Peace on earth

Blog #4 in a four-part series. If you're new to this series, go check out #1, #2, and #3 before reading this one.

A few years ago I read A Generous Orthodoxy by Brian McLaren. A section of that book is called “The seven Jesuses I have known” (Anyone know a better way to make “Jesus” plural? Never had to do it before). In this section McLaren discusses the ins and outs of various segments of Christendom he has been involved with and their views of how God interacts with the world. I think my favorite at the time was Greek Orthodox Jesus. According to McLaren, Greek Orthodox Jesus came not only to bring salvation so that people can spend eternity in heaven with God, but also to redeem all of creation, here, starting immediately. This appealed to me at the time I read it, and still does. The segment of Christendom I grew up in puts a strong emphasis on salvation. Sometimes the emphasis on salvation was so strong that it seemed like it was the only thing Jesus came to do, and by extension, the only thing that was important to a person who considered themself religious. The Christian life was like an elevator. Once someone made the decision to enter they could stand and stare at the door, twiddling their thumbs and not looking at anyone else until the door opened at the top and they stepped out into glory. But Greek Orthodox Jesus was different. Of course He came to save us from our sins, but He also came to bring His kingdom here to earth, to set right all that was marred in Eden. I have always loved Christmas carols because many of them capture this concept well.

God gives us our first hint of Messiah just as we are beginning to understand the gravity of our situation (Genesis 3:15). After a few failed attempts at self-redemption and a good long look at the consequences of our mistake, we know how vital this Messiah will be. We now see that everything we were created to appreciate hangs on God keeping this promise.

Long lay the world in sin and error pining, till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.

But high from God’s heaven a star’s light did fall; The promise of the ages it then did recall.

Word of the Father now in flesh appearing.

Long desired, behold Him come

This, of all things, was the resolution we had been waiting for. Of course many did not understand. How could we? How is it possible that a baby could make the kind of difference we needed? But it was true.

Born a child and yet a king
Born to reign in us forever
Born to set thy people free

Glorious now behold Him arise – King and God and Sacrifice.
Alleluia, alleluia! Earth to heav’n replies.

Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; Hail th’incarnate Deity, pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus our Immanuel!

It is difficult to grasp how far-reaching this redemption is: it is both personal –

Now ye hear of endless bliss; Joy! Joy! Jesus Christ was born for this. He hath opened heaven’s door and man is blessed forever more. Christ was born for this! Christ was born for this!

Now ye need not fear the grave: Peace! Peace! Jesus Christ was born to save.

In all our trials born to be our Friend. He knows our need- to our weakness no stranger. Behold your King; before him lowly bend!

Peace on earth and mercy mild God and sinners reconciled

Born that man no more may die,
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth.

And reaches throughout all of fallen creation.

He comes to make His blessings flow far as the curse is found

So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of His heav’n

Truly He taught us to love one another; His law is love and His gospel is peace.

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: “God is not dead, nor doth He sleep; The wrong shall fail, the right prevail, With peace on earth, goodwill to men.”

After looking for redemption in all the wrong places, this was the solution. A God who lived with us, worked in us to set wrongs right, and now works through us to set the world’s wrongs right.

Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother, and in His name all oppression shall cease.

In this we can now rest, and let everyone know their struggle can be over.

The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.

Still Waiting

Waiting with Switchfoot

They tell you where you need to go
They tell you when you need to leave.
They tell you what you need to know
They tell you who you need to be.

But everything inside you
Knows there's more than what you've heard
There's so much more than empty conversations
Filled with empty words.

And you're on fire
When He's near you
You're on fire
When He speaks
You're on fire
Burning at these mysteries.

Give me one more time around
Give me one more chance to see
Give me everything You are
Give me one more chance to be near You

'Cause everything inside me
Looks like everything I hate
You are the hope I have for change
You are the only chance I'll take

And I'm on fire
When You're near me
I'm on fire
When You speak
I'm on fire
Burning at these mysteries.

Still Waiting

And waiting with John Mayer

I'm not alone
I wish I was
Cause then I'd know I was down because
I couldn't find a friend around
To love me like they do right now
They do right now

I'm dizzy from the shopping mall
I searched for joy, but I bought it all.
It doesn't help the hunger pains
The thirst I'd have to drown first to ever satiate

Something's missing
And I don't know how to fix it
Something's missing
And I don't know what it is at all

When autumn comes it doesn't ask
It just walks in where it left you last
You never know when it starts
Until there's fog inside the glass around
Your summer heart.

Something's missing
And I don't know how to fix it
Something's missing
And I don't know what it is at all

I can't be sure that this state of mind
Is not of my own design
There must be an over-the-counter test
For loneliness like this.

Something's missing
And I don't know how to fix it
Something's missing
And I don't know what it is at all

Friends - check
Money - check
Well-slept - check
Opposite sex - check
Guitar - check
Microphone - check
Messages waiting on me when I come home - check

How come everything I think I need always comes with batteries?

Time to wait

So, I've shared three ways of fixing the world: Utopia, Clean Slate, and Godly nation. All three make sense to me and seem like they should work, but as the Old Testament shows us they have been done before and were not effective. Our problems are too big for our own ideas. So it's time to wait for help. Let's begin waiting with Sarah McLachlan.

Heaven bend to take my hand
And lead me through the fire
Be the long awaited answer
To a long and painful fight
Truth be told I tried my best
But somewhere long the way
I got caught up in all there was to offer
But the cost was so much more than I could bear

Though I've tried I've fallen
I have sunk so low
I messed up
Better I should know
So don't you come round here and
Tell me I told you so

We all begin with good intent
When love is raw and young
We believe that we can change ourselves
The past can be undone
But we carry on our back the burdens time always reveals
In the lonely light of morning
In the wound that would not heal
It's the bitter taste of losing everything
I've held so dear

Though I've tried I've fallen
I have sunk so low
I messed up
Better I should know
So don't you come round here and
Tell me I told you so

Heaven bend to take my hand
I've nowhere left to turn
I'm lost to those I thought were friends
To everyone I know
Oh they turn their heads embarrassed
Pretend that they don't see
That it's one missed step one slip before you know it
And there doesn't seem a way to be redeemed.

Though I've tried I've fallen
I have sunk so low
I messed up
Better I should know
So don't you come round here and
Tell me I told you so

Dr. Change Gov or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Obama

“Welfare is evil, though the people who are on it don’t realize it.” This was the comment I heard from across the table during a marathon world-problem-solving session with a group of friends. The conversation had wandered from the spiritual matters where it had begun and was now firmly entrenched in the finer points of conservative politics. Normally I would have joined enthusiastically, but this particular night I just listened. I had been having doubts. Red flags were going up. Some things were bothering me.

Thing 1: This group of people, a group we gathered often with, almost never seemed to notice when the conversation shifted from religion to conservative politics. To them the two were synonymous. At this point in my life I was preparing to move overseas, which was really affecting my thinking about political matters. Was it really possible that God’s favored, chosen political party was the one that was voted for by less than 1% of the world’s population? What about the Christians in other countries? If there weren’t Republican candidates there, could they even vote in good conscience? (These are not the questions I asked myself. Just bear with me for awhile while I carry this worldview to its logical conclusion.) Of course, the fact that a Christian in the US could, in good conscience, vote for a Democratic candidate was outside the realm of possibility.

Thing 2: Why was the tone of these conversations so frantic? We would get all worked up as if our opinions were being attacked, though we were the only ones there, just hashing and rehashing our nearly identical positions. Other people, the ones who disagreed with us (the ones who weren’t actually present to take part in these conversations), were deeply threatening to us. It was us against them and no point of disparity was too small to merit endless debate.

As I sat back and watched the straw men fall I saw for the first time a connection between Thing 1 and Thing 2. I began to see them as a progression. Of course Thing 2 was happening because of Thing 1. When a person’s faith is so closely intertwined with their politics, to attack one is to attack the other. No wiggle space is left for a simple difference of opinion; everything is a matter of eternal life or death.

So, how did we get here? The rationale, as I recall it being articulated several times, was that the platform of the Republican Party lined up with Christian principles more than the platform of the Democratic Party. The issues of abortion, homosexual marriage, and the oft-quoted "If a man will not work, he shall not eat," placed God firmly on the Republican side. We embraced the party and its platform. Even the parts that are not necessarily mentioned in the Bible (small government, personal freedoms, individual responsibility, right to bear arms, etc.) came to be considered on the same level with those that are.

Of course we as responsible citizens of a democratic republic are going to participate in our political system. And, of course, we are going to support candidates who agree most with our point of view. But I wonder sometimes if the evangelical church’s strong support of the Republican Party can be traced to something deeper.

It makes sense that the best way to deal with a fallen world is to create a group of people, a nation, a culture centered around God. A greenhouse, so to speak, with all the right conditions to cultivate people who follow God. Walking with God in the cool of the day was a little vague. Something more clearly defined might work better. A strong religious heritage, laws in accordance with Biblical principles, leaders who follow God and make decisions in harmony with their personal relationship with Him. All of these should, in theory, save us from some of the pitfalls of our current fallen status.

Now, what I am about to say was never stated in so many words, but the more I think about it the more it makes sense.

I grew up thinking that I was born in this (greenhouse) nation. My Christian school strongly emphasized the United States’ Christian heritage. America was a nation founded on Biblical principles and therefore blessed by God (and better than everyone else, which was implied but not actually said). Every winter we had a school program to celebrate God’s incarnation, and every spring we had another program to celebrate the country that finally got it right and arranged their nation God’s way.

As I became older I began to see that every few years this nation faces a new perceived threat to its perceived status as “God’s greenhouse.” Not everyone is on board with becoming God-followers, and the dissenters rise up every once in awhile to enact new laws that will allow the very pitfalls our greenhouse was supposed to help us avoid. We God followers, in trying to protect our greenhouse, rise up to fight against these dissenters and protect our “most favored nation” status. We (evangelical Christians) have identified the Republican Party as our ally in this battle, so we vote faithfully for them, hoping our greenhouse will be preserved.

The evening of the “welfare is evil” conversation I realized for the first time how flawed this point of view is. I began to see us as a group of people looking to be redeemed by our perfect laws. If our nation acted Christian enough, we would become an oasis of Godliness in our world. We would be able to maintain this Godliness and pass it down from generation to generation. Because the attacks on this idea have been in the political realm, we have responded in kind and struggled to maintain a system of laws that reflects our values.

So, you may ask, what is the problem with having good laws that reflect Christian values? Nothing, unless we place too much importance on them. Laws are not able to redeem us or maintain us, as the Israelites discovered. They had their laws straight from the mouth of God, and yet after Genesis the rest of the Old Testament chronicles their repeating pattern of obedience, disobedience, punishment, and restoration. Laws were not able to save the original chosen people, and they cannot save us either. I witnessed this first hand in the Philippines, where abortion is illegal but a study done in 2005 says that 70% of unwanted pregnancies end in abortion. Divorce is also illegal, but it is very common for couples to separate and live separate lives with their new partners.

Mostly what I was beginning to learn was that it is complicated. While we will all continue to vote and support candidates we agree with, we cannot solve our country’s problems by shutting off our brains and allowing ourselves to be so easily manipulated by any politician who drops a little religious talk at the right times and places. We have been separated from God, and we can find a way to mess up no matter what the system of government or current controlling power. Turns out the major failing of any form of government is the same reason we need to be governed in the first place.

I shall return

Last year around this time I began a four-part Christmas blog series. One and two were published, three and four fell victim to a little moving halfway around the world, learning a new language, remodeling an apartment, moving into said apartment, furnishing said apartment, living without American convenience, etc. I haven't been able to write it down until now but I've been thinking about it all year, and it's time to finish. Next post will be the third installment. I am planning to post #4 by Christmas this year. Then I can get this out of my system and hopefully begin blogging about other stuff.

What a difference a month makes

The other day as I was preparing for my 30 minute walk to language school I realized the outside temperature had risen all the way to 15 degrees Fahrenheit. The following thoughts raced through my mind:

"Wow, 15! What will that be like? I won't need an extra shirt on, and I'm just going to wear one layer of pants today. I wonder if I'll need my hat?"

Fortunately I came to my senses before leaving our apartment and brought my stocking cap. A month ago I was wearing two layers of clothing even when I was inside. Now I am wanting to dig my t-shirts out of a storage box to wear inside because I'm hot all the time. Weird.

At some point I will be blogging more but while I'm adjusting to the new environment I've cut my extra activities down to a bare minimum. We're going to be remodeling our apartment over the next few weeks so I need to go figure out what I want the bathroom to look like. On Wednesday I get to wander around the Home Depot street where all the building/remodeling supply shops are and pick out tile/floors/sink/etc for the bathroom. Since I have never had any thoughts whatsoever about what a bathroom should look like I should probably do a little research before this trip. Also since, even if I did have a clue about what I wanted, I have no idea what is available here. Fun decision-making times.