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| Art print by Jennifer Pugh |
(You may find this print and more at the AllPosters site under Christianity Posters here)
Monday, May 30, 2011
The Lord's Prayer
(You may find this print and more at the AllPosters site under Christianity Posters here)
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
The end of the world… Saturday?
A reporter and photographer grabbed me early this afternoon as I was walking off a sleepless night. I was asked what I thought about some preacher proclaiming the world would end this Saturday. I hadn’t heard anything about it, was ignorant about a date being set, but answered anyway, “I hope we have longer than that.”
My response was true enough; but everyday I say the Lord’s Prayer with emphasis on “Thy will be done.” Each day I acknowledge God’s presence and stamp on the world. I also attempt to make daily contributions to His kingdom. I can’t say that I’m prepared for the Day of Judgment but feel that I’m moving in the right direction.
There’s a small plaque on my wall that says:
What you are is God’s gift to you.
What you become is your gift to God.
I often look at it; sometimes shudder about the past, more often renew resolve to become…
Still; I hope we have longer than Saturday. How about you?
Sunday, May 22, 2011
The surfing Christian
God Watches You Google. Provocative title isn’t it? You can read it with a click - http://www.challies.com/technology/god-watches-you-google. It’s a featured piece by a guy named Tim Challies who has a site ranked as the #1 Christianity blog.
For mind boggling information, inspiration and entertainment, take a look at the Christian Category in Blog Rank (http://www.invesp.com/blog-rank/Christianity) and start surfing. I clicked on one blog title because the name amused me (http://www.nakedpastor.com/) and so did a bunch of hilarious and insightful cartoons: http://www.etsy.com/shop/nakedpastor.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Christianity spread like wildfire – how come? (the short version)
The early evangelists went around saying, "You hear about Jesus? The one who did such and such and said this and that? He rose from the dead. Really! Yeah, I saw him AFTER he was crucified. So did Matthew, Thomas and a bunch of others - in different places and at different times. Sure, I'll tell you more about him..."
Yes, Christ really rose from the dead. Now THAT was news. Good news. No wonder people everywhere wanted to hear more.
Yes, Christ really rose from the dead. Now THAT was news. Good news. No wonder people everywhere wanted to hear more.
(a more detailed version, making reference to both a scientific and historical basis for the resurrection being real, and not merely poetic license for exaltation, is available in the preceding post of the same title.)
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Christianity spread like wildfire – how come?
Christian churches sprang up all over the Middle East, Eurasia and Europe within a few years of the crucifixion of Jesus. How did it happen so quickly?
Jesus died for us, and then rose from the dead. They taught that in Sunday school when I was a boy, I suspect they still do. The impact of resurrection eluded me for many years. I viewed it as a prime example of a “God thing”; one of those once in history type miracles – this one occurring as a means of bringing us closer to God because His son lived as a man.
Is the resurrection of Jesus simply a faith based concept? Or did it really happen? Does it matter?
The resurrection could be an enabling mechanism of sorts. Does it make a difference if it was due to individual or collective visions and a bit of poetic license? Part of our deity trod the earth just we do. It may be easier to pray to Jesus because of his understanding and compassion for human weakness and concerns. After all he wasn’t always way up there in heaven like God; he lived and interacted as one of us.
Think of the incredibly strong belief and commitment necessary to emulate the accomplishments of the pioneers of Christianity. Keep in mind that Christianity spread like wildfire. Why? Some attending the study sessions thought many people were receptive to a new faith because it was based on loving and sharing church centered communities. I could only suspect that it was another example of God’s will, a way that He showed folks the path we were meant to follow.
Paul, Peter and others named in the New Testament were touched directly by Jesus. Hence they had extraordinary belief and motivation. But there were only a handful of such men. How were so many churches established so quickly in so many places? Why were the words of a few men so persuasive? It was puzzling.
I looked once more at Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. I read the Gospel of Thomas and other books and letters that didn’t make it into the Bible. I perused the works of Josephus to glean a further understanding of the times. It was still difficult to understand how or why Christianity grew and developed so rapidly.
There is now a scientific basis to believe that the resurrection of Jesus really happened; that it wasn’t a matter of vision, metaphor or exaggerated poetic license to make a point. Is there also a historical basis?
N.T. Wright is widely regarded as one of the premier scholars involved in the historical study of Jesus. In his book, The Challenge of Jesus, he maintains that Christianity was not just a kingdom of God movement. It was, from the onset, a resurrection movement; the belief in resurrection was unquestionable and not merely a central belief but the central driving force of early Christianity.[i] As to those in the earliest churches, “The only explanation for their behavior, their stories, their symbols and their theology is that they really believed Jesus had been reembodied, had been bodily raised from the dead.”[ii]
Mr. Wright, ever meticulous, added further perspective:
The resurrection narratives of the Gospels, for all their puzzling nature and apparent conflicts, are quite clear on three points.
First, the sightings of and meetings with Jesus are quite unlike the sort of heavenly visions or visions of a figure in blinding light of dazzling glory or wreathed in clouds that one might expect in the Jewish apocalyptic or mystical traditions. They are not, that is to say, attempting to describe the sort of thing one would expect if what he or she wanted to say was simply that Jesus had been exalted to a position of either divinity or at least heavenly glory…
Second, the body of Jesus seems to be both physical, in the sense that it was not a nonmaterial angel or spirit, and transphysical, in the sense that it could come and go through locked doors. As I read the Gospel accounts, I have a sense that they are saying, in effect, “I know this is extraordinary, but this is just how it was.”…
Third, the accounts are quite clear that the appearances of Jesus were not the sort of thing that went on happening during the continuous existence of the early church. Luke did not suppose that his readers might meet Jesus on the road to Emmaus. Matthew did not expect his audience to meet him on a mountain. John did not suppose that people were still liable to come upon Jesus cooking breakfast by the shore…[iii]
Christianity did not come into being “simply” by the power of the life and teachings of Jesus. It was not “simply” faith or God’s will. It was that Christ was truly resurrected. Those that saw believed; it was a one time, totally unique happening. They could not only convey the extent and reason for their belief, but also they were compelled to do so - and they did it far and wide. The time had come for God’s kingdom to dawn, for a new agenda which trusted in Jesus for the way of bringing that kingdom to life here on earth.
The resurrection of Jesus actually occurred. There is both scientific and historical basis for it. Thanks to a TV program on the History Channel and the scholarship of N.T. Wright I’m no longer puzzled as to how and why Christianity spread so far and so rapidly. One could even say it’s an affirmation of faith. The reality of resurrection mattered; it was the good news.
PawPaw Dave ©2011
(Image of the empty tomb and crosses from Christian clip art and graphics at http://www.cc-art.com/)
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
The Spiritual Snowball Effect
The spiritual snowball began with two cases of frozen chicken and some cheese. Roger grabbed them before they went into a dumpster. It was three summers ago at a food brokers’ show. He offered them to a friend, saying his own refrigerator and freezer was full. There was too much for Jon and his wife Sarah to eat or store; they gave some to people across the street. As it turned out, there were hordes of people in need of food – and the Lord provided.
Roger’s wife was a broker that wholesaled quality food to restaurants, bars, school systems, etc. She told her husband that none of the food brokers returned foodstuffs to storage units after a show. How much might be unused, and exactly when it would be available, was uncertain; charitable organizations usually couldn’t or wouldn’t come to pick it up.
Roger didn’t think wasting food was right. Jon told him he knew plenty of people that would really appreciate food. Roger began going with his wife to shows all over the Midwest, and started bringing more boxes to Jon and Sarah. They could contain anything from whole, ready for slicing, deli turkey to six pound cans of corn or mixed-fruit and all sorts of breadstuff.
A few boxes turned into a dozen cases. Much of the food was frozen or perishable. It had to be stored or used soon. Sarah enlisted the help of two ladies in the Section 8 building across the street. She told them to bring carts, take as much as they wanted, and, “if you can, give a little to someone else.”
It wasn’t long before Roger also gathered goods when the broker had excess inventory, food lines were dropped or a storage location was moved. A dozen or so cases turned into enough to fill a large pick-up, both bed and cab. Jon helped unload onto his back porch as well as into the kitchen and dining room. Sarah began calling more people to come get free food.
Take a peek at one day last August; there were dozens milling around the back porch:
“Mussels, mussels. Anybody want mussels?” shouts Beth, Sarah’s daughter, “We’ve got hot chicken wings, chicken nuggets and chicken strips. We have all types of fish fillets plus spiced apple, chocolate, and carrot cake mixes. We have wheat bread, French bread and cinnamon rolls. Who wants what?”
Sarah sorted through the various cases. Auntie Linda helped fill the bags and carts people brought over. Connie’s teenage nephews carried boxes to cars for older folks. Rose made deliveries to men and women unable to get around without crutches or walkers. Carl took rolls, sausages, pasta and spaghetti sauce to those in need at his church. Angela baked cakes for a birthday parties in the senior community room. Joanne cooked hot meals for a blind widower and a wheelchair bound woman. Lots of folk, many without money to ever buy extras, shared their blessings.
This has now been going on for almost three years: often every few weeks, but sometimes a month or more goes by. There’s usually a few days notice that something may be available, sometimes just a couple hours. Lots of people have had a chance to contribute or share; many do.
Roger hasn’t gone to church in decades. He doesn’t think about ministries or missions. He simply gathers food and makes deliveries, sometimes in-between and around a 16 hour work day. Once he spent most of a freezing night under his pick-up, repairing it so he could get and deliver a full truckload to Jon and Sarah. He often makes a 90 mile special round trip. Roger turned away, red in the face, when told about how one woman tearfully gave thanks because all her money was just spent on car repairs with nothing left to feed her four kids.
Roger says he just doesn’t like food going to waste. Jon says he just unloads some boxes. Sarah says she just makes a few calls. Rose says she just drives a few miles. Angela and Joanne say she they just like to cook.
No one thinks they’ve done much. Things just started rolling, got bigger. Some say it was the Holy Spirit in action.
PawPawJack©12/14/10
[a pen name of PawPaw Dave. By the way, it's all still rolling along]
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Jesus was a sissy… or so they taught
They put Jesus up on a pedestal and said we should emulate him. They said he was a role model for a young man. Jesus? Not to many men of my generation - even those, who like me, regularly attended church service and Sunday school in our youth. We were only taught about the bland, goody-goody, whitewashed version of Christ that had little inspirational or practical application.
It was hard to get beyond maxims that only seemed workable inside the sweet and comfy walls of a church. This was exemplified by the vanilla version of ‘turn the other cheek’ that we were taught. It simply didn’t work in urban and blue collar neighborhoods; to us it would mean being constantly bullied, teased, and ridiculed as well as having to take the long way home from school or playground. Not many teenage boys aspired to be gentle as a lamb. We hadn’t a clue that Jesus may have been speaking of major league chop busting.
We missed out on learning of the fire inside of Jesus, “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.” Matthew 10: 34. We missed out on learning of his high expectations for us, “… From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” Luke 12: 48.
We never had the faintest clue that Jesus was an extremist, that he pursued a radical path… that he chose a unique kingdom model to unveil God’s plan. N. T. Wright fully elaborates on this in The Challenge of Jesus (yes, one must wade through an academic’s grandiloquent and dusty style but his approach and learned insights are well worth the time). One example involves the Temple, the heart and center of Judaism during the time of Christ. Jesus did not merely overthrow some tables and level a charge against a few money changers, “… you have made it a den of thieves.” Mark 11: 15-17. His attitude was not one of reformation; Jesus was attacking a sacred symbol and undercutting the official system. He was announcing a new agenda, putting the focus on himself as the way to bring the Kingdom of God at hand.
Jesus was not a docile do-gooder that most teenage boys bursting with testosterone, idealism and rebellion had little desire to follow. He was a forceful, dynamic revolutionary. Imagine that. How were we to know that there was more to him than the watered down version?
Christianity embraces the meek, mild and weak. Yet; Jesus was none of these things. Christ was strong, determined and innovative; his message is one of challenge. Challenge that goes to the very core of guidelines and expectations for a person and society. Do they teach that in the bible studies and Sunday school classes of your church?
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
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