His Servant on East Cedar

"Can We Stop Being Afraid Now?"

2011-05-04T12:28:00.006-04:00

That was the question posed this morning in a newspaper column: now that Osama bin Laden is dead, can we go back to when we weren't concerned a terrorist attack loomed around the corner? Can we go back to a world where we trusted strangers? Not only can we keep our shoes on at the airport, but can we go back to carefree travel? Can we go back to when we were seriously discussing in this country how we could spend the "peace dividend" - the surplus funds we'd gathered because we weren't spending our money on war?
Can we stop being afraid now?
On the one hand, the answer to the question, sadly, is no: not only are bin Laden's compatriots still out there and now enraged, but the organization he founded has metastasized. Al Qaeda is now a franchise operation, and truth be told, there are probably plenty of would-be sole practitioners, too.
As Jesus said, "those who live by the sword, die by the sword" - and everyone's flashing swords these days. In reality, we probably were the beneficiaries of an unusual time in our history, back before 9/11/01 when we thought we were safe.
I knew things had changed irrevocably when an armed man with a teenaged accomplice terrorized the DC area by shooting people randomly at gas stations. What is it, after all, that keeps these things from happening all the time? When socialization has unraveled to the point where such a thing is possible, then fear becomes the order of the day, doesn't it?
After all, what defense can you have against someone who is willing to kill himself to kill you - particularly if you want to live?
So, no: on that level, we can't stop being afraid. There are all manner of deadly forces out there, from al Qaeda to a random crazy person, along with the usual death-dealers of accident, tragedy and illness. And shooting one death-dealer probably has little effect on all the rest.

But on another level, we just celebrated the event that means we CAN stop being afraid.
This is the essence of the Christian story.
The world is broken. Do you believe that? The world is so broken that people will kill other people just to prove they were right. The one thing we can't do is make life - but we have perfected so many ways to take it away, as though that were equivalent.
The world is so broken that some people take it upon themselves to terrorize other people: if that is the only way they can have power over others, they will do almost anything to create that condition.
The world is so broken that the highest creation of God - humans - spend their time in futile striving, but in time all of them will be dead.
It's into that kind of world that God sent Jesus. Jesus came to set things right. He taught us that we didn't know much about life, power, authority or what we were made for. He acted out the kind of compassion, humility and love we WERE made for, and then he shouldered all the brokenness himself and took it to the cross, while humanity mocked him for it.
That would be noble and all in itself, but his resurrection changed everything irrevocably. Now we know that he was right: it is all broken and the kingdom of God for which we were made is not like this at all. Now we know we can not only be forgiven for behaving that way but we can be made new so that we don't continue to behave that way. Now we know that God is making all things new and the future holds a day when the heavens and earth will be remade, when God will dwell in our midst and all the deadly, violent jockeying for power will end. Now we know God will keep all his promises.
To put our faith in Jesus is to transfer our citizenship from these earthly tribes where all is fighting, to the kingdom of God where Jesus has already won. To be a Christian is to be made new now, to have the very Spirit of God within us, shaping us. To be a Christian is to have our minds set on things above - and from that perspective to re-evaluate what's going on where we live.
So CAN we stop being afraid?
In our flesh, as the apostle Paul would put it, we're going to experience fear as we contemplate our vulnerability and even more, the vulnerability of those we love. Jesus was overwhelmed in the garden of Gethsemane, too: the will to survive is part of our original equipment.
But if we are cooperating with the Holy Spirit within, if we are getting the message from our reading of the Bible, we must not act from fear. How many times are we told in the pages of the New Testament not to be afraid?
Fear is the opposite of faith. Faith is a usually a decision, a commitment, a determination to do what we have been told by our Lord to do, no matter how we feel about it.
Imagine that brother Ananias, called to lay hands on the apostle Paul just after his Damascus Road experience (in Acts 9). Paul (called Saul then) was a true terrorist to Christians - he was out to arrest and imprison them as enemies of God! Ananias, in his flesh, had every reason to believe that obedience to the Lord in this call just might result in his own imprisonment or worse.
But he did what he was called to do. He put his faith in doing things God's way, not in what would have been understandable as self-defense. He chose faith, not fear.
As I read the fear-filled directives of many who call themselves Christians, but seem to ally themselves with building walls, getting bigger weapons, killing more enemies and most of all, sending away and keeping out those who just might look like someone who is a terrorist or is a member of the religion so many of the terrorists believe authorizes their behavior, I want to ask: since when are Christians supposed to act from fear?
Feel fear? Sure; can't avoid it. But enshrine fear? Make fear our operating value? No. Be not afraid.
It is in just such moments as these that our faith is tested and shows itself for what it is (or is not). Do we believe that God has his hand on us? That he knows what is best for us and that "all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose"? (Rom 8) Are we "seeking first the kingdom of God"? (Matt 6) Are we part of God's purpose, his ongoing work in the world - are we "in Christ"?
So no, we can't stop being afraid: "they" are still out there. Death still stalks humanity and now there are more ways to be killed, and more people who believe it is their duty to kill. How sad. How tragic. What a blight on the good creation of God. There is really little to celebrate; though bin Laden is dead, it doesn't change much - and even he was once somebody's baby, and it could have been different.
But yes, we CAN stop being afraid - we know that God is at work. We know that God's purposes are not all about violence and hatred and who is on top - we know, because of the way that Jesus behaved.
The Bible implies that we who belong to Jesus have already, in the spirit, begun the eternal life we've been saved to. We are already immortal, already have nothing of consequence to lose; we are already agents of God's very different kingdom in the midst of this broken world.
We can ignore all that. We can bury it under an avalanche of bitterness and anger and fear. We can prefer to fight this world's fights and grieve the spirit of God. We can miss out on what God is doing. We can choose to live in fear.
But if we do, what we are doing is not at all "Christian."

Addendum: just read this from _Luke for Everyone_ by NT Wright:
"The real slave-master, keeping the human race in bondage, is death itself. Earthly tyrants borrow power from death to boost their rule; that's why crucifixion was such a symbol of Roman authority. Victory over death robs the powers of their main threat...Jesus has led God's new people out of slavery, and now invites them to accompany him on the new journey to the promised land...Welcome to God's new world."

Why We Wear the Ashes

2011-03-09T14:32:00.001-05:00

Said Musa was released from Afghani custody on Feb. 25.
That was something of a miracle, because he was about to be tried and sentenced to death for converting to Christianity, an accusation he doesn’t deny. According to Afghanistan law, conversion from Islam to another religion is unlawful and the sentence is death – and there is no exception, said an Afghani prosecutor.

It was only because of intense international pressure that the Afghanistan government found it convenient to let Mr. Musa go and leave the country. An amputee himself, he had worked for 15 years for the International Committee of the Red Cross fitting other amputees with prosthetics. He was a father and a husband.
And, he had come to put his faith in Jesus in eight or nine years ago. He was arrested in May after appearing on a television broadcast affirming his faith in Christ.

During his nine months of imprisonment, he said he was tortured in every way, and mocked and humiliated by both jailers and fellow inmates. He wrote an open letter to our president, and to every other Western leader, asking for the kind of pressure that ultimately did lead to his release.
His letter is a testament to a faith in Christ that knows the stakes: in broken English he wrote, “I agree with long imprisonment about my faith, even for long life. Because I’m the sinnest person in the world. ... I also agree with died on cross of my pride. I also agree with the sacrifice [of] my life in public. I will tell the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ son of God and other believers will take courage and be strong in their faith.”

Although Mr. Musa was freed, he was not alone, and other believers in Jesus in Afghanistan and other countries suffer imprisonment, torture and the threat of execution in the wake of having put their faith in Jesus.

Ash Wednesday was born in a world like that.
In Afghanistan today, to come to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, the savior of the world and my savior, who loves me, gave his life for me and bids me lose my life for his sake that I might find my real life in him, is not just words.
And in other places and times on earth, it has also been literally true that to follow Jesus was to risk losing everything – from job to family to life itself. It was that way for the earliest Christians when Rome rose against them. And the memory of that time was still fresh in the Gentile parts of the world where the church grew in its early centuries.

By the fourth century after Christ, those who had come to Christ in faith and wished to join themselves to his church were initiated into the church in baptism, which usually took place on Easter Sunday, after a three-year period of teaching.

As that auspicious baptism date drew near, these new ones were assigned a 40-day time of fasting, reflection and repentance: after all, to join the church publicly, was to risk a real physical death.

Of course, the Bible says that to join the church in baptism is to die to one’s old life and to be reborn to a new one, but this needed less explanation when it actually did entail huge social, financial and perhaps the ultimate loss.

So, it makes sense that one should examine oneself carefully before taking an action with such enormous consequences. One should examine one’s heart for leftover allegiances to a world which the scriptures tell us is passing away. One should reflect on the things that are still loved more than Jesus and his kingdom – because those things are the soft spots of our souls that invite Satan’s attack. And one should repent of these unworthy loves and less-worthy allegiances, and believe the good news of the kingdom of God…because we aren’t just pretending here: the stakes are high!
In the fourth century, when this practice began, the rest of the congregation, in solidarity with the new believers, joined them in their time of reflection and repentance – and the spiritual practice of Lent was born.
Thus came the ashes of Ash Wednesday. From dust we came and to dust we return. This world can threaten us with death, but whether we die at the age of 110 in our beds or at the hands of those who seek to turn us from our faith in Jesus, though a physical death is on the calendar for us all, there is a kind of death we will never experience, if we have been joined to Christ: Jesus entered that death – the separation from God because of our sin - for us, and rescued us from it. And then Jesus told us to take up our cross, die to our old lives, and come follow him into eternal and abundant life.

To wear the ashes is to embrace Christ’s death and the death of our old selves and to walk into the new life of baptism with our eyes wide open. It is to embrace our faith that Jesus knew what he was talking about when he said that the one who wants to save his life will lose it,
but that the one who loses his life for Jesus’ sake will find it…that life joined to Christ, welcomed by the Father and empowered by the Spirit lasts forever, and is a life worth living even if others kill me for it.

Said Musa knows the truth of this, and though he is free of Afghani prosecution, he is a man marked by the ashes of being willing to die for his knowledge of Jesus as his savior.

But we who live in a world where the cost doesn’t seem as high are prone to forgetting that this world is not just disinterested in God but hostile to him. Friendship with the world is enmity against God, James wrote. Not friendship with people – Jesus demonstrated how to be friends with anyone and everyone – but the scriptures say that there is a kingdom of this world that isn’t interested in giving up power or authority to God, that seeks to rule in God’s place and actively resists God’s ways.

We all live in that kingdom every day, and its messages soak into our hearts and minds. You could say that the kingdom of this world is killing us softly with its own song, and we are unaware of the bars of its stealthy persecution closing around us as our minds and hearts are wooed from what it means to love God with our whole selves.

So Ash Wednesday now speaks to us, and invites us into a holy Lent: to examine the state of our hearts and minds…to consider the crazy claims of Jesus and to say “yes” to him again in the midst of a world that lies to us about who we are and who God is. To examine what other loves we have put on his throne in our affections, to listen carefully to leading of the Holy Spirit about our sin, about our self-deceptions, about the grievances against others and refusal to forgive that we have nurtured in spite of God’s commandments, about the love we have withheld from the unlovely and about the flirtations with destruction we have permitted in our lives.

We wear the Ashes to say we have died by faith to the kingdoms of this world. We have died to the lies about what ‘real life’ is and to the temptation to be – or to invent – our own god.

God help us, we believe in Jesus who came to us, who showed us how loved we are by God, who healed us, lifted us up, fed us, gave us a new name and a place in his kingdom and told us he would never leave or forsake us, not even should a new worldly king arise who wants to kill us for our faith in him.

We wear the ashes to say with Peter, you are the One with the words of eternal life, where else would we go? We wear the ashes to agree with Paul, that we have died already since we are united to Christ in his death, and our real life is hidden with Christ in God, and will only be revealed in its fullness and glory when Christ comes again.

We wear the ashes to say we are in this world but not of it, and though he slay me, yet will I trust him.

For me, wearing the ashes feels like a determination of the will, to take my mind and heart where they naturally do not want to go – into my own soul with the Holy Spirit illuminating the dark corners to see what I have allowed to fester there in my own moments of doubt, fear and selfishness. It is a decision to repent, to turn, to rethink, to wake up and become aware.

It is only safe to do that because Jesus came to cleanse me from my sinfulness and my unworthiness by bearing it himself on the cross. He is not interested in my heroic attempts to be holy apart from him; instead, he comes to the one on her knees who says, if you are willing, you can make me clean…and he says, I am willing.

We wear the ashes to say we will take seriously this next 40 days, to ferret out the things that have claimed too much of our hearts, that we might give our hearts to Jesus.
We wear the ashes to say we will be transformed by the renewing of our minds, that the ongoing monologue of our consciousness might more resemble the words of Christ.
We wear the ashes to say, the kingdoms of this world can’t really kill me - Christ has already died for me – I am determined to live in his life-giving power and to turn from everything that gets in the way of that.

The Apostle Paul writes in his letter to the Romans that it is in our baptism that we identify with Christ’s death – almost as though in baptism we are inserted into Christ, joined to him, so that his death is our death, his life our life, his resurrection our resurrection, and his welcome home by the Father, our welcome home by the Father.

How ironic, then, that the authorities in Afghanistan became aware of Said Musa’s conversion, because an Afghani television station aired a video tape of aid workers conducting a public baptism. In other words, it was baptism’s proclamation of death and new life
that prompted a very real threat of physical death to Said Musa. Almost as though the kingdom of this world wanted to say, did God really say that in Christ was life? Do you believe it, Said Musa?

We, too, will be confronted some day in some way, by an evil demand to know whether God’s promises are true. We wear the ashes to say yes and mean it and proceed to live a real repentance.

May God grant us a holy Lent.

How Jones Got It So Wrong

2010-09-10T11:34:00.005-04:00

Pastor Jones reads the Bible wrong.

There's no news in that statement, I know. But it's important for us who follow Jesus to understand what's wrong with his behavior, above and beyond the pragmatics of danger to troops overseas and Christians in majority-Muslim lands.

After all, he is right that he is not strictly responsible for murderous deeds that might be done by others because they are offended.

What's wrong about Jones' behavior is that it doesn't pass the "What Would Jesus Do?" test.

Faced with situations in life that seem to demand a response from us, that has to be our question, even over and above "what does the Bible say?" As we have seen in the media, parts of the Bible can be cherry-picked to support or undermine almost anything; not everything written in the Bible is there for us to emulate! Instead, we who call ourselves "Christ-ians" must read the Bible through a Jesus-lens. What would Jesus do?

Some will point out that Jesus overthrew the money-changers' tables, called the Pharisees white-washed sepulchres and intentionally provoked religious authorities by healing on the Sabbath - over and over again. Jesus was not too meek and mild to be confrontational with untruth and to stage events that got attention so he could make his point! So maybe Quran-burning is possibly something he would do?

But those who say that miss the context: Jesus was provoking his co-religionists, his brothers in heritage and faith, to point out how they had missed the call of God in their own scripture and tradition. What Jesus was doing came not from hatred but love, as his grief-stricken cry on the way into Jerusalem attests. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing." (Matt 23:37)

We don't see Jesus attacking Romans or Samaritans; we don't see him pulling stunts to get attention for his contempt of their ways. Emphatically not; instead we see him encountering, dialoging with, inviting and even healing those outside his religious tradition, that they might discover the love of God...and his call to follow. What Jesus demonstrates for us is a profound respect for people who had no previous access to the way of God. He is to them the epitome of Grace.

In contrast, the Florida preacher demonstrates contempt and gracelessness to a people who can only react with fear. His stunts are calculated not only to inflame radical Muslims, but to whip up reactions that will bring out the worst of American-civic-religion-called-"Christianity" which does not stop to consider what Jesus would do at all. What his actions, statements and contempt display, is that the one he seems to be most concerned with promoting is himself, no matter what his behavior does to the name and glory of God, the message of Jesus, or the safety of others.

What should followers of Jesus do? It seems most appropriate that we call out our co-religionist, our brother, in Jesus' terms: "Woe to you... You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to." (Matt 23:13) We ought not be silent (and indeed, many wise Christian voices are being heard today - see this one: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eugene-cho/what-would-jesus-do-burn-_b_708994.html). What this man represents is not the gospel and there should be no mistake about it. In fact, he is doing what Jesus would NOT do.

But, neither should we indulge contempt toward the man himself:
"Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted." (Gal. 6:1)

This is hard, since our personal embarrassment may be deep! But, what did Jesus do? Jesus accepted dinner invitations from many whose public piety he publicly challenged - for their sake. May our hearts be like his.

You can't make Jesus an "individualist"

2010-09-02T08:53:00.005-04:00

The alarming sight of evangelical celebrities making common cause with Glenn Beck at his rally on Saturday should have been enough to prompt this post.

But today's news of Jerry Falwell, Jr. and Peter Lillback, the president of Westminster Reformed Seminary, appearing on Beck's show make this post necessary.

The gospel is only about individual salvation?
Beck had his guests on to shore up his statement that what Jesus preached was an individual salvation...only. "It's individual salvation. The Lord doesn't call us up, review our salvation and go, 'Ok now hang on just a second. Now serving group number 10!' It's individual. Your church is either for socialist government or the living of the gospel. It's either about God or government," says Beck, according to Christianity Today magazine.

His guests appear, in news accounts, to agree with him - although a careful look at the quotes suggests that they may not have been talking about the same thing.

That's good, because while the Bible certainly teaches us that we each are responsible before God for receiving salvation by faith in Christ, our responsibility as Christians is not "individual" at all - not if that means we just have to keep our own noses clean and each of us is on our own - and that's the whole point of the gospel!

I understand why many evangelicals believe that: my discipleship as a believer began in the kind of churches that unfortunately (and perhaps inadvertently) teach that. It's "Jesus and me...perfect together" to borrow from an old NJ tourism commercial. I used to think that my relationship with Jesus was the beginning and the end of the whole enterprise called Christianity. I got together with other Christians to celebrate it, and to do evangelism and missionary-work (which is mostly evangelistic or there is no point to it), but that was just a) convenient and b) more fun. I learned to disparage churches that seemed to spend their time and assets doing "social work" - I thought they didn't understand that this ship was going down, and the only important work was getting people into the lifeboats: when Jesus came again and destroyed the earth, what point would there be in having made the world a better place, if its inhabitants went to hell?

The problem with seeing the gospel through that lens is that I just didn't know what to do with things Jesus said and did. Why did Jesus begin his ministry quoting Isaiah, "the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners, and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor," saying "today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing"? (Luke 4). Why didn't he just SAY what he came for was to rescue individuals from sin and death (and that's all)?

Why is the Sermon on the Mount the way it is? Many evangelicals understand what Jesus is saying in Matthew 5-7 to be a charge to be a very special community, one in which married people stay married, never commit adultery, give to the needy, pray in secret and don't worry, so that other individuals will want to come to faith in Jesus, too, and have this special individual relationship. And they're not wrong: that is partly what it's about.

But why does Jesus start out talking about the poor being blessed, about the meek and mourning being rewarded? And why, in the whole thing, does Jesus continue to talk to "you" in the plural?

What are all those healings, exorcisms and nature miracles about - why so many? After all, couldn't Jesus have done a couple of healings and miracles as calling cards for his divinity, and then gone straight to the cross to accomplish our salvation? And why did Mary, in her exultant "song" about her call to be the mother of the Lord, declare that what God was doing in it was bringing down rulers, lifting up the humble, filling the hungry with good things and sending the rich away empty?

I confess that I always found some discomfort in reading the gospels, because these things didn't make sense to me - and as I recall, we didn't read the synoptic gospels much at all, and tended to stay in the gospel of John and even more in the epistles, where specific instructions for individuals were more prominent.

It was only later that I learned to see that what Jesus continually talked about was the kingdom of God, and that what he said, and even more, what he did, was about the advance of God's kingdom through him.

When he spoke about being "anointed" at the beginning of his ministry, it was about being anointed King: God's kingdom, his church, was not just a convenient way for all those individual saved people to enjoy one another's company, but it is the whole idea: the kingdom of God is God's people together, and together they are to continue his work - to continue the advance of God's kingdom, in which the poor are blessed, being "set free" is the order of the day for all kinds of bondage: physical, spiritual, financial, social.

Thus we read such stories as the healing of the woman with the issue of blood: her bondage was not just physical, it was also social, and so Jesus set her free from her ailment, but also in a public healing set her free from the ostracism it had brought.

The king is coming back - not just to destroy the earth and rescue the saved, but instead to establish his kingdom in "the new heavens and the new earth," in which the brokenness of the world will be set right.

But is that "social justice"?
OK, fine, but what does that have to do with the "social justice" gospel that Glenn Beck derides and is now getting evangelicals to stand up with him about?

The king is coming, true - but Jesus established the kingdom of God for now, in the church. We are here to do his work - and the kingdom of God, as it advances, sets free. The Bible's view is that the problems of the world are directly linked to the fallenness of the world.

The key word, something we've lost, is "shalom" - in both Hebrew and Greek, the word we translate "peace" means much more: it means wholeness, harmony, well-being. Within the kingdom of God, because of Jesus' coming, death and resurrection, there is supposed to be shalom, the quality of life in the "garden," in paradise - as it was before everything fell. That's what 1 Corinthians 13 is about; that's what all those exhortations in Colossians are about; that's what the Sermon on the Mount is about.

But how can such a "body of Christ" exist within our communities, without reaching out to touch the broken world in which it exists?

Thus Jesus reached out beyond the boundaries of the Jewish community in which he walked, outraging some, by healing and touching Samaritans, gentiles and Roman soldiers. In the same way, Jesus violated the boundaries everyone "knew" about "sinners" - the broken people in their midst who were assumed to have deserved whatever they struggled with; the out-and-out rebellious like the woman caught in adultery and the tax collectors who collaborated with Israel's occupiers. The kingdom of God sets things right - the world will know us by our love. The invasion of the kingdom of God heals and sets free.

OK, but even if that's true, Glenn Beck and I should have no argument with each other, really, right? After all, what he's really concerned about is "government reach" - he denounces social justice because he wants to deride churches who think government programs are good. He really doesn't care if I preach that the church is the point, that individual faith by itself is not enough, or that Christians acting in concert through the church ought to be impacting the brokenness of the world.

The argument is about policy, so let's keep it there
Instead, the real discussion ought to be about democracy. The real question is not about churches but about Americans. And the specific decisions have to do with government's role.

How do Americans want to live together? Do we want to help one another when trouble strikes? Do we want to work together so that when recession comes, there aren't stark winners and losers? When illness strikes, will we help one another? Or do we prefer to live in a community where our ability to survive or thrive when we are on the receiving end of trouble is relative to our connections: if we have family, or church, or enough money, we'll be okay, but if not, well....

What we have inherited from the generations before us are national policies that provide the much heralded and derided "safety net" - there are some fundamental protections in place for all of us, paid for by those of us who can, through the channel of a government of our own making.

Social security, Medicare, Medicaid, disability insurance, unemployment insurance, etc., were policy decisions made by the people Americans voted for to do our business, and because of those things many people who would live in abject poverty do not; many people who would have died prematurely, didn't.

These are not specifically Christian decisions; they were American ones.

And there are two kinds of American arguments going on now about them.

One discussion has to do with pragmatics - costs, structure, taxes, waste and fraud. These arguments have to do with implementing such things well.

But the other argument is about doing these things together at all. Into this argument come voices who proclaim "personal responsibility": those who are in need of these programs have failed to provide properly for themselves, and it is not the responsibility of other Americans to provide for them.

This argument is the radical individualist one, the libertarian one - each of us has radical freedom to make our own choices, and our own mistakes...but if they make us poor or sick, we get what we get. It's no one else's job to save us.

My rejoinder (as an American) is that the pure application of that position would leave us in a world most of us really don't want to live in. In fact, I'd argue that most of those who make that argument are banking on what they perceive to be their own assets - family, community, money, property (even, truth be told, race) - so that if the wolves were at the door, once they ran out of their own assets, they wouldn't be on their own at all.

I suspect that what they really mean is that they are tired to paying the bills for "them" - the people not of their own community or family, the "others" who seem to be sucking up all the resources. It (mostly) goes unsaid, and that way people can picture whatever "them" seems most threatening, whether illegal immigrants, city dwellers, those of other races or ethnicities, or old people.

In the argument in the public square, I'd like to say that the policies enacted in the past - the safety net - makes life much more liveable for all of us, and even provides us with enough security as a culture so that individuals can take the entrepreneurial risks that enrich all of us. I don't want to live in a society without protections that make for softer landings when trouble comes, nor do I want to live in a society where we refuse to care for one another outside of our own little community.

That's the way it looks to me; others, including other Christians, may validly argue another point of view that has to do with policy: better ways to do things as a society.

Those are policy decisions on which we argue, campaign and vote, and our democratic process provides ways for us resolve and implement these issues fairly. Of course, not everyone will get their way, and those who don't, get to campaign another day to capture pubic opinion and see their views implemented.

But you can't draft Jesus into the individualist argument.
But the introduction of an individualist brand of Christianity, which is unbiblical, into the debate which is then fused to individualist politics, must be countered.

There is no Jesus argument against taxes - Jesus paid them, even though there were others in his culture arguing against paying them. Paul specifically enjoins us in Romans to pay them, and honor the emperor, too! One's argument for or against tax increases must be made on policy (because in our form of government, 'we' are the emperor - "of, by and for the people"), not on Bible verses.

There is no Jesus argument against a nation's social decision together to care for all its elderly citizens through a tax - there just isn't, and to counter that if we didn't have social security, the church could do it through charity and thereby bring everyone to Christ, is just silly. That's not a biblical idea, either: it seems to me that what is really being proposed in that argument is that the church will take care of its own elderly (not likely, either) and triumphally declare that it is better than the world around it by doing so.

Do those who argue this way really believe that God is more pleased by their willing abandonment of elderly neighbors than he would be with their joining in a simple tax to care for all our elderly?

And there certainly is no Jesus argument for withdrawing from social programs to care for Americans, so as to keep our money and only care for "our own," however we define that. Jesus throughout the gospels deliberately crossed social lines to demonstrate that God's love didn't obey such boundaries. There is no way that God is pleased with "Christian" arguments that are based on a fear of others.

There is no "them" for the kingdom of God - our enemies are NOT flesh and blood , say the scriptures - when we begin to think they are, we have become useless to the kingdom.

We need to take to heart that old question, "what would Jesus do?" If we call ourselves Jesus-followers, that needs to be the standard. There were many fights going on in the culture of Jesus' day but he refused to be drawn into them, because he, the King of a new kingdom, was already there, and his purpose was being acted out as he healed and set free, and declared the good news of reconciliation with God. That is not to say that we shouldn't be involved politically - again, in our form of government, 'we' are the emperor, and Christians certainly should be represented in that 'we.'

But what we do, even as we participate, needs to look like Jesus. Much of what is being said in the name of Jesus these days in the public square, does not.

Science, religion and truth - "climategate"

2010-07-07T09:41:00.004-04:00

Stuck in traffic this morning, I wound up listening to a report on BBC World News on the subject of "climategate" - the issue is whether or not the science reporting on climate change is being manipulated to support a particular point of view. Briefly, last year, stolen emails from East Anglia University in England seemed to reveal a skewing of results in order to support the argument that human activity is warming the planet; another report this week concluded that the science is sound that seems to conclude that our actions are having that effect, regardless of the point of view revealed in the emails..
This morning's broadcast featured two spokesmen: a climate change skeptic and a supporter of the theory, who dialogued with the host. Afterwards, the host invited comment from the audience via email, and then read some of them.
What prompts this post was the question asked, and one of the answers: the question was something like, "do you trust scientists to tell you the truth about these matters?" And one comment was something like, "Of course I trust scientists; their work has brought us so much knowledge and technology. Who else would I trust? Religion? I don't think so."
It was just an exchange on the radio, but what a false dichotomy was set up! And as a spokesperson for "religion" (I guess!), I feel like I have to say that what was posed isn't really the question, and thus the answer doesn't make any sense.
The real question is, can you trust people?
Scientists are people, and there are virtuous scientists who work hard to do honest science: to propose a theory, to test it, to publish their results and allow others to try to replicate their tests and results, and together as a body of scientists come to some new knowledge. In the best of situations, that's how science is supposed to work.
But people (scientists and religionists both), the gospel tells me, are both glorious and flawed.
That we are able to come up with a way to learn from nature, to propose theories, to come up with ways to test them, to work together with others and to expand knowledge to benefit ourselves and the planet, is a manifestation of the image of God within us. As is our capacity to love, to create beauty, to organize society and culture, to develop medicine and to make marvelous machines.
But the flaw is that we are all, scientists included, liable to be tempted - to cheat, to manipulate, to do things the easy way or to boost a cause over and above science (or religion!), or just to please ourselves. It isn't even as easy as saying that there are "good" scientists or "bad" scientists - while there may be some "bad scientists" who have no intention of pursuing their business virtuously, most of the time, there are just people, capable of things done in the image of God, and easily just as capable of sin.
And "religious" people have the same problem - we may manifest the glory of God, or we may manipulate the power or control or image of religion to boost a cause or to please ourselves.
Or, in either case, we may be easily manipulated by someone else to boost their cause, who will persuade us that what we are being led into is True Science or True Religion (or True Patriotism, for example).
What the gospel teaches us is not that religion is true and science isn't (or vice versa); rather, we are all capable of falling. The gospel calls us into a true understanding of ourselves, into confession and repentance, into prayer and submission to the word of God, so as to avoid falling into sin (and let us not omit saying that the very first step of the gospel is to enter into relationship with the God who made us, through Jesus!).
But because of what the gospel has taught us, we have sometimes been wise enough to set up safeguards, "checks and balances," within science, within religion, and every other field. We have protected the right of free speech, and the press, for just such a purpose: getting into East Anglia's emails (though there may have been a more righteous way to do it!) is not bad. Uncovering manipulation in science or any other field is helpful for everyone, including the scientists involved. Such pressure keeps our minds on doing our job virtuously, no matter what it is.
At the same time, the gospel teaches us not to be so surprised, nor to completely condemn - after all, we are all fallible. It would be nice to see those who identify themselves as Christians be as open to the follow-up report that the science is sound, as they were gleeful to hear about the original emails. We are, in the end, still stewards of this planet - we should be interested in the truth, no matter where it goes. If we will not receive the truth because we are in bed with energy companies who financially support our causes, then in fact we are doing the same thing the scientists of East Anglia were accused of doing.
"Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place," says Psalm 51:6. God is less interested in our horse trading for causes, than in our righteousness. We all must be mindful of our capacity to be co-opted, manipulated and to fall, so that we are no longer operating out of the image of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, but instead have become shadows of those things while we pursue our own or someone else's agenda. What we become then is a twisted version of the image of God.
The result, when that happens, is that the watchful world says, "religion? I don't think so."

2010-05-24T09:07:00.003-04:00

Have you ever noticed that people who habitually tell lies, are likely to assume they're being lied to?
I've been surprised sometimes, when someone responds to me as though I'm not credible - it's not that I have such high esteem for myself, it's just that my default position is to believe people! And because I am in the habit of honesty, it never occurs to me to worry that someone thinks I'm lying to them.
So on the few occasions when I've run up against someone who views me with suspicion, I've been bewildered - until I remember what I've learned: we expect from others pretty much what we extend to them. So if you'd lie in similar circumstances, you think everyone else is.

In John 8, Jesus was pretty harsh with a group of folks - he told them that they were like "their father the devil," who is the father of lies - indeed, lying is his native language, he told them. It's not immediately clear in the passage WHY he speaks to them like this, except that they apparently are not willing to go the whole way as his disciples - he seems to be telling that that believing him while not "holding to his teaching" isn't enough.
It seems to me that lying is a way of holding myself back from others - it's a way of seeking control, and I wonder if these people Jesus is talking to want to control what relationship they have with Jesus - what they want is to determine how far they will go with Jesus, and no further. Only so much weirdness, Jesus. Not sure if I am willing to believe everything you have said about yourself; not sure I'm willing to do all of what you've taught us is your way. But I'd still like to hang around the edges....
Jesus accuses them of wanting to kill him! Of course, Jesus knows what they are really thinking - and I wonder if standing at a distance, giving oneself permission to tell Jesus just how far he can go, is to stand with the killers rather than the believers in the end - and we know that there were indeed those who were out to kill him.
Are they are accusing Jesus because of their own habits, rather than his? Are they are the ones who stand aloof from God and are used by evil, rather than the other way around?

That makes me think about yesterday - Pentecost - and the scriptures in Acts 2 that narrate that strange event of wind, fire and tongues-speaking. I almost preached on these verses, the reactions in the crowd which gathered at the spectacle: "They stood there amazed and perplexed. 'What can this mean?' they asked each other. But others in the crowd ridiculed them, saying, 'They’re just drunk, that’s all!'" (Acts 2:12-13)
Some were amazed: they take in what they are seeing and know that this out-of-the-ordinary thing is significant. Maybe they are the ones who will be ready to believe what Peter is about to tell them about what is going on. Perhaps they know the scriptures from Joel that he quotes, and they will get it, that this is what God had promised them long ago - his presence, "in their midst."
Some were perplexed - they didn't know what to make of it. They wanted more information. They knew they didn't have categories in their heads for what was happening and they were puzzling over it. It's not that they didn't believe or refused to accept - they just didn't know what to do with this experience.
But some jeered. Their default position is to refuse. Whatever this is, since I have never seen it before and don't know what it is, it is important that I put it down, and push it away. "They're just drunk." I don't know how to receive this criticism except to think, "it takes one to know one" - why on earth would this be their first reaction, except that like liars who think everyone lies, drunkards think everyone else is drunk?

Whether or not that is the case, it seems to me one way in which the Lord wants us to grow, is not to so easily dismiss. The polarities in our culture make us feel like we belong to "our group" by quickly dismissing the claims of the "other" group, by vilifying them and making sure to assign nefarious motives. It is a position that has no compassion, and I am afraid it reveals what is going on in our own hearts (or our own group's culture): if we assume they are out to hoodwink us, is that because we've been pretty busy trying to spin things ourselves? If we assume they say what they say because of who is paying for it, is that because our group speaks loudest for the interests of those who pay our bills?

Jesus challenges this group he's talking to in John 8 to hold to his teaching, to go "whole hog" for him - to be, as the politics of our times say, "in the tank" for him. Jesus said if we do that, we'll be set free! We need to be careful to check our thoughts, assumptions and reactions against his every day, because it is so easy to transfer our allegiance and begin holding ourselves back from him, because the father of lies is always at his work. The suspicion that then grows in our hearts is the very thing that keeps us from hearing his voice, and rather than making us free, it enslaves us again to sin.

How Gay Marriage and Abortion Require a Different Response

2009-12-08T09:07:00.002-05:00

One might think that it's predictable how I (the pastor) would counsel Christians to vote or advocate on the issues of gay marriage and abortion. Both are in the public conversation: in our state, the legislators are, as we speak, voting to send a bill allowing gay marriage to the (exiting) governor. In the Congress, methods to restrict federal funds from paying for abortions as part of health care reform are being discussed.
But to my mind, these are very different issues.
It is true that there is no scriptural support for gay marriage (at least, not if you're going to avoid torturing the scriptures). From the Bible's perspective, the only reason for people to "burn" for another of the same gender have to do with idolatry. The Bible does not seem to imagine two same-gender people who wish to live in loving fidelity with each other like a married couple; when it is mentioned, it sounds much more like one-night stands than marriage. So it seems to me we have to be careful about using those passages against people who clearly want something more than just sexual satisfaction out of their union - if we'd stop yelling for a minute we could see how very insulting that is.
It is difficult for those of us who like things neat to consider that we don't have all the answers on this issue, and we perhaps should pray more and talk less for a while.
But what does seem clear to me is that legislating against gay marriage neither keeps people from pursuing homosexual unions nor brings them any closer to God (which IS my goal). Why would someone listen to how much Jesus loves them (and he does!) from me, if I've put a great deal of effort into insulting them and trying to keep them from someone they love?
I feel like I have no obligation to protect the heritage of marriage as a civil institution: what I'm interested in is advancing the purposes of the kingdom of God. Those who support gay marriage have a point: we heterosexuals (in the civil sphere) haven't done such a good job of showing that our heterosexuality has made us so very faithful to one another or able to keep our marriage vows. I have no doubt gay couples can do at least as well.
I once had a very honest conversation with a gay friend - he wanted to know why conservative evangelicals wouldn't even listen to his point of view. And I had to tell him that they "knew" he was wrong and therefore there was no point in listening. And then he asked me what I thought. In the end, I said, I believe that this is not God's first choice for you or any of us, but at the same time the world is broken and has been for so long, that perhaps first choices are unavailable on many levels. That's how I read Romans 1: things got so bad that...this is what it looked like on a macro level. I think those of us who are not "oriented" that way ought to have more humility, and on a civil level ought to let the conversation go on -- nothing about the way Christians are currently behaving on this issue is producing any light.

BUT I sure do think the issue of abortion is different!!
I believe that God creates life, and as smart as we are, we have not yet figured out how to do that on our own (and I doubt we ever will). Life is God's province, and thus we ought to have not just humility but awe when we approach it.
Abortion has been freighted with too much other stuff. I am for women to be strong, educated and having as many options as their brothers. I am certainly aware that in our history women's bodies have been considered to belong to everyone else but them, and I am in favor of overcoming that idea all over the world.
But when abortion is presented as primarily a tool for women to have control over their own bodies, I must dissent loudly!
There is another whose body is present, who cannot speak or be heard but is alive! Once that new person is alive and present, it is immoral not to protect that life. It is immoral not to speak for that life.
One often hears, on this issue, that if you are opposed to abortion, then don't have one -- but leave other people alone to make their own choice. It is considered judgmental and narrow-minded to say otherwise.
But, we would not say that about how someone else should take care of their dog or cat. We would say that even a hamster has certain rights and would take steps to protect that hamster if it were being neglected or threatened with harm! Michael Vick is not welcome in polite company because of how he treated his dogs -- but those who say that a baby, however unseen or unheard, deserves the same protection are considered rude.
I get it, that to insist that abortion is immoral, is to condemn a woman to suffer a pregnancy she does not want, and will mean she'll have to make tough choices when the child is born. I don't minimize that - but with all due respect, the better choices have to be made before pregnancy occurs.
The suffering of the woman, which I truly do lament, does not give her license to take the life of another, just because the suffering of the child can't be seen or heard. Sometimes we must do the right thing even if it's hard - but we shouldn't have to do the right thing without help or support. This is certainly the job of the church, and I lament that we have far too often failed.
And the inability of that child to protect him- or herself requires that others protect him/her. God, who consistently charged his people to care for the poor, the orphan, the widow and the alien, is not going to turn his face from the little one who is in danger of being eliminated because what's going on happens out of sight!
I agree that those who oppose abortion need to step up and help women trying to raise children by themselves (we can't oppose abortion, oppose birth control, and oppose supports like welfare and food stamps all at the same time!). I agree that those who oppose abortion because in the end there is a life that must be protected, must ALSO protect life in many other venues - because I protect life, I oppose the death penalty. Because life is precious and given by God, it is my obligation to be pro-life when it comes to health care reform, tax policy and war.
I don't mean to be glib. These are terrible decisions that people have to make, and I accept that often we are left with an array of bad options to choose from. I do not vilify people who have chosen abortion - I don't know what it was like for them, and I am "pro" their lives right now.

But when it comes to exercising my voice in the public square, it seems to me that the abortion issue requires my participation, as one who speaks for the voiceless ones. I don't think it has to be hateful, or shrill, or condemning: I just think we have to stand up for those we can't see but are nonetheless part of our families and community. I don't see how as a follower of Jesus I can do any less!

The difference between this issue and the gay-rights issue is, that gay folks can speak for themselves, and I am willing to listen to them and perhaps they will help me understand what those of us who believe the Bible ought to think. There is time yet for that discussion to be held. If gay people gain the civil right to marry, it doesn't change anything for me - while, if conservative Christians are successful in keeping them from marrying, it is a foregone conclusion that much of American society will feel a little more alienated from the gospel of Jesus Christ. That matters to me, and it's a strong reason for me to stay out of the debate.

But when it comes to abortion, I can't stay out of the debate, because there are living people involved whose voices can't be heard. Whether or not you're turned off to my testimony about Jesus because of my testimony on behalf of the unborn, I still must speak.

What the Christian Journey is Really About?

2009-10-15T11:54:00.003-04:00

What is the spiritual journey about?
I used to think it was about knowledge: knowing the right doctrines, agreeing with them, believing them with all my heart. But the longer I know Jesus, the more I see that he has loved me and put up with me when I believed "wrong" content, and he clearly loves, grows, works in and is present by His Spirit in and among people who hold very different views of right doctrine. Sure, it's possible to go too far, off the rails, out in space...but within the boundaries of walking with Christ there is great diversity, and that ought to lead us to humility. Knowledge puffeth up, saith St. Paul.
Some people think it is about practice: either liturgical practice (right rites!) or ethical practice (good works). We can find biblical warrant for these things, but again, there is so much diversity that Jesus, by His Spirit, seems to put up with.
Yesterday, it dawned on me (and I'm hoping this doesn't mean I'm incredibly dense) that it has always and only been about: RELATIONSHIPS.
Think about it:
God came in Christ to demonstrate his love and compassion for us - the expected response is for us to believe in him, to put our faith in him -- and then to follow him.
Those are relationship words - it is about an I-Thou relationship with God himself! (Thanks, Martin Buber.)
And then, Jesus tells us over and over again that the nature of our new relationship with him is that it transcends all other relationships: his mother and brothers are those who do God's will; he came to set parent against child, etc. It isn't that Jesus thinks such relationships are bad -- remember when he raised the son from the dead and "gave him back to his mother"? He obviously cared for his own mother, as he arranged for her care from the cross. What he is doing, is telling us that when we enter into relationship with him, all our other relationships are now through and under him. "Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ" applies, even to our families - especialy to our families!
So, with new eyes, we stop judging our parents and forgive them. We are charged not just to honor them but to love them, because we are charged to love everyone, even if in our particular case that's hard (I'm not talking about us, Mom!).
When we come to love and follow Christ, he places us within a fellowship of other believers, who we are expected to love - see 1 Corinthians 13! - not because of who they are or who we are, but because of who He is. In fact, we are told that his command is this: love one another (in the church) as he has loved us -- which was unconditionally and sacrificially, for our good and for God's sake.
The second half of most of (all of?) the epistles is a summary of ways to love one another, and ways to bolster relationships.
And then, we are sent out to be in relationship with people in the world, for their salvation, for the kingdom, in Christ's stead, for God's glory. So if you are a slave, remember who your real Master is and work as unto him!
This seems to mean that my boss, my kids' teacher, the teller at the bank and the guy driving in front of me, are all possibilities for redemptive relationships, no matter how long or short. I am always an agent of God's kingdom, looking to have right relationships for his name's sake.
Is this what it was always about?

Customer Service

2009-09-12T11:57:00.003-04:00

We’d like a different Jesus, please.
We’d like to return this one.
This one keeps insisting that the meek will inherit the earth
And that he had come to bring good news to the poor.
By his steady gaze he reminds us
That our sins and weaknesses are known to him
And that they are not “better” than othersAnd our excuses don’t excuse.
When we declare that our people rule the world
Because we are quite naturally rulers
He tells us that those who follow him
Ought not to “lord it” over others,
And that he came to serve.
When we point out that we deserve what we have
His story reminds us that he took what we deserve
On the cross.
When we try to tell our children that He values
Hard work, excellence and family,
He interrupts and tells them that
He values love, mercy, forgiveness
And radical welcome.
We try to keep him within safe boundaries
By reading in the back of the book
And avoiding the red letters,
But the problem is He’s alive
And His Spirit keeps reminding us
Of what we already read.
We want to return this Jesus
And carry home the one
The radio voices seem to know.
That one would just go better
With our color scheme
And is easier in polite
Company.
We’d like a different Jesus.

An apology for scoffing - and an apologetic for humility

2009-09-01T14:20:00.003-04:00

I have a confession to make. I have been a "scoffer."

Psalm 1 says, "oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with scoffers. But they delight in doing everything the LORD wants." (New Living Translation)

But it so much fun to be a scoffer! It's so pleasant to hang around with those who see things exactly the way you do, and laugh at those who disagree. We know who we are; we're the ones who are right! The more we mock our "opponents," the more sure we are that we belong. It is a satisfying feeling.

Jesus, however, asks something higher of us. He told us to "follow" Him, and He deliberately invited people who didn't hang out much with each other to be his disciples. He willingly ate with all kinds of folks, and every time he did, there was some other group of people disapproving of his dinner company. By being with them, he didn't become like them - instead, he modeled godliness in the midst of them, by loving them, listening to them, and gently redirecting them. Simon the Pharisee was a person to him (even though Simon was rude); the woman crying at his feet and wiping them with her hair was a person to him (even though she was a lawbreaker). All persons were, to him, people made in the image of God who labored under the handicap and deceit of sin - they were the "sick" for whom he had come as doctor. All persons.

So since Paul told us that our attitude should be exactly the same as Jesus', and then reminded us that Jesus "poured himself out" for us, "making himself nothing," and obeying God all the way to the cross for us, why do we think it is our obedient task to decide who is wrong and then assume the worst about them? To laugh and point and call names, which makes us feel ever so safe?

Yesterday I received an email from a Christian video web site. It invited me to watch a new video, their "staff pick." This comedy video featured a "Christian comedian" singing a well-known tune for which the words had been changed - and his version mocked a particular political point of view. Hey, it's just a joke, right? But the words accused his political opponents of thievery and worse, and most of all, of being out to get him.

Seriously? This is Christianity now?

I'm not unfamiliar with politics, and -- see my original confession - not unfamiliar with political scoffing. But seeing it done with the label "Christian" brought me up short: it's NOT Christian - Christ-honoring - to accuse others of evil intent, and evil identity, just because they don't agree with me. And when others ARE up to no good, it's not funny. And if I as a Christian feel it is my duty to point it out, I'd better be sure of it --because not only is the other's reputation at stake, so is my Lord's. He is the one whose name I bear - and what does it mean to use the name of the Lord in vain?

So I repent. I will be more careful to consider others as people for whom Christ died, and commit to praying even for those I may never meet but whose positions I disagree with. And I call others who bear the name of Jesus, to make this commitment as well - for His glory.

The Health Care Reform Debate - for shame!

2009-08-08T18:20:00.003-04:00

One of the big divisions in this country is about whether we ought to rely on, or completely mistrust, government to meet some of our needs as a society.

One side thinks that free enterprise and the motivator of ambition and reward are the most efficient motors of problem-solving, and that government unnecessarily (or perhaps diabolically) gums things up.

The other side thinks that government needs to get involved alongside business and other ways of organizing ourselves, in order to make sure some things are available to everyone -- and of course, which things those are, is another subject of great debate. (For example, we agree that the military ought not to be privatized and everyone ought to pay their fair share for that kind of protection - but the debate right now is whether access to health care ought to be one of those "social goods.")

There are good arguments to be made on both sides, and like everyone else, I like one side over the other. Like other believers, I think I can marshall the word of God on "my" side, too.

But what's become of the public debate? Now we're hearing of public meetings in which groups of people plan to show up in order to do violence? In which groups of people plan to show up to deny our elected representatives the opportunity to speak? All this in order to convey the impression that there is an angry majority -- even if, in fact, in that particular meeting room, there is not?

Christians need to hear Jesus on this kind of thing: "do not resist an evil person," Jesus said. "You have heard, love your friends and hate your enemies - but I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." (Matt 5:39, 43-45a) Hmm. Doesn't Jesus understand the stakes? Isn't his method likely to get us ignored, or worse, run over?

But Jesus' method recognizes something larger going on. Paul says, in Ephesians 6, "for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the ...spiritual forces of evil." In other words, if we belong to Jesus we ought to understand that no human is our enemy -- the real enemies are forces we don't quite understand in a realm we can't quite see, and besides, they are God's problem. Our job is to "stand" (and not fall), Paul says in Eph. 6, and to love God with our whole selves, to love our "neighbors" as ourselves (and that's anyone we can have mercy on) and to love one another in the body of Christ as Jesus loved us -- fully, sacrificially, unconditionally.

That's enough of a job for us. So I'm trying to remember all this, even as I get outraged in the midst of this whole discussion, and to pray for everyone involved -- and especially to pray for the truth to be told, for all the players to be revealed, and for a good work to be accomplished. I especially do not want to be an unwitting recruit for "spiritual forces of evil."

You want me to love WHO?

2009-07-21T13:12:00.004-04:00

So, who, exactly, is my neighbor?

When Jesus said loving our neighbor as ourselves was the second greatest commandment, just who did he have in mind? After all, there are huge differences between the way we live now and the way that Israelites lived when that command was first given (Lev. 19:18). Does he mean my literal next-door neighbor? Does he mean the person standing next to me at church? Does he mean "those of my tribe" - after all, he was talking to a tribal nation.

Of course, that's exactly the next question asked (by the "rich, young ruler," Luke 10:29). And Jesus made things a lot tougher on us by answering him with the story of the Good Samaritan. The upshot of his story is that our neighbor is anyone we can have mercy on, even if that is someone declared to be our enemy!

That makes trouble for us followers of Jesus when we begin to negotiate in the political sphere, because of course the mandate underlying much of politics is to win, for my group to win, my people to win, my party to win (and for those others to lose). Politics, and much of our culture, advises us to look out for number 1, because you can be sure no one else is busy looking out for you.

As Jesus' people, our mandate is to make "shalom," that whole-life harmony, health and peace of Paradise, wherever and whenever we can - that's the point of that picture given us of the first church in its worship and life together in Acts 2:42-47. It will be fleeting on this earth before the Lord returns, but that doesn't take away our task to aim at it. Our job is to have mercy wherever and whenever we can. We're supposed to be looking out for the interests of others (Phil. 2:4). We can disagree about how to do that and whether it should or should not be done through government means, but what we cannot succumb to is the temptation to say, "I've got mine; go take care of yourself." Not even if we think the troubles of others are their own fault.
Jesus told us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves - how can that not mean working for others to have the same benefits I've enjoyed?

Jesus told us that in God's kingdom the last shall be first, and the first, last; and he told us that if we have two coats, we should give one to the man who has none. These things must inform our public personas as well as our church selves. We must act with wisdom, and love sometimes calls for restraint - but it never gives us permission to bolt our door and throw up walls and begin to defend ourselves and see those in need as a threat.

I admire those who keep themselves from getting caught up in a party spirit, who work diligently to find the best solutions to our common problems, and who take a lot of fire while they're working at it. This is the best kind of situation for Jesus' people to stop and ask themselves, "what would Jesus do?"

Jesus, who touched the lepers and conversed with ostracized women and washed the disciples' feet, would surely never advocate at attitude that says, "I've got mine; you're on your own."

It's wrong to be a fan of Jesus

2009-07-09T10:09:00.005-04:00

Thanks to media overload, I'm still thinking about Michael Jackson.

And I'm noticing how the next step after idolizing a pop star, is turning him or her into whatever we want them to be. This human, Michael Jackson, is being credited with being the greatest entertainer who ever lived, the first person to transcend black/white racial identification, the first black entertainer to attract widespread white interest (really? My husband says that must have been a surprise to Stevie Wonder, James Brown, The Temptations, etc.), someone who taught us all to love the world and actually united the world, etc.

In response to all that, now comes the barrage of psychologists, philosophers and even ministers who are telling us what Michael Jackson "means." I guess what they really mean is, what the illusion/image of MJ means.

Somewhere under all that is the "real" Michael Jackson that none of us ever knew. Because we never knew him, all we can do is talk about the projection of who we think he is, and in some cases, want him to be.

It's that "want him to be" that makes a fan.

And there's the danger I never thought about before when it comes to something I know more about: Christians and Jesus.

Is it possible to be a "fan" of Jesus - to create out of our own desires and some limited information, a Jesus of our own making? To cheer for him, find other fans in that same Jesus, and get in fights with fans of some other "Jesus"? Do we wear his insignia, gather in fan conferences and sing his fight songs? Or like MJ fans, do we project on our "Jesus" all we want the world to be, all we want heaven to be, and what we find "spiritual"?

Ouch. I think there is more to this than I ever considered.

Jesus had lots of fans in the days when he walked the earth. But read John 6 - he intentionally dispersed them. Jesus doesn't want or need fans; he called us to be followers. And that asks of us something entirely different (although on some superficial levels, fandom and followership share some characteristics).

To be a follower is to let the living Jesus into your life. We become entirely aware of His presence, of His love, of His forgiveness -- but Jesus as Lord will make changes, and the long term effect should be that we are more like him. His character - his humility, his confidence, his love and welcome for all, his desire for God to get the glory - these things are immediately apparent when they grow in us, because they're so different from what we are naturally. "Followership" will make us different. Sometimes it will cause us trouble in the world. But it is also extremely welcome in a world where everyone is used to everyone else jockeying for position, power and acceptance.

Fandom, on the other hand, creates divisions, power grabs, fights for influence and striving for attention. Fans are interested in us v. them; fans want to wear the T shirt and find other fans to belong with. Fans turn the object of their interest into a larger representation of themselves, and attribute to their idol their own fears and wishes.

Perhaps we, being human, can't quite help mixing some fan-like behavior into our fumbling attempts at following Jesus. Maybe that is the sign of our need to grow further. But as a pastor it stands out to me this morning that this is a trap to be avoided. Fandom feels really good, but it is not following, and it is not the worship that the living Jesus wants from us.

Celebrating a win?

2009-07-06T16:44:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow, a huge memorial service will be held for Michael Jackson.
And today, I’m shocked by the news stories about the “winners” of the lottery to attend to the Jackson service “celebrating.” Just what did they win?
You don’t have to travel far to find someone grousing about the nonstop TV coverage about Michael Jackson’s death, and it’s only a little farther to find someone complaining that Jackson doesn’t deserve all this adulation, what with the accusations against him and all. But that’s not my complaint today. I get it that someone could be both amazingly talented and flawed at the same time, and I’m not here to join in throwing stones at Michael Jackson.
But I guess what I am complaining about is our capacity to lose perspective when it comes to the death of a celebrity. What we ought to be noticing right about now is not only that celebrities put their pants on one leg at a time like everybody else, but also that “it is appointed unto men once to die” (Heb. 9:27 in the old KJV), no matter who you are.
In recent years I’ve been learning something about how quickly the closing parenthesis to our lives can come, and how quickly it can be that our life becomes a finished book, to be analyzed and remembered (or not) by others. This should be a sobering thought, and if we are reflective, it ought to make us think about the meaning and purpose of life itself.
That the same end comes to the “greats” among us should only underscore it.
So what is the meaning of strangers to Michael Jackson celebrating over winning a lottery to sit at his memorial service, as though it were the concert ticket to beat all? Perhaps it is a way for people to avert their eyes from what has really happened: that a person so talented came to such an end, that the very things he fought to keep secret are now known to everyone, that in the end we lose control. We don’t like to know those things – so turn the music up and let’s pretend it’s just one more concert, this one a tribute to the Michael we think we know.
I know nothing about where Michael Jackson stood with his creator, but I know that his creator knew all about him – knew about his hurts and his dreams and his fiercest loves, and the things he felt powerless before. So I hope that at his memorial service there is a hush that will finally overtake the circus atmosphere, that there will be a moment to recognize mortality, and even more, I hope there is a turning, from the best this life can offer, to a glimpse of eternity, and the One who invites us to know Him and love Him, even to the extent that He already knows and loves us (1 Cor. 13:12).
Janet Jackson spoke briefly at the BET awards last week, pointing out that though Michael was image and icon to his fans, to her, he was family – and her grief, over losing a brother that those celebrating their ticket win never knew, was visible in the lines of her face. Michael’s Maker knows a Michael no one else knows (and he knows a “you” and “me” that no one else knows, too) – and the meaning of that ought to fill up that hush at his service.
Let there be awe – not just at Michael Jackson’s footwork, but at the reality of death and the promise of an appointment with God. Let there be humility, that no matter how big the crowds are here that call your name, in the end you really can’t take much with you. And how would it be if then the celebration began, not to drown out the fearful specter of death, but instead to participate in the glory that we aren’t stuck in death, thanks be to God?
That’s what I’m praying for, when it comes to Michael Jackson’s memorial service.
Lord, thank you for the gifts and talents you gave this man – now have mercy on him. Surround his children and family with your comfort. And cause an awe to fall on all who are attentive to his death…that we would see death for what it is, and that we would value your overcoming it for us in Jesus. May we not turn our heads too soon, and so miss your grace. Amen.

They think they're on to us

2009-06-30T13:24:00.003-04:00

Jerod Clark at the ThinkChristian blog tells a fascinating story: apparently EA (Electronic Arts) wanted to boost attention to their new video game called "Dante's Inferno," so they hired actors to put on a mock Christian protest outside the largest video game conference in the US! (http://www.thinkchristian.net/index.php/2009/06/30/mocking-christian-protests/)

The fake mob carried protest signs ("Hell is not a video game") and even had a web site which Clark says parodied the bad design of some church web sites.

So, the publicists for EA recognized what some Christians don't: outraged protests about cultural markers often just drum up interest in the thing that outraged the Christians!

When cooler heads prevail, we recognize that Jesus just didn't act this way. In fact, the Pharisees faulted him for his lack of outrage at sinners. But the gospel writer John pointed out that Jesus didn't need anyone to tell him what was in a man (John 2:25). Instead of protesting what made sense to "sinners," he demonstrated God's love for them/us and invited us to follow Him.

Jesus sat down to eat with the folks the Pharisees were outraged at. The only time Jesus ever shows amazement in the gospels it is at the hard-heartedness of those who are supposed to be the "God-people." Why do we continually wind up acting like the wrong ones in this story?

It's not that the world doesn't come up with some outrageous stuff (and a video game about Dante's Inferno doesn't even raise a goosebump). But our job is not to rage at the darkness; it is to bring the light, in just the way that Jesus did it. So we're better off spending more time with Jesus in the Bible, and in prayer, and less time scrutinizing the culture for signs of depravity. The world will show up without us having to look for it, and we'll be much better prepared to be like Him when it does.

Jonah was a whiner; am I?

2009-06-30T01:35:00.002-04:00

Last week I attended our denomination's annual meeting: the Covenant of which we are a part, sees itself as a gathering of members, only the members are each churches. Together, those churches pursue Jesus' work in the world, able to do more than each could by themselves.

The focus for our meetings together was "the necessity of the new birth" - this is one of our affirmations; for more info, check out www.covchurch.org -- and at one evening's worship service, our director of evangelism, was the preacher.

Her text was Jonah, and here's what she challenged us with: Jonah, we read in the Bible, was sent to Nineveh to tell the people there that they were in trouble with God and were about to be judged. But Jonah runs away (remember that whole story about the big fish?). Ultimately, Jonah accepts his assignment, goes to Nineveh and brings the message - and then he gets himself a ringside seat to watch God wipe out Nineveh.

But instead, the Ninevites take him seriously! They turn from their depravity and seek God's face and desire to be made friends with God - and God takes them up on it.

You'd think that would be good news, but not to Jonah. Jonah is put out! He wanted fire and brimstone; he wanted them to "get it."

Then we read in the Bible this strange set of circumstances; while Jonah waits on that hillside in the searing sun, God causes a plant to grow up quickly, and Jonah finds shade under its leaves. But the next night, God allows a worm to chew through Jonah's plant, and Jonah finds himself without shelter in the baking sun again, and he declares he is ready to die.

And God calls him on it: Jonah, you're so concerned about your own comfort, and you complain and argue. But there's no room in your heart for the Ninevites..."who don't know their right hand from their left." God makes it plain that God's heart always was for the Ninevites, and it sets up in stark contrast the venal, self-regarding heart of Jonah, who didn't give a fig for the Ninevites and was disappointed that they didn't get punished, but was consumed with concern for his own comfort.

Rev. Orris put the question then to us: are we more concerned with our own comfort, or have we cultivated hearts like God's, that begin to hurt for those around us who don't know their Maker and Father, who "don't know their right hand from their left"? If we aren't telling others the good news, what reason do we have for that?

I'm not sure if it was Rev. Orris who said it or if it the Holy Spirit's challenge to my own heart, but I am reminded again that my relationship with God through Jesus isn't because of my own merit or even that of my parents, but instead it was Jesus who loved me before I was even able to love him. I am, through no merit of my own, "God's workmanship," chosen to do good works which were prepared for me in advance. (Eph 2:10). The word for "workmanship" is poema, from which we get "poem" -- we are God's craftmanship, his work of art, which pleases him and makes us ready to do what he's given us to do.

So I can't sit on the hillside and wait for the world to go to hell in a handbasket. If it weren't for the grace of God I'd be in that handbasket! So am I sitting in the hot sun, deploring the lack of shade, wondering why God isn't making me happy? Or am I out there in the world, open to being used by God to help someone else find new life and hope in the One who loves us so much?
Has it become obvious to me that, instead of being poised to punish the world, God has already taken the punishment of the world on himself, that his crowning creation might be rescued?

Jonah really comes off as a whiner in the scriptures, and yet I was touched by God's continuing work with him, patiently showing him how his whining demonstrated how far he was from the heart of God. God is patient, but it would be great if I could learn from Jonah's mistakes!

"The Shack"

2009-06-28T23:30:00.000-04:00

Finally read The Shack (by William P. Young) on a cross-country flight this week. I had heard a lot about it (I think it was on the NYTimes bestseller list for a long time last year). Some said it was a great allegory; others said it was unbiblical. I just didn't know what I was going to think about.

Well, I loved it. It's the story of a man who is angry with God after a terrible tragedy - and God actually invites him into the Trinity's relationship, to have his ideas about God reshaped. I wouldn't want to ruin it for anyone - but I sure do recommend it. I do, that is, as long as the reader remembers it is an allegory written by a mortal, not scripture inspired by the Holy Spirit.

But it is carefully written...and for me, anyway, it was very moving. Let's put it this way: I cried so much through it, I'm sure the flight attendant thought I was headed for a very sad event on the other coast.

One of my favorite moments was when Mack, the main character, answers his host's questions about his children. As his recounting of his children's welfare is carefully attended to, it occurs to him that his hosts already know all this, yet he is still carefully listened to. Why is that, he inquires. The explanation is touching: because his hosts voluntarily limit their own "knowing" in order to hear his accounts, because God wants to hear about how he sees his children. What an enormous picture of what happens when we pray! How much God loves us, to listen to our prayers!

I was discussing the book with a friend at the Covenant Annual Meeting - he said that it just didn't move him. It wasn't that he found it doctrinally deficient, he said, but it just didn't move him. He said that he wondered if that was because he didn't have kids - and that may be true. The Shack certainly touched me in a very deep place as a parent; I don't know how I would hear it if I didn't have that experience. Love to hear more from others about the book.

Crying for Freedom

2009-06-28T20:11:00.001-04:00

Last weekend, I was riveted by the Twitter thread and live-blogging from the streets and rooftops of Iran. It was thrilling to hear of regular people making a decision to take back the power that had been used against them; it was, however, tragic when it sank in that these voices belonged to real people who were being beat up and even killed for taking such a stand. The thrill was diminished when I considered that if my family were there, I'd probably prefer that my young adult children not participate in such high-stakes speech. And yet, guiltily, I do want the people of Iran - particularly the women of Iran - to prevail in their efforts to have their say over the powers that seem to have stolen their votes in their country.

So what would be worth such risks, if it were me and mine? What does Jesus really think about these issues?

Despite the tendency all his followers have had to co-opt Jesus for whatever their cause has been over the millennia, Jesus in the Bible seems to be relatively disinterested in the political fray of his day. It wasn't that the situation was any better - Israel was occupied by a pagan empire that regularly offended Jewish values. The people were overtaxed by the occupiers and again by their own people who collaborated with the Romans. Their local rulers didn't stand up for them against the Romans, and their local religious leaders added to their burdens.

When Jesus arrived on the scene at the start of his ministry, the zealots - the activists who were trying to undermine or overthrow the Romans - thought he might be recruited for their cause, but Jesus paid them no mind. When Roman taxes were due, Jesus paid them (however supernaturally).

Jesus just as quickly distinguished himself from the party of the Pharisees, who were trying to get everyone to obey the Jewish law meticulously, the better to encourage God to bring Messiah to overthrow the Romans -- Jesus intentionally healed unworthy "sinners" over and over again on the Sabbath, to the Pharisees' outrage, proclaiming that God had made the Sabbath to serve humanity, not humanity to serve the Sabbath.

Everyone who tried to get Jesus on their side wound up disappointed. The gospels display a Jesus who was quite clear what his cause was, and he didn't make alliances with other causes: his cause was God's "kingdom," the emerging of God's rule over a new administration and a new tribe, the beginning of a new thing that was going to endure right through the end of the world and beyond. This new thing would be made up of people who had been made entirely new from the inside out, spiritually, by him, and these people would begin to display his characteristics and to do what he did in this world. What they created together was supposed to show the world how things are when God is in charge.

That new thing is what the church is supposed to be, and it does still endure, even though it is surrounded by a whole lot of fluff and mess that Jesus' followers can't resist creating, too. The real "kingdom" of God is supposed to be our main cause, and never to be supplanted by any other. The kingdom is where earth's inhabitants are supposed to find real freedom, real healing, real acceptance, real love. From that kingdom, we earth-dwellers who belong to Jesus can also engage on issues of war and peace, prosperity and poverty, propriety and freedom - but without losing sight of the eternal big picture and for whom we always work (and why: there is no freedom while we are estranged from our Maker).

I believe in freedom; I believe in free speech and voting rights and democracy. I think that in our broken world these are the best ways for humans to thrive (and while we are at it, the best circumstances under which the church can thrive). But they are not my main cause and can never be: I'm already taken by the kingdom of God.