Rahab?

So, how DOES a prostitute show up in the 'Hall of Faith' in Hebrews 11? A prostitute who actually gets there by LYING? Check out Joshua chapters 1 and 2, and then Hebrews chapter 1 for the story and the legacy of Rahab, the Canaanite prostitute.

Warrior of Light

What is a warrior of light? Warriors of light keep the spark in their eyes. They are in the world, are part of other people’s lives, and began their journey without a rucksack and sandals. They are often cowards. They don’t always act right.

Warriors of light suffer over useless things, have some petty attitudes, and at times feel they are incapable of growing. They frequently believe they are unworthy of any blessing or miracle.

Warriors of light are not always sure what they are doing here. Often they stay up all night thinking that their lives have no meaning.

Every warrior of light has felt the fear of joining in battle. Every warrior of light has once lost faith in the future.

Every warrior of light has once trodden a path that was not his/hers. Every warrior of light has once felt that he/she was not a warrior of light. Every warrior of light has once failed in his/her spiritual obligations. That is what makes them warriors of light; because they have been through all this and have not lost the hope of becoming better.

That is why they are warriors of light. Because they make mistakes. Because they wonder. Because they look for a reason – and they will certainly find one.

-- Paulo Coelho, from his blog, January 15, 2011

I'm Back

"During the difficult period when I was struggling through my 'cloud of unknowing' to return to the Church and to Christ, the largest thing which deterred me was that I saw so little clear light coming from those Christians who sought to bring me back to the fold.

But I'm back, and I'm glad to be back, because through God's loving grace, I did meet enough people who showed me that light of love which the darkness cannot extinguish. One of the things I learned on the road back is that I do not have to be right. I have to try to do what is right, but when it turns out, as happens with all of us, to be wrong, then I am free to accept that it was wrong, to say "I'm sorry" and to try, if possible, to make reparation. But I have to accept the fact that I am often unwise; that I am not always loving; that I make mistakes; that I am, in fact, human. And as Christians we are not meant to be less human than other people, but to be more human, just as Jesus of Nazareth was more human."

- Madeleine L'Engle, 'Walking on Water'

I love this quote from one of my favorite authors. And I love the initiatives that we have begun in regard to ministering in our own league. May we indeed be the light of love that the darkness cannot extinguish.

A Note from Melonie Brown

Dear House Church Members:

This is a note of heartfelt thankfulness and gratitude for all the acts of kindness and love shown to me during my visit with Corwin in November and December. It began with being picked up at the airport and then taken out for dinner and grocery shopping. A bed was loaned to us so i didn't have to sleep on the couch. We were invited into family gatherings for wonderful food, great fellowship and games galore. We were given the use of a van (with a tape player in it:-)_

so I wouldn't need to walk all over Texas. So many new teas to 'sip' and enjoy talking and laughter stirred into the mix. A trip to a Christmas Tree Farm enjoying God's beauty all around us. Being able to play and be a kid again. Given gas money for our trip to Colorado (that trip was a true blessing and I'm so thankful for it's healing touch :-)

Thank you again for the love and support! Melonie Brown

To be truly Christian...

'To be truly Christian means to see Christ everywhere, to know Him as all in all.

I don't mean to water down my Christianity into a vague kind of universalism, with Buddha and Mohammed all being more or less equal to Jesus--not at all! But neither do I want to tell God (or my friends) where he can and cannot be seen! We human beings far too often tend to codify God, to fell that we know where He is and where He is not, and this arrogance leads to such things as the Spanish Inquisition, the Salem Witch Burnings, and has the result of further fragmenting an already broken Christendom.

Unamuno might be describing the artist as well as the Christian as he writes, "Those who believe they believe in God, but without passion in the heart, without anguish of mind, without uncertainty, without doubt, and even at times without despair, believe only in the idea of God, and not in God himself." ' -- Madeleine L'Engle, Walking on Water

It is interesting that the ultimate event in Christianity, the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, is referred to as his 'passion'. This from the Catholic Encyclopedia:

The sufferings of Our Lord, which culminated in His death upon the cross, seem to have been conceived of as one inseparable whole from a very early period. Even in the Acts of the Apostles (i, 3) St. Luke speaks of those to whom Christ "shewed himself alive after his passion"

How is your 'passion'? What moves you to tears? To shouts of joy, or indignation? What 'causes' would you be willing to die for? Are you willing to pick up your cross this week and follow Christ?

Ministering in our own league

1. A prayer of praise for God’s constant blessing and provision:
Psalm 145 “1 I will exalt you, my God the King;
I will praise your name for ever and ever.
2 Every day I will praise you
and extol your name for ever and ever.
3 Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise;
his greatness no one can fathom.
4 One generation commends your works to another;
they tell of your mighty acts.
5 They speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty—
and I will meditate on your wonderful works.[b]
6 They tell of the power of your awesome works—
and I will proclaim your great deeds.
7 They celebrate your abundant goodness
and joyfully sing of your righteousness.
8 The LORD is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and rich in love.
9 The LORD is good to all;
he has compassion on all he has made.
10 All your works praise you, LORD;
your faithful people extol you.
11 They tell of the glory of your kingdom
and speak of your might,
12 so that all people may know of your mighty acts
and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and your dominion endures through all generations.
The LORD is trustworthy in all he promises
and faithful in all he does.[c]
14 The LORD upholds all who fall
and lifts up all who are bowed down.
15 The eyes of all look to you,
and you give them their food at the proper time.
16 You open your hand
and satisfy the desires of every living thing.
17 The LORD is righteous in all his ways
and faithful in all he does.
18 The LORD is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.
19 He fulfills the desires of those who fear him;
he hears their cry and saves them.
20 The LORD watches over all who love him,
but all the wicked he will destroy.
21 My mouth will speak in praise of the LORD.
Let every creature praise his holy name
for ever and ever.

2. A prayer for wisdom and direction
Psalm 143:8-10
8 Let the morning bring us word of your unfailing love,
for we have put our trust in you.
Show us the way we should go,
for to you we entrust our lives.
9 Rescue us from the enemy, LORD,
for we hide ourselves in you.
10 Teach us to do your will,
for you are our God;
may your good Spirit
lead us on level ground.



3. A prayer for God to use us
II Tim 2:20-21
20 In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for special purposes and some for common use. God, cleanse us from the latter and make us instruments for special purposes. Make us holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.



4. A prayer that God will use us to bless those who are in our family and those who are not
Gal 6:9-10
9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
Col 4:5
5 Father, help us to be wise in the way we act toward outsiders; may we make the most of every opportunity.



5. A prayer for opportunities to rebuild, repair, restore, renew and raise up!
Isaiah 58:6-12
6 “Is not this the kind of fasting You have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share our food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when we see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from our own flesh and blood?

Help us to do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10 help us to spend ourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
so our light will rise in the darkness,
and our night will become like the noonday.
11 LORD please guide us always;
please satisfy our needs in a sun-scorched land
and strengthen our frames.
May we be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
12 May our people rebuild the ancient ruins
and raise up the age-old foundations;
Let us be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
Isaiah 61:1-4
God, may your Spirit, the Spirit of the Sovereign LORD be on us,
Please anoint us to proclaim good news to the poor.
Send us to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,[a]
2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,
the oil of joy instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.
May we be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor.
4 Show us how to rebuild the ancient ruins
and restore the places long devastated;
help us to renew the ruined cities
that have been devastated for generations.

WOW!

It is an awesome privilege to worship and live in community with people who really want to be like Christ! Over the last few weeks, I saw you give almost 100 coats, sweaters and sweatshirts away to the needy in the Metroplex. Then Sunday, we brought some further needs...friends who were homeless, inner city kids who need to go to Summer Camp, needy kids in Nicaragua who need shoes...and I asked everyone to bring $5 per person, so we could put at least $20-25 in each envelope.

Well, lo and behold some of you don't know the difference between 1, 5, 10, 20 and 50 dollar bills (yeah, that's right $50!). So, every envelope had $100 or more in it when I was done sorting and we will be able to send three kids to camp in addition to all the other needs. Thanks for your generosity...and be prepared that Bill, Amy and Cyndi will be bringing us some thoughts in a couple of weeks on how we can continue to minister 'in our own league'.

Much love to all of you, and may you have a very Merry and Blessed Christmas!

The Power of Community

I love being in community with people who love Christ and seek to be like him. We can have fun at the Akins on Sunday night, while we serve others by bringing coats and sweaters that will be desperately needed this Winter. Yet, I can also get a call from Holden this afternoon that he needs some sound equipment so that Greg can perform some Elvis Christmas tunes at the PRCA teachers banquet this evening, so Jonathan just jumps in the car with me, and we go to help out, and even end up helping to clean the room for the banquet. Then Corwin and his mom show up with more stuff, and I believe Daniel was following along behind...I love these people!

Some Advent Thoughts

Take a few moments to read the following scriptures:

* Isaiah 11:1-10; Matthew 3:1-12; Romans 15:4-13

Advent is about preparation and expectancy. The season of Advent reminds us that we all need to prepare to meet God, to expect this coming encounter. Moses prepared the people -- if you read Exodus 19, you will find the Israelites spent a great deal of time getting ready to come into the presence of God. John told his listeners to prepare in just one word "Repent!"

Advent also reminds us that our world was forever changed with the coming of Jesus. But the entry of Jesus into our world will happen again. Paul used the word transformed in telling the Romans how they must prepare for the second coming. (Romans 12:2) Advent reminds each of us that preparation is still needed.

After reading Matthew 3:1-12, consider:

* By his dress and actions, John stands out. How do you stand out for Christ?

* What was John's message?

* How can you and I prepare this Advent Season to stand out for Christ?

What I Believe Is What I DO!

So, after much study and thought about the pattern for organization, worship and community in the early Church, I find myself disappointed. Disappointed that 'the pattern' I had always been taught existed within those first followers has vanished like a mist between my fingertips. It seems to me that the early Church did whatever was expedient for the building up of the Kingdom of God, and didn't necessarily repeat that 'system' in other places as the Gospel spread throughout the globe.

So, to borrow a phrase from the book Blue Like Jazz..."what I say I believe is not what I believe. What I believe is what I do!" What DO these characters from the Bible DO? For good and / or bad, how do they follow God on a daily basis? So, for the next few weeks, I plan to consider some of these 'character studies' from the Old and New Testaments...some will be familiar to you, and some may not. But we will to endeavor to see life within the kingdom from their eyes, their point of view.

Jacob

Joseph

Shiprah & Puah

Hannah

Rahab

Ruth

David

Nathan

Solomon

Simeon

Matthew

Simon Magus

Christians who bless others

The Black Death

Catherine of Siena was born in 1347. That year, according to writer Charles L. Mee, Jr., “in all likelihood, a flea riding on the hide of a black rat entered the Italian port of Messina.… The flea had a gut full of the bacillus Yersinia pestis.” With that rat, flea, and bacillus, came the most feared plague on record. In just three years, 1348 to 1350, the Black Death killed more than one-third of the entire population between Iceland and India. Remarkably, the young Catherine survived the onslaught.

Symptoms of the Black Death

What was this plague like, this unseen killer which so changed the fourteenth-century world? “The first symptoms of bubonic plague often appear within several days,” writes Mee in Smithsonian (February 1990). They include “headache and a general feeling of weakness, followed by aches and chills in the upper leg and groin, a white coating on the tongue, rapid pulse, slurred speech confusion, fatigue, apathy, and a staggering gait. A blackish pustule usually will form at the point of the flea bite. By the third day, the lymph nodes begin to swell … The heart begins to flutter rapidly as it tries to pump blood through swollen, suffocating tissues. Subcutaneous hemorrhaging occurs, causing purplish blotches on the skin. The victim’s nervous system begins to collapse, causing dreadul pain and bizarre neurological disorders.… By the fourth or fifth day, wild anxiety and terror overtake the sufferer—and then a sense of resignation, as the skin blackens and the rictus of death settles on the body.”

Society Unraveling

“It is hard to grasp the strain that the plague put on the physical and spiritual fabric of society,” Mee concludes. “People went to bed perfectly healthy and were found dead in the morning. Priests and doctors who came to minister to the sick, so the wild stories ran, would contract the plague with a single touch and die sooner than the person they had come to help.” People barred themselves in their houses or fled to the country. A fourteenth-century writer, Jean le Bel, wrote that “one caught it from another, which is why few people dared to help or visit the sick.”

Yet when another wave of the plague struck Catherine’s hometown of Siena in 1374, she determined to stay. Following the example of the early Franciscans and Dominicans, she and her followers stayed to nurse the ill and bury the dead. Respected nineteenth-century historian Philip Schaff wrote that during the plague Catherine “was indefatigable by day and night, healed those of whom the physicians despaired, and she even raised the dead.”

Such courageous service was nothing new to Catherine. When she began her ministry, writes Caroline Marshall, “she performed the most distressing nursing chores among those incurably ill of cancer and leprosy. Her patients were in pain and often abusive. She believed that these experiences helped her to share in the suffering of the crucified Christ and were, therefore, a great help along her path to the mystical union with God, which was her ultimate goal.”

The Path

The author Goebel Music once wrote a book that was intended to be the Mishnah for the Churches of Christ. The title was 'Behold The Pattern' and detailed how the New Testament creates an exact picture of how we should 'do' Church, and that anyone that wasn't following this pattern clearly was not serious about the life of faith.

After studying the New Testament over many years, and especially some of our in-depth studies of the last 18 months, I cannot find said pattern. There are almost no 'snapshots' of life in the early Church, only one-sided eavesdropping sessions on conversations between Paul and some the early communities of faith. Further, I find no New Testament evidence that Paul intended his letters to be normative in any way for 'the church' throughout all times and ages. Evidence certainly points to the contrary. He gives Timothy and Titus different lists for how to choose their leaders, based on the unique situations that Timothy faced in Ephesus and Titus on the Island of Crete. At the end of the book of Romans Paul points out Phoebe, a deaconess from Cenchrea, who his readers were to follow: both in word and example. But one finds it hard to believe that he would have said the same for Phoebe if the scene was shifted to Corinth, where there must have been some women causing trouble.

In the last few weeks as we have looked at leadership, I have been looking for those scriptural signposts that would point the way that we are to follow today. But in Acts 1, when replacing Judas Iscariot, they roll the dice, trusting God to give them the person they should choose. I think we would have a hard time convincing anyone to follow this path today. In Acts 6, when workers were needed to mediate a dispute about the widows and to distribute food, the community was directed to choose seven men so that the Apostles could continue teaching and preaching. Did these 7 guys have any say in the matter? Or were they simply volunteered whether they liked it or not? In Acts 15, when there is a large schism amongst the growing kingdom of believers regarding the role of circumcision, they apply to the elders and apostles in Jerusalem, rather than listen to Paul, who is with them. That is ironic because the writings of Paul has certainly become the arbiter of right and wrong for Church life today. And then, it is not Peter or Paul who solves this dispute, but rather James (Jacob?) who stands up and sums up his decision. Was this the Son of Boanerges or the brother of Christ or someone else all together? And why was it HIS role to speak the definitive word, instead of Peter or Paul?

Then, later, when giving Timothy and Titus instructions on choosing leaders...there are these qualities / qualifications that seem to most of us to be impossibly better than most of the folks we know. Titus, in particular, is told by Paul simply to choose these leaders. Not consult the community, create a committee, or hold a vote.

So, what is the pattern...roll the dice, give the community the choice, or have the obvious leader (Titus) or the not so obvious leader (James) the final voice? Behold, the pattern seems to me to be hidden in a foggy mist of variety.

So, I go back to ground that seems more solid. We are to be disciples. Followers of Christ. Ministers of Reconciliation. A holy priesthood. A royal nation. To love God, love others as we love ourselves, and allow the rest to flow out of this simple philosophy. To BE the people God called us to be. However we go about organizing ourselves as a people.

To You

One of the songs we sang during evening vespers at St. Meinrad Abbey contained these lyrics:

To you all time belong;

To you this day belongs;

To you all praise belongs.

Amen.

Be still and KNOW that He is God.

Pilgrimage

"According to the dictionary, the word pilgrimage derives from the Latin peligrinus, foreigner or wayfarer, the journey of a person who travels to a shrine or holy place. Another older derivation, more poetic, reveals that pilgrim has its roots in the Latin per agrum, 'through the field.' This ancient image suggests a curious soul who walks beyond known boundaries, crosses fields, touching the earth with a destination in mind and a purpose in heart.

In Richard Niebuhr's elegant description,

'Pilgrims are person in motion--passing through territories not their own--seeking something we might call completion, or perhaps the word clarity will do as well, a goal to which only the spirit's compass points the way.' "

Let's seek to be pilgrims today, crossing boundaries and fields in the name of Jesus Christ!

Come Awake

Sacred is the pause that draws us into stillness. Nourishing are the moments when we step away from busyness. Lord, teach us the wisdom of pausing. Reveal to us the goodness of stopping to breathe...

Eternal God, I want to stop trying to control the hours so that new paths of inspiration are free to unfold within me. I want to remember that I have the potential to be a blessing in the lives of those with whom I live and work. Take my scattered thoughts, my fragmented moments. Breathe into them and draw them into YOUR heart. Open my eyes that I may see your grace that waits for me in every moment. You are the source of every moment's blessing. TEACH ME TO LIVE AWAKE!

Anoint the moments of my day -- may you make this prayer true in my life. Amen.

Acts 6 Leadership

Let's try and get this back by Wednesday...

You can just send me a message and I won't post it, just keep track of the results.

Some things aren't new...

'We should never be afraid of adventurous thought. If there is such a person as the Holy Spirit, God must ever be leading us into new truth. How would medicine fare if doctors were restricted to drugs and methods and techniques three hundred years old? And yet our standards of orthodoxy are far older than that. The ma with something new to say has always to fight. Galileo, the 7th century astronomer and physicist, was branded a heretic when he held that the earth moved around the sun. Lister, the surgeon, had to fight for antiseptic technique in surgical operations. Simpson, also a surgeon, had to battle against opposition in the merciful use of chloroform. Let us have a care that when we resent new ideas we are not simply demonstrating that our minds are grown old and inelastic; and let us never shirk the adventure of thought.

We should never be afraid of new methods. That a thing has always been done may very well be the best reason for stopping doing it. That a thing has never been done may very well be the best reason for trying it. No business could exist on outworn methods - and yet the Church tries to. Any business which had lost as many customers as the Church has would have tried new ways long ago - but the Church tends to resent all that is new.

There is a wise and an unwise conservatism. Let us have a care that in thought and in action we are not hidebound reactionaries when we ought, as Christians, to be gallant adventurers.'

-- William Barclay

Scrap

No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins and so both are preserved. -- Matthew 9:16-17, ESV

William Barclay, the famous Anglican scholar had this commentary regarding that passage from the book of Matthew...

"Throughout all its history the Church has clung to the old. What Jesus is saying is that there comes a time when patching is folly, and when the only thing to do is scrap something entirely and to begin again. There are forms of church governance, there are forms of church service, there are forms of words expressing our beliefs, which we do often try to adjust and tinker with in order to bring them up to date; we try to patch them. No one would willingly, or recklessly or callously abandon what has stood the test of time and of the years in which former generations have found their comfort and put their trust; but the fact remains that this is a growing, expanding universe: and there comes a time when patches are useless, and when a man and a church have to accept the adventure of the new, or withdraw into the backwater, where they worship, not God, but the past." -- William Barclay, Daily Study Bible

Consider that the man who penned those words died long before the world wide web, or cell phones, or even personal computers. What an amazing statement this is, and how forward thinking from a man who had not even seen some of the most amazing ideas of his century come to pass! What do you and I need to stop tinkering with, and scrap completely -- not only as a community of faith, but in our own personal lives, as well?

Guide Us, Oh Lord

One of my dearest friends just texted me with terrible news. I was just fading out into sleepy oblivion when I saw the text, and it jolted me awake. Amy and I prayed and grieved and I went to retrieve the book of common prayer from my shelf, for words to pray seemed to fail me.

I opened to one of my favorite compline prayers...

Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work or watch or weep this night, and give your angels charge over those who sleep. Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous; and all for your Love's sake. Amen.

So, dear Friends, wherever you are, remember that you are loved...this night...

So guide us waking, O Lord, and guard us sleeping; that awake we may watch with Christ, and asleep we may rest in peace. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

Personalities

Well, as promised, here are the personality types of our group, according to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator:

ESFP: Becky B, Bobby H, Greg F

ENFP: Corwin B, Ryan G

ENFJ: Amanda M

ESFJ: DeeDee E, Bill A, Donna A

ENTJ: Deanne

ESTJ: Corey, Betty

ISTJ: Earl B, Greg N, Jamie, Jeremy

INTJ: Randy C

ISTP: Kara E

ISFJ: Connie B, Amy F, Amy G, Jessica C, Taylor P

ISFP: Cheri W, Anne S, Holden F

INFP: Jonathan P, Daniel S, Cyndi N, Stacy B