Facebook Beatitudes for Christians: February 8, 2010
Posted by joejames in Uncategorized.2 comments
Blessed are those that don’t confidently express their feelings about God.
Blessed are those that don’t parade their happiness.
Blessed are those that don’t brag about any sort of success.
Blessed are those that don’t demand retribution or celebrate retributive justice.
Blessed are those that don’t scoff at forgiveness or mercy.
Blessed are those that don’t distract others from the kingdom life.
Blessed are those that don’t make divisive claims or support violence.
Blessed are those that don’t speak ill of their enemies.
Blessed are you when you don’t use Facebook as a platform to defeat, demean, belittle, or betray even your worst enemies (political or otherwise).
A Response Letter Concerning Economic Sanctions February 4, 2010
Posted by joejames in Uncategorized.Tags: Economic Sanctions, Warfare
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This is a response letter. It will remain private as to who I am responding to. It is also a side-ways attempt to prove I am not a political liberal, as some seem to think.
Economic Sanctions: An Opinion and A Source
The following is what I consider a Christian Witness for dialogues on the use of Economic Sanctions against nations that pose “threats of aggression” or “breaches of peace” (these are the reasons international law gives for just use of economic sanctions – it should also be noted that the wording of these two phrases appears under the international law codes for “just war” leaving us to assume that economic sanctions are now considered a tactic for warfare.)
(I would suggest we educate ourselves with regards to these things, before we try to engage in dialogue about them. Also, I would point out that you would never really “make sense” to someone that is not committed to loving their enemies. I think the Christian witness in these sort of dialogues is that we want to know the truth and then look for a better way forward, rather than fighting or ignoring truths and then, once finally confronted with truth, trying to put the best possible “spin” on them.)
And since economic sanctions seem to be a part of the evolution of warfare, it becomes interesting to me that war has “evolved” from soldiers dying on a battlefield (like Pea Ridge, for example) meant for only warriors, to “economic sanctions” where we aim our attacks at citizenry. If Christians have been opposed to warfare since before Constantine, where certainly every battle was on neutral ground, think how the first century followers of Christ would respond to a State saying in effect “If your government officials refuse to comply with our will, we will starve your citizens to death!”
I want to make 3 points about Economic Sanctions that we cannot forget, or fail to mention, as we dialogue about the faithfulness of such policies.
1> If you are in a position to impose Economic Sanctions on a country, then you already have the “upper-hand” in the conflict. You have to be in a position of power over a nation before you can impose economic sanctions on them. Imagine Iran saying to America “We will not send food or water to your citizens anymore since you will not comply with our will.” HA! We’d say “Okay!” That’s because we don’t rely on them for those basic needs. My point is that economic sanctions ALWAYS are placed on rather weak countries. America has showed that she can destroy Iraq overnight with military force if need be. Economic Sanctions is another way of telling a country we have Supreme power over them and we can “kill you quickly or kill you slowly.”
2> Economic Sanctions are broad in scope. When you deprive an already weak infrastructure and society of basic needs, everything suffers. No access to food, no access to clean water, no access to health care, no access to good shelter, no access to civil safety and peacekeeping (police), no access to good clothing. Everything and everyone suffers. Now, when I look over that list, I see a similar list in Matthew 25 (food, water, clothing, health care, prison). We will be held accountable for how we treated the least of these, and on that day, when we look at the face of the one true King for the first time, making sure America was free from the threat of opposition will not matter. Did you feed Jesus? That’s what will matter. (It should also be noted that mostly small children die under economic deprivation. Is it their fault? Then why do we starve them to death? Two very simple questions that demand answers. “Whoever does not bless children in my name… it would be better for a large millstone to be hung around his neck and cast into the sea…” )
3> As Christians, our witness is and always has been that “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son”. And now, by the indwelling Spirit of that “only Son”, we become Him in the world. Or, as John puts it, “As He was in the world, so you are to be” So what does that have to do with Economic Sanctions? Everything! If we (the church) are Jesus to the world, we behave as he behaved. So let’s look at his teaching and life. “If your enemy is thirsty give him something to drink.” // “Love your enemies, pray for those who curse you, serve those that abuse you.” // “I was thirsty and you did not give me drink, I was hungry and you did not feed me. What every you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.” To be Jesus has a lot to do with making sure those deemed our enemies are fed and given water, cared for when sick, and looked after as our own children. “But who is my neighbor? the teacher of the law asked.” Americans? Mexicans? Canadians? Iraqis? Osama Bin Laden? Let’s not continue to ask a question that Jesus tired of answering. The answer is clear – “God so loved the world, that he gave up his only Son” We now have the heavy task of being the Son. So let’s not forget why we have this debate, or who we defend. We are not here to defend a political ideology or to be P.R. for America (putting positive spin or justification on our actions, so we don’t appear to be the bad guy). We are here as representatives of Jesus Christ. We stand for truth, repentance, and a better way forward (that “better way” is, for us, the Sermon on the Mount).
____________________________________________________________________________
The following is the most conservative estimate I know of: It estimates that 237,000 Iraqi children under five are dead as a result of sanctions imposed between 1990-1998. To put that on scale for you, after 7 years of military warfare in Iraq (from 2003 – present day), we have barely seen over 100,000 civilians die, regardless of age. The above estimate is only children under 5.
Richard Garfield, “Morbidity and Mortality among Iraqi Children from 1990 to 1998: Assessing the Impact of Economic Sanctions,” Occasional Paper no. 16:OP:3, Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame, 1. Note that this figure does not include the adult deaths resulting from the sanctions, for which figures are generally not given because of the difficulty of documenting specific sources of mortality using the methods applicable to infants and young children.
The UN keeps up with these numbers as well. The have estimated over 400,000 children casualties during this time. However, I doubt many conservatives would consider the UN a reliable source, since their main job is not to support all things America. Other more liberal estimates show upwards of 1 million children casualties. It is estimated that 200,000 Women + Children died in the first Gulf War. So while Bill Clinton was standing on the yard of the White House, watching Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat shake hands during the Oslo Accords in 1993, with headlines declaring “PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST” — at that exact moment somewhere between 237,000 and 1 million innocent people were starving to death, in the Middle East. It seems that to Mr. Clinton peace is merely the absence of military warfare. I don’t think Iraqi children under 5 years of age would agree.
Currently, Mr. Obama is imposing economic sanctions on multiple territories in the Middle East. Two of which are Iran and Afghanistan. He also increased US Defense Spending by 25 Billion Dollars for 2010 and escalated a war in Afghanistan supposing it to be the “popular war.”
“Peace” -
Joe James
I Align My Heart, My Body My Mind January 26, 2010
Posted by joejames in Uncategorized.Tags: Art, Lyrics, Mumford and Sons, Music
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Mumford & Sons- Dust bowl Dance
The young man stands on the edge of his porch
The days were short and the father was gone
There was no one in the town and no one in the field
This dusty barren land had given all it could yield
I’ve been kicked off my land at the age of sixteen
And I have no idea where else my heart could have been
I placed all my trust at the foot of this hill
And now I am sure my heart can never be still
So collect your courage and collect your horse
And pray you never feel this same kind of remorse
Seal my heart and brake my pride
I’ve nowhere to stand and now nowhere to hide
Align my heart, my body, my mind
To face what I’ve done and do my time
Well you are my accuser, now look in my face
Your opression reeks of your greed and disgrace
So one man has and another has not
How can you love what it is you have got
When you took it all from the weak hands of the poor?
Liars and thieves you know not what is in store
There will come a time I will look in your eye
You will pray to the God that you always denied
The I’ll go out back and I’ll get my gun
I’ll say, “You haven’t met me, I am the only son”
Seal my heart and brake my pride
I’ve nowhere to stand and now nowhere to hide
Align my heart, my body, my mind
To face what I’ve done and do my time
Well yes sir, yes sir, yes it was me
I know what I’ve done, cause I know what I’ve seen
I went out back and I got my gun
I said, “You haven’t met me, I am the only son”
Martin Luther King Jr’s Christmas Sermon 1967 January 18, 2010
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A Christmas Sermon on Peace
Dr. King first delivered this sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where he served as co-pastor. On Christmas Eve, 1967, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation aired this sermon as part of the seventh annual Massey Lectures.
Peace on Earth…
This Christmas season finds us a rather bewildered human race. We have neither peace within nor peace without. Everywhere paralyzing fears harrow people by day and haunt them by night. Our world is sick with war; everywhere we turn we see its ominous possibilities. And yet, my friends, the Christmas hope for peace and good will toward all men can no longer be dismissed as a kind of pious dream of some utopian. If we don’t have good will toward men in this world, we will destroy ourselves by the misuse of our own instruments and our own power. Wisdom born of experience should tell us that war is obsolete. There may have been a time when war served as a negative good by preventing the spread and growth of an evil force, but the very destructive power of modern weapons of warfare eliminates even the possibility that war may any longer serve as a negative good. And so, if we assume that life is worth living, if we assume that mankind has a right to survive, then we must find an alternative to war?and so let us this morning explore the conditions for peace. Let us this morning think anew on the meaning of that Christmas hope: “Peace on Earth, Good Will toward Men.” And as we explore these conditions, I would like to suggest that modern man really go all out to study the meaning of nonviolence, its philosophy and its strategy.
We have experimented with the meaning of nonviolence in our struggle for racial justice in the United States, but now the time has come for man to experiment with nonviolence in all areas of human conflict, and that means nonviolence on an international scale.
Now let me suggest first that if we are to have peace on earth, our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Our loyalties must transcend our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation; and this means we must develop a world perspective. No individual can live alone; no nation can live alone, and as long as we try, the more we are going to have war in this world. Now the judgment of God is upon us, and we must either learn to live together as brothers or we are all going to perish together as fools.
Yes, as nations and individuals, we are interdependent. I have spoken to you before of our visit to India some years ago. It was a marvelous experience; but I say to you this morning that there were those depressing moments. How can one avoid being depressed when one sees with one’s own eyes evidences of millions of people going to bed hungry at night? How can one avoid being depressed when one sees with ones own eyes thousands of people sleeping on the sidewalks at night? More than a million people sleep on the sidewalks of Bombay every night; more than half a million sleep on the sidewalks of Calcutta every night. They have no houses to go into. They have no beds to sleep in. As I beheld these conditions, something within me cried out: “Can we in America stand idly by and not be concerned?” And an answer came: “Oh, no!” And I started thinking about the fact that right here in our country we spend millions of dollars every day to store surplus food; and I said to myself: “I know where we can store that food free of charge? in the wrinkled stomachs of the millions of God’s children in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and even in our own nation, who go to bed hungry at night.”
It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. We are made to live together because of the interrelated structure of reality. Did you ever stop to think that you can’t leave for your job in the morning without being dependent on most of the world? You get up in the morning and go to the bathroom and reach over for the sponge, and that’s handed to you by a Pacific islander. You reach for a bar of soap, and that’s given to you at the hands of a Frenchman. And then you go into the kitchen to drink your coffee for the morning, and that’s poured into your cup by a South American. And maybe you want tea: that’s poured into your cup by a Chinese. Or maybe you’re desirous of having cocoa for breakfast, and that’s poured into your cup by a West African. And then you reach over for your toast, and that’s given to you at the hands of an English-speaking farmer, not to mention the baker. And before you finish eating breakfast in the morning, you’ve depended on more than half of the world. This is the way our universe is structured, this is its interrelated quality. We aren’t going to have peace on earth until we recognize this basic fact of the interrelated structure of all reality.
Now let me say, secondly, that if we are to have peace in the world, men and nations must embrace the nonviolent affirmation that ends and means must cohere. One of the great philosophical debates of history has been over the whole question of means and ends. And there have always been those who argued that the end justifies the means, that the means really aren’t important. The important thing is to get to the end, you see.
So, if you’re seeking to develop a just society, they say, the important thing is to get there, and the means are really unimportant; any means will do so long as they get you there? they may be violent, they may be untruthful means; they may even be unjust means to a just end. There have been those who have argued this throughout history. But we will never have peace in the world until men everywhere recognize that ends are not cut off from means, because the means represent the ideal in the making, and the end in process, and ultimately you can’t reach good ends through evil means, because the means represent the seed and the end represents the tree.
It’s one of the strangest things that all the great military geniuses of the world have talked about peace. The conquerors of old who came killing in pursuit of peace, Alexander, Julius Caesar, Charlemagne, and Napoleon, were akin in seeking a peaceful world order. If you will read Mein Kampf closely enough, you will discover that Hitler contended that everything he did in Germany was for peace. And the leaders of the world today talk eloquently about peace. Every time we drop our bombs in North Vietnam, President Johnson talks eloquently about peace. What is the problem? They are talking about peace as a distant goal, as an end we seek, but one day we must come to see that peace is not merely a distant goal we seek, but that it is a means by which we arrive at that goal. We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means. All of this is saying that, in the final analysis, means and ends must cohere because the end is preexistent in the means, and ultimately destructive means cannot bring about constructive ends.
Now let me say that the next thing we must be concerned about if we are to have peace on earth and good will toward men is the nonviolent affirmation of the sacredness of all human life. Every man is somebody because he is a child of God. And so when we say “Thou shalt not kill,” we’re really saying that human life is too sacred to be taken on the battlefields of the world. Man is more than a tiny vagary of whirling electrons or a wisp of smoke from a limitless smoldering. Man is a child of God, made in His image, and therefore must be respected as such. Until men see this everywhere, until nations see this everywhere, we will be fighting wars. One day somebody should remind us that, even though there may be political and ideological differences between us, the Vietnamese are our brothers, the Russians are our brothers, the Chinese are our brothers; and one day we’ve got to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. But in Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile. In Christ there is neither male nor female. In Christ there is neither Communist nor capitalist. In Christ, somehow, there is neither bound nor free. We are all one in Christ Jesus. And when we truly believe in the sacredness of human personality, we won’t exploit people, we won’t trample over people with the iron feet of oppression, we won’t kill anybody.
There are three words for “love” in the Greek New Testament; one is the word “eros.” Eros is a sort of esthetic, romantic love. Plato used to talk about it a great deal in his dialogues, the yearning of the soul for the realm of the divine. And there is and can always be something beautiful about eros, even in its expressions of romance. Some of the most beautiful love in all of the world has been expressed this way.
Then the Greek language talks about “philia,” which is another word for love, and philia is a kind of intimate love between personal friends. This is the kind of love you have for those people that you get along with well, and those whom you like on this level you love because you are loved.
Then the Greek language has another word for love, and that is the word “agape.” Agape is more than romantic love, it is more than friendship. Agape is understanding, creative, redemptive good will toward all men. Agape is an overflowing love which seeks nothing in return. Theologians would say that it is the love of God operating in the human heart. When you rise to love on this level, you love all men not because you like them, not because their ways appeal to you, but you love them because God loves them. This is what Jesus meant when he said, “Love your enemies.” And I’m happy that he didn’t say, “Like your enemies,” because there are some people that I find it pretty difficult to like. Liking is an affectionate emotion, and I can’t like anybody who would bomb my home. I can’t like anybody who would exploit me. I can’t like anybody who would trample over me with injustices. I can’t like them. I can’t like anybody who threatens to kill me day in and day out. But Jesus reminds us that love is greater than liking. Love is understanding, creative, redemptive good will toward all men. And I think this is where we are, as a people, in our struggle for racial justice. We can’t ever give up. We must work passionately and unrelentingly for first-class citizenship. We must never let up in our determination to remove every vestige of segregation and discrimination from our nation, but we shall not in the process relinquish our privilege to love.
I’ve seen too much hate to want to hate, myself, and I’ve seen hate on the faces of too many sheriffs, too many white citizens’ councilors, and too many Klansmen of the South to want to hate, myself; and every time I see it, I say to myself, hate is too great a burden to bear. Somehow we must be able to stand up before our most bitter opponents and say: “We shall match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering. We will meet your physical force with soul force. Do to us what you will and we will still love you. We cannot in all good conscience obey your unjust laws and abide by the unjust system, because non-cooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good, and so throw us in jail and we will still love you. Bomb our homes and threaten our children, and, as difficult as it is, we will still love you. Send your hooded perpetrators of violence into our communities at the midnight hour and drag us out on some wayside road and leave us half-dead as you beat us, and we will still love you. Send your propaganda agents around the country, and make it appear that we are not fit, culturally and otherwise, for integration, and we’ll still love you. But be assured that we’ll wear you down by our capacity to suffer, and one day we will win our freedom. We will not only win freedom for ourselves; we will so appeal to your heart and conscience that we will win you in the process, and our victory will be a double victory.”
If there is to be peace on earth and good will toward men, we must finally believe in the ultimate morality of the universe, and believe that all reality hinges on moral foundations. Something must remind us of this as we once again stand in the Christmas season and think of the Easter season simultaneously, for the two somehow go together. Christ came to show us the way. Men love darkness rather than the light, and they crucified him, and there on Good Friday on the cross it was still dark, but then Easter came, and Easter is an eternal reminder of the fact that the truth-crushed earth will rise again. Easter justifies Carlyle in saying, “No lie can live forever.” And so this is our faith, as we continue to hope for peace on earth and good will toward men: let us know that in the process we have cosmic companionship.
In 1963, on a sweltering August afternoon, we stood in Washington, D.C., and talked to the nation about many things. Toward the end of that afternoon, I tried to talk to the nation about a dream that I had had, and I must confess to you today that not long after talking about that dream I started seeing it turn into a nightmare. I remember the first time I saw that dream turn into a nightmare, just a few weeks after I had talked about it. It was when four beautiful, unoffending, innocent Negro girls were murdered in a church in Birmingham, Alabama. I watched that dream turn into a nightmare as I moved through the ghettos of the nation and saw my black brothers and sisters perishing on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity, and saw the nation doing nothing to grapple with the Negroes’ problem of poverty. I saw that dream turn into a nightmare as I watched my black brothers and sisters in the midst of anger and understandable outrage, in the midst of their hurt, in the midst of their disappointment, turn to misguided riots to try to solve that problem. I saw that dream turn into a nightmare as I watched the war in Vietnam escalating, and as I saw so-called military advisors, sixteen thousand strong, turn into fighting soldiers until today over five hundred thousand American boys are fighting on Asian soil. Yes, I am personally the victim of deferred dreams, of blasted hopes, but in spite of that I close today by saying I still have a dream, because, you know, you can’t give up in life. If you lose hope, somehow you lose that vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of all. And so today I still have a dream.
I have a dream that one day men will rise up and come to see that they are made to live together as brothers. I still have a dream this morning that one day every Negro in this country, every colored person in the world, will be judged on the basis of the content of his character rather than the color of his skin, and every man will respect the dignity and worth of human personality. I still have a dream that one day the idle industries of Appalachia will be revitalized, and the empty stomachs of Mississippi will be filled, and brotherhood will be more than a few words at the end of a prayer, but rather the first order of business on every legislative agenda. I still have a dream today that one day justice will roll down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream. I still have a dream today that in all of our state houses and city halls men will be elected to go there who will do justly and love mercy and walk humbly with their God. I still have a dream today that one day war will come to an end, that men will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks, that nations will no longer rise up against nations, neither will they study war any more. I still have a dream today that one day the lamb and the lion will lie down together and every man will sit under his own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid. I still have a dream today that one day every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill will be made low, the rough places will be made smooth and the crooked places straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. I still have a dream that with this faith we will be able to adjourn the councils of despair and bring new light into the dark chambers of pessimism. With this faith we will be able to speed up the day when there will be peace on earth and good will toward men. It will be a glorious day, the morning stars will sing together, and the sons of God will shout for joy.
A Eucharist Thought for Haiti January 15, 2010
Posted by joejames in Uncategorized.Tags: Church, Communion Thoughts, Eschatology, Eucharist, Haiti, Hope, Justice, Lord's Supper, Pain, Praise, Sacraments, Suffering, Table Fellowship, Witness, Worship
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What does the Lord’s table have to do with Haiti? Everything!
I listened Wednesday morning after the earthquake as a missionary from the UK told stories of the Haitians singing songs through the night. And not just any songs. But songs of praise to God! But why praise God on a night like that!?! That doesn’t make sense! You have every right to be angry, every right to inquire about God’s goodness, or presence, or even existence. If ever you have the right to question God, to doubt him, it is at a time like that, right?
In our comfortable world, here in America, we can quickly forget that the Lord’s supper NEVER makes sense! That celebration and worship, never make sense in a world such as ours. Because we live in what Jesus and Paul refer to as the “Old Aeon” or the “Old Age” or the “Old order of things.” And the primary distinctive this dark Aeon, this old age, is suffering. Where the new hasn’t broken in, there is suffering. Where the new has not yet come there is injustice. Wherever the old aeon still reigns there will be war, no peace, no love, no forgiveness, no healing, no love, no joy, and no redemption!
So when we gather around this table it is with a dual awareness. First, we are aware that the new has not yet fully come – and that there is still suffering, still hurting, still pain, still affliction, still despair. And we know that it is all around us: sufferings, standing as sign posts that this dark age has not yet been fully overcome. But then we are also aware of another reality – that Jesus has come! The kingdom of God has broken into the world! God has entered our own dark age, and ushered in the new! And he has overcome the powers of darkness – he has overcome the forces of evil and corruption – he has overcome the fall of all creation – and in him sorrows and despair and suffering are swallowed up and made to be no more.
And so we eat and drink, together, around a table of fellowship and common love, secured by the sacrifice to end all sacrifices. And as we do, we bear witness to a better age, the coming Aeon. More than just bearing witness, we embody the coming age when all striving will cease and all suffering end, and all will gather at the Table with Christ at the head! But we eat a drink knowing where we are – in the belly of the beast, the midst of the old age. And as we we take the bread and drink the wine, we lift our voices with those suffering Haitians as they sing praises to God’s goodness. And it doesn’t make sense! But it will! It will!
Prayer: Our Father, exalted over all things, but present with us too, bless us as we come together around your table. Bless this bread chosen for the sake of a hurting world, broken for the sake of all sin and captivity and despair, and given to us as a meal of healing and hope. And may our participation in this celebratory meal stand as a faithful witness to the world that you are good. Despite the suffering, despite the injustice, despite the ceaseless fighting and wars, despite the tragedy and poverty, despite the hurting of your beloved children… there was a man named Mercy who came and laid down his life to share in our sufferings… and then he defeated death and rose from the dark grave. Give us Father, glimpses into that Resurrection. Give us Father access to the power that overcomes the suffering and death and despair. To the one that has overcome this dark age, we give our praise to you Lord, Jesus, as we take this, your body and blood! In your name, Amen!
Brit Hume, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, & What the Church has Forgotten January 15, 2010
Posted by joejames in Uncategorized.Tags: Brit Hume, Christianity, Cultural Sensitivity, Culture, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Discipleship & the Word, Evangelism, Faithfulness, Moral Agency, Public Faith, Public Witness, Scripture, The Bible, Tiger Woods
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“The primary confession of the Christian before the world is the deed which interprets itself. If the deed is to have become a force, then the world itself will long to confess the Word. This is not the same as loudly shrieking out propaganda. This Word must be preserved as the most sacred possession of the community. This is a matter between God and the community, not between the community and the world. It is the Word of recognition between friends, not a word to use against enemies. This attitude was first learned at baptism. The deed alone is our confession of faith before the world.”
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
I am reading Bruce Birch’s “Let Justice Roll Down: The Old Testament, Ethics, and Christian Life” What is most phenomenal about Birch’s book is that he is able to lay a foundation and framework for how to think about the bible and then hold on to that framework throughout the book. From the outset, Birch reminds us that it is the assumption of the community that scripture “can be appropriated only through the faith community”. In other words, the bible is the community’s book, not the world’s book. Or, as Bonhoeffer says, it is the “most sacred possession of the community”.
But we have forgotten this in our Western churches. We don’t think of the bible as formative and normative for the church. We think of it as God’s word to the world. Indeed it is, in a sense, “on behalf of” the world that God so loves. But scripture (it has always been assumed) belongs solely to the community as the primary means by which the community is formed. Indeed, Birch reminds us, that the word cannot be appropriated, made flesh, lived out faithfully, outside a community that reveres scripture as the formative text that shapes us into faithful servants of the world, on God’s behalf.
We are so far removed from this basic assumption that we cannot imagine that there would be any negative consequences to speaking God’s word in public. (Some may remind me that Paul said “be devoted to the public reading of scripture.” But it is rather obvious that the word here is “corporate” or “communal” and not meaning “in the public square”). So when Brit Hume “stands up for Christ” on national TV, we think it to be a good thing, with no possible negative consequences. But there are drastic negative consequences. And I think Bonhoeffer & Birch give us a clues as to why.
It is because non-Christians are not blind and have eyes to see. And they can see clearly the gap between what Christians say with their lips and what they do with their lives. (It should be noted, at this point, that Christians would likely be more faithful in how they live if they considered the word of God as “the sacred possession of the faith community” & “normative for the shaping of the community” rather than pimping it in the public square to every passer by.)
Brit Hume is a great example in this regard. Will he, along with Tiger turn to Christ? Perhaps he has already, to some degree (I don’t know him – about like he doesn’t know Tiger Woods). I have a non-Christian friend that is deeply skeptical of Christianity and (not surprisingly) Brit Hume’s claims. Her response to Brit Hume was this: “You cannot help but wonder if Brit Hume has fully experienced this redemption he speaks to Tiger about. I assume that if you were serious about following Jesus you would be serious about loving all people, and therefore not be allowed work for Fox News – a prime agent of perpetuating hatred and anger in our society.”
Hmmm…. that is a good question! In Bonhoeffer’s mind (and in the minds of most serious Jews throughout history – and in the minds of most Christians until Medieval Catholicism), the witness of God’s people to the world is the word, but not ONLY the word or the word itself. Rather it is the word made flesh, our own sacrificial service. Such a theology is what led Saint Francis of Assisi to the conclusion that Christians ought to “Preach the gospel always, and when necessary, use words.”
Do we want to proclaim Christ’s goodness and redemption to the world? Sure. Do we want to tell the world about the redemption, deliverance, and salvation found only in Christ Jesus? Of course. But God’s people are not just bound with figuring out “what” they ought to do. They are bound with figuring out also “how” they ought to go about doing it. The ends do not justify any means.
As Bonhoeffer reminds us of our moral roots in community and that the word is our sacred formational gift, “This is a matter between God and the community, not between the community and the world. It is the Word of recognition between friends, not a word to use against enemies. This attitude was first learned at baptism. The deed alone is our confession of faith before the world.”
Of course, I realize, I am in slim company in thinking this way. I realize I am among but a few that believe that just because someone takes a “public stance for Christ” that it isn’t necessarily a good thing or even God’s will. But perhaps this will prompt some thought about how people receive our message, and, if nothing else, make us think seriously about the disparity between what we proclaim with our lips and live with our hands and feet.
“The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today… is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is simply what an unbelieving world finds unbelievable.”
Brennan Manning
Shane Claiborne’s Bluegrass Song January 12, 2010
Posted by joejames in Uncategorized.Tags: Bluegrass, Kingdom of God, Music, Shane Claiborne, Theology
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We went to Memphis this last weekend to hear author/activist Shane Claiborne speak about building authentic Christian communities. However, before he got to the good stuff, he sang a little bluegrass song for us. Here are the lyrics to his song “The Belly of the Beast”:
Come now and join the feast,
from the greatest to the very least
Come now and join the feast
right here in the belly of the beast
Cops and Soldiers you can come to,
just lay down your guns and come on through
Rich people get rid of your stuff
and poor people there will be enough
O Mighty ones come down from your thrones
and little ones you will never be alone
Patriots bring your flags
We’re washing feet and we’ll need some rags
Come now and join the feast,
from the greatest to the very least
Come now and join the feast
right here in the belly of the beast
My Evolution of Thought about Church January 11, 2010
Posted by joejames in Uncategorized.Tags: Church, Discipleship, Worship
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I used to think church was a place/building we went to in order to worship properly our God who is in heaven.
Then, thanks to Dallas Willard, I began to see church as that non-institutional gathering of disciples. The purpose of the gathering is to order our common life around the kingdom of God, with Christ as it’s King at the center. Worship is certainly part of what they do, but not the only thing they do.
As good as that model is, and as radical a shift in thinking and practice it requires, I believe (thanks to Stanley Hauerwas, John Howard Yoder, Thomas Kelly, Clarence Jordan, Lee Camp, Shane Claiborne, and others) that Church is an alternative society to the kingdoms of earth. This model goes beyond the “disciple-making schools” that Willard suggests. It certainly involves such disciple-making, but such intentional education is only part of the common life of the community. Clarence Jordan’s Koinonia Farm is a great example. At the height of segregation and racism in the deep south, Clarence Jordan started a community that was intentionally inter-racial. His community stood (in the “belly of the beast”) as a fleshed-out witness to the world that the hope, forgiveness, and reconciliation offered in Christ transcends racial division and animosity. The embodied community is the witness, is the living testimony. That is church.
Joe James’ Best of 2009 December 28, 2009
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I love top ten lists. This is my top ten things from 2009:
10> Tell It Slant by Eugene Peterson. Phenomenal book about the stories and prayers of Jesus. The 4th installment of a 5 book series by the wise Mr. Peterson.
9> The 2009 College Football Season. So many undefeated teams for so long! I love the TCU’s, the Utah’s, the Wyomings, the Boise States… the mid-majors.
8> Paranormal Activity. Scariest Movie I ever saw at the movie the theater. Sadly, I don’t think it will have the same effect on DVD. Also, the only movie that has ever caused me to have trouble sleeping… for a week!
7> Health Care. Love it or hate it, it doesn’t matter. I love hearing people act like the world is coming to an end! I love it! No better show on earth than ignorant political rhetoric.
6> 500 days of summer. Zooey Deschanel is the most under-rated actress in Hollywood.
5> Newsweek’s piece on Christians and Torture. Sigh.
4> Shane Claiborne’s Apostolic letter to non-Christians in Esquire Magazine. Um… incredible.
3> Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes by Tamim Ansary (All Christians should be forced to read this)
2> President Obama’s Cairo Speech. Most thoughtful political move of my lifetime. You can always trust the Devil or a Poltician, to be the Devil or a Poltician… but the least politicians could do for a broken world is be thoughtful and understanding and compassionate.
1> Derek Webb’s album Stockholm Syndrome. NPR also thinks this album is 2009’s #1.
