intersections

Al Tirah! Fear Not!

We are drowning in a culture of fear in America. The message coming daily from the cable news networks is, "Be afriad. Be very afraid!" Yes this is contrary to the a dominant biblical theme: "Fear not!" As my friend Sharon Brous, Rabbi of the IKAR community here in Los Angeles, says in this new video, the Torah is littered with command, "Al tirah," on God's lips. The opposite of fear, in scripture, is love. Instead of closing our hands in fear we are told to open our hands in generosity and compassion (See Deut. 15:7-10).

Jesus echos this long standing tradition when he says,"Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Luke 12:32). John, the beloved disciples of Jesus, toward the end of his life, penned these powerful words,

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

In this video, Sharon has reminded us that Jews - and Christians following in the same tradition - have a different vision and calling than others. Our lives should be a demonstration to the world that there is a better way - the way of generosity and love.

Perfect love casts out fear!

Fear not!

Al tirah!

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...

LA Voice on the cover of the LA Times

Prayer Rally for Health Care Reform tomorrow!

Tomorrow I have the privilege to speak at a prayer rally in Hollywood in support of health care reform. This event is being put on by LA Voice and our 25 member congregations. I and a few other clergy will pray and speak to the issue from a moral/faith perspective.

Members of our congregations will tell their personal health care stories and then two of our elected officials will speak: Congressman Xavier Becerra and Congresswoman Diane Watson. Ms. Watson represents the area when I live and where the Hollywood Adventist Church is located.

If you live in the area and are available at 10:00 am, please come to:

Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church
6657 Sunset Boulevard
Hollywood, CA 90028

If you want to learn more about PICO's work on behalf of health care reform visit: www.coverallfamilies.org

Also check out this short piece at NPR's news blog.

24: To watch or not to watch?

I've been watching the TV series, 24, since it started 6 years ago. But now, with season 7 starting in one week, and after hearing an increasing chorus of criticism that 24 amounts to "torture on TV," I'm wondering, should Christians be watching 24?

What does it mean to watch it? Is it necessarily an endorsement? What does it mean to not watch it? Also, in my possession, from Blockbuster.com, are two films I'm planning to watch this month: Paradise Now (seems like a good time to watch this) and Taxi to the Dark Side.

So, with one week to go before the start of season 7, I'm inviting you to weigh in. Do you plan to watch? Why or why not? Have you had a similar concern about 24?

Please leave your comments below and vote on the right sidebar.

Profile: Senate Chaplain Barry Black

In case you missed last week's profile of Senate Chaplain Barry Black on PBS's Religion & Ethics Newsweekly, you can watch it online (you need a high speed internet connection). You may know that Barry Black is the first African-American and the first Seventh-day Adventist to ever be the Senate Chaplain.

I am one who feels that military chaplaincy is inconsistent with the witness Christians should be giving about the gospel of peace. I also have very serious reservations about a Christian chaplain in the Senate.

However, all that being said, I was very impressed with this expose. It packs a lot in a small time frame, showing how he grew up in the housing projects and was raised in the church. I have no doubt that God is working through him in the Senate. The world is a complicated place and some are called to minister in some very unique places.

May God continue to bless you, Pastor Black!

A Tangible Example of Missional Engagement

I am so excited to share this YouTube video with you! This 6 minute video documents the recent events in the life of a small missional Adventist community in the community of Carnegie in Greater Pittsburgh. The pastor in this video, Andrew Clark, is a friend of mine and we pastored together in Pennsylvania for a short time before I moved to L.A. Later this year I'll be spending some time talking with these guys about their community's life and future, but as you can see from this video, they are well on their way.

Andrew writes:
As many of you know, we have been searching for a home for two years in the Pittsburgh Metro area.  Although we found a place to set up shop, our whole project in Pittsburgh hinged on small-town politics, and it did not look good for us.  So we asked our supporters to come to borough council and speak on our behalf to see if we could put the decision in God's hands through the voice of the community He has been speaking to through our mingling, sympathy and meeting needs. Not only did the community show up in droves, but they made a short film of it.  A friend of our makes commercials for Comcast and regularly films town meetings.  After the meeting, I asked him if he could turn a three-hour meeting into a 5 minute short to help our friends get the gist of what went down!  The result is a secular view of not only the meeting, but of Adventist Community Services Greater Pittsburgh.  The film has NO Adventists involved in the production, make-up, or action in the film, other than a few clips of what I said at council.  It is my desire to show our church that we can be the difference we want to see in our communities, and that at least in our small corner of Metro Pittsburgh where Adventism was unheard of two years ago and no Adventist has ever set foot in our community prior to our arrival; regardless, the community gets us, whether the traditional churches looking on do or not.  I hope films like this can bridge that gap.

Also, click here to read the article in the local paper (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) about this hearing. Way to go guys! You inspire us!

Intersections

As the title of my blog indicates, I am fascinated by the intersection of things that modern life has typically preferred to keep separate, like church and culture, religion and politics, faith and public life. So, I am naturally attracted to news stories and other media that highlight these amazing intersections. I believe these interesections represent opportunities for Christians to be aware of the the way God's reign is breaking into our world and cooperate with God's Spirit. The following are a number of articles I have discovered recently or were brought to my attention by friends.

STAUBLOG: Facing the Giants of Bad Art & Bad Theology
Dick Staub on living "in a culture that loves art but not Jesus and in a Christian sub-culture dominated by a Christianity that loves Jesus, but not good art."

The Barna Update - Has Faith Greatly Transformed Your Life?
Here, well known Christian researcher, George Barna, asks Christians whether faith as transformed their lives. He makes some observations that probalby serve to solidify many people's assumptions about liberal vs. conservative Christians. But what does Barna mean by "greatly transformed?" How would Barna's observations stack up against those made by Ron Sider in The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience? (Kudos to John Anthony for pointing out this article).

Speaking of Faith on Deciphering the Da Vinci Code
This is a weekly radio program put out by American Public Media, self-dubbed, public radio's conversation about religion, meaning, ethics, and ideas. You can subscribe to a free podcast. I have found this programm to be an amazing resource. This issue was a very thoughtful look at the issues behind the Da Vinci Code without obsessing about the novel/film directly.

God and Gays, from USA Today
A short piece on the recent struggles of some denominations to come to terms with the place of homosexuals in the church, especially the clergy. What of Adventist Churches that are explicitly welcoming? Can we even have an open conversation in our denomination about this? I have my doubts.

Is church passé?

Here's an article I've been wanting to write about since I first read it early last week. It ran on the front page of the LA Times under the headline, "God's Call Comes by Cell Phone." The opening line of the article reads as follows:

A recent national poll found just 17% of adults view the local church as essential for developing faith.

I was stunned by this statistic. (It turns out this research was done by Barna Group. You might find our more about this at Barna's website). I guess I shouldn't be so shocked. I'm always talking about how we live in a post-Christian society, but America has always been the bizzare exception. Christian faith is still a huge part of our culture (reduce and domesticated though it is).

So, if this survey is to be believed, the local church is diminishing in importance in people's lives. In it's place? You guessed it...technology! The kind of technology that makes it so simple for me to put this message on my website in a few minutes before I fall off to sleep. The same technology allows me to have a nice looking church website and even podcast my sermons. But it is not just the rise of technology that has contributed to the obsolescence of the local church. I think the local church is to blame as well.

Is the moral values debate shifting?

I'm not sure how much stock to place in this, but today's New York Times/CBS News poll (conducted May 4-8) reports that 50% of Americans believe the Democrats "come closer to sharing [their] moral values." That is compared to only 37% who believe the Republican's are closer to sharing their values. Maybe the big loser is the "Neither" category which only got 5%. This is an amazing change in American public opinion after the 2004 election just two-and-a-half years ago when all the news outlets were saying that religious values tipped the scales toward George W. Bush.

Is this merely a temporary reaction to all the scandals plauging the Republican party or is that people like Rabbi Michael Lerner, Rev. Jim Wallis, Sojourners, Call to Renewal and the Network of Spiritual Progressives are beginning to make an impact on the conversation. Could it be that the discussion of what "moral values" are is widening to include concern for the poor, immoral wars, foreign policy decisions, global warming and the enviroment, genocides around the world, HIV/AIDS, and other vital issues? I hardly dare hope....