final days forum

Listening to a Superior Voice

After the Summer of Rage, incivility continues to simmer throughout the U.S. -- on vociferous talk radio, cable news, websites, tell-all books and even in some pulpits. Unfortunately, the nation can't collectively make an appointment with Dr. Phil to explore what ails it, but as individuals we can seek help.

In the film, "Madea Goes to Jail,"  Tyler Perry's Madea resists anger management when she verbally jousts with Dr. Phil and behaves as if her fury is his fault.  The exchange between the two is dead-on because many of us behave with the same ghetto-fabulousness when we wear irritation like exposed skin...And it doesn't matter what neighborhood you come from for this term to apply.

We can roll our eyes and justify our raving, but in the end, anger obscures truth and barricades peace. Think back: hasn't this been true? We sought to hear God amid the crashing noise of of our circumstances, fumed at him as the mountains of life quaked about us, but when does he most often answer us? In the stillness. The prophet Elijah learned this and was privileged to witness how God is no less magnificent when his voice is still and small.

If we want to live like children of God, does that include changing our perspective on anger? Without learning to deal with anger daily, without learning that a quieter voice repels wrath, we will look as ridiculous as the prophets of Baal in Elijah's day. They screamed, hollered, cut themselves bloody and called out to a god who never answered.

Judy Howard Ellis

A church unafraid of a 'pagan' world

Daniel's Answer to the King by Briton Rivière, R.A.

It is abundantly clear that not everyone in America, let alone the planet, upholds the Bible as a constant, self-evident truth. Not everyone believes what Jesus the Christ said about himself, that he was born to die, that he died to live again, and that he is the son of God.

Being a Christian has always been a spiritual choice that goes against culture. The Christ-based life is counter intuitive because it rests on claims that are first grasped by faith. So why are followers of Jesus surprised when the world rejects him? Why do we feel defensive when the culture doesn't get our God? Or us?

Jesus didn't fear the world and described it as the workplace for his followers. He lived under a Roman regime that was as worldly as they come, but fearlessly, and incessantly, Jesus talked about doing his Father's work. He spoke of his return to earth and his kingdom, despite what was happening in the Roman empire. 

So why did GOP leader Newt Gingrich on Saturday at the Rock Church in Virginia Beach, Va. during the "Rediscovering God in America"  state the obvious? Gingrich is quoted as saying:  "I think this is one of the most critical moments in American history,"  he said. "We are living in a period where we are surrounded by paganism."

The times are critical, but Gingrich's statement sounds like fear-based politics dusted with religion rather than an authentic display of Bible-based strength. Why should Christians feel defenseless and backed into a corner? Again, the world is our workplace! Daniel didn't get the heebie jeebies when he was in the service of a "pagan" government. He wasn't even distraught by a den of lions! The God Daniel served, though unseen, was bigger and badder. Daniel was a skilled leader in a world that did not worship as he chose.  He didn't run away from that fact. He understood that God possessed all authority. Do we view God that way?

A world with lots of "un-biblical" things happening 24-7 is the world to which God has called every believer. We are not submitting to his eternal purposes by whipping up fear about the people God has called us to serve. Jesus did not live in isolation and he is not directing us to live ensconced in a subculture of only Christian music and neighbors who sport a fish on the back of their Honda.

If we are not stretched by the challenge of serving in the world, if we do not venture beyond our mega-sanctuaries, how will we experience how powerful the Almighty actually is? How will the world?

Judy Howard Ellis

 

What Would Jesus Wear?

Our Lady Immaculate and St  Philip Neri Catholic Church in Uckfield in East Sussex, England this week revealed a new sculpture of Jesus. Sculptor Marcus Cornish fashioned a 21st century image of Jesus -- with mustache, beard, short-sleeve shirt, and a hip pair of baggy jeans. The jeans are not a loin-hugging, Abercrombie and Fitch version but they look like those of a contemporary man. The sculpture's only "fashion" elements that are remotely familiar to traditional depictions of Christ are a halo and bare feet.

Ah, a Jesus for today. Basic Galilean wear might work among money changers and fishermen, but they apparently aren't a fit for a world shaken by a crippling recession, global warming, widespread famine, wars and rumor of wars.

Fashionistas everywhere might be celebrating the Jesus makeover, but Father David Buckley gave a serious reason why Our Lady Immaculate wanted the sculpture. He told the Telegraph: "You are always looking for new ways to enrich people in the experience of Christianity and it is good people can be open-minded to appreciate it," he said.

"On the continent you often encounter modern representations of Jesus but it is not so common over here. We wanted a figure of Christ not in suffering but dynamic and welcoming.

"We felt this design summed up the spirit and activity of Christ perfectly and I think it speaks for itself."

The sculpture is intriguing and is a bold shift from traditional images of Jesus. And Father Buckley has a point; the Jesus of biblical stories is a figure who makes himself accessible to people from every station of life. But is a sculpture the primary way to convey the accessibility and power of Jesus' love?

The image may annoy Christians who think it belittles Jesus, but how will it affect those who can take Christ or leave him? Art is a powerful vehicle to share meaning, but will those who view the sculpture heed or miss the message of Jesus?

Art is one facet of an overall effort by any church to share the truths about Christ's life, death, burial and resurrection. But a sculpture can't ensure that a family has a place to sleep when they lose their house to foreclosure or kiss the brow of someone in hospice care.

Those who sincerely love and follow in Jesus' steps can do that. The fashionistas are only good for the runway.

Judy Howard Ellis

A time to celebrate, a time to shift

Sunrise over Sea of Galilee_0811, originally uploaded by hoyasmeg.

Today and tomorrow are two special days for our country. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s holiday is today and Barack Obama becomes the 44th president of the United States tomorrow. But these two days will go down in history as an ordinary Monday and Tuesday if we fail to start living differently by Wednesday morning.

From our natural eye, these two days appear as cultural and political events where we wave flags and sermonize. The news outlets fill the hours with incremental stories, along with the major ones. If we are not careful, we will miss the spiritual point as we savor the festivities of this historic week. We will not "represent" from our part of the world because we are dazzled by the grandeur, but ignorant of the moment.

This is not really about the memory of an noble man or the presidential debut of  a man many admire. Ultimately, the convergence of these two events back to back show how American life is being arranged, reordered, re-purposed. The implication of this change is that I must change. You must change.

God is introducing new ways of thinking and interacting with the world, and the King holiday and the Obama inauguration are tangible symbols of that. As a friend of mine, Colorado expert Dr. Taffy Wagner, told me today, we must obey God in this season. We must shift because God is shifting. His pillar of cloud is on the move. 

For me, this means a fiction project he has prodded me to finish must take priority if I want to stay aligned with his purposes for my life. It means that if I want to serve the world, I must serve as God instructs. It means I will have to trust God to take care of all that concerns me while I tend to what concerns him. It means that my work, when it follows God's destiny for me, fulfills a need or a hope for someone else. My obedient labor, my reasonable service, keeps me plugged into God's glorious plan to meet the needs of people everywhere.

King understood this. He personally sacrificed because he pursued dreams far greater than just him or his family. Remember his words in a Letter from a Birmingham Jail on April 16, 1963:

I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. Just as the prophets of the eighth century B.C. left their villages and carried their "thus saith the Lord" far beyond the boundaries of their home towns, and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco Roman world, so am I compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid.

Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.

What is God saying to you?

Judy Howard Ellis

Letter from a Birmingham Jail courtesy of  The African Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania

Dreaming about a radical church

Sleep, originally uploaded by Steven Fernandez.

What would happen if we no longer practiced church as usual?

Close your eyes and dream with me:

1. What if the church pursued welcoming, loving conversations about Jesus on social networking sites like Twitter, Plurk, and Facebook?  What if we saw opportunities on the Web to share Jesus, much like he seized chances to talk about his Father on the roads of Galilee?

2. What if the church didn't make God seem spooky, remote, and weird? Why not talk with people like we were regular people instead of robotic clerics agitated by our itchy hair shirts?

3. What if we took Jesus' words about the Holy Spirit seriously? The Bible says the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. What if we moved aside and watched the Spirit do his job?

4. What if the church did not act like the fashion police? Wehy can't we get our praise on even when the multi-pierced, the ghoulishly Gothic, the skimpily dressed, and the completely tattooed sit next to us in church?

5. What if we treated all sin as sin and didn't act as if lying, cheating, gossiping, backbiting, adultery, meanness, and gluttony got a pass in the Bible? Ahh. Jesus' words to the folks who wanted to stone the woman caught in adultery: He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.

6. What if we gave people food and bill assistance just because they asked for it? Some people will take advantage of our benevolence, but a lot of other folks would just love the church for helping them out during a rough time. Seems worth the risk to me -- just to see how God touches people and answers their prayers.

7. What if all the televangelists who typically ask viewers to "sow" into their ministry never asked for another dime? What if they urged viewers to sow into the church where they actually attend?

8. What if we actually believed in the expansive power of prayer? We could ask the Lord to heal and prosper our country instead of writing nasty, mean-spirited stuff on the Web and loudly protesting outside of people's homes?

9. What if we love people, regardless of how they vote in this presidential election? Think about it: civility the day after the election. And the church could offer the most civil environment of all.

10. What if we treated people with the grace God gives us? Unconditional love is wonderful to receive. Have we learned how to share it?

What are your dreams for the church?

 

Judy Howard Ellis

 

A bad economy offers a second chance

Doors, originally uploaded by BinaryApe.

With free-falls on the stock market and American families shifting into financial lockdown, an incredible understanding may emerge from this economic thunderstorm.

It's not a matter of who is at fault or where we can dump our rage about greedy CEOs, predatory banks, inept politicians, and careless homeowners. The profound impact of this crisis is that it may actually swing open the doors to a second chance.

We are being awarded a "do-over" as we plunge to depths of financial problems we could have never imagined. A "reset" button has been pushed, and from the bottom we can build again. We can recover our sense of purpose and shift our cultural diet from the celebrity-weirdness galaxy. We can encourage innovation in areas such as energy, housing, and education. We can honor steadfastness of character and celebrate simplicity of living.

When we embrace a second chance, our empathy heightens because everyone experiences loss. Poverty is real and within reach instead of being viewed as an isolated problem facing "those people" who troll downtown streets or who cram their families into battered motels because they can't afford an apartment or a house.

Excessive luxuries don't matter as much when we retrench. Clarity becomes an essential nutrient for life. We reexamine purpose and summon our desire to survive. And if there is emotional health, we also manage relationships with care so as not to let them become the brunt of our fears.

As we struggle to pay food bills, battle fear as home values drop, stretch dwindling take-home pay, worry that our business can't make payroll, moan day-care costs, and mourn blasted retirement savings, we can discover newfound resilience. The financial bedlam, the turbulent valley, incredibly become huge doors of hope.

Judy Howard Ellis

Link to Hosea 2:14,15 courtesy of studylight.org

The passing of the past

Round the bend, originally uploaded by nugib.

When a girl I liked moved away from our neighborhood in East St. Louis, it was an early lesson about letting go. The girl was fun and sweet and from my viewpoint as a child, 24th Street seemed dimmer after she left. I couldn't stop her passing through my life and neither could she or our other neighborhood friend, who also did not want to see her go.

In life, there are many passings. And we mourn them. When both of my grandmothers died during the same summer after my college graduation, my family walked away from a life we once knew when we left Sunset Cemetery. We will see them again one day, but their time with us in the old way had passed.

When I once lost love, I had to re-orientate my sights to new dreams. When I changed jobs or relocated to other cities, I found my footing in new places. When new opportunities meant exchanging abundance for fewer material things, I learned simplicity. This is the captivating nature of letting go. New understanding is gained; freshly minted maturity is experienced; more profound empathy is shown.

One of the essentially paradoxical things about God is that he does not change in character, perspective, and ability, but his kingdom is anchored in constant change. He's always building, rebuilding, structuring, and restructuring. He's always loosening our moorings.

And we must not be offended by the King of Kings because he maneuvers in our lives this way. It's "craven fear" to do so. While writing this post I am reminded of the character in Hannah Hurnard's beloved book, Hind's Feet for High Places. Even the onery Craven Fear in Hurnard's story was transformed. May we allow God to lovingly guide us through these changes in life, no matter how painful, so that we also can be transformed.

Right now, America is experiencing a great passing of the past. That passing is more than acknowledging that a 720 FICO score and a decent down payment does not guarantee you a house. This passing of the past also is about more than who will occupy the White House in January. These are shadows reflecting the intense movements of heaven. Isaiah 43:19 is cited so often it sometimes seems cliche, but it is fitting here: Behold, God is doing a new thing. Will we not know it?

During this Jewish New Year, 5769, what we can't see is the extensive work of God. He's adjusting the perception of everyone to catch the expansive dream of the kingdom. He wants everyone to realize that kingdom-building  manifests in more ways  than overflowing church parking lots and television programs drawing millions of viewers. Indeed, the Father wants a great company, but they will likely resemble David's men, unlikely recruits who know their God and the demonstration of his power. 

These kingdom-seers display God's glory in the checkout line in the grocery store, and in the neighborhood business that gains a reputation for hiring as many people as possible instead of laying off workers to boost its bottom line. They are the small coterie of saints whose work among the incarcerated restores dozens upon dozens of families. Their labor is identified by miracles, not self-righteousness.

They don't fluctuate like the stock market when God carries them through one season and then the next with rapidity.  They travel his breakneck highways with joy.

Judy Howard Ellis
 

Link to Hannah Hurnard's book, courtesy of books.google.com; link to Isaiah passage courtesy of biblos.com; link to information about the Jewish New Year courtesy of http://joyofthetorah.org
link to David's men in 1 Samuel, courtesy of studylight.com

Time to practice what we believe

little house on the hillside, originally uploaded by iChaz.

All of us know what it feels like to face the day of an exam. Hopefully, we feel prepared because we've listened in class, taken careful notes, aced quizzes, and diligently studied.

When test day comes, we browse through the exam.  We say to ourselves: This look familiar. OK, I remember that. We then let out a breath. A couple things on the test seem like trick questions, muddled collections of sentences seemingly intended for our demise. We try to stay calm and complete what we know. This leaves us time to gather our thoughts about the questions that stump us.

Life is a bit like that now. Some parts of our current circumstances look familiar. Those who experienced the Great Depression or who remember the old folks talking about that era, see familiar themes in the anxiety expressed from the White House to U.S. Congress to Wall Street. But other situations look awfully unfamiliar, as if we woke up in another bed. What do we do then?

We follow what God says to believe. We pray for discernment and wait for his various responses throughout the day. It's like standing in an open field; the clouds are gathering, but we are listening for God's voice.  Remember the story of Elijah? Imagine him bowed down and waiting for the sound of rain after three years of drought.

This is not the time to agree with the devil that God will not speak, that he will abandon us, that he will not accept our repentance, and that he ignore our cries to him.  Say this, no matter how silly it may sound the next time the bill collector calls: God will. God does. God can.

Seek the strength of God. Paul wrote to Philippi that he could do all things through Christ. So can we. Our faith matters all the time, but its worth is proven during times like these.

To strengthen my own faith, I need more Word and more prayer. I also will lean on God's gift to me: the movies. I am a story-loving person and a good film helps me exercise the truth I know. Films such as The Patriot and "Gladiator" are among my favorites. I don't look at them for their historic value -- both films have been criticized for the "history" they portray. I don't recommend them to children or others who are troubled by its violence. But when I want to be reminded of stories of survival, choices, and leadership, I like looking at them for that purpose.

I'll also pull out my "The Lord of the Rings" film trilogy. Those films remind me to be honorable, even in dishonorable times, to remember that Mordor will fall, no matter what it looks like. 

Judy Howard Ellis

 

Great Depression and film links courtesy of Wikipedia.com; Paul and Philippi link courtesy of Studylight.org

 

Rage: the new normal

Web (HDR), originally uploaded by iChaz.

Everyone is angry. It's not that anger cannot be an emotion that can move us in the right direction or right a terrible wrong. Unchecked anger is what I'm talking about.  Anger without boundaries coats our politics, flavors our school board meetings, and poses as the uninvited guest at family dinner. We are ticked. We mercilessly spew our rage at the driver who cut us off on the highway, the callers who disagree with us on our talk radio programs, and the spouse who just won't do right.

Anger throbs in the hearts of Christians who pummel with the ferocity of hell those who have abortions or choose same-sex unions. The intent may be to bring people into alignment with Scripture, but they use the fist of Satan to inspire the obedience of Jesus. Our anger curdles like sour milk and reeks of rottenness. I have wondered at my own anger and the wrath seething on television programs and throughout the blogosphere. It's like we have supped with the devil and brought home poisoned leftovers.

I don't expect those who do not know Christ to curb their rage. They need God's intervention to see truth. To expect the world to do differently than it does is like expecting Tony Soprano to actually renounce killing forever. You need a revelation from God to follow kindness, peacefulness, and love.

But I do call on the church to check the level of its rage. Not all of our anger is righteous indignation, as Christians like to declare. Much of our anger is the refuse of inner issues left untended in our lives. The Bible tells us to be angry but sin not, and we have not obeyed that instruction. The sun has gone down many times on our anger. We accommodate anger, as if it were an admirable quality, a selling point, or a competitive sport.

In the church of Jesus Christ the Lord, this should not be. Unchecked anger blinds us. Anger obscures the view of heaven and lessens its power in our lives.

Judy Howard Ellis

The benefits of hardship

I remember being a kid and looking through Miss Pinkie's basic white refrigerator. Not much seemed to be there. Maybe some meat, milk, and eggs. Probably some fruit, turnip greens, and other vegetables. As a kid, I wasn't always keen to explore the freezer. That didn't interest me. It was always the stuff that was ready to eat that called my name. Maybe I hoped a McDonald's Filet-O-Fish would appear. Of course, one never did!

Miss Pinkie, as her neighbors and friends called her, was my grandmother. Although she has been gone for more than two decades, I still remember that sitting at her table meant savoring a feast. She whipped up meals like liver and onions and spaghetti and fish and I wondered how when it seemed like she had so little. She also often had a tin of my favorite candy, Kathryn Beich's Katydids.

My grandmother tutored me to be gratified by simplicity. An intrepid entrepreneur and a woman with a sense of style, my grandmother is an enormously powerful example for my family and others. Our nation grapples with many problems simultaneously, but the way to cope is not to mimic the Joneses or to bind ourselves to stress, the unforgiving slave master. We must return to the best we've learned from elders like my grandmother: 

• Love of family is not just spoken, it's demonstrated.
• Diligence in work yields benefits for your life and the generations after you.
• Your life imprint should be stamped on your family and your community.
• Teaching children to be responsible for household chores and helping out with the family business helps them grow.
• Vision -- like encouraging children to attend college, start a business, or try something new --  is a gift of a lifetime.
• Generosity is a characteristic you nurture, whether times are good or bad.

My grandmother did not live to experience the conveniences and opportunities we now enjoy. But she taught her grandchildren to dream and push forward -- even in hardship. That's God's word for us right now, I believe. Hardship burns off excess. Hardship clears a clouded eye, exposes greed and bares pride. It's a weird principle to humans because we prefer comfortable places, but it is an eternally true one, nonetheless -- in difficulty there is magnificent blessing.

Judy Howard Ellis

"In Every Dream Home..." photo courtesy of  Fast Eddie42 on Flickr,com