Category Archives: Society

A New Play on the Last Week of Christ

Kingdom Undone is a new production in the Twin Cities. It takes a look at the ministry of Christ and his purposes through the lens of Judas Iscariot and a young zealot named Isaac.

The play was well done and a fresh take. The first act added in some great humor, but the refreshing look was seeing how Judas might have thought of what was happening in the life of Jesus.

The great thing I came away with is we all think we have the great idea of the Kingdom in our minds. We think of our ideas of justice, liberation, who is “in”, etc. What we sometimes forget to do is actually listen to Jesus.

The acting is tremendous. The music blends in quite well. I honestly think they could develop the music a bit more. The songs were few, but powerful. Working on that piece would enhance the power of the moments the songs are done.

If you are in the Twin Cities, I would suggest seeing THIS play rather than the normal portrayals we will typically get this time of year. We all know the story… or so we think! Try this one for a fresh view.

Speaking Truth to Power May Cost You Your Head

The utopian thought we have with the “Occupy” movement (and other things) is the beautiful thought of “speaking truth to power.” It is so bold.

Unless, of course, it’s not.

Too often that phrase just really means, “I’m looking for a photo op.”

Speaking truth to power costs.

Ask Gandhi. Ask Martin Luther King, Jr. Ask Abraham Lincoln. (And Lincoln was “power” in a certain sense.)

Ask John the Baptist.

14 Herod the king heard about these things, because the name of Jesus had become well-known. Some were saying, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and this is why miraculous powers are at work through him.” 15 Others were saying, “He is Elijah.” Still others were saying, “He is a prophet like one of the ancient prophets.”16 But when Herod heard these rumors, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised to life.” (Mark 6:14-16, CEB)

Sometimes you speak truth to power and you lose your head. It’s not quite as glamorous then.

Is it really time for civil disobedience?

The issue in the last couple of weeks with the Obama administration and the Catholic church has been over healthcare policy and contraception. Originally, the Obama administration was going to enforce the policy that any organization over a certain size had to provide a health insurance policy for employees, including the option for contraception. This would apply even to religious organizations. The Catholic Church was up in arms because that would affect their schools, hospitals, etc.

It is an unnecessary position by the Obama administration, because states like Hawaii demonstrate ways to get around it.

Some have said this is an outright attack on religious liberty. It might be. Those early salvos have to be tested because there will continue to be issued where human rights will clash with “religious liberty” in our society. If you always want to land on the side of your version of “human rights” you will have to battle “religious liberty” at some point. This is quite possibly a way to test the waters early.

Those who have called this an outright attack also say it may be time to think about civil disobedience. THIS POST links to several other articles and calls.

This is a tough call and it is certainly yet another opportunity to truly understand who we are as Christians.

Immigrants and Strangers

As James K.A. Smith would say in his book, Desiring the Kingdom, everything calls for allegiance. All of life has liturgies all around. Which liturgy will call out for our allegiance and we will respond?

We are in the thick of political season in the U.S. Let’s face it, as long as there is a media and as long as there are lobbyists and politicians, we are always in the thick of political season. It’s the only way to fill up a 24 hour news cycle.

And in this season we are once again hearing the calls of allegiance to one party or the other. Certainly on the extremes are those who say voting for one party is actually voting against God. (This is on the right AND the left.)

Political parties call for allegiances. Every election cycle the fate our nation hangs precariously in the balance and if we don’t vote correctly (insert your party beliefs here), America will blow up. (And so it has gone for over 250 years.)

Christians in America play this game. We play and get played. For all the frothing about evangelicals being in the back pockets of Republicans, there is simply the same to be said in the other direction as well. On the extreme left or right we really act like the government is our own little theocracy. We want to the government (which is secular) to act like the Kingdom of God. On both extremes, if one is willing to admit it, that would equate the president as pope or bishop. Since neither extreme is willing to admit that, we cloak it in more “righteous” terms.

This is not some plea to NOT be involved in voting or your duty as a citizen. It IS a plea, as believers, for us to continually evaluate our allegiances. We need to be reminded more than ever that our citizenship is in a different place. As such, we need to pick up the signals from the Kingdom we should be serving.

11 Dear friends, since you are immigrants and strangers in the world, I urge that you avoid worldly desires that wage war against your lives. (1 Pet. 2:11, CEB)

The liturgy of political games is a strong liturgy. The liturgy of consumerism and materialism is a strong liturgy. We have strong liturgies all around us.

Which liturgy will win your allegiance?

Not letting the song die in our hearts

The quote I reflected on yesterday from Thoreau was this:

Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.

Are we going to the grave with a song still in our hearts? Are we going to the grave with a work of art still waiting to be formed? Is there a symphony to be composed? A book to be written? A song to be sung? Music to be formed? A film to write?

What is the dream that is in you? What is that God-given gift that this world really needs to hear? Don’t let the song go to the grave with you.

The Attitude of a Servant and the Need for Justice

The challenge of the servanthood of Jesus is one I like to avoid, quite honestly. ;)

When I get into a text like Philippians 2:1-13 I dig into the meditation of serving. This time through I am tracking the thought of “servant” through the Bible (in a very quick manner). What I am finding is one can’t make this journey without running into the concept of “justice” as well. And then things go downhill from there.

Just what IS “justice?” Depending on where you land on the theological spectrum, the answers are wide. Even going through simple word searches in Bible dictionaries I could easily guess the theological bent of each dictionary’s definition.

The concept of justice is WIDE, which is probably why we’re all over the board on this. We get the conservative version of justice that ends up in the old-style Clint Eastwood stories of making sure the bad guys get what is theirs, even if it’s not what society would exactly approve of. Justice is seen in legal terms.

We get the liberal version of justice that focuses on making sure the poor are taken care of and the margins of society aren’t kicked to the curb completely.

And then the theological grenades start flying.

What I can’t get around at this point is the attitude of a servant and the need to see the ones society doesn’t normally see. It is moving away from the self-branding and self-marketing (including photo ops with the poor just so you can slap it on your website to show how compassionate you are) and it is moving into the action of seeing.

Several years ago I got into a confrontation with city leaders because they were blocking an organization moving into the city that took care of poor predominantly African American families. They had re-zoned a property that the organization was going to get so the “business” of that organization couldn’t take place in that location. It was “bad press” as they say in the political world. I ended up in confrontation with most of the city council members. One particular conversation I had was getting frustrating and I said to the council member, “I need to be the voice for those who can’t speak. They aren’t being heard and I need you to hear me on their behalf.”

The organization still didn’t get the building. They found another place in another part of the metro and moved on.

But I find that when we are truly serving there are times we need to be that voice for the voiceless. We need to see what everyone else is ignoring. I don’t get this right all the time. I don’t think I get it right most of the time.

But, following Christ, I need to get this attitude in me.

Finishing

I have the privilege of meeting with a mentor in ministry every few weeks. We meet because I want to download over 40 years of ministry from his life and learn. One of the things he has on his mind right now is finishing WELL. Not just finishing… but finishing WELL. He is fully aware his adult children are watching. He has transitioned in his life and the transition is important. He thinks about how he carries himself at this stage in his life.

His conversations are forefront in my mind as I teach in college… at the end of the semester… I watch students falter at the finish.

Faltering at the finish of a semester may be okay. It’s a good time to learn. But LEARN we must. Learn to live for the marathon, not the sprint. Learn to PACE.

Learn the deep YES of your life so you can have the guts to say NO to things when a NO is needed!

It’s not about how you start. It’s about how you finish.

Compassion and Conservative Christians

Who knew? Obviously, no one had any idea “conservative” Christians could be compassionate… that is until someone like the New York Time officially recognizes that, hey, conservative Christians actually do some good! Okay, NOW, conservative Christians can be considered as compassionate. (It was like the media “discovering” Pentecostals in 2006, the 100th Anniversary of Azusa Street.)

Nicholas Kristof gives a slight tip of the hat to the compassion of conservative Christians, and their amazing generosity. He still needs to take his digs at that crowd. (But, hey, I still need to take my digs at him as well.)

Kristof does make an excellent point that is overlooked so often by many people:

A root problem is a liberal snobbishness toward faith-based organizations. Those doing the sneering typically give away far less money than evangelicals. They’re also less likely to spend vacations volunteering at, say, a school or a clinic in Rwanda.

The media may be finally waking up to the hard work, the generosity, and YES, the compassion of conservative Christians. Of course, there is no way they will attribute that phrase to George W. Bush and his work. Why be overly generous?

Still, it’s nice to see some kudos for some very hard work going on in Haiti, Africa, and other parts of the world.