Our Public Health Responsibility as Christians - The Banner

This is an opportunity for Christians to live out the 2nd commandment Jesus gave to love our neighbors as ourselves. 

Covid-19 has put public health into practical terms for us today.

Similar to when public health advocates for vaccines, the current message of practicing physical distancing is about asking people to do something that will help not only themselves but others as well. Especially those who are most vulnerable.

People everywhere are being asked to think of their communities above themselves and stay home and limit contact with others.

It’s uncomfortable and not always pleasant.

It means giving up what we want in service to others. And it is an opportunity for Christians to live out the 2nd commandment Jesus gave to love our neighbors as ourselves.

My hope is that after Covid-19 is over, we will not forget this opportunity we had to live out our collective responsibility to protect and look after others.

Hopefully we will carry on being advocates for equity, we will think of others' needs above our own, and we will continue caring for the most vulnerable among us.

The full article is available here

On Not Getting Used To Social Distancing - Pastor Melissa Florer-Bixler in Christian Century

My spiritual practices have long been communal ones. I love people and their presence.

Christianity produced an earthy and human set of texts by which we set our lives.

My spiritual practices have long been communal ones. I love people and their presence. I love people and their presence. For me, spirituality is to holding space for the celebration and sorrow of people’s lives.

I love the pitch of human laughter and the varying temperatures of palms pressed into mine. I love textures of humanity, the co-journeying of long relationships, and the tone of voices woven together in song.

This year my Lent may last longer. I anticipate that the absence of my communal spiritual practice will continue to widen a space that cannot be adequately filled with virtual access.

Giving attention to the curve and shape of that empty place, being drawn back to longing for the lives that will fulfill it — this will be what I do in this season of COVID-19.

The full article is available here

Lament vs Rationalizations In A Time of COVID-19 - NT Wright in Time Magazine

Some Christians are prone to think of God as above, knowing everything, in charge of everything, calm and unaffected by the troubles in his world. That’s not the picture we get in the Bible.

Lament is what happens when people ask, “Why?” and don’t get an answer.

The point of lament, woven thus into the fabric of the biblical tradition, is not just that it’s an outlet for our frustration, sorrow, loneliness and sheer inability to understand what is happening or why.

The mystery of the biblical story is that God also laments.

Some Christians are prone to think of God as above all that, knowing everything, in charge of everything, calm and unaffected by the troubles in his world. That’s not the picture we get in the Bible.

The ancient doctrine of the Trinity teaches us to recognize God in the tears of Jesus and the anguish of the Spirit.

It is no part of the Christian vocation, then, to try to explain what’s happening and why (in terms of God being a causal agent). In fact, it is part of the Christian vocation not to be able to explain—and to lament instead.

The full article is available here

The Church Being Community During COVID-19 - Jodi Koeman at CRC Network

We need to plan how we bring shalom to our communities and neighborhoods. 

Many churches are figuring out how to gather remotely, and while this is important, maybe this is an opportunity to BE the church in a new way.

We’ve been forced outside the church walls. How will we respond? What role does the church have in this crisis?

While we plan to maintain a sense of community among our members, maybe we also need to plan how we bring shalom to our communities and neighborhoods.

These principles, articulated by Cormac Russell of the Asset Based Community Development Institute at Northwestern University, are helpful in guiding us.

• 1. Citizen-led - We need to follow the guidelines of CDC and other health care providers.
• 2. Relationship-oriented - While taking social distancing measures seriously, how do we seek out people in our community that need our support?
• 3. Asset based - What strengths and gifts do you or your church have to bring to this situation and to your community? What strengths are right in your neighborhood?
• 4.Place-based - Churches are key places for community. We should look out for one another, but now is a prime opportunity to be with those in our local neighborhoods as well.
• 5.Inclusion-focused - Ask your community what is helpful. Ask community members what they can offer. Don’t assume you know what the most vulnerable need.

The full article is available here

God is Becoming: Consolation in the Face of Tragedy - Rabbi Bradley Artson

If God has truly ceded to creation the ability to make choices, then God didn't kill the innocent, didn't allocate disability, didn't impose poverty.

God, in choosing to create, gave us an independence that is real. We, along with all creation, have real agency, and the choices we make are truly untrammeled, unprogrammed, and unforeseen by God.

God is vulnerable to surprise and disappointment just as we are. The universe unfolds according to its own inner logic; the laws of physics operate, and God cannot/does not suspend them based on moral standards.

Thinking of God as having all the power leaves us rightly feeling betrayed and abandoned ("was I not good enough for God to intervene?"). It leaves those who defend that error in the same position of Job's friends—discounting our core ethical knowledge in an attempt to defend the indefensible. We do know good and evil: God's Spirit infuses us with that awareness. Hiding behind "it's a mystery," or "we can't understand," or "it's all for the best" is, in my opinion, worse than unsatisfying, because it requires either blaming the victim or denying our ethical compass.

If God has truly ceded to creation the ability to make choices, then God didn't kill the innocent, didn't allocate disability, didn't impose poverty. Looking for God in special effects causes us to mistake theater or science fiction for life.

God is found not in the suspension of nature's laws, but in the intrusion of novelty and surprise from within fixed law, in the abiding nature of hope, and in the transforming power of love (a power that is persuasive, not coercive).

When a beloved student struggled with what became a terminal illness, I saw God being very busy throughout his struggle—in moments of laughter and song, in the strength of the relating that bound us all as a community and kept my student feeling connected through his very last minutes, in the determination to be there with and for his family throughout and beyond the ordeal.

I never expected God to guarantee an outcome or suspend the natural. I did expect to find God in the steady constant lure toward good choices and responsibility. And that God did not disappoint.

The full article is available here

Evangelicals, This Is How Republics Fall - Messiah College Historian John Fea

Evangelical leaders who support Donald Trump have failed to rebuke the president’s immorality. By keeping (their) heads in the sand as Trump proves he is incapable of living according to the most basic standards of decency, they neglect to do their part in sustaining our republic and fail to be good citizens.

When Trump engages in (all of his immoral) activities, many of his most ardent evangelical followers —Franklin Graham, Robert Jeffress, Paula White, Eric Metaxas, Jerry Falwell Jr., James Dobson, and Ralph Reed, to name a few — look the other way. They are unable to speak truth to power because Donald Trump and his Republican Party hold them captive.

Evangelical leaders who support Donald Trump have failed to rebuke the president’s immorality. By keeping (their) heads in the sand as Trump proves he is incapable of living according to the most basic standards of decency, they neglect to do their part in sustaining our republic and fail to be good citizens.

The political problems in Evangelicalism run deeper than just the failure to speak with a prophetic voice. 

Donald Trump will be gone one day. But the political playbook that evangelicals follow will not go away unless we decide to burn it and start over.

There is a very good chance that this playbook will lead evangelicals into the arms of another immoral tyrant who promises conservative Supreme Court justices and offers platitudes about religious liberty.

The full article is available here

Benediction: God's Upside-Down and Abundant Kingdom (based on Matthew 20:1-22)

May we go out from here as workers in God’s upside-down kingdom; where the last are first and the first are last ... and where there is grace enough for all.  And may the blessing of God, the love of Jesus, and the presence of God's Spirit surround us and sustain us.

Call To Worship: Transforming Relationship with God and Each Other (based on Romans 12:1-2)

We have gathered together to connect with God, who calls us away from the broken patterns and mindsets which we have sometimes gotten used to living within. In their place, we are invited into transformative relationship with God and with one another. So let's give thanks for this extraordinary, boundless, and life-giving grace.

Benediction: We Are Everyday Grace To Each Other (based on 1 Peter 4:10)

As we go now, may we look at God’s world with God's eyes. May we continue to seek out all of the everyday grace available to us through each other. May Christ's example of sacrificial and inclusive love be our guide. May God's Spirit help us to surrender our ego and pride so that we can join in the work of bringing out the best in everyone and everything.

Reimagining Confession as Noticing - Winston Charles in Shalem

The contemplative tradition brings an alternative, transformative experience of confession; reimagining confession as an integral part of our journey into wholeness.

Confession has all too often been understood within a dynamic of payment due, penance to be done, and conditional forgiveness.

The contemplative tradition brings an alternative, transformative experience of confession; reimagining confession as an integral part of our journey into wholeness. Key to confession as part of the journey of spiritual transformation is noticing. 

Sometimes that happens by being hit over the head with a ton of bricks.

But more often, it happens by noticing in the stillness how once again we have acted out of those old inadequate behavioral patterns; ones that are more interested in feeding the little, needy ego than in re-forming the ego into a strong and healthy center, marked by compassion and courage, integral to the spiritual heart.

This concept of confession is not reserved solely for the confessional booth or Sunday’s general confession or any other specific time.  Rather, it is always present as we live through our days. With clear and courageous eyes, we notice how we fall short and where we are called to go—an ongoing examen that leads us forward.

The full article is available here

Benediction: The Gifts of God the Trinity In A New Year (based on 2 Timothy 1:9-10)

May God be our source of hope and peace in this new year. May we follow Jesus into new and abundant life. May we grow in awareness of God's indwelling Spirit, which surrounds us with everyday grace and goodness in God's world.

Call To Worship: May We Be Open To Goodness (based on Genesis 1:31)

As we gather today, may we have hearts that are open to the beauty of God's hope and goodness. May our minds be open to the vast expanse of God's love. May we always be on the lookout for all of the grace which surrounds us in the universe which God created and called "good." As we seek to follow God's path, may every part of our lives be worship.

Advent Reflection and Renewal: Waiting For Promise To Be Fulfilled

God, you sending Jesus to earth is an amazing reminder of the original goodness in which you created the universe and of how it can be lived out by humanity. For this, we give thanks.

At the same time, it can be difficult from our historical vantage point to really have a sense of how - in the centuries that passed between creation and Jesus’ birth - your good news of liberation for the poor and oppressed was only a promise. While it was a hopeful promise, it was also one which generation after generation did not see fulfilled.

So God, help us to begin to appreciate what it means to wait. We’re so used to instantly having our every wish met. Help us to seek to understand what it means for those living in the dark shadows of injustice and suffering to hope for light to come.

Help us to not take your grace for granted.

Others of us know all too well what it means to continue to wait for things to be made right. We’re familiar with the weariness of hope deferred. God, help us be on the lookout for where even glimpses of the hope of your promise of are being born within us and around us.

God, thank you for your free and life-sustaining gifts of grace, which we can all tap into, regardless of where life finds us in this season. 

Amen.

The Misguided Priorities of “Keeping Christ In Christmas” - Stephan Ingram

When Christians belligerently insist that our faith necessarily deserves priority and that our traditions are what need to be centered, we are not representing Christ; who called for humility, peacemaking. meekness, and self sacrifice.

The very fact that people feel that it is their duty to mandate Christ in Christmas represents a misunderstanding of the priorities which Christ-followers should be guided by.

Christianity, as defined by the life and teachings of Jesus, never depended or insisted on being the majority, in power or even influential.

It was a religion that lauded the weak, meek and the poor. Jesus came preaching a gospel that defaulted on the need for religion to have power and influence. He told us that the last shall be first and the first shall be last.

When Peter picked up a sword and was ready to take Jerusalem, Jesus quickly told him to put it down because that is not the kind of gospel he was bringing.

When Christians try to force God on others we reincarnate some of the worst epochs of our religious history, and default on its core founding principles of love, grace and hospitality.

When Christians belligerently insist that our faith necessarily deserves priority and that our traditions are what need to be centered, we are not representing the man who called for humility, peacemaking. meekness, and self sacrifice.

The full article is available here

Advent Benediction: Jesus' Birth Heralds A New Family of Humanity (based on Isaiah 40:4-5)

As we go now, let's watch for all the places where God is making things new again. May the power of God's love recalibrate us. May it lead us to fill the dark places with light, to level the uneven paths with grace, and to join together with all of humanity as the family of peace and hope which Jesus’ birth initiated.

Advent Call To Worship: God's Light Came To Shine Into Dark Spaces (based on Luke 1:46-55, Matthew 4:16)

In Advent, we celebrate the gift of God’s light,  Jesus. 

According to Jesus’ mother Mary, it was extraordinary that this gift was made available to everyone - even those of low social status and those pushed to the margins by forces of power and greed.  The angels proclaimed the very same message to the shepherds, saying that Christ’s birth was “good news of great joy for all people.”

So like Mary, the angel chorus, and the shepherds; may we give thanks to God for the gifts of inclusive love and boundless grace which can be received by all. 

Advent Benediction: Paying The Gift Of Grace Forward Through Service (based on Romans 15:2)

May the gift of Christ coming to join our human race cause joy and gratitude to rise within us. May it lead us to follow Jesus' example of loving service in God's world.

And may the grace of God, the love of Jesus, and the peace of God's Spirit be with us this day and evermore.

Advent Call To Worship: A Message Of Hope For All (based on Luke 1:46-55)

Christ coming to earth is a message of hope for all people! All of those who aren't held in high value by the powers-that-be are now called "blessed" in God’s sight.

The mercy and love of God is good news to the poor, it is liberation to all of the oppressed, and it is the extending of welcome to all of the marginalized and excluded. God’s mercy and love is poured out for all who need it in every generation.

For this incredible grace, we come now to give thanks.

The Flow Of Spiritual Current - Roderick MacIver

Reflection and Renewal: Sharing Our Inward Healing Outward (based on Matthew 24:45)

God, your goodness and love strives to bring forth abundant life throughout your universe. You've called us to be your hands and feet in that effort.

But sometimes we have remained on the sidelines. Sometimes we've resisted letting your love lead us beyond our fear or shame. And sometimes - even when we've tried our level best to bring out the best in everyone and everything - we've done so less than perfectly.

So we come asking for forgiveness and healing. Help us to surrender the narrow lenses which limit our vision. Help us to see the world as you do. Help us to listen for your everyday nudges with open ears,  hearts, and minds.

Amen

Benediction: God, Make Us Human Together (based on Psalm 98:9)

based on "Words of Sending" by More Light Presbyterians, New Orleans

In our everyday lives, may we look for God’s divine spark which is present in everyone and everything. May that awareness of the inherent dignity and worth of ALL cause compassion to move within us and grace to flow outward from us.

May we join in loving solidarity with all of those who are excluded, dehumanized, hurting, struggling, or feeling lost. May we be willing to be honest about our need for help when we are hurting, struggling, and feeling lost.

May God's love help to make us human together, by which we will be a true reflection of God's infinite beauty, goodness, and love.

Call To Worship: Rehumanize Us, Triune God (based on 2 Timothy 1:7)

God, open our ears to the sound of your still, small voice. Jesus, open our eyes to the light of your love.  Spirit, open our minds and hearts to the beauty of hope.

God the Trinity, may your perfect example of selfless community remind us of the dignity which we all possess and cause us to see that dignity in all of humanity.

May that divine work begin within us now, and may our spirits be open to connect with you, as we give thanks and praise.

Reflection and Renewal: The Dignity Of All Divine Image-Bearers (based on Genesis 1:27)

God, we give thanks for the original goodness in which you created everything. Your grace, which surrounds us and dwells within your entire universe, is a pure gift without limit.

When we forget these truths, we sometimes call our very humanity itself "unclean," despite the fact that you created us in your divine image and called it “good.”

Help us to be aware of times when we - either knowingly or unknowingly - have caused your goodness to be hidden or masked. Forgive us for when we’ve shied away from the restorative work of removing obstacles to your abundant life and grace.

Remind us once again that you see us as precious, worthwhile, and having priceless value. Forgive us for when we have allowed voices other than yours to tell us that some people are somehow not equally and  fully human, are of lesser worth, and have no value.

Help us to remove our distorted lenses of pride and fear so that we can clearly see your reflection when we look at ourselves and when we look at your world.

Amen.

Common Humanity = Realizing Our Godliness - Inward/Outward

Bethel Megachurch Advocates Abusive Conversion Therapy - Patheos

Bethel megachurch in California is facing backlash after promoting “gay conversion” therapy on Instagram. Bethel posted the question “Can a person leave homosexuality behind?” as if the answer might actually be yes. The post also suggested that some people might only think they’re LGBTQ:” “[Jesus] knows us better than we know ourselves and wants to lead us into His vision for humanity. Sometimes, that is countercultural.”

The full article is available here