pretzels don't need salt - they already have it

I've been reading through Jesus' parables, and this is what I read today:

"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." - Matthew 5:13-16

These are some of the questions I asked as I read this: What does it mean to be salty? To be light? What is the dullness and darkness where the salt must season and the light must shine? How does it do so? And what would it look like to neglect to do this? These are questions that may seem obvious, but it was good to ask them again as I read it.

This parable is preceded by the beatitudes, in which Jesus tells his disciples that those who are blessed are essentially the humble, pure, and the suffering:

3"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

I'm going to start with the question of where the salt and light must enter, i.e. where is the dullness and darkness. If we want to bring change to our world, it is essential that we acknowledge that the world is broken. The most significant suffering is that which is closest to us - the suffering we endure personally and that we see in our friends and family. To avoid it or ignore it allows it to continue to control our lives.

Sometimes, however, we get so caught up in our own suffering that we don't realize the extent to which people suffer in the world around us. We live at a safe distance from the wars and poverty that afflict the most distressed places. And even if we've visited areas of extreme suffering, we don't experience it in the same way as those who cannot leave it. To ignore and neglect this darkness is a severe danger, but we often don't realize that we do it. We are too distracted and busy.

But brokenness also occurs in the power and wealth of our world. Nelson Mandela says "The oppressed and oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity." We will never be satisfied when we are preoccupied with possessions, and we will grow bored and dull when we seek comfort for ourselves. There is no life in selfishness - we just continue feeding a consumer who will never be satisfied.

This world is broken in the land of the poor and rich, and meanwhile Jesus tells the disciples that they are the light and the salt of the earth. What a tragedy it would be to lose that saltiness and to hide that light under a bushel! Without the salt and light this world remains dark and dull and without hope. Keith Green said "The world is sleeping in the dark, that the Church just can't fight, because it's asleep in the light." Those who follow Jesus must see darkness in the world as their problem and their responsibility. Jesus came to wipe tears and suffering from this earth, and for some crazy reason, he called human beings to be the agents of that change.

Reading the parable of salt and light as it follows the beatitudes illuminates the idea that living as salt and light must take on a position of humility, suffering, and purity of heart. In assuming that the salt- and light-bearers will be poor, will mourn, will be persecuted as stated in the beatitudes, Jesus implies that to bring salt and light is to enter in to the broken places of the world. Thus, being the salt and light begins with awareness, and is followed by action. But the action is not assuming power and domination and fighting wars - it is through meekness and humility. The ways of the kingdom of God are counter to the way this world works. In the same way that Christ humbled himself to become a human being, we are to humble ourselves to become like those who suffer. We are to enter in to the poverty and serve - not patronize - but serve those who are hurting. We are to regard them above ourselves. And the way we bring peace is not through dominance, but like Jesus, entering nonviolently into the violence.

If the beatitudes said "blessed are the successful; blessed are those who live in a warm house; blessed are the safe; blessed are those who have landed a good job; blessed are those who get selected in high business, government, and Church positions; blessed are those who get their writing published, etc." then perhaps we could shine light and season their earth by achieving the American Dream. But this is the point of what I'm saying: The nature of the beatitudes insists that living as salt and light requires the imperative of entering in to suffering. Using a flashlight at 3 o'clock in the afternoon on a sunny day is kind of pointless, and nobody wants more salt on a pretzel because it's already salty. Our salt and light needs to enter in to the places that need it.

There is one extremely important part of entering suffering that we must cling to: hope. Entering in to suffering is not something that is to be done grudgingly, or simply because it's what we're supposed to do. Rather, we enter suffering because we believe that salt and light truly brings redemption to the world. Seeing the redemption that we have received in our own lives by the suffering that Christ endured, we take on that cross as the Church and spread the good news of hope with our lives. As Jesus says, those who bring salt and light are blessed. And that it is a blessing that we not only receive in the future, but right now. My greatest moments of joy have occurred when I have seen the emancipation of those who are suffering. That kind of beauty exceeds any new car or promotion. As it says in Hebrews 12, Jesus suffered with "the joy set before him." So let us take joy in the hope of seeing the problems in this world cease, and enter in with faith that we can bring redemption, through Christ, to broken places.

art, awareness, and action

I watched Blood Diamond tonight and it made me angry and frustrated. Activism art may get dismissed as emotive and superficial, affirming our positions but impotent in actually bringing about change. Perhaps, but I'd rather be woken up to my deepest convictions than continue to flow with the stream of apathy and misplaced preoccupation. Awareness is obviously inadequate, but is indeed affective in conditioning our hearts to things that matter. As long as we remember that knowing is not enough.

Reflections on last semester

My friends and family who I touch base with sporadically ask me "How's your internship thingy going in Charlottesville?" I still haven't been able to come up with a handful of adjectives to describe it as a whole, but I'll try to recap, as disjointed and incoherent as it might sound.

Working with Amy Sherman has been a great learning experience. This summer we did some travelling around the US, and I really enjoyed that because I got to pick her brain and glean wisdom from her. She is one of the most driven people I've every met, and she is passionate about the work that she does. For those of you who are unfamiliar with her work, she is a researcher/writer/speaker/consultant for ministry work among the urban poor. She founded Abundant Life Ministries in Charlottesville, the place where the Fellows tutor (I'll tell more about that), and now she does capacity building work for ministries around the US. There is one other girl in the office, Becca Saunders, who is my age, and is a lot of fun and easy to work with. It's hard to say one specific thing that Amy does because she usually has about 5-10 projects going at once. In terms of writing, she just finished a book called The Relentless Pursuit about the story of a ministry her friend Kit runs in Phoenix, and she's working on writing an article about communities in resistance. I've helped her with the research for that article and had the chance to read Nelson Mandela's biography (which I've been meaning to finish since I started it while I was in Cape Town), and writings by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Another major project we did was a survey of the impact the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) has on its members. It was exciting to be able to interview different ministries from around the country and hear their stories. I had the chance to go to the CCDA conference in St. Louis with Amy and Becca in October, where I heard speakers like John Perkins and Shane Claiborne, saw a beautiful picture of the Church coming together to discuss work among the urban poor, and was able to worship in a multi-ethnic setting, which I don't find at Trinity (the church I go to). The most consistent project we've been doing is a curriculum for a program designed to teach urban youth how to manage their money. So I've been creating lesson plans and games for kids. And we've been playing them. So basically my job is reading books and playing games.

The job is 3 days a week, and on Thursday and Friday we have a different seminary class each morning. I really love studying theology. I grow to love it more and more. These classes have shown me the unity in the scriptures - how the Bible is a story with a beginning and a future which has a consistent narrative throughout. It's eye-opening to find our place in the story - living in the tension between Jesus' death and resurrection, and the future when all things will be made new. In this tension we see glimpses of the kingdom of God but not a full realization. And the practical application of this is bringing God's kingdom to earth, as spoken in the Lord's prayer, "thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." And we do that by working for the justice and peace that Jesus came to establish through himself. I have sensed the feeling that I should continue theological studies after this year, so I am applying to seminaries and divinity schools while I'm at home over break.

Tutoring at Abundant Life has been a great experience. The boy I tutor is a 4th-grader named Juwan. Between substitute teaching at Griswold, teaching at Providence Summerbridge (an internship I did for a summer), and tutoring at Charity Family Life, Juwan is one of the best-behaved and most polite kids I've worked with. The two of us have had the chance to do some other things outside of tutoring with the other kids and tutors, such as bowling, ice-skating, and going to the park. His family is very nice too - he has a sweet sister who is always smiling, and his mom is a very nice lady.

One thing that I'm really thankful for is the opportunity to be involved in the church plant that Abundant Life is undergoing. The kids and families at Abundant Life come from the Prospect Avenue area, which is a low-income area in Charlottesville made up of predominately African-Americans residents. Abundant Life has great leadership from two men and their families who live in the community - Rydell Payne and Eddie Howard. Eddie is my mentor, and we try to meet together once a week. Eddie knows just about every person in the neighborhood, and the first day we got together, he took me around from door to door to meet people on Prospect Avenue, and in the Blue Ridge Commons, the housing project in that neighborhood. I've learned a lot about ministry from Eddie, and I'm excited to learn more from him in the future. Eddie and Rydell are the two who are planting and pastoring the church. The folks from Trinity Pres are helping out a lot too. I go to the church services on Saturday night in a tiny building that holds 30-50 people tops. At the beginning of the year I was asked to play guitar for the kids choir at Abundant Life, so I've been doing that since August. I love that opportunity because it allows me to get to know the kids better. Sometimes I'll take the kids to the park before the service to play basketball or play on the playground. One day we made an obstacle course on the playground and timed each other going around it. That was a blast. It's fun when the other Fellows come and hang out with the kids too. We're all hoping to do more of that next semester.

I'm living with a host family, the Breedings. They have been very warm and hospitable since I've been there. It is a family of five - Greg and Lyndee are the parents, plus there is Jordan who is a junior in high school, Grace who is in 8th grade, and Anna, who is in 6th grade. Jordan has a great sense of humor and plays guitar. So he's fun to hang around with, and we've had some good jams. Grace and Anna are both very sweet girls. One day when I came home I saw "Welcome home Reynolds" written in big sidewalk chalk letters on the driveway. Anna did it. I don't spend much time at home, so I don't see my host family very much, but hopefully I'll see more of them next semester.

And finally, but certainly not least, the other 11 Fellows. Doing life with 11 other people makes for an unique community dynamic. My closeness to each of the fellows rotates, depending almost entirely on circumstance. I'll be really close with one of the fellows for 3 weeks, and then the next three weeks I won't talk much to that person because she or he couldn't go out to lunch for three meals in a row, or something like that. And then I'll get close to three different fellows. But looking back at the semester as a whole, I've grown close to all the fellows and had personal time with all of them at some point. It is a great group of people with a wide variety of personalities and gifts. I've learned from them and have begun some friendships that I will probably consider valuable for years after. At the same time, I do feel limited in developing our community. We see each other in such short periods, and living in different houses makes developing community a challenge. I've been pushing the "community house" idea for next year to Dennis, the director of the program. But for now, we're trying to be more creative and intentional about finding ways to strengthen our community with the set up we're in.

So that's the rundown on last semester. Feel free to email me if you want to know more: reynoldschapman@gmail.com!

packrats

So I just renamed my blog from the ever so creative prior title, "Reynolds' Posts." The concept behind the new name, "Packrat Post," highlights the intention of this blog. My experiences and thoughts are like an assembly line, but much of the parts that pass through are lost and forgotten. So I wanted a place where I could both store and share the details of my story. The result was a "post" where I could be a packrat and store up that which I collect. The name also has sources in my roots, as I come from a family of packrats. My grandmother has a four-story barn that she turned into a second-hand store called "The Owl's Barn." My dad has always been an antiques buff, and has a basement-full of used and new instruments. The thing about packrats is they'll keep everything, even if they know they'll never have any use for it. And if you go into their storage pad you'll find yourself saying "Why do you still have this?" or better yet, "What is this?" And that will likely be the case with these posts - some may be completely useless, and I may be embarrassed when I look back at some of my old posts. But every once in a while you will find a treasure amidst the junk, so hopefully this "Packrat Post" will have some gems that may touch others and help me celebrate my lessons and experiences when I look back.

Here's a powerful quote from one of my classes:

As for the cross of the Servant, it is not
strange to us. In that we stand with the
mainstream of Christian faith from the
beginning onward, and we do well to do so.
We enthrone that crucified Saviour in stained
glass, wood, and stone—and in doctrine. To
that cross we look for salvation. But we want
not that cross at all. Indeed, we would have it the chief business
of religion to keep crosses far away. We want
a Christ who suffers that we may not have to,
a Christ who lays himself down that our
comfort may be undisturbed. The call to lose
life that it may be found again, to take up the
cross and follow, remains mysterious and
offensive to us. To be sure, we labor to bring men to Christ,
and we pray, “Thy kingdom come.” But our
labor we see as a labor of conquest and
growth, successful programs and dollars. Can
it be that we are seeking to build the Kingdom
of the Servant—without following the
Servant? If we do so, we will doubtless build
a great church—but will it have anything to do
with the Kingdom of God? John Bright, The Kingdom of God, p. 154.

calling

Today in class we talked about calling. I like how the concept of calling takes us away from our own desires and focuses them in God's story. There were also some good quotes and writings from Calvin about how the purpose of our calling is to serve the public good. There was one Calvin quote that said that every resource that's been put in our hands must be used for the sake of others.

In discussions about calling, I feel like we should focus more on two things: community and immediate calling. Oftentimes it seems that we first try to figure what our job is going to be, and then we try to find a community from there. And if there's no community there, it means that God is challenging us to be survive without a community. But what if we considered community before occupation? What if we considered a community to serve, a community to support, and a community who will support us? After all, wherever we end up, the more important focus is who we serve rather than what tasks we're doing.

It also seems that calling tends to be too future-focused. We think that God has one particular place for us to reach in life, so we pray and wait and pray and wait until we see the fruit of something we're doing. Then hey! We found our calling! But calling should be more focused on the immediate. We should ask, "What is God calling me to do right here, right now." We have no idea what's going to happen in the future, and we should have faith that God will take care of it. Are we really supposed to figure out what God wants us to do in five years? Is that what should occupy our minds? I don't think so. Let's engage with the present. Tomorrow will take care of itself.

Hello!

Here's my new blog. Tonight I'm studying for a little bit and then going to watch the Tony Rice concert at the Satellite Ballroom. Hopefully this won't be the last post...