Hearing the Music

Anti-Cancel Culture

The idea that we live in a "cancel culture" has been circulating for the last 5-8 years. According to Wikipedia "Cancel culture is a modern form of ostracism in which someone is thrust out of social or professional circles – whether it be online, on social media, or in person. Those who are subject to this ostracism are said to have been 'cancelled'." Most frequently folks are cancelled because the opinions they express are deemed wrong, oppressive, or inappropriate by a group of people. In popular culture we see over and over how people make mistakes, get caught and are cancelled. We also see groups call out people for ideas contrary to their own. Depending on the power or influence of the group calling you out you could be cancelled. The prevalence of cancel culture has contributed widely to the polarization of society that we experience today politically, culturally and religiously. Cancel culture has infiltrated the church as well. We see leaders or fellow church members mess up and they are cancelled. If some one doesn't hold the same theological views that we do, they are cancelled*. Values like listening, empathy, healthy disagreement and forgiveness do not thrive in a cancel culture.

That is why I am so drawn to the anti-cancel culture that Jesus inaugurates and that we will be looking at this Sunday in John 21. If anyone deserved to be cancelled it was Peter. Peter, who boasted of his superiority to the other brothers (Mark 14:29), who completely missed the humble way in which Jesus was bringing his kingdom (John 18:10,11), who denied he even knew Jesus - with imprecations (Mark 14:71,72). Surely he would be cancelled. But Jesus doesn't think like that. Jesus doesn't think like us. He knows Peter. He loves Peter. He pursues Peter from the very moment of his resurrection (Mark 16:7). He restores Peter, gives him back his dignity, gives him a task to do and something worth dying for. My cancel culture weary psyche can't wait to dive into this with you on Sunday!

Death's Master

Charles Spurgeon once parabalized (is that a word?) an encounter with death:

But Death said to the man, "I am come for you."
He smilingly replied, "Ah, Death! I know you,
I have seen you many a time.
I have held communion with you.
You are my Master's servant,
you have come to fetch me home.
Go, tell my Master I am ready; whenever he pleases,
Death, I am ready to go with you."

How could a person face death so calmly, so confidently? Christians around the world this week are celebrating the answer to that question. Christians can face death confidently because Jesus embraced death on Good Friday and rose victorious on Easter Sunday. This is the reason death holds no terror for the Christian. Christ, our master, has become the master of death, defeating it, as Paul so poignantly says:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:54–57

I can't wait to come together this Sunday and celebrate with you the resurrection of our Lord. We will return to John 11 and zero in on Jesus' declaration: "I am the Resurrection and the Life!"

Photo by S. Laiba Ali on Unsplash

Establishing Community

A couple of weeks ago in this space I wrote how the absence of physical connection over the past year has actually accentuated the realization of the need of this type of community for many. As we near the end of this year's Lenten season and approach Holy Week, we are again reminded of the importance of community in the notes that Jesus sounded during his last few hours on earth. We hear these notes through our Savior sharing the passover meal, kneeling and washing the disciples' feet, giving the mandate to love as he has loved, praying in his high priestly prayer that his disciples would be one and that their unity would be palpably evident to the world, caring for his mother and beloved disciple from the cross even as the weight of the world's redemption pressed down on him (cf. John 13-17, 19:24-27), etc..; in all this Jesus speaks to a way of discipleship that engages one another.

As we come to Holy Week 2021, the hope is that in the midst of our personal meditations we will all find time and ways to follow Jesus' community-oriented discipleship path. As we have necessarily been restricted this past year, it is our hope that most, if not all, of our community will embrace the invitation to share the ministry of presence in one of our five Maundy Thursday services. With both inside and outside offerings and the many services (by extension smaller), our prayer is that obstacles for participation would be removed and that we could reverently come together to worship and be fed. Of course, we do understand the various positions that people find themselves in and will always remain supportive. Please let a pastor, elder, staff member or the office know if there is ANYTHING that we can do to connect with you throughout this Holy Week.

Just a couple of other notes. Look via email for additional devotional material centering on The Way of the Cross to take you through the Holy Weekend. A complete list of Holy Week offerings is in the announcements below. 

Finally, let me end with the mandate that Jesus gave his disciples in John 13:34-35: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Photo by Kyle Head on Unsplash