The Parable of the Good Muslim

The Parable of the Good Muslim

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" "What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" "You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."

But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from a Tigers game to his car, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a social worker, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Muslim, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on Neosporin. Then he put the bloodied man in his own car, took him to a hotel and took care of him. The next day he took $300 and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'

"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?" The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him." Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."

If the Parable of the Good Samaritan were re-written for us today - could it look like this? If so, how might this challenge the way we interact with those who have a different faith or culture? Do you suppose this parable really bothered Jesus' audience? What could we substitute the Samaritan with today?

Postmodern Sin

So I'm supposed to be prepping for my Evangelism final which must be taken tonight because of time restraints. Clearly, I'm not studying because I'm blogging. Don't judge me. Anyways, there is this ABCD Evangelism process that is discussed in my class that I'm struggling with.

Essentially, the start of the ABCD conversion process is that, as Christians and evangelists, we must help people to understand sin. If sin cannot be understood, there is no problem, and then no need for God. My problem is that A) I'm not convinced personal sin is the first step to connect post-moderns with a need for Jesus and B) I fear that limiting our understanding of atonement to penal substitution does not portray a holistic picture of the work God is doing in and through Christ.

Why must we start with sin? Why don't we talk about God's love for creation, His desire to welcome us into His family, the role we get to play in restoring Eden, God's concern for the problems of modern-day, etc.... I wonder if our efforts at evangelism would be more successful if we changed tactics. You know, talk about the things of God that really get us excited! Or else I have to conclude there is no excitement found in Christ except being spared from a Hell that isn't known or understood by many. If that's the case, I'm clearly on a different boat!

So that's where I finish this thought today - how do we approach sin in a post-modern context where judgement (declaring right & wrong) is a terrible faux pas?

Creation's Groan

"I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world"

Just a quick thought - so we talk a lot about how 'creation groans' and it is usually in the context of discussing our responsibilities to care for creation. It has always made me think of the kind of groaning I do when I get out of bed after a good workout. Every muscle is tight, every joint is stiff, and every step for the first 60 seconds of my day feels like I am about to break. I groan to feel better.

But there is another groan that I frequently use - a groan of anticipation. For example, I play on an outdoor soccer league in Ann Arbor. Whenever I get a chance to enjoy the game from the sidelines, inevitably, someone on my team will get a good break on the goal and make an attempt to score. The anticipation of that moment is incredible. I love the way everyone of us leans forward, yells, shortens our breath, and watches. Now, regardless of the outcome, there is a groaning that leads up to the shot. Its that moment where your last breath leaves your lungs and the whole world seems to stop around you to experience fully what is about to go down.

"I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world." Just wondering- could creation have been groaning in anticipation of God's work? Could you imagine the stress of knowing so much good and then having an extended period of time where it has been absent? To compare again with soccer, it is like having a winning season the year prior and the whole team is groaning with the anticipation of another win in the new year. I'm not suggesting that creation has stopped its groaning. Just saying, I like the thought of creation longing for something better. I like the idea that Jesus brought us some good that was lost for a long long time.

Marilyn Who?

To begin, my apologies for being so absent with this blog. My wife and I recently purchased a home and I have decided to participate in the Vineyard Leadership Institute. The combination of both in the same quarter have been demanding of my time to say the least. However, I am pleased to be at the computer again and will attempt to be more faithful in the sharing of my thoughts.

So I borrowed my brother-in-law's car last night to get to my small group meeting on time. One thing that I love about driving my brother's car is that he has installed a delightful satellite radio unit which provided boundless joy and information from music land! I decided to leave the channel on his preferred hard-rock station - just for kicks. On my way home from our group meeting, the DJ played the song 'Beautiful People' by Marilyn Manson. Now this may or may not connect with you depending on your age and/or background, but I've got a history with Marilyn and I wouldn't say it is a good one. Let me explain:

Marilyn Manson became huge on the music scene in the 1990's - my middle and high school years. At the time I was listening to harder rock music and so the exposure was inevitable. Looking back, it is interesting to me how scared we were ("we" being the Church) of Marilyn Manson. If you google a photo, you'll certainly understand. The dark feel to his music, the frightful rock&roll image, the morbid fascinations - all these things were rolled into one giant ball of "bad" and suddenly, taking the place of Nazi Germany, Manson became the new poster-boy for evil. (Apparently only the devil would cover a song by the Eurythmics...)

What bothers me now is that there was no exploration following the reasons 'why' we were scared & intimidated by Manson. And my question is asked in the light of this: Did we really believe that the kingdom of God could have been toppled by a rock band? That, if we did not speak out strongly against his image and associate it with negative health practices (ex. Cutting) and school shootings (Columbine), that evil would win the day? Again - and those of you who know me won't find these questions to be anything new but- why did the Church choose to make an enemy of Manson? What youth ministries studied the demographic that he attracted and made them a priority? Who was thankful for what Manson revealed about our culture? The perceived needs of our teenagers? Or, did we avoid it because we were scared of those kids?

God, give a courage to minister to those you love. Help our love for those who seem alien to overgrow our timidity that we might be effective servants of You.

JBS - Chapters 5 & 6; Adventures in the Contemplative

Among my list of top reads for any youth worker are Mark Yaconelli's books on contemplative youth ministry. They've been some of my favorites now for several years and I believe the reason that they remain at the top of my list is because I believe I find most of my hope for youth ministry being expressed in a contemplative dimension.

Contemplation breeds intimacy. I want to have an intimate relationship with Jesus and I certainly wish the same for my students. I think that all the mission trips, and service projects, and video game battles, and story telling, and Bible study won't amount to much if neglect this crucial piece of the spiritual puzzle. I understand the reasons for shying away from contemplative practice in youth group. "Prayer is boring, my students would never get on board!" "I don't think my kids want to learn how to pray. They'd rather just learn more about Jesus." "I feel so inadequate that there's no way I'm fit to teach this part of the Jesus path to the youth group."

As good as these reasons and others may be - they're not good enough.

Perhaps I was an anomaly in high school but I'm pretty confident that if we had had a youth pastor who wanted to get into prayer and meditation he or she would have had no trouble rounding up at least five of us to get going. If I did not believe that kids are interested in spiritual things then I would probably pursue work in a field that is more solid and less swampy. But I wonder. . .

Do we do prayer an injustice if we only teach that prayer is communication?

How else might we describe prayer to youth?

How about Phyllis Tickle's description that "prayer means going somewhere"?

Do we shortchange our students by having them practice saying prayers but never have them practice listening?

Why are most of us so discontent with our own prayer lives? Who set those standards for us? Are we imparting those on our students?

This morning I read through the Divine Hours while I sipped my orange juice. I was encouraged because it was the first time that doing the Divine Hours felt comfortable and safe and familiar despite having any history associated with it. I believe I will try again tomorrow morning. : D

Is God "Cool"?

I was reading around some other posts this morning and observed some reoccuring conversations about how youth ministries, for right or wrong, tend to imitate world culture in an attempt to attract teenagers. I haven't officially landed a position for this argument but it makes me wonder why we try to portray God as being cool.

Do teenagers only respond to 'Cool'?

What makes something cool?

Is God cool?

Perhaps the fine point on this question is should we base a ministry's philosophy and objectives around a relative concept? One person's 'cool' is another person's 'not cool'. Do we exclude and/or limit people from finding meaningful relationships with each other and with God when we cater to a cultural concept of attractive design? Should I say anything critical in the next few sentences, I should first admit that I use 'cool' elements in my youth ministry as well. Having a surround sound lounge with an xBox 360 & Rock Band kit plus BluRay is a far cry from monastic simplicity. However I've been able to build relationships with kids and adults with the aforementioned toy room.

I think our challenge is to assess the difference our attempts at being cool really make. Do your games make kids who would never interact with each other do otherwise? Does your video game system just keep kids entertained or do you (or other mentors) actually get to connect with kids while playing? Does your worship band lead kids into worship or does it just rock without purpose?

I want to say God is cool because I like Him and the things that I like are cool. I also realize that 'coolness' is flippant and finicky and in 24 hours, many things tend to be less cool. Do we need to use new language in the way we describe God? Perhaps I need more creativity to move in this direction. But then again, isn't it kind of lame to summarize the God of the universe with just one word from the English dictionary?

JBS - Chapter 4, Three B's

I've never understood why we expect people to arrive into our communities with experience, wisdom, and an angelic perfection that could only serve to make our churches as cool and popular as the megachurch down the street. My experience has taught me otherwise. People arrive into our communities as broken people. I enter a community as a broken person.

Ken was describing the other day that Jesus had more of a ready, fire, aim! approach to ministry. A similar philosophy I adopted is referred to as the 3 B's. Many church communities expect you to enter their community in a particular order. First you Behave the way they behave. Secondly you must Believe what they believe. Only after having assimilated in the most shallow of ways can you finally Belong to the group. Jesus did very poorly with this lesson. I might diagnose Jesus with a case of spiritual dyslexia because he reversed the order! In Jesus' kingdom, we Belong, Believe, and then Behave. It's a Come-As-You-Are spirituality. Jesus can take care of the rest.

When you have a kid in the midst of your youth space, please youth workers, remember that teenager is on an active spiritual journey. They may be on a reluctantly journeying, but they are moving with you nonetheless! Thank God when you have kids who feel safe enough to come as they are. Thank God when your drug users make the room smell funky. Thank God when you nudge the girl in the back of the room to wake up! Thank God when your kids use your program for their own attention. Not only will you be more attentive to the areas that God is working, it will also help to develop the patience that is needed to permit kids to Belong in your group first. Remember, nobody wants to be where they don't belong. Let people belong in your ministry.