By David E. Crosby, pastor
First Baptist New Orleans
Easter Sunday, the Year of Our Lord 2012
One of the Onion Boys (email for explanation) asked me a few minutes ago by email about the meaning of Easter. I was happy to explain to this Muslim friend halfway around the world why Easter is the greatest celebration of our Christian faith.
The disciples asked Jesus about the signs of the end of the age. His critics had previously asked him for a sign to prove that he was the Messiah. He told them that an “evil and adulterous generation” asks for a sign, and that no sign would be given except the sign of the prophet Jonah. Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights, and the Son of Man would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The only sign would be the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Easter is the day we remember the Sign above all signs. On this day, God raised Jesus from the dead. This is the message that Peter preached to the crowd on Pentecost Sunday in Jerusalem seven weeks after the crucifixion of Jesus. This is the message for which Stephen was stoned by the Jewish Council. This is the message that Paul preached in the synagogues across Asia Minor. This is the message that called together and constituted the early church. “He is risen!”
A new believer asked me why Jesus stayed in only a small region of the earth when he could have gone to all the different countries and continents. It is a thought-provoking question. My answer is this: the gospel was best-served by having a handful of people who were completely persuaded that the resurrection had occurred and that Jesus was the Messiah. These people would be intimately acquainted with Jesus and his teachings. They would be witnesses to the miracles, the sermons, and the behavior of Jesus of Nazareth. They would see for themselves the execution and the burial. They would go to the empty tomb, and they would see Jesus in his glorified body. With this core group of people who knew Jesus and knew the truth, human history could be changed and people would come to faith.
We stand on the shoulders of Peter and John today. They arrived breathless at the empty tomb that first Easter morning as we do now every Resurrection Day. And all of our lives are changed forever.
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
No Candidate for Public Office in the Pulpit at FBNO
By David E. Crosby, Pastor
First Baptist New Orleans
April 3, 2012
Rick Santorum, Republican candidate for president of the United States, spoke to three packed Southern Baptist worship centers during his sweep through Louisiana. First Baptist New Orleans was not one of them, and for good reasons.
I do not personally endorse candidates for public office as pastor, and I do not allow select candidates access to our pulpit. We do host forums upon request where various candidates may debate and pitch their platforms. An informed electorate is important in a democracy such as ours.
I believe in the wisdom of separating the institutions of church and state as described in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. I support the tax-exempt status of churches as entities that help our communities and do not serve as platforms for political parties.
Office holders of any political party may bring greetings to our congregation from time to time. We are commanded in Scripture to pray for them and support them. Their presence in our sanctuary is not an endorsement of their policies but recognition of their ordained mission and their importance to our common life.
Helping favored candidates by giving them pulpit time confuses people about our message and the nature of our churches. We respect the officeholder and gladly support those who seek to do good through government. But I am not the pastor of a Republican church. I am not a Democrat or Republican as pastor. Our church is not about any political party or platform.
When one Baptist church is identified with a political party, it affects all Baptist churches in some measure. This course is a departure from our Baptist history, and it is dangerous to the gospel which we preach.
Do we really want to entrust the gospel to a candidate in hot pursuit of a nomination? Is this our idea of the good news? Let’s not feature candidates in our pulpits as a way to get our church work done. And if it’s not church work, then why do it on Sunday morning?
Any candidate is happy to get the time in our pulpits. He risks nothing. The publicity is free. He is not under any obligation to the pastors or churches that endorsed him. Politicians of all stripes are willing to use any church and pastor that is willing to be used.
Many pastors love to be near the power brokers. Some even consider themselves politically powerful, and maybe they are. But the power of political office has never been the power of the cross of Christ. Christ rode a donkey into Jerusalem and told his disciples to put their swords away. He told the Roman governor, “My kingdom is not of this world.”
I pray as Jesus taught me, “Thy kingdom come.” But I am not under the illusion that God’s kingdom will be delivered from Baton Rouge or Washington, D.C. Rather, I work for the coming of the Kingdom by loving my neighbor and my enemies, caring for the poor, preaching the good news, and following the footsteps of Jesus into the trouble of my world.
The preaching of the cross may seem powerless and foolish when compared to presidencies and congressional delegations. But the cross of Christ represents both the power and wisdom of God. And it is a power and wisdom that goes way beyond what any political office can possibly achieve.
I know some people see doomsday in the current state of affairs. They think they have lost their country, and in their minds they are fighting to get it back. But civil government has never been strong enough to bring the Kingdom of God. Let’s not give up on the gospel.
Myself, I see no enduring city here. Instead, like the writer of the Book of Hebrews, I am looking for a city that is to come, that has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Meanwhile, as the word of God instructs, we pray and work for the blessing of this city, knowing that we pray to a God who makes all things new.
First Baptist New Orleans
April 3, 2012
Rick Santorum, Republican candidate for president of the United States, spoke to three packed Southern Baptist worship centers during his sweep through Louisiana. First Baptist New Orleans was not one of them, and for good reasons.
I do not personally endorse candidates for public office as pastor, and I do not allow select candidates access to our pulpit. We do host forums upon request where various candidates may debate and pitch their platforms. An informed electorate is important in a democracy such as ours.
I believe in the wisdom of separating the institutions of church and state as described in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. I support the tax-exempt status of churches as entities that help our communities and do not serve as platforms for political parties.
Office holders of any political party may bring greetings to our congregation from time to time. We are commanded in Scripture to pray for them and support them. Their presence in our sanctuary is not an endorsement of their policies but recognition of their ordained mission and their importance to our common life.
Helping favored candidates by giving them pulpit time confuses people about our message and the nature of our churches. We respect the officeholder and gladly support those who seek to do good through government. But I am not the pastor of a Republican church. I am not a Democrat or Republican as pastor. Our church is not about any political party or platform.
When one Baptist church is identified with a political party, it affects all Baptist churches in some measure. This course is a departure from our Baptist history, and it is dangerous to the gospel which we preach.
Do we really want to entrust the gospel to a candidate in hot pursuit of a nomination? Is this our idea of the good news? Let’s not feature candidates in our pulpits as a way to get our church work done. And if it’s not church work, then why do it on Sunday morning?
Any candidate is happy to get the time in our pulpits. He risks nothing. The publicity is free. He is not under any obligation to the pastors or churches that endorsed him. Politicians of all stripes are willing to use any church and pastor that is willing to be used.
Many pastors love to be near the power brokers. Some even consider themselves politically powerful, and maybe they are. But the power of political office has never been the power of the cross of Christ. Christ rode a donkey into Jerusalem and told his disciples to put their swords away. He told the Roman governor, “My kingdom is not of this world.”
I pray as Jesus taught me, “Thy kingdom come.” But I am not under the illusion that God’s kingdom will be delivered from Baton Rouge or Washington, D.C. Rather, I work for the coming of the Kingdom by loving my neighbor and my enemies, caring for the poor, preaching the good news, and following the footsteps of Jesus into the trouble of my world.
The preaching of the cross may seem powerless and foolish when compared to presidencies and congressional delegations. But the cross of Christ represents both the power and wisdom of God. And it is a power and wisdom that goes way beyond what any political office can possibly achieve.
I know some people see doomsday in the current state of affairs. They think they have lost their country, and in their minds they are fighting to get it back. But civil government has never been strong enough to bring the Kingdom of God. Let’s not give up on the gospel.
Myself, I see no enduring city here. Instead, like the writer of the Book of Hebrews, I am looking for a city that is to come, that has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Meanwhile, as the word of God instructs, we pray and work for the blessing of this city, knowing that we pray to a God who makes all things new.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Lost Down Payment
Her name was Love, this 12-day-old infant, and she was not supposed to be occupying space on the planet.
Baby dedication services during this holiday season included her, Love J’Dore, quiet in her mother’s arms before the congregation.
I introduced the baby, youngest among a dozen dedicated, and prayed for her and her family along with the other children and parents standing before us.
Her family promised that day, a week before Christmas, to teach her the truth of the gospel, and our church promised to help. This is how our church follows the example of Mary and Joseph when they came to the house of worship to present and name their newborn baby, Jesus.
Baby Love’s mother made an appointment and a down payment on an abortion when she learned that she was carrying this child. Brittnay, pregnant for the third time, felt that she could not endure another pregnancy nor care for another baby. She made her way, heavy-hearted, to the clinic in her neighborhood at the designated time for the abortion.
The clinic was closed permanently, she discovered when she arrived. She turned away from the shuttered clinic thinking about these things—and very aware of the tiny life inside her womb. She decided that this was a message from God to her and that this child growing inside her was important and precious. She gave that baby the gift of life, carried her full term, and when the baby was delivered, weighing almost 7 pounds, she named her Love.
I learned these things later, after Baby Love had already been presented to the church and after we all had spoken our vows. This child, at risk of termination before she drew her first breath, remains in my thoughts and prayers. We presented her to the Lord that day of dedication. We promised to help her mother and grandmother.
She made it into the world, Love did, but what will happen now? Will we keep our vows to her? If we keep our promises, maybe she will fulfill the promise she is to us.
Baby Love has been entrusted to us, her family, friends and community. Our responsibilities only began when her mother chose to cherish her rather than abort her. If she is ever to know the full import of her name we will need to nurture her in our playgrounds, schools, and clinics. She must sense a surrounding presence of protective care as she becomes aware of her own being in our world.
Our community is rife with violence in this new year. The cries of bereaved parents and siblings and friends rise up to heaven, and Baby Love lies in a crib in the middle of it all. Only despair and hopelessness compounded by fear and sorrow could bring such wanton slaughter to our streets. Somehow we have forgotten the promise and wonder in every new life.
We push back the darkness when we receive with faith and hope the life that God gives from the first flicker to the last dart on the EEG. The heavy responsibility accepted will be returned with immeasurable joy.
Life is a divine gift. Our own existence—and that of those around us—is a sacred trust. We announce this to our friends and family members each time we receive with joy the inconvenience and expense of a new life. Embrace each human life—the least, the little, and the lowest—and you bless us all.
Our entire community must respond to the hopelessness and despair that fosters the violence. Every single person can do so by reaching out to the frail, the infirm, and the most at-risk among us whether captured in the amniotic fluid or imprisoned by the culture of death.
If we give them love, these least among us, we unleash in them the promise of life. We crush the lie of hopelessness that ignites and feeds the hate.
Love gives its rich blessing and reward. And love makes its perpetual demand. Love cannot sit idly by while others struggle and fall. Love makes a way where there is no way. Love never turns away, never turns aside, never turns hopeless.
Love never fails.
Brittnay spared her baby, named her Love, and took on the expensive assignment of lifelong concern and care for another person on the planet.
Nothing in human experience is better and stronger—and filled with more promise—than this. Among the spectrum of human endeavors and occupations, the greatest is love.
Baby dedication services during this holiday season included her, Love J’Dore, quiet in her mother’s arms before the congregation.
I introduced the baby, youngest among a dozen dedicated, and prayed for her and her family along with the other children and parents standing before us.
Her family promised that day, a week before Christmas, to teach her the truth of the gospel, and our church promised to help. This is how our church follows the example of Mary and Joseph when they came to the house of worship to present and name their newborn baby, Jesus.
Baby Love’s mother made an appointment and a down payment on an abortion when she learned that she was carrying this child. Brittnay, pregnant for the third time, felt that she could not endure another pregnancy nor care for another baby. She made her way, heavy-hearted, to the clinic in her neighborhood at the designated time for the abortion.
The clinic was closed permanently, she discovered when she arrived. She turned away from the shuttered clinic thinking about these things—and very aware of the tiny life inside her womb. She decided that this was a message from God to her and that this child growing inside her was important and precious. She gave that baby the gift of life, carried her full term, and when the baby was delivered, weighing almost 7 pounds, she named her Love.
I learned these things later, after Baby Love had already been presented to the church and after we all had spoken our vows. This child, at risk of termination before she drew her first breath, remains in my thoughts and prayers. We presented her to the Lord that day of dedication. We promised to help her mother and grandmother.
She made it into the world, Love did, but what will happen now? Will we keep our vows to her? If we keep our promises, maybe she will fulfill the promise she is to us.
Baby Love has been entrusted to us, her family, friends and community. Our responsibilities only began when her mother chose to cherish her rather than abort her. If she is ever to know the full import of her name we will need to nurture her in our playgrounds, schools, and clinics. She must sense a surrounding presence of protective care as she becomes aware of her own being in our world.
Our community is rife with violence in this new year. The cries of bereaved parents and siblings and friends rise up to heaven, and Baby Love lies in a crib in the middle of it all. Only despair and hopelessness compounded by fear and sorrow could bring such wanton slaughter to our streets. Somehow we have forgotten the promise and wonder in every new life.
We push back the darkness when we receive with faith and hope the life that God gives from the first flicker to the last dart on the EEG. The heavy responsibility accepted will be returned with immeasurable joy.
Life is a divine gift. Our own existence—and that of those around us—is a sacred trust. We announce this to our friends and family members each time we receive with joy the inconvenience and expense of a new life. Embrace each human life—the least, the little, and the lowest—and you bless us all.
Our entire community must respond to the hopelessness and despair that fosters the violence. Every single person can do so by reaching out to the frail, the infirm, and the most at-risk among us whether captured in the amniotic fluid or imprisoned by the culture of death.
If we give them love, these least among us, we unleash in them the promise of life. We crush the lie of hopelessness that ignites and feeds the hate.
Love gives its rich blessing and reward. And love makes its perpetual demand. Love cannot sit idly by while others struggle and fall. Love makes a way where there is no way. Love never turns away, never turns aside, never turns hopeless.
Love never fails.
Brittnay spared her baby, named her Love, and took on the expensive assignment of lifelong concern and care for another person on the planet.
Nothing in human experience is better and stronger—and filled with more promise—than this. Among the spectrum of human endeavors and occupations, the greatest is love.
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