social action

U2 and the Unfashionable Cross...

Richard Dahlstrom — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:58:20 -0700

It seems like everyone I know has been to, or is going to, hear u2 live in October. They're out on the west coast, doing a tour and so Christians between 20 and 40 are making the pilgrimage. Before I continue, I'll offer the caveat that I love u2. I just returned from running stairs and Bono was my companion because, after the 10th set of sprints it's true: I still haven't found what I'm looking for. Their music, lyrics, and leverging of fame for social good are all inspiring and exemplery. Still....

My concern resides in our age old tendency to reshape the gospel so that it matches our own personal ideals and passions. Right now social justice is fashionable. There's good reason for this, and it's a welcome swing of the pendulum from the old days, when missionaries would (at least according to missiological legend) hand out tape recorders, the Bible on tape, and tracts, before handing out food, "just in case someone perishes without knowing Christ." We've come a long way from that, but just as that was fashionable then, wells in Africa are fashionable now.

The risk we run, with any fashionable expression of the gospel, isn't that it becomes entirely untrue, but that it becomes a distortion. We might, for example, consider ourselves exemplary Christians because we have joined the One campaign, sponsor a child with World Vision, and skip lattes on Fridays, giving the money to economic development work in Africa instead. It's all cool, all popular, and has every risk of being cross-less, both in the sense that Jesus is moved from the center to the margins, AND in the sense that we've no practical expressions of self-denial. I'll explain both:

1. Jesus moved to the margins simply means that we take St. Francis word literally, to a fault. He's the guy who said, "preach always, use words only when necessary". I always want to add a third phrase to his timely remarks: "...and words will usually be necessary". This is because everything we do, we do supposedly as a means of heralding the arrival of a soon to come new government, with the new reign of a new king. How strange would it be to bring the ethics of the new king, and the blessings, but conspicuously, even intentionally ignore the CENTRALITY of that King's presence as the source of all hope. And yet this seems to happen all the time in the new and fashionable social gospel.

2. The cross lacking IN us means that we're running the risk of defining the outworking of the gospel in terms of things we'd do anyway. "Sure, I'll sponsor a child, buy fair trade coffee..." While that's great, and fits in well with U2's theology, what's missing is the reality that Jesus will also ask of each of us, in specific ways, acts of self-denial. Maybe our sexual ethic will need to change. Maybe he'll ask us to not just write a check, but move to Africa, or the inner-city, or South Dakota, and His calling doesn't align with our passions. Jesus said it pretty clearly: "unless you deny yourself and take up YOUR cross and follow, you can't be my disciple"

We like to talk about passion, justice, culture, relevance. It's the stuff, not only of Christian magazines and web-sites, but of billion dollar bands. But the cross? Other than the one's hanging around our necks, I fear it's fallen on hard times, both as a central message, and as an existential necessity for we who claim to be disciples.

That's all... except to say that Joshua Tree is still my favorite.

Write to congress and help abolish slavery today

Carrie Nye — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 10:32:57 -0700

Hi everyone,
This is just a quick blog to let you know about an opportunity International Justice Mission is providing right now. They have made it possible for anyone who would like to, to write to your member of Congress and urge them to pass the Child Protection Compact Act (click the ACT NOW link on the top right of the page). Taken directly from their website,

"The Child Protection Compact Act (HR 2737) builds on that successful model by authorizing the State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Office (G/TIP) to provide significant financial resources to develop functioning justice systems in selected countries, ensuring that the local police, courts and authorities can rescue children and bring traffickers to justice."

There have been a lot of great blogs on Conversant lately regarding this global issue of modern day slavery. I posted some statistics and things I've learned about slavery in previous posts, Brian Wurzell provided us with a great video of mini introductions to 3 organizations dedicated to ending slavery and Lisa Borden reminded us of how powerful prayer is in fighting slavery. There have been others as well. If you haven't done so already, I'd encourage you to read these posts and send a letter to your member of Congress today by clicking the link above.

-Carrie

The Plan

Kristin Ritzau — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:51:35 -0700

I don’t know a lot about Iran, but when my husband, who works for an international development organization, told me that Ahmadinejad won I said, “Well duh. Of course he did. It was rigged.” As tensions continued to rise today and more allegations are thrown around that it was indeed fraudulent, I couldn’t help but think of “the plan.” The plan is this ambiguous idea floating around that our lives should turn out in a certain fashion. I learned at a young age that plans can shift and change quickly and frequently, so I created my own plan – one that relied on my own two shoulders. This worked for maybe a second and then life happened and the metamorphosis kept going. I’m not sure what the plan is in Iran, but there is one and it is a plan that wants to be imposed on its people.

Everywhere you go there are plans, but in some places those plans are to just make it though the day alive. You know a person grew up in a privileged home when it is expected that she or he live a long, productive life. The life checklist keeps growing and finally when you’re 60-something you can kick up your heals and, as my father recently told me, watch your blood pressure come down and get some sleep thanks to retirement. For a lot of people that was their plan too, but now retirement is no longer a hop, skip or jump away; it’s a marathon.

When our hope is put in the plan we are set up for failure. The plan is not worth living for. I celebrated a birthday last week and as I inch closer to 30, I am amazed at each year and how it holds nothing close to what I thought it would. I celebrated with a heart to heart chat with one of my best friends talking about this very thing and then the conversation continued into the weekend with a group of friends over pizza. How did we all buy into this plan and what happens when you’re life looks so different from it?

For my best friend, it is that time to “start trying.” She wants to be a mom so badly, as do a handful of women around me. She is at the point where her doctors have started bringing up fertility meds, but in her wisdom she said this to me: “What if my body isn’t supposed to? Then should I make it with pills? That scares me.” People are constantly bombarding her with questions of when are you going to have kids? And it makes her want to cry because she’d have one in her arms right now if it was up to her plan. It certainly is not a fair world, but apparently with enough money, privilege, celebrity or political prowess our “plans” can become reality, whether that’s a rigged election or thousands upon thousands of dollars of fertility treatments. It’s scary that the reality that could materialize naturally is being sacrificed on the altar of “supposed to” or “I deserve this.”

For my husband and I the question has morphed over the years from “when to have kids,” to “if we want kids.” I get accused of being selfish, not ready, and I’m also learning to deal with my favorite 2 responses: “Oh you’re young!” and wave their hand like I will most certainly come to my senses one day. Or the silent look of disbelief and shock, “Really? You’d be such a good mom.” I might not even get a say in this plan one way or the other, but my hope ultimately is not in the plan. My hope lives deep inside of me in the inner core of my being. This life, no matter who you are, is not one of having your cake and eating it too, but it is a good life.

I hate that “good” can be used to describe chocolate cake and God. Sometimes we need new vocab words, but God is good and if God lives in us, then there is goodness and richness in our lives; however that version of good might be found in cancer, in a lost election, or in infertility. God’s goodness comes to us when we listen, and often it is when we are talking so loud to change the plan that we are miserable.

I imagine, as I have a heard a few times that Ahmadinejad likes to hear himself talk. I understand that fertility meds have brought a lot of unique little persons into the world. I believe in the goodness of God and that “the plan” will work out for good, but I feel like sometimes we make God’s job a lot harder than it has to be by playing God or thinking that God is not truly good. Our hope has materialized in a plan and not in God. And I am certainly guilty of this too. My desire to not have kids is definitely part of “my plan” right now and some days I am holding on tighter to my plan than I ought to. I had a plan for college, for my career, and for my wedding – they all changed and had imperfections everywhere, but they were all good things. It is great to have a plan. I love sticky notes and planners, but when that becomes the gospel truth – I have major issues.

My hope today is that as I enter another year of my life, my grip on the plan will loosen. My hope for Iran is that the people will find their voices and justice will be sought through a non-violent approach. My wish for my best friend is that she will get pregnant without pills and be able to hold a little person soon who will bring her more joy and more pain than she ever knew existed. And I truly pray that we all realize God’s plan for our lives looks nothing like anyone else’s. We are unique; we are special; we are loved and this plan has way more to do with who we are than what we do and sometimes that is the only plan we need to know.