A Focus in Life: Philippians 3:7-16

*This lesson can also be found at: http://www.faithandliferesources.org/Curriculum/abs/abs100815.html

When I was in seminary I used to do a daily 4 mile run around a point that extended into the San Francisco Bay. I can’t even imagine doing that today! The road I ran twisted and turned around the outline of land jutting into the bay. I knew when I was near my goal of four miles when I came to a steep hill that I had to traverse in order to finish my run. It took a lot of will power, sweat, straining, and great exertion of physical energy to make it over the hill and on my way back to my apartment on the seminary campus. I had to focus on the goal of making it to the end of my run. There were no others I was racing against and no prize awaited me at the end of my run. With so much time spent in my head with constant study in seminary I had a larger goal beyond getting to the end of the 4 miles…. staying healthy.

Paul uses the metaphor of running a race to speak to the Philippian believers about a larger goal than bodily exercise or winning a physical race. He talks to them about a race to know and become more like Christ. He hopes to achieve his goal through his own calling to be an apostle to the Gentiles. Though he has not turned the final corner or faced his last steep hill, Paul strains toward that goal like a runner exerting all his energy to reach the end of a run.

We all runners in a race. We are not running against anyone as if to beat them to the end of the race. And we have not reached the end of the race. There are more twists and turns on the road ahead. We have not reached the final hill we must traverse to reach our goal. But, there is still time left to exert our energies, correct our course when we take a wrong turn, and keep our eyes on the road ahead before we reach the final goal of Christ-likeness. We are all runners in a race. And in this race a prize awaits us!

• How is living a life of faith like running a race?
• What exercises do you practice to stay spiritually healthy?
• What particular “track” has God called you to run? What is your calling?

Retro Art: It's Cool, Daddy-O!

I have been diggin' the cool retro art of some contemporary painters lately. They have captured the look of the graphic art that was part of the cultural mileau during my growing up years in the 50s and 60s. They evoke old images of Tiki cocktail lounges, beatnik and hot rod cultures, commercial illustrations and 50s and 60s cartoons. That style of art is exemplified in the work of Jim Flora, an artist known for his commercial illustrations on the covers of RCA Victor and Columbia Records (above, also see http://www.jimflora.com/).

Although Flora was in many ways an original, his illustrations reflect a broader everyday style that anyone who lived in the 50s and 60s would recognize from magazines, album covers, postcards, cartoons, and commercials of the time. So, when younger appreciators of retro art comment that someone like Shag or Yaniger are highly influenced by Flora, they probably don't realize how pervasive this style of commercial illustration was in everyday life.
























Josh Agle, better known as Shag, was in diapers when this style of art was prevelant, but has captured the essence of 60s commercial illustration in his slick, stylized, mod graphic style (seehttp://www.shag.com/). His work is known worldwide and has been exhibited in modern art galleries.





















While at Powells bookstore in Portland recently(largest bookstore in the world!), I came across Wildville: The Art of Derek Yaniger. In Yaniger's art I see the same retro style that evokes images from my growing up years, when I used to carve my own tiki necklaces out of wood and watched all those stylized cartoons (seehttp://www.derekart.com/) . Aesthetically I appreciate Yaniger's ability to capture the look of the 50s and 60s commercial illustration, even more than Shag, though Yaniger has probably not recieved as much recognition as Shag.

There are plenty of other retro artists, but these artists particularly remind me, iconophile that I am, of a hipcat and groovy style. Can you dig it, Daddy-O?

Deaf Priscilla: Beauregard Ajax (1968)

My 60s rock group Beauregard Ajax. Music recorded at Del-Fi Records, Hollywood, CA, 1968. For more info on the group and album go to: http://drummingforpeace.blogspot.com/2009/02/beauregard-ajax-deaf-priscilla.html

Deaf Priscilla, Beauregard Ajax by Leo Hartshorn

2003 Bethel College Staley Lecture: Rhythmic and Irenic Pedagogy or Teaching Peace with a Funky Beat

Just came across this while looking through CDs and didn't realize I had a copy of my 2003 Staley Lecture presentation (see list under 2003 at http://www.bethelks.edu/academics/lectures/staley.php at Bethel College, Newton, Kansas (a Mennonite College). I was suprised to be invited to give the Staley Lecture! I had only received my doctorate (in Anabaptist preaching) a year earlier as well as beginning my job as Minister of Peace and Justice for Mennonite Mision Network. Who was I to give a lecture? But, I did and enjoyed doing it. In this lecture I gave some historical background to drumming in the Bible and world cultures as well as performing several teaching exercises with Bethel College students attending the lecture, which was probably a first for an acedemic lecture series! I translated this to an MP3 ovew 30 minutes in length, which includes the demonstrations.

01 Staley Lecture 2003 Rhythmic and Irenic Pedagogy or Teaching Peace with a Funky Beat by Leo Hartshorn

Art Gish: Christian Peacemaker, 1939-2010

Finished a drawing of Art Gish, peace activist who died this week in a farming accident (Read the stoty at:http://www.athensnews.com/ohio/article-31680-prominent-local-activist-dies-in-farming-accident.html). I read Art's book The New Left and Christian Radicalism back in the late 70s, when I was looking for anything that was Christian and radical. I met Art at a regional peace gathering I helped organize in Columbus, Ohio around 2004. We were at a table with a Christian Zionist who had a totally different perspective on Israel/Palestine than Art and the rest of us at the table! And yet, Art treated him with respect, even though he has been on the ground in Israel/Palestine with Christian Peacemaker Teams and knows well the real situation there and not just some idealogy.

Art became recognized internationally through an Associated Press photo of him confronting an Israeli tank ready to destroy a Palestinian marketplace (See picture above and read the story at :http://mideastchristians.virtualactivism.net/articles/amongapples.htm)

May his wife, Peggy, find comfort in her loss and the world weep upon the loss of one of her prophets.

Video of Art and Peggy Gish, Old Radicals:

Old Radicals from matthew leahy on Vimeo.

Custom Honda VTX by Leo Hartshorn

Serving Others: Philippians 2:1-13

*This lesson can also be found at: http://www.faithandliferesources.org/Curriculum/abs/abs100808.html

Servanthood has been an unquestioned metaphor for the core of the Christian discipleship. It has been a dominant metaphor for Anabaptist-Mennonites. The image of Jesus washing the disciple’s feet is at the heart and art of our identity. Among the many New Testament texts on servanthood we love this text in Philippians about having the mind of Christ. We had that mind in us as we created numerous organizations around serving others. Servanthood is in our minds and hearts.

Having been shaped by Anabaptist theology, even before I knew who Anabaptists were, I believed that servanthood was the key to Christianity. It is one of the essential elements of the Anabaptist tradition that drew me into the Mennonite Church. So, I could never imagine anyone daring to question the idea of servanthood.

That is, until I started reading womanist theology, which is theology from the perspective of black women. I discovered that servanthood was being questioned as a key metaphor for Christian discipleship. My view of servanthood was turned on its head when I came across Jacquelyn Grant’s essay “The Sin of Servanthood: And the Deliverance of Discipleship.” She argues that servanthood in our country has been more exactly servitude. Given the nature of Black women’s servitude Grant questions the use of the metaphor of servanthood as helpful in their relationship to God and others. How does one justify teaching a people that they are called to a life of service when they have been imprisoned by the most exploitive forms of service?

Grant offers an important critique of servanthood as a model for our relationship to God and others, particularly among those who have had little power and have been the actual, not metaphorical, servants of those in the dominant white culture. The text in Philippians might better serve those of us with more power and privilege in society. To have the mind of Christ would be for us to empty ourselves of our power and privilege, value others above ourselves, and take on the form of a servant to those who have been the real servants among us.

• In what ways is “servanthood” a meaningful metaphor for understanding our relationship to God and others?
• How can “servanthood” be a limited or unhelpful metaphor for Christian discipleship?
• How are you or your church practicing the truths from this Philippian text?

Overcoming Obstacles: Philippians 1:18b-30

*This lesson can also be found at: http://www.faithandliferesources.org/Curriculum/abs/abs100801.html

Citizens of Heaven. A whole lot of theology is packed into that short phrase. It proclaims where our primary allegiance lies. It paints the landscape of our true home. It places the seal on our final destiny as sojourners in this world.

16th century Anabaptists lived as pilgrims in this world and citizens of heaven. Their primary allegiance was not to the countries in which they lived, but to God, the Ruler of the cosmos, and the realm of heaven. So, they made a clear distinction between their loyalties to the church and the state. Since their true country was not bounded by borders with walls or defended by armies and was ruled by a crucified Lord, they need not take up carnal weapons to defend the countries where they lived as resident aliens. And because their permanent citizenship was in a land that was no land, an immaterial realm of truth and light, they could face hardship, imprisonment, suffering, and martyrdom with the assurance and hope of a place beyond this mortal world.

Paul the apostle, a prisoner of the Roman Empire and a citizen of heaven, writes to the Philippian church. His citizenship in heaven keeps him from despair and he can even speak of rejoicing in the face of death. Because the believers at Philippi share the same citizenship they can face any obstacle life throws in their path. Their feet are firmly planted, not on this passing world and its transitory power, but in the Spirit.

One thing that growing older gives you is….perspective. I have seen many national leaders come and go. Trends and fashions change with the wind and circle back again. I have faced steep hills, roadblocks, and dead ends and have made it through them all. Everything changes and passes away, even this life. As my dear mother, a faithful Christian now passed, used to say as she faced her many difficulties in life, “This too shall pass”

My mother had perspective. It wasn’t that she simply saw life to be forever changing and ephemeral, but she stood solid on the landscape of the Spirit with feet firmly planted in the eternal realm. She lived a life worthy of the gospel to the end. She could face life….and death….with confidence as a citizen of heaven. Everything on earth may pass, but the realm of God is eternal. This is the confidence and assurance that Paul seeks to instill in the Philippian believers. As citizens of heaven live in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ….stand firm in the one Spirit.

• What does being a “citizen of heaven” mean to you?
• How does being a “citizen of heaven” shape your loyalties in this world?
• How does being a “citizen of heaven” help you to face obstacles and difficulties?