Pendulum Swing: From Faith to Social Justice

Over the past year, I have heard several people say that every 500 years or so, there is a major shift in Christianity. Constantine's reign in 306 CE marked the church moving from a fringe religion, to eventually being a state religion. The Great Schism between Rome and the East in 1054 CE left scars in the Global Church that are only now beginning to heal. The Reformation in 1517 resulted in many divisions within the Western Church. Each of these events impacted the world in huge ways.

 Many people are suggesting that we are again in a major, the most recent example I've experienced was at Mennonite Church Canada's National Assembly. During a Young Adult Event, MC Canada Executive Director made reference to this shift, and has outlined some of his thoughts on the topic here. To help navigate this shift, the national church has assembled the New Directions Task Force to look at what the future of the MC Canada will look like, and we had some good discussion during the Assembly about it.

In a recent podcast, Willard and Dan Dyck talked about the future of the church. Willard suggested that the future of the church will be one where the church engages in issues such as Aboriginal Justice and Climate Change, and I agree, the Church needs to engage with social justice issues. It needs to in order to stay relevant, but it also needs to in order to stay faithful to the people who God is calling us to be.

From the creation of the nation of Israel in the Old Testament, God has called a people to show the world around us how to live differently. The Lex Talionis Law in the Torah (an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth) was a demand for equality under the law. Where other cultures allowed those in the upper classes to severely punish those in lower classes for any infraction, the Torah limited retaliation to an equitable punishment.

With Jesus, the people of God became open to all, not just the Jews, but also the Gentiles. The message was do not conform to Rome's morals, of greed, and violence, but make Jesus your King. Peace, Justice and Love became the law written on our hearts.

As history unfolds, we see a pendulum swing. From the weakness of Christ to the Strength of Constantine, from ritual in the middle ages, to faith in the reformation, etc. But we often swing too far. When the pendulum swung towards faith in the reformation, we began to lose the importance of action. Martin Luther wanted to remove the Canon of James from the Canon, thinking that it wasn't relevant to our faith. We swung to a place where faith resulted in inaction.

The Anabaptists always spoke out against this, showing how Faith in Christ requires us to love our neighbors, remember Menno's Famous quote: "True evangelical faith cannot lie dormant. It clothes the naked, it feeds the hungry, it comforts the sorrowful, it shelters the destitute, it serves those that harm it, it binds up that which is wounded, it has become all things to all people." As the world realizes that faith requires action it begins to swing in the other direction. We can't just pray about an issue, being a follower of Jesus means going out and fixing it. 

However, I have cause for concern about this swing. At some point we can/will/have swung too far. Sometimes our concern for social justice becomes more important than the reason why we seek it in the first place. Sometimes I see Mennonites go from being Anabaptist to Secular Humanists. I see us as being more concerned about the ends and not the means.

I see us neglecting our prayer lives and bible readings, casting them aside rather than realizing that they are the reason we seek after justice.

My Social justice concern comes out of my love for Jesus. I care for the other because I see that they are made in God's image. We need to remember that it was the Prophet Amos, a man who was calling Israel back to following God, who said "Let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!" (Amos 5:24). As we shift towards a Christianity that is a voice for the downtrodden, let us also remember that we believe in prayer and faith.

The Role of the Pastor

When people ask me what I want to do with my life, I often tell them that I feel led to being a pastor. However, when I tell them this, I often feel like I am lying, even though technically I am not.

I love God, and I love the church, and I feel that God is leading me towards fulltime Christian ministry within the church. Maybe even in a congregation's lead role someday.

This might sound like being a pastor, but in my mind there is a difference.

My view of Pastoring, and the church, is that it is often of a top down, hierarchical approach, The Pastor is in charge, leading a congregation like a shephard leading a bunch of sheep. Or more of a chaplain role, ministering to the emotional and spiritual needs of the congregation they are working in, maybe doing some outreach (or sheep stealing) in order to maintain the numbers of the congregation, but not really.

I don't think that's an unfair representation. For many centuries, the "western" world was part of Christendom, everyone was assumed to be a Christian, so there wasn't much point in ministry, unless it was mission work to people who had't been reached yet. This concept started when Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire, Augustine put it into theological terms, and it remained that way for a thousand years, surviving even the crash of the Roman Empire.

In the 1500s  this began to change, with the beginning of the Reformation, you could no longer assume that everyone was the same denomination, let alone the same religion of you. However, Christianity in some form remained the norm. Even 50 years ago everyone went to church every week. While this is no longer the case, it's still within my memory when the local mall was closed on Sundays, and today's reduced Sunday shopping hours are a holdover of the belief that people should be at church and not shopping on a Sunday.

Within the concept of Christendom, where everyone was a member of the/a church, it made sense that a Pastor's role was one of caring just for their congregation. However we are now recognizing the fact that not everyone is a Christian, that the world is a much more broken place than it once was. The role of the church, and therefore the role of the pastor is different.

My program at school is "Biblical and Theological Studies" As I read the biblical narrative, and the various philosophizing about who God is I get excited. I see a God who loves us, who's vision for the world is far greater than any of us can possibly imagine, and who invites us to join in working towards that vision.

The Church is the body of people who are working towards this future. We work towards right relationship with ourselves, our neighbours, and our God. I believe that this is the responsibility of every Christian.

Since in this context everyone is in ministry, the role of the Pastor then becomes one of encouraging the church to minister to the best of it's abilities. Since each member has different strengths and abilities, the Pastor encourages the congregation to plug in to what they are passionate about that maximizes congregation's witness to the good news of Jesus Christ.

The Pastor's role is therefore to enable others to minister. both via the traditional tasks of a pastor: providing pastoral care (ensuring the emotional and spiritual well-being of the congregation), theological insight, or leading a committee as necessary, but also in less hierarchical ways. Allowing others to take the lead, and being a support.

Churches are starting to recognize this. Today I noticed that the bulletin of my church, immediately above where pastor's have our contact information, it says "Ministers: Every Member of the Congregation". If this is the vision of the church, then maybe yes, I am called to be a pastor.


[Note: On July 11, 2013 I finally got my hands on a copy of A Mennonite Polity for Ministerial Leadership and I was pleasantly surprised to see that in it's theology section, it too had the same critiques of the Christendom, arguing that to some extent Mennonites have always seen the congregation as the primary ministers. I don't think we've even mostly succeeded at maintaining the viewpoint. but it's nice to know that I am in a denomination with the same thoughts]

Dueteronomy 6 Congregational Prayer

This congregational prayer based loosely on Deuteronomy 6 and heavily on Hymnal: A Worship Book #739, was given June 23, 2013. That Sunday I also helped in a baby dedication, but didn't write anything for it.

Loving God,
Make your word be on our hearts
and your commandments forever in our minds
that we will love you with everything we are
and help us to know that this is only possible
because you first loved us.

Help us to trust you as we lift up in our prayers,
the ones spoken here: For ___________________________
We also prayer for the concerns of our hearts,
 the prayers we pray inside of us,
trusting that you hear them as well.

Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts
by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit
that we may perfectly love you
and magnify your holy name
In Jesus' name we pray,
Amen.

Psalm 137:9 - A Hard Beatitude

[This sermon was originally given at Steinmann Mennonite Church on June 16th, 2013]


Happy is he who seizes your children and dashes them against the rocks

How's that for a fathers' day scripture?


I know it looks like I'm crazy,
Why on earth would I pick this psalm as the focus for today's worship service?

Usually when this passage is read in a church service, the last lines of the song are not read.

"Blessed is he who seizes your children and dashes them against the rocks"

Technically this counts as a beatitude, since it starts with the "blessed is he" phrase.

But it's not one of the beatitudes we usually read

Especially as Mennonites we focus on texts like the one we read earlier about loving your enemy, and praying for those who persecute you, and just ignore all of the talk in Deuteronomy when the Israelites are commanded

"in the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. 17 Completely destroy[a] them—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—as the Lord your God has commanded you." (Deut 20:15-17)

We latch on to the passages about peace, non-violence and love, but then we ignore the passages about genocide, hate and anger.

But they are both in the text, both part of our scriptures, both part of the word of God. I would argue that a passage such as psalm 137 isn't as anti-good news as we would think it is.

 The Summer Series is about Beaches, Boats and Gardens. These are usually nice places to be, sailing on the lake, growing plants, or laying around and catching some rays as you paradoxically kill skin cells to give your skin a "healthy tone"
But not all stories by the beach are happy stories.


The year is 587 BC, Babylon and Edom have joined forces and have destroyed Jerusalem. This is the third time Babylon has defeated Judah, and Nebuchadnezzar is sick of dealing with these rebellious Jews so when his General broke through the wall, Nebuchadnezzar has ordered that Jerusalem be destroyed. All of the ruling class was imprisoned, and taken back to Babylon where they are going to spend the rest of their years working as servants of the emperor.

In this foreign land, between the Tigris and the Euphrates there were a series of canals. It was there the people of Judah. On a beach, in Babylon, sat down and wept.

Jerusalem was pillaged, the temple that Solomon built destroyed, and its treasures taken to Babylon, the people are afraid, life sucks right now. And then their Babylonian captors demand songs from them. The prisoners don't want to sing. How can they sing?

The Babylonians asked for songs of Jerusalem, but Jerusalem is in ruins,
Songs of Jerusalem, like Psalm 48 would sound like a sick joke.

"Walk about Zion, go around her,
number her towers,
consider well her ramparts,
go through her citadels
that you may tell the next generation
that this is God,
our God forever and ever.He will guide us forever."

Her towers are heaps of rubble and her ramparts are piles of stone. There's nothing to look at but some burning citadels.
The Generation that we are supposed to teach that this is God, has been killed.
This City's glory was supposed to proclaim Yahweh's greatness.
If the city God lives in and supposedly protects is destroyed can that God still guide us?
With their world falling apart, Judah's people asked how can we sing?
How can we sing when our Babylonian captors demand a song?
That's cruelty, they know Jerusalem is destroyed. They are taunting us.

Can we even worship a God in a foreign land? Can we sing when everything we know is gone?

The Psalmist’s answer to his own question is yes. Yes we can.

"If I forget you, oh Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill.
May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
if I do not remember you.
If I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy."

If they ever want to sing again, they need to remember Jerusalem, these memories offer hope in the midst of the pain and devastation caused by the exile.

But they also offer anger. As they remember what happened in Jerusalem, they ask God to remember Edom.
Babylon's Allies in the campaign were the Edomites, a tribe living to the southeast. They are the descendants of Esau, Jacob's brother, the People of Judah saw them as distant cousins, so the fact that they have sided with Babylon hurts even more. As Babylon breaks through the walls of Jerusalem, the city's inhabitants could hear the Edomites chanting "Lay it bear, lay it bare, down to its foundations!"
And so, they plea with God to remember what Edom and Babylon did.They want God to punish the people that hurt them. Yes, even to the point of killing all of the children.

Babylon would have done this to them during the destruction of Jerusalem. By killing their children, wiping out a large chunk of the next generation, Babylon ensures that Judah won't give them problems for several more decades. Judah can't rise up against them for many years because there is no one to rise.

So when Psalm 137 says Blessed is the one who dashes your children   against the rocks. You can hear the pain and anger of a mother whose child has been ripped from her arms.

And who wants revenge

It might be hard to understand how there can be any sort of message of hope from a text like this, but there is:

1st of all, they are turning to God.
In the Ancient Near East, when two countries fought, it was understood that up above, in the sky the gods of the different sides were in combat as well. Whichever god won, would determine who would win the battle. Judah had been defeated. Normally that would mean that their God would be "dead" or at the very least weaker than the Babylonian Gods. God's temple is after all destroyed, how can God live without a temple? But even then, at the rivers of Babylon, the people of Judah are turning back to God; are realizing that God is still in control even when life isn't going their way.


Secondly this exile helped reshape their Identity. Because they were worried that they would lose their identity, they took a lot of their Oral traditions and wrote them down to make sure that they were not forgotten. With their homeland destroyed, the Hebrew Scriptures, the law and prophets became more important because it bound them together. Even psalms like this bound their Identity together. They knew that they can't forget what happened, that they couldn't forget Jerusalem because if they did, then they would forget themselves
 In Babylon they developed the Synagogue, places where they could gather and worship God, though without the traditional sacrifice which was only allowed in the temple. Synagogues became so popular that when they were allowed to return home, they took the synagogue with them.
It is interesting that in later years, when there weren't enough Jews to sustain a synagogue in a community, they would meet by the river, and remember God.

Thirdly, this psalm lets us know that it's okay to be angry. Their home was destroyed, and many people were killed. Of course they are going to be angry! Of course they want revenge! And it's okay to bring these feelings to God.

The People of Judah ask God for judgment against their enemies. Yes psalms like this are extremely alarming. This helps what is called Catharsis, and allows them to release emotions.


Within the Mennonite Church there is a long history suffering.
When the first Anabaptists in Switzerland decided to adult baptize, the authorities and state churches persecuted them, ever since then, Mennonites have been persecuted for the fact that we try to be different than the world around us. Persecution has spurred us on as a movement.
Part of what helped us continue moving is the theology of suffering that we've developed. We look at scriptures that say "blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matt 5:11-12)
And we looked at what we experienced, and we think wow, we must be blessed. Look at all of this persecution!
Or we look at Paul when he writes

Romans 5:3-4
3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope.
Eventually we take this idea of righteous suffering and extend it from suffering because of our faith, to all forms of suffering. Because we are suffering we think we are being virtuous. We think we just need to make it through, and everything will be alright in the end.

Because of this theology of suffering and perseverance, we then think that any feelings to the contrary are bad. When someone harms us, and we get angry, we immediately feel shame that we felt that way. We think we are bad Mennonites, we think that we are bad Christians.

But it's not that easy. God made us with the ability to feel, and so when we feel Angry because we've suffered, that is a God given feeling pushing us to work towards justice and when we want to see the people who have hurt us suffer, we need to remember that it's okay to experience those feelings.
God is always on the side of the poor, the oppressed, and the abused. He promises: Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. (Matt11:28)

This Psalm is a voice for every person who has suffered abuse, oppression and violence. It expresses the pain we feel, and it tells us it is okay to feel angry

This Psalm shows us what to do with that anger. Instead of going and killing a bunch of Babylonians, we see a couple things:
The fact that we even have this psalm is testament to the importance of expressing these feelings. The arts are a good way of expressing pain. How many people find healing through expressing their feelings in painting, journaling, or singing?

Every time country singer Taylor Swift breaks up with a boyfriend we get a new hit single. Not just because they make for good stories, but because it is a way for her to get her feelings out, to express them and get back to doing what she loves: making music
 But besides just expressing these feelings, we are shown who we should direct these feelings to:
God.

We get to go before God, the maker of the universe and tell God about the hurt we are experiencing, and know that God is listening and cares about it.

Recently at a Mass, Pope Francis said "The Lord hears us, He listens to our complaints. Think of the great men [like job and Jeremiah] they complained and even cursed, not to the Lord, but to the situation, right? It is only human"

This complaining to God, allows them to then go and do the right thing, even in the face of oppression.

John Howard Yoder, the theologian, says that

We live in a world dominated by power structures.
Originally power structures were a good thing, they provide order and prevent chaos, and still do to a large extent
But because humanity is fallen, our power structures have broken, and now they also oppress.
The strong lord it over the weak
The 1 percent oppress the 99
The Abuser blames the victim

The principalities and powers now control and oppress us.
But that's not the end of the story.
Jesus came to earth, and lived a life that while structured by the powers of law and traditions, they could not control Jesus' response. Because of his actions, the power structures in place, the civil and religious authorities had him killed, but in doing so he showed it's possible to live out Matthew five
Jesus loved his enemies, dying for their sinsJesus prayed for those that persecuted him, while on the cross he said "Father forgive them for they don't know what they do"

But then after the power structures had killed him, Jesus completely defeated them. Not even death, the ultimate Power could hold him
He didn't stay dead!
Jesus rose again, and he invites us to live lives that are free from oppression.

We are told to be free, but we know that even if this doesn't happen, we are not forgotten. God is there for us even in the midst of suffering.
We can seek justice
This is how we can walk the extra mile even though our feet get blisters
This is how we love our enemies even when we are killed

Because when this happens to us, we can turn to God and express our anger. Knowing that we are listened to by the only one that matters.


 So while a text like the Psalm 137 might seem hard to understand, and difficult to fit within our Pacifist understandings, they can still bring important messages about God's freeing work in the world, one where the victim's voice, is heard.

A Transformed People of God

This is a Sermon I originally gave Pentecost Sunday (May 19th, 2013) at Steinmann Mennonite Church.

Ten days after Jesus ascended into heaven, the disciples were gathered together, waiting, in Jerusalem for a gift that Jesus promised that God would send them.

while they sat waiting, Jews from all around the world were gathering in Jerusalem for Pentecost. Pentecost, or Shavout, as it was known in hebrew, was one of the pilgrimage festivals that Israel Celebrated, marking important points within Israel's story, and responding with an offering

50 days ago we celebrated Easter, Easter took place over Passover, another of these pilgramage festivals. Passover remembers the story in exodus when during the last Plaque, God sent the Angel of Death to Egypt to kill the firstborn children, but because the Hebrews killed lambs, and marked their doors with the blood, the Angel of Death Passed over them, and they were freed from slavery.

The Easter Narrative parralels this story. The entire world was in Bondage to Sin, so God sent his Son Jesus, to die so those who are covered by his blood would be protected from death, and are free from bondage.

But after they were freed from slavery in Egypt, the Hebrews weren't really a nation. They were just a collection of loosely affiliated tribes, following Moses into the Sinai desert. The Jewish holiday of Pentecost remembers the day that, at Mount Sinai, God formed them into a people, fullfiling his promise to Abraham:

"Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him."

God turned the 2 Million Hebrews, Abraham's descendants into Israel, by giving them a gift. A gift that would teach them the right way to live, a gift that would govern their lives, and define them as a people. Something that to this day Judaism regards as more important than anything else on earth: Torah

Torah, or The Law was gift given to the newly formed People of Israel as a way to bring them into right relationship with God. By following economic, policical, dietary, and lifestyle patterns that were different from the people around them, the formed a national Identity, which protected them from cultural erosion by their myriad of neighbours. And even though, as we read on in the Bible, Israel failed at following the commandments, it always served as a rallying cry. When Israel didn't obey God's commandments, and became like their neighbours, worshipping Idols instead of God, God through the prophets call them back to the Law, to relationship with their creator. The Jewish holiday of Pentecost Marks the Birth of Israel, a great and powerful Nation, the Children of God. A nation defined by their heritage as Abraham's Descendants, and by the Law.So now lets return to the Disciples, here are 120 or so people, in the upper room, praying and waiting, Outside, there are Jews from all over the world who have gathered together to celebrate the fact that even though they are scattered accross the known world, they still have the Law, the cornerstone of their Identity.As the Disciples wait, tongues of fire descend on their heads, and they are filled with the Holy Spirit. They begin to pray. At this point they must have left the upper room because they are now in the streets, with the community of Israel, proclaiming the Mighty Works of God.As Peter explains, this is the fulfillment of Joel, the Holy Spirit has been poured out to all people, Young and Old, Rich and poor. The Last Days are here, and everyone is welcome to join in.

God is transforming the People of God.

Now instead of Torah telling us what we have to do to be in right relationship with God, God has sent the Spirit to show us how to Live, to lead and guide us, to walk with us and comfort us.

Israel's mission was to demonstrate to the world the way of Life God has for us, by living according to the law, they demonstrated that God, the creator of the universe wanted them to live differently:

in other Ancient Near east countries, the justice system allowed those more powerful to lord it over those under them. If a member of a lower class somehow took out the eye of someone in a higher class, the injured person could take out both of the perpetrators eyes, as well as I don't know, break their legs and sell their wife and children into Slavery

For Israel, the law is clear, that regardless of what class you are in, the consequences for your actions were are the same. An Eye for an Eye. Israel and it's Laws showed the world around them another way of living

At Pentecost, when the disciples recieved the holy spirit, they, and us by extension, were called to embody a new, transformed world, where we are no longer slaves, captive to a spirit of fear, but rather we are free to choose  today, and every day, to allow the Holy Spirit to lead us, guide us, shape us. The Holy Spirit empowers us to do God's work, to share the Good News of Jesus Christ to everyone we meet. Whether it be relief efforts in Syria, or having coffee with a friend and being that shoulder to cry on.

We are empowered to live differently than the world around us, to show God's love to our neighbours, and to invite them to join us.

When we do this, we are adopted into God's Family, we become children of God, we become heirs with Christ. An Heir cares about their Parent's work because they know one day they will be responsible for it. They are going to inherit that farm, or inherit that factory, and so they work now at making it the best it can be. When they are younger they look to see what their parents do, and find ways of helping out, because they know that their continued well being is dependant on it. We need to look to see what God is doing, and find ways of partnering with God to make the Kingdom of God the best it can be.
While the Jews waited, hoping for a restored, geographically located Israel, the pouring out of the Holy Spirit shows the transnational nature of this transformed people. No longer are we restricted to one place. People from all over the world were hearing the mghty works of God in their own languages. The Kingdom of God is available for you regardless of where you are.
We are called into a new people, God's beloved community. In a world dominated about what's important to me, about what I can do, or what I can get, we are now in a global community of believers, who choose to follow God the creator of the world, Whose primary commandments are to “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ and to ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ It is only together as a united people of God that we are able to do this fully. It's only as a whole that Steinmann Mennonite Church is able to do what we do.My very first day here, I was taken to two organizations that you have supported. I visited the Wilmot Family Resource Centre, which started as a toy library, and now has more programs to build strong healthy families than I would believe possible. I then visited the Interfaith Counselling, an organization that sees the deep wounds that traumatic events cause in people and guides them thro ugh the healing process. I've also seen the work you do at Nithview Mennonite Home, and at the MCC thrift store.

Sure, you can make a difference individually, but because of the network of people that makes up this congregation, we are able to more than what 424 individuals could do by themselves. And even if you don't specifically volunteer somewhere, does not mean that you aren't a part of this group, by supporting those who do, through prayer, finances and fellowship, you enable the church as a whole to do it's work. So continue to find a way that you can support the church to do God's work.

Communion is a way that we act out our unity as the church, when denominations resolve their differences and recognise each other's validity, it's referred to as entering into community with each other.

 In receiving the elements of Holy Communion with faith and prayer we are truly joined to God in Christ and the Spirit, we are truly united with our fellow members in the church in this act of worship, we are truly joined with believers of all times and places who have celebrated the bread and wine in the past. We join together in doing the work of God.


I invite all who wish to be part of this Transformed people of God to join me in the Lord's supper.

Originally posted online at SMChurch.ca