Green Hands

I caught them green handed. Last week I had left two of my kids home (sort of supervised) while I took the most “dangerous” of the children and I say this in jest, but not really to his archery lessons. As I pulled up into our driveway, I was greeted by my lovely children along with a couple of the neighborhood girls. They had green hands covered with green food coloring and looking quite sheepish like they’ve gotten into something they were not too sure about, but nonetheless exclaimed...”we’ve made SLIME!” Oh yeah! yeah for me.... I come to discover that they had used their box of cornstarch supplied by my husband who had purchased the supplies for this “science experiment” the night before. I must interject: my 11 year old son told me on the phone prior to this, that Dad was supervising this activity and made the assumption that Dad was in on the game...but, he wasn’t because he was on the phone working. Meanwhile the younger child and his minions did not get the “memo” regarding not making green slime without a parent and proceeded to mix a whole bottle of green food dye and a whole bag of white flour, cornstarch in several plastic cups. With our silverware on the new patio furniture. They were so proud of themselves for making green slime. I was in a state of mental panic thinking of how the laundry would be green for months when I walked onto the scene.

In an effort to bring a sense of “order” to the green slime chaos I freaked out a bit because the dog was ferociously eating the floury green goo. I imagined green dog vomit on my carpet. This did not help the situation at all. My voice, frustrated and thinking how stupid was I to leave two kids home and trust that something wouldn’t have gone horribly wrong was expressed by my disapproval and horror at the scene. As I poured out the green guck in the yard, I looked up and saw our little neighbor friend holding her green stained hands up as if to surrender and tears streaming down her face...

“Are you afraid of going home with green hands honey?” I asked

She nodded with a worried face.

“I am so sorry for freaking out, I will help clean you up...don’t worry...trust me...”

I took the two guilty slime producers into the kitchen and told them to put their hands in the sink as I sprayed their hands with Tilex. Our little friend’s face turned on a dime, amazed at how the bleach took all the food coloring stains off her hands in seconds. She was no longer a liability to anyone’s white walls including mine. I wiped her tears from her face and said something simple and looked her square in the eye... with love and whispered a heavenly secret in her ear. Then I sent them both outside to continue to play.

She was free.

Something kept repeating in my mind during this little scenario that John Lynch, author of The Cure asked in a recent small group I attend. “What if you were really in trouble, you screwed up...do you have someone you trust to talk to about this with?” Most people don’t. They live life isolated and alone when it comes to the nitty gritty of the “ugliness” of when we are at our worst. This past week I’ve really thought about how I don’t trust many people when it comes to myself having green hands after making slime. I think it was the complete hands up with tears...frozen in fear scene that showed me a part of myself. My heart melted and realized I related in my own times of royally screwing up that I am scared. A part of my own fear of having someone walk in on my slime making production and completely freaking out about the mess.

“This is YOU” God said. “Who are you going to be...to that little girl? Someone who she can trust? or someone that freaks out over green food coloring because it’s messy?”

Sin is messy.

I went slightly insane at the scene of green slime all over the yard and frankly they didn’t know any better. I had the power, the knowledge to remedy the problem. Fear holds us back, but so does ignorance. How can anyone trust me if I respond to sin like a nut job? That’s my green slime. Anger, fear, frustration and feeling out of control (there are other colors of slime that’s just the green stuff!). Sometimes I’ve made a big mess and need someone to just Tilex my hands. I need someone with the knowledge of Grace that speaks to that fear and frustration and washes it clean. I’m grateful that His grace works everyday in my life. He frees us from the pain of fear of rejection, condemnation and even parents with short tempers. We can trust Him with our struggles and when we do...

We too are free.

Hannah Montana Gone Wild

If I had one thing to say to Miley Cyrus...or the little girls that look up to her and the Lady Gagas, the Britney Spears, the Rhinnas, the Madonnas, the Katy Perrys. I must ask these women, do you want to be respected as equals in this world? Do you want to be protected by the idiotic objectifications of men? Are you really more than just a pretty face? A headless body? How does our culture freak out about Barbie's unnatural proportions when we have butt slapping g-strings on prime-time TV?

Sadly, these sisters do more more harm for women's equality with their crotch grabbing on stage girls. You can be cute, smart...and yes..keep your booty to yourself and not be called a "prude" for doing so.
In FACT, you might actually work some progress in the fight for women's equality in the world. I have more respect for the women in burqas in the middle east who fight everyday of their lives to overcome a male dominated culture as they literally RISK their lives to do simple things like the right to drive a car. Women demand equal pay, equal opportunities. We already have these "rights" in this country, however when cute little things like Miley Cyrus or Britney Spears pole dance in a plaid school girl skirt takes us back centuries to women as "possessions" rather than equals to men. To be seen as an equal is impossible if the image of women continues to be one of a sexual toy, an object. That image is one that mankind upholds in our culture and it is not just MEN'S faults simply because they have that insane hormone called Testosterone coursing through their veins. Men and women are responsible for the image creating of "what" or "who" women are. That includes the producers of these crazy VMAs sitting in suits (or skirts) behind big desks in Hollywood and think that this is a "great idea!". They are simply stupid. Now I actually love music. I personally like the angry feminist Alanis Morrisette or the proportionally "accurate" Adele's "Rolling in the Deep". I pray I never see either of my favorites do a dance number like Miley's.

Little girls. Listen up. If you flaunt yourself, men will NEVER respect you- or what you say as worth anything. They won't even buy your records or think of you as a REAL artist. If you really want to see some progressive women's equality in this culture, don't believe the lies and trends these tarts seem to sell to our young people. Be confident in "who" and "what" you are, a child of God. God created you in HIS image.

Love, Pastor Barbie (also known as Lucy2Shoes)

I'm happy to endorse these cuties that rock the music and love Jesus!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGtkL6Xxymw

Things Change

I haven’t posted on my blog for a while mostly because I’ve been busy with school and actually have had a stream of events that caused some waves in my life. So post term papers I am jumping back to write more blogs. Recently a trip to New York my soul city inspired me so here I write, and there’s nothing like New York City bring me back to a sense of perspective and center. I don’t know why, maybe it’s the cafe life that went to my head this weekend or the fact I went with some close girlfriends that have experienced great suffering in their lives that inspired me with their beauty and faith.

As we sat there talking in a cool chic restaurant in Soho it dawned on me that I was twice the age of most of the crowd in the restaurant. In the early 90s it was I that was the young single hipster in Soho 20 years ago hanging out after shopping for unobtainable goods way out of my budget as a student at FIT. Not feeling any older aside from my swollen ankles from walking the city all day, I realized that age gives you a special perspective on aspects of life. Experiencing suffering does as well. I marvel at how my friends drew close having never met before as they spoke with commonalities of emotional and physical loss.These women have had to figure out priorities, reset their perspectives in areas of their lives that would solely depend on real Truth rather than the voices that would oppose that Truth. In New York, charm and beauty are very real avenues of influence that quite frankly certain industry’s economic well being are fueled by charm and beauty. We try to preserve youth, beauty and charm relentlessly yet some things even Botox or facial peels can’t do to change our outward appearances and in most cases taints a natural beauty of aging in my opinion. Observing my surroundings, I now don’t fit into the same charm and beauty my life in the New York of my 20s and 30s. It has changed to a life of motherhood of three boys in the country and now in my 40s I find things mysteriously “shift” and grow where they really quite frankly...shouldn’t be. Change can be hard but necessary to prioritize our lives but we often find change harder to cope with the older we get.

One truth is that things change about our culture, our bodies and our aspects of our lives and we more often than not do not have the power to stop it. Take for example, the fact that my all time favorite restaurant of over 20 years closed it’s doors. Many memories of dates with my Aussie sweetheart hubby were made in that restaurant. We frequented it for celebrations and meetings with friends and family almost weekly during our New York days. This past weekend, I went to meet my brother there and the skeletal windows were dark and at the door hung a sign “closed”. A shell of what it used to be, a vibrant Vietnamese restaurant that teamed with the hustle and bustle of life and smells of coconut sticky rice, lemongrass, ginger tea and sesame oil that fried my spring rolls to a light heavenly crunch. I’ve been out of New York for eight years now and many more things have changed about the city other than restaurants. People now have wifi everywhere as ipads, iphones and up to date info at the touch of a finger. People walk and text, there are public service ads regarding the dangers of stepping out in front of a car while texting. The subway letters change, there are new modern buildings and renovations that popped up where there once stood some old decrepit storage facilities or run down buildings. Rent prices change, salaries change, company take overs and gentrification of dicey neighborhoods just happen. For the good, or bad of the city...New Yorkers deal with change all of the time.

I realize for myself, that I’ve come a long way since I was 20 and single in the city. I’ve always hated change. I might have had my grounding as a young adult in New York but I still intrinsically  don’t “like” or “embrace” change at all. I don’t think I am alone in this perspective, however in relationship to these women I dined with in Soho,  I see God’s hand in their lives bringing change to their lives through the fact of experience...suffering. The most painful, yet effective means for spiritual change in our naturally settled comfort zones even at the expense of ourselves. No one chooses suffering. No one chooses breast cancer, or a divorce because a spouse abandons them or the loss of an adult child. No one chooses a house ripped up by a violent tornado. Yet, these beautiful women have an incredible perspective that few hipster 20 young things understand. Some things Botox, facial peels or plastic surgery can’t do to avoid age or “other undesirable bodily issues”. Spiritual growth and strength through suffering produces spiritual fruit.

We all look to the “perfect” wife in scripture often times in Proverbs 31 and fail to realize that the proverb was written as “advice” for a mother’s son to think about the kind of woman he ought to marry. There is no REAL Proverbs 31 wife that actually exists. She’s actually doesn’t exist like the airbrushed model on the cover of Cosmo. We as women of faith often uphold this scripture and try to duplicate that “perfect” wife by baking bread or doing homespun crafts when in reality our houses are far from that picture because they are on the 5-2-2-5 custody schedule as the result of divorce. A little too perfect because her house is in perfect order, she is gathering spices in the market and does not worry about tomorrow. There is something deeper about the proverb when read in context, yet causes a false sense of idealism when not. What happens when you give it all and your husband doesn’t find you beautiful but leaves for a younger woman? What happens when cancer strikes and changes your body? What happens when the once charm in your life becomes complicated with depression and loss? Where is the Proverbs 31 woman when everything seems to fail, including the marriage?

...a woman that fears the Lord is to be praised. Observing life over a longer period of time gives perspective to the truth that suffering often forcibly rearranges your life it brings fruit that only God can bring in our lives. Suffering forges a seed that is more dependant on Christ as it produces the fruit of perseverance, humility and fashions us to be more like Him in our character and enables us to accept that suffering will change things (often painfully) to bring about God’s Glory in places that we often never knew needed illumination.

Proverb 31:30 Charm is deceptive and beauty fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.

My Lenten NonObservance

My Lenten NonObservance

So as promised to myself, I have taken my fingers to the keyboard when I have massive insomnia.
I really do hate seeing the sun come up knowing I’ve only dozed for a few minutes and in the night my mind has basically solved world peace, world hunger and the economic downfall. The thought did come to mind, about Lent. Why? Because many people observe it and in these first world “issues” that we have many people decide to take Facebook fasts, fast from chocolate or other tasty treats they have hidden in the freezer for emergency like that tub of Haagan Daz. I spent years in an incredible Anglican Church in New York City that observed Lent. I didn’t know what Lent or Advent was growing up because I went to various non denominational, evangelical churches. My catholic friends did Lent. I wondered as a kid what it was and why they were giving things up that seems so vital to life when I was 10...like their allowance. It didn’t make much sense but then again neither did the whole Mary and rosary thing either.

When I went to the Anglican church it enriched my understanding.Lent can be a time of more concentrated study, prayer and fasting. It can be an enriching time.My favorite part of Lent at our Anglican church was after the service a window would covered with a white drape each week, shutting out the light and then BOOM on Easter the Light shone in sometimes even quasi blinded a couple people, everything was decorated in purple and the altar was adorned with flowers. The brunch they served at local Upper West Side establishments really did a bang up job and the festivities too. I always settled on H&H bagels or Zabars myself having to sit and smell the fresh yeast laden bagels baking and boiling...right...across...the street. Really tempting if you are fasting from enriched white flour and high calorie carbs, eating out, or my favorite back then was riding the subway. Really a bummer if you were late for work or it rained.

Lent can also be a time when the lines of tradition and doctrine are finely drawn. Many evangelical churches never mention Lent let alone observe it. Why is this?

Lent is never spoken of in Scripture as the early church still was predominantly Jewish and they still celebrated the Sabbath meal and calender when it came to feasts and holy days. Jesus never spoke to observe Lent in fact he observed Jewish holidays even insignificant ones like the Feast of the Dedication aka Hanukkah. The early church believed that Lent started with Christ in the wilderness, and was proclaimed a time of repentance and fasting to prepare for Easter. There are some documents that state this might be the case like the Didache but the Didache is not canonical scripture to draw doctrine from.There’s a bigger discussion somewhere in there that would make this blog way too long. I need to remember I’m writing to the MTV generation, which is now geriatric as opposed to the Youtube generation.

Nothing is new under the sun! This is Old Testament wisdom of Solomon. The fact is, many people do not celebrate Lent and still they go to church and are believers. I personally find a Facebook fast a predominantly first world crisis. In a country that is so full of abundance, educational privileges, religious freedom, political freedom and an overabundance of Starbucks with WiFi, Apple products and Free Trade chocolate I think God must laugh...or chuckle at thinking how we’ve "sacrificed" these precious times off Facebook and our “habitual sins” of overindulging in sugar free jello chocolate mousse while catching up on Downton Abbey. Now, I’m not hinting at one person or another so if you’ve declared a fast don’t worry...this is not about YOU. I just find it funny that people declare on Facebook, virtual Times Square their fast and leave their email as an alternative method of contacting them. Try turning off the electricity for 40 days and then Lent might get really ugly. In Radical by David Platt he writes how we might need to revaluate how the "American Dream" has crept into our call to discipleship and sacrifice as a way of life. My point is, I think Scripture calls for everyday should be lived like it’s Lent in praying without ceasing, abiding in Christ, and devoting our lives to the apostles teaching of the Gospel of grace. Jesus said it’s not what goes in your mouth that makes you clean, it’s what comes out of it that defiles us because we speak out of the heart. Jesus spoke very clearly that we must pick up our cross daily and follow Him. (Luke 9:23)This is personally why I don’t feel the need to observe the tradition of Lent. I am free not to.

So with that off my chest I will post this wonderful blog on Facebook, grab my coffee to get me through the day...so thankful I didn’t give up caffeine or I’d be screaming at the kids by noon and grasping desperately for that chocolate mousse. All the Facebook fasters will get this on Easter or sooner if they cheat. Don’t worry I won’t judge you (wink wink), it will just prove that when we are weak He is strong!

Lucy2Shoes

Lifeboats

My youngest son has his mother’s fascination for subsurface sunken treasures, stories of what lives in the abyss, sea monsters and pirates.Last year it was the 100 year anniversary of the Titanic sinking and so this became a big subject for my son’s growing fascination in the Titanic.We have countless books, Life magazines and National Geographics. He’s even asked if he can redecorate his room with the theme of the Titanic and started by taping  posters of the Titanics breaking and sinking to it’s demise at 12,000 feet (kinda morbid if you ask me!). We’ve watched the documentaries and the underwater exploration of the wreckage (thank you James Cameron). It’s eerily fascinating and yet scientists keep diving down to see what happened to cause such a massive watery grave. When James Cameron’s epic movie came out in 1997, it brought to light a spectacular reality of what luxury, wealth and status could buy for the aristocratic class at the turn of the century. I guess at this point I should point out the movie grossed more than the cost of building the actual ship!

Now because my son shares my fascination for the deep sea grave, and archeology, scuba diving and such I have sat through many hours of factual information on the Titanic. Most people would find it boring... I love it over and above popular sitcoms. So how in the world do I bring this whole Titanic thing into my blog because it’s been on my mind a lot more recently. Here’s why.

Though several theories of the how could the Titanic sink, it’s the “whys” that seem to increase my thoughts to a more comic idea. The more eerie lesser known fact is that upon the sailing across the Atlantic, an employee of White Star cruise lines said, “Not even God himself can sink this ship!”.  They never customarily prayed or blessed the ship. Another lesser known fact is that the ship was strong indeed with strong steel however,the weakness of the rivets that held the ship together have been found to contain too much “slag” in the metal that gave way to the iceberg when it hit. The final portion of the tragedy was death for the ship and it’s people, was that they hadn’t put enough lifeboats that would allow the ship to save each passenger should they come to disaster. They were so sure of themselves that the Titanic would never sink. One ponders this kind of thinking right? Too big to crumble, too strong to break, it will never happen and we are so right that God can’t even correct us. I am reminded of the tower of babel in this situation as ancient mankind built up, God stooped down and pretty much confused that corporate gathering with some strange new languages because it was not something He had commissioned. He actually said “go to the ends of the earth” not stay and build a tower to heaven.

Anytime there is a corporate building of any entity it’s only as strong as what it’s built on.
Have you ever found yourself depending a corporation that is so big and powerful that it surely couldn’t sink? Maybe retirement?  I think of several times when working in the fashion industry when big names fell like the tower, sank like a stone into bankruptcy. More recently, the World Trade towers actually were built very similarly to the Titanic in 1974. They were modern marvels of their time, build architecturally to withstand a hit from a plane and still stand. For thousands of years mankind has built pyramids, tombs, highways, coliseums, temples, sea faring ships, rockets, houses of worship, cities, countries, kingdoms. They all pass away eventually. In the climax of a country’s empire building it’s extremely blinding and deceptive to corporately think something would never allow such a large entity to crumble. Has there been any “empires” that has for the benefit of us all crumbled? I am thinking of a time in history when the church was forced to disperse throughout the nations, the Gospel was stuck in Jerusalem until the stoning of Stephen.

I’m reading an awesome book right now, Creature of the Word by Matt Chandler/Josh Patterson/Eric Geiger. It’s got some good juicy nuggets of truth in building a community of grace- a Jesus centered church. The fact is even any given church is only as strong as it’s rivets.If we see the Gospel as the rivets that hold the gathering of “the called out ones” or church being ekklesia than the foundational thread that holds a community together. If a church is full steam at 22 knots in an iceberg ridden sea it will soon enough be tested in it’s strength not because of it’s ability to go fast and make good time.

Just as the river forms the distributaries, the gospel forms the Church. The distributaries do not form the river, just as the Church does not form the gospel. When a church confuses the order, she loses her true effectiveness. When a church chooses something other than the river of the gospel as the driving force behind her teaching, programming, staffing and decisions, she empties herself of all power. Instead of becoming a distributor of life, she becomes a distributary of death. She doesn’t really have anything else to offer.

Can you imagine yourself bobbing along in a lifeboat watching the Titanic sink as a survivor? Almost 866 people were in that situation. I’ve stood in my office on 9/11 watching the twin towers smoke and billow then finally crumble to the ground under 40 minutes full well knowing it took an hour and a half to actually evacuate them because of the design of their structure. Trust me, I know I share that experience with many people and it’s not a good feeling in the moment. We now see Freedom tower being built, with added fire proofing and structures, although much of lower Manhattan was slammed by hurricane Sandy and flooded...again, never expected or built to accommodate a massive superstorm of Sandy’s size. Devastation affects an entire community, not just victims but survivors and spectators as well.

The gospel is not only the foundation for our service: it also radically purifies our motivation for service.

When we build something, we must be sure it’s not only built strong but the motivating purpose must be pure as well. We can count on God to purify those motivations when we find ourselves off kilter. The church is a great networking place, it’s a great place to be social, kids programs can be relevant and fun with parties and potlucks. But if the motivation and foundation of the community is not built on the foundational rivets of the Gospel and the motivation of our service isn’t out of a heart of the gospel’s commission we will find ourselves wishing we had jumped onto the lifeboat when we had the chance. God builds up the Church His way with His Word. His Word is the Gospel. Connectivity does not equate to community, nor the depth of the relationships guaranteed if they aren’t gospel centered. The survivors of the Titanic, many of them women and children share something in common in that they instantly were part of a survivors community: corporate experience. Some were rich, some were lower class, many were children now orphans and it was a tragedy that bound them together. That’s the story of the Gospel for all of us “called out ones” who believe, have faith in the grace of Jesus to save us from ourselves and our self deceit in thinking we are so strong that nothing can take us down.

Community is only as strong as what it’s built upon. And nothing is as strong as the gospel. 

All quotes are from Creature of the Word written by Matt Chandler/Josh Patterson/ Eric Greiger

The Revival that Never Comes

The Revival that Never Comes

Many people come to this area of the country, Northampton Massachusetts and the Connecticut River Valley because of it’s rich history, some of the oldest in our country. Church history on a more specific front because our green pastures of valleys, hills and mountains are speckled with the likes of DL Moody and Jonathan Edwards to name a few. Why do people find church history in this area so fascinating enough to want to visit Northampton? Many will explain that a Great Awakening happened here in the 1730s that was rooted in the preaching of several people like George Whitfield, but more importantly in Northampton was the ministry of Jonathan Edwards. This has fascinated me, as someone who loves history and theology all wrapped into one lovely morsel to study. Part of that fascination with the Puritan church is that my 10th great grandmother was martyred by her own church and community for being a “witch” in Salem Massachusetts. She was neither witch, nor heretic but a 70 year old bedridden woman, Rebecca Nurse who was wrongly accused by religious insanity. The puritan church in New England before our independence was a colony, and the church governed the land and our liberty looked very different than modern American context yet we look back to these same foundational fathers both in country and church desperately trying to hold a similar passion in patriotism and religious tradition. It still fascinates me that people within the church today look up to Jonathan Edwards, try to duplicate this supernatural happening that we know as the Great Awakening that reached as far as Scotland and the depth of our new country as New Jersey.

Many church planters and missionaries, come to Northampton inspired with what Jonathan Edwards did because since that Great Awakening Northampton but New England has succeeded in being the most “unchurched” area of our country, per capita over and beyond the Pacific Northwest. Why is this so? What happened in the last 200 or so years that this area has become dark, dim and ever so seemingly hopeless since that dawn of a great spiritual revival that sounded across our country?

In doing some research over the years of my residence here in the Pioneer Valley something that might be surprising is the fact in history that Jonathan Edwards preached on several very hardline subjects. For one, he preached on  the doctrine of Hell. Dare I mention Rob Bell here? For another he preached on Grace. See, during this time, many “denominations” were starting to take sides on doctrines and creeds within this country. Jonathan Edwards most likely got into deep doo doo when he attacked Arminianism first and claimed God’s Divine Sovereignty and choice. He was a Calvinist.

On July 7, 1731, Edwards preached in Boston the "Public Lecture" afterwards published under the title "God Glorified — in Man's Dependence," which was his first public attack on Arminianism. The emphasis of the lecture was on God's absolute sovereignty in the work of salvation: that while it behooved God to create man pure and without sin, it was of his "good pleasure" and "mere and arbitrary grace" for him to grant any person the faith necessary to incline him or her toward holiness, and that God might deny this grace without any disparagement to any of his character.

By 1735, revival spreading in Northampton was so severe that businesses were at stake. But we must note that 300 people were admitted into the church, not thousands as the population was quite low compared to Boston and New York. Many New Englanders also accused Edwards in leading his flock to fanaticism. From what the records show, there also were several suicides, 2 were from his church. This was not taken lightly, but pressed the local Congregationalist churches to put pressure on Edwards’. I personally think they got some bad rye, much like during the Salem witch trials. It was not uncommon for Puritans to flop about in the “spirit” to prove their “election”. While something we don’t think in context to the puritan church, in order to “prove” your salvation you had to have a personal “encounter” or divine revelation in order to become a full fledged “member” of the church and I would mention that this was heavily emphasised on “experience” not by simply stating “I am believer”. This gave you rights to vote in the congregation. When Jonathan Edwards preached his famous sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” this was in Enfield, CT the shock waves were felt as far as England and Scotland. Many historians “brand” this sermon as “fire and brimstone” but in actuality it had more theological content that was softly spoken and in emotive love than the Max Mclean CD I have seems to evoke. 

The fact is, Jonathan Edward preached on Grace and Predestination. This statement might make someone reading this a bit antsy, if they are on the Armenian side of theology. But I believe the reason the Great Awakening happened was Jonathan Edwards was anointed and gifted in the teaching and preaching of grace. And that rocked the boat to the point that it confronted their Congregationalist traditions. He wasn’t a screamer, a legalist, nor an uneducated man by any means.

“He moved his audience slowly from point to point, towards an inexorable conclusion: they were lost without the grace of God.”

The above description of Jonathan Edwards preaching “style” doesn’t sound fundamentalist even by today’s standards. He also was a postmillennialist, but a literal “millennialist” nonetheless. In today’s modern terms, he most likely was like a John Piper or a David Platt. Popular,  passionate, and Reformed, but maybe some Charismatic thrown in for good measure but literal in his prophetic view of the Kingdom of God to come. None of these “Calvinist” nor “literal millennial” doctrines were ever considered “weak or anemic” theologies, nor were they “fringe” teachings to the Puritans that saw the opportunity to spread the gospel to the native tribes their call and motivation over and above their escape from the royal crown. After all, the natives helped the first pioneers survive this bitter and harsh climate and didn’t demand cultural obedience in the depravity of winter when they were starving on the banks of Plymouth, MA. When your near death and starvation...you’ll eat anything. The natives taught them to till the ground, and the Puritans were grateful to God peacefully to commune with them and spread the gospel in peace, not demanding obedience to their puritan ways.

Northampton has given way since those days to many multicultural, polytheistic cultures like first century Israel’s existence. Many yoga studios, hip hemp stores, smokers, pot heads, homeless, caffeine addicts, and rainbow flags decorate this town and praise God they do! They would be the gentiles in relation to Israel, them... and us. Not much different than the tribes that once speckled the valley that lived here thousands of years before Christ came to earth. Does a rainbow make me less of a disciple that is willing to cross barriers to preach the gospel of grace? No less than my deep motivation to seek the Kingdom and to proclaim it’s coming! I believe we are required to have both in mind as we walk the streets in Northampton.

When I walk the streets of Northampton, for years I’ve asked myself, “what changed?” Or better yet, “..have we changed at all?” The fact is that Jonathan Edwards was in high demand as a preacher, but he also was rejected by his peers eventually because he became unpopular because he held tightly to his beliefs, and eventually was forced out by other Congregationalists because of the results in the awakening didn’t continue in their preconceived packaged expectations. In short, members declined, and things went back to "normal" whatever that is. His theological standing was not in Congregationalism as a governing force but in the Scriptures, rooted rather in Calvinism, and the Kingdom of God would be proclaimed by the Gospel would going forth to every tribe and tongue, a final regathering of Israel would occur and Christ would come to rule over the earth in a literal sense and reality. He had something to say about eschatology in his: Dissertation Concerning the End for which God created the World. He certainly didn’t remain quiet on his perspective and lived out of these systematical theological truths which were widely popular in the Puritan church. This fueled the Puritans in their worldview to spiritually claim the New World in a very literal sense forging towards a Golden Age before Christ returned. The problem with that, is that Christ never came after their great awakening or golden age and the members declined. God always has the bigger picture in mind!

Some of these theological terms might at this point be making your head spin, (see link below) but we can’t ask ourselves where is this Postmillennial “golden age” is or another last revival that many have been expecting for years since Jonathan Edwards long spoke his words at First Churches, or trying to duplicate this event without looking at our church history and facing facts. The fact is that Jonathan was booted out of his church by the governing forces at the time. He went the way of Luther, Calvin and others that were persecuted by their own brethren within the church. He was not scalped by the native pagans! The truth is, the same man that preached grace, and love of Christ as a pioneer in that great awakening was voted out of his church, not for his immorality or scandals. But because he simply held firm a faith in his systematic belief in these things, the doctrine of a literal hell, predestination, salvation by grace alone, and a literal return of Christ that he became an unpopular in the other side of the Great Awakening that also produced foreign doctrines that seeped into the church. He still held to the idea that the lost that lay but by the sovereign grace of God, they dangle by a thread over the fires of Hell. In fact, when he was completely tossed on his skids for preaching against the corrupt traditions of hierarchy of seating in the puritan church.  This still did not stop Edwards in his life's call, however and he went onto minister to the native Americans until his death. A tribute to his postmillennial eschatological view pushing forward the Gospel to every tribe and tongue. In the end, he was a faithful servant and held to his personal convictions of the Truth of God’s Word even to his last breath.

Many a church in this Valley have rich traditions and history, but no person in our history here is more notable than Jonathan Edwards because of that Great Awakening that occurred. But we need to be careful in thinking that Jonathan Edwards was received because he preached the “middle” road of interdenominationalism or post modernism that we have today. He was very well educated, his wife was his inspiration in being devoted to the Scriptures but the fact is he took a strong stand against the human “will” producing any obedience apart from God’s Sovereign grace. That grace was by God’s choosing and not any will of our own. He was very much Pauline and yet he preached to his own brethren, the Puritans who loved law and covenants. They eventually rejected him. I would venture to say, that it created a spiritual vacuum here in the Pioneer Valley that the church has never been able to fill that void with any new modern hip churchy program or outreach because they miss the point in doing so without knowing the facts. They also miss the point in thinking choosing a road somewhere in the middle or all inclusive will bring about any great revival to this area.

So, in a recent conversation with a person who is thinking of moving to Northampton to start a church, I was reminded of how caustic our environment is here, yet how high the expectation of church leaders view preachers even within themselves. “...looks like Northampton hasn’t changed.” he said. To which I say, “Don't look for Northampton to change, hearts change and lives are transformed when hear the message of Grace and His Sovereign choosing of them.”  

Who will wander the fields and speak Grace to  that depraved, lost sheep wandering the streets looking for fulfillment in self justification? We need more Jonathan Edwards in this town, but make no mistake...you can’t put new wine in old wineskins because they just might run you out of town into the rich harvest of the natives.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmillennialism

http://firstchurches.org/?page_id=5

Lucy of the Law

"Lucy comes from that part of me that’s capable of saying mean and sarcastic things, which is not a good trait to have, so Lucy gives me a good outlet. But each character has a weakness and Lucy’s weakness is Schroeder."

Charles M. Schulz on Lucy van Pelt

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h38srxvt6qE

In a recent sermon at Christmas time, a very famous Christmas special was mentioned at my church. A Charlie Brown’s Christmas. I think it must have been a theme this year, because I had bought the DVD of my favorite Christmas special to show at our church’s Christmas party to the kids. I bought a Blu-ray instead of the stock standard and wouldn’t you know it, I had to pick an alternative movie because I am in the techie world deemed “Amish” by my techie husband so go figure. Something very interesting about this Christmas was that one theme seemed to keep popping up everywhere was the comic, “Peanuts”. It is with no irony that my mom used to call me Lucy 2 Shoes, Lucy for short because...well...I was a lot like Lucy. I was the one who would yank the football from poor old Charlie Brown. I have a younger brother and I think I even tried this a couple times...it didn’t go over too well.

In this wonderful sermon, Lucy was mentioned as being “the epitome of the Law”. I can vouch for Lucy and yeah, boy she got such a bad rap in the Christmas sermon this year I almost blushed. I have a soft spot for Lucy, despite her bossy shortcomings but who really wants after this sermon to identify with Lucy? I mean yikes! She is so demanding, bossy and critical. She is portrayed as a great analyst sitting in her psychologist stand shaking her nickel in a can, relishing in her accomplishment of having a client in Charlie Brown. She’s prouder of having Charlie Brown come to her for help than she is of actually helping the depressed Chuck. She means well with her sense of purpose and speaking out for injustice but all she can do is tell people what their problems are and what do with their problems. She always seems to set poor Charlie Brown up for failure! Poor Chuck doesn’t even have a chance. I remember thinking, will he EVER kick that football? Not if Lucy keeps moving that ball the second Charlie goes to punt. I have always wondered why Lucy kept doing that to Charlie Brown. It seemed like a funny practical joke for a while, and even Lucy seriously thinks she is doing a great thing in presenting her suggestions of how to fix his failures. You really want to kick the habit of failure Charlie Brown? Just ONE more try! Until the pain of failure seeps so deep that Charlie Brown gives up because he realizes he is following Lucy’s demands for success to no avail. According to Lucy, all his failures are because he’s not seeing the world a certain way, his personality, his style...even his looks. Good grief!

Lucy isn’t without her own issues and internal conflict. She has massive crush on Schroder, a musician and artist who plays Beethoven and other classics all the time. She really goes out of her way to get his attention and to no avail he just keeps playing Beethoven, never giving her the time of day.  A love estranged is tragic theme! So what do we do with Lucy of the Law? Lucy’s weakness is Schroeder. She is obsessed with getting Schroeder’s attention because under all that bossy demand for perfection...is her absolute need for grace in love. This issue with Lucy and Charlie Brown’s relationship is that both of them are failures. Lucy in convincing Chuck can be successful and kick that ball, she keeps moving the ball...that is a wild expectation and hopes are always crushed. Charlie Brown  for giving into Lucy’s convincing that THIS one time will mark a new beginning of success! Satisfaction guaranteed! No one will ever be able to kick that ball for Lucy if she keeps moving it around. And poor Chuck, he is a sucker every time for her manipulative tricks. I wonder if she’d let Schroeder kick the ball, simply because her love for him is her weakness? Maybe if Schroeder initiated a love song to Lucy on his piano she’d stop moving that football for poor Charlie Brown because it would satisfy her need for perfection from others and scrutinizing of Chuck. The theology of Peanuts is deeper and more complex than we take for face value obviously, but a closer look will show us that we all have a little Lucy of the Law in us. Longing for love and grace to satisfy our needs we often think ourselves "righteous" to point out other people’s faults, when really...they are faults of our own making and a false image of who we are in Christ. 

If I could say one thing to my alter ego Lucy, I would give her some analytical psychological philosophical and theological advice. Stop moving the ball and let poor Charlie Brown kick the ball!