There is No “Just” in the Body of Christ
Several years ago, I was invited to a church to help lead their annual leader training. At this annual meeting, they eat dinner together, talk about their overall ministry philosophy and goals, and then break out into age segments for more directed and specific training. During the dinner, I happened to be seated close to a group of older ladies who chatted happily and enjoyed their chicken casserole as much as I did. But then came the time for a special presentation.
One of the casserole-enjoying ladies was, evidently, named Ms. Peggy, and she was to be honored that night. She was retiring from teaching one of the children’s Sunday school classes because she was moving to an assisted living home. But here’s the kicker – she was retiring after having taught that Sunday school class for 70 straight years.
70.
Think about that. That means she taught children who, only a couple of years earlier, had lost their fathers during World War II. It means she shepherded children through things like the assassination of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King. It means that her Sunday school class excitedly talked about the Apollo Moon landing one Sunday. It means she was teaching the Bible during the tumultuous years of Vietnam. And on 9/11, she was still there. Sunday after Sunday. Week after week. Year after year. It’s remarkable.
And while it’s easy to think such a thing remarkable after 70 years, I wonder if 65 years ago we would have the same reaction to Ms. Peggy. Probably not.
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Surfside Presbyterian Church Struck By Lightning, Catches Fire
As many of you have seen our church was struck by lightning this afternoon and a fire ensued. The fire department was there very quickly and many put themselves in danger during the storm to put the fire out. The damage seems to be contained to the middle third of the building. However, Pastor Holcomb’s office was badly damaged, the sanctuary was significantly flooded and the fire knocked out the power.
SURFSIDE, S.C. (WPDE) — The Surfside Presbyterian Church caught fire Monday afternoon [July 4].
Senior Pastor Brian Peterson, at Surfside Presbyterian, told ABC15 News most of the damage sustained is to the bell tower, the second-floor offices and a few other areas surrounding the center of the church.
Peterson said on Monday afternoon, his teenage son was the one who first asked him about the fire.
He said it was just a few minutes after that that he began receiving calls and texts about the flames.
Horry County Fire Rescue said lightning appears to have hit the church’s bell tower.
Crews said the fire is under control with no reported injuries.
Peterson added there’s not much smoke damage, but there is extensive fire and water damage inside.
“It’s a mess. What used to be up is now down; on the floor,” he said. “Water has created damage up and down the hallways, so we’re trying to preserve whatever we can from those offices. The sanctuary seems to be in relatively good shape compared to the rest of the building.”
Peterson said they’re not letting this stop the church from moving forward.
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One of the elders commented on a Facebook page: “As many of you have seen our church was struck by lightning this afternoon and a fire ensued. The fire department was there very quickly and many put themselves in danger during the storm to put the fire out. The damage seems to be contained to the middle third of the building. However, Pastor Holcomb’s office was badly damaged, the sanctuary was significantly flooded and the fire knocked out the power. It is uncertain when we can return. Watch this page and your email about this coming Sunday. Praise the Lord that no one was there and pray that, if needed, we will be able to find a location for our Sunday services!”Related Posts:
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Vaclav Havel and the Semiotics of Public Masking
Havel, the great scholar of theater and social semiology, would have no problem correctly identifying our current mask theater as the destructive and repressive farce that it is, and those that refuse to play along as the bearers of light, and the custodians of the creative energies we will need to reconstruct and sustain freedom in the world.
For me, one of the worst inventions of the contemporary university is political science, a discipline that, with its mainly presentist and transactionalist orientation, tends to dramatically minimize the always very intimate relationship between politics and culture, especially the cardinal importance that public rituals have in every effort to radically reorient the operational concepts of the “reality” among the citizenry.
When, in his speech to the US Congress 31 years ago, Vaclav Havel said that “consciousness precedes being, and not the other way around,” he spoke not only as a politician, but as a man of culture, and more specifically, a man of the theater, a place where the semiology of the stage is often as important as the words that come out of actors’ mouths.
Thirteen years earlier, in the most decadent years of the Soviet period in Czechoslovakia, Havel wrote “The Power of the Powerless,” an essay in which he uses his very detailed understanding of the symbolic codes of the stage to explain certain mechanisms of the system of oppression then in force in his country.
He focuses his exposition on a fictional manager of a fruit and vegetable store in his country who every morning puts up a sign in the window of his shop that says “Workers of the world, unite!” The playwright then wonders to what extent this gentleman, and people passing in front of or entering the establishment, believe in the words written on the poster. He concludes that the vast majority of them probably don’t think much, if at all, about its content. The, referring to the greengrocer, he goes on to say:
“This does not mean that his action had no motive or significance at all, or that the slogan communicates nothing to anyone. The slogan is really a sign, and as such contains a subliminal but very definite message. Verbally, it might be expressed this way: ‘I, the greengrocer XY, live here and know what I must do. I behave in the manner expected of me. I can be depended upon and am beyond reproach. I am obedient and therefore have the right to be left in peace.’ This message, of course, has an addressee: it is directed above, to the greengrocer’s superiors, and at the same time it is a shield that protects the greengrocer from potential informers ”
In this way, according to Havel, the greengrocer is saved from a confrontation with himself, and the feelings of humiliation that this inner encounter would bring on:
“If the greengrocer had been instructed to display the slogan ‘I’m scared and therefore I’m unquestionably obedient’ he would not be nearly so indifferent to its semantics even though the statement would reflect the truth. The greengrocer would be embarrassed and ashamed to put such an unequivocal statement of his own degradation on display in the shop window, and quite naturally so, as he is a human being, and therefore has a sense of his own dignity. To overcome his complication, his expression of loyalty must take the form of a sign which, at least on its textual surface, indicates a level of disinterested conviction…..”
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Why Romans 8:28 Isn’t Helping Your Anxiety
Instead of forcing yourself to trust a God who isn’t protecting your earthly idols, it’s more effective to identify those false gods first. See how Jesus satisfies your desires, then reflect on God’s promises to protect your heavenly treasure. When my personal success is in jeopardy, I’m prone to anxiety. So I need to reflect on how Jesus has been successful for me, how he’s been perfect in my place. Then, after painstakingly moving my treasured success from earth to heaven, I can finally breathe, knowing nothing on earth can touch my treasure in heaven.
Have you ever felt persistently anxious, no matter how many times you reflect on God’s promises? Your stressful thoughts are like obstinate zits on your soul’s face, unfazed by the poking and prodding of Romans 8:28 and every other passage about God’s sovereign care. Incessant recitations of “God’s working everything together for good” have left your fretful pimples sore and bleeding. Your worry is still right there. Defeated and exhausted, what should you do?
Do you just need to believe harder? Should you close your eyes, muster up some faith, and perform a spiritual judo move on your doubt? Are you anxious because you scrolled through Instagram for three minutes too long? If you’d just commit to a month-long break like Sally in your small group, would your social media fast transport you into emotional serenity? Or maybe your anxiety is a pride issue, and what you need to do is stop being a know-it-all and trust a sovereign God.
I certainly battle doubt. I’m guilty of anxiously scrolling past posts of other anxious people for unreasonable amounts of time. And my soul regularly clamors for authority that only belongs to God. But while addressing these areas has occasionally curbed my anxiety, it often doesn’t.
Maybe you can relate. So what should we do?
I won’t pretend to offer a simple answer to such a difficult, multifaceted question. That’d be unrealistic and, honestly, just mean. But in Matthew 6:19–34, Jesus does offer another approach. Before he calls us to trust him, he tells us to treasure him.
Treasure God First
There’s nothing complicated about Jesus’s teaching in this passage, and there’s nothing complicated about its structure. In verses 19–24, Jesus wants us to treasure God, and in verses 25–34, Jesus wants us to trust God. Treasure and trust. Straightforward, right?
What I find fascinating, though, is how Jesus connects these two sections. After calling us to treasure God, he says, “Therefore . . . do not be anxious.” Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, therefore, trust God. That’s a curious way to put it.
There’s something about our treasure that either allows us—or doesn’t allow us—to trust God. If we treasure God, we can trust him. But if we treasure something else or someone else, we won’t trust God. Anxiety seems to swing on the hinge of this adverb: “Therefore.”
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