keep christ in…

Let’s be honest.  People are not going to decide to follow Jesus because of our merchandise that say, “Keep Christ in Christmas“.  That just offers one more opportunity to pigeonhole Christians. I mean, seriously:  do we really need to gift-wrap  ammunition for people already antagonistic towards Christians?

In fact, it seems that the more one publicizes pithy little sayings and reduces the gospel to “Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven” soundbite (or my personal favorite, “In case of rapture, this car will be unmanned” [are women not included?!  Ok, that was a cheap shot]), the more the Gospel (that is the good news of God’s love!) gets diluted.

Yes, we water down the Gospel, this phenomenon that has changed the world and still holds hope for the world.

Christmas wasn’t instated by Jesus Christ.  In fact, his birth was not central to many early Christians’ faith.  The fact that only two books in the Bible (Matthew and Luke) begin (or include) the story of Jesus’ birth certainly doesn’t mean that His birth was not important; on the contrary!  But it does mean that many thousands (at least) of people trusted in Christ without political ambition, without trying to coerce people who are not “called by His Name” to celebrate Him.

In fact, I wonder if Jesus cares as much about the arguments we make.  We often say it ourselves, that Jesus wasn’t born on Christmas.  So, why do we get all bent out of shape this time of year when people who aren’t Christians don’t want to celebrate his non-birthday?  Why is it that only one day in the year we remember God who came to be human?  Should not the advent of our Lord be celebrated and shared more than during the winter?

How many abuses have been done to others by Christians?  How many in the name of the babe in the manger?  How many have we, today, participated in, excluding others?  How often have we Christians been unloving or indifferent?  Not just to those who do not believe as we do, but to those who are our brothers and sisters, those who also claim the name of Jesus?

I’m all for celebrating Christmas.  This is probably my favorite time of the year.  But I can’t help thinking we’re fighting the wrong battle by trying to “keep Christ in Christmas.”  After all, is it really our job to keep Jesus somewhere, all neat and tidy?  It’s like we’re trying to appease the gods, relegating Jesus to His one time of year.  Maybe we should be trying to get Christ out of Christmas and into the rest of the world.

Perhaps instead of fighting to “keep Christ in Christmas” (or prayer in schools, or the 10 Commandments outside courthouses, or God on our money or in the Pledge – insert your Christianese battle here), let’s do something that really will impact our world:

Let’s put the Christ back in Christian.

That’s something we can control a bit more.  And it’s something surely more pleasing to God than trying to “take back” Christmas.  After all, what are Christians supposed to be known for, fighting and winning political battles over our rights, or pursuing justice and mercy for the oppressed, setting the captives at liberty, loving their neighbor??

Should we be known for making enemies by making the Gospel as offensive as possible, or realizing that the whole Gospel can be reduced to one statement, “to love your neighbor as you love yourself“?  To be sure, the Gospel is scandelous – who else’s god is celebrated as coming through an unwed teenager?  It can be offensive.  Unfortunately, Christians today have taken that job upon themselves, making ourselves offensive in an effort to claim the right to our own “pursuit of happiness.”  Christian has become a descriptive of culture instead of transformation.

Let’s decide to put Christ back in Christian.

That seems to be a better use of our effort.

us

Where is God in all of this?

How many times have you heard this?  Let’s be honest, how many times have w questioned it ourselves?

Go ahead and fill in the blank:  where is God when ______________?  Why did God allow ____________?  Is God responsible for _______________?

It is not evil to question, to wonder, to beg for answers to our deepest hurts, to the world’s shameful deeds; to wonder why God did not put an end to this hurricane or that war; why children and women are still sold as slaves into the sex trade, why good people get cancer, lose spouses, children, houses.  After all, we are given good precedent:  David and others cries out in the Psalms – our sacred scriptures!  He is unafraid of questioning, of showing his weakness in attempting to rely on God in the middle of turbulent circumstances.  Look at Psalm 5 and 6 and Psalm 10, on and on through these songs.  We have a rich history of tears, frustration, fear and hope, beggars of God’s mercy for salvation from oppression and illness, questions without answers.

And yet someone comes to me with such questions, I’m tempted to offer answers.  I want to relieve burdens, to bandage wounds, to heal deep hurts.  I want to defend God against accusations of distance and disinterest, to give God an “out” and try to reason the world and other un-understandable things.  Then, when I watch a special on Children for Sale and see the young children around the world who are in slavery to those who pimp them out for a few dollars, I can’t help but wonder where God is in the middle of this.  So I try to rationalize Him yet again, and make excuses for the perceived absence.

But we don’t need to defend God.  God is God and big enough to handle Himself. Does He need our defense?  Perhaps in all our asking, we’ll find God in our questions; if we listen closely, maybe we will hear him tell us the answer: 

You: you’re the answer to your prayer.  I am at work within you.  I will always work through my people.  The fields are white for harvest, the needs are huge and the risks real, so pray that I will send workers to the fields.  In the meanwhile, you go.  Remember, I am working through you.

Maybe we are the answer to our own prayers.

Maybe God is stirring us to act.

What will we say?

(for more info on the child sex industry and what you can do to help oppose this and save children’s lives, please see International Justice Mission)

generous

Persecuted though they were, Christians in the early church were noticed by emperors, some of whom even wrote that Christians put others to shame by serving the poor, aiding the sick, and caring for the dead and dying.  In other words, those inside the church took care of people better than those outside!

These Christians were not simply known for their beliefs, but by the actions those beliefs inspired.  Isaiah writes of this progression: “Feed the hungry and help those in trouble.  Then your light will shine out from the darkness and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.” (Isaiah 58:10).  For Isaiah, “light” would shine as a result of good actions.  And as bearers of the Light of the World, they are truly our actions that will prove to our communities who Jesus really is.

What would our community, our city, look like if followers of Jesus became known for this again: caring for God’s creation, for fighting for all of human life – unborn and born – for peacemaking, for forgiving those who wrong us, for extending God’s love to all?

Let us be generous. Let us live life beside each other, united in God’s Spirit and serving the world God has made.  Let’s join together to live the words of St. Francis of Assisi:

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.

words

For me, the dread word “evangelism” can quickly lead to a case of the heebee-geebees.  I have memories of knocking on doors, preparing 30-second versions of my conversion on 3×5 cards, and the hardest, (in my humble opinion), tracts.  “Let’s go witnessing” was the invitation that left me cold and cringing, awkwardly fishing for excuses as to why I just couldn’t do that tonight.

It was scary stuff.

For too many years this was my only view of evangelism.  It was about words – telling someone something.

I’m not degrading the importance of words.  It is simply that for years, my understanding of “sharing the gospel” had exclusively to do with words:  saying the right things, telling people about sin and Jesus’ death and forgiveness and heaven and the sinner’s prayer.

Words.

And I was terrible at it.

I was afraid to approach people on the street, in airplanes, the grocery store, school and start talking about Jesus.  Brutally honest?  When I did summon the necessary courage, I mostly ended up talking about church.

Have you been there, or am I the only one?  My pride and a slightly-underdeveloped spidey-sense tell me it’s not just me.

But the good news is this:  sharing Jesus is more than words.  A world remains outside our church needing to know the God who loves them beyond imaginations, to see as well as hear about Jesus.  We, Christ’s body, can rediscover that fully sharing the Gospel includes speaking the hope of Jesus, but more importantly, it means the giving of our lives to those God loves.  It has been said, “Preach the gospel at all times; when necessary, use words.”

What a statement when Christians in business hold themselves to the highest ethical standards; when teachers are known for the love they have toward students; when we stand against child slavery, ethnic cleansing, and the destruction of God’s created beauty; when we honor the poor; when our “friends without homes” are fed; when life is sacred from conception to death; when the stranger and enemy become, like the story of the good Samaritan, our neighbor.

There’s something powerful about letting the Gospel permeate us so completely that our actions preach more than our words.

Matthew puts it like this:  “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” (5:16)

the hopeful way

John 14:3-7

Jesus said to his disciples, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

I was struck today by yesterday’s Anglican lectionary reading in honor of Saint Remigius, who apparantly effected the conversion of France in the late 5th Century.

The passage above, from John 14, is a familiar one, no doubt.  I can remember many times as a teenager hearing these words, “I am the way, the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.” and thinking how dark and foreboding they were.  They sent chills up and down my spine and imbibed me with an incredible sense of urgent fear.  Those words did not relay hope to me, instead serving as a warning to the world and the wayward:  if you want to get to heaven, you have to believe in Jesus.

Not only were these words a warning, but I was taught to use them in defense of Christianity.  This was the ultimate Trump card: if you’re not following Jesus, you’re not on your way to heaven.

But this morning, reading them in context with the verses before them, they exuded something new:  not fear, not urgency, not coercion, but hope.  These are words Jesus directed to his disciples, not in an effort to convince them to believe in him, nor to use as weapons to convert the heathen, but to assure them that they would live with Jesus forever – that he would never forsake them.

Jesus begins talking about leaving the disciples for a time, making ready a place for them, and then tells them they know the way to reach him.  Thomas, fearfully and perhaps urgently blurts out, “we don’t know where you are going; how can we know the way?!?“

It is in this context that Jesus speaks these well-known (and often ripped-from-context) words.  If we listen, we may very well hear the hope he offers, spoken through perhaps a wide smile, maybe accompanied by his own kind laughter:  “Why, Thomas, I am the way!  And the truth, and the life!  I am the way to my Father.”  He’s assuring his friends that they’re OK, that they don’t need to live fearfully, that because they know Jesus (and by extension, the Father), they can offer this same hope – without coercion, guilt or fear – to the world.

These words are fresh.  There is no fear in Jesus, but hope.

projects

As part of my second year at George Fox Seminary (Portland), I’ll be researching two separate topics.  One will be Christianity and Christian history in Mexico.  The second takes a more contemporary bent and will focus on what holistic worship is.
I’m looking for resources (journal articles, books, websites/blogs, papers, etc) that touch on various aspects of worship and what worship means in the evangelical community.  Of late, “worship” has been restricted to a portion of a church service in which the congregation is led in song; it’s got to be more than that – in fact, I’m convinced we do the term and ourselves a disservice when we view worship with this shallow a definition.

I’m interested in your input.  What is worship to you?  What does it consist of?  Are their boundaries to what worship is?

attracting darkness

Darrell is a friend of mine.  He sits in a wheelchair when he’s not laying in bed in the care facility where he lives.  He’s in his 50’s.

Darrell has Multiple Sclerosis.

Darrell used to ride Harleys.  It was a huge part of his life.  In fact, when I recently bought a Honda Shadow, I was a bit unsure as to how he would react, being an HD rider.  But Darrell’s a sweet man with an amazing disposition and, even in the awful circumstances it appears he lives in, was ecstatic that I was simply getting a motorcycle.  You could see the nostalgia that came over him as he asked, “How big is it?” and “What does it look like?”  For a few minutes he was back in his riding days, unfettered by immobility.

When you see Darrell, you are immediately greeted with a smile and a conversation, even though he has to exert immense patience because at times he’s difficult to understand.  Your inevitable thought is, “What is his quality of life?  How can he be so positive?”  I am certain that were I in his position, I could not be as upbeat and enthusiastic about life and others.

Stu is an 82 year old assistant pastor at Mirabeau Chapel, where I work and Darrell attends.  A few months ago, Stu spoke up in staff meeting, trying to tell us the latest thing that he’s been learning from God.

When Stu talks about God, it is wise to listen.

“God showed me something this morning.  It’s generally understood that light dispels darkness – that’s what we commonly say.  But God began showing me that light attracts darkness.  The dark things of the world are drawn to the light.”

I began thinking of Darrell.  Darrell can barely talk, though he communicates everything with his smile.  But how can he, in the traditional evangelical understanding of it, “preach the gospel”?  What impact, really, does he have on those around him?  Can he have much at all?

Well, just recently, Darrell was rushed to the hospital with one of the many ailments he suffers from.  Spending several days in the hospital is not unusual for him, nor for others suffering similarly in a round-the-clock care facility.

What is unique are his visitors.

Hospitals are intimidating places.  They’re hard to visit for family, much less friends – even less acquaintances.  When others from Darrell’s home are admitted, it is rare for them to have visitors.

Darrell had 8.  The amazing thing is that 6 of them were nurses from his care facility.  People who work where he lives, change his sheets, bathe him, feed him.  These are people who are around hard circumstances daily.  Yet 6 of them were so affected by his life that they took personal time to visit him.

Many of these are not Christians, and they’re not doing it out of duty.  This is unusual.  They are doing it because they are attracted to something in him.

His light is not driving them away.

Light is attracting darkness.

relationship rules

I’m in the middle of yet more books for our seminary classes and these have captured my attention: Cross and Covenant (Larry Shelton), and Unbounded Love by Clark Pinnock (click here for Unbounded Love for free). These have me thinking often and deeply about atonement, resurrection, law and relationship.

So, yesterday, while I was picking up some Papa Murphy’s pizza (the best chain-pizza in the USA, by the way), I got to thinking about the story of the Rich Young Ruler (or Man, whichever translation you’re using). Basically, this guy meets up with Jesus and asks the way to salvation. So Jesus, interestingly enough (especially to Protestants) asks first about the Law of Moses – the Big 10. The guy affirms that he’s kept all the rules since he was a child. So Jesus challenges him on what seems to be his possessions – he tells the guy to sell it all and give the money to the poor. Because he was so wealthy, this guy can’t do it – he can’t keep that commandment.

So, what got me thinking was that I’ve always looked at that story as the story of a selfish man, someone who couldn’t live without wealth. And the writer of the account seems to agree: this guy went away saddened because he had much wealth. Then Jesus says, “It’s hard for a rich person to enter the Kingdom.” All signs seem to point to money being the problem.

And it certainly was part of the problem. But the real problem, I think, was relationship.

This wealthy guy thought he had a good grasp on knowing God; his relationship was based on loving and keeping laws, rules, obligations. Unfortunately laws, rules and obligations can’t love you back. After Jesus sufficiently understood that this guy was tip-top in the guy’s own estimation of relationship with God, Jesus challenges him on his relationship with others.

He had the super-spiritual side down pat.

Yet, that spirituality did not move him to love his neighbor.

This guy’s knowledge of God was proven deficient; the laws he kept did not lead him into a relationship with others. And if religiously keeping holy laws didn’t lead him to love his neighbor, how then could they lead him anywhere near a relationship with God?

Keeping the rules didn’t change him.

His deep beliefs about God didn’t change him.

What does this say about us? Many of us (including myself) are bent on following rules to the “T”, trying to convince God that we mean business. We’re serious about this God-thing. That’s what we’re trying to prove.

But the fact is this: we prove the extent to which we know God not by the morality we claim or the laws we keep, but by the relationships we have with others.

big church and the spirit

I have to admit, I’ve often been critical of ‘big church‘. You know, the mega-churches, those gathering places with thousands and thousands of people, pastored by well-known ministers, often well-known for things other than being Christlike.

I’ve been critical because I don’t like big churches. I get lost. I think that a church’s responsibility is to create new communities – new church plants – when they are large enough. I hear of building “expansion” to have larger Sunday services and think, “If we’re/you’re big enough to spend all that money expanding, we’re/you’re big enough to plant.“

I’ve probably unfairly evaluated a lot of big church. It’s easy to rail from the outside. It’s easy to point fingers. It’s easy to look at my church and think worse thoughts of others. And it’s plain arrogant.

So, I’m beginning to be more gracious in my thoughts and words about big church. I find it easy to extend grace to individuals; why not to organizations? So, I’ve decided that – big or small – churches should be evaluated on this basis: what they offer to the community.

Now, I don’t mean what services, assistance, or events do they offer, nor do I mean community simply as those in close proximity to the church building.

What I mean is, “Does the church serve its own ends for its own people or does it seek the welfare of the community?” Does it seek to transform society by empowering its members – the body of Christ – to influence their own little worlds? And I don’t mean teaching adherents how to guide someone in “the sinner’s prayer”, as good as that might be. I mean, do we encourage Christ’s Body to act compassionately, the see with Jesus’ eyes the world around them, to give of one’s self and family to those in need, to aid in community development, to give a “cup of cool water” to someone thirsty?

I’m convicted by this blog by Rick Whitter. I count myself of the Pentecostal cloth, but what does that mean? Does it mean exuberant worship services? Speaking in tongues? Giving a “word of wisdom”? Barking like dogs? I think Rick has it right: the real evidence of the Spirit’s infilling was “these people gave.“

I couldn’t say it better than this:

“The DNA of the Spirit at work in the people of Acts is identified in their helping, their giving, their sharing, their feeding of the hungry, their clothing of the poor, their getting involved in correcting social injustices. As one with a Pentecostal heritage, I think I can offer a healthy criticism of our current operation. We have made Pentecostalism a style of worship. The Bible never does that. Pentecostalism is first and foremost a set of convictions that demands compassion by those who wear the label. A truly Spirit-filled person will get involved in efforts to address the needs of the less fortunate. A Spirit filled church really can’t be one unless they speak out and act on behalf of those who need help. Agreed, being Spirit filled it is about the manifestation of the gifts, no problem with that. It is about the unprecedented unity that they enjoyed, no doubt. But it is also about making a difference in the lives of hurting people. Not just praying for a miracle for those who are hungry, but creating a miracle by feeding the hungry. That is the work of the Spirit. That is what will make a difference in our world.“

That’s enough for us to spend the rest of our lives perfecting.

That’s evidence of the Spirit.

right or good?

I’ve been contemplating this question for some time now. Evangelical Christians, especially here in the US (I know this type of Christianity best) are concerned (and rightly so) about correct belief. We spend inordinate amounts of time studying and proving ourselves and our doctrines right. After all, it’s what someone believes that is important, right? We’ve all heard the statement, “It doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you are sincere” and we know the answer: “You could be sincerely wrong.”

We devote entire ministries to proving creationism right and evolution wrong, writing books proving the historical accuracy of the Bible, websites to disproving a heretical tenets of particular groups, whole denominations to protect our earnest beliefs in one interpretation of a biblical concept such as the baptism in the Holy Spirit or social practices deemed sinful such as smoking, drinking, dancing, singing alongside instruments or voting Democrat.

Christians are obsessed with being right.

Too often, we’ve forgotten how to be good.

Unfortunately, being good and being right don’t always go hand in hand. In striving to be right, it is all too easy to develop an escapist mentality and disappear into judmentalism – to live our lives south of grace.

When Jesus was approached, he was asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to be saved?” (Mark 10:17). Good teacher, not right teacher. Perhaps it was already understood by the questioner that Jesus was “right”; he was, after all, asking Jesus an incredibly important question. But this is significant: the young man recognized Jesus as good.

In Matt 25:23, Jesus will address those entering His Kingdom as, “good and faithful”. Notice what comes first: good.

Think about it. Are Christians known for being good in our world? If you were to ask random people on the street what they think of Christians, what do you suppose their typical response is? Would they answer, “Christians are kind”, “Christians look out for others”, “Christians care about the poor and oppressed”, “Christians are loving”, “Christians open their arms to everyone”?

Or do you imagine another response?

“Christians are bigoted”, “Christians are narrow-minded”, “Christians think they’re better than me”, “Christians are hateful and exclusive”.

Though there are wonderful exceptions, the rule is that we are better known for our attempts at professing to be right than we are for our actions to be good.

There’s a world out there that needs good Christians: Christians who are good to those, even, who we consider wrong. Jesus’ goodness was not only extended towards those who accepted His message, to those who were His disciples. He fed the 5000, many of whom may have cried out, “crucify him!”. He even said, “Love your enemies, and do good.” (Luke 6:35).

Yet, in all He did, He did good.

May we be more and more like our Good Teacher.