Lenten Devotionals: Supporting the Spiritual and the Physical [Week 5]

Part of my Lenten discipline this year is going through The Thoughtful Christian (TTC)“Pausing on the Road to Jerusalem” Bible study and, as part of that, sharing my thoughts with you all based on the Scripture for the week and the study itself. A lot of this is just personal reflection, but I hope that maybe you can gain a little insight into your own faith and how these themes and ideas may apply to you, the larger community, the Christian church, and the world today. Click the following to see my reflections from Week 1 (Part 1 and Part 2), Week 2 and Weeks 3 & 4.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This week's reading: John 12:1-8

Perhaps you see what you are looking for, but I found it really crazy (in a good, albeit bizarre, way) that I just pondered over what we are to do about our devotion to holy places in relation to what we do (or, as I have sometimes seen it, what we don’t do) in devotion to holy people...and then I read this study. Yes, it’s week five and I’m a little behind (which you might have noticed with the bombardment of all my Lenten blog posts; but I really did read most of them on the prescribed week, honest) but I’m glad this timing worked out. My previous post, Fleshing out the Temple, primed me to have questions already swimming around in my brain about the whole issue.

On to the study. Before I start, I want to disclaim that with this post, as with the others, most of the thoughts contained are either directly, or indirectly, from the Thoughtful Christian study which I recommend you look at yourself. I’ve tried to make mention at specific ideas that come from the study, and then note where my own thoughts come in, but I fear I may not have done the best job at it. Any plagiarism that may have arisen is completely unintended; I give credit to the study’s author, Michael A. Lindvall, who really has done an excellent job putting together this six part study. I will be looking to see if he’s done any other studies with The Thoughtful Christian company and I’ll let you know, if you’re interested.

Initial thoughts on the Passage

Basically, my initial thoughts when back to the questions I have pondered before about whether or not there are instances in which we should buy the “expensive perfumes” instead of “giving the money to the poor”. Whether or not Judas is genuine in his care about this issue, he raises a question that I would love answered. Not that throwing money at a problem makes it disappear (holy smokes is that a great topic for another post someday; I say that a lot, don’t I?), but I struggle with the idea of giving more money to our “upkeep” than giving it to those places that need it (and it frustrates me a lot when we argue and get so worked up with each other over the issues of the former, too).

On a completely unrelated note, the story made me wonder about Judas. I’m not saying what Judas did was good, but I often feel he gets a really bad rep. I mean, yes, he betrayed Christ and handed him over to get crucified (or, Satan took over his body; this is all so confusing), but I wonder what he was like before that, in the early days. Of course, the Bible paints him out to be a pretty nasty dude, but then again, you can’t really describe him as a nice guy who just “happened” to kill our Savior, our God. Was he really any worse than the other meanies and sinners in the Gospels? Is he any more to blame for what happened that any of us for our sinfulness?

In trying to grab some answers out of the passage (not that answers always come, but I certainly look for them; don’t we all?), I came to the realization that, even though it may not seem to be the most efficient in my eyes, Mary’s anointing of Jesus’ feet seems to be an extreme act of faith. She anoints, smears with perfumed oil, the one who is the Anointed One. “Messiah” literally translates as, “anointed one”. In one way, Mary is using all of that perfume to proclaim that Jesus is the Messiah.

We Are Kinda Closet-Gnostics

The Thoughtful Christian study begins talking about the early Christian tradition started by the Gnostic community which was refuted by many of our early Church leaders and theologians. Nonetheless, what they had to stay has survived even until today and influences how we view our lives. Based on what TTC study has to say, here is a very simple breakdown of some of what the Gnostics believed and the implications thereof:

-There is a divide between the spiritual and the physical; the spiritual is intrinsically good and the physical is intrinsically bad.

This division leads to some interesting theological conclusions: 

-Since a God that is completely good could not have made something intrinsically bad, some other being, supernatural yet lesser than the Supreme God, must have created the Universe. Physical == bad and God =/= bad; therefore, God cannot make the physical Creation.

-A God that was all good would never come into a physical human body; that’s insulting and against this good God’s nature. Therefore, Jesus was not actually physical, but only appeared to have a physical body.

The Gnostics were SUPER spiritual, but “antimaterial”.

(I find the theological conclusions kind of funny because instead of saying that the physical could be good, the Gnostic tradition would need to bring in the need for a sub-god creator, and explaining away the Incarnation. Then again, I have the benefit of many centuries of theologians preparing these thoughts and context for me.)

The solution is...?

So then, while I don’t believe in theory what the Gnostics said about spiritual=good, physical=bad, sometimes I act like it. The paradox still lingers: How do I incorporate my belief that we should enjoy good food, travel, the five senses, etc. with the belief that others should have those same desires (or, whatever they want that is more needed/desired) met?

Conveniently, Lindquist gives three answers for how we can “deal” with the combination of the material and physical. The first two seem to be nice packages tied up with string but not completely filling. An delicious turkey sans stuffing, if you will.

He says first we can deal with the physical by addressing it in moderation (which, as we can guess, is relative to every person; what is moderate consumption in the top economic tier in the States is different than what is moderate in the lowest economic tier in the States is different than moderate for the middle-class in Afghanistan, etc, etc).

Secondly, we need to remember and acknowledge that the physical won’t fill us completely. There is a part of us that will only be complete when occupied with God. Of course, don’t let the physical become our idol. This is nice, but seems somewhat unhelpful.

The third answer Lindquist offers up is the most helpful place for me in this whole discussion, someplace I may set up a tent and stay for a while: offer up what we have and turn it back towards God. Like Mary, we can use what we have and offer it to God. TTC says, “She uses a material loveliness and sensuous act to give glory to God.”

This answer, while the most satisfying for me, still doesn’t answer it all. Even if we offer it up to God, is that what God wants? Does God want my money to go towards this building I use to worship God in (I pick on the use of buildings, but there are many things this could be) or does God want it to go towards that food pantry?

It reminds me of some recent controversy over a charity organization; there was question into what percentage of their budget went towards staff salary, media and public relations, and what went directly to the people they were trying to help on the ground.

I can imagine church leaders reading this now and hoping their fellow congregants don’t take what I’m saying too strongly and stop giving money to their building funds. I’m not calling for that! I’m just saying we should question how we steward our money, even if it ends up being that we use it in the same way. Obviously, there has to be time and resources put into keeping an organization running if that organization plans to produce anything. It's like pastoral care- as a pastor, you can't always give 100% without taking time to refuel, relax, and fill up your own emotional and physical reserves. It seems a bit similar with money, I suppose: we can't give 100% of it away and then expect it to just keep coming in without any organization behind getting it there.

I’ll end by quoting the study directly, as it explains some ways in which the material can give glory to God:

Do the material things in your life turn you away from the Creator or toward the Creator? Enjoyed in moderation, material things, objects of beauty, art, even the strange fruit of technology--automobiles, computers, toasters, and iPods--can give God glory if you mean that they should. Music, for instance, can glorify the performer, or it can glorify God. Lovely things, objects of art, should not glorify the artist, much less the owner, but should glorify God, the First Artist. Rightly cooked and carefully enjoyed, good food glorifies the God of Earth and Harvest, not the cook. Good architecture glorifies God, the Great Architect. A new organ--all those material pipes and valves and electromagnetic connections--can glorify God, the Music at the Heart of the Universe. Central Park on a glorious day can glorify God. Good design gives God glory. Good coffee glorifies the Creator. Thoughtful office furniture, a whimsical pair of shoes, all rightly fashioned and graciously received, can glorify God. Even sex, faithfully expressed, can glorify the God who seems to have devised it.

What material, physical items or acts do you use to bring glory to God?

Lenten Devotions: Repent, Mercy, and Seeking Each Other Out [Weeks 3 & 4]

Part of my Lenten discipline this year is going through The Thoughtful Christian (TTC)“Pausing on the Road to Jerusalem” Bible study and, as part of that, sharing my thoughts with you all based on the Scripture for the week and the study itself. A lot of this is just personal reflection, but I hope that maybe you can gain a little insight into your own faith and how these themes and ideas may apply to you, the larger community, the Christian church, and the world today. Click the following to see my reflections from Week 1 (Part 1 and Part 2) and Week 2.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, I ended up doing the third and fourth Thoughtful Christian studies around the same time, and prepared to blog about them at the same time, too. Not surprisingly, I confused myself and meshed the ideas together. So the following is actually two studies pushed together. Looking back, they make much more sense to me used right next to each other, but they weren’t intended completely that way. For the sake of space, then, I will give you the links to the two Bible passages (NRSV) and what my Lutheran Study Bible uses for their subtitles:

Luke 13:1-9 (Repent or Perish; The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree)

Luke 15: 1-3, 11-32 (The Parable of the Prodigal and His Brother)

Luke 13

At first, I didn’t understand how the first part of this part of Luke 13 fit in with the second half of that passage; or, perhaps it’s more honest to say I didn’t like how I initially fit them together. But we can’t just ignore the passages that make us uncomfortable, can we?

The answer is “no, we can’t.” I saw you thinking about it for a second! Yes, it would be nice and make things much less complicated...but being a Christian isn’t always a stroll down easy street.

Verses 1-5 are a bit of a downer, I think. Some people were talking to Jesus about their current events and how some bad things happened to some people and Jesus wakes us up to let us know that those people who suffered...they deserved it no more than we do. Stop trying to justify why bad things happened to these people, trying to figure out “why” they deserved it, and repent.

Bam. Jesus words. They always get me. Mainly because they are so true. Word to the Word’s words (a little John 1/modern slang humor, there).

The Thoughtful Christian Bible study lays it out pretty convictingly: Can any of us deny that, oftentimes, when we hear about someone getting hurt, maybe in an accident, and the first thing we want to know is whose fault it was? Was the driver speeding? Were they drunk? Were they too young/old? My Dad use to always joke when I was a kid that we have to lay blame and then we can move on. We do it, though, because it gives us some sense of comfort that there is a cause-and-effect pattern that we can use to control our lives. If we follow this set of rules, there will be this outcome. If we don’t smoke we shouldn’t get lung cancer; if you do smoke and get lung cancer, then somehow you had it coming.

But that’s where Jesus steps in and says, nope, we’re all in the same boat. Either we all deserve the bad, or no one does. I am not better than you, and we are not worse than anyone else. Life isn’t fair. If it was, we’d all be in the same boat.

Jesus goes from this first idea into the parable of in which a man tells his vineyard’s caretaker that the vine not bearing fruit should be cut down. Yet the caretaker asks for one more year to see if something can be produced. Mercy.

This last part was what really caught my attention in the passage. As much as I, too, look for control from a cause-and-effect style justice, I am so thankful for the concept of mercy. Probably because I realize how much I have benefitted from merciful friends, family, and co-workers. Imagine if we were to start acting merciful in more areas of our lives? Whoa. Is your mind blown at how much more love there could be going around?

Luke 15 Passage

A few quick points from The Thoughtful Christian study that I won’t elaborate on for the sake of not making this post unbearably long (and also my own attention span writing it), but that I think are worth noting.

--The parable draws some attention “to the unwillingness of ostensibly righteous people to welcome those who they believe to have placed themselves outside the reach of God’s grace.

--We can interpret the younger son’s thoughts upon returning to his father as rather self-serving, although his planned words give a tone of “genuine repentance”.

One of the coolest points, I got out of studying this parable, though was that whether or not the younger son was truly sorry or not (and prepare yourself- this is AWESOME) the father doesn’t even get to hear what his son planned to say. As the study says, “The father is not just waiting; he is apparently searching the horizon, and at the first hint of his lost son’s return, he becomes proactive in unbecoming extreme. Judaism, even Pharisaical Judaism, made plenty of room for those who confessed their sins to be forgiven and welcomed home. But the act of running, the embrace before confession is ever offered, the ring, the robe, and the fatted calf seem overly indulgent.”

What!? I will be the first to admit that when someone hurts or wrongs me, I want an apology, in clear action if not in word. I want some type of tangible repentance at that exact moment, as well as in their actions in the future. I have a feeling I’m not alone, too.

How often have we conditioned someone being welcome (back) in our churches or our view of who is included in Christ’s salvation requires their repentance (even if it is something we  view as a sin, but they do not)? I know, I know-- some of you will refer me to passages such as Acts 2:38, in which Peter says “Repent, and be baptized...so that your sins may be forgiven...” And if we look back to earlier in our readings here to Luke 13, Jesus says “Unless you repent, you too will all perish.” And yet, while we are initially told we all need to repent, a few chapters later we are shown by Jesus that it’s a little more nuanced than what we may imagine: before the son can repent, his father welcomes him back into the fold and celebrates. Not even that but the father is *searching the horizon* to bring back his son. 

WHOA AGAIN! How often have I searched for the person who has hurt me in order to bring them back into community with me? Answer: not nearly as much as I should have. What if, when that person on the church committee you’re on really ticks you off, you sought them out? Maybe give each other some time to cool down, but then actually talk about it, regardless of whether you will agree afterwards.

This all blows my mind. I love it! Go Jesus! These are the ideas that encourage me and get me pumped about the Body of Christ.

Now, I’m not saying there isn’t a need or call for repentance and the act of formally forgiving someone (in fact, I think, ideally, we should repent a lot more with the accountability of our friends and family, but that’s for another post), but I’m saying it’s bigger than that (isn’t it always? But at the same time, it is all so simple: love). It’s all characterized by love.

The study goes on to say that this idea is quite scandalous, it speaks “of a grace too excessive to make sense, the scandal of a God who is beyond ‘fair’.

My study went on to explain that some of the above, and what our natural/cultural/less-than-divine instincts may be telling us is that, like the Older Brother, who stayed by his father the whole time, we have a “desire that our father should love us because we deserve to be loved, our hope that he would love us because we were loyal and worked hard and did the right thing from the beginning.” Our reaction, however grateful for the grace extended to the Young Son, is that it’s not fair. At some point or another we’ve identified with the Older Brother who has seemingly done everything right, only to see someone who put in less work/screwed up major/has bad intentions/[insert how you’ve been hurt here] get the same love or recognition that you deserve, or sometimes more. And we’re right, “it’s not fair; it’s better than fair.”

It reminds me of hearing someone, somewhere explain that we all call for a “just” God, but what we really want, when it comes to ourselves, is a God of mercy and compassion. I think about this in the context of Palestine. I want justice for the Palestinian people, but I pray that justice is tempered with compassion and mercy.

To end, I’ve included the son “If We Are the Body” by Casting Crowns which I thought of while writing parts of this post, particularly about seeking out each other on the horizon to bring us together as one Body of Christ and how we, like the Older Son, sometimes judge who is “worthy” of this family.

Jesus paid much too high a price

for us to pick and choose who should come.

And we are the Body of Christ.

"Comfort, comfort my people"

This post was originally written on 11 December 2011. I wrote it immediately after my experience, and then I sat on it. I've now gone back to re-read the post and feel that it needs to be posted. It is slightly outdated (or so it seems in the fast-paced world we live in), but still, I feel, relevant. I'd enjoy hearing your responses either in the comment box or by email.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Today I was able to worship at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Beit Sahour, the church that sits on the campus of the school I volunteer with. Although most of the service is in Arabic, there were times when I was able to pick out words here and there; as usual, the pastor was helpful in translating certain parts (we do have a transliteration and translation of the liturgy as well) and in giving the readings. The guest preacher today, however, gave his sermon on a different text than those prescribed for today, and decided to speak on the New English Translation of the beginning of Isaiah 40 (v. 1-4) :

"Comfort, comfort my people,"

says your God.

"Speak kindly to Jerusalem, and tell her

that her time of warfare is over,

that her punishment is completed.

For the Lord has made her pay double for all her sins."

A voice cries out,

"In the wilderness clear a way for the Lord;

construct in the desert a road for our God.

Every valley must be elevated,

and every mountain and hill leveled.

The rough terrain will become a level plain,

the rugged landscape a wide valley."

Sitting in the pew, in a church of Palestinian friends who are more than hospitable, I was on the verge of tears. The first two verses hit me solidly in the heart, perhaps now more than ever because of some of the political talk I've been hearing from back in the States regarding the Palestinian people. From what I learned, the preacher spoke about the first line and who exactly "my people" are. When Isaiah 40 was written it was addressed to Jerusalem, a specific group, but today many of us would agree God commands ("Comfort", in the Hebrew, is in the imperative form, therefore a command) us to comfort all people, as we are all God's children (for reference, see the gospel of Jesus). We can read Isaiah 40 as a reminder that God wants us to comfort ALL PEOPLE.


Isaiah 40 also struck me at the lines that proclaim that Jerusalem's "time of warfare is over, that her punishment is completed." I haven't made much mention of it in prior posts, but living here is tough. No, I'm not scared for my safety; instead, it's tough because there is a division in the mentality of some here (and around the world) that says that there are some people who are "God's people" and some who are not. Right now, the time of warfare and punishment are not over, at least, you wouldn't think it was if you travelled through the West Bank/Palestine. There are military checkpoints not only between the West Bank and the State of Israel, but throughout the West Bank between towns and villages. [Edit 1/26/12: As of two weeks ago, my usual bus transport ceased making certain usual stops along its route because the buses are not allowed to pick up or drop off people in certain parts of the immediate Bethlehem area because they are different "Areas". Area A: Controlled and Administered by the Palestinian Authority. Area B: Controlled by the State of Israel, Administered by the PA. Area C: Controlled and Administered by the State of Israel.] This week Newt Gingrich claimed that Palestinians are terrorists. Have there been Palestinians who did acts of terrorism? Yes (as are there Americans, Israelis, Brits, Australians, Russians, Brazilians...every nationality). Should we ever stereotype one group based on the actions of a few? No. Yet, in media and in action, the punishment of all on the basis of the actions made by a few that are in no way connected to a majority of the whole, the punishment continues.

• It's difficult to think otherwise when women and men, young and old, from the West Bank, trying to seek medical care in East Jerusalem, are denied thoroughfare at a checkpoint. Essentially, denied their ability to either get healthier or lengthen their remaining days.
• It's difficult to think otherwise when you see young men and women holding high-powered weapons and making cars completely unload and get searched (or breeze right through) on the basis of ethnicity and visual religious affiliation.
• It's difficult when you hear of politicians back home using the situation over here for their political gain, not caring about the people behind their pandering. [Edit 1/26/12: It was the domino effect  as one after another of the politicians in the States tried to out-do the next in how much they disliked the Palestinians. How sad.] Ya haram. ("Oh, the shame.")

So then, how do we comfort people, God's command, in light of the fact that the punishment and warfare is not over? My computer defines "comfort" as being "a state of physical ease and freedom from pain or constraint", which may seem pretty radical if you apply it to the Palestinians (freedom from the constraint of prejudice, freedom from the literal constraints they face as being treated as second-class humans). There is a second definition, too: "consolation for grief or anxiety". We can take this as both providing care for after someone has been grieved, or as taking the steps and being proactive in preventing such grief and anxiety.


For me, this means speaking out. With stories, with experiences, with the images of real people. Quite often this is difficult for me; I don't like conflict and I don't like the fact that because I speak for the holding up of a section of God's children, the Palestinians, that there are some who may get angry. Now, please don't misunderstand me: being pro-Palestinian does not mean you are anti-Israeli. I consider myself both pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli. I am pro-people loving. In my experience, the Palestinians are in need of more comforting at this time in order to get them to the same "state of physical ease and freedom from pain or constraint" that many Israelis already feel. (A Seminary professor once painted the picture of being a parent with two children; you love them equally. If one breaks their leg, you tend to that child more to help them be at the same level of well-being as the other child. You do not love one more than the other, but sometimes it means taking extra measures to care for one.)


So what does this comforting of the Palestinians look like? Well, many things involving the work for justice; for me, it means dealing with my fears of speaking out. For me, it means not only telling the stories and truths, but correcting the mistruths. In the Ten Commandments we hear that we should not bear false witness against anyone. Yet, in the interconnectedness of the Body of Christ, are we not also our sister and brother's keepers? If I allow someone to bear false witness without correcting it, am I not also to blame?

Over here, those of us who live, work, laugh, and cry with Palestinians have been extremely hurt by what has been said by public figures about the Palestinian people. Most recently, Newt Gingrich claimed that Palestinians are made up, terrorist, have a huge desire to destroy Israel, did not live here before Israel was established, and all belong to Hamas, and that "the burden to show a willingness to reach a peace accord with the Israelis lies squarely with the Palestinians". 

I can't, in one post, get into the complex history behind the people of this land, both Jewish, Christian, and Muslim, but you can rest assured that everything Newt Gingrich has had to say about Palestine is grossly misleading. These lies mislead some well-intentioned people but also create a mentality of fear and hatred, which stands as a wall infront of later efforts for the truth to be told.


So, in an effort to comfort God's people, let us try to fulfill the prophecy: "construct in the desert a road for our God. Every valley must be elevated, and every mountain and hill leveled. The rough terrain will become a level plain, the rugged landscape a wide valley." My hope is that together we can work for justice for all that turns the desert of conflict into a road that brings glory to God.