Ephesians: We Are Blessed

Text: Ephesians 1:1-14

It has been a rough decade. I am sure most of us remember September 11th of a decade ago with absolutely no effort required. Whether you were watching events as they unfolded on a news channel or you learned about it from a family member, co-worker, or stranger, that day has defined all of us. You, like me, may have no connection to anyone in the Twin Towers or the Pentagon, or even in the surrounding areas, or even to anyone who responded to DC, Pennsylvania, or New York. But even without personal connections of any kind, life as it has been since will never be like it was on September 10, 2001.

 

Seven Words of Worship: Response

Text: 2 Chronicles 20:1-23

How is your trust meter these days? Things are not looking too bright through the lenses of news sources. Eight days ago, the US suffered its largest single loss of life in Afghanistan since the war there began at the end of 2001. Thirty of our nation’s warriors from three branches of our services were killed in one helicopter attack. Seventeen of those were of the elite Navy SEALs, and fifteen of those SEALs belonged to the same unit that killed Osama bin Laden.

 

On Empathy

Today I picked up Sen. Barack Obama’s book The Audacity of Hope. I found this section in the chapter called “Values” that I thought was simply profound:

It was in my relationship with my grandfather that I think I first internalized the full meaning of empathy. Because my mother’s work took her overseas, I often lived with my grandparents during my high school years, and without a father present in the house, my grandfather bore the brunt of much of my adolescent rebellion. He himiself was not always easy to get along with; he was at once warmhearted and quick to anger, and in part bercause his career had not been particularly successful, his feelings could also be easily bruised. By the time I was sixteen we were arguing all the time, usually ab out me failing to abide by what I considered to be an endless series of petty and arbitrary rules – filling up the gas tank whenever I borrowed his car, say, or making sure that I rinsed out the milk carton before I put it in the garbage.

With a certain talent for rhetoric, as well as an absolute certainty about the merits of my own views, I found that I could generally win these arguments, in the narrow sense of leaving my grandfather flustered, angry, and sounding unreasonable. But at some point, perhaps in my senior year, such victories started to feel less satisfying. I started thinking about the struggles and disappointments he had seen in his life. I started to appreciate his need to feel respected in his own home. I realized that abiding by his rules would cost me little, but to him it would mean a lot. I recognized that sometimes he really did have a point, and that in insisting on getting my own way all the time, without regard to his feelings or needs, I was in some way diminishing myself.

There’s nothing extraordinary about such an awakening, of course; in one form or another it is what we all must go through if we are to grow up. And yet I find myself returning again and again to my mother’s simple principle – “How would that make you feel?” – as a guidepost for my politics.

…

I believe a stronger sense of empathy would tilt the balance of our current politics in favor of those people who are struggling in this society. After all, if they are like us, then their struggles are our own. If we fail to helpl, we diminish ourselves.

If you look at the book yourself, you can find this excerpt on pages 66-68.

Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream (New York: Crown Publishers, 2006). ISBN: 978-0-307-23769-9.

 

The Nativity Story

I’m not sure why I have not heard of this before, but it looks really good, so I thought I’d share. Comes out December 1.

The Nativity Story

 

Criminalizing faith

I read a couple of entries (here and here) on Al Mohler’s blog today about a man in Britain who was arrested for (evidently) peacefully passing out leaflets with the KJV text of verses condemning homosexuality. He was passing them out at a rally or event promoting homosexuality or other alternative sexual lifestyles. Mostly, the entries are just commenting on the event and lamenting the decline of the influence of the church over the government. But the news recalls another story I recently heard. I believe I heard it from one of the missionaries that our church sponsors. This person said that they were talking to a friend from China and mentioned how we in the West pray earnestly for the relief of the persecution of the underground Christian movement in China. According to the person telling me, the Chinese individual replied (at least to the effect),

Oh don’t pray that! We here in the East are praying for the churches in the West, that their persecution would begin soon. It is the persecution that keeps our faith strong and vibrant.

We Christians have become so lackluster in our faith. We have become so cozy. So comfortable. We forget the words of Jesus when he said,

Matthew 5:10-12
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

In the following verses Jesus goes on to talk about being a light and salt not losing its saltiness. Maybe, by some miracle of God, the Western church, and particularly my own experience of the American version of it, can regain its saltiness and impact on the world. We have given up so much in the last century. Perhaps it would do us good if the Chinese prayers were answered and Christian faith did become criminalized. It would loosen the cultural bonds that we have allowed to be placed on our Passion.