Author: Fred Shope

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Prayer for Charleston and Beyond

Father, we pray for the people of Charleston, for the families of those killed and for those injured. We pray for continued healing and strength in the weeks and months ahead. Thank you for the gospel we have seen in the forgiveness extended toward the shooter. Let that spirit of forgiveness and love spread throughout the city, throughout the state, and throughout the nation.

We pray that you would take what was meant for evil and turn it into the good of repentance, forgiveness, and reconciliation between races, between denominations, between political parties. May your church be united in the love of Christ and may the world know who we are through that love.

Let your name be hallowed, your kingdom come, and your will be done even in the midst of tragedy.

Amen

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Repentance: The Other Side of the Coin

Last week, I wrote here about the importance of forgiveness. Forgiveness is a vital, ongoing part of life as a follower of Jesus. There is another side to that coin. Along with being people who are known for forgiveness, we are called to be folks who are known for repentance.

Repentance is one of those concepts that we sometimes have a hard time defining. It is definitely one of those things that we have a hard time doing. Repentance is usually defined as being sorry for our sins. That is part of it, however I believe being people of repentance and creating a culture of repentance in our communities calls us to go much further. Of course, this is just my belief, although I am convinced that it is informed by Scripture. Your results may vary.

The Greek word “metanoeo,” usually translated “repent” means to change one’s mind, or to turn away from. It is turning away from a way of thinking and acting that brings death and turning to life. Jesus told people to turn from their way of thinking about the kingdom of God and turn to God`s way, the way of the Messiah. The Sermon on the Mount lays out the essentials of the kingdom way of life.

When I look at the way Jesus calls us to live I see a life of repentance. We need to repent and turn away from sins we commit or from heart attitudes that are not pleasing to God. I would contend that there will be times when we need to turn away from words and actions that may hurt or offend someone, even if there is not sin involved, and even if the hurt was inadvertant. We are told to do everything we can to live at peace with others. Jesus said that we are to go to anyone we know has something against us, even if that means leaving religious duties. He also tells us that we are to be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves. In our relationships, we are to be smart and awake to the effect we have on others and be harmless in our dealings.

I believe that we should be known as people who are quick to repent and even quicker to forgive. Our churches and communities should be known as communities of repentance, forgiveness, and reconciliation, fueled by the mutual, sacrificial love of Christ. Think of what that would look like!

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Weekend Wanderings

Happy first weekend of June! This has been a busy week but I was able to put together a few links for your viewing pleasure. Next weekend, Jan and I are heading to New York City for a week so the wanderings will take a couple weeks off. In the meantime, enjoy these slices of the internet:

Very good post from Michael Spencer.
Interesting post from Scot McKnight.
Trinity Sunday post from Chaplain Mike.
Thoughtful post from Lisa Dye.
Thought provoking post from Mike Erich.

A Christian response to Caitlyn Jenner.
The Jesus slingshot. Yep.
Really?
Again, really?
Stage two exile.

This is bad.
This is a sad state of affairs.
P. T. Barnum was right.
Michael Hidalgo on judging.
Sin boldly?

Beggar to beggar.
The big reveal.
Life after retirement.
Wow.
Again, wow.

Have a blessed couple of weeks!

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World Vision Wednesday

In May, enough rain fell on the state of Texas to cover the entire state with 8 inches of water! 24 people have died and there is devastation statewide from the rain and tornadoes. World Vision is helping with relief efforts. For more information, including how you can help, check this out.

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Wisdom From Don Henley

As you may know, I believe that all truth is God’s truth and that truth can come from many different places. In Don Henley’s song, “The Heart of the Matter,” there is a bit of truth about forgiveness. The song is about a lost love, but there is something there for all of us who have been hurt by other people.

Henley sings, “The more I know, the less I understand / All the things I thought I knew, I’m learning again.” Those words speak volumes to me. It seems that the older I get the less I understand about some things, especially when it comes to people. Sometimes the more we know about someone, the less we understand what they do. That is one reason we need forgiveness, whether given or received.

 The song goes on:

These times are so uncertain/ There’s a yearning undefined/
…People filled with rage/ We all need a little tenderness/
How can love survive in such a graceless age/
The trust and self-assurance that can lead to happiness/
They’re the very things we kill, I guess
We live in uncertain times. Those of us who follow Jesus face an uncertain future that may include persecution and definitely will include a loss of the influence the church has enjoyed. Because we are family, we must be a family that forgives. The age is quickly becoming more and more graceless, and forgiveness is necessary for love to survive.
In some way, Henley gets it: 
“I’ve been trying to get down to the heart  of the matter
But my will gets weak/ And my thoughts seem to scatter
But I think it’s about forgiveness
Even if you don’t love me anymore
He recognizes the vital importance of forgiveness:
There are people in your life who’ve come and gone
They let you down and hurt your pride
Better put it all behind you; life goes on
You keep carryin’ that anger, it’ll eat you inside
We have all been hurt by people, whether it’s an abusive parent or spouse, a tyrannical boss, or a friend who has betrayed us. Some of those hurts heal relatively quickly while some will never be totally healed until God wipes all tears from our eyes. Some folks we can reconcile with, while with others reconciliation is impossible. The one thing we can do is forgive. Like the Amish in Pennsylvania, the people in Rwanda, or the formerly oppressed majority in South Africa, we can forgive. We must forgive. If we don’t, it will eat away at us and cause issues for the rest of our life.
Forgiveness is more about us than the person we are forgiving. By forgiving, we release the other from any hold their act still has on us. We also release ourselves. We do incur a cost by giving up our “right” to extract a pound of flesh, but that pound of flesh can never pay for their act and forgiving frees us and enables us to move on with our lives. We are no longer bound to that act or that person. We also must forgive because our Father has forgiven us far worse trespasses than any of us have ever felt. Jesus command us to forgive and reminds us that forgiving is an indication of our own forgiveness. We must forgive. For the glory of God and the advance of his kingdom, for the good of others, and for our own wholeness. It’s not easy, but it must be a part of our lives.
There is another side to this coin. That is repentance. That’s a subject for another post.
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Weekend Wanderings

This is the last weekend in May. Some schools are out, some will go into the middle of June, and the annual debate about year round schools will commence. I don’t see any wholesale chamnges because there are too many people with a vested interest in the summer break. But, that’s just my opinion. It is beautiful here in then sunny South, but they say that the hot, humid days are coming. Tuesday is the first day of hurricane season and we have already seen one named storm on the East coast.

Enough small talk. On to the good stuff:

Kellie McGann says change is possible.
Aaron Cline Hanbury says you should read Chesterton.
When your dreams don’t work out.
He’s baaaack.
Here’s a good story.

The benefits of nature.
Interesting.
Do you think they’ll take him up on this offer?
Somehow this doesn’t surprise me.
Some folks will do anything.

Yep. Bacon.
 But evidently not for Ben & Jerry’s.
Christian T-shirts, etc.
3 chains.
Scot McKnight on sloth.

Charlie Marquez on our glitch.
This is a good thing.
Good post from Dan Edelen.
Thoughtful post from Zack Hunt.
Memorial Day meditation.

Have a blessed first week of June!

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Weekend Wanderings

It’s a beautiful weekend here in the sunny South. I’m spending a lot of time outside working in the yard, trying to make it look halfway decent. Continue to pray for Nepal. I can’t imagine having to deal with a major disaster like that on the heels of the first one. If you can give to any of the organizations that are helping there, please do so.

Here are the links:

The royal law.
Carly Marin on tragedy.
What really happened?
Martin Marty on a rash of suicides among the Sioux.
Being hurt.

10 sacred sites destroyed in the last decade.
Good post from Arthur Sido.
Putting an end to sweatshop labor.
What is grace?
Lindsey Holcomb on the church and women at risk.

Freedom, joy, and dancing.
This probably won’t be a smoke filled room.
Avengers, anthropology, and awareness.
Rushing or dragging?
Don’t do it!

Mark Moore on Ascension Day.
Christian bill of rights.
Orlando Patterson on America’s cities.
Glittering vices.
Good article from Jonathan Storment.

Have a blessed week!

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Echoes of Eden in Avengers: Age of Ultron

In Echoes of Eden, Jerram Barrs writes:
      In fact, we may propose as a principal that the themes of all great art-
      -whether produced by Christians or by non-Christians– are the world 
      and human life as they came from from the hand of God; the world
      and human life as they now are subject to sorrow, sin, and death; and
      the world and human life as we long for and look forward to their restoration.

In “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” the last two themes are evident. The Avengers are in a battle with an individual who is bent on ruling and/or destroying the world. Upon invading the headquarters of their adversary, the heroes take a piece of Norse mythology that is extremely powerful. Iron Man, aka Tony Stark, sees this as the final piece in his dream of creating a peaceful world without fear. He attempts to join the program that was captured with his own program in an attempt to create an artificial intelligence that would be the ultimate peacekeeper.

Unfortunately, the attempt goes awry, as all human attempts do. History is littered with the wreckage of man’s efforts to bring about the ultimate peace. That longing still persists, as the movie ends with new recruits joining the Avengers in the ongoing attempt to protect the world and bring peace. We who follow Jesus see that longing played out in our attempts to be the peacemakers Jesus calls us to be. Sometimes we try to do this in our own strength and wisdom. The result often turns out the same as that of Tony Stark’s misguided effort.

Should we give up trying to be peacemakers and seeking reconciliation? Should governments abandon efforts to negotiate
peace? I believe the answer is no. We should seek and work for peace and reconciliation whenever we can. As we do so, we must remember that it is the Spirit of Christ who is the ultimate peace giver, whether between individuals or nations. We also need to realize that the peace we seek may not be realized in this life. Of course, the ultimate peace and restoration of this world and human life will only happen when Christ returns and fully establishes the Kingdom.

Until then we will continue to hear echoes of Eden in music, film, art, literature, and in our own hearts. We can be encouraged, because we know that some day we will hear more than just echoes.

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Weekend Wanderings

Allergy season has kicked into high gear here in the sunny South. It has been hard to get a good night’s sleep lately, with all the stuffiness and coughing. This too shall pass. The NBA playoffs continue and it looks as if the storylines this year will be different than those of the previous season. We are still three weeks from hurricane season and Tropical Storm Ana is making some noise off the east coast. It could be an interesting summer.

Enough small talk. On to the links:

Open letter to Tom Brady.
Allan Bevere on the church.
Christian American horror story.
Scot McKnight on holiness.
The E-word.

Making a difference?
That is a serious wave!
Walking as Jesus walked.
Chaplain Mike on the Table.
Great news for Liberia!

Good news for moms.
Good article from Donavon Riley.
How to miss out.
10 most polluted cities in the United States.
Jesus as the new Adam.

Steve Brown on God.
Is constant entertainment a good thing?
A faith worth losing?
A post about parenting from Matt Appling.
One source.

Have a blessed week!

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No Fear

Fear. It seems as if the world runs on fear. A whole industry has evolved that is fed by fear. Organizations on both ends of the political spectrum raise money by appealing to the fear that those at the other end are going to destroy our country. Even Christian organizations use fear as a motive for giving money. The common thread that runs through the billions of dollars that are raised is fear of the future. Fear that things are not going to be good unless you give us money to fight “evil.”

Those of us who follow Jesus should not allow ourselves to get wrapped up in fear of the future. In Romans 8, Paul tells us that there are two reasons we shouldn’t fear. One is the spirit of adoption we have been given, and the other is the wonderful future that lies ahead of us.

We need not fear because the Creator and King of the universe has given us a spirit of adoption that causes us to call him “Abba,” or “Daddy.” Think about it. The sovereign God invites us to call him “Daddy.” That blows my mind! Think about the most wonderful father you can imagine. Now consider that God is infinitely better, more powerful, more loving than that. If we are children of God, we have a daddy who desperately loves us, who cares about our good, and who is powerful enough to bring our good to pass. Our future is secure because our Father is in control.

So, why do we suffer? I believe that we suffer because Jesus suffered. The early church believed that the suffering of Christ on the cross and his resurrection inaugurated the Kingdom. They saw their own suffering as building for that Kingdom little by little. Paul wrote to the Galatians that his suffering somehow filled up what was missing in Christ’s suffering. The church grew in the first three centuries through suffering and bloodshed. Look around the world today and you will see that the church still grows in suffering and bloodshed. It is in the West, where the church has grown comfortable and rich, that there is stagnation. Even so, we here in West do suffer. We may not be persecuted, but we suffer from sickness, disease, heartbreak, death, and sometimes it is hard to see any good in it. I believe even that suffering somehow builds for the Kingdom. There is hope for the future.

Our future as children of the Father is so bright that shades won’t do any good. Somehow our future is so wrapped up with the restoration of all things that creation itself is waiting with expectant groaning for our final redemption. The glory that will be revealed in us will make our suffering in this life seem like nothing! Wow! When we come to the end of our rope, we can look ahead to a future that will far surpass the worst we can go through. I don’t totally understand all of it, but there have been days when that truth was the only thing I had to hold on to. The good news is we do have that to hold on to in the midst of the worst storm.

Brothers and sisters, take heart! Your Abba loves you with an infinite love that will never let you go. Your suffering is being used by God to bring his Kingdom to bear in this life. Nothing that this life throws at you can ever prevent the glory of God from being revealed in you when the final restoration of all things comes to pass. Fear not.