intersections

Pray

What do you pray for?

As I was praying this morning and reflecting on the Psalms I read this from Psalm 20.

The Lord answer you in the day of trouble!
   The name of the God of Jacob protect you!
² May he send you help from the sanctuary,
   and give you support from Zion.
³ May he remember all your offerings,
   and regard with favour your burnt sacrifices.

May he grant you your heart’s desire,
   and fulfil all your plans.
⁵ May we shout for joy over your victory,
   and in the name of our God set up our banners.
May the Lord fulfil all your petitions.

Now I know that the Lord will help his anointed;
   he will answer him from his holy heaven
   with mighty victories by his right hand.
Some take pride in chariots, and some in horses,
   but our pride is in the name of the Lord our God.
They will collapse and fall,
   but we shall rise and stand upright.

⁶⁷⁸

I distinctly remember reading this Psalm on the morning of September 11, 2001 and it has been a favorite of mine ever since. But that's another story for another time...

This morning as I read this words I was reminded of another contemporary psalm, written and performed by one of the most authentic Christian singer-songwriters I've ever met, Kendall Payne. I hope she doesn't mind me including the song here...

Pray - by Kendall Payne

Below are the lyrics to this song.

I will pray for you now, for you have been my faithful friends
While the road we walk is difficult indeed
I couldn't not ask for more than what you've already been
Only that you would say these prayers for me
May your heart break enough that compassion enters in
May your strength all be spent upon the weak
All the castles and crowns you build and place upon your head
May they all fall, come crashing down around your feet
May you find every step to be harder than the last
So your character grows greater every stride
May your company be of human insignificance
May your weakness be your only source of pride
What you do unto others may it all be done to you
May you meet the One who made us
And see Him smile when life is through
May your blessings be many but not what you hoped they'd be
And when you look upon the broken
May mercy show you what you could not see
May you never be sure of any plans you desire
But you'd learn to trust the plan He has for you
May your passions be tried and tested in the holy fire
May you fight with all your life for what is true
I have prayed for you now all my dear and faithful friends
But what I wish is more than I could ever speak
As the way wanders on I'll long to see you once again
Until then, would you pray these prayers for me?
Oh, that you would pray for me.

L.A. Faith Leaders Support Muslim Center in NYC

Here's some of the press coverage of the interfaith event I was a part of in support of Cordoba House in NYC...

Interfaith Statement Supporting President Obama and Mayor Bloomberg on Religious Freedom | MPAC
We, the people who seek to preserve America's open society, following in the footsteps of the founders of our great nation, in order to form a more perfect pluralism, stand in solidarity to guarantee the right of Muslim Americans to build a house of worship like any other American, at any location according to local ordinances and U.S. law, principally the constitution of the United States which guarantees that there will not be an established religion in our nation and that all chttp://www.typepad.com/site/blogs/6a00d8341e80fc53ef00d8341e80fe53ef/post/composeitizens will be free to exercise their religion. [Read more...]

Southern Calif. interfaith coalition supports ground zero Muslim center | 89.3 KPCC

L.A. Faith Leaders Support Muslim Center in New York | LA Times
Standing near a poster that read, "An attack against one is an attack against all," about 30 representatives of various faiths gathered Friday outside a central Los Angeles mosque to announce their support for an Islamic center planned near ground zero in New York.

[snip]

Those assembled included representatives of the Catholic Church, various Jewish organizations, United Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Seventh-day Adventists, Quakers and a pastor from the First AME Church, among others. The Los Angeles-based Muslim Public Affairs Council released a statement in support of the Islamic center that was signed by 71 religious leaders in Southern California. [Read more...]

Interview with Jihad Turk & Rabbi Jonathan Klein | CNN

California interfaith leaders back 'ground zero' Islamic center | CNN

Solid thinking on the so-called "Ground Zero Mosque"

I was really pleased to see that a fellow Seventh-day Adventist and a man I greatly respect, James Standish, brought some clear thinking to bear on all the crazy controversy about the mosque being proposed for Lower Manhattan, near the site of the former World Trade Center, in a Washington Post "On Faith" piece entitled, "The great 'Ground Zero mosque' hoax."

I really hope this will get widely recirculated among the people in the pews of Seventh-day Adventist Churches because this represents solid Adventist reasoning on the subject. Here are some excerpts. Click here to read the whole thing!

Don't Give the Government Power to Ban our Houses of Worship

But there is a second disconnect. Americans have the right to build our houses of worship wherever we choose, as long as we lawfully purchase the land and build to code. Indeed, in 1998 the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act was passed to ensure this right is robustly protected. Do we really want to give the government the right to pick and choose which religions get to build where? Do we want Evangelicals banned from building new churches in neighborhoods where they are an unpopular minority? Do they want the majority to be able to decide where Mormon churches can be built, or Synagogues or Adventist Churches, or Catholic? We are all minorities somewhere in this country. Do we want the majority to be able to squelch our plans to build a house of worship?

Where is the fear of intrusive government when we need it? Where is the dedication to the First Freedom found in our Constitution when it really matters?

Stop Damaging American Security

The so called "Ground Zero" controversy has no doubt effectively raised the profile and filled the coffers of the politicians and advocacy organizations misleading the public. Scapegoating unpopular minorities is generally an effective way to gain power and influence. But it comes at a price. In this case, the price is not only the integrity and credibility of the individuals and organizations that raced to jump on this bandwagon. It is deeper and it is broader. This controversy has done much to stoke hatred against American Muslims at home and in the process, has made peaceful Muslims around the world doubt our commitment to equality and liberty. In so doing, these attacks on American Muslims gives fuel to violent Islamic radicals.

The politicians and NGOs that have stoked the "ground zero" mosque hoax should be seen for what they are - security charlatans. Their intolerance weakens our society and our allies, while strengthening our enemies.

Sojourners on Faith-Based Community Organizing

I was interviewed back in June for this Sojourners article by Daniel Duncan Collum, "Why Does Glenn Beck Hate Community Organizers?" (a question that the article never attempts to answer, except in the tagline.).

I appreciated the opportunity to share how community organizing has invigorated our ministry in Hollywood. Hope you enjoy it!

Why Does Glenn Beck Hate Community Organizers?

The Main Reason: They upend the power structure to give people at the bottom a better chance.

By Danny Duncan Collum

When Ryan Bell took over as pastor of Hollywood Adventist Church in California, it was a withering congregation with only about 50 active members. And, he says, “We had a homeless ministry we couldn’t afford and a debt that was about to kill the church.” Bell reluctantly closed the feeding program for the homeless but resolved to find a more practical way to address the issue.

Soon he discovered LA Voice, a congregation-based community organizing federation affiliated with the PICO (People Improving Communities through Organizing) National Network that was working to have the city create permanent supportive housing for the homeless in Hollywood.

The Adventist congregation threw itself into that effort, which succeeded against intense local opposition. After that experience, Bell told Sojourners, he went to the Voice organizer and said, ‘Where do we sign up to join?’” But the organizer told him that there had to be a committee of lay leaders involved. “I just groaned,” Bell remembers. “I thought, ‘That’ll never happen.’” But Hollywood Adventist is now an integral part of the LA Voice federation working for affordable housing.

Read the rest here

Injustice Cannot Defeat Injustice

This is an important video from my friends at the Muslim Public Affairs Council here in Los Angeles. I have the privilege to work alongside some of these leaders like Dr. Maher Hathout in some interfaith peacemaking initiatives. Have a look...

VIDEO - Viral Hope

Earlier this year a book that I contributed to was published by my friend, JR Woodward. This book was an Easter project in 2009. During the 50 days of Easter 50 authors wrote approximately 500 words each explaining what the Christian good news is about. The audience was our local city newspaper. In my case, I wrote for the LA Times. The results is a book called ViralHope: Good News from the Urbs to the Burbs (and Everything in Between). This book would be ideal for a devotional book or for a discussion group.

Above is a video that was recently created to promote the book, which you can buy on Amazon.com by clicking here. I also have some copies in my office to sell. Contact me directly if you're interested.

Summer Reading Group: Deep Church

Spectrum and the re-church network will together be hosting a summer reading group. We will be blogging our way through Deep Church by Jim Belcher. In this book, Belcher maps out, in a very accessible way, the critiques made of the traditional church by those in the emergent movement and the criticisms of the emergent movement that has ensued from the traditionalists in response. He attempts to articulate a third alternative between the two approaches to being and doing church. We are hoping that reading this book together will be a good way to come to a better understanding of the emergent movement, but also to thoughtfully discuss the important issues that are raised in it in the context of the Adventist community.

Meet me in Atlanta

I leave for Atlanta on Sunday, June 20 for the Innovative Impact conference and then the Adventist General Conference Session. Here's where I'll be. I'd love to meet you if I haven't have that chance yet.

June 20 - 22
Innovative Impact - on Monday evening there will be a screening of Stained Glass: Hollywood Blvd, after which I'll be speaking and fielding questions about the film and our church. Hope you can make it!

June 23 - 29
Find me at the "Big Tent Adventism" booth where I'll be helping out with Spectrum/Association of Adventist Forums and also promoting New Name Pictures. Come by and get a DVD of our latest work and learn more about New Name Pictures.

See you in Atlanta!

Faith for Justice

Today we launched our new PSA called Faith for Justice. This is a follow up piece to our first PSA, I'm a Social Justice Christian and broadens the issue to an interfaith conversation about the centrality of justice to our respective faiths.

Please watch the PSA, visit our website - www.faithforjustice.org - and pass the word along through email, Facebook and Twitter to as many people as possible.

Mass Mailing the Gospel?

The gospel is not mainly a 'good idea' and anytime we claim we can reduce it down to a pamphlet we end up...well, reducing it. But the gospel that Jesus lived, and then died for, is irreducible in that sense. It must be lived out in community. By claiming the gospel can be mass mailed we are weakening the power of the gospel in our time. I don't want to be a part of that.

The fact remains that Jesus calls us to get up off the couch and lay down our lives for people. If the gospel could be mass mailed, don't you think God would have avoided risking his "one and only Son"? The nature of the truth of God's good news required Jesus to be incarnate among us. Why would it be any different now?

In case you missed it, I posted an article with this title on the Spectrum Blog last week. The statement above is part of a comment I added today after quite a few commenters misunderstood my point.

Here's the piece in its entirety, but I'd encourage you to also join the conversation over at Spectrum.

-------------

This morning I received an email from Remnant Publications. I don't usually pay attention to these emails but this one really caught my eye. The subject line reads, "Evangelilsm [sic] by Mass Mailing." My first thought was, "This is a joke...an eye-grabbing headline to force me to look deeper only to discover the author of the email reminding us that, of course, we cannot do evangelism by mass mailing."

It did grab my eye, but when I looked deeper it quickly became clear the author is not jesting. The headline inside the email reads, "Hit the streets with soul-saving literature without leaving the comfort of your own home!" (See the email here)

The Grace of Not Knowing

Cross-posted on the Spectrum Blog/Spirituality section. Join the conversation there as well.

The Hollywood Adventist Church has had a slogan for the past 8 years which you can still see on our website. It reads, “Where God’s Spirit is given space to change lives.” This is the most significant piece of theology that I have ever encountered at a Seventh-day Adventist Church. This statement predates my ministry in Hollywood by 3 years and when I first read it I wondered, “Is this wishful thinking, or is this truly what this church believes and embodies?”

No church completely embodies its highest ideals for itself, but I have to say that this statement has profoundly shaped my congregation. It is the thing I love the most about Hollywood. However, structuring a congregation around this statement is no simple task. It is messy and unpredictable.

One of my favorite statements about the Spirit is in John 3:8 where Jesus says to Nicodemus,

The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.

The movement of the Spirit is a mystery. It is not linear, and therefore not predicable. In fact, the Spirit’s movements sometimes appear random, confusing and contradictory.

But we have been raised in a modern world that prizes predictability, control, and measurable outcomes. Pastors today are caught in the liminal space between a modern industrial worldview and the spiritual realities of leadership in a postmodern culture. There are very real expectations placed upon pastors and church leaders – solid Biblical exposition, spiritual guidance, programs that meet their needs and the needs of their families. Conference administrators expect the church to grow in membership and attendance through new baptisms and accessions to the faith, as well as financial growth and stability. These expectations are reasonable in most cases.

Yet, in a rapidly changing, post-Christian world, these expectations create an almost unbearable pressure and anxiety for church leaders. I know. I’ve felt this pressure with such intensity that it has nearly crushed me a time or two or three. Congregations and Conference administrators expect pastors to know what to do. But here’s the dirty little secret: we don’t know what to do! And we’re scared to admit to you that we don’t know what to do.

Huffington Post featured my article

Read the article here.