A Christian Worldview from Silicon Valley

Along with several thousand other Christians, I spent much of last week in one of America’s most beautiful places, Malibu, California.

I was there for the annual Pepperdine Bible Lectures, a week-long series of classes, talks, singing, meetings and fellowship that is both amazing in its scope and glorious in its setting. There is content, too, but I’ll write about that in another post.

From the cafeteria patio at Pepperdine, I had a more than 200-degree panoramic view of the deep blue Pacific ocean, I was comfortable in shorts every day and every evening, and the skies were constantly clear.

But did that serve to clear my mind or cloud it? Enjoying a warm breakfast while overlooking the ocean is relaxing and inspiring, but does it make for better thinking, or does it create a warped perspective? How much — and how — does where we are impact our worldview?

In 1 Corinthians 14 Paul is finishing a section on spiritual gifts and their use in the church when he writes: “When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.”

There are many lessons to be learned in that simple sentence, but one idea I infer from it was that the early church — or at least the church in Corinth, which Paul had a lot to do with — shared with and learned from each other when they assembled. Most of today’s churches, including ours, are much more practitioners of assembling and being led by full time pastors/teachers, people I sometimes jokingly call “professional Christians.”

Being one of those people, I’m clearly not opposed to that. Those who have particular gifts, especially gifts of teaching, ought to use them for the building up of the body of Christ (see Ephesians 4.11ff). But we should remember that the gifts we normally see used on Sunday are not the only gifts, and that even those who do have those gifts in abundance do not have them exclusively.

And so it was, with all that in mind, that we had a “One Another” service at PACC yesterday. We sang to God and to one another, we shared our struggles and joys with one another, we prayed for one another, we served communion to one another and passed the offering basket to one another, and we taught one another. Everyone who was there participated actively in at least one way, and most participated actively in multiple ways.

Perhaps when we post this e-mail on our PACC blog, people will comment on how they felt about that particular service, but I get to tell you now. I loved it.

It was an encouragement to me to hear the lessons that people shared, whether from a personal experience, from scripture, or from a God-honoring insight. It was heart-warming for me to observe a number of small groups of Christians sharing with each other and praying for each other. It was humbling to watch parents serve communion to their children, husbands serve their wives, wives serve their husbands, and friends serve their friends. Every part of the service touched me in a positive way.

So thank you, church, those of you who were able to be there, for being the church, for building up the body of Christ and for loving one another. The tender moments, the funny moments, the thoughtful moments, the moments of celebration, all worked together for the glory of God. And he must have been pleased.

According to Wikipedia, “Members of the Churches of Christ believe… that the only basis for restoring Christian unity is the Bible.” Therefore, as Batsell Barrett Baxter said, “the whole movement is designed to reproduce in contemporary times the church originally established on Pentecost, A.D. 30.”

Sounds good, eh? However, even the Churches of Christ take a cafeteria approach to Christianity, picking and choosing what Biblical practices to continue today.

Our ladies’ Bible class recently studied Acts chapter 4:

32All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had…. 34There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.

Sounds like communism to me!

We talked about how most attempts at communism fall short of the ideal. We talked about how some practices of the Acts church might reflect their particular time and place. We talked about how their communal attitude was admirable, but not required, as a way for Christians to live.

Hey, wait a minute! I can see dismissing a Biblical practice on cultural grounds (you won’t see me wearing a hat to church), but should we be so quick to dismiss a Biblical practice just because it’s difficult? (After all, it’s been impossible to get rid of denominations, but surely that’s not what God had in mind; see v. 32 above.) I’ll agree that communal living is not required for salvation; however, what would the world be like if everyone shared as the Acts church did?

Our favorite stories are about underdogs pursuing their aspirations against all odds. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Why don’t we Christians do more of that?

What Biblical ideal are you reluctant to add to your plate?

Death Valley, CA

Misery loves company. We usually interpret this maxim to mean that people in pain* want those around them to be miserable, too. Some probably wish for that, but, more commonly, people who suffer often want only simple companionship as they endure a journey through the valley.

The other night, one friend, normally a bubbly sort, was sharing the fact that he had become depressed. So many aspects of his life that had been a source of joy and provision had suddenly fallen apart. Disappointment with a friend, loss of a job, radical changes to his responsibilities, and so on, were bringing him down emotionally and financially.

A group of his friends took him to task. They tried to get him to see the error in his thinking. They challenged him not to exaggerate. They dismissed the severity of his issues. They asked him to “count his blessings,” and then started a list for him. As if that weren’t enough, they (more…)

So, I’m hanging out at a friend’s house while I am in Vegas. I’d tell you who but what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Anyway, this friend is moving out and told me I could pick and choose from the pile of books that was on the floor. Thinking, I’ll need something to read on the plane on my way home, I pick up The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell.

As many of the PACC folk know about me, most of my thoughts, (Okay all of them) are things I think, conclusions I have come to after much thinking and not something I picked up in a book, unless it were the Good Book. So, I am often hesitant to say “I read in a book…” But, I’ll give it a try here. In the first chapter I came across some thoughts by Colin Powell that I thought might be worth mulling over given that PACC is in the process of choosing who will be her leaders.

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I’m having one of those rare weekends alone. My daughter is making new friends at a camp for happy teenagers, while my husband and son are scout camping at a black sand beach in Northern California. I enjoy these moments almost too much, burrowing into my home and tuning out the world with loud music and escapist fiction.

Email is one channel that breaks through my isolation. After following the stories on Sarah Palin, John McCain’s VP candidate, I was intrigued by a forwarded email: “25 things you might not know about McCain.” Written by the Associated Press, it was published in multiple news outlets August 28ff, 2008. Most of the insights are silly trivia, but one line grabbed me: “10. He talks to fellow prisoners of war, those with whom he shared a cell in Vietnam, almost daily.”

I like to stay in touch with friends and family, but the number of people I deliberately interact with daily is quite small. What would make a man chat with his cellmates at this frequency, so many years after they were all released? I found some clues in McCain’s 1973 description of the POW years and in this interview of McCain’s cellmate, George “Bud” Day. (more…)

If you haven’t already, go read Vivian’s post. Right now. And comment, too, because we live for comments. Anyway, the following thoughts were inspired by what she said, and it would be grossly unfair to her to start here just because mine is at the top of the pile for the moment.

Nearly two years ago, I read Why Men Hate Going to Church. It opened my eyes to several things that had been right in front of me forever, yet I hadn’t been able to “see” them before. The book made me wonder if some church practices (passive activities, sweet songs, and so on) had become unduly feminine. As I grappled with that thought (continuing to this day), I came across an oddly titled book, Jesus: Mean and Wild. I had to buy it — that characterization was so different from Jesus as I had understood him to be, yet I wondered what a “mean and wild” Jesus might look like. Confession: I tossed it on my huge TBR(ead) pile of books and didn’t read it for a long time. But I looked at it. And I talked about it. Every time I mentioned the title, I’d get that, “You’re crazy!” look. Okay, whatever. Some people don’t recognize hyperbole for what it is.

At Lewis’ suggestion, I agreed to co-teach the Sermon on the Mount with him, but I told him up front, “This is not my favorite topic. I don’t get it, and I don’t like reading lectures.” He told me, “That’s okay. You’re gonna love it when we’re done, because it’s my very favorite thing!” Okay, the gauntlet had been thrown, and I picked it up.

But I am so far from the “Bible is simple. All ya gotta do is open it and read it and do it. Done deal.” Maybe I’m just thick-headed, but a lot of times when I read the Bible, I’m like, “So? What did that mean? How am I supposed to do that?” Did Jesus really want me to pluck out my eye or chop off my hand? (Interesting how most of us do recognize the hyperbole here; at least I haven’t noticed any one-eyed, one-armed Christians running around, though I bet they have sinned through their seeing or touching.) Most of the Bible is told in stories. The stories reveal — obliquely!!! — the heart of God, his goals and purposes for people, his disappointments with their actions, his irrational love for downtrodden, ostracized, marginalized groups (like Israel). (more…)

I’ve been to some amazing places on this earth, some of them highly populated and some of them extraordinarily devoid of population. Some of those places have been startlingly beautiful, some of them have contained great works of art, and some of them have been sculpted into great works of art. I consider it a blessing to both see and appreciate all of that.

But the greatest joys of life — at least for me — involve people. So I was just a little sad this afternoon as I said goodbye (temporarily, but for a while) to Sterling Stuckey and his amazing wife, Harriette, who, in passing through the Bay Area for a season, came into my life and the life of PACC and made us all better for it.

Sterling is, in some circles, kind of a famous fellow, I suppose. He might say, with a wry smile, “Oh, I don’t know about that.” But he had stopped by the church today to give me a copy of the manuscript for his latest book, African Culture and Melville’s Art, a work that will be published this year by Oxford University Press, and anyone who can get a book like that published by a major house, let alone write it, has got something going for him.

The book’s subtitle is The Creative Process in “Benito Cereno” and “Moby-Dick.” Probably not what one would call “light reading,” but I’m looking very much forward to it.

Why? Not because the title itself interests me, although it does interest me very much, but because of Sterling.

By many of the world’s standards, one might not think that Sterling and I would have much in common. But he showed up one day at PACC, and in fairly short order we learned we had three important things in common: we love creativity and the artists who created; we love to think; and we love God.

As time went on we found out that we disagreed on a few things, too, and that enriched our friendship as much as our agreements. (See “love to think,” above.) But my point is this: my life is richer because Sterling and Harriette passed this way. I hope and expect to see them again, and look forward to it.

In the meantime, my goal is simply this: to enrich the lives of those I meet, even in places where I’m just passing through.

In 1983 Harold Washington became the first black mayor of Chicago. I happened to live in a Chicago suburb at the time, and it was big news everywhere around “that toddlin’ town.” My next door neighbor, Steve, was a life-long Chicago-area resident with lots of family scattered around that unique northeast corner of Illinois, including a cousin who was a Chicago city cop.

Steve told me that his cousin was in a gang task force that, just a few nights before Washington was to take office, corralled a group of young black men who appeared to these professional officers to be a gang. The police had the suspects up against a wall and were searching them for guns and contraband when one of them suddenly turned around and faced the officers.

There was a moment of tension, but it turned into laughter when the young man spoke. “When Harold becomes Mayor,” he said, “this ****’s gonna stop!”

I think that fits WCB’s picture of expecting that things are going to be a certain way (e.g. “my way”) if a certain event occurs or if a certain position is obtained.

It could be that most of us have, somewhere along the line, practiced that kind of thinking, and it is only natural to imagine what you might do if you were in a position of leadership or in a role of authority. What is slightly more dangerous, or at least has more potential for danger, is seeking a position for the power that comes with it so that you can fulfill some kind of personal agenda.

But when it comes to the selection of elders for a church body, there is a bright side to all this that gives me peace, and it is that we are not in this alone.

Aside from all the other help we get, God is in it, and he is the one who makes the ultimate selection of elders. I’ve seen him use all kinds of tools and methods along the way to weed out those he doesn’t want in the job at a particular time and place, and I’ve seen him use various tools and methods to get those in whom he does want. I’ve seen men try to get in for selfish reasons, but I’ve only ever seen one succeed. Within a month he was done with the role, eldership not being the platform he envisioned.

It also gives me peace to know that personal agendas are very difficult to promote within an eldership. Yes, it can be done, but it is very, very rare. There is just no room for it.

And finally, it gives me peace to know the power of prayer. May we all be using that power as we prepare for our elder selection process!

I’ve been asked by a friend to help him staff his company. That is, he wants me to do the leg work, read the material, figure out the law, post the announcements, screen, interview, stay out of trouble and find him someone who will work long, hard and for as little reimbursement as possible.

I admit, I get confused. Am I trying to find him a worker-bee or am I sitting in on the “make-us-a-plan-to-find-elders committee” at PACC?

Here’s what scares me - I have heard “When I get the job, then I will do this, that and the other. I just need the position.” (more…)