The Ten Righteous

Sodom and Gomorrah have been used countless times to demonstrate the wickedness of man as well as the consequences of God against sinful people. This story shows a God who is fed up with two cities and is going to destroy them in order to protect the people living around their evil cities.

The cities are toxic and must be destroyed.

Before God goes there though, He sends three angels (some believe these represent the trinity)to go and inspect the city. On their way to the city (apparently they couldn't just 'beam' there, they had to walk...), they stop and eat with Abraham. Abraham figuring out what the intentions of God are, asks them, if they would spare the cities if there were 50 righteous people found within the walls. God grants this request and will not destroy the cities if fifty righteous are found. Next Abraham goes down to 45 righteous, and God relents again. This process continues until Abraham takes Him down to just ten righteous individuals, God agrees and the angels leave Abraham to go and inspect the city. I am sure you know what happens next...

I have always wondered what 'fire and brimstone' is actually like. It says that the cities were completely consumed never to be found again, so this fiery brimstone must be pretty potent stuff.

March 19, 2003 mark the date that the Iraqi War (Operation Iraqi Freedom) started. This war started with the dropping of millions of dollars worth of bombs and munitions in order to 'shock and awe' the Iraq's into submission. Many areas of the country were completely destroyed and/or left in ruins.

Iraq rests in the center of the Muslim world, but also has an interesting Christian heritage. Christians have been living there for the last two thousand years. It has been attested that almost one million christians lived in Iraq before the first Gulf War and about 800,000 lived there before Operation Iraqi Freedom. In case your wondering, that is one of the highest populations of christians within the Muslim world. Currently though this population has dwindled far below 800,000 and continues to dwindle as the persecution against christians continues.

Many questions have swirled around the United States and the world before, during and currently about this conflict in Iraq. Should we be there? Are our troops adequately equipped? What should the strategy be? While these questions are good ones to think about, I want to add another:

Should we drop a bomb on a nation if there are fifty righteous? Forty-five? Thirty? Twenty? What about only ten righteous, should we drop a bomb if there are ten righteous?

So this past week I was working on a sermon for my homiletics class. I selected the verses from Luke 21:1-4 which says:

As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. "I tell you the truth," he said, "this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.

In thinking through this passage I wonder, what does the wirter mean that she gave all that she had to live on. Does that mean she literally isn't going to eat until she finds some money? Does she have food at home? Does she even have a home? As so on...

I look at this passage and wonder what I am supposed to do with it as a Christian and a pastor. Is this a pattern for me that I should give literally everything to God? How does one do that and actually live? Is my faith so small that I think God won't protect me or do I have a healthy sense of reality to know I can't give EVERYTHING?

What does everything mean?

Interesting reads

Here are fifteen books that I have read that continue to stick with me. Have you read them? What did you think of them?

1. Barbarian Way - Erwin McManus
2. They Like Jesus but not the church - Dan Kimball
3. Jesus for President - Shane Claiborne
4. Velvet Elvis - Rob Bell
5. The Shack - Wm. Paul Young
6. The Bible - God
7. Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger - Ronald J. Sider
8. The Five Love Languages - Gary Chapman
9. The Last Word - N.T. Wright
10. Uprising - Erwin McManus
11. The Only Necessary Thing - Henri Nouwen
12. Every Mans Battle - Steven Arterburn
13. The Knowledge of the Holy - A.W. Tozer
14. In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day - Mark Batterson
15. In the Name of Jesus - Henri Nouwen

Random things that I have done

1. When I was little I used to pronounce the word 'helicopter' as Hooter-cop-turd

2. Somewhere in the world is a picture of me standing with two transgender Argentinians at a bus depot in Buenos Aires...

3. In seventh grade I asked out every girl in the school

4. In seventh grade I was turned down by every girl in the school

5. I puked on Michael W. Smith 6. I want to travel to all fifty states

7. I knew Robin was the one two years before we started dating... she was actually dating my best friend at the time... I wonder why I never see him any more

8. I have spent more than one year of my life outside the United States

9. I believe the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about

10. I made up number 5

11. In the eighth grade I went up to the captain of the high school football team, rubbed his head and said "I have never felt a Monkey's butt before"

12. I have drank a twelve pack of Mountain Dew in a single day

13. Someday I want to get a tatoo on my ring finger symbolizing the marriage that I am in

14. While trimming branches this past year I fell out of a tree but luckily wedged myself between two branches... thank you Mountain Dew belly!

15. I once spent Christmas in Novosibirsk, Russia 16. I was bitten in the bottom of the shoe by a venomous snake...right before I crushed his head.

The foreigner, the widow and the orphan

The book of Deuteronomy totally knocked me out yesterday. How many times have I read this book and completely missed these several verses. Has the church intentionally left these verses out? Is there some conspiracy to not look at the Bible in its' entirity and explain it to the people? Why am I and many around me so naive to the spefics found within the book?

Churches for centuries have instructed parishioners to give a tenth of what they make. Usually this is called a tithe and as a guide the tithe is ten percent. This guide is taken from various places throughout the Old Testament, one of them being Deuteronomy 14:22-27. These verses together show that a tenth of what you make should be returned to God, the problem is that every church I have heard talk about this, never continues this passage on. In verse 14:28-29 there is something interesting, the verses read as follows (NIV):

28 At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year's produce and store it in your towns, 29 so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
(parallel in Deut. 26:12-14)

Do you realize what this says? Not only are people supposed to tithe, but one years worth of that tithe is supposed to be set aside to help, the widows, orphans and foreigners of the land. With a little math that means that before the New Testament at least 33% of all tithes were going to help those who could not help themselves. How many churches do this? If we encourage those in our congregations to tithe ten percent, should churches not first budget by the 33% rule?

Other questions come to mind. Like who is the foreigner? Is the foreigner only those who are in this country legally, or should we help those in the country illegally? If we shouldn't help the illegal immigrants, then why doesn't it say which ones we should help and which we shouldn't? Why is the conservative church so against the illegal immigrant, when the Bible does not differentiate between the two? What about Deut. 10:18 where it says give the alien (foreigner) food and clothing, how do we reconcile this? Or, Deut. 24:19-21 should we not leave the sheaf, the olive, and the grape for the illegal alien?

Deut. 27:19 says that those who withhold from the widow, orphan and foreigner are to be cursed. Hwat does it mean to be cursed? Is the church cursed for not caring? Again, does it mean that if I don't help the illegal alien I am cursed?

... just ponderings from a passage...

Trouble with rich young rulers...

I have been pondering through a passage for some time now, and as a new seminary class approaches I have decided to really focus on this passage for the next few months as part of the course. I have marked you in this note because I wanted to invite you to give me some of your insight about what this passage means to you, and maybe that will help me figure it out for myself. I have tried to select many different people from different backgrounds in order to get a better cross section of people, if you feel you know someone who may be able to help us feel free to invite them to the discussion. I understand that some of you may not agree with every comment and only ask that you remain cordial as we discuss this topic.

Passage: Luke 18:18-30 (Rich young ruler) You can check it out here: http://www.biblegateway.com/

My main questions:

1. Should this be translated literally? As in did Jesus really want the rich young ruler to give up everything he owned?

2. If Jesus did mean it literally, then what does that mean for us today? Does that mean that everyone should be selling everything and giving it to the poor? Does it mean that only some should sell everything and give it to the poor? If it means that (some or all) Christians should sell everything and give it to the poor, why have I never seen this is in our world today (although I have seen incredibly generous givers, they always have a place to sleep, food to eat, etc.)?

3. If Jesus did not mean it literally then why would he let this man walk away from Him completely let down, as well as confuse the issue for us today? It would seem that Jesus was playing some kind of cruel joke on this man by telling him something that wasn’t really a requirement.

4. Is there something else that I am missing?

I would love to hear back from you on this topic…

A

'Communion is the making present of Christ in our community' -Nouwen

What a reminder of what Christ is supposed to be during our communion services. So many times we take the Eucharist without ever really recognizing what its significance is for our specific time and place. Why is it that the these traditions of church become overbearing rituals, instead of life giving rejuvenations of the spirit of the community. I pray that I will continue to view the Eucharist as a time when Jesus is physically present in the community around me.

A

Chapter 15 of Richard Foster's book titled "Prayer" focuses on the prayer of suffering. Foster looks at where suffering and prayer meet, as well as what it means to be a community that shares the sufferings of its people. The issue of suffering has been something that I have been dealing with personally as well as with various friends in my community who are going through difficult circumstances. One friend at seminary is in the midst of divorce, another friend is struggling through cancer. My wife and I have been dealing with the loss of our baby through miscarriage (as are a couple in our small group which happened two weeks after us). So many things happen all around us to both good and bad people and it always leads us to the same question, 'Why is there suffering in the world?'

Foster asks this question too, but decides that the question is incomplete. Even if we are ever able to answer this question about the existence of suffering, the outcome does not change. There will be suffering but Foster leads us into another question. That question is, "How do I enter into the suffering that is in the world in a way that is redemptive and healing?" How can I(we) as a christian take suffering by the horns and wrestle into something that I and others can build on? How do I allow God to work through the suffering to bring about healing and restoration within the body of believers? And even more importantly, how do I take this restorative power to those on the outside of Christianity and demonstrate the power and victory of God over these things?

B

For a class project I helped to create a place that the community of Delaware as well as the Terra Nova Community could interact with God through prayer and art. We called it the 40 Hour Journey through Art and Prayer. Starting on the Thursday before the Delaware County Arts Festival we set up a storefront that included an anteroom and an inner room that led people to engage God. For the anteroom, we created a space that anyone could come in from the street and engage their spiritual journey through the art on the walls created by artists within our church community. In the inner room we created a comfortable space the brought our community members into a place that they could engage God for an hour without any distractions.

The response to the event was amazing, both from our own congregation as well as from the community at large. In our own community people were dealing with struggles when they entered the room and truly felt that they met God in their experience within the room. Many came out wanting to take on another hour (but all spots were filled), or wanting to have the room on another week. In the area that anyone could walk many were hesitant to fully engage the spiritual journey, however, they were impressed by the fact a church was willing and able to create such a space. The Delaware Gazette did a little article on the space to make sure that the community realizes what was going on in the little store front.

B

Today's class was on unceasing prayer. We discussed what it means to pray without ceasing as looked at the historical methods for praying throughout the day. These liturgical and traditional methods are new to me because I have always been a part of a church that does not practice these sort of prayer times. I always thought that specific times to pray like discussed in class were so restrictive to the communication between myself and God, however, in class I saw that these are a good way to focus myself on God throughout the day. When these tools are used in a way that focuses the heart toward God, they are actually quite profoundly beautiful.

For the second part of the class we went to a local Methodist church where a prayer labyrinth was set up for us to walk and pray. Again this is one aspect of prayer that I do not typically engage in. I think I liked it...not really sure yet. While the walking and praying were nice, I continue to wonder if a walk through the woods might be better for me. I found myself worrying about staying on the labyrinth path, thinking that I need to hurry up because others were waiting, etc. A walk through the woods typically has different distractions, but I find it more calming. I think the thing that I brought out of the entire process is that I need to pray more. Pray when I awake. Pray when I get ready in the morning. Pray when I drive (eyes open). Pray when I work. Pray when I walk. Pray when I eat. Pray when I sleep...

C

JESU, MY STRENGTH, MY HOPE

I want a sober mind
A self-renouncing will
That tramples down and casts behind
the baits of pleasing ill;
a soul inured to pain,
To hardship grief, and loss,
Bold to take up, firm to sustain
The consecrated cross

A

"Action is not activism. An activist wants to heal, restore, redeem, and re-create, but those acting within the house of God point through their actions to the Healing, restoring, redeeming, and re-creating presence of God. "

-Henri Nouwen "The Only Necessary Thing" pg. 141

This quote struck me as a novel way at looking at the Kingdom of God. So many times Christians believe that we need to be activists in politics and social issues but Nouwen challenges this belief. God is already doing the action. The action has already begun and is happening as we speak, we simply need to act within the actions that God has already been apart of. My goal therefore is not to start a movement, my goal is to join in the movement that has been going on for two thousand years. To be a part of the amazing story that Christ comenced humanity on. Isn't that great!? I don;t have to be an amazing charismatic character, I can be me and simply take part in the movement that is already healing, restoring, redeeming, and re-creating all around me.

C

This passage that begins Chapter four of Chilcote's book is the passage of the Prodigal son. I have heard countless sermons and illustrations looking at this passage, many of which pull out vivid depictions of the return of the son that sinned. In my own life though I many times do not feel like I fit in the prodigal sons story. Sure I have sinned and continue to sin, but many times I feel more like the older brother that has been working in the Fields and feels somehow slighted when the prodigal returns. Am I just simply working under the Father and never really understanding who the Father is? Do I have the same passions for the prodigal son when he returns? Or do I simply see it as another time that God overlooks the work that I have been doing for Him...

A

We often confuse unconditional love with unconditional approval. God loves us without conditions but does not approve of every human behavior. God doesn;t approve of betrayal, violence, hatred, suspicion, and all other experssions of evil, becasue they all contradict the love God wants to instill in the human heart. Evil is the absence of God's love. Evil does not belong to God.
God's unconditional love means that God continues to love us even when we say or think evil things. God continues to wait for us as a loving parent waits for the return of a lost child. It is important for us to hold on to the truth that God never gives up loving us even when God is saddened by what we do. That truth will help us to return to God's ever-present love.

-Henri Houwen "The Only Necessary Thing" page 68

Unconditional love is so difficult a concept for us to understand. I feel awkward demonstrating and encouraging unconditional love to those in my congregation because it allows someone to hurt us. Nouwen says that unconditional love does not give unconditional approval, which is true, but it does it still puts anyone that exhibits it in a precarious position. I don;t want to love everyone unconditionally. I want to love those that do right to me. I want to love my neighbor as long as my neighbor doesn;t do anything that hurts me or my loved ones in some way. This is the antithesis of unconditional love though, and that is what makes it so difficult for me and for everyone.

B

It is difficult for me to sit in silence. Sitting in silence continually brings me back to pain in my life, because that is when I sit in silence. I sat in silence as my mother fought non-hodgkins lymphoma. I sat in silence when my father was diagnosed with hepatitis, and later when we have come to the realization that there is no cure for him. I sat in through the death of family pets. In the last decade I have sat in silence as all four grandparents died as well as an aunt and an uncle. I sat in silence when I heard my friend through grade school and middle school died in a car accident after he fell asleep at the wheel. I have sat in silence on countless occasions as my wife cried her eyes out for her mother and sister's fight with Huntington's disease. I sat in silence when I had come back from a trip only to find my friends mother had died and I had not been there with him. I sat in silence when the church that I grew up in, proposed in, and was married in told me that I was not good enough for the position that I was in and would be replaced. I sat in silence with my long time friend and mentor as his sins with an underage girl caught up to him and now finds himself in a 4 x 8 cell. I sat in silence during his trial and sentencing. Most recently I sat in silence on the couch as we cried over the death of our unborn child. It is difficult for me to sit in silence.

C

Still for thy loving kindness, Lord,
I in thy temple wait;
I look to find thee in thy Word,
Or at thy table meet.

Here in thine own appointed ways
I wait to learn thy will;
Silent I stand before thy face,
And hear thee say, "Be still!"

These words are from a hymn entitled "Still for thy Loving Kindness, Lord." Silence and stillness are difficult for me to do on a regular basis. It is one of those things that does not come natural for my walk with God. I constantly must be doing something. During reading, homework or whatever I usually have music or the television on and sometimes both because I feel closer to who I am in times of chaos. I will continue to work on my times of silence and solitude as I work through this course. For my book report I selected a book by Thomas Merton called "Thoughts in Solitude" Hopefully this will continue to get me to think the solitude that I should have in my life.

B

The following are three letters that I wrote during class on April 14. I felt that the exercise done in class was extremely productive and wanted to include them on my blog. The first letter is me to God, the second is God to me, and the third is me to me.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Dear God,

I encounter you every week, however, many times throughout the week I feel that You are distant from me. Sunday's at Terra Nova I feel close to you and close to the rest of my community of believers, however, through the week I miss your presence. I realize this may totally be my fault because my devotions and prayer are sporadic at best. At the same time, I go to seminary, work at a church, and know that you are everywhere. If I can find you everywhere then why don't I?
This 'everywhere' has been difficult for me to grasp especially this past week. I felt Your presence while my wife and I cried on the couch, but where were you earlier when my baby died? How is it something that seemed so God-inspired, like our pregnancy, ended so needlessly and tragically. Why is it that a being that I never met, and up until two months ago never knew existed, meant so much to me?
It seems that every year for the last seven years, we receive information that destroys my wife and I...an yet also unites us. Why is the Spring time our valley? I hope. I pray. I await Your answer.

Dustyn

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Dustyn,

I love you. It was not my plan for this devastation to befall you and humanity. This cost you, and it cost me just as much if not more. My heart breaks for you just like it breaks for all my children on the planet. I am here with you through the pain.
I love your questions so continue to ask them. Never cease looking for the answers. Continue serving, loving, caring, and sharing. Do not let atrocities like losing a child dissuade you from following Me. Use these life situations to help others going through the same problems.
Remember I was with your baby from the very beginning, even when it was created. I held it in My hands while still in the womb, and loved it before, during and after its life ceased. It is with me and wishes to see you. I am sorry its creation has caused you pain, but understand that I am the creator of life. I hold the abilities of life and death therefore felt it the right time to bring your baby home.

God

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Dustyn,

What can I say but sometimes life sucks. Sometimes through my life I feel that there is this constant barrage of destruction that heads my way. Every year around this time Robin and I seem to be left on our own in some way. I continue to come back to the promises of God to humanity to get me through those times. Promises like:

- I will never leave you
- I will never forsake you
- I will save you i you ask me to
- I love you and nothing could ever change that
- I have left someone to help you...the Holy Spirit

These are some of the promises that we must come back to in our times of struggle to remember who God is. When you seem lost and alone, go back to what you know to be true. If you are so far that you can't remember what you know, seek help for someone who can lead you to the truth you once knew.

Dustyn

A

On Sunday March 29th I spoke on Matthew 27:46 at Terra Nova because we have been going through a series called "Famous Last Words." Throughout this series we have been looking at the last words of Christ on the cross, my week entailed the verse where Christ calls out to God and says "Eli, Eli, Lamma Sabachthani? which means My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" As I looked at this verse we discussed the nature of Christ's call to God, and equated it with the call that many of us face throughout our lives.

It was interesting then when I looked at this weeks reading and saw that Robert Foster dealt with this same topic (wish I had known that before I spoke). Robert looks at the the prayer of the forsaken at a variety of aspects, and deals with the deep needs that humanity has when we enter into prayer to the almighty. Throughout this chapter I felt the love of God on myself and the understanding that He has when I am in the midst of conflict.

B

This was our first class for the Spring Quarter. I think that this will be a good class to discuss what prayer is, as well as the problems that I have with prayer. I sometimes have a difficulty understanding that prayer actually changes things. I pray and many times never really receive a direct answer. While there have been times that I knew that God responded, there are many more times that it seems God is entirely quiet and I wonder if I am praying to myself, or if there is a receptor somewhere receiving them. This class seems like a good place to discuss these apprehensions, and hear the apprehensions of others.

Today in class we started with morning devotions, there was some praying in unison as well as reading and response. These aspects of prayer are somewhat new to me. I have been to churches that practice these sort of liturgies, I have not taken a part in them consistently to know them very well. One thing that was a little awkward was a song praise from Africa that the class did together called umwema. Through my extensive time in South America I am used to doing songs like this, but it was different doing it in a classroom setting in America. I guess prayer should move me out of my comfort zone at times...

A

In Richard Foster's book entitled, Prayer: Finding the Hearts True Home, he states on page 65, "As Winter Approaches each year, I like to watch our large maple in the backyard begin to lose its coverings of summer green and take on a funeral brown. As the leaves drop, one by one all of the irregularities and defects of the tree are exposed. The imperfections are always there, of course, but they have been hidden from my view by an emerald blanket. Now, however, it is denuded and desolate, and I can see its real condition."

How often do I hide my true self from others, and from God? I surround myself in an emerald blanket that doesn't allow anyone or anything to see the imperfections that I bear. I believe that somehow if my imperfections are seen I will be disliked or worse disowned. If I no longer bear my leaves, and the people I love can see my imperfections, what will I bear in their eyes instead? Or in the eyes of God? It is interesting that I know God to be existent everywhere all the time, yet I continue to think I can hide behind my leaves. The Psalmist in 139:7 says, "Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?"

Prayer:
God help me to be someone who is not affraid to let down his leaves and be authentic with You and with those around me. Assist me in being real to those around me and to myself as I continue through life. I pray Lord that as I am more authentic in my walk that it would encourage others to a higher level of authenticity in their lives as well. Thank you for being near me even when I don't realize it regardless of if my barriers are in place or if I stand before denuded and defective. Amen