should christians pray in joshua's name? : eight words to be reclaimed

i  spend quite of bit of time studying and meditating in the bible. i believe that the ancient scriptures are the story of God's mission. God is on a mission to restore friendship (the biblical term is "reconcile") with people and to restore all of the earth's environment, systems, cultures, and creatures to their intended purpose. the scriptures point to the One who created everything and show what true relationship with this One looks like.

the christian scriptures were originally written in ancient languages that few Americans can read. that's where the beauty of translation comes in and today we have many, many translations of the scriptures in English. recently, i've noted that there are many key words in the english translations have not be translated well for contemporary americans. here is my list of words that may need to be reclaimed for a fresh contextualization of the good news in 21st century america:

1) jesus -> joshua

when people called out across a market place to the one we call jesus, they might have said, "hey, joshua!" jesus' name in hebrew was yeshua and the best english translation of this name is joshua. so might we need to start praying in joshua's name? Iasous was the greek translation of his name and our word, "jesus," is a translation of the translation. thankfully, a name is not just the sounds we make with our vocal chords but is more the concept we have in our mind. (and i don't think i'm ready to change on this one....yet.).

2) christ -> messiah

christ is not jesus' last name, it's a title. it means "messiah" or "anointed one."  it refers the one the ancient jewish prophets foretold was coming to restore the kingdom of Israel, bring total peace on earth and restore humanity to right relationship with God. often in the new testament, jesus was refered to "yeshua the messiah of nazareth." (this was important because there many other men with the name yeshua living at the same time.) xristos is the greek translation of messiah. christ is a translation of a translation.

3) LORD -> Yahweh

even though what i just said about vocal chords is true, it strikes me as very relationally inappropriate that english translations use "LORD" for the name that God revealed of himself in the old testament. that name was YHWH, or Yahweh (traditionally jevohah.) jewish tradition forbade people from using God's covenant/relational name out of fear that people might misuse this name and break a command. but not many of us would like it if we introduced our name to people and they consistently used a title or another name altogether! ("hi, my name is luke." "oh, hello, sir." "no please, just call me luke, that's what those close to me call me." "oh, sure thing, sir.")

4) church -> gathering, assembly

this one is truly perplexing and frustrating and has been one of my most recent studies. the word that jesus and the early christians used for the continuing group of disciples (or apprentices - see below) of jesus was ecclesia in the greek. this is simply assembly or gathering in the english. it had nothing to do with a building, a program and a staff, but those are the images that come to mind today. ecclesias more resembled the structure of a loose network-like organization centered around ideals and values than a tightly regulated, heirarchical institution.

5) evangelism -> good-newsing

any kind of -ism scares most people, even though we all hold dearly to many isms. evangel means "good news." the word we translated evangelism carries a connotation of witnessing to something and of communicating a message the news sender wished to communicate. i like to use the english term, "good-newsing" instead to avoid all the unfortunate meanings it has today.

6) preaching -> proclaiming

today, most people see "preaching" as the communication/teaching of the bible that happens from the person up front to the people sitting in the church.  but the strange thing is that the world translated "preach" just means "proclaim" and it is almost always used of the communication of the message of jesus to those who haven't yet heard the news. 

7) disciple -> apprentice

jesus, in his final instructions, tells his disciples to go and make more disciples (who would in turn make more disciples.) this word, disciple, is fairly ungrounded in our vocabulary as 21st century americans. a closer translation might be something like "apprentice." the word "student" might work except for the fact that western culture only knows one type of student - one who sits in a classroom, absorbs information and recites it on a test. a disciple/apprentice/student is one who is mentored by a master teacher in the lifestyle and work of the teacher for the sake of carrying on the ways of the master teacher.

8) apostle -> "sent one"

i think that most people think of an apostle as either 1) a crazy-haired person on religious TV or 2) one of jesus' first followers who were super-holy, beyond-human guys who are now forever remembered by religious paintings and artifacts. jesus seemed to have coined a term when he called a special group of his apprentices "apostles." he had many more apprentices than twelve, but he spent more time with this group of twelve. apostle just means "sent-one," and the problem is that the weird english word, apostle, conjures little picture of sending. i don't know what a good translation would be.

would you add more?

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i believe we need a translation of the scriptures in the enlish that is translated by missionary translators.  the good new translation comes closest perhaps, but it doesn't go far enough.  i dream of a time when jesus's apprentices today spend more time helping each other actually DO the things jesus said and taught and less time figuring out what the authors meant to get across.

lent and holistic jesus-following

today is ash wednesday. many from various christian traditions see the forty days before easter as a time for reflection on and preparation for easter. fasting is a common practice during lent.

i have something to confess: i grew up in a christian tradition that looked down at people who fasted for lent. lent is all about show, right? it's all about following tradition, right? didn't jesus go off on people who fasted for show and teach that it's all about what we believe in our hearts?

yes to the first, no to the second.

dallas willard makes a rather simple, yet profound, observation in his book, the spirit of the disciplines. he says that maybe jesus' teaching are linked to the the way he lived his life in the body. jesus held up a very high view of life lived in the Kingdom of God. but for jesus, that lived-out-Kingdom-life was supported by spiritual disciplines like fasting and prayer, solitude and silence. 

is it possible that jesus' teaching on turning the other cheek and loving enemies is inseparable from his daily routine of loving people, healing them and showing compassion. is it possible that jesus' crazy teaching on everyday relationships - that we shouldn't lust over anyone, opposite or same sex - is inseparable from his extended times in the wilderness alone and fasting?

in short, is it possible that being and doing are in fact joined together?

i'm come across this recently in a class on poverty by bryant myers. myers worked with world vision for 30 years, "tackling the problems of poverty and injustice," before teaching in seminary. he believes that poverty ultimately is about the poor's marred belief about themselves and marred vocation. the world's poor don't believe that they are worth anything (and the non-poor agree) and the system keeps them from making a difference by a lived-out vocation. bryant believes that identity is what we believe inside and what we do outside. these two are both together, never separated. (this has huge impacts on how we view God too...God is who is says he is AND what he is doing in history.)

i think that i have tried too long to follow jesus' teachings on "internal things" without following his example in "external things" like spiritual disciplines. i'm going to start small in my practice of fasting during lent. maybe someday soon i'll try a harder fast.

in the end, it all comes down to motivation. is fasting a part of our holistic jesus-following? is our point to be like him in all things, centered in what he taught and how he lived, died, resurrected? if so, then i believe that we might be started on a path of actually living out jesus' radical Kingdom teachings in everyday life and making a real difference in the world.

living with your death date (part two)

it seemed that folks responded (mostly) well to the whole idea of living in light of death. (the responses are on facebook).  a couple years ago, i came across this spiritual discipline in a devotional/prayer book i was using...

"Represent to you imagination that your bed is your grave; that all things are ready for your interment; that you are to have no more to do with this world; and that it will be owing to God’s great mercy if you ever see the light of the sun again or have another day to add to your works or piety. Then commit yourself to sleep as one that is to have no more opportunity of doing good, but is to awake among the spirits that are separate from the body and waiting for the judgment of the last great day.

Such a solemn resignation of yourself into the hands of God every evening, and parting with all the world as if you were never to see it any more- and all this in the silence and darkness of the night- is a practice that will soon have excellence effects upon your spirit. For this time of the night is exceeding proper for such prayers and mediations. The likeness which sleep and darkness have to death will contribute very much to make your thoughts about it the more deep and affecting. So that I hope you will not let a time so proper for such prayers be ever passed over without them." - From A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life by William Law

blurring sacred/secular lines - studying prayers

i have a ever-growing desire to bridge the "spiritual world," and "real world," and see jesus' presence in every area of my existence. (i put those word-categories in parenthesis because i've come to doubt their helpfulness.) i've wrestled with what this means when most of my days are about reading a multitude of books, gazing at the glowing screen and listening to many words.

if you're a student and an apprentice of jesus, you probably can relate with me.

if you're a human and trying follow jesus, you might be able to relate too....how does christian spirituality relate with our work day, raising our kids, our days off and "free" time?

as i've lived a student life in grad school, i've found two prayers from past jesus-followers that have helped blur the lines. i don't think that just praying certain words before an activity is the point. but i'm all about anything that helps me on the journey. (i'm slightly pragmatic.)

the first is from thomas aquinas...the great medieval theologian/philosopher. i relate to this guy. his peers called him a "dumb ox." (read "quiet and stubborn." :) i like to pray the themes of this prayer before a time of studying. i get chills thinking what could happen in the world if students of sociology, language, philosophy, natural sciences, psychology, theology, business, economics and political science all saw our Creator as the source of knowledge, and more importantly, wisdom.

Come, Holy Spirit, Divine Creator, 

true source of light and fountain of wisdom! 

Pour forth your brilliance upon my dense intellect, 

dissipate the darkness which covers me, 

that of sin and of ignorance. 

Grant me a penetrating mind to understand, 

a retentive memory, 

method and ease in learning, 

the lucidity to comprehend, 

and abundant grace in expressing myself. 

Guide the beginning of my work, 

direct its progress, 

and bring it to successful completion. 

This I ask through Jesus Christ, 

true God and true man, 

living and reigning with You 

and the Father, forever and ever.

Amen.

the second is from the coptic prayer book. the coptic christian community in egypt is one of the oldest christian communities in the world. i like to pray with the themes in this prayer at the end of a studying time. it helps me see my studying in a framework of relationships and action.

I thank You, Lord our God, 

that again on this occasion You have opened my eyes to the light of Your wisdom. 

You have gladdened my heart with the knowledge of truth. 

I entreat You, Lord, help me always to do Your will.

Bless my soul and body, my words and deeds. 

Enable me to grow in grace, virtue and good habits, 

that Your name may be glorified, 

Father, Son and Holy Spirit, now and forever. 

Amen.

a side note- the problem with written prayers is that they become redundant and impersonal. i've found that the problem with extemporaneous prayer is that prayer becomes locked in a person's preconceived themes and the same words. a middle way might be to pray extemporaneously from written prayers and psalms. over the past five years, i've found this a very helpful practice using the psalms and have recently found the same richness and depth from written prayers.