Category: sacrifice

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Christians and Statism

One of the biggest problems I see in the church in America is the problem of statism. A classic definition of statism is “concentration of economic controls and planning in the hands of a highly centralized government often extending to government ownership of industry.” I am not going to use that definition. I would define statism as I see it in this country as the the belief that the state will solve our problems, and that our job is to work to elect the people that will take care of those things.

Usually, statists are thought of as being on the left side of the political spectrum. These are the folks that are accused of wanting the government to control everything, from the economy to health care to individual rights. What some may not realize, is that statists are found on the other side of the aisle as well. Theses would the folks that see government as the means for restoring, or at least protecting, Christianity and ensuring our rights.

Statists can be found all across the spectrum, from the individual who told Bill Clinton that we are his children, to the almost worshipful praise given to Barak Obama, to the statements made about Donald Trump comparing him to King Cyrus or even King David. Look at the way politicians are idolized by the members of their party, and the way they are vilified by the members of the opposite party.

Statists believe that the most important thing in life is ensuring that their candidate is elected to office so that life will be better. Whether it’s returning to some fabled yesterday when we and those who agree with us were on top, or moving on to a new utopia, the prevailing thought is that if our side doesn’t win the country is headed for hell in a handbasket. As our country heads down that dark road, our faith will go down with it, and Christianity will suffer greatly.

When Christians put that much faith in whatever political system we think is best, we forget that we are not just citizens of this nation. We are not just under a certain political system. We are citizens first and foremost of the Kingdom of God, and our first allegiance is to King Jesus. Our King told Pilate that his kingdom was not of this world. he was not afraid of the man who represented the most powerful empire of that day because he knew that Rome was not really supreme or in control. He knew that what would happen to him would usher in the Kingdom of God and that Rome’s empire would pass away, as do all empires. The early Christians did not get in trouble with the political powers because they proclaimed that people could go to heaven when they died. They suffered persecution because they were proclaiming that the real King had come, that the kingdom of Rome was not in charge. They didn’t pledge allegiance to the empire. Their allegiance was to the King of Kings.

The kingdom we are a part of is a kingdom that grows and rules differently than an earthly kingdom. It does not operate by force, whether force of arms or force of opinion and criticism. The kingdom of Jesus operates by a love that sacrifices self for others. It is a kingdom that does not force change, whether by passing laws or ostracizing. Christ’s kingdom grows in ways we don’t always see, much like yeast spreading through a lump of dough. We can’t build for this kingdom by making America great again, or by any other plans a politician may have on the right or the left.

Can we participate in this kingdom of this world? That is up to each person’s individual conscience. You can vote, or not vote. You can work for a particular candidate, or opt out. But whatever you do, as a follower of King Jesus keep in mind that he deserves your allegiance, that all of the political movers and shakers are part of a kingdom of this world and can never build the Kingdom of God, and that other Christians are not only fellow citizens of heaven but are also brothers and sisters who we are to love as Jesus loved us.If we have to make a choice between party and a brother or sister in Christ, we should choose the latter.

The vitriol that is directed toward those who disagree with a particular stance (and I confess that I have been guilty of this) is not right. It is not what should be coming from those who follow Jesus. We can and will disagree on particular points. But we must not forget that we are called to love and serve others. We can and will call out those who are doing wrong. But we must make sure that we do the same when the one doing wrong is a member of our party. We must also remember that, while God may well use a leader we agree with, he can just as easily use someone with whom we disagree.

The early Christians turned the world upside down , not through rallies and revolution, but through the unstoppable power of the gospel of King Jesus and the love they showed for others, even their enemies. May we proclaim that same gospel in our day and time.

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Looking Ahead

We are now roughly two months into the Covid-19 pandemic here in the United States. To say that this is a life changing thing would vastly underestimate the effect it has had on our lives. We don’t know what the future holds, whether immediate or long term. You can find a different prognosis and prediction for each day of the week. I don’t believe anyone has the complete picture. Regardless, the future will look a great deal different than what we have been used to.

There are some things I hope will be true in our lives in the days to come. I hope that we will be kinder people, more patient and understanding. That seems to be true right now, and I hope i t continues. I hope that we continue to care about others, even sacrificing out own interests to help someone. I hope that we actively look for ways to do good to our neighbors. I hope that we will cherish our families and the time we have with them.

I hope that we can put differences aside, whether political, philosophical, or social, and work to recognize and do what is good for all, rather than what benefits one group over another. I hope that we as a culture can be truly pro life, from the womb to the nursing home. I hope that we can welcome those who come here looking for a better life without blaming them for our ills. I hope that we can recognize the value of everyone in our society and pay wages that allow them to take care of themselves and their families. I hope that we can realize that it really doesn’t profit anyone to gain the whole world only to lose their soul.

I hope those of us who follow Jesus will realize that the church is not the building or the institution, but is the people. I hope that we will cherish our brothers and sisters in Christ, and seek to love them as Jesus loved us. I hope that we will be known more for what we are for than for what we are against. I hope that we show the truth, goodness, and beauty of Jesus to our neighbors and demonstrate the hope of people who know that this world will be renewed.

I hope that all of us will have a better idea of what really matters. I hope that the next crisis that comes along will find us better prepared to handle it in a way that benefits us all.

Pipe dream? Maybe, but I will not give up hope.

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Feasting and Fasting

In the liturgical traditions, this time of year is the season of Lent, a period of fasting, reflection, and repentance leading to the remembrance of Jesus’ crucifixion and the celebration of his resurrection. The Lenten season lasts 40 days, beginning with Ash Wednesday, a day of repentance and remembrance that we are dust and to dust we shall return, and ending on the Thursday before Easter Sunday. During this time, people fast from certain types of food, from alcohol or tobacco, from social media, or any number of things. Others add some sort of service to others or other spiritual activity to their schedule. No matter what is done, the focus is on the fact that we are broken people living in a broken world. It helps those who follow Jesus reflect on why he died on the cross

In many places where Lent is practiced, there is a period of time known as Mardi Gras, or Carnival. It is a time of feasting and partying, sometimes to excess. The day before Ash Wednesday is called either Fat Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday. According to Wikipedia, Mardi Gras is French for Fat Tuesday, referring to the feasting that takes place. Shrove Tuesday refers to the liturgical season of Shrovetide, which ends on that day. Many traditions consume pancakes on Shrove Tuesday.   In many places, the Mardi Gras celebration begins the weekend before and Fat Tuesday is the culmination of the feasting.

The Bible speaks of both feasting and fasting. The Old Testament Hebrews were commanded to fast at certain times. There were also times of fasting for certain types of people or ministry. There were also time of feasting commanded. There were seven different feasts which the Israelites were commanded to attend. Deuteronomy 14 commands the people, once a year, to carry their tithe to what became the Temple in Jerusalem and eat it before the Lord in that place. If the way was too long for them, they were to sell their tithe, and when they arrived at the city, to buy whatever they wanted: oxen, sheep, wine or strong drink. The people of God were commanded to fast at certain times, and they were commanded to party at others.

Our little community of believers tries to carry on a bit of that tradition. We have a Mardi Gras celebration the Saturday before Ash Wednesday every year. We feast on pork, gumbo, and other foods. There is wine and strong drink, although it is rare when someone imbibes excessively. We believe that Christians should throw the best parties and bring the best wine. We also believe in reflecting on the fact that even though we are in Christ, we still sin and need to repent. This year we gathered on Ash Wednesday to serve dinner to a group of men at a homeless shelter, reminding us of our human condition. We will celebrate Good Friday and will feast on Easter Sunday.

We believe that the times of fasting or repentance remind us that the Kingdom has not come in its fullness, that we live in that in-between time. When we feast we look ahead to the wedding feast of the Lamb, when all things will be made new and we will live in the New Jerusalem, when there will be no need for fasting.

Even so, come Lord Jesus.

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Lonely or Broken?

Back in the 80s, the group Yes put out a single titled “Owner of a Lonely Heart.” One line in the song reads, “Owner of a lonely heart, much better than the owner of a broken heart.” There are a lot of people who would agree with that sentiment, along with that expressed in Simon and Garfunkel’s song, “I Am a Rock.” I can understand the feeling. Many have had their hearts broken by friends, family, lovers. Abuse, violence, and death is a common part of the human experience.

While I can understand wanting to withdraw from intimate contact with other people, thinking that hiding the heart will make life better, I would disagree with the sentiment that being lonely is better than being broken hearted. I agree with C.S. Lewis, who wrote: There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one , not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully around with hobbies, and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket – safe, dark, motionless, airless – it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside of Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers of perturbations of love is hell.

I believe a large part of the problem is our culture’s definition of love as something that will make the one loved happy and make the lover happy. It is a very self-centered thing. Because we can never make another person completely happy, and no one can ever make us completely happy, going into any kind of relationship with another person will be no safe investment. If you try to love others, whether as a spouse or friend, they may hurt you and you may hurt them.

As a follower of Jesus, I am commanded to love others. Not necessarily to seek to make them happy, and certainly not to make myself happy, although both of those things can and will happen at times. I am called to love others in a sacrificial way that seeks their good, even if that good may make them unhappy for a time. I am also called to love everyone, those who are like me and those who are different. This is where the rubber meets the road. Can I love my brothers and sisters in my local fellowship when we don’t see eye to eye? Can I love those who follow Jesus differently? If those whom I fellowship with aren’t “as far along in their walk with God as I am” can I love them?

In A Fellowship of Differents, Scot McKnight writes that to love others we must be committed. We must commit to be with those we seek to love. We must spend time with them, being a faithful presence. We must commit to be for them, to be on their side and let them know that we are for them. We must also commit to love them unto the person God has created them to be. As God’s faithful presence in us and his commitment for us transforms us unto the likeness of Jesus, so our loving relationships can transform those we love. It is in that loving unto that we run into difficulties. We don’t always take well to correction or teaching. We must be careful that we don’t hurry the unto before we have loved with and for. By our presence and support, our unconditional love, the Spirit can work in the hearts of those we love.

As someone who likes to be the one who fixes things, often with not so good results, I can tell you that what we need to do in our relationships is be faithful in our presence and support, and then trust the Spirit to do the work of changing hearts the way God wants, not the way we want. This is not easy because our love for others leads us to want them to be Christlike, and it can be heart breaking when it doesn’t happen. But, the results are not up to us. We are simply called to love as Jesus loves us. Period.

Let us show the world around us that we belong to Jesus by our love for others, especially our brothers and sisters.

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Cracks

In “Anthem”, Leonard Cohen sings,

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything (there is a crack in everything)
That’s how the light gets in .

There is a good bit of truth in what Mr. Cohen sings. In the song, he speaks of wars that will continue to be fought, of a holy dove that will be caught, bought, and sold again. There are marriages that are spent, births that are betrayed. Parts that don’t add up, and marches without a drum.

In the midst of situations that seem to be futile, the song tells us to find those bells that still will ring and ring them. It tells us to forget about trying to bring a perfect offering because there is a crack in everything. But that crack is how the light gets in.

Anyone that knows anything about the human condition knows that we are all cracked. No one is perfect. Those of us who follow Jesus should know better than anyone how imperfect and cracked we are.

The truth I see in “Anthem” is this: We are all cracked and can not bring a perfect offering to our Father. Fortunately, we have a perfect offering made for us; Jesus the Messiah. His sacrifice takes away the guilt of all our mistakes and sins. Because our Father has provided a perfect offering, we can continue to ring our bells and proclaim God’s perfect love and grace, and the sacrifice he has provided.

Our cracks are not something to be covered up. We need to remember that even the best among us has cracks. None of us is perfect and it doesn’t do any good to pretend that we are. We see the cracks in another. What makes us think that others cannot see our own cracks?

As it turns out, the cracks are actually good things, when we admit that we have them. Admitting our cracks makes us vulnerable. It makes us willing to be who we are before God, who knows us inside and out anyway, and before others. It allows us to know and be known. It lets us understand and empathize with others who are cracked in some way. All of these things can allow the light of the gospel to shine into our hearts, and into the hearts of those we love.

Do you have any bells that can still ring? Ring them. Don’t try to be perfect, but rest in the perfect offering made by Jesus. Be open and don’t try to hide your cracks. Let the light of the Father’s love shine into you and then out of you onto others.

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Following Jesus: Part 3-Loving Others

The second of the two commandments Jesus said summed up the Law and the Prophets is love your neighbor as yourself. This is another way we follow Jesus. In John 15, Jesus gave a new command. He said we were to love our brothers and sisters as he loved us.
The love that Jesus commands us to practice is a love that puts others first. It is a love that sacrifices for others, even to the point of laying down our lives. It is a love that does the same for others that Jesus did for us.

One of the primary reasons the early church turned the world upside down was their love, for each other and for their neighbors. The first Christians were well known for the way they cared for their brothers and sisters and the way they looked past social, racial, and other differences to form a family with God as their Father. They were also known for caring for their neighbors, often  putting themselves at risk. No matter what else was said about the early followers of Jesus, it was obvious that they loved others in a way far different from the culture around them.

It seems as if those who of us who call ourselves followers of Jesus are known more for what we are against and our fighting than for our love for others. We seem to be quite willing to forget the command to lay down our lives in exchange for what we think is power and influence. At times our worship seems to be more about ourselves than about the One who gave his life for us. The things that capture our imaginations are many times antithetical to the Kingdom and are self-centered instead of others-centered.

Loving others as Jesus loved us means giving up our “rights,” our interests, our wants, for the good of others. While we may be willing to step in front of a bullet for someone, how willing are we to give up our time, comfort, or possessions? How willing are we to essentially become nothing so that Christ might be glorified and others benefited?

Following Jesus can be distilled into two commands. We love God with every fiber of our being, and we love others. Everything thing else flows from that. It is not an easy thing to do. In fact, it is impossible if we try to do it in our own strength. If we belong to Jesus, we have his Spirit in us giving us the ability to love as we are called to love.

May we again be known for our love.
Part 1
Part 2 

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Just Jesus and Me?

 When I was growing up, we used to sing a song about how it was “Jesus and me” traveling the road of life together. This went right along with the idea that salvation was an individual thing and that Jesus was “my personal Savior.” While there is a sense in which God redeems us as individuals, I believe that there is much more to the work of Christ than just Jesus and me.

I no longer believe that following Jesus is just about making him your personal Savior or that the Christian life is lived individually. As I have studied Scripture I have come to believe that when God calls us and makes us his children, he is making us members of a family, a body. The word for church means a called out assembly, not a collection of separate individuals.

The idea that salvation and the Christian life is an individual thing has done damage to the body of Christ. If you look around at the Church in the United States you see the results of an individualistic faith. In many places there is a lack of commitment to the larger body. People move from church to church for various reasons. Many times folks leave because of problems in relationships. Someone has done something against them and it’s easier to simply find another church than do the hard work of repenting, forgiving, and reconciling. It seems as if many look for a place where they can be served and “fed” (whatever that means) by a weekly concert and inspirational talk. They aren’t looking for community, or they don’t understand what community entails.

We are redeemed to be part of one another. We are a body and each part of the body needs each other part. I believe the day may come when those who claim Christ will have to come together and live as one body. We will no longer have the luxury of dividing over things that are not worth dividing over. We will be forced to live in harmony, forgiving each other no matter how many times they sin against us and loving each other with a selfless love, just as Jesus loved us. Maybe we ought to start doing that now so it won’t be such a shock.

May God help us to live together as fellow children of the Father who are members of one body.