Nov column

This is my November column in our monthly newsletter:

Disciples On the Journey with Jesus

Grace and peace to you my dear sisters and brothers in Christ. Even as we share "our" best ideas with one another, we must confess that it is only by the grace of God that we have been able to accomplish anything in this world. In heady times such as these, the attributes of humility and spiritual journeying are vital for we disciples. Otherwise we wind up tussling more over who is "right" and who is "wrong" than seeking together to know God in the world and to share Christ with the world.

As a church we have come through some difficult times. But as we look around us, we are seeing that this is not just happening at Fairlawn-West. Church after church is struggling with how to be a servant of Christ at a time when the world seems to ignore us more and more.

The scriptural stories of our ancestors are important for us! Time after time they found themselves losing their power and identity. They were confused. They were angry. But God continued to send messengers to them to keep them focused on his mission more than crying over their lost power. They never really did lose their identity. But they had been so used to the world around them reinforcing who they were that they lost their spiritual connection with God, who always did and always will tell them who they really are...the people of God, disciples of Jesus Christ, apostles to the world.

Listen...! Do you hear God speaking to us? In among all the clamoring voices of the world around us and all the noises of the world around us and all the insistent voices inside our own heads...do you hear the voice of God? God is telling us that the vital issues of our time are not terrorism or homosexuality* or abortion. God is telling us.... What is God telling us? How do we know as a community of faith how to listen, to discern, and then speak the will of God to the world? We are use to the secular western value of "having the right to speak my mind and make my vote". But in the body of Christ, the higher value is how to discern together what is the will of God and then to share that Good News with the world around us. And in the Bible they didn’t used a majority vote to make their communal decisions. They first found their spiritual center in God and then sought as a community of faith to flesh that out together. They were more focused on listening to and honoring God than having their rights as individuals. In fact Paul especially in Galatians talks about the freedom we have in Christ as we give up individual demands and prerogatives to serve God.

This congregation has struggled to learn how to listen, to discern and to grow in God's will. A concern I had five years ago during our financial campaign for our renovation was that it would reinforce the exact opposite values and behaviors than God was asking to have. That is, "building" up Fairlawn-West at the cost of building up the body of Christ. We have sought to recover from that temptation! It has not been easy. We have had growing and discerning spiritual leaders who have guided us on that journey. Some have paid personal sacrifices. Some found the price too high. Some are finding new vigor. And newer folks are feeling called by the clearer identity in Christ that we are communicating to the world around us.

Please pray for the church of Jesus Christ. Pray for all prophets and leaders who are called to serve God in a time when there is such turmoil and confusion. Pray that as a community of faith we can let go of all our supposed "needs" and be fully devoted to being a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Grace and peace,
David Loar, a brother in Christ

*If some folks among want to protect marriage, I would suggest outlawing divorce before they seek to keep gay and lesbian couples from honoring one another and God by blessing their loving commitments to one another. Next, I would suggest that they help develop spiritually deep ministries to guide all couples as they prepare for their marriage instead of spending so much time and money on wedding decorations, clothing, and receptions.

moral

The pontificators are speculating that "moral issues" were the determining factor in the presidential election. And it is being said that it is "Christians" moral issues that were critical. I would say that it was self-selected Christian moral issues that were the determining factor.

Throughout the Judeo-Christian scriptures poverty, hunger, and being hospitable to foreigners and the vulnerable (which includes those in prison) are the most prolific moral issues. It is what the Old Testament prophets rail against. It is what Jesus speaks to over and over again e.g. Matthew 25.

I object to the secular media and political commentators defining what are Christian moral issues. I would suggest that before any of them use that term they spend three months in the study of Christian scriptures. That would be respectful. Instead of taking someone else's word that "abortion and marriage of gay and lesian people" are the most important Christian (religious) moral issues facing us in the election. Especially when poverty is rising and hungry children and families without health care coverage are far more prolific.

after the election

What is the role of a disciple of Jesus Christ after the election? I see a lot of folks projecting personal things into the election result: "We won. You lost." "I can't stay in the U.S. with Bush as President." NPR even had an interview with a psychologist the other day because so many people are expressing depression in light of the result of the election.

"If God is for us, who can be against us?" I am one of those who strongly opposes the agenda of the Bush administration. But right now I feel no different than I did when Eugene McCarthy didn't get the Democractic nomination in 1968 and Hubert Humphrey lost to Richard Nixon in the election. And how I felt when George McGovern lost the election in 1972 to Richard Nixon. God still continues to find ways to keep on God's agenda! My mission is to live and serve that agenda more than anything else.

We are brothers and sisters in Christ, we who voted for John Kerry, we who voted for George Bush, we who voted for Ralph Nader, and we who didn't vote. No matter who is president, we share a common vision and mission in Jesus Christ. If we place in human leaders ultimate expectations or disappointments, then we have given up the mission of Jesus Christ...go make disciples in all the world.

We who live in Christ have a mission to the world. That does include the political and social agendas of our world, but they also transcend those agendas. For instance, what about Christians in Communist Soviet Union? They had a very different worldview and faith than the government that governed them. Yet, they continued on their mission, no matter what.

I am not insinuating that we are in a situation like the Soviet Union. The point is, our mission is the same on November 3 as it was on November 1. Feed the hungry. Visit the prisoners and the sick. Clothe the naked. Preach the Good News to the poor. Release for the captives. Liberation for the oppressed. Sight for the blind. To proclaim that the presence of Jesus Christ is the sign that God's kingdom/realm is coming now into our world. To go next door and around the world to invite others to be on the journey of discipleship. THAT'S what truly will change the world! No U.S. president nor any other world leader can do that!!!