Category Archives: Community

Gun Control

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Just read this story about a church that’s hosting an “Open Carry Celebration” where they’re inviting everyone to bring their handguns, sing songs about America, and even buy a $1 raffle ticket to win a free hand gun! They say it’s a “celebration for all who support our 1st and 2nd amendment rights” and the advertisement invites you to “come celebrate our rights as Americans”.

Let’s not even discuss the issue of gun control and the right to bear arms. I mean it’s a very important topic but one that seems more suited to someone who has done more research (seems like a good English 102 paper). I personally just prefer for people not to shoot each other. Anyway, the big question is whether or not this is appropriate in the church.

I’ve got two differing thoughts:

  1. My first response was a toned down outrage or frustration that a church would do something so ridiculous. That a church would actually be a part of inviting everyone to bring their guns, to celebrate America, and all that jazz. Seems like churches have a hard enough task funneling peoples worship toward Jesus and building excitement concerning the Holy Spirits work in peoples lives. Do we really want to spend our time drumming up enthusiasm for carrying guns and worshiping our nation? Is that the churches role? Isn’t our role to be the body of Christ? Didn’t the early church have a simple motto “Jesus is Lord” which was in stark opposition to the phrase of the day “Caesar is Lord”. In other words when the Roman empire was trying to get it’s citizens to sing the praises of Caesar the early church turned their phrases upside down and reinterpreted them to give glory to the true savior of the people. While no president has claimed to be God, it is interesting that in honor of our country we sing songs, we have parades, we light fireworks, we even pledge our allegiance (synonyms include faithfulness, devotion, fidelity, honor, obedience, piety, and duty) to our nation. If that doesn’t sound like the actions of worship I don’t know what does. It’s just interesting isn’t it? When hymn books include “God bless America” and “America the beautiful” next to songs like “Holy Holy Holy” and “How Great Thou Art” I start to have some serious questions about where our loyalty lies. So my first thoughts included all this. A bit of disgust. A bit of judgement (though I prefer to call it righteous indignation). A bit of…well you get the point.
  2. My second thoughts were an attempt to see all of this from the point of view of a good ol’ boy from Kentucky (where this church is located). I mean good ol’ boys are the people they’re trying to bring to Jesus. So if a ridiculous gun control day helps to bring people to Jesus then by all means do it. Don’t get me wrong I wouldn’t suggest doing something immoral and wrong in order to introduce people to Jesus, but I’m confident that these people have absolutely no spiritual or moral conflict with gun possession! So within that context I’d just place this event in the same box that I put other goofy attempts at creating “evangelistic events” like churches often do. At least they’re trying I guess right? I mean I’d prefer a different route, but at least they’re doing something! There’s a really awesome church here in Vancouver that advertised their Sunday services with tigers and monkeys on stage. Kind of goofy I thought. But in the end they brought more people to new faith on the lion, tiger, and bear week than any other in their history.

I don’t know where you sit on the issue. I’d love to hear your opinion. You’ve heard some of my gut immediate thoughts, right or wrong as they might be. At the very least let’s all agree that this is a really weird story.

peace.

Are you God?

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I won’t deceive you and say that this blog has not been grown through my current book addiction in some ways, but if we were honest how many of our thoughts are completely original anyways!

The Jewish, Christian, and Muslim faith are unique in that they believe in one God. Monotheism. Pretty exciting stuff right? Well in our western world (though times are changing) anything but monotheism was considered foreign, strange, and maybe even foolish. It was all those “other” places in the world that had many different gods, we are Christians and follow one God, THE God.

But here’s the reality, while we may have said that we follow one God our actions speak otherwise. You see when there are many gods you end up with a god of the river and a god of wine and a god of food and a god of sex and a god of the underworld, etc. Much time, then, is spent pleasing all the gods of the pantheon or at the very least trying not to piss them off. Whereas when there is just one God, wine and food and sex and…all belong under the same roof. They don’t all submit to different lords but rather are all submissive to the one Lord of the universe. Right? Are you drooling with excitement yet? ‘Cause here’s the part that I think is exciting…

I think many people who call themselves Christians actually do not believe in one God. Here’s the thing, if there is just one God and he is God over everything then when we call ourselves followers of this one God we must believe that we are called to submit all of our life to him. While I do believe that there is much room for our sinfulness and all that crap that comes along with being human, a dissociation has grown between much of what we call ourselves and what we consider our spiritual selves. It’s for this reason that Christians justify racial hatred, grotesque materialism, apathy toward social injustices, and greed. It has become two different worlds. It’s this odd dissociation that makes it possible for someone to proudly say “Yes I am a Christian and yes I hate colored people” (though they often find more offensive terms to use). In other words it has become normal and acceptable to believe in a god that has nothing to say about how you operate outside of church walls. This is not monotheism. “God” actually becomes some sort of pluralistic view in which there is the God of the Bible and then there is the god of my own preference.

What would it look like if we began to submit ourselves more consistently, more holistically to a God that is truly supreme, lord over everything, and creator of all? I wonder if this would change our preference concerning individuality over community, spending over giving, sex over relationship, drunkeness over honesty (often I think that peoples reasons for getting drunk is that it allows them a sort of freedom that their sober self won’t allow), busyness over simplicity, preference over sacrifice…

Mister Rogers and the Message of Jesus

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It’s been almost exactly two years since I last posted this and it’s time I did it again. Christians everywhere should watch and follow the example set out by the beloved Mister Rogers. I think this is truly a beautiful video.

Undercover Jesus and Willamette Week

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First off let me apologize for the disjointed nature of this post. The reality is that I keep getting distracted and have much more important things to do than to post a blog. But I was so moved by what I’m sharing that I had to post it. Enjoy.

Who would have thought that Billy Graham wannabe (I say that in the most positive and joking way!) Luis Palau and his son would be on the cover of Portlands urban magazine/newspaper Willamette Week in a positive light! You can read the story here and it’s a very good one.

Kudos must be given (credit, not the granola bar) to WW for being “edgy” enough to write this story and for highlighting something that has its roots in the gospel of Jesus. But even more credit must go to the Palau Association for giving WW something to write about. For too long churches and Christians have made headlines for all the wrong reasons, for too long we’ve called the world around us to come to our events, and it is exciting and refreshing to see the Palau Association going to the community and showing through their actions what a Jesus movement looks like. What Palau has done is transitioned from revival type events and instead focused on sending Christians and churches to the community in service. For more info about their work you can read here. It’s about time that we stopped defining sharing our faith as something that happens only verbally, may we all follow the Palau Association and start sharing our faith with our actions, our money, and our presence.

My only regret is that I missed the downtown Vancouver Season of Service. I’ll end with this quote from Portlands Commissioner Nick Fish concerning Palau’s partnership with the city in bringing renewal:

“If we’re succesful, perhaps someday we’ll be known as Jesus’ favorite city.”

I love you

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Things were chaotic at times between us tonight. Dinner was a disaster, the kids were crazy, and you didn’t get any homework done because of it all. We tried to talk tonight, we tried to talk about things that are important, about marriage, about love, and divorce but the kids kept interrupting, people got distracted, and the conversation at times simply fizzled out.

But let me tell you that I love you terribly. One  year ago when we wrote down on paper where we wanted to go, what we wanted to accomplish, who we wanted to become it all felt so far fetched. It seemed like too much. We didn’t know each other enough and the awkwardness was thick enough to cut with a knife. And yet here we stand today together. In many ways closer together than we’ve ever been. We stand together with more honesty, more authenticity than ever before. And those long ago written aspirations are feeling like more of a reality than I ever thought. When something happens you’re the one I call. When I need help you’re the one I’ll go to. I have fun with you, I enjoy laughing with you. We’re both comfortable being incredibly odd together, and I love that! What a wonderful mess we are together! Let’s have kids.

This note is for all of you in my home community. Especially you who have truly committed to doing life together: Aaron, Bekah, Brittany, Aaron, Chris, Christie, Jess, Derek, Jen, Brandon, and Sarah.We’re not where we want to be, we’re not everything we need to be, but we sure are making a wonderful mess getting there.