Earlier today, I took a peak at my Facebook news feed. I saw that Bruce Jenner was trending because he has appeared as a woman on the cover of a magazine. My first response was to post something, not something in support, but rather a mean indictment. It most likely would have included some mocking and name calling. For some reason, I didn't. The only thing that I can think of to explain it is that the Holy Spirit impressed upon me that it wouldn't be the Christian response.
I have decided that Bruce Jenner should not be treated cruelly by those who disagree with his lifestyle choice. Name calling and mocking should not be the response of the Christian. Nor should Jenner be celebrated for his "braveness" in deciding to publicly become a woman as the left and the media are quick to do. Instead, he should be seen for what he is, a fallen and broken man desperately in need of the grace and love that can only be found in Jesus Christ.
So, I will not be joining in any mocking or cruelty towards Bruce Jenner. Nor will I be posting any pictures of the magazine cover where he appears as a woman. I will not refer to him as a she for he was created a man and will remain a man in my eyes. I will not call him by his chosen female name. I do not want to do anything to glorify this choice of his. Instead, I will pray that he find the peace that is available through Christ.
Monday, June 1, 2015
Monday, February 17, 2014
Pray for the Persecuted Church
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| Pray for Japan (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Currently, I am in the process of trying to find a permanent church home where I can worship. I have visited about 4 or 5 churches over the past six months to a year, but so far none of them have struck me as a permanent place for me to stay. Part of the problem is that I am looking for a church that has an early worship service because we go to visit our son every other Sunday while he is away at school. The early service allows me to go to church and still be able to drive to the Eastern Shore to take him out to lunch.
Two weeks ago, I began visiting another Baptist church in Bowie. This church is a little further away from my house than the other Baptist church that I visited in December, but it also had an early service. The early service at the previous church was more of a contemporary, praise worship service, while the one I visited two weeks ago was more traditional. I prefer the more traditional worship service.
There were a couple other things about the more recent church that I liked over others that I have visited thus far. After the worship service of my first visit, someone from the welcoming committee approached me and took me to the welcome center where they game me a tote bag along with some info about the church, a CD, and a pen. Later that week, I received a hand written note from the pastor who also spoke to me after the service. Perhaps most important, I noticed in the morning program that the church had scheduled a special prayer meeting for the persecuted church.
Given the recent burden that I have felt for the persecuted church, that point really stood out for me. Unfortunately, that service was scheduled for last night a 6pm, which I feared would be difficult for me to attend since my son would be home from school for a visit. As it turned out, I was able to attend that service. I would like to say that it was an awesome time of prayer for the persecuted church, but I can't say that in complete honesty.
First, I have to say, that I think the overall congregation size is fairly small. For the early Sunday morning services, attendance is usually around 25 people. The later service has more attendance, usually around 125 people. When I saw that the church would have a special service of prayer for the persecuted church, I thought that perhaps the church had a burden for the worldwide church. Sadly, counting myself, the pastor, and an accompanying musician for the worship team, there was a total of 8 people in attendance.
The other thing that made the evening difficult for me was the structure of the evening. I have been to a number of prayer services during the years that I was an active member of the different Baptist churches that I have been a part. During periods of corporate prayer, I have been used to the periodic interjection of an "amen" or "hallelujah." Last night, when somebody was praying, there were sometimes one or two people interjecting longer phrases during the prayer. At times, there were three people speaking at once and it was very difficult for me to follow along.
Despite the difficulties, the mere fact that the church would have a special prayer service for the persecuted church was a major plus for me. Last night, the emphasis was on the persecuted church in Asia. There were four separate areas that we would pray for. Prior to each prayer segment, a speaker would give a little background of the area with specific areas of persecution or concern. That speaker would then give a prayer addressing those areas. It was quite an education. The areas we prayed for were India & Bhutan, the Philippines, China, and the 10/40 window.
I still am not sure whether this most recent church is where I want to end up. I do feel the need to find a regular place of worship. I have a history of wanting what I perceive to be a perfect place. Unfortunately, I don't think that I will ever find a place that lives to my ideal. I was very uncomfortable with some aspects of last night's prayer service. I don't know whether my discomfort was a result of my own prior experiences or something more. I am hoping some of you who have experienced different prayer services can share whether or not you have experienced something similar and how it made you feel.
Sunday, February 9, 2014
Leaving Seabrook Baptist Church
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| Jesus making wine from water in The Marriage at Cana, a 14th-century fresco from the Visoki Dečani monastery (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
The first thing was when the pastor of our church said a few things that I felt were insulting to my (or our collective) intelligence. Now, keeping in mind that this is a Baptist church and one of their tenets in no alcohol. At the time I was not drinking. It was one of the periods in my life when I abstained from consuming alcoholic beverages. I have never felt that the consumption of alcohol was a sin, but the excess consumption of it (getting drunk) is, not to mention that the consumption of alcohol can lead one to lower their inhibitions and do things that are sinful.
During one particular sermon, the pastor was teaching on the passage in the Gospel of Mark where Jesus talks about how one would not put new wine in old wine skins otherwise the skins would burst. The pastor made the argument that the new wine was not wine, but was instead grape juice. To me, that stretched the boundaries of logic. After all, Jesus was often accused of being a glutton and a drunkard. To me, I logically came to the conclusion that Jesus did in fact partake of wine.
Perhaps the biggest thing that happened, was due to some things that were happening in my personal life. When I began going to Seabrook, I was working my way through college at a small, local grocery chain. It was a union shop, but had a much lower pay scale that the other major chains in the area. At the time, I was making $5 per hour, which was a good bit better than minimum wage at the time. I didn't have a lot of money, but I had enough for what I needed.
One of the larger chains in the area, Memco Stores, was getting ready to open two new stores in the area, one very close to where I lived. They were a part of the larger union contract. I was able to get a job with them. I more than doubled my previous hourly rate. On top of that, they offered double time as a premium if you worked on Sundays or holidays. My previous job only offered time and a half. I started signing up for a lot of Sundays. It was over $20 per hour.
With my new job, I started to not attend services at Seabrook as often. Sadly, my new found gold mine of cash wasn't to last very long. The company decided that they could no longer afford to pay the high union wages they were required to pay under the union contract and decided to leave the area. Why they would go to the expense of opening two new stores and then decide to close them and all other stores two months later still baffles me.
I believe it was a Saturday night and I had just finished my shift. After counting out my register, the managers informed me that I would no longer be needed. I knew it was coming, but I was still stunned. I went out to my car and it wouldn't start. The battery had died. I had to have my father come out to help me. It was a rough night. I had just lost a good paying job, and on top of that I had to buy a new battery for my car. So, I did something I hadn't done in a couple of years. I bought some beer.
Later that night, or maybe the next night, I was talking on the phone to one of my closest friends at church. I told her what had happened and about buying and drinking some beer. Instead of being compassionate and encouraging, her response was, "Oh, Richard," in a very condescending and disappointed tone like I had committed some grievous sin. I pretty much stopped attending the church after that. Perhaps if she had encouraged me to put it behind me and move forward things would have been different. As it was, I was very hurt.
In retrospect, it was wrong for me to let somebody else's disappointment in what I did affect my attitude towards the church. Unfortunately, I am a flawed individual living in a world of flawed individuals. It is also a behavior that I have repeated at subsequent times in my life, but I am getting ahead of myself. I will get to more of that when I talk about the next phase of how I got to where I am today.
Friday, January 17, 2014
Judge Not That You Be Not Judged
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| Folio 27r from the Lindisfarne Gospels contains the incipit Liber generationis of the Gospel of Matthew. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
"Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?"When I first became seriously actively involved at Seabrook Baptist Church, I guess I was somewhat naive in how Christians behaved. My friend Chuck, who is the one who got me involved in Seabrook Baptist Church through softball, was somebody that I really looked up to. I went to him often to learn more about how to live a Christian life.
At the time that I became involved with the church, I was a drinker. I liked to have the occasional beer or glass of wine. Now Baptists are famous for abstaining from alcohol. I went to Chuck one day and asked him whether or not I needed to quit drinking. His response stuck with me to this day. Rather than coming out with a straight yes, he told me that the matter was between me and the Lord. Based on his gentle and loving response, I quit drinking, at least while I remained active in the church.
One of the things that I have always tried to practice in my Christian walk is to take the verses above to heart. When dealing with my fellow Christians, I try not to dwell on the sins of others. I have to many of my own sinful acts to deal with. That is not to say that it would be wrong to point out somebody's errors, but it must be done in the proper way, humbly with love and gentleness
As I said, I think I was a little naive in how other Christians practiced their walk. I thought that others practiced what they preached as it were. Unfortunately, I started to find that a lot of Christians were quick to point out the faults of others, and not in a gentle and loving way. I am reminded of a conversation that I had with one of my teammates, Kevin, prior to one of our softball games. We were waiting at the field for one game to end so we could start our game.
Kevin was a few years younger than I was, but he had been active in the church a lot longer than I had. The conversation went something like this:
Kevin: Did you see that?For every Chuck that I ever ran across in the church, it seemed like there were a lot more Kevins there. It was very disheartening. One of my faults (sins) is that in my past experiences in the church have led to disappointment in how other people behaved and how it has driven me away from more than one church. It is a weakness that I am working on to this day.
Me: See what?
Kevin: That guy over there was smoking.
Me: So.
Kevin: This is a Christian league. He shouldn't be doing that.
Me: Kevin, maybe he isn't a Christian yet, or maybe he is a new Christian and the Lord has not convicted him that he should stop smoking. It is a hard habit to break
Kevin: Still, it just isn't right.
Sunday, December 29, 2013
Balling for Jesus-or Seabrook Baptist Church pt 2
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| A softball. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
After I stopped riding the bus with my two brothers to go to Sunday School at Seabrook Baptist Church, I didn't attend church on a regular basis until I got into college. During that interim period, I did attempt to read the Bible on my own, but let's face it, it's a hard book to read.
I got back into attending church in a different way. One of my old high school friends and I were talking on campus. He was telling me about his church softball team and wanted to know if I would be interested in playing. I was always athletic and loved playing ball. The only stipulation was that I would have to attend church on a fairly regular basis. I don't think it was every Sunday, but at least most Sundays. I decided to give it a shot.
When I started attending the church, and the softball practices, I discovered several of my old high school friends were attending the church and playing softball. It was fairly easy to assimilate myself into the group. With so many old friends in the group, and a few other people that I somewhat knew, it was no hardship to meet the minimum requirements to play softball. In fact, I found myself easily attending much more than required. In addition to Sunday school and Sunday morning worship, I found myself attending Sunday nights and Wednesday prayer meeting.
It didn't take too long for me to decide to rededicate myself to Christ. Technically, I had always been on the church membership rolls, but now, rather than being an inactive member, I was now very active. Outside of softball, our college career group did a lot of things together. We used to get together on Saturday nights for an evening of Bible study and prayer. One time, a group of us camped out at an event in Pennsylvania called Creation, or as I liked to call it "Woodstock for Christians." It was two days of performances by various contemporary Christian musical acts.
I also became very active in the music ministry of the church. I became a member of the church choir. The church had a ministry with a nearby nursing home. On occasion, a few of us would go to the nursing home with our guitars and provide music for the service. Another time, we took our guitars down to DC on the 4th of July and played songs while a minister preached on the street. At that time in my life, I also wrote songs. I wrote a couple of songs that I performed in front of the congregation.
For the next few years, I was very happy at Seabrook Baptist Church. Not only did I find myself wanting to be at church and involved in all of the activities. My friends at the church were no longer just my friends, but part of a larger family. We truly loved each other. Still, as they say, all good things come to an end and sadly, so did my time at Seabrook Baptist. In my next post, I will talk about how it all ended.
Sunday, December 8, 2013
A New Experience
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| KJV Bible (Photo credit: knowhimonline) |
There have been two churches that I have attended on a regular basis and been a member. Both have been Baptist churches. The first one was Seabrook Baptist Church which I mentioned in previous posts. The other was Grace Baptist Church here in Bowie, Maryland. In future posts, I will talk a little bit about my experiences at both of those churches.
In my search for a new church, I have visited a few different denominations. One of the things that I have been looking for is a church that has an early worship service on Sunday mornings. An earlier service works better for me because I tend to wake up fairly early, even on the weekends. This morning, I was out of bed around 6 am.
So far in my search, I have not found a place that I could say definitively that I wanted to make my new church home. Similarly, there has not been any place that I have outright decided to eliminate, though I am pretty close to eliminating one church. It is tough because that church lines up more closely with my theological beliefs, however the worship service doesn't quite give me what I am looking for.
Up to now, I have stayed away from Baptist churches even though that is what my primary church background has been. The reason I have stayed away from Baptist churches is because of some of my past experiences with them which I will relate in some later posts. Today, however, I decided to try the Baptist church that is closest to my home because they have an 8:30 am worship churches.
It was at this church that I experienced something that I had never experienced in my previous associations with Baptist churches. The associate pastor of the church came over to introduce themselves to me. Nothing unusual about that, but was unusual is that this associate pastor was a woman. The Baptist churches that I have been a part of in the past held steadfastly to the belief that a woman could not hold that position within the church.
Another thing that I noticed was in the church bulletin for the day's worship activities. The bulletin listed the names of all the deacons of the church. Once again, I noticed that several of the deacons (actually, I should say the vast majority) were women. Again, the two previous churches that I belonged to only had men in the role of deacons.
I will say that one of the things that I did like about the church was that it was very racially diverse. I have heard it said that Sunday morning worship hour is often still the most segregated hour in the country. The attendees of this particular service were split almost equally between white and black worshipers. In fact, the female associate pastor is African American, while the lead pastor is a white man.
I was very impressed by the lead pastor. Instead of standing behind the pulpit, he stood on the floor and delivered his message. What was most impressive, is that he delivered his sermon without the use of any notes. His delivery was smooth and very structured. The associate pastor told me after the service that during the early service, he usually does not speak from behind the pulpit as it is a more relaxed service, but he does preach the 11 am service from behind the pulpit as it is a more formal service.
Another thing about the church that was different, at least to me, is that it seemed that they were a bunch of huggers. After the service, the associate pastor gave me a hug and we chatted for a while. She seems very nice. Then after we finished our conversation, as I went to leave the church, another woman came up to me and gave me a big hug and thanked me for attending the service.
I have not decided whether or not I will go back to the church I went to today. Part of me wants to, but another part of me isn't sure. The church is conveniently located, and I like that they have an early service. Still, another part of me wonders about them having so many women in positions of leadership within the church. There is no doubt that the Bible teaches that women play an important role in the gospel. Still there are those verses that say that women should not be a teacher or in authority over men in the church, not to mention that is what I have experienced in my previous church lives. What are your thoughts on women in a leadership position within the church today versus what is taught in the Bible?
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Riding the Bus
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| First Baptist Church of Seabrook (but not my Seabrook Baptist Church) (Photo credit: Houstonian) |
So, every Sunday morning, my two brothers and I would get up early, put on nice clothes and wait for the bus to pick us up, just like it was a school day. We didn't really have a choice in the matter. I think there were also times when we wondered why we were being punished with going to Sunday school and church services while everybody else stayed at home. If we wanted to ride the bus home, we had to wait until after the worship service as the bus only ran before Sunday school and after service.
The man who was our deacon and picked us up in the bus was a very nice man by the name of Darwin Spinks. He truly was a gentle man in every aspect. He was very soft spoken and kind. A few years later, during what would be my second tenure at Seabrook Baptist, I came to understand that more fully, but that will come in a later post.
Since Sunday School was divided up by different grade levels, I was in a separate class from my two younger brothers. After Sunday School, we would find each other and sit together during the worship service. During one worship service, one of my brothers made a decision to go forward and profess faith in Jesus. He would be scheduled to be baptized a few weeks later during a Sunday evening service.
During the morning worship service of the Sunday that my brother was to be baptized, I made a decision to go forward as well. Normally, they waited a few weeks between your profession of faith and your baptism, but since my brother was already scheduled to be baptized the night, the church agreed to let me get baptized on the same night.
After my brother and I were baptized, we attended church for a few more weeks. Then, we just stopped getting on the bus on Sunday mornings. I wouldn't attend church on a regular basis until I was in my college years. I didn't completely abandon wanting to learn about Jesus. I would still read my Bible on occasion, but it wasn't a regular thing. So the search would continue.
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