Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands at a distance; for truth stumbles in the public square, and uprightness cannot enter. Truth is lacking, and whoever turns from evil is despoiled. The Lord saw it, and it displeased [God] that there was no justice. - Isaiah 59:14-15

When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when the wicked rule, the people groan. - Proverbs 29:2-2

When the ways of people please the Lord, [God] causes even their enemies to be at peace with them. - Proverbs 16:7

By justice a king gives stability to the land, but one who makes heavy exactions ruins it.

- Proverbs 29:4

Thus says the Lord God: Enough, O princes of Israel! Put away violence and oppression, and do what is just and right. Cease your evictions of my people, says the Lord God.  - Ezra 45:9-9

In the early Christian communities, the character of the Jesus movement found expression in the abolition of social distinctions of class, religion, race, and gender.  

- Mary John Mananzan

Quoted in Cry Freedom, by Charles Ringma

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. - 2 Corinthians 5:18-19

Luke 10.3-6:    Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves.  Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road.  Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace to this house!'  And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you.

Consider: "Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves.  Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals;..."

Is Jesus nuts?  He tells us to go out perfectly vulnerable!  Why would he do that?  Doesn't he realize that power is the way of procuring what it is that we want and need? Doesn't he realize that setting up his kingdom would be something that's going to need capital and prestige in order to make it great?  Amazing!  Doesn't he realize that we will look like fools?

I received an interesting question this week about this mission. 

Click HERE to read Real Message/Real Community ~ The Power of Weakness, and to comment.

Galatians 5.13 & 14:  For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another.   For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

Consider: Jesus, unlike Elijah, does not permit his followers to say goodbye or even to bury their dead, for "no one who looks to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God." To follow Jesus is to do so wholeheartedly-there is no middle ground.

Paul reminds the Galatian community that they "were called for freedom," which is most fully expressed by the ability "to serve one another through love."

Click HERE to read Real Independence and to comment.

Galatians 3.23 & 24  Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed.   Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith.

Consider: In this week's reading, we hear words about Abraham being "saved" by "faith," and that this faith was unfulfilled until the coming of Christ. In between, the law was needed as a guardian to keep us on the right track and save us from veering too far from God's will.

This scripture is translated in very different ways, and the message itself, can become confused by our own theological viewpoint.

We are discussing if the law has been made obsolete in Christ.

Click HERE to read New World Order and to comment.

Galatians 2.19 & 21:  For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God...

  I do not nullify the grace of God; for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.

Consider:
We love law.  After all, it is what keeps us honest--working together in a spirit of fairness.  Without it there would be anarchy.

Interestingly, the descriptive, terms for heresy means to depart from the commonly agreed upon orthodoxy--the conventional, mutually accepted beliefs, standards, and norms, that we all adhere to, and understand in order to act morally within our shared culture.  We have come to believe that heresy is a departure from the law.

In our Psalm this week, we have another pleading with God to uphold the Psalter because he is good, assured of God's mercy toward him.  But he ascribes hatred to those "evildoers" (or "heretics") who "lie and boast" and are his enemies. Are they law breakers?  Heretics?  And what "laws" do they break?

Click HERE to read Pharisees & Sinners and to comment.

Those who oppress the poor insult their Maker, but those who are kind to the needy honor [God].

Proverbs 13:41

Galatians 1.11, 15-17a

For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin;...

But when God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with any human being, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles before me, but I went...

Consider:
Often, we believe that God is bound in duty to perform for us.  We silently think that when all goes wrong in our lives, that he is less than God if his deliverance is not here when we order it-like at the drive-thru window.

Is today's Christianity a matter of good business, the latest Christian fads, like the lastest books, self-help, methods, and movements; sophisticated Christian consumerism and entertainment; private groups, clicks, and affinity groups; filling our heads with information and theory?  Is this where we find God?  Is this where we walk with Jesus?  Is this our prophetic voice?

Click HERE to read Prophesy & Purpose, and to comment.

- Proverbs 22:22-23

For the next 5 months, he suffered 3 different amputations, finally resulting in the loss of his leg below the knee.  All the while Melvin was shuffled back and forth from the nursing rehab in Norristown, to Lehigh Valley Medical Center in Allentown, PA.  His entire ordeal lasted 9 months, with two weekend home visits at Christmas and New Years.  Finally, in February, Melvin was released with visiting nurses caring for him.  We had a wonderful two months, where Melvin enjoyed church and Tabernacle a great deal.

Melvin seemed to be getting very weak and frustrated.  After church one Tuesday evening a couple weeks ago, we were very concerned for him.  He was exhausted.  The next morning Nancy called 911.  Melvin was in a diabetic coma and was rushed to the Reading Hospital.  There, they found a cancerous tumor in his neck which seemed to grow overnight, cutting off his throat.  He was in intensive care for a week and seemed to be coming around although he could not talk very much.

Further tests showed that the cancer was advanced lung cancer and was very aggressive.  Any measures to provide him treatment would kill him, and there was no hope for getting past this.  We were socked at the reality of the situation as the doctors gave Melvin weeks to live.  Melvin has already been through so much…  The family has already been through so much, and now this.

Blessings

Melvin’s children were able to come to his side this week, from North Carolina and Colorado.  In only a few days Melvin deteriorated to skin over bone, and the smallest movement seemed to exhaust him, yet he was very happy that his kids were there with him.  Melvin went on hospice care on Thursday, May 31^st, and the family had the agonizing chore of making plans for the inevitable.

We had a great meeting alone with the family where we truly counted ours, and Melvin’s blessings.  I told them the story how Melvin and I first met.  Not a pretty story at all—we did not like each other, in fact I sent Melvin to jail some 12 years ago.  Oddly enough, when he was released, he came to “the Lot” where we do the Table Ministry to find me.  A smile and a hug was my repayment for incarceration.  Hmmm…

There were of course ups and downs thereafter, but we were always connected in some way.

Eventually, Nancy was living with her daughter Franny, where we had our first home church, and Nancy would never miss.  Melvin would stay in the other room even after they were able to move into their own apartment.  Slowly, we noticed that the TV would be turned off while we had church service at their new apartment (yes, Melvin opened his home to the church).  After a while, he started to move toward the door in his bedroom, listening down the hallway to the service.  Later, he was attending.  That is when his medical problems began.

Through his medical ordeal, the church was very faithful to he and Nancy.  He enjoyed visits and we became very close.  During the time after his discharge from the rehab, until his last struggle, I had never seen Melvin so happy.  Everyone who knew him saw “light in his eyes.”  He had peace with God and significant changes in his life were evident.  His home church was my favorite, and the best part of the evening was thanking Melvin for opening his house, exchanging “I love you,” and a hug.  All this from where we began… what a blessing!

In that little room, we thought about how God blessed us all; that as Melvin was about to go home, his whole family was able to be around him; he was given time to say goodbye; as most would find bitterness in a difficult time during his amputation(s), Melvin found peace with God and the Church—so much peace as to bless his church.  Melvin’s life in the past year and a half was significantly different that before.  Through the trials, his journey with God improved day-by-day.  He had run his race and kept the faith.

I am reminded of the scripture: “But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first, and said, ‘Son, go work today in my vineyard.’ He answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he repented himself, and went. He came to the second, and said likewise. He answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but he didn’t go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said to him, “The first.” Jesus says to them, “Most assuredly I tell you, that the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you didn’t believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. When you saw it, you didn’t even repent afterward, that you might believe him.”  Matt. 21.28-32

As I knew Melvin, he began with difficulty, but finished well with man and God.

Melvin was obedient till the end and I’ll miss my friend who meant so much to me.  He has shown me more about Jesus and the way of the kingdom than most scholars.  I can’t wait to tell him that…

We wanted to take a fishing trip, just he and I, sitting with bobbers and talking, but I guess we will have to wait, and make it a reunion as well.

A Very Simple Question...
I have been struggling with how church is done.  What's new about that?

In my desire to operate in Christ's Kingdom community (you know, actually becoming a disciple-following Jesus into his work and will in the earth), I have had some offensive discussions within the church at large.

Everybody seems to have figured out individually different Christs that they follow.

The "teaching church" believes that dispensing information in a classroom setting is who Jesus is; the "worshiping church" thinks that contemporary songs and remaking hymns in a sheltered subculture is what Jesus was building; the "administrative church" thinks that moving money into programs to "minister" from a distance is Jesus' "Way;" and the "Business Model" church encounters Jesus as a CEO, his managers are the clergy, his supervisors are deacons, and his employees are the laity.  (I know this is not thorough, but please let's not get sidetracked.)

The trouble being (I think) that there is only One Jesus... Right?  I think that I have encountered him in the scriptures, and have seen lots of examples of what is important to him, as well as what isn't.  (I am not talking about gifts at this time (different people serving in different ways), although they are important to the total church).

I am a church planter.  I've started a church under, not the most ideal circumstances from a "Church Business" standpoint, and have been told such things as Still Waters is not a church, "[we] only do ministry."  Also things like, "losers don't make for a healthy church."

As we started out, our mission was to follow Christ into his work in the world; connecting with the undesirables in our area in genuine friendship, and helping the more affluent community (church folk) into their lives and service.  As Christ's disciples, we find him doing this throughout the gospels.

There is one thing that I am sure of; that Jesus befriended and identified with those who were struggling on the margins, and had little respect for the comfortable, affluent religious types who thought that they were better, more educated, clever and religiously right.

I've been told to "pastor" building a church.  I sense that the clergy has no room for actually touching the undesirable personally and to the point of inconvenience.  We have heard that we are helping the wrong people, and in the wrong way.  Again, I've been told that this is not a church.

We have applied for a grant within our own fellowship of churches, beginning communication with them in October 2004, and still have had no answers to probably one of the most thorough applications that many professional grant writers have witnessed, let alone unanswered emails, and unanswered questions.  Could it be that they fear that we will waist the funding on helping the wrong people?  I don't know...

I would like some dialog to help me figure this out... 

Beginning with this question:  Is Jesus a pastor?  And, did Jesus plant a church?  Careful now...

Looking forward to hearing your answers.  Click HERE to comment.

Peace.

Letter to the Mercury Op-ed:  January 22, 2007

We Have a Chance to Save Countless Lives

Did you know that right now, Congress has an incredible opportunity to continue saving millions of lives in the world's poorest countries by fully funding the fight against global AIDS and extreme poverty. 

The last Congress left nine critical spending bills unfinished leaving the new Congress the difficult work of allocating our 2007 budget; a daunting task to be sure.  At stake is $1 billion vital to continuing to provide clean water, education and life-saving medicines to people in Africa and the world's poorest countries. 

There are few places in the U.S. budget where dollars translate so directly into lives saved.  Without this funding, 350,000 people will not receive life-saving AIDS medicines, nearly 1 million anti-malaria bednets will not be distributed and 120,000 people will not receive treatment for tuberculosis. 

As a member of Christ's Church, Still Waters churches, the clergy, the ONE Campaign, The Ministries at Main Street, and a member of the global community, I strongly encourage Congress to protect this funding and ensure our commitment as Americans, to continue the fight against extreme poverty and global HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. 

America's example and will to do good in the world, exercising moral assistance to those needing help, models our best to the world in the tradition of compassion and generosity. 

Please write your Congressional Leaders asking them to continue this effort with your dollars as your representatives. Together, we can give the world's poorest people the tools they need to overcome extreme poverty, giving them the gift, and the chance for a hopeful future.

In my view, it is our moral imperative to act at a time such as this.

Kork Moyer, Pastor

Still Waters churches & worship center

The Ministries at MAIN Street

Desmond Tutu in Today's Post

10:30 PM Jan 15, 2007

Last week, over 70,000 ONE members sent over 200,000 letters to Congress, urging our government to save nearly a billion dollars for AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria programs.

Today, Archbishop Desmund Tutu, one of the most remarkable leaders of our time, asks Congress to fund the fight and "remind the world of the good that can be done in the name of the American people."

From Desmond Tutu's Op-Ed in today's Washington Post:

"The U.S. government has repeatedly promised to combat HIV-AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria: At the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000 and as a member of the Group of Eight the United States committed to the goal of universal access for HIV-AIDS prevention and treatment by 2010. However, the funding resolution Congress is considering would shortchange and potentially sabotage every American program to address these diseases, leaving innocent people in its wake...

"It is a sign of our breakdown as one human family. Worldwide, we have made stops and starts at healing this rift and keeping our promises to one another. But if Congress does not act to restore that $1 billion for global health, poverty alleviation and foreign aid, the rift will only grow wider and healing will be further beyond our reach...

"As we honor the life and vision of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. today, I hope and pray that Congress will choose the righteous path, the path that will save tens of thousands of lives and give countless children opportunities and hope they have never before imagined. I join the world in watching, and waiting for its decision."

Read the full piece here.

Many have, of course, read these words, and many more will read them—even agree with them.  But the modern, western, Christian cultural, rational, mind will coddle itself into a numb selfish convenient forgetfulness that will later insulate itself with the "low road" of "well I’m only human—nobody is perfect—everyone has issues" excuse.  "After all I believe that God would never want me to feel uncomfortable."

Posted by Kork, October 7, 2006

How (Not) to Speak of God

Pete Rollins has released his first book. A challenging book. "How (Not) To Speak of God" is a thoughtful and original book, delivering some heavy-duty thinking from Marion and Derrida in a manner that is accessible and profound, and offering a fresh perspective on the Scriptures that moves the emerging conversation out of binary oppositions and into the love of God. Heres an excerpt:

"In this way the emerging conversation is demonstrating an ability to stand up and engage in a powerless, space-creating dis-course that opens up thinking and offers hints rather than orders. In short, the emerging community must endevour to be a question rather than an answer and an aroma rather than food. It must seek to offer an approach that enables the people of God to become the parable, aroma, and salt of God in the world, helping to form a space where God can give of God. For too long the church has been seen as an oasis in the desert - offering water to those who are thirsty. In contrast, the emerging community appears more as a desert in the oasis of life, offering silence, space and desolation amidst the sickly nourishment of Western capitalism. It is in this desert, as we wander together as nomads, that God is to be found. For it is here that we are nourished by our hunger."
Pete Rollins, How (Not) to Speak of God, pg 42-43.

As a Worshiper, Gerrit Gustafson is a giant—teaching a generation the lost art of worshiping God – not only through music, but as a matter of life.  This is the real business of our existence.  It is something so vulnerable, yet so powerful, and yet the delicacy of understanding its nuance is a life long journey.  As we put it at Still Waters, God cares about our “Want To,” the rest is a loving expression of that want to.

This makes our lives beautiful, and noticeably connected to the God who loves the world.  We become a reflection—a light.

Gerrit’s words are completely fitting with our Lenten conversation.

Click here to read: