Imitatio Christi

A Conversion?

    Friedman has been a consistent source of disappointment in his response to the Iraq war, it's connections to terrorism in general, but he redeems himself a little today.  Check this out and let me know what you think.

Go Haile!!

    Two hours, four minutes, and twenty-six seconds.  I have never run one mile as fast as this guy averaged for twenty-six.  Go Haile Gebrselassie.

McCain on Faith

    I think these are the sorts of verbal contortions one gets into when religious folk want "religious candidates," but don't help sort out what that might mean and what the implications might be.  I can think of at least one Christian president who has been an unmitigated disaster.

Hypocrisy

    So, if MoveOn says a general has acted in a way that betrays the trust, it's above the pale, but if Faux News does, it's okay?

Song of the Day

    A timely reminder, from Eddie Vetter and Pearl Jam.  Check it out at YouTube, here.

Texas Leads the Country

Too often, though, in though, in the wrong direction.

SCHIP Veto

    In what has to be seen as the ultimate "win-win" (in the sense the dems win no matter what the repubs do on this), a large number of repubs voted against the SCHIP bill in effort to protect the president's veto.  Here, we have a program remarkably popular, surely consistent with God's command that we care for "the least of these," and yet, these folks in "god's own party" (small g intentional), are opposed.  Good title by Broder.  If you have connections with any of these pols, please contact them.

Quote of the Day

    And, Bono has it, here.  Can I get an amen?

Good Morning

    Hope you folks have been well!  Life has been a bit hectic the last couple of weeks and maybe for one more, but hope is on the horizon.  More to come.
Thanks for continuing to show up!!

The Idolatry of Nationalism

    Those of you who read my blog with some regularity know that this is a topic I have taken up from time to time.  Yesterday, I had the good fortune of visiting Ginghamsburg United Methodist, where Mike Slaughter is the senior pastor.  He introduced a series of sermons that he is calling "Christ Following: The Way of the Cross."  I found his introduction refreshing in it's honesty.  He said that his staff were referring to the series as the "church reduction series."  Why?  Well, because following Jesus is hard, and when faced with the naked difficulty of it, many simply choose "no longer to follow Jesus."
    Yesterday, he focused on the need to establish a "third way" that passed between the shallow "red state/blue state" distinction--one which took the Gospel seriously in all its depth.  I invite you to listen to the sermon here.  I commend to you these points.
    First, he observed that, just as we have our "pledge of allegiance" so also did the first century.  It was merely three words, but it accompanied many everyday interactions.  The pledge was "Caesar is Lord."  It was an affirmation that the ultimate power to which folks had to do obeisance was the power of the empire as embodied in its leader:  Caesar.  To miss this fact is to set oneself up to miss the profoundly political nature of the early church.  Seen in this light, the early Christians' affirmation that "Jesus is Lord" stands not merely as an abstract statement about my own internal piety, but rather as a profoundly political statement that undermines "empire" at its most basic affirmation.  Sadly, the church in the 21st century has made the Faustian bargain that places more trust in the power of Caesar than in the power of God.
    Second, he expressed concern for what I have often railed about myself:  the fact that churches are so subservient to the state that they fly the Christian flag below the American flag.  Or, when they are flown within the sanctuary, the American flag often occupies either the official or de facto position of authority.  If you doubt this, try taking the Christian flag out of your sanctuary and, then, after returning it, remove the American flag.  Which do you suppose will garner the largest outcry?  And, what does that tell us about American civil religion?
    Third, Slaughter does us a great service in reminding us that following Jesus is really not that easy.  When we follow the re-constructed Jesus that makes life comfortable for us, avoids challenging words, and eschews political involvement, life is easy. Oh, we might be criticized for having an "imaginary friend," but, seriously, who would even imagine this any kind of persecution.  No, persecution comes when we decide that our faith calls us to principled civil disobedience.  Let us recover the "untame Christ" who, though hardly safe, as Mr. Tumnus observed to Lucy, can be trusted because he is good.