Tag Archives: Jesus

How Kingdom People Do Politics

22 Sep

Heaven help us!!– its almost time to pick a president.

A friend recently posted on the politics of Jesus. It was so good that I want to respond.  Earlier this year I posted about how humbling ourselves to the will of God is the way that Jesus would vote.   A few more thoughts:

Jesus’ purpose did not fit the political structures. A major part of Jesus’ ministry was that people tried to push him into being the political Messiah of Israel.  They expected to be re-established as a nation and out of Rome’s hand.  Judas may have thought he was advancing the Kingdom by forcing Jesus into the political system.  Oops!

Didn’t Judas know that Jesus had a different purpose for being on the earth? He could have had all of the Kingdoms in the world during His lifetime, but he turned it down in obedience to the Father.

OK, so Jesus was not a politician. Is the Kingdom he brought/declared/taught/will bring a political Kingdom? How do those of us who are a part this Kingdom do this politics thing?

There have been times of intense emphasis on different principles from the Kingdom that have missed the mark of the purposes of God, both to the left and to the right.  I firmly believe that Kingdom people are to be involved in politics, but only as an expression of their allegiance to the will of God.  A good example of this is the life of Daniel.

Righteous and Justice, both personal and social are all part of the Good News for the Kingdom.  Living them out will result in a more correct world.  We will do well to search the scriptures for God’s heart.  We get to cast one vote.  The questions we should be asking are: who is God? If God wrote laws what would He be concerned about? What is righteousness/justice?

Once we take a long look at that, we can choose the people who will represent that heart the best.

Further reading by better thinkers:

The Politics of Jesus by John Howard Yoder

Jesus for President by Shane Claibourne

The Great Awakening by Jim Wallis

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWillZ

Jesus, Demons, Being Saved.

18 Sep

In our high school guys’ small group, we have been studying the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5-7).  We do it in chunks, starting out time together by reading through an entrie passage, and discussion it verse by verse.  

So we got to this part:

 22Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!

“But wait!,” one student said, with a crinkled forehed. “How can someone drive out a demon if the aren’t really a Christian?”

Think quick, think quick, they want answers–do you have them?? Jesus’ words negate the belief system we have about salvation, or at least what we tought about demons. Evidently, being a “Christian” maybe doesn’t guaruntee salvation in the way we oversimplify it to. Or maybe we don’t adequately teach aout spiritual warfare.  Either way, we often had to re-think our beliefs. 

The more I read the less the systems make sense.

Jesus said it.

Confession

15 May

I feel ripped off. By this Saturday at noon I will be a college graduate. It has taken four years for me to realize what that means. It means that I am more educated than 98% of the world. It means that I have enough debt to keep me and my future family in the the same system. It means that I am bound by privilege.

Here at Taylor I have been given a very good, Christ-centered education. My practicum for a degree in Christian Educational Ministries took me to Juarez, Mexico where I facilitated high school mission trips in basically a squatter colony. There I learned what it looked like to not have enough resources to feed your baby properly, and to watch across a fence as another bank building goes up, waving Old Glory. As those people shared Christ and many gifts with me, I felt like I learned much more about the reality of God during my first few weeks there then I did as I was writing research papers at length for my Bible or Christian Ed classes.

My frustration is not against Taylor, but that I feel trapped. It takes a lot of effort to break myself of consuming, wasting, entitlement, and just plain ignorance. Oversimplified but not nearly as expressive as it is within me it is this that I am frustrated at: It cost me over $100,000 to realize that I don’t want this kind of life– and I have to retain my privileged place in society just to pay (a good portion) of it back.

I hope that I can find someone who can show me what it truly means to become like Christ.

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A Christian Celebrity Sighting

15 Apr


Today I got a call from a friend telling me that Shane Claiborne was at Ivanhoe’s, which is our local ice cream eatery.

I hopped in my new car- a 1988 VW Cabrio, and went to see if it was true.
Sure enough he was there with some Taylor people and a couple of local ministers.  We all sat outside enjoying the sunshine and milkshakes.
Shane is a man who is doing his best to follow Christ.  Today he was soft-spoken and when he talked he had a think southern accent.
He joked about how they kept themselves entertained between speaking engagements by listening to “comedy” stations, which were political shows on satellite radio from both the far-right and far-left wings, with liquid-metal in between to keep it lively.  
I didn’t gain any new transcendent spiritual concept or new illumination.  It was nice to know that there is a real person behind the “Irresistible Revolution“, a book that challenged me, informed me, stretched me, made me laugh and cry uncontrollably, frustrated me, and gave me great great hope for the Kingdom of God.
May the Lord continue to prepare our sails to catch his wind/spirit.

What Do Meat and Sweatpants Have in Common?

8 Apr

Recently I have been experiencing a good amount of ennui (French for blaaaahhhh).  The winter has stretched on longer than it should, and with Carol away I have felt it colder than normal.

~
The Lent season came, and passed.  I participated willingly, subscribing to a traditional discipline of no meat.  It helped me reflect on the life and passion of Christ, so it was worth it.
~
However, my college years are within a few weeks of escaping me.  Its been a good ride here, but I am a little frustrated with it right now.  I am leaving with more questions than answers, and many more frustrations with myself and evangelical Christianity (one is always harsher with those things with which he/she identifies closely).   I have little left to give to my studies– as I told Dauthan , my volition is wearing sweatpants. 
Last night my coPAs (RA) and I got together to discusses the game plan and pray about the rest of the semester.  As we prayed, there was a real moment of grace for all three of us.  
For me, I realized that I had sat through Easter service and had a big family dinner without realizing that the TOMB IS EMPTY.   Lent is over, yes, but the TOMB IS EMPTY.
The power that has risen Christ from the dead is at work within us!!!!
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Alarm Clock at 5:30 Feeling

3 Mar

Tonight I watched Lord of War starring Nicholas Cage. I would highly recommend this movie because of the moral choices that it presents. I won’t ruin the plot, but one of the biggest ideas of the movie is honesty and the difference between legal and right.

I am disturbed by the movie, because I know that it represents something true. Arms dealers or traffickers exist, but only because of war. Why does war exist?

I came back to my room and started praying. Something like this is what came out of me:

“I have seen innocent blood shed, even though it is a movie, this is my world. Why, God? Jesus, is this the “year of the Lord’s favor?”

Over the weekend I talked at our Spring Christian Ed retreat about the Exodus and the movement of God in the life of the individual and in societies. During that talk I presented the way Jesus began his ministry, which was by reading this in a synagogue in Capernum:

The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
Because He has anointed me
To Preach the Good News to the poor
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind,
To release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

Over the summer, I was praying about hunger. I asked God why it existed, I dared to ask God why He would let it happen

It is hard to describe, but the answer to that prayer was sorrowful.
“My children go hungry because my other children let them.”
Mother Theresa must have listened to the same voice for she said, “As long as there are empty mouths in the world, the Eucharist is incomplete.”

God has and will give his family more than enough. We just wont share. We have our own peace, but will not share.

Why do I go through a day and not ask where the clothes that cover my flesh come from, who worked to make them? How can I drink my coffee without thinking of who picked it, and whether or not they can live off the wages they earned? Why do I believe the lie that it is not my responsibility to make sure those people are getting what they deserve?

When have we given enough? When can we feel good about ourselves? When we all have enough, when we all have peace, when God is feared.

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Eschatology and Missing Carol

10 Feb

It is lent again, which means that my mind should be focused on the life and passion of Jesus.

But, I miss Carol.
Rob Bell in “Sex God” talks about how the cup of the New Covenant that Jesus offers in the Upper Room could possibly be interpreted as having very strong ties to language used in traditional Jewish wedding proposals. I could look it up, but I like this thought.
Jesus and Paul both refer to bride / groom imagery. Jesus even says that there are many mansions (again, Bell says, a marriage reference).
So Jesus offers himself and his Father to the world, and then he has to leave, with a promise to return and meet his bride, the Church.
Carol is my fiance, and she is studying in Costa Rica this semester. We have had several periods during our relationship when we have lived in different places (Kentucky /Indiana, Mexico/Indiana) with varying amounts of communication. This has been the hardest time so far.
Christ must miss the Church, want to see her do well, and cannot wait until the time may come when they may be one.
Miss you, Babe.
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