A bit of give and take

Are you a GIVER or a TAKER?

Afriend of mine has a very simple and straightforward view of life.  She has identified two distinct types of people in the world - the GIVERS and the TAKERS. It’s how she determines who gets to work for her and in what positions, how her friends fit into her life and where she should steer her children in terms of career choice and potential life partner.

So if we were to adopt that simplistic view then which one are you? A GIVER or a TAKER? Interestingly, I’ve discovered that a lot of people are actually self deluded when it comes to which side of the fence they fall on. The TAKERS quite often will tell you adamantly that they are GIVERS and the true GIVERS are often slow to realize that they are in no way TAKERS.

As Christians we would assume that our lot are on the side of the GIVERS - because let’s face it, it’s not about US is it? William Booth said it all when he sent the one word message across the seas all those years ago - “OTHERS”. It could well have been “GIVERS” because that word encompasses what we should be about.

We often speak of the “spirit of giving” which is interesting because just as TAKING is really about comfort, self and things of the flesh, GIVING could be seen as being of the spirit.

One man gives freely, yet gains even more;  another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.  Proverbs 11:24 (NIV)

As a fourth generation Salvationist I have been privileged to witness the inspirational lives of so many GIVERS. People whose entire lives were sacrificial in every possible way.  By contrast, at the Pentecostal church that I attended for some years I found an awful lot of TAKERS. Their Christian experience seemed to be mostly about what was in it for them and their family. A lot of this was based on the prosperity teaching that they had embraced and resulted in an overwhelming sense of entitlement. They are not on their own. It sometimes seems that the ME GENERATION(S) of TAKERS seem to have taken over the world especially when you consider how few young people volunteer for community work these days.

The “I want” outlook is made no less self-centered and bigoted and evil by being dressed up in religious garments. Frederick Coutts

Unfortunately I am finding more and more Salvationists and surprisingly, officers who are falling on the TAKERS side of the equation.  The ones who talk a lot about what they deserve for their life of great sacrifice of service. They stress their need for “boundaries” in their work, or boast about their seemingly immovable “personal Sabbath”. They seem to be attending an awful lot of out-of-town conferences or state their overwhelming determination to never be “a doormat for Jesus”. They have a desire to spend more time with the “Captains and Kings” rather than the people we were raised up to be in community with. TAKE, TAKE, TAKE.

“There are many people who seem to be ever reckoning how much they can get out of God for as little as possible in return.” William Booth

In Sunday School we used to sing …

J  O  Y,  J  O  Y, this must surely be …  Jesus first, Yourself last and Others in between

Hey, maybe I’m just a little too simplistic, but is this TAKE attitude one of the core reasons for the SA’s deterioration? There is no place for TAKERS in this movement.  Let’s get back to being GIVERS.

When we reach the end of our hoarded resources,

Our father’s full giving is only begun …

For out of his infinite riches in Jesus,

He giveth and giveth and giveth again. (Annie Johnson Flint - SASB 520)

The Education of Jesus

 by Jonathan Gainey

There are passages in the Bible which may lead us to assume that Jesus was uneducated. However, a thorough knowledge of the educational system in Galilee, along with a clearer understanding concerning the cultural prejudices in Jesus’ day, may help us to see where the New Testament reveals Jesus’ scholarship.

When we read passages like John 1:46 along with Acts 2:7, which question anything good coming out of Galilee and then points out that the disciples are all from Galilee, it’s possible that these statements reflect the kinds of biases that exist in many communities where loyalty to a location brings out competitive ridicule against those in another location. We do this today between High schools, football teams, colleges, cities. One officer told me that when he drives through Auburn, Alabama, he washes his car at the first car wash he comes to after leaving the city, because he doesn’t want any Auburn dust on his car.

The Judeans probably thought of themselves as sophisticated and cultured, while they looked upon the Galileans as uneducated bumpkins. The irony in this is that it was actually Galilee that had more exposure to other cultures, while Judea’s geographical location was more shielded from the outside world. Galilee had many urbanized communities and Judea was largely made up of a rural environment. It doesn’t help us remove our beliefs about Jesus lack of education when we read such passages as John 7:15 which reports of some Jews who were amazed at the teaching of Jesus, considering that he hadn’t studied. However, the importance and quality of education in Galilee was held at a much higher standard than Judea. The Bible only reveals Jesus’ life at birth, at the age of twelve at the Temple, and finally upon his active ministry around the age of 30. According to ancient rabbinic teachings and writings, the education and life of a Jewish boy in a society like Galilee would have been clearly set until the age of 30 for someone possessing the education and anointing to become a sage, like Jesus.

In Jewish antiquity there is a passage that teaches what a Jewish child will do beginning at age 5 when he will be ready to study the written Torah, at age 10 he will study the Oral Torah, at thirteen he will be ready for his bar mitzvah, at fifteen he will study legal knowledge, at eighteen he will be married, at age twenty he will pursue a vocation, and at thirty he is ready to enter full vigor (my paraphrase of Avot 5:21 from the Mishnah).

Even today, biblical education is still more important than going to the synagogue. And this is not because school is more important than worship, but because Jews do not separate education of the Torah from worship. They believe them to be inseparable. In fact, they believe that studying the Word of God is among the highest forms of worship.

Jesus would have spent many days studying and memorizing the written and oral teachings of God and the sages. As we are told by Luke, after Jesus had been discovered by his parents at the Temple, “Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.”

Again, it is very likely that the assumption of the Jews in John 7 was based on local discrimination, rather than a statement of fact.

In His dust,

Johnny

Writer: Capt. Jonathan Gainey was born in Jacksonville, FL in June, 1969. He has been married to Staci, the daughter of retired Salvation Army officers, for twenty years and they have four children ages 18, 16, 12, and 4. Jonathan was commissioned as an officer in June of 2002, and is currently serving in his third appointment in New Bern, NC, USA. He is working on a Masters of Divinity from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and is the creator and manager of the Flocks Diner website, where his passion for learning and teaching is expressed and shared through writing and a weekly podcast.

Entering the Chaos

“Fix what is broken” says Jonathon Gainey

When I was a kid, I lived with my grandfather who was a carpenter, like my dad, my uncle, cousins, and others in the family. Have you ever heard that car salespeople don’t drive new cars, doctors are always sick, and carpenters never live in finished houses? Well, that’s a pretty definite generalization, but with the carpenter thing, I can say that’s pretty true. We always had at least one wall without sheetrock in the house, or some addition going on.

Imagine a world in which everyone does everything he and she can to repair everything that is unfinished or broken around them. In this world, there are no cars with flat tires sitting on the side of the road. In this world there are no unfinished walls in houses, there are no torn shirts, no divorced couples, and no wars (all differences are immediately settled).

Wouldn’t it be great if everyone did everything they could to repair all that is broken in the world?

I’m not preaching at you as if to say, “I do everything I can to fix everything that is broken, and I’d like you to be like me.” I don’t do all I can. In fact, the shoes that I have on are my favorite shoes. I spent a pretty good amount of money on these shoes, and now that the soles are wearing out, I plan to get the soles repaired. I wear these shoes all the time. They are very important to me and to what I do on a daily basis. So, I will do whatever it takes to take care of them.

In my house there is a hole in one of the bathroom walls where one side of the towel rack has been ripped out of the wall. The hole is covered with a really bad spackling job that needs to be sanded, re-spackled, and painted. Then the towel rack needs to be reinstalled. I know how to do all the work that needs to be done, yet, I have still not done it.

Just for the sake of illustration, I’m going to suggest a few excuses for why the hole in the bathroom has not been repaired and the towel rack has not been reinstalled.

1. It’s in a bathroom that I don’t use.
2. I have other things to do.
3. I have other things to do.
4. It’s in a bathroom that I don’t use.

Aren’t most of the world’s excuses like this? There are actually very few reasons why we shouldn’t be fixing what’s broken, and yet we don’t fix them unless they impact us personally or we have nothing else to do. What if other people’s problems, problems that don’t impact us personally, became just as important as the problems that hurt our own lives? What if repairing the hole in the bathroom that I never use became just as important as repairing the soles of my favorite shoes.

There is an audio teaching by Rev. Ray Vander Laan that is titled, “Tikkun Olam”. Vander Laan and others teach about the phrase, tikkun olam. You can also Google tikkun olam and read articles about this Hebrew phrase that has a deeper meaning than the English can fully grasp. In simple terms, tikkun means: to restore to order, and olam means: everything that is broken.

Tikkun olam: Restore to order everything that is broken.

Last week we discussed the choice of Eve, when she took fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This action took the paradise that God had created as His Spirit hovered over the chaos, and re-introduced chaos into the world.

God is order. God is purpose. God is harmony. God is community. As Ray Vander Laan teaches “The opposite of God is division. The opposite of God is individualism. The opposite of God is disharmony. The opposite of God is anything that does not have purpose and does not work properly. The opposite of God is chaos.”

As the husband and father in my house, the members of my family often expect me to fix things that are broken in the house. As the children of God, Jesus expects us to fix the things that are broken in the world.

The Kingdom of Heaven is the people of God doing the will of God on earth. The Kingdom of God’s mission is tikkun olam, repairing everything that is broken in the world.

Jesus said to the rich man, sell all that you have and give it to the poor. Tikkun olam: Fix some of the poor with what you have and you can enter the Kingdom (Matt. 19:16-21).

Jesus said to his disciples, take five loaves of bread and two fish and feed the multitude. Tikkun olam: use your own food to feed the hungry people that are all around us (Matt. 14:16-17).

Jesus said, “Don’t stop the children from coming to the teaching and person of Jesus. Tikkun olam: even when it is inconvenient for you, encourage children to be taught and blessed by the Messiah (Matt. 19:13-15).

Over and over again, Jesus says, “Tikkun olam,” repair the world. Fix what is broken. Repair what is not working. Feed the hungry, visit the lonely, give water to the thirsty, love the unloved, befriend the friendless, give jobs to the jobless, educate the uneducated. Tikkun olam! Welcome the outcasts, heal the sick, encourage the hurting, lift up the downtrodden, bring Jesus to the godless, Destroy chaos. Tikkun olam!

To the ancient Jews of the first century, moving water had a significant meaning. To these Jews, moving water, like the Jordan River, represented chaos and all that was uncontrollable, and in disorder. The moving water of the Jordan represented the chaos or disorder of the world. In Genesis we read that the Holy Wind of God hovered over the chaos in the beginning. The chaos was the purposeless water and earth. Vander Laan says that the Hebrew word for hover is represented by a dove that comes toward its nest and then reverses its flight to come to a complete stop before completing its decent into the nest. It is the exact point of the dove’s decent when the dove is just above its nest and neither moving toward or away from its nest that is the picture of God’s Spirit hovering above the chaos of world before He began the six days of creation.

When Jesus was baptized, the spirit of God hovered over His son who entered the moving water of the Jordan River. There the Spirit of God was present as the Son, by his baptism in the Jordan, entered the chaos and proclaimed, without words, Tikkun olam!

Looking at the stories of John’s baptism in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we come to see that John’s baptism was not a repentance of sins for those who were not believers in God. As I said before, John’s baptism was a symbol of recommitment for those who knew God, but had not been living according to the will of God. As these Jews came to John for his baptism, we are also to note that to be a follower of God was to be a member of the greater community of God. Therefore, this was not merely a personal baptism for personal sins and a recommitment to personally get my life together. John’s baptism was a commitment to tikkun olam, to repair everything that is broken in the world.

Jesus’ baptism was his commitment to join us in our chaos. The hole in the wall of the bathroom he doesn’t use, is just as important as the shoes he wears. He was entering our turmoil, crying with us, hungering with us, thirsting with us, dying with us, and promising to repair the world with us. Jesus entered the brokenness of the world in order to be a part of the repair. All of us who claim to be followers of Jesus lie if we do not commit ourselves to entering the chaos of our world and to be an active part of the repair. If I am only following Jesus so that I can be saved, then I am not following Jesus. Jesus entered the chaos of our world to repair the world. I am in the Kingdom to repair the world, not just to repair myself.

Tikkun olam requires unconditional love of a caring community. It requires that we be willing to help the people whom we do not want to help; the frustrating, selfish, bitter, unkind, manipulating people.

Abraham Joshua Heschel said, “The world is torn by conflicts, by folly, by hatred. Our task is to cleanse, to illumine, to repair. Every deed is either a clash or an aid in the effort of redemption. Man is not…Our task is to bring  eternity into time, to clear in the wilderness a way, to make plain in the desert a highway for God.”

The hole in your bathroom has to be on the same level of my priority list as my own favorite shoes. Only the unconditional love that is exemplified in the love of the Savior of all mankind can repair all of the brokenness that is in the world.

I love what Stephen Covey said in his wonderful book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, “When we violate the primary laws of love-when we attach strings and conditions to that gift-we actually encourage others to violate the primary laws of life. We put them in a reactive, defensive position where they feel they have to prove ‘I matter as a person, independent of you.’ In reality, they aren’t independent. They are counter-dependent, which is another form of dependency and is at the lowest end of the Maturity Continuum. They become reactive, almost enemy-centered, more concerned about defending their ‘rights’ and producing evidence of their individuality than they are about proactively listening to and honoring their own inner imperatives. Rebellion is a knot of the heart, not of the mind. The key is to make deposits-constant deposits of unconditional love” (p. 199).

Jesus entered into the commitment of repairing the world by caring deeply for you and me. The heart of Jesus’ message to his followers was “Love the lord, your God, with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:34-40).

Tikkun olam is not an easy way to go. It is paved with pain and disappointment. You cannot enter the pain of the world without feeling its hurt. But we must be willing to enter the chaos, baptizing ourselves into the promise of Tikkun olam.

Writer: Capt. Jonathan Gainey was born in Jacksonville, FL in June, 1969. He has been married to Staci, the daughter of retired Salvation Army officers, for twenty years and they have four children ages 18, 16, 12, and 4. Jonathan was commissioned as an officer in June of 2002, and is currently serving in his third appointment in New Bern, NC, USA. He is working on a Masters of Divinity from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and is the creator and manager of the Flocks Diner website, where his passion for learning and teaching is expressed and shared through writing and a weekly podcast.

Jesus Christ: Flaming Liberal!

Flaming: Passionate - “Tending to have strong feelings, especially of love, desire, or enthusiasm” (Encarta). Enthusiasm: God in us.

liber (Latin root meaning): free.

“And you will know the truth and the truth will make you free” (John 8:32 RSV).

Were Jesus present in the flesh today He would be branded “A Flaming Liberal,” no doubt about it and correctly so. The religious right would be screaming “Bloody murder!” with His every action and pronouncement. Why would it be any different today than when he walked the earth last time? It’s just a different cultural context.

 Think about the following assertion in a 21^st Century milieu: “If anyone of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” To whom was Jesus speaking? Religious leaders, of course, those who were strictly following the letter of the law as handed down to them.

In my book, Lean Right, Love Left: Balancing the Body, I frame it this way: Ask Jesus about His encounter with the woman caught in the act of adultery (John 8:1-11). There is no dispute about her guilt. The law professors were “Levi on the spot” and had her dead to rights. Her prosecutors knew the law forward, backward, and sideward -”The punishment of adultery commanded by Moses was death” (Leviticus 20:10). The rigidity of the law left no “wriggle room,” and compassion was not yet part of the equation. The woman’s accusers were as right as right can be. You could say they were damned right! Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Words says this about their attitude toward the law: “In their zeal for the Law they almost deified it and their attitude became merely external, formal, and mechanical. They laid stress, not upon the righteousness of an action, but upon its formal correctness.”

The formal correctness of the law had become their salvation and, consequently, the means to a self-serving end-the entrapment of Jesus. “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” It was the perfect “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” scenario. Would Jesus lean right or left-law or love? If law were the only choice, he would be going against his own teaching. If love were the choice, he would be going against the Law of Moses. The strategy was brilliantly conceived and executed by the prosecution team. They are already patting themselves on the back and exchanging congratulatory handshakes as Jesus pauses for a moment to write something in the sand.

 When his response finally does come, it catches them completely off guard: “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” In my imaginative mind’s eye, I see the handshakes and back pats freeze in midair as they absorb the full implications of His challenge. The accusers, who now become the accused, stand stunned and speechless like mannequins in a department-store window. A frozen look of incredulity is plastered on their faces. After what seems an interminable moment, the freeze frame is turned to slow motion. Heads bow, shoulders slump, and faces sag noticeably as they turn and slowly shuffle away like a pack of beaten down bloodhounds turned away from the hunt. This is how I would direct the scene if it were in a film.

Jesus now stands alone with the woman. I like the expository treatment on these verses found in The Wycliffe Bible Commentary: “Only two remained-the sinner and the Friend of sinners. Jesus could have cast the stone, for he was sinless; but he was more concerned with the rehabilitation of the sinner than with seeing that the Law was meticulously satisfied.”

 The Friend of sinners says to the woman, “Has no one condemned you?”  “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin.”

In your imaginative mind’s eye, translate this scenario forward a couple of millenniums. Adultery is no longer the scourge it once was, especially on the right, but substitute some of the modern day blights making headline news today. Cable news anchors, bloggers and twitterers would be “Johnny on the spot,” recording Jesus’ words and actions, spinning and spreading them instantaneously throughout cyberspace.

Bill O’Reilly and his stereotypical blond bombshell legal analysts would be yelling and screaming, “Fair! Balanced! Foul!” all at the same time, thus canceling each other out. Sean Hannity would be uncovering and righteously exposing another poisonous left-wing extremist, playing to the audience, hint of arrogance in that camera practiced smile. Rush Limbaugh would be frothing at the mouth and screaming out over the airways, “Oh, my God! God help us! Where has this country gone wrong?” Laura Ingrahams would be caustically ranting and raving, spewing vitriolic verbal stones forthwith. Glen Beck would be crying crocodile tears, begging for sanity to once again reassert itself in this God forsaken country (All cable show hosts, self-proclaimed spokespersons for the religious right in America, each backed by a team of legal analysts).          

 No question about it, Jesus was/is a flaming liberal, no matter how you slice it, theologically or culturally, then or now: Then neither do I condemn you, compassion for (friend of) the sinner now a part of the equation.

AUTHOR NOTE: Caution! Hang tight and hear me out entirely (a continuing series) before deciding whether or not to hurl that stone.

Writer: Commissioner Joe Noland’s ministry can be summed up in three words: chaos, creativity and controversy - three elements implicit in any successful innovative endeavor. Cecil B. DeMille, renowned producer of Biblical epics, once wrote, “Creativity is a drug I cannot live without.” Joe’s mantra reads, “Creativity is my drug of choice.”  Access Joe Noland’s complete bio, among other things, by clicking into his website.

the Rubicon - BY REQUEST - Subverting the Salvo Empire

“… what you are describing is idolatry.”

T

hey sat there attentive, engaged, and intrigued.  The teacher spent hours unwrapping themes and nuances from a book only four chapters in length.  Many lingered close to the storyteller afterward, insatiable in their appetite to digest the Word.  The speaker – Brian Walsh – skillfully painted a complete picture of the radical call from Paul to the church at Colosse.  This treasonous call to subvert the Roman empire and its marked implications for today inspired, challenged and provoked.  What is the empire, though?  The question hung in the air with a certain tension and silence.  Nobody wanted to immediately out themselves as an imperial conspiracist.  Then slowly and tepidly answers were offered:  the media, America, culture or Wall Street.  Later a young person, with all the sensitivity in the world, gently asked “Is The Salvation Army an empire?”

According to Walsh’s characterization of empire a strong case can be made to categorize The Salvation Army as such.  He simplifies empire into being defined by four characteristics: systematic centralization of power, socioeconomic and military control, powerful myths and imperial images that capture the people’s imaginations.  With varying degrees of efficacy one could ascribe each of these aspects to The Salvation Army.  This creates a space for a fascinating discourse on the Salvo empire.

The systematic centralization of power in The Salvation Army is stark.  It has been since its conception an organization dominated by a distinct hierarchy.  The position of General carries with it enormous potential to dictate the agenda for the denomination universal.  The amount that this holds true of course varies according to the respective managerial excess of each General.  Membership itself has always been hierarchical.  Centralization of power certainly exists in The Salvation Army.

Walsh’s second characteristic is where the parallel falters.  Walsh claims an empire needs socioeconomic and military control.  One can attempt to draw out the abstract military parallel by referring to the obvious affinity to all things military in certain pronounced constituencies in The Salvation Army.  It might even be possible to discuss how economic control – on both a local level (DHQs, THQs) and international level (IHQ, donor territories vs. receiving territories) – perpetuates the Army’s imperial structures.  Nonetheless, it would be an irresponsible representation to indicate that The Salvation Army acts imperially through intentional socioeconomic or military control.

Everyone loves a good story and stories perpetuate empire.  In an empire, myths shape the rhythm of life.  And Salvationist history is filled with these tales.  One need not read Hattersly’s Blood and Fire to know that some of our favourite stories contain in them some inspired stretching of reality.  But we find myths most poignant in our self-understanding of our organization, in the definitions we create of whom and what we are.  The “largest non-governmental direct provider of social services” [ed: this is a tag-line frequently used in public communication by the Army in the Canada and Bermuda territory] line reverberates through our collective consciousness.  At its very best, the claim lacks Christ’s humility.  At its worst it is a gargantuan myth that masks our deficiencies and creates a false sense of accomplishment and comfortability.

And we sometimes take this line even further.  I will never forget the hyperbolic or arrogant (I pray it was the former!) words of a territorial leader echoing in my young head stating “We are The Salvation Army; we are the only church that is doing something.”  Yet, I looked to my heroes of the faith – Dorothy Day, Oscar Romero, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer – and they weren’t Salvationists but were deeply engrossed in the mission of the church universal.  This “largest provider of social services/only church doing something” myth shapes the rhythm of life in The Salvation Army and perpetuates the empire itself.

The final characteristic of empire is imperial images; ubiquitous imagery of the empire permeating culture.  These images mask the reality of empire that lies behind the images themselves.  In The Salvation Army we have undoubtedly perpetuated the empire through imperial images.  The obvious imperial images include the shield, the flag, the uniform, the crest and William Booth.  These images dominate and, sometimes, consume the Army.  Everyday I sport a red imperial logo on the chest of a collared shirt – something similar is normally worn by UPS delivery people and those pumping gas.  Pictures of the founder – and there have been more aesthetically pleasing denominational founders! – are hung in places of honour.  We sing songs about the flag.  We must be the only denomination that heartily enjoys singing about itself in the third person.  All these images mask the reality behind them, the reality of a looming and dangerous Salvo empire.

There is a great sermon illustration that can be used to illuminate fears about The Salvation Army and empire.  An assembly of pastors are sitting around a table discussing overall direction of their denomination.  The leader of the group interjects, “Why all this conversation about the Kingdom?  It sounds like you would be willing to sell out The Salvation Army for the sake of the Kingdom.”  Growing more forceful he pounds the table and states, “That is disloyalty.” “No sir,” this response contains no timidity, “what you are describing is idolatry.”

For God’s sake sometimes we need to subvert the empire.  We need to run from the idolatry of empire.  We need to re-imagine the radical call of Paul to the church at Colosse as a call for The Salvation Army.  A call that is not about abandoning our prophetic place in the church universal, it is not about encouraging disloyalty, and it is not about the pending doom of a denomination. 

What we need to do is to secede from our worst imperial practices and vices.  Where we have established empire we need to put it to death.  We need to remove all that has been deformed by our empire with a call to the resurrection life.  If the story of empire no longer dominates us, then the narrative of Jesus – crucified, buried, risen, ascended and returning – will shape the character of our denominational community.  This will be the alternative to empire.  The problem with empire is idolatry.  The alternative is renewal of the image of God.  The alternative is a community where Christ is all and in all.  And against most of the evidence the church is the flesh and blood embodiment of Christ.  So let us refuse empire, secede from empire, and cease perpetuating and building our own empire.  Let us subvert the Salvo empire wherever necessary for the sake of the Kingdom.  Then we will be just a little closer to image of the invisible God.  Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray.

(Redux request by Frank Dobson)

For further reading see:  Colossians Remixed:  Subverting the Empire by Brian J. Walsh and Sylvia C. Keesmaat.

Writer: Nathanael Homewood is  studying at Yale Divinity School as the
Charles Forman Scholar.  His interests include politics, theology, basketball
and longboarding.  To his mother’s great chagrin he enjoys boxing - her
argument being that finishing his degree should precede getting hit in the head
repeatedly.  He is also passionate about a justice-seeking and missional
Salvation Army.

The Cab Horse Charter Project

“We believe in rebuilding lives” says Maxwell Ryan

In  1890 William Booth’s famous book, In Darkest England and the Way Out, was published, to great acclaim. This bestseller was and remains to this day an unequalled blueprint for social action. Unfortunately few Salvationists have read the book and many are completely unaware of its existence.

Out of this seminal book came the idea of a cab horse charter. With his penchant for an unforgettable phrase Booth wrote:

“When a cab horse, weary or careless or stupid, falls in the midst of traffic, there is no question of debating how he came to stumble before we try to get him on his legs again. In order to put him on his feet, you’ll have to pick him up. Everything is done to help him, and he is restored to his work. The cab horse has, in addition to work, two things: shelter for the night and food for his stomach. Here are the two points of the Cab Horse Charter: when the horse is down, he is helped up, and while he lives he has food, shelter and work. The cab horse is a very real illustration of poor broken-down humanity.”

The bottom line for Booth and his Salvationists was that a person should have at least the same benefits as a horse.

In Booth’s day at least ten per cent of the people in London had less than the horses that pulled the cabs of the day. The Founder found that outrageous, and did something about it.

In the community where you live, what percentage of the population lives broken and despairing lives, as did the denizens of Victorian England?  Do you know, or do you even care? Do you read your society well enough to know the lost? The Army has the expertise, the knowledge and the background to be God’s shock troops.  We know how to do it. In fact, in many places we ARE doing it well. But it’s not enough. What about a contemporary Cab Horse Charter Project? Is this what the 614 network is all about?

Ed: Download an e-Copy of IN DARKEST ENGLAND AND THE WAY OUT http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/475

Writer: Lieut.-Colonel Maxwell Ryan is a former Editor in Chief in Canada and the UK. In retirement he is a copy editor of theRubicon and the author of two series on theRubicon - Resurrected Writers and Thinkaloud

Deeper shade of grey | Faith House 15

 The joy of doubt

I‘ve begun an unintentional habit of reading the most profound articles in the most unusual of places. It makes going to the hairdressers and the Chinese take away a little more interesting. Last month it was an article about recapturing the emotion of awe and how a lack of awe affects our well-being …. fascinating. Saturday while waiting for numbers 18, 24, 32, 34 and 37 in the Ho Hing I ruffled through the usual freebie papers and magazines to find the Psychologies magazine and an article by Emma Cook called the ‘Joy of Doubt’.

“Doubt is an inescapable aspect of human nature, and yet how many of us wish it were not?”

“Make peace with doubt -When you doubt, rather than automatically criticising yourself for being indecisive, remember that doubt is a healthy process by which you can discover your true beliefs…”

“We should feel proud of the fact that we see and struggle with the contradictions of the world. That is a very noble situation to be in . The opposite is to be a fundamentalist - unwilling to engage with or appreciate any position but your own…”

“Doubt is the beginning,not the end of wisdom…” (George Iles).

An interesting thought might be that honest questioning doubt from a desire to believe, may have more to do with the deepening of our faith, than a unquestioning undynamic blind faith that refuses to move beyond anything more than the cosmetics of mere acceptance.

“Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24)

Writer: Capt. Gordon Cotterill lives in London, England, is married to Kate and has two daughters Bethan and Eryn. He has been a Salvation Army officer for ten years and ‘cut his teeth’ in ministry with his wife as the corps officers at Poplar in the East End of London. The lessons he learned there in his day-to-day ministry, amid the chaos of the inner city, continue to shape his understanding and passion for biblical and grace-centred mission. His latest appointment as Spiritual Programme Director at the William Booth College, London now offers him the opportunity for the fusion and exploration of ‘mission’ and ’spiritual formation’ while trying to inspire a new generation of Salvation Army officers as to their role in God’s plan for His creation. Gordon keeps a blog where he mulls over themes of mostly, mission and spiritual formation.

A Theology of the Crash

For the church, the global economic recession may be too good a crisis to waste.

“Life is the sum of our choices.” Albert Camus

Iwrote most of this in Ottawa while attending an event entitled “Forum on Faith and a Sustainable Economy”, sponsored by the Canadian Council of Churches’ Commission on Justice and Peace. The Forum brought together religious professionals, theologians, politicians, academics, aboriginal leaders and NGO types - each with their own perspective on the challenges facing Canada due to the global economic recession, particularly in the areas of poverty and the environment. The word ’sustainable’ was bandied about frequently.

The earnest intent of the Forum participants gave me pause for thought, but in truth I was only mildly interested. So far the economic crisis hasn’t really affected me or the people I live with much at all. Maybe it’s coming in the future, but for now it barely registers. I live and work in Canada’s oldest and largest housing project, Regent Park - Toronto’s original ‘hood’. We are a community of generational poverty. Most people here have never owned stocks, bonds, shares or RRSPs. Many don’t have jobs. No one ever visits Bay Street and life has always been an economic crisis of some sort. So why all the fuss now?

My family has been in The Salvation Army for at least four generations which means, among other things, that we’ve had to count our pennies for four generations. I’ve never owned any stocks, bonds or shares in anything either. I have no savings and I don’t own a credit card. I have no credit rating and live from paycheck to paycheck. So what has changed for me, now that its “officially” a crises? 

As one politician at the Forum remarked, “The economy isn’t necessarily in crisis, but a certain type of economy is”. Maybe this is true, though it’s difficult for me to tell. What I do know is that the type of economy particular to my community trundles along as it always has. I understand that for the middle- and upper-classes, the recession really bites. They are the hardest hit and their lives are undergoing significant changes. I guess lifestyles can be downsized just like corporations. 

The church is panicking about the recession too. The reason for this is because church pews are mostly full of middle- and upper-class people. This is who the church ministers to and ministers among. This is who we are - or at any rate who we have become. The truth of it is that by and large poor people don’t join churches or even attend them. While there are various reasons for this, a couple of key factors result from two choices that the church made sometime during the early 1950s. 

The first was to “follow the money”. As the second wave of urbanization washed over North American cities following the end of WW II, cities expanded outward by building suburbs, otherwise known as “suburban sprawl”. People started moving out of the city, particularly the downtown neighbourhoods, to populate the new tract housing being quickly erected out in suburbia. 

Not everyone moved out of the downtown, however. The population in these areas recorded sustained growth during those years. Certain people stayed and these certain people were for the most part - the poor. Chances are the majority of them weren’t churchgoers, but even if they wanted to be, their options narrowed considerably during this period because as the middle-classes moved out they tended to take their churches with them. One estimation is that in Toronto, between the end of the WWII and the year 2000, approximately 400 church congregations moved out of the broadly defined downtown. 

The second choice follows naturally from the first. Though geographically shifting away from the poor, the church still accepted their responsibility to do something for them. This was sorted by “outsourcing caring for the poor” - creating missions and para-church organizations, organizing  non-profits, giving money to groups like The Salvation Army and relying increasingly on the government to look after those people who historically had comprised a fundamental part of the church’s core constituency. 

As people of faith, we no longer wanted to live in those neighbourhoods or with those people or send our kids to the same schools as their kids or join the same sports teams or shop where they shopped or create community together or attend the same churches.  We chose to live our real lives elsewhere, mostly among people like us. And we came up with church planting theologies and mission strategies to back our choices. 

In moving away from the poorer communities and breaking community with them, we consequently needed to invest in a service provision approach to caring for those we left behind. Community development and community capacity initiatives, as rudimentary as they may have been at this time, were abandoned in favour of the more distanced and detached approach of providing services. 

The church would build, operate, support and pray for the hostels and rehabs and feeding lines in the city. Some of our people would even drive down Monday to Friday to work in these places and service the people who formerly were our friends but now had become our clients. But always returning home to their real communities and friends and neighbours in the evening and on weekends. This is where we built our churches and how we chose to live in community and with whom we would share our lives. These were our primary relationships. 

In Matthew 25, Jesus gives us a snapshot of the Day of Judgment in the well-known story of the sheep and the goats. This time around, however, Jesus refers to the nature of our relationship with the poor in order to help him decide where we will spend eternity. This is a reminder that he has entrusted us into each others’ care, and also a typical “upside-down kingdom” reversal of roles in which the world’s “losers” are somehow the judges of the world’s “winners”.  

But what happens in a world where (as the financial experts keep telling us) winners are dwindling fast and we’re mostly left with losers? In a world of have-nots, how then do we now act toward one another? Out of what do we help each other? How do we sustain caring in such a world? 

Jesus never told us to refer the stranger to a hostel, he said take them home with you. He never said give the naked a thrift store voucher, he said if we have two shirts, give one of them away. He said to share our meals and not do it on someone else’s dime. He said we are to love our neighbor,  apparently not anticipating that his people would be so shrewd and selective in choosing their neighbours. 

As service providers we choose a “certain type of economy” - one which constantly and continually requires resources because service provision is about giving things to people. “Soup, soap and salvation”, as we say in The Salvation Army. It is inherently disempowering, maintains control in the hands of the giver, perpetuates dysfunction and dependency. “Rescue missions” have a place, but they are often more “mission” than “rescue”.  A service provider gives out of his wealth and not out of her poverty and this is something that Jesus seems to have an issue with (Luke 21:1-4). 

Community development looks at things differently. Rather than viewing a neighbourhood like Regent Park as a place to professionally visit and the residents of the community as needing to be given things, the church in the community is viewed as ready to: “journey in community to express aspirations, discover assets, confront limitations and generate solutions for peace and well being.” (Glenn Smith). 

It means that the people of God, as agents of community development rather than service delivery units, need to be a presence in such communities (live life there, not just work a job there); facilitate reconciliation rather than exacerbate segregation (economic, class, opportunity, religious as well as racial); enhance ownership in the community - not only of private property but also of people’s lives; provide leadership development from the community and not primarily imposed from outside (what better vehicle for developing leaders than the local church?); model just distribution of resources within the community (among many other things this means shopping in the community). It’s not about the servicing of people, but the sharing of life with them. And it is sustainable, regardless of what shape the economy is in. 

So what if the financial crisis is really simply “good news preached to the poor”, as Jesus heralded?  What if it is a God-given opportunity to re-think our theology and re-imagine our churches? What if it is more about who your friends are than who your broker is and where your church is rather than where your investments sit? What if it is actually more a theological crisis than an economic one? 

What is your Theology of the Crash? 

Writer: Major Geoff Ryan was co-founder of theRubicon and was publisher for three years. He is co-ordinator of the 614 Network and organizes the bi-annual Urban Forum. His interests include writing, politics, coffee and his children. Geoff and his wife Sandra minister in Regent Park, a social housing project in downtown Toronto, Canada. 

Man the barricades!

Will you join in our crusade?
Who will be strong and stand with me?
Somewhere beyond the barricade is there a world you long to see?

In the famous Victor Hugo story (and brilliant musical) Les Miserables there is a point in time when the barricades have to be manned and the “angry men” have to put up or shut up. Are they the people of substance that they have purported to be or will they shrink from the fray?

It looks like that time has come again for the Salvation Army when it comes to people trafficking. It’s no longer about wearing trendy t-shirts or making the right sounds and gestures, for there is an out and out war brewing.

Canadian Salvationists have been asking us all to support their upcoming prayer vigil against people trafficking into prostitution (on Sunday September 27^th). The pro-prostitution lobby is not happy saying that these types of campaigns are “dangerous”. They plan to protest against these praying Salvationists and warn street prostitutes about the “impending threat” of the planned street prayers.

Major Brian Venables says “This is a bold step for the Salvation Army, we’ve stepped out of the shadows and said this isn’t going to happen anymore, and we’re going to do what we can to stop it.”

Well Hallelujah and Amen to that Canada! We’ll be praying for you at other points around the world. It sounds like it’s going to be dangerous and people’s apple carts are going to be seriously turned over.

This is a huge contrast to an incident in Australia this year where TSA caved in when challenged in a similar way. (Having said that this one was not about prayer but mammon). Danielle Strickland previously wrote of how the launch of this year’s annual SA fundraising doorknock in Australia was hijacked by a sex workers lobby group because one of the promotional tools told the story of a young man who was saved from the degradation of selling his body to buy heroin.

The “Scarlet Alliance” demanded an apology from TSA stating that prostitutes were deeply offended to think that a charity was exploiting their “legitimate trade” for sympathetic publicity. The appeal organisers seemingly had a gun to their heads in the middle of a national media launch and had little choice but to pull the ad and offer a public apology.

I marketed politicians (such as our present Prime Minister and State Premier) and Hollywood stars,  so I understand the importance of depriving such outrageous rubbish any media oxygen, but the long term ramifications of this cave-in are frightening. Are we now doomed to the impotence of political correctness in our public dealings out of fear of a media backlash?

What’s next, disguising our work with alcoholic or gambler recovery so as not to upset the very powerful liquor or gaming lobbies? Or maybe we should avoid talking about Jesus just in case we offend our Buddhist or Muslim friends. It’s a slippery slope alright.

Am I suggesting that we don’t play the media game? No, not at all, but we have to rise above their sensationalist, hungry machine, be always one step ahead and not let them call the tune.  The Public and Governments are fickle and as the old saying goes “You can please some of the people all of the time, all of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time.”

If we are really true to our purpose and mission and out there and proud the right publicity will follow (just as it has in the Canadian example). Purity of heart and true sincerity shine through the media like a beacon, mainly because it is diametrically opposed to the plethora of usually deceitful spin out there. The wise old founder said it …

 Don’t allow the world’s praise to attract, or its blame to affright you from the discharge of the duty you owe to God, to yourself, or the souls of those about you. God will take care of your reputation if you make His Glory and your own duty your sovereign aim.  (WILLIAM BOOTH)

Danielle Strickland -  ( http://therubicon.org/2009/05/justthinking-couldve-been-a-contender/)

The Vanouver Courier - ( http://www2.canada.com/vancouvercourier/news/opinion/story.html?id=4c4e7302-3d0c-44c9-ab3d-649a81d1f5b5&p=1 )

CALL FOR PRAYER: www.salvationist.ca/trafficking 

Eternal Life

Inheriting eternal life is a Hebrew idiom for “living life in the will of God.” This meant that those who followed Jesus believed that if they obeyed his teachings and imitated his ways of living out God’s will, they would gain the ability to “live their lives in the will of God” (inherit eternal life) because they believed that Jesus’ interpretations of the commands of God in the Torah were the perfect interpretations.

The eschatological reward and punishment system was not as important to Jewish people as it is to us Westerners today. In other words, first century Jews were not as concerned with the “afterlife” nearly as much as they were concerned with the “active” life of being a child of God who lived God’s will correctly in the world.

It is not easy for those of us who have grown up in the Western world where everything either ends with reward or punishment or payoff or pay-up to imagine doing something because we should do it and it pleases God. I would even suggest that if it was somehow proven that there was not an afterlife reward for Christians that many who claim to be Christians would choose another religion. I would challenge all Christians to imagine for just one day doing God’s will without even considering a reward in the afterlife. Actually, pretend for one day that you are either going to live according to God’s will or not and either way there is no heaven or hell in the end.

This is the attitude of the first century Jewish world with regard to obedience to the will and ways of God. We use the reward and punishment system because it works for most situations to which we are required to get people to do what we want. But what if people did their jobs simply because they were able to do them and the jobs needed to be done? What if there was no pay or loss of pay whether I did my job or not? Would I still do my job or be a life-long couch potato? And how would this impact those in supervisory positions? Would they be more likely to express words of appreciation and encouragement like God or would they use tactics of threats and fear like most religions? God’s word was always a sweet tasting gift to first century Jews, which allowed them the privilege of obeying God simply because it pleased Him, not because they were mortally afraid of losing their jobs or lives. God’s word was written to encourage His people to follow His will, not to scare them into obedience.

Paul tells us that we are to do everything we do as if we are doing it for God (Col. 3:23). God doesn’t say do everything we do as if we will be paid for it. We do God’s will for the sole purpose of bringing His Kingdom into the world wherever we are present as His children. Eternal life is the opportunity to please God by doing His will in the world, not the opportunity to live forever, though that may very well be part of the package. But even if our death brought nothing but the end of life, we should do the will of God and do it gladly.

In His Dust,

Johnny

Writer: Capt. Jonathan Gainey was born in Jacksonville, FL in June, 1969. He has been married to Staci, the daughter of retired Salvation Army officers, for twenty years and they have four children ages 18, 16, 12, and 4. Jonathan was commissioned as an officer in June of 2002, and is currently serving in his third appointment in New Bern, NC, USA. He is working on a Masters of Divinity from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and is the creator and manager of the Flocks Diner website, where his passion for learning and teaching is expressed and shared through writing and a weekly podcast.