Notes From Jon

I have been amazed at the amount of hatred and sniping that has been seen this week. I suppose I shouldn’t be.  But I am amazed anyway, and sickened.

It’s hard to put political feelings aside, I realize.  But I recognize that I’m part of a greater citizenship than that of a particular political party.  I’m a citizen of a heavenly kingdom first, and of a great nation second.  I think most of us recognize that.

So again, it’s amazing to me to see people already plotting our new President’s demise, after only three days in office.  I see them everywhere – CNN, Fox News, OpEds in papers, religious forums… even on Facebook.  There are, of course, the continued gripes about his policies – whether real or only imagined.  And then there are the petty jabs about something he said or did that was awkward… as if, just like our previous presidents, Mr. Obama is not a real human being who makes mistakes from time to time.

Is it possible that seeds of anger and division are already being sown, when the soil is only newly plowed?

I don’t suffer from the “savior delusion” many are claiming.  I’m as skeptical as many of you.  Barack Obama is not Jesus – he won’t be able to fix all our problems.  This side of heaven, no one is going to be able to fix all the ills that plague humanity.

But whether John McCain, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Al Franken or even Fred Thompson had become president this week, I have concerns that are greater than any awkwardness those people might present in their first days in office.  In fact, a bit of awkwardness might be expected… if nearly anyone stepped into the most powerful office in the world without a bit of awkwardness, I’d be worried.

No matter who you voted for, Barack Obama is our president in a historic and crucial time for our nation.  In the midst of several great crises – economic, energy, environmental, and international relations to name a few – how can someone root for our elected leader to fail, and thereby allow our nation to slide into even worse condition than it already is?  Just because they hold a personal dislike for someone?  Because they want someone they “like” to swoop in and “save” us all instead?

Many imply it, but only Rush Limbaugh has been brave enough to actually say it so far: “I hope he fails.”  Granted, Mr. Limbaugh can say something like that, since he has millions of dollars and his reputation is already secure.

Perhaps Mr. Limbaugh is not governed by certain “Laws” and “Policies” that affect me as a Christ Follower.  Didn’t Jesus say to love and to pray for our enemies (Matt. 5 to for a start)?  Didn’t Paul urge us to respect and pray for our leaders and authorities (1 Tim. 4, Romans 13)?  Is there anywhere in the Scriptures where bitterness and discord are encouraged?

This is the time to support our president in prayer and in action, and work for the good of our country.  It’s the season to sow seeds of encouragement and unity, to work together to nurture the ideals that have made this nation great.  It’s time to look carefully and critically at the policies and practices of a new president, not his dance moves or his verbal stumbles.

The seeds we sow now will be reaped later.  What kinds of seeds are we sowing in these crucial days?

Mealtimes at the Parks home have gotten significantly crazier in the last couple of years.  As the girls have grown older and are no longer strapped in to their seats, and as they have learned how to express their culinary likes and dislikes, dinner is more chaotic and unpredictable than ever before.

One thing is predictable, however.  Each day, we can count on the struggle over what will be eaten, and how much of it.  You see, for my daughters, mealtimes are a means to an end – all that chicken, rice, veggies, bread, fruit… all that’s just an appetizer for the main course:  DESSERT.  And the question is nearly always raised:  Just how much do I have to eat before I get a dessert?

The typical conversation goes something like this:

“Mama, can I have a treat now?”

“No, not yet.  You still have to eat your carrots.”

“ALL my carrots?”

“Yes, all your carrots.”

Then they’ll piddle around and play, and then two or three minutes later, you hear again,

“Mama, can I have a treat now?”

“Have you eaten your carrots?”

“ALL my carrots?”

“Yes ALL your carrots.”

And on and on and on it goes until the realization finally sinks in – “I’m not going to get the good stuff unless I eat what they’re telling me to eat.” Read the rest of this entry »

This sermon was actually delivered on November 23, 2008 – the last Sunday before Advent began.  Now that I’ve resumed the series on Romans, I am putting this sermon up as well, which actually covers just the first verse of Romans 12.  It also includes a summary of what’s come before – a good way to get re-oriented to where Paul has been and where he’s going.

Introduction: A Change in Tone

Today’s text marks a changing point in our walk through Romans.  A very important couple of words at the very beginning of today’s passage signal that something different is coming.

“Therefore… in view of God’s mercy” – in light of all that has come before

“I appeal to you” – Here’s what we should do about what we’ve heard Read the rest of this entry »

If we want to make a name for ourselves, if we want people to respect what we have to say, let it not be because we were the first person to cast stones.

As our newly sworn-in President Obama said in his inauguration speech: “Know that… people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy.”

Is separate really better? I’ve been talking lately with some Christian people who sincerely believe it’s best to separate ourselves from the culture at large.  This is nothing new, nor is it completely unexpected.  As Christians we create a subculture that mimics and replaces mainstream.  One could be completely immersed in a totally-Christian world – reading only Christian books, hearing only Christian music, watching only Christian television and movies.  If you try hard enough, you could even eat only foods that are produced and prepared by Christians.

As an example, the cries for a mass “exodus” from the public schools is louder now than ever… if you have doubts, visit www.exodusmandate.org.  They have posted a video making a startling comparison.  The video tells the story of Dunkirk, a town on the French coast.  In 1940, at the height of WWII, more than 300,000 Allied troops were trapped in Dunkirk as the German Nazi army closed in.  Rather than allow their capture, an event that might have been a death knell for the Allied cause, French and British civilians gathered 860 boats of various sizes – from fishing boats to pleasure yachts – and ferried the soldiers to safety in Britain.

The founders of the Exodus Movement compare Christian children in today’s public schools to those troops at the village of Dunkirk – besieged by enemies who seek their utter destruction.  The best course of action, the movement claims, is a grassroots effort, much like the improvised armada of Dunkirk, that pulls all Christian children to “safety,” whether it be in Christian schools or to homeshool environments.

There is a constant tightrope for us as Christians.  We are called to be “in the world but not of the world,” a phrase we hear often that is actually drawn from Jesus’ prayer for his disciples in John 17:14-15.  It is a tightrope we constantly walk, and admittedly most of us (myself included) have trouble with one side or the other – that is, we are either too much “of” the world, or we are not enough “in” it.

I would say the trend of Evangelical Christians today is toward the latter.  I can certainly understand this point of view.  In a world that grows increasingly hostile to the Christian faith (at least, to the Christian faith that keeps its substance), it’s easy to put up our defenses.  To avoid the sin that is so prevalent around us, it is easier to separate than to resist.  And so we build our own little cocoon, piece by piece.  We surround ourselves with all things Christian – books, movies, music, church friends.  And as we make our exodus from the public arena, we seal off the cocoon at last.  We’re safe.

Problem is, when we are in the cocoon, we don’t have any way to influence the world outside the cocoon.

Isn’t this what the concepts of “epiphany” and “incarnation” are all about?  Jesus could easily have appeared as a fully-grown man, walked up to the cross and died.  For that matter, he could have found a quicker, less painful and humiliating way to die.  You and I understand this idea, too – we call it efficiency.

But that’s not what happened, is it?  Instead, Jesus took the inefficient route – he really came to be “in” the world.  Born in the messy business of childbirth, surrounded by cattle and dung.  Learning and practicing the all-too-mundane carpenter’s trade as he grew into a man.  Sleeping under the stars, a homeless man wandering from town to town with his band of friends.  Spending the great majority of his time not holed up in the courts of the temple or surrounded by the holy-rollers, but out in the streets, with beggars, prostitutes and thieves. Attending weddings, telling jokes, breaking down in tears because he’d lost a good friend…

It doesn’t sound like Jesus kept himself in a cocoon.  In fact, the holy people of the day accused Jesus of leaning toward the “of the world” bit they were so afraid of!  If there was any Dunkirk-ery going on, it was not geographic or social in nature, but spiritual.  Rather than Jesus being an allegory of Dunkirk, Dunkirk is an allegory of Jesus – who rowed in, got his hands wet, and pulled us from the water that meant certain death for us otherwise.

Jesus was in the world – he pitched his tent, but he didn’t build a permanent home.  He touched the world, but didn’t hold on too tightly.  He listened to the world, but he remembered and reminded us of the story that is beyond the world.  He enjoyed the world and its God-given pleasures, but he regarded them as shadows of the true pleasures that awaited beyond this world.  He took the world in, but he didn’t let the world take him over.  It was only by walking this balance – not efficient, but definitely effective – that Jesus was able to touch so many lives so deeply while he was here that his story is still being spread today.

Jesus is our role model in all things – so why not in this?

How must our cocooning seem to those who really need rescuing from danger?  Think how it must look to people outside the cocoon. We’re saying “come join us! Things are better in here. Just give up all the fun stuff and then we’ll talk.”  Why would anyone want to be a part of that?  No wonder people treat most Christians with distance at best, contempt and loathing at worst.

All of this ranting doesn’t make the fine line any bigger:  It’s still a tough road to walk.  But with Jesus leading the way, the path becomes clearer with every step.  We may not like where it leads us at times, but one glance at Jesus in Gethsemane reminds us that Jesus didn’t always like it either.  We may face ridicule sometimes.  We might even be persecuted, though we’re a long way yet from that.  We might even have to (*GASP*) enjoy the things of the world and enjoy them discerningly.  We might have to resist temptation rather than always run from it.

That path might not be as efficient and clean.  But it comes a lot closer to effectively following Jesus than the cocoon ever will.

I don’t know about you, but when I think of “New Year’s Resolution,” I think of failure.  We talk about them a lot at New Year’s time, but the rest of the year, the resolution has become an emblem for well-intended but failed plans.

If we realize – as all of us must certainly realize – that most Resolutions are doomed to fail, why do we keep making them?  Each year, about this time a few days after the New Year, I remember that I forgot to make a resolution.  Then I make a resolution to make a resolution sometime in the next few days.  Want to take a guess how well that has come out in the past?

Behind the idea of a New Year Resolution lies a deep desire.  Each of us longs for something new – we long for something to be different.  Life gets stale after a time, and we begin to lose hope that things can be different.  Our sins overwhelm us; our sorrows seem too great for us to bear; the brokenness of the world around us seems never-ending; we are flooded daily with the news of the wrongs others do.  In sum, sometimes you and I get fed up with ourselves and others – our complacency, our laziness, our loneliness, our unfulfilled dreams.

So New Year’s Resolutions aren’t just a self-improvement itch.  They represent our hope that something can be different, that something can be new. Read the rest of this entry »