Category: Following Jesus

1 Corinthians_Unity pt. 1

Published by mhelbert on June 18, 2020

Yesterday I wrote a response to a reader’s questions.
At issue is whether or not seeking unity is possible when there are others who hold such diametrically opposed positions on faith, belief, and praxis.
In fact, it would seem that some of the differences that we see in today’s American culture are insurmountable. We would be better off simply not engaging with those folks. It would be better for our own sanity and peace.
We could always cite texts within the Bible that state things like, “what does darkness have to do with light? Therefore, don’t associate with darkness.”
Makes sense. Right?

Of course it does.

That may be the crux of the issue.

I wrote a few days ago, Here, about how evolution may play a role in how we view “Others.”
In order to protect our tribe so that we can flourish, reproduce, and live our lives, we construct barriers that insulate ourselves against those others.
Those barriers include ideas and beliefs. Even if we find ourselves in physical closeness with one another, say for commerce or other concerns, we still keep the barriers up. In this way we can clearly see any potential danger from outside influences.
I highlight Influences because that is precisely what it seems that we do when when we listen to the voices of our own echo chambers.
Whether those voices are conservative or liberal, Democrat or Republican, Muslim or Jew,
working class or ivory tower Elite, we naturally gravitate toward the voices that resonate with our tribe.
As I wrote then, I think that this kind of thinking is at the heart of many of the issues that we deal with in our society today.
It’s all Us or Them.
And, nary the twain shall meet.
Period.

This was part of the problem that St. Paul saw in the fledgling church at Corinth. They had divided up into factions that ‘Liked’ one personality over another. Paul came right out and called these schisms. These schisms threatened to derail all of the work that Paul and friends had done with this church. The Koinonia, or Fellowship, that Paul saw as foundational to the Gospel that he proclaimed was in danger of fracturing.
And, Paul was not having any of that nonsense.
For, to him, it was nonsense.
Over the course of this letter he will lay out what he sees, why it makes no sense, and what he expects the followers of Jesus in this community to do about it.
So, we’ll touch on some of that later.

What I want to address now is the idea of Unity that Paul calls for.
Does Unity really mean Unity?
I mean, I can achieve some level of unity with folks who think like I do.
But, what about everyone else?
Do I need to strive for Unity with “Them”?

The short answer is ‘Yes,’ we do.
Neither Paul nor Jesus leave us a way out of that.

Jesus told his followers:

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
[The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. (1989). (Mt 5:43–48). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.]

Pretty clear. Jesus felt pretty strongly about the idea of loving the “Other.”

Even in some of our own traditions the words of our Baptismal Covenant ask us,
“Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?”
“Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?”
(Taken from the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer.)

I realize that all of this sounds difficult, if not counter productive to our own aspirations to work for peace and justice in society. We are simply going to have to admit that we will be up against stiff opposition from other tribes who are trying to maintain their own boundaries and integrity. Just like we are.
So, let’s fight and press our position, our Rights, until we defeat those other folks.
After all, we ARE right!
Right?

Well, definitely, maybe.

While unity and respect, if not outright Love, are what’s called for, simple acquiescence to what those other folks think is NOT.

That’s a topic for another post.
For now, take the time to think about your own positions on the pressing issues that face us today.
Then, take a moment to place yourself in the position of someone who may not agree with you.
Can we empathize with them at all?
Or, are they so far off of the rails that only a crane will help right them on the tracks?

Because, looking intently at the “Other” and discerning the flicker of Divine Light, that Imago Dei, that may still dwell within them is what Jesus did.
For those of us who claim to follow Jesus, he is our Exemplar in these things.
He treated both friend and opposition this way.
Perhaps, we should learn how He did that and follow.

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1 Corinthians_A Digression

Published by mhelbert on June 17, 2020

Yesterday I wrote a little about what I think was St. Paul’s over-arching concern for the churches that had contact with.
That concern was for unity. As he wrote, he desired that the folks in the fellowship of believers at Corinth would “be like minded and of the same consent.”
So, it’s no surprise that one of my reader would pose the following questions:

“So is it possible to apply this call to unity as you understand it to the Fundamental/Evangelical portion of the church? What does that unity look like? Must unity be reciprocated or can it be only one way? Do I have a responsibility to pursue unity even if others don’t want to have unity with me? If you believe a group within what we would consider the Body of Christ holds hurtful, or even evil doctrines regarding women, gays, minorities, immigrants, etc. must we attempt to live in peace and unity with them? Can we express unity over spiritual matters but go to war with one another over political positions?”

Some of you reading may not understand the questions. They seem to be a way of dodging the responsibilities that Paul appeared to lay upon the folks at Corinth.
“Of course! Unity is unity! We should strive for it with all people.”

And, for those of you who may ask that question I have a reply that may explain where such questioning may originate.

If you were never a part of a conservative, evangelical church you really have no idea how questions like those asked of my reader are important.
Many of us came to follow Jesus at a time when there was a lot of social and political unrest in the U.S. We were part of the so-called “Jesus Movement” of the early 70s. We built our faith and identity on our understanding of the Church as it was described in the first few chapters of the Book of Acts. We willing gave away our belongings and identity in order to “follow Jesus just like the first Church!” Hallelujah!
Part of our concept of how to do this was to become “Disciples.”
We understood that the term Disciple shared an etymological root with the word Discipline. So, we instituted a church government that we believed mirrored that which Paul and Peter and the rest established in the first century.
We had elders who held absolute authority over the church. We took the words that folks should not cause the elders any grief because they worked for God and not themselves.
We believed that such elders or even so-called apostolic ministry was ordained by God for the building up of the Body of Christ so that we could live counter-culturally and witness to the Good News that the Bible taught us.
As our churches grew, we got older. We began to see cultural issues as battlegrounds where our faith was tested. Abortion became a rallying cry for us. Secularization in government and wanton corruption in entertainment caused our leaders to decry how our culture had fallen from its original mandate to establish a City on a Hill that would beckon those seeking religious freedom to our cause.
As you can see, our church culture was ripe for authoritarian abuse. Those elders and leaders we had entrusted our faith to led us into culture wars where we soon saw ourselves as a persecuted minority.
Those of us who did not hold positions of authority were expected to do as we were told.
We met when we were told to meet. We raised our children according to the ways prescribed by our leaders. We had marriage retreats where husbands were told that they were neglecting their duty as the “Authority and covering” for their wives and children. In some case we were told how to spend our free time and how to vote.
The church was our life.
We were instructed by people like second-rate psychologist and theologian wannab James Dobson on how to raise children.
He was wrong on so many levels. But, we didn’t realize it at the time.
We were becoming disciplined disciples who disciplined their children in a disciple-making manner.
Many of us still suffer from the dysfunction that lingers to this day.
Our elders controlled how wives should submit to their husbands in all things including sex.
Wives, we were told, didn’t have control over their bodies, their husbands did. And, husbands were told that we were simply sexually driven animals who really didn’t have any control over their bodies either.
This led to abuses, adulteries, slut shaming, and a purity culture that shamed girls and women.

Many of us, myself included, suffer today from some form of what is termed
“Church PTSD.” Walking into an evangelical church for me is a triggering event that causes anxiety and anger associated with our natural ‘fight or flight’ reaction to perceived danger.
I know people who absolutely cannot walk into ANY church because of the abuses they incurred.
I’m not talking about physical abuse in my case.
Emotional and Spiritual abuse, however, have left me and my family scarred.

So, for those of us who escaped from that milieu, we react viscerally when someone suggests that we should strive for unity with those we feel abused us.
This is what leads us to ask the kinds of question my reader posed.

How can we seek unity with our abusers?
Is there any common ground that we can find with the haters and bigots who were spawned by this fundalelical movement?
Can we sit with the likes of Franklin Graham or christian nationalists like Robert Jeffress, pseudo-historian David Barton, or the Liar Tony Perkins?

From my description of these folks you may assume that I don’t see a way.

That may not be entirely accurate.
I do take the Bible seriously. I take my trust in the Faithfulness of God seriously, also.
So, what to do with our personal histories and beliefs?
I think that we’ll continue this discussion for a while.
We may even find some hope in Paul’s letter to that troublesome church at Corinth.

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The Third Option

Published by mhelbert on June 15, 2020

I hope you all had a great weekend!
It’s Monday and time to get back at it.

Today I’m going to add a final piece to my thoughts on “Third Options” as regards the current political activity surrounding Black Lives Matter.
To be clear, I fully support this movement. For, a movement it is. People from all walks of life have seen enough injustice and pain. Those of us who have retained remnants of the Civil Rights Movement and other movements led by activists seeking systemic change to our culture are happy to be a part of this.
But, alas, we are also saddened and frustrated that these issues still need to be addressed.
Baby steps, I guess.

Last week a wrote about how our culture tends to view all issues of morality, culture, politics, and society through binary lenses. Our worldview sees everything in black/white; right/wrong; us/them.
This is not only counter productive to a healthy culture, it is simply wrong.
Our entire universe and existence is made up of not only black and white. But, it contains all of the millions and millions of colors that live between those extremes.
Our reality is not either/or. But, in almost all cases it is both/and.
Please understand that.
We exist in a paradox.
Even if our tiny gray cells can’t seem to grasp that entirely, it is the truth.

So, what does that have to do with so-called ‘Third Options’?

I recently saw an interview with a guy named Miles McPherson. He is the pastor of a large church in San Diego as well as a motivational speaker.
He published a book in 2018 entitled, “The Third Option: Hope for a Racially Divided Nation.”
I have not read the book, but here is a link to a YouTube presentation in which McPherson discusses its contents.
What struck me was how he changed the idea of having ‘Conversations’ about race to having ‘Race Consultations.’ This may seem like splitting semantic hairs, but there is something new about the approach.
And, it is an approach that I think is inherently aligned with what should be the position of anyone who claims to follow Christ.

Let me explain.

I usually don’t go in for wide generalizations, but bear with me for a minute as I muse about a couple things.

I wrote last week that I have spent most of my adult life informally studying religion. I am by no means expert on the subject. But, there are a couple observations that I would like to make. Please don’t hesitate to call me out in the comments if something I write is glaringly inaccurate! You won’t hurt my feelings. And, I might even learn something new!

Form where I stand, I see most of the world’s great religions focused on what the practice can do for me.
For instance, Buddhism was developed by a guy named Siddartha Gautama after he witnessed human suffering. He desired to help people move beyond suffering toward a higher, (better?), existence in the world. It is primarily a way for people to live peacefully in this life. The hope that is eventually, the individual will be caught up into a universal nirvana where individuality merges with the Cosmos.
Other religions also look to enabling adherents to reap some kind of eternal reward for following certain rules or principles.
Even many indigenous religions seek to perform rituals in order to please the spirits of ancestors or deities that can help with crops and weather and fertility. All of these are in one way or another, self-seeking.
Not self-seeking in a selfish way. But, the deity or spirits or disciplines are sought and practiced for ‘My Benefit’ in this life or the next.

I know that I’m painting with a really broad brush here. But, this is, after all, only a blog post and not a doctoral dissertation.

I want to preface this next part by saying that I am aware that people who claim to follow Jesus are fallible humans who, by and large, get it wrong. As I wrote in earlier posts, we are programmed by evolution to watch out for ourselves and our tribes. That is why what I am going to write is so counter-intuitive, yet so bloody important to understand.

As I read and study the Christian Bible, particularly the Gospels, I am struck by something that seems unusual.
The person, Jesus, doesn’t seem to behave like a normal person. The words he speaks and the actions that he performs all tend toward the ‘Other.’
He “sees” lepers. He “looks intently” into the eyes of those who are possessed by evil spirits. He has compassion and weeps over someone else’s loss.
In Jesus I see empathy in action.
Jesus modeled what McPherson might call “Consultation with the Other.”

Now, please don’t get me wrong. I am in No Way saying that someone must believe in or follow Jesus in order to live a life that looks outward. That’s just not true. There are many people of various beliefs or no belief who live this type of virtuous life.
What I am trying, however successfully or not, to say is that religion is a major factor that mitigates or controls(?) the actions of people. Not saying that’s good or bad. It’s just a fact.
So, if there is a religious example that may be helpful as we move forward toward what I hope is a brighter and more inclusive future, Jesus is not the worst example that we can have.

I don’t think that I can overstate the importance of empathy in our lives together. We absolutely must learn, not just to live together harmoniously, but to look deeply into the eyes of others and see the spark of common humanity that resides there. Then, use what ever means we can to flame that spark into a fire that consumes the hatred, fear, and distrust that lives and festers within.

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Why Follow Jesus?

Published by mhelbert on May 18, 2020

Of course, there are many reasons why people choose to follow Jesus.
“He was a great teacher,” some say.
Others may reply as his original disciples did, “You have the words of Life.”
Many, perhaps too many, say that they follow Jesus because of the promised blessings.
And, still others say that they are worried about an eternity in hell. Jesus provides them with the necessary fire insurance.

None of those reasons are really very good.
I mean, the Buddha was a great teacher. As were Confucious, Moses, and Muhammed.
These, and others, have also laid claim to having the words that lead to a full and satisfying life. Granted, other than Muhammed, the others don’t promise any blessings. But, Jesus is still not unique in this. Where hell is even mentioned, there have been many who profess a way to avoid it.

So, again, why should anyone follow Jesus?

The following text was one of the lections for worship yesterday,

22 So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects.
23 “For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.
24 “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands;
25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things;
26 and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,
27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;
28 for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’
29 “Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man.
30 “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent,
31 because He has fixed a day in which He will judge cthe world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”

New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). (Ac 17:22–31). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

Within that short passage are the words,
“That they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.”

Those few words have been grasped by folks who, in our post-enlightenment, post-modern Western culture, take that as a promise that everyone has a chance to know God if they only pay attention to the world around us.
God may be found in the delicate beauty of a flower or in the awesome vastness of the night sky. After all, Paul stated that God was the Creator of the world and all that is in it. We should be able to recognize God’s Hand in all things.
And, if we can detect God this way, then we may worship God as the true God worthy of our worship.
So, those religions that focus on nature may have a better understanding of the Creator God than others.

If that’s true, then again I ask, Why follow Jesus?

If there are ways to know God other than what the Christian Church has taught, what makes this Church special?

Again, back to Paul.

The context for the above passage tells the reader that Paul arrived in Athens after he was chased out of Thessonlinica and Berea by Jews who didn’t like him talking about a crucified Messiah.
While in Athens Paul walked around town observing things. He became distressed at all of the temples and idols that were there. So, he began to proclaim Jesus and the resurrection to the Jews in the synagogue and to anyone who would listen to him in the Agora, the marketplace.
Eventually, some of the locals decided that Paul was teaching about some foreign deity. They led him to the Areopagus where there was apparently a council who judged whether a philosophy or religion would be permitted to be taught in the city.
They questioned Paul, asking about this strange, new teaching.

Paul immediately opened his résumé that confirmed his status as a teacher of this new religion. After observing how religion was of great importance in Athens, he pointed out how he had spotted an altar To An Unknown God.
He said, “Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.“
This is not to say that the Athenians truly worshiped God when they worshiped before this altar. How could they? They did not even know who this God was!

Paul stood before them and proclaimed, (the word that was used was one that inferred a Prophetic speech), Jesus the Messiah and His resurrection.

And, that’s part of the reason, Why follow Jesus.

Yes, God may be observed in Nature. God may be observed in some human actions like empathy and self-sacrifice.
But, rather than this developing a true Natural Theology, it invariably results in Natural Idolatry. This was the gist of Paul’s statement when he wrote to the Church at Rome,

“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made.”

New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). (Ro 1:20). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

So, followers of Jesus have the privilege of letting people know who the Unknown God is.
We may share that this God is not far away, but is near to each of us. We are all part of God’s Grand Story. Those who follow Jesus are the storytellers who also are those who welcome others into God’s family.

Of course, writing this post like this begs the question,
What is that story?
Why is it worthwhile hearing?
Those questions are ones that I hope to muse on in upcoming posts.
So, I invite you along as we hear,
Once Upon a Time there was this God…

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Mind Your Mind

Published by mhelbert on April 20, 2020

Besides simply venting my opinions on this here blog thing, I also share a lot of autobiographical musings. I believe that sharing some things may be helpful to others who, like me, may feel that I am the only person on the planet that is experiencing this.
Well, I’m not.
And, neither are you.
We share in this being human thing. Not least, the hurts and miscues and out-and-out total fuck ups.
Together, however, we can be “community” to one another. We can encourage and help each other to heal.
Or, we can just be a dick and say, “Yeah, I always knew you were an ass.”
Hopefully, we won’t be dicks.

That said, I want to share a little background to what I hope to share in the next day or so.
I think that having a foundation for these thoughts will be helpful to the structure I hope to build.

I started following Jesus when I was a teen. I was excited about this new faith that had sprouted in my life. My eagerness led me to go ‘all in’ to try and learn about what a Jesus Follower should be.
I became more active in my local church. Through the youth group there I became aware of others who were vocally and visibly demonstrating christianity. So, I started to hang out with them. Together we grasped onto something that was more of a lifestyle than a rigid belief. We started our own “Community” that we thought was modeled on the first communities as we read about them in the early chapters of the Book of Acts. We lived together and shared our resources. We were truly Jesus Freaks! And, we loved that identification.

One of the first things that we constructed was a hierarchy of sorts. We recognized a couple of men as Elders. These men exercised absolute authority in our community. After all, didn’t the Bible tell everyone to ‘obey the elders’ and ‘don’t make their job difficult?’
So, we sat at their feet and soaked up all of the God-given wisdom that came out of their mouths.

This was our reality.

We were told how to behave; how to spend our time and money; how to treat our spouses, how to raise our children. We were pretty much told to put our brains on hold and simply follow directions.

As that original community aged, it morphed into a more ‘presentable’ church. We found ourselves in line with most conservative evangelical churches in the U.S. Even in this iteration of community the same power structures were maintained. We gathered so that one of the male leaders, (always male), could unscrew the tops of our heads, pour some kind of propositional teaching into our brains, then screw the tops back on.
We called that ‘discipleship.’
We were taught that our ‘minds’ were dangerous things. They were part of what they called the “soul” of a person. That soul defined as the part of humans that contained the “mind, will, and emotions.” These were always seen in opposition to the pure spirit of a person. Let’s see, Spirit-Good; Soul-Bad. Sounds like Plato to me. But, that’s another post.
I think that this idea came as a knee-jerk reaction by some christians to the Enlightenment and Modernity. Science was growing by leaps and bounds. And, of course, Darwin!
People of faith became alarmed at how human intellect was becoming elevated over faith in God. We are still dealing with the fallout from that today. Just watch the news and see how people react against so-called Intellectuals and the Elite.

But, something happened to me on my journey through this intellectual desert called evangelicalism.
I began to think. With thoughts came questions. And, if there’s one thing that evangelicals will not tolerate, it’s questions!
I decided that I needed to know more about all of this. I NEEDED answers!
So, I entered Ashland Theological Seminary in search of answers.

Something happened there.
In my second quarter I took a class, Theology 1. A good place to start, I guess. Now, I had studied theology at my church. We used a systematic theology written by a conservative evangelical man. For those of you who are not familiar with systems like this, let me put it simply. One person has asked the accepted questions about God and the Bible and provided proof texts for the answers. These are then to be poured into your brain and accepted as the way God actually is.
Sound familiar?
Anyway, back to seminary.
My professor quickly dispelled that idea. She opened us up to many different ways that people had done theology over the years. We were shown how those who came before us had wrestled with the Bible and tried to understand what God might say to them in their own time and in their own lives.
One night in class I suddenly realized, It’s OK for Christians to THINK!
Tears began to fall as this realization washed over me.
No. You can’t understand the impact of that if you’ve never been caught up in an authoritarian culture where individual thought and questions were considered “fleshly” and “evil.”

Throughout the rest of my time at Ashland the idea of Thinking Theologically, that is thinking and reflecting deeply, was encouraged. It was demonstrated by the professors every day. these folks were examples of people who knew the importance of using our minds.

All of that brings me to this point.

The Apostle Paul wrote a lot about the mind. He never said that it was the part of that ‘soulish’ trio that I mentioned earlier. In fact, when you come down to it, the will is animated by the mind and emotions are a construct of it. The Mind is central. And, apparently, it cannot be separated from the body. Together, at least according to the earlier testament, the body animated by God’s Spirit becomes a living soul. A single entity. So much for Plato.

One passage that Paul wrote became a key for me as I continued to learn and grow.
It is found in his letter to the Church at Rome.
He wrote, “don’t let yourselves be squeezed into the shape dictated by the present age. Instead, be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you can work out what God’s will is, what is good, acceptable and complete.” (Paraphrase from N.T. Wright in “Paul and the Faithfulness of God”, Fortress, Minneapolis, 2013, p.1,123.)

Be transformed by the renewing of your minds.

I don’t know, but that looks to me like our Minds are pretty important.

Paul goes on in other places to build an argument that people must be able to think clearly so that they can navigate life with wisdom and integrity. So that they can develop what he calls “the Mind of Christ.” He wrote that we must be able to think, and think deeply, so that we can figure out what salvation looks like right now; in this particular situation.
It’s not simply a case of learning rote instructions that one would then copy and paste into unrelated circumstances. But, it is a living, breathing reality to bring all of our faculties to bear on our lives.
That includes our mind.

Thinking is not a problem.
For too many in the church, and the world at large, NOT thinking is.

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Me; My; Mine

Published by mhelbert on April 13, 2020

I debated long and hard about writing this post.
Part of me really wants to sit back and ignore what other people think.
Their opinions are just that, “Theirs.”
And, if no one appears to be injured by that opinion, why not just leave well enough alone?

Then, there’s that other part of me.
You know, that part that causes the hair on the back of my neck to stand on edge when I sense injustice. When people, whether consciously or not, say or do things that may clearly impact others negatively.

Yeah, I think that’s the part that wins out today.

Truthfully, what I have to say today may not mean much to anyone reading this. It may simply seem like a minor disagreement about religious ideas.
Bear with me.
I’ll get to the point eventually.

Yesterday was Easter. Christian High Holy Day of all Holy Days.
It is the celebration of Messiah Jesus’ victory over death.
For this the entire Cosmos celebrates.

But, we must remember that the only way that we get to Easter is straight through Good Friday.
Most of us know that on that day, Jesus was stripped, beaten, and ultimately nailed to a tree and left to die. Gruesome? Yes. Heinous? Yes. Necessary? Also, Yes.
Jesus knew that his path lay along that path. His prayer the night before lets us in on that.
“Father, if this cup can pass from me.”
He knew what was contained in that cup.

Here’s the part that we don’t usually think of right away.
Jesus CHOSE to drink it anyway…to drain it to the dregs.
Jesus’ entire public life was characterized by this same self-giving.
The apostle Paul recorded this in the letter that he wrote to the Church at Philippi.
Jesus, he wrote, “emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.” Phil. 2:7.

Jesus also taught his followers that they must consider others more important than themselves. They must love one another with the Same Self-Giving Love that He had for them. That they must, “Take up their cross” in order to follow him.

Paul consistently told the early Church that they would need to suffer as they followed Jesus. And, that they should count that suffering as Joy!

These are the things that characterized the first followers of Jesus.
Distilled to the essentials, “Self-giving, self-sacrificing Love.”

So, yesterday I watched a half hour Easter presentation by the senior pastor of a local Mega Church Wannabe.
His message of “hope” revolved around how we can, because of Jesus, turn our graves into gardens.
Because of Jesus all of our needs can be met.
Our sorrow becomes joy as we kneel before Jesus.
We are “saved” from all kinds of evil because, yep, Jesus.
All of our tears may be dried and our hope and dreams come to fruition if only we trust Jesus.

Now, all of that sounds kind of ok, right?
It’s a positive message.
God’s love seems to be displayed in this kind of talk.

But, what is the primary thrust of this?

A close look reveals the lie.

Everything this person said was all about, “Me; My; Mine.”

It is all about what God will do for ME!
This is a self-centered false gospel that elevates my wants and desires above those of anyone, and everyone, else.

The danger in this kind of false gospel is that it is a reflection of, and a justification for, the kind of individualist exceptionalism that is far too prevalent in our culture.
From the Seven Mountains heresy to America First the idea of God pouring out blessings on Me becomes the main, and only, focus of what it means to follow Jesus.
We see this played out every day by people who claim that THEIR religious liberties are being threatened. They cry out that THEIR rights to do this or that should take precedent over YOUR rights.
This false gospel reinforces the Reformation ethic of my personal salvation is all that matters. It states that if I was the only person who needed saving, Jesus would still come and die…for ME.

I’m not saying that Jesus would not do that. I am simply pointing out where the focus of such a statement lies.

With ME.

I’m sorry.
That’s not the way the Gospel works.
That’s certainly NOT what Jesus and the early Church modeled.
Make no mistake.
The Gospel is all about God reconciling the Cosmos to God’s Self.
It states that God’s faithfulness is always trustworthy.
God has always loved the Creation and desired to share God’s own Love with it.
And, God took the initiative to make it so through Jesus.

That’s how the Gospel works.

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Good Friday

Published by mhelbert on April 10, 2020

Today people who follow Jesus remember His death.
Arrested the night before and subjected to a sham trial, Jesus was turned over to the Roman authorities and charged with sedition.
The Romans accepted the charge and proceeded to mete out Roman justice.
Jesus was stripped, beaten, mocked, spit upon, and ultimately crucified.

Israel’s Messiah.

Crucified.

Scandalous!

Soon after these events, and Jesus’ subsequent resurrection and glorification, people needed to understand what had happened.
They thought and studied and prayed.
They discussed and reasoned and argued.

They were all certain that something significant had taken place.
But, were unsure of exactly what that was.

It wasn’t long before the early followers of Jesus saw in His death a parallel to an event that had taken place more than a millennium earlier. Jesus, they deduced, was God’s own Passover Lamb offered so that Sin and Death might no longer have a hold on the Creation. It was through Jesus’ own blood that God was proven faithful to the covenant that God made with Abraham. That covenant was that God, through Abraham’s lineage, would bless the whole Cosmos. God would, in effect, reverse the curse that had hung over humanity from the very beginning.

I know that I’m not giving the best or most concise view of what took place on that hill 2,000 years ago.
That’s mostly because I simply don’t understand it myself.

Why did Jesus need to die?

Was it because of MY sins?
Was it because of some personified thing called Sin?
The writer of Genesis stated that when God confronted Cain about his anger God told Cain that Sin was crouching outside his door. But, that Cain could overcome that.
If Cain could overcome Sin, then why did Jesus need to die?

If people who don’t know Jesus or Israel’s God can live upright and moral lives apart from God, why did Jesus need to die?

If Indigenous cultures contain no concept of Sin and live quite happily, why did Jesus need to die?

I know that common theological understandings say something like the blood of Jesus cleanses us. That it makes us whole. That, somehow, the blood makes peace between God and the Cosmos.

Ok. How?
Why was that necessary?
What actually took place?

The answers that I have heard don’t ring true to me.

Yeah, some folks say I ask too many questions.
I should just shut up and accept what people way smarter than I am have to say.

Uh, no. That’s never gonna happen.
I will continue to ask.
I will continue to seek.
I will continue to knock on the door.

Maybe, just maybe, one day a light will flash in my brain and I’ll finally get it.
Maybe not.

But, that’s ok.
Because whatever actually took place in the Cosmos on that day that we remember today, I will still follow Jesus.
I will…

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There’s Madness in My Method…Or Something Like That

Published by mhelbert on April 9, 2020

Some of you may be wondering why I have suddenly gone off on some weird theological tangent.
“Why is he getting so worked up over something like this? It doesn’t have anything to do with what’s going on in the real world right now!”

I get that.
It does appear that I’m taking something that is not relevant pretty damned seriously.
Especially, something that I don’t really have any control over.
I mean, who am I to presume that my tiny brain and even tinier voice could have any impact on something as deeply entrenched as Western Christianity.

And, you would be right!

My voice is like a whisper in a hurricane.

That doesn’t give me a pass, though.
For, at this particular moment in time the Voice in my heart speaks loud enough.
That Voice compels me to speak.
If only to one other person.

So, back to the question I asked.
Why does this call for a new Reformation get me worked up?
Why should I, or anyone, care?

I’m glad that you asked that question!

I believe with all of my heart that the Faithfulness of Jesus the Messiah and the trust that Paul, Peter, and all the rest of the nascent Way of Jesus was misunderstood by those who followed them. Particularly, those who, I’m sure in good faith, tried to reconcile a specifically Jewish narrative with the prevailing Hellenistic world.
The introduction of the philosophies of Greece, particularly Aristotle and Plato, in effect
co-opted Israel’s story and planted it firmly in soil that was unable to sustain the growth that Jesus, Paul, et al had begun.

Ok. So what?

In the Greek mind, as I wrote yesterday, the rich tapestry that was Israel’s story was reduced to binaries.
Good/Bad; Black/White; Us/Them.
Paul’s theology was likewise reduced to fit this worldview.
What had been a beautiful Gospel of hope in the God of Abraham to reconcile the Cosmos was turned into a Frankenstein’s monster of Greek pieces with Biblical language used to justify the creation of such an aberration.

The result?

A dualism that allowed theologians to find in the Scriptures a way for humans to gain entry into some Ideal, Spiritual realm called “Heaven”. While at the same time creating a necessary antithesis to this called “Hell.”

The Gospel, and the Church at Large, became a means by which humans could receive salvation for their Immortal Souls.
From there it was a very short step to compelling people to assent to some Church prescribed proposition that would somehow, (magically?), insure that they would one day walk with God in heavenly places while avoiding the Inferno that awaited Everyone Else.

Today, that’s pretty much the same false gospel that churches foist on unsuspecting people.

What? You want proof?

Look around!
So called ‘evangelists’ standing with bullhorns on college campuses yelling at people to Repent or Burn!
Evangelical groups standing at the entrance to clinics that offer Women’s Health care abusing women who may be at the most vulnerable time of their lives.
People carrying signs outside of funeral homes that carry the message, “Death to Fags!”
Scamvangelists like Paula White who is a counselor to donald trump.
Hate mongers like Robert Jeffress and Franklin Graham who speak of God’s love out one side of their mouths while proclaiming eternal hellfire for anyone who doesn’t buy into their particular form of religious belief.
Bircher and false prophey Tim LaHaye.
Pseudo-Historian and christian nationalist David Barton.
The dangerous heresy of the Seven Mountains.
The damnable blasphemy that states the God. Hates. Your. Guts.
Indigenous Genocide.
Manifest Destiny.
The wholesale destruction of our environment by people who believe, (Falsely), that God has mandated that humans subdue and use, (re. ‘Exploit’), the environment.
The fact that I cannot walk into any Evangelical church without anxiety rearing up in my chest and mind.
How about that thousands and thousands of people who have been abused by those who preach such a hateful message?

Need I continue?
I surely can.

All of this…ALL OF THIS…is the result of humans who were deceived into believing a false gospel.

So, I write and I speak.

Do I claim to have all the answers to these issues?

Oh, hell no!

But, I do know a fake when I see it.
And, the Western Church, by and large, supports and acclaims a false gospel.
The true Gospel is one that reveals God’s love, not only for humans, but for the entire Cosmos.
The true Gospel has the power to reconcile, not divide.
Paul wrote that in Messiah Jesus there are no walls to separate.
There is neither Jew nor Greek; Free nor Slave; Female nor Male.
We can extrapolate this to say that there is neither Black nor White; Gay nor Straight; Republican nor Democrat.

The bastardization of the Gospel cannot say any of those things.
It sole purpose is to divide.
There is Saved and Damned; Believer and Pagan; Us and Them.

May that Gospel be damned!

So, yeah.
I’m worked up about this.
It’s of paramount importance to me to speak against these abuses and Blasphemies.
Yeah. I said it. The “B” word.
That’s what that false gospel truly is.

So, there it is.
And, I will continue to speak out.
At least as long as I must.
If that bothers you, well ok.
But, not sorry.
If you have similar thoughts and feelings, please share this.
Perhaps our collective voices may amplify these abuses until people begin to notice.

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A New/Old Paradigm

Published by mhelbert on April 8, 2020

I think that I wrote somewhere else that during this time of healing and life changes that come with retirement, my brain has been awash in “stuff.”
Thoughts and ideas flit about like Lake Erie midges gathering above the trees in June.
Millions of them creating an undulating cloud and an eerie whine as they search for a mate in the few hours of life granted to them.

Such, it seems, are the clouds of thoughts in my head.
And, just as difficult to grasp.

There are, however, moments when something breaks away from the cloud and comes closer for a better look.
One of these has been a thought that I have considered and wrestled with for the better share of the last year.
That is the question:
“Who are You really…God?”

I think that is the correct way to frame my inquiry.
I’m not interested in knowing about God. As in, what is God like or what are the attributes of God. Those questions are for the systematic theologians. And, if you know me at all, I have no interest in systems. They always fall short of whatever aim the theologian intends. And, they always only provide that theologian’s opinion. For me, that’s so much useless information.

Really, I think that any question that doesn’t deal with the “Who” issue is always going to fall short of the mark.

And, I believe wholeheartedly that the religious forms that have developed since about the 3rd or 4th century have completely missed this.
As far back as Origen the tendency of theologians has been to try to explain what happened in the 1st century through the lens of Hellenistic philosophy. After all, that was the natural habitat for all of Greek culture. The consequence of this was, and is, a Christianity that is steeped in the world of Neo-Platonism. (I have mentioned this in previous posts.)

This influence, I believe, has skewed the story of Jesus and the early church in a very unhelpful and unhealthy direction.
From Augustine through the Patristic Period, Greek philosophy shaped and molded what we now see as a deeply flawed and needy Church.
Luther and Calvin received this notion from the Fathers and, building on a flawed foundation, compounded many of the errors and misconceptions inherited from that earlier time.

This led me to my last post pointing out a need for a new Reformation.

So, why do I think like this?
Can’t I just accept that people who were smarter than me and who wrestled with all of this for centuries have created a building that must stand, no matter what?

In a word…
No.

I question things. I ask and ask and ask.
Sometimes I come up with plausible answers.
Most of the time, I just end up with more questions.

In this case, though, I need to look back a few years.
Even before I started seminary I wondered about some things.
One of those things was the unquestioning acceptance of how a human is put together. In the Western Church a person is said to be made up of a body and a spirit. Sometimes a third component, a soul, is thrown into the mix.
In this concept, at least in the Evangelical world that I once inhabited, the body was viewed as flesh. It followed it’s appetites and those appetites always led to a bad place. In a not so uncommon view, the body/flesh was, is, and always will be fraught with evil.
On the other hand, the spirit is something that is dormant in most people. It’s only when God breathes life into it does it spring back to life and works to draw the person into a closer relationship with God. So, the spirit is a good thing.
What most people don’t see in this is that it is completely Platonic. It pits the lesser, the body, against the ultimate, the spirit. It is also sot through and through with what is known as Gnosticism. Again, the physical is evil and the spiritual is good.

Both of these ideas are, quite simply, mistaken.
They have no basis in Scripture nor the heritage from which the Church has its roots.

I have believe since those early days when I began to ask these questions that everything that we can know about God, Jesus, the Spirit, or the Biblical text comes to us from the story of Israel and Israel’s God.
So, why didn’t the Church search for its identity there?
As a quick example to think about…
The illustration I shared above about the way a person is made up of various and disparate parts would have been completely unrecognizable to someone in 1st century Judaism. In the Scriptures, this person would say, a person is a single, living soul. Period. There is no dividing into parts.
For these early theologians in the Greek world, the thoughts of anyone from the backwaters of Palestine would have been incomprehensible and ignored.
(Of course, the defense could be raised that they were simply doing theology and trying to make sense of God in their own context. An admirable pursuit. But, that will always render a qualified and relative answer that must be taken with a large chunk of salt.)

This was the beginning of my search for the Who is God question. Because, if we don’t even know anything about Who is a Human, how can we know anything about God? If we can’t get the questions right, we will never come close to finding answers.

This has been the focus of much of my prayer, contemplation, and study for the last year.
Of course, the question that I ask can not be adequately answered by anyone. We can, however, make certain deductions and come to some conclusions that may help to carry the conversation forward.

And, that might just shed some light on where God may be directing God’s people as we muddle our way forward.
I hope so, anyway.

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Breaking Out To Become Light

Published by mhelbert on February 25, 2020

I’ve written before about the use of the word “Metamorphosis” in the Gospels and Paul’s Epistle to the Church at Rome. How it’s translated as “transformed,” or “transfigured.” I’ve also written that those words really seem to lack in nuance. Compare the image of transformed, like water when heated transforms into steam, with the image of Metamorphosis, a beautiful butterfly breaking free from its previous form.

This past Sunday the lectionary selections were from the Gospel according to Matthew and 2nd Peter. Both shared the story of Jesus’ transfiguration.
In that story we see Jesus going to the top of a mountain with his three buds, Peter, John, and James. While on the mountain Jesus was transfigured. His face shone brightly and his clothes became radiant. The Light that Is God filled Jesus and He shone as a source of light, not a reflection of it.
Stop here and think about that.
Visualize it in your mind’s eye.
What did that look like?
I’m just thinking, Wow!

As I listened to our parish priest talk about this, suddenly gears began falling into place.
I saw something beyond the exegesis that I shared at our Bible study that morning.
Our priest alluded to what I began to think.
That the Church, AKA the Body of Christ, may be the only Light that many people see. He went on to encourage us to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. Helping the poor, the outcast, the Other, and leaning into humanity just as God did in Jesus.

I get that.
That’s how we who follow Jesus should not just act, but should BE to the world around us.

I saw something else, though, in these texts.

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus told his followers, “You are the light of the world.”
Ok, cool. How do we do that? How do we become that Light that Jesus talked about?

Paul wrote to the Church at Rome and told them, “Hey, folks…don’t follow the ways of this world. Don’t let your life be formed in that mold. But, rather, allow your mind to be renewed so that you may Metamorphosize.”

I think that if we who follow Jesus truly desire to walk that path, we too, must experience that Transfiguration that Jesus experienced.
Somehow, our minds are capable of renewal and we are capable of experiencing transformation that will, in fact, make the Church a source of Light in this world.
A beacon of love and hope where all are welcome.

Unlike many who claim to be christian, who choose to remain in larval or pupate form, who eat and eat and eat, and take and take and take, we are asked to grow beyond that narrow life. We are asked to look to a Big God Whose Light may course through us a shine from deep within.

Let us seek God’s renewal.
Let us BE transformed.
Let us BE LIGHT!!!

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