Tag Archives: politics

Faith or politics informs our decisions?

09 Thursday Aug 2018

Posted by in Humanity, Organizational theory, Politics, Theology

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Beliefs and ideas about politics are often really no more than theological statements dressed up in secular terms.

Maybe you disagree with that statement.  But consider this, often politics offers something that theology has been about for a long time – a vision of salvation.  In theology we have terms for this – soteriology and eschatology.

Bad theology is often deadly and destructive.  It focuses on wrath, compliance, anger, and makes people suffer as a result.  Bad theology allows for abuse and violence.  Often these bad theologies find willing partners in political ideologies – a partnership of convenience.

When we hear politicians and others talk about salvation and a savior, it’s politics using theology.  Now, you may not think that politicians talk in theological terms but let me point out a couple of recent examples.  Remember when Obama was described as being like a savior?  Or how about people saying that Trump was put here by God.  How about every president invoking God’s blessing on the nation.  Or that we are a special nation ordained by God.  Those are theological terms that are hijacked for political purposes.  When we hear about being a great nation (or great again), it’s no different from what the crowds were expecting from Jesus when he entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.  People were thinking politics, but were really doing theology.  They had an expectation of what a savior was.  But Jesus had a different definition.

Don’t tell me to have theology stop at the border of politics especially when politics tramples all over theology all the time and has for centuries.  As if theology shouldn’t have any effect on the public sphere.  It does, which is why politics is often trying to use it for its own advantages.

Which is the foundation of the other?  Is politics and ideology the foundation of life or is theology the thing that guides our decisions in both public and private life? Does politics and ideology inform our theology or does our theology inform our politics?

I would argue that most people place politics as the foundation of their lives.  We seem to invest a great deal of time on politics, ideology, party loyalties, and politicians.  Do we invest the same time, energy, emotion, and resources in to our theology?  How many times do we hear about a political leader being like a savior who is going to save the nation or make it great again?  Democrats and Republicans are both guilty of this.

How much time do we devote to opening the sacred scriptures of politics (news sites), listen to the religious authorities of politics (spin doctors on TV who tell us what to believe), give our tithes and offerins to the religion of politics (campaign contributions), listen sermons of politicians (speeches, tweets, etc)., and partake in apologetics of the faith of politics (defending the ideology from all attacks on social media, in person, or anywhere)?  Do we give that kind of investment of ourselves into our faith?  When is the last time you opened Scripture outside of church to read God’s word?  Want me to go on?

If you believe that theology and faith are only a personal matter and they have no impact on the social or community, the polity, then I have some questions for you?

How do you square that belief with the Great Commission of Jesus?  Matthew 28:18-20 states:

And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’

Jesus says “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”  As in all.  Not a separation between personal and the political.  “Make disciples of all nations.”  Do you think that might have an impact on policies that are implemented?

How do you square the belief of theology and politics being in separate realms, not impacting each other, with the whole idea of the kingdom/reign of God?  How do you square it away with the image of Revelation 21.  How do you square it away with the prophets of old telling kings what God’s words were?  How do you square it away with the time before kings in Israel where God was the head and they had no need of a king?

How do you square it with Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey at one end of the city in contrast to Pilot entering at the other end on his horse with his soldiers?  How do you square it away with the titles given to Jesus that had been reserved for Caesar, the Roman emperor – King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Savior of the World, Prince of Peace?

How do you hold onto the belief that theology and faith have no impact on politics and living in community when the bible shows that the idea is false through out it?

If our theology and faith don’t guide our whole life, including our politics, then what good is it?

How is that faith and theology going to bring about the kingdom of God?  And do we really want the kingdom of God to come at all?  The kingdom of God is all-encompassing, not just affecting your personal life.  Throughout the Hebrew Bible we hear about God restoring the entire world, not just individuals.  We hear about the salvation of Israel, not just individuals.  In the Gospel of John, we hear that God so loved the cosmos, that he gave his Son.  Not God so loved individuals – no, the entire cosmos, all of creation.

Which god do we lay our lives out in front of to determine how we will live – both personally and communally?  Which god invites us to participate in the unfolding of a kingdom?  God or some earthly kingdom and ideology and politician?

The book of Daniel is full of examples of politics stepping all over theology and faith. And there are consequences of this because God doesn’t care about these human made imaginary boundaries that we construct.  They are human inventions.

Jonah is sent by God with a message for the a secular city and it’s rulers to change.  Elijah flees for his life from King Ahab and Queen Jezebel because theology and faith are foundational for personal and public life and the politicians don’t like being put in their place as servants of God rather than gods over people.

The Apostle Paul, over and over again, suffers at the hand of politics and politicians, eventually being killed by politicians.  John the Baptist is jailed and beheaded by politicians because he dares to speak faith and theology into the life of politics.  Jesus suffers at the hand of politics, eventually being crucified by politicians because he is offering an alternative kingdom in contrast to the empire.

Ephesians 4:25-5:2 states:

So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbours, for we are members of one another. Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil. Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labour and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Hebrews 13:1-5 states:

Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured. Let marriage be held in honour by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled; for God will judge fornicators and adulterers. Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’

When we read Ephesians 4:25-5:2 and Hebrews 13:1-5, do we only see these as personal suggestions on how to live life?  Do we put up walls to prevent them from being carried out publicly?  Or at least have higher expectations for our elected leaders?  Why?  What is it about these passages that is so dangerous to our political system that we make excuses for behaviors, rhetoric, and policies that are in opposition to what is in Scripture?

Before you level the charge that I am suggesting or advocating a theocracy, I am not.  Theocracies often end up being abusive, dangerous, full of violence, focused on compliance of action and thought.  Theocracies are all about using absolute power over people.  That’s not what the kingdom of God is about at all.

The questions I am raising are this – What does it mean to claim to be a follower of Jesus?  Does it only affect our personal life?  Is it acceptable to put Jesus on the side when it comes to our politics?  Why is that acceptable?  Why doesn’t our theology inform our politics, our policies, and our rhetoric?  That doesn’t mean we need a theocracy.  Far from it.  It means we need to live out what we claim to believe in into all aspect of our life, whatever our political structure is.

Safety

28 Thursday Jun 2018

Posted by in Humanity, Politics, Society, Theology

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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.

 

Simple answers

22 Friday Jun 2018

Posted by in Humanity, Politics, Theology

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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

Posted by in Humanity, Politics, Theology

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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?

 

Is legality the highest value?

20 Wednesday Jun 2018

Posted by in Politics, Theology

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I have a question for those who believe that fulfilling the law is of utmost importance.

Imagine it is 1861 and you live in Maryland.  A fugitive slave family has escaped slavery in the South.  They come onto your land and seek safe passage.  You encounter them.

What do you do?

Do you fulfill the law of the land that states that a fugitive slave shall be returned to their masters – knowing that this will lead to severe punishment, possibly death, and maybe even the separation of families?  Or do you give safe passage to the family on their journey to freedom, thus disobeying the law because you recognize it as immoral and destructive?  Or do you do something else?

It’s easy to point out the differences in this situation with the current immigration mess.  It’s easy to make excuses and dismiss the example I provided.  In fact, it’s easy to decide to see the world in black and white – to separate things into issues and people’s lives and believe that the two are not related – missing the messiness of the impact of this way of thinking on people’s lives.  But are you willing to answer the question given your current logical reasoning?  Are you willing to be the one who enforces this law?  If not, why not?  It’s not your job?  That’s a cop-out.  Are you willing to take a look at how the situations are similar?  To be uncomfortable?  Are you willing to be consistent in your thinking that the obeying and fulfilling the law is of utmost importance – regardless of the morality of the law?

Or how about this situation – you are Jew in Bethlehem during the reign of King Herod – the ruler of the land you reside in.  Herod declares that all male babies two years old or younger shall be killed.  The reasoning doesn’t matter.  You have a one year old.  Would you willingly hand over your child to the soldiers in order to fulfill and obey the law and the governing authorities?  What if you didn’t have a child, but you knew a traveling family passing through did?  Would you turn them in?  Why?  Or would you do what you had to do to disobey this decree in order to save the life of your child or any child?

Now imagine you are a refugee, or even just an immigrant from Central America.  Seriously, put yourself in their just a small section of their shoes.  And don’t give me the nice neat answer of “I would obey the law and follow the rules.”  You are still thinking from the safety of your life.  Imagine that the situation in your own country is not good.  Your family is in danger if they stay – you and your family could end up dead.  You decided to leave and make a journey north to America – a land known as a place of opportunity.  While so much is unknown, you determine that it has to be better than where you are right now.  You make the trip and get to the border.  What you do is illegal, but staying within the law means almost certain death.  What do you do?  What do you hope will happen?

It’s not so easy when we move past black and white thinking is it?  It’s rather messy.  Life is messy.  Law does not equal morality.  This isn’t an argument for lawlessness.  This is an argument about the morality of certain laws and what we are supposed to obey when those laws are suspect or outright immoral – regardless of who passed them or when.  This isn’t an argument about Republicans and Democrats – of who should get the blame.  That doesn’t resolve anything and is a distraction.

What we are dealing with is a difference of image – not the skin deep images of celebrity and consumerism.  No, deeper images – ones that define and shape who we are.

Is our national image shaped by this and what it stands for:

illegal_alien_border-550x275

Or this and the poem which is associated with it:

statue_of_liberty_paris_001

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
MOTHER OF EXILES. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

(Source: the New Colossus by Emma Lazarus, 1883)

Which image will we embrace?

The first image is an image of the law – cold, heartless, and concerned with security, safety, and control for some.

The second image is an image of risk, welcome, and uncertainty for all.

We can do so many things that try to make us more secure, safer, and give us the false sense of control over our lives.

The disciples in this coming Sunday’s Gospel passage are all on board with that.  They are in the sea, in a boat.  And there is a great storm brewing.  They are scared and they seek safety.  They wake Jesus up because they feel insecure and unsafe.  They are not in control.  They worry about the bad things that will happen to them.  And they ask Jesus, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:38, NRSV).

Jesus doesn’t answer their question.  He doesn’t give the answer they want – “of course I don’t want you to perish.”  Nope.  He doesn’t say anything.  Hardly comforting.  Later he will call on his disciples to pick up their cross and follow him, to deny themselves.  To die.

Yet, death does not have the final say.  After Jesus calms the storms around the boat, he asks the disciples these questions – Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?

These are deep questions for us.  And they are Gospel too.  Why are we afraid?  What do we fear?  Do we believe that Jesus walks with us – with all of us?  Do we believe that Jesus walks with these refugees too?  Or is Jesus just reserved for us on this side of the wall?

What does it mean to follow Jesus?  What does it mean to love our neighbors?  To welcome the stranger?  When have we been strangers and been rejected?

What is Jesus calling us to?

Have you still no faith?  Guess what – we can’t have enough faith on our own.  If it’s about us and our faith, what we know about God, our safety, our security, our control – then we’ll just end up failing and dead.

Faith is a gift from God.  It comes to us because we can’t go to it.  Faith isn’t just head knowledge, but it moves through us and causes us to respond.  To pick up our cross and follow Jesus.  Especially in the storms of life.  When there is danger all around us.  Faith moves us forward – in risk, in welcome, and in uncertainty.  Faith means we are not in control and we aren’t going to fool ourselves into believing we are.  We are safe, but in a different way – we are in God’s hands. That regardless what happens to us, God will not forget us.  And God offers us a promise – resurrection.  New life.  Transformed life.  Changed life.  Risky life.  Invitational life.  Life.

Faith and politics

23 Wednesday May 2018

Posted by in Theology

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What lens do you see the world though?  Your partisan political loyalty or the faith that has been given to you by God?

If you party loyalty is the foundation of your life, then here’s what is important – what the leader of your party says each day.  Your leader may contradict what was said before, but that’s ok – it’s about advancing the party after all.  You can fool yourself into believing that the party cares about you – that is until you speak out against the party on any subject.  At that point, the party will through you under the bus because you will no longer be useful to it.  Parties are merciless and will use anyone they can to advance their cause of gaining power and then discard them when they are done.  Forget loyalty – the only loyalty that matters is your complete compliance with the party.  When party is your foundation, you can excuse rhetoric and behavior that is unacceptable to anyone else because the pursuit of power for the party is of utmost importance.  The ends justify the means becomes your slogan.  Only the weak care about ethics and the process.

If faith is your foundation, then you are going to say and do things that come in conflict with the parties and the pursuit of power.  You come in conflict with the empires of this world – whether they be political, religious, sports, entertainment, financial, or anything else.

Faith as your foundation means that Christianity isn’t a series of policy proposals, it isn’t a culture war, it isn’t a few rhetorical weapons that are added to your political loyalties and arguments.

Faith is a way of life.  It comes from God.  God lays claim to us, gives us faith, and invites us to participate in the unfolding of God’s kingdom right here, right now.

Faith is a way of life that will live beyond whoever is in power.  Leaders come and go.  Christ is forever.

But the economy…

21 Monday May 2018

Posted by in Politics, Society, Theology

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Acts 16:16-24 tells the story of Paul and Silas being jailed in Philippi.

One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave-girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling. While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, ‘These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation.’ She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, ‘I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.’ And it came out that very hour.

But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market-place before the authorities. When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, ‘These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe.’ The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods. After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely. Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

In this story we see a radical message – that when the kingdom of God is proclaimed and where it is unfolding, the status quo will be upset.  Often in Scripture we see a linkage between evil and profit-making at the expense of humanity.  Profit itself isn’t evil – profit-making at the expense of humanity is.

And in this story we see it vividly.  The owners of this woman only cared about her as long as they could exploit her and make money off of her.  And when they could not do that, it wasn’t her well-being they were concerned with.  It was the fact that she no longer made money for them.  She became worthless to them.

They saw it as an attack on them and on their profit motive – or really, their abuse, manipulation, and power trip.

Paul and Silas literally affected the economy of Philippi through their proclamation.  This is what happens when God’s kingdom comes near.  The status quo is flipped on its head.  And many weren’t happy about it.  When people’s money is affected, people start to pay attention.  They know that what is happening is real – and they see that they are not in control.

But as long as the economy is humming along – allowing some to benefit at the expense of others – many turn a blind eye.

When money becomes prime in life and society, humanity suffers.  When money is more valuable than people, then everything is out of whack.  People are not valued for who they are, but rather for what they produce.  Humanity ends up with a price tag.

When money takes this type of central role, then it becomes an idol, a god.  No wonder Jesus spoke about money more than any other subject.

But making money into an idol, a god, has deeper ramifications than this – When producing becomes the prime directive, then the Sabbath is broken.  Sabbath doesn’t mean sitting around doing nothing all day.  It’s about resting from work in order to pay full attention to God – to focus on God and listen to what God is calling us to.  If there is no room for Sabbath, then there is no room for God.  Instead of listening to God, we listen to what the almighty dollar instructs us to do.  And people suffer.

We are no longer made in the image of God, but rather, we are just workers whose purpose is to make a profit.  We snuff out the Imago Dei in which God created us.

This is why Paul and Silas were beaten, stripped, and jailed – upsetting the entire belief system that worships money.  It was an act of defiance against the entire empire, its economic system, its message that salvation comes through the empire and Caesar.  Paul and Silas’ proclamation meant that the empire, Caesar, and their economic system of exploitation were empty and valueless.

Another blog I visit often said it best:

Jesus knows that the greatest obstacle to entering into and living in the kingdom of God instead of under the reign and rule of man is our own economic self interest.   When we are dominated by economic self interest it’s like squeezing a camel through the eye of the needle, and it’s hard.

For several decades our politicians have been giving us a message that needs to be weighed against the Gospel.  Sometimes it comes through a question – “Are you better off than you were four years ago.”  And other times it comes in campaign slogans – “It’s the economy, stupid!”

The economy is a powerful pull.  It has the power to determine our elections more often than not.  Candidates, politicians, and presidents of both political parties are often very flawed – caught in controversy, investigations and scandals, sexual philandering, and dehumanizing rhetoric, supporting policies that do not support the general welfare they are sworn to uphold, but rather to support the status quo where some benefit at the expense of others – where people are valued for what they produce, rather than who they are.

But if the economy is humming along, many are willing to overlook these character flaws.  Many are willing to put blinders on to the plight of our neighbors because “the economy.”  Many are willing to rationalize away dehumanizing policies and rhetoric because there is more money in some people’s pockets – maybe even our own.

But Jesus has a different message.  An upsetting message.  A message that conflicts with our own economic self-interest as we turn a blind eye to our neighbors’ plight.  A message that doesn’t always match up with our national narrative and what we value politically.  Ouch.

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)

Jesus is asking us – what’s more important, the economy or humanity?  Money or God? And he is speaking in economic terms – savings, profit, gain, return.  Jesus directly confronts the economic systems that exploit others and those that maintain these systems and benefit from them.  Maybe that doesn’t sound very American.  But then again, Jesus wasn’t worried about wrapping himself in the flag.  He had another kingdom to advance – one that is everlasting.

Or as Jesus once said in the Sermon on the Mount:

‘No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

(Matthew 6:24)

So which is it?

 

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.

Primary election and Facebook

13 Friday Apr 2018

Posted by in Theology

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I keep getting the same reminder when I log into Facebook – that I only have x number of days to register in a political party to vote in Pennsylvania’s primary election.

I’ve gotten this “ad” in my news feed for several days.

And each day I look it and think – thanks for the reminder.  I also smile because it’s a reminder to me that while Facebook might have my data and information, it really doesn’t know me at all.

If it really knew me, the message would be far different.  It might still be a reminder that there is a deadline for registering in a partisan party.  But also offer a way to register a complaint to the commonwealth that non-partisan registered votes have to pay for these primary elections.

If you are registered in a political party – great.  Good for you!  Leave me alone.  You want to have a primary to figure out who is going to represent your party in the fall – go for it.  And pay for it yourself while you are at it.  I probably won’t like whoever you select anyway.  And I don’t buy the rhetoric of either party – they set themselves up as the savior of the nation, with mini-messiahs to share the “good news” of the party.  How many converts and financial supporters can each party get?  What will a party have to switch positions on in order to fit the ideological beliefs of the person in charge?  War is peace.  We have always been at war with Eastasia.  (Some handy references to the book 1984 by George Orwell for those not familiar with those quotes.)

If Facebook really knew me, then maybe the reminder would be completely different.  Maybe it would say something like this – “Only a few more days until worship commences of the Risen Christ, Savior of the World!  Be sure to tell your friends!”  Or maybe it would say something like this – “Only a week until the next ministry time over at Flying J where you and a small group of people actually try to carry out Jesus’ command to feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, etc.”

You want my information Facebook – you can have it on one condition.  That you take what I preach and you help me spread the message of the Good News to others.  This is what I actually care about.  It’s what I post about more often than not.  Yet, somehow it doesn’t register with your fancy programs.  Maybe because the Good News of Jesus counters the false gospels that we are inundated with.  Facebook, you don’t know me – you don’t know me at all.

Church and Politics

10 Tuesday Apr 2018

Posted by in Church, Politics

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I had a wonderful conversation yesterday about church and politics.  It was wonderful because it wasn’t a typical discussion about church and politics.  It wasn’t a discussion about politics in terms of partisanship.  Rather it was a discussion about how politics and church are similar.

I contend that religion and politics are very similar.  Both attempt to communicate a compelling vision of an alternate future – a hopeful and hope filled future.  Politics does this in a secular sense.  Religion does this from a spiritual basis, or better stated, from the sense of shalom or wholeness.

Of course there are differences too, but I can’t help but see the commonality of these two things.  Actually, let me clarify.  The core foundations of these two things are similar and related.  There are principles that politics uses that also relate to church as well.  The differences come out in the specifics.  But these aren’t minor differences either.  In church, money is raised in order to be used to expand the kingdom of God, to declare Good News, to serve those less fortunate, to make disciples.  In politics, money is raised in order to secure or obtain a position of power and influence and expand the base of support to keep someone in power or to gain a seat of power.  That’s an oversimplification of course, but I don’t think it is far off.

I have been exploring the link between church/religion and politics for many years now.  Actually it’s the link between church and campaign politics.  I look forward to seeing where this goes in the future.  I also welcome your thoughts on the matter.  Do you see a link between these two things?  How so?  How not?  Do you have experience working in these two areas?  If so, how have you seen the two interrelated?