broken eikon

So I was reading the Presbyterian book of confessions today. I came across the confession of 1967, and I have to say… I was blown away. In 1967, the Presbos adopted this confession of faith as a response to “racial discrimination, nationalistic arrogance, and family and class conflict”.  It was very responsive to biblical scholarship and  asks the church to read scripture with literary and historical context in mind. There are many really really cool parts, but this really stuck out to me is line 9.45, containing the following words…, “this search (for reconciliation and peace) requires that the nations pursue fresh and responsible relations across every line of conflict, even at risk to national security, to reduce areas of strife and to broaden international understanding… Although nations may serve God’s purposes in history, the church which identifies the sovereignty of any one nation or any one way of life with the cause of God denies the lordship of Christ and betrays his calling”.

“Even at risk to national security”?

Can anyone find me another statement of faith that states that nations should pursue reconciliation even at their own risk? That sounds too much like Christ for me…

And that last part about identifying any one nation or way of life with God’s will means denying the Lordship of Christ. Dang.

love it…

Check out Brian Mclaren’s open letter to President Obama. He encapsulates both my frustration with Obama and my hope that he can make better choices. It is time for a third option to be tried in America.

This article by Micheal Moore is really good. Don’t get me wrong, I am not what you would consider a fan of his. Even when I want to like him, I struggle to find him compelling. But when someone, anyone, gets Jesus right, I am committed to being the trumpeter. So check it out.

I have found facebook fairly useful. However, there is one thing that is causing me some confusion. I have friends that I have had for a long time. People I love very very dearly, that are now on Facebook. What I notice is that many of these people post purposefully inflammatory stuff, via status updates, links, videos, polls, etc… I am wondering what people are asking for when they post these things. Do they want those who agree to say so? Do they want dissenters to bring it up? Perhaps this is overly generous, but perhaps they want to invite public discussion? Given that when I see people who dissagree post, it seems to always end poorly, I can’t see discussion really being wanted.

When I post, I desire people to think. I try to not say “believe this”, or “X person is stone cold stupid”. I would like for people to get their hands on dirty, subversive little things called facts, wrestle with them in public forums, and see how things end up for them.  My problem is also thus, however: When i see someone make a comment, or insinuate something I consider erroneous or misleading, I feel the need to correct it, since these people posting as my friends makes me feel like I give passive assent to their comments by my own inaction.

I just get tired of picking on the same friends for posting the same agendized, non-helpful pot-stirring stuff. And actually, I just don’t like it when Christians do it. My other friends I actually don’t care. But Christ followers should know better.

And before you ask, Scott, I am not talking about you. I think you are funny in your passion. Plus, I agree a lot. But not always. But you are still funny then.

There are simply no words for how this makes me feel. But if there were, it would be something like angry-immeasurably sad-frustrated-disgusted-haunted-lamenting.

Rush Limbaugh has switched sides! The end times are near! Check it out here for yourself!

If the US would require the nations we have free trade with to assume human rights standards roughly equivalent to ours, then it wouldn’t be so cheap for companies to outsource. This is because if workers weren’t treated like slaves in these countries and/or paid so little, then it wouldn’t be so cost-effective to set up shop there. Then companies would bring their work back to the US or at very least workers would be paid better.

Yes. The rumors are true. I have been detained in a hood country holding cell. I was driving to church and apparently, there was a ticket that I received for speeding a year ago. We didn’t have the money to pay it and I forgot about it after a while. Well, the county did not. So on the way to church, I was pulled over and taken to the pokey. Christina had to drive the kids the rest of the way to church and explain to the elder in charge why I was not going to be the liturgist that day.

So I talked it up with the policeman who took me in. He was very nice. We talked about our kids and how he was sorry to have met me this way. The people at the jail asked me all kids of quuestions about my history. They said I didn’t seem like I belonged there.

I sat in the cell for an hour before being araigned.  I was led out of my cell and placed next to a young woman who was in trouble for smoking pot. She took one look at me in my suit and said, “you don’t look like you belong here.” I looked back at her (against the rules, heh) and told her, “nobody belongs here.” She said I was right, with a new smile on her face.

The judge was very nice, if curt. I was given the opportunity to make small payments on the ticket. I pled guilty. Overall, a good experience, but my wife was kinda freaked out. I had hoped that if I was ever arrested it would have been for a social justice rebellion or smuggling scriptures into a closed country. Still, i had a good time.

Last night, we joined together Eikon and Eucatastrophe (another church plant in FW) and had a worship gathering together. It was such a good thing, to work together with Phil and his community, as there was such a lack of ego or ulterior motives when we were talking about it. During communion, Phil’s wife Stephanie asked everyone to take communion, and then take the elements and serve the next person. I was so blessed to see our community and another so in love with Jesus and each other and to see them serving each other in eucharistic harmony. I was moved to tears. Just a little. But powerfully.

One thing I didn’t expect was the pushback from some of our community regarding the theme of the night. We had decided that when we do Eukon, we would focus on different forms of missional activity and how people might get involved in helping. This time, we focused on human trafficking. I guess some who showed up were put off in some way because it wasn’t what they were expecting or they somehow felt that church should be about strictly singing and entertaining preaching, not about challenging people to get involved in real world issues.

Now, I don’t fault those who were put off by the night. Yes, it was mighty different than a typical Eikon gathering. Yes, Phil leading us in body prayer was new to us. Yes, the topic of human trafficking is uncomfortable. Yes, the songs were new. Yes, taking communion was different. Part of being a follower of Jesus (especially at Eikon) is to learn to see and worship God in everything. Even when we are uncomfortable. When we were planning the gathering, honestly, people being comfortable was not high on our priority list. If you belong to the community of Eikon, hopefully it is because of the people and thier trajectory in thier worship of God, not because it is entertaining. I have no desire to entertain people as my mission.

My personal mission and that of Eikon is to play our part in tbe redemtion of the world by being God’s people and following God’s son. I am dragging everyone I can with me. So to all of you who don’t understand why or what we did, or all of you who understand and didn’t like it, that is ok. You are still welcome. But know this: We are literally on a mission from God and no given person’s (or 4’s) uncomfortability  is going to deter us from our redemptive goal. Isn’t that why you came to Eikon in the first place? Because we are not like the others? Well, you can count on us to keep being different. Oh, and if you haven’t been offended yet, just wait, we are an equal opportunity offender. But we will love you through it.

I have been following an interesting discussion about gay mariage over at http://philshepherd.com . While that discussion has turned more into what God thinks about homosexuality, I want to offer a “third option” for national debate on homosexual marriage. How about the government stay out of it?

Government should have no say in marriage whatsoever. Marriage is not something that should be endorsed, enforced, denied, arranged, discouraged, or in any other way dealt with by our government.

Based on social welfare, it is a good idea for the government to sanction and give some sort of benefits to any covenant union made by two adult people, whether it be platonic, romantic, business or otherwise, as the stability of such accords are good for society. But that is a separate issue from marriage.

Keep the government away from marriage and let the churches or other social establishments, or whatever accepted authorities in individual’s lives decide for themselves who can or should be married.