Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Next Meeting
Thursday, October 6th at Hope Presbyterian at noon, bring your own lunch and I'll bring some treats~
Friday, August 26, 2011
The Secret of the Good Samaritan: Reflections on the Fellowship Conference
There is a secret, several secrets actually in the parable of the Good Samaritan. Luther discovered the first, namely that Jesus is the Good Samaritan. Jesus is the despised, the rejected "Samaritan" who rescues the man beaten and left for dead by the side of the road. In order to justify himself the lawyer had asked, "who is my neighbor?" but Jesus in great mercy and pity for the lawyer, turns this question on its head, answering in effect, "I am your neighbor!" "I, who come to you and see you and bind your wounds and heal you, 'I am your neighbor.'"
Knowing of Luther's interpretation then, I was disconcerted by the question posed in the small groups of the Fellowship Conference Thursday evening, "Who is my neighbor?" This is the hostile question of the lawyer! But then I realized that that is exactly who we are. You see there is a second secret in the parable: the lawyer is the man who fell among the thieves. The man in the parable is beaten by thieves and left "half-dead" (or should we say, "deathly ill?"). Jesus understands our hearts (Psalm 139) and when he sees the lawyer and hears his self-justifying question, "who is my neighbor?" Jesus knows that the lawyer has been attacked and overmastered by his sins. The lawyer stands before Jesus seemingly as right as rain, but in truth the lawyer is as good as dead utterly undone by sin and the devil, twin thieves who take all that he has. This is us. The leaders of the Fellowship Conference have correctly surmised that we are "deathly ill;" their solution is understandable and pitiable but let's face face facts, in large measure their solution is retreat, to cross by on the other side of the road. But is this Jesus' solution? On the contrary instead of retreating he comes to where we are, he crosses the road, he comes near and sees us and binds up our wounds. The kids use to ask, "What Would Jesus Do?" I think we know. We despair of solutions, but it is not our job to find solutions, our job is simply to follow Jesus and go where he goes. He is not leaving our denomination, he isn't crossing by the other side of the road, and neither am I. More than anything else I too want peace and rest, I love and respect all the leaders of the Fellowship but in the end I know that only Jesus is peace and all other sabbaths and man-made havens, false.
Knowing of Luther's interpretation then, I was disconcerted by the question posed in the small groups of the Fellowship Conference Thursday evening, "Who is my neighbor?" This is the hostile question of the lawyer! But then I realized that that is exactly who we are. You see there is a second secret in the parable: the lawyer is the man who fell among the thieves. The man in the parable is beaten by thieves and left "half-dead" (or should we say, "deathly ill?"). Jesus understands our hearts (Psalm 139) and when he sees the lawyer and hears his self-justifying question, "who is my neighbor?" Jesus knows that the lawyer has been attacked and overmastered by his sins. The lawyer stands before Jesus seemingly as right as rain, but in truth the lawyer is as good as dead utterly undone by sin and the devil, twin thieves who take all that he has. This is us. The leaders of the Fellowship Conference have correctly surmised that we are "deathly ill;" their solution is understandable and pitiable but let's face face facts, in large measure their solution is retreat, to cross by on the other side of the road. But is this Jesus' solution? On the contrary instead of retreating he comes to where we are, he crosses the road, he comes near and sees us and binds up our wounds. The kids use to ask, "What Would Jesus Do?" I think we know. We despair of solutions, but it is not our job to find solutions, our job is simply to follow Jesus and go where he goes. He is not leaving our denomination, he isn't crossing by the other side of the road, and neither am I. More than anything else I too want peace and rest, I love and respect all the leaders of the Fellowship but in the end I know that only Jesus is peace and all other sabbaths and man-made havens, false.
Stay and Tell
Elijah the prophet, he ran away
He just didn't have the heart,
Anymore to stay.
"I'm all alone!" to God he cried,
And in the desert, he would have died
But in his mercy God woke him up
And gave him a meal from heaven on which to sup
And brought him to the mountain,
The truth to show: seven thousand in Israel
Never to Baal did go.
Not by power and not by might
The still, small voice wins the fight.
Be encouraged in that fight today,
For God goes ahead and gives us words to say.
Dear prophet Elijah shows us well
Not to run and hide but stay and tell
The grace of God in the face of wrong
Of Man and of Woman, Jesus, his Bride, Love's True Song--
To sing... for to him, Our Savior, we will always belong.
Not by power and not by might
The Holy Spirit will give us sight
A vision to tell to those in need
For Jesus Messiah, he is Lord indeed!
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Statement Against 10-A
Kathleen suggested I post this.
Statement Against 10-A, "the conservative vote is the just vote" by Amy Kosari
A vote against 10-A is a vote for justice. The other day I was reading the theologian Mark Achtemeier’s address to the Covenant Network and the accompanying article. He said that he had once “succumbed to the temptation of ecclesiastical tunnel vision.” “I read authors I agreed with, I talked with those I agreed with, I hung out with those I agreed with.” That is a good warning to all of us and heeding it I would like to try to get to the crux of the argument of the other side: For five hundred years Protestants have preached that we are justified by faith in Christ, “the justice of God by faith in Jesus for all believers.” All believers, Paul wrote, not some. America sought to do justice to her slaves and later to women. Now it is proposed that we do justice to women who love women and men who want men--And why not? Are not there women and men who are faithful to their partners, even “till death do us part”? And do not they wish to occupy our pulpits to proclaim their faith in Christ? Surely it is meet and right that we extend to them the right hand of fellowship after so long a time when we blocked them from proclaiming this faith?
But what if justification by faith in Christ is a wrong translation? What if justification by faith is in fact when a man marries a woman? Again I ask, what if justification by faith in Christ is a wrong translation? What if, as some scholars now say, we are justified by the faith of Jesus? I think there is an even better translation. We are justified by the "establishment" of Jesus. After all, what is justice? Justice is when (to quote Isaiah 53:11 and 55:3) “the just one, my slave, shall justify many, by “the pities of David, the established ones”. Let me break that down. Justification is when the righteous slave of Isaiah 53 makes many, a numberless many, right when they were in the wrong. And how is it that the slave, the man of sorrows, Jesus, how is it that he justifies many? Isaiah 55 tells us, it is by the mercy of God, when God the Father establishes, is faithful to, the suffering servant. And here’s the final piece of the puzzle. What is the immediate effect of justification? Answer: A woman is made happy (Isaiah 54), a once despairing woman is married. And who is this woman? Zion and her assembly, “our feet are standing within thy gates.” Justification by faith, justice itself is when a man marries a woman. A colleague of mine once said, “Amy, marriage, love between a man and a woman, romance, the Song of Songs these are merely side issues.” On the contrary, it turns that romance is the good news, romance is justification, the romance between Jesus and his assembly is justification. Vote against 10-A and vote for justice.
I know what I am saying is quite new. Give me a call, talk to me. Let’s heed Mark Achtemeier’s warning and not isolate ourselves but talk with those with whom we do not agree.
Statement Against 10-A, "the conservative vote is the just vote" by Amy Kosari
A vote against 10-A is a vote for justice. The other day I was reading the theologian Mark Achtemeier’s address to the Covenant Network and the accompanying article. He said that he had once “succumbed to the temptation of ecclesiastical tunnel vision.” “I read authors I agreed with, I talked with those I agreed with, I hung out with those I agreed with.” That is a good warning to all of us and heeding it I would like to try to get to the crux of the argument of the other side: For five hundred years Protestants have preached that we are justified by faith in Christ, “the justice of God by faith in Jesus for all believers.” All believers, Paul wrote, not some. America sought to do justice to her slaves and later to women. Now it is proposed that we do justice to women who love women and men who want men--And why not? Are not there women and men who are faithful to their partners, even “till death do us part”? And do not they wish to occupy our pulpits to proclaim their faith in Christ? Surely it is meet and right that we extend to them the right hand of fellowship after so long a time when we blocked them from proclaiming this faith?
But what if justification by faith in Christ is a wrong translation? What if justification by faith is in fact when a man marries a woman? Again I ask, what if justification by faith in Christ is a wrong translation? What if, as some scholars now say, we are justified by the faith of Jesus? I think there is an even better translation. We are justified by the "establishment" of Jesus. After all, what is justice? Justice is when (to quote Isaiah 53:11 and 55:3) “the just one, my slave, shall justify many, by “the pities of David, the established ones”. Let me break that down. Justification is when the righteous slave of Isaiah 53 makes many, a numberless many, right when they were in the wrong. And how is it that the slave, the man of sorrows, Jesus, how is it that he justifies many? Isaiah 55 tells us, it is by the mercy of God, when God the Father establishes, is faithful to, the suffering servant. And here’s the final piece of the puzzle. What is the immediate effect of justification? Answer: A woman is made happy (Isaiah 54), a once despairing woman is married. And who is this woman? Zion and her assembly, “our feet are standing within thy gates.” Justification by faith, justice itself is when a man marries a woman. A colleague of mine once said, “Amy, marriage, love between a man and a woman, romance, the Song of Songs these are merely side issues.” On the contrary, it turns that romance is the good news, romance is justification, the romance between Jesus and his assembly is justification. Vote against 10-A and vote for justice.
I know what I am saying is quite new. Give me a call, talk to me. Let’s heed Mark Achtemeier’s warning and not isolate ourselves but talk with those with whom we do not agree.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Conservative Support Group Meeting
We will meet at Hope on Thursday, May 5th at noon. Bring your own lunch. Hope to see you all there!
Friday, April 29, 2011
A Poem for Your Consideration
Elijah the prophet, he ran away
He just didn't have the heart,
Anymore to stay.
"I'm all alone!" to God he cried,
And in the desert, he would have died
But in his mercy God woke him up
And gave him a meal from heaven on which to sup
And brought him to the mountain,
The truth to show: seven thousand in Israel
Never to Baal did go.
Not by power and not by might
The still, small voice wins the fight.
Be encouraged in that fight today,
For God goes ahead and gives us words to say.
Dear prophet Elijah shows us well
Not to run and hide but stay and tell
The grace of God in the face of wrong
Of Man and of Woman, Jesus, his Bride, Love's True Song--
To sing... for to him, Our Savior, we will always belong.
Not by power and not by might
The Holy Spirit will give us sight
A vision to tell to those in need
For Jesus Messiah, he is Lord indeed!
He just didn't have the heart,
Anymore to stay.
"I'm all alone!" to God he cried,
And in the desert, he would have died
But in his mercy God woke him up
And gave him a meal from heaven on which to sup
And brought him to the mountain,
The truth to show: seven thousand in Israel
Never to Baal did go.
Not by power and not by might
The still, small voice wins the fight.
Be encouraged in that fight today,
For God goes ahead and gives us words to say.
Dear prophet Elijah shows us well
Not to run and hide but stay and tell
The grace of God in the face of wrong
Of Man and of Woman, Jesus, his Bride, Love's True Song--
To sing... for to him, Our Savior, we will always belong.
Not by power and not by might
The Holy Spirit will give us sight
A vision to tell to those in need
For Jesus Messiah, he is Lord indeed!
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Interesting Article
Many of you may have received this link through Presbyterian Coalition but I also wanted to post it here. "Fear not little children, it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."
http://www.churchandworld.com/PCUSA/2011/Viewpoint/0420-MikeGoeke-PowerofTheResurrection.htm
http://www.churchandworld.com/PCUSA/2011/Viewpoint/0420-MikeGoeke-PowerofTheResurrection.htm
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Meeting This Thursday
We meet on Thursday, February 24th at Hope at noon. Bring your own sack lunch~ See you there!
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