Pastors Gone Wild

Today, another pastor, a supporter of Obama and speaking in Obama's Chicago congregation, was outed on Youtube. (I tried linking to two different sites with no luck. Go to Youtube and search for Michael Pfleger.) He said some extremely nasty (to say the least) things about Hillary Clinton to the cheers of the congregation.

Pastors making "political" speeches dressed up as sermons is nothing new. For the last 20 years or so it's been the religious right causing the most controversy from the pulpit. But the progressive left hasn't been out of the loop at all, just under the radar.

But this stuff, on the heals of the often profound and at the same time unbelievably bombastic comments of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, leaves me as a pastor shaking my head in frustration, sorrow, and a bit of anger. Where in the Gospel does Jesus ever call us to make racist, hate-filled comments about another, be that person male, female, white, black, olive, or purple? Where in the Gospel does Jesus ever call us, as preachers, to arrogantly suggest that we have it right and the world has it wrong? Where in the Gospel does Jesus ever call us to applaud the racist, bombastic speeches of some of our preachers? Why do we sit there and take it? Jesus calls us to love our enemies, even our oppressors, not to ridicule them and resort to their tactics.

Yes, the Gospel has profound implications for politics, the environment, life, work, suffering, and so on. But the Gospel is about a subversive Kingdom that transforms society and life by the power of grace, not through racial mudslinging. The Gospel doesn't endorse one candidate over another. The Gospel does not endorse riling up the crowd around bigoted rhetoric. The Gospel calls us to go back into the world as servants of grace--empowering us with grace to free the oppressed, point the sinner to a forgiving Christ, to accept the unacceptable, to pray for our candidates, even those with whom we disagree, and to vote for the person whom we feel most represents what we believe will make a great leader.

The Gospel is about Jesus and his kingdom. It's not about Clinton, or Obama or McCain. The Gospel will certainly inform my voting decisions. But the pulpit is no place for candidate bashing or even candidate endorsing. The pulpit is a place for people to hear the call of Jesus to live by grace.

(It's never a good idea for the church to get into bed with a particular candidate. In the end it leaves us naked and ashamed. It's one thing for an individual Christian to support a candidate. It's another for a congregation or denomination to publicly endorse someone. It robs us of the opportunity to speak grace when the candidate moves into un-graceful policies, actions, etc.)

One political observer suggests it may be time for all the candidates to distance themselves from the church and get on with the election. If the church is sidelined, it's not the fault of the "world." We are doing it to ourselves through pastors and congregations who have mixed-up political rhetoric for the Gospel.

And--by the way--Barak Obama is not responsible for the comments of this latest pastor. I appreciate the fact that he and John McCain stepped up and condemned such non-Christian remarks.

Pastors--it's time we get wild about Jesus again!

Groaning for Grace

This past Sunday we did something different (at least for us) during worship. Rather than having a sermon, we interspersed worship songs with times of prayer--focused specifically on five areas: The natural disasters of the last few weeks (tornadoes, cyclones, earthquakes, fires); Violence/War/Oppression; Poverty/hunger/homelessness; Racial tension; and our own day to day stuff.

It was a powerful reminder of a world that, as Paul puts it in Romans 8, groans for grace. So often we think only of individual suffering, but all of creation groans and sighs under the weight of brokenness, waiting for the day when God will resurrect and recreate not only our bodies but this world he still loves.

It's also a reminder that grace isn't simply about saving souls. It's about bringing hope and healing to all facets of creation, whether through fighting against unjust systems, teaching people new skills to care for themselves, practicing environmentally-friendly living, or through forgiving our enemies.

Grace is for all who groan under the weight of suffering. It is global and personal.

It's always been there in the Bible, from Romans 8 to Genesis 1 to John 3:16, but speaking for myself, for much of my life, I've missed the global perspective of grace. Thank God his grace patiently opened my eyes. By his grace I'm honored to be a part of a congregation that personally cares about the global groans and wants to respond with grace.

Mid-Life Blues Revisited

Back in January I wrote that I had started my old-man/turning 50 physical. At that time I discovered that my cholesterol was a bit high, as was my blood sugar. So I immediately put myself on a low-glycemic diet.

Today I met with the doctor after another round of blood tests. The results: Cholesterol--in January--206. Today--173! (That oatmeal stuff works wonders!) Blood sugar--in January--109. Today--99.

I think I'll go out and get a Big Mac and a Dairy Queen Triple Chocolate Utopia with Chocolate ice cream to celebrate!

Return to Narnia

Jan and I saw the new Narnia film yesterday--Prince Caspian. The movie was awesome. Well worth seeing. Visually beautiful. Well-paced. A good story-line. And, for those with eyes to see (a theme in the movie), great connections with the story of Jesus. I highly recommend it.