Spirituality Column #272
January 24, 2012
Current in Carmel – Westfield – Noblesville – Fishers
(Indianapolis north suburban home newspapers)
The Goal That Never Changes
By Bob Walters
My friend and former pastor Dave Faust wrote the foreword for my recent book, Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary.
Dave, now president of Cincinnati Christian University, baptized me November 18, 2001. In his foreword Dave mentions that on each baptismal anniversary I mail a letter to him thanking him for his ministry and updating my faith journey. The following testimony, not in the book, is from my 10th letter to Dave a couple months ago:
“It’s a magnificent blessing to believe, to depend, to share with confidence what I know about the reality of Jesus Christ. While I doubt myself plenty, it never occurs to me to doubt Christ. Satan is the enemy, Christ is always for us … and it doesn’t get any simpler than that.
“It is as impossible for me to fathom the mystery of the spiritual distance I’ve traveled these last 10 years as it is to empirically explain any of the countless mysteries presented in the Trinity, Creation, scripture, faith, eternity, life … an entire Cosmos that is still smaller than God. And while I can’t fathom the distance traveled, I know the journey is rich.
“Many times I feel as though I’m still in the same spot in life, even in the exact same boat, shall we say. But now, over time, the entire ocean around me has broadened and deepened; become clearer but more endless, safer but with more at stake, easier to understand but impossible to predict. Faith in Christ is an unexpected equation of joy on an ocean of faith, hope and love under the endless, open, brilliant sky of God the Father Almighty.
"Christians always talk about change. But, am I different than I was? No, I am still a sinner. Am I the same? No, I am closer to Christ. Do I, can I, must I trust God? I can’t imagine trusting anyone or anything else. Am I sufficient? No. Christ is sufficient. I am made in the image of God, but insufficient without Christ. In Christ, with Christ and for Christ, it turns out, I am – each of us is – sufficient.
“Ironically, we beg and plead and pray for divine forgiveness that has already been won. We yearn for life that has already been restored and for a divine relationship with God that God Himself relentlessly pursues with the unparalleled pluck, power and preeminence of the serving, saving grace of Jesus Christ. Change can be the thrill or the motion sickness of the journey, but change alone is not – cannot be – a destination.
“Faith in Christ is the goal, the prize, the joy, the first cause … and that never changes.”
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com, www.commonchristianity.blogspot.com) just wanted to share.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Monday, January 16, 2012
Education without the Bible
Spirituality Column #271
January 17, 2012
Current in Carmel – Westfield – Noblesville – Fishers
(Indianapolis north suburban home newspapers)
Education without the Bible
By Bob Walters
The 11th-grade public high school English class was struggling to understand The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, the autobiography of the brilliant 19th century orator, abolitionist, and former slave.
Eleventh-grade English in Indiana focuses on American Literature while 11th -grade social studies, synergistically, explores U.S. history. Douglass (1818-1895) is a key figure in our nation’s literary as well as civil rights history.
Douglass, born a slave, learned to read – illegally – first as a young boy by learning the alphabet from his owner’s wife, and then by reading the New Testament. Douglass later taught other slaves – illegally - to read the New Testament. While American public high schools basically did not exist until after the Civil War, most early education involved reading the Bible. Often it was the only book available.
The famous part of this particular Douglass story is slave-owner Hugh Auld’s rebuke to his wife. Auld said, basically, that “if you teach slaves to read they’ll become dissatisfied with their condition and insist on freedom … and we can’t have that.”
Now let’s return to the high school English class that was flummoxed by Douglass’s erudite and theologically-infused writing. I wasn’t surprised the students didn’t immediately appreciate the book’s reference to the semi-obscure “curse of Ham.” But I was flabbergasted some students thought it was a reference to food, specifically, to not eating pork. And I was floored that an adjacent phrase containing the word “scriptural” was impenetrable because the students didn’t know what “scriptural” meant.
This is how far removed many modern high school students are from the intelligence of Jesus Christ, of the Bible, and of centuries of theological thought and discourse. This isn’t about prayer in school. This is about students not being able to understand major parts of our nation’s history and, really, the majority of classical Western literature. Our culture is intellectually crippled by anti-Bible, no-Bible, non-God, Jesus-is-a-myth, “don’t judge me” obeisance to modernity and political correctness.
“Ham,” of course, was the youngest son of Noah. Read Genesis 9:18-27 to understand why Douglass would talk about Ham in relation to slavery. “Scriptural” means “from the Bible” (or other holy book if one practices another faith). I thought the students were going to faint when I pulled out a Bible to explain the curse of Ham.
“You can’t have a Bible in school!” one exclaimed. That’s how far we’ve slid.
Thankfully many public schools do study the Bible, if only in a literary or historical context. But to read the Bible – in public – for what it really and truly means?
Why, that’s illegal. Just ask Frederick Douglass.
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com, www.commonchristianity.blogspot.com) substitute teaches and understands – deeply – why so many public school teachers pray.
January 17, 2012
Current in Carmel – Westfield – Noblesville – Fishers
(Indianapolis north suburban home newspapers)
Education without the Bible
By Bob Walters
The 11th-grade public high school English class was struggling to understand The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, the autobiography of the brilliant 19th century orator, abolitionist, and former slave.
Eleventh-grade English in Indiana focuses on American Literature while 11th -grade social studies, synergistically, explores U.S. history. Douglass (1818-1895) is a key figure in our nation’s literary as well as civil rights history.
Douglass, born a slave, learned to read – illegally – first as a young boy by learning the alphabet from his owner’s wife, and then by reading the New Testament. Douglass later taught other slaves – illegally - to read the New Testament. While American public high schools basically did not exist until after the Civil War, most early education involved reading the Bible. Often it was the only book available.
The famous part of this particular Douglass story is slave-owner Hugh Auld’s rebuke to his wife. Auld said, basically, that “if you teach slaves to read they’ll become dissatisfied with their condition and insist on freedom … and we can’t have that.”
Now let’s return to the high school English class that was flummoxed by Douglass’s erudite and theologically-infused writing. I wasn’t surprised the students didn’t immediately appreciate the book’s reference to the semi-obscure “curse of Ham.” But I was flabbergasted some students thought it was a reference to food, specifically, to not eating pork. And I was floored that an adjacent phrase containing the word “scriptural” was impenetrable because the students didn’t know what “scriptural” meant.
This is how far removed many modern high school students are from the intelligence of Jesus Christ, of the Bible, and of centuries of theological thought and discourse. This isn’t about prayer in school. This is about students not being able to understand major parts of our nation’s history and, really, the majority of classical Western literature. Our culture is intellectually crippled by anti-Bible, no-Bible, non-God, Jesus-is-a-myth, “don’t judge me” obeisance to modernity and political correctness.
“Ham,” of course, was the youngest son of Noah. Read Genesis 9:18-27 to understand why Douglass would talk about Ham in relation to slavery. “Scriptural” means “from the Bible” (or other holy book if one practices another faith). I thought the students were going to faint when I pulled out a Bible to explain the curse of Ham.
“You can’t have a Bible in school!” one exclaimed. That’s how far we’ve slid.
Thankfully many public schools do study the Bible, if only in a literary or historical context. But to read the Bible – in public – for what it really and truly means?
Why, that’s illegal. Just ask Frederick Douglass.
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com, www.commonchristianity.blogspot.com) substitute teaches and understands – deeply – why so many public school teachers pray.
Monday, January 9, 2012
Love and Hate, Christians and Bigots
Spirituality Column #270
January 10, 2012
Current in Carmel – Westfield – Noblesville – Fishers
(Indianapolis north suburban home newspapers)
Love and Hate, Christians and Bigots
By Bob Walters
I have unchurched friends who, I sense, keep a close eye on me for signs of Christian bigotry.
Mostly I think they are watching for an unloving slip, a judgmental harangue, a hint of meanness, a splatter of impatience, or other overt cracks in my Christian armor. The irony is that my Christian friends, I sense, have just gotten used to them. It’s not like they have to wait very long for a slip, a hint, a splatter, or a crack.
So … I specialize, it seems, in imperfection. But recently I thought I handled a challenge especially well and wanted to share the meat of it. Names and situations are veiled, but I hope the sentiment is clear.
The challenge was from a business friend I see periodically. He has tried the religious, Bible Christian route and, as of now, it truly doesn’t work for him. He figures he’s spiritual enough on his own, all religions are basically the same, why would you want to associate with all those Christian hypocrites, and what right do you have to tell other people how to live?
I’m guessing my Christian brothers and sisters can relate.
Anyhow, we were discussing our upcoming holiday and Christmas schedules and I mentioned one gathering I was especially looking forward to that would include a surprisingly eclectic congregation of ages, family, friends, ex-spouses, believers, non-believers, some divorced, some married, some gay … but mainly how we all enjoyed Christmas together in each others’ company.
Naturally, my friend laser-focused in on the “gay” reference. I could see his face twist as he immediately adjudged – as he often does – my evangelical, conservative, Bible-focused, Christ-centered Christianity, and cross examined. “So …” he very deliberately, almost menacingly, inquired, “does being around gay people take away your Christmas joy because you hate them?”
I can’t say I was surprised by the question because he is a good man but highly predictable in his assumptions. And yet my answer even caught me off guard, because I’d never thought of this response in this way before.
I said …
“Hate who? Gays? Because I’m a Christian? Being a Christian isn’t about who I hate, it’s knowing who I am called to love, and that’s everybody. That’s the message of God in Christ; loving, not hating.”
“Oh, OK,” was his reaction. Rarely in our conversations are religious bigotry insinuations and questions settled with one punch. I was happy that one was.
I don’t love everything everybody does, including that guy I see in the mirror every morning, but hate is almost always a lousy witness for Christ.
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com, www.commonchristianity.blogspot.com) has learned that recognizing one’s imperfections intensifies one’s appreciation for grace.
January 10, 2012
Current in Carmel – Westfield – Noblesville – Fishers
(Indianapolis north suburban home newspapers)
Love and Hate, Christians and Bigots
By Bob Walters
I have unchurched friends who, I sense, keep a close eye on me for signs of Christian bigotry.
Mostly I think they are watching for an unloving slip, a judgmental harangue, a hint of meanness, a splatter of impatience, or other overt cracks in my Christian armor. The irony is that my Christian friends, I sense, have just gotten used to them. It’s not like they have to wait very long for a slip, a hint, a splatter, or a crack.
So … I specialize, it seems, in imperfection. But recently I thought I handled a challenge especially well and wanted to share the meat of it. Names and situations are veiled, but I hope the sentiment is clear.
The challenge was from a business friend I see periodically. He has tried the religious, Bible Christian route and, as of now, it truly doesn’t work for him. He figures he’s spiritual enough on his own, all religions are basically the same, why would you want to associate with all those Christian hypocrites, and what right do you have to tell other people how to live?
I’m guessing my Christian brothers and sisters can relate.
Anyhow, we were discussing our upcoming holiday and Christmas schedules and I mentioned one gathering I was especially looking forward to that would include a surprisingly eclectic congregation of ages, family, friends, ex-spouses, believers, non-believers, some divorced, some married, some gay … but mainly how we all enjoyed Christmas together in each others’ company.
Naturally, my friend laser-focused in on the “gay” reference. I could see his face twist as he immediately adjudged – as he often does – my evangelical, conservative, Bible-focused, Christ-centered Christianity, and cross examined. “So …” he very deliberately, almost menacingly, inquired, “does being around gay people take away your Christmas joy because you hate them?”
I can’t say I was surprised by the question because he is a good man but highly predictable in his assumptions. And yet my answer even caught me off guard, because I’d never thought of this response in this way before.
I said …
“Hate who? Gays? Because I’m a Christian? Being a Christian isn’t about who I hate, it’s knowing who I am called to love, and that’s everybody. That’s the message of God in Christ; loving, not hating.”
“Oh, OK,” was his reaction. Rarely in our conversations are religious bigotry insinuations and questions settled with one punch. I was happy that one was.
I don’t love everything everybody does, including that guy I see in the mirror every morning, but hate is almost always a lousy witness for Christ.
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com, www.commonchristianity.blogspot.com) has learned that recognizing one’s imperfections intensifies one’s appreciation for grace.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Daily Renewal Beats Seasonal Storage
Spirituality Column #269
January 3, 2012
Current in Carmel – Westfield – Noblesville – Fishers
(Indianapolis north suburban home newspapers)
Daily Renewal Beats Seasonal Storage
By Bob Walters
As most of us have put away our Christmas lights, decorations, knick-knacks and Mannheim-Steamroller CDs until next year, let’s not go through 2012 with Baby Jesus in a box in storage.
It is far better to remember, appreciate and reverence the idea that our everyday and eternal life in Christ is far different from – and better than – the practical, decorated, and empirical application of the limited season of Christmas.
Here is something to think about:
Christmas is largely a holiday of tradition, while Jesus Christ is entirely a messenger of hope. Tradition implies the past, and hope implies the future.
So … if Christ is about the future, why is Christmas about the past?
This simple juxtaposition of timeline I think helps explain the western world’s very fun but generally out-of-whack cultural experience of tradition-laden and commerce-fueled Christmas celebrations which fly straight-up in the face of why God sent the Christ as the divine/human baby Jesus.
I am no Grinch, but I suppose I am a bit of a hypocrite. Anyone who knows me well knows I get very attached to things and traditions. I not only enjoy but annually cling to lifelong Christmas traditions. Christmas becomes “real” to me when the home decorations go up, when I hear Christ-honoring Christmas carols (“Hark the Herald” not “Santa Baby”), read Luke 2:1-14 at Christmas Eve dinner (although I forgot this year), and listen to Bach’s Christmas Oratorio.
Our system-wide culture of Christmas celebrations tends to mark emotions of the past more than hope in the future. And as a further bit of irony, it’s New Year’s that actually gets the message of hope right: “Everybody gets a second chance” is the succinct New Year’s Eve lesson from that movie of venerable wisdom, “Forrest Gump.”
But that isn’t the message of New Year’s Eve; that’s the message of Christ. “Everybody gets a second chance” – and a third, fourth and fifth and as many as we need – to get to the place where we accept in faith and understand in our hearts and minds that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and that we can and must trust him as our Lord and Savior.
As St. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:16, “inwardly we are renewed day by day.” Accepting that daily gift from Christ is better than clinging to our seasonal traditions.
Don’t store Jesus in a box. Christ is about the daily renewal of divine hope. Nothing can make a New Year any happier than that.
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) posts these weekly columns at www.commonchristianity.blogspot.com. Feel free to forward them to someone who cares … or more importantly, someone who doesn’t.
January 3, 2012
Current in Carmel – Westfield – Noblesville – Fishers
(Indianapolis north suburban home newspapers)
Daily Renewal Beats Seasonal Storage
By Bob Walters
As most of us have put away our Christmas lights, decorations, knick-knacks and Mannheim-Steamroller CDs until next year, let’s not go through 2012 with Baby Jesus in a box in storage.
It is far better to remember, appreciate and reverence the idea that our everyday and eternal life in Christ is far different from – and better than – the practical, decorated, and empirical application of the limited season of Christmas.
Here is something to think about:
Christmas is largely a holiday of tradition, while Jesus Christ is entirely a messenger of hope. Tradition implies the past, and hope implies the future.
So … if Christ is about the future, why is Christmas about the past?
This simple juxtaposition of timeline I think helps explain the western world’s very fun but generally out-of-whack cultural experience of tradition-laden and commerce-fueled Christmas celebrations which fly straight-up in the face of why God sent the Christ as the divine/human baby Jesus.
I am no Grinch, but I suppose I am a bit of a hypocrite. Anyone who knows me well knows I get very attached to things and traditions. I not only enjoy but annually cling to lifelong Christmas traditions. Christmas becomes “real” to me when the home decorations go up, when I hear Christ-honoring Christmas carols (“Hark the Herald” not “Santa Baby”), read Luke 2:1-14 at Christmas Eve dinner (although I forgot this year), and listen to Bach’s Christmas Oratorio.
Our system-wide culture of Christmas celebrations tends to mark emotions of the past more than hope in the future. And as a further bit of irony, it’s New Year’s that actually gets the message of hope right: “Everybody gets a second chance” is the succinct New Year’s Eve lesson from that movie of venerable wisdom, “Forrest Gump.”
But that isn’t the message of New Year’s Eve; that’s the message of Christ. “Everybody gets a second chance” – and a third, fourth and fifth and as many as we need – to get to the place where we accept in faith and understand in our hearts and minds that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and that we can and must trust him as our Lord and Savior.
As St. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:16, “inwardly we are renewed day by day.” Accepting that daily gift from Christ is better than clinging to our seasonal traditions.
Don’t store Jesus in a box. Christ is about the daily renewal of divine hope. Nothing can make a New Year any happier than that.
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) posts these weekly columns at www.commonchristianity.blogspot.com. Feel free to forward them to someone who cares … or more importantly, someone who doesn’t.
Monday, December 26, 2011
Hitch, Tebow, and God Almighty
Spirituality Column #268
December 27, 2011
Current in Carmel – Westfield – Noblesville – Fishers
(Indianapolis north suburban home newspapers)
Hitch, Tebow, and God Almighty
By Bob Walters
Christopher Hitchens possessed a rare – one could say entirely unique – knack for writing.
His complex but nonetheless lucid, interesting, and grammatically perfect sentences presented all manner of philosophical, literary, historical, and political citations and comparisons in support of his razor-sharp, rational observations about the world and the people in it. His sentences constructed countless essays, articles and books – and fame – before he died December 15, 2011, of esophageal cancer.
Hitchens wore his atheism on his sleeve, writing God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything in 2007. It seemed to me he wrote desperately, as if hoping to argue eloquently enough to make God and religion just go away. Paradoxically, it was not uncommon for “Hitch” to refer to “the Almighty” as an existent, proper noun.
Tim Tebow possesses a rare – one could say entirely unique – athletic ability. It facilitated his entirely unanticipated success as the Plan B quarterback of the Denver Broncos. Tebow’s skills and leadership spawned a jaw-dropping string of Bronco wins this season. Flummoxed sports analysts relentlessly chattered that Tebow (shhh! … a devout, professing Christian) still lacked the proper skill set to be an NFL quarterback, but couldn’t figure out how to properly ask, “Is Tebow’s success a sign from God???”
Tebow wears his Christian faith on his sleeve, in his posture (“Tebowing” – kneeling on one knee, elbow on the other knee, forehead resting on the thumb-side of his fist, praying – is a “flash mob” fad), and he even used to wear it on his face (remember the Bible verses on his anti-glare below-the-eye cheek patches?).
Sportscaster Bob Costas recently pondered inconclusively on national TV, “There’s something about Tebow,” implying but not directly describing Tebow’s unbridled openness about his belief in and witness for Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. My thought was … “You may as well go ahead and say it, Bob, because that cat’s out of the bag: Christ’s light shines through Tebow’s witness. Amen.”
But what does that have to do with football? And where, exactly, do we suppose God is in all this? God is precisely where God always is – above it all, in us all, around us all, knowing all. The enormity of the Almighty transcends our ability to define God logically (hence: “Judge not,” Matthew 7:1, etc.), while the reality of Jesus Christ “given … for all mankind” (John 3:16), puts us with God eternally.
God loves us all; our own faith is the only variable. Tebow’s football success doesn’t prove God’s presence any more than Hitchens’ writing proves God’s absence.
God never, ever, fits into those kinds of boxes.
Walters (www.commonchristianity.blogspot.com, rlwcom@aol.com) mourns Hitchens’ passing and cheers Tebow’s passing. Tough loss to the Pats, though.
December 27, 2011
Current in Carmel – Westfield – Noblesville – Fishers
(Indianapolis north suburban home newspapers)
Hitch, Tebow, and God Almighty
By Bob Walters
Christopher Hitchens possessed a rare – one could say entirely unique – knack for writing.
His complex but nonetheless lucid, interesting, and grammatically perfect sentences presented all manner of philosophical, literary, historical, and political citations and comparisons in support of his razor-sharp, rational observations about the world and the people in it. His sentences constructed countless essays, articles and books – and fame – before he died December 15, 2011, of esophageal cancer.
Hitchens wore his atheism on his sleeve, writing God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything in 2007. It seemed to me he wrote desperately, as if hoping to argue eloquently enough to make God and religion just go away. Paradoxically, it was not uncommon for “Hitch” to refer to “the Almighty” as an existent, proper noun.
Tim Tebow possesses a rare – one could say entirely unique – athletic ability. It facilitated his entirely unanticipated success as the Plan B quarterback of the Denver Broncos. Tebow’s skills and leadership spawned a jaw-dropping string of Bronco wins this season. Flummoxed sports analysts relentlessly chattered that Tebow (shhh! … a devout, professing Christian) still lacked the proper skill set to be an NFL quarterback, but couldn’t figure out how to properly ask, “Is Tebow’s success a sign from God???”
Tebow wears his Christian faith on his sleeve, in his posture (“Tebowing” – kneeling on one knee, elbow on the other knee, forehead resting on the thumb-side of his fist, praying – is a “flash mob” fad), and he even used to wear it on his face (remember the Bible verses on his anti-glare below-the-eye cheek patches?).
Sportscaster Bob Costas recently pondered inconclusively on national TV, “There’s something about Tebow,” implying but not directly describing Tebow’s unbridled openness about his belief in and witness for Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. My thought was … “You may as well go ahead and say it, Bob, because that cat’s out of the bag: Christ’s light shines through Tebow’s witness. Amen.”
But what does that have to do with football? And where, exactly, do we suppose God is in all this? God is precisely where God always is – above it all, in us all, around us all, knowing all. The enormity of the Almighty transcends our ability to define God logically (hence: “Judge not,” Matthew 7:1, etc.), while the reality of Jesus Christ “given … for all mankind” (John 3:16), puts us with God eternally.
God loves us all; our own faith is the only variable. Tebow’s football success doesn’t prove God’s presence any more than Hitchens’ writing proves God’s absence.
God never, ever, fits into those kinds of boxes.
Walters (www.commonchristianity.blogspot.com, rlwcom@aol.com) mourns Hitchens’ passing and cheers Tebow’s passing. Tough loss to the Pats, though.
Monday, December 19, 2011
The Holiday Above Every Holiday, Part 4
Spirituality Column #267
December 20, 2011
Current in Carmel – Westfield – Noblesville – Fishers
(Indianapolis north suburban home newspapers)
The Holiday Above Every Holiday, Part 4
By Bob Walters
“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name … Jesus … Jesus Christ is Lord …” – Philippians 2:9-11
Let’s take a final look at the convolutions and ironies attendant to the general topic of “names” as they relate specifically to Jesus, Christmas, the Christ, the holidays and secular convention.
After that, those of us who so choose can go ahead and have a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year, Happy Holidays and if we want, a partridge in a pear tree.
Our fearful, hyper-protective, offense-averse modern society annually ties itself in knots trying to celebrate Christmas without actually calling it Christmas. As believers in Christ we can relax. Christ is in our hearts and also at the right hand of the Father, always. Jesus is not confined to a date on the calendar. His name alone supersedes any holiday, and anyway the “why” of Jesus is more important than the “when.”
As for the “Christmas” name debate, I prefer not to be tied in knots, fighting battles that cannot be won and for which, really, there is no prize for winning. It seems a better strategy to dwell in the faithful assuredness of forgiveness that has already been won in Christ Jesus. I cannot argue my faith into someone else’s soul; and it follows that the same goes for trying to argue “Christ” into commerce or convention.
What I can do is to pray – frequently, fervently, and faithfully in the name of Jesus – that somehow my witness, my life, my example, my love, my works, my Merry Christmas, my whatever might somehow add up to a valid case for the peace of Christ being accepted in someone else’s soul; that in their hearts the Holy Spirit will work the miracles of grace, hope and the blessed peace of Christmas.
Satan, representing everything that is not Christ, wants to destroy that peace. The world’s – Satan’s – attack on Christ is nothing new, and the only way we can “fix” that is not to allow the world’s attack on us to rob the joy of our peace in the Lord.
Christmas is about gifts because Jesus Christ is about gifts – of His faithfulness, life, grace, eternity, freedom, inheritance, kingdom … and oh yeah, forgiveness. These are gifts open and available to absolutely everybody.
When we say Merry Christmas we’re offering all those gifts on behalf of Jesus.
That’s the power of His name.
And I’ll keep calling it Christmas because that’s what it is named in my heart.
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com, author of Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary, Lulu.com) believes peace exists exactly where each of us in our own heart allows Christ to exist. Merry Christmas!
December 20, 2011
Current in Carmel – Westfield – Noblesville – Fishers
(Indianapolis north suburban home newspapers)
The Holiday Above Every Holiday, Part 4
By Bob Walters
“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name … Jesus … Jesus Christ is Lord …” – Philippians 2:9-11
Let’s take a final look at the convolutions and ironies attendant to the general topic of “names” as they relate specifically to Jesus, Christmas, the Christ, the holidays and secular convention.
After that, those of us who so choose can go ahead and have a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year, Happy Holidays and if we want, a partridge in a pear tree.
Our fearful, hyper-protective, offense-averse modern society annually ties itself in knots trying to celebrate Christmas without actually calling it Christmas. As believers in Christ we can relax. Christ is in our hearts and also at the right hand of the Father, always. Jesus is not confined to a date on the calendar. His name alone supersedes any holiday, and anyway the “why” of Jesus is more important than the “when.”
As for the “Christmas” name debate, I prefer not to be tied in knots, fighting battles that cannot be won and for which, really, there is no prize for winning. It seems a better strategy to dwell in the faithful assuredness of forgiveness that has already been won in Christ Jesus. I cannot argue my faith into someone else’s soul; and it follows that the same goes for trying to argue “Christ” into commerce or convention.
What I can do is to pray – frequently, fervently, and faithfully in the name of Jesus – that somehow my witness, my life, my example, my love, my works, my Merry Christmas, my whatever might somehow add up to a valid case for the peace of Christ being accepted in someone else’s soul; that in their hearts the Holy Spirit will work the miracles of grace, hope and the blessed peace of Christmas.
Satan, representing everything that is not Christ, wants to destroy that peace. The world’s – Satan’s – attack on Christ is nothing new, and the only way we can “fix” that is not to allow the world’s attack on us to rob the joy of our peace in the Lord.
Christmas is about gifts because Jesus Christ is about gifts – of His faithfulness, life, grace, eternity, freedom, inheritance, kingdom … and oh yeah, forgiveness. These are gifts open and available to absolutely everybody.
When we say Merry Christmas we’re offering all those gifts on behalf of Jesus.
That’s the power of His name.
And I’ll keep calling it Christmas because that’s what it is named in my heart.
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com, author of Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary, Lulu.com) believes peace exists exactly where each of us in our own heart allows Christ to exist. Merry Christmas!
Monday, December 12, 2011
The Holiday Above Every Holiday, Part 3
Spirituality Column #266
December 13, 2011
Current in Carmel – Westfield – Noblesville – Fishers
(Indianapolis north suburban home newspapers)
The Holiday Above Every Holiday, Part 3
By Bob Walters
“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name … Jesus … Jesus Christ is Lord …” – Philippians 2:9-11
Our just-published book Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary, a five-year compilation of these weekly columns, is dedicated to longtime Indianapolis minister Russ Blowers (1924-2007).
Russ not only shepherded an enormous flock at East 91st Street Christian Church, but in his nearly 60 years of ministry was the WISH-TV 8 live “Chapel Door” pastor in the 1950s and 60s, was chairman of the Indianapolis Billy Graham Crusade in 1980 at Market Square Arena, and chairman emeritus of Graham’s 1999 Crusade at the RCA Dome. Billy and Ruth Graham stayed with Russ and Marian Blowers the first time the Grahams visited Indy in 1950.
“Everyone” knew Russ, and what just about everyone says they remember most about Russ is this: He never forgot a name. The second time one encountered Russ Blowers, Russ remembered their name from the first time. Russ loved Jesus and loved people. Russ’s most obvious expression of love for people in general and his congregation in particular, was that he remembered people’s names.
A large chunk of my career has been spent in public relations … a line of work where quite often Job #1 is to make other people feel important. A good place to start is to remember names. My name recall is so-so; Russ’s facility was dazzling.
So … names matter; which brings us to Philippians 2:9 and Christmas.
When the Apostle Paul tells the Philippians that Jesus is exalted by God as the “name above every name,” Paul is not saying “Jesus” is a name merely above earthly names like Bob, Russ, Pam, Eric, John, Joe, Sally, Sue, Jason and all the rest. Paul is saying that the name of Jesus Christ the Lord is the name above every name of God – YHWH, El Shaddai, Adonai, and so on. You know … those names.
The living God is exalting Jesus the Christ, His Son, as the Lord. Jesus is the way and the truth and the life, the Eternal Savior, the Logos Creator, and He occupies the highest place with the name that is above every name. God says so.
Remembering the names of people is polite; remembering the name of Jesus Christ is holy. And while “Happy” has distinct, worldly limitations in a nameless, aimless, comfort-driven commercial “Holiday,” eternal joy and peace are found only in the powerful name of Jesus Christ.
Make mine “Merry Christmas.”
Walters’ (rlwcom@aol.com) book is available at www.Lulu.com. Type “Common Christianity” in the “Find” box and hit Enter. Buy several, give them as gifts, tell your friends! PS - Save 25% thru Wed Dec 14 use coupon code COUNTDOWN.
December 13, 2011
Current in Carmel – Westfield – Noblesville – Fishers
(Indianapolis north suburban home newspapers)
The Holiday Above Every Holiday, Part 3
By Bob Walters
“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name … Jesus … Jesus Christ is Lord …” – Philippians 2:9-11
Our just-published book Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary, a five-year compilation of these weekly columns, is dedicated to longtime Indianapolis minister Russ Blowers (1924-2007).
Russ not only shepherded an enormous flock at East 91st Street Christian Church, but in his nearly 60 years of ministry was the WISH-TV 8 live “Chapel Door” pastor in the 1950s and 60s, was chairman of the Indianapolis Billy Graham Crusade in 1980 at Market Square Arena, and chairman emeritus of Graham’s 1999 Crusade at the RCA Dome. Billy and Ruth Graham stayed with Russ and Marian Blowers the first time the Grahams visited Indy in 1950.
“Everyone” knew Russ, and what just about everyone says they remember most about Russ is this: He never forgot a name. The second time one encountered Russ Blowers, Russ remembered their name from the first time. Russ loved Jesus and loved people. Russ’s most obvious expression of love for people in general and his congregation in particular, was that he remembered people’s names.
A large chunk of my career has been spent in public relations … a line of work where quite often Job #1 is to make other people feel important. A good place to start is to remember names. My name recall is so-so; Russ’s facility was dazzling.
So … names matter; which brings us to Philippians 2:9 and Christmas.
When the Apostle Paul tells the Philippians that Jesus is exalted by God as the “name above every name,” Paul is not saying “Jesus” is a name merely above earthly names like Bob, Russ, Pam, Eric, John, Joe, Sally, Sue, Jason and all the rest. Paul is saying that the name of Jesus Christ the Lord is the name above every name of God – YHWH, El Shaddai, Adonai, and so on. You know … those names.
The living God is exalting Jesus the Christ, His Son, as the Lord. Jesus is the way and the truth and the life, the Eternal Savior, the Logos Creator, and He occupies the highest place with the name that is above every name. God says so.
Remembering the names of people is polite; remembering the name of Jesus Christ is holy. And while “Happy” has distinct, worldly limitations in a nameless, aimless, comfort-driven commercial “Holiday,” eternal joy and peace are found only in the powerful name of Jesus Christ.
Make mine “Merry Christmas.”
Walters’ (rlwcom@aol.com) book is available at www.Lulu.com. Type “Common Christianity” in the “Find” box and hit Enter. Buy several, give them as gifts, tell your friends! PS - Save 25% thru Wed Dec 14 use coupon code COUNTDOWN.
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