tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74464883120864042832024-03-28T20:28:28.183-07:00I'm Just Saying...Jim KelseyJames Kelseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01028948624676259487noreply@blogger.comBlogger81125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7446488312086404283.post-56654163160239345642024-02-06T10:05:00.000-08:002024-02-06T10:05:56.591-08:00People Like Us<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p></blockquote><p></p><div style="text-align: right;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzjFOoJpmlzbj-_4Ght2pevmfiXROSQa7J5kdesCY6RcR_vaoX45SK85aq7V3hvIn2hAqVFt9XYEbp4dThzvRtrBELPkSXY8ftwPLhzkx2PoaqFgL3EmBS4rxBFt6Kelu4jk07Jy91yzB1Dg3aDXeFZazzwbogtddPoKgs8s6ncNdOwAnePq9izAFsXx4/s2000/Gaza%20war.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1333" data-original-width="2000" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzjFOoJpmlzbj-_4Ght2pevmfiXROSQa7J5kdesCY6RcR_vaoX45SK85aq7V3hvIn2hAqVFt9XYEbp4dThzvRtrBELPkSXY8ftwPLhzkx2PoaqFgL3EmBS4rxBFt6Kelu4jk07Jy91yzB1Dg3aDXeFZazzwbogtddPoKgs8s6ncNdOwAnePq9izAFsXx4/w320-h213/Gaza%20war.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">How Can Forgiveness
Find a Root in Us?</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><u>The Outrages of Life<o:p></o:p></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">We read about the Burmese army’s terrorizing of
ethnic groups and the tens of thousands of women and children dying in the Holy
Land and Ukraine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We see images of bombed
houses and hospitals in war zones and hear the hateful shouts of White Supremacists
in Charlottesville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we wonder: what
do we do with our despair, even outrage?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then there are the more daily hurts and injustices of our
lives, perhaps some coming from decades ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We try to leave them behind; but as Timon said in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lion King</i>: “Just because it’s in the
past doesn’t mean it still doesn’t hurt.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In such a world, we wonder how forgiveness can take root in
our hearts.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">Jesus talked a lot about forgiveness. Volf points
out that Jesus reversed Lamach’s policy for responding to outrage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lamach says he will avenge himself
seventy-seven fold (Gen. 4:23-24). Yet Jesus turned this dynamic on its head
and commanded his fellow Hebrews to forgive seventy-seven fold<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>(Matt 18:21). </p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">Jesus was talking to people who likely took talk
of forgiveness with a grain of salt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Jesus and his fellow Hebrews lived under an oppressively violent
occupying army who acted on behalf of a foreign government who committed daily
outrages against the people of Palestine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Forgiveness was not an academic topic for Jesus or his people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">Jesus was executed by this occupying force in his
homeland.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As he dies, he says “Father
forgive them” (Luke 23:34). That is where he stood on the topic.</p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><u>The Irreversibility of Some Outrages<o:p></o:p></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">The problem with many of the outrages of the world
is their irreversibility, argues Miroslav Volf (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Exclusion & Embrace—A Theological Exploration of Identity,
Otherness, and Reconciliation</i>, pg. 121-23).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The consequences of past wrongs continue to plague us, even passing from
generation to generation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The damage
cannot be undone; there is no fixing things.</p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">How can we find the freedom to forgive others in
such a world?</p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><u>People Like Us<o:p></o:p></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">Philip Caputo, an American soldier in Vietnam,
recounts a day when he and his unit were dropped by helicopter into a swampy
jungle southwest of Danang.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They made
their way through the difficult terrain encountering Vietnamese fighters, who
retreated back into the countryside at the Americans’ advance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Caputo and his comrades cut their way through
the thickets, looking for dead and wounded enemy fighters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a dangerous undertaking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wounded soldiers can still fire rifles and
toss grenades; ambushes were common as battlefields were “mopped up.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">They came upon a hut that had been used as a base
camp by the enemy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They cautiously made
their way up to the structure and finally inside.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Among the military equipment and battle
manuals left behind, they found a stack of letters to and from families and
girlfriends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were photos of
mothers and fathers and sweethearts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Notes were scribbled on the edges of some of the photographs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">Caputo writes:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto;">I was filled
with conflicting emotions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What we had
found gave to the enemy the humanity I wished to deny him. It was comforting to
realize that the Viet Cong were flesh and blood instead of the mysterious
wraiths I had thought them to be; but this same realization aroused an abiding
sense of remorse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These were men we had
helped to kill, men whose deaths would afflict other people with irrevocable
loss (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Rumor of War</i> pg. 122). </p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">Caputo goes on to write that when they were back
at their base, a PFC “expressed what may have been a collective emotion.
‘They’re young men,’ he told me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘They
are just like us, lieutenant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s
always the young men who die.’”</p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">They are
just like us</i>.</p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">This the nascent realization that begins the journey
to forgiveness. This a taking to heart of Genesis 1:27: “So God created
humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and
female he created them.” We are all created in God’s image. Are not all people,
in some way “just like us?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">This is the fertile ground into which the seeds of
forgiveness are sown.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It make take
years, even a lifetime, for those tender shoots to mature. This may be the work
of a lifetime.</p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><u>A Beginning Place</u><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">Jesus will always be an aspirational figure for us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Few of us are Christ-like enough to bless
someone while they are unjustly executing us. A good beginning point in the
process is to remember the words of that PFC:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“They are just like us.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In one
way they are all like us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The criminals
and despots, the White Supremacists and the occupying armies—they are all made
in the image of God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In that way they
are “just like us.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">The image God lies within each of us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes that image is so deeply buried, so
marred by the powers and principalities of this world, it is very difficult to
see.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can just assume it is there and
act accordingly.</p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">Jim Kelsey<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">Executive Minister-American Baptist Churches of
New York State<o:p></o:p></p>James Kelseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01028948624676259487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7446488312086404283.post-50975922869272483412023-10-03T13:55:00.001-07:002023-10-03T13:55:20.084-07:00 WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? Part Two<p><br /></p>
<p align="center" style="margin: 0; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;">PART TWO: ARE WE MAKING DISCIPLES OR MEMBERS?</span></p>
<p align="center" style="margin: 0; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 16px;"> </span></p>
<p align="center" style="margin: 0; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic;">As
Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon
called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the
lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I
will send you out to fish for people.” </span><sup style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> </sup><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic;">At once they left their nets and followed him.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span></p>
<p align="center" style="margin: 0; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">(Matthew 4:18—20)</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration-line: underline;">The Beginning and the End Matter</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">Previously we looked at Jesus’ final words in Matthew’s Gospel (</span><a href="https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001M_OBlaYmAeWZoCPMLCBpGGPjyWnZ-7tYpZqqVsoIkPKe-Z9iJpMiJ1U2wJuSi4Rwfj53g1TxAhw6mD7UP7DoWUbjQ_FMe6JPtRZ6fiGfdx6hYPidt9wdWnIXw_q8nY_7P6HMJfPDsvVmTOVPF_w5SL5tT0H_m28kGqMH82Wu-Zy_tB3d1HntaKq7EjBeEHkRbQXLmx67fgrT6FoTb4X-ng==&c=n0gmYEuMktNLRMii-Tw0_NhYzMGbUGTd24AMdC6vsymDSY18eFoiNQ==&ch=A7Vll4Im5ihY2prPa50D96QXAlJIL7nHdu-2PtnWKdzduoYENOBGjw==" style="color: #48a199; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;" target="_blank">https://jkelseyem.blogspot.com/2023/08/where-do-we-go-from-here.html</a><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">).
We will return to that passage in the future, but for now we will
examine the first conversation Jesus initiates in Matthew’s Gospel. </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span></p>
<p align="justify" style="margin: 0; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">Remember
“the primacy effect” and “the recency effect” from Part One? We
remember best the first and last items in a story; writers know
this. Thus Jesus’ first initiated conversation as he begins his ministry
sets the framework for the rest of his work. We are to remember these
words as the story unfolds.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span></p>
<p align="justify" style="margin: 0; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">This
first invitation to Simon Peter and his brother Andrew is critical for
understanding how Jesus goes about disciple-making. When at the end of
the Gospel Jesus tells us to make disciples, this early story informs
what he meant.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration-line: underline;">The Setting Matters</span></p>
<p align="justify" style="margin: 0; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">What
Jesus does in this first encounter is a bit incongruous with the way
Matthew introduces the conversation. We can learn something from this.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">In the preceding verses, 4:12—17, Matthew tells us that what Isaiah wrote about in 9:1-4 is now being fulfilled in Jesus. </span></p>
<p align="center" style="margin: 0; text-align: center;"><br /></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic;">Nevertheless,
there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In
the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in
the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea,
beyond the Jordan—</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><br /></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic;">The people walking in darkness</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic;"> have seen a great light;</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic;"> on those living in the land of deep darkness</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic;"> a light has dawned.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic;"> </span><sup style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> </sup><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic;">You have enlarged the nation</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic;"> and increased their joy;</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic;"> they rejoice before you</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic;"> as people rejoice at the harvest,</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic;"> as warriors rejoice</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic;"> when dividing the plunder.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic;"> For as in the day of Midian’s defeat,</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic;"> you have shattered</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic;"> the yoke that burdens them,</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic;"> the bar across their shoulders,</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic;"> the rod of their oppressor.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span></p>
<p align="justify" style="margin: 0; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">Isaiah
wrote in the day when the Northern Jewish Kingdom—containing Zebulun,
Naphtali, and the way by the sea—had been conquered by a foreign power.
The Northern Kingdom had fallen victim to the insatiable greed,
devastating weapons, and crushing power of the Assyrian empire. No one
questioned the invincibility of the conqueror, no one but Isaiah that
is. </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span></p>
<p align="justify" style="margin: 0; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">Isaiah
writes of a King that God will raise up, a savior that will bring
possibilities the people could not even dream of. Matthew is saying
Jesus is that same type of leader. Jesus is the one who will bring
possibilities and deliverance no one can even imagine.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span></p>
<p align="justify" style="margin: 0; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">So
what does Jesus do after this auspicious and majestic introduction to
his ministry? He chats up a few fishermen as he takes a walk by the
water. Not very dramatic is it? We might expect some thunder and
lightning, an earthquake or two. Yet this invitation to these two
fishermen prefigures the way God will work through Jesus.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration-line: underline;">A Model for Disciple-Making</span></p>
<p align="justify" style="margin: 0; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">Beside
the Sea of Galilee we have a model for disciple-making. Jesus’ idea of
discipling people is to invite them to travel along with him on a
journey he has already begun. He will teach them what it means to be
faithful by </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic;">showing</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> them his faithfulness in a variety of situations. </span></p>
<p align="justify" style="margin: 0; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span></p>
<p align="justify" style="margin: 0; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">He
asks them to “follow” him. This inevitably means leaving some things
behind. He tells these experienced fishing professionals that they will
need to learn a new way of life; they will learn to fish for human
beings. This is not a call to a casual endeavor, one new preoccupation
among others. “Follow me” is a big ask.</span></p>
<p align="justify" style="margin: 0; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span></p>
<p align="justify" style="margin: 0; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">Although
Jesus takes a rather low-key approach at the beginning, he is not an
undercover incognito disciple maker. Admittedly, he asks for no
doctrinal declaration or test of orthodoxy; they do not sign any card or
undergo any ritual. He will unpack that along the way. He begins simply
with an invitation to begin a journey. He is clear, however, that he is
inviting them on a journey that will leave them changed.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration-line: underline;">Discipleship is More Than Just Showing Up</span></p>
<p align="justify" style="margin: 0; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">Woody Allen once quipped that 90% of life is just showing up.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> A fellow ABCNYS pastor commented: “</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">Discipleship
carries responsibility and accountability. Membership involves just
showing up. We need to show up in order to be a disciple - but
discipleship requires engagement and action.” Jesus is asking a great
deal more than just “showing up” in the right place at the right
time. He has a great deal more than member-making in mind.</span></p>
<p align="justify" style="margin: 0; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span></p>
<p align="justify" style="margin: 0; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">Simon
Peter and Andrew brought with them that day a hunger for a grander and
deeper way of life and a willingness to leave some things behind to find
it. Not everyone is ready for this journey into
discipleship. Disciple-making takes into account where people are, where
they have been, and what they are looking for. It recognizes they must
be ready, hungry for something more than life has provided for them.</span></p>
<p align="justify" style="margin: 0; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span></p>
<p align="justify" style="margin: 0; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">This
is the model of disciple-making Jesus employs. He invites people to
travel along with him on a journey that he, himself, has already begun.
We call this “impartational disciple-making.”</span></p>
<p align="justify" style="margin: 0; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span></p>
<p align="justify" style="margin: 0; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">This is a much more ambitious project than simply member-making. It can include member-making, but is a great deal more.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="ql-cursor"></span>Next time, we will think more about “impartational disciple-making.”</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">Blessings,</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">Jim Kelsey</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">ABCNYS Executive Minister</span></p>James Kelseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01028948624676259487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7446488312086404283.post-43575009358576761172023-08-01T09:54:00.002-07:002023-08-01T09:54:22.018-07:00WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?<p> <span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: right;">July 28, 2023</span></p>
<p align="right" style="margin: 0; text-align: right;"><br /></p>
<p align="right" style="margin: 0; text-align: right;"><br /></p>
<p align="center" style="margin: 0; text-align: center;"><br /></p>
<p align="center" style="margin: 0; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;">PART ONE: ARE WE MAKING DISCIPLES OR MEMBERS?</span></p>
<p align="center" style="margin: 0; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span></p>
<p align="center" style="margin: 0; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic;">Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. </span><sup style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> </sup><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic;">When they saw him, they worshiped him, but they doubted. </span><sup style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> </sup><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic;">And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. </span><sup style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> </sup><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic;">Go
therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them
to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with
you always, to the end of the age.”</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> (Matthew 28:16—20) </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration-line: underline;">Make Disciples</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">It is called “the primacy effect” and “the recency effect.” </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span></p>
<p align="justify" style="margin: 0; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">We
remember best the beginning and the ending of a story. Writers know
this and often place the most important material at the beginning and
the end of a narrative. So Jesus’ departing instructions to his
disciples in Matthew’s Gospel should garner great attention from
us. These are his last spoken words, indeed, the final words of the
book. The author is saying: If you don’t remember anything else Jesus
said, remember this: “Make disciples as you go through your life.”</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span></p>
<p align="justify" style="margin: 0; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">Michael Foss, a Lutheran pastor, writes about shifting our churches from a </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic;">culture of membership</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> to a </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic;">culture of discipleship </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">(</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic;">Power Surge: Six Marks of Discipleship for a Changing Church)</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">. This
might seem a bit unsettling to people like me and many of you who have
spent much of our lives seeking to build and then maintain the
membership of our churches. Jesus is saying job one for his followers is
to be disciples and then make others. Member-making can be seen as a
part of that work, but disciple-making is a far more comprehensive
project.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span></p>
<p align="justify" style="margin: 0; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">I
believe membership in a congregation reaps rewards in our own lives and
in the life of our community and the broader world. I am not
badmouthing membership. In the letters of Paul we see that those
followers in closest historical proximity to Jesus quickly organized
themselves into local communities of believers. Paul wrote in Ephesians 4
about the life of local congregations and the responsibility membership
brings. In the midst of this chapter he writes: “So then, putting away
falsehood, let each of you speak the truth with your neighbor, for we
are members of one another [4:25].” We will, in a future piece, look at
the nuanced differences between “membership” and “being members of one
another;” they are not necessarily the same thing.</span></p>
<p align="justify" style="margin: 0; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span></p>
<p align="justify" style="margin: 0; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">I
wonder if in our attention to membership concerns we have lost sight of
the higher calling: making disciples. Member-making and disciple-making
are not mutually exclusive. They are not, however, precisely the same
thing.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration-line: underline;">Making Disciples—Our Original Task</span></p>
<p align="justify" style="margin: 0; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">Thinking
about disciple-making—in distinction from member-making—can help us
move forward and find renewed vitality and purpose in our congregations.</span></p>
<p align="justify" style="margin: 0; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span></p>
<p align="justify" style="margin: 0; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">In
the next few months, I will be writing more on this. Next time we will
look at how Jesus models disciple-making in the first conversation he
initiates in Matthew’s telling of the story.</span></p>
<p align="justify" style="margin: 0; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span></p>
<p align="justify" style="margin: 0; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">I
am also interested in what you think. What do you see as the
distinctions between member-making and disciple-making? Write me at </span><a href="mailto:jkelsey@abc-nys.org" style="color: #48a199; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;" target="_blank">jkelsey@abc-nys.org</a><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">. We will sort this out together.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">Blessings,</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">Jim</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px;">ABCNYS Executive Minister</span></p>
<p align="center" style="margin: 0; text-align: center;"><br /></p>James Kelseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01028948624676259487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7446488312086404283.post-83008509250653107392023-04-14T09:58:00.006-07:002023-04-14T09:58:56.281-07:00Resurrection and Mass Shooting in Louisville<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid2q3svJ8uBBJYCc4wOejQUNw-wIPF8791hAKDMDDrBd33hKBmRT2shryQaEJXVdEHhIKq8WD6wPi9cqZ-bN5ha-I5ZJRdZFUzY9b9BycuIleW7kFfaWSQwgRHnbY9IKn5t-3Yi5ICMk_kP8xCY7esBHqWcQjIz7MNTe-s1aTkKahy9tSVo6k1iuzh/s2500/Louisville.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1667" data-original-width="2500" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid2q3svJ8uBBJYCc4wOejQUNw-wIPF8791hAKDMDDrBd33hKBmRT2shryQaEJXVdEHhIKq8WD6wPi9cqZ-bN5ha-I5ZJRdZFUzY9b9BycuIleW7kFfaWSQwgRHnbY9IKn5t-3Yi5ICMk_kP8xCY7esBHqWcQjIz7MNTe-s1aTkKahy9tSVo6k1iuzh/w200-h133/Louisville.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst"><u>TRAGEDY CLOSE TO HOME</u></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">Tragedy always hits harder when it strikes closer
to home. There have been 19 mass shootings in America this year, shootings in
which 4 or more people were killed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All
of them are horrific, but some of them feel more personal.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><o:p> </o:p>On April 9<sup>th</sup> Christians around the globe celebrated Easter. The next morning, with songs of resurrection still ringing in our ears, we
learned of the killing of 5 people at the Old National Bank in Louisville KY.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">These killings struck close to home for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I spent 11 years living in Louisville.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I grew into young adulthood in that city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I earned an M.Div. and a PhD in that town, a
period of transformative theological growth for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I made life-long friends in that place; if
you look closely you can still see their fingerprints on my life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I fell in in love and got married in that
place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A city I cherish and to which I
owe a lot has been wounded.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I thought about that woundedness in light of the
resurrection.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><u>RECONCILING RESURRECTION WITH REALITY<o:p></o:p></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">How do we reconcile the tension between our Easter
anthems on Sunday and the bloody killings in a bank in Louisville the next
morning?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><o:p> </o:p>The French theologian (with the German-sounding name) Oscar
Cullman once made a connection between the final phase of WW II and the victory
of Jesus on Calvary. Cullman observed
that on D Day, once the Allied soldiers got across the beaches of Normandy and
into the hedgerows, the war was won. From there the Allies would move south and
west across France fighting village by village.
They would make their way into Germany and finally on to Berlin. When they got off the sand onto soil, the war was won.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">From the hedgerows of coastal France to Berlin was, nonetheless,
a long slog.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More people would die.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The road ahead held headships for sure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As they got off the beaches and into the villages
the war was won, but it was not yet over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There was still a lot of mopping up to do.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This is where we live, in the mopping up phase of things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Enemy is defeated, but the Enemy has not
yet yielded. The victory of God in Christ is inevitable, but battles are
still to be waged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Apostle Paul in Ephesians chapter 6 admonishes us to put
on the whole armor of God. Paul, of all people, affirmed in the victory of God
in Jesus. Yet Paul realized there are still some battles to be fought.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> He</span> also realized that we wage war not just
against random incidental violence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When
a young adult walks into a bank conference room armed with an AR 15 style semi-automatic
assault rifle intending to kill, we see we are up against “<span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic
powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in
the heavenly places (Eph. 6:12).” We see this is about a great deal more than one
disappointed well-armed soon-to-be unemployed worker.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">HOW DO WE LIVE IN THE MEANTIME</span></u><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">How do we live in the meantime, as we
proclaim resurrection yet mourn Louisville and her dead and the countless other atrocities in our world? </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Victory is assured,
but there are still battles to be fought.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> In this time of mopping up, w</span>e carry on the work Jesus began:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,</span></span><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br />
</span><span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 5.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">because he has anointed me</span></span><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br />
<span class="indent-2-breaks"><span style="background: white;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="background: white;">to bring good news to the poor.</span></span><br />
<span class="text"><span style="background: white;">He has sent me to proclaim
release to the captives</span></span><br />
</span><span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 5.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">and recovery of sight to the blind,</span></span><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br />
<span class="indent-2-breaks"><span style="background: white;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="background: white;">to set free those who are oppressed,</span></span><br />
<span class="text"><b><sup><span style="background: white;"> </span></sup></b><span style="background: white;">to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. (Luke
4:18-19)</span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">It is still a battle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Our world is not in favor of the work of Jesus. </p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">Jim Kelsey </p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">Executive Minister—American Baptist Churches of
New York State</p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><o:p></o:p></p>James Kelseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01028948624676259487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7446488312086404283.post-41014762208772628332023-03-21T12:22:00.003-07:002023-03-21T12:22:48.676-07:00Agreeing with God and Living Well with Ourselves<p> <br /></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr5bzRVDw8zy2heH1MiH7tr2wux5AQQlAjACqo22kS1V25qFLt_HxsAWs8UpGoEU2Mt2bfxQDDkRz-mlsjmn-dNvoH8A1OS8C6q6WTnpfEbsBAh3BijEvfrVv-1vSqvfnlTRuPBvdawMFnlc5Dshd6Jy87eKTeElxelGa0f7TGBT4eXWd-BJHU10En/s799/lent.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="799" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr5bzRVDw8zy2heH1MiH7tr2wux5AQQlAjACqo22kS1V25qFLt_HxsAWs8UpGoEU2Mt2bfxQDDkRz-mlsjmn-dNvoH8A1OS8C6q6WTnpfEbsBAh3BijEvfrVv-1vSqvfnlTRuPBvdawMFnlc5Dshd6Jy87eKTeElxelGa0f7TGBT4eXWd-BJHU10En/w200-h150/lent.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Psalm 32<p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="text-align: center;">Lent 2023</p><p align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;"><o:p></o:p></p><p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">THE MOOD OF LENT<u><o:p></o:p></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">From childhood, we are taught how to navigate
life: play nice; get along well with others; and share your toys. As we grow
older, our relationships grow more complex, as do the rules. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those basic childhood rules, however, are
still good guides to adult living.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> In particular, g</span>etting
along well with others increase our joy and minimizes our hardships as we move
through life. </p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">The season of Lent is about living well with
God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is also about living well with
ourselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The two are intertwined.</p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">During Lent we have a tendency to talk about
repentance, which presupposes moral culpability for the damage we have done and
the good we have left undone. The traditional Bible word for this is sin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">MODERN SENSIBILITIES<u><o:p></o:p></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">Freud came along and taught us to categorize our behavior in a clinically detached way, removing most of the moral
element. The rationale of Lent rejects this particular piece
of Freudian thought.</p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then Margaret
Mead, the American anthropologist, came along and argued that human behavior is
culturally conditioned; we are a product of our society. She tested this by examining
gender roles in different societies. The question is not whether behavior is
right or wrong but rather is it appropriate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We are certainly a product, to some degree, of our environment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This does not, however, remove our
responsibility for how we live.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lent
recognizes this responsibility.</p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">Both Freud and Mead should, however, introduce
some caution and compassion into our commentary on ourselves and others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we see a turtle on a fence post, we know
the turtle did not put itself up there; it had help.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our response should be to help the turtle off
the fence post, so to speak.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we see the life of
another person headed in a destructive way, we need to remember they had help getting
to that point. We should do what we can to help them to move to a better place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We should engage in the same compassion concerning our own lives.</p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">Recognizing moral culpability, ours and that of
others, does not free us from compassion, mercy, and patience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That failure, in and of itself, makes us<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>morally culpable. </p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">THE NAGGING SENSE THAT SOMETHING IS NOT QUITE
RIGHT<u><o:p></o:p></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">With modern sensibilities—via Freud and Mead—deleting
much of the moral dimension from our behavior, we might expect we all would
feel free from guilt and feel empowered us to accept ourselves without any
personal discomfort.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">Experience has not born that out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> The 20th century theologian Reinhold Niebuhr observed that the tragedy of modern people is we can conceive of self-perfection but cannot achieve it. </span>We still sense that something is not quite
right with us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the quiet of the
night, we find ourselves unsettled about ourselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We regret things said and done and things not
said and not done.</p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">Karl Jung hit closer to the mark than did Freud or
Mead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jung observed we have a shadow
self, a part of our character that does not match up with our ideal sense of we
would like to be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are parts of us
that are not only unacceptable to those around us but are also unacceptable to
ourselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jung encourages us to accept
that shadow self, not indulge it but acknowledge it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In that way we can gain some power over it;
we disarm it.</p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">THE PSALMIST ALREADY KNEW ALL THIS<u><o:p></o:p></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">The Psalmist wrote the same thing long ago:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“While I kept silent my body wasted away [v.
3].”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the Psalmist acknowledges the
truth that has been lurking within, the Psalmist is set free:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did
hide my iniquity [v. 5].”</p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">Upon realizing there is healing and joy in
agreeing with God about our failures, the Psalmist enthusiastically
proclaims:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I will confess my
transgression to the Lord,” and God forgave the guilt of my sin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In honesty before God, God becomes a “hiding
place” for the Psalmist, a preserver and deliverer (v. 7).</p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">When we agree with God—which is the definition of
confession—and take ownership of the damage we have done and the good we have
left undone, then we are finally free to live comfortably with ourselves and
with God. </p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">Adam, when confronted by God for eating the forbidden
fruit, blames “the woman whom you gave to be with me” (Gen. 3:12), thereby
blaming the woman and implicitly blaming God for giving him the woman in the
first place!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eve, when confronted by
God, blames the snake (Gen. 3:12-14). We too, when confronted with our
failures, want to assign blame elsewhere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The Psalmist will have none of that.</p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I suspect
hell is a place where no one takes responsibility for anything. Everyone all
day long chimes “not my fault,” and nothing is ever repaired. </p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">GRACE ENABLES US TO BEAR UP UNDER HONESTY<u><o:p></o:p></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">This kind of honest responsibility-taking can lead
to despair and alienation from ourselves and God if it comes to us unaccompanied
by grace. If this honesty is coupled with confession and an experience of
grace, we walk across the threshold to renewed life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We find a way to live with ourselves, knowing
that we are--for now--a long way from perfect.</p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">The Swiss physician Paul Tournier compares
confession to pulling out a stopper so life can flow again. This is what the Psalmist
discovered long before Touriner put it so concretely. </p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">The rhythm of Lent is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not</i> a song of denial and discipline and denigration of self.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rather the rhythm of Lent is a tune of renewed
and grander life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is about agreeing
with God and finding a way to live with our imperfect selves and a holy God.</p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Our God, we have done things we should not
have done, and we have left undone things we should have done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We could have chosen otherwise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we have tried to find relief through
denial and blaming.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i><i><o:p> </o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: .5in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">We cast ourselves upon your mercy.</i><i style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><o:p> </o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cleanse us from guilt and empower us to do
better.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>May your Spirit nourish renewed
life in us in this season of Lent.</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">For the forgiveness of sin, for deliverance from our weakness, we give you thanks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>May the assurance of your love and your longing for our wholeness embolden
us to be honest with ourselves and the grace to live with ourselves—not
satisfied with who we are—but able to begin there and grow evermore into the
image of your Son Jesus Christ. Amen.</i> </p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">Jim Kelsey-Executive Minister—American Baptist
Churches of New York State<o:p></o:p></p>James Kelseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01028948624676259487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7446488312086404283.post-12627968470996236292023-02-27T13:16:00.000-08:002023-02-27T13:16:03.752-08:00THE ASBURY GATHERING IN A BROADER FRAME<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJVBuPb4VvY_DI0Gf9jvc-JJUYHrImv5bOpmVQSu44Pzs-FUSdtQ7VcP8WgdcEwOYNTFFez-ZS57-oeVdy_Q4O7VOdqUrFNMqPxeW3vM09MJ9gw5pgFoqisLt9wE27K81KChxjD0kt1HZrBvQZ75vc9ggDxKBAnmxXzOzZmPhC88VRPWi6vrLHq3wv/s1500/Asbury-Revival-2-20230220.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1125" data-original-width="1500" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJVBuPb4VvY_DI0Gf9jvc-JJUYHrImv5bOpmVQSu44Pzs-FUSdtQ7VcP8WgdcEwOYNTFFez-ZS57-oeVdy_Q4O7VOdqUrFNMqPxeW3vM09MJ9gw5pgFoqisLt9wE27K81KChxjD0kt1HZrBvQZ75vc9ggDxKBAnmxXzOzZmPhC88VRPWi6vrLHq3wv/w200-h150/Asbury-Revival-2-20230220.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br /><p></p><div class="WordSection1">
<p class="MsoNormal"><u>What Is Going On</u>?<u><o:p></o:p></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Most of us, by now, have heard of the extended worship
service that blossomed at Asbury University in Kentucky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This phenomenon has spawned similar experiences
at Lee University in Tennessee, Cedarville University in Ohio, and Texas
A&M.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">First, I do not want to join the voices of those who
question the motives, authenticity, or sincerity of these young people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It seems these days we have trouble affirming anything that
might be a bit beyond our range of experiences, beyond the common lore of “our tribe.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I suspect we might be threatened by anything
that does not necessarily fit within the self-affirming ideological and philosophical
strictures for how life and faith should work. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p>God moves in peoples’ lives. Just because God has not moved in my life or your life in this way, at least in a long time, does not mean it is to be summarily dismissed as just so much melodrama.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I do, however, want to set the religious experiences of these
young people within a broader frame of reference.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u>We Were All Young Once<o:p></o:p></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I became a Christian as a sophomore in college.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was all in all the time for Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As Jacques Ellul, the French Marxist Philosopher
turned Christian pastor, wrote: I was violently converted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was truly reborn as a new peosn into a new life. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In those years, my faith was quite straight forward: Always
do what God wanted me to do—pay any price, climb any mountain, follow any path.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I believed the will of God would come to
me, with due diligence on my part, with reassuring clarity and timeliness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I saw the world and my life in simple terms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had little responsibility, a narrow range
of experiences, and the horizon of my thinking rarely extended beyond the end
of the academic year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had a faith that
was appropriate for me.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As I now move through my sixties, I have covered a lot of ground,
seen a lot stuff, and known a lot of people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The college faith I once had is no longer sufficient and appropriate for
me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Throughout the decades God has
reformed, reshaped, and renewed my faith multiple times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In each season, I had a faith appropriate for that day and place.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I am not suggesting that the students caught up in these extended
worship experiences have an <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">immature </i>faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am suggesting they have an <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">appropriate</i> faith for their time and
place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe some of our
unsettledness over what we are seeing at Asbury springs from a long-dormant longing to be back in a simpler place and time.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">These are young people, and perhaps this is how God has
chosen to move in their lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We should
be glad for them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were all young once.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u>What Will Come of This?<o:p></o:p></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Even though we may see the appropriateness of this religious
experience, we must ask:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What will come
of this?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where will it go?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An experience of faith that does
not move us on to a new place is a missed opportunity.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Prophets shared that God has little patience with
religious devotion that does not drive us out into the broader world and work of
God.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Isaiah points up the contrast between the people’s pious
worship, in this particular case the practice of fasting, and their greedy
oppression of workers and their proclivity to quarreling and violence and then
he writes:</p></div>
<div class="WordSection2">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Is not this the
fast that I choose:</span></span><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="background: white;">to loose the bonds of injustice,</span></span></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="background: white;">to undo the straps of the yoke,</span></span></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span class="text"><span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">to let the oppressed go free,</span></span></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="background: white;">and to break every yoke?</span></span></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span class="text"><b><sup style="font-size: 1.2rem;"><span style="background: white;"><span id="en-NRSVUE-18794" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> </span></span></sup></b><span style="background: white;">Is
it not to share your bread with the hungry</span></span></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="background: white;">and bring the homeless poor into your house;</span></span></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span class="text"><span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">when you see the naked, to cover them</span></span></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="background: white;">and not to hide yourself from your own kin?</span></span></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span class="text"><b><sup style="font-size: 1.2rem;"><span style="background: white;"><span id="en-NRSVUE-18795" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> </span></span></sup></b><span style="background: white;">Then
your light shall break forth like the dawn,</span></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="background: white;">and your healing shall spring up quickly;</span></span></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span class="text"><span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">your vindicator shall go before you;</span></span></span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="background: white;">the glory of the </span></span><span class="small-caps"><span style="background: white; font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span></span><span class="text"><span style="background: white;"> shall be your rear guard.</span>
(58:6-8)</span></span></p></div>
<div class="WordSection4">
<p class="MsoNormal">Fasting is good discipline; but as an end
unto itself, it is an insult to God.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Micah (6:6-8) makes much the same point about sacrifice:</p></div>
<div class="WordSection5">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">With what shall I come before the </span></span><span class="small-caps"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; font-variant: small-caps; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Lord</span></span><span style="color: black;"><br />
</span><span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">and bow myself
before God on high?</span></span><span style="color: black;"><br />
</span><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,</span></span><span style="color: black;"><br />
</span><span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">with calves a
year old?</span></span><span style="color: black;"><br />
</span><span class="text"><b><sup><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">7 </span></sup></b></span><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Will the </span></span><span class="small-caps"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; font-variant: small-caps; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Lord</span></span><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> be pleased with thousands of rams,</span></span><span style="color: black;"><br />
</span><span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">with ten
thousands of rivers of oil?</span></span><span style="color: black;"><br />
</span><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,</span></span><span style="color: black;"><br />
</span><span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">the fruit of my
body for the sin of my soul?”</span></span><span style="color: black;"><br />
</span><span class="text"><b><sup><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">8 </span></sup></b></span><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">He has told you,
O mortal, what is good,</span></span><span style="color: black;"><br />
</span><span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">and what does
the </span></span><span class="small-caps"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; font-variant: small-caps; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Lord</span></span><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> require
of you</span></span><span style="color: black;"><br />
</span><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">but to do justice and to love kindness</span></span><span style="color: black;"><br />
</span><span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">and to walk humbly
with your God?<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
</div>
<div class="WordSection6"><p class="MsoNormal">Sacrifice is a good thing; but as an end unto
itself, it is an insult to God.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Finally, the Prophet Amos (5:21-24) says to those who
piously worship but do not practice justice during the week:</p></div>
<div class="WordSection7">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I hate, I despise your festivals,<br />
and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.<br />
<b><sup> </sup></b>Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain
offerings,<br />
I will not accept them,<br />
and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals<br />
I will not look upon.<br />
<b><sup> </sup></b>Take away from me the noise of your songs;<br />
I will not listen to the melody of your harps.<br />
<b><sup> </sup></b>But let justice roll down like water<br />
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal">Again, same story,</p><p class="MsoNormal">Jesus issued the same sort of condemnation in his day
(Matthew 23:23): <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: black;">“Woe to you,
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin and have
neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is
these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">One should tithe says Jesus, but tithing should spawn justice, mercy, and faith.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It will be interesting to see what becomes of these
outbreaks of protracted worship. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can tell a tree by its fruit (Luke 6:43-44).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let us give this tree time to bear its fruit. Our perceptive should be more long term than just the news of the day.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u>Generosity and Hope<o:p></o:p></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So what do we make of what is happening at Asbury and other campuses?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First, it may well
be the most appropriate expression of Christian experience for those students.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God speaks to us
and works within us in ways appropriate for who we are and where we are at that
moment. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let us be generous.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We will wait to see what comes of this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We may be surprised.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let us be hopeful.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Jim Kelsey<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Executive Minister—American Baptist Churches of New York
State<o:p></o:p></p>James Kelseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01028948624676259487noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7446488312086404283.post-42602741754128702422022-12-24T11:24:00.000-08:002022-12-24T11:24:52.774-08:00LIGHT THAT WARMS—Isaiah 9:1-7 <p> </p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEQ6Ff3vC-fGjUaUU5ppkJybjxbQH9UM5cnkxECgJUCwkLPOy7WHpdh0647w8DMpHqtxSsr_GOD0eSLLLxCt0DFbOPbrDxUfg_nI3wllrTI2ULboRHLGyB_Com2E5guuEut-twbwwqKdlRKrHyiYdBkJgXn8bhTPmRqHz3fAl-LoE-3QhjQym8mAq1/s593/lights.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="310" data-original-width="593" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEQ6Ff3vC-fGjUaUU5ppkJybjxbQH9UM5cnkxECgJUCwkLPOy7WHpdh0647w8DMpHqtxSsr_GOD0eSLLLxCt0DFbOPbrDxUfg_nI3wllrTI2ULboRHLGyB_Com2E5guuEut-twbwwqKdlRKrHyiYdBkJgXn8bhTPmRqHz3fAl-LoE-3QhjQym8mAq1/w320-h166/lights.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif">The people walking in
darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of
death a light has dawned.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face="Segoe UI, sans-serif">In the
darkest days of the year, the world around us is ablaze with decorated trees,
strings of lights, and Santa and reindeer and mangers with lightbulbs inside.</span><span face=""Segoe UI", sans-serif"> </span><span face="Segoe UI, sans-serif">I look out my dining room window and see the
beautiful decorations on my neighbors’ houses shining in the night,
glistening beneath the newly fallen snow.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif">Our
celebration of Christmas is well lit, but those lights will fade as the season
passes into the wimter of 2023. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Isaiah talks of a light that never fades.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He names the light “Everlasting Father,” and
says “Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The prophet has in mind no passing season but
an enduring change to the creation and within us.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif">Isaiah wrote
to a people with no electric lights.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The lives of Isaiah’s readers were ruled by the sun and the moon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> T</span></span><span face=""Segoe UI", sans-serif">heir nights were lit by candle and torches, but candles and torches eventually burn out.</span><span face=""Segoe UI", sans-serif"> </span><span face=""Segoe UI", sans-serif">They were powerless in any lasting way against
the darkness that enveloped them each evening.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif">Our
challenge is different; we have <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">too much</i>
light.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are able to generate
artificial light to drive back the immediate darkness and ease our anxieties a
bit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In Belgium, the entire highway system
is lit by bright lamps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have cities
that glow in the night; you can see them from an airplane.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our homes and public places are made bright
by ubiquitous lights.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif">We think we
can disarm the darkness through our own efforts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are mistaken.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif">The German
poet Johann Wolfgang van Goethe is reported to have cried at the point of
death:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">More light, more light! Open the window that more light may come in</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it more light we need, or do we need a
different type of light?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif">All this
light we manufacture does not make our world any warmer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We live with the illusion that we are
conquering the darkness; but without warmth, light cannot sustain and nurture
and heal us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif">The 20<sup>th</sup>
century Spanish write Miguel de Unamuno reflected: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">It is not more light we need, but more warmth. Warmth, warmth, more
warmth!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We die of cold, not
darkness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is the not the night that
kills, but the frost. </i>All the artificial light in which we enrobe ourselves
cannot remove the chill from our world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The cold still numbs us to God’s love and to the needs and dreams of our
neighbor.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif">Indifference
and fear and racism and greed and self-interest and jealousy and materialism all
chill us to the bone and paralyze us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Isaiah
writes of a light that comes as warmth, a light that disarms the numbness of our
world and the chill within us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a
light that not only enlightens but also reanimates the creation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Christians have named that light Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif">This time of
year we remind one another that Jesus is the light of the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is easy to forget this in the midst of all
the frantically self-manufactured artificial brightness around us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The light that Jesus brings does more than
temporarily hold the darkness at a safe distance; it warms us as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It enables us and refreshes us and renews
us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It animates us to a new way of
living.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif">Hopefully it
ennobles us to become light to those around us, the kind of light that warms
and thaws the lives of others. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is
not the artificial manufactured brightness of our Christmas decorations. This
is a light that comes from above and is visited upon us in that child placed in
a manger so long ago.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="text"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black;">In him was life, and the life was the light
of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not
overtake it.</span></i></span><span class="text"><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black;"> (John 1:4—5)</span></span><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif">Jim
Kelsey<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif">Executive
Minister—American Baptist Churches of New York State</span><o:p></o:p></p>James Kelseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01028948624676259487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7446488312086404283.post-69195657722814589142022-12-22T07:47:00.000-08:002022-12-22T07:47:06.550-08:00THE INVASION: Luke 2:1—20<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPh_4FI1LfiBK3JbMp4v8qivjB9w47oAcjz3K5mb_7paLK_faUAFFpe9iQ25m2HNEvPR3n_PLfwmeVtZhyTLPf857EZUGhGpNmaOeuW6VybWAcpk0ZSoPD6enkceKC2A4tK92aB7_gu317DNJaE74eeUYMgocekQxuLJikOCMs7KH0fANsS7uGwSjY/s3485/Nativity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2580" data-original-width="3485" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPh_4FI1LfiBK3JbMp4v8qivjB9w47oAcjz3K5mb_7paLK_faUAFFpe9iQ25m2HNEvPR3n_PLfwmeVtZhyTLPf857EZUGhGpNmaOeuW6VybWAcpk0ZSoPD6enkceKC2A4tK92aB7_gu317DNJaE74eeUYMgocekQxuLJikOCMs7KH0fANsS7uGwSjY/w200-h148/Nativity.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><u>We Recognize this Place<o:p></o:p></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Luke begins his story of Christmas on a bit of a sour note:
taxes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>December is the time of year when
we try not to think about the tax returns we all will be filing come 2023.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>In his reference to the revenue census, Luke reminds us that
the birth of Jesus is not some tender-hearted Hallmark Christmas special with
soft music and a quaint small-town setting. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>Rather, we get taxes and a heavily pregnant woman traveling
from Nazareth to Bethlehem by foot or by donkey, fulfilling an Empire-mandated
journey. This is no trip to grandma’s house
in the family minivan. When Joseph and Mary get to Bethlehem, the lodgings are all full
and there are no spare beds. Jesus is
born outside and laid in a feed trough.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>This is important to Luke’s telling of the story. The birth of the Son of God takes place in
the real world, among the challenges of daily life. This happens in no fairy
tale world; it transpires in the world where we live. We recognize this place.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><u>Yet There Are Extraordinary Happenings Here</u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Nonetheless, angels appear in the story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the glory of the Lord shines down from on
high.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is no ordinary night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The shepherds are given a message from
another realm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are told that the
most ordinary of things—an infant swaddled in cloths lying in a feeding trough—is
a sign of something extraordinary. It is a sign that the Messiah, the Lord,
has come.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is no ordinary evening.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>The angels sing:</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Glory
to God in the highest</i></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: left;"><i>heaven,</i></p></blockquote>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and on earth peace among<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">those whom he favors.<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the birth of this child, heaven and earth embrace one
another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>Celtic spirituality developed the concept of “thin
places.” A thin place is a physical
location where the separation between the divine and the earth is considered to
be thin. In other words, the Divine is unusually accessible. That feed trough was the thinnest of all places. It is so thin, one could call it an invasion.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><u>The Invasion</u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">An elderly Dutch woman remembers the dark days before the Christmas
of 1944, recalling how each night they sat secretly around the wireless,
eagerly hoping to hear some coded message that meant <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the invasion has begun. </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
would scan the skies looking for Allied planes and walk the dykes looking for
ships on the horizon, and praying, always praying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were starving; the Jews were all gone. They
wondered could they endure another year of Nazi occupation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>They knew they were powerless to save themselves. Help must come from somewhere else.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>This is the message the angels bring. T<i>he invasion has begun; help is coming from somewhere else</i>. They sing:</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">Be not afraid; for behold, I bring
you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is
born this day in the city of David a savior, who is Christ the Lord.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And this will be a sign for you, you will
find the baby wrapped is swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p>This is something more durable than a visitation. This is an invasion. Few people took note night; Only Mary and Joseph and some shepherds marked the event. Nevertheless, the invasion had begun.</o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><u>World Rejecting</u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This is not a story about fleeing or escaping this world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rather, the Creator of the heavens and the
earth enters our world and our lives.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>The German sociologist Max Weber observed that Christianity
is not a world <i>fleeing faith</i>. It
is a world <i>rejecting faith</i>. It is
a faith that plants itself amid life in this world and says: “I reject what you
have done to one another. I reject what you have done to my creation. I reject the shallow and passing things you have
grown to crave.”</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">God in Christ simply refuses to leave us and our world the
way we are. This child will grow up to comfort
and renew and forgive and love. He will
also grow up to challenge and confront and correct. The one thing he will not
do is leave us and our world as it is.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>Mary had already warned us as she contemplated what God
would do through this child:</p>
<p class="line" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br />
</span><span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 5.0pt;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">he has
scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br />
<span class="text">He has brought down rulers from their thrones</span><br />
</span><span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 5.0pt;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">but has lifted
up the humble.</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br />
<span class="text">He has filled the hungry with good things</span><br />
</span><span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 5.0pt;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">but has
sent the rich away empty. (1:51-53</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span>God simply will not
leave us alone.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span><u>God Was All In</u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">We who celebrate this
child’s birth should be sober about what is really happening in the shadows of
that night long ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is no dreamy
holiday production.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is an invasion.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In George
MacDonald’s allegorical fairy tale, <i>The
Golden Key,</i> a young heroine meets the Old Man of the Earth on her quest for
the land from which the shadows fall. The Old Man of the Earth guides her on to
the next leg of her journey.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="background: white; color: #181818; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Then the Old
Man of the Earth stooped over the floor of the cave, raised a huge stone from
it, and left it leaning. It disclosed a great hole that went plumb-down.</span><span style="color: #181818; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
<span style="background: white;">"That is the way," he said.</span><br />
<span style="background: white;">"But there are no stairs."</span><br />
<span style="background: white;">"You must throw yourself in. There is no
other way.”</span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span>God threw Godself
into our world that night in that baby; there was no other way.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span>Jim Kelsey</p><p class="MsoNormal">Executive Minister—American
Baptist Churches of New York State</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Art
Credit: <i>Adoration of the Child</i> by Gerard van Honthorst, Uffizi, Florence.</span><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Art
Credit: <i>Adoration of the Child</i> by Gerard van Honthorst, Uffizi, Florence.</span><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>James Kelseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01028948624676259487noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7446488312086404283.post-90124456112023725942022-09-13T08:17:00.001-07:002022-09-13T08:17:13.447-07:00I Joined a Gym: Living an Intentional Life<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOANTHdxa8sB7lIjrLYpR3Agam5nl1w7gNhUyESY3Np3k5m2_RHN_aE9nGRoR4z4RPwRzzMsAsd84VG_Xx4XuwAjMVtz-1RyoI4sHwiz9q3yvignuEH-2vHX14ZeVxmNkN_vqm_1r0poOgDj0tqT4jPB393NsKZb0b0mumhusRyNICOQRabLPKkvfd/s1066/All%20American%20Fitness%20Ctr.webp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1066" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOANTHdxa8sB7lIjrLYpR3Agam5nl1w7gNhUyESY3Np3k5m2_RHN_aE9nGRoR4z4RPwRzzMsAsd84VG_Xx4XuwAjMVtz-1RyoI4sHwiz9q3yvignuEH-2vHX14ZeVxmNkN_vqm_1r0poOgDj0tqT4jPB393NsKZb0b0mumhusRyNICOQRabLPKkvfd/w200-h150/All%20American%20Fitness%20Ctr.webp" width="200" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Last
November I went on Medicare. In January I joined the <i>All American Fitness
Center</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, there is a connection.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I have
accepted that if I am going to continue to feel energetic and fit, I need to
work at it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Also, I hope to get more
than my money’s worth out of Medicare and Social Security by outliving the cold
calculations of the governmental actuaries.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The <i>All
American Fitness Center</i> is not like the gyms on TV.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are no people in sleek matching workout
clothes looking for dates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> They are no spin classes. </span>They sell no aqua-colored
health drinks or fancy French fizzy water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> They do have t-shirts for sale.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">We are
people in baggy sweatpants or plaid walking shorts and stretched-out t-shirts. Some
of us have athletic shoes; others do not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It is a place where no one is going to judge you for your appearance or
your physical prowess. We are, however, people with clarity of purpose; each of us is on our own journey of continuing
health, a return to health, or recovery from surgery.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The more the
people around me talk of their joint replacements, the harder I pedal!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I am
learning something about living an intentional life as I roll out of bed before
dawn and make my way to the gym through empty streets. I am learning that <i>intending</i>
something and <i>living an intentional life</i> are not the same thing. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It would be so easy to roll over and go back
to sleep, intending to go exercise tomorrow.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had been intending to build more exercise
into my life for years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Apart from an occasional
brisk walk with my dog or pushing the lawn mower or a little digging in
the garden, my intentions counted for little.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><i>Intending</i> is not the same thing as doing. The word <i>intentional</i>
is an adjective.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It describes something
you are doing, not a state of mind.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">What have
trips to the fitness center taught me?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">First, I
need to go there to exercise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I try
to do it at home, I will not follow through in a focused way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I need to have a place and a time where I do
nothing else but exercise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This needs to
be a place where I am not distracted by all the preoccupations that
fill the other places in my life.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Sometimes putting
intentions into action involves putting ourselves in new places with new
people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I intend to have a more
diverse group of friends yet continue to go the same places and do the same
things, my portfolio of friends will remain unchanged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I intend to read more yet do not stop at
the library, it is unlikely I will watch less TV and read more. If I intend to
improve the quality of education in my community, I need to go to a tutoring center and volunteer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I want to know the Bible better, I need to
join up with others who are reading and talking about the Bible.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Second, I
need to give it time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One week of
exercise did not make a difference in how I felt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After years of neglect, my body would not be
transformed in a week or even a month.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
am now, after eight months, feeling more energetic, resting better, and able to
do things with less effort; but I must stay with it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I let up, I will lose what I have gained.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Much of life is not about arriving; it is about an ongoing journey in a particular direction</span>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The German
philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche in his book <i>Beyond Good and Evil </i>wrote: </span><strong><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; padding: 0in;">“The essential thing ‘in heaven and earth’ is
that there should be long obedience in the same direction; there thereby
results, and has always resulted in the long run, something which has made life
worth living.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was, admittedly,
little in heaven or earth that Nietzsche thought to make life worth living.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Yet m</span>any Christian writers, which Nietzsche was
not, have picked up on the image of a long obedience in the same direction as a
paradigm for the Christian life.</span></strong><b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">My
experience at the gym has taught me that living into the life of Jesus is, like
staying fit in my 60’s, a long obedience in the same direction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is an obedience that is nourished in intentional
places and activities, temporarily free from the preoccupations that otherwise
fill our days.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">As I go through my exercise regimen, I remember the advice of the writer of Hebrews:
“<span style="background: white; color: black;">Let us run with
perseverance the race that is set before us [12:1].” The writer has
more in mind than lowered blood pressure and added flexibility.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The writer sees the call of Christ in our lives as a race to be
run.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="background: white; color: black;">The Apostle Paul uses this same
image repeatedly: 1 Cor. 9:24; Gal. 2:2; and Phil 2:16. Paul saw faith as a
life-long intentional enterprise to be deliberately pursued.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Following Christ's call to embody
love and embrace those around us in a deliberate and enduring
way is like training for a race.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
condition ourselves to be fitted out for such obedience.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The
well-lived Christian life is a long obedience in the same direction.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Jim Kelsey<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Executive Minister—American Baptist Churches of New York
State<o:p></o:p></span></p>James Kelseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01028948624676259487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7446488312086404283.post-39834837144718962362022-08-31T12:51:00.000-07:002022-08-31T12:51:18.721-07:00GIFTS FROM THE EXILE: WHAT THEY LOST & WHAT THEY GAINED<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihsfV7Jb3MnybguRKRMR2aMDV7CXAWl2YOmqfn2yan0ok1-bSxqncn3B2G6zYn5_vtBU4KcKWyIBTvOVl0vImlj3cZ5qXZ-9xPPChE-jOl2oclGNI8AG9XbFJBzfIwnJSfA07JRJb7r_C0qmLvl7oOob-nf2yPR6K9jhzhEwFCYloXf-blY8tgRFWb/s515/Logo%20Biennial%20ABCNYS%202022.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="515" data-original-width="288" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihsfV7Jb3MnybguRKRMR2aMDV7CXAWl2YOmqfn2yan0ok1-bSxqncn3B2G6zYn5_vtBU4KcKWyIBTvOVl0vImlj3cZ5qXZ-9xPPChE-jOl2oclGNI8AG9XbFJBzfIwnJSfA07JRJb7r_C0qmLvl7oOob-nf2yPR6K9jhzhEwFCYloXf-blY8tgRFWb/w179-h320/Logo%20Biennial%20ABCNYS%202022.png" width="179" /></a><u><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">THE LOSS<o:p></o:p></span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">Things were
not going well for the Jewish people.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">The Northern
Jewish Kingdom, known as Israel, had fallen to the Assyrians in 720 BCE. The
inhabitants were dispersed throughout Assyria and beyond.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">In 597 BCE the
Southern Jewish Kingdom, known as Judah, was invaded by Assyria. The elite of
the population was carried off to Babylon. In 586 BCE the Temple in Jerusalem
was destroyed and many of the remaining inhabitants of Judah were deported to
Babylon.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">The fall of
the Southern Kingdom was a tragic blow to Hebrew faith and culture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They land God had promised to Abraham and his
descendants was now fully lost into Gentile hands<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many in the land had come to believe Jerusalem
was inviolable. Now the holy city Jerusalem was ransacked and lay in ruins.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">The Temple in
Jerusalem was desecrated, stripped of its wealth, and left as a relic. This
Temple was the very spot where the Name of God dwelt and the people met God in
worship and sacrifice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was the only
place where this was to happen (Deuteronomy 12).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The structure was singularly irreplaceable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the most sacred space in the Temple sat
the Ark of the Covenant, containing the original autograph of the Tablets Moses
brought down from Mt. Sinai.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">The
Jerusalem Temple was the only place on the face of the entire earth where
sacrifices could be offered—no exceptions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Without the capacity to sacrifice, where did that leave the practice of
the Hebrew faith?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">It is likely
the Assyrian invaders carried the Ark and its holy cargo back to Babylon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was never recovered, There is no mention of it again until some second century Rabbis
speculated about where it might be.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">The fire on
the altar in the Temple must burn continuously it must never go out (Leviticus
6:13).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That fire had gone out.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">The point
is, things necessary for the efficacy of the Hebrew faith as they knew it were now
gone.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">William
Butler Yates caught the mood of these exiled Hebrews: “Things fall apart, the
center cannot hold; mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We hear the exiles’ pain in the words of
Psalm 137:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="line" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span class="text"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">By the rivers of Babylon—</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;"><br />
</span><span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 5.0pt;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">there we
sat down, and there we wept</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;"><br />
</span><span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 5.0pt;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">when we
remembered Zion.</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;"><br />
<span class="text"><b><sup>2 </sup></b>On the willows</span></span><span class="text"><sup><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt;">[</span></sup></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><sup><span style="color: #4a4a4a; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt;"><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm+137&version=NRSVUE#fen-NRSVUE-16225a" title="See footnote a"><span style="color: #4a4a4a;">a</span></a></span></sup></span><span class="text"><sup><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt;">]</span></sup></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;"> there</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;"><br />
</span><span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 5.0pt;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">we hung
up our harps.</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;"><br />
<span class="text"><b><sup>3 </sup></b>For there our captors</span><br />
</span><span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 5.0pt;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">asked us
for songs,</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;"><br />
<span class="text">and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying,</span><br />
</span><span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 5.0pt;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">“Sing us
one of the songs of Zion!”</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="line" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span class="text"><b><sup><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">4 </span></sup></b></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">How
could we sing the </span></span><span class="small-caps"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">’s song</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;"><br />
</span><span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 5.0pt;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">in a
foreign land?</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;"><br /></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="text-align: center;"><u><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">LOSS IS NOT THE LAST WORD<o:p></o:p></span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">Loss
is a part of all our lives, but God does not permit loss to be the last
word.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is always a way beyond the
loss.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI", sans-serif;">After
70 years of exile in Babylon, Isaiah brings a word of deliverance to the Hebrews
living there.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">Do not
remember the former things</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;"><br />
</span><span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 5.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">or consider the things of old.</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;"><br />
<span class="text"><b><sup><span style="background: white;"> </span></sup></b><span style="background: white;">I am about to do a new thing;</span></span><br />
</span><span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 5.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">now it springs forth; do you not perceive it?</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;"><br />
<span class="text"><span style="background: white;">I will make a way in the
wilderness</span></span><br />
</span><span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif; font-size: 5.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">and rivers in the desert. (Isaiah 43:18-19)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">The people
are going home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet the Prophet has a discordant
note in the announcement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He tells the
people not to remember the former things, not to consider the things of
old.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God is about to do a new thing.
Isaiah is warning them they are not just going to return to “the good old days.”
Much of what they lost they will never get back.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">WHAT THEY DID AND DID NOT GET BACK<o:p></o:p></span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI", sans-serif;">They rebuilt
the Temple, over time.</span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI", sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI", sans-serif;">But prophesy became rare</span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI", sans-serif;"> in that place and miracles faded.</span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI", sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI", sans-serif;">The Ark of the Covenant with those precious tablets was never recovered.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">Except for a
brief period between 167 and 160 BCE during the Maccabean revolt when the great
powers of the word were preoccupied with other things, the ancient Hebrews
never lived as free and sovereign people in the land again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 70 CE, the Temple built by Herod was destroyed by the Romans, never to be rebuilt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Even today in the modern State of Israel, sacrifices are not
offered in Jerusalem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is not
Temple there.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">What did the Hebrews take home from Babylon?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
left with a faith that could survive anywhere in any age.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">The reading
of the scriptures took the place of burnt offerings in the Temple.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This became a type of sacrifice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This could be done anywhere in the world.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">The
synagogue system came out of the exile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Through the synagogue, Hebrews could hold communal worship anyplace you had
10 or more adult males.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Can’t get that
together?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fewer than 10 adults could
hold a reduced sort of service. This meant the worship of God was no longer
tied to a purpose built building in a particular city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One could worship anyplace one found oneself.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">In Babylon,
God was preparing the Hebrew people for their dispersion throughout the world.
They now had a faith that could survive, and even flourish, wherever they found
themselves.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">The exile
brought loss, but it also gave birth to a form of faith observance that was
positioned for whatever history might bring their way.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;"><u><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">IN OUR DAY<o:p></o:p></span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">At
our ABCNYS 2022 Biennial, we are going to think about how the experience of the
pandemic has equipped us, even in the midst of loss, for God’s future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are not going to relive the losses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are going to seek out the gifts God has nurtured
within us for a future of faithful service.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>To join in this journey, go to <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://www.abc-nys.org/abcnys-biennial.html">https://www.abc-nys.org/abcnys-biennial.html</a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">Jim
Kelsey<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">Executive
Minister—American Baptist Churches of New York State<o:p></o:p></span></p>James Kelseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01028948624676259487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7446488312086404283.post-82060042458652305362022-05-27T14:56:00.001-07:002022-05-27T14:56:35.707-07:00Mass Shootings: Knowing and Then Doing the Right Thing<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhhQihGucaNiQ1xTb_bU-Tc_8PlGJa54AEEnDlIFh_3lkM5Memq_EEChbDnfS81MWgumkpBv0QUhvFn0ZQTK0BUUNVXXTfEYofMQuwRbmKbBrOZO8l1XiywibGkoJMAtSF0xNZfOYkHonNgFxIz17-E5yscEon7onpeTgs58WxmJ3bX26lZRDgbAOxB" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhhQihGucaNiQ1xTb_bU-Tc_8PlGJa54AEEnDlIFh_3lkM5Memq_EEChbDnfS81MWgumkpBv0QUhvFn0ZQTK0BUUNVXXTfEYofMQuwRbmKbBrOZO8l1XiywibGkoJMAtSF0xNZfOYkHonNgFxIz17-E5yscEon7onpeTgs58WxmJ3bX26lZRDgbAOxB" width="320" /></a></div><br />I used to drop my two young sons off at our neighborhood elementary school each morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They would run down the hill to the playground to join their friends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I sat in my car and watched them until the bell
rang announcing the beginning of the school day and both my sons passed over
the threshold into the school building.<o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I assumed they were safe once they were inside.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a different time.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">After that, we moved as missionaries to Europe and our sons
attended European schools.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As I try to contemplate the killings in Uvalde TX that left
19 children and two teachers dead along with the perpetrator, my mind is
overwhelmed, and my heart is does numb at the horror of the carnage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think about my two little boys entering
Woodland Elementary School in Mansfield OH.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>I think about the trust I placed in that school, the city that ran it,
the elected State and national officials whose job it was to do all that was
humanly possible to protect my sons so they could grow into the fine adults
they have become.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I trusted my community
and my nation to cherish and protect my little boys.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then I think about the 19 dead children and two dead
teachers in Uvalde TX, and I cannot understand why we allow this to continue to
keep happening.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I use the word “allow” intentionally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are prone to become dispirited and think
this cannot change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We wring our hands
and ask ourselves what could possibly be done to stop this. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There are proven demonstrated ways to reduce mass killings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Simple logic suggests some actions.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My grandfather gave me a single-shot-bolt-action rifle when
I was a boy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It could be lethal, but it
would take a long time to kill 21 people in a school in Texas or 10 people in a
Tops store in Buffalo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Later in life, I visited the Cu Chi Tunnels Memorial Park in
Vietnam while on a mission assignment teaching Vietnamese pastors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had a shooting range at the tunnels
where you could purchase ammunition and fire a weapon used during the war in
Vietnam.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I purchased a cache of
ammunition, and the attendant loaded it into a Kalashnikov. I pulled the
trigger. Before I even realized the gun was firing, I had spent all my
ammunition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a costly 2 seconds or
so.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Even a weapons novice like me can see this as a cautionary
tale.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the face of these inconceivably horrific shootings, the
worst thing we can do is simply accept this as an inevitable part of life in
America and go on about our business.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">James writes: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Whoever
knows what is right to do and fails to do it, for them this is sin</i>
(4:17).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the lives of children are
at stake, it is important to give things the proper name.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">Jim Kelsey<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">Executive Minister-American Baptist Churches of
New York State<o:p></o:p></p>James Kelseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01028948624676259487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7446488312086404283.post-86555815860894162132022-04-11T12:28:00.002-07:002022-04-11T12:28:59.886-07:00HOLY SATURDAY: ENVISONING HOW BEAUTIFUL THE WORLD COULD BE<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNQBLW7Cil4E1cCEzQh_IgJKN0VOTX4njoAEU8xUnXCE1v3ATk_fogJnRMkYbvUBTDqk5gj5XD9ZCYdAWTpn6bRh8k7sk4lTi0ClKO6UNh6rWPJhZcoZkwz1TRhvCWEedih1GWdHSG5xQARJYs_L2bSpgwQDUEwY34PvRBsTZjOkSf6IbrF4ALgACq/s276/Jeremiah.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="182" data-original-width="276" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNQBLW7Cil4E1cCEzQh_IgJKN0VOTX4njoAEU8xUnXCE1v3ATk_fogJnRMkYbvUBTDqk5gj5XD9ZCYdAWTpn6bRh8k7sk4lTi0ClKO6UNh6rWPJhZcoZkwz1TRhvCWEedih1GWdHSG5xQARJYs_L2bSpgwQDUEwY34PvRBsTZjOkSf6IbrF4ALgACq/w200-h132/Jeremiah.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst"><u>A Dumpster Fire<o:p></o:p></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">There is war in Ukraine generating death,
destruction, and millions of displaced persons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In New York State we await refugees fleeing persecution in Afghanistan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The junta in Burma continues to terrorize,
dislocate, and kill ethnic minorities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Last
week we remembered the 28<sup>th</sup> anniversary of the 1994 genocide in
Rwanda.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In our own country we seem to makes meager
progress in healing the animosities among us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We continue to struggle with the ongoing effects of slavery and
discrimination.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could go on, but I
need not do so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We know the world sometimes
looks like a dumpster fire.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sometimes it gets to be almost too much; it really does. We have so vandalized God’s creation and so mistreated our
fellow human beings, it is easy to lose sight of God what intended it all to
be, originally.</p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><u>Faith in the Midst of a Dumpster Fire<o:p></o:p></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">How does one have a vigorous faith in the midst of all these human tragedies? Part of faith is imagination.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Victor Frankl in his memoir, <i>Man’s Search for Meaning</i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">, </span>writes about his time in a Nazi
concentration camp during World War II. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
recounts one day when he and his fellow prisoners were resting on the dirt
floor of their hut, holding bowls of cold thin soup in their hands after a hard
day of labor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of their fellow
captives rushes in and says, “You must come outside and see this sunset!”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The prisoners get up and go out into the muddy prison yard,
surrounded by their bleak shacks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
sky is afire with ever-changing shapes and colors, from blood red to steel
blue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They stand there in stunned silence,
their desolate surroundings in starkest contrast to the breathtaking horizon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Finally, one of them utters into the silence: “Think how beautiful
the world <i>could</i> be.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">To imagine how things <i>could</i> be is an act of faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To envision what God wants for us and our
world fuels our convictions about the God’s goodness and original loving intent toward
us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal">It also brings near the grief of God
as God mourns what we have done to one another.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><u>Jeremiah & the Tears of God<o:p></o:p></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">The prophet Jeremiah is called the weeping
prophet. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although he announces uncompromising
judgment, his writings are riddled with pathos and pain over what is happening.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With great clarity and brutal candor, Jeremiah
surveys the mess around him, and then he grieves it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is not just Jeremiah’s pain that is given
voice in his writings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The prophet’s
grief becomes comingled with the grief of God until the two become inseparable (Abraham
Heschel, <i>The Prophets</i>). </p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">Jesus, in the tradition of Jeremiah, laments over the
city of his impending rejection:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets
and stones the ones having been sent to you! How often have I desired to gather
your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were
not willing! (Matt. 23:37)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">As he [Jesus] came near and saw the city, he wept over it,
saying, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make
for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. <b><sup> </sup></b>Indeed,
the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you
and surround you, and hem you in on every side. <b><sup> </sup></b>They
will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will
not leave within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the
time of your visitation from God.” (Luke 19:41-45)</span></span><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">These are “contrary to fact
wishes.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus wishes it were not so,
but it is so.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">We might wish things were not as they
are; but they are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, do we just give
up, give in, or give it all over to futility and go watch the Disney Channel?
No.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><u><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">An Aspirational
Vision<o:p></o:p></span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">In the book of
Revelation there is a stunning scene of a healed human family.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span class="text"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">You
are worthy to take the scroll</span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br />
<span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></span><span class="text">and to open
its seals,</span><br />
<span class="text">for you were slaughtered and by your blood you ransomed for
God</span><br />
<span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></span><span class="text">saints from<sup>
</sup>every tribe and language and people and nation;</span><br />
<span class="text">you have made them to be a kingdom and priests serving<sup> </sup>our
God,</span><br />
<span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></span><span class="text">and they
will reign on earth. (5:9-10)</span></span> </p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span class="text"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This aspirational unified vision of the human
family sees that family as being constituted from all tribes and languages and peoples
and nations. Our diversity is not erased; it is still there in identifiable ways. This diversity is
simply no longer a problem for us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span class="text"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Our diversity remains; our divisions
are healed</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This is what God wants for us, all of us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Have no doubt about that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And someday God’s desire will no longer be a
“contrary to fact wish.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As is often
said “It’s Friday, but Sunday’s coming.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>No dumpster fire of war and refugees and loss and injustice can finally
hold back God’s original and enduring intent.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><u>For Now<o:p></o:p></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">We, for now, live in the meantime, in what is
called “Holy Saturday,” that day between the death of Good Friday and the resurrection
of Easter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What do we do for now?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">First, we live as if the hymn of Revelation 5 were already true for us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A vision of how beautiful the world <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">could</i> be shapes our daily living now. This vision determines how we
treat others and what we consider important in this present day. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Second, we remember that when we grieve our world we share
in the grief of the Maker of Heaven and Earth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In that moment the longings of God’s heart become the longings of our
hearts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a good moment.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">Jim Kelsey<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">Executive Minister—American Baptist Churches of
New York State<o:p></o:p></p>James Kelseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01028948624676259487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7446488312086404283.post-6643487181623610012022-02-24T09:39:00.000-08:002022-02-24T09:39:20.170-08:00War in Ukraine -- 2.24.2022<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEitZTYZEMMFzQDjiJfTcwJcWIucJYK4Nt-e6K7iqlMhvWNNp_ctSwilH_7iL5gRSFblFWuh6cvPv6_MN7Itm001HJSCqm5we2bub9jOvMScxN_Rj2eWmRBS_9ihS4EYJr8jJ3gVXEyChgfus0XLwgRqkZsHow7-OroCHun6Cfz-bzJZaZNzx8MGSkZl=s1200" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="807" data-original-width="1200" height="134" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEitZTYZEMMFzQDjiJfTcwJcWIucJYK4Nt-e6K7iqlMhvWNNp_ctSwilH_7iL5gRSFblFWuh6cvPv6_MN7Itm001HJSCqm5we2bub9jOvMScxN_Rj2eWmRBS_9ihS4EYJr8jJ3gVXEyChgfus0XLwgRqkZsHow7-OroCHun6Cfz-bzJZaZNzx8MGSkZl=w200-h134" width="200" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I met them at a board meeting of the
International Baptist Theological Seminary in Prague in March of 2012.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">These four young Ukrainian women were about to
finish their theological education at the seminary and return to their native
country. They talked about the challenging opportunities for ministry they
would find in their homeland. I said I hoped things would change in their
country, and I wished for them many opportunities to practice their gifts
for ministry.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This morning, indeed, things are changed in
their country. I don’t know whether over the past 10 years they had
expanded opportunities for ministry, but I do know this morning their opportunities for ministry multiplied overnight.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For weeks we have heard reports of Russia’s slow
march toward the invasion of Ukraine. We have seen photographs of
the amassing of lethal arms and soldiers at the border. I have often
thought of those young women as I watched. I wonder how their faith
is sustaining them and encouraging them under the shadow, and now the reality,
of war. I wonder what opportunities for ministry this current
outrage has provided for them.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As we hear about tanks and sanctions, about
differing accounts of history, about economic and geopolitical shifts, we can
forget about the people on the ground in Ukraine. These are people
who prepare breakfast in the morning and get off to work, enjoy meals with
friends, care for aging parents, like to walk in the woods on a sunny day, have
dreams for their children, and love their spouses. Last night many
of them bathed their young children and told them a story before putting them
to bed.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In other words, they are like us. Except
today there are tanks in the street and missiles flying overhead, and soon many
of them shall likely die.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The <i>All Ukrainian Associations of
Evangelical Christian-Baptists</i> is a family of about 2,000 Baptist
churches in Ukraine and a fellow member of the Baptist
World Alliance. This morning the Association's President Valery
Antonyuk began his message to his churches in this way:</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.75pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><i><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Dear brothers and sisters, ministers of the Church!</span></i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.75pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><i><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This morning, February 24, the war in Ukraine began. What
we prayed for God not to happen has happened today. And we, as believers,
fully understand that we will have to go through and go through this period and
this time.</span></i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.75pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><i><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Bible says, “The Lord is my Shepherd. I will not
lack. And even if I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I will not
be afraid of evil, for You are with me, Your rod and Your staff will comfort
me. ” </span></i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.75pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><i><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That is why we urge everyone, above all, to continue and
intensify our prayers. This is our weapon in times of war, military
confrontation. This is the first thing believers do. And we urge
everyone, wherever you are, to seek the opportunity in person, in your
families, in your churches, in ZOOM, where possible, to unite together and pray
to the Lord.</span></i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We in America can do this too; we can
pray. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We feel powerless to turn back the events in
Ukraine. It has been like watching a car accident happen in slow
motion and all our shouting could not stop the colliding cars. Yet
this one thing we <i>can</i> do. We can pray. This is what
people of faith do in response to things they cannot control, turn back, or
reshape; we turn them over to God.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I encourage all our churches this coming Sunday
to pray for the Ukrainian people and to pray for people in all places where the
will to power, greed, arrogance, and inhumanity destroy human community, kill
the innocent, and reward the ruthless. We must continue to remember
the ethnic minorities in Burma who for decades have suffered at the hands of
the powerful and the indifferent.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; mso-outline-level: 3;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I also encourage you to send a note of support to our Baptist
brothers and sisters in Ukraine. Go to <a href="https://www.baptyst.com/pro-soyuz/"><span style="color: blue;">https://www.baptyst.com/pro-soyuz/</span></a> and
go to the bottom of the page; </span><b><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; letter-spacing: .15pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; text-transform: uppercase;">ЗАЛИШИТИ КОМЕНТАР</span></b><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; letter-spacing: .15pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; text-transform: uppercase;"> </span><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; letter-spacing: .15pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">means “leave a comment.” </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There you can leave a brief comment letting them know NYS Baptists
are praying for them.</span><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; mso-outline-level: 3;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And if you think about it, pray for those four young women I met
in Prague 10 years ago and for all those other faithful leaders who guide their
people through difficult times with words of hope and faith.</span><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; mso-outline-level: 3;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Blessings,</span><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; mso-outline-level: 3;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jim Kelsey</span><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; mso-outline-level: 3;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Executive Minister—American Baptist Churches of New York State</span><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><br /><p></p>James Kelseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01028948624676259487noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7446488312086404283.post-9846744398736995312022-01-15T06:36:00.000-08:002022-01-15T06:36:08.178-08:00Knowing Ourselves: A Reflection on Martin Luther King Day<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg3juiW5lSEzeap9N43outRAyJwu6reIdZJ8CHqqoZtdx5BKzVwr66sPkeWAK6rBeS-SjqVRDrtg_mM9Rgd_lNjo_uICb5p3M3JpYMjxq4J0klBX1XbvBF98dkwAb6ScgZt87i4oFn7mPn39fvG-lFYqizDY7kcTBTNGXYMDOagTLD5_XsBK1mTy9Rj=s280" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="180" data-original-width="280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg3juiW5lSEzeap9N43outRAyJwu6reIdZJ8CHqqoZtdx5BKzVwr66sPkeWAK6rBeS-SjqVRDrtg_mM9Rgd_lNjo_uICb5p3M3JpYMjxq4J0klBX1XbvBF98dkwAb6ScgZt87i4oFn7mPn39fvG-lFYqizDY7kcTBTNGXYMDOagTLD5_XsBK1mTy9Rj" width="280" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal">The African American writer James Baldwin is being interviewed
by a European American woman for a segment on the news show <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">60 Minutes</i>, a segment that CBS recorded
in 1979 but never aired.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The interviewer
seems well intentioned and appears to be genuinely interested in the
experiences and thoughts of Baldwin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">At one point in the interview, Baldwin speaks candidly of
his experience of living as an African American man in America.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Baldwin then says to this sympathetic
interviewer:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“I don’t know you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve got
nothing against you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t know you
personally, but I know you historically</i>.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I don’t know you personally, but I know you historically<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">.</i> That is a telling distinction. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I think of myself as a well-intentioned white American of
goodwill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know myself personally in
this way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Baldwin is suggesting I ought
to also know myself historically.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I think such a distinction between the personal and
historical lies at the heart of the ministry of Dr. King.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Paul Greenberg wrote King “understood he [King] had an ally
in the heart of his adversary, and he never ceased appealing to it. He was
relentless in his application of mercy [<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Philadelphia
Inquirer, </i>January 15, 1988].”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>King
was a man of great mercy and grace, even in the face of ugliness, indifference,
threats, and violence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>King believed his
adversaries had it within them to be converted to better things, but in the
meantime he knew they remained impediments to his quest for racial justice. He strove
to confront them with the tension between knowing themselves personally, on the
one hand, and knowing themselves historically on the other hand. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">King was not naïve about the momentum of our nation’s
history that sweeps up well-intentioned people in its current.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We call this momentum “systemic racism.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We all have a personal identity, but we also
have an historical identity shaped by our ethnicity, religion, class, and
gender.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were all cast into roles
before we were born.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To break out of
those roles takes deliberate initiative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We call this “anti-racism.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Ant-racism undermines the inertia of the status quo into which all were
born.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In King’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Letter from
a Birmingham Jail,</i> he exposes the tension between our personal identities
and our historic identities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In April of
1963,<span style="color: red;"> </span>when King writes the letter, some local Birmingham
clergy have called King’s activities in Birmingham “unwise and untimely,”
activities for which King has been jailed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He responds with this public letter.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">King begins by observing that he rarely responds to criticism,
otherwise he would have no time for constructive work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this case he makes an exception: “<span style="background: white; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext;">Since I feel that
you are men of genuine good will and that your criticisms are sincerely set
forth, I want to try to answer your statement in what I hope will be patient
and reasonable terms.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In King’s
opinion, “their genuine good will” is not sufficient for the situation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>King is looking for some action that will
transform the historically-scripted roles of both the white people and black
people of Birmingham.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: black;">King suggests
that we must avoid “the superficial kind of social analysis that deals merely
with effects and does not grapple with underlying causes.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When he talks of “underlying causes,” King is
referring to that momentum of our national history; we name this “structural
racism.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is calling us to know
ourselves historically, to take a broader view of our lives than our own individual
efforts at being fair and kind in our daily dealings with people.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: black;">In his letter
King recounts, what in his day was, 340 years of history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He wants those well-intentioned clergypersons
to understand that their good intentions do not cancel the structures and
practices built by 340 years of injustice. He writes: “Shallow misunderstanding
from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding
from people of ill will.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: black;">We all know
ourselves personally, but we need to know ourselves historically.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We need to understand the residual power of a
history of slavery, then Jim Crow in the South and segregation in the North,
and the persistent and pernicious legacy of systemic racism, up to and
including the killing of Ahmed Arbury.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: black;">King writes in
his letter that he sheds tears of love over the state of race relations in his
day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He closes his letter by expressing
the hope that he can meet with the addressees of his letter as “a fellow
clergyman and Christian brother.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
simply wants them to face the tension created by knowing themselves personally
and knowing themselves historically. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
is as was his custom, “speaking the truth in love [Ephesians 4:15].”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: black;">I encourage you
read the letter in its entirety at </span><a href="about:blank"><span style="background: white;">https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html</span></a><span style="background: white; color: black;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="background: white; color: black;">Jim Kelsey<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="background: white; color: black;">Executive Minister—American Baptist
Churches o New York State</span><o:p></o:p></p>James Kelseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01028948624676259487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7446488312086404283.post-10015798672362824072021-10-22T12:33:00.003-07:002021-10-22T12:33:43.269-07:00The Two Faces of Faith: Remembering and Anticipating<p> <br /></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="text-align: center;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Part 1:
Remembering</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><u><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Two Faces</span></u><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyigYbzDulxQ9k5qlR6K6NIQhn6_zw7i2LRWdqPc-CBAFrjqXFmoRzYQx1ndYxl64IzHbyIXyD0wN8WEfuLkddUCQ4PgtCk9anl45MDHU2ztBP5SfWL4PoZtjkPgrH0KAUqGTrwJpBQhc/s231/Janus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="231" data-original-width="216" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyigYbzDulxQ9k5qlR6K6NIQhn6_zw7i2LRWdqPc-CBAFrjqXFmoRzYQx1ndYxl64IzHbyIXyD0wN8WEfuLkddUCQ4PgtCk9anl45MDHU2ztBP5SfWL4PoZtjkPgrH0KAUqGTrwJpBQhc/w187-h200/Janus.jpg" width="187" /></a></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The god Janus of ancient Roman myth was a god
of two faces.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One face was turned back looking
to the past, and the other was turned forward looking to the future. The two
faces of Christian faith are like that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>One face looks back, remembering God’s faithfulness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The other face looks forward, anticipating
the fulfillment of God’s promises.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span>In the present reflection we consider the face
that looks back and remembers.</p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: left;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span><i style="text-align: left;"><u>Things
That Weren’t There Anymore</u></i><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">When I lived in Philadelphia I would watch a
television show on Saturdays entitled <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Things
That Aren’t There Anymore</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each week
the program would showcase some thing or place that had influenced the city, and
sometimes the nation, in profound ways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>These were things and places that were not there anymore. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="background: white; color: #1c1c1c; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #1c1c1c;">For example, in
1902 Philadelphia-based restaurateurs Joseph Horn and Frank Hardart opened
their first Automat named Horn and Hardart. They had already established, in
1888, a small café of the same name that sold cheap coffee and quick meals.
Theirs was the first Automat in the country.</span></span><span style="color: #1c1c1c;">
</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1c1c;">In my day, it was not there anymore.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><i><span style="background: white; color: #202122; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i><i><span style="background: white; color: #202122; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">American
Bandstand</span></i><span style="background: white; color: #202122;"> premiered locally in late
March 1950 as <i>Bandstand</i> on </span><span style="background: white;">Philadelphia<span style="color: #202122;"> television station WFIL,
channel 6. The show went off the air in
1989. In my day, it was not there
anymore.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="background: white; color: #202122; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span>Week by week, <i>Things That Aren’t There Anymore </i>catalogued buildings, parks, venues,
cultural treasures,<i> </i>and restaurants that
were gone. As I watched, I felt
nostalgic for times and places and a city that I, myself, had never
experienced.</p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><u>Remembering as Faith</u></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Remembering the accomplishments, struggles,
and courage of those faithful believers who came before us encourages us in the
present.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We see our passing and precious
days as an opportunity to write our part of God’s story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We ask what worthy things are we doing with
our allotment of time.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span>Remembering is part of our faith. The Hebrews
were told repeatedly to remember, 15 times in Deuteronomy alone. In Hebrew faith to remember is to believe; to
forget is unbelief. Amnesia is a form of
atheism in the Hebrew Scriptures.</p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">In the Bible, remembering shapes the way we
live in the present.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In Deuteronomy
16:9-12, the people are told to celebrate the “Feast of Weeks” and to include
their sons and daughters, their servants, and Levites.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The list of invitees continues on to include
aliens, orphans, and widows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can
almost see the peoples’ eyebrows rising as slaves, immigrants, and unrelated orphans and
widows are included in the guest list.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span>This commands ends with the words: “Remember
that you were slaves in Egypt, and follow carefully these decrees.” As the sons and daughters of ex-slaves, people who in their day were excluded and marginalized, the present generation is to invite the
excluded and marginalized into their homes and lives. Remembering
brings with it responsibility.</p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span><u>Faithful Remembering is not the Same as Nostalgia</u></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Nostalgia is a longing for the past and
wanting it back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We remember a time we
associate with good feelings and want to turn back the clock and live there again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or perhaps we want to return to a halcyon past
in which we, ourselves, did not participate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This is what I did as I watched <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Things
That Aren’t There Anymore.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I longed
for a city and a way of life that I had heard of but had never experienced
myself.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span>Nostalgia discourages and disheartens us. It diminishes our energy to stake out a life
in the present and clouds our vision for what is possible in the future.</p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span>We <i>should</i>
remember how God has faithfully sustained and nurtured our congregations. We <i>should</i>
give thanks for the courage and sacrifices of our ancestors in the faith. In remembering how they wrote their
chapter of God’s story, we realize that we too are now writing our chapter of
that same story. This is quite different
from wanting to return to former days and write on pages long past. We write our portion of the story in the present tense. </p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span><u>The Hebrews Sometimes Got Stuck in Nostalgia</u></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The Hebrews sometimes got stuck in a nostalgic
longing for the past.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In Psalm 137, the
exiles in Babylon sit and weep as they remember Zion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They wonder “how can we sing the Lord’s song
in a foreign land?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They cannot see the
opportunities in the present because they are so captured by things that aren’t
there anymore.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span>Isaiah does tell these exiles to remember God’s
faithfulness. In 44:21-22, the prophet
writes:</p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Remember these things, O Jacob,</span></span><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br />
</span><span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 5.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">and Israel, for you are my servant;</span></span><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br />
<span class="text"><span style="background: white;">I formed you, you are my
servant;</span></span><br />
</span><span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 5.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me.</span></span><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br />
<span class="text"><b><sup><span style="background: white;"> </span></sup></b><span style="background: white;">I have swept away your transgressions like a cloud,</span></span><br />
</span><span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 5.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">and your sins like mist;</span></span><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br />
<span class="text"><span style="background: white;">return to me, for I have redeemed
you.</span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="background-color: white;">In Chapter 63:7-9 the writer recounts all the great acts of the Lord.</span> <span style="background-color: white;">Remembering makes the Hebrews brave and hopeful.</span></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Yet the prophet also admonishes these same
exiles to leave behind a type of nostalgia that blinds them to what God is doing
among them in the present.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He encourages a type of forgetting that liberates them from longing for the past and
opens them up to what God is doing in the present day.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Do not remember the former things,</span></span><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br />
</span><span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 5.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">or consider the things of old.</span></span><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br />
<span class="text"><span style="background: white;">I am about to do a new thing;</span></span><br />
</span><span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 5.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?</span></span><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br />
<span class="text"><span style="background: white;">I will make a way in the
wilderness</span></span><br />
</span><span class="indent-1-breaks"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 5.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">and rivers in the desert. (43:18-19)</span></span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Longing for things that aren’t there anymore
saps their courage and dims their vision.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Isaiah wants his readers to remember what God has done so that they
might find courage in their day to embrace the new things God is doing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span><u>No Encores</u></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">In short, God does not do encores.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God does not give us the old things back or do
the prior thing again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God does fresh things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No matter how long we stand and clap for an
encore, God does not give us back things that aren’t there anymore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God is initiating a new chapter in the grand
story of redemption and is calling us to write our part of that story with
faithfulness and hope.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Jim Kelsey</span></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">Executive Minister—American Baptist Churches
of New York State</p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>James Kelseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01028948624676259487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7446488312086404283.post-16449723002179756602021-08-11T08:32:00.000-07:002021-08-11T08:32:01.471-07:00Except You Become as a Child<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1ZziwdvI9HqCeDROQnFOg5ck7sHZe1orDdXQhuqgPKpd6fsTFRWGgH6K83alkxt2PKXaX5I6iJApZEgNZR1jjQZBJcbyl6k6d8GQ47PNODq5JBjoZ1eD6cZPBlN_xF6srptJrPWzHGbY/s2000/Camp+2021-1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="2000" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1ZziwdvI9HqCeDROQnFOg5ck7sHZe1orDdXQhuqgPKpd6fsTFRWGgH6K83alkxt2PKXaX5I6iJApZEgNZR1jjQZBJcbyl6k6d8GQ47PNODq5JBjoZ1eD6cZPBlN_xF6srptJrPWzHGbY/w200-h150/Camp+2021-1.jpeg" width="200" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal">It began about 5 years ago with emails and letters about
hearing aids.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then the advertisements
for retirement and estate planning starting coming. Fortunately, there has been
no mail yet from funeral homes or caskets companies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I periodically get promotions for hydrostatic
tubs; I must say they have piqued my interest.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In November, I turn Sixty-five years of age. (Don’t tell me
age is just a number; it is not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Age”
is a word.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now on a daily basis I get
literature about Medicare Supplements and Advantage plans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I now know the difference between Parts A
& B & D, a supplement, and an Advantage plan.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">OK, I am aging. I tell myself I feel as if I am still 35.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, I have no memory of what it felt
like to be 35; I suspect it felt
different than nearly 65.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Although I cannot turn back
the aging of my body, I am working to retain youthfulness of spirit. Recently I learned anew some things about youthfulness.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I spent last week as Camp Pastor at Pathfinder Lodge with a
group of people who are truly young—in body and spirit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I learned some things about aging as well.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">First, these campers are not just <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">kids</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are young <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">adults</i> in some ways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When asked about their fears and when they
had felt betrayed, they shared some very sobering adult-like experiences:
abandonment; the untimely death of loved ones; and social cruelty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They have not led “Leave it to Beaver”
lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their religious beliefs have been
both formed and tested by some difficult things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their faith should be taken seriously.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Second, their hearts and minds and faith are open to the new
experiences life brings to them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we
grow older, our faith, our view of people and the world, our loyalties and
dislikes become increasingly fixed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It takes
more effort to change and to grow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So,
we tend to settle in where we are like a smooth rock in a stream and let the
current of life flow around us, leaving us barely changed.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Young people, on the other hand, are still
malleable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are ready to learn and to
grow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are listening and looking,
learning and testing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are still
being formed and are open to revision, rethinking, reviewing, and renewing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The theme for the week at camp was
“Renew.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were game for that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They reach out for life with both hands,
letting it take them where it will.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">There openness and freshness were wonderful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It makes them vulnerable to the Spirit that
transforms and renews us. Paul encourages this vulnerability: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Do not be
conformed to this world, but be transformed by the <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">renewing</span> of your minds, so that you may discern what the will
of God— what is good and acceptable and perfect </span></i><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">(Romans 12:2).</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Jesus recognized the advantages to youthfulness of spirit when he said: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“<span class="text">Truly I tell you, unless
you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of
heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the
kingdom of heaven</span></i><span class="text"> [Matt. 18:3].”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was talking about the openness and
flexibility that comes through the humility that characterizes youth.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is enormously fun and exciting to work with
a group of young people in whom you can see the Spirit of God working with
great freedom.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">There is,
on the other hand, a danger to this youthful enthusiastic embrace of life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Young people stand in the stream of life and
their experiences shape their soft contours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Unfortunately, not all those experiences are healthy and will bear good
fruit in their lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because they are
impressionable, they are vulnerable to being misshapen by the pathologies and
violence and cruelty of this world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In other
words, they can become “conformed to this world," as Paul writes.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">We must
care for the young people around us, in our families and our neighborhoods, in our
churches and our schools, on our streets and in our
nation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are responsible for them, all
of them.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span><span style="background-color: white;">Last
week, a group of young people at Pathfinder Lodge had plenty of good food to
eat, a nurse to provide medical care, safe places to sleep, and counselors who
listened to them, treasured them and taught them about God’s love for them in
Jesus Christ.</span> <span style="background-color: white;">We talked about what God
wanted for them in their lives and what God expected of them as they move
through this world.</span> <span style="background-color: white;">They were shaped in
good ways.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span><span style="background-color: white;">Given the
river of influences under which these young people live their lives, a week
at camp may seem like an inconsequential thing; but do not doubt the power of
God when it is set free for a week on a hillside in the lives of young campers.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span class="text"><b><sup><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;"> </span></sup></b></span><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><i>He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is
like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field;<b><sup> </sup></b>it
is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of
shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in
its branches”</i> (Matthew 13:31—32).<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Camp is
about believing that a mustard seed can become a mighty tree and, likewise, these
young people will grow into mighty fine and faithful adults.</span></span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Jim
Kelsey<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Executive
Minister-American Baptist Churches of New York State</span></span><span class="text"><b><sup><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></sup></b></span></p>James Kelseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01028948624676259487noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7446488312086404283.post-79434638008395970322021-07-14T11:28:00.003-07:002021-07-14T11:28:32.058-07:00Playing the Prophet and Being the Priest<p> The more you
know the more you realize you don’t know, said Aristotle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt3sCteq6MxtsuUAS9KEBVxiww5l1aUjUUENm6JOA4jPB2GCu53QmogYQ17LzGKkAuGnOIFj_DVJXTMFBCYv7K8sSO8LDOzETi_ejxLMiQNsOeItwR6sWratWdhOoKUDkVlTdZLzo_9TU/s276/Jeremiah-Prophet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="182" data-original-width="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt3sCteq6MxtsuUAS9KEBVxiww5l1aUjUUENm6JOA4jPB2GCu53QmogYQ17LzGKkAuGnOIFj_DVJXTMFBCYv7K8sSO8LDOzETi_ejxLMiQNsOeItwR6sWratWdhOoKUDkVlTdZLzo_9TU/s0/Jeremiah-Prophet.jpg" /></a></span></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif">Former
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld complicated the issue by saying “<span style="background: white; color: #101010;">there are known knowns. These are things
we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are
things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There
are things we don't know we don't know.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #101010;">I really don’t know what that means, but I do know this:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I used to be a great deal more certain about
what I knew.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am confident the seasoned
adults who knew me early in my ministry smiled at how certain I was of so much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was comfortable playing the prophet in those days.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #101010;">A prophet in the Hebrew Bible, according to Walter
Brueggemann, is one who speaks to the moment to a concrete community (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Prophetic Imagination,</i> p. 24).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The prophet tells the people what time it is
and what God is now doing and what God expects of us at this moment (p.
53).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The prophet brings the word of God
to the people with a sense of urgency and confidence.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #101010;">There are appropriate times and places for playing the
prophet.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #101010;">Richard Mouw, long time President of Fuller Theological
Seminary, adds a wrinkle to the conversation by contrasting a prophet with a
priest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A priest is one who takes the
deepest concerns of the people and confessions of sin to God, writes Mouw.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He suggests that we will be more effective
prophets if we have <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">first</i> been good
priests.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Transforming leadership
requires that we genuinely listen to others, that we be emphatically open to
their points of view on matters that concern them deeply.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only by approaching them as priests can we
hope to relate to them as prophets [<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Uncommon
Decency—Christian Civility in an Uncivil World, </i>p. 125].”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mouw goes to write this listening cannot
simply be a strategy by which we then get a chance to tell others what we
think.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Genuine listening involves a
willingness to be changed by what we hear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We cannot hope to transform others without a commitment to being
transformed ourselves [p. 126].”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #101010;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #101010;">Over the years I have learned that a
prerequisite for possessing an effective prophetic voice is first acting as an
attentive priest.</span><span style="color: #101010; mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #101010;">Letting the people touch my heart and change me is a key part of being a good priest.</span><span style="color: #101010; mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #101010;">In Matthew 9:35—36, we see in Jesus a
compelling picture of both priest and prophet.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span class="text"><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black;">Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching
in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing
every disease and every sickness. <b><sup> </sup></b>When he saw the
crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless,
like sheep without a shepherd.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span class="text"><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black;">Jesus proclaimed the Good News to the crowds. He also healed their brokenness and demonstrated compassion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was both prophet and priest.</span></span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #101010;">Later in his ministry Jesus utters a
heartbreaking prophesy as he arrives in Jerusalem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span class="text"><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black;">As he came near and saw the city, he wept over
it, saying, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things
that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. <b><sup> </sup></b>Indeed,
the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you
and surround you, and hem you in on every side. They will crush you to the
ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you
one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your
visitation from God. {Luke 19:41—44].”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span class="text"><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black;">As he says this, he is weeping. The ground beneath Jesus is damp with tears of
this priestly prophet.</span></span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpLast"><span class="text"><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black;">The Prophet Jeremiah brings some hard-to-hear
things to his people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nonetheless, his unsettling
pronouncements are bathed in his tears.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="line" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span class="text"><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;">For the
hurt of my poor people I am hurt,</span></span><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;"><br />
<span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">I
mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="line" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span class="text"><b><sup><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></sup></b></span><span class="text"><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;">Is there no balm in Gilead?</span></span><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif" style="color: black; font-size: 11pt;"><br />
<span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">Is
there no physician there?</span><br />
<span class="text">Why then has the health of my poor people</span><br />
<span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">not
been restored?</span><br />
<span class="text">O that my head were a spring of water,</span><br />
<span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">and
my eyes a fountain of tears,</span><br />
<span class="text">so that I might weep day and night</span><br />
<span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">for
the slain of my poor people! (8:21—9:1).</span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst"><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #101010;">Prophetic proclamation without priestly
compassion is not the stuff of the Bible.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span class="text"><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black;">It is easier to play the prophet that it is to
play the priest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To play the prophet
asks little of us; we can move on untouched by those around us and their
lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We need to give no thought to how
those around us came to be where and how they are.</span></span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span class="text"><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black;">A priest does not have the luxury of distance
and disconnection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe that is why the
church spawns many more prophets than priests.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span class="text"><span face=""Segoe UI",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black;">Jim Kelsey</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="background-color: white;">Executive minister—American Baptist Churches of
New York State</span></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><o:p></o:p></p>James Kelseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01028948624676259487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7446488312086404283.post-72412585500291136672021-05-12T13:10:00.003-07:002021-05-12T13:10:56.622-07:00What Does Jesus Think about Nuclear Power?<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirFuc_-mM7KVzSZ0TjLo0ynL9CkOA0KmUTx26BDRbXeDVZvrOXfJVUrCJW9e0c3fyH4nwgi0kxmWz0m724COWz1m0AQpyzmMp4_T8o5vPghnXgn77cly_plQSVN4ZAmleKjPTx3HOtQm4/s2048/Decision-Confusion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirFuc_-mM7KVzSZ0TjLo0ynL9CkOA0KmUTx26BDRbXeDVZvrOXfJVUrCJW9e0c3fyH4nwgi0kxmWz0m724COWz1m0AQpyzmMp4_T8o5vPghnXgn77cly_plQSVN4ZAmleKjPTx3HOtQm4/w200-h150/Decision-Confusion.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>It would be nice if the Bible could answer all our questions in a clear and concise way, like “Miss Manners” answers our
etiquette questions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The problem is many of the pressing daily decisions we must
make were unheard of to those to whom the biblical authors wrote, and many of
the daily concerns they faced were quite different from our daily
preoccupations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For example, eating meat that has been offered to an idol, a
concern, Paul responds to in 1 Corinthians 8, is not a problem I have ever
confronted in my ministry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I did face a
somewhat similar situation when asked by pastors in Vietnam how they can, when
invited to a family feast to revere their ancestors, honor both their theological
convictions and their Christian commitment to honor their parents, as
stipulated in the Ten Commandments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
took the teaching in 1 Corinthians 8, along with passages about family,
and crafted a strategy that would honor both these teachings in their contemporary
situation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had to balance the
competing demands of these passages in a way that honored the full counsel of
scripture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was not a job for the
lazy or unimaginative. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In another example, Moses relates a clear teaching on who
may and may not eat the sacred offerings and who may and may not come into contact
with those offerings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is even
guidance about what to do if one eats the offering accidentally (Leviticus
22).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have had questions about the
observance of communion but no queries about sacred offerings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal">Jesus gives clear guidance on the Temple tax
(Matthew 17:24), yet I have never had a question about paying the Temple tax in all
my years of teaching Sunday School. I guess people don’t pay that anymore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal">Nor has there ever been a conflict, in my
experience, over fraternizing with someone who collects government taxes (Luke
5:27).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It just never comes up.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My point is, many of the daily pressing questions of the
people to whom the Bible was first directed are not our questions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Likewise, many of our concerns were unknown
to them: global warming, gun control, cloning, and the availability of health
insurance, to name a few.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(One concern
that runs through the entire Bible and is front and center in in our day as
well is economic inequality; on that issue we have clear and timely mandates.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">On the other hand, many of these original readers’ deepest
concerns are ours as well: greed, generosity, loving our neighbors, honesty,
forgiveness, grief, economic justice, caring for our families, and how do we
use power.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In many ways our lives are
not so different.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Still we must often
make an imaginative leap from the particulars of their situation to the
particulars of our situation because these concerns come clothed in different in different circumstances.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Bible can still guide us even though our daily concerns
may be quite different. I have walked with many churches through conflicts.
Picking and eating grain on the Sabbath has never been a bone of contention in these disagreements (Matt. 12:1-8).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus saw this immediate
controversy over Sabbath behavior through the lens of the competing claims of
mercy and sacrifice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Spoiler
alert:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He comes down clearly on the side
of mercy.) The tension between mercy and sacrifice has often been at the heart
of many church conflicts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>One has to imaginatively extrapolate from the grain issue to the matter
at hand in the conflict.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is not a
direct application, as in “just do what the Bible says," but one can find some direction in this story.</p><p class="MsoNormal">How would our<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>lives be different if rather than looking for
some proof text we asked what is the merciful thing to do? We must with
our hearts and our minds fully engage with the Spirit and apply ancient values
to new situations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> This is hard work.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Bible is not just an answer book to which we take our
questions and then find a simple unequivocable answer for all people at all
times in all places.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In other words, the
Bible is not for lazy unimaginative people who wish to “Google” it for one
sentence answers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is for people who are
willing to struggle with multiple texts written to a wide variety of people in
a diversity of situations, each with their own distinctive preoccupations.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Under the guidance of the Spirit, serious Bible readers
discover values, priorities, and principles that can be applied to new
situations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Pharisees in Matthew 12
were not willing to struggle with the inherent tension between mercy and
sacrifice in the Hebrews scriptures as they sorted out picking grain on the Sabbath, thus they ended up condemning the
innocent (Matt 12:7).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were dull
minded and more interested in justifying themselves than in discovering the wisdom of the full counsel of scripture.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So to my original question: What does Jesus think about
nuclear power?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a good test case
for us to apply our Bible reading skills.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We must extrapolate from what the Bible says about related
concerns.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Bible tells us we are to
be good caretakers of God’s creation; this gets at the issue of the destruction
of the ozone generated by coal-fired power plants vs. the dangers of nuclear waste.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are to love and care for our neighbor:
this raises up the safety of the workers in nuclear power plants and those who
live around those plants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet, affordable energy
is a positive thing that enhances my neighbor’s life, whom I am to love. Like
so many of our concerns, we have to balance multiple biblical themes to find
our way.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We are confronted with decisions of which the ancients never dreamed.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So we must work to find answers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since this is an imaginative enterprise
guided by the Holy Spirit, we will not always agree on everything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Apostle Paul gives us some good guidance
as we find our way through life:<o:p></o:p></p>
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love (1 Cor. 13:8-13).</blockquote><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Faith, hope, and love, the greatest of these being love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These are not bad guides to follow for now,
particularly the thing about love.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Jim Kelsey</span></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">Executive Minister—American Baptist Churches
of New York State</p>James Kelseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01028948624676259487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7446488312086404283.post-81496716747388021712021-03-02T11:21:00.001-08:002021-03-02T11:21:19.435-08:00Making a Difference in Burma<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw1j2Xv_ZhVcYS_vpSxL9AAnQCi_VcKNQnhF7U_tw6WNmJSOFKIRPEGjhfmtNuEn28cMM5YWi9NRW3QOdcqPbRDleNkKCotTHdeCFz7EsjneK6wn3p-8zYhRjpvYmT12tpXdPiJhrknG0/s299/Burma+Map.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; clear: right; float: right; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw1j2Xv_ZhVcYS_vpSxL9AAnQCi_VcKNQnhF7U_tw6WNmJSOFKIRPEGjhfmtNuEn28cMM5YWi9NRW3QOdcqPbRDleNkKCotTHdeCFz7EsjneK6wn3p-8zYhRjpvYmT12tpXdPiJhrknG0/s0/Burma+Map.jpg" /></a> We have all read articles and seen newscasts about the military coup in Burma, which overthrew a democratically elected government. We have been made aware of the suffering of the people of Burma, in particular the minority ethnic groups. In our Region we have a number of churches comprised of people from Burmese ethnic groups who had to flee Burma due to government violence and repression. They have family and friends back in Burma and grieve the atrocities their homeland is undergoing. These people are our brothers and sisters in Christ. You are likely aware that it was an American Baptist missionary couple, the Judsons, who first took the Gospel to Burma.</p><p>So what can we do? Last week you received from the Region prayer litanies, sample letter and other martials you can use. Below you will another sample letter written by a man in the Utica Karen Baptist Church. Please look it over and consider adapting it and send it to your representative and senator.</p><p>Jim Kelsey--Executive Minister of the American Baptist Churches of New York State</p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Honorable ???</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">U.S. Representative of
New York’s ??? Congressional District</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">1410 Longworth House
Office Building</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Washington, DC
20515</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Dear Congresswoman/man
???,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">We are writing to you
on behalf of the Burmese Diaspora churches of the American Baptist Churches of
New York State/or the ??? Baptist Church of (your city). These churches represent
ethnic minority groups from Burma. They are grateful for the sanctuary they
have been given in this country. However, the root causes of why they had to
flee their homes and country—attacks and human rights violations by the Burmese
military—have still not been addressed.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The military has just
staged a new coup against the democratically elected civilian government led by
Aung San Sue Kyi. The new military government has shut down communication
channels such as the internet, phone and social media in an attempt to stop
peaceful demonstrators and prevent the world from seeing what is happening in
the country. The military has also announced martial law in part of the country
where peaceful demonstration and civil disobedience movement has grown and has
threatened to clamp down on peaceful demonstrators.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And while the world
attention has turned to the military coup, right villagers, including many
children, are hiding in the jungle following attacks by the Burmese military. The
indiscriminate targeting of civilians and the obstruction of humanitarian
assistance are war crimes under the Geneva Conventions.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We request that you
condemn the coup, make a public call for the military to peacefully return
power to democratically elected government led by Aung San Sue Kyi, and for the
Burmese military to halt its attacks on ethnic minorities and to lift all
humanitarian aid restrictions. We also request that you support the passing of
legislation to impose sanctions that will ensure no American company can do any
form of business with military owned companies.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">We also would like you
to consider the following points when deciding your future approach to our
country. The U.S government needs to review the support it is giving to the
peace process and impose strict economic sanctions on the military-owned
companies and all foreign and domestic companies associated with the military
in Burma. We believe that the peace process and reforms in Burma, a creation of
the military, were never designed to bring genuine peace. The intention was to
use ceasefires to weaken ethnic armed organizations and gain access to
contested areas, including natural resources. The peace process and reforms
were also used as part of efforts to persuade the US and EU to lift economic
sanctions.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The current peace
process in our country has failed. Since it began, conflict and human rights
violations in Burma have significantly increased. There has been increased
conflict in Rakhine State, Kachin State, Shan State and Chin State. Now even in
Karen State, hailed by some as one of the few places where the local
populations have seen some benefits from ceasefires, people are once again
fleeing for their lives.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">As a member of the
Joint Peace Fund, as well as a key political backer of the peace process, the
US has a leading role to play. We believe that international financial and
political support, including from the Joint Peace Fund, is helping to keep
alive a failed process. By keeping this failed process alive, the support the
US and others are giving has now become an obstacle to achieving peace, rather
than supporting it. It is preventing major reform or replacement of the current
process. Each new problem is met with more committees, more processes, and more
expense as those involved appear to have expended too much money and political
capital to be willing to accept it has not worked.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">If a peace process
results in more conflict, it is time for a rethink.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">We request that you support our call for the
US to suspend financial support for the Peace Process and reinstate sanctions
in Burma until substantial changes are made to the current process and the
military relinquish power.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Communities from
conflict zones across Burma are quite clear in what they want to see as first
steps. They want to see the withdrawal of the Burmese military from contested
areas, and they want to see restrictions on humanitarian access lifted. These
should be preconditions before the US and Joint Peace Fund provide any more
support to the peace process. This should be the key US priority in its
approach to supporting peace in our country.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">There has been welcome
attention on the need for justice and accountability regarding the Rohingya. We
believe that one of the reasons that the military believed it could get away
with its military offensives and human rights violations in Rakhine State in
2016 and 2017 is because the international community has allowed it to enjoy
impunity for its military offensives and human rights violations against ethnic
people for decades. Nothing that was done to the Rohingya by the military had
not already been done to the Karen, Kachin and other ethnic groups. The
difference was the scale and timeframe, not the type of human rights
violations. There cannot be accountability for crimes against the Rohingya but
no accountability for the same human rights violations against other ethnic
groups.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">We request that you
support justice and accountability for all crimes committed by the Burmese
military against all ethnic and religious groups and ask the Biden Administration
to work with international partners to ensure justice and accountability.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The United Nations
Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar investigated human rights violations in Shan
and Kachin State as well as Rakhine State. It made recommendations to address
human rights violations across the country. We are deeply disappointed that the
US and other countries have not taken any significant steps to implement these
recommendations. We request that support implementing these recommendations is
a center point for the US response to human rights violations by the military.
This should include imposing sanctions on military companies, building
international support for a global arms embargo (doing so ad hoc with willing
countries if progress cannot be made at the UN Security Council), and
supporting international justice initiatives.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Nationally, the number
of political prisoners is increasing, including community leaders, such as Naw
Ohn Hla. Almost all military era repressive laws are still in place and being
used against human rights activists and peaceful protestors.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">We request that you
make a public call for the release of all political prisoners in Burma and for
the repeal of all repressive laws. In the past, the US played a leading role in
mobilizing international pressure on the Burmese military to end human rights
violations. As our friends in Burma are once again hiding in fear in the
jungle, the people of Burma need US leadership again. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">We hope that you will
support us in their struggle for freedom and we look forward to your
response. We would also welcome the opportunity to meet with you.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <br /></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Sincerely,</span></p><br /><p></p>James Kelseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01028948624676259487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7446488312086404283.post-24967010783102345202021-02-27T07:34:00.000-08:002021-02-27T07:34:02.610-08:00Leading While We Are Still Finding Our Own Way<p> </p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoIQpXTbPWCyBH9UERYco9u98KZsMYQ8kkf_YxhOC8QRDcyfmmE6uhD9TL0_CSfhqlYclcz7rd3c2SagH6vUNlOYvLp7sZhB9GkaIf5WlcJ2uJjVQSk0jO6epgk30K6lI2UftMQ6Y1FP8/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="460" data-original-width="819" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoIQpXTbPWCyBH9UERYco9u98KZsMYQ8kkf_YxhOC8QRDcyfmmE6uhD9TL0_CSfhqlYclcz7rd3c2SagH6vUNlOYvLp7sZhB9GkaIf5WlcJ2uJjVQSk0jO6epgk30K6lI2UftMQ6Y1FP8/" width="320" /></a></div>I saw the handmade sign on the wall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It said “Bible Study” with a time and a
place.<span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Several months<br /> earlier, I had decided to live
my life as a Christian. This most recent leg of my path to faith had been a
solo journey.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the time, I was not
involved in any church or Christian community. As far as I knew I had no Christian
friends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It was in reading the Bible that I had found my way to this
new stage of faith. So, I thought I should attend the Bible study.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I went to the meeting, and they were arguing about baptism
and 1 Peter 3:21.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The leaders seemed
very sure of their position, and they wanted
to make sure that everyone believed the same thing. I was not impressed by the
gathering.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">One person, who was not engaged in this debate, announced
that he was leading a Bible study on the book of Romans, meeting on the second
floor lobby of the Creative Arts Center on Tuesday mornings.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I showed up with my Bible in hand, the red-letter King James
Version I had received in the 5<sup>th</sup> grade for memorizing all the books
of the Bible in order.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was only and
Robert, the leader, and me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For several
months we met there each Tuesday morning and read through the book of Romans and talked
about what it meant for our lives.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I had gone to Sunday school for years and had sat through
many sermons in my parents’ conservative Baptist church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had been a faithful participant in VBS in
my childhood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I noted above, I had
memorized the books of the Bible in the proper canonical order.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I knew the right answers to most of the
questions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And as they say, if you don’t
know the answer just say “Jesus.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You have
a 70% chance of being right.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">What I did not know was how to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">live </i>as a Christian.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had
no idea how to take what the Bible taught and apply it day by day in the real
world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had gotten none of that in my
parents’ church.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This was what I discovered with Robert each Tuesday morning
sitting on the floor leaning against the rough concrete wall: I learned how to take scripture and practice
it day by day as a college student.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Robert and I were finding our way together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was just a bit farther ahead, having been
at this endeavor longer than had I.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There were several others in that student fellowship who help
me find my way and broaden my faithfulness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>To this day their fingerprints are still on my life and my faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am, after 8 years of seminary and 30 years
of ordained ministry, still to a great degree a product of what I learned in
those early days of faith at the hands of others who were on the same journey;
they were simply more experienced travelers at the time.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I thought about Robert and those others as I participated in
the mentor training offered by our Regional Lay Study Program.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are training people to mentor Certified
Lay Minister candidates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We will soon provide
broader training to equip pastors in mentoring all people with gifts for ministry
in their churches.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Robert and those others were mentoring me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were showing me how to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">live </i>as a Christian and how to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">do</i> ministry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The real gift they gave was not
knowledge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The real gift was showing me
how put into practice in my life what I already knew in my head.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This is essentially what Jesus did with his disciples.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He invited them to travel with him on a
journey of obedience that he had already begun (Mark 1:16—20). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is what mentoring is: making available to
others the wisdom we have gathered along the way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We walk with them as they travel and build
their own bank of experiences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Someday
they will, in turn, walk with others.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Who has mentored you on your journey? All of us are the product of others who have guided and encouraged us. Is there someone in
your church or family or circle of friends that you can come alongside and with
whom you can journey together? Let us keep the cycle going.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">Jim Kelsey--Executive Minister of the American Baptist
Churches of New York State.</p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><o:p></o:p></p>James Kelseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01028948624676259487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7446488312086404283.post-15824965348442811492021-01-17T09:44:00.002-08:002021-01-17T09:44:30.926-08:00We Have a Choice<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzM0se4g38Qzy8CSkd2vmNIZMFcBwqbSlGkip0zb4Ne8SQc6MWhxk-C4SeL9FrH2euO7q6kEP_y228CKzRN521BhMQXgbabyQjmRz5X5Qepy7rrbqOl2h3VS_9_yhWCslBlGffhSGYqhE/s800/MLK+2021.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="800" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzM0se4g38Qzy8CSkd2vmNIZMFcBwqbSlGkip0zb4Ne8SQc6MWhxk-C4SeL9FrH2euO7q6kEP_y228CKzRN521BhMQXgbabyQjmRz5X5Qepy7rrbqOl2h3VS_9_yhWCslBlGffhSGYqhE/s320/MLK+2021.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>We always have a choice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Sometimes we feel we do not. We find
ourselves swept up the torrent of cable news, social media postings, loyalty to
people with whom we identify, and suspicions of those with whom we do not
identify.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We find ourselves carried down
the river of division, mistrust, animosity, and fear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We feel as if we are victims of irreversible current.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">When Paul writes “Have this mind in you that was in
Christ Jesus [Philippians 2:5],” he is saying we have a choice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wherever we find ourselves, we can choose to
migrate to a different place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can
choose the “mind” we live out.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In another place Paul writes:<b><sup><span style="background: white; color: black;"> “</span></sup></b><span style="background: white; color: black;">Do not be conformed to this
world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may
discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect [Romans
12:2].”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paul is asserting that we can
push back against the “Spirit of the Age.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We can be different; we can be set free.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The beauty of the Gospel
is that we none of us are who God created us to be--none of us. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We all carry implicit biases for and against
certain people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We did not choose these mindsets. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then on the heels of that uncomfortable truth of own flawed nature,
the Gospel asserts that we do not have to remain this way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can, through the power of the Spirit and
an honest look at ourselves, change; we can be made new.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> This</span> is a message of hope, water for thirsty souls.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This weekend we remember
the work of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Perhaps no one has with such eloquence and power and candor laid bare
the sin of systemic racism in America.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Yet, there was always
hope in Dr. King's message. In the midst of his laying bare our nation’s sin, he
uplifted those who heard his words--not just black and brown folks, but also white
folks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because King believed we could all do better;
he knew we could change if we applied ourselves to the hard work of
regeneration in our hearts and in our society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He never wavered in his faith about what God could do in us:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I look to the day when people will not be judged
by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character</span></i><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">-Dr. King, August 28, 1963, at the Lincoln
Memorial</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Dr. King could see it; he took it for granted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He knew we, all of us, have it in us to
do<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>better.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In times like these, when hope seems sometimes hard to find, we
realize what a treasure Dr. King was and still is to our nation.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Jim
Kelsey<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Executive
Minister-American Baptist Churches of New York State<o:p></o:p></span></p>James Kelseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01028948624676259487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7446488312086404283.post-33891339003099913492021-01-08T09:55:00.006-08:002021-01-12T08:24:54.391-08:00The Challenges of the Assault on the Capitol<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8tgg1j1ZXq3lJjBxlUNn3dDArHBDtUut3mHWSeFAVb9g7k29rl-q7iSkHbx7XnVY_TTlRLIFHLjxR1856PnNTv_wTJJtRpmKv-PVxmRRVX7Qal2ZXKSNfHP0EeJrkneYgINKIwZBRez0/s1200/Captial+Assault.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8tgg1j1ZXq3lJjBxlUNn3dDArHBDtUut3mHWSeFAVb9g7k29rl-q7iSkHbx7XnVY_TTlRLIFHLjxR1856PnNTv_wTJJtRpmKv-PVxmRRVX7Qal2ZXKSNfHP0EeJrkneYgINKIwZBRez0/w200-h200/Captial+Assault.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><u>The Event<o:p></o:p></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There are some things that really should go without saying
among decent people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The vast majority
of Americans looked upon the spectacle of an armed assault on the U.S Capitol building as a frightening attack on our nation by an internally-spawned enemy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If it is necessary among us to condemn this—if
the jury is still out on that in people’s minds, then we are quite likely already
destined for our own destruction.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We certainly should pray for our elected leaders, the various
law enforcement workers in the Capital, and all those who live and work in
Washington, DC.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This should be
instinctual among us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is good to
remind one another of this, but I hope is it not entirely necessary.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I want to step back a bit from the routinized responses and
set all this in a broader context.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If
you know much about me, you know I find the lens of Bowen Family Systems Theory
helpful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This way of looking at life
reminds us that we are all part of a common emotional and behavioral system.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We all participate in that system; we all
contribute, for better or for worse, to what happens in that system.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is true whether we do or do not directly
participate in an event.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another way of
saying this is that we all co-create one another in an ongoing cycle of
interactions.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It is easy to look with disgust at armed rioters running
through the Capitol building, debasing emblems of our national values.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This creates two challenges for followers of
Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First, we can be tempted to an
arrogance that absolves us of any responsibility for or connection to this
outrage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Second, it confronts us with the
challenge of loving our neighbor when we find the behavior and values of our
neighbor objectionable.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u>Challenge One: Arrogance that Absolves Us</u><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">What happened at the Capitol was, one could argue,
the inevitable outcome of a series of choices people have made.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Outrage is an appropriate response, surprise—maybe
not so much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was not all spawned in
a single day of infamy.</p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">Followers of Jesus are to be salt, the light of
the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are to be a city set upon
a hill to which others look for guidance and hope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are to let our light shine before others so
that they might see a better path forward (Matt 5:13-16). The Gospel writer John pulls
no punches in describing our work as a type of counter-cultural insurgency: <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">And this is the judgment, that the light has come
into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds
were evil. <b><sup> </sup></b>For all who do evil hate the light and
do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. <b><sup> </sup></b>But
those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen
that their deeds have been done in God” (3:19-21).<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Have we
fulfilled our role in recent years?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What
things have we done or left undone that have made a space in our nation for this
clear and imminent danger?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How have we
gone along in silence because it was easier and less costly than taking a stand
for the things of God—love, peace, mercy, charity, the dignity of all human
beings, and justice?</span></span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Perhaps
none of us stormed the Capitol building on Wednesday, but how did we contribute
to that catastrophe by leaving undone the work of our calling?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is not a time for self-exonerating arrogance; this is a time
for sober reflection.</span></span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span class="text"><u><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Challenge
Two: Loving Our Neighbor</span></u></span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">It is
hard to love our neighbor when our neighbor is acting in an objectionable way
or espousing values that violate the convictions of our faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus laid an even more ambitious challenge
before us than simply loving our neighbor; we are to love our enemies (Matt.
5:43-45). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">does not</i> mean we endure every outrage in silence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">does
not</i> mean we that we stand paralyzed in the face of the abuse and
degradation of others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">does mean </i>that we extend to all people the
dignity and regard that is due everyone who is formed in the image of God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To extend dignity to someone does not
necessarily mean we respect their values or condone their actions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It means that we strive to see buried beneath
the armor of their hate and hurt and malevolence that part of them that is irreversibly
of God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span class="text"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Stephen Carter wrote that any human
being “whatever his or her strengths, weaknesses, and simple complexities, is
also part of God’s creation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We should
be struck with awe at the fact that we are face to face with a part of God’s
work.”</span></span><a href="file:///K:/Documents/My%20Data%20Sources/Kelsey-Region%202012/Blog%20NYS%202013/Captail%20Assault.docx#_edn1" name="_ednref1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[i]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span class="text"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">
It is hard to despise someone who elicits awe in us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is our challenge as followers of Jesus,
to see God even in the armed violent White Nationalist scaling the walls of the
Capital building.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> This</span> will take some
work.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span class="text"><u><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">In Conclusion</span></u></span><span class="text"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span class="text"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Wednesday was a frightening day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It can, nonetheless, be an opportunity for us
to reflect anew on what it means to be the children of light in a world where
darkness is always trying to gain additional ground.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is also an opportunity to stress test, as
understood in the world of banking, our capacity to love our neighbors, even
the ones who behave objectionably.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we
feel our neighbor slipping into the category of enemy, our task grows more challenging.</span></span> </p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span class="text"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">As we see images of those breaking
down the doors of the House Chamber, it is an opportune time to ask what does
it mean for us to be faithful to the Gospel as the wood is splintering.</span></span> </p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span class="text"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Jim Kelsey<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span class="text"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Executive Minister—American Baptist
Churches of New York State<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;"><!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///K:/Documents/My%20Data%20Sources/Kelsey-Region%202012/Blog%20NYS%202013/Captail%20Assault.docx#_ednref1" name="_edn1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[i]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Carter, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Civility</i>,
101.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>James Kelseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01028948624676259487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7446488312086404283.post-50645692321727406232020-11-02T12:12:00.004-08:002020-11-02T12:12:55.989-08:00Winners and Losers on Wednesday<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkdRSnyEqWdrh9qWstckgNt-3yG-5veU3wVV5q4fvXuBnXa9Pg0HyUdG3eRHwXt2NlT3Gk1KJPywpmmXFQDHNwT2ZIqsUAqYh0jPFO9QNIc4j-2xHUMaQA6or359Ke_rFtT9Vb_ZnA4h8/s740/politics-article-2_tcm7-264007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="380" data-original-width="740" height="103" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkdRSnyEqWdrh9qWstckgNt-3yG-5veU3wVV5q4fvXuBnXa9Pg0HyUdG3eRHwXt2NlT3Gk1KJPywpmmXFQDHNwT2ZIqsUAqYh0jPFO9QNIc4j-2xHUMaQA6or359Ke_rFtT9Vb_ZnA4h8/w200-h103/politics-article-2_tcm7-264007.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Are you “red,” as in Republican red?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or are you “blue”, as in Democrat blue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Some</span> people are “purple,” a mixture of red and blue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know that real life is not this simple, but
these are the colors we have been given.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Let’s go with them.<o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">You may be
aware that Tuesday is Election Day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
have “blue” candidates and “red” candidates and a few “outside the lines”
candidates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In particular, we have a
presidential contest where the “blue” guy and the “red” guy are in a closely contested
battle with enthusiastic followers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only one will win in the
end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We could have an Electoral College
tie; in the end, however, a winner will emerge.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">On
Wednesday, or maybe Thursday or maybe Friday or maybe early January, those of us
who voted will wake up feeling, in a way, that we won or lost.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is inevitable.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">So how will
these winners and losers have rewarding and reconciling conversations? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">One way is
to listen with curiosity and understanding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We will need to do more than simply hear what others are saying and then
agree or disagree with it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We will
need to sort out <i>why</i> they say what they say.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">Let me give
an example, a divisive and highly politicized one:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>guns.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We talk of gun control and of the right to bear arms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even the terms we use betray our bias.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">The language we choose to use to talk about guns is a
product of our experiences and loyalties.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">I
was talking with a colleague whose father-in-law is offended by the use of the
word “weapon” for his gun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He says his
gun is a “tool” he uses as he works his ranch and supports his family.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I, on the other hand, have lived in populated areas where guns have one function: to shoot <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">people</i>, be those guns in the hands of soldiers, police officers,
homeowners, or criminals. So guns, in my experience, are weapons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">Tool or weapon?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our word choice reflects our experiences and our loyalties.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wonder how much more productive our
conversations about gun control/rights (both loaded words—no pun intended)
would be if we began by asking one another:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So tell me what has been your experience with and exposure to firearms?</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">As we talk our way into our common
future, we will need not just to hear what someone is saying but also understand why they are saying what they are saying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This does not mean that we will all agree on
all things; we certainly will not; t<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">here are significant values at stake in our disagreements. </span>It does
mean that we can preserve our relationships, heal our communities, and extend
dignity to one another in all our diversity.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to
listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; <b><sup> </sup></b>for your
anger does not produce God’s righteousness</span></i><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;"> [James 1:19-20].</span></p>
<div style="line-height: normal; text-align: left;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI",sans-serif;">Jim Kelsey<br /></span></span><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI", sans-serif;">Executive Minister—American Baptist Churches
of New York State</span></div>James Kelseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01028948624676259487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7446488312086404283.post-17490665221325071762020-10-02T13:11:00.000-07:002020-10-02T13:11:02.452-07:00White Supremacy is Beyond the Limit<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo2QGvHz3wfY5lyVX9ft5naMjnP5mZRN2y_lJi-fRozwagnTUZR1Q7xW1whSLTrwGRyrjT0rLRTWBvnHlrnrZNHDj_UfgZDAAbFLwzpLvVdmT2yfkz93ab3ekzDWmZzmopynfQGodzM-g/s800/no-way-3688576.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo2QGvHz3wfY5lyVX9ft5naMjnP5mZRN2y_lJi-fRozwagnTUZR1Q7xW1whSLTrwGRyrjT0rLRTWBvnHlrnrZNHDj_UfgZDAAbFLwzpLvVdmT2yfkz93ab3ekzDWmZzmopynfQGodzM-g/w200-h150/no-way-3688576.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst"><u><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Civility</span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpLast"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I have been reading and writing about civility in these unsettling
times.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I give a robust definition to
civility as making room for others in our lives and hearts—particularly making room
for those with whom we disagree.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Civility is a discipline whereby we create a place in our lives where
others can be heard, appreciated, and shown dignity and understanding.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We stake out this space through curious
empathy, which fuels civility.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We do
this because God has done that with each of us. Mirsolav Wolf writes: “God’s
reception of hostile humanity into divine communication is a model for how
human beings should relate to one another” (</span><i style="font-size: 12pt;">Exclusion
& Embrace—A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and
Reconciliation</i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">, 98).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This “room-making” enterprise is
grounded in the dignity due all human beings, each of whom is created in the
Image of God (Gen. 1:27).</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This dignity
is not conditional. It is not dependent. It is not negotiable.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">People do not earn it; it is not the product
of merit or accomplishment. It adheres to all people in all situations.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> This image of God within may be</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> hard to discern sometimes, as the poet wrote
“buried deep with the old man’s lined face was the heart of a child.”</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Civility honors this organic dignity
inherited from God the Creator.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Respect, on the other hand, is earned writes
David Brubaker (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">When the Center Does Not
Hold—Leading in an Age of Polarization</i>, 38).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Respect flows from the content of one’s
character and from acts of love and righteousness and justice.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Civility is not in every case the
highest value. It does not require us to endure every outrage in silence,
accommodate every abomination contentedly, or accept every obscenity without
protest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus extended dignity to all
people, but in some cases he subjugated civility to higher priorities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">In Matthew chapter 23, Jesus sees the
religious leaders exploiting and misleading the less initiated and powerful (vv. 4, 13, 15, and 23).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He calls the leaders
“hypocrites, snakes, and a brood of vipers”—not very civil language.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">In another place, Jesus clears the
temple area in Jerusalem in a not-so-civil way and accuses the leaders of making it a
den of thieves (Mark 11:15—17).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The next
day he points out how the temple system was, arguably, exploiting a poor widow
(Mark 14:41—44).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">In a third example, Jesus says that to
enter the Kingdom of God, one must become like a little child.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He goes to say whoever misleads one of these
“little ones” and causes them to sin would better to have a millstone hung
around their neck and be thrown into the sea (Matt 18:5--6). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is not a very civil image to paint.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">In each case, Jesus is confronted with
powerful people misleading or abusing less powerful people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For Jesus, the instinct to protect the
powerless and vulnerable takes precedent over showing civility to the powerful
and influential who are misusing or misleading them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">White Supremacy</span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-size: 16px;">I believe White supremacy is one of those areas where higher values than civility reign supreme.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">White supremacy (also called White nationalism)
leads to injustice, poverty, violence toward, and even the death of, people who
are Black, Brown, or of a faith other than Christian.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We live in a nation still marred by the vestiges of White supremacy; it is baked into our national life with devastating
consequences for people of color.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">White supremacy in its explicit
formulation is, however, more than these damaging consequences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is an anthropological categorization of
human beings<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is about who is considered fully and
supremely human and who is not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
are key humanizing characteristics that are found only in White Christians,
assert White supremacists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is
something more sinister than prejudice and racism, and discrimination.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The American Defamation
League summarizes the agenda of White supremacists in this way:<span style="color: red;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="background: white; color: #2f3031; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">White supremacy
is a term used to characterize various belief systems central to which are one
or more of the following key tenets: 1) whites should have dominance over
people of other backgrounds, especially where they may co-exist; 2) whites
should live by themselves in a whites-only society; 3) white people have their
own "culture" that is superior to other cultures; 4) white people are
genetically superior to other people. As a full-fledged ideology, white
supremacy is far more encompassing than simple racism or bigotry. Most white
supremacists today further believe that the white race is in danger of
extinction due to a rising “flood” of non-whites, who are controlled and
manipulated by Jews, and that imminent action is need to “save” the white race.</span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">White supremacists can go under a
number of names.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Southern Poverty
Law Center includes a variety of other designations as well: the Ku Klux Klan,
neo-confederate, racist skin heads, neo-Nazi, and Christian Identity movement.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Self-described White supremacists are advocating
something more than simply passively letting the effects of racism continue unaddressed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They want to bring change inspired by the four clearest historical examples
of unrestrained White supremacy ideology in practice:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the American institution of slavery; the Jim
Crow regime; Nazi Germany; and South African Apartheid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are divided over whether violence is
desirable or at least necessary to achieve their goals.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">When it comes to
White supremacy, I believe there is a higher value at stake than civility.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> To borrow form </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">the writer of Ecclesiastes,
there is a time to be civil, and there is a time when the demands of decency
and justice overrule</span><span style="color: red; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">civil dialogue and curious engagement.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">To seek mutual understanding
and respect in the face of rhetoric or actions that are repulsive, devastating
to communities, and lethal to innocent human beings is beyond the bounds of
civility.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I believe White supremacy lies
in those bounds.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The only
responsible response to White supremacy is condemnation and a call to
repentance.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><u><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Within the Bounds
of Loving Our Neighbor<o:p></o:p></span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Loving white
Supremacists is within the arena of loving our neighbor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are made in the Image of God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are due the dignity instilled within
them by their Creator.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are to love
them as our neighbor, even if they position themselves as our enemies.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Here is an
opportunity for followers of Jesus Christ to grow ever more into the image of
the One who said “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing”
(Luke 23:34). Loving White supremacists, while not tolerating for a moment their actions or
crediting their views, is our formidable task.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Believers must resist arrogance and a sense
of superiority.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We must labor to see White supremacists as brothers and sisters who, like us, are in need of God’s grace and
forgiveness.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This the challenge of the
Gospel in our lives in these days</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">We must not, however,
give an inch to their beliefs and agenda.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>White supremacy is a direct assault on God’s “very good” (Gen. 1:31) crowning
achievement in creation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a
denigration of the Creator.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Jim Kelsey</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Executive
Minister of American Baptist Churches of New York State</span><span class="text"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>James Kelseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01028948624676259487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7446488312086404283.post-60009020153352691912020-08-28T12:43:00.000-07:002020-08-28T12:43:47.677-07:00The Marathon of Covid19<div class="separator"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrXvw7fKpzoi6mIR-1is1gd_oxENClzR5iljA6I8SUV5TI9mc-iU6BPzSOhwO_JRFEngbnNIaMxy0tu2fZ3aZtfNaJnDUiqlOsBtx_eLIl_RKccI2x86QI0H_-ze7m2z5rUO8bZCk2q5A/s862/Mongol+Derby.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="575" data-original-width="862" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrXvw7fKpzoi6mIR-1is1gd_oxENClzR5iljA6I8SUV5TI9mc-iU6BPzSOhwO_JRFEngbnNIaMxy0tu2fZ3aZtfNaJnDUiqlOsBtx_eLIl_RKccI2x86QI0H_-ze7m2z5rUO8bZCk2q5A/w210-h140/Mongol+Derby.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><p> </p><p class="MsoNormal">Paul Simon captures my sentiments about COVID19 in his song <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">You Can Call Me Al</i>: “I don’t find this stuff amusing anymore.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t find COVID19
amusing anymore, not in the least.</p><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I was asleep in Rwanda on Wednesday, March 11<sup>th</sup>,
when my wife called me at 1:30 a.m. Rwandan time and said the president was
closing the U.S. borders on Sunday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
had to get home before then or spend a long time in Rwanda.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I like Rwanda, but I also like being at home
with my wife.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She made for me a
reservation that night to fly home through Qatar on Saturday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The next day the Administration clarified
that citizens would be admitted to the country but would need to go through
quarantine.</p><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It was good my wife acted fast nonetheless.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The next day airlines started canceling all
flights from Africa to Europe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tickets for
other routes became hard to come by.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thus began my introduction to the pandemic. It was jolting
and disruptive and cost me staying in Rwanda long enough to do a reconciliation
practicum in a Rwandan prison.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The virus
and I got off to a bad start. Things between us have not improved.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">New York State is doing better these days after some grim
and frightening months.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New Yorkers are
enjoying a bit more freedom; our churches are free to meet in person if they
follow strict safety protocols.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many are
choosing to play it safe and postpone gathered in-person worship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even when we are together, it feels awkward. There is an inevitable sense of wariness as we greet one another.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Americans in other places are suffering unprecedented
infections and deaths.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And even New Yorkers know the tide could turn against us at any time, and we would be sent back to our bunkers in quarantine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
there is the agony of what to do about students returning to school.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I really don’t find this stuff amusing anymore, really not
amusing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">What we took to be a quarter mile race has turned into a
marathon, and they keep moving the finish line.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">I think about the Apostle Paul these days; he characterized the
life of faith as a race to be run.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span class="text"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Do you
not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the
prize? Run in such a way that you may win it. <b><sup> </sup></b>Athletes
exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath,
but we an imperishable one. <b><sup> </sup></b>So I do not run
aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air; <b><sup> </sup></b>but
I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself
should not be disqualified</span></i></span><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> (1 Cor. 9:24—27).<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">How do we exercise self-control and run this pandemic race
successfully?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">First, we need to change our expectations of ourselves and
others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are working harder
and having fewer tangible to results to show for our efforts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We think if we try harder and put in more time,
we will overcome these challenges.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So we
lurch ahead doing all we can at every moment; but when running a marathon, the
key is to find a rhythm and gait that are sustainable for the distance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We must run in a way that preserves our
health—emotional, physical, and spiritual.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Mongol Derby is the longest horse race in the world, spanning
600 miles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It recreates the messenger
system established by Genghis Khan in 1224.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Lara Palmer, in 2013, was the first woman to win this
grueling challenge and came to the event with no experience in marathon horse
racing, none.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When asked how she did it, she replied that one must find a rhythm
with the horse, get in sync with the gate of your animal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She rode 70 different horses during the trek
and had to adapt to each horse’s characteristics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was like riding 70 different races.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">During the race, each rider must take breaks; and at the
break, event officials measure the horse’s heart rate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the rate does not return to normal within
a set period of time, the rider is docked 2 hours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The point is the riders must pace
themselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Abusing themselves and their
horses is a losing strategy in the long run.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So it is in any marathon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We must exercise self-control and pace ourselves so we can keep running
and not fall ruined by the side of the road.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The COVID19 pandemic is a marathon; it is not a sprint, not
even a miler.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It makes a cross country
race look brief.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We cannot see the
finish line, so we must find a rhythm we can sustain for as long we shall run.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A rhythm that will sustain us consists of sleep, prayer, work, and
play.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everyday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Keeping track of the balance between these
disciplines will carry us to the finish line, whenever and wherever that might
be.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The writer of Hebrews, after cataloguing centuries of hardship and
suffering of the faithful, writes:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in;"><span class="text"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Therefore, since
we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every
weight and the sin that clings so closely<sup> </sup>and let us run with
perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to
Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy
that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has
taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God</span></i></span><span class="text"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> [Heb. 12:1—2].</span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We are not the first people to run with perseverance a race fueled by faith, inspired by the one who always ran faithfully and finished well.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sleep, pray, work, and play—every day. Start keeping track
of your rhythm and keep your daily gait sustainable.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">Jim Kelsey<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">Executive Minister—American Baptist Churches of
New York State<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>James Kelseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01028948624676259487noreply@blogger.com0