>> This is the May 2015 issue containing the June Bible Study Lessons

POET LAUREATE OF THE PULPIT Remembering Gardner Taylor

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‘Truly’ Faithful Ruby Brawner strikes up the Gainesville Prayer Band 4 BIBLE STUDIES for adults Q&A with RACHEL HELD EVANS 36 17 FA TH™

PERSPECTIVES John D. Pierce Executive Editor Identity, opportunities found at [email protected] the apex of Baptist life 7 Julie Steele By John Pierce Chief Operations Officer [email protected] Hide it under a bushel? 14 Jackie B. Riley By Peggy Haymes Managing Editor [email protected] Integration, interrogation of faith vital to Christian critical thinking, Tony W. Cartledge Contributing Editor learning and living 28 [email protected] By J. Randall O’Brien Bruce T. Gourley 38 Learning to listen after moving Online Editor/Contributing Writer [email protected] from pulpit to pew 35 David Cassady A task worth pursuing By Ken Massey Church Resources Editor [email protected] A conversation with Randel Everett about Warnings about Myanmar travel Vickie Frayne elevating religious freedom globally sound too alarmist 40 Art Director By Molly T. Marshall Jannie Lister Customer Service Manager Worship leaders know that not [email protected] IN THE NEWS everything goes as planned 42 Kimberly L. Hovis By Naomi King Walker Marketing Associate Future map reveals major shifts for [email protected] Christians, Muslims, Jews 10 Lex Horton Nurturing Faith Resources Manager Early data suggests ‘Francis effect’ may be real 11 [email protected] PIETY POWER Americans not so defined by ‘God, family, country’ 12 Memoir reveals Walker Knight, Publisher Emeritus controlling influence Jack U. Harwell, Editor Emeritus Anti-Semitism in US spikes after of Jewish funda- nearly decade of decline 12 DIRECTORS EMERITI mentalism Thomas E. Boland Americans split on businesses turning away R. Kirby Godsey 30 Mary Etta Sanders gay marriages 13 Winnie V. Williams Mormon leader: Individuals may back BOARD OF DIRECTORS gay marriage on social media 13 Donald L. Brewer, Gainesville, Ga. (chairman) Gifts to Baptists Today Cathy Turner, Clemson, S.C. (vice chair) Edwin Boland, Johns Creek, Ga. Ronnie Brewer, Bristol, Va. IN MEMORY OF TOM BLACK Janie Brown, Elon, N.C. FEATURE Mary Jane Cardwell, Waycross, Ga. From the Tom and Doris Black Bob Cates, Rome, Ga. Football great Jim Kelly, family sustained by faith 29 family Jack Causey, Statesville, N.C. Anthony D. Clevenger, Pensacola, Fla. Kenny Crump, Ruston, La. IN MEMORY OF CAROLYN Doug Dortch, Birmingham, Ala. James M. Dunn, Winston-Salem, N.C. WEATHERFORD CRUMPLER Jack Glasgow, Zebulon, N.C. Frank Granger, Athens, Ga. From an anonymous donor Cynthia Holmes, St. Louis, Mo. David Hull, Watkinsville, Ga. Becky Matheny, Athens, Ga. Tommy McDearis, Blacksburg, Va. Andrew McGill, Chattanooga, Tenn. William T. Neal, Stone Mountain, Ga. Roger Paynter, Austin, Texas Kathy B. Richardson, Rome, Ga. Charles Schaible, Macon, Ga. Charlotte Cook Smith, Winston-Salem, N.C. Sarah Timmerman, Cairo, Ga. David Turner, Richmond, Va. Clem White, St. Petersburg, Fla. Vickie Willis, Murfreesboro, TN Cynthia Wise, Birmingham, Ala. Donna Wood, Macon, Ga. Cover photo by John Pierce: Story on page 4. READERS SERVICES

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‘WITH THE LORD’S HELP’ the prayer band. “When one drops,” she said, “another Ruby took over leadership in 1983 from picks up.” Blanche Alexander, who had founded the small 82-year-old Ruby Brawner pops out of Now she intentionally schedules the but faithful prayer band in 1950. A native of prayer band to help Christians in the commu- Commerce, Ga., Ruby moved to Gainesville in nity to cross lines of ethnicity and tradition. 1955 and joined the prayer band in 1975. she places phone calls over the next “It doesn’t make any difference what Ruby was surprised when the founder, church I go to — black, white, Mexican — hour or so to some other members of then experiencing failing health, said to her: there’s just one God and we are praising the ““I want you to carry the prayer band on.” Lord,” she confessed. “I promised her before she died that, with And Ruby’s presence is often noticed in a the Lord’s help, I’d do my best,” said Ruby. t 6 a.m. — well before any congrega- service — with her familiar refrain of “Truly!” Initially, the prayer band had met in tion’s “early service” — the prayer band giving affirmation to a well-spoken word from homes on the early morning of the first Sunday gathers at one of the varied and many the pulpit and an inspiring song of praise. A of the month. Then they started gathering churches in this northeast Georgia town touted When asked about her signature version at various African-American congregations as the Poultry Capital of the World. (“Truly!”) of the more familiar “Amen,” she around town. Their purpose is simple, yet important: to said: “I just can’t hold it in.” Ruby said she has missed only two of worship God and to pray for their community — the prayer band services over more than three black, white and Hispanic; Protestant, Catholic GOOD TIMING decades — when she had to be in the hospital. and otherwise; people from all walks of life. A member of Gainesville’s Antioch Baptist The prayer band’s early morning experiences Church, Ruby also attends services once a month at various churches around Gainesville are kept with the rural congregation where she was simple, she said. raised. Sundays are full days of worship for her. “We open with a song, then a prayer and And she feels a need for the spiritual nour- then testimonies,” she added. “Then we leave ishment that comes from intentional times of there and people go to different places.” praying alone and with others. Ruby likes to wrap up “no later than “Prayer is like food to me,” said Ruby. 7:20” since some prayer band members attend 8 a.m. services elsewhere. And Ruby has her WIDER REACH own church commitments to fill — on time. “I don’t like to be late for anything — “I don’t see color,” Ruby said reflectively. So especially church.” several years ago she decided to “venture out” However, the very early monthly worship and see what congregations, of any racial experiences in different churches are always makeup, would welcome the prayer band. encouraging, she said. In 1995 she approached then-pastor John “That’s what motivates me: seeing people Lee Taylor of the stately First Baptist Church and not color.” on Green Street and asked about the prayer band paying a visit. “Pick a Sunday,” she recalled as his quick response. DAILY FAITH First Baptist has been on Ruby’s annual Full Sundays are not enough for Ruby. She is schedule ever since. Sleepy-eyed but welcoming involved in weekday church activities and a friends at the church will host the prayer band Saturday prison ministry. again on the first Sunday of this month. Even in casual times she is attuned to the “I thought since I had one white church, needs of others, said several of her friends. I’d find another,” Ruby recalled. “Then I’ll find Ken Reid Sr. said he needed a medical test another.” that he couldn’t afford. When Ruby learned of And so she did. As pastoral leadership this need, she told him: “Let me see what I can changes, so do some of the churches that host do about that.”

4 The needed medical care soon followed, Pastor Kai Horn said the prayer band was he said gratefully. “the true welcoming committee” when she Such wide and deep care is just the way became pastor of Trinity CME Church. Ruby approaches daily living. “It is a group of lay people, not looking “When I get out of bed every morning I for anything but to pray,” said the grateful get on my knees,” she said, “and ask God to young pastor who has now been appointed to help me to help somebody.” a church in Elberton, Ga. “You know there is someone praying for you.” ATTRACTING OTHERS And she was quick to add: “Miss Ruby is If you bump into Ruby at the store or else- the most respected person in this community.” where, expect an invitation. Prayer band member Nathan Ann Neal “Everywhere I go, I say: ‘Come to the often joins Ruby and others on Saturday after- prayer band.’ I don’t stop asking. It gets a lot of noons at the women’s prison. folks to come out.” “The girls at the jail just love her,” said Deacon G.W. “Charlie” Peeples, who was Ms. Neal. “They call her ‘Miss Truly.’” recruited to the prayer band in the mid-’60s Ms. Neal recalled her own experience of after moving from Atlanta, said he’d “never being in her 20s when her mother died. She felt the need to focus on living more faithfully met anyone so sweet.” He finds the testimonies that are part of and to have a good role model for doing that. the prayer band gatherings to be inspiring. “I wanted to be with a person like Ruby “I think everybody should testify, to let Brawner who was trying to do things the right other people know,” he said. “I have the love of way,” she said. “I needed that in my life.” God in my heart and am not ashamed of it.” Truly. BT

“It doesn’t make any difference what church I go to — black, white, Mexican — there’s just one God and we are praising the Lord.”

INTRODUCING the Nurturing Faith Bible Studies Series

NEW RESOURCES FOR GROUPS SEEKING INSIGHTFUL, APPLICABLE BIBLE STUDIES These first two volumes in the series are made possible through a generous gift from Bob and Pat Barker and the Bob Barker Company of Fuqua-Varina, North Carolina. Other volumes will be forthcoming. Bulk discounts available

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5 quotation

—Bobby Schuller, who leads the smaller version of the California congregation started by his grandfather, responding to the April 2 death of Robert Schuller whose Hour of Power remarks once had a weekly television audience of 20 million (RNS)

—Bob Jones III, former president of the fundamentalist university started by his grandfather, on the younger Jones’ words in 1980 calling for homosexuals to be stoned (RNS) —Harry Emerson Fosdick, from his June 10, 1922 sermon “Shall the Fundamentalists Win?” (First published in Christian Work; republished by Next: —William Vanderbloemen, co-author of Inside Vero) Pastoral Succession That Works, suggesting three things pastors should learn from the late Robert Schuller (RNS) —Erin S. Lane is a millennial, recommitted to church, and program director for clergy and faith leaders at the Center for Courage & Renewal (Washington Post) —Antipas L. Harris, associate professor at Regent University School of Divinity —Charles C. Camosy, author of Beyond the Abortion Wars (Christian Century) —Robert Parham, executive director of the Baptist Center for Ethics (ethicsdaily.com) —Rice University sociologist Elaine Howard Ecklund on research showing nearly half of evangelicals view —Religion News Service columnist Jonathan Merritt —San Francisco Giants relief pitcher Jeremy Affeldt, science and religion as complementary and that 76 on likely evangelical responses to growing public who blogs about “Life, Justice and Major League percent of U.S. scientists identify with a religious support for same-sex marriage Baseball” at jeremyaffeldt.wordpress.com tradition (Rice University)

6 Editorial By John Pierce Identity, opportunities found at the apex of Baptist life

The ever-quotable Yogi Berra is denominational life as well as the larger cultural resource providers based on mutual trust and context. Those of us long invested in Baptist life shared values. have witnessed one major shift after another. Some Baptist churches had their first real One significant shift relates to taste of ecumenical ministry when joining con- denominational connection, identity and gregations of other denominational affiliations implementation — particularly in terms of in building a Habitat for Humanity home in congregational choices. their community. n high school typing classes in the 1970s, There was a time of greater homog- And it felt good! few imagined that four decades later we’d enization when ministers often received Some congregations were excluded from all be using that skill all day, every day. It I and implemented planned emphases and participation in Baptist associational minis- was considered something reserved for those programming from tries by theological watchdogs. As a result, who might be “secretaries,” as they were then denominational head- they found greater opportunities through known. quarters. Everyone partnerships with other congregations and In the 1980s, when personal computers was on the same page, organizations that put the needs of the were gaining in popularity, a veteran educator literally. community ahead of some ever-narrowing assured me: “There’s no need to learn how to Over the past definition of orthodoxy. use those things; computers will be used by decades, however, this And it felt good! just a few but for the benefit of many.” reality has shifted greatly. Many Baptist congregations are learning Uh … right! Some congregations have to live more comfortably at the apex of Baptist More recently, VCRs came on the scene embraced this new real- life — where they should always have been. and prices fell to affordable levels for many. ity more quickly, confidently and even eagerly This shift has impacted how our com- Video stores — with all kinds of rental plans than others. munication ministry is carried out as well. — popped up in every strip mall. Movie the- Now pastoral leadership calls for helping No longer do we “cover meetings” or report aters were doomed, we were told. congregations determine their identities and heavily on who got elected or appointed where. Now the video stores are shuttered and their own courses of mission and ministry Rather, we seek to provide reliable, help- the people are shelling out big dollars to sit using a variety of resources and working coop- ful, practical and inspiring information that together in cozy darkness and munch on eratively through a wider range of voluntary enables congregational leaders to better chart overpriced snacks while watching the latest partnerships. And lay leadership plays a more their courses in the midst of great change. Hollywood release. important role as well. While some may yearn for a simpler time, Yogi was right. It’s mighty hard to make At the heart of this shift is (or should be) the shifting turf on which we live today is filled predictions, especially about the future. the realization and acceptance of something with opportunities for effective ministry. Guessing at “what’s next?” is a big chal- that has long been a distinction of Baptists: the To embrace them fully requires a clear lenge. Congregational leaders often wonder autonomy of the local church. recognition that the congregation (“local about how to prepare for an unpredictable The breakdown of denominational life congregation” is redundant) is at the apex of future — or even how to respond to the new (due to fundamentalist uprisings, acts of exclu- Baptist life — not subservient to any associa- realities that must continually be faced. sion and more overtly politic antics than before tion, fellowship or convention; not waiting Often I talk with church leaders about the — as well as major sociological factors) has for a packaged approach to ministry to be importance in distinguishing between fads — brought this stark reality (and blessed opportu- delivered. that are here today and gone tomorrow — and nity) to every congregation. Congregations have the freedom, respon- trends that make a lasting impact on mission Such autonomy is not a call to isolation sibility and opportunities to organize, to align, and ministry. but to a more intentional approach to clarify- and to chart a course of ministry, attuned to For many of us, it is astonishing to see ing and embracing a congregational identity being well informed and sensing the blowing how much change has occurred over the past and then forging collaborative ministry efforts winds of the Spirit of God — whatever the few decades — within congregational and with a wider range of organizations and future may hold. BT

7

Reblog

Selections from recent blogs at baptiststoday.org Of porcupines and heavy taxes

By Tony W. Cartledge After hooligans from ISIS demolished the Mosul Museum, destroying both plaster copies sraeli authorities have issued a warning to and genuine artifacts, and bulldozed much of porcupines after a 1,400-year-old oil lamp the ancient city of Nineveh, some Iraqi officials Isurfaced at the Horbat Siv ancient ruins, are vowing to protect the cultural heritage of a Roman-Byzantine site near Emek Hefer in Babylon, about 50 miles south of Baghdad, central Israel. from similar attacks. Let us wish them success The oil lamp was unearthed by a por- in that effort. cupine in the course of constructing its A final note from the ancient front: If you underground burrow, according to the think your taxes are heavy, consider a small Jerusalem Post, and found atop a pile of dirt group of Egyptian investors whose tax bill on a by inspectors on the lookout for illegal looting land transfer amounted to 75 talents of silver, of antiquities. Porcupine burrows can be more has been repatriated to Iraq after years of plus a 15-talent penalty for paying in bronze. than 15 yards in length. delays. The recently translated tax receipt, written in The Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA) The looted head’s recovery, accomplished Greek on a pottery shard, is dated to July 22, noted that the persistent digging of porcupines by the U.S. Immigration and Customs 98 BCE, and represents an astounding amount. makes them “excellent archaeologists” while Enforcement branch of Homeland Security, is Ninety talents of silver would have offering a tongue-in-cheek warning that “The a reminder that many more priceless antiqui- amounted to 540,000 bronze drachma, about IAA calls on all porcupines to avoid digging ties are currently being illegally dug up in Syria 30 times the annual wage for an average worker. burrows at archeological sites and warns that and Iraq, then sold by rogues from the self- Paying that amount in bronze would have digging at an archeological site without a proclaimed “Islamic State” (ISIS) as a means of required about 220 pounds of assorted coins. license is a criminal offense.” financing their barbaric enterprise. With April 15 still fresh in our minds, In other news from the world of archaeol- While some antiquities are destroyed in perhaps the thought of not having to haul ogy, a beautifully preserved limestone head of staged-for-video demonstrations that claim to donkey-loads of coins to the tax collector’s office the Assyrian king Sargon II (722-705 BCE) be a fight against idolatry, others are blatantly will leave us feeling some gratitude for the con- that had been chiseled from a winged bull and collected and sold to unscrupulous dealers and venience of electronic filing and payment, even illegally sold by an antiquities dealer in Dubai collectors. if it does leave us feeling financially lighter. BT

Nurturing Faith in children

By John Pierce Faith Bible Studies by Tony Cartledge found inside Baptists Today news journal. eyond our homes, there are many Written by Kelly Belcher of Asheville, caring congregations that gladly and N.C., a gifted chaplain and experienced B thoughtfully assist in the important children’s minister, these lessons/sermons responsibility of helping nurture faith in can be found at baptiststoday.org/children. children. Through our Nurturing Faith Look for more resources in the future publishing venture, Baptists Today is that will help nurture a vibrant and mature developing resources to help with that vital faith in persons of all ages. That’s what task. Nurturing Faith is all about. In fact, we are ready to publish an Our gratitude and support should excellent church-based children’s Bible flow to all of those faithful persons who study curriculum when funding is secured. teach children by word and example. Over Please let us know if you wish to help the years my own daughters have benefited bring this resource to reality. much from such wonderful, dedicated Even now, we are offering weekly teachers and children’s ministers. children’s sermons based on the Lectionary It left me with more time to explain text that is the focus of the Nurturing the nuances of baseball. BT

9 Religion News Service Future map of religions reveals major shifts for Christians, Muslims and Jews

Projections: Muslims will overtake “The question is: ‘How will we understand each other?’” said Cooperman. “Sub-Saharan Christians by the end of this century. Africa is 12 percent of the world population now, and it will be 20 percent by 2050. That’s huge growth for people to get their heads around.” The report, sponsored by the Pew- he numbers of people with no religious Templeton Global Religious Futures project, identity will soar in the United States offers many more head-spinning numbers and a T and Europe, but the unaffiliated will lose religion-by-religion, region-by-region analysis of worldwide market share as Christians maintain data from 198 countries and territories, repre- a steady growth. senting nearly all the world’s population. All these changes are drawn from the Pew “No one has done anything like this before, Research Center’s new projections, released in so we had no idea about the big picture,” said April, that map global faith traditions and how Hackett. Among the major findings: they’re likely to shift by 2050. The report says nothing about the transcen- dent message of any religion. It makes no claims world’s largest religion, with an estimated about believers’ level of devotion or practice. 2.2 billion adherents. Islam came in second, Instead, it’s a story of nitty-gritty statistics: with 1.6 billion adherents, or 23 percent of Which group is having babies? Which ones have the global population.” Four in 10 of all the many young people, and which are slowly gray- world’s Christians will live in sub-Saharan ing out? Whose followers are on the move from Africa by 2050. one nation to another, or switching religions? “Demographics are an underappreciated force that is shifting the contours of faith,” said grow, Muslims, who are younger and have a Conrad Hackett, the Pew demographer who led higher birth rate, will outpace them. By 2050, the six-year study. Hackett analyzed projected “there will be near parity between Muslims changes for Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, (2.8 billion, or 30 percent of the population) Buddhists, folk religions, other minority reli- and Christians (2.9 billion, or 31 percent), gions and the unaffiliated. possibly for the first time in history.” Barring Those contours matter. The Pew Research unforeseen events — war, famine, disease, Center doesn’t delve into political forecasting, political upheaval — Muslim numbers will but readers of the report’s projections from 2010 surpass Christians after 2070. to 2050 might feel a thumb press down on many sore spots and raise questions beyond the scope of Pew’s data: percent to 13 percent. Christians, Muslims and Hindus live in areas with “bulging youth - populations,” high birthrates and falling levels centage of people in Europe who are Muslim ligious tensions flare as India becomes of infant mortality, the report said. Even the climbs to 10.2 percent, up from today’s 5.9 the world’s most populous Muslim nation, global tally for Jews is expected to rise, based percent? supplanting Indonesia? on the high birthrate of Orthodox Jews in “The projected growth rate is only about “The quality of interfaith relations in Israel. Meanwhile, the unaffiliated are “heav- 1 percentage point a decade,” said Hackett. such a country (about to pass China as the ily concentrated in places with low fertility “But it’s a very visible change: More people world’s most populous) will be of global and aging populations, such as Europe, North wearing veils, more behaving in culturally importance,” said Alan Cooperman, Pew’s America, China and Japan,” the report said. distinct ways.” director of religion research. worldwide live in China, the research found. U.S. public square as Muslims outpace Jews and the U.S. relate to deeply religious regions, “If Chinese authorities allow greater free- as the country’s third-largest group, after such as sub-Saharan Africa, divided among dom of religion, the share of unaffiliated Christians and the unaffiliated? Christians and Muslims? in the world population could shrink even

10 more dramatically than the report predicts,” percent) in 2010 to two-thirds (66.4 percent) said Ariela Keysar, associate director of the in 2050. Religious “churn” — people leaving Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society their childhood faith for a different faith or and Culture, who consulted on the project. none at all — is the primary driver of change.

impact in North America and Europe, in projected to climb to 2.1 percent, up from less many countries, changing one’s religion is than 1 percent today. Jews will fall from 1.8 difficult — if not illegal. There’s no data on percent to 1.4 percent. religious switching among China’s 1.3 billion people, with nearly 50 percent of them in the unaffiliated ranks, for example. But in the 70 Christian majority, but that will fall by eight countries where survey data was available, the countries, including France, the United report found that Buddhists and Jews are the Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. By primary losers on the switch-in/switch-out 2050, Muslims will hold the majority in 51 balance sheet, Hackett said. “In the USA, countries, up by two from 2010, including there are famous converts like Richard Gere, Nigeria, which just elected a Muslim presi- but there’s a lot of disaffiliation among those dent, and the Republic of Macedonia. who grew up Buddhist.” Cooperman. “But they tell us about the world “In many ways the value of projects like today and the recent path. Peering into the this is not to say what the world will look future greatly illuminates what is happening than three-quarters of the population (78.3 like in 2050. The world could change,” said today and its consequences.” BT Early data suggests ‘Pope Francis effect’ may be real

“Given recent history, even holding steady Religion News Service is an interesting result,” Gray said. The endurance of Catholicism is also in ope Francis appears more popular than contrast to the affiliation rates for Protestants ever among American Catholics, and he and other Christians, which continue to P hasn’t even visited the U.S. yet. A trip decline sharply, dipping below 50 percent in planned for September could boost his visibil- 2014 for the first time. ity and appeal even further. The numbers on Catholic identity and But will Francis find American Catholics enthusiasm track those found in other pub- filling the pews — or just loving the pope from lic opinion surveys, such as a Pew Research afar? That’s one of the big — and so far unan- Center poll conducted in February 2014. swered — questions about his remarkable papacy. Even so, neither the Pew survey nor the Now, one researcher may have found some GSS data show any bump in Mass attendance, signs, albeit tentative, of an incipient “Francis which is viewed as the surest benchmark of effect.” success for a pope who sees evangelization and Mark Gray of Georgetown University’s outreach as the priority for the church, and his Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate to 56 percent. pontificate. Yet the Pew survey showed that crunched the Catholic numbers from the 2014 “Again, this is not a massive shift by any those who already go to church regularly were General Social Survey, the go-to resource for means but it breaks a trend of consistently the most energized by the new pope. sociologists. The GSS began in 1972 and is declining numbers of Catholics saying their “This suggests that if there was a ‘Francis conducted every two years using face-to-face affiliation is ‘strong’ in the last decade,” Gray effect,’ in the first year of his papacy, it was most interviews with a random sample of adults. wrote in a post on CARA’s blog. pronounced among Catholics who were already Gray noted that when asked to character- Another marker of the strength of highly committed to the practice of their faith,” ize the strength of their religious affiliation, Catholicism, and any religion, is the retention Jessica Martinez of the Pew Research Center 34 percent of Catholics said it was “strong,” rate — that is, the percentage of those raised in told reporters in March. up from 27 percent in 2012, the year before a faith who remain as adults. The upshot: “The best news from the Francis was elected. Gray noted that the retention rate for GSS for the church in 2014 is that some worri- That 7-point rise was a “significant Catholicism has been steadily declining since some trends have halted,” Gray wrote. bounce,” Gray said. the early 1970s, from a high in the mid-80s to But, he continued, “It will take another There was also a decline in the percent- a low of 65 percent in 2012. But the 2014 GSS survey wave or two of consistent results to dis- age saying their affiliation with the Catholic showed that the rate remained steady for the cern a real course ‘correction’ in the data,” he Church was “not very strong,” down 6 points, first time. said. “This survey could be an outlier.” BT

11

by a long shot. The survey also found only 37 Religion News Service percent of self-identified Christians are “prac- ticing,” while 64 percent are non-practicing, ASHINGTON — “God, family said Roxanne Stone, a Barna vice president and country” might make for a and the designer and analyst of the study. W good country music tune, but that’s That may account for the third place finish for not really how most Americans see the stron- “faith” in the overall standing. gest influences on their personal identity. The results were also skewed by age: The real order is family first (62 percent), followed by “being an American” (52 percent). Gen X-ers (61 percent); Baby Boomers “Religious faith” lolls way down in third place (64 percent); Elders (76 percent) (38 percent) — if it’s mentioned at all, accord- ing to a survey released in March by The Barna Gen X-ers (37 percent); Baby Boomers (66 Group. percent); Elders (80 percent) The California-based Christian research company found another 18 percent of those Gen X-ers (34 percent); Baby Boomers surveyed said faith had a little to do with the (45 percent); Elders (46 percent) idea of who they are, and nearly 20 percent Barna surveyed 1,000 U.S. adults online scored it at zero influence. from Feb. 3-11. The margin of error is plus or Christians were the largest self-identified minus 3.1 percentage points. group in the survey and Barna looked at them “Gen-Xers and Millennials have a reputa- in two ways. tion for wanting to be individualists — for “Practicing” Christians — defined in the or say religion is important to them — scored wanting to break away from traditional cul- survey as self-identified Catholics, Protestants faith first, at a rate more than double the tural narratives and to resist being ‘boxed in’ by and Mormons who say they have attended national average. what they perceive as limiting expectations,” church at least once in the last month and/ But they’re not most Christians — not Stone said. BT

Anti-Semitism in U.S. spikes after nearly a decade of decline

It shows 36 assaults, up from 31 in 2013; Religion News Service 363 incidents of vandalism in 2014, compared with 315 in 2013; and 513 incidents of threats ASHINGTON — Anti-Semitic and harassment in 2014, contrasted with 405 incidents in the U.S. spiked 21 in 2013. W percent last year, according to the Though the report does not consider Anti-Defamation League, unsettling many anti-Zionist or anti-Israel expressions (unless American Jews who had thought that hatred of they cross the line into anti-Semitism), ADL Jews and Judaism was on the decline, at least researchers nonetheless correlate the rise in here at home. anti-Semitism to last summer’s 50-day war The ADL has released a spring report between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. that, for nearly the past 10 years, showed fewer During the war, for example, a vandal incidents targeting American Jews. That down- in Malibu, Calif., painted “Jews=Killers” and ward trend contrasted sharply to the rising tide “Jews are Killing Inno cent Chil dren” near the of anti-Semitism in Europe — witnessed in the the Middle East, as reflected in studies of anti- entrance to a Jew ish sum mer camp last July. January killings of four Jews at a kosher super- Semitic attitudes worldwide. Another vandal spray-painted “Free Palestine” market in Paris. “It’s still different here than anywhere else, and “God Bless Gaza” in red on a synagogue in “The United States still continues to be but don’t take anything for granted, and be Lowell, Mass. unique in history” as a safe place for Jews, said concerned,” Foxman said. Those were among the 139 anti-Semitic Abraham Foxman, the ADL’s national director. The ADL counted 912 incidents in 2014, incidents reported in July 2014, more than But this new ADL report casts a shadow up from 751 the previous year. double the 51 reported incidents for the same on the idea that the U.S., which is home to The report includes assaults, vandalism month a year earlier. The ADL also called about 40 percent of the world’s Jews, stands in and harassment targeting Jews, Jewish property 2014 a particularly violent year that included stark contrast to European anti-Semitism and and institutions that were reported to ADL’s 27 the fatal shootings at a Jewish community far higher levels of antipathy against Jews in regional offices and to law enforcement. center in Overland Park, Kan. BT

12 Americans split on businesses turning away gay weddings

Religion News Service

mericans appear divided on whether a wedding-related business should A have the right to turn away a gay customer. But it depends on how the question is asked. A February Associated Press poll found that 57 percent of Americans believe a wedding-related business should have the right to refuse service to a gay couple on religious grounds, as opposed to nearly 4 in 10 Americans (39 percent) who said LDS leader says individually, Mormons that religious exemption is wrong. In addition, 50 percent said that local may back gay marriage on social media magistrates shouldn’t have to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples if it contradicts “There hasn’t been any litmus test or stan- their religious beliefs. Salt Lake Tribune dard imposed that you couldn’t support that if Other polls show less sympathy for you want to support it, if that’s your belief and business owners. A survey on wedding ALT LAKE CITY (RNS) — An LDS you think it’s right,” Christofferson said after a services and gay couples, released last apostle reaffirmed recently that Mormons Jan. 27 news conference. September by the Pew Research Center, Swho support gay marriage are not in dan- Christofferson made the point again in a found that 47 percent of respondents ger of losing their temple privileges or church Trib Talk interview Jan. 29. thought it should be legal for businesses to memberships — even though the Utah-based “We have individual members in the turn away gay brides and grooms on reli- faith opposes the practice. church with a variety of different opinions, gious grounds, compared with 49 percent In a March 13 interview with KUTV in beliefs and positions on these issues and other who said they should be required to accept Salt Lake City, Elder D. Todd Christofferson issues,” Christofferson said. ” … In our view, it them as customers. said that individuals in the 15 million-member doesn’t really become a problem unless some- But Americans register far different Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints one is out attacking the church and its leaders attitudes about service to gay customers would be in trouble only for “supporting orga- — if that’s a deliberate and persistent effort when the question does not mention a nizations that promote opposition or positions and trying to get others to follow them, trying wedding. Then, there is little sympathy for in opposition to the church’s.” to draw others away, trying to pull people, if those who would invoke religion to turn Backing marriage equality on social media you will, out of the church or away from its away gay customers. sites, including on Facebook or Twitter, “is not teachings and doctrines.” A 2014 Public Religion Research an organized effort to attack our effort, or our In the KUTV interview, Christofferson Institute survey found only 16 percent of functioning as a church,” Christofferson said. further acknowledged that LDS leaders have Americans supporting small-business own- The KUTV interviewer asked further if a evolved in their thinking about homosexual- ers who would turn away a gay customer for Latter-day Saint could “hold those beliefs even ity, while maintaining that marriage should be religious reasons, and 8 in 10 said it should though they are different from what you teach between a man and a woman. be legal. at the pulpit?” “This is not a doctrinal evolution or Asking specifically about turning away Yes, the apostle answered. change, as far as the church is concerned,” the gay couples headed to the altar does seem “Our approach in all of this, as (Mormon apostle said. “It’s how things are approached.” to make a difference to Americans, who in founder) Joseph Smith said, is persuasion. You All elements of society, “including our- general come out strongly against anti-gay can’t use the priesthood and the authority of the selves, have gained greater understanding, corporate discrimination, said Dan Cox, church to dictate. You can’t compel, you can’t especially in recent years,” Christofferson said. PRRI’s director of research. coerce. It has to be persuasion, gentleness and Could there be a time when the LDS Americans don’t like the government love unfeigned, as the words in the scripture.” Church would change its position on gay telling people what to do when it comes to Christofferson echoed this sentiment in marriage? religion, Cox said, but they also strongly two January interviews with The Salt Lake The apostle was unequivocal. reject discrimination against gays in the Tribune. Nope, he said. BT marketplace. BT

13 Guest Commentary By Peggy Haymes Hide it under a bushel?

Hide it under a bushel? Some days it seems like it takes all that From the outside, it looked like a perfect we have just to keep standing with one foot childhood. Good family, good health, great in the past and the other searching for a place going to let it shine.” With the second teachers and good friends — even the greatest in an as-yet-unseen future. Not to mention verse they become even more emphatic. cat in the world. that in many churches we are our own worst What people on the outside didn’t see, enemies, treating jumping to conclusions like however, was the man whom I met as a child, an Olympic sport. - who befriended me and then became my But this thing we do as the Body of Christ abuser for many years. is not for nothing. Over and over again he Church members who are also friends talk As congregations, we love to watch them sing. told me how awful I was, about anything and everything. Sharing in a If only we could hear them. how terrible I was, how class or small group or choir practice or mission Colleagues on a counselors’ forum dirty I was. He fed me a trip weaves the fabric of friendship, and there’s recently posted that a new service has sprung steady diet of shame. no need for a credit card in order to be heard. up. You can call a number and, for a certain But every week I kept Long ago they retired as teachers but amount of money, pay someone to listen to showing up at my church, they never retired their love of children, and you. It’s not a therapist on the other end of the where they told me that so every Sunday morning they show up to line or even a life coach. It’s just a kind person God loved me, and where teach classes of wiggly preschoolers. It doesn’t who will be present for you. they treated me like they loved me as well. They matter that the teachers are old enough to be Hide it under a bushel? told me that I was valuable and that my life their grandparents, or maybe it matters in all For the first time in nearly 15 years, I mattered. They told me that I was precious in the best ways. Where else do generations rub didn’t have Sunday morning responsibilities. God’s sight and acted as if it was true. elbows on such a regular basis? I’d left my church staff position and had not As an adult, as I’ve tried to untangle the And then there are people like me. One in yet made a move to another church. Perhaps, I strands of grace that helped me survive, I’ve four adult women (and at least one in six men) thought, I’ll see how these other people live. realized that my experience of this church is one was sexually abused as a child. We’re here, in So I played volleyball on Wednesday of them. Had I been in a church based on fear, your congregations. nights instead of going to a choir practice. I that kept preaching that I was one small step More than likely you have no clue of the had leisurely Sunday mornings with my coffee away from hell, I probably wouldn’t have made pain hidden behind our Sunday best. We are and newspaper. It didn’t take long for it to feel it. I knew too much of fear and hell already. the children who cannot have too many good terribly wrong. Hide it under a bushel? adults in our lives — because our lives have One day I looked around and realized that Sometimes we forget how important been touched by one very bad adult (or more). the only people in my life were people roughly Christian community can be. A lot of small We are the adults who desperately need to my own age. I wasn’t rubbing elbows with things go into keeping an institution up and hear over and over again about the blessing of elders. I wasn’t learning from children. I wasn’t running, and too many details can overwhelm God and the grace of our Lord because we’ve enjoying teenagers. It felt boring and small. us and distract us. Then there are the big things. received enough curse for six lifetimes. We are children, and we are wounded children in adult Fellowship of American Baptist Musicians (FABM) bodies. You thought you were just giving out but- Annual Conference for Church Musicians ter cookies and apple juice in Sunday school. Who knew you were saving lives as well? What we have to offer as communities of faith matters, more than we know. Hide it under a bushel? Conferees of all ages are able to work with nationally and inter- Dear God, I hope the answer is no. BT nationally renowned clinicians in ensemble and workshop settings. Workshops are designed to further educate and train those involved —Peggy Haymes is a minister, writer and coun- selor in Winston-Salem, N.C. Her latest book is I Don’t Remember Signing Up for This Class: visit fabm.com A Life of Darkness, Light and Surprising Grace.

14 Good reading from Faith BOOKS

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The Bible Lessons that anchor the Nurturing Faith Bible Studies are written by Tony Cartledge in a scholarly, yet applicable, style from the wide range of Christian scriptures. A graduate of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (M.Div) and Duke University (Ph.D.), and with years of experience as a pastor, writer, ™ and professor at Campbell University, he provides deep insight for Christian living without “dumbing down” the BIBLE STUDIES richness of the biblical texts for honest learners.

Teaching resources at nurturingfaith.net

June lessons in this issue HOW TO USE THESE BIBLE STUDIES Spritual Matters,

1. Order a copy of Baptists Today news journal Old Testament Style for EACH MEMBER of the class. The Bible Genesis 3:1-19 Lessons are found only here. 2. Teachers can go to nurturingfaith.net to access all The Inevitable Apple of the free resources needed for presentation. Simply June 7, 2015 click on “Adult” or “Youth.” Ezekiel 17:1-24 Teaching the Lessons Cedar Mountain High After reading The Bible Lessons by Tony Cartledge June 14, 2015 starting on page 18, teachers can access helpful teaching resources (at no charge) at Psalm 107:1-42 nurturingfaith.net. These include: Gratitude Squared * Tony’s video overviews June 21, 2015 * Adult teaching plans by Rick Jordan * Youth teaching plans by Jeremy Colliver Lamentations 3:1-33 * Tony’s “Digging Deeper” notes and Goodness and Grief ”The Hardest Question” June 28, 2015 * Links to commentaries, multimedia resources and more How to Order The Bible Lessons in Baptists Today are copyrighted and not to be photocopied.

* Orders may be placed at baptiststoday.org or Adult teaching plans by Rick Jordan of the 1-877-752-5658. Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina are available at nurturingfaith.net * The price is just $18 each for groups of 25 or more — for a full year — with no additional costs. Thanks, sponsors! * All online teaching resources are available at no These Bible studies for adults and youth are sponsored through generous charge and may be printed and used by teachers of gifts from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (Bo Prosser, Coordinator of the Nurturing Faith Bible Studies. Congregational Life) and from the Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation. Thank you!

© Nurturing Faith Bible Studies are copyrighted by Baptists Today. DO NOT PHOTOCOPY. Order at: baptiststoday.org | 17 Genesis 3:1-19

with Tony W. Cartledge

June 7, 2015 Temptation

The Inevitable Apple

ll good things must come to “ an end,” we sometimes say – A but so quickly? The book of Genesis begins with two starkly differ- ent but equally inspiring creation stories (Gen. 1:1-2:4a and 2:4b-25), both of which describe God’s creation of the earth and of humankind as being good in every way. One might wish for a recounting of many happy days before life went awry, Genesis 3:15 – but the narrator judged that readers “I will put enmity between you and the should know the truth: Sin and rebel- woman, and between your offspring and lion have been around for as long as hers; he will strike your head, and you there have been people. Humans may will strike his heel.” be the crown of God’s creation, but they constitute a thorny crown. of Genesis 2, a charming account of the wild creatures “that the LORD We often call Genesis 3 “the story creation with special attention paid to the God had made” (3:1). The serpent of the fall,” but that’s a later judgment. creation of a man and a woman whose is not described as evil, but as crafty The word “fall” does not appear in the names are symbolic of humankind. The and mysterious. [See “The Hardest story, nor does “sin.” The notion of a Hebrew word adam is a generic term Question” online for more.] “fall” from original perfection is more meaning “man” or “humankind,” and Tradition leads us to think of the at home in Greek philosophy than the the word is used with the direct article serpent as a tempter who deceives the Hebrew Bible. woman in hopes of leading her astray. It may seem surprising that, despite time adam appears as a name. The name In the story, however, the serpent the prominence of this story in Chris- we render as “Eve” is havah, which did not lie as much as ask nuanced tian teaching, the remainder of the Old means “life” or “living one,” but she questions that prompted Eve to have Testament never refers to it. A text in is not given the name until Gen. 3:20. thoughts of her own, and those thoughts Ezek. 28:11-19 taunts the king of Tyre Prior to that, she is called “the woman” led her to mistrust God’s gracious care. by suggesting that he was thrown out of (ha-isshah). In other words, the serpent’s words Eden, but that’s clearly a major variant God continues to be present in awakened the woman’s conscious- or a different story. The prophets often the story. As in the previous chapter, ness to the point of questioning God’s criticized Israel’s worship of other gods the narrator describes God in anthro- instructions. or failure to keep the law, but they never pomorphic terms: “the LORD God” As she considered the options, the mention Adam and Eve or the serpent’s (Yahweh Elohim) appears in the form woman realized that God was holding temptation. of a human, walking in the garden and something back from her and the man talking to the man and woman. by forbidding them to eat from the “tree An intriguing question The fourth character is a talking of the knowledge of good and evil.” (vv. 1-6) serpent. Despite our common notions The story is a narrative continuation of the serpent as being sinister, evil, more. Would she really die if she ate of the fruit? Could she really become like Additional background information does not portray it that way. Indeed, God, as the serpent implied? (vv. 4-5) online where you see the “Digging the serpent is not only a part of God’s A literal reader might wonder how Deeper” icon good creation, but the cleverest of all the woman could even understand

18 | © Nurturing Faith Bible Studies are copyrighted by Baptists Today. DO NOT PHOTOCOPY. Order at: baptiststoday.org Resources to teach adult and youth classes the issue, since she had not yet been tions for various aspects of life as exposed to death. This does not concern are available at experienced in the ancient world. the narrator, whose main point is that nurturingfaith.net Why does a snake have no legs? the woman now questioned whether the Because God cursed it, saying “upon potential gain of eating from the “tree your belly you shall go, and dust you of the knowledge of good and evil” is nakedness has clear sexual overtones, but shall eat all the days of your life” (v. 14). worth the risk. Why are humans so inclined to fear More than the ability to distinguish until after they were expelled from the snakes and desire to kill them? Because right and wrong is at stake. Biblical garden, when “the man knew his wife God said “I will put enmity between writers often employed what scholars Eve, and she conceived” (4:1). you and the woman, and between your call a “merism,” a literary device that The man and woman were still offspring and hers; he will strike your names two opposite poles but includes trying to hide when they heard Yahweh head, and you will strike his heel” everything between. Thus, “the knowl- walking in the garden that evening, (v. 15). edge of good and evil” could imply far asking “Where are you?” (vv. 8-9). Why is it that women must work so more than telling right from wrong. They knew they had done wrong, but hard and also suffer so much in giving As the story is told, the woman neither party was willing to accept full birth? For the Hebrews, it was because would have known no more of evil than responsibility. When God confronted God said “I will greatly increase your of death, for it had not yet entered the them and asked for an explanation, the pangs in childbearing, in pain you shall world – but she wanted to know more. man blamed both the woman and God: bring forth children” (v. 16a). She wanted to know what God knew. “The woman whom you gave to be with Why then would women allow Would we have been any less me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and themselves to get pregnant again and curious? I ate” (v. 12). be dominated by men? Because God As she thought about it, the text The woman also sought to pass the said “yet your desire shall be for your says the woman saw that the tree was buck: “The serpent tricked me, and I husband, and he shall rule over you” “good for food, a delight to the eyes, ate” (v. 13b). Only the serpent had no (v. 16b). God had created humans to and to be desired for making one wise.” one to blame, or as it is sometimes said, live in joyful unity, but that ideal had Everything about the mysterious fruit didn’t have a leg to stand on. been corrupted. Men came to dominate was appealing, so she chose to take This story is testimony that humans women in society, and though it was the risk and eat. Adam appears to have have sinned from the beginning and unfair and painful for them, women put given the matter little thought. He is have always tried to hide their sin or up with it. described as having been with her, deny responsibility for it. Even Paul’s But there were other consequences. presumably for the entire conversation. later implication that Adam and Eve Food would no longer be easy to come When she offered the fruit to him, the were responsible for human sin sounds by, but the man would have to toil in text says only: “he ate.” like a further attempt to shift the blame hard soil while battling weeds and The woman, at least, gave it some for our failures to someone else. thorns to raise crops from the earth thought. Does this sound familiar? Haven’t we (vv. 17-18). sought to deny our sins, blame them on Moreover, humans would not live in A surprising answer others, or offer countless rationalizations? the sacred garden forever, as the writer (vv. 7-13) Don’t we also know what it is like to feel believed God intended. The decision shame and separation when confronted by to follow their way over God’s way gain new knowledge, but not what they our bad choices and actions? brought death into the world: “By the expected. They learned the taste of evil, The story is not all bad news, sweat of your face you shall eat bread and knew instinctively that their life in however. God did not leave the man and until you return to the ground, for out of the garden was threatened. Guilt and the woman to hide forever, but pursued it you were taken; you are dust, and to shame quickly arose, experienced as a them with concern and gave them an dust you shall return” (v. 19). perception that their nakedness was no opportunity to repent: “Where are you?” Things looked bad, but the narra- longer acceptable. Garments made from tor did not believe God had given up leaves might have covered their genitals, A painful judgment on humans. Acting with compassion (vv. 14-19) but could not hide their actions (v. 7). in light of their shame, Yahweh made Some scholars see this account as a The story reminds us that humans garments of skin for them (v. 21), “coming of age” story in which the man have sinned from the start – and that presumably from a living animal. It’s and woman lose their innocence, clothe there have always been consequences, natural to assume this means that living themselves, and discover what it means for judgment quickly followed. God’s blood was shed in response to human to be really human. The concern about various judgments provided explana- sin. It would not be the last time. BT

LESSON FOR JUNE 7, 2015 | 19 Ezekiel 17:1-24

with Tony W. Cartledge

June 14, 2015 Cedar Mountain High

ave you ever learned from stories? Humans have long H employed imaginary tales involving plants or animals in order to convey truths or morals: we call these “fables.” The literature of ancient Mesopotamia includes examples such Ezekiel 17:24 – as “The Tamarisk and the Palm” and “All the trees of the fi eld shall know “The Ox and the Horse,” in which that I am the LORD. two protagonists debate which one is I bring low the high tree, superior. Characters such as eagles and I make high the low tree; foxes were also popular. I dry up the green tree We’re more familiar with a collec- and make the dry tree fl ourish. tion of stories known as “Aesop’s I the LORD have spoken; Fables,” named for a Greek slave who I will accomplish it.” told nature stories for moral effect. Aesop reportedly lived during the Judah in 597 BCE. Nebuchadnez- any chance of another mutiny, he sent sixth century BCE, and is credited zar took king Jehoiachin captive, along his army to destroy Jerusalem, burning with stories such as “The Tortoise and with most of the other royal, wealthy, the city and leaving it a wasteland. the Hare” and “The Town Mouse and The Babylonians forced the rebel king the Country Mouse.” Several ancient marched into Babylon, beginning the Zedekiah to watch as his sons were writers mentioned Aesop, but he did not period we commonly call “the exile.” executed, then blinded him and took leave any writings of his own, so there’s Jehoiachin, perhaps in the company him into exile along with any remain- no way of knowing which stories of other royal family members, was held ing Hebrews who might be capable of actually go back to him. captive in the capital city of Babylon, but supporting further unrest. He died in The Bible also employs stories most of the deportees, including Ezekiel, captivity. about animals or plants to convey larger were settled in an area called Tel Abib, Ezekiel was aware of these events, truths, and today’s text offers a prime near the city of Nippur. and incorporated them into a prophetic example. We may feel far removed Knowing the value of a functional from the religious, cultural, and political city to administer his new vassal state, told him to declare “a riddle and an setting that inspired Ezekiel’s story, but Nebuchadnezzar left Jerusalem intact allegory” (NRSV) or “a riddle and a we can still learn from it. and appointed Zedekiah, Jehoiachin’s parable” (NET, HCSB, KJV), he said uncle, to rule as a client king. In that (vv. 1-2). Two eagles and a vine role, Zedekiah was sworn by oath to (vv. 1-10) deliver taxes and tribute to the Baby- beautiful eagle, the king of birds, with The story will make little sense without lonians on a regular basis. huge wings and richly colored feathers. its context, so here’s a brief historical As time passed, Zedekiah chafed review: The prophet Ezekiel had been under the Babylonian yoke and hosted forests of cedar, and broke a shoot from an active priest in the Jerusalem temple a meeting of other vassal kings to plot the top of a tall tree. He then carried it to before Nebuchadnezzar conquered a rebellion, believing that the Egyptian “a land of trade” and planted it in a “city pharaoh Psammeticus II would help of merchants” (vv. 3-4). Additional background information them defeat the Babylonians. Cedars of Lebanon, expensive and online where you see the “Digging Nebuchadnezzar easily crushed the typically reserved for use in palaces Deeper” icon attempted insurrection. To diminish or monumental buildings, also carried

20 | © Nurturing Faith Bible Studies are copyrighted by Baptists Today. DO NOT PHOTOCOPY. Order at: baptiststoday.org Resources to teach adult and youth classes royal connotations. As the transplanted root and grow into a majestic or “noble” cedar grew in its new home, the eagle are available at tree. That tree would become the planted a native seed in its fertile and nurturingfaith.net most powerful on earth, giving shelter abundantly watered homeland, intend- to all and signaling that Yahweh alone ing for it to produce a healthy but has the power to determine the course low-growing vine. The vine grew as of nations (symbolized by the various intended, with its branches reaching Egypt’s pharaoh – the second but less trees) and of the world (v. 24). toward the great eagle (vv. 5-6). What might such a text say to In time, another great eagle gaining military aid for a revolt against modern readers? The initial parable appeared, though less impressive than Babylon. Because he had sworn by could remind us to keep our promises, Yahweh, the violation of his oath was especially those we have made to God. hoping for better prospects, twisted its an offense against God as well as When we trust Christ as savior, follow roots and branches toward the second Nebuchadnezzer. Neither could allow him in baptism, and enter the commu- eagle, which also promised good soil the rebellion to go unchecked, and the nity of faith, we are making a covenant and abundant waters (vv. 7-8). end result was the destruction of Jerusa- pledge that calls for faithful expression Speaking through the prophet, God lem and Zedekiah’s own miserable of love for God and for others. declared that the vine would not in demise, as described above (vv. 16-21). The latter parable, which looks to fact prosper with the second eagle, but The overriding emphasis of the the day when God will take a branch would wither and grow so weak that it story is on the importance of keeping from the line of David and plant a new could easily be pulled up (vv. 9-10). covenants. God and Israel had entered a tree to rule over all others, recalls other Has the analogy become obvious binding covenant at Sinai, a covenant in prophesies that speak of a future hope yet? which God promised to bless the people for God’s people. Isaiah spoke of a shoot so long as they remained faithful. Persis- that would come from the stump of Jesse Two kings and an oath tent violations of the covenant over the (Isa. 11:11) and Jeremiah predicted that (vv. 11-21) next several hundred years resulted in the God would “cause a righteous branch The prophet offered an interpretation Babylonian exile. Zedekiah’s breaking to spring up for David,” one who would of the parable, if not the riddle. The of his treaty oaths was yet another illus- “execute justice and righteousness in the tration of the Hebrews’ inability to keep land” (Jer. 33:15, see also 23:5). Babylon (Nebuchadnezzar), who broke their promises. Christians from New Testament off Judah’s king, the topmost shoot of the times onward have interpreted these as royal cedar, and transplanted him and his A cedar and a promise prophesies of Christ, a descendant of (vv. 22-24) David who would become the savior Having taken Judah’s king (Jehoi- Despite Zedekiah’s failure, God had of all and ultimately, the ruler of all. achin) to Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar not given up on Israel. The exile would The world-ruling eschatological dimen- chose another offspring from the royal not be forever, for God still had a good sion of such prophesies remains in the house and planted him in Jerusalem as a future in store. Ezekiel speaks to this in future, but the lordship of Christ in the vassal king who was expected to thrive the closing verses of the chapter, where lives of his subjects is a present reality. but remain loyal to Babylon, paying he returns to the imagery of Israel as a We note that Ezekiel characterized tribute without growing tall and proud royal cedar. his oracle as “a riddle and a parable.” (vv. 13-15). In days to come, another shoot The meaning of the parable is self- The new king, Zedekiah, was would be transplanted. No eagle repre- evident, but what is the riddle? On required to swear an oath, enter- senting an earthly king would be needed, the one hand, we could consider it a ing a binding covenant of loyalty to for Yahweh declared “I myself will take puzzlement that the Israelites so persis- Nebuchadnezzar. It was typical for the a sprig from the lofty top of a cedar; I tently proved unfaithful, despite their Babylonian kings to require vassals to will set it out” (v. 22a). God would plant covenant with a God who had both the swear by their own gods as well as the the tender shoot “on a high and lofty power to punish and the compassion Babylonian gods. In typical fashion, mountain, on the mountain height of to forgive. On the other hand, the real Zedekiah would have called on the Israel,” with the intention that it “may riddle might be why God would remain name of Yahweh to punish him if he produce boughs and bear fruit, and faithful and caring toward people did not uphold his oath of fealty to become a noble cedar” (vv. 22b-23a). (including us) who seem incapable of Nebuchadnezzar. While Zion is not named, it seems keeping their promises to love and obey. Zedekiah remained loyal for the clear that a renewed Jerusalem is where That’s a riddle we may never solve, better part of 10 years, but ultimately the new shoot – a reference to a scion but for which we may be eternally broke his oath by turning toward from the house of David – would take grateful. BT

LESSON FOR JUNE 14, 2015 | 21 Psalm 107:1-42

with Tony W. Cartledge

June 21, 2015 Psalm 107:1 – Gratitude Squared “O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for ave you ever found yourself in his steadfast love endures forever.” H situation that you felt there was no recourse but to pray for divine aid? Have you ever felt so burdened by guilt that you knew there was no way forward without praying for forgiveness? Most believers have been there. Once you emerged from the troubled times and regained a level footing, did you express appreciation to God for helping you through the traumatic time? Have you ever thanked God publicly? The psalmist understood the impor- tance of recognizing the ways in which God has provided forgiveness, encour- for the thousandth generation, forgiv- from their proclivity to worship other agement, or deliverance in our lives ing iniquity and transgression and sin.” – and the importance of thanking God Echoes or quotations of that divine over love for neighbor. In many cases, for it. description appear frequently in the Old the people believed that God had sent Testament, including such diverse texts other nations to punish them before Let the redeemed say so (vv. 1-3) as Neh. 9:17; Jon. 4:2; Joel 2:13; Ps. delivering them from their power. 86:5, 15, 103:8-14, and 145:8. The prime example of that was the Today’s text begins with a familiar The people of Israel believed many exile. The prophets and authors of the appeal: “O give thanks to the LORD, things about God, with whom they Old Testament narrative believed that for he is good; for his steadfast love had been called to live in a covenant centuries of Israel’s rebellious behavior endures forever” (v. 1). The call to relationship, and whom they knew prompted God to send the people into thanksgiving rings a bell because we by the personal name Yahweh. When captivity as a disciplinary and educa- thinking of Yahweh’s various attributes, tional measure. ones in 1 Chron. 16:34, 41; 2 Chron. divine goodness and steadfast, endur- The Assyrians devastated the north- 5:13, 7:3, 6, 20:21; Jer. 33:11, as well ing love were preeminent. Such love ern kingdom of Israel in 722 BCE, as in Pss. 106:1, 118:1, and repeated did not preclude the necessity of divine scattering its inhabitants across the throughout Psalm 136. discipline, but it also prompted God to empire. The Babylonians later conquered This brief credo in praise of divine remain faithful to the Hebrews even the southern kingdom of Judah, begin- love and faithfulness is grounded in when they were not faithful in return. ning a period of exile that would see God’s self-revelation to Moses from The history of God and Israel was waves of Hebrews sent to Babylon in Exod. 34:6-7: “The LORD, the LORD, bound up in stories of deliverance: 597, 587, and in years following. God’s a God merciful and gracious, slow to God had saved Israel from captivity in steadfast love endured, however. The anger, and abounding in steadfast love Egypt, from starvation in the wilder- Persian king Cyrus – whom Isaiah and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love ness, from defeat in battles, from referred to as God’s anointed (Isa. 45:1) various oppressors in the land, and from – defeated the Babylonians and allowed Additional background information the time of exile in Babylon. the exiles to return, giving the Hebrews online where you see the “Digging What God could not do was deliver another chance to leave their captivity Deeper” icon the people of Israel from themselves, and live once again in Israel.

22 | © Nurturing Faith Bible Studies are copyrighted by Baptists Today. DO NOT PHOTOCOPY. Order at: baptiststoday.org Resources to teach adult and youth classes Psalm 107 appears to celebrate have experienced, but that would have that return, as well as the presence are available at been the subject of popular stories, of pilgrims from all over, for vv. 2-3 nurturingfaith.net such as the harrowing account of Jonah celebrate how God had redeemed the being lost in a stormy sea stirred up by Hebrews and gathered them in from Yahweh. Seafaring merchants would north, south, east, and west. Such deliv- have told tales of surviving storms that erance called for public praise: “Let the onment or exile itself. While individuals they also credited to divine activity redeemed of the LORD say so!” might have experienced the misery (vv. 23-26). Knowing there was nothing of life in chains for ordinary crimes, left to do but pray, they sought God’s Let the redeemed say why leading families of the entire nation help and found deliverance, for “he (vv. 4-32) had suffered the dark gloom of life in made the storm be still, and the waves Generic praise is one thing, but thanks- exile. In the spirit of the prophets, the of the sea were hushed” (vv. 27-30). No psalmist attributed their plight to having less than others whom God had saved, benevolence can be more meaningful, “rebelled against the words of God, they were urged to offer public praise and spurned the counsel of the Most for God’s steadfast love and wonderful body of the psalm. It falls into four High” (vv. 10-11). With no one else to works (vv. 31-32). obvious sections (vv. 4-9, 10-16, 17-22, help, they prayed for deliverance, and 23-32), each an image of potential trials Yahweh “broke their bonds asunder,” Let the redeemed not forget from which people could be deliv- saving them from their distress (vv. 33-42) ered. For each situation, the psalmist (vv. 13-14). Such deliverance calls for The last section of the psalm contains describes a crisis that led to a prayer praise to Yahweh “for his steadfast love, elements of wisdom teaching, and was for deliverance, an account of God’s for his wonderful works to humankind” probably added as a way of summing up redeeming acts, and a concluding call to (vv. 15-16). the lessons taught through the various thank God for what has been done. Sickness is the subject of the third examples. It is a reminder that God has picture, which describes a group of power over land as well as sea. Yahweh who are lost in the wilderness, perhaps people who have suffered illness that can turn rivers into a desert if the people a caravan of merchants who have run they brought upon themselves “through follow sinful ways, but can also trans- out of food and water, not knowing their sinful ways” (vv. 17-18). The form a parched wilderness into fertile NRSV obscures the harshness of the and well-watered land for those who (vv. 4-5). When they cried out to description in v. 17, which describes turn their lives toward God (vv. 33-38). Yahweh, God delivered them from their such people as fools for behaving so Whatever troubling situation God’s distress and led them safely to a town unwisely: “They acted like fools in their people face – whether oppression, (vv. 6-7). Echoing the initial call for the rebellious ways, and suffered because trouble, or sorrow (v. 39) – God has the “redeemed of the LORD” to declare it of their sins” (NET). But even foolish ability to overthrow repressive rulers openly, the psalmist calls such travelers people can pray to God for deliverance, and redeem the downtrodden from their to give public thanks for God’s stead- and these found healing in God’s mercy distress (vv. 40-41). Those who are wise fast love that replaced their need with (vv. 19-20). No less than any other, they will take note of such truths, the psalm- goodness (vv. 8-9). ist says, and should learn from them as This picture calls to mind Israel’s in praise of God’s steadfast love, “and they “consider the steadfast love of the wandering in the wilderness after tell of his deeds with songs of joy” LORD” (vv. 42-43). leaving Egypt, when God provided food (vv. 21-22). What kinds of trouble have been and water in the desert before ultimately most common in your life? We may leading them to the land of promise. It who habitually poison their bodies by not have been captive in Egypt or may also recall the long and dangerous smoking cigarettes, sicken themselves Babylon, but we may have felt exiled trek required for the exiles who chose through overeating, and weaken their or excluded, put down or unappreciated to leave Babylon and return to their systems by avoiding exercise, these by others. We may have experienced homeland. The term translated “inhab- verses are sobering. Lung diseases, sickness that we brought on ourselves, ited town” in vv. 4 and 7 carries the cardiovascular ailments, and Type II or found trouble for which we have no literal sense of “a city (for) dwelling.” diabetes are leading causes of death that one else to blame. Thus, NET has “they found no city shorten many lives – but are largely And yet … God’s steadfast love in which to live.” Yahweh, however, preventable. endures forever, the psalmist says. We led them to the best city they could can trust God to hear our prayers, and imagine: to Jerusalem. deliverance describes a perilous journey give glad testimony for God’s wonderful The second image is that of impris- by sea, something few Israelites would deeds. They are wonderful, indeed. BT

LESSON FOR JUNE 21, 2015 | 23 Lamentations 3:1-33

with Tony W. Cartledge

June 28, 2015 Goodness and Grief

f you’ve ever listened to much tradi- tional American folk music or have I seen the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou?, you’ll remember the mourn- ful song that begins “I am a man of constant sorrow, I’ve seen trouble all my days.” Have you ever felt that such a sad ballad could be your theme song? Lamentations 3:22-23 – The man we meet in Lamen- “The steadfast love of the LORD tations 3 could compete with Job as the never ceases, his mercies never original “man of constant sorrows.” come to an end; they are new Indeed, that is how he introduces every morning; great is your himself: “I am the man who has experi- faithfulness.” We’ve known sorrows, too. Can we learn from his glum tale? An old tradition ascribes the book language more commonly found in the to Jeremiah, the so-called “Weeping psalms of lament, the man describes how When all is lost Prophet.” There is little evidence to one disaster after another has befallen (vv. 1-20) back this up, however, and several him – all of which he believes are due reasons to question it. While the book’s to God’s anger. Verses 1-9, as noted by The book of Lamentations, as one might Delbert Hillers, are like Psalm 23 in guess from the title, is the saddest book about why the people had to suffer so reverse: God is like a shepherd who leads the man astray, who pounds him with his breaking poetry mourn the destruction such questioning. He was quite certain rod, who locks him up in darkness and of Jerusalem, search for meaning in the that Jerusalem’s fate was well deserved, who blocks his every move. face of loss, and ponder the possibility and due to centuries of sin. If that were not bad enough, he of hope. We can date the book with some portrays God as a wild bear or lion who tions are written as acrostics: each verse has torn him to pieces (vv. 10-11), as an shortly after Nebuchadnezzar’s troops begins with a corresponding letter of archer who has shot him full of arrows razed and burned the city in 587. It is the Hebrew alphabet. Chapter 3 takes (vv. 12-13), as one who has made him a one of the few sources of insight we the acrostic a step further: it consists have to what life was like for the poor of 22 three-line stanzas, with all three ness (vv. 14-15). Jews who remained in Judah while their lines in each stanza beginning with the The sad result of such humiliation same letter. Each line was numbered as is that he has been left cowering in the were carried into exile. Some scholars a verse, giving it 66 verses. ashes of the city, chewing rocks (v. 16). believe all or parts of Lamentations may “My soul is bereft of peace,” he says. have been read in an annual fast day tions over the fate of “Daughter Zion,” “I have forgotten what happiness is” amid the ruins of Jerusalem, a painful (v. 17). Even worse than the loss of way of remembering what had been lost woman. The third chapter begins happiness, v. 18 suggests that he had – and why. with a lament by the “man of constant lost all hope of deliverance, leaving him sorrows,” an anonymous person whose with nothing but bitter and depressing Additional background information thoughts (vv. 19-20). online where you see the “Digging represent the suffering of the city. Have you ever felt like “the man of Deeper” icon constant sorrow”? Has it ever seemed

24 | © Nurturing Faith Bible Studies are copyrighted by Baptists Today. DO NOT PHOTOCOPY. Order at: baptiststoday.org Resources to teach adult and youth classes that the world had turned completely concludes, “It is good that one should against you and that God not only failed are available at wait quietly for the salvation of the to protect you, but also was the driving nurturingfaith.net LORD” (v. 26). force behind the trouble? Trials can have educational value Does it feel that way now? even for young people, the poet says, “The Lord is my portion,” he that they learn “to bear the yoke” – When hope is found declared. “Therefore I will hope in apparently the yoke of suffering – while (vv. 21-24) him” (v. 24). The word for “portion” they are young (v. 27). or “share” recalls traditions about the Given the morbid resignation found in The poet stresses humility in the division of the land among the tribes next three verses, urging sufferers to of Israel. The priestly tribe of Levi comes as a surprise. In the midst of his was not given a section of the land manifold miseries, the poet remembers from prostrating oneself before God to because, God told Aaron, “I am your the central credo of Israel’s belief about the point of eating dust, from offering portion.” Because of their service to one’s cheek to persecutors who would God, the Levites would live in cities “The steadfast love of the LORD never slap it (vv. 28-30). scattered throughout the land, and they ceases, his mercies never come to an Like the prophets and the authors would receive a share of tithes for their end” (v. 22). of Israel’s historical narrative, the support, but their ultimate “portion” The steadfast belief in God’s stead- man of constant sorrows believed that was in their special relationship with fast love had its roots in Yahweh’s God could and should discipline the God. self-description to Moses as being Hebrews when they deserved it, but The poet of Lamentations 3 had run “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, he was convinced that God would not out of hope when considering his disas- and abounding in steadfast love and reject them forever (v. 31). Any grief trous life alone, but he found new hope faithfulness, keeping steadfast love God caused would be balanced by when he considered that God had not for the thousandth generation, forgiv- compassion and steadfast love that does forsaken him – that even in administer- ing iniquity and transgression and sin” not give up on people (v. 32). ing discipline or allowing misfortune to (Exod. 34:6-7). That promise came The poet had no doubt that Jerusa- occur, God’s steadfast love and mercy in the wake of Israel’s having turned lem’s destruction, Israel’s exile, and his yet endured. to worship a golden calf. Despite the own sufferings were the direct conse- How we feel about life – and God people’s persistent idolatry, immoral- quences of divine discipline, but he – often has to do with our perspective. ity, and oppressive behaviors, God was did not believe for a minute that God While we are less likely than the poet willing to forgive and start anew (Neh. enjoyed it: “for he does not willingly to attribute every misfortune to God’s 9:17; Joel 2:13; Ps. 86:5, 15, 103:8-14, punishment for sin, we may harbor and 145:8). The prophet Jonah believed Prior to a spanking, many parents have unrealistic expectations of divine it so strongly that he cited the text to cited the old adage: “This is going protection, and grow angry with God express his anger that God would show to hurt me more than it will you,” a when tragedy strikes. mercy even to the Ninevites (Jon. 4:2). thought not unlike what the writer is Despite his own sorrows, the poet saying here. He believes there is a time helpful to lose our over-expectant hopes of Lamentations 3 clung to the belief when God must punish, but he under- of supernatural safekeeping and learn that God’s steadfast love and mercy stands that God suffers along with the to appreciate the present care of a God had not come to an end, but were “new people. who goes with us into the dark valleys every morning.” In this belief he could A more literal translation of v. 33 of life. declare “Great is your faithfulness,” a phrase celebrated in the memorable the sons of men from his heart.” Our When grief is good hymn by Thomas Chisolm, “Great Is modern idiom would be “his heart is (vv. 25-33) Thy Faithfulness.” not in it.” Punishment brings God no How could the man of sorrows come Having found a new way to hope in pleasure, but has the purpose of turning to such a change of attitude? Perhaps it human hearts toward repentance and a is because he did lose hope – in his old consider ways in which misery and return to right living (vv. 40-42). Divine way of hoping. If all of his hopes were sorrow could be seen as avenues toward discipline may be necessary, but God’s centered in God’s coming to his rescue, compassion never ceases, God’s stead- he was bound to be disappointed. By the virtue of patience, expressing faith fast love never falters. shifting his hope from deliverance to the that “the LORD is good to those who When one of the worship hymns is God who stands behind it, he found a wait for him, to the soul that seeks “Great Is Thy Faithfulness,” can you new way of hoping. him” (v. 25). Instead of complaining, he BT

LESSON FOR JUNE 28, 2015 | 25 In the Know Shine Classifieds Shine: Living in God’s Light Senior Pastor Ed Beddingfield is pastor of Memorial shinecurriculum.com. First Baptist Church, Roswell, Ga. Baptist Church in Buies Creek, N.C., coming from First Baptist Church of Senior Minister: Fayetteville, N.C. James A. Christison Jr. died April 5 in Tampa, Fla., at age 87. His leadership among American Baptists included service as executive secretary of American Baptist Home Missions Society and associate gen- eral secretary of ABCUSA from 1969-1976. John Laurence (Bud) Carroll died Feb. 18 in Newtown Square, Penn., at age 86. He was an American Baptist leader in education, youth, camp and conference ministries. Ka’thy Gore Chappell received the 2015 Church Administrator Anne Thomas Neil Award from Baptist Women in Ministry of North Carolina. She is leadership development coordinator Senior Pastor for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina. William Rush Comer Jr., 91, died March 25 in Louisville. He was one of the first graduates of the School of Religious Associate Pastor for Education at Southern Baptist Theological Family Ministry and Education Seminary and was a leader in the field of Full-time position requiring seminary training religious education. He was a professor at Southern for 41 years, where he had the longest classroom tenure of any Christian education professor. David Lockard of The Villages, Fla., died March 14 at age 89. He and his wife, Susie, served as Southern Baptist missionaries in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) for 14 years begin- ning in 1952. He then directed the SBC Foreign Mission Board orientation center located in Georgia at the time. He served on the SBC Christian Life Commission 1981-1988. Molly T. Marshall and A. Roy Medley will receive the Luke Mowbray Ecumenical Award to presented in June by American Baptist Churches Committee on Christian Minister to Youth, Children and Families Unity. Marshall is president of Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas, and Medley is general secretary of ABCUSA. Emily Hull McGee has been called as pastor of First Baptist Church of Winston- Salem, N.C., coming from Highland Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky., where she served as minister to young adults. BT

26 The Lighter Side By Brett Younger Are you a church millenial?

any people think a millennial is any 7. Has your church established Twitter 15. If you want to invite people to a church young adult born after 1980, but hashtags for your services to encourage event, what do you do? if you go to church you know that people to share sermon quotes? a. Tweet a clever encouragement to attend. M a. #yescaptainobvious b. Send an e-vite. millennials are defined by more than their b. #interestingidea c. Hand a batch of invitations to my pagan age. Their church experience is different. This c. #huh? mailman. scientific quiz will help you understand how “church millennial” you are. According to 8. When you hear something in a sermon that 16. Do you think evangelical Christianity is my best guesses, these questions will reveal you want to remember, what do you do? too political, too exclusive and hostile to whether you share the values, attitudes and a. Make a note on my iPad. LGBTs? behaviors of a typical church millennial. b. Make a note on my bulletin. a. Exactly c. Tell my wife. b. In some ways 1. Did your parents take you to church c. What does the “T” stand for? when you were a child? 9. Would it be appropriate to take a selfie a. It depends on which parent I was with that during a baptism? 17. Do you think churches focus too much weekend. a. Yes, baptism is a milestone that would be on sex? b. Sometimes beautifully commemorated with a photo. a. Yes, it seems to be the only issue. c. Every Sunday, even though they didn’t want b. No, baptism is a sacred event that should be b. The church has a responsibility to speak to to go either. treated as such. fidelity. c. Wouldn’t the water ruin your camera? c. We will quit talking about it when they quit 2. Where is your Bible? doing it. a. On my phone 10. What kind of bread do you eat at the b. God’s Word is all around us. Lord’s Supper? 18. Is Christianity too focused on rules? c. On my nightstand, next to my reading a. Gluten free a. Yes, churches are too legalistic. glasses b. Hawaiian b. We need law and grace. c. Styrofoam chiclets c. These kids today need to straighten up and 3. What is the primary purpose of the fly right — and get off my lawn. church? 11. What do you think 20-somethings want a. Care for God’s children in worship? b. Christian formation a. A sense of purpose Grading your quiz c. To stay bigger than the Methodist church b. A casual atmosphere c. Expensive lattes This quiz can give 442,368 (or so) differ- 4. How often do you attend church? ent combinations of answers. Compare your a. Not as much as my parents think 12. Does your church have a Facebook page? responses with what you imagine might be the b. Every Sunday a. Yes, it makes the old people happy. responses of thousands of millennial wannabes c. Sunday, Wednesday and twice a month for b. Yes, that’s how I found the church. nationwide. Weigh each answer and make up committee meetings c. Yes, we’re doing it to reach out to millenials. the score that represents your resemblance to the typical church millennial. 5. When you visit a church, how do people 13. Does your church website include welcome you? online giving? 75-100 = You are a real live ridonks church a. “I’m sorry we don’t have a class for your age a. Yes, of course. millennial. group.” b. We’re working on it. 50-74 = You appear to have some millennial b. “We love young people.” c. No, but we recently updated the picture of tendencies, but it likely embarrasses people c. “Here’s a quarterly.” our church on the offering envelopes. when you rap the scripture. 25-49 = You may know some people at church 6. Has your phone ever rung during 14. How many of your friends go to church? in their 20s. worship? a. I don’t know. a. Yes, but it was during a drum solo. b. Most of them do. 0-24 = You only read this column because the b. No, I keep it on vibrate. c. The only friend I have who doesn’t go to series on “Baptists and the American Civil c. How would I know? I’m at church. church is the mailman. War” ended last month. BT

27 Guest Commentary By J. Randall O’Brien Integration, interrogation of faith vital to Christian critical thinking, learning and living

n some quarters today, rejection of Scripture as Christ-centered, academically rigorous, and behavior. a divinely inspired record of God’s revelation is service-oriented, especially attuned to the needs Should we not question all things, too? Iin vogue. of the poor, the marginalized, the needy. How else do we separate the wheat and the chaff Some scholars insist: The Gospels are not While we seek to glorify Christ by reach- among truth claims? literally true, but history metaphorized; the ing our full potential as educated citizens and Surely truth will stand. Falsehood will not. Bible is not divine; there was no virgin birth, nor servant-leaders, our desire and calling is to serve Why not ask, “What is good? What is true? bodily resurrection. Jesus was not divine. The others. What is the common good? WWJD? WDJD? Bible is not the word of God. So runs the herme- Of course, a Christian (What did Jesus do?) What does God desire?” neutic of cynicism. university is an academic One devout scholar noted, “The faith that Does Luther’s Reformation cry yet ring? institution, a learning com- is afraid to think is not faith at all, but unbelief Richard B. Hays insists Scripture is norma munity and a school. So hiding behind a mask of piety. “ normans, the norming norm for Christians, we read, think, question, To journey from a non-questioning stage meaning Scripture is authoritative for the church. research, present, dialogue, of faith, to a questioning stage, on to a place James D. Smart, in The Strange Silence listen, write, create art and of commitment is a pilgrimage in maturation. of the Bible in the Church, warns, “When the music and literature, exer- Ideally, Christians are thinkers, questioners, book [Bible] is no longer read and understood cise, play, pray, worship, disciples, evangelists and revolutionaries cou- by Christians, they have been cut off decisively do good work and make friends in gratitude to rageously confronting falsehood, hypocrisy, from the roots of their distinctively Christian God. We love the Lord with all our heart, soul ignorance, oppression and evil. existence.” and mind. The daring Christian calling must not be In short, he writes, “No Scriptures, No Our life is ordered by the way of Jesus lightly accepted. Jesus sternly warned, “Count church! No Scriptures, No revelation!” Christ, whose teachings — such as the Sermon the cost.” The words “authority” and “author” derive on the Mount, featuring a radical call to enemy- Once he probed, “Can you drink from this from the same Latin root, auctor, meaning, love, forgiveness and purity of heart, along with cup?” Frankly, not everyone can, or will. Yet, “writer, or progenitor.” To rid ourselves of the his sayings, parables and example — become Christ calls each of us, and all of us, personally authority of Scripture is to rid ourselves of its normative. and communally, to come follow him, learn author. Who might that be? The cross of Christ saves us mystically, yes, from him, to die to self, be changed, then, in his The Bible is an antidote for all forms of but also practically. We live in light of the cross, power and love, boldly go and change the world. idolatry. When Jesus becomes Lord, there is ourselves given to God and to others. Yet, there Few people I know would argue with the regime change. is more than Christ’s selfless example in play. critique of our world today as “messed up,” a Whoever, or whatever, has been king, Empowerment to live the Christ-life is our place where things have gone terribly wrong. I queen, boss, most significant other, addiction thanks to the gift of the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit? am not naïve enough to believe that Christian or god, is dethroned. Jesus is Lord and Caesar is Game changer! universities will somehow transform earth into not; mammon is not, (Fill-in-the-blank) is not. Both the integration and interrogation of a Garden of Eden, where we all live happily ever All truth is God’s truth. In the Christian our faith are vital to Christian critical thinking, after in Paradise Regained. university every thought, word and deed is learning and living. Jesus questioned much in However, I do believe a Christian university in service to our Lord. We are called to be his day, especially entrenched religious belief and and its Christ-followers can make a huge differ- ence in this world. Can we make well the hurting and the hurt- ers everywhere? How I wish! So we can’t change the whole world? But we can change the world for one person. Then another. And another. The Christian university is a home, however imperfect, a sacred place to come to, to become a transformed, educated child of God, and holy ground to go from to touch and transform other lives in the loving spirit of Christ Jesus, our Lord and hope. O Lord, may it be so. BT —J. Randall O’Brien is president of Carson- Newman University in Jefferson City, Tenn.

28 Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly Tested by trials Football great Jim Kelly and family are sustained by faith

his toughness in what he went through, and how he changed my life.” Fame quarterback Jim Kelly is considered The Kellys have been open about their - marital problems. They don’t speak about it in detail, but in Jill’s 2010 book Without a Word, backs. He led the Buffalo Bills to a record they describe how after Hunter’s death, Jim four consecutive Super Bowls in the 1990s confessed he had been unfaithful. He sought — and they famously lost all four. pastoral counseling and decided to embrace his wife’s newfound faith for himself. Nonetheless, he earned a reputation for a grid- “I wanted to be able, for my two daugh- iron grit that became known as “Kelly tough.” ters, to walk in that front door and when But for Jim and his wife, Jill, that Kelly they do, to look at their daddy with respect. I toughness was tested most profoundly by what was losing all that,” Jim Kelly said during an followed off the field: a terminally ill son, appearance at Liberty University. “I knew that problems in their marriage and Jim’s struggle if I didn’t change my life, I was going to lose with cancer. everything that I worked so hard for.” “You can only be tough so much. And I’ve Jim Kelly said that at the time, he was The Kellys still live in western New York, just been very blessed that I have an open heart angry with God and told his wife not to push where they attend The Chapel, a large non- now,” Kelly told the PBS program Religion & her newfound beliefs on him. “I didn’t come to denominational church. They say their faith has Ethics NewsWeekly. faith until after Hunter passed away,” he said. been crucial in dealing with their latest battle. “Those things that we go through that Neither of their daughters has Krabbe. In June 2013, Jim was found to have can- cause us to be tested, or to doubt, or to fear,” The Kellys were determined to help Hunter cer of the jaw. After surgery, he was proclaimed his wife added, “those things make us stronger live the best life possible. They launched the cancer-free. Last year, more cancer was discov- in our faith.” Hunter’s Hope Foundation to promote aware- ered in his nasal cavity, and more aggressive The thing that sustains them, they say, ness and research about the rare disease. treatments followed. was and is their faith. In 2004, the Kellys and the foundation At first, Jim didn’t want to go public The Kellys met and married at the height helped found the Hunter James Kelly Research about their latest ordeal. But he said his wife of Jim’s football career and enjoyed the celebrity Institute at the University at Buffalo. Through convinced him the family needed as many that came with it. They had a daughter, Erin, their efforts, more and more newborns are now prayers as possible. Jim’s former teammates and then in 1997, just a few weeks after Jim screened for Krabbe so they can be given an and the western New York community have retired from the Bills, their son, Hunter, was umbilical cord blood transplant in the narrow rallied around them. Although Jim still has born. Daughter Camryn came along in 1999. window of time when progression of the dis- some lingering health issues, a recent MRI When Hunter was just four months old, ease can still be slowed. declared him again cancer-free. he was found to have a genetic disease called “The bottom line is, you want to make a “I live every day to its fullest,” he said. Krabbe Leukodystrophy, which affects the difference,” Jim Kelly said. Jill and their eldest daughter, Erin, have nervous system. The Kellys were told he likely Beating all medical expectations, Hunter written a newly-released book about the fam- wouldn’t survive to his second birthday. lived until 2005, when he was 8½, although ily’s experiences, called Kelly Tough.” Both Jim and Jill had been raised he was never able to walk or talk. “It’s not, ‘Oh, look at the Kellys.’ It’s Catholic, but neither was very religious. Jill “God used him in so many ways,” said Jill ‘Look what God has done,’” said Jill Kelly. said her devastation over the diagnosis sent her Kelly. “We learned patience and love, uncondi- “Even though it’s our story, it’s really about the on a desperate spiritual search that ultimately tional love, selflessness, all of the things that you greater story.” BT led her to become a born-again Christian. don’t learn in books, and that neither of us had “It was Hunter’s suffering that caused learned up to that point in our lives as an adult.” (A version of this story was first broadcast on me to seek after God,” she said. “Everything Jim Kelly calls Hunter a role model: the PBS television program Religion & Ethics changed then.” “Talk about people that you admire, I admired NewsWeekly.)

“I wanted to be able, for my two daughters, to walk in that front door and when they do, to look at their daddy with respect. I was losing all that.”

29 Religion News Service Piety power Memoir reveals the controlling influence of Jewish fundamentalism

— considered ultra-Orthodox to everyone else, but not-quite-kosher-enough to the Skver sect an all-powerful religious leader controls — would be problematic. What to do? Entranced by the holiness of the Skverer rebbe, in contrast to the “indistinctive and - uninspiring” rebbes near his home in Brooklyn tional fraud and even gang violence. — Deen enrolled in the Skver yeshiva and began his life in New Square while in his teens. rivate lives are micromanaged: Matches At 18, he met his future wife, whom he had are arranged, books are banned, and neither seen nor spoken to before. P the slightest details of personal appear- The shocking details emerge almost ance are carefully monitored, with uniformity as asides: a rabbi teaching 18-year-olds to enforced by authorized thugs. “be vigilant” lest their wives lead them into Cult compound? Fringe Christian sect? hell (and telling them not to call their wives Nope. New Square, N.Y., home of the by their names, but only say “Um” or “You extreme Hasidic Jewish sect known as the hear”); witch hunts for people suspected of Skver Hasidim. smuggling a radio or portable television into These details come not from an outside the Skver community; and widespread corporal investigative reporter — but from a heretical punishment, both when Deen was a student ex-Hasid, Shulem Deen, in his astonishing and, later, as a teacher in yeshiva. new memoir, All Who Go Do Not Return. And the contempt for non-Jews. “The All Who Go Do Not Return Hasidism — literally, the way of the kindness of the goyim (non-Jews) is for sin,” pious — began in 18th-century Europe as a Deen quotes the Skverer rebbe as teaching. movement of Jewish spiritual revival. Although serialized novel form was a sharp satire of reli- Even when a non-Jew does a good deed, his shunned by the religious authorities of the gious life, is a good example. real purpose is evil. time, it became enormously popular, sweeping But as Deen describes, in passage after Then there’s the poverty. Most Hasidic throughout Eastern Europe. passage, this is myth, not reality. In fact — and men (and nearly all women) are uneducated; Centered on personal spiritual experi- here numerous others buttress his account they speak Yiddish and disparage the teaching ence, devout prayer (think Pentecostals in — the tightknit Skver Hasidic community of English. They don’t know math or history; Jewish garb) and charismatic leaders (known exercises enormous political power to create a they have no employment skills. as rebbes), Hasidism revolutionized Jewish world within a world, where the rebbe’s dic- Deen falls behind on rent, has trouble feed- life, especially among less-educated, less-urban tates are law. ing his children, and can’t hold a job. Indeed, populations. Deen begins his story in the middle — holding a job is beneath the dignity of a Hasidic But it quickly changed its character. With the night he is ordered to leave New Square man, who, if he is fortunate, should be able to the threats of emancipation and assimilation under threat of excommunication. The scene study all his life — while collecting unemploy- looming, Hasidism turned sharply conservative is almost Kafkaesque: “rumors” of disbelief, ment, food stamps and welfare benefits. in the 19th century. “people are saying” that action must be taken. Deen finally finds work as a teacher, Practices ossified, authority was central- But Deen also knows that the community where his duties involve fraudulently complet- ized, innovations were prohibited, and any court — unsanctioned by any civil law, but ing progress reports for New York state while accommodation to modern life was rejected. with absolute authority in the village — is not teaching any of the subjects he is reporting Today, Hasidim dress like 18th-century Poles. actually right. He is an unbeliever. on, and collecting government subsidies. Unlike far-right Christian or Muslim Yet he can’t just leave. At the time, Deen is How does it all unravel? Slowly. fundamentalists, Jewish fundamentalists are married, with five children. If he were excom- Deen’s first explorations of the outside often depicted as cuddly, harmless and quaint. municated, they would all be marginalized, if world take place in books. The provocative Fiddler on the Roof, which in its original not shunned. Even a move to nearby Monsey title of his memoir, we learn midway through,

30 refers to books — not just a “woman of loose … What, then, was the point of it all?” in The New Yorker, The New York Times and morals.” He finds his way, somewhat, but All Who The Jewish Daily Forward; widespread power His sins are intellectual, not carnal. Go does not end happily. abuses; and nauseating episodes such as the First, a few Jewish books. Then, a radio. Yes, Deen founds a popular blog for ex- herpes epidemic spread by Hasidic mohels Then, secular books at the library. And then Hasidim, gets a job, and finds his way in the (ritual circumcisers) who insist on sucking the the Internet, where Deen meets non-Orthodox secular world. But there’s hollowness to his blood directly off of circumcision wounds, the Jews for the first time. new life and a bitter sadness over the loss of his mainstream Jewish establishment is silent. Already, we see the fault lines appear children. Partly this is out of fear, and partly out between Deen and his wife, Gitty. Deen pro- Not only does Gitty get sole custody, the of the peculiarly American Jewish notion that tests that his explorations are entire community warns Jewish fundamentalists are better Jews than the harmless. Gitty knows he is them against him. Even his rest of us. going astray. And she does not few-and-far-between visits Meanwhile, politicians are terrified of go with him. become unsustainable; his Hasidic voting blocs. Hasidim now control the As Deen’s curiosity turns to children shut him out. East Ramapo school district, which includes skepticism and then to doubt, All this unfolds against New Square, and are starving secular schools Gitty watches him fall “off the a backdrop of institutional (almost all black and Hispanic) to enrich their path” and eventually decides Jewish indifference. The own religious academies. she’s had enough. They sepa- multimillion-dollar Jewish Deen’s harrowing story, then, is also an rate, then divorce. federations do nothing for indictment of those who are standing by and Now it’s time for the these communities, other allowing it to be. spoiler alert. Deen loses every- than distribute charity — To many, the Hasidim are quaint throw- thing: his wife, his children, usually through the Hasidic backs, their lives pious scenes set to the tune his family, his friends, and his power structure, thus rein- of “L’Chayim” and “Sunrise, Sunset.” But to community. forcing its control. those trapped inside the Hasidic world, the tale And his faith. Even before Footsteps, an organiza- is not comedy but tragedy. And there is often his expulsion from the commu- tion helping ex-Hasidim no soundtrack at all. BT nity, Deen finds he can no longer pray, can no navigate the secular world — job training, longer believe the stories he’s been told. GEDs — remains a small and independent —Jay Michaelson is a columnist for “What is the meaning of right and wrong outlier. (Deen is now a board member.) The Daily Beast and author of God vs. Gay? when there is no guidance from a divine being? Despite numerous sex scandals; exposes The Religious Case for Equality. A new release FROM Faith BOOKS

View the world through the eyes of 12-year-old Bobby as he takes a grueling journey to reunite with his father who is serving in the Confederate Army. Though fiction, the story will generate interest in true events of more than 150 years ago in the Chattanooga area.

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31 !"#$% .)/ *(#"# &% '#() *+,$-, ‘Poet Laureate of the Pulpit’ REMEMBERING GARDNER C. TAYLOR

EDITOR’S NOTE: In the July 2006 cover story, legendary preacher Gardner C. Taylor, then 88, tells of feeling “the spray of the Jordan in my face.” Yet he lived to age 96, dying this past Easter Sunday. In a tribute to his remarkable life and ministry, that earlier feature story is reshaped and presented here.

Smith, then pastor of Hampton Baptist killed. There were two white witnesses, includ- Church in Hampton, Va. (now of Madison ing a Southern Baptist minister named Rev. Baptist Church in Madison, Ga.), and Len Shockley. They told the exact truth. Keever, pastor of First Baptist Church of That impacted my call. I came to look Dunn, N.C. upon myself as the Lord’s lawyer … I have not Baptist Church of Christ for 42 years The following conversation is adapted represented him well all the time, but I make before retiring in 1990. Time magazine from that session and an interview by Editor his case. John Pierce. Q: How do you develop a sermon? preachers” and Christian Century deemed Q: Will you share about your calling to GCT: Well, in retirement, I’m reworking mate- ministry? rial and seeing how inadequate the first working GCT: I wanted to be a lawyer, though no was. I loosely, not slavishly, follow the lectionary. civil rights activist who helped birth person of color had ever been admitted to law I believe pastors are to be open to the the Progressive National Baptist school in Louisiana. I got sidetracked into this reception of things all around — engaged in Convention, Taylor received the A business. the human situation. God does not come to us Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2000. At 88, I was in a horrible accident as a senior frontally. Taylor retained the sharp mind and gifted ora- in college in 1937 in which a white man was In black life there’s been a misinterpreta- tory skills that have drawn spiritual seekers for tion, largely by blacks themselves, that more than half a century. blacks are [more spiritual than others]. In May 2006, Baptist Theological But there’s always been that strain of Seminary at Richmond hosted Taylor anti-faith in black life. for the Chester Brown-Hampton So I’ve had to come at the gos- Baptist Church Preaching and Worship pel from the skeptic side — because Conference. we are surrounded by believers and “I was born some 50 years after slav- non-believers. ery,” Taylor said in one address. “I knew The best of black preaching comes people who passed through that dark out of a theodicy of wrestling with why night.” God would allow a people to be in an Deliverance, he said, noting Israel untold situation. But we are all tenting under Moses’ guidance as an example, [on earth]; we don’t have houses. leads us out of one difficulty into Preaching has to come out of another. that temporality, impermanence. The Throughout his long ministry, preacher’s job is to remind us we are Taylor faithfully used his pastoral sen- strangers and pilgrims — and, yet, with sitivity, spiritual insights and gifts of an almost paradoxical sense of creating proclamation to help persons of faith common unity. move from difficulty to deliverance again and again. Q: How do you care for your private th Noting his 88 birthday, Taylor said spiritual life? he could “feel the spray of the Jordan in my face.” But for many touched by his GCT: I learned too late in my ministry preaching, the longevity of his life and the importance of sitting in silence ministry is a gift to be cherished. before God. I got the idea [of spending During the Richmond conference 20 minutes in silence at the beginning Taylor responded to questions submit- of each day] from Alexander Maclaren, ted by participants and posed by Charles the greatest expositor of scripture.

32 However, I must add that Maclaren had a seri- to people of all color. went through them. I have never stopped mar- ous flaw in not addressing the social concerns It’s been a tremendous ministry … partly veling at how back then, in the ’30s and ’40s, in England at the time. conditioned by culture. I have great regard for he could, first himself, have such a vision and him. We are of the same vintage. who could by the magic of personality and the Q: Can you tell us about your relation- grace of God communicate that to young men. ship with Martin Luther King Jr. and your Q: How has your preaching changed over That was a tremendous thing. And Foy part in forming the Progressive National the years? was one of my most cherished and dearest Baptist Convention? friends. GCT: It has softened … from the harsh rheto- GCT: Martin King was my friend, but I don’t ric of the civil rights movement. I have come Q: There is an effort through the New use his name often. Everyone claims to have to see much more that we are social/solitary Baptist Covenant to find more coop- been his close friend, so I refrain from talking beings. … eration among what you described as about him publicly. “I” is the slenderest pronoun; I think a “non-creedal Baptists,” such as American Dr. King and I talked about the need for preacher should not try to hide behind it. Baptists, the Cooperative Baptist the new convention over and over. But L.B. Fellowship and the historic black conven- Booth called the people together in Cincinnati Q: You became pastor of Concord Baptist tions. Is this a worthy and realistic effort? (in 1961). Neither Martin nor I attended. Church at age 30. What was it like? More recently I’ve urged upon black GCT: Yes, yes, yes. That may be the most GCT: It was intoxicating, but highly stimulat- Baptists to come together. And, thank God, hopeful possibility for Baptists in this country. ing. I’ve never known a congregation more we did come together in Nashville last year Because Baptists, like all other Christian com- anxious to hear the gospel. I never lost the (2005). munities, are under a grave threat. excitement of that congregation and New York The civil rights movement lifted from the The new heresies, … the motivational City, the crossroads of the world. nation an awful pall of shame and hypocrisy. speakers, all of this which is a bastardization There’s a joke about three ministers being It not only freed black people; it delivered the of the faith, take hold of people’s fantasy and together. One confesses that he sometimes nation to be free from shame. imagination. The New Testament speaks about takes a little money from the offering. Another itching ears. Somehow, the Christian faith has said he occasionally drinks a bit too much. Q: What is the present status of civil been susceptible to heresies. rights? The third preacher applauds their honesty and All of our Christian conventions are under then admits his own problem: “I can’t help but a grave threat. While Southern Baptists have GCT: It’s been a mixed kind of results. It’s been tell everything I hear.” been protected by an iron curtain of region, a mixed bag for which partly blacks are respon- I don’t think a normal person does this. they are susceptible also. sible. I believe if Dr. King were alive today, he Preachers have to be a little angular. American Baptists are feeling it more would be very embarrassed. I believe — in fact, demographics show — strongly. Black Baptists are feeling it. A part The greatest hazard, I think, is to see that the pulpits of America will be filled partly, of the problem is that our separateness and individual recognition as group advancement. and perhaps largely, by women. alienation are a good talking point for those Color is not enough; you only have to look at who don’t want to have anything to do with the Supreme Court to see that. Q: You paid tribute to two former Southern organized Christianity. All of us, black and white, have to keep Baptist leaders — later connected to the So I think it is very important that we Cooperative Baptist Fellowship — Phil moving against the grain. come together. But, of course, the faith has Strickland and Foy Valentine, both of whom always done better as a minority undertaking. Q: It has been said that 11 a.m. on Sunday have passed away. You credited them with It doesn’t do well in a majority position. It just morning is the most segregated hour of “opening before Southern Baptists and others doesn’t. the week. Is the church improving on that? … what faith is all about.” You noted that they “came out of the GCT: That was my thing that I got from inspired teaching of T.B. Maston.” How Q: Some see the Baptist World Alliance a Presbyterian preacher in Albany, N.Y. I important was Maston and his students to as the vehicle for bringing “non-creedal” repeated it at a Baptist World Alliance meeting race relations among Baptists? Baptists closer together. Do you? saying that 11 o’clock on Sunday is the most GCT: I went out to Southwestern Seminary GCT: The Baptist World Alliance was begun segregated hour. for some lectureship that allowed me to meet with Alexander Maclaren as its first president. We are coming closer together in our wor- Dr. Maston. I went to his house for dinner and He had been a tremendous influence. ship. And these preachers — and I hate to call we talked. Now Southern Baptists have come out. them preachers — but these performers, black I had learned something of the enormous This separatism, this withdrawal, will do no and white, on television are pretty much merged. influence this man had in a very difficult time more good for Southern Baptists than the old in the South in sending forth, somehow, out of Elijah Muhammad movement did for blacks. It Q: What is your impression of Billy just does not wash. Graham’s ministry? his own spirit, young men who had a vision of what the South might become in the name of The strangest thing is the kind of mean- GCT: I’ve known Mr. Graham since 1956 Jesus Christ. I was privileged to meet him, but ness that can accompany supposed orthodoxy. when he came to Madison Square Garden. To didn’t know him well after that. The worse part of all of this is that it is not his credit, he was the first to open his audience He gave me several of his books, and I about orthodoxy; it is about power.

33 “‘I’ is the slenderest pronoun; I think a preacher should not try to hide behind it.”

Q: It seems like anytime you pull together I think I know what he meant; he wanted — because the Word became flesh. I think various Baptist groups it requires giving me to stay inside the Bible. So I’ve created a preaching about the Word without what it up some turf, power and control. word now: “in-pository.” became is an obscurity-style preaching. I think Because there is a kind of preaching that the preaching that’s all flesh does not go back GCT: That’s the problem. Not only giving up can be an escape from reality. And there is a to the Word. power, but the lust for power. kind of preaching that can be all flat — hori- zontal — without the vertical aspect. Q: Is it important to you to be a Baptist? Q: How hard is it to balance the priestly/ I think our job is to put together “Thou GCT: Yes and no. Yes in the sense that — let pastoral and prophetic/preaching roles of shall love the Lord thy God and thy neighbor.” a pastor? me go at it this way: My friend Felton Clark, Q: So are you going to give that seminary president of Southern University, said he was GCT: I think the balance occurs when the sermon? proud to be a Baptist because it meant that preacher or the congregation recognizes that it you are really free. is both societal and solitary. We are in a com- GCT: Yes. I penciled in my poor writing at the I think that one of the reasons so many munity of believers, a civic community, but we end of the letter to please call and let me know blacks became Baptists — apart from the are ultimately individuals — with all the gifts what you mean by an expository sermon so sociological reasons — was that they found in and hazards of individuality. I will not transgress. But I’ve not heard from the Baptist church a lack of an ecclesiastical I think preaching that forgets either one is him. But I think I know what he meant. He system, a kind of looseness. in a bad fix. wanted it internal. I would not give up anything for our soul I had an invitation from one of the competence and for the sovereignty of our Q: If you did that kind of preaching Southern Baptist seminaries to come preach in individual congregations. Sunday-in and Sunday-out, would you fail chapel [fall 2006]. The man who sent the invi- Yeah, I like our Baptist thing. But like any the church? tation said, “Now we want you to be sure and other wonderful thing, it can be prostituted present an expository sermon.” GCT: I’d fail the church and I’d fail my Lord and is often. BT A new release FROM Faith BOOKS

God has entrusted preachers with his Lynn Brinkley, who serves as a guest sacred word, his church, and the sacred preacher and also works with student desk. Preachers have an obligation to services and alumni relations at Campbell offer back to God excellence in Christian University Divinity School, addresses the ministry by conducting the ministry issues of preaching and hosting etiquette of preaching “decently and in order.” in a manual written for current and future Likewise, churches are entrusted with ministers — and those who instruct honoring the time and energy that preach- them — and also for churches. Based on ers, especially guest ministers, spend scriptural guidelines, it addresses proper in preparation for speaking/preaching pulpit decorum and principles of hospital- engagements by providing hospitable ity and honoraria. A seminar on preaching treatment and proper payment. etiquette is also included.

“… a crying need for … this book … [It] will give preachers a better understanding of what we do and how we are to go about it.” (Gardner C. Taylor) Order now at nurturingfaith.info

34 Editor’s note: This article in the series “Transitions: Helping churches and church leaders in changing times” is provided in partnership with the Center for Healthy Churches (healthy-churches.org).

Learning to listen, after moving from pulpit to pew By Ken Massey

fter 32 years of pastoral ministry, I I’m thinking of prayer, and I find that “cen- In a world of copious cultural commentary, moved from the pulpit to the pew. tering” is also a helpful way to listen to sermons. good sermons dig down to find a rare jewel A To borrow a term coined by a former This concept has implications for how worship called spiritual discernment. This perception, president from Texas, I “misunderestimated” might help still rather than stimulate our cranial Jesus said, comes by knowing we don’t know the challenges of being on “the other side” of a cacophonies. and being open to truths that transcend our old sermon. Which brings me to a new perspective on patterns of believing. My sabbatical from speaking has changed what people may need from sermons — in the Such preaching is pleased with paradox and my perception of proclamation: my awareness macro, not micro sense. No single sermon or comfortable with seeming contradiction. It does of how difficult listening can be and also what series can touch the deepest need of those who not rightly “divide” the word (unfortunate KJV people need from sermons (or at least what I want to hear a word from God. Yet over the language), but rightly brings together (reconciles) need). course of a year, for instance, recurring themes what humankind has split apart for all of history. Let’s start with the work of listening. I have an opportunity to You know you’ve heard such a sermon when it thought active listening in counseling and con- take root and grow, pro- pulls you toward personal integrity instead of versation took concentration, but that’s a piece ducing the fruit of life in pushing someone else toward repentance. of cake compared to staying with 20 minutes (or Christ. Good sermons enlarge my awareness of, more) of even the best meandering monologue. What surprised me and point me toward presence with God. They Honestly, my early listening experiences in about my own needs was speak to my true self rather than offering point- the pew were as convoluted as my first sermons. how simple and central ers on how to manage my ego, or false self. All I could seem to do was deconstruct and they were once I became To this end, I offer a quote referenced by reconstruct the sermon as it was being delivered. aware of them. I assumed Richard Rohr from the German poet, Rainer I would pick up on ideas, phrases or illustra- I would crave hearing Maria Rilke, in Letters to a Young Poet: tions, imagine how I would rearrange or edit from “the most interesting man/woman in the them if I were preaching, draft a revision, add a world.” Yet instead of exploring the edges of Have patience with everything that poem and then wake up to see that the sermon spiritual/biblical/social thought, I discovered a remains unsolved in your heart. Try was over. strong desire to be pulled back toward the center to love the questions themselves, like Even when I was able to put that runaway of life with God. locked rooms... Do not now look for rewriting to the side, there were other distrac- Answers to life’s pressing questions didn’t the answers. They cannot now be tions, both internal and external. My struggle invite me into that middle space; reminders of given to you because you could not during sermons was not the mind drift of God’s love did. Theological arguments were live them… At present you need to boredom. It was mind detour triggered by the wasted breath, while calls to love all of God’s live the question. Perhaps you will sermon itself! There were too many interesting creation were a breath of fresh air. gradually, without even noticing it, thoughts and images only loosely related to the The best sermons I hear move beneath the find yourself experiencing the answer, theme. biblical text and beyond the social superficiality some distant day. BT I wish this were my rare form of attention that shapes our personal opinions and reduces deficit, but I fear it is fairly common for those everything to “either/or.” They don’t pander to —Ken Massey is a retired pastor in North formed in a super stimulating culture, and com- prejudices. Carolina currently called to interim ministry. monly magnified by ministers who want to wake the dead and challenge the inert. When I was writing sermons, I had no idea my mind- grabbing connections could become mental exit ramps. Their purpose was to keep listeners engaged. Now I fear that many of my hooks became listening hurdles. While the Spirit may speak through our mental mania, I think “faith that comes by hearing” might happen more often if our minds were less cluttered. I’m suggesting that staying with a sermon is like another spiritual discipline that doesn’t work well when our brains are in the fast lane.

35 Religion News Service

Q&A with Rachel Held Evans on revitalizing the church

Rachel Held Evans has grown into a Q: You say that the way to stop the exodus Q: If these aren’t the answer, what is? of millennials from churches isn’t cosmetic A: Sharing Communion. Baptizing sinners. changes like better music, sleeker logos Preaching the Word. Anointing the sick. Evolving in Monkey and more relevant programming. Why are Practicing confession. You know, the stuff the Town and later with the New York Times these methods ineffective? church has been doing for the last 2,000 years. We need to re-articulate the significance of A: These aren’t inherently bad strategies, and best seller A Year of Biblical Womanhood. the traditional teachings and sacraments of the some churches would be wise to employ them. hose who follow her writings often note church in a modern context. That’s what I see But many church leaders make the mistake that her thinking has become increasingly happening in churches, big and small, that are of thinking millennials are shallow consum- progressive, especially on hot-button making multigenerational disciples of Jesus. T ers who are leaving church because they aren’t theological issues such as gender and sexuality. That shift culminated in her leaving evangelical- being entertained. Q: You talk about seven sacraments in ism for the Episcopal Church. I think our reasons for leaving church your book that you think are critical for Her new book, Searching for Sunday: are more complicated, more related to social the church. Which of these will surprise Loving, Leaving and Finding the Church, oscil- changes and deep questions of faith than people the most? worship style or image. lates between stinging critiques of American A: The one that surprised me the most was If you try to woo us back with skinny Christianity and prescriptions for how she anointing of the sick. I used to think such a believes believers can more faithfully partici- jeans and coffee shops, it may actually backfire. practice involved superstition and false hope, pate in church life. Millennials have finely tuned B.S. meters that but that was before I learned the difference In an interview with Religion News Service, can detect when someone’s just trying to sell between curing and healing. she talked about the key to revitalizing the church us something. We may not be able to cure what ails our and defended her exit from evangelicalism. Some We’re not looking for a hipper Christianity. friends and neighbors, but as Christians we answers have been edited for length and clarity. We’re looking for a truer Christianity. are called to the work of healing — of entering

36 “We’re not looking for a hipper Christianity. We’re looking for a truer Christianity.” into one another’s pain, anointing it as holy healed and suffered among us as both fully Q: Some of your critics might point to the and sticking around no matter the outcome. God and fully human; that Jesus was conceived explosive growth of the church in the New An anointing is an acknowledgment. In a by the power of the Holy Spirit and born to Testament. Shouldn’t the church be con- culture of cure-alls and quick fixes, the sacra- Mary; that he was crucified on a Roman cross cerned if it is not making disciples or, as ment of anointing the suffering is a powerful, and buried in the ground; that after three days you say, if it dies? countercultural gift the church offers the dead, Jesus came back to life; that he ascended A: The New Testament church grew when world. into heaven and reigns with God; that he will return to bring justice and restoration to our Christians were in the minority, not the majority. Q: You left evangelicalism for the Episcopal broken world; that God continues to work Church. Much of the Episcopal Church has through the Holy Spirit, the church and God’s We’re still a long way from that in the failed to embrace the cosmetic changes people; that forgiveness is possible, resurrec- U.S., but now may be a good time to remind you critique, and they practice the things tion is possible and eternal life is possible. ourselves that ours is a kingdom that grows you say will draw millennials back. Yet If that’s not Christian orthodoxy, I don’t not by might or power but by the Spirit, Episcopalians in America have been in know what is. whose presence is identified by love, joy, peace, steady decline and are rapidly aging. How patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, do you reconcile this with your thesis? Q: Related to this, you say the American gentleness and self-control. church shouldn’t be afraid to die. What Plus, I’m not convinced discipleship is A: Just about every denomination in the does this mean? something we measure best in numbers. A American church — including many evangeli- church might produce thousands of attendees A: G.K. Chesterton said, “Christianity has had cal denominations — is seeing a decline in without producing any disciples. BT numbers, so if it’s a competition, then we’re all a series of revolutions, and in each one of them losing, just at different rates. Christianity has died. Christianity has died I felt drawn to the Episcopal Church many times and risen again; for it had a God —Jonathan Merritt, senior columnist because it offered some practices I felt were who knew the way out of the grave.” for Religion News Service, is the author of missing in my evangelical experience, like Lately I’ve been wondering if a little death Jesus Is Better Than You Imagined and space for silence and reflection, a focus on and resurrection is exactly what the American A Faith of Our Own: Following Jesus Beyond Christ’s presence at the Communion table as church needs. the Culture Wars. the climax and center of every worship service, opportunities for women in leadership and the inclusion of LGBT people. But I know plenty of folks who were raised as Episcopalians who have become evan- Freedom churches gelical, drawn by the exciting and energetic Congregational support helps Baptists Today worship or the emphasis on personal testimony and connection to Scripture. The independence of this news Baptists Today Director David It’s common in young adulthood, I think, journal and its related publications is Hull is leading an effort to enlist 100 to seek out faith traditions that complement highly valued. Yet the mission is not congregations to provide $1,000 each the one in which you were raised. It’s not carried out alone. in annual support of this important about rejecting your background, just about We are grateful for the faithful mission to provide reliable informa- finding your own way. I don’t want to project congregations that include Baptists tion and inspiring resources. my experience onto all millennials. Today in their annual mission gifts. Want to learn how your congre- Q: Many evangelicals criticize the liberal In the months ahead we will be gation can be a part of this effort? theology of the Episcopal Church, even recognizing these partnering Call (478) 301-5655. claiming that it is now outside of orthodox congregations — and seeking Christianity. What say you? more of them.

A: Every Sunday morning, I stand in my Episcopal church and join in a chorus of voices publicly affirming the Apostle’s Creed. Together, we declare that there is a good and almighty God who is the creative force behind all things seen and unseen; that this God is One, yet exists as three persons; that God loved the world enough to become flesh in the person of Jesus Christ, who lived, taught, fed,

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Left: Right: A task worth pursuing A conversation with Randel Everett about elevating religious freedom globally

ALLS CHURCH, Va. — Housed in the with the persecuted church in their home BT: This effort is described as a “do tank” Baptist World Alliance (BWA) head- countries, I became more personally involved rather than just a “think tank.” Precisely, quarters outside Washington, D.C., is an and concerned. how does the Wilberforce Initiative F “innovate strategies to elevate religious interdenominational organization actively seek- At the same time two men from ing to “create a world where everyone embraces Washington, D.C. — Michael Horowitz, a freedom” and carry out the resulting religious freedom as a universal right.” Jewish attorney, and Congressman Frank Wolf, mission? The 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative who had spent 34 years in Congress fighting RE: We have already sent a Wilberforce team was co-founded by U.S. Congressman Frank for the rights of the oppressed — began to to both Iraq and Hong Kong/Taiwan to per- Wolf, who retired in January after 17 terms, discuss the idea of a Wilberforce Initiative that sonally interview Christians and other religious and Baptist minister Randel Everett, who would engage churches to become involved in minorities who were facing persecution, and in serves as the organization’s president. these efforts. the case of Iraqi Christians genocide. Baptists Today editor John Pierce asked After the counsel of several trusted In Iraq we interviewed key religious, Everett, who served pastorates in Florida, friends, I believed that I should resign as pastor political and military leaders. We actually went Virginia, Arkansas and Texas and founded The of First Baptist Church of Midland to lead this to the front lines with the military just two John Leland Center for Theological Studies, effort. kilometers from ISIS-controlled territory. about this strategic mission. We saw hundreds of Christians and Yezitis BT: This is an interdenominational effort, who had been driven from their homes by BT: What is the 21st Century Wilberforce but clearly some Baptist engagement ISIS. We interviewed at least 75 of them. Initiative and how did it come about? beyond your own. What is the 21st Century There were 1.5 million Christians in Iraq Wilberforce Initiative doing with the about 10 years ago and fewer than 300,000 RE: I have been involved with the BWA for Baptist World Alliance and with any other today. A majority of the ones remaining are in over 25 years and have had the privilege Baptist connections? of meeting men and women from around IDP camps living in very difficult situations. the world who have increased my commit- RE: Even though I continue to live in Dallas, When we returned we told their story ment to Christ and our Baptist ideals. Some we recognized the need for our primary offices through our report “Edge of Extinction” and have shared stories of great hardship and to be located in the D.C. community. Because did numerous television, newspaper, radio persecution. of my familiarity with the BWA and since and social media interviews. We have received Also I have heard their concerns about their facility is across the street from Columbia reports literally from people around the world the lack of response from churches in the West Baptist Church where I was once the pastor, who saw or read these stories. about situations they were facing including, at the BWA building was a perfect location for us. In my recent visit to Taiwan, our trans- times, poverty, persecution, natural disasters Our staff and board reflect the diversity lator for the vice president told me she had and other challenges. of our denominational affiliations, but the 40 written the subscripts for my interview with When I moved to Midland, Texas, I met million global Baptists affiliated with the BWA CBN when it was telecast in Taiwan. We two men who endured persecution themselves: gave us a great network. Also the emphasis on have also met with Congressional leaders, the Getaneh from Ethiopia and Bob Fu from freedom and justice within the BWA reflects State Department, churches and other groups China. As I learned more about their work our Wilberforce vision. involved with issues of religious freedom

38 attempting to alert them to the needs of these thousands who were being massacred in will become a reliable resource for preachers, folks. Northern Nigeria and surrounding areas was journalists and the social media. Elijah Brown, chief of staff for Wilberforce, largely ignored. They are strengthened when joined me and leaders with ChinaAid in a recent they learn of others’ concern (Heb. 13:3). BT: Where in the world is the Wilberforce trip to Hong Kong where we met with and par- As Christians, we must pray for them. Initiative putting its energies right now — ticipated in the training of 1,800 leaders from We must also offer humanitarian assistance and how? the house churches in China. and persuade our government to pursue poli- RE: We have begun in the Middle East and We learned specific situations where cies that protect the world’s most vulnerable. in China because of the global significance of Christians were harassed and persecuted. We The forces of evil never tire in their efforts of these situations and also because of unusual interviewed some who spent years in prison. oppression, and neither should Christians grow opportunities of access we have received. We ChinaAid has issued a report document- weary in sharing the compassion of Christ. also have resources and partners who are able ing some of these abuses. We are told that to help us to offer follow up. This summer we religious persecution in 2014 in China is the BT: Aren’t Christian populations being lost will host a training conference similar to the in places where the Christian faith has very worst since the Cultural Revolution. one in Hong Kong for pastors in Ethiopia and deep roots? We traveled from Hong Kong to Taiwan surrounding areas. where we met with the key top officials in RE: Christians have lived in Iraq since the early their government about a religious freedom church. Now Christians are being driven from BT: What can individuals or congregations conference that Wilberforce and ChinaAid many areas of the Middle East. do to help? will sponsor in December. All of these leaders RE: We must become global Christians. The gave enthusiastic support for the conference BT: Religious persecution is often hard problems facing our brothers and sisters where we will bring leaders from the U.S. and to validate. On one hand we have many around the world are our concerns. from around the Pacific East to discuss the American Christians screaming “perse- importance of religious freedom being the cution” when, in fact, what they seek is If we want to experience the presence of foundational freedom. preference for their particular brand of Christ, we need to serve in the areas where he faith. And, overseas, reports are often ministered (Luke 4:18). We also need to get BT: Many people care deeply about the sketchy and at times inaccurate. How do involved. clear abuses of religious freedom that they you get reliable information on religious I believe every person and every congrega- witness each day on the news — especially persecution? tion has a Kingdom assignment. We can’t serve in places such as Syria and Iraq, and where everywhere, but we must serve somewhere. RE: We were not able to validate some of the Boko Haram is so destructive in Africa. We must be involved politically. Not every stories of the atrocities we had heard before Yet they feel helpless and often hope- solution is a policy decision, but some are. Our making our trips. We wanted to learn as much less. What can really be done about these government should defend the oppressed as first hand as we could. atrocities? much as we can. We also seek reliable sources of informa- We need to find ministry partners that RE: The first step is awareness. Many of the tion. When stories from unreliable resources are being effective in addressing issues such sufferers have no idea if anyone else knows of are passed along as truth, credibility is lost. as international religious freedom. The 21st their situation. The stories we have documented from Century Wilberforce Initiative depends on While the whole world was rightfully Iraq and China are bad enough and do not the prayers and donations of individuals and outraged by the brutal killings in Paris, the need to be exaggerated. We hope our website churches.

BT: Why was the name of William Wilberforce chosen to associate with this venture? And how does the Wilberforce Initiative carry out an old, needed mission in new ways?

RE: Wilberforce’s Christian calling and ambi- tion for the abolition of slavery was seemingly an impossible task in a world whose economy was based on this horrible practice. Yet he spent his entire life building a coalition of partners that brought this about just prior to his death. International religious freedom appears to be an impossible task, yet by the grace of God, skillful strategies, prayerful efforts and effective coalitions, we believe it is a task worth pursuing. BT

39 Descriptions of Myanmar don’t reflect experience changing there. The government is issuing building permits for religious institutions and eligious News Service has generated churches; churches can invite foreign guests recent articles about experiences in to preach; and Christian higher education is R Myanmar. Picked up by Christian developing apace. The government recognizes Century and Baptists Today, as well as other that investment of resources and human capi- outlets, these articles sound an alarmist note tal can be transformative as the nation seeks about what is going on there. engagement rather than isolation. As one who travels to Myanmar once or There are places in the country where skir- twice a year, I want to question the wisdom of mishes between religious bodies, e. g., Buddhists these exaggerated perceptions. After a pilgrim- and Muslims in the Rakhine State in western age there in January, I had persons contact me Myanmar, erupt. Many interpret this as agita- to ask about my safety. Information from these tion from external bodies, not the adherents of articles had prompted their concern, thus I these religions. Also, cease-fires come and go want to respond. in the far north where local militias continue One article describes “religious noise to make separatist stands. Progress is slow, but pollution,” which comes from the competing incrementally resolution is emerging. sounds of Buddhist religious sites and mosques Central Seminary has had a working rela- (much fewer) in this religiously plural coun- tionship with Myanmar Institute of Theology try. Apparently no one is complaining about since the mid-’50s, following the destruction church bells — a rare entity in this country of World War II. For a period of half a decade, where Christians comprise only about 6 per- Central was the degree-granting institution for cent of the population. One colleague has the Myanmar school as it regained its bearings. observed persons stopping to hear Christian In the fall of 2006 our school renewed this congregations as their singing permeated their historic partnership, and we now collaborate neighborhoods through open windows. on a Doctor of Ministry degree, intercultural I wonder if this alarm is a Western tem- experiences, faculty development, and training plate applied to a context in which the capacity of resettled refugees in the U.S. to live with competing religious claims is more Forging partnerships with congregations, refined. Much as the “rules of the road” are denominations leaders and schools there can carefully deployed with horn signals, attentive- only benefit the pursuit of global Christianity. ness to pedestrians, and awareness of bicycles Westerners can learn from faithful Christian and horse-carts, so the ability to navigate witness in Myanmar, and alarmist articles should tensions religiously is apparent. not dissuade our collaborative initiatives. BT No one questions that over the years Myanmar has sustained strict curbs on reli- —Molly T. Marshall is president of Central gious freedom; however, things are really Baptist Theological Seminary in Shawnee, Kan.

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Those of us who have been in church found the missing offering couldn’t move. Besides, my purse was too far plates tucked away on the away to reach it discretely. all our lives have undoubtedly floor near the organ. I just slumped in my seat and prayed for witnessed a lot of unintended disrup- All was well — or so the alarm to wind down quickly. Finally, I we thought. announced, “It’s my clock!” tions to worship and ministry. Here A minute or so later, We all had a good laugh. And I suppose are a few from my experience. there was a loud shriek of everyone wondered why I would have an alarm surprise from one of our clock in my purse in the first place. very July our church produces a chil- youth sitting in the third dren’s musical day camp. The platform pew. As she put her offer- *** area of the sanctuary is transformed into ing in the collection plate, she suddenly noticed E When I was a small child in Mississippi, my a theater set. there were spiders crawling around in it. mother, who was the church organist, arrived We put away the pulpit furniture and late for worship one Sunday, so I’ve been told. fixtures, returning them to their proper place *** In the midst of the gathering congregation, she after the final performance. In the early 1970s I taught choral music in hurried down the center aisle toward the organ. One Sunday following production week, a South Georgia high school and was part- Only later did she realize that in her haste the ushers came to the front of the sanctuary time music minister at a Baptist church. The to put on her sheer, voile dress that morning, during the morning service to prepare for col- school’s music building was a mobile unit she’d forgotten to put on her slip. lecting the offering. I noticed a panicked look located far enough away from the main build- on their faces when they suddenly realized the ing that the band director and I couldn’t hear *** offering plates were not in their usual place. the bell ring when classes changed. So during the prayer, there was a frantic The clock in the unit As a young college student, I was singing Haydn’s scramble as we searched for and, thankfully, was so unreliable that we Creation with an oratorio chorus in Louisville’s used our wristwatches to Southern Baptist Theological Seminary chapel. keep our classes on time. We reached the dramatic climax of the But one day my watch piece. The choir was singing fortissimo, the suddenly quit. instruments were giving it their all, and the I didn’t have time to get it fixed conductor was gesturing furiously. right away, so I carried my small, wind- Suddenly, the baton slipped out of the up alarm clock in my purse for a few conductor’s hand, bounced off the high ceiling days. (Those were the dark ages of of the chapel, and landed in the second row of technology.) the center pews with a force that would have The next Sunday morning I skewered someone had they been seated there. parked my purse at the left end He kept going, but I think even Haydn of the front pew in my church’s would have been surprised by this ending to his composition. sanctuary before the service. After conducting the choir *** anthem, I settled onto the far right end of the same pew to A small-town Georgia church I served had hear the sermon. more than its share of colorful characters. One A few minutes after the was a crusty, outspoken, but dearly beloved pastor began his sermon, a loud deacon, the son of a well-known senator. ringing noise emanated from the During a revival service, he was sitting other end of my pew. I gasped as against the back wall of the sanctuary. Midway my head jerked left, my eyes rivet- through the sermon, I glanced up from the ing on my purse. choir loft to see several rows of people toward The pastor paused; everyone the rear of the sanctuary nearly collapsing with looked around. I was so embarrassed I stifled laughter.

42 The late Henri Nouwen once said, “My whole life I have been complaining that my work was constantly interrupted, until I discovered the interruptions were my work.”

Apparently when our nationally-respected I was always fascinated by how, several guest preacher had made one of his stronger times during each hymn, he would use the Adventure and Inspiration points, the elderly deacon commented loud upbeat of his conducting pattern to scoop his enough for people around him to hear: “Oh, dentures back into his mouth. (expletive), I don’t believe that!” *** *** There are more stories I could tell. And if every During much of my growing-up years, my fam- minister were to share all the disruptions expe- ily did church planting in the Northeast. My dad rienced during well-planned church services, was pastor of several small mission churches, we would never stop chuckling. and was used to babies whimpering and toddlers Disruptions come with the territory, NURTURING FAITH walking around during his sermons. however. They are part of the fabric of congre- EXPERIENCE: Only one thing came close to unnerving gational life. him while he preached: the jingle bell shoelace The late Henri Nouwen once said, “My COASTAL GEORGIA holders one mom put on her wandering tod- whole life I have been complaining that my dler’s shoes every Sunday. work was constantly interrupted, until I dis- SEPT. 28 – OCT. 2 covered the interruptions were my work.” With theologian John Franke *** If worship planners and others look Adventure and inspiration come closely at the disruptions that invariably occur, When I was a small child, my dad held a stu- together in exploring the scenic coastline we will discover a treasure trove of unique dent pastorate in rural Mississippi. On Sunday (including a day on Cumberland Island) opportunities for ministry. BT evenings Mr. Green led gospel hymns. and the emerging theological trends He was an elderly farmer with very ques- impacting congregational life today. tionable musical skills, but a willing spirit. He —Naomi King Walker is music/worship pastor always wore overalls, even on Sundays. at Immanuel Baptist Church in Frankfort, Ky. baptiststoday.org.

Change keeps coming HOW WILL LEADERS RESPOND? hurch leaders know well what The missional response is contex- business leaders have discov- tual, organic, and dynamic for each Cered: The only thing constant congregation. Nothing never happens. is change. Everything is at crisis mode, Drawing upon scholarly research and leaders now have to be in constant and personal experiences that lead to response mode. practical helps, congregational lead- We are a technological society; ership expert Terry Hamrick helps every organization is a “tech” organi- churches to address the question: zation. The missional response is not “How do we be the people of God in programmable or predictable. the midst of such transition?”

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