“For Rent”

Driving through town, I love to see new construction taking place. The people hired out for the various construction jobs love to “see” this even more, I’m sure. Setting the debate about consumerism and American culture aside for a moment, seeing new construction builds in my heart a reassurance that fresh vision and passionate dreams still abound. There are risk-takers still among us, and there are energetic human support beams lining these cathedrals of leadership innovation.

By contrast, a wet, mildewy insulation fills my heart, when I glance upon a worn-out building, overgrown with weedy-shrubbery and posting a sign “For Rent.” I wonder who in their right minds would buy into such a venture. And yet the building’s owner is hoping against hope for someone to do just that.

A few miles outside the city-limits of Lamar, SC, such a building exists (or existed, depending on your view point). At one time it was a double drive-thru for hamburgers and hotdogs. Yet, that “one time” was quite a distance into yesteryear. It looked as if The History Channel might have wanted to use it in the next episode of their recent series, “Life without People.” Recently, it has been acquired and spruced up. It is now the sprawling hub of a weekend flea-market.

Yet, there are many more buildings that weep tears of broken glass and chipped paint, mourning the days of yesteryear, when someone with vision birthed them into existence. The only brightness that remains for many of these buildings flows from the newly changed out “For Rent” signs. Maybe, just maybe, some resourceful entrepreneur will set up shop to the Burger King tune of “If you build it, they will come.” At that dire state, the owner of the building no longer has the Burger King luxury of having it his way. He is at the mercy of the entrepreneur’s golden wisdom.

Many of our churches are now “For Rent.” The “owners” are hoping against hope. Perhaps their resourceful pastoral entrepreneurs can whip up some measure of life, sunny-side up, with a side of comfy-ness and all served on platters of antique traditions by beaming, complaisant young people. Unfortunately, there are fewer and fewer pastoral entrepreneurs (especially younger ones) willing to submit their resourcefulness to such a vacuum of reality. Is it possible that waiting for young pastoral entrepreneurs to ride into town in their limousine ideas to save our churches is nothing more than a pipe dream? After all if their limousine ideas do not fit our Model-T assumptions, then we slit their tires.

“Choosing to Love Thy Neighbor Also” is our denominational theme this year. While we are waiting on our young, pastoral entrepreneurs that are long in coming, if even at all, perhaps ”choosing to love thy neighbor as thyself” is the entrepreneurial model for church growth that we plain country folk can live. In so doing, perhaps it will be our new customers and patrons working with us that will enable us to remove the “For Rent” signs with optimistic integrity. Yet, this means that we, the regular church folk, “the owners,” actually have to have meaningful contact with potential customers that look, sound, and taste differently than we do. Let’s face it, if we, “the owners,” don’t learn to encourage patronage from “different” customers, we will be replacing our “For Rent” signs with ones more onimously labeled, “For Sale.” Likewise, we must not only learn to encourage patronage from “different” customers, but we must learn to embrace a lifestyle of loving-service to them. This is our calling now; not simply the calling of those we pay to be spiritual for us.

Such prospects are intimidating for many of us. Yet, our pastors are not the only ones with resourceful and resilient hearts among us. If most of us can find creative ways to still make it to the local buffet in this economy, then I know finding creative ways to love our neighbors, even our neighbors that are “different,” is doable.

Serving in the military provides ample opportunity to practice this novel idea of “choosing to love thy neighbor as thyself.” The military rarely runs a shortage of pagans (aka. ministry opportunities). One drill weekend I was digging fighting holes with my squad leader. He was digging holes of despair. Seemingly out of nowhere he began to express his deep frustrations in his marriage. His emotions were raw. Not being married, myself, my comfort was raw. The stakes were high. He was hell-bent on going to the divorce lawyer that Wednesday. He hated her.

Yet, the Spirit impressed upon me to simply listen, to be a redemptive harbor of peace onto which his emotional hurricane could safely land. Eventually, I confessed that I had no advice to offer, but that I could see he was desperately hurting. I offered to pray for him, right there on the spot. I told him that I believed God could save his marriage. He graciously let me pray over him that God would heal his marriage. The next drill weekend, a month later, he found me among several of my friends. With the bark of your friendly, neighborhood drill instructor he said, “Hey, if Daniel wants to pray for y’all, let him! My wife and I were going to the divorce lawyer, but now we’ve decided to work things out.”

 Several months later he proudly brought his wife and little boy, his intact and healing family, to Family Day. I don’t know the exact extent to which my prayers over him and his family played into God’s redemption of that family. I do know that when I made the decision to be involved in his messy situation, I was not Rev. Daniel. I was merely Lance Corporal Daniel of the Marine Reserves, who simply loved Jesus with a passion that propelled me to actively love my vile, but hurting, neighbor with my ears and heart.

Our culture rarely runs a shortage of pagans with glaring needs. These folks are our neighbors. They are our neighbors to love. They are our neighbors to redemptively love. They are our neighbors to redemptively love with no strings attached. They, not the mirage of young, entrepreneurial pastors, are the means by which we shall remove the “For Rent” signs from what will become our formerly dilapidated churches.

“More than Meets the Eye”

“More than meets the eye,” was the tag line from the old Transformers cartoon way-back-when. Despite the fact that most people went to see the latest Transformers movie simply because of the signature Michael-Bay-massive-cool graphics and Megan Fox, there is more to this movie than meets the eye.

Michael Bay has a penchant for playing a Where’s Waldo social commentary game with many of his movies, like “The Island.” This is no different. While The Fallen is strategizing for his buddy-Deceptacons, the Obama administration (in the film) sends an official (that looks a lot like Press Sec. Robert Gibbs) to the special ops military group working with the Autobots. They are to categorically suspend all activity. The Obama administration (in the film) wants to dialogue with the Deceptacons and send the Autobots away from earth. Yeah … we in the audience see there is nothing-more-here-than-inviting-a-black-eye. The officer-in-charge asks the Obama Administration official, “what if you’re wrong?”

A good question for our own real-life situation. During the heating up phase of the Deceptacon major offensive President Obama is wisked away to a “secure” location, while normal peon “global citizens” must suffer the consequences of his gross miscalculations. Where is Uncle Mordecai when we need him?

During a news conference with the Autobot special ops unit and Optimus Prime, an officer whispers to his friend about Prime: “If God made us in his image, who made him?” The voice-over Prime assures us, like in the previous Transformer movie, that we’re not alone in the universe. Knowing all there is to know in a universe of icy and stale reductionism is a lony place. As a rationalistic and scientifically-precise culture, we have never been more hungry for unexplainable mystery that is bigger. We’re leaving organized, pansy religion by the droves, but we’re hungry for a God, who is big enough to be untamable and is beyond complete explanation. We Christians would do well to take notice that there is more to our God-hungry culture than meets the eye.

My Lament over Governor Sanford

No, this is not the promised sequel to the previous post dealing with the movie, “Up.” That is still to come. However, like Carl Fredricksen, I “saw” via the radio one of my heroes become disgraced today. Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina admitted to an affair.

In a word I was shocked. As his press conference unfolded, my heart shriveled. I deeply admired this man … and still do. Yes, he was a very promising contender in 2012 against Pres. Obama, but like my heart that opportunity is shriveled and has blown away in the winds of consequences. Yet, he was more to me than a potential victor. He was a man of deep Conservative principle fueled by Christian faith that was thriving in the night of the living dead that is American politics. He was a strong leader, not willing to yield to a deeply-entrenched defunct political system in South Carolina that traditionally views the governorship as little more than a state mascot. He was one of the few who dared to challenge the gluttonous spending machine of the current administration, claiming that government should not be exempt from the normalcy and health of cutting back during tough times.

Was. It has been about five or six hours now, and my heart continues to grieve the loss of a good man in the American political future.

However, unlike Carl Fredricksen in the movie, “Up,” and certainly unlike the “Judge-Not” defenders of Bill Clinton, my loyalty to him does not demand his political vindication. My loyalty to him hopes to see him continue to exhibit the class, honor, courage, and principled-conviction he has been known for in the past, by resigning as Governor and by marching forward on his promise to engage in a process of reconciliation.

I believe he was truly sincere in his press conference today, which, I believe, was one integral facet of “making it right.” Yes, what he did was truly despicable, which is why Sin is so dangerous. Only in middle school did we truly believe that only bad people do bad things. We grow older. Our skin grows thicker. Our eyes grow more vigilant. Our hearts grow more cautious. The best of us are capable of the worst in human nature. We are not simply corruptible. We are corrupted in our inner nature and need transformational-redemption.

Gov. Sanford did not attempt to rationalize his moral failings. He fully admitted he failed; he was wrong. No, I do not judge him in the sense of condemning him to an eternal state of moral sloth. Yet, I do judge him in the prophetic sense, “Thou art the man.” What he did was wrong and has consequences in the lives of other people, many of whom are innocent. He has breeched trust, public and private. He courageously and honorably admitted as much. Personal responsibility is a social virtue, both of which may well be undercut by folk theology.

For example, “There but for the grace of God go I,” gushes forth well-meaning founts of mercy. We would be gutter snipes had not God rescued us by his grace, in which we are called to live daily. Yet, if it’s true that God’s grace alone keeps me from falling into sin, then God withdrew his grace from Gov. Sanford, which in turn caused him to fall haplessly into his sin. God, in this view, would be the author of Gov. Sanford’s practice of sin. In the long run this folkism absolves sinners of any culpability. Jesus may well be the source of my life, as the Vine, but it is I, one of the grafted branches who am personally responsible to take practical steps in actively guarding my heart from the practice of Sin. 

As another example, “The devil really got into me,” may also deflect personal responsibility in the practice of Sin. Had the devil not “gotten into me,” I would not have gotten into Sin. Far from denying Satan and his workshop in our backyards, I do not believe his craftsmanship is absolute. He has accomplices in our sin nature and a toilet bowl of a world. However, there is another Master Craftsman who absolutely holds the keys to the glorious outhouses of death and hell, as well as the key to the closet containing the divine Febreeze. He has called us to abide in him, his word, and his ways.

We should support Gov. Sanford in his travels on Repentance Road. Yet such support should not give aid and comfort to philosophical thugs, lurking in the crevasses, waiting on dainty opportunities to rape the image of Christ Gov. Sanford bears as one of his very public ambassadors. Truthless mercy does just that. Goodless kindness does that, as well. The God of the Apostles is also the God of the Prophets, who once called upon Nathan to declare to David, “Thou art the man.” The Jesus who says “No condemnation” to that hapless woman, is the one who calls her chosen practice “Sin.” Yet he is the same one who invited her to a new life free from the dominion of Sin. Mercy and Truth are the twin pillars of the gate opening to Repentance Road.

As the World Turns … Inward

One way in which believers have chosen to respond to the onslaught of the world is to turn inward, isolating themselves from the outside and hoping the outside will simply go away. This was the response of the Essenes to the corrupted Hasmonean dynasty over Israel, the Amish, and it has been the way of Fundamentalism. Recently I have seen two movies featuring this dilemma. This post will discuss one of them, “The Village” (2004). My next post will discuss the other.

Sunday night my wife and I watched my absolutely favorite M. Night Shyamalan movie for about the 5th time: “The Village.” Set in the “1800s” several families have taken it upon themselves to leave “The Towns” and move to an “isolated” valley. They hope to rid themselves of the vices of the towns: greed and violence, by ridding themselves of the environment of the towns. They are successful until the Second Generation begins to enter adulthood. Curiosity and desire lurk with mythical creatures in the woods beyond the valley, designed to keep the villagers in their naïveté.

Yet, naive desire proves more powerful than cynical paternalistic care. Noah Percy (Adrien Brody) is adult innocence on display. He is a 10 year old boy trapped in a 20-something male body. His good-hearted, playful spirit makes us all want more Noah Percys in our lives. Yet, when his special friend, Ivy Walker (Bryce Dallas Howard), is pledged to Lucius Hunt (Joaquin Phoenix), Noah takes a blade to Lucius. Although every effort has been made to remove the vice of the towns from this village of innocence, even down to banning anything red (even vegetation), the most innocent of the villagers bathes himself in the “bad color.”

Noah is placed in detention, while Ivy is sent to the towns for medicine to save Lucius. Before she leaves her father reveals the hidden secrets of their village, namely that the good intentions of the village to preserve innocence are set on a foundation of paternalistic deceit. The town, while set in the late 1800s, are populated by people who live in the early 21st Century. The creatures that roam the woods are some of the elders in scary suits.

Ivy, though she is blind, braves the trip through the woods to the towns. Along the way, her two male escorts are too overcome by fear of the mythical creatures to remain long on their journey. They flee for the “safety” of the village. She is also attacked by one of the mythical creatures, who we in the audience later realize is Noah dressed up in one of the suits hidden under the floor of his detention center. Ivy is of course innocent of any knowledge of this, and lures the creature (Noah) into a deep hole, where he dies. Ivy makes it to the towns (by climbing a chain link fence that surrounds a huge “wild life preserve”) and returns with medicine. She is shocked to find kindness in the man from the towns who helps her.

Interestingly, the village elders’ use of deceit to preserve innocence unwittingly leads to the death of the most innocent of them all. In the attempted death of Lucius and the actual death of Noah, innocence died in the village. Despite their best efforts to preserve innocence and prevent vice, vice sprouts up in the most innocent. Changing environments, even with chain-linked fences and state laws (the elders had secured protection from the state government for their “preserve”), does not change the human heart. Innocence alone is not enough to defeat and prevent evil. Ivy Walker had to graduate from innocence to the real world in order for the most good to be done in the village.

The Apostle Paul did advise us to be “innocent as to what is evil,” but he also advised us to be ”wise as to what is good” (Romans 16:19; ESV). Ivy Walker experienced “the towns” before she crossed the chain-linked fence: in the attempted death of her fiancee, deep-seated anger towards her once close buddy, coming into realization of the well-intentioned deceit, but deceit nonetheless of the elders, and leaving one of the mythical creature to die.What she carried back to “The Village” was more than medicine, she carried back a heart bent on goodness advised by first hand knowledge and experience of the towns. Unfortunately the elders decide to maintain their charade.

We might turn off our TVs, refuse to go to movies, do away with the Internet. We might go to Walmart with horse-blinders at work. We might even hire people to go out for us … so that we don’t have to. What inevitably happens though, when we turn a blind eye to the evil in the world, is that our sharpness in doing good over time will become dull and rusted. I’m afraid that in attempting to turn inward to flee from the world, we’ll inevitably find the world there waiting on us, but without the tools to defeat sin and evil.

As the World Turns Part II: A Poem

I have crafted the peom below in light of our topic at hand: the Christian, the Church and the World. There is a methodology and contextuality to it, but I’d like to “hear” your feed back on reading it cold (without my explanation). Thanks.

The Ghostly Lamp of Trust and Risk
Hunted can I be?
Hauntings I shall see.
Stroke of genius at last,
Flames consume fast.

The burning ravages,
What my mind salvages.
Shrieks in the night,
Clamp my heart tight.

Safety an illusion,
Their sorrow an intrusion,
Into my serenity,
A devouring anxiety.

Scorched with nothing left,
Sanity bereft,
The phantoms’ glare reminiscent,
Of secular entrapment.

Camouflaged in futility,
Mere shades became we,
Flitting about weekly mirages,
In the light of nostalgic hodge-podges.

The holy lamp taken,
Group-think mistaken,
On the Spirit grieved,
Not we but the Father bereaved.

Hunters with bows of artistry,
Anointed for orthopraxy,
Orthodoxy training their will,
As the city on a hill.

Illuminating our way,
Repentance for The Way,
Trusting the Spirit’s call,
Searching for children of the Fall.

As the World Turns … into a huge bugaboo for believers

The old saying goes, “Two things in this world are certain: Death and Tax Day.” For the believer a third exists: the world. Notice that I chose not to list: God, the lordship of Christ, ultimate victory over the devil, the authority of Scripture, etc. For many believers the existence of the world is a far greater reality than God, his sovereignty, his lordship, or the authority of the Scriptures.

These are not “worldly” Christians either.

Rather these are Christians who are attempting to take their faith and love for God seriously. Yet, due to some form of fear of the world, they attempt to separate themselves … not merely from the world … but out of the world. The world that God made, died for, and remakes believers into capable martyrs for the world? Yeah, that world.

Thus, in spite of the number and melody of the sermons and songs these folks might hear on the victory of Jesus, the world is a greater reality. The irony is that these believers want nothing to do with it. Yet, they nor anyone else can get around the common truth that what we fear dominates our lives.

Believers are called to be holy but live in a world that is … well … uh … er … unholy … to say the least. I would like to create a series of posts that wrestle with the believer’s and believers’ relationship with the world.

Sinners in the Hands of Angry Christians

On the way home from dropping my wife off at the airport, I stopped in at the Billy Graham Library. Having a bit of an aesthetic-tooth, I was quite impressed with quality and design of the property. Evidently Dr. Graham grew up in a family of dairy farmers, as this theme is milked for all its worth. My creative-heart drank heartily from it.

Yet, I was more struck by the pictures of various occasions throughout his life scattered about. He was a man of significant godly influence. Though he has appeared on television numerous times, giving an altar call, rarely has he ever been refered to as a “TV Evangelist.” His character of godly wisdom and holiness filled his “preacher” suits. His wife’s gravestone has carved into it the Chinese character for righteousness. She loved the Chinese people, and the world loves her husband for his character of true but humble righteousness. It is sad to see such a godly giant limping about in the twilight of his life.

It has been said that he was able to present a complex Gospel in a simple, heartfelt way to a world hurting with complex problems. While not all have responded to his pleas for accepting eternal life, all who heard him knew clearly that a holy God demands justice that we sinners can’t pay. And all who have heard him know this potentially abrasive message comes from a man of sincere love for sinners. Righteousness is atop his wife’s gravestone, and righteousness clothed in humility is atop his large heart. We trust him because we trust his character, though many may have rejected his message.

I have been spending a couple of weeks preparing teachings on Sunday mornings, dealing with the Judgment Jesus will bring in his Second and Final Advent, one of final victory. I thought it appropriate to pick up a copy of Johnathon Edwards’s sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” today, while at the BG Library. It is sure to be an interesting read.

This past week I’ve taught during a church’s revival services. Tonight, being the last night, I felt it appropriate to celebrate Communion. Taking a cue from Ray Vander Laan, I added a feature: Elijah’s Cup. The sacred rite of Holy Communion is an innovation from the Jewish celebration, Passover. There are four cups of wine consumed during Passover: The Cups of Sanctification, Deliverance, Redemption, and Restoration; all based on phrases of Exodus 6:6-7. Many add a fifth cup: The Cup of Elijah, based on Exodus 6:8. Elijah will precede Messiah, who will completely restore Israel. This cup is not touched, but is left for Elijah, himself. During the time of Jesus, this cup, signified the wrath God had stored up for the nations. Jesus goes to the Garden of Gethsemane and, beginning to take the weight of the Sin of the world on his shoulders, asks the Father to take “this cup” from him. Yet, he accepts the Father’s will for him to drink … Elijah’s cup: The Cup of God’s Wrath stored up for the nations. Before coming to the altar, each person passed by Elijah’s cup, turned it over, saying, “No Condemnation.”

Yes, I understand that anger is a necessary tool in God’s disciplining tool box, if God is truly a God of justice that hates evil. What I find a bit more difficult to grasp is believers who live in the Grace of the Jesus, who drank Elijah’s cup for them, and yet feel free to pass the cup from Jesus to other people. They attempt to take onto themselves the mantle of a typical Old Testament prophet. These fellows appear on both sides of the “aisle.”

The difference between these modern day Elijah’s and Billy seems to be found in the suit-stuffing. Billy’s preacher suit is stuffed with a character of gold and love worth its weight in platinum. Many of these reincarnation-attempts at Elijah are stuffed with an inflated ego that needs to “feel” like a preacher.

Isaiah prophesies, “Behold, the LORD will empty the earth and make it desolate, and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants” (Isaiah 24:1; ESV). Yet Isaiah questions, “How long, O Lord?” (ESV) His heart was consumed by his love for God. Yet, his heart bled with undying love for his people.

Holy Communion is the celebration of freedom from the wrath of God … and … the promise of transformation, as we fellowship/commune with Jesus (and one another) in his sufferings and pathos for the world. Why do so many of us demand that people clean themselves up before being enabled to flee from God’s wrath? Sinners make us uncomfortable. They are the ones that must change … without our help … because they make us uncomfortable. Yet, we are comfortable, grasping them with angry hands, and strangling the life right out of them. Never mind that prior to a bath in Jesus’s blood and the indwelling of the Spirit, sinners are unable to change.

What does change over time for these Elijah-reincarnation-attempts is they begin to hold their own brothers and sisters in the Lord in their noose-like grasp. Fear drives our little Elijahs into cultural isolation. God came in the still, small voice to the first Elijah. Our little Elijahs lurch out in the thunder, lightning, and hurricanes. Anger is merely a tool for God, meant to prevent a stubborn peole from falling off a cliff. Anger for our little Elijahs oozes from their very hearts with a horrendous stentch.

Yes, God’s wrath hangs over Sinners and his discipline trains believers for yielding peaceful fruit of the holy righteousness of God. Yes, we are called to call Sinners to repentence and slipping believers to accountability. I merely wish we would learn to conjure up as great of a passionate, brotherly love for them, as the Elijah-passion poured out on Jesus during his Passion.

Faith as Entrepreneurial Belief

If Jesus implored us to be anxious for nothing (Matthew 6:25-34), then why do so many of us build our cathedralled lives around our drives for personal comfort? The whole of the Sermon on the Mount is that his people are a lighted city set on a hill squarely in the midst of dark depravity. It seems the whole of our experiences with church are efforts to turn out our lights so that those depraved zombies “out there” don’t find their way in here. Before long PTSD (Preferential Treatment  because of Salvation Disorder) sets in … and we hold even our own at arm’s length for fear they will cause us some measure of discomfort. We take up the Prophet’s mantle, “Thus says the Lord Ego, ‘Thou art a distraction and a disturbance.’”

Fear happens to the be one of the best of Paul’s disciples, for it crosses the trench lines of denomination and styles of “worship,” drawing us all into unity (See I Corinthians 1-3) … yeah, a unity of anxious wafes. Oh, that we of the faithful would venture out as Fear has so fearlessly accomplished!

Several years ago I witnessed an amazing phenomenon. The youth of one particular city were drawn more to a traditional Baptist church. Even the “hip” and “cool” and “contemporary” music of the “spirit-filled” atmosphere could not compete with them. Yet, the traditions of my Southern Methodist denomination have been pillars of cooked spaghetti, unable to support a temple of worship for our youth. If tradition was the problem spawning church decline, then the Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Orthodox Churches would have died out a long time ago. In traditional and “out of the box” church groups we find churches who are driven by fear and churches who celebrate Scriptural faith. Usually there is some combination of the two groups in every church.

My wife is out of town for several days for a business trip, which means our two kids are “in town” with me. I do love my kids, but I have to admit that I like being around one more than the other. In fact I have dreaded this time … again not because I don’t love my kids … God knows I do. I have dreaded this time because one of them is simply inconsolable at times … no matter what. Last night was not fun … to say the least. This morning was even less fun. I asked for prayer for myself yesterday at church … humbly admitting that I have quite a difficult time with that particular kid. I didn’t ask God to make the time pleasant for me, but to change my heart so that I can better deal with “that” kid.

I think I may have unnerved a few people. How dare I say such a thing about my kids! I am the preacher!!! However, one lady got it, exclaiming, “Now, we’re having church!” That was the point … to have “church” in such a way that we can bring our fears and faults to one another and lifting them up as incense before our Creator who desires to re-create us. Yet, I believe it is anxiety that prevents us from opening up our hearts of wormy-manna. “What will they think if I share this?” I unwittingly played the shock-jock again by calmly telling them that I didn’t care what any of them thought of me … all I knew was that I need God.

I also believe it may be anxiety which prevents us from entering the heart-worlds of those around us to help them pull out their worms. It is certainly not pleasant to catch the overflow of pain from hearts. If we’re not careful, that overflow may become a rip-current dragging us into their cesspools.

I have officially resigned from my position as pastor of my two churches in order to pursue specifically youth and family ministry. Though I have around 20 resumes in circulation currently (more are to flow forth), I do not have any job prospects. The normal procedure for our denomination is to announce a resignation during April, for the churches hold their votes of confidence in their pastors at the end of April. I announced my resignation in January.

With a very secure job (my people truly love me and I truly love them … more than they will ever know) … with a very secure job in a very insecure economy why did I resign? Why did I resign so early … the end of July (moving time) is quite a distance from January?

Faith. In our churchy culture faith is the same as belief. We celebrate the faith once delivered to the apostles … or misunderstand it. Faith is not the same thing as belief. I believe it was James that quipped, “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe– and shudder!” (2:19; ESV). One “faith” group had as their tag-line “faith in action.” As well-meaning as that is, ”faith in action” is a redundant statement. Faith is belief that is driven to action for a purpose. That is the faith which was once delivered to the apostles.

Out of my belief that I need to be working with youth and families more directly I resigned. That is faith. Out of my belief that I need to love and respect my people entrusted to my care I told them early … so that we can work together through this transition … so that they would not have been left hanging … so that our relationship can be nurtured. That is faith.

There are those among us chanting the mantra “avoid the politics of fear.” A whole presidential campaign was fueled by the drive to avoid the politics of fear. That campaign won. Now that President is attempting to swoon the populous into accepting his “stimulus” package … because if we don’t then catastrophe will strike … the likes of which Chicken Little never dreamed. So much for avoiding the politics of fear. Yes, faith is the conquering management of anxiety, but faith is not the squashing of wisdom. No, by urging us as Christians to avoid the theology of anxiety, I’m not aborting the process of critical analysis birthed by sound wisdom.

Rather I’m asking us to re-examine our “faith.” Why do we do some things and not others at church? Why do we consider some things proper or improper? Why do we speak to some but avoid others? How about asking ourselves those questions about our lives “outside” church? What beliefs and emotions are driving our vehicles of worship and ministry? Are we driven by fear or do we run by faith?

Is it possible we need an oil change from the Spirit of God? Our vehicles would certainly run smoother … and might just run at all. Having fresh oil from the Spirit would once again fuel our city to light up a dark and bloody world. Yet, like I’ve been told about oil changes in vehicles, if you don’t change the filter along with the old oil, the new oil will only get gunky quickly. The Spirit can send fresh oil, but unless we change our emotional process filters (or allow him to do it) then whatever revival he sends will merely turn gunky (or trashy) rather quickly.

Remember the Parable of the Talents? Who did the master praise? Who did the master condemn … as wicked? At first glance it seems really pious for that lowly servant to bury his one talent out of fear of his master. What would happen if he lost it? It’s the only one he has. However, in order for those two who received by twice what they risked, chances are they risked everything they were entrusted. Again, they risked everything they were entrusted.

That parable teaches us that the problem is not in taking risks … it’s in not taking risks. May the Lord of the Harvest raise up risk takers. I don’t need to pray that he would send them out, because by their very nature of being risk takers, they will go out and do so passionately. May the Lord of the Harvest transform us, so that we might possess a faith made of entrepreneurial belief.

Inheritance not Bailouts

Apparently 43 states are facing budget shortfalls due to the recent economic downturn. However, last Wednesday, the state governors had an opportunity to sit down with President-elect Obama & Vice President-elect Biden and air their woes. After perusing several newsites (a, b,  c, d) one message stuck out: the governors want help from Washington with their budgetary woes. One estimate anticipates $176 billion.

Despite the unanimous gloss many of the reports are painting on the gubernatorial meeting, a brief mention is made of Mark Sanford (R-SC), who cuts against the grain. “We’ve been told over a number of months that this stimulus or that stimulus will turn the economy around, and they haven’t worked.” In fact I heard him interviewed by Bill Bennet’s radio-fill-in yesterday-morning. The federal government should “absolutely not” be picking up the budget short-falls of state governments, Sanford pointedly said. If individual families are required to make budgetary cuts during tough times, then why should government not also be forced to do likewise? “I believe (the states) ought to be free to spend their money however they like, but they ought not to ask the rest of us to pay for (their un-funded plans).”

On the surface this might seem very cruel and unusual punishment. After all the government is responsible taking care of the people … right? The first lesson anyone learns in Economics 101 is that man’s appetite is insatiable, while resources are limited. Economics is the discipline that seeks to study how man navigates allocating scarce resources among infinite needs, wants, and desires. In short, as daddy and mamma used to say, “Son, we don’t own a money tree in the backyard.” Sanford said that no one is denying reality of the pain in having to cut back on spending but the fact that money is not infinite is just as real. I was proud to call Gov. Sanford my governor yesterday … and today.

As believers who are serious about living the Word and doing real ministry in the real world, we can learn a lot from our present economic situation … and Gov. Sanford’s response to it. Yes, we might like to ignore the displeasure and ickiness of the real world effects of real world Sin. However, there will be no heavenly bailout coming to alleviate us from having to navigate Sin and its effects among the people we are called to live. Isolation and disengagement are not options for authentic believers. There are precious few easy answers. How easy was the Cross for Jesus? In considering outreach and ministry programs, human sin nature must be taken into consideration. Quick fixes simply will not do.  Nor is real and authentic transformation of individuals, families, and communities easy or accomplished overnight. Did death, debilitation, and dysfunction happen overnight? No, there are precious few easy answers.

And yet … right slap, dab in the midst of Sin and its effects is where Jesus promised he would build his church. The boards he uses to do so are the splinters lodged in our backs from the crosses we daily own and bear, following him in the midst of the real world. While we are not promised a bailout from the natural, character-producing suffering that is part-and-parcel of engaging the world as ambassadors for Christ, we are promised to “always” be led in the victory of Jesus “everywhere.” Such is our inheritance as believers. Give me the very real and eternal victory of Jesus as my inheritance over some bailout from having to live in the real world … “always” and “everywhere.”

Character and Emotional Intelligence in “Appaloosa”

As dust blows up and down the streets of Appaloosa, so also do feelings rage in the hearts of the characters. The problem is that “feelings will get you killed.” At least that’s what Virgil Cole lectures to his trusted friend and side kick, Everett Hitch, in the recent movie, “Appaloosa.” The movie is a western, taking place close to the turn of the end of the 19th Century in New Mexico territory. Tough times call for tough men, and that means you’re supposed to stuff your feelings.

The town has been taken over … so-to-speak … by the mobster-like rancher, Randall Bragg. Cole and Hitch come into town and are hired to put things back into order, as “The Law.” This is not much of a problem … until Allison French finds her way into town. She successfully attracts Cole, the stalwart mountain of a marshall, into falling for her, which means that a lonely and vulnerable … and unemployed … female has finacial and emotional security. 

She has security until she realizes that Cole could be killed and/or there are other … seemingly bigger … fish to fry … to fill her emotional appetite for the lead stallion in the available herd. In one rather humorous scene, Cole … a man’s man … comes down to find his best friend and confidant, Hitch. Cole is in a bind, as he is forced to help pick the color of the curtains of his and Allie’s new home.

He sends Hitch back down to the house to say hello to Allie and inform her that Cole is not up to this arduous task. She quickly puts the moves on Hitch, who pushes her away. Hitch tells this groping damsel in horney distress, “Allie, you’re with Virgil, and so am I.”

Despite this undercurrent of “As the Appaloosa World Turns,” Cole and Hitch get their break, when one of the Bragg boys defects and agrees to testify against Bragg in a possible capital murder trial. They bring Bragg into custody. Two weeks and some emotionally-trying moments later, Bragg is put on trial and found guilty. Bragg is ordered to be taken by train to his execution site.

During a delay in the train ride, several of Bragg’s mercenaries parade Allie out as their ransom for Bragg’s release. Cole has to make a choice … and goes with his feelings. He releases Bragg for Allie; only to find that they have been duped. The mercenary team did not keep their word … suprise, surprise. Cole and Hitch track the crew until they run up on them … with Allie and Bragg frollicking in the nude in a stream.

Later on after Cole and Hitch get shot-up (not mortally wounded) for sticking to the line of duty in chasing down Bragg and attempting to bring him to justice … Bragg gets a presidential pardon. He moves into Appaloosa and buys the hotel where Allie is employed to play the piano. Allie and Cole have reconciled, though Hitch has tried to explain that Allie is lonely for men in authority. Even still Cole is accepting of Allie where she’s at, and attempts to work with her.

Cole refuses to enter the building now owned by Bragg. Bragg, attempting to smooth things over with ”The Law” explains to Hitch that he is now a “reformed” man … and that if Cole did not come around to working him (Bragg), he might find himself out of a job … hint, hint. Over the next few scenes there is the not-so-subtle hint that Bragg and Allie still have something going on, which Hitch of course notices.

Hitch, who is normally able to navigate these tumultuous waters and bring about harmony with integrity, is not able to reconcile all of these potential pawns in a perfect storm in Appalousa. He attempts to talk Cole into leaving, but to no avail … because of his (blindness) devotion to Allie.

Thus Hitch takes it upon himself to resign his position as deputy and challenge Bragg to a duel, which Hitch wins handidly. He leaves town under his own voice of narration, saying that at least his friend will have no competition for Allie … for the time being.

It seems to me that the one who was most in tune to his emotional undercurrent was the most aware of what was going on around him. Hitch’s emotions … rather than getting him or his people killed … kept them all alive and out of quicksand. He was at least being aware of his emotional undercurrent and successfully navigated it. On the other hand, Cole’s inability to deal with his emotions or navigate them, got him into trouble … and would get him into trouble in the future. He was blinded.

I think this movie has something very powerfully to say to us men, especially us Christian men. I’m not suggesting that we turn ourselves into women. However, I am suggesting rather emphatically that we need to develop good emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize what is going on in our hearts and channel it for good. The fear in men (largely because of the brain’s wiring) is tapping the realm of the fealings will make us vulnerable … or at least make us look sissified. The movie’s message is in line with Daniel Goleman’s work on emotional intelligence, that not learning how to channel the currents of our hearts, by default, makes us vulnerable … vulnerable to being swept away by our emotions. The inability to recognize them means they will clip us from behind, and the inability to channel or discipline them means they will get us fired … or killed.

No, there is no substitue for character development … and for Christians godly character development. Both Cole and Hitch had good character. Can anyone name the last Hollywood movie that glorified loyal friendship … loyal to the point of turning down an easy sexual score, as Hitch had done out of loyalty to Cole? However, the movie’s contention, which I agree with, is that even the best of character in men can be derailed by the freight train of emotional un-intelligence. Stuffing the emotions instead of taming them will cause your heart to be swallowed up, much like an appaloosa catfish swallows everything in its path.