9-11 Fifteen Years On: Wisdom from above

James 3
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. 17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.
  
The letter of James presents sets of two. Rich and poor. Faith and deeds. Words of blessings and words of cursing. Wisdom from below and wisdom from above. Each pair relates to its partner in some way. We are called to see the rich and the poor as equal. It is deeds that prove our faith. Words of blessing are greater than words of cursing. The wisdom from above and the wisdom from below are not equal.  They originate from separate sources. The wisdom from below is the wisdom of humanity. The wisdom from above is the wisdom of God.

How do we receive this wisdom from above? How can the wisdom of God be a part of our narrative? James 1:5 says this, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” So we receive the wisdom of God from God.  Wisdom is given to us if we ask. God gives generously when we ask. God gives without finding fault. 

The goal of human wisdom is self-gain. The goal of the wisdom of God is peace. The peace of God comes through Jesus Christ. In his letter to the church at Corinth Paul wrote this about the wisdom that comes from above:

1 Corinthians 1

25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

26 Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

This November, everyone reading this will make a choice. Either you will choose to vote or you will make the choice to not vote. This November there will be individuals and ideas that are put in power, and there will be individuals and ideas that are removed from power. To borrow JD’s phrase, “it matters who you line up behind.” It matters who you choose to speak for you. This decisions you make should absolutely be grounded on how you understand the Scriptures. Your choices should be founded upon your understanding of the wisdom of God.

However we must also remember that in November there will still only be ONE church. ONE body, ONE Spirit, and ONE Lord of all. To those who follow Jesus we are called to reject favoritism, to show our faith through our deeds, to speak words of blessing, and to seek the wisdom of God.

We come to Jesus for this wisdom. We come to Jesus for redemption. We come to Jesus so that we may be peacemakers who sow in peace and reap in righteousness.

--Serving Him alongside all of you, just from further away
 --Jesse Letourneau

All Scriptures NIV taken from blueletterbible.org

9-11 Fifteeen Years On

Some brief reflections on today. More to come.

Fifteen years ago today, I was awakened by mom saying, you need to watch this.  In the living room the television was tuned to NBC’s the Today show, and a smoking image of the Twin Towers was being broadcast live from the New York skyline to my home in Long Beach, California. It took me a moment to take it all in. The news reporters were unsure what had happened. Confusion and Panic were in their voices as bits of information mixed with pure guess work passed for news that day. I sat not yet fully awake trying to make sense of the images and sounds that I was witnessing.  I watched the endless loop.  The Today Show replayed footage of the second plane hitting the South Tower over and over. No one seemed to really know what was happening. I was watching live when the second Tower came down. Ash and Fire filled the sky and our country was forever changed. Beyond the planes that were hijacked and flown into the Twin Towers, two more planes were hijacked that day. One crashed into the Pentagon. The other in a field in Pennsylvania, believed to be targeted on the White House.

In the days and weeks that followed two narratives emerged. The first narrative highlighted the very worse that America has to offer. Mosques were sieged and taken over by angry citizens. People whose only crime was looking like what other people imagined the attackers to be were threatened, beaten, and even killed.  In a time where all were unsure of what was next; a time when all grieved; in a time were unity was the best answer anyone could muster in the face of such violence and confusion,  American citizens sought out their neighbor and reacted with prejudice, hatred, and violence.

Why would someone react this way? Why in a time where the American flags hung on nearly every door and post, a time where people came together to raise money and support for the victims and their families, why would others go out and cause harm to their own country? Their own countrymen and women?

Fear, Anger, Uncertainty, Helplessness. These are the emotions that cause people to react. These are the emotions that were felt in America on that day and the days that followed. I know at least they are the emotions that welled up in me.

But these feelings are not unique to me. To see a building collapse, to know that someone from outside your home. Outside your place of safety could attack the Pentagon, try and attack the White House, kill thousands of civilians who were only harmed because they had arrived on time for their flight or showed up for work that day. It will cause fear and anger. And it should. Their aim of the terrorist is to cause fear in the hearts and minds of people. The terrorists accomplished their aim on that day.

However, that narrative of fear and reaction is not the only narrative from that day. There is a second narrative. The one of those whose actions showed their faith by their deeds. Those whose words and actions were kind and compassionate. Self-less and for some even Self-giving. Of course this is the narrative of the firefighters, police, and EMTs that ran toward the smoke. Toward the towers. Toward the danger. They may have felt fear and uncertainty but their actions showed that the others come first.

There is a word we use to classify these kinds of professions. They are known as first responder. They do not react. They respond. When the planes hit the building the fire departments of New York and its neighbors did not rush to find a place to express their anger and fear with more violence. Neither did they rush toward the towers without any tools or equipment. They responded. They put on the proper gear and they brought the proper equipment allowing them to help those buried beneath the buildings. Their actions spoke louder than their words. Their actions of self-sacrifice spoke louder than the violence with which the day had begun.

In the last fifteen years the rubble of the collapsed World Trade Center has been cleared, memorials built and a new structures now fill the New York City skyline. And yet we still live in a culture filled with competing narratives. Every day there are police who put their lives on the line to maintain order. Every day there are law enforcement officers who abuse power and bring violence and even death upon the citizens they swore to serve and protect. The Scriptures command that the orphan, widow, and immigrant be cared for. The Church (as a whole) is still discussing and debating who is worthy of our aid and comfort. The 24 hour news cycle cares more about the moral character of a football player than the moral character of the candidates asking to lead our country.

But there is hope. Part Two tomorrow.

--Serving Him alongside all of you, just from further away
--Jesse Letourneau

Act III

There is a website entitled “How It Should Have Ended” that takes movies that they feel didn’t come to their natural conclusion and rewrites the third act. My personal favorite is their take on Superman, but it is their reaction to Return of the King that I want talk about today.

They postulate that The Lord of the Rings Trilogy would have been better served, if during the first movie, Gandalf had called the Eagles to fly Frodo and Sam to Mount Doom to destroy the One Ring. As they fly off, Sam comments, “Imagine if we had to walk all that way.”

Obviously, Tolkien’s tales are about the journey more than the destination. However, Tolkien also knew the importance of the destination. In fact when Sam and Frodo finally reach their destination, the movie still has several more endings.

I absolutely love the fact that each character gets their ending. Whether it’s a returning to the woods, back to Shire to raise a family, or a boat trip to lands unknown each character is rewarded for their sacrifice. But more than that, each begins a new adventure. For when Frodo and Sam drop the ring into the Mount Doom, to coin a phrase, it is not the beginning of the end, but merely the end of the beginning.

And so it is with us. The story of God continues throughout history. The story begins in the Garden and its second act starts with Shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night. And the story doesn't end with Christ on the cross or even with the empty tomb. It's ending does not come with Jesus eating fish on the shore, or at the day of Pentecost. It is not with John on Patmos or Paul in Rome. It continues on through the early church and to Constantine, to the Aztecs, to Feudal China, to Washing, Lincoln, to Martin Luther King Jr. It continues on to us.

The story of Christ, the story of redemption, the story of God's love for His Creation includes us. And not in "we are connected to the past by our stories" or in a "it makes me feel better to be a part of something better" kind of way.

Rather, the story of redemption includes us because it was always meant to. When Adam and Eve broke communion with God, He looked down from heaven and saw Abraham and Moses, He saw the death and resurrection of His son, and he saw us.

It is one story. We were always meant to be a part of God and His love.

--Serving Him alongside you,just from further away,
--Jesse Letourneau

Bells on Christmas Day

I have a new year's resolution: blog more. And more importantly make it my blog and not try and emulate the work of others. So with that in mind, I am not going to wait until the perfect analogy or the perfect illustration come along to illustrate what I am learning/musing on. I may not even wait until my thoughts are fully formed.

So basically what you are going to get from me is a one side stream of conscience conversation (which you can make two sided if you add comments).

So with the business of business out of the way let's begin.

I have heard the Christmas story at least once for the last 33 years*. I have participated in Advent celebrations at home and in the Church. I have written and read monologues for school and church events. I have taught the story and all it means countless times to the next generation. And yet it remains new. There is always another lesson in shepherds who are sore afraid or angels singing in Latin.

Just when I think I have seen the narrative from every angle another one presents itself. One of the things I appreciate most about Grace @ Night is the willingness of the leadership to ask the hard questions. To speak on the problem of pain, to speak about how the world truly sees the Church and how we are to respond. This December they asked the simple question, "If Jesus' birth was to bring peace on earth, where is it?"

Where indeed? The old adage, "just turn on your tv and you can see..." truly applies to the lack of peace in our world. Well then maybe the peace Christ is to bring is about inner peace and inner wellness. Or maybe better yet it is the peace of the future rule of Christ on earth. While these statements are true, and begin to answer the question, they are not enough.

Neither answer satisfies. Honestly, stop and dwell on the concept that the angels proclaimed Christ's birth would bring peace on earth (Luke 2:14), and yet it is not here. They didn't say it would come through the work of Christ on the cross, they didn't say that it would come when the book of Revelation unfolds. They said we proclaim, "on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." And yes, the cross and the Second Coming ushered in and will usher in peace between God and man unlike what had been/will be seen before, but what of the "now" promised by the angels?

You know why this question while seemingly simple is a loaded one? Because if the angels on the night of Christ's birth were give to hyperbole, if the mouthpieces of God were overstating or worse yet lying about why this baby was so important, can we trust anything else the New Testament says? I know, the question sucks. It raises legitimate theological kinks in the armor that is the Good News of Christ.

And this question isn't new. In 1863 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote a poem entitled I Hear the Bells on Christmas Day. In the poem, Longfellow laments, "'There is no peace on earth,' I said, 'For hate is strong and mocks the song Of peace on earth, good will to men.'" In 2008, Mark Hall of Casting Crown used the poems as lyrics for a song of the same title.listen here

You will note at the song's conclusion Longfellow states, "God is not dead, nor doth He sleep. The wrong shall fail, the right prevail, with peace on earth good will to men." How can Longfellow say this? What happens between stanza three and four to bring about this change? If we look only the lyrics we find that the bells simply pealed more loud and deep. Fat lot of good that does us (or at least me). I still look around at my world and see strife and war (much of it done in Christ's name).


There are two things that need to be stated for us to reach the same conclusion as Longfellow. The first is to look at the word peace. In the original text the word peace carries with it the Jewish understanding of peace or more accurately the understanding of the word shalom. Shalom is greater than peace.


In English we see the word peace and think of its antithesis war. Peace is often defined as the absence of conflict. Shalom carries with it the weight of things being as they should be. Shalom doesn't simply mean that there is no fighting, it is a condition where all the parties involved are in harmony. I was once teaching Sunday School and asked the children what peace was. One little boy answered, "It is where everyone sits at the table and gets along." I like this definition.


However, this only brings us back to the original question. Where's the peace? (And yes in my head that last sentence sounds like a little old lady upset with her hamburger.) And more importantly it raises the question "How can we obtain peace?" The answer to this question lets us in on the secret Longfellow heard in those bells one hundred thirty-seven years ago. More importantly it brings us back to the meaning of Christmas and the answer to how the angels could state that the birth of Jesus would bring this peace.


The story of Christmas isn’t the whole story. In fact it isn’t even the start of the story. The story starts with Adam and Eve in the book of Genesis. The story starts with things the way they should be. It begins with shalom. Then the serpent, and the lies, and separation of man from his Creator. Then several chapters of some pretty messed up people trying to get back to God. Thousands of years go by and shalom isn’t ever fully reached. The separation of God and His creation is mended by sacrifice, and broken by lies. And so the cycle goes. Then one day there were shepherds standing out by thy flocks at night, and suddenly…

Suddenly the angels appear. Suddenly everything is different. Suddenly the great gulf fixed between man and God has a way across. The first act is the Old Testament (and you thought the prologue in Fellowship of the Rings was drawn out). The second act is the Nativity and the life of Christ. The third act is the death and Resurrection of our Lord and Savior.

Ephesians 2:13-14 states: But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For He himself is our peace. Second Thessalonians 3:16 states: Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.

This peace that we seek must come from God. As humans we can love, we can create, we can bring justice, we nurture, and we can even reconcile that which is broken into a state of newness. But we can NOT generate peace. Just as grace is something wholly given by God to man, so is peace. This is why it is so hard to find peace (whether it is lack of war, inner peace, or even peace between man and God). Because it doesn’t come from us. It can’t come from us. It can only come from Christ. It can only come if God enters our world. It can only come from a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying a manger. It can only come from a deity wrapped in veils of flesh and hanging on a cross.

And the Christmas message of peace is even greater than “without Christmas there is no Easter.” For the baby born to Mary and Joseph was not the start of the story. It was the climax, the resolution. The birth of Jesus, Emmanuel (my favorite name of Christ by the way), is literally the first time since the garden that peace has come to earth.

And to that, I add my voice to the angels and sing, “Glory to God in the highest!”

Serving Him alongside all of you, just from further away,
Jesse Letourneau

*Yes, I know I am 32, but being born in September my first Christmas was before my first birthday, and thus when I was one it was my second Christmas, and so on... Also I "saw" Star Wars (A New Hope) in vitro, but that is another story for another day.

Be a Hypocrite

This week's message at church was how we as Christians need to be hypocrites. Seriously.

The passage was from Ephesians 5:
Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children ²and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

The point made was this. The origin of the word hypocrite used in Ephesians comes from Greek plays. The actors would take on the look and the attributes of another. This was done without pretense. That is to say they never claimed to be the person they were acted as. As Christians we are to imitate God, but never claim to be Him.

Clearly, I am not God, but that doesn't mean I can't take on His attributes. It doesn't mean that even as a broken sinful person I can't be patient, kind, and forgiving. And it doesn't mean that being patient, kind, and forgiving makes me God. Under the facade I am still a broken person. But therein lies the good news!

I am broken, and yet I am being made into a new creation. I am fallen and sinful and selfish, yet I have learned and continue to learn how to care for others more than myself, how to care for others instead of myself. The good news of the Scriptures is that all of us are imperfect, but that God has redeemed us and is molding us into perfection.

I am not better than the person who sees the veneer, who sees in me the attributes of God. I was just shown where the mask and cape were first. But there is another mask, there is another cape, there is another opportunity to be changed from who we are into who we were meant to be.

The hypocrisy we see in the Church is that as we put on the attributes of God, we think that it makes us holy, that it makes us better than those without. Remember, we have these treasures in jars of clay. We aren't the main attraction. We are just the vessels showing the love and forgiveness of God to others.

So then why can't "anyone' just pick up the attributes of God, or the attributes of Mohamed, or Buddha, or just be a good person?

 The answer lies in the first chapter of Ephesians:

³Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. ⁴For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love ⁵he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— ⁶to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. ⁷In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace ⁸that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. ⁹And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, ¹⁰to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.

¹¹In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, ¹²in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. ¹³And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of his glory.

We are sealed by the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit of God that ensures me that I am being made into a new creation that will, one day, be perfected. It is the Holy Spirit that enables me to live a life of patience, kindness, and forgiveness. Remember, I am broken. I need God to make me more than I am.

--Jesse "Gonzo" Letourneau

Serving Him alongside all of you, just from further away.