TGIF

For some reason it seems like this week has gone by a bit slower. It's been busy, and that usually means the time passes quickly. Anyway, Friday is here and that means it's time for the links of the week. Enjoy.

A narrative.
Shift-F7.
Post-election musings.
The passing of the greatest generation.

Why imonk was weary of weird Christians.
Test everything.
On reading the Bible.
It takes a movement.

Not the gospel of Left Behind.
Kansas Bob waxes philosophical.
Jared Wilson shares his view of gift giving.
Imagining the impact.

Have a fantastic weekend!

The Screen in the Corner

In What Good is God?, Philip Yancey tells the story of the brave young woman who helped spark the 2004 Orange Revolution in Ukraine. The opposition candidate, Victor Yushchenko, having already faced an attempt to poison him, had a 10 percent lead over the government candidate on election day. The government then tried to steal the election.

The state-run television reported the election results in favor of the state's man. What the authorities forgot was the small inset in the lower right hand corner of the screen, where a young woman provided sign language interpretation for the hearing-impaired. While the announcer was trumpeting the defeat of Yushchenko, this courageous woman was signing, "I am addressing all the deaf citizens of Ukraine. Don't believe what they are saying. They are lying and I am ashamed to translate those lies. Yushchenko is our President!" No one in the studio understood sign language. The message spread like wildfire and within days a million Ukrainians descended on Kiev and demanded new elections. The government was forced to give in, and Yushchenko became president.

Yancey makes the point that this is what the church should be, a small screen in the corner announcing that what the big screen is blaring is a lie. Those who control the big screen are telling us that our worth hinges on how we look, how much we make, what we wear, or what we do. As we look at the screen we see the bright and the beautiful, the rich and the famous, the powerful, those who are famous for simply being famous. The message is that we should strive to be just like them. That is the message we see on the big screen. Unfortunately, the message that is exported to the rest of the world is that everyone in "Christian" America is rich, spoiled, and decadent. And we wonder why so many hate Christianity throughout the world.

We have a perfect example of the small screen in the One we claim to follow. The big screen of first century Judaism told folks that the healthy, wealthy, and wise were the ones who could expect God's favor. The kingdom of God was reserved for them. Along came Jesus, proclaiming that the kingdom was open to the downtrodden, the poor, the outcasts, the very ones that were seen as unworthy. His kingdom would not be built on military might, or on wealth, or on religious tradition. It would be built on love, and the ones on the bottom would enter before the movers and shakers of society. This message is even more revolutionary than the one which sparked the Orange Revolution.

The problem is that much of the church has either tried to control the big screen or has put up an imitation screen. We have our version of the rich and famous. Just watch Christian television. Take a look at the shelves in Christian bookstore, or the speaker lineup at any conference. Many of those people are fine folks with good ministries, but I don't think you could argue that there is not a cult of personality out there. We just don't do a very good job of broadcasting that subversive message that our Lord proclaimed.

Although there is still a great deal of "big screen Christianity," there are those who are working in the corner, spreading the revolutionary message of a kingdom that doesn't come with great fanfare, but arrives quietly and spreads like yeast, working its way through. It's a kingdom that is built on sacrificial acts of love, not displays of might. Its subjects lay down their lives for each other, rather than using them to climb the ladder.

May their tribe increase.

World Vision Wednesday

In Romania, a generation of HIV infected women is giving birth to children at risk of contracting the disease from their mothers. For more information, and to find out how you can help, look here.

Where Do You Stay?

One of the things about working with young African-American students is the things you learn. I have noticed that they will ask someone where they "stay" while I would ask where they "live". I was thinking that maybe they are closer to speaking correctly than those of us who speak "good" grammar. The house that I share with my wife is the place where I stay when I am not out at work, etc., much like someone stays at a motel. But I "live" everywhere I go and in everything I do. I'm certainly not dead when I am away from home.

Now, think of the words "church" and "worship". Growing up, I was always taught that "church" is the place you go to a few times a week to "worship" God. You know, "This is the church, this is the steeple, open the doors and see all the people." I have since come to the realization that this is not the correct way to use these terms. The little ditty should go, "This is the building, this is the steeple, open the doors and see the church." And since we are the church, we continue to be the church everywhere we go and in everything we do. In the same way, "worship" is not just something we do a couple of times a week in a "worship service". Worship is what the followers of Jesus should be doing in each thing we do. It should be in the fabric of our being. The weekly service is the church coming together to do corporately what they have been doing individually throughout the week. Our Sunday worship should be an overflow of what we are about the other six days.

Think about the difference it would make in our lives as individuals and as congregations if we re-thought those two terms (as well as others.)

TGIF

Another campaign season has gone by, and the smears and half-truths have been put away, for awhile. The political landscape has changed, and it remains to be seen how it will all shake out. It's getting cold here. We have a freeze warning tonight, and it seems to me like it's earlier than usual. I don't know.

What I do know is there is some good stuff out there in blogdom. Here is a sampling:

Kansas Bob has written an open letter to the President.
Recovering our creativity.
Kathy is creating messes.
Evangelicals, elections, and blindness to sin.

Donald Miller writes about the fear of doing.
A paint-by-numbers life.
Jeff Dunn writes about creativity overcoming safety.
It takes a movement.

Scot McKnight on the eschatology of politics.
Unfree in Christ.
Bill Kinnon asks why big name Christian leaders aren't decreasing.
Woodpeckers on the wall.

Mark recommends payperform.
A community with no one in need.
Jonathan Brink writes about anger.
No money, mo problems.
Alan Knox on community.

World Vision Wednesday

Without treatment, HIV-positive moms have a one-in-three chance of infecting their children. Yet a few simple measures can dramatically reduce these odds. The problem: Too many moms can't access the HIV care they need. But we can help give the next generation an AIDS-free future. See how you can be a part of the solution.

Don't Forget

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• A few years ago I watched a video from the "That the World May Know" series. It was titled "Walk as Jesus Walked: Don't Forget Us". It's about following Jesus in suffering and persecution. I'd always thought that while Christians in countries such as China or the Sudan were suffering for their faith, we here in the "Christian" West had it easy. And that is true to a great extent - the biggest thing we have to worry about is having someone make fun of us. The video showed me something that I had never thought of before. In 1 Corinthians 12:12, 26, Paul writes, "The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ....If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it."

  Do we suffer with the parts of the body that are going through persecution and suffering? Do we even know when they are suffering? I think the fact that we generally don't enter into or even know of the suffering of our brothers and sisters is because we have lost that sense of oneness in the body that the early church had. Most of the time we don't even know the struggles that others have in our local churches, so how do we expect to know what goes on around the world? There is no excuse for not knowing what is going on out there. Voice of the Martyrs and other organizations are constantly giving accounts of the suffering in the body. It does take a little work, but it can be done. Find out.

  If you want an object lesson about what it means when the whole body suffers because of one part, hit your thumb hard with a hammer. Then tell me if your whole body feels it or if you can keep the effects localized on your thumb. That is how the body of Christ is. Or at least how it should be.

  Find out how your brothers and sisters in Christ are suffering. Pray for them. Let their suffering affect you. Above all - never forget them.