I had the chance today to have breakfast with an old friend that I hadn't seen in several years.   Since the last time we saw each other, I have had two children and changed careers, and he had moved from California to Oregon to Colorado and back to California.  It was incredible to re-connect with a kindred spirit.  We had served together in ministry when he was a youth pastor and I was a volunteer in the youth group, and even joined a bowling league with our wives one summer.   When our paths diverged, it was hard.  I really loved him and his wife (and still do), but unfortunately in this world, we tend to live separate lives even when it would probably be better for us to live in close community (we can talk about that in another blog).  What I am really trying to get at is how cool and crazy it is that after several years (4+) and much change, we could pick-up right where we left off.  Intimately, communicating our hearts, our struggles, and our dreams.  It is also amazing how God has brought us down a similar path in discovering more about who Jesus is, what the church's mission is, and how to live out the Gospel.  We both have realized over the last several years that we had grown tired of "playing church", and so we are on a mission to change the way we do church.  We don't want to be a part of a religious social club, but instead want to be a part of a community that is focused on inspiring and equipping its participants to live for Christ out of their one uniqueness and giftedness with a vision to change the community within the church and without the church with a special focus on the marginalized and forgotten of our society. My old friend is a bi-vocational pastor with a shepherd's heart.  He works like everyone else in a part time job and is also a part time pastor.   He doesn't advertise to his co-workers that he is "a pastor", but somehow they know.  Here is an excerpt from an email that I sent him today after we met sharing my thoughts regarding our conversation and an anecdote from work that he shared with me:  

I was thinking about our conversation and a passage from the Bible came to mind.  There is a lot in this passage for us to chew on that directly applies to what we were talking about regarding what so good about the good news, especially for the marginalized and how should we respond to it.  I especially like the end where Jesus summarizes the response to John and then to him by the religious leaders. It is kind of like Jesus is saying, you can't win either way. I think the message to us is to learn to be authentic, to be ourselves.  When your co-worker friend says that you are more like a frat boy than a pastor, I would take that as a compliment.  Based on these verses,  I think Jesus was perceived as a frat boy, too. And I don't think that was just the religious folks' opinion.  His "sinner" friends enjoyed his company.  Who would most people like to hang out with, a religious pastor or a Christ following frat boy?  Perhaps, we need more Christ following frat boys running churches.  Clearly, Jesus figured out how to party and throw a good party without sinning.  Wouldn't it be cool if Church was more like a good frat party (where all sinners are welcome and encouraged to be authentically themselves) and less like a moral religious social club where "sinners" feel very condemned and uncomfortable and will probably leave before the "wine" is served.   Just a few thoughts -- peace out....check out the passage below....

Matthew 11:1-19

Jesus and John the Baptist

    ¹After Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee.^[a]

    ²When John heard in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples ³to ask him, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?"

    ⁴Jesus replied, "Go back and report to John what you hear and see: ⁵The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy^[b]are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. ⁶Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me."

    ⁷As John's disciples were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: "What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind? ⁸If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings' palaces. ⁹Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. ¹⁰This is the one about whom it is written:
   " 'I will send my messenger ahead of you,
      who will prepare your way before you.'^{[c] 11}I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. ¹²From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it. ¹³For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. ¹⁴And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come. ¹⁵He who has ears, let him hear.

    ¹⁶"To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others:
    ¹⁷" 'We played the flute for you,
      and you did not dance;
   we sang a dirge
      and you did not mourn.' ¹⁸For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon.' ¹⁹The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners." ' But wisdom is proved right by her actions."  

Our world seems to think so. Especially, the old USA.  There are countless "Wealth" seminars.   Endless books on how to get rich.  Plenty of get rich quick schemes. If you haven't seen one lately, stay up late one night and turn on the T.V.  There is an informercial or two just for you with a 30/60/90 day money back guarantee (results vary). Everyone wants to get their piece of the pie.  Donald Trump is everywhere.  "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" is a best seller.  Everyone wants to follow the Rich Dad's advice and we all resent our own poor dads.  Let's be honest, it would be nice to have a few million dollars in the bank.  However, what would it take to get it?  Would it be the classic story about the person who sold their soul to the Devil in order to have fame, wealth and/or power?  Or would it be just the sad but true story of spending our whole lives striving for wealth at the cost of our family, faith, and eternal future?

I don't want to propose an either/or here.   I think it is possible to be wealthy and be a Christian (more on this later). 

Jesus had a lot to say about this issue.  

He also said that you can't serve God and money.  Most of what he had to say seemed to indicate that the rich may have it good here on earth, but their prospects for eternity do not look so hot (no pun intended). Check out Jesus parables about the Rich Young Man and the Rich Man and Lazarus.  

The Bible in general has a lot to say about rich and poor.  Most of it seems to center around treatment of the poor by the rich and society as a whole.  Poor treatment of the poor is bad.  Looking out for the poor is good.  How do we apply the Bible's teaching on this to our lives? 

First, I think we need to re-define our definition of rich.  If you are able to read this blog, I would most likely define you as rich.  You may not think of yourself as rich.  In comparison to Bill Gates, you are not.  However, I read a staggering statistic recently that has revolutionized my definition of rich:  About half the people in the world live on less than $2 per day.  I don't know about you, but I can probably find that much money in the cushions of my couch.  

Second, in light of our new found wealth, what should we do now (this is the later that was mentioned earlier)?

Jesus did not say blessed are the war supporters.  He said blessed are the peacemakers.  Why are most American Evangelical Christians (AECs) war supporters, and against people speaking out against the war?

Why has the pop cultural understanding of AEC become religious right, conservative republican, anti-gay,
anti-abortion, anti-immoral, self righteous, haves who have forgotten the have nots.

AECs have substituted the American dream for for the way of Christ and the Kingdom of God.

And I am the first to admit that this is me. 

We have forgotten that Jesus was persecuted and killed at the request of the Religious Conservatives of His day and tortured and crucified by the occupying superpower of his day.

We have become Rome and the Pharisees all in one.

But there is hope.  

One of the Religious Conservatives of Jesus day came to see Jesus.

Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” (John 3:3 NIV)

I have realized that I need to be born again again. 

Not into an American Conservative Civil Christian Religion, but into the Kingdom of God.

A Kingdom not ruled by the power of its military and wealth, but by the crucified and resurrected King who rules by the power of love, justice, mercy, and grace. 

Peace in Christ's kingdom does not come through redemptive violence and preemptive wars, but through loving your enemy and praying for those who persecute you.

Jesus disarmed the powers of this world and the ruler of this earthly kingdom (Satan) not by killing, but by being killed.  Not only that, he willingly laid down his life, and he had the holy restraint necesssary  to not use his unlimited power to strike back at those who were inflicting the physical torture and verbal abuse. 

He practiced what he preached by praying for them and loving them by dying for them. 

We need to look to Jesus example of redemptive nonviolence and apply it to our current situation.

We need to reframe the debate from a war on terror to an advancing of God's kingdom on earth.

As Christians first and Americans second, we need to begin to look at the world from a global and eternal perspective  because God's Kingdom is borderless. 

It will not be easy for us to embrace the way of Christ in today's terror filled world.  We need to come up with new ideas on what it looks like to love our enemies and turn the other cheek in a world that is being turned upside down by radical religious people willing to do horrific things to fellow human beings. (there are radicals in all of the children of Abraham: Jew, Christian and Muslim). 

Grace and peace,

Jeff

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You Seinfeld fans will know what I'm talking about.  George realizes that all his instincts are wrong, and that is why his life is the way it is.  So he decides to do the exact opposite of what he would normally do.  As a result, things start to fall into place for him.  In his initial trial run as opposite George, he walks up to a beautiful woman and says something like, "I am bald, unemployed and live with my parents."  She smiles and shows keen interest.  So why am I telling you this. Well, its not just because I like Seinfeld. 

My last blog, "I want to be a loser" is an example of the opposite nature of the Kingdom of God. We are called to be part of an Opposite George kingdom. 

The first shall be last and the last shall be first.

Blessed are the poor for theirs is the Kingdom of God, but it is hard for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God.  

Lose your life to save it

I did not come to be served, but to serve

Servant Leadership

Turn the other cheek

Love your enemies

The King riding on a Donkey

The King born in a smelly manger

The King laying down his life for his subjects

Mercy -- not getting what you do deserve, pardon, clemency

Grace -- Getting what you don't deserve, unmerited favor