Sometimes I wonder…
Sometimes I wonder if the modern Republican party is the worst threat to American Christianity….
I’m really having a hard time pinning down the reasons for my own disgust of and anger with the GOP. I honestly can’t stand to hear them on TV or the radio–I don’t want to give their ideas any credence at all. My partner thinks this is hypocritical, so I’m trying to ensure that I have good reason for my radical avoidance.
In short, I have two reasons for not even wanting to listen to the conservative pundits:
- I don’t trust them. They have twisted the truth for years, and they have admitted they aren’t interested in working on any of the Democratic platforms. Their whole effort these days seems to be to ensure that the Democrats fail. They don’t want to help citizens; they simply want to regain power. This disgusts me. So I don’t trust anything they say.
- (And I hope this is more important:) As a Christian, I disagree with their goals. I don’t see Jesus in the GOP’s platform. I don’t see how they are modeling the Realm of God. I only see a bunch of Pharisees (the devout but judgmental types) and Sadducees (the non-believing church types) who want to exert control over the culture. As a Christian, I simply can’t accept what they want this country to look like.
Quite honestly, I think the GOP and the Religious Right have made an idol out of the country (the “we’re the greatest nation ever” motif). I think they care more about the USA than about the Realm of God. I’m sure the progressives do the same thing, but they usually aren’t claiming to speak for the Word of God either. (And I do need to watch that I don’t equate the Democrats and Progressives with God’s will.)
I want to be concerned more with God’s people than with the nation. As a Christian, my citizenship is in God’s country; the USA means little to me other than a temporary homeland. I am less concerned with preserving democracy and capitalism than I am with working to ensure that all people can be treated fairly and not be oppressed by those in power. And I don’t see that as the goal of the GOP–instead, I see them laying burdens on the weak and exalting themselves.
May God heal the divisions among us. May God deliver us from bad leaders and raise us up to be people of light, truth and universal fellowship. And may God have mercy on this nation and lead us into charity and humility.
In Christ,
Amen.
Jesus v? Nehemiah on Ethnic Purity
Wow — today’s reading from Nehemiah and Luke follows up on the issues I discussed in my “Jesus v? Ezra” post a few days back….
Nehemiah continues Ezra’s focus on ethnic purity:
On that day they read from the Book of Moses in the hearing of the people. And in it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God, for they did not meet the people of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them—yet our God turned the curse into a blessing. As soon as the people heard the law, they separated from Israel all those of foreign descent.
This is a painful passage for those of us who seek to follow the Mosaic command to welcome the stranger. But in these verses, we are told… (more…)
Why do we work?
Today’s sermon was on the Epistle reading: Ephesians 4.25-5.2:
Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Lots of food for thought in the passage (and in the sermon!), but (our pastor) Bob’s discussion of one verse in particular really jumped out at me: (more…)
Nehemiah on Oppressing the People
From today’s reading:
Passage: nehemiah 5 ESV Bible Online.
When I read this passage, I thought of the way so many of us today are trapped and abused by our employers, our bankers, our credit card and insurance brokers:
I took counsel with myself, and I brought charges against the nobles and the officials. I said to them, “You are exacting interest, each from his brother.”
And I held a great assembly against them and said to them, “We, as far as we are able, have bought back our Jewish brothers who have been sold to the nations, but you even sell your brothers that they may be sold to us!”
They were silent and could not find a word to say. So I said, “The thing that you are doing is not good. Ought you not to walk in the fear of our God to prevent the taunts of the nations our enemies? Moreover, I and my brothers and my servants are lending them money and grain. Let us abandon this exacting of interest. Return to them this very day their fields, their vineyards, their olive orchards, and their houses, and the percentage of money, grain, wine, and oil that you have been exacting from them.”
It is not good that we should profit at the expense of others. May God show us how to prosper by treating one another fairly, with compassion and generosity, and may God use us to testify to the world of the ways of God. Amen.
Holiness = ?
For several years now, I’ve tried to counter people’s notions that holiness means “purity” in the sense of (moral) cleanness. The Hebrew and Greek words don’t connote cleanness, but rather separateness: things that are holy are “set apart.” So in the scriptural discussions of temple utensils, they are set apart for worship and not to be “defiled” by being used for other purposes. They still get dirty, but they get dirty only in service of the Living God.
So my usual analogy is your parents’ holiday china–the plates, glasses and silverware that only came out for special occasions. This china is “set apart” for particular use. You’re not going to use it for that microwave dinner you’re going to scarf down before jetting out the door; you have “ordinary” dishware for that. No, this china is reserved for special uses.
And so are we: we are set apart for God’s uses, and not for the common usage of the world.
But I’ve been wondering how to describe what that worldly usage is. Here’s a quick example of what I’ve come up with:
- The world seeks a combination of power, wealth, luxury, pleasure, etc.
- The world gets these things through deceit, manipulation, violence, etc.
So to say that we are set apart from the world–set apart for God’s service–means that we are called to avoid those worldly goals and those wordly methods. That is what it will look like when we live lives of holiness.
And may we be truly set apart from the world for the service of God, through the Spirit of Christ Jesus,
Amen.
Frank Schaeffer on the un-American Religious Right
And I say, Right on, Brother Frank!
Far-Right Evangelicals And The Campaign Against Obama
Above all, ordinary Americans—and especially religious people who seek faith rather than power—need to understand that the evangelical right is basically unpatriotic and anti-American.
As I have said before, the Religious Right has turned the nation into an idol and now worships the scriptures of The Constitution and The Wealth of Nations. So I’d say they’re also un-Christian….
May God deliver us from all who advocate nationalism in place of the humility and charity of Christ. Amen!
Cheers for the Foreclosure-fighting Priest!
I love reading stories like this one:
LA priest’s mission: Saving flock from foreclosure
CHRISTINA HOAG, AP
A priest’s typical mission is saving souls, but the Rev. John Lasseigne has a more down-to-earth goal — saving homes.
That’s like trying to work a miracle in Lasseigne’s Roman Catholic parish of Pacoima, a blue-collar corner of the San Fernando Valley where bank sale signs sprout faster than weeds. One in nine homes is in default, making it one of the nation’s hardest hit towns in the foreclosure crisis.
“We’re talking thousands of foreclosures,” said the 44-year-old priest at Mary Immaculate Church. “I was stunned.”
Lasseigne has gone from praying for parishioners to lobbying politicians and negotiating with lenders on their behalf. His daily discourse is as likely to include talk of balloon payments and negative amortization as Hail Marys and The Lord’s Prayer. Meetings with banks rather than bishops fill his agenda.
It’s great to see clergy members taking their ministries from the sanctuary out into the world:
“Works of justice are an integral part of the priesthood,” the lanky priest said. “We have to take stands in aiding the needy and denouncing the injustices of society. The financial entrapment that was part of this was unbelievable.”
It reminds me of one of my pastor’s favorite sayings: We have been raised for such a time as this–Rev. Lasseigne certainly seems to have been:
Still, delving into the fine print of mortgage finance may seem highly unusual for someone who will probably never have to worry about buying his own house. Lasseigne, however, is well qualified. Before entering the seminary, he graduated from law school and knew how to read contracts.
That knowledge, a passion for social justice and a priest’s role — in a parish so devout that two Masses are said daily and nine on Sunday, all but one in Spanish — have made him the foreclosure-fighting father.
May God bless his work and make him fruitful. And may God raise up more clergy to fight for the rights of their parishioners against the practices of companies that would take advantage of the weak. Amen!
