All posts in America

  • September 6, 2012

    Hitler!

    hitler

    HITLER!

    We live in an age haunted by the ghost of Hitler—a pale specter sporting a swastika and a Charlie Chaplin mustache. Hitler! What a loaded word. A name so stained by evil that it’s disappeared as a surname, assuming only the ignoble role of ultimate pejorative. When we want to fear-monger we compare somebody to Hitler. The more heated the rhetoric the more likely it is that the ghost of Hitler will appear—summoned from the grave by our séance of accusation.

    This is especially true on the internet. Godwin’s Law states—

    As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1.

    Essentially this means a political discussion on Facebook with more than a hundred comments has nearly a 100% chance of Hitler showing up! Somebody is going to call somebody else a Hitler. This hurling of the Hitler epithet is not the result of reasoned analysis (though it may pretend to be), but is a pure act of scapegoating.

    Hitler drew horns on the Jews to scapegoat them, now we draw Hitler mustaches on our enemies—but it’s the same thing! It’s the air the devil breathes.

    BZ

    7 Comments / America, Politics /

  • September 4, 2012

    A Christian Voter’s Guide

    harold.town.puritanplace

    A Christian Voter’s Guide

    Praise be to Nero’s Neptune
    The Titanic sails at dawn
    And everybody’s shouting
    “Which Side Are You On?”

    I am fine with a Christian voting for Mitt Romney if they feel that action best reflects their commitment to follow Jesus Christ. I know sincere Christians who will do this.

    I am fine with a Christian voting for Barack Obama if they feel that action best reflects their commitment to follow Jesus Christ. I know sincere Christians who will do this.

    I am fine with a Christian voting for someone else (Green Party, write-in, etc.) if they feel that action best reflects their commitment to follow Jesus Christ. I know sincere Christians who will do this.

    I am fine with a Christian choosing not to vote because they don’t like any of the options and view it as inconsistent with truly believing that Jesus is Lord. I know sincere Christians who will do this.

    I am not fine with a Christian who insists that their particular way of voting is the only faithful Christian response. Such Christians are narrow-minded partisans who divide the body of Christ over politics. This is a grievous sin.

    “This is my commandment: That you love one another.” -Jesus

    BZ

    (The artwork is Puritan Place by Harold Town. The quote is from Bob Dylan’s Desolation Row.)

    1 Comment / America, Politics /

  • July 23, 2012

    Deganawida – “The Peacemaker”

    Iroqu1

     

    Deganawida – “The Peacemaker”

    The Iroquois have a fascinating legend about a savior named Deganawida. The myth seems to have originated during the final decades of Pre-Columbian America. The story goes like this:
    During a time of pervasive fear and instability in the Iroquois world, a young virgin gave birth to a son. The virgin was told in a dream that “your child will be a messenger of the Creator and will bring peace and harmony to the people on earth.” The child was named Deganawida—“The Peacemaker.” When Deganawida had come of age he told his mother, “I shall now build my canoe from white stone, for the time has come for me to start my mission in this world. I know I must travel afar on lakes and rivers to seek out the council smoke of Nations beyond this lake. It is now time for me to go stop the shedding of blood among human beings.” Read more

    1 Comment / America, Christianity, Jesus, Violence /

  • July 1, 2012

    My 4th of July Prayer

     

    This Sunday I led our congregation in this “4th of July Prayer.”

    Father God, Creator of heaven and earth—
    You have made all the peoples of the earth for your pleasure,
    You have appointed the nations of the world for your glory.
    As a people who have pledged allegiance to our Lord Jesus Christ,
    We pray today for the nation in which we dwell.
    We pray you would grant us to we be governed by good and wise leaders;
    That we would be governed in such a manner that we may live in peace.
    We pray you help this nation strive for righteousness and justice;
    That your care for the widow, the orphan, the poor, and the alien—
    Would flow like a mighty stream through our nation.
    May we be a people of humility, generosity and compassion.
    May the weakest among us, the unborn and the unfortunate,  the elderly and the ill—
    Be shown your justice and mercy.
    We pray that we who are the followers of the Prince of Peace and his kingdom,
    Would be a peaceable people seeking to live in peace with one another.
    We pray that hate and acrimony would give way to love and harmony.
    We pray that the church of Jesus Christ in our land would be found faithful.
    We pray that we would be a faithful witness to the kingdom of God;
    That the church in this nation would be a city set upon a hill;
    That the church in this nation would faithfully model the way of salvation—
    The way of following Jesus Christ.
    We ask all of this in the name of your Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
    Amen.

    Read more

    1 Comment / America, Prayer /

  • October 3, 2011

    The Moral Theology of the Devil

    lovejoy_and_the_devil_of_delight_0a3331f4b380ab104bb1ebd69c7383ff

    Tonight I watched part two of the Ken Burn’ film “Prohibition” on PBS—a brilliant documentary on America’s fourteen year ill-fated war on alcohol. It’s a classic study in good intentions gone wrong. It’s a penetrating look at the fallacy of thinking, “If we can just pass this or that legislation, we can produce a righteous society.” Anyway, it’s a well-done documentary about a strange time in American history.

    After the documentary I decided to read a random chapter from Thomas Merton’s New Seeds of Contemplation. I chose a chapter entitled “The Moral Theology of the Devil.” It turned out to be entirely apropos for my state of mind. Here are some selections from the chapter.

    The Moral Theology of the Devil
    by Thomas Merton

    The devil has a whole system of theology and philosophy, which will explain, to anyone who will listen, that created things are evil, that men are evil, that God created evil and that He directly wills that men should suffer evil. God has willed and planned it that way.

    As a matter of fact, in creating the world God had clearly in mind that man would inevitably sin and it was almost as if the world was created in order that man might sin, so that God would have an opportunity to manifest His justice.

    So, according to the devil, the first thing created was really hell—as if everything else were, in some sense, for the sake of hell. Therefore the devotional life of those who are “faithful” to this kind of theology consists above all in an obsession with evil. As if there were not already enough evils in the world, they multiply prohibitions [get it!] and make new rules so that man may not escape evil and punishment. Read more

    No Comments / America, Christianity, Theology /

  • June 10, 2011

    Love Economics

    Love-Your-Neighbor

    Love your neighbor as yourself. —Jesus

    Jesus didn’t teach capitalist economics or socialist economics, Jesus taught love economics. In this present fallen age, the competition of a free market is probably the best way to arrange an economy, for the simple reason that the market is far more capable of fixing prices than any central committee. That being said, followers of Jesus must do what they can to make sure that competition is mitigated with copious amounts of compassion; because without compassion we turn the free market into a kind of vicious blood sport where those least equipped to compete are trampled underfoot and left behind. In other words, we must make sure that the losers in the game (and it is a game!) don’t lose everything. The Jesus way requires that love have a place in the economy and that competition be humane and not dog-eat-dog.

    BZ

    (The artwork is Love Your Neighbor by Tema Okun)

    No Comments / America, Christianity, Jesus /

  • May 6, 2011

    So You Say You Want a Prophet?

    wendell_berry1

    So you say you want a prophet? Because you want to know the truth that lies beyond the official script. You want to see beyond the matrix. Good for you! But keep in mind what prophets are. Prophets are seers. They see what we do not. They’ve seen behind the curtain. They’re not fooled by smooth words or slight of hand. The prophet is vital because the prophet can help us recover our imagination. We had an imagination once, as children (children who could enter the kingdom of God); but we grew up and that imagination got conscripted by the so-called “real world.” Yes, we need the help of the prophet to recover our imagination. But remember, the prophet is ever and always controversial. The prophet doesn’t salute the status quo, the prophet offers his withering critique. The prophet dares to speak of other alternatives—alternatives that some will find threatening. The powers-that-be are wary of the prophets and their poetic imaginations…as well they should be. But you still want to find the prophet, don’t you? You want to see beyond the veil, don’t you? You want to hear something other than the “approved statement,” don’t you? That’s what I thought. So ladies and gentlemen, I give you Wendell Berry—the farmer-prophet from Kentucky. (Amos was a farmer-prophet too, wasn’t he?) But keep in mind prophets are not safe. Prophets aren’t ear-ticklers, they’re butt-kickers! So if you can handle a dose of prophetic truth, well, here goes… Read more

    1 Comment / America, Christianity /

  • March 31, 2011

    The System vs. The Kingdom

    No Comments / America, Christianity, Church /

  • January 13, 2011

    I Am From the Future

    5352714397_943087d7f3

    With Martin Luther King, Jr. Day coming up Monday, I would like for you to engage in a thought experiment. It will require the use of some imagination. The first thing I want you to imagine is a time machine. Maybe it’s Doc Brown’s DeLorean or Doctor Who’s TARDIS or a time machine of your own creation. You need a time machine because you are being sent on a mission that will take you back in time. You are being sent to Montgomery, Alabama in 1850. Your task is to go to the First Conservative Church of Montgomery and convince them to change their position on slavery. Good luck. Read more

    1 Comment / America, Christianity /
← Older Entries
Newer Entries →