What Kind of World?

As Clifford said in his response to yesterday’s blog, “No better reminder of how quickly things can change is witnessed in the massacre at Virginia Tech.” There was a time when we could not even imagine incidents like the one which happened yesterday in Blacksburg. But in our post-Columbine, post-911 world, perhaps the most shocking thing about the mass-murder at Virginia Tech is how it was not really shocking. Sure, we were surprised and appalled that it happened so close to home this time. But we are no longer surprised to learn that we live in that kind of a world. I know Blacksburg seems to be a quiet place for such horrible events, but didn’t the last school shooting take place in a one-room Amish elementary school? Surely we live in a broken world!

And this world will stay broken until Jesus returns to end it. I don’t subscribe to the end-time theory that the world is getting worse and worse as we get closer and closer to Armageddon. God’s arrival into our world 2000 years ago wrapped in flesh and in swaddling clothes was accompanied by the slaughter of the innocents. And our word’s innocence was slaughtered long before that! Our world was twisted on its moral axis in Eden, and we have been finding new ways to rebel against God’s goodness ever sense. There are many good people in the world, and too many of them died yesterday in Blacksburg. But evil is always here with us, and the evil one will never give us a respite from his dark influence. It is easy for us to see things like yesterday’s bloodbath and ask, “What is our world coming to?” Sadly, our world is simply living down to what our world has always been. One Virginia Tech professor survived the holocaust only to die yesterday! What a sad, sad commentary on what our world is and was and ever will be.

But though we live where evil reigns, we also live surrounded by goodness. We live in a world where professors and students risk their lives (and give them) to block the way of the killer into classrooms so that others have the time to escape. We live in a world in which the memory of the Twin Towers collapsing is match by the memory of police and firefighters running into those building to seek to save others and die in the effort. We live in a world where evil reigns, but it does not reign supreme. And it never will!

Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those who were killed and with those recovering from their injuries. We look forward to the day when God will forever destroy the evil one and take us to live in a place beyond the reach of pain and death.

We Never Know...

Lynn went shopping the other day. She does do that often, but it’s getting close to time for our Pepperdine trip and that, of course, requires a whole new wardrobe! She was at the cash register with another customer who was talking on the telephone. Lyn could tell by the woman’s body language that something was wrong. She closed the phone and said to no one in particular, “My son is dead.” Her 26-year old son had been killed earlier that day in an automobile accident, and the California police had been trying to track her down. The found her on her cell phone in a store across from Lynn.

To be fair, the CHiPs officer asked her to go home so he could call her there, but she insisted that he go ahead and tell her. Lynn tried to help her and offered to drive her home, but she said that she would be OK. Of course, she wasn’t going to OK. She went home knowing that in as sense, her world would never be OK again.

We never ever know what life is going to bring us, do we? You can go from mindless browsing at a thrift store to mind-numbing grief with one single phone call. We never know. All we can do is live each day to its fullest and to make the most of every opportunity. The old Tim McGraw song tells us “To Live Like You Were Dying.” Well, we all are dying. We have very little (if any) real control over what will happen to us in the future. What we do have is control over how we live our lives today.

Knocking on Heaven's Door

^9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ^10 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. (Luke 11:9-10)

No one likes to be be a pest. We have been trained to be polite and not to bother other people unnecessarily. So if we are really following the rules of etiquette as outlined by Miss Manners, we may find ourselves saying something like, "Excuse me my Good man, but if it is not too much trouble, could you possibly back your car up just a bit; your front tire is on my foot." OK, so most of us aren't quite that polite, but we never want to be a bother to anyone.

So we are a little surprised perhaps when Jesus tells us to make a pest of ourselves in prayer. The parable that he tells in Luke 11 encourages us to pray persistently. The apostles ask Jesus to teach them prayer, and he responds with Luke's version of the Lord's Prayer. Then he tells them a story--

⁵ Then he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, ⁶ because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.’ ⁷ “Then the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ ⁸ I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man’s boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs. (Luke 11:5-8)

So are we to pester God long enough until He gets so annoyed with us that gives us what we want? Well, not really. The point is rather if we really believe in the power of prayer, then we'll continue to pray and not be deterred when our answer is delayed. We never really learn the point of prayer until we learn that God answers in His own good time and in His own good way. We generally can't tell the difference between God's "No" and God's "Wait." So all we can do is continue to pray. We must keep on asking, keep searching and keep knocking (see the NLT translation of Luke 11:9). God will answer, but our job is to keep knock, knock, knocking on heaven's door.

... For Tomorrow We Diet

Yesterday I mentioned that I was going back on a diet after my week on vacation where one of our main pastimes was eating. So now I’m back to watching what I eat. Well, I always watch what I eat; it is just that sometimes I watch myself eat a whole lot more than I should. Now it is time to knuckle down and get serious about dropping a few pounds. That is, I was serious before I read of a report that was released today.

It seems that scientists at UCLA have conducted one of the largest comprehensive reviews of dieting research ever, and they have concluded that dieting does not work. The researchers analyzed every study they could find that followed people on diets for 2 to 5 years, and what they discovered is that it would have been better for most to have not gone on a diet at all! Why? At the end of five years, their weight is the same plus their bodies have gone through wear and tear from losing and then gaining the weight. While 10% if dieters have lost weight after 6 months, 33 to 66 % gain more than they lose within 4 to 5 years. This is not the encouragement I need to pony away from the feedbag and drop the excess weight.

What dieting is (at least from my experience) is a period of depravation (that’s the diet) following a period of indulgence (the rest of the time when I eat what I want). I’ve seen books on dieting for Christians like “The Bible Diet: 40 Days to Cleanliness” (based on Daniel and his refusal to eat the king’s food) and “The Maker's Diet” (based on clean and unclean food regulations). To my knowledge, no one has written “John the Baptist Diet” extolling the benefits of locusts and wild honey, though John didn’t live long enough to know what the long term results of this high-crunch, high-carb fare.

I rather suspect that if God did write a diet book it would tell us to eat what we enjoy, just not too much... and to take the extra we forgo and share with those who are hungry. I think He may tells us to never over-indulge in food or drink and to make wise and healthy choices about what we eat and don’t eat. He would tell us to undergo both periods of fasting and feasting, but to have spiritual and not just physical goals for each. And He would tell us not to become obsessed with how we look but to make wise choices that care for the physical temple which is our body and which He uses to accomplish His will. I think He would expect us to make those kinds of healthy and wise choices because we are self-controlled people of moderation. I mainly think God would say those kinds of things about our diet because God has said those kinds of things. But these are a lot easier to blog about than they are to live, aren't they?

I'm Back!

I'm back. It has been forever since I have posted anything on the blog. We were out of town all last week on vacation with my parents in Crossville, TN. What is in Crossville? Well, not a lot. There was no internet access, so I could not make any blog posts. We were at a timeshare there because Crossville it is about halfway between Little Rock (where my parents live) and Newport News. So we met them there and spent a relaxing week doing very little except sleeping late, eating, playing a little golf, eating, watching old (really, really old) movies on TV, eating, playing dominoes… and eating. So today I’ve started a diet trying to loose 5-10 pounds before our Pepperdine trip at the end of the month (eating is a pretty big part of that itinerary as well!). We also go to drive into Nashville on Sunday to attend church at Otter Creek and eat lunch with my brother-in-law and niece. (My sister was out of town touring New York City with a friend; she had that trip planned before she knew we were coming... I think!).

The brother who did the table talk at Otter Creek shared a great quote from Mother Theresa. When she was asked how it felt receiving all the attention after being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, she pointed her questioner to the story of the triumphant entry as Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey. Mother Theresa asked her questioner that with all the palm branches being waved, the coats being laid down, and the singing and praise going on in Jerusalem, do you really think the donkey thought all of that was for him?

This is a powerful reminder that it is all about Him, not about us. We can get bent out of shape over a lot of things that happens at church when we forget that it is not about us. We can become smug and self-sufficient in who we are and what we have done when we by into the fiction that it is about us. It is all about Him. They donkey would not have dreamed about thinking that the worship was about him. We should resist the temptation to let the donkey come off smarter than are we.

Remember

I have a bad memory. I have such a bad memory that no one will notice if I ever come down with Alzheimer’s. My Dad says that as he has gotten older, he spends more time thinking about the here-after—he goes into a room and then tries to think what he is here after. I can relate to that.

As bad as my memory is, I hope it is not as bad as that of Israel during the Exodus. Something struck me Sunday night during small group that I had never thought about in this way before. I told them that this was going to be a blog entry, and here it is. Exodus 15 tells of Israel celebrating God’s destruction of the Egyptian army in the Red Sea. Moses leads the song of victory, the original “song of Moses” in Exodus 15:1-18. Then his sister Miriam (called “a prophetess”) led the women in singing and dance before the Lord. Her song is in verse 21, “Sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea.”

Now here is the memory problem. The next verses (Exodus 15:22-24) begins the story of Israel moving from the Read Sea to Sinai, and it says this—

22 Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. 23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is
why the place is called Marah.) 24 So the people grumbled against Moses, saying,
“What are we to drink?”

Right after Israel sings praise to God for delivering them by drowning the Egyptians in the Red Sea they begin to complain because they have no water. They go from celebrating the God who used water to destroy their enemies to complaining that God didn't have enough water to give them a drink. And it is not just soon after the Red Sea that they complain—it is the very next verse. They go from praising the God of the waters to complaining they have no water.

How could they be so forgetful? If God can drown their enemies, do they not believe that he can give them a drink when they needed it? One verse separates their praise from their protest! But then I can remember some times when the period of time between thanking God for the food and complaining about what we had to eat was pretty short. Or times we the period between praising God in church and complaining about how it was conducted was pretty short. Maybe our spiritual memory isn’t a lot better than that of the Israelites. But I think we can do better.

Faithful Spies

Something hit me as I was reading Deuteronomy 1 this morning. The Israelites were camped on the banks of the Jordan preparing to finally enter the Promised Land. Before they do, Moses will remind them of the history that had led them to that point and the covenant that they had made with God. He reminds them that they had been here before. Forty years earlier, Israel had been camped in the same place waiting to enter Canaan. Spies had been sent into the land to give a report of what lay ahead for them , and their report was one of a land that flowed with milk and honey. But what ten of the spies focused on was that it was a land that flowed with mighty enemies, walled cities and giants. The heart of Israel melted, and their fear caused them to refuse to enter the land. Moses says in Deuteronomy 1:26-27—

But you were unwilling to go up; you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God. You grumbled in your tents and said, "The LORD hates us; so he brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us.

So God respected their choice—they did not enter the land. For forty years the Israelites wandered in the wilderness and an entire generation died never seeing the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It would be their children who would receive the promise. Moses said in verse 39—

And the little ones that you said would be taken captive, your children who do not yet know good from bad—they will enter the land. I will give it to them and they will take possession of it.

Here’s what hit me. The only information Israel had about Canaan was the report of the spies. Their decision not to enter the land was based on the negative report of ten unfaithful spies. Think of the powerful influence those ten men had on the entire nation of Israel. The whole nation missed having what God wanted them to have because of their negative influence.

You are living as God’s witnesses today. The message of God is mediated to the world around you through your attitudes and actions. Your life and faith is having an impact on the people around you… either for good or bad. Each of us stands in the places of the spies who have seen Canaan and report back to others. The words you speak, the life you live, the faith you exhibit will impact many beyond yourself. Will you be a faithful spy?

God Lives Among Us

At the end of Numbers (my Bible reading today), the Lord is giving Moses detailed instructions for the establishment of cities of refuge (“cities of safety” in the NCV). Murderers are to be executed by the avenger of blood, a close relative of the person killed. The cities of refuge were set up as a place of safety for those who killed someone accidentally to go and receive a fair trial. A clear distinction was made between accidental homicide and intentional homicide-- the intentional murderer was to be executed; the accidental killer was to be allowed to live safely in the city of refuge until the death of the High Priest. The taking of human life was so serious that even accidental killings had consequences; living in a city of refuge was far better than being killed by the avenger of blood, but it did tend to disrupt one's life.

I am not intending to launch into a death penalty debate. I believe that the death penalty is fair and just when it is applied fairly and justly. The high percentage of non-white and poor men and women on death row does suggest that it has not been applied fairly and justly in our system of law. Often the imposition of the death penalty is little more a commentary on the quality of one's legal representation than it is a statement of justice. On the other hand, some acts are so heinous and hideous that not having the option of death penalty is heinous and hideous. I can’t imagine justice for Jessica Lunsford who was abducted, abused over three days, wrapped in a trash bag and buried alive to slowly suffocate without the possibility of a death penalty. But then I wonder if death would have been imposed had Jessica's killer been a young rich guy in a mansion rather than a scruffy drifter in a trailer park.

God’s instruction to Moses concerning the death penalty specifically forbade money from perverting justice. In Numbers 35:31-32, God says,

“Do not accept a ransom for the life of a murderer, who deserves to die. He must surely be put to death. Do not accept a ransom for anyone who has fled to a city of refuge and so allow him to go back and live on his own land before the death of the high priest.”

A person’s money was not to buy them justice. The murder was not to be able to verdict in a trial at the City of Refuge; they were not to be able to pay money and buy themselves free from a death sentence. Justice was to be served. The next verse suggests that justice was impossible without the taking of the life of the murderer (Numbers 35:33).

“Do not pollute the land where you are. Bloodshed pollutes the land, and atonement cannot be made for the land on which blood has been shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it.

Modern minds reason that the death penalty is barbaric and does not value human life. The opposite seems true here. God so values life and so abhors murder that nothing short of the death penalty is justice. The land is defiled by murder, and in a very Old Testament way, it requires blood to cleanse it.

The next verse is an important one, “Do not defile the land where you live and where I dwell, for I, the LORD, dwell among the Israelites.” The moral choices that we make are made even more important by the fact that God lives among us. The moral choices that you and I make are never made in a vacuum; God lives with us and among us. That was important for Israel to remember as they made decisions on matters about justice. It is important for us to remember every day as we decide how we will treat other people, what language we will use, and whether or not we will tell convenient lies rather than difficult truths.

I've Had Enough

I've had enough! I’ve taken it this long and I’m not taking it any longer! So I’m going to do something about it... Monday. For months now I have this interesting little "glitch" in my computer that causes it to hiccup ever so often... and getting oftener. The keyboard freezes, the cursor freezes, the screen freezes—for about 3 seconds. It only seemed to happen in PowerPoint, so I uninstalled and reinstalled that a couple of times. Now it happens in Word and Explorer and Logos (my Bible program), and it happens more frequently. I’ve run all the anti-virus and spyware programs, but my little glitch is still there. This sounds like a little problem and in the grand scheme of things, I guess it is. But it has moved from an anomaly to an irritant to a major annoyance. So Monday I’ll drag out the operating system CD and do a format reinstall. So that probably means that by Tuesday morning, I won’t have my little glitch—I’ll have several great big ones. But enough is enough.

Angelynn has been home all week for her spring break. It’s been fun having here around, and it is great that she chooses to spend her week off with Mom and Dad instead of Ft. Lauderdale or someplace. It’s probably good that she doesn’t have any money and doesn’t have to make that choice. Her project today is to get our and nail down a job for the summer (so she’ll have enough money so she can choose where to go next spring break). Anyway, if you know of any summer jobs, give Angelynn a call.

The first day of the NCAA tournament turned out to be pretty boring. The only upset (and one of few close games) of the day was VCU knocking off Duke… and Duke has been pretty ordinary all year. Hopefully it will pick up a bit today with a few upsets. In case anyone is interested, I have Florida, UCLA, North Carolina and Memphis in the Final Four… which means that now none of them have a shot at getting there.

Truth in Exile?

I am in the middle of reading the political-legal thriller Exile by Richard North Patterson. The novel tells the story of Jewish-American lawyer David Wolfe who is called on to defend Hana Arif, a Palestinian professor accused of the assassination of an Israeli prime-minister visiting in San Francisco. To defend his client, Wolfe goes to Israel where he interviews people from all sides of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, those horribly impacted by a culture of hate and violence. Patterson does a marvelous job variously arguing from Israeli and Palestinian perspectives, convincing and then unconvincing the reader of who is really to blame for the continued violence in a part of the world where nothing is simple and no side is blameless.

At one point in the book, one of Wolfe’s guides in Israel explains that in Israel, truth always has four sides. There is BIBLICAL truth, that which is revealed by God through His holy book, but that truth is always toward the one reading the book-- Jews see God’s promise of Canaan as justifying the Israeli state while Muslims see Ishmael, not Isaac, as Abraham’s favored son. There is also ARCHEOLOGICAL truth, the record left in the dust at hundreds of holy sights across the region. But again, few can agree on exactly what those truths mean. Then there is HISTORICAL truth, the stories and legends of the past handed down from generation to generation, nuanced and transformed in the telling by the teller. Finally, there is POLITICAL truth, what leaders can do with the other three truths to exert power and get their way.

I am committed to God’s truth. For me, that truth is wrapped up in the person and teaching of Jesus Christ, and the New Testament is God’s record of Jesus life and the beginning of His church. I want to be committed to living the life of His disciple and being a part of that church described in the Bible. But I need to understand that while truth is truth, some of the ways that I perceive and practice truth have been impacted by my culture, background and history. Perhaps some of the wrangling and division within Christendom have come from the same kind of sectarian blindness that makes peace in the Middle East impossible. Maybe we can learn better to be absolutely committed to truth as we see it… understanding that the “as I see it” part can be quite flawed at times. As Paul says, "Let God be true, and every man a liar." (Rom. 3:4)

If There's More Daylight, Why Am I So Tired?

I’m having a hard time getting going this morning. I’m always exhausted on Monday mornings—that’s why Monday is my designated day off. So why am I here at the building? Well, if I’m going to get nothing done, I might as well not get it done here! Anyway, the coffee is good. It has been partcularly hard to get going today. I did three daily Bible readings... or rather read the same one three times because I kept dozing off!

I ran across this news article and then remembered why I am so tired today. It’s that hour we lost to Daylight Savings Time!

Clocks spring forward Saturday night and we lose an hour of our weekend. Many of us will take that hour from God. Churches say the first Sunday of Daylight Saving Time is one of the worst for attendance. "When we lose the hour, attendance drops off" by about 15 percent, said Bill Agee, a pastor at Hope Community Church in Springfield, Mo. And his church is not unique. Churches across the country report empty seats and late arrivals.

The article goes on to describe some things some churches do to respond—like serving coffee and donuts. One church even changes its service times by thirty minutes! Well, we didn’t do anything differently… and we were down about 20 percent!

What are the chances that our attendance figures will be up 20% this fall when Daylight Savings Time ends?

Elephant in the Pew

I recently ran across the following story. I was going to use it in my sermon Sunday, but ran out of room. (Most of my blogs is stuff that gets voted out before it makes it to the sermon).

As children’s pastor, I listened as a fourth-grade Sunday school teacher shared a concern. Completing a quarter’s lessons on the Ten Commandments, he had asked the kids, "What is the hardest Commandment for you to keep?" Most of them responded, "Thou shalt not commit adultery." We couldn’t understand why fourth graders would find that command such a problem until a mother quizzed her son on what he thought committing adultery meant. Without blinking, the boy replied, "Thou shalt not sass back to adults."

Adult-ery. Talking back to adults. That makes sense, right? Maybe we misunderstand the meaning of adultery too. We want to see adultery as only the act of marital unfaithfulness, but Jesus insists that we understand that unfaithfulness begins in our hearts and minds. To give into lust is to already be unfaithful—to our spouse (or our future spouse) and to our God. Thus to give ourselves to lust is to already commit adultery. But then, that is Sunday’s sermon.

When it comes to lust, we live in a time like no other. While pornography has always existed (witness the ruins of Pompeii), it has never been as accessible. People who would never be caught dead in an adult theater or bookstore can turn on their computer and find anything they can imagine… and a few things they can’t. The web makes pornography highly accessible and practically anonymous. It is a trap that waits to spring shut every time we log onto the web. Porn is not just a problem for “dirty old men in the dark eating salty peanuts with no teeth” (an old Bill Cosby line). At one national Promise Keepers rally, 50% of the men surveyed admitted to viewing porn in the week before the event!

Take the time to view this webcast done by the folks at safefamilies.org. In fact, spend some time on their site. If you don’t already use a filter to block porn sites, they offer one free of charge. In the presentation, they refer to online porn as "an elephant in the pew." It is a big problem that we just want to ignore. Maybe its time to stop ignoring it.

Taking the Grumble Tumble

In Numbers 12, Miriam and Aaron begin to grumble against Moses. well, everyone else had been doing it, so now they take a turn. They are mad about his marriage to a Cushite woman; they are mad because Moses is getting the credit for leading Israel. Most of all, they are just mad... so they grumble and complain. No big deal, right? We all complain, right? Well, their grumbling was evidently a very big deal for God! Miriam was struck with leprosy, and she had to spend some time outside the camp. And when all Israel picked up this grumbling, it led to their downfall. Psalm 106:25-26 puts it like this—

25 They grumbled in their tents and did not obey the Lord.
26 So he swore to them with uplifted hand that he would make them fall in the desert.

Grumbling and complaining were not just slips of the lip. They betrayed the negative attitude and spiritual deficits that eventually kept Israel from following God. That is why God is so against grumbling and complaining.

Giving voice to our negative thoughts is something that we do all too naturally and without a lot of thought. But God hears our grumbling, and He seems to take it very seriously. Listen to some New Testament texts—

• 1 Corinthians 10:10- And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel.
  
• Philippians 2:14-15- Do everything without complaining or arguing, that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe.
  
• James 5:9- Don’t grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!
  
• 1 Peter 4:9- Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.

A negative, grumbling, complaining and fault-finding attitude is not simply a problem of temperament. It is a sin that will keep us from pleasing God.

Without Natural Affection

My sermon Sunday mentioned some statistics on the prevalence of domestic violence in our country... and even in our churches. The front page of the CNN news page had two stories this morning that provide tragic illustrations on just how willing enraged parents will go to use their children as weapons to hurt people that they once loved.

• Chytoria Graham was arrested for using her 4-week-old son as a club to attack her boyfriend, fracturing the infant's skull. She admitted that she grabbed her son Jarron by his feet and swung him like a baseball bat. The child was seriously injured.

• Beth Johnson got a phone call from her ex-husband Monday saying, “I've got her, and you're not going to get her." In the background she could her daughter Emily (pictured) screaming “Mommy, come get me, come get me.” Minutes later, Eric Johnson intentionally crashed his rented single-engine plane into his ex-wife’s mother’s home in southern Indiana, killing both himself and his 8-year-old daughter.

Paul says that one of the characteristics of the pagan world of his day (Rom 1:31) and of the world in “the last days” (1 Tim 3:3) was that it was “heartless.” The KJV renders the word “without natural affection.” One lexicon defies this Greek word astorgos ( used only in these two texts) as “hard-hearted toward kindred.” The word comes from storge or “family affection.” Paul description of our “last days world” is of people who are “lovers of themselves” and “lovers of money,” (1 Tim 3:1), but who have no natural love for their own families. Like people who are willing to kill and maim their own kids in order to hurt other people… other people that they should also love.

Hold your kids a little closer today. Maybe Christians can show such natural affection for our families that we can chase away some of the darkness.

Whoever Is Not Against Us

The New Testament part of my Bible reading this morning was Mark 9, which records an intriging little story that gives us cause to pause. We could call this “The Strange Case of the Unknown Exorcist.” It follows two arguments involving the apostles earlier in the chapter.

• First, they argued over their failure to cast out a demon (9:14-16). They tried and failed to heal a demon-possessed boy, and they were arguing with the teachers of the law in front of a large crowd when Jesus joined them.
  
• Second, they then argued over who was greatest among them (9:33-34). They were embarrassed to admit to Jesus what they argued over, but He knew. He assures them that true greatness in the kingdom of God is found in service to others, not in defending one’s status as compared to others.

This is the backdrop against which we understand the story of the unknown exorcist in Mark 9:38-41. The apostles saw one driving out demons in Jesus’ name, and they were upset and immediately made him stop. Why? “He is not one of us.” If they were being completely honest, they may have added, “… and he is successfully casting out demons which we just failed to do!” The apostles are guarding their turf here just as surely as the Pharisees guarded theirs elsewhere in the gospel story. They don’t want anyone not of their group doing things like this in Jesus’ name. Not only does Jesus rebuke them, but he adds the surprising words, “Whoever is not against us is for us.”

The history of the church is littered with petty divisions and turf wars among the followers of Jesus. From the first century onward, we have divided into in-groups and out-groups. These divisions have at times been over real doctrinal differences, but rarely have these involved the central core issues of the Christian faith. Like the apostles, we argue and exclude others who would do things in Jesus' name. Maybe it’s time to have faith that God knows who are His own. Maybe it’s time to recognize that God can accomplish His work through whomever He chooses. He may have people on such a different trajectory than are we that we may not be able to fully endorse or join with them directly. That’s OK. “Do not stop him… whoever is not against us is for us.”

Sins of Our Fathers

Last week, the Virginia General Assembly voted unanimously express their “profound regret” for Virginia's participation in the practice of slavery. It could be argued that Virginia played a unique role in that terrible institution as the first Africans to be forcibly settled in America (probably as forced indentured servants) came to the Virginia colony in 1619. The first plantations built on slave labor were in Virginia, the most celebrated leaders of the Confederacy were Virginians, and the capital of the Confederacy was in Virginia.

So Virgina became the first state to formally apologize for slavery (Missouri is considering a similar action). This resolution doesn’t really do anything legally, but it was intended to send an important symbolic message. Slavery was the single most evil institution in our nation’s history, and its legacy continues to be a source of pain and evil today. Maybe this legislative “sorry about that” is too little and too late, but it seems that Virginia has officially and institutionally admitted both that slavery was wrong and that the Commonwealth was a big part of the problem.

Some feel that such an apology is unnecessary and wrong-headed. No one now in Virginia was personally guilty of slavery. Sure, this little problem, of racism and prejudice remains, and these must be dealt with-- but how can one repent of something of which one is not personally guilty? Well, evidently that is possible. In Leviticus 26:40, Moses is looking forward to a time when Israel would turn from God and then turn back to God. Notice the language here—

"But at last my people will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors for betraying me and being hostile toward me." (NLT)

It seems that God expected Israel to confess the sins of their fathers. They did not inherit the personal guilt of a previous generations that had turned again God, but they did become heir to that tradition of rebellion. Their first step back to God was to acknowledge that the sin of their fathers was indeed sin. Then they could address the legacy of that rebellion.

I am ashamed that my state and my country condoned and participated in slavery so long ago. (But then, was it all that long ago? When I was born in 1956, there were people still living who had been born slaves!). Maybe an important step in moving to racial harmony is to admit that the system that brought Africans to this country and exploited them economically was blatantly and patently evil. Maybe until we acknowledge the sins of our fathers we are not completely open to new life in the present.

This, That and the Other

If you want to read a longer treatment on “The Lost Tomb of Jesus,” the subject raised by my blog yesterday, see this article by scholar Ben Witherinton.

Tonight is the dry run of our new WOW program (“Worship on Wednesday”) that begins for real on March 7. We were calling it “Wednesday Night Live,” but then Roger came up with WOW, so we thought we’d better use that moniker. You know how sensitive Roger is about stuff like that! This is a new focus for our children where we are putting on a mini-VBS every Wednesday night—high-energy praise and worship, large group teaching and drama, small group activities and crafts, and prayer time. Bill and Melissa Foster are heading this effort, but it will take a lot of volunteers. Contact them to find out how you can help. For the adults, we will have a time focusing on marriage and relationships through the Jerry and Lynn Jones DVD series "Marriage Matters." That will start March 7 as well.

My scripture reading this morning included this little jewel from Proverbs, “If you talk a lot, you are sure to sin; if you are wise, you will keep quiet” (Prov. 10:19, NCV). The NLT rendering is less diplomatic, “Too much talk leads to sin. Be sensible and keep your mouth shut.” I wonder if this applies to blog posts?

Our little blog community at TucksDenbighBlog is not large enough to worry about formal rules of response. Trivia quote from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, “Rules? There ain’t no rules in a knife fight!” What’s my point? No point, I just like that quote! Our only informal rule for the blog is the Golden Rule. Sometimes one may need to blow off steam, and firing off a post can be therapeutic. But then that might not be such good therapy for those of us reading. After all, something under 10,000 people read this blog each day! Let’s have more responses, more discussion, more great posts. But let's keep them golden.

The Lost Tomb of Jesus

In 1980 a construction crew in the Jerusalem chanced upon a first-century tomb containing ten ossuaries or bone boxes. Some of these were inscribed with names like Jesus, Maria, Mariamene, Matthew; Judas, son of Jesus; and Jose, names that were very common in first century name. James Cameron, who directed The Titanic, has produced the documentary "The Lost Tomb of Jesus" to air on the Discovery Channel that suggests that this represents the family tomb of Jesus. The ossuary discovered in Jerusalem contained the bones of Jesus, thus invalidating the Christian affirmation that “He is risen!”

The “proof” in this much-hyped film seems much more like debatable conjecture and supposition. The case largely revolves around the only uncommon name found on the bone boxes, that of Mariamene. It is suggested that some later Christians may have used that name for Mary Magdalene, and this links the more other common names. Cameron says, "If you found a John, a Paul and a George, you're not going to leap to any conclusions... unless you found a Ringo." Of course, there is no evidence that anyone called Mary Magdalene Mariamene at the time of her death. And there is no evidence that connects Mary Magdalene to the family of Jesus… unless you count The Da Vinci Code. DNA tests have supposedly confirmed that the remains in the “Jesus” and “Mariamene” ossuaries were not related on their mother's sides. Therefore, if this was a family tomb, and if the two aren’t related on their Father’s side, then the two "would most likely have been husband and wife."

The whole thing is made of smoke-and-mirror suppositions big enough to sink the Titanic. One scholar put it, “There were too many assumptions being claimed as discoveries, and that they were trying to connect dots that didn't belong together.” Amos Kloner was the first archeologist to examine the site, and he dismisses the whole proposition, "They just want to get money for it. It's a joke. It was an ordinary middleclass Jerusalem burial cave. The names on the caskets are the most common names found among Jews at the time." But Cameron will do this with such movie magic that there will be many people who may be convinced.... especially those who want to be convinced.

If you want more information on the historical reliability of the sources on the life of Jesus, then let me invite to be with us on May 18-20 as Dr. Tommy South, Professor of New Testament at Virginia Commonwealth University, is with us to discuses the topic “What Can we Know About Jesus?” Make plans now to be here for this Friday-Sunday Seminar.

Who Are Your Paparazzi?

I’m sure most of us have had just about as much of Britney Spears news as we can stand… and then some. It seems that every newspaper, news cast, and news webpage has to chronicle the latest proof that the girl has completely lost it... if she ever had it. But then, most of us Regular Joes can't imagine living your entire life in front of paparazzi there to chronicle every false step and bad haircut. Maybe that twists you after awhile. I would think that most of us would be a bit more careful about what we said and did in front of people there waiting for us to mess up. But then, maybe not.

Jesus lived his entire life in the glare of what amounted to first century paparazzi. From the very beginning of his ministry, Jesus was followed by large crowds intent on his every move. And many onlookers were there waiting for Him to mess up. Notice the following texts--

• Mark 3:2- Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath.
• Luke 6:7- The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath.
• Luke 14:1- One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched.
• Luke 20:20- Keeping a close watch on him, they sent spies, who pretended to be honest. They hoped to catch Jesus in something he said so that they might hand him over to the power and authority of the governor.

Jesus’ enemies were there with notepads at the ready waiting to catch Him in something that they could use to discredit or accuse Him. Of course, that never happened. In the end, they had resort to false witnesses and twisted testimony (Matt 26:59-60).

I wonder how many of us have secret paparatzzi watching us-- co-workers, friends, neighbors, family members. They have heard our Christian profession, and they watch us waiting to see how we are going to live our faith. It may not be fair, but they will see any flaw and failure as proof that our faith doesn’t work. I had a neighbor come over to watch me re-roofing my storage shed. I finally asked him why he was there, and he said, “Oh nothing really; I’m just waiting to hear what you will say when you hit your thumb!” He was being funny; some people are deadly seriously.

None of us can ever be perfect, but we can be consistent. Perhaps the greatest witness we can give to the truthfulness of our faith is now consistently we live it out before the paparazzi of the world. Peter says, “Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us” (1 Peter 2:12).

Fat Tuesday

Today is Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras, the day before Ash Wednesday and the traditional beginning of the season of Lent. In some places, Today is known as as “Pancake Day.” Lent is a traditional time for liturgical fasting when only “plain foods” are to be eaten. Fancy foods like eggs, milk and sugar are to be removed from the house, so what better way to do that than to eat a bunch of pancakes the day before? In fact, Mardi Gras with all its excesses began as a way to prepare for Ash Wednesday and the Lenten season which culminates in Good Friday and Easter Sunday—the death and resurrection of Jesus. Have you ever gorged yourself a bit the day before you were to start a diet? Well, that was the idea behind Mardi Gras, except that most people don’t do Lent after Fat Tuesday. They have the big party, but they never fast and focus on what led up to the death and resurrection of Jesus

Another name for today is “Shrove Tuesday.” Shrove is the past tense of “shrive,” which means confessing and doing penance for past sins. Lent was the time to reflect on sin and the price Jesus paid, and Shrove Tuesday began that holy period. Once again, the tradition was largely maintained by folks who remember the party and forgot to focus on Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Face it, having a big party is much more fun that a period of fasting and self-deprivation.

Do we live like we expect Fat Tuesday without Ash Wednesday? Not that any of us would think about doing Mardi Gras. But do we live like we want the forgiveness of Christ without the self-sacrifice of discipleship? At the center of Christianity is a cross, and the call of discipleship is to make the cross of Jesus our cross. “And he said to them all, “Anyone who wants to come with me must forget self, take up their cross every day, and follow me” (Luke 9:23, NLT). It’s one thing to enjoy the pancakes; it’s another thing to follow Jesus in the way of the cross!