From Sampler to Sower

Two weeks ago I wrote about a new way we were seeking to help our students learn to pray. We’re encouraging students to learn to pray in much the same way they learned to speak, not by talking about prayer, but simply by praying.  We’ve passed out daily prayer cards which have a simple question or instruction for each day, designed to help them open up a conversation with God.

Here is the second set of 16 prayer cards: one daily prayer card and one weekly memory verse card for two weeks.

You know the feeling. Perhaps you just watched a coworker get all the credit for a project you worked together on. Perhaps the friend who always comes to you for help when finances are tight just went on an elaborate vacation while your financial situation kept you at home. Someone else just landed what you’ve been dreaming of, be it the dream job, the new home, the opportunity of a lifetime.  Whatever it is, you wanted it, they got it, and you’re left dealing with the disappointment and resentment that what you wanted just passed you by.

Welcome to envy.

So far in our series The Seven Deadly Sins of Youth Ministry we’ve looked at the ways gluttony and wrath can get in the way of our ministry.  By way of review, the traditional list of seven capital vices includes:

• superbia (pride)
• avaritia (greed)
• luxuria (lust)
• invidia (envy)
• gula (gluttony)
• ira (wrath)
• acedia (sloth?)

Today we’ll tackle invidia, also known as envy.
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I (along with I suspect a healthy number of fellow Christians thanks to some brilliant pre-release publicity from John Piper) recently read Rob Bell’s new book, Love Wins.  Unlike some other prognosticators, who apparently understand Bell’s reasoning so well they can respond to it before it’s even published, I’ve decided to take some time to think, read, pray, eat and love before chiming in.

Having spent a decent amount of time the last two weeks doing those very things (especially eating…) I think I’m going to start here.

It’s probably an understatement to say that much of what Bell suggests run counter to the faith as it was handed down to me. While Bell isn’t the first to suggest things like the possibility of post-mortem repentance and the idea that maybe, just maybe, God is good enough to save all humanity through faith in Christ (not by at least 17 centuries), suffice it to say there haven’t been many voices in my ecclesial neck of the woods advocating such views.

And that’s what makes Bell’s book such a good thing.

Let me explain.
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If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? (Psalm 11:3, KJV)

I was reminded of this verse recently while listening to a moving speech by a local educator, warning myself and several of my colleagues about the dangers that Nazism and Communism pose to area youth. His concern was that if we allow the foundations to be destroyed, we have no hope.

I was sorely tempted to include this verse in my post about the Top Six Verses that AREN’T in the Bible, as it seems like this verse is so often used in a Chicken-Littlesque warning that the foundations of Western Civilization are crumbling and if we don’t do something fast, the righteous won’t have a prayer (as if, somehow, the foundations of Western Civilization are the footing on which our faith is founded!).

As much as using it this way seems a bit of a misunderstanding at best and blatant proof-texting at worst, I have to admit there is some room for interpretation in this passage. Using the text the way my educator friend did is not as cut-and-dried out of context as the others on the list.

So I’m giving the verse a post all its own.

Before we go any farther, take a second to read all of Psalm 11, maybe even comparing a couple translations. (Don’t worry; it’s only seven verses long.) Then read the rest.
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June 6, 1884 a 28 year old Nikola Tesla arrived in New York City after a long journey from France.  The brilliant young physicist had spent the previous year working for the Continental Edison Company, where he came to know Charles Batchelor.  Batchelor, close friend of Edison and the manager of Edison’s power company in Paris had written a letter of recommendation, introducing Tesla to the great inventor.

It was the start of a very ugly relationship.

It started with promise.  Edison quickly recognized Tesla’s brilliance. Tesla bent his mind to improving Edison’s motors and generators.  But a dispute about promised payment for the work soon had the two inventors at odds.  Tesla would resign when Edison did not only refuse to pay the bonus he had promised, but also declined to give him a raise.  And the relationship only went down hill from there.

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When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable,
But he who restrains his lips is wise. (Proverbs 10:19, NASB)

Our church is currently holding revival services with Rev. Larry and Tamla Leckrone.  That’s right, good old fashioned revival.  I count it a privilege to serve a church that still makes a priority out of revival. And it’s an honor to be a part of a theological tradition in which revival services have long had an important place.

Of course, sometimes being a part of the Wesleyan-Holiness tradition carries with it some baggage which proves less than helpful.  The Holiness tradition in general and the Church of the Nazarene in particular have a long reputation of being legalistic.  For many years the American Holiness Revivalism movement has defined holiness in terms of the things we don’t do.  We took seriously the call to “Come out from among them, and be ye separate” and frequently measured that separation in terms of the things we turned away from.

• We didn’t drink.
• We didn’t smoke.
• We didn’t dance.
• We didn’t cuss.
• We didn’t wear make-up.
• And we certainly didn’t stop the list with just five prohibitions.

Then something happened…

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This Lenten season has me thinking about the ways in which the attitudes long recognized as the seven capital vices can poison and sabotage our ministries.  We’re looking at each of the vices in a series we’re calling The Seven Deadly Sins of Youth Ministry.  By way of review, the traditional list of seven capital vices includes:

• superbia (pride)
• avaritia (greed)
• luxuria (lust)
• invidia (envy)
• gula (gluttony)
• ira (wrath)
• acedia (sloth?)

Today I’d like to consider the vice of ira known in English as wrath, rage or anger.
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I’ve been watching the developing situation in Libya with considerable interest. That’s why this tweet from  @cnnbrk caught my attention:

#Libya coalition command role undecided, U.S. officials say. http://on.cnn.com/g4OwMc

The link takes you to CNN’s Libya Live Blog, and refers to this particular report:

Coalition members were still working out Monday how the ongoing of maintaining the no-fly zone over Libya would be commanded, U.S. officials said.

Now, I’m no great military mind, but something tells me this could be a bit of a problem.  Bad things happen when no one’s in charge.  Even when united by a single mission (like making sure the crackpot in charge of Tripoli doesn’t use his air force to kill his civilian population for having the audacity to yearn for freedom) competing notions of how to accomplish that mission can create stress, distractions and even disaster.

That potential for failure is can easily be compounded by complicating factors such as:

• the absence of a clear leader to arbitrate between conflicting visions
• the presence of overlaps in responsibility, such that multiple leaders have a legitimate say in influencing the vision
• confusion about just what responsibilities lie with which leader

And that has me thinking about the church…

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