Jesus Will Build His Church (Matt. 16:18), Will We Be Part of It?

We live in a day when the assembly of the saints seems more invisible than visible.  COVID gave people the perfect excuse not to gather. Forgetting a weekly assembly has become the norm.  Others have become disillusioned with the organization and organizers of said assemblies.  Regardless, Jesus' promise stands true.  He is building His Church.  If it is clear to you that Jesus is Lord and that His Word is life, keep following Jesus.  But know that you cannot do 'church' on your own. May you search for and find other believers whom you can gather with and live in covenant community with and so withstand the attacks of the fires of Hell.  Do in your homes.  Do in your neighborhoods.  Do it at your workplace or school. But please, do it! Let others in the group know if you are in or out of their gathering.  Commit to them.  By God's grace, be a person of your word.  Jesus will build His church, will you be part of it?

For the backstory ...

Matthew 16:15-20

15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.  And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

This passage is controversial.  Roman Catholics use it to establish the foundational authorities given to Peter and maintain that such authority must go to a Petrine successor of sorts (i.e. the Pope).  Others (including myself) see the preceding statement "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" as the important revelation that made Peter a leader in the church.  The word play is interesting: Peter (petros) and rock (Petra).  No doubt Peter played a significant role in the early church as its leader.  He was not the foundation, though. 

Eph. 2:19-21 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

The church (ekklesia) Jesus would build would have massive strength to hold against the kingdom of hell.  It will be able to withstand attacks of evil.  Ekklesia is often spoken of as "called out ones" which the church is certainly is "called," "Called to be holy," and "to be in the world not of it."  But the word ekklesia, though it looks like the word "Ek - out, kalew - called" to be called out was used at that time by other organizations to mean a recognized assembly.  

The term ἐκκλησία was in common usage for several hundred years before the Christian era and was used to refer to an assembly of persons constituted by well-defined membership. (Louw & Nida, p. 127).

The point being the church is the people of God who are recognized as true followers of Christ, who have given themselves over to the be living stones (1 Peter 2:5) built on the foundation of the Apostles, with Christ as the chief cornerstone.   

We live in a day when the assembly of the saints seems more invisible than visible.  COVID gave people the perfect excuse not to gather and returning to a weekly assembly has become the norm.  Others have become disillusioned with the organization and organizers of said assemblies.  Regardless, Jesus' promise stands true.  He is building His Church.  If it is clear to you that Jesus is Lord and that His Word is life, keep following Jesus.  But know that you cannot do 'church' on your own. May you search for and find other believers whom you can gather with and live in covenant community with and so withstand the attacks of the fires of Hell. Do in your homes. Do in your neighborhoods.  Do it at your workplace or school. But please, do it! Let others in the group know if you are in or out of their gathering.  Commit to them.  By God's grace, be a person of your word.  Jesus will build His church, will you be part of it?

Hebrews 10:23-25 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Guiding Others on the Spiritual Journey (Ruth Haley Barton)

Barton has helpfully described stages the people of God went through as God moved them out of Egypt toward the promised land.  "From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded." - Exodus 17:1.

Moses, of course, had already had a wilderness experience of his own for 40 years.  IT was a time of preparation for his own soul.  His calling to lead others our of Egypt was not a creation of his own, but a genuine calling from God--one he took reluctantly.

Barton outlines 7 different stages that Israel went through, stages that represent what each of goes through as we press on in our spiritual maturity.

Preawareness.  This is God's people in Egypt.  This is also the place of the non-Christian.  Things are fine.  "This is the way everyone lives." People in this stage might have a vague sense that there is something more, but generally speaking everyone copes and maintains in this stage.  They are also abdicating responsibility for dealing with life issues.

Awareness.  In this stage, people are experiencing pain. Things are bad.  This is Israel under the new kings of Egypt who oppressed them.  We realize we are not completely free. We are open to moving in a new direction. It requires courage to name reality and keep facing into it.  There is a clear call to take responsibility. "Denial is a lot less painful than awareness, but if we remain in denial, we are left stuck in our bondage.  We all need others to help us see what is real in our current situation, but we also need 'someone to assure us that there is another way and that it is possible for us to move in that direction--as risky as it might seem.'

Turning Point.  (Ex. 6:9) God has to bring both His people and Pharoah to the point of exodus.  This is a dreaming phase. Israel dreamed of freedom on the other side of the pain they were facing.  This is also a chaotic point, because the situation has to deteriorate to a point where they are willing to do something about the situation.  The turning point for Israel is through the signs and wonders of the plagues that eventually forced Pharoah to listen (It was getting worse and worse for him). For us, it is a place where we are not living by 'ought' or 'should' but getting a glimpse of a truer self, called by God.

The Roundabout Way (Ex. 13:17-18) God doesn't take His people straight to the Promised Land.  They are not ready to take on this bigger challenge.  They are not ready for war yet.  God has another agenda for His people as they wander the wilderness. [my parenthesis, it was their lack of faith that kept them here...] Positively speaking, Barton notes that God is present with the people throughout the wilderness.  He is not in a hurry to get us to the Promised Land.  We need to learn to trust Him (Manna in the desert, knowing and remembering his promises)

Times of Testing (Ex. 14:4).  Usually an unexpected obstacle.  For Israel it was the Red Sea.  God creates situations that will show His glory.  The journey is harder than we expected.  We want to go back.  Moses and the people were in a tough spot.

Learning to Keep Still (Ex. 14:13-14).  Moses has learned to be calm.  He assures the people that they need only be still and watch how the Lord will fight for them.  The people are afraid, they want to run.  Will they trust their leader? God parts the Red Sea.

Training in Waiting (Ex. 4:19) We train to 'wait on God' by recognizing we are in 'liminal space,' Latin for 'threshhold'.  Richard Rohr describes it as "a unique spiritual position where human beings hate to be but where the biblical God is always leading them.  It is when you have left the tried and true but have not yet been able to replace it with anything else. It is when you are finally out of the way. it is when you are between your old comfort zone and any possible new answer.  If you're not trained in how to hold anxiety and wait, you will run... anything to flee this terrible cloud of unknowing." Have we learned how to wait on God instead of running away or giving in to panic or deceiving ourselves into thinking things are better than they are?

From Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership, Ruth Haley Barton.

Psalm 25 - A Prayer of a Humble, Needy Man (or Woman)

Psalm 25 - A Prayer of a Humble Man

Almighty God, to you, I lift my soul
Because I put my trust in you, my Lord
     don't let me be put to shame
     don't let my enemies triumph over me!
Certainly, none who wait for you shall be put to shame
     they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous

Drive me to know your ways, O Lord
     teach me your paths.
Equip me in your truth and teach me
     for you are the God of my salvation
     for you I wait all the day long.

Forget not your mercy, Lord,
     and your steadfast love,
     for they have been from of old.
Graciously forget the sins of my youth and my transgressions
     according to your steadfast love remember me
     for the sake of your goodness, O Lord!

He instructs sinners in the way
     because good and upright is the Lord.
In what is right, he leads the humble,
   And teaches the humble his way.
Just for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies,
    all the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness.

King-sized guilt have I, pardon me
     for your namesake, O Lord.
Look, who's the man who fears the Lord?
     Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose.
Merry-well shall his soul remain
     His offspring stand to inherit the land
Named "Friend of God" is the man who fears Him,
     His covenant is revealed to him
On the Lord my eyes are set,
     my feet he'll pluck out of the net.

Pathetically lonely, afflicted I am,
     turn your eyes toward me, show your gracious hand
Quell the storm of my distresses
     for the trouble of my heart progresses
Review my troubles and my afflictions,
     and forgive all my transgressions.

See how many are my foes,
     and with what violent hatred they hate me.
Tightly secure my soul and deliver me!
     Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.
Uprightness and integrity, may they preserve me,
     for I wait for you.

Various troubles Israel has attained,
     Redeem him, O God, redeem him, I pray.

Aesthetically Speaking

Do you ever find the Psalms to be repetitious? Devoid of interesting language?  There's a reason why.

We've lost the art in the Psalms.  Translators have given us prosaic, word for word adaptations of these fine works of art.  "To translate a poem, one must make a new poem" says Andrew Shead in his article Theology in Poetry: The Challenge of Translating the Psalms.  Shead introduces us to the possibility of "poetical equivalence" as opposed to "functional equivalence" when translating biblical poetry from Hebrew to English (or any language).

"... For the translation of a poem to be truly equivalent to the original, it is necessary to find not only linguistic equivalents to its works, but aesthetically equivalent 'extra-linguistic substances'. This does not mean simply replicating the poetic forms of the original, any more than we simply replicate the original vocabulary.  Once Hebrew words are replaced with English equivalents, the sounds and rhythms of the original are destroyed and must be replaced by forms in the receptor language that can stand as equivalents to the original forms by producing an 'equivalent' aesthetic effect.  When the aesthetic dimension of a poem is ignored by the translators, the result cannot be considered properly equivalent to the original.  And the unfortunate reality is that English Bibles render Hebrew poetry as if it were prose " (136).

Shead goes on to explain a brief history of the injustice done to Hebrew poems, following with a charge to explore and revive the artistic beauty of Hebrew poetry.  His vision for better Hebrew poems includes:

1. Equivalence of sounds (assonance, alliteration, wordplay, onomatopoeie, rhythmic echoes, etc.)
2. Equivalence of parallelism, enjambment and word order
3. Equivalence of vocabulary (use literary words, not just 'spoken' ones)
4. Equivalence of metre
5. Acrostics, refrains and other frames

He gives examples of poetic equivalence for Psalms 46, 93 and 111.

Shead concludes by saying "Translating poetry is not the same as translating prose, and even the most direct translations need to find ways of representing the aesthetic substance of the original if they are to remain faithful to it. . . For 'poetry is experience: a poet's experience made articulate in language hewn to engender experience in its hearer.' (pp. 156-157)

With all of the in mind, I read Psalm 112 yesterday morning and recognized it was an acrostic poem.  Far from plumbing the depths of the original Hebrew on this one, I used some time on the bus today to create a poem that at least salvages the alphabetical aspect of the psalm.  Oh, that you and I might be like the man (or woman) described in this psalm!

Among the blessed is he who fears the Lord
Bursting with joy at His commands
Champions are his children in the land
Doted upon will be the upright generation

Expensive possessions are in his house
Forever his righteousness endures
Glowing light rises in the darkness for the upright
He is gracious, merciful and righteous

It is well with the man who deals generously and lends
Justice marks all his affairs
Kicked off their path? Not the righteous, never.
Lastingly, he his remembered forever

Mayhem does not fray him.
Never shaken his heart, fully trusting in the Lord
Of steady heart, he will not be afraid
Prior to looking in triumph on his adversaries.

Quill to the check, he gives to the poor
Righteous his acts and life, living forever
Strength is his, exalted in honor
The wicked man sees it and is angry
Unmade, he gnashes his teeth and melts away;
Vanishing will be the wicked's desire.

(Poetical adjustments by Eric Twietmeyer)

(Quotes from Stirred by a Noble Theme, Andrew Shead, Ed, Inter-Varsity Press, 2013)

Reading the Psalms through Four Lenses

One of the reasons I love the Psalms is that I am usually able to relate to some emotion expressed in these prayers/lyrics.  Someone else has been in a tough position--and their difficulties resolve by trusting in God.  Or, someone has remembered what God has done and they rejoice.  The Psalms greatly help connect me to the steadfast love of God, bring me into his presence and help change my attitude.

As bible students, we are aware that there is more going on in the Psalms than just something to make us feel better.  I find John Woodhouses' article "Reading the Psalms as Christian Scripture"  helpful, encouraging me to think more deeply about these prayers and lyrics.  Woodhouse proposes four related levels of meaning or lenses through which we may look in reading the Psalms:

1. Through the lens of our experience--recognizing words that directly express our own experience of difficulties in life and our faith in God. But we will often notice that there are at least parts of a psalm that we cannot directly make our own.  They do not really ‘fit’ us.
2. Through the lens of history: “Often this will mean understanding a Psalm as David’s words or words about David, or words related in some way to David’s Kingdom.  But we will notice again that there are ways in which the psalm does not really ‘fit’ even David.  He never ruled the world.
3. Through the lens of Jesus: “As we listen to the psalm we may consider how the psalm ‘fits’ Jesus.  How does the psalm illuminate the news that ‘Jesus is the Christ’? In what ways does Jesus fulfill the psalm? In what ways does this fulfillment surpass the David we hear in the Psalms?
4. Through the lens of being united with Christ: “I consider the wonder that I belong to the Christ.  By faith I am united to him.  This will mean that I identify, not first of all with the ‘I’ of the Psalms, but the people who benefit from the deliverance of the Christ.  I am among those who are blessed because they take refuge in him.  

• In a secondary and derivative sense we may then find that we join in the words of the Christ.  Just as we know that the one who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to our mortal bodies (Rom. 8:11), so we find that we join in his words of trust in God, his words of longing for deliverance, his prayers for the overthrow of the enemies of the Lord and of his Christ, his joy in God’s salvation.  For his deliverance is our deliverance.

 (pp. 56-57, Stirred By a Noble Theme, Andrew Shead, ed.) 

Bus-abilities: Person of Interest #1

Mr. A goes to a woodworking cooperative in Burnsville.  He pays $240/yr for unlimited use of their tools.  He purchases wood through the cooperative to save on trips to the hardware store.  He says their wood prices are about half what he would pay elsewhere.  Onto the bus, he carried a few scraps of wood from his latest project--a cutting board.  Made of elegant dark wood squares, perfectly fitted them perfectly, their tight grains weaving a checkered pattern.  It was such a wonderful work of art, he exclaimed, he may not give it to the person who commissioned him.  Clearly, Mr. A is an able experienced woodworker.

 

"I was led here"

From October 2011...

Today was my third day of training for driving vulnerable adults around with a transit company called Transit Team. I rolled out of bed at 6:15. I pulled together the belongings for the day and headed to the garage to meet Bob for the day of training.

Bob is a older gentleman with a limp. He's been driving with TT for seven years. He was very thorough in his pre-trip training with me: check the fluids, the clips, the lift, etc. We pulled away in his Ford Diesel mini-bus at 7:30 enroute to our first destination.

I wouldn't have necessarily signed up for this job, except I have a family to feed and a mortgage to pay, and, frankly, apparently no other productive connections in Minneapolis to hook me up with work. I applied for the job initially because my neighbor Tom also did, and I was desperate. To make matters worse, I got the job and he didn't. Though perhaps I understand why: starting as a new driver as a senior citizen as he is might be tough, the work will require stamina and endurance.

The job requires 5 days of riding along with an experienced driver and 4 Saturdays of classroom training before becoming a fully certified driver. Day one was with Tom or "New York" as they call him. He's from Queens and has the accent to prove it. He was actually quite entertaining to ride along with and our route, fortunately, had a couple of opportunities for using the facilities of various Super Americas.

A memorable moment with Tom was our encounter with an amputee at the VA hospital. I went in to the entryway to pick up the man as Tom waited with the vehicle. When we came out, Tom asked the man if he was going to the destination listed on the manifest. "No, I'm going to the Fair Grounds, I called and made the change on Monday" the man replied. The client became irate as he noted the company's mistake. A call to the dispatcher by us, a call by cellphone to the company by the livid client and a quick trip to the bathroom by moi later, and I was in the driver seat watching Tom patiently tell the man he'd have to wait for the company to send a bus in 15 minutes.

A few more F bombs by the vet and we shut the door. With the dispatchers blessings and Tom's direction, I pulled away from the curb, leaving the gentleman screaming at us for not taking him with us. He flung his half-filled bottle of Dr. Pepper at the bus as I pull away.

There was a gentleman already on the bus who watched all of this. I believe he was mostly deaf. He felt bad and apologized if the commotion was because of him.

Lesson: Mistakes happen, and sometimes I'll have to be the powerless middleman who has to put up with it.

Back to Bob. By lunch time, he had explained quite a few things to me and I had mentioned that I had worked at a church. He told me that he used to work sales and, knowing that I was a man of faith, said "I was led to this job." From the middle of the classifieds which were full of jobs he had no skill in, this one stuck out as one he could do. It has turned out to be a rewarding job for him.

I shared that I thought it was an honor to drive these folks around. He agreed. He mentioned he'd read the Bible three times through during the breaks of this job. I mentioned that we reflect God's heart for the weak and oppressed when we, too, care for these people.

I also read a chapter of Jim Palmer's Divine Nobodies today. It really only confirmed that working at a common labor job is a very Jesus-like thing to do.