save church…or follow jesus

Posted in Church, Community of Christ, Discipleship & Ministry, Spirituality, Theology on September 17, 2009 by mattfrizzell

MARK 8:34—37

34 Jesus called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36 For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? 37 Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?

It’s so easy to forget.  The crowd Jesus spoke to in Mark 8 didn’t know he was heading toward Jerusalem to die.  They simply followed him, listening to his teaching and witnessing his miracles.

In the verses before, Jesus told his disciples that the Son of Man must suffer and die at the hands of the church.  This sets the stage for the moments of truth he was about to share with the crowd in front of his disciples.  But, the crowd didn’t hear that prior discussion.  Jesus was only talking to his disciples.  Peter was at the center of it.

Jesus had asked his disciples, “Who do say that I am?”  Peter responded with divine insight, but with lack of understanding.  “You are the Messiah,”  Peter said.  (Mark 8:29)    Jesus took advantage of the moment and tried to help his disciples see what only God and spiritual wisdom could see.    Jesus must suffer and be killed.  Death is at the heart of the Gospel, of salvation, and resurrection.  It was the only way God could vindicate God’s faithfulness, fulfill the Law, and save the faith.   But, Peter rebuked Jesus for saying such things.  (Mark 8:32)     Yet, Jesus rebuked Peter even stronger.  “Get behind me Satan!,” he exclaimed.  (Mark 8:33)

“Satan?”   Jesus used this name to tell Peter what his words meant.  The name “Satan” in the text literally means obstacle or adversary.  That is why Jesus says, “Get behind me!”    Jesus was on an anxious and profound journey to Jerusalem, the heart of Jewish faith and identity.  He needed the obstacles and opposition behind him.   He was on a purposeful mission.    His disciples where is pupils, as well as his friends.  And Peter had his mind on human things, not divine things.

So Jesus, turns to the crowd and cries out in a stern tone.  His words almost have the tone of frustration.   They were certainly words for his disciples.  To the crowd, it must have sounded like riddles.

If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.

Imagine what the crowd must have been thinking.  Has this man, Jesus, gone mad?  What does he mean?  Trying to save your life means you’ll lose it?    Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, and only he seemed to see what that meant.

For the writer of Mark, this whole scene with Jesus, Peter, his disciples, and the crowd was an exercise in  divine revelation.    Mark is desperately trying to convey something very difficult to understand to earthly understanding, but that his followers needed to know.  We, Christians, still struggle to fully grasp the meaning of Jesus’ most essential but paradoxical teachings.   He was driving home one of the most important truths of his life: the real meaning of “Follow me.”

The crowd must have just felt bewildered.  It was something even the disciples struggled to understand.

Just because we know the end of the story, this does not mean we fully understand what Jesus was trying to say to the disciples and the crowd that day.    Even if we feel like we understand the meaning of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, it doesn’t mean we fully know what Jesus was trying to say to us in those words today.   Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the famous Christian theologian and resistor of Nazi Germany, stated it so dramatically clear:  “When Jesus calls us, he bids us come and die.”  (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Cost of Discipleship)

Jesus was talking to a crowd of Jews and Gentiles, as well as his disciples.  So, we might consider what his words mean to us, not just as individuals but also as a people – as a church.   I believe we are going through a time in the history of our movement when Jesus’ words in Mark 8:34-37 can provide a guiding like for the future.  They define our prophetic challenge.  As we confront waves of change in terms of our belief and identity, Jesus’ words define both the challenge and the promise of our journey through time.

If you want to save your life, you will lose it, but those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.  Take up your cross.  Follow me.

“Follow me” meant, literally, in Jesus’ time – become my disciple.  Do what I do.  Hear what I say.  Take my path.  Leave your nets, your family, your identity…leave it behind.  I am God’s revelation.   I am the fullness of God’s faithfulness and God’s word.  You will learn it through me.

The disciples knew they didn’t have everything figured out and nailed down.   So do disciples know that, today.  Disciples know they don’t yet have the fullness of the gospel.  Disciples ask questions in order to learn and understand, not to argue and be supreme or right.   Consider the dialogues Jesus had between Peter and the ones he had with the Pharisees.  Peter kept asking, getting redirected, and still didn’t get it right.  At the foot of the cross, Peter even denied him.    But, Peter was the Rock Jesus chose to build his church upon.   In Acts 2, after Jesus finally did ascend, Peter gives the first sermon of the Christian church.  He finally sees what he could not see before.  It is only after Jesus – the fullness of the Gospel – is gone.   The eyes of his soul and mind are renewed.  Understanding is opened.  It is he who must profess Jesus Christ.  The teacher is gone and now the disciples must live as he lived and teach what he taught.  Thousands joined the movement that day.  It was just the beginning.

…for those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.

In our congregations, we can worry about our future or the future of the church.  We can take comfort in the personal belief that we have the fullness of the Gospel or fullness of faith.  We can concern ourselves with keeping church leaders at bay or trying to keep “the world” out of our sanctuaries.  We can turn suspicious eyes against culture, ‘liberals,’ ‘conservatives’ and worldly ways.   We can take comfort in our priesthood authority, believe we know and understand what we need to know about Zion, righteousness, or the fullness of the gospel.  We can assure ourselves that we know what it means to bear Jesus’ name, live his message and teach his teachings.  We can be comfortable with ourselves as a church….

….or, we can allow the shock the disciples felt seep into our minds.  We can let the awe and bewilderment that the crowd felt seep into our souls.  What does he mean?

If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.

What would it profit us to retain our priesthood authority, keep our identity, keep the questions of the world and its uncomfortable issues out of our minds and churches?  What if we gain the church, but the church loses its life?   What can we give in return for life?

To be Jesus’ disciple, Jesus only asked that we leave what we know behind and offer our new lives to him.  This doesn’t take certainty or self-assurance.  It takes faith.

6 Comments »

On Prayer

Posted in Discipleship & Ministry, Spirituality, Theology on September 5, 2009 by mattfrizzell

the-light-withinThe body has its own sounds for prayer.

…groaning

…cries

…silence

Words can be bent to the shape of these sounds.

But, only if we allow our soul to sound itself into speech.

Let the Holy Spirit well up through your body.

These words came to me last week during worship. I feel the words were prophetic. They came with a sweet sense of inspiration. In addition, not only did I feel I knew exactly what they meant, they came moments before I realized the scripture we were to meditate on: Romans 8:24-28. The words I was drawn to were in verse 26.

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.

…with sighs too deep for words. While the words of Romans 8:26 and those that came to me were not the same, what they spoke resonated. So often, prayer is about the words. But, in the Spirit of prayer – the Spirit behind and within a prayer – it is most often not words at all but something beyond words.

Suffering.

Yearning.

Compassion.

Suffocating Fear.

Awe.

In other words, sighs too deep for words.

These feelings are experiences that live within and through our body. And, they have a sound. Sometimes groaning. Sometimes crying; sometimes crying out. Sometimes breathlessness and silence. Each carry the weight and power of life-filled prayer. They are our body’s prayer, its way of crying out like the rocks would have at Jesus’ entrance to Jerusalem – if the people would have been silent. (Luke 19:40)

Sun_Light_EnergyIn prayer, the body can know what the mind yet has to find words for. The Spirit intercedes for what cannot yet be said. We can access and hear these prayers if we pierce our armor and shed our false sense of composure. If we can be in the Spirit. But, piercing our armor of acceptability and composure can be hard. Still, there are ways.

If you pretend to cry…long enough…real tears often come.

If you cry out, persistently and sincerely enough, true grief may voice itself and liberate the soul.

If you are quiet enough, fierce, full and forgotten feelings can be found underneath the anxiety of motionlessness.

Each is a prayer, a prayer which the Holy Spirit can coax, guide, and inspire to voice, but not always words. Words can be bent to the sounds of the soul, but only if we let it speak.

Let the Holy Spirit well up through your body.

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For Katy, On Your Baptism

Posted in Community of Christ, Discipleship & Ministry, Family, Spirituality, Theology with tags , , on August 29, 2009 by mattfrizzell

IMG_0342Dear Katy,

You are being baptized this Sunday.  Wow.  I come to this event with so many feelings.  Mom and I are so proud of you, but not just because you are being baptized.  We’re  grateful because we couldn’t have asked or planned a better journey to your decision.  You made this decision on your own – in your 8 year old way.

Mom and I feel we were baptized when we were 8 years old for not the best of reasons.  Other people were doing it.  We wanted to take the bread and grape juice at church.  We knew it would make others proud.  Because of this, we didn’t want to put any pressure on you.

With the reunions and camps we go to each summer, however, we knew you’d see others be baptized.  So, we began teaching you the things we wanted you to know if you asked about it.  We wanted you to know who Jesus was and what following him meant.  We talked to you about sitting in church more, and not going to the play room.  We told you, following Jesus meant being friends with some of the kids you didn’t like at school, or with those other kids picked on and didn’t have many friends.  Mom remembers one conversation with you when you began to cry, “But I can’t do that!  I don’t want to be _____’s friend!  He’s mean!”   In that moment, you realized following Jesus wasn’t easy to do.  It was too much for you.  Mom and I let it go.  Then, something happened at reunion this summer that changed things for you.

Mom and I will not forget that night in our little pop-up camper.  It brought tears to our eyes.  You and Kenzlee had been actively attending Kevin’s campfires at family camp all week.  You guys loved campfire.  One particular night, you came back from campfire and after brushing teeth came to bed.  Campfire was always the last thing you did at camp before bed.  That night, because I hadn’t seen you guys much that day, I asked what your favorite part of camp was that day.  You and Kenzlee answered right away, almost in unison.  “Campfire!”  Kevin Henrickson was doing a wonderful job with campfire that week.

Then, you began to tell us your simple testimony.

IMG_0467During campfire that night, you said felt something touch your heart.  You were singing songs, looking into the campfire, and you said, “I felt Jesus in my heart.”  You then blurted, “I just want to get baptized right now!”  Mom and I listened.  The feeling we felt with you in the silence after was hard to describe.  You just said, “I just felt Jesus in my heart.”  We knew it was special because when we taught you about Jesus, we didn’t talk about your relationship with Jesus in those terms.   We taught you the stories.  We shared our love for Jesus.   But, tonight, you felt something in a way that lit your face and changed your heart.  Mom and I were touched so deeply and in ways we didn’t expect.  We began to remember the first time we felt the Spirit, when we felt something bigger than ourselves in and around us.  We remembered what it was like to feel Jesus for the first time…to feel Jesus and his love in us.

After you were born, I remembered the nights I often prayed for you in college.  For some reason, I was worried about the future at that time in my life.  I prayed for you, the companion I had yet to meet, and the children I might have some day.  I prayed with such earnestness and would do so from time to time.  I remember, I prayed one thing more than anything else for my children – that they would have a relationship with God, the God I knew and changed my life.

I think you are on that road.  I can only praise the God of life and proclaim my belief that something, somewhere, profound, wonderful, real, and beyond all knowledge is present and real.  I call that God.  When that God is with us, it is Jesus.

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It’s the end of the church as we know it, and I feel fine

Posted in Church, Discipleship & Ministry, Spirituality on July 26, 2009 by mattfrizzell

Those who are 30-something or fans of early 90′s pop-rock will know the title of my post is a variation on one of R.E.M.’s best songs.  If not, see below.  <grin>

It’s been several weeks since I’ve posted.  I’m still on a roller coaster ride.  I’ve spent several grueling weeks on my dissertation…reading, writing chapters, meeting with my adviser, and realizing I have alot more work to do.    And then, for a moment, everything has stopped.  I’ve had a couple weeks to attend church camps, relish in the Spirit, and partake in God’s community.  I’ve filled up, hanging out with people who know ‘church’ and make the effort to experience life together and contribute to the hard work of community.   The reunions (family camps) I went to in Chicago and Samish Island, WA were wonderful.    These experiences have made me realize something about myself:  While I AM some kind of academic, contemplative, and loner in my walk with God, I’m also an eat-em-up, extroverted, relational type who loves community wherever I can find it.   Between these two poles, my life if both rich and productive – and strangely uncomfortable and disorienting.

So, what’s this got to with “It’s the end of the church/world as we know it?”    For life in real time, everything.

As I continue to speak in congregations and watch congregational life struggle, there’s an ongoing realization that the church is significantly changing.   In ways both clear and unclear, subtle and profound, the church is facing its mortality.  Not as a “totality.”  I mean, it’s not like Christianity or the Community of Christ is going to go away.   Yet, without a doubt, in many corners of the church “it’s the end of the church as we know it.”  And, frankly, I feel fine.

Do I feel fine because I’m apathetic?   Come on.   If I was apathetic, I’d left long ago with my peers.

I feel fine because I still experience God’s Spirit alive in the church and among people who worship and expect Christ’s blessings, even as congregations and camps shrink.  Also, I’m aware that all this decline, the divisive issues, and sense of change in the church is bringing incredible opportunities to we church-types…new opportunities for honesty, freedom, and real creativity.  Facing the end of the church as we know it really makes we church-folk face our demons, tests our faith, and checks us on what we’ve really put our faith in anyway.

The future, if it is truly God’s, doesn’t belong to us anyway.  If we believed that, there would not be less anxiety.   But, I think ‘the church’ would spend alot less time trying to ‘manage’ itself and, instead, find ways to jump into the flow of spiritual opportunities, new insight, and expression flowing through the church.   I think we’d find that there’d be alot of old with the new, instead of one or the other.    It’s because the flow’s movement holds both parts:  the downward spiral of decline and demise, as well as the vortex of new life and religious expression.  This is the flow of spirituality and divine opportunities – its insight and expressions – overtaking denominationalism and corporate Christianity.

Against the alarmists who worship in the church of certainty, we are not facing the death of institutions, tradition, or faith.  Rather, we are witnessing their remaking.

It’s tempting to try to hold things together in change, even if you trust what’s driving things.  It’s especially tempting if your identity is wrapped up in the familiar and what has been.   Conservatism, whether fundamentalist or liberal, is about preserving things.   Both, however, blunt the Spirit of creation and our opportunities for amplifying our faith.  Both stunt the growth of profound revelation and spiritual discovery holding the future of divine life and Jesus-ology.

After all, Christianity is a messianic faith.  Therefore, it is and always will be hope for what and who is … to come.

10 Comments »

Sexual Policy and the Church

Posted in Church, Community of Christ, Discipleship & Ministry, Faith & Politics, Spirituality, Theology on June 7, 2009 by mattfrizzell

On June 6th, I posted a piece entitled “Sexual Policy and the Church” on the  independent blog SaintsHerald.com.  While I write about my experience as a minister of the Community of Christ, my observations reach beyond any one denomination.  It discusses the way the politics of sexuality and church in the U.S. church distort the issues of faith and human sexuality involved.  I try to reflect on my discipleship to Jesus in my struggle to survive these politics.

Comments are welcome at either site.

5 Comments »

Learning to Write a Book

Posted in Spirituality with tags , , , on May 20, 2009 by mattfrizzell

Matt2 bwToday is a self-reflection.

I’ve been writing my dissertation since March.  It’s quite a process, difficult to describe.  Professors and peers who’ve been through the PhD comment to me that this is something no one really understands unless they’ve been through it.  I can appreciate that; I feel the same way about several things.

A PhD, like the dissertation, takes a measure of obsessiveness.  The amount of concentration and tunnel-vision (the next level of focus) it takes is difficult.   It is work, at the level that begins to define a rite of passage.  The idea that you are making an original contribution to the field strikes me as a little difficult to believe.  But, I’ve come to see how a little shift in perspective makes a big difference.  And though ideas get regurgitated, it is these ideas in concert with yours that give your thought meaning and paint the difference.

The writing process, alone, is unique to each person.  This has been the most interesting part for me.  I’m learning how I write.  A dissertation is not a term paper.  I’ve written 40 and 60 page term papers.  But, nothing is like this process.  While it is difficult, I also enjoy it.  However, the writing comes in its own time.  I’ve explained it this way to many people.  Writing my dissertation is nothing like other things I do, like raking.  Raking can be hurried through.  Elbow grease and a dose of work ethic can speed up the process.   You can even do it quick and well.  But, writing is not like that for me.  Working harder, yes.  But, hurrying?  No.  Focus is less a matter of quantity than intensity.   A few interruptions can actually help the process.  Otherwise, its easy to get myopic.

Learning the right level and balance of focus has been the challenge for me.  I have needed to get away, to write a few days at a time.  But, then, I need a break.  Once I break and come back, the distance I’ve gained from my work helps the editing process.  Sometimes, I don’t even follow my own thoughts.

The reason is that writing is hard for me.  It is a discipline.  I try to explain it this way: maybe it was the time and period I was raised.  But, the writing process is way too slow.  It’s linear.  Unlike a picture or image that can be studied from a number of different perspectives, with several entry points, writing follows left to right.  It is more like a journey.  My mind is learning, struggling, to work that way.

My brain doesn’t naturally think that way.  Maybe it was television.  Maybe it was video games.  Maybe it’s because I’m naturally an extrovery who like managing alot of different conversations at the same time.  Either way, the discipline of writing is forcing me to do something different.   And as I tried to say in this post, there is something spiritual about it.

Until scriptures are definitively transferred to a new format (.mp3 or BlueRay?), their form as a text will shape our spirituality.   The fact that scriptures are either scrolls or codex (i.e. book) will shape our thinking about God.  God will always be a wonder.  Jesus will always live in narrative.  The Spirit will continue to come to us in moments of communication, inspiration, and despair.  All these are moments of human life.  They are also the qualities of a book.

Hieroglyphs, symbols, ink, text…literally, sentenced to life, on a page.

15 Comments »

Announcing New Blog

Posted in Church, Community of Christ, Discipleship & Ministry with tags , , , on May 7, 2009 by mattfrizzell

I want to alert you to a new blog being started.  You can check it out at http://saintsherald.com/.

The SaintsHerald.com is not an official site of the Community of Christ.  Rather, it was started less than a month ago by a group of young (~20-30′s) members, scholars, and activists interested in engaging the emerging issues facing the Community of Christ, with an eye to its connection to the greater Restration movement.

You are invited to the discussion.  Please check it out, read a post, and make a comment.  Today, the future is emerging.

Peace.

2 Comments »

The New Testament of the Restoration

Posted in Church, Community of Christ, Faith & Politics, Theology on April 19, 2009 by mattfrizzell

Another denominational post.   I have mixed feelings about this.

In my journey with God, I cannot control what I was born into.  The more I develop my testimony – the more I search the soul of the faith I grew up with and the scriptural record in search of clarity – the more I come to see the Community of Christ as the receivers of a New Covenant.

To grasp my meaning, you have to see the spiritual struggle told through the bible as a repeatable historical struggle.  The bible doesn’t tell the story of a linear history, though there is that sense.  More importantly, it tells the journey of a people with God – from their liberation, establishment, prophetic challenge, fall, and struggle to understand the messiah who fulfills the law of righteousness, but not their expectations.

The more I reflect on this story of judgment and redemption, I see it in the Community of Christ story.  The Restoration, like all the Restoration movements of the 19th century, arrogantly or not, proclaimed to reclaim the New Testament church.   However, like every prophetic “return to origins,” it suffered temptations – overstating its self-legitimacy, temptation to self-righteous, and idolatry of its “specialness” at the exclusion of others.   The church and its distinctiveness overtook Christ as the center.  Judgment came not from without, but from within the church.   Claims of apostasy, divided loyalties, and lead schisms.  More than once.

It seems, the most dangerous time in any movement is when past clarity, defined by knowing who your enemies are, is no longer clear.   A movement does not need to be conquered from without when the enemies are within.   When division, internal strife over “the true meaning of the movement” set the movement against itself.  Is this what happened with Israel?  Babylon and Assyria only filled a vacuum created within?

It’s certainly what happened with the Restoration…multiple times.  It happened in the last 40 year’s of the Community of Christ.

The more I reflect on the scriptures and try to piece together what happened to the Reorganization, I see the glimmer of a New Testament period possibly in the Restoration.  This is the emerging period.  It is defined by the following realizations.

  • In the end, Jesus is the first and last prophet of the church.
  • Therefore, Jesus is the center and that center is shared by any Christian who proclaims Jesus Christ as the measure of God’s creation and redemption.
  • The Kingdom Jesus brings breaks open all religious, ethnic, or national definitions.
  • That Kingdom on Earth is Zion.
  • Zion has arrived where Jesus Christ is present, followed, and proclaimed in people’s lives.

The Old Covenant of the Restoration would claim sole rights to the authority of this Kingdom.   The Old Covenant would not see the possibility of this covenant fulfilled in God’s ongoing revelation.  New revelation would only reinforce prior revelation.   The center of the church is not God’s new revelation, seen also in Jesus, but the church and its righteousness.

I must be clear.  I am not trying to use the “Old Testament” and “New Testament” in ways to disparage Jews, Judaism, or claim self-righteousness for the Community of Christ over any group of Christians.  Rather, as I’ve tried to say, I’m trying to see the struggle of the accepting Jesus, the Messiah, in a biblical context and read that into the life and history of a specific history and specific church…..

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A Moment of Decision: Veazey’s Address

Posted in Church, Community of Christ, Discipleship & Ministry, Theology on April 8, 2009 by mattfrizzell

I don’t like to focus solely on Community of Christ or internal denominational issues.  This internal focus is part of a greater disease plaguing so many of our churches.   However, that said, denominations do face challenges from many sides in the U.S. and many of us face these challenges together.    This disease is no respecter of denominations.

Click the picture to view President Veazey’s Address.  (52 minutes)

President of the Community of Christ, Steve Veazey gave an address to the Community of Christ this past Sunday, April 5th that deserves attention.   In the end, I think Steve has prophetic direction that is not simply limited to our church, but could be for Christian communities everywhere.  In this time of economic uncertainty and denominational instability,  “The vision and mission of Jesus Christ matters most.”   I believe our scriptures are clear on this.  Jesus proclaimed a kingdom beyond religious loyalties, ethnic identity, moral codes, rules of righteousness, and dependency on profits.  I thank President Veazey for taking our attention there.  Amen!

In the following, I give what I believe is a summary of his main points, along with my own reflections.   My hope is that together, we can digest the message available in his address and work it into our lives.  Quotations are taken from the text, which can be found here.

  1. Our denomination’s long term financial viability. To start off, President Veazey addressed concerns about the long-term viability of the Community of Christ.  As a denominational structure, the church is not in jeopardy.  “The sacrificial generosity of past generations, the foresight of previous leaders, and the disciplined application of financial policies in the present continue to secure the church’s long-range financial future.”  However, to make ends meet, the church will reduce the 2010 World Ministries budget by $4,000,000.   How will our people respond?
  2. Our Economic Challenges Reveal Spiritual Issues. How will we respond?  Veazey offers prophetic leadership by offering us spiritual insight.  It is an insight that has far reaching implications for our discipleship, not only as a church but also for our personal lives and America as a whole.  Veazey states, “I believe the economic situation actually reveals a spiritual issue that will require a spiritual response.”    Any spiritual response will take us beyond ourselves.   As a church, President Veazey reminds us that we are not simply members of a congregation.   But, this insight applies to all Christians.   As a community of Christ – both denominationally and figuratively – we belong to a world-wide family.   It is made up of all who profess the Lordship of Jesus Christ.    Veazey stated, “The church is an international body that God has called into being to fulfill divine purposes related to the coming reign of God on earth.”  What President Veazey says about the Community of Christ is a theological statement – a confession of faith – that bleeds over denominational walls and applies to every disciple of Jesus Christ throughout the world. This is a prophetic statement.  President Veazey’s call is for no less than a spiritual awakening.  If Jesus’ life and teaching ground our hope and guide our energies, our generous response – in both financial terms and in personal stewardship – will follow this spiritual trajectory.   Christ’s call is life-sized.  Religion is not a strictly “personal” matter.   Following Christ requires a vision that is world-wide.  All this reveal a vision for life lived in biblical proportions.   Beyond any priesthood office or denominational definition, Jesus’ life and teaching reveals precious truths told with a subtle plainness.   As a Rabbi, Jesus knew we teach what we are living.   This is a challenge to every member, every priesthood member, every Mission Center President, and every World Church leader.   The paradox of God’s sacrifice is its generosity.  Such divine generosity is a defining characteristic of Jesus’ life and teaching.   God’s economy, relational and spiritual, pours forth out of the life and death of Jesus Christ.   It continues in the life of his followers.   Grace and generosity flow equally in Jesus standing invitation to “Follow me.”
  3. Internal Questions: History. Before returning to the centrality of Jesus’ mission, President Veazey addressed certain internal denomoninational concerns that continue to hinder and distract the church form its purpose.  The first is the entanglement of the church’s sense of identity and history.  In brief, Veazey stated that the church has focused too long on the importance of the churches first 14 years (1830-44).  In fact, we have neglected the much larger portion of our history: the figures, decisions, and events of the Reorganization from 1860 on.   These years provide a kind of theological corrective to some of the speculations and indulgences of the church’s early period.  It is in the Reorganization that we can find the historical roots of our unfolding faith-story.  Veazey concluded, “I think [Emma Smith and Joseph Smith III] would see their hopes for the church being fulfilled in our emphasis on reconciliation and healing of the spirit; our openness to continuing revelation; our growing understanding of giftedness and ministerial calling; our concern for the poor; and our strong focus on promoting peaceful Christian community as the hope of Zion.”
  4. Internal Questions: Scripture. President Veazey called the church to greater responsibility in its interpretation, use, and understanding of scripture.  Referencing the church’s recent statement on scripture as well as Doctrine and Covenants 163:7d, President Veazey re-emphasized that Community of Christ does not hold nor condone the doctrine of scriptural inerrancy.  Instead, the church emphasizes two principles or teachings with regards to the nature, use, and interpretation of scripture.  First, there is the defining role of the Holy Spirit in illuminating scripture.  Second, the life and teachings of Jesus Christ are the definitive rule and revelation for interpreting and using scripture.  He stated, “Community of Christ…stresses that all scripture must be interpreted through the lens of God’s most-decisive revelation in Jesus Christ.”  In sum, “Scripture is authoritative, not because it is perfect or inerrant in every literal detail, but because it reliably keeps us grounded in God’s revelation.”    Being grounded in God’s revelation is a matter of discipleship, i.e. living a life of study, faith, and humility in relationship to scripture, not claiming to possess such truth or claim its authority.
  5. The Problem with Our Attention on Internal Issues. I believe the conclusion of President Veazey’s address is most prophetic, even by scriptural standards.   Steve Veazey recognizes the tragic scenario that befalls us as we place our energies and attention on internal church matters instead of putting faith in Jesus Christ and the promises of his community.  He stated plainly, “It is telling that much of what I have addressed so far is about internal church issues. This is the greatest challenge we face. Will we be able to put internal church issues in proper perspective so we can focus first on our mission…”   He follows with the kind of questions a modern prophet would ask – questions that echo in the empty spaces of our internal perspective and its increasing tunnel vision.   He asks, “Are we mobilizing to provide pastoral care and tangible help to individuals and families that are barely surviving because of economic pressures? Are we responding to the increasing hatred and violence toward immigrants and ethnic minorities because others want to make them scapegoats for our common difficulties? What about the children in your community? How are they doing? What does it mean to be a prophetic people who speak and act in the name of God and Christ in times like these?“  He, then, reminds the church, “Many of our members live in countries with developing or nonfunctional economic and political systems. Their situation is much worse than anything many of us in more affluent areas are experiencing.“    Just like in scriptural times, these questions tell us if we have ears to hear.  The prophet presents us the divine gift of our own uneasiness and introspection – the kind that calls for repentance and cultivates inspiration if we have the faith to suffer it and grace to receive it.
  6. Inspired Pastoral Counsel. President Veazey ends his 52 minute address with a note of confirmation and conviction.  “What matters most,” he says directly, “is for us to become who God is calling us to become so the restoring ministry of Christ can be shared in every possible way in every possible place.”     Honestly, these words hit me numb, but only because they to convey both the possibility and impossibility.   What’s true for the church, I believe, is true for me and every Christian.    Jesus proclaimed a “here-and-now” kind of gospel.  His disciples followed him before he they ever knew he would die or be resurrected because he had a message.  “On earth, as it is in heaven.”   The promise of eternal life is not some personal salvation.  It’s the individual call to discipleship and universal hope for daily bread.    President Veazey ended with the inspired pastoral counsel below.

Fear not! Do not be afraid to become who God is calling you to become. God, the Eternal One, has been with you in your past, continues with you in the present, and already is waiting patiently for you in the future. Through your lives the sacred story of the Restoration still is being written.

Engage the current challenges and opportunities before you with commitment and hope worthy of the dedication and sacrifices of those who went before you. Creatively build on the faith foundations they laid. Open windows and doors to the future.

Beloved community, God has chosen you to assist in accomplishing divine purposes if you will choose to live out of your better natures and potential. Deepen your faith. Refine your sensitivity to the guidance of the Spirit so that you are not distracted by other influences. Explore your scriptures with openness to new insights that will come. Increase your compassion and generosity. Strengthen your relationships so the peace of Christ may be magnified through you.

Have courage and hope. Gather in the gifts of all ages and cultures so the ministries of the body can become whole and fully alive. Others are being prepared around the world to join their efforts with yours, if you will move ahead according to the direction offered to you by the Spirit. Amen.

My testimony is that discipleship is not finding the answers.  It is finding the questions worth asking.

Likewise, salvation is not simply life after death.  Eternal life begins with a life worth living.

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Be Good To Yourself

Posted in Faith & Politics, Family with tags , on April 3, 2009 by mattfrizzell

Today, feel good.  Unemployment is at a 25 year high.  Political conservatives and poison pundits self-righteously hope the ‘s stimulus plan fails after creating record deficits with control of the White House and congress for the last 8 years.  To boot, I just got a message on Facebook from a friend who’s struggling.  We live in a world that seeks to profit on our insecurity, spiritual faults, and emotional despair.

Resist.

Play Journey’s Be Good to Yourself. Turn it up.  Bounce around your bedroom.  End with a responsible beverage of your choice.

Be good to yourself when nobody else will
Oh be good to yourself
You’re walkin’ a highwire, caught in a crossfire
Oh be good to yourself

For the Love of God, rock on.

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