Archive for the ‘Christian’ Tag
The Sacred Ministry of Cleaning Out the Porta-Potties
Filed under: Bible, By Bill Winn | Tags: Christian, engineer, farmers, firefighters, Jesus, mechanics, plumbing, police, sacred, secular, St. Augustine, Welding
Comments (9) Well you have heard it I am sure. I have personally heard it dozens of times usually in testimonials and from Christians who are in some type of vocational ministry. The comments usually go something like this, “I spent 25 years in a secular job but now I’m working for the Lord.” Or maybe it is a question to pastors and ministry types, “What was your secular job before you went into full time ministry?” Sometimes we divide entertainment into categories like sacred/ secular. We call some music sacred and some secular. (Okay full disclosure: as I write this I am listening to my Pink Floyd channel on Pandora®) There is only one source of creativity in the Cosmos- The Triune God. We might spoil our music with rotten lyrics but as adults we should be able to eat the meat and spit out the bones without relying on divisions and religiosity.
Well here’s the straight dope on these sorts of statements and questions- they come from the lie of separation. The lie that we are separated from God began in the Garden with Adam and Eve but the Greeks intellectualized it and then the Christians incorporated it into their teachings through people like St. Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas. The idea of being separated from God is fallen. You cannot possibly be separated from God… you have no power to be here… without a connection to a Sustainer you would simply cease to exist. Paul told a whole crowd on non-Christians that they live and move and have their being in Jesus and that Jesus gives life and breath and all things to all mortals. If you plan to die someday then Paul is referring to you!
Additionally in the first words of his gospel John, the beloved disciple, said that Jesus made everything and that nothing exists apart from what Jesus created.
One particular year at Higher Ground Summer Camp the Porta-Potty company forgot about us and we had a rather smelly camp by the end of the week because these 12 portable bathrooms on site were not cleaned and with 135 campers and 75 staff well… you get the idea. It was unpleasant to say the least. Well the following year I served as Chaplain and during the final message of the week I kept referring to the sacred ministry of sucking out the porta-potties and each time the teens would giggle. Of course that was the partly the point of it all to keep their interest and make it fun.
Well in conclusion I asked the campers in the Chapel a series of questions: “How many think Jesus created you?” Every hand went up. Then I asked, “How many believe Jesus created you with a need to go to the restroom?” Every hand went up. Then the final query: “How many of you believe that Jesus provides for all of your needs?” Every hand went up and many many lights went on. I could see on their young faces that they’d made the connection.
Now the man who drove the sewage truck and cleaned out the port-potties would likely not tell you that when he was 16 he had a vision from the Lord that his calling would be to clean out portable bathrooms. You see it does not matter why he is doing the job but while he is doing it he is participating in Jesus’ provision for his beloved humanity.
There is no secular only sacred. All is sacred. Yes admittedly we sometimes spoil the things Jesus made. Child abuse is certainly wrong but it is merely a spoiling of something God made that is very good- the relationship between a parent and child. C.S.Lewis wrote, “Goodness is, so to speak itself: badness is only spoiled goodness. And there must be something good first before it can be spoiled.” Do you see it? What you do every day is important in fact as important as what preachers do on Sunday mornings. (maybe more)
Could we travel safely to visit family or help a widow in need without reliable transportation? Thank you mechanics. Could we set bones and administer treatments without doctors and nusrses? Thank you medical professionals. Could we cross vast expanses without bridges? Thank you welders, masons, and construction engineers. Could we enjoy relationships over nice meals out without restaurants? Thank you chefs, wait-staff, and managers. Thank you farmers, receptionists, firefighters, police, and military. Thank you janitors, teachers, and factory workers. You get the idea. Let us put an end to the snobbery of sacred/ secular and recognize that Jesus is Emmanuel and he is with us no matter what our occupation.
~Bill Winn
Wishing You A Christ-Centered New Year
Filed under: By Tim Brassell, Christian Living, Gospel, Trinity | Tags: Christ, Christian, Church, Jesus, New Year, Perichoresis, Trinity
Comments (2) After rehearsing the truth of the Gospel again, which is Adoption, or,
the Good News that God the Father, Son and Spirit created humanity and all of creation in order that they, and it, might share in God’s exact Love and Relational Being, in the Person of Jesus Christ,
I thought that wishing you blessedness in the New Year might be best said the way I entitled the blog post! In other words, did you notice that I didn’t use the customary “Happy” in front of the words “New Year”? That was done on purpose and more in the light of the Gospel.
Let’s face it, most people (including me!) tend to operate out of an optimistic or pessimistic paradigm based on feelings and their own subjective and distinct perceptions about life. Some of us will say “Happy New Year” because we can look at people and things in the world like Susan Boyle, a Black President of all things, and a chance that all Americans might receive basic health insurance as reasons for optimism. Some of us will hear the phrase Happy New Year, and hate it (secretly!), thinking to ourselves that with what is happening in Darfur, Iran, Afghanistan and the American economy, how could anyone possibly say, let alone hope for, a Happy New Year!
I think the Gospel gives us a better alternative than either optimism or pessimism regarding the New Year, while including both in its tremendous wake!
Because the Gospel is Jesus Himself, and what He has done to all of Humanity and Creation in His Divine/Human Body, then we can’t go the way of sin-filled pessimism regarding the state of humanity no matter how dire things seem! It is one thing to say that “as in Adam all die”, but it is a completely other thing to say “so in Christ will all be made alive” (1 Cor 15:22). No real question about the difference in those facts. Whatever mess Adam made (and it was a huge mess!), the Author of Creation, God the Trinity, in Jesus, has undone it (and it was a more huge undoing than Adam’s doing!!), and will continue to undo it, in full actualization! All WILL BE MADE ALIVE!
And because this fact of God in union with His creation is the truth of all truths behind real happiness, ironically, we should be very pessimistic about any other person, place, thing or system in this New year that claims to be able to accomplish it! Humanity’s Adoption and ultimate happiness has been, and only can be, fulfilled by the God/Man Jesus! Improvement in this life won’t get it! We need Jesus’ exact life of New Creation, including a new and transformed body! Even so, come Lord Jesus!
But, because the Gospel is Jesus Himself, and what He has done to all of Humanity and Creation in His Divine/Human Body, then we can’t go the way of sin-filled optimism regarding the state of humanity either, no matter how great things seem! It is one thing to say along with the Apostle John, “Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health”, but it is a completely other thing to add “just as it is with your soul” (3 John 2). No real question about the difference in those facts, either. It is one thing to be happy and healthy! It is another thing to be as happy and healthy as your soul is because of Jesus Christ, Who lives in you! Most people I know aren’t anywhere near as happy as their soul REALLY is because of the Holy Spirit Who lives in them!
Yes, somehow in a mystical but real way, the Holy Spirit of God Himself, has been given to all flesh (sinful humanity! YOU!) in a special way, inaugurated at Pentecost! Acts 2:17! YOU, in the first instance, are in union with Christ apart from works, promises to do good, or even faith and repentance!!!
In more plain words, because God wants you to prosper and be in happiness and health as your soul is prospered by being in union with THE Holy Spirit, this may need to be a very painful year for you as you come to change your mind (repent!), embrace the truth of Jesus and Who you are in Him, and participate more in life as life really is! It will hurt like hell, at first, as you Embrace the Gospel of Humanity’s Adoption and live accordingly in the Spirit’s grace, with Christ’s same intention:
so as to live the rest of your earthly life no longer by human desires but by the will of God. You have already spent enough time in doing what the Gentiles like to do, living in licentiousness, passions, drunkenness, revels, carousing, and lawless idolatry. They are surprised that you no longer join them in the same excesses of dissipation, and so they blaspheme!- 1 Peter 4:1-4
Ouch! A Christ-centered year, but not necessarily a happy one, at first! Ha-Ha!
But, because God is in union with all of His creation, including you, in some mystical but real way, ironically, you should be very optimistic about the New Year because of Jesus’ intent to live victoriously in you! In Jesus, your Adoption and ultimate happiness is sealed despite the hatred and disappointment of persons, places, things or systems that will blaspheme God and seek to discourage you this year!
So, again, in the spirit of this post, “I am wishing you a Christ-centered New Year!” (not necessarily an optimistic or pessimistic one! Ha-Ha!)
– Timothy J. Brassell