NEO-RESTORATIONIST

The American Fantasy

2007-10-26T09:43:00.000-07:00

There was time when the so-called American Dream morphed into a disturbing sort of materialism and selfishness--a picket fence and a three car garage, a yearly vacation and a fat 401k. So missionaries are thought to be fanatical or hyper-spiritual because leaving these things is virtually unthinkable. We are just unsure whether it is possible to live with other priorities, other motivations, much less be happy doing it. I suppose the American Dream might, even in its most ideal state, never have been innocent, so to speak. But in some sense it did transform from "making it" into making lots of it or bust. That has been the evolution of a culture that found affluence. I think the next step in that evolution is already well under way. To be clear, I am talking here about values, not realities. I have appreciated the song "Rockstar" by Nickelback as it has caricatured what I am calling the American Fantasy.

Rockstark

I'm through with standin' in line
To clubs I'll never get in
It's like the bottom of the ninth
And I'm never gonna win
This life hasn't turned out
Quite the way I want it to be
(Tell me what you want)

I want a brand new house
On an episode of Cribs
And a bathroom I can play baseball in
And a king size tub big enough
For ten plus me
(Yea, So what you need)

I need a credit card that's got no limit
And a big black jet with a bedroom in it
Gonna join the mile high club
At thirty-seven thousand feet
--(Been there done that)--

I want a new tour bus full of old guitars
My own star on Hollywood Boulevard
Somewhere between Cher and
James Dean is fine for me
(So how you gonna do it?)

I'm gonna trade this life for fortune and fame
I'd even cut my hair and change my name

[CHORUS]
'Cause we all just wanna be big rockstars and
Live in hilltop houses driving fifteen cars
The girls come easy and the drugs come cheap
We'll all stay skinny 'cause we just won't eat
And we'll hang out in the coolest bars
In the VIP with the movie stars
Every good gold digger's
Gonna wind up there
Every Playboy bunny
With her bleach blonde hair
And well...

Hey, hey, I wanna be a rockstar
Hey, hey, I wanna be a rockstar

I wanna be great like Elvis without the tassels
Hire eight body guards that love to beat up ********
Sign a couple autographs
So I can eat my meals for free
(I'll have the quesadilla, on the house)

I'm gonna dress my ***
With the latest fashion
Get a front door key to the Playboy mansion

Gonna date a centerfold that loves to
Blow my money for me
(So how you gonna do it?)

I'm gonna trade this life
For fortune and fame
I'd even cut my hair
And change my name

'Cause we all just wanna be big rockstars and
Live in hilltop houses driving fifteen cars
The girls come easy and the drugs come cheap
We'll all stay skinny 'cause we just won't eat
And we'll hang out in the coolest bars
In the VIP with the movie stars
Every good gold digger's
Gonna wind up there
Every Playboy bunny
With her bleach blonde hair
And we'll hide out in the private rooms
With the latest dictionary of
Today's who's who
They'll get you anything
with that evil smile
Everybody's got a
Drug dealer on speed dial, well
Hey, hey, I wanna be a rockstar

I'm gonna sing those songs
That offend the censors
Gonna pop my pills
From a Pez dispenser
Get washed-up singers writing all my songs
Lip sync 'em every night so I don't get 'em wrong

Well we all just wanna be big rockstars
And live in hilltop houses driving fifteen cars
The girls come easy and the drugs come cheap
We'll all stay skinny 'cause we just won't eat
And we'll hang out in the coolest bars
In the VIP with the movie stars
Every good gold digger's
Gonna wind up there
Every Playboy bunny
With her bleach blond hair
And we'll hide out in the private rooms
With the latest dictionary of
Today's who's who
They'll get you anything
with that evil smile
Everybody's got a
Drug dealer on speed dial,well

Hey, hey, I wanna be a rockstar
Hey, hey, I wanna be a rockstar

I love this bit of honesty from a very rockstar band. It's conceivable that they are seriously endorsing such aspirations as the Don't Eat Diet, but it seems to me to be dripping with irony. This is what people want, though. This has, somehow, become the ideal state. Although, of course, many would assume that it's just not possible for them, we are talking about values. This is the fantasy. You can see the escalation from a shiny house and an easy retirement to flippant wealth and decadence.

My favorite line, though, is the first one of the chorus: "I'm gonna trade this life for fortune and fame." Straightforward and accurate. When I hear these words I cannot resist Jesus' words ringing in my head after them.

"For what will a man be benefited if he gains the whole world but forfeits his life. Or what will a man give in exchange for his life?"

In a way I guess its a better answer to the question to trade life for the Fantasy rather than the Dream, lest we feel cheated in the end. For the Dream seems not to be worth it by comparison. But then, Jesus' point was that there never will be anything that is worth it. We are always settling if we do not choose life, and it is a very poor settlement at best.

What are you trading your life for?

I'm it...I guess.

2007-10-16T10:05:00.000-07:00

Here are the rules. 1)Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves. (2) People who are tagged need to write a post on their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules. (3) At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names. (4) Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

(1) I would normally consider getting tagged on par with 99% of emails beginning with "Fwd:"--subject to immediate deletion with prejudice. But my wife is the boss of me.
(2) I am an avid Dungeons and Dragons player. It is, hands down, my favorite pass-time, though I'll take a good fantasy novel if I can't find anyone to play with.
(3) I find nothing so satisfying as my wife's cooking.
(4) I'm a caffeine addict, and I like it. That (good) coffee is so scrumptious is a major bonus.
(5) Oddly, two of my very favorite movies are westerns--Lonesome Dove and Tombstone--although typically I go for anything in the epic history genre (Robin Hood [yes, even with Costner], Braveheart, Three Musketeers, Gladiator, etc.).
(6) I dislike people who watched Lord of the Rings without reading the books and then consider themselves fans of Tolkien. We had a countdown calendar for the premier of FotR for over a year.
(7) Although my name is Gregory Eugene, I did avoid being Elbert Eugene III. By the way, Elbert the First was called Peewee. Gregory is my mother's maiden name. My whole family calls me Gregory rather than Greg.
(8) I like to stay up after everyone goes to bed, because I am that introverted.

Unfortunately, I don't have eight people to tag that have blogs. If you're a HUGSR blogger, consider yourself eligible.

Thoughts on Strategy I

2007-08-06T18:56:00.000-07:00

Well, let's talk shop a bit. I've got lots of things puzzling me about people's perceptions of our mission team's strategy. I figure I can break it up into more than one discussion, so let's start with the basics.

Team Arequipa is going to begin with a "house church" model of church planting. Now, there is lot's of terminology floating around out there in the ether of church planting jargon, and too often no one is sure what anyone else means. So let me clarify a bit. We intend to "do church" in homes. We will begin in our own, and after bringing people to faith, move to their homes. The size of a church will be determined to a large extent by the size of a house or its meeting facilities. Interestingly, Arequipa is sunny about 340 day of the year, and there is lot of outside space available to poor people with tiny houses. So don't bust my chops over practicalities! We'll make do, and we certainly weren't choosing this strategy because our converts will have big abodes. Churches that grow too large will multiply (it's not PC to say "split") and so grows the Kingdom.

So why have we chosen this model? Well, there are lots of reasons, and I suppose each of those might make a post. Every post will have to do with Latin American and, more specifically, Peruvian culture, and every one will be missiologically oriented. For this first one, I want to talk about the general issue often raised--at least to this point--concerning the Latin American perception of "church."

Let me say that I am not an expert on Latin American culture, and although I can boast a missions degree form my glorious alma mater, I am neither over-qualified in missiology. I have actively endeavored to understand both, though, and that's where I'm coming from.

It might be fair to say that the vast majority of difficult questions in the mission field are a matter of navigating the fine line between enculturation and accomodation. In any given situation, some will argue for what is "contextually appropriate." Sensitivity to cultural context is the basis for sound missiology as we know it. In that same situation, others will argue for a seemingly less culturally appropriate option on the basis of some other governing principle. The former claims to be incarnational and the latter claims to be prophetic. The prophetic missionary accuses the incarnational missionary of accomodating people instead of teaching them truth, and the incarnational missionary accuses the prophetic missionary of being boorish and ethnocentric. Thank God Jesus was both incarnational and prophetic. (That was intended to be a massive understatement, in case you didn't catch it.) We know a good mix is possible, if we can avoid the polarizaiton.

So, here's the scenario. Those of you who have been clenching in hope of a practical example, feel free to relax. Latin America (LA) as a whole is a Roman Catholic culture, if one may be so audacious as to lump that many nations culturally. There is an amazing homogeneity, though, and it is in fact due to the Catholic church more than anything. Ninety percent of LA would claim adhesion to the Roman Catholic church, though it is a commonplace among Protestants to follow this up with a sentence using the world "nominal" at least once. But that is neither here nor there. The point is that we are going to a place in which everyone has firmly fixed notions about what "church" looks like. The particular point of interest for this post is that church happens in a temple. As big a temple as possible, in the middle of everything if possible. Separated from temple, the Christian religion is unidentifiable for many and repulsive to no few.

The questions begin, then. We have become well accustomed to large, prominent buildings in the U.S. CofC, so there is no incompatibility there. We also have the resources as sending churches to acquire property and build largely, prominently, and centrally. It makes sense to us, and we can do it. So why wouldn't we? Particularly if it removes a barrier that might impede a cultural Catholic's journey to faith. We should meet people where they are when possible, right?

I will spend a lot of keystrokes in future posts explaining why I think such a procedure is erroneous, but here I will mention just one. It is bad strategy because it is a default methodology. We do not know how to plant any other kind of church in LA. Bizarrely, our house church strategy has actually been accused of failure to enculturate. I contend the opposite--which is yet to be demonstrated--but I also contend that the methodology nearly always employed in LA by CofC missionaries is in fact the failure on that count.

All this depends of how one measures success of course. I do not deny that we are able to build a building downtown in nearly any LA city and fill it. But most any minister would admit that the markers of success will manifest in the long run and often in intangible ways. Moreover, we have yet to witness a real movement of churches in LA using the building model. There have been greater and lesser successes numerically, and Brazil is often held up as proof that the model works. Yet, I can testify that churches throughout a number of countries in South America eventually disappear or plateau at an average of 30 members. Of course, this is a very complex phenomenon, but I already said there will be a lot more posts. In any event, this is not even numerical success (sending churches' favorite kind), much less the other kinds of success that I value more highly.

My most essential point, though, is that in this case, we have not only carried an American church model with big buildings and big bucks to developing countries. We have also managed to call it "contextually appropriate," which means we have failed to see that enculturation must also entail challenging aspects of culture.
Understanding them, but challenging them. This is certainly so when the culture is bound up with a particular understanding of the Christian faith. We do no Latin American a favor by accomodating the templo mentality. We do the Kingdom no favor either. Rather, this is an instance in which preconceptions must be deconstructed. In order to understand the theologically and experientially profound meaning of "church" as God intended it, the best policy is to disassociate it from the temple. A sermon on "being the church" preached in a shiny Protestant temple isn't going to cut it.

One particularly baffling aspect of this discussion is where we are coming from as the CofC. Let me give a shout out here to AVB, "U Can't Go 2 Church," What's Your Tag Say?. You formed my young theology and my cracking adolescent vocals. Anyway, there are two things that make a house church model particularly Restorationist in the CofC sense of the word. Most obviously, that was the way it all began. That's tongue-in-cheek of course, but strange nonetheless. It happens to be one of those forms that has both sociological and theological impulses driving it. Under the rug it goes, though. Secondly, as AVB would remind us, we are churches that value saying what we mean and meaning what we say. Why allow misperceptions to govern our Latin American churches' view of church (Because it governs our own?). And let me add that it does in those churches where we have merely taught that the people of God are the church rather than demonstrating it. I consistently hear CofC Latinos refer to and see them treat the building as sacred space. To whatever extent U.S. missionaries are responsible, we have not done church in a way that allows cultural Catholics to have a fundamental paradigm shift--a change in worldview--regarding church. My belief is that a house church model might facilitate such a shift.

A little insight from Qumran

2007-07-18T07:40:00.000-07:00

The Dead Sea Scrolls have taught us a lot about Jewish theology around the time of the NT. This bit of insight is just slightly more interesting than most. I believe you'll agree.

4Q521
[the hea]vens and the earth will listen to His Messiah, and none therein will
stray from the commandments of the holy ones.
Seekers of the Lord, strengthen yourselves in His service!
All you hopeful in (your) heart, will you not find the Lord in this?
For the Lord will consider the pious (hasidim) and call the righteous by name.
Over the poor His spirit will hover and will renew the faithful with His power.
And He will glorify the pious on the throne of the eternal Kingdom.
He who liberates the captives, restores sight to the blind, straightens the b[ent]
And f[or] ever I will cleav[ve to the h]opeful and in His mercy . . .
And the fr[uit . . .] will not be delayed for anyone.
And the Lord will accomplish glorious things which have never been as [He . . .]
For He will heal the wounded, and revive the dead and bring good news
to the poor
. . .He will lead the uprooted and knowledge . . . and smoke (?)
(Michael O. Wise, translation)

You can tell the text is fragmentary, as most of the DS Scrolls are. So we have to put things together a little bit, but I think it is clear what that last phrase is telling us about the Messiah.

My House of Cards

2007-05-29T00:57:00.000-07:00

Here's a post I started months ago and came back to numerous times but never actually wrote; just typed the title and left it. I figure I'm more objective in retrospect anyway. I've got two classes left before completing becoming a Master of Divinity. Although I think Doctor of Philosophy sounds totally lofty, I have to say that Master of Divinity actually sounds like a more impressive claim. I mean, just listen to it. Hello, I'm Greg, and I have mastered divinity. Well, anyway, it's been a crazy three years. The M.Div. is an 84 hour program, which typically takes 4 years or more at 9 hours a semester. I've gone as quickly as I could, which meant some 12 hour semesters and 6 hours each summer. That's somewhat suicidal in itself, but manageable if you're studious and do nothing else. I was foolish enough, however, to work part time in ministry with the Hispanic church here in Memphis. So, I've had many moments of near-despair. There are only so many hours in the day, and even when you don't sleep for any of those, sometimes there just isn't enough time if you've overcommitted. Now, I won't go into all the motivations for engaging in such insanity--as it was my choice--but let's just say that I judged it to be the best course available. There has been a great deal of learning, as well there ought to be for the price! But there has been just as many life-lessons as academic ones. In particular, I've learned a lot about how to deal with the best course being a painful, less-than-ideal one. In case there are any total numbskulls stumbling across this blog, let me advise that starting marriage with a 12 hour semester and a new ministry job is bad business.

To be very transparent--and what's the point of blogging otherwise, right?--I have second-guessed my decisions many times. It seems that whenever something is hard, and you intend to do it for Kingdom reasons, there is inevitably doubt about whether motivations are pure (enough), whether it's hard because God's in disagreement, whether God's in agreement and just wants you to learn a lesson about not being dependent, etc. The reason I'm not supplying my motivations is that I don't intend you, the reader, to evaluate our family decisions. Like I said, I've done second-guessing aplenty, and if there was a time for seeking advice, it's long past. If you have a gem of wisdom to impart, try to catch me on the front end of the next kamikaze dive. In any event, I've definitely learned that it is always more complicated than the simple answer I would prefer.

Getting to my main point, I can also affirm that, whatever else God was doing through this experience, he was teaching me humility. I hear people joke about praying for patience and then finding themselves in frustrating experiences only to conclude that God was giving them practice. This has been something like that, I think, because I have prayed much and for many years for humility. Arrogance and pride are cancers to leadership, and I have long since come to recognize myself as a high-risk case on those counts. God has graciously given me many gifts, yet I imagine he often rolls his eyes at my self-satisfied and condescending attitude. It's one of those sad-funny ironies. So, you can imagine it's bad medicine for me to meet whatever standard I have set for myself without something to check my pride. You can imagine it's much the worse if the odds are against me and I succeed anyway. I am an academician. My progress in the academy is the fruit of both God-given ability and a labor of love. So I tend to excel even when taking more than a full load. It's no help when classmates shake their heads in disbelief upon learning that I've been taking 12 hours and still showing up to class prepared. So God gave me a few more cards to add to my house. And it came crashing down. My GPA suffered at times as I struggled to keep all my plates spinning. Deadlines came and went as my perfectionist self dragged into professors' offices to ask for grace. Many things I intended to do well were substandard, and other things simply never got done. Constantly plagued by the intention to pursue a terminal degree in the future, the desire for the respect of my profs., and the desire to learn as much as possible, I always strove for excellence. The current dean of the grad. school, however, is quite open about the fact that the M.Div. program was, for him, about learning that sometimes it is impossible to succeed. Whereas I thought that was nonsense when I started the program, I am in agreement now. Is that humility?

Chunky Monkey

2007-05-23T08:46:00.001-07:00

Ana weighed 12 lbs. 4 oz. at her two month checkup, placing her in the eightieth percentile on weight. She is also in the fortieth percentile on length, making her a little round. Many of you will be jealous to hear that she sleeps long stretches at night (up to seven hours). She eats and sleeps like her father, in other words. That's my girl.

First Outing

2007-04-02T12:57:00.000-07:00

Ana and I took an important step in our father-daughter relationship yesterday: we went to Barnes & Noble, got a vanilla latte, and checked out the Sci-Fi/Fantasy section. We had a great time. You'll note Jacques and Jordan on the shelf. I'm sure we'll be exploring Redwall in no time.

Anastasia

2007-03-28T13:10:00.000-07:00

Anastasia Grace McKinzie was born on March 23, 2007.
8lbs., 13oz., 20in.

For those who don't know, Anastasia means "resurrection." We will call her Ana, but it was important me to have a meaningful name. It probably sounds like we adopted a Russian baby, but I really love her full name. I hope that she will always be a reminder of resurrection grace to those around her. On a different note, "Ana" works well in Spanish. In fact, it will be interesting to see how she adapts to her American family saying her name "wrongly," because there will be no avoiding Spanish pronunciation every day in Peru.

Some thoughs.

I had never changed a diaper before the 23rd. I have to say I'm a natural. Megan couldn't do much after the c-section, so I got a lot of practice. Now, I knew that there is always some risk during the changing process, but I did not realize that it would be such a high risk. Apparently, when Daddy changes the diaper, it is an automatic psychological trigger to go some more. This inevitably happens while holding up the feet, so that it runs down the back and onto whatever shirt is worn. Of course, it is impractical to totally disrobe before every changing, which leads me to ask--why all the clothing? I get that it's cute, but practically, naked babies are easier to clean and produce much, much less laundry.

I'm adjusting to being called "Daddy." "Dad" is not a word that comes easily from my mouth. Baggage, and connotations, and such. "Father" is even a title I have struggled to use with God. It was interesting enough to marry into a family in which the inlaws refer to Dad as Dad. Now I am the paternal figure, and I have to get used to the ring of that word. It's good to be Daddy, but it's a change. In many ways, God has redeemed the word for me rather than being stained by it. I hope to be so good to Ana.

At this point things seem pretty surreal. It seems like we are baby sitting someone else's child. I don't think it will hit home until I start seeing some of my features in her or more of her personality comes out. To imagine that she will turn into a sassy little McKinzie is a crazy thought. I'm looking forward to it.

For pics:
picasaweb.google.com/gemckinzie/AnaGrace

Truly Mad

2007-03-19T16:55:00.000-07:00

March Madness is madder than you thought. I filled out a bracket and I'm posting on it. I'm shot in the MW and W, but in the E and S I'm still pretty good. I have South Cali and Vandy going to the Elite Eight in the East, and I have Ohio State and Memphis going in the South. I have both Florida in the MW and Kansas in the W going to the EE but both losing to teams that are already out. My prediction at this point is that Memphis goes to the championship over Vandy and Kansas goes over Florida. Who will win? Why, Memphis, of course.

James 1:27 Religion

2007-03-05T15:27:00.000-08:00

Here is the "transcript"of a recent chapel talk of mine. This is a combination of something I worked on for my Theological Hermeneutics final using part of Dr. Hicks' structure for theological reflection, some thinking I was already doing on this material, and some impetus from Brueggemann's Prophetic Imagination. I have said that this is the kind of religion I hope our team takes to Peru. It's the only kind of religion I have the will to give my life for.

James 1:27 Religion

Think about the religion that you know—what you grew up with. Think about the things that mark it as a religion. Imagine what an outsider experiencing your church life would say if you asked her to define your religion. Hold those images in your mind.

Have you ever let your imagination have free reign?
Have you ever imagined what God’s people could be like?
I imagine sometimes. I imagine what the people of God could look like in Arequipa, Peru. I imagine what could be if even a small number of leaders in a small movement were dedicated to the same vision.
It’s a funny thing, the imagination. It lets you think of all kinds of unlikelihoods; things that are outright fantastic in fact.
Now, I realize, no everyone is a fan of the fantastic. I’m sure there are some realists here. There are indeed those who mostly find imagination to be a waist. And those who find it to be a placebo, a deceptive distraction that, in the end, does more harm than good. There are even those who find imagination to be a threat—and here is where it gets interesting.
When someone is threatened by imagination, you see, the truth comes out. The truth is that so much of what we imagine—even the most unlikely things—are a vision of what can be. And what can be is always a threat to what is.

James 1:27 (ESV)
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

Now, I have to ask myself: is James really trying to draw a balanced conclusion here? Nah. More likely “pure and undefiled religion” would have some other components if his audience were erring in some other direction. The principle of genre tells me that much. And the commentators are quick to point out that this is not meant to be a comprehensive statement. So it seems I’ve put my eggs in the wrong basket if I’m looking for a good definition of religion in God’s sight. For that one I would need a much longer list and, certainly, a more balanced one.

But then I hear an echo in James 1:27, and I start listening more closely.

Exegesis
Contextualized Significance: What did the text call them to do? Christians should (1) “visit” (episkeptomai) orphans and widows in their distress and (2) keep themselves unstained by the world. The context is probably congregational life wherein worldly values of wealth and social estimation are affecting Christian conduct.

Contextualized Meaning: Why did the text call for this behavior? Because demonstrations of religiosity disconnected from the ethic and morality of Christ are empty. The Christian needs to fulfill the “royal law according to the Scripture” (Js. 2:8, cf. “law of Christ” Gal. 5:14; 6:2) in order to be religious in God’s estimation.

Theology
Theological Principles: What principles inhere in the text's meaning? (1) Religion is a matter of what is pleasing in God’s sight rather than the wolrd’s sight. (2) God is ultimately concerned with his people’s treatment of others, especially those in need.

Redemptive-History: How are they reflected in biblical history? Moving backward chronologically, Js. 1:27 resonates beautifully with an episode in Jesus’ ministry recorded in Lk. 7:11-17. Here Jesus raises the son of a widow in her distress. The pronouncement of the people is twofold: “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited (episkeptomai) his people!” James’ use of the word from the latter quotation indicates the way the Christian ethic is informed by God’s own incarnational ministry to the poor and needy. “Love your neighbor as yourself” is now appropriately called the “law of Christ” in light of the Christ-event. The first pronouncement of the people points to the point that Luke seems intent on making thematically in this section, which provides a strong connection with the rest of redemptive history. Elisha raised a boy from the dead in Shunem (2 Kings 4), only three miles from Nain, where Jesus performed his miracle. As Elisha’s ministry often echos Elijah’s, this brings to mind Elijah’s raising of a widow’s son in Zarephath (1 Kings 17). Both are likely intended connections given Luke’s point about Jesus’ prophetic ministry. The call to care for “widows and orphans” was a common prophetic theme (Isa. 1:17; Jer. 7:5-7; 22:3; Zech. 7:10; Mal. 3:5).

Isa. 1:17 (ESV)
learn to do good;
seek justice,
correct oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless,
plead the widow's cause.

Jer. 7:5-7
5"For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another, 6if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, 7then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever.

Zech. 7:8-10
8And the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying, 9"Thus says the LORD of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, 10do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart."

Mal. 3:5
5"Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts.

Moreover, such ethical priorities are often specifically contrasted with cultic religiosity (e.g. Isa. 1:10-16; Jer. 7:21-23). The idea is most poignantly summed up in Hos. 6:6 and Mic. 6:6-8.

Hos. 6:6
6For I desire steadfast love[a] and not sacrifice,
the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

Micah 6:6-8
6"With what shall I come before the LORD,
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
7Will the LORD be pleased with[a] thousands of rams,
with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?"
8He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,[b]
and to walk humbly with your God?

The word hesed, upon which these passages center is variously translated as “compassion,” “mercy,” “kindness,” “loyalty,” and “love.” It is the faithful, merciful loving-kindness exemplified by Ruth in her redemptive action toward her widowed and childless mother-in-law. The redemptive quality of this action is, at last, firmly rooted in God’s redeeming love toward Israel. Thus, the prophets’ call to care for widows and orphans is a call back to reciprocal loving loyalty to the covenant made in the shadow of God’s redemptive action toward an impoverished and oppressed Israel (Ex. 22:22; Deut. 10:8 and passim).

Ex. 22:21-24
21"You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. 22You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. 23If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, 24and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.

Theological Framework: How do they fit with biblical theology? God’s value judgment flows from his own divine reality. The relational aspect of God’s nature is the foundation for our placement in community with “widows and orphans.” This is qualified by the righteousness and love of God’s nature that defines and characterizes our mutual treatment in that community. Like God, we “hear the groaning” (Ex 2:23-24) of those in distress and respond according to hesed. We do not do so because we are by nature loving and righteous as God is, but because he has “first loved us” (1 Jn. 4:19) and redemptively entered covenant relationship with us. Our ethic is defined by his treatment of us and his expectations for our treatment of others as indicated by the covenant documents. Our tendency to be “stained by the world” interferes, thus we abandon God’s communal ethics and become preoccupied with the self, leading to sins of neglect and even oppression of those to whom we are indebted to love redemptively. The prophetic call back to the “visitation” of “widows and orphans” is clearest in the ministry of Jesus. He redeems us yet again, reveals that God loved us first, and models perfectly the communal love that is always good news to the poor. The redeemed community formed in his new act of creation is sanctified and bound to imitate his ethic of hesed, so it is unacceptable that those of the “twelve tribes dispersed abroad” should fail to obey the “law of Christ” in preference for worldly religiosity. In the church, of all places, there must be no preferential treatment. This will be a sharp contrast from the world that threatens to stain us, because we live in the inbreaking kingdom that is not yet fully realized. It is, however, already present among us when we care for the widow and the orphan. As we do so, we are reminded that “God has visited his people” and remains among us.

So I come back to James 1:27, and I become convicted that if I am going to imagine what the people of God could look like—what our religion should be—this is it.

Now, let me frame that within our own little corner of Christianity. Let me make this just about the Church of Christ, where you and I will be leading. We are all painfully aware—at least I hope it’s painful—that we are in lock step with all the people of God. We have consistently, and perhaps more persistently than some, defined our religion in cultic and institutional terms. And if you will be leaders in the Church of Christ, then I beg you, and I call you, I think in the name of God, to imagine a church where this defines our religion. Imagine a movement where the givens are incarnational ministry in the lives of the oppressed and profound holiness.

So what will those who don’t like imagination say?
Well, there are those who would rather lead realistically: That’s not the direction we’re going. You’re never going to reprioritize a whole denomination. Imagination is impractical, a waist of time, etc.
There are those who will believe that it can’t be that way: That religion, though it sounds good, it ultimately just, to borrow Marx’s line, an opiate to numb the reality.

Then there are those who are genuinely threatened. I can already hear the first line of defense, the same line that tried to forego this nonsense in the first place: What you want, Greg, is unbalancing. And the cultic and the institutional are important, even if we don’t want call them by those names, and don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. Much better to be balanced and do the slow, faithful work of ministry. You know, to bring them along. After all, we don’t deny the importance of those benevolence things—they’re a part of the whole. A social gospel isn’t what God is after.

No it’s probably not. Then again, when have we ever erred on that side?
How is it, with this refrain running through all of Scripture, that the people of God always err in the institutional direction?
How is it that, at least at one time, if we had been asked what kind of religion is acceptable in the sight of God, we would have said “the New Testament pattern”?
How is it that before anything else, we make sure that we have those things settled, that we do those things right, as though that is the heart of our religion, and then after our time and energy is spent on the “priorities,” we turn to our people and begin to ask them to consider the possibility that care for the poor is important too.
When God says so often, making it clear that if it’s a choice between to two, he wants mercy, how is it that we argue conservatively in the other direction?
Is it even conceivable that God would say, “Your acts of mercy toward the widow and orphan are an abomination before me, because you have not practiced the Lord’s Supper weekly.” or “I despise your care for the alien and the oppressed, because you have formed the mission society”
(to pick far less inflammatory issues than I might).

Maybe it is conceivable, but if we are going to make sure we’ve got something right, I would rather err on the side of God’s revealed priorities.

The truth is, to argue out of fear of a social gospel or fear of forsaking other “important” things borders on the absurd.

Imagine. Have the courage to imagine with me a Church of Christ determined to restore this religion.

Coffee Snobs Rock

2007-02-15T14:42:00.000-08:00

Don't Even Go There

2007-02-10T12:31:00.000-08:00

More Coffee Humor

2007-02-09T10:00:00.000-08:00

Well, I haven't done any substantial posting in a while, but I've got some good thoughts in the works.... Here's another quick fix, so to speak.

Jumpy and Short-Tempered...

2007-02-02T07:59:00.000-08:00

Marci is staying on the ball with this deal. This is the third of many that I will be including in the coffee humor series, which is now shaping up nicely. I average about four mugs (=8 cups) on normal days, but this one really spoke to me anyway.

Listener Response

2007-01-29T13:22:00.000-08:00

I'm not an advocate of reader response interpretation. I don't appreciate the subjectivity. But I realized that as I listen to the world--and for the purposes of this post, secular music--I listen through my faith and, when possible, construct a meaning for myself. Particularly with music that I find moving, I am compelled to think in terms of my faith because I can't stand to take the lyrics that often accompany great instrumentation at face value. I say "often," because it's not always the case, but I do find it unusual that my values align with those who hold a different worldview. Many times lyrics portray a level of devotion to a significant other or an ideal that I would reserve for God. All this to say, I really like the song "Right Here" by Staind. Their lyrics are typically pocked with profanity, so don't take this as a blanket endorsement, but they are also charged with emotion about the reality of life. Rock has always helped me keep in touch with the existential angst of the world, and Staind does that well, lest I forget that people are generally not content with the way things are. Anyway, I don't really know what "Right Here" is about. I would guess that it is not about God, but the video contains provocatively religious icons. Other songs that I have not heard have titles that indicate an interaction with Christianity. Here is how I hear this song:

Right Here

ME:
I know I’ve been mistaken
But just give me a break
And see the changes that I’ve made
I’ve got some imperfections
But how can you collect them all
And throw them in my face?

But you always find a way
To keep me right here waiting
You always find the words to say
To keep me right here waiting
And if you chose to walk away
I’d still be right here waiting
Searching for the things to say
To keep you right here waiting

GOD:
I hope you’re not intending
To be so condescending
It’s as much as I can take
You’re so independent
You just refuse to bend
So I keep bending ‘till I break

But you always find a way
To keep me right here waiting
You always find the words to say
To keep me right here waiting
And if you chose to walk away
I’d still be right here waiting
Searching for the things to say
To keep you right here waiting

ME:
I’ve made a commitment
I’m willing to bleed for you
I needed fulfillment
I found what I need in you
Why can’t you just forgive me?
I don’t want to relive all the mistakes I’ve made along the way

GOD:
But I always find a way
To keep you right here waiting
I always find the words to say
To keep you right here waiting

ME:
But you always find a way
To keep me right here waiting
You always find the words to say
To keep me right here waiting
And if I chose to walk away
Would you be right here waiting?
Searching for the things to say
To keep me right here waiting?

GOOOOOOOOD

2007-01-16T10:59:00.000-08:00

My sister sent me this one for the blog. Thanks, Marci! I guess I'm starting a collection now, if anyone would like to keep an eye out.

Ahab

2007-01-15T22:37:00.000-08:00

I got to go fishing last summer. I had professional help catching this, but I did reel it in. This one was just about 20 lbs.

Stoker the Prophet

2007-01-09T09:31:00.000-08:00

Bob calls me an idolater of books. He says my library is my shrine to knowledge. I deny the accusation, but it hits closer to home than I like. When I first got married, I learned many things about my new bride. One of these was her tendency to buy lots of something in the grocery store just because it is on sale. For example, it was not long after our happy nuptial that our very small apartment pantry was stocked with ten or so boxes of cake mix. I like cake--especially when Megan is doing the baking--but I felt the need to bemoan our family's susceptibility to Betty Crocker's marketing ploy. I like cake, but we just don't eat that much of it. When it comes to Cokesbury's annual 90% off sale or boosting my order up to $25 so I can get the free shipping, however, I sing a different tune. I read books, one might say, but I don't read that many of them.

There is a part of me that laments the burning of the library at Alexandria as much as any catastrophe in history. Not because I could ever get around to reading all those books, but because I think books should be compiled and preserved regardless of whether I read them. Some of my friends do not buy expensive reference works in preference for books that they will read completely or a least limit reference purchases to ones that will undoubtedly be in continual use. I figure most anything I purchase will get use by virtue of my future in teaching, be it in the mission field where the HUGSR library is not at my disposal or otherwise. Beyond this rational, I feel that I am doing biblical studies a favor every time I buy a reference work. Would we have Vaticanus or Sinaiticus if some blessed scribe had not thought it wise to put one more copy in circulation? Well, my purchases may not be of comparable import, but I am putting one more copy of a worthwhile volume in circulation with every purchase.

I also do this with other literature, thought not nearly as much. For instance, I have a lovely set of Barnes & Noble Classics sitting on a shelf. I bought them (and was gifted them) because they were on sale, and I aspired to read them some day. Despite my rationalizations, C. S. Lewis' sad example in The Great Divorce of the man who so loved literature that he collected all the classics but somewhere along the way stopped reading them haunts me at times. Thus, I made it my goal to read one of the Barnes & Noble beauties over Christmas break. How is Bram Stoker's Dracula for Christmas cheer? It was a pretty fast read, though Van Helsing-speak is curious at times. I enjoyed it greatly but had the unfortunate experience of having seen the movie first. I will quote here a passage that astounded me. Keep in mind that Dracula was published in 1897. The Modern worldview is in full force. Here, Van Helsing is trying to open John Seward's mind to the possibility that Lucy's death was the result of a "supernatural" cause, namely a vampire.

You are a clever man, friend John; you reason well, and your wit is bold; but you are too prejudiced. You do not let your eyes see nor your ears hear, and that which is outside your daily life is not of account to you. Do you not think that there are things which you cannot understand, and yet which are; that some people see things others cannot? But there are things old and new which must not be contemplate by men's eyes, because they know--or think they know--some things which other men have told them. Ah, it is the fault of our science that it wants to explain all; and if it explain not, then it says there is nothing to explain.

New Look for '07

2007-01-09T09:19:00.000-08:00

What can I say, I like change. How does everyone feel about green?

Most of the NR discussion will be shifting to neo-restoration.net, but for now energy is invested in creating the site rather than writing new material.

Thanksgiving Ethics

2006-11-23T09:10:00.000-08:00

I often wonder about the ethics of Thanksgiving. At its root it is presumably a holiday (holy-day) for the express purpose of giving thanks to God/remembering what God has done that is thanksworthy. Of course, most of us gorge ourselves, sleep, and watch football; all three at once if possible. I'm a fan of all three, though the first two more than the third. Even people that often aren't given to gluttony--the most underplayed vice in America--are prone to indulge beyond decency on this God-focused day. Those of us who are already habitual over-eaters don't have much hope of mastering modest consumption in light of the quantity, quality, and rarity of T-day foods. Shouldn't Thanksgiving of all days make us (Christians) more conscious of the dynamic of God's provision that incites us to self-control and giving rather than unbridled consumption?

On the other hand, Feast is an ethic as well, perhaps equally underplayed, though in a different way. My suspicion is, however, that we've no clue what God's idea of Feast actually is. Not that we shouldn't have got a clue by now, but ethics are not our (Christians, esp. SCMers) strong point. Bizarre, isn't it? Well, I'm making a Thanksgiving resolution to understand Feast better. I want to party God's way.

Luke 14
15When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, "Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God."
16Jesus replied: "A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests.
17At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, 'Come, for everything is now ready.'
18"But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, 'I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.'
19"Another said, 'I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I'm on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.'
20"Still another said, 'I just got married, so I can't come.'
21"The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.'
22" 'Sir,' the servant said, 'what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.'
23"Then the master told his servant, 'Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full.
24I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.' "

Here's A Thought

2006-11-19T20:18:00.000-08:00

I pledged not to complain on my blog when I started it, so take this as constructive criticism.

I'm often confused as a driver Memphis when I come to a long line of traffic backed up at an all too familiar sight. By all too familiar, I mean it has been a sight since the mid-1800s: a train inching along the track that runs through the middle of the city. Actually, I don't know when the railroad came to Memphis, but I know trains have been running since the 1800s, and I'm ready for a change. It's not that I mind waiting at a railroad crossing for a train to pass through small-town America; I mind an absurd amount of traffic stopping because we insist on running an outdated form of transportation through a city of a million people. In fact, we actually stop the very, very long train on the tracks while obstructing blocks and blocks of major traffic arteries, and we do this repeatedly on a daily basis. If you're a Memphian, you know Poplar is a mess when this happens. The eardrum-bursting horn blast at every single intersection is only icing on the cake.

Now, I've considered the alternatives, and I can't say I'm eager for that many more semis on the road. And I'm sure I appreciate all the products those miles of cargo cars are hauling. I just think my technological sensibilities are rubbed wrong by hangover from a hundred and fifty years ago. We have fuel-injected miracles with satellite uplink to guide their ipod infused passage along smoothly paved thoroughfares coming to a grinding halt because conductor Joe has to slow it down to ten miles an hour in the city. Can we not think of something better in the span of two centuries? It boggles the mind.

Where's The Discussion?

2006-11-10T13:42:00.001-08:00

It's a good question. I'm busy like everyone else, but is seems that others manage to post more than I do. I mean, more often. Alas, sparse and long seems to be my rhythm. Well, to answer my own question, I'm taking Theological Hermeneutics this semester. It is proving to be much help to my thinking, but as it's an online class, my keystrokes are already dedicated each weak, as well as my feeble brainpower. I am very much on topic, however, and Neo-Restoration is a concern more than ever. Unfortunately, contrary to some advise previously given, the class doesn't answer all my questions about RM hermeneutics. So I will not be ceasing or desisting in the discussion. There is more to come.

Yup.

2006-10-18T19:43:00.001-07:00

Big Papa

2006-09-12T20:59:00.000-07:00

That's right. I'm making a contribution to the gene pool. Megan is due March 26th. It's fun to think about parenthood--before it happens at least. Although, I told Megan that I feel sorry for our kid. Let's just say I'm an admirer of parents in history who were "rigorous" with their children's education. They say languages come easier the younger one is. I'm thinking polyglot. Megan, on the other hand, is interested in "social adjustment" or some such rubbish. Who needs peer interaction when you can read classics in the original languages before you go to college?

Arequipa Report

2006-08-15T23:49:00.000-07:00

In order for the reader to understand how I, who often suffer from faith hyperopia (a.k.a. faith farsightedness, a horrible condition in which I fail to see God working right in front of my nose) came home from our trip to Arequipa with no doubt that God had been holding our collective hand and leading us right to answered prayers, it will be necessary to share some of our petitions prior to departure.

Our team of wonderful people has been planning mission work in Arequipa for years now. Yet, the team has morphed through the years so that my beautiful bride and I were the only two (of six) who had been in the city. Even Megan’s visit, for that matter, had been far from in-depth. Our vision casting has been second hand in the main, based on my impressions and those of former team members. The team has nurtured love for a people whose faces it has not seen. It has tried to imagine God’s faithfulness in the unknown. At the final meeting before the trip, we had finally come to the strategy portion of our team formation. The questions that loomed before us were exciting. Where would we live in the city? How would we live? What exactly would we do, how would we do it, and with whom? At last we had come to these questions, and at last it was necessary to stand in the city. We needed to walk the streets, look poverty—both spiritual and physical—in the face, and make up our hearts, if not our minds.

My prayer, then, was for a clearer vision. We have our vision statement, and that will serve us well. For the present, though, we needed a vision of the city as it is, with which to compare the future we imagine. We needed a focus for our conviction and passion. We needed real lives for whom to feel compassion. Specifically, we prayed for an idea of where to live, a neighborhood in which to live out the lessons we have learned from God incarnate. We prayed for the courage to imagine ourselves dwelling among those to whom Jesus ministered—the poor and marginalized. We prayed for a place where our families could live without fear of constant danger. All of this would require some way by which we could, in a week, survey a city of a million and gain a reasonably accurate idea of its geographical socioeconomic breakdown. We had no clue what that way would be.

In addition to this, the other item on the agenda was to check out language schools. Appointments were made via email with four schools prior to arriving in the city, and a fifth was going to receive a surprise visit from five gringos, because it had not responded to email. So our prayers included requests for productive visits and a good prospective language-learning experience. These goals really only amounted to two tasks—survey neighborhoods and visits language schools—but it seemed a full week’s work to accomplish them. In the course of the week, though, God worked many things together to result in more than we had imagined.

We arrived Monday morning, and our first language school appointment was that afternoon. The school’s director, Maria, proved to be a good candidate for our language school needs—objective met—but also included in her program free opportunities to work in community development. Her list of opportunities includes working with orphanages, which is a special interest of the team. Also, homestay with a Peruvian family is an optional part of her school package—another opportunity we had hoped to encounter. Maria generously offered to connect us with community development projects even if we did not choose her school. We counted her an unexpected contact and asset and were grateful for the early productivity.

Tuesday was chalked full of appointments with Spanish schools, the first of which was directed by Saskia, a Dutch immigrant married to a Peruvian. We met in the café where classes are held. Her school also includes opportunities to serve in the community and homestay. When she learned about our interest in the city she told us about her husband, who is a local tour guide. He has developed a “Reality Tour” in which he guides clients through the parts of the city that tourists don’t usually want to see. Most of the tour proceeds go to help these places. This piqued our interest, and we scheduled the tour for Thursday morning. It would turn out to be one of the highlights of our week; a totally unexpected blessing.

The next appointment on Tuesday was a no-show on the teacher’s part, but we were able to go immediately to the next school. After some time with confused taxi drivers we arrived at the Juanjo Spanish school, and Juanjo proved to be a well prepared teacher. All the same opportunities were available in his program, and his curriculum was the best we had seen so far.

Wednesday morning involved a trip to the open-air market just for the experience. Then we crashed the fifth language school. Of the five, my expectations were lowest for this one, since it seemed to be a hotel first and a language school second. We found the address and walked into a small courtyard with offices on two sides. A middle-aged Peruvian man greeted us immediately, speaking very good English. Having explained that we were interested in the Spanish school, he promptly took us on a tour of the grounds. As it turned out, the Spanish school is the main facet of the enterprise, which is called Casa de Avila. A short passageway opened into a larger grassed courtyard surrounded by two-story buildings, and we realized that this was a rather large, impressive compound. He explained in professional terms (unexpected after our last three, more informal experiences) the school’s method of teaching and credentials. The method, unlike those of other programs, is not grammar focused and is tailored to the specific goals of the learner. He pointed out one student who spoke Spanish well but had enrolled to master medical vernacular. The program has a history of working with organizations. At the time of our visit, a group with Global Vision International, a developmental organization, was in residence for Spanish training. Our guide, Señor Espino, is the proprietor of Casa de Avila. He gave us the full tour and then sat us down for questions and answers. We inquired about community development opportunities while enrolled. He asked about our specific interests, and having mentioned orphanages, he explained that he is a retired family lawyer and proceeded to offer his insights and advice about Peru’s system of dealing with abandoned children. He proved to be a wealth of information, legal and otherwise, and assured us that the school would provide connections with organizations appropriate to our purposes. What a find! Señor Espino ended up escorting us to an orphanage on Friday afternoon, which was another unexpected bonus.

After this we tried the previous day’s absentee teacher again and caught her. If Rocio’s program was less glamorous for Casa de Avila lingering in our minds, she did offer Quechua classes, which are virtually non-existent in Arequipa. Our discussion with Rocio ended with an invitation to teach English at her school. At this point we were feeling like every direction was an open door.

Wednesday afternoon was planned to be the beginning of neighborhood surveys, so we were faced with the task of figuring out how to do this. I had already explained to our friendly hotel staff head, Alfredo, what our intentions were and had asked his advise. We were thinking of hiring a taxi, but this meant splitting up the group, because the taxis are too small for five passengers. We thought about renting a vehicle, but that was a fairly expensive venture, and none of us was keen on driving in the crazy Peruvian traffic. Alfredo then called his uncle (tio) Juan, who offered to escort us around the city for a comparatively good price and without the risk of driving ourselves. He arrived, and we began our tour of the part of the city called el Cono Norte (the North Cone). The majority of this three-hour ride was through poverty stricken areas that really opened our eyes to the needs of the people.

Thursday morning was the Reality Tour with Miguel. At first we feared it might be more of what we had seen in Cono Norte. In fact, we saw and heard totally new things. Our picture of the city was beginning to fill out nicely. Thursday afternoon was another run with Tio Juan, but this time we asked for a tour of the “middle-class” neighborhoods closest to the poor but relatively safe. We somehow managed to cover the majority of the city in that afternoon, marking a map of the city as we went to help us remember what we saw. Tio Juan was himself a fount of information and a true Godsend.

Friday morning after coffee we debriefed and made notes of what we had learned. Friday afternoon was the trip to the government-run orphanage with Señor Espino, which was informative. We finished up with the ever necessary shopping for tourist junk.

Every evening was rounded off with a devotional, and Saturday morning before our departure we had a “prayer walk.” Throughout the week the devos focused on God’s presence with Israel as he worked to fulfill the Abrahamic covenant through his chosen people. We built up to the story of the 12 spies reporting on the Promised Land. Numbers 14:24 reads, “But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.” As I reflected on our participation in the fulfillment of the blessing of all nations, my prayer was that while spying out Arequipa we too would have a different spirit and follow God wholeheartedly. For it was he who went before us, he who went with us, he who never leaves us or forsakes us. I think God was gracious in making the effects of his nearness so obvious that even this farsighted servant could see them. By grace, then, we give this report. “We should surely go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it” (Num 13:30). May God give us the courage to trust in his faithfulness and follow him where he leads, our cloud by day and our fire by night.