Silent Racism

I would like to direct you to read Eugene Cho’s short but important “i am more than a stereotype” blog post.  Be sure to watch all three (short) videos.  It is powerful stuff.

how to pronounce pietrisycamollaviadelrechiotemexity

I love the title of this blog.  So for those of you curious as to what that word sounds like, here you go:  How to pronounce pietrisycamollaviadelrechiotemexity

And for it’s meaning, especially for how it is such a good title for my blog, you should look at the meaning of pietrisycamollaviadelrechiotemexity.

Homemade Caramel Frappé-Matteo

My blog has been on the heavy side lately, so here is a change.  This is a recipe I came up with for a homemade version of the Frappé coffee drink found at a major coffee retailer…if you know what I mean.  I think it is outstanding and saves me a good $4 a pop by making it myself at home.

Homemade Caramel Frappé-Matteo

Ingredients:

6 oz. brewed coffee

1 oz. sugar

3 oz. brewed coffee

1 oz. caramel syrup

4 oz. whole milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 Tbs. instant vanilla pudding (this is the secret ingredient – gives it the right texture)

How to assemble:

Dissolve 1 oz. sugar in 6 oz. coffee and freeze in an ice-cube tray until solid, at least 2 hours (I find that mixing the sugar with the coffee helps the coffee-cubes break up with a more pleasant texture in the blender).  Once frozen, combine cubes with the rest of the ingredients in a blender and frappé until smooth.

By the way, this also works with milk.  Substute all the “coffee” places above for “milk” and you get a coffee-free cream-based version.

Death

I saw this quote on Twitter today: “Death gives meaning to our lives. It gives importance and value to time. Time would become meaningless if there were too much of it.”

It immediately made me think about the tendency in our society to view Death as a “natural part of life” or even as a “friend.”

For example, much of the Harry Potter series of stories argues that Death should not be feared or avoided (this is one of Voldemort’s major flaws). So, in the little story “The Tale of the Three Brothers” found in The Tales of Beedle the Bard the moral is clear and simple: “Human efforts to evade or overcome death are always doomed to disappointment” (p. 94). At the end of the story, the hero accepts his fate and “then he greeted Death as an old friend, and went with him gladly, and, equals, they departed this life” (p. 93). Death is a friend. Nothing to avoid or defeat.

Now, of course, there is a grain of truth in all that. There is something about the inevitability of death that is an important part of our lives. We must not ignore it. Birth and Death are the great bookends to our lives and we must make the most of the stories in between. And the moral of Harry Potter, the same basic moral to “The Tale of the three Brothers,” is important and true: we cannot and should not work all our lives trying to “evade or overcome” death. It simply won’t work and ain’t worth it. In the world of Harry Potter, the greatest villain is born from a desire to outwit death (the same is true in Star Wars, come to think of it). It is simply a bad idea all around. And, so, death should be accepted. True. But only partly.

You see, what this strand of thinking does to us is shrink Death down to a mere “next step” in the journey or makes it out to be “an old friend” whom we welcome at the end of our days. But this is where the mistake comes in because it makes us forget that Death is an enemy to be defeated. But be careful here: the moral of the Three Brothers tale is true, “Human efforts” will certainly fail. You and I are doomed to die. It is inevitable. And if we give our lives to trying to “evade or overcome death,” by whatever means, we will become either villains or fools and we will write many bad stories between the bookends of our lives. But all this does not make Death to be a friendly beast.

Some of the best of all my good friends have recently seen Death in their families. Let me assure you, Death is no friend. It sometimes tortures its victim for years. Sometimes months. There is a sense of relief that pain and suffering come to an end at the end, but that is often only a little comfort in the face of a loved one vanishing. For this fact remains: Death is wrong. Death is an enemy. It is no friend. Listen now, don’t despair: there is good news. This is only the middle of the story…

Do you see the point so far? We must walk a fine line here: The basic moral taught in Harry Potter and in that quote I saw on Twitter are to be taken seriously. We cannot live in the fear of Death. That kind of life is no life at all. But neither should we make the mistake to view Death as a friend. Death is wrong, hurtful, and an enemy.

Hear, now, some good news: Death has been defeated. Not by you or me, but by the power of God in the Resurrection of Jesus and, one day, in the Resurrection at the appearing of Jesus to Earth again.

For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

“Where, O death, is your victory?  Where, O death, is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

~1 Corinthians 15:52-57

If we view Death as nothing but a friend or as the next step, then we miss out on the power of Christ’s resurrection. We miss out on the power of those verses in 1 Corinthians 15. We miss out on the victory over death.

And so we need not fear Death, though it be a vial enemy. For this most vial of enemies has already suffered a mortal wound – a wound inflicted upon it in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. That resurrection was the firstfruits. Ours will certainly follow. Death, you see, has been defeated. The sting is taken away. But not because Death is a friend. No. The sting is taken away because the Enemy, death itself, has been (and ultimately will be) killed.

At the End, at the coming and appearing of Jesus again to our world, these words will come true. Allow them to fill you with joy. For this is one of the greatest parts of the Christian story:

I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”

~Revelation 21: 3-4

Firstfruit, Peaches, Jesus, and Resurrection

I desperately love fresh peaches right off the tree.  Sweet and juicy and wonderful they are.  

We have three peach trees in the back yard at our house and each one ripens at slightly different times.  That way, you see, we get fresh peaches for two months rather than two weeks.  

The first in line is the Florida Prince.  It ripens at the end of April.  And this year ripening day was today.  This morning I walked outside, as I have done in hopeful anticipation for weeks now, and found a soft ripe peach.  I picked it and devoured it and took this picture of it, the firstfruit of my peach harvest:

First Corinthians 15 is quickly becoming one of my favorite chapters in the whole Bible, for a number of reasons.  One of those reasons is that it contains what is becoming one of my favorite metaphors in the Bible:  Jesus as the Firstfruits.

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.  For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead also through a human being.  For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.  But in this order:  Christ, the firstrruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.

          - I Corinthians 15:20-23

Jesus is the firstfruits of the resurrection.  I like that so much, in part, because of my peaches.  I get “firstfruits.”  I look forward, with a good deal of longing to that first fruit.  Why?  Because it means a new era has dawned:  peach season.  When I bite down into that first luxurious peach and feel its sugary juices running down my chin, I know that more just like it are coming.  There is a whole tree of fruit just about to ripen:

And so it is with Jesus.  Jesus is the firstfruits of The Resurrection.  In his resurrection a new era dawned – the Kingdom of God has broken into this world, the future has already happened in one man.  And it also means that more is to come.

In other words, what happened to Jesus will happen to God’s people.  Resurrection.  Jesus is the firstfruits – the first to experience The Resurrection – and that means more just like it are coming.  At the end will be The Resurrection for the rest of us and we will get our bodies back (just like Jesus did) and death will have no more power over us.

And just like Jesus, we will really have our bodies back.  We won’t just be disembodied spirits floating around in the clouds.  Look at these words, describing Jesus post-resurrection body:

And while they were still taking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”  They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost.  He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?  Look at my hands and my feet.  It is I myself!  Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.”

     – Luke 24:30-39

Just after that Jesus shares a mean with his followers.  He eats with them.  So we, at the resurrection, will get real bodies.  We’ll get to eat.  And talk.  And, apparently, appear and disappear and maybe walk through walls.  We’ll have bodies, but they will be changed.  It is hard to say what it will be like, exactly, except that Jesus was the first and we’ll follow suit.

So as I enjoy my peaches I will ponder the wonders of The Resurrection of Jesus and the wonders of my own future resurrection.  And I can’t wait to find out how sweet the peaches are on the renewed Earth and how perfectly my resurrected tongue will be able to taste them!

Capitalism Video

This video is funny.  Really really funny.  And the funniest thing about it is that it is all true.  It doesn’t really need much commentary.  Just listen.  And laugh.  And be struck by our own pettiness…

Mission trip to missional life

For any of you involved with “mission trips” or justice issues – especialy if you work with children or teens – you may want to check out this video about a new set of resources from the Fuller Youth Institute:

Happy Earth Day 2009

I’m recycling a post from last year’s Earth Day.  I am still struck by the fact that God has commanded us to practice Sabbath and how incredibly “green” real Sabbaths are.  So, here is a recycled blog post on Earth Day and Sabbath:

 

I just read this today: “If Christians were to stop driving, shopping, and working one day a week, we’d use 14% less energy.”  (For a link to the full article go here.) Crazy, eh? If people would take the Sabbath VERY seriously, the Earth would be greener almost instantly. Maybe God knew what he was talking about, all those thousands of years ago when he said:

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” (Exodus 20:8-11).

I wish Christians (myself included) would realize how “green” God is and then begin caring for this precious creation. The command to have a Sabbath is only one example…but a powerful one. A green command. A command to rest. To give ourselves a rest. To give our kids a rest. To give our employees a rest. To give our equipment a rest. To give foreign workers a rest.  To give the world a rest. To honor The Creator, by honoring the Sabbath.

Susan Boyle and the Kingdom of God

Wow.  You must watch this video.  It is a clip from “Britain’s got talent.” Once that task is done, continue on with reading my thoughts (embedding for this video is disabled, so go here to watch)…..

Now that you’ve watched, read on to see how this made me think of Jesus, the Resurrection, and the Kingdom of God right away.

Holy cow.  Can you believe it?  ”Didn’t expect that, did ya?”  What we saw walk out on stage was awkward, “too old” for such things, not as attractive or edgy as we are used to seeing on TV.  People mocked her.  Laughed at her dream.  Expected to enjoy watching this poor woman make a fool of herself.  But then the voice.  The song she chose.  And the shock of the judges and the audience and you and me.

There are so many things to learn from this.  Another good blog on this video is by Eugine Cho called “Susan Boyle and the lesson we should all learn – again.” (In fact, I first learned of this video from a Tweet from Eugine.)

When I first watched, I immediately thought of the Kingdom of God.  You see, one of the major themes of the Kingdom is irony.  The least are greatest, the weak are strong, children are models, fishermen are leaders, Nazareth is important, life comes through death, and victory through sacrifice.  The King of the universe is born in the stables, shepherds are the first to know, and women are the first evangelists of the Resurrection.  Everything in the Kingdom of God is different than in the kingdom we have all grown up in.  And this little video illustrates that irony wonderfully.  This old, ordinary, laughed at woman happens to bring a wonderful song.  And tears to our eyes.  And much to think about.

Then there is the surprise.  Easter, you see, was a great surprise.  Many expected Jesus to be the King and Messiah.  He had come to Jerusalem as a King on Palm Sunday.  He taught in the Temple making things right.  But then the shock of Good Friday and the cross.  It was all over.  Jesus was not it.  He is dead.  Not King.  Not Messiah.  Not what we hoped for.   And then it happened.  The shock and surprise and glory of Easter morning.  And Susan Boyle made me think of that as well.

“Not what you expected.”  No, not at all.  But way better than I ever dreamed.

Ehrman, Colbert Report, and Witherington

Ben Witherington is a wonderful, very orthodox, Christian Scholar.  On his blog recently he posted a critique of Bart Ehrman’s newest book and also this great video of Ehrman on the Colbert Report.  Bart Ehrman often tries to discredit the Christianity, as you will see in the video, and Colbert is wonderful with him.  I have also included a comment by Dr. Witherington that he placed on his own post about the video clip (his original blog on the topic can be found here).  For a much more scholarly and detailed critique of Ehrman’s book look into Witherington’s blog via the links above.  I actually think that Colbert, along this short comment from Witherington, put Ehrman in his place quite nicely.  Enjoy!

Ben Witherington said…

Hail:

Actually Bart is dead wrong about early Christology, and I think he even knows it. Its pretty hard to miss Phil. 2.5-11, written before any Gospel probably. There it is said not only that Christ is “in very nature God” even before he takes on human form, but then on top of that Paul quotes and applies Isaiah to Christ after the ascension saying he has the name above all names, which very clearly in Isaiah is the name of God. The transfer of the LXX name for God ‘kyrios’ to Christ is clearly enough a statement about his divinity. In addition to which in Romans 9.5 Christ is called “God above all blessed forever”.   

  Furthermore, the Synoptic Gospels most certainly do view Christ as divine. This is why he is portrayed as Immanuel for example in Matthew’s Gospel, or as the human and also divine Son of Man of Daniel 7 fame who came from heaven to judge the world and will rule in a kingdom for ever (see Mk. 14.62).     

Ehrman’s retro arguments about such things don’t even convince most liberal scholars these days, they just say that Paul was divinizing Jesus because they know he had an exalted view of Christ. 

As for Colbert, he is a devout Catholic who teaches Sunday school, and is not much interested in making fun of any orthodox Christians. 

Happy Easter,

BW3