Watch Your Mouth!

Here is another posting from 2007 - another perspective on the songs and characters of the Christmas Story in Luke

Jesus the Underdog

Here is a posting from 2007 - another perspective of Jesus and the Christmas Story.

Details of the Early Days of Jesus' Life

Luke carefully sets the context for the life Jesus will grow up in following the visitation of the sheepherders.

Notice the careful observance of Torah by Joseph and Mary: this is key to understanding the home and culture of Jesus. He grew up in a devout home marked by righteousness as defined by Torah. His family regularly kept Torah, making the appropriate sacrifices, keeping to the appropriate holy days, and obeying the commands governing their social, economic and religious life. When Jesus was born, his people were not looking to ditch Torah, to get away from the Law. They were working to keep it, all the time praying earnestly for the LORD to have mercy on them and rescue them from those who either neglected Torah, rejected Torah, or corrupted Torah.

According to Torah, Jesus was circumcised and named on the eighth day. Leviticus 12
According to Torah, Mary was purified (childbirth caused uncleanness, she need to be made ritually clean) on the fortieth day (with doves or pigeons - which is what the poor were able to afford). Leviticus 12
According to Torah, since Mary was also of the tribe of Levi (being related to Elizabeth), her firstborn son (not Joseph's!) was presented to the LORD, consecrated and redeemed (a lamb was sacrificed in place of the firstborn). Numbers 18v14-16

It is interesting to note how Luke frames the situation: those like Mary, Joseph, Simeon, and Anna who are Torah-observant, righteous and devout, and who recognize Jesus as the Christ are also influenced by the Spirit of God. It seems like there is a transition going on: the Spirit is going to be crucial to the recognition and reception of Jesus as the King of the Universe. It is crucial that one be Torah-observant, righteous and devout, but they must also be given the Spirit - which is a gift.

Notice that the story of Jesus' family going to Passover also reveals their commitment to keeping Torah. Keeping Torah wasn't oppressive, stifling, or a burden. It gave the people identity, direction, purpose, and a framework by which to order life and society. Torah is what made Israel unique, it is what situated them to be used by God to bring light to the world. But Torah wasn't God's last word on the rescue of the world. Jesus is to be the light - to Torah-observant Israel, to pagan-Gentiles, to everybody that was looking for redemption from evil, peace amidst cruelty, light instead of darkness, rescue from chaos.

Jesus grew up Torah-observant. Joseph and Mary were inspired by Simeon and Anna, by Zechariah and Elizabeth, and all those who were righteous and devout. Jesus thus grew up in wisdom of the Torah and favor with God and the neighbors. And it was out of this setting that he would be:

a light for revelation to the nations,
and the glory of your people Israel.

How'd the Shepherds Know?

In reading through the text this afternoon, I had some questions concerning the shepherds.

The angel of the LORD tells the sheep-herders that the Messiah has been born in Bethlehem, and they'll know him when they find him because he'll be in a manger. You've got to wonder if the sheep-herders cocked their heads at that one. "He'll be in a what?" shouted the skeptical one back at the angel!

Obviously a manger is not a normal bedding source for babies - even shepherds know that; one wonders if the shepherds wondered what kind of Messiah is found lying in a manger. Wouldn't a Messiah be born into royalty? What kind of manger-bound Messiah baby is announced by an army of angels? I'm sure not much of what was announced made sense. But they went, out of curiosity if nothing else.

Here's what I want to know: how'd they know where to find the manger-baby? It's night time, it's really chilly in the hilly city of David, so the shepherds aren't going to find Jesus laying around outside. If he was in a cave, how'd they know which cave? How many caves did they have to look in before they found one with a baby in it? If it was a barn or stable, how many did they have to look through? Did they just keep looking till they found the manger-baby?

I think that Joseph and Mary gave birth in a house of one of their relatives, but since they were still considered unclean, they were forced to stay in the animal storage part of the house (the only entrance being through the living room). If this were the case, how would the shepherds know which house to go to? Did they keep knocking, asking if there was a baby inside the house laying in a manger? That would've got some odd looks.

However it worked, they eventually found what they were looking for. They spread the word throughout town, and everyone was amazed by what they heard from the raggedy sheep-herders. We're not amazed by the story because we think it's perfectly normal for a baby to be born and then placed in a manger. Think about it: what are the odds that the moment the shepherds found THE house, that the baby would be in the manger at that moment. Do you really think that Mary placed the baby in the manger as soon as she could, and then left the baby there for as long as she could? I really doubt it. Mary would have held the baby, fed the baby, cuddled with the baby, let it sleep in her arms. If she wasn't holding the baby, Joseph would be. Why leave a baby in a manger when it could be held? It really was a miracle that the shepherds arrived at the rare moment that Jesus would have actually been in the manger.

What about Joseph?

My friend Jeff Hamilton and I were talking the other day, and we got onto the subject of Joseph. He's been reading through Luke, and upon reading chapter two, he had some questions about the role of Joseph. What did Joseph think about everything that was going on? He's mentioned hardly at all in Luke's version of the Christmas story...but he has an interesting part to play.

We wondered: did Joseph just flat out trust Mary's account of what happened? Her story of how she became pregnant...did Joseph believe the part about the angel? According to legend, the gossipy rumor was that Mary had been ravished by a local Roman centurion. Is this what Joseph thought? What did he think? What was he thinking about as he and Mary travelled from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Their marriage isn't official until the two of them consummate it, and that won't happen till well after this child is born. So Joseph has taken Mary with him, presumably because her father kicked her out - Joseph is taking a woman who is not yet his wife, impregnated by someone other than him, traveling through the rough Jordanian valley under harsh Roman rule into the realm of the tyrranical and vicious King Herod. Merry Christmas indeed.

Why did Joseph take Mary with him? Why did he accept HER firstborn son as his own? Why were they not able to find a quality room in which to give birth? Were they rejected by their ancestral family as well? Did Joseph serve as the mid-wife? How long had they been in the village prior to the birth? How were they faring before and after? How well did they know each other before all this happened? Since marriages were arranged between the father of the bride and the family of the husband, did the two actually know each other prior to all this? Assuming the small village nature of Nazareth, they likely knew something of each other...but was this trip to Bethlehem their first time being together? Merry Christmas indeed.

The text doesn't indicate any kind of reluctance on Joseph's part, and as the story unfolds, the two seem to become one, dedicated to fulfilling the law and believing the prophecies of their son. Joseph seems to have accepted Mary as his wife, her son as his own, and her future as his. For all the attention that Mary gets in this story (and deservedly so), Joseph seems to live up to his namesake, preserving the future of Jesus just as the first Joseph preserved the future of Jacob's tribe. Merry Christmas indeed.

In those days...

Luke starts his narrative of John's birth announcement with this phrase: "In the time of Herod king of Judea"; Luke begins his narrative of Jesus' birth with this phrase: "In the days of Caesar Augustus...". It's easy to skip over these little phrases, but they put the whole story in context. Not only was the local ruler of Judea where John was born a corrupt, evil, brilliant king, but the Roman emperor of the whole Mediterranean world was also actively imposing his "peace" program unto every region. There was no relief for the righteous, no hope for the poor, no good coming from these ungodly and greedy rulers. It was into these dark days that John and Jesus were born.

John was born in a village located in the hill country of Judea just outside of Jerusalem; Jesus was born in a different village not far away. Both were born in unique circumstances, both were miraculous in their own way, both attracted lots of attention. Elizabeth was surrounded by friends, family, joy and celebration, Mary was alone with Joseph in the bare stall, rejected by family, spurned by friends, full of determination and wonder.

In those days, giving birth to a son was one of the best blessings God could grant. In those days old women didn't give birth to children, they helped deliver them; in those days young girls did not announce that God had caused her to become pregnant while still a virgin. In those days tradition and ritual and purity and avoidance of shame were paramount to a family - it was gave them some kind of sanity and stability amidst the insane kings and terrible eruptions of violence that swept through the countryside. Ironically, Elizabeth escaped shame by finally giving birth to a son, and Mary entered into great shame by giving birth to her son.

In those days, Jesus was born into shame, he grew up under the shadow of shame, and eventually he would die in shame. But God was at work, using the shame of an "illegitimate birth" and an "unknown father" to set up the world for a daring rescue plan. It was how God was going to set up his unending kingdom (see Gabriel's announcement to Mary), under the nose of a super-paranoid Herod, in the realm of the super-powerful Augustus. I'm sure in those days Joseph thought God's plan was crazy and unpredictable. I'm sure those days are here again.

More Than Just Nice Songs

It's important to remember the context in which Mary and Zechariah lived. Their songs weren't just because they were happy about having a son, about God acting according to his ancient promises, or because the Messiah was coming. Their songs are rooted in their revulsion towards the Roman Empire and the Caesars.

In Mary's lifetime a thousand fellow Jews were crucified and staked along the road leading from her Nazareth village to the razed city of Sepphoris. In Zechariah's line of work, the high priests and their ilk were all appointed by Herod - with no regard for lineage, holiness, or piety towards God; the original priests being banished or killed.

Mary's song for revolution was personal; her people were being slaughtered, starved, and subjected to terrible hardships. She wanted God's Son to cast down the proud and mighty, they were tearing apart the world. Zechariah knew what it was like to be hated; pious, observant Jews of his day were mocked and reviled. Obedience to God's way of peace was not popular.

Luke begins his narrative by noting that the story began in the days of Herod. We would use the name Hitler for similar effect. God was finally acting to bring an end to the merciless injustices - it is no wonder that Mary and Zechariah sing and stomp with joy. It'd been too long since they had anything to sing and stomp about...

Connections between the Songs and the OT

As has been pointed out already, Luke is showing the connections between God's work in John and Jesus and his work in the past through Israel. The first readers of Luke's gospel would have been deeply moved as they read about all the ways God was continuing his work - work and words first established in the days of Abraham, Moses, David, Isaiah, Daniel, Malachai, and now Mary and Zechariah. People were beginning to waver in their hope that God would remember them and his promises. God did remember...oh did he remember!

Read this piece of narrative between Gabriel and Mary (1v26-38)
…you have found favor with God.
You will conceive and give birth to a son,
And you are to call him Jesus.
He will be great
And will be called the Son of the Most High.
The LORD God will give him the throne of David,
And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever;
His kingdom will never end.

NOTE: the OT references in this short piece - Joshua is the Hebrew name for the Greek translation Jesus; Jesus is to be given the throne of David, Jesus is connected to the tribes of Jacob, who is a grandson of Abraham. Also, the promises that are made to Jesus are the promises that God made to Israel: be a great nation, will be priests of the LORD God Most High, will be a kingdom that reigns in peace forever.
NOTE ALSO: the connections between this piece of narrative and the contents of Mary's Song; it is this announcement that mostly inspires Mary's songburst.


Mary’s Song is partially rooted in the Song of Hannah (1Samuel 1-3)
The LORD brings death and makes alive;
He brings down to the grave and raises up.
The LORD sends poverty and wealth;
He humbles and he exalts.
He raises the poor from the dust
And lifts the needy from the ash heap;
He seats them with princes
And has them inherit a throne of honor.

Mary had spent much time reflecting on God's work in the past, especially through women like Eve, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Zipporah, Deborah, and Hannah. Mary longed to be used by God like one of these women: in God's generosity, Mary will have something in common with all these women - and her song will wrap up their longings, like Hannah's, into one great song.


Mary’s Song echoes a song of Isaiah (Isaiah 49).
It is too small a thing for you to be my servant
To restore the tribes of Jacob
And bring back those of Israel I have kept.
I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,
That my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.

Take some time to slowly read through Isaiah 40-49; it is some of the most beautiful poetry in the Scripture. It is beautiful and powerful - God dealing with real people in the real world, God granting mercy and reconciliation out of generous grace. God is continuing in Jesus what he had revealed he was all about over four-hundred years earlier in the days of Isaiah. And Isaiah was scripting out what God had promised over a thousand years earlier to Abraham and the sons of Jacob.

Did You Know The Key To Reading Luke?

Luke is a brilliant writer. If you miss this point, you will have a hard time grasping what he is communicating about Jesus. Yes, Luke had help, but Luke also was using his gifts and passions and intelligence to craft the stories. And Luke reveals in the first chapter what he is going to reveal to us about Jesus in the next twenty-three.

Consider the details Luke includes when it comes the announcements concerning the birth of John and Jesus. Gabriel the angel goes into some detail about what the names will be, what they will mean, and what they are to accomplish according to what God has already been up to in the world for some time.

John (God is grace-full) will be used to turn the hearts of those who hear towards righteousness; Jesus (God saves) will be used to establish God's kingdom on earth. These birth announcements/names tell us much about what kind of stories we are going to read, and will give background to the teachings.

Also consider the songs of Mary and Zechariah: they reveal - with much emotion - the content for the gospel as it is declared and lived out by John and Jesus. Mary is magnifying the LORD for finally - after all these long, difficult years - bringing the King to reign forever and ever. Jesus is the promised king come to reign and reverse all that is wrong in the world. This is why Mary is so merry, and it frames everything Jesus does - his miracles, his teachings, his travels, his encounters.

John is the promised prophet-priest who is preparing the people for their New Exodus out of Exile in Egypt, he is touching their hearts with words of conviction and mercy, helping people encounter the LORD in a new way, calling to them to remember the LORD, for he has remembered them. This also frames the work of Jesus, his life and words as recorded and arranged by Luke.

As you look at the structure of chapter one, you notice some rich details:
Birth Announcement of John to the Father
Birth Announcement of Jesus to the Mother

Mother of Jesus Visits Mother of John

Song of Mary Mother of Jesus
Birth of John
Song of Zechariah Father of John
Birth of Jesus (chapter two)

According to the narrative account, the announcements are given back to back, followed by a transitional visit, and then an interesting pairing of songs and birth stories. It becomes obvious that the stories of John and Jesus and their family is intertwined, that together they have similar destinies, and that of the two, though John comes first, the second will be greater than the first (sound familiar...?).

It's also really interesting to note all the OT echoes and themes that emerge in the announcements, the songs, and the birth stories. Luke is trying to make it obvious that John and Jesus are a continuation of God's ongoing work to redeem Israel and rescue the world, but that John and Jesus are also part of a new work, part of the New Exodus. How many OT references can you find in chapter one?

Two More Questions from Luke

3. Why did Gabriel pick Zechariah and Elizabeth?
First, Gabriel picked the couple that God instructed him to choose.

Second, both Zechariah and Elizabeth are descendants of Aaron, the first priest of Israel. Only descendants of Levi can be priests, and Aaron was the first descendant of Aaron to be named a priest - this makes Zechariah and Elizabeth special. The role of a priest was to serve as a go between the people and God. The priest was responsible for making the sacrifices of atonement which covered the sins of the people and restored the relationship. John, the announced son of Zechariah and Elizabeth was to serve as a very unique priest - declaring God's mercy and willingness to forgive the sins of all who would repent.

Thirdly, Zechariah and Elizabeth were honest and humble people who were devout in their faith and blameless in their walk before God and their neighbors. They had a heart willing to obey whatever the LORD would instruct them to do, and thus they would be ideal parents for John.

4. How did Elizabeth become pregnant? Was it like Mary or was it through Zechariah?
This is a good question - the text does not make implicit that Zechariah is the father, though the phrasing does make that allusion. With Mary the text makes it quite obvious that the LORD will cause the pregnancy to happen in a miraculous way. What is special about Elizabeth was that her womb was barren in her old age; she had been unable to conceive and now she was beyond the age of being physically able to conceive. The LORD did intervene to make it possible for both Zechariah to impregnate her, as well as touch her womb so that Elizabeth could become pregnant. It was a special birth for which their was much rejoicing.

The First Questions about Luke

1. How do we know that Luke travelled to different places to get his information?
We don't know all the places he went, but since he claims to have had eyewitness information, he had to at least travel to the lands of those who saw or participated in the events of the life of Jesus. We also know that he was a travel companion of Paul, which shows that he was a veteran traveller.

2. What kind of physician was Luke?
It is in the context as a travel companion of Paul (Colossians 4v14) that we find out that Luke is a doctor. Also, in a letter to the Corinthians, Paul reveals to have some physical ailments and injuries, we conclude that Luke was likely his physician doctor. Luke was not a magician doctor. The disciples never used or endorsed the use of magic to promote or further the work of the gospel (see the story of Elymas the Magician, Acts 13v4-12). Luke was also not into the use of superstition in order to diagnose or cure sicknesses, since Paul makes a big point in a letter to Timothy to avoid all such nonsense.

Luke 1v1-4

So many others have tried their hand at putting together a story of the wonderful harvest of Scripture and history that took place among us, using reports handed down by the original eyewitnesses who served this Word with their very lives.

Since I have investigated all the reports in close detail, starting from the story's beginning, I decided to write it all out for you, most honorable Theophilus, so you can know beyond the shadow of a doubt the reliability of what you were taught.
Luke 1v1-4 (The Message)

Dear Theophilus, in the first volume of this book I wrote on everything that Jesus began to do and teach until the day he said good-bye to the apostles, the ones he had chosen through the Holy Spirit, and was taken up to heaven.
Acts 1v1 (The Message)

The first text we reflectively walk through is Luke's prologue to his narrative of all the things that Jesus began to do and teach. In ancient texts, a lot like today, the authors try to clarify what they are seeking to accomplish through their writings through their introductory paragraph. We know that Luke wrote this gospel, as well as the book, the Acts of the Apostles. Luke-Acts is one story, one narrative about the work of God through Jesus and the local church - a work that began long ago and which will go on for a long time yet.

Since the Luke-Acts narrative is a story about the work of God - it's worth noting what the big picture is concerning this written account. Literally, gospel means good news. Narratively, according to Luke-Acts (and the rest of the Scriptures), the Gospel is:
The work of God to restore us
in the context of community to God and to others
for the good of others and the world.
(see Scot McKnight: Embracing Grace)

Luke acknowledges that many people before him had been passing on the stories of God and the teachings of Jesus - but he was going to write it all down so that Theophilus could regain some of his confidence in what he had been taught concerning the life and events of Jesus of Nazareth. And this is where so many of us can connect with Luke and Theophilus: we have our doubts about the reliability of the stories, we wonder about the realisticness of Jesus' teachings, and we wonder whether what we've been taught really matters. Luke's answer: Yes! The stories are trustworthy, the teachings are transformative, and all that God has done in the world with and through Jesus matters.

The brilliant story that Luke has revealed through his literary craft - a story rooted in historical veracity, eyewitness accounts, and oral traditions - has to do with the ongoing work of God to gather together a community of men and women in whom and through whom he wants to fix what is wrong in the world. God started with Adam and Eve, but their Fall has been an ongoing descent of humanity. God also began the restoration process with Adam and Eve, forgiving them, being reconciled to them, and using them still to bless the world. God's intent is to restore all humanity and this whole world - the heavens and the earth, and this is what his work has been about since the days of Adam, Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah, Isaiah, John, Jesus, Peter, Paul and you.

About Luke: from his letter Acts, we find out that he was a physician attending to the apostle Paul. It's likely that Luke was of Jewish descent but probably a citizen of Greece or Asia Minor. He is obviously well-educated, a man of discipline and rigorous training with a scientific mind. His friend Theophilus is a man of some power and prestige who has become a follower of the Way - as many have done within the courts of Herod and Caesar. And like many, Theophilus has doubts, has trouble counting the cost, and needs his talented and credible friends like Luke to remind him of what is true. Luke was possibly a member of the churches in Ephesus, and possibly converted there through the ministry of either the apostle John or Paul himself.

Luke is not a eyewitness to the actual events of Jesus' life, but he is eyewitness to the lives of the disciples in the decades following the resurrection and ascension of Jesus. Most eyewitnesses were still alive when Luke began his two-volume project, as well as many church communities located all over the Roman Empire. Luke must have had the means to travel throughout Palestine to collect the eyewitness accounts and see the geographic locations of the stories/teachings. Luke needed also to travel to track down some of the apostles who had travelled to the far edges of the empire: Thomas trekked to India, Peter to Rome, others went to Egypt, Persia, the southern steppes of Russia, and to the wilderness of Europe.

I'm sure that Luke was constantly reminded of the power of the gospel as he daily endured the dangers of travel in the ancient world to catch up with the disciples of Jesus who were energized by some Spirit to bring light and truth and grace and justice and mercy to the far corners of God's creation. Luke would arrive to some distant land to discover a community of followers who were seeking to further God's restoration to their families, friends, neighborhoods and livelihoods. Luke would arrive with news of what else God was doing in the world, which would only further boost the efforts of this brave community, and I'm sure boost the efforts of Luke to keep collecting the stories of God at work to restore his world to Himself and to one another for the good of each of us and our world.

Making Disciples

Next Sunday we kick off our year long (13 months...) look at the Gospel of Luke. We've invited everyone at Anchor to read one chapter every two weeks, or half a chapter every week, or two chapters a month. The pace is pretty easy - the point is not just to read through the gospel. The point is to reflectively read through the stories and instructions of Jesus so that we can better know what he was all about - and thus so we can better pattern our life after him.

What's exciting about this is the potential of critical mass: when enough people are making time (a precious commodity) to put energy into reflectively reading through Luke - something good will happen. Alot of people don't read the Scriptures because they don't really understand what they read. What is cool about this plan is that we can use Sunday Mornings, this blog, one on one conversations, commentaries and other tools to help more people get more out of the gospel of Luke.

To state the obvious: to make a disciple, one must be a disciple; and at the heart of being a disciple is taking to heart the stories and instructions of Jesus. One of the most powerful catalysts for growing as a disciple is to get Jesus' stories and instructions deep inside your soul and keep striving to live them out in everyday life. I'm excited about this coming year - Anchor is giving everyone a great opportunity to together take a next big step towards becoming more like Jesus. And this matters because we believe that the more we love and serve like Jesus, the better this world will be.

Doing Good in the Neighborhood

Today members of our church walked through the neighborhood picking up the litter alongside the edges of the alleys, sidewalks and streets. 25 of us - age range being 19mos to 75 years old! - took along our trash bags, gloves, poker sticks and wheeled carts for an hour to bless the neighborhood. Albeit our impact was small, but the intent behind it was big - acts of kindness done on purpose are always good.

Anchor used to do this event every year when we first started. One thing led to another and we quit doing it. As a way to celebrate our ten year anniversary this month, we thought it'd be a great idea to bring back one of our original ways of serving our neighbors. Anchor's found plenty of good ways to serve the neighborhood in the past ten years, but what's neat about this task is that it's one for the whole family, and you get to hang out with a bunch of different folks as you walk through the neighborhood.

The neighborhood has changed a little in ten years, some houses and properties look better, others not so much. Still lots of kids in the neighborhood, young families, and plenty of barking dogs! What's important for Anchor to do is keep finding ways to bless our neighbors - in big and small ways - in lots of creative ways, in order to open doors of opportunity.

Here's how it works: God blesses Anchor, and then He makes Anchor a blessing, so that the whole neighborhood/city may be blessed by God through us. Today was one more example of how that worked.

What's Supposed to Happen on Sundays?

There is a lot of expectation for what is supposed to happen on Sundays.

What results are we to look for?

How do you measure hearts that endure in loyalty to God because of what happens on Sundays?

How do you calculate fruitfulness?

How do you grasp the renewal of someone's mind?

Works. Action. Deeds.

The expectation is that, whatever actually happens, the end results in more people doing works of love more often. Works of love done in someway because of their response to God's work of love in them.

How do you know if someone is doing works of love?

At some point we need to mark down what are the works of love Jesus calls us to continue doing, and then mark up how each of us is going to do them week to week.

So then we need to backtrack: what is it that we do on Sundays that contributes to doing works of love week in and week out?

What is it about the songs we sing, and the singing of those songs? What is it about the Scripture that is preached, and the preaching of the Scripture? What is it of the prayers and the praying, of the the koinonia, of the serving, of the listening? What are ways of doing those things that contribute to more people being enabled to live out the Great Commandment and Commission?

I suppose at one level, it has to do with the hearts and heads of the leaders: they set the example. At another level, there needs to be a consistency in the overall message: setting a standard for understanding why we do what we do. There could be many more, but the third thing I think of is connectability: how to help each person connect with the example they see, the message they hear with their own living from week to week.

For Anchor, I think we need to up the intensity of our example-setting of our leaders, be more consistent in sharing our standard message, and then keep being creative in our connectability.

It is not rocket-science, just glad endurance.

Help, Spirit...

Galatians 6

2 Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked.
People reap what they sow.
8 Those who sow to please their sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; those who sow to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

It just seems like the burden gets heavier and heavier. Especially as more and more people sow to please their sinful nature. So if I continue on in doing good to all people - even those who reap destruction...well what does it look like to keep carrying their burdens?

To paraphrase Shane Claiborne - whenever anyone asks for help, we are obligated to help them; but we are not obligated to help them exactly according to their request.

When I see friends, fellow believers, neighbors sow to please their sinful nature, and THEN they ask me what to do to reduce the pain...well what does it look like to carry that burden? I really, really, really want to do good to all people, especially to the family of believers. Whether it is my role as a pastor or as a Christian man, it seems like the promised harvest is long in coming. I don't want to give up, but it is hard to not grow weary. I suppose the key is: as we have opportunity. I don't want to make that my excuse clause, but on the other hand I also have responsibilities to my immediate friends and family. But...my goal is not to do good according to what I think I am capable, but to sow to please the Spirit.

Help, Spirit.

Why Be Baptized?

We schedule our yearly baptisms to be on or around the first Sunday of June. It's somewhat symbolic. Our ministry year tends to follow the school year, so we want our baptisms to come at the end of our ministry season - a sort of culmination of our work the past nine months. It's never that clean or neat, but that is the idea - we tie the act of baptism to what people have been learning, experiencing, doing the past year. Makes sense in my mind.

In preparing some Anchorites for baptism, I found myself asking some very basic questions: what in your mind is the purpose of baptism. The answers varied around this theme: to help me feel a certain way. When I pressed for a more biblical purpose for why the church even baptizes people in the first place, there was a blank look. There was no judgementalism on my part towards them, that was just the way it was, and now I have an opportunity to help them begin to grasp the purpose/meaning of baptism.

Here was my simple three-point outline.

We get baptized because...

...Jesus got baptized.

...it symbolizes our death to sin and our promised resurrection when the Lord returns.

...it symbolizes our purity before God and towards others in our love and service.


To flesh it out a bit:

Because Jesus was baptized, we also do it since we hold as a high value the Imitation of Christ. We want to be like Jesus, so we want to pattern our lives of faith after him. If he got baptized we do too, since we also will pick up our cross like him, die with him that we may live with him.

Just as Jesus was laid in the tomb, so we die with him when we go under the water; and just as Jesus was resurrected, so we are when we come up out of the water. Jesus died our death that we might have resurrected life when he returns at the End of All Things.

The ancient Jews had a ritual bath which by which they cleansed themselves, consecrating themselves for worship in the Temple or for a special Festival. So we are baptized, being cleansed before the Lord and consecrating ourselves for a life of worship and love and service to the world as part of the church.



All of this stuff gets kind of intricate, but only because there are layers and layers of meaning to baptism. It's stuff that needs to be introduced and taught. But if there was one central point that was worth driving home, I made it this: God wants your whole-heart. When you get baptized, you are communicating to people in highly symbolic action that God indeed does have your whole-heart. What you are not communicating is that you WANT God to have it, but that your life already demonstrates the attitude and actions of one who has given (and keeps giving) your whole-heart to God. Too many people get baptized thinking that the action of immersion will help them give their whole-heart to God. It just doesn't work like that.

Only get baptized if you have put into action the loving the Lord with your whole-heart.

If there was a throne in your heart - who sits on it? How much of the time do you sit on it, and how often do you resist the Lord sitting on it? How often are you calling the shots in your life? How much do you want the Lord to call the shots? How often do you let him? Get baptized when you are actually letting the Lord call more and more of the shots.

Don't get baptized to help you let the Lord call the shots in your life: be active in your church community, interact with others over the teachings of Jesus, get accountability in your effort to love and serve like the Lord. If you are actually, currently committed to doing that everyday - and for the rest of your life, then get baptized.

The LORD of the Universe

What makes Christianity unique and enduring: Jesus of Nazareth claimed to be the incarnation of the LORD of the Universe. He claimed to be both the Son of the LORD, as well as the LORD himself.

The LORD of the Universe claims to be above all gods, supreme in power and intelligence, unsurpassable in loyalty and mercy, incomparable in creating and ruling. There may be many other gods vying for allegiance and worship, but there is none like the LORD of the Universe. Jesus makes the same claims as the LORD, he seeks the same allegiance and worship. What makes him different from the LORD is his humanity, his history amongst men and women of Judea, his dying and resurrection make him unique and enduring.

What does it mean to be a Christian? To be one who gives their allegiance to the LORD of the Universe, Jesus of Nazareth. So how do you know if someone is a Christian, someone who has put their allegiance in Christ? Everything they do is done for Jesus, as a gift to him, or in response to his initiatives and teachings. It also means that we want every aspect of our life to reflect our allegiance, that we are not satisfied with offering only bits and pieces of our life. It also means that we live by grace, knowing how often we end up only offering bits and pieces of our life. By the grace we receive from Jesus the LORD, we give.

Why Kid's Ministry is Important

Yes, a ministry to children is important.

At Anchor, there are several reasons why we say yes.

One reason: for some children, they will not hear or learn anything constructive about the Scriptures while at home. Over the years, Anchor has had many children come to church on their own, which means that the importance of our kids ministry skyrockets. Within our public schools, the Associated Churches has a program where they travel around to the elementary schools providing some form of religious education. Fortuantely, many children are given some positive teaching about the Scriptures and Christianity. However, there is nothing that replaces the kind of ministry that can happen as part of a church gathering.

Another reason: many parents of children and youth want to make sure that some form of religious teaching is provided. They personally may not be that interested, but they want it for their kids. We're happy to oblige them. We're also convinced that if we do our kids ministry right, the benefits of it will increase the interest of the parents for their own religious awakening. Some of those parents are interested in their own spiritual growth, so they want to make sure that they are part of a church that can help each member of their family mature in their faith. We want to honor that interest.

And not the final reason: the impressions that children have of church has a lifelong impact. We want to make sure that our kids ministry impresses upon children patient love, contagious fun, helpful lessons. If kids have this kind of experience, they will be more likely to stay interested in church as a youth and as an adult. As teens become adults, they will possibly have some disillusionment with the church - it's just what happens. But despite the disillusionment, we want them to still have good memories; memories that provide a seedbed for hope. As teens become adults, they must shed their child-faith and develop an adult-faith; as they do this, we want them to not shed the memories of love, fun, and helpfulness, but to let those memories sustain their desire to rebuild their faith.

It's Good

Being part of Anchor is good.

Part of what makes it good is who is part of Anchor.

Part of what makes it good is the atmosphere of Anchor.

Part of what makes it good is the location of our gathering.

And the best part of what makes it good is the good work God is doing in and through us.

I - we - need to keep remembering that Anchor is at it's best - not when we are gathered, but when we are out and about during the week. What makes being part of Anchor so good is not how great our gatherings are - though they are good- but how great our love is in the everyday moments of our life. If we don't show great love in little things (see Mother Teresa) during the week, we won't have much to praise God for when we gather on Sunday.

It's good to love others as we love God.

It's good to love God by loving Anchor.

It's good to be part of Anchor.