Trans4m

Rejoining the Conversation

For a variety of reasons I have been on an extended hiatus from my blog, but have decided to rejoin the conversation - at least periodically. I have been doing a lot of travel for the Doctor of Ministry program I direct as well as for the Ph.D. Research I have been doing. In addition, my teaching load this Fall was barely survivable, so all extraneous involvements needed to be pruned. However, I have missed the daily - or at least weekly - posts I had gotten used to making. The discipline of posting served as a daily deadline of sorts, not unlike what I imagine a newspaper columnist must experience, providing the creative tension that serves as a catalyst for effective analysis and synthesis. And so, I welcome myself back!

Prophet Pat

The Rev. Pat Robertson says God has told him that storms and possibly a tsunami will hit America's coastline this year.The founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network has told viewers of "The 700 Club" that the revelations came to him during his annual personal prayer retreat in January."If I heard the Lord right about 2006, the coasts of America will be lashed by storms," Robertson said May 8.He added specifics in Wednesday's show."There well may be something as bad as a tsunami in the Pacific Northwest," he said. Unfortunately, this is the image most Americans and Europeans have of Evangelical Christians. No wonder people flock to Oprah when they perceive Christianity to be the other option. I am convinced that this is one of the dangers of "Christian" television. To keep your audience, there always has to be something new and sensational, so why not a special message from our loving God about impending doom and destruction ... just in time for May sweeps!

Pastor Oprah

Last Thursday's USA Today carried an intriguing story about the power of being Oprah Winfrey and how many Americans (particularly women) see Oprah as a spiritual leader who is changing the world. Here is what actor/entertainer Jammie Foxx said as a guest on her show ...

Last fall, at the start of this 20th season of The Oprah Winfrey Show, guest Jamie Foxx said much the same thing, but he wasn't joking. "What you have is something nobody can describe," Foxx said to Winfrey on the air. Then he explained about how he told Vibe magazine: "You're going to get to heaven and everyone's waiting on God and it's going to be Oprah Winfrey."

He told her she has "different gears" than most people. "You're on the top of the world, and we really do watch and listen for everything you do and say to kind of get our lives together. It's the truth."

In a November poll conducted at Beliefnet.com, a site that looks at how religions and spirituality intersect with popular culture, 33% of 6,600 respondents said Winfrey has had "a more profound impact" on their spiritual lives than their clergypersons.

Cathleen Falsani, religion writer for the Chicago Sun-Times, recently suggested, "I wonder, has Oprah become America's pastor?"

What do you think? Is Oprah America's new spiritual leader? Does the fact that 33% of 6,600 respondents say the Oprah has had a more profound impact on their lives than their clergy person say more about Oprah or about today's clergy person? Something to think about ...

Join a Million Voices for Darfur

In Matthew 25:44-46 Jesus says, "Then they will reply, 'Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?' And he will answer, 'I assure you, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters you were refusing to help me.' And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.

Send a postcard to President Bush to help give him the leverage he needs to lead in the face of this human tragedy and genocide. Send a Postcard Now!

Damned by Darfur

Though it is good to see the tragedy of Darfur finally in the national and international spotlight to some degree, I am wondering why it is celebrities like George Clooney (God bless him) who are at the forefront of this issue? Why is the Evangelical Church and its leaders virtually invisible when it comes to this issue? How many sermons were preached this last week in our pulpits in support of this past weekend's events planned to call attention to the genocide and put pressure on national and international leaders to DO something? Why are we as evangelical Christian leaders so passive and silent when it comes to such global tragedies? Imagine the impact if all of our evangelical churches in the Twin Cities (and the nation) had taken to the streets after our church services to stand in the gap for the Invisible Children and the gross injustices that are taking place in Sudan. I am afraid that by our silence we are being damned by Darfur. What are your thoughts? Why do you think our evangelical churches remain silent in the face of this tragedy and what can we do to shame the church into action?

Check out the Invisible Children

Rethinking Wealth

Check it Out! Christianity in a Consumer Culture

For those living in a capitalist context, wealth, profit, advantage and power are understood, in a general sense, almost exclusively as material and, in a more specific sense, as economic. But clearly there is a form of wealth that is not rooted in money, property, or any other physical asset. Similarly, there are advantages in life that extend beyond the economic realm and there are forms of power that are not rooted in the world of financial wealth. 
    In the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes, King Solomon, one of the wealthiest men in history, wrote, “Those who love money will never have enough. How absurd to think that wealth brings true happiness! …So what is the advantage of wealth – except perhaps to see it run through your fingers!”  Moreover, Solomon writes, “There is another serious problem I have seen in the world. Riches are sometimes hoarded to the harm of the saver … People who live only for wealth come to the end of their lives as naked and empty-handed as the day they were born.”  Solomon seems to be saying here that material wealth, in itself, is not capable of providing human beings with the happiness and inner peace that they ultimately value and seek. Something (spiritual capital) must exist beyond or beneath material wealth that imbues it with the power to grant happiness to its possessor. Solomon contends that people who seek material capital alone, apart from such spiritual capital live their lives under a cloud – frustrated, discouraged, and angry. Any thoughts? Let me encourage you to attend what should be an intellectually stimulating and life-changing event: Conference on Christian Consumerism

A Revolutionary Standard!

This morning in my reading I was headed for Matthew 26, but got stuck on Matthew 25:31-46. It is Jesus telling his disciples about the final judgment right before they go to celebrate his last passover. Jesus very plainly says that when he comes in all of his glory, and all of the angels with him, and he sits upon his glorious throne, he will gather the nations before him and then separate them as a shepherd separates the goats from the sheep - sheep on the right, goats on the left. Then he will summon the sheep and say, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." And the basis of this selection is how the sheep treated the hungry, thirsty, alienated, naked, sick, and imprisoned people of the world. It is not a passage we hear preached much in our churches today; and no wonder, it is quite convicting. Jesus seems to be saying that how we deal with the marginalized of the earth is a true reflection of our relationship with him. It is a sobering standard of true spirituality. And yet, for how many of our churches is this a PRIMARY concern? Do we see as our primary mission on earth Loving Jesus by genuinely loving and engaging with the hungry, thirsty, alienated, naked, sick, and imprisoned people of the world? What will it take to reorient the evangelical Church to this revolutionary standard? What can each of us do to help reorient our own community of faith and give leadership to a vibrant, church-wide ministry to "the least of these" among us?  Any ideas or thoughts?

A Radical Solution

The Scriptures say that we, as humans, are created in the image and likeness of God. As a result, we can attain to a relationship with the Creator through Jesus Christ. In fact, the Westminster Catechism states that that is our chief aim; to know God and love Him forever. Yet it seems sin has so corroded our aspirations for God that we are too often willing to settle for a life of banality. Louis of Granada says that, "Men have so perverted their natures that, like brute animals they seek nothing but the goods of the body. What greater disorder than that so noble a creature, capable of the happiness and glory of God, should live and act like an animal and not have any other occupation or seek any other end than to meet their bodily desires."  Such radical sickness called for a radical solution!  "Anyone who considers these things will not be surprised at the incarnation of the Son of God, because so great an evil demanded an extraordinary remedy." Let's make sure that these weeks of Easter we turn toward our true calling and live mindfully in relationship with the God who made us and redeemed us through Jesus! Blessings!

Compromising With Capitalism

It is absolutely amazing to me how we as the Church of Jesus Christ have become so adept at rationalizing and justifying our idolatry of wealth. We live in deep denial of our addiction to acquisitiveness and the constant desire we have for more. In an effort to avoid the issue we use defenses like, "Capitalism may have problems, but show me a better economic system." Well, there are plenty of potential alternatives, but they would require us to sober up real fast and actually engage in denying ourselves. For starters we could reexamine the economic thinking of Thomas Aquinas, John Locke and R.A. Tawney. In fact, according to Tawney, "social transformation requires most basically a change in attitude. The attitudes of governments to social questions is wrong, profoundly wrong. but it is wrong because the attitudes of individuals to each other is wrong, because we in our present society are living on certain false and universal assumptions ... what we have got to do first of all is to change those assumptions and principles." Moreover, Tawney states that, "Compromise is as impossible between the Church of Christ and the idolatry of wealth, which is the practical religion of capitalist societies, as it was between the Church and the State idolatry of the Roman Empire." What will it take to shake us out of our denial? What does it actually mean to "love our neighbor as our self?"

The fire of Revolution

Jeremiah was a true revolutionary - actually the model revolutionary in many ways. Jeremiah was called by God to address the injustice and immorality that had come to characterize Judah in their complacency. It was an unpopular but true message. Jeremiah knew that people did not want to hear what he had to say, but he still had to say it - he could not hold it in - it burned in his belly! Jeremiah says, " ... these messages from the Lord have made me a household joke. And I can't stop! If I say I'll never mention the Lord or speak in his name, his word burns in my heart like a fire. It's like a fire in my bones! I am weary of holding it in!" (Jeremiah 20:8-10). We need more Christians today who see the injustice and immorality in our culture and, like Jeremiah, cannot remain silent. I am not talking about bashing sinners and labeling the lost ... I am talking about calling the Church and Christians to account! Jeremiah was prophesying against God's chosen people, not the pagans of the day! The same was true for Jesus, Jesus didn't bash sinners and call them names and blame them for everything that was wrong in the world - he treated them with love, mercy and compassion. But for the self-righteous religious leaders Jesus had a message of condemnation that ultimately got him killed! Do you have anything burning in your bones? If not, why not?