We Remember the Holocaust

This Sunday at Good Shepherd we remember the Holocaust. We do so for
one simple reason. The German executioners were Christians. Their
victims were Jewish.
Like it or not, we Christians have a lot to answer for. The plain
truth is that because of a simplistic reading of the gospels of
Matthew and John, generations of Christians have believed that the
Jews killed Jesus and should therefore be punished. And boy have we
made "them" pay. For two thousand years Christians have segregated,
dominated and killed our Jewish brothers and sisters, forgetting all
the while that Jesus was Jewish as were his closest followers.
Sadly some of our greatest church leaders have encouraged this bitter
legacy of hatred and oppression, from Origen to Augustine to Martin
Luther. And so when German Christians, acting on behalf of the Nazi
government of Germany, killed 6 million of the 9 million Jews in
Europe during World War II, they were fulfilling the darkest
inheritance of a faith whose founder taught us to love our neighbors
as ourselves.
This Sunday at 9:45 our friend Jeff Gubitz, the head of the Knoxville
Jewish Alliance, returns to Good Shepherd to help us remember the
tragedy of the "Calamity", the Shoah, the Holocaust.
And at 5 pm that same day, we will join in the annual service of
remembrance at Heska Amuna on Kingston Pike. Both Susan and I will
participate in the service. I hope you will come.
And I sincerely hope that you will bring your children. We who are
Christian must never forget.
In faith and peace,
Charles

What Really Happened at Easter?

In the fall of 2002, my first year at seminary, I sat down for dinner
at the refectory with a stranger who introduced himself as "Tom
Wright." Tom was English, sharp, perhaps a little full of himself. But
then again perhaps I was a little full of myself too. Sometime later I
discovered that "Tom" was N.T. Wright, distinguished New Testament
scholar and recently appointed Bishop of Durham in England.

More recently I spent part of a day with Marcus Borg. I was not alone.
There were perhaps two hundred other seekers in the audience as well.
We were there because Marcus Borg, an Episcopalian and nationally
known Bible scholar, is a leader of Progressive Christianity.
American, modest and sincerely respectful of others whose opinions
about Jesus he does not share, Dr Borg autographed a book I brought
with me for that purpose.

The book was "The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions". The authors? Tom
Wright and Marcus Borg. One is an Englishman, one an American, both
Oxford graduates who shared the same major professor, and yet who have
come to very different places as they seek to understand the mystery
that is Jesus.

Tom Wright and Marcus Borg are two deeply erudite scholars with two
very different ideas about Easter. This Sunday at 9:45 am we will
discuss their conflicting ideas and invite you to consider your own
response to the challenging question "What Really Happened at Easter?"

Come join us as we discuss the views of two men who, perhaps by
accident, I happen to know.

And remember to keep searching and keep asking questions,

yours in faith,

Charles

BRUCE!!!

Bruce Pearl was a great basketball coach at UT. He was also, at least
by recent accounts, a highly competitive recruiter who broke several
major college rules, tried to cover them up, failed and was eventually
fired. Why did the University make a show of standing by him only to
dismiss him later? What does his conduct say about college basketball
and its fans? And most importantly of all, what do Christian ethics
say to us about repentance, forgiveness and what our expectations
should be for the leaders who coach our young people in sports and in
life? This Sunday at 9:45 am, attorney Doug Trant, Charles, Rick and
Karl set out the facts and lead the discussion at Good Shepherd and
the World. Come join us.