Tag: bible

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Feature: Andrew Walton

Faculty Present Research at Faculty Scholarship Day - Courtesy of Marcomm
By Anna Catherman ('24)

Dr. Andrew Walton has been in school for 21 years. During his undergraduate years at Houghton College, he took a gap year to “go be a ski bum in Colorado.” After his freshman year as a politics major, he was adrift. But once he came back, he “never left school again.” He ended up switching his major after falling in love with the Old Testament of the Bible. 

Upon graduation, Walton immediately entered Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He toyed with a career in ministry, but ultimately felt led to scholarship. Walton enjoys studying the language and Israelite culture. He went straight from his Master’s program at Gordon-Conwell to Harvard, where he completed his Ph.D. in Hebrew Bible. 

Coming back to Houghton from Harvard was a transition that Walton welcomed. 

“I wanted to be in a college that cared about students,” Walton said. 

Besides teaching Old Testament courses, Walton is also involved in research. The area he’s been focusing on is the idea of challenging God. Last semester, he shared a Faculty Lecture entitled “The Paradox of the Pious Person: When Challenging God is the Most Faithful Course of Action.” He explained that there are many instances in the Old Testament where the Israelites are “talking back to God.” Abraham begs for Sodom and Gomorrah to be spared, David laments in the Psalms and Jacob wrestles with God. It’s a longstanding tradition, and one that comes up frequently in his classes. 

While many Christians view doubts as a major weakness, Walton has a different take on it. He says that ignoring wrestling and doubts is unhealthy for Christians. But at the same time, resisting God in any way is “a delicate and dangerous conversation.” Therein lies the paradox of his work, and one he discusses regularly with students. He reads a lot about it too. 

Walton reads so much that he was recently named the Willard J. Houghton Library’s Faculty Model Reader for 2024. Walton posed with Abraham’s Silence by J. Richard Middleton, one of the many books he’s read on challenging God. It’s the best book he’s read recently, and he doesn’t read much for leisure. 

“I try to read for fun and then I think ‘I have better things to read,’” Walton commented. 

Walton no longer skis. He finds the western New York slopes to be boring compared to the cliffs he used to jump off in Colorado. 

“Mountains are just puny and tiny [here],” Walton claimed. “It just wasn’t the same thing.” 

Now, Walton spends free time watching Houghton’s sporting events and just being with his wife and four children. ★

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Opinions

The Gospel of Jesus Christ

By Joshua Armstrong

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God (Mark 1: 1). These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name (John 20: 31).

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1: 1). And God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them (Genesis 1: 27). And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good (Genesis 1: 31). Then sin came into the world through one man, for as in Adam all die (1 Corinthians 15: 22) and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned (Romans 5: 12) for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3: 23). All are under sin, as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” “The way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Romans 3: 9-12, 17-18). And the Lord of hosts is exalted in justice, and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness (Isaiah 5: 16). And Jesus who is lord of lords and king of kings (Revelations 19: 16) is to judge the living and the dead ( 2 Timothy 4: 1). 

However, mercy triumphs over judgment (James 2: 13). For ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty’ (Numbers 14: 18). 

For I deliver to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15: 3-4), and that he is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high interceding for those who are in the faith (Romans 8: 34) (Hebrews 1: 3). For God So loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3: 16). Jesus is the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through him (John 14: 6). For there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved (Acts 4: 12). For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6: 23). For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame” (Romans 10-11).

A person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified (Galatians 2: 16). For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us — for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree” — so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith (Galatians 3: 10-14). For by grace we have been saved through faith. And this is not our own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2: 8-10).

Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5: 11, 14, 15, 16-21). ★

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Letter to the Editor Opinions

Letter to the Editor // Chris Cilento

Dear Editor,

In January of 2015 I came back to Houghton after many long years away.  I was, at first, shocked and disheartened at the size of the LGBT+ community here.  But then something happened, I got to know some of them.  A few became friends.  I did some research and started reading my Bible.  I found out that these people are some of the nicest, most loving people you could ever hope to meet.  I realized that what I had been taught about homosexuality was wrong.  I also realized that we, as Christians, have done these folks a disservice in making pariahs of them.  I couldn’t help but think about how disappointed Jesus would be if he saw how we treated them.  Are we not commanded to treat everyone with love, compassion, dignity, and respect?

Monday night I participated in the SGA meeting discussing changes to the Community Covenant.  I was dismayed to see that the proposed language for change was even more exclusionary than before and blatantly discriminatory.  I grew more and more concerned as the meeting went on.  I could see tempers flaring on both sides.  The person mediating the discussion did an admirable job of keeping things from getting out of hand but the underlying tension is what bothers me.  While there were many fair questions asked on both sides of the issue I felt that the LGBT community was not being given a fair hearing.  To be fair, there were some questions the LGBT community brought up that could have been viewed as accusatory and threatening.

Folks, this is not the way to do it.   I came here because I needed a place where I could find peace after far too much time involved in the chaos of war.  Instead, what I found was a town torn apart by discrimination and hatred.  Good people beaten down and run out simply because they are different.  

In a world full of chaos and hate, Houghton College should be a shining beacon of love and mutual respect.  Instead we are falling into the same pit of wretchedness as the rest of the world.  Jesus Christ commands us to love our neighbor as ourselves.  He said “as you have done to the least of these, my brothers, so you have done to me” (Matthew 25:40)  He showed true compassion and love to the people the Pharisees saw as beneath them.  Should we not do the same?  Should we not show Christ-like love and compassion to everyone, no matter how different they seem to us?

So I offer a challenge.  Madam President, board of trustees, faculty and staff, fellow students: I challenge you to show the love of Christ to our LGBT+ community.  Change the Community Covenant to be more inclusive of all walks of life.  You don’t have to agree or even like it.  What you do have to do is show the love and compassion we are commanded to show.

To the LGBT+ community I also offer a challenge.  Be patient with us.  This process will not happen overnight and it will not be easy.  Work within the system for positive change.  My brother once offered me a bit of advice that I now offer to all of you: “Take the high road.  It is difficult to get there and hard to stay there, but the air is a lot clearer and you cannot beat the view!”  Handle this with the grace, patience, and love you have all shown me as I grew and learned.  

Blessings,

Christopher Cilento ‘19

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Opinions

Me, Marriage, and the Myth of Sexuality

Photo by: Nate Moore

I am what some would call “ex-gay”. Let me explain.

Since late middle school, I have almost exclusively been attracted to men, both physically and visually – sometimes emotionally, too. I remember finding girls and women physically attractive for a year or two before this, but seventh grade is about the time I became addicted to pornography, and my view of men and women quickly became distorted. I’ve lost most battles against the temptation of pornography since. Each time, I fell for the temptation to sexualize images of men. It has always been tempting to define myself as “gay” or “homosexual”, but I never actually have. Inwardly, though, I have questioned my sexuality many times. It is only within the past two years that, with the help of counseling, accountability, support, and Christ’s redemptive power, I have begun healing. And as I recover from a porn addiction, my sexuality has been healing, too.

Do understand: my story is mine alone, and cannot be used as an exemplar of “the gay story”, if one even exists. Nevertheless, I think my story is an important one, as I can honestly say that I have walked, am walking, and will continue to walk away from any thoughts and behavior that could be categorized as “homosexual”. Also, I believe a lot of the things that I have learned along the way are worth sharing.

I have always believed that homosexual behavior – in this case defined as sexual acts between two people of the same sex, and any physical or emotional intimacy that accompanies it – is defined by Scripture as sinful. However, for many years, this left me in a somewhat hopeless state. I did not remember ever choosing homosexuality, so I did not see how I could ever choose to give it up. And I never found myself lusting after women, like the guys around me did, so how could I even begin a serious relationship with a woman? I was surprised to find that the Bible’s most applicable response to this question is found in Paul’s exhortation in 1 Corinthians 7, verse 2: “…because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.” Scripture’s advice to me became clear: If I find myself tempted to be overtly sexual in any way, I ought to take seriously the recommendation to marry a woman.

At face value, this seems ridiculous. If that’s what you’re thinking, I’m not surprised. Our culture propagates the idea that we are born into one unchangeable sexuality, and most of us in the Church have fallen for it. I am living proof, though, that this is untrue. While homosexuality was never a conscious choice I made, I was not born into it, either. From the beginning, my story shows that sexuality is determined by sexual behavior (physical and mental), not the other way around. I know that most of my natural desire, the things I think will make me happy, are actually unhealthy. When I study lists of sins in the Bible, I find that this is the point of all God’s commands: He knows what is good for us and what isn’t; we think we know, but are usually wrong.

Over time, God has helped me to appreciate Biblical marriage as the important and graceful gift it is. The New Testament makes it clear that the reason God gave us marriage in the first place is so that it could model the Gospel. Husbands have the opportunity to live out a beautiful picture of Christ as they die to themselves and take responsibility for leading their wives and families. Wives can live out a wonderful picture of the Church by showing love and respect to their husbands. This relationship can model this aspect of the Gospel like no other human relationship can. Of course, this is one of many mysteries of our faith that I am just beginning to learn.

Many will tell you that attractions are nigh-impossible to change. Addictions, too. I would say the same. But I know that with God, all things are possible. For this reason I hold to Romans 12:1-2. “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” In the face of a porn addiction and difficult-to-change attractions, this is my hope. If you find yourself in a similar place, may this be your hope, too.

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Opinions Two Views

Two Views: What are the moral dimensions surrounding the immigration debate?

In 1892, Annie Moore became the first immigrant to cross the threshold of Ellis Island and soon came to symbolize the 12 million immigrants who entered America between 1892 and 1954. Since then, millions of other people like her have immigrated to America in the hopes of attaining a better life.

But the Commission on Immigration Reform has concluded that the number of legal immigrants is too high, leaving us with the question of how to deal with the Annie Moores of today – a difficult but important question for Christians to consider.

rebekahUnfortunately, as Drs. Mark Amstutz and Peter Meilaender explain in “Public Policy and the Church: Spiritual Priorities,” “Christian groups have become somewhat noteworthy for issuing unhelpful statements” about this topic. Many Christians argue for an open-door policy loosely based on biblical passages about migration, hospitality and human dignity without due consideration of the differences between biblical culture and our own.

So how should Christians respond to the immigration issue? First, they need to abandon the idea that the Bible prescribes a particular policy suitable to the U.S. Clearly, the Bible says nothing about it, and although Scripture certainly endorses the value of human dignity, that principle is too general to offer specific guidance on the issue of immigration policy. Second, Christians need to reconsider the moral dimensions that surround the issue, specifically whether immigration limits are morally justifiable, and if so, whether there is a moral imperative to give preference to one group of immigrants over another.

Here Dr. Meilaender offers a way forward. He believes that Christians can make a strong moral case for immigration limits and argues that we determine the morality of such limits based on our relative obligations to two basic groups of people: members and potential members of American society. He explains that although “we owe something to each person simply by virtue of his or her humanity,” we have special obligations to persons “for whom we bear special responsibilities” – e.g., our fellow members of American society. On Meilaender’s view, defending their interests takes precedence over our obligations to outsiders. Christians often view this as fundamentally self-interested, but Meilaender disagrees; he argues that we are obligated “to preserve [our] common life” and that such an obligation stems not from “a narrow focus on personal self-interest” but from an obligation to fellow members of American society. In other words, once Annie Moore becomes a member of our society, we bear a special responsibility for her – one that is stronger than our responsibility to potential members.

But this naturally raises another question: Whom should we allow to immigrate? We could randomly choose immigrants based on the lottery system, or we could give preference to immigrants based on an agreed-upon set of qualifying circumstances (what I call a categorical system). Whereas the lottery system acts indiscriminately, the categorical approach allows officials to take morally compelling circumstances into account. Say, for instance, that members of Annie’s nuclear family are U.S. citizens or that Annie can’t return to her own country due to a reasonable fear of persecution. In both cases, our moral obligation towards her exceeds our obligation to immigrants in general – thus indicating that the categorical system is, in at least some instances, morally compelling.

Politicians and the media largely ignore the issue of legal immigration, choosing instead to focus on the (much more controversial) issue of illegal immigrants. Currently, however, 1.1 million people legally immigrate to the U.S. each year, and Americans need to respond with moral sensitivity to the high number of Annie Moores who desire to enter the U.S. through the appropriate channels.

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Stories In Focus

Houghton in Context: Women in Academia

In 2008, for the first time ever, women earned more than 50 percent of awarded PhDs. Despite this shift in the majority, women are still nationally underrepresented as tenured faculty in higher education. According to a 2006 American Association of University Professors (AAUP) report, 31.2 percent of all tenured faculty members are women. This figure is actually slightly higher than the situation at Houghton, where 26 percent of all tenured professors are women.

Sarah Derck
Sarah Derck

Though there are surely manifold causes feeding into this discrepancy between qualified female PhDs and tenured women faculty with respect to both the nation and Houghton specifically, many point to the complications of family formation as a key-contributing factor. For example, in 2011, a writer for the Chronicle of Higher Education stated that, “Most women [professors], it seems, cannot have it all—tenure and a family—while most men can.” Similarly, Slate magazine ran an article describing the “baby penalty” levied against women in academia that reads, “family formation negatively affects women’s, but not men’s, academic careers. For men, having children is a career advantage; for women, it is a career killer.”

            Though these and similar statements undoubtedly highlight issues for women academics across the United States, both seem to miss the mark when it comes to addressing the experience of mothers teaching at Houghton.

Dr. Sarah Derck of the Bible and Religion Department interviewed for her position at Houghton while pregnant. Though fully aware of relevant, federal anti-discriminatory laws, she says that she did feel nervous that her first child would somehow complicate getting a job. However, from day one at Houghton, she said, “every single conversation has been celebrating with me and [my husband,] Josh, [saying] let’s see what we can do to make this work.” Currently in the early stages of a tenure-track position, Derck said that this level of support has endured, bearing “evidence of a real valuing of family on Houghton’s campus”

Also pursuing a tenure track position, Dr. Rebekah Yates of Math and Computer Science is equally

Rebekah Yates
Rebekah Yates

quick to recognize the ways in which Houghton—and specifically her department—has proved supportive in being “aware of what happens when you have a child.” As Yates commented, the hyper-awareness on the second-floor of Paine may have something to do with the five children born to Math/Computer Science faculty within the last two years. Identifying with women who may feel derided for deciding to have children mid-career, Yates did recognize what she called an “implicit double standard” that treats male and female parenting in academics differently. However, she was also quick to comment that she believes this trend stretches beyond academia to “pervade much of our culture.”

Dr. Kristin Camenga, also of Math and Computer Science, echoed her two colleagues quoted above in expressing that she has felt “affirmed in [her] role as a mother here.” When asked to identify specific ways that Houghton has supported her as a teaching mother, Camenga highlighted the college’s unusual policy of allowing tenure-track professors to modulate between two-thirds time and full time from semester-to-semester. This systematic “flexibility,” as Camenga described it, made a “significant difference” in allowing her to devote time and energy to young children when necessary.

The feelings of Derck, Yates, and Camenga with respect to feeling confident to pursue both tenure and raise a family are corroborated by the details of recent rank and tenure appointments. Last year the college granted tenure to seven individuals. Five of these faculty members were women, and of these five, four have two or more children. These numbers stand in stark contrast to National Science Foundation (NSF) data that says, “across all disciplines, women with children [are] 38 percent less likely than men with children to achieve tenure.”

Like the rest of the nation, our faculty exhibits a wide gender-gap in tenured faculty. And while it is true that family formation is simply one of many complex factors within this issue, the experience of several women at Houghton suggests that our campus is out-performing others in this specific area. So much so, in fact, that Yates speculated whether or not teaching and parenting at Houghton might actually be harder for young male professors. Perhaps excellent fodder for a later article, this question is surely a good indicator that, though nowhere near perfect, our community is doing something very right.

 

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Opinions

Words Matter: A Proposal for Change

“And Goddess said, Let us make woman in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So Goddess created woman in her own image, in the image of Goddess created she her; female and male created she them.” –Genesis 1:26-27

goddessThe (somewhat) familiar words that appear above are taken from the digital version of the “Queen Jamie” Bible found through a curious little website called “regender.com.” Though I’m not proposing that we henceforth adopt this translation at Houghton, I include this website as one example of many tools that are used to demonstrate the real and affective power of language. The issue of considerate, respectful usage extends to every aspect of meaningful interaction with others. Words mean things and exclusive, hurtful words, whether used deliberately or not, can communicate damaging messages. Words matter. As far as I’m concerned, the validity of this short statement is not up for debate. I’d add that, whether you’re incensed or intrigued by the passage quoted at the start, you’ve proved my analysis correct.

Acknowledging that words matter, the question becomes, how do we handle language? Issues of “language justice” are wide and varied. One may note that there are certain discriminatory names that we’ve agreed not to call one another. The fact that I need not identify them is proof enough of our more-or-less consensual agreement. I say more-or-less because, of course, battles are still being fought, and though I don’t want to callously ignore sensitive issues, I do want to zero in on the one area of language usage of which I believe Houghton as an institution is negligent, namely, gender-inclusive language.

Despite the way I started this piece, I don’t want to address gender-inclusive language only with respect to the Bible. Certainly, I think the way we talk about gender, theology, and Christianity is important to consider, and if you are interested in this intersection, get ahold of Dr. Lacelle-Peterson’s book, “Liberating Tradition.” Leaving that conversation to experts, I will use the remainder of my space to talk about the more broad presence (or, rather, absence) of gender-inclusive language standards at Houghton.

I recently interviewed several faculty members as part of a project on inclusive language. None of them could point to any college-wide policy that actively addresses gender-inclusivity with respect to college communications, student usage and awareness, or academic writing guidelines. Though several years ago there was a “diversity committee” set up to draft a school-wide policy on the topic, the resulting document was never institutionalized. Though some individuals voluntarily include sections of this proposed policy in their syllabi, there are no stated, compulsory expectations.

I was surprised by my lack of findings. I decided to research official policies at other institutions. Every school that I found in my search was connected with respect to approving, adopting, or maintaining this or that guideline for non-sexist communication, whether in academic writing, in marketing, or in student handbooks (for example, UNC replaced every instance of “freshman” with “first year student”). Lest you think that I’m unjustly pushing “secular standards” of higher education (whatever that means), I’ll go ahead and mention some examples closer to home. Apart from many seminary institutions, Calvin College, George Fox University, Goshen College, Westmont College, and Wheaton College all deliberately and publicly use their website to address the importance of gender inclusive and non-discriminatory language.

In identifying the above schools, I don’t mean to suggest that they have all the kinks figured out. People in higher education everywhere struggle with flawlessly maintaining gender-inclusive language; no one is perfect, and surely mistakes are made in myriad places and contexts. I’m also not insinuating that the Houghton community has done nothing to support gender-inclusive language. Many individuals consistently model consciousness usage, and I’m thankful that, as I mentioned, some professors have addressed gender-inclusive language on their own terms. I bring up other schools because doing so emphasizes the dramatic lack of institutional support at Houghton. Relying on instructor-initiated treatment unnecessarily politicizes what should be a non-issue, and the preeminence of gender-inclusive usage should supersede professorial preference. For deeply moral and political reasons, it’s simply a fact that no serious college has made it to this point in the 21st century without requiring gender-inclusive language.

Call it naiveté, but I’m optimistic that the majority of people at Houghton will agree with me. In the spirit of community dialogue recently championed by Dean Jordan in his “Christians and Same Sex Attraction” lecture, I welcome any disagreement in the form of conversation. However, if my hopes about this community prove true, then the institution need only stand behind its individuals. It’s time we make up our mind, make it policy, and make it public.

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Opinions

Students and the Recognition of the Sabbath

Every Sabbath, I ask myself this: to do homework or not to do homework – that is the question. Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to conquer the papers and projects of outrageous overload, or to relax with my weekly Sabbath away from the tsunami of stress.

saffabthEven here at a Christian college, I notice that many students spend their Sabbaths cramped up in their room, studying for that big exam they have the next day or starting that eight page paper that they have been avoiding like the plague. Where is their Sabbath day of rest in this? What has happened to the day that God has set aside as holy? Exodus 31 tells us, “You must keep the Sabbath day, for it is a holy day for you,” and what joy we feel when we observe the Sabbath!
The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath (Mark 2:27). We are human, and because of that, we have limitations. We cannot run continuously without ever getting exhausted; heck, I can barely run a mile without breathing like Darth Vader and getting side stickers. For us humans, rest is a necessity. In 2011, full-time college students studied an average of 15 hours a week, 30% got less than 6 hours a sleep a night, and 25% worked 20 hours or more a week (National Survey). These statistics alone show that college students overwork, under-sleep, and over-commit themselves.
But because God cares for us and loves us, He gives us a model to follow. That model is himself. On the third page of my Bible, I read, “On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation” (Genesis 2:2-3). Now, I can’t imagine that God was exhausted and that He actually needed an entire day to rest. But God set an example so that His children could emulate Him. So why don’t we? Why do we fill the Sabbath with work, homework, and constant business?
This is something that we as Christians should change. We should weekly take the Sabbath. So what is one to do on the Sabbath? Are they just supposed to lie in bed all day sleeping? Well, there is a difference between being lazy and resting. I believe Barbara Brown Taylor, a priest, professor, and theologian, says it best in her book, An Altar in the World, when she describes the Sabbath as “a day of saying no. A day of spiritual growth. A day of not doing, but being.” I don’t think the question is so much, “If I do this, does that count as working on the Sabbath?” as much as “How can I rest today and enjoy this day that God has blessed me with and has made holy?”
That being said, I’m not going to be like the Pharisees, defining what can and cannot be done on the Sabbath, but know that the Sabbath looks different for each person. Sleep in. Go to Church. Spend time with God: through prayer, worship, his word. Journal. Spend time relaxing, giving your mind a break from all of the studying and paper writing. Fellowship with friends, enjoying their company. Go on a hike. Read a book. Take a nap. The options are endless.
But there is one thing that is important, and that is to “Be still and know that God is God” (Psalm 46:10).
And I admit, it is hard to obey the Sabbath. This past Sunday, I battled with whether to do homework or not. With two papers and readings that were due on Monday alone, taking an entire day off from homework sounded unreasonable. But I tell you what, I kept the Sabbath. I spent time with God, I worshipped, I watched a movie, read a book, hung out with friends, and ended the night celebrating a friend’s birthday. And throughout it all, I had peace. When Monday morning rolled around, God gave me the strength to rise out of bed, and blessed me with an abundant amount of time to work on homework. And I am still at peace, thankful once again, that I obeyed my Father, rested, and took the Sabbath.
I believe Christian author Mark Buchanan sums up the Sabbath the best, saying, “Sabbath imparts the rest of God – physical, mental, spiritual rest, but also the rest of God – the things of God’s nature and presence we miss in our busyness.”
For these very reasons, every Sunday I say to myself: To observe Sabbath or to observe Sabbath. There is no question.

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Opinions

SPOT Falls Short of Houghton Standards

Crowds filled the Houghton chapel on Homecoming Saturday night for the SPOT talent show. Students stood in line for hours, waiting until the doors opened and the rushing mob could inundate the room and fill every cushioned seat. Excitement and anticipation were tangible as students waited for the lights to dim and the show to begin.

Towards the end of the night, two tall, plaid-shirted guys climbed on stage with their guitars and microphones. The lights shone on them and the crowd sat in hushed shadow. Strum. Strum. Strum. The guitar echoed in the dark room.

“Yeah, yeah, when I walk on by, girls be looking like d*mn he fly.” The words continued to wash over the audience as they sang, “I’ve got passion in my pants, and I ain’t afraid to show it. I’m sexy and I know it.” They swayed. They grinned. They sang, “Check it out,” taunting, inviting the girls to stare as they rocked their hips back and forth, singing, “Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle.” The audience joined the chant, and my heart ached.

My friend’s parents and eleven year old brother sat next to her. I sat in one of the chapel’s back rows, and I watched over twenty alumni get up and leave after that song, looks of horror and disgust on their faces.

And it wasn’t just that song. It was the pictures of Miley Cyrus half naked, the rap about breaking all the rules, and the closing “Yeah” Usher song. And sexually showing off our bodies didn’t just begin this fall 2013 SPOT.

As I sat in the darkness and the audience clapped, I couldn’t help but wonder, How did this become okay at Houghton? Yes, we’re Houghton students, and we all know it’s a bubble. There’s a real world out there where songs and acts like this seem harmless. And yes, SPOT is a fun night, a night of student voice and freedom, and yes that is important.

Yet when did so blatantly glorifying sin become so okay? We all knew what we were getting into when we packed our bags and took out loans to come here. Most of us chose Houghton because God and the Bible meant something to us. We wanted to grow, be different. And the Bible has a whole lot to say about sex, sin, righteousness, and what we’re filling our minds with.

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During “Sexy and I Know It,” I longed to see people storming the stage and pulling the guys off, just as Jesus overturned tables in the temple. As I left the chapel I felt an ache to tell the students I passed, “God is calling you to a higher standard! He’s calling you to be men and women of justice and righteousness, people after His own heart, men and women of courage who will stand up for the truth! What you saw tonight was not that! God is calling you!”

Houghton junior Olivia Neveu says, “Christians are called to be holy and set apart. This is obvious all over Scripture. SPOT can and should be fun, but it simultaneously can and should be honoring to God.” 1 Peter 2:9 calls us to this holiness: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.” It’s an invitation to love God. As Alicia Ucciferri says, “Having fun and loving Jesus are not mutually exclusive.”

SPOT comes around every year with kids, parents, and college-donor alumni attending. Perhaps the document outlining SPOT moral guidelines could start being followed. Perhaps there could be more moral voice in the audition reviewing board. Perhaps students could create acts that are fun, but also pure. And, perhaps, Houghton as a whole could begin to care. We could begin to care more about purity, about following God, and, as Dr. Jordan’s been sharing, about worship. SPOT is just the tip of the iceberg.

This is not a call to kill fun or student voice. It’s a call to holiness.

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Worshipping Sentimentality

In the beginning of October, Lenny Luchetti spoke in chapel on the virtues of worshipping God with the head as well as the heart. He explained that when he first began attending college, he loved to lose himself in the feeling of worship through praise songs, a semi-charismatic and hands-in-the-air kind of guy. He would observe with slight disdain the behaviors of others who sat quietly through worship services without actively taking part. Eventually, as he grew in his faith while at school, his perceptions changed, and the point he made was that God deeply values the efforts of the mind and the act of praise through academics and critical thought. What he left to be inferred, however, was that both methods of connection to God are equally worthwhile, and that it is merely a matter of personality which form of worship one chooses to employ. I would argue that this is not true, and that worshiping God with the “heart” is not really worship at all.

worshipThe other day while I was driving, Jamie Grace’s “Beautiful Day” came on the radio. The “It’s been ‘like’ a whole day” in the first verse managed to slip by me unnoticed the first time around, but the chorus left me incredulous and indignant. After a few bouncy lines about how happy God makes her, Grace sings, “This feeling can’t be wrong/ I’m about to get my worship on/ Take me away,” implying, or rather, explicitly stating that worship is some kind of altered state of being one enters into with the expectation that they will come away feeling blissful and transcendent, reminiscent of a drug-induced high or the rush of sexual intercourse. In her Grammy-nominated song “Hold Me,” Grace reinforces this interpretation with the lyrics, “I’ve had a long day, I just wanna relax … I know I should be working but I’m thinking of you” in which Jesus is essentially equated with a happy hour cocktail, and put at odds with “work,” which I can only assume Grace is not, in this case, using as a means to honor Him.

I do not mean to personally insult the no-doubt well-meaning Jamie Grace. What I do mean, however, is to question the ease with which Christian society accepts this kind of bubblegum Christian pop praise music without any basis in scripture or intentional theology. Worship is intended to be a thoughtful meditation on the grace and the goodness of God, a practice that should no doubt invite feelings of gratitude, joy, and peace, but that should nonetheless find its roots in concentrated study and reflection. The concept of worship as it is found in the majority of contemporary praise and worship songs is that of “chasing the feeling,” craving the joy without the contemplation, the intimacy without the commitment, the sex without the relationship.

People do worship in different ways. I would not try to take away from those who connect most fully with God through music the right to do so freely and with joy. But there cannot be a divide between innervation and cerebration. Those who worship through song must be able to count on the lyrics to be studied and deliberate. Difficult and far-reaching questions that exist within the Christian faith can have devastating effects on those seeped in the superficial, sensationalist theology of pop praise music. They are not taught to ask, and they are unprepared to answer. In the words of Grace, “I’ve got not need to worry, I’ve got no room for doubt,” but what exactly grants her such infallible certainty is unclear, and in a faith as encompassing and exacting as the Christian faith, there can be no room for sentiment without qualification. Impassioned worship without a strong grasp on the basics of Christian theology is meaningless and empty, and Christians brought up in the tradition of vacant worship are not worshipping God, they are worshipping a semblance of the side effects of God’s entity. They are worshipping titillation.

I want to reassure you that I recognize the usefulness and, in fact, necessity of music in worship. The Bible would not contain so many references to praising God with song if it was not an important aspect of our faith. But let us never fail to recognize the dependence of meaningful emotional connection with God on intelligent and critical examination of our beliefs.