Monthly Archives: March 2007

Some Good Celebrity Attention on Refugees

Posted on March 15, 2007 by Steve
Posted in Books, World Events

TravelsBook.jpgYou may be surprised by the author I am about to recommend: Angelina Jolie. Yes, that Angelina, the Hollywood wild-child. Lately she’s been getting some attention because of her role as Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees. I’ve been aware of that for some time. Her movie “Beyond Borders,” with Clive Owen co-starring, involved UNHCR work in Ethiopia, Cambodia, and Chechnya. The DVD extras, spotlighting refugee crises in the world, were illuminating.

Then I read her 2003 book, Notes from My Travels. It’s wonderful–just observations, journal-style, from travels to Africa, Cambodia, Pakistan, and Ecuador. She travels without an entourage–just herself, meeting up with UN people, and often finding herself in potentially dangerous places. Her eye for meaningful detail is impressive. She doesn’t take potshots at America, as you expect celebrities to do. She doesn’t pontificate, doesn’t act like an expert. She just writes what she sees, and with great humility and compassion. And it’s fascinating.

jolie.jpgIn the book’s third paragraph, as she prepares for her first foreign visit–to Sierra Leone, in West Africa–she writes:

“I honestly want to help. I don’t believe I am different from other people. I think we all want justice and equality. We all want a chance for a life with meaning. All of us would like to believe that if we were in a bad situation, someone would help us….I don’t know why I think I can make any kind of difference. All I know is that I want to.”

I was skeptical initially. But she won me over with this passage from a stopover in the Ivory Coast, while en route to Sierra Leone. She is standing in a marketplace, watching people.

“Contrary to our image of this country, it’s people are civilized, strong, proud, stunning people. Any aggressive feeling is pure survival. There is no time for casual or lazy behavior.

“As I wrote that, I realized I am writing as if I am studying people in a zoo.

“I feel stupid and arrogant to think I know anything about these people and their struggles.”

I think of church people I’ve heard, returning from a two-week trip to build a church in Honduras or Jamaica, talking as if they are now experts on that country and have the people thoroughly psycho-analyzed. Jolie avoids any such pretense throughout the book.

Here are some other excerpts.

  • After noting that many of the children in one African refugee camp have scabies: “I would rather get infected than to ever think about pulling my hands away from these little children.”
  • “I can’t imagine what a mother or father or even a husband or wife feels when the people they love most in the world are suffering, and there is nothing they can do. When a mother can’t feed a child. When a father can’t provide for his family. When a husband can’t protect his wife.”
  • While starting her second trip, this one to Cambodia: “I am embarrassed to realize (and to admit) how much I was able to return to my life after Africa….It’s easy to make phone calls and send letters and funds from the comfort and safety of your own home. Maybe I think I should feel guilty for my ability to come and go from these places when others have no choice. I know one thing. I know I appreciate everything more. I am so grateful for my life.”
  • In Cambodia: “We drive beside horse-drawn carts. The horses seem little and skinny. It makes me wonder if animal-rights activists would be upset–probably just sad. It’s strange how sometimes it seems some people care more for their animals than the poor family next door.”
  • In Pakistan, commenting on women wearing full-body burkas. “No one can make eye contact with each other. Children cannot see their mother’s expressions. No individuality–no self–and it is very hot. I bought one and tried it on. I felt like I was in a cage. They are horrible.”
  • In Pakistan: “Some people complain and say UNHCR should do more to help the refugees. This is hard for the staff to hear. These people simply don’t understand the limited funds and cutbacks. As one staff member said, ‘People can complain about us around the world, and governments can criticize our programs. But every day we continue to come face-to-face with hungry, sick people who feel it is up to us to help them.”

She tells the heart-breaking stories of dozens of refugees, with detail that you only pick up when you’re listening intently. Stories of dedicated UN workers, stories of refugee camps. Her observations from Cambodia’s “Genocide Museum” were gut-wrenching.

The book also reminded me of the importance of the United Nations. In the US, right-wing pundits continually say the UN is worthless, that the US should get out. Yes, the UN is seriously flawed and idiotic things happen (just as idiotic things happen in the US Congress). But the UNHCR works in 120 countries, serving 20 million people who are invisible to the rest of the world, people who depend on the UN (including US dollars) for survival. Would God be pleased if America pulled out of the UN, and left so many dispossessed people without any advocates?

Anyway, it’s quite a book. Angelina Jolie doesn’t pretend to be a Christian, but the type of stuff she does, and her spirit amidst it, certainly shows the attitude a Christian should have. And then we just have to figure out the other side, the Hollywood marriage-busting vixen. People often have two sides, I guess, including us church-goers. I just know that I’d gladly hear her speak, but wouldn’t walk across the street to hear Sean Penn or Michael Moore.

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Poor Sanjayah

Posted on March 14, 2007 by Steve
Posted in TV

I feel downright sad for Sanjayah. The poor kid knows he shoulda been gone a long time ago, and that he’s only in because of jokesters. He’s trying his best, but he just doesn’t have it. Yet he keeps getting voted to the next round. I’m guessing he’ll be greatly relieved when he’s finally let go…or IF he’s finally let go. I’m sure Simon’s nightmare is that his record company would have to try to make a star out of Sanjayah if he won the whole thing. It’s nice, at least, that tonight the cameras weren’t turned to Simon, Randy, and Paula when Sanjayah was told he’s staying once again; we had two weeks of their open-mouthed gasps, and that was enough.

I wish the people who vote for Sanjayah would take this more seriously. And yet, It’s sad, even pathetic, that Steve Dennie takes American Idol so seriously.

So much for this week’s fluff report.

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Ministry Disappointments

Posted on March 13, 2007 by Steve
Posted in Uncategorized

Last night was one of those disappointing ministry experiences. I talked to five young men in our church, all twenty-something, about getting together to talk about things related to the Christian life. They all said they were interested.

I was very excited about this. For the first meeting, I just planned to walk them through the bridge illustration, to determine their understanding of the gospel message.

I showed up at the church at 6 pm, anxious but a bit nervous. And waited. And waited. Nobody showed up.

I’ve had this happen before in ministry. You get all excited about something, and nobody shows. Or the one person you really wanted to be there doesn’t show up. This stuff just goes with the territory. You realize that after it happens so many times, but you never enjoy it.

At our previous church, after Pam and I moved out of our apartment and bought a house, we were excited about hosting our Sunday night small group, which had about eight couples. We spent the weekend cleaning, bought plenty of snacks, and had everything ready, anxious to show off our new abode. And nobody showed up. Every couple in the group found something else to do that night. Yeah, that one stung big-time.

But last night–that didn’t sting. It was just a huge disappointment. The stakes are high on this one, much higher than just showing off a new house. So I’ll connect with the guys again, and we’ll try next Monday night. Again. I really want this to happen. And maybe I’ll spend a bit more time in prayer about it this week. That wouldn’t hurt.

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Sharing Dessert with Our Presbyterian Brethren

Posted on March 11, 2007 by Steve
Posted in Anchor Church

We just got back from Grace Presbyterian Church. Five churches in our community are hosting a Sunday night get-together during the Lenten season, and tonight–the third week–was Grace’s turn. They’re part of the Presbyterian Church USA.

They have a woman minister, which is a problem with a lot of people in my denomination. But not with me, and not with my church. Pastor Barb is a wonderful person with a sharp sense of humor. During the question and answer time, she gave a superb answer to the question, “How to Presbyterians explain pre-destination?” (It was evidently a planted question designed to stump her, but she was game.)

The Presbyterians also put out the biggest spread. This is supposed to be just a soup supper, to keep it simple. But they pulled out the stops with the dessert table. Wow, what a feast! I had one bowl of vegetable barley soup, and then hit the dessert table several times.

I thoroughly enjoy these folks. My denomination began when a German Reformed minister and a Mennonite minister, sensing that they shared the same heart for God, embraced and said, “We are brethren.” Well, that’s how I feel about these Presbyterians.

It’s tragic that in so many communities, churches located near each other don’t make any efforts to get acquainted. The pastors may get together, but the congregations keep their distance. But as we’ve discovered with these five heretofore-unknown quantities in our neighborhood, churches of different denominations are much more alike than they realize. Pastor Barb talked about their structure, how they have elders and deacons who serve for life, and all of this was totally foreign to me–very different ways of doing things. But nothing I found disagreeable. They have a strong process for identifying and shepherding persons who feel called to the ministry–something that is a huge weakness in my denomination.

And as Barb talked about God’s Word, and about people coming to faith in Christ–this is what it’s all about, and, indeed, “We are brethren.”

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Quit Your Church Shopping and Commit

Posted on March 9, 2007 by Steve
Posted in Christian Culture

I came across this quote from the blog of a North Carolina pastor, who went on an excellent rant against church-shoppers:

The church is a battleship, not a cruise ship. Pastors and leaders are generals to equip you for battle in the trenches, not cruise directors to make your stay more enjoyable on the Lido deck.

I have little patience for church-shoppers, those shallow Christians who “try out” churches as they search for the illusive perfect one for them. Maybe they’ll settle into a church for a few months, maybe a year, but they keep the escape hatch open, ready to bolt if they get restless.

At some point, you just need to muster some maturity and commit to a church. Roll up your sleeves and declare, “This is my church. This is where I’m going to find nurture, and where I’m going to minister. And I’m not going to jump ship if the church falls on hard times, the pastor leaves, a new church with flashy promotion starts up nearby, or I just plain get upset about something. I’m committed to this church, whatever might come.”

Now, I’m not against changing churches. There are legitimate reasons. I’ve changed churches, and I’m not in favor of sticking with a church no matter what (too many wonderful saints are wasting away in dying churches, thinking they are doing something good for the Kingdom by keeping open the doors of a doomed church). But you know the type of person I’m talking about. People who won’t sink roots into a local body of believers, and as a result, their spiritual roots never go far beneath the surface. Because maturity in Christ demands, I’m convinced, the involvement and fellowship and opportunities for ministry that a healthy local church provides.

A lot of post-modern/emergent writing paints idealistic visions of the church, and I fear it makes our younger generations dissatisfied with just about any church they come across. No church fits the “biblical” model and ideals that they read about. Some, as a consequence, stop attending church altogether, while others go on a perpetual shopping spree. This is why I consider some post-modern writers, like Brian McClaren (as good-hearted as can be), just a bit dangerous. They make readers discontent with church in general, and dissatisfied with any church they come across.

Hey, it doesn’t take a great intellect to find fault with the “established” church (Anchor being one such church). Give me a few minutes, and I can write out a few dozen ways in which we fall short of what God wants us to be. I don’t need any special wisdom or insight or powers of perception to find fault. It’s easy pickins.

But the church is the vehicle God designed to carry on his work, and I don’t think he’s satisfied unless I’m fully engaged with and committed to a local congregation. I simply can’t live my Christian life any other way.

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Don Brown – My Successful Failure

Posted on March 7, 2007 by Steve
Posted in Religion in General

My first post-college abode was a house divided into three apartments: I occupied the upper level, another guy about my age lived right below me, and Don Brown lived in an apartment jutting off the main porch.

Don was an angry, bitter, disagreeable fellow. I met him one night as I returned from a church meeting. He stood at his screen door grousing about something–either about me or the landlord, I don’t remember which–as I approached the door to the upstairs.

“What did you say?” I asked with good humor, walking to his screen door. He repeated it. Whatever it was. I joked back, and it disarmed him. He calmed down a bit–just a bit–and I asked him if I could come inside and chat. He hesitated about that, but relented with a gruff “Sure.” Or something like that. It was 27 years ago. He opened the door, and I found a place on the couch while he settled into a recliner. He wore white shorts, probably boxers, but nothing else. No shirt, no socks. I remember his skin being very white and pale.

We talked. Don asked what my Dad did. I told him he was a pastor. “That’s a great racket,” he said sarcastically, trying to tick me off. Throughout that visit, Don tried to tick me off. But I just joked with him, and eventually, he was smiling as part of our banter. It was some of the best relationship-building I’ve ever done.

I was intentionally trying to be a witness. At the time I was involved with Evangelism Explosion, so I knew what I was doing. Eventually, I hoped to lay out the gospel message for him and give him a chance to respond. But first, some cultivating was needed. So he became my “project.” Today’s postmodern and emergent writers mock the idea of making someone an evangelistic project. Well, jolly good for them.

I returned another time. Don welcomed me in, but our conversation went pretty much as before. Don was a retired railroad engineer, divorced, alone, very bitter, and not in good health. He was mad about everything. He was also very smart. Not senile. Just a grumpy old man who made a formidable sparring partner. And I think he came to like me. Appreciate me, even.

Then he moved. One day his apartment was empty, and it made me frantic. I hadn’t gotten very far, hadn’t presented the gospel to him. I had been nice, but hadn’t told him why I was nice; for all he knew, I could be a Mormon. But somehow–I don’t remember how–I learned where he had moved, the upstairs of a house about a mile away.

One night I went to visit him. He was surprised to see me, but invited me right in, and we talked for a while. I probably witnessed in some simple way, but was mostly still cultivating. I was just an immature jerk a couple of years removed from college, 23 years old, yet my interaction with Don was tempered and wise, far beyond my years. Don’t know what got into me.

Life zips along way too fast. I didn’t go back for a long time. I thought about doing so, but I didn’t. Soon. I told myself. And then one day, I saw Don’s obituary in the newspaper. I cut it out and placed it on the credenza in my office. It was a reminder of my failure. A reminder that I hadn’t done enough. That because I didn’t go back, because I never presented the gospel, Don was in hell. I genuinely felt this way.

I kept that newspaper clipping in my office for probably 15 years. It always made me feel guilty. We evangelicals are taught to feel guilty–that we’re unworthy, we never do quite enough, we fall short, there’s always more we can do. But at some point I tossed the clipping, having evidently concluded that the statute of eternal limitations had expired.

At the Church Media conference Pam and I attended last June, one speaker, Paul Clifford, told about doing man-on-the-street interviews with people in his city to craft a video to use in a message. One fellow they approached was a Wiccan. They struck up a conversation, and the guy gave some comments on film.

Paul said, “We didn’t do anything. All we did was be nice to him.” But the result of being nice was that this young man began giving Christianity a second look, and on his own, he accepted Christ into his life. Then he led his brother to the Lord. And then both of them were killed in a car crash. Two souls now in heaven, all because they were nice.

I was nice to Don Brown. I regrettably didn’t get any further than being nice. But maybe nice was enough. Maybe Don gave Christianity a second look. Maybe I made some huge influence that I never saw. I definitely felt led by God to visit Don. I was obedient. That’s a good thing.

I’ve always viewed that as a failure. But now I’m thinking that’s hogwash. I should view it as a success. The Holy Spirit prompted me to do something, and I did it. I tried to befriend a guy the rest of the world couldn’t stand to be around. God knew how the story would end. He valued my role, but wasn’t limited by it. And maybe, just maybe, Don’s waiting up there in heaven for me. Wouldn’t that be something.

Now I’d like to get that clipping back. But this time, I would hang it on the wall as a success story. As something I did right. Lord knows I need more of those.

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11 Questions for the Candidates

Posted on March 6, 2007 by Steve
Posted in Politics

You need to read “Gordon MacDonald’s 2008 Questions,” a superb list of 11 questions he would ask of presidential candidates. He begins by referencing a secretive meeting some evangelical string-pullers held at a hotel in Florida, where Dobson and Falwell types (and probably Dobson and Falwell) were determing whom to annoint as the Christian candidate. MacDonald says, if he had been invited to that meeting, these are the questions he would want answered. It’s great stuff. I’m right there with him.

Sadly, the answers to these questions that would satisfy me most likely would not come from Republicans.

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Piling on About George Bush

Posted on March 5, 2007 by Steve
Posted in Politics, World Events

Recently I told my brother Rick, a fellow blogger, that it had been a while since I had posted an anti-Bush rant. At this point, it almost seems like piling on. Most people now realize what a hideous failure the Bush administration has been and how it has severely damaged our place in the world and destroyed any claim to moral authority. The exceptions would be people who:

  • Watch Fox News 24/7 and/or worship Rush Limbaugh.
  • Have been kept in a medically induced coma.

I continually read stories which reference blunders by the Bush administration, but it’s done in almost a so-so way, as if Bush’s incompetence is old news and there’s no sense dwelling on it. We’re just killing time now until he leaves office and someone new can try to restore some sanity to what has been a self-indulgent, arrogant romp. Things which might have disturbed me in previous years now seem ho-hum, just more (as if we need more) evidence of how severely Bush has botched up my country.

Here are four items I’ve come across recently. Nothing spectacular about any of them, alone, but when put together, along with dozens of other stories…well, historians are going to have a hey-dey.

  • It’s well-known now that disbanding the Iraqi military was a huge error which contributed heavily to the insurgency and civil war. I read this week that we also shut down all state-run industries, thereby putting tens of thousands more people out of work. Since these included fertilizer factories, farmers were affected and food production declined. Such was the arrogance of ideologues intent on turning Iraq into a free-market economy.
  • Anti-American radicals throughout the Middle East were upset when Bin Laden attacked America. Their greatest asset was Afghanistan–a country which welcomed their presence and provided a base for training. But after 9/11, nobody–including the Death to America Islamists–could blame America for invading Afghanistan. We destroyed an almost irreplaceable asset, this terrorist haven, and Al Qaeda was practically obliterated. Until we invaded Iraq. The Death to America crowd thanks Bush for invading Iraq, because in so doing, we revived a terrorist movement which had almost been vanquished. Up from the ashes of Afghanistan was born a whole new generation of anti-American terrorists. Good job, George.
  • Meanwhile, in Russia, Vladimir Putin has killed nearly all of the press freedoms which emerged from the reforms of Gorbachev and Yeltsin, and now is actively assassinating opponents and critics (13 journalists have been assassinated). The Russian parliament even passed a law permitting the assassination of Russians living abroad who were speaking out against the Russian government. But the US has no moral authority here. Not when we abduct people from one country and spirit them away to another country to be tortured–not because there’s a ticking bomb and they know the location, but because we think they know something that might, possibly, be of some value to us. Not when we give the bird to the Geneva Conventions. Not when we flagrantly disregard basic legal and privacy rights. Not when we create prisons and torture centers in other countries to get around our own laws. No, thanks to George Bush, America has no claim to moral authority. We have no business lecturing Russia, or China, or anyone else. And that is a huge, huge tragedy.
  • Iran, it turns out, was actually helping us a lot in Afghanistan and in other ways in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. Many moderates and reformers in Iran wanted to normalize relations with the US. Iran even agreed to pay $500 million to help rebuild Afghanistan. But one week after that agreement, George Bush included them in his “Axis of Evil” speech. Iran’s hard-liners pronounced, “See! We told you that Iran and the US can’t be friends!” The moderates and reformers shrunk into the background, and the hard-liners took control. And now, Iran is a formidable, resolute enemy of the United States. An enemy that George Bush created.

Stories like these emerge all the time, and in the years ahead, as respected historians tackle these eight years, much more will come to light. But I’ve heard so much that nothing will surprise me. I voted for this guy twice–I trusted him–and he trashed our country’s reputation and influence.

Okay, Rick, I got this out of my system for a while.

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The Church Service, Then and Now

Posted on March 3, 2007 by Steve
Posted in Religion in General

Church services have changed greatly during my lifetime. I occasionally find myself harking back to services of my earlier, formative years. And yet, I like today’s services. I thought I’d draw comparisons between today’s church services and those of, say, the 1960s and 1970s, and see who wins.

Keep in mind that I’m speaking in generalities, and only from the tiny United Brethren corner of Christendom. So this is basically useless drivel with no statistical accuracy. As if that ever stops me.

Sermon content. Sermons have become (in general) shorter and more relevant to contemporary life. Less theology (not good), but more practical application. At the same time, sermons are more “sensitive” and less hard-hitting, less no-nonsense about what it means to be a Christian. Overall: it’s a draw.

Multimedia. Multimedia, to me, greatly enhances worship and the communication process. Hurray for technology, and God bless PowerPoint. Ministers, no longer mere talking heads, creatively augment their messages with movie clips, props, metaphors, Powerpoint slides, etc. Technology is expensive, and some ministers feel crippled without their techie tools. But overall: hugely positive change.

Pastoral prayer. How I dreaded, as a kid, standing for 15 minutes while the pastor droned on with his high-priestly prayer. But this practice seems to have bitten the dust. Overall: excellent change.

Music leadership. It was 1991 before I attended a church which used drums and guitars. I would have loved drums even in the 1960s, but alas, we couldn’t get beyond the organ-piano combo. I enjoy involving more laypersons in the music, and being able to do new songs rather than be chained to what’s in the hymnal. Overall: an absolutely wonderful change.

Congregational singing. Lots of deadbeats sit in today’s pews, not singing. Just standing there with stone faces. What’s the problem here? Plus, since nobody actually looks at music (as in a hymnal), nobody sings parts. I miss that. Overall: bad change.

Songs. A lot of great music is being written. Unfortunately, it all says the same thing: God is great, wonderful, awesome, merciful, faithful, loving, etc., etc., etc. And he’s all of these things to me me me me. Lots of touch-feely lyrics, all between the singer and God. Looking for new congregational songs about evangelism, conquering sin, the church, missions, the second coming, Christmas, prayer? Sorry, you’re out of luck unless you track down a hymnal. Overall: bad change.

Attire. In early days, I always dressed up for church. Now, people go casual. Lots of people deem that a bad thing, a lowering of standards, a lessening of respect for God. I see it as removing a barrier for unchurched folks. Clothes shouldn’t be a barrier. Overall: great change.

That pretty much covers it. Did I miss anything significant? Looks like I think things are better than in my youth. So, no more harking for me.

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Goodbye to “Lost”

Posted on March 1, 2007 by Steve
Posted in TV

Last week, as Pam and I set the VCR before heading off to Wednesday prayer meeting, we decided we’d had enough of “Lost.” So we skipped it. I noticed that in last night’s episode, according to TV Guide, Hurley found a car. Yeah, I’m a tad curious. But not curious enough to resume watching. We’re done with “Lost.”

I’ll keep a casual interest in what’s happening, and will want to know how the series ultimately ends. But I suspect that when we discover what this whole island was about, it’ll be intensely unsatisfying, and that the final explanation won’t account for all kinds of things that have happened during the course of the show. Just like X Files.

Besides, I grew real tired of the main characters being couped up in cages through the entire fall. I loved the show for a long time. But my interest in remaining a regular viewer is gone.

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