intersections

Preaching at Crosswalk this Sabbath

This Sabbath I'll be preaching at Crosswalk Church in Redlands, California. My sermon will kick off Crosswalk's periodic "Crosswalk Goes to the Movies" series. I'm not sure that's what they call it, but you get the idea.

As you can tell from the image above, the film I'll be speaking about is The Corporation. This is a powerful film that I have seen three times now which talks about the way corporations act as individuals without accountability in our society and destroy not just people, but whole communities and the entire ecosystem. This is a film that has launched a movement.

I'll be using this film to open up a conversation about two things, basically:

1. How Christians must stand against this kind of corporate imperialism and be agents of justice for the poor that get trounced by this kind of "free-market fundamentalism" and
2. At a deeper level, how Christians have been scripted into a capitalist narrative that has become, in Tom Beaudoin's telling expression, a kind of "theocapitalism," and how the gospel is an invitation for all people (including Christians) to re-narrate our lives according to the good news of God's reign.

This is something I've been wanting to work on for a long time, so this has been good research and thinking for me. This is not the kind of preaching I do on a weekly basis, so I'm being stretched. If you're in town, come join us!

Barack Obama at LA Trade Tech College

This morning I volunteered at a Town Hall Meeting at LA Trade Technical College in downtown Los Angeles. It's the first time I've actually hear Senator Obama in person. It was just electric. All the opening speakers were invoking history and JFK and MLK and talking about a turning point in history. There were probably 1,500 people all together. Because it is a community college there was a heavy representation of young people. And I have to tell you, there were people of all kinds - every major ethnic group, all ages, professions, working class, students, women and men, teachers, hotel workers....

Truly inspiring!!!

Weimar College to Close in June

I just learned today from a friend that as of June 2008, Weimar College will be closing it's doors. The press release, dated yesterday - Jan 28, 2008 - begins...

After 30 years of training Seventh-day Adventist youth and young adults for lives of consecrated ministry, the Board of Directors of Weimar Institute of Health & Education voted to close the college program as of June 20, 2008. Taking fiscal responsibility, the difficult decision came after seeking various financial and ministries solutions for several years.

“We are not abandoning our goals for the educational aspect of our program. We are going to keep that an essential part of our mission. We have to get down to bedrock and develop a solid financial foundation. We must rebuild from the ground up,” says Bob Hancock, acting Chief Operating Officer and Board Chairman.

This is a significant announcement for me. One little known fact about me is that I actually graduated from Weimar College in 1994. That's right...I graduated from Weimar College! I began my college education at Pacific Union College. At the time I was a very conservative person - even legalistic. My early friends from PUC could tell you that I was "theologically obnoxious." On top of being very conservative, my grandparents were volunteers for Weimar's lifestyle program. They traveled the country and did NEWSTART seminars in churches - explaining Weimar's health principles, derived from scripture and the writings of Ellen G. White. As a result they had a desire for me to attend Weimar College.

When people find out that I was a student at Weimar they're usually very surprised. I've changed a lot since those days. We all change. But I am always grateful for the time I spent there. In fact, I had a major conversion experience while at Weimar. One of my theology teachers, who is know a colleague of mine here in Southern California Conference, was instrumental in teaching me about grace. I first experienced the freedom God offers in Christ while I student at Weimar.

It was a place I definitely outgrew. I never have been back since I left after graduation, but I have many fond memories and many of the relationships I formed there continue until this day. I guess Weimar College served a purpose in God's kingdom for a time and now there is some other purpose that will emerge.

God's peace to the leadership at Weimar as they discern God's future for that institution!

I'm heading to Washington, DC

I leave early tomorrow morning for Washington, DC where I will spend parts of three days (returning Friday) doing some research meetings with other PICO leaders around the country in our ongoing work for health care coverage for all children. Thursday morning I will hear Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi address the Families USA conference that we will be attending. We also have a variety of other research actions planned.

On Thursday afternoon I am one of three panelists discussing how we have shaped the moral arguments around S-CHIP expansion and reauthorization. I don't know any of the other panelists but it should be a good learning experience. As my good friend, Mireya keeps saying, this community organizing work keeps taking us out of our comfort zone and teaching us so much about ourselves as well as the work we're doing.

I hope to catch up with a few friends in the midst of a flurry of meetings. It will be a whirlwind trip, but I'm looking forward to the opportunities it will present.

Resolving Our Conflicts Before a Watching World

Our media ministry team put this video together to promote an upcoming seminar we're doing at Hollywood, in partnership with the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution. To learn more about the seminar and the details of schedule and registration, please visit the Hollywood Church website.

The thing that really excites me about this seminar is that it is a very practical outgrowth of our peace & justice commitments. Our prayers and work for peace must begin in our own relationships. How ironic it would be if while advocating for peace and justice in our neighborhoods and the war zones around the world, we would neglect the relational peace in our own homes and churches.

The operative phrase in the title above is, "before a watching world." The greatest evangelistic witness that congregations can give to the world is the quality of our lives together. How vital, then, that we learn to live generously, hospitably, and in peace with each other. If you're in the neighborhood, please consider joining us. It's a bit of a time commitment but I think you would be richly equipped for God's work in your life and in your world.

10 Ways Following Jesus Will Mess Up Your Life

For those of you interested in such things, my commentary on the Sabbath School Quarterly is now online at Spectrum's website. Though the Sabbath School Quarterly isn't a regular part of my life, I do enjoy writing these from time to time. Some of them have been very significant for me, like the one I did back in November 2004, entitled, "Civil Disobedience" (Daniel 6), which became a chapter in Peacemaking Remnant, a book published by the Adventist Peace Fellowship and edited by Doug Morgan.

As for would-be disciples....

In conversation with a friend many years ago, both of us wrestling with the issues of evangelism and discipleship in our respective churches, we wondered how this teaching of Jesus would go over in today’s church environment. The contemporary church, of which Adventism is a part, is very concerned—one could even say anxious—about numerical growth. Pastors will do almost anything, it seems, to make the teachings of Jesus palatable so that more people will join our churches.

My friend mused that, whereas we are prone to preach sermons like, “Ten Ways Being a Christian Will Improve Your Life,” Jesus was far more prone to preach sermons like, “Ten Ways Following Me Will Mess Up Your Life.” He repeatedly advised them to consider what Dietrich Bonhoeffer dubbed, “the cost of discipleship.” Why is it that we shy away from speaking clearly about this “cost?”

Instead of following Jesus’ example, the contemporary church has been so eager for converts that we have taught for generations that Jesus can fit in with your life and your plans. In fact, the church has even taught that Jesus’ purpose is to make your life work— to make you successful and happy. Yet I don’t find that anywhere in Scripture. To the contrary, those who came to Jesus with those expectations and conditions were discouraged from following him.

Read the whole thing here.

Peace Conference at La Sierra next Sabbath

Next Sabbath, January 26th, at La Sierra University, the Adventist Women for Peace will be holding their 2nd Annual Peace Conference. The title of the Conference is "Making Peace in Times of War: Adventist Responses to Violence."

I will be speaking at 1:30 pm if anyone wants to come out and support! My title is "Peace and Justice as Evangelism in Hollywood." I'll be talking a little bit about what we're doing in Hollywood in terms of Peace & Justice ministry, but the focus will be on why we're doing this. Hint: it's not a strategy to bring more people into the church. So what could it be? You'll have to come out and find out.

Also, my good friend, Ron Osborn, will be speaking at 4:25 and his topic is "In Praise of a Modest Patriotism." Should be exciting!

Click here to download the brochure with all the details. The one-day conference schedule is after the jump.

Hollywood Church awarded a $10,000 grant

Our church got some great news this week. In mid-October we submitted a 32-page grant application to the City of Los Angeles Board of Public Works. Every year the city gives out approximately $800,000 in 90 or so grants for community beautification projects being spearheaded by neighborhood groups, businesses and others (click here to learn more about the Community Beautification Grant).

Our project, called Crossroads @ HOLLYWOOD, is a public art mural that will go on the west facing wall of our property that overlooks the freeway. You can see in the picture below that the wall is currently an eyesore and a magnet for graffiti.

The idea for this project came from one of my church members, has been discussed around the church for more than a year and grew to this point in the context of one of our Missional Action Teams. This particular MAT was charged with the challenge of understanding and designing an experiment around the question, "How can we imagine ourselves as God’s missionary people sent to be the presence of Christ amidst the people in our neighborhood?" So, yes, this mural will beautify our wall and be a deterrent to graffiti. But it's real purpose is to foster conversations in the community about who we are, what we value and who we are hoping to become, as a community.

Because we are being funded, in part, by the City of Los Angeles, the mural cannot be explicity religious. This is a plus for us and really challenges our MAT to consider what it would mean to enter our community as listeners, looking for signs of God's kingdom and then using our wall as a "canvas" to paint the hope that our community has for its future and its role in the life of the people who live and work here. Rather than using our wall as a "billboard" to market our brand of religion and blare our message at people as they go buy, our dream is for the art that will grace this wall to be a genuinely public creation and a reflection of our shared life.

In order to facilitate this, the team will be running a series of design input workshops with a special focus on getting input and involvement from our Community Partners as well as the wider community. The artist - ManOne - will then take all that input and design a mural which will eventually be approved by the Department of Cultural Affairs and be painted on our wall by May of this year!

To see a rendering of how the wall will look when it is complete, please visit the About page on the Crossroads @ HOLLYWOOD website.

Cruciform Leadership

A wonderful friend and fellow laborer in God's field sent me this great quote today from H.M.S. Richards, Sr., under the title, "Keep At Your Work." (I'm not going to end it this for gender inclusiveness - you can translate on the fly!)

The Lord has given to every man his work. It is his business to do it and the devil's business to hinder him if he can. So surely as God has given you a work to do, Satan will try to hinder you. He may present other things more promising, He may allure you by worldly prospects, He may assault you with slander, torment you with false accusations, set you to work defending your character, employ pious persons to lie about you, editors to assail you, and excellent men to slander you. You may have Pilate and Herod, Annas and Caiaphas all combined against you, and Judas standing by ready to sell you for thirty pieces of silver; and you may wonder why all those things come upon you. Can you not see that the whole thing is brought about through the craft of the devil to draw you off from your work and hinder your obedience to God?

Keep about your work. Do not flinch because the lion roars; do not stop to stone the devil's dogs; do not fool away your time chasing the devil's rabbits. Do your work. Let liars lie, let sectarians quarrel, let corporations resolve, let editors publish, let the devil do his worst; but see to it that nothing hinders you from fulfilling the work that God has given you.

He has not sent you to make money. He has not commanded you to get rich. He has never bidden you to defend your character. He has not set you at work to contradict falsehood which Satan and his servants may start to peddle. If you do these things, you will do nothing else; you will be at work for yourself and not for the Lord.

Keep about your work. Let your AIM be as steady as a star. Let the world brawl and bubble. You may be assaulted, wronged, insulted, slandered, wounded and rejected; you may be abused by foes, forsaken by friends, and despised and rejected of men, but see to it with steadfast determination, with unfaltering zeal, that you pursue the great purpose of your life and object of your being, until at last you can say, 'I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do.'

I can't express how timely this quote is for me. This is the heart of cruciform leadership. Are we greater than our Master? Should we expect to be treated differently than he was?

Also, I think this is what it means to say that "we believe in the communion of the saints." Though Elder Richards has long since gone to his rest, awaiting the great resurrection, his ministry continues to speak to me, sitting under the weight of leadership in the urban jungle of Los Angeles. I'm sure Elder Richards could barely imagine the circumstances under which we do minstry today, but he at deeper level, he understood exactly. And today he has encouraged me to "keep at my work!"

Talking with Paul Rauschenbusch

This Sabbath afternoon I'll be attending a lunch and conversation with Paul Rauschenbusch, great-grandson of the famed Walter Rauschenbusch, the father of the "social gospel."

The is what Progressive Christians Uniting said in their press release about this book tour.

In 1908 Social Gospel pioneer Walter Rauschenbusch rocked the nation with a powerful treatise he called “Christianity and the Social Crisis.” The crisis then was  marked by falling wages and worsening conditions for working people, unrestrained greed at the top, child poverty, lack of access to health care, failing schools, and a bellicose U.S. foreign policy.

Serious Christians at the start of the 21st century confront many of these same social conditions—along with heightened concern about sustainability, persistent racism, AIDS, and the resurgent nuclear threat.

Now the great-grandson of Walter Rauschenbusch—Paul Raushenbush, associate dean for religious life at Princeton—has re-issued his ancestor’s original text along with brief new manifestos by such contemporary Christian luminaries as Cornel West,  Phyllis Trible, Tony Campolo, Joan Chittister, Stanley Hauerwas, James Forbes, and Jim Wallis.  Renowned philosopher Richard Rorty—another Walter Rauschenbusch descendant--contributes the final essay for the new book.

The new book is called Christianity and the Social Crisis in the 21st Century. While I have not yet started reading this book yet, I feel that I have been unconsciously influenced by Walter Rauschenbusch. I've been wanting to read this book and now the 100th anniversary of this amazing classic is republished with chapters from contemporary theologians and practioners.

So, needless to say, I'm really looking forward to the time spent with Paul Rauschenbusch. I wish I had had the time to read this book before the conversation, but alas, I've been delaying in savoring another book which I'll write about soon - Evangelism After Christendom.

If you're in the Southland and want to catch Paul Rauschenbusch, here's the scoop:

Thursday, January 17, at 7 p.m.
First Christian Church of Orange
1130 East Walnut Avenue
Orange, CA 92867

Friday, January 18, at 7 p.m.
Redlands United Church of Christ
168 Bellevue Avenue
Redlands, CA 92373

Sunday, January 20, 10:00 a.m.
All Saints Church Pasadena
132 North Euclid Avenue
Pasadena, CA 91101

If you want to attend the Sabbath afternoon meeting - originally designed for clergy and a little smaller and more informal, please email me directly. I can probably get you in. It's in Studio City.