Thinking Out Loud: A Christian's Reflections

Racism is a Sin

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 08:00:00 GMT

Try saying this sentence out loud: "Racism is a sin."

Twenty five years ago I led worship for a local group of pastors in the Nashville area. In my sermon, I described the blatant and subtle ways in which pastors exhibit racism: jokes, stories, standing silent when church members exhibit racism, condoning or supporting racist policies in housing or education or employment. Drawing on the teachings of Jesus, I urged us to admit our racism, repent of it, and begin to school our words and deeds accordingly.

Afterwards, three older pastors took me aside to offer some well-intentioned advice. In summary, they told me I wouldn't get far in ministry if I challenged racism. They defended their racist humor, insisting they meant no harm, declaring it was simply part of culture. One of them said, "Mike, lighten up. Don't take this matter so seriously." Another, paraphrasing advice often given young politicians in that era, said, "Remember. Go along to get along."

They were wrong. Well-intentioned, hard-working, God-loving, interested in my future--but wrong.

Racism sets us in opposition to God. When we indulge in racism, we deny that God is the Creator of all men and women, regardless of their skin color. Racist attitudes, speech and actions lead us to disobey Jesus, who taught that all of us are neighbors to one another and are to treat one another as we would wish to be treated. Racism is a form of hatred, which Jesus forbade to his followers.

Racism is a sin. Let's confess this is so, turn from our racist ways, and begin to learn how to treat one another as creations of God.

Such resolve must find concrete expression. Consider adopting the following personal statement.

"With God's help, I confess the sin of racism. Racism has infected my heart and mind, found its way into my speech and actions, led me to suppress the Christ in me for the sake of fitting in to the culture surrounding me. I ask God's forgiveness.

May God help me change my ways. With God's support, I will never again pass along racist statements of any kind by the words of my mouth, email, text messages, or any other medium. I will not listen to or support those who seek to inflame racism in my school, workplace, family, society or church. I will undertake to develop friendships with people of a race other than my own. I will defend equality before the law for all people. By the time I die, I will learn to love and treat all people as my God-created brothers and sisters.

This is my duty and opportunity as a follower of Jesus. May God grant me courage for the living of such a life."

A New Experience While Early Voting

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 06:00:00 GMT

A strange thing happened while I was standing in line on the first day of "early voting:" civility broke out among us.

I took my place in line. An older white man, a young black woman and an elderly white woman stood just in front of me. Behind me, a middle aged black woman and a twenty-something white man took up station. Before I knew what had happened, conversation broke out.

In my experience, most election line conversations steer away from the election itself. We tend to talk about our families, jobs, the length of the line, sports, anything at all but politics. Something else happened this time. All of my neighbors talked about the election.

In front of me, the white man and black woman exchanged views on the role of government. "Just remember," he said, "A government big enough to take care of all your needs is also big enough to take all you have." He spoke in a quiet voice. She replied, "I suppose so. But I believe government is also the only tool we own that's big enough to look out for our interests against big business."

They went back and forth, even sharing who they intended to support for president. If each followed through on their plans, they would cancel each other's vote.Their conversation was content-filled. They even laughed a bit. From time to time the older white woman entered the conversation, agreeing first with one then the other of her temporary companions.

Behind me, the middle-aged black woman told the young white man why she was going to vote a certain way. She said, "I work hard, I try to save, I take care of people as a nurse. I've got children of my own. I just want to have someone in the White House who understands what it's like to try to make ends meet." The young white man replied, "I'm single. To tell the truth, I've always had everything I need. I'm mostly worried about the war and my future." They went on talking. I don't know if either changed the mind of the other, but I was struck by how carefully they listened to one another.

On cable television and talk radio shows, conversation rarely rises above the level of sound bites and shouting one another down. It's enough to make one weep. Here, though, on the town square of my small city, everyday American citizens modeled civil discourse, the kind of discourse the founders of our nation had in mind. May their tribe increase!

A Call to a Serious Life

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 07:00:00 GMT

Once upon a time (say as late as 1948), the terms "liberal" and "conservative" actually held clearly defined meaning. Conservatives generally regarded change or experimentation via government to be dangerous. They, therefore, sought to slow the pace and scope of change. Liberals for the most part believed the challenges of the time required enormous shifts in the role of government and so pushed for bold action. Nearly all political debates were fueled by this enormous difference in perspective.

Ah, it's enough to make one long for the good old days! Nowadays, it seems both so-called conservatives and liberals favor substantial governmental involvement in private and business life. They often differ over what government should do, but both assume government should work to cast American society in their preferred image. The terms "liberal" and "conservative" have been reduced to adjectives attached to particular issues.

That being the case, I propose we abandon both terms when describing ourselves to one another. Rather than "liberal" versus "conservative," I propose we use the following self-descriptors.

Research versus Soundbite--There is a great divide between those who dig in and do their homework on matters of law, constitutional history, war, peace, public health, and the rest of the great issues of our day and those who tend to make decisions on the basis of sound bites.

Open versus Reflexive--Some of us thrive on options. Others of us prefer to preclude some options from consideration before a discussion begins. Are you intrigued by challenges and ideas, or do you tend to react negatively?

Integrated versus Tribal--We live in a society composed of many ethnic, racial and language groups. Many of us take a tribal approach to the matter, insisting that all other groups either recognize the primacy of our tribe or become members of our tribe. A few even suggest that all other tribes should leave the country! Others seek to integrate the tribes, hoping to enrich the lives of all of us.

My own bias, of course, is clear. I believe we would be better Christians and citizens if we committed ourselves to research, openness and integration. Such an approach would not lead us to the same conclusions on any given issue. It would, however, tend to transform us into serious persons, capable of thinking clearly for ourselves rather than being pushed to and fro by every headline.

The challenges of the 21st century are too great for "liberals" and "conservatives." Serious women and men, provided there are enough of them, may fashion a future worth having for our children, grandchildren and generations yet to come.

Church As Family

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 07:00:00 GMT

What do you think of when you hear the term church?

As a child, I thought of a specific building, a small sanctuary at the intersection of two roads in the heart of my boyhood village. The building even had it's name written on it in large, black letters. No doubt about it--the building was the church. As such, the very building was considered holy space. Everything within it commanded reverence. If you forgot this, someone would remind you!

Later I learned to think of the church as ecclesia, the called out community of Christ. The Apostle Paul provided the concept. I saw the church not as building or an organization but as people God called to himself, both now and in all of history. The church was God's creation. He made, sustained and guided it for his own purposes. When I spoke of the church as "holy," I meant it had been set apart by God, both as the haven of his people and a missionary outpost in the world.

I've known persons with other concepts of church. For example, I remember being suprised by the candor of an older woman. She said to me, "You preachers get plain silly when you talk about church. The rest of us know church is the place you go to make friends and have fun." The church and her bridge club were much the same thing in her mind, only one met in a larger building.

Over the past few decades, I've known quite a few people who like to think of church as God's army. Sometimes they think the army's mission is to capture America for God. Others talk as if the mission is to man the cultural borders against rival ideological armies.

The medieval church often portayed church as the ark, a great ship that would carry it's passengers safely through life and deliver them to heaven.

Obviously, we can create many, even conflicting, images of church. For my money, family may prove the most enduring. The parable of the loving father informs my take on church. God, the father in the story, owns the farm and the house and has all rightful authority. Yet he consistently treats both sons gently, refusing to override their humanity even as he calls them to acknowledge and embrace their kinship and turn the house into a family home.

That's how church feels to me. In church, we come together in the presence of God. We know church belongs to God, and we know God is the parent of us all. To tell the truth, most of us know God's heartfelt desire is that we accept and treat one another as beloved family members. Yet in each local church I know, we often treat one another as rivals. On a bad day, church resembles nothing so much as a children's playground, complete with clashes over toys, sand kicked in someone's eyes, and evolving coalitions squaring off against one another. On such days, the church family acts like the dysfunctional family in the parable.

But that's not the entire story! Each day in the life of the church family, some of us forge new relationships, pray for someone else, go out of our way to minister to another, or celebrate the gifts and work of a fellow Christian. People shell out hard earned money to provide food and shelter to someone down on their luck. Someone kills a fattened calf and throws a party for the rest of us, even those of us who might be considered prodigal.

Church is most nearly like a family, with all the liabilities and benefits, joys and stresses, tragedy and wonder that comes with the territory. We are at our best when we embrace and strengthen the special family we call church.

My "Take" on Jesus

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 07:00:00 GMT

Not too long ago, a friend from another relgious tradition asked me to summarize my "take on Jesus." This is the reply I shared.

Jesus, ideally, is the center of my life. Traditionally, Christians speak of Jesus as "Lord," "Master," "Teacher," "Saviour," and the like. The simplest way I know to capture the essence of all such terms is to picture Jesus as the one around whom I orient myself.

You'll probably ask, "Which Jesus?" My response is the Jesus we find in the canonical gospels (in all his complexity and simplicity), the Jesus of Christian reflection, and the living Jesus I know through the Spirit of God. For me, this is what it means to be a disciple or follower of Jesus.

Of course, while doing so I try to take care not to fall into the trap of thinking I've got Jesus pegged. As Carlyle Marney put it, "I try to follow the light I've been given, and I hope for more light."

God and humanity intersect and become one in Jesus. How? I don't know. But I accept the Incarnation and Resurrection, and when I combine them with the life and teachings and manner of Jesus, I find I stand in the presence of someone far greater than myself (or any other). He knows me, and indeed knows the human condition, not in the abstract but as a full participant. Yet, he knows God in much the same way, as a full participant in the life of God. I, therefore, use language such as "Son of God," "Son of Man," "God-Man," and the like--though, I try to be careful in doing so, since such terms are open to any number of interpretations.

I know Jesus as the one in whom we see what life is supposed to be like, both now and in the new creation. He is the one who knows what it means to love God, others and self as God intends. Self-giving love (agape) finds full expression in his life and death, and through his resurrections is validated as the ultimately unconquerable way of life.

Strangely enough, if I am to engage Jesus with integrity, I must take seriously that he was a first century Jewish man. That's the aggravating aspect to Incarnation--it refuses to allow me to divorce discourse about the divine from the nitty-gritty of human life and history. The first century matters. I believe there is considerable continuity between Jesus the first century person and Jesus the Risen One. In fact, I best trust interpretations of Jesus' intent when they are tied strongly to hs historical context.

Finally, I find I must treat Jesus as a living entity. Resurrection matters, too. This involves more than memories and influence. For me, it is an objective reality. Not that I claim to understand all that means; in fact, such a thing is quite beyond my grasp. But I try to operate as if Jesus is alive, well, at "the right of God," and taking a healthy interest in the world at large and even in me. This is why I may speak of a "living Lord," and Jesus as our "friend."

That's the "take" on Jesus which informs my preaching, teaching, leading and living--that is, on my better days!

The Letters of C. S. Lewis

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 06:00:00 GMT

The letters of C. S. Lewis have been published in three hefty volumes over the past few years. Thanks to my son's generosity, I've been reading the letters as each volume became available.

Any number of matters clamor to be addressed. The letters offer glimpses into Lewis' personal life and spiritual journey, his career, the development of many of his published works, and how he viewed developments in the larger world. His ongoing interaction with various writers, theologians, and scholars provides a model of civil, meaningful conversation. Our generation, given as we are to sound-bites and verbal violence, would do well to learn from Lewis' example.

What strikes me most, though, is how widely and deeply involved Lewis was with others. His correspondents range from the famous to the unknown. He exchanges letters with women, men, teenagers and children. Lewis consistently attempts to take each person's concerns seriously. Given his demanding teaching, writing and family schedules, his commitment to others is astounding.

Lewis often received requests for prayer, and to the best of my knowledge he honored all such requests. He appears to have prayed for many people he never met face to face, not only once but often for months and years. This side of heaven, we can only try to imagine the impact of his prayers.

Frankly, Lewis' example humbles and challenges me. Perhaps it does the same for you. The best result would be for each of us to take on the task of caring and praying more for others. Such a legacy would have pleased Lewis.

How to Be a Christian Man

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 07:00:00 GMT

Over the past decade or so, I've heard a lot of nonsense about what it means to be a Christian man.

One Texan I know argues that a Christian man ought to be taught to use guns and to hunt. I'm not clear on the connection between hunting and knowing God, but he certainly thinks there is one. Others continue to chew on the matter of male versus female dominance in the household, how much emotion a man ought to display in public or before his loved ones, and what jobs are appropriate for men.

It never ends. The other day, while browsing through a local bookstore, I overheard two young men talking. One of them held a book. The other said, "Man, you can't buy that. It's not a man's book."

For what it may be worth, I think a Christian man ought to set his sight on three goals.

Practice personal prayer--Some men will learn to pray public prayers, some will not. Some men will become wonderful prayer partners with their spouses and even children, while others may find it impossible to relax their guard enough. All Christian men, though, can and should embrace the discipline of private prayer. The Apostle Paul, who urges us to pray without ceasing, is our role model.

Look for and seize opportunities to help others--Model yourself on James, who taught that faith without works is dead. He had fairly specific works in mind: feeding the hungry, caring for the weak or helpless, taking in the stranger or the outcast. Very few men in American society do so. We're way too busy with careers, hobbies, and sports. Christian men dare to do things not encouraged by our surrounding culture. If you want to follow Christ well, follow James' lead.

Take time to spend time with Jesus. The Apostle John serves as the role model. He hung on every word of Jesus, stuck close to Jesus, and thought deeply about what he saw and head. As a result, John may well have become the apostle most like Jesus. Christian men are not afraid to spend time with Jesus. Regular public and private worship are important to us. Reading the scriptures, especially the Gospels, is part of our daily life. Thinking about the words and deeds of Jesus, spending time in the presence of the Risen Lord--it's what we do. We do these things that we might grow to be more nearly like Jesus.

If a Christian man will follow these three disciplines, all other things fall into place. Try it for six months (about as long as it takes for a revised diet and moderate exercise to improve your health). Don't be surprised if at the end of the trial period, you look in the mirror and see a Christian man staring back at you.

Banning Gossip

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 06:00:00 GMT

The March 10 edition of Newsweek featured an article about a Chicgo firm that banned gossip. Sam Chapman, CEO of Empower Public Relations, credits the policy with doubling the company's buisness. According to Chapman, the policy has helped employees focus on work and communicate better with one another.

Here's how it works. First, all the employees agree to abide by the policy, no exceptions allowed. Second, "When an employee says something negative behind a co-worker's back, he or she will be required to repeat that gossip to the person's face."

As you can imagine, most employees police themselves better, reducing the amount of casual gossip. Perhaps more importantly, the policy results in people talking to one another rather than about one another. Truth trumps rumor in such an environment, people get to know one another better, trust and respect grow, team develops.

The Apostle Paul would not be surprised. He urged Christians to abandon gossip and instead deal directly with one another. Paul believed his approach strengthened community and witness. He was right.

The habit of gossip is hard to break. Passing along a bit of gossip (or creating it out of nothing but our own imagination) may make us feel powerful or "in the know." Gossip makes it possible for us to attack others without the risk of direct encounter. It always fosters a sense of "us against them," in the process birthing a distorted kind of community. Gossip debases us, both when we do it and when we suffer from it. For all these reasons and more, scripture labels gossip as sin.

Try imiplementing the gossip policy of Empower Public Relations in your own life. Give it a trial run, say for three months. Speak no work of gossip. If you slip up and do so, go to the person you gossiped about and tell them what you have said. My strong hunch is that any of us who take the challenge will find ourselves caught up in a genuine spiritual struggle. The payoff is that we will become better persons, build the Christian community, and enhance our witness to one another and the world.

The New Baptist Covenant: What's Next?

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 08:00:00 GMT

The New Baptist Covenant gathering in Atlanta exceeded all my expectations, and I hope it marks the beginning of a new day for Baptists in North America.

I confess I drove to Atlanta in "observer mode." My inner cynic was alive and well. Something unexpected happened. Starting with the first worship service and continuing until the final benediction, I was swept off my feet, drawn into the experience in a deeply personal way. My cynicism washed away. In it's place, the Spirit of God took hold of my mind and heart. God brought life to my dry bones.

God used several factors to bring this to pass. My heart started to melt when I saw Afro-American, Anglo, Hispanic and Asian Baptist Christians gathered in one place for worship. Great preaching followed, preaching that demanded we take Jesus seriously, especially with regard to his own mission statement as found in Luke 4: 18-19. Jesus occupied center stage throughout the worship services.

Each speaker was a person of power, an acknowledged leader, articulate, capable of moving men and women to action. Yet I sensed each of them, lay and clergy, made a conscious effort to place the interests of Christ before any personal agenda. That's not easy to do. Their actions demonstrated it is possible for Christians of various backgrounds and agendas to worship and serve alongside each other, provided all are willing to treat Jesus as Lord of All.

As I left Atlanta for the long drive home, I pondered what might come next. For what it might be worth, I suggest the following actions be taken.

(1) Plan to meet again, perhaps every two to three years. There is no substitute for spending time together in worship and fellowship. Such gatherings model the possibilities for the Body of Christ.

(2) Create a simple mechanism through which congregations might partner with other congregations across denominational lines to engage in Luke 4 ministries. In fact, title the mechanism: "Luke 4 Ministries." This will keep Luke 4 central to the movement. It will also help congregations and individuals get to know one another and foster the development of meaningful relationships.

(3) Embrace and celebrate our historical diversity. We share one confession: "Jesus is Lord." We share one experience: a personal relationship with Christ, who has saved us by grace through faith. Otherwise, we come from varied traditions with regard to worship, church governance, denominational structures, cultural expectations and the like. Enjoy our differences, but seek unity only in our shared commitment to Jesus and his mission.

The New Baptist Covenant holds the potential to transform the witness and work of Baptists. I am ready to invest myself to help make it so.

Dog Tales

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 06:00:00 GMT

Well over a year ago, my wife and I inherited a black Labrador retriever from our daughter, when she married a fine young man who lived in Fairbanks, Alaska. They married on December 28. According to my daughter, the airlines had a policy against flying animals to Alaska at that time of year--something about it being too cold in the hold. "Don't worry," she told us. "We'll fly the dog to Fairbanks next spring."

Right!

Stella the dog still lives with us. In fact, I'm fairly certain Stella regards our home as her home. Stella worships my wife, loves my son, and accepts me as a poor substitute for either of them when they are away. She now weighs about 65 pounds. During the day she patrols the back yard and naps in her house on our deck. In the evening, she joins us in the den, where she also sleeps the night away.

Stella holds strong opinions on how we should spend our time. For example, she clearly believes my wife ought to spend two or three hours per evening in our back yard, tossing Stella's favorite "fetch it" ball. Frankly, the dog would also like to squeeze in a two mile walk. My roles are simple: feed the dog, rough house with the dog, and sneak an extra bone to her as requested. Occasionally, I serve as her spokesperson, explaining to my spouse Stella's thinkng on any number of subjects.

While we sometimes chafe a bit, both of us love Stella. It's hard not to love a creature that offers you utter devotion and trust.

As it turns out, Stella is good for us. She forces us to move a bit outside ourselves and focus sharply on the needs of another--even if that "other" stands on four feet and wags its tail. Perhaps we'll be able to take what we've learned and apply it in daily life. If so, some of the credit goes to Stella.