Okay, so I’ve explained the usage regarding a “bema” and how it has been used through the centuries. Jews use the term “bema” regularly in their worship, but this snappy boytshik knows how to inform people about being ON A BEMA! Oy!
If you didn’t know, this is a parody of “I’m on a Boat”. If you don’t know what that is, well… a joke isn’t funny when you have to explain it.
On the Bema
I’m sure you have found yourself on the other end of an internet conversation with a fanatical Christian… debating abortion, government intervention, homosexuality, and other hot topics. Or, you have tried to convince your friends of their woeful ways over Facebook. Either way, the results are not pretty.
Anyone can fall into the trap of being a jerk on the internet: forcibly offending others, name calling, passive aggressiveness, espousing incorrect statistics from questionable secondary sources, using ALL CAPS, posting embarrassing high school pictures, and just bad behavior. It seems Christians can, at times, be the worst offenders. At some point in our online experience everyone has been a jerk in one way or another.
Recently, Jon Acuff, a Wall Street Journal best-selling author, wrote an article for RELEVANT magazine (apparently deemed a “hipster-Christian” publication) about his experiences with jerkiness:
When RELEVANT asked me to write this article, I originally wanted to title it, “How to Be a Jerk on the Internet.” I felt like that article would be easier for me to write because I’ve got much more experience at being a jerk than I have at not being one—ask people who went to college with me. They’ll tell you. I was a jerk online before online even existed. (That last sentence was like Inception; I was a jerk within a jerk within a jerk.)
Acuff goes on to name five ways people (Christians) can be a jerk on Twitter and pretending . Perhaps my fav is the “Jesus juke”:
Debbie Downer
A Jesus Juke is an idea I came up with to describe the moment when you’re having a normal conversation and someone jukes in some Jesus out of nowhere. For example, I once tweeted that I was at the Conan O’Brien live tour and it was sold out. Someone responded, “If we held a concert for Jesus and gave away free tickets, no one would come.” Sad trumpet, whaaa, waaaa. A Jesus Juke is the Christian version of the Debbie Downer moment.
I’m not sure if the “Jesus juke” qualifies as jerk behavior. That’s called being lame.
Anyway, jerks and Christians jerks take note.
With the 10th anniversary of September 11, 2001 approaching, many Americans are sorting through their minds and hearts. How have I changed from 10 years ago? What do I feel when I think of September 11, 2001? Where was I on that fateful day? Why am I still sad? Where can our country go from here?
Ten years ago on September 11, I was in college. I was getting out of a Tuesday morning class when I heard people talking about an airplane crash. As I walked back to my apartment, I heard more and more information. I walked by a utility truck and heard words on the radio, “World Trade Center… airplane… Pentagon… crash.” I thought to myself, this is serious. Minutes later I watched the towers come down.
As we reflect and look back, we have three main responses to the attacks on September 11, 2001.
Anger – We are understandably upset and angry that our country was threatened. We are angry that people’s lives were lost, that our sense of security was broken, and we are hurt that people think America is not a place of freedom. Ten years ago, we looked towards people and places to direct our hostile feelings. Many of us may still be angry at people and institutions that committed these acts or did not prevent the attacks. Still, if we let our anger stew and our hate grow, we are no better than those who actively resist against our country. Anger is a place that we can visit, but we cannot make a home of it. We are often angry because we are afraid.
Sadness – Tears are a way that we let our emotions out. Feelings of depression that hovered around on September 11, 2001 are revisited 10 years later. We might even recall the numbness we felt watching the television week after week the scene of the towers coming down. We feel sadness for those families who lost loved ones. Sometimes, sadness brings back memories that we want to forget. We often want to isolate ourselves during periods of melancholy. It’s healthy to be sad and express sadness. However there is a better way.
Hope – This is the stuff that makes Americans great. Our optimism has propelled each generation to work harder so that our children can have a better life. Ten years ago, that was the message that we clung to. We hoped that we could rebuild. We did. We hoped that we could be safe. We are. We hoped that our country could be united. We remain. Hope is the final response we can have. Sure, anger and sadness are natural emotions, but it is hope that gets us through the worst of times.
On this September 11, may you have hope as you look back 10 years. May you have hope as you look forward to another 10 years. May you have hope that your family and this world can be a better place. Put your hope into action and start by committing yourself to acts of kindness and compassion in your own community.
Today, remember the day, but remember what is great about humanity: the ability to continue and recover in the midst of struggle.
If you are in Ballston Spa on September 11, I invite you to our village September 11 Service of Remembrance @ 6:30 p.m. Village pastors will be leading the service and we will recognize our community leaders.
"Like" me, my son.
Apparent, Jesus is getting into the Facebook scene… and, he’s well liked. After using Facebook to push his diet products, Aaron Tabor, a doctor created a Facebook page called, Jesus Daily. He started the page in April 2009 as a hobby. Now, over 8 million people have ‘liked’ Jesus’ page. The New York Times reports:
For the last three months, more people have “Liked,” commented and shared content on the Jesus Daily than on any other Facebook page, including Justin Bieber’s page, according to a weekly analysis by AllFacebook.com, an industry blog. “I wanted to provide people with encouragement,” said Dr. Tabor, who keeps his diet business on a separate Facebook page. “And I thought I would give it a news spin by calling it daily.”
And…
More than 43 million people on Facebook are fans of at least one page categorized as religious.
Poll after poll shows that Generation Y is not living the faith patterns of previous generations. Many parents of Generation Y choose not to “force” religion upon their children because of their negative experiences with church or because postmodernity has enabled them to see all truths as equal. It seems that parents are not bringing their children to church on a regular basis, not sharing the family story of religion, and are not making religion a part of their family of creation’s life.
NPR interviewed Asra Nomani, professor of journalism at Georgetown University; Kara Powell, author of Sticky Faith: Everyday Ideas to Build Lasting Faith in Your Kids; and Regina Brett, author of God Never Blinks. You can listen to the interview here.
One of the churches that we’ve been working closely with asked 20 kids it they knew how their parents decided to become Christians. And zero of the 20 kids knew how their parents became Christians, knew about that process. And so to me that’s just a wake-up call for all of us, regardless of what religious tradition or creative tradition we are following right now, to simply talk with our kids, ask questions and listen.
Religion and spirituality in America is becoming so individualistic that we are not sharing our faith experiences with our children. Based on Nomani’s book, this is a culture which is quickly losing their family faith connections. Nomani even reflected personally on her research:
I went back-to-school shopping with my three kids. We tumbled into the minivan for the drive home and I wanted to put on a song that was meaningful to me. So I put on a worship song, a song that talked about how God has changed our lives. And before our research I would have just put the song on and not talked about it at all. But because of our research I put the song on and then I said to my kids, guys, would you like to know why I chose this song and why it’s meaningful to me? And they said, yeah, sure, Mom. So I told them. So I think part of what, regardless of our faith tradition, our opportunity for us as parents is to share, both from our past as well as our present, our spiritual highs and lows.
Somewhere in American family life, parents have come to believe that teaching faith is an injustice because the child has not had a chance to make a decision. Parents teach all types of things to their children in which their child has no choice. Ethics, morality, table manners, family vacations, educational priories, when they can date, what friends they can hang out with, what they can eat, what they can watch, and what music or video is deemed appropriate. The family table is full of guiding principles.
Why is religion not on that family table too?
This blog has existed for over two years and often people ask, “What’s a bema?”
In worship, I often use the word “bema” to describe the elevated area of the sanctuary were the Word is read, preaching occurs, the choir sings, and other religious function occur. “Bema” is a foreign term to most low church goers and Baptists, but the concept is older than Christianity.
Baptists usually refer someone “preaching on the pulpit”. This terminology is incorrect. The pulpit is a piece of furniture where one holds notes, sermon text, Bible, etc… You preach from a pulpit. Therefore, you cannot “stand” on the pulpit. There is more to the space around the place where the Word is shared. The “bema” helps us understand that there is more room than just the place where a preacher preaches.
For thousands of years the “bema” or raised part of a church or synagogue, has been the place where religious ideas were shared. Throughout Christianity, the bema area was /is used as the place where the word and sacrament come together.
In the same light, On The Bema makes room and is the intersection for the sharing of ideas, trends, and culture that flow through Christianity.
On the Bema is refocusing into shorter ideas, stories, and trends that involve faith and culture. Yes, I’ll keep blogging, but you’ll also see polls, statistics, trends, pictures, and video.
Be on the look out for new post and don’t forget to subscribe via e-mail to keep up with all the latest posts – look to the right panel to subscribe.
Changes are coming to On The Bema! 
Church and religion doesn’t have to be stuffy and boring. Several monks prove that. Enter the Unvirtuous Abbey. A bunch of monks give us everything regrettable about Christianity, culture, people, and Facebook but make us laugh at it… in a good way. The Unvirtuous Abbey ministers to people from their Facebook and Twitter page with funny and some serious tweets and updates. Some proclaim them virtuous and others unvirtuous. I took some time to sit down with these humorous monks to see what makes them tick. You be the judge:
You monks have some very funny and very serious prayers on Twitter and Facebook. Where do you receive inspiration?
What’s become evident is how many people have been hurt by religion/church. We wondered, “What if there were unapologetic monks who actually stood up to religious bullies? And what if we threw in a bit of ‘snark’ just to make it fun and interesting?”
Humour has incredible power. Religion has the capacity to be hurtful, and many people have used it was a weapon. It’s fun mashing up cultural references with Jesus. Of course Jesus didn’t have a magic sword, but it’s interesting to put him in that scenario:
Jesus held aloft his magic sword and said, “By the power of Grayskull!” And they spake unto one another, saying, “He has the power.”
The truth is, he does.
Your prayers mention WiFi, beer, fanny packs, Harry Potter, tattoos, and Joel Osteen. Is this what makes the monks “unvirtuous”?
Continue Reading…
I’m taking the month of August off to think about the future of On The Bema. I’ll still post over at the Times Union Blog. With my upcoming book on associate pastor ministry coming out next year with Judson Press, I have to make some decisions about managing my social media presence and related websites.
-Alan
Several news outlets, including the New York Times and the Associate Baptist Press, are reporting that presidential hopeful, Michele Bachmann is now a Baptist. Bachmann separated herself from the Salem Lutheran Church (Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod) in Stillwater, Minnesota, last month. Her separation from her church came shortly before announcing her White House bid.
Bachmann most likely did not want her church’s stances to distract her campaign. Salem Lutheran church opposes same-sex marriages and calls the Pope the “anti-Christ”:
Since Scripture teaches that the Antichrist would be revealed and gives the marks by which the Antichrist is to be recognized, and since this prophecy has been clearly fulfilled in the history and development of the Roman Papacy, it is Scripture which reveals that the Papacy is the Antichrist.
Some think that Bachmann wanted to avoid a Jeremiah Wright moment for her campaign, which haunted President Obama. Apparently, a meeting with her pastor sparked her departure from the church. An aide commented on the situation:
I think most people have heard about the show, ‘Sister Wives’ on TLC. The show highlights Kody Brown, a polygamist normal guy, who is legally married to one woman, but has three other “wives” (not legally). With several states redefining who can be married, it seems that Brown thinks he can fight a law that Mormons unsuccessful tried to in the 19th century.
Brown’s arguement is that his four wives, Robyn, Christine, Meri and Janelle, have a consensual relationship in the privacy of their own household. He believe that it is a private concern and wants to use a 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning sodomy laws for the benefit of gay couples. The law was overturned because of the argument that states cannot govern “intimate conduct” between consenting adults.
All this heat on Brown’s marriages forced the family to move from Utah to Nevada. Apparently, the famous polygamist might have a chance to win his case. Civil rights attorney Brian Barnard said,
Continue Reading…
If you never heard of Pastor Mark Driscoll then maybe you should. His church, Mars Hill Church in Seattle has over 6,000 members in just 11 years. Driscoll is often described as a maverick in the ministry and has one the most innovative churches in the country. TIME magazine was interested in this pastor’s ministry and has featured him in a few articles.
Recently, the mega church pastor caught fire from Christians with this Facebook update:
This comment clearly takes a shot a certain type of person in the ministry. Not only that, the undertones of a comment like this do nothing to advance the kingdom of God. If you are shocked by this comment, as am I, do not think this is the first time Driscoll said something like this. Many in the Christian community have a hard time with Driscoll’s “tough guy” persona and some question his ability to lead.
The New York Times wrote about Driscoll’s ministry and his tenancy to “male-ize” his ministry:
Continue Reading…
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