RECLAIMING JESUS???

First let me say that I respect many of the clergy who signed the document “Reclaiming Jesus”!  

The Rev. Michael Curry, Presiding Bishop of the  Episcopal church,  my spiritual home, is an example of a person committed to the love of God, the advancement of Christ's kingdom, and justice, a man I truly admire.

Yet, no person is infallible and we do not all have to agree! As the child of immigrants, an Episcopalian and a concerned citizen of the United States, I have reservations to aspects of this document that purports to invite Christians to “confess our faith in a time of crisis”.

Granted, I share all the concerns, which bring this declaration about!  Firsthand, I witness prejudice, racial injustice, and the separation of families due to our immigration policies,  I am concerned about the language and some of the policies in our present administration! These are things we pray about, oppose, strive to solve and work to change! 

Yet, some of the premises and emphases of said document in my view, overlook concerns of many Christians in our society!  There are statements that seem to simply parrot progressive political views of the day, and have, in themselves, little to do with the gospel.

Here are a few concerns:

I. WE BELIEVE each human being is made in God’s image and likeness (Genesis 1:26).

Wholeheartedly agree, yet how ironic that this declaration of the worth of humanity makes no mention of the unborn, the most vulnerable and at risk members of the human family in our nation! 

Abortion has claimed the lives of over 4,000,000 unborn children so far in 2018 and it does not merit being part of a discussion about human dignity for these religious leaders? Really? Incredible!!!!

Secondly, I find it a bit narrow to speak of racism and bigotry solely targeting people of one race, whites! 

There is enough prejudice, racial bigotry and injustice to go around in our society. To make only one racial group the exclusive culprit, seems to give the rest of us a pass! We experience it, and it is there for all to see in Latino communities, among immigrants and communities of color! Do we not see it or  is it politically incorrect to mention in our society?

The attitudes and behaviors, rightly called out in this document, are entrenched in the hearts of people , it is sin, and should be called out as such! We all need to repent of something, change our words, our ways , our actions...not just white folks!

III. WE BELIEVE how we treat the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the stranger, the sick, and the prisoner is how we treat Christ himself. (Matthew 25: 31-46)

Complete agree with this premise! Yet let us not confuse the Biblical mandate of helping the poor, with government programs that may not have proven benefits in helping people out of poverty 

There is no command in Scripture that we should support any effort that has the potential of keeping families in a cycle of dependency! 

The Apostles of the same Jesus, who tasked us with helping the poor, even as they collected money and goods to feed poor widows, also gave strict guidelines as to who should be helped!

It was the Apostle to the gentiles who said the now infamous words 
  

2 Thessalonians 3:10 “If any will not work, let them also not eat..” 

Certainly the poor should be given every possible aid, all that is needed, with the goal to get them out of need! But, to have people always expecting and dependent on help,  may not be what Christ had in mind!  

Of course, health care should be provided for the sick but the details about how that is accomplished is a matter for societies to decide! Where things can be improved, they should be! 

It is my experience that the health mandates that help one family can cause financial hardship to another. We need a better health system in our country, but to think that our attempts at one provided a solution for all, is to ignore facts!

Programs are tried; they can succeed or fail, come and go, but our responsibility as Christians remain. 

V. WE BELIEVE that Christ’s way of leadership is servanthood, not domination.THEREFORE, WE REJECT any moves toward autocratic political leadership and authoritarian rule. 

Amazing statement from people many of whom have been silent about authoritarian rule in Cuba, many nations in the Middle East or some of the countries where people flee to the United States to escape oppression! 

These words are also ironic after the silence of these same leaders during the last administration’s exercise of autocracy! 

At that time, the executive branch ruled this country by executive order, bypassing Congress and the normal channels for the passing and implementing of policy. Some of the problems we face today, especially among immigrant communities, are due to the shortcuts taken to bypass debate over our nation’s immigration laws! 

The president, due to the adverse political situation of his party, decided to govern by fiat, by the power of his pen and signature; that is autocracy, and here we are enduring the consequences!  I pose that we would all be more credible if there was some consistency to our principles! We object now...seemed to not care much then!

VI. WE BELIEVE Jesus when he tells us to go into all nations making disciples (Matthew 28:18) THEREFORE, WE REJECT “America first” as a theological heresy for followers of Christ.  

Huh? Who made that hermeneutical leap? What in the world does making disciples have to do with a nation’s obligations to its citizens first?  

Even in Scripture such an idea is not reconcilable with reality  Here is St. Paul’s take on priorities when it comes to help;  

Galatians 6:1o “ whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone--especially to those in the family of faith …” .

 Jesus conversation with Peter about the Temple taxes comes to mind.

Matthew 17:24-26 “What do you think, Simon?” he asked. “From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own children or from others?” From others,” Peter answered. Then the children are exempt,” Jesus, said to him.   

 Notice no clarification from Jesus about how this was unfair! Nothing about how citizens and strangers should be equally treated with respect to taxes.

The second and much more disturbing concept is the idea that a political philosophy can be a “theological heresy for followers of Christ”! Heresy, as Mark Tooley aptly reminds us is, “…an attack from within the church on the church’s understanding of God’s core identity. Arius was heretical for claiming Christ was created rather than eternal…”. 

There are no explicit nor implied claims about God, Christ, or any elements of the Creeds, in whatever policy priorities have been pursued under the name America First so far ! I am certainly disturbed by some of them, think that there is room for debate and disagreement but to call it heresy is out of touch and out of place.  

 Progressive Christians whose communities of faith have been busy dismantling some longstanding belief and traditions among Christians, should be a little more careful throwing the  H word around, especially in the context of politics!

And I must ask;  Is this select group of pastors some sort of “magisterium” or a council of the church empowered to make such an outrageous statement? Is this declaration of heresy some type of progressive “fatwah” now? 

These and other thinly disguised politics as spirituality in the body of this statement they can keep! I find that neither compelling nor useful! 

The conclusion I applaud, with these words I can wholeheartedly agree! 

“…If Jesus is Lord, there is always  space for grace. We believe it is time to speak and to act in faith and conscience, not because of politics, but because we are disciples of Jesus Christ—to whom be all authority, honor, and glory. It is time for a fresh confession of faith. Jesus is Lord. He is the light in our darkness. “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12)…”

Blessings

 Seraph

   

The Vine and The Branches, John 15:1-8

John 15:1-8 New International Version (NIV)

15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing"

I am the vine you are the branches!

These words are thought to have been uttered by Jesus after the last supper, when he and his disciples were on the way to the garden of Gethsemane. And perhaps, as they walked by a vineyard he used this image to teach them…Here are a few things for our meditation

1.      Jesus speaks of himself- 

I am the true vine- this is the last of similar statements by Jesus, where he appropriates to himself designations previously used of God-  God speaks to Moses in a burning shrub in one of the earliest theophanies in Scripture and there when asked for his name …he answers I am who I am ,or I am who I will be…!

Here are the words of Jesus in the gospel of John

1.  Jesus says, “I am the bread of life” (6:35). “Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6:35).

2. Jesus says, “I am the light of the world” Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).

3.  Jesus says, “I am the door” (10:9). “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture” (John 10:9).

4. Jesus says, “I am the Good Shepherd” “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11).

5. Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life”.. “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26).

6. Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life Jesus is the way, and the truth, and the life. “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

7. Jesus says, “I am the true vine” (15:1). “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.” “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15: 1, 5).

These are words, that are impossible to accept from any human teacher, from another mere mortal…but from the lips of Jesus they reminds of his oneness with the father, his dwelling with the father in eternity past, his voice bringing creation into existence and the reality that in Christ..God is with us!

I find it interesting that he speaks of himself as the true vine… considering that throughout the Hebrew tradition the imagery of a grapevine is used to describe Israel in its relationship to God.

Psalm 80 in your morning prayers. "You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land."

Or the words of Hosea who said that "Israel was a luxuriant vine that yields its fruit" (10:1). Hosea

Isaiah: " . . . my beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill . . . He expected it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes" (5:1-2).

"I planted you as a choice vine, from the purest stock. How then did you turn degenerate and become a wild vine?" (Jeremiah 2:21)

A people planted by God, a nation belonging to God and cared for by him…Jesus makes it about himself…belonging to God’s people, being part of  the special treasure that belongs to God is not associated with belonging to a particular nation, or group, but being part of , united to , connected to Christ…

  2.      Jesus speaks to us about God…

My father is the vine grower!  Imagine that God is a gardener, a farmer in this lesson!

Turning to Genesis 2, the story of the Garden of Eden, we find an astonishing image of God: the depiction of God as a gardener. 

Norman Wirzba

 “,,,At the very start of our introduction to God, we see God the gardener of the world. God is the first, the best, the essential and the eternal gardener. The day God ceases to garden is also the day we all perish. I have never heard a preacher say that, but it is true…”So, hear it again: God the Gardener...."

We all love flowers….fake flowers…not the same! We love fresh herbs and vegetables…! All here know that it takes time and effort, that we can not just throw the seeds and casually water…WE MUST BE INVOLVED IN THE CARE OF THE PLANT…!!!!  Jesus speaks of the Father in just that way…A GOD who gets his hands dirty who cleans and prunes the vine...his church, our lives, the world.

He lifts up or cuts the unfruitful branches, He prunes and cleans the branches.

This idea fills me with joy! I am not alone in the building up of  my spiritual life,, or the church or the world, the Father is at work at cleaning , pruning and making sure there is vitality in our lives and the Church.  God is intimately involved in our lives, he cares for us, makes sure we have what it takes to thrive…but it also means that he prunes, which fills me with a bit of fear!! He cuts off things that grow in my life and yours that can drown out the fruit, things that do not belong, that grow too much or the wrong way!  Sometimes things I like or would rather keep!

We get a similar idea of being corrected or instructed, pruned in these other verses of Scripture:

All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness" (2 Tim. 3:16).

And this beauty from the book of Hebrews speaking about our parenting...

"..They disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it..." (Hebrews 12:10–11 ESV) 

God uses his word, he convicts us by his Holy Spirit,  he uses circumstances and even people, to help us grow in a healthy manner, to prune or correct what would hinder us , what we do not need! 

3.    Jesus speaks to us about ourselves…

A.    We are the branches

1. We have been cleaned by the word he has spoken that is good news!!!!  

2. We abide in Christ  we stay connected to Christ- He gives us the promise he will abide in us…he will stay connected to us, as we to him! We are on our own, the source of life, nourishment and growth abides in us giving what we need for a healthy spiritual life. Here are just two simple suggestions from the gospel of John, that help us in that abiding, in remaining always connected to Christ.

John 15:10 "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love! 

John 6:56 "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them:

3.      We bear much fruit!

Harriet Beecher Stowe is best known as the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. She wrote,  “Now how does a branch bear fruit? Not by incessant effort for sunshine and air; not by vain struggles for those life-giving influences which give beauty to the blossom, and greenness to the leaf;—it simply abides in the vine, in silent and undisturbed union; and the fruit and blossoms appear as of spontaneous growth. “How, then, shall a Christian bear fruit? By efforts and struggles to obtain that which is freely given; No, there must be a full concentration of the thoughts and affections on Christ; a complete surrender of the whole being to him; a constant looking to him for grace.”

May it be so in us

Blessings

Seraph