About a month ago I offered a book review of Tending to Eden: Environmental Stewardship for God’s People by Scott Sabin.  Scott is the Executive director of Plant with Purpose.

Plant With Purpose is an international environmental organization that transforms lives in rural areas where poverty is caused by deforestation. For over 25 years, Plant With Purpose has provided lasting solutions to heal the relationship between people and their environment by planting trees, revitalizing farms, and offering loans to create economic opportunity.

Yesterday, I had the chance to actually interview Scott and ask him a few questions about the book.  Besides providing an overview of Plant with Purpose and the book, Tending to Eden, we spend some talking about the devastation in Haiti, one of the places where they serve, the vicious cycle of poverty and environmental degradation, and the relationship between creation care and the gospel.  The whole interview (~ 22 mins.) is worth the selection of the book that Scott reads toward the end.

If you’re reading this in a feed reader and don’t see the audio player, click through to see it.

Use THIS LINK to see others who wil be participating in the blog tour today, to find out more about Plant with Purpose, and to purchase the book.  If you buy the book through the Amazon link on this page, a portion of the proceeds will directly benefit the rural poor.

Yesterday – Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Today – the inauguration of Barack Obama as the first African-American President of the United States, are two big days.

Especially as a citizen of Memphis, where Dr. King was assassinated, the importance of all he stood for comes powerfully home.  Memphis is in many ways a broken and hurting city.  Racial division (if not tension) remains thick.  Systems and structures which perpetuate generational poverty and crime continue to plague us.  And the dominant expression of church here in the mid-south seems unable or unwilling to powerfully engage this sort of brokenness.  Memphis is a city desperate for the good news of God’s Kingdom breaking forth into the world.

I caught a glimmer of this hope the other day as I was remembering King’s famous, “Paul’s Letter to American Christians” and came across this quote (from that sermon) on one of the walls of the downtown YMCA where I workout…

Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.

I am happy to stand with those who are excited about the progress we have made as a country, evidenced in our election of a black President.  I am even happy to stand with those inspired by the hope that this new President and administration aim to offer to a nation that has lost its way in war, economic crisis, and poor international reputation.  Yet I long for more.

Yesterday we celebrated a man and his legacy of striving for racial reconciliation, care for the poor, and justice for all.  Today we celebrate the dawn of a new era for our country, an era (perhaps) to be marked by change for the better.

But I long for the day that only God can bring about, a day when all our human striving and labor will be tested as with fire.  The chaff of our striving will be burned away and the precious stones of our striving will be even further refined.  On 2 days when it is so easy for me to get caught up in the acclaim of two good men, one who had a dream and another who represents, in part, the evidence of that dream coming to pass, I pause to remember the supremacy of the one man, who, at the height of his glory, was abandoned by all as he hung on a cross and proclaimed, “It is finished.”

I am certainly no expert on Israeli-Palestinian relations or the fighting that has been going on between them for so long.  I do know that it has gotten worse recently and I am sure that the future holds only more of the same.  I also know that, as with all conflict, people tend to support one side over another based on whatever criteria they deem to be most important.  Whatever the case, it is an easy decision for me to support these folks, the Shiministim, Israeli’s (teenage) conscientious objectors who are being imprisoned for their refusal to serve in the military.  Check it out in more detail here and see if you feel compelled, as I was, to sign and send the letter to have them released.

My church community has been participating in Advent Conspiracy.  The response has been great and I am really proud to be part of a community that has been so willing to embrace a new take on the Christmas season by shifting our focus in some key areas, especially keeping in mind the poor and oppressed here in Memphis and around the world.

While the Christmas-specific dimension of Advent Conspiracy has been a beautiful thing, it’s my sincere hope that our community (and the numerous others that participated) will carry the spirit of the movement forward, that we’ll maintain our enthusiasm to change the way we live our lives all year round so that we are always seeking to change the lives of others.  In general, one of the best ways we can help others around the world (not to mention ourselves) is to simply consume less.  We think we need way more than we do and we have become accustomed to a lifestyle of excess.  We need to live simpler lives.  But, over and above this, when it comes to making purchases that are just a part of life, we would do well to consider how we can make these purchases in responsible ways.

I have mentioned Better World Books before, but I just came across this video which speaks of their new partnership with Invisible Children and was reminded of just how great an organization they are.  Please, if you need to buy books, forget Amazon and look to Better World Books.  You might even think about taking up some donations of books!

I am really proud to be part of a church that is participating in Advent Conspiracy this holiday season.  We have been talking and praying as a community about rethinking gift giving, generosity, and remembering the poor.  Here’s a short promo video for the movement.

And here’s something a few folks from Living Hope put together for our community.

I may not have voted, but that doesn’t detract in the least from my enthusiasm over this.

Leaving this afternoon for Miami along with some other friends for the CCDA conference.  I have been looking forward to this conference for quite some time and plan on blogging and twittering some of my thoughts and experiences through the week as I am able.

There is a Facebook group if you are intereted in joining.

Tomorrow I’ll be in a workshop that has to do with creating urban/suburban partnerships and here’s a list of the speakers for the week.

Caught this over on my friend Julia’s blog.  The same friend who had “until the last lock breaks” tattooed on her arm.  A few years ago I was completely unaware of this global injustice, but my present awareness changes virtually everything about how I understand and seek to live out the good news of God’s Kingdom in the world.

I was in California this past weekend.  I was most excited to see my family and friends as well as to remind myself of just how awesome LA is.  However, I was also set to appear in court to handle an outstanding matter.

I first left Pasadena in the summer of 2006.  I left a car in the hands of my house church and asked them to find someone down on their luck who could use it.  They did, and I was thrilled.  Until about a year later when it came to my attention that I was receiving parking tickets on the donated car.  I spoke with the person who assured me that they would rectify the situation immediately.  This past February I flew out to California and was mortified to find out that the recipient of this car had not in fact rectified the situation and had amassed nearly $5,000 worth of parking tickets in my name.  Again, I spoke with this individual – this time in person – and again they promised me that they would do what was necessary to make things right.  A few months went by – still nothing.  So, I was forced to file a small claims court case, which was scheduled for yesterday in Pasadena.

As I guessed, although this person was served with court papers, they did not show up for the court date.  I explained the situation to the judge and he found in my favor.  Translation, “Yes, she owes you the money for the tickets.  Have fun collecting!”

I have not paid for these tickets yet and I am going to try a few other avenues, but the matter remains largely unresolved.

This is not unlike when I came home to Ohio to discover that renters had done $15,000 worth of damage to my home.  There was a judgment in my favor there as well, but I haven’t (and don’t presume I ever will) see a cent.

In all honesty, I am not complaining, just sharing.  I am not really sure exactly what to feel.  It would be easy to play the victim, I mean in reality I suppose I am, but I’d rather not settle for that.  I am trying my best to push through the frustration and financial hardship and ask myself, “What evil must have been done to a person to bring them to a point where they act like this?”  Certainly we all bear responsibility for our actions, but I do not count myself among those who feel people simply act evil impulsively.  I think we act out evil because some sort of evil has been done to us.

So, while not merely excusing the actions of these folks, I am really trying to sympathize with their situation and ask for justice – not just for me, but for them.

Oh yeah, I had my car in the shop while I was away to the tune of $500 in repairs for stuff and then I wrecked it this afternoon when I decided to drive through a ditch and into a fence rather than up the rear end of the lady who slammed on her brakes at the last minute to make a left turn she didn’t signal for.  Evil abounds!  (Yes, I’m fine)

** I almost hesitate to use the word “evil” to describe this sort of stuff – there are far worse travesties and situations in the world that are far more deserving of the title, but hopefully you get my drift.

On Sunday I went with some friends to see The Kingdom at our local dollar theater.  I thought so much of it, that I invited some other friends and went back to see it last night.

This was an awesome movie.  Not only shot, directed, and acted well, but an incredibly eye-opening (though certainly not meant to be a non-fiction) film regarding the conflict in the Middle East.  The 5-minute introduction alone, a brief history of the relationship between the US and Saudi Arabia (The Kingdom) was worth the price of the movie.

As I walked out with my friends last night and we were talking about the movie, I lamented that so much of the fighting in this war has to do with 2 competing ideologies, both predicated on the notion that victory will come through the violent elimination of their enemies. 

But, to quote a contemporary prophetic voice, “Peace by way of war is like purity by way of fornication.”  Violence ONLY EVER begets more violence.   I have no definitive answers to some of the very real problems and dilemmas that we face in this war, but I have put all my hope and have put all my trust in the way of Jesus, the way of non-violent resistance, prophetic action and speaking, and sacrificial living unto death. 

These are God’s means of peace in the world. 

As soon as you can check out this movie.  Here’s a trailer.

Thanks to my good friend and esteemed colleague Deb Flagg, I am on a email list with Evangelicals for Social Action. In an email I received the other day, they offered a short article by Stephen Hayner entitled, “The Story of the Missional Church.” It is a very concise article focused on the relationship between church history and the emergence of what we are calling the missional church and well worth your time if you’re interested in missional church stuff. It’s here.

Corrie, a friend of mine, said something once that has stuck with me. “One of the most meaningful moments in my life was when I realized that being a Christian isn’t about making God a part of my life, but becoming a part of God’s life.” But, as evidenced by the picture above (taken today in my home town), Corrie’s sentiment is not universally shared.

The vast majority of my Christian experience has taught me that at the end of the day, what matters most is my personal relationship with Jesus. This, I have been taught, ought to be the core of my identity as a human being.

I no longer believe this, and I was happy to come across a recent sermon by Rob Bell where he articulates the alternative I have come to embrace.

(Speaking of Rob Bell, I just thought I would add to the blog buzz in saying that I don’t believe Rob – or Brian McLaren or Doug Pagitt for that matter – to be a heretic. But, for largely the same reasons as Bob, I am not going to wink either).

You can listen to Rob’s message at the bottom (43 min.), or visit the Mars Hill site directly. However, for those short on time, I will summarize below.

Rob is taking a look at Matthew 23:23-24 and its OT background and trying to make the point that much like the Pharisees of Jesus’ day, many of us boil Christianity down to personal piety and morality – the “me and Jesus” mentality. Rob goes on to explain that it’s not that personal piety and morality are unimportant, far from it, but that the Pharisees, and many today, neglect what Jesus calls, “the more important matters of the law.” Namely, justice (living equitably), mercy (showing kindness to those in need) and faithfulness (personally and corporately showing the world what God is like).

I would say, therefore, that in terms of what it means to be a disciple and as far as what my identity as a human being ought to be rooted in – what is most essential is my incorporation into the life of a community which is seeking to do justice, show mercy, and live faithfully. Personal morality and piety have their place in relation to this vision, but only secondarily. To get them out of order is not to get it 1/2 right, but to misconstrue both. This is one more way to begin rediscovering that salvation is not something we either have or don’t have, but is a lived reality, something we participate in with God to greater or lesser extents.

OK, I know that I have been absent here for a long time and trust me, I have like a thousand things to update everyone on, but I just had to post this clip from a story I heard about this morning.  A student was arrested and tasered by police at a speech that John Kerry was giving simply for asking good questions.  If this is what is allowed to happed to people who are asking good political questions can you imagine what might happen if the church actually started taking stands against rampant national injustice, violence, and evil??  On so many levels, this should make us all very, very nervous (not to mention outraged).[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=IATPoHdpak0[/youtube]

2 things compel me to take a stab at a post bearing this title.

First, the other day I was listening to a message being given by a Bible teacher that I have a tremendous amount of respect for. He was seeking to share with his congregation a version of the gospel which weds the ideas of salvation and what we often refer to as social justice – things like ensuring people have access to clean drinking water, fighting the war on aids, and addressing local and international poverty. He was talking about the unfortunate reality that the church in large measure has abdicated responsibility for caring about issues like this in favor of a gnostic version (my expression not his, but the point is the same) of the gospel whereby salvation has primarily to do with where I go when I die. He talked about the way in which Christians often stop at writing checks to organizations which address issues like those mentioned above and he asks, “Why do those groups get to have all the fun?” The message seemed to be that it is these organizations and not the church who are doing the true work of God in the world. In one way I am inclined to side with this point, but in another way I don’t think he said enough.

Second, I was reading a chapter in Kevin J. Vanhoozer’s latest book, Everyday Theology: How to Read Cultural Texts and Interpret Trends this morning which addressed “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” an ideology endorsed by the United Nations regarding things like the freedom and equality of all persons, everyone’s right to things like life, liberty, their own security, and protection against discrimination. David G. Thompson, the author of this particular chapter, goes on to note criticisms of this declaration from conservative Islamic people who “dispute the very idea of humans holding autonomous rights as contrary to Allah’s absolute authority,” postmodernists who see it as an act of “Western intellectual hegemony,” and East Asians who hold to more “communitarian values.” (108) The author then goes on to say, “Despite the UDHR greatly furthering its laudable goals of protecting the oppressed and unmasking their oppressors, the document fails to substantiate what it claims; we are not told why humans have the rights the document ascribes to them.” (108)

In response to both the message mentioned above and David’s question just noted I want to say — The why really, really matters!

I recognize and applaud, as I hope any follower of Jesus would, the efforts of any organization striving to meet peoples basic needs, free them from oppression, and fight things like hunger, poverty, and disease. I think it’s wonderful that countries would come together from all over the world and affirm in one voice that people cannot be treated like garbage or discriminated against. To me, things like this reassure me that God is still active in the world and that conscious or not, people still recognize that there is such a thing as right and wrong, good and evil.

But…

These things are not ends in and of themselves. For the Christian, these things find their end in their glorification of God in Jesus. They attain their true significance when they are understood as God’s actions (not mankind’s) in the world meant to display God’s mission of the healing, reconciliation, and restoration of all things. If we fight the war on poverty and actually get to the point where everyone’s basic needs are met, but don’t recognize and repent of the sin which got us there in the first place, that battle has not truly been won. In fact, we’re probably much worse off as we will be inclined to see ourselves as the source of all that is good and right.

People do not posses rights because of their intrinsic worth, which is all the UN can ever say. Rather, people are valuable because they are made in the image of their creator, something only the Church can say. Justice (social and otherwise) ought to be manifest in the world not because people deserve it, which is the basic stance of secular organizations. Instead, justice ought to define our existence because a just God desires it for his creation, something only the Church can say and witness to.

It’s not that the Church needs to take back causes of social justice – it’s that the Church needs to recapture a vision of salvation which entails the advancement of God’s justice in the world.

It’s not that the Church needs to advocate for human rights – it’s that the Church needs to answer the why question regarding the value of humanity.

Everything Jesus was, did, and is has to do with God’s justice in the world (by the way, we fool ourselves when we think that there’s a difference between personal and social justice – it’s one of the many false dichotomies of modernity, but that’s another post altogether).

To embody and do justice in the name of Jesus is the unique calling of the Church in and to the world.

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Because in a way I have never experienced, his love for those he has never met and his commitment to following Jesus brings me to my knees.

I found this story through my friend Jason, but he got it from the blog of Ben Witherington.

You really need to read ben’s full post, but the long and short of it is that Jay has been positively destroyed by the mass genocide in the Dafur region of the Sudan (almost half a million innocent peple have been slaughtered). In non-violent protest Jay moved from his home in PA to live on the street outside the Sudanese embassy in Washington DC. He has also been fasting for longer than Jesus did. He is in poor health and stands alone outside the embassy praying that others will take notice and be moved to action.

I am hoping to contribute in some small measure to Jay and his cause. This truly is a matter for all Christians everywhere over which to weep and, more importantly act.

PLEASE READ JAY’S STORY, TELL OTHERS, PRAY WITH OTHERS, AND ASK GOD HOW YOU MIGHT JOIN JAY IN BRINGING RELIEF TO A PEOPLE BEING EXTERMINATED.