship to one another.
4. Pluralism is based on dialogue. The language of pluralism is that of dialogue and encounter, give and take, criticism and self-criticism. Dialogue means both speaking and listening, and that process reveals both common understandings and real differences. Dialogue does not mean everyone at the “table” will agree with one another. Pluralism involves the commitment to being at the table — with one’s commitments.

My problem with non/religious ecumenism is when it disconnects from a clear understanding of pluralism and begins the work of trying to form the diverse, into a type of Perennialism. Recognizing common values is healthy, trying to make Native Americans into Europeans isn't.

Ecumenism will always work when we say the sun rises in the east but it will fail when someone says it sets in the east.

Pluralism doesn't try to create new absolutes but recognizes they already exist and works to promote healthy understanding.

The reason I think more diverse voices are not present at the table is because these agendas become prohibitive to a healthy community with very real differences, values and beliefs. If the dominant narrative doesn't recognize the historical and current numerical realities of the largest social or religious groups, the dialogue will become merely an echo chamber.

I think pluralism is welcoming ground for conservatism more than ecumenism, maybe even more so than for progressives. Progressivism is often driving to change people, values and institutions while religious conservatism recognizes the beauty, liberty and independence of the spirituality of the individual. In light of this, I invite and even plead with my fellow moderates and conservatives to come to the table. Your voice matters in these community conversations. Don't hide behind your conservatism like a fearful Perseus, unwilling to face the imagined Medusa nature of the other. You won't turn to stone looking into the face of someone who disagrees with you, in fact they may become your friend.

I hope such freedom of thought and belief can be true with our work in Spokane Faith & Values, but I think the success or failure of groups like this will rise or fall in the understanding of these definitions and distinctions.

Bathsheba at Bath Collection of Nicolas Fouquet, oil painting

David and Bathsheba is one of my favorite stories of love in the Bible because it best represents the jacked up world of relationships that we humans create. It's a perfect example of the reality of human brokenness and how God works out judgment and mercy into the mess of our lives. It's a chaotic story of voyeurism, lust, power, adultery, murder, cover up, exposure, repentance, judgment, mercy, consequence and the strange path of redemption. 

2 Samuel 11:2-5:
"One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.) Then she went back home. The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”

This is where many people live, caught in the spell of the wide open window of human sexuality presented to them in this rooftop culture. Everything is on display or at your fingertips on the Internet. A few hours on the Internet and you can end up seeing more of your neighbors wife than you ever wanted too and ever should. The confusing quicksand of a community that frowns on adultery and yet its citizens posts pictures of private sexuality on the public Internet is one of the of tar pits of our time. We want fairy tale true love, fidelity and faithfulness to be the fire of our home's hearth, yet set to flame our own homes with such carelessness. Sexuality is a flame of the Lord but it has intended bounds, as Solomon wrote and surely had context to write about both in his family and in light of the outrageous appetites that plagued him.

2 Samuel 11:14-15:
"In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. In it he wrote, “Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.”

The means that we humans will go to satisfy our lusts knows no end. Men and women will throw away reputations, careers, family life, the emotional wellbeing and health of their children, ministries and churches, one's own physiological safety and moral center for a bowl of fleshy porridge. Relational devastation is the scorched earth of our unharnessed passions and families, parents, friendships and communities are hemorrhaged for a few moments of pleasure. It's a madness that will never escape us and is the context in which God is and has been working since man first caught notice of Eve skinny dipping in Eden.

2 Samuel 11:26-27:
"When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the Lord."

What we do with the gift of our sexuality can not only damage our human relationships but it can provoke deep discipline from God. Sin damages both horizontal and vertical communion. Our sin punishes us and the lessons learned often last our whole life, long after the affair has ended.

2 Samuel 12:9-12:
"Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own. “This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’”

Our struggles with sin often unleash patterns and problems in the lives our our children. The extremes and excesses of one generation become the norms of the next generation. We pass on our way of life, more than our idealizations of life. The pain of our choices most often come in seeing the consequences down the road in the lives of those we never intended to harm. It is one of the least pondered reasons the poets have said 'Love is blind".

2 Samuel 12:13-14:
Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for the Lord, the son born to you will die.”

I won't pretend to understand the judgments of God. I can't explain or defend His determined actions anymore than I can explain the rational behind our own. All I know is his judgments are righteous and true and I have to trust that he has goodness as his goal in all his ways. That said, I still shudder at the thought of his all-seeing knowledge in light of our finite thinking and actions. The prophets Ezekiel and John described him as the one with many eyes all over, the omniscient one who sees all and holds all accountable. But even as I tremble in the bright light of his knowledge and power, I find crazy love woven into all the drama and trauma of human relationships, sexuality and consequences.

2 Samuel 12:24-25:
"Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and made love to her. She gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. The Lord loved him; and because the Lord loved him, he sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah(Loved of the Lord)."

Even in our failures, sins and blind passions God works, God loves. Grace breaks, binds and blesses us in our crooked paths. He weaves the greatest story of redemption, the gospel of Jesus, into the lineage narrative of David and Bathsheba. God chooses to love us and the outcomes of our broken choices in His plans."

The mystery of this never ceases to escape me, it is truly the real love in all the wicked, wild and wonderful love stories of the Bible.

photo by o palsson on zfotopedia

Megachurches, those with more than 2,000 people or more, are exploding with growth, increased money, pay raises and increasing staff, according to new research.

I think small churches are feeling the economic and societal shift crunch first, and the few people and the dollars are being absorbed or attracted by the big churches. If you have little money and few or no volunteers, how can you provide the level of opportunity or service such megachurches provide?

If I was looking for a church these days I'd probably be choosing a place that had what we wanted, too.

But consumerist values are part of our spiritual decline as well.

We go where we are given most, or where our dollars have the greatest return. We want to be comfortable, get in and get the best and get out.

We are the Starbucks generation; we want connection but not community.

We want to be a part of churches doing something but not have to do anything.

It's easier to join something moving than get something moving.

Most often the larger the crowd, the broader the message. Defused lights versus concentrated light are both needed, but produce different results.

Small churches attract creeps, cranks and cults. It's a breeding ground for the dysfunctional, disenfranchised, depressed and the dislocated and this is a recipe for drama and trauma. The results are more devastating among a small group, it's always a near death experience.

Small churches are hard to hide within so accountability is high. Sin gets discovered quicker, it's impact is more acute.

Everything is felt with greater feeling in a small congregation, a blessing is huge, a wounding is crippling.

Big or small churches all have problems and opportunities but the canaries are dropping dead and the little ones go first.

If we, the 'littlest flocks,' survive it will be because of uncanny grace, grit, nerve and pluck, willingness to change and prayerful, Spirit-sent revival.

Mary Magdalene Public domain image

The problem I have had with women and ministry is that the theology and ecclesiology of the conservative leaning circles I have worshipped and worked within seem to contradict one another.

My faith experience has been significantly shaped by the Pentecostal/charismatic movements and in these communities there's an emphasis on the indwelling and empowering activity of the Holy Spirit. The presence of the Spirit through the manifestation and demonstration of the gifts is a unifying aspect of our ecclesiology. We are a community of men and women who worship and witness by the Spirit and the Spirit breathed word. We recognize Jesus in one another as he works through one another. We are equal as sons and daughters even if we are different in how gifts or callings may outwork in our ministries and roles. This equalizing presence of God in each of us is the source of our openness to one another in ministry and mission. 

In my church experience women are predominant in attendance, practice, support, receptivity, faithfulness, discipleship and teaching. They run most of the ministries, fight most of the battles, start most programs and often keep everything from falling into chaos and pointlessness. They humanize vision, breathe warmth into plans and priorities and provide the stabilizing joy of deeper togetherness that often lacks in male-heavy circles. We exist as churches because of the activity, empowerment and expression of God's gifts and presence in and through women. If the sisters stepped down and stepped out from leading in our churches you would see the whole structure collapse.

This reality is true to most people if they are honest, yet the cultural barriers and many theological conclusions or biases keep artificial values in place that look good on paper but fall apart in our practice.

I don't have answers to every scriptural knot on the subject but I try to hold to the story of the Spirit's work in the gospels and Acts as my stake from which the other stories have to be tethered to in order to make sense.

The Apostle Peter explained the  Acts 2:14-18:

"Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you...this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

“In the last days, God says,
    I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
    your young men will see visions,
    your old men will dream dreams.
Even on my servants, both men and women,
    I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
    and they will prophesy."

I tend to see healthier ecclesiology from the witness of pneumatology. I embrace the glory of God and his gifts in women in light of the work and witness of scripture in the ministry and relationships of Jesus and the outflowing mission and ministry of the church in Acts as well as in my own experience.

On all, in all and through all is the witness of community and scripture in my faith journey.

Join us for our next community discussion at 10 a.m. on March 2 at Indaba Coffee, where we'll talk about how Gender and Spirituality.

by bobosh_t/Flickr

I've lost the hearts and hands of a lot of dear friends in this journey of faith and life. In the last decade I've had to drink some bitter sips from the sufferings of Christ. It's a cup that swirls with a mix of our own sins and the sins of others. As Christians we commune together around broken bread and spilled out blood, symbols of human failure, pain, betrayal and death.

The biblical psalmist David mulled over his own relational drama and trauma when he penned away in Psalms 55:

 Oh, that I had wings like a dove;
    then I would fly away and rest!
 I would fly far away
    to the quiet of the wilderness. Selah
 How quickly I would escape—
    far from this wild storm of hatred.

David, revealed the deep source of his pain, his failed relationships:

 It is not an enemy who taunts me—
    I could bear that.
 is not my foes who so arrogantly insult me—
    I could have hidden from them.
Instead, it is you—my equal,
    my companion and close friend.
 What good fellowship we once enjoyed
    as we walked together to the house of God.

In Christian communities we gather around the truth telling sacraments of bread and wine and we are united in the retelling not only of a cross but of a mysterious resurrection. A witness to divine life and its power to come back from the dead and bring us back from the dead, no matter how death came, through others our our own hand. Because all of us who have traveled very far on this sacred road know that we are all guilty of living and loving less than we should and all of us need mercy.

The reality of just how hard it is to love one another is honestly faced in the biblical scriptures. Our need for a grace and mercy that comes from outside us and comes to us in an act of redemption is at the core of the Christ story. "We love because He first loved us" is part of the good news as one follower of Jesus named John wrote. This love should soften, open, reshape, quiet and liberate us to be a welcoming people.

But unfortunately we too often retreat to theologies, philosophies and ideologies that divide us, pit us against one another and concentrate on what is different instead of celebrating what we all share.

An old American clergyman once put it in words far better than mine:

T. De Witt Talmage said:

"I sometimes see in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ a strange thing going on; church against church, minister against minister, denomination against denomination, firing away into friend's fort, or the fort which ought to be on the same side, instead of concentrating their energy, and giving one mighty and everlasting volley against the navies of darkness riding up through the bay. I go out in the summer, and I find two beehives, and these two hives are in a quarrel. I come near enough not to be stung, but I come just near enough to hear the controversy, and one beehive says: "That field of clover is the sweetest,'' and another beehive says: "That field of clover is the sweetest." I come in between them and I say: "Stop this quarrel; if you like that field of clover best, go there; if you like that other field of clover best, go there, but let me tell you that that hive which gets the most honey is the best hive." So I come out between the churches of the Lord Jesus Christ. One denomination of Christians says: "That field of Christian doctrine is best," and another says: "This field of Christian doctrine is best." Well, I say: "Go where you get the most honey." That is the best church which gets the most honey, of Christian grace for the heart, and the most honey of Christian usefulness for the life."

David closed his reflections with an encouraging promise that God welcomes our burdens and our brokenness and like a loving parent, friend and spouse — He will care for  us. He will help us rise again, love again, trust again and maybe even believe again.

Psalm 55:22:
"Give your burdens to the Lord,
    and he will take care of you.
    He will not permit the godly to slip and fall."

It's in the light of this grace and mercy that I find the strength and spirit to keep going day by day, month through month and year to year hopefully wounding less, healing more and loving deeper.

Communion wafer By York Minster/Flickr

During Spokane Faith & Values February  "Coffee Talk" we discussed the issue of Violence and the Sacred. I found myself on the fringes of the conversation, but out of respect for the many different beliefs in the room, I chose to listen more than talk, since I have this venue to present my thoughts on the subject. I am fully aware that my view is not held by many, but I wanted to share it for the sake of my own conscience on the matter. I have found deep and lasting transformation in the gospel as it's been taught and practiced to me and I pray it will bear fruit in anyone looking for grace, mercy and eternal life found in and through the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ.

"For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes — the Jew first and also the Gentile. This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight," Romans 1:16-17.

Christianity I understand, is a faith that emerges from a story of fall and redemption. That fall is connected to what the Bible calls sin. Sin is the root from which all suffering and death has grown. Sin is a cycle that perpetuates through human choice and response in word and deed from our very beginnings.

God was the first one to shed blood in the story of the fall. Humanity sinned and was left naked in the realization of their fallen state and God killed an animal and covered Adam and Eve's nakedness with the skins of those slain. From the first moments in the sacred text, known as the Bible, we see God's law, human disobedience, sin, resulting in death and a covering provided from God. This sacrificial concept became know and substitution and identification.

Death has always been connected to sin, it is the ultimate consequence. But even after God sacrificed an animal, spilt blood and covered his children's shame, they were expelled from the life of Eden. Animal blood was not enough to remove sin, it was, like the skins, a covering, until a pure sacrifice could be made for sin. Most evangelical Christians believe that Jesus was that sacrifice for all the world's sin.

The Old Testament law, given by God to Moses, required a visceral experience with the results and remedy for sin:

Leviticus 1:2-5 says:
“Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. When you present an animal as an offering to the Lord, you may take it from your herd of cattle or your flock of sheep and goats.  If the animal you present as a burnt offering is from the herd, it must be a male with no defects. Bring it to the entrance of the Tabernacle so you may be accepted by the Lord. Lay your hand on the animal’s head, and the Lord will accept its death in your place to purify you, making you right with him. Then slaughter the young bull in the Lord’s presence, and Aaron’s sons, the priests, will present the animal’s blood by splattering it against all sides of the altar that stands at the entrance to the Tabernacle."

"For the life of the body is in its blood. I have given you the blood on the altar to purify you, making you right with the Lord. It is the blood, given in exchange for a life, that makes purification possible," Leviticus 17:11.

When each person laid their hands on those sacrifices, the reality of the consequences of their sins could not be ignored. The gravity of sin was gruesome and the truth of the need for a substitute was played out in the divine drama in such sacrifices. A picture of the coming 'lamb of God' who would take away the sin of the world (John 1:29).

Jesus assumed the fulfillment of these former types and shadows and in his last moments of life, pointed to the central truth of his life giving act on the cross in Matthew 28:26-28:

"As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, 'Take this and eat it, for this is my body.' And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them and said, “Each of you drink from it, for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many.'"

This covenantal ritual, became one of the central symbols of believing community. The cup witnesses to the cross and its final act of forgiveness, the end of blood spilling for sacrifice, the ultimate cleansing and pardon of sin and the act of union with God in faith and practice.

As Christians, we gather around the symbols of the blood and body of Jesus. The cross is at the core of our message and its reconciling act is unashamedly proclaimed in the wine and bread that we share together in worship.

The blood is one of the three witnesses (Spirit, Water, Blood: 1 John 5:6-12) believing Christian's spiritual lives revolve around as a testifying community. These blood drinkers and flesh eaters proclaim the Lord's death until he comes in their gathering around the table. This is our passover meal, our sacrificed lamb (Romans 3:23-26) we believe the blood of this lamb has been applied to the door posts of our heart and that eternal death will pass by us. We know that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins (Hebrews 9:22).

I am part of an ancient apocalyptic community who not only looks back to the work of Christ but looks forward to the return of Christ. Where a time of judgment awaits, (Hebrews 9:27-28). A judgment based on one's acceptance of this sacrifice and the unfolding of the full salvation of those redeemed who longingly await the coming of our Lord.

This is why I am unashamed to claim by faith the blood and body of Jesus as the saving act of salvation and the resurrection of Christ as my confirmation on God's acceptance of that ultimate and final sacrifice.

Homeless man reading newspaper by theeruditefrog/Flickr

I have the privilege to often preach and minister in the men's chapel service of Union Gospel Mission. Last night I was moved by the hunger and desire many of those men had to surrender their lives to Christ and be remade into the men he created them to become. There's something refreshing about working among those who have tasted the end of the road. There's a clarity in the desperation that helps truth shine past the lies of our cultural mirages. Brokenness breeds a humility that God seems to find inviting. He shows up in these lowly places in such tangible ways that it often feels like holy ground.

These men are fighting for their lives, real battles of life and death and the fear and fight is thick in their faces. When I look out into the eyes of the guys in the crowd, I am pushed to offer words that come from blood and guts not just eloquent sermonizing. Those moments demand a level of reality that their lives provoke. Truth must be stark in a room with so much unrated experience listening, you can't play games there. It tests me like few other places, it's raw and rough but I love the challenge and the freedom such moments provide.

These men are warriors and the battle they fight are for their own souls and it's a grapple that reminds me of young David rising to kingship through the long path of peril. It is true that most kingdoms worth conquering our within our souls.

"Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city," Proverbs 16:32.

"Like a city that is broken into and without walls Is a man who has no control over his spirit," Proverbs 25:28.

Like David, these men are in caves of deep darkness, but they have a destiny, a palace of purpose that the current pits they dwell within cannot eclipse. Real transformation always comes out of graves, bellies, fiery furnaces, hulls of ships and the dens of lions. I wrote a poem that captures this mystery of resurrection and I offer it as a testimony to these men's new birth, may God harrow their hells and set them to reigning on the earth.

Dark pits, for those who wish to finally see,
From nothingness, thrones can be ascended.
Hope flickers brightest in the blackest places,
Prayers ascend from the smoke of burned out paths,
Embered passion smolders hottest,
against the coolness of doubt's dust.

 

Voices echo in silence, few are the praises in the deep,
But most precious companions, who walk in shadowed futures.
Gathered are the souls of the disillusioned and indebted,
Bittered but blessed are those who have loss the lie,
That all is as it should be.

Down into the earth is the path of kings,
Dwell in the tomb of what was,
to become the womb of what will be.
Noah's ark, Mose's cleft, Elijah's mountain,
David's cave, Daniel's den, Jonah's belly, Christ's grave.

 

All must die...that are born...to reign.

by Fjölnir Ásgeirsson/Flickr

The teaching of Jesus in Matthew 5 and 26 is the kind of subversive truth that can undermine the very foundations of one's mind and heart and even whole systems of powers. These are passages that have been banned as revolutionary, rebellious, dangerous, counter cultural, suspect and treasonous.

These are the types of words that ricochet off the walls so hard after one speaks them that they often slam back into your face with crushing blows. As soon as you breathe them at someone or something they return like a boomerang and stick into some exposed area of your life that has yet been impacted by the deep, life messing power they contain.

The 'sword verse' has been plastered on bumper-stickers, t-shirts, placards, protest signs and countless other anti-war, anti-weapon movements. Jesus' words to his ear slicing friend have been used to disarm Roman soldiers, crusading zealots, NRA musket men and even finger-pistol pointing boys on school playgrounds.

The implications of 'sheathing one's sword" have been dreamed about for centuries from the first cries of a mother who lost her son to murder in the suburb of Eden to the haunting dirge of the slain souls under the altar in the vision of John (Revelations 6). The earth itself is moaning and humanity's life is crying out from centuries of blood soaked soil. Who hasn't wept the word's of the prophets who have dreamed God's dream of a coming time when all people will hammer their swords into farming tools (Is. 2:4)?

When I was fully exposed to these naked, nuclear words, their luminescent power opened my eyes to the possibilities of the kingdom like the rush of an atomic blast. My young mind was blown over with a torrent of zeal and Elijah like bravado. I contended with the blood drawers on my own Mt. Carmel with similar passion, jest and holy fire. The words of Jesus were my own swords, used to soak my opponents weak responses to the call of the gospel of peace. No excuses or justifications could stand in the scorching baptism of my king's commands. The pacification of the violent became my passion and the arrows in my quiver were the prophets, Jesus, early church fathers, Bonhoeffer,  MLK Jr., Yoder, Day, Hauerwas. I relished in seeing every knee bow and every tongue confess to the truth of the gospel of peace. Passages like 2 Corinthians 10:5 took on fresh meaning:

"We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."

But the longer I stayed with these words they began to consume me in their aftermath. I began to see that the impact was far less life altering than the slow soak of their meaning. The call of the commands took on far greater applications than simply stop slaughtering one another, something I had never done anyway.

Matthew 5:20-22: “But I warn you — unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven! “You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’ But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell.

I began to see myself and my love for the 'sword' as being much more than an issue of just not joining the military. I began to see that my 'righteousness' was external and the real sword was unsheathed internally in my thoughts, desires, ambitions, passions, thirsts, drives, agendas, programs, plans, purposes, entertainments, toys, games, music, mannerism, grooming, affinities and even foods.

I was a man of blood, like David, I lived with a sword in one hand and a harp in the other. I could dream of temples and tortures equally.

So here I sit, condemned.

I am a barbarian as Paul called us. Judged as a murder before my thoughts even escape into word, let alone actions. I am bloodthirsty since the fall, like all men and women "my thoughts and imaginations are constantly evil," (Genesis 6:5).

I sit here, in need of a savior, to save me from myself and his words.

My righteousness is always coming up short. In my hands even God's word can become a weapon that I use to do harm. My hope no longer rests in being able to adhere to a moral code of ethical, ideological, philosophical or theological purity, my hope is in Christ, the Prince of Peace. I cannot save the world or myself — my hope is in the saving work and love of the Savior Jesus, and that sometimes brings peace to me and occasionally to others.

The dilemma of that reality never escapes me.

Christ's temptation - mosaic in Monreale Cathedral Public Domain Image

"If you curse at people you are probably going to hell," Jesus (ECSV: East Central Spokane Version)

It's easy to get overwhelmed and maybe even develop a deep paranoid case of introspection after reading Matthew chapter five. Don't look on anyone in lust and don't get angry or curse are two of the verses most people read and scratch their heads at the seemingly impossibilities of such an ethic.

Matthew 5:20-22:
“But I warn you — unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven! You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’ But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell."

I find it interesting that many argue for a strict adherence to other ethical imperatives from Jesus, yet soften the blow on these with various calls for context and perspective. The argument will seek to explain that these verses talk about the end result of a life given over to such dispositions, not simply the presence of these infractions. There's an understanding presented that Jesus was peering into the future of a soul that practices such activities and where that will most likely lead. They will reference how Jesus himself used spicy and provoking words of judgment against his adversaries, so we see that it's not really a moral imperative but more of a good life proverb. What's interesting to me is how the same logic isn't extended to the teachings of non-violence. In that arena, it's law not growth. One is convicted at once with the words of peace instead of oriented towards a way of peace. This way of handling the ethical teachings of Jesus is very problematic to me.

I've been digging into these issues for years and what I am finding out about myself is that it's much easier to write about peace than live peace.

I appreciate Stanley Hauerwas when he honestly says:

"I say I’m a pacifist because I’m a violent son of a bitch. I’m a Texan. I can feel it in every bone I’ve got …But by avowing it, I create expectations in others that hopefully will help me live faithfully to what I know is true but that I have no confidence in my ability to live at all."

The problem with that confession for me, is it seems to build a way of living with oneself that is a lie or at least an illusion. If someone says they believe and practice fidelity to their wife and yet, they indulge in pornography, live a lustful life in heart and mind and see all relationships with women as potential fodder for their own fantasies, can one truly speak of a changed heart?

Are we calling people to a livable state of being or merely an intellectual way to handle a few difficult and fairly circumstantial statements from Jesus?

Panelists discuss the Newtown shooting. Melissa Carpenter

I was grateful to participate in the Spokane Faith & Values 'Coffee Talk" at Chairs Coffee. The subject was the Newtown Elementary School massacre. A panel of us writers and bloggers sparked conversation off through highlighting our response articles and then the group launched into reflections, questions and opinions on the tragedy and people's thoughts on the multitude of reasons and remedies.

With such a diverse group of people present (around 30), I wasn't sure what direction the conversation would go or if it would unravel into an emotional roller-coaster of debate and disgust. The public conversation in the media, blogosphere and even on Spokane Faith & Values website had been sometimes cantankerous, divisive and volatile.

What I was surprised by, was how the group that came wanted to talk heart not fight ideas, vision not violence, love more than laws and healing over hype. The potential landmines of poltical, idealogical and theological rhetoric were graciously stepped over and people were able to self-guide one another towards a productive conversation that was thoughtful and challenging and faithful to people's convictions and yet, it was civil. I am blessed to be part of a growing community of readers and writers who desire to create safe places to process and provoke and provide one another opportunity to thoughtfully and prayerfully work towards meaningful change in our heart, homes, churches and community, together.

One other thing I gained reminded me of something Friedrich Nietzsche said:

"Whoever thought that he had understood something of me had merely construed something out of me, after his own image.”

One benefit being gained by the kind of work and witness SF&V is doing is how it is pushing people to discover one another in new formats and help foster new understanding. I know my own opinion about various people was changed by hearing them in person versus reading their writing, a fact that we need to always remind ourselves as writers and readers.

All communication is a challenge and is best put into context face to face in the proper place and time. We need to see and hear one another as people not just positions, this event helped me do that better.

Photo by Eric Blauer

Six years ago I moved into a neighborhood very different than my neighborhood in the Spokane Valley. I had almost never dealt with drugs, violence, racism, crime, poverty or the police. Now I deal with these realities almost weekly.

I had never experienced murder close to my home and I had never had to deal with violent intruders or meth addicts on my property or trying to break into my home in the early morning hours. I had been a youth pastor for multiple decades and had never been threatened with death by a young person. But all that changed after moving to East Central Spokane.

These six years have tested, exposed and revealed my religious idealism, political shortsightedness and unthoughtful and illogical theology. And more than anything else, the depths of my human heart and it's idolatries.

One of the gifts of living in between the hammer and the anvil of this place has been the realization that faith has to make sense on the streets. Philosophical arguments about Greek words, places and times fall flat on the ground when confronted with blood, beasts and brokenness. 

I have had to find a way of living my faith that is rooted in the realities of life, not the aspirations or fantasies of religious platitudes. I see this played out in the blue collar context of work, sex, addictions, family, forgiveness, abuse, injustice and dysfunction. The parasitic nature of sin isn't a mere cold with sniffles and upset tummies but steals, kills and destroys!

The tensions between the Kingdom that is coming and the Kingdom come are played out in maddening shades of perplexing possibilities and impossibilities. Learning to deal with fact in faith, has forced me to reexamine my understanding of love.

I see Jesus talking straight to his disciples in the beginning of his time with them on mission and then before he was leaving them. Both ministry imperatives were valid in their time and place. Jesus showed us in bold displays the vision of the coming age and through His Spirit and grace we can even taste of the powers of the age to come (Hebrews 6:5). We are to pray and work towards such a Kingdom life, sowing seeds of future bloom, but we must face the realities of all that is of this world as we labor for the next to emerge. I think much confusion comes when workers cannot clearly communicate or understand what is expected of them in the here and now before the return of Jesus.

Don't Prepare: Luke 9:1-6
When Jesus had called the twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. He told them: “Take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra shirt. Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town. If people do not welcome you, leave their town and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” So they set out and went from village to village, proclaiming the good news and healing people everywhere.

Do Prepare: Luke 22:35-38
Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you out to preach the Good News and you did not have money, a traveler’s bag, or an extra pair of sandals, did you need anything?” “No,” they replied. “But now,” he said, “take your money and a traveler’s bag. And if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one!For the time has come for this prophecy about me to be fulfilled: ‘He was counted among the rebels.’ Yes, everything written about me by the prophets will come true.” “Look, Lord,” they replied, “we have two swords among us.” “That’s enough,” he said.

I've read all kinds of theological gymnastics about the simple command to 'buy a sword', explanations that often make no sense in my neighborhood. People can understand preparing for the unknown, saving money, packing for the unforeseen weather and facing the dangers of life. Faith isn't fanaticism, it's not stupidity or illogical. It's wisdom and love worked out in day to day life. It's doing the best you can to do what is right in the moments you are faced with every day. It's not white ivory tower games of trying to solve labyrinthine moral impossibilities.

Jesus deflated all that religious game playing and moralizing quandaries that religious communities drift towards. The hyper navel gazing and sifting of gnats and swallowing of camels is the sphere of the whitey-tighties who have not been stained by the dirtiness of life, a problem not often shared by the folks on the other side of the tracks.

The longer I live in the crux of the chaos and the cross, the more I find that the way of Jesus isn't meant to bind men and women but loose them. Living in a world of legalities produces a mode of living that becomes constipated, self-righteous and fails to handle the truth of life as it is vs as it should or could be.

The way of Jesus decreases darkness but the day isn't here and until that time. We had better prepare people to live wise as serpents but gentle as doves, among wolves as sheep for sure, but none of that means don't be prepared for life.

It means deal with life with a heart and mind to do the best you can with the days you have. Be bold and courageous but don't be dumb. Work as you pray for daily bread, raise cotton and sew clothes but don't worship fashion, make love and not war but protect your kids. Save for the future but don't trust in your wealth to save you. Elect godly men and women but serve The King first and foremost. Pray for healing but stop eating Twinkies and drinking soda pop. Live like the birds of the air and prepare for the winter like ants.

Build a day to day relationship with others based on how you would want treated yourself, this is a way, truth and life I can follow.

This is why I own a sword — not sure if it would do any good in a fight but if it's biblical literalism that's the sign of a good follower of Jesus's words, than I am trying to comply.

by biblevector/Flickr

It was cold outside, I was heading to my car after an intense physical therapy session on the damaged disk in my neck. I was passing a group of well dressed people heading into the hospital and one of the women stopped me to "witness about God's name."

She was pleasant, but didn't offer her name or ask me mine. She questioned me about what I was doing and after hearing about my appointment, didn't offer sympathy or prayer but launched into her agenda. I was debating on bowing out politely but instead suffered in the cold to let her try to convince me that the most serious issue facing me that day was related to getting the correct name of God figured out.

We danced around for awhile, until I asked her how being in her group had changed her. She said they answered all her questions about life and God. I wasn't impressed. I asked her if she really thought "every answer to life" was found in the Bible? She said, "Yes."

I closed up the talk and introduced myself as I offered my hand for a shake, which she seemed reluctant to take. I then told her that she ought to have asked my name, if she was going to start a conversation. I'm sure she was sincere in her work but I was genuinely disillusioned by the shallowness of what had taken place. I left, really cold and disappointed that many people offer a piety that promises what it can't really provide: answers for everything.

I find greater comfort in the last words the disciple Matthew penned in his gospel than such promises:

Matthew 28:16-20:
"Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

They worshipped Him, but some doubted.

Not every questioned had been answered but even still, Jesus sent them off into the world, promising to be with them, even in their doubt.

That's a Jesus I can believe in, doubts and all.

Abel (left) and Cain (right), 19th century Bible illustration Public Domain Image

Humans have been killing each other since the dawn of time. Abel's blood cried out to God from the ground after his very own brother, murdered him in the beauty of a newly created earth.

"Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him," Genesis 4:8.

According to the Bible, Cain had been raised in a perfect neighborhood, or at least its suburbs. He had loving parents, who were hard working farmers and nature enthusiasts. They weren't perfect, but they loved each other and were productive, worshipping members of their small town community. In a short discourse before his act of violence, Cain had a highly educated, professional and potentially enlightening but unproductive counseling session with his Creator:

"Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it," Genesis 4:6-7.

It was to no avail, Cain, killed.

Jesus talked a fair amount about the brutal heart of humanity and dialed in on the epicenter of the world's harvest of evil atrocities, the sinful heart. In times of shocking horror, we struggle to accept the reality of evil. We look for reasons and excuses from within and without. We try to deflect the fearful truth by wrestling justifications out of the various askew elements of life or the possible brokenness of one of those systems.

Jesus judged it clear:

"Murder comes from within, not from without a man," Jesus (Mark 7:20-23).

Out of all the things Jesus could of spent talking about during his short teaching years, he took some of that precious time to talk about those who sin against children. His words were potent with ultimate, unavoidable justice:

"Jesus had a few choice words for those who hurt children, He said it would be better to be strangled and drowned in the sea," Luke 17:2.

The Apostle John peered into the future and had a tour of that final court session:

"And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books," Revelations 20:12.

John summed up his visit to humanity's final days with these words:

“Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood," Rev. 22:14-15.

As I wrestle through the emotional, theological and cultural aftermath of events as horrific as what took place at Sandy Hook Elementary, I find peace in the words of Jesus before, during and after the cross.  Too offer people anything less than this biblical narrative always seems to leave me unable to process my own inner sense of right and wrong or the truth of God's love and justice.

by StockMonkeys.com/Flickr

The Bible had an answer to "Fiscal Cliffs" it was called "The Jubilee." The circular reality of the debt issue in human economics and the predatory nature of greed, require a radical expression of unmerited grace.

Forgiveness is a truth we all need to experience in life, relationally and even economically.

A nonprofit called 'Rolling Jubilee' is hijacking the banking industry's 'buying debt' practice and simply liberating people, instead of becoming their new debtor.

"What is a jubilee?

Jubilee comes from many faith traditions including Judaism, Christianity and Islam. A jubilee is an event in which all debts are canceled and all those in bondage are set free. It worked in Biblical times and it can still work today. For example, a kind of jubilee happened in Iceland after the 2008 economic crisis: instead of bailing out their banks, Iceland canceled a percentage of mortgage debt. What these examples show is that debts are just a promise which can—- and should — be renegotiated or canceled when the circumstances warrant. Strike Debt believes that now is the time for a jubilee for the 99 percent."

(Read more on their site about the alarming statistics of the rising predatory lending schemes and our irresponsible debt accumulation).

This 'Strike Debt' plan represents a radical, biblical-like protest against the powers that reflects the gospel in all its 'temple table turning' zeal. It's the kind of thinking that reveals the dangerous underbelly of the Bible and it's way of life that produces a clash between Christ & Caesar.

Maybe 'the cliff' is actually the way forward towards realizing a greater experience of biblical justice in our communities?