The power and the glory…

My friend Wayne and I were having a discussion about politics last night over facebook, and he said something so profound, so awesomely on point, I just had to share it with you:

Michelle, I decided yesterday that one thing is clear: I am called to fight only one battle (in part because I can’t fight more than one battle well) and that battle is spiritual. Not black v. white, not conservative v. liberal, not little guy v. big guy, not America v. the world (or fill in the blank). The spiritual battle I am called to fight has an impact on each of these other battles, but none of them are the main battle. Some of us can get carried away with politics and race and what not and I am thinking if there really is an enemy, and the only solution is Christ, that we are diluting our strength trying to fight the spiritual battle with a little piddly economic or political or racial solution when the answer is really Jesus. I am going to stick with Jesus (even though I don’t do that well) because in Him I see the only answer that meets all of the other needs. Everything else is just a piecemeal, man-made, this-worldly, temporary, self-centered attempt at a solution…

 All I could say after that is: Amen! Amen! and AMEN!!!

He was quick to add that he is not saying the political sphere is not a viable place in which to engage, or that it is not important. But that we must be clear where the true and ultimate battle is waged, and live in light of that truth.

As I drown in the seemingly never ending sea of election coverage, I need to remind myself of this truth.

More later.

Grace and peace…

A light topic

Lately I have been spending a great deal of time thinking about race/ethnicity and gender. My thoughts about gender have led me to a sustained study of complementarian and egalitarian views of women, as well as the history of feminism in the U.S. Very light stuff, I know. Ugh! Sometimes, my brain hurts…at times I can hear it crying out for mercy! But still, I push on…

Anyway, here’s a question I posed in my journal a few days ago: 

Why does “distinctive roles” necessarily equal “different worth”? 

In other words, why is the assumption that limiting the role of women to exclude positions of “leadership” (i.e., pastor/elder) in the church means you are saying that women are unequal in their value before the Lord? Our worth or identity is not determined by the roles we play in society. This, I would argue is a carryover from our culture, which places high premium on position, title, power, money, etc., to determine a person’s worth. This is not a biblical notion – it is a cultural one. To assume this to be true and then impose this so-called “truth” onto the church is to usurp the truth of the Word and make the church in the culture’s image.  

The co-opting of cultural understandings of worth placed in external things such as titles and roles leads us to false conclusions. The Word teaches a completely opposite reality, which calls into question the struggle that women engage in to have equal access to positions of perceived “power” within the church structure. In doing so, we are conforming to the image of this world, not being transformed by the renewing of our minds.  

So as I work to reprogram my mind in this area, I must renounce the ideas that worth resides in the position that I hold in a social or cultural structure. Worth resides in my creation as an image-bearer of God. This image is the same regardless of the social position I may hold. As I read through the arguments for egalitarians and complementarians, I see the appeal to cultural reality over against biblical truth in the egalitarian view. They are imposing an unbiblical worldview onto scripture that brings them to wrong conclusions.  

Here is an excellent quote to that end from Dorothy Kelley Patterson in an article she wrote for www.cbmw.org:

“Viewing a person’s worth solely according to his role and perceived status in society not only is not biblically based but also is a poor criterion for interpersonal relationships. Who I am ultimately is not determined by what I can do. My ultimate worth is found in who I am in Christ—a woman created in his image. I may be unable to do certain tasks physically, emotionally, socially, or even spiritually (because of biblical boundaries), but God is interested in my obedience—to his written word more than to what I feel he is revealing to my own understanding.” 

This is my humble opinion…may God continue to guide me as I walk through this.

More later.

Grace and peace…

Sometimes I just don’t get it…

Okay, I have a question. WHY is it that whenever someone decides to say something that speaks of the personal responsibility of Black folks (and for some reason Black men in particular), and hold them to account for their actions, this person is accused of “talking down” to Black folks?? What is that about?

 

Of course I am talking about Rev. Jesse Jackson’s rather colorful rant about Barack Obama on a Sunday morning Fox News show. The long and short of Rev. Jackson’s frustration is that he feels Obama is “talking down” to Black folks when he admonishes Black men to take care of their children. Sen. Obama spoke at a Chicago church on Father’s Day and called upon Black men to be fathers to their children. In his explanation for why he said what he said, Jackson stated that he felt that Obama should have done more than issue a “moral challenge”. He cited the high unemployment rates, high crime rates and other issues within the Black community, which there is no question are there.

 

Yes, this world is unfair. This country is unfair…life is unfair. Newsflash – White folks are NOT gonna be able to make up for the discrimination we have suffered over the course of this country’s history. There is not enough money, time, resource or emotional collateral to make up for the injustices. Even if we were financially compensated and afforded all the opportunities that were once kept from us, would that really help? Seriously.

 

I realize I am stepping into a pile of manure that stinks to high heaven, and many would call me a “sell-out” for saying half of what I’m saying. But when I think about it – Black folks have been very resourceful people ever since we were brought to this country. We have survived a very violent history and have in many ways thrived in spite of it. Men in my father and grandfather’s generations did what they had to do to take care of their families. They worked hard to provide so their children would have a better way in life. It wasn’t about “bling bling” and Benjamins…it was about being a husband and father and leader in their community. This still happens in many cases, but on a very large scale this has been lost, and I lament that. And I think that is what Obama is lamenting as well. I happen to agree with him.

 

Grace and peace…

Trying to put some meat on yesterday’s bones…

I’m thinking about the idea I mentioned yesterday about “over-realized eschatology”. I want to clarify what I was trying to say in that last paragraph. (WOW – I’m excited that I’m continuing a stream of thought over more than one day! That’s progress…)

 

So, the issue before me is this – in Christ, we have hope. Christ said that in this world we would have trouble; but He also reminded us to take heart, for He has overcome the world. Christ was very realistic – we are going to endure hardship. We are not promised a rosey picture, even as it is declared that the Kingdom of God has come. So in my view walking the line between our reality in this world and our reality in Christ requires balance. How much is too much, on either side, so that we become neither too pessimistic about this world and retreat and do nothing, nor get too optimistic about this world and advance and do or expect too much? Both sides are equally dangerous.

 

Expecting to see nothing of the Kingdom breaking into this world leads to a lack of compassion for those in need. It encourages a sort of retreat from the world, an unwillingness to reach out beyond the borders of the church. On the flip side, we can be too expectant of changes in this world and fall into one of two traps. The first is that if triumphalism. Feeling as though we have this “in the bag”, and we should and will be in control of everything – even must be before Christ can even return. This can breed a sort of arrogance that is very unbecoming. Or, we can be so overcome with despair (what I was talking about yesterday) that we throw our hands up in disgust because we feel we have been sold a bill of goods that is not true. Neither outlook is very healthy.

 

In his new book The Courage to Be Protestant, David Wells touches on this idea of the “already/not yet” aspect of the Kingdom of God. On page 196 he states

 

The Kingdom of God, in the Gospels is never a realm. It is a rule. It is the rul of God…God himself has begun to rule. It si present, but this reign has to be concluded and consummated at some point in the future.

 

The age that is to come has already come in a sense – it is present here and now. But it is not complete, and will not be until Christ returns. We cannot expect all the benefits of the future to be in the here and now. In this life you will have trouble…these words of Christ should give us pause to consider what are expectations are of this life.

 

Another great quote from Wells comes from page 206

 

Christian hope is not about wishing things will get better. It is not about hoping that emptiness will go away, meaning return, and life will be stripped of its uncertainties, aches and anxieties…Hope has to do withe knowledge of “the age to come”. This redemption is already penetrating “this age”…more than that, hope is hope because it knows it has become part of a realm, a kingdom that endures. It knows that evil is doomed, that it will be banished.

As I read this, I think of Romans 8:22-25: For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

 

So, perhaps the proper orientation is not to expect all suffering to be banished in the here and now, but to have and offer hope in the face of that suffering because we know that the new age has come and will come in its fullness…I’ll need to chew on this a little more to flesh it out further.

 

More later…

 

Grace and peace…

Random thoughts looking for a home…

I’ve had so much going on in my head the past few days it’s been hard for me to write. So this post may be a bit disorganized…a picture of my mind.  

 

It seems to me that we think we are living in a time of unprecedented pain and toil, and that things are getting worse. Maybe they are…maybe they aren’t. It’s really hard to say. But there is one thing that can be said.

 

We are living in a time when our access to information is broader than ever before. People have been perpetrating mass injustice against each since the beginning. Earthquakes, floods, fires and hurricanes have been happening all along. Untold suffering and despair have been the aftermath of it all. The earth has been groaning with birth pangs since it was plunged into corruption by the Fall. This is nothing new. I say that not to be glib, but to be realistic. This earth is indeed “falling apart” – it is the curse of the Fall, and therefore, our earth awaits the redemption of the sons and daughters of God when all things will be made new. The labor pains are intense, and we feel them and witness their effects.

 

But before mass communication, it was impossible for us to know of these disasters unless they were local to us. This mass communication has indeed shrunk our world so that we feel the pain of those who are thousands of miles away as we see the images of their suffering flash before our eyes. I can watch disaster unfold on my laptop with the click of a button; I have access to news 24 hours a day on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News.

 

And in a way, I am grateful for that. I am a news junkie. I love watching CNN and MSNBC (and yes, sometimes Fox). I like to be “in the know”…

 

But sometimes I find myself driven to despair by the things that I see because of my limited ability to do anything about them. If a tornado struck in my neighborhood, as long as I am not injured myself, I would have the ability to assist those who need it. The need is right there before me – and I can do tangible immediate things to help those that I am with. I am present day in and day out to walk through the matter of rebuilding because it is my home also that has been wiped out. But what of those who live a thousand miles away and are in the aftermath of a tornado, or a flood, or a hurricane – as I watch the images, how do I help? What do I do? And what do I do with the guilt of what I perceive is doing “nothing” by virtue of the fact that I am not there and I have no means to get there.

 

Seeing struggles are important – I can’t help but think images of the Civil Rights struggle did much to advance it…the footage of police and firemen in Birmingham using fire hoses and attack dogs on young children who were marching through a park…images of children being escorted into a school by National Guardsmen as angry crowds spew out words of hatred and wave threatening signs all around them. These images made the Civil Rights issues real to so many who may not have seen the impact that segregation and discrimination were making in the South. Without such images it is hard to say if the movement would have had the same impact that it did. So I do not say these things to dismiss the importance of communication or media.

 

In a sense, it is a blessing that our access to information has made us so globally minded…but in another sense, it is a struggle. Because we are limited to a particular locality as finite physical beings, it is impossible to invest into every area where suffering abounds. It is mentally exhausting to me at times to consider the level of suffering that occurs in the world…and if I take my eyes off the Lord I can be driven to despair and cynicism that will destroy me. And I feel pressure to ponder and think on these things and to fully engage in it all. But my emotional resources fail me much of the time.

 

Then my mind wanders to another point. We ask ourselves how to impact our world – when many times the issues right outside our doors are left unnoticed. We will travel halfway around the world to help people with things we wouldn’t dream of reaching out to our neighbor to assist with. And we feel helpless to do anything about those things because more often than not we cannot be present to live it out with them on a daily basis.

 

I’m not really sure where I’m going with this…I suppose right now I’m just venting. Trying to wrap my head around it all. Seems to me that I generate more questions than answers sometimes…

 

Here’s another thought. And I speak particularly about myself when I say this. Perhaps it is because nothing is ever completely restored that I feel nothing has been done. Kind of an all or nothing deal. Theologians would call this an “over-realized eschatology” – one that expects more of the Kingdom that is to come in the here and now than has actually been promised. The balance of indignation and grief over the suffering of the world and the hope of what is to come…how do we strike that balance? And given the fact that we are now privy to information about our world that was invisible to us before, what is our responsibility to that?

 

Again, more questions than answers. *sigh*

 

More later.

 

Grace and peace…