Drew in Contemplation

If we're honest, people in poverty can frustrate us. Sometimes it's hard to sympathize with someone who seems to have a destructive lifestyle or doesn't embody a strong work ethic. It's easy have negative thoughts when we encounter someone in a financial crisis. Sadly, the ideal of the American Dream has taught us, whether consciously or subconsciously, that someone's financial state is a direct result of their ability to work hard. Therefore, people in poverty are often thought of, at least in the American context, as lazy. Although we know better than to give people in poverty such a narrow view, we should at least, I think, acknowledge these feelings and address them. So why do people in poverty sometimes get under our skin? We may not realize it all the time, but our attitudes toward certain people come from our own cultural practices. In sociology we call this  Social Norms. For example, here in Thomasville, it's a social norm to ride around town in ...

Hey everyone, First off, I want to say "thanks" for reading my blog! I love being able to share my thoughts with a wider audience and I hope they've been beneficial to your faith. The reason why I didn't want to write a blog post this week is because during Holy Week at Thomasville First UMC there's been a lot of great content through sermons and services. If you haven't had a chance to listen to any of them, including mine, you can find them here toward the bottom of the page:  https://tfumc.com/worship/ I hope that this Holy Week isn't too busy, but that it has within it time to contemplate and think on Christ's death and resurrection. Augustine of Hippo once said that at Easter we are reminded that the occupation for a Christ-follower is to worship God. Of course, we know that, but it's another thing to live that out in our day-to-day lives. I hope during this Holy Week and Easter season that we learn to worship God with the entirety of...

Jesus, therefore, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 So they made Him a supper there, and Martha was serving; but Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him. 3 Mary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4 But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, who was intending to betray Him, *said, 5 “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to poor people?” 6 Now he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it. 7 Therefore Jesus said, “Let her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of My burial. 8 For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me.” 9 The large crowd of the Jews then learned that He was there; and they came...

This statement won't surprise you: we're all different. This is one of the greatest challenges of Christian community. Somehow, we're expected to love God, love each other and work together as God's people, the Church. That's easier said than done! On one hand, we are called to learn to love and see ourselves, our unique traits, as valuable (Gen 1), but on the other hand we are "[...] Buried with Christ through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life" (Rom 6:4). The word the Apostle Paul uses in Romans 6:4 translated here as "new" comes from the Greek word kainos which may be better translated as "a new quality(or state) of life". Paul isn't saying that baptism "freshens" us up, as the translation seems to say. Paul is literally saying that the Christian life is a transformative experience and we're not, in his mind, the same ...

      Since the Protestant Reformation, Christians have struggled to find a balance between faith and works. The Roman Church leading up to the Reformation in the 16th Century placed huge amounts of emphasis on works and taught that works contributed toward personal salvation. Protestants, as the name implies, protested such ideas and sought to place the focus, not on human deeds, but on Christ's sacrificial, complete and saving work. However, a type of counter argument arose among this new Christian movement and it goes something like this: why should I do anything if Christ has done all things for me? Why should I continue to do good things if it doesn't affect my salvation at all? To come against this type of thinking, protestant theologians worked to defend the importance of one's good works, but with a protestant twist. My personal favorite example of this comes from an old German catechism dated around 1563 called  The Heidelberg Catechism .   ...

“[…] The most important thing you can do if you want to be helpful to poor people is to start dealing with your own stuff.”-Bryant Meyers, author of Walking with the Poor: Principles and Practices of Transformational Development Something that's been on my mind for the last 6 years has been the complexity of short-term mission trips. As many of you know, my wife and I worked for a short-term mission organization here in the US called "Center for Student Missions" (CSM) from 2012-2014. CSM specializes in inner-city mission trips for youth groups and helps to supply volunteers to organizations that rely mostly on volunteer efforts.   Additionally, both of us were part of short-term groups to different countries in Africa and we interfaced many times with short-term teams while living in Zambia from 2014-2018. However, as much as we loved our experience working with short-term mission groups, they always left us wondering about their effectiveness and if short-term missi...

43  “ You have heard that it was said, ‘ You shall love your neighbor   and hate your enemy.’   44  But I say to you,  love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,   45  so that you may be  sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on  the  evil and  the  good, and sends rain on  the  righteous and  the  unrighteous.   46  For  if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?   47  If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing  than others ? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48  Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:43-48, NASB) The text above comes from a very popular part of Matthew's gospel, most commonly known as The Sermon on the Mount. It follows closely after what we learned about this past Sunday at Thomasville...