A Free Gift

We did a servant evangelism outreach this morning, and I suddenly realized that it's sort of a metaphor for salvation.

We gave out free water, gum, and popcorn, and received various responses.

• Some people walked by and pretended they didn't see our big 'FREE' signs.
• Some people were pleased and appreciative.
• Some were sure that they were supposed to pay, somehow.
• Some took it for granted.
• Some wanted to understand what it was about
• Some were hostile, and didn't even want us giving free stuff to other people.

Isn't that just like the free gift of salvation? Responses range from uninterested; pleased; appreciative; wanting to earn-it; trying to understand; to hostile.

A Beagle, a plane, a convention

A couple of days ago, 'S', my co-worker called me up and said:
Well, it worked pretty well when you prayed for Barney (the beagle); and when we went on vacation the plane stayed up in the air when you prayed, so now my wife has something else for you to pray.  She wants you to pray for safety during the convention, that New York City won't have any terrorist event.
I agreed to pray, but reminded him that many people would be praying for that. And he replied:
Yes, we already discussed that, but I said that you should pray, because you have connections!
He's kidding, of course, and yet there's a germ of truth -- he's recognizing that there is some sort of relationship going on.  He's mentioned this before, and if someone looks puzzled when they hear the word 'connections' he then adds:
She knows somebody. 
He's joking when he says it, and he does his best to make it sound as if I'm in the Mafia or something, and yet I think there is a tiny part of him that wonders if it is true. And after all, don't forget that the beagle and the plane both turned out ok!
So now, let's all pray for the safety of the city.

Context is Everything

In VLI, Steve Robbins keeps telling us that "all meaning is context dependent", but I'm not sure that the example today is what he meant!

Imagine the nursing home. Today is the Fourth of July. The residents are lined up in rows in the activity room, but there are fewer than usual -- often on a holiday some of the aides don't show up, and so it takes longer to get everyone up and dressed.

It's sort of like the movie 'Groundhog Day'. As I enter carrying my guitar case, one lady notices it and says 'Oh, you play violin?' I expect this of course, because she asks that every week. She prides herself on being one of the more cogent ones.

Since it's the Fourth of July, I tried to find patriotic songs. Vineyard style worship doesn't strike a chord for this population (no pun intended). I've got America the Beautiful, and Battle Hymn of the Republic, but I don't have God Bless America, so when 'R' shows up, I ask him if he knows the chords. He doesn't know them, but starts strumming and figuring them out, as I madly try to write it down. We end up with a reasonable facsimile of the song, but in the key of C (which isn't a great key to sing it in). There isn't time to transpose it.

We start with America the Beautiful. There is an unusual swell of response from the 'crowd'. The ones who are awake are actually singing along, with gusto. I'm touched, and then blindsided by a flood of emotion when we get to the words "America, America, God mend thine every flaw". I suddenly think of the abuses in the prison, and realize that this should be the desperate prayer of us all. My voice cracks and shakes as we sing on. Then comes the Battle Hymn of the Republic. The last line says "as He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free" and I suddenly realized that this is the World War II generation. They really were dying to make men free. Usually I sing strongly, so that they can follow my voice, but now my voice is quivering. On to "God Bless America". Like many of us, I'll never be able to hear that song without thinking of 9/11. And I really do pray that God will bless America. So now I'm trying to belt out the song, in the wrong key, while trying not to cry. I'm thinking that it's lucky that most are too deaf to notice.

At the end, there is an outpouring of response. The lady who asks about the violin shouts "very good" (she always does). The man who always wants to show me his colostomy shouts "Amen", but the final verdict was unexpected, as he gleefully asks:

"Do you know how I know it was good?"
"No", I reply.
"Because my teeth didn't fall out!"

Intellectual Honesty

I'm so impressed by my co-worker, 'J'. We've managed to have conversations on some hard topics, because he's willing to honestly listen to a point of view that he disagrees with. He's not just being polite until it's his turn to talk, he's actually listening to see if I will say anything he can learn from. And given his level of education, that keeps me on my toes!

I've been trying to read Constantine's Sword, by James Carroll, which he had recommended to me. I admitted to him that I'm finding it hard going, because the author (a Catholic priest) repeatedly makes statements about Christianity and Christians that don't match my understanding, or my experience. I don't know if it is a Catholic / Protestant divide, or if it is simply the author's own bias, or if I'm the one who is naive. But in any event, it's uncomfortable.

So I told him that, and he asked for an example. I quoted a concept from page 59, where it says:

Christianity's self-awareness depended on the continuing existence of the Jewish people as the negative other against which positive Christian claims were made...Only Jews, because of what they deny, tell us Christians who we are...

This passage, and others that claim that Christianity by its very nature must be anti-Semitic, rubbed me the wrong way, because I think it does a dis-service to both Christianity and to Judaism.

Anyway, the other day I was reading this quarter's VLI assignment (Turning Points by Mark Noll) and came upon a passage with a different point of view, on pg 29.

As the Christian church moved out into the Roman world, its Judaic roots would be obscured, but even beneath the surface, those roots remained a critical part of what Christianity had been and what it would become.

I called 'J' over to my desk to show it to him. I wasn't sure what he would think, but 'J's response blew me away. First he acknowledged that he pretty much agreed with that description, and then he said "I might want to read that when you're done."

Wow -- what an example of educated curiosity. Here I am, trying to stretch my horizons as a matter of simple fairness, in order to build the groundwork for conversations, and yet I'm not showing the honest interest that he is.

And while I'm on the topic of fairness...

A couple of months ago, my cousin 'P' visited. Although he had no interest at all, he explained that he came to church because he recognized that it seemed to be important to me that he go (for some obscure reason!), and he went just to honor and please me. Well, I certainly was pleased! But I'm hoping that he will forget the conversation we had at lunch afterwards, when he tried to convince my brother and me to listen to hiphop music. 'H' made it clear that he has a real antipathy to this genre, and had no interest in listening. Then 'P' turned to me, with an unbeatable argument:
Well, if I went to church because it was important to you, you can listen to my music because it's important to me.
So to all my friends out there...if you hear hiphop leaking out of my headphones one day, it is not because I like it, but rather it is a peculiar consequence of attempting integrity in Evangelism.

God's fireworks

Last night God put on a light show!

I've never seen anything like it. I guess it was heat lightning. It was a dark, cloudy night, and the lightning was streaking back and forth between the clouds. It wasn't the king of huge bolts that light up the whole sky, and shake you to your shoes. Rather, it was a shimmering series of flashes, about one every two seconds, with no rain, and little noise. With each flash, the light radiated out and silhouetted the cloud in front. Occasionally the streak was in front of the cloud rather than behind it. I have no idea how close it actually was, but it looked as if it was about a block away.

Again and again and again. Dark sky, and then rays of shimmering light bursting out from behind the cloud, about every two seconds. At it's peak, it was nearly continuous. I stood on the sidewalk watching in awe. At one point, I counted 10 lightning flashes in 10 seconds. Tomorrow is the Fourth of July, but in my mind, no fireworks on earth will compare to this.

At first, some neighbors were watching with me, but then they went inside to see if there was anything about it on TV.

What a strange commentary on our society -- TV seems more real to people than the wonders of God that they see with their own eyes.