Blogging Holy Week, III

In my last post I made the claim that God never desired blood sacrifice.  And, if God never wanted sacrifice, then we need to rethink the story we tell about Jesus and the cross.

Now, I don't mean to say that there is nothing redemptive about the cross.  To the contrary, I believe that the cross of Jesus was indeed redemptive.  I do think that Jesus took upon himself the sins of the world.  I also happen to believe that Martin Luther King, Jr, bore the weight of the great sin of the South.  Suffering and death can be (but are not always) redemptive.  But I just don't think God demands blood.  Suffering and death are not redemptive because God requires them to balance the books, to erase a debt.

I do think, however, that God calls us toward sacrifice - and particularly sacrifice of ourselves.  The command to love the neighbor as the self is a call to sacrifice ourselves on behalf of our neighbor.

The confusion I see is where the emphasis is placed.  The emphasis is usually placed on the act of sacrifice, whereas I want to emphasize the act of love that ends in sacrifice.  The emphasis is usually placed on offering to God a sacrifice to pay back a debt caused by sin, whereas I want to emphasize the bearing the burden of another's sin to help bring wholeness into the world.  The emphasis is usually placed solely on the person of Jesus and an event that happened two millennia ago, whereas I want to emphasize our responsibility in a process that is ongoing so long as wholeness is not established.

So, on this so-called "Good" Friday, the challenge is for us to accept responsibility for our role in bringing peace and wholeness into the world.  Just because Jesus died on a cross does not mean that there is nothing left to be done.

And that is why, when I lead in the Eucharist (or Lord's Supper, or Communion), I adapt the traditional wording to the following:

This is the body of Christ, broken for us.  Take and eat.

May we also offer our bodies out of love for our neighbors.

This is the blood of Christ, spilled for us.  Take and drink. 

May we also spill our blood out of love for our neighbors.

Amen.

Blogging Holy Week, II

In my last post I expressed how the notion of God demanding blood sacrifice, though central to the traditional Easter story, bothers me.

Why is it that the Jews evolved and grew to understand that God does not thirst for blood, while Christians still have yet to reach such an epiphany?  Even in the Old Testament there were prophets like Micah and Jeremiah speaking out against the practice.  But not so with Christians.

Now, if you go to church and ask someone if they believe in blood sacrifice, they'll probably look at you like you're from Mars.  And then they'll tell you they that, of course, sacrifice is wrong.  If you push the matter, they might tell you that Jesus ended the need for sacrifice.

However, what our churches fail to realize is that the whole Easter story, as it is generally told, is predicated on the idea that blood sacrifice was needed in the first place.  You see, it wouldn't make sense for Jesus to be the end of sacrifice if there was never a need to sacrifice to begin with.

And that's what I believe, that God never demanded blood.

But, if God never desired blood sacrifice, then our understanding of Jesus needs some adjustment.  If God doesn't ask for blood, then Jesus is no longer the perfect sacrifice that makes sacrifice unnecessary.  So what do we make of Jesus and his death?

We'll continue to explore this issue over we move through Holy Week.

Blogging Holy Week

It's Palm Sunday, the day the Jesus was welcomed into the city of Jerusalem.  As depicted in scripture, it's a grand and glorious entry, though a bit comical and ironic.

In less than a week, however, the same people who extended welcome would turn into a lynch mob.  Now, I am against killing (anti-war, anti-death penalty, and I'd even go vegetarian if I could stomach veggies), but I think the crowd gets a bad rap.  You see, they had been taught to expect a certain kind of Messiah, one who would overthrow their oppressors.  And what great timing, it being Passover, the time set aside to celebrate when Pharaoh and Egypt were overthrown.

So the stage was set.  The long-awaited Messiah marches on the holy city to overthrow the new Pharaoh and the new Egypt just like what happened in the Passover story being celebrated.  At long last they would be free again, thanks to Jesus, the anointed one.

But, no.  Instead of overthrowing the Empire, he attacked the vendors and money changers in the Temple!  Instead of riding the momentum and growing support of the people, he turns on his followers.  All their hopes and dreams were bound up in this man from Nazareth, but he would disappoint them in much the same way as the ones before him.  They thought he was different.  They were wrong.

And so I understand their frustration, their anger.  I don't agree, but I see where they're coming from.  It's the traditional portrayal of God in the story that bothers me.

According to parts of the Old Testament (but, contrary to many, not all of the OT!) and parts of the New (e.g., the book of Hebrews), God demands a blood sacrifice to atone for sin.  And, says this interpretation, Jesus himself is the ultimate sacrifice.  After he dies on the cross for our sins, God is satisfied.

I may be heretical (what else is new?), but I'm not okay with a God who demands blood.  Sin is a real problem and I'm fine with Jesus offering himself on behalf of all humanity.  But I have a problem with a blood-thirsty God.

We'll work on a solution moving forward.

What is Smart Growth in Religion?

In the world of urban planning and development, Smart Growth is all the rage--and for good reason.  But what is the equivalent with regard to religious communities?

I've been thinking about growth because, over the course of this Lenten season, First Baptist Memphis has been studying Unbinding the Gospel: Real Life Evangelism by Martha Grace Reese.  It's a book about church growth in mainline congregations.  Mainline, for those who are  unfamiliar with the term, is a term for Disciples, Episcopals, Lutherans, Methodists, Presebyterians, UCCs, and some Baptists.  They are usually moderate to liberal and have been leaders in the fight for equality in our nation.

Mainline churches, despite their key role in American history, have suffered a drastic decline in numbers over the past fifty years. Yet, there are some, though certainly a minority, who are experiencing growth.  Funded by a Lilly Grant, Reese studied what made those churches different and our church has been trying to learn from her findings.

Sure, our church could use a few more active members, but the recent focus on growth (and what our pastor calls the e-word: evangelism) has made me somewhat uncomfortable.  Where do you read of Jesus telling us to grow in numbers?  I don't recall reading that in my Bible, but I know there is a lot in there about loving the neighbor and being faithful to your God.

So, when Carol asked if I could lead the Connect4 class this past week for them, I knew what I wanted to discuss.  I wanted to know if others felt the same way.  I wanted to know if we were placing growth ahead of faithfulness.  I wanted to know what, according to our class, should be the relationship between faithfulness and growth.  I wanted to know what was more important to us, our particular church or God's Kingdom.

I was glad to discover that faithfulness to God and the Kingdom is key for our class, although we feel that this particular congregation helps us be more faithful than we would be otherwise.  And, because First Baptist helps facilitate our love of God and neighbor, we believe that it can likewise help others.  So we want to share our church with our community.

We don't believe that growth is necessarily good, but are interested in finding the equivalent to Smart Growth for churches.  And, as one person remarked, we are certainly interested in saving the corner of Poplar and E Parkway from becoming another Walgreens!  But, most of all, we know that our location in the heart of Midtown provides us with opportunities for and partners with whom to be faithful.

Growth is sometimes good and sometimes bad, but it matters not if you are not faithful.  Growth is not difficult to achieve, but faithfulness demands work and persistence.

So let us be more and more and more faithful.  Let us love and love and love some more.  Let us be the hands and feet of our God in the heart of Midtown Memphis (and beyond).  Our neighbors are waiting, waiting to be loved and welcomed and embraced.  In fact, our neighbors are already loving and welcoming and embracing.  Let's partner with them and, with the love of God, provide a larger framework for such love.

Preparing for Lent

Carol asked if I would send this link of 15 ways to fast during Lent.  We are just over a day away from Ash Wednesday, so start thinking now about if and how you would like to fast during these next 40 days.


If you can't (or aren't interested in) abstaining from food, try going without your cell phone or computer or even just Facebook...for a day, a weekend, all of Lent.  Try the discipline of solitude, as we discussed on Sunday, fasting from the presence of others.  You may only be able to wake up a little earlier or stay up a little later than your family.  What about a day trip?  Or maybe you can do a weekend retreat.  Whatever works.

Just remember: the purpose of fasting is not to prove that you can do without, but to focus more on God.

And fasting or doing without is not the only way to "celebrate" the season of Lent.  It is also a tradition of many Christians to take up a discipline during these 40 days.  So you may also want to pick one of the disciplines in Richard Foster's Celebration of Discipline.

We hope to see you on Wednesday at the First Baptist Church of Memphis, Tennessee, as "our Lenten journey starts with ashes" (to quote a hymn co-written by our minister of music and former pastor).

And don't miss our Taize service this Sunday during Connect4.  Maria will lead what promises to be a very meaningful experience.  For a glimpse of what's in store, listen to these free samples

 from the Taize community in France.