favoritism

Nov

2024

Very Important People

In connection with thoughts I posted last Sunday (for the 25th Sunday after Pentecost), I’d also prepared a children’s message to go with that meditation. Quite often in my ministry career, adults would say they got as much (or more) out of the children’s sermons than the regular sermons. So, perhaps you’ll appreciate the brief message I’ll share this week. I’ve adapted this for the blog from the children’s talk I had prepared in connection with readings from 1 Kings 17:8-16 and Mark 12:38-44.

Who is important?

I’m going to give you a list of several people and want you to tell me which of them is the most important.

Xi Jinping — the President of the People’s Republic of China, which has 1.4 billion people.
Elon Musk — the richest person in the world, who currently has a net worth of $304 billion.
Patrick Mahomes — all-pro, Super Bowl champion NFL player.
Christiano Renaldo / Lionel Messi — the best-known, most popular soccer players in the world.
Dwayne (the Rock) Johnson — currently the most successful movie star in the world
Taylor Swift — the biggest-selling global recording artist of the year for the past two years in a row.
And the last person on my list — you.

So, of these people, which is the most important?

Ok, that’s a trick question. Are you thinking of importance in the eyes of the world? Or importance according to God? Certainly, some people seem more important in this world. But no one is unimportant to God.

You may think of yourself as the last person on a list here on planet earth, but remember that Jesus said, “Many who are first will be last, and the last will be first” (Matthew 19:30). Jesus also said that those who are considered the “least of these” here on earth – the hungry, the thirsty, those who have nothing, those who are lonely and strangers, even those who are in prison – still are people he considers to be members of his family (Matthew 25:40). Jesus said that the ways of God our Father are often hidden from the highest people, from the most wise and learned people, but are revealed to little children (Matthew 11:25).

The truth is, every person is equal as far as God is concerned. If people get too puffed up with their own importance and think they’re great, God is not impressed. God’s Word tells us: “Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong… so that no one might boast in the presence of God. (1 Corinthians 1:26-29).

Don’t ever think you are unimportant. No matter who you are, no matter how small you are, no matter how invisible you might feel some days, you are of eternal importance to God. You have a friend forever in Jesus, no matter what situation you find yourself in. So, whenever you’re feeling small or unimportant or troubled about anything in life, trust in Jesus. He says, “Come to me, all of you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28,29).

Scripture quotations, except where otherwise indicated, are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Jan

2021

Thoughts for Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Reject racism; God shows no partiality

On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC (8/28/1963), the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., famously said, “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” He dreamed that one day the United States would be a nation where individuals would “not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

Martin Luther King, Jr., speaking at University of Minnesota, Saint Paul campus, 1967 – Wikimedia Commons

Recent events reveal a distance still to go before King’s dream can be realized. Instances of propaganda and recruitment to white nationalist organizations have shown a more than fivefold rate of increase over the past two years. The rate of death from COVID-19 for Native Americans has been 73% higher than for white Americans, and 40% higher for black Americans than white Americans. What Dr. King said at a meeting of the Medical Committee for Human Rights (3/25/1966), sadly, still rings true today: “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and the most inhuman because it often results in physical death” (Associated Press, 3/26/1966).

A dozen days ago, a self-proclaimed “shaman” stood at the rostrum of the Speaker of the House of Representatives in the US Capitol (after invading that space). He invoked the name of Jesus Christ and led a prayer of sorts, thanking God for “allowing the United States of America to be reborn” and “for allowing us to get rid of the traitors within our government.” In response to such a misuse of Christ’s name, it seems fitting to gather together things spoken in Scripture and by recognized religious leaders about our call to work for peace and kinship among all human beings–children of God “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages” (Revelation 7:9). In King’s words, may we “speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last. Free at last. Thank God almighty, we are free at last.”

Bible statements

“I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” – The Apostle Peter (Acts 10:34,35)
“There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” – The Apostle Paul (Galatians 3:28)
“When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself.” – God’s word revealed to Moses (Leviticus 19:33,34)
“You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.” – James, leader in 1st century Jerusalem church (James 2:8-9)

Statements by religious leaders

“Discrimination based on the accidental fact of race or color, and as such injurious to human rights regardless of personal qualities or achievements, cannot be reconciled with the truth that God has created all men with equal rights and equal dignity.” – United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Discrimination and Christian Conscience (11/14/1958)
“Racism—a mix of power, privilege, and prejudice—is sin, a violation of God’s intention for humanity. The resulting racial, ethnic, or cultural barriers deny the truth that all people are God’s creatures and, therefore, persons of dignity. Racism fractures and fragments both church and society.” – Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Freed in Christ: Race, Ethnicity, and Culture (8/31/1993)
“I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality. … I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Nobel Prize acceptance speech (12/10/1964)
“Racism can ultimately never be benign, nice and respectable. It is always evil, immoral and ultimately vicious and not to be tolerated by Christians and people of goodwill as well as those of other faiths. … Racism claims that what invests us, each person, with worth is some extraneous arbitrary biological or other attribute, skin colour or ethnicity. … The Bible and Christianity teach a categorically different position. What endows the human person with worth is not this or that attribute. No, it is the fact that each person is created in the image and likeness of God. This is something that is so for every single human being. … It does not depend on status, on gender, on race, on culture. It does not matter whether you are beautiful or not so beautiful, whether you are rich or poor, educated or uneducated. … Reconciliation [of all people] is really the heart of the Gospel message. Therefore to say that people are fundamentally irreconcilable is to deny … the central tenet of Christianity. Jesus said of himself, ‘I, if I be lifted up, will draw all to me’” (John 12:32). – Archbishop Desmond Tutu, speech to the Parliament of Australia (12/6/1994)

To see additional thoughts here on The Electric Gospel that speak against favoritism and prejudice, go to the following link and scroll through previous posts on the topic:

https://theelectricgospel.com/tag/favoritism/

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Aug

2020

The House of Disposable Souls

A Fable

by David Sellnow

“In the land of spirit beings, there was a house that gathered souls.They sought out souls that were perfectly spherical. Any souls they discovered that were out of round or oddly shaped were quickly discarded. They sought out souls that were unstained and unblemished. Any souls they discovered that had bumps or bruises were passed over and rejected. They sought out souls that were shiny and glowed in a preferred range of colors. Any souls they discovered that were mottled or blurry or too dark in appearance were left behind and ignored.

“Over time, the spirits gathered a small collection of souls that they protected and preserved in their house. If any of the souls developed inconsistencies or loss of clarity or discoloration or dulling, those souls were removed from the house. The spirits would seek other, more impeccable specimens, as replacements. The house became known as The House of Disposable Souls.

“Elsewhere in the land of spirit beings, there was another house that gathered souls. They searched for souls of all shapes and sizes. They included souls that were imperfect, unpolished, irregular. They valued souls that were rough to the touch as well as those that were smooth. They recognized special worth in souls that were differently shaped and of variegated colors. They saw deep potential in all souls they encountered. They labored to help each soul radiate its own unique sheen, coaxing out natural hues and luster. If souls they found or souls in their care suffered cracks or were damaged, the spirits applied balm to heal the wounds. They sought to refresh and develop each soul, nurturing strength as well as tenderness. The house became known as the House of Renewable Souls.”

After concluding the story, the teacher asked her listeners: “Which of these houses cared for souls as the Creator of souls intended?”

The listeners knew they had growing to do in their own attitudes and ministries.

Scriptures to consider:

“The Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10).
“There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. … I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:7,10).
”Here is my servant, whom I have chosen. … He will not break a bruised reed or quench a smoldering wick” (Matthew 12:18, 20).
”Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:26-30).

Prayer:

Creator of all, teach us to value each human soul in the same spirit as Christ our Savior, who said, “Anyone who comes to me I will never drive away” (John 6:37). Amen.

—-

Jul

2020

Mortal Monuments

by David Sellnow

“All flesh is grass” (Isaiah 40:6 KJV).

Statues are falling across the land. They are being removed, destroyed, defaced.

In Richmond, Virginia, the bronze image of Christopher Columbus was torn down, set on fire, then shoved into a nearby lake.

In Minneapolis, outside Target Field, the Minnesota Twins removed a statue of former team owner Calvin Griffith, acknowledging racism he had exhibited.

Image credit: Wikipedia Commons

In New York City, the American Museum of Natural History has requested that the city remove the Equestrian Statue of Theodore Roosevelt, which depicts the former US president riding high while leading an African American and Native American man on each side of his horse.

In Portland, Oregon, outside Jefferson High School, protesters spray painted “SLAVE OWNER” across the base of the Thomas Jefferson memorial and toppled the statue itself onto the ground.

The killing of George Floyd by police officers on Memorial Day has pushed our nation to reevaluate its past and what we memorialize. Monuments to Confederate generals who fought to perpetuate slavery have been targeted especially. Other figures have been questioned and their history reassessed too, such as the examples mentioned above.

The history of each individual human life is complicated. Thomas Jefferson owned more than 600 slaves over the course of his lifetime. Jefferson also fathered children by one of his slaves, Sally Hemings, who was his wife Martha’s half-sister. (Martha Jefferson’s father also had fathered children by a family slave.) However, in the draft of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson included strong condemnation of the slave trade that the British government had made a part of colonial life. He blamed the king for waging “cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery or to incur miserable death in their transportation” from Africa to the Americas. That portion of Jefferson’s Declaration didn’t make it into the final version of the nation’s founding document. Too many other leaders, too invested in the slave economy, forced such statements to be deleted.

Any human beings whom we hold up as heroes are inevitably flawed because, well, they’re human. Some have engaged in actions that were hailed as bold in their time but are seen as oppressive in retrospect. Statues fall. No mortal man or woman in reality could be as monumental as the monuments we construct to them. Our tendency to elevate human individuals to hero status and idolize them is a pattern fraught with problems.

God’s Word wisely advises us (Psalm 146:3-4):
Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save.
When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
on that very day their plans come to nothing.

The same Psalm (146:5-9) then tells us where to focus our trust:
Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord their God.
He is the Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them—
he remains faithful forever.
He upholds the cause of the oppressed
and gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets prisoners free,
the Lord gives sight to the blind,
the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down,
the Lord loves the righteous.
The Lord watches over the foreigner
and sustains the fatherless and the widow.

God alone is worthy of our worship and praise. He is the one who can guide our paths forward, heal our society, inspire individuals to love one another regardless of race or other differences.

As for people from our past and people in our present, we do well to be honest about who they were and who they are — and to be honest about ourselves too, acknowledging our own failures and imperfections. The Bible is honest in that way about people whom we admire as persons “commended for their faith” (Hebrews 11:39). In Scripture, we hear not only that Noah believed God and built an ark for facing the Flood, but also of an occasion when he got so drunk he passed out. We hear not only of the times Abraham acted in great faith, but also times he was afraid and lied to protect himself. We hear not only of David’s great victories as leader of the people, but also of adultery and murder he committed.

Isaiah’s prophetic words still ring out about our human condition. No persons are pure, and no monuments to human achievement can ever be permanent.

All people are like grass,
and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
because the breath of the Lord blows on them.
Surely the people are grass.
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God endures forever (Isaiah 40:6-8).

Feb

2020

We Aim to Proclaim

“We Aim to Proclaim” was one of the original Electric Gospel devotions distributed by email in the late 1990s. It was picked up and published in the June 1999 edition of The Northwestern Lutheran. Since the page on the new website about The Electric Gospel’s origins and purpose mentions a devotion about Tinky Winky, I thought I might share a version of that message with you here, twenty years down the road.

We Aim to Proclaim

by David Sellnow

In early 1999, the ministry of Rev. Jerry Falwell made news by protesting the program,Teletubbies. A Falwell ministry publication, National Liberty Journal, contained an article claiming that Tinky Winky (one of the Teletubbies) may be a subliminal gay role model because

he’s purple;
his antenna is shaped like a triangle;
he carries a purse.

Falwell’s crusade against the Tinky Winky (who actually carried a “magic bag”) generated much controversy. I had to agree with a Lubbock radio listener. When the controversy was being discussed on local radio, one mom commented: “Anybody who would get that from watching Teletubbies is too old to be watching the show!” Elsewhere, Michael Linnemann, coordinator of Baltimore’s Gay and Lesbian Community Center, said, “It’s news to the gay community. We didn’t realize we had a doll. Is Barney gay too, because he’s purple?” (The Baltimore Sun, February 11, 1999).

I’m not writing about this because I feel it is my calling to be a defender of purple (or other-colored) children’s TV characters. To me, it’s simply another example of how too many religious leaders focus their efforts in the wrong direction. They speak against things more than they speak for the truth. They seek to enforce law more than they understand or offer gospel.

Christianity is not essentially about protesting against certain people or things. It is about proclaiming peace. What did Jesus say? “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation” (Mark 16:15). Jesus did not command us to go out and protest whatever we might think is wrong with our neighbors. Instead, he calls us to “conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that, though they malign you as evildoers, they may see your honorable deeds and glorify God when he comes to judge” (1 Peter 2:12). Our calling is to show forth the goodness and truth of God by our lives and by our witness. That’s a positive message of hope, not an exercise in negative finger-pointing. Our main mission is to proclaim Christ, who brings grace and healing to this world.

By the way, I am writing this during the season of Lent. The altar in our church is covered in purple. It’s a color that associated with royalty, as well as with the bruises and suffering of our Lord Jesus on our behalf. Thus, for us, it’s a penitential color; we recognize our need for redemption. Christ’s ordeal of suffering, known as The Passion, was endured for every one of us.

So when one of the kids brings a Teletubby doll to church, we don’t cast the doll—or the child—out.

Jan

2020

Encourage one another

With this post, I am launching the new and improved version of The Electric Gospel. For Christmas, one of my daughters set up this new site (with expanded possibilities), upgrading from my previous blog. I credit her with site design and with doing much of the work of moving over archives of past devotional writings. The Christmas gift, a labor of love, was my daughter’s way of encouraging me to keep writing, to keep working at offering spiritual encouragement to others. I invite you to enter your email to subscribe for receiving new posts as this blog continues in this new form.

In launching the new site, I had thought about re-posting an updated version of something from the archives, such as a New Year’s post (from 2015) or a Martin Luther King Jr. Day post (from 2019). But you can get at those posts in the archives (follow those links).

A better way to begin the new version of The Electric Gospel is to post something new. Thinking of my daughter’s much-appreciated encouragement to me–as well as the intention of the blog site–it seems appropriate to speak about encouraging one another in faith and hope. If you wish to post a reply, please do!

Encourage one another

by David Sellnow

When I was doing college teaching, I made a habit of offering encouragement to students individually. Sometimes it was about a spark of spiritual energy I saw evident in them. Some I urged onward in their writing or other forms of creative expression, because they had talents to be explored. In many cases, I encountered young adults who felt out of place, who had questions or doubts, who weren’t sure the answers they were being told were consistent and true. Perhaps they were willing to share their doubts and wonderings with me because I was one who wondered along with them, a fellow learner, not someone who seemed to know all already.

On one occasion, I sent an email to a freshman student who had been offering novel insights in a history course. I encouraged her to continue sharing her thoughts, which were elevating the level of discourse in our classroom. Not long after receiving the email, the student came to my office, in tears. She was overcome with emotion, she said, because this was the first time in her life that a teacher had praised her work. I thought perhaps she was exaggerating, but her story was compelling. She had been raised in church schools where errors were duly noted and corrections expected. Perfect papers got praise. Her assignments mostly got marked up with red ink, pointing out every imperfection. She felt dismissed and disregarded by teachers, labeled as an underperformer. Her confidence and desire to do well diminished year by year due to the lack of positive attention.

We’d like to think of church settings as places where seldom is heard a discouraging word. Sadly, often much discouragement occurs. This is at odds with God’s gospel imperative to provide ongoing spiritual support. “Encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing,” Paul wrote to the Thessalonians (1 Thess. 5:11). It’s good that the Christians at Thessalonica were in the habit of encouraging one another. We do well when we follow their lead. In a similar vein, a writer to early Jewish believers urged them, “Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds … encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:24,25). Those Christians were enduring difficult times. But they held onto each other in faith and looked ahead to Christ’s return. The letter writer reminded them how they had “endured in a great conflict full of suffering. Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions” (Hebrews 10:32-34).

Mutual encouragement is especially important when enduring hard times, injustices, or oppression. In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” (April 1963), Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., decried the lack of support from mainline churches for African Americans who were being deprived of their rights. How could this be, in a nation founded on the principle that all persons “are created equal … endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights” (Declaration of Independence)? King wrote: “The contemporary church is so often a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. It is so often the arch supporter of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church’s often vocal sanction of things as they are.” Establishment churches were good at supporting and encouraging themselves within the circle of privilege and prosperity. They were ignoring the disenfranchised, the downtrodden, the despised. King pointed to the people on the front lines of the civil rights movement who supported one another faithfully as they struggled to achieve liberty and justice for all. One day the country will know, King said, “that when these disinherited children of God sat down at lunch counters they were in reality standing up for the best in the American dream and the most sacred values in our Judeo-Christian heritage.”

If you are someone enduring struggles or suffering, I pray The Electric Gospel blog can become a source of encouragement to you. Fill out the “Contact Us” form if there’s a specific concern on your heart that might be addressed here.

If you know someone in need of spiritual encouragement, by all means, reach out, speak out, help out. Let that person know they have a friend on their side and by their side. Don’t let anyone continue to be starved of needed praise and support in a world full of criticism and judgment. We are called to be there for one another. As the proverb reminds us: “Two are better than one …. If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10).

Dear God, help us to help one another and lift each other up, in Jesus’ name.

———

Jan

2020

No room for racism among God’s people

Originally published on the Electric Gospel on August 6, 2019.

No room for racism among God’s people

by David Sellnow

Last week, an old recording was revealed. Ronald Reagan (then the governor of California) described people in African nations as “monkeys” and added: “Damn them—they’re still uncomfortable wearing shoes!” We might want to dismiss such statements as outdated ideas from decades ago, but racial and ethnic slurs are still heard in our cultural climate today. And now there’s more than a war of words. Ugly violence and murder has occurred. Over the weekend, a young man posted a hateful manifesto online, complaining of a “Hispanic invasion of Texas.” He then went to a Walmart in El Paso, where he killed twenty-two people and wounded many more.

As people who live by God’s grace and under his direction, our attitudes are guided by his Word. This seems a fitting time to review Bible lessons on race relations—on how we relate to all of our fellow human beings.

Episode one: “Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married; for he had married a Cushite woman” (Numbers 12:1). “Cushite” means Ethiopian. Miriam instigated the animosity against this woman from a different ethnic background. Miriam’s prejudice did not please the Lord. In response, the Lord afflicted Miriam with a visible and painful leprosy for a period of seven days. That was a real case of being “unclean” or unhealthy. Skin color differences are not problems or impurities.

Episode two: A proud religious man asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus responded with a parable: A Jewish traveler was robbed and beaten and left half-dead by the side of the road. Two prominent Jewish men came along … and each of them walked by without helping the man. Then a Samaritan man came along, and “he was moved with compassion” (Luke 10:33). He helped the man, bandaged his wounds, and took him to a place where he could recuperate. Jesus asked, “Which of these three do you think seemed to be a neighbor to him who fell among the robbers?” (Luke 10:36). The proud teacher of Jewish law had to admit it was the man who showed mercy. Bear in mind, Jews of that era typically despised the people across the border, the Samaritans. Jesus’ story illustrated that true human compassion knows no boundaries.

Episodes three and four: Christ’s apostle Peter was called to the home of an Italian Regiment commander. Prior to the request from the Roman centurion, Peter had been given a vision to show him that “God doesn’t show favoritism” (Acts 10:34). God accepts people from every nation. And yet, on a later occasion, Peter didn’t show that same attitude. He didn’t stand up to Jewish purists in a congregation where there were many Gentile members. The apostle Paul challenged what was going on and called it hypocrisy to favor one group over another in the church (cf. Galatians 2:11-14).

Episode five: The scene opens in heaven, and we see the countless multitude of the family of God. Where did they come from? “Out of every nation and of all tribes, peoples, and languages” (Revelation 7:9). There is no racial tension or discrimination in heaven.

There is also no room for racism in a godly heart on this earth. There is no room for disdain toward others, of any race or culture. If someone says, “’I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who doesn’t love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20)? Our brothers, our sisters, our neighbors, our friends are the other members of our common human family.

The children’s song written by Rev. Clarence Herbert Woolston (1856–1927) states the simple truth:

Jesus loves the little children,
All the children of the world.
Red and yellow, black and white,
They are precious in his sight,
Jesus loves the little children of the world.

Jan

2020

Loving others

Originally published on The Electric Gospel on January 21, 2019.

Loving others

by David Sellnow

In a sermon delivered at New Covenant Baptist Church in Chicago (April 9, 1967), Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke of being committed to loving our neighbors – all neighbors. In that sermon, he said:

There will be a day, the question won’t be, “How many awards did you get in life?” … It won’t be, “How popular were you?” … It will not ask how many degrees you’ve been able to get … or “What kind of automobile did you have?” On that day the question will be, “What did you do for others?”
Now I can hear somebody saying, “Lord, I did a lot of things in life. I did my job well … I went to school and studied hard. I accumulated a lot of money, Lord; that’s what I did.” It seems as if I can hear the Lord of Life saying, “But I was hungry, and ye fed me not. I was sick, and ye visited me not. I was naked, and ye clothed me not. I was in prison, and you weren’t concerned about me.” …
What did you do for others? This is the breadth of life. Somewhere along the way, we must learn that there is nothing greater than to do something for others.

– from “The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life,” by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,

via The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and EducationInstitute, Stanford University.)

For Martin Luther King Day, I’d like to share some thoughts of my own about showing love – and God’s grace – to all our neighbors. The following is excerpted from my brief book, Faith Lives in Our Actions (available at Amazon). Bible quotations are from the World English Bible (WEB).

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Loving all people

James, the brother of Jesus, pinpointed lack of love as a pivotal problem in our lives as Christians. James wrote: “If you fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you do well. But if you show partiality, you commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors ” (James 2:8-9).

If we could love with all our hearts, we would do well. Love “is the fulfillment of the law” (Romans 13:10). Jesus had said that the first and greatest commandment is to love God fully, and its corollary is to love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:36-39). James called this the royal law of Scripture. It is the heart of the law, and it is where we fall most miserably short of what God expects of us.

James pointed at favoritism as the centerpiece of our lawbreaking. Even after we have been converted to Christ, our old sinful tendencies diminish the extent of our love. We may, for instance, spend much to send our own children to Christian schools, but give far less to extend Christ’s love to souls around the world. Or we are pleased to be part of God’s kingdom ourselves, but often feel no great urgency to include others in his grace. Once, when my congregation was planning an open house, I asked one of our members if he had invited his farmhands and their families. He looked at me as though I had proposed something preposterous. The thought had never crossed his mind. When I brought it up, it made him uncomfortable. Mexican weed-pullers weren’t really the sort of folks he wanted in his church. To him they were only hired hands, a lesser breed of people.

We try to convince ourselves we are law-abiding. We set up church policies and programs. We want everything to honor God, according to proper guidelines. But we forget what the real line is: love. We callously, oafishly and repeatedly step over that line. We strain out gnats while swallowing camels (cf. Matthew 23:24). We make sure we have glorious choirs singing in our balconies, but fail to notice neighbors in need across the street. When James described the sort of religion that God accepts, he mentioned nothing of formal church activities. James had said, “Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world” (James 1:27). Those are the kinds of aims we are to seek.

Dec

2019

Being Christ to our neighbors in the city

Originally published on The Electric Gospel on August 11, 2015. Henry Tyson wrote this powerful testimony in connection with his ministry in Milwaukee WI. He passionately urges all of us, in every city and town and village, to be living witnesses for Jesus to those among whom we live — to the communities we are called to serve in the name of Christ.

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Living as Christians in Milwaukee’s Central City

by Henry Tyson

How is it possible that there can be so many Christians and churches in Milwaukee’s central city and yet the church seems powerless in the face of segregation, poverty, and crime? What can we say about the life of Christian and what such a life will look like in a city so gripped with ungodly behavior? From a biblical standpoint, one can see that the life of a Christian in Milwaukee’s central city – in the face of all that we see – will be marked by extreme joy, increasing holiness, radical love, and urgent, prayerful solitude, all to the glory of God.

Satan has laid claim to this city by leading people away from the Lord and thoroughly destroying the fabric of traditional families and communities. The resulting chaos enables Milwaukee to lay claim to the ignoble titles of most segregated city in America, city with the highest incarceration rates among African Americans, an extremely high homicide rate, and one of the highest rates of child poverty in the richest nation on earth. If Christ were a Milwaukeean today, what would his ministry look like? Where would we find him? What would people make of him? Surely we would find him joyful in demeanor, radical in love, urgent and prayerful in solitude, and fruitful in his ministry.

In his first letter, the apostle Peter explained why the life of a Christian will be a life filled with joy. Following a clear and concise explanation of the pure gospel, Peter wrote, “Though you have not seen Christ, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:8-9). The “salvation of your souls” is in reference to the Christian’s movement from eternal death to eternal life as described by Paul: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:23-24). Therefore, the life of a Christian is filled with joy regardless of events or circumstances, because we have been justified by faith and our salvation is certain. This is not something that we have to wait for but it is something that we have already received. For this reason alone, the life of a Christian will be marked by a length and breadth of joy that cannot be understood by the world.

In addition to joyfulness, the life of Christian will be marked by increasing holiness. What does this mean? It means that the life of a Christian, as he or she matures, will be increasingly identified with the life of the Lord Jesus and therefore increasingly look like the life of the Lord Jesus. The apostle Paul got at the heart of the matter when he wrote: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:1-2). The process of being “transformed by the renewing of your mind” is the process of sanctification – the process by which the Holy Spirit shapes the Christian’s life into a oneness with Christ.

The great 20^th century theologian, Oswald Chambers, captured this wonderfully when he assured his readers that “sanctification does not mean anything less than the holiness of Jesus being made mine manifestly,” and “it is his patience, his love, his holiness, his faith, his purity, his godliness, that is manifested in and through every sanctified soul” (Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest). The Christian life therefore — in Milwaukee and at any time and in any place — is a life that increasingly reflects the holiness of Christ.

It is this concept of increasingly becoming and reflecting the holiness of Christ that mandates that the life of a Christian in a broken city and a hurting world will be marked by radical love. Martin Luther King, Jr., understood the radical love of Christ when he wrote from Birmingham City Jail, “Was not Jesus an extremist for love – ‘Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully use you’” (Letter from Birmingham City Jail)? Dr. King understood that “Jesus love” goes far beyond the usual interpretations and extends as far as loving enemies and blessing those who insult us. Further evidence of Christ’s radical love is found in Jesus’ tendency to hang out with sinners (Mark 2), his willingness to break social norms and talk to a Samaritan woman (John 4), and his willingness to forgive the very men who were conducting his execution (Luke 23). And for those who doubt the radical nature of Christ, perhaps it is worth considering his very death – a wicked, lonely, brutal death that he chose out of obedience to the Father and love of mankind.

What sort of actions, then, does radical love display in the life of a Christian? It will certainly look different from one to another but it will always be radical. It might be radical in how much one gives to the poor, or where one chooses to live, or how much time and energy one sacrifices for children, or the boldness with which one speaks against the moral depravity of 21^st century America. Certainly, the life of a Christian in our hurting world will look nothing like the pursuit of the American dream, for the American dream is contrary to the holiness of Christ. Indeed the natural reaction of the world to the radical love of Christ will be to persecute the Christian and view him or her as someone strange and different. Peter identified this reality in his first epistle when he referred to the friends to whom he was writing as “aliens and strangers in the world” (1 Peter 2:11). The life of a Christian, therefore, is on track and appropriate when he or she completely identifies with Christ and self-describes as an alien and stranger in the world. This is the natural outcome of the radical love of Christ.

When the life of a Christian is full with a glorious and inexpressible joy, is increasingly holy, and responds to the world with an exhausting, radical Christian love, the Christian life — like the life of Christ himself — will be drawn toward and indeed will depend on times of solitude and prayer. We note in Christ’s life, how in response to the beheading of John, the feeding of the five thousand, the fear of the disciples, the faithfulness and subsequent faithlessness of Peter, and the healing of the sick, that on more than one occasion, Jesus “went up on a mountainside by himself to pray” (Matthew 14). So engaged is the Christian worker in the life and activities of Christ, that he or she will, by both desire and need, find himself or herself in regular solitude and prayer. Just as Jesus needed this time to connect with the Father, so the Christian worker needs this time to connect with Christ and the heavenly Father. The Christian life is not just praying in church or at bedtime. The Christian will, in the words of Paul, “pray continually” (1 Thessalonians 5:16). Regular times of solitude and prayer will be a mark of the Christian life in the central city.

The Gospels and the books of the New Testament paint a wonderful picture of the life of Christ, the lives of the earliest church workers, and provide a clear road map for modern day Christians. In a city with so much hurt, so much divisiveness, so much ungodly behavior, it is easy for Christians to retreat to their homes and churches and disengage from the world. But we must not. Instead, we stride forward and exhibit the glorious joy that comes through our justification by way of the cross, the holiness that comes through sanctification, the radical, engaging love of Christ, and constant times of prayer and solitude that fill us up and draw us ever closer to oneness with Christ. This is the life of a Christian in Milwaukee’s central city.

Dec

2019

Do we truly love each other in the church?

Originally published on The Electric Gospel on June 26, 2015.

In a religion course that I taught, I asked participants to say something in a personal way about the church — either in the form of an essay or in poetry or song or by an artistic creation. They had much freedom of what form their words or images would take. I received many thoughtful and beautiful pieces. One of the most striking testimonies came from a dear soul who came from the Caribbean island nation of St. Lucia to study in the United States. She wrote in urgent, stream-of-consciousness fashion. Evodia evokes our heartfelt response. She speaks of struggles within what is supposed to be the loving community of the church. How often within the body of Christ, the church, do we leave individual members feeling similar aches and distress? How often do we forget what Christ’s apostle urged of us?

By the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. … Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. (Romans 12:3-5, 10-16).

I pray you will appreciate Evodia’s honest expressions of hurt and hope … and that we all find greater hope and love in community with one another. This is a longer item here on The Electric Gospel blog, but well worth your time.

Running on Empty

by Evodia Cassius

I wish I were able to truly express how I feel. This my sixth attempt to write this essay and the words still do not pour out of me naturally. I am hesitant and unsettled. I guess my title “Running on Empty” is proving itself to be true on many accounts. Apart from the five failed attempts at this paper, I also have two failed poetry attempts and two failed paintings. Honestly the paintings were not failures, they just do not accurately express my story. Neither did the poetry or the other writing attempts. Hence this blog entry … this series of blog entries. This real-life talking style about my failed successes and empty full life. The irony is painful. As I write, the butterflies in my stomach seem not to enjoy the frenzy in my head because they are trying their best to escape. This is my story, my blog, my irony.

Insanity

Shy? Afraid? Unsure? Quitter, deserter, pitiful coward, downer … these are not me. So why do I feel like it is becoming second nature to be all these things? Why do such attributes seem to be the very essence that makes up this temporary dwelling in which my soul lives? Why has living become so hard? Why do I feel defeated before I even attempt something? And more, why do I keep trying if I know that the outcome will be the same? I am beginning think that I MISSED SOME IMPORTANT LESSON that God attempted to teach me, so as a result I go through and do the same things over and over again expecting a change. The very definition of insanity.

Broken

Helpless, needy, clingy, desperate, attention-seeking … these are not me. But someone said even though you glue the pieces back together, you can still see the cracks. Someone else said once it is broken—though you may make the unit whole again—the element is now weaker than it originally was. If these theories are true, what can be said for something that is repeatedly broken and smashed? Does it not stand to reason that one day like Humpty Dumpty the pieces will not be able to be put back together again? I wear a mask. A façade, a camouflage, if you would like to call it that. Something that hides the cracks and the holes where the pieces that once were are now lost. Yes I admit it, I am broken. … And just when I think that by some miracle I am healed and whole, something bumps me over again, reminding of how weak my structure is, of how fragile I have grown over the years. Of how unstable I really am.

Empty

Depressed, sad, lonely, losing faith? These are not me. A priest once told me that questions do not equal lack of faith. I agreed; it was more my curious nature that drove the questions. But when the questions have been answered and yet still they linger or they resurface, a door is opened. A door that allows more things to come in, but not go out. This door brings past hurts and darkness creeping back in. Slowly but surely, the once brightly-painted room is overcome with a darkness, and the fear is that all the light will be gone.

“What brought all this about?” you may ask. God, the devil, myself? That is an excellent question. You see, I had thought not too long ago that life was splendid. Grand with images of butterflies and rainbows behind every corner. Allow me to explain what I believe happened.

Seeing the light

You know that feeling when some startling revelation occurs, when a conspiracy is uncovered, when some big holes are poked into something you thought was all good? That feeling you get of deep despair and confusion and a stomach ache that you cannot explain? That is the feeling that I felt. That is what I experienced. I came to this unknown place with the best of intentions. I was told, “You will be among God-fearing people, people who believe in the same thing you believe. People who love God just as much as you do.” And that brought me face to face with a painful irony … I love God … but I don’t love you? The Bible itself asks how can you love someone you cannot see but hate the people you see. “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen” (1 John 4:20).

So which love is it? Which love will mine be? Which love will be in the hearts of those around me? It’s hard to come to terms with love within the church when the church has lost the love it had at first (Revelation 2:3). Where is love when your loyalty to God is measured on your attendance statistics at each and every religious service, and not on how you treat and relate to the people in your very presence? Where is love when you can have a conversation with someone now, and five minutes later not acknowledge their presence? Where is love when you are treated differently because you are different, or just because? When judgment is cast without knowledge of the person? It is sad. It is hurtful. It is infuriating.

I asked my mother, “How can they say they love God, my God, and behave the way they do? Is it just me? Am I the wrong one?” I pray almost constantly, “God, if I am at fault, help me see and help me change.” But it had gotten increasingly difficult to deal with life within the lukewarmness of my surroundings. Increasingly difficult to smile, to be, to live. A minister friend tells me, “You are exactly where God wants you to be.” And I need to believe this because it is the only thing that keeps me going at times. But is it true … or is it a means of pacification so I stop questioning things? I am not saying that I am the only person who struggles, and the Lord knows that my issues may be rather insignificant compared to others. So who am I to complain? But I do feel empty and low. I feel like a failure because I am not happy where I am. God has richly blessed me and all my endeavors; he always has. I cannot say that he has ever left my side. But where I am at the moment feels wrong … in my gut, in my soul. Sometimes if feels like everything around me is rejecting me, telling me constantly, “You do not belong. Something here is different, you are the odd one out, a foreigner that has infiltrated and is not wanted. A cancer. A poison.” I walk into a room and people go quiet. Conversations cease and people walk away. People’s attitudes towards me change overnight. I am not so self-centered to think that I am always the topic of conversation, but I am old enough to know when life is like high school all over again.

Should I stay in my room and brood or cry? That’s not me. I feel like I need to stifle myself and change to be accepted as one of the masses. That’s not me. I do not want to fit in, be one with all others, if being one of the masses means that I am no longer an individual but a drone. I want the respect I deserve. I deserve it not because of the color of my skin or the country of my origin, not because I am better than anyone else. I deserve respect as a child of God – not because I have not done anything to deserve that title. But the Lord has lavished his love on me and called me his own in Christ (1 John 3:1). And, I will remember, the Lord has called many others as his children too – people different from me, people not like me. And we owe each other love and respect as fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

Prayer

Lord, help what Paul prayed be true for me. Help what Paul prayed be true for those around me. Help us, within your body, your church, to be more and more filled with the love of Christ and with love for one another. …

I pray that out of his glorious riches, the Father may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:16-19).

Who is important?

Reject racism; God shows no partiality

Bible statements

Statements by religious leaders

A Fable

“All flesh is grass” (Isaiah 40:6 KJV).

We Aim to Proclaim

Encourage one another

No room for racism among God’s people

Loving others

Living as Christians in Milwaukee’s Central City

Running on Empty

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