Tag Archives: faith

Jesus Loves Me

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Every Wednesday I spend part of my evening at the L’Arche community in Lynchburg. There are L’Arche communities all over the world made up of individuals with intellectual disabilities. Wednesdays is the Lynchburg community’s Spiritual Life Night. Since October I have been leading this time which we spend in prayer, scripture reading, and singing.

Last night at the L’Arche Spiritual Life Night, we sang a bunch of songs, as we usually do. One of them was Jesus Loves Me, which we sing almost every week. It is a song we often think is just for children. As we sang it last night, one of the residents, Steve, was in a different part of the house. As we sang, he  stopped what he was doing and walked into our space. He stood next to me and uttered sounds that told us he was singing along. He looked in the direction of my songbook, and I handed it to him. He took it from me and started “singing” louder. As the song started to to come to an end, Steve moved on.

He knew the song and wanted to sing along.

It reminded me of a story I heard Connie Hopper tell once about visiting her older brother. She would take him recordings of her family group’s gospel music to listen to. The recording that got the most use, was that of their version of Jesus Loves Me.

No matter what our mental capability, state of our memory, or place in life, there are great hymns and songs of faith that help us remember that Jesus loves us. And there is none better than the song most of us learned growing up in the church as young children. And it reinforces the work of those Sunday school teachers and children’s ministers who teach the essence of the Christian faith, without all of the complexities: Jesus loves me.

The story goes that a student asked the theologian Karl Barth to summarize his theological in one sentence. Barth is reported to have said, “To quote a song I learned from my mother’s knee, ‘Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.’”

Prayer for All Saints

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Almighty God,
who hast knit together thine elect
in one communion and fellowship
in the mystical body of Your Son, Christ our Lord:
Give us grace so to follow Your blessed saints
in all virtuous and godly living,
that we may come
to those ineffable joys
that thou hast prepared for those
who unfeignedly love thee;
through the same Jesus Christ our Lord,
who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth,
one God, in glory everlasting. Amen

from Book of Common Prayer, 1979

Weekly Photo Challenge: Foreign

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Foreign. While foreign (rightly so) often brings up images of things outside of your own nation, it can also apply to things outside of or different from your normal environment, or even something which is out of place in general.

This picture was taken in Costa Rica this past January.  This is inside the Basilica de los Angeles in Cartago.  The Basilica is the largest Roman Catholic Church in Costa Rica, and people come from all over the country and other parts of Central America to this church.  They fall to their needs at the back of the church and shuffle down the aisle, praying.  Some use their rosaries, others just pray. This kind of devotion and expression of faith and spirituality has become foreign.


Prayer for Halloween

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On this hallowed evening, may the Holy Spirit fill us with the tricks of the trade of mask-making. In the same way that you call us to imagine ourselves in others’ shoes, call us to try on the faces, the masks, the voices, and the characters of those who fascinate and captivate us, those whom we fear, those whom we adore, those who have gone before us.  Guide little ones, elders, and everyone in-between safely as they cross paths with strangers, knock on neighbor’s doors, and open their own front doors. Tonight is a thin place – where darkness and light, heaven and earth, life and death, fear and awe dance so closely together. Saint us, trick, us betwixt us, treat us, beg us, and hallow us as we hallow your name.

Prayer by Elizabeth D. Barnum from Before the Amen: Creative Resources for Worship.

“Genuine Christian Community”

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From the German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  What do you think? Leave your comments/thoughts/ideas on this page under “Leave a Reply”.

There is probably no Christian to whom God has not given the uplifting experience of genuine Christian community at least once in his or her life. But in this world such experiences remain nothing but a gracious extra beyond the daily bread of Christian community life. We have no claim to such experiences, and we do not live with other Christians for the sake of gaining such experiences. It is not the experience of Christian community, but firm and certain faith within Christian community that holds us together. We are bound by faith, not by experience.

Don’t Worry??

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“When anxiety decreases sufficiently people can begin to think about their problems.” (Roberta Gilbert)

I have other the years been in various situations where I’ve had to help people calm down before they can begin to name and address the problem, or conflict, at hand. Last night, while on-call as a Chaplain Intern at the University of Virginia hospital, I experienced this again.

I received an urgent page from a nurse to assist with a patient who was in extreme anxiety. Scared and worried about what was going to happen to her, she was yelling out that nobody was going to move her from this place. As I talked to her and the anxiety slipped away, I learned that she was scared and worried about the pain that she was experiencing in her back. It turns out she has pretty bad arthritis. She was frustrated because she felt that she wasn’t getting any “answers” to why she was in so much pain or what they were going to do about it.  The problem that lay underneath all the anxiety was something that was able to be managed. Yet, the anxiety had to decrease in order for the problem to come to the surface. “Anxiety,” Gilbert writes, “impairs the ability to think.”

Often times we are taught that we shouldn’t worry because the God who clothes the lilies and feeds the sparrows, will surely do the same.  But somewhere in our emotional DNA we are a people who worry.  We experience anxiety in some way or another, on various levels. I met a man last night who felt guilty because he was experiencing anxiety. His mother and his church have taught him he should not feel those things.  I feel like this should not be the chance. One should not feel guilty because one feels worried or is anxious.

How do we talk about worry and anxiety in the Church? How do we respond to our own feelings of worry, even though intelligently we know that God is in control of all?

In the Land of Blood and Honey (2011)

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A recent hollywoodjesus.com review.

In the Bible we see the tension between the Jews and the Samaritans. Jesus even used this tension in his storytelling (Parable of the Good Samaritan) and in teachable moments (the woman at the well). The tension between the Christian Serbs and the Muslim Serbs during the Bosnian War in the early 1990s has its share of similarities. Somehow hatred becomes so great that one does not see the humanity in the other. This is what writer-director Angelia Jolie serves us in her directorial debut of In the Land of Blood and Honey.

Set during the Bosnian war, the film follows Danijel (Goran Kostic), a Serbian solider, as he re-encounters Ajla (Zane Marjanovic), a Bosnian Muslim artist who is a new captive in the camp Danijel oversees. Their bond is greater than any distance between the two. Before the war, Bosnia was one of the most diverse countries in Europe. After one bomb, sides were created. And suddenly, there were differences that were not okay.  The relationship between Danijel and Ajla becomes a metaphor in itself for the war. Their struggles to maintain a relationship with each other resembles the struggle (and the madness) of the two sides fighting this war.

Just as Danijel and Ajla began a relationship before the war started, throughout the film we see evidence of friends on opposing sides.  After his general father tells Danijel to get rid of Ajla, he comes to her in tears asking, “Can I trust you?” This sums up the feelings of many of the characters during the war. Trust is a luxury no one can afford when in war.

The film is brilliantly made. The film was shot in both the authentic language version (which was released in theaters) and the never-before-seen English language version (both versions are available on the Blu-ray and DVD).  Jolie keeps the film in constant motion, brisk while holding the viewer’s attention. She swiftly moves into the realities of war from the onset. And she does not apologize for it.  War is hell. And Jolie captures that hell with respect and grace.

More importantly, perhaps for Jolie, the film gives voice to those so often overlooked in war and in war films: the women.

Danijel says at one point in the film, “Camps are an ugly part of war.” So true as Jolie shows us in an opening scene. Women have been captured and as their possessions are being taken from them, they are asked who can cook. Two women, thinking they can possibly get on the soldiers’ good side, offer what they can do.  One is a doctor, another can sew.  The latter is asked by a soldier about her sexual abilities. Before the woman can answer, she is taken and raped in front of the other women. We are jarred into the reality of war for women. The act of rape is a common instrument of war throughout history.  This act rattles the movie, and rightly so, as it rattles the viewers. Yet, this scene, and others like it, tug at the viewer’s heartstrings in way that causes us to keep watching, as ugly as it can get.

There seems to be an understanding that men in uniform have a license to rape. As if violence against neighbor is not bad enough, there has to be violence against women as well. Jolie is one of the few actresses who have been to Bosnia, and other countries, for more than just a photo op.  She has been on the ground and seen the injustice and oppression that women have faced. We can only imagine that these troubling scenes come from stories that she has heard or witnessed.

Just as there is a long history of the tension between Jews and Samaritans that some argue is evidenced in the Hebrew Bible, the tension between the Serbs and Muslims is long and rich. Most likely unknown by the average viewer, some Serbian history slips into Jolie’s film. Early in the film, Danijel’s father, the General (Rade Serbedzija), instructs Danijl in military matters. As he does so, he provides a short history lesson on the region that helps explain some of the tensions. Jolie sprinkles these history lessons throughout the film.  Some have complained that this move was unnecessary and disrupted the flow of the film. I found it extremely helpful and thought that the way in which she handled it was perfect. There was no flow disruption here.

Jesus in John 4 did the same when he spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well. This woman had three strikes against her.  She was a woman, she was a Samaritan, and she was known for sleeping around. All three were good reasons for a respected Jewish teacher like Jesus not to be seen with her, much less talk to her. But Jesus did it anyway. Jesus’ actions here challenge us to care for the “other”; to see a bit a humanity in the “other.”

But this is not an easy thing to do.

Danijel represents this ethical struggle. Why does he save Ajla?  Because deep down he is fundamentally a good person and it is the right thing to do? Or because his current circumstances have made him a bit selfish? This very human struggle paints the film as the Serbia army prepares to face NATO. And it is this struggle that brings the film to an unexpected close.

The DVD/Blu-ray features include a making-of featurette and deleted scenes. An extra bonus on the Blu-ray includes a Q & A with Angelina Jolie and actress Vanesa Glodjo.

For more of my hollywoodjesus.com reviews, click here.

Religious Respect?

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Recently members of the US military personal were caught having burned copies of the Koran, the religious book of the Islamic faith.  President Obama apologized to the Afghan people for this act of disrespect.  There has been a lot of hoopla around this.  Should the President have apologized?

In a recent interview with ABC News, General John Allen, the top U. S. Commander in Afghanistan had the following to say:

“Why wouldn’t we [apologize]?” the general asked. “This is the central word of God for them. Why wouldn’t we? We didn’t do it on purpose but we should apologize and we did.”

I agree with the General.  By apologizing we are saying we respect that this is part of their religion, their belief system.  It may not be mine, or yours, but it deserves to be respected in the same ways we expect others to respect ours.

I think one of the problems we face as a people, not just a Christian-people, is our inability to respect other beliefs.  We are called to love God and to love each other.  Does that not mean we are to respect others’ faith? It’s almost as if we have forgotten our past.

Christian history has told how Christians were disrespected for their faith, and treated poorly for it.  Christian history has told us how Christians disrespected other faiths and treated them poorly for it.

In the Gospel of Luke Jesus, a Jewish man, takes the time to talk with a Samaritan woman.  This was unheard of for various reasons, Jesus was a man talking to a woman.  Jesus was a Jew talking to a Samaritan.  Jesus was a teacher of the Law talking to a known sinner.  Jesus did what Jesus does best – erase the lines of separation.  Jesus didn’t tell the woman all the reasons why she was wrong.  He showed respect, compassion, and love.  And as a result, she believed.

It seems since the beginning of time humanity has used one religion to disrespect another. It was done to the Hebrews and by the Hebrews.  It was done to the early Christians, and it has been done by Christians since.  It has been done to the Muslims and by the Muslims.  When does it end?  Are we in some weird stage of humanity’s life span where we learn nothing from the past?  We just continue in this endless cycle of disrespect of religions?  Is this what God wants?

Burning another religion’s holy book – the equivalent of our Bible – is not out of respect, compassion, or love.  It does not point to a love of God or a love for others.  And telling a President, regardless of political standing, not to apologize is not a sign of respect, compassion, or love.

So, all of this pondering has left me with more questions – go figure.  But, I would love to hear what you think about all this.  Feel free to leave your thoughts or questions below.

Faith Fumes

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Have you ever driven your car and pushed its limits on its gas? “I can make it a little bit further before I have to stop and get gas,” we rationalize. That gas needle gets lower and lower and we keep going and going. We say that we are running on fumes. Don’t we do that with our faith? We go and we go and we go running on our faith supply, all while our faith needle gets lower and lower and lower.

Lots of things cause this to happen. Words with friends (and not the game) can cause us to distance ourselves from others and faith. Choices we make like drinking from a red solo cup, or taking a hit off that joint, or joining in with the name calling, or ignoring someone on purpose, or hanging out with questionable people can lead us down the wrong path. Someone says something or does something to us and we get angry at that person. Our anger blinds us to see that person in any other way.

All of these (and many more) are like a dark cloud hovering over us distancing us from God, from holy living, and from the community of faith. Yet, we tend to keep going rather than stop and refill our spiritual tank. And when we do that, we find ourselves getting weaker and weaker. So, how do we refill our tank?

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, provided Christians with these General Rules for living in the Christian community:

  1. Avoid evil of all sorts (or do no harm)
  2. Do good of all sorts
  3. Attend upon all the “ordinances of God” (or stay in love with God)

Professor Ted Campbell talks about these Rules as a “kind of contract by which Methodists held each other accountable from week to week for their moral conduct.” In particular the community held each other accountable when it came to the “ordinances of God”. This included public worship; reading, studying, and preaching/teaching of the Scriptures; Holy Communion; private and public prayer; and fasting. These practices are also known as “means of grace.”

United Methodists understand means of grace as the ways in which God channels grace to humanity. When we come to the Table and receive the bread and the juice we are experiencing God’s grace. When we study the Scriptures alone, in a group, or during worship we are experiencing God’s grace. When we spend time in prayer we experience God’s grace.

When we participate in these private and public spiritual disciplines – when we really participate in these disciplines – we refill our spiritual tank. In essence the more time we spend in holy time with God, the more our spiritual tank will stay full. Because we need a full tank when it comes to choosing between what is right and what is easy.