A Fresh Perspective

Almost everyone who has been in church is familiar with the hymn, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.” It was written by a son to comfort his mother whom he had left behind in Ireland when he came to the United States in the 1850s. It reflects the sentiments of a Victorian age, but it is a much beloved hymn. According to the hymn, Jesus is our friend because he bears our burdens and sorrows. The hymn was written to assure his mother, that though he couldn’t be there with her, Jesus is with her and he is a friend like no other. He asks, “Can we find a friend so faithful, who will all our sorrows share?” The hymn presents Jesus as a faithful friend who helps us to carry the load of our personal sorrows and burdens. Friendship is presented as gift and blessing. Who can argue with that? Who would want to argue with that?   The subject of friendship is introduced in our text today, but it is presented from a different angle. Jesus contrasts servanthood and friendship, calling his d...

  The story goes that General Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, was scheduled to deliver a message at a major convention to chart the future of the organization for the next 50 years. As the time approached, he became ill and could not attend in person; but he wired the message he wanted delivered. The people waited on the edge of their seats for the telegram.   When it arrived, the one chosen to deliver the message walked up to the platform, opened the telegram, and a confused, puzzled look came over him. There was just one word on the telegram. It was the word “others.”     In Philippians 2, Paul exhorts the church to focus on others. He says in 2:3–4: “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.” Clearly the focus is on “others.” To commend this way of life—this other–centeredness—Paul draws upon an early C...

Some Christians have a narrow understanding of salvation that makes it all about the afterlife (going to heaven). They think they know who has it and who doesn’t, who’s in and who’s out, and they consider the work of the church to be largely about converting others to their version of the truth of salvation. It’s hard for me to be too critical of these Christians, since at one time, I, also held to that exclusive version of salvation. Progressive Christians (and more evangelical Christians are coming to this realization also) insist that there are multiple images and metaphors for salvation in the Scriptures and different contemporary ways for understanding salvation. Many Christians are surprised to learn that not a single reference to salvation in the Old Testament relates to the afterlife. And only a few references in the New Testament relate specifically to the afterlife. One of the dominant images in both Testaments is salvation as liberation from bondage. In the OT this is I...