Jesus Votes on His Face

    I have heard the joke made about how certain groups do everything on one side or the other.  Two examples would be that 1)Episcopalians eat, drink, lecture about tolerance, serve soup, and sleep on their left side,  and 2) that most Southern Baptists eat, drink(well...scratch that one), preach about personal sin, hand out tracts, and boycott Disney on their right side.

      Jesus didn't do much sleeping when He was here.  

I am starting to realize that getting comfortable either on the left or the right is a bad move.  St. Paul  taught the early followers of Christ that they should take on His attitude of humility.  Philippians 2 sums up in this:  Jesus gave up being God to be a man who died.  He humbled Himself.

Jesus Christ had one agenda, THE WILL OF THE FATHER.  And since it involved redeeming all things, had to involve the political. He chose to be one His face in loving obedience to the Father instead of laying on one side or the other.

The prayer of St. Francis leads us closer to that:

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;

where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love;

for it is in giving that we receive,

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.

Parade Rest, Rush. Parade Rest

A gathering of very influential Evangelical leaders occurred on Wednesday to discuss the relationship of Evangelicals to politics.  There is quite a movement on the way, BE A PART.  Good stuff - - listen to it here

I was alarmed to here this from a leader in the Latino Evangelical community:

Sam Rodriguez: "The major difference between Latino evangelicals and white evangelicals is that many white evangelicals take their marching orders from Bishop Rush Limbaugh, Prophet Sean Hannity, and Apostle Lou Dobbs; and Latino evangelicals still listen to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John."

I know that the statement was intended to be emphatic and the point should be considered with grace.  Although I hope fervently that he is wrong, my fear is that Mr. Rodriguez' statement is correct.  

I don't think that it is so much the case or problem that White evangelicals listen to the men listed, it is that WE have forgotten how to listen at all.  A good number of us have forgotten to take a "Berea" approach to anything said about our Faith and our Lord.

I can speak loudly on behalf of one White Evangelical to say that this statement does not describe me.  Maybe I really was supposed to be Latino.

The thing is, these men are beating on drums with old skins.  The new wine will break them.  Sure, we will be wrong about much too, but the cadence is changed.  Less march, more walk together.  Two miles.

What did I forget?

I just listening to a chapel message that my friend/boss/mentor/brother Justin Heth gave on January 14.  It is called "Practice Remembering".

Inspired by the message, I began to turn through some pages in my journal.  Here is an entry from sometime in July 2007, when I was about a month into my time facilitating short-term missions in Juarez, Mexico.

Lord, lead me.

Give me your grace.

Speak to me in truth.

Let me not judge.

God, bless the American Christians

Teach me to love

I want to spit on your children,

I am sorry.  Help me to love the Church.

Lord, I want to denounce the radio and the bookstores.

I want to break the rich.

Instead Lord, may I teach LOVE.

I want to show these young people the poor.

Please Lord, may I show them a new friend instead.

Lord I want comfort and rest.

May Your will be done above all.  May I never grow weary of doing what is good.

Daddy, give me grace.  Send Your Spirit upon us, we who are hard and think we are humble.  We who know so much and yet are blind.  We who claim love and turn people down.  We who sin and then criticize.  We who teach and lack wisdom.

Lord--pour out yourself 

Lord--Bless us with humility

Lord- Do your will

AND please come quickly

Isaiah 1:18 "Come let us reason together"

I am reading David Dark's "The Gospel According to America".  So far I appreciate it greatly.  While there are so many good thoughts in the book that someone should write a book about it, I want to share a section that addresses the preference of we Northern hemisphere believers to only pay attention to those of like opinions.

p. 29 "Ancient wisdom tells us that it's the insane person who can't change his mind and won't change the subject, but somehow popular media culture in America...has reached a fever pitch that views thoughtfulness as weakness and a changed mind as treachery.

"Militant ignorance passes itself off as integrity, and our habits of mind learn to dismiss illuminating fact and testimony with the non-argument of "bias" (whether liberal, conservative, or anti-American)..."

I am often tempted to stick to the few things that I am relatively secure in my knowledge about to truly lend an "ear to hear" to views that aren't my own.  The truth is that God created us to learn form each other, and in a state of dependence on each other and ultimately Him- even for our thought lives.

We cannot be afraid to listen to our brothers or sisters as they describe the other parts of the elephant.  The One True God is way beyond comprehension, and naturally some will perceive Him in ways that eventually will help us to truly know Him.

Homework assignments: 

1. trade your News stations to the "other side" this week (ex.  CNN to FoxNews etc.)  

2. do devotions written from a different strand of the Tradition (ex.  "Book of Common Prayer" instead of "Guideposts" or vv)

Something You Have Heard Before

I found this on PreachingToday.com's Series about money.  There is more research out there suggesting similar conclusions.  We should tithe out of both obedience and love.  

Tithing Christians Would Meet Global Need
A husband and wife team of researchers, the founders of Empty Tomb, Inc., in Champaign, Illinois, have tracked American and American Christian expenditures as well as global needs. John and Sylvia Ronsvalle have estimated that $70-$80 billion a year could meet the most essential human needs around the world. "Projects for clean water and sanitation, prenatal and infant/maternal care, basic education, immunizations, and long-term development efforts are among the activities that could help overcome the poverty conditions that now kill and maim so many children and adults."

The Ronsvalles go on to write: "That figure of $70-$80 billion may sound like anything but good news. God may be generous, you may agree, but has he been that generous? Consider this: If church members in the United States would increase their giving to 10 percent of their income, there could be an additional $94 billion available for overseas missions."

In addition to providing the $80 billion a year needed to eliminate world poverty, tithing Christians would also provide the $7 billion needed to provide primary education for all children, and the $5 billion needed to end the preventable deaths of children under 5.

Craig L. Blomberg, Preaching the Parables (Baker Academic, 2004) p. 51; updated statistics from www.emptytomb.org