• On August 10, 2012 by

    Force and Disorder

    Luther_Standing_Bear
    Luther Standing Bear

    I’ve been reading The Earth Shall Weep: A History of Native America by James Wilson. It is making an enormous impact on me. (I plan on putting some of what I’ve gleaned into a sermon entitled “Don’t Drink The Water” — slated for Friday night, August 31.)

    Here I would like to share a Native American insight that strikes me as quite profound.

    The Lakota word for custom and habit, wouncage, had its traditional meaning of simply following tribal usage without enforcement of any sort; so with the coming of the white man and his treaties* and written declarations of various sorts, the word woope was coined to meet the situation. Woope conveyed the meaning of armed soldiery, guns, cannon, policeman, ball and chain, jails and guards, and all the equipment of the night of life. The apparent thing to the Lakota was that the written word was in itself ineffective and without power, and woope, or what the white man called law, designated not order, but force and disorder. Force, no matter how concealed, begets resistance.

    —Luther Standing Bear (1868-1939)

    (* Between 1776 and 1866 the United States made 370 treaties with Native American tribes…and broke every single one of them! This is a matter of historical record.)

    Here’s my question:

    Is the kingdom of God more like the Lakota wouncage or the Euro-American woope?

    BZ

  • On July 25, 2012 by

    BZ’s Top 25 (Non-Dylan) Albums

    top-25

    BZ’s Top 25 (Non-Dylan) Albums

    This Sunday, for the fourth year, I launch into the ever-popular summer sermon series: Finding God On Your iPod. In Finding God On Your iPod I use contemporary songs as an artistic pallet for painting gospel portraits. And it’s a lot of fun! Music is a big deal with me. My iTunes library is culled to an essential 10,000 songs—a month’s worth of 24/7 listening pleasure. I can’t do with any less than that. I agree with what Nietzsche said: “Without music, life would be a mistake.”

    Along with being a music nut, I’m a compulsive list-maker…just ask Peri. So, for no particular reason other than my own amusement, I’ve prepared BZ’s Top 25 (Non-Dylan) Albums. (I assume you understand that Dylan occupies his own category in my music pantheon. And yes, I realize I sorted of cheated by including The Traveling Wilburys in the list.) Alright, here we go: Limited to one album per artist and arranged in alphabetical order according to the artist as they appear in iTunes, here are my top 25 albums…

    Read more

  • On July 23, 2012 by

    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

  • On July 21, 2012 by

    An Idol Called ‘The Economy’

    3_flowers_dark_painting

     

    An Idol Called ‘The Economy’
    By Blindman at the Gate

    America worships an idol called
    The Economy
    All bow to her holiness
    The Economy
    Justice for the indigent and immigrant
    Care for the ill and infirm
    Must first be approved by
    The Economy
    Americans “vote their pocketbook”
    A sacrament offered to
    The Economy
    Presidents and politicians are mostly priests to
    The Economy
    Political speech is a liturgy venerating the primacy of
    The Economy
    (Question it at your peril)
    It’s a sacrosanct article of faith
    Nothing is more important than
    The Economy
    We can talk about guns and wars and doctors and borders
    But we genuflect before
    The Economy
    A heretic speaks—
    “There are things more important than The Economy”
    Blasphemy!
    Let us speak truth—
    “It’s The Economy, stupid!”
    God save
    The Economy
    God bless
    The Economy
    God is
    The Economy
    The Economy
    The Economy
    $ $ $

  • On July 12, 2012 by

    Oh Mercy

    61P2VZXW44L._SL500_SS500_

     

    OH MERCY
    by Brian Zahnd

    Be perfect as your Father is perfect. —Jesus (Matthew 5:48)

    Be merciful as your Father is merciful. —Jesus (Luke 6:36)

    Let’s keep this short and sweet. To the point.

    The Gospel writers Matthew and Luke give us two different accounts of the Sermon on the Mount.

    In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says his disciples are to turn the other cheek, go the second mile, and love their enemies, and they are to do so for this reason: So they can be like their Father who is perfect/merciful.

    The Gospel writers use different words.

    What Jesus in Matthew calls perfection, Jesus in Luke calls mercy. Read more

  • On July 6, 2012 by

    Election Season and Your Soul

    imgpress

    This is an intensely pastoral post. (It’s essentially the sermon notes of a message I shared with my church on Friday night, July 6.)

    I understand my pastoral vocation as something like being a doctor of the soul. I am to tend to the well-being of human souls entrusted to me by Christ.

    Be responsive to your pastoral leaders.
    Listen to their counsel.
    For they watch out for your souls.
    -Hebrews 13:17

    Over the past twelve years I’ve become increasingly aware of how damaging an excessive political passion is to the human soul. Put simply, too much politics hinders the capacity for love—and love is the purpose of the human soul. We are created to love God and one another—this is the essence of human flourishing.

    But every four years a kind of madness comes upon us in America—a political mania that is becoming increasingly acrimonious and bitter. All of this is damaging to the soul. So with this in mind I would like to share with you a Ten Point Christian Voters’ Guide. (No, not that kind…a much different kind.) Read more

  • On July 2, 2012 by

    The Unquiet City

    painting_Nardelli-Holiness

     

    I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world… I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world… They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. —Jesus (The Gospel of John, chapter 17)

    Tonight I was reading Thomas Merton. I never read Merton without profit. He is undoubtedly the greatest of the modern Christian mystics. He is one of the wise ones. We should listen to him.

    Anyway…

    While reading from New Seeds of Contemplation I came across this little gem in the chapter entitled “A Body of Broken Bones”…

    What is the “world” that Christ would not pray for, and of which He said that His disciples were in it but not of it? The world is the unquiet city of those who live for themselves and are therefore divided against one another in a struggle that cannot end, for it will go on eternally in hell. It is the city of those who are fighting for possession of limited things and for the monopoly of goods and pleasures that cannot be shared by all. There is only one true flight from the world; it is not an escape from conflict, anguish and suffering, but the flight from disunity and separation, to unity and peace in the love of other men.

    I don’t know about you, but I still need to be saved.

    I need to be saved from the unquiet city.

    Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy.

    BZ

    (The artwork is Holiness by Linda Nardelli.)

  • On July 1, 2012 by

    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

  • On June 28, 2012 by

    From Word of Faith to the Church Fathers

    EngagingOrthodoxyFrom Word of Faith to the Church Fathers

    Trevin Wax is the managing editor of The Gospel Project and an influential blogger through his regular posts at Kingdom People. He’s a reader, a thinker, a writer, and a lover of Jesus.

    I first became aware of Trevin Wax when he did a review of my book Beauty Will Save the World. (You can read his review here.)

    Trevin recently interviewed me regarding my theological journey. I thought you might find the conversation interesting so I’m sharing it with you. (The Kingdom People post can be found here.)

    I like the title Trevin gave his post. I’m glad he didn’t entitle it, “Has Brian Zahnd Lost His Mind or What?”

    BZ

     

    From Word-Faith to the Church Fathers: A Conversation with Brian Zahnd

     

    A few weeks ago, I reviewed a book by Brian Zahnd – Beauty Will Save the World: Rediscovering the Allure and Mystery of Christianity. Some pastor friends quickly connected me to Brian, and in our subsequent conversations, I discovered how interesting his theological pilgrimage has been. One friend said Brian used to preach like Joel Osteen but now sounds more like Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I invited Brian to the blog to talk about his journey and how it has affected his congregation.

     

    Trevin Wax: Brian, you’ve had an interesting theological journey in ministry – from Word of Faith type teaching to a celebration of Christianity’s core teachings throughout history. First, tell us about your ministry at the outset – what you were about as a preacher of God’s Word and the vision you had for your local congregation.

    Brian Zahnd: I grew up in a Southern Baptist church in the -60s and -70s but was most influenced by the Jesus Movement. I experienced a rather dramatic conversion when I was 15, and within a couple of years I was leading a coffeehouse ministry; it was primarily a Christian music venue with an emphasis on evangelism. By the time I was 22 the coffeehouse ministry had become a full-fledged church (Word of Life Church in St. Joseph, Missouri).

    From my earliest days as a teenage Christian leader my passion was to call people into a life of following Jesus. That passion has remained consistent over the years. Because the Jesus Movement was closely associated with the charismatic movement our church took on many of the aspects of charismatic Christianity.

    By the late -90s our church had grown to several thousand, and my primary emphasis in preaching could be described as “faith and victory.” Though I think I can honestly say I eschewed the more egregious forms of “prosperity teaching,” I was certainly identified with the Word of Faith movement. The common thread from the Jesus Movement to the Word of Faith movement (whether I was being influenced by Keith Green or Lester Sumrall) was a deep desire to bring people into a vibrant and authentic Christian experience.

    Trevin Wax: What initiated your movement away from Word of Faith teaching to something more in line with historic Christian orthodoxy? 

    Read more

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →