« September 2005 | Main | November 2005 »

Recent months have found me nourished by many of the reflections at the "Traditional Catholic Review" (www.tcrnews2.com). Perhaps that sounds a bit curious for a Nazarene pastor and professor at a university of the Church of the Nazarene. Yet what I find here is a commitment to the full gospel that avoids the right/left dichotomy that shapes so much of American Protestant and Catholic life.

The following is a small piece from some reflections begun from a quote from Benedict XVI. Here's a quote that really struck out for me, something that I've come to think is very true:

"Christians represent to the world the alternative humanism which alone has the spiritual foundation to sustain the work of peace."

Of course, this also means that we have to learn to get along with each other in our local congregations as well! Enjoy the reflections!

The Eucharist and Peace Activism

"Those who share in the Eucharist must commit themselves to creating peace in our world" ---Benedict XVI, Synod Rome, Oct 2005

"Must commit themselves to creating..." The Eucharist is everything to a Catholic. It leads us to the imitation of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This is the reason a life of good works must lead to activism for peace, at least in our prayers and hopes and votes. Not because we share everything found among those on the political left, but, rather, because some of the things done by those on the left are good in themselves. Just as some---though hardly all---of those things espoused by those on the political right represent the good. Catholics look deeper than left and right and political labels. The work of peace is a fruit of the Eucharist. It is the heavenly sign of peace against those who would make war. Against those who would use the poor as fodder.

Christians represent to the world the alternative humanism which alone has the spiritual foundation to sustain the work of peace. It was Jesus Christ who broke the iron logic of the lex talionis, i.e., an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. In so doing he made all things new and brought Good News and Hope to the peoples of the world who are so often oppressed by their warmaking rulers.

Peacemaking is no substitute for an orthodox Catholic life, but the fruit of it. It is not the entire fulfillment of the Gospel, but the beginning of it. It seeks out the good wherever it is found and aims to build on it toward the fullness of the Kingdom and reign of God. Those crushed under the weight of war know this is the world's only hope. Catholics know it is the beginning of the fullness of the spiritual life.

Jesus died for the peace of the world, which begins now in our hearts and between neighbor and neighbor. God's love knows no national boundaries, and His only 'sword' is a spiritual one, against those who refuse His message of peace; sometimes, he said, even among those within the same family, brother against brother, children against parents, etc. For "peace on earth and goodwill toward men" is the beginning of His reign. "He Himself is our peace, who made enemies into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity...And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near; for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. (Ephesians 2:11-18)

Our Lady, Mary of Nazareth, echoed all of this in words we can never forget

"He has shown strength with His arm
He has scattered the proud in the
imagination of their hearts.
He has put down the mighty from their thrones,
and exalted those of low degree.
He has filled the hungry with good things;
and the rich [i.e., the powerful] He has sent empty away. (Luke 1:46-55)

Posted by johnwright at 2:41 PM | Comments (4)

A friend of our congregation was arrested last Friday for selling marijuana. The authorities must have been watching for awhile, because by arresting on Friday, the police can hold someone for five days without charges being formally filed. Today, however, he has his initial hearing. I have yet to get to see him.

Our friend lives on Social Security disability -- a very small amount, almost impossible to live on in San Diego. Perhaps he was trying to engage in a commercial activity as the month came to an end and his funds for living where running out.

Now I'm not defending the sale of illegal substances (although I find it fascinating how the morality of the sale of substances is determined by the state, not by any good offered) nor our friend's use of marijuana. Honestly, I find pastorally alcohol much more destructive of human life than marijuana -- though marijuana itself can be adequately destructive of humans, and I wish that neither would be present around us, and that our congregation would accept the asceticism of life without such mind-altering substances.

Yet as I've reflected the past few days on his adventure, something occurred to me. Marijuana is a seditive that helps persons deal with anxiety, anxiety that often leads to depression. Of course, the society that we live within encodes anxiety into our bodies over all sorts of issues, offering its pleasures and remedies as solutions to the problems that it forms. What struck me was that often marijuana serves as the Prozac of the poor. Those who suffer (and it is horrible suffering) from anxiety who have insurance and financial means can afford treatment, medical monitoring, and legal (and thus moral) support for the psychotherapeutics that one takes -- and this is a good thing. Yet for the poor who do not have access to the medical system, either in diagnosis or medicine, marijuana becomes a 'self-prescribed' 'solution' to the situation. In the process, they criminalize themselves, making them vulnerable to arrest and conviction, complicating their lives and the lives around them both in the present and the future.

I don't like marijuana. I've seen the horrible cost it can inflict on human lives. Yet I also don't like the criminalization of the poor for being poor. I wish that I could have an answers. It seems to me that until we can have our bodies de-toxified from the insecurities of which we both are victims and to which we contribute to others, by our full bodily initiation into the true sociality of the kingdom of God -- our entire sanctification, we have to use other toxins to counter-balance the toxins that have become our bodies. Some of these toxins, through proper oversight, becomes means of freedom from sin; others can pull us deeper into sin by masking the symptoms -- and these are often more ambiguous than we think.

Yet we find here in our friend the necessity to travel as the state excommunicates him from us, and the 'therapy of the table' to which God calls us.

Posted by johnwright at 10:40 AM | Comments (16)

Life per usual has been very full. I'm working with classes and trying to prepare for the Society of Biblical Literature meetings, where I'm on a panel to discuss two new commentaries on Chronicles. In the meantime, I've been reading some of Karl Barth and James K. A. Smith, both that I hope to share along the way. I hope also to share some posts from other sites that I've found very interesting and helpful.

Yet David Jones, my friend at ressourcement.blogspot.com, graciously sent me some books from the founder of Communion and Liberation, an Italian priest named Luigi Giussani. He wrote a trilogy, and I've been reading the second book, "At the Origin of the Christian Claim". It's very excellent. I've been speaking of it to colleagues for use at our university at several levels. I hope also some of us in the parish might get together and read it as well.

Anyways, here is a very good quote from the book. Enjoy!

"Jesus Christ did not come into the world as a substitute for human effort, human freedom, or to eliminate human trial -- the existential condition of freedom. He came into the world to call man back to the depths of all questions, to his own fundamental structure, and to his own real situation. If certain basic values are not safeguarded, all the problems man is called to resolve in the trial of life do not dissolve, but rather become more complicated. Jesus Christ came to call man back to true religiosity, without which every claim to a solution of those problems is a lie. The problem of the knowledge of the meaning of things (truth), making use of things (work), human awareness (love), human co-existence (society and politics) lack a proper formulation and so, to the extent that religiosity is not at the founation of the serach for their solution, they generate ever greater confusion in the history of the individual and humanity as a whole. . . It is not the task of Jesus to resolve all the various problems, but to harken man back to the position where he can more correctly try to resolve them. This toil is a rightful part of every individual's commitment, whose function in existing lies precisely in that search for solutions. ('Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my sake, will receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life' [cf. Matt. 19:29]).

The Christian concept of human existence foresees that the human community will never wholly adhere with its freedom to the condition to which Jesus harkens us. Therefore, the life of humanity in this world will always be sorrowful and confused. But the task of those who have discovered Jesus Christ -- the task of the Christian community -- is precisely to bring about, as much as possible, the solution to human problems on the basis of Jesus' call.

Jesus Christ's conception of human life, then, is essentially tension, a struggle ('I have not come to bring but a struggle ('I have not come to bring peace but a sword' [Matt. 10:34]). It is a pressing on, a seeking -- seeking one's own completeness, one's own true 'Self.' Nothing is more anti-Christian than a concept of life as something that is comfortable and satisfied, as a possible contingent happiness. 'But woe unto you that are rich for ye have received your consolation. Woe unto you that are full!' (Luke 6:24-25).

Following Christ (faith) thus generates a characteristic existential attitude by which man walks upright and untiring towards a destination not yet reached although sure (hope). It is an attitude which is always a struggling with the void of risk because the remoteness of the destination always tempts us to fall into uncertainty. This is overcome at a point beyond our own criteria -- in abandonment and adherence to Jesus Christ (charity). It is this that generates a new experience of peace, the fundamental experience of life on its pathway." (pp. 97-98).

Posted by johnwright at 10:33 AM | Comments (20)

Okay, so I forgot last week. This week we continue the movements of Philip, from his speaking the Gospel to "Israelites", but not Jews -- Samaritans, including Simon. The discussion involved niche congregations -- and I'm all for niche congregations, as long as they are defined by the only niche that matters -- the body of Christ as lived in the church around the Scriptures and the Eucharist, not by commerical demographic factors that reduce the church to a type of leisure activity that needs fit in among other leisure activities. I'm trying to image Stephen martyred for a group who gathers early in the morning to worship together so that they can then still hit the golf course afterwards.

In the rest of Acts 8, a remarkable event happens -- the gospel reaches out to a Gentile. More remarkable, we find here that the first Gentile convert to this Jewish messianic movement is a gentile, a eunuch from an Ethiopian court. The Spirit moves Philip to baptize this eunuch in a way that shows God spreading forth God's kingdom into a new people. The Samaritans represent a movement of God to begin to incorporate all people into this Jewish messianic movement around Jesus Christ by the power of the Spirit.

V. 26-27a: Philip is north and west in Samaria when we leave him. An "angel of the Lord" orders him to go instead to the desert -- the southern land in Palestine towards Egypt, Gaza. Yes, this is the Gaza strip site of horrible suffering and conflict today. The story here is much happier. Yet we have to see that Philip moves into a radically different geographic and social space from where he was in Samaria.

Vv. 27b-28. Before you read this section, perhaps it might be good to read Deut. 23:1-6. See if there are any eunuchs who have gathered with you, or if there are any volunteers. Maybe someone could speak about the biological results of castration. Even fully clothed, would that fact that one is a eunuch be evident to others?

This helps us understand the ambiguity of this Ethiopian. How much authority does he have? Why is he safe to guard the treasury of the Ethiopian queen? Given Deuteronomy 23 and the fact that he is a gentile, what would have experienced in Jerusalem as a castrated Gentile? Why might he be returning from going to the Temple in Jerusalem to worship (offer sacrifices)? Speculate on his experience.

On the other hand, he is reading from the Isaiah Scroll. While it is not spoken what passage he is reading, perhaps you could read Isaiah 56:1-8. What sort of questions would arise for the eunuch concerning his experience in Jerusalem and his reading of Isaiah?

Vv. 29-30: Does Philip know beforehand what the Eunuch is reading?

Vv. 31-35: Why does the eunuch need help to understand the Scriptures? What is necessary first to understand the Scriptures? Read Isaiah 53 -- from which the passage drawn by the eunuch comes. Look at v. 34 concerning the eunuch's question. Does it make a difference that Isa. 53 comes before Isaiah 56? Why would Philip take this as an invitation to speak Jesus to the eunuch?

Vv. 36-39: How had the eunuch's devotion to the God of Israel prepared him for this moment? What is Philip's requirement for baptism? Why? What is it to "believe with all your heart"? Why would this be required for baptism? If Isaiah 56 is in the eunuch's mind, what is going on in this baptism? How is this eunuch related now to Israel? When Philip disappears, why does he still rejoice?

V. 40: Philip now heads back north along the coast, in the direction from which he had come. What was the purpose of this digression?

What is the significance of this first Gentile convert? What is the significance of his being from Africa? What is going on now in the church concerning the kingdom of God?

Enjoy!

Posted by johnwright at 10:04 AM | Comments (1)

It's been a long time since I've posted. Last Sunday afternoon it seems that I got some type of food poisoning that knocked me out for about 36 hours. I'll save you from the gory details. But it's put me behind the rest of the week. Monday I missed my first day of classes due to illness ever. I've taught with viral pneumonia and a 103 temp, within a week after an appendectomy, and 36 hours after dislocating my knee cap, sometimes without much of a voice. So Monday was a bit of a mile marker for me.

Then to forget to post Bible Study last night! Yesterday morning when I usually write our studies, I instead had a lecture to give to pastor's on "What Makes Worship Christian?" I compared Moralistic Therapeutic Deism to Karl Barth's doctrine of proclamation as central for the Church in Church Dogmatics I.1. It is always interesting speaking to other evangelical preachers. Their commitment to "experience" as central, to contemporary cultural currents always bring tensions into the room, and hesitancy to embrace the historic Christian faith except as backgroud "belief" statements makes it hard for me to speak as a professor to this group -- especially when I represent the university and its rightful concern for constituency relations.

With this extra responsibility followed by advising chapel, I just flaked out. I apologize deeply.

I'm trying to get some thoughts, time, and energy together. So much is going on within the United States today, and locally here. People on the streets are cold without blankets here in San Diego. The weather has shifted very quickly (for San Diego) from Santa Anna hot conditions to fall. Our inclement weather shelter was open Monday night (I haven't heard how it went). Tuesday night downtown the clothes that we had went quickly, with folk looking for warmer clothing. I hope that tonight I might get some blankets to take to Tim and his friends at 16th and Broadway as they try to accumulate the necessary goods to stay warm while sleeping.

Even then as I try to work on grant proposals on how Vatican II influenced "Wesleyan theology", the offense of the White House Iraq Group (interestingly with the acronym 'WHIG') in 'marketing the war' through dissemination of disinformation, the fact that 25% of US personnel come back from Iraq with mental and health problems, and the continued destruction of human beings in Iraq, our local task remains clear. To come together to hear the proclamation of the Gospel in Word and Sacrament for pardon and sanctification that pushes us to witness to the kingdom of God through the works of mercy in and among the poor -- to be a holy people amidst a world gone mad. We cannot ignore the wider issues -- for they remind us that the world, created good by God, has been taken over by the principalities and powers. But we have to show the world that there are different ways to live, that difference is possible in the concrete existence of human lives through friendship with God in Christ that leads to friendship with those who are poor in the world.

Posted by johnwright at 8:24 AM | Comments (7)

I've just finished grading a set of finals for my Introduction to OT class -- 2 days of work. To reward myself, I go to some of my favorite spots on the web: ericisrad.com; ressourcement.blogspot.com; nouvelletheologie.blogspot.com; and tcrnews2.com. I found the following post on tcrnews2.com by one of their editors, Stephen Hand. While it presupposes some specific Roman Catholic history, the essay spells out quite clearly what I conceive the life of congregations of the future must become.

Ironically, I don't hear evangelical churches talking so much about such a future, especially church leaders in the Church of the Nazarene. Of course, it speaks for only some of Roman Catholicism in the United States today -- the most vibrant part of the church, but only a part of it.

What seems to me is two types of churches in the future: congregations like the one described in this essay, and congregations that find their life in therapeutic support of individuals in order to move towards a social activism to influence governments to take certain actions on the left or on the right of American culture.

I'd be interested what readers of the blog think about this essay.

The Catholic Church of the Future
By Stephen Hand

As I look at the Catholicism I grew up in, drifted from in my youth, returned to after a good pounding by the empty ecstacies of this world, and ponder the various and fierce factions within her, all speaking helter skelter, and running in different directions, it has been clear to me for some years now that the Catholicism of the future will be different in some very significant ways than we know her at this moment.

Reclaiming Neglected Parts of the Past

It will be different because we have lived in the light of the Council and in the light of that greatest expositor of the Council, Pope John Paul II. Clearly, this difference will not come by any rupture with the past, but, rather, a reclaiming of neglected parts of that past, even as it is ever forward looking and adaptive to the signs of the times.

Clearly also, the Church of the future will be neither integrist in orientation nor progressive. For the Church both conserves and progresses at once in every age, passing through the centuries, millenia, and innumerable cultures while remaining true to her Lord. The Church of the future, I am convinced, will continue reconnecting to the dynamic texts of the Second Vatican Council and seek a new relationship to the world while ever remaining the herald and sacrament of the world.

More Kerygmatic, Less Speculative and Abstract

The Kerygma or proclamation of the Church is the same today as it was in the days of the apostles. It proclaims the acts and message and meaning of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ:

"Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 24But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him...

38Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call." 40With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." 41Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

42They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2:22-47)

Back to Radical Encounter

The proclamation in the earliest Church, we see, was focused on this stupendous Christ-event wherein God became man and dwelt among us (Jn1:1, 14), teaching, suffering, dying for our sins, and, on the third day, defeating death itself by rising again from the dead. She invited all to "receive" this Jesus as "Lord" and "Savior" and "Prince of Peace" (Jn 1:12). I believe the Church in the future will have to reclaim this evangelical language, which has always existed in Catholic preaching, but not prominently, not in as pointed a way as it should have been. It needs desperately to be revived, lest Catholicism seem like mere dreary church-going to the befuddled masses in the world today.

The Church must call individuals to radical personal conversion---whether the audience is nominally Catholic or of no religion. Only an encounter with Jesus the Christ as Lord and Savior will make men and women want to learn of his countercultural message as contained in the Beatitudes (Matt 5-7).

It is better to ask a person if he or she knows---has "received"--- Jesus Christ (into his or her heart and life) than to simply say "you ought to go to church". If there is radical personal conversion to Christ, wherein the sanctifying seed of baptism explodes into a personal relationship with God Almighty, then the sparks will fly! Then Church and Eucharist and doctrine will make sense and look more desirous than anything the world has to offer by far!

We must begin with the kerygma, for all! The proclamation of what God in Christ has done in time and space alone can give our lives meaning by realigning us with our Maker who is Love.

Beyond Apologetics to the Fruits of the Spirit

The best argument for Christianity is to see it happening in persons ---and in the community of the Beloved around the Eucharist. I am tired of pushy and defensive apologetics (which we never see the popes indulging) which is found everywhere like so much mold in the Church. This kind of apologetics-polemics often seems more calculated to easing self-doubt than to winning a sympathetic ear regarding the salvific deeds and message of Jesus.

Apologetics which aims not so much to dialogue gently with inquirers---as Our Lord dialogued with Nicodemus---so much as to shoot the other position down has always been wrongheaded; it is even more so today, when people are skeptical and tired of words. Defend the faith we can, as a spiritual work of mercy, but we must not make a spectacle of it. To argue for the sake of ego jousting makes no sense from a Christian point of view and rightly turns people off. God woos us with His grace. So must apologetics, properly conceived.

A Church of Service

The Church of the future will be a Church of service to the needy and struggling or it will shrink into lesser influence, beyond recognition. It is more important to live the beatitudes than to know all the theology relating to them. Many people's hearts are more informed than their intellects relative to theology. The power of the Eucharist is intended by the Lord to manifest itself in the fruits of the Spirit as soon as we receive Him at Mass.

The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; against such there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23 NIV). The Fruits of the Spirit are relational, reconciling concepts, with God and our neighbor, a direct consequence of having "received" Jesus Christ into our lives as Lord and Savior and participating in His holy Eucharist and hearing his holy Word.

The Poor and Sick

St. Francis, among so many others, showed us what it means to live the Gospel in the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, in community to the extent we can, and in the breaking of the Bread. Of course we will have to adapt these countercultural principles to our circumstances---for not all are monks---but it must be a faithful adaptation which will show the continuity of our life and his, our message and his, our peacemaking and his. The Church of the future will be made up of persons who reject the violence and conformist vanities of the world, without forsaking the world itself which God "so loves" (Jn 3:16)

Living the Gospel means vowing a preferential option for the poor and sick which will be reflected in every aspect of our lives. It will be reflected in our politics and economics, in the jobs we choose and those we refuse; in the simplicity we opt for in contrast to the obscene worship of money and "success" we see in our societies.

It will mean recognizing once again that familes are stronger together than apart, so that extended families, combining even meager incomes will reap more than families split off into individualistic directions. It will be more the Waltons than Donald Trump.

The Church in the future will become more simple herself, please God, with fewer bishops conferences held in luxury hotels and more in ghetto schools showing solidarity with the poor. It will mean inviting the homeless and those down on their luck into underutilized church property to be shown love, caring, hospitality, and to be gently assisted to better circumstances.

Everywhere then the Church will be known as HIS Church because she walks "even as he walked". The earth is waiting to see Christ's love incarnated in us more and more, so that no matter how great the darkness, His Light will ever be greater.

The Church "waits in joyful Hope" for the coming of the Savior ---be it near or very far off. But rather than obsessing on that horizon of human history, she chooses to share the love she first received in receiving Him, the Way, the Truth and the Life. He is the light of the world and our light of confidence into the misty future.

10.14.05 / 2 PM EST

Posted by johnwright at 8:31 PM | Comments (12)

In a recent issue of "Grow: A Journal for the development of missional leaders and missional churches," an editorial exhorts pastors to develop worship 'venues'. A new type of church is emerging: 'affinity church', "organized to reach niche groups of unchurched peole who are most comfortable in their own particular lifestyles. There are affinity churches for golfers who want to worship together before heading out to the course. Close to where I live, a church advertises a worship service for bluegrass enthusiasts. Several hundred bikers attend a Saturday evening service at the Grove City Church of the Nazarene" ("The Front Line", Summer 2005).

This provides an interesting entry into the text for tonight. Following the persecution of the church in Jerusalem, the gospel of Jesus Christ moves out beyond the Jews to enfold the Samaritans into God's kingdom, the renewed Israel, in Acts 8:9-25.

Vv. 9-13 The account of Simon the Magician. Simon becomes the pivotal figure throughout this passage, a background from which the Samaritans receive the Spirit. In vv. 9-13, analyze the authority in Simon, why he was so influential. Discuss how Simon sets the categories by which Philip is perceived. What was the content of Philip's preaching? What would conversion mean in this setting? Why would baptism be required?

Vv. 14-17: Why would the apostles from Jerusalem travel to Samaria? What is the result of their trip? What is the importance of the Spirit? How does this relate to Acts 2 and Pentecost?

Vv. 18-24: Why does Simon want the Holy Spirit? Why would he offer money to them for the Spirit? Why does Peter correct him so strongly? Why does Peter see it as a matter of Simon's heart? What is repentance in this context, a repentance of one who already has believed and been baptized? What is the "gall of bitterness and chains of wickedness" that Peter perceives Simon under? Finally, note the ambiguity of Simon's response. Does he really get it? What is he afraid of?

V. 25: What would it be for Peter and John to speak "the word of the Lord"? Why would this still be necessary after the baptisms and the reception of the Spirit? As they return to Jerusalem, what do they also do? What might be the difference in their messages, between speaking the "word of the Lord" to the believers and "proclaiming the good news" to many villages? How does the above story in chapter 8 so far call for the necessity of both?

This might be an interesting point to talk about. How is Simon similarly to an "affinity congregation"? What do such gatherings desire out of the gospel and the Spirit's presence? Why is it necessary to both "proclaim the gospel" and "speak the word of the Lord"? Why is it necessary to call both unbelievers and believers to repentance? If not, what will happen to the life of the church as it reaches out to unbelievers in its witness in the world.

Have a wonderful evening!!

Posted by johnwright at 9:46 AM | Comments (9)

One of the underlying issues that God has brought to our local congregation is fifteen young men from Haiti, who were able to flee Haiti for their lives after the US-led "coup" of the democratically elected government. The pastor of our French-speaking congregation has looked to us for aide to try and find a way to secure a sustainable, stable life for these friends -- one of whom is an elder in the Church of the Nazarene.

We have tried many frustrating avenues -- visas, asylum. I have communicated with the Prime Minister and UN representatives by email. Brian Becker of our congregation has done yoeman's work in phone conversations, talking to lawyers and agencies here. Yet the ace in the hole that we had finally accomplished was contact with the Church of the Nazarene in Dominica! At least we could work with them to ameliorate their condition until we can work on legal means on this end -- or, in last resort, to find some illegal means of helping our brothers find a secure life here.

Alas, things are more complicated. If one reads the chain of emails from the bottom up, one follows the correspondence between the missionaries in Dominica and myself. I do not want to fault the missionaries -- it is easy to take shots at people who have much at stake in their own work to try to advocate for one's cause. What is fascinating to me is that because the church operates through the categories of the liberal nation-state (even in a poor, third-world seting), these people are seen literally not to exist. Their bodies are a lie because they are not enfranchised human beings. The categories of the state define the categories of the church. As Bill Cavanaugh says, the church gets the souls; the state the bodies. Since the state says that there are no bodies, then the church cannot share goods with those bodies that the state says do not exist.

Of course, the irony is that the Dominica state talks directly with us to try to use us to remove the bodies of our friends from Dominica to the US. The problem is that the US doesn't want to recognize that these bodies exist in need. Finally, while we can be disappointed at the church and must pray for her, the church is not the problem here, but the imaginary formation of nation-states that patrol and control the world today.

Pray for our friends in Dominica, forgotten and denied by the powers that control movement within the Western Hemisphere of the world.

Here is the chain of correspondence in inverse chronological order from when they were sent:

Dear Rev. Brewer:

Thank you for your note. Of course, I receive it with great sorrow, for our friends whom we have yet to meet, ourselves, and the work in Dominica.

I thought that the Church of the Nazarene is one church throughout the world, and therefore, that we would be able to cooperate in fulfilling the commands of Christ to care for the needs of the saints and show hospitality to strangers. I was not aware that national laws had a priority over the Scriptural teachings and our unity as the Church; indeed, I am shaken a bit that we are limited in fulfilling our membership vows as expressed in the General Rules mandated by the Manual -- to provide food and care as opportunity provides.

I recognize that those with whom you have consulted have put you in a difficult position, and for this I apologize. It certainly was not our intention. Yet there seems something rather large at stake here. It seems to me that when we separate "spiritual work" from bodily presence, then we have denied the incarnation, and opened the church to being co-opted by many hostile powers. If you could give me contact information for those who so advised you, I would like to contact them directly.

I am amazed at the graciousness of our Haitian brothers who have suffered much already.

Thank you again for your help and assistance. I do understand the difficulty that we've put you in within a context that is in many way much more complex that our position in the United States. We encounter similar issues with our local governments in feeding the hungry here.

Peace,
Rev. John Wright
Senior Pastor, English Speaking Congregation
Church of the Nazarene in Mid-City, San Diego, CA

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Dan Brewer [mailto:dancarolyn40@yahoo.com]
Sent: Tuesday, October 11, 2005 11:11 AM
To: John Wright
Subject: RE: Haitians in Dominica

Greetings John Wright,

Since you replied I have talked with the two Haitians. Also, the General Church has told me the mission policy. Then, we have learned that the Government of Dominica does not allow exiles and we have been advised to not be involved with them. It gets touchy, I know. After talking this over with the Haitians and receiving Church Mission Policy and the word from the Government, with the Haitians we have decided that they and you should look for some other contact with them. They understood and said they would write you. I told them I would write this to you also. Sorry. It is a sticky problem they are in, we know.

They will give you some other suggestions.

Sincerely,

Dan Brewer
Bataca
Dominica

John Wright wrote:
Hello Dan!

Yes, these two are connected with us. I'm a professor at PLNU, and the senior pastor of the CoN in Mid-City, an urban church with connections to the university. I also grew up in Bob Gray's church at Dayton Parkview, with Jerry Duff as my youth director. So I feel like a have a few connections.

Brutus is the relative of the French Speaking speaking pastor. I have never either one, but have been in long contact for the last year working with them. We would like to regularize communications, because we can get conflicting accounts at time.

We'd also like to be able to support our brothers there, but are afraid of sending things through the mail that might not make it to those intended. Could we set up a distribution system through you? Brian Becker within our congregation, has been the point person for us. I've copied him into this email.

I'm off to class, but would love to talk with you more about the situation.

Peace,
John Wright

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Dan Brewer [mailto:dancarolyn40@yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2005 1:10 PM
To: John Wright
Subject: Haitians in Dominica

Greetings Mr. John Wright,

Greetings Pastor John Wright,

Carolyn and I are missionarys with the Church of the Nazarene in Dominica. We just had a visit from two men from Haiti seeking political asylum either in Dominica or another country. They say they are Nazarenes. There names are Brutus Rolin and Pasteur Etienne Remy (a Nazarene Pastor). They represent 15 male and female Haitians who have arrived in Dominica and are staying in Wesley on the other side of the airport--about 25 minutes from us. They gave us your name and e-mail. Do you know anything about them?

Did you meet them in Haiti? Or in the USA? What Haitian District are they from? Where did Pasteur Etienne Remy pastor?

They ask for me to go with them to the Dominica Government offices to help them. I can assure you that by World Mission Policy and because I made contact with the Caribbean Region that we are forbidden to Guarantee anyone before the government of the country we are in. So we were informed.

These men say that you, pastor John Wright, are communicating with them--possibly for going to the USA: Also, as we understand them, the co-pastor is Antony Duclos. They speak Haitian (French) and broken English (no Spanish) and we had a difficult time communicating.

Again I point out that Mission Policy from the Region and K.C. Headquarters is that no missionary can be a guarantee for any person.

Any suggestions you could give us as how to handle this visit and future requests from them would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

Dan Brewer
Bataca
Carib Territory
DOMINICA
West Indies
Tel. 767-445-8051

Posted by johnwright at 12:41 PM | Comments (9)

Yesterday was a "topical sermon" in that we installed two new associate pastors. I'm going to attach the sermon on ministry -- which I think has much wider implication for us in many ways. It's an area upon which I'm doing some formal research I'm also going to append the small installation service at the end of the service.

I am thankful for Jeff and Shawn (not to mention Kathy and Deron) to share in the task of pastoring such a wonderful, faithful congregation. I am very hopeful as we all travel together towards our end, Jesus Christ, who, of course, of also our beginning!

Matthew 22:1-14

This morning is a very important morning for us. This morning we install two associate pastors in their pastoral office within this local congregation, Jeff Kane, who has a district license, and thus will have the authority to consecrate the elements in the Lord’s Supper; Shawn Benson, who is locally licensed, will need to wait for his district license before he receives the authority to consecrate the elements at this Table. This is important to understand the pastoral office – we cannot disconnect pastoral offices from authority at this Table, the wedding banquet of which our Gospel reading speaks. I would like to take the opportunity to talk about ministry, and then move to speaking of the pastoral office within the life of the church. We need to keep the image of Jesus’ parable in mind – the call into the wedding banquet, refused by the wealthy, the powerful, the influential; accepted by the poor, the sick; but then the one person who is removed from the banquet into eternal suffering for an inadequate response.

1. What then is ministry? Ministry, diakonia, in the NT, in the earliest church, means representing the one who has sent us – Jesus Christ, and Christ’s body, the church.
The twentieth-century of ministry has witnessed a revolution in the Christian understanding of ministry. Ministry has come to mean “meeting a human need”. Technical theologians have taught it. Hans Kung, a European theologian, teaches this understanding of ministry: Ministry “is in no danger . . . of being misinterpreted as an honour or a new kind of rule. . . . Diakonia means an activity which every Greek would recognize at once as being one of self-abasement” (The Church, “Ecclesiastical Offices as Ministry,” p. 390). Jesus’s “fundamental concern is with living for others. . . a completely personal service is implied. This is an essential element in being a disciple: a man is a disciple of Jesus through service of his fellow men.” (p. 391). Popular preachers have taught it. Robert Schuller built a ministry empire by the simple phrase, “Find a need, and fill it.” Ministry has come to mean meeting a need that people experience. Ministry has no authority in and of itself; authority lies in the one who experiences a need to whom the minister is obliged to respond.
Ministry becomes defined by the type of need being filled. Of course, as society has been defined more and more by market categories, market demographics defines ministry. We’ll have “children’s ministries”, “teen ministries”, “single adult ministries”. We’ll have “recreation ministries”, “Jazzercise ministries”; we can market Christian cosmetics to young pre-teen males . . . oh, wait a second, I guess it’s females, as a “ministry”. We’ll have “divorce ministries”, “needle exchange ministries” . . . if any particular group can make up a distinct market niche, addressing this need can be called a ministry. I’ve been known in other contexts, never from the pulpit of course, to suggest that, given this definition of ministry, we should start a “brothel ministry” to reach young, single males: you know, safe sex for Jesus, an act of self-abasement, a completely personal service – hey, it fits Kung’s definition!
Can’t we see that ministry has been perverted by our living in a society defined by late capitalism? Ministry is not about self-abasement to meet personal needs. An Australian named John N. Collins has studied the word from NT times. He writes, “If the words denote actions . . . of ‘inferior value,’ there is at the same time often the connotation of something special, even dignified, about the circumstance . . . . Because the root idea expressed by the words is that of the go-between, the words . . . never express the idea of being ‘at the service of’ one’s fellow man with what that phrase implies of benevolence; . . . the words . . . speak . . . of an action done in the name of another. . . . In accepting such undertakings or in having them imposed . . . , the agent has a mandate as well as a personal obligation, and . . . whatever ‘rights and powers’ the mandate extends to” (p. 194). Diakonia, ministry, means being sent to re-present another of higher office, taking the authority of another upon oneself in one’s actios. For Christians, ministry means re-presenting Christ through engaging in the works of Christ in obedience to God in the world.
Ministry is nothing less than representing the one who has sent us – Christ and his church in the world.

2. Now we can see how we are all called to be ministers. In baptism, all Christians are called to ministry, re-presenting Christ in the world.
In baptism by faith, one dies and is raised with Christ. We are “clothed with Christ.” We are commissioned to re-present Christ, the kingdom of God, and Christ’s body, the church in our life. “You are the body of Christ, and individually members of it.” Ministry is not defined by need, but by the One who has sent us into the world to present the Triune God. In Christ the baptized are called to ministry in the world – it is our mandate, our obligation. Where can we see what this looks like?
We see ministry best in those who have re-presented Christ in the world – the lives of the saints and the martyrs. For instance, we see ministry in the life of Macrina, a fourth century Christian woman. She forsook marriage to care for her mother and care for her 10 brothers and sisters. In the face of a death of an adult brother, her mother broke down psychologically, she sustained her in patience. Macrina put away luxuries that she easily could have wanted to live simply, and began a profound life of prayer. She converted her home into a place for the distribution of food to the hungry, and care for the sick, and started a community on her family property, tied together by a common rule, to continue this life. Here we see ministry – concrete life re-presenting the kingdom of God, especially witnessed in the works of mercy, in the world.
But more, ministry in its deepest sense is found in the witness of the martyrs, those who in faith, have had their lives united to the sufferings of Christ in death for not conforming to the allegiances that the world demands. We could talk about those who give their lives in the Muslim world today. But think of Archbishop Oscar Romero. Romero embraced the lives of the poor. He wrote to Jimmy Carter, President of the United States, "You say that you are Christian. If you are really Christian, please stop sending military aid to the military here, because they use it only to kill my people.” He ordered Catholics to no longer serve in the military because they were engaging in the systematic killing of the poor. On the next day, he was shot and killed at the altar while consecrating the Lord’s Supper during worship. In the bloody body of Romero on the floor in front of the elements, we see ministry.
It’s not exactly Jazzercise to the songs of Sandi Patti. Ministry, re-presents Jesus Christ, God’s kingdom in the world, a ministry seen in the works of mercy, the lives of the saints, and the death of the martyrs, is the life to which we are called, all of the baptized.

3. Yet to sustain the unity of the church, a unity lived at this Table, the church grants an office of authority, pastoral authority, for a unique ministry.
Let me be honest with you, pastoring is very difficult in this culture. Once ministry becomes defined by market forces, authority goes to the market; pastoring becomes a “helping profession”. The pastor is emptied of any authority, constantly under review and question, not judged on orthodoxy or faithfulness in the sacraments, but one’s ability to facilitate ‘community’, a therapeutic means that help people with the needs they experience. The statistics are ugly; talk with a pastor who will be open and honest, they’ll show you the wounds. Will Willimon and Stanley Hauerwas write, “The pastoral ministry is doomed to the petty concerns of helping people feel a bit better rather than inviting them to dramatic conversion. The pastor becomes nothing more than the court chaplain . . . or else the pastor feels like a cult prostitute, selling his or her love for the approval of an upwardly mobile, bored middle class, who, more than anything else, want some relief from the anxiety brought on by their materialism. . . . Because the church is not a place to worship God, but rather a therapeutic center for the meeting of one another’s unchecked, unexamined needs . . . . pastors try to do everything and be everything for everybody. The most conscientious among them become exhausted and empty. The laziest of them merely withdraw into disinterested detachment. . . . Self-hatred is inevitable in someone who feels abused, prostituted, unfairly criticized. The burden of being a generally good person, open and available to people of unbounded need, is too great for anybody to bear. Self-hate and loneliness result” (Resident Aliens, pp. 123-124).
Yet from the beginning of the church, God has called some to special authority within the church for the sake of its unity, a unity not only among a particular congregation, but its unity, its catholicity, with congregations throughout the world, the faithful who’ve come before, and those who are yet to come. Jesus called the twelve; Paul speaks in his earliest letter about overseers, bishops that the Thessalonians are to respect. Make no mistake, the members of this office, called for a particular role within the congregation, are human, oh so human. Yet God calls, and the church confirms, the call of individuals into the authority of this office. Those who occupy the office re-present the church in a unique way, in the preaching of the gospel, a bodily witness for the congregation when the congregation is dispersed in the world. They lead the congregation in true worship at this Table. They live a life that is no longer their own – they live under orders, called to Christ and Christ’s church. They live in a chain of authority, in submission, in obedience, not merely to the local congregation, but sometimes to a senior pastor, a district superintendent, the faith given to the saints, and ultimately to God through Christ. This is the life of the pastor, bearing an authority of their office, not for themselves, but to sustain the unity of the witness of the church, experienced in Christ, together.
Listen to the description of the pastorate in Polycarp, a second century bishop who ultimately was martyred. “Let the elders be compassionate and merciful to all, bringing back those that wander, visiting all the sick, and not neglecting the widow, the orphan, or the poor, but always "providing for that which is becoming in the sight of God and man;" abstaining from all wrath, respect of persons, and unjust judgment; keeping far off from all covetousness, not quickly crediting an evil report against any one, not severe in judgment, as knowing that we are all under a debt of sin. If then we entreat the Lord to forgive us, we ought also ourselves to forgive; for we are before the eyes of our Lord and God, and "we must all appear at the judgment-seat of Christ, and must every one give an account of himself." Let us then serve Him in fear, and with all reverence, even as He Himself has commanded us, and as the apostles who preached the Gospel unto us, and the prophets who proclaimed beforehand the coming of the Lord. Let us be zealous in the pursuit of that which is good, keeping ourselves from causes of offence, from false brothers and sisters, and from those who in hypocrisy bear the name of the Lord, and draw away vain persons into error.”
The ministry of the pastor in the local congregation is to take authority to oversee the work of the local congregation, to sustain it in a unity of mission that is found in Christ, particularly in the body and blood of Jesus found in the Eucharist.

Conclusion: You see, God has invited us to a banquet through Christ. We go forth to make sure that all are invited; many reject the offer. The poor, the sick, the sinners, all of us, are brought in. But some are not dressed appropriately, those who seek to take the witness of banquet in different directions from the kingdom of God in Christ. In all of this, there are servants, slaves who invite, who reach to the poor, who exercise discipline within the banquet, not as its host, but as representatives of their Master – those who represent the One who gives the banquet. Before we go to this banquet, I would ask Jeff Kane and Sean Bensen to come forward before us this morning, to be installed as associate pastors.

Jesus Christ, Our Lord, who came among us as to re-present God the Father in obedience to the Father’s will, calls us to faith and a life of love to God and our neighbor. You, Jeff Kane and Sean Bensen, have been called as associate pastors in this congregation by myself as Senior Pastor. You have had that call approved by the Church board and the district Superintendent. We have called you to embody this office for the sake of Christ and this congregation’s witness to the kingdom of God the Father that has been revealed in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.

One or more of the following lessons are read. Other associates in ministry or members of the local community where the associate in ministry will serve are encouraged to serve as readers of these lessons.

Deron: Romans 12:4-8 Kathy: 1 Peter 4:8-11

The presiding minister questions the candidate:
P Will you accept the office of associate pastor to which you have been called in the confidence that it comes from God?
R I will, and I ask God to help me.
P Will you carry out this office in accordance with the Holy Scriptures and the Manual of the Church of the Nazarene?
R I will, and I ask God to help me.
P Will you be diligent in your study of the Holy Scriptures and faithful in your use of the means of grace, especially the works of mercy, and in prayer?
R I will, and I ask God to help me.
P Will you trust in God’s call, depend upon God’s care, seek to grow in love for those to whom you are called, live in obedience, and adorn the Gospel of Christ with a godly life?
R I will, and I ask God to help me.

The presiding minister addresses the assembly:
P People of God, will you support and honor Jeff Kane and Sean Bensen for the sake of their ministry? Will you remember them in prayer, listen to their counsel, and honor their leadership to be exercised here?
C We will, and we ask God to help us.

The presiding minister addresses the candidate:
P Jeff Kane and Sean Bensen, you have been called to as associate pastors amidst the English-speaking congregation of the Church of the Nazarene in Mid-City, San Diego. You and this congregation have made your mutual promises before God. I therefore install you as position in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Let us pray:

Posted by johnwright at 10:35 AM | Comments (6)

Stephen's death marks the end of the Acts of the Apostles focus on Jerusalem. Various reactions to the public murder set the tone for what is to follow. Interestingly, God remains silent throughout the passage -- or is this so? The tragedy seemingly deepens; yet the story of the church of Jesus Christ continues, as it still does amidst us today.

In v. 1a refers to a person named Saul. He approves of Stephen's murder. He seems to have had some authority as a passive overseer of the coats of those who murdered Stephen, as he watched their coats (7:58). Moreover, this Saul begins become an organizer to imprison those who shared the same convictions and practices as Stephen (v.3). Discuss the moral shaping of Saul from observer of coats, to approver, to one who imprisons. How do these experiences build on each other and extend?

v. 1b speaks of the persecution breaing our and the church in Jerusalem and the scattering of the church into Judea and Samaria. Why would the apostle's not scatter? What does this say about them? In v. 2, after the persecution and scattering, the text describes the care of the body of Stephen and the subsequent mourning for him. What does this say about their relationship with Stephen, their friendship with him? Describe the context in which they do this and what risks their activities bring them? What type of moral formation would they have had to undergone to engage in such activities?

Vv. 4-8 describes the aftermath of the campaign against the church, and Stephen's martyrdom. Why doesn't the persecution of the church work to intimidate and shut these believers up? Why does it have the inverse effect? What does Philip proclaim to the Samarians? What is the significance of the precise language used, preaching "the Christ"? How does this relate to Stephen's sermon in Jerusalem? If Jerusalem struggles with this message, what would you expect the Samarians to do? What keeps the Samarians with him? What is the significance of Philip's acts? Why are they glad? Does the text say that anyone has converted by this point?

It might be good to share stories of series of events that have led to your moral formation, the linkages, the person's, how those experiences pushed you one way of the other, how they moved you to see the world anew and then shaped behavior as a result (or vice versa!). How has good used even mournful things to bring you to today?

Have a wonderful evening!

Posted by johnwright at 3:30 PM | Comments (0)

Sunday in the Epistle reading, I noticed that the Greek word for perfection, telos, appeared. Perfection is one of the most overlooked biblical concept today, and central to the heritage of the Church of the Nazarene -- although I've never heard it used in a sermon outside myself for decades. In prayerful reflection, it also seems to me that the concept is crucial for the integrity of the witness of the church today, and the Spirit's formation of saints. So I read the passage through this prism -- that really seemed to help me grasp the passage. So here is Sunday's sermon on Philippians 3:14-21.

Perhaps you’ve seen the bumper sticker, “I’m not perfect; just forgiven”. I’ve thought of putting one on my car so that I can drive around town and make obscene gestures to other drivers without hurting my Christian witness. In and of itself, the phrase ends up turning the faith given to the saints into a name that one can apply to one’s self. Rather than a confession of sin that opens the sinner to God’s sanctifying grace, the phrase becomes a justification of sin, not the sinner. Christ becomes a commodity, a get-out-of-jail-free card. In stark contrast, in our Epistle reading Paul writes, “”Let those of us who are perfect.” Of yes, English translations are afraid of the word; they translate it “mature”, but it is the word for perfection. Our reading presupposes that perfection is a call of the Christian life available now. Yet the passage also presupposes that not all Christians are there. The passage depicts a journey of the Christian life, a personal straining with a goal, an obtainable goal, of Christian perfection. I am convinced that we must embrace this good news of full salvation if we are to be formed into saints, holy ones. Let’s spend a few minutes looking at this passage this morning.

1. First, Paul’s teaching on Christian perfection assumes our individual effort. Forgetting what is behind us, we are called to pursue the crown of the high calling of God through Christ Jesus.
Paul gives us an image of the Christian life as a race. Races have goals; they have ends, finish lines. The runner must keep the end in sight, for if not one gets misdirected. Deep, deep down in this slightly portly, middle aged, uptight white guy body is a 80’s distance runner. I remember the last Mid-Ohio Conference Cross Country championship that I ran in at Rio Grande College, home of “Bob Evans, down on the farm”. We had run about 2 miles and I had fallen behind the lead pack of about 10 runners. Suddenly, the pack veered off in the wrong direction – the leader had turned the wrong way; the rest went with him. I kept on the right path – and suddenly took the lead! They had lost sight of the goal, the end. I wish I could say that I won the crown, but I didn’t. They quickly ran me down. But they couldn’t pass me until they too got the end in sight. While I was the only one with the end in sight, I was winning the race.
What is this end of this Christian journey? The high calling, the calling from above, God’s calling to us in Christ Jesus. God has called us in Jesus Christ. In Jesus we see the true human, the image of God in which we were created, to which we are called. The “high” calling is Jesus Christ, his sinless life lived in obedience to the Father through the Spirit, in love of God and, in God, the love of neighbor. Jesus manifested this love when he remained faithful to his mission to initiate God’s kingdom, even if that meant death, crucifixion on the cross. The “heavenly calling”, the “high calling”, the “calling from above” means that God has entered our world, our bodies in Jesus Christ so that we might know God, and in knowing God, know ourselves. The high calling is not a call out of our body; it’s not a call to some inner, isolated decision of our will. It is the formation of our desires, not by the world around us, not by its wealth, by its pleasures, by its personal fulfillments, by a therapeutic happiness, not even to the society’s improvement. The high calling is the formation of our desires to live perfectly obedient to God the Father in love, and in this love, to love our neighbor, a love seen in the person and teachings of Jesus, the natural life that we were created to live.
This won’t happen without straining, without repentance, without acts of repentance, without truthfulness about our own selves, without seeing ourselves in light of Christ, without stopping blaming others for our bad moods and acts, without forgetting the good and the bad behind, and living life to its proper end in God through Christ. Paul writes, “I strive.” We are called to live all of life with Christ in view, to look ahead, to immerse oneself in the kingdom of God in Jesus Christ. We have a problem. We’ve been formed by a fallen world; sinfulness has been encoded into our bodies in ways that we can’t even see. This sin needs cleansed. Yet it can’t be cleansed until we are aware of the lack that possesses us. And we aren’t going to be aware of our lack until we see the fullness – the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, we strain toward the end, we keep the end in sight, so that in seeing the end, we might be re-formed, cleansed, made right, not by the fallen world, but through God in Jesus Christ. We might have revealed to us what the fullness of the love of God is, and in God, the real love of neighbor that is not merely a sentimental well-wishing. Friends, Christian perfection involves our effort – we seek the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

2. But we must seek as members of the right people – we must know to whom we belong. Christian perfection comes only as we live our true citizenship – our citizenship that is in heaven as members of a local congregation.
You know that race that I mentioned before in Rio Grande. If I recall correctly, there was this beautiful young woman there. Red hair, intelligent, single. As a matter of fact, she was so impressed with my performance that we left together after the race to go to a church to be part of a puppet team; if I recall correctly, this woman ultimately married me. She was at the starting line and she could see the end, the goal, the finish of the race. Yet she didn’t win the crown. She didn’t even break out in a sweat. She was not in the race. She didn’t belong in the race. She could watch it; she could even jog along. But the course did not belong to her. She was not a member of the race. To get to the end, one has to know to whom, and in whom one belongs. For your citizenship will ultimately determine your formation; to whom you belong will provide your end.
Your citizenship is in heaven. Before perfection, on the way to perfection, you have to enter the journey by repentance, by faith in Christ through baptism. By faith in Christ, in baptism you die to this world, and are reborn into the kingdom of God. To experience the fullness of salvation, the image of God in which we were created, the maturity of the love of God and neighbor, we have to live out citizenship in heaven. God does not allow dual citizenships – one cannot serve two masters, you will hate the one and love the other. I’m not talking about some “spiritual citizenship” while you live your bodily citizenship here. To have the Spirit cleanse you of inward sin and renew you in righteousness to make you perfect in Christ, you must live completely, totally, absolutely as a citizen of heaven, a citizen in the kingdom of God, as experienced within the church, a specific local congregation as it as a whole participates within God’s kingdom in Jesus.
Believers in Christ are aliens here in the United States; this is not our home. The states laws are not ours, although we do not need to go out of our way to violate them; our loyalty does not even lie in improving the conditions of this societies members, even if our actions may bring this about, especially for the poor, the sick, and those in need. As soon as we become defined as a citizen of this society, our citizenship becomes defined in its categories, rather than God’s in Christ. The citizenship of this society will manipulate us to its ends—it will force us to run a different race, even if the courses overlap for a certain period. To run the race for the prize of the love of God being shed abroad in our hearts to bring about the perfect love that casts out fear, we must belong to the political unit that is the kingdom of God. We cannot live in a kingdom without a king, Jesus Christ, the Savior who is coming to us. I put on my blog some excerpts from the Archbishop of Grenada, Spain this week. He wrote, “I cannot bring myself to imagine the Church of the second or of the third century trying to overthrow and take over the Roman Empire to make it Christian, instead of converting it. . . . . I do not believe. . .that any strategy to conquer influence or power in our societies will do any good to the Church or to the cause of Christianity in any sense. . . . A strategy of looking for influence will only continue to hide to most Christians the fact that the real "enemy" is not truly outside us, but within us, in the exact measure (which is a very large measure) we share those very assumptions whose consequences we criticize so sharply in the decisions of some politicians . . . . That strategy will only distract us from the only "politics" that is needed in the present situation, and the only one can really make a difference in the world: being the body of Christ, living in the communion of the Holy Spirit in this concrete hour of history. . . . the "politics" we most need is conversion in order to build up of the Church again as a banner among the nations, as "a nation made from all nations".. . . The life the Lord has given us . . . lives in the Church, and not in a political party, not even in one that would eventually present itself as being at the service of the "Christian values". We must make the trip to Christian perfection as citizens among the right people -- our citizenship is in heaven.

3. Finally, we live must live in hope that God’s rule will come in Christ. We travel looking forward to God’s consummation of all things in Christ.
To have the Spirit bring forth the fullness of salvation, perfection in us we set our eyes on our calling in Christ, we live as citizens of heaven within local congregations, and we look forward to God’s transformation of all things in Christ. We have to keep the big picture in mind. He will transform our body of humiliation into the body of his glory.
Now hear this correctly. Your body of humiliation is not that your body is bad. Your body of humiliation is the body not seen in light of its citizenship in heaven, the kingdom of God, living for the end of love of God and neighbor. Your body of humiliation is the suffering that comes on your body because of non-conforming to the practices, the citizenship of the world; your body of humiliation is the price that one pays for being different. Your body of humiliation is the realization that comes upon us when we look to our end, the high calling of God in Christ, and realize our lack, our sin, our malformation from what God calls us to be, is deeply embedded in our bodies; and we are led to repentance in humility. The body of humiliation is the helplessness that we experience in our cries for justice amidst the plight of the poor, the hungry, the thirsty, the naked in our world, the temptation to return evil for evil, to try to take control by becoming a citizen of the world. The body of his glory, however, is our body seen in light of God’s coming kingdom in Jesus. The body of his glory is hearing, well done, my good and faithful servant. The body of his glory is living in light of God’s coming judgment, the life of the resurrection. His body of glory is the end times body, still with the scars from this world embedded within it, but with these scars now healed as a sign of God’s victory over sin, over evil, over death, and thus made beautiful.
This is living in hope. Hope is necessary to remain open to God’s Spirit cleansing us of inward sin and shedding God’s love abroad in our hearts. Hope fails not, for it tells us that success amidst God’s creation is not up to us, but to God. There is a reversal coming. We live in hope of this reversal. Hope in God’s final victory frees us to forgive others, speak truthfully but not judgmentally, not seek vengeance, but live our lives for Christ as members of God’s kingdom, to let the Spirit bring forth the love of God in our hearts, so that we might learn to love our neighbors, truly, deeply, wisely. God calls us to keep our sight on Christ, to live as a citizen of God’s kingdom, to live in hope.

Conclusion: And as we so live, God works – often even when we don’t know it, bringing forth God’s perfection, the fullness of true and unending life in God. God’s Spirit rewires us, bringing forth who we really are – the image of God in which we were created. God moves us to perfection – who we are truly are in God at any moment, love of God shaping our whole bodies, and in God, loving our neighbor as ourselves. God enfolds us completely into the body of Christ. God works to bring forth God’s perfection – not as imagined by us, but as it truly is in God. And God has given us a glimpse of this perfection here we at this Table. Here is the high calling of God in Christ; here is the banquet for citizens of the kingdom; here is a sign of our hope, that God will bring for the consummation of all things in Christ. Come friends. Come, in repentance; come in faith; come in hope; come to be made over in love. Come, and by all means, be thankful.

Posted by johnwright at 8:30 AM | Comments (12)