PublicChristian

[You can sign this covenant online at the Sojourners site. I have added underlines and bolds to the version below.]

How good and pleasant it is when the people of God live together in unity. -Psalm 133:1

As Christian pastors and leaders with diverse theological and political beliefs, we have come together to make this covenant with each other, and to commend it to the church, faith-based organizations, and individuals, so that together we can contribute to a more civil national discourse. The church in the United States can offer a message of hope and reconciliation to a nation that is deeply divided by political and cultural differences. Too often, however, we have reflected the political divisions of our culture rather than the unity we have in the body of Christ. We come together to urge those who claim the name of Christ to “put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you” (Ephesians 4:31-32).
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there is no way in which a country can satisfy the craving for absolute security

“No way.” No way. As in not possible in this world.

but it can easily bankrupt itself,
morally and economically,
in attempting to reach that illusory goal through arms alone.

In other words, you can’t buy enough guns (etc) to make yourself safe. But you can go completely nuts trying.

How many times this winter did you witness something like this: you’re watching the snow fall straight east instead of to the ground and someone says, “Wow, that’s a hot batch of global warming isn’t it?” The intention is to mock the idea that the global climate system is actually warming up – because look how COLD it is right now!

But think a minute. If there has been heat added to the incredibly complex global weather system, what should we expect? Certainly not more uniformly balmy sunny days. Add heat into a complex and volatile system like earth’s weather system and you will get MORE volatility and unpredictability. » Continue Reading »

Here’s an Australian paper quoting today from a speech by the French President (Nicolas Sarkozy) at Columbia University (New York City).

Welcome to the club of states who don’t turn their back on the sick and the poor

The very fact that there should have been such a violent debate simply on the fact that the poorest of Americans should not be left out in the streets without a cent to look after them … is something astonishing to us.

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I’ve experienced it a number of times – many of my Christian acquaintances can get so worked up with contempt and even hatred for their government. They often seem to have no respect at all for the idea of government interfering in people’s lives in any way – or at least not in well-off or successful people’s lives.

We’ve all heard it – something like:

I. It is NOT the government’s place to tell people how they should spend their money or how they should treat their employees. That’s an abuse of freedom and a terrible threat to all of us. So it is anti-American and very unChristian. And it will lead to socialism and Communism and fascism and tyranny. » Continue Reading »

A friend recently asked what it means that I use “emergent evangelical” as my religious affiliation on FaceBook. So here’s a look at what the phrase means to me.

I. “Evangelicals” Today

“Evangelical” has come to be a bad word in much of American society, for several reasons. » Continue Reading »

Some things cost money; we MUST put out some shekels one way or another for some of what we want or need. That’s part of living in human society.

So to say we should not have health care reform because it will cost some money is not really facing the question. The question is more like, “Do we NEED this or not?” Lots and lots of Americans think we do. And so do millions watching this battle from other nations – where they settled the issue long ago to the great benefit and relief of their populations.

But what if we find out that this reform package will actually REDUCE the budget deficit? » Continue Reading »

We can support policies that actually tend to reduce abortions in the short run. Or we can adopt a political strategy of taking over every branch of government with like-minded politicians so we can (try to) use the long arm of the law to force people to not have abortions – someday in a golden future.

This is from an article in the “New England Journal of Medicine”

The recent experience in Massachusetts suggests that universal health care coverage has been associated with a decrease in the number of abortions performed,

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WHY?

Why should we focus any more on Jesus Christ than on Abraham or Moses or Isaiah? Or on the laws in the Bible, or prophecy, or the end of the world?

Is focus on Jesus more needed than pointing out sins – especially other people’s sins?

Is Christ actually more important today than Obama or McCain? Or economic crisis? Or threats of violence around the world and at home?

Should we focus mostly on our friendship with Jesus – or on why our beliefs are better than other people’s beliefs ?

BECAUSE » Continue Reading »

Here’s my wife Connie’s response to a relative who thinks Obama loves to see babies die, and argues that almost all abortions are done for the convenience of the mother. We could rant about this for a long time, but I think Connie did a good job in this post on her Facebook page.

Hi R__, I’m not denying past trends, and I am completely Pro-Life:

Remember, my doctor begged me to have an abortion in the 5th month because he knew the baby (Chelsea) was killing me – I weighed 95 lbs at the time. When I refused, he had to send me to Denver because I had no insurance… and subsequently, she had no insurance for the next 13 years because of her pre-existing condition…

…until I got a job at the U.S. Postal Service – Federal Insurance covers you no matter what and we currently pay $314 per month for family insurance!

There have been so so so many instances since then when I so wish I could share my Federal insurance with the people immediately around me who are suffering so much.

I heard it said last night, that if we can spend so many billions of dollars killing Iraqis why can’t we spend a fraction of that saving and healing Americans… including veterans.

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Douglas W. Kmiec is a prominent Republican and committed Roman Catholic. He was head of the Office of Legal Counsel for Presidents Reagan and the first Bush.

He became notorious for coming out in support of then-Senator Obama’s campaign for the Presidency, and for publishing things like the following.

He speaks of “the Catholic tradition” as

not just
condemnation of the evil of abortion,
but also as
the building up of a society

where those at risk of falling or disregarding this boundary will be far less like to do so because of the tangible help of their neighbor, inspired by the witness of Christ rendered both personally and through government. [p45]

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Former Sec. of State Madeleine Albright said this in an email I got this week.

Every new president inherits headaches, but President Obama has inherited an entire emergency room.

Our struggle to reclaim our standing in the world has been challenging, but we are making progress. Together, we will need to continue to speak up, fight back, and give President Obama the support he needs to succeed.

The President told David Letterman last night that we were losing 700,000 jobs a month when he became President. And that’s just in one bay of a pretty large emergency room.

And Connie kept saying, while Obama was on Letterman, that he just always seems so calm, so reasonable, and not at all “full of himself.”

Sort of like a grown-up should be!

Or a Christian.
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Listen to this sermon by clicking here: (Download)
 

ISSUES in “Our Patriotic Songs Have Some Serious Messages”:
  • God is looking for fruit (goodness, love) from every individual, every group, every nation, even the entire human race.
  • ”My Country” – It’s good in principle to love your country. It’s very normal. But it is sometimes done in very destructive, evil ways.
  • Some of these stirring songs have serious prayers in them, or frightening teachings about God’s action in America.
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This is my response to a comment about a certain church’s Christian – or Biblical – Worldview training. The original post was at “SlopeSitter’s” new blog.

Hey, nice to find this blog!

Yes. VERY important concerns here, SlopeSitter.

You say the “worldview” approach
1) can easily be subverted to the support of one political position (quite consistently “conservative” Republican, as it turns out).
2) And it can produce an aggressive, intellectual “evangelism” that often seems and perhaps is devoid of love.

Yup! Have to agree.

After studying Dobson’s Christian Worldview series a bit, and the Barna Group’s 8 worldview questions, it really distressed me to realize that, according to a remark in the book of James, the demons have a “Biblical worldview”. Well, THAT’s not very helpful!
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James Dobson has resigned as board chair at Focus on the Family. I’m sure he can find legitimate reasons to do so – even though it represents a real loss in terms of the enthusiastic labor of most of his life.

But I have to wonder also if it’s just another step in the fulfillment of what Jesus predicted so long ago – about false prophets. » Continue Reading »

With his usual delicacy of style Ed Howard at Nebraska State Paper points out an obvious and important fact concerning discussions about the stimulus (in an email newsletter).

“Sen. John McCain exhibiting cynicism”

What we find approximately unbearable, however, is a fellow like Sen. John McCain exhibiting the ultimate in cynicism and the disingenuousness.

He’s referring to one of McCain’s specific complaints about Obama’s economic stimulus package.
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In January of 2008 Barack Obama gave a powerful speech (sermon) on the meaning of Martin Luther King Jr. for America today. This was at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where King was raised and his father was the pastor.

Obama directly confronts fundamental moral problems rampant in American society and politics. (I’ve added some emphases to the print version.)

I’m talking about a moral deficit. I’m talking about an empathy deficit. I’m taking about an inability to recognize ourselves in one another; to understand that we are our brother’s keeper; we are our sister’s keeper;

And he brings the issue home to each of us. » Continue Reading »

Connie and I recently watched Karol: A Man Who Became Pope. It portrays Karol Wojtyla’s life from his late teens, when the Nazi’s invaded his city and nation, through WWII, then through decades of Communist rule (as a satellite of the Soviet Union), up to the day he became Pope John Paul II (1978).

I. A Real-life Example: The Future Pope Working Under Nazi and Communist Oppression in Poland

Karol Wojtyla, (pronounced something like “VoyTEEya”) was known as a man of prayer, and it seems to me that his life-long habits (and style) of prayer – developed in his late teens – were a key factor in his effectiveness in the real world and in his continuing rise to greater and greater worldly power.

He was introduced to “mystical prayer” early in WWII by an older man (Jan Tyranowsky) who became a spiritual mentor to several young adults. I was familiar with the story from previous study, and though this version is a movie, not a documentary, it still rings pretty true.

One poignant scene shows him discovering a poster announcing the murder (”execution”) of a good friend, a young priest, by the Nazis. Wojtyla sinks to the ground » Continue Reading »

Here’s the article I wrote for our church’s monthy newsletter for January. We need, want, and should want lots of good things. But I was looking for a list specific to a local church’s situation. This is derived from the first of the two letters we have from Paul to the church of the Thessalonians.

While it is local-church specific, it seems to me to have profound applications and implications far beyond that scope.

What Does God Want To Do Here in 2009?

That question – What does God want to do here in 2009? – no doubt has some answers we cannot figure out here in January.

But I think God has made a lot of it pretty apparent. Here’s a short Bible study from I Thessalonians – looking for what had been seen, or would be seen, as desirable developments in the believers in Thessalonica.

God wants to see more people doing / experiencing these things, and these things being done better and more consistently. What do you think of this list? Does any part of it particularly stand out to you?

1. PEOPLE WITH FAITH AND LOVE.

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“I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people.” Luke 2:10

Is God Sending Joy for ALL People?

Yes! Joy to those feeling terrible because they’ve been inattentive to God:

All the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law. Nehemiah said, This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.
Nehemiah 8:9-10

Yes! Joy to those for whom God has already done great things:

The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.
Psalm 126:3

Yes! Joy to those weeping, who desperately need God to do great things:

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Martin Luther apparently liked to write about faith.

I love his saying that faith “does not even ask whether good works SHOULD be done”! God made humans. God loves the human race. It is the nature of the beast that when a human responds to God in faith there is engendered an impulse to do something or other GOOD.

O, this faith is a living, busy, active, powerful thing!

It is impossible that it should not be ceaselessly doing that which is good. It does not even ask whether good works should be done; but before the question can be asked, it has done them, and it is constantly engaged in doing them.

Certainly we can disagree about the effectiveness or long-term wisdom of some people’s acts of goodness – including our own.
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“Good News: House Republicans Stand on Principles”

That’s the headline on today’s newsletter from the political voice of Dobson’s Focus on the Family. It’s also on their website.
 

My reactions:
 

1. Ha ha ha ha ha ha HA!

Really. I smile and I chuckle. “House Republicans” and “Principles” in one sentence, without a “no” or “not”? Ha ha ha ha ha ha.

Oh, that’s hilarious. They say the essence of humor is irony, or the unexpected. Wow, Dobson has the gift!
 

2. But when you think a moment and realize they have shown remarkable consistency for some years, maybe Dobson’s Citizen-Link has a point.
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In many respects, Americans are freer today than ever before, with more Americans than ever before enjoying unencumbered access to the promise of American life.

I’m quoting Andrew J. Bacevich, retired US Army colonel, professor of history and international relations at Boston University, writing about American freedom, and values in American life today.*

He’s arguing that we’ve used our freedoms to become self-indulgent and arrogant, and to try to force the rest of the world to support that self-indulgence and arrogance.
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Here are two very important words of advice we are not allowed to follow:
1. Pick your parents very carefully.
2. Pick the century and year of your birth carefully.

Jeremiah, often called “the Weeping Prophet,” perhaps did ok in picking his parents, but he picked a horrible time-frame in which to work!

Below is a list I found of short descriptions of this prophet.*

1. He was at once gentle and tenacious, affectionate and inflexible.

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4  Men of perverse heart shall be far from me;

I will have nothing to do with evil.

5  Whoever slanders his neighbor… ,
him will I put to silence;
whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart,
him will I not endure.

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