Folks figured that God worked in a consistent and orderly fashion, A, B, C, etc… and then these gentile folks ended up doing the tongue speaking deal and they hadn’t even been baptised yet. (Acts 10:44-48). The text uses the term astonished… I’m thinking in todays society, indignant might be more typical. “How could this happen, God is one of order, this makes no sense, we need to have a meeting on this etc, who are these folks anyhow?”

Peter is way cool with it though. “Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.”

hmmmm

Where does discipline, obedience, and “good order” fit within this reading? If anything, I think this is a place where love overshadows structure and order. If we consider the Gospel text (John 15:9-17) love seems to be the bigger deal. I think we get ourselves into an indignancy jam up when we try to project what we think is right and proper beyond the scriptures.

I remember some weeks back noticing some youthful communion assistants with attire far outside my scope of reverence… Initially I was thinking whoa, not cool, but then after a few minutes, it was like well, this is cool but in a different sort of way. Attire is not the issue, the heart is, and if someone is comfortable coming to God in such a way, there is a sort of reverence in such an act in and of itself. I had to put love and discipline in the right order… and put my personal opinions as to reverence aside.

Every once in a while lay presidency, the Augsburg confession / apology, and its good order counter make for a bit of a dustup. Granted there is the sticky deal with the Episcopalian full communion document, but love has to be at the bottom of it all. I think somehow or another, the issue becomes whether one is really willing to give up multidimensional comfort zones for love, or whether to hijack love and project our own preferences and desires onto it.

Such is a tricky deal indeed.

Granted, like all church steeples, lightning protection is a must… but its a whole lot easier to protect the steeple from becoming a roman candle, than it is to keep the thousands of amps flowing down the grounding systems from bouncing the neon system into failure land.

In the days of old, I’m pretty sure a guy would use a bosun’s chair for maintenance and repair. Sadly, I never got up high enough in the steeple interior to see if it had an access door like many churches of the late 1800′s (rebar pegs outside the steeple suggests a door existed at one time). I do remember a young fellow a few years older than me back in the 70′s offered to climb it and fix it for free. His offer scared folks to death! As such, maintenance equated to a sign company coming in with a crane during that time at substantial expense. I was amazed how really huge the cross was, it made the fellow on the crane look pretty small. Considering how much the crane moved in the wind… if I were to go up there, I think I’d rather go the route of the bosun’s chair.

In today’s world, it would seem a whole lot more prudent to use light pipes, and thus keep the electronics and control systems far removed from the steeple itself. It would be spendy upfront… but its pretty hard to induce damaging currents in acrylic, so its ongoing maintenance would be a tiny fraction compared with ballast transformers and neon tubes.

Beyond the tech aspects, there is another big issue… and thats the stewardship aspect. Certainly if its a matter of feeding the poor, or fixing neon tubes high in the sky, the answer is obvious from an immediate point of view. Over a longer period of time, things get a whole lot more grey. Art is expensive, but art has been part of the worship experience since the OT. It is a form of Christian symbolism to the world… some might try to discount a neon steeple cross as an example of excess and of very limited witness. In some ways and situations they are right. Ie, as an evangelism tool, its likely not very effective, but as an edification tool for fellow believers, I believe their is a place for such.

I attended Maundy Thursday services there last evening, and once it got dark, I noticed the cross was not lit. At the time, I dint know if its a technical issue, a stewardship issue, or whether they made the call to shut it off until early AM on Sunday. This morning I went to shoot some photos, and sadly, its quite damaged once again. It won’t be on for Easter morning.

Most folks are well aware of declining young adult attendance, and likewise kids bailing from church post confirmation. As such, it seems like getting gung ho on youth ministry could well be a proactive step to avoid further young adult exodus type experience. The next step, an often overlooked one to folks peril…. is what is youth ministry?

As an idealist, I see youth ministry as:

A Safe Space for Questioning and Growth

An all-in approach to the Gospel, such that youth ministry is overtly Christian, not a Gospel of good behavior or works, nor moral therapeutic deism/theism, or any number of related variants.

Providing opportunities for putting ones faith into action.

An intergenerational and family approach which integrates youth with the entire congregation and ministry with the family.

By the same token, idealism often slams head on into reality, and youth ministry can morph into something else…

Safe space can freaks folks out… there are multitudes of very hard questions, where in canned answers are not going to fly. Hard core discussion on such are often perceived negatively. Ie consider Rob Bell’s Love Wins for example. Its a whole lot easier to morph into “do not ask/discuss those types of questions” than it is to embrace safe space. It doesn’t have to be things like “Does Hell exist” or “What about the inconsistencies in the Gospels”, but could be something like “Did Luther really say “Sin a little to spite the devil“.

A full bore Gospel centric approach sounds fine in theory… but a theology of glory is a much easier sale to parents and congregations than the theology of the cross. Consider how the following plays out in Ask Mr Moralism.

There’s this guy who says he’s a Christian, but he apparently thinks about his body a LOT. He works out HOURS a day, and poses for pictures in his underwear, knowing they will be displayed publicly.

He works at this place where they have dancing girls, getting paid to do sexy dances.

And there’s TONS of drinking there. His salary comes from an employer who’s made millions off alcohol sales!

Like I said, he says he’s a Christian. Should I take a stand to show people I disapprove?

Read the response… kids see this type of stuff for what it is all the time. Moral behaviorism is not the answer.

Faith into action is pretty cool… but we need to exercise care that such doesn’t morph into works without faith. An experienced Boy or Girl scout leader can run circles around most youth ministers when it comes to works alone, but then works alone isn’t really what we are after or is it?

Some have said that the old formula head -> heart -> hands appears to be changing to hands -> heart -> head. The problem with the order changing is that in some cases youth ministry implementation equates to a lower or even non-existent priority for everything but works. If the only difference between a youth ministry and a secular program is a prayer at the start, a couple minutes of scripture and then Jesus gets put aside for the rest of it, one has to ask if its really youth ministry.

Youth ministry when thrown over the wall and nearly separate from the rest of the church can sometimes work exceedingly well, at least in the short term. We’ve all heard or participated in the guru leader youth pastor who takes a youth group from 4-5 kids to hundreds, and amazing things happen. That is, until the youth leader leaves and/or the youth grow up.

Likewise, youth ministry separate from the family can pose no small amount of headaches when the value sets are at odds. If a family looks at a youth ministry to indoctrinate doctrine, and or instill morality rather than the Gospel, they will take issue when discipleship is the focus rather than rote memorization or white knuckle abstinence.

The elephant in the room challenge in youth ministry is often the varying degrees of idealism and pragmatism, combined with where a congregation is, and where they can realistically go. Folks will say on the one hand… we need to get serious about youth ministry, and then on the other, put so many barriers in place that real youth ministry ends up being near impossible…. and then wonder why they have such a high churn rate in youth ministers.

Bottom line… figure out what your vision for youth ministry is, figure out where your congregation is at, and see if the vision is possible. Plan as to how you will get there, and share this with your potential youth minister and what his/her role will be as concerns said vision. Assuming that a new youth minister is not only good to go to work with the youth, but will also primarily drive the congregation towards a vision they are not on board with, will be an exercise in frustration for all concerned.

It was easier before, when the path was wide and straight.

But, truth be told, I was faking it. I was pretending that things that didn’t make sense made sense, that things that didn’t feel right felt right. To others, I appeared confident and in control, but faith felt as far away as friend who has grown distant and cold.

Now, every day is a risk.

Now, I have no choice but to cling to faith and hope and love for dear life.

Now, I have to keep a very close eye on Jesus, as he leads me through deep valleys and precarious peaks.

But the view is better, and, for the first time in a long time, I am fully engaged in my faith.

I got thinking on this a bit, and a friends blog came to mind where he writes on the problems on datacentric approaches to education. I like how he tied data driven schools to Platos Allegory of the cave. Even more so, it also seemed to ring very parallel to what Rachel is writing about.

@anderscj nails it with this summary “The shadows are cast on the wall, and prisoner’s in the cave are made to spend their whole lives looking at the shadows and never allowed to turn around and see what is making them. To Plato’s prisoners the shadows are the real things and anyone who is freed and turned around to see what they are producing is thought to have “gone to the surface and come back without their sight” because spending time actually examining what has produced those shadows has made their ability to see the shadows for real objects worse.”

No one likes to consider themselves a prisoner, or to merely be seeing shadows… yet

1. Consider how really massively huge the scriptures are.

2. Consider Paul telling us we see dimly in 1 Cor 13:12.

3. Consider how comfortable and safe a cave environment could be in contrast with the unknown dangers outside of it.

If we flee from growth and/or difficult questioning, I think there is a real danger of becoming Platos shadow observers. A projection show in a cave is safe, comfortable, and easy. We dont really feel like prisoners of our own making… Likewise we will never experience the rejection as have those who have “gone to the surface and come back without their sight.”

Otoh, a prisoner of ones own making sort of shoots a hole in studying to be an approved workman, and makes discipling others near impossible.

God told me you need to do this or that!

For years, I used to hear from folks that, God is leading them to tell me to do this or that… almost always, it was something that said individual personally wanted, and much of the time, it was also contrary to the scriptures.

Personal gain + contrary to scriptures = This is not of God

Folks, be honest, dont try to invoke some type of god card to get what you want. It makes God look like a carnival rabbits foot, or some type of pawn to sway anothers opinion to their viewpoint. Jeremiah 23:16 has some words on this… it is not cool.

God is leading me to do this or that!

Ok, so how is this happening? If it was some type of supernatural blinding light Damascus road deal, God is not leading, he is telling, and you best be on it like yesterday. There is of course the issue of whether said supernatural deal is from God or from Satan. The key thing to remember… not all supernatural stuff is from God, such must be tested. 1 John 4 and 2 Cor 11 talks about this. Also bear in mind it is likely society, Christian and secular will see you as off your rocker… or at a minimum be exceedingly skeptic. Otoh, if it is really of God, doing the Jonah thing would not end well.

What if its not a supernatural blinding light deal, but it appears a still small voice in a whirlwind… Test it as above, is it in alignment with the scriptures, is it from God, or a bogus angel of light, and but also bear in mind self deception is very real. Consider St Augustine. ” Man’s love of truth is such that when he loves something which is not the truth, he pretends to himself that what he loves is the truth, and because he hates to be proved wrong, he will not allow himself to be convinced that he is deceiving himself. So he hates the real truth for the sake of what he takes to his heart in its place.”

The thing is, for most folks, Damascus road and still small voices do not occur, or when they do, they end up failing the aforementioned tests. Rather, we might consider discernment along the following lines:

• We need to be open to hearing God… not too busy, not too narrow in focus, not too encumbered to hear. The sacraments,  the daily office, the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius, and even nature/spiritual focused spiritual practices could be of much help in this regard.
• We need to consider the counsel of others. Many non-connected individuals are telling you similar messages which seem aligned or at least not in conflict with the scriptures can be a plus. Said individuals also have skin in the game, such that it is not merely human praise and good feelings, but they are willing to go to the floor with you if need be would be a real positive.
• A sense of peace occurs after significant prayer about a potential direction.
• Said peace is pointing towards God, rather than merely an internal peace blooming from within. Again refer to the self deception thing Augustine talks about.

Lastly, I think its critically important to distinguish paths of which God is leading one to paths which align with God’s will. Ie, discerning God’s lead can be a challenge, determining if a given path is aligned with God’s will, ie it is not counter to the scriptures is pretty easy. An hour on Biblegateway can provide a whole lot more guidance as to alignment or lack of alignment with God’s will than months of discerning God’s leading by other than Damascus road or still small voice in the whirlwind experiences.

Yet, there are those who dont get it. Its sad really… folks on the one hand will take offense when Jefferson (the video’s author) brought up the bit about God not loving the single mom. No church teaches such, its not in the scriptures either… but it sure didn’t take long before Christians started bashing single moms who responded positively to this video either on youtube or on facebook, and telling them they were going to hell.

Likewise, some folks cant seem to see the difference between the church, Christ’s bride, and “false” religion, and with such a view rightfully took the video as a church bashing thing, completely missing the point where Jefferson says he loves the church. Granted, more explicit language to distinguish the two might have mitigated such… but the number of folks missing the point in this regard is small. Its pretty easy to see the false religion of legalism, hypocrisy, and related as being counter to the bride of Christ.

There were a number of folks who semantic issues. Ie the whole Christianity is, is/not a religion thing which opens up a can of worms and dictionaries fly and all sorts of poking at each other begins. Folks for whom the video was intended will see where Jefferson is going, folks outside the audience will see it as a logical inconsistency.

And of course, there are the Pelagians and other related legalists who had serious heartburn. Ie, the folks who wish to replace God’s role with their own. You could about see em sputter… “but, but, but” Pelagianism and man’s pride is alive and well in our era, then again, its nothing new. Pope Innocent I condemned it way back when on January 27, 417, it looks like Mr Jefferson Bethke is having a much needed go at it again 1600 years later. Go get em sir!!!

Lastly, like all things, it is possible to read into things, and go too far…ie Jesus and me is not the answer, we do very much need the community of faith. I address gospel add-ons, pelagianism, and the Jesus and me thing in a bit more depth in my own video response.

Special thanks are due to Cindy at undermuchgrace for permission to use the cool graphic on grace. Libby Anne in her post “How Creationism Drove me out of the Church” brought up some very good points about adding things to the Gospel.

1. For nearby stars one uses geometry based upon the earths rotation around the sun. The math and measurement approach is solid. It can be observed in ones own backyard with very modest equipment. The observational data is then modeled and a distance is calculated. The geocentric worldview which was derived from the scriptures was in conflict with this… It took many years for the church to accept, but the geocentric worldview was finally known to be in error. As such, the interpretation of scriptures leading to such a worldveiw was proven to be in error.

2. For more distant stars, one looks at their color distribution and brightness. A given color distribution must have a known brightness… if the brightness is lower than its color distribution would suggest, the star is further away. This too can be observed in ones own backyard with pretty modest equipment. This data is then modeled and a distance is calculated.

3. For very distant stars, one looks at their color distribution and how far it has shifted towards the redder colors, not unlike hearing the pitch of a train whistle or car horn decrease as it proceeds away from a person. This too can be observed in ones own backyard, but it takes a fair amount of work. This data is then modeled and a distance is calculated.

As Christians, what we have is the following:
A. The scriptures and how we interpret them.
B. What we can see with our own eyes, how we interpret what we see, ie observations, models, and conclusions.

This leads to the messy situation, where in your buddy sees a orange cat, and yet you tell him its white as thats what the Bible says it is. Even worse, you tell him its white with great authority, even though you have not taken the time to go look for it yourself or even consider that how you are interpreting the scriptures could be in error.

What if the cat really is white, and your buddy needs to get to an eye doctor fast?

What if the cat really is orange, and your interpretation of the scriptures is in error like the geocentrists was… Have you put a stumbling block in front of your buddy?

Does the color of a cat, or the age of the universe really matter as concerns issues of faith or practice?

If it does matter in areas of faith and practice, what will happen to your belief system should star distance measurement denial follow a similar course as geocentrism?

I’m of the opinion Mark 9;42 is connected to the rest of the chapter where in we have Jesus referencing body parts as to the cause of stumbling. I find it exceedingly interesting that the tongue is clearly absent from the adjacent text. Rather the adjacent text indicates body parts are key, the stumbling bit seems to be much more a physical thing… ie, using the eyes to lust or covet, and the foot and hands to run off and steal, kidnap or rape.

Likewise, the predecessor verses seem to indicate even others who are outside the group are not a threat… ie dudes were casting out demons in Jesus name, even though they were not “one of us”, and Jesus was cool with it, even though the disciples were not.

Going back a bit further back in the chapter, we run into Jesus coming down on the disciples for pride and arrogance as to who would be the greatest. To some extent, I wonder if ideological protectionism, sheltering, and indoctrination may be more of a power play than a anti-stumbling methodology?

Going beyond just scripture into reason and experience, it seems the practices of falsehoods, sheltering, and indoctrination more often than not does eventually cause little ones to stumble… the exact opposite of what such was intended to protect against. Such plays out every year to folks peril when overly sheltered, and indoctrinated young folks go off to college, followed there after by the casting away of their beliefs, where as other young students more often than not tend to stay the course they were taught.

I think only the bit that could be used to justify sheltering is where Jesus talks about salt loosing its saltiness in Mark 9:50 but such would be a substantial mis-interpretation. Salt in and of itself doesnt loose its saltiness. Bulk salt properties otoh are subject to change, with the greatest rates of change occurring when 99.999% sale is removed from its hermetic packaging. For background info, consider the bulk osmotic pressure differences between 99.999% NaCl and NaCl based road salt.

Granted a discussion of osmotic pressure differentials is far outside the scope of this article… but considering that we are not to put our light under a lampstand, and that hermetic seals are not forever… long term protectionism does not appear a wise course of action.

That is, until light eventually illuminates the road. At that point, one can see whether such is indeed a moral high road, or merely one heck of a good game show… and it does seem to be the case there are lots of game shows.

I ame across the following from Leontius, Bishop of Neapolis. He pretty much nails the guise of purity.

Those who are eager to pursue the worthy status which can be taught to others are obliged to demonstrate in their own life the teaching of still others and present themselves to all as a model of a way of living which is a virtue inspired by God, according to the divine word which says, “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” [Mt 5:16], lest perhaps they are eager to chastise, reform, and guide others before they themselves are instructed and purified through working at the divine commandments, having failed to lament their own death, while concerning themselves with the death of another, and fulfill in themselves the truthful saying, so fitting to them, which says, “He who does not do and teach these things will be called least in the kingdom of heaven” [Mt 5:17], and again, “Hypocrite, first take the log out of your eye and then look to take out the speck in your brother’s eye” [Mt 7:5]. For this reason also the wise author of the Acts of the Apostles says thus concerning our great and true God and teacher, “I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach” [Acts 1:1]. For this also Paul, the great vessel of election, wrote rebuking the Romans, saying, “You then who teach others, will you not teach yourselves?” [Rom 2:21] and so forth.[2]

Since therefore I am unable to present instruction and the image and model of virtuous deeds from my own life, carrying with myself everywhere the mark of sin, come, and from the work of others and their sweaty toils, I shall today….

He then proceeds to introduce St Symeon… who practiced a different sort of guise, namely a very pious and holy man in private, who puts on a great show of impurity and craziness in public!

Upon reaching the first church in his public ministry, he came in, disrupted the liturgy, threw nuts at the women, and then rolled the pastry tables.

It was also the saint’s practice, whenever he did something miraculous, to leave that neighborhood immediately, until the deed which he had done was forgotten….

Its a fascinating read… be forewarned, the text is translated from ancient manuscripts, it is not politically correct, it is likely to make conservative leaning folks more than a bit squeamish. A sanitized more pc description of St Symeon can be found at wikipedia.

I dont know that folks of God need to eat strange and/or disgusting food, hang out in the desert… or tie a dead dog to their robes, but certainly such an approach is a whole lot better than a guise of purity. There is only One who is truly pure.

The text of issue: Exodus 38:8 Moreover, he made the laver of bronze with its base of bronze, from the mirrors of the serving women who served at the doorway of the tent of meeting.

It seems odd that only the women at the temple entrance were singled out as a group in contrast to the 600,000 + others in the building of the tabernacle. Rabbi’s, such as Rashi seem to tie in the bit about Miriams song of the red sea, and military victory as concerning this text. Likewise Rashi presents some additional background. Mirrors were used by women to seduce their enslaved and exhausted husbands in the field for purposes of childbearing. Such was exceedingly important, as Rashi interprets Pharaohs actions in keeping the enslaved husbands exhausted, and likewise away from their families at night, as methods to foster the demise of the Jewish people in future generations.

Like Rashi, I tend to think the mirror business is sexually connected. Unlike Rashi, I’m thinking the women at the temple entrance were using mirrors and such for prostitution. The use of mirrors in the field certainly makes sense considering the Jewish focus on purity and the focus on continuation of their people for future generations.. but it seems a major stretch of the text to fit a position. Ie, these women were not at the field, they were at entrance to the tent of the meeting. In addition, if we consider the following in combination with the historical context of temple prostitution.

1 Samuel 2:22 Now Eli was very old, and he kept hearing all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who were serving at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

Granted, some could likewise say such is a bit of a stretch… scripture is not explicitly clear that the women were prostitutes, and likewise, history can vary from place to place. Thus the nearly 180 degree difference in my interpretation in contrast with Rashi. Continuing on…

If we then consider that Moses originally rejected the inclusion of mirrors, it seems a bit off. Ie, the symbolism of the propagation of future generations would seemingly be a righteous thing as recognition of God’s covenant with Abraham. On the other hand, if the mirrors had been involved in prostitution, Moses would seemingly be making the right call to reject their use… yet Rashi indicates God commanded their inclusion.

This inclusion of the women’s mirrors in the construction of the basin and its base could point towards Christ’s ministry and His focus on matters of the heart rather than the purity codes. The putting aside of the old and becoming new, being washed clean. Ie in giving up their mirrors, such could be symbolism of leaving prostitution behind. Likewise, such could point to Christ’s focus on sacrifice from the heart rather than sacrificial ritual. Ie, rather than giving $320 each, like the 600,000+ did, they gave away the tools of their profession. Lastly, the aspect of not causing another to stumble. Ie, they didnt sell the mirrors to others, but in being part of the basin assembly, no one else could use the mirrors for prostitution.

Then again… there is a tendency for us to look backwards in time. Its quite likely Christ’s ministry focus was the original intent of God all along. Purity and ritual were a means to reach the heart, rather than the disguises of righteousness used by the Pharisees.