BT Irwin Posts

A blog about looking for the Way of Jesus Christ in 21st century America

Page 10


Toothache

Last Sunday, I woke up with a toothache.

This really is news because I’m 45 years old and I never had a toothache in all that time. The closest I ever came to what I felt on Sunday was getting my braces tightened once a month back in junior high.

On Sunday, when I first noticed the toothache, I shrugged it off. I figured I would wake up on Monday morning and it would be gone. I didn’t even bring it up to anyone in my family.

But the toothache was not gone when I woke up on Monday. It was worse.

It was so much worse that I went to the dentist that day. She took an X-ray and found damage to the tooth’s ligament and nerve.

“What did you do to this tooth?” asked the dentist.

“Nothing that I know about,” I said. “I woke up this way on Sunday morning. Could I have done this in my sleep?”

She prescribed antibiotics, but said I was likely to need a root canal anyway.

I started taking...

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How the man I wanted to hate the most became one of the men I love the most

I was in love. Bad.

It was like a fever that kept me down all day and up all night.

I liked Kerrie from afar for a long time before I got to know her.

From afar, she was all I ever imagined a woman could be. Which is why I thought liking her from afar was all I would ever get to do.

But then we became friends. She liked me back! She wanted to spend time with me! Oh, my God! Could this actually happen? Could she be The One?

Yes, yes! I was sure of it. She was perfect. She liked me. She had to be The One, right?

And so for my (first) senior year of college, Kerrie became The Meaning of Life. Winning her became my passion and purpose. What a wonderful world it would be…if we could be together. Oh, Jesus! Please! Please!

I was afraid to tell her how I really felt about her. I didn’t think I could go on living if she told me she didn’t feel the same way. So I bided my time and looked...

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Not economics or politics, but the Way of the Christ

It is right for us to care about the health and wellbeing of our society now.

But for those who believe and follow the Way of the Christ, how and why we care about society are to be different.

When society is sick, it is typical for people to look for cures in economics or politics. They argue about whether capitalism or socialism will make things better. They fight about whether conservatism or liberalism will get it done.

But the church of Christ follows a different way altogether, the Way of the Christ. The Way of the Christ is over-the-top service and submission, radical inclusion, and reckless sharing in a community where everyone has a place and everyone is truly equal.

The church of Christ is not an institution within society; it is an alternative to society itself. It is an alternative economy, an alternative polity, where people go to extremes to practice the love...

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The Gospel is health care

How do you know you’re in the kingdom of God?

What does the Gospel look like when it comes to life?

Someone once demanded that the Christ prove himself, his Gospel, and his kingdom.

The Christ responded with this proof:

Go tell John [the Baptist] what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them (Gospel of Luke 7:22).

Do you notice that in the proof the Christ gave about himself and his kingdom, all of it has to do with the health and strength of bodies and none of it has to do with “spirituality”?

Health–meeting the actual, real-life needs of human bodies–is the essence of the Gospel and the kingdom of God. At least if you believe it the way the Christ tells it.

Re-read the Gospels and it is plain to see: Jesus of Nazareth’s ministry was as much a...

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Christians have no enemies

A Christian has no enemies.

This may be the hardest thing about Christian life.

Harder than mission work that can take us far from home.

Harder than morals that keep us from what we crave.

One thing we crave in our human spirits: Enemies.

Enemies to blame. Enemies to fight.

Enemies to put down so that we can put ourselves up: “Look how bad they are!”

But if we keep our enemies, we cannot keep our Christ.

What did our Christ say?

“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven…” (Gospel of Matthew 5:44).

Or: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Gospel of Matthew 5:9).

The children of God are the ones who have no enemies. They love and pray for those who would be enemies. They make peace like God makes peace.

Making peace is God’s plan. Making peace is God’s will.

Not...

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The rights of Christians in the age of COVID

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What does the Christ call his Christians to do with their God-given rights?

Give them up.

Why? How?

For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another" (Letter to the Galatians 3:13-15).

The Christ set us free to do with our rights as he did with his rights.

He gave them away. He gave them up. In love.

The example and teaching of our Christ makes five things clear:

First, our rights are gifts from God. Governments do not give rights. Governments cannot take them away.

Second, the rights God gives are gracious gifts of love. God gives them to us before we do one thing...

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I can’t prove the Gospel, but here’s why I believe it

I don’t believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ because I can piece together enough proof to convince me that it is true.

I believe it because I want to believe it.

No matter how much proof we gather, no matter how strong a case we form, our beliefs always come down to what we want to believe.

I want to believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ and so I do. This is faith.

But if you pressed me to give you reasons to believe the Gospel, I would give you two that mean a lot to me.

The first is that I see the Gospel every day in nature.

The sun sets at night (death) and rises every morning (resurrection).

Autumn and winter (death) give way to spring and summer (resurrection).

A seed goes into the ground (death) and a flower or fruit tree comes up in its place (resurrection).

I even see the Gospel in my own body. Every day, billions of my cells die (death) and billions of new cells are born...

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I carry you with me in my heart

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I grew up in Ashland, Ohio. When I describe it to people, I start with: “If Normal Rockwell did a painting of a town…”

For 15 years now, I’ve lived in metropolitan Detroit, Michigan. When you think of Detroit, what images come to mind? I think of assembly lines, concrete, smokestacks, and steel.

I grew up among conservative white people.

These days, I spend most of my time learning and working with progressive people of many colors and cultures different from my own.

I grew up in a small town Church of Christ congregation that taught obedience to the law as the best way to love and serve God.

Since 2008, I’ve been a member at a suburban Church of Christ congregation that encourages people to love God by following the Spirit.

I grew up choosing to be in close relationship with only Christians who shared my beliefs and practices.

For the last 25 years, I’ve grown very close and...

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What I wrote about Christians who believed in Donald Trump

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Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting…but as it is, my kingdom is not from here” (Gospel of John 18:36).

On January 7, 2021, I posted about Donald Trump and the Christians who were willing to believe and follow him.

To say what I said (the way I said it) was not my norm.

My norm is to use words that I hope will make everyone feel at home. If I do come at you, I want to come swinging pillows and not fists.

But what I said on January 7 was not “pillowy.”

It was brass knuckles.

Someone noticed. “Coach” is a Christian man who is about my father’s age. He is a hero and role model of mine. When I’m facing a hard problem or tough choice, I sometimes try to imagine how Coach would handle it.

Coach did not like what I wrote. He sent me a private rebuke.

When a man like Coach rebukes me, I give...

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Is Christianity about creation or restoration?

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The story of Christianity is the story worlds dying and worlds coming to life.

The Christian era starts with people asking Jesus of Nazareth: “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Book of Acts 1:6).

God answered: “See, I am making all things new” (Book of Revelation 21:5).

Jesus got in trouble because he didn’t grant the people’s wish to go back to the way things used to be; he tried to lead them someplace they never went before–even in their dreams.

Those who chose to follow the Spirit of the Christ could barely believe the new world in which they came to live. Jews and Gentiles found themselves living together as family. They ate things they never imagined they would eat. They went places they never imagined they would go. They worshiped in ways they never imagined they would worship.

Even Saul of Tarsus, a Jew’s Jew educated and trained to...

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