The Ten Commandments and the Christian Life

Last week I attended a presentation on Islam by Moustafa Al-Qazwini, the imam of the Islamic Education Center of Irvine. There are substantive things that took place during that presentation, but I want to mention a comical one for now. After the presentation, the folks in attendance wanted a group photo and out came every cell phone under the sun. We gathered at the decorative end of the room – the side facing Mecca – but I wanted to gather on a different side, under a sign that said, “No cell phones permitted” with a picture of a phone in a circle and slash. The irony of having our photo made, with phone after phone, under that sign would have been rich. But, alas, everyone was too busy gathering and squeezing in closer for the photo to pay attention to my nonsense. As I was pointing to the sign prohibiting cell phones, one member of the mosque said, “Oh, that’s an old sign. Nobody pays attention to it anymore,” which was obviously true. Even the imam pulled out his phone for someone to use when taking the group photo.  

Also last week, the governor of Louisiana signed into law a requirement that the Ten Commandments should be posted in every classroom of public school buildings. For some people, this kind of action is well-intended. The Ten Commandments are an early expression of laws that ensure justice, preserve life, sanctify marriage and parental care, and so on. The biblical communities ground those laws in the words of God, which makes them more than just a social contract that can be ignored at a whim. There are plenty of sincere Christian people for whom the Ten Commandments are a bedrock of communal life and who believe they should be taught, if not enforced, by the state. I disagree, rather strongly in fact, but do not demean. 

 

I find this kind of action is often more performative than well-intended, an attempt by Christian Nationalists to assert power more than a sincere desire to see our communal lives transformed into the vision of community that the Ten Commandments embrace. Ironically, the attempt to leverage power by using God’s name is exactly what the Commandments prohibit. The Supreme Court has already found one such state law to be unconstitutional, so the precedent would seem to suggest that this is a waste of the state’s time, but the governor of Louisiana has dared others to challenge the new law in court and some organizations have joyfully complied. To me, the point is not to ensure that the Ten Commandments are hanging on classroom walls next fall, and especially not to ensure that they are followed throughout the state, but to bring into the public square a controversy on which some politicians can pretend to be taking the high road. 

 

I also wonder how sincerely those who want to post the command actually want to follow them. The law says, “Do not covet.” I wonder what would happen to the advertising industry if the act of enticing someone to desire something that is not theirs were prohibited. What would happen to Hollywood if the command prohibiting adultery – as Jesus said – also prohibits the generation of lust? And if Jesus interprets “Do not kill” to mean we should turn the other cheek when attacked, would the proponents of the Commandments be willing to slash the military budget in order to follow the command? I strongly doubt it.

 

Speaking of Jesus, there are references to the Commandments in dialogues that Jesus has with others, but never are they articulated in toto or as the supreme law of God. Jesus says all God’s laws are fulfilled when we love God with all of our heart, mind, and soul, and love our neighbor as ourselves – words which are not in the Ten Commandments. Jesus even openly challenged the mere articulation of the Ten Commandments in the Sermon on the Mount. ‘You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, “You shall not murder” … But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment.’ Simply put, the Ten Commandments are not, for the Christian faith, the timeless bedrock of building community. Perhaps that is why the Ten Commandments are never cited by prophets, the psalms, or the New Testament as the Ten Commandments and certainly are not lifted up as the heart and soul of communal life. 

 

In the end, the state of Louisiana may prevail – at least for a while – in posting the Ten Commandments on classroom walls. I suspect they will end up serving like that sign on the wall of the Islamic Center prohibiting cell phones that everyone ignored when we took out our cell phones to capture the moment. 

 

MD

Civilization and Violence

 Friends, 

I’ve been reading a fascinating book by John Dominic Crossan entitled, God and Empire: Jesus against Rome, Then and Now. I don’t think I’ll ever finish it because I keep going back and re-reading the first part. Crossan describes some of the extremely remote sites that served as refuges for hermits once upon a time. Many ancient hermitages were communal, and some are almost impossible to reach, by boat or by land. They may be a set of rooms impossibly hewn out of out of cropping stones or set in a part of the desert that lacks the water and shade that settled habitation requires. The reason for the remote locations was to create communities that did not have the trappings of what we often think of as civilization. 

Crossan notes that we can speak of “civilization” to name things that are lovely about human life – art, architecture, music, and the like. Crossan is using the term in the way that Walter Benjamin does in the chapter’s epigraph, “There is no documentation of civilization which is not at the same time a documentation of barbarism.” So, for example, Crossan says these remote hermitages were not technically monasteries or convents, because those terms describe gender separation – monasteries for monks/men; convents for nuns/women – and separation is often grounded in inequity (think of the problems with “separate, but equal”). These early hermitages were highly egalitarian. They did not claim ownership or condone servitude, but declared all things common, and would respond to violence with nonviolence even if it meant death. 

Crossan says the goal of these remote communities was to live apart from the violence of civilization that many of us have come to believe is inherently part of human life. With a nod to the original meaning of the word paradox, Crossan notes that these hermitages lived “against the opinion” of what community must look like. They were testimonies that life does not have to be built on violence demonstrated through competition that enriches some and impoverishes others, or exploitative practices from slavery to colonialism to racism to sexism to depriving farm workers just wages. Violence-based civilization is precisely the kind of “empire” that the “Reign of God” overturns. There, the last become first; sinners and prostitutes are welcomed as table mates; the poor are blessed while the rich find their journey as impossible a threading the eye of a needle; and so forth. Salvation, then, becomes both a liberation and a path of discipleship, freedom from theologies of domination and education into what holds true value. The first lesson is, to quote Crossan again, “the normalcy of civilization’s violence is not the inevitability of humanity’s destiny.” We. Can. Change. Even if it does not seem to be in us, it is in God to change that which seems unchangeable. 

As we continue to lean into “The Phoenix Affirmations,” we have declared so far that we worship God made known in Christ while not denying that God can be present in other religious expressions; and that we listen for God’s Word through prayer and meditation, Scripture, and discerning what God is doing in the world. We are aspiring to be a church that sounds contrary to what many people think when they hear “church.” In that sense, we are embracing a paradox (“against the opinion”) of faithfulness. It is a process of unlearning and relearning for all of us. I’m so glad we are on this journey together.

Mark of St. Mark

Listening about Hard Things

 Friends, 

Let’s talk about talking about hard things. Or, rather, let’s listen about hard things.

It’s not a practice that many people appreciate, at least not in a way that could be productive and transformative. The preferred diet for difficult topics seems to be more monologue than dialogue, tossing nuance aside, substituting volume for clarity, listening strategically with the intent of responding, and relying on one’s favored news sources, disregarding the usual checks and balances that might ensure integrity. As a result, old friends and even family members can hardly abide one another because of their deeply rooted political/religious/ethical differences – even if they agree on a large percentage of other things in life. 

Some folks say our country is more deeply divided than it has ever been, although there was an actual war between states that offers perspective. And our current divisiveness it is not a uniquely “American” thing, if one pays attention to the amount of discontent and control that other nations are experiencing. Still, strident divisiveness is a palpable part of our everyday existence, from city council meetings to electoral politics, to church bodies issuing position statements, to eggshells that we have to tiptoe around with old friends. Whether it is “the worst it has ever been” or whether it is simply what happens to typical differences of opinion when social media democratizes channels of outrage, the God who is made known to us in Jesus Christ calls us to a different way of being in the world. Our love of God is inextricably tied to our love of neighbor and our love of self – that is a foundation that enables us to talk about hard things, to disagree if necessary, to listen when possible, to strive for understanding, and still to insist that justice is how we love one another on a communal scale. As difficult, plodding, and awkward as it may be, this is our calling. 

So, let’s listen. Let’s listen, not to “both sides,” since the world is not a two-sided coin, but to experiences, whether they cohere with ours or not. Let’s listen, not to argue, and not to fall into gullibility, but to try to know what is driving, even bothering our neighbor. Let’s listen because just as God is far more complex than any of our boxes, so is the expanse of human experience. 

I received a link from a member this week of a 90-minute discussion regarding Israel and Palestine. I don’t often grant myself an hour-and-a-half to watch YouTube, so I’m making my way through it in short pieces – which may be best, because it is coming from a position that I find thoughtful but very challenging. You too can watch it here. 

Likewise, I received an invitation this week that I want to pass along to you. Our friends at Irvine United Congregational Church will be hosting two doctors who have recently returned from Gaza, to share their experiences there on Tuesday, June 18, at 7:00pm. As their pastor, Sarah Halverson Cano put it, “I imagine it will be a difficult gathering to attend, but certainly very moving, I'm sure.” 

I don’t want to fall into the “two-sides” or “all things equivocal” traps here. Even on the Palestine/Israel issue, there are many differing values, presumptions, and experiences of pain to which we need to listen. But I am endeavoring to structure my life and exposure, so that I do not become so doctrinaire and certain of myself that I cannot even hear what someone else is saying. And I have long admired how so many of you do that same. We learn a lot by paying attention to one another here at St. Mark. Thank you for your faithfulness. 

Mark of St. Mark

A Whole Lotta Good!

 Friends, 

This weekend is going to be a busy and productive one. On Saturday we will baptize two children during worship, Wally and Ellie Daniels, with their parents Ben and Tessa, grandparents John and Mary, and aunt Leanna in attendance. The Daniels family are new to St. Mark, but have long-term connections with Faith Presbyterian Church in Sioux City, IA, where a friend of mine serves as pastor. Pastor Dave Koehler has invited his congregation to watch the livestream so they can be part of Wally’s and Ellie’s baptism. It delights me that our livestream enables this kind of connection. 

On Saturday and Sunday, we will address the first of the twelve Phoenix Affirmations. “We love God by … “Walking fully in the path of Jesus, without denying the legitimacy of other paths God may provide humanity.” Many churches preach a directly opposite way of approaching other faiths, by insisting that the Christian faith is exclusively the only way that God is at work redemptively in our world. And many of us have been raised to think that way, so this weekend’s Affirmation is going to present a challenge and/or an opportunity to expand our way of thinking. More importantly, it is my hope that it expands our way of living faithfully in God’s world. 

On Sunday afternoon we will host the screening and a panel discussion of the documentary, “True Believer.” This film will also present a challenge to some popular presentations of the Christian faith, with regard to women’s rights, public education, racial justice, as well as the freedom to exercise or freedom from the imposition of religion in the public square. 

Please note: The topics addressed in this film are thought-provoking and can be controversial. We also have a significant number of people attending who are not part of our St. Mark community, so are not easily recognizable. As a result, we are taking extra precautions regarding security, so please don’t be alarmed if you see signs of security on the campus. I am trying to be abundantly cautious. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me here. 

Then, on Wednesday June 12, at 10:00 AM, we are going to begin a weekly study of The Phoenix Affirmations: A New Vision for the Future of Christianity, by Eric Elnes. You can order the book here. This this first week, we will discuss the Introduction and Chapter One. If you are interested in being part of this discussion, please contact us here. I will send out some discussion questions and a zoom link for those who cannot join us in person on Mondays. 

Well, that’s a lot! See you in worship,

Mark of St. Mark

Remembering Who We Are with "The Phoenix Affirmations"

 Friends, 

 

Throughout the summer we will follow a theme called “Remembering Who We Are.” As a guide, we will use a set of affirmations, called “The Phoenix Affirmations,” which were published in a book bearing that same name in 2006, by Eric Elnes. I had a small part in the discussions that went into articulating the affirmations when I was part of a Pastor-Theologian group with Eric. You can see the affirmations and descriptions of them on the Progressive Christianity website here.  

 

There are twelve affirmations, in three major categories based on the Great Command to love God with all of our heart, mind and soul, and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. The first four affirmations are about our love for God, the second four are about our love for our neighbors, and the third four are about our love for ourselves. For our sake, we will begin the month of June with attention to the Great Command itself, the spend the last four Sundays of June focused on loving God, the month of July focused on loving our neighbors, and August focused on loving ourselves. 

 

In itself, the process of The Phoenix Affirmations sounds predictably like a million other Bible studies or devotional guides – love God, love others, love yourself, blah, blah, blah. But consider this: The first affirmation reads: “Loving God includes: Walking fully in the path of Jesus, without denying the legitimacy of other paths God may provide humanity.” From the outset we are affirming our fidelity and love for God, while also recognizing how God can be at work within other forms of faith. Many – perhaps most – Bible studies and devotional guides do not move in that direction. That is why I feel The Phoenix Affirmations are exceptional and fit within the way God has shaped St. Mark over the years. 

 

It is often a hard task to convey to others that at St. Mark we can affirm diverse forms of faith and doubt, include those whom others exclude based on some traditional (and questionable) interpretations of Scripture, and other marks of being welcoming and progressive while being faithful to the God made known in Christ. Many of our critics presume that we have to bracket our Christian fidelity, or perhaps leave it altogether, to embrace the openness to which we aspire. And, frankly, many progressive Christians seem to me to feel that way as well. It’s almost like there is a lacuna between what our hearts are leading us to do and what our minds have been taught is right to do for proper Christians. The Phoenix Affirmations are an attempt to show that we can live with a capacious spirit and curious mind because of our Christian faith, not despite it. I hope our explorations offer you an opportunity to find encouragement and clarity to articulate the faith that so many of you live consistently. 

 

Along with our weekly emphases in worship, I will be offering a discussion each Wednesday morning at 10:00am in the Bonhoeffer Room. We will begin on June 12 with chapter one of the book, The Phoenix Affirmations, which you can order here. We will read it both appreciatively and critically, since many things have come to light since 2006 that also need to be part of our faithful identity. I will share more about the book discussion in future posts. 

 

Mark of St. Mark