Arresting Ministerial "Stop and Frisk"?

[This post was originally published on my pastoral advocacy blog called the Cupbearers Initiative, however, it has wider application than just pastors. It has to do with how we look at the world and how we engage those that we perceive as "other."]
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Since this is primarily a blog to support and encourage pastors and other ministry leaders, I like to be real about some of the issues we face. This post addresses one such issue.

A Dangerous Practice 

Photo: Creative Commons

One of the dangers faced by those of us in ministry leadership is having a “stop and frisk” mentality. I am referring to the well-known practice employed by Mayor Bloomberg and the New York City Police (and many other agencies) in an approach to reducing their horrific violent crime and murder rates. They did so by stopping, questioning, and frisking people on the street to confiscate illegal weapons. While the policy arguably did reduce murder rates, it led to significantly unjust racial profiling and harmed the already tenuous relationship of communities of color with the police.

Photo: Greg K. Dueker

In this post, I am using “stop and frisk” as a metaphor to describe what happens when a shepherd’s heart is either lifted up in prideful self-righteousness or wounded by the pain, suffering, and trauma others have inflicted upon those they love. I have been one of those shepherds. As leaders, we don’t want to see the people we care for hurt so we can easily go into “protect mode” failing to remember that we have been called to love our enemies too. Our attitude can quickly become bounded by “us/them” feelings, thoughts, and words that lead to unwelcoming actions. We can become more about circling the wagons into a safe defensive perimeter that we fail to reach out in love and understanding (even in disagreement) to our neighbors. Jesus reminds us repeatedly that safety is not the highest value in the kingdom. When you read the previous statement, what verses come to your mind? I have my working list, but I prefer to let you develop your own.

Photo by Paul M on Unsplash

I remember a season, early in my marriage and my ministry, that while I was not actually stopping and frisking people on the street, I was ready to do so. I had become hyper-vigilant in a misguided effort to reduce the human damage caused by lawbreaking. I viewed strangers as suspects until they could prove otherwise. Though I was not deployed in any military conflict, I became quite good at real-time threat assessment in order to protect those I loved and to meet the challenge of the spiritual conflict that swirled around us.

The problem with this approach is that it loves people very selectively if at all. It does not love “others” as Jesus taught us to love. A probing question we should answer is, have we received the love of God so that we are content to keep it to ourselves, sharing only when seekers come and ask? Or, has the love of God so transformed our hearts and lives that we cannot help but share that steadfast love freely with others?

Wrestling Matches or Missional Welcome

Photo by Henry Hustava on Unsplash

While there is a very real spiritual battle surrounding us, we must remember that our weapons are not of this world and we are not to use the world’s methods when contrary to the scriptures (e.g., 2 Cor. 10:3-4). It seems to me that we are prone to compartmentalize this concept, limiting its declaration as applying only to literal weapons such as assault rifles, tanks, dirty bombs, and drone strikes.

Photo: Randy Fath on Unsplash

As Christian leaders who take the Bible seriously, we know that the kingdom of God is not established by the coercive force of human weapons but through sacrificial love (John 18:36; Rev. 12:11). We would certainly not want to commit again the sins of the Spanish Conquistadors and the accompanying Inquisition. However, do we engage those outside the church, or those from other churches, using the thinking processes of the world as a weapon? Paul writes in this passage that “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood” (Eph. 6:12) so while we don’t physically throw all the seekers, skeptics, and schemers against the wall and frisk them for weapons, we may do something even worse. We can desecrate the holy encounters God gives us with people when we treat them more like confrontations than conversations, more like wrestling matches against wrong thinking than really hearing and entering into a human story, and then topping it off by justifying our confrontational approach as “striving against sin.” Sometimes we need to be reminded that “the anger of man does not accomplish the righteousness of God” (James 1:20; Prov. 29:22).

People want to be seen, heard, understood, and valued. Any ministerial stop-and-frisk ideology will hinder the type of outwardly focused love that best represents the way the Trinity shares their goodness with all creation. Stop-and-frisk processes remove the merciful welcome of hospitality. A mortal sin in the ancient world. These suspicious and confrontational approaches can make evangelism and gospel ministry more like a mugging than relational ministry. I would even suggest that we see conversion, and the larger discipleship process, as less transactional and more about the Spirit-led journey towards full faith in Jesus Christ.

Seeing Past the Edge of the Earth

Photo by Florian Rieder on Unsplash

It is normal for us to draw lines and make judgments. We engage and do life together with those people who are enough like us to dwell inside our circumscribed borders of us/them, the flat earth of our own making. We need Jesus’ to open our eyes to see beyond the edge of the earth with which we are comfortable. We need eyes to see and ears to hear as he does because his love is not constrained by our limitations.

What do we see when we look at others? How do we spiritually profile them? There was a time when Saul of Tarsus and others considered Jesus just a carpenter’s son. They could not see his true identity. We do the same thing when we fail to recognize that each person we meet is an image-bearer (whether they know it or not) and is precious in the sight of God. Saul/Paul later testified that their own attitude had been adjusted by Christ so that now, “we regard no one according to the flesh.” (2 Cor. 5:16)

Photo: Unsplash

We need to discern Christ in the least like of those we meet, humbly being ready to learn from their stories, struggles, and even their strange experiences as human parables. Will we have an ear to hear and a heart to respond? Does our perception end at the edge of our little earth? Or can we see beyond that, with eyes of faith, love, and hope what Christ intends for each person to become?

Even as many police agencies move away from stop-and-frisk tactics and embrace community policing through building positive and mutually helpful relationships, may we as evangelicals get a clue. Jeremiah 29:7 admonished the Jewish exiles to settle down and get busy, “But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” We are not in exile, but our mission cannot be any less engaged in seeking the common good. As ambassadors of the kingdom of heaven, the love of Christ compels us to do so!

Can Hate Ever Be a Good Thing? (Proverbs 6:16-19)

At this time of year, we often review the major news stories of the year. Some good, some bad, some horrific. It is a season where the message of love, peace, and joy should leave us wondering how we can help to make this world a better place in the year to come for we are barraged with news stories of tragic acts of hate perpetrated against humanity. When we see attitudes and acts of hate, in the lives of others, we innately recoil in horror and condemn such as uncivilized and unacceptable. In America, we have gone so far as to establish special laws against hate crimes.

So how could we ever suggest that there is a time when hate could be good? Certainly not the kind of hate that harms or diminishes others, but what about hate that is motivated by great love and untainted wisdom?  I know it sounds strange. Yet, because God is love (1 John 4:8), and his love is steadfast and endures forever (e.g., Psalm 118:29), there are some things that the Lord hates.

King Solomon, using a uniquely Hebraic poetic style, expresses it this way…

There are six things that the Lord hates,

    seven that are an abomination to him:
haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
    and hands that shed innocent blood,
a heart that devises wicked plans,
    feet that make haste to run to evil,
a false witness who breathes out lies,
    and one who sows discord among brothers. (Proverbs 6:16-19)

Why does the Lord hate these attitudes and actions?

Because they hurt everyone involved. God, in His love, desires what is best and right for all his creatures.

As a result, he fiercely opposes the work of the enemy—who comes only to steal, kill and destroy—wherever it is found.

It is the Holy Spirit, manifesting the love of God, who brings conviction—the knowledge of our own failures—so that we might turn again to the healing love of God in Christ.

At Christmas, we hear the story again, of how God came to earth… not with haughty eyes, a lying tongue, or justified acts of revolution, to accomplish a greater “good”. He did not feel compelled to resort to the devil’s tactics, but instead manifested the love of God.

Do you ever wonder why we can spot hate in others so much better than we can spot it in ourselves? I have. Sometimes I think we point out the failures in others because it is safer than looking at, and dealing with, our own.

• Do we look down on others, or feel entitled to something better than them?
• Are we quick confessors, ready to authentically admit our shortcomings, or is it more natural for us to lie to cover up our indiscretions? What’s worse, do we lie to God thinking that he falls for our deceptive reasoning? He doesn’t lie and doesn’t fall for our mind tricks either.
• Do we objectify others for the sake of our own needs? Not many of us would want to literally kill someone else, but when we waste their lives for our own pleasure and comfort we are in some way “shedding innocent blood.”
• How quick are we to do what we can get away with, to profit personally at the expense of others? Is our focus on defending our “right” to do what we want even when it is evil?
• Do we inflate our own qualifications and minimize those of others? Do we curate information to produce the results we desire without regard to accuracy?
• Do we in advancing our own causes stir up an unhealthy distrust among the brothers and sisters? Do we delight in planting fake news, erecting strawman arguments, curating conspiracies, cultivating cynicism, and harvesting division? We hate those “mean girls” and “jealous guys” who make the lives of others miserable. Let us not be like them. God’s purposes are not advanced by tearing down others to exalt ourselves, but by trusting God himself to make our name great.

Thankfully, God doesn’t ask us to do what he won’t do himself. Jesus Christ was the perfect manifestation of the invisible God—in that he revealed the heart, character, and mission of God to mankind. He came humbly not choosing to draw attention to himself. He always spoke honestly never placating people for his own advantage, and he went about healing and undoing the works of death—both physically and spiritually.

His new command was that his followers might “love one another” and thus prove he had been in their midst. While truth divides, Jesus never sowed discord, but instead advocated for forgiveness and reconciliation (e.g., Matt. 5:23-24; Mark 11:25). However, for that to take place perhaps we need a bit more heavenly hate for the attitudes and acts of pride and selfishness that sprout up like weeds in the gardens of our own hearts.

What do you think?

All Creatures, All Cultures

This post was originally published on a blog focusing on a devotional approach to the Psalms Honest2God. 

However, in light of recent ongoing racial tensions, it is appropriate to be reminded that the symphony of God's people includes and embraces all creatures and all cultures.

(Image painted by Hope G Smith www.hopegsmith.com)

This means that each individual creature and culture has value.

Psalm 150:1-6

1 Praise the Lord!
   Praise God in his sanctuary;
    praise him in his mighty heavens!
2 Praise him for his mighty deeds;
    praise him according to his excellent greatness!

3 Praise him with trumpet sound;
    praise him with lute and harp!
4 Praise him with tambourine and dance;
    praise him with strings and pipe!
5 Praise him with sounding cymbals;
    praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!
   Praise the Lord!

Comments:

Wang Xi on Unsplash

Hallelujah! This is the final psalm of praise (doxology) in a string of praise psalms! More than that, this final psalm is a doxology for the entire book as well. This psalm starts with a “Hallelujah “ and ends with a “Hallelujah!” It is a very ancient Hebrew word expressing worship to Yahweh, the covenant-keeping God of Israel who is revealed in the Bible. It has been transliterated into most languages on the earth, it is a word that now transcends language and culture to express praise to the one true God, our Creator and Redeemer!

Within this inclusio (of just six verses) there are eleven more exhortations to praise the Lord.

The phrase in verse 2, "praise him according to his excellent greatness" always makes me think. What kind of praise could ever live up to that? Could our worship ever actually be "according to his excellent greatness"? Maybe one day in heaven when we can see him as he really is and have eternity to express it...but probably not till then. 

However, one way that we can begin to praise more in accord with his greatness is to allow each culture to express true praise to God from within their God-given culture, and in their God-given language. "Praise in accordance with God’s greatness" cannot be contained or monopolized by one race, within one language, one culture, or one musical style!

 

This psalm subtly makes this clear through the lists of instruments that sound like those of different cultures and generations, from the fanfare of announcing royalty and priesthood (3a) to the quiet and contemplative tones of lute and harp (3b), from the rollicking Hebraic tambourine and dance (4a) to the Celtic or Bluegrass sounding strings and pipes (4b); or even the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO) head-flipping rock opera or college marching band sound of sounding cymbals and crashing cymbals (4b). Music is universal…just not the same music. So is praise. 

When we gather in heaven, we may not all be singing Matt Redman, Chris Tomlin, Phil Wickham, or Hillsong, like I do, but we will join together nonetheless in that great hymn-dance of praise perfectly fitted to the greatness of our Savior. 

Could the new song that we raise be the choral tapestry of all languages, cultures, and styles singing their praise to our Triune God, blended together into one great multi-layered anthem by the love and wisdom of God? Very likely, for such is consistent with biblical teaching about the nature of the church!

I contend that these six verses also show us that, praise "according to his excellent greatness" would need to be praise that is offered everywhere, for all he is and does, on every instrument, with every living voice, from every culture and nation, with all that is in all of us! May it begin to be increasingly so in the church today and in the days to come!

This interracial and multicultural theme is echoed in the final book of the Bible, which in many ways serves as a doxology for the entire Bible and the plan of God in time and history. I will quote a couple of passages from the Book of Revelation that contain the praises of the church, that great multitude of redeemed humanity, to conclude this journey through the psalms. Amazing how familiar the language is and yet how unfamiliar the experience is to so many!

Revelation 7:9-12  ^“Hosanna!”

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”  

Revelation 19:1-2, 6-8 “Hallelujah!”

After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice 

of a great multitude in heaven, crying out,

“Hallelujah!
Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,
    for his judgments are true and just;
for he has judged the great prostitute
    who corrupted the earth with her immorality,
and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”

...Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,

“Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
    the Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and exult
    and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
    and his Bride has made herself ready;
it was granted her to clothe herself
    with fine linen, bright and pure”—

for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

Hallelujah! Amen.

[See also Revelation 14:1-3 “A New Song”, and 15:2-4 “Song of Moses” for other great choruses in the Kingdom]

 

Voting for Nebuchadnezzar

[This article was originally posted on my Our Long View Blog if you want to see other messages like this.]

In last week’s message, we continued a study about glory. People were created to share in the glory of God but that all changed when man rebelled against God and sought his own glory instead. The true glory of God has been substituted, replaced with a cheap, knock-off pirated type of glory. In previous weeks, we had considered the limitations of both human and national glory. Here is a summary.

1) Human Glory Is Momentary (Psa. 39:5; 103:14; 144:4; Eccl. 3:20; Isa. 40:6-8; 1 Peter 1:24; 1 Thess. 2:6). Man’s exile from the achingly beautiful presence of true glory has too often been dealt with not through seeking reconciliation with God, but by pursuing the lesser glory that comes from other people. Man’s residual glory, having been created in the Imago Dei, has been clouded and even at his best is momentary (Psa. 39:5; 103:14; 144:4; Eccl. 3:20; 1 Peter 1:24) and not something that should be sought (1 Thessalonians 2:6). We would do well to remember that our society tends to cannibalize its celebrities.  We build people up only so that we can tear them down. As Irenaeus said, humanity's true glory is to “remain permanently in God’s service.”^[1] Why is this the true glory of humanity? Because being in a relationship with the triune God is where we find our long-sought peace, our irreducible value, and our ultimate purpose as we are invited to participate in the inter-Trinitarian life of God through the Son by the Spirit.

2) National Glory Is Temporary (Genesis 11, Isaiah 37, 2 Kings 19). The Bible tells of many nations and empires rising and falling—Babel, Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, etc. They might have been impressive from a human perspective, but their power and glory were not permanent. The Bible teaches that any nation raised up by God for a purpose, which fails to give God glory by functioning justly for all may serve a temporary purpose, but is soon judged and passes from the scene of history. It is a hard truth all “superpowers” must face. We should pray Daniel’s prayer of national repentance (Daniel 9).

Then last week we considered the dangerous distinctions of self-glory in a message from Acts 12:20-24.

3) Self-Glory Is Deceptive (Acts 12:23, Rev. 18:7-8) Self-glory is not only momentary but highly deceptive, promising better than it delivers and woefully understating the true cost (e.g., Acts 12:23; Revelation 16:9; 18:7), straight from the father of lies himself. 

A powerful example of this concept is found in the life of Nebuchadnezzar recorded in Daniel 3-4.

In Daniel 3, King Nebuchadnezzar (ruler of the vast Babylonian empire) tells, in his own words, what he had learned about God through the various signs and wonders that God had worked in and around his life. Daniel 3 tells the story of Nebuchadnezzar (or “Mr. Nezzar” as he is called in the VeggieTales version) throwing Daniel’s three friends into the fiery furnace for refusing to bow down and worship the huge golden statue of the king. At the end of that narrative, the king declared,

“Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and set aside the king's command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God. Therefore I make a decree: Any people, nation, or language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins, for there is no other god who is able to rescue in this way.” (Dan. 3:28-29)

This is a statement of a greatly changed worldview... even if his despotic Near-eastern proclamation against dissent doesn't match up with the steadfast love of God revealed in the Scriptures.

Then in Daniel chapter 4, the king received another dream from the Lord which he could not understand. Daniel had interpreted the first one for him and in this case, was again enabled by the Lord to interpret the dream. This time the dream functioned as a dire pronouncement of a coming humiliation for his great pride. Nebuchadnezzar was given a slim glimmer of hope, from Daniel, if he would “break off” his iniquities through...

1. By practicing righteousness, and establishing justice for all the people in the realm. It is especially contingent upon a leader to realize that the law of the land applies to themself as a ruler and to the people.
2. By showing mercy to the oppressed. He was “to show a new sensitivity to the plight of the poor in his empire, protecting them instead of allowing the rich to exploit and oppress them.” [EBC]

If he did this, then Daniel suggested that “there may perhaps be a lengthening of your prosperity.” It might have already been too late for Mr. Nezzar. However, he seemed to have complied for a year before looking at his vast capital and all the hanging gardens it contained and taking all the credit for himself…as politicians are wont to do. At that very moment, the justice and mercy of God were declared from heaven.

Nebuchadnezzar, 
by William Blake 1794

Daniel 4:28-33 tells the story of how  Nebuchadnezzar went on a “crazy trip” that lasted perhaps as long as seven years (There is a period in his reign that contains a gap in recorded activity from 581 to 573 BC except for the siege of Tyre which might easily have been continued in his absence) before his reason returned and he blessed God instead of himself. Not only that, but he writes of his own failures and sins of pride in his own words in Daniel 4. Just one chapter earlier he would have been the least likely candidate to give glory to the God of Israel in the eyes of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. But now he declared the praise of God for all the world to hear!

Every politician is a Nebuchadnezzar, who has great power that can be used for good or for ill; who is also subject to take credit for successes while deflecting blame for failures.

I am amazed that a man who was basically the ruler of the world was humbled by the justice of God and restored by the mercy of God to the place where he could testify,

At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven,

and my reason returned to me,

and I blessed the Most High,

and    praised and honored him who lives forever,

                      for his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
                    and his kingdom endures from generation to generation;
   all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,
    and he does according to his will among the host of heaven
    and among the inhabitants of the earth;
    and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”

…Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, 

praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, 

for all his works are right and his ways are just;

 and those who walk in pride he is able to humble. (Daniel 4:34-37)

Don't you wish our political leaders could say the same thing?

Nebuchadnezzar had a dark and violent past, he had taken the best and brightest of conquered nations captive to acculturate them to Babylonian ideals, and he had even enforced idolatrous worship. But he learned his lesson (after these seven years of exile), for the common good, and became a leader for whom I could vote. 

I have actively avoided campaigning for any particular candidate, but I am praying that our leaders today—Democrats, Republicans, Independents—will experience their own Nebuchadnezzar moment, lift their eyes towards heaven, humble themselves, and give glory to God so that they might rule well...with mercy and justice for all. 

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[1] Joel C. Elowsky, ed. John 11-21 (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture). Vol. IVb (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2007), 176

"Choosy Moms Choose Jesus"?

I saw a church reader board sign recently on my commute. This is not uncommon as I like the “Dad-humor” mixed with a spiritual perspective so often expressed in such places. However, this one had me choking rather than chuckling. It simply read, "Choosy Moms Choose Jesus." OK... kind of catchy but also kind of wrong. Marketing Jesus by appealing to pride, exclusivity, consumerism, insecurities, and peanut butter? Well, I think he's OK with the peanut butter (cue the Washington Carver story).

If I were to write a blog post engaging this idea, which I am not likely to do… I would say that this well-intended reader-board wisdom is deficient on so many levels. In fact, I could probably list three or four ways right off the top of my hot head.

First, we don't choose Jesus, he chooses us. The Bible is pretty clear about this, and he didn’t choose us because we were “all that,” but because he is the kind of God that is outward-focused in his love. We were not in a place to help ourselves or with a ton of options, in fact, we were poor, sick, and weak. Here are a couple of passages that speak to this.

• Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? (James 2:5)

• For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly 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, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:26-31)

• (See Romans 11:5-6; 16:13; Col. 3:12;1 Thess. 1:4; 1 Peter 2:9-10; John 6:43-44).  

Second, even by bumper-sticker standards, this statement seems very impersonal and not very creative. Is Jesus merely a product to be bought, sold, selected, or rejected? Is such objectification a sign of spiritual maturity? No. He is a person to whom we must relate. He pours out his love on us—while we were yet sinners—and we must respond to that love one way or the other. However, our "choosiness" is not an advantage here. Honestly, there is much in the life of discipleship that is not easy and also much that is not held in high esteem by the court of public opinion. Having said all that, what does it say about "choosy Moms" by blatantly ripping off the Jif™ Peanut Butter marketing campaign? Perhaps choosy moms should choose more original tag lines, lest their children learn to plagiarize! Jesus is the creator of all so instead of copying the ideas of the dominant culture we would do well to be more creative and less given to accommodate the voice of another.

Third, the saying intends to play on the pride of a "choosy mom" and get her to choose Jesus to maintain her own sense of competence and bolster her self-image as a good mother. Ironically, it markets the programs of the church by appealing to a part of our person from which we must repent in order to fully experience the grace of God. It would seem to me, that the church’s reader board shoots its gospel mission in the foot with such a proclamation.

Fourth, the consumerism that is a great weakness of the contemporary church is in evidence here. People are often in a church for what they can get for their marriage, their family, and their own self-fulfillment instead of embracing and being embraced by God's family (the church) as they share life together over the long haul. That is a tragedy of a non-Trinitarian view of God being manifested in the church. We too often follow the "monad in our mind" that spins everything as revolving around us instead of realizing that we are only who we are in relationships with others. The church is a place for us to “...one another” because they need it and God is just that way.

“The concrete means by which the church becomes an echo of the life of the Godhead are all such as to direct the church away from self-glorification to the source of its life in the creative and recreative presence of God to the world.”[1]

Well, those are some of the seed thoughts I might try to communicate if I were to write a short blog about something as trivial as a reader board sign. I think I’ll make a peanut butter sandwich instead.

[1] Colin E. Gunton, The Promise of Trinitarian Theology (New York: T & T Clark, 1997), 81.