Much of what we have inherited in the line of teaching on the Lord’s Supper, I have found to be inadequate, and, regrettably, sometimes wrong. I want to share with you what I am convinced is a more faithful understanding of what Jesus was getting at there in the upper room, and what I hope you will find to be a more compelling re-vision for our own practice of communion. These are my brief reflections on some things that N.T. Wright has written in “Jesus and the Victory of God.”

To understand the Lord’s Supper, we have to know the history of Israel, or else risk turning it into a flattened practice of retelling only a part of whole story ( perhaps a bit like retelling the story of one’s life without mentioning one’s parents). So what is the parental idea from which the Last Supper was born? What do we need to understand from the history of Israel to bring a more rounded understanding of what Jesus was up to in that upper room? To begin, we must go back to Egypt.

Israel had been in slavery, in captivity, in exile, in Egypt for four hundred years, but God had heard their cries for help and had sent them a deliverer, Moses, to lead them out of captivity and back to the land promised to their forefathers. God was about to deliver them from tyranny and into freedom. Before the last demonstration by God to the Egyptians that YWHW was God and not pharaoh, God told the people of Israel to do a strange thing. He told them to fix a strange symbolic meal (Exodus 12) of lamb, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs and to place some of the blood from the sacrificed lamb on the doorframes.

Through a remarkable sequence of events, Israel was released from their captivity and headed out toward the land that had been promised to them. As they made their way through the Red Sea on dry ground, into the wilderness, and out of the grip of Pharaoh, they made their way to Mt. Sinai where God made a covenant (Exodus 19-20; cf. Deuteronomy 4-5) with Israel.

Well, you know the story, Israel was rebellious and had to wander through the desert for forty years before they could enter the land, but they eventually did make it there. It was a strange journey with strange twists and turns, but the point of the whole exodus story is that was a return from exile.

Flash forward many hundreds of years to the time of Jesus. Israel was again in exile, but this time it was in their own land. Yes, they had been captives in Babylon some four to five hundred years earlier, and yes, they had returned to the land, but they had been under continuous occupation by foreign powers (Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome). This was a sign to them that YHWH had not yet returned to Israel. They were not free, the Torah was not kept (at least according to some), and this meant that for all practical purposes, they remained in exile—their sins (their acts of covenant unfaithfulness to YHWH) were still being held against them (read Deuteronomy 28-30 for the background to this thinking).

With that very cursory retelling of Israel’s story, we are a bit more prepared to take another look at Jesus and his twelve disciples in the upper room.

Jesus and his disciples were gathered to celebrate a sort of Passover meal. Like all Passover meals, the event was a rehearsing of the story of exodus. To Jews in Jesus’ time, it evoked their longing for a new exodus, for their own return from exile, for the great renewed covenant spoken of by Jeremiah (Jer 31:31-34) and Isaiah (Is 51-66) and the other prophets. The meal symbolized the fact that YHWH no longer held Israel’s sins against her and would rescue her from her enslavement. The meal was all about Israel’s God again becoming king.

It was the tradition in Jewish households that the head of the household would explain the Passover meal. So now Jesus was presiding over this strange meal and explaining the meal with a very peculiar twist. Jesus takes the old story of Israel’s redemption (freedom from bondage) and lays over that story this own story—weaving them together as a re-vised exodus story. He explains to them that the bread is his body, and that the cup refers to the new covenant sealed with his blood that was to be poured out. Jesus was saying, in dramatic effect, that the new exodus was happening in and through him.

So in the upper room, we find Jesus doing much more than giving his disciples a little something to remember him by. We find Jesus redrawing the very symbols that ordered Israel’s life and hope, focusing them now upon himself. It was to be through his fate that the new exodus was about to occur, and it was to be through his fate that YHWH was returning as king.


Well, how does this change things concerning the way we look at the Lord’s Supper? Allow me to suggest a few themes that come right to the fore.

New Exodus: the captives are freed. The Lord’s Supper is about being freed from bondage. With this in mind, passages such as Romans 6 become instantly relevant. No longer are we slaves to the powers and their destructive oppression and corrupting influence, but rather we are bound to God in his restorative justice and covenant faithfulness. We might say that we are now free to live our lives to God.

New Exodus: the exiles have returned. The Lord’s Supper is about coming home. Revelation 19 hints at this with the marriage supper of the lamb (a sort of final Lord’s Supper, if you will). In one sense, that return is something we look forward to, but in another sense, it is already happening as we find that our true home is in the kingdom of God. In Jesus’ re-vision of the exodus story, he is announcing that the kingdom of God is breaking in through his own life, death, and resurrection. We might say that our home has come to us.

New Exodus: our sins have been forgiven. The Lord’s Supper points to the forgiveness of the covenant unfaithfulness of God’s people. YHWH had rejected Israel because they had broken their covenant, but that was forgiven and the proof of it was that YHWH would once again be present among his people. Forgiveness of sins was the forgiveness of covenant unfaithfulness. We see in this theme of covenant relationship that God is present among his people once again, and they are to live as proper members of his family. We might say here that forgiveness points us to life in the new covenant.

New Exodus: God is once again our king. The Lord’s Supper points us to lives lived under the kingdom of YHWH. We look forward to the day when all creation finds itself restored under the kingdom of God, so in the present we are to demonstrate to the rest of creation what that restored life looks like. In this we are ambassadors of the kingdom; signs of hope to the world, examples of life in God’s great new covenant. We might say that this is our opportunity to show the world what life looks like when God is king.

Joel had the opportunity to attend a seminar today; it was led by N.T. Wright... drum roll... and Joel had the opportunity to meet his as well. While I don't want to push the point [after all, he is just a man], it was a joy for Joel to meet him. I thank God for that!

The freshman volleyball team that I coach won a big tournament today! We played well! We played hard! We learned what it means to be about "team." God smiled on us today!

I had the opportunity to help Joel celebrate his 30th birthday tonight! Water's Edge people and Joel's family were hanging out together. I have no idea where God is leading this rag tag group of people, but it was a good night together.

I am enjoying a good beer, and basking in the goodness of God's kingdom as I became aware of it today! My God rocks! He is the Alpha & the Omega! He is good! And His kingdom is so verrry good when we bite into it and taste --- and sense its juices as they run down our chins!!!

With Much Love!

I'm going to hear N.T. Wright today at Calvin's January Series. Here's a quote from "Jesus and the Victory of God" (which I'm almost through reading!).

"For (Jesus) what mattered was the story: the story of Israel's god and his dealings with Israel and the world, and the story of how that larger story was reaching its climax in his own work. In the most radical way imaginable, Jesus thus presented himself and his message as a story about an alternative order of reality that, he believed, was being accomplished through his work. And his telling of that story was designed to invite his hearers to give up their controlling metanarratives and trust him for his. Or, in the more usual language...he told them to repent and believe in him." (p. 316)

I'm almost through John Howard Yoder's, "The Politics of Jesus." Yesterday I read the following:
(The Church) "is in itself a proclamation of the lordship of Christ to the powers from whose dominion the church has begun to be liberated. The church does not attack the powers; this Christ has done. The church concentrates upon not being seduced by them."

We really need to examine to what extent we, our local expressions of the church, have been seduced by the powers. I think we really need to hear the words of Jesus to see if the values we hold are in conflict with those he commanded.

The problem with being seduced is that so often, one doesn't realize it is happening. "All at once he followed her like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer stepping into a noose till an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare, little knowing it will cost him his life" (Prov 7:22-23). Do we have our eyes and ears open enough to see the ways our culture tries to seduce us? Perhaps it takes an "African experience" like our friend Jason Evans had. Maybe it just takes a little brutal honesty.

How do you think the church in America has been seduced? How do you think the "emerging church" is being seduced? Because it is--even in its attempt at running away from one particular seduction (marketing of the church). We must follow Yoder's advice and concentrate on not being seduced. So how do we do that? Perhaps it begins by examining what we're caught up in--taking a good critical look at our agendas and our hearts. Are we driven by a love for God or a desire to be proved the next great thing (we were right, they were wrong)? Are we truly driven by a concern for the 'least, last, and lost' or is that just the new catchphrase for the emerging church--paying lip service to stand in contrast with the megachurches? Are we really a missional community (faithful to God's purposes for the church in the world) or is it just a change in name so we aren't associated with the word 'church'? Are we really helping people live as the cooperative friends of Jesus or are we just making another slightly unique event for people to attend?

If we are to find a way forward, self-deception cannot be afforded to us. We must be constantly on guard against the seductive powers at work to render our witness impotent. Maybe this is what Paul was constantly getting at in his letters. He seemed to constantly have to remind people of their true identity--to break them out of their self-deceptions and self-indulgences.

I've been thinking a little about vocation or calling. I was thinking through what Todd Hunter said about our only vocation being apprenticeship to Jesus. I think that is so helpful because so many people get so hung up on whether or not they are following God's 'plan for their life'. We start talking like, "Well, I missed God's plan A, now I will have to deal with plan B or plan C"...and so on.

We get so anxious about whether we are engaged in the right career or whether we married the right person or whether we should have moved to California or not, that we miss the point. Our vocation is to live as apprentices to Jesus. Every other engagement is an opportunity to show what that life of apprenticeship looks like when applied to whatever situation in which we find ourselves.

Often, I think our anxiety in making life decisions is misidentified. We beat ourselves up wondering if some decision is God's will or not...if it is one's 'calling' to do some thing. If we were honest, I think our anxiety is really about making commitments of any kind. We are afraid of being removed of certain options...certain freedoms...certain preferences. However, if we see our vocation as apprenticeship, and if we see that our real fear is a fear of committing to the wrong thing, then we can begin to make some progress.

Stanley Hauerwas said in an interview that "You always marry the wrong person." Then he said that the inverse is true also: "You always marry the right person." I think the point was that it is a matter of commitment. I think most of life is like that, and we can make real progress in our mental health (not to mention our spiritual development) if we start paying attention to that fact. If my primary concern is "what does it look like for me to live as Jesus' apprentice?" then I will simply apply that to my decisions as they come along. It changes the question of "did I marry the right person?" into "now that we're married, how should our lives look together as we live in God's story?" That is a very different question.

Now, of course, I believe that God does direct us in particular circumstances. It has been God's practice in the past (Abraham, Moses, Elijah, Peter, Paul, and of course, Jesus). But I believe that if we are walking as Jesus' apprentices in the kingdom of God, with our souls being transformed into the likeness of our Creator, then we will be much less anxious about 'screwing up God's plan for our lives'. Dallas Willard says that God wants to bring us to a point where we can do what we want. God wants our will to be transformed so that it becomes the same as his--and thus, we can do whatever we want.

So I don't think we should be so anxious about whether we should take one job or another (unless of course there are ethical questions) or whether we should buy this house or that house. Those decisions we can be expected to make in light of our vocation as the people of God. So the question then shifts from "How can I know if this is in God's plan for my life?" to "What course of action would be in accordance with life in the kingdom of God?" Do you see the difference? The second question is answerable.

Your vocation, and mine, is to live in the kingdom of God as Jesus' apprentices in whatever life situation we find ourselves. Our life decisions are made, not in terror of screwing things up, but with confidence in Jesus, who is the Path.

Tonight we journeyed through Psalm 3 together. It was so wonderful to me to see people bringing their creativity and their sincerity to our potluck worship. We shared with each other about crying out for help and living with confidence in God--even when we feel like we are surrounded by 'tens of thousands'.
Next Sunday night we will be focusing in on Psalm 34:8. Randy got the idea from someone in one of theOoze discussion boards. Here's some artwork I put together for it.



I'm planning on bringing a couple of installations around the theme of 'taste'. What will you bring?

More stuff I've written for the conference tomorrow (today?)...man, it's late. Go here for the whole thing, but here's an excerpt...

Being Part of the People of God. Jesus called his apprentices to be people who would repent of (“re-consider”, “think again”) their alternate approaches to being the people of God and to trust him and his way—to do what he did and obey what he taught. Jesus said that those who placed their confidence in him and obeyed what he taught would enter into and receive the kingdom of God (see Matthew 5-7).

As Jesus’ apprentices placed their confidence in him, they would experience the long-awaited forgiveness of sins and the corresponding return from exile—God’s presence would be among them and his law would be written on their hearts (see Jeremiah 31:31-34).

This is the picture of the people of God—a group of people among whom God dwells, through whom God brings blessing and restoration to human life (and to creation) as they are re-formed in the image of their Creator. This is what Jesus was calling people to participate in—this is what the church must be participating in as well.

As the community of Jesus’ apprentices live in this reality, they continue Jesus’ work of proclamation (in word and deed) of the present and coming rule and reign of YHWH. Thus, part of the nature of apprenticeship (and part of being the people of God) is cooperating with God’s mission for the sake of the world....

I just got a new computer today and the keyboard has a warning on it. "WARNING: Some experts believe that the use of any keyboard may cause serious injury. Consult statement on the back of this keyboard."

Did somebody sue a computer keyboard manufacturer for giving them carpal tunnel?

It gets me wondering about whether churches should start posting warning labels.
"WARNING: Some experts believe that becoming part of this community may cause serious changes in your comfortable life."
"WARNING: Some experts believe that following Jesus will cost you your life."
"WARNING: Some experts believe that becoming a part of a church may cause you to lose your right to privacy."

What "WARNING" labels do YOU think churches should put up? Email them to me and I'll post them here.

submitted by Josh Sarg:
"WARNING:Some experts say the church will cause you to lose friends."
"WARNING: Some experts say the church isn't perfect."

I was really encouraged by our time together tonight. We had some people gone, but some guests (Barb and Sigmond and their kids from extended grace) and some friends who haven't been able to be with us for a while. I loved seeing all the kids there--their energy and playfulness reminds me not to take myself so seriously. We talked through the question of what it really means to love our enemies--to invite enemies to the table. I don't know that we came up with a solution, but we did have some great discussion and prayer.

Our potluck worship is working well--at least I think so. We will be living through the Psalms for the next few months. I am hoping we can be challenged to live in the raw honesty and vulnerability and hope and gratitude that are so present in those prayer-songs.

Jason Evans is off to Africa. Keep him and his family (Brooke and Paige, who are at home in San Diego) in your prayers this month.

Oh, and if you haven't, read the stuff I am working on for Saturday (see the blog below) and email me your comments.

Here's a bit of something I'm working on for Jenison's leadership seminar. You can read the rest of it at my personal blog: a green steersman.


True Christian community is truth-full.
We are a people who are formed by a particular story about God and life. We have certainly emphasized the content of that story as truth (idea), but have a long way to go in demonstrating the power of that story as truth (embodiment of the idea). Yes, we must continue to affirm the truth by saying, “We believe,” but we must endeavor toward the incarnation of those statements. A truth-full community will, of course, endeavor to understand the Scriptures and to seek the One who speaks through the Scriptures, but it will also seek to live their lives as a response to the One who speaks. It is truth-full when its action has integrity with its Word.


True Christian community is costly.
Our culture values privacy and independence; two things that, to a significant degree, will necessarily be replaced with accountability and interdependence. Sharing life together implies a very costly exercise—sharing.


True Christian community is fuzzy.
We like to think of community as ‘intimacy’ or closeness. This is a problematic definition, however, because we only have ‘intimacy’ with (at most!) a handful of people. Community does not equal ‘intimacy’ but connection and responsibility. As a Christian community, we are connected to one another in Christ, and therefore the boundaries of that community become fuzzy. We are responsible for each other regardless of how ‘close’ we feel to each other.


True Christian community is pain-full.
Whenever you get your life tangled in with other people, you risk getting hurt. When you get it tangled in with a good number of people, you are assured of getting hurt. When you get tangled in with people, their problems become your own—you realize that you are your brothers’ and sisters’ keeper. Development of true community requires openness to the stranger, the poor, the sick, and the hurting. This means openness not only in attitude, but in agenda as well. So as a group of people with Christ in the center, we accept those realities with the promise that the One in the center is able to bind up our brokenness and lead us in forgiveness and healing....

(read more...)

A conversation tonight with Anna, my three year old daugher, as we stood at the refrigerator with the door open.
She puts a cross necklace around her neck, looks at it, and looks up at me.
Anna: Jesus died on the cross dad.
Dad: Yep. Where was Jesus born?
Anna: In a stable.
Dad: Yep.
Silence as we walk to the couch from the refrigerator.
Anna: Jesus missed us when he died on the cross dad.
... that's some theology to ponder.. out of the mouth of babes...