Coming Up Sunday, May 2

On Sunday, we'll have the fourth sermon in our "Faith Smart" series, which corresponds to the longtime Holiday Inn Express "Stay Smart" ad campaign. Remember the central question: If staying at a Holiday Inn Express can make you smarter, what can being a Christian make you?

This week, we begin with a commercial that takes place on the popular game show Jeopardy!:

On the face of it, this commercial is absurd, with a person dominating on Jeopardy! who has no business being on the show in the first place -- and he's rude (kind of like a seventh grader) to boot. However, this commercial rather neatly corresponds to one of the most famous passages from the apostle Paul, the beginning of 1 Corinthians, where he asks "Hasn't God made foolish the wisdom of the world?"

The issue of wisdom and foolishness as it applies to faith is a dicey one in theology. On the one hand, many very smart people have wrestled with the meaning and essence of Christianity over the centuries, never agreeing with each other. On the other hand, there is a distinct egalitarian impulse in Christianity -- stretching all the way back to the time of Christ -- in which wisdom is seen as what we would probably call "common sense." (In fact, "common sense" is a term that first gained prominence in theology and Christian-inspired philosophy.) Both views have merit.

The truth is that we must seek wisdom where it is found. In faith, wisdom can be found in many places by many types of people. Sometimes it is highly specialized and academic, but other times it is common -- so common that the hoity-toity types call it "foolish." The most foolish thing in faith, at least for Paul, is the meaning of the crucifixion of Jesus. Jesus' death can be explained as the unavoidable consequence of trying to change a powerful status quo, with little real effect gained by such sacrifice. Our faith, though, suggests that this act of an oppressive justice system leads ultimately to divine justice, and that Jesus' death is neither insignificant nor inconsequential, but instead filled with ultimate meaning.

As we grow in our faith, we must confront times when we think our faith is based on foolish things. Sometimes, we must even face the fact that what we used to believe strongly may be foolish. But we find other things, some of which we once assumed were foolish or silly, that are now filled with meaning and importance. And our spiritual growth continues.

Understanding this, though, gives us an important push to action. We cannot simply wait until we "know" enough or we have enough faith. We cannot put off doing things in Christ's name because there is always more to know or more faith to have. We must be God's servants where we are, not where we imagine we would be if we'd been better prepared.

General Board meeting in Indianapolis

Just prior to last weekend's WV Regional Assembly, the General Board of the denomination met for its annual meeting in Indianapolis. Several things were discussed, including the ongoing attempt to better structure the general ministries so that they are more capable of encouraging the outreach ministries of individual congregations. In addition, the Board received reports from throughout the broader church.

A brief recap of the annual meeting is available here. If you're really curious about the agenda and the reports, you can see much of that here. A few audio files from the meetings are available here.

Too often we forget about the good work that is being done in our name, and with our financial (and I hope prayerful) support. It is good to take a moment to remember, or learn about for the first time, some of these ministries.

Churches and the Internet

According to the U. S. Congregational Life Survey, the number of congregations using the Internet increased significantly between 2001 and 2008. The percentage of congregations with a website increased from 43% to 77%, while the percentage of congregations using email for some communication with members increased from 45% to 74%.

Central Christian is no exception. We have increased the amount of things we email, and we have a unique web presence with both our congregational website and this pastor's blog.

Now we are beginning to further enhance our Internet presence by utilizing new media, beginning with a congregational Facebook page. On this, we will be able to share upcoming events and announcements. People will also be able to have public conversations with each other about congregational issues, posting brief comments back and forth. This is a fun, generally non-threatening way for people to interact online.

Using Facebook is a fairly new phenomenon, and I know of no scientific study of how many congregations are using social networking media. However, I know of several other congregations that are experimenting with Facebook, Twitter, and other social media.

To get started, click on the Facebook link on the right sidebar, which will take you to the congregational Facebook page. Once there, "Like" Central Christian Church and you will receive updates on your wall whenever anything on the congregational page is updated.

Hospitality Gone Overboard

While catching up on some reading today, I came across an article that corresponds to Sunday's sermon. Interestingly, it uses a representation of hospitality, a concierge, that I thought about including in Sunday's sermon. I decided not to because there are clear instances when serving as a concierge to someone goes beyond reaching out in a helpful, healthy way. Such as the one that begins this essay.

Although the article focuses on a sometimes unhealthy dynamic between pastors and members of their congregation, it can be an unhealthy dynamic in any relationship where one person is trying to reach out in love and hospitality to another. Sunday I focused on encouraging us to reach out to others in need of guidance, in a variety of contexts, I did not spend as much time focusing on how we need to be careful with our "audacious hospitality" toward others.

If we spend all of our time and energy catering to others needs and desires, we will discover that we've neglected our own. There is a balance in most things, and there must be a balance in hospitality/ministry/care for others too. We must learn to not be so stingy with our time and our attention, but, having learned this, we must not go overboard and become so giving of our time that we neglect our own needs and desires.

There are all sorts of expectations in relationships and cultures that make "audacious hospitality" difficult to keep in a healthy balance. The cultures in many congregations are evidence of this, where pastors find self-worth in their being needed, and congregations measure the worth of a pastor by how well he meets all of their expectations. Like most solid relationships, there is necessarily compromise in giving and receiving hospitality. This essay is a good reminder of this.

Coming Up Sunday, April 25

This Sunday, we continue our "Faith Smart" sermon series, which approaches living out our faith through the lens of the recent Holiday Inn Express "Stay Smart" ad campaign. My question: if staying at a Holiday Inn Express can make you smarter, what can being a Christian make you?

On Sunday, we begin with a commercial that takes place at a rodeo:

A birthday party clown taking the place of a rodeo clown is absurd, not to mention downright dangerous. But underlying this, there is a real truth: sometimes we share a hospitality of presence and care with people in anxious situations -- the equivalent of helping someone ride a hard-bucking bull.

This is a form of radical hospitality, in which the clown sets aside his immediate responsibilities to reach out to someone to make them more comfortable. In the commercial, the clown is helping guide the rider into the ring.

When we hear the word "hospitality" we think about welcoming someone into our home or our church. But hospitality takes place whenever we reach out to help someone become more comfortable with the situation they find themselves in, whether it is eating in an unfamiliar house or trying an unfamiliar job task.

In the case of faith, it might be helping someone grow in the faith in any number of ways. For example, it might be calming a child the first time they enter a funeral home to see a deceased relative. It might be calming an older child before they walk down the aisle to get married. It might be reaching out to a new co-worker, a new neighbor who is new to the community, or a new Christian who is just beginning the next step in their faith journey.

The Bible is filled with stories of hospitality, where people go out of their way to help others feel more comfortable and confident where they find themselves. Jesus, in particular, was a brilliant giver of hospitality in all situations, even (oddly enough) with people who wished terrible things for him. Do we live up to these examples from our forefathers and foremothers in faith?

Coming Up Sunday, April 18

This Sunday, we continue our "Faith Smart" series, which approaches living out our faith through the lens of the Holiday Inn Express "Stay Smart" ad campaign of recent years. My question: If staying at a Holiday Inn Express can make you smarter, what can being a Christian make you?

This week, we begin with a funny commercial about would-be rock stars:

A bunch of middle age fakers turning into a hugely popular rock band is amusing fantasy, especially when the promoter calls it "possibly the best rock and roll show I've ever seen." But underlying the fantasy is a very real truth -- unless we actually try to do something, we have no idea how good we'll be at it.

The same is true with various aspects of our faith. Until we stretch our wings and actually try to do certain things, we'll never know how good (or not so good) we are at them. It was certainly true of the great prophet and leader Moses, who after the parting of the Red Sea becomes something that little in his life suggested he'd be good at: a supreme judge. But as is clear from Exodus 18, his judgments were sought out in such numbers that he had to create a judicial system for the Hebrews in the desert.

On Sunday, we'll imagine how we must sometimes fake it as "Religious Imposters," until we make it as examples of faith.

Scott Lectures on the Lord's Prayer

I've spent a little more than a day at beautiful Bethany College for the annual Oreon Scott Lectures, this year featuring Dr. Bonnie Thurston, a retired New Testament professor now living in Wheeling (and college classmate of Sara). The weather has been gorgeous. The food has been good and plentiful. The fellowship is friendly.

And the lectures? Let me put it this way. In the outline handouts for the lectures included in the registration packets with the detailed schedule, the first outline has this as line 6: "Three Petitions Focused on God (1 & 3 in 3rd person aorist imperative passive)" Before you pester your local English teacher, let me comfort you by telling you that there is no aorist imperative passive in the English language. But there is such a form in Greek.

Needless to say, I'm having fun. The lectures are not entirely in Greek, but Thurston's close readings of the Lord's Prayer (mostly the version from Matthew 6) are rooted in a careful reading of the original Greek language -- and its probable Aramaic antecedents -- as well as our cherished English version of the prayer. Which is exactly how it should be, but some lecturers try to gloss over such things, worried that people's eyes will glaze over when such linguistic study is described.

Thurston needn't worry about that though. Her lectures have been engaging, full of humor and her own personality, mixing fun, serious reflection, nudges against cherished misconceptions, and the breadth of her study.

Like many, she notes the two halves of the prayer, the first focused squarely on God and the second on human needs. She has spent a lot of time carefully considering the meaning of several key words, such as "Father" (the Abba of Aramaic) and "daily" (an odd compound Greek word that only appears in extant literature once -- except for subsequent quotations of this verse in Matthew).

Thurston consistently argues for the inclusiveness of the final three human petitions in the prayer, suggesting that the focus on base human needs means that this model prayer by Jesus is supposed to be prayed on behalf of everyone. This would mean that the Lord's Prayer becomes a prayer of sustenance for all people, forgiveness for all people, and security for all people. This has interesting implications for us, including a very tough question: do we really want these things that we're praying for? Try praying the Lord's Prayer and asking for your daily bread while you're shopping for a $20,000 car or a $100,000 house (or a $100,000 education, for that matter). It's a little scary to think about, and maybe even scarier in reality, as Thurston said several times during her lectures.

As for me, I was most drawn into her brief discussion of the Greek structure of the second half of the Lord's Prayer. (Scroll to next paragraph if you do not want to read any more about Greek.) It was only a part of her description, but it grabbed my attention (and will likely keep my attention for a while whenever I pray this prayer). I had not realized that there is a pretty strong structure in the Greek (which, as a language with little punctuation, structures mostly with conjunctions). There is a kai...kai...kai me...alla structure to the petitions, which implies a structure of important... more important... most important. If this is the case, the climactic piece of the Lord's Prayer, as written in Greek, is its final phrase (in the oldest forms): "BUT save us from the evil (one)." I know that I've always considered it a lesser phrase in the prayer, compared to "thy kingdom come, thy will be done." In the Greek, though, the opposite is true. Aside from the opening (vocative) address to God, it is the climactic piece of the prayer.

What do we do with such evidence that counters the cherished form of the prayer we carry around with us in our head and recite whenever called upon to do so? Is it even important, given that all of the prayer is based on scriptural, meaning that each phrase in the Lord's Prayer has significance for us? I think it might, though I'm unsure what or how right now. All I know is that I stared at the Greek (on my phone -- technology is a wonderful thing) off and on throughout the lecture, carefully looking at that structure (and carefully considering other options -- Greek phrasing with conjunctions is a complicated thing), and then seeing that it's undeniably there. And I sat for a long time after the lecture, trying to imagine what that means. I don't have any good answers yet, but I'll keep mulling it over.

The final lecture considered ways that we could better utilize the Lord's Prayer in preaching and in our personal prayer lives. Some of these suggestions may even find their way into our faith life in the coming months, which would be a good thing. As these lectures proved -- at least to me -- there is always more we can learn, even about things we already know deeply, like the teaching of the Lord's Prayer.

Coming Up Sunday, April 11

On Sunday, we begin our new "Faith Smart" sermon series, which approaches living out our faith through the lens of the Holiday Inn Express "Stay Smart" ad campaign of recent years. My question: If staying at a Holiday Inn Express can make you smarter, what can being a Christian make you?

This week, we begin with a funny commercial about a potential meltdown in a nuclear reactor.

In some ways, this is a farce. On the other hand, read Acts 3, in which Peter, fresh off his breakout sermon on Pentecost, miraculously heals a man while traveling to the Temple. He cannot give the beggar what he asks for -- money -- but instead he can heal him.

As people of faith, we are often frustrated when we see needs all around us that we cannot meet. We feel powerless. But what if we looked at the world with confidence that there were specific things we could do for people in need? What if we took charge in specific ways, following our talents and passions, without worrying about what others think?

Community Prayer Service Thursday for the Mine Disaster

The Greater Fairmont Council of Churches will offer a prayer service Thursday evening at 7:00 at Fleming Memorial Presbyterian Church in response to the mine disaster at Montcoal, WV.

Special music will be offered. Rev. John Riley of Fleming Memorial will host the service and Rev. Richard Bowyer, the lead chaplain at the Farmington Mine Disaster in 1968, will share a message of comfort and hope.