Thoughts On Unity And The Cross

Art by Paul Soupiset

I've been thinking a lot over Lent and Easter about the idea of Christian Unity. This is a theme heavy on my heart, because it is so very lacking in the framework of Christianity these days.

We are soo divided over doctrine be it the theory of atonement, Biblical inspiration, or social issues like homosexuality. But there is a commonality between all who call themselves "Christian"...and that is Christ; esp. Christ on the cross. Now I know that some would say that Christ did die on the cross, but the story of his death and resurrection is metaphorical and not historical. So the other side says "we can't call you a "Christian" because you don't believe what I believe." But the other side says, "Why not? to be a Christian is to 'follow' Christ and live the life God created us to live, and Christ taught us to live. We are 'little Christs' which is a better translation for 'Christian'."

Just to clarify, I personally believe in the death and resurrection of Christ.... But I'm trying to look at things from multiple sides.

No one that I have known or read denies the crucifixion of Christ. I know that both of these sides (and all in-between) can't seem to reconcile their beliefs, but there is a sense that when we celebrated Easter, we were all standing around the empty cross (whether we were looking at it as he was raised, or that it was just empty and the Christ had been removed). We were all looking at the cross and could all celebrate the NEW BIRTH (a very common theme in the Bible) of a movement...one that we would eventually call "Christianity". I know many would argue, "you can't celebrate Easter because we are celebrating the resurrection!", but those on the other side would say, "we are celebrating the meaning of Easter, and the tradition of the death and resurrection theme of Easter. We are celebrating the history of the tradition, and what it means in our own lives."

Yet instead of uniting us, we (as the picture shows) put a lock on Christ and the event of the cross. Mostly, I find it is the side that believes in the traditional Easter (resurrection) saying, "no, this is our holiday, and you can't celebrate it and call yourself a 'Christian' unless you've done/believe A, B, and C!" How can we deny others to come to the foot of the cross? Who are we to say such a thing??? We spend so much time trying to divide, and in this instance (as an example, but I think we do this a LOT), push others away from the cross!!! What would Christ say to that?

I know it happens from both sides, but I see less tolerance and acceptance on the more traditional than the historical. Either way, I think we let ego get in the way of the spirit!!!! I'm as guilty in my life as anyone, hence why I spent so much time thinking about this before posting.
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But back to unity. I prayed this Lent and Easter for more Unity in the coming year. I pray for more discussion and less militant debate. I pray for less name-calling, and more embracing. At my discussion group last week we were talking about the ability to end poverty, world hunger, economic issues, etc... and a statement was made that hit me so hard.

I asked, "Is there hope for religion to solve the world's problems? Is it possible that a religion like Christianity can alleviate something like world poverty." The answer I got was this from several people (collaborative paraphrase): "no...it can't. It hasn't and it never will because the religious institution (constructs) is made built in such a way that it is naturally divisive. It draws lines to separate, no attempt to unite. Religions of the world have had how many years to unite and alleviate problems in this world? And they have yet to do so, because all they can do is draw lines and dig in."

I'm sorry to be pessimistic, but to an extent, I have to say that statement is true:/
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Another thing that I wanted to share was something I read in Cokesbury Catalog; a statement by one of (if not THE) best renowned Old Testament Scholar, Walter Brueggemann. He States:

"What i am really interested in is the wrestling with the Bible in the church in the culture wars and the fact that the Bible is odd and does not fit any of our conservative predispositions or any of our liberal impulses.

I think the Bible puts us all on edge and reminds us of our idolatries. But what strikes me is how people who disagree can be together around the Bible. A personal note on that is that i reflect from time to time the spectrum of places to which I get invited to speak. I'm on the liberal Episcopal circuit with Marcus Borg, but in the spring I'm speaking to a Nazerine college. I think the reason I have access across the interpretive spectrum is that I try to stay close to the text and give people room for their own hearing of the text. As best we can, we have to try to hear the Bible without imposing our particular slant on it too soon. This is not easy, but we have to work at it. We have to give each other room and I think that is what it will take to recover energy for our mission.

What that gathering around the Bible requires is for EVERYBODY to give up CERTITUDE(Emphasis mine). Our lust for certitude is fed by the depth of anxiety that is in our society. for the church to name the anxiety so people can see what's going on is a big step toward moving toward the Bible in a way that lets us stay on edge.

If the anxiety is unnamed, you have to find ways to tone the Bible down, or it just feeds the anxiety. But if the anxiety is named and hailed, we have a chance of being addressed.

I am heartened by the new generation of evangelicals that is pulling back from right-wing craziness and I imagine the rising generation of liberals is likely not to be so shrill and imperialistic. So I have this hope that we may be arriving at a new posture, so we can practice the unity of the church, to which we are ALL called (Emphasis mine). That does not mean that we have to agree, but it means that we have to LISTEN to each other as we are all addressed. "

Look at his new book here!!!

I for one am really heartened and challenged by this great man's words. If we can't center ourselves around the cross, then we all go to the Bible as our MAIN source for Christian living. Regardless of our interpretation...perhaps acknowledging THAT can be a start???

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I'm not the smartest person in the world...all I know is that I long for unity within our world, and ESP. within our faith. If we want to help people find a better way to live, and we believe that Christ is a better way to live than the way the majority of people are living, then we need unity! If we want people to acknowledge Christ and his "way" (however you interpret that), then we cannot deny them access to the cross! If we want to change this world to mimic the Kingdom of God that Christ speaks of (in whatever way you interpret that), then we have to rally around our sacred scripture, no matter our interpretive differences, and stop attacking, but begin to dialog! Let our anxiety be known...confessed if you will. To God, and to each other!

It's time for us to take the lock off the cross and once again allow access to "all who are thirsty."

Do You Dream?

I couldn't entitle this "What Do You Think" again.
Of course this video was put up with all kinds of negative commentary, but I just want to know what you think about what's said in this video. What do you agree with, what do you disagree with. WHY?

Feel free to share your "Dream".
By Dave Parker:

What do you "Think"

Tony Jones (head of Emergent Village) posted this Vid. on his blog.
This is his guest-spot on the KERA show "Think" speaking of Postmodern/Emergent Christianity.

Check it out!


Also he mentions his new book: The New Christians Check it out.

So...as TJ asks..."what do you think?"

The Art of Consumption

Art from chris jordan...
Josh Brown posted a link that I caught today. I too had seen some of this before, but am blown-away by this art. Even though I have posted one of my fav. pics here, you need to go look through Jordan's page to see what else makes this art so great!!!

link: The Art Of Consumption by Chris Jordan

This one is called:
Skull With Cigarette, 2007 [based on a painting by Van Gogh]

Passion Via Moleskine

Some visuals for reflection on the passion of Christ

Happy Easter

Art by Paul Soupiset

UPDATE: Also a set of prayers from Scott McKnight's Blog....

O God, who for our redemption gave your only-begotten Son to the death of the cross, and by his glorious resurrection delivered us from the power of our enemy: Grant us so to die daily to sin, that we may evermore live with him in the joy of his resurrection; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

or this

O God, who made this most holy night to shine with the glory of the Lord’s resurrection: Stir up in your Church that Spirit of adoption which is given to us in Baptism, that we, being renewed both in body and mind, may worship you in sincerity and truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

or this

Almighty God, who through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ overcame death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life: Grant that we, who celebrate with joy the day of the Lord’s resurrection, may be raised from the death of sin by your life-giving Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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May the Spirit of the cross...of Easter....put a spirit of unity in our hearts so that we may be find each one brothers and sisters in Christ regardless of theological differences!

Why You Hatin'?: Emergent and Her Attackers

I borrowed the pic. from Scott's post, originally by Rob Thomas.

A great post by Scott Childress on his blog.
Entitled "emergent is DANGEROUS!!!"
He asks the question, why are people so hateful towards things like emergent? A question I keep asking those who are that way, and have yet to get them to give me a satisfactory answer. The post is great, and the comments are all worth reading (except for some justin guy:)

Check it out here!!!

what are your thoughts? I would love to hear them here or I can read them on Scott's blog!

Obama's Hope: Reconciliation

Obama's speech today about his faith, relationship with Rev. Wright, and racial reconciliation. I think that Obama had a couple of easy ways out on this "situation", but I have a high respect for the way he handled this. An inspiring speech, one that reminds me of Dr. King's speeches at times. What I love most, is that this isn't just a speech of "damage control", but a speech about civil affairs that need to be addressed. Yes, we have come a long way on many of these issues (like racism), but there's still a ways to go. Our economy, our global stance, our responsibility to all of humanity (both domestic and abroad), and the search for peace (just to name a few). These are all issues that Americans NEED inspiration and motivation in these days. From a Christian perspective, we need this type of inspiration for the same reasons!

Check it out!P(in video or transcript)

(Transcript)
As Prepared for Delivery...
“We the people, in order to form a more perfect union.”

Two hundred and twenty one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group of men gathered and, with these simple words, launched America’s improbable experiment in democracy. Farmers and scholars; statesmen and patriots who had traveled across an ocean to escape tyranny and persecution finally made real their declaration of independence at a Philadelphia convention that lasted through the spring of 1787.

The document they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished. It was stained by this nation’s original sin of slavery, a question that divided the colonies and brought the convention to a stalemate until the founders chose to allow the slave trade to continue for at least twenty more years, and to leave any final resolution to future generations.

Of course, the answer to the slavery question was already embedded within our Constitution – a Constitution that had at is very core the ideal of equal citizenship under the law; a Constitution that promised its people liberty, and justice, and a union that could be and should be perfected over time.

And yet words on a parchment would not be enough to deliver slaves from bondage, or provide men and women of every color and creed their full rights and obligations as citizens of the United States. What would be needed were Americans in successive generations who were willing to do their part – through protests and struggle, on the streets and in the courts, through a civil war and civil disobedience and always at great risk - to narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time.

This was one of the tasks we set forth at the beginning of this campaign – to continue the long march of those who came before us, a march for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous America. I chose to run for the presidency at this moment in history because I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together – unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and we may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction – towards a better future for of children and our grandchildren.

This belief comes from my unyielding faith in the decency and generosity of the American people. But it also comes from my own American story.

I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. I was raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to serve in Patton’s Army during World War II and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line at Fort Leavenworth while he was overseas. I’ve gone to some of the best schools in America and lived in one of the world’s poorest nations. I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slaveowners – an inheritance we pass on to our two precious daughters. I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible.

It’s a story that hasn’t made me the most conventional candidate. But it is a story that has seared into my genetic makeup the idea that this nation is more than the sum of its parts – that out of many, we are truly one.

Throughout the first year of this campaign, against all predictions to the contrary, we saw how hungry the American people were for this message of unity. Despite the temptation to view my candidacy through a purely racial lens, we won commanding victories in states with some of the whitest populations in the country. In South Carolina, where the Confederate Flag still flies, we built a powerful coalition of African Americans and white Americans.

This is not to say that race has not been an issue in the campaign. At various stages in the campaign, some commentators have deemed me either “too black” or “not black enough.” We saw racial tensions bubble to the surface during the week before the South Carolina primary. The press has scoured every exit poll for the latest evidence of racial polarization, not just in terms of white and black, but black and brown as well.

And yet, it has only been in the last couple of weeks that the discussion of race in this campaign has taken a particularly divisive turn.

On one end of the spectrum, we’ve heard the implication that my candidacy is somehow an exercise in affirmative action; that it’s based solely on the desire of wide-eyed liberals to purchase racial reconciliation on the cheap. On the other end, we’ve heard my former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation; that rightly offend white and black alike.

I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely – just as I’m sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.

But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren’t simply controversial. They weren’t simply a religious leader’s effort to speak out against perceived injustice. Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country – a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam.

As such, Reverend Wright’s comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems – two wars, a terrorist threat, a falling economy, a chronic health care crisis and potentially devastating climate change; problems that are neither black or white or Latino or Asian, but rather problems that confront us all.

Given my background, my politics, and my professed values and ideals, there will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough. Why associate myself with Reverend Wright in the first place, they may ask? Why not join another church? And I confess that if all that I knew of Reverend Wright were the snippets of those sermons that have run in an endless loop on the television and You Tube, or if Trinity United Church of Christ conformed to the caricatures being peddled by some commentators, there is no doubt that I would react in much the same way

But the truth is, that isn’t all that I know of the man. The man I met more than twenty years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor. He is a man who served his country as a U.S. Marine; who has studied and lectured at some of the finest universities and seminaries in the country, and who for over thirty years led a church that serves the community by doing God’s work here on Earth – by housing the homeless, ministering to the needy, providing day care services and scholarships and prison ministries, and reaching out to those suffering from HIV/AIDS.

In my first book, Dreams From My Father, I described the experience of my first service at Trinity:

“People began to shout, to rise from their seats and clap and cry out, a forceful wind carrying the reverend’s voice up into the rafters….And in that single note – hope! – I heard something else; at the foot of that cross, inside the thousands of churches across the city, I imagined the stories of ordinary black people merging with the stories of David and Goliath, Moses and Pharaoh, the Christians in the lion’s den, Ezekiel’s field of dry bones. Those stories – of survival, and freedom, and hope – became our story, my story; the blood that had spilled was our blood, the tears our tears; until this black church, on this bright day, seemed once more a vessel carrying the story of a people into future generations and into a larger world. Our trials and triumphs became at once unique and universal, black and more than black; in chronicling our journey, the stories and songs gave us a means to reclaim memories tha t we didn’t need to feel shame about…memories that all people might study and cherish – and with which we could start to rebuild.”

That has been my experience at Trinity. Like other predominantly black churches across the country, Trinity embodies the black community in its entirety – the doctor and the welfare mom, the model student and the former gang-banger. Like other black churches, Trinity’s services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor. They are full of dancing, clapping, screaming and shouting that may seem jarring to the untrained ear. The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and bias that make up the black experience in America.

And this helps explain, perhaps, my relationship with Reverend Wright. As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children. Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect. He contains within him the contradictions – the good and the bad – of the community that he has served diligently for so many years.

I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother – a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.

These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love.

Some will see this as an attempt to justify or excuse comments that are simply inexcusable. I can assure you it is not. I suppose the politically safe thing would be to move on from this episode and just hope that it fades into the woodwork. We can dismiss Reverend Wright as a crank or a demagogue, just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro, in the aftermath of her recent statements, as harboring some deep-seated racial bias.

But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. We would be making the same mistake that Reverend Wright made in his offending sermons about America – to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality.

The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we’ve never really worked through – a part of our union that we have yet to perfect. And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American.

Understanding this reality requires a reminder of how we arrived at this point. As William Faulkner once wrote, “The past isn’t dead and buried. In fact, it isn’t even past.” We do not need to recite here the history of racial injustice in this country. But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in the African-American community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.

Segregated schools were, and are, inferior schools; we still haven’t fixed them, fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, and the inferior education they provided, then and now, helps explain the pervasive achievement gap between today’s black and white students.

Legalized discrimination - where blacks were prevented, often through violence, from owning property, or loans were not granted to African-American business owners, or black homeowners could not access FHA mortgages, or blacks were excluded from unions, or the police force, or fire departments – meant that black families could not amass any meaningful wealth to bequeath to future generations. That history helps explain the wealth and income gap between black and white, and the concentrated pockets of poverty that persists in so many of today’s urban and rural communities.

A lack of economic opportunity among black men, and the shame and frustration that came from not being able to provide for one’s family, contributed to the erosion of black families – a problem that welfare policies for many years may have worsened. And the lack of basic services in so many urban black neighborhoods – parks for kids to play in, police walking the beat, regular garbage pick-up and building code enforcement – all helped create a cycle of violence, blight and neglect that continue to haunt us.

This is the reality in which Reverend Wright and other African-Americans of his generation grew up. They came of age in the late fifties and early sixties, a time when segregation was still the law of the land and opportunity was systematically constricted. What’s remarkable is not how many failed in the face of discrimination, but rather how many men and women overcame the odds; how many were able to make a way out of no way for those like me who would come after them.

But for all those who scratched and clawed their way to get a piece of the American Dream, there were many who didn’t make it – those who were ultimately defeated, in one way or another, by discrimination. That legacy of defeat was passed on to future generations – those young men and increasingly young women who we see standing on street corners or languishing in our prisons, without hope or prospects for the future. Even for those blacks who did make it, questions of race, and racism, continue to define their worldview in fundamental ways. For the men and women of Reverend Wright’s generation, the memories of humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away; nor has the anger and the bitterness of those years. That anger may not get expressed in public, in front of white co-workers or white friends. But it does find voice in the barbershop or around the kitchen table. At times, that anger is exploited by politicia ns, to gin up votes along racial lines, or to make up for a politician’s own failings.

And occasionally it finds voice in the church on Sunday morning, in the pulpit and in the pews. The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of Reverend Wright’s sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour in American life occurs on Sunday morning. That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity in our condition, and prevents the African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real change. But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races.

In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community. Most working- and middle-class white Americans don’t feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race. Their experience is the immigrant experience – as far as they’re concerned, no one’s handed them anything, they’ve built it from scratch. They’ve worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor. They are anxious about their futures, and feel their dreams slipping away; in an era of stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense. So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that an African American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committ ed; when they’re told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time.

Like the anger within the black community, these resentments aren’t always expressed in polite company. But they have helped shape the political landscape for at least a generation. Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition. Politicians routinely exploited fears of crime for their own electoral ends. Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism.

Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle class squeeze – a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many. And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns – this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding.

This is where we are right now. It’s a racial stalemate we’ve been stuck in for years. Contrary to the claims of some of my critics, black and white, I have never been so naïve as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy – particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own.

But I have asserted a firm conviction – a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people – that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice is we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union.

For the African-American community, that path means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past. It means continuing to insist on a full measure of justice in every aspect of American life. But it also means binding our particular grievances – for better health care, and better schools, and better jobs - to the larger aspirations of all Americans -- the white woman struggling to break the glass ceiling, the white man whose been laid off, the immigrant trying to feed his family. And it means taking full responsibility for own lives – by demanding more from our fathers, and spending more time with our children, and reading to them, and teaching them that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; they must always believe that they can write their own destiny.

Ironically, this quintessentially American – and yes, conservative – notion of self-help found frequent expression in Reverend Wright’s sermons. But what my former pastor too often failed to understand is that embarking on a program of self-help also requires a belief that society can change.

The profound mistake of Reverend Wright’s sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society. It’s that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made; as if this country – a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the land and build a coalition of white and black; Latino and Asian, rich and poor, young and old -- is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past. But what we know -- what we have seen – is that America can change. That is true genius of this nation. What we have already achieved gives us hope – the audacity to hope – for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

In the white community, the path to a more perfect union means acknowledging that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination - and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past - are real and must be addressed. Not just with words, but with deeds – by investing in our schools and our communities; by enforcing our civil rights laws and ensuring fairness in our criminal justice system; by providing this generation with ladders of opportunity that were unavailable for previous generations. It requires all Americans to realize that your dreams do not have to come at the expense of my dreams; that investing in the health, welfare, and education of black and brown and white children will ultimately help all of America prosper.

In the end, then, what is called for is nothing more, and nothing less, than what all the world’s great religions demand – that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Let us be our brother’s keeper, Scripture tells us. Let us be our sister’s keeper. Let us find that common stake we all have in one another, and let our politics reflect that spirit as well.

For we have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. We can tackle race only as spectacle – as we did in the OJ trial – or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina - or as fodder for the nightly news. We can play Reverend Wright’s sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words. We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she’s playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies.

We can do that.

But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we’ll be talking about some other distraction. And then another one. And then another one. And nothing will change.

That is one option. Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, “Not this time.” This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children. This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can’t learn; that those kids who don’t look like us are somebody else’s problem. The children of America are not those kids, they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st century economy. Not this time.

This time we want to talk about how the lines in the Emergency Room are filled with whites and blacks and Hispanics who do not have health care; who don’t have the power on their own to overcome the special interests in Washington, but who can take them on if we do it together.

This time we want to talk about the shuttered mills that once provided a decent life for men and women of every race, and the homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from every religion, every region, every walk of life. This time we want to talk about the fact that the real problem is not that someone who doesn’t look like you might take your job; it’s that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit.

This time we want to talk about the men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag. We want to talk about how to bring them home from a war that never should’ve been authorized and never should’ve been waged, and we want to talk about how we’ll show our patriotism by caring for them, and their families, and giving them the benefits they have earned.

I would not be running for President if I didn’t believe with all my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this country. This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected. And today, whenever I find myself feeling doubtful or cynical about this possibility, what gives me the most hope is the next generation – the young people whose attitudes and beliefs and openness to change have already made history in this election.

There is one story in particularly that I’d like to leave you with today – a story I told when I had the great honor of speaking on Dr. King’s birthday at his home church, Ebenezer Baptist, in Atlanta.

There is a young, twenty-three year old white woman named Ashley Baia who organized for our campaign in Florence, South Carolina. She had been working to organize a mostly African-American community since the beginning of this campaign, and one day she was at a roundtable discussion where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there.

And Ashley said that when she was nine years old, her mother got cancer. And because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care. They had to file for bankruptcy, and that’s when Ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom.

She knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so Ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches. Because that was the cheapest way to eat.

She did this for a year until her mom got better, and she told everyone at the roundtable that the reason she joined our campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the country who want and need to help their parents too.

Now Ashley might have made a different choice. Perhaps somebody told her along the way that the source of her mother’s problems were blacks who were on welfare and too lazy to work, or Hispanics who were coming into the country illegally. But she didn’t. She sought out allies in her fight against injustice.

Anyway, Ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why they’re supporting the campaign. They all have different stories and reasons. Many bring up a specific issue. And finally they come to this elderly black man who’s been sitting there quietly the entire time. And Ashley asks him why he’s there. And he does not bring up a specific issue. He does not say health care or the economy. He does not say education or the war. He does not say that he was there because of Barack Obama. He simply says to everyone in the room, “I am here because of Ashley.”

“I’m here because of Ashley.” By itself, that single moment of recognition between that young white girl and that old black man is not enough. It is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children.

But it is where we start. It is where our union grows stronger. And as so many generations have come to realize over the course of the two-hundred and twenty one years since a band of patriots signed that document in Philadelphia, that is where the perfection begins.

“Because The Bible Says So…”:Stupid Things Christians Say

Please Read This Post!!

The title of my post is the borrowing of the title of the post above!
Posted over at http://relevantchristian.wordpress.com/

I came upon this frustrated (note I didn't say frustrating) blog post, who eloquently states some of the same feelings I have about how Christians treat each other when they disagree on theology/issues and when they both claim to have a "biblical" view for their interpretations. It really irritates me that we (and I'll lump myself into this, because I've been guilty of it), that we can't even unite on the one thing that IS blatant in the message of Christ: to act out of love.

Everything in the Bible is interpretive. Even the "literal" interpretation is just that: a choice of interpretation. You don't have to agree with everything Joe states or quotes, that's not my intent. My prayer is that you can be touched by the SPIRIT of the desire that he has (and that I share) that we can recognize our differences and put them aside in the name of love. In the name of Christ.

let me know your thoughts!

Secret Of An Easy Yoke

I promised Chris a while back that I would respond with my thoughts on this song that he posted on his blog. Every time I've started to post it on his site, I'd listen to it again and something new would hit me, or I would be affected because of new situation in my life and the song would speak anew. I remember a drive to meet with another friend, and on that 45 min drive, I listened to it over and over again. It brought me to tears because I could picture specific people and places that the song is talking about it.

Originally by Pedro The Lion, my fav. version is Justin McRoberts.
This is by David Bazan who wrote the song (the only version on Youtube).
SECRET OF AN EASY YOKE


I could hear the church bells ringing
they pealed aloud your praise
the member's faces were smiling
with their hands outstretched to shake
it's true they did not move me
my heart was hard and tired
their perfect fire annoyed me
I could not find you anywhere

could someone please tell me the story
of sinners ransomed from the fall
i still have never seen you, and somedays
i don't love you at all

the devoted were wearing bracelets
to remind them why they came
some concrete motivation
when the abstract could not do the same
but if all that's left is duty, i'm falling on my sword
at least then, i would not serve an unseen distant lord

could someone please tell me the story
of sinners ransomed from the fall
i still have never seen you, and somedays
i don't love you at all

if this only a test
i hope that I'm passing, cuz I'm losing steam
but i still want to trust you

peace be still (x3)
_______________________

I want to start off by saying that I love God. I am PASSIONATE about God, and look for him EVERYWHERE! I've seen God in the beauty of nature, in the compassion and/or brokenness of another human being, in music, an author's words, on the Shroud of Turin, etc... (ok, I'm not so convinced of the last one, but it's still cool to see and I know that it has been a religions experience for many people, so I only half joke about it).

One place that I have more and more trouble finding God is the one place that I've been taught all of my life is the one place I am SUPPOSED to find him: @/in the Ch. To me, it's not that God's void, it's that he's pushed away by us. And here is where the song begins to touch a note with me.

Verse 1: See last post. The lack of genuine humanity in church really bothers me. There seems to be a true lack of concern for people, for their pain, for their needs. Church seems to be more about the rituals: getting done what is supposed to be done (worship service, programs, etc..) rather than adapting to actually meeting the need of those both within the Church and outside. It's sad that a person seeking something; seeking God can walk into a church and leave feeling like they haven't found Him at all in the one place they've always been told they could go to find Him. The line, "their perfect fire annoyed me" really hits home to me. Again, projecting perfection is more important than authenticity for most church-goers. And I really think that the Church has conditioned that way of thinking.

Verse 2: I've always had issues with the wearing Christian paraphernalia so that people would know that you're a Christian. It has always made me think, "so people can't just SEE that you're a Christian through the way you live? You have to wear a sandwich-board to announce it?" But this song brings out another reason people do this. They need a reminder...they need something concrete.... something that makes them feel like they're connected to God, because when it's completely abstract (as beliefs and God are), they feel unconnected. This is a lapse in our Education. We aren't allowing people to think critically in churches, and we aren't helping them to just be in the abstract presence of God. We feed into this non-innate skill (it has to be developed) and even after the children have become adults, we continue to teach them in glorified object lessons and concrete stories. When Jesus says, " _____ is LIKE _____", we teach that the same _______ IS _________. The Kingdom of Heaven is LIKE a treasure hidden in a field... It isn't exactly the same, but our human language can't capture all that it is. Same goes with God and faith.

I think that we sometimes leave people caught in between the questions. Our answers to the questions are things like, "just believe", or "all you need is God", or my personal fav., "don't worry, all things work for the glory of God". The answers belittle the real questions, emotions, doubts and pain that one is feeling. "Just believe" becomes about a Christian's DUTY. If that's all there is to being a Christian, then I too, "am falling on my sword". I HAVE to believe there's something more, something deeper...something with far more meaning and purpose in this world than a formula to keep my tail out of hell. Christ's presence was history-altering, at least my life as a Christian can be life-changing for others!

Chorus: I don't really resonate with the phrase, "somedays i don't love you at all". I have never questioned my love for God, but I know many people that have said this same statement to me about God. For someone who is searching, who has been hurt by other "Christians", who feels lost in "the house of the Lord"... this breaks my heart. I can easily see how a person gets to this point. I've even had a youth tell me something similar to this, and that youth admitted that the parents wouldn't allow his/her questions to be asked.... "just believe", they would say.

We've forgotten the Good News of the STORY! Not just the story of others, but OUR STORY, tangled up with GOD'S STORY. The power and healing that can come from that. The stories found in the Bible are stories of REAL people with REAL struggles trying to figure out God, faith, and discipleship. The same questions we have today are there, but are glossed over for the turn or burn tactics. They are ignored because it focuses on the humanity of the writers and heroes, and sometimes conflicts with our man-made theology of inerrancy and infallibility. The truth is that these people that are in the Bible, that wrote our scriptures were human just like us. They had struggles and questions. That's the good news. Christ was an inspiration, a salvation for them, and they would bond together in the midst of the questions. They would write letters to people they trusted like Paul, and he would admit his own humanity, struggles, and through that provide (not always answers) but comfort and companionship through the struggles.

This is a sad song, and an even more sad reality. Released in '98, I think that, to me, it is more relevant now than it was 9 years ago. Maybe not...but it sure is in my life. The title is ironic... Christ promised that his yoke is easy...yet there's still a yoke to carry. I feel like today when I visit a lot of churches, or talk to a lot of Christians, the yoke they carry is a shadow, an illusion of what we are called to carry.

"For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matt. 11:31

if this only a test
i hope that I'm passing, cuz
I'm losing steam but i still want to trust you

peace be still...

Treat Your Smiling Addiction

This video to reminds me of a conversation we had in our Discussion Group this week. The question of whether Christianity has put itself on a realistic pedestal where people don't feel as if they are allowed to be real. I mentioned that we hear this in invocational prayers at the beginning of worship services (of which I've said myself before thinking about it): "God, help us to leave whatever is on our hearts...whatever is weighing us down outside so we can focus only on you."

I don't think that this is realistic. People can't just LEAVE their problems, thoughts, emotions on the front steps. You can't just put those things down. Thus, we use our coping mechanism of putting on the fake smile and simply ignoring the problems as we enter the place where we pray to be confronted by God.

One of the phrases I picked up from another cynic in Div. school about church ministry is how ministers are expected to "put on their smiley faces and be go be seen" on Sunday mornings. That's because it is what is expected of you. Pastors aren't supposed to be down, but always have a smile on their face.

I've actually had a Sunday morning where I wasn't my usually cheery self, and when I got the courtesy, "how are you today, " I simply said, "well, I've been better... not my best week." I actually had that person look at me like I was an alien. They simply said, "Well, it'll get better." and walk off with a smile on their face to greet others. No question on why, or what happened... I caught them off guard with an authentic answer.

Now I'm not saying that ministers should be a point of joy in people's lives. I'm NOT saying that ministers shouldn't be the embodiment of HOPE in their demeanor. I'm just saying that perhaps sometimes, we have to let ourselves off the hook of expectations and also be the embodiment of questions, uncertainty... of the journey!

I am far from having a "Smiling Addiction" right now. Life has just become too complicated. Interestingly enough, the ONLY place where I've felt any pressure to ignore the tough times I am going through is when at a church. And not just one church, it seems all churches have that expectation. Even if you visit a church, you are more likely to be approached and welcomed if you "wear your smiley face" than if you look like you are a person in need of some lifting up. Where did we as Christians go wrong in this?

Is "happiness the end of common sense"? As the song says? Sometimes it would seem so...at least the Masquerade of Happiness!

so it goes...

A Wake-Up Call?

Blogger Buddie Chris posted this today. Entitled: "Maybe This Should Be A Wake-Up Call..."

he points to an article from thedenverchannel.com about the New Life Church in Colorado Springs, gunman Matthew Murray. I think it's worth the read, both the article, and Chris' thoughts.

What are your thoughts? You can leave them here, or I'm sure Chris would appriciate the conversation on his blog!

The Emergent Bandwagon

An article by Jana Riess from Publisher's Weekly on the concern of how the title of "Emergent" is used in the literary world. It seems that even despite some people's best efforts (I add that link more for humor than spite:), the word "Emergent" sells books. People are truly interested in
1) what is this "Emergent Movement"?
2) how it is relating to their own personal thoughts and lives.

But like all great things, abuses do occur.

Here's this great article by Jana Riess

I really like what she says at the end:
"There is something special going on here, which is why the growing co-optation of the label Emergent for the same-old-same-old Christian books is so annoying. Here's hoping that publishers (and authors) can restrain themselves before the label becomes meaningless."

This word means something to me. It has represented hope, joy, freedom, acceptance, etc... in my life. I certainly don't want this word to become meaningless because of misuse or overuse, because then "Emergent" can become like "Christian", it means differing things to different people!

UPDATE: An interesting response by Steve Knight over on Emergent Village's site to this article. Check it out here!

Gap Between Theological Edu. And Ministry?

I read this blog post today by Jonathan L Walton over on the site: Religion Dispatches: Critical Anaylisis For The Common good. I found it interesting.

In the state of life that I'm in, I've been asking some of these same questions. There is a point where I feel that Div. School did not adequately prepare me for life in the ministry. I don't feel like they addressed enough real-life Ch. issues, what it's truly like to be a minister, or are efficiently addressing the changing world-view that the Ch. is having to deal with.

Now I loved Div. School! Please don't get me wrong. I also think that Campbell Div. School is more in touch with the non-academic side of religion than many other schools. However, there were many classes (like OT, NT, Theology, and my Christian Ed. Classes) that have been very informative and helpful along the way. But there is SOOO much that no class ever addressed. Are our institutions of higher education losing touch with every day ministry? Is there a gap between the classroom and the pew?

Not quite sure where I stand on this, but it was interesting to read this article after the personal thoughts I've had, and even some of the conversations I've had on this same topic.

Please know, I'm not trying to place blame, but as the question, "how can Theological Education be done moer effectivly so that people are prepared for real-life ministry?"

Give it a read and let me know your thoughts!!!

Tony Jones On "Liberal Christianity"

Tony Jones, head of Emergent Village, and a key figure in the Postmodern Christian journey, has an interesting post over on his blog. A person who is constantly called liberal by people who oppose Emergent (as well as ANYTHING that is different from their own beliefs), calls liberal Christians "boring".

I really like this article because, 1) Postmodern Christianity DOES NOT equal "liberal theology, 2) because liberal and conservative are NOT the only options (not black and while, either/or), and 3) because being liberal is not necessarily better than being conservative/fundamental; it's a reaction not progress.

Anyway, check out his post HERE and leave your thoughts!

ADDITION: I was looking back, and I think that this is a fantastic contrast (in a difinitive way for Emergent/Postmodern Christianity) with the video interview/discussion in my last post where Tony is being challenged as a "liberal" (using John Crisham's own word-choice here from his past blogs concerning Tony and the Emergent Movement).

A Friendly Conversation

A conversation/video blog between Tony Jones and John Crisham.
Tony Jones, along with his blog writing, is head of Emergent Village, and has a new book: The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier. John is a Pastor, and a big contributor to the evangelical blogosphere who has been very vocal in his opposition to Tony and the Emergent movement. I thought that this was an enlightening conversation, no matter which side you may fall on. I would love to see more people who profess faith in Christ stop attacking each other and have more conversations.










What are your thoughts? fav. comments? questions? let me know!

A Postmodern Prodigal

“The Prodigal Son” by Tamara Paetkau
DISCLAIMER:

I want to make sure that this is understood. What I am about to type is NOT an interpretation of the story In Luke 15: 11-32 that we traditionally refer to as the "Prodigal Son". (A better title that is in most modern-day Bibles is "The Lost Son" in order to show that story's connection to the the two previous parables usually entitled "The Lost Sheep", and "The Lost Coin").

What I am giong to do comes close to allagory, although that is not my intent. An allagorical view/interpretation ruined the meaning of this passage for centuries. But again, I am not attempting an interpretation. My goal is to try to help others hear how this story could be (and is) connecting and reflecting the reality for many people.

I have sat on this entry for some time, thinking about it, praying about it, and talking with others who have helped validate and encourage this parallel between the story in Luke 15, and the reality that many people are facing in their faith and lives. First, this story is a PARABLE! Parables were stories that had some deeper meaning. Often they were story-puzzles that took people from something they were familiar with (farming, fishing, laboring, plants, animals, etc...), with which they would IMMIDIETLY connect, to some sort of twist, lesson, or conundrum on which they were to ponder. They usually go something like this:

Familiar story item/job/character----->new cultural/universal teaching---> Personal absorption and application.


I draw heavily on the SPIRIT of a parable, and try to focus there. This post centers around two similar questions: Since the power and longevity of parables START with us connecting to them, how then are many people today connecting with this timeless parable? How are many Postmodern people finding THEIR story in the story of the Lost Son?


Let's examine the story from a POV that many have expressed to me:
_____________________________

There are 3 Characters to the story: The younger son, The older son, and The father.

The majority of the tale centers around the younger son who goes up to his rich father and asks for his inheritance. The story never really gives the answer as to WHY the son wants to leave. I think that's one purpose. It leaves the door open for our own experiences to answer that question. The biggest reason this is considered the most beloved parable of all time (within the Bible and out) is because we can connect with this story in some personal way. How many times have we heard this story and looked at the son and said, "that's me!"?

We don't know what happened to make the son ask for his inheritance before his father's death. We do know this was a HUGE insult in that culture for a son to make because it was basically saying to the father, "I don't care about you or having a relationship with you. All I want is what I would get if you were dead, because I feel my life would be better with you dead than it is now with you alive!" At its most simple understanding, we find here a broken relationship. What happened? Who knows? All we know is that he would rather be ANY place but at his home with his family right now.

This is where many people today connect much differently than in past eras. The house/home for many has become "the Church". Something has happened between the Church/church and the person. This could be any number of things: they may have experienced pain, neglect, frustration, and/or abandonment. More and more we see people leaving the Church saying, "I'm not fulfilling my life (from a spiritual POV, although They realize that everything about them IS spiritual) here, and I am at the point that I think that I would be better of if you did not exist in my life." I know, harsh words, but I've heard people say things very similar to me and also to the churches they have left. As for the parable, all we know with the son is that he feels like leaving is his only option. Whatever the reason, the son feels that he is in a hopeless situation.

For many people, they feel like the Church owes them something. The Church promised them great things on which the Church never delivered. This could be any number of things. But the feeling is that they've been giving their time and effort, yet are not treated with respect, marginalized, and their ideas and ideals fall on deaf institutional ears. They begin to feel like their current situation, no matter how hard they try to "fix" it, or make it better, never changes! So they feel like their only option is to leave. This is not necessarily RUNNING (although in some cases I'm sure that happens), but hopelessness. so they find themselves in the story as the younger son...not knowing where they are going, but knowing they can't stay where they are. So they depart.

Notice that what the younger son leaves: a) a (familiar) way of living, b) his WHOLE family (father and brothers...possibly representing God and our "church family"), and c) the physical location of the house itself. He leaves the institution itself! That fact isn't missed on many who are finding themselves in the parable in this way.

We know that the son searches, questions, doesn't find what he's looking for! And for many right now, that's where their story stops! They cannot relate to the rest of the story because this is where they are. In limbo. In Purgatory. In hell. In between. Lost, Looking, and Longing for the satiation of their holistic thirst that involves their spirituality.

But there is more to the story of the son: So he begins to return home humiliated, defeated, and willing to beg and plead to be taken back into the life that he once knew, even if it means being at a lower level than he was before. The idea of returning to that hopeless situation is too much for many people. The pain is too deep or too fresh. The wounds haven't healed and their therapy hasn't ended. However, for others, they realize it's better to return to some semblance of what they had/knew than to stay in the limbo they are in. Some return and find another church that meets their needs and helps them fulfill their life-calling. Others go back and sit in complacency in the same environment that they left before...the hopelessness is still there, but they feel they are out of options. Familiar misery is better than unfamiliar wandering!

Now, here's where the story takes a twist that many are connecting with, but far more that connected earlier aren't. As the son is returning home, the father, who is and has been waiting, gets up and comes out of the house and RUNS to meet his son on the path BEFORE he can reach the house. There are many who sees something in this that was never meant to be there (at least I don't think). They see the father (again, usually representing God) LEAVE the institution! We see him kiss his son, and reinstate him as the son he was. The son doesn't have to even say his humiliating speech he's been practicing, The father is just glad to see his lost son again! The connection that many are making is that The "house" (institutional Ch./Religion) and the father (God) are NOT THE SAME THING!

God is bigger than a ch., The Ch., or even Christianity. The son EXPECTS one reaction from the father, but the father stops him and says, "look, you've got it all wrong... you've always had it all wrong! You've missed something. You thought or was taught that THIS was reality, when in fact I am showing you a NEW reality of myself. It doesn't have to be the way it was, it never had to be that way. This is not about a religion, its about a relationship. See, you expected me to act in one way, but I am THE FATHER, I act beyond your expectations, understandings and teachings. Come live in ME, not in your religion or institution." The father presents a NEW picture of reality different from the tradition/former reality that the son perceived when he left.



As Henri J. M. Nouwen shows us in his book, Return of the Prodigal Son, The real lesson in the parable is not about the son at all, but in the end about the father. A father that shows unconditional love, and unexpected reactions that stem from that love. He says that, yes, "at times we are like the younger son, and at times we are like the older son. However, we are called to be like the father." Inspired by Rembrandt's painting (on left), Nouwen spent years contemplating the parable and its meaning in our lives.

At this point in the story, a new view of "the father" is revealed to "the son", and the father redefines the new life and community in which the son returns. This is evident in the confrontation with the second son...the elder and "faithful" one who stayed behind. He stayed true to the "house" and, in his mind, the father. I think that those who allegorize that in staying and practicing the familiar/traditional is the lesser of the two is wrong. At this point, before the father reaches the eldest son, he has done nothing wrong. For those who find purpose in the familiar house/reality/way of living...well, the father was there all along. As a matter of fact I think that's what the father is pointing out.

The second son allows his jealousy, insecurity, self-absorption, insecurities, or simply not understanding get the way of a great historical event! Instead of seeing the joy that has come with the younger brother's return, the elder bro. now sees his own brother as a threat, even though they both share the same father. It's become about protecting his own reality and way of living, and thus the elder bro. misses the point altogether! The younger brother has reunited with the father, and the father wants the two brothers (now with different views of the father/status-quo/reality) to act like what they are...family! But the brother refuses. And what the father says is brilliant.

(a paraphrase)
Look son, all I've had has been yours all along. What have you done with it? I've treated you both with love....yet you can't even come and celebrate this new thing that's happening over here! You can't celebrate your brother, and in turn, you can't celebrate me!! Simply because I'm not acting the way you WANT/EXPECT me to act. I have defied your understanding/concept of me...But I am the father, not you! I do as I please. Now you can sit here and pout and let your anger sizzle. Sit here and think up all of these reasons why your brother is "wrong" and you are in the right. Think of ways to attack your brother and disown him as family. As for me, the father, I'll be over there celebrating our family and our love. I really want you to be there... for me and for your brother! Your brother came back lost and broken, but I have helped to bring life into the lifeless, hope to the hopeless... all because I can defy your dogmatic expectations! Today is a new day! It's the beginning of a new era! You have in front of you a choice... 1) Please, come and celebrate.... join with us and celebrate a new and diverse family that shares the same father... or 2) stay and pout, build up walls that you can defend, build syntax weapons to attack, but me....I'll be over there celebrating! If you choose to stay here with your anger, bitterness, and stubbornness, then you will not find me here!

So, we entitle this story as "The Story Of The Lost Son". But in the end which son ended up "lost"? There is no reconciliation with the elder son in the story. He is left with the choice. I'm not saying that he has to change his ways of going about loving and living with the father... but he will have to change his mindset! And that's where the story leaves us.

I don't preclude to present application from that, that would turn this retelling into an interpretation. I'm only pointing out that 1) since parables work on a level where we personally connect with them, then 2) these are the different levels at which many people's stories are finding connection within the parable. The beauty of this story is that it has the power to transcend time and become our own story. But as Nouwen states, the story is about us becoming like the father. There are points where both sons are not acting like the father... the question is, where do we find ourselves. I see Christians (both Postmodern and Modern) attacked from both sides. Harmony has left Christianity, and many people are beginning to leave with it. Thank goodness that God is bigger than religion! But when we fight amongst ourselves, we help drive them away! And a life with Christ is a better way to live than with the pigs! A life with the father is a better life than one in the limbo where many people who keep leaving are. Shouldn't we ALL be rejoicing when a brother or sister returns to the father, even if they find a different "reality" of the father than we grew up with?

Please don't hit me with exegetical shots here, I want to hear real thoughts... Again, please don't read this as an attack or an interpretation using this passage... Simply a new way in which this timeless classic is connecting with other people...the same way that it may connect with an individual who is fighting drugs, alcoholism, family abandonment, ridicule, ___________ fill in the blank. This story connects with each of us on a very personal level... and that's the story that I'm trying to tell... a new connection!

Exploring The Journey

Yes, I know! I can't believe I'm posting a Louis Vuitton commercial on my site. I don't see what the big deal is about these purses (of course I am biased falling into the category of one who does not carry a purse). But What do I know about fashion. I just see how expensive they are (unless you get a knock-off, and think of where else that money could be used. But that's just me?!?

Anyway, I've been mesmerized by this commercial that I happen to see lately, not because of the product being sold (for the first couple of weeks I couldn't even tell you what they were selling), but for the words and questions they display.

I give a nod to the person(s) that came up with this ad, it resonates with me in a way that is very personal. I don't think I'm the only one...but sorry, I'm still not buying myself a Louis Vuitton bag:)





What are your thoughts? Anything you would add or take away?

What Dreams May Come

I was watching Larry King the other night...no not the John Stewart one (although that was a pretty good one), where he was focusing on Autism. Autism and other mental handicaps are things that are close to my heart. My wife used to work with a sweet autistic kid while getting her Psych undergrad degree. In my own life, my mom worked for a time with The Arc (Formerly A.R.C.), and I also enjoyed volunteering each year for the Special Olympics. I have also volunteered at different schools and facilities that work with such disabilities. This is one group of people that my heart goes out to! I say that, not because I feel bad for the condition they were born into, but more so because they continually teach me more and more about life, hope, love, and ultimately, God.

Here's an example of a young guy with Autism who has one heck of a story to tell for the rest of his life.




And he is telling his story! He's met with President Bush, has been on ESPN, Larry King, and now has a book with his story published!!!

It is so great to see these kind of stories...they warm my heart....bring tears to my eyes, and allow me to thank God for the blessings in my own life that I overlook because I was born healthy and wealthy (meaning born in the wealthiest country in the world, and living above the poverty line... not that I have an abundance, but compared to a lot of people in this world I do live in abundance!!!!). It reminds me that I shouldn't take my life for granted. And it reminds me of the connection I have with all human-beings as God's creation!