Performing the Psalms: Thoughts on a Book

Performing the Psalms: Thoughts on A Book

On July 25 a backhoe operator spotted a highly unlikely object buried in the mud. Amazingly it turned out to be a leather bound codex of the Psalms dating to between A.D. 800 and A.D. 1000. Here is a news link if you missed the story: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14030255/ The discovery is testimony to how important the Psalter has always been to God's People, even in the nadir of the "dark ages" the Psalms guided the faithful.

Psalms is among my canon within a canon. I read the entire book every month allowing its cadences and rhythm's to mould and shape my worldview (hopefully!). Over a period of time this has also pushed my conception of the faith to a more gritty and earthy comprehension. In my preaching and teaching I have tried to share my appreciation of the Psalms with others. As I plan out my sermon calendar I always include a series from the Psalter.

As I have studied the Psalms I have read and purchased a number of books. Indeed now have nearly a shelf of books related to nothing but the Psalms. Among my favorites are William Holladay's A Cloud of Witness: The Psalms Through Three Thousand Years; Bernard W. Anderson's Out of the Depths; Walter Brueggemann's The Message of the Psalms; and J. Clinton McCann's Psalms as Torah: A Theological Introduction to the Psalms.

I recently read another book that is rising in my esteem called Performing the Psalms, eds. Dave Bland and David Fleer (Chalice Press, 2005). If you are a preacher, and a lover of the Psalms, this is a book for you. Both Brueggemann and McCann have very insightful chapters in the book (WB's article on Psalms as Narrative Performance is worth the book alone). Dr. John Mark Hicks has a rich introduction to the laments and why they matter to us today. The book has a number of sermons as well that take into account the "coaching" from these biblical scholars. One such sermon, by Mark Love, is based on Ps 89 and is called "Going to Church in the Psalms." It is magnificent.

The book as a whole invites us a ministers of God's Good News to construct an alternative vision (or reality) with the material of the Psalms. An alternative world that is fundamentally God oriented that ironically invites us to be "truly" human. To be as human as God created us to be.

This is a book I will be coming back to. It is a book that has earned a right to be on my shelf rather than in my give away box.

Shalom,
Bobby Valentine

God & the City

God and the City

Two hundred years ago in 1800 nearly 95% of the population of America lived in rural areas. Today this has drastically changed. According to the U.S. Census Bureau over 75% of Americans live in cities. This same reality is also true of the world as a whole. The world is becoming, or already is, urban!

The urbanization of America and the world has had a profound effect upon us - even though we are often unaware of it. Many of the tensions filling the Churches of Christ today are, in my opinion, not biblical in nature but related to conflicts between urbanism and ruralism.

But urban environments provide unique opportunities to serve God as well. The city, for example, has changed the way missions are done. We used to think one had to go to Africa, China or South America to be a missionary. But since we rarely sent any missionaries, God brought the people to us. Los Angles is now the second largest Mexican city in the world; New York is also one of the largest. God has brought the nations to us. Ministry in the city can change the world.

The Apostle Paul was an urban missionary. When we read the NT, do images of cow pastures come to our minds? If so then we have seriously misread the NT, especially Acts. Paul labored in some of the largest urban enviroments in the world of his day: Ephesus, Corinth, Athens, and Rome. These were urban megacities. Paul even taught in a city university for two years in Ephesus (Acts 9.9). For more on the city in early Christian life see either Wayne Meeks, The First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle Paul or Bruce W. Winter's Seek the Welfare of the City.

The Lord Jesus himself was familiar with cities. Though Jesus did talk about sheep and goats, he also used urban imagery. Jesus grew up in Nazareth a mere three miles from the sprawling urban center Sepphoris. It was a city on a hill that could not be hid! Jesus, more than likely, worked in this city while growing up. The Lord's use of images from the city, especially the theater, are grounded in this setting (see Richard Batey, Jesus and the Forgotten City: New Light on Sepphoris and the Urban World of Jesus).

The city is daunting for sure. And some want to withdraw and abandon the city, especially the inner city. But we have never had the opportunity to impact more people with the Good News of the Gospel than in, and through, the city. God is the God of the city, too.

Shalom,
Stoned-Campbell Disciple

Healthy Practices for Lovers

(relating to our walk with our Abba)

The following list grows out of a series of lessons I presented at Southside on Learning to Live God's Love. I have found the following practices to be healthy for my relationship with God and his People.

I encourage you to print these suggestions out and pray about them. Pick a few to incorporate into your life. The "healthy practices" are divided into things we do each day, each week, monthly and yearly.

Healthy Daily Practices

* Arise each day with the thought, "Thank you God for a new chance to glorify you."
* Spend time in meditation on Christ as you walk, jog or drink your coffee
* Spend thirty minutes each morning reading the Bible and in prayer
* Say the "Jesus Prayer" every time you look at your watch: "Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me"
* Have a brief, ten minute reading in the Gospels after eating lunch.
* Pray the Lord's Prayer (Mt 6.9-13)
* Reflect on the day with God in prayer before bed

None of these healthy practices will disrupt the "normal" flow of our day. In fact we might find unexpected strength and energy flowing from them.

Healthy Weekly Practices

* Gather for worship with my family at Southside
* Participate in our mid-week care groups
* Serve breakfast/visit at the homeless shelter/rescue mission
* Spend one day resting in God's presence. Learn to "enjoy" family and God and the blessing of life

Healthy Monthly Practices

* Dedicate a day alone with God as a spiritual mini-retreat. This can be a walk by the lake, the woods, even a hotel.

Healthy Yearly Practices

* Spend one weekend with a group in retreat.
* Spend several days dedicated to a service project for the poor
* Spend a weekend alone as a reflection on the year past and the year ahead. Seek to discern the fingerprints of God on your life.

These practices can have a major impact on our life. They are not legalistic burdens. In fact when approached through seeking the Holy Spirit and prayer they are just the opposite. They are times of great refreshment, growth and renewal. What we seek is not the ritual but the Presence of God.

It is my prayer that you will find something among these healthy practices to help you in your love affair with God.

Shalom,
Bobby Valentine

Weekend Activities

Weekend Activities

The weekend was filled with activity. On Friday I went with a group of friends to Italian Fest and took in a concert by Sammy Hagar. The whole thing was loud but enjoyable. Sammy came out and did a four hour show (literally). There was no opening band, it was all Sammy. He covered his "classics" from Montrose (Bad Motor Scooter, etc), his solo days, tunes from the movies Heavy Metal (i.e. Heavy Metal) and Footloose (Girl Gets Around) and then his Van Halen era. Mindless entertainment!!!

After the show a few of us went through the late night drive through of Taco Bell. We pulled into a parking spot and talked about Scripture to about 2 am (I am sure that was not inspired by Sammy though). It was wonderful.

On Saturday I took in a long bike ride with my baby doll, Pamella. Then we made the trip to north of downtown Milwaukee for the Garfield Avenue Blues, Jazz, Gospel & Arts Festival. As you can imagine this was much different than Sammy! Garfield Avenue was the center of a thriving black cultural community literally called Bronzeville. Bronzeville was bordered by State Street to North Avenue and Third to 12th Streets. From 1900 to 1960 this area had a strong entrepreneurial spirit and the blues. It was a city within a city. Some have called Bronzeville the Milwaukee version of Harlem.

For a number of years in an effort to revitalize the area, bring back interest in black history and culture a number of locals have sponsored this festival. There are five stages (one for Gospel, Blues, Jazz and two more for other acts) that are never silent. The atmosphere was great.

Pamella and I had hot water cornbread, some awesome barbecue ribs and simply enjoyed ourselves. One of the highlights for us was the legendary Clara Ward Singers appeared twice on the Gospel stage. They put on quite a show for us.

I had some conversations with a number of fascinating people. I talked with the author of a new book coming out called Bronzeville: A Milwaukee Lifestyle, I visited with some workers at the black Holocaust Museum, and with some folks from the Nation of Islam. All in all it was a delightful experience and I recommend it to everyone. The weather was magnificent, only about 78 degrees and sunshine galor.

I enjoyed myself!

Shalom,
Bobby Valentine

Fred Gray: The Hero Lawyer?

Fred Gray: The Hero Lawyer?

It is not uncommon to find people joking about the oxymoron of a "Christian" lawyer. This joke is rooted in the myth that the typical lawyer is basically in it for money. Lots of money. So is it possible for a lawyer to be not only a devoted Christian but also a hero? May I suggest that Fred D. Gray is such a man.

Fred Gray was born on December 14, 1930 in Montgomery, Alabama. In 1943 he moved to Nashville to attend Marshall Keeble's Nashville Christian Institute. While at the Institute he became one of Keeble's "Boy Preachers" that traveled the country with Keeble.

But Fred had a dream. Some might have thought it was a fantasy rather than a dream. But it was his dream. His dream was to kill segregation. The Lord blessed Gray and he attended Western Reserve University to obtain his law degree in 1954.

Back in Montgomery, the fresh out of college lawyer had his first client in August of 1954 and opened his office in September. In little over a year Gray would be involved in a brief, but epic making case. On December 1, 1955 Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat. She was arrested and her attorney, the young 25 year old Gray was called to the scene. A day or two later Fred hatched the idea of the Montgomery Improvement Association which then asked the equally young Martin Luther King, Jr to be its spokesperson.

The wheels were set in motion and there was no turning back. America has never been the same. Fred Gray would represent King in his frequent arrests. Famously he represented those on that bloody Sunday in March 1965 who walked toward the Edmund Pettus Bridge. In landmark cases Gray desegregated Alabama public schools. Fred was also legal counsel for those abused in the Tuskegee Syphilis "Study." His cases have changed the face of America.

Gray was continually in the struggle for biblical justice and equality from the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement to the present day. Yet at the same time Fred was always that "boy preacher" too. He says that "Jesus Christ is and always has been the center of my life" (Bus Ride to Justice, p. 254). He served as the minister for the Newton Church of Christ from 1957 to November 5, 1973. In the 1970s Fred Gray led the way for the union of two racially diverse churches in Tuskegee, Alabama: the Newton Church of Christ and the East End Church of Christ, a white congregation. This merger took place in November 1974. Gray testifies to his greatest accomplishment "not only was I able to destroy segregation in government, education and transportation, but also in the church" (Bus Ride, p. 260).

Because of his achievements on behalf of not only African Americans but all humanity, Fred D. Gray was honored with The William Robert Ming Advocacy Award by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People during the group's 97th annual convention in Washington on July 17, 2006.

I have met Fred Gray one time in my life and he was one of the most humble people I have ever had the privilege to encounter. No one deserves this honor more than he. Can a lawyer be a Christian? Fred Gray shows that Christian commitment can define a lawyer. Can a lawyer be a hero? Fred Gray has shown us that at least some lawyers are worthy of the title "hero." I am proud to call Fred my brother in the Lord.

Perhaps you would like to visit Fred's website or read his book Bus Ride to Justice. I recommend you do both. You can order his book off of his website at the following address: http://www.fredgray.net/welcome.html

Shalom,
Bobby Valentine

What Did God Say? Gen 2.1b & Man's "Helper"

Greetings from a very hot Milwaukee, WI. For sometime now I have been reflecting on various passages in Scripture that relate to women and have found the study to be very refreshing and enlightening. Thus in this installment of Texts and Contexts I have chosen to offer a mini-word study and exegetical reading of Genesis 2.18b . . . taking into account the dangers of word studies we examined in T & C #3. It is my prayer that you will find this to stimulating and will prompt you to do some examination of our thinking based on this passage.

Are women inferior to men? Are women designed, by creational intent, to be simply helpers to men? There are not a few men who think so and often these men will base their theology on a certain understanding of Genesis 2.18b. In the wider “cotext” of 2.18 we learn that Yahweh decided it was not a good thing for the Man to be alone. So the Creator causes a mysterious sleep come over the man and fashions another human being to be with him in this world.

But what does God say? Here are some English translations of the text:

“I will make a helpe meet for him” (KJV)
“I shall make him a helper fit for him” (RSV)
“I will make him a helpmate” (Jerusalem Bible)
“I will make a helper as his partner” (NRSV)

What we find in Genesis 2.18 is what is sometimes called “translation fossils.” Translation fossils refer to the power of tradition in the retention of renderings that have long been regarded as suspect because of new knowledge, yet do not make its way into the translation process. It is now commonly regarded by a growing number of Scholars ("conservative" or “liberal”) who regard this basic translation tradition to be a mistranslation of the text.

Part One
There are two Hebrew words in this text that bear closer examination: ‘ezer kenegdo. I believe that the common translation (though moving in the right direction with the word “partner” in the NRSV) is not what the Hebrew text means at all. In fact the Hebrew text does not indicate the inferiority of women in the slightest but her full equality with the Man at creation.

The Hebrew word 'ezer is a combination of two roots: one which means to “rescue,” ”to save” and the other meaning “to be strong.” The difference is in the first sign. The raised “c” refers to the letter “ayin.” The Ugaritic maintained a distinction between ayin and ghayyin but Hebrew lost the distinction. Scholars place a merger between these roots in the Hebrew language around 1200 B.C. Thus at the time of writing the word ‘ezer could mean either “to save” (c-z-r) or “to be strong” (g-z-r).

The noun ‘ezer occurs 21x in the Hebrew Bible. In eight of those instances the term clearly means “savior.” These are easily identified because they occur in parallel texts. For example:

“I am completely destitute;
O God, hurry to my rescue (‘ezri)
You are my deliverer (mefalleti)
O Lord do not delay.

The context and especially the parallel term mefalleti make the meaning of ‘ezri clear. That is one who comes to the aid, saves or rescues (for other examples see Exodus 18.4; Hosea 13.9; Pss 20.2; 121.1, 2; 124.8; 146.5).

In other examples the root means “strength.” For example in Deuteronomy 33.26

“There is none like God, O Jeshurun,
the Rider of the Sky in your strength (be ‘ezreka)
in the heavens in your majesty (ga’avah).

Just a few verses later we read

“Happy are you, Israel Who is like you,
A people delivered by the Lord,
the shield of your strength (‘ezreka)
and the sword of your majesty (ga’avah).

The conclusion of v.29 tells of the defeat of Israel’s enemies, a clear indication that ‘ezer in these examples means “strength.” Also in several of these examples the word is paralleled with the idea of majesty (see Pss 68.34 and 93.1)

The phrase in Deuteronomy 33.29 “The shield of your strength” must be compared to the phrase “the Lord is my strength and shield.” The juxtaposition of shield and strength suggest that the word (‘ezereka) juxtaposed with shield in Deuteronomy means “my strength” rather than “my savior.”

Thus forms of 'ezer in the Hebrew Bible can mean either “to save” or “to be strong” or have the idea of power and strength. In Genesis 2.18b when God speaks of the one he is going to make he does not mean, it seems to me, that he is forming one to be the Man’s “savior.” That makes no sense in the context. Rather, God creates this new creature to be, like the man, a power or strength, superior to the animals. This is, I believe the real meaning of the text.

Part Two
The second word in Genesis 2.18b is kenegdo. This word is a hapax legomenon, that is a word that appears in the Bible a single time. In post biblical Hebrew (i.e. the Mishna) the term simply means “equal” as in the famous saying “The study of the torah is equal (keneged) to all the other commandments.”

In my view there is simply no justification whatsoever for the rendering “fit.” Context figures into determining the meaning. When God creates Eve from Adam’ rib, his intent is that she will be different from the other animals, that is a strength or power that is like or equal to him. This is confirmed when the Man uses the idiomatic expression “this is bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh.” This phrase simply means the woman is “one of us”, or "just like us" or simply “equal.”

God solved the loneliness of the Man by giving him, not an assistant, but giving him an equal companion in the journey of life. God gave him a strength or power that is equal to him.

Thus while the NRSV retains the translation fossil of “helper” it gets it correct with the rendering of “partner.” Interestingly enough the old Catholic Douay version captures the meaning of keneged too with the rendering of “like unto himself.”

Thus in the future we may find translations of Genesis 2.18b that look like this: “I will make a power (or strength) corresponding to the man.” Or “a power equal to man.” As was stated at the beginning of this mini-essay this translation is being forced upon scholars due to the information from cognate languages and the linguistics of how 'ezer is actually used in the Hebrew Bible. This is the view that conservative evangelical scholar Walter C. Kaiser takes in his Hard Sayings of the Old Testament.

If this translation is accurate, and I believe it is, then what does Genesis 2.18 say to husbands . . . there are some men that may need to do some serious rethinking of their view of women in general and their own wife in particular. Women are not mere "helpers" or "assistants." They are rather fully human that is "like unto" or "equal to" the man. This is why she is a good companion for him.

There is a wonderful article by R. David Freedman in Biblical Archaeology Review that explores the ancient near eastern background to these words (see Jan/Feb 1983, pp. 56-58)

Careful attention to the cotext (literary context) and the wider context (historical setting) can shed tremendous light on even those passages we think we have all figured out.

Shalom,
Bobby Valentine

David Lipscomb, James A. Harding: The Mission of Christ & the Renewed Earth

David Lipscomb, James A. Harding: The Mission of Christ & The Renewed Earth

Many today do not realize how "out of synch" our eschatological views are with previous generations. In what follows I will share a few quotations from the pens of David Lipscomb and James A. Harding. I think the quotes speak for themselves so I will simply the sources of the quotes and leave them be.

What is the "Mission of Christ?" What is the Object of his Work?

"The mission of this Church is to rescue and redeem the earth from the rule and dominion of the human kingdoms, from the rebellion against God, and to reinstate the authority and rule of God on earth through this own kingdom. Through and in it Christ must reign until he shall have "put down all rule, and all authority and all power." Then will he deliver up the kingdom to God the Father, and himself be subject to God, that God ruling in and through his restored kingdom on earth, may be all and in all, the only ruler of the heavens and of the earth." (David Lipscomb, Civil Government, pp. 12-13).

The Holy Spirit came to earth to . . . guide that kingdom to its future growth, to its final and perfect development, when the kingdoms of the earth shall become the kingdom of God and his Christ, when the will of God shall be done on earth as it is in heaven, and when earth itself shall become heaven and God shall dwell with his people and be their God and they shall be his people. (David Lipscomb, "The Kingdom of God," Gospel Advocate 45 [21 May 1903], 328).

The object of God's dealing with man, and especially the mission of Christ to earth, was to rescue the world from the rule and dominion of the evil one, from the ruin into which it had fallen through sin, and to rehabilitate it with the dignity and the glory it had when it came from the hand of God; to restore man - spiritually, mentally and physically - to the likeness of his maker. (David Lipscomb, Salvation from Sin, p. 114).

James A. Harding Chimes in . . .

...the earth is God's nursery, his training grounds, made primarily for the occupancy of his children, for their education, development and training until they shall have reached their majority, until the end of the Messianic age has come; then it is to be purified a second time by a great washing, a mighty flood, but this time in a sea of fire. Then God will take up his abode himself with his great family upon this new, this renovated and purified earth . . . So it is apparent that the one great, all-including purpose for which we were made, for which we exist, is to be educated, trained, developed, so as to be indeed sons of God; brothers of Christ, heirs of God, who will dwell with their Father forever, and will reign with him. ("For What are We Here?" The Way 5 [3 December 1903], 1041).

Quotations like these could be multiplied many times. Clearly Lipscomb and Harding held a vision of the doctrine of salvation that was more robust than what is peddled among some today. This view was shared by Alexander Campbell, Moses Lard, J. N. Armstrong and a host of other Stoned-Campbells as well as being one of the most prominent views in the history of the church. But it fell on hard times with the rise of the Enlightenment and modernism. At the very least these men (and women) give us reason to pause . . .

Shalom,
Bobby Valentine

Heaven is a Wonderful Place

Heaven is a Wonderful Place

Christians have read about, sang about, and prayed about heaven for nearly two thousand years! Before Christians, the Jews also expended a great deal of mental energy reflecting on the nature of heaven. This is as it should be. It would surprise many an evangelical today that many common conceptions of heaven are quite new and different from historical Christianity. Many of these common ideas are rooted in Enlightenment separation of the spiritual and physical and a Greek Platonism rather than biblical theology.

Perhaps my experience was common enough to be typical. But perhaps not. While I was growing up in church, and on into my adult years, my mental picture of heaven was something less than appealing to me. I grew up with the idea that heaven was going to be super "spiritual." By "spiritual," as I then conceived it, I meant immaterial. Heaven was where our "souls"(but not our body!?) went to. I imagined ghostly wisps of air floating around the universe. In my thinking then heaven was more of a state than a place. Apparently I was not alone in these thoughts because one of the first questions to arise when we did talk of heaven was "Will we know each other in heaven?" There are lots of hidden assumptions in that rather "innocent" question.

However, I now have a radically different conception of the nature of heaven. Now I understand that the doctrine of creation, the kingdom of God, and redemption are all related to a biblical doctrine of heaven as well.

Heaven is not somewhere "out there beyond the blue." Heaven will be the new heavens and the new earth. Scripture plainly teaches that God will -- at the end of this age -- renew this present world. This is clearly the thought of such passages as Isaiah 65.17-15, Isaiah 66.22ff and others in the Hebrew Bible. But this thought is not limited to the First Testament but brought into the New through Paul and Peter, both of whom speak of the new creation. One of the most important texts, theologically speaking, on this point is Romans 8.19ff. Here Paul affirms that creation itself (ktisis) groans and waits for the day of redemption.

Peter, in his short epistle we call 2 Peter, describes the day of the Lord in chapter 3. Yes, this world will be destroyed. But we must not assume the word "destroyed" means nonexistence. Peter compares the final destruction by sea of fire to destruction brought by a sea of water in Noah's flood (3.5ff). The world did not cease to exist in Noah's day . . . but it was "destroyed" (Peter uses the same Greek word in both v. 6 and v.10). Peter in verse 10, after saying the world would be destroyed by fire, says the earth will be "laid bare." Much as it was laid bare after Noah's flood. So, as Mark Black writes in his commentary on 2 Peter, Peter is talking about the purification of the world by a sea of fire. That purification ushers in the "new heavens and new earth" (3.13).

This renewed and purified earth is going to be our eternal heaven. God's kingdom will be here for eternity when the New Jerusalem comes down to earth (cf. Rev. 21.1-4). Heaven is the goal of God's creation. There will be beauty in the plants, the flowers and . . . yes . . . even the animals. Most of all, we will fellowship with our Father around his table. Indeed there is great biblical teaching in that children's song: "heaven is a wonderful place filled with glory and grace - I'm going to see my Savior's face - Heaven is a wonderful place."

Shalom,
Bobby Valentine, i.e. Stoned-Campbell Disciple

Those interested in exploring this understanding of heaven further should consult my recent book, with John Mark Hicks, Kingdom Come: Embracing the Spiritual Legacy of David Lipscomb and James Harding (Leafwood 2006) which is easily obtained through Amazon.Com. The biblical and historical roots of this doctrine in the Stone-Campbell movement are explored in detail in ch. 11.

Meet the Stoned-Campbells

Meet the Stoned-Campbells . . .



This photo was taken at Blue Mound State Park in Wisconsin late Summer 2005. There is Talya, Pamella, Stoned-Campbell, and Rachael. Some have thought I really do look like Joe Cool but I will let you be the judge (see http://stoned-campbelldisciple.blogspot.com/2006/04/what-does-stoned-campbell-disciple.html). Even in Summer we often have to carry a jacket in the land of beer and cheese.

This is my family and I love them.

Shalom,
Bobby Valentine

A Prayer for Our Enemies: Insight from Anselm

A Prayer for Our "Enemies": Insight from Anselm

"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven." (Jesus, Matthew 5.43-44, NRSV)

Anselm (A.D. 1033-1109) was a medieval theologian as well as a spiritual giant. His Prayers and Meditations remains a favorite of mine. One of his prayers is "A Prayer for Enemies" I find particularly moving and relevant. Whether our "enemy" is Iraq, another ethnic minority, a husband, wife, son, daughter or whomever, I think this prayer shares some insight with us. I wanted to share it with my family at Southside. (Anselm wrote this about A.D. 1070 to 1080ish). I realize there is some terminology that we may disagree with in this prayer, however, we should not let that obscure the real spiritual wisdom expressed here.

A Prayer for Enemies
Almighty and tender Lord Jesus Christ
I have asked you to be good to my friends,
and now I bring before you what I desire in my heart for my
enemies.

For you see, O God, the reins and the heart,
you penetrate the secrets of my mind.
If you have sown in the soul of your servant
something that can be offered to you,
you see it there;
nor can it lie hid from you
if I and the enemy of mankind have sown there
that which will have to be consumed by fire

Most gracious God,

do not despise what you have sown,

but cherish and increase it,

perfect and preserve it.

I can begin nothing good without you,

neither can I bring anything to fruition

nor maintain it, without you.

Merciful God, do not judge me

according to that which displeases you in me,

but root up that which you have not sown

and save the soul you have created.

For without you I cannot amend,

because whatever is good in us you have made

and not we ourselves.

My soul would not be able to bear it

if you should judge it accoring to its sins.

You alone, Lord, are mighty;

you alone are merciful;

whatever you make me desire for my enemies,

give it to them and give the same back to me,

and if what I ask for them at any time

is outside the rule of charity,

whether through weakness, ignorance, or malice,

good Lord, do not give it to them

and do not give it back to me.

You who are the true light, lighten their darkness;

you who are the whole truth, correct their errors;

you who are the true life, give life to their souls.

For you have said to your beloved disciple

that he who loves not remains dead.

So I pray, Lord, that you will give them love for you

and love for their neighbor, as far as you ordain that they should have it,

lest they should sin before you against their brother.

Tender Lord Jesus,

let me not be the cause of the death of my brothers,

let me not be to them a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence.

For it is more than enough, Lord

that I should be a scandal to myself,

my sin is sufficient to me.

Your slave begs you for his fellow slaves,

lest because of me they offend

against the kindness of so good and great a Lord.

Let them be reconciled to you and in concord with me,

according to your will and for your own sake.

This is the punishment

that in the secret of my heart

I want to exact

for those who serve with me and those who sin with me --

this is the punishment that I ask

for those who serve with me and hate me -

let us love you and each other

as you will and is expedient for us,

so that we may make amends to the good Lord

for our own and for each other's offences;

so that we may obey with one heart in love one Lord and one Master.

This is the revenge your sinner asks

on all who wish him evil and act against him.

Most merciful Lord

prepare the same punishment for your sinner.

Do this, my good Creator and my merciful Judge,

according to your mercy that cannot be measured.

Forgive me all my debts

as I before you forgive all those indebted to me.

Perhaps this may not be so

because in your sight I have not yet done this perfectly,

but my will is set to do it,

and to that end I am doing all that I can.

So I offer this to you here, Lord,

so that you may perfectly forgive my sins

and deal with me as gently as you can.

Hear me, good and great Lord,

for my soul hungers and longs

to feed upon the experience of your love,

but it cannot fill itself with you;

for my heart can find no name to invoke

that will satisfy my heart.

For no words have here any taste to me

when my love receives from you that which you give.

I have prayed, Lord, as I can,

but I wish I could do more.

Hear me, and answer as you are able,

for you can do all that you will.

I have prayed as a weak man and a sinner;

you who are mighty and merciful hear my prayer.

Fulfill my prayer, Lord, not only for my friends

and the enemies for who I have prayed,

but distribute the healing of your mercy

wherever you know it may help anyone

and not be contrary to your will,

both to the living and the departed.

Hear me always with your favour,

not according as my heart wills or as my mouth asks,

but as you know and will that I ought to wish and ask,

O Saviour of the world,

who with the Father and the Holy Spirit

lives and reigns God throughout all ages.

Amen.

(The Prayers and Meditations of Saint Anselm, With the Proslogion, trans. Benedicta Ward, pp. 216-219). This is a Penguin Classic.

I realize this is a fairly lengthy quote but this is a rich prayer. The idea of the "punishment" to be received is that we "love" one another is, in my view, wonderful. Can you imagine what might happen in our divided churches, our divided communities and broken marriages if we prayed for our enemies like this? A revival might come!

May it be so!

Bobby Valentine

Loving When It Isn't Easy: Reflections on a Parable

LOVING When It isn't Easy: Reflections on a Parable
In Luke 10.25-37 we read one of the most famous short stories of all history - The Parable of the Good Samaritan. The parable was extremely offensive in its original social context but has lost much of its "edge" for us today because we are unfamiliar with the hate that seethed under the surface between two races: the Jews and Samaritans. However, I read something the other day that I think might help bring us back into dialogue with the scandal of this text.

Spencer Perkins (with Chris Rice) in his book More than Equals: Racial Healing for the Sake of the Gospel tells a frightening story that took place in February 1970 when he was a mere 16 years of age. His father, John Perkins (a hero of mine), was a minister and a vocal leader in Mendenhall, MS for Civil Rights. Spencer relates how a van full of children was pulled over by the State Police and the children were all arrested for disturbing the peace (!). The driver for some reason was allowed to go -- she, of course, went straight to John to report the incident. That night, February 7, John and Curry Brown got into their vehicle to drive to the Rankin County Jail in Brandon. But the whole incident was a set-up. The State Police expected John and arrested him and Curry. In the wee hours Spencer's mom received an anonymous phone call: "Have they hung'em yet?"

Spencer, his mom and a rather large group from John's church journeyed to Brandon to find John and Curry. And find them they did, in jail . . . and almost dead! John Perkins had been beaten to within an inch of his life. His eyes were swollen shut. His skull was swollen with knots resulting from the blows of a nightstick. John would never be the same. Spencer writes, "I can still see vividly what my father looked like in that Brandon jail. I suppose a sixteen-year old boy would never be able to erase such a memory . . . he was covered in blood." Spencer then confesses "the hardest memory of all is the humiliation my father suffered."

If I had lived through such an experience, would it be possible for me to love? Loving isn't always easy. In fact is can be quite hard! Spencer found it hard as well. He relates how his father struggled with the meaning of Christianity after his beating by white police. Listen carefully to his words, "I watched with interest as my father struggled through a crises of faith. Frankly, I hoped he would conclude that the gospel and Christianity were for white folks. I hoped that he would finally see the light and agree with Malcolm X that black people could not afford to be Christians because it cost them their dignity. I hoped he would decide that we should have nothing more to do with white people."

But that is not what John Perkins decided. Spencer says at church people would periodically ask if loving everyone included white people. John's response was "loving my neighbor means especially loving white folks." John, to this day, has continued to love white people. Spencer honestly confesses his struggles with resentment but especially loves white people - even when it isn't easy.

Do we as white Christians, black Christians, yellow Christians love everyone? Especially those of another ethnic group? Do whites love blacks? If not, we have never heard, much less understood, what Jesus' parable is really about. We, like the expert in religious doctrine, like to evade the issue by asking "And who is my neighbor?" (Lk 10.29). We evade because loving isn't easy and it never will be. But Jesus, the Samaritan, John Perkins ... and even Spencer show we can love -- even when it is not easy - because we are not just white or black but Christians.

I think we could nuance this further for our contemporary setting and ask not only about black, Hispanic and white . . . but do we love Iraqis?

Shalom,
Bobby Valentine

Resources on John Perkins. You can read a full blown biography by Stephen E. Berk A Time to Heal: John Perkins, Community Development, and Racial Reconciliation (Baker 1997).

Another radical book is He's My Brother: A Black Activist and a Former Klansman Tell Their Stories (Baker 1994). This is simply the amazing story of how God used Perkins to convert Thomas Tarrant III (a jailed for attempted murder Grand Dragon of the KKK).

Online: The John Perkins Foundation
http://www.jmpf.org/index.html

Life in Slow Lane: Quiet & Meditation vs Activity & Busyness, Psalm 1

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.
But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he
meditates day and night.

He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit
in season and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.

Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor
sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.”


Life in the Slow Lane

The first psalm, which serves as sort of a “gateway” into the world of the Psalms, contemplates a life whose worldview is controlled and blessed by the reign of Yahweh. Our “troubadour” invites us into an alternative world, one that is God directed, one in which there is order and stability. On his verbal canvas the “righteous” and the “wicked” are starkly contrasted in terms of “business.” Hustle and bustle are spiritually debilitating and are contrary to the rhythm of grace that our minstrel sings.

The singer bellows “Blessed (happy!) is the person who does not walk in the council of the wicked . . . but his/her delight is in the torah of the Lord, and on his torah he/she meditates day and night.” So far our singer has simply told us what the righteous person does not do. He/she has nothing to do with the wickedness. Instead of the “way of the wicked” the Lord “watches” over the way of the righteous (v.6a). So far a key to happiness, according to our singer, is a cessation of activity. The “Sabbath” principle is operating here. The blessed person has cultivated a core worship principle: plugging into God’s rhythm of grace . . . being still and letting the goodness of God fill his/her being.

By contrast it is the “fool” who is constantly on the “go.” The fool, the unblessed, never stops to smell the roses and it is precisely for this reason that she misses out on God! “Be still and know that I am God . . .”

The only activity (if it can be called an “action”) attributed to this blessed person is the worship discipline of “meditating.” He/she loves to reflect upon the splendor of God’s mighty deeds displayed in the Exodus. The story of God’s generosity to a rebellious people in the wilderness is a favorite. For God’s People today we relish the story of Jesus. We see him walking among the lepers and dining with the prostitutes. We delight in his teachings. We hold six hours one Friday above all else! The blessed lives on the word of God as if it were a delicious meal. . . it is savored not rushed. God’s word, because it reveals the glory of Yahweh and his amazing grace, is handled like expensive wine. We plumb the depths of something beyond our ability to grasp . . . we sit in wonder of it all. Through our meditation we come to the conclusion that Robert
Richardson did years ago, “How truly incomprehensible and beyond comparison is the love of God for man” (Communings in the Sanctuary, p. 21).

Simply basking in the light of that love is what a Christian does! Nothing matters since God takes care of me and my needs, first at the Cross and then every day of life. What a comforting and peaceful thought . . . indeed how “happy” this worship discipline is for the righteous child of God.

The troubadour moves to his central metaphor of righteousness. Those who are caught up in God’s rhythm of grace . . . his order and tempo for our lives are like a mighty tree planted by a stream in an oasis. The world may be cruel and inhospitable over the hot and dusty sand dunes but in this oasis of God’s torah . . . life is secure in the One who blesses. Nourishment is always in plentiful supply, so the tree can be healthy and produce a great crop . . . in spite of the desert just beyond the hill. In this oasis, where the worship discipline of peaceful reliance upon God reigns, no droughts come, for the Lord takes care in the end. We might compare this image with that of

Jeremiah who also sang,

But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
whose confidence is in him.

He will be like a tree planted by the water that
sends out its roots by the stream.

It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are
always green.

It has no worries in a year of drought and
never fails to bear fruit. (17.7-8)

Note that neither Jeremiah, nor our Singer, say that there will never be a drought. We know from life that there will be. But the person oriented to God not only “survives” such an ordeal but even finds the strength from the rhythm of grace to thrive!

How? Because she is “planted” by God in the oasis, he receives freely and gratefully what the Gracious One has done. As Jeremiah says even a year of drought the tree does not fear for its life, because the life giving water flows from God to nourish. It flows from the very source of the righteous meditation . . . God’s loving torah. No wonder our troubadour exhorts us to find quite and rest . . . stillness . . . without it we miss the river of the Spirit that flows from God and gives us life sustaining water.

Life in the Fast Lane

By contrast to the righteous blessed disciple of shalom is the one who lives in the fast lane . . . the wicked. This individual does not even warrant an entire complete sentence in the singer’s song in the Hebrew . . . that is how “insignificant” he really is. “Not so the wicked!” The wicked could never dream of having the stable and productive life of the righteous . . . she could never be a Tree. Life is to filled with activity!

Life is super fast, this person does not have “time” to be a tree. This person’s life is so helter skelter that they are like “chaff that blows away in the wind.” Their lives are spinning out of control, always behind, always more to do, always meeting a deadline from yesterday. They never realize their lives are spent until it is to late: when they find themselves in divorce court, when they find themselves in juvenile court, when they wake up one morning and don’t recognize their son or daughter. Suddenly it becomes very clear . . . the fast lane exacts a heavy toll. We wake up and realize I am existing but not living . . . what a sad day. But also a day with
potential hope.

Our singer calls these folk “chaff.” They are less than useless. Chaff is a “waste” product. Their lives have become a land fill for others refuse, they are slaves and never realize it. This person is a fool, not because God loves them less and their lives are wasted not because of a lack of gifts. They are fools and full of waste precisely because they refuse to let God’s rule, his reign, govern their schedule. They are not functioning as God designed them to.

They are “busy!” So busy they never see the blessed state of peace in the time of quiet, in the time of Sabbath meditation. They are fools because they believe they have endless sources of energy . . . but even a nuclear reactor runs out of fuel.

But the ultimate contrast between the slow lane and the fast lane is that God has an intimate relationship through his Son with us. “Not so the wicked!” The Lord watches over the way of those who slow down to relish his creation. God made it to display his glory but we often fail to see it because we are moving at warp speed.

Closing Reflections

Our singer makes a good case for focusing on the gracious words of the Lord. He makes a plea for us to slow down to the rhythm of grace for it is here that what we are pursuing in the “fast lane” are given to us as gifts of grace: blessedness, shalom, meaning. We can never be happy, secure or “satisfied” by trusting in our works and busy schedules. We must surrender to the gardening of God, he will plant you like a tree firmly rooted in the rhythm of grace and the river of the Spirit.

Hesed & Shalom,
Bobby Valentine