Friday, November 30, 2012

Scenes from a Christian Bookstore




The Clockwork Pastor





Scenes from a Christian Bookstore



This past weekend, my partner and I went up to Grand Forks, North Dakota for Thanksgiving with his side of the family.  Daniel wanted to stop at the local Christian Bookstore to get a birthday card for his brother and a nephew.  These days, I rarely go into the kind of Christian bookstore that I went into when I was young.  But when I do, I like to look around and maybe reconnect with my more evangelical past.  In the late 80s, I used to work at one of the Family Bookstores located in Flint.  It was kind of cool back then since I got discounts on all the Christian music I used to listen to.


But back to Grand Forks.  I wandered around the books and read some of the latest titles.  Some stuff I wouldn’t agree with these days, but some were by people I knew.  As I wandered through the isles, there was a part of me that wanted to snicker, to look at these books and the theology of those who walked the isles as somehow inferior to my present faith journey.


Look back at that, I tend to feel ashamed of myself for thinking that way.  Because allowing that sense of smugness about current evangelical culture in America wasn’t very Christian of me.


The fact of the matter is, I’m not the only one who tends to have a sense of superiority when it comes to evangelicals.  It’s something that is found throughout progressive Christian circles.  The sad thing is that unlike me, most folks don’t feel bad about ripping apart that culture.


A friend shared with me a blog post written by a soon-to-be pastor here in Minneapolis about his recent visit to a Christian bookstore after a ten year abscence.  The funny thing is that before I even read one word of his post, I pretty much knew what his impressions were going to be.  Paragraph by paragraph he looks at the books and t-shirts and knocks down evangelical culture as being xenophobic and unthinking.  A little taste:


It’s designed to keep people afraid. Because when people are afraid they don’t ask questions. One portion of one of the books was all about how converting people to become Christians wasn’t about saving them from Hell, it was about saving them FROM GOD. Because God was vengeful and wrathful and could destroy them. And God wants to destroy anyone who isn’t a Christian. (I’m not even exaggerating.)


I remember well that fear. In fact my entire life was fear. Fear that I wasn’t really saved, that I wasn’t a good enough Christian, fear that God would send me to Hell. That I wasn’t chosen, that God didn’t love me, that my queerness would keep me out of heaven. That I wasn’t doing enough to convert my friends, that if they died their blood would be on my hands, and it went on and on and on. And that fear is powerful. It keeps you from asking questions or stepping out of line. It keeps you dependent on the people who are acting as gatekeepers because if you step out of line those gatekeepers will tell you that you’re not really saved. The thing about fear is that it keeps you obedient, but it doesn’t lead to an abundant life. I wasn’t filled with the spirit, I was filled with fear.


I’m bothered by this post.  I think it’s a good thing to critique some aspects of evangelical culture, but I don’t feel that he really engaged the culture as a whole.  In fact, I don’t think he learned anything as his title suggests because it seems that he went in with a view and found things to affirm his viewpoint.  Learning suggests that you are going to have a deeper knowledge of things, not to sum up what you already believe.


The thing is, most mainline/progressive Christians tend to have this view of our evangelical sisters and brothers.  We already have our minds made up about these folk and so we look for that which already confirms our biases.  What we fail to do is to take in a wider view, because if we did that, if we read more evangelical thinkers and so on, we might have a more complex view than the strawman we so like to set up and knock down.


Recently, I took to listening to some of the Contemporary Christian Music from the 1980s.  This was part of the soundtrack of my adolescence and early adulthood.  As I heard the songs again, I realized how great some of the songs were.  They weren’t all just “Jesus is my boyfriend” but really talking about faith and the struggles we face everyday.  I might not always agree with the theology, but I did appreciate the honesty and sincerity that I sometimes find lacking in my new home.


There is a lot that’s wrong with evangelical culture.  But the culture that raised me as a young Christian also had a lot of good in it, good things that made me who I am now.  I can be critical, yes and I should be.  But even the most imperfect thing can be used for good, can be used for God’s glory.


Surely my past, as problematic as it was should get more than just a passing sneer.



Filed under: evangelicalism






Thursday, November 29, 2012

Our Hope Is Built on Nothing Less…




The Clockwork Pastor





Our Hope Is Built on Nothing Less…




A few thoughts on the election…


-My candidate for President didn’t win, but the constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in Minnesota was defeated.  Three other states, Maine, Maryland and Washington all voted in favor of legalizing same sex marriage.  Personally, I think it’s a great move forward in gay rights.  That said, I think we need to be mindful of those in our neighborhood and moreso in our pews who faithfully disagree on this issue.  As much as I disagree with him, Rod Dreher’s blog post this morning should be read as how social conservatives feel about the changing climate.  They are fearful of having to give up what they believe is a moral belief.  It behooves those of us who favor same-sex marriage, especially those of us in the church, to reach out to these folks with openess and love and not just dismiss them. I think we have to do this for two reasons: one, because we are Christians and  two, because the most dangerous animal is one that is backed into a corner.


If Rod Dreher’s post is a good read of what social conservatives are feeling, the Tony Jones’ post is probably what a lot of progressive Christians are feeling this morning.  I’m all for calling a spade a spade, but I also think that there are times we need to be the “bigger man” and learn to be gracious in our victory.  How we win is just as important as how we lose.


I also think Jones’ rationale that putting same sex marriage on the ballot was cynical is a bit shortsighted.  I think the legislators and the religious groups that supported the amendment actually believe that gay marriage is wrong.  I don’t think they were trying to divide the electorate, whatever that means.


-Conservative political commentator Matt Lewis is spot on when he says the GOP needs modernization and not moderation.  One the things they need to modernize is their immigration policy.  I don’t think their stance was born of bigotry or racism, but I do think a lot of Latinos saw it that way.  Yes, we need to have tougher enforcement, but we also need to do something with the 12 million people who are in the country illegally.  We can’t send them all back, and we can’t hope they will “self-deport.”  We need to find some way to make them citizens of the United States.  This is one place where evangelical Christians could use their clout and push for a humane immigration policy.


-On Sunday, I preached about the fact that Jesus, not Obama and not Romney, is our Hope.  Christ is the final hope expressed in the closing chapters of Revelation, not a political agenda.  Scot McKnight talks about this in a blog post this morning.  Here’s a sample:


Somewhere overnight or this morning the eschatology of American Christians may become clear. If a Republican wins and the Christian becomes delirious or confident that the Golden Days are about to arrive, that Christian has an eschatology of politics. Or, alternatively, if a Democrat wins and the Christian becomes delirious or confident that the Golden Days are about to arrive, that Christian too has an eschatology of politics. Or, we could turn each around, if a more Democrat oriented Christian becomes depressed and hopeless because a Repub wins, or if a Republican oriented Christian becomes depressed or hopeless because a Dem wins, those Christians are caught in an empire-shaped eschatology of politics…


Where is our hope? To be sure, I hope our country solves its international conflicts and I hope we resolve poverty and dissolve our educational problems and racism. And I hope we can create a better economy. But where does my hope turn when I think of war or poverty or education or racism? Does it focus on my political party? Does it gain its energy from thinking that if we get the right candidate elected our problems will be dissolved? If so, I submit that our eschatology has become empire-shaped, Constantinian, and political. And it doesn’t matter to me if it is a right-wing evangelical wringing her fingers in hope that a Republican wins, or a left-wing progressive wringing her fingers in hope that a Democrat wins. Each has a misguided eschatology…


We are tempted to divide the USA into the good and the bad and to forget that the gospel has folks on both sides of political lines. Even more: we are tempted to think that the winners of the election are those who are blessed by God when the blessing of God is on God’s people. God’s gospel-powered mission creates a new people, the church, where we are to see God’s mission at work. Therein lies our hope.


I think this is something to be aware of, if not repent of.  Christians of all political stripes are always tempted to place God in the seat of earthly power.  We confuse an earthly kingdom with God’s kingdom.  Our hope as Christians doesn’t lie in “Obamacare” or Social Security or tax cuts or defense spending.  It has to lie in the name of the One who has liberated all of creation through his life, death and resurrection.


Finally, blogger Michael Kruse touches on the whole rhetoric of “empire,” and how those Christians who used that term to describe the administration of George W. Bush seem okay with the empire when it provides health care and other social programs and especially when their guy is in office:


As I have watched this election, my mind has gone back just a few years ago to when left-leaning Christians were preaching about America and Empire. As I follow social media, how curious it is to see many of those same Christians who embraced that critique in delirious joy over the inauguration the latest “Emperor.” It confirms much of what I suspected all along. The critique was partisan, not prophetic.


Earlier this year, I blogged about what constitutes being prophetic (you can read the posts here and here).  I still think a lot of what passes for prophetic speech, especially in mainline Protestant churches, is nothing more than a liberal political agenda dressed up in religious garb.  I still would like to know what it means to be prophetic.


What are your thoughts?


Graphic: An image created by Minnesotans United for All Families, the main group working to the defeat the marriage amendment in Minnesota.



Filed under: church, church life, politics Tagged: current-events, human-rights, politics, religion, rod dreher






Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Resurrection and “Skyfall”




The Clockwork Pastor





Resurrection and “Skyfall”




My partner and I love James Bond movies, so of course we went to see the latest film in the franchise, Skyfall, on opening night.  I tend to think it’s going to be one of the better of the Bond flicks and I’ve enjoyed the direction Bond has taken since Daniel Craig took the role in 2006.


I came accross a blog post that talks a little about the theme of resurrection in the movie and how it was so different from that Other resurrection:


If Jesus’ resurrection was both an assurance of his triumph over death and an ushering in of a new movement of shalom, that’s completely countercultural to a pop-art understanding of what it means to have new life after death. The latest James Bond film,Skyfall, is a stark reminder of this. When figures come back from the dead in our contemporary stories, they generally do so to kick butt.


In Skyfall, this is true of both the villain and the hero. At the start of the film, James Bond (Daniel Craig) engages in one of the bravura opening action sequences for which the franchise has become known. A motorcycle chase across rooftops leads to a foot chase atop a speeding train. Perhaps knowing that we’ve seen such exploits before, director Sam Mendes then has Bond commandeer a construction digger that’s being transported on the train and direct the bucket toward the bad guy. It’s a giddy, over-the-top touch that, like much of Skyfall, nods to the franchise’s lighter days.


The chase doesn’t end well for our hero, however. Without giving too much away, I’ll only say that the opening-credits sequence that follows this chase employs a resurrection motif (this being Bond, silhouettes of girls and guns are also part of the striking visual design). Skyfall is set up, then, as the tale of a man arising after being left for dead. (Asked later if he has a hobby, Bond answers: “Resurrection.”) When our hero makes his inevitable reappearance, what is his goal? To find out who was responsible for his (near) killing and bring them to violent justice.


It’s a pretty thoughtful take on the film.  As they say, read the whole thing.



Filed under: movies Tagged: entertainment, james bond film






Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Sunday Sermon: “When You Do This, Remember Me”




The Clockwork Pastor





Sunday Sermon: “When You Do This, Remember Me”



“When You Do This, Remember Me”

John 11:34-42 and Revelation 21:1-6

All Saints Sunday

First Christian Church

Minneapolis, MN


I can remember like it was yesterday.  It was November of 1976 and the election season was winding down.  As the grown ups were getting ready to vote between then Governor Jimmy Carter and President Gerald Ford, my second grade class was also voting.  We wrote our choices on a slip of paper and handed it in to the teacher.  Being seven years old, most of us voted the way our parents did and I was no exception.  I voted for Governor Carter, if you’re interested.


I’ve had a long interest in politics.  There was something fun about arguing certain aspects of this or that policy.  I watched State of the Union addresses and Inaugurations regardless of the party.  There was something fascinating about discovering this crazy thing called democracy.


Being that this is an election year, you’d think that I’d be excited, but this time around, not so much.  Yes there is a lot to think about this year, but for some reason, I’ve grown a bit distant when it comes to politics.  The reason for this is the tone of the various campaigns.  Maybe this has always been the case, but for some reason it seems that people have grown more nasty towards each other.  I’m not talking about the campaigns as much as I am talking about the people themselves.  I’ve been on Facebook enough to see that the tone of the race has grown more heated and less understand of each other.  One Facebook post said something to the effect that if one of his friends was voting for one of the major party candidates, they were no longer friends.  People hurl accusations that this candidate or that candidate is going to bring untold evil upon the earth.  The sad thing is some of this is coming from Christians.  Republican and Democratic followers of Christ hurl insults at the other party, seeing them as the living embodiment of evil.  Hearing all of the invective thrown around has made me feel a little less interested in politics.


Today is All Saints Sunday.  All Saints Day occurs on November 1 and many churches commemorate it on the closest Sunday.  As it does every four years, All Saints Sunday intersects with Election Day.  It reminds us of the double nature we exhibit in our lives, that of being a citizen of a particular country and also being a saint of the Christ’s church.


On All Saints Day we usually remember those who have died in the past year.  While that is very important, that’s not all that this day is about.  You see, the saints are not just those who have died, but it is also all of you.  We are the living saints, a living example of the kingdom of God that is to come.  We are saints not just on Sunday, but we are saints in all of our lives; in our work, in our play and in our politics.


Revelation 21 talks about a future hope, a time when the old heaven and earth are made anew again, when God can fully claim his people free of all the things that have tempted the people of God. Bitterness and division are no more.  God’s people are forgiven and renewed, made new.


John 11 tells the story of Mary and Martha as well as their brother Lazurus, who in the course of the story had died.  Mary and Martha wondered why Jesus had not been there to heal their brother.  They grieve for their fallen brother, for the brokeness of relationships.


This is the world we live in.  We live in a world where there is division and death.  But we also live in a world with a Savior.  Jesus is able to raise Lazurus from the dead, astounding the people and bringing restoration to Mary and Martha.


The raising of Lazurus is a foretaste of Jesus own resurrection and the resurecction of the whole of creation at the end of time.


John 11 and Revelation 21 are held in tension; a case of the now and the not yet.  Revelation tells us what the endpoint is, John 11 talks about now, the brokeness and the tears, but also the hope that points to that future.


In John 11 what see Jesus doing, pointing towards the future, is what the church, this church, is called to be.  Only God can bring about the joyous ending of Revelation, but we can show all of creation a foretaste of the future by living as if the future were already here.


So what does this all have to do with Election Day?  A lot.  If we are saints of the church, harbingers of the future, then we are called to be a bit different than the world around us.  The problem at times, is that we are tempted by the world.  The church has a long history of substituting the political agenda of the society around them for the agenda God has given us, one of healing and reconcilation.


As citizens of the United States, we have a duty to be involved in the managing of the affairs of the nation.  As a nation, we have differing views on how to best govern the nation.  Some might want more government intervension and others might want less. Some believe that we need to more taxes for revenue and to pay for social programs, while some believe taxes should be lowered to spur the economy.  I’m not here to say which one is better.  I’m also not here to say we should not have these various views.  But as saints of God we need to careful to not confuse church and state.  Too often we adopt the ideologies of the wider culture.  The partisan bickering that has become a staple in our society then become mirrored in the life of the church.


But the church is called to be more than just a religious version of the Republican and Democratic parties.  We are called to be a foretaste of the restoration that is to come.  We claim Jesus as our Lord, our Savior, not Mitt Romney or Barack Obama.


Earlier this year, Sharon Watkins, the General Minister and President of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) wrote a letter to the church regarding the differences belief on the issue of homosexuality.  While I’m pretty sure she had an opinion on the issue, she was focused on what unifies us.  She focused on what we Disciples focus on every Sunday- the communion table.  It was a place where people of differing views could come together as one, as children of God.


Some have criticized Watkins for not taking a firmer stand on LGBT rights, to call a spade a spade and push for full justice and inclusion of LGBT persons in the life of the church.  I can understand that, but I believe she was calling us to be the church even as we struggle with this issue.


On election day, by all means go and vote.  That’s important.  But remember saints that our hope is not in a president or a political party, but in Jesus.  Remember that you are the church.  Remember to be the church so the world can see the future hope that lies ahead of us.  Thanks be to God. Amen.



Filed under: politics, sermons Tagged: election day communion






Monday, November 26, 2012

[Shared Post] Scenes from a Christian Bookstore

Dennis posted: "This past weekend, my partner and I went up to Grand Forks, North Dakota for Thanksgiving with his side of the family.  Daniel wanted to stop at the local Christian Bookstore to get a birthday card for his brother and a nephew.  These days, I rarely go "

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Try Walking In My Shoes, Revisted

Back in April, I shared a video that explains what it can be like for someone with autism/aspergers to walk down a street.  I said at the time that the video captured a lot of what I deal with at times, especially the getting distracted by…everything.

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Sunday Sermon: “Keep Calm and Carry On”

“Keep Calm and Carry On”
Mark 13:1-8 and Hebrews 10:11-18
Twenty Fifth Sunday of Pentecost
November 18, 2012
First Christian Church
Minneapolis, MN
I can remember that afternoon very clearly.  It was a rainy Sunday and I was taking a nap after church.  It was then we heard the sirens go on.  We turned on the radio and heard about a funnel cloud being sited not too far from our house.  I peeked through the window to see the trees in the neighborhood being whipped back and forth in the high winds.  I ran back towards the bedroom telling my partner Daniel that we needed to get downstairs right now.  I grabbed my cat Felix and we made our way downstairs.  As we made our way down the stairs, we could hear a mighty whooshing sound and soon thereafter, the power went out.  We stayed downstairs for a while until the storm outside calmed down.  The house was okay, there was no damage, but as we made our way out of the house, we saw the devastation.  Large trees were uprooted, roofs were blown off houses.  Daniel and I, along with the rest of North Minneapolis had just gone through a tornado.

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Saturday, November 17, 2012

[Shared Post] Soul Searching, Republicans and the Mainline Church

Dennis posted: "Being a Republican right now is both frustrating and a bit hopeful.  As someone who has been worried about the direction of the party over the years, there is something hopeful of how Republicans are trying to understand the sweeping victory of the Democ"

[Shared Post] Resurrection and "Skyfall"

Dennis posted: " My partner and I love James Bond movies, so of course we went to see the latest film in the franchise, Skyfall, on opening night.  I tend to think it's going to be one of the better of the Bond flicks and I've enjoyed the direction Bond has taken sin"

Wednesday, November 07, 2012

Our Hope Is Built on Nothing Less...

A few thoughts on the election... -My candidate for President didn't win, but the constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in Minnesota was defeated. Three other states, Maine, Maryland and Washington all voted in favor of legalizing same sex marriage. Personally, I think it's a great move forward in gay rights. That said, I think we need to be mindful of those in our neighborhood and moreso in our pews who faithfully disagree on this issue. As much as I disagree with him, Rod Dreher's blog post this morning should be read as how social conservatives feel about the changing climate. They are fearful of having to give up what they believe is a moral belief. It behooves those of us who favor same-sex marriage, especially those of us in the church, to reach out to these folks with openess and love and not just dismiss them. I think we have to do this for two reasons: one, because we are Christians and two, because the most dangerous animal is one that is backed into a corner.

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Monday, November 05, 2012

[Shared Post] Jesus Christ: Blue or Red?

Dennis posted: "   CNN has a interesting quiz you take to determine what kind of Jesus you prefer. Yeah, I'm serious. Read the article before it, because it speaks volumes about our current world.  Here's part of it: If elections are about choices, so is"

Sunday, November 04, 2012

[Shared Post] Sunday Sermon: "When You Do This, Remember Me"

Dennis posted: ""When You Do This, Remember Me" John 11:34-42 and Revelation 21:1-6 All Saints Sunday First Christian Church Minneapolis, MN I can remember like it was yesterday.  It was November of 1976 and the election season was winding down.  As the grow"