A prayer

I was asked to do the congregational prayer in church yesterday, as well as to do the offering announcement (for Campus Edge). As part of Campus Edge's mission to encourage the development of community, this semester we've been studying love and sexuality, recognizing how hard it is for us to be a loving community to each other, especially in the area of sexuality where there has been a lot of hurt both from and within the Christian community. As part of Campus Edge's desire to do intellectual inquiry, we've been studying the book of Ecclesiastes and its sometimes too realistic view of how difficult and meaningless life can seem. These aspects of the ministry are included in the following prayer, as well as other prayer concerns related to university life.


Almighty God, we come before you with our thanks and our concerns. We thank-you for the work that you are doing in this church and in the ministry of Campus Edge. We know that you have been guiding this church as we remember our identity. We trust that you will continue to be with us and with the calling you have given us and the people you have given us to encourage. 

We pray for the world. It is so easy to be overwhelmed by what is happening in the news. We pray for those areas affected by war and famine, shootings and floods. We think especially of Yemen, Somalia, Israel-Palestine, and especially Syria. Bring comfort to all those who are suffering in these places. May those fleeing their homes find a safe place to continue their lives and may these countries become once again places where people can flourish. 
We pray also for all those who are foreigners in this place – we think especially of the international students at Michigan State. We pray especially for strength, comfort, and wisdom to those whose connections to home and their own futures feel more precarious because of the recent travel ban. 

We bring before you the church. We pray for the wider church and how our witness to You is tarnished by all the ways we fight with each other about what it means to follow Christ, especially when it comes to things we are passionate about, like politics. Help us to work together to take care of the weakest among us and to protect each other from danger. 
We pray specifically for the work of your church at MSU. We pray for those who attended the apologetics event with Ravi Zacharias – may it lead to further questions and people knowing you more. We pray for all the ministries, including Campus Edge, reaching out to those on MSU's campus: that we might provide places where people find fellowship and support as well as space to ask questions about faith and know You better. 

We bring before you the communities of which we are a part. We pray for our families and friends, for the community of this church, for those participating in Campus Edge, and for the wider community of Michigan State. We pray for the illnesses and suffering that we know about and for those things we don't know about – whether that be surgeries or cancer, financial troubles or relationship troubles. Whether the suffering be physical, emotional, or spiritual. 
We pray especially for those who are questioning You – that they might not feel alone but instead be comforted by knowing that many before them – from the author of Ecclesiastes to numerous saints – have wondered about the purpose of life and your presence and role in it. 
We pray also for those for whom sexuality has been a burden and a cause of shame and suffering – whether that be infertility, pornography, one's relationship status, one's attractions to others, or other things that are simply too difficult to name. May they – may we all - know your grace in this complicated area of our lives. Give us the courage and wisdom to know how to be honest and open with each other, to listen well, encourage each other and to be a strong community to each other. 

Knowing that you hear all of our requests, we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

Un-sentimentalizing Jesus

Mary Vandenberg at her blog, Life, God, and other Mysteries, captured what I was trying to get at it in my desire to un-sentimentalize Christmas:

"Its fairly easy to worship the newborn king. The infant Jesus seems helpless and tame, his omni-attributes veiled beneath the chubby baby cheeks.

But what about the Jesus who rebukes evil spirits, tells the woman at the well to sin no more, and accuses his followers of being an “unbelieving and perverse generation”?

And what about the Jesus who instead of proclaiming peace on earth as our Christmas cards and carols proclaim, tells the people: “Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division.”

Or how about the Jesus who reminds us that the cost of following him is rejection by the world? (Luke 9:23-24; John 15:18-19)

What will I do with all of Jesus – not just the warm and fuzzy parts – this year?"

I encourage you to read the rest of the blog (both this entry and previous entries).

Jeremiah 29:11 in context?

The Babylon Bee, a Christian satire site, has a wonderful article on Jeremiah 29:11. Jeremiah 29:11 says "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future" (NIV). Many people find it inspiring and encouraging. Unfortunately, as the article seems to suggest, many find the verse to be more inspiring without paying attention to its context (exile and living in a foreign land). 

And so, in a recent turn of events, The Babylon Bee "reports" that

"“Everything except that super-encouraging verse is likely not canonical, added by a scribe at a later date,” one expert told reporters. “Apparently someone invented an entire fabricated context around the verse to give it additional depth and meaning, rather than letting it stand as the beautiful, context-less words of positivity and affirmation that Jeremiah originally intended.” . . .

At publishing time, scholars had also announced that a similar forgery had occurred in the book of Philippians, with chapter 4:13 being the only passage likely penned by the Apostle Paul."

from "Confirmed: Earliest Manuscripts Of Jeremiah Just Had Chapter 29 Verse 11."

It's nice to notice that I'm not the only one who gets frustrated by how this text often gets completely removed from its context. While the text is definitely one of hope and comfort, the comfort is primarily in the confirmation, not that God would make his people rich and have lives of comfort, but instead that God would be with his people despite all of the difficulties of their situation and as they did the unexpected: seeking the prosperity of the city in which they had been exiled (Jer 29:7).

Un-sentimentalizing Christmas

My favourite Christmas song is Joy to the World: it celebrates how Christ's coming brings in his Kingdom. It speaks of power and might and justice - all very unsentimental things. 

However, there's something about the cute Christmas pageants with kids, meditations about how baby Jesus is our present, songs about the cute little baby (who doesn't cry) in a manger, and so on that tends towards making Christmas seem sentimental. This can then distract from the wonder of how Christ's coming - both his first and second coming - changes everything.

On Christmas Eve, having had too much exposure to Christmas sentimentality, when Matthijs asked for text suggestions for what to read before bed, I asked for Revelation 12. This text talks about the birth and coming of the one who would reign with justice and truth.

It had been awhile since I'd heard Revelation 12, and I only remembered it vaguely. It started out well: "a woman clothed with the sun," pregnant and about to give birth. But it gets both scary and violent fairly quickly, as a dragon appears: "The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born." But, she, nonetheless, "gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days." (Rev 12:1-6). And then war broke out, the dragon pursued the woman, the woman escaped when "the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus." (Rev 12:16-17).

My reaction after reading the text was, well, that was definitely un-sentimental. And a bit more overwhelming for Christmas than I'd realized. I think next year, I'll just suggest reading John 1.  

Advent in America

Advent - the time of waiting for Christ's coming - is almost over. With the coming of Christmas, we transition from longing for God's kingdom to come and heal the brokenness in the world to celebrating how Christ's first coming has already brought about God's kingdom of justice and truth and peace. 

Except it feels like the state of Advent - longing for God to right the brokenness in this world - has become permanent. The imminent installation of Donald Trump contributes somewhat to that feeling. I sometimes joke that it's hard to determine which person he's appointed is more ill-suited for the position (e.g., Elaine Chao for Transportation Secretary, with her history of working for the Heritage Foundation, the leading advocacy voice to end federal funding for biking, walking and transit, or Betsy De Vos, to be in charge of education, despite the fact that neither she nor her family has spent much time in the public school systems, and there are others who are probably worse!). Yet, I think Trump is primarily a symptom of a system that is not working well: distrust of the media, people disillusioned by the system, people fearful not just of foreigners but also of neighbours. People struggling simply to survive, and so the focus becomes on looking out for ourselves, instead of others. This is reflected even in many Christian communities, where the focus is often on my personal relationship with Jesus (or taking care of our people). Jesus' birth is so much larger than Christ coming into the world to save me - Christ came to save the world (cf. John 3:16). The kingdom brought on by Christ's coming is one of truth and justice and hope for all people, not just me and my people. 

Celebrating Christmas - believing that God is already at work here in the midst of the brokenness - the situation in Syria, the refugees in my own land, broken relationships, a lack of truth, distrust of others, and more - this celebrating is an act of defiance. Despite what my heart might feel and my eyes might see, I choose to believe that God's kingdom has come. As I do that, I am more able to see glimpses of God working in and through those around me. And also to be challenged to be part of working for God's kingdom on earth.

Jesus and Marrieds

This afternoon, Amy-Jill Levine asked her audience which married couples Jesus had talked to. Her audience was filled with scholars, pastors and folks who generally know their Bible. We were generally stumped, even though she did give us the clue that there was only one couple, maybe two. Someone came up with the maybe fairly quick: it's the two folks on the road to Emmaus - Cleopas and his companion, who could have been his wife but it's not clear. But the only clear example of a married couple eluded us: the answer is Jairus and his wife.

I am intrigued by the significant lack of examples of married couples in the gospel. It seems to be almost the opposite of - or at least in discord with - the Christian subculture I am part of that seems rather slightly obsessed with (heterosexual) marriage. It puts Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 7 about how good it is to be single into new perspective.

As Amy-Jill Levin pointed out later in the afternoon, marriage and fertility is, for better or worse, more of an Old Testament thing. The miracle that God is constantly doing in the Old Testament is blessing the infertile woman with a child. The last barren woman in the Bible to bear a child is Elizabeth, mother of John, cousin of Jesus. Jesus, instead of blessing people with children, seems to want people to become children. As a strange example of this, Mark notes (also in Mark 5) that Jesus does not heal the woman who is bleeding but instead "dries her up." Levine talks about how she is completely dried up and can no longer bear children - a far different experience from a woman who is healed so that she can bear children.

It deserves further contemplation.

On becoming a pastor

After discovering my bike had a flat tire, I decided to take the bus in to work today and spare myself the frustration of driving home during rush hour. The bus trip home was itself rather eventful, as the front bumper of someone's car ended up scratching half the side of the bus. Everyone on the bus had to get off and take the next bus. In the process of transferring buses and getting squished into the next bus, I ended up having a conversation with a pre-teen girl who sat beside me.

At one point in time, the girl asked me what I did for work. I told her I was a pastor. Her immediate response was to ask how old I was! I'm not sure if that was because she wasn't sure if I was old enough to be a pastor or if she was wondering why a pastor, who must be an adult and has an adult job, would be taking the bus.

While the conversation itself was delightful - she was young enough to be completely un-self-conscious about the questions she asked and comments she made - it was how I felt when I told her I was a pastor that struck me.

I often feel a bit awkward letting others know that I'm a pastor. I feel like I have to explain that I work with graduate students, so what I do is a bit different. And I don't look like their standard image of a pastor. Or I feel like I have to work harder to show that I'm normal - whether that normal be that I actually like the academic world or that I don't want to stuff religion down their throat.

Yet, today I said it with joy. Joy, because I expected it would surprise her, but in a positive way. And joy because it's been a good month of being a pastor - full of good conversations and glimpses of people's faith journeys. And joy because I'm learning to be okay with not being what people of expect of me - including in being a pastor.