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Faith-Rooted
Practice – Mission With Nothing Left Outby
Johonna Turner
Growing up, I was involved in a small Baptist
church that saw evangelism as the sole mission
of the church. My church taught me many
important things including God’s unconditional
love for me, how to read the Bible for myself,
and the importance of youth leadership. As I
became increasingly sensitized to injustice and
oppression as a teenager, particularly through
my participation in D.C.’s socially conscious
poetry scene, I experienced a sense of
splintering. There was the self who sang about
Jesus in my church choir on Sundays and the self
who spoke about justice at open mics on Mondays.
There were some occasions when these two selves
came together – for example, when I penned and
performed a rap called “Jesus was a
Revolutionary” at a church talent
show.
But most of the time, my two selves
were nurtured by separate communities –
evangelical churches fed one and secular social
movement organizations fed the other. In my late
20s, I began to long desperately for integration
– as I recognized each part, each passion, each
purpose was an integral part of my
identity.
The splintering that I
experienced within my own identity often
characterizes the splintering of Christian
identity and mission in the world.
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You
Mis(s) Trust?
By Keith Lyndaker
A
recent Pew Research Study showed that trust in
our government by its citizenry is at an all
time low. While this is not surprising, other
results of the study are somewhat disconcerting.
Trust in all of our society’s major institutions
is at an all time low as well. This includes the
church, medical establishments, etc. This
information simply is a confirmation of how
fractured our society has become. Such a broken
society is unhealthy and in danger of imploding
within.
We as humans tend to clump with
people of like interest. This makes perfect
sense and allows groups of like-minded people to
accomplish much when they are focused on one
issue together. The problem arises when we
remain exclusively within these groups and allow
our affiliations to block our interactions with
other people who, or groups which, may be
different.
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Balancing
Acts – Omelets at Christmas
by Tom
Beutel
“Do not think that I have come to
bring peace to the earth; I have not come to
bring peace, but a sword. Matthew 10:34
(NRSV)
Peace is without question one of
the central themes of the Christmas story. The
angels proclaimed to the shepherds, “Glory to
God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace
among those whom he favors!” (Luke 2:14)
Handel’s Messiah, quoting Isaiah 9:6, reminds us
that, “For a child has been born for us, a son
given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders;
and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of
Peace.”
But, Jesus jarringly tells His
disciples that He has not come “to bring peace
to the earth … but a sword.” Lest we dismiss
these troubling words thinking that some other
idea of peace, some other word for peace is what
Jesus is really talking about, a close look at
this scripture verse shows that indeed it is
eirene, the New Testament word that we associate
with shalom, that is used here. Biblehub.com
explains eirene as “one, peace, quietness,
rest.” and “from eirō, “to join, tie together
into a whole” – properly, wholeness, i.e. when
all essential parts are joined
together.”
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Still
My Soul and Set To WorkBy Cara
Ediger
Still my soul and set to
work
Find the things in life worth
doing,
Find the people in life that
support your life.
Still my
soul and set to work
The time is now to
go back
And sift through the
clutter
And find the
meaningful
Still my soul
and set to work
Dig deep to find
meaning
In every empty space of
waiting
For the next step
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An
Alternative to Military ResponsesBy Max
Ediger
The past several months have seen
yet more mass killings of innocent people around
the world followed by a response of more
military attacks and threats on the perceived
sources of those killings. In the United States
some people are calling for a ban on all Muslims
wanting to enter the country despite the fact
that the majority of the killings in the country
have not been done by Muslims. The rhetoric
against the “other” grows ever louder and
uglier.
It seems almost normal now that
any harm done to us must result in our doing
greater harm to others. Yet all of these
military responses against the “enemy” seem to
make little difference. In fact, some observers
say that they actually play into the hands of
those who wish to create division, anger and
hatred. If that is true, then we allowing them
to teach us how to act and how to live. Surely
we can find better teachers.
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Unto
Us A ChildBy Berry Friesen
“For unto
us a child is born, unto us a son is
given. The government shall be upon his
shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful,
Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace” (Isaiah
9:6).
Christians understand this text to
describe YHWH’s long-awaited Messiah, Jesus of
Nazareth. But how exactly does he fulfill this
ancient prediction—“the government shall be upon
his shoulder?”
Jesus’ first disciples
expected him to replace the Roman Empire with
his own imperium of just laws and
administrators. Many Christians today make
the same mistake, only they finesse it by
setting Jesus’ reign far into the future when he
will live physically on earth again. Both
groups follow conventional understandings of
“government” as top-down rule.
Some
Christians explain the Isaiah text by saying
Jesus is YHWH and thus by definition the One who
created, orders and governs the
cosmos.
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