I am sharing some thoughts from the Gospel lesson from six years ago, but an alert reader's comment stimulated more thinking that I will incorporate into my final version to preach on Sunday. You can scroll to the bottom of the comments and add your own thoughts. Last weekend I started a Weekly Review column, which is a feature still under construction in my mind. I want to share some of the best articles that have stimulated my theological reflections for the week. Last weekend I posted content on websites that have taken up the theme of Tea Party Jesus. For next weekend I am comparing some thoughts from Brian McLaren's "New Christianity" with some readings from the Lincoln/Douglas debates.
~bloomingcactus
There is a powerful urgency here in Mark’s Gospel that is easily missed because of the way we read the Bible. We are most likely to read the Bible in small doses. We take a verse, or section or maybe a chapter of scripture and read it to gain insight for our daily living. Devotional reading is quite valuable to the soul, but we can see different aspects of scriptural truth when we look at the sweep of the story. Let’s look at the beginning of Mark’s Gospel more from a literary perspective to see what the author intends.
I'm starting a weekly weekend feature sharing about 4-6 of the most interesting articles I have read during the week. As I put this week's ideas together I noticed a common theme regarding concerns about religious themes in the Republican primary. I have drawn on articles from Catholic, Evangelical and Progressive Christian sources, along with some interesting satire about Tea Party Jesus. But first, how about your New Year's Resolutions?
John Tierney of the NY Times has written a book on the nature of will power called “Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength.” The Times article has some great ideas to help you stick it out in "Be It Resolved":
Now for a not-so-uplifting prediction: Most people are not going to keep their resolutions all year long. They’ll start out with the best of intentions but the worst of strategies, expecting that they’ll somehow find the willpower to resist temptation after temptation. By the end of January, a third will have broken their resolutions, and by July more than half will have lapsed.
They’ll fail because they’ll eventually run out of willpower, which social scientists no longer regard as simply a metaphor. They’ve recently reported that willpower is a real form of mental energy, powered by glucose in the bloodstream, which is used up as you exert self-control.
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Religion Dispatches is one of my weekly favorites for religious news by authors who actually "get" religion. Most mainstream news, regardless of liberal or conservative bias, tend to deal with stereotypical views of all religions, and seldom look more deeply into the subtle but important details of religious life. This week I'm posting an interview with former bishop John Spong entitled "The Bible is a Good Book but did God Write It?" author of a number of controversial progressive books.
While some people see Spong as a liberal threat to the true faith, Spong was a major influence on my wife, Jeanne, in her journey from the Unitarian-Universalist faith to Christianity. He was the first major Christian writer that presented the faith in a way that made sense to her. This is the value of good apologetics, even if it ruffles traditional views. I haven't read the book yet and tend to be a little less liberal than Spong, but I enjoyed reading the interview.
More than 40 national Catholic leaders and prominent theologians at universities across the country released a strongly worded open letter today urging “our fellow Catholics Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum to stop perpetuating ugly racial stereotypes on the campaign trail.”
In the lead up to Saturday’s primary in South Carolina, Newt Gingrich has frequently blasted President Obama as a “food stamp president” and implied that some African Americans are more content to collect welfare benefits than work. Rick Santorum attracted scrutiny for telling Iowa votershe doesn’t want “to make black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money.”
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Christianity Today had a negative take on Evangelical Leaders endorsing Rick Santorum in the following article:
Brothers and sisters, we are neither kingmakers nor powerbrokers.
David Neff | posted 1/18/2012 09:53AM
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There are at least two websites dedicated to a "Tea Party Jesus" who seem to think that the words of the Gospel are incompatible with the Tea Party Movement. At Tea Party Jesus on tumblr, the author has put various political statements in the mouth of Jesus. You can click on the pictures and find out who actually said the words. (example to the left.)
Another Tea Party Jesus site has actually constructed a "Sermon on the Mall" with the contents of the Sermon on the Mount rewritten with an Ayn Rand twist. (twisted?) At first it is funny, buy by the time I hit the middle, it got a little scary, knowing that all the words and signs in the video were actually used.
That is it for this week. I'm looking ahead at Lent and looking for articles that specificially link to the lectionary. Let me know if you have ideas for this new feature. Have a great week!
The concept of “one nation under God” has a noble lineage, originating in Abraham Lincoln’s hope at Gettysburg that “this nation, under God, shall not perish from the earth.” After Lincoln, however, the phrase disappeared from political discourse for decades. But it re-emerged in the mid-20th century, under a much different guise: corporate leaders and conservative clergymen deployed it to discredit Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal.
This might provide some good material for thinking about the reluctant prophet Jonah. The belly of the whale is not always far off. I eagerly await Kevin Kruse's new book, “One Nation Under God: Corporations, Christianity, and the Rise of the Religious Right.”
Truth comes from surprising places. The following exert comes from Phil Davis, a hedge fund trader with a social conscience. There are classic quotes, plus video and commentary worth reading today.
It's Martin Luther King day so the markets are closed.
It's a good day to read his "I Have a Dream" speech – really is amazing when you think of the great social change in this nation that was set in motion by one man with a vision. Here's a great video of the actual event.
It is a testament to the power and effectiveness of Dr. King's movement that, even to those of us who were alive at the time, it seems like it must have been another world where a man had to speak out against such injustice as if it wasn't obvious to the majority of people that segragation, whether by law or by practice, was an outrage.
Sadly, many of the lessons he taught us have already been forgotten, some great quotes:
Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.
Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him.
It is not enough to say we must not wage war. It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it.
The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood.
Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.
Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.
We will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
The past is prophetic in that it asserts loudly that wars are poor chisels for carving out peacefultomorrows.
A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan.
A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.
One of the greatest casualties of the war in Vietnam is the Great Society… shot down on the battlefield of Vietnam.
Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.
Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universalquest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.
Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
The time is always right to do what is right.
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
If physical death is the price that I must pay to free my white brothers and sisters from a permanent death of the spirit, then nothing can be more redemptive.
Dr. King also had a sense of humor:
I want to be the white man's brother, not his brother-in-law.
It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important.
It is very important to remember that people do, in fact, have power. Last year we had the "Arab Spring" where protests eventually toppled dictatorships. Maybe this year will be Europe's turn – not so much political dictatorships as economic ones. Have the 99% slinked away, never to borrow the wealthy again or are they merely hibernating for the Winter?
Did Doctor King Imagine, almost 50 years ago, that the lines in 2012 would no longer be drawn between black and white but between rich and poor. Who will speak for the downtrodden masses in the 21st Century – how does one represent the bottom 99% when the smallest bit of fame is likely to take the speaker out of their ranks?
Fortunately, President Romney will put a stop to all this nonsense:
(I'm slow this week getting a sermon out because I'm researching the career of Samuel. His entire career is speaking truth to power. What does this say to those of us who feel called to preach? I'm sharing some opening thoughts this morning and finishing up on Saturday.)
Any time I don’t like my job I remind myself that there are worse ways to make a living. When I was exercising at the gym this week I saw an entire show dedicated to dirty jobs on the Discovery Channel. A guy named Mike travels the country to see a new dirty job every week, which seems like a dirty job in itself. On the website you can track his exploits, and while some jobs are predictable, like road paving, cleaning fishing boats or Port-a-potties, you might not think about being a fireworks manufacturer. Imagine working all day with several tons of black powder in the room and you have to move slowly so you don’t set off any friction sparks. Did you know manufacturing tofu was dangerous? Think about how hard the spongy curd is to cut. Lots of tofu cutters lose finger tips. Or what about being a Veterinarian’s Assistant? You are always the one catching holding down whatever animal needs attention. (Remember Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom? Jim was always the guy wrestling with the boa constrictor while Marlin Perkins sat in the helicopter talking about how important it is to have insurance.) So if you are having a bad day at work, tune into the Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel.
Dirty jobs were on my mind because I felt terrible for the prophet Samuel in today’s First Reading. It turns out being a prophet is not as inspiring as the song “Here I Am Lord” makes it sound. Being buddies with the Holy Spirit is on par with manufacturing Roman Candles. Samuel’s first message from God is an oracle of doom against Eli, the chief priest, and his boss. We are never told Samuel’s thoughts about all this, whether he liked Eli or if he was afraid. Samuel left no writings like many other prophets, he just does what needs doing. Imagine God calling a small servant boy to deliver the power priest this message. Couldn’t God have worked up a burning bush for Eli or a clap of thunder to chasten the priests wayward sons? Why young Samuel? Perhaps the clue is the phrase, “The Word of the Lord was rare in those days.” Maybe no one else was listening.
Listen to the reason for judgment on Eli’s house. The priests sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are blaspheming by eating the choicest parts of the sacrificial animals, the parts that are to be given to God (1 Samuel 2:12-17), and Eli has failed to restrain them. Even when confronted by those who are offering the sacrifice, the sons of Eli refuse to give the fatty parts of the animal to God. This may sound like an obscure sin to you, but my assumption is that it is probably symbolic of many other abuses of power. Their appetites lead them to abuse their power, give insult to God and put their own desires above the needs of the people they serve. That is the problem.
Eli’s house falls dramatically. The Philistines attach Israel, and Hophni and Phinehas are killed in battle, and the precious Ark of the Covenant is taken. When Eli hears the terrible news, he falls over backwards, breaks his neck and dies on the spot. Hophni’s wife goes into labor, and just before she dies, she names her son “Ichabod” which means “the glory has departed.” (Can you still hear the fading chorus of “Here I Am Lord?” The story is spoiling the whole song for me.) This first episode foreshadows Samuel’s whole career, because he is the prophet who speaks truth to power.
Does that pastor really think God is sitting up in Heaven on a Barcalounger, with a beer, a bratwurst and a Bronco's jersey, handing out touchdowns? Do God and Jesus support the same team? And if not, then which team does the Holy Spirit work through?
Does Mary, the sports fan, sit glued to the heavenly television set while resentful Martha makes chicken wings and guacamole in the kitchen for the Disciples? During commercial breaks, does Jacob wrestle the angel for the remote?
Congratulations to Tebow and the Denver Broncos on their big win over the Steelers Sunday. I like Tebow as an underdog story and his desire to be an athlete role model. With Lillian Daniels, I wonder more about a church that gets more excited about touchdowns than tackling hunger. Micah 6:8 is a good theological antedote.
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