DownshoreDrift

Chick-Fil-A Backtracks on Support of Anti-Same-Sex Marriage Groups?

Huffington Post is reporting this morning that Chick-Fil-A is ceasing to support pro-family groups who lobby to oppose same-sex marriage, such as Exodus International, the Family Research Council, and Focus on the Family.  The organization, The Civil Rights Agenda, states in a press release:

September 18, 2012 – Chicago, Illinois – The Civil Rights Agenda (TCRA), Illinois’ leading lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights advocacy organization, has learned that Alderman Moreno has finalized his negotiations with Chick-Fil-A.  Alderman Moreno has confirmed that Chick-fil-A will no longer give money to anti-gay organizations and that they have clarified in an internal document that the company will treat every person equally, regardless of sexual orientation. The Civil Rights Agenda worked closely with the Alderman in an advisory role as he negotiated these concessions with the executives at Chick-fil-A.  Additionally, members of TCRA spoke directly with executives at Chick-fil-A during negotiations to aid in educating their decision makers about anti-discrimination policies and issues affecting the LGBT community.

In a letter addressed to Alderman Moreno and signed by Chick-fil-A’s Senior Director of Real Estate, it states, “The WinShape Foundations is now taking a much closer look at the organizations it considers helping, and in that process will remain true to its stated philosophy of not supporting organizations with political agendas.”  Winshape, a non-profit funded by Chick-fil-a, has donated millions of dollars to anti-LGBT groups, including some classified as hate groups, such as Focus on the Family and the National Organization for Marriage.  In meetings the company executives clarified that they will no longer give to anti-gay organizations.

My take:  This is the world we live in. I am not supporting giving to these organizations. But, that is beside the point. There are many companies that give money to groups who are pro-gay and pro-gay marriage, even though the concept is illegal in over 80% of states and is against Federal Law, so supporting companies who take a side on this issue is clearly not taboo. Many religious groups and pro-traditional-family groups have opposed these businesses with boycotts, but that has not stopped the growing tide of acceptance. With an initial small minority, the pro-same-sex marriage position is gaining steam and by labeling all who disagree with them as hate groups, they have won the emotional argument. This approach is catching on. My guess is that Chick-Fil-A, while maintaining a pro-traditional marriage stance, does not want to be associated with culture warriors who are oppsing the swelling tide. This could come from a principled position of a desire to stay neutral, or it could be because they know which way the winds are blowing and don't want the backlash.

At any rate, if this is true, it is another sign that the legalization of gay marriage is almost a certainty. I have stated before that Christians long ago abandoned a principled position on marriage when we acquiesced to the idea that marriage is about romantic love and the right of two people who love one another to choose to be together. When we made marriage about us and about love, no-fault divorce was the eventual result. If two people don't love each other any more, then why should they stay married? Christians, believing that marriages should stay together because the Bible says so, then tried to get married couples to be "in love" with each other so they would stay married. But, this idea is based on a fallacy. Biblical marriage is not based on romantic love. It is based on God's covenant love and commitment to His own glory and to us - which transcends feelings of romance or satisfaction. Biblical marriage is relationally between a man and a woman and it originates in God. Sure, love is involved - even feelings romantic love as a result. But, that is not the proper foundation, at least in a human sense. Biblical marriage begins is worship of God. The covenant between God and man illustrated through Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross is the true picture of marriage and that covenant is irrevocable. Marriage is a picture of this heavenly reality. But, when we stop worshiping God and looking to Him as our Source, marriage falls apart. We made marriage about us and not about God or Christ and His Church and so we philosophically lost the whole thing. Then, when two gay men or lesbian women come together and say they want to get married because they love each other and marriage is about two people loving each other and why can't they have what straight people have, Christians have no idea what to say except that it is wrong - which means nothing. They have us at our foundational argument. Gender doesn't matter because "love" is supreme. God is love and love conquers all and who are we to say who can love someone else?  So, our argument falls apart because essentially, we agree with them. We have no strong argument against divorce except the negative argument that God hates it. Then we try to get couples to fall in love again and when they no longer have feelings for each other, they throw in the towel and we say, "how sad." Our argument against gay marriage is essentially a gender argument which is not compelling because gender lines were erased a generation ago.

The Biblical answer is found in a true picture of God and His creation, Jesus and His Cross, Salvation, the Church, and what Christ's inviolable covenant with man actually is. But, most Christians don't know this, so how can we expect them to understand covenant marriage? All that we are left with when it comes to the gay marriage argument is that "it is wrong." Once you throw out absolute truth and locate the moral governor within the individual, what is right and wrong becomes relative to what makes someone happy or not. And, if it makes you happy, you should do it - right?  Christians eaten up with various forms of the prosperity gospel and humanism and a belief that God really does want us to be happy, stumble off stuttering under their breath, "But, but, but, it's wrong . . . isn't it?"   Then, when the culture says that they are hate-filled hypocrites because they don't want people to be happy and follow their heart, the once strong opponent to gay marriage caves completely, not wanting to be on the wrong side of what society declares a good person to be. Our own definitions of good and bad are based in society's approval and not in any transcendent sense. After all, if society does not approve of us, then we are no longer relevant and irrelevancy means we have no identity and no success and favor is based on success and acceptance and if we don't have that, then God is no longer with us and if God is not with us, then we are condemned, or so it often seems. So, to be declared a hate-filled hypocrite by society is essentially a judgment of damnation and of being "cast out into utter darkness." It makes us wonder who our god really is. Think about it. As people who subscribe to Divine Revelation, this is a strange set of circumstances we find ourselves in.   

So, this move by Chick-Fil-A will be the move of the rest of culture, including the church - eventually, because any opposition to gay marriage is only now seen as hate. There can be no other reason for it in people's minds. Unless we recover a transcendent, Biblical view of marriage that is based in Christ and His Church instead of our feelings and personal experience of love, romantic or otherwise, we won't even understand what is happening. We will continue to demonize gay marriage supporters without ever seeing that we are part of the problem, that we vacated this playing field generations ago, and that what is happening now is a natural result of our own abandoning of truth and fidelity. When "Christianity" dominated the culture, we did strange things with it (slavery, racism, greed, power-plays, oppression) to support our own way of life instead of losing our life daily, and now that our consensus has fallen apart, the chicken sandwiches have come home to roost, so to speak (pun intended).

I understand that it is hard to keep this view in mind. We all fall short. Grace is needed. Christian marriage is hard because it requires a daily dying to self. It is attractive to fall for the larger culture's definition of marriage based on romantic love. That feels better. But, it does not last. Romantic love in marriage is a gift of God and is a by-product of other things. But, it is not the foundation of marriage. God is. And, God is faithful and true, even when we fall short in our understanding and practice. So, we need grace and hope and that is found in God too.  

Breaking In

Breaking In

The whole world lay still, silent, strapped down

Loaded beneath the weight of groaning and longing

For a new day, a breakthrough, a hope,

Some form of deliverance

A little happiness,

A moment of light,

Someone to heal the rift,

A breaking of the dawn.

 

Into this, came the most unexpected surprise.

Unheralded, overlooked, away from home,

A quiet young woman, confused but excited,

Frightened, yet hopeful.

Looking for her deliverance and the salvation of her people

From the chains of oppression and from their own sins.

 

Refugee stragglers, mocked, ridiculed, and talked about

Behind their backs and laughed out of the room.

Angels? The Messiah? “God” came upon her?

Mary was out of her mind. Everyone said so.

Joseph, distraught, confused, overwhelmed, but directed

By the Angel and welcomed Mary in – against all reason.

 

Into this scandal, with all the rules shattered,

God broke in.

The Word became Flesh and made His dwelling,

His abode, His habitat

Among us.

Us.

God came near.

Light broke into darkness and the darkness fled.

It rose up and battled the light, but the light overcame it.

Light won and now we can all see.

 

Chains were broken, hope replaced despair.

Only the poor could see – only those with kid eyes

Who were not burdened down by their own expectations and mental barriers,

The walls that seem to be erected as we try to control and figure out

How to make this life work and how to get God to work for us.

 

But, God came near by becoming very, very small and He shattered all our ideas.

He replaced our perceived notions and propositions with Himself.

Some ran to Him. Some ran away. Some tried to kill Him.

Some succeeded, for a moment.

But, Light and Love broke through anyway.

Death could not hold Him.

 

Victory swallowed up the grave.

All things were made new,

And are being made new.

Christ has broken in.

Life has broken in.

Salvation is appearing, love is redeeming,

And all things are being made new,

And are being made new,

And are being made new.

 

And Christmas keeps coming.

Blaise Pascal on Accepting What God Sends Our Way

Tomorrow, I go in for surgery on my stomach to address an issue from two years ago as an infection has come back. Not fun. But, tonight, I was putting together the notes for the Wednesday Night Bible Study and I ran across these words that Blaise Pascal prayed in his Pensees:

With perfect consistency of mind, help me to receive all manner of events. For we know not what to ask, and we cannot ask for one event rather than another without presumption. We cannot desire a specific action without presuming to be a judge, and assuming responsibility for what in Your wisdom You may hide from me. O Lord, I know only one thing, and that is that it is good to follow You and wicked to offend you.  Beyond this, I do not know what is good for me, whether health or sickness, riches or poverty, or anything else in this world. This knowledge surpasses both the wisdom of men and of angels. It lies hidden in the secrets of Your providence, which I adore, and will not dare to pry open.

We really can see the events of each day as opportunities to experience God in fresh ways, to grow in Him, and for Him to prove Himself strong in our lives. Instead of shrinking back from difficulties and challenges, we can go through these things with God.  May it be.

The Church We Need, Not the Church We Want

I was talking with a friend of mine about the church the other day and he mentioned how much he had grown to love the church. He said that there were certain people that he and his wife connected with that were really helping them grow and that they really enjoyed spending time with. He said that his experience of the church was great and he really enjoyed it. I was glad to hear it.

Then, a thought hit me. I told him that what he was experiencing was not the church.  Or, it was just a small part of it.  What he was experiencing was great – it was the love between brothers and sisters in Christ that we get to experience when we are in good relationships and when encouragement is flowing from one to the other in really positive ways. But, that wasn’t really the church – at least not all of it.

I told him that the “church” really happened when he spent time with someone that he didn’t really like, when he gave of himself to others, and when he was with someone who aggravated him, but yet he persevered in relationship because they were unified in Christ.  I’m not talking about tolerating sin here. I am talking about being in relationship with those that we don’t have much in common with – except for Jesus.

We experience the church when we forgive, when we overlook an offense, when we love sacrificially, when we give of ourselves. The church happens when we get outside of ourselves and we cross barriers, be they racial, social, economic, or just personality differences. The church really happens when people who are different and would not be together except for Jesus, begin to live life together because of Jesus.

Jew. Greek. Male. Female. Barbarian. Scythian. Slave. Free.  Rich. Poor.  Impressive.  Invisible. Brilliant. Common.  Broken pieces formed together to make something beautiful. Everyone and everybody.

Overcoming the "God as a Means to an End" Idolatry Through Prayer

This morning, I was reading Psalm 73 and it affected me greatly. It says that God is good, but the Psalmist lost his vision of that because he began to focus on the arrogant and wicked and how they seemed to prosper even though they didn't follow God. Why was this? Why did wicked, prideful people who had no use for God seem to do well in their lives, be healthy, and appeared to be free from burdens? I can hear Asaph, the Psalmist saying, "But, Lord, I have done everything right! I have followed you and trusted you and I am struggling and am not seeing success! And, these other people who don't do things your way, only exalt themselves, and have no desire to do right seem to have one success over another and don't seem to have nearly as many problems as I do. What's going on!"  He goes on to say that the wicked are "always carefree, they increase in wealth."  Then, Asaph says that he has kept his heart pure in vain - he followed God for nothing.

This is one thing that I love about Scripture. It is honest and it captures what we all think at times. In reality, we often follow God so that He will bless us and give us what we want. We want prosperity, health, and a good life.  We follow God so that He will give us those things and so that He will protect us from evil and harm.  We obey so that we will receive blessings and so that things will go well with us. When trouble comes we wonder what has happened. What did we do wrong? Then, we look and see people who do not follow God who are super successful and seem to be happy and we wonder if following God is really worth it. If they are going to be rich and healthy and happy without following God and we are going to follow God and still struggle and have problems, then what is this all for?

When the wicked prosper and the righteous struggle, it is actually a great blessing. It reveals our motives and what we really desire. It shows us how we see God as a means to an end and not the End Himself. It reveals to us how we are really just following God and obeying Him as a talisman to ward off evil and bring blessing. Our jealousy, envy, and bitterness over the blessings of those who we think do not deserve it shows that what we really want are those same blessings - our hearts have been captured by what the world has to offer - and we use God to get them. We use God to gain control and secure blessing and keep evil at bay. This is Christian witchcraft, plain and simple, and it is not just the prosperity preachers who are guilty. We are all guilty when we see God as the means to some understanding we have of blessing apart from just being in His presence.

Signs of the End of the World?

I am generally not one to point to things going on and say that they are signs that we are in the End Times. I don't do that because, as a pastor, I really don't want people trying to interpret Scripture through watching the nightly news. I also don't do it because these types of things have been so overblown. But . . . stuff is happening and it has me wondering.

Wars all over, riots and civil unrest, economic troubles, mass migrations, large hurricanes, earthquakes in strange places, false teachers, a large turning away from God while people on the edges of global culture turn to God, persecution of believers, strange phenomenon - there are certainly a lot of signs.

Here is what I think:  whether Jesus is coming back tomorrow or two thousand years from now, the signs that accompany the end are upon us. God is real and Jesus is coming back and there will be a Day of Judgment where God will judge the quick and the dead and the sons of men. So, when you see these things happening, they should cause you to pause and think about your own mortality and if you are ready to meet God. The Bible says that the end will come quickly and many will be unaware. It will just come upon us.  But, if we know the signs, we will be ready. I don't get into trying to predict the return of Christ - no one can know the day or the hour. But, when an earthquake or hurricane hits the East Coast or a tsunami hits Japan or there is civil unrest and war in the Middle East - I stop and remember that Jesus said that these were signs of the end and I prepare my heart to meet my Maker. It causes me to repent and to turn to God in that moment so that I will be ready whenever the day comes that I meet God either through death or the return of Christ.

The real question is not if all of these things mean that Jesus is about to return. The real question is, "Are you ready to meet Him when he does come back?"

Matthew 24:3-14

³ As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

 ⁴ Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. ⁵ For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. ⁶ 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. ⁷ Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. ⁸ All these are the beginning of birth pains.

   ⁹ “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. ¹⁰ At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, ¹¹ and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. ¹² Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, ¹³ but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. ¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

Moral Relativism and the Decline of Britain and the US

The riots in Great Britain last week are eliciting some interesting reactions across the pond. I am so used to unrest in America always being attributed to poverty or injustice or bigotry of some kind, that I was taken aback when Prime Minister David Cameron blamed Britain's problems on moral decline - and he is being taken seriously instead of being mocked in the media and by the late night comics (as far as I can tell). Cameron said,

“This has been a wake-up call for our country. Social problems that have been festering for decades have exploded in our face,” Mr. Cameron told an audience at a youth center in Witney, his Parliamentary district in southern England. “Just as people last week wanted criminals robustly confronted on our street, so they want to see these social problems taken on and defeated.”

Social problems festering for decades.  Interesting. We have been told for decades that how you live really doesn't matter. We have an entire social system set up to alleviate the consequences of moral relativism. Want to have sex outside marriage? Sure! Abortion and birth control can take care of the consequences. If you do happen to get pregnant, we have a massive safety net available. Want to drop out of school and not get an education?  No problem! You don't really need to work. The government will provide. Truth doesn't matter. There is no right and wrong. Fathers are not needed in the home (they can actually be quite a bother). Do whatever feels good whenever you want to do it and there are no consequences.

As long as you don't hurt someone else (and who can really define that, anyway, at least in the long term?) be free and pursue happiness, as you define it.  THIS has been the popular, accepted religion of the West for the past 5-6 decades now and it was brewing in academia and the arts long before that. Finally, it seems, some are realizing that there are consequences to removing any sense of a moral foundation from Western culture. Eventually, you are left with a society of thugs.

Cameron goes on to say,

“We have been too unwilling for too long to talk about what is right and what is wrong,” Mr. Cameron said. “We have too often avoided saying what needs to be said, about everything from marriage to welfare to common courtesy.”

“Children without fathers. Schools without discipline. Reward without effort. Crime without punishment. Rights without responsibilities. Communities without control. Some of the worst aspects of human nature tolerated, indulged — sometimes even incentivized — by a state and its agencies that in parts have become literally demoralized,” Mr. Cameron said.

What the social libertines among us fail to recognize or admit is that there is a right and wrong and choosing wrong over and over again usually leads to some pretty severe consequences. When you actually incentivize wrong behavior and alleviate natural and societal consequences of wrong moral behavior, you end up with a broken society that does not know its left from its right and ends up calling up down and down up.  When anger swells and riots break out, or when investment bankers swindle a nation driving it into economic collapse without any real consequences (and they actually make money off of it), we find that our entire society is bankrupt with little to stop it from spiraling out of control.

The same thing is happening in the US. Unreported riots are occurring in Wisconsin, Kansas, Birmingham, AL, Chicago, etc.  They are being spread through social media and the regular media is not reporting it. The real driver behind these riots of young people attack pedestrians or creating flash mobs to rob stores is not poverty or lack of opportunity.  It is the lack of imagination and moral certainty. There are no lines to cross anymore.  Bradley Green, professor at Union University, points us to CS Lewis in The Abolition of Man predicting this turn of events by saying that when one generation changes the meaning of things from objective to subjective truth and ideals, then eventually, you will create "men without chests," or men who have no inner strength or moral fortitude. That is where we are.  Still, the poets and prophets of our age tell us to continue on as if all is well when clearly it is not.

The truth is, the West has a 1500 year moral foundation that created the society that we now benefit from. Over the past 100 years or more (longer in some respects), that foundation has been systematically removed with the belief that the progress, prosperity, and cultural attainment built on that foundation would survive, because, after all, philosophical foundations are interchangeable and really don't matter much, right? We are now finding that not to be the case. Ideas have consequences and the removal of foundational ideas has consequences as well.  There will still be a society and culture in the West - it will just look VERY different than what has come before.

More on this later . . . with some solutions.  

See also the New York Times: Britain Debates Slow Motion Moral Collapse and Agenda: With George Friedman on a Crisis of Political Economy from Strafor.

 

Don't Be an Emaciated Alien Space Monkey

A few weeks ago, I ran across a picture and article that startled me. Apparently, this creature appeared in a village in China and people there didn't know what it was. One lady thought it was a space alien. That sentiment grew throughout the village after she caught it in a laundry basket and brought it to the town sheriff. Eventually, they realized that it was a starving monkey and they began feeding it cucumbers and then peaches. Now, people are saying that it is a Lemur, not a monkey at all. Whatever it is, it looks pretty creepy.

But, this little unidentified creature got me thinking. It was malnourished and didn't look anything like what it was supposed to look like so it was easily confused with another species entirely - perhaps even something that doesn't belong on this planet. The spiritual analogy was pretty easy for me to make. As Christians, we have the choice to either feed on God and grow in Him or feed on the world and grow in worldliness. When we feed on God, Christ comes through and it is obvious what we are. We live as the New Creation that we are supposed to be. We look like Jesus. But, when we don't fill ourselves with Christ and the things of God, we end up looking like something else entirely. People don't know what we are. We are supposed to look like Jesus, but instead, we look like something twisted and distorted - religious people without any real life or worldly people who just use religion to cover all their bases. Galatians 6 says that if we sow to the flesh, we will reap destruction but if we sow to the Spirit, we will reap eternal life.

Sometimes as Christians, we can look like alien space monkeys - frightening and malnourished and like something odd and creepy. It is like we are feeding on death itself.  But, when we go back to Christ and partake of Him regularly, we grow into who He created us to be.

Maybe this is a trite analogy, but I have kept thinking about it the past few weeks and when I don't feel like myself, it has caused me to wonder if it is because I am wasting away because I am not connected to Christ the way that I should be. His grace calls me back to Himself where I am renewed once again.

CS Lewis on the Beauty We Seek

Recently, I was listening to a Tim Keller sermon called "Seeing Him As He Is." You can find it on the Timothy Keller page on iTunes.  In that sermon, he read a rather lengthy quote for CS Lewis. It took a couple of minutes, which made me feel less bad about reading long quotes during my sermons. But, apart from that, it really spoke to me about the longing that we all have for beauty and for something that we cannot quite identify. We all seem to be seeking after something. CS Lewis, in "The Weight of Glory," tells us what it is we seek. (I began transcribing the quote, but then fortunately did a search for it and found that Pete Scribner had posted the very same quote just today! Thanks, Pete!).

 "And this brings me to the other sense of glory--glory as brightness, splendour, luminosity. We are to shine as the sun, we are to be given the Morning Star. I think I begin to see what it means. In one way, of course, God has given us the Morning Star already: you can go and enjoy the gift on many fine mornings if you get up early enough. What more, you may ask, do we want? Ah, but we want so much more--something the books on aesthetics take little notice of. But the poets and the mythologies know all about it. We do not want merely to see beauty, though, God knows, even that is bounty enough. We want something else which can hardly be put into words--to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it. That is why we have peopled air and earth and water with gods and goddesses and nymphs and elves--that, though we cannot, yet these projections can, enjoy in themselves that beauty grace, and power of which Nature is the image. That is why the poets tell us such lovely falsehoods. They talk as if the west wind could really sweep into a human soul; but it can’t. They tell us that “beauty born of murmuring sound” will pass into a human face; but it won’t. Or not yet. For if we take the imagery of Scripture seriously, if we believe that God will one day give us the Morning Star and cause us to put on the splendour of the sun, then we may surmise that both the ancient myths and the modern poetry, so false as history, may be very near the truth as prophecy. At present we are on the outside of the world, the wrong side of the door. We discern the freshness and purity of morning, but they do not make us fresh and pure. We cannot mingle with the splendours we see. But all the leaves of the New Testament are rustling with the rumour that it will not always be so. Some day, God willing, we shall get in. When human souls have become as perfect in voluntary obedience as the inanimate creation is in its lifeless obedience, then they will put on its glory, or rather that greater glory of which Nature is only the first sketch. For you must not think that I am putting forward any heathen fancy of being absorbed into Nature. Nature is mortal; we shall outlive her. When all the suns and nebulae have passed away, each one of you will still be alive. Nature is only the image, the symbol; but it is the symbol Scripture invites me to use. We are summoned to pass in through Nature, beyond her, into that splendour which she fitfully reflects."

So, if Lewis is right, the beauty that we seek is really something that we will never fully find in this world. We will only find hints of it that will keep us searching for more. He says,  "If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world." This is basically called "Argument from Desire."  We search and search for something to satisfy us and find that true satisfaction is just beyond our grasp. Thus, the desire is actually telling us that we are made for something else, someplace else - and that this world and the things of this world can never truly satisfy us. Lewis believes that our desires, twisted as they can become, are actually evidence that we were made for God and that only God can satisfy us.

G.K. Chesterson once famously said, "Every man who knocks on the door of brothel is looking for God." What he meant was that, even the man who goes looking for prostitutes is, in fact, looking for transcendence and the very thing that only God can satisfy.  He is actually looking for something that this world can never give him - that is why he goes back again and again. That water will make you thirsty all your life. But, Jesus is the Living Water, that when you drink of him, you will never thirst again (John 4:13-14).  Keller quoted John Flavel, a Puritan writer from England (1628-1691) who said,

“All that delights you in earthly things can never satisfy you for all of your desires are in God. The comforts you have here are only drops inflaming, not satisfying the appetites of your soul, but the Lamb will lead you to fountains of living water.”

So, the issue is not that we seek after beauty. It is not that we have desires. We do and there isn't much that we can do about that, nor would we want to if we could. The problem is that we take our desires to the wrong place. We take them to the things of this world that will never satisfy and will only lead to death. We take our desires to idols. We fail to believe that God will satisfy us more than ten thousand charms. We are deceived and think that what we are looking for can be found in the finite, when it reality, we were made for heaven. As CS Lewis says at the end of "The Weight of Glory,"

If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.

 

 

Notes, Quotes, and Links: Pentecost and World-Change

Sometimes, I link to stuff on Facebook just as a placeholder for things that I find interesting or thought-provoking so that I can go back to it later. Not all of it makes it to Facebook, however, because I realize that I am junking up all of my FB friend's feeds with stuff that they probably aren't that interested in anyway, so I hold back. This is my attempt to put links and quotes from the past week that I find interesting or helpful all in one place. The theme this week is on Pentecost and the change that happens to us when the Holy Spirit comes, when the breath of God transforms our imaginations and our witness in the world. When young men see visions, old men dream dreams, and the Spirit falls on men and women, how might the world be different? Here are some thoughts.  

Sunday is Pentecost Sunday. Read what I wrote about that last year.  How many Baptist churches are celebrating Pentecost? Not many, I don't think.  What if we prayed Pentecostal Prayers? This is a good starting point for talk about changing our world with the onrushing Kingdom of God.  

Andrew Jones talks about the importance of festivals, feasts, and throwing big parties. I like his ideas and would love to see us do more of this in the future.  The Hebrew people did this and throwing big parties helps to give us a foretaste of heaven and the coming Kingdom and renewal of the heavens and earth. What would it look like if Christians in a city or region came together to celebrate the salvation story and to promote justice, mercy, and humility with God? What would it look like if we did this in Montgomery? Hmmm.

NT Wright on the Bible and the Christian Imagination.  Our imaginations are so shrunken by the plastic, consumer-oriented, "me first" world that we live in, that we often miss the Big Story that God is writing and our place in it. Wright, in this essay, calls us to recover our Christian Imagination through the arts, beauty, and our engagement with culture.

Erich Bridges on how we should not follow our passions, dreams, goals, or desires for self-fulfillment, but instead, we should follow Christ. He takes on graduation speeches and the religious ethic and impulse of secular America in the exaltation of self instead of living for a greater purpose outside of yourself.

Mark Scandrette, my old friend from San Francisco, on how the church can address violence in the neighborhood and be peacemakers to bring about a better future. The Church in Montgomery could really stand to hear this message. We can make a difference.  There is violence all around us. Kids are dropping out of school at an alarming rate. Girls are getting pregnant out of wedlock and children are being born into broken homes in astounding numbers. How can we tell a better story?

Consider changing the life of a child in India through direct sponsorship.  Our church, Gateway, is doing this and for only $40 a month, you can change the life of a child in North India forever. 100% of your sponsorship goes to take care of this child, as the administration for this is all done by volunteers. We could really use your help - and so could these children. Check it out.

Finally, a Pentecost video: 

 

Crawfish and Progeny

I stood outside the seafood restaurant with my two sons waiting for my father to arrive. The day was blistering hot - the kind of heat that only summer days in the Southern Gulf states can bring. As the sun beat down upon my head and shoulders, I felt like I was breathing into a hot, wet towel. You could almost drink the air. I stood at the door and noticed the fishing paraphenalia that was strewn about on benches and in front of the restaurant, the kind of kitschy decor that seems common to seafood places. Except I had never noticed it here before. This was my hometown, childhood seafood restaurant, and I had never thought of it as kitschy at all. But, then again, I had never spent much time waiting outside the front door. Usually, we were all together and we just walked right in.

I saw my Dad's car driving up and I lost him as he parked on the side of the building. I waited for him to come around the corner of the seafood shop, past the nets and crab traps, and the old anchor that I was just looking at that I had never noticed before. Instead, he stuck his head out of the front glass door and called out for us to come on in. I didn't know how he got in the restaurant without coming our way, and when I went in, I noticed that he came in a side door. Confused, I asked, "Is that door new, or was it there before?"  "It's been there," he said. "Let's get something to eat!"  I've been coming to this restaurant since I was a kid and I've never noticed that door. I came looking for the familiar and hadn't found it yet.

I hadn't seen my Dad in about four months, and even then, I only saw him for a little while. I live a state over and I don't get home as often as I'd like. He is getting older and I know that I need to make it home more often, but, you know, life is so busy. That's my excuse.  I hate that word, "busy." How "busy" are we really? We spend a lot of time supporting the lifestyle of our choosing, even if we are having to work really hard just to make ends meet. Most of our busyness is about choices, but we act like we are victims of this state of turmoil that takes us over and makes us do all the things that we don't want to do. We aren't as much "busy" as we are consumed with living the life that at some point we decided was the life that we wanted to live but have now forgotten why. That life, for me, didn't leave me much time to travel home and see my Dad.  Today, I was trying to change that, at least a little.

Disaster, Fear of Death, and Telling a Better Story

I've been thinking about death lately. Morbid, I know. But, after being up in the tornado/disaster zone earlier this week, it has been on my mind. I was actually kind of numb when I was up there. I was going through the motions and was trying to accomplish the task before me. But, by Tuesday night, I was exhausted, angry, and feeling pretty overwhelmed. I was talking with my friend Jason on the phone, and we were sharing Katrina stories. He worked for months in New Orleans helping with the rebuilding. I am from there and went down there a lot to help out my family and others and absorbed a lot of the suffering. We were talking about how these things get to you and about how our capacity to handle this well is not as great as we would like it to be. We either avoid dealing with loss on this kind of scale, we harden our hearts, or it really tears us up. I've felt all of those emotions this week, especially after I got back. Too many memories, too much loss. 

Death is coming for all of us. It is the one unavoidable thing in the human experience. We are all going to experience loss of loved ones and our own life. Whether we die suddenly in an earthquake, hurricane, tornado, or war, or whether we die slowly from cancer or old age, we are all going to experience the finality of death.  The fear of death affects everything we do and it manifests itself in how much we fear loss, alienation, and rejection of any kind. We get defensive. We try to protect ourselves. We fear that we will lose things - stuff, health, vitality, relationships, money, love. This fear drives us to try and control our lives and to hold onto all that we can. But, all of this grasping is just a product of the Fall.  We feel out of control so we try and regain our footing somehow. But, control is just an illusion. One day, death is coming for us and we know it and no matter what we do, we can't keep it from us or from the ones we love.

Can Southern Baptists Be Missional? Part 3: Is the Gospel a Proposition or a Person?

See Parts One and Two if you want to read the background to this series.

I think that we struggle with the gospel. I don't pretend that I have some great revelation into what the gospel is that was heretofore not seen. It is pretty clear in Scripture. But, we still struggle with it.  As Southern Baptists, we seem to have reduced the gospel to a series of propositions that must be believed and accepted. Those who articulate it like we do are in and those who don't are out. We get this tendency from Evangelicals, revivalism, and our application of modernism to our theology.  The gospel becomes "Four Spiritual Laws," or "Steps to Peace With God" that we believe in order for us to get into heaven when we die. We need our sins forgiven to get to heaven, so Jesus provides that if we repent of our sins and ask Him to forgive us. No one wants to go to Hell, so Jesus gets us out of Hell and gets us into Heaven where we will "have a mansion over the hilltop" and see all of our loved ones who have gone on before us. We'll walk on streets of gold and spend eternity in a state of bliss.  Believing in Jesus is how we get there, so we make sure that do that and "pray a sinner's prayer" to gain entrance.  All of this "gospel shorthand" might be helpful in a "gospel" presentation, but it is not necessarily helpful in positioning us to live missional lifestyles now. Nor, is it necessarily biblical.

One of the places where Paul defines his gospel is in 1 Corinthians 15:1-8.  He gets pretty explicit. This is the kerygma, or what was preached about Jesus.  

   ¹ Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. ² By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

 ³ For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, ⁵ and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. ⁶ After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. ⁷ Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, ⁸ and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

This is all about Jesus. It is about who He is and what He did. It is about Jesus the Man, the Person. The Gospel is the Good News of Jesus Christ.  When we are confronted with the Gospel, we are to be confronted with Jesus Christ Himself.  Do we believe in HIM? Do we throw our faith into HIM? Do we entrust ourselves to HIM and follow HIM?  When the Philippian Jailer saw the power of God in the release of Paul and Silas from prison and asked what he must do to be saved, Paul answered, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved - you and your household" (Acts 16:30-31).  He didn't say to believe things about Jesus or to make a transaction with Jesus to forgive your sins so you could go to heaven when you died.  He told the jailer to believe IN or upon Jesus.  He introduced the man to a person, not a system or a set of propositions.

Are Southern Baptists Capable of Being Missional? Part 2

See Part One here.   Please note that I am writing with broad generalizations about overall trends and perspectives. I have seen many exceptions to what I am writing here. But, they stand out in my mind because they are exceptions, not the rule.

______________________

A couple of days ago, I asked if Southern Baptists were capable of being missional. Of course, the answer is a qualified "yes." Anyone is capable if they are in touch with the Spirit of God and are participants in God's Kingdom. But, is it likely? For all of our talk about evangelism, the Great Commission, and missions as a people, I am leaning toward the answer being "no."

Let's go back to how Southern Baptists started. We say that the Convention started over missions. The SBC was started in 1845 over the right of southern slaveholders to be appointed to serve on the mission field. Northern Baptists, dominated by abolitionists said no. Southern Baptists were offended by this and broke away from the northern baptists, starting their own convention in Augusta, Georgia in 1845. The peculiar institution of slavery had to be defended because that was where the South drew its economic lifeblood. The Southern "Way of Life" had to be protected. Eventually, a war would be fought and 600,000 people would be killed from both sides. Still, Southern Baptists didn't challenge the status quo and they became defenders of the "Lost Cause," a mythos that claimed that even though the South lost, she was in the right and was more pure and moral than the rest of the country.  Racial prejudices were recodified in the Jim Crow laws and segregation that emerged in the late 1800's and early 1900's and Southern Baptists went along, supporting the larger culture and the social economics of the day. The SBC became the state church of the South and helped to solidify the civil religion that emerged.

Are Southern Baptists Capable of Being Missional?

The entire conversation in the Evangelical Christian world has shifted to engaging ourselves with the larger culture missionally.  Even the Rob Bell dust up over the issue of the existence of hell has missionality as a foundation because he is trying to figure out how to discuss difficult issues with people who do not find our doctrines palatable. We are now living in a post-Christian culture in the West and much of what was once taken for granted has faded away. There is no longer a Christian or even a cultural consensus in the West and everyone is trying to feel their way through the resulting confusion. 

Enter Southern Baptists. Just about every blog, conference, and denominational leader is focusing on being missional. That is the buzzword of the day. Guys who didn't know what the word meant 4 or 5 years ago use it exclusively now. It is on the tip of everyone's tongue and the concept is being pushed at every level. SBC leaders like Ed Stetzer have popularized the term and everyone is getting in on it. The Great Commission Resurgence (GCR) was adopted recently (was that last year? It seems longer ago) and the SBC is supposedly realigning according to a "missional" focus. But, like Inigo Montoya famously said to Vezzini, "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

The true definition of "missional" has to do with "sentness."  There is a recognition that God is both the sending God and the sent God.  The Missio Dei (Mission of God) has to do with His very character and essence, not just an activity. God doesn't add on "missional." It is who He is.  The Father "sent" the Son.  The Son was "sent." The Incarnation itself declares the missional essence of God.  The Father and Son "sent" the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit empowers and sends us out into the world as ambassadors of Christ, representatives of another Kingdom in a world that is false. This all happened before the foundation of the earth was laid, by the way. Christopher Wright, in his excellent treatise, The Mission of God, states that instead of the Bible giving us a biblical basis for missions, it is better to see that there is a missional basis for the Bible, for the Son of Man came to seek and save what was lost (Luke 19:10).

But, is that what we are seeing in the Southern Baptist world?  Are we living as sent people? Are we capable of it as Southern Baptists? Of course, it is possible, but the overarching perspective that we maintain continues to be a defense of the status quo, "us vs. them" positioning, church growth strategies, constant calls for more money, the exalting of celebrity pastors and megachurch expansion, and the building of our religious enterprises.  "Missional" does not equal church growth or denominational growth. They are not the same thing. One implies that we leave what is comfortable and live with open hands among the heathen. The other implies that we try to build our institutions larger and make them more secure. One implies risk and loss while the other implies safety, security, and more influence. The Way of Jesus seems conspicuously absent from what our Southern Baptist leaders are calling us to.  Calling for more expository preaching in our churches (while a great approach to communicating biblical truth) does not equal missionality. Having a missions program in our churches that sends people out on short-term mission trips is not being missional, necessarily. Those are good things, but they do not encapsulate the full range of living as sent people.

To "live sent" means that we are letting go of the need for safety and security and money and large crowds around us to reinforce our lifestyles. It means that we are willing to engage those who disagree with us and we are living life in relational terms with people different from us so that the life of God can flow through us to them. Our posture in the world changes from "insiders" who sit opposed to people who do not know God to those who might come alongside those alienated from God and actually identify with them and join our lives to theirs. This is what Jesus did in the Incarnation.

I wonder if Southern Baptists are capable of this? I wonder if our theology and historical experience allows us to live in any way other than as religious people defending our way of life in the world?  Are we confident enough in God and His Kingdom that we can take His life everywhere we go, even if we are not reinforced by money, power, crowds, and programs and systems?  I'm asking.  I have come to the conclusion that just talking about being missional does not make one missional and I'm wondering if the whole way that we see things might be an impediment to us actually joining God in His work and actual essence in the world.

Maybe the issue that holds us back is bigger than us just not being "sold out" enough. Maybe there are fundamental structural problems with how we see theology and the world.  More on this later.  

 

The Sin Behind the Sin of Racism

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

That America still does not exist, although we are much closer to it now than we were when he gave his speech at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963, at least in many ways. I grew up in the post-Segregated South, where the legal barrier between blacks and whites had been torn down, but a more invisible barrier still existed. This barrier existed economically and politically, but it was most obvious spiritually.  Many of these barriers still exist and they are almost impossible to deconstruct unless there is heart transformation on all sides.

I have often wondered why racism was/is so prevalent in the American South, a region of the country considered to be the Bible Belt. Why, in a land full of churches, do we still have so many sinful barriers between people that manifest racially, culturally, economically, and socially?  Why is there still so much anger and isolation? Is the Church capable of being a force for good and for healing apart from the occasional Saturday foray to the rescue mission downtown for an hour or two to volunteer? Is there some greater manifestation of what it means to be peacemakers, ministers of reconciliation, and ambassadors for Christ?

All of this brings me back to a central question that I have been pondering for many years:  How Christian was the Segregated South, really? I do not deny the proliferation of churches and "god-talk" that existed. I do not deny that people saw themselves as Christians and I don't even deny that many were truly saved, in the biblical sense. But, how was it possible for the South to be the Bible Belt, yet so clearly dismiss what the Bible said about how people were to be treated? 1 John 3:13-18 says,

¹³ Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. ¹⁴ We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. ¹⁵ Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.

 ¹⁶ This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. ¹⁷ If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? ¹⁸ Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

Maybe the reason that white Christians saw no issue with supporting a segregated South was because they did not see blacks as their brothers. If you dehumanize a person, you can get away with not loving them and with seeing injustice happen to them without being affected personally. That is what Nazi Germany did to the Jews. You always dehumanize a person or a group of people to justify treating them with inequality. To dehumanize someone, you strip them of their God-given dignity and you assign them worth based on some outward status or requirement. During segregation/Jim Crow and slavery, worth was assigned to a person based on their skin color.  Elaborate theories were created to justify the inferiority of blacks and people of color all over the world. These theories caused whites to feel superior based on the color of their skin, not the content of their character.  Whites were not finding their identity in who God had created them to be, but rather in a racial identity that they had constructed for themselves.  This was the sin behind the sin of racism:  finding their identity in something other than God.  Once they found it in race, they were able to dehumanize anyone of a different race or ethnicity to justify exalting themselves and oppressing others. They then created a dehumanizing society to support these values. (Photo taken from Dr. Russell Moore's post today)

Stanley Hauerwas on Living Prophetically Instead of Pragmatically During Advent

Theologian Stanely Hauerwas says, "Christians are called to nonviolence not because we believe that nonviolence is a strategy to rid the world of war. But, in a world of war as faithful followers of Christ we cannot imagine being anything other than nonviolent. And that will make the world possibly more violent because the world does not want the order it calls peace exposed as the violence it so often times is. Now, learning how to wait as a people of nonviolence in a world of war, you'll know what Advent is. Advent is paitience. It is how God has made us the people of promise in a world of impatience. And, Christ has made that possible for us to live patiently in a world of impatience."

This is stunning. Americans are notoriously pragmatic. We do what works - or, what we perceive works. So often, we take the commands of Jesus and strain them through the filter of what seems to be most effective for us in any given situation. The commands of Jesus regarding giving to the poor, living faithfully, turning the other cheek, forgiving others, etc., are often considered to be valid if we can see how they will work for us or for others. And, what determines best how something works?  If it benefits us or advances our agenda. But, could it be, as Hauerwas has said here, that we are obedient to Christ NOT because we see it as a strategy to make the world a better place, or even (not necessarily what he is saying here) to make our own lives better?  Could it be that we obey Christ because that is the only way that we can truly give witness to who He is?  Maybe we are not supposed to help the poor because by doing so we be believe that we will end poverty. Maybe we are not to fight against injustice because by doing so we believe that we will eradicate injustice in this world. Maybe we are supposed to do these things because we cannot imagine being a follower of Jesus and doing anything different. I don't want to put words in Hauerwas' mouth here, but I believe that He is saying that we should live prophetically instead of pragmatically.  I think he is saying that, instead of asking what works to achieve our desired ends, we should instead ask what gives witness to Jesus and His Kingdom.

Maybe if we lived prophetically instead of pragmatically we would not concern ourselves so much with results and instead, we would focus on what gives witness to Christ and what shows love to people. Perhaps the observance and discipline of waiting at Advent can help us to understand what it is like to not have everything we want but still wait patiently for the Lord's provision anyway.

Quote taken from this video.

 

Advent Meditations: Joy or Happiness?

"Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord."  ~ Angel of the Lord to the Shepherds. Luke 2:10-11.

Joy is different from happiness. Being happy is related to our circumstances. It is related to our "happenings."  If good things are happening, I'm generally happy. If bad things are happening, I'm not.  Many of us ride up and down on waves of emotions caused by the current and winds of the various happenings in our lives. One day we're up. One day we're down. People ask us what's wrong and we tell them about so-and-so or this-and-that. Or, we're walking on air because we got that promotion or made that sale or something great happened with our children or someone likes us who didn't before. Our entire lives end up being based on the circumstances that "happen" to us.

Everyone wants to be happy, right? I mean, people want to feel good ,to look good, and to be good. We want to be liked and prosperous and have things go well for us. We want to be surrounded by people we love and people who love us. We want to be able to do want we want and have things go our way. Since life doesn't just hand us all that (despite what some might tell you), we attempt to secure it all for ourselves. We try and build a life that will guarantee us happiness. After all, isn't this what America was founded on - "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?" 

To be happy, we'll do just about anything, take any drug, follow any number of steps, start and end relationships, change jobs, and change addresses. We'll do whatever it takes to experience our own version of happiness. "Well, as long as you're happy," we say.  "I just want you to be happy," we tell our loved ones. It seems that the whole world is pursuing happiness.

Then, why are so many so unhappy?  Why are rates of depression and the amount of medications taken for emotional issues so high?  Why are there so many broken marriages, broken homes, and broken lives?  Why are so many addicted to so many coping mechanisms and why are we so stressed?  It seems that for all of our striving, we are less happy than we've ever been.

Enter Jesus.  He didn't come that first Christmas to make us happy. He told us that we would have trouble in this world. He warned us that we would be persecuted and that people would turn away from us. But, through Him, we were promised great joy.  Joy is different from happiness. Joy speaks to a deep abiding assurance and confidence. It is a bubbling up of satisfaction from a well that will never run dry. Joy transcends happiness and does not change with circumstances. It lasts.

Where does joy come from?  It comes from the Lord.  Look at this progression of Scriptures:

"Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the Devil's schemes" Eph. 6:10-11.

"for the joy of the Lord is your strength" Nehemiah 8:10.

"You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand" Psalm 16:11.

The Devil is a theif who seeks to destroy our lives.  How do we stand against him?  By being strong in the Lord, not in our selves. We look to God, not our own abilities. Where does our strength come from?  From the joy of the Lord.  We stand firm in joy that does not change or fade. How do we find this joy?  In God's presence.  If I want to stand through the trials of life, I have to be rooted in joy instead of happiness. Happiness is based on what is happening in the moment. Joy is based on what is eternal.  God doesn't promise us happiness, but He does promise us joy. I can only find joy in God's presence.

Here is a video that illustrates the difference between happiness as we define it and joy.  The Africans in the video might not have much to be happy about because their circumstances are so bleak. But, they have joy because they are tapped in to something beyond themselves, even though we are suffering. We can learn a lot from this.

  

 

Advent Meditations: Subversive Christmas ~ Twelve Days

As we have journeyed through Advent this year as a family and as a church, I have found it to be a very meaningful time of expectation, hope, longing, and worship of God. I have talked with my kids about this a lot and they have said that they've enjoyed it as well.  This whole season has been richer this year and, even though we have done lots of the fun Christmas stuff that we always do, it has all felt more right. The Christmas "stuff" has felt like it has been in its proper place. Advent has really helped with that.

I'm not wanting this season to end, so we are deciding to continue on with the very rich Christian calendar and jettison the world's expectation of what Christmas is supposed to be. I've been talking with the kids about the "Twelve Days of Christmas," which has been celebrated in church history as the time between December 25th or 26th and January 5th or 6th (depending on your tradition).  Advent consists of the four weeks leading up to Christmas Day, and Christmas (or Christmastide) is generally thought of as the period between Christmas Day and Epiphany on January 6th, when the visit of the Magi is celebrated.

So, instead of having four weeks of shopping, parties, school plays, and general busyness during the time leading up to Christmas, we have Advent. And, instead of the whole thing being over on the afternoon of Christmas day when we all collapse in a heap of torn wrapping paper, a dying tree, unwashed dinner plates, cranky relatives, and presents we might never use still in our boxes, we actually continue the celebration for TWELVE MORE DAYS!  My kids like this idea.

Here's what I'm thinking:  What if for the 12 Days between Christmas and New Year, we explore creative ways to reflect the truth of the Incarnation, "God With Us"? That is what is celebrated at Epiphany as we look at Christ's revelation to the Gentiles through the Wise Men.  What if we continue to give different types of gifts to one another that represent who Jesus is and what if we continue to serve others, bringing tangible expression to the coming of Christ?

What if Christmas didn't end on December 25th? What if it kept going, day after day, on through the new year? What if we celebrated Ephiphany and that launched us into a Christ-centered perspective on the new year and the revelation of God to man through Jesus Christ?  What if we did all of this with intention and purpose?

I don't have this all worked out yet, and I am sure that it would be much easier for me if I were connected to the liturgical church, but the concept of marking time through the Biblical story of the person and work of Christ has become very appealing to me, in a non-sacramental sort of way. Perhaps, this is the way to recapture the story of Christmas and of Scripture in a way that is tangible and livable, without it becoming just a rote observance.

More thoughts later . . .

Advent Meditations: Will There Ever Be Peace On Earth?

One day, the desire of every beauty pageant contested will come true: there WILL be peace on earth.  Of course, it is also the hope and prayer of all mankind. We all long for peace. We want the absence of war and striving, of hostility, pain, and death. We also want to see interpersonal conflict cease and to see people be able to get along. Most of all, we need peace between us and God.  It seems like we are all at war with one another, with ourselves, and ultimately, with God.

The idea of peace comes from the Hebrew word, shalom, which is more than just the absence of conflict. It is the presence of right living, right relationship, and everything in life being ordered correctly under God's benevolent rule. The message of peace is the very work of Christ to put right a world gone wrong. It is a cliche to say that we want peace, as illustrated in the remark about beauty pageant contestants. We all want it, but we don't know how to get it. And, we don't understand the price that had to be paid to secure it.

 Isaiah 9:1-7 says,

  ¹ Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—

  ² The people walking in darkness
   have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
   a light has dawned.
³ You have enlarged the nation
   and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you
   as people rejoice at the harvest,
as warriors rejoice
   when dividing the plunder.
⁴ For as in the day of Midian’s defeat,
   you have shattered
the yoke that burdens them,
   the bar across their shoulders,
   the rod of their oppressor.
⁵ Every warrior’s boot used in battle
   and every garment rolled in blood
will be destined for burning,
   will be fuel for the fire.
⁶ For to us a child is born,
   to us a son is given,
   and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
   Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
   Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
⁷ Of the greatness of his government and peace
   there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
   and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
   with justice and righteousness
   from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
   will accomplish this.

Advent is about looking back to Christ's first coming, recognizing that He has come into our hearts, and looking forward to His second coming. He has come and He has come to bring peace. There will be no end to the increase of His peace. His peace just keeps increasing and increasing in all who submit to His Lordship. In other words, everywhere that Jesus goes and everywhere that He is invited, He makes things right. He makes crooked paths straight and He fills in holes and levels mountains. He sets us all on firm foundations and He reconciles us to Himself and to other people. We get to experience this now, but it is all not yet fulfilled. But, it will be one day.

Christmas is a time that we recognize that Jesus is the Prince of Peace and He has come to bring right relationships and right living into the world. Armies have stopped fighting on Christmas to recognize the birth of the Prince of Peace. People put aside their differences and give to one another. Peace comes into our lives when we stop grabbing for control and we surrender our wills to God. Kris, one of our elders, said it that way this past Sunday. He was right. We have conflict because we want control. We receive peace when we quit trying to control our lives and we live rejoicing in Christ and trusting Him with all that we are and all that we have. For many, Christmas reflects this.

What if we lived this way all year long? What if Christians embodied the spirit of peace everywhere they went all year long and helped spread shalom (right living, right relationships) all over all year? This is what Jesus is ultimately bringing when He returns. He will establish His reign and there will truly be peace on earth. But, maybe we could help bring that into our daily experiences now.  Maybe we could give witness to Christ by being in right relationship with God and others and by being peacemakers. I think that Jesus said something about peacemakers being blessed.

What if we gave gifts of peace at Christmas and all year round?