69 :: Judah Church

Today we worshiped at Judah Church in Charlotte's Steele Creek section. This is the first church of the last one third of this journey. It proved to be a very interesting visit, but let's be candid... all of these churches have been very, very interesting! This was also the longest service that we have attended. It was a full two hours long.

We went to the early service at Freedom House and then headed over to Steele Creek. It is about a twenty-minute drive. We pulled into the parking lot on this rainy morning with one minute to spare before the start of worship. 

We headed toward the church, which is an industrial warehouse made out of corrugated metal. We noticed that the church has a give-and-take pantry out front for the congregation. A congregation that takes care of each other, I thought. 

We hurried into the auditorium and were greeted by amazing music plus a wide array of flags from around the world. The crowd streamed in for the service over  a fifteen minute timeframe, as the music filled the auditorium.

After the rousing music, Pastor Glenn Walters came onto the stage. He gave a sermon named Guard the Gates. This being Father's Day, he focused on the role of men in society and the church. He focused on the third chapter of Joel, where it says:

Proclaim this among the nations:
    Prepare for war!
Rouse the warriors!
    Let all the fighting men draw near and attack.
Beat your plowshares into swords
    and your pruning hooks into spears.
Let the weakling say,
 “I am strong!”
Come quickly, all you nations from every side,
    and assemble there.

Bring down your warriors, Lord!

Of note is that these verses may hit the ear differently, as they are a pure reversed facsimile of Isaiah 2:4:

He will judge between the nations
    and will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
    and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
    nor will they train for war anymore.

A verse of war and a verse of peace.... these two say things that are the opposite of each other, only six books apart in the Bible.

While I have heard the reference to beating sword into plowshares countless times, I had not taken note of the fact that there is a different exhortation to beat plowshares into swords in another part of the Book.

Context, context, context.

Fascinating...

The sermon took multiple fiery turns as it focused on the importance of strong men in the face of the challenges that life brings. The Pastor spoke about the decline of manhood more broadly in society, which he said is the root of many societal ills. Many women and children in the modern era experience lives that are more difficult by virtue of the men in their lives who act destructively, or who are simply absent.

In the words of Pastor Glenn, "Just because you can create a child does not mean you have fulfilled the privilege of becoming a father."

Solid point.

There were some things on the wall that validated that gender was a major theme at Judah Church:

He stated that animals respond to two main imperatives - those being to eat and to procreate. He declared that if you don't have any higher moral and behavioral imperatives than those two things, you might as well be an animal.

As the Pastor made these observations, he received the interactive accolades that so often accompany worship at places like Judah Church:

"Preach, Pastor! Preach."

"That's good!!"

"Truth!"

"AMEN!"

The Pastors message was a very good one. He ended it with a reference to the subsequent chapters of Joel, after the section where the people of Israel were being called into a martial posture.

"Let the nations be roused;
    let them advance into the Valley of Jehoshaphat,
for there I will sit
    to judge all the nations on every side.
Swing the sickle,
    for the harvest is ripe.
Come, trample the grapes,
    for the winepress is full
    and the vats overflow—
so great is their wickedness!”

Multitudes, multitudes

    in the valley of decision

For the day of the Lord is near

    in the valley of decision.

The sun and moon will be darkened,

    and the stars no longer shine.

The Lord will roar from Zion

and thunder from Jerusalem;

    the earth and the heavens will tremble.

But the Lord will be a refuge for his people,

    a stronghold for the people of Israel.

Here the Pastor made a great observation. 

He pointed out that the people of Israel had received a divine call into a Valley, specifically the Valley of Jehoshaphat. He declared that even in the low point of any valley (think of this as metaphorical language about life), that God is calling people to a place that is elevated above any mountaintop position that can be experienced without Him. 

Our low points are still above the high points of a secular life.

Again, a solid point. My life validates this idea.

The last section of the service was a child dedication ceremony. In churches that emphasize baptism only for people who have chosen it, there is no such thing as infant baptism. Instead, they perform a "child dedication." At Judah Church, that meant that parents would come up and have their child spoken about in front of the congregation. Additionally, each child was spoken about through a Bible verse that included their name. 

Very touching.

Here are some pictures:

We had hit the two-hour mark and things were feeling great. Beth might be what one would call a marathon worshipper, finding her stride at Let Us Worship in the third hour of the event. At Judah Church, I think she could have gone another hour.

What are my reflections on the message at Judah Church?

How do the spiritual principles that I heard in this sermon resonate with me?  

I heard two sermons that were on the exact same theme, though they had very different delivery styles.

These themes were profoundly important for me to consider in light of the fact that I am getting married and becoming a father again - and soon! 

I am the father of my three boys and always will be. But I am no longer raising them. They are adults. I don't have any role in their major life decisions unless they invite me into them.

That is contrasted against the fact that I will be a husband and a father anew, starting in August. I was twenty six years old when I became a father for the first time and I will be sixty seven years old when my daughter graduates from high school (eighteen being an arbitrary but broadly accepted milestone for her independence). 

That means that I will spend the vast majority of my earthly life giving guidance in a fathering role. 

So, what reflections do I bring to this next phase of life, as a father?

How would a Biblical worldview be brought to bear on this question?

First, to be equally yoked in Christ is to provide your marriage with what it needs to flourish. It's only when we bear that (light) burden of that specific yoke that we can be the kind of person that lives in a posture of self-sacrificial love to your spouse. 

Secondly, to be in a position where a man and a woman are both fulfilling those things that they are made for. For a husband, that means living in a disposition that is described this way:

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church — for we are members of His body.

Beth is a self-professed opponent of the patriarchy. She has very strong feelings about it and makes points that give me insight into how society is constructed that I candidly have not had the ability to see before.

When we have discussed how her deep opposition to the patriarchy might be seen as a contrast with her desire to live in relationship with a strong man who can provide leadership, she made an amazing point...

"The patriarchy does not have my best interests at heart, but you do."

Never a truer word. 

There is a theme that speaks about what that role of leadership means to me. I've been thinking about it quite a bit lately.

There are eight of us in our family, which will be joined together when we get married. We've decided not to lead with the term "blended family" when we describe ourselves. 

"Family" suffices.

The way I look at it is that in our family, when I am fulfilling my role, it will mean that when there is a danger or a struggle to confront, I would step into the first position. Conversely, where there is a deficit to be experienced or a situation in which there is not enough of something to go around, I would gladly and willingly stand in position eight.

To me, this describes the spirit of self-sacrificial love, which is so well encapsulated in the verse, "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." (John 15:13).

Finally, if the marriage of a man and woman prefigures that which is eschatologically ahead for all of us, then the consummation of our love, in which we become one flesh through my reclamation of my rib, it must be acknowledged as a depiction of the sacred and inevitable consummation in which the New Heaven and the New Earth will be rejoined, forever.

Marriage as eschaton-glimpse?

Yes!

And may that day also come soon. Maranatha!

Sincere thanks to Judah Church for a great visit. May they keep going, onward and upward!