Category Archives: Love

Are monsters due in Abilene?

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An episode of the classic TV show Twilight Zone was called “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street.” (You can watch it on CBS All Access… which is being offered for free right now) In this episode, the power goes out in a neighborhood. Someone suggests the possibility that this is the work of aliens and that one family is in cahoots with the invaders. Later power is restored at one house, then a different one, then a different one. The gathered crowd turns into a violent mob, accusing and attacking one another.

Is that where we’re headed with the coronavirus? Will we be pointing fingers and accusing people? Will we stand in judgment on our friends and neighbors?

Or will we remember principles of justice, like innocent until proven guilty? More importantly, will we remember principles of our faith, like love and mercy, like compassion and forgiveness, like “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone…”

May Christians be remembered as the ones who helped share peace during this time, not those that added to the panic. May we be remembered those who showed compassion to the sick, rather than those who stood in judgment on them. May we be remembered as those who loved our neighbors as ourselves and loved our God above all else.

Maybe we need to hear Rod Serling’s words from the end of that Twilight Zone episode:

The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices…to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill…and suspicion can destroy…and a thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all of its own – for the children and the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is that these things cannot be confined to the Twilight Zone.

When in Abilene, minister to Abilene

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I’d like to ask you to skim my post from yesterday. As you do so, I’d like you to read it with this question in mind:

  • Who are the hurting people in our congregation?

I feel like many people read yesterday’s post with a political eye. They were asking questions like:

  • Should there be undocumented immigrants in our churches?
  • Is current immigration enforcement being carried out correctly?
  • Who is to blame for the fear in the Hispanic community?
  • Are the U.S. immigration policies just?
  • Are we taking into account the hurt caused by some who are here illegally?

While those questions have a place at other times, they miss the point of yesterday’s post.What people failed to note was that I was addressing a situation in the University Church of Christ in Abilene, Texas. A church where a significant portion of our congregation is directly or indirectly affected by what is going on with immigration. A church that Sunday affirmed a Hispanic man and his family as being an integral part of our congregation (via a baby blessing).

Interestingly enough, that sort of illustrates something that happens in biblical interpretation. When we read the New Testament epistles, we often forget that many of them were written to address specific situations in specific churches. That’s what several readers did with yesterday’s post.

This wasn’t about what’s going on with the church in Laredo, Texas. This wasn’t about what’s going on with the church in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It wasn’t even addressing a situation at the Oldham Lane congregation in Abilene, nor the Highland congregation. It was about us and how we respond to hurting people in our congregation.

Someone asked if we also weep with those who live on the border and are suffering at the hands of people coming illegally. While we sympathize with them, it’s hard to minister to people we don’t know. Surprisingly few people drive up from the border to worship with us on Sunday.

As you skim yesterday’s post, think about your situation. Maybe you have Hispanics who are frightened and upset; maybe you don’t. Maybe you are in South Dakota and know people who have been impacted by the Keystone pipeline decision. You are to minister to them in ways that I can’t. Maybe you have families of Syrian descent who have relatives who have been displaced. Lay aside your thoughts on allowing refugees into this country, and go sit with them. Weep with them. Pray with them. Maybe you have a significant number of blacks in your congregation who feel threatened by recent events. Maybe you have families in law enforcement who feel disrespected and equally threatened.

Someone asked about families who lost relatives at the hands of immigrants driving drunk. My response was that the grief of those families would be the same whether or not the guilty driver were an immigrant or not. At a time like that, our response shouldn’t be shaped by politics. It should be shaped by love.

Our first responsibility is to those in our congregation. We spend far too much time scouring the Internet for news about terrorist attacks in Luxembourg when we need to be seeing the person down the pew from us whose heart is hurting. We post things on social media attacking this group or that group without considering how our words affect someone who pulls a cup out of the same communion tray we do on Sunday. That’s why yesterday’s post had the title it had. That’s what many failed to see when reading that post.

Here are two principles to start with:

  1. Love God.
  2. Love your neighbor.

Work out from there. If you do that, you’ll travel a long ways before arriving at partisan politics. If you start with the politics, you’ll have to go a long way before arriving back at the center.

Who is hurting in your congregation? Go minister to them today.

‘The goal of this command is love’

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Bible and heartOn Wednesday, I mentioned one of the talks that I gave last month at the National Preachers Conference in Cuba, a class on elders. The other talk was a keynote lecture on “Doctrine.” Because the theme of the conference was 1 Timothy, I had been assigned 1 Timothy 1:3-5. And like so often happens, I learned something new when studying this passage again.

I had just heard James Thompson teach a class on 1 Timothy 2, so that was an advantage right there. Taking a cue from him, I went through 1 Timothy looking at descriptions of “unhealthy doctrine” and “healthy doctrine” (which is a better translation than “sound” doctrine; in the 21st century we don’t think of health when we hear the word “sound”). I summarized by saying that sound doctrine is centered on God; not on man, not on philosophy, not on works. It is also reflected in an upright life; moral, not seeking financial gain, with a focus on a healthy family.

Then I turned to the last verse that was assigned to me:

“The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” (1 Timothy 1:5)

That was the one that I had forgotten about in this context. What an important verse it is! Paul calls on Timothy to stress sound doctrine… so that love may result.

I mentioned to the group that I had a document with controversies that had impacted the churches of Christ. I told them there were 28 reasons on the list. Then I said, “Oops! There’s another page.” And I kept using that technique, going from 28 to 57 to 85, all the way up to 171! (I actually left one off. The list I received included “Pretzels”; if anyone knows what the great pretzel controversy was, I’ll up the list to 172)

I told them that we couldn’t afford to be like that. We can’t divide over every issue. I then reminded them that we had another letter to the Ephesian church, written decades after the letters that Paul wrote to Timothy. In that letter, in Revelation 2, Jesus praises the church for their sound doctrine, but chastises them for their lack of love. And he tells them that if they don’t recover that love, they’ll lose their right to be called a church of Jesus.

As we study controversies like gender roles and homosexuality and pacifism and worship questions, we have to keep in mind this important fact: the goal is love. If love isn’t the result, we’ve missed the goal.

photo courtesy of MorgueFile.com

By this we know love

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I’m speaking this weekend at the National Hispanic Preachers & Leaders Conference in Daytona Beach, Florida. I’m flattered that they’re letting me speak, even though I’m not Hispanic!

I was assigned 3 classes on 1 John 3:16-18, with the assigned title “By This We Know Love.” Since I prefer doing textual exposition, three classes on three verses is not the easiest for me.

I had to turn in subtitles for each of the classes a few weeks ago. I chose these:

  1. Love is written with a cross.
  2. Love is shown with a towel.
  3. Love is pronounced with deeds. (That last one sounds better in Spanish)

Getting into the preparation, I became dissatisfied with the second title. I really wanted to use John 13 in the third lesson, but I had kind of locked myself into using it in the second lesson. I’ll have to remember to spend a little more time in topic development next time before choosing a title.

With each lesson, I chose a summary statement. They are:

  1. “The cross teaches us that love is a choice.”
  2. “The towel teaches us that love is service-oriented.” (Better way to say that in English? Can’t think of something that means the same as “servicial” in Spanish)
  3. “The manger teaches us that love is active.”

The last one could have been “the cross” instead of “the manger.” But I’ll include the whole imagery of the Word becoming flesh, not just the death on the cross, so hopefully it will work.

Any last-minute suggestions? Any illustrations or applications that you think just have to be made here? The lessons are done, but I never finish tweaking. I’d love any input.