Those who dance are thought mad by those who hear not the music.

Our Presidential People Problem

2011-12-13T06:23:00.000-08:00

How important is picking a president? It all depends on who you are:

1. For some people, picking a president is a moral mission to get the right ethical enforcer in the White House. Because the president is right, the nation will be right.

2. For some people, it is a money matter. Their puppet for president is going to do things that will put more money in their pocket (and/or take less out through taxes).

3. For too many people, it is a tribal thing. Because my family/coworkers/church/neighbors vote elephant or donkey, so do I. How else do you explain the ubiquitous, mindless signs and bumper stickers? They seem to me to be tribal markings to keep people in line by saying, "Stick with the group!"

Followers of Jesus should not be found in any of these trance-like pack of zombies. We obey a King, and "our citizenship is in heaven." Our savior-king is coming from there, not from some November ballot (Philippians 2:20).

But here is what I lament: why do so many thoughtful, churched, trained Christians follow the pack instead of Jesus? There is only one explanation that makes sense to me anymore. It is this. Their thoughts, churches and training have been overrun by culture, and they no longer think the thoughts of the Holy One, nor do they read His Book. When they do, the god of this age has blinded their eyes from seeing what is so clearly written. How else do we explain how materialism has colonized church leaders and church priorities? How else do we explain moral superiority when the Good Book teaches us the humility and equalization of our sinful selves? "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God"--we all need a savior.

If your hope is in keeping or changing Obama, you are an idolator. In the days of the Hebrew prophet Hosea, the people were pining for human solutions and visible answers and tangible gods they could trust in. Idolatry. That's what Hosea called it. That’s what it was. That’s what it is.

But God gave Hosea a crystal-ball picture of the solution to the plight of his countrymen—and ours. There will come a time when we find ourselves leaderless and rudderless. But hear this. This is not a part of the problem. This is the beginning of God's solution (Hosea 3:4). Because, as a result of our disillusionment, we will turn our hearts again to our real homeland, and find our security and prosperity there: "In the last days they will turn in fear to the Lord, and he will bless them" (verse 5).

Our hope is in heaven alone. If Jesus doesn't show up, we are lost in space.

2011-12-13T06:16:00.001-08:00

"There are Christians in Myanmar, they meet underground. In Syria, they're killed when they're found. And in Iran the Christians meet up in the hills because it's not safe in the town. So I ask you America where do you stand? Your people are starving, they're killed and their raped, and they're dying in jail cells, so what are your plans? I'm not talking to congress or you politicians, or SuperPacs, lobbyists, or Grover Norquist. I'm addressing this thought to the church" (adapted from Brother Larry)

the end of the world after party

2011-05-18T15:28:00.000-07:00

So, my friend Joey pointed out to me the billboard on a major road in Orlando advertising the end of the world on May 21. I went to the website, and it URL proclaims its unbiblical claim: Jesus is coming May 21 AND we can know it for sure (www.wecanknow.com). Never mind that Jesus said, "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father" (Matthew 24:36).

So, I loved Stoney's counter billboard. You are all invited for lunch--my treat.

Faithful obedience or consistent theology?

2011-05-08T09:57:00.000-07:00

I have listened to the followers of a lot of -isms and -ics in my 35 years as a follower of Jesus. CharismatIC, WesleyanISM, CalvinISM, CatholicISM, EvangelicalISM, House-churchianity, and so on. I would like to share something that I have observed, and I share it in hope to encourage someone, somewhere to focus in on the simpler, more faithful life of following Christ, living under the kingship of the Lord Jesus.

These -ics and -isms have one thing in common: they develop a system of thought that elevates consistency with itself above conformity to Christ’s commands, and reads Scripture in light of its system. Conservative or liberal doesn’t make a difference. In each case, the focus is on understanding God (at its best), or feeling no cognitive tension (understandable human drive), or intellectual pride in one’s superior system (at its most tribal worst).

So what’s wrong with seeking to understand God, that is, pursue a systematic theology? At least two things: (1) On the surface, it is hubris expressing itself. Really? Understand God? The pot comprehending the Potter? The finite grasping the infinite? We do not really “see as through a glass darkly” because of our broken minds and world? (2) More crippling for us as Christians is this: in my observation, those who primarily focus on understanding God and on developing a consistent, cognitive system about God do not realize how that actually works against standing-under the direction of the Lord, submitting and following regardless of ability to conceptualize or rationalize the thing He commands to be done. The focus on understanding means that, across the board, there is a point where the system is held above the Lord.

An example. If your ic or ism teaches you that grace is unconditional (sounds right, doesn’t it?), that means that being forgiven by God has no conditions at all. Freely given, freely received. Now, there is a true aspect of that (that is, grace is always a gift and never earned), but I have heard unconditionalists (made up word) reject the clear teaching of Jesus because of their system. If I say to them, even though it is a gift, forgiveness IS conditional, according to Jesus. I have had them say “nuh uh.” So then I just read to them what Jesus said. At the end of the Lord’s teaching on how to pray in Matthew 6 (the Lord’s Prayer, as it is called) Jesus takes pains to explain only this part of the prayer: “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14-15). Pretty clear. And, to underline its importance, it is the punch line of his extended teaching on forgiveness in Matthew 18: “And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart” (Matthew 18:34-35).

Ah, you say, well that is just because they don’t understand/articulate clearly. If they had MY -ism, they wouldn’t be so -ic-ky. (Couldn’t resist the pun, sorry). This is the steam for so much denominationalsm and the reason for existence for so many Christian colleges, seminaries and Bible schools. “If you can teach ‘em right, they’ll be right and prevail over wrong.” These institutions have trained us to believe we need educated leaders to be healthy. That tree has not borne fruit in keeping with the kingdom. The Bible teaches us to follow leaders who are faithful, that is, those who consistently obey Jesus over a long time. It says nothing about needing a college education. Jesus commanded us to “teach them to obey all that I have commanded.” Nowhere does He say, “Teach them to understand everything in the Bible, or about God.”

We are in the wilderness, Oh church. We don’t need any more educated fools. We need wise followers who know the path by heart and by practice.

Paul put it this way: Knowledge makes arrogant; love edifies. The pursuit of knowledge and understanding actually results in holding your head above the commands, and the result is pride and not Christlikeness. Instead, we must begin with the basic commitment: if your ideas don’t fit with Scripture, too bad for your ideas.

That is the consistent speck I have observed in others’ eyes, peering past the log in my own eye. But as a “we,” as the church of Jesus, we sadly present to the world a strangely consistent phenomenon with our bumper stickers, politics and priorities: we have elevated something above following His every command and hanging on His every word, and we have pushed out love as the greatest thing. At our best, we have been educated out of our obedience. At our worst, we appear to be controlled by the “flesh,” the self-will, through our self-deceived intellectual hubris. The world sees the log we display, and so yawns when we say what we see.

A hopeful alternative. This, too, I have observed: those who focus on standing-under the Lordship of Jesus by doing and teaching to do all He commands end up understanding way more about the Bible than those whose mantra is a paralytic-analytic of “if and only if and when I understand, will I radically follow and fanatically obey my Lord.”

tentmaking today

2011-01-20T04:00:00.000-08:00

“Tent-making” is the missionary concept that comes from the apostle Paul’s practice of supporting himself by working with his own hands. He was probably a leather worker (what tents were usually made from), whose biggest customer was the Roman military (the greatest user of tents throughout the Empire), that meant he could get work anywhere. He undoubtedly learned this skill as a Pharisee, since it was the common practice for Pharisees to learn a trade and the law at the same time. They were “lay lawyers” of biblical law. But, Paul made this his practice and example for CHRISTIAN reasons all the way through to the very end of his third and final missionary journey:

“You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” (Acts 20:34-35)

Paul, in this final meeting with the Ephesian elders, connected self-support to the highest Christian calling of loving care for the weak, and the blessing of giving (which, in this citation, is linked to self-support, not giving financial offerings!). In this basic practice, Paul identifies with most Christians everywhere who have to work to feed themselves and fund their witness to their friends, neighbors and co-workers.

The question for this post is this: According to Paul’s teaching and example, what is the place of the practice of self-support for CHRISTIAN ministries today? Tent-making is a strategy that has no good press in the church-as-we-know-it. Tent-making is what second-rate ministers do so they can do their “real” ministry on Sunday, or what the missionaries do until they get enough support to be a “full time missionary.” On the one hand, a lot of the feeling we have about tent-making comes from the current model of leader as CEO (and therefore powerful, in control and well-financed). Tent-makers are powerless, without control and poorly financed and so—we somehow feel—they must be on Plan B for those not quite good enough to be a “real” leader. On the other hand, ask any tent-maker. It can really suck. We struggle with feelings of shame (“How come more people don’t support me?”). We struggle with feelings of self-pity (“I’m so tired. If only I had financial support, I could devote my full time to ministry!”). We struggle with feelings of inadequacy, since we are not fully-funded like “real” ministers and “valuable” ministries.

For the remainder of this post I will assume that just because we are used to things being done a certain way does not make that way the best way to do them. I will assume that shame may be well part of God’s plan for authentic ministry, as God puts His son’s shame on the cross at the center of that plan, and Paul affirms again and again the necessity for apostolic leaders to experience shame and humiliation (“working with hands” would be considered shameful for the high society in his day; 1 Corinthians 4; 2 Corinthians 4). I will assume that the Scriptural pattern is more important that our contemporary patterns or long-term traditions or “common sense.”

In 1 Thessalonians 1:9, Paul said he sweat and bled “not to be a burden.” This was not only HIS missionary strategy, he makes it theirs: “Work with your hands so that you win the respect of outsiders!” (1 Thess 4:11). By the time of his second letter to them, some of them had come up with “spiritual” reasons why they shouldn’t have to work, and he makes his own practice of self-support the ethical foundation of his charge to them: if THEY won’t work (like Paul), don’t give them food (2 Thess 3:6-10).

In 1 Corinthians 9, Paul argues from his practice of self-support as an example of why the Corinthians should not use their right/freedom to eat idol meat (see 1 Corinthians 8—10). He bends over backwards to demonstrate why he should be financially supported, but only to make it clear: “I have not made use of that right, and neither should you make use of your ‘right’ to eat idol meat.” It is very poignant that Paul calls self-support his right/freedom/authority (he uses the word exousia which can be translated as either right, freedom or authority). He says this after presenting many reasons why Christian workers and their spouses should be supported in their missionary journeys (I may be wrong, but I think 9:5 specifically makes this passage not about stationed or stationary “professional” ministry). He says he would rather die than have anyone deprive him of this “boast” by financially supporting him (1 Cor 9:15—in typical Pauline irony, he calls a practice that would bring him shame in Corinth something to boast about). Paul calls it a “reward” to support himself (again, rich in irony for those who might think “paid ministry” is “real” ministry). His self-support is an exousia, a source of freedom and authority to live, decide, move and speak as God leads and provides, and not to wait for the approval of others. For those of us who have followed his pattern, we learn there is great freedom and authority to speak when we are not financially beholden to someone else, worrying about what will happen to our livelihood if we address needed issues. Paul, I think, envisioned that this was how we would keep a prophetic-apostolic edge on the church’s proclamation.

Paul’s practice of self-support was essential to blessed mission work he lived. His tent-making took him to the center of the market place where women, slaves, Cynic philosophers, and all sorts of “normal” people spent their time. He had a natural hearing because he was incarnational like Jesus, walking among those he was sent to speak to. Paul didn’t work in the market place so he could merely speak in the synagogue on the weekend. Paul’s tent-making took him to the center of the mission target God gave him that day (just like getting thrown in jail took him to the Philippian jailer). His pattern was apostolic, mobile and multipliable. He could focus on discipling those who were faithful and not worry about what was “fundable.” Geography is mission, is it not? Where does God have me? THIS is where God wants me to be in mission, whether in jail or in the center of the market place.

Some of you reading this may have significant “noise” that may drown out what I am saying here. Many people will say that “church ministry” needs to be paid so the CEO can speak in the worship event on Sunday and run the organization throughout the week. Of course, this reflects our tragically consistent misconception of what “church,” “ministry” and “worship” are. We weaken the fiber of the Body of Christ when we continue the false teaching that “worship” means attending a lecture/concert each week. Paul’s pattern is much closer: true worship is a whole life, one’s whole self, one’s every waking moment and activity (including the work-a-day stuff) offered up to God (Romans 12:1ff). It is certainly how Paul understood his own “offering” of working to support himself (Acts 20:34-35).

That is all to say that I think apostles* and tent-making are still God’s main, blessed missionary strategy in church-as-God-wants-it, and mission-as-God-wants-it. The main problem we have for the salvation of the world is not funding or fundraising, since the main scriptural plan is the Body of Christ spread like salt and positioned like lamps strategically throughout the neighborhoods and workplaces of the world. The problem is mostly our misconception of church, and our misguided reliance on clericalism and the paid priesthood. It is a poor pattern, especially when we hear so many committed disciples talk about “quitting their jobs so they can go into full-time ministry.” Get thee behind me! EVERY Christian already IS in full-time ministry! Paul’s pattern already directly relates to most Christians’ experience of the tension of a working life and a call to full obedience and availability to God. It fits with the needs for mobile missionaries to share Jesus and proclaim His kingdom in new mission fields and pockets. This awareness helps us focus on the people in front of us, rather than the funding we don’t yet have or might lose in the future. Today each of us should remember to work hard “so that we can win the respect of outsiders.” With their respect we have their ear. With their ear, they can hear the indispensable good news about Jesus.

(Personal note: this thinking flows out of my Ph.D. studies at the University of Sheffield, England, focusing on Paul’s style of leadership. Ingrid and I consider ourselves to be obeying this scriptural teaching by being self-employed missionary workers. I was formerly a paid church-as-we-know-it professional for over 20 years.)

slaves of Christ ("apostles")

2011-01-20T03:54:00.000-08:00

Why do some people make apostles the new popes? And conversely, why do some claim there are no apostles today? Paul identifies it as one of the five gifts needed for the building up and maturity of the church. Why would some exalt this gift? Why would some believe that God has taken away this gift? The answer is centered in a misunderstanding of what an apostle was in the first place (in the Greco-Roman social context), and is based on a hierarchical understanding that places apostles at the top of the church structure when the New Testament clearly places them at the bottom. The understanding of leadership in the New Testament that should frame our understanding of apostles is the foot-washing, low-status slave (John 13), and the “race to the bottom” to become a “slave of all” (Matthew 20:20ff; 1 Corinthians 9:19).

An “apostle” in the ancient world is simply someone who is sent (Greek: apostolos). An apostle was someone who was sent to conduct someone else’s business on their behalf. There was—originally speaking—nothing religious about them. They were normally an unvalued slave, who was expendable.

Travel in the ancient world was dangerous, and something that individuals did not choose lightly. Who would have the right to send someone on their behalf? A slave owner or a governmental or military commander. The person sent—the apostle—did not have a choice. In the case of the government or military, the apostle sent with orders normally would be a part of an armed entourage. The slave-apostle would not have such protection. The master would pick the slave he could most afford to lose, and send that one to conduct his business in some extended location. The apostle-slave might be the same as the lowest household slave who was given the shameful duty of washing feet (see John 13). Mattering least, and therefore sent.

Paul identifies himself as one such sent-slave in many ways in his letters: “Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God” (Romans 1:1). Paul’s most common self-description throughout his letters is: “I am a slave who is sent by Jesus to non-Jews to communicate the good news that the Kingdom of God has come in Jesus.” English readers of the Bible find it easy to overlook this important aspect of Paul’s self-understanding, since the 190 different Greek terms used for slavery in the New Testament are sanitized to “servant.” This is not a very appropriate translation, since in Paul’s day 1/3^rd of the population of the Roman empire were masters who owned slaves, 1/3^rd of the people were slaves, and 1/3^rd were former slaves. Paul makes it clear what he means: slavery to Christ is about exclusive ownership—Christ is master/lord (kurios is the simple word for master-owner of a slave). “Am I now trying to win the approval of people or of God? Or am I seeking to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be Christ’s slave” (Galatians 1:10).

Another problem in understanding how the word “apostle” is used in the Bible is the medieval pictures we have in our minds of the twelve disciples of Jesus with halos around their heads, or the false assumptions that apostles were only religious figures, they were high status people with a lot of power, there were only a few of them and now they have ceased to exist or their work is now embodied in others with different titles (bishops of various sorts of the Catholic/Anglican traditions). This is a complete revisionistic interpretation of what an original apostle was. “Apostle” was not a title for a high status leadership position. Before and after Jesus “apostles” were low status slaves with no power of their own, and they were as common as dishwashers are today. If we practiced slavery like they did in the ancient world, when you said “apostle” today no one would think of the manager, owner or executive of a restaurant. They would think of the dishwashers and busboys. “Apostle” was not a claim to high status or authority, but a claim to low status and expendability. When you attached the words “of Christ” this communicated whose business and authority the apostle was operating under. Christ is the boss, he sent the apostle and, when the apostle speaks, he is merely the conduit.

Several years ago I wrote, “The leadership we need today is apostolic leadership” (Empowered Church Leadership: Ministry in the Spirit According to Paul [Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 1999], p. 150). I describe what I mean in that chapter using all extra-biblical language (because we so hopelessly misunderstand the term “apostle,” and lose its import in hierarchical misinterpretation). “Apostolic” is not a scriptural term. If I were speaking scripturally, I would have explained why slave-apostles (like helps, giving, mercy, etc.) were common gifts then, and should be now. There were many apostles in the New Testament who were not the Twelve or Paul, who didn’t author scripture, and would not have considered the gifting a title, status or privilege. What we need more than anything is a release of these kind of slave-apostles for the mission of Jesus to the lost and hurting. God is a sending God and commands his followers to go to those who have lost their way, not waiting for them to come to us.

Many leaders have heard the buzz and read the books and would like to be “apostolic in their leadership” and yet remain in-charge, in safety and security, in the cushy-comfort of some Christian bunker. Can’t be done. To be an apostle is to become expendable, low status, and exposed to ridicule and insecurity in this life: “For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men. We are fools for Christ…” (1 Corinthians 4:9,10).

Apostles are given by God as a gift to the church and the world (Ephesians 4:11), and are needed most desperately. A church without apostles (and prophets, for that matter) is a fire without the flame. What’s wrong with this Body? We have severed an essential limb of apostles through intellectualism, religious control and the flesh (and therefore most gifts lie dormant and unoffered to God—the role of apostles is a mainstay in equipping the Body for service and maturity; Ephesians 4:11ff). Most apostles are not found in the church-as-we-know-it, and that is why the flame is burning hot elsewhere. Jesus is the boss—as He was sent, so He is sending these He owns to suffer and serve in order to make known the presence and coming fullness of His Kingdom. Apostles and prophets are the foundation of the church-as-God-wants-it (Ephesians 2:20; 3:5-6; 4:11).

We need them to be released. They are little “a” and little “p” apostles and prophets, nobodies who have become somebody to God through Christ. We are not talking about a new version of the “one man show” that plagues the church-as-we-know-it. As "foundations" apostles and prophets have the privilege of getting "buried" where no one can see them (see Ephesians 2:19ff). They are little a and little p apostles and prophets, but capital S on the end: “And God gave some to be apostleS, some to be prophetS…” We don’t need individualistic superstars. We need examples of what it means to “submit yourself to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:21). Please Lord, send workers into your abundant harvest!

the kingdom mandate

2010-12-21T03:05:00.000-08:00

I received this email from another ex-religious-professional, post-religious-follower-of-Jesus I know from Canada. I have been enjoying fellowshipping with him, and have been following with interest his return to a "pastorate" of a church granddaughtered by a church he planted. This off-the-cuff email is packed (even on the fly, David is a great writer). Enjoy! The best of all is God is with us! -Brian, Christmas 2010.

***

"So here is the bare essence of my strategy that I am about these days.

Jesus will build his church. Thus, I am not going to attempt to fashion its structure around a worn out – out dated model that essentially is only maintaining a central building. The earth in relative terms is a village/hamlet of the King’s kingdom thus in my view the church is to be subversively infiltrating the village with Kingdom salt. Yet keep in mind that Christ’s body is only a facet of the Kingdom and as such its initatives must be subservient to the Kingdom’s business.

Originally the village was given to Humanity to rule with General Managerial Authority (Genesis 1 in the Message says – “Take Charge” and “Be responsible”). It was a unique managerial responsibility in that they had the right to give away the village, which they did via their disobedience. As such the village was usurped by the fraudulent Mayor. He took charge because we note in the third temptation he offers Jesus back the ownership. Post death, burial, resurrection, ascension and Pentecost the village’s deed is once again safe within the legal ownership of the Son who now sits at the right hand waiting until his Father makes all his enemies a footstool for Him (Heb 1:13). Better still no longer will our behavior affect its ownership.

The fraudulent mayor is actually defeated (e.g. D-Day which effectively was the end of the war even though the allied forces had to go to Berlin), but he is still squatting in his former village desecrating every thing he can place his influence on.

The follower’s job now is to regain their managerial leadership of the village by renovating the desecration that has occurred. The responsibility includes making disciples (repatriating kingdom citizens) who Jesus will form into his body. But the job also entails bringing the kingdom to bear on the desecration of the village by salting (purifying) the social, political, economic moral fabric within our spheres of influence. It includes setting right even as it pertains to the architecture of our communities that have been desecrated. Not by pointing and wagging our finger but by subversively entering the desecration as salt. Including making disciples, who post being formed, conformed and transformed into the image of Christ salt their spheres of influence.

So this is why you must deal with parasitic sins that so easily entangle. You can’t salt your sphere of the Village if you are dirty brine." --David Brandon, Aurora, Ontario, Canada

All you need is lvoe

2010-06-18T02:18:00.000-07:00

These 4 inch letters were supposed to spell a word that went along with the other home decor signs like LIVE, LAUGH, HOME and WELCOME.

It is completely understandable that someone in China did not recognize the misspelling. I have worked stocking shelves, so I get why a stocker in Florida would not have noticed. The really funny thing is that when Kirstie tried to buy it at a discount, the manager offered 10% off. At that point it was the principle of the thing--for her and him--and it went back to live on the store shelf. Someone else will get this really good deal. We went home, singing in the car, "All you need is lu-voe...all you need is lu-voe...all you need is lu-voe, lu-voe...lu-voe is all you need!" (Don't sing it out loud, it will get in your brain and then you can't get it out).

Love is misspelled across our land, too, on the billboard of our common existence. I--we--can be so unloving:

"Love is patient,

love is kind.

It does not envy,

it does not boast,

it is not proud.

It is not rude,

it is not self-seeking,

it is not easily angered,

it keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails."

(1 Corinthians 13:4-8)

Marriage, Murder & Mercy

2010-06-13T05:53:00.000-07:00

Ingrid and I have been married 28 years and 1 day today. People ask—and they are not joking—how Ingrid could endure me all these years. The top answers offered raise further questions about the quality of her eyesight, hearing, and short and long term memory. Mostly people assume that God has given her the most amazing gift of mercy any human has ever had. True that.

Mercy triumphs over judgment. It says that in the Good Book. It says that a lot and in big ways. We as a species deserve a harsh assessment. The God of the universe sees and knows all the stuff we have hidden from the IRS and our mothers. If He were merely “fair,” we’d all have to go to hell. That is the only rational judgment He could make. But, He holds mercy higher. When we like sheep have gone astray, the Good Shepherd comes and finds us, throws us on His shoulders and carries away from the wolves to green pastures and still waters, and stands post with His rod and staff to protect us. He is the God of the second chance—and third, fourth, fifth…

Ingrid reflects the image of this good God to me every day and in every way. We work together and most days usually find a moment or two of tension (or three or four…). We have an office in our home, and we tell people the reason we don’t allow guns in our home is that we would have a workplace shooting by Tuesday of every week. Other people watch the news on Friday and ponder how some guy could walk in and kill a bunch of his ex-co-workers. Not me and Ingrid. We get that. What Ingrid and I don’t get is how he made it all the way to Friday. Bad joke, but if you have been married a long time you get Ruth Graham’s answer to the interviewer when asked if she and Billy ever considered divorce: “Divorce? Never. Murder? Often.”

We have a marriage tradition that we have practiced for 28 years. On our first anniversary I gave Ingrid two glasses and carafe with four words engraved on it so that we would check in on these crucial things every year: Love, Faith, Promise, Forgiveness. The importance of the first three needs no explanation. These are the big three that the Love Chapter says will stand forever essential: “And now these three will always be with us: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13). Love—the practice of giving and living tender care—is the greatest thing, and that is what I need the most work on.

Ingrid identified forgiveness as her biggest challenge this year. In fact, she said she was so mad this week that she spent about a half hour at one point trying on the thought that she would not forgive me for my repeated wrongdoing. Couldn’t do it. Too much mercy in that girl. Too much Jesus in that girl. Jesus said that we should be forever forgiving and forbearing of one another—not just in marriage, but in every relationship. In fact, he made that the one condition of getting God’s forgiveness: punishment is promised “unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart” (Matthew 18:39). Ingrid gets it: because God has forgiven her 70 X 7, because He has offered up the perfect sacrifice of His son on the cross, she too must reflect that kind of loving forgiveness to others. Good fortune for me, I say. She runs the soup kitchen for mercy around here—and I am standing in line for some mercy soup every day.

Yes, you read correctly. I just wrote that God’s forgiveness is conditional. But before you Reformed Reformers run me out on a rail, look again. It was in quotation marks. Jesus said it, not me. It is right there in the Good Book. Mercy triumphs over judgment IF—and only if—you and I offer that same merciful attitude toward others. Read it for yourself: Matthew 18. This is the most unread chapter of the Bible in American Christianity. That’s a little scary. So many people think because they prayed the prayer they got the eternal fire insurance policy that can never be cancelled. They will be so sorely surprised when they stand before the Lord and try to explain why they called him “Lord” and sounded so religious but did not do what he said to do so clearly.

Yet, still, there is so much mercy about the place. “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23). God even designed “evening and morning—the first day” with the plan to give us daily do-over! Mercy is built into the morning. Do you feel it? God knew we would need mercy that much and that often. I know I do—ask Ingrid. But morning comes, and there we find the God of the second chance waiting with arms of grace one more time. Before the foundations of the world, the God of love provided a way back for those who would get so lost. That passage goes on to say, “‘The LORD is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him.’ The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him” (Lamentations 3:24-25).

Mercy triumphs over judgment—and prevents murder in the home office. Thank God!

Ownership

2010-05-31T05:50:00.000-07:00

I own real property and I am a tenant, too. I sometimes get the two confused in my head, partly because of my underdeveloped understanding of Florida “homestead” laws, but that is another subject.

Owners, in the eyes of the law (and probably in the eyes of God, I think) can control, shape, develop or neglect their property. It is theirs to do with as they wish—unless and until it impinges on others’ property or their tenants’ rights under their lease and/or under the law. In those cases, the governmental authority steps in and restrains the owner from doing harm to others. As long as that is not happening owners are, for all intents and purposes, lord of the manor, caller of all shots, the desk where the buck stops on the disposition of their property.

Tenants or renters (depending on whether or not you want to use the legal term or less formal term) are not in ultimate control of the property, and usually don’t have the owner’s same sense of responsibility for it. That is why when you drive through a neighborhood you can usually spot which homes have tenants and which ones are owner-occupied (usually, but not always). No one cares for a castle like its owner, and tenants will flee at the least little thing.

They remind me of the skittish and fickle peasants in history. We have a water colour of Conisborough Castle hanging on our wall, dear to us because of all the memories of that place we lived 10 minutes from for 3 years in the mid-90’s. It is famous because Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe was set nearby (which I must admit I still haven’t read, like so many books). I could tell so many interesting stories and details about that place, some hilarious, some tedious I’m sure. But here is the one of interest for this brief entry: the keep at Conisborough (the keep is the tower in the middle of all the other formidable defenses) is the best preserved keep in England for one reason only. It had been abandoned at the time of the Parliamentary Wars in which so many castles were dismantled by armed bands spreading the “democratic spirit” of Cromwell and friends (ironic, but true).

Sorry, I started getting off track, but back to the point. Castles with mote and perimeter and barbican and defenders and hot oil and archers and catapults and their own supply of water were formidable indeed in older days. But there was one weakness and it ALWAYS appeared when the lord of the manor was absent. The Achilles’ Heel of the castle defense was the willingness of the servants to defend the castle in absence of the owner. I can almost envision the conversation in a Monty Python-like dialogue, as they opened the gate to save their own lives, and lowered the bridge for the invaders to come in: “Take what you need—we didn’t vote for ‘im.”

The same can be said for business owners versus employees or non-stake holders in a corporation. That is probably why small businesses (read sole proprietorships—owner-run operations) account for such a disproportionately large percentage of our economy. Jesus made this same point long ago, referring to the unreliability of paid pastors: He said (as John reports): “The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me-- just as the Father knows me and I know the Father-- and I lay down my life for the sheep” (John’s Gospel, 13:12-14). For all its bluster, it is ironic to me that the church-as-we-know-it in our country is mostly committed to this socialistic funding of the Christian religious enterprise (misusing the word “socialism” as is so avant-garde these days), and turning up its nose at the more tea-party-friendly and entrepreneurial understanding of Christian mission so clearly modeled by Paul in 1 Corinthians 9, a missionary strategy so unequivocal and clearly reiterated to the wise-ones late in Paul's life: “I have not coveted anyone's silver or gold or clothing. You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" (Acts 20:33-35—stunning statement, if you read the warnings that come just before it).

I used to think it was cruel and heartless when church organizations, having fallen on hard financial times, told their pastor to go get a job. Now, I think, they were halfway back to where they needed to be in order to start: they could get there if they went all the way and sold their buildings and assets (if, indeed, they really want to help someone in need as they claim). Don’t laugh. Many churches around the country have done it lately. I don’t know that I’d call it a trend, but it sure would be interesting if it were.

All of that are a part of my reflections this morning on ownership. For the encyclopedic readers of my blog the answer is yes, this is another entry in the lexicon of acceptable words: “Lord” is out since those who say “Lord, Lord” won’t get in at the end of days. In our vernacular, Jesus is Owner and Physician, Commanding Officer and Skilled Therapist, holistic in all things social, spiritual, physical and emotional. In the words of the great hymn I heard someone singing on the street in Annapolis last weekend: “This is my Father’s world….”

why hasn't Jesus returned yet?

2010-05-06T01:57:00.000-07:00

I got asked last night what I thought about why the Lord has not returned, and if I thought it had something to do with the bride NOT preparing herself. I gave that some thought and wanted to read the few scriptures in the New Testament that use the word "bride" (very few) before I replied. Here are several things that I pondered, and then I summarize my very tentative answer below. I'd be interested in your take on the question.

1. We don't have a single instance of Jesus' teaching his disciples about the people of God as the Bride (and he never uses the word "bride" in the four gospels, or the rest of the NT including Revelation).

2. John the Baptist makes a DECLARATION ("this is true, ponder this!"), NOT an EXHORTATION ("become the bride!"): John 3:29 "The bride belongs to the bridegroom" (cf. Rev 21:9: "of the Lamb" = belonging to). It reminds me of 1 Cor 12: we ARE the Body of Christ and each one of us is a part of it. Declaration: it is a fact. It doesn't mention the purity of the bride here, just that the bride belongs to the bridegroom.

3. Revelation 19:7-9 (quoted below) APPEARS to answer your question in the affirmative, yet not quite.

(a) God brings the wedding: the wedding of the Lamb "has come" = divine passive construction="God has brought the wedding."

(b) Our part begins with "AND." "God has brought the wedding AND his bride has made herself ready." Why is that important? We are not to go beyond what is written (1 Corinthians 4:6). It does not say "because," but "and." The two happen at the same time.

(d) ...AND this fine linen is our righteous acts (the parentheses () in the quote below are in the text itself, not my insertion). God's action AND our action. God's clothing and our obedience. Grace AND good works/obedience...

(e) We don't need to go there, right? What comes first, the chicken or the egg? The chicken: GRACE upon grace results in obedience (and, James corrective: if no obedience, there was no grace).

(f) All in the context of Jesus' teaching that not everyone who says "Lord, Lord" will inherit the kingdom, but only those who DO what He says (for whom He is truly Lord=if He's your Lord you can't not do what He is saying).

Revelation 19:7 "Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. 8 Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear." (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.) 9 Then the angel said to me, "Write: 'Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!'" And he added, "These are the true words of God."

4. It all ends with a divine passive construction: "I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband" (Revelation 21:2). Dressed by Whom? You don't need to ask: divine passive construction: dressed by God.

So, after pondering these passages afresh (is there one I overlooked? Please let me know), here is my answer: The Lord will come when He comes. He is the Lord. If He chooses to wait, it is His choice-not ours. If He arrives and we are not ready, He arrives nevertheless. Not everyone will be ready, and the consequences will be disastrous for them. Those who are ready have no boast--they have been made ready by Him, they have been washed and cleansed and salvaged by His gracious hand. If He has done that for them, you can observe it in their behavior: they obey Him.

Dear brothers and sisters, let us continue to do what He says, AND not go beyond what is written. Let us pray as we should, "Come quickly, Lord Jesus." Let us be found ready when He comes.

a call by prophetic voices to BE the gathering of God

2010-04-28T01:28:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZFFWzlGaA0

we found the perfect church!

2010-04-25T04:53:00.001-07:00

We do church 24/7 with 1,372 people-100% attendance all the time.

How long to build it?
It was about a year and a half of planning, building and
photographing.

How many pieces of LEGO to build it?
More than 75,000?

How big is it?
About 7 feet by 5 1/2 feet by 30 inches (2.2 m x 1.7 m x .76 m)

How many LEGO people does it seat?
1,372

Features?
3,976 windows, a balcony, a Narthex, stairs to the balcony, restrooms, coat rooms, several mosaics, a nave, a baptistery, an altar, a crucifix, a pulpit and an elaborate pipe organ.

why I am not writing another book

2010-02-17T03:20:00.000-08:00

I sometimes get asked if I am writing another book, usually by someone who has read one of the 5 I wrote. Sometimes I have been told that I am "wasting talents" since I am not writing books. That is not how I feel. I believe I am faithfully following the path Jesus has led me down. Here are some milestones on that path:

1. During my Ph.D. studies, I was struck by the New Testament and early church identification of false apostles and teachers as those who "peddled the word of God." It occurred to me too slowly--being overeducated but not all that bright sometimes--that perhaps the Christian publishing industry was a source of darkness rather than light.

2. Several years ago, I was invited to speak at Expolito, the Spanish Christian Booksellers annual meeting in Miami, Florida, at the release of a Spanish translation of my book on ministry in the Spirit according to Paul. Since I could not keep up with the speed of the conversation over several days, I was forced to pay attention to what I was seeing. For the most part, the convention wasn't even bothering to "peddle the word of God"--they were peddling everything but. (They learned from their English language version's bad example). Hmmmm, I thought, this is NOT good. Not good at all. I think during that time the penny dropped for me that I needed to stop writing books and put the emphasis elsewhere.

3. I became more and more aware in homes that I visited and conversations with Christians that we were full of books, but not people of One Book. People talked about what their pastor had preached or favorite author had written, but NOT about what God had told them to obey. We are a church and nation of spiritual prurience, ever spectating from the bunker, rarely in the game or on the front line. I began to connect the dots: we are what we eat, and we have been feeding on the chaff of human doctrine, not the meat of God's Word. There is an old principle that applies: if the horse you are riding on is dead, for God's sake, dismount.

4. Jesus' parting charge to us kept coming to my mind: "teach them to obey all that I have commanded to you." We have distorted that into left-brain rationalism without action, rock-star conference culture of hero worship and heads full of knowledge but lacking wisdom, tough-mindedness ("wise as a serpent") and a cutting edge to the mission of our lives. The salt has lost its saltiness, and our little lights no longer shine. The words we overlook in Jesus' charge are crucial: OBEY and ALL. He didn't put a big premium on understanding and analyzing. The emphasis was on standing-under and actualizing His word. We need to be people of one book--in compliance to its wisdom we become an arrow shot from and to heaven.

5. One day I was pondering why church-as-we-know-it is not the scary threat to hell's doors that Jesus said he would build ("I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it"). And, it is not even mildly effective at evangelizing not-yet Christians in our culture. It finally dawned on me. This is NOT the church Jesus built. This is a straw house on sandy foundation built on mere human wisdom and celebrity or tradition. This is the church WE built--that is why it is so pathetic. Jesus never told us to build churches. He told us to train them to comply and practice everything he imparted to us. If we do that, He does his part--builds a church whose advance hell can't stop. I see it now here, now there. When the rains come down and the storm crashes in, all that will stand is such houses built on the rock of obedience to Jesus as Lord.

So here is the "book" that I am supposed to write. Paul's self-understanding in 2 Corinthians 3:2-4 is my example to emulate: "You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God."

The book I am to write is pages on others' lives as I seek to obey all Jesus taught, and teach them to do the same. I am not to write a book on paper between covers but on souls with skin. Here are some of the best books and articles I am writing that you may have never read: Ingrid, Julia, Jeff, Kirstie, Carlo, Elizabeth. I hope you get a chance to read them some day.

Whose lives are you writing the kingdom of God upon?

(Oh yeah, one other milestone. AJ, Julia and Jeff Rogers kept pressing me to write something on the internet--Julia got me to blog. I see this as more of a journal than publishing. More a soap box of what I would shout across the nation to Alaska and Hawaii, than what anyone else would ever want to "publish." Since only about two and half people ever read it, it has no danger of supplanting my life-writing mission).

friended

2010-02-05T05:36:00.000-08:00

Someone I just met suggested that I "friend" on facebook Steve, whom I have known awhile. I cracked up--just new to facebook, I thought this is going to be a fun ride.

Friend, friended, befriended, frenemy...I sent Steve a note through our new facebook connection joking about it. (We already fly, call, email, skype phone, skype IM...just what we needed--one more way to lob verbal provocations at each other... :-)

Steve replied with a definition of friended that made me laugh to the point of hurting myself. I had to share:

"made a tenuous cyber connection on a website known as "social media" so that you can have relationship without any responsibility.... the ultimate relational format for those who love illusions since reality is too painful and complicated, the ultimate for those who feel they do not exist unless they are being broadcast and viewed..."

what the world needs now

2009-12-21T11:52:00.000-08:00

A. W. Tozer, said in his message, Prophetic Preaching, “If Christianity is to receive a rejuvenation, it must be by other means than any now being used. If the Church in the second half of this century is to recover from the injuries she suffered in the first half, there must appear a new type of preacher… Another kind of religious leader must arise among us. He must be of the old prophet type, a man who has seen visions of God and has heard a voice from the Throne. When he comes (and I pray God there will be not one but many), he will stand in flat contradiction to everything our smirking, smooth civilization holds dear. He will contradict, denounce and protest in the name of God and will earn the hatred and opposition of a large segment of Christendom.”

the enemy

2009-09-26T05:56:00.000-07:00

I remember a story about an interaction Abraham Lincoln had when discussing the need to heal the nation from the wounds of that uncivil war. The pundit reportedly said to him, "Where I'm from, we destroy our enemies." Abe replied, "Do we not destroy our enemies when we forgive them and make them our friends?"

Who is our enemy? I think I finally have a bead on it. And, it's not any of the usual suspects. All the name calling has not really put a finger on it for me. It's not the liberals, the birthers, the terrorists, the commies, Obama Care, socialists, Glen Beck, the liberal media, Washington, Wall Street, China, Afghanistan, North Korea, Iran, or Cuba. (Though no doubt, there are many people in many of those categories who are serious threats to life and limb).

The greatest wound to the fabric of our country was when we fought ourselves. The death count of the (un)Civil War is still higher than all other conflicts combined. 9/11 was nothing compared to 23,000 casualties at Antietam on ONE day; 51,000 at Gettysburg over 3 days.

That was then, this is now? I no longer think so. Three factoids from just a cursory reading of the papers this morning:

1. Wall Street Journal: Florida (my state) and 11 other Southern state legislatures are actively considering bills that say Floridians are not required to follow any Federal law on health care. You might say, "Ridiculous. The constitution is clear. The Civil War settled this issue of states' rights versus federal authority. It is unconstitutional." If you don't get what is going on in the South, then I have this to say: Your daddy ain't from around here, is he?

2. The Washington Post: On September 12th, Bill Sparkman, a 51 year old Eagle Scout was found naked and bound, hanging from his neck in a cemetery in the Daniel Boone National Forest in Kentucky with a sign around his neck: "FED." He was a part time census worker, supporting his family by doing a job mandated by the Constitution, and essential to our representative democracy (among other things, congressional representation based on population). What some Floridians are trying to legislate, others are willing to kill for. (I actually wrote this on Thursday--I see this morning that USA Today is finally reporting this story--really? This wasn't news?).

3. New York Times: There is currently the highest demand in history on bullets (particularly for handguns), and the greatest shortage ever. Bullet makers usually sell more when there are Democratic presidents, afraid that the Dems will try to take their guns away (their spokesman says). Given the two factoids above, this story gave me a shiver. What do we need all the bullets for?

I think I know why we need all the bullets because I have figured out who the enemy is. Someone famously said, "We have met the enemy, and the enemy is us!" WE are the enemy, and we are preparing for war. This is more than the spirited debate of disagreement over policy. Something darker is going on. The financial strains have stirred up deeper dark demons and revealed more dire moral cracks in the foundation. Our excesses are devouring our liberties, and and we are not behaving well in the face of this adversity.

If we want to be safe from "the enemy," what we need most is not more advisors in Afghanistan. We need to destroy the enemy in our midst, by making them our friends. By hanging together. By helping one another. By appealing to "the angels of our better nature," and cleaning out the darkness inside and among us. Where I'm from, we forgive our enemies, and pray for those who mistreat us. Where I am from, the lion will soon lie down with the lamb.

"You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains" (Jesus, Matthew 24:6-8).

My darkness turns to light

2009-08-16T04:30:00.000-07:00

My daughter pointed out the other day that news anchors are giving out the suicide hotline number when they give economic reports. A few days later, a gruesome father-family murder-suicide in a nearby neighborhood hit the news. This guy lost half of everything in the stock downturn, and the other half in real estate speculation, and now was facing the embarrassment of his bankruptcy becoming public. The neighbors were totally gob smacked by the trauma.

Why did he kill himself? No one knows for sure, but it is not hard to speculate about at least three dark forces that drove this "normal" man to do such a horrendous thing: (1) he had all his hope and security in his money/portfolio/holdings--take those away and his hope and security were gone. But, there had to be more: (2) he must have blamed himself for the loss--he invested, he speculated, he got his wife to sign the mortgages, he felt like he had totally failed. That must have been tied into one more thing: (3) he must have been very proud (even boasted?) about all his stuff. Take away hope and security, fasten blame without excuse, and bring humiliation and there you have a painful condition that drinking the cocktail of suicide is thought to fix. So sad, and yet so easily understood.

There is something I wish I could have shared with the man before he took this permanent solution to temporary problems. It comes from the Hebrew Scriptures: "You, O Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light" (Psalm 18:28). There are three things this brief quote speaks deeply to me when I have dark days with despairing thoughts:

1. I am not the source of my survival or security. There is Another who provides the "oil" for "my lamp." To the proud, prayer is a quaint, psychological pacifier. To those who know, a great and mighty Hand is found in low places of humility and humiliation. God does not reveal Himself to the proud, but speaks in a still, small voice to those brought low (what the ancients called the "Divine Incognito"). "You, O Lord--not I--keep my lamp burning." There will always be enough.

2. God is about the business of bringing light out of darkness. It is one of the first things the Bible says God is good at. In the creation story's version of the Big Bang theory, God looks at the chaotic darkness and says, "Let there be light." And, like that, there was light. He is still good at this. With just a word, Jesus was found saying to disease, blindness and moral lostness, "Be healed." Snap. Like that. Done. Many say it can't be done. I'm not one. I am here to tell you there is a God who turns my darkness to light. Not just light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel kind of light, but light outside and in, flooding my day and night: hope in place of despair, purpose in place of lostness, and a real sense of future and security in the place of uncertainty and anxiety.

3. "My darkness." The part I am most thankful about is that God does not just save victims and the downcast and outsiders, but He saves people like me who are a victim of their own moral fault and poor decision-making. When the darkness I find myself in is the result of my own doing--when it is really MY darkness--even and especially there the God of mercy and compassion brings grace, mercy and forgiveness. He turns the very things I have brought upon myself INTO LIGHT. He is so good at this darkness-to-light thing--and so full of mercy--that He takes my own self-inflicted suffering and turns it into character and wisdom and comfort for others.

When I feel lost and laid low, that is when the heart-cry of Mary in her humiliation means the most to me: "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my savior! ... His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble" (Luke 1:46, 50-52). The proud can't find God at all, and resent Him. No wonder, since the Bible says God opposes the proud. Life is hard enough--who needs God against you? But, it also says, "He gives grace to the humble."

You, O Lord, keep my lamp burning. My God turns MY darkness into light.

From the dead

2009-04-12T06:15:00.000-07:00

What a morning we had this morning. The sun came up on cue over the Atlantic, as we dug our feet in the sand and sang "Celebrate Jesus, Celebrate!" with several hundred other Christians. "Happy Easter!" "He is risen indeed!"

This morning's service had everything you'd expect on Easter: smiling faces, friendly people, snappy clothes and the expected references to mystery and magic, caterpillars and butterflies. "The Dancing Angels" made my day. I didn't think it would be possible to get six 8 year old BOYS to do synchronized dancing and let themselves be called, "The Dancing Angels." But, there they were. Easter is about impossible things.

The most impossible part of Easter is its essence, the distance Jesus traveled on that morning. He went from dead to alive. There is no greater distance than this. You can long jump the Grand Canyon sooner than you can get from completely dead to fully alive. Impossible. Yet, as the Monkeys sang, I'm a believer.

From the dead. That is where Jesus was raised from on Easter. "He is risen...FROM THE DEAD." If you accept Mark Twain's principle, then you have to accept the possibility that the resurrection of Jesus could be true and real. Mark Twain (who had a cat named "Satan") said, "Truth is stranger than fiction. Fiction has to stick to the possibilities. Truth doesn't." The resurrection is impossible, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen. If there is a God, then resurrection is light lifting for His little finger.

For the dead. All around us are walking wounded people who feel like the living dead. An affair smashed their marriage. Cancer snatched their friend. A drunk driver destroyed their child. Their company laid them off, which led to foreclosure seizing their house, which ended in bankruptcy bouncing all their checks. Forget about retirement--where is next month's rent coming from? They feel helpless and hopeless, lost and alone, perplexed and bewildered, thrashing about for something, somewhere, somehow. They feel knocked down, wiped out, flat on their backs. For them, there is One who stood up after being knocked down as down as down gets.

For those who feel like dying, Jesus is their man. He rose from the dead, for the dying. There is no problem too big. If He can rise from the dead, he can provide next month's rent, heal a broken heart, mend shattered dreams and provide a future and a hope. HOw do you get His help? You simply ask for it: "Jesus, please help." He doesn't need a lot of words, and you don't need to be good to ask.

From the dead, for the dead. Yep, I'm a believer that Jesus is risen, is alive and has the strength to help. All I have to do is ask.

Brian
Easter 2009

Who owns your church?

2009-03-05T16:31:00.000-08:00

Today I gave up trying to think about our economy. It lies in tatters, lamely flopping in the breezes blowing through it. ("Our" is probably trans-national in meaning, as America's cold has become the world's flu).

So, I turn my thoughts to one other intractable, seemingly impossible problem that afflicts me: church as we know it. If Ghandi were living here, he would still say, "I would become a Christian if it weren't for you Christians." Jesus rightly cautioned, "If the salt loses its saltiness, it is not good for anything but to be thrown out..." I somehow believe--if I could really see all the connections--there is some relation between our anemic church, our comatose country and our eerie economy.

So, what is wrong with this Body? Materialism? Yes, that's obvious. Immorality? Yes, any blind man can see that. Hypocrisy? As obvious as a Hawaiian shirt among Mormon missionaries. Lacking compassion? A dearth of faith? Judgmental superiority? These things mock us by the legacy we leave as self-announced followers of Jesus.

But, I have been wondering lately if the answer isn't simpler than that. Here is the question: Why is the church as we know it so far removed from the church as God wants it? Here is the answer that keeps coming to me: it is a matter of ownership.

Who owns your church? Is it your denomination? Your congregation? Your board of leaders? Your pastor? Your house group? You? No one? I have been pondering this lately. The denominational churches are easy to spot. But, who owns "Grace Church: It's Amazing"? "Jesus Is Real Ministries"? "H2O"? When I pry a little, there is always some person, persons, organization or non-organization-organization that owns/controls/directs them. And, therein lies the problem. THEIR church can never be the church God intended because that one is exclusively owned by Jesus: "I will build MY church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it."

Here is what I am really looking for when I read a church website: "Jesus owns this church. He directs it by the Holy Spirit. It can be messy, and at times we really blow it like the early churches did. Sometimes all we can say is, Thank God for the mercy of Jesus, because we really screw things up. We can think of no good reason to join our church over any other--we have ALL the problems others do because we are made up of the same sinners they are. In fact, our church is below average. But Jesus--HE is amazing. Call on His name, and belong to Him. HE will never let you down. We are trying to get over our pet theologies and narrow moralities to become merciful, loving and just like Jesus, but we have a long way to go. While we stumble toward the light, we thank God for the Coming Savior from Heaven who will deliver us from this body of death."

But, I never read that. Usually, they explain why their particular emphasis is the best thing since sliced bread, and why I should hop on board the Love Boat First Church of What's Happening Now Best Preacher Ever Hippest Musicians Anywhere Funnest Kids Program--Really, We're Not Making This Up.

We put way too much emphasis on "church" and way too little emphasis on ownership. Jesus is Lord--that means He owns me--if He is really my Lord. There are no commands at all about building the organization of the church, but there are boatloads of commands that require compliance and obedience. Our job: teach and practice obedience to ALL He commands. His job: "I will build MY church."

Summary of my simplistic oversimplification: We spend way too much time on "building our church," and forget Who the real owner is. It is Jesus' church. Maybe we need to crash our websites, tear down our lighted sign boards, give up our catchy marketing slogans and come back under the Name that is above every name: Jesus' Church. Our slogan: Definitely not worthy, but grateful for the big break He cut us. We are worse than you think--and He is way more loving than you can imagine!

Manifest Destiny (or, How I Would Fix the Economy)

2009-02-12T07:52:00.001-08:00

The last 4 economic/housing "fixes" under Bush ($1.7 tril) and the current one under Obama (0.8 tril +/-) all have made me cringe (best word I could come up with since I used the bile/urp image in my last blog, and I don't want to wear it out--you need to keep a good metaphor in reserve for when you really REALLY REALLLLY!!! need it so people don't think you are an alarmist...yes, I'm making fun of the "fixes" even in this parenthetical remark).

So, I have been asked confrontationally, "Mr. SmartyPants, what would you do?" Having no training in economics whatsoever (like most of those spending our tax money), I feel eminently qualified to opine on this. So here it is:

1. I wouldn't "fix" anything by throwing money at it. The current problem is the result of a total concert of greed and corruption by a major part of our fellow countrymen. The best "fix" for addicts is to let them experience the consequences of their behavior, and make amends as they work into the character and fabric of their lives what they learn from their moral failings.

2. The government should set an example of fiscal discipline rather than further speculation. The goal should be to immediately cut spending beneath revenue income, so that the surplus can be used to pay down the debt. This is exactly what most of citizens need to do with their mortgages (and other debts): cut expenses and pay down their principal so they are not "owned" by a house that is worth less than the mortgage.

3. This may be the only way to cure the White Collar Welfare Class we have created with the last 4, almost 5, "economic cures." Oh so many moneyed people waiting "in line" to get their housing fix...while the former "welfare class" (of the rhetoric, anyway) finally gets to buy some housing they can afford--a real upside in this iceberg stricken Titanic of an economy.

What would happen as a result of my "fix"? (1) The stock market would rise and fall continually like it always does. If it happened to rise on the day I announced my fix, I would claim, "Stock Market Rebounds on Dodd 12 Step Program for Addicted America." If it fell, then I would claim that it had no relation to my fix. :-) (2) We will persist in a muddle-through recession and recovery (and, as every "fix" has acknowledged, things will get worse before they get better). (3) Housing prices will stabilize once two things are absorbed: (a) existing and coming foreclosures; (b) the 3.5 million homes builders overbuilt between 2002 and 2007. (4) Perhaps--hope always springs eternal for me with this--just perhaps, we would wake up from our mammon-driven stupor and come to our collective senses. Or, at least, maybe many in our land would start looking Up for solutions instead of all around.

"Manifest Destiny," the land-grab doctrine that drove out the Native Americans and rationalized the Western push is written deep into American DNA. Like alcoholics, you could almost say we are genetically predisposed to the greedy-gonna-get-me-mine-no-matter-what-it-costs-someone-else. Until we "take the cure" for this, there is no fix for the mess we are in. We gotta start thinking about someone else for a change. (Yes, I'm entirely aware that this kind of talk could get me voted off the island).

"A wise man builds his house on the Rock," not on the sea of shifting sands of economic uncertainty.

La Esperanza De La Gente

2009-02-08T12:12:00.001-08:00

Don’t ask me where I’ve been, but I saw this picture for the first time on the back of someone’s car yesterday and it was like someone body-checked me, real hard (a hockey metaphor for my cold weather friends—supposed to be back up to 80 this week in Orlando—oh, the suffering…). I got something stuck in my throat as a result, a little like déjà vu, but more like bile.

This picture of Obama with the word “HOPE” underneath took me back to a hat I got in the Dominican Republic on a mission trip 7 or 8 years ago. It had a picture of the winning presidential candidate with “Hippolito, La Esperanza De La Gente!” (The Hope of the People!, for those of you, who for some inexplicable reason took Latin or French to meet your language requirement in school). Back then, I remember thinking (no kidding), who would be so stupid to fall for such a lame line as that?

But in tough times people aren’t thinking with their brains. It is probably a much more reptilian kind of response born of being evicted from their home, or watching their retirement account become an “I hope I can retire some day” account, or waiting for the layoff notice, or coming to work and getting the pink slip, or fending off calls from the bill collectors (50 calls a week can put a lot of pressure on a person), or hiding their car from the repo man so they can get to work the next day, or ashamed and alarmed that they can’t buy a birthday present for their child’s 7th birthday, or wondering how they will pay for the cancer treatments since they lost their health insurance when they lost their job, or watching our “boys” (now should we say “boys and girls”?) coming home from Iraq with body intact but brain turned to mush from an IED, or watching their company’s or their bank’s stock swirl around the bowl like so many others of late, or because they are sickened to think that our national deficit went from $5 trillion to $12 trillion in the last 7 years (from record surpluses) and is heading to run up the score with no 15 run rule like they have in softball to stop the game.

There’s a whole lotta hurtin’ going on. Desperate people need something, and they go looking for it. So, why not a Harvard educated, constitutional scholar with exceptional thinking and speaking skills, and political instincts to match? Why not hope in him? Well, that is the interesting part of the picture/bumper sticker. Can you see the clashing color cultures of the BLUE and RED parts, like I do? As it turns out, this bumper sticker is not merely propaganda, but perhaps an accurate artistic/prophetic rendering of where we are.

Da Blue Dudes know exactly why they are excited ’bout ’Bama. Whether or not his economic fixes work, ’Bama is not ’Bush. The logic is totally compelling to them: “Why do I hit my head against the wall? Because it feels so good when I stop!” 1/20/09 was much anticipated, and McCain/Palin (particularly the Palin part) did not feel like a stopping the beating of the wall with the cranium. Arguably, the Bush admin was the most corrupt of all time, so even a morally murky mind could throw stones at him.

The Red loyalists are playing their part of being “aginners” agitating and undermining, throwing sticks and stones, and flexing what little muscle they have (riding the wave of public sentiment that can’t stomach more spending when we still haven’t gone shopping with a full $350 billion of Bush’s last economic fix, and no one has seen anyone bring any bags home with the first $350 billion that was spent). Their “hope for the people” is a sudden renewal of fiscal conservatism and “spending discipline” (which they didn’t exercise when they had both houses and the presidency for most of the last 8 years). I like fiscal conservatism, but having watched them for most of the last decade I wonder if they remember how to blush. The Red / “Christian” loyalists have their own moral take and remain—against the evidence but consistent with their political tunnel-vision—convinced Bush was a great man, and that Obama is going to hurt all their moral causes—no question there.

I have no doubt that the political story of the next 4 years will be divisive, not uniting. It will be the political version of the aftermath of the O.J. trial, but instead of being divided almost absolutely black and white in our view as we were then, now we will divide even more schismatically red, white and blue. Unfortunately, the party "spirit" is alive and well.

A friend snidely said to me this week, “Since you don’t agree with anybody, what’s your idea?” I had to laugh. Too true, but not so much. Anyone who knows me knows that I am actually quite narrow in my thinking, as I remain a radical follower of Jesus and his teachings (Red Christians don’t get this, but Jesus’ teaching is why I can’t sign up for their political pushes). I seek to conform to His teaching, obeying and not just pondering His views.

In response to my last blog (“Is Obama the Antichrist?”) I'm good with what laughingjulia said: "An underlying reason for people's trust in princes is 'trusting in what is seen vs. what is unseen.' As humans we delude ourselves to think trusting in man is easier to do than trusting in a higher being. We become 100% dissatisfied with the results, yet we continue to believe in men. Our dissatisfaction creates other sin such as anger, discord, division, and slander. Jesus asks us to follow him, however narrow and rocky the path may be."

My feet are on the Rock, my name is on the Roll….don’t need no political princes since I’ve got me a King who asks for my devotion not my vote. On paper, yes, I’m a natural born American citizen (registered independent). In my heart, my citizenship is in heaven. I am waiting and hoping on a Savior who is coming from there.

Is Obama the antichrist?

2009-01-19T14:07:00.000-08:00

Prior to November's election, I received multiple emails arguing for how President-Elect Obama is the anti-Christ. I received copies of "prophecies" that if he were elected we would experience unprecedented terrorist attacks, natural disasters and economic turmoil. I heard Christians express fear about what could happen if he were elected. And, sadly, I heard Christians label him: he's a Muslim, terrorist, baby-killer, "most liberal senator," etc., as a way of making the point that if you vote for him, you too are a baby-killer (you can't make this stuff up-it is too weird). After the election, now "prophetic voices" are saying the same things: we are about to experience unprecedented terrorist attacks, natural disasters and economic turmoil because we violated the will of God by electing Obama as president.

Here are a few brief points for your consideration and, hopefully, encouragement to refocus on and trust in Jesus:

1. We are under a delusion as a nation, but the delusion did not cause us to elect Obama. The delusion is not new or recent, but has held us under its spell for some time. The delusion is that our country is somehow "Israel" in the Bible; as goes our president so goes the Kingdom of God; and an unholy, ungodly and unbelievable intertwining of nationalism and following of Jesus. The delusion causes us to become feverish about a man or against a man. Have we lost our minds? Our King Jesus doesn't need to be re-elected every 4 years-He is firmly on His throne, regardless of the storms and trials that come.

2. The things that are being "prophesied" to happen in the future under Obama have already happened under THIS presidency. If you really believe these things are signs of God's judgment, then you should be repenting for the past two elections, too. This is just connecting the dots: we have experienced unprecedented natural disasters, terrorist attacks and the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression under THIS president. Let's be honest and blush when we don't apply the partisan prophecies even-handedly.

3. The fear believers expressed before the election betrayed the real problem. As a church and mission movement in this country, we have expressed little faith in the King of Kings and His coming Kingdom. Like Israel, we wrongly think we need another troubadour-earthly-king to make us feel safe. Like Israel with Saul, we continue to feel anxiety for this misplaced trust in elected princes.

4. The disappointment-bordering-on-despair that I have heard believers express after the election confirms the observation. Somehow, many of us believe that "turn out the anti-abortion vote" is the mission of the church, and that if our guy loses an election somehow the Kingdom of God has faltered. But this is not what is being revealed. What is being revealed is that we have trusted in princes that do not save-and never have. We have confused being a follower of Jesus with a political/economic/social agenda. The quicker we clear our heads of this and look up to the Coming King, and stop looking around for solutions, the better off and more faithful we will be.

5. 1 John 2: 18 says, "Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour." The whole point of the deception is to get us to abandon Christ for false messiahs. I don't see Christians-as a whole-making Obama their false-messiah. Do you? But our fear and our despair suggest that we have made someone/something else a false-jesus (John? Sarah? Tax policy? Money in the bank? Equity in our home? 401(k)?. We should examine the log in our own eye as a church, so we can help the nation with the speck in its eye.

Jesus is firmly on the throne, though the waves still batter the boat. Before Him, the sea is as calm as crystal in the picture in the book of Revelation. He is in control, without trembling, full of love and mercy, ready to save all who call upon His name. There is a shaking that is coming, and no political figure will deliver us from it. Only those whose house is built on the Rock will survive the coming storm surge.

We need to burn more books

2009-01-18T06:05:00.000-08:00

This time every year some obscure university English department makes their mark by announcing the list of words that should be removed from circulation because they are overused or misused. This year includes "bailout" and "mortgage meltdown" (though, I'm not ready to let either word go, just yet).

As a skeptical scrutinizer of the "christian" subculture in America, I have a few words that I think should be written in a book and then burned in a blaze. I submit these words because I rarely hear them used in a remotely accurate way (that is, used as a way that is grounded in their foundational meaning as used in the Bible).

I just learned that the blog box won't let me make columns, so below is first the WORD//then its MISUSE//then what it USED TO MEAN:

WORD//MISUSE//USED TO MEAN
church//building, organization//gathering of friends
worship//religious concert & lecture//a life poured out, as a sacrifice
saved//guilt free pass//salvaged and put back to hard work
truth//proposition, world view//a person--Jesus
christian//religious conservative//one who loves & suffers like Jesus
preach//religious lecture//announce on the street
ministry//professional religious program//serving like a slave
apostle//spiritual superstar//expendable messenger
prophet//dead, lacking diplomacy//listens to God
pastor//religious CEO//smelly sheep tender
love//feeling or mood//sacrificial, tender care acted out