"It is not a sin to be rich. There must be a reason why some people can afford to live well. They must have worked for it. But I tell you this provokes avarice, and there comes sin. Richness is given by God and it is our duty to divide it with those less favoured.
Some time ago, a Hindu gentleman was asked: 'What is a Christian?' And he gave a very simple and very strange answer: 'A Christian is giving.' And right from the beginning we find that it is really just giving. God loved the world so much that he gave his Son -- the first great giving. Being rich he became poor for you and me. He gave himself totally. But that was not enough. He wanted to give something more -- to give us the chance to give to him. So he made himself the hungry one, the naked one so that we could give to him.
Let us not be satisfied with just giving money; money is not enough for money one can get. The poor need our hands to serve them, they need our hearts to love them. Let us give, not from our abundance but until it hurts. Let us make ourselves poor for him."
(Taken from "Life in the Spirit" 53)
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Mixed Bag
The following is addressed to my conservative evangelical friends:
First of all, I want to be perfectly clear: I, too, lament the fact that one of Obama's first acts as president was to sign a bill which would rescind the Mexico City Policy thereby providing funding for abortions overseas. I believe abortion to be one of the greatest evils on the face of the earth and that history will one day prove pro-life advocates to be in line with civil rights leaders, abolitionists, and the best of humanitarians. On this particular issue I strongly disagree with the Obama administration although I applaud his efforts to work with both conservatives and liberals on promoting realistic measures to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies and abortions -- primarily by fighting poverty.
That being said, I am disturbed by all of the conservatives who have already begun to gripe about the new administration. Obama's first act was to set a deadline for the closing of Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Gitmo, most Americans do not realize, is an icon of American oppression to the rest of the world. Our ideal of presumed innocence is flaunted as the world hears stories of innocent victims incarcerated without an opportunity to defend themselves. Gitmo is a blight on our ideals as a nation; the world sees this and rightly calls us hypocritical. Human rights activists the world over are rejoicing that this emblem of oppression is coming to an end. Christians would do well to join the chorus.
Obama's second act as president was to outlaw the practice of water-boarding, overturn the Bush administration's lax approach to torture, and align America once again with the Geneva Convention. Once again, human rights advocates rejoice. Americans are a people who abhor torture in all of its forms and condemn countries like China who, behind closed doors, practice such methods of interrogation. Obama rightly believes that we must "reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals" and that America's founders understood that "our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint." (By the way, I heard Bill O'Reilly -- that great Bible-believing Christian -- claim that we DO have to sacrifice our ideals for safety).
As Christians, no leader will always reflect the kingdom. We must prophetically condemn that which does not align itself with the sanctity of human life and conservatives are right to grieve over the fact that American money will be used to fund abortions overseas. But let us also rejoice. Let us rejoice that the sanctity of human life is also being uplifted by this administration through its opposition to dark rooms, imprisonment without trial, and torture. Politics will always be a mixed bag for us who know who the true King of Kings is, but let's at least put aside our party lines when we see progress made in the battle for human dignity.
First of all, I want to be perfectly clear: I, too, lament the fact that one of Obama's first acts as president was to sign a bill which would rescind the Mexico City Policy thereby providing funding for abortions overseas. I believe abortion to be one of the greatest evils on the face of the earth and that history will one day prove pro-life advocates to be in line with civil rights leaders, abolitionists, and the best of humanitarians. On this particular issue I strongly disagree with the Obama administration although I applaud his efforts to work with both conservatives and liberals on promoting realistic measures to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies and abortions -- primarily by fighting poverty.
That being said, I am disturbed by all of the conservatives who have already begun to gripe about the new administration. Obama's first act was to set a deadline for the closing of Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Gitmo, most Americans do not realize, is an icon of American oppression to the rest of the world. Our ideal of presumed innocence is flaunted as the world hears stories of innocent victims incarcerated without an opportunity to defend themselves. Gitmo is a blight on our ideals as a nation; the world sees this and rightly calls us hypocritical. Human rights activists the world over are rejoicing that this emblem of oppression is coming to an end. Christians would do well to join the chorus.
Obama's second act as president was to outlaw the practice of water-boarding, overturn the Bush administration's lax approach to torture, and align America once again with the Geneva Convention. Once again, human rights advocates rejoice. Americans are a people who abhor torture in all of its forms and condemn countries like China who, behind closed doors, practice such methods of interrogation. Obama rightly believes that we must "reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals" and that America's founders understood that "our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint." (By the way, I heard Bill O'Reilly -- that great Bible-believing Christian -- claim that we DO have to sacrifice our ideals for safety).
As Christians, no leader will always reflect the kingdom. We must prophetically condemn that which does not align itself with the sanctity of human life and conservatives are right to grieve over the fact that American money will be used to fund abortions overseas. But let us also rejoice. Let us rejoice that the sanctity of human life is also being uplifted by this administration through its opposition to dark rooms, imprisonment without trial, and torture. Politics will always be a mixed bag for us who know who the true King of Kings is, but let's at least put aside our party lines when we see progress made in the battle for human dignity.
Resolution of Repentance
I have heard the call to repent which came from God through the lips of people I love -- the lips of my wife, my father, and some close friends. They bravely rebuked me for something I knew deep down was a problem to be faced, but didn't want to face it. Here is what they have said:
Greg, in your fervor for solidarity with the poor, you have become judgmental to those who do not have the same passion as you. You have chided rich Americans for being rich Americans and refused to meet them where they are. You have spoken loudly and boldly against the dangers of hoarding wealth, but people will not respond to anger. People will only respond to a life well lived and messages given in love.
I have taken this advice to heart. It was not easy to hear. Rebukes never are. Nevertheless, I needed to hear this as I have become yet another one of those angry, envious do-gooder liberals. And so I repent. I resolve here and now to keep my big mouth shut for a while and just live my life according to how I read the gospels. I will try to preach my sermons without words.
Forgive me, blog readers, for being so vitriolic at times. While I do believe that the grossest of injustices in this world need to be prophetically condemned, I have not done so in love. I hope this to be a new beginning for me and for this blog which is a reflection of the inner soul of its author.
Greg, in your fervor for solidarity with the poor, you have become judgmental to those who do not have the same passion as you. You have chided rich Americans for being rich Americans and refused to meet them where they are. You have spoken loudly and boldly against the dangers of hoarding wealth, but people will not respond to anger. People will only respond to a life well lived and messages given in love.
I have taken this advice to heart. It was not easy to hear. Rebukes never are. Nevertheless, I needed to hear this as I have become yet another one of those angry, envious do-gooder liberals. And so I repent. I resolve here and now to keep my big mouth shut for a while and just live my life according to how I read the gospels. I will try to preach my sermons without words.
Forgive me, blog readers, for being so vitriolic at times. While I do believe that the grossest of injustices in this world need to be prophetically condemned, I have not done so in love. I hope this to be a new beginning for me and for this blog which is a reflection of the inner soul of its author.
Monday, January 5, 2009
My Annual Conference Report
Next week as the senior pastor of a Free Methodist Church I am required to turn in a report to my superintendent in which I must enumerate how many people in my church have been "converted." Being a the fussy, troublesome little pastor that I am, I asked the conference to define for me "conversion" to which I was greeted by the following very brief reply:
"The directions for lines 4 and 5 say that conversions are those
who have prayed to receive Christ as their personal Savior..." So, that would mean salvation. How many youth and how many adults were saved during 2008?"
I knew, of course, that such would be the answer. But having taken an entire graduate course on Christian conversion, I was curious to note how my denomination defines "salvation." Evidently, what they want me to report is how many people I was able to cajole into saying the magic words (i.e. the "sinner's prayer" -- Notice that we call this the "Sinner's prayer" and not the "Sinners' prayer" denoting our individualistic outlook on sin and salvation). But I have come to believe over the past 10 years of biblical and theological study that the reduction of the mystery of salvation to the pronouncement of a few magic words is an absurdity and does a grave injustice to the biblical concept of soterios or telios or sozo.
I would like to offer an alternative conference report to the one I am being forced to turn in this week. It would look something like this:
Number of prostitutes who have been told that they are made in the image of God and wept over that fact: 3
Number of addicts who have admitted their bondage, confessed their sin, and sought help through group accountability: 10
Number of sexually abused women who have thrown themselves down at the altar and asked God to heal them: 4
Number of dysfunctional or mentally ill teenagers who have been educated by patient people in the church and listened to for hours on end: 5
Number of hungry mouths fed: easily over 2,000
Number of inner city kids who have now memorized over 3 chapters of the Bible: 5
Number of pastors who have been completely and totally broken down before God and cried out for his help: at least 1
Number of men weekly attending AA in our church basement: 6
Number of people who have smiled and said, "Thank you for what you do; it has given me hope": at least a dozen.
Number of times members of the church have responded to insult or abuse with kindness and patience: thousands.
Now I know that the conference wants the "bottom line." They want me to tell them how many I "got in" so that they can do their little denominational tally. I know that if my number were high enough, my church's name would be read on a list at annual conference as a role model for others. But I don't really want to give them that. Instead, I'd rather tell them stories, show them pictures, and let them eat at our table alongside the poor.
But, alas, this is America. We want numbers -- numbers of "conversions." My suggestion is that we stop counting conversions and start counting conversations.
"The directions for lines 4 and 5 say that conversions are those
who have prayed to receive Christ as their personal Savior..." So, that would mean salvation. How many youth and how many adults were saved during 2008?"
I knew, of course, that such would be the answer. But having taken an entire graduate course on Christian conversion, I was curious to note how my denomination defines "salvation." Evidently, what they want me to report is how many people I was able to cajole into saying the magic words (i.e. the "sinner's prayer" -- Notice that we call this the "Sinner's prayer" and not the "Sinners' prayer" denoting our individualistic outlook on sin and salvation). But I have come to believe over the past 10 years of biblical and theological study that the reduction of the mystery of salvation to the pronouncement of a few magic words is an absurdity and does a grave injustice to the biblical concept of soterios or telios or sozo.
I would like to offer an alternative conference report to the one I am being forced to turn in this week. It would look something like this:
Number of prostitutes who have been told that they are made in the image of God and wept over that fact: 3
Number of addicts who have admitted their bondage, confessed their sin, and sought help through group accountability: 10
Number of sexually abused women who have thrown themselves down at the altar and asked God to heal them: 4
Number of dysfunctional or mentally ill teenagers who have been educated by patient people in the church and listened to for hours on end: 5
Number of hungry mouths fed: easily over 2,000
Number of inner city kids who have now memorized over 3 chapters of the Bible: 5
Number of pastors who have been completely and totally broken down before God and cried out for his help: at least 1
Number of men weekly attending AA in our church basement: 6
Number of people who have smiled and said, "Thank you for what you do; it has given me hope": at least a dozen.
Number of times members of the church have responded to insult or abuse with kindness and patience: thousands.
Now I know that the conference wants the "bottom line." They want me to tell them how many I "got in" so that they can do their little denominational tally. I know that if my number were high enough, my church's name would be read on a list at annual conference as a role model for others. But I don't really want to give them that. Instead, I'd rather tell them stories, show them pictures, and let them eat at our table alongside the poor.
But, alas, this is America. We want numbers -- numbers of "conversions." My suggestion is that we stop counting conversions and start counting conversations.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)