2008: Year in Review

Two Thousand Eight! It is coming to a close. It has been one heck of a year. What can I say about it...

Well, first, it began in the pits of hell. An 18 year relationship ended like a supernova in the night sky. That sort of set the tone for the rest of the year. With many apologies to many folks 2008 when I learned to cry and cuss. I learned that many folks, preachers in particular, have no clue what divorce is like. To say it any plainer (more accurately) would require a stronger word that some would find offensive. There is no kinder way to put it. Family like the Holts let me live with them when I had no home to live in and the Sterlings gave me a ton's and the Reminders and on I could go. Folks like Jan, Vivian, and Jeff were life savers. I found myself reading books that are not my typical genre: Suzy Brown's Radical Recovery, Dana Hood's I Will Change Your Name, Linda Nielson's Between Fathers & Daughters, Women in Midlife Crisis, Barbara & Allan Pease Why Men Don't Have a Clue & Women Always Need More Shoes and Alec Baldwin's A Promise to Ourselves: A Journey through Fatherhood and Divorce, Larry Crabb's Shattered Dreams ... to name just a few.

On to other matters. The Earth moved millions of miles as our solar system moved who knows how many miles and the galaxy moved even more. Talya and Rachael have developed into young ladies. They both played volleyball and Rachael continues with soccer. Talya sang in her talent show and Rachael was a lady in waiting in a Robin Hood play.

In spite of the beginning of the year God has provided blessings along the way. After one church dropped me from a speaking engagement because I am now stigmatized another ... in Nashville ... wanted me to come for the exact same weekend (I like the irony). I spoke at the Pepperdine Lectures (on the Struggle for the Soul of the Churches of Christ ... my friend John Mark was not able to be there) and the ACU lectures on Walking With the Spirit: The Transitions of K.C. Moser. I have plugged away at a theological biography of Moser and contributed an essay for a memorial volume in honor of Michael W. Casey.

From the pulpit we explored "New Beginnings" (which now that I go back and listen to them were less than works of art!! Honest ... but not art!) then we explored "Blessed are the Shalom Makers. The last half of the year we looked at the Living Word in the Gospel of John. And currently I am teaching "Exploring Our Roots: Snapshots on the Family Tree" which is vignettes on the Stoned-Campbell Movement.

Some other books I've enjoyed this year (some I've placed on my blog). I read through the Dead Scrolls Bible which has all the biblical texts discovered in the caves near the Dead Sea. I read Copernicus On the Revolutions of Heavenly Bodies. Tertullian's works in the Ante-Nicene Fathers. Read the Bible through twice and Psalms at least six times (including Robert Alter's new translation and volume 1 of John Goldingay's Commentary) My copy of the Prymer is falling apart. N.T. Wright's Resurrection of the Son of God was a favorite as was Surprised by Hope. Chris Wright's The Mission of God and Knowing Jesus through the Old Testament. I read a number of Missional and Emergent authors with profit. The two best preaching books I've read this year were by the same author Ellen Davis, Wondrous Depth: Preaching the Old Testament (this is a rich book) and Getting Involved with God: Rediscovering the Old Testament. I also have begun reading the Scripture and Hermeneutics Series edited by Craig Bartholomew ... excellent stuff.

Loved Iron Man and Batman. I suffered through Enchanted. I watched Babylon 5 with the girls. Twilight was ok. The Clone Wars was not quite Star Wars. And I visited the dollar movie frequently.

Palo Verde has been a great haven this year. They have been loving and patient with me and cared for my girls. They have been a gift from God. I visited my former home in Milwaukee.

I took my first "solo" vacation with a trip through southern California and the desert of AZ. It was a great experience but still not what I am used too. I made some new friends this year from all over. I lost one very important friend too. My blog had visits from 101 different countries ... some that I never heard of.

Not much to write about ... From the Tucson "International" Airport ...

Seeking Shalom,
Bobby Valentine

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Campbell & The King James Version

In our last post we noted the emergence of Campbell's Living Oracles. Though at the time it was reviled by fundamentalist preachers, especially among the Baptists, it has been viewed by scholars since in a positive light. Marion Simms classic, The Bible in America: Versions That Have Played Their Part in the Making of the Republic, makes this statement about the Living Oracles,

"Campbell was a man of scholarly attainments, and it was the unsatisfactory character of the King James Version chiefly that inspired his effort to provide a better text, and while at it he translated baptidzo as he interpreted it. The was unquestionably the best New Testament in use at the time" (p. 249).

In its day, however, it was under frequent attack outside the Stone-Campbell Movement. But in Campbell's mind the KJV had "as a whole, it has outlived its day by at least one century." Throughout the 1830s, Campbell continued to revise and improve his NT. To show the continued need for replacement he wrote a series of articles in 1835 under the heading "Mistranslations" Beginning with Genesis the Reformer takes on Gen 1.6 in the KJV: "And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters." The King's Men followed the Latin Vulgate rather than the Hebrew, according to AC, giving rise to the mockery of skeptics. The Hebrew, rakeea, properly means "the expanse or space." The rendering should be changed to "Let there be an expanse [or space or atmosphere] in the midst of the waters..." It it worth noting that the NIV reads, just as Campbell suggested, "Let there be an expanse between the waters." Another passage, one that has become a traditional favorite in the Church of Christ debate tradition, Campbell criticized in the KJV is Gen 6.14: "make thee an ark of gopher wood." This is not even a translation Campbell declared. It is simply the Hebrew term in English letters. The Hebrew gopher meant simply "cypress." God told Noah to use a broad family of cypress tress. Again it is noteworthy that the NIV agrees with Campbell: "make yourself an ark of cypress wood." Campbell carries his examination of "Mistranslations" on for sometime ...

Campbell's understanding of the nature of textual criticism and translation is illustrated in a variety of ways. In criticizing the KJV, for example, he notes that the King's Men did not recognize the "special character" of NT Greek. Due to the LXX it has "the body of Greek but the soul of Hebrew." Thus the 1611 translators often approached NT Greek as a Classical scholar would Homer or Plato. They are often "what might be literally correct" yet have "failed to give the meaning." Campbell's recognition of the Semitic dimension to the NT is remarkable for is time and that translation is more than simply word for word. But perhaps the most remarkable demonstration of his commitment is his relegation of the story of the woman caught in adultery (Jn 7.53-8.11) to a footnote. Daring indeed!

Campbell thought we should be more concerned with what the biblical writers actually said than traditional religious lingo.

"The sacred regard for the phraseology of the old version arises from the superstitious reverence for things that are old; hence it is too often the case, I fear that the professed friend of the Volume of Truth looks upon it as a relic of authority, like some quaint old Anglo-Saxon or Anglo-Norman ballad, than as the living word of God, adapted to the moral and spiritual wants of the present age."

With Campbell spearheading the way, with courage and conviction, the Stoned-Campbell Movement, pressed for a Bible in today's English using the most accurate Hebrew and Greek texts around. James Challen (not Foy E. Wallace Jr nor Robert Taylor) captures well our heritage in this field in his speech delivered to the American Bible Union in 1852,

"The Bible translated,' is our motto, not the Bible in hid in the past, buried in the tomb of an obsolete and forgotten language, but the Bible trembling all over with the spirit of life; the Bible full of eyes before and behind, like the living creatures in the Apocalypse. And as the ocean reflects the image of the sky will all its brilliant jewelry, so, to a world shrouded in darkness, the lights of the spiritual firmament may be mirrored forth by true and faithful translations of the oracles of God."

Almost gives you the shivers ...

Seeking Shalom,
Bobby V

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The Living Oracles

One of the bright gems in the crown of the Stone-Campbell Movement has, historically, been dedication to a Bible based on the best manuscripts available and in the best vernacular of the day. "Opposition to modern translations" has usually been more a fundamentalist trait than ours (see here). A vocal minority has produced some literature with some outlandish claims too. Foy E. Wallace, Jr., for instance, produced a huge tome titled A Review of the New Versions: Consisting of an Exposure of the Multiple New Translations. The signature trait of this work is extreme statements using the KJV as the "standard" rather than Greek and Hebrew. George DeHoff, writing in the Preface, makes the extreme claim that "the King James Translation of the Bible brought the church to us. It was the translation of the Restoration Movement." In spite of this claim, the SCM (or RM) was dedicated to replacing the KJV.

Alexander Campbell rather claimed that every Reformer in history had attempted to place the Bible within living tongue of the common person. For Campbell the "Authorized Version" was no longer the vernacular and had many translation errors. It had too many "Latinisms" for the common reader; it was too literal in rendering Hebrew and Greek terms; it was influenced the the "King's" notions on "predestination, election, witchcraft" among other areas. These "evils" have "long and so justly" been complained about. The solution was a new version.

Thus on April 26, 1826, Campbell gave the world a new version which came to be known as The Living Oracles. It was actually a compilation of previous work by British scholars George Campbell, James Macknight and Philip Doddridge ... edited by Campbell in light of Johann Jakob Griesbach's Critical Greek New Testament.

The Living Oracles were in many ways way ahead of its time. It has been called "the first modern translation." It was like an Me 262 meeting the Wright Brothers! It featured prefaces to each book and an appendix. To maximize readability and comprehension verse numbers were removed and books were divided into paragraphs. There was a marked shift to current speech. For example Phil 3.20 in the KJV reads "our conversation is in heaven"; The Living Oracles read "but we are citizens of heaven." Romans 14.1 in the KJV reads "but not to doubtful disputations," but Campbell translates "without regard to differences of opinions." Campbell also relegated "church words" to the dustbin. One read in vain searching for such traditional terminology as "church" or "baptize" these were replaced with "congregation" and "immerse." Campbell anticipated most modern versions when he replaced the KJV's "comforter" with "Advocate."

One great, but daring, advance of Campbell was his commitment to textual criticism. His New Testament included a table of 357 "Spurious Readings." Gone was the doxology concluding the Lord's Prayer (Mt 6.13), the Ethiopian's confession (Acts 8.37) and the three heavenly witness (1 Jn 5.7). Each of these were rejected as scribal additions and all modern translations (save the NKJV) follow Campbell's lead.

As you can imagine a large number of people reacted strongly to Campbell's new translation. Some open minded Baptists had a public book burning of the Living Oracles. Another congregation refused to read it because it was "not the word of God." One famous Stone Campbell preacher, "Raccoon" John Smith, was placed on trial by some Baptists for heresy ... among the charges was he used Campbell's Living Oracles rather than the KJV. So prevalent was the use of the Living Oracles among Disciples/Christians (as they were known) that they feature prominently in the "Appomattox Decrees" which drove a significant wedge of division between Baptists and "us." The Decrees, published in 1829, read in part "Resolved, That it be recommended to all churches in this Association, not to countenance the new translation of the New Testament."

Campbell believed the KJV was one of the biggest hindrances to "reformation." The changing of the English tongue made the common version "obsolete." And more importantly the advancement in knowledge of the Greek language and better texts demanded a new translation. Campbell, and the movement around him, remained dedicated to putting the Bible in the best and most readable English possible ... using the very best Greek and Hebrew texts. It is one of the gifts of the Stone-Campbell Movement. David Lipscomb, directly contradicting the claim of DeHoff, wrote of the release of the Revised Version: "it is a mistake that the reformation was based upon it [KJV]. Alexander Campbell rejected it ... and did more to bring about the late revision [1881] than any other man of earth." See Alexander Campbell & The King James Version. And In Words Easy to Understand ...

Campbell's DNA runs through such respected translations today as the NIV, NRSV, Easy to Read Version or New Century Version and others. It is a good gift.

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Dark Side of Christmas: The Loneliest Time of the Year

What do you think of around Christmas? What do you normally see at a Nativity ... even one at a church? There are usually animals. Mary, Joseph, Wise men all have there place. There is usually a star of some sort. And of course there are angels. Most Nativity's are a whole lot of Luke with a little bit of Matthew thrown in for good measure.

The opening of Matthew's Gospel is considerably different than Luke's. He opens with that seemingly irrelevant genealogy (its not by any means!). We are then confronted with a scene that is horrific in nature. It is a crime that Tom Mueller in the December 2008 National Geographic declares "Herod is almost certainly innocent of" (p.40). In Matthew there are no angels that welcome the baby Yeshua rather we are confronted with "Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more" (Mt 2.18). This is what is missing from every Nativity I have ever seen in my life. There are no mothers crying for their children.

But there it is right at the beginning of the "good news" about Jesus. I too used to overlook that scene from the real Christmas ... but not anymore. Matthew acknowledges something that needs to be acknowledged: Christmas is painful for many people. With the emphasis on family, friends, parties, giving gifts ... we need to see the "Rachel's" in our churches and our communities that "refuse to be comforted."

These Rachel's have suffered loss. Loss of loved ones. Some to disease. Some to death. Some to divorce. This time of year can be merciless for some, so much so that many even end their own lives.

At Palo Verde last Sunday we had a worship service centered around "Christmas: The Loneliest Time of the Year." We began by reading Psalm 22 which confesses intense agony. Then the service was divided into three parts we read scripture that allowed us as a church family to embrace those who have suffered loss. We invited everyone to write down a name of some one and bring it down to the communion table. I was not prepared for the outpouring ... people streamed to the table of brotherhood. Psalm 88 was read for the loss of our loved ones. Every piece of paper was read. We prayed and lamented together. After the third lament was over ... with all those cards still on the table ... we decided to take the Lord's Supper and "discern the body" ... perhaps for the first time. We were family and we were all one before the Lord. It was powerful. We closed the service with a congregational reading of Psalm 23. We began with embrace of loss and left with the comfort of the Lord.

This coming Sunday we are doing the "other side of the coin." We will have a happiest time of the year ... but first we need to see the Dark Side of Christmas. I encourage my readers out there to embrace those hurting. Sometimes Christmas really is almost unbearable ... but we can be the very comforting presence of Jesus for them. The response to our service last week has been overwhelming.

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Bobby Lowder's office in Auburn

Is this the chaos that is going on in Auburn ... ROLL TIDE. Still can't believe they fired Tubby ...

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The Exodus Pattern ... A Tie that Binds

The Churches of Christ were, seemingly, birthed in hermeneutical controversy. Alexander Campbell expended considerable effort on pointing to proper methods of interpretation of Scripture. As years went by more and more focus was placed upon some sort of "pattern" within the Bible and especially the New Testament. "Patternism" has been incredibly divisive throughout our history and continues to be with one group of Patternists contending that the other group of Patternists have invented patterns where there are none. What is interesting with all this zeal for patterns is that many of the most pronounced patterns in the biblical narrative are simply unrecognized and ignored as irrelevant. Perhaps nothing exemplifies this more than the Exodus Pattern.

It is difficult to overstate the importance of the Exodus story in Israel's life and faith. We could even opine that the Exodus is the foundation of the Bible itself. The Exodus was the amazing act of Yahweh the Liberator who delivers, redeems and saves a group of nobodies. The Exodus is the paradigm of what salvation by grace really looks like. Walter Brueggemann has suggested that a series of 'verbs' are used to "testify" to Yahweh's act of liberating grace:

* Yahweh brings out
* Yahweh delivers
* Yahweh redeems
* Yahweh brings up
(See Theology of the Old Testament, 173-176)

God's paradigmatic moment is celebrated by Moses and Miriam (as an ancient Ike & Tina) in Exodus 15:

"I will sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously ...
The LORD is my strength and my might, and he has become my salvation;
this is my God, and I will praise him ...
The LORD is a warrior; the LORD is his name.
Pharaoh's chariots and his army he cast into the sea ...
You blew with your ruah and the sea covered them ...
Who is like you, O LORD ...
In your steadfast love you led the people whom you redeemed ...
(Exodus 15.1-13, NRSV)

Several themes emerge from Moses' and Miriam' song. First it is emphatic that Yahweh alone did the work, salvation belongs to him and it was not because Israel deserved it. Second it is interesting how the Exodus story uses terms borrowed from the creation story itself: divine action and spreading the waters with the activity of God's Spirit (ruah), etc. Salvation is like a new creation.

The story, pattern, of this Exodus is deeply ingrained in the Bible. Israel "rehearsed" this drama each year through the Passover. And no Israelite believed the Exodus was simply what happened back then to "them" rather they placed themselves within the Story and believed it happened to "us." This confession of the Exodus patterned life is seen as Israel celebrated their "thanksgiving(s)" ...

"My father was wandering Aramean, and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous. But the Egyptians mistreated us and made us suffer, putting us to hard labor. Then we cried to the LORD, the God of our Fathers ... So the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with miraculous signs and wonders. He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey; and now I bring the firstfruits of the soil that you, O LORD have given me." (Deuteronomy 26.5b-10)

Exodus patterned Israel's life (or was supposed to) and is fused into "the rest of the Story" by the biblical authors. Here are just a few examples:

* Entrance into the Promised Land is cast with Exodus imagery. Joshua 3-4 reverberates with the drama of the Red Sea
* Building the temple is dated from the Exodus (1 Kgs 6.1)
* Moral crises following Solomon's tyranny is patterned after the sojourn in and following Egypt (1 Kgs 11-12)
* Psalms of praise celebrate the Exodus (i.e. Pss 66, 68, 105)
* Psalms of lament appeal to the Exodus for fresh deliverance (i.e. Pss 74, 77, 80)
* In Hosea, Amos & Micah (to name only three) paint Israel's adultery with images taken from Egypt or from the wanderings in Sinai while casting Yahweh as the faithful liberating lover who would redeem Israel.
* Isaiah 40-66 takes the pattern of Exodus as the source for new hope for Israel.

The Exodus Pattern is burned deep within the Bible. Our quick "survey" helps us to see that the Exodus is more than a mere literary motif but that it was THE PARADIGM Israel used to understand her past, her present, and her future.

The NT also has deeply ingrained within it this Exodus motif. The Gospel of Matthew, the first book of the NT, seemingly continues the same sort of "pattern" we see throughout the Hebrew Bible. The beginning of Jesus' Story has fingerprints of the Exodus narrative all over it. In both there is an evil ruler, in both the children suffer, in both there is a "flight," in both there is an "exodus" for "out of Egypt I have called my son" (Mt 2.15), in both there is a passage through water, in both there is a wandering in the wilderness for a time of testing, in both there is a journey to a mountain, the healing ministry of Jesus is related to his role as Isaiah's servant in concert with the new Exodus (Mt 8.17; 11.5; 12.18; Isa 35.5-6; 53.4; 61.1-2) ... the Exodus Pattern is deeply ingrained in Matthew ... but he is not alone. The work of God in Jesus upon the cross is cast in new Exodus like language.

Yes, the Exodus Pattern is a "tie that binds." Since the "Old Testament" and "New Testament" are really ONE BIBLE they (together) testify to the same story of God's work in redemption. The Exodus is the pattern used by biblical writers to understand who God is and what it means to be the People of the Lord. Since this pattern is so prominent in Scripture ... and it is actually there ... should we (who are so concerned about patterns) not spend some time reflecting on the significance of the Exodus Pattern for God's People today?

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The Problem with Preachers ...

What a dangerous title! I am after all a "preacher." Here it is Lord's Day afternoon and I got home a little while ago. Here sitting on my couch lamenting BAMA's loss (but hey it was a great football game. Florida over Sooners!) reflecting for a brief moment upon what I have done on this day. I gathered with God's People in the Presence of his Majesty. We opened the "book divine" to hear afresh the empowering, liberating and convicting Word of the Lord. In the last three weeks we have explored how Matthew presents Jesus as the "Hinge," both the "End" and the "Beginning." Matthew sees Jesus the Hinge as the Goal of the "Old Testament" Story, he sees Jesus as the "Fulfillment" of the Promises in the Hebrew Bible and he sees the Hinge of Jesus' Identity as the "Son of God" embedded in the Hebrew traditions of old. As we have looked at the opening chapters of Matthew I have been astonished at the wondrous depth and texture to Matthew. It is deep indeed.

As I sat in a moment of reflection I was reminded of Eugene Lowry's bold words: "The problem with preaching is that we have been trained to be answer people ... By the time we get ready to start preparing next Sunday's sermon we already know what we believe and hence when we engage a text we often bring ourselves to the text rather than letting the text come to us ..."

What insight! What Lowry seems to be saying is that we preachers often "come to the text" as if we are in control. We already have an agenda and so often the biblical text is nothing else but a "second" to what we already want to say. In some sense we have kidnapped God's Word! This is heavy duty stuff. Have I done this?

Is there a difference between using a text and preaching a text? I have seen sermons where scripture was certainly used but it was not scripture that was preached. Is this a problem with preachers? I am sure that I have been guilty of this myself and for that I am grateful for the never ending mercy of our Abba.

What can we do to overcome this problem? How can we let the text "come to us?" How can we give up control of the text and let it take the lead (it is after all the living word of God right?).

First I believe we need to embrace the text in all its complexity. The dimensions to Matthew's Gospel is mind numbingly vast. Let the text overwhelm us. Embrace its intertextualities, its echoes of previous parts of the Story, get lost in the text.

Second, as we enter into a conversation with the text cultivate the mindset that we do not know what we are getting into. We do not come to the text with a "topic" but let God's message through that portion of the biblical narrative be used by God's own Spirit to address us and our community. I have found that lectio divina is an essential part of sermon preparation ... here we embrace the text, love the text, we eat the text. And like Ezekiel of old we find that eating God's Word is not without effect.

Third, and this is probably repetition, is surrender. We must sacrifice our ideas to the word. We must be willing to be led, to embrace even mystery for a time as we enter into the text because we do not know where it will take us. Like Israel of old we know where we are going but the direction of each day was determined by a Cloud and not themselves.

There is a difference between the word "ministry" and "preacher." All Christians minister in some capacity. Preaching is one aspect of the ministry of God's kingdom of priests. As preachers, not just ministers, we have to at times deal with the "problem with preachers ..." that is of using God's word rather than preaching it. None of us want to be guilty but we all are. Thus my mid-afternoon reflections are upon this struggle to be a tool to be used by the word rather than being a person in charge who uses God's word as his own tool.

If this makes no sense ... blame it on Bama's loss.

Shalom,
Bobby V

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A New Hallelujah By Michael W. Smith

Great new song by Michael W. Smith. Love it. May it bless you ... may we sing a new hallelujah among the Gathered People of God.

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Yahweh the Healer

We often hear today that our world is undergoing, or has undergone, a worldview shift, that is from Modernism to Postmodernism. Some wail and bemoan that Postmodernism has caused the church to forsake sound doctrine for some cream puff political correctness. But could it be that the Postmodern shift is actually forcing the People of the Cross to recover sound doctrine that was sacrificed on the altar of Modernism as we became such a "cultural church" (i.e. Modern) that we didn't even recognize biblical teaching. The "doctrine of salvation" is a fundamental example of a teaching that was gutted by Western Modernism.

Have you noticed that some of the most moving "portraits" of Jesus show him in a "healing" posture. Throughout the Gospels he is giving strength to feeble legs, making ligaments work in hands, casting out demons, opening the eyes of the blind and cleansing lepers. Jesus the Healer is a powerful portrait. Have you ever wondered what that has to do with "salvation?" To even raise the question is to ask a thoroughly Modern question that would not have even occurred to an ancient (Jew or Gentile!). In the Western, post-Enlightenment world we have driven a wedge between healing on one hand (i.e. "physical") and salvation on the other (i.e. "spiritual"). Yet in the Greco-Roman world such a cleavage would be unthinkable. Postmodernism has justly, and I will argue biblically, challenged this false teaching. The biblical narrative:

* as a whole intertwines the images of salvation and healing
* as a whole interprets the image of Yahweh the Savior as Yahweh the Healer
and the New Testament adds to this the portrait of Jesus as God's Agent
of healing
* the larger Roman world of Jesus' day conceived of salvation as healing
* as a whole sees God's people called as a community of healing and health

Biblical writers can, and do, refer to the identical redemptive act of Yahweh with the language of liberation/salvation and at another point in the language of healing. A few examples biblical texts that use the images of healing, health, deliverance as salvation are

O hope of Israel! O LORD!
All who forsake you shall be put to shame;
those who turn away from you shall be recorded in the
underworld,
for they have forsaken the fountain of living water,
the LORD.
Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed;
save me, and I shall be saved;
for you are my praise." (Jer. 17.13-14)

"For the hurt of my people I am hurt,
I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me.
Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why then has the health of my poor people
not been restored?" (Jer 8.21-22)

"Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and do not forget all his benefits --
who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals your diseases,
who redeems your life from the Pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
who satisfies you with good as long as you live
so that your strength is renewed like the eagle's.
The LORD works vindication
and justice for all who are oppressed." (Ps 103.2-6)

Here is one from that neglected prophet Zephaniah

"The LORD, your God, is in your midst,
a warrior who gives victory ...
And I will save the lame
and gather the outcast,
and I will change their shame into praise
and renown in all the earth ..." (Zeph 3.17-20)

The images of Yahweh healing his people also reveal him as saving his people. Indeed God simply claims "I am the LORD who heals you" (Ex15.26). Sickness and disease in the Ancient Near East was not simply a matter of disease but a matter of purity and shame. Zephaniah even says God will "change their shame into praise." The concept of honor, shame, and especially purity and pollution lie behind much of the biblical language of healing and disease.

Consider the lepers. In the Hebrew Bible and the "NT" leprosy is rarely "Hansen's Disease." It is simply a number of skin disorders that render a person unclean. Leprosy is not even contagious! It was a matter of religious purity. Thus in the Bible lepers are cleansed (cf. Mt. 8.2; Lk 5.14) not "healed" as if it was simply a medical procedure.

The healing ministry of Jesus is in the Gospels part of Jesus' saving ministry. Matthew likes "blocks" of material. In chapters 8-9 there is a concentration of healing stories that follow on the heels of the Sermon on the Mount. These stories relate how Jesus makes available the presence and the power of God's reign in those who have been sick and unclean. There is a leper, a slave of a Gentile, an old woman, the demonized, a paralytic, a hated tax collector, a young girl and the blind. Interestingly as Matthew relates the restoration of "health" he also relates how they are restored as human beings within family and community. Notice the range of images used in Matthew's story of the kingdom:

* cleaning a leper allows him new access to God and to the community of God's people
(8.1-4)
* Healing a paralytic is comparable to forgiving his sins(9.2-8)
* Extending grace to unclean tax collectors and sinners illustrates the work of a
physician(9.9-13)
* Recovery of sight, as throughout the biblical narrative, serves as a metaphor for
the exercise of the insight of faith(9.27-31)

Indeed near the end of Matthew's block of "healing" episodes we read the actual language of "salvation" used in its biblical fullness. Unfortunately our English translations at times obscure this ... or our neo-platonic eyes betray us. Matthew connects woman's "faith" with her "salvation." The text reads

"Then suddenly a woman who had been suffering from bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the tassels on his shawl, for she said to herself, 'If I only touch his shawl I will be SAVED (sozo).' Jesus turned and looked at her and said, 'Take heart, daughter your faith has SAVED (sozo) you.' And immediately the woman was SAVED (sozo)." (Matt 9.20-22)

As Yahweh saves his People in the Hebrew Bible he also heals them. Thus Matthew directly connects Jesus' messianic identity to his healing/saving ministry.

"Jesus withdrew from that place. Many followed him, and he healed all their sick, warning them not to tell who he was. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: 'Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations. He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he leads justice to victory. In his name the nations will put their hope" (Mt 12.15-21)

Jesus does the work of God in salvation by bringing healing to the bruised. Jesus' healing declares the presence of the kingdom of God. Those once excluded by uncleanness are now included by the healing/saving work of God through the Messiah.

The "doctrine of salvation" is so much broader, richer and deeper than what is proclaimed as the biblical doctrine in so many evangelical churches and Churches of Christ. What postmodernism has done is help us become more doctrinal rather than less. What it has done is help us shed the cultural, and unbiblical, notion that salvation is primarily or only about the afterlife. The scriptures deny such an anemic doctrine as does the history of Christian doctrine up to the Enlightenment ... or was that the "Endarkment"? Yahweh saves because he heals ... Sin vandalized his creation, it infected his very good creation, and God sort of takes that "personally!!" Thus he saves his creation ... he heals it. Jesus does what the prophets proclaimed of Yahweh.

We will return to this theme by looking at the idea of Yahweh as Liberator very soon.

Shalom,
Bobby V

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Books in the Stocking & Under the Christmas Tree

Well it is that time of year again. The mountains are brown. The saguaros are thinner. The coyotes and mountain lions are prowling. And the palm tree in lights has reappeared in Corona commercials. Yep, it can only be Christmas time in the desert. Every year people ask about a couple good books for the minister, elders, or just the reading disciple ... and for themselves. It stands to reason that most books are simply junk. Millions of titles are published and promoted every year. The world could probably have been spared most of them. On the other hand there are some worthy titles to emerge every year. The list that follows will be an ensemble of various areas that intersect with life beneath the cross:

1) Christopher J. H. Wright, The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible's Grand Narrative. I believe this book deserves the accolade of "book of the year."

2) Ron Clark, Emerging Elders: Developing Shepherds in God's Image. Clark's new book is very good and written from one on the front line of ministry. Full of sound theology and pastoral insight. (Follow the link and click on the "ministry" button)

3) Oskar Skarsaune, In the Shadow of the Temple: Jewish Influences on Early Christianity. Its been a long time since I've read a book as rich about the early church as this engaging work.

4) Jack R. Reese, The Broken Body: Embracing the Peace of Christ in a Fragmented Church. For those who long for the gift of Shalom in our church families.

5) N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope. Title says it all.

6) James K. A. Smith, Who's Afraid of Postmodernism? Taking Derrida, Lyotard and Foucault to Church. It is true ... our world has undergone a huge worldview shift. I have not read a better book on PM than Smith's. Do not be put off by the title for the book is short (a mere 156 pages) and Smith is an outstanding and anything but boring writer. Who's afraid? No one ...

7) John Goldingay, The Psalms. Goldingay's 3 volume commentary on the Psalms is nothing short of exciting for a serious bible student. Not only are these the most extensive commentaries in English they are actually an exercise in "spiritual" reading.

8) Philip Jenkins, The Lost History of Christianity. Short and eye opening book.

9) Scott McKnight, A Community Called Atonement. Often the church calls for "sound teaching" but often fails to live it. McKnight is one of my favorite biblical scholars ... he just happens to be able to write a good sentence too.

10)Donald Miller, Searching for God Knows What? Miller has a unique writing style. If you make it past the first chapter you are in for a real treat. Loved this book.

I have left off my books with John Mark Hicks (Kingdom Come and A Gathered People) but they make good presents too, ;-)

Well here are a few titles that have challenged and blessed my life. Perhaps if you get one or two of them for some one special they will be a blessing to them as well.

Shalom,
Bobby Valentine

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Reflections on the Weekend

What a holiday weekend! I have had Rachael and Talya all weekend long. We cooked Big Bird together (an 18lbs Turkey!!). We made home made stuffing (inside Big Bird). We made home made mashed potatoes. We had rolls (not home made) and pie ... we had fun peeling, chopping, cooking and finally eating. Thanksgiving was very different this year but it was still very good. I have never cooked any of those things before but now we have.

The girls and I ventured out on Black Friday (yikes!). We stopped in Best Buy and picked up Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and the new Guns n' Roses Chinese Democracy.

I find it interesting that three old bands have released new CDs in the last month or so and have blown the competition out of the water ... Metallica and AC/DC debuted at #1 and I believe GnR will too.

The girls and I took in Twilight on Saturday night. I had not clue what was going on.

The Moon, Venus and Jupiter were in conjunction this weekend too. Looked mighty pretty in the desert sky.

Guns N' Roses song "Sorry" has struck a powerful cord with me. I have posted the song below. In some ways it is a Postmodern lament ... here are some of the powerful lyrics:

You like to hurt me
You know that you do
You like to think
In some way
that its me An not you
(But we know that isn't true) ...

What were you thinking ...

You don't know why
I won't give in
To ++++ with the pressure
I'm not cavin' in ...

I'm sorry for you
Not sorry for me
You don't know who in the ++++ to
Or not to believe

You don't know who you can trust now
Or you should believe ...

You tell them stories they'd rather believe
Use an confuse them
They're numb and naive

Truth is the truth hurts
Don't you agree

Its harder to live
With the truth about you
Than to live with
The lies about me ...

I'm sorry for you
Not sorry for me
You don't know who in the ++++ to
Or not to believe
I'm sorry for you
Not sorry for me
You chose to hurt those that love you
An won't set them free
You chose to hurt those that love you ...

Some will miss the entire song because of a couple four letter words but I think it is incredibly powerful. Enjoy the song itself below.

There you have it.

Shalom,
Bobby V

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Guns N' Roses- Sorry

This is a great song from GnR's new album. The lyrics tell a rough and tough story of a person who has been mangled by another. There are some incredible lines in it ...

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Thoughts on Kissing

Beginning With A Story

A couple of high school sweethearts had been dating for a while. He was nervous and she was shy. That night sitting on the swing he decided to "boldly" make his move. "Can I kiss you goodnite?" She looked at him adoringly and simply gave him a big smile but said nothing. Not knowing how to interpret such language he thought maybe he said it badly. "MAY I kiss you goodnite?" Once again she dazzled him with her smile and tilted her head but still said nothing. Totally beside himself the poor fellow blurted, "Are you deaf?" She opened her eyes and simply said, "ARE YOU PARALYZED!"

Sometimes I have to wonder if we, who claim to be in the kingdom of God, are paralyzed too. Why can't we "kiss" our world? Over the last while I have seen how we in the church have done anything but kiss our culture, our world. Surveying a number of blogs and emails yesterday I quickly noted how often we are seen to be filled with vindictive rather than love. In a world that longs for relationship why do we have a hard time sharing the greatest definition of God ever conceived: God is love (1 Jn 4.8).

Are we as blind as the young man to the "signals" of our world that show that they are in fact ready to be loved ... to be kissed by God's People?

Kissing in Worship

In the Christian tradition the kiss was a sacred and even sacramental sign of love in worship. Not just peace but love. When we look through the New Testament there is in fact quite a bit of kissing. A relieved Father kisses his son (Lk 15.20); Jesus embraces the kisses of a prostitute and rebukes the church going Pharisee for his refusal (Lk 7.45). Paul and the Ephesian elders kissed one another in their tearful parting (Acts 20.37). Paul commands that the assembled Christians to great one another with a "holy kiss" (Rom 16.16; 1 cor 16.20; 2 Cor 13.12; 1 Thess 5.26) and the apostle Peter enjoins the same act upon Christians in northern Turkey (1 Pt 5.14).

In Jewish tradition, according to the Talmud, there were three basic kinds of kisses: one of greeting, leaving, and of respect. However such kisses were carefully circumscribed. In a fascinating article in New Testament Studies "The Sacred Kiss in the New Testament" William Klassen argues that Paul is the first teacher known to "instruct members of a mixed social group to greet each other with a kiss whenever or wherever they meet." He goes on to say there is no analogy in the ancient texts, Jewish or Greco-Roman, for the transformation of the kiss into a sign of the religious community.

This practice of kissing in worship continued as part of Christian worship. Justin Martyr tells us that after the prayers were completed that believers shared the kiss of love with one another. In the West the kiss was offered after taking the Eucharist or Lord's Supper. After sharing in the bread and the cup of salvation the church declared its oneness and love for each other with the kiss. Klassen tells us that the ritual of the "holy kiss" was a way of symbolizing to rich and poor, men and women, clean and unclean, morally pure and not so morally pure, that they were loved by God beyond anything they could imagine and that God's Spirit played no favorites. It is a public declaration of acceptance and radical love ... we are family! Kissing in worship was one of the distinctive traits of early Christianity. They shall know you are my disciples by your love. Klassen argues that the ritual must go back to Jesus himself because of its radical nature. I agree with him.

Christianity is a high touch and high love faith. This is radically symbolized by the kiss. When Jesus was willing to kiss the world, and Paul was willing to kiss (and even tell) and Peter was right there too ... the question comes to my mind again: Why do we have such a hard time "kissing" our world. Does the world, like the girl above, know we are ready to kiss it? If not then why not?

Just my thoughts for today,
Bobby V

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The Courage to Do the Right: Universityof Buffalo, A Bowl Game and Courage

The Courage to Do the Right

In 1958 a group of college football players at the University of Buffalo rejected a bid to play Florida St in the Tangerine Bowl because two African-American players on the team would not be allowed to play. Here is a video of the boys turned to men fifty years later. It is one of those many hidden victories for the kingdom of God. Watch this short video:



It is often the youth that show us our blindness. Here is a longer article about these men of valor. The article is on ESPN.com called "All or Nothing." We still pray ...

"Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven ... Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors" (Matt 6. 10, 12).

Shalom,
Bobby V

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Our Christian Nation? Christianity & The Founding Fathers

I share this post with a degree of hesitancy because many so are emotional to nearly the point of irrationality this subject. Any reasoned critique is seen as an attack.

The origin of this post is the hundreds of emails I have received in the last week or so about the election of Barack Obama. Chain mails, forwards, email list ... all with one thing in common. Some of the most recent emails hail the the notion that we are not a "Christian Nation" any more because Obama is either a Muslim or doesn't believe the Bible or (supply the reason). In the process some serious historical claims are made about the Founding Fathers, the role of Christianity in their thought, and related matters, often these claims are simply wrong, sometimes they are imposing meanings upon texts that were not there or intended by those who wrote them. It is true that Christianity has been the dominant religious expression of the European immigrants to this land but it is not true that this has been a "Christian Nation." It is one thing to say that most in the USA claimed to be Christians and another to say that the nation was "Christian" or that it was founded as such. The latter is false. This post does not defend Obama nor does it attack him I am interested in something else altogether. I would recommend a book, seriously, to all interested in what I write about though:

David Holmes, The Faiths of the Founding Fathers (Oxford University Press)

This is an outstanding book. It is fair, objective and solid. There are so many myths about the Revolutionary Era perpetuated by those on the right and those on the left. This book is more than worth the time to read and besides it is a good read.

It is fairly easy to find phrases like "principles of Christianity" in the writings of the Founders. The question is what did they mean by such talk. Lets think this through.

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson for example was clearly a theist. But a "Christian" Religious and committed to some kind of "morality" yep but historic Christianity ... I have a hard time with in light of his personalized "Jeffersonian Bible! In 1779 Jefferson introduced a "Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom" in the Virgina Assembly. This bill makes clear that the state has no authority to compel church attendance or even belief of any kind period. One's religion, or lack thereof, would have no bearing upon one's "civic standing." Here is one memorable paragraph,

"We ... do enact that no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened {sic} in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities." (A Documentary History of Religion in America to the Civil War, ed Edwin Gaustad) p. 261)

You are free to be religious or irreligious.

John Adams on May 26, 1797 submitted to Congress The Treaty of Tripoli. Article 11 below his name makes is clear as a bell what an official government document (ironically with a Muslim country) says.

"As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion ... (See the entire text here)

Adams wrote Jefferson many letters that help us understand what he means by "principles of Christianity. " On September 14, 1813 the former President wrote to the other former President

"...No Prophecies, no Miracles are necessary to prove this celestial communication. This revelation has made it certain that two and one make three; and that one is not three; nor can three be one. We can never be so certain of any Prophecy, or the fulfillment of any Prophecy; or of any miracle, or the design of any miracle as We are, from the revelation of nature i.e. natures God that two and two are equal to four.

Had you and I been forty days with Moses on Mount Sinai and admitted to behold the divine Shekinah, and there told that one was three and three was one: We might not have the courage to deny it, but We could not have believed it ...

I believe no such Things. My Adoration of the Author of the Universe too profound and too sincere. The Love of God and his Creation; delight Joy, Tryumph, Exultation in my own existence 'tho but an Atom, a Molecule Organique, in the Universe; are my religion. Howl, Snarl, bite, Ye Calvinistick! Ye Athanasian Divines, if You will. Ye will say, I am no Christian: I say Ye are no Christians: and there the Account is balanced. Yet I believe that all the honest men among you are Christians in my sense of the Word .." (A Documentary History, pp. 297-296)

The whole point of Adams is to deny the reality of Christian revelation in the Bible (i.e. prophecy, miracle, etc). He does not believe it because it does not give the certainty of science. His religion and his god is "nature's God." This is why he exclaims the orthodox Christians would deny his right to the word Christian ... which many did even in the 1790s.

James Madison

In 1785 Patrick Henry and others while rejecting a "Church of America" did want to have a statement about Christianity in general. They wanted Christianity to be recognized as the established religion of the commonwealth. In response to this effort Madison wrote his "Memorial and Remonstrance. " (full text here) This was not a good move in his opinion.

George Washington helps us in many ways by pointing to what he means by "Christian principles" too. In a letter sent to the General Assembly of Presbyterian Churches on May 26, 1789 the President wrote of his "dependence upon Heaven" and says that "piety, philanthropy, honesty, industry, and economy seems, in the ordinary course of human affairs particularly necessary for advancing and confirming the happiness of our country" (ibid, p. 277). These are "virtues" for sure but there is nothing uniquely or distinctly Christian about them. They are simply the necessary ingredients Washington thinks of having a stable society.

Again religious does not make "Christian." There is no doubt that Christianity has been the dominant religious expression of those who have lived in the USA but there can be little doubt, that the country was founded basically on deistic or even secular foundations. The kingdom of God is not identified with any nation state on planet Earth. The kingdom of God critiques all kingdoms ... Russia, Iraq, Germany, Japan and even the USA.

One more good book that goes beyond the Founders is Jon Meacham's American Gospel: God, The Founding Fathers and the Making of a Nation (Random House). This book traces the theme of religion and state far beyond the Founders but to the present and does so rather deftly.

Shalom,
Bobby Valentine

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Old woman shoots MP40 Machine gun

This is hilarious!! Grandma with a MP40 (WW II German sub machine gun)

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Here. There. Everywhere: Weekend Readings

Here, There. Everywhere: Weekend Readings

Here are a collection of writings on the net that range from interesting to challenging and all points in between.

Did you read of the Pastor's "Sex Challenge" to the married couples of his congregation. Find it here

India now joins the elite few of nations that have landed on the moon (here)

OPEC thinks oil is getting to cheap (here)

N. T. Wright's speech "Paul's Gospel and Caesar's Empire" bristles with insight into numerous Pauline texts (here) Maybe the gospel is political after all ...

Walter Brueggemann's essay "A Biblical Perspective on the Problem of Hunger" is stimulating too (here)

Clark Gilpin has authored a thoughtful essay on the past and future of the Churches of Christ in "Common Roots, Divergent Paths: The Disciples and Churches of Christ" (here). Can we learn anything about ourselves from a Disciple?? Do we have ears to hear??

Its Friday. Enjoy it.

Shalom,
Bobby V

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Philip Jenkins, The Lost History of Christianity: A Review

Philip Jenkins, The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia—and How It Died (HarperOne, 2008)

In the modern era, Christianity has been viewed as a “western” religion. And in particular it has been almost seen as European and now “American.” This has profound implications. Perhaps we are almost taken in this direction because of the Book of Acts traces, for theological purposes, the movement of the church from Jerusalem to Rome. Because of our cultural leanings we think of Charlemagne, the Venerable Bede, Francis of Assisi, and St. Patrick when we think of Christian history.

Yet Jerusalem is closer to Tehran than it is to Rome. Travel in the east was just as common as it was in the Roman Empire. Believers went East as well as West. Here is some perspective, in the 5th century, Merv (the largest city in the world in the 12th century located in Central Asia) was a great center for Christian thought and mission activity. In A.D. 500 Christian theologians in Merv were translating Greek and Syriac works into the languages of Central and Eastern Asia. Another tidbit, between 640 and 740 there were 6 popes who derived from Syria (not Europe).

Most of this Eastern Christianity was not Roman Catholic. As Rabban Bar Sauma (i.e. 1290 A.D.) wrote “No one has been sent to us Orientals by the Pope. The holy apostles aforesaid taught us and we still hold today what they handed down to us.” About the time of Charlemagne, Timothy was Patriarch of the Church of the East in the city of Seleucia (now in Iraq). His church spread into India and even China. As Jenkins notes, “the church operated in multiple languages: in Syriac, Persian, Turkish, Soghdian, and Chinese, but not Latin, which scarcely mattered outside western Europe” (p. 11). Timothy wrote “in these days the Holy Spirit has anointed a metropolitan for the Turks, and we are preparing to consecrate another one for the Tibetans.” How many Christians know that in the 17th century there was a pogrom against Japanese Christians in which tens of thousands of them were slaughtered?

It is sort of unsettling to know that “much of what we today call the Islamic world was once Christian.” It is sobering to reflect on the fact that Eastern scholars had a level of learning in 800 that would not be matched in Europe for another 500 years. As Jenkins puts it rather poignantly “literally, only a very few western Christian scholars at the time would have known how to hold the manuscripts: which way was up?”

Throughout The Lost History of Christianity we learn not only the inspiring story of when Christianity was truly a global religion we are confronted with the historical reality that it died in many places. Persecutions from Hindus, Muslims, and sundry others along the way are part of the story. But Christianity survived in many of these hostile environments for centuries so why did it virtually become extinct in many places. Jenkins writes that a bunker mentality” arose among many, “As the Nestorians demonstrated, Christianity lost most of its vigor, and became the cultural badge of yet another hill tribe. It was insular and radically sectarian, and had little sense of connection with the wider Christian world, except insofar as transnational churches were seen as predatory rivals” (p. 240). Sectarianism was a hindrance to the survival, nay the flourishing, of the Christian faith.

Jenkins has become one of my favorite scholars in the last five or six years. His book is not a work of original scholarship. Rather what he has done is mine specialist research and has presented it in a lucid, even eloquent, testimony to a long forgotten story. The pluses of this book are in a sense its drawbacks too. It is brief being a mere 240 pages of text plus endnotes. But it is that brevity that it is its strength because folks might read it. In so doing we are reminded that Christianity thrived around the world before it ever “conquered” Europe and became a North Atlantic entity. We are reminded yet again of the unique Eastern flavor of Christianity that is so painfully lost in the West. Latin and Medieval concepts have taken such deep root in our collective psyche that real early Christianity often looks “weird.” But Latin as one Easterner wrote was “a barbarian and Scythian language” that was unfit for Christian use. We all have our biases don’t we!

There are, of course, areas where I do not agree with Jenkins. But as a whole this book is one that should be read by Christians everywhere. If Jenkins can help us have a broader and deeper grasp of who we are as part of the Christian story, and he can help us recover the sense of belonging to a faith that cannot be separated from the East, and he can help us see long forgotten sacrifices in the name of Yeshua then I can only thank God. This is a book you should read.

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Beatles - Top Ten Non #1s

The Beatles - Top Ten Non #1s

Ok last Friday I posted a video and promised to list the best of the Beatles tunes that did not hit #1. This has proven to be a difficult exercise for me because there are so many songs that I like. The criteria was fairly simple: The song had to be performed by the Beatles and could not have have been included in 27 number 1 songs on the CD The Beatles 1. So I have collected my CDs, surfed YouTube, and jammed. One is struck by the breadth, development and (in my opinion) the quality of the music that in a few short years changed everything. So with these words I will list my the Stoned-Campbell Top Ten Non #1 Beatles songs ... Click on each title for a video on YouTube for that song ...

10) Please, Mr. Postman (cheezy I know)

9) Here Comes the Sun

8) Helter Skelter

7) While My Guitar Gently Weeps

6) Don't Let Me Down

5) Taxman (creative video by high school kids)

4) A Day in the Life (Mick Jagger makes an appearance)

3) Rain

2) Revolution

1) Strawberry Fields Forever

How would your Top Ten Non #1 look? Nearly the same? Radically different?

Shalom,
Bobby V

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Beatles - Rain

The Beatles were innovators. One area was making a video for a song. "Rain" is one of my favs that did not reach #1 nor was it ever released but was the "B" side of Paperback Writer.

In a few days I will be listing the "Best Beatles' Tunes" that did no reach #1. I have been struggling with this list for a few days because there is such a great and diverse body of work. Be thinking what your list would have for the Top Ten NON-#1 Beatles tunes.



Happy Friday,

Bobby V

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President Barack Obama

Thoughts on President Barack Obama: A Historic Election

Well it is, thankfully, finally over! We can all collectively exhale at least for a couple of months before some one decides to start campaigning again. This election, regardless of political affiliation, has been historic. The major candidates for the Democratic Party were a woman, Hillary Clinton, and an African-American, Barak Obama. The Grand Old Party (Republican) broke great new ground by including the ever popular (or scorned) Sarah Palin as the VP candidate. She will likely be a 2012 presidential candidate as she seems to have already indicated (see here)

I am not a Democrat and have never voted for a Democratic presidential candidate - well maybe just once. Neither am I a Republican. I do know however that Obama's election is a significant event. Today I read a number of "opinions" about the significance for race relations in the US of Obama's overwhelming victory. Three of them are Walter Fluker President Elect Barak Obama: Race Has Been Haunting This Election, Ron Fournier Obama's Transcendence is Beyond Race and Terry Edmonds "Our Journey from Disbelief to Hope to the White House" I have to agree that this election shows we have come a long way.

Within my own non-denomination denomination, the Churches of Christ, we have sometimes forgotten that race does not matter to God. Leon Burns delivered a sermon, published as a tract, at the West Seventh Street Church of Christ in Columbia, TN on March 24, 1957 with the edifying title "Why Desegregation Will Fail." Burns insists that he will present teaching "in the light of common sense, the teaching of God's word" and "what will be best for both races" (p. 1). He insists he will not deal in "prejudice." Burns gives a warped overview of the history of the NAACP and W.E.B. DuBois, blaming the Republican party for being for race equality and then most of all the Supreme Court for its decision of 1954. If it were not for the meddling of ignorant folks no "Negro" would ever have thought about equality. "Had this question been left to the Negroes themselves, it would have never come up" (p. 5).

The real goal of desegregation, according to Burns, is "free and unrestrained intermarriage between Negroes and Whites, and they will not be satisfied until they get it" (p. 6). Much ink is drained from the pen to make this point. Negroes do not care for equal education or economic advantages, the West Seventh Street Church was told, but when they are "whispered in the ear that they will be able to live with White women he is very interested" (p. 7). The only sure way to keep your little girl from marrying a "Negro" is "to teach that child from its first day in school that you do not want him to marry a Negro, and insist that he not form close social ties with Negro children" (p.9). We simply are not to have to do with the "African savage" (p. 13).

Well that was 1957. This passed for Gospel (!) preaching in many churches across this fair land and not just in Churches of Christ. It is something for which we should be ashamed and even confess as abhorrently sinful before the Father. Yes - the election of Barak Obama shows we have come a long way. The way was made by others and we should not forget that. George W. Bush, all partisanship aside, has appointed more African Americans and "minorities" to high level positions than any American president before him (this includes Bill Clinton). Colin Powell and Condelezza Rice are but two examples of grace and competence. Bush's African Policy (see here) is the most robust in history though it has been completely overshadowed by 9/11 and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

My thoughts were stimulated by secular authors suggesting that this election is of historic importance for race relations in America. I think they are correct. Both African-Americans and women changed the way we think about who can be a candidate for the Oval Office. My prayers are with President Elect Obama and the beautiful First Lady Michelle.

May the God who is Lord of All and Overlord of History itself grant wisdom, compassion and humility to the man who will be the most powerful man on the planet ... who happens to be black. We've come along way since Leon Burns sermon at West Seventh Street Church of Christ. I suspect there is more work, yet, to be done. But we give glory to God for the progress that has been made.

Shalom,
Bobby Valentine

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Van Halen - Crossing Over

A hard to come by track that would have been on Balance. I like the music. It is moving and reflective.

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Out Loud Musings On Jude

Out loud Musings on Jude

Good commentaries on Jude are few and far between. Richard Bauckham's in the Word Biblical series is the best I have seen. Of course there are numerous mediocre commentaries but the good ones are a little rarer to find. There are a number of helpful articles on Jude out there too.

There are a number of issues that surround this small letter. Significant issues in fact. I have come to the conclusion, based both on the actual character of the work and v. 17 that the readers of Jude are second or third generation folk in the Christian faith. Thus this book dates probably after A.D. 80 and perhaps later. The content of the book reflects, in my view, the beginning of what became the gnostic heresy (Kummel calls it "libertine-Gnostic[ism], Intro to the NT, p. 426). The mention of Cain is interesting in light of the trend of some Gnostics that turned Cain into a hero (they were called "Cainites"). But we must be careful of reading things back into the text yet if Jude is late first century then there is a connection with the teachers that Ignatius is concerned about too.

Keeping firmly grounded in the historical context helps us not to abuse v.3 and make it a proof text on instrumental music. Jude is concerned about the heart of the faith. Often we overlook the marvelous "envelope" that clothes the letter. The front of the envelope is v.1b in the phrase "kept by Jesus Christ". The back of the envelope is the doxology in vv. 24-25 ... "to him who is able to KEEP you from falling ..." It is indicative perhaps of an imbalance when we can recite v. 3 in our sleep and have never heard of v.1b or 24-25.

Three big "critical" issues surround Jude. The first one is the relationship to 2 Peter 2. If you have never done this xerox 2 Pt 2 and Jude and lay them side by side. You are in for an interesting read. Clearly somebody "used" somebody here. Most today believe it was 2 Pt that used Jude.

The other two issues regard Jude's use of the Assumption of Moses and First Enoch. These are not books most will find in the table of contents of their Bible's. In fact most today simply have never heard of them ... even though at one time they were some what popular among Christians.

Now if it is gnosticism that is the ultimate root of the problem in Jude then v.9 makes some sense. It was the "body" that Michael disputed with Satan about. This is important. Gnostics believed the body (human flesh) was worthless and redemption for them was the ultimate shedding of flesh/body. But Jude shows it was not the SPIRIT of Moses that was in dispute but the BODY of Moses (cf Rom 8.23. Ironically most Evangelicals are closer to gnosticism than biblical Christianity on this point). God cared about the body of Moses.

Themes from First Enoch under-gird the entire epistle not simply v.14. Some folks have a really difficult time with Jude quoting First Enoch. And there are some issues that it raises. One person I read tried to down play the issue by pointing out that Paul also quoted Greek poets. This is shallow thinking. Paul does quote the poets. However Paul does not say that the poets "prophesied" about the current situation of a congregation. Therein lies the issue.

Jude first refers to Enoch though in v.4. Jude reads, "For certain men whose condemnation was WRITTEN ABOUT long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign Lord."

Jude indicates here that there is a "written" source for discussing the false teachers. First Enoch 67.10, which in context is talking about some evil men, says "the judgment shall come upon them, because they believe in the debauchery of their bodies and deny the spirit of the Lord."

Interestingly enough v.12 mentions Michael, which comes up soon in Jude too. Jude finds this text and applies it to his own situation. Later he not only refers to Enoch but directly quotes the text in v.14. "Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men, 'See the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone and to convict all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him."

First Enoch 1.9f reads: "Behold he {the Lord} will arrive with ten million of the holy ones in order to execute judgment upon all. He will destroy the wicked ones and censure all flesh on account of everything they have done, that which the sinner and the wicked ones committed against him."

I have not made up my mind about the significance of Jude's use of Enoch. His application of the book to the beginnings of the gnostic controversy is interesting and revealing. This little book challenges us to really understand the nature of our own faith. The faith that was delivered "once" to the "saints" is Jewish in orientation. It was born, bred and matured in a Jewish matrix. We need to embrace the full wealth of that heritage. Probably the biggest reorientation that will occur if this takes place is our conception of "spirituality." Greek philosophy and Gnosticism defined spirituality as "immateriality." Such a false belief led to two extremes in the early church that remains with us to this very day:

1) If spirituality is concerned only with "spiritual things" or "immaterial things" (souls) then what is done in the body does not matter. There were Gnostics that were both ascetics and some that were libertine ... two sides of the same coin. Both deny the value of the material or see it as tainted and worthless ... to be shed because it has no "eternal" value. This Jude rejects explicitly.

2) The historic church, while rejecting Gnosticism, has failed to screen out all the stuff that makes it possible. Thus monasticism and the attendant denial of "things" is at the most fundamental level a rejection or a radical downplaying of the spirituality of the material. Contemporary Christians still buy into this when they assume they are doing something spiritual by praying but not by feeding the poor.

Jude embraces the full wealth of the Jewish heritage of Christianity. He does it by embracing the doctrine of creation (i.e. remember it was the BODY of Moses that Michael was after). He also does this by using Jewish tradition ... even outside the canonical Hebrew Bible to address his readers.

May we also embrace our Jewish heritage ...

Shalom,
Bobby Valentine

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Waynes World-Bohemian Rhapsody

Hey its Halloween!! For fun here is one of the great scenes from one of the great classics ... Wayne's World.

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Jubilee and the Story of God: Our Task & Identity in the World

Redeemed refugees should make good neighbors. This is the point of the vast teaching in the Bible on justice towards the poor and the oppressed.

It has been noted that God's people are often characterized as aliens within this fallen world. Near the beginning of the story, God's people were literal slaves, literally without rights, literally without justice, literally without hope. There arose a Pharaoh who oppressed them and suppressed their growing presence in Egypt. These outcasts lived in perpetual fear. The oppressor brutalized them through a reign of terror, aiming at the destruction of innocent Israelite children. This tyranny became the context of Israel's salvation. It became the greatest moment of redemption in human history until the advent of the Messiah. And it is, biblically, the paradigm for the Messiah's own redemption.

The Great Act of Jubilee Grace: Yahweh Sets the Captives Free

"So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor . . .They made their lives bitter with hard labor . . . in all their hard labor the Egyptians used them ruthlessly . . . The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help went up to God. God heard their groaning. . . So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them. . . Then the Lord said, 'I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers . . . So I have come downto rescue them . . . Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Go tell Pharaoh and say to him, "This is what the Lord says: Let my people go" (Ex 1.11-13; 2.23-25; 3.7-8; 8.1, NIV).

God redeemed slaves. God was moved by the cry of the powerless. The amazing story of the Exodus was the response of the Lord of grace to oppression. This marvelous act of redemption by God is the basis of Israel's own way of life as God's people. They were "saved by grace" in this moment of God's great act. They were redeemed slaves. They had experienced the euphoria of deliverance from a life of bondage. A people redeemed share redemption with other slaves.

Israel would never forget the Gospel of the Exodus.[1] The book of Deuteronomy has the Exodus inter-woven through its teaching to its very core. Deuteronomy bears witness to the Great Story of gracious redemption  (the Exodus), the Great Commandment (love God with our very being), and the Great Society (loving our neighbors). The Ten Commandments (i.e. Words in Deuteronomy) are rooted in the grace of God (Deut 5.6) and the Sabbath commandment in particular.  Sabbath rest was to be granted to sons, daughters, servants, resident aliens (i.e. non-Israelites) even animals because "you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord your God brought you out with a mighty hand" (Deut 5.15). Thus the Sabbath bridges Loving God and Loving our neighbor.

Channels of Mercy Into the Fallen World: Israel's Task in the Hebrew Bible

In reminding Israel of what it means to be the people of God, Moses states that they were to be a people of a circumcised hearts (Deut 10.16) and defenders of the aliens (Deut 10.18). Moses first reminds them of the uniqueness of Yahweh, "He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing." The people of God must follow God's own example - this is how he treated THEM.  So Moses, after declaring God's own priority, commands Israel  "And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt" (Deut. 10.18-19). Israel, the rescued - redeemed and graced! - alien, was to be God's instrument in caring for other aliens. To be an instrument of grace and shalom to their neighbors.  To be the people of God is to be the channel of mercy into the fallen world.

The Psalmists impress upon the minds of Israelites the place the poor have in the heart of Yahweh through their liturgy, that is their corporate worship.  Redeemed slaves are constantly living breathing sabbaths in the world.  They are to become Jubilees! God set them free - they are now the tool of grace to set others free.  The following sampling represents an aspect of God's worship that is, perhaps, missing in our contemporary assemblies.

Rise up, O LORD; O God, lift up your hand;
do not forget the oppressed . . .
But you do see! Indeed you note trouble and grief,
that you may take it into your hands;
The helpless commit themselves to you;
you have been the helper of the orphan . . .
O LORD, you will hear the desire of the meek;
you will strengthen their heart,
You will incline your ear to do justice
for the orphan and the oppressed,
So that those from earth may strike terror
no more.
(Ps 10.12-18)

Father of orphans, defender of widows,
such is God in his holy dwelling;
God gives the lonely a permanent home,
makes prisoners happy by setting them free
(Ps 68.5-6, Jerusalem Bible)

May he judge your people with righteousness,
and your poor with justice.
May the mountains yield prosperity for the people,
and the hills, in righteousness.
May he defend the cause of the poor of the people,
and give deliverance to the needy,
and crush the oppressor . . .
For he delivers the needy when they call,
the poor and those who have no helper.
He has pity on the weak and the needy,
and saves the lives of the needy.
From oppression and violence he redeems their life;
and precious is their blood in his sight.
(Ps 72.2-4; 12-14)

He upholds the cause of the oppressed
and gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets prisoners free,
the Lord gives sight to the blind,
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down,
the Lord loves the righteous.
The Lord watches over the alien
and sustains the fatherless and
the widow . . .
The Lord reigns forever . . .
(Ps 146.7-10, NIV)

The prophets are laced with protests against religion that has a form of godliness but missed its power (2 Tim 3.5). Amos preached to a religious Israel. Israel was meticulous in her technical obedience to the forms of religion. Yet the society of his day allowed seizure of the poor's land (Amos 2.7; cf. Micah 2.2), debt slavery (Amost 2.6), abuse of the courts in favor of the powerful (Amos 5.10, 15), sexual abuse of women (Amos 2.7b), and exploitation of the working poor (Amos 8.4-6).

The prophet Jeremiah, like Moses before him, forces Israel to ask what it means to be the people of God. Does having the temple and the altar make us his people? Does having a hill called Zion? Jeremiah says these are misplaced anchors of identity. Jeremiah declares that to know God, to be God's people, is nothing less than to live by God's values. Redeemed refugees, who know God, love other refugees. In a powerful oracle Jeremiah weeps for God's wayward people (Jer 22.13-16, NIV) ... indeed Jeremiah sounds much like Jesus on one occasion when he told a similar story ...

Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness,
his upper rooms by injustice,
Making his countrymen work for nothing,
not paying them for their labor.
He says, 'I will build myself a great palace
with spacious upper rooms.'
So he makes large windows in it,
panels it with cedar and decorates it in red.
Does it make you a king to have more and more cedar?
Did not your father have food and drink?
he did what was right and just,
so all went well with him.
He defended the cause of the poor and needy,
and so all went well.
Is this not what it means to know me?'
declares the Lord.

Jesus and the Jubilee of God

The Gospels paint the ministry of Jesus in complete harmony with this emphasis on Good News of Jubilee justice in the Old Testament. Yahweh heard the cry of the oppressed and acted to save Israel. Jesus claims that language to describe his own ministry. Quoting from Isaiah 61, Jesus says (Luke 4.18-19)

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed 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.

The mission of Jesus was to release the oppressed. His mission is the same as Yahweh's in the Old Testament. Luke stresses, throughout his Gospel, the connection between the year of Jubilee and Jesus.[2] One of the many ways Luke does this is through his use of the word "save." Many modern Christians understand "salvation" in almost a totally other worldly sense (really a Platonic sense). Salvation, in this view, is only the forgiveness of sin and going to heaven. While this is one dimension of salvation it is far from the robust biblical doctrine. This truncated doctrine relegates ministry to the poor and oppressed as matters of secondary importance. But the ministry of Jesus, as well as the Law and the Prophets, calls that conclusion into question. Fully one fourth of the uses of the word "save" in the Gospels describe Jesus' miracles of healing. Examples of those "saved" include blind Bartimaeus (Mk. 10.52) and the man with the withered hand (Mk 3.4-5). Luke uses "salvation" to describe the healing of the centurion's servant (7.3), the sinful woman (7.50), the restoration of the demoniac (8.36), and the resurrection of a dead girl (8.50). Many more examples could be cited.

Jesus' encounter with Zacchaeus shows Luke's wider Jubilee emphasis. Luke 19 tells the story of a zealous tax collector. He had piled up riches through corrupt taxation in which the Roman land lords allowed local subcontractors to collect more taxes than they passed onto Rome. Yet when Zacchaeus encountered Jesus, he was radically changed. He returned four times the amount he had taken through corrupt means. Then he gave half of his goods to the poor. Luke caps the story off with Jesus' words, "Today salvation has come to this house" (19.9).

Salvation is understood squarely against the backdrop of Jubilee. Through healing the sick, feeding the poor, and releasing the oppressed, Jesus proclaims the good news, the Gospel of God's grace. It is not merely his words, but deeds that declare the good news of the kingdom. Luke describes salvation as new life, wholeness, forgiveness and healing.[3]

Jubilee and Us: Channels of Mercy

Jesus followed his Father's example in releasing the oppressed. He also called the people of God, as Moses did before him, to be concerned about the powerless, the hungry, and dispossessed. To be Jubilee people. The parable of the Sheep and the Goats (Mt 25.31-46), in view of what we have discovered, is no afterthought for Jesus. This parable reveals God's concern for the oppressed, Jesus' identification with the poor, and our fellowship with the poor is ministry to Christ himself. Matthew 25 reinforces the claim of Jesus that "justice, mercy and faithfulness" are in fact the "weightier matters of the law" (Mt 23.23). Like Moses, Amos and Jeremiah, Jesus says being God's people does not rest on mere ritual and form but on doing what God does.  Being a redeemed slave means we are channels of mercy into God's world.  We continue the very mission of Jesus recorded in Luke.  We are the Year of Jubilee even as we wait for final eschatological redemption by divine fiat.

God's people receive everything by grace. Their status as a family in the kingdom of God is through grace. They have received gifts of grace in the form of material wealth. They have been saved by grace, not just from sins, but from an age enslaved to greed, narcissism, and mammon. We who have been redeemed from such an "empty way of life" (1 Pet 1.18) gladly love and serve the oppressed aliens in our midst.

From this survey, which is ever so brief, I conclude that David Lipscomb was essentially correct in his views ... as challenging as they are.

Notes:

[1] The Exodus has continued to be a powerful symbol of redemption for people through the centuries. Of interest is the different ways white Christians have read the story and they way black slaves in America interpreted it. A sensitive telling of these two contrasting interpretations can be found in David W. Kling, The Bible in History: How the Texts Have Shaped the Times (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 193-229.

[2] James A. Sanders and Craig Evans, Luke and Scripture: The Function of Sacred Tradition in Luke-Acts (Augsburg/Fortress, 1993), 84-94; John Howard Yoder, The Politics of Jesus (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972), 64-77. For an insightful treatment of the ethical value of the year of Jubilee in the Old Testament see Christopher J. H. Wright, Walking in the Ways of the Lord: The Ethical Authority of the Old Testament (Downers Grove, IVP, 1996).

[3] Ronald J. Sider, Good News and Good Works: A Theology for the Whole Gospel (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1999), 89.


P.S. there is more information about Jubilee and living out the kingdom vision in my book with John Mark Hicks, Kingdom Come: Embracing the Spiritual Legacy of David Lipscomb and James Harding

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