I want to tell you about two young WCC adults who are worth looking to as role models for how they’re making ORDINARY ATTEMPTS to actively live-out their faith. Both of you have encouraged me to do the same. I know all about Darfur, but can’t say that I’ve done anything. Lois’ passionate response is convicting. And, I’m already looking to see what cycling events I could participate in as fundraisers. Imagine that—something that you enjoy being good for others too! Thanks Mike!
Gordon MacDonald is a pastor, author, chair of World Relief, and editor at large for Leadership Journal. He's emerged as one of the elder statesmen who buck the standard line, skillfully harmonizing the wisdom of the past with the cultural currents of the present in the hopes that the church of the future will be what it should be.Here's another post from Out of Ur that's worth thinking about in regard to a church that "cultivates and blesses the culture, rather than criticizing and cursing it." Click here to read "Three Celebrities and a Funeral."
Bono goes to the White House
With wife Ali in an African Orphanage
Bono & NBC TV News Anchor Brian Williams in Africa
If you've been moved or challenged by this, good. If you want to find-out more about Bono's work, go to The One Campaign. For more information on churches involved in a related campaign go here.
I'll leave you with the lyrics of a U2 song entitled Yahweh (the name God gave to Israel as His personal name. It means "I am who I am" or "I will be who I will be" in Hebrew) that appeared on their last album How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb. I think it captures the heartbeat of our God and a poetic cry prayed for Him to humble us enough to embody it.
Take these shoes
Click clacking down some dead end street
Take these shoes and make them fit
Take this shirt
Polyester white trash made in nowhere
Take this shirt and make it clean, clean
Take this soul
Stranded in some skin and bones
Take this soul and make it sing, sing
Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, Yahweh
Still I’m waiting for the dawn
Take these hands
Teach them how to carry
Take these hands, don’t make a fist, no
Take this mouth
So quick to criticize
Take this mouth,
give it a kiss
Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, Yahweh
Still I’m waiting for the dawn
Still waiting for the dawn
The sun is coming up
The sun is coming up on the ocean
This love is like a drop in the ocean
This love is like a drop in the ocean
Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, Yahweh
Why the dark before the dawn
Take this city
A city should be shining on the hill
Take this city if it be your will
What no man can own,
no man can take
Take this heart
Take this heart
Take this heart
And make it break
I was predisposed to be enthusiastic since I've been a U2 fan ever since 1983's "War" album. More than that, Bono's charitable social work on AIDS, debt relief, and fair trade during the last couple of years has really captured my attention as it has the world's (Bono shared Time Magazine's Persons of the Year Award last year with Bill and Melinda Gates under the heading "Good Samaritans." This link to the cover story is worth visiting and reading.). You might be one of those people quick to label all three as "liberals" or "naively idealistic." Don't. You run the risk of being labeled "reactionary" or even "ignorant." While you may not agree with all of their methods, their mission is laudable from all points on the policital spectrum. As the Time article puts it, "The challenge of 'stupid poverty'--the people who die for want of a $2 pill because they live on $1 a day" speaks of "lives...being treated as if they weren't valuable." Yes, we may always have the poor with us. But that doesn't absolve us from being sensitive and responsive to their plight, nor does it free us from the obligation to try to reduce the breadth and depth of their poverty
While the work itself is noteworthy, what's more significant is the motivation behind it. I became aware of this reading a book entitled Bono In Conversation with Michka Assayas--a long-time friend of the band. The conversations took place between 2001 and 2005 as Bono's nonmusical work was gaining steam. Christian Music Today has an extended series of excerpts here that I'd encourage you to read if you're curious. What was obvious was his deep Christian faith in exchanges like this:
Assayas: I think I am beginning to understand religion because I have started
acting and thinking like a father. What do you make of that?
Bono: Yes, I think that's normal. It's a mind-blowing concept that the God who created the universe might be looking for company, a real relationship with people, but the thing that keeps me on my knees is the difference between Grace and Karma.
Assayas: I haven't heard you talk about that.
Bono: I really believe we've moved out of the realm of Karma into one of Grace.
Assayas: Well, that doesn't make it clearer for me.
Bono: You see, at the center of all religions is the idea of Karma. You know, what you put out comes back to you: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics—in physical laws—every action is met by an equal or an opposite one. It's clear to me that Karma is at the very heart of the universe. I'm absolutely sure of it. And yet, along comes this idea called Grace to upend all that "as you reap, so you will sow" stuff. Grace defies reason and logic. Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I've done a lot of stupid stuff.
Assayas: I'd be interested to hear that.
Bono: That's between me and God. But I'd be in big trouble if Karma was
going to finally be my judge. I'd be in deep s---. It doesn't excuse my
mistakes, but I'm holding out for Grace. I'm holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the Cross, because I know who I am, and I hope I don't have to depend on my own religiosity.
Assayas: The Son of God who takes away the sins of the world. I wish I could believe in that.
Bono: But I love the idea of the Sacrificial Lamb. I love the idea that God says: Look, you cretins, there are certain results to the way we are, to selfishness, and there's a mortality as part of your very sinful nature, and, let's face it, you're not living a very good life, are you? There are consequences to actions. The point of the death of Christ is that Christ took on the sins of the world, so that what we put out did not come back to us, and that our sinful nature does not reap the obvious death. That's the point. It should keep us humbled… . It's not our own good works that get us through the gates of heaven.
Assayas: That's a great idea, no denying it. Such great hope is wonderful, even though it's close to lunacy, in my view. Christ has his rank among the world's great thinkers. But Son of God, isn't that farfetched?
Bono: No, it's not farfetched to me. Look, the secular response to the Christ story always goes like this: he was a great prophet, obviously a very interesting guy, had a lot to say along the lines of other great prophets, be they Elijah, Muhammad, Buddha, or Confucius. But actually Christ doesn't allow you that. He doesn't let you off that hook. Christ says: No. I'm not saying I'm a teacher, don't call me teacher. I'm not saying I'm a prophet. I'm saying: "I'm the Messiah." I'm saying: "I am God incarnate." And people say: No, no, please, just be a prophet. A prophet, we can take. You're a bit eccentric. We've had John the Baptist eating locusts and wild honey, we can handle that. But don't mention the "M" word! Because, you know, we're gonna have to crucify you. And he goes: No, no. I know you're expecting me to come back with an army, and set you free from these creeps, but actually I am the Messiah. At this point, everyone starts staring at their shoes, and says: Oh, my God, he's gonna keep saying this. So what you're left with is: either Christ was who He said He was—the Messiah—or a complete nutcase. I mean, we're talking nutcase on the level of Charles Manson. This man was like some of the people we've been talking about earlier. This man was strapping himself to a bomb, and had "King of the Jews" on his head, and, as they were putting him up on the Cross, was going: OK, martyrdom, here we go. Bring on the pain! I can take it. I'm not joking here. The idea that the entire course of civilization for over half of the globe could have its fate changed and turned upside-down by a nutcase, for me, that's farfetched …
Bono later says it all comes down to how we regard Jesus:
Bono: … [I]f only we could be a bit more like Him, the world would be
transformed. …When I look at the Cross of Christ, what I see up there is all my s--- and everybody else's. So I ask myself a question a lot of people have
asked: Who is this man? And was He who He said He was, or was He just a
religious nut? And there it is, and that's the question. And no one can talk you into it or out of it.
Filmed in the lobby of a Dublin hotel not far from Bono's home, the video was primarily just the two guys sitting in chairs "Barbara Walter's style" talking to each other about their faith lived in the reality of today's world (there was also some great music and concert footage from the Elevation Tour). I should mention that yes, he was wearing the glasses (pink-tinted on this occasion). And, yes, I'd already shaved my head before seeing that he'd done nearly the same. For forty minutes, we all sat and listened to a very compelling personal testimony and a gut-wrenching challenge to love people in the way that Jesus commanded. I'll share some of what he said that hit me in my next post.
Subject: Coup in Thailand - afternoon update
Dear Friends,
Thank you for the overwhelming response and prayers this morning. We really appreciate this show of solidarity. This is the status from our vantage point as of about 2:30pm our time in Thailand.
All is quiet and we're watching the internet news carefully - but even that's controlled by the state.
It *seems* that this is a positive incident and everyone involved is sorry it had to be done in secret and by the military. Notice I didn't use the word force. From what I read this morning a large part of the political / military dance over the night was to control the mass media. Today has been declared a holiday and meetings have been publicly scheduled all day between the new committee and natural leaders in the country. This committee *seems* to be close to the king so there is both great expectations and uncertainty.
The question is what is going to happen in the rural areas where the previous leadership has expended great amounts of (questionably obtained) resources to curry favor with the people.
The high schoolers are full of nervous energy and have already decided to descend on our house. They are not here yet so I'm doing as much work as I can while it's possible. The computers for the Internet Safe House are not here yet but is a safe place and we are actively encouraging them to gather here. There has already been a line for my computer so I'm staying home to make that resource available and to be around when the young people descend.
I've been into town twice to purchase snacks and to see what was happening; shops open, construction work in progress, soldiers on the street corners, rather quiet, life as normal and no lines for food or water. Banks, schools and government offices are closed. Word is that the gas stations have closed; we saw at least one station open but putting traffic cones out.
Keep praying,
Ken & Sharon
"On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. "Sovereign Lord," they said, "you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: " 'Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?" (Acts 4:23-25 NIV)
Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish." Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. 7So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, 'For three years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?'
" 'Sir,' the man replied, 'leave it alone for one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.' "(Lk. 13:1-9 NIV)
"From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe. I long to dwell in your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of your wings. Selah." (Ps. 61:2-4 NIV)
Apparently, I'm having too much fun. Jef Mallet, the Lansing-based cartoonist behind the comic strip Frazz once wrote: "If time flies when you're having fun, it must hit the afterburners when you're not having enough" (Frazz 08.01.05). For those of you who haven't discovered Frazz, it's a bit like one of the greats--Calvin & Hobbes (tied in my mind with the other indisputable classic The Far Side). It's interesting that he wrote this one August 1st of last year.
I was thinking about how much fun I've apparently been having ever since this August 1st when MTV celebrated its 25th anniversary (this guy has some pretty good insight into whether that is a good thing or not). Twenty-five years! I was eleven when that 1981 debut took place. I remember everyone at Southfield Christian talking about it (None of us actually had it, of course! The illicit quality gave it an even greater appeal). I can still remember the astronaught planting the flag on the moon with the guitars ripping through space (they still use it!). I remember the quest to catch THE hot new video (c'mon, be honest. Can anyone say: "Thriller?"). Thinking back through the long list of videos I can remember is a way of marking the moments of my youth (A-ha's Take On Me sketch video, Peter Gabriel's cool stop-motion Sledgehammer video, or Dire Straits Money for Nothing cutting-edge computer graphics masterpiece). Even if you didn't have it, it was something in the background that you were aware of. It was part of the culture that was a reference point.
We're often not aware of the cultural threads around us that weave together the passage of time. We're even less aware of the threads that no longer run through the cultural fabric-threads we still assume others are aware of. One powerful reminder of this is the Mindset List created by Beloit College.
"Each August since 1998, as faculty prepare for the academic year, Beloit College in Wisconsin has released the Beloit College Mindset List. A creation of Beloit’s Keefer Professor of the Humanities Tom McBride and Public Affairs Director Ron Nief, it looks at the cultural touchstones that have shaped the lives of today’s first-year students.
"According to McBride, this year’s entering students form “a generation that has always been ‘connected’ and is used to things happening in ‘real time,’ like live satellite coverage of revolutions and wars, instant messaging and movies on demand. They expect solutions for every problem, from baldness to diseased organs. To the chagrin of teachers and parents, they’ve developed their own generational means of communication."
Tonight's Iraq news was especially grim. By the end of the day, nearly 60 people had been killed. This week (keep in mind it is only Wednesday), 200 Iraqis have died. Two hundred people in three days. It's hard to comprehend living in the middle of that violence. It's hard to not be numb to a number too big to really make real.
On a similiar note, the week began with the sobering comparison that U.S. casualties in the war (2,639) are approaching the same number of people that were killed in the 9/11 attacks (2,752). In addition to the fatalities, 19,773 soldiers have been wounded.
If that's not hard enough, this will be. I started wondering about what the Iraqi body count is as a result of our invasion and the ensuing violence. Iraq Body Count is a organization that collects and maintains a database of incidents in which Iraqis are killed. Each incident has to be corroborated by three different news agencies. The low estimate of Iraqi casualties is 41,041; the high estimate is 45,613.
Do the math: 41,041+2,639=43,680 people have died in this war (at a very conservative minimum). Add another 20,000 U.S. wounded. And, if the proportion of wounded to killed was similar for the Iraqis (nearly 8 people wounded for each person killed), over 328,000 Iraqis would have been injured.
So what's the point of all this grim calculation?
While visiting Bagram Air Force Base (Afghanistan) in March 2002 in General Tommy Franks responded to media questions about U.S. military success by saying: "we don't do body counts." Vietnam taught us a hard lesson that counting the number of dead enemies is not a good measure of success. As a Christian, I think there is some value in "doing body counts." While not a measure of success, it certainly stands as a measure of cost. We value life. We value it consistently--regretting its loss whether by war, abortion, murder, suicide, or accident. Thinking about just how high the cost of this war has been has prompted me to wonder. If I think life is so valuable, what am I doing to protect it? If I think life is so vulnerable, will I be as quick to support a war in the future? If I think life is worth protecting, how many is too many to kill to protect it?
These are questions Christians should be asking and struggling to answer. I am. Are you?
