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So I thought I’d throw it out there. This week American Idol did their second-annual Idol Gives Back show where their goal is to raise money to help global poverty / AIDS / etc. To date, they have raised some $80,000,000 with the UK making a $200,000,000 donation in mosquito netting. This year, they ended the night with all the singers singing the now hymn-status song, Shout to the Lord.

My questions are these:

1. Is this ultimately a “good”, possibly Godly, thing (i.e. a secular enterprise helping those in need)?
2. Was what they were doing worship (i.e. the song and doing unto the “least of these” being done to Jesus)

Help me dialogue. These questions intrigue me.

[Update]

Food for thought, here is an interesting contrast (Isaiah 5 between what Israel considered “worship” and what God considered worship:

…They’re busy, busy, busy at worship,
and love studying all about me.
To all appearances they’re a nation of right-living people—
law-abiding, God-honoring.
They ask me, ‘What’s the right thing to do?’
and love having me on their side.
But they also complain,
‘Why do we fast and you don’t look our way?
Why do we humble ourselves and you don’t even notice?’

3-5″Well, here’s why:

“The bottom line on your ‘fast days’ is profit.
You drive your employees much too hard.
You fast, but at the same time you bicker and fight.
You fast, but you swing a mean fist.
The kind of fasting you do
won’t get your prayers off the ground.
Do you think this is the kind of fast day I’m after:
a day to show off humility?
To put on a pious long face
and parade around solemnly in black?
Do you call that fasting,
a fast day that I, God, would like?

6-9″This is the kind of fast day I’m after:
to break the chains of injustice,
get rid of exploitation in the workplace,
free the oppressed,
cancel debts.
What I’m interested in seeing you do is:
sharing your food with the hungry,
inviting the homeless poor into your homes,
putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
being available to your own families.

We all make choices. We all make interpretations. We all are led individually by the Holy Spirit. We all do the best we can with our three-pound brains and our built in, God-given human limitations. We all stake claims on our current understanding of God’s truth as revealed to us by his Holy Spirit through the bible, his creation, and ultimately through his son Jesus. And so tonight, I do so as well and stake my claim on my current understanding of God’s truth.

[In doing so, please realize that this is my human profession. By making it, I am not judging or condemning others who believe or understand God differently—we all see dimly and in part. This is simply a short, non-comprehensive statement of where I have been led and am choosing to stick my flag based on my limited, non-comprehensive human understanding. It is by no means all worked out without any issues with a tidy bow (whose belief/theology ever is?), nor do I believe it ever will be. I believe that when contemplating God, there will always be a substantial element of mystery and faith involved—if not, he would cease to be God, and I human. It is partly because of my human limitations and the mystery of God that my belief will continue to be shaped throughout my life. Currently, this is what I believe. If you don't agree with it, cool . . . that is not an expectation of mine. After all, I really believe that we will all show up with our three-pound brains before God and realize we all fell short, were in error, and misinterpreted his revelations to us to one degree or another, and even then he will show grace.]

If it helps, to understand biblically a bit more where I am coming from, I would highly encourage you to read this Word document referencing scripture before continuing: reconcilation-scriptures.doc

I believe and stand on the mountain of God’s abundant grace and love for all of humanity. That through the blood and sacrifice of Jesus, God’s justice was met and the punishment for all sin was paid in full—canceled. That because of God’s love for his kids and the reconciliation that was made through Jesus, God has forgiven all. That forgiveness is his decision alone to make and it is not dependent on our response. That a person’s belief does not trigger God’s forgiveness, but rather their belief allows them to experience and walk in God’s love and the reality of their God-declared forgiven state. That God is able to extend his love and grace even after a person’s death. That death indeed lost its victory and sting, and God is not hindered one bit by our death in extending his mercy. If God was hindered by our death, then our death would ultimately be more powerful than God. That one day, every knee shall bow (repentance) and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (worship), and on that day God will not say, “That’s great and all, but there’s nothing I can do, my hands are tied. Sorry, you died—you’re too late.” That even then man can still reject him, but I find it awfully hard to imagine them doing so given the God-reality they are now experiencing. That if rejected, God will honor their decision and what happens after that I will let God worry about. That God, in his infinite love, is just wild enough to redeem, reconcile, and restore all things to himself. That in the end, God’s love for his kids wins and we will get to join in and celebrate his victory over death and sin, and embrace our dad. That in the end, mercy indeed triumphs over judgment.

I believe that on this earth, sin still has its deadly and destructive consequences, and that God, out of his love and for the purpose of restoration, disciplines his kids. That those who ‘believe’ on earth get to begin enjoying God’s love and kingdom-life here and now, and have the honor of being God’s kingdom-vessels in both word and deed here on earth . That the good news perhaps is not, “You can be forgiven in Jesus if you believe” (which is good news to be sure), but, “You are forgiven through and by Jesus, do you believe?” That the burden of humanity’s souls is God’s burden. Our job is the declaration of forgiveness, to love God (who first loves us), to love ourselves (because he loves us), and out of God’s love we are to love our fellow brothers and sisters who happen to share the same tiny globe as us, who happen to be created by the same one and only God as us, and who happen to be loved by God as we are. That it is our joy and privilege, as pre-death embracers of God’s love and forgiveness, to love and spread the good news that man is forgiven and loved by a God—their Daddy—who is love. That through love, their image of God, themselves, and others will begin to be restored. That we can join arms and follow Jesus’ example and the Holy Spirit’s leading in bringing God’s Kingdom to earth as it is in heaven. That our highest call is love. It is on the mountain of God’s incomprehensible love and Jesus’ all-encompassing blood that I stand, come what may.

I echo the words of John Bunyan, the author of Pilgrim’s Progress, who said, “I will stay in Jail ’till the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience.” And the spirit of Martin Luther when he said, “Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God.”

And if I error, I will error on the side of God’s grace and love—for all.

“For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.” Col 1:19-22

God seems anything but balanced. At least that is what Jesus seemed to think and teach. I hear this often (or along these lines): “I know God is love, but you can’t sway too far to that side—you have to keep him in balance.” Most of us want a God who is balanced. One who doesn’t stray too far to the side of vengeance or to the side of love. One who finds a nice comfortable spot in the middle and firmly plants himself there, never to be moved. A lot of us want a moderate God, a middle of the road God.

But fortunately for us humans, that God does not exist.

Instead, we have a reckless God. An extreme God. A far-leaning-to-one-side God. Daddy is excessive. He’s wild. He’s unreasonable. He’s unfair. He’s unwarranted. He’s a fanatic who is insane, hell-bent, unbridled, unrestrained, uninhibited, and a borderline lunatic when it comes to loving and forgiving us humans—his kids.

To Jesus, God is a field manager who hired a bunch of workers at different times throughout the day—some working all day and others for only an hour—and paid them all the same! Some complained he was not being fair.

God is a scorned old father who at the mere glimpse of his wayward son (who, by the way, wished his father dead) off in hazy distance, hiked up his robe, ran to him, embraced him and could not stop kissing him; he then killed the best calf, put a ring and robe on him, and partied for days! The respectful older son was jealous, complaining too that the situation was not fair.

God is a shepherd who left 99 sheep in the open field—abandoning them—to go chase one worthless (in our eyes) sheep that ran away! Talk about reckless.

God is a banquet host who, when the invited guests did not show up, went into the streets inviting the outcast, the homeless, the crippled, the sinful, the lepers, the AIDS stricken, the mentally disabled and a whole other mess of his kids who were rejected, to a banquet with the finest food, the best china, the most expensive wine (you get the picture)—for free, with no hope of receiving anything from them in return! A tad excessive.

God is a woman who lost a coin and tore apart her house day and night looking for it, and when she finally found it she threw a party! Fanatic comes to mind.

God is a pearl collector who found a pearl and then sold everything he owned to purchase it! He is also a chum who found a treasure in some field and in turn sold everything as well to buy the field! Sure, they have their pearl and “treasure”, but now they are homeless and on welfare. Picture a friend of yours doing that…lunatic, no?

God is a king who let off the hook a guy who owed him $3,000,000,000—three billion dollars!—free and clear, not owing a thing! Who does this if not someone who is insane? (Yes, I know that the forgiven man then went out and demanded five dollars from a buddy and threw him in jail when he couldn’t pay, and yes, when the king heard of this he called the forgiven man back before him and threw him in jail because he refused to love as the king loves, to forgive as the king forgives).

And on and on Jesus went describing a God who was anything but balanced when it came to love. But he not only described it, he also lived it. He touched the untouchable, talked to the untalkable, forgave the unforgivable, ate and drank with sinners, healed the cursed, and went crazy when it came to love! (He also had some pretty harsh words to say for those who labeled, judged, and condemned all of the above, but I offer that even his harsh words flowed completely out of love for even them!)

So is God balanced? Thankfully not. But what about justice? Listen, since God is way unbalanced towards the side of love (which to him isn’t even a side) then any loving decision he makes is just, because God is the measure of justice, not us. In the end, his love-justice will probably seem terribly unjust to us—even me! Perhaps our “unjust” feelings will be more of a light shed onto our screwed up idea of “justice” than anything else.

Its funny, when it comes to God’s extravagant, unfair love and forgiveness, we freely believe and claim it for ourselves. It is when it applies universally to others, especially all the non-deserving (whoever that is for you), that we get hung up.

I am sure a large majority of us Christians (perhaps myself included) will whine much like my seven year-old son does: “But that’s not fair! I did this and that. I believed this and that. I served you. I…I…I… What did they do? Why do they get the same thing we get? Who are they that they should be called sons of God? Why do you love them? It’s not fair!” (Sounds awfully like a few parables, doesn’t it?)

Perhaps God will respond much like I do when my son enters into his whiny it’s-not-fair-mode, simply and calmly saying . . . “I know.”

Perhaps he’ll add, “Are you envious because I am generous?”

I am so glad that Jesus painted a picture of God who is anything but balanced. I am glad that Daddy is not moderate. That he’s reckless, extreme, far-leaning-to-one-side, excessive, wild, unreasonable, unfair, hell-bent, unbridled, unrestrained, uninhibited, and a borderline lunatic when it comes to loving and forgiving us humans; his kids.

Aren’t you?

May I follow my Daddy’s lead…

“So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists will we be; will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice?”

It happened again.  One of those lines grabbed me, but this time, instead of messing me up, it just drove a blessing straight to my heart.  From the song, “Here is Love”, the line:

 Kissed a Guilty World in Love

I could not stop picturing God reaching for the world –guilty with all the hate and anger and violence towards him– and embracing it, bringing it close to his face and kissing it in love.  Alone, these worlds gripped me in a powerful way as I tried to meditate (which is, ironically, often hard to do in church) on them, but add to them the words that proceed and you get a fuller picture of God’s love:

and heaven’s peace and perfect justice kissed a guilty world in love

May we live what God is about:  Peace; perfect justice; kiss; love…all from heaven, all for a guilty world.  

Shalom.

Confession time. My wife, Jennifer, and I watch the Biggest Loser.

There is something endearing and inspiring about this “reality” show. 18 people share a common obesity problem and the same goal––to loose weight, and lots of it. There is not one person who comes onto the show feeling good about themselves or the choices they have made. They admit they have failed to eat and exercise properly. They are sick and tired of living the way they have been living and are committed to change––together.

It is an intense period of their life where they leave their family, friends, jobs and community. Why? To focus on correcting a lifetime of bad habits and mistakes. This is their sole drive––for a time. Are there other things in their life that are important? Are there other areas that might need fixing? Isn’t there more to life than just loosing weight? Absolutely. But not right now. Now is the time to focus on what is terribly lacking. Now is the time to mend what is unhealthy and killing them. Now is the time to loose weight, get back into shape and begin living again. Now. Not tomorrow; not sometime; but now.

This analogy helps me understand why there seems to be, to some, an unhealthy focus in the emerging church right now on loving others, justice, serving, missional living, etc. Some of us are waking to the realization that we have been terribly unhealthy in the area of loving people; people who are different than us in every regard: race, religion, social class, doctrine. We have a sense of failure. As we begin to listen to those around us, we sense that it’s true…they have not been loved by the church.

And so some of us are saying we need to intensely focus on our love-obesity. We need to take a radical season as followers of Jesus to exercise our atrophied love-muscles. We need to do an obscene amount of hard work to break the habits and lifestyles that have led to our unhealthy condition. We need to intensely read the labels on the spiritual-food we have been given and are eating to see if it is feeding the problem. If so, we need to change what we are eating, regardless how long we have been eating it or who recommended it to us. Our goal for this season is to learn to love again; thus beginning a lifestyle of love. This needs to be our sole drive––for a time. Are there other things that are important? Are there other areas that need fixing? Isn’t there more to the Christian faith besides love? (Some would say no, but for the sake of argument) Absolutely. But not now. Now is the time to mend what is unhealthy and killing us, and others. Now is the time to learn how to love unconditionally––unconditionally––everyone who is our brother and different from us; to get back into shape and begin living, as Christ would have us live, again. Now. Tomorrow will be to late. Sometime may never come. Today is here and the world is waiting to see us loose the pounds and love again.

This is why some in the church are perceived of having an unhealthy fixation on loving others. They come together not feeling very good about themselves or the choices they have made. They admit they have failed to live and love others properly. They are sick and tired of living the way they have been living. Whatever the cost, they are committed to change––together.

May the church of Jesus Christ become, The Biggest Lover (sorry, couldn’t resist). Perhaps then, a watching world will begin to listen to us again about the love of Jesus.

There are some blogs I hate writing––this is one of them. I hate it because I am personally and terribly convicted by the picture it paints. So here it is…

There is a gripping scene from the 90’s Blockbuster, Titanic, that has been used by pastors in churches around the world to illustrate how there are countless souls dying around us; all we need to do is row our “lifeboat-in-Jesus” back to them and save them by pulling them out of the icy water of their sins. In a brief moment of candor, I have to admit I have used this scene to this regard. If you’ve seen the movie, then perhaps you know the scene I am talking about.

The Titanic has sunk, leaving, what looks like, thousands of dead floating bodies in the icy waters of the Atlantic. To-little-to-late, the lifeboats come back trying to save any survivors by calling out and blowing whistles, while clearing dead, frozen bodies bobbing in their path with their oars. It is one of those eerie, quiet, disheartening scenes that etch itself into your mind.

Yet, as scarring as the image of rowboats navigating through dead bodies is, the image I had the other day was distressing––no, disturbing.God has been gently (and not so gently at times) tearing me apart with the dichotomy that I, as a rich-Christian, am enjoying luxury and prosperity while my neighbors of the world are literally dying from many things, but especially poverty, AIDS and malnutrition.

As God gripped me one day while reading, “Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger,” that scene from Titanic came flooding back into my mind. Yet instead of small rowboats of “saviors” it was a Disney Luxury Cruise Liner filled with affluent Christians, like me. We were enjoying an enriching cruise complete with the all-you-can-eat buffets, shows, swimming pools, entertainment, movies, games, spas, deck activities, karaoke, suites, nightclubs, lounges, characters, cuisine and gourmet food in first-class style while our multi-million dollar paradise tilled through millions of blue, floating bodies. Those of us who were on the decks saw the dead and dying all around us. Some of us tossed some loose change or a chicken leg overboard to help appease our conscience and “remove” our guilt. Some of us simply left the deck and retreated back inside to paradise, choosing to ignore and pretend that we did not see or know about those dead and dying all around. Some of us encouraged to captain to speed through the bodies so we could be “done with it”, but when he showed us the radar of the ocean, we saw how futile our suggestion was––the bodies covered the oceans of the world and more were being dumped in every minute.

As I said, there are some blogs I hate writing. There are some images I wish never entered my mind. May we, together, re-learn what it means to be a follower of Jesus in this world as we love and care for our neighbors––yes, even those who do not live in the mighty and prosperous USA. May we follow Jesus’ model as he, “all for loves sake, became poor.” But that is another blog for another time…