American Areopagus

By John Page

It always seems odd to me when I observe people trying to “evangelize” others by quoting Scripture at them.  There’s a presumption that the content of Scripture is recognized by non-Christians as somehow relevant to them.  But why should that be?  Why would people who do not see themselves among the people of faith from whom, about whom, and to whom the Scriptures were written, consider the witness of Scriptures to be meaningful to their own lives and experiences?

St. Paul seems to have recognized this point himself.  During his missionary journeys, according to the Book of Acts, he routinely visited the Jewish synagogues to worship and witness to Christ, pointing to the Jewish Scriptures to argue that Jesus was the Messiah the prophets had long anticipated.  At that time, Christianity was still understood as a Jewish sect, and it made perfect sense that Paul would worship among fellow Jews and communicate with them in the context they understood and found meaningful.

But when Paul visited Athens, and stood in the Areopagus among people who were neither Jewish nor Christian, he took a different approach.  Arguing his point from the witness of the prophets would not have been very meaningful or compelling to pagan Athenians, for whom the Jewish prophets were total strangers, and the narratives of Israel’s people and their historical experiences with God were of little or no import.  Instead, Paul appealed to what the Athenians already knew.  Starting with the common experiences of all people, as it were, Paul was able to make the particular experiences of one people more relevant. (Acts 17:16-34)

Some time ago, I read that America is becoming an increasingly pre-Christian society.  Pre-Christian implies before Christianity became widespread and commonplace, as distinct from the term non-Christian, which simply implies that one is not now Christian, even if one may have been at some time.  There was a time – a time in which many of us alive today actually lived – when most Americans could reasonably assume that everyone around us had some knowledge of and experience with Christianity, even if they weren’t active church-goers themselves.  But that assumption is no longer valid.  Surveys in recent years suggest increases in the percentages of people who have never been Christians, have never received any instruction in the Christian faith, and whose experience of Christian worship – if it is worship – is limited to the occasional wedding or funeral of an acquaintance.  What these people may know of Christianity is largely what they observe in the popular media, which may well explain why Christianity is in decline; the headline hogs don’t typically offer flattering or accurate depictions of the Way of Jesus of Nazareth.  While the percentage of pre-Christian and non-Christian peoples increases, the percentage of Christians in America declines.  We are more and more likely to find ourselves today, and in the near future, in St. Paul’s position in the Areopagus.

So, how might we witness to the good news of Jesus Christ in the American Areopagus?  Here’s my go at it…

We are Christians. 

We believe that there is one God who created all things, and that God’s love is the sine qua non for understanding the relationship between God and creation.  God created humankind in God’s own image, to bear God’s love in the world as both stewards of creation and beneficiaries of creation’s gifts and God’s abundant peace.

This was, and is, God’s vision and intention.  But realistically, we all know how far removed the world is from that vision.  Strained relationships, violence, poverty, sickness, greed, injustice, and indifference abound.  No one completely escapes the consequences of our present circumstances; people, all living things, and the earth itself suffer.  Even natural disasters testify to the magnitude of the chasm between God’s vision and the reality of our condition.

We recognize that much of what we and all of creation suffer is the consequence of our own human actions.  We bear responsibility for what we do and what we leave undone, and all actions and inactions have consequences.  The consequences may affect us now, but may just as well affect generations to come.  We may see the cause-and-effect relationships clearly or not so clearly.  We may even willfully turn a blind eye to the relationships to disingenuously deny our responsibility.

As people of faith, we understand that we must own up and accept responsibility.  Strained relationships, violence, poverty, sickness, greed, injustice, and indifference are not the consequences of loving relationships; they exist because we become indifferent, or even hostile, to love as central to creation’s order.   Whether by accident or design, in abandoning love, we have effectively rebelled against God and God’s vision. 

But God does not abandon what God loves.  We know this from our long history of recognizing God active in our lives and in the lives of our ancestors in faith.  God’s love is willful and intentional; time and again, God reaches out to humankind to set our relationships right.  God is determined that God’s vision will be our reality.

From among all the peoples of the earth, God called a wandering Aramean named Abraham to serve God, promising that from him and his wife Sarah a particular people would be the instruments of God’s reconciliation with all of humankind.  Some two thousand years ago, that promise came to fruition when God came into the world in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, one of Abraham and Sarah’s descendents.  That singular event in history inaugurated the process by which God puts all things right by God’s own decisive action.  God calls all people to be recreated in God’s image, specifically in the image of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, who, sharing our humanity with us, draws us back to God and makes us the people we were meant to be from the very beginning.  This is what we mean when we say we are to “put on Christ”.

This is the good news of Jesus Christ: God loves humankind and always will, and through the person of Jesus, God assures us that God’s peace will be a reality in this world.  Through Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit, God recreates us to be God’s image-bearers in the world, commands us to love all as we have been loved by Christ, and commissions us to share this good news with everyone by word and by deed.

And this, by the way, is why we at Zion summarize our own mission with the words: Love God, Love your neighbor, Tell the world!

Responding to Need in Haiti

We serve Christ by serving those in need.  I encourage anyone looking to make a financial donation to support relief efforts in Haiti to consider the ELCA’s International Disaster Response - Haiti Earthquake Relief.  One hundred percent of your donation will be used for the relief efforts in Haiti.  ELCA Disaster Response ministries have a long history of faithful and responsible service to people in desperate need.

Presiding Bishop Hanson of the ELCA has written an open letter to the members of this church summarizing this church’s response to the disaster, and encouraging all of us to give generously to those in need and to encourage others to do so as well.

To make a donation online, visit http://www.elca.org/haitiearthquake.  This site also provides information for mailing checks and money orders.

Peace,

-John Page

Good Ideas Have Legs

By John Page

“Good ideas have legs” says JIM DWYER of the NY Times in his article Where Unsold Clothes Meet People in Need.  The article provides an example of how a single person can make an enormous difference in the lives of thousands of needy people.  He briefly describes how in 1985, Suzanne Davis asked the president of Phillips-Van Heusen if his company had any excess (unsold) inventory that could be used by homeless men.  That got the ball rolling, and the following year, she organized the New York Clothing Bank, where unworn garments, which might otherwise have been destroyed, are recovered and given to the needy.

While many clothing manufacturers or retailers have gotten on board with this, or similar, efforts, many still destroy unsold inventory.  As Dwyer says, “the reasons are complex.”  There’s a fear of competing with one’s own garbage.  There’s concern that the millions of marketing dollars spent on creating brand images may be wasted if the “wrong” kinds of people are seen wearing brand-name garments.  No doubt there’s also a good measure of indifference and ignorance as well.  When Dwyer reported that a graduate student at City University recently discovered that a branch of clothing retailer H&M was slashing and trashing unsold garments, it triggered an avalanche of responses, including emails from people who knew of retailers all across the U.S. who routinely destroy unworn clothing.

Stories like this illustrate for me the tension between Christian discipleship and the way of the world.  On the one hand, I understand perfectly well how a healthy economy works, how the expectation of reward or profit encourages creativity and risk, and how creativity and risk can lead to advances in knowledge and quality of life.  I understand why people want to minimize risks – risks like competing with one’s own garbage or undermining brand image.  And I understand that some people just can’t be bothered to think too hard about it.

On the other hand, I understand that Jesus of Nazareth expects self-sacrificing love from his disciples.  Our neighbors in need – the least among us – are to be of paramount ethical concern for us.  Our neighbors in need are Jesus in need. (Matthew 25:31-46)  Professing “Jesus is Lord” is completely disingenuous if we treat our Lord with contempt or indifference.  Christian disciples must live in and navigate through this world, never forgetting to whom we owe our lives and everything else we possess.  Our neighbors in need are to be the beneficiaries of our debt.

Christian disciples typically want to be both faithful and pragmatic, which can lead to tension.  We are to be wise and clever in the ways of this world, but we must not be disciples of the ways of the world.  We must render to Caesar what properly belongs to Caesar, but never forget that all things, including Caesar, belong to God.  We are to be mindful of the “powers and principalities” that appear to govern the world – economics, physical sciences, human nature – but we must never permit them to become our lords.  Whatever authority God has given to individuals or to the natural mechanisms of creation, God has not relinquished God’s own authority.  Our Lord stands over and against all other pretenders.

Good ideas are not always pragmatic, but Christian discipleship requires that we sometimes act more faithfully than pragmatically; that we sometimes give up some benefit or advantage for the sake of others, especially for those in need.  This is not so much the way of the world, but the Way of Jesus.

The Singing Church

By John Page

In a recent blog post, Nadia Bolz-Weber reflects on the demise of congregational singing in many churches.  LutheranChik also observes how anemic congregational singing can be in churches these days.  Both consider the reasons for this development, especially in churches which historically encouraged enthusiastic singing from the pews.

Both critique the trend to professionalize music in our culture.  Singing seems to have become an exclusive art in peoples’ minds, for which some have the appropriate talent and some do not.  Those who suppose they “do not” mute their voices or don’t bother to move their lips at all.  So many people seem reluctant to sing out with joy and vigor, even when familiar hymns are sung.

But, singing is NOT an exclusive art.  Singing is a normal way for all people to express themselves; it is built into our human nature.  And communal singing has long been a way for whole communities to remember, tell, and celebrate their common experiences.  When Martin Luther wrote hymns set to the music of well-known tavern songs, he did so specifically to encourage EVERYONE to sing in worship of God.  One did not have to be a professional or trained musician to make the music of worship; the music of worship is meant to come from us all.

During the first of our two Christmas Eve services this year, the choir began singing a descant over the third verse of Silent Night, expecting the assembly to continue with the verse; instead the people in the pews fell silent and all that could be heard was the descant.  Ooops!  During the second service, the organist increased the volume for the third verse, in hopes that the people in the pews would be encouraged to continue singing.

So, how might we encourage confident and enthusiastic singing from the pews?  That’s a question well known to worship and music leaders.  Some churches ban instrumental accompaniment, and insist on a cappella music only.  Some church musicians have been known to stop playing instruments during some verses of hymns to emphasize the singing.  Personally, I’d like to get away from choir anthems during worship, precisely because “performance pieces” during worship seem to feed the idea that the music is for passive consumption – entertainment – and best left to the “professionals”.  Instead I’d like to see choir and instrumentalists intentionally find ways to encourage, enable, and facilitate singing by everyone in the worshiping assembly.

As Luther might have said: Sing boldly, that grace may abound!

The Spirit of Change

By John Page

The Holy Spirit has a way of shaking things up: the church is born; people are inspired to proclaim good news from God – starting in Jerusalem and then to the whole world; old ways and understandings give way to the new; and those once alienated are reconciled and welcomed.  That’s just a quick and dirty summary of what’s described in the Acts of the Apostles.

Of course, not everyone reacts favorably to the Holy Spirit’s new ways.  As expected, those opposed to Christianity certainly didn’t like what the Spirit was doing in the first century, but surprisingly, sometimes Christians themselves didn’t like what the Spirit was up to.  In Acts, the Spirit’s welcome of unclean Gentiles was a particularly hard thing to accept (Acts 15), and in his epistles, a very frustrated St. Paul speaks to the persistence of those Christians determined to thwart the Spirit.

Nevertheless, the Holy Spirit always prevails and the church reforms as the Spirit requires.  That’s true in every century, notwithstanding the varied reactions people may have.  And it is equally true in our own time.

In August 2009, the Holy Spirit shook up the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA): the ELCA Assembly adopted Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust and approved changes to the ELCA’s policies, effectively welcoming Christians in same-gender marriages, or in otherwise committed and publicly accountable relationships (recognizing that marriage equality is not universal under civil laws), to openly serve Christ’s church in public ministry, as the Holy Spirit calls them.  Predictably, the reactions varied from joy, to indifference, to indignation.

The Rev. Eric Lemonholm recently posted an open letter to the members of his congregation, some of whom have called for a special congregation meeting to decide whether to remain a member congregation of the ELCA.  He speaks against breaking with the ELCA, offering historical, theological, biblical, and common-sense arguments for not only remaining in the ELCA, but for recognizing in the Assembly’s actions how the Holy Spirit has created opportunities for mission and evangelism.  His letter is eloquent, respectful of those who disagree, and compelling.  Though it is lengthy, I commend it to anyone interested not only in the specific issues decided by the Assembly, but also in an example of the way Christians can live, love, and serve Christ together in the midst of our diversity and disagreements.

Discipleship and Budgets

By John Page

On Saturday morning (November 14, 2009), I and about 300 other people gathered for a special assembly[1] of the New Jersey Synod. [2]  According to the “rules”, the sole item on our agenda was the Synod’s 2010 spending plan – what most people know as a budget.  But, whatever the “rules” stated, the real item on the agenda was “discipleship”.

Jim Wallis and the good people at Sojourners stress that budgets are moral documents.  In effect, our budgets are statements of our moral convictions – of our moral choices and values.  What we do with our resources speaks to our concerns, including our ultimate concern.  Our budgets reveal something of ourselves – our fears, our desires, and our priorities.  Our budgets also reveal something of our perceptions of others – what they will think of us and how they will react.  And our budgets reveal which “others” are most important to us – those whom we desire to please and serve.

In my experience, budget discussions – or perhaps “debates” is more descriptive – tend to focus on the allocation of limited resources.  A shadow of scarcity typically lurks nearby, and occasionally darkens the room entirely.  Most people dread the annual “stewardship campaign” – or whatever it may be called – because it stirs up underlying fears of scarcity and of having to commit to sharing limited resources.  People “don’t like to talk about money”, not because there is anything inherently distasteful about discussing our commitments to share our resources with others, but because we have to deal with fear-in-your-face.

Of course, fear can be useful to some people – it can serve their interests and their agenda.  It’s standard fare in secular politics – and in ecclesiastical politics as well.  Some will exploit the fear of limited resources to advance a particular interest, in effect trying to hold the needs of others hostage to their agenda.  Fear suits some people.

Since the ELCA Assembly acted this summer to approve the social statement Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust and to change ministry policies to allow people in committed same-gender relationships to serve the church as the Holy Spirit calls them, some have sought to exploit the fear of scarce resources to either punish the church or to thwart the Assembly’s actions.  Fear suits them – but it also consumes them.  (In response to a question I asked, Bishop Riley informed the special assembly that based on his conversations with members and congregations of the New Jersey Synod, discontent with the ELCA Assembly’s actions had no significant impact on current or anticipated mission support here; declines in support are attributed to general economic conditions in this state and throughout the nation.)

Fear isn’t just a handy tool in the toolbox of our ambitions.  Fear is a “power” with a life – or death – of its own.  Whatever our own ambitions, Fear has an agenda of its own.  Fear is no person’s slave; it disingenuously serves whom it desires to consume.

The antithesis of scarcity is abundance, and the antithesis of fear is faith and hope.  To an objective observer, many of us fretting over the scarcity of our resources appear to be out of touch with reality; we have more than all our fretting implies.  The shadow of scarcity conceals the abundance of what we have, and who isn’t afraid of dark places?  And while fear discourages us from exploring dark places, faith and hope encourage us to light a lamp and push the shadows back.  Jesus tells whoever would follow him, “let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”[3]  Jesus’ own light illumines our dark places, and invites us to fearlessly and faithfully venture forward.  Without diminishing the brightness of Jesus’ own light, he shares that light with us, so that others may see – and benefit from – the good works we do for one another and for our neighbors for the sake of glorifying our Father.  Because we have faith in God’s promises of abundant blessings, and hope in the perfection of God’s reign, the interloper Fear has no proper place among Jesus’ disciples.

And so I was pleased to observe Jesus’ disciples in New Jersey act with faith and hope, trusting in God’s abundant blessings.  Setting aside fears of economic uncertainties, the Synod Assembly overwhelmingly endorsed a spending plan that affirms our continued mission and service to the people of New Jersey, to our nation, and to the whole world.  The spending plan commits us to growing our financial support for the work of the church, reducing administrative costs, and increasing our efforts in outreach (specifically Latino outreach and urban mission development), in peace and justice advocacy, in ecumenical and interfaith cooperation, in public communication, in leadership support and development, and in mission support to the ELCA.  While some line items saw reductions in financial support – or even elimination – presenters of the spending plan pointed to some innovative and promising ideas for still continuing the ministries and services funded by those lines.

Our 2010 Spending Plan aspires to be both a faithful moral document and a hope-filled mission statement for Jesus’ disciples in New Jersey.  God grant us the Spirit to rise to the call of discipleship and to bear its costs faithfully.

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[1] The special assembly fell short of a quorum by only 6 people.  Consequently, the assembly acted as a “quasi-committee of the whole”, which gave non-binding advice to the Synod Council concerning the 2010 Spending Plan.

[2] For those not that familiar with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), “synods” are roughly analogous to dioceses.  They are typically geographical groupings of congregations which support the mission of the church in their territories, including evangelism, advocacy, preparation and endorsement of candidates for public ministries of the church, mutual support of congregations, oversight and discipline, and coordination of resources.

[3] Matthew 5:16

Anticipating Christ the King

By John Page

A child is raped, and witnesses either ignore it or cheer.[1]  People are beaten and murdered because of their race or perceived immigration status, and the victims are too afraid to seek help.[2]  A disgruntled man opens fire on former colleagues at their workplace.[3]  A mentally ill physician murders 13 people before he is stopped[4] and Muslims across the country are fearful of the consequences to innocent people.[5]  Poor and dispossessed residents of Cleveland mourn the serial murders of their daughters and neighbors, and accuse the local authorities of indifference to their plight.[6]  A broad measure of unemployment in the U.S. shows that 17.5% of the nation’s workers are either unemployed or underemployed.[7]  Perceptions of injustice rooted in economic disparities plague efforts to address the availability of necessary healthcare[8], and even the distribution of H1N1 vaccine.[9]

This is just a sampling from news headlines during the past week or so.  Of course, not all news is bad news, but a listing of all the happy stories I might find among the headlines can only briefly distract us from a realistic appreciation of the seriousness and persistence of what ails us.  Don’t misunderstand; I’m no Gloomy Gus jaded by reality or resigned to a violent, unjust, and uncaring world.  Neither am I prone to a “happy-clappy” optimism that simply ignores reality.

I look for a fuller understanding of reality – reality that encompasses what is, what was, and what will be.  Reality includes our understanding of what ought to be, our vision of what is possible, our confidence that working toward our vision is not in vain, and our anticipation of that vision’s perfection.  “Change” is very much a part of reality, and all change is guided either by purposeful effort or effortless entropy.

To what purpose, then, should we live in this world and direct our efforts?

Very soon, the church will celebrate Christ the King.  With this festival, we conclude a full year of remembering and retelling the Gospel of Jesus Christ, through Sunday readings and seasonal commemorations.  For an entire year we have traced the story of Jesus of Nazareth and the Way of Jesus:

-          the prophetic promises of Advent;

-          the joyful celebration of Jesus’ nativity;

-          Jesus’ public ministry of bringing God’s kingdom near to the sick, poor, and oppressed;

-          Jesus’ calling of disciples to learn, walk in, and spread the Way of Jesus;

-          Jesus’ contention with those opposed to his Way;

-          Jesus’ betrayal, arrest, torture, and murder;

-          Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, that both vanquished the power that death can have over us, and encourages us to have hope and faith in Jesus and his Way;

-          Jesus’ gift of the Holy Spirit to the church – the Spirit of Christ that dwells with us;

-          and the disciples’ continued mission of love and service in the Way of Jesus, who despite their own frailties – and the sometimes deadly opposition of others – stayed the Way, and invited others to go with them and with Jesus.

The story of Jesus of Nazareth and of Jesus’ disciples offers us a vision of humankind and all of creation that issues directly from the Creator.  The story tells of the creation as God intended from the beginning – all things created good, and humankind created in God’s image to care for one another and for all of creation.  The story repudiates what has gone awry from God’s intentions – injustice, violence, poverty, famine – and invites humankind to turn back to God and God’s original vision.  The story tells of a re-creation inaugurated by God – a re-creation of humankind in the image of God-with-us, Jesus of Nazareth.  And at the story’s conclusion, what God has inaugurated comes to its perfection with the full restoration of humankind and all of creation to its original purpose and goodness.  To this purpose, God calls us to live and direct our efforts.

On the day we commemorate Christ the King, we hold up and celebrate the end of the story – the perfection of what God inaugurated at the birth of Jesus.  The end is what we look forward to, the vision we pursue by means that anticipate and embody the end of our pursuit.  The end gives hope and inspiration to continue when events and circumstances conspire to threaten and overwhelm us, because we already know how the story will end.

On the day we commemorate Christ the King, the prophet Daniel[10] will remind us that God has not abandoned us to the way things were or the way things are.  Whatever threatens us, all of creation belongs to God and to God’s chosen one, and the end of the story is certain.  Despite all evidence to the contrary, for people of faith, “the belief and hope in a Savior that enters exactly where the forces of chaos seem to be most rampant is what allows one to get up and face the day.”[11]  Our labor in Christ is not in vain.[12]

On the day we commemorate Christ the King, the prophet John of Patmos[13] will remind us to whom all creation and all time belongs: “’I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”  John addressed his prophecy to churches struggling with complacency, assimilation, temptation, and even violent persecution – which is to say, John addressed all churches in every place and time.  And in the fullness of his prophecy, John encourages and admonishes the faithful to never forget the end of the story, and to live in the Spirit of Christ with the certainty of our hope and faith that God’s intentions for creation will come to perfection.  Our labor in Christ is not in vain.

On the day we commemorate Christ the King, the evangelist John[14] will remind us that Jesus of Nazareth is God’s chosen Savior of creation, and that God’s purposes will not go unopposed.  Those who profit or benefit from injustice, violence, poverty, and famine will conspire against God; murder and subterfuge are not beneath their scruples.  Nevertheless, the end of the story is certain.  Death will not be the final verdict on God’s purposes.  Our labor in Christ is not in vain.

We have a fuller understanding of reality precisely because we know the end of the story and anticipate Christ the King.

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[1] 4 Arraigned in Gang Rape of Calif. Girl at School, California: Seventh Arrest in Gang Rape, Richmond Gang Rape: Coping With the Shock

[2] After immigrant killed in NY, others tell of abuse

[3] Gunman Shoots 6 and Kills 1 in Fla.

[4] Army Doctor Held in Ft. Hood Rampage

[5] Another Attack Leaves US Muslims Fearing Backlash

[6] After Gruesome Find, Anger at Cleveland Police

[7] Broader Measure of U.S. Unemployment Stands at 17.5%

[8] Are Doctors What Ails U.S. Healthcare?

[9] Goldman Sachs, Citigroup got swine flu vaccine

[10] Daniel 7:9-14

[11] Claassens, Juliana. Commentary on Daniel 7:9-14. WorkingPreacher.org.

[12] 1 Corinthians 15:58

[13] Revelation 1:4b-8

[14] John 18:33-37