Scapegoating, Ignatian spiritual practice, and the subversive gospels of Passion Sunday and Good Friday
The recent film Kill the Messenger is based on the true story of a reporter named Gary Webb who worked for a mid-sized newspaper during the 1990’s. By chance, Webb received a document revealing that the federal government supported a trafficker who brought large amounts of drugs into the United States. As Webb investigated the matter, he found evidence that the spread of crack cocaine, an epidemic that blighted American cities during the 1980s, was fueled by operatives of the CIA who sold the drug to support the military operations of the Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
Gary Webb broke the news in a series of articles that won him a Pulitzer Prize. But the stories he published made many people uncomfortable. Government agents retaliated against him, and major newspapers tried to discredit his work. Eventually the people closest to him, who had supported his efforts, succumbed to peer pressure and threw Webb under the bus.
As I watched this film, it brought up vivid memories of how an organization to which I belonged for many years treated members who brought up issues that the group found inconvenient. Someone wrote on a Facebook page, “Stop making UBF the scapegoat for your own problems and failures.” The person who wrote that took the accepted definition of a scapegoat and turned it upside down. Scapegoating is not something that a disgruntled individual does to a community; it is how a group treats a wayward member whom it perceives as a threat.
Scapegoating happens when a community senses shame and guilt that rightfully belongs to the group, a pattern of sin for which they are collectively responsible, and decides to take the easy way out. Instead of doing the self-examination and soul-searching that would lead to corporate repentance, they find a person who seems disposable, make that individual the problem, and throw him under the bus. The convenient choice for a scapegoat is a witness, a whistleblower, who sees wrongdoing and begins to call it out. His message would embarrass the powers-that-be, so a decision is made to isolate the messenger, to blame him for everything and drive him out of the camp. As the high priest and his attendants carry out the sentence, the rest of the community stands by and watches. Some heap criticism on the scapegoat. Others keep quiet, trembling in fear that someday they will suffer the same fate. The rest say, “This has nothing to do with me; it’s not my job to get involved.” Once the sacrifice has been made, the group stands in awkward silence. An unspoken pact is made to forget what happened and wipe the incident and the victim from memory. A moment later, life returns to normal, and everyone goes on with business as usual.
Scapegoating happens in every tribe, but it is most troubling and ironic when a group of Christians, those who proclaim that “Christ died for our sins,” gather up their guilt and shame and pile it on a brother or sister or son or daughter. One example that is fresh in my mind is this testimony of a young man who discovered sexual abuse happening in his UBF chapter, along with other unpleasantries such as drug dealing, racist remarks and ethnocentricism. He brought these things to the attention of leaders and pastors, trusting that they would take corrective action. Instead, this young man was criticized, marginalized, accused and blamed; the “loving environment” of this gospel community became so toxic that he had no choice but to leave.
That story hit close to home, because the people who apparently engaged in scapegoating included some whom I have known for decades, for whom I retain a degree of love and respect. People who scapegoat never do it consciously. By definition, they cannot. If they knew that they were doing it, they would be admitting that the blame they placed on the victim was rightfully theirs, and that admission would make the guilt-transfer impossible. Scapegoating requires the group to keep telling itself a story of its own innocence and goodness. The community must maintain a code of silence, never allowing sensitive and embarrassing issues that led to scapegoating to be talked about openly, because once these things are acknowledged, all the guilt that was heaped upon every scapegoat in the past comes rushing back like a torrent, engulfing the community in a flood of shame, and they can no longer maintain the collective lie.
Another heartbreaking story was recently told to me by someone who played in the Chicago UBF orchestra in the 1990’s. During one of their practices, Samuel Lee walked in. The room fell silent and everyone was on edge. Lee walked up to one of the orchestra members, a young man who was probably thought to be rebellious, and Lee repeatedly slapped him and punched him in the head. The young man wanted to leave, but the orchestra conductor urged him not to go. Then Lee told some members of the orchestra to stand up and punch one another. If they didn’t punch hard enough, he urged them to punch harder. The young man who had been assaulted by Lee was thoroughly disgusted and decided to walk out, and as he went, Lee followed him and said, “Thank me. Before you leave, you should thank me.”
My youngest son is now in 8th grade, about the same age of the orchestra members who witnessed these things. I am trying to imagine what it would be like for my son if I sent him to a church activity, believing that it would help him to grow in faith and experience the love of God, and instead he would be sitting in a room filled with terrified teenagers and college students as a pastor walked around the room and verbally and physically abused them. And then to have every authority figure in his life — his parents, the orchestra conductor, and all the adults in his church — praising this pastor and urging him to submit to this guy no matter what he does because he is “God’s servant,” and because everything he did was done with good intentions and love. I shudder to think about the long-lasting psychological damage this would do to a young man. That damage has been done. It is very real. It has not been acknowledged. Many of us experienced it, in varying ways and degrees. But the UBF community refuses to speak of it, except in whispers behind closed doors. A long list of people who had the clarity and courage to identify this behavior as what it was – physical, psychological, and spiritual abuse – was tarred as rebellious, unthankful, unspiritual, a bad influence, full of ulterior motives, etc. and driven out of the camp, so that everyone could go on with business as usual and keep telling the story of how beautiful and glorious the community was.
What troubles me most about these stories is that they are about me. Yes, I have been scapegoated for breaking the code of silence and telling these stories in a public space. The scapegoating I experienced was painful, but not nearly as bad as what others have endured. The troubling part is that, for nearly three decades, I participated in the scapegoating. As brave individuals identified wrongdoing and spoke out, I was one of those who remained silent as the community labeled them as troublemakers, deflecting the corporate shame and guilt and heaping it on those who spoke up. I never stood by anyone who was being blamed or marginalized for simply telling the truth. If I had been in the orchestra that day, I am quite sure that I would have sat there in silence as that young man was slapped and punched. I would have thought that surely Samuel Lee had a reason to treat him that way, and it was not my place to get involved or to question the wisdom of God’s servant. Again and again, I swallowed and repeated tales of UBF-uprightness and scapegoat-sinfulness, not because I was completely unaware of the truth, but because I didn’t want to pay the price and become another scapegoat. And, to be honest, I benefitted a great deal from the indulgent praise that UBF heaped upon itself. Those stories gave me the illusion that I was a better person, better than all those halfhearted nominal Christians, because I belonged a better church than they, one that did not compromise in its message or mission. As one of a select few highly educated white Americans in the ministry, I got tons of attention, plenty of speaking roles, management perks, a place at the head table, invitations to travel. It was a good gig, and I didn’t want to mess it up by getting involved in matters that I reasoned were none of my business. So I stood by as one scapegoat after another was blamed for the corporate sin and driven away from the flock. When I finally decided to stand up and say “No more,” it was not because I suddenly became courageous and was willing to pay the unbearable price. No, it was only after I had the moral support of a loving wife and many godly and loyal friends willing to stand beside me so that, if the rest of UBF would throw me under the bus, it wouldn’t hurt nearly as bad. That is my story, a story of corporate guilt and shame that I deflected and channeled onto one scapegoat after another.
Saint Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556), the founder of the Jesuit order, encouraged his followers to meditate on scripture by using their powers of imagination. Evangelical Christians tend to approach Bible passages quasi-scientifically, as subject to be dissected and examined with tools of reason. In contrast, a well known Ignatian practice is to insert oneself into a story from Scripture, first as an observer, then as a participant. For example, with the birth of Jesus from Luke chapter 2, you could paint a mental picture of the manger, conjuring up its sights, sounds, and smells, and then imagine yourself to be one of the shepherds who has come to see Jesus, trying to think what he thinks and feel what he feels. Any good student of the Bible will tend to do this, but Ignatian spiritual practice takes it to a much higher level.
In the Roman Catholic and Anglican traditions, Palm Sunday is sometimes called Passion Sunday. Worshipers at the Eucharistic liturgy are given palms to recall the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. However, the main passage of Scripture that day is the whole passion narrative from Matthew’s or Mark’s gospel covering the Last Supper, the prayer of Jesus in Gethsemane, his arrest, trial, crucifixion, death and burial. Most Sundays, the gospel reading is done by a single priest or deacon. On Passion Sunday, however, it becomes a dramatic presentation with multiple readers taking the roles the narrator, Jesus, the chief priests, and so on. A few lines are given to the congregation. A similar pattern is followed on Good Friday, and at that solemn service the passion narrative always comes from John. Standing among the worshipers and listening can evoke powerful emotions, but at those few moments when the congregation reads its lines, the experience can be downright disturbing.
As you recall the story of the Passion, where do you insert yourself? If you come from an evangelical background, you might see yourself as an apostle. Maybe you are Peter, who loved Jesus but denied him in a moment of weakness. You probably identify with Barabbas, who deserved to die for his sins, but by an act of divine mercy was set free as the innocent Jesus went to Calvary his place. Standing in the shoes of Barabbas encapsulates what many believe the gospel is all about. When we hear “Christ died for our sins” (1Co 15:3), we think of all the bad things we did as individuals, especially back in the days before we got saved, when we were monstrous men and wayward women, drinking and fornicating and never going to church. We thank God and breathe a sigh of relief that Jesus was nailed to the cross instead of us. Good Friday is when divine wrath was poured out on the Son of God so that we could get off scot-free. Many Christians understand the Passion that way, and I won’t claim that they are entirely wrong. But that is not how the story was told by Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. In the four canonical accounts, the suffering and death of Jesus is never presented as the punishment of an angry God against people who were lustful and lazy, who drank too much, or who denied God’s existence. Last time I checked, Jesus wasn’t crucified by the Association of Atheists, the Federation of Fornicators, or the Society of Scofflaws. Many of those public sinners felt deeply loved and accepted by Jesus. In every account, the proximate cause of the crucifixion was the ire of a religious community upset by what Jesus said and did. Jesus was sent to his death by group that by all accounts was the most devout and Biblically literate society in the world, the very people who saw themselves as the champions of biblical values, who spent endless hours immersed in Scripture, memorizing Scripture, and teaching people to live by Scripture.
The Passion Sunday and Good Friday liturgies do not shy away from this fact. The lines assigned to the congregation are the shouts of the crowd, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”
Am I the only one who finds this strange? After all, the people in church on those occasions are precisely the ones who have gathered in the name of Christ to bear witness to his kingship. They are the ones who have supposedly gotten the gospel right, who have accepted Jesus’ message and who love him the most. And yet, on Passion Sunday and Good Friday, they are made to rise up with one voice, not to defend Jesus’ innocence, but to gather their collective shame and guilt and pile it all on top of him. These so-called people of God are to pat themselves on the back, extolling their own faith and piety, as they send their innocent scapegoat to a horrible and excruciating death.
As a lifelong churchgoer, I find this participation in the Passion liturgy to be poignant, subversive and profoundly unsettling. It probes my soul at a far deeper level than the standard and well trodden “I-am- Barabbas” way of presenting the gospel. I don’t find it hard to place my individual sins on the shoulders of Jesus, especially those sins that I committed in the distant past and which I have long ago disavowed. It is not costly to imagine the cross as solving an equation that balances out the principles of God’s justice and mercy. Those transactions happen somewhere else, in a spiritualized, abstract realm of theory that has little to do with here and now. It is much harder to accept my part in sending Jesus to the cross in the way portrayed in the four gospels, as part of a community that scapegoats and rejects God who is truly present in the flesh. But that is precisely what every community does.
Some of us imagine that if Jesus were to suddenly show up at church, we would wholeheartedly welcome him. If so, then we are not thinking hard, or we are hardly thinking. The Jesus of the gospels is a man who would sooner or later get kicked out of any Christian community. For example, suppose you had never heard the parable of the sheep and goats (Matthew 25). Imagine Jesus showing up and preaching that story from the pulpit. I can imagine someone from The Gospel Coalition writing an article denouncing that story as carrying a dangerous doctrine of salvation by works. Although I am not particularly fond of TGC, I am using them only as an example; I do not want to single them out, because the Jesus presented in the four gospels says and does things that, if we had not already known of them, would deeply offend any Christian of any denomination or tribe. No matter what church you attend, if Jesus Christ were to show up at your church, I have no doubt that eventually he would be scapegoated and kicked out.
In fact, this is not a hypothetical. Jesus Christ has shown up and your church, and Jesus Christ has been kicked out. In the mystery of the Incarnation, Jesus has made his home among us, living right here in this messy, sinful, creaturely world. Whenever we have met a believer in Christ, we have seen the face of Jesus. Whenever we have encountered someone in need, we have seen the face of Jesus. Whenever we have looked upon any man, woman or child, any person alive who is indelibly stamped with his divine image, we have seen the face of Jesus. We have encountered him again and again and failed to recognize him when he walked among us. We treated him badly because he made us uncomfortable, because he failed to show proper respect for our traditions, because he pointed out our hypocrisy, because he cleansed our temples and smashed our idols and disputed the fanciful stories that our group tells about itself. It is hard for me to accept that my Christian community, where I dedicated so many years of my life, believing that we were the ones who had gotten the gospel right, is the same community that actually did stand up and shout, “Crucify!” To admit that would be to accept my culpability for the sins of the community, which I really don’t want to do. It’s so much easier to sit back and profess that Jesus died for my sins, but those horrible things that we did together, those things that I imagined were none of my business, they were not my responsibility, because I personally never abused anyone, and because it wasn’t my place to judge anyone, and besides we are better now and don’t do those things anymore…
An Open Letter to Jesus of Nazareth
Holy Thursday Evening 2015
Dear Jesus:
I am writing to let you know that I can no longer support you or your ministry. For a long time, I listened to you because I believed you were a man of God. Your words about God’s kingdom were music to my ears, balm to my wounds, chicken soup for my soul. I loved the way that you made the Scriptures so exciting, and the way you cared for the sick and served the needy. You were always the best speaker at our Bible conferences. Your messages made us laugh and moved our hearts.
But lately you have gone too far, doing things that a true servant of God would never do. When you criticize the teachers of the law, you sound so bitter. What has gotten into you? Your motives must be wrong, because no one with right motives would ever speak that way. Of course, there is some truth in what you say, but you did not say it correctly; you did not have the right tone of voice, so we cannot listen to you. No church is perfect, and our leaders always admit that they are not perfect. You should respect them for their dedication and sacrifice. But you embarrassed them and criticized them in front of young people who should not hear such things because it might damage their faith. You made yourself a bad influence and that bad influence is spreading. You are so young, just 33 years old, and yet you talk and act like you are so wise. If you know better than us how to do ministry, then you should stop criticizing and talking and do something constructive. Go off on your own and build a chapter and when you have raised many mature disciples you can come back and show us how it’s done and of course we will listen to you then. But your criticism of God’s servants now is beyond the pale. If everyone did as you do, all authority would break down and the next generation will lose their identity and become like worldly people.
For me, the last straw was when you entered the Bible house this week and became violent, turning over our tables and shouting “Get out of here!” Who do you think you are? Does that Bible house belong to you? Did you build it? Of course our ministry is not perfect. But there is no excuse for becoming angry and destructive. Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater! Your angry behavior demonstrates that your heart cannot be right with God. You need to go back to the Bible to solve your spiritual problem so that you will no longer be an angry and rebellious and impatient young man but have true wisdom and joy in your heart.
You have exceeded your position and broken spiritual order. Whatever happens to you, you should accept it as God’s discipline and training. I will pray for you. Please remember all the good things that God’s servants have done and all the people who have been blessed by their ministry and stop tearing down the community that God has built up. Don’t tell lies or spread false rumors about anyone. Give thanks to God always so that no bitter root takes hold in your heart. Many of us still love you and we remember your hard work and service to the Lord.
I seal this letter with a holy kiss.
the truth shall set us free (at least us honest ones; may put the government in jail:)
“Government agents retaliated against him, and major newspapers tried to discredit his work.” (tender incorrigible tikes who must be exposed to the maximum degree so as be pressed to do right:)
“Eventually the people closest to him, who had supported his efforts, succumbed to peer pressure and threw Webb under the bus.” (well-meaning but semi-chicken peers:)
MAY THE LORD GRANT US COURAGE! SUPERDOOBYDOYAH!
“His message would embarrass the powers-that-be, so a decision is made to isolate the messenger, to blame him for everything and drive him out of the camp.” sounds like Jesus or John the Baptiste’:)
“One example that is fresh in my mind is this testimony of a young man who discovered sexual abuse happening in his UBF chapter, along with other unpleasantries such as drug dealing, racist remarks and ethnocentricism. He brought these things to the attention of leaders and pastors, trusting that they would take corrective action. Instead, this young man was criticized, marginalized, accused and blamed; the “loving environment” of this gospel community became so toxic that he had no choice but to leave.” SUCH INCITES HELLFIRE/WRATH OF GOD, I’D HATE TO BE THOSE UNREPENTANT INFIDELS
“Lee repeatedly slapped him and punched him in the head. The young man wanted to leave, but the orchestra conductor urged him not to go.” CONDUCTOR MUST GO! & WE WONDER WHY PEOPLE DEVELOP MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES?
GUESS WE CAN’T ‘DRAW-N-QUARTER’ SOMEBODY ALREADY DEAD, BUT IDEA EXPRESSES THE OUTRAGE:)
“And then to have every authority figure in his life — his parents, the orchestra conductor, and all the adults in his church — praising this pastor and urging him to submit to this guy no matter what he does because he is “God’s servant,”
GOD ALONE SHALL EVER BE PRAISED EVER AGAIN! FOR HE ALONE IS EVER WORTHY AT ALL THRUOUT HISTORY. PRAISECHRISTALONEDOOYAH!!!!!!!!!!!
“How can we worship a God who was abused if we are unwilling to reach out to the abused among us?”
http://boz.religionnews.com/2015/04/02/god-victim-child-abuse-survivor-taught-good-friday/
“In every account, the proximate cause of the crucifixion was the ire of a community that was upset by what Jesus said and did. Jesus was sent to his death by group that by all accounts was the most dedicated and religiously observant society in the world, the very people who saw themselves as the champions of biblical values, who spent endless hours studying the Bible and teaching people to live according to its teachings.”
PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE W/OUT PRACTICE IS LIKE ATHENIANS WERE IN GREECE, LIKE SAUL (PAUL) BECOMING PRAISED PHARISEE BUT PERSECUTING BELIEVERS OF THE WAY UNTIL HIS HIGH HORSE ‘ACCIDENT’ ON WAY TO DAMASCUS..STUDY IS NOT ONLY USELESS BUT DESTRUCTIVE W/OUT APPLICATION.
“Of course, there is some truth in what you say, but you did not say it correctly; you did not have the right tone of voice, so we cannot listen to you.” TOOBADADOOYAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MAY ONLY HARSH/STRONG TONES EXUDE FROM THUTHFUL VOICES UNTIL DEAF EARS HAVE UNSTOPPED:))))))))))))))))))
Joe, Thanks so much for your heart felt reflection, that I can fully resonate with.
Recently, a close friend told me that no one among the upper echelons of UBF will ever listen to you or respect you because you have NO HONOR and “NO FACE.”
At first this comment stung rather hard. I thought, “what, after knowing me for over 3 decades, and after all that I have done for ubf for 35 years and they regard me as having no honor and no face!”
Of course I’m not Jesus, but perhaps that is what they might also say of Christ. But then again, Jesus is perfect and sinless and Jesus would never do or say the dishonorable things that I have said and done, like sharing publicly on the Internet!
Ben, I believe your last line must be tongue in cheek. How would anyone know that Jesus wouldn’t post an article on UBFriends that makes people angry? He did so many things that made the religious leaders lose face. The line “Jesus would never do that” doesn’t resonate with me much anymore because he did things that would surprise and upset anyone. Jesus was routinely called a sinner because his words and actions often looked sinful and were at odds with accepted biblical teachings. If Jesus walked among us today I have no doubt that we would see sin in him and project sin onto him.
http://kidshealth.org/kid/talk/come_from/headers_92661/Ktongue_in_cheek.gif
“You have exceeded your position and broken spiritual order.”
(WHERE IN THE HELL, OOPS-HEAVEN, DID THAT COME FROM?:)
“Whatever happens to you, you should accept it as God’s discipline and training.” I NOW PROCLAIM THIS ‘UP’ TO ALL ‘ELITE’ RELIGIO/EDUCATIO/POLITICO/ETCETERO PLAYERS AS MY VOICE EXUDES ONLY INCREASING TRUTH FOR PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE TO PRESS FOR RIGHT!
I did not personally witness it, but I vaguely remember hearing the account of what Lee did to the orchestra member. It was obvious that Lee was “out to train him” out of his “shepherd’s heart.” But unfortunately, in those days, I was fully complicit by simply trusting that God’s servant knew what he was doing, that he loved him “spiritually,” that he knew the him better than others, and that somehow the young man “needed” such discipline.
At that time, I believe that even his own parents did not see anything wrong with how their own son was treated, believing that Lee had the best of intentions.
Several years ago, when I came across the plethora of accounts published on the internet (many have been removed?? anyhow) and discussed this with “my shepherd,” I did not say much, saying to myself, either these events (various notorious accounts of SL) did not happen, or something happened and it was misreported and/or misremembered. Yet at the time I made a promise before God that if they were true, I could not tolerate anything like this. The point has come now that too many events which were minimized really did happen, and it has been covered up too much, much like Joe’s discussion of the scapegoat.
It is reasonable and essential for any “church” claiming the crucified Jesus as their Lord and King to learn how to acknowledge abuse of power and deal with it in reasonable ways.
I have so much respect for the Mars Hill church council and members–it was like a bee losing its sting and dying to “out” the problems with Mark Driscoll. No reward in this earth or in the house of idolatry, but God will see their courage and sacrifice for right and justice, and will bless them.
I practice the Ignatius examen. I find it helpful.
A couple of thoughts on the examen:
1. St. Ignatius did not invent it but he did kind of perfect it. The examen was something he thought was essential for growing the spiritual life.
2. Because the examen is supposed to be a reflection or examination of one’s day, he suggested doing it twice: once around noon and the other right before bed. Most people do it once a day at the end of the day.
3. Either way works whether individual or a group. Most people do it individually.
4. The examen might begin with a short bible verse to help one to recollect the day. However, the content of the prayer is God’s work over the course of time. Reading and praying over scripture is a different type of prayer.
Thanks Forests. I admit that I don’t practice the examen, although it would be helpful. But I am growing to love the Sunday liturgy that immerses me each week in the story of Jesus, and especially this week, where I am invited to walk alongside Jesus through his passion, death and resurrection. For some reason, I now find this presentation of the gospel more powerful than a hundred evangelistic messages about how Jesus took the punishment for my sins and therefore I must put my faith in him and follow him. I’m weary of preachers telling me about how I theoretically need to go to Jesus; now I long to be in a community that approaches Jesus to stand in his presence in real time.
Yesterday I was tempted to post an article about my favorite saint of all, St. Pugnacious. He was a proponent of Pugnatian spiritual exercise where you meditate on the person that you despise most and imagine yourself beating him up. He was an associate of St Pusillanimous who, though he was beaten daily by Pugnatius, always remained his closest friend. The feast of St. Pusillanimous and Pugnatius falls on April 1.
I just realized that I am a direct descendant of St. Pugnacious, who loves celebrating the feast of Pugnacious not yearly but daily!
This guy?
http://retropets.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/Preview2/images/P-116.jpg
That’s him. Enough OCD chitchats for now.
Thank you for this. One statement in particular stood out to me:
“No, it was only after I had the moral support of a loving wife and many godly and loyal friends willing to stand beside me so that, if the rest of UBF would throw me under the bus, it wouldn’t hurt nearly as bad.”
I agree with this. No one can speak up until they are supported. And one of Satan’s deception is to alienate us from others; he divides and conquers. I cannot speak up against injustice unless I have a support system. And thanks for sharing the article about worshiping the God who was abused. It speaks so much about God who did not save himself. He knows what abuse is and he is not apathetic to it. Jesus is so counter cultural.
Thanks MJ. I hope my article helps as you observe Good Friday by putting a different spin on the saying that “Christ died for our sins.” Tomorrow I want to stand up with my fellow Christians, not to identify myself as one the good people who love Jesus and got Jesus right, but as the one of those who sent Jesus to his death, calling him a bad man and saying “Let his blood be on us and our children.” It makes no sense for Christians to present ourselves as the good guys in the Passion story or in the world, because in so many ways we have been and continue to be on the side of those who scapegoat Jesus. We channel our sinful ideas and tendencies and project them onto others, and in doing so, we heap our sins onto Jesus, and not in a good way. The proper response for me on Good Friday when I see the cross is to shut my mouth and fall down in silent worship.
I guess scapegoating and gatekeepers are everywhere: http://www.keylife.org/articles/jesus-let-loose-steves-letter-april-2015
“In fact, this is not a hypothetical. Jesus Christ has shown up and your church, and Jesus Christ has been kicked out. In the mystery of the Incarnation, Jesus has made his home among us, living right here in this messy, sinful, creaturely world.”
I struggle to find any words to respond because what you say in this entire article reflects so deeply with my own experience and understanding. Amen.
It is finished, and so am I.
It. Is. Finished.
“I seal this letter with a holy kiss.”
Brilliance. Pure brilliance. Will anyone read this and pay attention?
MY MSG TO SAE/OTHER NATIONAL clubs as well as religios/politicos:
the time has come, students/parents shall take campuses back from privileged international profiteers/puppiteers: we shall return to academics (the decades long lapse into corrupting/damaging/killing the young for profit has ended; the gangster control over leadership/membership of clubs-thus campuses-has ended.
“The True Gentleman is the man whose conduct proceeds from good will and an acute sense of propriety, and whose self-control is equal to all emergencies; who does not make the poor man conscious of his poverty, the obscure man of his obscurity, or any man of his inferiority or deformity; who is himself humbled if necessity compels him to humble another; who does not flatter wealth, cringe before power, or boast of his own possessions or achievements; who speaks with frankness but always with sincerity and sympathy; whose deed follows his word; who thinks of the rights and feelings of others, rather than his own; and who appears well in any company, a man with whom honor is sacred and virtue safe.” – John Walter Wayland
REAL GENTLE(WO)MAN DO NOT NEED WEALTH OR POWER OR BOASTING TO SPEAK FRANKLY/EMPATHETICALLY, ACT WITH INTEGRITY, DEFEND OTHER’S RIGHTS/CONCERNS, BEHAVE DECENTLY WHEREVER (HONOR IS ONLY SACRED WHEN RIGHT; VIRTUE IS ONLY SAFE WHEN GOOD).
Joe, I really appreciate your approach to the events of Good Friday.
It was very much scapegoating–the High Priest Caiaphas even said it would be better for Jesus to die for the sake of the nation.
The “Bible – A.D.” series that started on Easter, while seeking the elements of Game of Thrones~esque intrigue–did highlight Pilate and Caiaphas’s role, and I’m glad they did. As you have related, they wanted to cast him out in order to solve all their problems.
I will likely use some of the insights in this posting in my “Easter” “Crucifixion” message this Saturday during our Spring Conference.
Of course, you didn’t incite me to this on your own : ) I was deeply convicted that no one should come away from the message of the cross feeling very good about themselves, except to know that God has had mercy in spite of all our sins.
The cross doesn’t relieve us of responsibility–it enables us to take responsibility trusting in the love of God.
This doesn’t mean that if we are born again we do not worry about sins–individual or corporate–but that we have the courage to challenge the strongholds in our hearts, our families, our communities, by faith in God’s truth and love, and starting with repentance.
I too long for an “authentic” Easter experience instead of our own version (spring conference, new people share life testimony to introduce themselves, growing people serve messages, one leader keeps it all kosher with prayer topics . . .). I have had some wonderful times in these conferences yet the immensity of the gospel itself seems quite lost.
Of course, you can count on a cheapened version of the easter message/experience when all members involved are full time students/full time employees in addition to making up all kinds of shortcomings in ministry work.
Great article and to the point as always.
Joe, I finally read this great link, which I recommend everyone reads if you haven’t (http://boz.religionnews.com/2015/04/02/god-victim-child-abuse-survivor-taught-good-friday/). Anyone who has been abused (including in church) can relate to it. I used to think (or was made to believe) that anyone who accused UBF of anything is “Satan” and regarded it as “Satan’s attack.”
So instead of reaching out to the abused, I regarded the abused as abusing UBF by sharing their own stories of spiritual abuse by their respective “shepherds.” I am truly sorry that I did this for over two decades. I am sorry that “ubf” has done this corporately for ?five? decades.
I am especially sorry for those who continue to do so and who absolutely refuses to listen to or to address these real issues of spiritual abuse, both subtle and blatant, raised on this website (which is really tame and mild compared to resqueubf and the long detailed elaborate accounts found on other websites).
It is beyond sad and beyond being Christian when the one abused is accused by the abuser for abusing them whenever they share their own painful stories of being abused!
#wowsers!
“If Christ himself came to Geneva, he would be crucified. For Geneva is not a place of Christian liberty. It is ruled by a new pope [John Calvin], but one who burns men alive while the pope at Rome strangles them first.”
Read more: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/frankviola/shockingbeliefsofjohncalvin/#ixzz3XDlgzVSh
David, that article is a great example of why we all of us should call ourselves bible learners, and not many should claim to be bible teachers.
This is a great quote:
“[my purpose is] to show that even the most influential Christians who have changed the lives of countless people for good — Calvin being one of them — believed things that were surprising, shocking, and even outrageous.
So tread carefully the next time you come across another follower Jesus who doesn’t believe just like you do on every doctrinal point.
And when you’re tempted to burn them over a slow spit because of their “bad theology,” remember John Calvin — the man whom Charles Spurgeon said had a near flawless theology — and consider some of the other stuff the great Reformer believed.”
This is excellent advice in regard to individual Christians we encounter. When we meet “Calvin” the man, we should indeed extend grace. When encounter “Calvin” the system, or other systems of thought and various ideological systems, the advice doesn’t hold together very well. Often we must work to deconstruct systematic ideologies that enslave or harm or hinder the advancement of the kingdom of God.