When Cheryl and I lived in Africa in 2003 and then China in 2004 we had a first time experience almost every day. I wrote about these experiences in a series of letters. I recall one response from a Westerner who had spent a good part of their life in the 2/3 & developing world. He enjoyed my letters because I was helping him see and hear life with fresh eyes.

One of the things Brook and I want to accomplish through this series on justice is to help us see and hear justice through fresh eyes: to poke, to prod and of course to encourage. The first two weeks on justice have challenged how we understand justice. Today we want challenge our hearts, what we experience of justice. We are using Nicholas Wolterstorff’s work on justice to help us  and today we’ll introduce you to a poet named Joel Mckerrow.

We understand that God didn’t just create humankind in his image. He intentionally attaches his love to each being, to each of us. Christ attaches his love to each person, whether we know it or not, or accept it or not and we are reminded that Christ reverses the order of society. He reveals to us that the disadvantaged are worthy.

Christ is tells us that he has made the last first. The disadvantaged have the same rights and entitlement as the rest of us. If that is so and if we accept as scripture tells us, that we are merely stewards of His resources, then what’s ours is His…..making what’s ours theirs.

Justice influenced by Christ’s reversed social order compels us not only to love our neighbour as we love ourself, but to act on this love, why? Because our neighbour is entitled.  Because when we look in their eyes we see ourselves, when we look in their soul we see that Christ as attached his love to them.To assume that someone has less worth, to treat them as unworthy of your time, or money or patience or grace. To consider them unworthy of you, is to wrong him or her and to offend Christ.

When we consider our actions in terms of the rights of others, we understand better how our actions have affected not just their rights but their very personhood. The disadvantaged and the wronged have a right to a claim against us, our response should not what can we give, rather what are they entitled to receive.

Wolterstorff reminds us that God’s intent for the world, is as Christ prayed “May thy Kingdom come and thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”This goes beyond justice. It is a vision of shalom, all humanity dwelling in peace in our relationships with God, with ourselves, with others, and with nature.

It is shalom when:

the wolf and the lamb will live together; the leopard and the goat will be at peace. Calves and yearlings will be safe among lions, and a little child will lead them all. The cattle will graze among bears. Cubs and calves will lie down together. And lions will eat grass as the livestock do. Babies will crawl safely among poisonous snakes. Yes, a little child will put its hand in a nest of deadly snakes and pull it out unharmed. Isaiah 11:6-8 NLT

Nicholas Wolterstorff: Until justice and peace embrace: the Kuyper lectures for 1981 delivered at the Free University of Amsterdam, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1983  pg 69

NT Wright says  that our mission as the church is to bring beauty, justice and evangelism if that is so, shalom the fulfillment of these  cannot exist without justice, and to do that we must see injustice for what it is:

  to loose the chains of injustice

and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?

Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—

when you see the naked, to clothe him,and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Isaiah 58:6,7 NIV

Poet Joel McKerrow http://youtu.be/_vCtEqyYkfk

Shalom establishes right and harmonious relationships with others, it can see God’s joy and presence in all humanity. We  are the people of shalom when we can find joy in the company of others. And  there can only be justice when human beings no longer oppress one another.

 Justice will dwell in the desert and righteousness live in the fertile field.

The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever.

My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes in undisturbed places of rest. Isaiah 32:16-18 NIV

Nicholas Wolterstorff: Until justice and peace embrace: the Kuyper lectures for 1981 delivered at the Free University of Amsterdam, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1983  pg 69

For Shalom falls short when some make their own way in the world to the disadvantage of others.

Poet Joel McKerrow http://youtu.be/D7gD9U-iXg0

Shalom is God’s cause for the world and we the church are entrusted with bringing it to earth. It is God’s cause and our calling and though we won’t see this fulfilled until Christ returns we are not to stand around waiting. We participate in his cause and fulfill his peace on earth. But we the church are hindered when we fail to acknowledge our injustices

Nicholas Wolterstorff: Until justice and peace embrace: the Kuyper lectures for 1981 delivered at the Free University of Amsterdam, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1983  pg 72

Poet Joel McKerrow http://youtu.be/7d-Hg5h3rMo

The prophet Isaiah spoke of the one through whom shalom would be fulfilled.

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—

the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,

the Spirit of counsel and of power,

the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD—Isaiah 11:1,2 NIV

Isaiah is referring to Christ, the one through whom justice and peace – shalom will be fulfilled. As imperfect as we may be, He has us entrusted to carry out shalom. We who believe in him serve him by creating a just world. We are his peace workers. Nicholas Wolterstorff: Until justice and peace embrace: the Kuyper lectures for 1981 delivered at the Free University of Amsterdam, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1983  pg 72

Give me eyes to see, ears to hear and courage to act.

Our understanding of justice is influenced by many things: Religion, politics, philosophy, friends, injustices, sports, media. Some of my favourite movies are big on retribution: good person is wronged, but bad person gets his or her just reward by the end of the movie. In hockey when the skill player is hurt we demand justice.

Are these examples of justice?

When we, the church consider social action we often default to acts of mercy and compassion. What about justice?

Over the next weeks Brook and I want to bring clarity the meaning of justice, to offer another side to justice and we want to make the distinction between justice and compassion. We will be borrowing heavily from Nicholas Wolterstorff – Justice Rights and Wrongs and Brook Biggin’s – Masters dissertation: An Analysis of the American Response to the HIV/AIDS Crisis through the Lens of Wolterstorff’s Theory of Justice as Inherent Rights.

Jesus told a now famous parable about justice:

A religion scholar stood up with a question to test Jesus. “Teacher, what do I need to do to get eternal life?” He answered, “What’s written in God’s Law? How do you interpret it?”

He said, “That you love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence—and that you love your neighbour as well as you do yourself.” “Good answer!” said Jesus. “Do it and you’ll live.” Looking for a loophole, he asked, “And just how would you define ‘neighbour’?”

Jesus answered by telling a story. “There was once a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. On the way he was attacked by robbers. They took his clothes, beat him up, and went off leaving him half-dead. Luckily, a priest was on his way down the same road, but when he saw him he angled across to the other side.Then a Levite religious man showed up; he also avoided the injured man.“A despised Samaritan traveling the road came on him. When he saw the man’s condition, his heart went out to him.He gave him first aid, disinfecting and bandaging his wounds. Then he lifted him onto his donkey, led him to an inn, and made him comfortable.In the morning he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take good care of him. If it costs any more, put it on my bill—I’ll pay you on my way back.’

“What do you think? Which of the three became a neighbour to the man attacked by robbers?”

“The one who treated him kindly,” the religion scholar responded. Jesus said, “Go and do the same.”  Luke 10:25- 37 The Message.

To love my neighbour as myself.

Is loving my neighbour as myself an act of mercy: showing kindness to an enemy, to the powerless?

Maybe loving my neighbour as myself is compassion: feeling sympathy or sorrow for one who is hurting?

Or loving my neighbour as myself is benevolence: a desire to do good to others?

Could it be that  loving my neighbour as myself  is like the “pass it forward principle which if we think about it is self-centred.”(eudaimonism) believing that doing good is a measure of a life lived well.

These are good motives but is that what it means to love your neighbour as you love yourself?

Consider this: the Samaritan’s decision to love his ancestral enemy as he loved himself, was an act of justice.

Living a just life as understood by the religious leaders in Jesus’ time was far from the just living that God had intended—living a just life, a Holy life was supposed encourage justice, mercy, and faithfulness (cf. Matt 23:23). Instead, living a holy life, a just life, became the means of  reinforcing their social status, marginalizing the poor, and excluding “sinners”.

We experience the same today. When others fail us, or don’t meet our expectations, when they don’t measure up, we exclude them.To recapture the meaning of justice we need to understand what it means to love your neighbour as yourself.

Nicholas Wolterstorff Justice: Rights and Wrongs challenges a number of assumptions. It isn’t good enough to understand that we are created in God’s image because each of us in our heart knows that God’s image in us is marred…and we are responsible.

God didn’t just cast humankind in his image. He intentionally attaches his love to each being, to each of us.Christ attaches his love to  each person, whether or not we know it, or accept it. His active love remains regardless of how marred His image in us may be. Because of this attached love each of us is priceless. Every person you will meet today is priceless to Christ.

Wolterstorff says, “the vulnerable or “bottom’ members of society do not have to be included in the social order; they’re already there. Within Jesus’ principle of social inversion, those at the bottom of the social order must be lifted up. As a consequence, so too must those at the top be humbled.”

To love your neighbour as yourself is to create a right order to see the love Christ has for you in the other. So to assume that someone has less worth, to treat them as unworthy of your time, or money or patience or grace is to wrong him or her.

John Chrysostom a 4th century Bishop was exiled for his outspoken views on privilege and justice he believed that “The rich exist not for the sake of the poor but the poor exist the salvation of the rich.”

“Not to share our wealth with the poor is theft from the poor and deprivation of their means of life; we do not possess our own life but theirs.” John Chrysostom [St. John Chrysostom (+407 A.D.) On Wealth and Poverty, p. 55, Crestwood, NY 1984]

The Merchant and the Mercenary

It was the season of storms, and as clouds bunched together and the wind gathered speed the port city prepared.Tying down their possessions the residents secured their homes and stoked their hearths to wait out the rage.

The tempest was at it’s angriest when the lighthouse sounded the alarm. A ship was sinking. Rescuers led by the city’s leading merchant fought their way to the spot where the vessel floundered on the rocks.

Peering through rain and waves it was clear to the rescuers that the ship belonged to a mercenary captain commissioned by a foreign port city to destroy it’s competition. The mercenary had been pillaging the business man’s ships.

The rescuers shaking their fists at the desperate figures on board, shouted, “You are getting your just rewards”.Turning to leave they were stopped by the merchant. “We will not leave he said, “until they are all saved.”

The grateful mercenary offered to repay with interest what he had taken from the merchant. No, the man replied. Why, asked the surprised mercenary?” The merchant said, “Justice compelled me to save you and my reward is that justice was served.”

“Distrust any man in whom the impulse to punish is powerful” – Nietzsche

When we love our neighbour as ourselves the one in need has a just claim even if we disagree with their values, or beliefs. Even if they have robbed us or alienated us or hated us or cut us off, or gossiped about us ….you get the picture. Christ motivated justice corrects to restore right relationship..

Reflect when you wanted to get back at or get even with some one

Mercy: showing kindness to an enemy or the powerless.

Compassion: feelings of sympathy and sorrow for another.

And benevolence: a desire to do good to others.

All of these are excellent qualities, but justice acts regardless of their presence and is motivated by the realization that God has attached the same love to your neighbour as you.

In the 1990’s the US government put in place a comprehensive program to combat HIV/AIDS. It was applauded even though it excluded many because of lifestyle, race, occupation sexual orientation or citizenship.If we measure it against the kind of justice which recognizes inherent human worth based on God’s intentional love for each of us, the program loses some of its shine.

Justice which recognizes the command to love  your neighbour as yourself is not dependent on citizenship, race, sexual orientation,or lifestyle. It is dependent on seeing God’s love for you attached to the other.

When we began forming this community called Urban Bridge Church we decided to support those suffering with HIV AIDS. We continue to do so, working alongside HIV Edmonton, and Catholic Social Services.We are three quite different organizations, differing in many of our lifestyle choices, religious beliefs and values.

Why do we continue? A religion scholar stood up with a question to test Jesus. “Teacher, what do I need to do to get eternal life?” He answered, “What’s written in God’s Law? How do you interpret it?” He said, “That you love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence—and that you love your neighbour as well as you do yourself.” “Good answer!” said Jesus. “Do it and you’ll live.”

To be a follower of Christ is to choose to love im with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence—and to learn love your neighbour as much as you love yourself.”

One strength of Urban Bridge church is in challenging assumptions, We accept little at face value but lets begin 2012 by putting our doubts and skepticism in perspective.

Soul Cravings

The soul craves experiences that offer it the rich depths of God. Silence, solitude, holy leisure, simplicity, prayer, journaling, the Eucharist, rituals that touch the space of Mystery, symbols and images, the Bible, laughter, delight in the divine Presence, deep encounters with creation, and the merciful coming together of human hearts. All these feed the soul, producing energy for living the transformed life.

Sue Monk Kidd

Acts chapter 10

In Caesarea there lived a Roman army officer named Cornelius, who was a captain of the Italian Regiment He was a devout man who feared the God of Israel, as did his entire household. He gave generously to charity and was a man who regularly prayed to God.

One afternoon about three o’clock, he had a vision in which he saw an angel of God coming toward him. “Cornelius!” the angel said. Cornelius stared at him in terror. “What is it, sir?” he asked the angel. And the angel replied, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have not gone unnoticed by God! Now send some men down to Joppa to find a man named Simon Peter.  He is staying with Simon, a leatherworker who lives near the shore. Ask him to come and visit you.” As soon as the angel was gone, Cornelius called two of his household servants and a devout soldier, one of his personal attendants. He told them what had happened and sent them off to Joppa.

The next day as Cornelius’s messengers were nearing the city, Peter went up to the flat roof to pray. It was about noon, and he was hungry. But while lunch was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw the sky open, and something like a large sheet was let down by its four corners. In the sheet were all sorts of animals, reptiles, and birds. Then a voice said to him, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat them.” “Never, Lord,” Peter declared. “I have never in all my life eaten anything forbidden by our Jewish laws.” The voice spoke again, “If God says something is acceptable, don’t say it isn’t.” The same vision was repeated three times. Then the sheet was pulled up again to heaven. Peter was very perplexed. What could the vision mean? Just then the men sent by Cornelius found the house and stood outside at the gate. They asked if this was the place where Simon Peter was staying.

Meanwhile, as Peter was puzzling over the vision, the Holy Spirit said to him, “Three men have come looking for you. Go down and go with them without hesitation. All is well, for I have sent them.” So Peter went down and said, “I’m the man you are looking for. Why have you come?”

They said, “We were sent by Cornelius, a Roman officer. He is a devout man who fears the God of Israel and is well respected by all the Jews. A holy angel instructed him to send for you so you can go to his house and give him a message.” They arrived in Caesarea the following day. Cornelius was waiting for him and had called together his relatives and close friends to meet Peter. Peter told them, “You know it is against the Jewish laws for me to come into a Gentile home like this. But God has shown me that I should never think of anyone as impure. So I came as soon as I was sent for. Now tell me why you sent for me.” Cornelius replied, “Four days ago I was praying in my house at three o’clock in the afternoon. Suddenly, a man in dazzling clothes was standing in front of me. He told me, ‘Cornelius, your prayers have been heard, and your gifts to the poor have been noticed by God!  Now send some men to Joppa and summon Simon Peter. He is staying in the home of Simon, a leatherworker who lives near the shore.’ So I sent for you at once, and it was good of you to come. Now here we are, waiting before God to hear the message the Lord has given you.”

Peter then explained Christ’s coming to earth, his death, resurrection and the resulting hope and new creation for those who believed.

Even as Peter was saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who had heard the message. The Jewish believers who came with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out upon the Gentiles, too. And there could be no doubt about it, for they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.

Then Peter asked, “Can anyone object to their being baptized, now that they have received the Holy Spirit just as we did?” So he gave orders for them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Afterward Cornelius asked him to stay with them for several days. Acts 10:1-48 New Living Translation

This narrative is simple, straight up. It is difficult to miss the message. Right? This story would be less straightforward if we were living it. If you or I were Peter and our core assumptions of faith and practice were being challenged,…it would not be so simple. We are not so different. We critique and measure this passage against our favourite philosopher, theologian or ideology. We are wondering about its relevance for now, for us, for those in our world.

That is the beauty of this community called Urban Bridge Church and the culture we are intentional in bridging. Our strength is in challenging assumptions, We accept little at face value but lets begin 2012 by putting our doubts and skepticism in perspective. We need hope and there are many others who need the same hope and faith that comes through belief in Christ.

Christianity is a strong and agitating religion. To boil down its truth to bland and unchewable mush is a an offense at best and turns it into an entirely different religion at worst.  So Says Leonard Sweet Nudge: Awakening Each Other to the God who is already There Leonard Sweet pg 193.

But, you say… Doubt is forming. Listen to Soren Kierkegaard on Answering doubt

Have you ever doubted? I wonder whether you have ever born the marks of imitation? I wonder whether you have forsaken all to follow Christ? I wonder, whether your life has been marked by persecution? Indeed, many have doubted. And there have been those who felt obliged to refute their doubt with reasons. But these reasons backfire and foster a doubt that gets stronger and stronger. Why? Because demonstrating the truth of Christianity does not lie in reasons but in imitation: what resembles the truth. Yet we Christians prefer to take this proof away.

The need for “reasons” is already a kind of doubt – doubt lives off reasons. We fail to notice that the more reasons, one advances, the more one nourishes doubt and the stronger doubt becomes. Offering doubt reasons, in order to kill it, is just like offering a hungry monster food it likes, in order to eliminate it. No, we must not offer reasons to doubt – at least not if our intention is to kill it. We must do as Luther did, order doubt to shut its mouth, and to that end we must keep quiet.

Provocations: Spiritual writings of Kierkegaard pg 77.

How different our world would be if Peter had paused, doubted and reasoned when God said, “Go down and go with them without hesitation.”

An often used Christian response to doubt is: “our questions will be answered in heaven” – we offer hope for life after death. Is that it? We have a chance, even a responsibility to bring Hope for life before death. In accepting that doubt cannot always be reconciled, may never be reconciled we are in effect telling it to shut its mouth. Doubt put in its place creates a healthy tension, giving hope its strength

How should we express this hope and faith that comes through belief in Christ? NT Wright believes the message of hope in Christ, the mission of the church, is expressed through Beauty, justice and evangelism. Part of the task of the church must be to take up that sense of injustice, to bring it to speech, to help people both articulate it and, when they are ready to do so, to turn in into prayer…. And the task then continues with the churches work, with the whole community…. Surpised by Hope: Rethinking  Heaven, the Resurrection and the Mission of the Church NT Wright. Pgs 230-232.

We understand justice, 20% of our income goes to mercy. The next three weeks will be spent in conversation about Justice. We are constantly exploring new ways to be Bridge Christ and culture through justice.

Wright also says Beauty has been subverted in the shoulder-shrugging functionalism of postwar architecture, coupled by the passivity born of decades of Television, has meant, that,for many people the world appears to offer little but bleak urban landscapes on the one hand, and cheap entertainment on the other. When people cease to be surrounded by beauty, they cease to hope. They internalize the message that whispers that they are not worth very much, that they are in effect less than fully human. Surpised by Hope: Rethinking  Heaven, the Resurrection and the Mission of the Church NT Wright. Pgs 230-232. 

We embrace the creative. The Bleeding Heart Sacred Space being created on Alberta Ave by some of you will help those lost in hopeless find their full humanity through relationship with Christ.

Then we have Evangelism, gathering baggage and negative connotations in a post Christian world and weighing us down with guilt even as those, like a present day Cornelius, search for more. Malcolm Muggeridge the 20th century thinker, writer, satirist, communist and agnostic commented on his journey to Christ.

I grasped that over it lay, as it were, a cable bridge, frail, swaying, but passable. And this bridge, this reconciliation between the black despair of lying bound and gagged in the tiny dungeon of ego, and soaring upwards into the white radiance of God’s universal love-this bridge was the Incarnation, whose truth expresses that of the desperate need it meets. Because of our physical hunger we know there is bread; because of our spiritual hunger we know there is Christ. Malcolm Muggeridge – “Jesus Rediscovered” as cited in “The Book of Jesus”, Simon & Schuster, edited by Calvin Miller, at page 236

Wright believes evangelism flourishes when the church gives itself to works of justice and works of beauty. When we the church are living and being as we should Evangelism happens, surprising us. There is a new world, and it has already begun, – the kingdom of heaven on Earth – and it works by healing, and forgiveness, and new starts and fresh energy. …and it comes about as people worship the God in whose image they are made, as they follow the Lord who bore their sins and rose from the dead, as they are in-dwelt by his Spirit and are thereby given new life, a new way of life….Surpised by Hope: Rethinking  Heaven, the Resurrection and the Mission of the Church NT Wright Pg 230-232

Yes, pushing  back against arrogant certainty is valid, but to reason away our hope in Christ would be tragic. I believe that Christ can accommodate both our certainty and our doubt in our quest for hope in Him.

Already arrived

In one sense we are always traveling, and traveling as if we did not know where we were going.  In another sense we have already arrived. We cannot arrive at the perfect possession of God in this life, and that is why we are traveling and in darkness. But we already possess Him by grace, and therefore, in that sense, we have arrived and are dwelling in the light. But oh! How far have I to go to find You in Whom I have already arrived!

Thomas Merton

Lets make this year a year of hope for us and those whose lives we bridge.

Most of our New Year’ resolutions are missing the point. Oh I’m all for setting goals even substantial ones. One of my goals for 2012 is to hike the West Coast trail with my children. It’s a substantial goal but is it substantive? Is transformative life change even in my power to implement and will I recognize it if I achieve it?

The Louvre is facing accusations that it over cleaned a masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci, leaving it with a brightness that the Renaissance master never intended.

Two of France’s top art experts have voiced their protest over the cleaning of The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne – a jewel of western art – by resigning from the Paris museum’s advisory committee responsible for its “restoration”,

The restoration has divided the committee between those who believe the painting is now too bright and those who regard the cleaning as moderate. There were also disputes over whether an area dismissed as removable repaint was in fact a glaze applied by Leonardo.

Seventeen years ago, the Louvre abandoned an earlier attempt to clean the painting amid fears over how the solvents were affecting the sfumato, Leonardo’s trademark painterly effect for blurring contours.

Since then, the British influence on restoration has helped to sway the Louvre.

The Louvre declined to comment on the two resignations, but defended its cleaning process. Vincent Pomarède, the Louvre’s head of paintings, said: “Rarely has a restoration been as well prepared, discussed and effected, and never will it have benefited from such effective techniques. The first assessment revealed the excellent state of conservation … comforting us in the choices made.”

The National Gallery declined to comment.© 2011 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/dec/28/louvre-leonardo-overcleaned-art-experts/print

Do you wonder what  Davinci would say about how they are treating his work?

I have the self awareness to know that I need to change, most of us do. My struggle is with the process and desired outcome and it’s complicated by the multiple external pressures from family, friends, work etc. And…. change is supposed to be measurable.

Oh I’m disciplined, few are more disciplined than I am. My BMI, RRSP’s, hikes and other worthy goals I can manage but I still beat myself up over the transformative change that I have pursued most of my life and I don’t think I’m alone.

I’m frustrated and I’ve had a mini epiphany. I don’t believe I’m capable this kind of change. I don’t think any of us are.

The Apostle Paul was inspired when he recommended the following as the way for substantive/transformational change (by the way I’ve read this passage a lot over the past 5+ years. It was formative in shaping the values and vision of Urban Bridge Church):

So, dear brothers and sisters,I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will accept. When you think of what he has done for you, is this too much to ask? Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is.Romans 12: 1-2 NLT

This is my new personal “Best Practice for 2012”

Pursue Christ rather than change, allow outcomes to be dictated by the Holy Spirit.

Sunday January 1

The MacEwan Campus is closed.  We will be having a brunch together at the Ritz’s home at 11838-91 Street  at 11:00 AM. Contact Dorothy Ritz at (780) 474-8173 for details.

What role does money play in the quality of your Christmas season?

On Friday Nov 25 the unofficial start of the Christmas shopping season, Matthew Lopez went to the Wal-Mart in Porter Ranch LA for the Black Friday sale but instead was caught in a pepper-spray attack by a woman who authorities said was “competitive shopping.” A customer shot pepper spray at other customers at a busy Northridge Wal-Mart store late Thursday night, causing minor injuries to at least 10 people who had been waiting hours for Black Friday savings, Lopez described a chaotic scene in the San Fernando Valley store among shoppers looking for video games soon after the sale began. Lopez said customers were already in the store when a whistle signaled the start of the Black Friday sale at 10 p.m., sending shoppers hurtling in search of deeply discounted items.

Lopez said that by the time he arrived at the video games, the display had been torn down. Employees attempted to hold back the scrum of shoppers and pick up merchandise even as customers trampled the video games and DVDs strewn on the floor.

“It was absolutely crazy,” he said.

“I heard screaming and I heard yelling,” said Lopez, 18. “Moments later, my throat stung. I was coughing really bad and watering up

Another customer said, “I guess what triggered it  (the pepper spray attack) was people started pulling the plastic off the pallets and then shoving and bombarding the display of games. It started with people pushing and screaming because they were getting shoved onto the boxes.”

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/11/at-wal-mart-pepper-spray-attack-triggered-chaos-screaming.html

We all recognize the excessiveness, the utter foolishness of that story; All of us who have ever lined up for deal know that we would never stoop so low. We know that money should not have that kind of influence on our Christmas nor our worldview as followers of Christ, yet we know that we are influenced even pressured.

A new Statistics Canada report shows Canadians keep taking on more debt, even as they get poorer. The average debt-to-income ratio now stands at a record 153 per cent, meaning for every $1,000 of after-tax income, households owe $1,530. In 1990, average household debt was $56,800, and the debt to income ratio was 93 per cent.

Two days after Black Friday and the start of the Christmas shopping season, the traditional Christmas season began with the first Sunday of Advent, reminding us of why we celebrate the birth of Christ. This is the story:

At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.)

All returned to their own towns to register for this census.

And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee.

He took with him Mary, his fiancée, who was obviously pregnant by this time. And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born.

She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the village inn.

That night some shepherds were in the fields outside the village, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terribly frightened,

but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news of great joy for everyone!  The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born tonight in Bethlehem, the city of David!

And this is how you will recognize him: You will find a baby lying in a manger, wrapped snugly in strips of cloth!” Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God:

“Glory to God in the highest heaven,

and peace on earth to all whom God favors.”

When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Come on,

let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this wonderful thing that has happened, which the Lord

has told us about.”

They ran to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the

manger.

Eight days later, when the baby was circumcised, he was named Jesus, the name given

him by the angel even before he was conceived.

Then it was time for the purification offering, as required by the Law of Moses after the

birth of a child; so his parents took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.

The law of the Lord says, “If a woman’s first child is a boy, he must be dedicated to the Lord.” So they offered a sacrifice according to what was required in the law of the Lord—“either a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.” Luke 2: 1-24 NLT

We are going to look at this Christmas story through different lenses. There are a couple of spots where decisions of the Christ family are influenced by culture and particularly by money.

The reason Christ was born in Bethlehem was the requirement for Joseph and Mary to register for the Census, at the same time they also needed to pay a Poll tax, a head tax every Roman subject over the age of 12 had to pay, only Roman citizens were exempt. Considering that 80-90% of the population was not a citizen this was a big deal, the roads of the Roman empire would have been filled in this mass movement as subjects travelled to their ancestral home to register and pay. The head tax wasn’t a lot, only a day’s wage – but it was resented because they were forced to pay it. It was resented because they were compelled to participate in the Roman economy, and sometimes it was against their religion – literally.

The family also participated in the Jewish rite of purification for the infant Jesus; it meant bringing a sacrifice. The rich brought a lamb and the poor brought two pigeons, they brought two pigeons. The purification rite was important to them; they would have gladly brought a lamb if they had the means.

Jump about 30 years ahead. The religious establishment asks Christ, if it is a sin to pay this head tax to Caesar.

In response he asks them to show him a denarius, a roman coin. They show him and he famously responds, give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.

Mosaic law forbade the use of coins with an image of the emperor or a pagan god; so to keep peace, Jews were allowed to use coins without the emperor’s head when they were in Jerusalem. Irony of ironies, these teachers of the law who ranted and raved against the sins of culture, and who often created financial hardships for their people with impossible standards, were in Jerusalem, their pockets full with forbidden coins.

This season we will have opportunities to spend money on things that are good and right and align perfectly with our values and our relationship with Christ – if we had more money to spend on these things we would. There is also pressure to conform to a culture, economy and social system with some inherent weaknesses, sins. We agree that the crass commercialization of this season to remember Christ’s birth is one of those sins.

Yet we find our pockets full of the Emperor’s coins, and we can hardly wait to spend them.

Rather than being motivated by guilt, or worse being hypocritical, enjoy your financial means in other words,  If you have the means, spend it….and enjoy it.

But remember “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is Gods.

The freedom to spend within our means requires more than a financial guideline, it needs a spiritual measure. This measure is found in our identification with the Messiah, Christ. It is transporting Christ’s birth over time and space and reliving it now through our worshipful response both in community and in private. It is giving space for the baby’s cry to transform us.

Can you hear the baby crying?

For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. And the government will rest on his shoulders. These will be his royal titles: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

His ever expanding, peaceful government will never end. He will rule forever with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David. The passionate commitment of the LORD Almighty will guarantee this! Isaiah 9:6-7NLT

Take the time to nurture Christ’s spirit. For some of us it is to give time for His spirit to be refreshed in us. For others of us it is to allow Christ’s spirit to be birthed in us, for the first time. To be fully human, all Christ created us to be; is to hear the baby cry.

Can you hear the baby crying?

On Monday I attended a Catholic Social Services spiritual retreat for agency staff and volunteers  (I am a CSS volunteer in case you are wondering ) It was led by  Rev. Fr. Michael Crosby, Capuchin Franciscan his theme was a “A Heart Moved with Compassion”. He said this is how we will be measured when we stand before Christ ….Then the King will say to those on the right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty,and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’….Matthew 25: 31-44 NLT

Fr. Michael Crosby : We are made to reflect the empowering equality of the trinity, We are made for relationship, yet most of our time is spent interpreting one another rather than understanding one another resulting in conflict.

My take-aways from a day of learning how to resolve conflict in a compassionate ( Christ like) manner:  our need to  control drives/sustains most conflicts and is motivated by our fear of scarcity and our insecurities. The antidote: as one who desires to be peaceable and compassionate follower and inherit the Kingdom prepared for me: I need to accept myself for who I am, I need to resist  the desire to control others. How about you?

The Book of Isaiah 36 recounts the story of Assyria invading Judah, followers of Yahweh led by King Hezekiah. Assyria challenges Judah’s in their core beliefs and values. It is a clash of worldviews and spiritual beliefs and it is uncanny in its resemblance to 21 century Western culture. About the same time as I was  reading Isaiah 36, Dorothy Ritz loaned me a book and I have been ruminating (love that word; can you feel it, its like prose giving a back rub) on it ever since; Generation X Christian: Why young adults are losing their faith and how to bring them back   by Drew Dyck

¹⁸“Don’t let Hezekiah mislead you by saying, ‘the LORD will rescue us!’ Have the gods of any other nations ever saved their people from the king of Assyria? ¹⁹What happened to the gods of Hamath and Arpad? And what about the gods of Sepharvaim? Did they rescue Samaria from my power? ²⁰What god of any nation has ever been able to save its people from my power? Name just one! So what makes you think that the LORD can rescue Jerusalem?” Isaiah 36: 18-20 NLT take a minute to read all of Isaiah 36

Christian Post interviewed Dyck, here is a little of what he had to say

CP: Is there something that these ex-Christians have in common?

Dyck: Yes. Almost to the person, the people that I interviewed reported being shut down brutally when they expressed their doubts as young people, whether that is in the church or their home. I remember one young woman reported being literally slapped across the face or else they received some kind of trite answers to their questions. They were sometimes ridiculed in front of peers for asking insolent questions.

So it made me realized that the church hasn’t done a very good job, we haven’t done a good job of giving people space to let people air their doubts and then giving solid answers to the questions they have. I think the church does a great job in forming programs. We have a program for almost every age group. We have youth ministry, college and career, singles, what have you, even senior ministry. But we have precious little when it comes to actually helping Christians who are struggling with their faith or doubts. So that really opened my eyes to that need.

Entire interview http://www.christianpost.com/news/interview-drew-dyck-on-why-young-adults-are-leaving-christianity-48414/

Buy the bookhttp://www.amazon.com/Generation-Ex-Christian-Adults-Leaving-Faith/dp/0802443559

How can our community, Urban Bridge Church help them in these in their faith struggle?

For the past number of weeks we have talked about Bleeding Heart Sacred Space led By Dave Von Bieker it is our latest Urban Mission initiative.

What is Urban Mission?

- To go to a people group rather than asking them to come to us

- To go with the intent of being Christ in their context

- To assist Christ’s Spirit, The Holy Spirit to permeate and redeem their culture and their lives into the image Christ has of them.

Dave Von Bieker along with a number of you are committed to this  on Alberta Ave through Bleeding Heart Sacred Space

How will it look? The store Clair written by Dave Von Bieker

Claire is a painter who has moved onto the Ave in the past year. She is still getting to know the area, and walking one day she sees a curious sign outside a bright red storefront. It is simply white, framing a red heart with a hole in the centre. There are no words. It’s open, so she walks in to see what it’s all about. There is atmospheric music playing, which Claire later learns has been created for the space by Edmonton musician Andrew Mulcair. The clean white walls frame a near perfect square, with a wide-open centre where two chairs and a coffee table wait.

On the first wall she reads “Currency” in bold. Underneath she reads that this is a group exploration of money and it’s relationship to our lives and the creative process. At the end of the statement she reads that each piece displayed is actually currency itself. This is an interactive exhibit, inviting community members to create works themselves and bring them in for trade. They are free to remove a work from the wall and take it home, so long as they replace it with a work they have made about Currency. This possibility gets Claire’s mind racing and she nearly wants to leave for her home studio. Instead she takes in what is here. On a plain white stand sits a clay sculpture of an open cloth bag, spilling out ancient silver coins. It is called “thirty”. A painting on the opposite wall shows a fist clenching so tight as to produce blood from it’s own palm, but what runs down instead is liquid, metallic gold. Someone else has made a collage out of monopoly items. The final wall displays a massive reproduction of an American dollar bill. Claire walks over to the person in the corner and asks, “What is this place?”

It’s the first of many questions Claire and others will ask in the Arts Space, known only as Bleeding Heart She is handed a program of events happening at Bleeding Heart over the three months that Currency is running. A film showing of Exit Through The Gift Shop; a workshop for artists on applying for grants and a clothing swap interest her.

She notices a group meeting monthly to discuss Jesus’ views on money in the New Testament. She reads about a worship experience featuring works by Currency artists two months from now in an old Anglican cathedral, and the questions bubble across her face.

The worker recognizes the curiosity and explains that the art space has been created to explore the spiritual dimension of art, and is supported by a local church. Spiritual support is available for artists. Claire has some questions about this, but she doesn’t ask them now. Instead, she browses a bookshelf next to the worker. She spots a book called “Good Taste, Bad Taste and Christian Taste” and it reminds her of some bad church experiences she had years ago. She thinks it’s a funny title and the worker encourages her to take it home. This is a resource library for the community, she explains. Before Claire leaves, she agrees to sign up for email updates from Bleeding Heart.

Over the coming months, she will attend several of their events and create her own piece for Currency. Over time she will build a relationship with Kristin, the volunteer who later helps Claire apply for grants for a painting project. They will develop a friendship and have several deep conversations about their lives, their art and their faith. Eventually, the Bleeding Heart Arts Space will purchase one of Claire’s own pieces for their collection.

Bleeding Heart will be

It is an Art Space

The Bleeding Heart will provide gallery space to curate shows with artists from the community. The themes explored will spark meaningful conversation among those at various points on their spiritual journey. Through art we will explore questions of life, meaning and faith, with our eyes on hope and love.

It is a Sacred Space

The Bleeding Heart will be dedicated to the pursuit of art, hope, faith and love. One will not need to be told this is a sacred

space, but rather will have a sense of the transcendent upon entering. By the design and prayer of its co-creators, the space will speak.

The context will be more important than the content. This may manifest itself in the simplicity and quiet stillness of the space, the quality of the artworks, the ambient music, the attitude of the staff and other factors.

It is a Community Space

The Bleeding Heart will seek to cultivate a community of creatives seeking Christ. In time, this community will meet to party together, pray together, wrestle with scripture together and worship together.

We require three things to make this a reality. We require people to volunteer time, skill, and money we estimate it will cost 36,000 to launch and run Bleeding Heart for 2012 and we need our people Urban Bridge to take the first step, a step of faith even before there is something to see; What should we expect from one another: we should expect that each of us will  give this serious prayer and consideration and having done that if you feel you should participate I believe we will meet our expectations.

Bleeding Heart Pledge Card

print the pledge card put it in an offering envelope and leave it at the offering desk on Sunday, or go to http://urbanbridgechurch.com/about-us/ubc-theology/money-and-the-church/online-giving/ and make a donation

Questions see Dave dave@vonbieker.com or Darrell Darrell@urbanbridgechurch.com

 Authenticity

Our community journeys openly together and we desire to live in truth and transparency. We have not arrived, but are discovering who we are and who we are created to become.

To remain authentic in our practices, to have credibility among ourselves and in the market place, we need to be aware of our provenance, our origins. We need to know the source of our spiritual identity both as individuals and as a community.

 

Who the (bleep) is Jackson Pollock?

 Teri Horton bought the 1.7-by-1.2-metre painting for $5 in 1993 as a gift for a friend who lived in a small mobile home.

They had a laugh about what they called the “scary” painting, and then leaned it up against the wall as they had a few beers.

 “We were going to go get the darts out of the trailer and throw them at it, but we got to drinking too much beer and never got around to it,” “So then I put it in my storage shed. I had no idea what it was. The canvas was all these colours, it was ugly as far as I was concerned.”

 When Horton had a garage sale, an art professor saw the drip-style painting and told her it could be the work of Jackson Pollock.

“I said, ‘who the (bleep) is Jackson Pollock? ”

 Priding herself on her tenacity, she educated herself about Pollock (sort of), met various art dealers, called galleries, and was generally relentless in trying to prove that Jackson Pollock may have painted this canvas.

 But she ran up against a new concept: provenance, which every art dealer told her, she could get nowhere without. Provenance, they told her, involved proving the list of previous owners of a work of art and how it changed hands over the years.

This proof would be necessary to ascertain how a painting made by Jackson Pollock on Long Island could end up forgotten in a thrift store in Los Angeles. They predicted that no one would take her seriously without provenance, and they were right.

 Horton hired a forensic art expert, who matched a partial fingerprint on the canvas to a fingerprint on a can of paint in Pollock’s studio, as well as to fingerprints on two authenticated Pollock canvases.

 Through an analysis of paint samples from Pollock’s studio, he was able to confirm a match with particles of paint found on the canvas in question. However others, called into question the fingerprint analysis.

 Still, Terri is so sure she has an original Pollock she turned down a 9 million dollar offer, insisting that she will not accept less 50 million.

Provenance: The history of the ownership, the source of beginnings. To gather evidence as to the time, place, and—when appropriate—the person responsible for the creation,

Provenance – confirming ones value from ones origins.

 Authenticity

Our community journeys openly together and we desire to live in truth and transparency. We have not arrived, but are discovering who we are and who we are created to become.

This value gives our community permission to have a Sunday morning conversation respecting that we have different opinions and view points.

It gives us permission to question what we thought we were sure of.

It gives us permission to be sure of what we believe, and still not agree.

Our value of authenticity helps us accept those whose values, behaviours or lifestyles differ from or are in conflict with our beliefs and values.

I am privileged to have conversations with this community, hearing your good stories for sure, but also your doubts and fears, failures and differences – without fear of being out of favor.

But to remain authentic in our practices, to have credibility among ourselves and in the market place, we need to be aware of our provenance, our origins.

We need to know the source of our spiritual identity both as individuals and as a community.

When others value what we value, it is important that they know why.

When others disagree with our values, it is important that we know why.

Without provenance we risk being too subjective cheapening what we believe: devaluing others or ourselves.

We risk a crisis of spiritual identity.

We risk falling into hopelessness or as John Welwood puts it “the scary groundlessness that underlies our life.” John Welwood in Toward a Psychology of Awakening p. 149

One solution is accept that authenticity, our true being lies within each of us, that each of us must take control by finding meaning in that anxiety and hopelessness, and creating a life worth living from our experiences.

Martin Heidegger said “Unless we find ways to wrest control of our own lives from society, all of our decisions will continue to be made for us ?by the unnoticed forces of the cultures in which we live.”

He says, “Returning to this deepest truth of our being can bring us back to ourselves.” http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parkx032/XP226.html

 Like Heidegger, we do need to wrest control of our lives from society, it is not good enough to accept the norms of society without careful consideration. The bible one of the sources of our provenance: Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world. Romans 12:1 NLT

There will be times when our values as a community will be at odds with society at large. But unlike Heidegger the deepest truth of our being is more than our own creation. The deepest truth of our being is formed in relationship with Christ.

“Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is. Romans 12:2 NLT.

Heidegger would say don’t bother looking for authenticity from outside sources. Heidegger’s advice might be: you only need to satisfy yourself, don’t waste your time establishing provenance: the only fingerprints on the canvas of your life will be the ones you put there.

We believe that to be fully authentic, we need to know the one responsible for creating us; to confirm our provenance as followers of Christ whose handiwork we see all around us confirmed through the Holy Spirit, the church and the bible: ¹⁴Then we will no longer be like children, forever changing our minds about what we believe because someone has told us something different or because someone has cleverly lied to us and made the lie sound like the truth. ¹⁵Instead, we will hold to the truth in love, becoming more and more in every way like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. Ephesians 4:14-16 NLT

The strength of our community is that we have provenance, we know the source of our identity. Christ’s fingerprints are all over our canvas. Which begs the question is there room for mystery, individuality and faith in an authentic relationship?

 Mermaids

 Being left in charge of about eighty children seven to ten years old, while their parents were off doing parenty things, I mustered my troops in the church social hall and explained the game. It’s a large-scale version of Rock, Paper, and Scissors, and involves some intellectual decision-making. But the real purpose of the game is to make a lot of noise and run around chasing people until nobody knows which side you are on or who won.

 Organizing a roomful of wired-up grade-schoolers into two teams, explaining the rudiments of the game, achieving consensus on group identity–all this is no mean accomplishment, but we did it with a right good will and were ready to go.

 The excitement of the chase had reached a critical mass.  I yelled out:  “You have to decide now which you are–a GIANT, a WIZARD, or a DWARF!” While the groups huddled in frenzied, whispered consultation, a tug came at my pants leg. A small child stands there looking up, and asks in a small, concerned voice, “Where do the Mermaids stand?”

 Where do the Mermaids stand? A long pause.  A very long pause.  “Where do the Mermaids stand?” says I. “Yes.  You see, I am a Mermaid.”

 “There are no such thing as Mermaids.”

 “Oh, yes, I am one!”

 She did not relate to being a Giant, a Wizard, or a Dwarf.  She knew her category.  Mermaid.  And was not about to leave the game and go over and stand against the wall where a loser would stand.  She intended to participate, wherever Mermaids fit into the scheme of things.  Without giving up dignity or identity.  She took it for granted that there was a place for Mermaids and that I would know just where.

Well, where DO the Mermaids stand?  All the “Mermaids”–all those who are different, who do not fit the norm and who do not accept the available boxes and pigeonholes?

What was my answer at the moment?  Every once in a while I say the right thing.  “The Mermaid stands right here by the King of the Sea!” says I.  (Yes, right here by the King’s Fool, I thought to myself.)

 

So we stood there hand in hand, reviewing the troops of Wizards and Giants and Dwarfs as they roiled by in wild disarray.

It is not true, by the way, that Mermaids do not exist.  I know at least one personally.  I have held her hand.”

© 1986, 1988 by Robert L. Fulghum

 Whether you and I are a giant, a wizard, a dwarf… or a “mermaid!” our provenance in Christ is what gives our life its full value.

Authenticity

Our community journeys openly together and we desire to live in truth and transparency. We have not arrived, but are discovering who we are and who we are created to become.

What struggles do you face with authenticity?

Are there parts of your life where you lack transparency?

Are you devaluing your beliefs as a follower of Christ to be more accommodating?