[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”949″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”“A Piece of My Mind”” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:50px|text_align:center|color:%232633ef” google_fonts=”font_family:Bitter%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][vc_custom_heading text=”February-March 2022 Newsletter” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:30px|text_align:center|color:%232633ef” google_fonts=”font_family:Bitter%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]

Advancing Christian Faith and Values,
Defending Religious Liberty for All,
Supporting Civility and the Common Good
through Preaching, Teaching, Writing, Activism and Reasoned Conversations

www.donaldshoemakerministries.com[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”1304″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1598373738095{border-radius: 3px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Worship and Justice

“I am the Lord, who exercises kindness,
justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,”
declares the Lord. – Jeremiah 9:24

“Administer justice every morning;
rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed.”
– Jeremiah 21:12

“Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts.
Let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream.”
– Amos 5:15, 24

“Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
– The Lord’s Prayer

Worship and Justice – 2nd Topic on Worship for 2022

Justice [mishpat] arises from God’s character and is taught through revelation. It is both vertical before God and horizontal toward others (Micah 6:8).
It embraces generosity, fair and equal treatment for all, honesty, defense of the weak and marginalized, value of sexuality, marriage and family, protection of human life and property, care for animals, and more. God expects human authorities to uphold the causes of justice (Daniel 4:27; 1 Peter 2:13,14).
(Reference: “Justice,” Dictionary of Old Testament Theology & Exegesis, vol. 4, pp. 837-46.)

We are called to be God’s prophets, speaking for the truth and right,
Standing firm for godly justice, bring evil things to light.
Let us seek the courage needed, our high calling to fulfill,
That the world may know the blessing of the doing of God’s will.
– Thomas Jackson (1971); #710 in The Worshiping Church

Justice songs? If the Bible makes justice one of its key themes, which it does, then why is there such scarceness of singing about justice in our churches? There are several reasons. I will list some and resist discussing them.

• A “Dispensationalism” (with a sharp distinction between Israel and the Church) that neglects many themes found in the Old Testament.
• A modern failure to sing the Bible’s songs. In the infant church of the first century there was no modern worship wizardry but there was already a hymnbook: The Book of Psalms.
• A fear that we might be trying to achieve “The Kingdom of God” in this world today, rather than awaiting its realization when Jesus returns.
• A decision to “just preach Jesus” and avoid stepping on toes or committing the activist errors of religious leftists or of “Christian America” zealots on the right (it is important to avoid these errors).

Many Christians of the past could avoid errors and excesses and still be a force for justice in their time. John Newton (1725-1807), slave trader turned convert to Christ and staunch abolitionist, could labor to outlaw England’s slave trade and also in 1779 compose…

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see.

There’s another big reason for the paucity of justice songs—
the contemporary praise songs that have come to dominate so much evangelical singing steer clear of justice themes.

Michael J. Rhodes * has examined the lyrics of the 25 most popular worship songs and discovered these sad facts about “the top 25”:
• Only one passing mention of the word “justice.”
• Zero references to the poor or to poverty.
• Complete failure to mention the widow, refugee, and oppressed.
• Not a single question is posed to God about the cries of the oppressed, nor is there any pleading for God to act.

Rhodes stresses the powerful justice appeal in the hymnody of the Psalms:
“Psalms is obsessed with the Lord’s liberating justice for the oppressed. And because the book offers us prayers and songs, it doesn’t just tell us how to think about justice—it offers us scripts to practice shouting and singing about it.”

Rhodes calls us to return to what I call “The First Christian Hymnbook” – the Psalms. There God’s people are given lyrics to sing about justice. He says “justice” is at the top of the list in the Psalms as a reason to praise God (Psalm 99 shouts for joy to the “Mighty King, lover of justice” who has “established equity” and enacted “justice and righteousness in Jacob”). “Psalm 146 declares that the Lord deserves praise because he is the one ‘who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry.’”

The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down,
The Lord loves the righteous.
The Lord watches over the alien
and sustains the fatherless and the widow,
but he frustrates the ways of the wicked. – Psalm 146:8-9 NIV

What can we do once we’ve repented of this spiritual shortsightedness?
First and most important, we must commit ourselves afresh to seeking justice and get involved in some avenue(s) of doing biblical justice. We can restore justice hymnody from the past and present. And Christian songwriters can give us new praise choruses on justice themes. We must not swing the pendulum to an imbalance in the opposite direction, but we can make justice songs a strong part of our regular repertoire.

* Michael J. Rhodes, “Why Don’t We Sing Justice Songs in Worship?” Christianity Today on line, September 30, 2021. His “top 25 songs” are taken from the top 100 worship song list by Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI).

Song suggestions on the theme of Justice:

Immortal, Invisible
Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes.
Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, Thy great name we praise.

Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,
Nor wanting, nor wasting, Thou rulest in might.
Thy justice like mountains high soaring above.
Thy clouds which are fountains of goodness and love.
– Walter Chalmers Smith, (1876)

Your Kingdom Come
As we work and watch and wait,
Father God, Your Kingdom come!
Cleanse, renew, and recreate—
Father God, Your Kingdom come!
Bless our world with love’s increase!
Father God, Your Kingdom come!
First your justice, then your peace.
Father God, Your Kingdom come!
(Words: Ken Bible; Tune: Easter Hymn)

God of Grace and God of Glory
We Are Called to Be God’s People
Lord, You Hear the Cry (Lord, Have Mercy)
God of This City
God of Justice, Love and Mercy
Micah 6:8
Beauty for Brokenness
Everlasting God

Next Worship Topic: “Worship: Who and What and When and Why and How“
Please join me in this pilgrimage![/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]

Bible Insight – Worship without Justice

Question: What’s worse than not singing songs about justice?
Answer: Singing songs about justice and then not “doing justice” in our broken world.

The people of Judea and Jerusalem had all the trappings of worship. They presented sacrifices to God and observed Holy Days. They offered many demonstrable prayers to God with hands uplifted. We might see a church like this as a model church, a worship experience to be replicated.

But God would have none of that. God’s message through Isaiah is one of the harshest to be found in Scripture. “Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. I cannot bear your evil assemblies. I hate your festivals and feasts. When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you” (see Isaiah 1:10-15).

What are the people to do to have the True Worship of God restored? Attend another 3-day workshop on how to make worship more dynamic?

No! “Wash and make yourselves clean. Stop doing wrong, learn to do right. Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow” (see Isaiah 1:16-20).

The same pattern of worthless worship and remedy is found in Micah 6:6-8. “Shall I bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings and thousands of rams? What if I even offer my firstborn to God?”

No! The Lord has shown you what is right and what God requires of you—
“Act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.”

Is God pleased because we do “spiritual stuff”—set aside a day to bow our heads and humble ourselves? Or maybe set aside a day for fasting?

No! God tells us what true fasting is: “To loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke and set the oppressed free.” The true fast is to “share your food with the hungry, provide the poor wanderer with shelter, clothe the naked, and satisfy the needs of the oppressed” (read Isaiah 58).[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]

Prophets Are Good for Business…

Applying Biblical Principles of Honesty to Work Situations
“Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died…
Then a new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt.” – from Exodus 1:6, 8

The new king of Egypt didn’t know, didn’t care, and certainly didn’t intend to concern himself with the memory of Joseph—all Joseph did for the salvation of Egypt and all the benefits an appreciative king at that time bestowed on Joseph and his family. Covenants of good things were replaced by bondage.

It’s as if the new royal administration could just sweep away the covenants made by previous administrations—agreements that were of long duration by their very nature, and therefore binding over time.

In my November 2021 Newsletter I spoke about “Dishonest Christian School Teachers” who signed contracts and later broke them to go to more lucrative positions at secular schools. This is employee dishonesty which, while it might be legal, is certainly not ethical.

Now it’s time to put the shoe on the other foot. Employers are also bound by honesty. Minimalist legal compliance won’t cut it ethically. And the word of one authorized to speak for the corporation at one time is binding on the corporation later, even as it has morphed.

Quoting words on the importance of truthfulness (November 2021):

Psalm 15 asks the question “Who shall dwell on God’s holy hill?”
Answer: “[The one who] swears to his own hurt and does not change.”

God honors the person who keeps his word even when the outcome is not as desirable as it would be if he were to break his word.

“Pay what you vow. It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. Let not your mouth lead you into sin.” (Ecclesiastes 5:4-6)

I knew a person who worked by annual contracts with an organization that had made long-term promises to him. But later a rep of this organization said, since the contracts were annual then each new contract cancelled out any understandings from former contracts including long-range promises. How convenient! Maybe legal, maybe not. But ethical? Not at all!

I knew a pastor who was dismissed by his congregation, which then ignored its own constitution that specified a three-month termination period. If this church wanted the pastor to make an immediate departure, it still owed that pastor three months of compensation. Another church promised a part-time pastor a full-time one-year position. But later it said, “We never got that in writing.” So?

Written documents promote clarity on specifics, but the absence of a written document doesn’t change the fundamental point that people and organizations are to keep their word, spoken or written—especially religious people and orgs that supposedly realize they “answer to a higher power.” *

The Wall Street Journal reported on December 27, 2021 that a manager employed by a major company was given an early retirement package which, as an incentive, included a death benefit of at least $63,000. I hope he hurried to the pearly gates, because the company’s new policy said (in effect) that if he didn’t die by the end of 2021 the benefit would be no more than $15,000.

Such unilateral changes in employment agreements are probably more frequent than I’d ever expect. They may be legal or not. Arbitration and litigation can decide. Christians are instructed to avoid certain litigation
(1 Corinthians 6:1-8). But to the extent the Bible forbids litigation, it is not with the intent of protecting dishonesty and removing any recourse. Christian organizations shouldn’t hide behind 1 Corinthians 6, but some do (“You’re a Christian, so you must not sue us because we are a Christian ministry!”).

“Let your ‘Yes’ be yes, and your ‘No’ no, or you will be condemned.”
That scripture quotation is literally “right on the money.” It concludes a passage that focuses on the failure of employers to treat their employees justly by paying them the wages they were owed (read James 5:1-12).

These first-century employees may not have had much legal recourse or been able to file a grievance with their union, but they did have a God in Heaven to whom they could cry out. “The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty” (James 5:4). So these employer-thieves had better prepare for Judgment Day or even quicker temporal judgment. They might escape the “lower courts” but won’t escape the Court of Heaven.

Yes means yes,
whether written or verbal,
whether today or ten years ago,
whether your private word or your business word,
whether you are in a position to bully your way
out of promises or not.

Honesty and trust are bulwarks of a stable society. Dishonesty by workers or corporations weakens the fabric of society. A strong society needs citizens and companies that are models of integrity and good to their word.

Even when it hurts (Psalm 15:4).

* There are laws that require a written contract in certain cases (such as purchase of real estate). This doesn’t affect the moral necessity for honesty in both written agreements and non-written understandings.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]Back the Badge
“Blessed are those who
maintain justice.” – Psalm 106:3[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]

“COVID” Hits Law Enforcement Hard

I remember walking into an apartment with officers years ago while doing a “ride-along” as a chaplain. It was a “pack-rat” apartment—dirty and littered. Next day I had flea bites on my ankles.

This is one small example of the risky, unhealthy situations that law enforcement officers often face as they do their jobs. Now there is COVID.

According to the latest statistics on the “Officer Down Memorial Page,” COVID accounted for 2/3 of the total Line of Duty Deaths (LODD) in 2021 (325 of 484). Gunfire was a very distant second (61) and vehicle crashes third (22).

The LODD due to COVID was a 28% increase over 2020, when 254 deaths were due to COVID out of 385 LODD. Texas led the way in 2021 with 91 COVID deaths. Border enforcement and corrections are two services especially impacted by COVID deaths. [See www.odmp.org]

I concur with Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva that government should not punish law enforcement personnel who refuse vaccinations:

My objection to the vaccine mandate for my department is not ideological; it’s practical. I need deputies on the streets. Sitting at home on Zoom like our critics is not an option. My unvaccinated deputies and I might not agree about the vaccines, but I have no other option than to stand by them and protest this move to fire today the heroes who risked their lives yesterday. The next time a pandemic hits, and no vaccine is available, I know they would stand with me, working to keep the public safe. [Washington Post, November 12, 2021]

That said, and without disregarding religious convictions, concern about governmental overreach, and other arguments for exemptions, I strongly encourage law enforcement personnel to be fully vaccinated, as I have said in other writing for church members and the public in general.

“AH-mi-cron” Virus? Or “OH-mi-cron” Virus?

Omicron Virus

The World Health Organization names the Covid variants after the letters of the Greek alphabet —
(A) Alpha, (B) Beta, (Γ) Gamma, (Δ) Delta and so on. Now the surprise “Omicron” virus has popped up, eleven letters after Delta. Spokespersons and the public pronounce it either with a short or a long “O”.

Four observations:

First, the letter “Xi” (Ξ) is right before “Omicron” and it was skipped. Wonder why. Would the world ever speak of the “Xi variant” since the President of the People’s Republic of China is Xi Jenping??? I don’t think so!

Second, there are two “O’s” in the Greek alphabet: “O-Omicron” and “Ω-Omega,” the last letter of the Greek alphabet.

Third, how are they pronounced? I hear both words pronounced the same—with a long “ō” or a short “ô” as in “soft.” This would be “AW-micron” and “Aw-MĀ-ga.” But I have heard “Omega” pronounced with a long “O” ever since I took beginning Greek. I’ll stick with that and with a short “O” for Omicron.

Fourth, theologically, the first and last letters are descriptive of the Eternal God (note the great claim, “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty’” – Revelation 1:8).

Notice the dramatic monotheistic declaration (Isaiah 44:6 ESV): “Thus says the LORD [‘Yahweh’ = ‘Jehovah’], the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts [‘Yahweh Sabaoth’]: ‘I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.’”

Quite remarkably, then, the first and last letters are also claimed by Jesus (“I am the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End” – Revelation 22:13). He makes the claim to being eternal three ways—how can we miss it? The first and third phrases are also asserted by Jesus in Revelation 21:6 – “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.”

Go all the way to the beginning—Jesus and God (the Father) are there (John 1:1). Go all the way to the end—you will find Jesus and God (the Father). Either Jesus is eternal with God the Father (affirming his deity) or he is deluded or a blasphemer or the writer is deceptive. I see no other options.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]Religious Liberty Vigilance –
The Waning of Religious Affiliation in America
“Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.” – United Nations Universal Declaration on Human Rights (Article 18)

As I state on the first page of every newsletter, one of my missions is “Defending Religious Freedom for All.” “All” includes the right of a person to confess NO religious faith without recrimination.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”1742″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]The Pew Research Center’s recent thorough examination of religion in America finds that THREE OUT OF TEN U.S. ADULTS ARE WITHOUT ANY RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION.

[Source: Pew Research Center, www.pewforum.org]

That’s almost twice the 16% figure in 2007![/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”1743″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1598373738095{border-radius: 3px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text]These “NONES” may be atheist, agnostic, or simply have no affiliation. They may have replaced formal religion with some sort of philosophy of living.

Those who identify as Protestant have dropped from 52% to 40% in 14 years. The drop is about equal between Protestants considering themselves “Evangelical” (30% down to 24%) and those who don’t (22% down to 16%). Those who identify as Catholic have dropped from 24% to 21%.

What are we to make of this and what should be our responses?

First, I wouldn’t get into much of a twist over it, at least just yet. Less formal religious affiliation does not in itself speak to decline in America. Religious affiliation has gone up and down throughout our history. I do pray for another spiritual awakening in America like what was experienced in the 18th and 19th centuries and even the “Jesus Movement” of the 1960’s and 70’s.

Second, spiritual renewal and reformation are badly needed in America. Spiritual renewal is the process whereby Christian communities reexamine their methods and procedures to see if they are effective and culturally relevant. Reformation leads us to examine if we are articulating the orthodox Christian Faith and doing it in ways that are easily grasped and meaningful.

Third, organized religion must prepare for an assault against religious liberty by those who either don’t embrace it or don’t understand it. “Freedom of Religion” includes “Freedom of Worship” but is much broader than just that. It includes the right to further a church’s mission and ministries in the world without retaliation against its religious practices (such as hiring standards). Many who think themselves secular and of non-religious ideology don’t like this and may, for example, try to pull the tax exemption of churches or otherwise “cancel” those that do not give in to the secular thinking du jour. “Freedom of Religion” is the right to have a robust, all-encompassing faith, to live out that faith, and to try to persuade others to embrace that faith.

Eric Buehrer of Gateways to Better Education is surely correct to note that it’s not really encouraging that “82% of Americans say freedom of religion is important to a healthy American society” when 50% of Americans don’t really know what religious freedom is and may even be hostile to some of its implications.

Fourth, values have to come from somewhere. If religion isn’t their source, then something else will act like religion and bring forth values. Secular social “isms” (like leftism, nationalism, environmentalism, unionism, feminism, even patriotism) may at times be forms of quasi-religion in how they state their dogmas, work to impose their agenda, or judge others who disagree with them and won’t conform to their vision.

I’ll put it this way. Almost everybody has a religion in the form of that ultimate commitment that brings forth a person’s values and priorities—what you are willing to fight for; what hills you are willing to die on. For most people, this “operational faith” is the same as their “institutional (stated) faith.” For others, not. People can be “institutional Christians” but govern their lives and their social/political efforts by some other set of commitments that flow from a different “operational faith.” It happens in politics a lot.

It’s important that this reality be admitted and addressed. Otherwise, you’ll have someone advocating laws and social policies based on so-called “non-religious values” while trying to ban religion-based proposals and social/political efforts from the public square.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1643648297865{background-color: #ffcccc !important;border-radius: 3px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text]Science and God
Listen to “Science and God,” a series of 5-minute videos from Prager University, Dennis Prager’s site for learning. I’ve listened, and they are very good.

Here are the topics:
Are Religion and Science in Conflict?
How Did the Universe Begin?
Aliens, the Multiverse, or God?
What is Intelligent Design?
What’s Wrong with Atheism?

Check these and many other helpful topics at: www.PragerU.com[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1598373738095{border-radius: 3px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text]

www.donaldshoemakerministries.com
Contact me at: donaldshoemakerministries@verizon.net

Don has been a member of the clergy in the Long Beach, California area since 1970. He now serves as Pastor Emeritus of Grace Community Church of Seal Beach (where he was senior pastor 1984-2012) and as Senior Chaplain of the Seal Beach Police Department (2001+). He previously was an assistant professor of Biblical Studies at Biola University (1976-84) and chaired the Social Concerns Committee in the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches from 1985 to 2019. His graduate work includes a Master of Divinity from Grace Theological Seminary, a Master of Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary with a concentration in Christian ethics, and a Doctor of Ministry from American Baptist Seminary of the West (now Berkeley School of Theology) with a concentration on the Charismatic Movement. His law school studies included a course on the First Amendment. He and his wife Mary have been married for 55 years. They have two children and six grandchildren.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”949″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”“A Piece of My Mind”” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:50px|text_align:center|color:%232633ef” google_fonts=”font_family:Bitter%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][vc_custom_heading text=”January 2022 Newsletter” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:30px|text_align:center|color:%232633ef” google_fonts=”font_family:Bitter%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]

Advancing Christian Faith and Values,
Defending Religious Liberty for All,
Supporting Civility and the Common Good
through Preaching, Teaching, Writing, Activism and Reasoned Conversations

www.donaldshoemakerministries.com[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”1304″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1598373738095{border-radius: 3px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Sermon on January 8, 2012

10 Years Already!

On January 8, 2012, I gave my final sermon as Senior Pastor of Grace Community Church of Seal Beach. That evening we celebrated “A Heritage of Song” at the local school auditorium, underscoring my 28-year emphasis on music. Then I said to my wife as we walked to our car,
“It’s all over!”

The next morning I was back at my desk in my home office composing a Mission Statement for the next phase of my ministry. It is on the first page of every monthly newsletter—Christian Faith, Religious Liberty, Civility . . .

To help fulfill my Mission Statement, I began this monthly newsletter in September 2012. Thank you for being part of the readership! It is my ongoing honor and pleasure to serve you this way.

New Year’s Resolution—Revival, Renewal, Reformation
I’ve often emphasized the “3 R’s” each new year. And I’m doing it again now.

Our churches and their people need continual spiritual REVIVAL, with our hearts set aflame in love and service to God. We need RENEWAL, with ministries and programs and facilities that are current and serve our mission well (what a challenge Covid still is to this!). And we need REFORMATION—are our beliefs true to Scripture and understandably communicated?

My 2022 Newsletters will dwell on all three with a focus on WORSHIP.

Let’s ask ourselves often this year: Does our worship arise from hearts aflame for God and filled with his Holy Spirit? Or does it need REVIVAL? Is it both classic (in touch with our Christian heritage) and contemporary? Or does it need fresh RENEWAL? How true is our worship to a biblical view of God, of the person and work of Christ and the Spirit, of our salvation and Christian duties, and our “Blessed Hope?” Or does it need REFORMATION?

This month I will offer a revision of my 2016 essay on “Worship Renewal.” Next month we will look at “Worship and Justice.” And so forth through 2022. Please join me in this pilgrimage!
A Renewed Paradigm for Worship—Revised
I’ve been an enthusiastic worshipper since I was a toddler (my mother told me I sang really loud). I began planning and leading worship when I was 17. So my heart is really into this subject.

The church is never beyond the need for renewal, and I think renewal of our worship is especially needed now.

In the points that follow I strive to be creative but make no claim to originality. In fact, I hope most ideas are quite old and enduring.[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]1. A Truly Worshipping Congregation
Give worship back to the congregation. Stop the stage-centered professionalism. Get the congregation singing, not just standing. Get the people engaged and not mere passive onlookers or struggling with barely audible words. Teach new songs, yes, but sing a lot of familiar songs that are easy to sing. Lower the volume, if necessary, so that people can joyfully hear themselves sing. Make the congregation active participants in worship “with heart and soul and voices” (“Now Thank We All Our God” by Martin Rinkart, 1636). Worship can be high quality without being so orchestrated.

If the people ain’t singin’,
then the songleaders ain’t really leadin’,
no matter how much skill and pizzazz
they bring to the service!

2. In Touch with Our Christian Heritage
Renew worship connection with our rich Christian heritage even as we also sing good current compositions. Put the people in touch with the saints of the past—their struggles, successes, suffering, spirituality, and songs. The Holy Spirit didn’t first arrive with “Jesus Music” in the 1960’s!

Idea: Observe “All Saints Sunday” (The Sunday on or before November 1). Immerse the congregation in music that honors and learns from the saints of the past. Here are some great songs for accomplishing this:

“All Creatures of Our God and King” (St. Francis of Assisi, 13th Century)
“A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” (Martin Luther, 16th Century)
“For All the Saints Who from Their Labor Rest” (outstanding!)
“The Church’s One Foundation Is Jesus Christ Her Lord”
“Find us Faithful” (Mohr)
3. The Word of God in Worship
Integrate the Word of the Lord more thoroughly into worship. People need to hear the Scriptures read. If we Evangelical Protestants consider ourselves “People of the Word,” why is there more reading of Scripture in a Roman Catholic Mass than in the typical Evangelical service?

Ideas: Careful selection of responsive reading passages; a reading each from the Old Testament, the Epistles and the Gospels in every service. The congregation may stand for either the reading from the Gospels or for the sermon scripture. Following this scripture the reader may say, “This is the Word of the Lord” and the people respond with “Thanks be to God!”
4. The Word Proclaimed and The Word Explained (See: Acts 2:14-42)
We must see the distinction between Proclamation of the Word to non-believers and Instruction in the Word to believers—both necessary and complementary. As you plan the worship experience, remember that its primary purpose is to instruct and build up of believers in faith and life. While non-Christians should be invited and, when present, not made to feel like awkward strangers, the worship hour should be distinguished from other occasions that have as their primary purpose drawing non-believers to hear the Word of Salvation and confess Jesus as Lord.
5. Expository Sermons as Works of Art
The Message should unfold and apply the meaning of Scripture to the people so they can see what was there all along. While the expository pastor has training and tools available that the rest of us don’t have, sermons should not create an unhealthy dependence on the speaker to know what God is saying.

Sermons should usually be 30 minutes or less—it takes more work to create a tight sermon than an extended one, but it will be a better sermon. Organize the sermon as if it were a work of art, and then maybe it will become one!

Points for congregations to remember: Congregations expecting sermon excellence need to supply their pastors with time and ample funds for ongoing training, books and other resources, and must protect the pastor’s sermon preparation time. Put sermonizing as priority #1 in performance evaluations.
6. “Less” is often “More” (Ecclesiastes 5:1-2; Habakkuk 2:20)
Musical instrumentation in all its variety is marvelous in worship. But don’t forget places for silence, softness and quality a cappella singing. Commentary isn’t always necessary throughout worship and, when it is, fewer words are better than many words.
7. Giving in Worship
Don’t forget the giving opportunity within the worship service. Other avenues for giving (payroll deductions, online giving, etc.) have a growing place, but must not supersede a time to give in the worship service. This value has been “Covid challenged,” but we must not lose sight of giving as a physical act of offering during worship.
8. Technology in Worship—Dine with a Long Spoon
Technology must always be the servant of worship, never its lord. People should leave worship thinking, “I met God today!” Not, “Wow!” Ask these questions when using technology: “Does this feature really enhance worship? Does it point us straight to Jesus? Or does it detract and distract from him?”
9. Humor Has a Place—Keep It There! (Ask those “tech” questions again!)
Lightheartedness and laughter have their place in worship, when done with purpose. But the service must never get frivolous and must always lift us above ourselves to God. Humor is one thing, trying to be funny another.
10. A Real, Live Pastor
John 3:16 doesn’t say God in love beamed down an image of his son! No, God loved the world and sent his Son—he “became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). The doctrine of the Incarnation (Jesus in flesh—fully one of us) needs to be “fleshed out” in pastoral style. Call it “incarnational leadership.”

The pastor who speaks should be there in flesh and blood, not electronically delivered like a hologram. Pastors, we should not think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think. We aren’t indispensible celebrities! The people need true interaction with the pastor during and after the sermon, not an impersonal non-encounter with someone who isn’t there.

And no fleeing out the side door for privacy right after the benediction! I preached three sermons on Sunday mornings for fifteen years, and I know a pastor can guard his energy without avoiding personal time with the people.
11. Worship Aesthetics
Worship settings don’t need to be extravagant, but they shouldn’t be bland and utilitarian either. The place of worship is sacred space, removed from the “common settings” of the rest of the week. It’s not another big box store. Worship is a vestibule to the Celestial. In “The Gathering”, we are a holy temple of God, a dwelling place for God’s Spirit.

Ideas: The visible word should tastefully and purposefully surround worshippers in the worship location through artistic display and symbols, and (yes, an old idea) even in the windows.
12. The Eucharist in Worship
The Communion (the Eucharist) should be a regular feature of renewed worship—even weekly. Don’t hurry through it—the Bread and the Cup must not be “fast food.” Enough time must be given to ponder the Cross, God’s grace and our need for repentance. In the Communion time pastors should declare the good news of forgiveness.
13. Shepherding the Flock in Worship
Pastors should actively lead their people into worship, within worship, and out of worship. The pastors aren’t there to be “worship show-offs,” but they should be “examples to the flock” (1 Peter 5:3).

There is a pastoral role for the Call to Worship, the Pastoral Prayer (which may often conclude with “The Lord’s Prayer”), and the Benediction. The people should be led in petitionary and intercessory prayer. Appropriate opportunity for praying for and anointing the sick with oil should be provided by the pastors and elders of the church.
A Final Word
I’ve offered these pointers because I want to keep worship ministries moving in a positive, biblical and God-honoring direction. This will mean moving away from some recent trends in Evangelicalism and rediscovering some of the best of our heritage. It will be well worth it if we become better and more biblical worshippers. © 2022 Donald P. Shoemaker[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]Back the Badge
“Blessed are those who
maintain justice.” – Psalm 106:3[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]

“Smash and Grab”

“When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out,
people’s hearts are filled with schemes to do wrong.” – Ecclesiastes 8:11

“Smash and Grab” is the newest lawlessness. A group of thieves plan and execute an invasion of a retail business, steal as much as possible, and escape before law enforcement can respond.

“Smash and Grab” can be laid before four doorsteps: (1) Passage of “Prop 47” by California voters in 2014, (2) decisions by prosecutors not to prosecute “small” (misdemeanor) crimes, (3) lax bail policies, and (4) defunding of law enforcement.

Proposition 47 reclassified many crimes from felonies to misdemeanors. Theft of less than $950 is now a misdemeanor—don’t think that thieves can’t add! Reclassification also meant that punishment will be lessened or not happen at all if a district attorney (such as in Los Angeles County) won’t prosecute misdemeanors.

The results are predicable: Less fear of being caught and charged + less fear of tough consequences if caught and charged = more crime.

“Smash and Grab” isn’t a benign crime. It robs owners and workers of livelihood. An invasion robbery of a Home Depot store led to theft of sledgehammers and crowbars—destructive tools also capable of doing great bodily injury. It is a matter of time before many innocent people are hurt. Police Sergeant (ret.) Kevin Nishita was shot and killed while providing security for a TV crew in Oakland, California when the thieves hit.

Law enforcement needs funding for more resources, not defunding. Businesses must figure out how to be pro-active without endangering customers or employees. Prosecutors must resolve to prosecute. Bail must be required and set at the right level. Law enforcement agencies will need to train on response time and strategies to deal with “Smash and Grab” effectively. It will be an interesting training process.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]Message of the Month

Churches, Covid & Contention

The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.

One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.

You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat… So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.– Romans 14:3-6, 10, 12 (NIV)

The Apostle Paul writes to Christians in Rome who find themselves divided over questions about what foods and day observances are important. He counsels latitude of opinion and practice and sensitivity to others. His words don’t totally fit our Covid situation but they can be applied to it with care.

Of this I am certain: When church members judge or belittle, grumble and gripe, complain and contend, dicker and divide over Covid, masks, mandates, and vaccinations—God is quite displeased!

There are stories aplenty of Christian churches in turmoil over Covid. Recently I heard of a rather small church contending and almost dividing over Covid issues. And that church, indeed any church, cannot afford such strife.

Contention and disunity are always toxic in a congregation, but they are even worse if they are hastening the day of a church’s extinction. “If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other”
– Galatians 5:15.

Grace Community Church of Seal Beach, my church, has been prepared for and has addressed the Covid crisis in several good ways:
• Before any issue that may cause contention could arise, there is already a trust of church leadership, nurtured by years of transparency, wisdom, care and concern for the congregation. The congregation as a whole is accepting and cooperative with requests and decisions by its leaders.

• The church has been taught the biblical principles of Christian freedom for many years, which leads to an accepting, deferential, non-legalistic spirit throughout the congregation.

• The pastoral leadership is caring and pro-active. A Reopening Task Force made up of appropriate professionals began early in the Covid crisis to develop policies and actions that would be reasonable and effective and able to flex with developments.

• The church strives to provide as many venues for worship as possible. These currently include online worship, one Sunday morning service outdoors and two services indoors (with masks for indoor services once again required in California as of 12/15/21).

Some additional guidance:
The church must clearly communicate that neither a judgmental spirit that condemns others nor a libertine spirit that ignores the sensitivities of others is acceptable within its congregational life (read the 14th chapter of Romans).

The church must be alert and quickly recognize arguments and forces that are not truly Christ-like, nor biblically grounded (i.e., extra-biblical), nor supportive of the church’s unity.

Church leaders may implement policies that are reasonable in light of current science and review them often with a view toward lifting them ASAP. Equally important, church leaders must speak out against unfair edicts by the state.

Jesus is our supreme example (see Philippians 2:5-8) of one who was willing to lay aside his rights to do what was in the best interests of others.

“…in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others” – Philippians 2:3-4.

Our senior pastor, Bob Wriedt, offers these helpful points:

“Communicate, communicate, communicate! We’ve done personal phone calls to every member, pastoral letters, video updates, and website updates. And even so, we’ve often been misunderstood, ignored, and told: ‘We don’t know what’s happening!’ A crisis creates a leaky bucket of communications. The tap needs to be fully opened.”

“Know where you are an expert as a pastor and lean on others where you are not one. This includes those in the church in healthcare and those secular institutions (like the county health department). It helps your pastoral credibility to know when to say, ‘This isn’t my area of expertise’ at times, so that when you do assert expertise it means something.”

“Don’t let insecurities lead to kicking the sheep. Our church’s in-person worship service attendance is down about 30% overall compared to pre-COVID. No pastor wants that to happen and it is tempting to let my insecurities lead to overreactions and overreaching.”

Finally . . .
“Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, ‘children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.’”– Philippians 2:14-15. If Paul were giving these words today, I believe he would be calling churches to be examples of harmony in contrast to a bickering culture. In so doing, a church is being a “Light to the world” as Jesus called us to be.

I can think of no scripture that better expresses a good congregational spirit during Covid-crisis, or in any crisis, than 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13 –

Now we ask you, brothers and sisters,
to acknowledge those who work hard among you,
who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you.
Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work.
Live in peace with each other.

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January Dates Engraved in Our Memory

January 6, 2021 – The Capitol Insurgency
(From The Washington Post, Feb. 21, 2021)

Engulfed in the crush of insurgents storming the Capitol, D.C. police officer Jeffrey Smith sent his wife a text that spoke to the futility and fears of his mission. “London has fallen,” the 35-year-old tapped on his phone at 2:38 p.m. on Jan. 6, knowing his wife would understand he was referencing a movie by that name about a plan to assassinate world leaders attending a funeral in Britain.

The text confirmed the frightening images Erin Smith was watching on live stream from the couple’s home in Virginia: The Capitol had been overrun.

Six minutes after Smith sent that text, a Capitol Police officer inside the building shot and killed a woman as she climbed through a smashed window next to the House chamber. Smith, also inside the Capitol, didn’t hear the gunshot, but he did hear the frantic “shots fired” call over his police radio. He later told Erin he panicked, afraid rioters had opened fire on police, and wondered whether he would die.

Around 5:35 p.m., Smith was still fighting to defend the building when a metal pole thrown by rioters struck his helmet and face shield. After working into the night, he visited the police medical clinic, was put on sick leave and, according to his wife, was sent home with pain medication.

In the days that followed, Erin said, her husband seemed in constant pain, unable to turn his head. He did not leave the house, even to walk their dog. He refused to talk to other people or watch television. She sometimes woke during the night to find him sitting up in bed or pacing.

Smith returned to the police clinic for a follow-up appointment Jan. 14 and was ordered back to work, a decision his wife now questions. After a sleepless night, he set off the next afternoon for an overnight shift, taking the ham-and-turkey sandwiches, trail mix and cookies Erin had packed.

On his way to the District, Jeffrey Smith shot himself in the head . . .

January 15 – Martin Luther King’s Birthday
[Holiday observed January 17]

Martin Luther King, Jr. would have turned 93 on this day. He was 39 when he was assassinated in 1968. I urge everyone to read his 1963 “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and his autobiography.

January 16 – Religious Freedom Day
[See “Religious Liberty Vigilance” below.]

January 22, 1973 – “Roe v. Wade”

This 7-2 U.S. Supreme Court decision overturned restrictive abortion laws in all 50 states. As many of us know, the court will decide a case during the current session (Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization)
which may modify Roe v Wade or even (less likely) completely overturn it.

If so, the likely outcome will be to return abortion legislation back to the several states, though the federal government may get involved.

Roe v Wade has been criticized on at least two levels:

(1) It was “legislation from the bench.” The court held abortion to be a right during the first and second trimesters of pregnancy, and a practice that could be restricted or banned during the third trimester. By injecting the notion of trimesters, the court was writing a law, not deciding a law (cf. Justice Rehnquist’s dissent).
(2) Restrictions on abortion rested on the viability of the fetus. Justice Sandra Day O’Connor (who was not on the court in 1973) would later warn that viability will come earlier and earlier as medical care advances, essentially putting Roe v. Wade on a “collision course with itself” (City of Akron v. Akron Center for Reproductive Health, 1983).

However Dobbs is decided, the extreme passions abortion has generated since Roe will not abate. I’m not conveying my own positions with these words, only trying to illuminate the current status of the debate. (Sarah Weddington, who argued Roe v. Wade before the Supreme Court, died Dec. 26 at age 76.)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]Religious Liberty Vigilance –

Sunday, January 16 is “Religious Freedom Day” Will your congregation observe it?

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” – 1st Amendment

On January 16, 1786, The Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom, authored by Thomas Jefferson, was adopted. It was our country’s first legal safeguard for religious liberty. Its principles influenced the First Amendment’s religious liberty statements in the U.S. Constitution.

Religious liberty has to be preserved in each generation as new threats and situations arise. Each year since 1993 the President has issued a proclamation supporting religious liberty by declaring January 16 as “Religious Freedom Day.” This year Religious Freedom Day falls on a Sunday. I hope thousands of churches will take advantage of this.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1598373738095{border-radius: 3px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text]Archbishop Desmond Tutu dies at 90
Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu died on December 26. He was a moral leader in bringing South Africa to reckon with the evil of government-mandated racial separation (apartheid). In 1984 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his nonviolent struggle against apartheid, and later played a key role in the segregationist policy’s downfall.

After apartheid he guided the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to move on to peaceful resolution. He later criticized the African National Congress that led the new government for its graft and greed.

Jerry Falwell once labeled the archbishop a “phony,” but I saw him as a voice of conscience calling for justice, peace, and reconciliation, and an outstanding voice for the Anglican Communion in South Africa. I regret that elements of anti-Semitism are noted by some who examine his words and writings.

Il Divo singer Carlos Marin dies at 53 of Covid
Often when I prepare to shut down my computer for the day, I listen to “The Lord’s Prayer” sung by the pop/opera foursome
Il Divo. I recorded it from the second row on an i-Phone when we attended their concert in December 2019.

Sadly, rich baritone singer Carlos Marin (pictured here next to my wife) passed away at age 53 on December 19, due to Covid. The team was doing a tour in England when he became ill and was hospitalized in early December.

Il Divo has been a popular secular singing team since 2004, but some of their songs are on Christian themes (“Amazing Grace” and “O Holy Night” as examples). They have been our favorite singers and my wife and I would hear them in person every year or so and even enjoyed two “meet and greet” contacts. At the second one I said to Carlos in Spanish, “God bless you now and always.” We will miss them as we’ve come to know them.

www.donaldshoemakerministries.com
Contact me at: donaldshoemakerministries@verizon.net

Don has been a member of the clergy in the Long Beach, California area since 1970. He now serves as Pastor Emeritus of Grace Community Church of Seal Beach (where he was senior pastor 1984-2012) and as Senior Chaplain of the Seal Beach Police Department (2001+). He previously was an assistant professor of Biblical Studies at Biola University (1976-84) and chaired the Social Concerns Committee in the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches from 1985 to 2019.

His graduate work includes a Master of Divinity from Grace Theological Seminary, a Master of Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary with a concentration in Christian ethics, and a Doctor of Ministry from American Baptist Seminary of the West (now Berkeley School of Theology) with a concentration on the Charismatic Movement. His law school studies included a course on the First Amendment. He and his wife Mary have been married for 55 years. They have two children and six grandchildren.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”949″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”“A Piece of My Mind”” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:50px|text_align:center|color:%232633ef” google_fonts=”font_family:Bitter%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][vc_custom_heading text=”December 2021 Newsletter” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:30px|text_align:center|color:%232633ef” google_fonts=”font_family:Bitter%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]

Advancing Christian Faith and Values,
Defending Religious Liberty for All,
Supporting Civility and the Common Good
through Preaching, Teaching, Writing, Activism and Reasoned Conversations

www.donaldshoemakerministries.com[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”1304″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1598373738095{border-radius: 3px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text]

“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”

Christ, by highest Heav’n adored;
Christ the everlasting Lord;
Late in time, behold Him come,
Offspring of a virgin’s womb.
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
Hail th’incarnate Deity,
Pleased as man with us to dwell,
Jesus our Emmanuel.
Hark! The herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn king!”

Among the best known and loved Christmas carols—certainly one of the best Christian hymns ever written—it was composed by Charles Wesley in 1739. The familiar tune was composed by Felix Mendelssohn in 1740.[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]

A Less-familiar Christmas Scripture

Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus. King Herod and the “Wise Men.” The angels and shepherds—The Gospels of Matthew and Luke give us the familiar Christmas themes we love to recall, recite and sing about.

The Gospel of Mark skips the first 30 years of Jesus’ life and starts with Jesus hitting the ground running—being baptized and starting his ministry.

The Gospel of John, likely written more than 80 years after Jesus’ birth, takes time to reflect upon and “theologize” about Jesus. Just who was this person?

Simply put, the Christmas Message in John’s Gospel is “In Jesus, God Became One of Us, that We Might Know Him and Become His Children.”

The Gospel of John is written to ignite in us a faith that affirms the same truths about Jesus that John’s Prologue (1:1-18) does. “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:30-31).

What key answers does John give us to the question, “Who is Jesus?”

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. (John 1:1-4)

Let’s start in verse one with the rather unusual statement that Jesus was “the Word.” A strange title for us but not novel at all to thinkers in New Testament times, “Word” conveys ideas such as “communication, disclosure, announcement, reason.” Point: Jesus is (and gives) the Truth of God to us.

Second, Jesus (God’s Word to us) was “in the beginning.” What “beginning” the author has in mind, I’m not sure. The same “beginning” as in Genesis 1:1 (“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”)? Perhaps. It’s best to be cautious and not assign a time to “the beginning.”

Point: there never was a “time” when the Word “was not.” Each Christmas season we start the story of Jesus with his birth in Bethlehem. That’s not wrong, but it must not conceal something more ultimate: Jesus is “from the beginning.” He does not have his origin in a manger or in Mary’s womb.

Third, Jesus was with God “from the beginning.” This stresses intimacy.

The point to know is: Jesus was “there” with God in (hence, “since”) the very beginning. If anyone ought to know God perfectly, it would be Jesus.

Fourth, Jesus himself “is” God. This sounds contradictory, but it is not. How could Jesus be “with” God and also “be God?” The historical answer is still the best one—God is “one” and yet God exists as “Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”

So, in three short phrases John begins his letter with a mountain of declarations about Jesus—his eternity, his presence with God the Father, and his essence as God (whatever God is, the Word is). If you want to know God, the best source is from the Word who was ever with God and is himself God (Hebrews 1:1-2).

Fifth, we learn the role of the Word in creation (verse three). “Through him all things were made.” And lest we miss or compromise the point, “…without him nothing was made that has been made.” Followers of Jesus should be very creation-affirming. Spirituality is not disengagement from what is made (if we do that, we are casting aspersion on its Creator); true spirituality celebrates creation and thrives in it.

The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God… (John 1:9-12)

In verse nine, we learn our sixth key answer to “who is Jesus?” Jesus is light. Actually, he is “life” and that “life” is “light” to us all. His coming to earth brightens up the world. Sadly, many choose to reject that light. But—Good News!—all who receive that light (in other words, all who believe in him) become children of God. The whole Gospel of John was written so we might read and believe, and become children of God.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

Seventh, the “Word” that was from the beginning with God and who is himself God, became human (“flesh” is both literally true and much more than what we think of as “flesh”). He became human in every way. He was “flesh, blood and bone, muscle and mind” like us (not merely a divine spirit inside a body).

Christian thinking, based especially on the Gospel of John, strongly confesses that Jesus was fully “flesh,” fully human. This is one of the most hopeful confessions I can think of. He walked our path, experienced our afflictions, was challenged by evil as we are. Yet he was sinless, assuring us that sin is not intrinsic to who we are. We can’t sin and say, “After all, I’m just human.”

Deny the “flesh” nature of Jesus and you have denied Jesus. Your thinking puts you outside the Christian camp. Nor should we diminish (without denying) Jesus’ full humanity. He didn’t walk an inch off the ground. He has been tested just like we are and thus he comes to us with understanding and grace.

Here’s a very practical application of Jesus’ real humanity. I strongly believe that pastors must be “flesh and blood” in close company with their people. We must strive for “incarnational ministry.” We are not to be larger-than-life figures on a screen, remote and out of reach, and above what afflicts others. This has great implications on how we “do church.” Technology has made remote worship possible during Covid and for other good reasons. But I’m happy to hear of trends away from overreliance on “remote worship” and back toward in-person fellowship and pastoral ministry.

No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known. (John 1:18)

One more key answer to “who is Jesus?” is found in verse eighteen. While God is not directly visible, Jesus was. We can know him and thereby know God.

This little look at the Gospel of John’s “Christmas message” has just scratched the surface. I’m adding some more in-depth teachings below. Please take the “key points” to heart and celebrate Christmas in light of them.

What songs highlight the themes I’ve shared? Here are three:

Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; Hail th’incarnate Deity,
Pleased as man with us to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel.

Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace! Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings, risen with healing in his wings.
Mild he laid his glory by, born that we no more may die.
– Charles Wesley, 1739

Of the Father’s love begotten, ere the worlds began to be,
He is Alpha and Omega, he the source, the ending he,
of the things that are, that have been, and that future years shall see…
– Marcus Aurelius Clemens Prudentius, 4th century

O Word of God incarnate, O Wisdom from on high,
O Truth unchanged, unchanging, O Light of our dark sky.
– William How, 1867

Papyrus 66 may date as early as the early second century. It contains most of the Gospel of John. This page contains John 1:1-13 and part of verse 14.

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A Deeper Look at the Prologue of John’s Gospel (1:1-18)

The Prologue whets our palate with appetizers about what will be unfolded throughout this letter by the teachings and deeds of Jesus. The letter reaches its pinnacle in chapter 20, when Jesus presents himself to the “I won’t believe what I can’t see and feel” disciple Thomas. Upon seeing Jesus and being invited by Jesus to touch his wounds (from his crucifixion), Thomas exclaims “My Lord and my God!” In essence, Thomas confesses what the Prologue declares: Jesus is the Word which is God and which has become flesh.

Jesus sets forth the evangelistic goal of this Gospel with these words to Thomas: “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:28-29). This is followed by John’s comment (quoted above) that his written record of Jesus intends to induce faith in his readers.

John 1:1 – “In the beginning…” (en archē) is identical to how Genesis 1:1 begins in the Greek scriptures used by first-century Christians. This may correlate the two “beginnings” but I’m not dogmatic on this.

“…was the Word” (ēn ho logos). This term logos is rich in Greek and Jewish thought. Jewish thought saw the “word” of God as the originator of creation (“By the word of the Lord the heavens were made” – Psalm 33:6). Here the word is active, not simply thoughtful. God’s speech launched his creation (Genesis 1:3). And in John 1:3 Jesus, the Word, creates all that is made. Several words unfold this term: “reason, revelation, expression, communication, disclosure” and more. It’s best to see John as using a term with familiar backgrounds but giving it a fulfillment unique to his letter. Oscar Cullmann traces the different uses of logos in the ancient world but insists, “we must ask especially to what extent Christianity introduced completely new elements and freshly interpreted the Logos concept…the one revelation of God in Jesus of Nazareth” thereby reforming how logos is to be understood. John is “proclaiming something radically new” regardless of what logos meant to contemporaries (“The Greeks spoke of the Logos without knowing him; they did not speak of the Logos who became flesh.”).

I find Robert Gundry quite cleaver as he ponders the trendy but artificial distinction that says Christianity is about a Person, not about propositions. To the slogan “Truth is personal, not propositional” (as though personal cancels out the propositional), he entertains the “naughty thought” of translating logos as “the Proposition” (unfolded in John’s discourses).

John 1:1 conveys three phrases that unfold who/what the logos is. In addition to his timeless existence prior to creation (the first phrase):
• “…and the Word was with God…” (kai ho logos ēn pros ton theon). In essence, the word was “face to face” with God in perfect harmony, thereby fully knowing what is to be known about God. We might say, “From the beginning God and his Word were constantly together.” No person or thing can convey the Father to us better than Jesus, his Word.
• “…and the Word was God” (kai theos ēn ho logos). The Word is both “with God” and “is God.” Cullmann insists, “We must allow this paradox of all Christianity to stand. The New Testament does not resolve it, but sets the two statements alongside each other…”

Notice what John doesn’t say: (1) he doesn’t say Jesus is “like” God, as many moderns express this relationship. John had the word theios (“God-like, divine”) available if he wanted to say this. (2) He doesn’t say Jesus is congruent with God (as if John had used two definite articles to say, “and the Word was the God” [kai ho logos ēn ho theos]), thereby creating an incompatible contradiction with “the Word was with God” and essentially affirming a Jesus-unitarianism. (3) He doesn’t say “the Word was a god” (kai ho logos ēn theos). The indefinite article “a” is completely unnecessary here and reveals a bias against identifying the Logos with God (in the late 1970’s I had lengthy discussions with Jehovah’s Witnesses on this point).

John says, “And GOD was the Word” (my emphasis, which is what I think the phrase intends). The positioning of “God” as a predicate nominative before the verb makes the word definite (even without the definite article) rather than qualitative or indefinite (“a god”). John’s confession of Jesus’ deity corresponds to the Apostle Paul’s in the “Praise Chorus” of Philippians 2:6-11 and in Colossians 1:15-17 and 2:9. In Paul’s (congregational?) song, Jesus is “in very nature” God (en morphē theou)—whatever we postulate about God is also true about Jesus.

John 1:14 – “The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” This confesses full humanity (“flesh” and all that conveys). Jesus is not a divine spirit in a human body (Cerintian Gnosticism) nor does he simply appear human (Docetism). He is fully human and a denial of this is a denial of Christianity. “Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God” (1 John 4:2) and “Many deceivers who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh have gone out into the world” (2 John 7).

John 1:18 – “No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only (monogenēs theos), who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.” No mortal has seen God in his fullness as the Word has seen him, yet God gave glimpses of his glory (Exodus 33:18-23).

The reading “God the One and Only” differs from “the only begotten son” (ho monogenēs huios, cf. John 3:16) in the Greek manuscripts. I’m not a textual criticism expert. While the reading “only begotten God” seems preferable in textual support, I do think the common (KJV) rendering “son” fits John’s Prologue better. By either rendering, the key point is that Jesus, and only Jesus, is in the Father’s bosom and has plumbed the depths (exēgēsato, “exegeted”) of who the Father is.

Sources: G. R. Beasley-Murray, John (vol. 36 of Word Biblical Commentary), pp. 1-16; Oscar Cullmann, The Christology of the New Testament, pp. 149-69; Robert Gundry, Jesus the Word according to John the Sectarian, pp. xiii-xvii, 8-11; Bernard L. Ramm, An Evangelical Christology [recommended], pp. 37-52; Andreas J. Köstenberger, John (vol. 2 in Zondervan Illustrated Bible Background Commentary), pp. 5-13; Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, vol. 4, pp. 127-34; Donald Shoemaker, class lecture notes for “God, Christ, and Holy Spirit,” Biola University.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]

Religious Liberty Vigilance –

“I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.”

– Thomas Jefferson’s Letter to Danbury Baptists (1802)

I attended public schools in the 1960’s. They were good places of instruction. About that time, my church began a Christian elementary school. If I recall that era correctly, it wasn’t that many Christians thought the schools were doing or teaching bad things (evolution excepted) back then, but they wanted an educational experience permeated by Christian themes and values.

“Christian” education was never just about “add-ons,” like putting a cross on the wall or having a chapel service or a Bible class that would have “spiritual” words while regular classes had “secular” words to share.
No, spiritual instruction soaked into every aspect of education, from A to Z.

This meant that all teachers, counselors and coaches—yes, even the custodians—would embrace the faith that the school confessed. Teachers were expected to TRAIN students as well as TEACH them. All employees were to MODEL the faith before students as they had opportunity. Indeed, parents expected this when they laid out lots of cash for their children to attend. Christian schools didn’t look to the government for funding and certainly not for control of the Christian philosophy of education at work.

Well, along comes a form of government activism that won’t leave religious schools alone. It says that religious schools don’t have the right to hire and retain teachers and employees who confess and practice the faith. Only “ministerial” jobs are exempt. Presumably, other positions are “secular non-religious positions” even if the schools say they are not.
Examples of intrusions into religious liberty that require vigilance:
• Legislation that removes the right of religious institutions to set standards of belief and conduct for their employees (example: AB 569 [2017] in California that was vetoed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown).
• Legal challenges by workers at religious organizations who claim employment discrimination because they were dismissed over issues of belief or conduct.
• Government regulations or other edicts (even what bathroom signs must say) that limit the free exercise right of religious organizations to set standards of operation based on religious beliefs.

Christian citizens (and others who value religious liberty) must not take this lying down. And it’s not enough just to pray about it. Remember Nehemiah’s resolve: “We prayed to our God and posted a guard…to meet the threat”
– Nehemiah 4:9).

Jefferson’s metaphor of a “Wall of Separation between Church and State” was his way of explaining the intention of the First Amendment. That wall today needs more bricks at the top—not to keep the church from addressing the state, but to keep the state from intruding into the realm of the church.

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“In Hoc Anno Domini”
(From The Wall Street Journal. This editorial was written in 1949 by the late
Vermont Royster and has been published annually ever since.)

When Saul of Tarsus set out on his journey to Damascus the whole of the known world lay in bondage. There was one state, and it was Rome. There was one master for it all, and he was Tiberius Caesar.

Everywhere there was civil order, for the arm of the Roman law was long. Everywhere there was stability, in government and in society, for the centurions saw that it was so.

But everywhere there was something else, too. There was oppression—for those who were not the friends of Tiberius Caesar. There was the tax gatherer to take the grain from the fields and the flax from the spindle to feed the legions or to fill the hungry treasury from which divine Caesar gave largess to the people.

There was the impressor to find recruits for the circuses. There were executioners to quiet those whom the Emperor proscribed. What was a man for but to serve Caesar?

There was the persecution of men who dared think differently, who heard strange voices or read strange manuscripts. There was enslavement of men whose tribes came not from Rome, disdain for those who did not have the familiar visage.

And most of all, there was everywhere a contempt for human life. What, to the strong, was one man more or less in a crowded world?

Then, of a sudden, there was a light in the world, and a man from Galilee saying, “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s.”

And the voice from Galilee, which would defy Caesar, offered a new Kingdom in which each man could walk upright and bow to none but his God. Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. And he sent this gospel of the Kingdom of Man into the uttermost ends of the earth.

So the light came into the world and the men who lived in darkness were afraid, and they tried to lower a curtain so that man would still believe salvation lay with the leaders.

But it came to pass for a while in divers places that the truth did set man free, although the men of darkness were offended and they tried to put out the light. The voice said, “Haste ye. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness come upon you, for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.”

Along the road to Damascus the light shone brightly. But afterward Paul of Tarsus, too, was sore afraid. He feared that other Caesars, other prophets, might one day persuade men that man was nothing save a servant unto them, that men might yield up their birthright from God for pottage and walk no more in freedom.

Then might it come to pass that darkness would settle again over the lands and there would be a burning of books and men would think only of what they should eat and what they should wear, and would give heed only to new Caesars and to false prophets.

Then might it come to pass that men would not look upward to see even a winter’s star in the East, and once more, there would be no light at all in the darkness.

And so Paul, the apostle of the Son of Man, spoke to his brethren, the Galatians, the words he would have us remember afterward in each of the years of his Lord:

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free
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My Tribute to a Dedicated Pastor

My colleague and friend in the ministry Pastor Greg Howell passed away of Covid on November 21. For 40 years he was the faithful pastor of the Grace Brethren Church in Goldendale, Washington. His congregation of around 100 was a strong medium-sized church for a community of 3,500. I spoke there once over 20 years ago and I was impressed with the people and the well-appointed facility so conducive to worship. I was also impressed with Pastor Greg’s reputation for good in his community, which held him in high esteem. He also served many of our denominational ministries with dedication and care.

He personified biblical qualities for a good shepherd of the flock entrusted to him by God (1 Timothy 1:7; 1 Peter 5: 1-3). It must have been easy and joyful for his congregation to follow the scripture, “Obey your leaders and submit to their authority… They keep watch over you… Obey them so their work will be a joy and not a burden…” (Hebrews 13:17). Indeed, “When the Chief Shepherd appears, [he] will receive the crown of glory” I am sure (1 Peter 5:4).[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1598373738095{border-radius: 3px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text]And finally once again—from December, 2018
This was the best humor of the season. A Christmas cookie display in a Corona, CA supermarket—picture taken by our daughter. Sorry, Santa!

www.donaldshoemakerministries.com
Contact me at: donaldshoemakerministries@verizon.net

Don has been a member of the clergy in the Long Beach, California area since 1970. He now serves as Pastor Emeritus of Grace Community Church of Seal Beach (where he was senior pastor 1984-2012) and as Senior Chaplain of the Seal Beach Police Department (2001+). He previously was an assistant professor of Biblical Studies at Biola University (1976-84) and chaired the Social Concerns Committee in the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches from 1985 to 2019. His graduate work includes a Master of Divinity from Grace Theological Seminary, a Master of Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary with a concentration in Christian ethics, and a Doctor of Ministry from American Baptist Seminary of the West (now Berkeley School of Theology) with a concentration on the Charismatic Movement. His law school studies included a course on the First Amendment. He and his wife Mary have been married for 55 years. They have two children and six grandchildren.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”949″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”“A Piece of My Mind”” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:50px|text_align:center|color:%232633ef” google_fonts=”font_family:Bitter%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][vc_custom_heading text=”November 2021 Newsletter” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:30px|text_align:center|color:%232633ef” google_fonts=”font_family:Bitter%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]

Advancing Christian Faith and Values,
Defending Religious Liberty for All,
Supporting Civility and the Common Good
through Preaching, Teaching, Writing, Activism and Reasoned Conversations

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October 12, 2021

10-Year Remembrance of the “Salon Massacre” in Seal Beach (CA) drew 250 who recalled the loss of eight lives

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Why, O Lord, do you stand far off?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

In his arrogance the evil man hunts down the weak.
From ambush he murders the innocent.

Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God.
Do not forget the helpless.

But you, O God, do see trouble and grief;
The victim commits himself to you.
You are the helper of the fatherless. – Psalm 10 (excerpts)

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This Thanksgiving, Give Thanks that You Live in America!

(NOTE: This Independence Day message from Milia Islam-Majeed, Executive Director of the South Coast Interfaith Council, is a wonderful word of Thanksgiving—very appropriate for Thanksgiving Day.
I share it with her permission. The picture dates back to 2008, when the SCIC recognized me for my efforts on behalf of religious liberty.)

“I pray that you had a joyous July 4th! This day of celebration holds such a special meaning to so many, including my family. My parents migrated to America over 30 years ago during the month of July to achieve the American dream. Indeed, it was this great nation that afforded them the opportunity to do so.

“Like so many first generation immigrants, they left their native land of Bangladesh to build a better and more prosperous future for their children – my brother and I. They wanted to ensure that we obtained the best possible education and, with it, serve the greater community. Starting their lives completely over, I witnessed the hardships that many immigrants face as my father – a decorated army colonel – worked to build his eyeglass business during the day only to go to McDonalds at night to work the graveyard shift while my mother – an aspiring zoologist in Bangladesh – worked in the shoe factory sewing soles on to children’s shoes so as to support our family.

“The years of hard work and sacrifice that my parents made – and the infinite blessings of God first and foremost – resulted in the privilege of my older brother becoming a physician and me being able to serve you as the Executive Director of this interfaith council that I love so deeply. This dream of my parents could not have actualized without the countless number of people who went from becoming strangers to friends and, ultimately, like family.

“Along this journey, we became citizens of this country and understood first hand the gift of having the right to vote and, by doing so, contributing to the story of America. To this day, we remain indebted to so many who came before us and fought for the freedoms that we continue to enjoy today.

“One thing I am continuously reminded of is something that my father told us after we took the oath to become American citizens. He stated, ‘Always remember that with this great privilege comes a great responsibility to be of service to this country and ensure others are given this same right. We are stronger when all people – no matter who they are or what they look like – are granted an opportunity to succeed.’

“Certainly no nation is perfect, but there’s no place else that I would rather live for this is home.”

With gratitude and in friendship,
Milia Islam-Majeed
South Coast Interfaith Council Executive Director

Inspired Thanksgiving

(Giving Thanks the “Bible Way”)

I urge that…thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior.
– 1 Timothy 2:1-3 (thanks and prayers for those in authority over us)

But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed. – Romans 6:17

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
– 1 Corinthians 15:57 (the victory of resurrection to eternal life)

Everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving. – 1 Timothy 4:4 (thanks for what we chose to eat or drink)

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
– 1 Thessalonians 5:13

Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift! – 2 Corinthians 9:15
(the gift of Jesus to us)

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Religious Liberty Vigilance –

I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.”
– Thomas Jefferson’s Letter to Danbury Baptists (1802)

Breaking the Law and Corrupting the Gospel

(How Vice-President Kamala Harris causes churches to break the law)

For decades I have counseled and criticized churches over bringing partisan politics into their gatherings. In most cases these have been theologically conservative churches where most congregants are also politically conservative.

Christians who claim their spiritual message is “Bible-grounded” should be strongly determined to keep the message of their churches free of the “leaven” of politics. So why do so many of these churches engage in it?

Then there is the legal issue. When a church supports or opposes a candidate for political offices, it breaks the law. Whether that law should exist is a different question, but it is on the books for now.

The same restriction against conservative politicking also applies to churches with liberal or leftist politics. So why will a video of Kamala Harris be shown in hundreds of churches in Virginia before people vote for governor?

I watched the video. If, as intended, it is shown in churches, it is clearly illegal. “I believe that my friend Terry McAuliffe is the leader Virginia needs at this moment,” the vice-president says in the video. “Terry McAuliffe has a long track record of getting things done for the people of Virginia.”
Ms. Harris should know this is illegal, or if not her lawyers should tell her so.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State, an organization with which I share little in common, said this about the Harris video:

In the video, Harris clearly endorses McAuliffe, remarking, “Elect Terry McAuliffe as your next governor.”

Virginia’s religious leaders should keep that video at arm’s length, lest they violate a federal law dating to 1954 called the Johnson Amendment. The provision ensures tax-exempt nonprofit groups, including houses of worship, do not intervene in partisan elections by endorsing or opposing candidates for public office.

–Rob Boston, “Partisan Politics Doesn’t Belong in Houses of Worship,” (blog on website of Americans United, October 20, 2021) [BOLD mine]

Whether we hold left-wing or right-wing or centrist politics, let’s obey the law and keep our politics outside the “church house doors” and (even more importantly) stay on-message with the Gospel of Jesus.

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Message of the Month
Dishonest Christian
School Teachers

Shouldn’t teachers be good on their word? Especially Christian teachers?

Psalm 15 asks the question “Who shall dwell on God’s holy hill?”
Answer: “[The one who] swears to his own hurt and does not change.”

God honors the person who keeps his word even when the outcome is not as desirable as it would be if he were to break his word.

“Pay what you vow. It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. Let not your mouth lead you into sin” (Ecclesiastes 5:4-6).

“All you need to say is ‘yes’ or ‘no.’” – Jesus (Matthew 5:37)

First let me stipulate a couple of facts:
1. Teachers in parochial (religious) schools earn less than they could earn teaching in public schools. Sometimes considerably so. Thus, they make a sacrifice for what they believe.
2. Many public school districts are having a hard time filling teaching positions in light of Covid.

So there are situations where public school administrators have made appealing offers to teachers who teach in parochial schools. And some teachers have accepted these offers.

That in itself is not a fault. If anything, it should prod the governing body of a parochial school (a church, perhaps) to raise salaries and benefits. “The laborer is worthy of his wages” is a biblical principle still in force today, and it applies to so-called “Christian service” as much as to “secular” jobs.

The issue is this: if someone freely signs a contract offered in good faith, that signature is binding in the presence of God and before people. One does not break it simply because the grass is greener on the other side of the fence.

When I taught at a Christian university, every March (or so) the faculty would get contracts for the following academic year. By signing it, you were assured of a paycheck for that academic year and the school was assured of your classroom services and your presence on a stable, dependable faculty.
Win-win. If you “blew it” and were dismissed “for cause”, that’s an exception. Otherwise, the contract was binding both ways.

A teacher receiving a better offer may go to his or her administration and ask for a release. It may be granted, even if it puts the school in a bind (which, it seems to me, is one reason why it is unethical on the part of the teacher to seek a release except for compelling reasons). The religious school probably won’t enforce the contract by legal action, but this doesn’t excuse the teacher.
The general principle remains clear: you keep your word, even if it hurts.

Some may argue that bringing a Christian educator into a public school is a plus for the ethical fiber of that school. I would agree. But this assumes the transition into the new school system was honorable in the first place.

Teachers at Christian schools should be paragons of honest dealings—examples to the youth they train as well as teach.

Perhaps the compelling need for honest dealings is one reason the Bible says, “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness” (James 3:1). The verse is certainly talking about teachers within the Christian community, and that would include parochial teachers.

I have honored teachers for decades. When I was an active pastor, I would take time in worship services to honor and pray for teachers when a new school year would get underway.
I published a column “Beatitudes for Teachers” which uplifted them, especially when they served under stress.

Thus, I’m doubly disappointed whenever the teaching profession dishonors itself in any way.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]

And what you don’t say can be as significant as what you do say. Shortly after “9/11” American flags could be seen up and down the street. But the neighbors directly across put no flag out. They were a radical leftist couple—so devoted to their causes that they would fly across the country to protest or support this or that.

Someone put a note on their door accusing them of a lack of patriotism for not putting out a flag after “9/11”. The wife told me about it almost in tears.
I contacted the local newspaper and was able to get a columnist to write about what happened and the narrowness it displayed.

On the personal level we had no conflict with our leftist neighbors. I support freedom of speech, including the right not to speak—in this case, not to put out an American flag. (I wish more leftists would support free speech.)

I considered talking about some of the lines on these signs. I’ll bite my lip and not do that. Instead, I’ll make some overall observations. Well, OK, I will talk about the phrases “We Believe…Science is Real.” Ouch! I just bit my lip!

First, our neighborhood was built in the 1950’s and is a fairly stable, well-maintained neighborhood. One might expect our neighbors to be like one another in their social/political opinions, but instead they are diverse.

Second, I thought it was rather conservative on social issues, but the amount of “left of center” signage would say otherwise. Not only is the neighborhood more diverse than expected, it has more liberals and leftists than expected.

Third, it seems like a tolerant neighborhood. I have not heard any argumentation or seen any nasty signs indicating that political antagonism trumps neighborliness. This is good. (Our former radical leftist neighbors may have been an exception to this.)

So, “tolerance, diversity, inclusion” – we’ve got it all and the signs to prove it. And we have good block parties. So far nobody has bragged, as a leftist Seattle city council member did, that they have no Republican friends!

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Want to Buy Someone a Bible for Christmas? Which Bible Should You Buy?

The New International Version is at the top of the popularity list, as it has been for many years. It is excellent.

The King James Version, which will never leave the “top 10,” continues in second place. It seems unbeatable for its elegant English, even if it often sounds archaic to us. After all, it was produced in 1611!

Also on the list is the very readable English Standard Version.

If you are considering the ESV, why not go even better and give the ESV Study Bible? It has contributions by a large number of recognized scholars, including J. I. Packer and Wayne Grudem (I prefer a study Bible created by many scholars rather than by a single writer). And now a more compact
ESV Concise Study Bible has been released. An excellent study Bible gives you the Scriptures plus a good variety of study helps all in one cover.

Two newcomers to the “top 10” are in Spanish: Reina-Valera, a 16th-century translation revised in 1960, and Nueva Versión Internacional (Spanish NIV). Their growing popularity reflects our changing Christian landscape.

Noticeable for its absence (compared to recent decades) is the New American Standard Bible, a very literal translation often stiff in English.

Any widely acceptable rather literal version of the Bible is trustworthy. Though it was once very popular, I have not recommended The Living Bible because it is a paraphrase that takes considerable liberty with the biblical text. It may be OK for devotional reading but not for drawing any doctrinal conclusions (even if someone should say, “I never really understood that verse until I read it in The Living Bible”).[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1598373738095{border-radius: 3px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Colin Powell’s 13 Rules

General Powell’s “13 Rules” were originally given over the phone to a writer for Parade. They soon took on themselves a life of their own. Each point has commentary to explain, clarify and apply. (Source: Colin Powell,
It Worked for Me, Harper Perennial, 2012.)
1. It ain’t as bad as you think. It will look better in the morning.
2. Get mad, then get over it.
3. Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position fails, your ego goes with it.
4. It can be done.
5. Be careful what you choose: you may get it.
6. Don’t let adverse facts stand in the way of a good decision.
7. You can’t make someone else’s choices. You shouldn’t let someone else make yours.
8. Check small things.
9. Share credit.
10. Remain calm. Be kind.
11. Have a vision. Be demanding.
12. Don’t take counsel of your fears or naysayers.
13. Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.

www.donaldshoemakerministries.com
Contact me at: donaldshoemakerministries@verizon.net

Don has been a member of the clergy in the Long Beach, California area since 1970. He now serves as Pastor Emeritus of Grace Community Church of Seal Beach (where he was senior pastor 1984-2012) and as Senior Chaplain of the Seal Beach Police Department (2001+). He previously was an assistant professor of Biblical Studies at Biola University (1976-84) and chaired the Social Concerns Committee in the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches from 1985 to 2019. His graduate work includes a Master of Divinity from Grace Theological Seminary, a Master of Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary with a concentration in Christian ethics, and a Doctor of Ministry from American Baptist Seminary of the West (now Berkeley School of Theology) with a concentration on the Charismatic Movement. His law school studies included a course on the First Amendment. He and his wife Mary have been married for 55 years. They have two children and six grandchildren.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”949″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”“A Piece of My Mind”” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:50px|text_align:center|color:%232633ef” google_fonts=”font_family:Bitter%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][vc_custom_heading text=”October 2021 Newsletter” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:30px|text_align:center|color:%232633ef” google_fonts=”font_family:Bitter%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]

Advancing Christian Faith and Values,
Defending Religious Liberty for All,
Supporting Civility and the Common Good
through Preaching, Teaching, Writing, Activism and Reasoned Conversations

www.donaldshoemakerministries.com[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”1304″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1598373738095{border-radius: 3px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text]

October 12, 2011 – The Darkest Day in the History of Seal Beach, California

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October 12 marks 10 years from the date when eight people were murdered over a child custody dispute.

It was the worst mass killing in Orange County history. It still touches many lives in Seal Beach, including my own.

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Emergency
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Dispatchers – The Hidden Asset

By Donald Shoemaker

A 911 call is answered by a police dispatcher. The caller is threatening to take his own life. The trained dispatcher does her very best to calm and bring helpful resources to the person. Then a gunshot is heard and there is silence.

This is the real world of emergency dispatchers. On October 12, 2011 a massacre occurred in Seal Beach, California. Eight people were murdered and one wounded at a salon over a child custody dispute. The event shattered the tranquility of this idyllic beach community. It was the worst mass murder in the history of Orange County.

Those who were on the scene, as I was for many hours, remember the police and fire personnel from many agencies, the Mobile Command Post, the helicopters, the news media, the local library turned into the Family Assistance Center, the professional counselors and chaplains, the Red Cross. But what about the dispatchers who played such a vital role?

West Cities Police Communications (“West-Comm”) serves the dispatch needs of three communities—Cypress and Los Alamitos and Seal Beach. It receives about 3000 calls a week, of which about 600 are “911” calls.

Dispatchers undergo significant training prior to assuming their role, plus on-the-job training. They must demonstrate calmness under pressure, control of emotions, empathy and compassion, and decisiveness. I respect their ability to be so excellent at multi-tasking. I say this as a pianist who can’t play the piano and carry on a conversation at the same time.

Lead Dispatcher Marie Pope says, “Our job can be stressful. We typically take many calls, deal with stressful situations and must endure the pressure of responding quickly and calmly in life-threatening situations. Since we can’t see what is happening, we completely rely on the caller to give us detailed information to complete our calls for service. We ask specific questions to get the information out to the officers as quickly as possible while keeping in mind their safety. Many calls emotionally affect us, but with our job we have to keep going.” Marie coordinates a trained peer support team available to dispatchers as they deal with some of the calls and incidents they handle.

The massacre of 10/12/11 would weigh heavily on West-Comm and is still vivid as the tenth anniversary of the tragedy approaches.

October 12 was an ordinary day in a calm community. Dispatchers were eating their lunches at their workstations and conversing between calls.

All that changed as the 911 calls flooded in. There was an active shooter at a community salon. Several calls were forwarded from the highway patrol (in those days calls to 911 from cell phones often went to the CHP first). People reported “shots fired.” “With only four dispatchers in the room and one of them working the radio—it was chaos, with a lot of calls and trying to determine what was really going on,” a dispatcher told me.

Marie said, “Our dispatch center assisted the officers with maintaining the crime scenes via the radio by calling for mutual aid and calling in additional personnel to assist, in addition to several other requests from the field personnel. Our job did not stop…we still had calls for service to handle and 911 calls coming in… all while managing our own emotions as to what just occurred. I personally checked on each dispatcher individually and made sure they were OK and able to finish out the day.”
The priority goal of the dispatchers was to get the bad guy. A dispatcher said, “We were able to get officers there and put out a description of the suspect and suspect vehicle so that the officers were able to find him and catch him. In those moments when the call is going on, you become very task oriented.”

(I can add that, with the help of witnesses, the first police responder was able to pursue the suspect vehicle and stop it just a couple of blocks past the church where I served as pastor—a short pursuit that ended with a nonviolent surrender.)

Among the first 911 callers was an employee of the salon who had locked herself in an office. “She was so scared, but she was able to provide good information on what took place inside the salon. She thought the suspect was still inside and feared for her life, but it turned out to be one of our officers that was there to save her. Just being on the phone with her during all her emotions will stay with me.”

The dispatcher continued, “Dispatching is a hard profession. We have many ‘highs’ and ‘lows’ in this job… I have learned to process and then compartmentalize the calls I deal with. Many of us are mothers, wives, sisters, etc., and you have to be able to go home to those you love, and often take care of them. Over the years I have learned to rely on my faith.”

“We did our best that day. Unfortunately, we could not stop what occurred inside the salon, but I like to think with our hard work at trying to get the information on the shooter and his vehicle out to the officers while dealing with all the hectic calls coming in made a difference. Due to the EXCELLENT police work of the officers responding to that call—they were able to stop and arrest the shooter before he was able to hurt anyone else.”

“I pray for all the people and the families that were affected on 10/12/11 – it was evil that came into our city and those people’s lives that day. As dispatchers, we played a small but critical part in helping that day, and the officers working that day are the true heroes.”

(NOTE: I could not have prepared this article without the support of the Director of West-Comm operations and the assistance of Marie Pope, Lead Dispatcher for West-Comm. I also was assisted by a dispatcher who chose to be anonymous. Quotes by Marie are identified as hers. Other quotes are from the anonymous dispatcher.)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text]

Religious Liberty Vigilance –
Limiting Government’s “Reach” to Preserve Religious Liberty and other 1st Amendment Rights

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” – 1st Amendment

A strong limitation of government powers is a key to protect religion, free speech and other rights. That’s why we have the Bill of Rights.

Three Covid-related developments have affected limited government—two for the good, one for the bad.

CALIFORNIA – Rules by the governor and local governments intended to prevent the spread of Covid were often unfair to religious gatherings, restricting them more than similar activities. Just look at the recent Emmy Awards event—600 attendees without masks. How so? The LA County Department of Health regarded those attending the event to be “performers” and thus exempt from the mask requirement.

Once a government body exempts this and that activity from its rules, the limits it imposes on religious gatherings must be judged by the highest scrutiny. By this standard, government usually loses.

And government—state and local—lost big in its efforts to punish* Grace Community Church of Sun Valley, John MacArthur—pastor, which resumed its worship services last year in spite of orders not to do so and threat of fines. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and the State of California have EACH settled with the church for $400,000. The money will go to the Thomas More Society, which represented the church.
FLORIDA – A circuit court judge ruled that Governor Ron DeSantis exceeded his legal authority when he issued an executive order blocking local school boards from ordering mask wearing.

Now, many have claimed this decision undercuts parental authority. I understand the concern. But what it really does is undercut a governor’s attempt to decide what local school boards should have the duty to decide.

Governors of our several states have broad authority to act in an emergency. But this indefinite “emergency” has gone on for 19 months now. If state lawmakers want to cede this power to the governors, let them do so by explicit and limited legislation, not by acquiescing to an open-ended use of “emergency powers.”

I live under Governor Newsom’s activist emergency powers (in California).
So I appreciate it when a court sets limits to what governors can order.

THE CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL – Where did the CDC ever get the authority to ban evictions of tenants from rental properties? Doesn’t this authority seem to fall outside the realm of “disease control”?

A law known as the “Public Health Service Act” (section 361) granted power to the CDC for “inspection, fumigation, disinfection, sanitation… and other measures…” that carry out and enforce regulations the Surgeon General decides are needed to prevent the spread of communicable diseases.

The operative phrase is “and other measures”. Taken to the “nth degree”
it turns the CDC into a dictatorship. This reminds us how governmental bodies and officials can twist language to give themselves power. Its practice (or possibility) should lead all freedom-loving Americans to high vigilance.

Reasonably understood, “and other measures” would be “other measures of the same sort” as sanitation, etc. The phase doesn’t create boundless authority. I say this without expressing an opinion on eviction control itself, which needs to be approved or disallowed by judging its merits, and certainly needs to be installed by legislation, not by some agency’s decree.

* Los Angeles County’s punishment of Grace Community Church included cancelling a decades-long lease of a parking lot owned by the county. This action has been rescinded.[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]

Covid19 Vaccination Update

Not all agreed with my midsummer appeal “Get Vaccinated!” to put it mildly.

“With few exceptions, it’s time for Americans to get vaccinated.”

What might these exceptions be?

Medical Exceptions, about which I claim no expertise.
Religious Exceptions, for which I do claim expertise.
• Secularists who scorn religious exemptions should not be allowed to dominate this debate or ignore religious freedom principles.
• Members of various faith groups need to learn and utilize their own group’s teachings on vaccinations.
• Some sub-groups within Christianity promote an emphasis on divine healing. Most of these leave room for medical means. A few do not.
• I cannot think of any strong biblical argument against vaccinations per se. (Scripture passages like 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 refer to allowing our bodies to be used for immoral purposes, like drunkenness, gluttony and fornication.)
• Some have argued that fetal tissue from abortions is used to develop a vaccine. I have not found this a convincing argument for an exemption.
• An individual whose Christian sub-group opposes vaccination as a matter of doctrine needs to articulate and support that opposition with documentation and prove that he/she is a member of the group.
• Individuals whose denomination or local church do not take a position against vaccination (and this would be many, including me) would need to argue their position for themselves, linking their position to scripture or Christian teaching. You are on your own! You need to articulate in writing how your understanding of the Christian faith supports your conclusion about vaccination. I have heard of cases where your declaration alone would suffice, but you should expect to have to defend your view and be prepared for pushback.
• Be sure to consider the impact on your work or ministry or relationships that may occur from your decision not to be vaccinated.

Both of the above—Medical and Religious Exceptions—are the “few exceptions” I have in mind in my “bottom line.” Otherwise…

“Get Vaccinated!”

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Bible Insight – A Practical Look at Creation
Based on the First Creation Account (Genesis 1:1 – 2:3)

I love the “Big Outdoors.” So I love the great “creation” texts in the Bible (the first two chapters of Genesis, Psalm 19, Psalm 104 and more). And I love the great hymns that reflect God’s handiwork in creation.

Having climbed Mt. Whitney (14,505’) and the tall peaks in Southern California, I can relate to the words of “How Great Thou Art!” –“When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur…” And I love to sing “All Creatures of Our God and King,” with words from St. Francis of Assisi (1225 AD).

Here I give a survey of the opening words of Genesis—the seven days of creation (using the New International Version). May they bless and benefit!

Genesis 1:1 – “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

The alternate explanation is this: The emergence of the earth and heavens was an unsuperintended product of time, energy, matter and chance. If this explanation is true, nothing in the Bible matters. There is no transcendent basis for morality. But if Genesis 1:1 is true, the rest of the Bible is commentary on living out the meaning and purpose of God’s creation.

Genesis 1:2 – “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”

It’s too early in scripture to take God’s spirit (ruach Elohim) as a reference to the Holy Spirit of the New Testament. This is God’s breath, his powerful force for change, going forth. God intends to bring order out of chaos. And I’m delighted to say he is still in that business—bringing order into the chaos of our lives and human institutions if we are open to him. In fact, the rest of the book of Genesis finds God blessing dysfunctional people and families and bringing order out of their chaos. When I think of this, I think of the chorus:

Something beautiful, something good;
All my confusion he understood.
All I had to offer him was brokenness and strife,
But he made something beautiful of my life.

Genesis 1:3-4 – “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.”

Now we get to the six days of creation. God begins with light. As with the rest of God’s creative acts, the light God created was good. In the New Testament, God brings light through Jesus, the true “light of the world” (John 1:1-9).

Genesis 1:6-8 – “And God said, ‘Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.’ So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. God called the expanse ‘sky.’”

Commonly called “the expanse” or “the firmament”, the sky separates the waters below (which God gathered into “seas” so that dry land could appear—v. 9) from the waters above, which we call the clouds. As I write, clouds have moved in from the mountains to the north and the blue sky of the morning has been replaced by them—all this in “the expanse”. No rain, unfortunately.

This is the language of appearance—how things appear to us. It is not the language of science. This is a hot debate, but I’m convinced that many scripture passages are written from the standpoint of how things appear to us and if we read science into them we are introducing a foreign element that won’t work. See, for example, Psalm 19:4-6 – “In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other…” It is wrong to read a geocentric poetic scripture like Psalm 19 as the language of science (as Henry Morris does in “The Scientific Accuracy of the Psalms”) instead of the language of appearance.

According to the language of appearance, God set the sun and moon and stars in this expanse/firmament as well. Again, this is as we view things and not astronomy, which would put them far above the expanse above the earth.

This “expanse”, by the way, is still there along with the water above it. I can look up at night and see the Moon and Venus and Jupiter in it.
Psalm 148:3-5 – “Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars. Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies…for he commanded and they were created.”

Genesis 1:11-25 – The progressive sequence of life on earth is vegetation (the 3rd day), life in the water and air (the 5th day), and living creatures on the earth (the 6th day). At each step, God saw that what he created was good.

Genesis 1:26 – “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, overall the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’”

On the 6th day the highest and last of God’s creative work—humanity—was created. Only with humanity (“man”) does God consult with himself as to what he will do. Although all the creative work of God manifests his wisdom (Psalm 104:26), God’s wise thoughtfulness is underscored by this reference to God consulting within himself before he made humankind. Whether this self-consultation opens room for the Holy Trinity—I’ll leave that for others to think about.

God says two things: (1) he will make man in his own image, and (2) man will rule over the rest of living creation. Man will be God’s co-regent. It should be a rule of enjoyment, wisdom and care, not of greed and exploitation.

Genesis 1:27 –

So God created mankind in his image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.

In this poetic triad we find three declarations:
• Man is made in God’s likeness. He resembles God in certain vital ways.
• The same truth is restated by reversing the points, for emphasis.
• God created man as male and female.

The third point, if it is a reiteration like the second point, provides additional insight into what it means to be God’s image bearers. Maleness and femaleness constitute (at least in part) what it means to be in God’s image.
If, rather than a reiteration it is a new statement, the third point underscores that mankind is a duality, and both poles of this duality are image bearers. It is not the man (or the king) only who bears the image, but the woman too.

Humankind according to God’s creative order is binary. Human gender is not a fluid, subjective thing with multiple possibilities. The contemporary statement that one’s gender was assigned at birth (passive voice, apparently arbitrarily by another person) is not a biblical option.

When Jesus explained the essence of marriage (Mark 10:6-8), he combined this thought with a lesson from Genesis 2:24 – “At the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”

Genesis 1:31 – Once “man as male and female” is created, God saw that his creation was “very good” – not just “good” but “very good.” We diminish our humanity if we fail to see this distinction.

One day in “Creation Week” yet remains—the 7th day.

Genesis 2:2-3 – “By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.”

This would become foundational for the Seventh Day as a day of rest for mankind. To put it casually, “God took a day off, and we should too!”

Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). A day of rest after a week of work is for our own good. It shows we are masters of our work; work is not the master of us. It shows that while we value our work, we do not worship it. We worship God and give him glory by being his likeness in the world, being co-regents with him in the care of his creation, and by acknowledging the pattern of work and rest.

We thank God for his kindness and grace, in making us and placing us in a world that is “very good” and in giving us a pattern for work and rest.

“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
What is man that you are mindful of him…?
…You crowned him with glory and honor.”
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! – Psalm 8:3-5, 9

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A Good Word from Elsewhere

University Presidents and Campus Speech Controversies

Keith E. Whittington, The Volokh Conspiracy, September 9, 2021 [bold mine]

It is now a familiar pattern. A professor says something controversial, most likely in public on social media. Someone notices and tries to attract attention by attacking the professor—perhaps in good faith disagreement, perhaps not. Petitions are started. Social media posts start trending. Calls are made to university officials demanding that something be done and asking plaintively that won’t someone think of the children. The professor in question is likely to receive a spate of hate mail, both electronic and the old fashioned kind. Maybe things get serious and someone important like a donor, trustee, or politician declares that the professor should be terminated for the safety of the campus.

University presidents have a responsibility in such a situation. It should go without saying, but unfortunately it does not, that they have a responsibility to actually live up to their constitutional and contractual responsibilities and refrain from sanctioning the faculty member for saying something that someone finds controversial. They should insist that harassment and threats directed against members of the faculty will not be tolerated. Professors should at least be confident that when the mobs arrive, pitchforks in hand, that university leaders will not flinch and give in to the demands of the mob.

University presidents have a greater responsibility than just that, however, and they even more often fail to meet that greater responsibility. They have a responsibility to push back against the mob. They have a responsibility to clearly defend the core mission of the university, which is to make space for members of the campus community to explore ideas and, yes, say controversial things. Rather than standing up for freedom of thought and speech, university presidents are often tempted to avoid and deflect. They prefer to keep silent and hope the controversy goes away. They prefer to join the mob and issue their own denunciations of the thought crime and assure everyone that they themselves would never express unconventional thoughts.

University presidents have a responsibility to educate the campus community and the broader public about what it is that universities do and what it means to value freedom of thought and to tolerate dissent. When controversies over faculty speech arise, university presidents should take the opportunity to reassure the campus that academic values will be respected and to propagate a better understanding of what members of the broader public should expect from a university.

“She Being Dead Yet Speaketh”— A “Woke” Justice!

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away in 2020. A defender of abortion rights, she said this at her 1993 Senate confirmation hearing:

The decision whether or not to bear a child is central to a woman’s life, to her well-being and dignity. …When government controls that decision for her, she is being treated as less than a fully adult human responsible for her own choices.

A year ago, when Justice Ginsburg died, the ACLU repeated her words. But now the “woke” version has appeared. On the anniversary of her death the ACLU twittered her famous saying this way:

The decision whether or not to bear a child is central to a [person’s] life, to [their] well-being and dignity. …When government controls that decision for [people], [they are] being treated as less than a fully adult human responsible for [their] own choices.

It may seem like a small matter, but it isn’t. I would argue that a man or woman’s gender is a corollary of his or her “human-being-ness”. In eliminating this, they, men and women, are being treated as less than fully adult human beings. Furthermore, it is poor journalism to twist a quotation, even with brackets, when unnecessary for the flow of a sentence. And it looks awful!

(Important Note as of 9/29/21): The director of the ACLU has expressed regret for this alteration of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s words. It has received some pushback from feminists and others. Regret aside, that the “woke” revision was even disseminated suggests the need for more careful review of what goes forth under this organization’s name.)[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

www.donaldshoemakerministries.com
Contact me at: donaldshoemakerministries@verizon.net

Don has been a member of the clergy in the Long Beach, California area since 1970. He now serves as Pastor Emeritus of Grace Community Church of Seal Beach (where he was senior pastor 1984-2012) and as Senior Chaplain of the Seal Beach Police Department (2001+). He previously was an assistant professor of Biblical Studies at Biola University (1976-84) and chaired the Social Concerns Committee in the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches from 1985 to 2019. His graduate work includes a Master of Divinity from Grace Theological Seminary, a Master of Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary with a concentration in Christian ethics, and a Doctor of Ministry from American Baptist Seminary of the West (now Berkeley School of Theology) with a concentration on the Charismatic Movement. His law school studies included a course on the First Amendment. He and his wife Mary have been married for 55 years. They have two children and six grandchildren.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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Advancing Christian Faith and Values,
Defending Religious Liberty for All,
Supporting Civility and the Common Good
through Preaching, Teaching, Writing, Activism and Reasoned Conversations

www.donaldshoemakerministries.com[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”1304″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1598373738095{border-radius: 3px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Neither Forgotten nor Forgiven – 9/11 + 20

[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”1668″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]We who can remember still do remember what happened and where we were when we first heard or saw it. 2974 died on “9/11”—including over 400 first responders. Each year more die from residual health issues.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”1669″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]I’ve visited the WTC site twice—in 2002 when the ruin was still evident, then several years later to see the memorial and listen to a firefighter tearfully tell the story of that day. I also have visited the Pentagon memorial.

I pray we never forget the tragedies of that day or the lessons to be learned.

Honoring “Teacher of the Year for 2021”

Teaching has been an especially challenging profession over the past 18 months. All the turmoil over Covid and other issues must not cause us to lose sight of the many quality teachers in our school systems. Cory Alfaro is one of these. She was named “Teacher of the year for 2021” by the Los Alamitos Unified School District, which includes Seal Beach.

A Good Word from the District: “She has been with us for 23 years, teaching drama at Laurel High before moving to Oak [Middle School] to teach English and Spanish. ‘I feel blessed to have a job that is my hobby, my passion, and my life’s work all rolled into one.’ Well done, Cory!”

Cory and her family are a faithful part of Grace Community Church of Seal Beach.

Congratulations, Cory!

GOLD for Rachel Fattal and
The USA Women’s 2021 Water Polo Team

The Women’s Polo Team USA won Gold at the Olympics on August 7 by soundly defeating Spain. They have now won the Gold three times in a row—2012, 2016 and now. Rachel Fattal was also part of the 2016 team.

The Fattal Family has been connected to the Seal Beach community and to Grace Community Church for many years.

Congratulations, Rachel!

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Caring for the Birdies God Cares for…

“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care… So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” – Jesus

The ultimate lesson of Jesus’ teaching (recorded in Matthew 17:29-31) is that God will sustain us when we stand up for our faith under pressure. But there is also a lesson about comparative worth.

Jesus here teaches about the relative value of living things through the logical argument of “the lesser to the greater.” To God, the little sparrow has value and he cares for it.

Jesus said people are worth more than many sparrows—at least 5 or 6, wouldn’t you say? Just kidding! The Bible’s doctrine of creation clearly establishes a hierarchy with humanity at the top. But it also clearly teaches care of creation.
Listen to Ethel Waters sing, “His Eye is on the Sparrow, and I Know He Watches Me” at a 1975 Billy Graham Crusade: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Df3P4cO4Co0

“…not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.”

Recently we returned home from a brief errand and I saw what looked like a ball of string on the lawn. I looked closely and saw it was a bird nest that fell from our parkway tree. There were three tiny baby birds inside, clearly stressed by the fall and direct exposure to the afternoon sun. We moved them from the sunlight and found something to hold the little nest.

We put the nest as close as we could get it to where it once was, hoping momma or daddy bird would show up (they didn’t). There was no safe way for me to get the nest back up onto the high, small branches from whence it fell. After all, I have on good authority that I am worth more than three sparrows!

We went on-line and looked up care and feeding of baby birds. Sadly, two of the birds didn’t make it. But one is hearty and growing and chirpy.

We’ve also protected and released 49 Monarch butterflies this year, with many more on the way. What’s next? Will we find some abandoned baby skunks in our back yard needing some TLC?[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]

Bible Insight – The Priority of
the Word of God

Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. – Romans 10:17 ESV

…when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe. – 1 Thessalonians 2:13 NIV

Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. – 2 Timothy 4:2 NIV

Perhaps some of my Catholic friends who read these words can provide me with some insight on the questions I’m about to raise.

When I was in seminary (1966-69) John MacArthur was becoming the model of preaching, the man to emulate. He had long, in-depth sermons and, besides, most of us were already used to 45-minute sermons. MacArthur, now in his 80’s, continues to deliver lengthy sermons expounding the text of Scripture to a packed sanctuary.

Problem was and still is, most of us preachers can’t preach like MacArthur and if we think 45-minute sermons are what we should deliver, we may be thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought to think (Romans 12:3).

I gave 45-minute sermons for seven years after seminary. When I returned to pastoral ministry in 1984 after eight years of teaching theology at Biola University, I made the decision that my sermons would be under 30 minutes. * Actually, it’s harder to prepare a 30-minute sermon than most 45-minute sermons. Points must be crisper, introduction and conclusion more focused, illustrations and applications more “to the point.” Harder to do, but worth it.

So the time is shortened but the goal is still there: to present God’s Word clearly and practically. And my prayer always is that a tighter 30-minute sermon will be better and more effective than a 45-minute one.

Which leads me to two questions to discuss with my Catholic friends.

First, why are homilies so short and how can they become better? Second, why would many worshippers want to use Latin liturgy they cannot understand in worship (Eucharistic) services?

The homily (another word for the sermon, usually reflecting brevity) should be a Spirit-filled time in worship when people can hear the Word of the Lord proclaimed, explained and applied. It’s true that God’s Word can come non-verbally (St. Augustine said the Bread and Cup of the Eucharist are verba visibilia, “visible words”, and stained glass windows in traditional sanctuaries tell the story of Jesus without audible words). But the verbal proclamation is biblically demanded and necessary for growing faith and spiritual transformation through the inner ministry of the Holy Spirit.

During the height of Covid restrictions (July, 2020), the Archdiocese of Santa Fe demanded that homilies within its jurisdiction be very brief—five minutes and even down to three minutes! Priests offering longer homilies could have their “faculty to preach” suspended. Why, most evangelical preachers haven’t finished their sermon introduction in three minutes!

The Apostle Paul instructed his protégé Timothy, “Devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching [exhortation, encouragement] and to teaching” (1 Timothy 4:13). These three dynamic encounters with the Word of God should prominently characterize our worship services still today.

George Weigel is my favorite Catholic writer. In his book Evangelical Catholicism (Basic Books, 2013) he summons Catholic priests to “The Imperative of Preaching Well.” He challenges them to deliver homilies

that proclaim the Bible as the Word of God, that invite the people of the Church to meet the Lord through his holy Word, and that empower Catholic men and women to take the Gospel into the world and draw people to Christ.

The evangelical Catholic priests of the future must relearn the importance of expository preaching, which requires careful study of the liturgy’s biblical texts through the use of good biblical commentaries, many of which will have been written by Protestant scholars. (p. 145)

Now as to liturgy, should it be in the language of the worshippers or is Latin permissible if not preferred? ** My wife and I attended a Latin Mass a few years ago. It indeed was ascetically beautiful with a sense of transcendence. But the spoken word (beyond the brief homily) could not build faith or transform life because it was not understood (Romans 10:17). (I do note that worshippers may follow the liturgy in their own language through the use of a “missal”—roughly similar to a printed Protestant order of liturgy, including readings. A missal wasn’t available to us during our visit.)

Paul told the Corinthian believers whose worship services were full of speaking in unknown tongues, “Unless you speak intelligible words with your tongue, how will anyone know what you are saying?” (1 Corinthians 14:9). Instead, “strive to excel in building up the church” through meaningful words (14:12). Intelligible words are a must for worship in its fullness.

Whether in a Charismatic gathering where many are speaking in tongues without interpretation, or in a Eucharistic service where the liturgy is not understood, or listening to a highbrow sermon with big theological terms and Greek thrown in, the edification of the mind and spirit is truncated. In short, a key purpose of the worship service is unaccomplished.

If your church board wants to set measureable performance goals *** for your pastor (whoever has the primary teaching task), make this one Top Priority:

Give 44 sermons a year that are well-researched, well-organized, true to the text of Scripture, with excellent homiletics, heart-felt strong delivery, understood by all, timely and practical. ****

* This was partly necessitated by a tight Sunday morning schedule with multiple services, three after 1997.
** I read almost every day about the controversies over liturgy in the Catholic Church. The issues go much deeper than simply a debate over language. Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church in Wilmington, CA offers a Latin Tridentine Mass at 9:30 a.m. Pacific time on Sundays. It can be viewed via YouTube at: www.sppc.us
*** And I’m not saying they should. Much of a pastor’s task is not quantifiable.
**** “Understood by all” – even a deep sermon needs some cookies on the bottom shelf. The number of weekly sermons can flex. “44” is based on 4 weeks of vacation and 4 weeks for other speakers or programs. Congregations expecting sermon excellence need to supply their pastors with time and ample funds for ongoing training, books and other resources, and must protect the pastor’s sermon preparation time.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]“We must remove police from traffic stops.” So says the leader of an activist group in California.

Likewise, University of Arkansas law professor Jordan Blair Woods proposes “a new legal framework for traffic enforcement that separates it from critical police function” (“Traffic Without the Police,” Stanford Law Review, June 2021).

More later on the wisdom, or lack thereof, of removing police from traffic enforcement. Here is a personal story…

My teenage granddaughter, shortly after getting her driver’s license, did a “California [slow] stop” for a right turn on red late one evening. She got a ticket, not because an officer observed her but because a camera did.

The fine was $100—fair enough. But by the time all kinds of governmental fees were slathered on, she was out almost $500. This is unjust and seems to me to be a clear violation of the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition of “excessive fines.” Does anyone know if this issue has ever been litigated?

This magnitude of fines can get people of limited means onto a “downhill snowball” debt slope they cannot escape if they are unable to pay and penalties start piling up. Politicians who claim to have special concern for the poor should take a hard look at these unreasonable fees.

Unlike cameras (which some foolishly propose as a partial substitute for having sworn officers make traffic stops), the officer has both a head and a heart. One key feature of a traffic stop is when the officer weighs the factors and decides either to issue a ticket or just give a warning. At such a moment, the officer balances doing justice and loving mercy (Micah 6:8), and strives for “the spirit of the law” above “the letter of the law.”

I was a teenager when an officer in a small Indiana town pulled up beside me as I waited at a traffic signal and said, “Watch yourself! This town’s not a race track!” But I’m at a dead stop! What happened? I was “profiled” because I was DWMT – “Driving While Male Teen”. Fortunately, I could outgrow that—the teen part, that is.

That scene stays with me almost 60 years later, along with all the times I was actually stopped by law enforcement. Only once was I ticketed—driving through open farm country on an empty highway in Ohio. The officer who motioned me to pull over told me an airplane monitored me going 60 mph in a 50 mph section of that highway. The ticket (paid by credit card on the spot) was $80, not $500, but I still thought the stop was unfair.

All the other times I was stopped I was warned, even sternly lectured, and sent on my way.

The idea that officers are pressed and eager to achieve ticket quotas or that cities want more citations to up their income is largely a myth or very rare or in the past or in the movies. Have minorities been unfairly targeted? In certain times and places, yes. This must change! (I stress unfairly, because a statistical disproportion in itself does not show improper policing.)

I can’t prove it, but I’d wager my granddaughter would have gotten away with a stern warning had she been pulled over by the police after her “California
stop” that night.

And she would have learned more in a positive way from that experience than she could ever learn from the resentment-building excessive fine.

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Religious Liberty Vigilance –
Cancelling Free Speech

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” – 1st Amendment

[NOTE: What “America First” represents doesn’t matter to me when it comes to the First Amendment. I would say the same things here if leftists were prevented from holding a rally in Anaheim, CA featuring Bernie Sanders.]

Politics and social engineering have invaded formats traditionally neutral on such matters (like SPORTS!), and this is both sad and alarming. In fact, it’s time to speak against it.

An “America First” rally that had been scheduled for Saturday night, July 17, at the Anaheim Event Center has been canceled, the city of Anaheim announced. Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Matt Gaetz of Florida had been expected to speak at the event.

A spokesman for Anaheim, said, “As a city we respect free speech but also have a duty to call out speech that does not reflect our city and its values.”

No, city officials DO NOT have such a duty. Their duty is to run an effective local government that serves the needs of the people and spends wisely.

George Will says, “Perhaps…Anaheim’s city government [has] time and resources to spare because they have excellently completed the jobs they actually are supposed to perform. Perhaps.” (Washington Post, July 21, 2021)

And WHO DECIDES what the City of Anaheim’s values are? Who presumes to speak for the rest of the community, which is certainly diverse?
First Amendment limits on government do not apply to private groups but do call into question government pressure to control speech in these groups.

The First Amendment is designed to prevent government from establishing an intellectual orthodoxy. Governments throughout history have attempted to do this, creating official established religions that could not be criticized or banning the profession of certain ideas. James Madison, author of the First Amendment, stood athwart the tide of history and yelled stop. The new democratic republic would, from its onset, be the first government in history to dedicate itself to individual intellectual freedom.

There is no exception to that rule for speech that the government believes is untrue. In the United States, people can say the most ridiculous things in full confidence that the government will not try to silence them. – Henry Olson, Washington Post, July 21, 2021 [bold mine]

But the government IS trying to silence and cancel! The pressing question is, are we willing to rise to the occasion and work to preserve our freedom of speech, our free exercise of religion, and the right to assemble?

Shameful Political Correctness and
Cancel Culture in Charlottesville

Charlottesville, Virginia did more recently than (understandably) remove two Confederate statues.

Under left-wing pressure, the City Council held an emergency meeting with 20 minutes’ notice and voted to remove a monument honoring explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, along with their indispensible guide and translator, an Indian woman named Sacagawea (depicted as a trail guide, not as a subservient woman). Lewis, born in the county, was a local hero.

The Lewis and Clark expedition (1804-06) was a project launched by one of Virginia’s great sons, Thomas Jefferson. Travelling from St. Joseph, Missouri to the mouth of the Columbia River, it explored the extent of the Louisiana Purchase and performed many other services such as Lewis documenting plant and animal life.

“Follow the Science”?

Abortion was the topic one evening on “Nightline” with Ted Koppel. After listening to a guest argue for a position supposedly based on “science”, he interjected, “With all due respect, what you are arguing for has nothing to do with science.” No science—all ideological advocacy. Good for Koppel!

Today the mantra is, “Follow the science.” But does this directive often either limit or exceed “the science” and advocate ideology instead?

Tom Nicholson, a researcher at Duke University, shows how objective science has suffered during the Covid pandemic:

The quality of scientific publications suffered during the Covid-19 pandemic. From dubious prepublication studies to bombshell papers quietly retracted months later, it has been a busy but difficult time for major medical and epidemiology journals. Peer-review and clinical-trial processes have sped up, and few would claim this generally improves the quality of the research or its conclusions.

The same has happened in the less rigorous world of policy analysis. Working groups and research collaboratives have issued recommendations to government, business, universities and other institutions without even a cursory peer review. Often these groups offer more encouragement and opinion than rigorous findings.
– Wall Street Journal, July 9, 2021[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1598373738095{border-radius: 3px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text]

www.donaldshoemakerministries.com
Contact me at: donaldshoemakerministries@verizon.net

Don has been a member of the clergy in the Long Beach, California area since 1970. He now serves as Pastor Emeritus of Grace Community Church of Seal Beach (where he was senior pastor 1984-2012) and as Senior Chaplain of the Seal Beach Police Department (2001+). He previously was an assistant professor of Biblical Studies at Biola University (1976-84) and chaired the Social Concerns Committee in the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches from 1985 to 2019. His graduate work includes a Master of Divinity from Grace Theological Seminary, a Master of Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary with a concentration in Christian ethics, and a Doctor of Ministry from American Baptist Seminary of the West (now Berkeley School of Theology) with a concentration on the Charismatic Movement. His law school studies included a course on the First Amendment. He and his wife Mary have been married for 55 years. They have two children and six grandchildren.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”949″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”“A Piece of My Mind”” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:50px|text_align:center|color:%232633ef” google_fonts=”font_family:Bitter%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][vc_custom_heading text=”July-August 2021 Newsletter” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:30px|text_align:center|color:%232633ef” google_fonts=”font_family:Bitter%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]

Advancing Christian Faith and Values,
Defending Religious Liberty for All,
Supporting Civility and the Common Good
through Preaching, Teaching, Writing, Activism and Reasoned Conversations

www.donaldshoemakerministries.com[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”1304″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1598373738095{border-radius: 3px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Coping with Life’s Uncertainties

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

– James 4:13-15 (NIV)

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Message of the Month – Coping with Life’s Uncertainties

Legendary Dodger broadcaster Vin Scully once said, “If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.”

Every time I open my i-Pad I’m greeted by a picture from our wonderful 50th anniversary Alaskan cruise in June 2016. Mary and I never planned on “55” being that glamorous, but we did talk ideas. Concern about travel and Covid put the planning on hold. And those plans wouldn’t have come to fruition anyway because right before our anniversary I was in the hospital.

It started with a wake-up pain in the middle of the night that I recognized—I might be passing a kidney stone. The stone was confirmed in the emergency room and later that morning I went home. This was repeated the next week.

Finally an urologist told me to go to the hospital for admission. I didn’t know I also had bleeding ulcers that were exhausting my strength. I was sitting on the side of an emergency room bed when next thing I knew the room was full of medical personnel bringing me back to reality.

After lots of effective treatment and good care and good food (I didn’t eat the first two days), I came home. Our anniversary was enjoyed at home with dinner delivered from a local restaurant. Future treatments are being lined up for July and after.

The episode has given me pause to think about life and its uncertainties.

First, as I told the hospital chaplain, I give thanks to God all the more for the excellent health I’ve enjoyed throughout my entire 76 years.

Second, thanks to God and heart-felt appreciation to my wife, Mary, and my family—for her incredible care and assistance and their support at every turn.

Third, I was reminded (as the above scripture teaches) that planning has its place but God holds the veto. He has his purposes and I probably won’t have insight into them beyond the ultimate assurance that “all things work together for good to them who love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28 – the King James Version gives a better “read” on the meaning of this verse than some modern translations do).

My plans for the future must factor in God’s purposes (“if the Lord wills”) and my own human frailty (“you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes”). I am honoring God, showing faith, and facing reality honestly when I preface the big plans with “If the Lord wills…” It goes without saying, God’s moral will for my life must also be factored into the plans I make.

Fourth, I’ve come to a deeper appreciation for those who work in health care, especially at the level of hospitalization. Theirs has not been an easy 18 months. Their work runs the gamut from what requires highly skilled training to things most mundane if not most unpleasant. They do it over and over, and do it well.

Fifth, I need to listen to this marvelous body the Lord has given me. There were signs that things were not OK. It’s easy to brush these aside with a “this too shall pass” attitude. No, we need to listen to our bodies.

Sixth, be reminded that each day may be our final chance to make amends, set things right, express love we’ve suppressed, make that call or send that message and more. And are our earthly affairs set in order? The Psalmist prayed, “Teach us to number our days” (Psalm 90:12), that is, treat each day as significant.

Seventh, I believe more than ever in God’s willingness to minister blessing to us in response to prayer. To the point, “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” (James 5:16 NIV). Thanks to all who prayed for me.

Since being home I’ve enjoyed waking up and while still in bed singing hymns like, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow” or “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty! Early in the morning my song shall rise to Thee” or “When morning guilds the skies, my heart awakening cries, ‘May Jesus Christ be praised!’”

In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice;
In the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.
– Psalm 5:3

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Religious Liberty Vigilance –
The Liberty Bell and the Power of Scripture

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. – That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…

– The Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776

“Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God?

– Thomas Jefferson, “Notes on the State of Virginia”

The “Liberty Bell” was commissioned in 1752 by the Pennsylvania Assembly. It was cast by the London firm of Lester and Pack and was lettered: “Proclaim LIBERTY Throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants Thereof.”

The quote is from Leviticus 25:10. In its context, it is truly a call for liberty throughout Israel—spiritual liberty, yes, but with teeth in it that affected the land (giving it time to rejuvenate) and how people must treat people and release those enslaved to bondage. (Read Leviticus 25.)

In the 1830’s the bell with its message took on a deeper significance as a symbol of abolitionism. If we “proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof,” we must not exclude those who are enslaved.

We recently celebrated the meaning of “Juneteenth,” commemorating when General Gordon Granger and his troops arrived in Galveston, Texas in 1865 to proclaim the end of the last vestige of American slavery—Texas yet had 250,000 slaves. (But we can’t ignore today’s underground slavery in the U.S.)

Whenever we think of the Liberty Bell and the implications of its biblical quotation, from now on we will remember what happened in Galveston. In our hearts perhaps we hear the bell ringing and remember the scripture.

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On the American Revolution and Slavery

(in the face of some revisionist theories today)

Far from retarding the abolition of slavery, the Revolution actually accelerated it. Its triumph gave a big boost to Enlightenment liberalism, which inspired the First Emancipation in the US (the abolition of slavery in the North that became the first large-scale emancipation of slaves in modern history), and boosted antislavery movements in Europe, as well…

For all their failings, the Revolution and Founding paved the way for abolition. That happened in large part because they were the first large-scale effort to establish a polity based on universal liberal principles rather than ties of race, ethnicity, or culture.

Those principles are at the root of most of America’s achievements, of which the abolition of slavery was perhaps the most important. They are also what enabled America, at its best, to offer freedom and opportunity to people from a wide range of racial and ethnic backgrounds from all over the world.

– Ilya Somin, “Juneteenth and the Universalist Principles of the American Revolution”, The Volokh Conspiracy, June 19, 2021

Doctrinal Thoughts from a Milestone Document

Exactly 100 years ago The Brethren Church (forerunner of my denomination today) adopted a document known as:

“The Message of the Brethren Ministry”

It was not a creed per se and wasn’t binding on Brethren churches. But it did set forth the viewpoint of Brethren ministers on nine points of doctrine. It was adopted by the denomination’s ministerial association in 1921. Here are the nine key points [my comments in brackets]:

We understand the basic content of our doctrinal preaching and teaching to be:

1. The pre-existence, deity and incarnation by virgin birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
2. The fall of all people [humanity’s fall “in Adam” in Genesis 3], their consequent spiritual death and utter sinfulness, and the necessity of their new birth;
3. The vicarious atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ through the shedding of His own blood. [“Vicarious” is not commonly used today. “Substitutionary” – Jesus died in my stead, bearing my sin, obtaining my forgiveness – is common now.]
4. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ in the body in which He suffered and died and His subsequent glorification at the right hand of God.
5. Justification by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, of which obedience to the will of God and works of righteousness are evidence and result; the resurrection of the dead, the judgment of the world and the life everlasting of the just;
6. The personality and deity of the Holy Spirit who indwells the Christian and is a personal comforter and guide;
7. The personal and visible return of our Lord Jesus Christ from heaven as King of Kings and Lord of Lords; the glorious goal for which we are taught to wait, watch and pray;
8. The Christian should “be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of the mind”; should not engage in car¬nal strife, and should “swear not at all” [the last two phrases now obscure how they were then understood: Christians should not “bear arms” in military conflict and must not swear oaths in court or elsewhere to support the veracity of their words.];
9. The Christian should observe, as a duty and privilege, the ordinances of our Lord Jesus Christ, among which are (a) baptism of believers by triune immersion; (b) confirmation; (c) the Lord’s supper; (d) the communion of bread and wine; (e) the washing of the saint’s feet; and (f) the anointing of the sick with oil. [These points might be called “denominational distinctives”; they are worthy of discussion but a word on each would far exceed the scope of these pages.]

The nine statements have served us well. They are concise, rather clear, continually relevant, and mostly address critical issues of the faith rather than minor or denominational issues. Contrary to our earlier aversion to church creeds, they were actually adopted by the “Grace Brethren” in 1938 as a statement of faith until they were replaced by a new statement in 1969.

Here is a call I issued in the year 2000 pertaining to point #7 on the Second Coming of Christ, a call I strongly reaffirm today (published in Sharpening One Another, a publication of the Association of Grace Brethren Ministers):

Grace Brethren Eschatology:
Where Should Our Fellowship Go?

By Dr. Donald P. Shoemaker, Senior Pastor
Grace Community Church (FGBC) of Seal Beach, California

In 1921, Dr. Alva J. McClain authored “The Message of the Brethren Ministry,” setting forth the common beliefs of the Brethren ministers of that day. The statement has been a defining document of our movement ever since and was endorsed by the General Conference in 1938.

This is the eschatology statement of “The Message”:

The personal and visible return of our Lord Jesus Christ from Heaven as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the glorious goal for which we are taught to watch, wait and pray.

Since the summary of our beliefs is always a current statement of a never-ending process (this side of Glory) to articulate truth, rather than a statement of our perfect understanding of truth, I believe the time has come for us to revisit our current position on eschatology. Specifically, I propose it is time for us to extend latitude toward more than one evangelical option on how the Rapture of the Church relates to the Tribulation Period.

Here are some reasons for my thinking…

(1) Belief in a pre-tribulation rapture is neither an essential part of historic Christian confessions nor (either in breadth or duration) of the belief patterns of the Brethren throughout our history.

(2) The notion of a 7-year tribulation rises from only one interpretation, among many viable ones, of Daniel 9:25-27, an apocalyptic passage notoriously cryptic.

(3) The pre-tribulation rapture is generally defended along inferential lines rather than from relatively straightforward statements of the biblical text.

(4) Creating our identity around a fine point of eschatology and separating from other Christians over such a fine point seem contrary to “maintaining the unity of the Spirit” in the Body of Christ.

(5) The study of eschatology is by nature a tentative exercise, especially the more we refine our position beyond the fundamental points of a Second Advent, resurrection, judgment and eternal state.

(6) Twentieth-century “Dispensationalism” has undergone modifications in recent years that have called into debate some of its features previously thought to be “necessary.”

(7) A confidential survey of Grace Brethren ministers in 1982 found that a sizeable minority of ministers confessed varying degrees of reservation over our stated position on a pre-tribulation rapture. The number of ministers with reservations has most likely increased since 1982. A spirit of honest inquiry on matters not foundational to our faith as Christians is best done in an unthreatening and brotherly context where we can be “free to disagree.”

(8) Our witness to our world and our expression of our self-identity should focus on the major themes that separate “light from darkness” (or at least they should express major theological themes) rather than peripheral or tangential areas where godly, conscientious Christians have differences.

So I would pose the question, “Is now the time for us to identify ourselves more with the historical Christian hope and with the Evangelical mainstream in our eschatology?” A return to Dr. McClain’s articulate words could be a good step in that direction.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1598373738095{border-radius: 3px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text]

What Are the Most Empty Words We Use?

I mean, yeah, there are lots of empty and thoughtless words. These words may, you know, be meaningless, habitual, worn out, or demeaning. OK?

But what word or words are truly the worst? Could it be that comment when people just can’t prove their point so they say, “It is what it is”? Or what the server at the restaurant says each time an item is brought to the table, even a straw—“There you go”?

Perhaps it’s the dismissive word “whatever.” It flippantly treats the point being discussed as trivial and discardable, as if of no consequence. It diminishes the other person in the communication.

Right?

But maybe you, like, disagree with me and want to “throw me under the bus.” Look, Uncle Joe has something to say to you: “C’mon, man!”

Our Little 2021 Contribution to Creation

Monarch butterflies are having it tough these days. We thought we’d become pro-active in adding to their number. (My wife has done most of the work!)

We’ve amply supplied the yard with essential milkweed plants, once driving many miles to get some. There the eggs are laid and the larvae eat so voraciously. We’ve provided safe places for the larva and chrysalis stages. When the butterflies emerge from their cocoons we give them a couple of days of protection for gaining strength and then we release them.

This season we’ve released 37 butterflies into nature and lost only a very few which didn’t fully develop or were diseased.

A Good Word from Elsewhere…

Hate Speech and the Death of Philosophy

By Donald DeMarco, professor emeritus of Saint Jerome’s University and an adjunct professor at Holy Apostles College and Seminary. From Crisis Magazine, June 7, 2021.

One of the most important distinctions we can make during these troubled times is between philosophy and ideology. PHILOSOPHY is the search for truth employing the universal human faculty of reason. Therefore, philosophy is for everyone.

An IDEOLOGY, on the other hand, is limited to a set of ideas that does not have a universal scope. Consequently, an ideology is not for everyone, but rather for the relatively few who agree with its tenets. Aristotle, Plato, Aquinas, Maritain, and Gilson are philosophers. Nothing is excluded from their range of thought. Marxism, Freudianism, Darwinism, and Feminism are ideologies. Marx builds his ideology on economics, Freud on psychology, Darwin on biology, Feminism on the female sex. Each of these ideologies is lacking in breadth.

An ideology has a certain claim to respectability because it purports to improve society and culture. Nonetheless, because of its limited purview, it is inherently incompatible, even antagonistic, to philosophy… An ideology barricades itself against dialogue with a philosophical viewpoint. In fact, it is often hostile toward philosophy. It is a defense system, not an outreach.

How important is philosophy to society? We should heed the words of Étienne Gilson, who warned that “If we lose philosophy itself; we must be prepared to lose science, reason, and liberty; in short, we are bound to lose Western culture itself together with its feeling for the eminent dignity of man.”
We need philosophy to learn about the breadth of reality, not a mere fragment; to understand the nature of the human being and not settle for an ideological construct; to provide a basis for all people to live together in harmony, not merely a select few. The task of the philosophy teacher is to make virtue attractive to his students and evil repulsive—and to show his future legislators that philosophy, more than any ideology, contains the best promise for a better world.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1598373738095{border-radius: 3px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text]

www.donaldshoemakerministries.com
Contact me at: donaldshoemakerministries@verizon.net

Don has been a member of the clergy in the Long Beach CA area since 1970. He serves currently as Pastor Emeritus of Grace Community Church of Seal Beach (where he was senior pastor 1984-2012) and as Senior Chaplain of the Seal Beach Police Department (2001+). He previously was an assistant professor of Biblical Studies at Biola University and chaired the Social Concerns Committee in the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches from 1985 to 2019. His graduate work includes a master’s degree in theology from Fuller Theological Seminary with a concentration in Christian ethics, and a doctor of ministry degree from American Baptist Seminary of the West with a concentration on the modern Charismatic Movement. He and his wife Mary have been married for 55 years. They have two children and six grandchildren.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”949″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_custom_heading text=”“A Piece of My Mind”” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:50px|text_align:center|color:%232633ef” google_fonts=”font_family:Bitter%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][vc_custom_heading text=”June 2021 Newsletter” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:30px|text_align:center|color:%232633ef” google_fonts=”font_family:Bitter%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]

Advancing Christian Faith and Values,
Defending Religious Liberty for All,
Supporting Civility and the Common Good
through Preaching, Teaching, Writing, Activism and Reasoned Conversations

www.donaldshoemakerministries.com[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”1304″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1598373738095{border-radius: 3px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text]

The Healing Power of Touch

Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him. – Luke 5:13

Touch is more than one of the five senses. When welcomed, it is a vital part of human interaction. Unwelcomed, it is an intrusion or worse.

During the present pandemic many have died in clinical situations without human touch. But a LA-USC physician recently confronted this clinical coldness and said holding the hand of a Covid patient is “one medicine that supersedes all science and all education and anything we could do.”

Science is important and necessary, but it isn’t a be-all and know-all.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1598373738095{border-radius: 3px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”What is “Black Lives Matter”?” font_container=”tag:h2|text_align:center” google_fonts=”font_family:Arimo%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal”][vc_custom_heading text=”By Donald P. Shoemaker” font_container=”tag:h6|text_align:center” google_fonts=”font_family:Arimo%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”1630″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”1631″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”1632″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”1633″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]Sadie Payne, 32, was gunned down as she waited at a bus stop in Columbus, Ohio in the early morning of April 8. She was the 54th homicide in Columbus so far in 2021.

Sadie’s Life Mattered.

Davell Gardner, 22 months old, was shot and killed in Brooklyn in the summer of 2020.

Davell’s Life Mattered.

Horace Lorenzo Anderson, 19, died June 20, 2020 after being shot inside Seattle’s “summer of love” Autonomous Zone. City government had no plans in place for providing emergency services to this “surrendered” area.

Horace’s Life Mattered.

Le’Shonte Jones, 24, was gunned down and her 3-year-old daughter wounded May 3 in Miami-Dade County FL as she came home from her TSA shift.

Le’Shonte’s Life Mattered. Her Daughter’s Life Matters.

8600 blacks died from gunfire in the U.S. in 2020.

All These Lives Mattered.

The Blacks who were killed or injured in the Tulsa-Greenwood Race Massacre of 1921— All Their Lives Mattered.

The Tulsa Race Massacre occurred exactly 100 years ago this weekend—May 31-June 1, 1921. Many Americans have never heard about it—I didn’t, and American History was part of my college major.

“Black Wall Street” – Greenwood was a prominent and prosperous center for black businesses in the early 20th Century.

Following a jailhouse incident that left 10 Whites and 2 Blacks dead, a rampaging mob went through Greenwood shooting and burning and looting. I’ve seen a wide range of death statistics—perhaps between 75 and 300 blacks were killed but the information varies. Many more were wounded and 10,000 left homeless. Thirty-five blocks of the community were destroyed. Pictures remind me of the aftermath of an EF5 tornado. The Oklahoma National Guard ended the carnage on June 1.

107-year-old Viola Fletcher, the oldest living survivor of the massacre testified at a recent congressional hearing on “The Centennial of the Tulsa-Greenwood Race Massacre.”

“I will never forget the violence of the white mob when we left our house… I still see Black men being shot, Black bodies lying in the street. I still smell smoke and see fire. I still see Black businesses being burned… I hear the screams. I have lived through the massacre every day.”

If this event is not now in our history books, it certainly needs to be there.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”1635″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”1636″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text]Introduction: In response to some inquiries and to satisfy my own need for information and desire for accuracy, I looked extensively in 2020 and again in recent weeks into “What Is ‘Black Lives Matter’?” My present conclusion is that it is best to see the phrase “Black Lives Matter” (BLM) as having three primary usages. My goal here is to illuminate rather than critique.

1. “Black Lives Matter” [BLM] is first of all an organization with a sweeping agenda.

From the BLM Website: www.blacklivesmatter.com

“About”

#BlackLivesMatter was founded in 2013 in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer. Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, Inc. is a global organization in the US, UK, and Canada, whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes. By combating and countering acts of violence, creating space for Black imagination and innovation, and centering Black joy, we are winning immediate improvements in our lives. [BOLD mine]

We are expansive. We are a collective of liberators who believe in an inclusive and spacious movement. We also believe that in order to win and bring as many people with us along the way, we must move beyond the narrow nationalism all too prevalent in Black communities. We must ensure we are building a movement that brings all of us to the front.

We affirm the lives of Black queer and trans folks, disabled folks, undocumented folks, folks with records, women, and all Black lives along the gender spectrum. Our network centers those who have been marginalized within Black liberation movements.

We are working for a world where Black lives are no longer systematically targeted for demise.

We affirm our humanity, our contributions to this society, and our resilience in the face of deadly oppression.

The call for Black lives to matter is a rallying cry for ALL Black lives striving for liberation.

“What We Believe” [NOTE: I obtained this page from the BLM Website in 2020. It has now been deleted. Deletion of these points doesn’t necessarily mean repeal.]

• Every day, we recommit to healing ourselves and each other, and to co-creating alongside comrades, allies, and family a culture where each person feels seen, heard, and supported.
• We acknowledge, respect, and celebrate differences and commonalities.
• We work vigorously for freedom and justice for Black people and, by extension, all people.
• We intentionally build and nurture a beloved community that is bonded together through a beautiful struggle that is restorative, not depleting.
• We are unapologetically Black in our positioning. In affirming that Black Lives Matter, we need not qualify our position. To love and desire freedom and justice for ourselves is a prerequisite for wanting the same for others.
• We see ourselves as part of the global Black family, and we are aware of the different ways we are impacted or privileged as Black people who exist in different parts of the world.
• We are guided by the fact that all Black lives matter, regardless of actual or perceived sexual identity, gender identity, gender expression, economic status, ability, disability, religious beliefs or disbeliefs, immigration status, or location.
• We make space for transgender brothers and sisters to participate and lead.
• We are self-reflexive and do the work required to dismantle cisgender privilege and uplift Black trans folk, especially Black trans women who continue to be disproportionately impacted by trans-antagonistic violence.
• We build a space that affirms Black women and is free from sexism, misogyny, and environments in which men are centered.
• We practice empathy. We engage comrades with the intent to learn about and connect with their contexts.
• We make our spaces family-friendly and enable parents to fully participate with their children. We dismantle the patriarchal practice that requires mothers to work “double shifts” so that they can mother in private even as they participate in public justice work.
• We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and “villages” that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable.
• We foster a queer‐affirming network. When we gather, we do so with the intention of freeing ourselves from the tight grip of heteronormative thinking, or rather, the belief that all in the world are heterosexual (unless s/he or they disclose otherwise).
• We cultivate an inter-generational and communal network free from ageism. We believe that all people, regardless of age, show up with the capacity to lead and learn.
• We embody and practice justice, liberation, and peace in our engagements with one another.

To these points can be added this important statement: Law enforcement cannot be reformed. Law enforcement as we know it, therefore, must be dismantled and replaced. Attempts at reform will not work.

The BLM organization has leaders who may be speaking for themselves and not for the organization (in which case, they and the organization should make that clear).” Some leaders have expressed Marxist claims, anti-capitalist statements, and possible calls to violence. Patrisse Cullor, a BLM co-founder, has been criticized for purchasing homes in Los Angeles county. As I’ve reviewed details, it’s hard for me to see that any home under $600,000 could be considered a luxury. Even the home in tony Malibu that sets up Topanga Canyon Road would be modest and rustic by most standards. We leave these matters to #BLM to judge unless illegal activity can be shown.

2. Secondly, the “BLM” title is used to express concern about violence against blacks by law enforcement.

One opinion writer insists this is ALL the phrase means, nothing more. Unjust violence, including killings, under color of authority is a serious issue and deserves separate and distinct consideration. Not only is such violence unjust in itself, it also marks law enforcement in a way contrary to its essence and how it wants to be perceived.

Statistics are tricky, but here is some information I found: Statista Research Department reports 241 deaths of blacks at the hand of law enforcement in 2020, and 62 in the first four months of 2021 out of a total of 292 civilians shot and killed by law enforcement. These statistics are slightly more than half of the number of whites killed, which is statistically significant but in itself says little more than that. The rate of blacks killed by law enforcement is higher than that of any other ethnic group. These stats don’t go into the reasons (justifications) for the use of lethal force.

As important as it is to examine the death of blacks at the hands of law enforcement, this reality must be compared to the much larger issue of how many black deaths are due to homicide. In 2020, 8600 black lives were lost to homicide. In 2018 there were 7407 black homicide victims (6237 male) in the United States.

The 2016 homicide rate among black victims in the United States was 20.44 per 100,000. For that year, the overall national homicide rate was 5.1 per 100,000. The homicide rate for black male victims was 37.12 per 100,000. In comparison, the overall rate for male homicide victims was 8.29 per 100,000.

(Sources: Statista, September 30, 2019 and May 3, 2021; Colorlines, May 30, 2019;
New York Post, February 6, 2021)

3. Third and finally, the phrase “Black Lives Matter” has just about become generic for those expressing any concern about wrongful treatment of blacks.

Summary and Concluding Thoughts:

The phrase “Black Lives Matter” can refer to:
(1) A leftist organization by that name, or
(2) Widespread movements expressing concern over perceived mistreatment and violence by law enforcement against blacks, or
(3) Generically, a variety of activist concerns pertaining to black lives.

When is it timely to drop a phrase in favor of a new one because the old phrase has something associated with it you don’t support, or because the phrase has become so generic as to dilute meaning? I don’t know. I do know this is sometimes necessary in Christian ministry circles, when terms change meaning or gain unwanted associations.

Why don’t we adopt the phrase “All Black Lives Matter”? This would encompass inappropriate use of force by law enforcement and much more. While anecdotal cases focus on actions by law enforcement, statistics support this broader concern. The ratio of black deaths by law enforcement compared to all black deaths due to homicide stands around 1:34. This is horribly significant!

For daily information on this and related issues, I recommend: www.Feedspot.com[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1598373738095{border-radius: 3px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Message of the Month –
“ ‘The Image of God’ We Are!”

As a child I often sang with other children in Lutheran Sunday School:

Jesus loves the little children,
All the children of the world.
Red and yellow, black and white,
they are precious in his sight.
Jesus loves the little children of the world.

Truly, “From the lips of children [God has] established strength” (Psalm 8:2).

In 1976 I was a brand new member of the Biblical Studies faculty at Biola University. I was soon asked to give a short presentation to the faculty on the Bible’s teaching about humanity. I carefully prepared a 10-minute talk.

Another professor would present what “science” says. He got up first and said, “According to science, man is an animal.” And he sat down.

I should have, but didn’t, stood and said, “According to theology, man is made in the image of God.” And sat down, at least for the moment. For in those few words you learn the most important truth there is to know about who we are.

So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
– Genesis 1:26 (New English Version)

Theories abound on what this “image” is. Original righteousness? Reason? Love and communication? Spirituality and morality? Self-understanding and sense of the past and future? Relationship with one another (as God is an “us” [verse 25] he made man as male and female to interrelate accordingly).

All interesting; none definitive. Best to simply say human beings are the offspring of God (Acts 17:29) and bear a special resemblance to him. Humans thus have special duties and immeasurable worth and must be so regarded.

The “image of God” prevents us from stratifying humanity according to some arbitrary criterion of worthiness. Not just kings and philosophers, not just males but also females, not just the free but also the enslaved, not just the enfranchised but also those outside looking in—all bear God’s image.

The Holocaust of World War II was made possible because Third Reich leadership, unchecked by an acquiescent church, changed the understanding of what gives man his worth. Steeped in Reformation heritage, the state should have understood that each person possesses a dignity given from above—a dignity unrelated to achievement or potential or desirability. Instead, the Third Reich weighed humans in terms of their usefulness to the state, their place on the hierarchy of human worth (Aryans at the top; Jews at the bottom), their being an asset rather than a liability to the state machine.

“Image of God” teaching declares a resounding “Nein!” to all this! The disabled and dependent, the unborn and newborn, the aged and terminally ill, the genius and moron, the insider and the outsider—all, regardless of race or social status or human condition, are valued by God.

This doctrine leads to important practical matters:

(1) Human life is precious and must never be wrongly taken. “You shall not kill [murder]” – Exodus 20:13, see Genesis 9:6.
(2) Human dignity can be assaulted by how we treat people. Jesus saw the commandment against murder as applicable to our words and actions that fall short of actual killing. He taught us to avoid unjust anger and malicious labeling. He called us to extend forgiveness and avoid adversarial conflict – Matthew 5:21-26, see Romans 12:14-21.
(3) How our speech assaults the image is a special theme in the Epistle of James (3:3-12) – “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness … My brothers, this should not be” (verses 9-10).

Sometimes it’s really hard to acknowledge God’s Image in others. But those times are when this doctrine’s “rubber meets the road.” Jesus calls us to be like his Father in heaven, who “causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends his rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” We too must extend love and shalom not just to those whom we like and who benefit us but to the unlikeable who bring nothing good in return (Matthew 5:43-48).[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1598373738095{border-radius: 3px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]

Back The Badge

“Blessed are those who
maintain justice.”
– Psalm 106:3

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The “Broken Window Theory” Helps Answer “What’s Going Wrong Today?”

By Donald Shoemaker

During my first year in college the men’s dorm was a refurbished (sort of) wing of a spooky “turn of the century” (that’s 1900, not 2000) inn used in the old Bible Conference heyday of Winona Lake, Indiana. It had a high tower in the middle with lots of windows near the top (for ventilation in those days).

One winter day we were throwing snowballs at the tower. Sure enough, one snowball managed to break one of the high windows. Initial guilt didn’t last long. Soon we were having “hit a window” snowball contests. I thought of this experience when I first heard of the “Broken Window Theory.”

The “Broken Window Theory”, first brought to the public’s attention by political scientist James Q. Wilson and others in 1982, argued that when small deteriorations are permitted in a community, soon greater deterioration will occur. Overlooking small vices will encourage risk-takers to go to larger vices.

“Broken Windows” was the metaphor for the smaller deterioration—vandalism, public drinking, “fare-hopping,” disorderly conduct, petty thefts, criminal trespass, graffiti, letting trash accumulate, poor maintenance of property, and more.

A “don’t care” attitude toward minor violations leads to bigger crimes and more deterioration. “One unrepaired broken window is a signal that no one cares, and so breaking more windows costs nothing. Disorder increases levels of fear among citizens, which leads them to withdraw from the community and decrease participation in informal social control” – Psychology Today, n.d.

Eventually the “good guys” give up, shut up, close up and move on if they can.

Better policing is a key response to “broken windows” – not aggressive policing but assertive policing which is problem-focused, pro-active (better community relations, foot patrols, defusing adversarial situations, holding people accountable for minor offenses) plus a broader community response.

What’s happening today? In California, legitimate concern over high prison populations has led to unwise changes such as turning some felony charges into misdemeanors. Passing a bad check under $950 or shoplifting goods under $950 in value is now a misdemeanor, not a felony. A misdemeanor charge may lead to no prosecution at all. Don’t think thieves can’t calculate!

In Los Angeles County, the new district attorney, George Gascón has become a very controversial figure due to his “reforms” that many fear will lead to an increase in crime. One is a decision not to prosecute first-time offenders accused of an array of non-violent crimes *. Nothing wrong with having diversionary programs that keep youth out of the prison system. But accountability must be there and responsibility must be learned. A law without consequences is nothing more than good advice.

“It is naïve and dangerous for the press and responsible political leaders…to think that closing their eyes to lawlessness won’t break down broader respect for the rule of law itself.” – Daniel Henninger, The Wall Street Journal, January 28, 2021

* Crimes not to be prosecuted include trespassing, disturbing the peace, a minor in possession of alcohol, driving without a license, driving with a suspended license, making criminal threats, drug and paraphernalia possession, being under the influence of a controlled substance, public intoxication, loitering to commit prostitution and resisting arrest.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Religious Liberty Vigilance –“Day of Prayer” – without God

“Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God?
– Thomas Jefferson, “Notes on the State of Virginia”

By law, the President of the United States must issue a proclamation each year designating the first Thursday of May the “National Day of Prayer.”

Every president has done so since 1953. But this year’s proclamation was different. For the first time ever, “God” was not mentioned. I have a hard time getting into a big tizzy over this, but I do have concerns.

First, a generic prayer that is essentially “To Whom It May Concern” is not a Christian prayer. So if that is how we are supposed to pray (and some governmental agencies have said so) I can’t get much more upset over a prayer exercise that goes a little farther by not mentioning deity at all.

Second, I won’t deny the therapeutic value of prayer as an exercise even absent mention of a deity. But this understanding of prayer is sub-Christian. Prayer is personal—to “Our Father in Heaven” who invites us to communicate with him.

Third, I recognize a meaningful place for references to deity throughout our nation’s history—references generally conforming to Judeo-Christian monotheism. This doesn’t make us a “Christian Nation” nor should we seek that identity. Jefferson was a monotheist but not a Christian believer (apparently).

The Long Beach City Council had opening prayers for decades and I offered prayer there several times. Then at some point city leaders specified that the prayer had to be non-sectarian (I think that policy is unconstitutional but that’s a different matter). No religion should allow prayer to be used as window-dressing—a nod to deity after which we do our own thing. Now this prayer is replaced by a benign, brief, bowed moment of silence—I call it a “navel exercise.”

Personally, during such moments I pray silently to “Our Father in Heaven” for blessing to our city and wisdom to its leaders.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1598373738095{border-radius: 3px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text]

The president’s proclamation lauds prayer itself, not the One to whom it is offered. [See appendix for full text of the Proclamation]

Throughout our history, Americans of many religions and belief systems have turned to prayer for strength, hope, and guidance. Prayer has nourished countless souls and powered moral movements — including essential fights against racial injustice, child labor, and infringement on the rights of disabled Americans. Prayer is also a daily practice for many, whether it is to ask for help or strength, or to give thanks over blessings bestowed.

Prayer is essentially deified, idol-ized. We turn to prayer for “strength, hope, and guidance,” not to God who gives wisdom to those who ask him in prayer (James 1:5). Prayer, rather than God, “has nourished countless souls and powered moral movements.” It would have been so easy to say, “Prayer is also a daily practice…to ask GOD for help or strength…” But no. Prayer, not God, is “a healing balm.” There is no healing “Balm in Gilead [the love of Jesus] to make the wounded whole.”

The First Amendment to our Constitution protects the rights of free speech and religious liberty, including the right of all Americans to pray. These freedoms have helped us to create and sustain a Nation of remarkable religious vitality and diversity across the generations.

Yes, and the First Amendment protects our right to pray in public to “The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” and to order our lives by the teachings we get from God. This has sustained “religious vitality and diversity” but it won’t continue if the “woke” win the day and cancel religious expressions that don’t fit the conformity they require.

So on this National Day of Prayer, I give thanks for our precious freedoms, including the religious liberty we must vigilantly protect. I give thanks to God for the gift of life and every abundance, and for his moral guidance. I pray for shared virtues and values to uphold our nation, but only if we uphold them.
– May 6, 2021

www.donaldshoemakerministries.com
Contact me at: donaldshoemakerministries@verizon.net

Don has been a member of the clergy in the Long Beach CA area since 1970. He serves currently as Pastor Emeritus of Grace Community Church of Seal Beach (where he was senior pastor 1984-2012) and as Senior Chaplain of the Seal Beach Police Department (2000+). He previously was a professor of Biblical Studies at Biola University and chaired the Social Concerns Committee in the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches from 1985 to 2019. His graduate work includes a master’s degree in theology from Fuller Theological Seminary with a concentration in Christian ethics. He and his wife Mary have been married for 55 years. They have two children and six grandchildren.

Appendix: 2021 Presidential Day of Prayer Proclamation

Throughout our history, Americans of many religions and belief systems have turned to prayer for strength, hope, and guidance. Prayer has nourished countless souls and powered moral movements — including essential fights against racial injustice, child labor, and infringement on the rights of disabled Americans. Prayer is also a daily practice for many, whether it is to ask for help or strength, or to give thanks over blessings bestowed.

The First Amendment to our Constitution protects the rights of free speech and religious liberty, including the right of all Americans to pray. These freedoms have helped us to create and sustain a Nation of remarkable religious vitality and diversity across the generations.

Today, we remember and celebrate the role that the healing balm of prayer can play in our lives and in the life of our Nation. As we continue to confront the crises and challenges of our time — from a deadly pandemic, to the loss of lives and livelihoods in its wake, to a reckoning on racial justice, to the existential threat of climate change — Americans of faith can call upon the power of prayer to provide hope and uplift us for the work ahead. As the late Congressman John Lewis once said, “Nothing can stop the power of a committed and determined people to make a difference in our society. Why? Because human beings are the most dynamic link to the divine on this planet.”

On this National Day of Prayer, we unite with purpose and resolve, and recommit ourselves to the core freedoms that helped define and guide our Nation from its earliest days. We celebrate our incredible good fortune that, as Americans, we can exercise our convictions freely — no matter our faith or beliefs. Let us find in our prayers, however they are delivered, the determination to overcome adversity, rise above our differences, and come together as one Nation to meet this moment in history.

The Congress, by Public Law 100-307, as amended, has called on the President to issue each year a proclamation designating the first Thursday in May as a “National Day of Prayer.”

NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim May 6, 2021, as a National Day of Prayer. I invite the citizens of our Nation to give thanks, in accordance with their own faiths and consciences, for our many freedoms and blessings, and I join all people of faith in prayers for spiritual guidance, mercy, and protection.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fifth day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-one, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-fifth.

JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

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