chelsea…

Good for them…Hillary and Bill and Chelsea, I mean. Who wouldn’t want their daughter campaigning for them? I’d want that for me. I mean my daughter and not Chelsea…

But I’m kind of surprised at the answer Chelsea gave to a 9 year old who wanted to know what she thought of her dad as the ‘First Spouse’ (he didn’t even get a “First Husband” or “First Gentleman”?). Though I’m sure she meant no harm to the girl, give the little one a chance! At least introduce the girl to your mother – I’d think that would totally make her day.

I must say, though, that I wouldn’t want the press hounding my daughter (they could hound all they want now – she can’t talk yet) for press bites for headlines and crazy pictures. As much as I like Drudge Report, they didn’t do justice to Chelsea in their picture on December 29th.

faith…

     I think that the problem with faith nowadays, especially, but not exclusively, as it is used in politics, is that belief is used as a litmus test: faith has become believing the right things or agreeing with the same ideals. In other words, we too often judge another’s faith only on the basis of what they believe, what creeds they give their assent. If someone believes the same things as we do, then they have faith, because we are convinced that belief wholly comprises faith.

I’m not completely convinced of this. While right belief is an important factor in belief, what someone ‘believes’ is not the sole judge of their faith. One only has to look in the book of James to see biblical basis for that.

Marcus Borg, in his sometimes controversial book, “The Heart of Christianity” defines faith more exhaustively. He appeals to a more historic and holistic view of faith. I think he’s on to something here. Borg defines faith as the sum of 4 things: Trust, Faithfulness/Loyalty, Vision, Assent/Belief. In other words, faith is much deeper than the right beliefs we so often think are both part and whole of salvation.

This is to say that faith is not trust; it is not faithfulness or vision or belief. Faith cannot be wholly defined by one expression of that faith disconnected from the other. None of those aspects of faith can give us a definitive answer to the question, “What is faith?” Only when trust, faithfulness, vision and belief interact with one another do we get a clearer picture of faith – especially of a faith in Jesus Christ.

vote right…

Here’s an interesting tidbit from Rick Scarborough (who, on his website has a section entitled “Patriot Pastors“) as he endorses Mike Huckabee for President:

“[Our goal is to get] people who love Jesus to register and then vote their values – not as Republicans nor Democrats – but as follower and sons of God and Jesus Christ. If we can get them to do that and then present to them what the candidates believe, I just happen to believe that the majority of them will vote right.”

So, what exactly is like to “vote right”? Who’s standards will we employ? Who’s values? Does the Sanctity of Life value limit itself only to the unborn? Or does it extend to those facing the death penalty? How about the millions of children living in poverty or the 1.35 millions children who are homeless on any given night? Are their lives sacred? Are they included? If we’re going to vote “pro-life”, let’s vote truly pro-life.

How about stewardship? Do we see care for the environment and political fiscal responsibility as Christian values?

So, back to Mr. Scarborough’s quote, how indeed do we “vote right”?

cletus take the reel…

This about made me lose my lunch when I saw it.  Take a look here.

christian = …republican?

          I’m an evangelical Christian and I am angry with Mr. Huckabee.  That a frontrunner for the Republican nominee for President would send a Christ-centered Christmas message paid for by his political action committee is distasteful and hypocritical.  In his own overtly political advertisement he levels the charge that there are too many political ads.

          I’m extremely skeptical of Huckabee’s motives.  In order to boost his credentials in the eyes of Christians who only seem to care about electing someone exactly like themselves, he tells us what many of us want to hear.  This is shameless pandering to voters.  It tells us nothing for which he stands, only that he is the best candidate because he celebrates the birth of Jesus.  Come on!  Please get this right, I want no generic winter holidays (although I might swing for a “Happy Festivus”); it’s Christmas time and there should be no shame in celebrating the birth of our Lord.  But please don’t celebrate it in order to schmooze voters; when you do this, you play right into this accusation against Christians: that we will vote for someone simply on the basis of their Christianity, regardless of whether or not he or she is a capable leader.

           I’m tired of this.  And I’m not the only one.  In several interviews with both churched and unchurched persons (conducted by one of my graduate seminary classes), people equated with failure the tendency of the Church to align itself with the Republican Party.  For too many Christians, to be Christian is to be Republican.  As the US Church, we have a lot of ground to make up because of this unholy marriage between conservative Republican politics and Evangelical Christianity. We’re strange bedfellows and we’re the only ones who don’t see it. 

3 weeks free!

Finally, finally (and my wife breathes a sigh of relief) I am finished with my first semester of graduate work at George Fox Evangelical Seminary.  What a whirlwind of a semester.  I haven’t been in an academic setting in seven years and it shows.  But I finally get a break (or rather, my family finally gets a break…).  For the next three weeks, I’ll be ‘only’ concerned about my family and work.

I almost feel like I’m on vacation…except that it’s cold here and there aren’t any pristine beaches around…ahhh, the Caribbean…

son of god, son of sinners

So, about this time every year, one expects to hear the rumblings of the Christ story, the Nativity, the Advent of the Messiah.  In churches (around the US, at least), plans reaches a fever pitch for Christmas parties, dramas, cantatas, live Nativity scenes and candlelight Christmas Eve services.  The Church world awaits the coming of the Son of God.

Yet only in a few places does Jesus explicitly refer to himself the “Son of God” (John 3:16-18, 5:25, 11:4).  He infers it in a handful of passages (Luke 22:70, Matthew 26:63-64), but even in these parallel accounts of Jesus’ interrogation before Pilate, when asked if he is the Son of God, Jesus responds “Yes” and qualifies it by referring to himself as the “Son of Man.”

Jesus seems far more interested in identifying himself as human, as the “Son of Man.”  He certainly is recognized as “Son of God” by many people, especially the apostle John, who wrote so that we might believe in the Son of God.  But Jesus prefers to be known as a fellow human and to show through his actions that he is God’s son.  (Though not my point, this would be good for Christians to take to heart: to speak of ourselves first as truly human and let our actions prove that we belong to God).  The Book of Matthew alone records Jesus referring to himself as the “Son of Man” in 30 separate passages.  The other Gospels account for 51 more “Son of Man” statements by Jesus referring to himself!  So what does this have to do with us?  What do we do with this?

Matthew, in the first chapter of his book, relates Jesus’ ancestery.  In it we find very human, very broken and sinful people.  In fact, Matthew records 4 women as Jesus’ early ancestors, none of whom should have been included if Matthew’s point was to proclaim Jesus as the Son of God.  Tamar and Rahab were prostitues, and Rahab and Ruth were not Israelites (and in all probability, neither was Bathsheba).  And remember David’s adultery and murder?  The account also names several evil kings of Judah as well as other good ones and a whole mess of unknown parents.

Matthew is telling us in no uncertain terms that Jesus came to us through humanity.  Certainly Matthew recognizes him as the Son of God, but his point tells us that all of these ancestors, the good and evil, Jew and Gentile, honest and deceitful all had a hand in bringing the Messiah to the world.  And therein lies the hope for us.  If God was content to incarnate Jesus through this, at best, shaky lineage then we too have a place in the incarnation of Christ to our world, our community, our family.  Even through all of our messy lives, half-hearted devotion and misplaced passion, God wants to incarnate Jesus.  He is the Son of God and truly the Son of Sinners.  Jesus has cemented his place in history.  And the Son of Man still wants to incarnate himself into ours.

christmas is coming

We’re down to the final 12 days before Christmas and I’m thinking of Christmas carols. I’ve got my favorites – “O Holy Night” tops the list – but to me, the most beautifully crafted phrase comes from “O Little Town of Bethlehem”.

“Cast out our sin and enter in; be born in us today.“

“Be born in us today.” There is no more fitting nor needed experience today than this: to let God who became incarnate in human flesh in Jesus Christ to become incarnate once again in us. Be born in us today. The Beyond-All-This, the More, the Inexpressible yet seemingly impossibly experiential becoming life to others through us. Be born in us today. The God who desired relationships with humans in the most intimate of ways became one; let us let Him come to us again through our flesh, through our lives, our love, our actions.

Be born in us today. If the Church truly is the Body of Christ in some mystical authentic way, let us – the Church, Christ’s body and witness here in His world – be Him in our communities, Him in our neighborhoods, Him in our families. Let His Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Let us be those instruments of peace through which the world can know and be loved by God.

Let us be Christmas today for someone.

mission statement

So, I’m in seminary at George Fox University and am in the middle of a book, The Path, by Laurie Beth Jones. It’s all about identifying or creating one’s personal mission for life. I know, I know, it sounds cheezy. I was pretty skeptical about it, especially since the front cover of the book reveals that LBJ is the author of Jesus, CEO. To me, that just sounds commercialized: now Jesus is the new role model for running a marketing firm or insurance company or fashion company. But, I read it because I’m getting graded for it and because my opinion of this particular professor is quite high.

…and I was surprised. This is a good book. This is a helpful, illuminating book. I’d recommend it. In fact, if you’re reading this and can get your hands on it, grab it. Go through it. Do the exercises. I think you’ll come to a similar conclusion. That’s enough of my pitch…

Anyway, I’ve identified my personal mission. It’s a whole lot less cheezy than I thought it would be. In fact, I’m beginning to refer to it in my actions at work and home: Does this fit into who I am and want to be? So here it is, straight from the highly intelligent, sought-after blogger, me:

“To love, inspire and realize wholeness in and for the Church and those within my sphere of influence.“

bad day

I admit that I shamelessly copied this from my email. But it is worth a read…

When you have a “I Hate My Job” day, try this: On your way home from work, stop at your pharmacy and go to the thermometer section and purchase a rectal thermometer made by Johnson & Johnson. Be very sure you get this brand.

When you get home, lock your doors, draw the curtains and disconnect the phone so you will not be disturbed. Change into very comfortable clothing and sit in your favorite chair.

Open the package and remove the thermometer. Now, carefully place it on a table or a surface so that it will not become chipped or broken.

Now the fun part begins. Take out the literature from the box and read it carefully. You will notice that in small print there is a statement:

“Every Rectal Thermometer made by Johnson & Johnson is personally tested and then sanitized”.

Now, close your eyes and repeat out loud five times, “I am so glad I do not work in the thermometer quality control at Johnson & Johnson.”

HAVE A NICE DAY AND REMEMBER, THERE IS ALWAYS SOMEONE ELSE WITH A JOB THAT IS MORE OF A PAIN IN THE REAR THAN YOURS . . . . .