Posts by HWChurch

The Purpose of Spiritual Disciplines

Spiritual disciplines is a buzzword among Christians. We hear from a variety of sources that we need to practice the spiritual disciplines. We need to pray, read the scriptures, engage in corporate worship, fast, give to the poor, do ministry. We are told that practicing these disciplines is what Christians do; these disciplines are the means of surrendering ourselves to Christ. And all who tell us this are correct.

Unfortunately, I get the feeling that too often we see the disciplines as an end in themselves. We pray because it’s good for us. We fast because it helps us to discipline our bodies. We read the scriptures because we need to learn all that we can about God. We give to the poor because it keeps us humble and teaches us generosity. We worship together because we need each other and we need to be reminded that the church is bigger than we are. All of this is true…but I am convinced that we are missing the point.

In his book, Worshiping with the Church Fathers, Christopher Hall writes about the practices of the desert fathers. One section is devoted to a man named Antony who seems to be the first believer to use the desert as a place of spiritual maturation. Antony spends 35 years in the desert preparing and training for his public ministry to the church. When he moves out of the desert and into the church, witnesses speak of him as replicating the spirit and presence of Christ. Antony’s desert experiences have transformed him into Christ’s image, and Christ’s works result. “Through him the Lord healed many of those present who suffered from bodily ailments; other he purged of demons, and to Antony he gave grace in speech.” The ultimate result of Antony’s schooling in the desert? The blossoming of Christ’s love within Antony, a love which quickly manifests itself in his words and actions toward the wider world. When I read those words, I was struck once again that the primary, central godly response to living a disciplined holy life is love—the sacrificial, self-emptying love of Christ.

The spiritual disciplines are intended for one purpose—to help us be more like Christ who is love. If we practice the spiritual disciplines and love doesn’t ooze out of us, then something is wrong with our practice of the disciplines. If we pray two hours a day but don’t live with greater compassion for others, something is wrong with our practice of the disciplines. If we fast two days a week then treat others disrespectfully, something is disconnected with our spiritual disciplines.

Jesus says, “They will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.” Spiritual disciplines are intended to lead us to love.

Theology of Work

A CNN.com article this week caught my eye. It seems that Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg is taking flack for leaving work at 5:30 p.m. in order to spend time with her children. Author Pamela Stone writes in the CNN article that Sandberg has been following this practice for as long as she has had children, seven years, but it’s only been in the last two years that she’s been “brave enough to talk about it publicly.”

Stone continues: “Judged against powerful professional time norms, where long hours and constant availability are taken as proxies for commitment and competence (despite evidence to the contrary), Sandberg is what sociologists would call a ‘time deviant,’ which is anyone who works other than full-time plus” – leaving early, working part-time or job-sharing. Evidence reveals that working flexibility in the corporate world is a career killer that leads to dead ends and reduced pay.

The article focuses its conclusions on the need for flexibility in the workplace and the burden that women, in particular, face trying to balance motherhood and career and cultural expectations. I applaud Stone’s observations, but as a Christian I am concerned about the deeper, theological discussion of work.

Genesis tells us that God creates human beings to work. Work is not the result of sin entering world, but is God’s original plan for His children. Work as a means of expressing our creative energy is one of the ways in which we reflect the image of the One who loves to create. Unfortunately, the tentacles of sin skew our view of work. Work is too often a means of gaining for ourselves—wealth, power, influence, affirmation—it has become another idol on our seemingly limitless shelf that leads us to believe that if we just do enough we can find fulfillment, contentment, joy and blessings, which is why we cannot discuss work without bringing Sabbath into the conversation.

The principle of Sabbath is no more a result of the fall than work: God observes Sabbath long before our first parents sin. Because of sin, however, Sabbath and rest become central to God’s teaching for His people. The forms of the word Sabbath are used 164 times in the Scriptures, forms of the word rest almost 350 times. God knows that our struggle to idolize work causes us to think of Him as just a bit less necessary to our lives, thus cutting ourselves off from the only source of fulfillment, contentment, joy, blessing and every other desire we yearn to experience.

My concern is that the church has too often bought into the culture’s idea of work: we reward people who never stop—we hire them, we promote them, we make models of them—because they get things done, they ooze success, they make us (and we think, God) look good. We believe that getting the results we want and that we believe God wants is all that matters, and if you must work yourself into the ground getting those results, if you must sacrifice family reaching the goal, then it’s okay because the end of the journey is what’s most important.

We have been duped by the subtle tempter of our souls. God is concerned about results but not nearly as much as He is concerned with the process, the decisions we make on the way.

Let me reiterate: work is good; work is important; work is a gift of God; laziness is not God’s plan. Work that rules our lives never pleases God no matter what results we accomplish. God wants us to work…and to rest. God wants us to labor…and to play. God wants us to create…and to do nothing but ponder who He is and what He has done.

Is the Lord’s Prayer Christian?

For years, the Sussex County (Delaware) Council has opened its public meetings with a Council member reciting the Lord’s Prayer. Beginning in June 2008, Americans United asked the Council to stop this practice because the Constitution prohibits legislative prayers used to advance one religion. In June of 2011, AU filed lawsuit; in December, AU moved for a preliminary injunction which asks the trial court to prohibit the Council from opening meetings with sectarian prayers while the case is ongoing.

This is nothing new. We have seen these kinds of cases filed for quite some time. Here’s the quirky part of it: the county’s defense is that the Lord’s Prayer is not Christian “because no Christian tradition existed” when Jesus prayed it. So, we have a group that is opposed to the prayer in a secular setting basing their entire case on it being Christian and a group that is in favor of the prayer in a secular setting basing their entire case on it having nothing to do with being Christian. All I can say is, Are you kidding me! If it’s not a Christian prayer, then why do we pray it together each Sunday in Christian worship?

This is another example in which the struggle for religious liberty has become more important than the truth. This is a case in which holding on to our rights has trumped embracing one of the most visible expressions of Christian faith. This is another example in which followers of Jesus have come to believe that the end justifies the means.

Can God be pleased when we undermine a key teaching of Jesus in order to expose people to Jesus? What kind of Christian witness are we presenting when we are willing to deny a significant practice of historic and universal Christianity in order to get what we want? At what point does our quest to preserve our rights undermine our ability to represent Christ? Which would be worse: to lose some of our rights but maintain our Christian integrity or to maintain our rights and lose our Christian integrity? It seems to me that Good Friday makes a complicated issue far less complicated.

The Disciples in Holy Week

In the cycle of the church year this is what the ancients termed Holy Week. Originally, the emphasis was on the two days leading up to Easter. In the fourth century it became an entire week of commemoration and fasting as the liturgical observances were modeled after the developments in Jerusalem. Some churches observe a special remembrance every day of the week; many churches, like ours, observe Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter. These services, focused on scripture, symbol and music, are especially necessary in a culture that banters to turn our attention away from Christ.

As we move through Holy Week, my mind wanders back to that first week and particularly the disciples who witness the confusing, exhilarating, sorrowful and mysterious events unfold. Their emotions run from the highest high to the lowest low. They have no idea how one event will lead to the next; they have no way of knowing what implications will follow as Jesus moves through the temple out into the streets and into the homes of people who welcome him. For the disciples, the entire week is a roller coaster ride in which they are prevented from seeing around the next curve or over the next rise. Unlike us, they are flying blind—all they know for sure is that Jesus calls them to trust him.

One of the reasons that I long to engage in the observances of Holy Week is that I am reminded of the disciples’ journey and in that remembrance I understand a bit more of God in my journey. Despite knowing the outcome of Christ’s life and mission, why do I struggle to trust? Why am I anxious about whether or not God can be trusted? Why do I hesitate to believe that God is in control and that God knows what he’s doing and that I will never go wrong to put all of the weight of my life on him?

And yet I do struggle to trust. I am anxious about God’s faithfulness. I do hesitate to believe. I suspect you do as well.

During this Holy Week, as we engage in the special moments of remembrance and mystery, let’s think about the disciples and the ways in which their faith is stretched and ask God to help us be willing to let him stretch our faith as well.

Sermons – April

“Remembering the Risen Christ” – April 22, 2012, Pastor Wes Oden

2 Peter 1:1-11 – April 15, 2012, Pastor Wes Oden

“The Madness of the Resurrection” – April 8, 2012, Easter, Pastor Wes Oden

“The Cross and Darkness” – April 1, 2012, Palm Sunday, Pastor Wes Oden

Rooting for the Underdog

Okay, so I know that last week I wrote about the NCAA basketball tournament, but indulge me the opportunity to do so one more time this week.

The tournament now consists of 68 teams from around the country. 31 conference champions receive an automatic bid; 37 other teams awarded at-large berths. Most of the 37 at-large bids go to teams in the so-called “power conferences.” These power conference teams are almost always contain the teams that are most favored to win the tournament and to win tournament games. It doesn’t always happen this way and most fans are in agreement that the possibility of an underdog beating a favored team is what makes the tournament so attractive.

I have attended some tournament games in past years and unless the favored team has a strong following in the area (i.e., Duke playing in Greensboro), if the underdog has the potential to upset the favorite, the fans start pulling for the underdog. Every year a team that no one expected to win even one game wins multiple games and becomes a “Cinderella” team for neutral fans to cheer for.

On Friday of last week, Syracuse, a basketball powerhouse and one of the top teams was in a dogfight with UNC-Asheville, one of the lowest rated teams. Asheville actually led most of the game but as it came down to the final minute, a couple of controversial officiating calls turned the game in Syracuse’s favor and they ended up winning by 7 points.

After the game, I listened to a number of “experts” and read a number of articles expressing opinions about the officiating. I found their opinions interesting; I found the fan blogs fascinating. Within a few minutes of the game’s conclusion, just the ESPN.com page had more than a 1000 comments posted and through the next day it rose to over 5000! People were angry and frustrated!

I began to ask myself, “Why get so upset about a basketball game? After all, it’s only a game?” Some people are upset because they are a fan of UNC-Asheville; others hate Syracuse. But many posted comments as neutral observers. I think that people are upset by what they perceive as an injustice because it is a microcosm of how most people feel about the world in general.

The powerful run the world. Those with clout get what they want. People who have connections and money are elected to office. We hear stories of millionaires who pay little or no taxes, of wealthy CEOs who steal from their employees and even when they are caught and prosecuted, the employees rarely get any of their money back. We understand how the world works; we just can’t do anything about it. We feel helpless. We pin our hopes on something smaller and when we perceive that the same rules operate in the smaller realm as in the larger one, it ignites all of our negative energy. It compounds our feelings of frustration.

Christians don’t deny the reality of evil in the world; we do, however, understand that appearances are deceiving. We know that there is more going on than what we can see—this is our faith and our hope. This is the message of the cross.

It might not change our opinion of the outcome of a basketball game—but it definitely gives us hope in a world that often feels mired in hopelessness.

The Delicate Act of Talking about Our Faith

As we move into the NCAA basketball tournament, many people—even people who have little or no interest in basketball—are filling out brackets and entering office pools. Because the games begin in the early afternoon, it’s estimated that more work time is lost on Thursday and Friday of this week than at any other time of the year. You can watch games online and even if you can’t do that, people are checking scores, updating their bracket and spending lots of time discussing the event.

Having grown up in Indiana, I am a huge IU basketball fan. After going through some lean years related to a coach’s indiscretions, the Hoosiers are now back in the tournament. Much of the credit goes to their head coach, Tom Crean. Coach Crean is an energetic presence on the sideline. He loves his players. He was in tears after a game last week because one of the players went down with a torn ACL. When he was asked about the player’s injury, he responded that he was praying for the young man and asked others to pray as well. Considering all of the attention that Tim Tebow and Jeremy Lin have received about their Christian faith, it made me curious about Coach Crean’s religious affiliation.

I discovered that the coach’s Twitter tweets are often about religion and his faith. Two particular tweets—sent out back to back—seemed to catch the eye of some bloggers:

I am so thankful that I was raised in a home where we went to Church 2 or 3 times a week.

I am also glad so many of our players are regular Church goers even when away from home. We have a team full of guys raised the right ways.

Now as an IU fan, I’m thrilled that faith is important to the coach and many of the players. Many bloggers agreed. Some, however, took offense at the innuendo that going to church equals being raised the right way. Those who didn’t like this connect asked if because they weren’t raised going to church that this implied that they weren’t raised the right way. They affirmed the loving home in which they were raised even though God and church were absent from it.

As I pondered this conversation, I started thinking about the delicate balance of talking about our faith without unnecessarily putting people on the defensive. On one hand, we can’t help it. Any mention of Jesus, God, or our faith is going to offend people. On the other hand, sometimes what we say offends people not because they are opposed to faith or God but because the way we talk about our faith comes off as arrogant or at least insensitive. This is my concern.

I know Christians who believe that we have the right and responsibility to talk about our faith anywhere at any time and in any way we want to. If people don’t like it, too bad. I also know Christians who, because they don’t want to offend anyone, never say anything about their faith. If what we say might irritate any one, then we shouldn’t say it.

Somewhere in all of this we have to find a balance. We are called by Christ to share the gospel with as many people as possible (Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; Acts 1:8). But we are also warned to be sensitive to the most effective means of sharing: And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth… (2 Timothy 2:24-25).

The key to maintaining this delicate balance is always speaking the truth and speaking of the Truth in the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). The point of our witness is not to say what we want to say but to present Christ in the way that is most likely for others to hear.

Sermons – March

“The Cross and Our Response to Opposition” – March 25, Pastor Wes Oden

“The Cross and Temptation” – March 18, 2012, Pastor Wes Oden

March 11, 2012

“The Cross Calls Us to Greatness” – March 4, 2012, Pastor Wes Oden

Religious Liberty in a World of Pluralism – Part 2

Last week I wrote about the ongoing struggle between the White House and Christian organizations relating to President Obama’s Health Care Initiative. At issue for the Christian organizations is that this initiative requires them to provide health insurance that covers contraceptives and abortion. I mentioned that the religious organizations are opposing the measure because they believe that if they are forced to accept this initiative, they will have to pay/provide a service that is morally reprehensible to them. The primary rallying point is freedom of religious expression.

I am as thrilled as anyone for the religious liberty we have in this nation. My heart aches for our brothers and sisters in far too many places of the world who cannot practice their faith in Christ without serious threat of reprisal. Even now, one of our brothers is on death row in Iran because of his faith. We are more privileged than we realize. We should give thanks to God every day for this freedom. Now read what I am about to say in the context of my gratitude.

What I hear from many Christian leaders about religious freedom makes me uneasy. I am uneasy because this issue brings to light two attitudes about which we tend to wear blinders. For one thing, I hear the cries about religious liberty for us, but when cults or other religions ask for the same liberty, we tend view their requests negatively. We want the government to stay out of our worship practices and to let us settle matters of difficulty on our own, but we want the government to issue a cease-and-desist order on groups that we disagree with.

One of the clearest examples of this is the Christian response to the plan for building a mosque near Ground Zero. It appears that most Americans are opposed to this plan because they believe that it is a slap in the face to every person who died on 9/11 and to the family and friends who still grieve for them. But when a church is denied a building permit for their structure, we plead the first amendment. We can say that Ground Zero is different from some church wanting to build in a residential zone and there is no doubt that it is different. We can argue that it’s unwise and perhaps dangerous in the vindictive world in which we live to build a mosque in lower Manhattan, but we cannot argue that they should not be allowed to build it…at least, we cannot argue this point if we truly believe in religious liberty. There is still, however, a deeper concern.

I am also burdened about the spirit in which the response to the President’s initiative is being made. I hear “fighting words” not humble words. I hear an attitude that declares “we’ll show them” not “how can we express the love of Christ” in the clearest words and tone of voice. I hear words about power, political action and rights not humility, grace and submission. The response often includes vilifying the leader of our nation, forgetting that God calls us to respect those in authority over us (Romans 13:1-7). It’s important to remember that Paul writes these words while Nero is emperor of Rome. We forget the many times that Jesus and the writers of the New Testament tell us that we know that we are right with God not because we protect our rights—but because we love others, even when this love is painful and sacrificial. During this Lenten season, it is especially significant to reflect on how much different the world would be if Jesus responded to those who violate his rights the way we do.

Should we do nothing to fight for our rights? Yes and no. If fighting for our rights means an offensive against people who disagree with us, then no; if fighting for our rights is a matter of justice, such as the civil rights movement in the 60s, then yes. Either way, the decision is based on kingdom priorities not earthly ones. Our highest objective is not our freedom but the freedom of others who are bound by the chains of sin. If the world is ever going to believe that Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life, we have to respond to differently than the rest of the world.

This issue reminds me once again of the paradox of our faith—being as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves (Matthew 10:16). Living in this tension in such a way that we bring glory to God and bring the grace and love of Christ to the world is not easy. Often it feels like we are walking a tightrope across Niagara Falls which is why it is imperative for us keep our eyes on Jesus rather than ourselves, to rely on the Holy Spirit rather than political pundits, to surrender ourselves to the power of the cross rather than the constitution, and to remember that we are resurrection people who see the life and the world through Christ’s eternal vision.

Religious Liberty in a World of Pluralism

The issue of religious liberty has been on the minds of Christians in this country for quite some time. The issue has moved to front and center recently with the announcement of President Obama’s health care initiative. As best as I can understand the plan, all hospitals (that receive government funding) will have to provide contraceptives to patients and all employers, excluding churches, will have to provide health benefits that include contraceptives. In both cases, abortifacients are included in the mandate.

The issue may seem far removed from us, particularly since most Protestants do adhere to the same understanding of birth control as do Roman Catholics. Nevertheless, it is concerning that the government would mandate that a religious organization make a decision that is directly contradictory to its conscience: the alternative being either a significant fine or ceasing to exist. It seems unwise, even devastating, to think that the Salvation Army and Catholic Charities among hundreds of other organizations and institutions would no longer be a presence in some of the most needy and neglected places of our nation.

The response to this issue has been predictable: some defending the government’s inclusive policy; others condemning the government’s abuse of power. Most religious organizations have reacted with concern primarily along the lines of constitutional religious liberty.

I am convinced that the president’s initiative comes from his desire to help people. I applaud him for this effort. I worry, however, that eroding our religious liberty—either to freely pursue our religious beliefs or to ignore religion altogether—will have profound effects on our nation and our world. I am not looking for the creation of a theocracy: this would be a profound mistake. I am looking for a government that recognizes the good that religious institutions perform for people in need and to do as little as possible to prevent them for carrying out tasks that would go undone without them. So, to demand that a religious organization choose between going against conscience and ceasing to exist doesn’t seem like a wise decision from the perspective of the government much less the institution.

The White House has offered an alternative to the original plan, but it doesn’t seem to address the core issue of practicing what one believes. We will see how things come out in the days ahead. In the meantime, we need to pray for a resolution that will allow for ministries to continue with a clear conscience. We also need to pray that God will give us grace to address this and other similar issues in Christ’s spirit of grace and truth—standing tall and strong for what we believe is right and doing so in the most loving and humble way possible.

If you would like to read more on this particular issue, check out Asbury Seminary President Timothy Tennant’s blog: http://timothytennent.com/2012/02/13/pragmatism-vs-principle-contraception-and-the-1st-amendment/.