What Hath Hogwarts to Do With Jerusalem?

In a recent Sojourners article, Julie Clawson talks about the Harry Potter Alliance (HPA) and its attempts to end injustice, beginning with making sure that Harry Potter memorabilia is fairly traded and has no connection to injustice. They are doing many other things and suppoting many other good causes, but that's the one I want to focus on.

The HPA exists because of a common felt need by its members to respond to the story of Harry Potter and the values and messages articulated by the HP series. And they feel that unfairly traded chocolate is not commensurate with the values of the Harry Potter series, and therefore should not be used to make items that will be connected to the HP franchise.

I get into all of this to say: why don't Christians feel the same way about the Jesus "franchise"? Go into a Christian bookstore and look at all of the Jesus junk that they have: "Christian" mints, spinning tops, chocolates, rubber balls, and the like, all line the shelves of Christian bookstores. First I think we need to ask ourselves: do we need this stuff? It is my suspicion that we don't. But the second thing is if we look into the manufacture of these products, are they manufactured in a manner commensurate with the values of the one whose narrative inspired us to believe? I see in the Harry Potter Alliance a friendly challenge to the Christian community: try to live for Jesus in a way that is in keeping with the way Jesus lived.

The Importance of Narrative: Then and Now

“In the future when your descendants ask their fathers, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’" Josh 4:21b-22

"I love to tell the story of unseen things above/of Jesus and his glory/ of Jesus and his love."

"Let me tell you what he has done for me."

Narrative is important to the faithful. It was for the ancient Israelites. They erected monuments to their God, as reminders of divine intervention and revelation. Narrative perpetuated their faith, as God became identified as "The Lord, the God who delivered you from Egypt." YHWH the deliverer saved the community from destruction.

Narrative has been important for Baptists. Early on, Baptists began to focus on experiences of faith. A profession of faith was accompanied by the individual's answer to the question: "What has God done for you?" This remains in the testimonies of today, as Baptists will often stand up in front of the congregation and share their story. Very few have been delivered from Egypt, but a premium is often placed on a good, dramatic story.

We need to continue to tell the story. To tell what God has done for us. Not only to share the news with the world, but to remind ourselves. Raise your Ebenezer.

There's something about Asherah?

In 1 Kings Chapter 18, we have one of the most famous stories of the Elijah narrative. It's the famous Elijah vs. the Prophets of Baal showdown of the century. Anyway, Elijah goes up to Mount Carmel to meet the prophets of Baal and Asherah (v. 19), and he competes against them to see whose God is real and/or powerful, and needless to say, YHWH beats Baal. Like pretty handily. The Baal sacrifice just won't catch fire, while YHWH's waterlogged sacrifice burns so much that it dries the trench of water around it. But the curious thing is, Asherah's prophets aren't mentioned again in the story. So the question is: What happens to them? Unfortunately, we dunno. Some people interpret this as a contest not only over the legitimacy of the two major deities, but also a contest over whose gal Asherah is. This is admittedly reading waaaaaaay too much into the text, but it is an interesting counterargument to an equal argument from silence that her prophets were killed as well.

Jonathan Edwards intrigued me this morning.

This morning I was doing a little reading from Richard J. Foster's Devotional Classics, and today's reading was Jonathan Edwards. Well, I was a little wary, especially given that my only experience with the man's work was his most famous: "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." But today, my reading was about the need for us to reclaim the affections in our faith. Edwards basically argues that human beings do nothing, good or bad, without their affections inspiring them to do so. A life without affection is a meaningless, inactive life. And Deuteronomy 10 reminds us that our heart is crucial to the worship of God. This presumably intellectual seminarian was floored by this concept. I feel like our world is so focused on objectivity and calculating distance that we forget the need for affection. God desires that we come with a "circumcised heart" and not just a head full of dogma and scripture. It's about heart knowledge, and heart knowledge includes our affections and our experience.

Ambition

In Judges 9, Abimilech- Gideon's son- is trying to get people to make him the king. And that seems like a good idea until his brother Jotham hears about it. Now Jotham delivers a pretty good parable about how all of the trees are too busy bearing fruit to be made king, and the thornbush is the only one that has the time.

This passage reminds us of the old truism that the best people suited for the job- be it king or president or, as Dr. Reid told us, the bishop- are the people who want it the least. There are remarkably few like Cincinattus, who gave up power after he saved the empire; like Gideon who did the same. In fact, most are like Saul or Augustus, who at least pretend to have no interest in power until they have it, and then are driven mad by the drug that it is. Power, it seems, corrupts; therefore it ought never go to those who are already corrupt. Be suspicious of those who grab for power.

Of Conformity, Holiness, and Getting What we Need

In 1 Samuel Chapter 8, the people of Israel demand a king, because "Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles” (v. 20, NIV).

This can be perceived as a rejection of God, or a rejection of holiness in favor of conformity, all of which make for great sermon points. But what strikes me most this Christmas season is that it follows the mentality of the claim we always make: If I can have this one thing, just this one, then I'll be happy, then I'll have enough. And we so often see this thing in the world around us; keeping up with the Joneses is a real temptation. We see a thing someone has, and we covet. Ironically, just like the Israelites with their desire for a king, we often also only see the positive aspects. And we forget that its not all roses.