Category Archives: Humanity

Safety

28 Thursday Jun 2018

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There are anchor people on certain networks complaining about and blaming protestors for disrupting the private lives of Administration officials – as if this is disconnected from actions the Administration is taking.

The Supreme Court ruled that the Administration’s travel ban was legal.  Children, who seek asylum and are trying to escape from violence, are housed in cages with little hope of ever being reunited with their families.  There are reports of increased violence against Muslims, African-Americans, and those with foreign ancestry – harassment for being who they are.  The Administration admitting that there are planned detention centers.  ICE raids in businesses.  The President stating that people don’t deserve a hearing and should be deported immediately – regardless of whether they are a citizen or not.

Is this what it means to make America great again?

Is this what you believe it means to be a follower of Christ?

Do these facts and questions make you uncomfortable?  Are you angry that I bring them up?  Are you coming up with excuses and rationalizing these activities?  Are you telling yourself that these things will make you safer?

Were you unsafe before these things?  How so?  How exactly are they making you safer?  I want you to actually voice it so that we can all hear the reasoning.  So that you can hear your own words and what thy really mean.  Be really clear.

How many more of these things are needed until you reach this mythical state of safety?

At what point do these actions actually make us less safe?  If you don’t realize it, we have already moved to that point.

What is it with this idol-like worship of safety anyway?  Jesus certainly doesn’t call us to safety.  He calls us to be risky – to be vulnerable. To take up our cross.  There is no safety in following Christ.

Who is safer as a result of these actions?  Not even the people who they are designed for.  Because when our government can impose such actions on a group or groups of people, then where does it end?  When will you be the threat and need to be removed?

Is this really about trying to keep us safe?  Then where is the concern about safety for the asylum seeker?  Where is the concern for the safety of African-Americans who are just living their lives but are having the police called on them by white people?  Where is the concern for the safety of those who wish to carry out their freedom of speech in opposition to these actions?

Why do we seem more concerned with patriotic displays of nationalism, rather than the safety of our military personnel when we start insulting our allies.  Are we not putting them in harm’s way unnecessarily?

Why are we not concerned with the safety of our veterans – many who find themselves homeless, hopeless, addicted, and many completing suicide?  Granted, this has been going on for many years.  But it certainly hasn’t improved in the last two years.  It continues as it did before.  We are really good at taking a civilian and making them into a soldier to do things that most people would never want to do, nor should have to do.  We are terrible about taking that soldier and making them into a civilian again and giving them the support they need.  Too often we toss them aside once our leaders are done using them for their dirty work.  We don’t honor them, we scapegoat them.  What does it say about a country and it’s concern for safety when we have private organizations that are dedicated to helping homeless veterans.  Homeless veterans – let those two words sink in.  Why are any veterans homeless at all?  Is this how we treat those who are most loyal to the country – who gave up years of their lives and risked their lives, for the country and what it supposedly stands for?  This is how they are repaid.  Lost, hopeless, forgotten, and in the way.  And we are supposed enjoy the pomp and circumstance of flag waving?

And we claim to be concerned about safety and civility?  What part of any of these actions is civilized or safe?  Or patriotic?  Or following Christ?

Why are we more concerned with the safety of some privileged people who don’t want to be uncomfortable or inconvenienced, rather than the safety of all – including those considered to be “others” by those same privileged people?

We have a serious problem in our nation.  A sickness that is getting worse.  A disease that is spreading.  But it is not new.  It has been operating under the surface for a while, but now is full-blown – no shame.  And we aren’t taking any medication for it.  Instead we are feeding it.  We are lying to ourselves and saying that we feel great again.

In reality, we are advancing towards our own death and cheering loudly for it.  If we continue, we will reach a point that we become terminal. And I’m not even sure we’ll have the benefit of hospice care at that point.  We’ll get what we deserve – to be thrown out with the trash.  That’s where we are headed if we continue on this course.

Prophecy isn’t about having some kind of special knowledge from God.  It’s looking at where we have been, where we are, and seeing what’s next if the course does not change.

Prophecy is not set in stone though.

This doesn’t have to be the course we continue on.  Realize that not everyone will be onboard with a course correction.  Many will resist.  Some will become violent.  So be it.

I for one am not interested in continuing on this path.

Here are some vital questions we need to ask ourselves – do we really believe in the ideals of this nation that we claim to believe?  Or are they just nice things that sound good when the times are alright?

Or were those ideals made for a time such as this?

Christians, do you really believe Jesus?  Do you believe his call to serve the poor, to welcome the stranger, to love your neighbors and enemies?  Do you believe in the Sermon on the Mount?  Or is Jesus full of it?  Are they just nice things that sound good when the times are alright?

Or are Jesus’ teachings made for a time such as this?

Is your faith from God?  And do you believe that God is love and that Love is God’s way?  Then love is the only way to proceed.  Love all people and God’s creation.  There is no other option.  There are no valid excuses for dehumanizing people, for caging children, for causing anxiety among entire groups of people, for creating fear.  These are not things of God.  Anger and fear are not the way of Christ.

God is love.  Love is the only way.  Let us live that love.  If your top priority is safety and by that it means devaluing, dehumanizing, restricting freedom, and fearing, then you are way off the path of love.  You are invited to come back to the path.  The way is narrow, but it is worth it.  You will not be alone.  There is forgiveness, mercy, grace, peace, and joy on this path.  It isn’t safe, but it is thriving life.  When our primary focus is safety, we are only looking to survive.  When our primary focus is love, then we will thrive.

 

Love is the only way

23 Saturday Jun 2018

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It is easy to get distracted.  It’s easy to get pulled away.  Oh so often have I fallen away, being drug back to a way of politics and partisanship – a way that doesn’t lead to life.  Rather it leads to competition, compliance, demand, division, separation, anger, fear, and so much more.  All of these things pull at me time and time again.  Oh so often have I succumbed to them.  They are a hard task master – a way that demands things from its followers.  A way that is heavy.  A way that beats down all who are not strong.

But this is not the way of Christ.  Love is the only way.

As I have struggled through this week over everything surrounding immigration, the separation of children from parents, the comments in response, the rhetoric, the stories, and more, I have wandered in what feels like a haze.  I have felt the grasp of fear and anger all around.  Anxiety has made its home in the pit of my stomach.

My heart has broken over and over again.  I have gone through a range of emotions – not all of them healthy.  I have been angry at those who seem blinded to the plight of the refugee seeking asylum.  I have wondered why people can’t see their plight.

Why do Christians, those who claim to follow Christ and all he taught, seem blind to the plight of other human beings?  To turn our backs on those who suffer?  To block out the humanity of the most vulnerable?  To turn our backs on the least of these – our brothers and sisters.

My anger is gone now.  My sorrow flows freely though.  I am sad for the refugees.  But my heart breaks even more for this nation and the people who are gripped by fear and anger.  My heart rips open for those who live by fear and anger.  Fear and anger consume so many and consume our nation.  And when words fail to settle our differences, when words fail to bring calm, then fear and anger will lead to violence.  And my heart breaks more.

My heart breaks over and over.  And I am reminded that love is the only way.  Fear leads to death.  Anger leads to death.  Love is the only way to life.

We are called to love.  Not cheap love – very costly love.  Love isn’t about being right and convincing others to follow along.  Love sees no enemies – only fellow children of God.  We are called to love our neighbors.   We are called to love our enemies.  We are called to love refugees and strangers.   We are called to love the most vulnerable.  We are called to love those that we fear the most.

Love is vulnerable.  Love is risky.  Love is uncontrollable.  Love is costly.

Jesus asks the disciples in Mark 4 “Why are you afraid?” He asks us this same question at this moment in history.  He asks us why we are afraid of refugees.  Jesus asks us, not to gain political points.  Not to get voters in a political party.  Jesus asks us why we are afraid because we have lost sight of him and his way – love.  Love is the only way.  Nothing else matters.  Nothing else will survive.  Nothing else will change the world.

Do we believe Jesus?  Do we believe Jesus’ way?  Or do think that it is just a bunch of nice ideas that can never really work?  Now is the time to show what we truly believe.  The old hymn tells us that “they will know we are Christians by our love.”  Now is the time Christian.  Now is the time to live by love.  Because love is the only way.

Force, strength, control, walls, violence, separation, rhetoric – none of these can ever conquer the world.  None of these can change the world.  None of these are the way of Christ.  None of these will last.  Love is the only way.

And so I love the refugees and my heart breaks for them.  I love the border guards who are doing their duty and my heart breaks for them.  I love the vocal defenders and those who willingly dehumanize children sent to cages and my heart breaks for them.  I love Jeff Sessions and my heart breaks for him.  I love Donald Trump and my heart breaks for him.  This is a painful love.  But it is the only way that I know to go forward.  It is the only way that has not been tried.  It is the only way to really follow Christ.

Love is the only way.

Simple answers

22 Friday Jun 2018

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I have struggled with our national immigration system all week – or rather the implementation of it.  I’ve seen the pictures, heard the audio, from refugee seekers and those in detention facilities.  I’ve heard supporters carrying out the law.  I’ve heard the president shift from saying that his hands were tied to signing an executive order changing the situation.  I’ve read numerous accounts about what the law and policy is and is not – none really agreeing with each other – the same goes for the executive order.

I’ve found the policy to be immoral at its core, but at the same time, I think that’s simplistic.

It’s easy to complain and point fingers and to scapegoat.  I’ve seen plenty of that on social media. Heck, I’m willing to admit that I’m just as guilty.  Being right feels good after all.  Being able to point a finger and blame someone and label them as wrong, evil, or immoral feels really good.  And we as a nation are really good at that.

And it’s exhausting.  And it doesn’t end.  And we’ll be exactly where we are next week, only on some other divisive issue that will cause the nation to be divided, to point fingers, and to throw labels around.

I’m tired of it.  But I’m not quitting.  I will speak up – but hopefully in a different way.  Will I fail – most likely, I’m a broken and sinful person.  I have my opinions and ideas.  I have my biases and worldviews.

And like the disciples in the boat this Sunday, I’m sure I’ll be distracted by the storms of life, rather than focused on Jesus who is in the boat with me.  I’ll keep asking “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” And Jesus won’t answer.  He won’t answer because that’s the wrong question.  The better question comes from Jesus – “Why are you afraid?”  Ouch.

Good question Jesus?  I don’t have a good answer to that question.  But maybe I can start to ask that question to myself and others.  To really hear people where they are – what they fear.  To hear what they place as their identities.  To voice my own fears.  To really connect with people in a vulnerable way.

We want simple answers to these challenges that we face.  I heard plenty simple answers: “Just follow the law” “The Republicans can change the law anytime” The Democrats passed it – it’s their fault” “The Administration decided to carry this out six weeks ago” “Democrats didn’t care about this before six weeks ago.”  And back and forth it goes.  Until we get to the next issue that where the arguments are not really any different and people are forced to choose sides in the battle of partisanship.

And like the disciples in the boat, we are missing the more important question – Why are we afraid?

Are we afraid because we know that our memes, and tweets, and one-liners, and insults, are as empty as they sound?  Are we afraid because we know that our simple solutions aren’t solutions at all – but rather blunt objects meant to cause damage to our opponents and enemies?  Are we afraid because we don’t know the answers and we don’t like not knowing? Are we afraid because deep down we know we are not in control?  Are we afraid because the answers might require us to change?  Are we afraid because if we became vulnerable with each other, we might actually learn that we are more alike than we thought – not just political opponents, but refugees, law enforcement, people with different skin colors, people who speak a different language, Democrats, Republicans, Hillary, Trump.  Whoa!

It’s easy to offer simple solutions.  It’s easy to attack and divide.  It’s easy to dehumanize and devalue people.  It’s easy to do this either as an attack on someone or a group and it’s easy to fall into this for defense.  It’s so easy that often we don’t realize we are doing it and then what?

Right now I’m reading a book called “Living without Enemies” by Samuel Wells and Marcia Owen.  Yes, living without enemies.  The premise is that we don’t get to choose who is our enemy – we aren’t God.  And God sees everyone as a Child of God.  Because we claim to follow God, then we are to see the world the way God sees the world – God empowers us to do that.  And to God, there are no enemies.

One of the key ideas in this book is Being With.  It’s the theology of presence.   Not coming up with answers, because sometimes there are no answers.  When I sit with a family who’s 28-year-old son is dying, there are no answers.  There is nothing I can say that will change the situation.  All I can do is be present, to sit with them in their sorrow, their grief, their questions, their anger, their doubts, their fears.  That’s it.

There are no simple answers to our immigration system.  That doesn’t mean we sit idly by and do nothing.  I think the only way we will ever be effective is to start by being present with each other.

In silence there are no answers, only companionship.  There are no explanations, only humility.  There is no blame, only common humanity.  But that silence takes discipline, self-knowledge and many years of practice, because it runs counter to a great many instincts and social conventions.  Often we want to speak because we don’t want to feel.  And sometimes we speak to try to stop people from feeling.

(Living without Enemies, pg. 78)

Let’s start with Jesus and his question for the disciples – “Why are you afraid?”  We may not have an answer, just like the disciples.  So let’s sit with that for a while.  Let’s sit together and admit we are afraid and we don’t know why.  Let’s just sit together and be afraid.  It’s as good as any starting point that I know of.  It’s not a simple answer to the challenges we face.  But it’s the start of something different.  I want something different.  Don’t you?  Or would you rather wait until the next outrage happens and revert back to the same thing of seeking simple answers that don’t exist?

I don’t want to write about these things

21 Thursday Jun 2018

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I don’t want to write about these things.  Nor do I want to preach about them.  The smart ass response to that is “Well, you should have known what you were getting into when you signed up to be a pastor.”  Yeah, because everybody knows what the future holds.  Thanks for the compassion.

I really don’t enjoy writing about all of the things that are happening every day.  I don’t enjoy preparing a sermon that talks about all the things that are going on either.

I don’t want to, but yet I can’t avoid it.  I guess I could actually.  I could just stay quiet.  I could not speak about any of it.  I could not rock the boat and be vulnerable to the arrows that come my way in response.  I could allow the fear of criticism and negative comments to win the day.  I could allow the potential anger in response to have sway over what I say or write.  I could create a false sense of peace to make sure that no one walks out on the sermon or protests what I have to say.  I could interpret render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s to mean that as a pastor I have no say in politics or what happens in the world.  Jesus didn’t interpret it that way – he ended up being killed by the Romans.  Talk about meddling in politics.  And to anyone who interprets that passage that way, I have a question – what belongs to God?  And why do you get to determine where God gets to speak?

I don’t want to write about any of this.  Who in their right mind would?  Who wants to write or preach about children being separated from families at the border as they seek asylum?  Or trying to make sense of an executive order that allows for indefinitely holding onto asylum seekers?   Do you think it’s fun or enjoyable to point out the uncomfortableness of this, the messiness of this?  The sin of this?  Who wants to write or preach about how we treat our neighbors, our enemies, and refugees?  Who wants to write or preach about dehumanizing other people?  Who wants to write or preach about how they see a nation tearing itself apart because of fear and anger?  Who wants to write or preach about any of this?

Instead we want quick answers that make nice sound bites.  We want to make issues seem easy.  Things like, it’s the law, so we obey it.  Or it was passed by a previous administration, so they are to blame.  Or we should ignore the law here, but not deal with a broken immigration system.  Or so much more.  This isn’t easy.  There are no simple answers.

Most people would rather hear a sermon about mushy love and being nice and tell the pastor how nice the sermon was. Why?  Because that type of sermon or writing isn’t costly.  They require nothing of you.  They don’t require you to do self-examination.  They don’t require you to look at yourself in the mirror and question important things about yourself, what you believe, and what you stand for, and what Jesus is calling you to.  They don’t require a cost or a response or a radical reorientation.  They don’t require a sort of death of the self.  Those are cheap grace sermons that remain silent about the reality of evil in our midst.  Those are sermons that would rather close our eyes because the big bad world is just too scary to deal with.  You can hear many of those sermons in churches each Sunday.

And I don’t fault the pastors that preach these sermons either.  Preaching the Gospel is costly.  It’s disruptive.  It points out the unpleasant truth.  It’s scary.  I know I have failed in this regard plenty of times.  This Sunday we hear the disciples ask Jesus in the midst of the storm – “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”  Many a pastor asks Jesus the same question each week.  Just as Jesus didn’t answer the disciples, he doesn’t make it easy for us either.

I was going to write about where I saw things going – the path we are on, but really, what the heck do I know?

Instead, I’m going to tell you something else.  There is much to worry about in the world – let’s not kid ourselves.  We have an unhealthy society right now.  We are in the midst of a great storm of life.  We are calling out to Jesus – “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”  And like in the boat, Jesus doesn’t answer.  Why doesn’t he answer?  We want Jesus to say comforting things.  But he’s quiet.

Often, I think we get confused. That’s not a radical statement.  The disciples spent actual physical time with Jesus and they screwed up all the time.  Why would we think we are any better.  And after Jesus calms the storm, he asks them a question – “Why are you afraid?”  They completely miss the question.  They marvel about Jesus calming the storm, but miss what Jesus is really saying.

Did they really think that God would allow the storm to harm Jesus?  They were in the boat with Jesus, the incarnate Word.  Did they think that the storm was more powerful than God?  They were letting something else define them and who and whose they were.  They let fear define them and their existence.  And Jesus asks a simple question – “Why are you afraid?”  It’s as if Jesus is asking – did you forget whose you are?  Did you forget that your identity is as a Child of God?  Why are you letting fear define you?

As we hurtle through this immigration mess, I think Jesus’ question is so very important.  Why are we afraid?  What is our identity?  Is politics our primary identity?  Are we Republicans and Democrats first and then Children of God?  Are we Americans first and then Children of God?  Are we legal first and then Children of God?  Are we identified by fear first and then Children of God?  What are we?

If Christ is not the lens that we look through, the foundation of our identity, first and foremost, then there is no hope.  We will end up killing each other.  Nothing but Christ offers us any hope.  History shows that to be true.

Let us remember who and whose we are.  That Christ gives us a different identity.  That this identity doesn’t mean conformity of thought.  Rather, it allows us to have differences, even on important issues, and still see one another as Children of God.  We don’t have to agree, but can we find something, anything, that we overlap on?  Can we start with that?  Please.

Let’s start by acknowledging that we are afraid, and that we are having a difficult time voicing our fears honestly – with being vulnerable with one another.  Let’s start with the fact that Jesus’ question makes us uncomfortable because it touches us deeply and shows our own weakness and brokeness.  Let’s start with the fact that we don’t trust one another – actually voicing it out loud so that the reality is acknowledged.  It is only from there that we can move forward.

It starts with Jesus asking an uncomfortable question that gives us room to respond.

Why are you afraid?

I don’t want to write about any of this.  I don’t want to preach on this.  Yet, here I am.  Yet, there I will be on Sunday.  Silence is not an option.  Anger isn’t either.  The only thing that overcomes fear is love.  Let us speak in love.  Not mushy fake love.  Deep love that shows that there are no enemies.  There are only children of God.  It’s not easy.  We can’t do it on our own.  We follow Jesus who empowers us.  And we risk it all.

Why are you afraid?

 

We have a choice

28 Monday May 2018

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There are many in this world that think that the only way to get what they want is through force.  Some will choose violence to get what they want and what they think is right.  Violence can come in many forms – physical, verbal, mental, emotional, etc.  It can come through dehumanizing comments, how people are treated, and by destroying property of targeted groups and individuals.

And we have a choice of how we respond.

There are many in this world who live their life in fear – fear of “those” people who are coming here.  They fear they will lose something – maybe the status quo, maybe some kind of rights or privlege, maybe a job or a job opportunity, maybe their definition of “normal.”  And so these people who live by fear and in fear strike out.  When someone feels cornered, sometimes they strike out.  Especially when that person had authority, or power.  They have lost their status and get angry about losing it.

And we have a choice of how we respond.

Yesterday I saw a video that showed a “Christian” family videotaping themselves going around degrading a Mosque – teaching their children hatred of Muslims and tearing down fliers about the Mosque.  There was dehumanizing language about Muslims.  This video was on Facebook, and it was meant to show how some people are hate filled.  Unfortunately, all these videos really do is give free rein to the message that is being proclaimed – a message of hate.

And we have a choice of how we respond.

We can respond in kind – saying all sorts of terrible things about this family.  We don’t have to think very hard to come up with some very harsh comments, belittling statements.  We don’t have to work very hard to dehumanize the dehumanizers.

But does that make us any better?  Or are we just using the same tactics that have been used – an in doing so, legitimizing the approach?

Oh how badly I wanted to let my comments rip this family a new one.  Oh how badly did I want to label them.  Oh how badly did I want to respond in anger.  Oh how badly.  My insides were hot with rage.

And yet, we have a choice of how we respond.

As I was watching, willingly exposing myself to this anger and fear, a small voice inside me whispered a passage of Scripture – 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

The whisper was powerful and strong in a different way than the anger.  It offered words that touched the very heart of me.  It offered words that I needed to hear.  It offered words that others needed to hear.

And so I posted parts of this passage of Scripture in the comment section, along with a prayer.  A prayer that highlighted a response of love.

We have a choice in how we respond.

We can’t control what others will do, but we can control how we respond.

For those of us that are Christians, or Christ-followers, the question is this – do we really believe Jesus?  Do we really believe that love will win?  Do we really that peace is a way of life and not a destination – it is the now, not someday?  Do we really believe that love will conquer?  Do we really believe that 1 John 5:3-5?

For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

Do we really believe?

We have a choice in how we respond.

Here is what I will be doing going forward, when I see a disturbing or upsetting or angering or fear-filled article, video, or comment – I will be responding to it with Scripture and prayer.  I don’t promise that I’ll do this for everything – but for ones that I feel a response is necessary.

We don’t stop fear and anger and violence and hatred and prejudice and the -isms through fear and anger and violence and hatred and labeling.  We stop it by changing the focus completely.  You can’t put a fire out by adding more gasoline.  You can’t stop a war by dropping more bombs.  You can’t stop shootings by adding more bullets.  You can’t stop hatred by adding more anger.  You can’t stop fear by adding more anxiety.  You can’t stop dehumanizing by dehumanizing in response.

You stop it by changing it – you change how you respond.  You change how you talk and interact.  You change how you show respect.  You change by loving, being peaceful, offering mercy and grace. You change without expecting others will change, but inviting them to change too.  Jesus didn’t confront the Empire or the Temple authorities by using violence.  He didn’t use the same tactics that those in authority used.  He presented an alternative way of living, and invited others to participate in this way of living.  And by doing so, he change the world.

We have a choice in how we respond.

I choose this.  I invite you to join in.  Especially if you are tired of being angry, living in fear, and being upset at the world.  There is another way.  You don’t have to be fluent in Scripture – you can google passages that seem appropriate to the situation.  If you are going to respond, respond out of faith and love.  We have a choice in how we respond.

Live the way that Christ calls us to live.  Some will join in, some won’t.  You can’t control it.  But there will be an impact.  It’s how the world is conquered.

We have a choice in how we respond.  Respond well.  Offer a response that changes the world.

Psalm 10

14 Monday May 2018

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I thought Psalm 10 seemed pretty appropriate for our current time.  I’m sure you can think of recent examples that have made the news.

Why, O Lord, do you stand far off?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
In arrogance the wicked persecute the poor—
let them be caught in the schemes they have devised.

For the wicked boast of the desires of their heart,
those greedy for gain curse and renounce the Lord.
In the pride of their countenance the wicked say, ‘God will not seek it out’;
all their thoughts are, ‘There is no God.’

Their ways prosper at all times;
your judgements are on high, out of their sight;
as for their foes, they scoff at them.
They think in their heart, ‘We shall not be moved;
throughout all generations we shall not meet adversity.’

Their mouths are filled with cursing and deceit and oppression;
under their tongues are mischief and iniquity.
They sit in ambush in the villages;
in hiding-places they murder the innocent.

Their eyes stealthily watch for the helpless;
   they lurk in secret like a lion in its covert;
they lurk that they may seize the poor;
they seize the poor and drag them off in their net.

They stoop, they crouch,
and the helpless fall by their might.
They think in their heart, ‘God has forgotten,
he has hidden his face, he will never see it.’

Rise up, O Lord; O God, lift up your hand;
do not forget the oppressed.
Why do the wicked renounce God,
and say in their hearts, ‘You will not call us to account’?

But you do see! Indeed you note trouble and grief,
that you may take it into your hands;
the helpless commit themselves to you;
you have been the helper of the orphan.

Break the arm of the wicked and evildoers;
seek out their wickedness until you find none.
The Lord is king for ever and ever;
the nations shall perish from his land.

O Lord, you will hear the desire of the meek;
you will strengthen their heart, you will incline your ear
to do justice for the orphan and the oppressed,
so that those from earth may strike terror no more.

(Psalm 10, NRSV)

Social Proof

09 Wednesday May 2018

Posted by in Humanity, Politics, Society

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I’m reading Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini.  It’s a great book that talks about influence, how it is used and abused.  Here’s a portion of what I read yesterday:

So massive was the commitment to their beliefs that no other truth was tolerable.

(pg. 128)

This was in relation to a cult and how their prediction of the end of the world was wrong.  They didn’t lose members – in fact they gained some and the people who were in it devoted themselves even more. This in spite of fact that all the evidence pointed to the cult being completely wrong.

Why?  Because they had sold everything and had nothing left.  All they had was their belief system, so something had to give.  Reality is what gave for them.  Here’s a quote from one of the members:

I can’t afford to doubt. I have to believe.  And there isn’t any other truth.

(Pg. 128)

Here’s another passage from the book that really struck me:

Since the only acceptable form of truth had been undercut by physical proof, there was but one way out of the corner for the group. They had to establish another type of proof for the validity of their beliefs: social proof.

This, then, explains their sudden shift from secretive conspirators to zealous missionaries.  And it explains the curious timing of the shift – precisely when a direct disconfirmation of their beliefs had rendered them least convincing to outsiders.  It was necessary risk the scorn and derision of the nonbelievers because publicity and recruitment efforts provided the only remaining hope.  If they could spread the Word, if they could inform the uninformed, if they could persuade the skeptics, and if, by doing so, they could win new converts, their threatened but treasured beliefs would become truer.  The principle of social proof says so: The greater the number of people who find any idea correct, the more the idea will be correct.  The group’s assignment was clear; since the physical evidence could not be changed. the social evidence had to be.  Convince and ye shall be convinced!

(Pg. 128)

While Cialdini wrote this about a religious cult, it seems that the basic ideas behind it extend beyond cults to more mainstream things.  Politics throughout the world would be a case in point.

You Brood of Vipers…

04 Friday May 2018

Posted by in Church, Humanity, Politics, Theology

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Here’s your fair warning – this is going to be political – painfully political.  And no, I’m not going to apologize.  I can’t just sit by and be silent.  My focus isn’t even on the politicians.  If you know me at all, you’ll know that I don’t put much faith in politicians, political parties, or ideology.  I find most of them to be worthless and primarily interested in power.  All of them are seriously flawed and frankly, I expect them to worship their idols of power, influence, money, and their other gods that they create in their own image.  I hope this post is extremely uncomfortable.  I hope it is inconvenient.  I hope this because it sucked writing this.  The focus of this post is on the Christians who read this.

Jesus said:

‘Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! How can you speak good things, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person brings good things out of a good treasure, and the evil person brings evil things out of an evil treasure. I tell you, on the day of judgement you will have to give an account for every careless word you utter; for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.’

(Matthew 12:33-37)

I can think of no better passage of Scripture that applies to the filthy state of partisan politics today than this passage spoken by Jesus.

Yesterday I received an e-mail with a link to an article by Jeff Roe on why Republicans would be mistaken to abandon Trump in the mid-term elections.  Persona and policy can get mixed up.  The GOP should celebrate the policies and not the distraction of the persona – that’s the argument anyway.  The essential argument is this – the ends justify the means.

Yesterday as I was driving around I flipped through radio stations.  Occasionally I flip over to talk radio to hear what the chattering is about.  I can usually handle about five minutes worth before having to turn the station.  Yesterday I heard the host in his usual blind allegiance of the president and the actions to cover up his affair with a porn star.  The ends justified the means apparently.  Don’t you know, it was the porn star in the wrong.

Today I saw Rudy Giuliani’s interview on Sean Hannity’s show.  During this interview, Giuliani contradicts statements Trump made about knowing there was a payoff and where the money for the payoff came from.  When the ends justify the means, who cares what was said before.

Yesterday was the so-called National Day of Prayer.  People gathered and there was an official prayer stated.  The prayer is eloquent and hits on some very good points – turning from sin, unity of the body of Christ, turning from evil, forgiveness, reconciliation, healing, etc.  All things that I can get behind, but the problem is that I’m not sure if all Christians agree with the definitions of these terms.

I’m not sure that I have the same definition of unity as our “Christian” politicians and those that support their policies that do more harm than good, that uphold Social Darwinism (where only the strong survive), and where the end justifies the means is the foundation of life.

I’m not sure I have the same definition of turning from evil as our “Christian” politicians and those that support their actions by making excuses for behaviors that are unacceptable for you or I, but seem to be just fine because it was two consenting adults, don’t you know.  Yet these same people threw a hissy fit when another president screwed around with someone in the White House – which was just as terrible. But hey, when you believe that it’s a Christian virtue to lay the foundation of your life at the altar of the ends justify the means, then anything goes, right?

Does turning from evil mean that it’s ok to knowingly lie and defend those lies because the truth is inconvenient and is costly?  Does turning from evil mean that you pay hush money for an affair or that you defend someone who does this?  Does turning from evil mean that you use your Christian label as a pastor to make excuses for a worldly powerful person.  I thought we were called to deny ourselves, pick up our cross, and follow Jesus if we claimed the label of Christian.

I’m not sure I have the same understanding of the following line of prayer as our “Christian” politicians and those that support their rhetoric:

We pray for all people of all ethnicities and races in America to come together as one, living in peace and unity together.

I’m not sure how anyone can claim to be a Christian and make excuses for a “Christian” politician who offers support to neo-nazis, labels all Mexicans as rapists and murders, who disparages numerous other groups of people.  I’m not twisting words here, go back and see what was actually said.  If you feel the need to defend these words that he said, why?  Why would you defend such vile language from anyone?  Would you defend the same exact words, spoken in the same exact tone if they came from a politician that you didn’t like?  Or do the ends justify the means?

I’m not sure I have the same understanding of the following line of prayer as our “Christian” politicians and those that support their policy actions:

We pray for God’s power to unify families, workplaces, communities, and cities in America. By Your Spirit, lead us to forgiveness, reconciliation, healing, and unity.

I find it hard to say we are all seeking to unify families and communities when we put up more roadblocks to the homeless and poor.  We have families who are living in their vehicles at truck stops.  And they are working, but don’t make enough to find adequate housing.  Men, women, and children living in their vehicles.  And the typical response is something along these lines – well, they should work harder.  Well, they should have not made so many bad decisions.  Well, they get what they deserve.  Well, if they only did this or that.  Well, the churches can take care of them.

BS.

As a pastor who does ministry with the homeless, I can tell you that churches are not equipped to do this.  We don’t have the resources, the training, or the people to do this.  We can do small things, but we don’t have unlimited resources.  We aren’t trained in how to deal with mental illness.  We aren’t taught what to do when we run out of money trying to help someone and they end up back on the street again because all the shelters are full and they have nowhere to turn.

If your response is “well, you should open your own doors then,” or some other snide remark, then you are missing the whole point here.

Jesus never said the ends justify the means.  That’s about as far away from what it means to be a Christian as you can get.  If that is your belief of what it means to be a Christian – then you and I can’t be unified because we don’t have the same foundation.

Is the defense of something and someone who is indefensible worth it?

Or as Jesus said:

Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?

(Matthew 16:24-26)

You want to get mad at me – go for it.  I’ve got thick skin.  Frankly, I’m not too happy with you either.  And I refuse to shut up because I’m pointing out something uncomfortable and inconvenient.  Your comfort is not my concern.  Especially when we have people who are homeless, people who haven’t had a meal on a plate since August, people who have families that are living in vehicles, people who are being trafficked on our interstates, people who are treated as second class citizens because of their skin color or orientation.  If that’s uncomfortable, then it should be.  Being a Christian is not comfortable or convenient.  It’s not suppose to be.  It’s supposed to smack us in the face and make us so uncomfortable and inconvenienced that we respond to the injustice we see around us.

Frankly, I’m tired of Christians who want the label, but refuse to live out the calling.  I’m tired of Christians who value their loyalty to a politician or party (any politician in either party – yes, this applies to Democrats just as much as Republicans) above Jesus.  I’m tired of Christians making excuses for “bad trees,” as Jesus called them, all because they believe that the ends justify the means when it comes to policies.

We are called to live out what Jesus commands us to do, not to have blind loyalty to some politician who is temporarily in power.

Pick up your cross and follow Jesus.  Jesus didn’t say, pick up your tweet and follow Trump.  Jesus didn’t say, pick up your sign and follow some other candidate.  Jesus didn’t say send in a check and blindly follow your party.

These are difficult times in our nation.  The call for unity is something that is needed.  However, it is not possible to have unity where there is a strongly held belief that not everyone is equal in value and worth.  How can there be unity when there are some who create us vs. them situations, where the poor are seen as an expense, where we have leaders who firmly believe that only the strong should survive, where we value things over people, etc.

But not all is hopeless or lost.  Last night I heard something that hit me.  I don’t remember the exact words, but here’s what I heard – when everything has been exhausted, there is grace.

Even in this situation, there is grace.  It’s the only thing that can carry us forward.  We humans can’t fix this ourselves – we are too devoted to our divisions and separations.  We have blind worship of our leaders and ideologies.  We cling to our sin and brokenness.

Only God can fix this.  And it may require something else – something that is deeply associated with being a follower of Christ.  It will require death.  Death of our egos.  Death of our loyalties.  Death of our certainties and answers.  Death of our attitudes towards one another.  Death of excuses.  Death of our sin and brokenness.

Only then will we experience the fullness of being a Christ follower – resurrection.  New life, renewed life, restored life, transformed life.

This is my hope.  This is my prayer.  It’s time to start acting out what we claim to believe.  It’s time to start actually being Christians, not just taking on the label.  If we don’t, we’re no better than the people who Jesus called out as a brood of vipers.

Scattering Seeds

02 Wednesday May 2018

Posted by in Church, Humanity, Society, Theology

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The ministry we do with the homeless is not too complex – at least not right now.  We try to make sure some basic needs are met.  We try to make sure people’s humanity is acknowledged.  We try to create a sense of community.  We try to share Good News with people and let them know that they are not alone.  We try to tell people that they are loved and valued by God and by us.  We try to tell people that they have value and worth.  We try to listen to their stories and walk along side people.  We try to learn from the people we encounter.  The underlying belief is that an encounter with Jesus changes lives – both for the people we encounter and our own lives too.

And the responses vary.  Sometimes people reject us.  Sometimes people are only looking for some material relief.  Some are not open to change in their lives.  Some would rather try to be in control, although being in control is often a part of the problem and a piece of what keeps people where they are.  Some initially come on board and engage with us, only to slip away later on – the tug of their past and their lives is too great.  Some start to see hope for their lives, and then they choose a different path that takes them back into the darkness.  They feel they are lost.

And then there are some who openly embrace it all – they embrace us, even though there is initial confusion on why a group of strangers would go out of their way to care about another stranger – especially a stranger who supposedly can’t offer anything in return.  They embrace a message of Good News, even though their life looks like crap.  They embrace the sense of community.  They embrace their humanity, they acknowledge the pain and suffering they are experiencing rather than trying to dull it.  They let go of control and embrace actual help.

And it’s scary.  It’s scary to completely let go of control of your life.  It’s terrifying.  Yet, this is what Jesus calls on us to do – to let go of our lives, to get out-of-the-way, so that God can come in and transform us.  To let ourselves die, so that we might experience resurrection.  And this is true for those who are being helped as well as the supposed helpers.  With Jesus, the lines blur on who is getting helped and who is helping.

When I think about what is happening, I can’t help but think of the Parable of the Sower.

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the lake. Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: ‘Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Let anyone with ears listen!’

(Matthew 13:1-9, NRSV)

Our job isn’t to save people – only Jesus can do that.  Our job, if you want to call it that, is to spread Good News carelessly – to as many people as possible.  What they do with it is not our problem.

In sales, there is a saying – Some will, some won’t, so what, who’s next.  If Jesus has sales training I think he would have adopted this saying into one of his parables.

Some will take the Good News of Jesus and allow it to do its work.  Some won’t.  So what – it’s not for us to decide.  Who’s next – who will be encounter next to share the Good News?  We don’t know.  But we are ready.

City of Death vs City of Life

01 Tuesday May 2018

Posted by in Humanity, Theology

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I’m not sure what I want to write about.  So, I’m just typing away.

There are days when life is like that – we keep going regardless of what we are feeling.

There are days when we hear people express their doubts about God.  And we hear others tell them that God is there and that God loves you regardless of whether you feel it or not.  The message is so very important for people to hear – especially those who feel abandoned.

There are days when you watch people make bad decisions and all you can do is shake your head and offer a prayer.

And there are days when everything comes together, people’s lives are changed, and you know that God has been at work.

Yesterday I put together a presentation that I am showing in my son’s fifth grade class.  They are reading a book on WWII – specifically about concentration camps.

I don’t know what to call it, so I say it was a privilege to go to Dachau concentration camp when we lived in Europe.  It’s one of the most disturbing places I have ever been.  The gas chamber was probably the most jarring room I have ever walked into.  There is debate about whether anyone was gassed in the room.  But I will tell you this – you can feel the dead in that room.  You can hear the screams.  You can feel the suffering and hear the clawing at the walls as people die from gassing.

Putting this presentation gives me a mix of emotions.  It’s disturbing, but it is also needed for another generation to know how truly evil humanity can be.  We need to tell this story.  And so today I go into a school to share what I saw and felt – the monument that exists today.  It stands as a reminder.  It stands as a warning.  It stands to tell us that terrible things are possible if we aren’t vigilant.

Germany didn’t go from being “normal” one day to killing people in mass quantities the next.  It was a progression.  It happened in a relatively short time, but it was still a progression.

There needed to be “others” that could be blamed.  These others needed to be scapegoats for people’s problems.  They needed to be dehumanized.  And then they needed to be eliminated.

We should be really careful when we start blaming groups of people for our problems.  We should be really careful when we start scapegoating groups of people and labeling whole groups of people as murders and rapists and bringing drugs.

We should be really careful, but I wonder if this message is just preaching to the choir.  The people who should be really careful won’t hear the message.

Today I share images of Dachau concentration camp.  And today I will pray for those who have forgotten, for those who refuse to accept the history, for those who think that a little dehumanizing is acceptable, for those who make people into us vs them, for those who scapegoat whole groups of people, for those who think they are so much better than everyone else, for those who only care about themselves, for those who ignore the plight of the outcast.  They need prayers.  I invite you to pray with me for these people – and for ourselves – that we might be a light in a world of darkness where the horrors of Dachau can happen.

Instead of the death associated with Dachau, God invites us to participate in the life of the holy city of Jerusalem descending from heaven where God will dwell with a renewed, restored, and transformed creation.  A city full of love, mercy, forgiveness, peace, and hope.  A city of life.