What if Jesus Meant All That Stuff? by Shane Claiborne

Here is an amazing article written by Shane Claiborne. i just had to post it up on my blog. Please Enjoy. And thank you Shane for writing this wonderful piece.
Pastor Joel Martyn

"To all my non believing, sort-of-believing, and used-to-be-believing friends: I feel like I should begin with a confession. I am sorry that so often the biggest obstacle to God has been Christians. Christians who have had so much to say with our mouths and so little to show with our lives. I am sorry that so often we have forgotten the Christ of our Christianity.

Forgive us. Forgive us for the embarrassing things we have done in the name of God.

The other night I headed into downtown Philly for a stroll with some friends from out of town. We walked down to Penn's Landing along the river, where there are street performers, artists, musicians. We passed a great magician who did some pretty sweet tricks like pour change out of his iPhone, and then there was a preacher. He wasn't quite as captivating as the magician. He stood on a box, yelling into a microphone, and beside him was a coffin with a fake dead body inside. He talked about how we are all going to die and go to hell if we don't know Jesus.

Some folks snickered. Some told him to shut the hell up. A couple of teenagers tried to steal the dead body in the coffin. All I could do was think to myself, I want to jump up on a box beside him and yell at the top of my lungs, "God is not a monster." Maybe next time I will.

The more I have read the Bible and studied the life of Jesus, the more I have become convinced that Christianity spreads best not through force but through fascination. But over the past few decades our Christianity, at least here in the United States, has become less and less fascinating. We have given the atheists less and less to disbelieve. And the sort of Christianity many of us have seen on TV and heard on the radio looks less and less like Jesus.

At one point Gandhi was asked if he was a Christian, and he said, essentially, "I sure love Jesus, but the Christians seem so unlike their Christ." A recent study showed that the top three perceptions of Christians in the U. S. among young non-Christians are that Christians are 1) anti-gay, 2) judgmental, and 3) hypocritical. So what we have here is a bit of an image crisis, and much of that reputation is well deserved. That's the ugly stuff. And that's why I begin by saying that I'm sorry.

Now for the good news.

I want to invite you to consider that maybe the televangelists and street preachers are wrong — and that God really is love. Maybe the fruits of the Spirit really are beautiful things like peace, patience, kindness, joy, love, goodness, and not the ugly things that have come to characterize religion, or politics, for that matter. (If there is anything I have learned from liberals and conservatives, it's that you can have great answers and still be mean... and that just as important as being right is being nice.)

The Bible that I read says that God did not send Jesus to condemn the world but to save it... it was because "God so loved the world." That is the God I know, and I long for others to know. I did not choose to devote my life to Jesus because I was scared to death of hell or because I wanted crowns in heaven... but because he is good. For those of you who are on a sincere spiritual journey, I hope that you do not reject Christ because of Christians. We have always been a messed-up bunch, and somehow God has survived the embarrassing things we do in His name. At the core of our "Gospel" is the message that Jesus came "not [for] the healthy... but the sick." And if you choose Jesus, may it not be simply because of a fear of hell or hope for mansions in heaven.

Don't get me wrong, I still believe in the afterlife, but too often all the church has done is promise the world that there is life after death and use it as a ticket to ignore the hells around us. I am convinced that the Christian Gospel has as much to do with this life as the next, and that the message of that Gospel is not just about going up when we die but about bringing God's Kingdom down. It was Jesus who taught us to pray that God's will be done "on earth as it is in heaven." On earth.

One of Jesus' most scandalous stories is the story of the Good Samaritan. As sentimental as we may have made it, the original story was about a man who gets beat up and left on the side of the road. A priest passes by. A Levite, the quintessential religious guy, also passes by on the other side (perhaps late for a meeting at church). And then comes the Samaritan... you can almost imagine a snicker in the Jewish crowd. Jews did not talk to Samaritans, or even walk through Samaria. But the Samaritan stops and takes care of the guy in the ditch and is lifted up as the hero of the story. I'm sure some of the listeners were ticked. According to the religious elite, Samaritans did not keep the right rules, and they did not have sound doctrine... but Jesus shows that true faith has to work itself out in a way that is Good News to the most bruised and broken person lying in the ditch.

It is so simple, but the pious forget this lesson constantly. God may indeed be evident in a priest, but God is just as likely to be at work through a Samaritan or a prostitute. In fact the Scripture is brimful of God using folks like a lying prostitute named Rahab, an adulterous king named David... at one point God even speaks to a guy named Balaam through his donkey. Some say God spoke to Balaam through his ass and has been speaking through asses ever since. So if God should choose to use us, then we should be grateful but not think too highly of ourselves. And if upon meeting someone we think God could never use, we should think again.

After all, Jesus says to the religious elite who looked down on everybody else: "The tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the Kingdom ahead of you." And we wonder what got him killed?

I have a friend in the UK who talks about "dirty theology" — that we have a God who is always using dirt to bring life and healing and redemption, a God who shows up in the most unlikely and scandalous ways. After all, the whole story begins with God reaching down from heaven, picking up some dirt, and breathing life into it. At one point, Jesus takes some mud, spits in it, and wipes it on a blind man's eyes to heal him. (The priests and producers of anointing oil were not happy that day.)

In fact, the entire story of Jesus is about a God who did not just want to stay "out there" but who moves into the neighborhood, a neighborhood where folks said, "Nothing good could come." It is this Jesus who was accused of being a glutton and drunkard and rabble-rouser for hanging out with all of society's rejects, and who died on the imperial cross of Rome reserved for bandits and failed messiahs. This is why the triumph over the cross was a triumph over everything ugly we do to ourselves and to others. It is the final promise that love wins.

It is this Jesus who was born in a stank manger in the middle of a genocide. That is the God that we are just as likely to find in the streets as in the sanctuary, who can redeem revolutionaries and tax collectors, the oppressed and the oppressors... a God who is saving some of us from the ghettos of poverty, and some of us from the ghettos of wealth.

In closing, to those who have closed the door on religion — I was recently asked by a non-Christian friend if I thought he was going to hell. I said, "I hope not. It will be hard to enjoy heaven without you." If those of us who believe in God do not believe God's grace is big enough to save the whole world... well, we should at least pray that it is."

Your brother,

Shane

My 40 by 40

In no certain order..

1. Cathedral tour of Italy
2. Find Sasquatch footprint
3. Shoot a Bull Elk 6x6 or 7x7
4. Shoot Cow Elk
5. Shoot A Moose 60"+
6. Shoot Caribou
7. Shoot a pronghorn Antelope
8. Shoot a Big Horn sheep
9. Get my turkey Grand slam
10. Preach in front of a very very large crowd
11. Get an awesome Rubicon trail ready Jeep
12. Take family to Alaska and Ireland
13. Make my wife very happy
14. See U2
15. Roast a pig on a spit
16. Be debt free
17. Own home/land
18. Go on a sabbatical
19. Visit Sardinia with my family
20. Eat a Guinea Pig
21. Hang out with Anthony Bourdain
22. Surf
23. Fly Fish Yellowstone
24. Teach my wife how to fly-fish
25. Fish Alaska
26. Have a Man Cave
27. Get to 190lbs
28. Unearth my 6 pack
29. run some sort of marathon
30. Scuba Dive
31. Shoot a big Mule Deer with Amanda
32. Get a Tattoo with Amanda
33. Write a book
34. Visit the Vatican
35. Get new clothes
36. New hot tub
37. Brew Beer
38. Climb a fourteen-er in Co. and raft a class 5+
39. Build a dugout canoe with fire
40. Finish Sleeves

Communicate in a Biblical Way!

You know what I don't understand about people who call themselves biblical Christians? I don't like the way they judge others and I don't like the way people do not follow Matthew 18 which says:

Matthew 18:15-20

15 ‘If another member of the church* sins against you,* go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one.* 16 But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax-collector. 18 Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 19 Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.’

Sometimes, many times, pastors come across so called biblical Christians who don't abide by this basic instruction of Christ. If you are upset with something somebody did to you or if it's something you "think" another person did to you and you don't go to that person, how can it be resolved? This un-biblical process of not communicating face to face just causes dissent, disorder, hurt feelings, factions, division, everything that is antithetical to what being a Christian is all about, and contrary to what Jesus teaches us in Matthew 18.

Christ's instructions couldn't be clearer. When a brother or sister in Christ sins against you, go to them and talk to them about it. If they won't listen, bring a witness with you. If they still won't listen tell it to the church. If they won't listen to the church then let them no longer be a part of your community. It's clear. It's succinct. It's important. They are the instructions of the One whom we serve.

If you are in this kind of situation, please please please follow Christ's instructions and communicate. Usually the "sin" against you or the other is just a simple mis-communication. Rise above your own pride and fear and truly know what it means to be a "biblical Christian" who is centered on Christ Jesus and His message of Grace, Mercy and Love. And remember the words of our Lord, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid."

Quiet Monday Morning

I shouldn't be doing this right now, since it's my day off and all. But the kids are happy and settled watching a movie, my wife is working on her wonderful photography business mandymartynimages.com and posting new projects to her business blog mandymartynimages.blogspot.com. Sooooo, here I am laptop, funny enough, on my lap, trying to think of something interesting to write about. Maybe something will come to me later. God bless.
For those of you who receive the Face Time with God Daily Devotions, you should be receiving them starting once again on Monday may 17th. If you would like to receive the devotion please sign up in the sign up box located on the right hand side of your computer screen.

Blessings.

Ministry in the Online Congregation

Below are a list of links to help you get started connecting. Please feel free to ask questions in the "comments" box.
blogger.com

gmail.com

facebook.com

twitter.com

apple.com

yelp.com

verticalresponse.com

podbean.com
statcounter.com


These are my personal links:

facetimewithgod.blogspot.com
hopelutheransierra.org
mandymartynimages.com
follow me on Twitter @jtmartyn
email me jtmartyn@aol.com

Judged

Wow! You know what I do not like about sinfulness of humanity? Judgment. I was recently judged for not being a biblical pastor because apparently I was not carrying a bible with me for a class that I taught on scratch the surface theology of the Lutheran church. Funny thing is, and, I suppose ironic, I carry the bible in it's entirety, neatly packed into my iPhone where I can access, search, define, look at the original language, email, text passages, study, bookmark, highlight and read reverently any time I want at any moment of any day.
You know what? I'm not ashamed to talk about my feelings on this blog. I use this blog not as a way to market myself, but as a tool in which I can release any pent up emotions or grief that have built up within me and as a way to talk about my thoughts about God and our relationship with God. I thank God for blessing us with technology that helps me to carry a bible in my phone. I thank God for blessing humanity with the willingness to learn and to grieve. I thank God for giving me the ability to blog and get out all the "stuff" or as Paul says in scripture, "skumbalo", out, that builds up within clergy.
Did I mention that I do not like being judged based on ignorance? I humbly ask you to check your facts before blogging. And if you are going to slander someone on your blog, then at least allow for comments.

My Own Chaotic Mind

So, I'm sitting at my desk right now in my office surrounded by the chaos of my brain made manifest in the massive mounds of papers and notebooks, books and pens, boxes and game consoles that surround and are about to overwhelm me. I'm not quite sure what to do at the moment. I have someone coming in for a time of coffee and conversation. My coffee maker is presently situated and percolating atop the churches massive popcorn machine, which is stored so nicely in my office. Not quite sure what to do. Funny thing about this mess is that I know where each and every thing is located. If I clean it I may go crazy. If I do not clean it my staff might drive me crazy. Or better yet my parishioners may pester me until it is clean. I think that I will just leave it as it is for now. There's work to be done.

lackluster

I understand that my last post said to be continued. The continued part is basically this. I threw my sermon in the air and began to trust that God's Holy Spirit would give me the words that needed to be preached. That I understood that my theology is built upon a strong biblical tradition that is found with in the Lutheran church, and I could preach the word of God without over preparing anymore. I found a freedom by trusting God's Spirit to be at work in my life. This freedom has become a necessity in ministry.........This was not the to be continued that I had expected to write. It's lackluster and truly deserves a much more descriptive and witty telling...but I'm feeling a bit melancholy.

Today I'm sad. Worship went really well. I preached on love and discipleship and I felt it went well also. But I'm sad. A couple whom I was really getting to know and respect decided to leave the church and seek elsewhere. This is always difficult for me and saddens me because I put so much of myself into teaching and building relationship with others that when there is a break it hurts. But I trust that God is at work and leading them down the path that is right for them. My prayers go with them, and though the time was short I thank God for having met them. God's speed friends.

Over the past two years my preaching style has completely changed. I was trained in Seminary to preach in a certain manner. A certain form was to be followed. A sermon was to be written down in either scripted form or outline, and so that is what I practiced for the first four years after my ordination into the Lutheran church. I wrote the sermons. I read the sermons with style. Adding emotion and emphasis on certain points when they were needed. Pausing here, rushing there, to give the sermon some kind of life that seemed to be lacking. For four years I read sermons to a group of people who tried to listen to them. But something always felt wrong. But I was comfortable doing so.

One day, it was a sunday morning, I had my sermon all set to go. It was a good sermon, according to the standards to which I had been trained. 12 pages long, size 12 font, scripted....ready and waiting to be preached. But it was a strange morning.

All morning I was worrying about preaching that sermon. I was unsettled in mind and spirit. It was almost as if I knew something was wrong but just could not pinpoint where the source of discomfort was located. Was it in my mind? Was I psyching myself out? Was it in my body? I was feeling a bit anxious that morning, maybe I was getting sick? It was all so strange and so abnormal for me. I decided to put it out of my mind and to go back into my office, to sit down and pray for some sort of peace and calm before the congregation arrived. The calm never arrived.

The service opened as usual. I welcomed everyone, told them where the prayer cards were located. Then we sang the customary two opening songs. I listened to the readings being read. Invited the congregation to stand for the Alleluia to be sung. paused at the altar on my way to the pulpit (which is really just the lectern) to read the Gospel reading for that particular Sunday...

As I started to read the gospel lesson I began to get this really definite feeling that the sermon I ha written was not right. There was something very wrong with the sermon that I had spent so much time on. I didn't know what it was. I began to feel ill knowing that it was wrong. And I began to experience a definite emotional pull to throw it away. Panic set in and I didn't know what to do.

So with no more options before me, at least none that I could think of, I finished the gospel reading, reached down to pick up my sermon that was just waiting for me within the pulpit and threw it into the air above my head where it landed on those who were sitting in the front row of the sanctuary...............(more to come)

Haiti

The horrible tragedy that struck Haiti has left me heartbroken, saddened and reminded that we who have much, are called by God to give to those who have nothing. It’s hard to watch a nation struggle time after time especially with this last devastating earthquake, from our couches. But it’s another thing entirely when you’re connected to people who passed away buried beneath tons of rubble.
A colleague of mine, Ben Larson, was a seminary student in his last year at Wartburg Theological Seminary with his wife Renee who was also studying. Ben, Renee and Ben’s cousin Jonathan were on a mission trip during their January term in Haiti when the earthquake struck. Renee and Jonathan made it out of the building which all three were in, but Ben was trapped under concrete and couldn’t make it out. After repeated tries at rescuing Ben, Renee and Jonathan had to get out themselves. They survived. When they came back to the site a few minutes later they could hear Ben, He was singing praises to God. Renee was able to tell him that she loved him, but then the singing stopped. His last singing words were, “God's peace to us we pray.”
Ben wasn’t just any seminarian. He was the Son of two of my mentors whom I consider to be my God-parents and who are the God parents of my sister. Judd and April Larson (former Bishop of the Lacrosse Synod, ELCA) have suffered loss. I ask that you pray for their families.
This link to the tragedy in Haiti just makes me think about the hundreds of thousands of people there who have suffered mightily. The orphans, the broken in mind body and spirit. They all need our help, and so I ask you, I beg of you to send at least a dollar or more to help with the relief effort. I already have…and so I expect you to as well. My God-brother loved the people of Haiti, Jesus loves the people of Haiti and so should we.
The following article comes from the office of the presiding bishop and speaks of ways that we can donate. Please continue on reading.

Peace,
Pastor Joel Martyn


Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,
The images of the despair and destruction in the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti continue to overwhelm us, but they also call forth our response of prayer and generosity.
Paul’s letter to the Romans gives us words of comfort and hope. Paul writes:
We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God (Romans 8:22-27).
Thank you for continuing to hold in prayer the people in Haiti and all those who are working to bring relief. Thank you for your generous financial gifts.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is already working through long-standing partnerships with The Lutheran World Federation and Lutheran World Relief to provide emergency food, water, shelter and medical supplies.
This church is uniquely positioned to provide immediate and ongoing help. The ELCA has committed an initial $250,000 from ELCA International Disaster Response, and we’ve authorized an additional $500,000 as congregations respond both to the immediate needs and long-term rebuilding efforts.
For those of you who would like to support these relief efforts, I encourage you to visit this Web page (www.elca.org/haitiearthquake) or call 800-638-3522.
Our phones are open the entire Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. CST. One hundred percent of all gifts made to ELCA Disaster Response, designated for Haiti Earthquake Relief, will be used for immediate relief and ongoing recovery.
This is what it means to be the church together in mission for the sake of the world.
I invite you to pray:
Merciful God, hear our cry for mercy in the wake of the earthquake. Reveal your presence in the midst of our suffering. Help us to trust in your promises of hope and life so that desperation and grief will not overtake us. Come quickly to our aid that we may know peace and joy again. Strengthen us in this time of trial with the assurance of hope we know in the death and resurrection of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
In God's grace,

The Rev. Mark S. Hanson
Presiding Bishop
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

P.S. Thrivent has pledged to match $1 for every $2 their members contribute, up to a total contribution of $1 million from Thrivent. To make your matching gift (up to $250 per person), go to this Web page (www.thrivent.com/helpinghaiti).

Pain

Life is interesting. I have experienced life to the fullest. I have been to the brink of death more often than I would like. I have been there with my wife twice. I have been present within that limbo between life and death with loved ones, friends, and strangers alike. That place where everything seems to slow down. There's a battle between life and death. Of fear and peace. It's a place where clergy get the honor to be present when one of their people is making the journey to be with Christ. It's a strange spiritual road we all will someday embark upon.

I have fought demons, the enemies of all that is good and have come out victorious, if not a bit beat up spiritually. I have been attacked and beat up by people in the christian church who have agendas of their own. Agendas that didn't jive with me. My family has been attacked for reasons that are beyond me. And more...and still I have been able to bounce back with vigor and strength in God's Word, knowing that the place where I grind my feet into the dirt to take root is the place and the stance that God wants me to take no matter the flack that I receive and the distress and anger other people feel because of what God wants and firmly stands for. Trusting that God will come through for me and for his people...and yet, this one silly little pain in my neck has completely disabled me.

I have felt pain before. The pain of loss. The pain of grief. The pain of others'. even some physical pain. But nothing like the pain I felt yesterday (01-11-10). It was as if two giants from the Lord of the Rings trilogy had my neck and head in their hands, and their goal was to destroy. Many of you will understand this pain of which I write. It's the pain of a herniated disk high up on the neck. I know it's common. I know that many people suffer with or have suffered this injury and I hope that it will heal or be healed. But let me tell you, the pain and suffering that Jesus went through was nothing compared to the pain that I experienced yesterday, and the thought of that is humbling to me.

This humbling injury of mine has me thinking about the humbling and humiliating experience that Jesus went through on the day of His crucifixion. My pain holds no comparison with the pain of Christ. The torture, the humiliation, the inexorable, unimaginable pain that he went through for me is humbling. Is frightening. It's terrible. And it's as real as the wimpy, tiny little pin prick of pain in my human neck....Lord, forgive me my sin......Amen.