Tag: Christianity

Wrestling with the middle ground

Rachel Held Evans wrote a great piece this week on abortion and the conflict she’s felt growing up conservative and pro-life and now voting for pro-choice candidates and wrestling with what the Christian response should be.

For a lot of pro-lifers, it seemed, abortion was all about the baby… For a lot of pro-choicers, it seems, abortion is all about the woman… So just as I grew irritated with the pro-life movement for its inconsistency and simplistic solutions, I grew irritated with the pro-choice movement for its callousness and disinterest in discussing the very real ethical concerns surrounding the termination of a pregnancy.

I can identify with so much of what she wrote.

I remember standing in a pro-life protest in high school and having a woman scream out her window at us, “It’s not your choice! It’s not your choice!”

And now I find myself moving away from a solid stance on abortion and wrestling with the middle ground of either sides.

I’m not OK with abortions. I think it’s a horrible thing. But I’m also not OK with pro-life being co-opted into a one issue term. Pro-life should be pro-life at all stages of life. From conception, to birth, to wars, gun control, capital punishment and the last breath we breathe.

I’m also not OK with the attempts to demonize people on either side of the issue.

I shared with a co-worker a few weeks ago that while I don’t want to see any baby aborted, I also realize there are so many issues at play when a woman feels the need to abort a baby. I shared that that’s one reason I appreciate the work of many who are really giving mothers an option – rather than just demonizing those who might choose to have an abortion.

It’s been reported that Mother Teresa was called “Mother” by so many because she truly was their mother. If a girl had an unwanted pregnancy, Mother Teresa would not only bring the mother in as her own but also the unborn baby. She went beyond the talking points and political fight and worked towards a holistic approach.

As followers of Jesus, I hope we can all carry out a more holistic approach in caring for people, rather than simply trying to legislate an evil out of existence*. And I hope that we can work towards more common ground between both sides of the issue rather than staking our claim to the moral high ground.

*Yes I do highly see the irony in that statement as someone who is pro-gun control legislation.

Those impious Galileans

Rome

In the 4th Century, Roman Emperor Julian was bent on returning Rome back to it’s roots and away from the newly appointed Christian faith.

It had been less than 50 years since Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity and made it the official religion of the State and Julian was set to return his country back to it’s roots.

In an effort to drive Christianity out of Rome’s “ruling class,” Julian restored pagan temples which had been confiscated since Constantine’s time, repealed the stipends that Constantine had awarded to Christian bishops, and removed their other privileges, including a right to be consulted on appointments and to act as private courts.

And in February 4, 362, Julian proclaimed a new law guaranteeing freedom of religion across Rome.

The new law proclaimed that all the religions were equal before the State and that the Roman Empire would return to its original ideals of all religions being equally accepted and where the Roman state did not impose any religion on its provinces.

Unfortunately for Julian and despite his best efforts, Christianity continued to flourish (strengthening the argument that the Church grows best when it’s not in the seat of power).

Julian wrote of the Christians:

These impious Galileans not only feed their own poor, but ours also; welcoming them into their agape, they attract them, as children are attracted, with cakes… Whilst the pagan priests neglect the poor, the hated Galileans devote themselves to works of charity and by a display of false compassion have established and given effect to their pernicious errors. See their love-feasts and their tables spread for the indigent. Such practice is common among them and causes a contempt for our gods.

Seeing the affect the Christians had on the Roman citizens, Julian encouraged the pagan priests to start their own charities to care for Rome’s needy.

How generous must the Christians have been for it to lead the government to care more for it’s citizens?

Rob Bell says in Velvet Elvis that Christianity should be good news for everyone. Not just good news that you get to spend eternity in heaven, but good news for the single mom next door, the Athiest down the street, the Muslim at work, the under-resourced in your city – everyone.

The love and generosity that grows out of our faith should have amazing positive impacts on everyone around us.

And obviously in the past – it has.

What would it take for that kind of generosity to take place in our communities of faith?

How would it change your family to see you living out that kind of generosity?

What would your neighbors think? What would it do to your neighborhood? And your city?

“When we truly learn to love, socialism won’t be necessary and capitalism won’t be possible.” – Shane Claiborne

Signs your growing in grace

Photo of community giving grace
Grace was said before the barbeque was served at the Pie Town, New Mexico Fair | Photo from the Library of Congress

I’ve been following @ScottyWardSmith for some time on Twitter now and have enjoyed his thought provoking tweets.

He describes himself as: Pastor for Preaching and Worship at Christ Community Church. Husband, dad, granddad, big sinner with a bigger gospel, fisher of men and fish, photographer

As of the last month or so, he’s begun tweeting a really interesting “series” of tweets that offer “signs you’re growing in grace.”

I don’t remember exactly when Scott started sharing these, but I went back through the archives to Feb. 26th and found a lot of great nuggets – many I had missed the first time around.
Continue reading Signs your growing in grace

In Judas we see our need for community

The Last Supper
The Last Supper | Via Wikicommons

Judas carried with him into that field the burden of not receiving God’s grace because he was removed from the community in which he could hear it. In Judas’ ears there never was placed a word of grace. And let me tell you. …that’s not something the sinner can create for him or herself. – Nadia Bolz-Weber’s sermon on Judas

She continues…

We cannot in our isolation manufacture the beautiful radical grace that flows from the heart of God to God’s broken and blessed humanity. As human beings there are a lot of things that we can create for ourselves. Entertainment, stories, pain, toothpaste. We cannot create the thing that frees us from the bondage of self the thing the frees us from the shackles of sin and death and the guilt of all of it. We cannot create for ourselves the word of God. We must tell it to each other. You cannot as it was said of Judas “turn aside and go to your own place” of meditation or yoga or your own place of resentment and anger or your own place of voluntary simplicity or even prayer and create the proclamation of God’s grace. That’s why we have community. So that we can stand together under the cross and point to the Gospel. And it takes a good sinner to really get the gospel; which Bonhoeffer says is frankly hard for the pious to understand. Because this grace confronts us with the truth saying: You are a sinner, a great, desperate sinner, now come as the sinner you are to a God who loves you. God wants you as you are; God does not want anything from you; a sacrifice, a work. God wants you alone.

Nobody said this to Judas.

How would that early Christian community have been different if Judas had received forgiveness as the rest of them had. Again and again Jesus had said they should preach forgiveness of sins in his name. I mean, it was forgiveness of sin that got Jesus in trouble with the pious folks. He was pretty serious about the whole thing – mentioned it all the time even.

Maybe Judas was destined to betray Jesus. Maybe it all had to go down just like it did. And maybe Judas chose death too soon. Maybe he didn’t avail himself of the means of God’s grace…. But maybe his community never sought him out and offered. Maybe extending the Word of God’s forgiveness to Judas was simply too painful for them. Maybe it was easier for Judas to be the identified problem in the family. Certainly would have been tempting to me. Judas is the traitor…not us. We need a villain so that we don’t have to sit in the awkward and discomforting reality that it is actually all of us. Maybe his community failed him….

Read the entire sermon.

What do you think?

Did the community fail Judas? Or was he simply beyond redemption?

Perhaps the greater question…. Who in your community are you failing?

Listen to Nadia’s story on this week’s episode of the something beautiful podcast.

The New Face of American Christianity

Gabe Lyons, Jon Tyson, Tyler Wigg-Stevenson, Shannon Sedgwick Davis and Nicole Baker Fulgham recently talked with ABC News about the new face of American Christianity.

A great conversation!

I love their posture and their thoughts. No left or right. No young or old. Just people who want to make a real difference in the world in the name of Jesus.

They talk about adoption issues, education, nuclear proliferation, AIDS, poverty, Joseph Kony and more.

The upcoming generation of Christians will not be defined by one or two issues — and I believe we’re interested in looking more outward than inward.

No more us vs. them.

And I firmly believe that the world should be better because followers of him live in it. Everyone should live better lives because they live by Christians.

And that goes beyond just “Christians.”

I hope that you live a better life because you know me — or live by me — or read something I wrote along the way. It’s not an egotistical thing. I just take ownership of this broader idea and hope that I’m making your world better in some form or fashion.

“I’m excited about a church that shows up… and shows up on time… living out tenants of justice and mercy that is thick in the Bible that I believe in — and one that’s daring and courageous and willing to jump off a cliff for it.”

– Shannon Sedgwick Davis

If the video doesn’t show, watch it on ABCNews.com.

(HT to Charles Lee for the video)

Also, if you’d like to find out more about Tyler Wigg-Stevenson, and the great work he’s doing with the Two Futures Project, be sure and check out his recent interview on our podcast.