• On November 22, 2012 by

    Black Friday and The American Malady

    Dura_Europos_fresco_worshipping_gold_calf

    Black Friday and The American Malady
    Brian Zahnd

    I’m not sure when Black Friday became a “thing.” It hasn’t always been with us. But I am sure that Black Friday as a celebration of consumerism coming the day after Thanksgiving is symptomatic of the American Malady.

    Black Friday as a celebration of consumerism coming the day after Thanksgiving is symptomatic of the American Malady.
    On Thursday we gather around a table to give thanks and feast with family and friends.

    On Friday we stampede madly into the temples of American consumerism.

    On Thursday we give thanks to God for the cornucopia of plenty.

    On Friday we trample our neighbors to get a good deal on a flat-screen TV.

    It seems to have echoes of Israel eating the Paschal lamb only to worship the golden calf. Read more

  • On November 20, 2012 by

    Ring Them Bells

    bell

    Ring Them Bells
    Brian Zahnd

    We now have a church bell at Word of Life! I’m ridiculously excited about this. I’ve wanted a bell for several years and recently an old church bell was donated to us. We will “debut” our bell this Friday at our Thanksgiving Communion Service and Christmas Tree Lighting.

    But let me tell you about me and the bells.

    I grew up with church bells. My Baptist church had a bell. A group of old men were in charge of ringing it on Sunday mornings. They were quite serious about it. A few times when I was a small child they let me “help” ring the bell. I would hold onto the rope, be pulled off my feet, and the old men would have a good laugh. It’s a fond memory.

    But somewhere along the way church bells began to disappear. They became antiquated. We moved to the suburbs, built our new non-descript utilitarian metal buildings and left the bells behind. Church bells were passé. When we built our church facility in 1996 it never entered my mind to have a bell. And I never thought a thing about not having a church bell.

    Until I began traveling in Muslim countries…
    Read more

  • On November 6, 2012 by

    Democracy and the Kingdom of Christ

    photo(66)

    Democracy and the Kingdom of Christ
    by Brian Zahnd

    It’s Election Day in America. I’ve been to the polls. I’ve cast my vote. Now I want to say something before the results are known. Something about democracy and the kingdom of Christ.

    I agree with Winston Churchill when he said something to the effect that democracy is the worst form of government except for any other. Churchill was right to curb our expectations. After all, democracy is government by the people. So you get what you get. But it seems to have served us better than most any other form of political governance.

    But it’s not the kingdom of Christ either. And that is what we must remember.

    As we go to the polls today, keep in mind that though democracy comes by the ballot box, the kingdom of Christ comes only by cruciform love.

    As we go to the polls today, keep in mind that though democracy comes by the ballot box, the kingdom of Christ comes only by cruciform love.

    Read more

  • On November 2, 2012 by

    “Come Up Here” – A Vision

    Christ_In_Majesty_1780

    “Come Up Here” – A Vision

    “I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord.”
    -The Apostle Paul

    As I prayed today I saw a vision. In my vision I saw two large gatherings of people. They were standing opposite one another. They carried signs with slogans. Each side hated the other. They were shouting their slogans across the divide separating them. Many hurled insults. Some threw stones. I went and stood among one group and looked across the divide at the others. I said, “Yes, I see what they see.” Then I crossed the divide to the other side and stood among them. I said, “Yes, I see what they see.” Then I stood in the divide between them, looking left and right. And in the cacophony of noise neither side made any sense.

    Then I looked up.

    Read more

  • On October 29, 2012 by

    Re-Membering the Dismembered Body of Christ

    unity

    Re-Membering the Dismembered Body of Christ
    by Brian Zahnd

    That they may all be one…that the world may believe.
    —Jesus (John 17:21)

    I’m kind of depressed.
    Or at least a little bit sad.
    Politics is the pathogen of my mental malady.
    Every election cycle it gets worse—
    Like an unholy Civil War re-enactment.
    Brother against brother.

    The American presidential election is dividing the Body of Christ.
    “I am of Obama!”
    “I am of Romney!”
    Is Christ divided?
    Was Obama crucified for you?
    Were you baptized in the name of Romney?

    Yet the Body of Christ is divided. Not merely that one votes for the donkey and another votes for the elephant (this is to be expected), but that Christians are breaking fellowship over “donkey vs. elephant” allegiance. Vote for my candidate or I will not call you my brother! This makes me deeply sad. As it does the Holy Spirit.

    Read more

  • On September 18, 2012 by

    No Fear of the Future

    exodus-lesley-anne-cornish

    No Fear of the Future
    BZ shares some Lohfink

    Today in our leadership team small group we were talking about what the future of Christianity might look like in Western culture. We discussed what a disaster the Constantinian attempt at state-sponsored Christianity had been and how the Western church is still trying to recover from it. We specifically talked about Western Europe and the future of Christianity in the 21st century.

    This evening as I was reading from Gerhard Lohfink’s Does God Need The Church?, I came upon a passage that speaks somewhat to this question.

    Of course, it’s out of context, and I offer it without comment, but still I hope that some of you may find it encouraging as I did.

    So, without further I ado, I give you Lohfink.

    Read more

  • On September 12, 2012 by

    Thoughts On A Violent Day In A Violent Age

    Big Love

    Thoughts On A Violent Day In A Violent Age
    by Brian Zahnd

    Violence begets violence that begets violence that begets violence that begets violence…

    …the cross is where the cycle of violence ends with the sacrifice of forgiveness.

    All forgiveness involves sacrifice. Someone has to be willing to bleed and not retaliate.

    “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”

    It is in this sense that Jesus shed his blood as a sacrifice.

    Jesus sacrificed his blood by foregoing his right to retaliate for the sake of forgiveness.

    As long as justice is interpreted purely in categories of retaliation, nothing changes.

    Divine justice is centered in reconciliation, not retaliation.

    “In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself.”*
    *Note: At the cross God was reconciling the world to himself, not himself to the world. Selah.

    “Being disguised under the disfigurement of an ugly crucifixion and death,
    Christ upon the cross is paradoxically the clearest revelation of who God is.”
    -Hans Urs von Balthasar

    At the cross we find a God who would rather die than kill his enemies.

    But do we like what we have found?

    (Think.)

    Violence begets violence.

    The cross is where the cycle of violence ends with the sacrifice of forgiveness.

    “Take up your cross and follow me.” -Jesus

    Do we dare?

    BZ

    (The photo is from a mosaic in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. I call it Big Love.)

  • On September 6, 2012 by

    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

  • On September 4, 2012 by

    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.)

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →