Turning the Tables

Posted on January 18, 2010 by Robert Franklin

[picapp align=”right” wrap=”true” link=”term=turning+tables&iid=3174285″ src=”c/3/b/e/Croupiers_Hone_Their_ca63.jpg?adImageId=9221870&imageId=3174285″ width=”234″ height=”156″ /]  There is a historical belief that our connection with God is inately religious as opposed to inherently relational.  In plain terms, God is accessed through a series of human acts (some very odd) performed in a particular sequence: religion defined.  Engaging God through organic and familiar practices (like talking) is relationship.  Theologians have argued the merits and disadvantages of both approaches since long before the birth of Christ.

Jesus weighed in on the conversation, although he is largely ignored.  According to John’s account of Jesus’ life, Jesus entered the core of Jewish religious practice and flipped it upside down.

“The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” (John 2:13-17, ESV)

For those familiar with this story, ever wonder what exactly Jesus was so exercised about?  How could he cause such a disturbance?  For what purpose did he drive out the purveyors of accepted trades, the supporters of the status quo?  Most of what Jesus ended (for a brief time) specifically facilitated the continuation of the sacrificial system.  The sacrificial system God set up.

Could it be Jesus’ statement wasn’t focused on the activity of those he drove out?  Could it be the offense was not the selling of goods, it was the separation between God and those he invited into fellowship with him through the sacrifice?

My friends at Main Street will take a look at this idea this weekend.

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Monochromatic (Pt. 2 “The Soapbox”)

Posted on January 15, 2010 by Robert Franklin

[picapp align=”left” wrap=”true” link=”term=soapbox&iid=7438818″ src=”6/4/4/0/Hoar_Cross_Holds_12c4.jpg?adImageId=9051965&imageId=7438818″ width=”234″ height=”351″ /] I try to refrain from “venting my spleen” while writing for public consumption.  The cybersphere is already full of bile anyway, why add mine?  The margin for error when standing on one’s soapbox is also very large and I despise being ignorant outside the confines of my own home.  Actually, I am not a big fan of ignorance at home either.  Deep breath, now the plunge.

I am appalled by the news coverage of the earthquake that struck Haiti January 12th.  It seems that as soon as something really awful happens somewhere in the world Americans are anxious to go into compassion hysteria.  We made New Orleans into a “great American city” and promised to “restore it to its former glory” after the hurricanes.  I visited New Orleans before the disaster, I worked in post-disaster clean up and I have visited the city recently.  From my view, the hurricane afforded a terrible, dirty, violent city a historical opportunity to remake itself.  The city bears marks of actual improvement over its pre-hurricane state even after the indescribable devastation it suffered.

I am seeing the same thing happen to Haiti.  I visited Haiti years ago and even though I was quarantined to the “tourist areas” I am scarred by the experience.  The systemic economic, political, and spiritual poverty is hard for an American to fathom.  One may expect such lack in the bush of Africa or the depths of the South American rainforest, but a few hundred miles from the United States?

I choose to ignore the American news casts, instead getting my video news feeds from outside sources.  I watched footage from several international news agencies last night and my fears were confirmed:  there were bodies of the dead strewn on the street sides and sidewalks, some not even given the dignity of being set aside.  One of many particularly memorable images was of a perhaps seven year old child laying on the curb, head grotesquely resting on the street below.  A long line of unseeing foot traffic walked past.

I did a quick search and already the first return page is full of sites ready to receive relief donations.  Haiti, a nation of 8,000,000-9,000,000, received 1,461,000,000 in direct aid between 1990 and 2005 from the United States alone.  I fully support wise giving to relieve Haitian suffering.  It is prudent to know, however, that the current state of buildings in Haiti is the normative state of the country and we should not pretend otherwise.

Machete-wielding looters brought more terror to Haiti streets Friday as US troops poured into the quake-ravaged nation to start streaming tons of aid to traumatized and destitute people.     

This is Haiti. I am sure there are all sort of places fingers may be pointed, but the facts remain, Haiti is a place where much of human depravity and human need may be found without any effort.

Pray for Haiti, pray for the women and men who have made it their life’s work to stand with the light of the good news of the love of Jesus in the midst of a land known for its witchcraft, its trafficking of its own children, its addiction to addictions and chronic susceptibility to preventable disease.  Pray these brothers and sisters in Jesus will remain strong and keep pointing people to the hope of every nation.  Pray that God will rescue Haiti from being Haiti and give Haitians the power to be something far better.  Give carefully, give generously and keep on praying. 

For my Main Street family, 100% of funds directed through www.gobgr.org go directly to servicing the need in Haiti.  Nothing kept back for advertising, overhead, or conferences in the Bahamas.

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Unrecoverable Loss

Posted on January 13, 2010 by Robert Franklin

[picapp align=”left” wrap=”true” link=”term=hurricane+katrina&iid=914721″ src=”5/9/3/3/Demolition_Continues_On_9ac7.jpg?adImageId=8962211&imageId=914721″ width=”380″ height=”253″ /]Due to the events of the past decade we are becoming familiar once again with unrecoverable loss.  The new millenium promised a recovery from the stock market blowout of the late ’90 but then September 11, 2001 happened. Before we could catch our breath, hurricanes Rita and Katrina hit.  Before we could clean the mess, the national economy stopped growing and people who had never looked for work suddenly found that work could not be found.  Debt piled up, assets disappeared and the sorrows of many increased.

Just a thumbnail of the past ten years (I kept the list deliberately short) reminds us of the loss this generation will not regain.  I am wrestling with avoiding a greater loss than these things.  It is a loss that is eternal.  Jesus spoke of this loss in a story he told:

“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. He called together his servants and entrusted his money to them while he was gone. He gave five bags of silver to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last—dividing it in proportion to their abilities. He then left on his trip.

“The servant who received the five bags of silver began to invest the money and earned five more. The servant with two bags of silver also went to work and earned two more. But the servant who received the one bag of silver dug a hole in the ground and hid the master’s money.

“After a long time their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money. The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of silver came forward with five more and said, ‘Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest, and I have earned five more.’ “The master was full of praise. ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’ “The servant who had received the two bags of silver came forward and said, ‘Master, you gave me two bags of silver to invest, and I have earned two more.’ “The master said, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’ “Then the servant with the one bag of silver came and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate. I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back.’ “But the master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! If you knew I harvested crops I didn’t plant and gathered crops I didn’t cultivate, why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.’

“Then he ordered, ‘Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one with the ten bags of silver. To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ (Matthew 25:14-30, NLT)

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Sounding the Horn

Posted on January 12, 2010 by Robert Franklin

One of the great privileges I have is to work with a group of wonderfully talented individuals.  My friends at Main Street have recently been blessed by the services of Tyler Andrew.  Tyler came to us all the way from Southern California and we are so grateful for this gift from our Lord.

Amongst several other responsibilities, Tyler does the visual branding for my message series.  He has the task to take my ideas and to translate themes into images that are both pleasing and memorable.  Here is his work from the past year.

You may download any of the accompanying messages from iTunes or stream download them (.mp3) at www.sievechurch.wordpress.com.

I begin each year with an attempt to articulate what I believe God wants to do through the congregation during the days we are allotted.  I believe as Main Street grows in attendance and membership we must remember that God is always bigger still, that we have a particular set of responsibilities God has ordained and there is not one “insignificant” in our number.

This series focused on a simple love story drama we wrote just for Main Street.  The point of the series: God’s love expressed by the shedding of the blood of Christ (blood that stains) washes clean the stains inflicted on our own hearts by our choosing to sin.

Even though we planned this series way ahead of time, it really seemed like we were borrowing from the headlines of the day.  The most important part of this series, I believe, was the launch of the Celebrate Recovery program at Main Street.  Celebrate Recovery is an effective way for people to bring their hurts, habits and hang-ups to Jesus and allow God, through the Holy Spirit to make a change, inside-out.  It has been wonderful for us.

It is my firm conviction that if Christianity cannot stand up to scrutiny then it is worthless.  Unbelievable tackles some of the more difficult Christian beliefs.  I was as honest as I could be in dealing with whether or not the Bible is really true, whether or not God’s rules for sex still apply to modern times, whether or not science and Scripture can coexist.

Boomerang was all about the things in life that tend to come back to us: for good or for ill.  It was my first series after taking a seven week sabbatical.  I was so ready to be back with my Main Street family again!

The “Main Street” take on Francis Chan’s book cover.  This series continues to be talked about to this day.  The Holy Spirit, through Pastor Chan, is challenging us to act like we really believe Jesus is who he says he is rather than some cheap “get out of jail free” card.

Strip away the layers of sentimentality and you may just find Jesus in the Christmas story.  This Advent season we focused on the enormous cost, the extreme denigration, the complete emptying required in God becoming flesh.  My favorite of Tyler’s work all year long.

By the way, Tyler also plays a mean trumpet!

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Nothing in Common

Posted on January 11, 2010 by Robert Franklin

[picapp align=”left” wrap=”true” link=”term=ghandi&iid=3283145″ src=”c/0/b/8/A_fun_runner_2526.jpg?adImageId=8924575&imageId=3283145″ width=”380″ height=”583″ /]The power of religion makes Jesus about as accessible as an alien from another galaxy. In fact, most “Christian” religions teach Jesus in such a manner as to make him into “a little green man.” Jesus made water into wine, walked on water, calmed the raging waters; who can relate to that? The religions that don’t at least lean toward “E.T.” strip Jesus of his Diety of completely, recreating him in the image of Mahatma Gandhi.

The gospel writers, and subsequently the early church Fathers, fought ferociously for the teaching of the tension of a man with whom every human could relate and the God who loved us so much “he gave.” Fully God, fully man. Fully vulnerable, fully sovereign. Fully obedient, fully self-determined. This foundational assertion is a great challenge to perpetuate because it makes no sense. How can Jesus be just like me and do all the things he did?

The oft taught story of the “temptation of the Christ” is one of many examples in the gospels of this unvarnished contradiction of terms: God-man. Jesus, creator of all humans may discover as life-sustaining, became hungry. Jesus, the authority by which the universe came into existence through the spoken word, became powerless. Jesus, the “insider” of souls, looked at the mirror into his own heart.

His hunger satisfied by God’s word, his authority submitted to his Father, his heart bowed in worship to the Sovereign of the Universe, Jesus was fully us and fully what we must be.

This life is mystical, spiritual, practical, difficult, empowering, subservient, much more and entirely real.

My friends at Main Street will be talking about this on Sunday.

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Feeling Worthless

Posted on January 8, 2010 by Robert Franklin

[picapp align=”right” wrap=”true” link=”term=worth&iid=175814″ src=”0172/f1c91276-dabb-4ad6-a689-f468004e4013.jpg?adImageId=8861712&imageId=175814″ width=”234″ height=”156″ /]Whatever the future holds, it is likely to prove impossible to restore in full the sanctity of life view. The philosophical foundations of this view have been knocked asunder. We can no longer base our ethics on the idea that human beings are a special form of creation, made in the image of God, singled out from all other animals, and alone possessing an immortal soul. Homo sapiens endows its life with some unique, almost infinite value? Dr. Peter Singer, PhD. In Pediatrics, ‘Sanctity of life or quality of life?’, 72(1):128–9, July, 1983

I remember when this article first was published. I ran across it again this morning. The content of Dr. Singer’s assertion has been reprinted again and again in the past quarter century. We may not be “progressing” as quickly as the Princeton professor predicted, but we are continuing the slog toward deciding that humanity is nothing really special after all. Homo sapiens is just one grouping of many biological anomalies, an expression of the infinite possibilities of an arbitrary combination of “animate” elements.

American culture makes a show of continuing to argue the philosophical merits of Dr. Singer’s statement while simultaneously behaving as if it believes every word. While we decry the senseless loss of life due to military and terrorist activities, our country terminates somewhere between 1,300,000 and 1,400,000 pregnancies each year through surgical and chemical abortion. (The estimate is somewhere between 30,000,000 and 50,000,000 abortion terminated pregnancies worldwide.)  Abortion is among the most common surgical procedures practiced in the United States and termination of a potential person may described in the same terms as the removal of intestinal polyp.

From my office window I can see the sun reflect off the crystalline blanket the clouds pulled over the ground last night and I wonder if my ability to feel something we call appreciation and wonder is worthwhile at all. If all I am is a piece of livestock, consuming the resources available to me and producing waste byproducts then what? Furthermore, why should I care what Dr. Singer or anyone else says? We are all just heads of wheat readying for the death of the harvest.

“I am nothing—how could I ever find the answers? I will cover my mouth with my hand. I have said too much already. I have nothing more to say.” (Job 40:4-5, NLT)

“He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.“ (Psalm 2:4-7, ESV)


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