Jesus Voted For Obama

If there are two things that bother me it’s racists and Arminians….  Ok just kidding there are a lot of Arminians that I love.  So what bothers me…hmmm we will call it racists and people whose functional savior is government.  Last night I had my first post election conversation with someone who is a believer (though it seems to me he might be worshiping something other than Christ) and a Christian in ministry no less. As it turned out he was near death with despair over our new president.  Our conversation reveled that he was both ignorant of issues of race and issues of scripture.  On the issue of race I will not even repeat the foolishness because he is young and I will hope he grows,  but needless to say it was foolish and reflected the reality that many young Christians have been so sheltered in the white, American ghetto of Christianity that they have no experience or understanding of how race affects what happens in our country.  Has no one taught them the concept that reconcilliation amongst men is a sign of the power of the gospel?

Not only that but he was ignorant it seems of the fact the God is in control.  We all say this,  but I find that so few of us live it.  I think the reason we do not live it is because  we not actually worship the God of the Bible but rather the god of Americanism.   I keep hearing people (people with bad eschatology, but people none the less) say that this is a sign of the end times, and acting as if Jesus has been thwarted. That is just a bunch of bunk!  Americans think like this because we long ago abandoned Jesus as our hope and his glory as our goal for the safety of a president who would legislate our comfort.  I want all you who are worried to hear this:  Barack Obama won because Jesus wanted him to.  God is soverign.  Votes are cute but really they only serve to convince silly men that they are in charge.  Barack Obama winning did not upend the plans of God.  His plans are his plans.  Now does this mean that Barack will be a great president?  No. He may be,  but he might just be awful,  he might destroy this country and all your worst fears might come true.  So then you ask why would Jesus allow Obama to be president?  Simple.  Jesus is not interested in  building a “government for the people, by the people…”,  he is building a Kingdom.  A Kingdom for him, and by him. His glory is the point.  And frankly God’s glory and bad government have a interesting way of dwelling together,  and if you doubt this ask the 1,000,000 people who come to Christ every month in China and India.  Democracy is ok government,  but if you place your trust in it you will see that it is bad math and bad theology.  Bad math because is seems to believe that the will of the masses has more power than the one who created it all.  Bad theology because it seems to believe that someone and something other that Jesus is in control.   And if Jesus is in control and he himself is our peace, who are we to live in fear if he should choose to build this nation up or if he should bring it low?  He will accomplish his purposes and if we trust him he has told us that his purposes are good.  Even if the goverment does not go our way history and the universe always go Jesus’ way.   In the first centruy the Christians were a minority who refused to give their honor to the empire..and many of them died,  and yet from the blood of the Martyrs came a witness that converted the world. I just can’t imagine first century Christians wringing their hands over the “election” of Nero in a great worry that he would destroy their nation.  In fact as I recall they refused to say “Ceasar is Lord”…when the heck will we?

Great Post Here

When Lions Go To Church

This photo of a lion in church reminds me of what Dorothy Sayers once wrote of Jesus: “We have very efficiently pared the claws of the Lion of Judah, certified him “meek and mild,” and recommended him as a fitting household pet for pale curates and pious old ladies…”

And don’t we do that? But what would happen if Jesus walked into our churches today? I have a feeling it would be like this picture…we would all run for fear of the “firebrand” as Sayers called him. We have become comfortable with a Jesus who is gentle and meek, but have forgotten the strength, power and Glory it took to walk to the cross and bear our sin. The power to love is only reinforced by his power to create and his power to judge and his power over death. He loves us, not just with the love of roving pacifist commoner, but with the love a Ruling, Reigning King… The incarnation is beautiful, but the power of incarnation will one day be played out in coronation.

Sola Deo Gloria…Come Quickly Great Lion.

The Church in America…

Here is an excerpt for a Lark News Article that i think illustrates well (and humorously) what I was trying to say about the church in the post below…

DENVER — Connection Metro Church, which used its foyer coffee bars to attract visitors to its eight satellite churches in the Denver area, has decided to abandon ministry altogether to focus on coffee.
“People liked the coffee a lot better than the ministry, according to congregational surveys, so we’re practicing what we preached and focusing on our strengths,” says former teaching pastor and now chief marketing officer, Peter Brown.
Many in the congregation seem downright relieved.
“The sermons were okay, but the vanilla frappes were dynamite,” says one woman who regularly attended the church for two years so she could enjoy the special brews. “I even brought my Jewish neighbors and they loved them.”

Read the whole hilariously thing here.  No it’s not true…but given our current ministry culture it could be.

The Tangible Kingdom

I am reading the Tangible Kingdom by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay.  Like Hirsch’s “The Forgotten Ways” it is one of those books that totally blows you paradigm.  I am loving it.  I have this dream for American where the church abandons rote Americanism and truly begins to pursue Jesus again.  This book gives a glimpse of what it would look like for that to happen.  Beyond that if you want to know how unique this book is consider the fact that on the back it is endorsed by both Driscoll and McLaren.

Ah Relevance…We hardly knew thee…

Moving this post up:

So I was just reading about this church down Nashville way and I read their whole pitch and it just stressed me out…here are some of the quotes:

you WON’T see people in polyester singing badly

some of the best Christian “rock” music

Make no mistake, it was an EVENT…

Now I read that and I would just laugh if I did not believe that these people truly wanted to reach people for Jesus, but shoot, when will the church learn that just because you are not wearing polyester it does not mean that you are not outdated? Just because you are not back in the ’70’s does not mean that your church is not firmly entrenched in 1992. Why are we bragging about the fact that we have stepped within two decades of pop-culture? Honestly the next time I hear a church describe itself as contemporary I will puke: 1. If you have to describe yourself as contemporary you are not and 2: the word has no meaning or value, it assumes a singular cultural and societal situation that does not exist. We never stop to ask: contemporary to whom? In most cases we the church are only contemporary by comparison to ourselves, and thus are not really contemporary in the sense in which we use it, but updated (yet still desperately behind). The church is essentially a poor caricature of cultures past while at the same time neglecting any real power she has. I would beg the church to discover the term missional, I know it does not go on the billboard as well, but it lives much better and will have a greater impact

Beyond that let’s be honest, some of the excesses of the 1990’s were indeed excesses, I don’t really want church to be an “event” I want it to be and encounter, an encounter with Jesus. I wish churches would just minister in their context and tell everyone it is all about Jesus instead of bragging that every week before the services you have a clown.

(PS for all you churches stuck in the 50’s this post in no way validates your issues)

P.S.S.  My friend Aaron observed that I am just being closed minded and this is probably why our church is not a mega-church, here are his comments:

Dave, you know why we aren't "growing" (as big as that church) ODDS ARE...

...it's because we DON'T have jugglers pre-service

...it's because we DON'T have hula hoop competitions (didn't you read the book about that)

...it's because we DON'T have our pastor paraded in on a motorcycle (side note, that would have been sweet if it was Palm Sunday...and the people were waving and laying down palms for him to enter into)

A Comment from the Out of Ur Blog

Mike Says:

As a member of the Bahai Faith I like to frequent a certain emerging church in Grandville MI. I appreciate how they teach a “first century Jesus” and not the one invented by Constantine (then followed up by the likes of Augustine, Luther, etc).
(please forgive me if this sounds prideful)..It seems that traditional Christians are finally discovering what we followers of Baha’u'llah have been taught for centuries. What the great teacher Jesus had to say was firstly for his generation, however some of what he taught is still applicable for us today. He was a great man. Thank you for keeping an open mind.

Posted by: Mike at May 28, 2006

No commentary here..Jus sayin’…

CrossWinds…

Here

So there is a certain University

So in our town there is a certain university…a “Christian” university. I must be honest it vexes me to no end. To protect the less than innocent we will not use it’s real name, lets just call it Capstone University, or C.U. for short. The thing that bothers me most is it’s complete lack of regard for the local Church. One of the biggest issues is that instead of really encouraging their students to be involved in a local church (which by the way would profit them for the rest of their lives and make them more ready for life after the U) they have a chapel program that takes up so much freaking time that no one has the energy or inclination to be involved in a church. As an example one of the guys who attends our church was not able to be involved in a church small group because he had to have so many chapels at C.U. Now the fact that he was married, living on his own, working full time third shift and attending school full time made no difference he had to have so many chapels. The ironic thing is he could get credit for an “on-campus” small group, which often times involves four dudes from “Pincer” dorm sitting around singing songs and talking about the latest video game craze, but he could not get credit for attending a church small group that he had attended before C.U. and that he would attend after C.U. Apparently the C.U. message was, sell your soul to us, disconnect from your church for the next 4 years, make your whole life revolve around our “not the real world” experience and after you graduate you can be involved in the pesky church thing again.

Over the years we have had a harder time getting students from this school involved in ministry than any other school in town (including the States schools). I do not blame the students though. I genuinely feel that the school is at fault. They are teaching their students not to value the church and for those not getting that message they are making their time so busy that they have no time for the church. At this point I would rather my own children went to a State school, at least there we know what we are getting. If they went to a state school they may not have a Chapel program but they would have time for church. They also would learn to be missional adults because every one would not be already saved (or pretending to be already saved).

One time I sat down with the director of their chapel program to discuss this problem. We will call him Chizuck Schwanson to protect his identity. Anyhoo, I sat with buck and discussed this with him. He did not see it as a problem. At one point Chizuck did concede that “Church is not really on the radar of the students.” Wow, not on the radar. What this means is all these kids who grew up immersed in the evangelical sub-culture got to school, and stopped going. If it is not on their radar it is not because they did not grow up in church it is because the got to school and quit going. Someone must be held accountable for that. Either the school or the students. If it is the school then they must repent and find a way to change it, and if it is the students, then the school, as a Christian University must love Christ’s bride so much that they still do whatever they can to remedy the problem. As it is I think they are the problem. Buck also told me that they “should do a seminar or something” for the seniors about the value of the church. Loosely translated that means he is fine with the students not attending church for the next for years of their lives and they will take care of the problem latter. Great let me know how that works out. The biggest problem I think is that Chizuck has no serious ecclesiology and has confused the college with the church. Which is interesting because when I was attending there I often heard the president Lex Dogers say “We are a Christan College, with a capital “C” on both words, but we are not a Church.” So I will bet, and I am willing to take the gamble here that Lex, at least mentally is not down with what is going on. Oh well what are you going to do?

I close with the words of David Heslegrave, missiologist: “Any para-church that does not have as it’s primary goal the building up of the local church is not only para-church it is para-mission”…I think that might apply to a University as well. So Chizuck look out your office window at the giant church across the street and say to yourself “Church,” now going into the hall and look around say “School” repeat this procedure till you get it, no matter how long it takes, your students deserve it, and so does God.

Not Sure Who Made This…

I found it at Jim Hamiltons blog which is linked over there…> Here
Anyhoo this is funny, whether you are a John Piper fan (and I am) or not (you are probably going to hell)…OK maybe not, enjoy that comment while it is fresh and funny, because I will probably feel guilty and edit it out later, or I will mistakenly leave this page open and my wife, who does not think I am funny at all, (she only loves me for my body I think) will make me take it out. Anyway this is a music, voice kind o’ thing someone made with John Pipers voice and some songs in the back ground. Here.

If you do not know who John Piper is check him out here: The John (if you click it are you going to the John…Hmmm even I don’t find that very funny…and usually I think I am hilarious)

In other news:

Finally, Rev. Will Bowen of Christ Church Unity in Kansas City, has challenged his congregation to go 21 days without complaining. To help overcome the urge to whine, Bowman has given out 230 purple elastic wristbands. If you complain, the band is switched to the other wrist and you try again. After two months, and to no one’s surprise, only one person at the church has achieved the goal—Rev. Bowen. (Courtesy of the Out of Ur Blog)

This caught my attention because the aforementioned wife of mine claimed just yesterday that I am the “Complainiest” person on earth (don’t you hate it when people have to go to such links to describe your deficiencies that they have to make up words…) At any-rate I took some time to ponder that and it is intriguing to think, who is the complainiest person on earth? And could it really be me. And if so is there a trophy or anything? And if I won the trophy would I just complain because it was too small? Good questions all. This much I know: if at our church, I encouraged a fast from complaints, I as the pastor would not be the only successful one. Not because I believe we have so many non-complainers but because I forsure would not make it through 21 minutes without complaining (unless everyone else on earth was abducted by aliens or raptured or some other fiction they write about in books, because that would be my only hope, but then again I would probably get lonely and complain about that. A last born, after all, needs his audience.)

So I guess I am Just not feeling Angry Lately…

I have been having trouble getting up the energy to post about anything in particular…So let me just say this: I don’t maintain this blog just to make snippy comments about other folks (though it is a nice side benefit)… The reason I maintain this blog is so that I can help certain young peep’s whom I love ask intelligent questions. I think there is an ongoing battle for the future of Christianity, I want to help those young people ask the right questions and make the right decisions. But beyond just helping them to believe the right things, I hope to help them break free from the cultural malaise that has hijacked Christianity in our country, even though that might mean that they have to get rid of their American flag Bible covers, and reject the faulty reasoning of their predecessors that Rush Limbaugh is a prophet for this generation. It is a weird tension, because while there are many things I hope to see them reject there are so many more I hope to see them accept. I long for a truly Christian response to racial issues, and issues like the enviroment and immigration and wars in Iraq and education. More than that I am hoping that this generation unlike their forefathers will realize that each of these is a spiritual issue.

Most of all, I hope to help my friends navigate culture without caving to it. I hope that they will be Salty Christ followers, useful and flavorful, Christ followers who do not view the culture as the enemy of our mission, but the field. Right doctrine plays a large part in this, but so does dialogue, and especially love. So my friends I am occasionally angry but I hope I am always radical. I hope for the sake of the King and his unmerited but oh so amazing love that you will risk it all and be a radical too.

Sola Deo Gloria