Jesus and His No-Borders World ... and the Children

Jesus and Paul demolished forever the reliance upon borders to define God's People.

One God, one world, and we're all sisters and brothers, one to another.

Let the little children come unto me.

This is not some spiritual thin soup, but realty - how many times Jesus watched adults push children away.

For me, I say, LET THEM COME ...

I bet our brightest people and most compassionate of leaders will find solutions.

I'm willing to say that if we can fly to the moon and mount trillion dollar wars, we can find ways and means of providing for these children and their families, and maybe doing something constructive for the economies of Central and South America that our crazy trade-practices have ruined.

As for "God's Christian People," here is a place for us to make our Christian voice heard - defending borders is the talk of war and violence. In Jesus' world, there are no borders - when some would have gone around Samaria, Jesus went through it, and met the woman at the well.

His bold hometown sermon talks about God's prophet's crossing borders for widows and healing the foreigner. No wonder the hometown folks, who thought he was pretty cool, suddenly turned on him when he dismissed their beautiful boundaries.

In a world where borders were everything, Jesus makes it clear: he has no borders, nor should there be any for those who follow him. For God so loved the world ...

Having "Fun" with an Evangelical

If you wanna see an evangelical turn into a pretzel, quote, first of all, what Jesus said to Nicodemus: "You must be born again" (not all translations put it this way, but for evangelicals, this is the touchstone verse of the Bible).


They nod their heads in agreement - this is it. This is the truth. This is the heart and soul of the Christian life.

To be taken at face-value. Literally ... without question. No ifs, ands or buts - this is the gospel, this is the warning, this is the chance, the command, the opportunity, God gives to all.

Okay ...

Now quote what Jesus said to the rich young man: "Sell everything you have and give it to the poor" as a condition for following Jesus.

And out comes the hermeneutical bag, and every linguistic tool that can be mustered to make it clear that Jesus is only speaking spiritually, metaphorically, NOT LITERALLY.

Oh well ...

Hey, we all have our interpretive tricks, but what's needed is honesty in what we're doing. Yes, we all read the Bible selectively, through our own personal filters of culture and circumstance. But let's be honest with one another and simply say, "This is how I see it," or maybe, "This is how the community of faith to which I belong sees it."

Our Presbyterian History - a Bumpy Ride!

Biloxi, Mississippi, 1984, I attended General Assembly with a great deal of hope - the two major branches of American Presbyterianism had only recently merged, and one of the tasks before the Biloxi GA was to settle upon a new headquarters for the reunited church.

As well as all the other tasks before the church, including a new moderator.

As it turned out, I “lost” on three votes:

My choice for moderator was defeated.

My choice for headquarters was defeated.

And one other issue, that seemed important at the time, beyond my recall these days, was defeated.

I went home chuckling, sort of, thinking of baseball, with a miniature Louisville Slugger in my tote bag, one of the promo items used to persuade GA to move to Louisville, rather than KC (which had my vote, and to this day, I think would have been the better choice).

There was no doubt in my mind that I had “lost” and so had the church, on this one, as I saw it. The moderator? O well, that would be of lesser consequence (I don’t even recall who who won or the candidate I backed), and the other major issue, not a clue, now lost amid a welter of ups and downs for GA.

And of ups and downs, plenty over the years - though what some label as “up,” is likely a “down” for others, and so forth.

Or, call it a see-saw struggle, or even battle, as first the church is pulled (by God? by the Devil?) in one direction, and then the other.

Charles Augustus Briggs

Stop by 1892, the Presbytery of New York City, as it charged Charles Augustus Briggs of Union Seminary with heresy; the case was appealed to GA where Briggs was suspended from ministry in 1893. As a result of this decision, Union Seminary withdrew from the Presbyterian Church to become independent. 

A generation or so later, another epic struggle resulted in Princeton professor, John Gresham Machen, leaving Princeton (1923) when the GA appointed two Auburn Declaration signatories as seminary trustees; Machen joined forces with others to organize Westminster Seminary. 

John Gresham Machen

Later, in 1933, he and others formed the Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions, which was then declared “unconstitutional” by the next GA - the ministers involved were given an ultimatum to cease, and when they refused, were suspended. Ultimately, Machen withdrew from the Presbyterian Church to form the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.

The Briggs and Machen periods are but two examples of the epic struggles in which we Presbyterians have engaged (not to mention the Grandaddy of them all, the split of the church into northern and southern factions prior to the Civil War, and before that, Old School-New School and New Light-Old Light). 

If one wants to push back even further into church history, all the way to the Jerusalem Council and the split between Paul and Barnabas, so much is at stake, and we’re so frail in mind and heart.

None of these were easy, all resulted in tears and anger, and fractured the church.

So, now with Marriage Equality and the decisions of GA. 

Some feel the joy of victory.

Others feel the sorrow of loss.

With all the subsequent fallout …

I have no immediate answer, but our history has always given me some hope - we have gone through terrible storms, we have seen the church shattered, splintered; we have fought tooth and claw for the spirit of the church. 

But the church goes on, sometimes limping (as Calvin suggested for how we go through life), yet the church goes on.

Never as it was, and in those periods of great transition, no one could foresee what it would be like.

And these days, as always, the world changes, too … everything around us, values and modes of communication, music and art and literature. And along with all of this, a fading Christendom. What the church will be like in fifty years, or a hundred, who can say?

For me, when I’ve been down for the sake of the church, I’ve found solace in this:

We limp on, having gone through the storm, until the next one hits. Jesus continues to build his church, and we continue, mostly in fractured ways, to love one another as he loves us. 

Voices of hope are lifted up in the wilderness, justice is done, lives are transformed by the gospel, churches are planted, folks get ordained, children go to summer camps and enjoy mission trips, people pray and study their Bibles, and we sing the great hymns of faith, sometimes thrilled by all of it, seeing beyond seeing, the hand of mercy and the glory of God!

Some Folks Just Disappear

Google's a remarkable device ... put in a name, city, whatever.
And a host of suggestions appear.
Often just right.

But, sometimes ...
No luck.
It seems that some folks.

Just disappear.
Zip, nada, nothing.
Maybe a misspelling?

Try a few alternatives.
Nope.
Not that.

Hmmm.
What happened?
Where?

It was a long time ago we knew one another.
Seminary.
A visit in our home, and later a camping trip, early 70s.

Not so long ago if measured in dinosaur time.
But for us us.
Human time.

Why didn't we stay in touch?
That's always the question.
Time munches on.

Pretty much eating us all up.
And then, wipes its mouth.
Burps.

And we're done.
So it goes.
Wonder where he went!

Sometimes We Get Along, Sometimes Not

It doesn't take long in the #PCUSA to see what a diverse group we are. Much of the time, we manage to get along; some of the time, we don't.

Diversity pushes and pulls us, and sometimes pushes or pulls us beyond where we're comfortable ... and sometimes challenges us to rethink, to reconsider, review those things we deem "essentials."

We love to quote authorities, and, of course, THE Authority, Scripture, but even that seems to fail us finally, leaving us without resolve, and all those pesky Bible verses that refuse to fit into our otherwise neat and tidy systems.

If we take sin seriously (as Presbyterians, we have too!), then we're stuck with a curious kind of humility toward one another, and toward those views that either challenge us or strike us as even heretical.

We'd all like to claim that "our system, our version of things, our take on God and the Gospel, are bigger, brighter and better" than all the other competing versions.

But history refuses us such a claim.

All we can do, and humbly do, is put forth our view of things, and try to apply the best tools of scholarship and science, engaging in steady prayer and the practices of humility (often saying, "I don't know" or "I'm not sure"), bringing to bear upon our ideas the best of Christian scholarship, the vast and often contradictory traditions of the church, including hymnody, social justice practices over the centuries and the day-to-day learning from one another - in other words, all that God provides us in and through the church and the larger world.

In reality, we're mostly on target, and sometimes not.

Who can contain the whole counsel of God in any system of thought?

Who dares to say they comprehend the will and character and purpose of God throughout the ages?

If any of us muster the "telling Bible verse," someone else offers another verse.

So we serve one another best of all when we raise critical questions for one another, and provide ample room and time for one another to express his or her views.

If we come to the #PCUSA or to a particular congregation to have all of our a priori notions confirmed, we may well find a congregation that suits us perfectly, but not likely the entire denomination ... which is why some are so eager for schism - as if the balkanization of the church could lead to greater purity of thought. It never does, and never will. To seek purity at the expense of fellowship is to sacrifice the very purity so eagerly sought.

Anyway, much of the discussion here is thoughtful and kind ... God be praised.

Perhaps we might take Jesus at his word in John: "I am the way, the truth and the life" ... not Calvin or Knox or Kuyper, not the Book of Confessions or the Book of Order, neither Aquinas nor Barth, certainly not Jerry Falwell (God rest his soul) or James Dobson, nor Rob Bell or Max Lucado. But from all of them, we learn about Jesus, yet Jesus does us the favor of "walking through our midst," lest we crown him(John 6.15) or try to kill him (Luke 4.29).

Our systems are all approximations ... and we humbly bow down before the LORD of all ... honoring the Holy Spirit in each and every believer who utters the name of Jesus in faith, hope and love, fragmented as every heart is, with but a fragmentary grasp of Jesus, whose grasp upon us is sure and certain, unto the end of the age, and then some.

Notes for March 23 Seekers Class, First Congregational Church of Los Angeles

Preparing for the Passion - Lent and the Apostle Paul

Seekers Class, March 23, 20014 - Rev. Ryan Steitz, facilitator

Notes prepared by Rev. Tom Eggebeen.

First Congregational Church of Los Angeles

Climbed to the roof of my home to adjust the TV antenna …

Fixed my 8-track tape deck …

Recorded a TV show on my VCR …

Bought a new 33 ⅓ record album featuring Bing Crosby …

Took my car in to repair the floorboard dimmer switch …

Transitions …

Share transitions we’ve made …

Paul’s transition: began on the Damascus Road … it took time to work it out, and he’s still working it out in his correspondence … and we are, too (but that’s for later).

Paul … 

From specific location (the land promised to Abraham) to the world … the larger promise of God to Abraham … from a physical center in Jerusalem, the Temple, to a spiritual center en Christo … in Christ … (this is what the Book of Hebrews is all about) … remember: Greek Christos means Messiah, Anointed One.

From practices to ideas …

From circumcision, dietary laws, social restrictions and Temple

To …

Great theological ideas of Judaism: monotheism, election, eschatology.

Reworking Jewish beliefs about God around Messiah and Spirit … 

From survival to mission … from inward to outward bound ...

Crossing all kinds of boundaries … building bridges ...

Daring in his thought and work … 

Willing to endure hardship (2 Corinthians 11.22ff) ...

Keep in mind … whenever we read Paul, read something from the Gospels, too … when we’re well-anchored in the Gospels, then we can read Paul with success, without getting trapped in an all-too-common cul-de-sac, taking our eyes off of Jesus and trying to figure out what Paul meant - mostly leading to dogmatism and bitter debates. Churches divide and families splinter, not on what Jesus said, but what they think Paul said.

We read Paul best when we read Paul in the light of Jesus and Gospels … 

Know the Gospels through and through … when we have a sense of Jesus and his world … and why Rome and the Jerusalem establishment decided to forgo their differences and collude with one another to arrest Jesus, try him and publicly execute him … then we make our move to Paul … and why Paul was willing to throw his life into the ring, to proclaim that Jesus is, indeed, the Messiah who proclaims the original promise of God, to make all things new, to reconcile the world to God and the peoples to one another … and how Paul’s proclamation changed the world as its spread throughout the Mediterranean world, and challenged the powers-that-be - both religious and political - ultimately costing Paul his life.

With that, to keep in mind: the biggest questions we can frame? The bigger the question, the more fun we have with Jesus and Paul … and I mean fun, as in delight, discovery, joy and wonderment. 

The Gospel is, after all, Good News … as Paul says in Romans 5.1 - We have peace with God!

Herein is God’s purpose - that humankind might have peace with God, and flowing from this divine-human reconciliation, peace with one another. For this Jesus came to be one with us, as like us, and to proclaim the love and will of God … and of this, crucial pieces: the Beatitudes and Jesus and the Temple … grasp these two pieces of Jesus, and we have a good hold on him, and how all of this came to be worked out for Paul.

Let’s read some of Paul’s correspondence … Romans 4.1-5 (6-12), 13-17

Romans 5.1-11; 12-19 (20-21) … key question: What does “faith” mean here?

The Earth is 6000 Years Old!

The earth is 6000 years old!

That’s what I’m told by learned men of much faith and the women who love them, but the women are pretty busy having babies, so they mostly just nod their heads, in a distracted, impatient, helpless, sort of way, and then rush off to do more diapers and wipe runny noses, praising the LORD as they dash down the hallway, fixing their hair on the way and planning the next dinner when the preacher comes over for a visit, a strategy meeting, to coordinate the culture wars and fight all the bad people who refuse to believe the truth. I mean to tell you, it’s all out war. If we’re not careful, pretty soon there won’t be any Christmas left and heathens will be in the White House, if not there already.

Anyway, getting back to the age of the earth ...

Maybe the earth is 8000 years old, some learned men of much faith have said - so, what’s a few more thousand years in this whole business when what really counts is that the whole of it, all of it, every bit of it, from top to bottom, is stage decoration for you and me, the crown of creation, the image of God, the sum and substance of it all, sinners, most surely, but for the chosen of God, no problem. Of this sin business, no big deal, because God sent his only Son to take care of it, to wrap it up on the cross, and tuck it way in the tomb, and then rose up on Easter just to dust himself off and get on with the task of ascending to heaven to prepare the way for us, because this world isn’t our home; we don’t really belong here. We came from the heavenly celestials, and we’re here for awhile to make this earth behave and produce a mighty crop for us, and then when we die, we’re wafted off to heaven to be with Jesus. What a grand idea. You’d think we’d all be eager to get there, but if we can afford it, we buy long-term health care. Go figure. Oh well ...

Now about those sinners ...

Not everyone will make it, of course, and that’s okay … we pray for them and do some good for them, but mostly, to hell with them. That’s just the way it is. How good it is. All glory to God.

But getting back to the age of the earth ...

The whole thing is a set up to showcase us, the image of God, as the Bible says so, and the learned men of great faith and the women who love them. Just us, the crown of creation, as I said a moment ago.

Now there are learned men who say something different, and their women offer a different image as well, but for now, all that we need to know is that they’re liars, servants of Satan, men and women of evil intention; as best as I can figure it, they’ve been deceived by studying the rocks and fossils and the stars above and the deeps of the seas. 

Why, any fool can look at this stuff and see the mighty hand of God setting it all up for us, and God was in hurry to see us, to admire us, the crown of creation, so God didn’t waste any time putting it together.

Millions of years?

Bosh.

No way … didn’t take that long, because God was in a hurry to see us, and from the 6^th day of creation, or if you’re reading Genesis 2, the first day before most everything else, we’ve been here, having things pretty much our way, and if any thing gets in our way, we move it; if it’s a buffalo, we kill it. If it’s one of them sinners, not chosen by God, we go to war and bomb the hell of them, or at least try. But hell is tenacious - kinda makes me angry when I think about - it seems that all the bombs in the world never quite finish hell off. What a pity, though its fun and patriotic and deeply spiritual to give it a try. I suppose one of these days we may just build a bomb big enough to bomb the hell out of the world. Oh, what day of rejoicing that will be.

Anyway, here we are - 6000 years old, or maybe 8000, but no more or no less, as learned men of great faith tell us, and the women who love them.

Perhaps the reader has already discerned the inspiration behind this brief essay about the age of the earth: Mark Twain's yummy little "The Damned Human Race," part 1, "Was the World Made for Man?"