Posts from the ‘Divinity School’ Category
The High Costs of Bargaining
My sermon from this morning, delivered at Chadbourn Baptist Church.
Scripture reading:
Psalm 46
Genesis 25:19-34
Everyone loves to get a deal. Whether it’s a sought after discount on a new car, a buy-one-get-one-free special on a new set of summer shoes, or just a free cup of coffee with a biscuit at Bojangle’s — getting a deal on the things we want makes us feel good. But what is a good deal? Sometimes, we find out only too late that that new car shine blinded us to the real costs of ownership — expensive maintenance, high insurance and low gas mileage. Sometimes those shoes that felt so soft and comfortable in the store end up falling apart the first time you wear them out on the town. Sometimes even Bojangle’s messes things up, and that free coffee I was so excited about ends up burning my mouth on the way down, leaving me with nothing but a bitter aftertaste.
Everyone likes a deal, but not all deals are as sweet as they seem.
My grandmother loves to shop at Belk. Her closet is full of clothes that have only been worn once or twice; quite a few things hanging in the back still have the tags on them, waiting for the right occasion to take them out and show them off. She checks the sale papers every week, whether she needs anything or not. The employees at Belk know her by name, and know what types of things to point out to her when they need to earn a commission. But that’s not why she makes a trip out to Belk every Wednesday afternoon, coupons in hand. It’s not the quality products Belk has, or the friendly staff or the catchy slogans. It’s the hope of getting a good deal. My grandmother will buy baby girl clothes if they are marked down low enough — and there haven’t been any baby girls in our family for years! She just loves to think she’s getting a good deal. One weekend shortly after Kristen and I got married, we were visiting grandma and somehow, we found ourselves in Belk. Grandma knew we needed some new pillows — we were slowly getting the household items all new couples work for when they set out on their own, and new pillows weren’t really at the top of the list, although we definitely could have benefited from some. Our mismatched, thin and torn pillows had made it through four years of college and six moves into new dorm rooms, and that takes a toll on things. Grandma saw that the pillows at Belk were marked down to 50% off, and, unable to let a good deal pass by, she insisted on buying a set for us. We turned her down, trying to make a point of providing for ourselves and living as independent adults. After a few minutes of going back and forth with each other, Grandma realized she wasn’t going to be getting the pillows for us that day, but she couldn’t let the deal slip by either. She motioned for the saleslady to come over, and when she did, Grandma asked her, “How long are these pillows going to be on sale? I think I’ll have to wait and buy them next week, when I’m shopping by myself.” The clerk stumbled over her words for a minute. She wasn’t going to lie, but she didn’t want to upset her best customer with the truth that many a Belk-shopper has already come to realize. Finally, she came out with it. “Actually mam, you can wait until next week. Those pillows aren’t really on sale. We always have them marked half off.”
Everyone wants a deal, but most bargains aren’t really as good as they seem.
Sometimes the things we bargain for are a little more serious than discounted pillows or cheap coffee. Just ask the elderly widow trying to get her insurance company to give her a fair deal, because she knows she can’t afford to buy her groceries and her medicine next month, but she needs to find a way to get both if she wants to keep living on her own. Then there’s the husband and father who knows he’s let his family down one too many times, but he feels in his heart that if he can just get his wife to give him one more chance, things will be different; things will get better. A job interview at the corner convenience store may seem like no big deal to me and you, but for the teenage mother, abandoned by her family and cast out from the church she grew up in, it’s the most serious thing in the world. She fights for that opportunity with all she has, because in that moment of bargaining, it’s the only hope she can see, for herself, and her baby boy.
Everyone likes a deal, but we often find ourselves blinded when it comes to knowing what things are really worth bargaining for.
Read more…
Taylor Cup
The Taylor Cup Softball Game pits the Divinity School students and faculty against the undergraduate Religion Department each spring at Campbell University. This year, for the first time ever, the undergrads won. In truth, their victory was likely the result of a lesson in mercy from their wiser and (typically) older colleagues in the Divinity School.
Senior Fest at Campbell University
I spent Thursday morning taking pictures for Campbell University‘s second annual Senior Fest. The conference, sponsored jointly by the Divinity School and the North Carolina Baptist Foundation, provides an opportunity for senior adults from churches across North Carolina to come together for a day of worship, fellowship, devotion and education.
I have a more complete gallery of pictures now ready for viewing and ordering here.
The Faith of a Tulip Tree
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. For there is more to life than food, and more to the body than clothing. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn, yet God feeds them. How much more valuable are you than the birds! And which of you by worrying can add an hour to his life? So if you cannot do such a very little thing as this, why do you worry about the rest? Consider how the flowers grow; they do not work or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of these! And if this is how God clothes the wild grass, which is here today and tomorrow is tossed into the fire to heat the oven, how much more will he clothe you, you people of little faith!
Luke 12:22-28 (NET)
Last week on one of the days Samuel and I spent at home together, we had the rare opportunity of watching a miracle unfold before our eyes. I call it rare, because seldom do I take the time to be still and enjoy the many small miracles that happen every day, in the ordinary moments of life. Lately, I feel that I have been so busy trying to get on with the work of life, that I have failed to truly live in the moment. Monday morning, my frazzled scheduled was wiped clean as the elegant simplicity of a flower reminded me of the value each moment holds.
We have a tulip tree growing outside of our kitchen window at the corner of the house. Normally, this tulip tree causes me nothing but frustration. It grows up over our house and drops leaves right into the gutter, which I have to clean out. It grows into our kitchen window and smudges the glass, until I trim it up every few months, knowing it will grow right back. It makes it nearly impossible to keep a neat flowerbed around our kitchen in the summer, when its dense foliage blocks the morning sun. For the other nine months out of the year, the tulip tree is completely bare — a messy tangle of branches and twigs that I’m tempted to cut down each winter because it just doesn’t do anything for our house. But for two weeks out of the year, it is covered with beautiful blossoms that pop up overnight, as if someone gingerly sculpted each one from a block of soft marble swirled with layers of pink and white stone. It’s beautiful, but its beauty is short lived. Next week, its flowers will lay wilted on the ground, replaced with thick green leaves that keep the tree — and my yard — covered throughout the spring and summer.
The tree works hard all year, growing thicker and faster than anything else on our lot, just to spend two weeks in bloom. Last Friday, there wasn’t a blossom on our tulip tree. Sunday afternoon, it was covered in little green buds. Monday morning, as Samuel and I ate breakfast, each bulb, one by one, started to pop open. By the end of the day, the tree was decked out in full colors, basking in the sunlight and radiating with a splendor that surpassed the glory of even the most stately king.
There is a lot I still have to learn from my tulip tree; Things like patience, faithfulness, focus and determination. I find it so easy to get anxious, especially now as I near the midpoint of this semester, and in a few weeks, the midpoint of my M.Div. degree at Campbell. I have learned so much and felt my call to ministry affirmed again and again, but in many ways, I am more confused than ever about what path my life will take after school. I am anxious about the future, but I am reminded that in the end, God is faithful, and my job is to be faithful to the many opportunities for ministry and preparation that I am given each day.
It’s probably not much of a stretch to think that my tulip tree can get a little anxious in November when I bring out the chainsaw and start cutting back the brush around the house, but it keeps growing, and I remember what it will look like the first week in March when the time is just right and all of that hard work pays off in a beautiful way.
Life goes on for the both of us, but how I long to have the faith of a tulip tree.
Running Through “Acts”
This is a new type of blog post for me: the public note pad.
I spent this evening reading through the book of Acts (yeah, the whole thing) in preparation for my New Testament II class with Dr. Robert Brawley. In true twitter style, I thought I would just shout out the first thoughts that came into my head out of this reading, before giving myself, or my readers, the benefit of careful reflection.
• Reading books of the Bible in their entirety, in one sitting, is something I should do more often; so much is missed when we break up our readings — whether done in the interest of spiritual enlightenment or intellectual stimulation — into short pericopes. A lot is happening in Acts in a short amount of time, and most of it is very interconnected.
• Paul really knows how to get to the point. I could take a lesson or two from him in that discipline, and many others as well. He finds words that connect to people in their current contexts. He doesn’t waste time with flattery;* he doesn’t sugarcoat his messages; he doesn’t weigh people down by giving out more information than the present moment requires. And man does he know what to say when you want to put a room on edge. (Acts 23:6)
• Don’t fall asleep when the sermon get’s too long; you just might fall out of a window.
• Acts seems to make some strong differentiations between traditional baptism, such as the kind administered by John the Baptist, and the “Baptism of the Holy Spirit.” From Pentecost through the episode at Cornelius’ house, no one really seems to understand what’s going on with the Holy Spirit. Paul acts like he has a handle on it later on, but doesn’t really take the time to explain what is happening. What is the second baptism, and what relation does it have to the “baptism of repentance” that John called for? Why is it granted to some and not others? Was the fiery phenomena the early apostles experienced unique to that time in the life of the church, or is it something believers should be looking for today?
• Pentecost was apparently marked as a holiday of the church year early on; Paul was hurrying to get back to Jerusalem to celebrate pentecost after several years of missionary work, although he was still persecuting the church when the actual “Day of Pentecost” occurred.
• Apparently, in chapter 16 Paul is kept from going to Asia so that Luke, the author, can join the trip for a while. The only indication readers have of this, however, is the abrupt change from the third person “they” style of narration to the first person “we” and “us.” The perspective shifts back and forth at several points later in the account as the journey progresses from city to city, and year to year.
• Secular life and religious life seem very compartmentalized in Acts; i.e., even in the midst of intense religious controversy — such as dueling pharisees and sadducees debating the doctrine of immortality while simultaneously stoning a man to death — life goes on. The normal Roman citizen is completely oblivious, and, other than in the interest of pursuing an odd sense of curiosity, probably couldn’t care less. The exception, of course, is Paul’s life. He blends ministry, work and daily life together in a way that seems to either baffle or captivate everyone else.
• Apart from the sadducees, most of Paul’s opposition comes from people with financial interests at stake: the men exploiting the young prophetess, the magicians, rival philosophers and the silversmiths who sell idols to pagan worshipers. None of these people are confronted by Paul, but they all take offense to him and his work.
• Peter seems to step up and take control of the Jerusalem church right away. No one seems to question this, but how his leadership role came to be is not really spelled out either.
• Paul is the man.
• Barnabas seems to be the nicest guy ever.
Well, that turned out to be a little longer than I thought. In an effort to both write more blog posts and spend more time reading, I plan to begin doing more of these on-the-fly lists of thoughts. Dangerous, I know.
