On the Pastor's Desk...

Tuesday, June 5, 2007 
 
On my desk now is a long-sought father's day card. It took me much longer to find a card for my father than I expected. It was incredibly difficult to find a card that said anything nice. It seemed that every other card spoke of couches and remote controls. There were a surprising number of cards detailing fatherly flatulence. One whole line of cards spoke of the pseudo-wisdom of Dads along the lines of “Hey is for horses,” and “I had to walk up-hill both ways barefoot in the snow…” 
 
"How we love and respect fathers." At least that was my first thought. Then I wondered – how would a father even a hundred years ago respond if he was given a card to encapsulate everything that was thought about him and it pictured him as lazy, foolish, and disgusting? No one makes these cards thinking they won’t be bought, that being bought they won’t be given, that being given they won’t be received in such a way that doesn’t cause an uproar. 
 
If these are the fathers’ day cards being produced, and a son looking for a different kind of card has to spend an hour looking for one at several different stores, then how can we conclude anything other than that fathers have brought it on themselves? And if this is the world's view of "Father," then how can we show them what we really mean when we call God "Father," that He provides for our every need, that He cares for us, protects us, loves us, and is always there to help us back up when we fall? 

March 31, 2006

On my desk right now is a book entitled Paul and the Jews by A. Andrew Das.  Everything I have read by Andrew Das has been fascinating.  So far, this book has been no exception.  Stay tuned here for more thoughts...

April 3, 2006

IIn my CD player right now is the album Mockingbird by Derek Webb.  I really enjoyed his first solo album, She Must and Shall Go Free, a wonderful album themed around the Church of God being both holy and sinful, but with the grace of Christ triumphing over every sin.  This new album focuses on the church and American politics.  It is another interesting offering from Derek Webb, but missing the Gospel, the forgiveness, of She Must and Shall Go Free. Webb raises good questions for a church more and more focused on earthly politics; however, I was disappointed to see him take a stand that seems to oppose the state's right to wield the sword (Romans 13:1-17).The song I am referencing is "My Enemies Are Men Like Me."  In the chorus, he sings,  "i will protest the sword if it’s not wielded well / my enemies are men like me."  And as far as that goes, I do not have a problem.  Truly, Christians have a civic responsibility to speak about the morality of war.  Not every war is just.  If the sword is "not wielded well," then protest may well be the appropriate response.  It is as the song goes on that my problem arises.  In the second verse, he sings, "peace by way of war is like purity by way of fornication / it’s like telling someone murder is wrong / and then showing them by way of execution." Now, hearing that I do not see how the state could wield the sword in any way that would please Derek Webb. It would take more words than I'll put here to give a full response to pacifism, other than to point out a few relevant Bible verses.  There are several New Testament encounters between Jesus or His Apostles and soldiers.
  Never do they insist or even recommend giving up the occupation of soldier.  When John the Baptist is asked point-blank what soldiers should do, he tells them to be content with their wages and not engage in extortion (Luke 3:14).  If there was no distinction between murder and execution, then why would Jesus, John, and the Apostles not make this clear?  If the sword cannot be wielded well, then how could the Epistle to the Hebrews praise Old Testament warriors like Gideon, Barak, Jephthah, and Samson (Hebrews 11:32)?As for the rest of the album, it has some of Webb's classic challenges to American Christianity, like in "Rich Young Ruler," and "A King and a Kingdom," and "A New Law."  The last has the chorus, "i want a new law /  i want a new law / gimme that new law."  And in response, I find myself saying, "i need to hear the law / but Derek, give me some Gospel, too!" After all the critiques Mockingbird offers the church, I'm left wanting even more the good news I  heard in songs like "Lover" from his first album: "but go on and take my picture, go on and make me up / I’ll still be your defender, you’ll be my missing son / and I’ll send out an army just to bring you back to me / because regardless of your brother’s lies you will be set free"
 

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