Blah Guy

Koinonia

Fellowship

‘Commoness’

These three words are synonymns.

Apply our little theological idea about the church (koinonia, our fellowship) to our current political culture.

I am convinced that until we can focus on what we ‘agree’ on in these debates, it all won’t matter. What if we had ‘agree-debates’ where the candidates were secretly only allowed to agree with one another. The debates would last for like 5 hours. With exception to a few issues, they all agree on so many things but find so many incredible ways to argue about it.

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Now, me! I believe the key to the church is the key to democracy. Having the wit and boldness to focus on all the crazy and beautiful things we rabidly agree on. Crazy thought. And yes, there will be heretics. But heretics are what make orthodoxy fun. They keep us on our toes. Instead of being afraid of the heretics, maybe we can love ‘em, and realize they make the game fun.

But as a general rule, finding what we agree on is the joy of fellowship. Yes, we believe Jesus is the Son of God (despite your interpretation of the word ’son’). Yes, we believe Jesus died and rose from the grave (despite your particular view of many issues). On and on…

And while politics may continue to focus on the foibles and factions, the church can rest assured. Rest that in Christ, there is no division whether we think so or not. We are one! The problem is that some of us think we aren’t.

Can we agree?

It seems many of us are caught up to some degree in the excitment of our next president. Listening once again to the debates of the recent weeks, I am reminded of my general discontent with the political spirit of our country: unwillingness to listen, attack after attack, too many promises.

What if some presidential candidate actually had a platform that, ‘Hey, I’ll tell you what I am going to do after I have won…when I do it’. A no promise platform. Even better, what if we had a candidate that told us what they actually thought. That change in our government won’t happen under his/her/its watch, I’ll try to get us out of Iraq (but don’t know if I can)…etc.

We set these people up (and ourselves) by requiring them to make promise after promise. And when they don’t make promises, we call them ‘flip-floppers’. Wouldn’t Jesus call them wise?

I recently read Barrack Obama’s text, The Audacity of Hope. While he is not (should not) be a professional writer, he impressed me with his candor and honesty. At one point he discussed even his own frustration with the American Christian attempt to ‘holify’ our early Fathers. While, yes, there was Christian influence, they weren’t exemplars of the faith. So we accept the idea that our country is holy with that of having ‘Christian’ country fathers, quid pro quo.

Obama writes, ‘The founders may have trusted in God but they also trusted in the hearts and minds of the people he gave them to.’ I appreciate that as an attempt of a man of faith who no doubt is supported by many overly-conservative folk who wish him to ‘holify’ our nation. But he makes it clear in his dialogue with faith. He believes in the power of faith in God, but he also has faith in the thinking of those who believe in God.

Unfortunately there are many who make faith the end-all in politics.

Dangerous!

He also wrote, ‘No one is exempt from the call to common ground’.

I agree. Very much. And at least some are trying to ‘live’ that way. God, help us to find some ‘common ground’ this year.

‘America bless God’

Why not worship the Office and then learn a little something. Check out how the church can learn from the Office at this Fast Company article.

Enjoy

Read this open letter from the NAE (National Association of Evangelicals) concerning a fellow evangelical voicing his opinion on Global Warming.

The debate is getting thick and dirty. This really breaks my heart.

Although to me, the problem is not the global warming. It is our lifestyles. I saw a poster the other day that said, “You can’t do anything about Global Warming, but you can do something about you.”

Read this brilliant article in the American Conservative

Modernity is wonderful, except for the dead Iraqi’s. I found this interesting as well if read in light of denominationalism. Does one corner of the church find a particular philosophy attractive while at the same time, not realizing it, killing softly another.

Praise God that we aren’t saved by a philosophy!

Read this article from Relevant Magazine.

Not only are our friends not “getting fed” in church, I would take it a little farther.

What about me? I preach every week, prepare the word for the hearts of the people, spend hours agonizing over each and every sermon. Do I get fed by my own preaching?

It absolutely disarms folks when I admit that my own preaching doesn’t feed me.

What if church’s job was never, is never, and never will be to “feed” anyone? And most of the time we throw that straw phrase around, it is Christian lingo for, “I don’t like the style” or “I get bored of the sermons”. If you aren’t getting fed then you aren’t eating. Getting fed is a function of your desire to eat.

So how do I eat?

The scriptures say that Jesus “was moved with compassion” at a number of different points.

My problem is not that I don’t have compassion, it just doesn’t move me.

I am so absolutely tired of talking about helping homeless people, and poor people, and Africa, when in reality that is all I really do. So do most of us. Compassion is nothing until it moves me.

This week, I saw some poor little ducks in a little canal that were literally trapped in some garbage bags. I walked on and thought about how sad that was. I told all my friends how poorly we take care of the world, how a poor little duck can’t even live.

Then…

I realized I didn’t do a darn thing about. So I sprung into action. I grabbed 8 of my other friends in a class I teach at our church, and we skipped church to pick up garbage at that canal. I felt like it was more church than anything I have ever done.

God is teaching me that REAL church begins as soon as our church SERVICES end. It is then that we get to be the church…but everything up to that…is just talk.