Happy Holidays…or not

Our gaunt patron of sailors has become an overweight, jolly fellow created by Montgomery Wards.  Our ‘nativity Lent’ has been preceded by ‘Black Friday’ which is supposed to help fix our economic woes (they are in the black while shoppers bleed more red).

I suppose it is a good thing that Advent coexists with the ‘holiday season.’  It is quite fitting and quite humbling to see our worst in print, advertising, billboards and everywhere else one may care to look.  The season of Scrooge belongs right next to the (second and first) coming of Jesus, and the dusty prophet who paved Jesus’ way–that way our need of transformation and repentence is right there on the table.  Kyrie Eleison!

The third place or the non-place

I have a Facebook, as do many of the folks I know.  I (jokingly) asked, ‘what is simulacra, and what is not?’  In other words, there are parts in our lives where we interact with actual people, places and things; yet there are parts of our lives that are neither.

We have lost, in our world, the ‘front porch’ of everyday life.  Those ‘third places’ in our everyday that are neither home nor work.  Perhaps the coffee shop or the barbershop is that for some, that place to relate with others on more than surface levels but not our most intimate levels.

That begs the question, what is a blog or Facebook–or more significanlty where is a blog or Facebook? Is virtual reality a ‘place’ where something actually occurs?  Or is it a ‘non-place?’

An Instrument of Peace

I’ve tried hard to ignore the way Francis moves my heart.  I love Benedict and the Cappadocians.  John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila move me.  But I can’t get away from Francis.

It has been said that Francis is the only Christian the world has ever known.  That, of course, is an overstatement, but who can resist the little friar of Assisi for his ‘strong tenderness?’  While the crusaders were trying to stem the tide of Islam through military action, Francis was preaching in Muslim lands.   While the church was in bed with materialism, Francis began in ministry ‘fleeing’ to the forest naked.  While Christianity was tempted by power, Francis loved the lepers and the other ‘least of these.’

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Will of God?

Here’s what a NY Times article posted on Palin:

In the address at the Assembly of God Church here [in Alaska], Ms. Palin’s ease in talking about the intersection of faith and public life was clear. Among other things, she encouraged the group of young church leaders to pray that “God’s will” be done in bringing about the construction of a big pipeline in the state, and suggested her work as governor would be hampered “if the people of Alaska’s heart isn’t right with God.”

She also told the group that her eldest child, Track, would soon be deployed by the Army to Iraq, and that they should pray “that our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is from God, that’s what we have to make sure we are praying for, that there is a plan, and that plan is God’s plan.”  See the rest here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/06/us/politics/06church.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin

Many cite Romans 13 as a text that says the rulers and authorities have a seat of authority because God put them there.  Is Palin off base?  Can we speak of a war in the name of the state as a ‘Christian war’ that is ‘God’s will’ (regardless of its ‘just’ or unjust nature)?

I’m not talking about the ‘wall of separation’ as much as the nature of the Christian faith and its compatibility with war (any war) and politics.  I am fascinated with Christians on both sides of the aisle who insist that the other side is so utterly non-Christian.

I long for a day when the church will take the lead in values, peace, stopping abortion, feeding the poor, clothing the naked, visiting prisoners, providing health care, and stop waiting for the secular powers to do it for us.

Jihad Jesus

 

Jerry Jenkins and Tim Lahaye write as their picture of the end times:

”Jesus merely raised one hand a few inches and a yawning chasm opened in the earth, stretching far and wide enough to swallow all of them. They tumbled in, howling and screeching, but their wailing was soon quashed and all was silent when the earth closed itself again.”

There is, as an interpretation of apocalyptic texts in Scripture, a common view that the Jesus of the gospels is different from the Jesus who comes at the end of the world.  The ‘end times’ Jesus is, as Brian McLaren says, is the ‘Jihad Jesus,’ who ‘holds mankind like a spider over the mouth of hell’ to paraphrase Jonathan Edwards, and the Jesus of the gospels is kind of a meek, incomplete picture of God.

I think our discussion below has marks of this supposed dichotomy.  So, is the ‘sermon on the mount’ Jesus different from the book of Revelation Jesus?

Evangelicals for Obama?

Consider these figures from the Barna group:

Among non-evangelical, born-again Christians, Obama leads 43-31%. This lead among the born again group is particularly significant, Barna notes, because this would represent the “first time in more than two decades that the born again vote has swung toward the Democratic candidate.”

Among Catholics, Obama has opened a wide lead of 39-29%. Among Protestants, Obama also has a resounding lead of 43-34%.

Barna also noted that the “McCain candidacy does not seem to be gaining momentum among evangelicals,” and his support has in fact “declined significantly.”

Why the shift?

Dark Knight of the Soul

So I’m a little late seeing Dark Knight, but since I saw it on IMAX, I can say my experience of it was tremendous. I liked the character intrigue a bit more in Batman Begins, and I prefer my comic book violence more hand to hand combat than multiple explosions, but I loved the premise of Dark Knight. Repeatedly the characters talked about the hero Gotham ‘deserves’ and ‘wants,’ which was not the black, vigilante Bat, but a more presentable person who ‘plays by the rules.’ I won’t spoil it too much for you.

It is often said the church gets the ‘bishops we deserve,’ which is telling in our Episcopal Church and in other places throughout history (the popes of the 15th century come to mind).

It is also telling to look at the heroes of our own day and culture. Why are our heroes athletes who make millions and don’t have enough sense not to use drugs or drink and drive? Why are our heroes CEOs who take their companies for millions? Why are our heroes beautiful narcissists and handsome millionaire socio-paths who have less relational skills than your average toddler?

We all get the heroes we deserve.

Global Changes

Our Anglican Communion continues to unravel. Regardless of what we do with GAFCON, the global meeting of orthodox Anglicans (heavily weighted to Africa) underscores the obvious reality, the face of Anglicanism (and Christianity) has changed so radically that the average Anglican (ironic term) is a black woman from Africa.

Since the global south and Latin America dominate the numbers, so why then does the North and the West continue to act as though we are what defines the faith. In the Episcopal Church, for example, we think that because of our wealth and prestige we can dictate worldwide Anglicanism. (African Anglicans number about 55 million and about 750,000 Episcopalians in the US show up on a given Sunday) We strut our tininess in the face of the black continent’s dominance. We don’t even have a voice in our own country, much less among those for whom the Bible is a book that is alive, a book that is animated by God’s Holy Spirit.

Now, to be sure, the African and Latin American churches have a multitude of problems and issues (tribalism, polygamy, political compromise with dictators, etc.), however, revival is happening because being at the bottom brings one to God.