intersections

How do we talk about family?

I am the pastor of an urban church in which a large percentage (I'm tempted to say the majority, but I can't be sure) are single and the vast majority either do not have children or have children who are married and have their own children. We have very few kids in our church. This is partly the consequence of being an urban church in a context in which the conventional wisdom is that it is bad/dangerous to raise children in the city.

In contrast to this, we are part of an amazing group of families in our neighborhood who have banded together to create a charter school for our children. The diversity among this group of families is mind-blowing and it has again reminded us that one of the crying needs in our community is befriending families in the process of being a family and especially raising children.

But the minute I start thinking about how our congregation might engage the community in a conversation about children and families, I am deeply aware of how co-opted this language is in Christianity. The very fact that I am a Christian (and a pastor at that) talking about family is deeply suspect. So, my question is this:

In a culture in which the language of children and families has been coopted by the Religious Right, how can a Christian church talk with the community about raising healthy children and healthy families?

A corollary for you to think about is this: If you have children (or even if you don't but might some day), what are the top 3-5 values you would like your children to embrace?

Working for Peace & Justice in the World

Today found me at the weekly meeting of Interfaith Communities United for Peace & Justice. This is an organization that was founding following 9/11 here in Los Angeles to be a voice for peace. I've been watching from a distance for a while and today I finally went. It was a really uplifting experience. Here were 40 men and women, most Christian, but some Muslim and Jews, who weren't just talking about peace and justice, they were working to advance peace as a way of being in the world.

I had a chance to share with some of those I met today that the Adventist Church is, historically speaking, one of the peace churches, though you would hardly know it anymore.

The picture here shows the speaker (right), Dan Wakefield, who just published the book, The Hijacking of Jesus. Haven't read it but he was a well-informed speaker. To his right is George Regas, who was for many years the pastor of All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, CA. You may recall that church was on the IRS radar some time ago and I wrote about it on this blog - here.

Also at this meeting was the Rev. James Lawson (click on his name to read his short bio on Wikipedia), who worked along side Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and has been active in the civil rights movment ever since. Lawson was a student at the Divinity School at Vanderbilt University where my friend Sherman Haywood Cox II is a student, and has just been invited to return to Vanderbilt as a professor (good news for you, Sherman!). You can read a short piece about his history with Vanderbilt here. It's a story of redemption.

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....

Meeting Rabbi Lerner

Yesterday I had the privilege of hearing Rabbi Michael Lerner speak to a small group that gathered at a bookstore in West Hollywood. There may have been 20 of us packed into this small space. He spoke passionately about his book and the Network for Spiritual Progressives for nearly an hour. As he signed my book I told him I was a pastor in Hollywood and we spoke about ways in which Adventists have a natural affinity to the things he's talking about, separation of church and state, anti-militarism, peace, a society characterized by love and generosity rather than fear and control. I'm going to be blogging chapter by chapter through the Left Hand of God, so if you want, you can read along with me and comment and share what you're learning. Come on...you know you want to!

I also saw a documentary film that I've been really anxious to watch - Eugene Jarecki's, "Why We Fight". It was really outstanding. In LA it's playing on Sunset in West Hollywood, Pasadena and Santa Monica. If you're outside a major metropolitan area you probably can't find a theater that is showing it. But when it comes out of DVD you need to see this. I'll be writing more about this film in the near future.

 

Left Hand of God book review

Just below, on Feb 17, I wrote about a new book I'm reading. It just came out at the beginning of February. Anyway, in this morning's Book Review section of the LA Times was this great review by Rev. Ed Bacon, rector of All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, California. This is the same All Saints Church that made the news back in November. I blogged about it here. I write more about my time at the book signing tomorrow night so check back.