I have been re-reading Justo Gonzalez's master work The Story of Christianity in preparation for our Confirmation class that is coming up next month. My job is to condense the salient histories of the Christian Faith into a 3 hour session--an impossible task to be sure. In reading about the early fathers and the ancient church, I have come to a realization. Modern Western Christians are wimps.
Here's what I mean. Tacitus, an ancient Roman historian, recounts the trials of Christians during the reign of Nero:
"Before killing the Christians, Nero used them to amuse people. Some were dressed in furs, to be killed by dogs. Others were crucified. Still others were set on fire early in the night, so they might illumine it. Nero opened his own gardens for these shows, and in the circus he himself became a spectacle, for he mingled with the people dressed as a charioteer, or he rode around in his chariot. All of this aroused the mercy of the people, even against these culprits who deserved an exemplary punishment, for it was clear that they were not being destroyed for the common good, but rather to satisfy the cruelty of one person" (Annals. 15.44).
This certainly gives us a perspective with which to read Romans 5 (we rejoice even in our sufferings...) because they WERE ACTUALLY SUFFERING. We have to remember that the Christian faith is many things, but the story of Christianity is a revolutionary, subversive message that stands up to the tyranny of evil and the cloaking of the light of hope. I mention all of this because, as I sit in my local coffee house reading Justo's fantastic work, I hid the book in my bag while I went to refill my coffee. I'm scared that people I've never met might find out that I'm a Christian. This, juxtaposed against the firm witness of Justin Martyr, or Ignatius of Antioch, or Bishop Polycarp serves to cause me to wonder just how firm or resolute I might be. Certainly there were those during the first, second, and third century persecutions that relented and worshipped the Emperor. I feel like that might be me, and I'm ashamed.
Lord, give me the courage of my convictions. Amen.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Simple
I decided to re-read the story of the Nativity that has become so ingrained in our Western Christian consciousness. I decided to do this because I have always had a nagging feeling that we are missing something with our celebration of Christmas. And, no, I don't think that we're missing Jesus. We have not forgotten 'the reason for the season.' Even non-Christians understand that this is (or at least traditionally has been) a celebration of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. What we HAVE forgotten is the simplicity of the story.
We have forgotten that Joseph was a nobody from a nowhere corner of the biggest empire the world had ever known. He was betrothed to a pregnant teenage girl. They were riding a donkey across country to go register. All we need is a few red and blue lights and we have an episode of Cops. It was NOT glamorous. If you have romanticized this, I challenge you to go find a donkey and ride it in the desert. Nothing pretty about that at all. When they got to Bethlehem from Galilee (btw, Galilee was such a backward place, that people from there could be identified by their accents. Go read the story of Peter's denial of Jesus. They pick Peter out as Galilean because of his hick accent), they had no money, so they stayed in a barn. Mary gave birth right there in the barn and wrapped her baby boy in a piece of sackcloth. She then laid him down in a feed trough. A pig-slopper. This is such a small and unimportant way for a Savior to enter into the world.
My question for all of us is this--why would God in Jesus choose to be born this way? Surely they could have made it easier, cleaner, nicer, etc. Surely they could've spared Mary the indignity of being an unwed pregnant teenager. Surely they could have set it up so that Jesus could've had a blanket. Why didn't God do this? The answer is, unlike our celebration of this event, quite simple. Jesus came as a savior for all. For the lowly, the common, the servant, the poor, the oppressed, EVERYONE. It is in this simplicity that we're able to find a common thread with the God of the Universe. Certainly there have been millions of babies born into poverty under terrible conditions. There have been millions of unwed pregnant teenagers who gave birth in odd circumstances. Jesus came so that we might have a real connection to the Divine. He humbled himself so that we might be saved and so that we might have a perfect example of what is required of us.
How would Jesus feel about the birthday party we throw for him? Don't you think it's crazy that we celebrate this very humble event by spending $450 Billion on presents? Especially when people starve and die of thirst (btw, most experts believe that $30 Billion would end world hunger, and $10 Billion would take care of the water issues. That's less than 10% of what Americans spend on Christmas presents EACH YEAR). Maybe the Christmas spirit we tout should be about US being good news to those who need it. After all, that's what the very first Christmas was about, right?
We have forgotten that Joseph was a nobody from a nowhere corner of the biggest empire the world had ever known. He was betrothed to a pregnant teenage girl. They were riding a donkey across country to go register. All we need is a few red and blue lights and we have an episode of Cops. It was NOT glamorous. If you have romanticized this, I challenge you to go find a donkey and ride it in the desert. Nothing pretty about that at all. When they got to Bethlehem from Galilee (btw, Galilee was such a backward place, that people from there could be identified by their accents. Go read the story of Peter's denial of Jesus. They pick Peter out as Galilean because of his hick accent), they had no money, so they stayed in a barn. Mary gave birth right there in the barn and wrapped her baby boy in a piece of sackcloth. She then laid him down in a feed trough. A pig-slopper. This is such a small and unimportant way for a Savior to enter into the world.
My question for all of us is this--why would God in Jesus choose to be born this way? Surely they could have made it easier, cleaner, nicer, etc. Surely they could've spared Mary the indignity of being an unwed pregnant teenager. Surely they could have set it up so that Jesus could've had a blanket. Why didn't God do this? The answer is, unlike our celebration of this event, quite simple. Jesus came as a savior for all. For the lowly, the common, the servant, the poor, the oppressed, EVERYONE. It is in this simplicity that we're able to find a common thread with the God of the Universe. Certainly there have been millions of babies born into poverty under terrible conditions. There have been millions of unwed pregnant teenagers who gave birth in odd circumstances. Jesus came so that we might have a real connection to the Divine. He humbled himself so that we might be saved and so that we might have a perfect example of what is required of us.
How would Jesus feel about the birthday party we throw for him? Don't you think it's crazy that we celebrate this very humble event by spending $450 Billion on presents? Especially when people starve and die of thirst (btw, most experts believe that $30 Billion would end world hunger, and $10 Billion would take care of the water issues. That's less than 10% of what Americans spend on Christmas presents EACH YEAR). Maybe the Christmas spirit we tout should be about US being good news to those who need it. After all, that's what the very first Christmas was about, right?
Thursday, November 27, 2008
My quandary...
So, with the latest election, I've been thinking a lot about politics and religion. More specifically, how the platforms of the two parties match up with the direction my faith leads me. And I've realized that it is extremely difficult to vote for any candidate. Here's what I mean:
1. The Democratic Party seems to have a heart for the disenfranchised members of our society. Civil rights, the plight of the poor, racism (in particular, the evident racial disparity within the legal and court system), and gay rights all seem to be major concerns within the party. I think this matches up with my faith fairly well. I believe Jesus had a heart for those who were outcast, ostracized, and underrepresented. He spent time with tax collectors, healed lepers, had kind words for sinners, and reached out to those in need. But, the Democratic Party also fails to protect the rights of the unborn. While they seem to fight frequently for the more helpless in our society, they fail to fight for the most helpless in our society. I believe strongly that Jesus was about life. Wherever he could, he spoke strongly about our duty to one another. About turning the other cheek. About the sacred, God-given life in all of us. I find it hard to believe that Jesus would have sanctioned abortion. So, if I am to align myself with this party, I'm forced to adopt a stance on abortion that is admittedly weak. I have to argue that Pro Choice does not necessarily mean pro abortion. It means that we allow people to make choices that we don't necessarily agree with. But for a party that, at every turn, increases the role of the government in the life of our society, it seems strange that they would align themselves with this laizzes-faire attitude. And, worse than that, much of the Democratic Party understands Pro Choice to mean pro abortion. The rights of the mother to determine whether or not a child lives usurps the right of that child to live. I find it hard to believe that this party can work hard to rid this nation of the death penalty, and still allow mothers and fathers to enact the death penalty on their unborn children.
2. I find it hard to support much of what the Republican Party holds on to. Many self-proclaimed Republicans make the argument that those who are in poverty are simply lazy. They can get a job like everyone else and stop taking hand outs from the government (meaning they can, in effect, stop taking tax payers' money who underwrite their laziness through the welfare program). While I agree that the welfare program is bloated and should be overhauled, I do believe that our faith calls us to share what we have with those who have less. There are countless (and I do mean countless) examples of this mandate throughout the Bible, the strongest of which can be found in Matthew 25. This is a scathing criticism of the Republican party's de facto preference for the wealthiest of our society. But they do fall on the side of Pro Life. Which, again, seems contradictory since, at every turn, they seem to call for less government interference in people's personal lives. And, again, I find it difficult to reconcile their exhuberance for the death penalty with their stance on abortion. Life is life, regardless of how bad we mess up. Jesus stood in the path of a woman sentenced to death for her crimes and called the executioners to first examine their own lives before they enacted their retributive sentence. Vengance is a low-hanging fruit that we are expressly and vehemently demanded to leave alone. Vengance is mine, says the Lord. These two positions seem diametrically opposed to one another. I know that children are innocent and death-row inmates are guilty, but we should also be very very very cautious about how we punish guilt, lest we find ourselves judged as we have judged. It has been said that if you want to know the morality of a society, all you must do is look at their prisoners. Certainly the death penalty fails this test of morality.
So I am left with two choices-neither of which seem to mirror closely what I believe to be our spiritual moral imperatives. Maybe the great poet Chuck D was right when he said, "Neither party is mine, not the Jackass or the Elephant." I think that we must not align ourselves with a political party because we should always reserve the right to criticize our government when it fails to bear the fruit of the spirit that we have been called as children of God to produce. In the words of Rob Bell, "Christian is a great noun, but a terrible adjective." So, I am a Christian, but there is no Christian political party. Tony Campolo put it this way: "Mixing faith and politics is like mixing ice cream and cow dung. It doesn't hurt the cow dung, but it sure messes up the ice cream." Maybe, as people of faith, we are called to vote our faith to the best of our ability, and then work to change the governmental policies that hold us back from realizing the Kingdom of God that we're called to bring about. We cannot necessarily vote for a candidate who is anti-death penalty, anti-war, and anti-abortion, but we can work to change the policies of those we elect. Or we can just sit back and complain to one another that our country is going down the toilet. So, I don't really care if you're a Republican or a Democrat, because if you're a Christian, your FIRST loyalty lies with the slaughtered lamb. If you're a Democrat, fight against policies that are contrary to your faith within your own party. If you're a Republican, do the same. Maybe we'll come to realize that Government cannot save us or damn us. We each hold that responsibility in our own hands. I do not believe that St. Peter is going to ask us for our voting record before we go to heaven. But, as it says in Matthew 25, we will be asked what we did to bring about the Kingdom of God.
1. The Democratic Party seems to have a heart for the disenfranchised members of our society. Civil rights, the plight of the poor, racism (in particular, the evident racial disparity within the legal and court system), and gay rights all seem to be major concerns within the party. I think this matches up with my faith fairly well. I believe Jesus had a heart for those who were outcast, ostracized, and underrepresented. He spent time with tax collectors, healed lepers, had kind words for sinners, and reached out to those in need. But, the Democratic Party also fails to protect the rights of the unborn. While they seem to fight frequently for the more helpless in our society, they fail to fight for the most helpless in our society. I believe strongly that Jesus was about life. Wherever he could, he spoke strongly about our duty to one another. About turning the other cheek. About the sacred, God-given life in all of us. I find it hard to believe that Jesus would have sanctioned abortion. So, if I am to align myself with this party, I'm forced to adopt a stance on abortion that is admittedly weak. I have to argue that Pro Choice does not necessarily mean pro abortion. It means that we allow people to make choices that we don't necessarily agree with. But for a party that, at every turn, increases the role of the government in the life of our society, it seems strange that they would align themselves with this laizzes-faire attitude. And, worse than that, much of the Democratic Party understands Pro Choice to mean pro abortion. The rights of the mother to determine whether or not a child lives usurps the right of that child to live. I find it hard to believe that this party can work hard to rid this nation of the death penalty, and still allow mothers and fathers to enact the death penalty on their unborn children.
2. I find it hard to support much of what the Republican Party holds on to. Many self-proclaimed Republicans make the argument that those who are in poverty are simply lazy. They can get a job like everyone else and stop taking hand outs from the government (meaning they can, in effect, stop taking tax payers' money who underwrite their laziness through the welfare program). While I agree that the welfare program is bloated and should be overhauled, I do believe that our faith calls us to share what we have with those who have less. There are countless (and I do mean countless) examples of this mandate throughout the Bible, the strongest of which can be found in Matthew 25. This is a scathing criticism of the Republican party's de facto preference for the wealthiest of our society. But they do fall on the side of Pro Life. Which, again, seems contradictory since, at every turn, they seem to call for less government interference in people's personal lives. And, again, I find it difficult to reconcile their exhuberance for the death penalty with their stance on abortion. Life is life, regardless of how bad we mess up. Jesus stood in the path of a woman sentenced to death for her crimes and called the executioners to first examine their own lives before they enacted their retributive sentence. Vengance is a low-hanging fruit that we are expressly and vehemently demanded to leave alone. Vengance is mine, says the Lord. These two positions seem diametrically opposed to one another. I know that children are innocent and death-row inmates are guilty, but we should also be very very very cautious about how we punish guilt, lest we find ourselves judged as we have judged. It has been said that if you want to know the morality of a society, all you must do is look at their prisoners. Certainly the death penalty fails this test of morality.
So I am left with two choices-neither of which seem to mirror closely what I believe to be our spiritual moral imperatives. Maybe the great poet Chuck D was right when he said, "Neither party is mine, not the Jackass or the Elephant." I think that we must not align ourselves with a political party because we should always reserve the right to criticize our government when it fails to bear the fruit of the spirit that we have been called as children of God to produce. In the words of Rob Bell, "Christian is a great noun, but a terrible adjective." So, I am a Christian, but there is no Christian political party. Tony Campolo put it this way: "Mixing faith and politics is like mixing ice cream and cow dung. It doesn't hurt the cow dung, but it sure messes up the ice cream." Maybe, as people of faith, we are called to vote our faith to the best of our ability, and then work to change the governmental policies that hold us back from realizing the Kingdom of God that we're called to bring about. We cannot necessarily vote for a candidate who is anti-death penalty, anti-war, and anti-abortion, but we can work to change the policies of those we elect. Or we can just sit back and complain to one another that our country is going down the toilet. So, I don't really care if you're a Republican or a Democrat, because if you're a Christian, your FIRST loyalty lies with the slaughtered lamb. If you're a Democrat, fight against policies that are contrary to your faith within your own party. If you're a Republican, do the same. Maybe we'll come to realize that Government cannot save us or damn us. We each hold that responsibility in our own hands. I do not believe that St. Peter is going to ask us for our voting record before we go to heaven. But, as it says in Matthew 25, we will be asked what we did to bring about the Kingdom of God.
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