Rich Stearns gets it right … about the Bible
Read his and Lamar Vest's take on how Christians have lost their way here. Quotable:
Despite the fact that God's heart for the poor is mentioned in some 2,100 verses of Scripture, many of us simply miss it. In a recent survey of adults in America conducted by Harris Interactive, although 80 percent of adults claimed to be familiar with the Bible -- the best-selling book in history -- 46 percent think the Bible offers the most teachings on heaven, hell, adultery, pride or jealousy. In fact, there are more teachings on poverty than on any of those topics.
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The best Christmas present you could give or receive this year?
Q: What do you give to the person who already has more than they need? (Or what do you put on your wish list when you have more than enough shirts and scarves already?)
A: A goat?
Well, sort of: Give them the gift of generosity.
That's why my wife and I are giving a number of people a goat for Christmas. Over the last few years, I've been honored to be part of an amazing project among the Batwa people in Burundi, which I've blogged about here and here. (If you have a minute, check these links out.)
To make a long story short, the Batwa are amazing people - great dancers and singers, potters and storytellers, incredibly courageous and resilient. But they are also among the worst-off people I've met anywhere, desperately poor, landless for centuries after having been displaced (much like Native Americans in North America), objects of prejudice, excluded socially and until very recently, politically too. Through an amazing story (which I need to share sometime), a group of these landless people were given land, from which they just reaped their first harvest (potatoes!).
You can read more about the Batwa of Matara here and see more beautiful pictures (read from the bottom up to get the story in sequence).
So ... here's what Grace and I are doing this year. We're giving a Christmas gift on behalf of some family members to the Batwa of Matara in the form of goats and cows. Well, we're not sending gift-wrapped goats and cows, but we're sending money to Claude Nikondeha of amahoro-africa.org, who is managing the Batwa project for Community for Burundi, so that goats, cows, and other farming resources can be purchased for them locally (which is good for the local economy).
We'll be making home-made cards that say, "A goat was given in your name to the Batwa of Matara," along with this link where they can learn more and spread the word:
http://communityforburundi.org/
If this idea makes sense to you, I'd be so grateful if you'd participate with us here.
A goat costs about $45 (they hope to give two to each family - a total of 56) and a cow costs $1250. You can make up a little card (you can easily pull photos from the site) and on Christmas morning, tell the story of why you've decided to give a goat or cow in their name. Somehow, I think this gift of necessities for others honors the birth of Jesus a lot more than giving luxuries to people who are already over-burdened with storing their excess luxuries. Maybe you could put GOAT or COW on your wish list?
Our little circle of online friends could easily meet this opportunity. And just think - it would save you hassling at the mall and giving people shirts and scarves they don't really need, because you could make this happen with a few clicks on our computer, right now, by going first here and then here.
Please consider this. I'll let you know what happens after the New Year.
More after the jump ...
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Pregnancy, birth, and a new kind of Christianity …
Because the image of pregnancy is so important in my upcoming book, a friend (thanks, BC!) suggested we invite the world's true experts on the subject to share their reflections. Some beautiful replies have already come in.
These thoughts seem especially relevant in the days leading up to Christmas, as we remember a very-pregnant Mary journeying to Bethlehem to give birth.
Kathi Warmelink offers this ...
In the end, it involved trust and surrender in order for the process to evolve and complete.
I remember 2 very contradictory and real thoughts going through my mind at 2 separate moments during the birth. The first was "I don't think I can do this!" The pain and overwhelming intensity of the contractions were more than I thought I could endure. But I did. My baby was born and then came my second thought, "I can't wait to do that again!" There is something so euphoric, so joy-filled, so completely indescribable about the work involved in bringing forth life and then being able to simply revel in that life.
She then tells the story of walking out of a church service when one-too-many pat answers was given, launching her into a time of questioning:
I became pregnant. Pregnant with a longing to understand what living out my faith really looked like. Pregnant with a longing for an holistic spiritual experience.
I began to devour information. Information on the life and culture of Jesus, on living intentionally, on social justice, on war, on resisting the empire and its culture, on interfaith dialogue, and on why these issues are so important to Jesus. And I began to realize, as Phylis Tickle describes it, a Great Emergence is taking place within the church, and why it must.
As I began to share some of these things, I found a new community that embraced an open conversation. I also met others who resisted this idea of a faith that evolves and ebbs as it grows and transforms. I kind of feel like I am continually going through periods that feel like labor - those times where I think, "I can't possibly do this anymore". The scrutiny is too hard. Being misunderstood is so painful. And then I find myself giving birth to this new idea, this new life, this new kind of Christianity. A Christianity that defines itself most by love, and less and less by having all the right answers. A Christianity where I am reminded that I, too, must hold my hands open in love, rather than clenched in defensiveness. I am finding that in all of life, the things that bring me the most joy, the most fulfillment, almost always follow a period of intense wrestling, soul searching, doubt, despair. Labor.
Amen, Kathi. (Please read her whole post here ...)
More responses to come in the days ahead.
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Countdown Day 55
Again: new statements (theses, propositions, answers) can inspire debate and bring us to a new state. But only new questions can inspire new conversations that can launch us on a new quest. (18)
From A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith (available February 9, 2010)
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Important links roundup …
My friend Tim Costello offers an update from Copenhagen ... a call for prayer and action.
There's a good conversation about Everything Must Change happening here ...
And you can hear my friend Kent Annan reading from his new book - a beautifully written debut called Following Jesus Through the Eye of the Needle (IVP) here.
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