by Rebekah Simon-Peter | Aug 21, 2013
Just as Christians celebrate Easter and Christmas every year, so Jesus and his family—along with their relatives and friends—celebrated Passover every year.
It was a big to-do.
Each spring in the Hebrew month of Nisan they trekked from their home in Nazareth up to Jerusalem for the seven-day festival of Passover.
One year, as Jesus was approaching manhood by traditional Jewish calculation, “when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival.” They may have gone up as usual but they didn’t come back as usual. The rest of the family headed home but unbeknownst to them Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, without even a word.
What Mary and Joseph would’ve given for a cell phone and a text message!
Without any digital advantage however, his parents were worried sick. They turned around mid-journey and finally located Jesus in the Temple. They weren’t that happy about it either. Mary scolds Jesus who was “sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.” Apparently, they were also asking Jesus questions because the teachers “were amazed at his understanding and answers.” Jesus, unfazed, wonders why his parents were searching for him. “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” His parents were as baffled by his actions and his response as Jesus was by their anxiety.
If this story is any indication, Mary and Joseph definitely trained up their child in the way he should go. He loved God, loved Torah, and loved learning—all pluses in the Jewish world view. As the years went by, “Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor.” Mary and Joseph did a good job raising Jesus as a faithful Jew. But as parents know all too well, not every kid keeps the faith. What about Jesus? Did he take it on as his own as he grew up? Or did he leave it behind and become a Christian?
(Excerpt from The Jew Named Jesus, p 27-28, Rebekah Simon-Peter, Abingdon Press, 2013)
by Rebekah Simon-Peter | Jun 28, 2013
In my work with church leaders and their congregations, I often hear the words, “They’re all good people. Why can’t we just get along and work together?”
Great question! We’re all part of one human family, but that doesn’t save us from seemingly endless strife.
But there ARE ways to ease conflict in your church, ways that you can learn to work together with greater success and vitality than you’ve ever dreamed possible. With these 4 Steps to Easing Conflict, you really can stop pulling your hair out and put away the aspirin bottle!
1. Embrace Your Humanity.
Yep! The first step is all about YOU! Embrace your own humanity.
When conflict strikes, especially when it seems ever-present in our congregations, its easy to point a finger at ourselves. “I MUST be the problem!” But before you get too hard on yourself, take a step back. You’re doing God’s work and it wasn’t always easy for Jesus, either! Sometimes his message wasn’t well-received or fell on deaf ears. But, he kept on truckin’!
Conflict doesn’t signal disaster. In fact, it may be a sign that things are starting to work, that people are thinking and caring about what’s happening in your church and how to make things work better. They care enough to speak up and voice their opinions. A lack of conflict, in fact, could mean that nobody’s listening, nobody cares.
Building fair, just, honest and holy relationships is hard work! Accept that and accept yourself.
In the midst of arguments, hurt feelings, and temper tantrums, embrace your own humanity just as you are. Just as God does.
2. Discover What Motivates You and Those Around You.
How important are your motivators? Well, very important in easing conflict!
Take a look at what’s truly motivating you in your ministry. Is your priority building your congregation while your lay leaders are more concerned with community involvement? Are you trying to build a social justice ministry while their main focus is the next bake sale? Are you wanting to see changes NOW while they are working steadily at (what you consider) a snail’s pace?
Pace and Priority (those key words again!), don’t need to be the same to work together successfully and peacefully, but knowing your motivators and those of whom you’re working with, is essential.
3. Decode Conflict.
Once you’ve discovered motivations, it’s time to take the next step and decode the conflict that’s slowing you down. What’s really going on for your people when they’re in conflict?
If you know that Sasha’s conscientiousness motivates her to get things done systematically, completing one project before going on to the next, you can see why Martin’s enthusiasm and energy, his pace and desire to start new programs and ideas, might cause tension. Their Pace and Priority levels are very different.
But, once you have the tools to decode the conflict around you, to understand motivators, what makes people “tick”, you can help facilitate Sasha and Martin to the satisfaction of both and the benefit of your church!
4. Strategize for Success.
Now, that you’ve embraced your own humanity, as well as that of your church leaders, and understand that we all truly have different motivations though all for what each of us perceives as the good of the church, you can work together more efficiently in strategizing for the success of your church community!
Finally, kick back and breathe. Then breathe again. Trust God to lead you through the process.
I’m always here to help too. Send an email to of****@***************er.com if you’d like a complementary consultation about how to ease conflict in your congregation.
by Rebekah Simon-Peter | Jan 7, 2013
Between tweeting, texting, phone calls, emails and blogging, it’s hard to get a thing done! If you’re like me, you can sit at your desk and simply respond to the next electronic thing that blinks, flashes, chirps or vibrates. Staying busy while getting further and further behind.
It happens with the big things, too. For many of my friends who pastor churches, death is taking up an increasing amount of time. How does one ever plan for the future if it’s all about tying up loose ends from the past? How do we birth a new kingdom if we are always attending to endings?
I took some time between Christmas and New Year, after two deaths in my own family, to turn it all off and tune in to my spirit and to the Divine nudge. What does God want from me? Where are my gifts calling me? Where does the world’s deep need and my own gladness meet?
I spent several days dreaming, reflecting, writing. 
Then I wrote a letter dated December 31, 2013. Yes, 2013. In the letter, I reflected on the year just passed. I coded my dreams, along with the Spirit’s nudge, into words of gratitude and thankfulness for all that transpired. It was playful, intentional, and inspiring. Then I read it aloud to my husband and my friend Lyna. Now I have it in a place where I can review my dreams once a week.
Will I actually get to be on Talk of the Nation? Or manage to meditate every morning? No telling. Will my new writing find publishers this year? Will my giving exceed that of last year’s? Who knows? Will I grow all the vegetables I intend? Or serve all the people I envision? No telling on any of this. Hey, I might be not even be alive by the end of the year. (No, there’s nothing wrong with my health. It’s just that none of us really knows how much time we have.)
But I do know this: the clearer the vision I have for the year, the more tuned in I am to the prompting of God, the steadier the course I can chart. So when things begin blinking, flashing, chirping, and vibrating I can choose responsibly. When funerals begin to pile up and the needs of those I love collide, I know where to get back on course.
The world will invariably be sweeter, wilder, and more unpredictable than I can imagine. But God is faithful. And, like Paul, in my own way I intend “to press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Phil 3:14
In fact, I’m looking forward to 2013. And to reading that letter at year’s end. Most of all, I’m looking forward to being of service, and building the Kingdom of God, in ways great and small!
What about you?
by Rebekah Simon-Peter | Dec 1, 2012
Do you remember what happened on the 8th day of Christmas?
The 8th day of Christmas, you ask? You mean, eight maids a milking?
Nope!
On the eighth day of Christmas–after Jesus is born in a humble feeding trough, after the angels sing “Glory to God in the highest” and announce good news of great joy to all the people, after the shepherds, amazed, run to Bethlehem, but before the Magi come bearing gifts–Jesus is formally welcomed into the Jewish people.
The eighth day of Christmas, as it were, is when Jesus is circumcised and named. The ancient rite of circumcision, first practiced by Abraham as a sign of the covenant with God, is routinely performed in hospitals now. But not then.
And then as now, circumcision is the first and most basic mitzvah (commandment or law) to be fulfilled for a Jewish baby boy.
“This is my covenant which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskins and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. Throughout your generations every male among you shall be circumcised when he is 8 days old…” Genesis 17:10-12a
Jesus isn’t the first Jewish boy whose circumcision is noted in the New Testament. Don’t forget cousin John’s, also on the eighth day. His naming and miraculous birth is mentioned as well.
“Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him Zechariah after his father. But his mother said ‘No, he is to be called John.’”
Luke 1: 57-60
Circumcision is a permanent sign, etched in the flesh, of partnership with God. Even more than lineage and ancestry, circumcision anchors these boys, and their families, firmly in the Jewish community.
At his circumcision Jesus is also named with “the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.” (Luke 2:21) By the way, it should be noted that girls are named too, but not circumcised.
About a month after Jesus’ circumcision, Joseph and Mary come to Jerusalem. There they present Jesus to the LORD in the ancient practice of redemption of the firstborn son (pidyon ha ben). Since Jesus is Mary’s firstborn, and as the author of Colossians later asserts, “the firstborn of all creation” (1:15), he is presented then bought back or redeemed after he reaches 31 days old.
Joseph and Mary would have paid a small sum (five silver shekels in biblical times; today, usually five silver dollars) and performed a brief ritual in the Temple to fulfill the mitzvah. (Numbers 18:15-16)
While the family is at the Temple for the redemption ceremony, two righteous and devout Jews, Simeon and the prophetess Anna, recognize Jesus as a sign of God’s salvation and praise God, for this “light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel” who would himself redeem Jerusalem. (Luke 2:32, 2:38)
From his earliest days, Jesus is raised in a strong and beautiful Jewish home. From circumcision to naming to redemption to offering sacrifices, Mary and Joseph do “everything required by the law of the Lord.”
Not from a sense of empty duty or obligation, I suspect, but a profound connection to God and Torah and love of their child, Jesus.
After these mitzvot (plural of mitzvah) are fulfilled, Jesus and his parents “returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.” At home in Nazareth the mitzvot, blessings, prophesies and praises take root: “the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.” (Luke 2:39-40)
___
Excerpted from the forthcoming book, “The Jew Named Jesus” (Abingdon Press, 2013) by Rebekah Simon-Peter.
by Rebekah Simon-Peter | Jun 30, 2012
Congress is in the midst of wrestling with our fiscal problems. Currently, they are trying to set the budget for 2012, ensuring that it sets us on the path to fiscal health while adequately funding programs that we, as a country and as states, cannot function without.
As a person of faith, I believe that the most vital of these programs are those that provide for families and individuals struggling financially.
In this time of economic uncertainty and unemployment, opportunities such as the SNAP program (formerly food stamps) and the Women, Infants, and Children Program provide support to the millions of Americans who are struggling to make ends meet.
As a United Methodist clergywoman for 17 years, I have seen families and individuals who never expected to need the help of the government rely on these programs to get through the hard times. And in the most challenging economic time we have seen since the Great Depression and questions about what our economic future holds, these programs are needed now more than ever.
And yet, as our elected leaders work to achieve fiscal health, many of these programs are being threatened with reductions in funding. Others could be eliminated altogether leaving the already vulnerable to wonder where their next meal will come from or how they will keep the heat on next winter.
At the same time, while families are being denied support, we continue to provide incentives in the form of subsidies for energy companies — including those companies that are getting rich from energy found on America’s public lands. They are not required to pay for leasing the land or to compensate U.S. families for the profits they reap from selling the oil and gas found on public lands.
Companies such as Exxon Mobil and BP are being provided with financial incentives to develop energy in the United States and yet these companies are recording record-breaking profits year after year. Various analyses indicate that from the years 2000-08, energy subsidies for fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and gas, amounted to more than $72 billion. Yet in 2008, Exxon Mobil reported a record profit of $45.2 billion.
Is this the picture of justice that Jesus envisioned? He was greatly concerned about the plight of the poor of his day. I fear that Congress will provide little or no money for the vulnerable among us, including children and single moms. Yet, we are seeing record profits for multinational energy corporations as a result of financial support from the United States. Our priorities are out of line.
We must end the subsidies for energy companies, particularly those that are securing energy from our public lands. These lands are owned by the people of the United States and given to us as a gift from God. We must invest this money in our communities, our families, and the health and well-being of future generations.
Let us shift our priorities to focus on the health of our people — not the health of a multinational energy corporation. This is our faithful call and our responsibility.
Read more: http://trib.com/opinion/columns/energy-subsidies-vs-food-for-all/article_e519489f-8db0-59fd-8a09-dac678913bfb.html?mode=story#ixzz1zK0tpsNO
by Rebekah Simon-Peter | May 7, 2012
I missed church on Sunday. At least, I didn’t make it to my own church. Instead, Sunday found me sitting in a pew in a Roman Catholic Church prepared to celebrate the First Holy Communion of Rachel and Lauren, the twin 8 year olds who live across the street.
Our families are engaged in “neighboring”and it’s deeply related to a healthy democracy.
Here’s how it goes. The girls and their mom often watch Amigo, our little dog, when we are gone. We help them out with projects from time to time too. We often meet in the middle of the street just to say hi and to check out what’s happening. We are frequently in each others home and have figured out we all like riding bikes! And we are worried about environmental issues.
We have a lot in common and that helps.
Now, I have other neighbors down the street I haven’t yet approached. They have signs hanging outside on their fence that I’m not quite sure what to make of. One says “God bless Arizona.” The other says “God bless Israel.”
I’m all for blessing states and countries and I’m very pro-Israel. But I can’t help but wonder if that isn’t really code language for something else, like: “We don’t like Mexicans and we don’t like Palestinians.” Or even: “God damn Mexicans and Palestinians.”
I’m not sure. But this I know: My husband and his family are of Mexican, Spanish and Indian descent. And I believe in the human dignity and rights of Palestinians as well as of Israelis. In fact, I believe in a world that works for everyone. All families, all ethnicities, all religions, all species.
So, where does that put us as neighbors?
I confess I’m not really sure.
I’m reading Parker Palmer’s newest book, “Healing The Heart of Democracy: The Courage to Create a Politics Worthy of the Human Spirit.” It’s very challenging. And very timely. Not just because of the world we live in, but because of the neighborhood I live in.
He notes that regularly, “we withdraw into the silence of private life or express ourselves with cynicism and anger that make the public realm toxic, producing more psychodrama than social change.”
You’d have to live in a cave to not experience that…no matter what neighborhood, state or country you live in!
Palmer suggests an antidote.
It begins with seeing democracy as a way of being. It takes shape in neighboring and other local associations. It’s open to “The Other”and practices holding tension creatively. It’s a way of being that moves us beyond our own little privatized worlds. And requires both chutzpah and humility to engage the process well.
All of this is needed, he suggests, to counteract the “culture of cruelty” that overtakes when fear-mongering outweighs facts or real conversation.
So, as part of creating a politics worthy of the human spirit, I’m practicing democracy in my little neighborhood. I know I’ll connect with the girls and their mom in the middle of the street soon. Probably this afternoon.
But what about my other neighbors? That’s going to take an intentional action from me. To get over my fear, my judgmentalism and my “privatized world” that could easily keep them out.
It’s the kind of intentional act Jesus told stories about. He too highlighted neighboring as the foundation of a healthy kind of living: the Kingdom of God. Reaching out beyond the norms to embrace “The Other.” Of course, his wisdom was grounded in the Torah, too. All of this makes a very strong case for me.
So what’s a democratically-inclined person who longs for a world that works for everyone to do?
It might just be time to bake some banana bread and head on down the block to meet all of my neighbors!
