the drum|rob fairbanks

Conflict Stifles Mission

By Kayla

Spending four years here at Whitworth, I have witnesses a lot of confrontation regarding spiritual matters. Whether it be a discussion of salvation, the creation story or homosexuality, it’s hard for me to ignore the aggressive attitudes that many students take on. I also happen to be a biology major, which has a tendency to prompt conflict in Christian conversation.

When I think about the arguments that some students choose to partake in, I am reminded  of Jesus’ call to us found in the book of Matthew. When asked what the greatest commandment of the law is, Jesus replies ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. ’All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

While I do think that discussion is an important part in our walk with Christ, it can also become a cancer to our relationships. When it crosses the line from constructive to hurtful, I think its best for us to remember what is most important. When it comes right down to it, I think we all could stand to focus a little less on the miniscule differences of opinion present among our brothers and sisters in Christ and a little more on the most basic of calls: to love God and to love our neighbors. After all, what value do the little things have if we can’t first and foremost show love to God and to one another?

Finding Nemo in the Church

Anyone who has watched the movie “Finding Nemo” knows that clownfish live where? “In an anemonenene”. The symbiotic relationship between the clown fish and the anemone is truly beautiful. The fish constantly feeds on small invertebrates that potentially kill the anemone, and the anemone protects the clownfish with its stinging cells. If either of the two organisms is not present, the remaining one will struggle to survive and probably die.

 

A healthy church has a similar relationship between the sodalic and modalic structures. Examples of sodalic organizations are Youth for Christ and Campus Crusade, while most churches are examples of modalic structures; this is where people are primarily fed and grow in their faith. In simple terms, sodalic organizations bring many new converts into the church, while modalic structures nurture and develop these new converts into servants (which often results in sodalic servants). Do you see how this symbiotic mutualism is similar to the clown fish and the anemone? The modalics feed the sodalics and the sodalics feed the modalics. An example would be a small church that is also a Youth for Christ center. The YFC center would constantly be bringing new converts into the church and the church would reply by developing these converts and placing them in the YFC center. When both organisms are functioning together, life flourishes.  

 

However, in America this symbiotic relationship is rarely found. You see churches all over the place trying to function and draw people in on their own, and you see sodalic organizations converting people and then trying to “place” them in a church (which is similar to transplanting a killer whale into a mountain lake in many cases). Since these two categories in the church are not functioning together, both are struggling to survive on their own. It is similar to a clown fish trying to survive without the anemone; while the fish may survive, it will not be healthy and will constantly be attacked by its enemies. This is all because the clown fish is not living the symbiotic mutualism that God designed it to live in……. and the same is true about the church.

Suspended Space - Peter Rollins video

This is a helfpful and thought provoking little video.  I love Rollins' line, referring to the church, "I am not going to let anyone colonize the space...including myself."  I wish this were true of all churches in the west.

Suspended Space from Peter Rollins on Vimeo.

 What do you think of the concept of "suspended space?"

 

Ron Paul on Nation Building (HT - Eric Blauer)

I don't usually put a lot of political stuff on here, but I do post stuff that relates to peace and how to live lives of shalom.  Here is a quote at the first Republican debate from the "crazy" Ron Paul about the war in Afghanistan.

"[Bin Laden] wasn't caught in Afghanistan. Nation-building in Afghanistan and telling those people how to live and getting involved in running their country hardly had anything to do with finding the information where he was being held in a country that we give billions of dollars of foreign aid to, at the same time we are bombing that country."

"So it's the policy that is at fault. Not having the troops in Afghanistan wouldn't have hurt. We went to Afghanistan to get him, and he hasn't been there. Now that he's killed, boy, it is a wonderful time for this country now to reassess it, get the troops out of Afghanistan and end that war that hasn't helped us and hasn't helped anybody in the Middle East."

If you ask me, we need more "crazy" like this.

What do you think?  Do you think a protracted U.S. effort in Afghanistan has helped or hindered peace.  Now that Bin Laden is dead, is there warrant for the U.S. to stay?  Do you agree with Paul in his assertions that the U.S. is too preoccupied with "Nation Building?"

Matthew 5:9 (The Message) "You're blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That's when you discover who you really are, and your place in God's family.

Taking the Low Place - Pt 2

I posted yesterday a call to those who lead in the Body of Christ to seek the “low place.”   The magnificent portion of Schaeffer's book, No Little People, was our starting point.  He mentions in the book two reasons for moving to humility.  The first one is here. Today I want to share the second.

The second reason why we should not seek the larger place is that if we deliberately and egotistically lay hold on leadership, wanting the drums to beat and the trumpets to blow, then we are not qualified for Christian leadership. Why? Because we have forgotten that we are brothers and sisters in Christ with other Christians. I've said on occasion that there is only one good kind of fighter for Jesus Christ–the man who does not like to fight. The belligerent man is never the one to be belligerent for Jesus. And it is exactly the same with leadership. The Christian leader should be a quiet man of God who is extruded by God's grace into some place of leadership.

We all have egotistic pressures inside us. We may have substantial victories over them and we may grow, but we never completely escape them in this life. The pressure is always there deep in my heart and soul, needing to be faced with honesty. These pressures are evident in the smallest of things as well as the greatest... The temptation has nothing to do with size. It comes from a spirit, a mentality, inside of us. The person in leadership for leadership sake is returning to the way of the world…

Without pointing fingers, I just want to say that many who write on the Internet need to repent.  In the same attitude that many have while driving a car, (like it is an impenetrable castle, so I can act in ways that I would never act face-to-face) writing into a screen emboldens people to act in dishonorable and hyper-aggressive ways.  The style is dehumanizing in a sense.  If I don’t have to lock eyes with the other person, I can act like a remorseless “dick” all I want.  I have to admit that much of the polarizing that is currently happening in Christianity has come about by “would be” or even established personalities trying to body-slam people they don’t agree with.  It is as if the civil part of the their brains get turned off while typing. Why don't we treat each other with the same respect and diginty that we would if sitting down talking.  For leaders this really shouldn't be optional.

I read a book a year or two ago called, The Anatomy of Peace.  In the book the author talks about evaluating our actions from a "heart of peace" or a "heart of war."  It really isn't that complicated for reasonably self-aware people.  If you ask yourself this question (is this for war or peace?) when you are in an amped up situation, you can arrive at a fairly intuitive conclusion.  Choose peace!  Are you reactively trying to injure the other or are you seeking to bring shalom (peace).  Axiom: You can actually win the point and lose the moment.

I have always felt like treating people with dignity that is in line with the God stamp (the Imago Dei) they possess is one of the highest values we ought to be employing.

I love this line from the above passage:

"I've said on occasion that there is only one good kind of fighter for Jesus Christ–the man who does not like to fight." 

It seems that we have way too many fighter leaders.

Shalom

BTW - I told you that F Schaeff rocked a sweet chin beard.  I know, "That's so over..." 

Should Christians Support the Bombing of Libya?

My theology was shaken this week. Spending time in Thailand and India, I was able to walk through red light districts and peer into the eyes of women who had been shoved into the sex trade as young as 10 years old. Many American Christians love to preach a Christian gospel that promises happiness and health. How does our faith speak to such things?

via www.qideas.org

I have have been in an anti-war posture for some time now. There seem to be endless milatary engagements while our country literally goes bankrupt.  I have serious questions about our foreign policy theologically and econmically.

Here is a Q essay that attempts at an even handed view of our latest embroilment in Libya.

What do you think?

Picture of Christians and Muslims

Depicted in this photo, an image from an anonymous source on the ground in Egypt, is a team of Egyptian Christians forming a massive human shield to protect their Muslim countrymen as they prayed during the violent protests yesterday. Beauty amid the chaos.

via www.good.is

I think this is a wonderful (and hopeful) picture in the middle of profound chaos.

Finding Shalom in Today's World

 

In the Bible, the word shalom is usually translated into English as “peace.”  So when I think of shalom, peace is the first idea that comes to mind.  Although there are some rather bloody moments in the Bible, particularly in the Old Testament, I do believe that God wants His people to be peaceful, and he wants peace for them.  So when I think of God’s shalom, I usually tend to branch the idea out of peace.  In Jeremiah 29:1-7, God instructs His people to live among the people of Babylon.  He doesn’t want them to become like them; but he does ask them to live peacefully amongst them.  He tells them to plant gardens, build houses, and marry their sons and daughters.  These are not things people tend to do when they are in a state of war; on the contrary, these are things people do after the war, when peace reigns in the land and they are free to go about their lives once more.

 

I’m beginning to realize that tension is a major theme with God.  He wants us to live peacefully in the culture He places us in, but He also wants us to be separate and not actually be part of the culture.  That creates a major tension, and I really think it will look different in each individual life  It would be so much easier to just make a choice between living completely separate from culture or completely immersing in culture and ignoring God.  But that is not what we are called to do.  And now we have to figure out, each person for him or herself, what that will mean in their individual lives.

 

- Diana C.

 

Missionality and the GLBT Community

Andrew Marin, the primary blogger for Love Is an Orientation recently began a series of posts about his life in Boystown, Chicago's primary gay neighborhood. His organization, The Marin Foundation, tries to build bridges, break down stereotypes, and open up conversation between the Christian and GLBT (Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Trangender) communities. At the very center of his ministry is the recognition that the attractional model is doomed because of Christian's actions in the past, as well as the stereotypes of both communities created in our culture. We cannot expect to bring in to our churches today a group that has been the victim of countless attacks from within the church throughout our entire history. In his book UnChristian, David Kinnamen provides countless statistics and research on the perception of the church by outsiders. At the top of his list of negative perceptions of Christianity is that it is anti-homosexual, a view held by 91 percent of the participants in the survey described in his book. To be clear, this does not mean that 91 percent of Christians are actually anti-homosexual. Rather, it means that there is a tremendously strong preconception that the Church is actively against homosexuality. 

If we are to reach out to this specific community, we cannot do it without actively seeking to break down barriers and dispel stereotypes about ourselves as followers of Christ. Andrew Marin's approach of physically living in the midst of those who he is trying to reach right here in our own country, epitomizes just how challenging, but also rewarding being missional can be. In the second post of his series on living in Boystown, (http://www.loveisanorientation.com/2010/part-2-life-in-boystown/) Marin describes an encounter he had with a gay man on the bus. Marin was reading Come Be My Light, by Mother Teresa, when the man commented on his book, said he'd read it, and proceeded to start crying and tell Andrew about the book had helped him understand that even if he felt far from God, God was near to him. This sort of conversation does not happen by standing within the foyer of your church and waiting for somebody to come in. It happens by giving your own life incarnationally to whatever community God has in store for you.

Noah P.

 

Revelation and the Violent “Prize Fighting” Jesus

"In an interview several years ago for Relevant Magazine, Mark Driscoll (well known pastor
of Mars Hill in Seattle) said,

“In Revelation, Jesus is a prize-fighter with a tattoo down His leg, a sword in His hand and the commitment to make someone bleed. That is the guy I can worship. I cannot worship the hippie, diaper, halo Christ because I cannot worship a guy I can beat up.” (You can find the original interview here). 

I frankly have trouble understanding how a follower of Jesus could find himself unable to worship a guy he could “beat up” when he already crucified him"

via www.gregboyd.org

The like above is an interesting blog by author and friend, Greg Boyd. Greg is currently writing a book on nonviolent interpretations of Old Testament literature. He tackles the idea of whether we can interpret the book of Revelation in on violent way. He suggests that it is not only possible, but necessary.

This blog from Greg is well worth reading. Clip the link to read the rest of Greg's thoughts.  Let me know what you think.