Environmental Holiness
I have a confession to make. Most of the time, my blogs just reflect whatever I’m trying to process myself. I’m definitely not an expert on the history of Israel, I haven’t been an activist concerning abuse in the church before, and I’m always talking to other pastors trying to get multiple sides of the story because I just don’t know what I don’t know. Over Christmas break, there were a series of events that caused me to really think about something called environmental holiness. At least that’s the fancy way to really talk about should we recycle.
I visited my sister in California who just had her second kid. In her house, they have two trash cans, and on the wall above each trash can they had drawn “landfill” with a frowny face, and “glass, paper, plastic” over the other one with the recycle symbol. I’ve never been so convicted of a stupid frowny face in my life. It got compounded by all the things that Californians do on a regular basis that caught me off guard. They used biodegradable straws everywhere, the grocery store didn’t give you bags, forcing you to either bring your own reusable bags or buy them from the store, they promoted carpooling with HOV lanes and parking centers and phone numbers all designed to reduce pollution (but probably mostly traffic, because traffic is awful).
Then, in one of my youth pastor groups, someone asked what our views on the theology of recycling was. There was mostly support for recycling, people would quote some scripture about God placing man as care takers of the earth and it seemed like a positive conversation… until we found out the reason it was brought up in the first place. This guy’s pastor had thrown away some trash in the youth’s recycling bin and said “well the Earth is only temporary”. And there it was, while we were all assuming that recycling lined up with just about any interpretation of the Bible from specific verses to broad strokes, we were faced with there are people who can still take another stance on scripture and come to the complete opposite conclusion.
To be clear, even thought the Bible never specifically addresses recycling, I personally think that you can make very strong arguments that environmental holiness is a thing and that God cares about how we treat the world. Recycling is one aspect of that. But at some point, if you really have to go to the lengths of hermeneutics and exegesis to determine if you should recycle there are some bigger issues. We shouldn’t have to invoke God to come to the conclusion we need to take care of His creation.
One of the more curious things I’ve been dealing with is that non Christians tend to have a very different set of moral standards, or at least a different cause for those standards. They don’t steal, not because the Bible says “thou shall not steal” but because they inherently understand that that hurts the other person. California, one of the more unchurched states in America, has this inherent understanding that we should protect the earth, not because God created it, but because they want their kids to breath clean air, see the great barrier reef, or just be able to go outside and enjoy nature.
So I guess the real question isn’t “Would God want us to recycle?” and then we research that and try to make Bible verses fit into our modern day context. Rather, I think we should be asking ourselves “how is it the rest of the world already understands the need and importance of this but we are still trying to Biblically justify it?”
While it’s a little late for New Years resolutions, I still think this is the perfect time to start being more aware of how wasteful we all are. Take those extra two steps to throw your bottle into the recycling bin (or better yet, use a reusable bottle), buy an extra trash can and mark it recycling, or just bring your own bags to Walmart next time.
Give Thanks
The holiday season has ended, the lights are put away, or plans are in process to put away the lights, and the ornaments are wrapped so they will not break and be opened up with anticipation for next year.
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. No presents just get together and enjoy a meal and each other’s company. One of my favorite stories is of a grandson who asked his grandfather if he would like to join him for a prayer. Grandpa said yes I would, “Do you want me to pray?” Grandpa asked. Grandson said no I would. As they both kneeled down to pray at the coffee table, the grandson said “Dear Lord…………..Thank you. Amen.
Just simple. How many times have we made events more complicated than they should be?
As we begin this New Year, with new expectations, do not let the busy-ness of our lives take over. Just because we are busy does not mean we are productive or focused. In all circumstances, we are to pray.
Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. Philippians 4:6-7
I have a bad tendency of losing my keys. There is something about misplacing something you know you just had in your hands, and it cannot be found, and it is nowhere in sight. I know I am not the only one that does this. So many times I have just sat down and calmed down, gathered my thoughts and my keys are just where I left them, right in front of me. We all do it. We find ourselves worked up, sometimes to a boiling point over the smallest things. God is right there with us through the great times, the hard times, the times we are mad at God and those times we are too busy to say thanks.
“Am I only a God nearby,” declares the Lord, and not a God far away? Jeremiah 23:23
So as this New Year is underway, and we have all wrote 2017 in the past week somewhere and had to erase it and put 2018. Do not let our lives get so caught up in ourselves we forget to give thanks. Look around and count your blessings. We are blessed.
And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:17
God Bless,
Mike Conrad
Mike Conrad serves as our Worship Director. When he's not preparing for worship or playing an instrument, he enjoys spending time with his wife boating and fishing. Learn more about Mike here.
City of Peace?
On Dec. 6th, President Trump made the following announcement, “Today we finally acknowledge the obvious: that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital… This is nothing more or less than a recognition of reality. It is also the right thing to do. It’s something that has to be done.” Over 20 days later many of us still have more questions than answers. I’m guessing some of the more common questions are: isn’t Jerusalem already the capital? Shouldn’t we support Israel? Why is this a big deal? So here are five things that you might need to know about Jerusalem. (Warning: This is a heavy history post)
1. Jerusalem is one of the most important cities in three major world religions.
And this is why Jerusalem is such a fought over area. The three major religions are Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. All three of these religions trace their roots back to Abraham, and from Abraham to King David who first captured the city between 1005-999 BCE. For the Jews, this is where the temple was built, where Abraham almost sacrificed Isaac, and where most religious festivals are centered. For Christians, in addition to the Jewish significance, it is the place where Jesus spent a lot of his time teaching and healing people in the temple courts, performed miracles, had the last supper, prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, was crucified, resurrected and ascended into Heaven. For Muslims, Jerusalem, more specifically the Dome of the Rock, is where Muhammad ascended to Heaven and received the second pillar of Islam (praying five times a day). And since Abraham, David, Solomon, and Jesus are also prophets in Islam, the city carries significance for many of the same reasons that Christians hold it significant.
2. Jerusalem has rarely belonged just to the Jews.
To say Jerusalem has seen some hardship is an understatement. When David first took Jerusalem 3000 years ago, it belonged to the Jebusites, and therefore wasn’t part of the land allotted among the 12 tribes. This meant that David could set it up as the capital city to signify a united Israel and not show favoritism to one tribe over another. When the kingdom divided in 930 BCE after Solomon’s death, Jerusalem became the capital of the Kingdom of Judea. Judah was conquered by the Babylonians in 586 BCE, and many Jews were exiled. Enough Jews returned to Jerusalem between 538-515 BCE that they were able to rebuild the temple. Alexander the Great conquered Jerusalem again 332 BCE, and it remained under Greek rule until the Romans captured it in 63 BCE. Israel remained under Roman rule, and then Byzantine rule until 614 CE. It was mainly under Arab rule until the Crusades where Christians and Muslims fought for hundreds of years over religiously significant sites. The Mamluks controlled Jerusalem from about 1291-1516 (if you’ve never heard of the Mamluk it’s ok, I hadn’t either). The Ottoman Empire took control for the next 400 years before losing it to the British during World War One.
This is where we come to the crux of the current conflict. In 1947 the United Nations came up with a plan for the British Mandate to be terminated and for Jerusalem to become an international state, or “corpus separated.” Basically, the plan was for Jerusalem to not be owned or controlled by any one group of people. This would allow all three religions to have access to their holy sites and have some benefits for the Palestinians and Jews. The Jewish Agency for Palestine accepted the plan, but Arab leaders refused to sign anything that had any form of territorial division. This started the Arab-Israeli wars, which saw Jerusalem declared the capital of Israel in 1949, and the final Arab-Israeli war was a six-day war in 1967 in which Israel declares Jerusalem unified and gets us pretty close to today’s current state of affairs. All in All, Jerusalem has been “destroyed at least twice, besieged 23 times, attacked an additional 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times," according to Eric H. Cline’s tally in Jerusalem Besieged.
3. There is a difference in the nation of Israel and the decedents of Israel.
This might seem obvious, but I think this is an important distinction to make. During all of the conflicts, exiles, and conquests (not to mention marriages) very few people can tell you which of the 12 tribes they descended from. Even before Jesus’ time, several people converted to Judaism (Esther 8:17 gives us one of those instances) and what we call the Old Testament was translated into Greek which leads to many Greeks becoming converts who were later called Gentiles. GotQuestions.org has this to say:
“It is a common misunderstanding that following the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem in the Jewish-Roman wars of ad 70 and 135, the Jews of Palestine were driven from the land as a people and that modern diaspora Jews are their descendants. There never was a great “dispersion” or “mass exile” of Jews following the Jewish-Roman wars of ad 70 and 135. Most of the Jews were “people of the land”… peasant farmers indifferent to politics but devoted to their homeland. Keeping a low profile, they remained in Palestine, many becoming Christians and Muslims under Byzantine and Arab rule. As mentioned earlier, Jews of the Diaspora, including the ancestors of today’s northern European, Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazim, continued to be largely the descendants of proselytes. Today, dark-eyed, brown-skinned Palestinians are more likely to be Abraham’s physical descendants than the light-skinned northern European Ashkenazim displacing them.”
Even today, about a quarter or Israel’s population is non-Jewish. I bring this up to try to accentuate the difference between a people group and a political state. Support for Israel is not synonymous with support of God’s people.
4. The word you are looking for is Zionist.
It’s a pretty common belief among Christians that Israel belongs to the Jews. This hasn’t always been the case though, and it has gained a lot of popularity in America since the formation of the Moral Majority the 1970’s and a famous televangelist saying in 1980 that “I firmly believe God has blessed America because America has blessed the Jew. If this nation wants her fields to remain white with grain, her scientific achievements to remain notable, and her freedom to remain intact, America must continue to stand with Israel.” A Zionist wants Jewish people to return to Israel to claim their homeland according to the Bible. A Christian Zionist sees this as one of the steps required for Jesus to return to Earth.
Another term you might hear in this conversation is Dispensationalist Christian, which is a view that Christianity has restored lost elements of Judaism. Again, Jews returning to Jerusalem is a big step to the end of the world. However, in this scenario, two thirds of the Jews will die, and the other third will convert to Christianity. Both Zionists and Dispensationalist Christians have ulterior motives for their support of Israel. Whether it comes from a gratitude for being part of the Christian story, hopes in speeding up the coming of Jesus, or hoping to eventually convert the Jews to Christianity, their support of the nation of Israel has very little to do with the country of Israel itself, and in fact their political stances are usually very different (Jews leaning more liberal while Zionists and Dispensationalist are more conservative).
If you are looking for more information or things to look into yourself, another major view is Supersessionism, or Replacement Theology, in which Christians have “replaced” the Jews as God’s chosen people.
5. The Methodist church has made an official statement concerning Jerusalem.
The full statement can be found here. However, this is an excerpt:
“The decision by the President of the United States to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move the US embassy there goes against 70 years of consensus within the international community that Jerusalem should be an international city, a city of peace, open to people of all faiths. As pilgrims who have ourselves visited Jerusalem, we know first hand the deep significance it holds for people of many faiths.
The United Nation’s partition plan adopted November 29, 1947, called for Jerusalem and Bethlehem to be a corpus separatum (a separate entity) that would be open to all. Today, not one government has its embassy in Jerusalem. Every U.S. president from Truman until now has affirmed that any final status of Jerusalem must embrace such openness and be negotiated by Israel and the Palestinian people.
United Methodists have long supported the international consensus that the things that make for just and lasting peace in the Middle East must include a shared Jerusalem. Our General Conference declares: “Jerusalem is sacred to all children of Abraham: Jews, Muslims, and Christians. We have a vision of a shared Jerusalem, as a city of peace and reconciliation, where indigenous Palestinians and Israelis can live as neighbors and, along with visitors and tourists, have access to holy sites and exercise freedom of religious expression. The peaceful resolution of Jerusalem’s status is crucial to the success of the whole process of making a just and lasting peace between Palestinians and Israelis.”
Power of Praise
On a typical Thursday night usually, the praise team meets to rehearse for the upcoming Sunday. We all walk into rehearsal with that week’s burdens, or joy’s on our shoulders. Just before we begin, I normally say a short prayer asking God to guide our hearts and instruments to a place where we will honor God with our efforts. Now I will be very honest; there have been nights where I feel my personal worries were so heavy on my shoulders I was questioning how I would lead the rest of the team. All who know me know I carry my heart on my sleeve. If something is on my heart, I will share it, good or bad.
Here is the amazing thing which happens when we lay our troubles down to the Lord. He will ease the load!
During our rehearsal time, we will typically run over each song three times sometimes more. And by the end of the rehearsal, each musician will realize when we began playing the songs they were a bit rough. However, by the time we finish, we feel we are giving out best to God. And if it is not our best we will not do the song on Sunday. We are to bring our first fruits to the lord. An amazing transformation happens in the hour and a half or two hours we are rehearsing. If we truly are living what we are singing all the stuff we are bringing to rehearsal has eased up and God has lightened my load.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
If we honestly bring our open hearts to worship and ask for Gods help and sing his praises, those burdens, we entered with become lighter.
In the Bible, in 2 Chronicles chapter 20 Jehoshaphat is going to battle a massive army. Jahaziel, son of Zechariah, stood and told King Jehoshaphat God says “this is not your battle but Gods. Have faith.” Jehoshaphat sent the musicians out in front of the army to sing praise to God.
“Early in the morning, they left for the Desert of Tekoa. As they set out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, Judah and people of Jerusalem! Have faith in the Lord your God, and you will be upheld; have faith in his prophets, and you will be successful.” After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying:
“Give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures forever.”
As they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated.”
We are just normal everyday people, but the power of praising God is an unstoppable force. Too many times we are put into situations, and we are telling ourselves we have everything under control. Let’s be real; we are not in control. What we do have is the power to step back and ask God for help, guidance. God has never left you or will forsake you. If we ask for God’s will, we are trusting him no matter what the outcome.
“But I trust in you, Lord; I say, “You are my God.”
My times are in your hands; deliver me from the hands of my enemies, from those who pursue me”
Some of my quiet, genuine moments on the platform is early on Sunday morning when no one is in the sanctuary. Just God, me and the piano. For me singing praise to our father is a way of surrendering to his will and laying my heart out.
You do not have to be on a platform to have those moments with God. You just have to make yourself available.
God does not ask us to be biblical scholars; he just wants us to give thanks, spend time with him and come to him with humility.
Mike Conrad serves as our Worship Director. When he's not preparing for worship or playing an instrument, he enjoys spending time with his wife boating and fishing. Learn more about Mike here.
#ChurchToo
Christmas Eve is one of the biggest days for churches. In our church alone we’ll see about three hundred people more than we usually do on a Sunday. Even though most of America’s traditions point otherwise, we celebrate Christmas because Jesus was born in Bethlehem to the virgin Mary. If you read Matthew 1:19-26 you’ll see one of the two passages in the entire Bible that talk about that virgin birth. I don’t know how many sermons I’ve heard on Joseph being a good guy for trying to dismiss her privately or secretly instead of public shame and disgrace, but there is a new hashtag on twitter called #ChurchToo that has completely changed the way I see this story now.
You might have heard of the #MeToo that came around a few weeks ago, and all of the Hollywood accusations going around, and closer to home we have Roy Moore’s accusations. They all involve sexual abuse, some have publicly apologized, some have flat out denied the accusations, but it’s been hard to watch. But then I came across #ChurchToo, and my heart broke. Here are a few excerpts:
“When I was in college, a male Sunday school teacher taught my class that rape wouldn’t exist if women just learned to say yes more often.”
This sentence plays in my head every single day. #ChurchToo
A teacher and an esteemed member of the baptist church in grew up in was caught with a student. 4th grade. Others came forward. The church protected him. My best friend was one of his victims. She committed suicide in High School. #ChurchToo
I was 13 and the pastor’s daughter. A prominent church member molested me, and I reported him to the church. The church covered it up, fired my father, and made the church member an elder. #ChurchToo
That and, questions like "what were you wearing?", "did you lead him on?", "are you sure it was rape- did he *actually* penetrate?" from my Campus Crusade for Christ (Cru) leader #ChurchToo
A guy I met at my church’s junior high camp sent me sexually explicit emails about how he’d molested his sister’s friend while she was asleep. He was proud to finally be brave enough for his “confession.” I got in trouble for opening the emails. #ChurchToo
At a friend’s youth group, in response to a talk on purity and modesty, l went with tears in my eyes to a female volunteer. I shared that l had been raped and felt shame about not being pure. She responded by asking if l had repented of my role in what happened. #ChurchToo
I wish that these were the worst or the majority of the stories shared, but they aren’t even close. There are literally hundreds of stories shared, most of them without mentioning names or churches involved, and therefore having no ulterior motives for the person sharing. The fact that I feel the need to specify that these women who are finally sharing their experiences with churches and abuse don’t have a reason to make up these stories is sickening. This isn’t a witch hunt; this isn’t thousands of people from all over the world unifying to bring down the church with made up stories. This is people opening up about times the church, the people who claim to follow him, got it wrong and stopped being the bride of Christ.
Yes, the Bible talks about modesty. It also talks about cutting off body parts that cause you to sin (Matthew 5:29), being better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone around your next if you cause a little one to stumble (Luke 17:2), and killing the rapist and protecting the woman from shame (Deut. 22:25-27). And just for the record, the verses right before and after that last one do not say that a rapist gets to marry his victim and just pay off the father, it’s more along the lines of two consenting people having sex before marriage and having to stay committed to each other (Hebrew words don’t always translate nicely into English).
Some of the other misogynistic misinterpretations of the Bible have to deal with Eve being the sole reason sin entered the world (Adam ate the fruit right along with her and Romans 5:12 says it was when he sinned that sin entered the world, not when Eve sinned), wives submitting to their husbands (which is not the same thing as submitting to abuse) and women not being able to speak in church (some denominations still believe this means women can’t be pastors, even though there has long been solid exegesis to show that Paul didn’t mean all women for all time).
The church has a very real problem. We claim to believe “in Jesus Christ, [God’s] only son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of the virgin Mary”. One of our core beliefs is believing that a teenage girl didn’t have sex with her fiancé. We praise her fiancé for not wanting to shame her even though it had to be difficult. In our own modern lives, some have little hesitation in saying women are just liars when it comes to sexual assault. We take their pain and their bravery and twist it around to make them out to be the bad guy. And at our worst, we acknowledge that there is abuse but cover it up because they are a big tither (or whatever other reason we think makes it ok).
I don’t know what the solution is. I am much more thankful now for our church’s Safe Sanctuaries policy that tries to prevent abuse from happening. But a policy doesn’t solve everything. There are still dozens of other areas we need to address, but an awareness that a problem exists is the first step in doing something to bring about change. So read through some of the comments, weep with those that are hurting, and pray that we can start to do something about this.
