Generosity, Gratitude, and the Gospel by Joshua Beckett

I was perusing the Anglican Book of Common Prayer today, specifically looking at the portion concerning holidays. The prayer for Thanksgiving Day reads as follows:

Almighty and gracious Father, we give you thanks for the fruits of the earth in their season and for the labors of those who harvest them. Make us, we pray, faithful stewards of your great bounty, for the provision of our necessities and the relief of all who are in need, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

I really like the sentiment expressed here – that the purpose of God’s abundant blessing in our lives goes beyond his fatherly gift of provision for our own needs. It also includes the opportunity for us to emulate him in practicing generosity and caring for the needs of others. As I considered this, my attention drifted to 2 Corinthians 9:6-15. If you haven’t read it recently, take 5 minutes and do so – it’s amazing! In 10 action-packed verses, Paul weaves together the themes of generosity, reward, cheerfulness, provision, concern for the poor, righteousness, confession of the gospel, the glory of God, and thanksgiving!

There is a breathtaking process at work here. What follows is my attempt at unwinding some of the magnificent threads of truth in this passage:

* All things belong to God.
* God blesses believers with grace (both spiritually and physically/financially) and provides for their needs.
* In response, believers “sow” the provision they have received through the ministry of lavish and sacrificial giving, caring for the poor, especially other believers.
* This generosity brings about several results:
à those in need are fully taken care of
à they glorify God by their genuine thanksgiving, and they pray for their
benefactors
à God enables those who gave to continue in still greater generosity and
increases the harvest of their righteousness.
à Rinse, lather, repeat – the cycle continues!

In all of these stages, God is the primary agent behind the scenes – providing for, guiding, enabling, and rewarding Christians who participate in this ministry of service. But our role is by no means insignificant – we are to step out in faith and sow bountifully, give cheerfully, pray earnestly, and glorify God for his extravagant grace. And we do so bearing in mind the ultimate act of cosmic generosity which the Triune God himself demonstrated in the gospel. Indeed, our obedience in giving is directly tied with our confession of the good news of Jesus Christ. The former flows from the latter and demonstrates the authenticity of our faith, all to the glory of God.

I pray that we will keep these thoughts in mind and look for divinely appointed opportunities to be generous, both in the present (when it is easy for us to forget that other people are more broke than we are!) and in the future (as our nation and world faces the implications of the disastrous economic situation in which we find ourselves). Imagine what would happen if, in the middle of financial hardships on every side, the church demonstrated her trust in God’s provision and gave sacrificially and cheerfully to take care of those in need, both her own members as well as those outside. What a powerful testimony that would be to the watching world!

God has given us so much, and grateful generosity is our single-minded and whole-hearted response. Thanks be to God for his most inexpressible gift – his son Jesus Christ!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Adopt a School? by Damien Howard

[excerpt taken from: Educators expect Obama will alter No Child Left Behind rules
By Matt Arado Daily Herald Staff. (retrieved from http://dailyherald.com/story/?id=251777&src=3)]

"One of President Bush's most noteworthy accomplishments - the No Child Left Behind law enacted in 2002 - might undergo some fundamental changes when President-elect Barack Obama takes office.
Obama said during the presidential campaign that while he supports the law's overall goal, he believes the program needs fixing.
Obama has called for an additional $18 billion to be invested in the nation's schools, in part to help school districts meet the law's expectations. He also called for new assessments that track students' progress over time, rather than relying on the results of a single standardized test…"

[excerpt taken from: Adequate Yearly Progress Report 2008 (Interactive Illinois Report Card)
NORTH CHICAGO COMMUNITY HIGH SCH - NORTH CHICAGO SD 187]

"-Question 1: Is this School making Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP)?
Answer: No
-Question 2: Is this School making AYP in Reading?
Answer: No
-Question 3: Is this School making AYP in Mathematics?
Answer: No
-Question 4: Has this School been identified for School Improvement according to the AYP specifications of the federal No Child Left Behind Act?
Answer: Yes"

So what?
We do not have to wait to see if Barack Obama will scrap No Child Left Behind before we decide to lend a helping hand in a way that is pleasing to God and nurturing for his children.
North Chicago Community High School is approximately 19 minutes or 12.5 miles away from Trinity’s campus. The wealth of our immediate surrounding is not what one would find 12 miles north of here in North Chicago. Some statistics suggest that North Chicago is one of the most financially underprivileged communities in the greater Chicago-land area with one of the worst school districts.

Faith Alive is in the process of developing partnerships so that we can have some sort of effective and lasting ministry in North Chicago, Waukegan, and/or Elgin. Several churches in Lake County have adopted schools and are serving as a resource for these schools by way of mentorship and maintenance of the schools. The statistics above suggest that North Chicago Community High School needs help. Focusing on just this one school, I have a question for the Trinity community. What could we do to help? Is there some way that we could use the intelligence that God has blessed us with to positively impact children of North Chicago? What is stopping us from adopting a school?

Thoughts on a Discipleship House by Danny Hartman

November 17, 2008

The church I attended while in Madison had the mission statement, “building a community to reach a community.” I really like it. I am reminded of 1 Peter 2 which says that we are being built up as a spiritual house with Christ as our cornerstone. What precious community.

Personally, I love my community in Quad 4 and can echo with the psalmist, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell in unity!” We are enjoying “building a community” eventually to “reach a community.” But what if, together, we could do both now?

As an example, Messiah has an inspiring off-campus housing program in which students minister in and to their local community.

http://www.messiah.edu/community/interest_housing.html

What if a group of students chose to invest in the churches and schools of hurting communities just north of here? What if, year after year, students passed and picked up the baton for a sustainable presence of salt and light? It’d be a discipleship house. We’d be enjoying and glorifying God by building a community to reach a community.

Are you interested? Let’s discuss.

Thoughts on the Trinity, Love and Justice by Akele Parnell

1 John 4:8: "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love."

God is love; no Christian can deny this. But I am convinced that there is more to unpack from this statement then you may have originally thought. God is also triune; no orthodox Christian would deny this statement either. Here again, I think there is more to this fact than is usually acknowledged. I believe that these two aspects of God when seen together provide important and practical implications for our understanding of human relations, justice and God.

God has expressed eternal love within the Trinity for all eternity. The three persons of the Trinity God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit exist in an infinitely deep interpenetrating bond often referred to as the perichoresis. This bond is so great that it actually has substance, and within this substance love is certainly elemental. The relationship between the persons of the Trinity is defined by love, although it may be defined by other qualities as well.

Further, all authentic relationships were designed by God to take part in and be defined by mutual, reciprocating love. In a broader sense, communities which consist of a group, or groups of individuals, who share and participate with one another in relationships, should also be marked by love. This seems to follow because relationships should be marked by love and communities consist of relationships between persons. What’s more, a society which is essentiality the totality of a group of social/communal relationships (communities), it seems, should be marked by love as well.

Once again, the paradigm for any relationship or group of relationships is shown to us by God himself within the Trinity, and this model is marked by love. Thus, we have a model in God’s own relations within himself for how we should behave toward one another and it would seem that this model would have implications on society as well if society consists of totalities of relationships. My proposal is that if we believe that God is one in three persons, and we believe that God is love, that the doctrine of the Trinity has direct implications on societal relations and thus, justice within society. Further, it seems that a society marked by divine love would be devoid of injustice. Let me know what you think, and your thoughts on how the doctrine of the Trinity can and should bare on the work of justice in the church.

Reflections on the Election by Jeremy Johnson

Last night a wonderful and historic event occurred when Barack Obama was elected the 44th president, and the first African-American president, of the United States. I went out last night to catch the results of the election but also to hear the speeches from both candidates (in a place where there would be a bunch of TVs). I was very pleased with both candidates for their kind and gracious remarks, and I was encouraged by their desire for national reconciliation after a long and heated campaign. When it was all said and done, even though I voted for McCain, I was unable to overlook the wonderful display of joy and harmony I saw televised of Americans in Grant Park and around the world.

Nevertheless, it struck me that maybe some of the people who were such vocal supporters of Obama might be making a mistake—a mistake that many conservative Republicans (including myself) had made at various points over the last eight years. As I watched Obama give his tremendously powerful and incredibly gracious acceptance speech, my heart began to swell with pride at seeing our democracy in action. In the middle of his speech, however, I began to believe that Obama wasn’t really speaking, but preaching.

Obama is a charismatic man to be sure, but his message last night was powerful because it was not his own. I believe it was a gospel message that had nothing to do with the gospel. That is not to say that I disagreed with his speech, or that I didn’t like it, because as I previously stated, I actually loved it. In my eyes, his speech was a proclamation of good news that trumpeted “change” because of a sincere feeling of “hope”. Ironically, it was just last week that I sat in a class under Crawford Loritts—an incredibly gifted preacher of God’s Word—who pleaded with us to never stand up in front of a group of people with a Bible in our hand, without expecting change. After watching last night, I found myself realizing that it is foolish to stand up in front of a group of people without a Bible in your hand, and to expect true change or experience eternal hope.

I offer this perspective as a Bush supporter, as someone who has stumbled my way through the hollow and shallow labyrinth of civil religion, and as someone who has placed his hope in man and not in God.

Now, before I say anything else, I want to reiterate how grateful I am to both candidates for their efforts in promoting unity and reconciliation after a hard fought political battle. I thought both candidates showed a tremendous amount of class last night, and I was proud to be an American.

It has been eye-opening, however, for me to see what I was doing at this time eight years ago. George W. Bush, a conservative, evangelical, Republican had just won the White House and offered hope of drastic change from the Clinton administration. I bought into this conservative ideology hook, line, and sinker. I believed that Bush was going to help us become a Christian nation again. I believed Bush wasn’t going to ignore conservative, evangelical Christians and that our voices would be heard. I believed that Bush had answers to many of the problems I had with government—and if I’m honest with myself, I actually saw Bush himself as the answer. While I do believe that he has been a good president, I’ve probably been guilty of placing too much trust in a mere man.

In light of what we find in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I believe that placing our hope and trust solely in a political candidate is a form of idolatry. I was certainly guilty of it, and many from the evangelical bumper-sticker brigade around the country probably struggled with it as well.
In conclusion, I would first like to join with my friends who are rejoicing in this historical moment as the realization sinks in that the United States has elected its first African American president. Remain mindful, however, lest you repeat the same mistake I made eight years ago. Resist the desire to place all your hope in a political system, in a government, or in a man.
Secondly, to my friends who might disagree with the direction our country took last night, take heart in the words of John McCain:

“I urge all Americans ... I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him, but offering our next president our good will and earnest effort to find ways to come together to find the necessary compromises to bridge our differences and help restore our prosperity, defend our security in a dangerous world, and leave our children and grandchildren a stronger, better country than we inherited.”

Finally, to my friends on both sides of the aisle—may we always remember where our true citizenship lies. My prayer is that American Christians would never grow too comfortable in this alien land and that we would always put nation first—so long as it is the kingdom of God. And may we never forget that true change and eternal hope were purchased on the cross by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.