I still deeply believe in the Pentecostal view in regard to the Christian faith, because its view of the gifts is to empower believers to be a witness in the world.  I genuinely believe this is the purpose of the empowering Spirit, to be Christ witness.  I’m convinced all the gifts of the Spirit are meant to bring people (body of Christ) closer to Him and outward to others.  The purpose of the gifts is to be agents of change – ushers of the Kingdom of God.  So I think less about the initial physical evidence of tongues as the sign of the Holy Spirit and more of what gifts the mission calls for.

Please understand me.  I have a prayer language and believe it is uniquely from God.  But if I view the language like a walkie-talkie, but never leave home base, then it’s just a two-way radio between me and God.  I view that a little egocentric.  I agree there is much evidence for the initial evidence, but there’s more evidence for suffering.  Maybe we should view the evidence of the Holy Spirit by the amount of suffering one undergoes beginning the day one confessions their faith, because to undergo suffering one would have to be on mission with Christ. And I’m not talking about suffering because you speak in tongues, stump your toe or your guitar string broke.  Biblical suffering: rejected by family, discriminated for faith, unwanted for your commitment to Christ, abandoned because you live so radical that your spouse can’t remain with you.

Just so we’re all clear.  I believe the greater gift is the mission of Christ.  Jesus’ life, message, and prayer (Matt 9.10) was the ushering in of the Kingdom of God (Matt 13.41; Luke 22.30; Rev 1.9; 2 Tim 4.1; Eph 5.5; Rev 11.15).  When we come to faith and obedience we turn to God and become part of this kingdom and its operation. And I desire to be apart of this kingdom. The true power it not in the gifts, but in the kingdom and manifested in the Cross, the Resurrection, and the Ascension, and passed on to all who follow Christ.  We continue the ministry of Jesus as the Church.

This power is not limited to any denomination, institution, buildings, or particular politic but is best understood through imagery such as salt and light (Matt 5.13, 14), concern for the needy (James 1.27, 2.16) and the oppressed (James 5.4-6), the opportunity to influence society, by denouncing unjust laws (Isaiah 10.1, 2) and seeking justice and goodness (Micah 6.8; Amos 5.14, 15).

I’m not denouncing my roots, I’m announcing the kingdom.  I want to be apart of the Kingdom of God that radically changes human personality and life, not just private life.  Through people who recognize its authority and live by its standards, the Kingdom of God invades the stream of history.  That is the kind of kingdom I desire to embrace and participate in and I believe the early Christians agree with me.

Q is a gathering of people committed to learn and educate each other in our role and opportunities to embody the Gospel in public life.  Leaders who attend Q believe that exposure to old and new ideas is the best way to stimulate imagination for ways the Gospel can be expressed within our cultural context.

I believe in this community so much it was the only gathering I attend this year.  It was worth every penny.  April 28-30, 2010, Q will meet in Chicago and this gathering is limited to only 600 attendees to keep it faithful to it’s purpose.  I would encourage everyone leader to attend.

In addition, they have launched a new website at Qideas.org where they give free access to a vast collection of our 18-minute talks (from previous Q gatherings), essays, podcasts and blog articles that will further expose us to important ideas and people advancing the common good in our world.

Last night we watched “The Soloist” (with Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr) a fascinating true story of a mentally ill, homeless man whose talent on the strings inspires an LA journalist.  Although I didn’t find the movie terrific, I kept thinking to myself that every Christians needs to watch this film.  We need to see how Downey Jr wanted to help Foxx in all the wrong ways or how sick our view of poverty and sickness has become. 

The big question that keeps running through my mind is how to heal people.  I mean how do we heal the sick, end poverty (or the poverty at arms reach), and actually do greater deeds than Christ (John 14.12).  This leads me to the issue of money and how churches use our finances.

I see tremendous opportunity for churches to impact our world through our use of finances.  But we first have to develop a biblical approach to finances.  I think it’s important we revisit the right way for money to be given, collected, or made use.  It’s not the point of this blog to squabble over tithing as a valid scriptural principle verse an Old Testament principle.   But what we can all agree is tithing/giving is not meant to support our organizational systems and building support.  That was the view and practice of the teachers of Christ day and one that Jesus did not share (Matt 23.23).

Tithing has a way of fostering a superstitious way of thinking: “If I give God this specific amount, I will have His blessing; if I don’t, then I won’t”.  However, giving is important and commanded by teachers who followed Christ (1 Corinthians).  But tithe thinking limits giving because it misses the real principle we find in Scripture: generosity.  If we follow the teaching of Jesus in Luke 14.33 most of us would give more than a tithe as a regular part of our Jesus-following life.

Imagine with me if we began moving away from limitations in tithing and embraced the realm of generosity.  Imagine the release of finances this would bring?  Also imagine these resources being concentrated into workers (sent ones into hostile environments or entrepreneurs of movements) and to meet the needs of the poor.  Instead of paying a mortgage or supporting staff in Christian welcoming environments, we put that money toward healing.  My point is this:  In the USA alone, over 72 billon dollars goes to religious institutions mostly for clergy salaries and buildings.  With that type of aid ready we wouldn’t have a healthcare debate in America:  Christians could easily volunteer to pay the bill and be responsible for healing in America.

This brings me back to “The Solosit” because the movie ends with Foxx not unchanged medically and mentally ill , but we learn that friendship does more for a person than medicine could.  And we realize that healing begins with love and friendship (Rom13.8).  Maybe I’m naïve to believe but when we can offer Jesus, generosity, and healing friendship without walls why would we want to be slaves to the lender and elevate some Christians above others?  I’m not condemning, I prefer to get the log out of my own eye and determine what I can do.  I simply want to suggest that if we can sustain a movement without buildings and unnecessary staff, and add a new level of generosity, we have tremendous potential. 

Tremendous Potential!

I was stereotyped as a McCain supported because I’m “Christian” and she was pigeonholed as an Obama supported because she is black.  Do you think something is wrong with this picture?

As I read Jeremiah 27 and 28 today I was reminded of God’s view of politics – He decides elections.  Jeremiah 27.5-6 God’s message is “I’m the one who made the earth, man and woman, and all the animals (elephant and donkey) in the world.  I did it on my own without asking anyone’s help and I hand it out to whomever I will.  Here and now I give all these lands over to my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.”

This word from God was shocking to Judah.  They are the people of God and He was handing them over to an unbelieving ruler (I know one day he will be, but not yet)!  Two messages were advocated among the prophets.  One message was from Jeremiah that said, “Harness yourself up to the yoke of the king of Babylon. Serve him and his people. Live a long life!”  The other message was God would break the yoke of the king of Babylon within two years and return what was stolen.  God will reinstate Jehoiachin as king of Judah and return all exiles that were taken off to Babylon. 

Jeremiah’s message was meant to bring hope (Jeremiah 29:11), the other was to tickle the ears of the listener.  Jeremiah’s message was meant to preserve the life and legacy of Judah.  Hananiah’s message was meant to make Judah feel better immediately.

I’m not telling or asking you to vote for anyone.  I’m simply saying VOTE.  Make a decision about national, state, and local officials not based on skin color, age, religion, gender, or national origin.  But vote by listening to your heart and the Spirit.  And guess what – God may lead me to vote for the other candidate because ultimately He decides the election.  Whoever is in the Oval Office Wednesday is who God put there.

Security is defined as the freedom from risk, danger, doubt, anxiety, or fear.  Security is something that gives or assures safety and confidence.  I believe Jesus came to rescue us from anything that offers security including religion, because God is our only source of security.  Why do we search for ways to feel secure?  As a nation, church, party, people we strive for security above all else.   In fact security is illusive, impossible.  We all die.  We all get old. We all get sick. People leave us. People will surprise us. People change us. Nothing is secure.  That’s actually the good news – unless your whole life is about being secure. 

If security is the focus of your “spiritual” life you can’t travel very far or venture too far outside a “religious or morale” circle.  You can’t allow too many conflicting ideas into your mind at one time or they may confuse you, challenge you, or change you.  You can’t open yourself to new experiences, new people, and new ways of doing things that may take you off course.  You don’t know who you are outside planned faith, so you cling to an intended identity.  You become a Christian, Muslim, Jew, you’re a Indian, Egyptian, Italian, American; your heterosexual, homosexual, or you never have sex or at least that is what you say when you identify yourself.  You become apart of an “us” in order to be secure and defend against “them”. You cling to your territory, because it’s your secure place, you must fight anyone who approach it.  You become your religion, cause, party; whatever “it” is that will freeze you, numb you, and protect you from doubt or change.  But all this does is shut down your mind.  In reality it does not make you safer. 

All this striving for security has actually made you more insecure, because now you have to watch out all the time.  There are people not like you, people you now call enemies.  You have places you can not go, faults you can not reflect, and worlds you can no longer inhabit.  So you spend your days fighting things off, defending your territory and becoming more entrenched in your fundamental thinking.  Your days become devoted to protecting yourself – this becomes your mission – that is all you do.  Ideas get shorter and they become sound bits.  There are evil doers and saints, criminals and victims, there are those who if they are not with us are against us.  It gets easier to hurt people because you do not feel what is inside them. 

Real security is not knowing something when you don’t know it.

Real security cannot be bought or arranged or accomplished with bombs. It is deeper. It is a process. It is the acute awareness that we are all utterly interdependent and that one action by one being in one town has consequences everywhere.

Real security is the ability to tolerate mystery, complexity, ambiguity — indeed hungering for these things.

Real security is living on God’s terms, knowing he does not live on ours.

Freedom means that I am not identified as any one group. I’m a follower of Jesus, broader than a Christian; I can visit and find myself in any group.  It does not mean I don’t have values and beliefs – it does mean I’m not hardened around them.  I do not use them as weapons.  In the shared future it will be just that – SHARED.  The end goal will be becoming vulnerable, realizing the place of our connection to one another rather than becoming secure and in control and alone.

 --Eve Ensler's (2005) TED Talk prompted these thoughts.

Sundays growing up meant work, not rest. Every Sunday morning without fail we got up earlier, normally ate cinnamon rolls or cinnamon toast, and made it to church for Sunday school. I hated Sundays as a child because not only did I get up early but I had to wear “Sunday clothes.” Now this was before children’s church so I sat through Sunday school and then the morning message. Okay, so I didn’t sit, I normally slept lying on the pew – but those stained glass windows will forever be engraved in my mind. We normally went to lunch at service with my grandparents and then home for a short nap, because the Sunday night service started at six o’clock sharp. I liked the evening service better because I could wear jeans and play outside unless it was a revival and my mom felt I needed reviving.

I say all this because it wasn’t rest, it was busy. Today my family went to a casual service, afterward Tatum took at nap, and we played in the backyard. I made a homemade Slip n’ Slide in the backyard. And as I lied on my stomach on the wet plastic playing with my daughter I thought – This Is Rest! This is what Sundays were made for and I think I saw Jesus smiling when my daughter giggled.

Summer called it Slip n’ Slide Sunday – I liked to think of it as REST.

As a youth, I remember listening to the complaints of the moral ineptitude of Bill Clinton. How could the man disgrace the oval office? Were the Democrats waging a culture war against all things decent in American society? Was this type of personal misconduct the future of the nation? Eight years ago, we cast our vote in a red sea of frustration hoping that a message would be sent to Washington that change was needed. My family is Reagan Republican who seeks to restore the gleam in the country’s then shady eye.

Like most children, when I reached voting age, my parent’s opinion greatly shaped my view of the world. In 2000, I cast my vote for George W. Bush, believing in the humble, compassionate conservatism that would follow Clinton’s economic success while adding a little ethical decency to Capitol Hill. The rest of my Southern Pentecostal family also leaned to the right.

Six years later and horrified at the current state of both the nation and the world, my family is looking left. The fear that George W. used to win back the presidency has begun to scare us in the opposite direction. Yes, the world is a scary place, but the Republicans have been behind the wheel for the past six years. Why should we stay on a course whose direction is headed over a cliff? Slowly, but steadily, I have begun to cherish the civil rights that our country was built. I believe everyone should be treated equal, eliminating poverty is central, fighting global warming is crucial, health care for everyone is inevitable, and I finally support withdrawing troops from Iraq (I believe that the United States should be a model of democracy and not secret torture).

The fog of the Bush presidency is beginning to lift and as our eyes clear, and the majority of the nation begins to look at the facts, we are slowly beginning to see leaders who tell the truth. I actually favored John Edwards before he suspend his campaign for the Presidency. It’s the first time I felt confident about a Democrat. I know all the reasons why Conservative Christians don’t feel as confident – but none of them make sense to me. I believe marriage is between one man and one woman for a lifetime, however I seek a safer world for gays and lesbians. I support life but desire to see equal legislation for the oppressed as there is for the issue of abortion. The crisis of poverty in America (the world for that matter) is a greater problem. No matter the issue I don’t feel the best approach is laws to ban anyone’s freedom – we become slaves to those laws and as a Christian believer I champion freedom.

So where do I stand? I don’t trust McCain because I don’t desire war and he has left me wanting. Barack Obama feels like a leader. A possible glimmer of hope restored seems to be coming back with the wisdom and reason of leaders like Senator Obama. He stands apart from Senator Clinton, who is currently engaged in a desperate campaign to tarnish Barack Obama as a “roll of the dice” who won’t know what to do when that 3am phone call rings in the White House. Does this fear tactic sound familiar? It should, as it is what our country has been experiencing for almost a decade. Clinton may say that she represents change, but her campaign is proof that she will offer more of the same.

But like many of my friends I don’t know if I can support Barack Obama? The jest of it is I don’t know why? He preaches change – I like change, want change. He shares many of the views of J. Edwards and they could become running mates soon. But I still snub the thought of voting for Obama. I think it’s the message of “Hope”? I believe in hope but not in myself or my government. We have to be careful of this human experiment with government and legislation – it has proven to be a fiasco. Various societies and cultures have tried everything from democracy, republicanism, monarchies, dictatorships, socialism, capitalism, communism, to isolationism-all to no avail. None of these have offered any hope for mankind’s survival. The insufficiency and failure of human civilizations and their “hopes” serve only to highlight the fact that mankind is incapable of perfecting government and solving the plagues that come from our inherited sin nature. Because of our failure as a civilization, we cry out for help; but there is only one source of help that can offer true hope-Jesus Christ. Jesus was born into the world for this very purpose.

So I continue to watch and ask the question – can Obama deliver change? His delivered enough messages of hope and should continue. So I linger in the shadow of the crowds in “hope” of the moment when I believe he can carry out true change.