Miracle

Do not pray for easy lives;
     pray to be stronger.
Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers;
     pray for powers equal to your tasks.
Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle,
     but you shall be a miracle.
Every day you shall wonder at yourself,
     at the richness of life which has come to you
     by the grace of God.

Phillips Brooks

The Essence of Destiny

Watch your thoughts, for they become words.    
Choose your words, for they become actions.
Understand your actions, for they become habits.
Study your habits, for they will become your character.
Develop your character, for it becomes your destiny.

Lao Tzu

Fundamentalists, Liberals and All That Jazz

I'm sure you've heard people talk about fundamentalist Christians or liberal Christians.  Have you ever wondered how they compare to each other?  Or perhaps you've heard the terms "Neo-Orthodoxy" or "Systematic Theology" used in something you've read.  What in the world are they?  Well, below are a few key propositions that define each stance.  You may find that you agree with all of the propositions in one theological stance or another, or you may find that you agree with some and not with others in all of them.  Where do you fit in, and how did you learn to believe what you believe? 

THEOLOGICAL PROPOSITIONS OF FUNDAMENTALISM

1.  THE BIBLE.  The Bible is the inerrant Word of God, meaning that it contains no factual errors of any sort (including no scientific or historical errors)  It is free of errors because the Holy Spirit inspired the writers and communicated factual information to them that they could not have otherwise known.  Even though the authors expressed truths in their own words drawn from their particular cultures, the Holy Spirit oversaw the writing the therefore scripture contains nothing that is misleading.  Consequently, all of scripture is equally inspired and equally authoritative.  You must accept the plenary inspiration of scripture in order to trust that its message can save us.

2.  THE VIRGIN BIRTH.  The Virgin Birth narratives state the role of a human father in Jesus' conception was replaced by a miraculous act of God.  It is on this basis alone that Jesus' divine nature can be affirmed, because it was acquired through this miraculous conception.  The doctrine of the Incarnation requires a belief in the miraculous conception in which no human father took part.

3.  THE ATONEMENT.  God could secure the atonement of the sins of humanity only by having Jesus, an innocent representative of the human race, die on the cross  This act satisfied God's justice, for in it punishment was executed (substitutionary theory of the atonement).  Because Jesus was actually innocent and did not need to receive the punishment in order to justify himself, his satisfaction of God's justice could be extended to others who actually are guilty.  The theme of punishment, which requires suffering, is encapsulated in the central image of Jesus' blood, shed for us.

4. THE RESURRECTION.  The resurrection of Jesus was an historic event, occurring in ordinary time and space, in which Jesus' body was reanimated.  The body left the confines of the tomb, was present on earth for 40 days, and then physically ascended into heaven (However, Jesus' reanimated body was indeed transformed in some respects, becoming more spiritual without breaking all continuity with its physical.

5.  MIRACLES.  The Miracle stories in the Bible represent God's historical interruption of the ordinary laws of nature in order to bring about certain events that otherwise would not have happened.  These miracles occurred exactly as narrated in the Bible.

THEOLOGICAL PROPOSITIONS OF LIBERALISM

1. THE BIBLE.  The Bible is an expression of the religious experience of ancient Israel and the early church.  It represents the chronologically extended struggle of a highly spiritual people to understand the Divine reality more adequately.  It is NOT the word of God coming to us from some transcendent sphere.  A progression can be seen in the Bible from more primitive (and more inadequate) forms of religious experience to deeper, richer, and more profound forms of religious experience. The Bible is a human record of a progressive human spiritual journey, reflecting the prejudices, mistakes and failings of the people who wrote it.  Nevertheless, it is a profound (the most profound, perhaps) record of religious experience.  We contemporary Christians most locate ourselves in this story of human religious evolution and extend the trajectory. 

2.  THE VIRGIN BIRTH.  The Virgin Birth narratives are a poetic and symbolic way of expressing the truth that Jesus was a very profound teacher and spiritual guide.  Of course, he was conceived and born in the standard human manner.  There was nothing supernatural about his biology or ontological composition, except that he was supremely aware of God and God's will in the deepest levels of his experience.

3.  THE ATONEMENT.  A loving God does not need to punish anybody in order to be reconciled with sinners.  The death of Jesus on the cross, in which Jesus continues to do God's will and continues to call God "Father," shows that it is possible to remain in spiritual contact with God in spite of earthly suffering and tragedy.  Jesus' death also shows that we all should be faithful to God's mission and call, in spite of worldly threats and dangers.

4.  THE RESURRECTION.  The stories of the resurrection show that, in some sense, the spirit of Jesus, and the spirits of all faithful persons, lives on, either in the memory and experience of future generations, or in the mind of God, or both.  The language of bodily resurrection and the talk of some sort of novel post-mortem individual experience are symbols of this enduring spiritual quality and should not be take literally.

5.  MIRACLES.  The miracle stories in the Bible are archaic rhetorical means of expressing certain eternal spiritual truths.  For example, to say that Jesus walked on water means that the pure of heart can remain tranquil in the midst of earthly tribulation.

THEOLOGICAL PROPOSITIONS OF NEO-ORTHODOXY 
(Per George Richards) 

1.  THE BIBLE.  The Bible functions as the Word of God when it is used by the church to witness to God's redemptive work in Jesus Christ, who is the true Word.  In order for this to happen, the Holy Spirit must open the hearts and minds of the hearers of Scripture.  Apart from this use, the Bible in itself is a human book, written in humanly chosen and therefore imperfect words.  It contains the biases, limitations and prejudices of the people who wrote it.  Nevertheless, God's providence was sufficiently active in its composition and redaction to insure that it can function as a reliable witness to God's redemptive act in Jesus Christ.  Without this witness, we have no access to Jesus.  Therefore, the Bible, as used by the church through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, is our sole authority and infallible guide in essential matters of faith.

2.  THE VIRGIN BIRTH.  What exactly happened behind the Virgin Birth narratives is a mystery.  It is essential for Christians to believe that the birth of Jesus did occur though this unique, creative act of God, and that through the birth of Jesus Christ the eternal Logos did enter the world.  This is the essential point of the birth narratives.  The historical mechanisms through which this transpired cannot be known and need not be known.

3.  THE ATONEMENT.  The crucifixion of Jesus is indeed the atoning act of God, through which God and Man (sic) are reconciled.  However, Jesus' death was not a "payment" made to appease the wrath of an angry God.  Rather, the death of Jesus enacts God's solidarity with sinners in the midst of the deadliness and God-forsakenness of human guilt and alienation.  God shares with our guild and alienation.

4.  THE RESURRECTION.  The stories of Jesus' resurrection point to an historical event, the exact nature of which cannot be known with any certainty.  But we can known the essential point of these stories: that in Jesus, God has conquered death itself, and that this conquest involves the preservation of our earthly, embodied identities.

5.  MIRACLES.  The miracle stories in the New Testament express symbolically God's (including the incarnate God's) lordship over all nature processes and God's healing presence in, through, and over those processes.  The truth of this theological conviction about God's lordship and healing intent does not depend on the exact historically factual nature of any of these stories.

SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY (by Charles Hodge, 1872)

1.  The Bible is to the theologian what nature is to the man of science.  It is his store-house of facts; and his method of ascertaining what the Bible teaches is the same as that which the natural philosopher adopts to ascertain what nature teaches.

2.   The duty of the Christian theologian is to ascertain, collect, and combine all the facts which God has revealed concerning himself and our relation to him.  These facts are all in the Bible.  This is true because everything revealed in nature and in the make-up of man concerning God and our relation to him is contained and authenticated in Scripture. Therefore, "the Bible, and the Bible alone, is the religion of Protestants."  Theologians must be guided by the same rules in the collection of facts as scientists.  

3.  This collection of facts must be made with diligence and care.  It is not easy work; there is great possibility of error.  Almost all false theories in science and false doctrines in theology are due to mistakes in this area.  

4.  The collection of facts must not only be carefully conducted, but also comprehensive and, if possible, exhaustive.  Imperfect "facts" led men to believe that the earth was flat and the sun moved around it.  Likewise in theology, this type of faulty collection of information has led to serious errors.

Therefore, if natural science is concerned with the facts and laws of nature, theology is concerned with the facts and principles of the Bible.  The object of the natural scientist is to arrange and systematize the facts of the external world and ascertain the natural laws which govern them.  The object of the theologian is to systematize the facts of the Bible and to determine the principles or general truths which govern the facts therein.  

Systematic theology says nothing about inspiration or transformation.  Scripture contains data and informs our understanding of man and God.  It is very different from a liberalist view, which is defined by high criticism.

(Note: the information above was taken from a lecture by Lee Barrett, one of the very best educators and theologians you could be lucky enough to meet.  He teaches at Lancaster Theological Seminary, in Lancaster, PA)

My Photography Book, Vol. 1

Click here to view this photo book larger

Photo Book Tip: Create an adventurous travel photo album at Shutterfly.com.

I just finished up a photo book at Shutterfly.  It was kind of fun and might be something to think about for Christmas...hmm...yeah, maybe.  I only made it because I decided to input all the coke top codes into the "My Coke Rewards" web site instead of giving the caps away like I had been doing (sorry Tony).  This was one of the things you could "win" for adding up points.  I made this and ordered it because the book was free besides the shipping cost.  I also thought it would be cool to see my own photos in a book.  You know, pretend I'm professional or something.  Of course, if you want to try to make a buck or two this is not the place to do it...Shutterfly makes all the money.  So if you happen  to look at this and decide to buy a print or something, please go to my photo site at http://lynnhackman.zenfolio.com.  At least then I can make a few bucks for the rent instead of Shutterfly.

I was trying to figure out how to use this to make money for church.  Perhaps you could make a church yearbook or something and sell it?  However, the books are not cheap so the sell price would have to be fairly high to make it worth the while.  Also you would more than likely need to obtain the permission of everyone in the book, especially children under 18 years of age, to do it.  That would be both difficult and time consuming. 

It would be neat to make a family album that you could order and distribute to members of the family.  I'm going to have to consider this for a belated 60th Anniversary gift for my parents (although I will have to clandestinely steal their photo albums from their basement, a basement my father frequents and could notice their disappearance.  However, it would definitely be worth the "risk").  I think they would like that. 

Anyway, this is a neat little capability of Shutterfly, and more than likely other sites out there.  It's certainly something to consider when trying to come up with unique, interesting and appreciated Christmas gifts for the person (or persons) who have everything.

Video: Gravel Hill's History

Here is the history section which was to take the place of the initial fire section.  Again, this was never used.

Video: Capital Campaign video 1 - not used

I was asked to put together a video for the Capital Campaign.  I planned three sections.  I began by reworking the initial fire video (posted somewhere in this blog) I put together several years ago in order to add some interviews, and then placed what we've been doing over the last year as the second section.  There is a transition between the sections which I narrated.  I was going to get another person who does this very well to do the narration after I added the second transition.  However, I was told that the fire video was no longer relevant to the current congregation so I scrapped it and made a quick "history" of Gravel Hill, which is posted after this one.  I put an awful lot of work into these videos, so I posted it so if anyone was interested, they could watch it.  I did not blur any clips of children - most of them go by quickly or are covered with text.  Hope you enjoy parts 1 and 2 of a not used video...  

Police: Man Yelled "Liars" Before Killing Three in Church

The article below appeared on CNN.com in August of 2007.  I copied it at the time thinking I would use it as a basis for a sermon at some point. This article is still floating around my paper piles, so I finally decided to post it here.  It continues to bother me, to weigh on my understanding of what Christians claim to believe versus how we act in the world.  Our actions should be a reflection of our beliefs, but often diverge to the point where it is impossible for those watching us to tell whether we are Christians or not.  

In the first century, the world had no problem discerning who Christians were because their words and actions differed greatly from those who were pagans.  Because they stood out they were treated differently from the pagans around them.  They were also treated differently from the Jews (remember that Christianity was a Jewish sub-cult).  Because the Jews had been around since before the Roman Empire their "odd" cultural customs were accepted by the Roman rulers when the land area of Palestine was conquered.  Since Christianity was a new cult that ran against accepted and prescribed behavior of Roman pagan culture, Christian quirks were not appreciated and often not tolerated.  Hence, at times, Christians found themselves scapegoats for events that were not of their doing (e.g. the fire of Rome under Nero), and refused to bend to the requirements of the emperor to worship who and how pagans did, and were therefore singled out for persecution.

Today, however, Christians are so integrated into society that more often than not, one cannot tell Christians apart from non-Christians in America.  I believe that theologically, there is still much that should separate Christians from the majority of people.  However, it is difficult to find differences between how we act as Christians and how non-Christians act.   

So here is the irony: this man accuses church goers of being liars, and I believe he is proven right.  

In the early church many Christians martyred themselves rather than deny their belief.  You don't have to read far in Paul's letters to find references to these self-sacrificing actions, although today we read these sections of scripture and consider them hyperbole.  They are not.  Paul uses real life consequences of being a Christian in his writings.  Yet today, in general, we do not see our Christianity of such consequence that we are willing to die for it.  

When did we stop believing our God was unworthy of the ultimate sacrifice?  When did we become so integrated into society that our belief has taken a backseat to our own self-preservation?  Do we now believe that our profession of faith is inconsequential because we have become such a pluralistic society?  

If so, why bother to believe anything at all? 

An add on question...what part does fear play if we believe in God and life after death? 

NEOSHO, Missouri (CNN) -- A man with a machine pistol stormed a southwestern Missouri church where his relatives were praying, shouting "liars, liars" as he opened fire and killed three people, police said Monday.

Police identified the gunman as Eiken Elam Saimon, 52.

He is charged with three counts of first-degree murder, four counts of first-degree assault, one count of armed criminal action and one count of felonious restraint for holding the congregation hostage, said Newton County Prosecutor Scott Watson.

A fifth count of assault is pending, Watson said.

Watson told The associated Press Saimon targeted church elders. "It appears that the shots that were fired were not at random," he said.

Saimon entered a not guilty plea during a brief arraignment Monday in Newton County Circuit Court. The judge set his bail at $1 million, reduced from the original $5 million, and set a hearing for September 18, the AP reported.

Newton County Sheriff Ken Copeland said Saimon is being held in an isolation cell under heavy guard.

Saimon shouted "liars, liars, you're all liars" before opening fire with a semiautomatic machine pistol commonly known as a Tech-9, Police Chief David McCracken said.

When police arrived, Saimon had surrounded himself with 30 to 40 hostages in the sanctuary and "he was holding a female hostage at gunpoint," the chief said.

Witnesses told police that Saimon held a gun to one man's head and asked if anyone in the church was willing to trade their life for the man's, an investigator said. After no one stepped forward, the gunman shot the hostage, he said.

Five people were wounded in the Sunday afternoon attack at the church in Neosho, about 120 miles northeast of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Killed in the shooting were Kernal Rehobson, 43, Intenson Rehobson, 44, and Jesse Ikoshia, 53, Watson said. They were not friends or relatives of Saimon, Watson told the AP.

Prosecutor Watson also said Saimon also is a suspect in the alleged sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl Saturday. The girl is a relative of Saimon's, although authorities did not explain how the two were related, AP reported.

Wounded were Jim Handy, Melihna Tarra, Dahnny Jack and Handy Kendey, Watson said, adding that his office is awaiting the name of a fifth person who was wounded.

The wounded were transported to area hospitals, at least one of them by helicopter.

One of them required surgery, and two others were still in the hospital Monday, McCracken said. All are in fair condition and are expected to recover, the chief said.

Police received a report about 1:54 p.m. (2:54 p.m. ET) that someone was shooting inside the 100-year-old First Congregational Church.

A group of Micronesians was holding a service at the time, McCracken said. Saimon is Micronesian.

Micronesia is a series of islands in the western Pacific Ocean.

Saimon had three guns, including the 9 mm semiautomatic Tech-9 and a small-caliber handgun, McCracken said.

He ordered the children in the church to leave without their parents, McCracken said. The kids were all accounted for and were not harmed, he said.

Saimon is married and has a family, Copeland said.

The shooter was holding as many as 50 people hostage inside the church when officers arrived, authorities said. Police apprehended Saimon without incident after a hostage negotiator spoke with him for five or 10 minutes, McCracken said.

"He made the decision that it was not his day to die," the chief said Monday. "It was hard to tell which way he was going to go until he dropped the weapon.

Source: CNN

Please feel free to leave your comments.  I'd love to know what you think.