The Wild, Hospitable Holiness of Jesus

photo © 2004 Jared and Corin | more info (via: Wylio)

In today's world (a phrase I use more than I probably should), there seems to be a struggle within the church to define holiness.  This hit home to me when a United Methodist Bishop at General Conference in 2008 addressed the homosexuality debate that occurred on the conference floor by saying it was a battle between two competing goods, "holiness" and "hospitality." 

He said that there are some within the UMC who wanted to preserve the holiness of the church, keeping it pure.  Therefore, this camp wanted to keep homosexuals out of the church.  Homosexual practice is a sin and, therefore, the church needs to take a stand against it.  Homosexuals should not be members.  Homosexuals should not be ordained.  The whole notion of "reconciling churches," welcoming the LGBT community, in this perspective, would be anathema.  Keep the church holy.

On the other hand, there were those who theologically emphasized hospitality, welcoming all.  Therefore, when lines were to be drawn about who was "in" and who was "out" in the church, the biblical concept of hospitality trumped all others.  The church should, as a rule, exclude no one.  All are welcomed to the table of Christ.  As the saying goes, "When Jesus is up on that cross, arms outstretched, who is it that he can NOT embrace?"  The implied answer is no one.  All are welcome.

However, are these really two competing interests, holiness and hospitality?  Are they really opposed to one another?

Alan and Debra Hirsch are two missional leaders over at CatalystSpace.  They address the strange holiness of Jesus that was not opposed to hospitality in a blog post entitled, "What Kind of Holiness is This?"

One of the confronting questions we find ourselves repeatedly asking is: What is it about the holiness of Jesus that caused "sinners" to flock to him like a magnet and yet manages to seriously antagonize the religious people? This question begs yet another, even more confronting question: Why does our more churchy form of holiness seem to get it the other way around – to comfort the religious and antagonize the sinners?

Jesus's brand of holiness (the true form) didn't seem to deter the sinners from wanting to get up close and personal with him. The gospel is full of stories of sinners, the bungled, the broken, and the bent clamoring to be near Jesus. Jesus was different. He wasn't like the other holy rollers, the religious folk, of his day. There was something magnetic about his persona that caused even the most desperate to do the unthinkable and violate not only social etiquette of the day, but risk further marginalization by being close to him.

No doubt about it, Jesus' holiness was compelling. The Gospels clearly show us that social rejects loved to be around Jesus. Think of prostitutes, lepers, tax collectors, adulterers, Roman soldiers, Samaritans, Gentiles, and the list goes on. They couldn't get enough of him. In hanging out with people like these, Jesus shows us that one cannot achieve holiness by separation from the unclean.

The holiness of Jesus, it seems, is a redemptive, missional, world-embracing holiness that does not separate itself from the world, but rather liberates it. And it wasn't that Jesus was simply "a nice inclusive guy." Everyone loves a nice guy, but nice guys don't end up murdered on crosses. Actually, as Ben Witherington says, it's not surprising (because of his actions and teachings) that Jesus was crucified. The surprising thing is that it didn't happen sooner!

A lot of what is given to us as "holiness" today is really nothing more than morality.  I'm not saying that I want everyone to be "immoral" but I don't think "immorality" excludes one from the heart of God--and therefore should not exclude one from the heart of the church. And this is not just about homosexuality.   Homosexuality is just the hot-button issue where this discussion, debate, fight, is taking place.  We could have similar discussions about welcoming the drug dealers, the divorced, the unwed mothers, the goth, the tattooed, the addicted, the poor, the.... well you get the picture.

I have recently been dealing with the death of a young man in the community who was loved by many.  I had the privilege of leading a memorial service for the family yesterday.  This young man, somewhere along the way, got into a hole that he just kept digging deeper into as he tried to get out.  Drugs.  Theft.  Lies.  Turning against the very ones who loved him most.  Very difficult situation.  But in his death the survivors are left with the tough questions like, "Did God love him?"  "Could God welcome a sinner such as he?"  "Is he in heaven?"  These are tough questions and I always fall back on the testimony of the love of God.  That's where it starts.  That's where it ends.  Period.  The holiness of God is intimately connected to his hospitality.  It is not opposed to it.

This is a "wild holiness." It calls into question those of us in the church who would be bound to religious codes, separating ourselves from others.

We must again be surprised by the amazing capacity of Jesus to break religious stereotypes and to embody a kind of holiness that embraces the seriously weird and the wonderful, this is the Jesus we follow.

I Canceled Jesus. I Hope He Understands.

photo © 2006 the_anti_paul | more info (via: Wylio)
Yes, last week, on Wednesday, I canceled Jesus...or at least rescheduled him.  By that, I mean I canceled Bible Study.  It wasn't really an easy decision.  I'm one who has church when the weather's bad.  I go to Bible Study when the big football game is one.  And I cringe when pastors change their worship schedules for Superbowl Sunday.  But, Wednesday, I canceled Jesus for my own schedule.

And I feel guilty about it.

But, as 6:30 approached at rehearsal for "Once Upon A Mattress" and one of my musical numbers was coming up...I kept looking at the clock and my watch and back again, trying to see how long I could stay around.

Really we didn't start Bible Study until about 6:45, so perhaps I could stay at rehearsal until just about then?

The weather was bad (a little bad) so maybe the folks driving back from Anchorage would have trouble getting there?

Maybe I'd bust my tail to get there and no one would be there?

The play was in just two weeks.  It was going to be hard to miss out on that rehearsal time.

The director is a Christian and she knew I had Bible Study but you could see on her face that it was going to be a burden for me to miss over half of rehearsal that night.

So, I told her "I canceled Jesus."

We'll put Bible Study on hiatus until after Thanksgiving.   I feel bad about it.

I like Bible Study.   I appreciate it.  And I need it.

But we can't put the play on hiatus.

I hope Jesus understands.

Offended By Jesus

Another great cartoon by ABSOJESUS.

"Who Delivered Up Jesus To Die?" -- Quote by Octavius Winslow

Image via WikipediaWho delivered up Jesus to die? Not Judas, for money; not Pilate, for fear; not the Jews, for envy; but the Father, for love! —Octavius Winslow

"It Should Hurt When We Cease to Give" -- Quote from Ian Barclay

Image via Wikipedia

Nearly half the parables Jesus told have the use of money as their main subject. It is sometimes said that we should give until it hurts. But Jesus teaches that it should hurt when we cease to give! —Ian Barclay

(Found over at Challies.com)

Jesus' Facebook Friends

This is a fabulous cartoon from David Hayward over at NakedPastor (who's book I've asked for for Christmas!).  It was just last week that a couple of my Facebook friends were asking who would be on Jesus' "friend" list.  Well, David does the work for us and puts it in graphic form.

"Tell Them What Jesus Did"

Cover via AmazonThat was a sign I saw while driving on the New Seward Highway in Anchorage this week.

"Tell Them What Jesus Did"

It made me stop...not physically stop the car but stop thinking about what I had been thinking about -- whatever that was--and made me think about the sign.

Here's a Scripture verse that points us in that direction.  It's Mark 5:18-20 after the healing of the demon-possessed man where a Legion of demons was sent into the pigs...funny story.  Here's how it ends:

As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him.  Jesus did not let him, but said, "Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you."  So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.

It's cool.

I know that it's been popular to ask "What Would Jesus Do?" and wear the wrist bands and T-Shirts and hats or whatever.  This is all based on the Charles Sheldon book, In His Steps which has the following description on the back cover over at Amazon.

Rev. Henry Maxwell, speaking slowly and determinedly, yet not fully realizing the implications of what lay ahead of him, repeated his astounding proposition, "I want volunteers from First Church who will pledge themselves, earnestly and honestly, for an entire year; not to do anything without first asking the question, 'What would Jesus do?'" Maxwell never dreamed that among those who responded would be the most influential members of his congregation, the wealthy heiress with her millions at stake, the newspaper editor with his job on the line, the president of the local college, the town beauty.  But together they pledged themselves to a new step of faith that would change, not just a handful of people, but an entire town-for good.  This timeless classic by Charles Sheldon has blessed millions of people around the world who have asked the vital question, "What does it really mean to be a Christian?"

While I think this can be a fruitful exercise, I think there's a problem with working one's ethics this way.  Mainly, it pulls Jesus out of history and places him into a situational ethics dilemma.   That's contrived, I would think, even though it may be several steps in the right direction for the person thinking this way.

What would Jesus do about cloning human tissue with the goal of eradicating a disease or two?  What would Jesus do about a global AIDS crises?  What would Jesus do about slavery?  (Remember, it doesn't appear that the early church...closest to the historical Jesus...was full of abolitionists.   I think we could argue that they should have been.)  All of these situations make the situational problem primary in the discussion...we start there.  Here's the problem.  What would Jesus do?

Perhaps, that sign on the highway is onto something.  Perhaps we need to start by telling the world what Jesus did.  And, after telling the world--and ourselves--what it is that Jesus did, we can then ask how we, who have heard those stories and are shaped by them through the Holy Spirit, should address the issues at hand.

And, so, talking about abolition of slavery, we can look at how Jesus spoke about freedom and justice.  We can note how it doesn't appear that he was only speaking of freedom from spiritual chains but also real, man-made ones.  We can look at Jesus' actions to those who were the least, the last, and the lost in society, those who had been abused or who had rights taken away from them.  And then we can ask the question...if THIS is what Jesus DID and SAID...how should we respond to the issue at hand.

Perhaps the difference here is more subtle than I think it is.  But, I think the sign has it right.  We need to tell what Jesus did.

Is Tonight (Sept. 22) Really Christmas Eve? This article thinks so.

Image by Ron Dauphin via Flickr

Most Christians, while thankful for the birth of Christ and the fact that "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, so that whoever believes in him would have eternal life" have understood that the date of Christmas in the calendar is probably not historically accurate.  Shepherds in the fields.  Census.  There are clues.  And, I would argue that the date doesn't really matter that much to persons of faith as the gracious gift Jesus' birth is for the world.

Well, what if we really knew the date?  Would we change our Christmas to meet the facts of the birthdate?

Jesus Needs New PR brought something to my attention.

There's an article in the Belfast Telegraph on September 21 which claims that September 23rd is really the day of Christ's birth and that evening tomorrow, September 22nd, is Christmas Eve.

The Gospels inform us that John the Baptist, who was Jesus's cousin, was born six months before Jesus. John's father, Zechariah, was a priest in the Temple in Jerusalem in the order of Abijah. We can find when the order of Abijah served in the Temple in I Chronicles 24:10, and from this we can calculate that the birth of John fell at Passover.

Jesus, then, was born six months later, on Sukkot, or the Feast of Tabernacles, which falls on Tishrei 15.

This may not mean very much to us who use the Gregorian calendar, but Tishrei 15 falls this year on Thursday 23 September.

Biblical days begin at sunset, so the feast actually starts on the evening of 22 September, which would have been the "silent and holy night" we will all be singing about three months later.

So Jesus's real birthday will pass with hardly a soul knowing it.

As one might guess, I took the Belfast article with a grain of salt.  So, I poked around a little.  There are those out there who say that late September is a pretty accurate guess for when Jesus was born, essentially using the logic applied above.  However, there are problems here and assumptions that need to be in place to make it work--which is more complicated than I could ever care to get into.  If that's important to you, please feel free to get right on that.

I think one of our problems here is that we just don't get enough information from the Bible to pinpoint the time of the year for Jesus' birth.  I would argue that the FACT OF JESUS' BIRTH was much more important to the Gosepl writers...and to us...than the time of year.  And so we celebrate his birth...on December 25th and on September 23rd and all throughout the year.

But if you have any Christmas gifts to open Thursday morning, I won't complain.

A "Jesus-Shaped Way" of Looking At Immigration

Cover via Amazon

Michael Spencer, the aforementioned Internet Monk, wrote a book called, Mere Churchianity:  Finding Your Way Back to Jesus-Shaped Spirituality before he passed away this Spring.  His conversations are still continuing over at the Internet Monk website and I've been reading them, lurking on the site, for the last month or so.  It's good stuff.  I particularly liked the following post from Damaris Zehner, who takes a quote from Spencer's book and ask readers what to do with it in the real world.  The results in the comments were amazing.

Here’s a simple example.  Think about yourself if you had just spent three years with Jesus.  How would you treat illegal immigrants?  For vast numbers of typical American Christians, their immediate instincts are to either argue a political position or look for a way to end the conversation.  . . . Some of [their] answers could be better, and some could be a lot worse, but it’s the process of how we consider the issues that matters to me.  (Mere Churchianity, p. 51.)

What if Jesus were standing right next to us when we had to say something about a controversial topic?  Because he is, of course, and as Christians we should try to speak with his voice.

Here’s your challenge.  Write about the issue of illegal immigration and illegal immigrants from the point of view of Jesus.  You’ve spent years with him; what would he say or do about the issue? 

Don’t offer political or social commentary, don’t quote any pundits or talk-show hosts, and most importantly don’t start anything with, “Well, I think . . .”  The exercise here is getting away from our own immediate opinions and trying to think as the Son of God would think.  Don’t worry about whether your answer is or isn’t politically viable or likely to happen.  Jesus didn’t, even though he knew where his words and actions would lead him.

You will probably need to do a little Bible study, but I don’t want a flurry of proof texts.  Consider the issue with these guidelines in mind:

• What does Jesus think about laws?  About just or unjust laws?
• What does Jesus think our attitude and behavior toward laws ought to be, just and unjust?
• How does Jesus treat people such as illegal immigrants?
• How does Jesus treat people with the authority to enforce laws?

It would be good if people from other countries answered, too.  Illegal immigration is an issue everywhere, but again, I don’t want a particular country’s attitude toward the topic, I want thoughtful exploration of Jesus’ will.

One more rule — Treat others’ comments kindly, even if they differ from yours.  Although we are trying to be like Jesus, we aren’t Jesus.  Humility is the order of the day.

So iMonks, sharpen your quills, defrost your ink, weigh down the corners of your parchment, and begin!

Now, this seems to bear some resemblance to the old (and new), "What Would Jesus Do?" ethics of Charles Sheldon's book, In His Steps.  But I want to say it adds an interesting twist.  It's not so much a matter of what Jesus would do as what one would do if you had spent time following along with Jesus as his disciple.   So, it's less, "What Would Jesus Do?" and more "What Would a Disciple Do?" or "What would someone who had been shaped by Jesus do?"  I think this does two things.  First, it doesn't make our historical Jesus anachronistic...placing him out of time in our world which I think can be unhelpful at times.  Secondly, it asks us to look more holistically at the problem at hand.  For instance, it's not just "How would Jesus treat illegal immigrants?"  It asks about how Jesus viewed laws and behavior and asks what are the biblical references where Jesus acts in particular ways with persons who are similar in situation to illegal immigrants.  In other words how can our discussion of illegal immigration be shaped by how Jesus treated those who were:

• foreigners
• poor and oppressed
• accused of being criminals
• etc.
  

While I don't think this in an exercise that would work for everything, I think this could be helpful as we discussed some of the larger and more divisive issues in our society...such as illegal immigration.  Too often, even as Christians, our discussions get quite far away from Jesus as we argue about the politics, the economics, the social implications in today's world.


The exercise led to some interesting discussion and reflection.  I thought the following was very cool and stopped me in my tracks.  It's a response by someone called "EK" in the comments section.

First, he takes John 8:1-11 and basically changes some of the biblical text and inserts words and phrases related to immigration.  Enjoy.

Later some immigration agents bring an immigrants who had been caught working illegally. The agents say to Jesus, “The law of our land says we must kick this guy out of our country. What do you say?” They said this to trap him.

Jesus began texting. So they asked him again. Jesus put his phone down and said, “If any of you have never broken the law, please escort this man away.”

Slowly the agents walked away.

“Where are they? Did no one condemn you?” Jesus asked.

“No, sir”

“Then neither do I condemn you. Now go, leave your illegal life.”

Secondly, he uses several biblical sources to come up with this.

Jesus would attend a political anti-immigration rally, and then turn to the crowd and say:

‘You hypocrites! Don’t you know that your ancestors came on this land, taking it forcefully from the Natives? You are like a man who looks in a mirror and then goes away and forgets what he looks like.

You hypocrites! You pay low wages and employ these people to keep your high and lofty lifestyle, and then blame the workers for being here. You use them, and then deny them their rights! Remember that what you do to the least of these, you do to me.

Let that be a warning, before it’s too late”

What I think would be interesting would be to ask whether we can take Jesus' words and sentiments to shape a harsher immigration policy that some, Christian and non-Christian, are calling for.  I don't think that would be as easy to do.  Sure we can come up with political, economic, and social reasons for more stringent immigration policies.  I'm not sure what the "Jesus reasons" would be.

From the Internet Monk

Image via Wikipedia

During his ministry, Jesus did not answer our questions so much as question our answers.

(The Internet Monk is a blog written by Michael Spencer, a Baptist minister who was an exceptionally popular religious blogger.  He called it that in honor of Thomas Merton.  The blog was controversial and insightful.  Spencer was a great writer and thinker and could be a harsh critic of evangelical Christianity while embracing it.  He died after a short bout with cancer on April 5, 2010.  Other bloggers who have been influenced by him over the years continue his blog in his honor.  He is the author of Mere Churchianity: Finding Your Way Back to a Jesus-Shaped Spirituality)

Consumerism and the Cross

What does this tell us?  Is it offensive?  Is it true?  Why is the cross absent here?  Note some of the items in the shopping bags...Christmas items, presents, Disney, wine.

The TOAST OF LIFE -- Jesus picture made out of 153 pieces of toast

Boy those Anglicans are a creative bunch.  I found this over at JesusNeedsNewPR.net, a great source of some off the wall (or on the wall) Christian stuff like this.