The End of an Error

See the newly added countdown clock at the right that tells us how many days are left until the end of the disastrous Bush Administration. Look for the "Days to the End of an Error" the Bush Countdown Clock.

Psalm 122

Because of my friends
and my relatives,
I will pray for peace.

Psalm 122:8 (CEV)

Faith, Love, Doing

In a small publication called "Forward Day by Day" published by Forward Movement an agency of the Episcopal Church one of the scripture lessons listed for November 17,2008 was James 2:14-26. I have read this passage before and it is one of my favorite Epistle passages. Verse 24, as it is translated in the "Contemporary English Version" says,"You can now see that we please God by what we do and not only by what we believe." When I read this, or most parts of James, it often brings to mind what Luther said, and wrote in the margin of his Bible. When Luther read a passage that said we are saved by faith he wrote in the margin, "and faith alone". I have heard that Luther disliked the book of James and would not have been upset if it had never been included in the canon. His reasoning was that James seemed to indicate that "good works" were necessary to be saved.

While I am not competant to take Luther back to Worms I think that he fails to make an important connection. He would be familiar with a portionof scripture where Jesus, re-appearing after his earthly death, forgave Peter of the three times Peter had denied Him. In John 21: 15-17 Jesus asks Peter three times, "... do you love me..." and Peter responds each time saying the he does. After the positive responses by Peter Jesus asksk him to do something. "...feed my lambs... take care of my sheep ... Feed my sheep."

Jesus' request of Peter was to do something; to act. Peter had the faith that Luther called for from Jesus' followers. But because of that faith Peter also loved Jesus. Because of that love and faith Jesus could ask Peter to do. So actually there is a connection between faith, love, and doing. Luther was correct, we are saved by faith alone, but if we have faith we have love. And if we love Jesus we will do as he requested of Peter and as He requests of us through our connection to Peter to, "Feed my sheep." And while some may suggest that Jesus was only talking about feeding His sheep spiritually Jesus' earthly life among, and with frequent references to, the poor it seems obvious that Jesus was referring to the physical needs of the poor as well as the spiritual needs.

So there should be no tension between Luther and the letter of James; for to believe is to love, is to serve, is to do.

Iraqi Deaths Due to US Invasion

As often as we talk about the number, and the tragedy, of US military causalities in the Iraq War we seldom consider the number of Iraqi civilian deaths. A counter is posted to the right that will update this number to keep us aware of the suffering that the Bush administration has caused. The counter is provided by the web site just foreign policy at http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/.

"Clash of Characters"

In the Opinion section of the October 5, 2008 Post-Standard Tod Gitlin in an editorial, "Special to the Los Angeles Times",explores why, other than policy we, as individuals,tend to support a particular candidate for president. The author of the article says in the article, and The Post Standard highlights, "The candidates become, in a sense, walking archetypes. To warm to a candidate is to align not just with a person but with a myth, an ideal." The author supports this idea in the body of the article and then, as our English teachers taught us, tells us what he told us; summarizes. The summary is informative and telling. He says, "So that's the clash. McCain, the known quantity, the maverick turned lawman, fiery when called on to fight,an icon of the old known American story of standing tall, holding firm, protecting God's country against the stealthy foe. Obama is the new kid on the block, the immigrant's child, the recruit, fervent but still preternaturally calm, embodying some complicated future that we haven't yet mapped, let alone experienced. He is impure - the walking, talking melting pot in person. In his person, the next America is still taking shape." The italicized words in the above quote were added by me for emphasis, for they embody an important difference in the candidates. McCane exemplifies the old (and I don't mean his chronological age), the past, he is oh so 20th century. Obama , on the other hand, represents the new the future which is, whether we like it or not, the direction we are always moving in. Common wisdom tell us we can't go back, we can't really return home. The past is just that the past and the future is out ahead of us, new, exciting, and the way we have but no choice to go. So that presents us with our choice. We can vote for the candidate equipped to take us into the future, where we are headed anyhow, or we can choose the candidate that looks back and is stuck in and will stick us in the past; a dangerous location to be in. The choice for me is easy and clear; I choose the future; I choose Barack Obama.

New

Check the standings of your favorite NFL team. See the statistics as compiled by SI by clicking on the appropriate widget to the right of the screen. What is really important after all politics or football?

US Babylon?

Our loyalties as divided citizens, of the Kingdom of Heaven and as US citizens, often does / can put us in positions were we have to choose. Choose to follow Jesus and where His morality would tell us to go; or to march as a citizen of the United States which can be in the opposite direction of Jesus. This is the position that the Israelites faced in their exile in Babylon. This dichotomy is seen in the story of Shadrach , Meshach ,and Abednego . (You can read about them and the dilemma that they faced in Daniel 3:1 - 30.)


In The Dangerous Act of Worship by Mark Labberton he says:

"The New Testament sees exile qualities as being descriptive of the church's life as well.

...We are in but not of the world. ... It is here in the world, precisely where Jesus prayed we would be, that we are to live 'worthy of the gospel' and 'work out (our) own salvation' (Philippians 1:27; 2:12). ...

We give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God (Matthew 22:21). Only in humble community do we have some chance of successfully distinguishing one from the other. We are to live as God's "peculiar" people, showing in our daily lives that dual citizenship that is ours. Like Israel, however, we usually fail to do this.

It's no great stretch to suggest that the American church is in exile in its own contemporary Babylon. Whether conservative or liberal, the church mostly looks like the culture around us. We are lost for the most part indistinguishable. We have decided to enjoy our Babylon while nodding to the God we say we worship. The life of the American church provides a type of religious window dressing for our culture. Most mainstream Christians quietly reject the strident tactics of culture war advocated by fundamentalists while also quietly living out the desire to not stand out at all. We just seek our own welfare and call it God's blessing, trying to offend as few people as possible along the way.

While we are highly attuned to avoid a faithful peculiarity that might offend, we also avoid a faithful peculiarity that might redeem. While we run from what might cause cultural or personal offense, we opt for benign acceptance of so many things that grieve our Lord Jesus Christ. The power that defines us is not the power of God we meet and know through worship; it's the social power of being 'normal', accepted, popular, tolerant. We are defined by the economic power of our acumen, our education, our track record, or our capacity to increase the bottom line. We are defined by Babylon, not the cross."

In the book The Dangerous Act of Worship Mark Laberton is making the point that Christians need to live the life that they advocate as they worship. In the process of making that point he accurately describes the condition of many of the Christian churches in the US and the people who sit in the pews of those churches. The cure for that dichotomy is simple; act in a way that mirrors our words. Those acts may be frightening, and stressful but it begs the question: "Are we who we say we are?" I realize that by making these points I put myself "on the spot", even if no one else reads this for God knows what I have said. There is, however, a cure for this problem. Prayer. Pray for courage and direction.