James 24:7

I've posted a new review of Eric Metaxas' Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery in my book review section.  What a great book!  Check it out.

I am currently reading David Batstone's book on human trafficking and the rise of the global slave trade and will review it in a couple of days.  While many of us may not even realize such a thing exists even more of us will be shocked to learn how much of it exists in our own cities.

Batstone begins his book by writing about one of his favorite Indian restaurants in the San Francisco area and how shocked he was to find out that the owner of the restaurant had been illegally transporting workers from India into the U.S. to work in his restaurant with the promise of helping them land lucrative high tech jobs.  Once he got them here, he housed them in his own apartments, paid them minimal wages and then charged them exorbitant rents to keep them in his clutches.  To keep them in line, he threatened them with revealing their illegal status and the threat of deportation.  That event served as an eye opener for Batstone. 

Not long ago Anderson Cooper presented a segment on his CNN show 360 regarding child sex slavery right here in the Atlanta area.  You can click right here to read about that.  There is also a video link at the bottom of the page. (Be forewarned, the descriptions are a bit graphic.)

In the Atlanta area we sometimes hear about Asian massage parlors being busted and the police discovering women who have been trafficked and held as sex slaves also.

One of the things that strikes me about all of this is how our sense of "otherness" shields us from the realities of what is happening in our own cities.

Drug thugs and prostitutes on the south side of Atlanta (or wherever they are) are completely "other" to me.  Asian pimps and massage therapists are also absolutely "other" as well.  I do not understand their culture, their language, their ways of life (although I, like a lot of good Southern folks content myself with the certainties of stereotypes) and so it appears to me that what "they" do does not have much to do with me.

But then I wonder whether someone who is kept in a basement or tied to a bed or put out on the streets under the watchful eye of a gun-toting low life really cares if I understand them.

If I was being held against my will and being routinely abused, I wouldn't care whether you understood me or not. 

I would just hope you would do all you could to set me free.

Don't forget the movie, Amazing Grace, is coming to a theater near you this coming Friday, February 23rd.

Jesus said that it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks.  I understand that to mean that our words and our actions flow from our fullness...whatever that fullness might be at any given point in time.

We may be full of joy or full of sadness.  We may be full of faith or fear.  We may be full of hope or doubt. We may be full of love or bitter rage.

Although we may speak of certain people as "empty", we may be more on target if we speak of them as full.

Those who appear to us as  empty that is, to lack substance or meaning or purpose, may in fact be full of something else.

I think of certain celebrities as coming across as "empty."  Yet, I suspect many are full of ambition, or yearning or fear.

I am coming to think that the metaphor of "fullness" is a better metaphor than the metaphor of "emptiness."  (I can't think of any references in scripture to someone being "empty."  Empty-handed, yes.  Following an empty way of life, yes.  Going away "empty", yes.  But no direct reference to someone being "empty" as a person.  Maybe I'm wrong...feel free to correct me.)

I can think of many instances in scripture where people are said to be full...full of wickedness and deceit or full of joy and the Holy Spirit.

Maybe nature abhors a vacuum in the spiritual realm as well.

As I read that statement of Jesus..that it is out of the abundance of our hearts that our mouths speak, I am struck by 3 things. 

First, the saying suggests that fullness seeks expression.  Think of an over-ripened tomato...it splits.  Think of an overfilled balloon..it bursts.  Think of a woman who is well into her 9th month of pregnancy...she gives birth.  Fullness seeks expression.

Second, the saying suggests that- when it comes to people- our words and our actions reflect our fullness.   If fullness always seeks expression, then in humans the fullness of our hearts (or the abundance of our hearts) manifests itself in word and deed.  

When someone like a religious leader is caught in a sexually compromising position and says, "That only happened once" he may be telling the truth about the deed.  However, the deed expresses the abundance of his heart, the fullness of his heart.  Chances are good that the act has been going on in his heart for a long time.

Third,  we can read the quality of the fullness of our hearts and the hearts of others but hearing our or their words and seeing our or their deeds.  The quality of word and deed reflects the fullness of the heart.   

That is why Maya Angelou says, "When someone shows you who they are, believe them!"   Word and deed express the abundance of the heart. 

Fullness seeks expression.

In us, such fullness expresses itself in word and deed.

The quality of the word and/or the quality of the act expresses the abundance of the heart.

We are all full of "it."  Judging from your words and your acts...of what are you full?

Incidentally, I preached on this topic Sunday, February 18th.  If you'd like to hear the sermon you can go here.  (If it's not there yet, it will be soon!) 

This coming Sunday (2/18/07) Christians from around the world will join together to sing the hymn Amazing Grace as a way to commemorate the work of William Wilberforce, the British parliamentarian credited with introducing and driving through the first anti-slavery laws in the British Empire in 1807.

So what's the connection between Wilberforce and Amazing Grace?  Amazing Grace was written by John Newton, a slave trader turned pastor, in 1752.  Several years later, Newton became Wilberforce's mentor and told him that God had raised him up for the good of the nation and of the church.  The work of Wilberforce and Newton had a profound influence upon the  abolition of slavery in the America.

The relationship between Newton and Wilberforce and their work toward the abolition of slavery is being featured in a new film that is set to be released on Friday, February 23rd. 

Many of us believe that slavery ended with the American Civil War.  However, some estimate is that slavery produces something like $30 billion in revenue every year.  Some people estimate that as many as 27 million people live as slaves.  Many of those slaves are children who are sold to work as laborers and prostitutes.

I am posting related links below.   My hope is we will all support this film, sing Amazing Grace, pray for those who are bound in the shackles of slavery and do what we can to join with Christ in setting the captives free.

For infomation on the film Amazing Grace, go here.

For information on William Wilberforce, go here.

For information on John Newton, go here.

For information on the hymn Amazing Grace, go here.

For information on the global slave trade, go here.

For an incredible slide show regarding one Missouri mother's quest to rescue one child slave in Ghana, go here.

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has annointed me

to bring good news to the poor. 

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives,

And recovery of sight to the blind,

To let the oppressed go free,

to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

                     -Jesus' Ministry Platform

                      Luke 4: 18-19

Me: Hi.

My name is Jim.

And I'm a pragmaddict.

You: ("Hi Jim...")

Me: I've been a pragmaddict since childhood. I don't know about you but I found life pretty challenging as a child.  While I always tried to do the right thing, I had a hard time knowing sometimes what the "right thing" was.  I learned pretty quickly that you can never go wrong as long as you do what works in any given situation.

I can think of many instances where I said whatever needed saying, did whatever needed doing, believed whatever needed believing as long as it got me more of what I wanted or needed at the moment.

While they may not have intended it (or maybe they did!) my parents contributed to my pragmaddiction.  

I can remember my dad ranting about this college professor who often wrote a column in the newspaper.  My dad would say, "For such an educated man, he doesn't have the sense God gave a goat."   My dad knew that good sense was equivalent to common sense and that common sense was the sense just about everybody (except certain college professors) had.

That realization came home to me after I got my Ph.D.  My dad said, "Well you've got enough education now to be absolutely stupid." 

You might think he meant that harshly.  Maybe he did but I didn't take it that way.  I took it to mean that I shouldn't get so educated that I ended up sacrificing "the sense God gave a goat."

Even my sainted mother got in on the act.  She was fond of saying, "The proof is in the pudding."  I took that to mean that the truth of matters will always come out in...well...the pudding.  Or maybe that was the wash.  Whatever....the point was "garbage in/ garbage out."  What you put into the recipe yields the resultant dish. 

There seems to be no escaping this addiction to pragmatism.  Everywhere I turn I'm offered another hit:

"What's true is what works."

"You can't argue with success."

Even Dr. Phil is fond of asking: "How's that working for you?" 

Do what works.  When something works do more of it.  If something doesn't work, stop doing that.  

What is the definition of insanity?  To keep doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result?

See...it's hard not to take regular hits of practical advice...

We pragmaddicts live and die by the dictum: "The truth is what works."  Our addiction continues because, at least within the circle of our own self-interest, doing what works...works.

However, recently I've been trying to really challenge my pragmaddiction. 

For example, whenever I hear myself quoting Dr. Phil ("How's that working for you?") I talk back to me and say, "Why should whether things are working for me be the standard of what makes for the good?"

Or whenever I repeat the pragmaddicts dictum: "The truth (or good) is what works" I ask "works for whom?"

Or, I ask, "who gets to determine what 'working' means?"

Of course, you may be sitting there wondering what difference this makes.  After all, to other pragmaddicts, to live according to what works for yourself seems not like some philosophical idea...it seems like "reality." 

Only people who are "out of touch with reality" or who are "so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good" would argue against the idea that what is true or good is what works.

Well..here's my problem...Jesus, whom I call "Lord" came along announcing the coming of God's reign.  He described those who are receiving the kingdom as those who are poor in spirit, those who are gentle and non-violent, those who are unwilling to see the present world as the best of all possible worlds, those who spend their time working for justice and making peace.

He invites us to visualize a future that pretty much matches up to the Jewish concept of "Shalom"- utter peace and harmony, a condition of wholeness and health and holiness, a circumstance where love and mercy and compassion are the primary virtues.

He (and his followers) painted a picture  where those who would feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, minister to the sick and visit the imprisoned would see themselves as actually doing good to Jesus himself.

He (and those who followed him) painted a future where people were reconciled to God and, as a result, finding themselves reconciled to one another and living peaceably with another.

He (and those who followed Him) even saw the day coming when "new creation" would be the order of the day and we would look forward eagerly and hopefully toward that time when God would plop right down in the midst of us and wipe away every tear from our eyes.

He (and those who followed Him) said we were all invited into that kingdom, that it was ours to receive and that we could begin to live now as if the whole enchilada was already present to us...that is, that we could live peaceably with our neighbors and our enemies, that we could bless those who hate us, and pray for those who persecute us.  

Now...not later...now.

In other words, we could live now as if the future was already a done deal.

Of course, the pragmaddicts out there (and the pragmaddict within) say(s):

"Peacemaking? 

How's that working for you?"

"Loving your enemies? 

 How's that going to pay off?"

"Blessing those who use you? 

Wonder what that will get you?"

"Living today as if God's tomorrow is already accomplished? 

"Say wha-?"

I have to say that sometimes the pragmaddiction seems to suggest that the choice is between living in reality as opposed to non-reality.   In other words, you can live in the land of "good= what works" or you can live in the land of dreams and fantasies.

But then I think, "Well, maybe we should ask 'works toward what end?'"  When I ask that it seems to me that everything Jesus claims works toward the ends of God's kingdom and that sometimes, if not most times, those ends are not the ends that most of us pragmaddicts are working toward.

I don't know I need to think more about it.

For now, I'll say this, "I have come to admit that I am powerless over pragmaddiction and I commit myself to a power greater than myself to tell me how to live."  

Thank you!

You: Thank you, Jim.

In his book, The Secret Message of Jesus, Brian McLaren tells a story about an incident in the life of Tony Campolo. 

Dr. Campolo could not sleep one night.  He got up after midnight and decided to visit a nearby doughnut shop.  While there he overheard a prostitute named Agnes tell another prostitute that it was her birthday.  The prostitute who heard the news responded sarcastically to the birthday girl.  "What do you want me to do?  Throw you a party?"

After the prostitutes left the shop, Dr. Campolo asked the shop owner if Agnes came in regularly.  When he found out that she did, he invited the shop owner and his wife to join him in planning a birthday party for Agnes the next night.

The next night, when Agnes came in, she was greeted with a surprise party, complete with cake. 

Agnes wept.

She was so proud of her cake that she wouldn't even cut it.  She took it home to admire for a while.

After she left, the shop owner asked Dr. Campolo what he did for a living and Dr. Campolo replied that he was a pastor.

She shop owner inquired as to the kind of church Dr. Campolo pastored.  Dr. Campolo replied: "I belong to the kind of church that throws birthday parties for prostitutes at 3:30 in the morning!"

According to Brian McLaren, "The shop owner couldn't believe him.  'No you don't.  There ain't no church like that.  If there was, I'd join it!'" (p. 146)

I like that story because it displays so much of what the missional church is about. 

Such a church sees itself as outwardly directed, actively and creatively seeking to serve those who are invisible and undesireable in the name of the One who came for "the least of these." 

Such a church displays before a watching world an alternative way of being and living in the world.  That way of being and living "re-presents" the already-here-yet-coming-in-its-fullness reign of God in all that it does and says.

By living and speaking in Sprit-inspired and compelling ways, such a church seeks to turn the invisible, the outsider, even the hated toward friendship with God and with itself.

Such a church see the image of God in every person and seeks to find ways to assist those "others" toward a full embrace of God in the fellowship of those who have been and are being embraced by God.

Such a church witnesses to the power of the Spirit through the Word to transform every life; it invites the "other" into a community of friendship, the Body of Christ, as the primary means whereby all may be transformed together into the very image of Jesus Christ. 

Such a church is surprising to those who think they already know "all about churches."  Such people find themselves drawn to people who so clearly demonstrate the compassion that is God's turning to the world in love.

We are not unlike those first Christians who stood with their mouths open as Jesus ascended to the Father.  Having heard that their first calling was to the ministry of waiting, their minds raced at the prospects of being clothed with "power from on high" and becoming witnesses to the uttermost parts of the world of the crucified and resurrected Jesus.

None of them had been very far from home and now they were being called to the mission field white unto harvest.

I know I am filling in the silences of scripture, but I imagine they felt what we all feel when we think deeply about the enormity of the calling and the inadequacy of the called.

"Lord, you want us to do that?"

I put myself in their sandals, as best I can, and ask myself: "What would you do?" 

I hear myself wondering how fast I can run with a bad heart and loose shoes. 

Then, I see myself appointing a committee or two, drawing up a vision statement, developing a strategic plan and executing the strategy.

I look back to the text and see them "...constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women..." (Acts 1:14)

What else? 

Having decided not to run and having chosen not to organize themselves for strategic action what else could they do given the enormity of the calling and the inadequacy of the called?

They, the men, the apostles, the very inner circle of Jesus  "constantly devoted themselves to prayer, together with the women..."

Those who were formerly walled out of the Temple and hidden behind the veil of the synagogue joined those nervous men and all of them together stood on level ground looking toward the anxious horizon of their calling and devoted themselves constantly to prayer.

What else?

Gone were their practices of exclusion; gone was their all-shoulders confidence; gone was the luxury of the prayer of convenience...

Given the enormity of their calling and the inadequacy of the called, "they devoted themselves constantly to prayer, together with the women." 

I'm back...yet again.

I've been "off-blog" for several months but am once again picking up the old keyboard and going after it again.  

Last week I taught a class called "Christian Care and Counsel(ing) in a Missional Church" at Emmanuel School of Religion in Johnson City, Tennessee.  The class lasted 5 days and each day we met from 8-5.  

Several folks have asked me what the class was about.  It's hard to give a reply in 25 words or less but basically we explored the question: "What would ministry to the hurting look like if we took ourselves seriously as missional Christians?"

Here's the speed version of the class: 

For the past several centuries the church has moved from a position of cultural power in the West toward the margins.  This slide has occurred for many historical and cultural reasons.  (i.e. this has been a long time coming and is the result of historical and philosophical seeds planted a long time before any of us got here.)

However, during this slide toward the margins (and beginning sometime in the early 20th century) the church began to reconsider its place in the world as well as its relationship with God.

The church recovered a very old idea- that the mission of the church does not really belong to the church.  Rather, the mission is God's and we as the church are invited to participate in God's mission.

The key inisght (called "missio Dei") is that God is moving in history to establish God's reign.  While God acts in human history apart from the church, God also invites the church to journey with God toward the fullness of God's reign. 

The reign is here but not fully here.  The church, as those who have tasted the reign of God, is to live in such a way that it points beyond itself toward the already/not yet kingdom of God.  That means that the church as a body (and not just Christian individuals alone) must carry out its life (together) in such a way that the observer catches a glimpse of God's intentions for the world.   The church is a sign, foretaste, symbol, herald and agent of the kingdom.

Being a representative of the reign of God requires that the church display a way of life that is alternative to the way of life lived by the world (i.e. that which organizes itself on its own rather than God's terms)    The church's way of way of life is inherently relational and is marked by compassion, forgiveness, and hospitality, among other things.  

One of the ways the church demonstrates this alternative way of life is by how it treats the stranger.  (Or as I like to say, "the strange and the stranger!")  Often the stranger is seen as "other"- not like us.  While our natural temptation is to shrink back in fear, the presence of the stranger is Christ's invitation to ministry.

This ministry does not belong exclusively to a paid, professional, therapist-pastor.  This ministry to the stranger is the ministry of the church.

The stranger is invited into our midst, invited into our way of life, invited to receive the grace of God and engage the practices of the worshiping community called church.   As the stranger is welcomed into and immersed into this way of life s/he recieves the gift of God's friendship as well as the friendship of those who are gathered as part of the Christian community.  Through grace and friendship, the stranger finds his life transformed- as do we all. 

Christian Care and Counsel(ing) is distinctively Christ-centered care.  The "care" is Christ's and is manifested through the life and love of the church.  It is "counsel" because it has an actual content.  (The care receiver is not left to figure things out for themselves but is directed to the word of God and the practices of the church.)  Counseling is the process of providing such care and counsel.  The process must be "of a piece" with the care and counsel.  In other words, it is a way of relating to the hurting that reflects the presence of Christ and the coming of God's kingdom.

The "missional church" is a church that takes seriously the claim that God is on mission in the world.  Such a church seeks to discern the movement of God in its midst and its community.   Such a church seeks to join God as God works to bring in God's reign.  The missional church is always open to being more fully converted itself.  The missional church recognizes that it exists by and on the gift of God's grace.  It seeks to pass the gift it receives from God on to others.   The missional church understands that it is blessed to bless.

That's a fair summary of all we talked about.  I think it provides a grand vision of what we are to be about as Christians who care about the hurting, the "strange and the stranger."

I'm going to be writing (a lot) more about it.

Stay tuned.

V

The Psalms provide a vocabulary for prayer.

While a case can be made that prayer is the totality of a life lived as an offering to God, we do also identify as prayer those moments when we actually speak to God.  

We speak to God with our mouths in two ways: through gestures-grunts, groans, sighs, cries and anguised shouts- and with words.  While the gestures may stand alone as prayer, words are always nestled in gesture. 

All prayers are songs. 

We do not offer God words alone.  We offer God words couched in gesture.   In what gesture did the Psalmist couch: "My God, my God why has thou forsaken me?"  Anger?  Despair?  Disappointment?  Frustration?    Did the Psalmist sigh those words or cry those words?

While we may not always be able to determine gesture from a text, we can learn the words of the text, the vocabulary of the text.  Those words can infuse our prayers and broaden our range of expression.

The Psalms provide a vocabulary of praise, of confession, and of contrition.   They teach us the words to use when we address God and express our thoughts and emotions about God and about our lives. 

Think about the vocabulary of praise.  The Psalmists (at least in our English translations!) use words like "praise", "extol", "bless",  and "worship."  Each of those words expresses praise and yet each word provides nuance to our praise.  As we learn the vocabulary of praise we are freed to address God and express ourselves.

"I praise You God;

I extol Your name.

I bless You, Lord

And worship You."

Think about that little prayer of praise.  Do the different synonyms of praise suggest even slightly different things or are they all the same? 

lV

Reading and praying the Psalms puts us in the company of all the saints who have preceded us.

I read this morning that Etta Baker has died at the age of 90.   Etta Baker was a Piedmont Blues guitar player who influenced every finger-style guitar player there is- whether he or she knows it or not.  Any picker who plays a Merle Travis lick or even a Chet Atkins riff can thank Etta Baker for inspiring those guys to pass along the pickin'.   

Few people outside the fingerstyle or blues community have ever heard of Etta Baker. (She spent most of her working years laboring in the Buster Brown factory in North Carolina)   However, her finger plucks, picks, and pulls reverbrate through  generations of players. 

Of course, each of those players adds their own twists and turns.  Every so often one of them, usually some kid still wet behind the thumbpick, brings along an innovation and leaves us older guys scratching our heads wondering "why we never thought of that"- if we can even make out what the kid is doing.

However, true innovation is rare.  I suppose you could say true innovation- that is, bringing something new to the world- happens...oh...once in a not-ever. 

Most pickers are part of a tradition and are damn proud of it.  To be told that you played something as well as Chet or with as much life as Merle Travis or in the style of Doc Watson is be truly complimented.  To be told that you are an innovator is good too...but only if the innovation pays homage to the Ettas, Chets, Merles and Docs who have gone before you.

Playing with the pickers of the past is a fine way to spend an lazy evening or a lifetime.

To read and pray the Psalms is to pray with all of the saints who have gone before you.  You may be praying with your grandma, or your great, great grandpa.  You will certainly be praying with Martin Luther and Thomas Aquinas.  You will also be praying with the Apostle Paul and Peter, James and John.  You will utter the words that helped shape Jesus' prayers.  You will weep and praise with all those Hebrew saints who worshipped God in the Temple, the synagogues and  out on the hillside.  

Think about it: It is quite something to utter the words of David, the King- the man after God's own heart.

When we read the Psalms...better...when we pray the Psalms we enter the company of the beloved saints of God.  Their voices become our voices; their habits become our habits.

I firmly believe that many of us have shot ourselves in the foot by falling so deeply into the "contemporary."  Contemporary music.  Contemporary worship.  Contemporary ministry.  Contemporary..."with the times."  We have especially shot ourselves in the foot if we are so arrogant to think that what we have brought upon the earth is anything truly innovative.

Recently I've rekindled my interest in poetry.  I dug around and found a book by the American poet, Mary Oliver.  Here is what she says about the "contemporary" as it applies to young poets and their poetry:

"...since you want to be a contemporary poet, you do not want to be too much under the influence of what is old, attaching to the terms the idea that old is old hat-out of date.  You imagine you should surround yourself with modern only.  It is an error.  The truly contemporary creative force is something that is built out of the past, but with a difference.

Most of what calls itself contemporary is built, whether it knows it or not, out of a desire to be liked. It is created in imitation of what already exists and is already admired.  There is, in other words, nothing new about it.  To be contemporary is to rise through the stack of the past, like the fire through the mountain.  Only a heat so deeply and intelligently born can carry a new idea into the air." (A Poetry Handbook, p. 11-12)

When we read and pray the Psalms we enter into a tradition and we praise and cry and rage with that great cloud of saints who cheer us on and wait for us to join them.