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I Love the Church More than Texas

(all apologies to Hauerwas)

I might be one of the reasons you don’t like
Texas, if disdaining Texas is one of your besetting sins. Of all of the brash, proud, and emotional apologists for Texana – I am one of the worst. In the den of my house hangs a map of Texas when it was larger than its current size (and included a portion of what is now called Colorado). My birthday is the same as that of my dear state (March 2nd). And no matter where you are from, I am confident that our barbecue is better, our live music is more hip (e.g. we range from Willie Nelson to Spoon), our history is more exciting, and our people are sturdier. And heck yeah, we are bigger than you too! Please don’t bother me with the facts.Read more

Blessed is he who has regard for the poor. Psalm 41:1

 God’s concern for the poor is no footnote in scripture; no mere afterthought. It is a central, pervasive theme. Over 400 verses -- sprinkled throughout every genre of scripture, from the Law to the wisdom literature and the prophets to the Gospels and the epistles -- speak about God’s passion for the needy and His desire that His followers share that passion. One researcher decided to physically cut out, with scissors, every reference in scripture to God’s heart for the poor. He ended up with a very “hole-y” Bible indeed; it was literally shot through with holes! Whenever we are passionate about something, we talk about it often. God, through His Word, speaks frequently about the poor and needy. Undoubtedly, He has “regard for the poor” — and wants us to as well.

 Who are “the poor” that we are to regard? Several different words in Hebrew and Greek are used to describe the poor. Dal, used nearly fifty times in the Old Testament, refers to those who compose the lower class. It describes those who lack the material wealth of the upper classes. Ani refers to the “oppressed poor.” It emphasizes the pain that the socially powerless person experiences when the rich and strong take advantage of him. Ebyon indicates a person in dire want, who is dependent on others. Many times this word is used to describe a righteous person who has suffered loss because of wicked enemies. Ebyon is used often in the Psalms, where such a person cries out to God as his only source of help. Rus speaks of those who are desperately poor and often weak and unprotected. Those described by this word lack both the material necessities of life and suffer from low social status and vulnerability to oppression — they are the ones likely to be treated unfairly in the courts or robbed by the powerful. Rus is used for “poor” in Psalm 35:10, a passage revealing God’s compassionate intervention on behalf of the weak poor (“Who is like you, O Lord? You rescue the poor from those too strong for them, the poor and needy from those who rob them”).

Paint my world with streaming beauty,

Paint my world in many-splendored light,

Paint my world in aching violet blue,

Against a canvas black as night.Read more

For the long holiday weekend this is the 5^th installment in this silliness. Here is the original, #2, #3 and #4. Read more

What Would Jesus Drive ?
Faith and the Shape of Contemporary Life

Not too long ago, a coalition of evangelical Christian leaders received quite a bit of media attention simply by raising the question ‘what would Jesus drive?’. This campaign was intended as a moral challenge to the recent influx of sport utility vehicles on the streets of North America. The fact that this coalition included some fairly conservative and/or typically quietist Christian groups made this contribution stand out among a growing chorus of voices concerned about the environmental impact of rampant petroleum use. As much as this incident represents an encouraging development within the religious community, the form that their question took tells us more about the inherent problems within North American culture than the critique they had intended to put forth.

The fact that we have to ask ‘what would Jesus drive’ already implies the assumption that in a contemporary context, Jesus would drive an automobile. I think a better form of the question would be ‘Would Jesus Drive?’. My point in questioning the question is an attempt to redirect the focus to the broader issue of why we have decided to build our cities and towns since WWII in such a way that every person is required to operate an automobile in order to participate fully in society. I bring Jesus into the discussion because I am convinced that these are the kinds of issues that the Christian community is going to have to wrestle with if it hopes to provide a truly meaningful critique of our current cultural practices.

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What would you say if someone asked you, “So tell me, what iRead more

I was tagged by the Jolly Blogger with the book meme so I am playing ball.

Any CGO Contributors who find this interesting are welcome (yea, verily, encouraged) to answer the four questions yourselves and then tag friends at other blogs to do the same.

1. How many books have I owned?

I’m far too lazy to count, but currently I have approximately 1200 books. Sadly, almost all of these are sociology, history, theology and biblical studies books and very few are literature. But, I am changing and so is the library. Slowly but surely more new purchases include literature.

2. What was the last book you bought?

The most recent purchases included five books in one batch.

I bought Receiving the Day: Christian Practices for Opening the Gift of Time by Dorothy C. Bass because my insane schedule and many over-commitments result from having a flawed perspective of time. Judging from the Ken Myers interview with Bass on Mars Hill Audio, I very much need Bass’ wisdom about time.

When Life and Beliefs Collide by Carolyn Custis James. Carolyn is a new Contributor (as of Monday) to CGO and she is finishing edits for her next book that launches in September. She is a very fresh thinker about women’s issues in the Church, insightful and funny, and a very good writer. Read more

Last night my wife JuRead more

Justin is reporting from southern Sudan, where he is teaching theology to the chaplains of the Sudanese Peoples Liberation Army. The SPLA defends the southern Sudanese from terrorist attacks that are supported by the government of Sudan in the north

It is 9pm on Monday night and we just got done eating dinner. I’m having a blast; being here for a fourth time is a treat. I’m very comfortable with everything and my friends from the camp are all here.  I really enjoy the people here in the camp and around the village.  Being here is inspiring and heartbreaking...usually at the same time.

        Last week, a group of my students from the two previous chaplaincy core classes stopped by the compound and I listened to their stories for an hour.  A word they said over and over again was “reconciliation.”  They told stories about how they served the case of reconciliation between so many conflicts: between tribes, between various civilians, between soldiers, between civilians and soldiers, between.... UGH!...the need for reconciliation is so great here. 

But even more than reconciliation, they talked about comforting those in fear.  And there are plenty of reasons to fear.  The government of Sudan is “officially” working on the peace agreement but behind the scenes they are still funding the terrorist group (the Lord’s Resistance Army) in northern Uganda and southern Sudan. The LRA is alive and active here.  A few weeks ago they killed one of the guards here at the compound. They attacked the village 10 miles south of us last week and killed someone there.  It is weird how short a time it takes to get used to gunfire. I hear at least one shot a night.  So, my former students are dealing with these people who are suffering or living in fear of suffering at the hands of terrorists. Here the terrorists are government funded-- the government of Sudan also funded the janjaweed in Darfur that has received some media attention.

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