ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
April 20, 2024 Psalm 19 has an extraordinary opening, Heaven is declaring God’s glory; the sky is proclaiming his handiwork. Like many of you, I have witnessed an explosion of colors in the sky that has left me overwhelmed with awe, but I’m pretty sure no matter how spectacular a sunrise or a sunset, it does not even begin to declare God’s glory or proclaim God’s handiwork. We try our absolute best to grasp at the essence of God, the fullness of divine love, and the transformative power of merciful kindness. And because every attempt falls shamefully short, we invite poets, artists, songwriters, and choreographers to capture our imaginations and take us to the apex. And thank God that God remains so much more. In no way am I suggesting that we should stop. Absolutely not! But the moment we have convinced ourselves that we have comprehended the fullness of God is the moment we are sitting in front of an empty idol. This is why we continue to invite poets, artists, songwriters, and choreographers to capture our imaginations and take us to the apex of what can be dreamed in this moment, and there we give thanks. Thank you, God, for meeting us in Jesus, and thank you for always pushing us beyond what we claimed to have known and believed yesterday. There is such joy in a never-ending journey of discovery. Amen.
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ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
April 19, 2024 Sometimes choosing to set a healthy boundary can look to others like you are holding a grudge. Though the two could not be further apart, I can understand how smart boundary setting could be mistaken for a mean-spirited grudge. Part of this has to do with our poor understanding of forgiveness, along with the belief that self-care is selfish. Jesus said, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” though I think he could have said, “Until you truly love yourself and can show yourself a little bit of grace, you won’t be able to love your neighbor in a way that honors God’s love.” There is also a community component in that there can be situations where we know that loving that “neighbor” is going to be extraordinarily challenging in the short-term and maybe in the long-term. But as I continue to work on my capacity to love, being mindful of healthy and smart boundaries, I can both honor and celebrate the love others are displaying. It requires a maturity in one’s faith, along with a big-picture understanding of the Christian life. I remember hearing a mother of a murder victim speak with appreciation for the prison chaplain who was looking after the young man who had committed the murder. She said something like, “I want that young man to hear of God’s love, but I’m not the person who can do it.” I think that’s fair, for even forgiveness in a situation like that does not necessarily mean friendship. I know I need to work on forgiveness, and I know I need your help, Merciful Spirit. Let me honor the process along with honoring my own spiritual and mental health. Amen. ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
April 18, 2024 James Seymour, the Chair of our Elders, will see a book at a used book sale and send me a text asking if I would be interested. One of those books is written by David Gushee, entitled Still Christian: Following Jesus Out of American Evangelicalism. It has been an interesting read, basically an autobiography within the historical takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention and Seminaries by Fundamentalism and the Radical Religious Right. In the middle of the book, I came across a name I knew well, Dr. Molly Marshall. When I was in Kansas City, I did a lot of work with Central Baptist Seminary, a moderate American Baptist Seminary. When Molly was named president in the mid-90s, it was quite controversial, yet she was celebrated by many of us in more progressive circles. In the book, Gushee writes about his time at Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, where Marshall had been a professor for eleven years but was forced out in 1994 by those who were opposed to women in ministry or any sort of leadership. Gushee writes in his book, My journals reveal that I knew from the very beginning that the women’s issue could be a deal-breaker for me and that my integrity would be tested on it. Before I even taught my first class, I wrote: “Women in pastoral roles. That issue—if I won’t change and if Mohler (the president of the seminary) won’t accept a difference on it—will sink my future at SBTS” (Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY). And then one week after starting my teaching at Southern, I wrote this: “What is the issue today that needs a clear, biblical, prophetic word, just like racism needed in 1953 or 1963 or 1863? I think that issue is the full equality of women. Help me, Lord, to lie prostrate before you and speak the truth in good conscience, consequences be damned.” When later that year Molly Marshall was forced out of Southern, I did nothing to stand up for her besides complain to my journal. How many of us, when the risk is low, can make pretty dramatic statements of our faith and think to ourselves just how far we would be willing to go, but then when the risk is real and the threat has implications in regard to our standing in society, our bank account, or certain friendships, are quick to complain ever-so-quietly to our journal or to God in prayer? Yet no one else knows our opinion on the topic. At Cypress Creek Christian Church, we have moved beyond the question of women in ministry, though sadly, we are confronted on a fairly regular basis by those who want to tell us why we are wrong. Putting that aside, where are those places of faithfulness today where we are decrying the injustice in the privacy of our journal or in a safe group of like-minded people? Where are our life choices suggesting some insecurity around the unconditional and unrelenting love of God? Where are we choosing silence, even though we know that silence is choosing to be complicit with the very thing we find to be in opposition to the love, compassion, and justice in the life and teachings of Jesus? Later in the chapter, Gushee referenced another journal entry, a sort of prayer… I realize… how much of a hit my integrity—and my joy—have taken under the oppression of this place (SBTS). I have bent to make it work. But your Word speaks words of simple truth—maintain justice, tell the truth, do what is right. Maybe that’s our prayer today… Holy God, may the Living Word continue to challenge me to maintain justice, tell the truth, and do what is right. Amen. ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
April 17, 2024 In their book, Becoming The Answer To Our Prayers, Shane Claiborne and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove write, Throughout the history of the church, Christians have recognized that we cannot pray “Our Father” together on Sunday and deny bread to our brothers and sisters on Monday. But we live in difficult days. The hungry are not just hungry. Often they are also our enemies. Drug addiction and mental illness make many who are hungry hard to deal with. They threaten us. Others have been hungry for so long that they are angry, even at those of us who want to help. We worry about how to protect ourselves from them while at the same time feeling guilty for our complicity in their poverty. So we give to charities. And charities become the brokers of our compassion toward the poor. The problem with this is that we never get to know the poor… we never hear their stories. The authors are correct when they describe these as difficult days while putting forth some of the complexities we face in trying to see our compassion actually touch the lives of others. But when we are removed from any direct contact and relationship with those who are poor, we are quickly drawn into the demonization or scapegoating of those who yearn for their daily bread, housing, health care, or security for their children. What opportunities do most of us have when it comes to encountering and engaging those whose economic circumstances are very different from our own? Merciful and Compassionate God, continue to open doors of understanding and then encourage me to walk through those doors, meet new people, and listen to their stories without judgement. There is some risk involved, so I pray for the courage to do so. Amen. ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
April 16, 2024 This Sunday is Youth Sunday, and if you’ve shared in a Youth Sunday at Cypress Creek Christian Church, then you know you don’t want to miss out. There is something amazing about how the youth who are connected to this church find a way to publicly offer us a glimpse into their faith journeys—their questions, doubts, hopes, and joys. In a world where a growing number of people are finding connections and friendships through online gaming and other communities, there remains something important about in-person relationships and connections. It is extraordinarily good for the mind and soul, and from what I understand, our youth (many of them whose families are not technically members of the church) are finding something affirming and life-giving in their weekly gatherings, along with camp and mission trips. If Cypress Creek Christian Church offered nothing else, I think we could feel as if the ministry of the church was honoring the life-giving and life-affirming love of God. If you’ve never attended a Youth Sunday, make sure to be there this Sunday at 10:25am in the Centrum (one service Sunday). And be prayerful that what occurs encourages the youth in their ongoing journeys of faith. Years ago, when I was doing Youth Ministry, I had a Youth Sunday that was sort of disastrous. It wasn’t what was shared, but we missed a few cues, and a key participant didn’t show up. There was lots of weeping and gnashing of teeth, but when it was all said and done, the congregation gushed all over those youth. They were affirmed, and there was a lot of good to be named. For months, the youth talked about the experience as a positive, not dwelling on the handful of oops along the way. One of those youth is a minister today, and three of them (that I still know) are very active with their children in churches. I’m not suggesting it was their Youth Group experiences or that specific Youth Sunday, but I believe those were part of it. We give thanks, O Merciful God, for all the work of grace that occurs within the Youth Ministry of Cypress Creek Christian Church. We give thanks for the affirmations, the sense of self-worth that is discovered, the opportunities to share and receive support in the challenges of growing up, and for all the laughter, joy, and silliness. Continue to find ways of using the people of this Church as a means by which your love is poured over youth and children everywhere. Amen. ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
April 15, 2024 Prayer for the Week (a rewrite of the opening prayer in worship yesterday) We open our hearts to you, O God, whose call upon this world orients us toward justice, kindness, and mercy. Today, we invite your presence to come among us and to be made known to us. With humility and vulnerability, we make ourselves available to your Spirit as you seek to shape and refine us in the ways of the resurrected Christ. We desire that every aspect of our lives be touched by your grace and encouraged by your dream for this world. It is not our desire to be bystanders in your work, but full participants in the fulfillment of your just and sacred purpose. We open ourselves to you, Lord God, as we seek to be the body of Christ alive and at work in this world. We offer this prayer with gratitude for the way you have claimed all of us as your beloved children. Amen. ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
April 14, 2024 Outside of a scientific experiment, nothing happens inside a vacuum. There is no event, from the world-changing historic events to the rather mundane events in our daily lives, that occurs apart from other influences. Dr. Warren Carter’s study yesterday was extraordinarily helpful in understanding the multitude of events that shaped the central texts of the Christian faith, that is, the New Testament. So often, we try to simplify something extraordinary, or maybe we put the extraordinary event all on God, but even the extraordinary things of life are birthed from the messy and complicated, and the line from Point A to Point B looks more like the scribbling of a child. Though I will not attempt to summarize Dr. Carter’s wonderful presentation, I will express my appreciation for his overview of seven events that shaped the New Testament world (which is actually the title of one of his many books). Though he says in the book that there are, of course, more than seven, these worldly influences do not reduce my respect or appreciation for the New Testament. In fact, knowing some of the twists and complications adds both layers of beauty and depths of real faithfulness amidst the daily grind of human existence. Some might say it happened exactly the way God planned it, as if there was no free will, but I find the Jesus of my faith living and teaching, dying and rising within a historic period of time influenced by politics, social conflict, disease and natural disasters, greed, hatred, love, and compassion. I have no desire to follow a Jesus who lived apart from the world or sort of danced just above its muckiness. For that reason, I want a Bible fully rooted in all of that real, earthy and amazing muckiness of life. I seek to know you, O Living Christ, beginning with the life you lived in a very complicated and painful time in history. You taught and served people who knew firsthand the full spectrum of human existence. There, you brought life and hope, love and peace, into the world. Thank you! Amen. ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
April 13, 2024 I had the opportunity to listen to Dr. Warren Carter twice yesterday. Both times, I was challenged and pushed to go deep. This morning, I am so looking forward to the next round of teaching (9am - 3pm on the 2nd floor of the Education Building). And of course, he will be with us on Sunday, in both Sunday School (joint Sunday School in the Forum at 9am) and worship (10:25am in the Centrum). So far, Dr. Carter has provided few answers. In fact, he might not have given us a single answer. Instead, I think many of us are wrestling with a new set of questions we had not previously asked of ourselves, the Bible, the world we live in, the church in which we serve, and the God at the center of it all. When we live in the conviction that we are loved beyond measure and that the love of God is not tied to the right answers, correct theology, or proper recitation of a creed, there is true freedom to explore. Suddenly that part of ourselves that we have tried to ignore out of fear or shame can be brought into the light, and with joy, we discover a God who never intended for us to live in fear or shame. I do not believe faith is a task we seek to complete, but an ever-expanding universe into which we continue to stretch ourselves and journey at least one step beyond where we were yesterday. I’m going to be chewing on a number of wonderful new ideas for weeks to come. For the gifted and insightful people you bring into my life, O Lord, I am thankful. Engage me, stretch me, and even bring some discomfort where comfort has given way to complacency. I believe you do this because you love me and want the best for me and this world in which I live. Amen. ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
April 12, 2024 The other night, I walked into the education building here at the church, and the digital sign right in front of me was stuck on a single screen. Now it is important to understand that we use an Amazon FireStick as a way of running our communication slides on the screen (thanks to Joel for figuring that out). The image on the screen was for the 2023 Exorcist movie, and the image was pretty terrifying (see below). It didn’t quite scream welcome the way I would probably want us to welcome folks, though a few people might have screamed upon entering the space. And though I am one who believes there are some demonic-like forces in this world that are behind things like systemic injustice, I’m not one who necessarily believes in little girls spewing a green pea soup-like substance upon the priest who is attempting the exorcism. This all got me to think about how people encounter us for the first time. When I use the word “us,” I am referring to the church. I have been at Cypress Creek Christian Church for almost twelve years, and like most things that become sort of routine in your life, I wonder what I no longer notice. Yes, I noticed the Exorcist image on the screen, as that was pretty different, but what things might I be missing all together? We claim our vision: Putting Love First In All Things, but I am forever challenged not only by that calling in regard to my individual life but also wondering whether it is clearly cast from our collective life as a church. Do people coming into this place meet something that appears to them as life-sucking (the demonic entity from the Exorcist) or something that is life-giving and life-changing? Our Vision Statement is based on words from 1st John 4 (we love because God first loved us), and earlier in that chapter, we read: “Dear friends, let’s love each other, because love is from God, and everyone who loves is born from God and knows God… God is love.” (vs.7&8). Because love is from God and God is love, as we love one another by Putting Love First, we are helping God introduce the divine nature to others. And when we love, I think we are also introducing ourselves anew to the presence of God. From the moment someone wanders onto our property and into our buildings, are they being introduced to love and thus to God? Holy God, Source of Love, I pray for my life to be an introduction to love and thus an introduction to you. For that to occur, I need to encounter for myself your limitless and relentless love more and more often. Amen. ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
April 11, 2024 I am really excited for Dr. Warren Carter’s visit to Cypress Creek Christian Church this weekend. His time with us all started with a conversation I had with Terry Ewing, a staff member at Phillips Theological Seminary and longtime friend. We were having lunch, and I echoed a frustration I heard from many within our church family, specifically how one talks about scripture in an honest and thoughtful way when confronted by those who say things like, “I just believe in the Bible.” I believe churches like Cypress Creek have not always provided tools to their people for the purpose of articulating and engaging conversation on the topic of scripture, especially a life-giving approach to scripture that doesn’t necessarily take it literally. In 2nd Timothy 3:16-17, we read: Every scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for showing mistakes, for correcting, and for training character, so that the person who belongs to God can be equipped to do everything that is good. The word that often grabs people’s attention is the word 'inspired', as it has been interpreted to mean all kinds of things, but mostly a very strongly held literal approach to scripture. The word we translate as “inspired by God” is θεόπνευστος in the Greek, a word that the author probably coined as it does not appear in other Greek literature before this use. The two words you find in that one Greek word are: theo (God) and pnéō (breath out). In the second word, you might see the prefix of the word pneumonia. What I think is important is that the word was never intended to bring about what we would describe as Fundamentalism, which was born in the 19th century. This is where we get the notion of inerrancy (the Bible having no errors) and thus should be read literally, believing that every word was given by God. But at the time 2 Timothy was written, the only Bible that existed were the Jewish scriptures, or what we might refer to as the Old Testament. Within those texts, we find two specific passages where God’s breath gave life—Genesis 2, where God breathed into the nostril of the Adam (the first person), and in Ezekiel 37, where we find God’s breath bringing the valley of dry bones to life. I tend to believe that 2nd Timothy was never intended to create some sort of restrictive system of understanding scripture, but to suggest that the stories of faith have the capacity to shape and equip us for the good work to which we have been called. There is life found in scripture, and I would even go as far as saying that the demands of Fundamentalism, including inerrancy, have sucked the life-giving power out of Scripture, leaving them brittle and lifeless. The stories of the faithful, specifically those who walked alongside Jesus and those who tried to implement his message of love, mercy, and kindness, both successfully and not so successfully, offer us a starting place for prayerful exploration, discussion, and life-giving inspiration for our own work of seeking to Put Love First (alongside mercy and kindness). From poetry to parables, from history to hyperbole, from wisdom to the whimsical, the Bible's life-giving power is unleashed when we detach it from a rather recent construct called inerrancy, a construct that has sadly constricted scripture. This is all to say that I look forward to Dr. Carter’s visit and his ability to provide us with more tools for how we understand and speak about the Bible. I love the words of scripture, and I love your Living Word, O God. Allow my life to be a joyful dance in which I explore and engage scripture for the purpose of growing in my knowledge of your love and my capacity to share love. Amen. |
AuthorRev. Bruce Frogge Archives
May 2024
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