On the Backswing

I golf. But I cup my left wrist on my backswing. I am also prone to the dreaded flying elbow. As a result, I often hit my drives offline. Why do they plant trees just where my ball in prone to go, anyway?

The backswing determines, in oh so many ways, where the ball will go. Even while the muscles and the brain cooperate to try to correct its path, the backswing, and the grip, the stance and the ability to keeps one's head down, determine the quality of the resulting swing.

This posting is not about golf, however. It is more about a Hegelian synthesis, and what it means to see the pendulum of cultural evolution swing so far in the reverse of its ultimate and inevitable course. I just thought it was more interesting to tie the concept to golf than to an arcane philosophical model.

Let me illustrate. In a Hegelian synthesis, inevitable progress is made when the pendulum of cultural evolution swings far into uncharted and unfamiliar territory. There is always a popular response that causes the pendulum to swing far in the opposite direction, often leading to repressive and regressive policies, actions and tendencies. Over time, the pendulum of cultural evolution comes to some kind of synthesis. While that synthesis represents neither end of the pendulum's swing, while it reaches neither extreme, the compromise situation that it reached moves the culture onward and forward.

We can say, to some degree of certainty, that the cultural evolution in which we find ourselves is expressed in the pendulum swing toward otherwise radical inclusion, acceptance of diversity and the unity of all persons. The pendulum has swung far from the comfortable and familiar confines of past traditions, values, understandings and assumptions. This swing has caused some, if not most, to respond in fear and anger, focusing on the stasis that is lost therein instead of looking to what progress lay ahead. That segment of the population has attempted, at least somewhat successfully, to swing the pendulum in the opposite direction, back toward sectarianism, segregation, white male hegemony, privilege and power. The pendulum had swung so far in the first fifty years of cultural evolution that it has caused a regressive and repressive response.

This is no surprise. It is unfortunate, however, mainly because it has been accompanied by a violent inhumanity, a narrow mindedness, a name-calling, exclusionary partisanship that tears at the fabric of who we are as a people and a culture. Terror attacks have become the norm. Violence against other human beings is commonplace. Abridged human rights are justified by the need for safety and security in a fearful and dangerous age. Life is being devalued in the pendulum backswing.

Here is the good news. Despite the desperate attempts to reformulate culture in repressive and regressive ways, cultural evolution is inevitable. It will no longer support divisiveness, segregation or undo privilege. Culture marches on toward its ultimate constitution. We can be confident that the utlimate constitution of culture reflects acceptance of diverse persons, positions, identities, life-styles, backgrounds, races, genders, etc. The list is all-inclusive and unfolding.

Here is the cautionary tale, though. Just as the backswing in golf determines where the drive sends the ball, so the pendulum swing against the tide of cultural evolution determines how healthy and whole we will be in the synthesis. How much damage will we have to suffer? How many lives will be lost? How much violence will be relied upon in the name of social order? How far will we devalue human life or trample on human rights?

It is enough! It is time to find the cultural synthesis. To do so will take work and compromise from those at either end of the extreme pendulum swings. The vast majority of those between the extremes must demand that the conversation lead to solutions instead of continued divisiveness, violence, name-calling and devaluation. The entire course of human culture depends upon it...upon us.    

Dig for Us!

Leadership in a volunteer agency, like the church, can be risky business. Let's be honest. People do not have to come to churches. They do not have to join, and they certainly do not have to be active or vital participants. Those who do so choose to do so.

In a best-case scenario, people would join Christian churches in order to respond to a spiritual call to action. They would be there to learn, to be inspired and to figure out how to use the gifts that God has given them in service to the whole human family. In that case we could move, as the new SONKA Ministry Council theological foundation states: Toward being actors in the process of shaping communities of justice and peace. This is to say that the aim of our local churches, and of the Association, is to nurture and support the spiritual calling of their men, women and children as incarnational forces that affect community development and provide community service. Pastors are called to guide the flock into greater faithfulness to this vision.

All too often, however, leadership in our churches falls more prominently into the category of meeting member needs and struggling against member expectations, opinions and traditions. In order to attract members, and to please those who have remained from past generations, the church often falls into the trap of serving itself. When churches fall into the pit of populist movements and member service, they move away from the spiritual calling of the men, women and children to whom spiritual care is assumed.

Moses guided God's people from the slave pits of Egypt, freeing them from their centuries-long bondage. He led them across the Negev Desert, to the south southeast, toward Sinai, from whence Moses had been sent. Along the way, the people encountered hunger. They called upon Moses to feed them. They encountered blistering sun. They called upon Moses to provide shelter. They encountered great thirst. They called upon Moses for water. "Feed us." "Give us shelter." "Give us water to drink."

Where was Moses supposed to get food, water and shelter? He had no supernatural powers to conjure from the arid air food, shelter or water. The only way that Moses could have made water in the middle of the desert was to dig for the people a very, very deep well. Would they have been satisfied had Moses dug from them? Yet, each time the former slaves threatened Moses' bodily safety, each time they challenged his calling, every time they doubted his leadership, Moses turned to the Lord for direction. And, each time, God provided. There was quail. There was manna. There was the rock at Horeb, from which water flowed freely before God's people.

Moses never lost sight of the destination, however. While the immediate needs of God's people were tangent to that trek, Moses persisted. While the people did not know, could not understand, refused to imagine the destination of their journey, Moses knew where he was going, where he was leading, and he was confident that the people would end up where God intended.

How are pastors to lead in churches that are filled with real persons, with real needs, real desires, real doubts and authentic understanding and misunderstandings? Perhaps Moses would serve as model. He did not dig for them. He did not plunge the depths of their spiritual calling. He simply led them toward the destination, relying on God to meet their needs along the way. Moses did not become fixated upon the tangents, but maintained focus, knowing where he was leading and trusting the possibility of fulfillment.

Today, like then, people want the pastor to dig for them, to solve their problems, to resolve their issues, to make sacrifice easier, to take the sting from vocation, to promise them some great reward in return for their faithfulness. Fortunately,however, the eyes of the leaders remain on the ball. We have only this: Toward being actors in the process of shaping communities of justice and peace.

Bridging the Divide

I ran into a member of Shiloh Church yesterday as I was getting gas in Englewood. This person was coming out of the store as I was going in. Admittedly, I was irritated that I had to go into the store. There was no paper in the gas pump from which I had pumped a full tank. Really?! Why don't one of the four people workers who were milling about the store at the time come out and change the paper in the pump instead of making me bear the inconvenience of having to go in to retrieve the print out?

Whatever the case, I was not a happy camper. As we passed I said hello, of course. Then I added that we had missed the family yesterday (this was on Monday following Shiloh's Black History Celebration service). The person exchanged my greeting and told me that they had planned to stay home. I asked why. I probably should not have asked why. But I did. The person explained that it was very difficult to get everyone around on the Sunday that the time changes (it was also the beginning of Daylight Savings Time). Besides, the person continued, it was that Black History service. We aren't Black and we don't like the long service (it usually runs about 90 minutes, as it had that Sunday).

It is true that the person that I engaged in this case was Caucasian. The whole family was white, as a matter of fact. Then I said something else that I probably would not have said if I had not had to run into the store in order to get the receipt that should have been produced by the pump at which I had pumped a full tank of gas. I said that one of the problems of racial divide in our community is that we won't go out of our way to share histories, to share experiences, to share stories. We still practice segregation of experience and that leads to bias and forms prejudice.

The person frowned and added that the person thought that, "If we have to suffer through that, at least you could do it in February, which is designated 'Black History Month.'"

Uh oh. I asked, "If we held the service in February, on a Sunday when Daylight Savings Time was not scheduled to begin, would your family then come?" The person said that the family would likely still not come. I told the person that it was sad that such was the case. Worse, it is exactly that kind of unwillingness that gives life to discrimination, prejudice and racial bias.

How are we supposed to span the divide if we refuse to work at doing so? How can we imagine the unity out of which we live if we never learn, never hear, never see anything other than what the media, or bigotry, tells us?

I find it sad in the extreme that persons are not willing to sacrifice a few additional minutes, a bit of their precious attention, even a scant bit of energy and enthusiasm to bridging the racial divide that plagues us. It lends credibility to what was stated at the book review that followed our community luncheon. A woman from the community attended and said that, "There is something wrong in white communities that refuse to work at ensuring that we are all one genetic family..." Some people were struck by the idea. Some were offended. I was troubled too, until I engaged yesterday a member of Shiloh Church at the Speedway in Englewood. The words rang in my mind.

Yes, ma'am, I agree. There is something wrong in communities that will not work at bridging the racial divide...or any other divide for that matter. The Church of Jesus Christ is called and equipped to represent his mission and ministry. He died for all people. He healed broken relationships. He went out of his way for people who were different from him and his. We can do so much more...so much better!

By the way, I print this with permission of the person that I engaged in conversation, as long as I do not mention the person's name. It doesn't matter who it is anyway, as the lesson applies to all and each of us.  

Dribbling Footballs

The liturgical season of Lent is, perhaps, the most ancient and storied of the liturgical seasons. It likely began as early as the late first century, when Lent was added as a season of preparation and instruction, prior to new adherents to the faith being welcomed at Easter. Most of those who were joining at that time were of Jewish background and faith, though there were certainly some Gentile proselytes as well. Either way, these new initiates required considerable instruction that was neither Judaic nor Roman.

I appreciate these roots from which the season of Lent has sprung. In fact, I hope that we can return to something akin to the original purpose of the season. This is not in order to gain new initiates to the faith. No. Instead, it is because each of us benefits from refresher courses, a concentration on the basics, and a way for us to keep an eye on the ball of Lenten practice. It can be a whole new understanding of March Madness.

Attempts to focus on the basics of the Christian faith are especially important in an age when the Church of Jesus Christ is in transition. The Church of Jesus Christ is evolving from  understandings and practice of the faith that belongs to previous cultural, social and religious eras, to ones that lead us headlong into new articulations of the faith's core values and faithful practices. These new understandings and articulations are actually more of a reprise, or recovery, of ancient understandings and practices. The evolutionary step leads us back to a time before institutionalized Jesus and orthodox Christ. In that brief age, those who followed in the "way of Christ" understood themselves as Christ's incarnation, as his representatives, as his embodiment in the world. Before 90 c.e., and maybe even before 70, followers of Christ Jesus saw themselves as a community called to do what he did, to sacrifice themselves for the sake of social, religious and cultural justice. They did less believing and more doing. They listened to fewer sermons than they performed. They were active participants in the ministry and mission of Jesus Christ.

In our current cultural, social and religious evolution, we are moving toward this pre-institutional age of Christian witness and action. We are moving away from doctrine and orthodoxy, away from exclusionary and judgmental policies and procedures, toward inclusion, empowerment, call and acceptance. No matter how desperately some factions of Church and politics try to pull the culture backward, away from this pre-institutional age of Christian witness, the culture will evolve. It will move forward. It will be deterred only momentarily on its inevitable course toward full realization.

I have told the story many times. A coach, on the first day of college basketball practice, has the team simply dribble for three hours. The team members dribbled with their right hands, then their lefts. They dribbled behind their backs and between their legs. They dribbled in straight lines and around pylons. They worked on body positions and hand positions. They dribbled with someone in front of them, behind them and all around them. All morning, the team just dribbled. And this was college! Finally, the coach sat the team in the bleachers and asked them why, did they think, they just spent three hours dribbling. After a few snarky comments, the coach told the team that they spent all this time on dribbling because ball handling was the basic activity of the game and, if they controlled the ball, then they controlled the game.

The allegory works until one realizes that, given the evolutionary strides into which the Church of Jesus Christ is being called, we are trying to dribble footballs. It is time to rethink the game, my friends, because we are playing with an entirely new set of rules. Let's use the season of Lent to focus on some of the new fundamentals.

Coexistence at Laodicea

Anyone who knows me, has ever taken a class from me, whether at Shiloh Church, University of Dayton's Life-Long Learning Institute, or through Shiloh's Bible @ Boston's program, likely knows that I have a life-long affinity for archeology. If you know me well, you likely know that my favorite publication is the Biblical Archaeology Review, edited by Hershel Shanks. You also likely know that I firmly believe that the revelations of ancient times can help us better understand the world we live in today.

A point in that case is timely and important, I think. In the most recent issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, Mark R. Fairchild offered a meaningful and exciting article, entitled, "Laodicea's 'Lukewarm' Legacy: Conflicts of Prosperity in an Ancient Christian City". In the article, Fairchild makes clear that Laodicea's history, while something of a remaining mystery, is an indication that, at least at times in the city's history, Christians and Jews shared space and, perhaps, time. The implications are drawn from relics that have been discovered during excavations of ancient Laodicea. Most telling of those discoveries is an ancient column, now broken, that depicts four symbols. Those symbols were a Jewish shofar, or ram's horn, a menorah, and an olive branch, which can be representative of both Judaism and Christianity. The fourth etching was a large Christian cross. The Jewish symbols were carved before the Christian images, but the Christian images were added to, instead of covering over, the Jewish ones.

The fact that both Jewsih and Christian symbols appeared together on ancient finds is important. The author suggests that the presence of both religions' symbols means that those faiths likely took place in the community side-by-side, likely in the same spaces and perhaps even at the same time. This suggestion reflects something that we have long suspected of the early pre-Christian and Christian periods. We have suspected that the Christian movement grew out of the Jewish synagogue and, at least for a time, lived fairly amicably side-by-side. The important point of the carvings is that neither symbol or faith is demonstrated at superior to the other. The presence of the unified symbols shows that they were contemporarily respected and honored images.

Which brings me to the age in which we live. We heard, just yesterday, of the desecration of a Jewish cemetery in Missouri, where hundreds of tomb stones were thrown over, displaced and broken. At this time, before the video cameras are investigated, there is no suspect and no claim of responsibility.

I suspect that the accommodation of developing Christianity in the synagogues of ancient Judaism likely lasted until the institutionalization period of Christian development, beginning after 70 c.e. The separation picked up steam, of course, at the Council of Jamnia, in 90 c.e., when the Hebrew canon list was further established by the exclusion of "Christian" elements. This event signaled an institutional break between the two faiths.

Since then, there has been varying degrees of open conflict, sometimes subtle anti-semitism, outright violence, mistrust and competition that is meant to prove that one side or the other is more faithful as God's favorite. If the carvings at Laodicea teach us anything it is that Christians and Jews can live, worship and thrive alongside one another. We can live in unity, sharing time and space in such a way that both faiths, and all of the human race, benefit. We can, if we will, return to a state of honoring each other's sacred symbols, holy places and important images. There is no room in that relationship, and it is of no benefit to humankind, to desecrate graves, destroy images, or harm people.

Learn the lessons of the past, my friends, and coexist. It is of benefit to all people!

Sermon on the Mount Applied

Jesus stood above his followers on a small rise in the terrain, in order that he could be seen and heard, and taught them the most radical of things. He challenged them to think through for themselves just how to live out the ethical archetype that he promoted, that which we will come to call the "Christ Ethic." Much of what Jesus said flew directly in the face of traditions in which the majority of his followers were raised. How dare he speak it? And how dare they listen? More importantly, how dare they undo centuries of tradition and follow him?

The "Sermon on the Mount" is earth-shattering and foundation-shaking. It is completely and utterly "other." It is nothing that anyone of Jesus' time would have been used to. It questions the authority of scripture and the trust that humanity had placed in the traditional teachings of God's law. It says, basically, "Do not rely on what you have been taught. It may not be the most faithful response to following God's will. Instead, do this..." The Sermon on the Mount marks a shift in perspective without which Jesus ministry cannot be understood or embraced.

The Sermon on the Mount remains, even today, a radical statement of the faith that follows Jesus, his actions and his teachings. Who can think of the actual teachings and practices of Jesus without hearing and experiencing "love your enemies," "you have heard that it was written, but I say unto you..." and "when you speak evil against another, you do the other damage?"

If Facebook posts are any indication, otherwise good Christian men, women and children have completely missed the point of a key teaching of the Sermon on the Mount. Many have missed the cornerstone of Jesus' teachings. Folks, it is not okay for people to label others, refer to them by some critical epithet, and dismiss them as not worthy of our time, attention, or effort. To call names and insult is simply to dismiss, to estrange, to reject. The cornerstone of Jesus' teachings and actions is inclusion of those who are different, who believe and behave differently, who have been rejected and excluded.

It is not okay to post on Facebook, or to state in any other forum, something that dismissed certain parts of the population . It is not faithful to Christ Jesus to do so. I do not care what you read in the polemical press. I do not care that you have an opinion about politics or economies or social values. To call names and insult is not acceptable. To exclude, dismiss and reject is in no way in line with Christian values.

I therefore urge those who read The Shiloh Insider to refrain from posting things that insult, dismiss or reject others. Refuse to use language, or to take stances, that do others damage. Carefully consider the teachings and actions of Jesus Christ. Choose to refuse the bandwagon of lack of civility. Respect instead. Honor instead. Care instead. Even when you vehemently disagree, if what you are tempted to say diminishes another, choose to say nothing. When you speak and act on behalf of those who have been victimized, those who have been oppressed, excluded, rejected or dismissed, remember, please, to use language and take actions that do not damage, dismiss, reject or exclude others.

Think through what you do and say. Apply the Christ archetypical ethic in very practical ways to how you treat others.  

News

Can you remember with me when news was news? Do you recall when we believed at the end of a Walter Cronkite evening news report when he would habitually say, "And that's the way it was..." My favorite news tag line, by the way, was Linda Ellerbee saying, "And so it goes..."

Perhaps news was as polemical then as it is now. Maybe network were just as concerned with ratings, popularity, and the celebrity of its anchors. Maybe those were just more innocent times, when we believed what we were told and trusted the reporting as an ethical and honest depicting of what actually happened.

Something has happened to news and its sources. Somewhere along the line, the sensationalism of a story, or the opportunity to attack certain values, opinions or world-views has replaced factual recitation of the day's events. Perhaps there is simply too much news. In the competitive market, the more polemically a tale can be told, the more it appeals to this faction or that. Advertisers are so sophisticated that ads for items are placed within polemical environments, targeted audiences and demographic categories. News has become factionalized. It is compartmentalized, targeted, sectarian.

I noticed it first, of course, with news sources that disagreed with my own opinions and values. "They" were slanting their news toward a certain perspective. It was later that I began to realize that the news sources upon whom I relied for information were doing the same thing. "We" were doing exactly what I accused "them" of doing. Once able to make that admission, I could face honestly the nature of contemporary entertainment newstelling.

How does one get at the truth of anything in such a slanted news environment? It is not easy. It is not comfortable. It may, at times, not even be possible. But here are a few simple guidelines that I follow:

Trust No One: Do not follow a particular telling of the news as if its content and context were the absolute truth of the thing itself. No telling of the news takes place in a vacuum. Everything you read, hear or watch is slanted in some subtle way or another. (Like scripture, all news is contextual.)

Read, Watch, Learn Widely:  Because no single source is to be trusted with the truth of any single thing, turn to multiple sources, including those with whom you disagree. Read incessantly and watch reports from varied outlets. Become cosmopolitan in your newsgathering. (Like scripture, there is no single truth.)

Get Near Originals: Get as close as you can to original reporting. Almost every news outlet sites sources for their stories. Go back to those sources, if you are able, to see what was originally said. Many times, the slant placed on the news lies in the difference between what was originally reported, and that said about the original story. (Like scripture, news is filtered.)

Keep an Open Mind: Do not decide too quickly what a particular news item means. Take the time and make the effort to analyze for yourself the impact of any story, fact or occurrence. Think creatively and honestly about what you hear or see. Do not allow any news source to do the analysis for you. (Like scripture, news can constantly surprise us.)

Adopt a Wide Scope of Interest: News reporting relies increasingly on narrow viewpoints and make up minds. The telling caters to what sources believe people want to hear and see. Break out of that categorization to a wider worldview. Refuse to be pigeon-holed. Demand more eclectic information. As always, those who want to make certain people happy will tell them what they want to hear and show them what they want to see. Do not fall for it. (Like scripture, a wider worldview informs instead of challenges.)

Finally, embrace an ethical standard through which you determine whether or not a certain news story is of value, of what value, and what to do, think or say about it. Mine is the ethical archetype that is established in the life, ministry, Crucifixion/Resurrection of Christ Jesus. I run everything through the sieve of the standard of sacrifice for others and the universal benefit of life lived according to that ethical archetype. This is my tool for analyzing news and its reporting. You do not have to embrace it or adopt it. You are free to establish your own. I just find this one a faithful response to my calling and my understanding of being Christian.

Evolutionary Braking System

See if this resonates with anybody.

Students of history, of whatever discipline, have discerned a pattern of major cultural shifts that have taken place in human history roughly every 500 years. The shifts have been so meaningful in character that they have resulted, through time, in axiomatic shifts within every human discipline. There has been no corner of human endeavor unaffected by the cultural evolutionary process. The evolutionary process has been undeniable and inevitable, despite the best efforts of those who would rather it not be the case.

If we are correct in assessing those major cultural shifts, the last took place in the 15th and 16th centuries and is characterized in the religious realm by the Great Reformation. Now, 500 years later, we find ourselves in a similarly discernible phase of cultural evolution. The difference lies in our ability to recognize the cultural shift for what it is. One would think that we would cope with it far better than have past generations. But, no.

Each of these 500-year phases in cultural evolution has been characterized by a rough transitional period, lasting some 100 years, which we may understand as a battle between the old and the new cultural identities. Therefore, the age of tension in which we find ourselves these days is nothing new. It has happened every 500 years. If we are correct that the transitional phases take about a century, there is both good and bad news. The bad news is that we are only about halfway through that transitional phase. The good news is that we are halfway through that transitional phase.

There will be a Hegelian synthesis formed, as a modulation between the two extremes of what the culture had been and what it is becoming. That synthesis takes place as both extremes express themselves, often as reducto ad absurdum, and we see that neither is practical or practicable. To state the case more concretely, it is likely that the culture is moving in paths of unity, acceptance of diversity, tolerance and a continual blurring of cultural, racial, economic, gender, and political boundaries. Divisiveness is disappearing. Segregation is diminishing. Separation of kinds, types, clans and ilks is becoming antiquated, both as notion and practice. There will be forces that seek to articulate the divisiveness, segregationist, protectionist, fearful stance of previous cultural articulations. They will be powerful forces that seek to pull us back from the brink of cultural evolution. There will also be powerful forces that work for unity, peace, justice for all persons, equality and tolerance. Our culture will tend to shift from one cultural footing to the other, until we reach some synthesis of the two opposing positions.

The pendulum of cultural expression is swinging. American culture has just said that it fears the direction, and the pace, at which we are moving toward the inevitable cultural evolution. We pulled back. No judgment here, of course. Serious students of history would have expected just such a cultural response. It is natural and rational. It is doomed to failure, however. No statement of cultural opposition, whether religious, political, economic, social or military, can keep culture from evolving. It will move on. As certainly as we will see cultural opposition, we will certainly see cultural progress. While those who would put on the brakes of cultural evolution may do significant damage, do not fear, culture will evolve. In the meantime, perhaps we can work for those who are harmed by the pendulum swing.  

 

New Year Resolutions

The new year is prime occasion to start something. Many of us make resolutions. I have read many: Lose weight; Exercise regularly; Be more at peace with myself; Follow my dreams; Focus on my needs; Learn a language; Go back to school; Get a hobby; Win the lottery; Get a new job. Do not misunderstand, please. There is nothing wrong with improving one's self, educating one's self, finding a place of peace in this chaotic life. Each resolution is good, in and of itself.

There is something missing here, however. So I want to propose a different kind of resolution for 2017, one that focuses beyond self-improvement. Do those things too, of course, but don't do only those. What I suggest is a resolution that is beyond one's self, one that focuses our attention, time and energy on the needs of those around us. I call it the "selfless" resolution.

Here is the resolution: In 2017, I resolve myself to do one random act of generosity and kindness per day, without expectation of return, reward. recognition or appreciation.

The first half of the resolution is tough. One act of kindness or generosity per day is going to cost me time, energy, attention and, more than likely, even money. I am going to have to go out of my way to attend to those around me, particularly as I search for an act of kindness and generosity. As I look for opportunities to practice kindness and generosity, I am going to have to listen and look. I will be forced to attend to the needs of those around me. I will have to pay attention to others.

The second half of the resolution is even tougher. These acts of kindness or generosity are to be practiced without expectation of thanks, reward or recognition. There is a purity here that I do not want people to miss. So often, we engage in behaviors in hopes of winning some recognition or reward. Doing so means that we engage in those acts for ourselves. They are not genuinely focused on doing for anyone else. If, however, we are to engage in acts of kindness or generosity without such expectation, those acts spring from our sincere attempt to simply meet someone else's need.

Here is what I anticipate as an outcome of my 2017 selfless resolution. I anticipate a freedom from my own aches and pains. I anticipate a decrease in complaint about the ways of the world, which seem always to work against me. I anticipate freedom from depression and anxiety, which spring from a concentration on one's self. I must make clear, though, that I am not practicing my 2017 selfless resolution in order to get these things. It is simply that a focus on the needs of others diminishes attention to myself, my problems, my tension, my stress, my fear and my anxiety.

If you genuinely want 2017 to be a better year, I recommend a selfless resolution. Try it for a year. See if it does not translate into happier, healthier, more fulfilling relationships. See if it does not make better selves in the long run. See if it does not make us more like Christ, which, I believe, is core to the practice of the Christian faith.

Happy New Year!  

A Prayer of Christian Commitment

A new person here at Shiloh shared this prayer with me a few weeks back. He explained where he ran across it, why he passes it along, and its deep meaning for him. While I might amend a thought here or there, I have decided to share it with the readers of The Shiloh Insider just as it was passed to me.

I am part of the fellowship of the unashamed. I have Holy Spirit power. I have stepped over the line, the decision has been made. I am a disciple of his. I won't look back, let up, slow down back away, or be still. My past is redeemed, my presence makes sense, my future is secure. I'm finished and done with low living, sight-walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tame visions, mundane talk, cheap living and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need pre-eminence, prosperity, position, plaudits, or popularity. I no longer have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by faith, leaning on his presence, walking in his patience, lifted by prayer, labor and power. My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions are few, my guide is reliable, my mission is clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, deluded, lured away, or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of the adversary, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity. I won't give up, shut up, or let up until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, preached up, all for the cause of Jesus Christ.

I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I must go till he comes, give till I drop, preach till all know, and work till he stops me. And when he comes for his own, he will have no problem recognizing me...and my banner will be clear. Amen.

While I do not necessarily agree that our goal would be heaven, and while I question whether Jesus comes again in the faithfulness of his followers, I love the devotion and commitment that is reflected in this statement. Maybe we could be less distracted, less manipulated, less compromised, less turned away. Maybe we could be more faithful, more devoted, more committed, more loyal, more certain. Maybe our lives could serve as certain witness to the presence, love, grace, mercy and generosity of Christ Jesus. Maybe, with Christ's coming, he might find us ready, willing and able to be his faithful community of disciples and apostles. Thanks, Jason, for sharing the prayer with all of us!

The Law Against Christmas

If you are a person who believes that strict adherence to all laws is the best way to live communally, I have some news for you. Your position would have resulted in preventing Christmas. Here is how.

In ancient times, marriage was less a romantic notion about life choices and couples' aspirations than it was a contract between two families. The deal worked like this: families with daughters arranged with families with sons to transfer responsibility for the daughters to the families of sons in exchange for a price, a dowry. In exchange, the families with sons received a young woman of child bearing potential to provide subsequent generations. The arrangement was a betrothal contract. It promised that responsibility for the daughter would be transferred to the family with sons.

The betrothal contract was binding. The sons had no choice. The daughters had no choice. They were bound by the betrothal contract to carry out the arrangements that their respective families had reached. As soon as the daughter of the one family reached the age of child-bearing, the betrothal contract of with the son's family was enforced. There were few ways out of the betrothal contract. Most were unlawful. The sons or daughters could vacate themselves. They could run away. If they did, however, they could never return. Such a crime was punishable by death. The female could become impregnated by another male, thus breaking the betrothal contract. Again, however, the crime was punishable by death. In fact, in such a case, the groom-to-be son of the one family was obligated under the law to be the first to cast a deadly stone at the otherwise bride-to-be daughter of the offending family. The betrayal brought shame on the daughter's entire family, and, not incidentally, her own death.

This situation is particularly applicable to the nativity story of the Gospel according to Matthew. While betrothed, but prior to marriage, Mary, who was obligated by her family to marry Joseph, was found to be with child. The law was very clear. Joseph was obligated under the law to see to it that Mary was stoned to death. In fact, he was obligated to be the first to cast the deadly stone. Joseph was in a tense position. He did not want to see Mary die. He resolved to break the law by dissolving the contract between his family and hers. (This was an illegal act!) In Matthew's Gospel account, Joseph, not Mary, is warned in a dream, by no less than an angel of the Lord, to honor the contract, despite Mary's betrayal, and take her as his wife. (Another illegal act!)

In the briefest of accounts, Joseph breaks the law and takes Mary as his wife. If he were a man of honor under the law, he would have cast the first rock at her public stoning. If Joseph had done what he should and ought to have done, there would have been no nativity, no birth, no Jesus. Had Joseph held to the letter of the law, there would be no Christmas.

So, if we want to protect Christmas, let us do so with compassion, understanding and creativity. Let us not demand a strict adherence to the letter of our Christian orthodoxies or ecclesial laws, rules or regulations. Had Joseph rigidly clung to those obligations, Mary and Jesus would have died. It is only through compassion, mercy, imagination, forgiveness and grace that we have Christmas at all. Thanks to the unlawful Joseph, Jesus is born to Mary. Christmas is saved!

Advent Stinks!

I have a problem with the season of Advent. I imagine that you, too, might.

Not a single Advent season passes that I do not get at least a small handful of well-meaning suggestions that we in the Church ought to get with it and begin celebrating Christmas as soon as Thanksgiving is over. What is wrong with celebrating Jesus' birth, after all? What is wrong with Christmas Carols? Who nominated you and the Church as our corporate Scrooges or Grinches? Let's have some fun!

Well, fine; except for this one, small thing. It is not yet Christmas. Liturgically, at least, Jesus has not yet been born. He is still anticipated, hoped for, feared and promised. Therefore, the Church observes Advent. Advent is the season of preparation that precedes the birth of the Christ Child. It is intentional readiness for the policies and practices of Christ Jesus, a time of "making his paths straight." Those paths can look radical and seem dangerous, even unorthodox. They call us beyond some simple assumptions about Jesus' life and death.

My problem with Advent in the Church is that it is so contrary to the practices of the world around the Church. Everywhere we look and hear, there are Christmas sales, Christmas carols, wrapping paper, Christmas lights, Christmas parties, and, God forbid, glitter. So much glitter! The world moves to Christmas in mid-to-late-October, even before Halloween. By the end of November, even on Thanksgiving Day, the stores are open and ready for those Christmas, Black Friday sales. Cyber Monday takes place before we even reach December.

Advent is about the authentic Jesus, not about some characterization of him that traditions have created. The authentic Jesus comes as a corrective to traditional faith, that which falls too simply into categories of black/white, good/bad, in/out. He comes as a sign and symbol of God's inclusive will and tolerant acceptance. He comes with a concentration on those who had been excluded, rejected, despised and feared. He comes for others, not for himself. He does not care about life after death, but about the state of living on earth. He cares less about our sins than he does about our capacity to practice heavenly virtues in relationship with our brothers and sisters, helping those who have been victimized and oppressed.

The Church has a lot of work to do to "make these paths straight." The Church has a great deal to prepare. We have to move the accent of our words about Jesus to a completely other syllable. We have to rewrite sentences where we have been the subject, and see, finally, that others receive Jesus' emphasis. We have to empty ourselves of ourselves. Jesus was not about himself. Neither may we be. To put it bluntly, Advent is a way for us to unlearn many of the traditions that we have blindly accepted and the assumptions that we have been fed. It is a four-week period of re-acquainting ourselves with the real Jesus, who demonstrated the true Christ.

So, we in the Church cling to Advent, a season about the coming apocalyptic that Jesus brings. We remain in a time of serious preparation, even as the world sings of grandmas who are run over by reindeer and hippopotamuses for Christmas. I don't like it, but there you have it. Advent is about the birth of the genuine revelation of God's will, even if that looks nothing like what the world around the Church is celebrating.  

Happy Thanksgiving!

The people of Israel had returned to their ancestral homeland after spending some fifty years in Babylonian bondage. They had been freed by an edict from a warrior king who thought it an ultimate insult to Babylon to send their former slaves back to their own lands. The former slaves certainly supported the policy.

Some of the Israelites remembered the former glory of their homeland, the Temple, the buildings, the roads, the public squares. They left Babylon, eager to return home. Many made the arduous trek, while others remained behind and established themselves as Judaism-in-diaspora. Those who returned were overjoyed as they approached what had once stood as the gates to Jerusalem. What they found, however, was utter devastation. No stone remained upon another. No Temple stood. There was no palace. There were no passable roads. Everything lay in ruin.

It took decades for the priests and prophets to inspire the people into any semblance recovery. They had been immobilized by hopelessness and immovable in their victimization. They were bitter at the fates that had brought them back to their own ancestral land. They blamed their leaders. They blamed the nations around them. They blamed God.

After some time, however, the priests and the prophets broke through the solid veneer of Israel's hopelessness by reminding them that they had been brought out of Babylon. Their freedoms had been restored. Their sovereignty was renewed. The only thing that was keeping them from restoring the splendor of the nation was the attitudes and perspectives of a broken people. The priests and prophets began to sing songs of celebration and thanksgiving. They began to paint pictures of hope and possibility.

Eventually, the people heard the songs of the priests. They envisioned the possibility that was promised by the prophets. A thankful heart slowly replaced the bitter and resentful one. A grateful attitude shaped a perspective of potential and possibility. They placed stone upon stone, and there was soon a building. They laid them, one against another, and there was a road. They built one structure at a time, one neighborhood, one vital element of their relationship with God. Within a century or so, the Temple was rededicated. The people of Israel had genuinely returned home.

The spirit of gratefulness and thanksgiving changes everything. You who read this are likely not the citizenry that is disenchanted, weighed down, frustrated. Instead, you are the priests and prophets who need to sing for the people songs of hope, possibility and promise. We are the harbingers of thanksgiving. We envision the new day.

Sing, friends! Shout! Let the people hear of God's love and forgiveness. Let them know that God's Spirit is within them and upon them, that nothing is impossible if we rely on the strength of that Spirit. Let them see the deliverance, the hope, the embodiment of God's will on earth. It is just out of our reach. An attitude of thanksgiving and a perspective of praise allow us to reach it.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!  

Safety (pins)

It is undeniable. Since last week's Presidential elections, some of our brothers and sisters are running scared. Those who had formerly been on the periphery of inclusion and acceptance, those who had been working their way into cultural acceptance, feel that they are now being pushed outside of access and participation. Whatever our politics, and whatever our systems of belief, we must acknowledge their fear.

Some homosexual persons are afraid that their recently-granted right to marry is now in  jeopardy. Some women in hijabs fear being attacked and assaulted. Some Black Americans worry about a return to segregationist America. Some Muslims fear religious intolerance and discrimination. Some Latinos sense an approaching cultural backlash. Some women fear that their rights to decide the fate of their own bodies is under attack. For many, these are tense times, whether or not others of us think the fear is warranted. Our brothers and sisters live in fear and worry about what is to come.

What can those who call Christ "King" do?  What are those who refer to him as "Master" offer to those who are in dread these days?

Maybe we can do as Christ did. Maybe we can offer safety and acceptance to those who are in fear of being excluded, rejected, even assaulted. Maybe we can do even more. Maybe we can offer welcome and acceptance to those who may be seen as potential sources of exclusion and rejection. Maybe we can see past the politics of the fear to the simple fact that lies beneath and above it. In Christ, we are all one. No race, kind, clan, sexual preference, economic or political status, religion, color, creed, gender or gender identity is naturally better than any other. We are unified in Christ. We are one.

At Shiloh Church, we offer you this opportunity to express the notion that you are a person of safety, both for those on the periphery and for those in the cultural core groups. Some of our crafty population will make available special "safety" pins, starting this coming Sunday. These pins are not anti-anything. They are pro-safety, pro-acceptance, pro-tolerance and pro-love. Some of the pins will bear the UCC Comma, some will have rainbow beads, some will be plain. The differences mean very little.

Wearing the safety pins may be very meaningful, however. They may mean that someone who had been in fear feels a sense of support and acceptance. They may mean that someone who feels pressure in our culture to believe or think in certain ways are accepted by people of faith. The safety pins are a sign and symbol of support and acceptance. Pick yours up from the green table on Sunday. They are free for the taking.

One other note. Even if you do not wear one of our safety pins, treat persons with the respect and honor due them as children of God, brothers and sisters in Christ. Reject no one. Exclude no one. Love every one. Everyone. This is what it means to call Christ "King."

Election Just the Beginning

I admit it. I care who is elected today as President of the United States. While I have not yet, I will vote today. For whom I vote is not your business. I do not care to attempt to convince anyone that my vote is the correct one. I will vote for what I think is the best course for the country that I love. I trust that everyone is doing the same.

My concern comes on the days, weeks, months and years that follow election day. For the sake of the nation, whichever party wins the presidential election will have to work with whatever party loses. In order to address the problems that we face, and in order to make us an even better nation, we will all have to put aside petty party politics, anger, fear, suspicion and doubt and focus our unified energies on the issues that had divided us. Obstructionism has to become a thing of the past. Intolerance has to pass. Vitriol and hate speech have to be erased from the national dialogue. We have to care so deeply about our fate moving forward that we are willing to bend our opinions and our convictions, many of which are fostered by a media machine that cares more about sensationalism and profits than it does about reflecting truth and reality. We have to learn to work together, even if we had disagreed.

Thus, my pledge. Even if the candidate who I favor, for whom I will vote, is defeated in this election, I will do everything I can in moving forward productively and positively. My work will not be misdirected in opposition to or obstruction of the work of whatever candidate wins. I will accept the presidency of the winner. I will support the work of moving forward from the contention of this election cycle to a more unified national hope, vision and direction.

I will not disrespect those who voted differently from me. I will not disrespect the candidate for whom they voted. I will not use accusatory or inflammatory language in conversation with or about them, their preferred candidate or their stances on the issues. I will not, however, tolerate such language or treatment of those who voted the way I did, or with the winning candidate, whoever that may be. If we are to be unified in our directions and actions as we move forward, there is no place in the process for foul, ugly epithets, or judgmental action or language. Even if the opportunity should present itself, I will refrain from such action or language.

Now, who will join me in this pledge of civility and respect? Who will join me in promising to do everything we can in channeling our communal energies toward a positive and productive direction for this nation? Who is tired of it all and ready to set a higher standard for dialogue and resolution of the challenges that we face?

  

Christ Culture?

Change is not welcome. To my personal knowledge, no one likes it. Most of us do nearly anything within our power to resist it. We prefer stasis, reliability, solid foundations upon which we are to store and secure our stuff. When things change, reliability and assumptions fly out the proverbial window. Chaos ensues.There is no control. There is no stability, nothing upon which to safely rely.

There are times, however, when change is good for us and for everyone. This past week's Revised Common Lectionary Gospel text was the Zacchaeus narrative. Zacchaeus knew no grace. He lived a life of demand and supply, collecting taxes for the Roman government in Jericho. He had become rich by collecting more than was owed by the Judaic citizenry. The man cheated others in order to become wealthy. But he was despised. Zacchaeus was a pariah. The mention of his name was accompanied with a sneer, much like the geographically racist term "Samaritan."

When Jesus came through Jericho, on his way to Jerusalem, Zacchaeus was determined to see the embodiment of God's grace. He climbed the now-famous tree. Jesus saw him and called to him. When Zacchaeus ran to Jesus, Jesus embraced him, welcomed him, accepted him. Zacchaeus was not accustomed to such treatment. He encountered grace. As a result, his world changed. Zacchaeus promised, from that moment onward, to give half of everything he owned to the poor and to repay anyone that he had defrauded fourfold. In meeting grace, Zacchaeus becomes grace to, with and in his community.

Apocalyptic works in a similar fashion. Just as Zacchaeus had encountered grace, we begin to corporately and communally imagine a better world, a healthier existence, lives of universal abundance. When we encounter that world as a genuine possibility, we being to shape our behavior according to that world. We change in the process of changing the world in which we live, all in an effort to change the way we live in culture and society.

Zacchaeus changes for the better. He becomes grace in his community. Apocalyptic changes us for the better, compelling us toward a more faithful walk with our Lord. Change can be good. It can be very good!

Which brings me to the point of this week's post. Our culture is in the process of axiomatic change. The old rules no longer apply. The old assumptions no longer hold. The ground upon which we have so reliably stood is shaken and crumbling. According to Phyllis Tickle in her fabulous book, The Great Emergence, such axiomatic cultural shift takes place in human culture every 500 or so years. If the last shift took place in the Great Reformation of the 16th century, then it should come as no surprise to us that one should take place in the 21st.

Since the late 1960's, culture has been shifting. It has been shifting away from authority and power relationships toward egalitarian justice, inclusion, unity and acceptance of diversity. Sectarian kinds, clans, groups, orthodoxies and ilks are being supplanted by the universality of the human condition and the need for mutual support and care. I take this to be a step forward in the cultural evolutionary process, one with which we are uncomfortable still. It pushes us toward sacrifice of privilege and position for the sake of assisting those who lack the power to compete.

In my humble opinion, culture is catching up with Christ. We have evolved to the point of apocalyptic, where we can now exchange one world for the other, where Christ can and may become culture's new reliability and standard for assumption. We can see that such a world is possible. Even though we despise change, we are invited in the process of cultural evolution to embrace it. Maybe it is time that we stop resisting the change and see it as a step forward in our evolution toward Christ.  

Reformation Sunday

This coming Sunday, October 30, is Reformation Sunday. I know. It is just another Sunday in the liturgical calendar that is met with a resounding yawn in our congregations. Who in the world cares about a Reformation that took place in 16th century Europe? What does it matter to us? How does it ease our suffering, calm our pain, or meet our needs?

Perhaps Reformation Sunday is about more than a memory of something that happened long ago, however. Maybe it is an ongoing process, an unfolding evolution, a forest instead of trees. Maybe we can expand our vision and understanding in order to breath new meaning into Reformation Sunday.

The Great Reformation began around 1450, with the invention of the movable type printing press. By the time Martin Luther nailed 95 statements of disagreement with Roman Catholic theology to the doors of a cathedral, in 1517, the die had been cast. People were, for the first time, reading the Bible in the vernacular and would no longer fall for being told that the Bible said things that it simply did not. They were learning to read and interpret it for themselves. Information brought about change. It was change that those who were invested in the Roman Catholic Church despised. Those who protested saw the Reformation as a way out of oppression and into religious liberty.

The time was chaotic. It was upsetting. It shook the foundations of everything about which many were solidly convinced and permanently persuaded. After about a century, the Great Reformation settled into the uncomfortable distinction between Catholic and Protestant. In the Protestant world, denominationalism divided Christian practitioners into schools of arcane orthodoxy and sectarian practice. Some believed some things, while others believed otherwise.

Phyllis Tickle, in her fabulous book, The Great Emergence, saw in the Great Reformation an ongoing cycle of 500 year cataclysmic change. That is, every 500 years, culture had evolved into something other than it had been in the previous 500 years. Her point is, of course, that we are living in the transition of another of those 500 year transitions. We are again evolving, reforming, changing and moving.

The change is uncomfortable for those who have a stake in the configurations of the past 500 years. The term "uncomfortable" is an understatement. The change is uncomfortable like puberty was uncomfortable. The change is akin to having one's chair pulled out from under her or him. It is like building atop a foundation that has shifted, or perhaps one that has disappeared altogether. This next 500 year configuration will undo much of what we had been so completely certain. It will shake our very understandings of the world in which we live.

There is a road map for the transition, however. If we allow ourselves to identify those things of the past 500 year configuration out of which we are transitioning, then we can consciously contemplate their loss. If we can anticipate the new configurations that will shape the coming 500 years, then we can move in those directions. This is Reformation. It is being open to changing the foundations upon which we have relied to ones about which we are uncertain, but hopeful. Reformation is always a move onward from what has been to what is coming.

One additional point. I firmly believe that the cultural evolution in which we have found ourselves since the late 1960's is a positive move toward fulfillment of human spiritual life. The evolutionary process is bringing us nearer blessed, abundant, whole, and healthy human life. It is a step onward in the process of becoming one people under God.

This is Reformation Sunday. Bring it on!  

God Bless America

The most contentious Presidential election of our lifetimes is just days away. After the second Tuesday in November, the electorate will have spoken with its votes. The electoral college will have acted and a new President will have been elected. One might think that the election would signal an end to all the divisiveness and contention. But it may well not do so. The election may only be the beginning of the mess.

If the Obama presidency taught us anything, it might be that the kind of division that we have seen lately between parties, races, genders and economic castes in America can negatively affect the potential of any administration. It does not matter who the President is. If there are powerful segments of Congress and society who are against that President, for whatever reason, the presidency is hampered.

I mean to imply here that the United States is damaged in the divisiveness. It is not just the President who is negatively affected. It is the presidency. It is the Country. Those who are led to so narrow a definition of what it means to be a patriot that they can consider no options outside of their own purview entertain no right outside of their own. Disagreement is not tolerated. Differences are not appreciated, but seen as an attack on one's position. Diversity is not embraced. Those who think, believe, act or look differently are not "us." They are not right. They are wrong. They are bad.

If the American political system is to work, then Americans have to embrace diversity. We have to acknowledge together that no race, gender, economic or political stance, appearance, situation or love life is innately better than any other. Some will have to sacrifice their learned arrogance and positions of power and privilege. Some will have to learn to state their case for the needs of those who have been historically victimized by the systems under which we have lived. The system will not work in any other way.

Therefore, I pray that this election is the beginning of the end of all the vitriol, division, ridiculous and meaningless accusation, media hype, party bias, racial and gender inequality, economic injustice, prejudice and hate. I hope Congress will work effectively with whomever is elected. I hope that we will refer to the person who is elected as either Mr. or Mrs. President. I hope that we will show the incoming President greater respect than we showed Barak Obama. I hope that we will demonstrate a greater sense of our unity than we have over the past eight years.

The analysis of why the past eight years have become so contentious I will leave up to each of you. That is not my issue here. My firm belief is that it simply cannot continue if we are to be a thriving America. So, please, let this election mark an end of our hatred of anything other than our own opinion. Let history show that the period of divisiveness ended with one administration. Let it declare that America learned its lesson and turned itself around to a positive direction.

That miracle begins with each of us. Be conciliatory. Be gracious. Be accepting. Walk a mile in the moccasins of those with whom you might otherwise disagree. Say good and generous things, even when there might be options. Act in ways that build others up, even when we have to go out of our way in doing so. It is this attitude that built America, my friends. And it is this one that will allow us to become the country of our potential.

God Bless America!  

"antiChrist"

This is less a political statement as it is a spiritual one. However, I imagine the applications may be made in the realm of politics. You will decide and apply for yourselves, as you see fit.

President Obama claimed over the weekend that there are those in the opposing party who think of him as the "antiChrist." I found the term intriguing, especially given the current amount of divisiveness that we are experiencing this season. I thought the term might be an interesting one to examine. What is this "antiChrist?" From whence does the concept come, and how is it to be applied?

The concept of antiChrist comes from the world of apocalyptic literature. Not exclusively biblical in nature, apocalyptic literature promises that the world as we know it will, at some point, be destroyed and a new world, as an improvement to the one that was destroyed, would arise in its place. In biblical apocalyptic, which comprises much of the intertestamental period, between 300 bce and 70 ce, apocalyptic is the realm of an agent, called "Messiah." This Messiah was to usher in an age of ideal human existence, through the process of refinement and purification, where the dross is removed and the valuable fruitfulness of humanity is freed from its base confines.

The agent of apocalyptic destroys what is evil in order to allow the good of humanity to express itself, freely and without opposition. But there is opposition to the world of Messiah. There are those who benefit so greatly from the unjust and inequitable arrangement of the world that they oppose the purification process. They do not want change because they have benefited greatly from present configurations of power and privilege.

In the Christian world, we refer to the agent of apocalyptic with the title, "Christ." The apocalyptic transpires through him and by the actions of those who follow his lead in destroying the injustice, prejudice, greed and hatred of the present age. Those who cling to the systems of advantage, and who work to support those systems, we may then term "antiChrist." These persons wish to retain the evil of the present configuration in order to protect themselves and their interests.

The work of our apocalyptic agent, "Christ," can be defined as the ethical archetype of Crucifixion and Resurrection, where followers seek to embody sacrifice of self in order that others may be exalted. They humble themselves in order to serve others. They work for justice. They strive for equality. They work, tirelessly, for the benefit of all humankind, sacrificing their own benefit in the process.

The antiChrist seeks to protect hegemony, privilege, power advantage, unequal and unfair distributions of goods, position and social bias. The antiChrist cares for himself. (Here I use the male pronoun intentionally, not because all antiChrist characters are male, but because they have enjoyed positions of privilege and power in the current configuration.) The antiChrist sacrifices nothing.

How do apply this short lesson on antiChrist? I leave that up to you. You are very bright. Let me just say that the definition does not apply exclusively to the world of politics or economics. It applies also to relationships, personal and interpersonal. It applies to the ethos that we create in communities, congregations, domestic policies and foreign ones. It is a universal of the human condition.

The bottom line here is obvious, I hope. Human beings can live together in a qualitative condition that reflects the apocalyptic of Christ. We can also live in the social, cultural, interpersonal condition of the antiChrist. It is entirely up to us.So, whether or not we think of President Obama as the antiChrist is irrelevant. It matters whether or not we see ourselves as working for Christ's apocalyptic. It is a matter of choice. What role will we embrace? What title do we embody?

Spirituality or Politics?

The world of spirituality recognizes the presence of  divine spirit in all living things. That world leads to equality, justice and peace.

The world of politics recognizes that one side, one opinion, one set of values and one perspective is right. Any other is wrong. That world leads to divisiveness, degredation, sectarianism and segregation.

Pick in which world you choose to live. Then live in it.