Removing Barriers Placed In Jesus' Name: "Why Jesus is the Standard Bearer"

 

Why Christ Doesn't Need Christianity
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shane-hipps/why-christ-doesnt-need-christianity_b_2258246.html?utm_hp_ref=religion

by Shane Hipps
December 13, 2012

The long slow decline of religion in America has produced much hand wringing among Christians. The grief and anxiety are inevitable, but not entirely necessary. After all, Jesus didn't come into this world to start a new religion. His stated purpose was actually to announce the presence of the "kingdom of God" (Luke 4:43). A reality, which he said, was located within us (Luke 17:21). Oddly enough, the very religion that bears his name has often built the biggest barriers to him and the life he promised.

 

One thing that might ease our anxiety is to remember that Christ and Christianity are not the same thing; If Christ is the wind, then Christianity is the sail. Some sails are better than others at catching the wind, some sailors are better at using the sail, but there is always and only one wind. A sail without the wind is a limp flag, wind without a sail is still the wind. The relationship is only one way.

 

Just because Christianity claims Jesus as its own does not mean that Christ automatically claims Christianity as his own.

 

In one sense, Christ is the pre-existent creative power of the universe with no birthday or death date, Christianity on the other hand is an institution built with the intention of harnessing that power. If the institution goes away, the power remains. Put simply, Christ is much, much bigger than any religion.

 

The book of John tells the story of a woman at a well. Here Jesus introduces her to the possibility of eternal life. This woman was a member of a religion starkly at odds with his own. She was a Samaritan, he was a Jew; the gap between these two is comparable to the gap between Muslims and Christians today. Yet, throughout their conversation, he never once made religious conversion a requirement for her to access eternal life. To paraphrase, Jesus essentially says to her, "I don't much care where or how you worship, but if you can recognize me, streams of living water will flow from within you."

 

In the story above, Jesus focuses her attention on a deeper interior reality, rather than external ones. The religion of the woman is immaterial. However, we notice a minimum requirement to recognize Jesus in order to get the goods he offers. It might be tempting to conclude that as long as we recognize and name Jesus that is what matters.

 

The problem is sometimes even recognition isn't a requirement for Christ to work in our lives. In John Chapter 9 Jesus spat on the ground, made mud pies and smeared them on a blind man's face. Soon the man could see. The method of the miracle is so bizarre that we often miss the most important point. The man didn't ask to be healed. He was minding his own business when some guy rubs dirt and spit on his eyes and them tells him to go wash it off. He didn't even know the name of his assailant. Here Jesus performs a miracle without anyone asking or recognizing who he was. Jesus served as an anonymous donor, able to give gifts without getting the credit. If we, who are merely human, are able to give anonymous gifts, how much more is Jesus?

 

The truth is that Christ is able to do his work with or without Christianity or recognition. This doesn't mean he's against Christianity, only that he doesn't require it. Just because my religion bears his name doesn't give me the ability to wield or withhold the saving or healing power of Christ as I see fit. Such misconception is a dangerous, even arrogant illusion. If we buy into this assumption, we become like the sail who believes it controls the wind.

 

Jesus may not need religion, but it seems he is glad [to] let us help if we simply join his agenda, rather than insisting he join ours. The question is, do we know his agenda?

 

 

Shane Hipps is the former teaching pastor at Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, MI. He is the author most recently of 'Selling Water by the River: A Book About the Life Jesus Promised and the Religion that Gets in the Way' (Jericho 2012). To learn more visit www.shanehipps.com

 

 

 



In the Aftermath: Thoughts and Prayers for Sandy Hook Elementary School Tragedy & the People of Newtown

Weekly Meanderings: For Newtown

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2012/12/22/weekly-meanderings-339/

 

by Scot McKnight

Dec 22, 2012 @ 0:12

 

 

A story from Elie Wiesel

Once, when speaking to his master, Rebbe Menahem Mendel Schneersohn of Lubavitch, the rebbe inquired why Wiesel was so angry at God.

 

“Because I loved Him too much,” I replied.

 

“And now?” he asked.

 

“Now too. And because I love Him, I am angry at Him.”

 

The Rebbe disagreed: “To love God is to accept that you do not understand Him.”

 

I asked whether one could love God without having faith. He told me faith had to precede all the rest.

 

“Rebbe,” I asked, “how can you believe in God after Auschwitz?”

 

He looked at me in silence for a long moment, his hands resting on the table. Then he replied, in a soft, barely audible voice, “How can you not believe in God after Auschwitz?” (E. Wiesel, All Rivers Run to the Sea , 402-403).

 

 

 

 

Jim Martin
For many years, I have had a front row seat to witness the work and vocation of many schoolteachers. My grandmother, Iris Martin, taught 5th grade for many years in Oklahoma and Arkansas. My mother-in-law, Maye Coil, taught elementary school for a long time. My wife has taught elementary school children for almost 25 years. There are a number of other family members who have served as schoolteachers.

 

I am not surprised at the heroic actions of these teachers and other school personnel in Connecticut. Besides a child’s family, I don’t know anyone with any greater determination to protect, teach, and bless a child than his or her teacher.

 

The teachers in my family loved their children. It was obvious by the way they talked about their students. It was obvious in what they did to help and even intervene on behalf of their students.

 

Again and again, I have seen teachers give their time and energy to this calling. Teachers work many, many hours beyond those in the classroom. So many of them spend their own money purchasing materials for their room and their students. Teachers work with parents and their children. They do way more than what might actually happen during the classroom hours. Not only do they teach children but they also intervene in troubled situations. Teachers are the ones who encourage parents to take a child for an eye exam because she can’t see the whiteboard. Some children come to school and find that their teacher is the only person in their lives they can count on for a word of encouragement. Most teachers I’ve known deeply care for the welfare of their children, their education, and their overall well-being.

 

So is it surprising when a horrific day reveals that teachers have acted heroically?

 

No.

 

 

 

 

Lutheran Church Charities
LCC sent a team of seven golden retriever comfort dogs and their handlers to the town where 27 people were killed in the second-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.

 

The pastor of Newtown’s Christ the King Lutheran Church — which is holding many of the funerals — asked the group to help out, and the crew arrived Saturday evening.

 

The dogs and their handlers spent Sunday meeting with people affected by the shootings and were present for the vigil at Newtown High School Sunday evening. On Monday they will be at some of the other Newtown schools talking to children.

 

The dogs are used to help provide a comforting bridge to help people open up about a tragedy. The individuals can pet the dogs while they talk or pray with the handler.

 

 

 

 

Father Rob
“In last Sunday’s sermon, I tried to begin an answer to the question that was raised in the Gospel we read (Luke 3:7-18). It was the question of “What should we then do?” The people who asked this question then suffered great grief and sorrow because they lived in such a broken and violent world. So do we. They wanted to know how they could make their world better. So do we. What should we then do?

 

Of course time did not permit a full discussion of the answer to that question before us, and I am not smart enough to know the full answer in the first place. But I wanted to suggest that the place for me to begin is with me, and what things I can do differently to create a better world. And the place for you to begin is with you, and what specific things you can do differently to create a better world.”