Posts Tagged ‘America’

Multiracial church?

There are multiple problems that attribute to evangelicalism’s position on race issues. Firstly, premillennialism became the dominant eschatological view during these sad years. Such a view sees the world as evil and in rapid decay until Christ returns (p. 47). Thus, social reform has been seen as unimportant, and evangelicalism’s sole purpose has become “saving souls” for heaven. Often, from an evangelical standpoint, social reform is left to the misguided, mainline churches. American evangelicalism finds itself as a far from innocent bystander on the issues surrounding race and a promoter of the status quo. The dichotomy of evangelism and social action is a false one, and, unfortunately, premillennialism encourages it. Thus, premillennialism must change or cease to exist.

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Race and the Church in America

Christian congregations, when possible, should be multiracial. It is unlikely that any Christian would disagree with such a proposition outright. However, the overwhelming majority of Christian congregations in America do not reflect racial diversity, and this is even truer within the evangelical tradition. Evangelical congregations, holding to a firm belief that the entire world must hear about the salvation offered by Jesus, should be at the forefront of making the above proposition a reality, but, unfortunately, this is not the case. Thus, evangelicals must take to task the proposition that all churches, when possible, should be multicultural.

When authors Curtiss Paul DeYoung, Michael O. Emerson, George Yancey, and Karen Chai Kim were writing the book United by Faith: the Multiracial Congregation as an Answer to the Problem of Race, the magazine Christianity Today summed up much of what the authors have proposed. The authors define a multiracial congregation as that which 80 percent or more of the church’s membership is made up of one race. The lack of multiracial congregations is simply unacceptable since the racial landscape of America has changed dramatically even over the last few decades. As the article states, “In absolute numbers, the United States had well over 35 million more people of color in 2000 than it did in 1980” (par. 5; emphasis original).

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I have not done one of these in a long time, but I feel that I should update everyone a little on my life.

Kid #2

Highlights:

1. Amanda is pregnant, and we just found out last Thursday that this one will be a boy! His name will be “Evan” named after my grandfather, father, and me (in that order, too). I am very excited. As a dad, you have fantasies of playing catch with your son, going to games together, camping, fishing, etc. I hope to do all these things and more. Giselle tries her best to pronounce “Evan.” It started like “Ibann,” and now sounds more like “Ebbin.” Close enough.
2. Yesterday, our church plant Redemption Church voted Gary Alloway as our pastor. Gary had been with us from the beginning, and we on the leadership team believed God had called him to be our pastor. However, we wanted confirmation from the congregation, as well. This was confirmed! Pastor Gary Alloway.
3. I am in my second semester at my job, and I am beginning to feel like I know what I am doing. Overall, I love my staff and the people I work with. This sounds bad, but I like my job more than I thought I would. I guess that’s a good thing.

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Memorial Day was this past Monday, and, like most Americans, I enjoyed my day off of work. I spent time with friends and family, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. If anyone saw me, you’ll notice I didn’t wear anything with red, white, and blue. I didn’t wear anything that said, “Support our troops” or “Pray for our troops.” I didn’t wave an American flag. It’s not that I’m not proud to be American (in the same way, that I may be proud to be English if I was born in England). I am proud of many things America does, and, on the other hand, I’m not proud of many other things. The thing is, as Christians, we are called to salute a different Commander-in-chief, that is, Jesus Christ. He is our King, and I do not and will not compromise my allegiance to this King. However, even though the premise of Memorial Day is a dark one (in that, it surrounds the death of individuals), I believe it provides us with many reminders.

1. Memorial Day is a good reminder that Death, though wounded, is alive and still strong. Christ has defeated Death, wounded it, and it will one day be eradicated. However, Memorial Day reminds us that Death still…err…kills people. American troops over many years have died because the problem of Death still exists. Any thoughts to the contrary are contested on days like Memorial Day.

2. Memorial Day is a reminder that the Christian family is trans-national. Christ, who is my brother and my God, has shown me that his family is anyone who does the will of the Father, and, so Christians, no matter our national boundaries, are brothers and sisters of one another. As Christians, it is not America versus the rest of the world. It is not “God Bless America” only, but it is, as one bumper sticker says, “God bless the whole world. No exceptions.” I do pray that God blesses America, but I do pray that God bless Iraq, England, France, and the rest of the world. Lord knows, we need his blessing. But what would it be like if the one firing the bullet thought that his or her brother may be on the other end? Wouldn’t that change his or her perspective?

3. Memorial Day is a reminder that those who live by the sword, die by the sword. It is likely no secret to many of you that I align myself with non-violence, and it sickens me (and I believe the heart of Christ) when the sword, no matter who is wielding it, kills someone. The Roman Empire was a clear-cut example of living and dying by the sword. They took over “the world” through massacring and waging war against other nations, spreading their ideals throughout “the world.” Their fall was also by the end of the sword. Barbarians took over parts of Rome (which was already weak from violence and betrayal in other areas) by wiping out its rulers.

4. Memorial Day is a reminder to love those even those who disagree with you. One could easily withdraw from society on Memorial Day. One could easily say, “No, thanks,” to the multitude of barbeques. However, Christ calls us to love the people of the world even if we don’t agree with what they celebrate. [To other Christian, non-violent “ordinary radicals” (Shane Claiborne reference), Memorial Day is a good reminder to love people where they are, not what they have been. It would be un-Christlike to treat soldiers in any other way than with the love of Christ.]

5. Memorial Day is also a good reminder to follow the Church calendar, which is not focused around things like consumerism and Empire, but a reminder to shape our lives around the story of Christ and his Church. Reminder: Pentecost (in the West) is on May 31st and is the single, most important day for the celebration of the Holy Spirit. Sadly, many focus their churches and lives around the American calendar and won’t even acknowledge these things.

I don’t write about sports too much on this blog, but I do pay close attention to it so maybe I will write more about sports in the future.

So, apparently, the Yankees, after signing CC Sabathia for $161 million and signing AJ Burnett for $82.5 million, are now signing Mark Teixeira paying him $180 million for 8 years. All I have to say is, “Enough is enough.”

Maybe, I understand this a little more now than I did before because I recently lost my job. The Yankees’ administration, in their high spending, is what’s wrong with humanity when it gets loads of cash — we think we can always buy what we want. In their case, it’s a world championship. The economy as it is, and unemployment as it is, the Yankees have the audacity (yes, audacity) to throw this amount of money to baseball player (people who get paid to play a game 12 year-old boys play for fun, mind you).

It’s not just the Yankees. Professional sports just go way to far with this. I don’t claim to know anything about economics, but what about who produce so much more than what they get paid for? Like farmers? What about janitors? Or factory workers? What about inner-city teachers? Or social workers? (Or pastors?) Or my mailman? Or police officers? These people pour their hearts out (many of which simply support multi-million dollar companies somewhere) and get little return for what they produce. I suppose, what I am saying is that our economy needs to be turned on its head, and we need to spread some of the wealth (this isn’t an Obama plug, but, if you want it to be, then, I’m OK with that). I mean, seriously, my junior high janitor cleaned the whole school, and what did he get paid? Minimum wage?

I know I have friends who are fans of the Yankees. My main argument is not against the Yankees (necessarily; If the Phillies did it, it would be a problem, too), but against (a) the continual “fiscal flaunting” of the “haves” when the economy is in shambles and (b) our upside-down economy where the “have-nots” produce way more than what they get paid for.

Dear Yankees, Dear CEOs, Dear America, Dear Obama, Dear President Bush, Dear World, enough is enough.

Wow, politics again. What is this?

Today, I would like to address “value voting” (I’ve seen/heard a lot of this growing up but one example of what I’m talking about here). I do believe that “value voters” are wonderful people who mean well. Mostly, these voters are composed of conservative, evangelical Christians (because we all know we evangelicals have all the right values, right?). But the more I hear about what the Christian “values” are that I should be voting on, I’m not sure what’s so “Christian” about them.

When did border control become a Christian issue? When did school choice become Christian? When did tax increase become Christian? When did individual property ownership become Christian? When did who become the next Judicial appointees become Christian? When did fighting against social healthcare become Christian? When did capitalism, democracy, and disarming other countries of nuclear arms (and, interestingly, not ourselves) become Christian values? 

In all honesty, they sound more like American values (particularly, Republican) than anything else, don’t they?

I do believe there are certain Christian responses to certain issues. However, the answers I’ve heard from many Christians to the above issues don’t always sound that Christian. Plus, many of those seem morally neutral when it comes to our faith. 

Remember: “Christian” is essentially another way of saying “little Christs,” as the early followers were called in Antioch. It seems that we “little Christs” in America have become more like “little [Uncle] Sams” [who ironically wants/chooses you like Jesus chooses us (John 15v16)].

I think if we “little Christs” took seriously (I’m not using this lightly) the words of Jesus, many of these “values” for which I should be voting on would wash away. For instance, if we really believed “blessed are the peacemakers,” would we support blowing all the terrorists away to “in the name of the Lord.” We would try to be creative in order to choose peace. If we really believed Jesus when he said, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me, to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4v18-19), would we still be collecting debt from third-world countries who can’t afford it? If we really believed Jesus that “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28v17), then wouldn’t we stop being so paranoid (yes, Americans can be the most paranoid of people) about who has what nuclear arms and just rest in Jesus? If we took seriously God’s concern for the poor and foreigners amongst us - “When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God” (Leviticus 23v22) - or “love your neighbor as yourself” - would we care so much about individual property ownership?

I’m not sure what all the answers are to political issues, but I know that we don’t normally think about these things. We tend to be lazy in our responses.

What are our values?

Figure it out (feel free to comment). But let’s put Christ above the American flag. We’re are little Christs.

Let Paul’s words resonate within you when choosing what our values are  - we must think differently than the world - “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12v2). 

Wow, politics again. What is this?

Today, I would like to address “value voting” (I’ve seen/heard a lot of this growing up but one example of what I’m talking about here). I do believe that “value voters” are wonderful people who mean well. Mostly, these voters are composed of conservative, evangelical Christians (because we all know we evangelicals have all the right values, right?). But the more I hear about what the Christian “values” are that I should be voting on, I’m not sure what’s so “Christian” about them.

When did border control become a Christian issue? When did school choice become Christian? When did tax increase become Christian? When did individual property ownership become Christian? When did who become the next Judicial appointees become Christian? When did fighting against social healthcare become Christian? When did capitalism, democracy, and disarming other countries of nuclear arms (and, interestingly, not ourselves) become Christian values? 

In all honesty, they sound more like American values (particularly, Republican) than anything else, don’t they?

I do believe there are certain Christian responses to certain issues. However, the answers I’ve heard from many Christians to the above issues don’t always sound that Christian. Plus, many of those seem morally neutral when it comes to our faith. 

Remember: “Christian” is essentially another way of saying “little Christs,” as the early followers were called in Antioch. It seems that we “little Christs” in America have become more like “little [Uncle] Sams” [who ironically wants/chooses you like Jesus chooses us (John 15v16)].

I think if we “little Christs” took seriously (I’m not using this lightly) the words of Jesus, many of these “values” for which I should be voting on would wash away. For instance, if we really believed “blessed are the peacemakers,” would we support blowing all the terrorists away to “in the name of the Lord.” We would try to be creative in order to choose peace. If we really believed Jesus when he said, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me, to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4v18-19), would we still be collecting debt from third-world countries who can’t afford it? If we really believed Jesus that “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28v17), then wouldn’t we stop being so paranoid (yes, Americans can be the most paranoid of people) about who has what nuclear arms and just rest in Jesus? If we took seriously God’s concern for the poor and foreigners amongst us - “When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God” (Leviticus 23v22) - or “love your neighbor as yourself” - would we care so much about individual property ownership?

I’m not sure what all the answers are to political issues, but I know that we don’t normally think about these things. We tend to be lazy in our responses.

What are our values?

Figure it out (feel free to comment). But let’s put Christ above the American flag. We’re are little Christs.

Let Paul’s words resonate within you when choosing what our values are  - we must think differently than the world - “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12v2). 

Wow, politics again. What is this?

Today, I would like to address “value voting” (I’ve seen/heard a lot of this growing up but one example of what I’m talking about here). I do believe that “value voters” are wonderful people who mean well. Mostly, these voters are composed of conservative, evangelical Christians (because we all know we evangelicals have all the right values, right?). But the more I hear about what the Christian “values” are that I should be voting on, I’m not sure what’s so “Christian” about them.

When did border control become a Christian issue? When did school choice become Christian? When did tax increase become Christian? When did individual property ownership become Christian? When did who become the next Judicial appointees become Christian? When did fighting against social healthcare become Christian? When did capitalism, democracy, and disarming other countries of nuclear arms (and, interestingly, not ourselves) become Christian values? 

In all honesty, they sound more like American values (particularly, Republican) than anything else, don’t they?

I do believe there are certain Christian responses to certain issues. However, the answers I’ve heard from many Christians to the above issues don’t always sound that Christian. Plus, many of those seem morally neutral when it comes to our faith. 

Remember: “Christian” is essentially another way of saying “little Christs,” as the early followers were called in Antioch. It seems that we “little Christs” in America have become more like “little [Uncle] Sams” [who ironically wants/chooses you like Jesus chooses us (John 15v16)].

I think if we “little Christs” took seriously (I’m not using this lightly) the words of Jesus, many of these “values” for which I should be voting on would wash away. For instance, if we really believed “blessed are the peacemakers,” would we support blowing all the terrorists away to “in the name of the Lord.” We would try to be creative in order to choose peace. If we really believed Jesus when he said, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me, to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4v18-19), would we still be collecting debt from third-world countries who can’t afford it? If we really believed Jesus that “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28v17), then wouldn’t we stop being so paranoid (yes, Americans can be the most paranoid of people) about who has what nuclear arms and just rest in Jesus? If we took seriously God’s concern for the poor and foreigners amongst us - “When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God” (Leviticus 23v22) - or “love your neighbor as yourself” - would we care so much about individual property ownership?

I’m not sure what all the answers are to political issues, but I know that we don’t normally think about these things. We tend to be lazy in our responses.

What are our values?

Figure it out (feel free to comment). But let’s put Christ above the American flag. We’re are little Christs.

Let Paul’s words resonate within you when choosing what our values are  - we must think differently than the world - “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12v2). 

Wow, politics again. What is this?

Today, I would like to address “value voting” (I’ve seen/heard a lot of this growing up but one example of what I’m talking about here). I do believe that “value voters” are wonderful people who mean well. Mostly, these voters are composed of conservative, evangelical Christians (because we all know we evangelicals have all the right values, right?). But the more I hear about what the Christian “values” are that I should be voting on, I’m not sure what’s so “Christian” about them.

When did border control become a Christian issue? When did school choice become Christian? When did tax increase become Christian? When did individual property ownership become Christian? When did who become the next Judicial appointees become Christian? When did fighting against social healthcare become Christian? When did capitalism, democracy, and disarming other countries of nuclear arms (and, interestingly, not ourselves) become Christian values? 

In all honesty, they sound more like American values (particularly, Republican) than anything else, don’t they?

I do believe there are certain Christian responses to certain issues. However, the answers I’ve heard from many Christians to the above issues don’t always sound that Christian. Plus, many of those seem morally neutral when it comes to our faith. 

Remember: “Christian” is essentially another way of saying “little Christs,” as the early followers were called in Antioch. It seems that we “little Christs” in America have become more like “little [Uncle] Sams” [who ironically wants/chooses you like Jesus chooses us (John 15v16)].

I think if we “little Christs” took seriously (I’m not using this lightly) the words of Jesus, many of these “values” for which I should be voting on would wash away. For instance, if we really believed “blessed are the peacemakers,” would we support blowing all the terrorists away to “in the name of the Lord.” We would try to be creative in order to choose peace. If we really believed Jesus when he said, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me, to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4v18-19), would we still be collecting debt from third-world countries who can’t afford it? If we really believed Jesus that “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28v17), then wouldn’t we stop being so paranoid (yes, Americans can be the most paranoid of people) about who has what nuclear arms and just rest in Jesus? If we took seriously God’s concern for the poor and foreigners amongst us - “When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God” (Leviticus 23v22) - or “love your neighbor as yourself” - would we care so much about individual property ownership?

I’m not sure what all the answers are to political issues, but I know that we don’t normally think about these things. We tend to be lazy in our responses.

What are our values?

Figure it out (feel free to comment). But let’s put Christ above the American flag. We’re are little Christs.

Let Paul’s words resonate within you when choosing what our values are  - we must think differently than the world - “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12v2). 

Wow, politics again. What is this?

Today, I would like to address “value voting” (I’ve seen/heard a lot of this growing up but one example of what I’m talking about here). I do believe that “value voters” are wonderful people who mean well. Mostly, these voters are composed of conservative, evangelical Christians (because we all know we evangelicals have all the right values, right?). But the more I hear about what the Christian “values” are that I should be voting on, I’m not sure what’s so “Christian” about them.

When did border control become a Christian issue? When did school choice become Christian? When did tax increase become Christian? When did individual property ownership become Christian? When did who become the next Judicial appointees become Christian? When did fighting against social healthcare become Christian? When did capitalism, democracy, and disarming other countries of nuclear arms (and, interestingly, not ourselves) become Christian values? 

In all honesty, they sound more like American values (particularly, Republican) than anything else, don’t they?

I do believe there are certain Christian responses to certain issues. However, the answers I’ve heard from many Christians to the above issues don’t always sound that Christian. Plus, many of those seem morally neutral when it comes to our faith. 

Remember: “Christian” is essentially another way of saying “little Christs,” as the early followers were called in Antioch. It seems that we “little Christs” in America have become more like “little [Uncle] Sams” [who ironically wants/chooses you like Jesus chooses us (John 15v16)].

I think if we “little Christs” took seriously (I’m not using this lightly) the words of Jesus, many of these “values” for which I should be voting on would wash away. For instance, if we really believed “blessed are the peacemakers,” would we support blowing all the terrorists away to “in the name of the Lord.” We would try to be creative in order to choose peace. If we really believed Jesus when he said, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me, to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4v18-19), would we still be collecting debt from third-world countries who can’t afford it? If we really believed Jesus that “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28v17), then wouldn’t we stop being so paranoid (yes, Americans can be the most paranoid of people) about who has what nuclear arms and just rest in Jesus? If we took seriously God’s concern for the poor and foreigners amongst us - “When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God” (Leviticus 23v22) - or “love your neighbor as yourself” - would we care so much about individual property ownership?

I’m not sure what all the answers are to political issues, but I know that we don’t normally think about these things. We tend to be lazy in our responses.

What are our values?

Figure it out (feel free to comment). But let’s put Christ above the American flag. We’re are little Christs.

Let Paul’s words resonate within you when choosing what our values are  - we must think differently than the world - “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12v2).