Motives Matter: It's time to remember why we do what we do.

I read a post recently . . . Okay, I read the title of a post recently that asked the question, "Are we witnessing the death of American Christianity?" Since I've just read the title, I'll just offer my answer to the question. No. American Christianity died quite a while ago. We're just now beginning to smell the stench of its rotting corpse.

I want to say quickly that this is not an altogether bad, and certainly not an unexpected situation. All forms of Christianity that are defined in terms of their entanglements with a nation-state are destined to die. And, for many, the sooner the better.

The current toxic political climate has certainly turned up the heat on the American church, and on many within that church who have always been more concerned about  being American than they ever were about being Christian. The irony here is that what has resulted from this "blending" of faith and politics is a "spirit" that is neither truly "American" or in any way "Christian." We've come to live in a nation populated by a new kind of "believer" I'm going to call this new "critter" an "Ameristian." 

I've been sickened by some of what is finding its way into the "wind" from "Ameristian" communities and leaders. Calls to "arms" and not-so-subtle cries of "Do unto them before they do unto us," are not expressions of misguided disciples of Jesus. These folks are simply not disciples of Jesus at all.

I've already said what sickens me, now I want to talk about what really concerns me. A lot of good folks, genuine disciples of Jesus, are struggling in the current social and political climate to stand firm and move forward as followers of Christ. Too often what I read from these folks are attempts to support a Christian response to the things that threaten our lives and our life-style by building arguments that have nothing whatsoever to do with the central message of the Gospel. (And by the way, many of these arguments make really good sense.)

• We argue against closing our borders to refugees by citing statistics that show how hard it would be for terrorists to enter our country "that way." (And it would)
• We argue against a spirit of fear and discrimination on the basis of some sort of optimistic pragmatism, believing that if we treat folks who are "different" with dignity they'll be less inclined to wish us, or do us harm. (And they probably would)

But these arguments, despite their value, simply miss the point for the disciple.

Jesus words to his disciples could not be more clear. And in my lifetime I can't recall a time when they've been more of a challenge. Jesus said, "You have enemies. Love them.. Pray for them." (Not "AT" them, or "about" them, and certainly not "AGAINST" them.) And then he "raised the stakes" when he said, "In this way you will show yourselves to be sons and daughters of your heavenly father."

We are not commanded to  love our enemies because it will make us safer in the long run. It might, but it might not. We are not commanded to  love our enemies because it might lead them to salvation. It might, but it might not..

We are commanded to love our enemies for one reason and one reason only. God loves our enemies. And the best way to look like the Father is to love what the Father loves.

Okay, I hear it. I've been hearing it over and over for the past several weeks. "But Gene, some of those people really want to kill us. Someone  needs to do whatever they need to do to keep that from happening."

And I suppose that's right. Someone needs to do something to protect our lives, property, and the piles of stuff we think we need to keep living like we've come to believe we deserve to live. But that "someone" is NOT the church. The Church, the TRUE CHURCH has a different mission and a higher calling. We need to listen more closely to Jesus telling us NOT to fear the one who can ONLY kill our bodies (Luke 12:4-5). We need to listen more closely to Jesus reminding us that HIS kingdom has NEVER been of this world. We need to rethink our motives in these difficult times.

Do we do what we do because it makes sense? Do we do what we do because it is more likely to have a desired outcome? Do we do what we do because someone who has become fluent in the hybridized language of "Ameristianity" tells us that's what we should do?

Friends, it's simpler than that. We need to come back to the place where we only need one reason to do what we do. We do it because Jesus did it. We forgive because Jesus did, We love our neighbor because Jesus did. Welcome the stranger because Jesus did. We love our enemies because Jesus did. We lay down our lives because Jesus did.

And in the end if the Church in America rises once again it will be for the same simple reason; because Jesus did.

The Donkey Matters

I've been working for the past few days on my message for Palm Sunday morning. Two things confuse me about Mark's telling of the day Jesus rode in to Jerusalem. The first is the donkey. Mark's story occupies 14 lines of text. Of those 14 lines, the donkey gets 8, the actual entrance into the city gets 4 and everything else that happens that day gets just two. 

So, why is it "all about that donkey?"

Please don't tell me it's about Jesus' magic "donkey sensing" powers. This is not about omniscience (of which Paul seems to believe Jesus had "emptied himself" at any rate.)  At this point in Mark's story there's no need or room for one more miraculous sign proving Jesus' divinity.  It seems to me it's more likely about the simple fact that Jesus knew people and people knew Jesus. Jesus trusted people and people trusted Jesus. So, when Jesus needed a colt that hadn't been ridden, he knew a guy who had one. And the guy who had one trusted Jesus enough to let him use it. If there's a preaching point here, and there might not be, it would be to simply ask if we're living our lives in such a way that we can borrow someone's donkey when we need one. 

Of course this still doesn't answer the big question. Why does the donkey get more lines in the story than Jesus?

The second thing that confuses me about the Palm Sunday story is why we treat Palm Sunday like it's the beginning of a party.  If we step back and look at the whole week it is anything but a party. Palm Sunday is the first day in a week filled with conflict, conspiracy, denial and betrayal, and it's certainly not going to end well for anyone. 

The church that I grew up in was a wonderful church. Most of the churches I've attended have been wonderful churches. But all those churches had the habit of wanting to jump directly from waving palm branches to looking for colored eggs in the church lawn without even thinking about the week between. Fortunately many of our churches are doing better these days in helping our people walk through the darkness between the shouts of Palm Sunday and the blinding Light of Easter.

But I digress. The point here is to figure out what the Palm Sunday story is really all about.

And it turns out it really is "all about that donkey."

John's gospel doesn't tell us how Jesus found the donkey. John just says he "sat on it." And then John inserts this line from Zechariah 9:9. "“Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion. Look, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!" If you don't "get it," don't fret, neither did the disciples. As it turns out the light of the resurrection makes lots of things more clear.

What's going on here is really pretty simple. There were a couple of ways for a King to enter a city. If he wanted to "kick butt" or make sure the peasants knew he could, he'd come in atop a white horse. If he came into a city at peace with a message of peace he's ride a colt. A colt is not going to threaten anyone. 

Jesus comes in peace. But Jerusalem is not a city at peace. Jerusalem is a city under foreign occupation. And here, it seems to me, is the point of the story, and the reason the donkey matters. 

We live in a nation obsessed by violence. And many who want to call themselves "Christian" share this obsession. We are committed to self protection. We are prepared to, as one Christian recently said in a "facebook" response, “do whatever it takes to defend my standard of living.”  In this context where we think self-defense is a Christian virtue we must not forget that Jesus comes into a kingdom of conflict with a message of peace.  

And for the Christian, Peace is NOT the goal we pursue, it is the way we pursue every goal worth achieving.
 

What we pray for MATTERS

Gene Schandorff 

It seems like every  time there is a high profile sporting event we get involved in the same question, "Does care about sports?" A friend recently posted some stats from the Public Religion Research Institute  that suggest that about half of us think God gets involved at some level in sporting events whether as a "fan," actually influencing the outcome of the contest, (about a quarter of us) or in some less "sovereign" way.

Others, unwilling to suggest that God gives a rip about who wins the game still see God's involvement in the process of competition in some way. During my years as a college chaplain I struggled with this every time I went to a game. We always started our games with prayer. It seemed odd to me then and it seems odd even today. (Perhaps this is a topic for another blog post.)

I've decided that I can't (certainly won't) pray for the safety and success of participants in an athletic event


  Let's think about this. And let's think about it in the light of the event that everybody is talking about today, the Super Bowl. Adult men weighing up to 400 pounds put on protective gear and decide (on their own) to run into others like themselves as hard as they can going as fast as they can as often as they can  and I'm supposed to pray that God keep them safe and healthy. Meanwhile millions of God's children are trying to stay safe and healthy in the midst of war and poverty. 

I can only pray for the "safety" of athletes if I don't believe prayer makes a difference. If I believe "prayer changes things" or even influences things then I cannot spend that prayer-time interceding for athletes who could decrease their chances of injury greatly by simply doing what I do, sitting on the couch and watching someone else play the game.

You pray for what you choose. I'm going to reserve prayers for God's protection for those who are trying to stay safe, and for those seeking to do the King's work. And, by the way, I'll continue to enjoy watching those who have decided to put themselves in harms way for the love of the game.