TGIF

Another work week is coming to a close. It has gone by quickly, as most weeks seem to. I guess that's one of those things that happens when you're not so young anymore.

There's a lot of good stuff floating out on the internets. Here's the sampling for this week:

Barb is pursuing the sinless life (or not). Interesting thoughts from Frank Schaeffer. I think he maybe overstates the problem (HT: Molly). How to evangelize a bear. Good post from Tim Hill. A good reason to get your kid a personal computer? Three good ones (among many) from iMonk, here, here, and here. Good thoughts from Alan Knox. Three dying myths (HT: Brother Maynard). Scot McKnight has a good series on Deep Church as Third Way. Part 4 is here. You can also read Parts 1, 2, and 3. John Frye writes about Jesus and expectations. Part 1 is here, part 2 is here, and part 3 is here.

I hope you have a great weekend. Tomorrow is Talk Like a Pirate Day so, Aaaaaaaargh, matey!

World Vision Wednesday (on Thursday)

I'm sorry I didn't get this in yesterday. The day slipped away from me completely.

On September 2, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.3 struck Indonesia. The damage was severe, and new reports indicate that it is even worse than originally thought. Read the full report here.

Political Post... Sort of

I'm beginning to see the attraction that Christian anarchy has for some people. The past few weeks has just about turned me off politics (and I have a Master's in Public Affairs, taught government, and considered going into politics at one time). I have read statements made by Christians on their blogs and on Facebook. I have read discussions on the political forum on TheOoze. The thing that has struck me is the lack of love that is shown. I am not pointing fingers at just those on the right, although many of the comments have been from more conservative folks. The left has been just as guilty, especially during the previous administration. There is enough junk thrown around by both sides to spread the guilt equally.

Jesus said that the one thing that would show the world that we are his followers is love. Not holding to a particular set of theological doctrines, not following a certain political platform, but love. I don't see a great deal of love shown in the current political climate. Jesus also said that his kingdom was not of this world. The disciples understood this. They were drawn from a variety of political views, yet all put those aside to be a part of God's kingdom. The early church understood this. They loved everyone around them, even those who were persecuting them. They turned the world upside down with no economic, social, or political power. They realized that the kingdom of God was different from the kingdom (and kingdoms) of this world. The kingdom of this world advances through exercising power over others. The kingdom of God advances through serving others and showing them love.

Human government has legitimate purpose, and can be used by God to accomplish his will. O the other hand, all human kingdoms are subject to doing wrong and advancing the will of Satan. Many times we forget that there is no government on earth that is going to completely do what God wants done, whether that government is conservative Republican, liberal Democrat, or socialist. At times, any government can approach the kingdom of God, but any government can also work against God's kingdom.

Those of us who are part of God's kingdom do great harm to the cause of Christ when we let ourselves get caught up in politics to the point where we think that our team can do know wrong, and the other team can do no right. When we attack and devalue others who claim Jesus as Lord because we disagree with their political views, we deny the kingdom of God.

What is more important, a kingdom of this world that will fade away, or a kingdom that is advancing and will finally come in its full splendor? There is nothing wrong with participating in politics and debating issues. Just do it in a way that advances the interests of the True King.

TGIF

In remembrance of the innocent victims of the 9-11 attacks and the subsequent wars, there is no TGIF today.

World Vision Wednesday

In July, at the G8 summit in Italy, $20 billion was pledged over three years to combat global hunger. In 2005, the G8 leaders promised to increase aid to Africa by $25 billion by 2010. This has not happened. This month the G20 summit will be held in Pennsylvania. World Vision is urging those leaders to take action to meet the first Millennium Development goal of halving the number of hungry people in the world.

Go here to read the rest of the story.

The President's Speech

Today, President Obama spoke to the nation's students. He spoke of things like personal responsibility, persistence, working hard, listening to teachers, and other values that students need to have to be successful in school and in life. The things that he talked about are the same values held by those who didn't want their children to hear the President.

Those parents who kept their children home certainly have that right. I believe that there is one lesson that those children learned today. They learned that you shouldn't listen to people you disagree with, that you shouldn't be open to learning things from people who see things differently, because you might find out that they are human beings too, and that you might have more in common with them than you think.

Community and Unity

Yesterday, I wrote about wish-dreams and how we need to let them die and be open to the dream that God has for us. Many times in churches those wish-dreams revolve around building community and unity within the church.

Community is seen as something that can be created. Things such as home groups, Sunday School classes, separate men's and women's groups, and youth groups are put in place in an attempt to bring about community. Usually these groups are based on something that the members already have in common, such as age, gender, or location. Sometimes they are formed around certain subjects. Some churches simply rely on their members attendance at every service or event.

Unity is usually centered around agreement on certain doctrines or practices. In the circles in which I grew up, those who were trying to foster unity among the various Christian denominations were seen as soft on doctrine, or even as heretics. According to this view, heaven would be a sparsely populated place, or if others did make it, they would be far from the throne.

As a church leader trying to bring about change in a congregation, I fell into the trap of thinking that community could be created by having a more laid back, contemporary style of worship with comfortable furniture, and small groups through the week. Unity would come about when everyone came to see that a more up to date, "relevant" way of worshiping and presenting the Gospel was the way to go. As I began to question some of the things I had been taught, I even thought unity would happen when we all felt free to question. I've come to believe that all of those ways of seeing community and unity are wrong.

I think community is something that can not be created by us. We can spend time with people, serve with them, worship together, but community happens as the Spirit pulls us closer to each other and, as a group, closer to God. Community can come about in groups that are combinations of age, gender, etc. Our differences contribute to community, rather than detract from it. Unity is also something that can not be created. If it comes about through human effort, there will eventually be some doctrine or practice that will drive a wedge into a church.

I think Bonhoeffer was right when he said that that our unity is in and through Jesus Christ. The same thing could be said for community. It is not in agreement on doctrine, practice, politics, or any thing else. Unity based on those things can quickly disappear. If our community and unity is in and because of Christ, we can disagree with others about politics, ways of doing things, and areas where Scripture is interpreted differently. If we have the most important thing in common - Jesus, then we are unified. We are not told in Scripture to unify. We are told to make every effort to keep the unity that we have. We can destroy that unity by getting our focus on our own desires and ideas, or our wish-dreams. We must keep our focus on Jesus, and on his command to us to love others as he has loved us. The one sign that Jesus said would show that we belong to him is loving each other.

Let us strive to keep the unity we have been given by loving each other and focusing on Jesus.