Thanks, Mark Galli. Thanks, CT.
My tweet last night was simple (https://twitter.com/brianmclaren/status/1207851804249202688). After reading the Christianity Today editorial calling for Trump’s removal from office, I wrote, “Thank you, @markgalli and @CTmagazine. Thank you.” (https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2019/december-web-only/trump-should-be-removed-from-office.html)
[You can also view this post here: https://www.votecommongood.com/well-go-first-how-about-you/]
I grew up on the far, far right side of Evangelical. We were so conservative we thought Jerry Falwell and Billy Graham were too liberal. My life has been a long spiritual migration into a broader, deeper, and more generous faith. But I still cherish many gifts from my Evangelical upbringing. At that top of my gratitude list: a deep love for Jesus, a deep engagement with the Bible, and a belief that character counts.
That’s why I have felt particularly betrayed by Evangelical support for Donald Trump and his allies in recent years. Trump is, you could say, the anti-Jesus — living for pride, power, pleasure, and wealth rather than faith, hope, love, and wisdom. His policies can only be squared with Scripture through the most agonized contortions and intentional ignorance. And as for character … where to begin, apart from his 15,000-plus lie-count (https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/trump-claims-database/), his bragging about sexual assault and covering up a porn-star payoff, his general viciousness and self-aggrandizement, and his preference for white supremacists and dictators?
We all might wish that Christianity Today had spoken up earlier. (They did, in fact, at the last minute before the election, decry Trump.) They have no doubt had to count the cost, which will, I imagine, be high.
Thankfully, they counted the cost of not speaking up to be even higher.
The flagship magazine’s courage now invites an even more powerful expression of courage: courage among faithful Evangelical (and Post- ad Ex-vangelical) church members to speak out.
Way back in 2008, when I spoke out in favor of Barack Obama on social media, I received a steady stream of emails telling me that my courage in going public inspired many other Evangelicals, Mainline Protestants, and Roman Catholics to do the same. Nobody, it seems, wants to go first. But once someone goes first, it’s a little easier to go second, third, or fiftieth.
In 2018, when I teamed up with Vote Common Good, I heard the same message: fear about going first, and relief that some of us were speaking up and standing up to lead the way.
That’s what needs to happen now. If you’re an Evangelical, Mainline, or Roman Catholic Christian, we would like to invite you to follow CT’s lead. We’d like you to go first in your congregation. When you do, others will follow.
And, no doubt, some will criticize. But I've learned through experience that every criticism is an opportunity to clarify your message. That’s why we’ve prepared resources to help you do respond to any negative feedback both graciously and courageously. (https://www.votecommongood.com/the-six-commitments-of-common-good-communication/)
So, will you go next? And will you spread the word and invite others in as many churches as possible to join you?
If so, go here and we'll help you craft your message and get it out. It could take as little as five to ten minutes. Here's the link: https://www.votecommongood.com/go-first/
#WellGoFirst #GoFirstVCG #ChristiansAgainstTrump
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Help for your Christmas Shopping List
Here are some gifts that people on your list may enjoy.
The Galapagos Islands: A Spiritual Journey - available in softcover, print, and audiobook. Great for anybody on your list who loves travel, spirituality, and well-crafted writing. Links here.
Cory and the Seventh Story -- a beautifully illustrated book for kids and adults of all ages. There's a companion book for adults called The Seventh Story: Us, Them, and the End of Violence. Links here.
My New Kind of Christian trilogy - re-released in 2019 with a new foreword. You can buy the books singly or as a group, in print, ebook, or audio format. Links here.
And if you're really at the last minute, you can buy my short-ebook called Why Don't They Get It? (Overcoming Bias in Others - And Yourself). It's really inexpensive and a fast, relevant read. Download here.
Of course, you'll find lots of other books and resources on my site:
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Q & R: Spermless conception?
Here's the Q:
As christians are we expected to believe that Jesus was conceived without a sperm cell and egg cell fusion?
I have difficulty coming to terms with this biblical story.
Here's the R:
In my book We Make the Road by Walking (a great Christmas gift, by the way!), here's how I come to terms with this biblical story.
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Many of us today will suspect that Luke made up this story about Mary to echo Isaiah’s prophecy about a son being born to a virgin, just as he invented the story of Elizabeth conceiving in old age to echo the story of Sarah. It’s tempting to quickly assign both stories to the category of primitive, prescientific legend and be done with them. After all, both stories are, to scientific minds, simply impossible.
But what if that’s the point? What if their purpose is to challenge us to blur the line between what we think is possible and what we think is impossible? Could we ever come to a time when swords would be beaten into plowshares? When the predatory people in power—the lions—would lie down in peace with the vulnerable and the poor—the lambs? When God’s justice would flow like a river—to the lowest and most “god-forsaken” places on Earth? When the brokenhearted would be comforted and the poor would receive good news? If you think, Never—it’s impossible, then maybe you need to think again. Maybe it’s not too late for something beautiful to be born. Maybe it’s not too soon, either. Maybe the present moment is pregnant with possibilities we can’t see or even imagine.
In this light, the actual point of these pregnancy stories—however we interpret their factual status—is a challenge to us all: to dare to hope, like Elizabeth and Mary, that the seemingly impossible is possible. They challenge us to align our lives around the “impossible possibilities” hidden in this present, pregnant moment.
The image of a virgin birth has other meanings as well. The leaders of ancient empires typically presented themselves as divine-human hybrids with superpowers. Pharaohs and Caesars were “sons of gods.” In them, the violent power of the gods was fused with the violent power of humans to create superhuman superviolence—which allowed them to create superpower nations. But here is God gently inviting—not coercing—a young woman to produce a child who will be known not for his violence but for his kindness. This is a different kind of leader entirely—one who doesn’t rule with the masculine power of swords and spears, but with a mother’s sense of justice and compassion.
In Luke’s telling of the birth of Jesus, God aligns with the creative feminine power of womanhood rather than the violent masculine power of statehood. The doctrine of the virgin birth, it turns out, isn’t about bypassing sex but about subverting violence. The violent power of top-down patriarchy is subverted not by counterviolence but by the creative power of pregnancy. It is through what proud men have considered “the weaker sex” that God’s true power enters and changes the world. That, it turns out, is exactly what Mary understood the messenger to be saying:
God has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant…scattered the proud…brought down the powerful…lifted up the lowly…filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. (Luke 1:48, 51, 52, 53)
So Mary presents herself to the Holy Spirit to receive and cooperate with God’s creative power. She surrenders and receives, she nurtures and gives her all…because she dares to believe the impossible is possible. Her son Jesus will consistently model her self-surrender and receptivity to God, and he will consistently prefer the insightful kindness of motherhood to the violent blindness of statehood.
That’s what it means to be alive in the adventure of Jesus. We present ourselves to God—our bodies, our stories, our futures, our possibilities, even our limitations. “Here I am,” we say with Mary, “the Lord’s servant. Let it be with me according to your will.”
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What I Shared in Eden Prairie MN
What a pleasure to speak with Rozella Haydee White at Church Anew on the subject of CHANGE (ALMOST) EVERYTHING! Special thanks to the excellent hosts at St. Andrew's ELCA ...
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What I Shared in Holland MI
It's always a special pleasure to speak to high school students ...
0 Comments1 Minute