tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19815393114631028222024-02-21T13:35:20.153-05:00The Solitary Broom TreeContemplations on the ContemporaryDr. Matthew L. Camlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14864455479540692057noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1981539311463102822.post-762621505901060992015-05-11T12:21:00.000-04:002015-05-11T12:23:00.207-04:00Whose Conversion?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+John+4%3A7%E2%80%9321&version=CEB" target="_blank">1 John 4:7–21</a></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+8%3A26%E2%80%9340&version=CEB" target="_blank">Acts 8:26–40</a></span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I was examined for membership in the Upper Ohio Valley Presbytery, back in 2009. I no longer remember who it was, but <i>someone</i> asked me what I thought of as a classic “Ordination Exam” question, like I might have had to answer in essay form before graduating from seminary. The question was this: A member of your church comes to you on Friday afternoon and says, “My daughter is going to be in town this weekend, visiting from California. We were hoping that you could baptize her new baby while she’s in town, so that the whole family can be there.” Do you baptize that baby on Sunday morning, or not?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I smiled. I smiled because I recognized that this was, simultaneously, a “gotcha question” <i>and</i> a grace-filled gift from the person asking. And so I said, “There are two answers to that question: the <i>correct</i> answer, and <i>my</i> answer.” There were glances around the room—I’d like to think they were “knowing looks,” but who’s to say? I continued, saying, “The <i>correct</i> answer would be to tell this church member that I cannot baptize her grandchild, because baptisms must be approved by the Session, whose approval I could not reasonably get on such short notice. <i>My </i>answer is that I would counsel the baby’s mother about the meaning of baptism, baptize the baby, and then ask the Session for forgiveness after the fact. After all,” I reasoned, “was Philip constrained by the <i>Book of Order</i> when he baptized the Ethiopian eunuch on a moment’s notice, or did he follow the leading of the Holy Spirit?” </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Apparently, I gave the right answer; they approved my membership.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">The above reading from John’s first epistle, a treatise on what love itself is and isn’t and a theological commentary on John’s gospel, declares that love is from God, because God <i>is </i>love; and we love only because God first loved us. And if God can love us, sinners that we are, then surely we can love each other. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">John notes that “No one has ever seen God,” which seems like a weird thing to say in this context, but it could be taken to mean two things. First, John follows this phrase by saying, “If we love one another, God lives in us.” In other words, though no one has ever seen God, <i>evidence</i> of God is seen in our love for one another, since we could not do so without God. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Second, by “No one has ever seen God,” I would suggest that John also means that no one can claim to be more holy or more righteous in God’s sight than any other: that is, no one can lay a more special claim on God’s affection or on knowing God’s mind than anyone else. Therefore, <i>we</i> are no in position to exclude whom God wills to include.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Enter the story of the Ethiopian eunuch.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Luke, the author of Acts, makes it clear what makes this person interesting: he uses the word “eunuch” whenever he refers to him. Clearly, <i>this</i> is what Luke believes it is important to know and understand about this man (as opposed to his race, which would have been less of an issue for Luke’s contemporary readers than it is in our own time). A eunuch, of course, is a man who has been neutered, usually before they reach puberty. This makes them suitable, trusted servants in the courts of queens and princesses, or in the harems of powerful men. As it turns out, this particular eunuch was in the employ of an Ethiopian queen.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Being a God-fearer, one who worshiped the God of Israel though he may or may not have been a Jew, this man would have known that being a eunuch meant he was not welcome in the sacred assemblies of the Temple. The book of Deuteronomy makes it plain that no one who is sexually mutilated “shall be admitted to the assembly of the Lord” (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deut.+23%3A1&version=CEB" target="_blank">Deut. 23:1</a>). Now, the eunuch is not reading Deuteronomy, of course, but it is reasonable enough to assume that he knew his own status in the eyes of the very religion to which he adhered. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Perhaps you can imagine growing up going to church your entire life, and that even though you had been <i>baptized</i> by this congregation, and they had promised on that day to love and encourage you in the way of Christ, they now refuse to allow you to partake in holy communion—denying you fellowship with them in Christ, denying you communion with the Lord and Savior you emphatically confess and follow—because there was something about you, something over which you had no control, something that marked you and <i>identified</i> you, even if only privately, which caused your congregation to exclude you. Perhaps you can imagine that. And if so, then you have some idea of what this faithful eunuch experienced, as his sexual status caused God’s people to marginalize him.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Philip, one of the first Deacons of the church, was traveling through Samaria on an impressively successful evangelism tour, when a messenger of God said to him, “Hang a left over there, and head south toward Gaza.” And without batting an eye, Philip did as instructed. Without further ado, he came upon the Ethiopian eunuch, who was traveling home after coming to Jerusalem to worship, and he overheard the eunuch reading from the scroll of Isaiah, a scroll that early Christians knew well, and particularly the passage that the eunuch happened to be reading. Isaiah has a number of passages called the “songs of the suffering servant,” and this is one of those passages. From the earliest of times, followers of Christ interpreted those passages to be in reference to Jesus. Jesus was known to read and preach from Isaiah himself, and to read <i>himself</i> into that prophet’s scrolls. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Perhaps we should pause to note—as Luke did in writing this story—the passage in question. The eunuch, who had been dragged off in early childhood and mutilated against his will in such a way that made him ineligible for admittance to the holy assembly of God’s people, even though he’d had no say in the matter, was reading <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deut.+23%3A1&version=CEB" target="_blank">this</a>:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">And like a lamb before its shearer is silent, </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">so he didn’t open his mouth. </span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">In his humiliation, justice was taken away from him. </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Who can tell the story of his descendants, </span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">because his life was taken from the earth?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Surely, for the eunuch that passage hit close to home. He knew that <i>he</i> was like a sheep, led to the slaughter. He knew that in <i>his</i> humiliation, he’d been denied justice. He knew that none would tell the story of <i>his</i> descendants, because in his mutilated state, he could never have any.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Philip asked the eunuch, “Do you understand what you’re reading?” (And there is one sense in which the eunuch understood that passage <i>far better</i> than Philip ever could.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Nonetheless, he said to Philip, “Without someone to guide me, how could I? Tell me, who is Isaiah talking about here? Is he talking about himself, or is he talking about someone else?” Is this a word from God for some other person in some other time, or is this God’s word for me, today?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Philip, starting with that passage, and then also pointing out others, began to tell the eunuch the good news about Jesus. Isaiah may have been talking about himself. He may have been talking about the whole nation of Israel. He may have been talking about the Ethiopian eunuch. After all, our world is filled with such injustice. <i>Filled</i> with it. Most of all, taught Philip, Isaiah was talking about Jesus. The <i>good news</i> of Jesus is that, as the Word made flesh, as God incarnate, as God’s only begotten, Jesus had suffered that very injustice. The good news is that ours is a God who is acquainted with our grief, who knows what it is to be led like a lamb to the slaughter, to suffer the humiliation of human injustice, and to be cut off from the world he loves.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">This was indeed good news to the eunuch. Not only does God know the eunuch’s experience of being mutilated, humiliated, and cut off, but in Jesus Christ, God had experienced that humiliation for himself.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I cannot read this story—I cannot immerse myself in the psychic and spiritual anguish and the <i>injustice </i>dealt to the mutilated, disenfranchised eunuch—without holding in my heart and mind the <i>many </i>people, like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Freddie_Gray" target="_blank">Freddie Gray</a>, who like sheep are led to slaughter, who are denied justice, about whose descendants no one will speak, because their lives are cut short. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Even when such injustice does not <i>directly</i> affect us, or our families, or our communities, it does not mean that it is “not our problem.” Whenever there is injustice, God requires of his people that we seek justice (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Micah+6%3A8&version=NRSV" target="_blank">Micah 6:8</a>). We cannot claim to live in a free and just society unless that freedom and justice extends to everyone in it. And so it <i>is</i> our problem. Those of us who are privileged enough to have a skin color that makes our elected officials more likely to listen when we speak have a responsibility to speak on behalf of those who have not been heard. The prophet Isaiah—the very prophet this Ethiopian eunuch was reading on the day he met Philip—records God’s word to Israel saying, “Isn’t this the fast I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to untie the bonds of the yoke, to give the oppressed freedom, and to break every yoke?” (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isa.+58%3A6&version=NRSV" target="_blank">Isa. 58:6</a>).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">The eunuch heard the good news about Jesus—God’s Messiah, who was acquainted with the eunuch’s grief and who had experienced his humiliation and rejection—and <i>knew</i> that this was <i>his</i> Messiah; <i>his</i> Lord. Overcome by this realization, he said to Philip, “What’s to stop me from being baptized right here and now?”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">His question, like the question asked of me when I was being examined by the presbytery, had a “correct” answer. That “correct” answer was, “Actually, sir, there are any number of things that prevent you from being baptized. Let’s start with your sexual condition, which prevents you from being in communion with your fellow disciples.” To this day, the church tells people that all the time. “You’re not welcome, because the Bible says.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">But that’s not the answer Philip gave. He didn’t give the “correct” answer. Led by the Spirit, he gave a <i>better</i> answer. “What’s to stop me from being baptized right here and now?” the eunuch had asked, and Philip heard the Spirit reply, “Absolutely nothing. Nothing whatsoever.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">That’s right: Deacon Philip, led by the Spirit, <i>ignored</i> what Scripture said, and baptized the eunuch right then and there, sending him home rejoicing in Christ. Philip discerned that it doesn’t matter what Deuteronomy says, it doesn’t matter what Leviticus says. God’s will, in Christ and by the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit, is, as it is explained in the book of Ephesians, “to gather up <i>all things</i> in him: things in heaven and things on earth” (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Eph.+1%3A9-10&version=NRSV" target="_blank">Eph. 1:10</a>). The precedent for ignoring the “rules” of scripture in order to welcome one "gathered up" by God is to be found <i>in scripture.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">The one who was converted in this story was not the eunuch, it was <i>Philip</i>, who had to overcome the prejudices inherent in his religious traditions, and recognize that some rules—regardless of where they’re written—are an impediment to the gospel. The Church has a long and <i>terrible </i>history of using the Bible as a litmus test of the holiness of people not<i> </i>like us, while ignoring what scripture says about our <i>own </i>sinfulness. Our task is not to guard the door of the church, as though we were protecting some inner sanctum from those who would defile it with their brokenness. We’re doing a fine enough job of defiling God’s house already. Ours is the privilege to fling wide the doors of God’s kingdom, welcoming all whom <i>God</i> has called, even as we have been welcomed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I imagine that the eunuch went on reading as he continued on his journey back to Ethiopia. (Once a book changes your life this drastically, don’t you want to read the rest of it?) And so it wouldn’t have been long before he got to Isaiah, chapter 56, which reads in part, “The Lord says <i>to the eunuchs</i> who keep my Sabbaths, choose what I desire, and remain loyal to my covenant: in my temple and courts, I will give them a monument and a name <i>better</i> than sons and daughters. I will give them an enduring name that won’t be removed… My house will be known as a house of prayer <i>for all peoples</i>, says the Lord God” (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isa+56%3A4-8&version=NRSV" target="_blank">Isa. 56:4-5, 7b-8a</a>).</span><br />
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Dr. Matthew L. Camlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14864455479540692057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1981539311463102822.post-45720692266357640872015-03-01T10:14:00.001-05:002015-03-01T10:14:37.185-05:00Words Are Wind<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Back in October of 2012, a <a href="http://www.pewforum.org/2012/10/09/nones-on-the-rise/">Pew Research poll</a> caught a great deal of attention from the media in general, and <i>religious</i> media in particular. This poll showed that the number of those unaffiliated with any religious tradition had grown to one in five Americans (19.6%), and one in three Millennials (33%). Millennials are those aged 30 years and under. Research shows that this generation of youth and young adults has become increasingly disenfranchised with organized religion. It’s not that they don’t believe <i>anything</i> (they would call themselves” spiritual, but not religious”); rather, they prefer not to be associated with a specific religious tradition.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Young people look at the state of the Church today and experience grave dissatisfaction. Churches and denominations spend enormous amounts of time, money, and energy arguing amongst themselves about whose interpretation of scripture is most accurate, whose theology is most orthodox, whose stance on social issues is most righteous. Congregations wrangle over what “style” of worship will attract the most worshipers: Liturgical, Traditional, Contemporary, Charismatic, Blended, Emergent? All the while, young people (and the rest of the unaffiliated world) look on and ask, “Is there <i>anybody</i> who’s actually <i>doing</i> what Jesus commanded?” As Johnny Sears puts it in an article in the magazine <i>Weavings</i>, “They are fed up with a Christianity that has been more focused on <i>marketing</i> the faith than <i>living</i> it, and they are looking for more.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Opening our Bibles, we find that this is not a <i>new</i> problem, but it is one that both John and James address. John writes, “This is how <i>we</i> know love: Jesus laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. But if a person has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need and that person doesn’t care—how can the love of God remain in him?Little children, let’s not love with words or speech but with action and truth” (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+John+3%3A16-18&version=CEB">1 John 3:16-18</a>, CEB). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">James, the brother of Jesus, is even more specific in identifying the problem the church faces today: “My brothers and sisters, what good is it if people say they have faith but do nothing to show it? Claiming to have faith can’t save anyone, can it? Imagine a brother or sister who is naked and never has enough food to eat. What if one of you said, ‘Go in peace! Stay warm! Have a nice meal!’? What good is it if you<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">don’t actually give them what their body needs? In the same way, faith is dead when it doesn’t result in faithful activity” (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James+2%3A14-17&version=CEB">James 2:14-17</a>, CEB).</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In one of my favorite fictional book series, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/George-Martins-Thrones-5-Book-Boxed/dp/0345535529/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1425222223&sr=1-1&keywords=a+song+of+ice+and+fire">A Song of Ice and Fire</a>,</i> by George R. R. Martin, a commonly uttered proverb is “Words are wind.” Today’s Millennials have hit upon something that the Church would do well to take very seriously. “Being the body of Christ” is not an exercise in orthodox theology; it is an exercise in <i>fellowship</i>, that is, <i>love.</i> Words are wind. If we want more people to come to love and serve the Lord, if we want more people to become a part of the Body of Christ, then we’ll have to stop talking amongst ourselves about how important the Church is, and start <i>doing </i>what’s important: actually <i>being</i> the Body of Christ in the world.</span></div>
Dr. Matthew L. Camlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14864455479540692057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1981539311463102822.post-73211273964051015092014-11-04T18:25:00.000-05:002014-11-04T19:49:35.822-05:00A Spoon or a Ladle?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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An odd question, I understand. Tools, whether found in the carpenter’s wood shop, the mechanic’s garage, or the chef’s kitchen, are designed to serve specific functions. And so I should probably expect you to respond with, “That depends on what I’m using it for.”</div>
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True, true. And yet that response doesn’t <i>really</i> answer my question, which is intended to elicit a gut-reaction; a knee-jerk response; a word-association type flash of the subconscious mind that <i>wants</i> a spoon, that <i>wants</i> a ladle. All things being equal, and without considering the circumstances, would you rather use a spoon or a ladle?</div>
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There is something comforting about a spoon. Maybe it’s the smooth contours, the way it goes into the mouth without concern for safety (although not all spoons are created equal in this regard. Haven’t we all noticed that the plastic spoons they give you at Wendy’s are too deep? You either have to pull it out of your mouth with an upward flourish, or contort your upper lip to ensure that it comes out clean! But I digress…). Maybe a spoon brings to mind the comfort foods that require one: hearty winter soups and chilis, Cream of Wheat or oatmeal, ice cream.</div>
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Ladles are something altogether different, aren’t they? Well… unless one realizes that a ladle is just an oversized spoon with a wonky handle. But a ladle is a different tool for a different purpose. We don’t eat our Cap’n Crunch with a ladle (if you do, it’s a sure sign that it’s been entirely too long since you last washed the dishes). A ladle is what we reach for when the soup is hot and ready to serve; when the throat is parched, and punch is in order.</div>
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The spoon is a tool used to <i>consume</i>. The ladle is a tool used to <i>serve.</i> Would you rather use a spoon or a ladle?</div>
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Jesus said, “Don’t judge, and you won’t be judged. Don’t condemn, and you won’t be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good portion—packed down, firmly shaken, and overflowing—will fall into your lap. The portion you give will determine the portion you receive in return” (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+6%3A37-38&version=CEB">Luke 6:37-38, CEB</a>). It is interesting that Jesus contrasts judgment and condemnation with <i>giving</i>. Rather than <i>judge</i> our neighbor, rather than <i>condemn</i> her, Christ calls us to <i>serve</i> her. And not just half-heartedly, like someone who gives a cup of flour but cheats on the volume; but like one who packs it in, shakes it down, and allows the flour to spill over the edge of the scoop. </div>
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Or to use another analogy, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good portion—where the ladle digs deep from the heartiness at the <i>bottom</i> of the pot, rather than a ladle of thin broth from off the top—will be served into your bowl.”</div>
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A spoon is used to consume. It is what we use to bring what we need or want to our own mouths. The Apostle Paul wrote, “Don’t do anything for selfish purposes, but with humility think of others as better than yourselves. Instead of each person watching out for their own good, watch our for what is better for others. Adopt the attitude that was in Christ Jesus” (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Phil.+2%3A3-5&version=CEB">Phil. 2:3-5, CEB</a>).</div>
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That attitude is described by Jesus when he said, “Whoever wants to be first among you will be the slave of all, for the Human One [the Son of Man] didn't come to be served but rather to serve and to give his life to liberate many people” (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+10%3A44-45&version=CEB">Mark 10:44-45, CEB</a>). A ladle is used to serve. It answers the needs or desires of another. </div>
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Would you rather use a spoon or a ladle?<br />
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Dr. Matthew L. Camlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14864455479540692057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1981539311463102822.post-67548561509120934032014-10-13T13:57:00.002-04:002014-10-13T14:18:27.375-04:00Just One Thing: I'm a Martha, Not a Mary, and That's Okay<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I struggle with “the spiritual life” as it is most commonly construed. Because I am a pastor, others may imagine me sitting down to pray for long hours; more realistically, others might suppose that I have mastered the art of efficient and efficacious prayer—that is, that I have a red phone to God, and God always answers when I use it. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I look at the shelves in my pastor’s study, and they are heavy-laden with books with titles like <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Monastic-Not-Leave-Your/dp/1557254494/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1413221963&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=How+to+Be+a+Monastic+Without+Leaving+Your+Day+Job">How to Be a Monastic Without Leaving Your Day Job</a>,</i> <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Discerning-Gods-Will-Together-Spiritual-ebook/dp/B00JNLQWZ4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1413222248&sr=8-1&keywords=Discerning+God%E2%80%99s+Will+Together">Discerning God’s Will Together</a>, <a href="http://In Constant Prayer">In Constant Prayer</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Art-Spiritual-Listening-Responding-Fisherman-ebook/dp/B001RLTFFC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1413222300&sr=8-1&keywords=Spiritual+Listening">The Art of </a></i><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Art-Spiritual-Listening-Responding-Fisherman-ebook/dp/B001RLTFFC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1413222300&sr=8-1&keywords=Spiritual+Listening">Spiritual Listening</a>, </i>and of course, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Celebration-Discipline-Richard-J-Foster-ebook/dp/B000FC110Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1413222350&sr=8-1&keywords=Celebration+of+Discipline">Celebration of Discipline</a></i>. These titles don’t even scratch the surface (I’m something of a bibliophile), but they point to that same “commonly construed” idea of what “the spiritual life” ought to entail: quiet, contemplation, discernment, meditation, and the like.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">But I’ve a problem. I long to live a life of spiritual peace and tranquility. I’ve been assured by so many authors, so many contemplatives that such a life is not only possible but preferable. And yet I am almost <i>never </i>content, almost <i>never </i>at peace. Perhaps I am a Mary at heart who’s been forced to do Martha’s work.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">But it occurs to me that conventional interpretations of the famous “Mary and Martha” passage are rather unfair to Martha. Mary and Martha are playing host to Jesus and his cadre of disciples. Martha is bustling about in the attempt to be the consummate hostess. Mary sits at Jesus’ feet and listens to him talk. When Martha complains that Mary isn’t helping (and demands of the Lord that he do something about it!), Jesus’ response is, “Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things. One thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the better part. It won’t be taken away from her” (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+10%3A41-42&version=CEB">Luke 10:41-42</a>, CEB).</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">The fact that Mary is sitting and listening does <i>not</i> mean that this is what <i>Martha</i> should be doing. In a subtle shift, Jesus has reframed the discussion in order to advise the individual to whom he is speaking. “Martha, you’re not angry because Mary isn’t helping; you’re angry because you’re worried and distracted by many things, when only <i>one </i>thing matters.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">When I was in high school, one of my favorite movies was <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101587/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">City Slickers</a>.</i> In it, Billy Crystal plays Mitch, a New York City resident who has just turned 39 and who is going through something of an existential, midlife crisis. As a birthday gift, his more adventurous friends give him the gift of a 2-week southwestern cattle drive experience. The trail boss is a tough-as-nails man called Curly, played by the late Jack Palance (who won an Oscar for this role). Initially, Mitch and Curly do <i>not</i> hit it off. Curly overhears Mitch insulting him behind his back, and later, a destructive stampede turns out to have been Mitch’s fault. His punishment: spend the night <i>alone</i> with Curly, seeking out missing cows that had strayed from the herd during the stampede.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">At first fearing for his life (for Curly was, indeed, an intimidating, unpredictable man), Mitch found that despite Curly’s tough exterior, he was very wise. Curly offers Mitch some advice about how to deal with all the problems in his life. “Do you know what the secret of life is?” he asked Mitch. Holding up an index finger, he said, “This.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">“Your finger?” Mitch asks.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">“One thing,” Curly replies. “Just one thing. You stick to that, and the rest don’t mean shit.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">“But what <i>is</i> the one thing?” Mitch queries.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">And smiling, Curly replies, “That’s what <i>you</i> have to find out.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">That’s the Hollywood version of Jesus’ conversation with Martha. “You’re distracted by many things; you need only <i>one</i> thing.” Where conventional interpretation gets this pericope wrong is in suggesting that Mary has found “<i>the</i> thing” but Martha hasn’t. Mary has found <i>her</i> thing. Martha is, perhaps, unable to figure out which of her life’s many things is her “one thing.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">This has implications for congregations that support a bazillion ministries and missions which, if honestly assessed, are really the pet projects of a few individual members. A congregation should have a singular identity and a focused missional calling as a body. But some congregations are distracted by <i>many</i> things, and it behooves church Sessions (or whatever their governing boards may be called) to prayerfully consider seeking the “one thing” that God is calling their congregation to be and to do.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">But getting back to my original point: this has implications for individuals like me. I long to be more like Mary, because sitting at Jesus’ feet sounds like a peaceful place to be. But I’m <i>not</i> Mary; I’m Martha. And recently, I discovered that no less a venerated and respected mystic and monastic as Thomas Merton was, arguably, a Martha just like me.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">In the most recent volume of <i><a href="http://weavings.upperroom.org/">Weavings</a></i>, “a journal of the Christian spiritual life,” Johnny Sears writes, in “Merton and the Spirituality of Restlessness,”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">“For much of Christian history, restlessness has been viewed with suspicion and seen as an indication of a lack of faith or conviction—especially in the eyes of the ‘powers that be.’ After all, a restless spirit can be disruptive and out of control. It usually raises hard and uncomfortable questions and is generally inefficient from an operational standpoint. Nonetheless, restlessness has continued to break out when the systems and structures of religion or society have become too rigid and the answers too easy…</span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">“In this tradition, <i>spiritual restlessness is a gift that wakens us to an inner discontent with the self-delusions and culture illusions that prevent us from realizing the fullness of our humanity as beings created in the image of God. Indeed, when we listen to our discontent, it can drive us to seek a better way</i>” (<i>Weavings</i>, Vol. XXX, No. 1, pp. 17-18, emphasis added).</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Sears goes on to note that “restlessness alone is insufficient,” and that a “container or crucible” is necessary to contain us as we undergo the transformation that restlessness seeks and signals. For Merton, this was Benedictine monasticism. For others, it is something else. But again, the theme of “One Thing.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">On the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator, I am an ENFP (Extrovert iNtuitive Feeling Perceiving). This casts me as a charismatic, visionary leader with poor attention to detail and follow-through (admittedly, this is remarkably accurate). But it also points to the restlessness of my personality, work ethic, and spirituality. As noted by Roy M. Oswald and Otto Kroeger in their book published by the Alban Institute, <i>Personality Type and Religious Leadership,</i> </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">“The continual search to find themselves can leave NF clergy with a lack of peace and joy in their lives. The gap between who I am now and who I might become is never bridged with NFs. So that they do not surrender to impossible demands, NFs must recognize this gap as a spiritual issue that will always be with them so that they can experience some degree of peace. As the old NF St. Augustine once prayed, ‘We will be restless, Lord, until we finally find our rest in you.’”</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">As U2 succinctly puts it, “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.” But while I may never “find peace” as if it were my life journey’s destination, perhaps I can “make peace” with the journey itself, acknowledging that my restless spirit is what keeps me walking on The Way in the first place.</span></span></div>
Dr. Matthew L. Camlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14864455479540692057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1981539311463102822.post-74329491481634812132014-10-09T16:16:00.000-04:002014-10-13T13:37:58.108-04:00The Church IS Caving to Pressure to Adopt Societal Norms, But Not the One You're Thinking Of<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1C7376pztp4dH5f2efS9ZdCjHdO7iuvzWnpPWoHXBfLpQIg6aWfOgK2VZ0_cFyn1RKqvCZSboMVzLA5RXjrsQmN_DpanXyU1cyQ0x-YP840K3koz2tn02U8Yt1j3Kow4jA9zDrRBb58s/s1600/dividedchurch2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1C7376pztp4dH5f2efS9ZdCjHdO7iuvzWnpPWoHXBfLpQIg6aWfOgK2VZ0_cFyn1RKqvCZSboMVzLA5RXjrsQmN_DpanXyU1cyQ0x-YP840K3koz2tn02U8Yt1j3Kow4jA9zDrRBb58s/s1600/dividedchurch2.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Paul puts it in the clearest possible terms in the 14th chapter of his letter to the Romans: "Who are you to judge someone else’s servants? They stand or fall before their own Lord (and they will stand, because the Lord has the power to make them stand)." </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">(<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Rom.+14%3A4&version=CEB">Rom. 14:4, CEB</a>).</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">At
this point in his letter, Paul is talking about doctrinal issues of significant
importance in the life of the church in his day. Should people eat food that
had been sacrificed to idols? Should the Sabbath still be observed? Those
aren’t the controversies that plague the church today, but we have
controversies of our own, don’t we? We can certainly think of controversies
about which we feel passionately—so passionately, in fact, that we might </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">think</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"> that they serve as sufficient
cause to reject fellowship with others: homosexuality, abortion, universalism,
the authority of scripture, divestment decisions, and so on. But here Paul
makes a clear argument that regardless of one’s personal convictions, such
controversies are insufficient cause for breaking fellowship with fellow
Christians.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">He’s
not saying we shouldn’t care about important issues, or that we should stop
advocating for our positions. Paul engaged in theological arguments and
disputes all the time. Paul is not as concerned about the moral rectitude of
Christians’ deeply held convictions as he is about the </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">spirit</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"> of those Christians </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">for</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">
or </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">toward</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"> those with whom they
disagree: “Those who [hold one position] must not look down on the ones who [do
not], and the ones who do not [hold that position] must not judge the ones who
do, because </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">God has accepted them”</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">
(</span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+14%3A3&version=CEB" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">14:3</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">). Granted, this is not universally applicable. He acknowledges that
whether they hold one position or the other, </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">they do so as a conscientious act of faithfulness,</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"> seeking to glorify
God (</span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+14%3A6&version=CEB" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">14:6</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">). </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">That</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"> is the litmus test —
perhaps the only valid one — for determining continued fellowship. “I
wholeheartedly disagree with my sister’s position on abortion,” one might say,
“But in her position, she seeks to glorify God.” I suspect that this reflective
attitude would almost invariably yield an unbroken fellowship, and it just </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">might</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"> result in a dialogue wherein each
party comes away with a better appreciation for (though not necessarily
agreement with) the position of the other.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">I
have heard it said, especially lately, that the church is accommodating
societal norms, “caving to pressure to be more like the rest of society,” and I
couldn’t agree more. To whit, we have allowed ourselves to believe that we can
hate and despise those who disagree with us, just like the rest of society. “Out
in the world,” liberals and conservatives (because those are apparently the
only two kinds of people who exist) disparage each other, hate each other,
sabotage each other, and even stoop to the school-yard level of calling each
other names, and all because of the self-righteousness with which they cling to
their own positions.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Most
troublingly, we’ve been seeing the same behavior happening in the church as
well. We stop seeing another person as a child of God, and view him or her
instead as the personification of a sin — such as the “sin” of being a liberal,
the “sin” of being a conservative. Good people — </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">good</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"> people — fall victim to this mentality, and it doesn’t just
happen “out there in the world;” it also happens within the Church. And </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">that</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"> is the sin. The closely held belief
of the people with whom you disagree probably </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">isn’t</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"> sinful; but the disdain, the dismissiveness, the very </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">thoughts</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"> that you have about those
people in your mind probably </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">are</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"> sinful.
</span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">That</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"> is the sin of society that we
have allowed to infiltrate the body of Christ. We are called to be </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">better</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"> than that.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Our
identity is not derived from political or moral standing, or from
identification with </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">these</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"> people in
opposition to </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">those</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"> people. Instead,
Paul points the Romans to the transcendent truth: “If we live, we live to the
Lord; if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or whether we
die, we are the Lord’s” (Rom. 14:8). Our relation to </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">every other</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"> is mediated through our relation to God. Period.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">When
does forgiveness end? </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Never</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"> (</span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matt.+18%3A21-22&version=CEB" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Matt.18:21-22</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">)</span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">.</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"> Who shouldn’t we love? </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">No one </i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">(</span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+10%3A25-37&version=CEB" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Luke 10:25-37</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">)</span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">.</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"> Who is in a position to condemn? </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Only Christ</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"> (</span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Rom.+8%3A34&version=CEB" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Rom. 8:34</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">)</span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Only
Christ.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">How
might the world respond to the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">church if
it offered the positive example of disagreeing without being disagreeable as an
alternative to the surpassing value the world places on “winning” political
battles where no one </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">actually </i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">wins? Rather than emulating the world, the
church should “exhibit the kingdom of heaven in the world,” offering it an
alternative model of interpersonal and inter-institutional dialogue worth
emulating.</span></span></div>
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<!--EndFragment-->Dr. Matthew L. Camlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14864455479540692057noreply@blogger.com0