July 26, 2006
Blegging for Missions
I’m not one to bleg (blog begging, for the uninitiated), but I think this is an event worthy of the action. My wife has the opportunity to take part in a mission trip in August, and the mission team is in need of additional funds. Read on and see if you might be willing to help.
It began with a mission trip to New Orleans planned by my church. Our youth group has a major mission trip each year, and my wife planned to go. Unfortunately, she had to back out because of a training obligation for her job as a private school teacher. While the youth group, and some adults (including my parents) were in New Orleans helping with recovery, my wife was in Lancaster, PA, training. As you can expect, she was not happy about missing out on this mission opportunity, and explained this to the folks at school.
When the folks at the school learned that she was missing out on a mission trip to go to training, they were able to offer her a consolation prize. Their church, you see, had a mission trip coming up as well. This mission trip didn’t conflict with anything else, and she was offered the chance to go with them. What’s more, this trip is to help build and support a home aimed at Peruvian street orphans. The wife is going to Peru.
Adding one more person to the mission trip did add some financial burdens. They aren’t great, but they do exist. There’s one more person to fly down. One more person to feed and house, as well. The mission trip, previous to her joining, was fully funded, so the need is there for a bit more funding.
That’s why I’m blegging. If you would be interested in supporting this mission, please contribute. Contribute as much, or as little, as you feel led. Any additional funding raised for the mission trip will also go toward this mission, as the home being developed will need additional funding as well. The hope is to contribute to this effort as much as possible. Missions is about spreading the good news of Jesus Christ as our savior, but it is also about helping those who are truly in need.
To find out more about the home being built, and the need being met, visit Peru Missions.
To contribute, send a check to:
Sandhills Alliance Church
P.O. Box 3222
Pinehurst, NC 28374
Attn: Peru Mission
Posted by Lockjaw at 6:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 23, 2005
Killing Christmas? It's Nothing New
Every year, the hubub between the anti-Christmas folks and the pro-Christmas folks gets more heated. This year, it has reached a fever pitch. I wrote a bit about it last year, and I thought I might add a thought this year.
Christmas is the day we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Yes, we celebrate during the wrong time of year. Yes, the date was chosen to pre-empt a pagan celebration. No, everyone does not believe in God, or that Jesus is an aspect of God given an existence of flesh to complete a divine task. Antagonism toward those who do not believe, however, is not the way Jesus would want us to spend the season of celebration.
Jesus was born an outcast. There being a major influx of people into the town of Bethlehem at hs birth, there was no space available for Mary and Joseph to stay, and for Jesus to be born. The inns were full. Private homes, which often had guest rooms, were full. Undoubtedly, the spaces available for travelers were holding far more people than they were designed for.
Word of the impending birth of a messiah-child reached the King, who had no need for an upstart usurper to his crown. He set out to have Jesus killed. If there ever was an attempt to kill Christmas, it was through this act of Satan through the king.
Today, we're merely faced with unbelievers who dislike being asked to acknowledge what they see as a fictional character. Facing the day with incomplete information and a belief that the day is based in fiction, I can't say I blame them for not wanting to say "Merry Christmas." The answer is not to respond with hate, but with love.
I feel pity for those who do not believe. I can see what a personal relationship with Jesus Christ has done in my life, and the lives of my friends and family. It hasn't been easy, as I watched those things I thought I wanted be put aside by my King to be replaced with greater opportunities and benefits. My own wants were leading me nowhere, while God had a greater plan for my life. I must celebrate the birth of the King that has taken me in and given me the benefit of his leadership.
I've had to give up things I thought were great. I thought I had a great opportunity in my business. I thought I had a car I loved. I thought I had some good friends. I've had to give up the business, the car, and some friends. Doing so has resulted in greater benefits. I now have a greater income, with more available time to spend with my family. My car has been replaced by a much more enjoyable one, which requires little daily maintenance. My former friends have been replaced and multiplied, with others who I respect more, and who are not sources of constant opposition. As a result, my work ethic is greater than ever before, I have more time to spend with my friends and family, my income has risen, my respect among my peers has grown, and I have some truly fine friends like none I've known before. I don't begrudge my old business. I don't miss my old car. I pray for my former friends.
When I encounter an anti-Christmas or anti-Christ individual, I don't jump in and argue. I smile, and let it go. I pray for them, that they can come to know the Lord that I know. I pray that they will change in their heart. I pray for their prosperity. One particular former friend has apparently spent a considerable amount of energy wishing me ill. What he might not know is that I've been praying for his success.
That, I believe, is what Jesus wants me to do. Knowing what Jesus has meant in my life, I can do nothing less than celebrate his birth, his life, his death as a sacrificial lamb to absolve me of my sins, and his resurrection that proved his victory over Satan and death.
Merry Christmas.
Posted by Lockjaw at 7:57 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 22, 2005
China's Early Christian History Proven?
St. Thomas is believed to have travelled to China in his travels Eastward, eventually being killed in India. Little evidence exists for the claims that he visited China, but possible clues may have been discovered that he, or another missionary, made the trek around this same period. Wang Weifan, a 78-year-old scholar of early Christian history in China has found what he believes to be images of Christian stories in stone relief in Eastern China. The images, found in the tomb of an aristocrat from the Han Dynasty (AD 25-220) appear to depict scenes from the creation, Adam and Eve, and even the birth of Jesus.
"There was Christmas. There was Genesis. There was Paradise Lost. They were on display, one by one, on 10 stone bas-reliefs excavated from an aristocrat's tomb in the Han Dynasty," said Wang, a professor of theology at the Jinling Theological Seminary in Nanjing, as he told his story to China Daily
There are critics of his claim, from the government-run antiquities community, who claim that the images look nothing like what Weifan has described. The article's accompanying image sure looks like Christmas to me.
Posted by Lockjaw at 7:49 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 9, 2005
Hurricane Relief Benefit Notes
Yesterday was the day of my church's hurricane benefit. The youth group, which I am one of the adult leaders of, gave up one of its retreats to put on this event, which I think was a fantastic success.
The event started nice and early. We held a "yard sale" inside the fellowship hall, which took up at least half of this newly-built facility. To one side was a bake sale, from which we purchased a cake, two pies, two loaves of bread, cookies, brownies, and banana-nut bread. Along one wall were items being sold in a silent auction format, and at 11am we held a live auction. In addition to all of this, we held a raffle for Carolina Panthers tickets.
The proceeds of the event are being donated to North Carolina Baptist Men. The NCBM is one of those fantastic organizations that maintains disaster relief equipment for immediate deployment. When Katrina hit, and federal agencies were waiting for Louisiana's state and local officials to ask them to help, NCBM was on the road in short order. Within days, NCBM had begun relief efforts, served thousands of meals, and served other needs. As of October 5, 2005, NCBM has served 456,352 in the Gulf Coast area. In addition, 17,476 volunteer days have been provided by NC Baptist volunteers. They have provided 12,742 showers and washed 2105 laundry loads. If you would like to donate to North Carolina Baptist Men's relief efforts, your donation would be appreciated.
I'm not sure of the final tally of funds raised through our church's event. From the amount of sales I saw happening, I'm sure it's significant. More is needed. Remember, NCBM is a front-line relief agency, arriving as early responders to any disaster they can. They're not alone. There are many more relief agencies in the Gulf Coast area besides Red Cross. I encourage you to seek these other agencies out and support them when you can.
Posted by Lockjaw at 8:06 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 10, 2005
Bono on Grace through Christ
"That's between me and God. But I'd be in big trouble if Karma was going to finally be my judge. I'd be in deep s---. It doesn't excuse my mistakes, but I'm holding out for Grace. I'm holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the Cross, because I know who I am, and I hope I don't have to depend on my own religiosity."
Bono gets it. He's no idiot. Who would have thought that the #1 Christian band in the world would turn out to be U2?
Link to Christianity Today article
Hat Tip - Southern Appeal
Posted by Lockjaw at 11:42 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
August 9, 2005
Another Biblical Site "That Didn't Exist" Found
The Biblical Pool of Siloam, where Jesus healed a man who was blind from birth has long been held by non-believers as a piece of fiction. They simply said the site did not exist. They've tried the same trick with other sites and people from the Bible, and often been proven wrong. They're wrong again, it seems. The Pool of Siloam, one of three to hold that name, has been discovered.
Of course, this won't stop the non-believers from not believing, but it's another proof that not all that is called fiction is, in fact, fiction.
Posted by Lockjaw at 8:43 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 6, 2005
Baby Got Book! Watch the Video
I had to send this link to Nate, the Youth Minister at our church. If you've ever wondered what Sir Mix-a-Lot's song "Baby Got Back" would be like if it were't about large butts, but instead referenced Bibles, this is the song for you. I found it via Ace of Spades, where it has generated quite a bit of discussion.
Posted by Lockjaw at 10:31 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 22, 2005
Habemus Papum
It is now official. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger has been crowned Pope Benedict XVI of the Roman Catholic Church.
Posted by Lockjaw at 2:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
White Smoke - Who Da Pope?
Watching Fox News, it appears that the chimney at the Vatican is spewing white smoke. The white smoke is a century-old signal that the College of Cardinals have arrived at a decision on a new Pope after the passing of the old. In addition, the bells at the Basilica are tolling, an additional signal decided on after troubles with grey smoke last time out.
Announcement of the new Pope is pending.
Heck, I'm a Southern Baptist ogre, and I'm excited.
Posted by Lockjaw at 2:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Believing in God - Is It Enough?
There are a lot of people in this world who see Heaven as a foregone conclusion. I'm not talking about the people who don't believe in God, and think that the concepts of Heaven and Hell are fiction. I'm talking about the ones who believe in the existence of the one God and a paradise in which they are to spend eternity. Too many of these people, because they've been wrongly taught, think that they are destined to go to Heaven when they die because they believe in God, have been good people, and maybe even went to church.
I worry about these people.
It starts with the concept of Heaven and Hell. Maybe I'm off-base with my beliefs, but I understand the paradise of Heaven to be an eternity in the presence of God. I likewise understand Hell to be an eternity in existence without God's presence. Is Heaven a wide open countryside with rolling hills, green grass, rivers, flowers, birds? Maybe. I don't know. What I do know is that God is there, and that's good enough for me.
Is Hell a pit of fire and brimstone where one suffers the burns and stings and eternal torment? I don't know, but God isn't there, and that's bad enough for me.
Whatever Heaven and Hell are, there must be a way you can go to the one, and avoid the other. Many believe that you go to Heaven if you're a good person. Others think that belief in God and following the basic rules is good enough. I'd beg to differ.
So, here it is in a nutshell, Lockjaw's lesson on how to go to Heaven.
God is an all-powerful being. In the work that he does, he saw a need for a class of helpers. To perform this task, he created the angels. This system worked for a long time, but eventually some of the angels decided that they didn't like being under God's yoke, and rebelled. They saw themselves as powerful beings in their own right, and decided that serving God wasn't what they wanted to do. For this transgression, God cast them out of his presence.
God decided to try again. For this second attempt, he created Earth, the Universe, and mankind. Through the lives of man, God passed along laws, advice, and clues. The clues were to be used to recognize the arrival of his son, a willing sacrifice to absolve mankind of its sins. One day, that son was born of a woman. He lived a life of 33 years and fulfilled the prophecies, so that those who understood the clues might recognize him as the messiah. The end of his life happened as the clues said it would, and he died as a sacrifice for our sins.
Through this sacrifice, God's will in creating this second group of servants came to pass.
Because of this sacrifice, we have the chance to have all of our evils and sins to be forgiven. All we have to do is make some serious decisions.
First, we must choose to serve God. We must ask to be joined in his family as adopted sons (and daughters) with Jesus as the firstborn. As members of the family, we are to serve the father through the commands of the firstborn son. It is this family, who looks up to the Father and to the firstborn son, that will be allowed a permanent place at his side.
The first group of servants was endowed with great power from the beginning. Eventually, some chose to leave the service of God. The second group, mankind, was created powerless in his eyes. Through free choice, mankind can serve God. Once a man decides that he WANTS to serve God for eternity, he can be allowed to do so.
Choose you this day whom you will serve.
Oh, and if you're going to believe something, I suggest you study it so you better understand your own beliefs. If Heaven is of God, and you want to go to Heaven, then take a look at what God says about it. It isn't like he's hiding this information from you. He's even given you a book to read.
Posted by Lockjaw at 2:15 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Pope Says Gay "Marriage" is Part of "Ideology of Evil"
Pope John Paul II has published a new book. Undoubtedly, the most controversial part of the book will be where he refers to the efforts to change the definition of marriage to include same-sex couples. He says homosexual marriages are part of "a new ideology of evil" that is insidiously threatening society.
"It is legitimate and necessary to ask oneself if this is not perhaps part of a new ideology of evil, perhaps more insidious and hidden, which attempts to pit human rights against the family and against man."
Unfortunately, the political left in this country thinks it is illegitimate and disallowed to ask if this is part of an ideology of evil. "Human rights" is a term being bandied about as a means to attack the traditional family, morality, and Christianity.
What do you think about it? Leave a comment, and say.
Posted by Lockjaw at 1:31 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Is Arafat In Hell?
Will Arafat go to Hell? I have been accused of being religiously intolerant and racist because I said he would. My statement was not meant to be intolerant or racist. Racist isn't even a question, since I never brought anyone's race into question. As such, we'll just write the racism accusation off as meaningless. As for religous intolerance, I'll deny the accusasion outright. It is not me that is intolerant. It is God himself who is.
Let's start this off with the Koran. Although some sections of the Koran state that those who are martyred for Islam will be immediately transported to Paradise, this doesn't seem to be the case with Arafat, who died of apparent illness. As such, he seems to be bound by the following verses. Sura 19:71-72 says: "Every single one of you must see it[Hell]; this is an irrevocable decision of your Lord. Then we rescue the righteous, and leave the transgressors in it, humiliated." Thus, even though I do not believe that the Koran is the holy word of God, it does appear that according to the Koran, Muslims should agree that Arafat is in Hell. If he is counted as righteous later on, then he is to be rescued from Hell and taken to Paradise. On that judgement day, according to the Koran, Arafat's works will be counted for and against him. I believe that those works will include many counts of fraud, corruption, murder, complicity in murder, and child sacrifice. As such, I can't say I'd expect him to go to Paradise according to the rules of Islam.
As I said, I don't believe that the Koran is the holy word of God. There is a book that I believe is the holy word of God, however, and that is the Holy Bible. The Bible has much to say that is relevant to this issue.
Let's start with the basics. What is the default destination of mankind? Quite simply, it is Hell. This is supported, biblically, by Romans 3:23, which states, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." 1 Corinthians 6:9 says, "No unrighteous shall enter the kingdom of God."
So, how does one gain access to the Kingdom of God? How does one get to Heaven instead of their default destination of Hell? Romans 10:9-10 states, "If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation."
But Arafat doesn't confess Jesus as lord. He, as a muslim, denies the divinity of Christ. Muslims believe that Jesus was merely a man with the gift of prophecy. They do not believe that he was the son of God, or that he was a personification of God. They believe, wrongly, that the whole concept of the trinity is impossible if God is only one God. There is a word for people who believe that Jesus is not the divine son of God, who died on the cross as a sacrificial lamb to carry away the sins of mankind. That word is antichrist. Arafat, along with most muslims, was an antichrist. Do not confuse this term with the specific term THE Antichrist which is meant to describe a single man. I am not accusing Arafat of being THE Antichrist, but I do accurately describe him as AN antichrist. 1 John 2:22 and 23 state, "Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also."
Jesus said, in John 8:24, "Unless you believe that I AM, you will die in your sins." By "I AM" Jesus was describing himself as God. The specific word in Hebrew that meant I AM was a word reserved for God himself.
Muslims believe that salvation comes through works. If you do enough good works in life, you will be saved from Hell and given a place in Paradise. The Bible, on the other hand, says otherwise.
So, when I said that Arafat was in Hell, I didn't say so out of hate, or intolerance. When I said that the muslim paradise was the christian equivalent of Hell, I did not do so out of hate or intolerance. By denying the divinity, kinship and power of Christ, muslims deny themselves access to Heaven. Thus, by following their own beliefs, they condemn themselves to Hell, believing that they are destined for Paradise. This, to me, is very sad.
Posted by Lockjaw at 12:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Can a Christian be a Liberal?
Doug Giles over at Town Hall makes a good point. A Christian Can Be a Christian or a Liberal, But He Can’t Be Both Good question. Some excerpts:
Can a Christian be a liberal? Short answer: no. There is no way a Christian can buy into neo-liberal ideology and be faithful to the bigger-than-Dallas teachings of the scripture and expect to continue enjoying his hard-won religious liberties.
For the "Christian" to lean politically to the left means that he must blow off huge chunks of the Bible and replace the scripture with the make-believe notions of postmodernism’s malleable "Christ." Only after torturing the scripture can the Christian then fit liberalism into his supposed relationship with God.
A vote for a liberal is a vote for: 2. Secularism to be continually mainlined into our public school system. Thanks to rabid vapid secularism, our public schools and universities would rather you be a Rocky Horror super freak than a Christian. If your beliefs run to the bizarre or the banal, or if you want to smoke the same philosophical crack that Caligula, Nero, Castro or Lenin freebased, they’ll accommodate you. Our schools are totally open to anyone and to anything, unless, of course, you’re a Christian. And if that’s the case, then you’re likely to get more sympathy from a badger with minimal sleep than you will from liberal educators who are hard at work making your life hard. A vote for the secular left is a vote for Christianity to continue to be officially vilified on campus and Christians to be ostracized in campus life.
My ClashPoint is this: Modern liberalism tosses the scripture out on several different levels. How a true believer in the Christ defined by the scripture can buy into what Jesus, the prophets and apostles said and also what these secular thugs say is beyond me. In addition to liberalism’s obvious and odious pro-holocaust-like abortion stance, its anti-biblical view of marriage, its scripture-slamming aggressive secularism, and its feckless view of our nation’s defense, liberalism completely clashes with the Christian worldview. Secular liberalism’s aggressive desire to eradicate Christians’ rights should cause Christians to be concerned.
It's a good, thought-provoking article. It's also something that I, and many others, have been saying for a long time. Give the whole article a read.
Posted by Lockjaw at 12:06 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
My Testimony
A classic post from Lockjaw's Xanga Page
I have been asked to serve on the Youth Comittee at my church. I've been active for a few months in youth activities, as my son is involved in the children's activities on Wednesday night, and I'm left with little to occupy that time otherwise. Don't get me wrong. I like working with the youth group. I've been on a couple of concert trips with them more because of shared interests than a sense of obligation, and the Wednesday night activities that the youth take part in are some of the most enjoyable I've seen at church. I'm glad to have the opportunity to serve on the Youth Committee.
As a part of this opportunity, I've got to turn in an application form. There's a questionaire that asks some probing questions about past criminal history, drug use and whether you're a child molester (though not in so many words). That's all cool. I have no problem with that. The hardest part of the application process is that I am asked to provide my testimony of faith in written form.
My testimony is a hard thing. I simply do not talk about my personal feelings. I can share my political opinions, or facts about my life, but when things turn toward my own inner emotional facets, I close up. Too many times in my past, I've been forced to deal with these aspects of my being, and they've never been good for me. My parents have done this. My teachers have tried. Principals, guidance counselors and other "educational professionals" have tried. I've been through it with girlfriends, my wife, clergy and psychologists. At no point has any dive into my inner emotional being been anything other than a painful, devastating moment.
You know what? That's fine with me. My emotions are rarely relevant. When I'm involved in something that's important, my emotions rarely offer benefit. Outside of the love I show my family, I have little need for emotional research. Some people would say that this is an unhealthy way to live, but I think that I've spent enough of my life as an emotional little crybaby who gets his feelings hurt anytime somebody does something against me.
With all that said, I've still got to write SOMETHING about myself and my faith, and that will always delve to some degree into my emotional state.
My testimony, in a nutshell, is very simple. I was raised right, in church, as a believer in God the Father and in his son Jesus the Christ. I was baptised at 9, left church at 17, backslid for a long while, and came back.
In truth, however, that's no real testimony. There's more to it than that.
I was raised by good, christian parents. I was raised in a good, small Baptist church. I've never known a time when my faith in the existence of God was a question. I've never known a time when my faith in the existence of Jesus as the son of God was truly shaken. I was baptised at 9 years of age, though I know I didn't fully understand what it fully entailed.
At 16 years old, I grew dissatisfied with my church. I tired of Sunday School classes constantly being merged for a week because one teacher or another didn't show up. I got tired of bickering among members. I got tired of the looks on the faces of classmates at school, when they found out who I went to church with. They had trouble believing that some of these people actually attended church at all, because of the actions they displayed publicly. Eventually, I got up in the middle of Sunday School, announced that I was leaving that church and not coming back, and I left.
For the next year, I attended various churches, but found little satisfaction at most. One church I did feel most at home at is the church I now attend much later. In the end, however, I just stopped going to church altogether.
in the ensuing years, I worked several jobs, moved to Raleigh, moved back home, went to college for a short while, moved back to Raleigh, got married, had a son and moved back to my hometown again. During this time, my life was a big backslide. I was never the big drug-addict, biker, felon, drunk, gambler type backslider like you hear in the best testimnies. I had too many girlfriends, drank too much a few times, and smoked my share of pot. I made a lot of wrong choices, some of which I had to pay the price for.
My turnaround came when my wife found salvation. She had gone to a Prince concert in Minneapolis with a friend. It was more than a concert, actually. It was a week of events, leading up to a MAJOR concert event. She toured Paisley Park, saw Prince's guitars, hung out with other fans, tripped Prince and his guards, and in an unrelated occurrence, found Jesus.
When I say found, I mean it. She had been a good heathen girl, when I married her. She wasn't a bad person, mind you, but she sure made backsliding more fun for me. Finding Jesus, for her, was the proverbial baseball bat upside the head. For me, it was a signal that my backsliding days were going to have to end.
Over the last three years, I've embraced my faith once again. I've read more of my Bible, and found more understanding of its meaning. I now understand that being a part of the family of God means service to him, through his son Jesus the Christ. I endeavor every day to serve him better, and more faithfully.
I've come to understand the role of Jesus Christ as kinsman-redeemer, sacrificial lamb, firstborn son of God the Father, representative of God, and King. Now, my job is to gain more understanding of my own role as redeemed kinsman, subject, cleansed and brother of and in Christ.
That's it. That's the whole boring story. One day, maybe I'll have an interesting testimony, but for now, I'm still a lump of clay on the potters wheel, with nothing but a hole forming as the shape begins to appear.
Posted by Lockjaw at 11:45 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
An Easter Drama I'll Always Remember
A classic www.lockjawslair.com blog entry
Our church has, on Sunday mornings, two different church services. At 11am, we hold a traditional service, with hymns and a choir. This is, by far, the larger of the two. Earlier, at 8:45am, we have a "Celebration Service" that is much less formal.
The early worship is full of praise and worship music. There’s coffee and breakfast snacks on the back table. The sermon is shorter, and typically lighter in tone. Usually, the sermon for the early service is given by one of the associate ministers of the church, instead of our Pastor. On occasion, a church member, instead of a staff member will give the message of the day.
One thing that used to be a regular feature of the early service was a performance by our drama group. Personally, I’m not normally a fan of dramas. Sometimes they speak to me, and sometimes they don’t. To others, these dramas are quite moving. On some occasions, though, there will be a performance that strikes me very close to the heart.
One such drama happened this past Easter. It came out of the blue, for me, and took most of the service to perform. There, in the church’s chapel, we re-enacted the raising of the cross. I can’t speak for anyone else in the crowd, but for me it was one of the most moving occurrences I’ve witnessed in the church.
As usual, my family walked into the chapel and, after getting coffee, took a seat near the back of the church. As we waited for the service to start, we noticed that the band had not set up. Normally, they’re on stage practicing a bit when we arrive. As we looked around, others looked as bewildered as we were. What was the plan for this morning’s Easter service?
Suddenly, one of the leaders of the drama group appeared at the rear of the chapel. She carried a walking staff, made of a sapling. She walked down the aisle and pointed the stick at one of the men in the crowd and said "You are Simon." She walked further, pointing again at another man, "You are Simon." She pointed the stick in my direction, and again repeated those words, "You are Simon."
I must admit, I wasn’t in the mood to be "Simon." I really wanted to sit and watch, and not be involved in the drama. I’m not even a fan of dramas in church. I didn’t expect this experience to be a lot of fun, and I was definitely going to miss my cup of coffee as it got too cool to drink. I thought that being "Simon" was going to be a real bad idea.
A few more men in the church were chosen to be "Simon." We were all younger men, in our 20s or 30s for the most part. We were all taken outside of the chapel to the yard. On the ground were two pieces of wood. Two beams, actually. One of the beams was approximately 12 feet long, and 10 inches by 12 inches thick. The other was shorter, but a similar thickness. Each had a notch cut out of them, so that they could be joined. The short beam was notched in the middle, while the longer one was notched about two feet from the end. We were instructed to lift the beams and carry them into the church.
We separated into two groups. The smaller group grabbed the shorter beam with relative ease. The longer beam took more work, but my group managed to lift it with some effort and put it on our shoulders. It wasn’t easy, but we carried it up the front steps of the church and in the front door. At the door, we had to turn and manipulate the beam to get it to go through the second set of doors, which were offset from the first. Eventually, we managed to get the beam down the aisle and laid on the floor down front, parallel with the pews.
Next came the assembly. Long, thick nails were brought out and used to join the two pieces of wood into a cross. This took some effort, as the nails wanted to bend, but after a few minutes, the wood was joined. At the top of the cross, a cardboard sign was attached, with a message written in Greek.
The next instruction was to raise the cross. We lifted the crossbeam from the floor and started to push it into the air. The bottom started to slide. I left my position and moved to the bottom, to hold the foot of the cross in place as it was lifted. Half a dozen men pushed the cross skyward, but soon found that they didn’t have enough strength to push it as the far end lifted out of range. We called more men from the crowd to assist. With a major effort, we managed to push the cross into a vertical position, where it towered above us in the room.
After doing this, and having a short message, we moved the cross up onto the stage. This meant bringing the cross back down again. Again, this was no small feat. It took at least a dozen strong men to manipulate this construction to and from vertical. Once on stage, we placed the foot of the cross into the space between the organ and the stage and pushed it back up. This time, having had some practice, the job was a bit easier. Once we were done, however, the foot of the cross was approximately three inches too far from the stage. If we left it there, the cross would lean and be unstable.
I’m lucky enough to be the son of an appliance repairman. All my life, I’ve been taught how to lift, and how not to lift. I knew that the only way to move the cross that three inches was to lift it off the floor, fully clear of the carpet below. As such, I wrapped my arms around the cross and prepared to lift.
Immediately, I could see the worry on the faces of the others. We all knew how heavy this cross was. We had carried it, and lifted it, and it had us all exhausted. I assured them that I knew what I was doing, and that I would need help moving it into place. I replaced my arms around the cross, and hugged it tightly. With my legs, I pushed the cross off of the ground and held it for the two seconds necessary to get the base moved into place. For those two seconds, I alone held the entire weight of the cross. I can assure you, it was extremely heavy.
With the cross in place, the drama was over. A short prayer was said and the crowd filed out of the chapel.
When I think about the suffering of Jesus on the cross, I know that he held the weight of every single sin that I have done. Every stroke of the lash held a portion of my sin. Every strike of the hammer on the nails that held him in place was the result of my own bad actions. He did this for me, because only one man could. He was the only man that could hold the weight of my sins, and those of every other born-again Christian in all of time. The job was his, and he bore its weight with honor.
After this past Easter, I have some small idea of what it was he endured. I never had to endure the whip. I never had nails driven into my hands and feet. No spear was pushed into my side. No real suffering has resulted from my own sins. For hours, Jesus suffered on the cross until he gave up his life for me. All I can say is that for less than two seconds, I carried the full weight of a cross in my arms. For that one small moment, I lifted the weight of a cross with my legs. As much effort as that took for me, and as much soreness as I felt in my legs afterward, it was nothing compared to what he did for me.
That message spoke to me, directly. For the rest of my life, I’ll carry that message in my heart. I had a front-row seat for one of the best messages of my life. I had even forgotten about my coffee.
We don’t have dramas in our celebration service anymore. Apparently, this message that meant so much to me was too much for others. The leaders of the drama team were instructed, by someone whose name I do not know, that it was too much. They were told to forget about what happened before the resurrection, and focus on what happened after. The drama team is no longer active, and for some time the couple who led the team weren’t active either.
I say yes, focus on what happened after the cross. Dying on the cross wasn’t what proved Jesus is our savior. Raising from the dead after three days, and walking among his disciples in the flesh is the proof. It wasn’t the resurrection, though, that washed away our sins. Our sins were placed upon him at the time of his crucifixion. We should keep in mind the weight that our sins placed upon our Lord. That one drama, which apparently caused some division in our church, hammered that message home in my heart.
I only wish that those who criticized it could have, for only a moment, held the weight of the cross in their arms as I did. Perhaps they would have gotten the message that I did.
Posted by Lockjaw at 11:20 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack