The Old Political Adage Has Just Been Proven True Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt

It is now official-- Al Franken has been elected by the people of Minnesota to the United States Senate. The old saying has now been proven true beyond dispute-- Anyone, and I mean absolutely anyone, can be elected to Congress.

The Quotable C.S. Lewis #20: The Seductive Nature of Temptation

"Our warped natures, the devils who tempt us, and all contemporary propaganda for lust, combine to make us feel that the desires we are resisting are so 'natural', so 'healthy', and so reasonable, that it is almost perverse and abnormal to resist them. Poster after poster, film after film, novel after novel, associate the idea of sexual indulgence with the ideas of health, normality, youth, frankness, and good humour. Now this association is a lie. Like all powerful lies, it is based on a truth-- the truth, acknowledged above, that sex in itself (apart from the excesses and obsessions that have grown round it) is 'normal' and 'healthy', and all the rest of it. The lie consists in the suggestion that any sexual act to which you are tempted at the moment is also healthy and normal. Now this, on any conceivable view, and quite apart from Christianity, must be nonsense. Surrender to all our desires obviously leads to impotence, disease, jealousies, lies, concealment, and everything that is the reverse of health, good humour, and frankness."

--Mere Christianity

Jailhouse Rock

Today's audio sermon from Acts 16:16-34.

A Prayer for the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

Breathe in me O Holy Spirit that my thoughts may all be holy;

Act in me O Holy Spirit that my works, too, may be holy;

Draw my heart O Holy Spirit that I love but what is holy;

Strengthen me O Holy Spirit to defend that is holy;

Guard me then O Holy Spirit that I always may be holy.

St. Augustine of Hippo (AD 354-430)

The Methodist Blogs Weekly Roundup 2009.19.198

Submit your post to umweeklyroundup@yahoo.com by noon EST on Saturday to guarantee that your post is included.

*Rules for Inclusion

Important Note: There will be no Weekly Roundup next weekend. The MBWR will return the following weekend. What can I say-- it's summertime.

The week in review in the Methobogosphere!

Dale Tedder publishes The Introduction to his Tedder Catechism.

John Lomperis reviews the top ten myths about the UMC constitutional amendments.

Wayne Cook reflects on his congregation and Bishop Willimon's post "It's All in the Numbers."

Are you running on empty? Read Bishop Robert Schnase.

Theresa Coleman is contemplating the delay of the Second Coming in the context of cat theology.

Michell Hargrave is pulling pranks on the mission trip.

Will Grady lists the biblical conversations he wishes he could have overheard.

Reflections on sowing and reaping with God at Stonewall from Tiffany Steinwert.

"God the Father Almighty Like a Mammy"-- A sermon by Kevin Baker.

Jeremy Smith ponders the church as Shakespeare.

Betty Newman is down from the mountain.

Lorna Koskela cogitates on evangelism and those we despise and prefer to ignore.

Some thoughts from Abi Carlisle-wilke on fear and Father's Day.

A difficulty with "reality" is on the mind of Brian Vinson.

Stephen Taylor writes on Father's Day at the font.

To Twitter or not to Twitter... that is the question from Rick Mang.

Why it is good that world wide church amendments are going down in flames, according to John Battern.

Dave Camphouse posts his new church bio.

Dave Perry wants to disempower patriarchy.

Craig L. Adams is attempting to bridge the gap on homosexuality. Best of the Methoblogosphere!

Reflections on the death of Chaplain Tim Vakoc from Mitch Lewis.

John Meunier asks, "Do we know a bad pastor when we see one?"

Ken Hagler ponders the giving and taking of criticism. Best of the Methoblogosphere!

Why do we have to question if God takes care of everything? Jim Parsons works through the question.

Chris Roberts reflects on the problems of the amendments to paragraph four of the UMC Constitution.

Dave Warnock writes on the hidden advantage of church over business.

David Hallam posts on preachers at the pit.

"Gee, thanks for asking," says Questing Parson.

Matt Kelley offers his reflections on Annual Conference.

Should the U.S. break up? Read Gerry Charlotte Phelps.

Deb Spaulding loves being on the porch!

Is your church Google or Microsoft? Steve Heyduck wants to know.

Richard Heyduck offers some thoughts on a biblical worldview.

Greg Hazelrig posts his thought for the day on Matthew 5:33 & 37.

Kim Matthews shares her reflections on surprising God.

Family values and health care according to Tony Mitchell.

Andrew Stoddard posts reflections on 1 Samuel 7:2-17, Acts 6:1-15, and Luke 22:14-23.

Dave Faulkner writes on the death of the child-man, Michael Jackson.

Olive Morgan posts on the centenary celebrations at Caversham Heights Methodist Church.

Love, repentance and God-- ponderments from Sally Coleman.

Andy Bryan makes his case for the power of touch.

Ken Carter on what happens when icons are destroyed.

Brian Russell offers miscellaneous thoughts on biblical languages in the 21st century.

Reflections with thanks from Kim Fabricius on the life of Ray Anderson.

Shane Raynor puts forth five components of supernatural Christianity.

"Open Wide Your Hearts"-- a sermon by Beth Quick.

Mark Winter wants to be taken out to the ballgame.

Yes, someone was late for his own funeral! Read Sky McCracken.

Defining a Christian nation according to Michael Daniel.

Kevin Watson writes on the explosive growth of Methodism from 1776-1850.

Daniel McLain Hixon asks if there is a culture clash in France.

Joseph Slife believes that United Methodist are saying "no" to their leaders in rejecting the constitutional amendments.

Andrew Thompson writes on what to do about our graying church.

Here We Go Again!

Congressman Barney Frank, one of the chief architects of the current housing crisis, is once again asking Freddie and Fannie to relax restrictions on condo loans. Yes, the opposite of progress is Congress. The full story is here.

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Cross-Posted at RedBlueChristian

Presidential Tone on Iran

President Obama has taken criticism from Republicans and from some others for what they say has been his weak and timid statements and his tone on the protests taking place in Iran after the recent election, which has returned Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the role of puppet under the control of the puppet masters formally know as the mullahs. President Obama finally made a very strong statement yesterday at a press conference, but some feel that it was too long in coming.

But I think the president's critics are being unfair on this one. I do wish the president had said a little more at the beginning of the protests about the right of all people to protest and assemble and to have free and fair elections without singling our Iran specifically; after all, the signs of the Iranian protesters that were in English were not directed at the people in the streets with them, but they were sending a message to the United States for support. The president could have done a little more in the beginning to affirm in a tactful way our support for their gatherings. I also think it was a mistake for the president to say that even if the other candidate for president, Mir Hossein Mousavi had won, nothing would have changed. That may in fact be true since Mousavi was in the government under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, but the problem is that such a comment sends a message to the Iranian protesters that their election ultimately doesn't matter because if their candidate had won, it would still be business as usual. But the issue of the moment was not whether Mousavi would have brought change, but the fact that the people want change and they were being denied the right to make a difference in their nation. The president should have addressed the aspirations of the people, not the reality of the policies of their candidate.

I also do not buy the argument that the president needs to watch what he says so that the mullahs cannot charge the U.S. with fomenting the protests. They were were doing that long before President Obama said anything. It is, and has been for some years, standard practice for the Iranian government to blame the United States for everything. The president could have remained completely silent on the what was happening and the mullahs would still have cast aspersions on the U.S.

So, while I wish the president would have said a little more early on in a careful and diplomatic way to let the Iranian people know that our government supports their cause, I think the criticism that the president has been too timid is unfair. Anyone who has paid any attention to President Obama's style thus far knows that he moves in a careful and deliberative way. He wants to consider the different angles before he speaks. That doesn't mean that he is always right. People who move carefully and people who tend to act swiftly both get things right and wrong. But the president's mode of operation is in his DNA. Asking President Obama to speak before he has gone through a deliberative consideration process would have been like asking President Reagan to be less swift, decisive, and to the point. What I am suggesting is that what we are witnessing here is a matter of style not substance. The President will govern within that style. Everyone needs to understand that.

It has been noted that the statements of the governments of our European allies have been stronger than ours, but those governments have a different relationship with Iran from that of the United States. This is one of those times when strong statements from the Europeans, who have diplomatic ties with Iran, could be more productive than such a statement from the U.S. government.

The fact of the matter is I do not think it will make a difference whether the president's words are swift or deliberate, or diplomatic or harsh. The outcome would not have been different one way or another. I am more interested in what is happening on the streets of Iran and behind the scenes. There are things happening that we do not know about and that will not be reported in the press. That is much more significant than what is being bandied back and forth at a presidential news conference.

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Cross-Posted at RedBlueChristian

He's Come to Save the Day!

Another great one from the folks at Jib Jab.

HT: LM Zinda

Opinion Central Poll 2009.26: Final Results

In recent polls, Dick Cheney now has a higher approval rating than Nancy Pelosi. Which of the two do you view more favorably?

God Is Not an Absentee Landlord

Approximately fifteen years ago, I went through a very difficult time in pastoral ministry. I began to question my call. I started thinking of ways to find employment other than in ministry. It was an extremely depressing situation. I suffered through this for several months. I never shared my thoughts and feelings with anyone except for my wife, and she did not share my struggles with anyone either. I prayed hard about it, but it seemed as if God was simply not answering my petitions for help. I felt I had reached the end of my rope.

Then something unexpected started to happen. People in the church began to affirm my ministry in an unsolicited manner. On one occasion I was leaving the church building after worship and someone approached me in the hallway and said, "I just want to tell you how thankful I am that God has called you to our church." And then a few days later a former parishioner, who had moved out of state, called for no reason other than to share how much he missed my preaching on Sunday morning. Another person stopped by the office and shared with me what a positive impact I had on her family. This went on three to four times a week for about a month. It took me a couple of weeks, but I began to realize that what was happening was not coincidental, but that God was indeed supplying his answer to my prayers.

It has become fashionable in some circles today to view God as an absentee landlord, as one who is not too involved in our lives, who is rather distant. There are those who find comfort in an uninvolved deity. A distant God doesn't meddle in our affairs and doesn't threaten the way we want to live our lives. And it is indeed true that God's will for our lives can come into tension with life as we have it planned. But it is also the case that the presence and the leading of God in our midst demonstrates the depth of God's love and concern for us. When God's will steps on what we want, even that shows God's love in that God wants what is good for us; and how true it is that we do not always know what is best. A distant God is a deity that does not care.

God is with us, as the Psalmist says, "Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?" (139:7). In the noise of the day God is there. In the silence of our pain God is there. In the wilderness of our confusion God is there. In this moment as you read this post, God is with you.

God is not an absentee landlord. Thanks be to God!

Of Reptiles and Gentiles

Today's audio sermon from Acts 10:1-23

A Prayer for Father's Day

God our Father, in your wisdom and love you made all things. Bless these men, that they may be strengthened as Christian fathers. Let the example of their faith and love shine forth. Grant that we, their sons and daughters, may honor them always with a spirit of profound respect.

Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Quote of the Day 2009.9: Go Into All the World and Make Only a Few Disciples Here and There

Although I've never heard this comment from a bishop, a pastor, or a church that was growing, a frequently heard comment in response to our Conference Priorities, from those who have limited their ministry to decline is, "So? It's all about the numbers."

Though I don't see much indication that we have become infatuated with numbers (I was miserable at math in school) in our evaluation and deployment of our pastors, in our evaluation and leadership of our churches (most of our churches are still declining rather than growing) some question our historic Wesleyan focus on numbers of baptisms, attendance, membership, giving, and mission. The church is all about Jesus Christ and his mission. Are we now guilty of moving toward an "It's all about numbers" posture?

We loaded up our car for our annual family vacation. I had been clear with the family about our time of departure for the beach. Patsy had dutifully loaded the car. I had dutifully been clear about the time of departure. Harriet was there. Where was William?

"We have two children. We are not going anywhere without everybody," Patsy commanded, in love.

"One, two, whatever," I responded. "So? It's all about numbers! What difference does it really make whether we have all of our children or half of our children? The important thing is the quality of our family interaction on the vacation. This is about love, not numbers!"

You can read Bishop William Willimon's entire post, "It's All About Numbers," here.

Ponderments as I Sit in an Annual Conference Session

It's good to see many colleagues I haven't seen since last year.

The preaching this morning was quite good.

Why do we expect clergy to pay way too much money for a dump of a cottage at a conference they are required to attend?

The members of Annual Conference sing beautifully.

Certain people speak on the floor during a session because they love the sound of their own voice.

We have some people who speak quite eloquently.

Democracy moves slowly.

We do some important business.

Every year we waste too much time. Conference could be shorter if certain people didn't insist on their fifteen minutes of fame.

Some of my colleagues are starting to look old.

Some of colleagues have told me that I have gotten more gray in the last year.

Why does it appear that an institution in decline speaks of doing things differently but continues to operate in the same way? Instead of moving forward it simply seems as if we are only circling the wagons.

The ordination service was powerful!

I hate it when people quote John Wesley out of context. If someone uses his words, "If your heart is as my heart, give me your hand" one more time as a justification for doctrinal and/or moral laziness, I'm going to put in my earphones and listen to my iPOD.

I wonder how the Annual Conference will look in ten years? Twenty years?

As a Conference we have a wonderful collective sense of humor.

It's been good to be at Lakeside, but I am ready to go home.

Opinion Central Poll 2009.25: Final Results

Is it a good thing for the goverment to be involved in the automobile industry?

Off and Running

The East Ohio Annual Conference begins this morning at Lakeside, Ohio. I'll be blogging from my Lakeside "office" at Coffee & Cream.

A Prayer for the Second Sunday after Pentecost

God of wisdom and love, source of all good, send your Spirit to teach us your truth and guide our actions in your way of peace. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen

The Methodist Blogs Weekly Roundup 2009.18.197

Submit your post to umweeklyroundup@yahoo.com by noon EST on Saturday to guarantee that your post is included.

*Rules for Inclusion

Important Note: There will be no MBWR next weekend. I will be at Annual Conference all week and will be teaching a colloquium in Theology next Friday evening and all day Saturday. The Weekly Roundup will return the last weekend in June.

Special Note: There are so many Methodist blogs out there that it is absolutely impossible for me to read all of them. Please do not hesitate to email your selection to be included each week in the MBWR at umweeklyroundup(at)yahoo.com. I would like to include other voices that are not commonly heard in the Weekly Roundup.

The week in review in the Methoblogosphere!

Bishop Robert Schnase writes on first appointments and safe landings.

Bishop William Willimon has good news by the numbers.

Is Jesus cool? Read Dale Tedder.

Andrew Thompson posts on the Worldwide Church amendments.

Joseph Slife writes on opposition to the restructuring amendments in the North Georgia and Holsten Conferences.

John Lomperis has some questions for those who support UMC Amendment #1.

A partial report from Daniel McLain Hixon on the vote of the UMC amendments from the Louisiana Conference.

The GBGM has bought a lemon according to John Montgomery.

Kevin Watson reflects on continuing the conversation.

Michael Daniel ponders negativity without exception.

Sky McCracken is going to Conference and thinking about the constitutional amendments.

Clifford Shufflebottom makes his debut for Mark Winter.

Beth Quick writes on Fred Craddock at the Festival of Homiletics.

Shane Raynor posts on Mark Tooley and Donald Miller.

Some thoughts on abortion from Kim Fabricius.

Brian Russell cogitates on the Magi as invitations for real life.

When life is a mess according to Ken Carter.

Andy Bryan presents his Annual Conference wrap up for 2009.

Sally Coleman ponders the need for vision.

Olive Morgan shares on the churches' concern over gains made by the British National Party in last week's European elections.

Dave Faulkner writes on the BNP and the European elections as well.

Andrew Stoddard posts reflections on Ruth 2:14-23, 1 Timothy 3:1-16, and Luke 13:18-30.

The future of the church-- Reflections from Tony Mitchell.

Kim Matthews wonders why the church itself seems to take a summer break.

Greg Hazelrig posts his thought for the day on 2 Corinthians 8:7-9.

Steve Heyduck asks, "Who needs diversity of experience?"

Ponderments on awesome love from Deb Spaulding.

Gerry Charlotte Phelps writes on the deceitfulness of riches. Best of the Methoblogosphere!

Matt Kelley offers his reflections on the shooting at the DC Holocaust Museum.

That's a plan for Questing Parson.

David Hallam says that it's time to stop the window dressing and get back to real politics.

There are no ladies in Dave Warnock's church.

Chris Roberts posts on the murder of the late-term abortion doctor George Tiller.

On making disciples of our children according to Jim Parsons. Best of the Methoblogosphere!

What does God expect of you... of me? Read Ken Hagler.

John Meunier reminds us that when the house is falling down there is no need to use the door.

"In Fulfillment of the Scriptures"-- A sermon by Mitch Lewis.

Craig L. Adams reflects on fruitful theological debate and the question of identity.

David Perry climbs up the craggy side of divinity.

Dave Camphouse wants to create a Google Church.

Does Jesus accept everyone? John Battern answers the question.

Scott McKay writes poetically on the sunrise.

Rick Mang has some thoughts on the art of preaching as an associate pastor.

Kathy James tells a love story.

Reflections on holy conferencing from Stephen Taylor.

Brian Vinson posts the results of the vote on the constitutional amendments from the West Ohio Annual Conference.

Abi Cartlisle-Wilke reflects on the demise of Lily Bear.

Lorna Koskela challenges us to step out into a new anointing.

When it comes to sin there is no fudging, says Betty Newman.

Jay Voorhees writes on the CMA Fest.

Pastor Cynthia is getting back in the swing.

Church committees are bodies not machines-- Thoughts from Jeremy Smith.

A sermon by Kevin Baker-- "More Than a Perfunctory Kiss."

Keith McIlwain offers a prayer for Annual Conference 2009.

A sermon on Trinity Sunday from Tiffany Steinwert.

Will Grady wonders what would happen if the gay debate were solved.

Take it with a good heart and don't fear the pain-- Will Deuel ponders the matter.

Marty Schwartz writes on his Sunday night healing service.

Michelle Hargrave is leaving on a youth/summer tour mission trip.

"Speak the Language"-- A sermon by Theresa Coleman.

Kurt Boemler posts on Wesleyanism and rethinking church.

Humanity Is Not What It's Cracked Up to Be

Mark Twain noted that in Genesis God created humanity near the end of his work week when he was already tired, an obvious reference to human frailties and foibles. There is certainly plenty of evidence all around us of human imperfections and we don't even have to look outside of ourselves to note our shortcomings. Each of us carries our sins in our souls.

It is impossible to turn on the television or the radio or surf the Internet and not hear of the incessant bad news in the midst of our so-called economic meltdown. We hear of greed and selfishness and materialism and continual argument on just what to do in the midst of the mess. These things should not be ignored, of course. It is a reminder to us that human beings are not what they are cracked up to be.

But one of the unfortunate things that gets lost in the midst of all the bad news is the good news of the countless people stepping forward in big and small ways to help others. There are business owners who are taking less personal salary so that they do not to have to lay off some of their work force. There are employees who have voluntarily taken a decrease in salary so that a co-worker can remain on the job. Some individuals have joined together in order to save someone from losing her or his house to foreclosure. In spite of less giving and a shortfall in their budgets, churches are still giving to missions locally and globally. There are plenty of examples of human beings at their worst; but if we are willing to look, we can also find countless examples of men and women at their best.

Yes, humanity isn't what it's cracked up to be. The image of God in us may be warped, but we are still in God's image nonetheless. It is in the midst of bad times that human beings can display their worst, to be sure, but it also provides moments when individuals rise above their foibles and frailties to display the image of God in this world.

Thanks be to God for that!

Opinion Central Poll 2009.24: Final Results

Do you agree with President Obama's decision to increase the number of troops in Afghanistan?

A Tale of Two Men... and of Us

Acts 9:1-19

In Acts chapter nine two men are, in a sense, awakened from the slumbering routine of their day in a startling way. Saul, public enemy number one, as far as the church is concerned, is traveling on the Damascus Road. He has orders from the religious authorities in Jerusalem to round up as many Jewish Christians as he can find in Damascus in order to bring them back to Jerusalem, presumably to stand trial for their newly found faith in Jesus, which as far as Saul, was concerned, was a blatant rejection of the ancestral traditions and a perversion of the faith of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Saul had overseen the stoning of Stephen, a convert to Christianity, in Jerusalem, and now he was headed north, where it appeared that Christianity had made solid inroads in the Jewish community there.

On the way along with some companions, Saul is awakened from his own agenda and given another. He will become a member of the very same group he has been persecuting. He will become a follower of Jesus. He is led to Damascus as one struck blind and he waits for the new world that is in store for him.

In Damascus, there is a faithful disciple of Jesus, Ananias. We have not heard of this Ananias until now, and after the story of Saul's conversion concludes, we will never hear of him again. Andy Warhol said that everyone gets his or her fifteen minutes of fame. Acts chapter nine recounts Ananias' brief and famous moments.

Ananias is told that he must encounter this Saul and bring him into the faith through baptism. It is understandable that Ananias would be quite skeptical over Saul's conversion. After all, Ananias has heard of Saul and what he had done to the church in Jerusalem. What if this is a ruse; a trick of Saul's to infiltrate the church in Damascus in order to arrest the leadership and bring them back to Jerusalem? Just as Saul, Ananias is awakened from the routine of his life and called upon to be part of something larger, something that will change the course of Christianity.

Most commentators focus on Saul in Acts chapter nine, which is understandable. He is by far the most famous and most influential of the two men in our story. But it is unfortunate that often Ananias in neglected. He is a critical part of Saul's conversion. He not only initiates Saul into the Christian faith, but it will become his job to convince the Christians in Damascus that Paul's conversion is indeed real and that this former persecutor and now be trusted as a fellow disciple.

All of us love a good story; and in particular, we all love good stories told about people. We enjoy biography, which is currently one of the most popular forms of literature being written. We also like telling stories. American-English writer, Helen Rowland wrote, "Life begins at forty-- but so do fallen arches, rheumatism, faulty eyesight, and the tendency to tell a story to the same person, three or four times." Perhaps the stories we tell say more about us than the people who are the subject of those stories. But we clearly pay attention to the lives of others. Jesus knew our attraction to story, which is why he so often taught about the great things of God's kingdom in story form-- and in the common everyday images of his worl-- farmers casting seeds, birds nesting in tress, and sibling rivalry.

What we must not forget as we reflect upon Jesus' stories and the story of Jesus, and the tale of Saul and Ananias in this story from Acts, is that each and every one of us is a story, and we are right at this moment writing the stories of our lives. Some of us are farther along toward the conclusion than others; still others are in the initial chapters. Wherever we are on this life's journey, each of our lives is a tale to be told; and most significantly, it must be a story in which our lives reflect the character of God.

We know that Saul/Paul was faithful in the writing of the story of his life, and it is probably safe to assume that Ananias did as well, given how he responded to the call of God in Acts 9. That is why we still tell this tale of these two men today. They instruct each and every one of us as we write the story of our lives day and day out.

What is our purpose as disciples of Jesus Christ? Have we discovered that purpose? What tales will people tell about us that will reflect that divine purpose that has been given to each of us? We won't get our name in the pages of the Bible, but we must never forget that the Bible is our story too. Each day are we living our lives in such a way, that if they ever added pages to the Holy Scripture, they would add our story too?

The Crisis of Success

The late F. Donald Coggan (1909-2000), the former Archbishop of Canterbury wrote a wonderful little book many years ago entitled, Christ and Our Crises. It is delightful to read and quite insightful. Over the years I periodically take it off my book shelf and read portions of it again. I was reading it the other day and came across the following in his chapter on "The Crisis of Success":

All too often, I suspect, Christianity has been thought of in terms of gloom. In the old days we used to bind our Bibles in black as if they were intended only for funereal occasions, not for joyous living day by day.The way we bound our Bibles in black made it seems as though God were on the side of the drab. What an extraordinary idea!

The Danish thinker Kierkegaard was himself a man greatly afflicted at times by gloom. But he once said he felt God behaves like both the cook and the artist, "Now for a pinch of spice-- a little touch of red.

I like that saying of Kierkegaard. You can see the cook taking a drab dish and making it much more interesting with a pinch of spice. Or you can picture the artist adding a magic touch of red. I believe God does that to life. Read the Gospels and you will see that Jesus is the heart and soul of the party at the wedding feast at Cana of Galilee. Quite clearly you see that He often found Himself more at home with worldly types than the sour-faced rigorists of the world about him.

Coggan's words are timely for us at the beginning of the twenty-first century. In the West, and especially in America, we have defined success in all the wrong ways. I know that right now many people want only to blame certain sectors or groups for our economic meltdown. Democrats blame the Republicans and Wall Street, Republicans blame the Democrats and their government created entities, Fannie and Freddie, and the sub-prime mortgage scheme. But since political posturing seldom gets to the truth, it needs to be said that a crisis this large could only result from a failure on all levels-- the government (Democrats and Republicans), the private sector (Wall Street), and yes, the average consumer (Main Street), all who have participated in the virtual money party over the past fifteen to twenty years. We have spent money we did not have and borrowed what we could never pay back. We have purchased houses that are too large for our income and automobiles that cost more than a down payment on a home. In the process of spending too much we have saved practically nothing. The chickens have now come home to roost and the farm is in foreclosure. What is going to make the situation even worse is that our government has invoked a backward kind of logic that argues the best way to deal with spending too much money is to spend even more. The United States is the largest debtor nation in the world. This is not something to be proud of.

The saddest part of this entire episode is that Christians have acted no different from anyone else. We have been like the man in Jesus' parable who tears down his barns to build bigger ones, only to have it go to someone else because God has required of him his life (Luke 12:16-21). We have forgotten that Christians should and must define success very differently. We have not heeded Jesus' words to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. The God who behaves both like the cook and the artist "a pinch of spice, a little touch red" expects his people to behave in the same way. For Christians success is not defined by our portfolio nor our title in society, but by our faithfulness to Jesus Christ and his kingdom. In so doing we will bring spice and color to a drab world that defines success by getting just a little more money and a few more things.

More than a few have suggested that the current crisis is the result of the economy "pushing the reset button" in order to begin again and clean out all the nonsense we have created over the years. Perhaps this can be a time for the church to "reset" itself, to once again embody in our way of life the presence of Jesus Christ for the world, to define true success in giving of ourselves instead of getting for ourselves.

Perhaps this is a time when we can once again be that pinch of spice and that splash of red, demonstrating to those around us that the divine way of life is what marks true success in this world.

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Cross-Posted at RedBlueChristian

No MBWR This Weekend

It was my intention to post the MBWR this weekend after a weekend without it, but I have had some unexpected things come up and I have been in and out the past couple of days, and will be gone most of the day tomorrow.

The MBWR will return next weekend.

Thanks for your understanding.

Opinion Central Poll 2009.23: Final Results

Is it a good idea for churches to accept debit or credit card contributions?

The Quotable C.S. Lewis #19: Giving

"In the passage where the New Testament says that everyone must work, it gives as a reason 'in order that he may have something to give to those in need'. Charity-- giving to the poor-- is an essential part of Christian morality: in the frightening parable of the sheep and the goats it seems to be the point on which everything turns. Some people nowadays say that charity ought to be unnecessary and that instead of giving to the poor we ought to be producing a society in which there were no poor to give to. They may be quite right in saying that we ought to produce this kind of society. But if anyone thinks that, as a consequence, you can stop giving in the meantime, then he has parted company with all Christian morality. I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other words, if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc., is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot do because our charities expenditure excludes them. I am speaking now of 'charities' in the common way. Particular cases of distress among your own relatives, friends, neighbours, or employees, which God, as it were, forces upon your notice, may demand much more: even to the crippling and endangering of your own position. For many of us the great obstacle to charity lies not in our luxurious living or desire for more money, but in our fear-- fear of insecurity. This must often be recognised as a temptation. Sometimes our pride also hinders our charity; we are tempted to spend more than we ought on the showy forms of generosity (tipping, hospitality) and less than we ought on those who really need our help."

--Mere Christianity

What Jesus Wouldn't Do

The cold-blooded murder of a doctor whose clinic performed late term abortions was one more travesty in the midst of the abortion wars. No such killing can ever be justified and there appears to be something even more heinous about this particular act as it happened in a church on Sunday morning.

As anyone who reads this blog knows, I oppose legalized abortion and I would not be disappointed at all to see it outlawed, even though I believe the matter involves much more than the law. But I categorically reject any justification for the murder of someone who performs abortions as do the vast majority of individuals I know who call themselves pro-life. One does not respond to the killing of innocent and unborn children with killing in kind. To suggest otherwise reveals a contradictory ethic of life in the same way as those who reject capital punishment, war, but not abortion.

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I am very aware of the the fact that there are some very difficult cases where an abortion may be a tragic but acceptable procedure, such as when the life of the mother is actually threatened. What amazes me is that those who consider themselves pro-choice usually appeal to the difficult and rare cases as a justification for their position. It is one thing to take the exceptional cases into account in one's ethics, but an ethic based on the exception is something quite different and makes for a bad ethic.
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I do not have anything else to say about this except that while I can make various arguments as to why unborn children should not be killed and neither should the physicians who perform such deeds, the most convincing case for me is that I cannot imagine Jesus performing an abortion on a child created in the divine image, nor can I imagine him gunning down a doctor who performs abortions, who is made in that very same image.

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It was Karl Barth who said that because of the incarnation, the light of God shines even in the womb.

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Cross-Posted at RedBlueChristian

Wouldn't It Be Great If They Accused Us of Being Drunk!

On Pentecost Sunday I had the great honor of confirming fourteen young people during worship. Two of them were our sons, Joshua and Jason. It was a very meaningful time of worship and I pray that these young people remain strong and steadfast in their faith.

Bishop William Willimon noted many years ago that confirmation is the last stop on our children's way out of the church. The good bishop is unfortunately quite right. We have a difficult time as mainliners holding on to our children, and I wonder at times whether we in the leadership of the denomination and the individual churches, as well as those sitting in the pews, though well intentioned, are contributing to that decline. We can probably give more than a few reasons why our denomination is getting rather gray and why we do not seem to be attracting younger individuals. (I rather doubt that we are attracting older persons either quite frankly.)

We Christians spend much of our time attempting to avoid ridicule; we work to be acceptable and civil. We try hard just to be seen as normal. If we are viewed like everyone else, then perhaps people will pay attention to what we have to say. And it may indeed be the case that we have been successful at the acceptability project. We have worked so hard to blend in that we indeed have. In appearing to be like everyone else, we are like everyone else. There is apparently nothing unique in what we are offering. We, the church are the prop for the state and the surrounding culture. We have ceased to the alternative.

Of course, that is not the way we view ourselves. We believe we are harbingers of a radical gospel. So, we Christians choose sides, that is we embrace the categories imposed upon us by Enlightened modernity that surround us. Some of us become Republicans, others Democrats, some capitalists, others socialists. We identify ourselves as liberal or conservative, never thinking that such labels are not only inadequate in capturing what it means to be a citizen of God's kingdom, but that they distort the very nature of Christian faith. And as each side embraces its own polarizing position, each side is sure it is displaying the radical nature of the gospel and the other side has compromised their faith, when in reality, no one can claim to have captured the radical nature of the gospel because everyone around us, religious or not, has assented to the same categories. We are seen as no different from anyone else, and therefore our message is viewed as irrelevant. When it comes to critical issues of our time, the church basically sounds no different except for sprinkling into the discussion a trite understanding of the love of God mixed in with a shallow notion of inclusiveness. No one listens to us... but hey, at least we are acceptable and civil and normal.

Two thousand years ago on that first Christian Pentecost, the believers in Jerusalem that day proclaimed the word of the Lord in a way that simply could not be ignored; and they were accused of being drunk, at nine o'clock in the morning no less. How else does a world domesticated by the rulers of this age explain such divine power that cannot be contained? And throughout Acts those first disciples found themselves in prison and often their proclamation of the gospel in towns across the Roman empire started city-wide riots. Those early believers hardly found themselves to be accepted by those around them, but at least they weren't boring... at least they could not be ignored.

I like civility as much as the next person. I like being accepted as much as others. But, perhaps those of us who follow Jesus would be more faithful to Jesus if we were accused more often of being drunk; if we found our message as the cause of civil unrest instead of restful meditation. Perhaps, if the church in the twenty-first century looked more like the church in the Book of Acts, we might discover that just by being the church Jesus has called us to be, those around us could not ignore us. We might not be viewed as civil and normal, but we would be noticed. If that were the case, then maybe confirmation would not be our children's last stop on their way out of the church.

A sobering thought indeed.

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Cross-Posted at RedBlueChristian

Short, Pithy Wisdom from Pastors I have Known

Over the past 25 years that I have been in pastoral ministry, I have gleaned much wisdom from colleagues in ministry. Some of them are enjoying retirement, others have gone on to their eternal reward, and some are still in active pastoral ministry. In particular, I remember some of the pithy wisdom they have passed on to me. I have written them down over the years, I am pleased to pass some of them on to you.

-We will never be able to understand the Gospels until we admit that we are the Pharisees that Jesus confronts.

-A congregation wants to know that its pastor sees his or her job as more than a job. They want to know that it is a calling.

-A church does not need the whole congregation in agreement to move forward in ministry; it does, however, need the support of the leadership.

-Pastors do not cast a vision for the congregation. A pastor helps the congregation catch the vision God has given to it.

-Pastors should allow ministries to fail rather than pick up the responsibility that is the congregation's. Too many pastors enable parishioners to neglect their duties.

-Effective pastors know when to speak and when to keep silent.

-It is not enough for pastors to tell their congregations what they should be doing; pastors need to model ministry for their parishioners.

-Never preach in the second person plural (you); preach in the first person plural (we).

-Effective preachers utilize humor in the sermon, but they also know its limits. Sunday morning preaching is not Friday night at the comedy club.

-Allow people to employ their gifts, graces, and passions in ministry. Do not push them into a job they are not interested in, even though you need the position filled.

-Parishioners want to know that their pastor is human, but they don't want to know too much information on exactly how their pastor is human. There is a fine line between disclosure and exposure.

Any additional short and pithy sayings of wisdom are welcome.