At the Foot of the Cross

Since it is coming to the time of Easter I thought it would be appropriate to write a post about Easter.  This is one of the most important times for Christians.  A lot of the focus has been on Christmas, but the real focus is on the cross.  N. T. Wright, a theologian in England, says that without the focus on the cross and the resurrection, Christianity loses everything.  Everything that Christianity is about is the new life given by Christ who died for our very sins.

I had the privilege to go to Israel this January.  It was such an amazing and eye opening experience that words cannot describe it.  One of the main focuses for me was the Road to Calvary and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.  Being there for me was very heart wrenching because of all the gold that is around in the building that really took away the awe from what it already means to Christianity.
 
I do not wish to criticize the church for making this image idolatrous.  I do appreciate that Queen Helen, Constantin's mother, built the church so that the historic land mark would not be lost to the pagans.  This image of Christ's death is so powerful for it meets humanity at it's deepest struggle.  Christ comes to die and to suffer with all creation by dieing for all.

Knowing all of this myself, I remember being one of the few that went up to see the whole where the cross is believed to have been.  I began to ask myself what will I say when I am at the foot of the cross of the Christ who died for me.  No words came to my mind except to thank Jesus for His death and new life.

At the foot of the cross, people mocked and scolded Jesus for not miraculously taking himself off the cross (Luke 23:35-37).  Yet, another man that was also crucified asked forgiveness next to Christ.  Jesus welcomes those into the very Kingdom that he brings to all creation.  When Jesus breathed his last, the Roman guard even saw how this man was the Son of God, and I imagine even worshiped Him after he saw Him die.

A question that I thought would be a good one to ask for Easter is what would you say?  The cross is where we, as God's people, speak and are welcomed into the very family of God.  This may either be a profession of faith for the first time, or something that you have not had the chance to really think about.

If you would like to leave a comment on Facebook to share what you would say I would love to hear it.  Or, if you wish to tweet it, you may say what you would say with #atthefootofthecross.  If you do not wish to do either, but you would like to write this in a personal journal I encourage you to write and think of what you would say.

Becoming a community based on Galatians

In my last blog ("An interactive story of creation") I talked about how God seeks a relationship with us.  This experience with God is something that God longs to have with us.  A relationship not only with God, but also with each other is important.  Life, I believe, is to seek out this relationship with God.  Yet, God's purpose is not only for creation to have a relationship with Him, but also with each other.

Paul writes to the church of Galatians for a purpose, to let the Jews know that Gentiles are a part of the body of the church (Gal. 1: 14-15; 2:2, 7, 11-21; 3: 6-9, just to name a few).  Paul's letter demonstrates the need for fellowship, not just between Jews, but with Jews and Gentiles.  This was not taken lightly back in the time of Paul writing this.  Jews thought that Gentiles practiced evil and did not belong to the Kingdom of God.  The church in our world today seems to say the very thing to those outside of our belief.

One practice that has become common among evangelical Christians is the building up of our secret culture.  Christians have their own Christian Wal-mart with our own books, music, clothes, and even soap!  What has caused Christians to so separate themselves from society?  Are the books and musical tastes of our society remind us of evil?  Is Dial or Dove soap also associated so much with "the world" that we have to separate ourselves from even touching it by blessing the production of our own sinless soap? 

I do not mean to be so critical of the church.  I understand that the church, and the specifically the people of the church, try to reach the world in some manner.  Yet, is separating ourselves from the world what Paul meant when he said to be in the world but not of the world (see Romans 12:2)?  Except, the context to which Paul writes was not the case.  Paul is writing to the church in Rome who is struggling with the same problem of the Galatians church who is to stubborn to allow the Gentile Christians into their church!

Something I wish I could do is have the courage to talk with those I do not associate with.  Not in order to "make them Christian."  Nor to welcome into this evangelical seperation from society.  But, I wish to befriend those around me.  To be an image of Christ to the earth that welcomes those into my life that I am not used to having around me.

Paul speaks to the church of Galatians to say the same thing.  It is okay to associate with those around you.  It is okay to welcome them to your church.  But, please do not teach them the Law because that is not the goal, but the goal is Christ! (Paraphrasing 3:10-14).

I love the title of my blog because I both love coffee and I love to associate with others.  To me, a coffee shop represents meeting new people.  I love to chat with people about life and I also love to drink coffee at the same time :).  I want to be what Paul says to the Galatians, to live in faithfulness to Christ.

An interactive story of creation

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen. 1:1).  What a simple statement that this Old Testament writer wrote concerning the act of creation.  I am one of those people who agree that this simple verse, and even the whole creation narrative (Gen. 1:1- 2:4).  Yet, I do not wish to state some out of the world finding that comes from the Hebrew text.  I wish to bring this text to a greater depth of meaning that awakens our eyes and ears to hear what the story is saying and what the passage may say about God in our world today.

To state simply that God creates, shows an absolute beginning of the universe from one source, God.  God "was hovering over the waters" (v. 2) witnessing this dark emptiness that covers the world.  It very well seems that God has an special relationship with creation. 

What God creates ex nihilo (out of nothing) becomes the foundation for light, sky, ground, and living things to begin to appear.  By this, God becomes the sole purpose that there is anything.  The world began by the very speaking of God that then created the universe.

God simply says, "Let there be..." (vv. 3, 6, 9, 14, 20, 24, 26) and there was.  This has such an important impact on what happens after creation comes about.  Within this first chapter, whether you are a progressive creationist or evolutionist, creation comes to be by a process.  The land does not suddenly appear.  Trees do not reach their highest point of growth, nor should we expect that Adam and Eve were created as full grown adults. 

All of that is not the point, the point that this story of creation seeks to proclaim is that God, the ultimate Creator, invites and "lets there be" the growth of everything.  God does not take control of everything, but makes possible the growth of animals, the growth of trees, and the expansion of land.

The story of creation becomes more of a dynamic relationship between the very God of the universe, and His creation.  God speaks to man and says, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it" (Gen. 1:28).  This does not mean that all of creation was made for us humans.  But, all of creation was made that we may have a relationship with God.

Again, I do not suggest a new way of reading the story of Genesis.  In this blog I suggest that the creation story be read in the way it was meant to be read.  God creates the world for a purpose. 

If we say that God creates for the purpose to make us happy, then what becomes of our view of heaven?  Does not heaven then become everything that we want?  We may want all the money we want, or we may just want to be with a family member again.  Yet, what if we go to heaven and just find Jesus?  Would we be satisfied? 

I think creation has such an influence of our view on life.  Read this story of creation carefully.  God creates to be with us.  God hovers over the surface of the world from the beginning and He does still today.

Narrative Theology- An invitation to the story

What an amazing stories we read from Scripture.  These are not just any stories, they are stories that actually happened!  Scripture contains the stories of those who lived before us.  People who walked with God and also people who lived radical lives for the sake of God.  As people who live differently from these people that we read about, it can be hard to compare or try and live the way they did. 
Narrative theology is not anything really new.  Narrative theology reads the stories as they are, as simple stories.  I do not mean by this that they did not actually happen.  But, I think narrative theology may regain something that we have lost.  This loss has come from the way that we even read Scripture.
Scripture is to be read as a story.  It becomes a telling of how God spoke to Israel, how God brought Israel through great times of triumph, exile, and redemption.  God seeks out a relationship with His people by even creating them "in the beginning" (Gen. 1:1).  This very verse seeks to ask the question of why God even creates.  As a Wesleyan, God creates to be in relationship, and that is what the story tells us.
Therefore, if the story of the Bible is about reading God's seeking of a relationship with creation, should how we read the Bible matter?  The answer is a dramatic YES!  If we read the Bible as a mere habit, or something we have to do, we miss the very story imbedded within the very Scripture that we hold on too.
As a pastoral ministry major, I have learned so much about the Bible.  I have learned many new things about Scripture from the language, to the context, to the very people that wrote the various books contained in the Scriptures.  Yet, for me, it can be easy to read the Scriptures as a habit, or to even skim through sections because "I think I know it all." 

Maybe my writing of this blog is just for me.  But, a challenge that I have been presented with is that Scripture is actually so much more.  When reading "Cat in the Hat" or "one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish" we read them with such enthusiasm.  We enjoy reading those to children.  We may even try and add different voice inflictions to the story to make it fit more with our personality.  Yet, with Scripture, one of my professors say we read "Cat in the Hat" with more enjoyment than we do our very Scriptures that tell of God's seeking to be with us!
I am not trying to say by any of this that the theological influence of the passages matters, nor would any other scholar committed to narrative theology.  Yet, stories matter, the theology of the story should be inviting.  We, as humanity and God's very creation, are invited to participate in the very story written by reading and living the story!  I invite you to participate within the story.  Let the Scripture speak to you and welcome you into the loving relationship that God invites us to.

Coffee Shop Theology

I have been thinking more and more about what theology means.  I am currently taking a class on theology and I am learning so much from it.  Yet, a key aspect of this theology class I am learning about is the need for community.  The Trinity (3 persons in one God) work together in creating and bringing about salvation for humanity.  The Son, Jesus Christ, breaks the barrier between heaven and earth and becomes man so that the Triune Godhead may have a relationship with creation.

Our world is essentially meant to live in community with one another.  I have mentioned from other blogs about kingdom living and living the prayer that Jesus prayed as a message that we are not meant to live on our own but we are meant to live in relationship with God and with others.

I would like to develop an idea, and a new name for my blog, that is focused on a "coffee shop theology."

In our postmodern society, much of the focus that drives many postmoderns is the sense of community.  There is no better community than that of a coffee shop.  Many coffee shops consist of people who meet for the first time.  People come to have a conversation at a coffee shop, whether having a dating conversation or a business one. 

I would like to challenge you, and myself, to get out and talk to people about their lives.  Go out and find a friend, or maybe someone that you do not even know that well and have a conversation with them.  Maybe you do not know about someone's story.  Or, maybe you know that someone is going through a rough time, or maybe you just want find a friend to just talk with about  your day.  Take them somewhere to have a conversation and try and get to know that person.

Our churches like to say that, "where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I with them" (Matt. 18:20).  Well, I believe the same can happen in this situation.  This does not necessarily take the place of the church, but this can be where church conversations can happen.

I really believe that there is more to life than just going to church once a week and that is it.  There is more to religion than that.  We all should want to know more about how others are doing.  We should be willing to take these conversations outside of the church walls and live them out with each other.

So, I encourage you to find a friend this week or find someone that you want to get to know a little better.  Ask them how they are doing and be willing to listen to their story and share some of your own.  We are meant to live in community with one another.  Let us live that community out with each other.