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By Richard Hamilton, September 14, 2009 10:13 pm

Peter Rollins recently held a parable writing competition (in conjunction with Paraclete Press). He has announced the winner, “Footprints” written by Kester Brewin.

The second place entry was Constantine’s Conversion by John Janzen. It isn’t a long read, but I really like it.

The Emperor Constantine, facing the biggest battle of his reign, looked into the setting sun at the Lilvian Bridge and saw a vision of the Cross of Christ. As he gazed at the cross he heard a voice say “By this sign, conquer”.

The next day he gave up his reign as Emperor, surrendered all his many possessions, and went to live and work among the poor.??And forever after he was known as one of the greatest heroes of the faith for his obedience to the voice of God.

Rollins explained his selection of this piece saying, “I chose this short parable for second place as I liked how it took a central moment in the development of Christianity and employed it to explore the importance of interpretation.”

The “historical” conversion of Constantine ushered in a dark chapter in the history of the Christian faith. The fresh breath of liberty to worship was smogged with complicity and the new cross symbolized empirical might instead of self sacrifice embodied by its predecessor.

Oh how things might have been different if Constantine had embraced the way of the cross rather than mutilating its message.

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By Richard Hamilton, March 6, 2009 10:53 pm

The other day I was reading through Genesis 3 and something stood out to me. Genesis 3 opens with the introduction of a new character: the Serpent. Adam and Eve are living in the garden, naked and unaware. The Serpent convinces them to eat of the tree in the middle of the Garden (the only one they were told not to) and they realized they were naked. Familiar story. I hadn’t previously noticed, at least not in this way, what takes place in verses 9-11.

The LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked?” (ESV)

God seems almost unaware of their naked state. He asks, “who told you that you were naked?” Why?

Is the God of Genesis 3 limited in knowledge? A God who can’t even keep track of the actions of the only two people on earth seems inconsistent with the God of Genesis 1 & 2. I’m sure some scholars would say this is further evidence of multi-author redaction of the text. Besides the fact that I am not inclined toward those types of theories, this would seem to be so blatant that even the most daft of editors would not allow these texts to co-exist. Not to mention that it seems an unnatural understanding of the text. So did God know or not.

It seems obvious, at least to me, that the author believed, and expected us to as well, that God did know that Adam and Eve were hiding because of their nudity and that the Serpent was involved in their education. So why does an aware God ask the question?

Is it possible that God wanted Adam to think about why he was hiding and discover for himself what was wrong? Did God want Adam to do a little reflecting? Was God concerned with Adam’s self-awareness? How about mine?

In any theology, Genesis predates Descartes, Locke, and Frued. I have always felt that the typical modern western Christian (myself included), tends to over emphasize self. Our faith has become deeply, and almost exclusively a personal experience. The problem is that the ancient Mediterranean (the time/land from where both Jesus and the Bible hail) seems far less interested with the self and much more interested with the community/group.

So I am left wondering, to what extent is God concerned with my self-awareness?

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By Richard Hamilton, March 3, 2009 10:39 pm

Texting requires more attention than talking. Unless of course you are 8-14 years old; for the rest of us, it can be a consuming task. Thanks to the prolific twittering of @zaibatsu, @DannyTRS, @OneLuvGurl, @holycowcreative, and @espn (to name a few), my LG is experiencing a higher text volume these days.

This caused me to experiment with something recently. I began following @prayingpsalms. @prayingpsalms tweets a verse from a Psalm every hour. I’ve been following for a few weeks and here are my thoughts.

1-I like the regularity. I have started taking the time out to stop, read and pray every hour. I have always gotten a lot out of praying through the Bible. This is a consistent way for me experience this.

2-I enjoy the spiritual distraction. Let me explain. My days tend to get busy. A lot of things are vying for my attention. These tweets catch my attention and give me an excuse to take a break and do something kind of spiritual for a few seconds.

3-They can be redundant. I’m not sure if they recycle the Psalms or if they just tend to sounds alike, but there seems to be a lot of repetition.

4-This is only a small glimpse of what tech-spirituality could be.

Here’s my job for you. Let your brains go crazy. What does the future hold for spirituality?

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By Richard Hamilton, November 25, 2008 3:18 pm

June 19th, 2007, I posted a blog titled, “The Secret Lives of Men & Women: How Post Secret Helps Americans Veil Their Faces & Find Their Voices” about Post Secret and the trend of anonymous confession.

Since then, I have become aware of Christian versions of this, like mysecret.tv (from LifeChurch.tv) and ivescrewedup.com (of Flamingo Road Church). I’m sure there are more out there, but these are among the more popular.

I still have a nagging question. “Have we traded transparency for anonymity?” Maybe it’s too late. Maybe that ship has sailed.

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By Richard Hamilton, November 6, 2008 10:33 pm

I believe there is an intrinsic subversiveness in Jesus’ message of the Kingdom. The New Testament evangelist did not shy away from ascribing to Jesus terms reserved for the Emperor himself. King of the Jews. Ruler. Savior. Son of God. Jesus’ message was disruptive to the divisive class system of his time. He taught a form of social protest in retaliation to the oppression common in the Galilean countryside. Just calling it the kingdom reeks of rebellion.

Simultaneously, Christ followers are told to render to Caesar and make supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions.

Regardless who you supported (or didn’t support for that matter) in this recently election, everyone must answer a question. How should I act toward government.

I have heard people from any number of political backgrounds (both Christian and non) say, “If ___________ wins the election, I’m leaving this country.” or “I can’t live in a country with ___________ as it’s president.” Interestingly enough, they never seem to follow through. To be honest, I have entertained similar thoughts. Where does this attitude come from? Why is there such vitriol absurdity?

So, how should Christ followers, who are faced with reconciling the subversive nature their faith and the call to honor authority. Peter’s words on the subject seem quite fitting.

Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

Keep in mind who was the emperor he is telling them to honor. Nero.

At the end of the day, whatever your political persuasion, you must balance honor and subversion.

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By Richard Hamilton, September 19, 2008 3:32 pm

There is an article on nytimes.com today titled, “In Japan, Buddhism May Be Dying Out”. According to Norimitsu Onishi, Buddhism is loosing its appeal to the Japanese because it is seem as a religion of the dead, not the living.

While the message of Christianity should be one of life and resurrection, I wonder if we aren’t running the same risk sometimes.

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By Richard Hamilton, July 9, 2008 3:14 pm

I was the dean of a Jr High week of camp in southern Ohio last week. Tuesday Night, we set aside some time for the 36 Jr High students to go through 9 prayer stations based on the teachings of Jesus from Matthew 5:1-16. Much to our surprise, this took about 5 hours. Not because it was set up poorly or not run well or overly complicated (I’m sure those things could be said about this prayer experience, but that is not what lengthened the event). It took so long because the students really got into it. Jr Highers. Praying. 5 hours. It was awesome.
I thought this experience was important enough to include in the week, but I was not expecting the response we got.

Prayer is undervalued by a lot of Christians. This seems to be even more the case among teen Christians. I don’t know if this is because they don’t see prayer being lived by the Christians they encounter or if the way prayer is portrayed to them is limiting and unappealing. Maybe both. Maybe neither. Who knows. What I do know, is many of these teens prayed. They read Jesus’ words, they looked beyond themselves, they tasted, they touched, they reflected, they prayed. And it wasn’t just the girls; the [Jr High] guys got into it too. They were asking questions and spending time with each experience. It was interesting to be there for it all.

This left me with one big question. Do we expect too little of young Christians?
I believe it is altogether possible that teens can set the pace for other Christians.

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By Richard Hamilton, December 8, 2007 2:56 pm

Christmas is fast approaching and it is easy to lose sight of what is important over the holiday season. It seems to be that more and more people are spending more and more money earlier and earlier in the year. I heard on the radio the other week that Americans spent 8% more this year on “Black Friday” then they did last year. It seems some people even go into debt to give the “perfect” gift. I wonder what our world would be like if people decided to spend less money on Christmas gifts and invest more time in the people around them.

I was in San Diego for the National Outreach Convention in November and got a chance to hear Rick McKinley from the Imago Dei Community speak. One thing he mentioned was the Advent Conspiracy. The basic idea is people spend less on Christmas, give relational gifts, and give their money to a good cause (in this case, making clean water available to those in need around the world).

Maybe instead of giving useless junk, no one needs as gifts this year; we can be a little more thoughtful and come up with meaningful ways to give.

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By Richard Hamilton, May 2, 2007 2:35 pm

I was preparing a Bible lesson for a high school group recently and wondered about the integrity of the typical approach to Bible study. The passage was Nehemiah 7 and the theme was “A Leader Actively Administrates.” No one is taking a pot shot at a certain publishing company; most sermons, talks, and lessons from Nehemiah focus on leadership. 2 Timothy 3:16,17 is as trademark verse for those who say that every verse has an application in everyday life. So we take a passage of Scripture and dissect it into “application bites.” Often teachers look so closely for nuggets of wisdom in the text that one misses the big picture.

If a person going to teach the Bible with any integrity, it is important to understand what the text meant to the original reader. I cannot tell you for sure how the original reader understood the text of Nehemiah. But it must be asked: do you think they naturally thought, “Leadership is influence (John Maxwell was re-writing that one book back then), and every person has influence over at least one person, so I am a leader and like Nehemiah I should administrate, equip, and motivate those I influence in the same manner?” In my mind this could be what we call in the industry “a stretch.” This approach lacks the common sense we use when reading any other book, fiction or non-fiction.
Imagine you approached a children’s book in the exact same manner. Perhaps I will open the Chronicles of Narnia and read about a talking Beaver rescuing children from talking wolves. Would a couple of pages gives us a clue as to what is going on in the bigger story? Can we draw conclusions from a segment of the story? Of course not. So we should not look closely at each verse if it means we miss how each narrative fits into an overarching story.

When one opens the book of Nehemiah or any other book of the Bible, the focus should be massaging the bigger questions out of those we teach. Why was the wall broken down? Why was Nehemiah in Persia? Why did God allow his people to go into exile? Does God always deal with sin in this manner? How does he give man freewill and still control the destiny of nations? How does God redeem His people?

There are overarching themes woven throughout Scripture-how mankind is designed to interact with their Creator, the power of sin, how God punishes, redeems and calls out of chosen people; teachers should consider showing how each story is a piece in a larger puzzle.

Perhaps the only books in the Bible where we dare even attempt pull specific commands straight out of the text into everyday life is the epistles, but even then we need to be aware of cultural considerations.

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By Richard Hamilton, March 23, 2007 10:40 pm

Here are a few things to keep in mind (I must admit, these are not original):

People need a spiritual friend not a spiritual adversary. Think back to when you became a Christian. For many of you, there was a person or a group of people you credit for their involvement in your becoming a Christian. Maybe they cared for you in ways you had not experienced before. Maybe they were there for you when you needed them. If we were listening, we would hear people talking about spiritual things, often ever deep spiritual things, at work, around the house, in the coffee shop or at the grocery store. Sometimes the best thing we can do is just be there to listen to them and their concerns and struggles. Most people are looking for meaningful friendship.

People need honest conversation not easy answers. I do not know about you, but it is my tendency to want to answer everyone’s questions, often before they even finish asking. I find myself plotting my response while they are talking. The result: I do not hear what they are actually saying. Even worse is the fact that, in many cases, they are not even looking for an answer but I am shoving one down their throats. People are not looking for Christians to be “Bible Answer Man.” They are looking for someone to be real with them. Someone to sympathize with them and not belittle their doubts…doubts that often lead seekers to faith. Evangelists need to be involved with open and honest dialogue.

People need to see Christ modeled. Read through one of the Gospels sometime and check out what Jesus did and said. He healed even when it was socially unacceptable. He embraced the outcasts. He shared life. Sadly, most Christians (myself included) cannot say they same about themselves.

Matthew 28:18-20, is quoted by many Christians as their evangelizing mantra. Matthew 28:16-17 are however a little less known. A some years back, I heard the late Mike Yaconelli talking about this passage and it has stuck with me to this day. Not that his words were profound or that I agreed with what he was saying. I just think it was the first time I had taken the time to notice these verses. “But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful.” Did you catch that? Some were doubtful. Doubt?!? These people had been with him since the beginning. They had seen the miracles; they were standing on a mountain with the resurrected Jesus and some doubted. Instead of calming their fears or answering their doubts, Jesus makes them his representatives. He sends them out. How is this possible? Evangelism, in Jesus’ estimation, must have been something other than what we have made it.