This is the final song sang by Charity, Bob's daughter - she has an absolutely beautiful voice and spirit. This is the Chris Rice version (he is the author of the song).

I hope you will find your hope as Bob did in Jesus



This was the beginning of the service for Bob

I was a young, wet-behind the ears, twenty-six year old pastor in Toronto, Ontario, Canada when I was first introduced to Bob. Now this wasn't a face-to-face meeting, I met Bob through his first book, Brethren, Hang Loose. The congregation I was invited to serve had been reading Bob's book. Being a radical, progressive congregation (this was 1975, the congregation was a member of a conservative denomination) the congregation was exploring ordination of women issue before I arrived on the scene. Bob's book which encourages lay people (including women) to take active roles in leadership in their church was just up this congregation's alley. Clearly this congregation was not about the pastor being 'super-pastor' or 'the one in charge'. What a relief for me! They just expected me to be myself. They were a loving and affirming group. We took Bob's ideas about lay leadership (and the pastor being a leader among leaders) and built our entire church structure and ministry around those ideas. Those were exciting days to be a follower of Jesus.

Bob's book, Brethren, Hang Loose, took the conservative church scene by storm in 1972 when it was published. It went through many printings and in the end over 105,000 copies were sold. Bob's book was at least 20 years ahead of its time.

Bob's personal price for being a creative, radical follower of Jesus is recounted in his book, My Weakness: His Strength. Bob eventually was dismissed from his congregation by his denomination. Unfortunately, the prophet who was so well received in many parts of the church found himself outside of is own church. He pumped gas for awhile. He went into the backside of the desert, moving to a small, nondescript town in central Arizona, far from the shining lights of upscale, conservative Scottsdale where he had worked out his radical thoughts about the church being a people not an institution. In the little town was a little church who was looking for someone to be their pastor. Bob told them I will not be your pastor, but I will live among you and we will see what God will do. God has helped the church to grow in its outreach to the homeless, mentally ill, ex-cons and other folks with whom Jesus loved to hang out. (Many years later, the denomination realized the error of their ways and restored Bob to ministry in the denomination and asked for forgiveness for their treatment of him. Bob, of course, forgave them.)

After I left Toronto, Ontario, I had no idea I would end up in the same part of the universe as Bob. I read Bob's books and continued to apply the principles Bob discovered in the Bible in the each of the churches I served as pastor for the next 20 years. Today the house church movement sweeping the globe owes its roots in the challenging principles Bob taught in his books and life.

I didn't meet Bob in person until about a year ago through my good friend, Dick. Bob was everything I expected to meet in a follower of Jesus who takes seriously the Gospel. He was a mixture of graciousness and crustiness. While caring for the poor and disenfranchized, he didn't suffer the fools of stuffiness and propriety easily. Confined to a wheelchair, Bob's house was being remodeled by his friends so that he could again live with more comfort and get back to writing. He excitedly talked about new book contracts that he was offered and working on. He spoke honestly about his anger at being stuck in a wheelchair. He spoke lovingly about his wife and family who cared for him.

Bob slipped out of these human bonds this week into the presence of the Jesus he loved. He died in virtual obscurity far from the 'stardom' of the church world which embraced him 35 years ago.

Yet the evangelical world has been permanently changed by this man's singular courage to face the hierarchical structures of institutional Christianity. Bob unleashed followers of Jesus from being servants of a pastor to being servants of each other and their world.

One day, many years ago Bob was invited to speak at a well-known Bible church in Phoenix. After delivering his life message that all followers of Jesus are ministers of God, he invited the congregation to stand, to raise their hands to heaven and he proceeded to 'ordain' them for the ministry. (The pastor of the church wasn't quite sure what he was going to do with all these ministers!)

While Bob Girard may have died in obscurity this week; his earth-shaking application of the Bible's teaching of that followers of Jesus are all ministers (not just those paid to fill the role) is still circling the globe. Everywhere in the world where followers of Jesus are liberated to serve God, each other and their fellow human beings, they can give thanks for a courageous man who took seriously the call to be a radical follower of Jesus.

Postscript:

The service was the kind of service Bob would have ordered. It was filled with humor, joy and tears. It was not a short service - almost 3 hours without air conditioning in Arizona! We were there to honor a follower of Jesus not to complain about the heat.

(c) 2007 Ronald Friesen

Dedicated to June, who lights up my life!!

love,

ron

Why do you believe? Why does it seem that people are incurably religious?

Read the following. Tell me what you think.

As always lets keep the conversation courteous.

ron

Science explores evolutionary origins of belief
Faith in God resilient despite cultural progress
Eric Hand
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Jun. 10, 2007 12:00 AM

ST. LOUIS - Perhaps since the time of Galileo, science and religion have had a gentleman's agreement: You stay out of my business, and I'll stay out of yours.

Not any longer. A cadre of scientists, including Washington University anthropologist Pascal Boyer, are trying to explain why, in almost every human culture, people choose belief in God over unbelief - why, it seems, the human brain is wired for belief.

And the scientists are finding something that would please Charles Darwin himself: Religion may have evolved through the same rules that led to big brains and opposable thumbs. From an evolutionary standpoint, they have found, belief can be useful.

"Supernatural beliefs are, in general, very easy extensions from beliefs that are useful in everyday life," Boyer said.

The last few years have seen a flurry of books written by atheist scientists, including Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion," Sam Harris' The End of Faith, and Daniel Dennett's Breaking the Spell. Last month, Christopher Hitchens unleashed another book in the same vein: God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.

These scientists describe faith as if it were a mental flaw, the functioning of a particularly illogical part of the brain. But Boyer, who predated them with books such as Religion Explained (2001) and The Naturalness of Religious Ideas (1994), says that religion isn't necessarily irrational if it arises from normal brain functions that help the human species survive.

Though he is an atheist himself, Boyer prefaces talks with a disclaimer: He's not out to debunk or defend God, only to present his research. Besides, he says, belief is so solidly engraved in human minds that it's probably not possible to eliminate. "It's a bit like saying life would be better without gravitation."

Many academics thought that as civilization moved to societies built on science and technology, religion would be discarded.

But 94 percent of Americans still believe in God or a universal spirit, according to a recent Gallup poll. That figure hasn't budged over the years. In 1965, it was 97 percent. In 1944, it was 96 percent. Religion is not disappearing.

The mere presence of religion in human culture, however, doesn't explain how it got there. Scientists like Boyer began wondering if religion's persistence had something to do with a brain, wired for belief by the rules of evolution. Could religion have helped the human race survive?

Biologists who study evolution try to explain traits by measuring physical changes over generations and showing how they helped the species survive. It's more difficult to talk about the evolutionary value of a mental state like a belief in God because religiosity is difficult to measure. But there are correlations between religion and health.

For example, the men of Cache County, Utah, mostly devout Mormons, have the highest life expectancy in the country. Studies have shown that religiosity is associated with lower rates of cirrhosis, emphysema, suicide and heart disease. Of course, much of this health effect could come from religion's conventional taboos on smoking, alcohol, drugs and sex - which can all lead to disease.

The evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson, at the University of Binghamton, says religion contributes to psychological health. For several years, he has been giving beepers to volunteers. Some are religious, some aren't. At different points in the day, the beepers go off. The subjects record their activities and habits, their health and their moods.

Wilson said, "I can prove to you on a moment by moment basis that, statistically, religious believers are happier, are using time more productively, and are less anxious."

While religion might make for healthy individuals, the scientists say it also could be important at the group level. Richard Sosis, a University of Connecticut anthropologist, has shown how religion fosters social behaviors - working together, sharing, fighting wars against enemies - that allow individuals to survive and thrive as members of a group.

In a 2000 study, Sosis catalogued 200 communes from the 19th century, some religious and some secular, and found that the religious ones were four times more likely to survive.

The group benefits of religion might seem counterintuitive at first, since members spend time on activities such as praying that could instead be spent tending fields or earning money.

But Wilson says the costs of religious rituals are outweighed by the benefits of a committed community.

Because those that go through the rites and rituals can be trusted, the religious groups don't need to weed out free-loaders with costly monitoring programs. God does the watching and keeps everyone in line.

Another group of scientists, including Boyer, say that belief in God isn't evolutionary; rather it's the mental modules that underpin and lead to religion that are useful.

Music, for example, hasn't helped the human species survive. Humans have important brain "software" for speech. This has been useful indeed for the survival of the species. But music came along as an add-on - something addictive for the underlying software.

One such brain module is called agency, or the tendency for humans to see animate beings as responsible for phenomena - to hear a rustle in the bushes as more than just the wind.

A second key mental system is what psychologists call "theory of mind," which refers to the way people understand that other people also have minds, with intentions and thoughts and beliefs of their own.

"Religion is very striking, it's dramatic," Boyer said. "And people want a dramatic striking explanation for it. So if you say, no, it's based on 10 not-very-dramatic cognitive processes that happen in normal minds, they're a bit disappointed."

There are a lot of sourpuss followers of Jesus.

They throw water on every thought of having a good party.

They actually think that enjoying a good time is a sin.

The Jesus I know loved a good party. He even made wine for a wedding - and it apparently was very good wine. (There are all kinds of people out there who write articles saying that Jesus made non-alcoholic wine, I don't buy it.)

Actually Jesus was frequently accused of hanging out with those who loved a glass of wine and good food. Apparently some people thought Jesus loved partying too much and told him so.

I think Jesus would visit the best party you can think of right now if he was walking around here today.

This doesn't mean that Jesus didn't talk about serious problems like poverty and homelessness. But do you remember what he said about the poor and the homeless?

He said, 'Throw them a party. They can't invite you to their party. They might not be able to pay you back. But what the hay, everybody deserves a good party!'

Have you thrown a party for a poor person lately? If you think you are poor, find some followers of Jesus and see if they really take him seriously enough to invite you to a party. Keep looking for one of those party-loving followers of Jesus - and if you are ever near Phoenix, Arizona, stop by and I'll throw a party for you!