Below is a video editorial made by a kid who just dropped out of undergrad. I don't agree with everything he says, but it is certainly thought provoking.
The video style is as little too edgy for me, and it is long, but if you are in any way involved in education at the k-12, undergrad or graduate level, it is certainly worthy watching. Enjoy!
Friday, April 2, 2010
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Reasons why people don't go to church
Below is a really cool video put together by a church. I saw this on Brian Daoust's blog and wanted to repost to share with my community. It really makes you think about church, whether or not the church I attend is like this, and what I can do to make my church more like this. Enjoy!
Monday, March 15, 2010
Re-Post of Sunday Sermon
Pastor John Bell at Wellshire Presbyterian Church preached a great sermon this Sunday. Below is the text:
Read: II Corinthians 5:16-21
If asked to give one Bible passage to summarize the Gospel, many folks would point to John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” However, the sermon text is thought by many students of the Bible – including this student of the Bible – to state the basic spirit of the Gospel of Jesus Christ more clearly and powerfully than anywhere else in the New Testament: The Apostle Paul declares, “In Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself.” – that is the essence of what God was doing through Christ and continues to do through the church and in the world.
The process with which God goes about reconciliation is very different from the way Congress reconciles bill between the House and the Senate! God is reconciling the world to himself by choosing not to count our trespasses against us. When you forgive another, when you turn the other cheek, when you make a decision not to retaliate against your enemies or escalate hostility against your foes, there is at least an opportunity for reconciliation. Desiring a fresh, new start with his fallen and sinful Creation, God decided not to count our trespasses against us, to forgive us, to blot from his memory sinful things which we have done and good things which we should have done but failed to do. In plain English, God decided to “let it go,” to let bygones be bygones, to put the past behind him and start anew.
Reconciliation may best be seen in the story of the Prodigal Son. The Son comes to his senses in the pig pen, in the far country, hungry, dirty and tired, and decides to return home. The father chooses not to count the son’s trespasses against him: he chooses to forgive and the son is granted immediate amnesty. The father asked no questions of the son, he didn’t mention his own pain, he did not seem to care about the past … rather, the father ran out and hugged the son and welcomed him home; he gave him the best robe, the finest ring, killed the fattest calf; he threw a party for the son. What was lost now is found; what was dead to the father now has come alive again. It was an act of amazing grace. This is an act of reconciliation.
In the sermon text, Paul does not take the time to explain how or when God decided not to count our trespasses against us; rather, Paul simply declares that our forgiveness is somehow “in Christ,” who, for our sake, was made to be sin who knew no sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God.
So, Paul concludes, everything has become new: “If there is anyone in Christ, there is a new creation; everything old has passed away.” Another Paul – the late Paul Tillich, a 20th century theologian, once said memorably in a sermon: “If I were asked to sum up the Christian message … in two words, I would with Paul: It is the message of a ‘New Creation.” [The New Being, p. 15]
*****
The sermon text from Paul’s second epistle to the Corinthians also clearly states the heavy burden of your Christian responsibility: in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting our trespasses against us, and in Christ, God has entrusted the message of reconciliation to you. So “you are ambassadors for Christ, because God is making his appeal through you.” Stunning! God is making his appeal to the world through YOU. God is making his continued appeal for reconciliation with the world through YOU!
I encourage you to think of your self as an ambassador for Christ. Ambassadors are extremely important people, and they have an important role in the world. They live in foreign lands and represent their home their king, parliament or president. Their job is to generate good will between countries, broker peace, engender commerce and maintain healthy boundaries and good relations. They try to act responsibility and behave in an exemplary fashion; they often entertain strangers, opening their home, the embassy, to foreigners; they excel in the gift of hospitality; they shower gifts upon visitors and engage in meaningful dialogue. They study their context, learn a foreign language and study foreign cultures – as a sign of respect for people from nations other than their own.
As an ambassador for Christ, your job, your calling, your responsibility, is daunting: you have been charged with the task of reconciling the whole world to God! You have an awesome task in front of you, if you choose to accept it. Christianity is not for small thinkers; the pews of the church should be packed with people who want to go out and change the world – not only change your family, or city or nation, but change the whole world!
The Gospel compels us to go out and seek reconciliation with gang members and Guatemalans, with people from Zimbabwe and Russia, with Israelis and Palestinians, with Hindus and Buddhists and Muslims and Jews and atheists – with the whole world … including the planet on which we live!
*****
It is not only humanity that is in need of redemption and reconciliation with God, but in some way the whole world, all of creation, is in need of reconciliation with God. In the story of the Fall in Genesis 3, God says to Adam, who had sinned, “cursed is the ground [the earth!] because of you.”
And the Apostle Paul writes in Romans chapter 8:
19 … the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; 20for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now …
Apparently, all of creation needed a savior and was waiting on a messiah!
A leading Old Testament scholar, Walter Brueggemann, wrote a section in one of his dozens of books about God’s partners. In this section, he wrote that Israel is a special partner of God, in some way all of humanity – corporately – is in partnership with God, you and I as individuals are in a special partnership with our Creator, but there is a very interesting section about creation as the partner of God. He cites numerous passages which speak about how nature plays a role in the praise of God. Psalm 148 is typical, in that it calls upon the earth to participate in the praise of God:
3Praise [the Lord], sun and moon;
praise him, all you shining stars!
4Praise him, you highest heavens,
and you waters above the heavens! …
7Praise the Lord from the earth,
you sea monsters and all deeps,
8fire and hail, snow and frost,
stormy wind fulfilling his command!
9Mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars!
10 Wild animals and all cattle,
creeping things and flying birds! …
13 Let them praise the name of the Lord,
for his name alone is exalted;
His glory is above earth and heaven.
And Psalm 19 suggests that creation even speaks for God:
1The heavens are telling the glory of God;
and the firmament* proclaims his handiwork.
2Day to day pours forth speech,
and night to night declares knowledge.
3There is no speech, nor are there words;
their voice is not heard;
4yet their voice* goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
Many have called creation “the theater of God’s glory.”
Creation is a full partner of God – and, no less than we, creation is in need of reconciliation with God, for creation too seems to be broken and times, it too is abused and it too seems to have experienced a fall and is harmed by others. I read somewhere that Christians should think of creation as “the new poor.” I am not sure what the author meant, but I like the phrase, because Christians are aware that we are to show special care for the poor. [I cannot recall where I read this, but I believe it was written by Sally McFague.]
*****
Of course, when we think about the state of creation today, the hot topic is global warming. And I am often asked what I think about climate change for some reason, … so … here’s “my take” on global warming – and this will not take long. I can even say it one sentence: it’s debatable. From what I read by the scientific communities that I am inclined to trust, humans are at the very least partially responsible for global warming, but the cause of climate change is still debatable, because global temperatures have fluctuated.
What is absolutely NOT debatable is this: regardless of whether or not humans are responsible for climate changes, you and I – as Christians – have a God-given responsibility to care for the planet. You see, I really, truly, honestly, do not think it matters much what I believe about global warming or climate change – I am not a scientist or an ecologist, but, as a life-long student of the Christian faith, what I can say with great confidence is: you and I, as Christians, are expected to be thoughtful and just stewards of the earth, practice conservation, reduce our carbon foot-print, clean up our waters and the air that we breathe, and protect and preserve this planet entrusted to our care by our Creator – not only because the globe is warming or the climate is changing, but because we love God, the creator of the heavens and the earth! We have not been placed here to abuse, ravage, spoil, kill and otherwise destroy our home for our own selfish or greedy purposes. We are called to be ambassadors of reconciliation with God. This applies equally to sinful people and to this broken, abused, poor planet.
In recent years, it seems as if everybody is “going Green,” but a deep reverence for all of God’s creation, care for this planet and good stewardship of the earth is clearly a very significant topic in the Bible and a teaching which has been present in the church in every age – a teaching which has been regularly ignored by the large majority of Christians – until recently.
[(This paragraph was dropped from the sermon due to time concerns.) I do not need to tell you how to care for the good ship earth this morning. You have all heard the simple slogan: reduce, recycle and reuse. I read a section in a book by theologian Sally McFague that encourages us to apply the rules we learned at home as children to the world: take no more than you need – don’t greedy; clean up after yourself – this is a basic life-lesson if you want to get along with others; and keep things in good order for your children and grandchildren – don’t spoil the world so that they cannot enjoy it. She says if we apply these lessons to creation, they the world will be a better place and we will all be happier. I think that is helpful advice! But you have to go further than replacing your light bulbs or recycling your newspaper; you must go out into the world and be an ambassador for the reconciliation between abusive people AND the world, between God and God’s creation.]
But you have to go further than replacing your light bulbs or recycling your newspaper; you must go out into the world and be an ambassador for the reconciliation between abusive people AND the world, between God and God’s creation. An ecologist, Lawrence Hamilton, wrote, “It is not ecologists, engineers, economists or earth scientists who will save spaceship earth, but the poets, priests, artists and philosophers.” [The Earth Under Threat, Prance, p. 27] – to which I would add “all Christians” can help save planet earth – and you should, because you are ambassadors for reconcilation!
At the end of his sermon of II Corinthians 5, Tillich challenged those to whom he was speaking, “The message of Christianity is not Christianity, but a New Reality. A New state of things has appeared, it still appears.; it is hidden and visible, it is there and it is here. Accept it, enter into it, let it grasp you.”
I charge you with the five “r’s”: reduce, reuse, recycle … repent and be reconciled to God, your creator, who is making his appeal through you.
Read: II Corinthians 5:16-21
If asked to give one Bible passage to summarize the Gospel, many folks would point to John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” However, the sermon text is thought by many students of the Bible – including this student of the Bible – to state the basic spirit of the Gospel of Jesus Christ more clearly and powerfully than anywhere else in the New Testament: The Apostle Paul declares, “In Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself.” – that is the essence of what God was doing through Christ and continues to do through the church and in the world.
The process with which God goes about reconciliation is very different from the way Congress reconciles bill between the House and the Senate! God is reconciling the world to himself by choosing not to count our trespasses against us. When you forgive another, when you turn the other cheek, when you make a decision not to retaliate against your enemies or escalate hostility against your foes, there is at least an opportunity for reconciliation. Desiring a fresh, new start with his fallen and sinful Creation, God decided not to count our trespasses against us, to forgive us, to blot from his memory sinful things which we have done and good things which we should have done but failed to do. In plain English, God decided to “let it go,” to let bygones be bygones, to put the past behind him and start anew.
Reconciliation may best be seen in the story of the Prodigal Son. The Son comes to his senses in the pig pen, in the far country, hungry, dirty and tired, and decides to return home. The father chooses not to count the son’s trespasses against him: he chooses to forgive and the son is granted immediate amnesty. The father asked no questions of the son, he didn’t mention his own pain, he did not seem to care about the past … rather, the father ran out and hugged the son and welcomed him home; he gave him the best robe, the finest ring, killed the fattest calf; he threw a party for the son. What was lost now is found; what was dead to the father now has come alive again. It was an act of amazing grace. This is an act of reconciliation.
In the sermon text, Paul does not take the time to explain how or when God decided not to count our trespasses against us; rather, Paul simply declares that our forgiveness is somehow “in Christ,” who, for our sake, was made to be sin who knew no sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God.
So, Paul concludes, everything has become new: “If there is anyone in Christ, there is a new creation; everything old has passed away.” Another Paul – the late Paul Tillich, a 20th century theologian, once said memorably in a sermon: “If I were asked to sum up the Christian message … in two words, I would with Paul: It is the message of a ‘New Creation.” [The New Being, p. 15]
*****
The sermon text from Paul’s second epistle to the Corinthians also clearly states the heavy burden of your Christian responsibility: in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting our trespasses against us, and in Christ, God has entrusted the message of reconciliation to you. So “you are ambassadors for Christ, because God is making his appeal through you.” Stunning! God is making his appeal to the world through YOU. God is making his continued appeal for reconciliation with the world through YOU!
I encourage you to think of your self as an ambassador for Christ. Ambassadors are extremely important people, and they have an important role in the world. They live in foreign lands and represent their home their king, parliament or president. Their job is to generate good will between countries, broker peace, engender commerce and maintain healthy boundaries and good relations. They try to act responsibility and behave in an exemplary fashion; they often entertain strangers, opening their home, the embassy, to foreigners; they excel in the gift of hospitality; they shower gifts upon visitors and engage in meaningful dialogue. They study their context, learn a foreign language and study foreign cultures – as a sign of respect for people from nations other than their own.
As an ambassador for Christ, your job, your calling, your responsibility, is daunting: you have been charged with the task of reconciling the whole world to God! You have an awesome task in front of you, if you choose to accept it. Christianity is not for small thinkers; the pews of the church should be packed with people who want to go out and change the world – not only change your family, or city or nation, but change the whole world!
The Gospel compels us to go out and seek reconciliation with gang members and Guatemalans, with people from Zimbabwe and Russia, with Israelis and Palestinians, with Hindus and Buddhists and Muslims and Jews and atheists – with the whole world … including the planet on which we live!
*****
It is not only humanity that is in need of redemption and reconciliation with God, but in some way the whole world, all of creation, is in need of reconciliation with God. In the story of the Fall in Genesis 3, God says to Adam, who had sinned, “cursed is the ground [the earth!] because of you.”
And the Apostle Paul writes in Romans chapter 8:
19 … the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; 20for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now …
Apparently, all of creation needed a savior and was waiting on a messiah!
A leading Old Testament scholar, Walter Brueggemann, wrote a section in one of his dozens of books about God’s partners. In this section, he wrote that Israel is a special partner of God, in some way all of humanity – corporately – is in partnership with God, you and I as individuals are in a special partnership with our Creator, but there is a very interesting section about creation as the partner of God. He cites numerous passages which speak about how nature plays a role in the praise of God. Psalm 148 is typical, in that it calls upon the earth to participate in the praise of God:
3Praise [the Lord], sun and moon;
praise him, all you shining stars!
4Praise him, you highest heavens,
and you waters above the heavens! …
7Praise the Lord from the earth,
you sea monsters and all deeps,
8fire and hail, snow and frost,
stormy wind fulfilling his command!
9Mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars!
10 Wild animals and all cattle,
creeping things and flying birds! …
13 Let them praise the name of the Lord,
for his name alone is exalted;
His glory is above earth and heaven.
And Psalm 19 suggests that creation even speaks for God:
1The heavens are telling the glory of God;
and the firmament* proclaims his handiwork.
2Day to day pours forth speech,
and night to night declares knowledge.
3There is no speech, nor are there words;
their voice is not heard;
4yet their voice* goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
Many have called creation “the theater of God’s glory.”
Creation is a full partner of God – and, no less than we, creation is in need of reconciliation with God, for creation too seems to be broken and times, it too is abused and it too seems to have experienced a fall and is harmed by others. I read somewhere that Christians should think of creation as “the new poor.” I am not sure what the author meant, but I like the phrase, because Christians are aware that we are to show special care for the poor. [I cannot recall where I read this, but I believe it was written by Sally McFague.]
*****
Of course, when we think about the state of creation today, the hot topic is global warming. And I am often asked what I think about climate change for some reason, … so … here’s “my take” on global warming – and this will not take long. I can even say it one sentence: it’s debatable. From what I read by the scientific communities that I am inclined to trust, humans are at the very least partially responsible for global warming, but the cause of climate change is still debatable, because global temperatures have fluctuated.
What is absolutely NOT debatable is this: regardless of whether or not humans are responsible for climate changes, you and I – as Christians – have a God-given responsibility to care for the planet. You see, I really, truly, honestly, do not think it matters much what I believe about global warming or climate change – I am not a scientist or an ecologist, but, as a life-long student of the Christian faith, what I can say with great confidence is: you and I, as Christians, are expected to be thoughtful and just stewards of the earth, practice conservation, reduce our carbon foot-print, clean up our waters and the air that we breathe, and protect and preserve this planet entrusted to our care by our Creator – not only because the globe is warming or the climate is changing, but because we love God, the creator of the heavens and the earth! We have not been placed here to abuse, ravage, spoil, kill and otherwise destroy our home for our own selfish or greedy purposes. We are called to be ambassadors of reconciliation with God. This applies equally to sinful people and to this broken, abused, poor planet.
In recent years, it seems as if everybody is “going Green,” but a deep reverence for all of God’s creation, care for this planet and good stewardship of the earth is clearly a very significant topic in the Bible and a teaching which has been present in the church in every age – a teaching which has been regularly ignored by the large majority of Christians – until recently.
[(This paragraph was dropped from the sermon due to time concerns.) I do not need to tell you how to care for the good ship earth this morning. You have all heard the simple slogan: reduce, recycle and reuse. I read a section in a book by theologian Sally McFague that encourages us to apply the rules we learned at home as children to the world: take no more than you need – don’t greedy; clean up after yourself – this is a basic life-lesson if you want to get along with others; and keep things in good order for your children and grandchildren – don’t spoil the world so that they cannot enjoy it. She says if we apply these lessons to creation, they the world will be a better place and we will all be happier. I think that is helpful advice! But you have to go further than replacing your light bulbs or recycling your newspaper; you must go out into the world and be an ambassador for the reconciliation between abusive people AND the world, between God and God’s creation.]
But you have to go further than replacing your light bulbs or recycling your newspaper; you must go out into the world and be an ambassador for the reconciliation between abusive people AND the world, between God and God’s creation. An ecologist, Lawrence Hamilton, wrote, “It is not ecologists, engineers, economists or earth scientists who will save spaceship earth, but the poets, priests, artists and philosophers.” [The Earth Under Threat, Prance, p. 27] – to which I would add “all Christians” can help save planet earth – and you should, because you are ambassadors for reconcilation!
At the end of his sermon of II Corinthians 5, Tillich challenged those to whom he was speaking, “The message of Christianity is not Christianity, but a New Reality. A New state of things has appeared, it still appears.; it is hidden and visible, it is there and it is here. Accept it, enter into it, let it grasp you.”
I charge you with the five “r’s”: reduce, reuse, recycle … repent and be reconciled to God, your creator, who is making his appeal through you.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Re-Post of NY Times Op-Ed Piece about International Relief work and Global Missions
This op-ed piece was just too good to not repost. I will be honest with you, I think it is going to make some people uncomfortable. It made me a little bit uncomfortable, but as Christians, I think we are called to live with a little discomfort. Enjoy!
Learning From the Sin of Sodom
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published in the New York Times: February 27, 2010
For most of the last century, save-the-worlders were primarily Democrats and liberals. In contrast, many Republicans and religious conservatives denounced government aid programs, with Senator Jesse Helms calling them “money down a rat hole.”
Over the last decade, however, that divide has dissolved, in ways that many Americans haven’t noticed or appreciated. Evangelicals have become the new internationalists, pushing successfully for new American programs against AIDS and malaria, and doing superb work on issues from human trafficking in India to mass rape in Congo.
A pop quiz: What’s the largest U.S.-based international relief and development organization?
It’s not Save the Children, and it’s not CARE — both terrific secular organizations. Rather, it’s World Vision, a Seattle-based Christian organization (with strong evangelical roots) whose budget has roughly tripled over the last decade.
World Vision now has 40,000 staff members in nearly 100 countries. That’s more staff members than CARE, Save the Children and the worldwide operations of the United States Agency for International Development — combined.
A growing number of conservative Christians are explicitly and self-critically acknowledging that to be “pro-life” must mean more than opposing abortion. The head of World Vision in the United States, Richard Stearns, begins his fascinating book, “The Hole in Our Gospel,” with an account of a visit a decade ago to Uganda, where he met a 13-year-old AIDS orphan who was raising his younger brothers by himself.
“What sickened me most was this question: where was the Church?” he writes. “Where were the followers of Jesus Christ in the midst of perhaps the greatest humanitarian crisis of our time? Surely the Church should have been caring for these ‘orphans and widows in their distress.’ (James 1:27). Shouldn’t the pulpits across America have flamed with exhortations to rush to the front lines of compassion?
“How have we missed it so tragically, when even rock stars and Hollywood actors seem to understand?”
Mr. Stearns argues that evangelicals were often so focused on sexual morality and a personal relationship with God that they ignored the needy. He writes laceratingly about “a Church that had the wealth to build great sanctuaries but lacked the will to build schools, hospitals, and clinics.”
In one striking passage, Mr. Stearns quotes the prophet Ezekiel as saying that the great sin of the people of Sodom wasn’t so much that they were promiscuous or gay as that they were “arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.” (Ezekiel 16:49.)
Hmm. Imagine if sodomy laws could be used to punish the stingy, unconcerned rich!
The American view of evangelicals is still shaped by preening television blowhards and hypocrites who seem obsessed with gays and fetuses. One study cited in the book found that even among churchgoers ages 16 to 29, the descriptions most associated with Christianity were “antihomosexual,” “judgmental,” “too involved in politics,” and “hypocritical.”
Some conservative Christians reinforced the worst view of themselves by inspiring Ugandan homophobes who backed a bill that would punish gays with life imprisonment or execution. Ditto for the Vatican, whose hostility to condoms contributes to the AIDS epidemic. But there’s more to the picture: I’ve also seen many Catholic nuns and priests heroically caring for AIDS patients — even quietly handing out condoms.
One of the most inspiring figures I’ve met while covering Congo’s brutal civil war is a determined Polish nun in the terrifying hinterland, feeding orphans, standing up to drunken soldiers and comforting survivors — all in a war zone. I came back and decided: I want to grow up and become a Polish nun.
Some Americans assume that religious groups offer aid to entice converts. That’s incorrect. Today, groups like World Vision ban the use of aid to lure anyone into a religious conversation.
Some liberals are pushing to end the longtime practice (it’s a myth that this started with President George W. Bush) of channeling American aid through faith-based organizations. That change would be a catastrophe. In Haiti, more than half of food distributions go through religious groups like World Vision that have indispensable networks on the ground. We mustn’t make Haitians the casualties in our cultural wars.
A root problem is a liberal snobbishness toward faith-based organizations. Those doing the sneering typically give away far less money than evangelicals. They’re also less likely to spend vacations volunteering at, say, a school or a clinic in Rwanda.
If secular liberals can give up some of their snootiness, and if evangelicals can retire some of their sanctimony, then we all might succeed together in making greater progress against common enemies of humanity, like illiteracy, human trafficking and maternal mortality.
Learning From the Sin of Sodom
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published in the New York Times: February 27, 2010
For most of the last century, save-the-worlders were primarily Democrats and liberals. In contrast, many Republicans and religious conservatives denounced government aid programs, with Senator Jesse Helms calling them “money down a rat hole.”
Over the last decade, however, that divide has dissolved, in ways that many Americans haven’t noticed or appreciated. Evangelicals have become the new internationalists, pushing successfully for new American programs against AIDS and malaria, and doing superb work on issues from human trafficking in India to mass rape in Congo.
A pop quiz: What’s the largest U.S.-based international relief and development organization?
It’s not Save the Children, and it’s not CARE — both terrific secular organizations. Rather, it’s World Vision, a Seattle-based Christian organization (with strong evangelical roots) whose budget has roughly tripled over the last decade.
World Vision now has 40,000 staff members in nearly 100 countries. That’s more staff members than CARE, Save the Children and the worldwide operations of the United States Agency for International Development — combined.
A growing number of conservative Christians are explicitly and self-critically acknowledging that to be “pro-life” must mean more than opposing abortion. The head of World Vision in the United States, Richard Stearns, begins his fascinating book, “The Hole in Our Gospel,” with an account of a visit a decade ago to Uganda, where he met a 13-year-old AIDS orphan who was raising his younger brothers by himself.
“What sickened me most was this question: where was the Church?” he writes. “Where were the followers of Jesus Christ in the midst of perhaps the greatest humanitarian crisis of our time? Surely the Church should have been caring for these ‘orphans and widows in their distress.’ (James 1:27). Shouldn’t the pulpits across America have flamed with exhortations to rush to the front lines of compassion?
“How have we missed it so tragically, when even rock stars and Hollywood actors seem to understand?”
Mr. Stearns argues that evangelicals were often so focused on sexual morality and a personal relationship with God that they ignored the needy. He writes laceratingly about “a Church that had the wealth to build great sanctuaries but lacked the will to build schools, hospitals, and clinics.”
In one striking passage, Mr. Stearns quotes the prophet Ezekiel as saying that the great sin of the people of Sodom wasn’t so much that they were promiscuous or gay as that they were “arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.” (Ezekiel 16:49.)
Hmm. Imagine if sodomy laws could be used to punish the stingy, unconcerned rich!
The American view of evangelicals is still shaped by preening television blowhards and hypocrites who seem obsessed with gays and fetuses. One study cited in the book found that even among churchgoers ages 16 to 29, the descriptions most associated with Christianity were “antihomosexual,” “judgmental,” “too involved in politics,” and “hypocritical.”
Some conservative Christians reinforced the worst view of themselves by inspiring Ugandan homophobes who backed a bill that would punish gays with life imprisonment or execution. Ditto for the Vatican, whose hostility to condoms contributes to the AIDS epidemic. But there’s more to the picture: I’ve also seen many Catholic nuns and priests heroically caring for AIDS patients — even quietly handing out condoms.
One of the most inspiring figures I’ve met while covering Congo’s brutal civil war is a determined Polish nun in the terrifying hinterland, feeding orphans, standing up to drunken soldiers and comforting survivors — all in a war zone. I came back and decided: I want to grow up and become a Polish nun.
Some Americans assume that religious groups offer aid to entice converts. That’s incorrect. Today, groups like World Vision ban the use of aid to lure anyone into a religious conversation.
Some liberals are pushing to end the longtime practice (it’s a myth that this started with President George W. Bush) of channeling American aid through faith-based organizations. That change would be a catastrophe. In Haiti, more than half of food distributions go through religious groups like World Vision that have indispensable networks on the ground. We mustn’t make Haitians the casualties in our cultural wars.
A root problem is a liberal snobbishness toward faith-based organizations. Those doing the sneering typically give away far less money than evangelicals. They’re also less likely to spend vacations volunteering at, say, a school or a clinic in Rwanda.
If secular liberals can give up some of their snootiness, and if evangelicals can retire some of their sanctimony, then we all might succeed together in making greater progress against common enemies of humanity, like illiteracy, human trafficking and maternal mortality.
Monday, February 1, 2010
The prayer of the children
My senior year of high school back in 1995-1996, I made the all-state choir. I had to go through a series of multiple auditions to make the choir. Then they sent me the music and I practiced, practiced, practiced. We all met together on a Thursday and rehearsed for two days before performing a concert on Saturday. This was a great experience.
One of the songs that the men from the group sang at the concert was a song called "The Prayer of the Children." It literally brought the entire auditorium to tears.
I hadn't thought about this song in some time. As I was reflecting and praying about Haiti and the devastation there, this song popped back into my head. I did a YouTube search to see if it had been sung by any other groups, and sure enough it was all over the place.
I picked this group's arrangement because it was closest to what I sang in high school. Listen to the song and read through the lyrics as a prayer of and for the children in Haiti and around the world.
Can you hear the prayer of the children on bended knee,
In the shadow of an unknown room?
Empty eyes with no more tears to cry,
Turning heavenward toward the light.
Crying, Who will help me to see the morning light of one more day?
But if I should die before I wake,
I pray my soul to take?
Can you feel the hearts of the children
Aching for home, for something of their very own?
Reaching hands with nothing to hold on to,
But hope for a better day.
Crying, Who will help me to feel the love again in my own land?
But if unknown roads lead away from home,
Give me loving arms, away from harm.
Can you hear the voice of the children
Softly pleading for silence in their shattered world?
Angry guns preach a gospel full of hate,
Blood of the innocent on their hands.
Crying, Jesus, help me to feel the sun again upon my face.
For when darkness clears I know youre near,
Bringing peace again.
Dali cuje te sve djecje molitve?
Can you hear the prayer of the children?
One of the songs that the men from the group sang at the concert was a song called "The Prayer of the Children." It literally brought the entire auditorium to tears.
I hadn't thought about this song in some time. As I was reflecting and praying about Haiti and the devastation there, this song popped back into my head. I did a YouTube search to see if it had been sung by any other groups, and sure enough it was all over the place.
I picked this group's arrangement because it was closest to what I sang in high school. Listen to the song and read through the lyrics as a prayer of and for the children in Haiti and around the world.
Can you hear the prayer of the children on bended knee,
In the shadow of an unknown room?
Empty eyes with no more tears to cry,
Turning heavenward toward the light.
Crying, Who will help me to see the morning light of one more day?
But if I should die before I wake,
I pray my soul to take?
Can you feel the hearts of the children
Aching for home, for something of their very own?
Reaching hands with nothing to hold on to,
But hope for a better day.
Crying, Who will help me to feel the love again in my own land?
But if unknown roads lead away from home,
Give me loving arms, away from harm.
Can you hear the voice of the children
Softly pleading for silence in their shattered world?
Angry guns preach a gospel full of hate,
Blood of the innocent on their hands.
Crying, Jesus, help me to feel the sun again upon my face.
For when darkness clears I know youre near,
Bringing peace again.
Dali cuje te sve djecje molitve?
Can you hear the prayer of the children?
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