Ups & Downs: A Marriage Poem
Posted on | May 10, 2012 | No Comments
I drafted this short poem for a friend who is getting married in June. As someone who has been married for 20+ years, I can safely say that marriage is all about the ups and downs. It’s the staying on that matters. Grace and peace to my friend.
If you look closely enough,
You will surely find a flaw or two
On the surface or the edge
Maybe somewhere in the middle, too.
There is beauty in imperfection,
There is grace in every flaw.
There is hope in every mistake
We make; a see in every saw.
So marriage begins with joy
And the desire for the divine,
For something made for angels,
For gold that’s been refined.
So I’m giving you something imperfect
To remind you of subtle grace
That I hope will always be a present
You share, with one another, for the
Rest of your together days.
Throes
Posted on | April 26, 2012 | No Comments
to renee from j
I probably forget to tell you
like I should that you
are my life and my breath
and apart from your beating
heart i am already undone,
walking with death.
I should tell you
a thousand times a day,
in a thousand different ways
or more that I love you,
adore you, carry you
in my heart–and oh how you
make my heart flutter,
my tongue stutter.
Can I tell you
now that it is you
That starts and stops
my heart? You
Soften my steps, you
soften the blows. You
are grace in the midst
of earthly throes. You
are.
Port
Posted on | April 25, 2012 | No Comments
In the slender hours of the morning,
When the day is reborn,
My heart races to you.
I’m a wave, I’m the foam,
I’m set about this world to roam—
To sail oceans green and blue—
So where I can I find port,
Except in the arms of you?
Colson
Posted on | April 24, 2012 | No Comments
I’m kind of sad that Chuck Colson is dead. I’m even sadder that his life is now the subject of blog posts. I’m saddest that I am contributing to that onslaught of stupidity we call the blogosphere (as if we are really contributing anything useful to the annals of literary history.) So I’ll stop and note that for all intents and purposes I am in no way writing this blog post about Chuck Colson. I’m writing about the church. Frankly, I’m a bit perturbed by some of the folks who are now feeling they have been called by our Lord to point out that Mr Colson, now deceased, has left behind a ‘mixed legacy.’
What kind of insipid nonsense is that? We are all, every single one of us, leaving behind mixed legacies.
So against my better judgment, I read a post about Colson’s so-called ‘mixed legacy’ from one of the more insipid blogs available, ‘the blog that shall not be named’ (but hyperlinked to nonetheless). While perusing the screed, frequently blinking to make certain I wasn’t going blind (you know those old wives tales about reading filthy literature), I came across this self-righteous, triumphant, nail in Colson’s legacy coffin:
Until Tim Challies* offered this balanced post, it seemed as though the Christian community had altogether forgotten about Colson’s detrimental contributions to the Body of Christ.
First of all, Challies did not offer anything remotely close to ‘balanced’ unless by balanced you mean something like ‘Challies didn’t offer a balanced commentary on Chuck Colson’s death at all.’ But that is beside the point. Still, thank you Tim Challies for unbalancing the scale and reminding us that our sin, does indeed, outweigh the might and efficacious nature of God’s grace. That was your point right?
The real point is that the author of the above quoted rant brilliantly stated that Mr Colson made ‘detrimental contributions to the Body of Christ.’ My brilliant response? Duh.
Here’s a newsflash: All of us, every single one of us, make, have made, and will continue to make ‘detrimental contributions to the body of Christ.’ Yet the apostle claims that where sin is present, grace abounds (except for some bloggers).
All I’m saying is that the fact that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God–even, if not especially, those in the church–does not negate, nor cheapen, nor weaken, the power of the grace of God. In fact, it enhances and proves its worth. These sycophantic jack-wagons and their holier than thou ‘contributions’ to the ‘body of Christ’ are proof positive that we are in great need of God’s grace. I really wish people could live and die without someone fishing for blog hits by reminding the rest of us about their detrimental contributions to the body of Christ.
Seriously. Our very presence in the body of Christ is a detrimental contribution. That’s why we are saved by grace. That’s why we will always be saved by grace. And, to be sure, the wonder is that God allows us to die one at a time instead of wiping out the whole lot of us for being such a blight and detriment to the church. So please, all you mindless phonies, please, for the love all that his right and good, please spare us your commentary on the legacy of Chuck Colson. He demonstrates, more than anyone, our present, palliative, and persistent need of God’s grace.
*I know that some out there think that Tim Challies has done the church a great service by reminding us of ‘the other side of Chuck Colson.’ But I want to stand as one who believes that Challies is utterly in error on this. There is not a single redeeming phoneme in his screed. And whether we agree or disagree about Colson and his ‘legacy’ is not the point. The point is that when a person dies, our opinion of their ‘legacy’ is moot. The only thing that matters, then, is the opinion and grace of God. I think Challies should have left it at that. There was plenty of time while Colson was alive to criticize his ‘detrimental contributions to the body of Christ.’ To do so after he has died is, in my opinion, chicken crap.
Kingdom
Posted on | April 12, 2012 | No Comments
There’s a lot of war going on in this world. There’s always someone blowing up someone or something; someone always killing some other person or people or dog. I just don’t get it most of the time. The rest of the time, I do not even have the courage to think about it long enough to try and get it.
Where can we go in this world where we are safe from unmitigated violence, hatred, and bloodshed?
Why is there so much hate? I mean we all live in this world, we all have to share this limited space, and we are all made from the same dirt and dust. No one is any better than anyone else and yet, strangely, we continue to kill.
I confess I have grown weary of it. Old war movies are no longer fun to watch. I do not watch television because there are only two subjects: war (violence) and sex. Why is there so much hatred that leads to death? Why has death become a mainstay in the entertainment world?
If you are a killer, why do you kill? If you are a warmonger, why do you war? If you are full of hatred, why do you hate?
And I wonder why I don’t hear more sermons being preached that ask these questions, why I don’t hear more sermons denouncing the way of violence in order that peace and love may prevail? Jesus says to the church: Abandon your way of doing things. Abandon your american way of getting things done. Jesus says: church do not trust your democratic process as the means by which peace might prevail on this earth. Church do not use the methods of this world to bring about something so desired by the kings of this place.
The satan [has] taken up residence in [the church], not merely in [Washington, D.C.], and [is] seeking to pervert the chosen people and the holy place into becoming a parody of themselves, a pseudo-chosen people intent on defeating the world with the world’s methods, a pseudo-holy place seeking to defend itself against the world rather than to be the city set on a hill, shining its light on the world….[Jesus] would act on behalf of, and in place of, the [Church] that was failing to be what she was called to be. He would be himself the light of the world. He would be the salt of the earth. He would be set on a hill, unable to be hidden. (Jesus and the Victory of God, NT Wright, 608-609)
This goes for conservatives and liberals in the church–sad to say such labels exist in the church. The church needs to stop trying to accomplish the kingdom by using the methods of the world. But I fear the church is far too enamored with violence to back off now. The church is far to willing to trample the poor and the weak in order to accomplish some great democratic task at the polls this November.
Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be handed over to the saints, the people of the Most High. (Daniel 7:27)
Did you see that ‘handed over’? I guess that means we do not have to fight for it as it will be given–as a gift, wrapped up with shiny paper and a bow. The church needs to abandon the methods of the world. The church needs to denounce the way of violence. The church needs to prophesy against the rulers and oppressors who would usurp the throne of Messiah. The church needs to rise up, shine its light into dark places, expose those who subjugate, through violence and threat and fear of death, the peace, joy, and love that are God’s alone–but which he wishes so terribly to share with us.
And the church, to be sure, needs to stop its attempt to usurp the throne of Messiah through its never ending, unabashed, hand-holding with the rulers and powers and authorities of this world. Church: the government, no matter how many tax breaks are encoded in its sacred documents, is not your friend. Stop holding hands with the satan. We belong to another kingdom, we are not of this world. We are strangers, sojourners, pilgrims. We are waiting for a city not built by human hands.
The church needs to stop applauding the destruction of life–all life–the young, the old, the innocent, the guilty.
Tags: church > Daniel 7 > government > Jesus and the Victory of God > kingdom > NT Wright > preaching > satan > violence
Prophecy
Posted on | April 10, 2012 | 2 Comments
Today I began this journey that I know I must make. I cannot say I am unhappy about making it, but I am a bit nervous about it and there but by the grace of God go I.
For some reason I was pestered by the Spirit of Jesus to read the book of Amos. I wasn’t sure exactly why until I started reading it. I read four chapters this morning and here’s what I noticed: Amos is a book about judgment. It appears to me that out of the nine full chapters there are about 5 verses that are actually what we might call hopeful. In Amos, everyone is under judgment from God of one sort or another.
What is interesting to me, however, is that if God issues out judgment to the nations (which he does in chapters 1 and 2:1-3), he issues outright condemnation and destruction warnings to the people of Israel. I mean to say: most of the judgments, the harshest sorts of judgements and warnings of impending destruction, are reserved, ironically, for the people of God.
What does this mean? What does this mean especially for the church several hundreds of years removed from the prophet Amos, post-resurrection of Jesus, and supposedly enjoying many find blessings and riches from the Lord? I mean who can argue with the fact that the church, especially and at least, in America, is doing very, very well? To the churches who are housed in multi-million dollars mansions, what does the Lord say: “I will tear down the winter house along with the summer house; the houses adorned with ivory will be destroyed and the mansions will be demolished, says the Lord” (Amos 3:15).
This was not spoken to the enemies of God, but to the very ones chosen (Amos 3:2) by God to be his light to the world.
So when churches build multi-millions dollars buildings, are they not reflecting the same character as that which God announced through Amos that he was judging? Are churches somehow or other neglecting God’s word, ‘trampling the poor underfoot’ (2:6-8), and utterly blaspheming the name of God (4:4-5)? Look, simply put, these words of Amos must most certainly have some meaning to the church or else they have no meaning to anyone. But I know how we are here in America. I know the church is far too consumed with a love of buildings and budgets and programs for everyone under the sun and that we justify those building programs as ‘the blessing of a righteous god who has given us all such blessings.’
But I say: if there is a poor person remaining, those buildings are a sin and an affront to God who does not dwell in buildings made by human hands.
I might have more to say about this as I continue into Amos, but for now I am content to note that many Christians have made it their objective in life to do little more than discern the who is ‘in’ and who is ‘out.’ It’s their spiritual gift. Meanwhile, as I read through Amos, I am finding that God speaks more words of judgement on the people of God than he does on those who are not. Strange, that.
Have we listened?
Tags: Amos > building programs > church > church buildings > Jesus > judgment > poor > prophecy
Thinking
Posted on | April 1, 2012 | No Comments
I’ve been thinking about the church again. It seems that the church is always on my mind–not like I have found myself frequenting the doors of the church much lately. Maybe that’s why it is so much on my mind. Here are a couple of things that have been running through my mind as of late.
First, what if Jesus really meant what he said and the church really is to be a light to the world? I know that there is a part of the church that believes this in some manner or other. We sing songs about it like ‘this little light of mine’ and all that. If we are the light of the world, and we probably are, I wonder how we are doing? Is the world a brighter place because of the church? Does the world know more about Jesus because of the church (or does the world, sadly, know more about the church?) I wonder if Jesus approves of our catchy phrases, Republican politics, ginormous buildings, and massively inflated budgets? I wonder if the construction of multi millions dollars buildings is the best way to be salt and light in this world?
Second, what if Jesus doesn’t really approve of all those catchy, well harmonized songs we sing on Sundays that have absolutely nothing to do with the reasons he walked up this earth for a few years? I’m just saying it’s something to think about as church folks. I mean the songs are nice and all, but do they really get at the heart of ‘Jesus the King’? (Every time I think about this subject, the lyric ‘like a rose, trampled to the ground’ runs through my mind.)
Third, I wonder what Jesus thinks of all the things that divide his church? I heard the phrase, “unity does not necessarily mean uniformity.” I think that is a helpful phrase, but seriously some of the stuff that causes us division in the church is mind-numbingly banal. I’m not going to list the stuff that I have seen divide churches, but having been on both sides of the pulpit, I can say it is pretty scary stuff.
Fourth, I’ve been thinking about our massively inflated christian egos. I’ve been thinking about how Christians think that we somehow have rights and that we have citizenship and that we ‘matter’ and all that. I wonder what happened to the idea that the first will be last and the last will be first, that the greatest among us will be the servant of all. There’s just not too many sermons about stuff like that.
It could be that Jesus really meant some of that stuff. It could be I’m not much better than most. Frankly, I think too much and most of my thoughts tend to revolve around myself. I’m a large part of the problem, I know. Perhaps I should just quit thinking so much.
Staying
Posted on | March 22, 2012 | No Comments
Forward: Bono once wrote a song called The Wanderer. He didn’t sing it on the record because he thought it would sound pretentious if he did. Instead, he had Johnny Cash sing it. No pretense there. I don’t have Johnny Cash to write this post and remove all the pretense. Forgive me, please, in advance, if this sounds pretentious.
I do not know Rachel Held Evans except through a blog I write for and some friends that I hang around with in the digital world. I do want you understand, however, that I am not writing this as a personal attack on Ms. Evans. Maybe it is unsolicited advice. Maybe it’s a parable. Maybe I’m just thinking aloud. That said, I am going to write.
I am sure that Ms Evans has had a difficult experience in the church (with a little ‘c’). I can tell after reading her post 15 Reasons I Left the Church. She cites a few others who have also written about their own reasons for leaving the church including someone who wrote an entire book about why people 18-29 have left the church. 18-29 is a tough age for anyone, but I suppose it is especially so for church folk who are looking for just the right place to call church-home. (It seriously does not require a book to expound the reasons why.)
I do not for a minute doubt the sincerity of Ms Evans’ post, but I confess it is a terribly depressing lot of reasons she gives for rejecting the local body of believers. She wrote, with what I presume to be as much angst as a 30-something can muster up, the following:
I left the church when I was twenty-seven. I am now thirty, and after trying unsuccessfully to start a house church, my husband and I are struggling to find a faith community in which we feel we belong.
There’s a lot of first person pronouns in that explanation.
As I am now 41, not so far removed from 30-something angst, allow me to say: Good luck!
I’d like to tell a story. Nearly 3 solid years ago, I was unceremoniously removed from the congregation I had loved and served for nearly 10 years. I was finishing a week of church camp with my beloved Junior High students from several area churches. It was Friday night, parents were picking up children, I was waiting on everyone to leave so that I, too, could go home and prepare for the sermon I was to preach two days later. It was in the midst of all this that I received a call from, not one of the elders nor one of the deacons, but from one of the church trustees–a man whom I baptized into the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He informed me that I needed to be at a meeting the following day.
At the meeting the next day, I was given an ultimatum: stay and we will fire you, give you two weeks’ salary; leave and we will give you six weeks’ salary. Ah, congregations know the way to a preacher’s heart. Of course I took the money. I have regretted it every day since July 12, 2009.
After the meeting, that same trustee informed me: “It’s nothing personal.” Seriously.
Making the matter more compelling is that less than a year before all this happened in July 2009, my wife and I, after 17.5 years of marriage, and 10 years with the same congregation, bought our first house. That six week’s worth of salary was not going to go far. Ah, churches, blessing upon blessing. (I will spare the details of what this episode did for the faith of my sons and my wife.)
Don’t get me wrong. Of the 15 reasons that Ms Evans gives in her post, I actually believe that six of them are solid complaints–serious problems that need to be addressed in the american version of the church, complaints that I, too, would have no problem echoing. Not least among them is her complaint about churches being involved in the politics of the world. I cannot tell you how sick to death I am of hearing preachers and christians staking the course of the christian faith upon the outcome of some god forsaken election. It makes me think that most christians put more faith in the election of conservative politicians than they do in the Lord Jesus. We christians place so much faith in the democratic way of electing leaders that Jesus could no longer say to Pilate, “You would have no power if not given to you from above.”
Pshaw!
OK, I’m off track…my point is that churches, in general, are full of nasty people. I have met them up close and personal–I can give you names, addresses, birthdays–the church is full of ugly things, ugly thoughts, ugly words, and ugly sinners. It’s a nightmare and when a preacher calls them on the fact that it has been so for the better part of their 40 year existence, he is summarily dismissed without so much as a farewell tea or carry-in dinner.
That is, churches are full of people like me. I know that.
For all the bitterness I have masticated the past three years, I also know that for the better part of 10 years I loved and was loved (at least by most). I don’t think we should fly by Ms Evans reason #10 too quickly.
Oh, there was this one time, when I was still in college, that I was filling the pulpit in a church somewhere in the Northwestern part of the state of Ohio. It took probably 4 hours to get there from Lansing, MI, and when I was done preaching, I was given a whopping $30 honorarium. Another time while doing pulpit supply in a church near Detroit, my wife accidentally sat in some old woman’s pew seat. You would have thought we killed her kittens and burned them before her eyes while feeding live bunnies to wolves. I’m serious. In my first church after college, I served for about a year and a half before the church decided that the money given to them by the atheist next door neighbor was more important than hearing the truth on Sundays.
And since I am on the preacher side of things, I could tell you about the ministries of several other preacher friends who have suffered the same or worse at the hands of power hungry elders (or their wives), tool-like trustees, or unhappy people who simply enjoyed eating preachers and their families for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and second dinner.You think it’s tough being a parishioner? Trying being a preacher. Try listening to the reasons why church members leave churches.
Yet I still belong to the church (with a little c). The church we worship with is anything but perfect. The people are sometimes as unfriendly to me as I am to them. Sometimes there is an air of conservative politics pervading the worship and overwhelming the presence of the Spirit. And worst of all, the pastor is a man! (Gasp!) I hold fast to the thought that american christians really have no clue how to define suffering. But, for all my complaints, I believe Jesus is among those people. I can tell because while they were losing their building to the Episcopal church, they were giving themselves away in ministry to local people. They could have took; instead they gave.
What I have learned is that no church is perfect and that, really, it takes faith to belong to the church with a little ‘c.’ It takes a lot of humility–something I confess I lack. It takes a lot of courage–especially when that church doesn’t always line up with your theological or political or biological expectations. It takes a lot of love–especially for gossipy old ladies whose favorite pastime is running down the preacher while getting their hair done and gossipy old men who do the same at McDonalds over coffee. It takes a lot of grace–after all, Jesus showed us that same grace when he welcomed us into his church, the church of which he is the charter member and the head. It’s not just that Jesus has something to do with the church, it’s that Jesus has never left the church. All these years. All that sin. All this ugliness. All the politics and compromise with the culture. Jesus is still here. With us. With the church.
Sometimes I think God allows the church to be as imperfect as it is precisely because there are people like me who have so many problems with the church, who have been mercilessly crushed time and time again by the church, who have been spoon fed to the devils and sifted in the wind, people like me who need to be humbled, and taught what grace really is. In other words, old ladies will always be old ladies, and never mothers, until I humble myself, forgive them, and love them as Jesus has loved me.
I’m not saying church is perfect. I’m not saying there are never reasons to leave the church. I’m not saying I have it all figured out all the time. I’m not saying I haven’t been the reason other people have left the church. I’m certainly not saying that I am any better than Ms Evans; our lists are just different. I’m just saying that I am still there and that is so for one reason: Jesus is still there.
And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone ‘like a son of man…’ (Revelation 1:12-13a).
Tags: church > forgiveness > grace > Jesus > Leaving Church > love > Rachel Held Evans > Revelation 1 > staying at church
Voting
Posted on | March 21, 2012 | 3 Comments
I can still remember the day, back in 1988, when I was encouraged–along with my entire Senior government class–to register for the vote. There was an election that year. It was George H. W. Bush (R) versus Michael Dukakis (D). Our government teacher, Miss Lynch (and I have great respect for her, so this is not to disparage her in any way), helped us to get registered so we could vote in the primary. I was certain I would be voting Democrat. If I recall correctly, Jesse Jackson was also a Democrat primary candidate. I was loud enough in class to assure our teacher that I would vote for Jackson in the primary. I don’t remember if I voted in that primary or not (I graduated when I was 17 and I just do not remember.)
Several months later, there would be a presidential election. I was at Parris Island South Carolina, completing my training as a recruit in the USMC. I was one of two recruits during basic training who received absentee ballots. I recall very the very distinct and piercing voice of SSgt Aronhalt telling us, “If you still want to be allowed to carry a gun, you better vote for Bush.” I voted for Dukakis. Probably just to spite SSgt.
Here I am now, twenty some years later, and it is time for another presidential election. This past Sunday I was at worship. We were invited, as we are every Sunday, and as we are commanded in Scripture, to pray for our nation’s leaders. Someone prayed something to the effect of, “Lord, please send us the right candidates.” It struck a raw nerve with me. It’s one thing to pray for leaders, generically; it is quite something else to pray for the ‘right candidates.’ I gnashed my teeth. I have no right to feel that way about someone else’s prayer to God. But I did, and I do. Four days later, that prayer is still bothering me.
I grew up idolizing my grandfather. He had strong political ideas that mostly revolved around Democrat politics. He was a politician and perhaps could have done more with his political ambitions had he not also had ideas that mostly revolved around Miller beer. I knew, from a very early age, that Democrat was the only way that I would ever vote. Die-Hard Democrat: “Democrats stand for the working people; Republicans for the Rich” was the story he told me. With wide, saucer-like eyes, I listened in awe. Of course I voted for Dukakis–as much out of respect for my grandfather as to spite Ssgt Senior Drill Instructor Aronhalt.
I never missed an election cycle–local, state, federal for twenty years. Ever since Miss Lynch encouraged us to register. Voting was my right, responsibility, and privilege. People had ‘died so that I could vote’ or ‘voting freely is what makes America great and unique’ are the mantras I grew up listening to in classrooms and around cans of beer.
Here I am twenty years later and I just do not care any more. My conviction is born out of a heart that has come to the conclusion that it simply does not matter what I do inside that small curtained room. It’s like there’s a giant floating head hovering above us, clothed with smoke and fire, shouting to the candidates, “Don’t pay any attention to that man behind the curtain.” Word. That’s how I feel every time I go to the church building where the polling stations are set up. Ironic, I know, but true nonetheless.
Frankly, I think my conviction is born mostly out of my faith. On the one hand, I have no faith in the ‘system’ (I wish I never had any to begin with, but that’s another story) any longer–I’m not so young and naive any longer; my grandfather is dead; I haven’t seen SSgt Aronhalt since November 9, 1988; and Miss Lynch can no longer issue me a detention slip. On the other hand, my faith compels me to neglect the handing of power to the power brokers, power mongers, power feeders, power graspers, power (insert favorite verb) of this world. Since voting no longer matters, and since I no longer care, I’m not doing it again this year. Not one of those people running for office speaks for me, represents my view, or hopes to accomplish things in the way they should be accomplished. All they can do is throw more money at problems. They do not have in mind the Kingdom of God; they have in mind power: “The rulers of the Gentiles lord it over their subjects.” Indeed.
In every way imaginable, in every conceivable way, government is the antithesis of the Kingdom of God whose King Jesus is.
My conviction is that I will live with those who are chosen to lead, but I will have no part whatsoever in pushing them into power. I will not live in fear of those whose political opinions are diametrically opposed to mine and I will not worship at the throne of those who happen to share similar views. This is faith: that politics carries as much weight as we give them and I refuse to give politics any credibility at all. I refuse to invest my time in their power–it’s bad enough they get my money. I will endeavor to do my best to ignore them, their promises, their threats, their speeches about hope and unity and a ‘better America,’ or, worse, ‘a better tomorrow.’ Frankly, I do not want the sort of hope that is provided by politicians and government. Their hope is no hope at all. They can keep it, and I’ll keep my vote, my money, and myself.
But the worst part of all this? I know when I go to worship on Sunday I will hear something about this insipid political game we play every couple of years–does anyone ever even consider how much damage politics have done, how it destroys the unity of the body of Christ–and precisely because we are invited to pray for our leaders? (Prayers are never so unbiased as to avoid a short sermon or two in between thanking God for our daily bread and delivering us from evil.) I’m waiting for that one sermon that reminds me of what politicians are really like, what they are really about, and what they really hope to accomplish with their power: “But when John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and all the other evil things he had done, Herod added this to them all: He locked John up in prison” (Luke 3:19-20).
Politicians do not have the best interests of anyone in mind but themselves. Their life and their work is to preserve the continuity of power in the hands of a few. I will no longer play a nice part in the perpetuation and consolidation of power. The Scripture says, “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Colossians 2:15). So if Jesus disarmed the powers and authorities, what on earth could compel me to pick up those arms and willingly hand them back to the power-hungry leaders of this world?
I think the most Christian thing I can do in America right now is NOT vote in the upcoming presidential election. So I will not.
Tags: America > Herod > not voting > power > presidential elections > voting
Olympics
Posted on | March 15, 2012 | No Comments
For the better part of my post-high school career I was a professional (i.e., paid) preacher of the good news. That said, it is safe to assume that I spent a great deal of time in the Bible. I like the Bible. I still read it. It is, has been, and always will be a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. If I had my way, I would probably still be preaching professionally. Thanks to some unhappy people, I didn’t get my way. Thank God. So, then, don’t misunderstand my point.
This story caught my attention: There will be no distribution of Bibles with Olympic Logos at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. So,
The Bible Society cannot hand out Bibles that have the Olympic logo on the cover at the 2012 Summer Games in London, even though they were able to do so in Communist China just a few years ago.
The Telegraph reported Thursday that the organization, which passed out Bibles with the Olympic logo on the front cover during the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing, can no longer do so due to Olympic rules concerning the use of the logo. A source from the Games told The Telegraph that the Bibles at the Beijing Olympics “appeared out of nowhere” and “were not approved by the Chinese government.”
I don’t think this is such a big deal. One of the worst ideas in the history of the multi-gazillion dollar bible printing industry is niche-bibles. You know what I mean:
Rachel Rounds, a spokesperson for the Bible Society, says her organization has printed special sports Bibles that feature pictures of athletes, not an Olympic logo, on the front cover.
I think that is a big deal. Niche Bibles are the absolute worst. There are Bibles for every single cultural, sub-cultural, super-cultural clique in the world (once again, american churchianity is very, very good at identifying the cliques that make us such a great church). Women’s Bible. Men’s Bible. Black Men’s Bible. White Women’s Bible. Children’s Bible. Couple’ Bible. The Inter-Generational Lesbian Couple’s Bible. (OK, that one I made up.) The Bible for Aunts. The Bible for Athletes. And so on and so forth. Frankly, I’m glad there will be no Bible with that insipid olympic symbol on the front. The Bible is not for niche groups. The Bible is for everyone. I realize that is a tautology, but sometimes it needs to be said.
These niche bibles, it seems to me, do more to divide us than they do to unite us–unite us as the One people Jesus created. I guess all of this just bores me any more. It’s just so much of the same thing…the same forms…the same methods…. “Let’s randomly pass out Bibles…oooh…wait, let’s put an Olympic logo on it so that will make it more appealing to athletes….” Blah. Blah. Blah. I would think that as the church empowered by the Holy Spirit we would be able to come up with better ways of sharing the good news that Jesus is the King besides handing out niche-bibles emblazoned with olympic logos or pictures of steroid infused super-humans on the cover.
Really, isn’t it time to try a new trick? Like, say, sending some athletes to the olympics who might be (Shhh….) Jesus followers and who migh…(Shhhh…) talk to other athletes about how Jesus changed their life.
Tags: Bible > Bible Society > good news > London 2012 > niche bibles > Olympics
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