July 4th Irony...

Last night I had the pleasure of watching fireworks at a sports park in Temecula with Amanda and her family. It was a great day... just enjoying good company, good games, and good food. And as always, when the fireworks came, I felt my usual tension of gratitude and frustration. Gratitude for family, friends and joyous celebration but frustration nonetheless for the reality of such a celebration--the celebration of military conquest and violent resistance. And my tension was especially heightened when from the loud speakers I heard the voice of Martin Luther King Jr. crying, "let freedom ring." The beauty of that voice calling those words was enveloped in the ironic truth that what King originally meant in those words was completely lost in that celebration. King's definition of "freedom" was indeed quite different from that of the Americans who fought in the Revolutionary War, and it was perhaps also quite different from that of most of the Americans who were oohing and awing at the fireworks in the sky last night. "Let freedom ring" was a call for resistance but not the same kind of resistance that involves canons, bullets, and bombs. King demanded nonviolent resistance. King displayed true freedom and was killed for his freedom though he refused to kill for it. That's the kind of freedom which comes through the king who died for his enemies, the kind which comes through Jesus Christ, the freedom to live freely even in the midst of oppression--free from the need for power over others and free from the will to dominate.

That's why I found it quite ironic when they played King's voice over the loud speaker during a celebration of violent reistance...

"Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to violence and oppression. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love." _Martin Luther King Jr.

A July 4th Blessing

"For the church to be a community that does not need war in order to give itself purpose and virtue puts the church at odds with nations... The battle is one we fight with the gospel weapons of witness and love, not violence and coercion."
_Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon (Resident Aliens p62.)

"I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ; I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land. Indeed, I can see no reason, but the most deceitful one, for calling the religion of this land Christianity"
_Frederick Douglass

Today, may you especially remember that our God is a God of peace and of service, not of war and conquest. May you remember that freedom is indeed free, as Christ gives it freely. And as you celebrate with your families, friends, or neighbors may you find and remember what is worth dying for only to discover that there's nothing worth killing for. If you only have one allegiance to give, give it to Christ--the crucified servant who gives his life for the forgiveness of sins--rather than to any man's flag.

Who's your brother, who's your sister
you just walked passed him I think you missed her
as we're all migrating to the place where our father lives
'cause we married in to a family of immigrants

My first allegiance is not to a flag, a country, or a man
my first allegiance is not to democracy or blood
it's to a king & a kingdom

There are two great lies that I've heard:
“the day you eat of the fruit
of that tree, you will not surely die”
and that Jesus Christ was a white,
middle-class republican
and if you wanna be saved you have to learn to be
like Him

But nothing unifies like a common enemy
and we've got one, sure as hell
but he may be living in your house
he may be raising up your kids
he may be sleeping with your wife
oh no, he may not look like you think

_Derek Webb, A King and a Kingdom

Fourth of July Weekend

The fourth of July is a hard time for me. And to be totally honest, I don't like going to church on on that weekend. The words that get thrown around on Fourth of July weekend are words that amount to nothing less than propaganda. Words like "independence," "liberty," and "victory" are embraced by the church when they should be replaced or subverted. For people who follow Christ (rather than the Declaration of Independence) and take his teachings seriously, the word "Independence" should be replaced by "interdependence." "Liberty" along with true freedom should never be understood as something given to us by a government or founding document nor through the use of violence as in war or "revolutionary war" but only by and through Christ who gave himself for us. The "victory" claimed by American bombs and bullets in the Revolutionary War was not the victory of the church nor a victory to be claimed by the church, our only claim to victory is through resurrection not conquest. But even still, on fourth of July weekend, the church becomes a patriotic gathering where all of these words are used and understood in terms of American triumphalism rather than in the terms of the gospel of Christ.

Idolatry is when we value and fight for something we never needed to begin with. On Independence Day Americans celebrate idolatry, when American soldiers fought and died for something Christ has offered from the very start--freedom. The church continuously misses its' opportunity to point this out.

It all comes back to identity. Are you a Christian who happens to live in America or are you an American who happens to be a Christian? Because if you're a Christian first, you will understand that what America does and even has to do is not what Christ does or would do. You would understand that America's kingdom is not God's kingdom. But if you are an American first then you'll be limited to understanding God's mission in the world in America's terms and by America's restrictions, i.e. war, borders, capitol gain, and foreign relations. Your imagination which should be enraptured by Christ and his kingdom, will be held captive by the world and it's kingdoms.

Do not marry the Church and America to one another. There is no "Christian Nation" and no earthly kingdom which proclaims the gospel of Jesus. This weekend, don't confuse America's definitions for freedom, victory, liberty, and revolution for Christ's definitions.

Go ahead and celebrate this weekend. Enjoy your friends and your family. Humbly celebrate the comfort and wealth we too often take for granted in America. But don't get the gospel of Jesus confused with patriotism. Celebrate tomorrow as "Interdependence Day", a day to remember the love and the need we have for the people around us.

The SOA and Honduras Coup

It's a couple days late but if you've been following what has been going on in Honduras here is an article you should read. School of the Americas Graduate Led Honduras Coup. Here's a quote from the article by Jennifer Svetlik:

...over the past 60 years, the U.S. has meddled frequently in the affairs of Latin American governments to serve U.S. interests and has also trained over 60,000 Latin American soldiers in counterinsurgency techniques, sniper training, psychological warfare and interrogation tactics at the School of the Americas (SOA)/WHINSEC located at Ft. Benning, Georgia. Many of these graduates have been convicted of human and civil rights abuses against their own people upon returning to their home countries. President Obama must acknowledge the link between our nation’s history and the current realities in Latin America. If Obama wants to usher in a new era in Latin American relations, he should do all that he can to make sure that the SOA and other similar schools are closed.

I bet most people, including Christians, don't know that their tax money goes toward such things as the School of the Americas (SOA) which amounts to the equivalent of a terrorist training camp. Among all the other problems there are with taxes, one is that we don't get to choose which systems we support... the State does. This makes taxation a problematic issue for Christians. In the case of the SOA, it is at very least bad stewardship for Christians to support such training. Jesus said, "give unto Caesar that which is Caesar's" but do the lives and bodies of people belong to Caesar? What should our response be to these issues?

Teaching Youth: Hell Yeah!

When people ask me about hell, I will sometimes answer, "it depends on the day." Sometimes I think I am an inclusivist (sometimes people use the term universalist but universalism is a less specific term. In inclusivisim everybody gets saved but it's still Jesus who does all the saving and nobody else), sometimes I'm an annihilationist, sometimes I take a somewhat purgatorial perspective, and on one or two days of the year I might be a traditionalist/metaphoricalist (and I'm never a literalist). In any case I am never comfortable with the idea of an only partially redeemed eschaton which is, I'm afraid, what you get with any theology other than inclusivism/universalism. I'm never comfortable with the idea of God rejecting some people for eternity or being satisfied with some of the people whom he died to save suffering eternally. I'm not ok with a God who's ok with giving up on some people which he apparently must do if he is to stop pursuing after they die and go to hell. And if God does continue pursuing people then I'm not ok with the idea that he cannot defeat hell and eventually save all people.

But I'm also not comfortable with downplaying or even ignoring some scripture which I am afraid you must do if you are to be an inclusivist/universalist... so on those days I end up being an annihilationist... everyone who rejects God is destroyed. At least in annihilationism you can look at the eschaton (what remains) and say, "behold... God has made all things (which still remain) new." And there are still other days when I can basically ignore all my eschatological concerns and say that just as Pharaoh's army died with their king, people who die without Christ die the "second death" and go to eternal damnation. If I didn't believe in a totally redeemed eschaton, I'd have no problems with hell.

Can you see how conflicted I am on this hell issue?

So here's the big question: how do I talk to my students about hell? Well, when it has come up, I admit, I've probably been very vague with them (this probably isn't always a good thing). When it has come up, I tend to focus on the "hell" we see in our own backyard, the hell of which the gates cannot prevail against the church, and our calling to engage it and offer Christ's salvation wherever we see it. I focus on the hell people can go through without Christ and without faith. I focus on what it means to be a Christian here and now, while we're alive, rather than after we die. The bottom line of Christianity has been and should always be life before death rather than life after death. You could read the entirety of the synoptic gospels without ever really asking about weather or not one goes to heaven or hell after death... it's just not the point of Jesus' ministry.The most important thing in life is NOT knowing where you're going when you die... It's learning how to live the life that is truly life before you die.

But I had better be sure that I believe this because now I'm teaching kids and you just can't mess that up. So how do I teach hell to kids? I guess it's ok to be vague if the only other option is to be heretical (that's only a half-joke). I guess I will continue to teach the bible and talk about hell when it comes up. I guess I will continue to focus on what it means to be a Christian here and now and discuss damnation when it comes up. I guess I will continue showing them that life is just better with Jesus in it and I'll try to avoid using hell as a scare tactic and heaven as a carrot on a stick. We'll see what happens...

Please pray for me... and especially pray for the youth of our church.

Don't Set Camp

After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them.And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus.
Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.)
Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud: "This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!"
Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.
As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what "rising from the dead" meant.
And they asked him, "Why do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?"
Jesus replied, "To be sure, Elijah does come first, and restores all things. Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected? But I tell you, Elijah has come, and they have done to him everything they wished, just as it is written about him."

The transfiguration of Jesus is just a weird story isn't it? We've got Jesus going up on a mountain top (a significant place for Biblical events, i.e. Sinai for Moses, Carmel for Elijah, etc.) with his three closest friends on what turns out to be a seventh day--"after six" (a significant number for Biblical events, i.e. the Creation, the Sabbath, Joshua's conquest of Jericho, etc.). It seems that the author is doing everything they can to clue us in that something big is going to happen. And then Jesus is transfigured which is a fancy way of saying his appearance changed. He starts glowing--shiny and white--and talking with Elijah and Moses. Now why these guys? And what in the world are they talking about? There are several interesting things about Elijah and Moses. To mention at least a couple, first of all Elijah and Moses both had significant "mountain-top experiences" in which they saw God "pass by" in some way. Moses saw God's backside as God "passed by" and his face glowed as he climbed down the mountain to give God's people the Torah (Exodus 33:12-23). Elijah was told to go to a mountain to see God "pass by"--which eventually meant silence--so that he could be prepared to hear God and eventually anoint his predecessor Elisha (1 Kings 19). And they both represent something foundational for God's people--Torah and Nevi'im (Law and prophets, two major sections of the Tannakh; the Hebrew Scriptures).

Put yourself in the disciples shoes (and try to forget that your feet hurt from hiking this mountain). You're Jewish. Your whole self identity is built on your having been liberated by Moses from Egypt (even if you didn't actually experience it) and your whole understanding about how to be the people of God is built upon the Torah which God passed down to Moses. And your whole understanding of how to live out the Torah in specific situations, especially while under foreign reign/oppression like that of Rome, comes through the Prophets of which Elijah is among the first. Moses (the Torah) and Elijah (the prophets) are your whole life. And Jesus is your Rabbi--the one you've been following in order to understand as he does how to obey the Torah and the prophets. And here on this mountain, they're talking together and glowing--it's as though God has "passed by" in them. Huge!

But Peter doesn't seem to remember what the "mountain-top experience" are really all about. Peter's best response to seeing God's glory shining through Jesus, Moses, and Elijah is "let's set up camp." He says, "it's good for us to be here." To Peter, even though he's frightened, this moment just feels right--"it is good for us to be here"--and he doesn't want it to end.

I'm sure many can relate. Have you ever had one of those experiences where things felt right? Have you ever had a moment with God that you just didn't want to end? Have you ever thought to yourself, maybe in a moment of sincere worship, "it's good for us to be here"? Sometimes as Christians we live for those moments, the moments when everything seems to come together and everything is right. We live for them in our worship--when God feels close--and we live for them in our ministry--when lives are obviously being changed. We live for the moments when Jesus seems to be glowing. But that's not what those moments are about... they're not what we're supposed to live for. The call of the Christian life is for the moments when Jesus just isn't glowing anymore, when we have to come off the mountain, and when life gets real again.

About the moment when Peter says, "let's set up camp," a cloud envelops them all, a voice which can only be God's voice calls out, "This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!" and Moses and Elijah are gone. "Listen..." the voice says. Now this word listen is interesting especially in light of just how "Jewish" this story has been thus far. "Listen" in Hebrew is the word "sh'ma" which can also be translated as "hear" or even "obey." The Hebrew language does not have a distinction between "listen" and "obey" because they're interdependent. To truly hear, to listen, is to obey because your body is part of you--you listen with your ears and with your hands. To understand is to do. Therefore when God's voice calls out, "listen" God's also saying, "do!" And is thus revealing what the mountain-top experience is really all about. It's not just for the moment, it's not about spiritual euphoria, it's not about staying on the mountain, it's about being on a mission--the mission of Christ. The mission is not on the mountain while Jesus is glowing. The mission is where God feels far away, where the curse is not defeated yet. the mission is down the mountain where the people are.

And just what is this mission? Well Peter, James and John don't seem to understand that either.

They hike down the mountain together Jesus, probably knowing that the disciples might have false pretense about what they're getting themselves into reminds them about death, his death. He does it by mentioning his eventual resurrection. And the disciples don't understand what he's talking about. So just to make sure they're all on the same page, that Jesus is really the Messiah, they ask about Elijah. "Why do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?" They seem confident enough that Jesus is the Christ, they'd better be after what they just saw, but they're wondering about this rumor that Elijah must come first (Malachi 4). Jesus' response is classic, "to be sure, Elijah does come first, and restores all things. Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected? But I tell you, Elijah has come, and they have done to him everything they wished, just as it is written about him." Jesus doesn't get off the whole death part of the conversation. "...Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected?"

After what the disciples just saw they might be tempted more than ever to think that Jesus is going to bring them wealth, prosperity, and victory over Rome. We might also be tempted, after those profound spiritual experiences, to think that there's nothing but good times ahead. We, like the disciples, might forget that the mission is tough sometimes and might even mean taking up the cross. But Jesus reminds them, coming down the mountain, that the mission involves struggle and sacrifice. Jesus says, yeah it's true, Elijah's come (maybe it's John the Baptist) and something big is coming but don't live in the spiritual euphoria, don't set up camp on the mountain-top when you're not there anymore.

Just as Moses went on the mountain-top for a mission--to give the Torah--and Just as Elijah went on the mountain-top to prepare for things ahead, disciples of Jesus go on the mountain-top in order to "listen" to Jesus so that we might obey and follow him on his mission of redemption. Spiritual euphoria is a nice place to visit but not a nice place to set up camp. Jesus reminds his disciples that they're following a crucified messiah--a reject. And we are reminded all too often that things don't always come together, life isn't always nice, God often seems far away if even existent, and Jesus doesn't always glow... sometimes he bleeds and sometimes we bleed. But God gives us glimpses of his Kingdom. God gives us moments of euphoria not in order to tease us but maybe to encourage us for the true mission which is among the poor, the suffering, the sick, and the crucified.

Church is not for church's sake, worship is not for worship's sake, and the mountain is not a place where we should stay. The Christian life, the life of disciples ship is where the people are, where death presides and new life can be offered. Jesus' love is headed down the mountain and it calls us to follow. Don't set camp on the mountain but move to the resurrection.

Theology is Art

I like to think of theology as a kind of peotry; a language for the unexplainable and an imagination for the unimaginable. It's not like science which only says what it can. It's more like a painting whcih invites us to get involved with a truth that goes beyond the brush strokes. It's not safe, like pointing out the obvious, nor is it certain, like the solution to an equation. It's a risk. It risks the failure of missing the point. Like a scultor takes the risk of creativity, the Theologian takes the risk of making mundane that which is truly sacred. As the artist seeks to challenge, enlighten, or inspire the world; the theologian seeks to be phrphetic, to dive deep, and to offer a vision of mission to the world.

I hope theology is an art... I'd much rather be an artist...

A Reminder of God's Love

Have you just thought about it lately? About what Christ did for us? It's too bad that the message is so often superficialized by pastors and Sunday school teachers... it's really too bad because the sacrifice Christ gave to us--to the very ones who continually reject, deny, spit upon, persecute, beat, and mutilate him--should be overwhelming and inspirational to us. But here's the real question; do you ever let yourself be overwhelmed? Or have you trained yourself to shrug it off, to categorize it into your "atonement" box. Do you let yourself be inspired anew by the reality of Christ's love? Or do you pretty much have it figured out to the point where no more reflection is necessary?

Let this serve as a reminder to anyone like me... to anyone who forgets to reflect on Christ's sacrifice, anyone who understands the complexity of salvation to the point that they are prone to forget it's simplicity. Remember that Christ, the person not the idea, really does passionately love you--to the point that he would pursue you as a lover even to death. He loves you and pursues your freedom--freedom from poverty, slavery, sin, death, apathy and indifference--with his own blood and with the tears from his own eyes. He invites you into his love, into his passion; to be people of his resurrection and people who celebrate freedom through peace and interdependence. He invites us to celebrate his salvation by living it out in community with others.

However vastly complex the gospel may be, and it is complex, remember that it is equally vast in it's simplicity--the God who created the world offers life and salvation for free, as a gift that cannot be bought or sold as a commodity or a possession, to whoever might accept it. And as a lover who has forsaken all to pursue his lover, God invites you to forsake all else to live the life of the beloved. God invites you to let your passion and your love get involved with your faith... that it will not just be an idea but a spring of water welling up to eternal life. Take the time to reflect in worship and remember the simple and passionate love God has for you.

Exodus Solidarity

I was re-reading the story on the Exodus last night and found myself really wrestling with it's message. It's so difficult for me to grapple with the idea of a God who turns rivers to blood and kills first born children (that sounds like something Pharaoh's and Herods would do). It's a difficult story to say the least but paradoxically it's a profoundly hope filled story. At the same time that lives are taken, lives are saved. By the shedding of blood Israel is saved. On the one hand, this story is a continuation of history as we know it--kingdoms take power by shedding blood. But on the other hand it's completely new event in history--slaves are heard and liberated by an all-powerful God (this would be backwards logic in the ancient world).

Interestlingly enough, when slaves are set free some others are set free with them (Exodus 12:38)--this is a blessing not just to Israel but to anyone who would take part in Israel's liberation. In this aspect of the story, we see that it's also a story about solidarity with oppressed people. When Israel (the nation of slaves) flees from Egypt (the most powerful nation in the world), it would seem by the world's logic that only a fool would flee with them. But others did leave Egypt with the Israelites. What were those "others" thinking? Who would run from Egypt? Who would leave the most powerful nation in the world to be with the ones whom they are oppressing? Who would leave wealth to find "liberation"? It defys logic to leave the wealth of Egypt to wander in the desert with the oppressed. But how did it work out for the people who stayed? When Egypt fell, when Pharaoh fell, those who found themselves complicit with the empire fell too. All those who found themselves complicit with the most powerful nation in the world suffered and fell with their king.

God's love is on it's way to the poor, the oppressed, and to those who cry out. Where will you find yourself? Will you leave the comfort of Egypt to wander with the oppressed? Or will you find yourself complicit with their oppressors--an even worse sort of captivity? Will you sell all you have and follow God's love? Or will you weep for you have great wealth?

God is a God who sets captives free--captives of slavery and captives of wealth--free to worship in the wilderness.

In Jesus we see the the paradoxical and yet unmistakable departure from the pattern of history. In Jesus Christ, the captives are set free by the shedding of his blood and not of that of his ememies. And we see the continuation of that "new" event of backwards logic--the liberation of captives by the hand of an all-powerful God. In following Jesus, Israel incarnate, we flee from the captivity of slavery and wealth to wander and to worship in the desert.

When the slaves are set free may we be set free with them.

40 Ways to Celebrate Interdependence Day on July 4

As July 4th approaches, we should all check out this great article by Shane Claiborne: "40 Ways to Celebrate Interdependence Day on July 4"

"It’s wild how easily we get sidetracked from Holy days by holidays, and how quickly we can smother our central identity in Christ with other identities such as our national identity...above all, we want to remember that our deepest allegiance and identity run deeper than nation. And that may take some creativity to remember with all the fireworks popping and national anthems playing [on July 4th]..."

"...our heroes are not war heroes, but heroes of the Cross, folks who have died as Jesus did, loving their enemies. We want to remember that our Bible does not say 'God so loved America,' but that 'God so loved the world.'..." Read the whole thing.