Hymn Number 6 (Menno hymnal)
Heard this one tonight as I was going through files, and it is appropriate.
Here in this place, new light is streaming, now is the darkness vanished away.
See, in this space, our fears and our dreamings, brought here to you in the light of this day.
Gather us in, the lost and forsaken, gather us in, the blind and the lame.
Call to us now, and we shall awaken, we shall arise at the sound of your name.
We are the young, our lives are a mystery, we are the old, who yearn for your faec. We have been sung throughout all of history, called to be light to the whole human race.
Gather us in, the rich and the haughty, gather us in, the proud and the strong. Give us a heart, so meek and so lowly, give us the courage to enter the song.
Here we will take, the wine and the water, here we will take the bread of new birth. Here you shall call your sons and your daughters, call us anew to be salt for the earth.
Give us to drink the wine of compassion, give us to eat the bread that is you. Nourish us well, and teach us to fashion lives that are holy and hearts that are true.
Not in the dark of buildings confining, not in some heaven light years away, but here in this place, the new light is shining; now is the kingdom, now is the day.
Gather us in and hold us forever, gather us in and make us your own. Gather us in- all peoples together, fire of love in our flesh and our bone.
(Crossposted to Facebook, but removed there by me...)
Monday, February 16, 2009
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
hymnology 1
(Warning: I haven't written here in a very long time. I'm tired. And feeling sloppy, since, now that I actually write for a living, I don't have the energy or time to properly edit my other projects.)
Mennonite Hymnal #495
oh let all who thirst, let them come to the water. (let them come.)
And let all who have nothing, let them come to the Lord. (to the Lord.)
without money, without price; why should you pay the price, except for the Lord? (for the Lord?)
And let all who seek, let them come to the water. (Let them come.)
And let all who have nothing, let them come to the Lord. (to the Lord.)
without money, without strife; why should you spend your life, except for the Lord? (for the Lord?)
And let all who toil, let them come to the water. (Let them come.)
And let all who are weary, let them come to the Lord. (to the Lord.)
all who labor, without rest; how can your soul find rest, except for the Lord? (for the Lord?)
And let all the poor, let them come to the water. (Let them come.)
Bring the ones who are laden, bring them all to the Lord. (To the Lord.)
Bring the children, without might; easy the load and light- come to the lord. (to the Lord.)
---
I guess it seems strange, but the final verse is usually my favorite in a lot of hymns, and yet I usually have trouble remembering it. In this case I feel like the bulk of my theological grounding is in the last verse. By "theological grounding" I actually mean the reverse, it is what keeps my head in the clouds, what keeps my faith intact. The reminder that Christ is for those for whom man cares not. That we serve someone greater, because he is Greater.
My struggle with what I think of as "the contemporary church" remains captured by this song. Oh let ALL who thirst. ALL who have nothing. WithOUT price. Why SHOULD you pay the price, except for the Lord? Yet, we have so many "Samaritan woman"s in our midst.* So many of society's outcasts, so many who are so far below us.
This is touchy to mention, but in my work I encounter some tricky situations. Simply put, I have to help people I don't really want to help. People who I don't think "deserve the money." People who don't deserve my help because they've made such poor choices. The system is specifically designed to let them fail, to deny them a safety net... there are many in the church and in middle America, then, who would call me a kind of evil for helping them. I feel shame, but more than once, I've fought the urge to pull back when a client went to shake my hand.
And let all who are weary, let them come to the Lord. (to the Lord.)
There are a lot of weary in our land. There are just so many. If you have never wept for the world, I dare suggest you have never truly reflected the situation. The details are not my place, but it is sobering to realize that literally billions of people lack even nutritional stability, and the luxuries of what I consider a modest lifestyle are beyond out of reach for the vastest majority of all people. That a stable and loving family has become a rare luxury in our nation, is enough to bring tears. That many at home, and many more abroad, will toil all their days to never see true fruit, should bring tears. That many will die as children lacking even food, water, and basic shelter.
I guess it seems sappy on some level to even care about this stuff. After all, it will always persist, and none of our efforts could ever solve it.
I have to confess this out loud. I'm jealous, almost to the point of anger, of Jesus work. I really am, and if you're not, you either haven't thought of it, or you are clearly orders of magnitude smarter than me.
He came to earth as a mostly, apparently normal child.
He lived thirty years or so.
During his short ministry, he could accomplish absolutely anything. Saw a blind man? Spit in the mud, he's cured. A child is dying? The mere thought from a distance, she is revived. Same for Lazarus, even days later- all Jesus had to do was say the words. He got to help people wherever he went, and he got to see real results, right away.
Of course, all those people eventually died anyway, so one would almost wonder the point. Except that they helped spread the message of his final feat: just by dying, he absolved the world of sin.
That one, though, requires some deep thought. It push[ed/es] me to the brink of an odd kind of disbelief; not the disbelief of one who doubts factually, but of one who understands and accepts factually, but can't reconcile the residual apparent injustice. Think of this: if you could save someone's life, by giving your own, would you do it? What if it was seven people? Seven people that you loved? Seven billion people? Twenty billion people, who you loved, who were even your own children? Seems a no-brainer at that point, on at least some level. For Christ's sacrifice to be special, then, it would have to go beyond the no-brainer that most of us ordinary folks would have done.
I'm actually still working through this. I'm strangely trapped- I believe. I don't understand, but I believe. And I'm still not satisfied.
I guess what it comes to for me, and I really do think this question must be answered individually, is symbolism, and cause. That my love would possess me to readily give my life for another is derived from some interesting assumptions- one being, which life is worth more? I'm not God, so it's easy for me to value another's life above my own. I suspect that a better analogy than the above would be, would you give your life for a flock of sheep? Then it seems just rather silly, and there we see that the folly of God exceeds the wisdom of man. Go figure.
Sorry, I drift. Symbolism. If God who created could give of himself for us, both in life and in death, then how should we live? We frequently talk about this in terms of foot washing and similar rites. The rite is culturally obsolete thanks to whoever invented Socks, but the idea remains, and it is the idea that later followers would provide more literal templates for, Sts. Francis and Teresa, who humbled themselves in the extreme to serve the "least of these." I'm sorry for the long wind, I could really go on for hours, and I don't know where I'm headed except that this music has reminded me that I am in fact a Christian, and it means something. We can follow Christ in different ways, and without judging we can acknowledge that others will take it to different places. I'm at a place in my life where it just means greeting the clients I don't want to help, the addicts and frauds, with love, and doing all I can to help them. I can see a place in the future where I get to help in other ways, but I need to focus on those that others deny help and love.
There is so much to be done. I would give more than my life to be able to save the world with a single sacrifice, but he who has that option has already taken it, and left behind a series of tasks for me and others to take.
So, on to the next step, whatever that may be today.
This is provoked by Dave's recent recording on a Sunday afternoon service of the Sojourner's Mennonite Fellowship.
Ben/etc: Thank you so much for the hymnal.
*Please forgive what looks like poor grammar/spelling. If I had used the usual plural, it would have looked like I was singling out a gender, rather than an archetype.
Mennonite Hymnal #495
oh let all who thirst, let them come to the water. (let them come.)
And let all who have nothing, let them come to the Lord. (to the Lord.)
without money, without price; why should you pay the price, except for the Lord? (for the Lord?)
And let all who seek, let them come to the water. (Let them come.)
And let all who have nothing, let them come to the Lord. (to the Lord.)
without money, without strife; why should you spend your life, except for the Lord? (for the Lord?)
And let all who toil, let them come to the water. (Let them come.)
And let all who are weary, let them come to the Lord. (to the Lord.)
all who labor, without rest; how can your soul find rest, except for the Lord? (for the Lord?)
And let all the poor, let them come to the water. (Let them come.)
Bring the ones who are laden, bring them all to the Lord. (To the Lord.)
Bring the children, without might; easy the load and light- come to the lord. (to the Lord.)
---
I guess it seems strange, but the final verse is usually my favorite in a lot of hymns, and yet I usually have trouble remembering it. In this case I feel like the bulk of my theological grounding is in the last verse. By "theological grounding" I actually mean the reverse, it is what keeps my head in the clouds, what keeps my faith intact. The reminder that Christ is for those for whom man cares not. That we serve someone greater, because he is Greater.
My struggle with what I think of as "the contemporary church" remains captured by this song. Oh let ALL who thirst. ALL who have nothing. WithOUT price. Why SHOULD you pay the price, except for the Lord? Yet, we have so many "Samaritan woman"s in our midst.* So many of society's outcasts, so many who are so far below us.
This is touchy to mention, but in my work I encounter some tricky situations. Simply put, I have to help people I don't really want to help. People who I don't think "deserve the money." People who don't deserve my help because they've made such poor choices. The system is specifically designed to let them fail, to deny them a safety net... there are many in the church and in middle America, then, who would call me a kind of evil for helping them. I feel shame, but more than once, I've fought the urge to pull back when a client went to shake my hand.
And let all who are weary, let them come to the Lord. (to the Lord.)
There are a lot of weary in our land. There are just so many. If you have never wept for the world, I dare suggest you have never truly reflected the situation. The details are not my place, but it is sobering to realize that literally billions of people lack even nutritional stability, and the luxuries of what I consider a modest lifestyle are beyond out of reach for the vastest majority of all people. That a stable and loving family has become a rare luxury in our nation, is enough to bring tears. That many at home, and many more abroad, will toil all their days to never see true fruit, should bring tears. That many will die as children lacking even food, water, and basic shelter.
I guess it seems sappy on some level to even care about this stuff. After all, it will always persist, and none of our efforts could ever solve it.
I have to confess this out loud. I'm jealous, almost to the point of anger, of Jesus work. I really am, and if you're not, you either haven't thought of it, or you are clearly orders of magnitude smarter than me.
He came to earth as a mostly, apparently normal child.
He lived thirty years or so.
During his short ministry, he could accomplish absolutely anything. Saw a blind man? Spit in the mud, he's cured. A child is dying? The mere thought from a distance, she is revived. Same for Lazarus, even days later- all Jesus had to do was say the words. He got to help people wherever he went, and he got to see real results, right away.
Of course, all those people eventually died anyway, so one would almost wonder the point. Except that they helped spread the message of his final feat: just by dying, he absolved the world of sin.
That one, though, requires some deep thought. It push[ed/es] me to the brink of an odd kind of disbelief; not the disbelief of one who doubts factually, but of one who understands and accepts factually, but can't reconcile the residual apparent injustice. Think of this: if you could save someone's life, by giving your own, would you do it? What if it was seven people? Seven people that you loved? Seven billion people? Twenty billion people, who you loved, who were even your own children? Seems a no-brainer at that point, on at least some level. For Christ's sacrifice to be special, then, it would have to go beyond the no-brainer that most of us ordinary folks would have done.
I'm actually still working through this. I'm strangely trapped- I believe. I don't understand, but I believe. And I'm still not satisfied.
I guess what it comes to for me, and I really do think this question must be answered individually, is symbolism, and cause. That my love would possess me to readily give my life for another is derived from some interesting assumptions- one being, which life is worth more? I'm not God, so it's easy for me to value another's life above my own. I suspect that a better analogy than the above would be, would you give your life for a flock of sheep? Then it seems just rather silly, and there we see that the folly of God exceeds the wisdom of man. Go figure.
Sorry, I drift. Symbolism. If God who created could give of himself for us, both in life and in death, then how should we live? We frequently talk about this in terms of foot washing and similar rites. The rite is culturally obsolete thanks to whoever invented Socks, but the idea remains, and it is the idea that later followers would provide more literal templates for, Sts. Francis and Teresa, who humbled themselves in the extreme to serve the "least of these." I'm sorry for the long wind, I could really go on for hours, and I don't know where I'm headed except that this music has reminded me that I am in fact a Christian, and it means something. We can follow Christ in different ways, and without judging we can acknowledge that others will take it to different places. I'm at a place in my life where it just means greeting the clients I don't want to help, the addicts and frauds, with love, and doing all I can to help them. I can see a place in the future where I get to help in other ways, but I need to focus on those that others deny help and love.
There is so much to be done. I would give more than my life to be able to save the world with a single sacrifice, but he who has that option has already taken it, and left behind a series of tasks for me and others to take.
So, on to the next step, whatever that may be today.
This is provoked by Dave's recent recording on a Sunday afternoon service of the Sojourner's Mennonite Fellowship.
Ben/etc: Thank you so much for the hymnal.
*Please forgive what looks like poor grammar/spelling. If I had used the usual plural, it would have looked like I was singling out a gender, rather than an archetype.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Who you should vote for
Ok, a followup. First off, I'd like to explain myself. I initially promised that I wouldn't get political on this blog. In a way, that's a pretty silly perspective, since this blog links to my other blogs, on which I am perfectly content with being directly political. I'm not a pastor, I'm not a nonprofit of any sort.
My reason for not putting forth a direct political endorsement on this site is in line with how I feel about a lot of faith-related things. I feel that each individual needs to decide for him or her self what to believe in the political sphere just like in the sphere of faith. But while it is not my place to tell you what you should believe, my purpose here is to discuss values that I believe are consistent with the message of Christ. I don't believe the Christ had much to say on partisan politics.
Actually, that's not entirely true. Christ had quite a bit to say that we could interpret into partisan terms. But it breaks my heart to see us do so. It breaks my heart because I don't really feel that Christ was about divisiveness.
So a lot of people have been saying, "Who would Jesus vote for?" and even going so far as to put a lever into his hand. I will not do that, but I may echo the sentiments of quite a few Catholic clergy who have sounded off on this issue lately.
People I know have talked to me quite a bit about taking a political stance on one or two issues that they feel are the most important for a Christian to vote on. I can't think of more than one, though, so I won't specifically name any.
As Christians, I believe that deciding on an election requires an evaluation of not one or two but all of the issues from a Christian perspective. I'm going to write a short list and accompany each with my opinion. My list is pulled directly from one of the candidates' web sites, and for fairness I didn't use my preferred candidate's.
I hope that my quick rundown of the issues has been helpful. To me, in my evaluation of the candidates based on this list, the decision is very clear. I hope that I have helped to clarify it for someone out there, or at least helped someone who disagrees with me to understand my perspective.
Oh, in case it wasn't perfectly obvious, I used John McCain's list. Barack Obama has a more exhaustive list of issues on his site, and I'd recommend reading it as well as McCain's to help make a more informed decision.
My reason for not putting forth a direct political endorsement on this site is in line with how I feel about a lot of faith-related things. I feel that each individual needs to decide for him or her self what to believe in the political sphere just like in the sphere of faith. But while it is not my place to tell you what you should believe, my purpose here is to discuss values that I believe are consistent with the message of Christ. I don't believe the Christ had much to say on partisan politics.
Actually, that's not entirely true. Christ had quite a bit to say that we could interpret into partisan terms. But it breaks my heart to see us do so. It breaks my heart because I don't really feel that Christ was about divisiveness.
So a lot of people have been saying, "Who would Jesus vote for?" and even going so far as to put a lever into his hand. I will not do that, but I may echo the sentiments of quite a few Catholic clergy who have sounded off on this issue lately.
People I know have talked to me quite a bit about taking a political stance on one or two issues that they feel are the most important for a Christian to vote on. I can't think of more than one, though, so I won't specifically name any.
As Christians, I believe that deciding on an election requires an evaluation of not one or two but all of the issues from a Christian perspective. I'm going to write a short list and accompany each with my opinion. My list is pulled directly from one of the candidates' web sites, and for fairness I didn't use my preferred candidate's.
- American Energy: The energy problem in America is closely related to what is commonly referred to in religious circles as Creation Care. When looking at the two candidates for President and their plans, who is more focused on responsibly managing the resources that God gave us, in order to not only provide for the needs of America and the world, but to do so in a manner that demonstrates good stewardship of the earth?
- Economic Plan: The economic crisis in this country right now was brought about by greed and by irresponsible decision making. In solving this crisis, what Christian principles could we apply? What did Jesus have to say about the rich and the poor? One thing that is loudly thrown around in the debates and commercials is tax policy. It's true, the main difference between taxation and charity is volition. But in America the other difference is magnitude. Studies of charity by income has shown that the wealthy are much less inclined to give of their incomes than the poor. We shouldn't need a study to know that, though, as the Bible illustrated it pretty clearly. In the old testament, the tax rate was set at 10% for those who could afford to give, and a number of economic protections were designed to prevent the poor from accumulating or becoming enslaved by large debts. I've found that few Christians that I've spoken to have actually read much of the financial laws in the Torah. The New Testament shows a different story, a story that is reproduced at the bottom of this page. The Bible presents a message that says that as Christians, we should give all that we can to those who need it more than we do. Which candidate's economic policy is more Biblical in that regard?
- Iraq: Matthew 5:9, "Blessed are the peacemakers." Who has a better plan for making peace?
- Health Care: This really follows the same argument as the Economy discussion, so I won't repeat most of it. When he wasn't working with the poor, Jesus spent much of his time with the sick. Actually, this was one of the many ways in which he didn't discriminate between the rich and the poor. If Jesus felt that everyone, regardless of social standing, was equally worthy of his divine health care, why should we as a nation behave any differently? I urge you to consider which candidate's policy is more similar to Christ's pattern of dealing with the ill.
- Education: I'm not really sure what to say on this one. As far as I can tell, the Bible doesn't talk much about this issue directly. Jesus directly spoke of the importance of imparting wisdom, though, and of caring for the young. I will also suggest relating this back to the overall message of caring for those who can't care for themselves. As a more educated person, my bias is toward whoever is more likely to facilitate higher education for more people, especially as a tool of social mobility. But I'm not sure that my opinion is inherently the most Christlike on that part.
- Climate Change: See discussion under energy.
- Homeland Security: This is an issue where I'm not so sure that the Christian perspective is the appropriate one for government, and that may be a great reminder of the importance of the separation of church and state.
- National Service: The two candidates don't differ much in their rhetoric on this subject, but there is a significant policy difference. One candidate talks about it as a good idea, another candidate talks about using funding to encourage it. Your choice.
- Border Security: I'm again at a loss for the Christian answer to this question. On the one hand we have the "security" aspect of it, by which we need to worry about trying to reduce access for terrorists and other enemies. There is also the smuggling issue, how it relates to the drug trade etc. Finally, the crux of the issue is labor. Why are laborers risking their lives and breaking our laws to come here for jobs that most Americans don't particularly want to do? Why are employers so willing to hire them? What is the right way to treat these people- are they victims, criminals, both, or neither? What should the Church do about it? This is a very nuanced issue.
- Human Dignity and Life: This is a favorite of many Christians. I've met a lot of people who seem to feel that abortion is the only issue on which the Church has a say, and I feel that this feeling is, frankly, wrong. Abortion is part of preserving life, but not the whole thing. Depending on which source you check, as many as 36,000 people die of starvation every day. Something like 13 million per year... roughly 13 times the rate of abortion in America, yet I see a lot more political action directed at reducing abortion rather than starvation. If we are truly pro-life, shouldn't we consider all life? Why is an unborn American life worth more than a born African life? I can see no reason. Similarly, I see no reason why American soldiers lives are more valuable than those of civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Ethiopia, and other places where the reckless imposition of our military force has resulted in needless death.
If life is a priority to you, then please consider which candidate intends to do more to protect not just certain lives but all life. - Fighting Crime: This is certainly a worthy cause. But not particularly one that sets candidates apart from one another.
- Second Amendment: What did Jesus say about swords?
- Veterans: I don't really think that our faith gives us a particular reason to distinguish this group from others. Even so, I think that respecting and caring for those who made sacrifices for their country and in the defense of others is an admirable goal. If you go to www.veteranreportcard.org, you will see how one veterans' organization, the IAVA, graded legislators objectively based solely on their voting on veterans issues.
- Judicial Philosophy: As in, what kind of judges will a future president appoint? This is a very difficult issue to address from a Christian perspective, because we need to consider what may or may not constitute sound judicial practice. Unfortunately, many judicial appointees are chosen based on whether they have a "conservative" or "liberal" value set, neither of which is, in my opinion, appropriate. We should seek judges who are wise. Were this a theocracy, it would be clear that we should seek judges of sound Christian character. Unfortunately, one of the values that we have chosen for this country, and annunciated in the first amendment, is a clear separation between the state and the church. To me, I would like to see a president appoint judges in a completely nonpartisan matter, seeking judges who practice fairness above all, and have a good knowledge of the constitution, as well as a healthy respect for it. I don't see this as a point on which the major candidates differ, and I dare say that both are probably wrong.
- Technology: From a Christian perspective, I would see this as a non-issue.
- Government Reform: As a Christian, I'm going to choose the candidate who shows the best record of integrity and who I feel will place the good of the country and its citizens over the good of an elite few.
- National Security: Covered above.
I hope that my quick rundown of the issues has been helpful. To me, in my evaluation of the candidates based on this list, the decision is very clear. I hope that I have helped to clarify it for someone out there, or at least helped someone who disagrees with me to understand my perspective.
Oh, in case it wasn't perfectly obvious, I used John McCain's list. Barack Obama has a more exhaustive list of issues on his site, and I'd recommend reading it as well as McCain's to help make a more informed decision.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Why You Must Vote
It's almost Wednesday of the second week of October. In most states, deadlines for voter registration have passed. I hope, therefore, that for a lot of you I'm not too late in writing this post.
In 2004, voter turnout was the largest that it ever was. Considering only those who were eligible to vote (by population), slightly over 60% actually turned out to vote. George W. Bush won with an over 2 million person majority, but many would argue that the election was decided in Ohio, where about 50,000 voters would have changed the outcome by voting differently, or 100,000 would have changed it by getting out to vote at all.
But for appropriate comparisons, certainly 2000 would be a more similar year. Without an incumbent, it was a very different fight. It was also a historical election, only the second time the electoral and popular votes disagreed. In that year, voter turnout was a mere 54%. President Bush was elected without a popular majority, and the state many agree decided the election, Florida, was won with just over a 500 vote lead.
In that election, neither candidate got much more than 50,000,000 votes. There are over 300,000,000 people in this country. Its not hard math to see that only one in six people actually voted for the guy who won. In 2004, that ratio was up to one in 5.
I could, but won't, include an exhaustive list of close elections. My point is, in this election, just like in any other, every vote counts.
In this election, most people are going to cast a ballot for Barack Obama or for John McCain, but if history repeats itself, and it usually does, and even greater number of people will vote for nobody at all. In what many would call history's greatest republic, that breaks my heart.
I'm going to float a hypothetical, one which I regret not having put more work and writing into. But I must point out to you that if everyone who chose not to vote for a major candidate had, by some strange coincidence, voted for one third party candidate instead of abstaining, we would no longer have a "major party" president.
I'll put this more clearly. In 2004, about 62 million individuals voted for George W. Bush. That same year, about 69 million voted for absolutely nobody. I don't call it even possible, but if those 69 million had gotten up to go to the ballot, they together could have elected absolutely anyone. They could have elected James Dobson. They could have elected Ralph Nader. They could have elected Ron Paul, or Bob Barr, or Mickey Mouse (though I'm not sure who would actually serve that presidency).
I'm certainly not going to tell you who to vote for, at least not on this blog. But I implore you, vote. If you find yourself closely aligned with a major party candidate, vote for him! But if you don't, there are literally dozens of third party candidates throughout the country. Contact your local election board for a copy of the ballot list, and research the statements of every one of those candidates.
You may say to me, "I don't want to throw my vote away on a third party." First off, if you don't vote, you certainly throw your vote away. Heck, if you vote for a candidate in a non-battleground state where he has no chance of winning those electoral votes, you may be throwing away your vote. But if you and others get out an vote for third parties, you do a few great things for this country.
First, by voting for third parties, you are helping to raise awareness of the inadequacies of the two-party system. You are making a public political statement. Even if your candidate doesn't win right now (though, especially if your voting for a lower office, there's a real possibility that he or she might because of your vote) people will notice, and they themselves will be encouraged by the show of support.
Secondly, your vote is a kind of petition. The constitution and the law in general provides no special status to the two predominant parties. Rather, the party system is supported by some fairly generic conditions. When a third party reaches a certain percentage of votes, it becomes eligible for the same rights and priveleges that the major parties enjoy, such as federal financing and the laws that regulate campaigning.
Personally, I happen to have found a major party candidate in this election whom I support, and who I hope will win. But I won't be voting for him. Instead, I've joined with a supporter of the opposite candidate, and we will together vote for third party candidates. Our choice won't impact the outcome of the election, since we're equally subtracting from both major parties, but we will benefit the third party and the country itself.
I apologize for the length of this post. I hope I've made it clear that everyone should vote. I could go on about this for quite some time, so I'm going to try and take a break from it for a few minutes.
In 2004, voter turnout was the largest that it ever was. Considering only those who were eligible to vote (by population), slightly over 60% actually turned out to vote. George W. Bush won with an over 2 million person majority, but many would argue that the election was decided in Ohio, where about 50,000 voters would have changed the outcome by voting differently, or 100,000 would have changed it by getting out to vote at all.
But for appropriate comparisons, certainly 2000 would be a more similar year. Without an incumbent, it was a very different fight. It was also a historical election, only the second time the electoral and popular votes disagreed. In that year, voter turnout was a mere 54%. President Bush was elected without a popular majority, and the state many agree decided the election, Florida, was won with just over a 500 vote lead.
In that election, neither candidate got much more than 50,000,000 votes. There are over 300,000,000 people in this country. Its not hard math to see that only one in six people actually voted for the guy who won. In 2004, that ratio was up to one in 5.
I could, but won't, include an exhaustive list of close elections. My point is, in this election, just like in any other, every vote counts.
In this election, most people are going to cast a ballot for Barack Obama or for John McCain, but if history repeats itself, and it usually does, and even greater number of people will vote for nobody at all. In what many would call history's greatest republic, that breaks my heart.
I'm going to float a hypothetical, one which I regret not having put more work and writing into. But I must point out to you that if everyone who chose not to vote for a major candidate had, by some strange coincidence, voted for one third party candidate instead of abstaining, we would no longer have a "major party" president.
I'll put this more clearly. In 2004, about 62 million individuals voted for George W. Bush. That same year, about 69 million voted for absolutely nobody. I don't call it even possible, but if those 69 million had gotten up to go to the ballot, they together could have elected absolutely anyone. They could have elected James Dobson. They could have elected Ralph Nader. They could have elected Ron Paul, or Bob Barr, or Mickey Mouse (though I'm not sure who would actually serve that presidency).
I'm certainly not going to tell you who to vote for, at least not on this blog. But I implore you, vote. If you find yourself closely aligned with a major party candidate, vote for him! But if you don't, there are literally dozens of third party candidates throughout the country. Contact your local election board for a copy of the ballot list, and research the statements of every one of those candidates.
You may say to me, "I don't want to throw my vote away on a third party." First off, if you don't vote, you certainly throw your vote away. Heck, if you vote for a candidate in a non-battleground state where he has no chance of winning those electoral votes, you may be throwing away your vote. But if you and others get out an vote for third parties, you do a few great things for this country.
First, by voting for third parties, you are helping to raise awareness of the inadequacies of the two-party system. You are making a public political statement. Even if your candidate doesn't win right now (though, especially if your voting for a lower office, there's a real possibility that he or she might because of your vote) people will notice, and they themselves will be encouraged by the show of support.
Secondly, your vote is a kind of petition. The constitution and the law in general provides no special status to the two predominant parties. Rather, the party system is supported by some fairly generic conditions. When a third party reaches a certain percentage of votes, it becomes eligible for the same rights and priveleges that the major parties enjoy, such as federal financing and the laws that regulate campaigning.
Personally, I happen to have found a major party candidate in this election whom I support, and who I hope will win. But I won't be voting for him. Instead, I've joined with a supporter of the opposite candidate, and we will together vote for third party candidates. Our choice won't impact the outcome of the election, since we're equally subtracting from both major parties, but we will benefit the third party and the country itself.
I apologize for the length of this post. I hope I've made it clear that everyone should vote. I could go on about this for quite some time, so I'm going to try and take a break from it for a few minutes.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Poverty research
So, I'm taking another class that has to do with ministry and the poor.
I have to do a final project in a few weeks.
So, I'm conducting a research study. What is your attitude about poverty?
From my interactions at Houghton College, I had come to believe that the attitude of the typical Christian is pretty peculiar: we care a lot about poverty abroad, but not so much in our own backyard. Lots of anecdotal evidence has convinced me that this is true. But I haven't seen any real science to back up that claim.
I am seeking, in this study, to determine the real attitudes that Americans, Christian or not, hold about domestic poverty, global poverty, the government's role in help, and the charitable role in help.
So far, my results have been very interesting. I'll be publishing the final paper right here.
If you'd like to participate in the survey, and live in the US, click here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=OyL1W2WzAkuADvekK_2fyjMw_3d_3d
Oh, and please publicize this link. My goal is to get 1000 respondents from across the country in two weeks, so every survey counts.
I have to do a final project in a few weeks.
So, I'm conducting a research study. What is your attitude about poverty?
From my interactions at Houghton College, I had come to believe that the attitude of the typical Christian is pretty peculiar: we care a lot about poverty abroad, but not so much in our own backyard. Lots of anecdotal evidence has convinced me that this is true. But I haven't seen any real science to back up that claim.
I am seeking, in this study, to determine the real attitudes that Americans, Christian or not, hold about domestic poverty, global poverty, the government's role in help, and the charitable role in help.
So far, my results have been very interesting. I'll be publishing the final paper right here.
If you'd like to participate in the survey, and live in the US, click here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=OyL1W2WzAkuADvekK_2fyjMw_3d_3d
Oh, and please publicize this link. My goal is to get 1000 respondents from across the country in two weeks, so every survey counts.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Its been a while.
This is a personal entry, but I'm putting it on here because its a big moment in my life.
Tomorrow I am being baptized.
I am wholly inadequate.
I am broken, and that is the correct state to be in.
Christ said, you will do even greater miracles than these.
To understand this moment, you need to understand a (very) little about my faith voyage. I'd become a Christian at a young age, raised in the church, and began to take ownership of my faith in my mid teens. Through high school and into college I was a "good Christian kid" but something was always incomplete. I left Houghton in 2001 in part due to this incompleteness. I left to explore some questions of faith, and as most of you know that voyage of exploration took me into the Navy and around the world. I learned a lot of things that I don't need to take the time to discuss today. But when I returned to Houghton, I was not the person that you know today. I wasn't the person I was when I left, either, but I was not who I am now.
During the course of this year, I've experienced a lot of change and growth. I arrived broken in many ways, and some of those are still lose threads. I've had medical issues that I haven't been shy about sharing. I've struggled with my identity, and with recovery from a broken relationship. But I've been continuing the struggle of my faith and my conscience, and how that relates to that all too important collegiate topic of the future.
In January, Catherine introduced me to Journeys End Tutoring, and I began to experience what it might be like to serve the kingdom outside of myself. I've been gradually awakening to a new aspect of the love of God: that we are meant to radiate his Love to others. That we only live as Christians when we are actively loving others.
I still don't know the shape of my ministry to come. But I have come to know that God has plans for me that are greater than myself, whatever shape those are to take. It could be starting a business among the poor, or working with a more traditional mission setting. I do know that I must serve if I am alive. Christ began his period of active ministry with baptism by John the Baptist, and the spirit came into him in bodily form. I pray that my active ministry will begin in earnest with this baptism. I ask you as a congregation to hold me accountable, that wherever I end up and whatever plan He has for me, that I will be an active arm of the Love of God.
As this date drew closer, I began to focus on spiritual and mental preparation for this event in my life. In preparation, I began to examine my spiritual life, and I found it lacking. I examined my spirit looking for readiness, and all I saw was brokenness.
And as I reflected upon my brokenness, I realized that brokenness is readiness. Christ wants us to come to him broken. In Matthew 5:3 He says "Blessed are the poor in spirit." I've always been intrigued by that verse, because it is so easily misunderstood. It doesn't say "Blessed in spirit are the poor." It says blessed are the poor in spirit. What does that mean? It means we approach the throne with spiritual poverty. It means that we approach God empty, as sinners. And so it is as a broken sinner that I am approaching the throne.
Yet there is a corollary. We approach the throne broken, yet how do we return? John 14:12, "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father." Jesus empowers us to do great works. That's the good news. We come to the throne broken, and he empowers us to do greater works than he himself performed on earth. So I embark on the next phase of my ministry, with hope and faith that He will enable me to do great things.
Tomorrow I am being baptized.
I am wholly inadequate.
I am broken, and that is the correct state to be in.
Christ said, you will do even greater miracles than these.
To understand this moment, you need to understand a (very) little about my faith voyage. I'd become a Christian at a young age, raised in the church, and began to take ownership of my faith in my mid teens. Through high school and into college I was a "good Christian kid" but something was always incomplete. I left Houghton in 2001 in part due to this incompleteness. I left to explore some questions of faith, and as most of you know that voyage of exploration took me into the Navy and around the world. I learned a lot of things that I don't need to take the time to discuss today. But when I returned to Houghton, I was not the person that you know today. I wasn't the person I was when I left, either, but I was not who I am now.
During the course of this year, I've experienced a lot of change and growth. I arrived broken in many ways, and some of those are still lose threads. I've had medical issues that I haven't been shy about sharing. I've struggled with my identity, and with recovery from a broken relationship. But I've been continuing the struggle of my faith and my conscience, and how that relates to that all too important collegiate topic of the future.
In January, Catherine introduced me to Journeys End Tutoring, and I began to experience what it might be like to serve the kingdom outside of myself. I've been gradually awakening to a new aspect of the love of God: that we are meant to radiate his Love to others. That we only live as Christians when we are actively loving others.
I still don't know the shape of my ministry to come. But I have come to know that God has plans for me that are greater than myself, whatever shape those are to take. It could be starting a business among the poor, or working with a more traditional mission setting. I do know that I must serve if I am alive. Christ began his period of active ministry with baptism by John the Baptist, and the spirit came into him in bodily form. I pray that my active ministry will begin in earnest with this baptism. I ask you as a congregation to hold me accountable, that wherever I end up and whatever plan He has for me, that I will be an active arm of the Love of God.
As this date drew closer, I began to focus on spiritual and mental preparation for this event in my life. In preparation, I began to examine my spiritual life, and I found it lacking. I examined my spirit looking for readiness, and all I saw was brokenness.
And as I reflected upon my brokenness, I realized that brokenness is readiness. Christ wants us to come to him broken. In Matthew 5:3 He says "Blessed are the poor in spirit." I've always been intrigued by that verse, because it is so easily misunderstood. It doesn't say "Blessed in spirit are the poor." It says blessed are the poor in spirit. What does that mean? It means we approach the throne with spiritual poverty. It means that we approach God empty, as sinners. And so it is as a broken sinner that I am approaching the throne.
Yet there is a corollary. We approach the throne broken, yet how do we return? John 14:12, "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father." Jesus empowers us to do great works. That's the good news. We come to the throne broken, and he empowers us to do greater works than he himself performed on earth. So I embark on the next phase of my ministry, with hope and faith that He will enable me to do great things.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
A Christian Nation?
A Christian Nation
There’s a myth in America today that this country was founded as a Christian country, by Christians. Suffice to say this is not the case; Jefferson, for instance, was simply not a Christian, and this went into the first amendment. The wording of the founding documents of this country are based on European philosophy and on English Common Law; while that common law traces a distant ancestry to Judaic code, it is a faulty argument to contend that it is derived from Christianity. And it’s a good thing, too, because a morality that is legislated externally by the secular authority is a less meaningful morality.
But lets get away from the topic of legislation. What if we really had a Christian nation? What would that look like?
I think the best way to describe a Christian nation would be as a nation of Christians, governed by Christian principles of governance. For simplicity, I’m going to stay away from the latter for now. What would a nation of Christians accomplish?
In Luke 10, Jesus sends out 72 early disciples. He sends them with nothing and tells them to heal the sick and tell them the kingdom of God is near. When they returned, they told Jesus, “Lord, even the Demons submit to us in your name!”
Heal the sick. I never quite understood that one, because I’ve never managed to miraculously heal someone’s illness. But now we have a lot of medical technology… if you have the money for it. Cancer treatments, heart treatments, transplants, and today biggest of all, antiretroviral medications. So our nation of Christians should start by putting our resources into healing the ills of the world, and specifically HIV/AIDS.
The kingdom of God is near when we engage in the world in the way Christ told us to.
The next thing that a nation of Christians would do is love our neighbors. On a national scale, this means no more aggressive war; we could only be militarily involved in curbing aggression. We would have fought WWII; we would not have fought Vietnam or Iraq. But loving our neighbors would go so far beyond that.
Deuteronomy 10:18: He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing.
The fatherless are a sadly growing group in our society. It may seem just a result of divorce and out of wedlock parenting, but these spring from a degradation of respect for women in our society, and oftentimes from domestic violence. It is our duty as Christians to look after the fatherless. So in a Christian nation, every neighbor would be doing all we could, financially and socially, to assist children in single-parent households.
As Christians, we would love the strangers in our midst. This would mean an end to the immigration controversy: we would embrace and love these people and help them to integrate into our society.
“Sell all you have and give to the poor.” If the wealthiest of our society gave even 10% of what they have and earn to the poor, we wouldn’t even need a welfare system. Yet I hear complaints from the wealthier (and by that, I mean the nonpoor) that their money is taken away to be given to “undeserving” poor people, namely those on medicaid and TANF. But could you imagine if the wealthy really did give all to the poor? There wouldn’t be any more poor! Not in this country, anyway. We’ll see what we’ll accomplish on the global level.
A word on wealth inequity. According to the Wall Street Journal (“Plutonomics,” January 8, 2007) the rich in America control 90% of the wealth and 60% of the annual spending. Wow. And that is in the country that, comprising 5% of the world’s population, produces 20% of its income. (CIA World Factbook, 2008).
It is based on these simple facts that I can see what America could accomplish both domestically and globally if we used biblical principles to govern the use of our wealth. If we who earn the most gave a lions share of it to the poor abroad and here, just imagine what would happen.
I have so much more to say, but I don’t want this article to become a book. But a few quick words on what we would accomplish internationally.
If we ended war by loving our international neighbors, we would free up a massive and mobile labor force in the form of the US Military apparatus. A million soldiers, marines, airmen, and sailors around the world would be empowered to engage in humanitarian missions. When an earthquake or a tsunami happened, we would be nearby to render aid, to lift rocks and drain floods, to rescue people with helicopters and boats. More controversially, if our weaponry was not engaged in a selfishly motivated war, we could use it to rescue children in the war torn parts of Africa and from brothels in Asia.
If we engaged our agricultural capacity and technology to places abroad, we could simply end world hunger.
If we stopped turning a blind eye to sweatshop labor and insisted on a fair wage and reasonable conditions for every worker, we could end the global labor crisis.
A Christian Nation. 301 million neighbors loving one another and the world. Imagine it.
There’s a myth in America today that this country was founded as a Christian country, by Christians. Suffice to say this is not the case; Jefferson, for instance, was simply not a Christian, and this went into the first amendment. The wording of the founding documents of this country are based on European philosophy and on English Common Law; while that common law traces a distant ancestry to Judaic code, it is a faulty argument to contend that it is derived from Christianity. And it’s a good thing, too, because a morality that is legislated externally by the secular authority is a less meaningful morality.
But lets get away from the topic of legislation. What if we really had a Christian nation? What would that look like?
I think the best way to describe a Christian nation would be as a nation of Christians, governed by Christian principles of governance. For simplicity, I’m going to stay away from the latter for now. What would a nation of Christians accomplish?
In Luke 10, Jesus sends out 72 early disciples. He sends them with nothing and tells them to heal the sick and tell them the kingdom of God is near. When they returned, they told Jesus, “Lord, even the Demons submit to us in your name!”
Heal the sick. I never quite understood that one, because I’ve never managed to miraculously heal someone’s illness. But now we have a lot of medical technology… if you have the money for it. Cancer treatments, heart treatments, transplants, and today biggest of all, antiretroviral medications. So our nation of Christians should start by putting our resources into healing the ills of the world, and specifically HIV/AIDS.
The kingdom of God is near when we engage in the world in the way Christ told us to.
The next thing that a nation of Christians would do is love our neighbors. On a national scale, this means no more aggressive war; we could only be militarily involved in curbing aggression. We would have fought WWII; we would not have fought Vietnam or Iraq. But loving our neighbors would go so far beyond that.
Deuteronomy 10:18: He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing.
The fatherless are a sadly growing group in our society. It may seem just a result of divorce and out of wedlock parenting, but these spring from a degradation of respect for women in our society, and oftentimes from domestic violence. It is our duty as Christians to look after the fatherless. So in a Christian nation, every neighbor would be doing all we could, financially and socially, to assist children in single-parent households.
As Christians, we would love the strangers in our midst. This would mean an end to the immigration controversy: we would embrace and love these people and help them to integrate into our society.
“Sell all you have and give to the poor.” If the wealthiest of our society gave even 10% of what they have and earn to the poor, we wouldn’t even need a welfare system. Yet I hear complaints from the wealthier (and by that, I mean the nonpoor) that their money is taken away to be given to “undeserving” poor people, namely those on medicaid and TANF. But could you imagine if the wealthy really did give all to the poor? There wouldn’t be any more poor! Not in this country, anyway. We’ll see what we’ll accomplish on the global level.
A word on wealth inequity. According to the Wall Street Journal (“Plutonomics,” January 8, 2007) the rich in America control 90% of the wealth and 60% of the annual spending. Wow. And that is in the country that, comprising 5% of the world’s population, produces 20% of its income. (CIA World Factbook, 2008).
It is based on these simple facts that I can see what America could accomplish both domestically and globally if we used biblical principles to govern the use of our wealth. If we who earn the most gave a lions share of it to the poor abroad and here, just imagine what would happen.
I have so much more to say, but I don’t want this article to become a book. But a few quick words on what we would accomplish internationally.
If we ended war by loving our international neighbors, we would free up a massive and mobile labor force in the form of the US Military apparatus. A million soldiers, marines, airmen, and sailors around the world would be empowered to engage in humanitarian missions. When an earthquake or a tsunami happened, we would be nearby to render aid, to lift rocks and drain floods, to rescue people with helicopters and boats. More controversially, if our weaponry was not engaged in a selfishly motivated war, we could use it to rescue children in the war torn parts of Africa and from brothels in Asia.
If we engaged our agricultural capacity and technology to places abroad, we could simply end world hunger.
If we stopped turning a blind eye to sweatshop labor and insisted on a fair wage and reasonable conditions for every worker, we could end the global labor crisis.
A Christian Nation. 301 million neighbors loving one another and the world. Imagine it.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
The Shema
You may have heard of something called the Jesus Creed. I call it “The Two Commandments.” The two commandments? “Jim, you’re wrong, there are ten”, you’re probably saying. Actually, there are many more. The Judaic law has over 600 commandments. And one day, a group of Jews asked Jesus which of these is the greatest. He told them, Love the lord with all your heart…and your neighbor like yourself. (This is called the “Shema” and is an ancient Hebrew creed.) There is another reference to these commandments, Luke 10:25-37.
We hear that “an expert in the law”, so a lawyer or a rabbi, asked Christ what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus asked him what the scripture said, and he said, “Love the lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and Love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus told him to do this and he would live… but he wasn’t satisfied. “Who is my neighbor?”
Remember the parable of the good Samaritan?
In short, a man falls prey to robbers on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, and while a few otherwise good people walk past him, it’s a Samaritan who stops to help him.
Jesus ends the parable, like so many, with a question. “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” Now, look at the wording of his answer, in Luke 10:37. He doesn’t say “The Samaritan”! He can’t even admit it out loud. He says, “The one who had mercy on him.”
What exactly is a Samaritan?
Samaritans were half-breeds. They were related to the Jews, and lived near them, but they worshipped a little differently, and had intermingled their blood with that of the gentiles. In other words, they were a different racial and religious group. Consider that the Samaritans were to the Jews as the Mexicans and the Muslims are to middle Americans.
Now, there’s more. Jesus said, what you do unto the least of these you do unto me! I have been seeing a horrible trend in Evangelical America. We like to care about those who are similar to us. We are neighbors to those who live near us. And maybe we even take care of our own within our local church family. But there are communities across this country (and especially around the world!) where people struggle just to get by. As Christians, it is our responsibility to reach out to those who need us, even (or especially) when it’s hard to reach.
Loving your neighbor is not usually easy. And sometimes it’s downright hard. One example is when you have to give to someone who is ungrateful. The natural human response is to stop giving. But just as we are asked to forgive our brother seventy times seven times, I’m convinced that we are to give seventy times seven times.
It’s not easy because it hurts. Giving is hard, partly because giving to requires giving up. When someone gives 10% of my income to my church, it means that they have 10% less income than they would have otherwise had. And I’m poor. I suppose its even harder for the rich, because 10% is that much more expensive for them. But tithing is not all of giving. Tithing was the dictate to the Jews. Why do you suppose, in the old testament, the cost was ten percent, but in the new testament that number isn’t given? I’m going to ask a question of our biblical scholars here. What percentage does Christ ask us to give?
Mark 10:21. “Go, sell some of what you have and give to a major evangelist, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me.”
What? I got it wrong? Oh, I’m sorry. I was reading that 21st century translation again. Let me read what it really says. “Go, sell all you have and give the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me.” The number is 100%. But just as Moses allowed divorce as a compromise for the hardhearted people who were truly blessed for free with a covenant from God, he settled for 10% from them. But we as Christians have a new covenant. You have heard it said that salvation is a free gift. This is true. But I read right here that its expensive. Which is true?
Now, I realize I’ve been pretty vague in some ways, so it’s time for me to say point blank what I’ve been trying to get at. The first is tithe. God has given you everything for free. And he commanded you to give everything to the poor. So there is no excuse not to give 10%.
The second is, some of you are struggling with your calling in life, and I’m going to call you to full time missions. Whatever you are doing, you should be doing it for God. To some people, that may mean quitting your comfortable job and taking a helping job. To others, that means finding the ways to serve God in what you do. And to some, it means leaving where you are altogether, to become a poor missionary.
I want to close with another quote from Luke 10. “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.”
We hear that “an expert in the law”, so a lawyer or a rabbi, asked Christ what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus asked him what the scripture said, and he said, “Love the lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and Love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus told him to do this and he would live… but he wasn’t satisfied. “Who is my neighbor?”
Remember the parable of the good Samaritan?
In short, a man falls prey to robbers on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, and while a few otherwise good people walk past him, it’s a Samaritan who stops to help him.
Jesus ends the parable, like so many, with a question. “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” Now, look at the wording of his answer, in Luke 10:37. He doesn’t say “The Samaritan”! He can’t even admit it out loud. He says, “The one who had mercy on him.”
What exactly is a Samaritan?
Samaritans were half-breeds. They were related to the Jews, and lived near them, but they worshipped a little differently, and had intermingled their blood with that of the gentiles. In other words, they were a different racial and religious group. Consider that the Samaritans were to the Jews as the Mexicans and the Muslims are to middle Americans.
Now, there’s more. Jesus said, what you do unto the least of these you do unto me! I have been seeing a horrible trend in Evangelical America. We like to care about those who are similar to us. We are neighbors to those who live near us. And maybe we even take care of our own within our local church family. But there are communities across this country (and especially around the world!) where people struggle just to get by. As Christians, it is our responsibility to reach out to those who need us, even (or especially) when it’s hard to reach.
Loving your neighbor is not usually easy. And sometimes it’s downright hard. One example is when you have to give to someone who is ungrateful. The natural human response is to stop giving. But just as we are asked to forgive our brother seventy times seven times, I’m convinced that we are to give seventy times seven times.
It’s not easy because it hurts. Giving is hard, partly because giving to requires giving up. When someone gives 10% of my income to my church, it means that they have 10% less income than they would have otherwise had. And I’m poor. I suppose its even harder for the rich, because 10% is that much more expensive for them. But tithing is not all of giving. Tithing was the dictate to the Jews. Why do you suppose, in the old testament, the cost was ten percent, but in the new testament that number isn’t given? I’m going to ask a question of our biblical scholars here. What percentage does Christ ask us to give?
Mark 10:21. “Go, sell some of what you have and give to a major evangelist, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me.”
What? I got it wrong? Oh, I’m sorry. I was reading that 21st century translation again. Let me read what it really says. “Go, sell all you have and give the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me.” The number is 100%. But just as Moses allowed divorce as a compromise for the hardhearted people who were truly blessed for free with a covenant from God, he settled for 10% from them. But we as Christians have a new covenant. You have heard it said that salvation is a free gift. This is true. But I read right here that its expensive. Which is true?
Now, I realize I’ve been pretty vague in some ways, so it’s time for me to say point blank what I’ve been trying to get at. The first is tithe. God has given you everything for free. And he commanded you to give everything to the poor. So there is no excuse not to give 10%.
The second is, some of you are struggling with your calling in life, and I’m going to call you to full time missions. Whatever you are doing, you should be doing it for God. To some people, that may mean quitting your comfortable job and taking a helping job. To others, that means finding the ways to serve God in what you do. And to some, it means leaving where you are altogether, to become a poor missionary.
I want to close with another quote from Luke 10. “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.”
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Giving it up
The rich young man walks away from Christ, the source of salvation, with his head hung low, because the price that is asked is too high.
You don’t have to be rich to make that mistake.
Very often, there’s something in our life that we’re just not willing to give up. I challenge you that following Jesus is not as simple as making a simple decision and praying a seven word prayer. It’s about daily taking up his cross, and that involves sacrifice.
For some, like the man in the biblical story, that sacrifice could be money and riches. For others, it might be a car or a “toy” of some sort. But materialism isn’t the only thing that gets in the way of our walk with God.
Have you ever met a Christian who was so caught up with something, anything, that they lost sight of the Gospel for even a moment? Perhaps it was a career. Perhaps a spouse or a girlfriend. Or it might be something you don’t even possess.
It is necessary to give it all up to God, even our desires. Remember that many things are impossible to man, but become possible to God. If you are struggling with a desire, give it to God.
It’s an easy thing to say “Give it up to God”, but how do you actualize that goal? It’s not easy. In my experience, all I can say is, visualize the opposite of your anxiety. If you’re anxious about finding a relationship, examine your life without a relationship, and pray for acceptance of your life as a single person. If you’re anxious about success in a career, pray for acceptance of your real abilities and not those you wish you had. These are just examples, but they apply to very important realities. If you’re anxious about money, pray for contentment and poverty.
“I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “no one who has (given up) for the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age ... and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
By truly giving up, you’re setting yourself up for human failure and divine success. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be successful and fulfilled in God’s eyes than in those of my fellow man or even myself.
So give it all up to him.
You don’t have to be rich to make that mistake.
Very often, there’s something in our life that we’re just not willing to give up. I challenge you that following Jesus is not as simple as making a simple decision and praying a seven word prayer. It’s about daily taking up his cross, and that involves sacrifice.
For some, like the man in the biblical story, that sacrifice could be money and riches. For others, it might be a car or a “toy” of some sort. But materialism isn’t the only thing that gets in the way of our walk with God.
Have you ever met a Christian who was so caught up with something, anything, that they lost sight of the Gospel for even a moment? Perhaps it was a career. Perhaps a spouse or a girlfriend. Or it might be something you don’t even possess.
It is necessary to give it all up to God, even our desires. Remember that many things are impossible to man, but become possible to God. If you are struggling with a desire, give it to God.
It’s an easy thing to say “Give it up to God”, but how do you actualize that goal? It’s not easy. In my experience, all I can say is, visualize the opposite of your anxiety. If you’re anxious about finding a relationship, examine your life without a relationship, and pray for acceptance of your life as a single person. If you’re anxious about success in a career, pray for acceptance of your real abilities and not those you wish you had. These are just examples, but they apply to very important realities. If you’re anxious about money, pray for contentment and poverty.
“I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “no one who has (given up) for the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age ... and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
By truly giving up, you’re setting yourself up for human failure and divine success. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be successful and fulfilled in God’s eyes than in those of my fellow man or even myself.
So give it all up to him.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Why this, why now?
Honestly, “because I could.”
I was sitting around a proverbial coffeeshop with some friends and we were talking about the impact God was having on our lives. I told a few stories that you can read on my other blog and talked a bit about what I’d discovered while reading Mark 10. What I found was that in the new testament, Jesus does not ask for 10% like I am so fond of asking people to give, but 100%. Now this is a very unpalatable idea, but it’s real. And I think it’s something we need to get talking about.
So I googled it quickly and found that these domain names were available, so I snapped them up. (richyoungman.com and .org)
This site will hopefully become a place to read and respond to some ideas about interpreting this very difficult passage and applying it to our lives.
I was sitting around a proverbial coffeeshop with some friends and we were talking about the impact God was having on our lives. I told a few stories that you can read on my other blog and talked a bit about what I’d discovered while reading Mark 10. What I found was that in the new testament, Jesus does not ask for 10% like I am so fond of asking people to give, but 100%. Now this is a very unpalatable idea, but it’s real. And I think it’s something we need to get talking about.
So I googled it quickly and found that these domain names were available, so I snapped them up. (richyoungman.com and .org)
This site will hopefully become a place to read and respond to some ideas about interpreting this very difficult passage and applying it to our lives.
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