The Church of TSA?

I was going through airport security this morning and was dealing with my usual perturbation. There must have been 20 TSA employees milling around, hectoring travelers and making endless demands; loath to offer assistance, let alone lift a finger to help.

At one point I was standing there with one shoe on (my other one had to be rescanned) and my belt in my hand trying to gather all my loose change and boarding passes, when the row of bins had a pile up at the end of the conveyor belt. They collapsed together accordion-like. A free-handed TSA employee standing across from me chirped, “Let’s try to keep the bins moving along!” 

A tempered version of the following sentiment teetered on the tip of my tongue:

Have any of you ever considered actually lifting a finger to help? Or is that too obvious? You just prefer to bark orders and demands at people whose hands are already full?

I bit said tongue and kept the sentiment to myself as I hobbled into the seating area, dragging my stuff along like a scene from The Jerk.

I took one last glance into the security area and thought, “What a miserable impression that leaves one with! Dozens of people being paid to loiter around with arms akimbo or crossed; rolling their eyes and barking orders when they could—SHOULD—be serving and helping and extending understanding!”

And it occurred to me, “This is probably how people view the church!”

Ugh.

church | ch ər ch | n. – a bunch of people with no baggage who tell you all the rules you’re breaking and roll their eyes at your struggles, when they could—SHOULD!—give an ounce of grace; maybe even help! 

True? I hope not!

Battlefield Earth

The above video conveys a subtle but profound message. We see everyone from everyday professionals and people in the service industry to high profile entertainers (Jimmy Kimmel) and athletes (Kobe Bryant) enmeshed in an epic battle sequence. The ad ends with a deli worker (or is it a butcher) striding like Scarface toward the camera, emptying cartridges of ammo from two 9mm to either side before dropping both pistols nonchalantly. Fire and plumes of smoke fill the background, and the subtitle appears:

"There's a soldier in all of us."

What's the message? We all have an inner soldier, who yearns to enter the battle. What's the implication? There's a video game that can sate that urge. A video game! The "Call" is to let that inner warrior play war in a virtual world--to fight a virtual battle from the safety of his or her own couch.


Does this not beg the question, "It there not a real battle in front of all of us; one which our inner soldier must fight?" I would argue the answer is yes! How can it be otherwise?

Familiarity

"Jesus Rejected at Nazareth" / Jeff Watkins

⁵³And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there, ⁵⁴ and coming to his hometown he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, "Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? ⁵⁵ Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? ⁵⁶And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?" ⁵⁷And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household." ⁵⁸And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.
Matthew 13:53-58

 The word "familiar" comes from the same root word as "family"--the Latin famulus actually means servant. In its broadest sense it denotes "household". 


It is intriguing that those of Jesus hometown and family so readily rejected him. Jesus remarked, "a prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household."


Thus the adage, "familiarity breeds contempt" is very true.


This drips from the account above. Those of Nazareth were so utterly familiar with Jesus that they rejected him. In fact, "they took offense at him"! Here Jesus was, walking around like a big shot--like he owned the joint. They knew his beginnings. They knew his pedigree. They weren't going to stand by and get too big for his britches (or cloak, as it were). 


Familiarity bred contempt. 

Prophecy V / How?

I'll admit that I'm running out of steam on this topic, but I wanted to end by addressing the topic of "How" because it is at this point that most people get tripped up on the topic. Also, by addressing this topic, I hope to relieve some misgivings which tend to spook those who would give consideration to the prophetic.


Discernment is paramount when it comes to prophecy. Throughout the history of the church, purported "prophets" have brought reproach upon the prophetic--indeed upon the Christian faith--by creating hysteria and misleading the masses through outlandish pronouncements.


This is unfortunate and palpably awkward. The world did not end on May 21, 2011, nor did it end in 1988 (though 1988 did mark the end of the world of glam rock!). At times the results have been outright disastrous, as in the case of David Koresh and his Branch Davidian sect.

Prophecy IV / Why?

(The Rebuilding of the Temple / Gustave Dore)

When addressing the question of "Why is the prophetic important?" I feel it is important to offer the rejoinder, "Why wouldn't it be?"

When Scripture so clearly states such things as...

"...earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy." [1 Cor. 14:]

and

"... I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy." [1 Cor. 14:5]

and

"... Do not despise prophecies." [1 Thes. 5:20]

... it seems like it would be incumbent upon believers to answer question like, "What does this mean?" and "How do I apply this to my life?"

Let's consider Ephesians 4:11-12.

"And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ."

I would assume most Christians wouldn't demand an explanation of "why" regarding all of these roles of leadership in the church. (E.g. few Christians would have suspicions or misgiving about why the church needs teaching or teachers.) Since they are all commonly referenced in the NT, one would think that the basis of such confidence would simply be founded in Scripture. But why then would we ask "why" of the prophet and not of the teacher or shepherd?

I suspect this inconsistency results from one or both of the following:

1. Lack of first hand experience with the prophetic (or confusion regarding our experiences with it)
2. The natural equivalents of the other roles (i.e., we are more able to comprehend these other roles from a natural point of view)

Thus our receptiveness to the prophetic has more to do with our experience and natural reasoning than with the counsel of Scripture. But this shouldn't be the way Christians operate.

My first post on the prophetic was titled De-/Re-Mystifying the Prophetic. To re-mystify the prophetic, is to restore it to it's supernatural power. To de-mystify it is to restore it to it's understandable place in Christian life.

Prophecy III / What?

(Belshazzar's Feast / Rembrandt)

In Daniel chapter 5 we find a vivid image of the prophetic; one which has become an idiomatic phrase in our own language.

King Belshazzar of Babylon had become haughty, and during a feast he had the sacred golden vessels from the Jewish temple brought to him that he and his guests might drink wine from them. Suddenly the "fingers of a human hand" appeared and wrote something on the wall, which was undecipherable for the king and any in his court.

After some time, Belshazzar's wife reminded him about Daniel, and that, in the days of Belshazzar's father, "light and understanding and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods were found in him."

Daniel comes and is able to read the writing on the wall.

What is a prophet? One who can read the writing on the wall. That is, one who comprehends and verbalizes the meaning of things before others.

Prophecy II / Fear of the Unknown

During the process of canonization, church father Tertullian irksomely quipped, "The Holy Spirit has been chased into a book!" (One can picture him saying just that in the above rendering!)

The broader context is this. An itinerant preacher named Montanus had been proclaiming deep levels of Christian devotion and consecration. He brought with him two supposed prophetesses named Prisca and Maximilla, whose ecstatic utterings he purported to be on par with Scripture.

Terullian supported Montanus. But as he and his companions veered further away from Orthodoxy, the church labeled the movement heretical.

I think all Christians should empathize with Tertullian's bitterness and sorrow. It was Jesus, after all, who assured us, "Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you." [Jn. 16:9] The Presence of the Holy Spirit is said to be preferable to Jesus' own Presence, yet we've been conditioned to expect so little of Him.

Can He speak to us as individuals still? Can He speak through us still?

True the line was blurred in Tertullian's day, yet I do believe that most of our misgivings about the prophetic arise from a certain erroneous way of thinking, viz. that prophecy and Scripture are synonymous.

De-/Re-Mystifying the Prophetic

(Being a bald individual, I felt obliged to use this particular image, the title of which I'm sure is, "You don't mess with a bald prophet!")

In an interview, Noam Chomsky was asked whether he read the prophets. He responded:

"The word 'prophet' is a very bad translation of an obscure Hebrew word, navi. Nobody knows what it means. But today they'd be called dissident intellectuals. They were giving geopolitical analysis, arguing that the acts of the rulers were going to destroy society. And they condemned the acts of evil kings. They called for justice and mercy to orphans and widows and so on."

To a great degree he is right, and the view of this atheistic philosopher may be more reflective of the Scriptural notion of the prophet than that of many in the church--and certainly is more informed.

The idea of prophesy and prophets is obscure. However, Scripture uses the term/idea liberally throughout--from Genesis to Revelation--and with ease. A reader of Scripture would likely assume that one ought to have great familiarity with such people--a working category! Do we?

Jesus & the Inner Child

There is a fascinating episode in Jesus' life, the meaning of which has long eluded me. And though I can't claim to understand it thoroughly, I've landed on an implication.

The Gospel writer Mark puts it like this:

"And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them,'Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.'" [Mk. 10:13-15]

Here we see people bringing children to Jesus, and being rebuked by his disciples. Impassioned, Jesus intervenes. "Let the children come to me!" And here's the astounding part, "for to such belongs the kingdom of God."

Jesus goes on to say something that he hints at elsewhere, "whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it."

In Matthew's Gospel, we read that we must "turn and become like children" in order to enter the kingdom at all! [Matt. 18:3] He is calling all adults to a form of repentance!

What can this mean?

I believe Jesus is alluding to what has come to be known as "the inner child."