Remarks for Friday, December 19, 2008
It's Friday, but Sunday's coming
"Can a Christian borrow money?" That was the question of discussion Wednesday night in the Bible class that I teach on Proverbs. My opinion was that Proverbs, while it does not say that borrowing money is a sin, still discourages it. I think probably most of my class agrees. Yet, in an economy that depends so much on borrowing money, especially with regard to new businesses, I must admit that I struggle with what I hope for our nation. Would we be better off if no one borrowed money and everybody paid as they went along? Individually, yes. As a nation, probably not. And so we enter into a Christmas season where there is much uncertainty.
I feel such happiness personally in this holiday season. I am so thankful for the blessings my family and I enjoy. I feel like our church is and a great place. Yet, one of the members of our congregation, whom I think has done a marvelous job at his work, lost his job two weeks ago. I think about him and his family and how they feel during this holiday season. I'm sure if I were in his place, I would be tempted to feel much anxiety, pain, and maybe even fear. How do you balance an optimistic spirit with a compassion and empathy for those who are feeling pain? I think these will be challenges for all of us in the next 12 months.
This Sunday, I'm hoping to encourage my congregation by reminding them that the gospel is not just the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. The gospel also includes Jesus' life. And when Jesus came to this world, he was embracing creation. He was giving God's stamp of approval that the world as God made it was good. Our sin and falleness are bad, but creation is good.
Being a Christian means that we can participate in the life of Jesus and be God's partners in redeeming a broken world. Part and parcel of this redemption opportunity is the chance to minister to those who have lost jobs. Moreover, somehow, some way, if we can encourage them to connect to Christ in their pain, I think we will have achieved something great.
2009--How It Affects My Preaching
This may sound radical, but what I am thinking about doing is including a psalm of lament or crying out to God in some of our Sunday assemblies when I preach on Philippians in the spring. Consider for example the first few verses of Psalm seven:
1 O LORD my God, I take refuge in you; save and deliver me from all who pursue me,
2 or they will tear me like a lion and rip me to pieces with no one to rescue me.
3 O LORD my God, if I have done this and there is guilt on my hands-
4 if I have done evil to him who is at peace with me or without cause have robbed my foe-
5 then let my enemy pursue and overtake me; let him trample my life to the ground and make me sleep in the dust. Selah
6 Arise, O LORD, in your anger; rise up against the rage of my enemies. Awake, my God; decree justice.
As I wrote last week, I do want to create a positive atmosphere of hope in God, especially in the worship assembly. However, for this atmosphere to be created, I believe we must be authentic with the experience some of our members will be undergoing. Hence, I am thinking that psalms of lament and crying out to God will, in a biblical and spiritual way, give voice to the suffering of some of our people. And they will be able to worship God with integrity.
Theological Reflections and Movies
We have a Christian school that meets on our church campus. It is called East Texas Christian Academy. I have the privilege of teaching a senior Bible class each semester. This semester, I taught a course on the letters of Pau and 21st century culture. One of the things I wished to achieve was to teach these kids how to practice theological reflection. The goal was to teach the students the seven theological categories: God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, sin, salvation, the church, and eschatology (the study of the last things). I then desired to teach them how to take books, songs, TV series, and movies and teach them how to theologically reflect upon these things. One way of doing this was to use the seven theological categories as a grid for evaluation.
At the end of the year, the students divide themselves into teams in order to theologically reflect upon for their final projects. I was delighted with what they came up with. For example, one group selected the movie THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. They considered Yoda to be a figure of Christ. Luke was expecting a strong and powerful Jedi Master in A teacher, but what he found was a humble servant who is not the picture of his imagination. Hence he struggled accepting this being. Viewed in this light, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK has new meaning for me.
Many in Hollywood, perhaps most, and do not believe in the Bible or take it seriously. However, they do have a Bible--their art. You cannot not be spiritual. When I look upon Hollywood's product through the lens of the seven theological categories, I am often impressed and even moved by this spiritual yearning and instinctive insight that Hollywood demonstrates.
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