Neighbors, The Epistle of James, and Eric Clapton

A few months ago the ten month old twin girls and their older sister lived with their mother a few miles from our suburban home. They were our neighbors, albeit unknown neighbors; a family doubly filled with the joy of new life, neighbors that we had never met. Now, we sat around a table at the homeless shelter for women and children where my unknown neighbors found themselves living. We sat, sharing laughter, a meal, and the presence of Christ in the middle of the troubles of life in the world. This family, my own family, and my faith family as one.

As I lived (and reflected upon) this experience, I could not help but be drawn to two verses from the book of James (1:26-27) that have been working on me lately. Now you need to know that I was raised of Scandinavian Lutheran heritage which is code in my tribe for reminding each other that we don’t speak too loudly of the good works that we do in the world and we certainly do not think that any good works that we may do would bring any favor for us in the eyes of the Lord. Like many Lutherans of my generation, I was taught in confirmation that Martin Luther had reservations about the book of James and its place in the Bible. Too much emphasis on doing things I was told and not enough emphasis on what Christ has done. Doing things does not save you I was taught. (What a message to give to Christ’s youth about their role in tending to God’s creation and our calling to share the gospel!). I hope that the message learned by my own children by virtue of sitting around that table would be a different one.

But it begs an age old question. So how then are we to live in faith? What is the relationship of faith to the works that we do in the world? Consider these two quotes from Luther:

We have no other reason for living on earth than to be of help to others. If this were not the case, it would be best for God to kill us and let us die as soon as we are baptized and have begun to believe. But He permits us to live here in order that we may bring others to faith, just as He brought us.

And what is this faith that Luther speaks of?

Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace, so sure and certain that the believer would stake his life on it a thousand times. This knowledge of and confidence in God’s grace makes men glad and bold and happy in dealing with God and with all creatures. And this is the work which the Holy Spirit performs in faith. Because of it, without compulsion, a person is ready and glad to do good to everyone, to serve everyone, to suffer everything, out of love and praise to God who has shown him this grace. Thus it is impossible to separate works from faith, quite as impossible as to separate heat and light from fire. Beware, therefore, of your own false notions and of the idle talkers who imagine themselves wise enough to make decisions about faith and good works, and yet are the greatest fools. Pray God that he may work faith in you. Otherwise you will surely remain forever without faith, regardless of what you may think or do.

On the drive home from serving and sharing the meal at the women’s shelter, an old Eric Clapton song came on the radio. My daughter commented that she did not think it sounded like Clapton (when did she get so old as to have opinions about such things?). The words of the song resonated to the depth of my soul:

Then we’d go running on faith
All of our dreams would come true
And our world would be right
When love comes over me and you
When love comes over you

Love (as the fruit of the Holy Spirit) coming over us (overtaking and oozing out us) in order that the world would be right.

Is this James’ dream?

Indeed.

Is it Martin Luther’s dream?

Certainly.

Is it Eric Clapton’s dream?

Apparently.

Is it my dream?

I hope and pray that it is.

Is it your dream?

[fill in the blank here]


But the more I think about it, maybe my daughter was right. Maybe it wasn’t Eric Clapton singing that song at all...

Maybe it was the Spirit of Christ himself- singing of God’s very own dream for our world.

and

just

maybe…

We are simply asked to keep running on in faith (all the while singing along in order that the world might hear).

Nike, the mission of God, and you

There are few things that are more uncomfortable (and more painful) than a pair of shoes that does not fit properly. And though I am not a male version of Imelda Marcos (nor Carrie Bradshaw) I do like to wear shoes that are at least presentable in their style and how they look. It still grieves me to think of that twice worn pair of white Nike shoes that were stolen from the hockey locker room at the arena when I was about 12 years old! White Nike tennis shoes with a red stripe, the only model they made. The things you remember from childhood!

I dropped my daughter at a soccer camp yesterday (imagine that). Set up beside the soccer camp was a tent staffed by a couple of Nike employees. The girls attending the camp were invited to try out a new pair of Nike soccer shoes and see how they felt and how they looked. You see Nike has figured something out here, you need to go to where the people are; not just wait for them to go to a store that carries their product and hopefully purchase a pair of their shoes. But the amazing thing is not that Nike will come to you to sell you a new pair of shoes, travelling salesmen are nothing new. The amazing thing is that you can custom design these shoes yourself through a program called NIKEid.

Set up inside the very hip looking tent were six computers that were accessing the Nike website. Check the site out here. It is really pretty cool. You can design everything about your shoe; everything from the cleat type, to the color of the swoosh, to your own name and number on the back or on the tongue. You are able to personalize your shoe to match your team’s colors or your own personal preferences. Shipped to you in a matter of a couple of weeks!

As I drove home I thought about what it might look like if we did something like this as the body of Christ in the world. What would it look like if we took ourselves on the road and offered people the opportunity to set up their own SPIRITid? A personalized spiritual development plan that meets the specific needs of the individual instead of offering the same white pair with the red swoosh to everyone.

At the risk of sounding like spiritual consumerism, let me be clear. I am thinking more of a plan that would inventory giftedness and affinity for particular missional activity and assess areas of personal development with goals and activities determined for improvement. What would you like your spiritual growth to look and feel like for the next year? What is needed in your life to provide comfort and peace spiritually? Do you need to focus more on prayer, relationships, scripture, engaging the world around you? Hmmm…

So here is my offer, if you are interested in developing a SPIRITid plan, email me and we can meet or get in touch by phone to explore what this could look like. Why should Nike have all the fun?

ROJ Summer Focus

River of Joy’s missional focus for this summer is quite simply to feed people who are hungry. We certainly have no grand illusions that we are going to wipe out hunger in Scott County. We realize that our efforts will probably amount to a small ripple in an increasingly expanding pond of poverty in the south metro area. But nonetheless, we are inclined to answer Jesus’ call in Matthew 25 to feed those who are hungry. In this beautiful scripture, Jesus goes so far as to tell us that when we feed people who are hungry; we are actually feeding him.

This focus on feeding those who are hungry has expressed itself in a variety of forms within River of Joy this summer. We have recently purchased an enclosed utility trailer to be used as a portable food pantry for the collection, transportation, and distribution of food in our community. We have packed meals at Feed My Starving Children together, served meals at Dakota Woodlands (a women’s homeless shelter in Eagan), planted a garden that we tend together with the intent of donating the food to community food shelves. We are providing a portion of our offering to world hunger relief, and we are collecting food at gatherings in our neighborhoods.

But how is it, that the providing of food to the hungry in these ways feeds Jesus himself? Isn’t Jesus just speaking broadly in this text about our need to take care of our neighbor? He can’t really mean that feeding those who are hungry introduces us to Jesus himself? Can he? This food might go to a Muslim, or a Hindu, or an atheist. How does that feed Jesus?

When we take Jesus at his word and do as he asks, Jesus is fed in two ways. First, the spirit of Christ in the world is fed and nourished for growth when we step across cultural, economic, social, and religious boundaries as he has directed us to do. In his biblical ministry, Jesus is constantly crossing these lines to tend to the needs of those who are of different socio-religious and cultural backgrounds. And as he crosses these lines he frequently challenges the origin and validity of their very existence. When we engage the world with this same need focused boundary crossing emphasis, Jesus’ life giving Spirit is fed and grows in the world around us. As we allow the boundary crossing Spirit of Christ to work through us, the Spirit’s presence in the world is more readily known.

But the Spirit of Christ is not only fed and nourished for growth in the world when we answer Jesus call; Jesus’ Spirit is also fed, nourished and grows inside those who are answering the call to action. This is the second way that Christ himself is fed in our feeding of others. When we feed others, we are actually feeding Christ within us and nourishing our own spiritual growth. When we feed God’s starving children in the world (and in Scott County!), we are actually feeding Christ himself within us and providing sustenance for our own spiritual growth.

In the end, hungry people get food to eat; the Spirit of Christ is magnified and glorified in the corner of the world in which we live; and the Spirit of Christ is nourished and grows within us.