your faith.

Given that political questions are, at minimum, worthless, and more likely, poisonous... I have a different set of questions I'm now seeking the answers to from people.

Including myself. 

1. What is your faith/spirituality/religion? 
2. How did your faith/spiritually/religion determine who you voted for? 
3. What are your greatest hopes for/How does your faith/spirituality/religion affect your greatest hopes for...

the rich
the poor
the refugee
the prisoner
the alien
the sick
the other
the earth

around the world and in our own country? 

I'll give you mine. 

1. I'm enough. And so is everyone else. We are all equally loved, valued, and created. We need to believe and live that. 
2. Which candidate vocalized this the most? Which candidate had policies that would help people  believe this to be true and have access to its truth? 
3. I hope 

the rich... give more
the poor... receive more
the refugee... is welcomed
the prisoner... is not written off
the illegal alien... is shown radical hospitality
the sick... can always find care, no matter if they have money or not
the other... ceases to exist as we begin to love (an)other as we love ourselves
the earth... treasure, value, protect every piece of it as the home of those we love

in every country, faith, creed, race, gender, income, etc... including our own. 

dear social media users.

No one is listening anymore... not in the way we think they are. 

I believe this to be true because if we knew how they were listening, we wouldn't be posting most of what is posted.

But there are people who want to listen to you. In person. Face to face. And they want you to listen to them. In person. Face to face.

Find them instead.

(Am I being hypocritical posting this on a blog? Maybe. But I think everything about the blog medium is different than the Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram mediums. That's important. To quote Marshall McLuhan, "the medium is the message".)

enough is freeedom.

Only when you know you have, and are, enough can you be truly free.

Spend time building/spreading worth and value and you'll spend time building/spreading true freedom. 

a million.

I recently asked a CEO of a local non-profit if he would rather have

a million volunteers
a million dollars
a million prayers

He chose dollars. 

That says something. 

dear muslim americans.

I'm so sorry. Please forgive us. Please be better than us. Many of my skin color and faith (in name) are treating you with contempt and violence, arrogance and darkness.

They are doing what they hate most in others (as we often do) when it's done to them. They are reacting from fear and now feel authorized to enact the hate that grows in it because they feel it's accepted and approved and voted for. They have tasted blood.

The temptation is always to respond with more hate and violence. I am tempted and I'm not Muslim. I am white and, at my worst, I want to hurt white people. I can't imagine how you feel.  

My prayer is that you are able, even at your worst, to be as gracious as you have been already, as patient and loving as you have been and that you don't feel the need to side with the violent and authoritarian options that are available to you and that would enforce their (false) view of you.

My prayer is that you are better than them. Better than me. And that is so hard especially given what they, at their worst, think of you. 

And please know that as you stand in peace, I stand proudly and in solidarity with you and will do everything in my power to make that peace continue.

I choose you. 

dear white evangelicals. part 2.

There used to be some other groups of people. 

Sinners. 

I would fill in a bunch of examples but the problem is that your examples of sinners are so all over the map that I don't even begin to know anymore, what "sin" is to you.

Let's just say people who do bad things. Not like you do bad things - because you all admit you do bad things - but the bad things these people do make them bad people while the bad things you do allow you to still be good. (I guess because you are forgiven but that's a whole other story.)

The thing is these "bad people" are the people that Jesus told were "saved". Over and over. And none of them asked Jesus into their heart or went to church. AND, I don't think there is one example of Jesus telling "good people" they were saved. When I say "good people" I mean the religious people like you. 

To be more blunt, to put the Gospels in today's language, I don't think there is one example of Jesus telling the evangelicals they were saved: Only the people the evangelicals thought were bad and before the bad people did anything that evangelicals would say moved them from bad to good. 

But don't worry! 

There's a way out of all of this. 

And it's really pretty simple. 

Feed people who are hungry. 
Give water to people who are thirsty. 
Invite the strangers to your house. 
Clothe people who don't have them. 
Help people who are sick.
Visit people who are in jail. 

I might add

Provide healthcare for people who can't afford it. 
Invite the refugees in. 
Stand up for people who are oppressed in any way, including LGTBQ.
Don't write off criminals. 
Give food and water to people who need it - whether they earned it or not. 

Now, it gets more crazy and I know you know this because you, of course, know the Bible. 

Jesus said when you do those, you do those things to Jesus. 

So Jesus said he might be in jail? 

But only "bad people" are in jail, right? 

What is scary is that if you get rid of all the hungry, the thirsty, the immigrants, the prisoners, the Muslims, the strangers, the LGBTQ, the refugees, the poor, the sick... I wonder if you get rid of Jesus? 

Fortunately, again, this isn't too hard. And I, for one, will be spending more time with those "bad people" than I ever have. And less time with the "good people." 

I encourage you to as well. 
 

dear white evangelicals.

There are lots of people I don't feel like I have a place to speak to. I haven't lived in their shoes.

Not you white evangelical.

I once considered myself a part of your tribe. That membership has eroded over the years to a point of officially leaving the tribe, but that doesn't mean I still don't care about you and recognize the formation you had in my life. You helped make me who I am today. 

That said, I have some words for you. 

There used to be a group of people just like you. They considered their religion a badge. They were very moral and they considered morality to be something very important for their culture, for the culture, and for their fellow human beings. They stood for justice and law and, of course, mercy - when convenient. Usually for them. 

The thing with this group of people is that they wanted power and money and control. And so they aligned themselves with a military superpower that had lots of it. Of course, the military superpower had issues (as all do) but the military superpower had power, money, and control (as all do) and they were wiling to give some of that power, money, and control away for allegiance (as all do). Under normal circumstances these issues are pretty big. Under normal circumstances these issues are the antithesis of everything that group of people and their religion stood for. You wouldn't expect allegiance. 

But, the group of people overlooked the problems and called them "flaws". Flaws like slavery, murder and oppression of entire groups of people. Serious issues are just small flaws when power, money, and control are being offered for allegiance to a military superpower.

In a nutshell, there used to be a group of people just like about 4 out of 5 of you.

And Jesus said all kinds of things to this group of people but maybe this is the most surprising: You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are. 

These words are fairly terrifying. I think about them quite a bit and I wonder if I am that person. Do I think I'm doing great work for the Kingdom of God and, actually, doing the opposite? I struggle with that on a weekly, if not daily, basis. I don't want to be that wrong and believe I'm that right. 

The group of people just like you, didn't like being called Sons of Hell - as I imagine you don't. And so they aligned themselves with the military superpower with all the money, power, and control and they killed Jesus to stop him from saying other mean things like that. And he did stop. Killing usually works short term. Jesus later rose but he didn't say any more mean things to them because they wouldn't listen anyway. 

I believe this story. Not because it's in the Bible but because it's happening today. Everything Jesus stood for is being murdered because of money, power, and control and allegiance to a military superpower. 

I'm not saying you're a son of Hell. Or a daughter. I'm not saying you're killing Jesus. I am saying that you might be. And I might be. And if you don't spend some time thinking about the implications of those truths, I'm afraid that Jesus might have some other words for you and me. 

Please get away. I never knew you. 

PS: I realize this is Veterans Day. I acknowledge many people have suffered much pain at the hands of a military superpower and serving a military superpower and I wish love and peace and grace and healing on every man and woman that has. I appreciate them as human beings and I treasure them for who they are.  

the biggest i.

People often talk about the Bible in terms of 

Infallible
Inerrant
Inspired

But each of these words requires something else, whether the person using the word will admit it or not: interpretation. 

And interpretation requires something else: an I. 

So whenever we're talking about the Bible, and how we read it, no matter who we are or what we claim, we are talking about ourselves and what kind of lens we see through to read and understand. 

it's over.

And this country needs love more than it ever has. 

a prayer for voting.

There are people in this room who are voting for Hillary Clinton
    and they can not fathom how anyone could ever vote for Donald Trump

There are people in this room who are voting for Donald Trump
    and they can not fathom how anyone could ever vote for Hillary Clinton

There are people in this room who are voting for neither or not at all
    and they can not fathom how anyone could ever vote for any of our choices. 

Forgive us. 

Forgive us for not only our inability to fathom those who disagree with us
    but for our addiction to our own bias and our insistence on building its walls
                                    higher and thicker                        

Forgive us for tribes. And for privileged egos.
Forgive us for our ignorance, our aggression, our arrogance, and our violence. 

We are infatuated with insults. 
We are enthralled with enemies. 
We bow to fear. 

Violence runs through our veins. 
Indulgence through our arteries. 

We are kingdom people, we say. 
Bring the kingdom of God. 

Though we tend to call out “Crucify Him - or Her”
More than we call out “Father forgive them” 

Forgive us because we are better than this. 
Forgive us because the kingdom of God does not dance with other kingdoms. 
Forgive us because it is already. It has been. It will be. 

It is

Salt and light and meek and peacemaking. 

It is

Do not worry and do not judge.

It is 

Forgiveness of those who have sinned against us. 

It is 

giving to those who need
loving those against us
refusing to say fool and refusing to lust flesh
and having no need for oaths and promises and fact checkers. 

Because the needy and the enemy are us. 
Because the fool and flesh don’t exist. 

Because we are better than this. 
We bear the image of the Divine force of all that is good is this universe 

In us. 

And so do they. 
Yes, even them. 

We are so much better than this. 
And so are they. 
Yes, even them. 

So we fill in an empty circle with a dark pen. 
We bow our heads and place our hands over our heart
We say our prayers and pledge allegiance

To…

To those whom put on the prince and princess costume at Disney World. 

There is no harm. As long we know we are pretending.

There is much greater emptiness to fill in. 
The emptiness of a facade and fake kingdom
With the ground, and awareness, and event of Divine Love. 

May we never stop voting for that. 
May we never stop asking, seeking and knocking on those doors  

Because we are better than this. 
And so are they. 

Amen. 

well here we go.

Tomorrow we find out. 

What do we find out? 

We find out what we value? 

We find out what we believe? 
And what we don't. 

We find out how we lose. 
And how we win. 

We find out what billions of dollars spent to convince us of ideas, gets us. 

We find out what we deserve. 

infinite metaphors.

If "God" is infinite, then there are infinite metaphors.

When we choose only one metaphor - or even 2 or 3 - as the only "valid" metaphors, than we are no longer choosing God. 

Just a metaphor. An idol. An image. 

allogrooming.

A variety of animals, but especially primates, groom one another. There is still some disagreement about the reasons but most agree there is some level of reciprocity and push for social standing. 

In other words, primates pick out dead skin, dirt, lice, and parasites from their primate-friend so that the friend will then return the favor and groom them. At some point. 

And also to increase their social clout. There are fairly complicated hierarchies in most primate communities and grooming allows players to rise up the social ladder, especially depending on whom is being groomed.

Some say that this is exactly what us humans are doing with social media.
Give a like to hopefully get one and further develop social clout.  

You can decide whether you agree or not.
Or whether you should or not. 
Or whether life is more inspiring than an ape's. 

even more inequality.

I'm not sure if you're watching Black Mirror or not. But, you should be.

The first episode of season 3 got me thinking about social media in a way I haven't yet: inequality. 

As though we don't have enough forms of inequality (wealth, opportunity, privilege) we now have one more to add to the list: followers.

Measured influence. 

Do you have a lot? Great, you matter to me.
Do you not. Great, you don't. 

Of course, influence is tied to wealth, opportunity and privilege but do we really need another way to measure and to seek the emptiness and lies of inequality? 

thinking about church.

The Church (the non-profit corporation structure) has historically provided 5 things (in no particular order) that have become, generally, known as church (the Sunday morning experience).

1.  Teaching
2. Music/Singing
3. Some form of Counseling
4. Meditation/Spiritual Practices
5. Community

And it has usually tried to do them all at once, once or twice a week. 

Some problems. 

You can't do everything and do it everything well. 

You can now find all of those things whenever and wherever you want - and usually better. 

1. Podcasts/Books/Videos
2. Music is everywhere.  
3. Actual trained Counselors/Therapists/Spiritual Directors/Life Coaches
4. Yoga studios... for starters. 
5. Fitness clubs/teams/groups/concerts/and much more. 

So church, in my opinion has two real choices: 

1. Get people to realize everything they want is already out there and they no longer need this thing we have called church. (and shut down).

2. Focus on one of those and do it really well - at least as well as everywhere else. And it wouldn't really be called "church" anymore, because that's just a word, that has generally described someone trying to do all 5. 

I could be wrong but that's where I'm at.

 

everything and nothing

You can want everything and have time for nothing. 
You can want nothing and have time for everything. 

I assume we're all somewhere in the middle. 

But I think we could all move toward wanting less and having time for more
and we might actually be able to get what we want. 

there is often more power in a hug

than most 

theologies
beliefs
ideas
visions
conferences
books
and sermons.

That should empower and convict us. 

Like Wise. A Story. Part 12.

There are many ways to end a story. 

We could say...

Billy was so surprised that a Muslim saved his life, he stopped being a racist. 
Moses regretted not helping and became a different kind of pastor. 
Moses finally reconciled with his son. 
Saul realized he had some issues and sough real ways to help people. 
Wise was finally able to forgive his son's killers without the need for revenge. 
After Billy thanked him for saving him. 

We could go on and on. 

But none of those are the way the story ends, and often not the ways the stories do end. 

Instead, it only ends with some questions. 

Who is my neighbor? 
Wise, Billy, Saul, and Moses are your neighbor. 

Who of these seemed to act like a neighbor?
He who showed mercy.

Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."

Like Wise. A Story. Part 11.

Wise recalls the incident well. Maybe better than anyone. In fact, he says he'll never forget some of the details. 

He saw someone running and it struck him as odd. The man looked suspicious, running out of an alley. It was more of a walk but the walk was only to hide the run. 

Wise made his way into the alley from which the man had come and fairly quickly saw the body. He quickly ran over to him and noticed the blood that had connected on the broken concrete, the swollen face, the pale skin, and the very shallow breathing. He quickly checked for a pulse and saw that he was alive. 

The blood had camouflaged the U.S. ARMY words and logo but when Wise saw them his breath left his chest. He then recognized the hair cut - he had seen it many times. And the chain of a dog tag around his neck - he had seen that too. 

He noticed a tattoo on his forearm. It was a symbol he knew well. He had seen it in paraphernalia and on helicopters. 

Everything in him wanted to walk away but he couldn't. He saw his son lying on similar broken and bloodied concrete for a moment but this man was still alive. He felt for a pulse again. 

And he lifted Billy up, put him over his shoulder and carried him out of the alley and onto the street looking for something. He saw a blue "H" with an arrow pointing toward a hill and he carried Billy as fast as he could toward wherever the signs pointed him. 

Billy doesn't remember any of it.

Later doctors told him that an Arabic looking man - with his head covered - had walked into the emergency room carrying Billy and crying out for help. He had told them everything he knew about his condition and pleaded with them to take him immediately as he knew he was dying. He had offered to pay for anything the hospital needed but he asked them to make sure he lived. 

Billy doesn't remember any of it. 

And doesn't really believe it. 

Like Wise. A Story. Part 10.

That someone was Saul. He would say later that he was pretty drunk and maybe even a little high but still... he walked right up to Billy. 

The irony was thick. Billy had seen pictures of Saul on numerous bases around the world. He was known as not only a supporter of the troops but an advocate. He tried to smile but his mouth wouldn't let him. 

Saul wouldn't have cared anyway. He took one look at blood and bruises and, obvious, broken bones and turned away quickly. He did take a second look at the U.S. ARMY shirt but decided that it was better for his image not to be associated with this than to be associated with it. 

He wasn't even supposed to be out. Alone. In this city. 

"You'll be alright," he mumbled. "I'll get you some help quick." Saul ran away. 

At that time Moses was calling 911. 

The 911 operator was a little confused as to whether or not Moses was with the man, and if not how he knew what kind of shape he was in, but Moses quickly hung up. 

At least he had called. Saul ran back to the hotel room as fast as he could without looking suspicious. 

Billy stared at a street light. He couldn't focus on it but he knew it would be the last light he would ever see. He tried to keep his eyes open but he couldn't help. Darkness suffocated the light - as it did his hope to live.