Breaking the Chains that Bind Posts

There has been a great deal published about what salvation means to evangelical Christians. Does it mean eternal life after death? What part of a person is thus “saved”? Does it mean “rescue” and can therefore apply to the present life?
As I wrote earlier, I want to spend some time with N. T. Wright’s book, “Surprised by Hope.” In it he stated that Jesus’ resurrection was not simply evidence of a posthumous life in heaven, nor just the hope of being resurrected like Jesus in a new earth yet to be revealed. There is another hope, and “intermediate hope…that comes forward from God’s ultimate future into God’s urgent present.” This ministry of the present toward those who are hurting and crushed by the cares and traumas of the present is not something that one must “tack on to the gospel as an afterthought.” It is what Jesus was doing. Luke 4:18-19 has become one of my favorite scriptures. It reveals the heart of God as it relates to people’s lives…right here; right now. It’s no “pie in the sky” look at life. It is the reality of bring the reign of God to bear in God’s good creation. As Wright put it, the people “saw him, (Jesus), saving people from sickness and death, and they heard him talking about a salvation…that would go beyond the immediate into the ultimate future.” For Jesus, salvation involved rescue from death into resurrected life, to be sure. But, it also involved rescuing those who were perishing in this present world, also.

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I have finally finished seminary. The seminary president said so at commencement. I’m pretty sure he would not be telling fairy tales about such things. Do I fell prepared? Perhaps more than I did 5 years ago, but not entirely. The more I learned, the more I realized I do not know. I guess that’s what scholarship is all about. There is always something more to learn, to know, to embody. I hope to be able to spend time with this blog now that my official studies are complete. I do intend to continue my education through audited classes, personal study, seminars, etc. But, I am now a Master of Divinity, whatever that is. I don’t feel like a master of anything at the moment. However, God has proven faithful and I’m sure that God’s will shall prevail.
I am currently reading, (again), N.T. Wright’s “Surprised by Hope.” If you haven’t read it, please consider it for your summer reading list. I will touch on parts of it here over the next week or so.
Until next time, Shalom.

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I recently began to follow a blog by one of my professors, Dr. John Byron. It is at http://thebiblicalworld.blogspot.com/
I recommend this to any who have an interest in what’s being discussed in the world of
early Judaism and Christian scholarship.

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I am currently working on a project for school about Thomas Merton. This man was a Cistercian monk who lived at the Trappist monastery, Gethsemani, in Kentucky. The reason I chose this person out of many who are considered ‘contemplatives’ throughout the history of the Christian church was because of his apparent change of heart, or awakening, to the issues of his day. Today I learned something about this man of God that began to form my thesis. One cannot disassociate oneself from the fact of one’s own participation in humanity in a quest to become closer to the One who created humanity. In order to understand and engage the world, with its violence, greed, and sin, it is necessary to engage these very things that reside in our own heart! How difficult that is for those of us who find our security in lofty platitudes of spirituality. We talk about our journey to self-realization as if it’s the only journey being taken by anyone in the world. We defend our practices and understanding as if that was the only correct and true way to practice and understand. How blind we are! God is interested in God’s creation. We are a part of that. God is therefore concerned about us as we are…in the midst of that creation. We cannot become hermits who hide from the reality of the world. I think that we must live compassionately in concert with God’s purpose to redeem creation. Compassionately with other humans who are on the same journey as we.

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I know that we all struggle sometimes with doing the right thing. Not just in the public arena, but in the quiet of our personal lives. Our thoughts stray into areas that we would like to leave buried. However, like some dreaded ‘un-dead’ creature, these things crawl out of the holes that we were sure would hold them. I have had these struggles, and have had my eye blackened…again. As I sat down this morning to spend time with Yahweh and confess my glaring inadequacies, I opened the website that I use for my morning devotions. The first scripture that was selected was Psalm 25.

1	To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul; my God, I put my trust in you; * let me not be humiliated, nor let my enemies triumph over me.
2	Let none who look to you be put to shame; * let the treacherous be disappointed in their schemes.
3	Show me your ways, O LORD, * and teach me your paths.
4	Lead me in your truth and teach me, * for you are the God of my salvation; in you have I trusted all the day long.
5	Remember, O LORD, your compassion and love, * for they are from everlasting.
6	Remember not the sins of my youth and my transgressions; * remember me according to your love and for the sake of your goodness, O LORD.
7	Gracious and upright is the LORD; * therefore he teaches sinners in his way.
8	He guides the humble in doing right * and teaches his way to the lowly.
9	All the paths of the LORD are love and faithfulness * to those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.
10	For your Name’s sake, O LORD, * forgive my sin, for it is great.
11	Who are they who fear the LORD? * he will teach them the way that they should choose.
12	They shall dwell in prosperity, * and their offspring shall inherit the land.
13	The LORD is a friend to those who fear him * and will show them his covenant.
14	My eyes are ever looking to the LORD, * for he shall pluck my feet out of the net.
15	Turn to me and have pity on me, * for I am left alone and in misery.
16	The sorrows of my heart have increased; * bring me out of my troubles.
17	Look upon my adversity and misery * and forgive me all my sin.
18	Look upon my enemies, for they are many, * and they bear a violent hatred against me.
19	Protect my life and deliver me; * let me not be put to shame, for I have trusted in you.
20	Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, * for my hope has been in you.
21	Deliver Israel, O God, * out of all his troubles. I was comforted by these words. God is still for me, whether I deserve it or not. I hope that this will also be a comfort to anyone that reads this entry.

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I had the opportunity to watch Evan Almighty again over the Christmas Holiday. I guess because it has some religious overtones it gets the holiday slot along with the myriad Santa Clause movies. As I watched I picked up a couple things that I had missed the first time I saw it. The theme seemed to be about how one person can make a difference in a culture dominated by people out to make a quick buck. Not an original idea, but one that should be kept near the front of our consciousness. However, beneath that the story intimated that God, (Morgan Freeman, in my opinion better than George Burns), was concerned about the environment. In one scene Freeman was shown standing on a hill with Steve Carell’s modern day Noah looking over a pristine valley. Freemans’ character remarked that this was how he remembered ‘creating’ it. So, I wondered…is God concerned about the environment? Are things like the Snail Darter, the California Condor, or the Blue Whale on the Divine top 10 list of things to be concerned with? I think that just maybe God is concerned. And if that is true, should we who claim to be followers of God be concerned also?
Many people who say that they are Christian tend to relegate environmental concerns somewhere behind social concerns, which are way behind spiritual concerns. Now, I don’t want to start an argument about perceived priorities, but it seems that throughout the Scriptures God is shown to be in love with the entire creation. At the end of the first chapter of the Bible, after God had finished the creative process, the writer stated that God saw that was made, and “Behold, it was very good.” It was all very good. Not just the humans in the garden. But, the earth and light and grass and fruit trees and all of the animals. Now, there are those that think that the earth and its resources were made for the benefit of mankind. After all, didn’t God tell the humans to subdue and rule overthe creation? The language in both the Hebrew text and the Septuagint gives the impression that the earth was wild and in need of governance. This has lead most scholars to say that the ‘feeling’ or idea of this text is not that humans should use the creation for personal gain and prosperity, but that we should be stewards of the creation, which ultimately belongs to God.
In the New Testament, Paul writing to the church at Rome, made an allusion to the entire creation groaning and anxiously awaiting the revealing of the sons of God. One person paraphrased this idea by saying that the creation was waiting for the sons of God to show up and fulfill their obligation to the creation. This idea is not without merit. God has always tended to use various ‘agents’ to get the divine plan moving. Perhaps, we who claim to be God-followers would be wise to get in step with that plan. Yes, getting the good news out to people is important. Caring for our fellow travelers on this planet is also important. However, I think that God’s love and justice calls for our commitment to work with God to care for the creation that God loves.

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Please allow me to introduce this blog.
I am embarking on a new quest. This blog will be linked to a website that I am developing called “Shalom Church on the Web.” The purpose of both the website and the blog is to learn to communicate with others in a virtual “Church” things that are important to them and their relationship with God and each other. The God of the Christian scripture is deeply concerned with relationships. I think that the web is a perfect environment for people to relate with one another and share common concerns and ideas.
I hope that this venture will be fruitful for all concerned.
So again, Welcome!

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