Tag Archives: politics

Stop Being Weird and Start Being Different!

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It’s time Christians start making more intentional choices about how we’re going to be weird. If you’re going to be awkward, if you’re going to be different, if you’re going to stand out then do it for good things! For too long those who call themselves followers of Jesus have been defined by making really odd and straight up weird choices. It’s time we stop.

The two lists below are not exhaustive in any way (is any list?) but I’ve outlined some of the things that I think Christians should be “weird for” and I’ve also identified a few of the ways that someone just needs to slap our foreheads and say “Hey, seriously stop being weird!” I understand that for most of these, each point deserves a whole discussion all to itself, so try not to get too worked up about small things. Also know that in every single instance here I do not have a specific person or people group in mind (unless noted otherwise) rather I’m ranting, thinking out loud, and potentially overstating (or understating) things to make a point…that’s just how I roll.

Be Strange!

  1. Community—the way we live together, the way we invest in our neighborhoods, the way we live for others should be a defining and really different characteristic about those who call themselves followers of Christ. So if we’re going to be weird, let’s be radically awkward in our willingness to love each other, to be hospitable, to entertain others, and to throw good parties. Let’s have people think we’re weird because of our willingness eagerness to die to ourselves for others.
  2. Love—let’s be known as the odd people who love everyone regardless of race, belief, or background. We’ve got something to learn from the LGBT community because I think they do this pretty well. We don’t have to agree with a person’s beliefs, with their lifestyle choices, with their theology, or any of that to love and respect them as creatures deserving of dignity! While I understand that in many ways I am opening  Pandora’s box because of the varied ways that we could define what it means to love a person (some would argue that the best way to show love to someone is to “not let them live in sin”…I would disagree…but that’s just me)
  3. Compassion—who needs health insurance when you’re meeting each other’s medical needs? Who needs pantries and clothes closets and other similar social services when people are freely giving of what they have, creating opportunity for others to grow and buy what they need (at affordable prices) etc? If compassion was more primary to our identity many of the political arguments would not matter because needs would already be met within our communities! What if Christians were known as those weird people where poverty wasn’t much of a problem (either because many of them embraced being poor, or because there was so much sharing, or…)! What if Christians were looked on as oddballs because they had compassion for those that others might normally reject?
  4. Learning—if God is creator then we need not fear knowledge. We need not fear truth even if that truth is found in a not-very-truthy-feeling-place because Jesus has stated very clearly that he is Truth. So if you discover truth, and it’s really true, then you’ve discovered something originating in Jesus. You can own it because it belongs to the one that you follow. Science, history, alternative medicine, etc. are all areas where God can be found. Christians should be known as the odd people whose thirst for learning is never satisfied. We crave learning, we love learning, we see it as a way of life not as something you accomplish. And because it’s all about a lifestyle, all about a journey—it ceases to be about right and wrong. It’s not about figuring out the right and wrong way to see the world, it’s about the journey of growing closer and closer to our creator. That would be a weird set of people.
  5. Innovators—God is a creator, an artist. God created the naked mole rat, he created pinkies and balsa wood. Can we say that God is an innovator? Or must we say that God is THE innovator? Christians are notorious for being behind the times. Our music is traditionally a mirror of what was popular three years ago, our art is not usually cutting edge, the schools we open are not usually on the cutting edge of educational research, etc. Christians are not known for their innovation, they’re known for opposing innovation. I love tradition, I value tradition, but tradition is not the end—it’s a means. So let’s try to be identified as those odd balls who feel an amazing sense of freedom to experiment, to explore, and to innovate. How can we follow THE innovator without a sense of innovation?

Stop being so weird!

  1. It’s weird when your biggest mobilization movement in recent memory is to defend marriage as one man and one woman. I’m one man and I’m married to one woman. I think it’s a good idea. But if I were to choose an area that I could imagine (maybe the problem is with my own imagination?) Jesus standing up and rallying the troops to fight over, it doesn’t seem like it would be the definition of marriage! And it’s not like there haven’t been other fights to mobilize for in recent memory. AIDS, child abuse, adoption, divorce (seriously, maybe we should defend marriage by pursuing having healthier marriages first), extreme poverty, genocide, and the list could go on. Seriously, we should stop being weird.
  2. It’s weird when we have our own mini-culture. I might not be saying this clearly, but I’m referring to Testamints, to 89% of the things found in a Christian bookstore. Let’s be honest, most of the stuff in those stores are incredibly weird and if you walked in there with your neighbor who does not follow Jesus it would be very clear how weird it really is.
  3. It’s weird to imply that following Jesus is concerned with Sunday “church” attendance. If Jesus died so that we could go to church we’re all screwed. Seriously. It’s weird to look at the life of Jesus, a man who lived radically, died radically, and sent his radical Spirit to transform the world and think that somehow this could be captured, encapsulated, lived out, or practiced on Sundays! That’s weird, it doesn’t make any sense. Don’t get me wrong, I firmly believe that the communal gathering of Christ followers is crucial and hugely important. But it is a result of a life of following Jesus. It is not the beginning, it is not the bulk of our faith expression, it is the natural response to living your whole life for Jesus. Let’s stop being weird and not try to pretend that living for Jesus has anything to do with your Sunday attendance.
  4. It’s weird that some Christians won’t see doctors. Ok, I realize that there are lots of marginalized extreme Christians that we could spend all our time talking about. The only reason I bring this one up is because I just read a story in the newspaper about a family who let their infant almost go blind because they wouldn’t let her see a doctor. They anointed her with oil, they prayed, and they just had their child taken away by CPS. I won’t say much more here because I think a majority of my readership would agree…but I think it’s important that we not be weird and allow our children to die or suffer when God has given us great freedom to use what he has provided us in his creation.
  5. It’s weird that we’ve created such a static system of morality that is not consistent in Scripture or in Jesus’ life. Most Christians look down on someone who smokes a cigarette or drops the F-bomb often while turning a blind eye toward the more destructive and sinister sins of gossip, materialism, gluttony, laziness, and greed. It’s weird. Remember when previous generations said it was wrong to play cards (I understand that there’s some contextual stuff here)? Can we be less about our position of right and wrong and more about whether our direction is taking us toward or away from Jesus (love, goodness, peace, etc.)?
  6. It’s weird when politics and faith have become so incredibly enmeshed like they are. I think that my choices about politics are intimately tied to my choices in faith. The two are incredibly and undeniably connected. But when the Christian vote becomes a sought after chip in the high stakes game of political power, when Christianity has become associated with such political stances as: supporting war and opposing anything that will make the rich poorer, when our views on society are shaped more powerfully by a political agenda than by the kingdom message that Jesus proclaimed…that’s weird. It just is.

There is so much more that could be said. There are so many ways that we’ve become weird, so many ways we’ve become caricatures of  real people. It’s like when we put on our Christian hat we start acting all goofy! So why don’t we all make a concerted effort to be intentional about what kind of goofy we choose to embrace. Lets be goofy lovers, caretakers, servants, learners, and creators! That’s worth being weird for.

"Americans are Great People…but…"

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Kanzo Uchimura, a Japanese Christian and missionary, spent time at the end of his life reflecting on Christianity in the world. Concerning America he said

“Americans are great people; there is no doubt about that. They are great in building cities and railroads…Americans have a wonderful genius for improving breeds of horses, cattle, sheep and swine…Americans too are great inventors…needless to say, they are great in money…Americans are great in all these things and much else; but not in religion…Americans must count religion in order to see or show its value…to them big churches are successful churches…To win the greatest number of converts with the least expense is their constant endeavour. Statistics is their way of showing success or failure in their religion as in their commerce and politics. Numbers, numbers, oh, how they value numbers!“

As read in The New Shape of World Christianity by Mark Noll

The Freedom to Choose

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I know a missionary who after returning “home” to America from doing mission work in Africa for some 15 years found himself sobbing in the cereal aisle as he stood there by himself with so many choices he did not know what to do. Where he had been living for the last 15 years his number of choices for nearly everything was limited to one or two items. But all of a sudden he came face to face with the culture shock of have an innumerable number of choices for something even as mundane as breakfast cereal.

In our culture choice has become the new God. Supposedly* the worst thing we can do in our world is to not allow someone the right to choose what they want, when they want it, and how they want it. We are inundated not simply with options, but so many choices that we have even created theology where God is the ultimate chooser. Which job should I take, which dining set should I buy, which china should adorn our dining room table, what restaurant should we go to, which car should I buy…and we beseech the almighty God to make his will clear for our lives because the most important thing to us is that we do not choose poorly. This blog is not even intended to go into the debates that Christians have surrounded themselves with concerning choice: abortion, gay marriage, assisted suicide, health care, and I’m sure the list could go on.

But I want to pause here because I believe there is a hypocrisy in our culture concerning the illusion of choice. I do not know who is at fault, if anybody is, but I do see it and I do believe it must be addressed. You’ll notice earlier that I threw out the word “supposedly” concerning the freedom to choose. Because while this is an underlying assumption, while there is outcry over those those whose choices have been taken away or not allowed like gay or lesbians for example, we have become perfectly comfortable with a level of suppression that pervades our society. I see this in two ways.

  1. Those who are on the outskirts of society, the poor, the elderly, homeless, etc. have been told (in many different ways) that they have no power to choose. Statistically those who grew up in the system of poverty will stay in the system of poverty. Welfare is setup in such a way so as to create suckers, feeders of the system. You are not rewarded for finding work or trying to better yourself. Trust me, I could tell you a number of stories of people who have lost, for example, their food and health benefits from the state that totaled $500 because their income went up $300. What does that teach those in poverty? Don’t make more money! The major blessing for those in poverty with regard to welfare is to have more children ’cause you get more benefits! We shut up the elderly in homes so that we don’t have to care for them. We tell them that their value is in staying to themselves, playing bingo, and knitting afghans that nobody will use.
  2. I should have clarified my previous statements because I do not see this second thing as a suppression of choice but rather a perversion of choice. We have so valued choice in our culture that it is destroying us. Watch Jerry Springer for a moment and count how many times you hear someone say something along the lines of “It’s my body, I’ll do what I want.” or “You can tell me what to do!” Somehow our primary expressions of choice have brought addiction and oppression. Off the top of my head here is a list of things that have become regular in our society through the guise of choice: overeating, using chemicals to grow our food, destroying the earth through pollution, killing babies and damaging pregnant mothers, teenage pregnancy, sex trafficking, the myth of materialism…the list could go on for a long time! Our freedom to choose is killing us! No, seriously, that’s not hyperbole but its both an expression and very much a reality that our freedom to choose has become the thing that is destroying both our physical bodies our our emotional selves (not to mention the spiritual aspect of this that I believe pervades both the physical and emotional).

As I read the stories about the life and work of Jesus, however, I see him constantly empowering people for new choice. Yes, he helps people through physical healing, but it nearly always included a “Go and sin no more” clause at the end. In his teaching, like the Sermon on the Mount specifically, I see him teaching a bunch of down-and-outs that there is blessing in being poor in spirit, in being meek, humble, persecuted, desiring justice, and to be in a place of mourning. I see Jesus teaching a message that says that “you have the freedom to make new and healthy choices! The world tells you that you’re poor but I tell you that it’s actually a blessing to be poor in spirit because the kingdom is filled with them. The world gives you reason to be in constant mourning, but I tell you that it’s actually a blessing ’cause you’ll know comfort more than any others. The world has not shown you justice and so you therefore desire it above all else, but I tell you that this desire is a blessing because if you’re seeking justice you will find it!” I see Jesus taking those whose choices have been seemingly removed from them and he is giving them hope that they have freedom to choose even in the midst of their suffering.

At the church that Jessica will be planting in a year and a half we have crafted a core value that says:

Choice-God’s love is a gift that has not only transformed our future hope but gives us the possibility for restored lives today. Intentionally living out this reality is a gift that can be chosen by any follower of his. We are given the gift of choice.

But is this just one more choice in the midsts of a world inundated with choices? Is the choice to enter into kingdom living that eventually culminates in a clearly heavenly kingdom just one more choice in a world thats overrun with choices? Or is there something different about the message and the method?

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.”

Sweat Shops, Frugality, and my Conscience

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It is a constant battle within myself between conscience and frugality. Well first off, let me say that I am a firm believer that it is much cheaper than one often things to eat healthy and to live a healthy life (not that I live the most healthy life!) My family of four are able to eat primarily organic and local food, we eat very little canned food, frozen food, and processed food, and we eat gluten free (try paying $6 for a loaf of bread). Oh, and my son has to eat lactose free now! And yet, we’re able to do all of this on a budget that would look midgetized next to many. I can go into detail about how we do this if you’d like me to, but in reality it all comes down to my amazing and sacrificial wife. The point is that it really is possible to do make many healthy choices and still be relatively cheap at the same time.*

Nevertheless there are times when its just plain ol’ spendy to shop with my conscience first and my frugal nature second. I didn’t buy any new clothes last year. Period. We didn’t buy anything new last year (except for food, medicine, underwear, and a pair of shoes). It was a cool experiment, it was valuable. But I’m tired of buying used stuff. I want to buy some new crap! But I want to buy it cheap. The problem is that many of the cheap places to purchase things are places that hurt my conscience (or should hurt my conscience). Want to ruin your life? Try going to this website and doing some research about which companies are in active human rights violations in order to get you something cheap: http://www.greenamericatoday.org/

It’s easy to dismiss, and I often do, but do you really want to put on your sweater that you bought for $15.99 at Walmart (just as an example) knowing that some eight year old child worked in a factory 18 hours straight in conditions that are dehumanizing and illegal? Can you wear that sweater without your conscience crying out? The sad thing is that often I’ll choose to not do the research so that I won’t have that annoying conscience whispering in my ear! So there I lie, at war within myself to pursue truth and justice, or to live cheaply in ignorance and bliss.

I truly believe that being a follower of Christ dictates that I am in a constant pursuit of truth, beauty, and justice…following Jesus often requires much!

*     Though, I must say that it amazes me that often people say they can’t afford to eat healthy, because it seems to me that it should be one of the most important thing that you spend your money on. What you put into your body affects your health, your personality, politics, your community, your emotions, etc. If you’re going to spend money on anything, good quality healthy food would be a good place to start.