Gender norms: violence and domesticity

This excellent article was posted today regarding "Violent Men, Working Women, and Evangelical Gender Norms." I have recently given significant thought to the issue of 'stay-at-home' moms. As a hot-button topic for American Christianity for so many years, this discussion seems to have lost much biblical and historic perspective.  This aforementioned article addresses some of those issues.

I would add a couple of thoughts regarding why it is not true that 'the ideal Christian wife is a stay-at-home mom.'  Until about two generations ago, both parents were stay-at-home parents, in most settings.  The world was far more rural which meant that family life centered on the home.  The father and mother were both at home raising the kids.  As my grandmother described her family growing up on a farm in Virginia, she said the boys grew up doing the outside farm work with her dad who worked full-time (and more), while she and her sisters grew up doing the domestic farm work with her mom who worked full-time (and more).  All this work happened to be at home.

However, at some point, many fathers not only began working outside the home, but they also began to abandon their responsibility to raise their children in godliness and responsibility.  Thus, the mothers often covered this neglect as best they could.  When mothers needed to leave the house as well in order to support their families, many homes went into free-fall.  Somehow Christian fathers and mothers must both give serious attention to raising godly and mature children, neither ceding the responsibility to the other (Deut 6; Tit 2; etc).  As the above article urges, we must give serious attention to being Biblical in our culture, not simply to defending tradition or culture or the perceived past.  Two generations have shown us that this will not be easy, but the Word of God and the Spirit of God will not fail to enable God's children to follow His path.

Jesus and the Imprecatory Psalms

 The 'Christo-centric' (RHM) preaching approach is absolutely the only way to preach or make sense of the (many!) imprecatory Psalms and passages in the Psalms. On the one hand, the 'imprecations' are simply cries for justice, and such a passion is surely right. So for example, despite the troubling, shocking ending to Psalm 137, the writer is appealing to simple justice. If any fair-minded observer is asked the question: 'what do the perpetrators deserve?' the answer would be 'the degree of suffering they imposed on others.' [...] If we 'tone down' the cry against injustice as something 'primitive' we cannot appreciate the cross--because there we see that the punishment for such cruelty is exactly what the Psalmist has called for. We see God's 'little one' being dashed to pieces. Yes, the punishment that human injustice and evil deserves is just as bad as the imprecation stated! But what the Psalmist could not see is that when God's Messiah came the first time, he came to bear the judgement on human evil, not mete it out. And the Psalmist could not see that he deserves to be condemned as well for his own life-record. At the Psalmist's 'stage in Redemptive-History' he was stating truth as far as he could see it. But we now have been both humbled by the cross (so we cannot cry for vengeance in the same way) and we have been given enormous hope by the cross. We see that God will do justice in the earth. He is so passionately against it that he experienced it himself so that he could some day end all evil without ending us. This keeps me from having to put myself in his place and become sucked up into the endless cycle of vengeance and retaliation.

  So the Imprecatory Psalms are taken very seriously by the cross--they point to the drastic action God took on the cross. Yet because of the cross, we do not cry for vengeance in the same way. We can seek out justice in society without any blood-lust (or indeed even ill-will).

  In short, there is no way to preach the imprecatory Psalms without pointing to Christ. A non- Christological reading of these Psalms will only lead to Christians being led into an anachronistic 'holy war' mentality.

~from Tim Keller's "Preaching Syllabus" (underlining mine)

a simple thought on loving God and each other

And now I ask you, dear lady—not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.

Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected.

(2 Jn 5-6; 1 Jn 2:4-5a - ESV)

The essence of loving one another is to walk in God's commands. The proof of our love for Him is our obedience, and the essence of our love for each other is in that same obedience.

The Religion of Consumerism

If you care to consider this, kindly read the whole thing and think about it before commenting.  The context is the question of what do we see as the Kingdom of God which we are to desire upon this earth and, particularly, how does our consumerist model match up.  The entire section in the book is worth considering.

   In particular, they don't want us to ask, "Where does all this stuff come from?" Instead, they encourage us to accept a certain magic, the myth that the garments and equipment that circulate from the mall through our homes and into the landfill simply emerged in shops as if dropped by aliens. The processes of production and transport remain hidden and invisible, like the entrances and exits for the characters at Disney World. This invisibility is not accidental; it is necessary in order for us not to see that this way of life is unsustainable and selfishly lives off of the backs of the majority of the world. What the liturgy of the mall trains us to desire as the good life and "the American way" requires such massive consumption of natural resources and cheap (exploitive) labor that there is no possible way for this way of life to be universalized. (Though the United States comprises only 5 percent of the world's population, we consume somewhere between 23 and 26 percent of the world's energy.) The liturgy of consumption births in us a desire for a way of life that is destructive of creation itself; moreover, it births in us a desire for a way of life that we can't feasibly extend to others, creating a system of privilege and exploitation.

- James K. A. Smith, Desiring the Kingdom, pg 101. (emphasis mine)

The Prince of India - Lewis Wallace

I have recently been reading (or listening to, on my Kindle) Lewis Wallace's The Prince of India: Or Why Constantinople Fell (1893).  As it is far beyond it's copyright date, I got it free sometime back.  It attracted me since it talks of both India and Constantinople, both topics of interest to me.  It has far exceeded my expectations of an old novel!

  

I rarely read classic works, particularly those that are unknown to me: they tend towards the tedious too often; and if they have not achieved recognition already, why would they now?  Still, with many hours of driving time in which to listen to it, I figured I would at least start it, and now I am thoroughly hooked.  It is masterfully told.  Some may have recognized the author as he who wrote the perennial best-seller, Ben-Hur.  To my mind, this work easily overshadows the other, thought doubtless my lack of having read that in the author's original makes my comparison unjust.

While in most classic works, the flowing and descriptive works may begin to wear on one's patience, here it enhances the subject.  The East and its ascendant warriors encounter the royalty of the Byzantines in their courts. The effect is to build a plot more slowly than the modern novel is often built, but the very weightiness of the topic, even in a novel, allows for this care in detail.  Doubtless, I am biased towards the author's weaving in numerous places that I have grown to love and expect to see again.  Still, I would gladly recommend the book to anyone who loves to have characters, cultures and history unfolded for them in graceful fiction.  

Not to minimize an ancient urging, Tolle Lege!

the Great Feast

We were made for feasting at a Great Feast!

Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat!  Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.  Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.

And [Jesus] said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”

This mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken.

And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God.

~ Rev 19:9b; Isa 55:1-2; Lk 22:15-16; Isa 25:6-8; Lk 13:29

PS I am quite aware of the hermeneutical difficulties of stringing these passages together; consider the theme, not the hermeneutics... or, just watch for another blog post. :)

The next world instead of this one?

Theologies, churches, and preaching seem more concerned with helping people feel good about being in this world with all its hedonistic tendencies than with calling individuals and nations to a true conversion to the way of Jesus of Nazareth.  There seemed to be much more concern with the Christ of Glory who could justify the glories of our United States way of life than with Jesus of Nazareth who lived and died as a scandal to all the respectable, religious, and fine people of this world!  

~ foreward, Manana by Justo Gonzalez

The Prophetic Nature of the Lord's Communion Supper

Here are a few more thoughts to accompany my last post on The Last Supper and First Communion Celebration.

And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.  (Luke 22:14-20 ESV)

I have regularly heard of the MEMORIAL aspect of the Christ-ordained ritual we have recorded above (vs. 19; also, 1 Cor 11:24, 25).  In the last couple years, I have become familiar also with the PROCLAIMING aspect of the Supper mentioned in 1 Corinthians 11:26, "For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes."  But, it was not until considering this passage this weekend that I became aware of the PROPHETIC aspect of the supper.  

Notice the highlighted section from verse 16.  Jesus is saying that the Supper will one day be fulfilled in His Kingdom.  One somewhat loose translation amplifies the statement as follows, "For I tell you now that I won’t eat this meal again until its meaning is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God." (NLT).  This amplification seems to be in line with what the passage is saying.  

Here are some thoughts, and I would be glad of critique or comment.  I believe Jesus, the great Lamb, is saying that the meaning of the Supper is in His death for the people of God, His Bride, bought from every kindred, tongue, people, and nation.  He is going to be broken and poured out for them as a sacrifice.  They are to remember and to proclaim this sacrifice through this Supper, but they must also look forward.  There is coming a Day... a Great Day when the Lamb will have gathered all whom He bought to Himself, when every blood-washed sinner is drawn near to the face of GOD... and, on that Day, the Lamb will celebrate the Supper with all of His people.  It will be the biggest party, the greatest celebration, the most lavish banquet of all time (and maybe of eternity), as the fulfillment of the greatest event and message is fulfilled in the matchless splendor which its Author and Perfecter intended.  

Oh! THAT will be Glory!

Meditations on the Last Passover and First Communion Celebration

As I've been drawn to meditate on the final Passover which Jesus the Lamb had with those who were closest to him, these reflections from MacLaren's Exposition of St. Luke has been helpful.

[Jesus] discloses His earnest desire for that last hour of calm before He went out to face the storm, and reveals His vision of the future feast in the perfect kingdom. That desire touchingly shows His brotherhood in all our shrinking from parting with dear ones, and in our treasuring of the last sweet, sad moments of being together. That was a true human heart, 'fashioned alike' with ours, which longed and planned for one quiet hour before the end, and found some bracing for Gethsemane and Calvary in the sanctities of the Upper Room.

...

"It is sufficient to note that in [the elements] He gives what He does not taste, and that, in giving, His thoughts travel beyond all the sorrow and death to reunion and perfected festal joys. These anticipations solaced His heart in that supreme hour. 'For the joy that was set before Him' He 'endured the Cross,' and this was the crown of His joy, that all His friends should share it with Him, and sit at His table in His kingdom."

Maclaren, Alexander (2005-05-01). Expositions of Holy Scripture St. Luke (Kindle Locations 7119-7123, 7127-7130). Public Domain Books. Kindle Edition.

Purposeful discipleship

This was shared in a session last night from Mark's gospel. About purposeful discipleship...

  "And then Jesus walks up to them in the middle of their work day and says, Follow Me. He promises to make them into man-fishers. They may have had little idea of what it was to be a man-fisher, but they trust him, and he helps them to have a goal in mind. If they follow Jesus, he is going to make them into something. He is going to take their mundane lives and make something amazing out of them."