Compassionate Justice

Yesterday, Charles posted an interesting perspective on what it's like to have a crack dealer squatting next door (yes, take a second and read it). What I appreciate most about Charles' comments is the way he puts a face on 'public enemy #1'.

You see, it's all too easy to rail against someone we don't know at all (eg. "just hang 'em high"), but it's a different matter altogether when it's personal, when it's someone we know and might even actually like. So pause for a moment, and picture someone in YOUR neighborhood, someone just down your street - picture THEM being a drug dealer, just for a moment. Let's call this guy 'Leroy'.

Got a mental picture? Good. Now take a few seconds and read this article here.

This gist of this second link is basically this: a judge who deals with repeat alcohol and drug offenders has been experimenting with alternative sentencing - criminals can avoid jail or rehab by attending worship services. The judge is a 'devout Christian' (boo! hiss!) and the ACLU has their panties in a wad (is anyone surprised?) because this raises 'serious constituional problems'.

Ok, so how do these things connect? My question is simply this: what does truly compassionate justice look like? Who truly cares more about Leroy? The judge giving him an option of going to church? Or the lawyers who see THAT as the real menace to society?

You see, in a church, Leroy just might actually hear that his actions really are morally WRONG, not just because the 'Haves' say so, but because GOD says so - and the consequences are way more serious than life without parole. Even more importantly, Leroy might also hear that God is passionately concerned about sinners, about the 'Have Nots' - and he offers real HOPE for change.

Now there is no guarantee that Leroy is going to hear those things (heck, there's a lot of churches these days that aren't willing to say them even if he IS listening). There's certainly no one forcing him to believe those things. But there is someone (in this case the judge) who actually cares enough about Leroy that he wants to see him change.

And change can only happen when these two things are present: there must be a sense of need, and there must also be a sense of hope.

And that gets back to my question - at the end of the day, what does 'compassionate justice' really look like? It seems to me that if we really care about someone, we'll be willing to tell them something is wrong, but also to offer them hope.

After all, what are the alternatives? Just lock him up again? Or do we just say its no big deal and let him off? The one leans towards "justice" (punishment), the other leans towards "compassion" (mercy) - but neither really does anything to help Leroy change. And that's because they can't; at the end of the day, only God can make an action "wrong", and only Christ can make a broken life "right".

If someone says we can't say that, how neutral are they?

Sunday Morning Glory

Look what greeted me outside my window, this fine Sunday morning...

Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! - Luke 12:27-28 (ESV)

Cab Ride In Atlanta

So I was sitting in a cab on my way to the Atlanta airport yesterday, when I asked the cabbie how long she had doing this kind of work. She was middle aged, overweight, and after fourteen years and hundreds of thousands of miles, it didn't take a rocket scientist to guess that she had probably seen some interesting things.

With a few more questions, she began to tell us about herself - her likes (Atlanta), her dislikes (all the Mexican "illegals" moving in), even her deficiencies ("road rage").

Road rage? (All of us passengers did a double take). My friend Ted decided to treat it like a joke: "Does that mean I shouldn't open the glove box?" He's grinning on the outside, but both of us are paying careful attention to how she responds.

"Ah, nah, I ain't packing heat," she laughs, in her thick southern drawl. "If I was I'd probably shoot someone."

Really? Hmm. How do you respond to a comment like this? We try something relatively safe, "Well I guess we better not tick you off then." (Note to self: tip this woman well!)

She laughs again and explains that it's usually other drivers that really get her dander up. Then she proceeds to tell us how she and another driver got into a tit-for-tat one day, each cutting the other off repeatedly, until finally, the other driver rear-ended the car in front of him while yelling at her out the side window. She actually, stopped her car, got out and hollered, "So sorry you had an accident! Too bad you're going to be late now! Ha ha ha..."

Wow. This woman means business.

As we drove by the church where the runaway bride was supposed to get married a couple of weeks ago, police officers were stopping traffic to allow pedestrians to cross the road (another wedding, perhaps?). She explained to us this was why she was a few minutes late in picking us up. Not only was there traffic, but she had stopped to jaw at a cop who wasn't moving quite quick enough for her. And then she started telling us about her other experiences with police, and this is where it really got interesting.

It turns out she had gotten pulled over for speeding once, and when she was required to appear in court, her father insisted on going with her. "My adopted dad" she clarified. "He always treated me just like his other kids."

So she shows up in court, and the officer who had written the ticket was clearly unnerved at the incident. "Um, I'm real sorry about this, sir - if I had known she was your daughter, I would have just given her a warning." Turns out her dad was a ranking officer in the force. Whoops.

But what really picqued my interest was the fact that she DIDN'T mention her father when the officer pulled her over. "Oh yeah, all my brothers and sisters, they'd always use his name to themselves outta trouble. But not me. I figured if I did it, I've gotta get myself out. It's only fair if I pay for my own mistakes, that's what I figure."

And that's when it struck me. Yes, it's certainly commendable that you pay your own dues, and it's definitely fair - but what if the debt is more than you can pay? What if you owe more than you can ever earn? In a situation like that, you would want a father who could post your bond, bail you out. She had that option, but her stubborn pride kept her benefiting from the privileges that were hers by virtue of being her father's daughter. If that debt had been higher, she would have been S.O.L.

And that, my friends, is precisely our plight. We owe a debt we cannot repay ourselves. Clemency is freely available, but only if we humble ourselves and call on our Father to rescue us. All it costs is our pride...

But then we were at the MARTA station, and life moved on. Just another cab ride in Atlanta.

not so sure about jesus?

it's been a while...especially for me. sorry about that, but life has been overwhelming and christian has been providing enough fodder for all of us.

i'd like to burst back on the scene by asking 2 questions. these questions are mainly for those of you who don't buy in to this whole jesus thing. so, i'm going to just go ahead and ask. if you don't believe in jesus, i'd really like to learn from you on this, so please invite others you know who also don't believe to stop by and leave a post.

for those of us who are believers, please refrain from responding to comments by trying to convince or change the way our guests think about jesus. this isn't the post to do that. thanks.

1) what is it about jesus that you reject? is it just too good to be true?

2) how have christians/church been a hindrance to your exploration?

please be honest and feel free to ask further questions and we'll refrain from trying to dump our version of the message on you. we value your opinion so that we can learn and grow.

Seeing Life Differently.

Well, it's been a while since you've seen a post up here at SLD. That's because Christian, Ryan and I have been having "tunnel vision" lately. With single-minded devotion (hypothetically), we have been studying what we learned all semester in order to replicate it clearly and coherently into a little blue book for a few hours. God is faithful: we all survived!

And now, on the 'flip side,' we should all be singing, "I can see clearly now, the rain is gone!" I don't know about them, but I am (when my eyes aren't closed in much-needed sleep).

And in honor of that, a few verses to remind us about the 'sight' that's truly important:

"For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure (vv5-7), they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins." (2 Peter 1:8-9)

"Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil." (Proverbs 3:7)

"I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe." (Ephesians 1:18-19a)

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. " (Hebrews 12:2-3)

Mormon Christology Q3: SLD Feedback

While we're at it, I would like to create a post just for any of you Mormon visitors to leave feedback about what you think as you look at some of the other content here on SLD.

In other words, I realize that theology can sometimes seem abstract and may not interest lots of people - but much of the writing on this site really paints a picture of how our theology plays out in real life, how it shapes the way we view the world. And I would be very, very, interested in how those things strike you. Do we seem weird? Freaky? Stupid? Shrill? Is there anything that resonates, or is there anything that grates you the wrong way? I'm just very curious...

Now, I realize there's a lot of content here, and I'm not asking you to read it all. You might just want to look at 'The Buzz' section for a representative sample.

I also realize this is a very subjective, impressionistic question - but hey, we have to give all you touchy feely LDSers a way to get involved too (and I say that as one of those touchy feely folks myself). Look forward to hearing what you think...

Mormon Christology Q2: Salvation

More questions for my Mormon friends (apologies if I am less than coherant today). Here's what I'd like to know. How do you view salvation? How is someone saved? What are they saved from? What does Christ actually have to do in this process? Why did he have to die? And why did he have to rise from the dead?

You don't need to answer each and every item individually, but hopefully you see what I'm getting at. Mormons use very similar language to Evangelicals here - Robinson talks about being saved 'by faith' through 'Christ's merit' and 'his substitutionary atonement' (HWTD, 154). But it's seems to me that we might actually mean different things by this. But I'd like to hear how you view it. How does this salvation thing work? How do God's justice and mercy fit together?

In an attempt to make it easier to respond, I'll point out several of our distinctives (meaning those of my particular camp - I'm not claiming to represent all of Christendom here). I am not challenging you to prove me wrong here - I'm really just interested in figuring out where we are similar and where we are different.

1. We believe that Adam played a representative role - by his one sin, all men become sinners, simply by virtue of being his descendants, his heirs (Rom 5:12-14).
   
   
2. So because we are sinners, all men inevitably sin - in other words, we have to be in a right relationship with God before we can actually obey and please him, for whatever is not of faith is sin (Rom 14:23, Heb 11:6).
   
   
3. So because of our sin (both Adam's and of our own own) we deserve to die - after all, there is no forgiveness of sin w/out the shedding of blood (Heb 10:22), and in our sin we are already dead to God (Eph 2:1). We are incapable of turning to God on our own (Rom 5:12, John 6:44). We're in deep do-do.
   
   
4. Fortunately, Christ also played a representative role - by his perfect obedience he fulfills our obligation, by his death he accepts our punishment, and so he does everything Adam failed to do, resulting in life (Rom 5:18).
   
   
5. Now because Christ is also a representative, everything he achieves is available to us - we are united w/ Christ through faith alone, and in this believing we receive his righteousness and he takes all our sinfulness - so God is both just (punishing sins) and justifier (making us righteous) (Rom 3:23-26)
   
   
6. This faith we have is not our doing, its a gift of God (Eph 2:8-9); it is a faith that is sufficient not by its strength our quality (how faithful it is), but rather by it's object: Christ (who strengthens our faith, even helps our unbelief - Mk 9:24)
   
   
7. So Christ did not just come to make salvation available - he actually saves sinners (Lk 19:10), not a single one is lost because Christ himself is guarding us (John 17:12), and there is nothing which can separate us from teh love of Christ (Rom 8:38-39)
   
   
8. So we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone - but it's a faith that will never be alone, it always produces fruit - when faith is truly in Christ, we are inevitably transformed by Christ.
   

That's kind of long, but its also fairly specific (and it falls squarely in a Reformed / Lutheran / Calvinistic understanding of Scripture).

Maybe one of the most important questions is, what does this salvation actually look like? Does it just sort of wipe the slate clean, and then is it up to us to "stay on God's good side"? Or does this salvation actually bring with the obedience it demands? Do the benefits start now, or are they merely future?

There, that ought to give us plenty to chew on for a while... :-)

(And thank you again for your willingness to respond to this stuff - I really do appreciate it. You don't know how nice it is to talk to 'real live people' who are honest about what they think).

2 AM Redemption

Its 2 AM, and I can't sleep. Not because I'm not tired - I'm exhausted - but I've lain in bed for the past two hours and my brain won't stop racing. There's so much to do between now and Wednesday, between now and next summer, between now and the rest of my life.

Paul says 'Now' is the day of salvation (2 Cor 6:2), and I wonder 'Is this what redemption feels like?' Being dog dead tired in the middle of the night, thinking about all the things I need to know, about the people who might someday be glad that I know them? Thinking about how it seems like I have learned the most about Christ in the hardest times, and yet how I would still prefer my life be easy?

Actually, this may be exactly what Paul had in mind. After all, he follows immediately with this: "We put no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger;" (2 Cor 6:3-5).

So Paul had trouble sleeping too, although his reasons were undoubtedly more sanctified than mine. Nevertheless, he and I both have something in common - we both get to play our little parts in this uber-drama we call "Redemptive History". Maybe I should be a little more grateful, a little less bitter. It's so easy to think about me. It's so hard to think about others. So I start to reflect on some of the people God has brought into my life over the past months and years.

I think about my new friend, Angelica (pronounced "An-hay'-li-ca"), because she hasn't been sleeping either... no more than 3 hours a night, for the past 3 months. And I wonder if she is awake right now, and I pray for her like I promised. And I think of my old friend Lydia, how in the next six months her life is going to change more than she could possibly imagine, and I wonder how it will affect our friendship, I wonder where God will lead her.

I think of my buddy Barnabas, how we are so similar in some ways, and yet so different in others. And I wonder what it's going to be like ministering together - I know we're going to do each other wrong, and I remind myself how important it's going to be humble and confess and repent, often, even when I may secretly think I'm right. He has become something of a brother to me, and he encourages me greatly in this fight. It's going to be good having him around.

I also think about what God is doing in my family - how he is growing my wife, maturing my kids. And how seminary life is really, really, hard on all of us - how much it sucks to tell your daughter that you can't come to her softball game because you have to study. Life can be so hard, and yet this hardness is somehow good - it's what God uses to expose our sin and draw us near to him.

So by God's grace we'll make it through this too. And hopefully I'll learn how a little more about being a dad, a student, an employee, a pastor, a husband. Maybe I'll learn how to be patient with the weakness of others, how to rest in the strength of Christ. After all, this is God's gift to me: not only to believe, but also to suffer for his sake (Phil 1:29).

Perhaps more than anything, I keep thinking about a passage I read this morning (yesterday now) as I tried to wake up while sitting in the coffee shop. Paul says, "But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil 3:13-14).

There's a lot of conviction in those words. You see, most of us could do with a little more spiritual exercise - we could benefit from the straining, pressing, striving, contending that Paul is talking about. We could benefit from some sleepless nights - how many of us really care so much about the church that it keeps us awake? Paul is doing this for Christ, for the sake of the gospel, for the sake of believers. And he devoted his life to that call. He died to self in order to serve Christ and others. Not many of us really want to die these days...

At the same time, many of us Type A personalities all too easily get caught up in the effort - we're perfectionists, we over-study, we micro-manage, we sacrifice everything - but we miss the mark because we get the goal all wrong. At the end of the day, we're really just in it for ourselves, not for Christ's kingdom. We forget that it's Christ who builds the church. That the show will go on, even when I drop the ball...

I think I need improvement in all of the above. But I'm ok with that, because I see God working in my life, and in the lives of those around me. I know that what commends me to my heavenly Father is NOT the fact that I'm getting all the details right, but rather the fact that I am his son, that I am united to Christ through faith, and he has promised to complete what he started (Phil 1:6).

And that's a good thing, I can rest in that. I can take great joy in this redemption of mine, even at 2 AM...

Mental Filibusters

Andree Seu had this to say over at World Magazine recently...

Bravo, Miguel, for not bogging down in "Who is my neighbor?" and other mental filibusters. Bravo, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, for paying the supreme price for a life of faith rather than abstraction. "We have literally no time to sit down and ask ourselves whether so-and-so is our neighbor or not," wrote the German pastor executed by Nazis weeks before war's end. The rich young man "had hoped to avoid committing himself to any definite moral obligations by forcing Jesus to discuss his spiritual problems. . . . Only the devil has an answer for our moral difficulties, and he says, 'Keep on posing problems, and you will escape the necessity of obedience'" (The Cost of Discipleship).

If you appreciate the value of this statement (and I hope you do), then I'd highly recommend you click here for the full article...

(Hat Tip: Random Mind)

Chronicles of Narnia Trailer

From the 'pretty cool' department, here's a link to the Lion Witch & Wardrobe trailer (56 MB) coming out in December. Its a large download, but well worth it. And now back to the books...

Pssst...

You didn't hear this from me, but it's Marilyn's Birthday today...Happy Birthday Honey! (And if you look closely over there, you might even find a link to a loooove song)

Converting to Mormonism?

Since we're talking about Mormons, I thought you might appreciate an interesting little dialogue I stumbled across over here: basically, a nice young Southern Baptist girl named Annie ponders what it would take for her to convert to LDS, and then asks her Mormon readers to consider the same question for themselves. Nice read...

Mormon Christology Q1: Being of God

The first set of questions I have really centers on how Mormon's understand the being of God. I'm going to start by trying to lay out the facts as I understand them:

• We Evangelicals think that the phrase 'God is Trinity' (meaning one being ontologically, with three distinct persons) best summarizes the meaning of the biblical data.

• Robinson says "Many Evangelicals would be surprised to learn that Mormons can accept the formula of "one God in three persons." However, we believe that the oneness of these three is not an ontological oneness of being...but a oneness of mind, purpose, power, and intent...The three persons are one God...but [what] is said at Nicea and is rejected by Mormons is that these three persons are ontologically one being" (How Wide the Divide, p 129)

• one the next page Robinson continues: "Latter-day Saints believe the biblical concept of 'oneness'...is revealed at John 17:21-23, Rom 12:5, 1 Cor 12:12-13, Gal 3:28, etc. where individual disciples can also be 'one' in the Father and Son, or 'one' in Christ, or even 'one' w/ each other in Christ (p 130).

• then one page further: "Obviously, some Evangelical will tell me that my belief in three separate and distinct beings adding up to one God is illogical and therefore amounts to polytheism. While it may seem illogical that Mormons believe a divine Father, Son and Holy Ghost who are separate and distinct beings still only add up to one God, it is nevertheless what we believe...thus there are three divine persons, but only one Godhead." (p 132).

Ok, so here are my specific questions:

a) it seems to me that Mormons would then interpret the OT concept of "God being one" (cf. Deut 6) as simply the "oneness of mind, purpose, power, and intent" rather than a oneness of "being". Yes? No? Clarify? The overarching impression I get when reading the OT contextually is that God is opposed to other divinities on the basis of their not-being-him, rather than on the basis of their not-being-unified-with-him. How would Mormon's address this?

b) it seems to me that for Mormons, there is this single thing called "godhead" and within that there are three "beings" (where each of these beings is a distinct "person" - Father, Son, Holy Spirit). Yes? No? Clarify? If that is the case, what is the "godhead" if not a "being"?

c) it seems to me that Mormons are saying there is "one being" (God, Godhead) which is simultaneously "three beings" (F, S, HS). Is this what Mormons actually think? To me, this to present a quandry:

• either it implies a real logical contradiction by saying "1 something" is also "3 of the same somethings" (which the Evangelical doctrine of Trinity avoids by definition)
• or else "Godhead" is something different than "being" ('being' in the first case is different than 'being' in the second case)
  
• or else it devolves into polytheism (many gods)
• or else it devolves into pantheism (we are all part of the divine being).
  

Robinson simply seems reluctant to answer. Would someone care to clarify?

d) how is it possible for God to be all-powerful and all-knowing while at the same time existing as more than one being? By definition, it would seem that only one being could truly be all-powerful (unless we are going to redefine omnipotence, or devolve back into pantheism). Can someone explain?

e) regardless of our common vocabularies and Scriptures, it seems to me that at the end of the day Evangelicals and Mormons are fundamentally talking about two very different divine beings here - the Evangelical's "God" seems ontologically different than (and incompatible with!) the Mormon "God." This difference seems such that we cannot both be right; someone must be wrong. Agree? Disagree?

Ok, that's enough for now. Before you respond, please read the ground rules...

Mormon Christology: Some Questions...

As some of you will recall from a previous post, I'm trying to learn more about Mormon Christology. Based on a number of recommendations from practicing Mormons (and various others), I have been working through Craig Blomberg's and Stephen Robinson's How Wide the Divide. And I'm getting to the point where I have some questions and I'd like to get Mormon feedback.

Before I do that, however, I'd like to state what I'm trying to do and lay out some basic ground rules...

1. First of all, I'm going to try to keep my questions very short and focused, to try and keep things from running off on tangents, down rabbit trails, etc. I would ask that people try and respond in like fashion (please don't answer what I'm not asking, unless you feel there's a question that I should be asking instead). If you have questions about what I'm asking, or where I'm coming from, please DO ask.

2. Second, while I welcome input from all (including ex-Mormons), I'm MOST interested in hearing from those of you who ARE Mormons. And what I am interested in is understanding how you see the world. I want to do my best to represent your point of view as best as I can.

3. Third, I DO NOT WANT THIS TO DEVOLVE INTO A SHOUTING MATCH. So, for all you Evangelical types out there... please remember what your mother said ('If you can't say something nice, don't say it at all'); if you find that difficult, then remember what Jesus said (the piece about 'loving your enemies') - in other words, time to practice what you preach! If you don't I will delete your comments. As for you Mormon types, please feel free to say whatever you want - you are our guests here and I realize this may feel like 'hostile territory' so I want to give you as much liberty as possible to express yourself. Just remember that everyone will probably hear one another better if we all make a conscious effort to be charitable, and say things nicely. It's ok to lighten up and laugh a little.

4. Fourth, in the interest of full disclosure, please do everyone a favor and just tell us briefly where you are coming from (Mormon? Ex-Mormon? Catholic? Protestant? And what sub-camp of your particular fold?). I'll start - I'm Presbyterian Church of America, which is a theologically conservative branch of protestantism that looks back on the Reformation and sees Luther, Calvin, and the English Puritans as good guys. If you want to know more about where I stand it's available here.

So then! With that out of the way, on to the questions...

Real Sex On My Reading List

I figured that title would catch your attention.

So a few days ago, Molly posted a great exerpt from Lauren Winner's blog. Lauren is an up and coming author who writes from a raised-Jewish-converted-to-Christianity perspective. She's written Girl Meets God, Mudhouse Sabbath, and her newest work Real Sex: The Naked Truth About Chastity is now available on Amazon. SO... I just ordered my copy after reading this review here, and now you know what I'll be reading on my drive back to Montana in a couple of weeks. I'll post some thoughts once I work through it...

While we're talking about summer reads, I'd be interested in knowing what other people have read recently, and what people are planning on reading next. Anything that was particularly great? Would anyone be interested in posting some reviews?

Why So Silent?

Just a brief note, in case you are wondering why posts have been a bit thin the past week or so - we're all entering finals time here at seminary, so expect the current weather patterns to hold for the next several weeks while we all try to press through to the finish line. Your patience is appreciated (and heck, there's plenty of past material to peruse!). So stay tuned...we'll be back in full swing soon.

Fear of God

On rooting out sin at the level of our desires, Ed Welch says...

As the Holy Spirit exposes these critical issues about the person, the Spirit also reveals more of the knowledge of God. The theme of God's love continues, but now we are reminded that it is a holy love. By holy we mean that it is unparalleled in human experience. There is nothing like it. It is beyond comprehension, and it is unsurpassed. It is distinct or separate from our own. As a result, it leaves witnesses in awe. This is the beginning of the fear of the Lord. When we witness His forgiveness, we learn the fear of the Lord (Psalm 130:4). When the disciples saw His power over the wind and the waves, "they were terrified" and grew in the fear of the Lord (Mark 4:41). When Isaiah was taken into the throne room, he was so overwhelmed by the holiness of God that he cried out, "I am ruined" (Isaiah 6:5). Isaiah's knowledge of God's holy majesty and holy forgiveness established him in the fear of the Lord for the rest of his ministry as a prophet. Indeed, the fear of the Lord is both the beginning of wise living and its goal.

One of the great blessings of the fear of the Lord is that it can teach us to hate sin (Proverbs 8:13). The knowledge of the holy can mobilize. It can take the drudgery out of daily self-control. It can make us warriors against the tendencies of our sinful nature. This aggressive stance toward sin is especially critical since our problem is that we like it. It has the power of our affections. If we don't root out these affections, we are guaranteed that temptation will always be nearly overpowering. The fear of the Lord can keep us battle-ready. With the heavenly throne in sight, we do battle with the "sin that so easily entangles" (Hebrews 12:1).

Ed Welch, Journal of Biblical Counseling, vol 13:3, 1995. pages 28-9.

Return of the Real Live Preacher

Real Live Preacher is back online after a month hiatus, and he has some great thoughts on worship. I'd encourage you to check the whole thing out, but here's a little snippet to whet your appetite...

Church can be a little messy when the children take up the offering. I remember when a little girl named Natalie did this for the first time. Instead of handing the plate to the person at the end of the aisle, she went into the aisle itself and stood in front of each person, waiting for them to make a donation. The third person along didn’t have anything to give. Natalie stood there looking at him. He shrugged and shook his head. She looked down at her plate, then back at him with a puzzled expression. Finally someone from the row behind handed him a dollar, and he dropped it in.

Natalie’s mother, somewhat anxious and embarrassed, stood up and got her daughter’s attention by whispering and waving. She jerked her head sideways and made little “scoot along” gestures, but Natalie had no idea what she was talking about, so she continued to stand in front of every person and wait for them to give something.

There was some tittering and quiet laughter, then a general panic as people started clawing through their purses and pockets looking for spare change and bills. Those who had extra shared with those who had none, rather like the early church in the second chapter of Acts. In the end everyone managed to find something to drop in the plate.

Click here for the rest of the article...

The point which he goes on to develop is that children introduce an element of disorder into the worship, but that disorder can actually bring a greater authenticity to the whole experience. Great comments, definitely worth reading on this fine Sunday afternoon...