Whom do my beliefs affect? If I’m currently doing something, can I honestly read scripture and make an unbiased decision about the morality of my actions? Or do I have an inherent conflict of interest?

For example, Jesus criticized the man in his parable who tore down his barns to build bigger ones. If I move from an apartment to a house, or buy a nicer car, you could say I did the same thing. One you’ve done something, you tend to rationalize it, particularly if you benefit from it and enjoy it.

On the other hand, what if I’m not affected by a particular issue, yet I have an informed opinion on its morality? Let’s say I believe it’s wrong to own a yacht. It’s easy for me to judge those who have enough money to purchase yachts and choose to do so. But do I understand the motivations of the buyer, and the full consequences of the purchase? Probably not.

I’ve never been in the yacht-shopper’s shoes, and probably never will be, so my judgment of yacht-buying as wrong is both irrelevant to my own life and free from the questions that would arise if I were actually able to buy a yacht.

I say this to point out that we can’t depend entirely on ourselves to judge our own actions, and we can’t just judge others and expect our judgment to be fair. We need to make these determinations in community.

Today is the day we celebrate the incarnation of Christ, the Son of God. But let’s not stop with the Jesus that makes us feel good inside, because Jesus never limited his message or mission to our internal condition. He prayed:

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not bring us to the time of trial,
but rescue us from the evil one. Matt 6:9-13

When we think of the birth of Jesus, it’s not hard to focus on the heaven aspects of what Christ represents. But we all too easily forget that he mentions heaven not as a contrast to what we’re suffering through now, but as an example of what should be done on earth, in the present.

Tim Jolin has been kindling my thinking lately in regards to church, mission, and kingdom. Having found the congregation as a less-than-satisfying focal point for our work as Christians in Seattle, I’m looking for a concept to organize my efforts and thinking around, and I believe the kingdom of God may be just that concept. Jesus didn’t tell us to grow and multiply our churches, and he didn’t tell us to develop systematic theologies. He told us to pray that God’s will may be done on earth as it is in heaven.

May God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven this Christmas and throughout the year.

Sign from Funny Face, a 1957 Audrey Hepburn film. ORLY?

A committee was recently formed at the elementary school where I work to address the problem of the playground grass. Due to constant heavy use and inadequate summer watering, there are many uneven and bare spots.

The committee quickly focused on one key goal: getting the grass to a healthy, sustainable state. This will require installing an upgraded irrigation system, aerating and treating the soil, reseeding, and watering the grass over the summer.

Why is this necessary? If the grass is to fulfill its purpose in providing a safe play area for kids, it needs to be able to sustain itself, so the investments that have been made in it will not be lost. True, we could just lay down new sod every few months, but this would be wasteful and financially unsustainable.

The sustainability issues for any organization are similar:

• The system must be able to tolerate the wear and tear caused by its normal functioning for its intended purpose
• Sustainability requires investment and long-term planning
• Sustainability requires moderation, so that resources are not expended more rapidly than they can be replenished
• The system must provide sufficient value to those who are investing in and maintaining it

As you may have guessed, this is another post about the church.

The church should of course be a sustainable organism. How, exactly, though, should it be organized in order to best fulfill its purposes while using resources wisely and being sustainable for the long term?

I would first suggest that the church and the organizations formed within it should not be viewed in the same way, nor should community be equated with an organization.

If we are moving toward a model of church-as-network, we will need to start considering some nodes in that network transient and some more enduring. This is virtually heresy to many people, since a church (congregation) is seen as something that should always continue to exist, and if a church stops meeting, it’s seen as a bad thing.

Certainly, it is sad when a community of people stop spending time together - this is true whether or not we’re talking about a church. But is it bad for a church to die, any more than it’s bad for a plant to die and another take its place?

(I should add that while our church is not meeting on Sundays any more, we are still spending time together as a community in other contexts. This is a common misconception, and I wanted to be clear on this point.)

The question, then, is: what types of organizations, communities, and gatherings should be created with sustainability in mind?

Edit - fixed Youtube link.

Wow. This guy is really impressive. Check out this Washington Post article. Snippets:

…[Masoud] said imams who outlawed art and music were misinterpreting their faith. He talked about love and relationships, the need to be compassionate toward homosexuals and tolerant of non-Muslims.

…

Television preaching in the Middle East was once largely limited to elderly scholars in white robes reading holy texts from behind a desk, emphasizing the afterlife over this life, and sometimes inciting violence against nonbelievers. But as TV has evolved from one or two heavily controlled state channels to hundreds of diverse, private satellite offerings, Masoud and perhaps a dozen other young men — plus a few women — have emerged as increasingly popular alternatives. Masoud and others promote “a sweet orthodoxy, which stresses the humane and compassionate” as an alternative to “unthinking rage”

…

As fundamental teachings, Masoud advocates adherence to prayer five times a day, peace toward all and abstinence from alcohol, sex outside of marriage and violence. Beyond those principles, he said, Islam is suffering from a “crisis of interpretation.”
“I’m sure Osama bin Laden knows a lot of the Koran,” he said. “But when a Muslim celebrates when the Twin Towers collapse, you have a big problem.”

This Youtube is also fantastic (minus the cheesy Braveheart music). He appears to have a website, but a lot of the links, including the “English” one, are broken. Also found this - looks like he spoke at a conference in 2005 called “The Radical Middle Way” (Vineyard anyone?).

Conservatives have been calling for more moderate Muslims - hopefully they will give support and encouragement to these emerging voices.