Faith Conversations with Pastor Dennis

I just finished reading The Secret Thoughts of An Unlikely Convert: An English Professor’s Journey into Christian Faith by Rosaria Champagne Butterfield (Crown & Covenant Publications, 2012).  Here are my thoughts about the book:

Why I picked it up: I recently heard an online interview with Rosaria.  She is a former English professor at Syracuse University.  She also lived a lesbian lifestyle and taught gay and lesbian studies . . . before embracing Christianity.   I wanted to read her story because according to our culture one doesn’t abandon a life of homosexuality for Christ unless they are (1) hopelessly ignorant or (2) brainwashed by some religious group.  Rosaria’s story helps to challenge  those paradigms.

What I liked about it: I liked how Rosaria tells her story with such raw (sometimes shocking) transparency.  I also appreciated some of her very unique descriptions of her conversion from lesbianism to faith in Christ, such as how “the word of God got to be bigger inside me than me,” “conversion put me in a complicated and comprehensive chaos,”  and lesbianism as “a case of mistaken identity.”  Her book renewed my confidence in the power of Christ to transform lives and also reminded me of just how revolutionary conversion can (and should be) in a person’s life.  What an incredible irony that Rosaria is now married to a Presbyterian pastor!

What I didn’t like about it: I got bogged down in the second half of the book as Rosaria spent a lot of time getting sidetracked (I thought) with thorny issues such as why Christians should only sing psalms in church and with lengthy descriptions of her and her husband’s wedding, adoptions, and homeschooling.  But on the other hand, the second half of her book shows just how dramatically Christ has changed her life.

A question it left me with:  What softened Rosaria’s hostility toward all things Christian was the friendship and hospitality of an elderly pastor and his wife.  I wonder why we Christians today don’t show similar hospitality and love toward those outside the faith.  We/I don’t do a very good job of following Jesus’ example of being “a friend to sinners.”  We seem to be more threatened by them than we are confident in the power of Christ’s love to change their hearts.  (Editorial comment added later:  If Jesus, who never sinned, could be a friend of sinners, why do we who are sinners ourselves have such a difficult time loving our fellow sinners?  Also, our friendship should never be conditioned on whether or not the person ever responds to Christ.  It should rather be a natural expression of Jesus’ love for all people)

Who I might recommend this book to:  A gay person who is struggling with issues of identity and meaning at the core of his/her life.  A skeptic who thinks that a homosexual who converts to Christ faces a life sentence of pleasureless misery.  And a Christian who would rather avoid and condemn gay people than love them.

I’m going to try something new with my blog.  I read books quite a bit — I aim at one a week, though I often fall short of that goal.  I find it to be a valuable discipline in trying to keep myself from growing mentally and spiritually flabby.

Perhaps you might find it helpful to know what I’m reading in case a certain book piques your interest.  I’m not going to give a book review, so to speak.  I don’t have the intellectual prowess for that.  Instead, I’m going to tell you why I picked up that particular book, what I liked about it, what I didn’t like about it, any questions that I’m dealing with after reading it, and the kind of person I might recommend it to.  So here goes:

The book: Misreading Scripture With Western Eyes by E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O’Brien (IVP Books, 2012)

Why I picked it up: I found the title compelling.  I’ve been doing a fair amount of thinking over the last year or so about how we as American Christians interpret certain passages in the Bible and I’ve had this growing concern that we’re getting some things wrong.  So this book scratched where I was itching.

What I liked about it: A lot.  It dealt with the issue of how we bring our cultural biases (often unconsciously) to our reading of scripture, which can lead to wrong and sometimes dangerous misinterpretations.  I especially found the authors’ discussions of cultural mores, language, individualism/collectivism, and rules and relationships to be quite helpful.

What I didn’t like about it: While I appreciated how Richards and O’Brien exposed the cultural biases behind American Christians’ interpretation of scripture, sometimes it seemed that they failed to acknowledge the biases that also lie behind other cultures’ understanding of the Bible.  I don’t think it always has to be either/or.  For instance, I think there is a place for an individualistic interpretation of many passages — sometimes the “yous” of scripture can be addressed to an individual as well as, or instead of, a community.

A question it left me with:  I found myself wondering about certain passages that we in the West find offensive . . . especially Paul’s words about wives submitting to their husbands.  Could it be that Middle Eastern and Asian cultures don’t find this offensive at all, and instead our attitude reflects a perspective of cultural arrogance (that we know so much more than those poor unenlightened people)?

Who I might recommend this book to: Definitely someone who preaches or teaches the Word of God to others, or anyone who is interested in interpreting scripture accurately as they read.

Keeping Company with Jesus     During Holy Week

Saturday, March 30, 2013

 Today’s Bible reading will focus on the day following Jesus’ crucifixion.  I encourage you to take some quiet, undistracted moments today to read or listen to the scripture passage, reflect on its meaning, and pray to the one who took this journey for you. 

 Read today’s scripture passage – Mark 15:42-47 (To read or listen to this passage online, go to  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%2015:42-47&version=NIV)

Reflect:  Jesus was dead.

Mark’s gospel says that Jesus died on “the day of Preparation.”  The day of Preparation (Friday) was the day before the Sabbath (Saturday) on the weekly Jewish calendar — a day to get everything and everyone ready for the Sabbath day of worship and rest.  The Sabbath day actually started at sundown on Friday.  All work needed to be finished by the start of the Sabbath, especially the work of burying a crucified body, which would otherwise be left hanging until after the Sabbath was over.  So a man named Joseph of Arimathea (a member of the Sanhedrin who had protested their unjust treatment of Jesus) hurried to governor Pilate and asked for permission to take Jesus’ corpse and give it a dignified burial.

Jesus was buried.

Joseph and whatever helpers he had wrapped Jesus’ body in linen cloth bandages, tucking in spices intended to slow the decaying process.  They placed his body on a stone slab inside the tomb Joseph had recently dug out of the rock, perhaps for his own future burial.  To keep thieves and animals out, they rolled a large stone in front of the entrance.  Matthew’s gospel also tells us the Jewish religious leaders insisted that Pilate put a Roman seal across the stone and post a garrison of Roman soldiers at the tomb.  They were concerned that Jesus’ disciples might come in the night, take Jesus’ body away, and then claim he had risen from the dead.

So as the sun rose on Saturday, Jesus was dead and buried.  Saturday was a day of grieving.  A day of crushed hopes.  A day of divine silence.  A day of waiting because there was nothing else for the disciples to do but wait.

Pray: Spend a few moments silently waiting in the Lord’s presence.  Waiting for what?  That’s up to him.  Let go of your need to control things, to “make things happen,” and simply release your life into the Lord’s hands.  Rest in that.

Keeping Company with Jesus During Holy Week

Good Friday, March 29, 2013

Today’s Bible reading will focus on the hours leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion.  I encourage you to take some quiet, undistracted moments today to read or listen to the scripture passage, reflect on its meaning,  and pray to the one who took this journey for you. 

Read  today’s scripture passage – Mark 15:1-32 (To read or listen to this passage online, go to  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%2015:1-32&version=NIV)

Reflect:  After Jesus’ arrest in Gethsemane, he was escorted to an emergency meeting of the Sanhedrin (a council of prominent Jewish religious leaders).  There they charged him with high blasphemy for claiming to be God and sentenced him to death.  The only problem was that they had no power to execute anyone since they were under the political authority of the Roman government.  Somehow they had to convince Pilate, the governor of Judea, that Jesus had committed a capital crime worthy of the death sentence.  So Friday morning they dragged Jesus before Pilate and accused him of political treason by claiming to be King of the Jews.

Notice how that title, King of the Jews, appears repeatedly in Mark’s account of Jesus’ crucifixion:

1.  The silence of the King.  Pilate asks Jesus, “Are you the King of the Jews?” (v. 2).  The only answer Jesus gives him is, “You have said so.”  In other words, you have already answered your own question.  Even though the charge against Jesus was technically correct, Pilate could not understand what kind of king Jesus was.  His kingdom was a spiritual, not a political, kingdom.  Jesus refused to say anything more.

2.  The rejection of the King.  Following his own Passover tradition of releasing a prisoner to the people, Pilate asked the assembled crowd, “Do you want me to set free for you the King of the Jews?” (v. 9).  Pilate was shocked when they chose a death-row murderer named Barabbas instead and clamored for Jesus to be crucified.  Remember how Jesus had been hailed as king when he rode into Jerusalem five days earlier?  When he failed to fulfill their expectations as a conquering hero, they had no more use for him.

3.  The humiliation of the King.  When Pilate gave in to the crowd’s demands, the Roman soldiers decided to have some fun with this would-be king.  They threw a purple robe over his shoulders, pressed a crown made of thorns into his head, and gave him a rod for his royal scepter that they proceeded to beat him with.  They knelt before this pathetic-looking figure and paid mocking homage: “Hail, King of the Jews!” (v. 18). There is no indication that Jesus resisted or even wiped their spit from his face.

4.  The epitaph of the King.  When the Romans crucified someone, they would post their crime above his head so those passing by would be warned not to make the same mistake.  Pilate told the soldiers to write “The King of the Jews” for Jesus’ final epitaph (v. 29).  The religious leaders taunted Jesus as he hung there dying: “If you’re really the King of Israel, come down from the cross right now and we’ll believe in you” (v. 32).  To the very end, Jesus failed to be the kind of king the people insisted that he be.

Pray: Gaze upon the cross with humble adoration.  Tell the one hanging there that you want him to reign over your life.  Kneel before him and worship him.  Surrender your entire life to the king who gave himself up for you.

Keeping Company with Jesus During Holy Week

Thursday, March 28, 2013

 Today’s Bible reading will focus on what occurred in Jesus’ life on Thursday during the week leading to the cross.  I encourage you to take some quiet, undistracted moments today to read or listen to the scripture passage, reflect on its meaning, and pray to the one who took this journey for you. 

 Read  today’s scripture passage – Mark 14:12-50 (To read or listen to this passage, go to   http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%2014:12-50&version=NIV)

Reflect:  Our passage says that it is “the first day of Unleavened Bread,” a reference to the start of the great Passover Feast.  Thousands of Jewish people have gathered in Jerusalem to remember how God rescued their ancient ancestors from slavery.  Thousands of lambs will be sacrificed at the temple on this day as the people ask God to “pass over” their sins just like the angel of death once “passed over” the Israelites’ homes while killing the firstborn of Egypt.  But this day will mark the start of a new Passover as another Lamb will soon be sacrificed for the sins of the world.

In the evening Jesus shares the traditional Passover meal with his disciples.  But as he breaks the bread and passes the cup, he says, “From now on, you will remember my torn body and poured-out blood.”  Then with deep sadness he informs them of two things that will soon take place: one of them will betray him and the rest will abandon him.  They all insist that it won’t happen — with Peter’s voice being the loudest.

As darkness falls, Jesus leads his disciples out of the city to a familiar place of prayer: an olive garden called Gethsemane.  He instructs eight of them to sit and wait while he prays, then he takes his closest friends — Peter, James, and John — deeper into the garden.  With great distress he asks them to stay nearby and “watch” — in other words, stay physically and spiritually alert.  Jesus goes a short distance from them, falls to the ground, and pours out his soul to God.  In this moment, we listen as the Son of God flinches.  The weight of his approaching suffering falls upon him, and like a child he pleads with his Father to “take this cup from him.”  He wrestles in prayer for a long time (an hour?) and in that wrestling he comes to a place of surrender: “Yet not what I will but what you will.“  The struggle is over . . . the issue is settled.

Jesus gets up and goes to his three friends.  He finds them sleeping.  He directs his words to Peter: “Simon (his former name, representing his weak and wavering nature), couldn’t you watch for even one hour?  It’s urgent that you stay alert and pray so that you may have strength to face the trials ahead.  For your spirit may say ‘I’m ready,” but your flesh — your human nature — is weaker than you realize.”  Jesus leaves to pray two more times, and each time he returns to find Peter, James, and John asleep.  He looks up and sees a torchlight procession in the distance.  “The time is here” he says.  “Get up!  Here comes my betrayer.”

In the frantic action of the next few moments, we watch as one man — Jesus — bravely turns himself over to the mob.  We also watch as 11 other men — Jesus’ disciples — run for their lives.  In the moment of crisis, the one man has inner strength to stand firm.  When the other 11 face the same crisis, the weakness of their flesh overcomes the willingness of their spirit . . . and they crumple.  The difference?  As the hour of trial approached, Jesus watched and prayed . . . the disciples slept.

Jesus’ diagnosis of the human condition remains true: our spirits may be willing, but our flesh is weak.  If we don’t regularly stay alert and pray, our drive to protect ourselves will win out over our desire to live obediently.  Which is winning the battle in your life — the flesh or the spirit?

Pray: Express your gratitude to Jesus for watching and praying so he could be ready to accept his cross.  Ask him to show you areas in your life where the weakness of your flesh is winning out over the willingness of your spirit.  Confess these areas to him, and pray for his power to help you in your weakness.

Keeping Company with Jesus During Holy Week

 Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Today’s Bible reading will focus on what occurred in Jesus’ life on Wednesday during the week leading to the cross.  I encourage you to take some quiet, undistracted moments to read or listen to the scripture passage, reflect on its meaning, and pray to the one who took this journey for you. 

 Read  today’s scripture passage – Mark 14:1-11 (To read or listen to this passage online, go to http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%2014:1-11&version=NIV)

Reflect:  “Every day Jesus was teaching in the temple,” Luke’s gospel tells us, “and early in the morning all the people came to him in the temple to hear him” (Luke 21:37-38).  So we can conclude that Jesus spent much of this day, like the previous one, responding to the challenges of the religious leaders, instructing the crowds, and preparing the disciples for what was to come.  But a simple event that evening lit the fuse igniting the drama leading to Jesus’ death.

Jesus and his disciples were enjoying dinner with friends in the village of Bethany (about a half hour walk from Jerusalem).  During the conversation a woman quietly slipped into the room holding a very expensive flask of perfume, made out of a beautiful translucent stone called alabaster.  She came to where Jesus was sitting at the table, snapped the neck of the bottle, and poured its fragrant contents over Jesus’ head.  What a shocking, outrageous act!  At once the disciples began lecturing her.  First, she had crossed over acceptable social boundaries by daring to intrude on this “all-male club”.  But what really enraged them was her wastefulness.  “If you wanted to do something meaningful with this perfume, you should have sold it and given the money to the poor.  But now it’s all gone!”  I would imagine the woman broke down under the withering criticism of the disciples.

Jesus, with the perfume oozing down through his beard and onto his clothing, sprang to her defense.  “Leave her alone!  She has done a beautiful thing for me!”  Whether she realized it or not, the woman had touched Jesus’ heart deeply through her extravagant expression of worship.  Hers was the silent voice of love in the midst of all the criticism and anger being spewed by his enemies.  It’s amazing to think that the fragrance of that perfume likely stayed with Jesus through the long hours of his arrest, trial, and crucifixion.  “You can do good to the poor whenever you want,” he told his disciples.  “But your opportunity to do good to me is just about over.”

For reasons I don’t fully understand, that was the last straw for the disciple named Judas.  He stormed away from the table and hurried back to Jerusalem, where he insisted on meeting with the chief priests immediately.  Judas felt that Jesus needed to learn a lesson, and these religious leaders were more than happy to oblige.

I’m reminded by this story that it’s possible to be a religious insider, like Judas was, and yet have a heart that is far from Jesus.  We can be a part of Jesus’ company, like the disciples were, and yet be cold and calculating when it comes to our service to him.  Or we can be simple lovers of Jesus, like this woman was, unafraid and unashamed to pour our deepest worship on him.  Where does this story find you today?

Pray: Think about Jesus’ extreme sacrifice for you on the cross.  Realize that it was a very personal thing — he did it for you.  Give him your grateful adoration.  Ask him to forgive you if your love for him has grown cold.  Pray that he will rekindle a passion in your heart for him.

        Keeping Company with Jesus         During Holy Week

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Read today’s scripture passage – Mark 11:27-12:12 (To read or listen to this passage online, go to  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%2011:27-12:12&version=NIV)

Reflect:  When Jesus ransacked the temple on Monday, his actions aroused the attention and anger of the religious leaders.  So when he returned on Tuesday morning, they were waiting for him.  These guardians of Jewish tradition had armed themselves with questions carefully designed to trick Jesus into saying something that would expose him as a religious fraud before the people.  Much of the day was spent in high-pressured dialogue between these religious authorities and Jesus.

No sooner had Jesus walked with his disciples into the temple than a group of priests and teachers drew the battle lines.  They demanded to know, “Who gave you the authority to do what you are doing?“  They were the ones in charge of the temple — who was Jesus to just show up and tell them what they were doing wrong?

So right in front of a crowd of people who had gathered to watch this debate, Jesus told the religious experts a story . . . a story about a landlord who rented out his vineyard to some tenants while he went away on a long trip.  When that landlord sent servants to bring him grapes from his vineyard, the tenants beat them up time and time again.  Finally the landlord sent his own son.   Surely they would respect him.  But when the son arrived, the tenants killed him and threw his body over the fence.

What happened in this story?  The tenants had forgotten they were just tenants; they were acting like they were the owners of the vineyard, even to the point of protecting “their” fruit from the son of the real owner!  The Jewish leaders immediately got the message.  Jesus was telling them that they had overstepped their boundaries.  God had given them the responsibility of watching over the temple, but they had usurped God’s authority and were acting like the owners themselves!  They weren’t going to let anyone, even God’s own Son, come in and tell them they were out of line.  “You’re about to kill me,” Jesus was saying to them, “but God is going to step in and remove you from your position and give it to people he can trust.”

Ugh!  How often has it happened that good religious people start out serving and end up controlling?  Using their gifts but end up protecting their turf?  I’ve seen a lot of ugly things happen when people start to say “This is my church” or “This is my ministry.”  We’re all susceptible to this subtle form of religious pride.  We need to remind ourselves regularly that we are just stewards — God is the Owner.  We need to hold his vineyard loosely!

Pray: Present your life to Jesus today.  Give over to him the role of ownership of everything in your life.  Hand over to him his church — it’s not yours.  Hand over to him that area of service — it’s his, not yours.  Invite him to show you any ways that pride is starting to creep into your life.  Ask for grace to serve him with humble joy today.

Recently I started putting my sermon notes on our church website along with the weekly podcast because from time to time someone will ask me about a quote I read or an idea I shared.  This makes me a little anxious.  When people see my notes, they will realize that they’re not just notes.  I preach every week from a fully written-out sermon.

For years I’ve felt a good deal of guilt about this.  Some well-meaning parishioners from the various churches I’ve pastored have suggested that the Holy Spirit would work more powerfully through me if I were “freer” while I preached.   I confess: I’m one of those stand-right-behind-the-podium-and-stay-there kind of preachers.  It’s not that I haven’t tried the walk-back-and-forth-across-the-platform style of preaching that I’ve observed, and occasionally admired, in others.  But every time I step away from my sermon notes I feel like a trapeze artist letting go of the bar.  I’m suspended out there in space, feeling like I’m in preaching free-fall.  I lose track of the progression of my thought.  Words fail me.  I can’t remember what I wanted to say.  I come running back to the podium as quickly as possible.

I’ve been writing out my sermons for the vast majority of my 28-year preaching career.  But it was only two weeks ago that it suddenly occurred to me why.  It’s not because it’s easy.  It’s a time-consuming — and often grueling — discipline.  But it allows me to draw from a deeper place in my mind and heart as I work through the meaning of the passage and how to best communicate it to my people.  It allows me extended quiet where I am hopefully hearing the inner voice of God’s Spirit while I prepare.  To those who say my preaching would be more Spirit-anointed if I just got up and trusted him to give me the words to say, I respond that I quite often experience what I believe is his anointing in the hours of preparation.  It truly is a time of worship and communion with him.

So why do I write out my sermons every week?  Because I take very seriously God’s call to feed his people.  And I long to feed them from the depths, not the shallows. (That’s not to say that those who preach extemporaneously are shallow.  I have been richly fed in the past by men and women who preach with few or no notes.  But when I try this, I find I’m preaching from the top of my head rather than the depths of my heart.)

I thought I would share this in case any of my preaching colleagues struggle with the same issue.  As always, I welcome your thoughts (but please, just a few lines, not a full manuscript!).

This past Sunday night the small group that meets in our home was discussing the Old Testament story of Abraham.  One person mentioned her amazement at how often Abraham heard God speaking to him.  That led to an honest discussion of whether it’s possible for people today to hear God speak like Abraham and others in the Bible times did.  Our conclusion?  Yes, it is possible.  But most of us don’t hear because we’re not listening.

I asked our group, “What do you think it would take for us to better listen for God’s voice today?”  Two common answers seemed to emerge.  First, we need to create space in our daily lives to be quiet in God’s presence.  Second, we need to remove the distractions that keep us from creating that quiet space.  When I asked what kinds of distractions we need to remove, our group by consensus identified television and the internet.  It’s not that we don’t have time to be with God, we agreed.  It’s that we surrender that time to those other distractions.

Then I had an idea.  I asked about the possibility of doing a 40-day experiment together.  The timing seemed perfect.  This Wednesday starts the season of Lent.  What if we each intentionally created more space to listen to God between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday?  Then what if we share each Sunday what we’re doing and then what we’re hearing during that quiet space of time with God?  The group enthusiastically embraced the idea.

As I write this, tomorrow is Ash Wednesday.  I wonder if any of my blog readers would like to join us on our 40-day journey.  The invitation is two-fold:

1.  Create a consistent space of time in your life each day to be quiet in the Lord’s presence.

2.  Put some boundaries around the technological distractions that have a way of spilling over the flood walls and consuming too much of our time in unproductive ways.

I’ll go on record.  My goal is to be up at 5:00 most mornings to meet with my Lord in the quiet.  I’m going off facebook for 40 days (except for posting any new blog articles).  And I’m limiting email activity to three 15 minute periods each day — at the beginning of my work day, right after lunch, and then before I leave work at the end of the day.

I believe God still speaks today.  He is just waiting to be heard.  I’m excited to be a part of a small group that is intent on listening during Lent.  Would you like to join us?  Share your thoughts with me.  Thanks!