“By calling ourselves Red Letter Christians, we are alluding to those old versions of the Bible wherein the words of Jesus are printed in red. In adopting the name, we are saying that we are committed to living out the things that Jesus taught.”

In II Timothy 3:16 we read that, “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” ALL scripture is inspired. Not just part of it. Not just the red letters. So why would anyone choose to be a “partial Bible Christian” instead of a “whole Bible Christian?” Why should I call myself a “Red Letter Christian” and not a “Red and Black Letter Christian?” Shouldn’t we be open to and guided by all 66 books, all 1,189 chapters, all 31,373 verses and (in the King James Version) all 775,693 words? That is a fair question that deserves an honest, personal answer.

Let me begin my answer with a familiar scene. Haven’t you been in a gathering of Christians where the leader asks, “Does anyone have a favorite Bible passage to share?” It does not take a rocket scientist to know what the group leader knows – namely that most people gravitate naturally to certain passages more than to others. Most of us have our favorites. So, when the leader asks if anyone has a favorite verse to share, hands go up all over the room and we hear an assortment of familiar and not so familiar words recited.

Can you imagine how odd it would seem for someone to say, “For me all 31,373 verses are equal”? In that setting, being a “whole Bible Christian” is actually to be rather peculiar. The comment about all 31,373 verses sounds out of place. The “whole Bible Christian” sounds like someone who is new to fellowships like this. More importantly the person comes off as not having had enough interest to have read the Bible often enough to have found any favorite passages at all.

The fact is that, as we get into Bible Study, some parts of the Bible will really speak to us and others won’t. We are totally into some sections, and our eyes glaze over when we read other passages. We soon realize that some passages have been more instrumental in our faith journey than others. Some passages have helped us present the faith more clearly than others. Some passages bring it all together for us. Other passages seem unrelated to anything. John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten son…” resonates with more urgency for me than Genesis 27:11 – “my brother Esau is a hairy man….” Yes, all scripture is inspired. But not all 31,373 verses carry the same weight for my faith.

I BELIEVE GOD INTENDS IT THAT WAY. IN FACT, I BELIEVE GOD’S PURPOSES ARE WORKED OUT BY PEOPLE WHO READ THE BIBLE THAT WAY.

I enrolled in seminary almost half a century ago. In the years since, I have repeatedly seen the Church of Jesus Christ be challenged, energized, enlivened and led by faithful persons who lived what I am calling “Partial Bible Christianity.” There is no doubt in my mind that these “PBCs” have consistently lived and believed the words to Timothy that “All scripture is God inspired….” But these people have also found that God was most fully directing their lives through certain particular passages, certain particular verses.

When I was ordained into the ministry, “social action” was in. During those years of the 1960’s and 70’s activists took their texts form the Old Testament prophets. Look up Amos 5 and return to the late 1960’s. “Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever flowing stream.”(24-25). Look up Matthew 25:31-46. “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink?”(37). Activists got energized at the thought of Jesus driving the establishment’s money changers out of the Temple for exploiting the people. Activists preferred Luke’s record of Jesus having said, “Blessed are you who are poor,” (6:20) to Matthew’s version, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.”(5:3). Social action has its favorite passages.

The evangelistically minded did not cotton the activist’s passages. They preferred their own. Jesus’ words to Nicodemus recorded in John 3 rang true. “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”(verse 3b, KJV). Saul’s (Paul’s) conversion on the Damascus Road (Acts 9) was held up as normative for everyone. Jesus’ commissioning his disciples at the end of Matthew’s Gospel, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…” (28:16-20) were believed by many Christians to be the purpose of the church. Across the years, people who take evangelism seriously have their texts.

The Charismatic movement was sweeping through many congregations. Every Wednesday night of my first year in seminary a group of students met for prayer, celebrating the gifts of the Spirit, hoping Pentecost would sweep anew across the campus and across the church. Acts 2 was their text. Paul’s teaching in I Corinthians 12-14 gave validity to their experience. Charismatics have biblical support for their emphasis.

In like manner today Christians who argue for strict rules of behavior, especially in matters of sexuality, have their texts. And those who insist on practicing grace and more openness have theirs. People who believe that women should play a lead role in the church point to passages reporting that Jesus traveled and was supported by women. These people point to passages where Paul put women in positions of leadership. At the same time, people who do not believe that women should be in positions of leadership call attention to passages attributed to Paul where he says they should not lead.

It is obvious to me, after these many decades in the ministry, that “Partial Bible Christians” are people who know their Bibles, and who stand up for their understanding of what the Bible teaches.  They know what the Bible taught them and they are not bashful about letting us know what they have learned.

And quite frankly they drive me nuts. The activists, the evangelicals, the Pentecostals, the defenders of morality and dispensers of grace, those who include and those who exclude women are all dead sure they are not only right, but righter than anyone who does not wholly agree with them. If you do not see it their way, you are judged to be un-biblical. They make me feel as if I am constantly on trial. I feel that my words have to be carefully chosen so as not to appear to belong to some group with whom these people disagree. I have personally found that to be a centrist is to be hammered or ignored by both extremes in most debates. In case I have not been clear, let me say it again: these people drive me up a tree with their certainty and their judgments and their condescending manner!!

And yet…and yet…these people who drive me nuts are often the very people God has called to model what the faith is all about. They are the ones who live their faith. They are not people for whom the church is just another club, a place to go if the kids don’t have soccer practice, a place to have your name on the membership list and give as little of your time and money as possible. For them, following Jesus is life itself. This stuff matters. It is who they are. It is whose they are. History is made by these people who have latched onto certain passages of the Bible for special life giving power, direction and purpose.

“All scripture is inspired by God.” But some of it filters deep down where we live. It touches our hearts and our minds in special ways that can change our lives, and change history.

It is the people who have focused their faith on certain passages of Scripture who shape church history.  Think about it. The Apostle Paul was moved by something the Old Testament Prophet Habakkuk said about the just living by faith. Paul included Habakkuk’s insight in his letter to the Galatians. Centuries later, Luther’s world was rocked when he read that verse in Galatians and the whole history of the church was changed. It was – as usual – not the whole 775,693 words of the whole bible, but the intensity of the few words in specific passages that had the power.

The activists, the evangelicals, the Pentecostals, and yes, the conservatives and the liberals, can drive us nuts. They are forever telling us that THEY have the truth. And they can make us feel like second-class citizens sometimes, when we do not go along with everything they say. They make me long for “Whole Bible Christians” who leave me alone. But, my friends, it is the folks whose lives are renewed, defined and driven by their favorite verses and passages who are the ones who bring life to the church, who model for us what it means to take discipleship seriously, who make history.

We who call ourselves Red Letter Christians fully believe that “All scripture is inspired.” But we are focused with laser intensity in the words Jesus spoke. Those words are the text for the sermon we call our lives. We find power in those words. We find direction. We find purpose. We find life itself.  In that sense we dare to stand with the great company of “Partial Bible Christians” who have served the Lord faithfully across the centuries.

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Dr. John Galloway is a retired Presbyterian minister and graduate of Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary. A frequent guest preacher, Dr. Galloway is the author of three books, the latest of which is Ministry Loves Company, a guide on how to be a parish minister. He is also the Executive Director of Tony Campolo missionary organization, EAPE.

So I tweeted, ‘Jesus for president.‘ on my facebook wall, and with several followers on twitter, this generated some discussion.  Some were in support of Jesus as a candidate, while others cautioned the phrase sounded eerily similar to first century demands that Jesus overthrow Caesar — a misunderstanding of the messiah’s mission.

The discussion brings up some other questions…

If elected president (or forced by popular demand to run) … what would Jesus do? Would he run as a democrat?  A republican?

Would Jesus spend his first term convincing (or forcing) every American to convert to the religion named after him?  Would that even be a priority?  Would he endorse and create wars to do the same globally?  Would he concern himself with our interests as Americans or spend billions protecting our borders from illegals?  What, if anything, would he do with prop 8?

The idea of Jesus for president is indeed similar to the first century misunderstanding of what Jesus came to do.  Yes, he was the messiah, our deliverer.  yet he did not and has not come either to overthrow the existing (or create a new) government, nor to build churches and establish a religion.

So what did Jesus come to do?  and what would he do if he were in office?

It was no mistake that at the beginning of his earthly public ministry Jesus was handed the scroll and read Isaiah 61 ::

The spirit of the lord God is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to bring good news to the afflicted;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to captives
and freedom to prisoners;
to proclaim the favorable year of the LORD

(emphasis mine)

So for those of us who claim to follow Jesus, us self-professing ‘Christians’ — which literally means ‘little Christs’ — which literally means ‘little messiahs’ — the question is: what are we to do?

Are we to align ourselves with the republican or democratic parties?  Are we to immerse ourselves in the current debates about Planned Parenthood and Susan G. Komen funding or gay marriage in the military or catholic contraception in health care? Should we fight vehemently against same sex marriage and lose sleep over prop 8 being ruled as unconstitutional, or concern ourselves greatly with where our tax money is going?

Or ought we to obsess over bringing good news to the afflicted, binding the brokenhearted, for standing up and in for those who are oppressed?  Ought we not to concern ourselves with freeing the captives?  With healing?  With reconciliation?

So the real question is much more uncomfortable than a simple ‘what would Jesus do?‘

The real question is: what are you doing?

—-
Michael Kimpan is the author of the WayWard follower blog, a site designed to inspire thoughtful conversation and movement among followers of Jesus Christ.  Michael worships and serves on staff as the Communications Project Manager at Richwoods Christian Church in Peoria, IL.

A prayer lifts up from the city, like the smoke of incense. A single prayer, in the myriad of others, a strand of smoke amidst a great burning.

Oh Lord, why do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? -Psalm 10

But God is listening. God hears the prayers of God’s people.

The question is, are we listening? For God, who hears the prayers of his people, is calling us to listen as well. God’s justice is a collective project.

But when we listen, we hear stories of oppression, corruption, and injustice, in the face of honesty and hard work. But listening is not enough. When we listen, God calls us from the quiet of prayer to be a healing presence in the world.

She looks well to the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness. -Proverbs 31:27

Bertina Jones (see video) is an accountant from Bowie, Maryland. In 2008 she lost her job of 17 years and got behind on her mortgage, a house with she had owned for 11 years. Bank of America began foreclosure proceedings against her.

In arrogance the wicked persecute the poor– let them be caught in the schemes they have devised. -Psalm 10

Bank of America told Bertina she could pay $12,289.48 and keep her house. But they lost her paperwork and did not apply the certified check they cashed to her home despite its timely delivery. At the end of this Kafkaesque process, she had $73,249.11 in the bank, but no way to apply this balance to her home and stop its sale. Whether inept or profit-seeking, the end result is the same.

Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread? -Psalm 14

Bank of America sold Bertina’s home to Freddie Mac. For Freddie Mac, Bertina’s house is another sheet of bank paper bought at cut-rate prices from Bank of America, a single asset on a balance sheet. Bureaucrats process so many foreclosures they bungle or forge papers, breaking laws that require foreclosure review. This collection of automatic methods for disposing with 11 years of a person’s careful investment has been called “robo-signing.”

…trample my courts no more. -Isaiah 1

Ultimately, we are responsible for Bertina’s home. Freddie Mac is a Government Sponsored Enterprise under the conservatorship of the federal government, and taxpayers own nearly 200 billion dollars worth of Freddie Mac, despite the fact that they speculated obscenely with our mortgages, creating value from nothing in the derivatives market, inflating profits the way a government prints money.

But what can be done? “Learn to do good; seek justice; rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.” -Isaiah 1

First, we ask for your prayers to God for Bertina’s home. But the true prayer does not stop at a longing of the heart expressed to God, it moves into the world with action for change. Which is why we ask that you plead Bertina’s case with us by signing this petition, and gathering with Occupy our Homes on the 27th at noon in DC. We believe we can force Freddie Mac to back down on Bertina’s foreclosure, but if not, we will stand with her before the agents of unjust eviction.

Martin Luther King’s work was cut short by his assassination. King fought for civil rights in the deep South, but when he came north to Chicago, he worked for jobs and affordable housing, a stark reminder that injustice was not just a characteristic of provincial southern towns.

Martin Luther King and the SNCC led the way with nonviolent direct action, a way of praying with our bodies.

God is calling. It is no longer a whisper that pierces the veil of our systems of oppression, it is a trumpet. God is calling to us to be the change we wish to see in the world.

Amen.

If you know anybody that wants to resist foreclosure in the DC area, please contact us of Occupy Our Homes at housing@occupydc.org

—-
Jeremy has been an activist ever since he accidentally ate the red pill instead of the more harmless blue one. He converted to Christianity while serving a six-month prison term for civil disobedience to close the School of the Americas. He blogs and tweets about faith. He serves as a volunteer chaplain to OccupyDC with the OccupyChurch movement.

Piglet: “How do you spell love?”

Pooh: “You don’t spell it, you feel it.”

I read these lines on the same the day I watched on DVD the last episode of the BBC TV series “Jekyll,” an update of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic book Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. As you may recall the doctor is a reputable man but he transforms into Hyde, an unrestrained, immoral and violent figure.

In this contemporary version, Jekyll is a man named Tom Jackman. His mother says to his wife, “People think Hyde is rage or hate or greed or lust. But Hyde is far worse.” “What is he?” asks his wife. His mother replies with a question: “What was the first day you knew you could kill anyone, anyone at all, if you had to?” After a moment of hesitation, she answers, “The day I first held my children.” His mother then replies, “It’s our oldest, deadliest impulse: the need to protect our own at the expense of any other living thing. And we give that impulse such a nice name, don’t we? Hyde is love.”

And there you have it: the sentimental and the brutal. Yes, we use that word “love” to describe both the tender affections we feel and those attachments we have that can lead us to kill and destroy whoever and whatever we believe threatens those nearest and dearest to us. In the name of “love” two individuals walk down a church aisle and vow to one another to be faithful in poverty or wealth and sickness or health. But it is also “love” that motivates those on the battlefield to do Hyde-like behaviors to protect people, land and principles that are cherished. From love comes both delight and destruction.

How do you define love? If we believe Jesus is Lord, then for us he is the very definition of love. His life displays to us what love looks like. The love Jesus embodied was neither sentimental nor compatible with deadly force. In him we see a love that is self-giving, compassionate, forgiving, truthful, and so wide-flung that it is an affront to those with narrow notions about who counts as worthy of regard. Jesus loved in a way that leaves no room for ideas like “us” versus “them” or “friends” versus “enemies.” Jesus taught, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” but then made it clear that enemies are also neighbors we must love (Matthew 5:43; 22:39).

For us who follow Jesus, love is not a vague value that we define in any way we prefer. Rather love is what we have had poured out on our behalf by Jesus and that we are to pass on to others. Or as Jesus said, “Love one another as I have loved you” (John 13:34, 15:12).  To find love undistorted by passion, fear or self-interest, we look to see how Jesus lived and how he treated others. The supreme culmination of love is found at the cross of Christ, that place where his faithful life in a wayward world brought him into the hands of the powers-that-be and where he absorbed the violence of others without attempting to inflict violence in return. It is here at the cross that we learn what love is and what it means to “follow in his steps” (1 Peter 2:20-21).

As we live in this world, we are to be, as Jesus said, “wise as serpents and harmless as doves” (Matthew 10:16). The world is a hazardous place. We can get hurt as we follow Jesus. We need to be wise as we go about giving and forgiving, healing and helping, welcoming and embracing those few others are willing to embrace. Christ-centered love is risky. But that is our calling. Our broken and suffering world is desperately in need of the kind of love we have been given to share. God alone knows what wonderful things can happen as we follow Jesus in the strange ways of divine love.

—-
Craig M. Watts is the minister of Royal Palm Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Coral Springs, Florida and Co-Moderator of Disciples Peace Fellowship. He authored the book Disciple of Peace: Alexander Campbell on Pacifism, Violence and the State (Doulos Christou Press: Indianapolis, 2005) and his essays have appeared in many journals such as Cross Currents, Encounter, the Otherside, DisciplesWorld and more. Craig blogs on the Disciples Peace Fellowship’s, “Shalom Vision.”

In short, John 3:16 states that if we believe in Jesus we will have eternal life!  Is belief enough?  What does it mean to believe?  James 2:19 informs us that even the demons believe.  We sell ourselves short if we restrict Christianity to simply having the right beliefs and yet our lifestyles are really no different from anyone else in the world.  I’m challenged by some of Jesus’ last words before he died, “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.  You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father.  Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it” (John 14:12-14).

In Philadelphia, violence is on the rise, particularly amongst the youth.  We are averaging about a murder a day so far this year and that doesn’t take into account the multitudes of others suffering from gunshot wounds that have escaped death’s door… this time.  We are in need of these greater works Jesus was talking about!  We need a real move of God, possibly even some miracles, in the face of the rising madness.  I want to look at a couple of the works of Jesus and encourage us all to ask ourselves if these same works are a part of our lives.

Prayer

In Mark 9 we read about a demon possessed kid.  This kid seemed to be straight out of the Poltergeist movie… foaming of the mouth, violent convulsions, grinding of the teeth.  When the kid’s dad took him to Jesus’ disciples, things only seemed to get worse.  Then Jesus walked on the scene.  He rebuked the evil spirit, commanding it to leave the boy.  The evil spirit screamed, threw the kid to the ground and then left.  Jesus assured the crowd that he was not dead and helped the boy up, giving him back to his dad.  The disciples were perplexed and asked why they were not able to cast the demon out.  Jesus told them that this kind only comes out by prayer (some versions add fasting) (Mark 9:29).

I find it interesting that Jesus never prayed (or fasted) in this passage.  Rather than praying, he was “prayed up.”  Jesus weaved prayer into the fabric of his lifestyle.  It was in the secret places that he was empowered to do the work of the Kingdom of God among the broken and marginalized of society.  I think too often we treat prayer like our ATM machine.  We type in what we want, to get what we want.  Prayer is more than that.  Prayer is about creating intimacy with God and being empowered to live a life of love and holy rebellion in a world full of demons called violence, racism, materialism, greed, individualism, addiction, poverty, etc.  It seems that prayer has become one of the more difficult works of Jesus to practice in our society.  We are too busy, too distracted…if we are not on our favorite social media we are surfing the web or listening to music on our iPods.  In and of themselves these things may not be bad, but do they consume us?  Do they distract us?  In this world we cannot afford to simply pray, we must be “prayed up.”  I believe just as this was the foundational work to all of the other works of Jesus, so the same should be true for us.

Miracles

I grew up in a tradition that did not talk a lot about miracles.  As far as I was concerned it was something of the past, something Jesus did.  To be honest I didn’t always understand Jesus’ miracles and why he did the things he did.  Take the blind guy who was healed for instance… Jesus spit on the ground, made mud with his saliva, and then put it on the man’s eyes.  He then told him to wash in the Pool to be healed (John 9).  Now put yourself in the blind man’s shoes.  You’ve been blind your whole life and now you hear about some holy man healing people… even healing the blind.  There he is right in front of you, you cannot see him but you certainly hear his every word.  Suddenly there is silence… then out of nowhere the Holy One seems to be conjuring up a Holy Hawker.  Then you hear him spit… you ask yourself what is that rubbing sound?  Then I can hear the blind man say, “Oh, no he didn’t!  Did he just rub spit in my eyes?”  Finally Jesus speaks, telling you to go wash yourself in the Pool.  I can imagine the blind man was already a step ahead of Jesus and was already trying to find someone to take him to the nearby Pool to wash!

Jesus was always doing things out of the ordinary.  But is it true we are to do the same works of Jesus… even greater?  Does this mean we can raise people from the dead after 5 days or simply spit on someone and they will be healed, no mud required?  I think one of the reasons we do not see more miracles in our society, is the direct result of not needing them.  Why pray for our daily bread when the fridge is full?

Jesus told us that if we ask him for anything in his name, he would do it!  This is important.  When talking about miracles it is easy to get wrapped up in the power of it all.  Doing things in Jesus’ name is all about doing things for his sake, as opposed to our own selfish motivation.  One time I went and saw a famous evangelist that was known for doing miracles.  I was skeptical as I walked into the sold-out arena.  It didn’t take long for folks to start coming up claiming they were healed.  He even blew towards the mass choir that was assembled and they all fell to their seats.  You could hear the ooos and ahhs, I simply wondered if he had forgotten to brush his teeth.  Finally a girl I had come with that had been bound to a wheelchair her whole life wanted to go and be prayed for.  She went up front and I waited with as much faith as I could muster to see what would happen.  In about 20 minutes she came back… still in her wheelchair.  She told me that when she went to ask for prayer they told her that she could only come up if she had already been healed?!  They wouldn’t even take the time to pray for her!

Honestly I would not have had a problem with the whole “healing circus” if they would have prayed for her and she would not have been healed.  We live in a broken world.  Think about it… every person Jesus raised from the dead, eventually died.  Those who were healed of a disease eventually died of another disease.  All those people he fed in the wilderness got hungry again in about 5-6 hours.  I think what is significant about the miracles of Jesus was not so much the power behind them as much as it was the love behind the miracles.  This is truly the greater work… the love behind the miracle!  There are more of us than the one person of Jesus Christ, therefore in his name we can do more acts of love and truly bring about a love revolution or revival depending on your tradition.

In this society we are in need of miracles.  As violence mounts, addictions increase and broken relationships are everywhere to be found, the works of Jesus are needed.  In our own society we have the blind, possessed and hungry and the power of love that healed them in Jesus’ day is as available in our day.  May we decrease so that Jesus will increase and may we be empowered to do the works of Jesus in our society.  Jesus is crazy about us, all of us… may we live into that reality.

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Chris Lahr is a Recruiter and the Academic Director for Mission Year. He is also a part of the Simple Way in Philadelphia. He is a writer and a speaker. For information about having Chris speak, contact him at: lahrtribe@gmail.com.

After years of being a youth pastor, I remember the time I came home from yet another event that required endless administration, energy and resources and asked myself, “Is this what it means to be the Church?  And if so, there have to be better ways to embody the supposed life-giving, relational aspects of Jesus discipleship.”

For me, church had become a place that I drove to and “performed,” not a living organism that involved sharing daily life with fellow disciples seeking participation in the Mission of God. Instead of giving life, it drained me of life.  I felt disconnected, depressed and alone.

The problem was that I had gotten really good at this version of church.  In fact, it was less about the structure I happened to be part of and more about my unwillingness to step faithfully into a life that called me to embody the Church every moment of everyday.  When I was finally willing, I didn’t even know what it looked like to live out the Church in this way.  It was a paradigm I not only hadn’t mastered, but didn’t know existed.

Despite it all, I knew I was called to something more.  Something that required all of me, everyday.  Something that was shared with fellow pilgrims living in the way of Jesus as Kingdom representatives in our local contexts and neighborhoods.  The Good News was not simply to be preached through spoken word, but lived out in the everyday realities of life.  And it could no longer be primarily about building my personal reputation, but about building a communal reputation through a leadership structure that invited all into participation.

The good news is that the Church doesn’t only take one form and I was not the only one with a yearning for a more holistic embodiment of God’s community. In fact, there are communities sprouting all over the globe that are taking seriously their communal vocation of living out the Church in their daily, local contexts. They live where they serve and serve where they live.  They don’t accumulate massive numbers of people or physical resources, but they multiply through the continual development and sending of Apostolic leaders.

Life. Church. Faith. Community. Discipleship. Service.  Suddenly integrated into something whole.  Something beautiful that challenges, inspires and calls all of life into submission to the reign of Jesus.

My wife, daughter and I are now part of an intentional community of missional leaders who are seeking to embody the Church in fresh, yet ancient ways.  As a community of faith, each year we make a covenant commitment to commune with God, open ourselves to rich community and submerge deep into our local contexts.  It is not simply a dream or a theory, it is a daily reality.

Neighbors coming out to share a meal in the park.  The smell of fresh produce as the community walks the streets of our local farmers market.  The family that invites us into their home and says, “There is something different about you, and it is really good.”  The new life of three newborn babies.  Reading the Scriptures with the man living in a backstreet alley.  Walking alongside persecuted refugees as they integrate into a new culture.  Sending leaders across the globe to use their gifts to advance the Kingdom.

This is the life God’s community was created for and it is the life we can all choose to live.  May we be a people who daily come to life as we more faithfully step into our vocation as participants on God’s Mission.  May we step into this Mission rooted in faith communities that challenge, inspire and embody the dream God has for all humanity.

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Jon Huckins is on staff with NieuCommunities, a collective of missional communities who foster leadership and community development. After much international travel and study in the Middle East, Jon focuses much of his writing and graduate studies at Fuller Seminary on ethics and social advocacy.   He writes for numerous publications including, theOOZE, Burnside Writer’s Collective & Red Letter Christians. Jon has written two books: Teaching Through the Art of Storytelling (Zondervan) and soon to be released Thin Places: Six Postures for Creating and Practicing Missional Community (Beacon Hill).  He lives in San Diego with his wife Jan, daughter Ruby. Jon blogs here:http://jonhuckins.net/.  You can also follow Jon on Twitter and Facebook.

I want a Burger King Bacon Double Cheeseburger. I want U2′s “Achtung Baby” blasting my ear drums. I want to drive as fast as I want with no pot holes, windows down, turning where I please.

I want to rent two new releases, grab some chips and salsa and a pint of Ben & Jerry’s to fritter the night away. I want to pick up the phone and talk with my sister or brother.

I want lightning speed internet…

—-
Kent Annan is author of the new book After Shock: Searching for Honest Faith When Your World is Shaken. He is co-director of Haiti Partners and also author of Following Jesus through the Eye of the Needle. (100% of the author proceeds from both books go to education in Haiti.)

The origins of Fat Tuesday have everything to do with what happens on the day after. Christians around the world celebrate “Ash Wednesday” which kicks off the 40 days before Easter (what we call “Lent”).  Traditionally Lent is a season of fasting (giving up food or luxuries or vices) and repentance (which means “to re-think” things), and we put ashes on our heads made from Palm branches from the previous Easter season as a sign of our mortality (i.e. “from dust we came and to dust we shall return”).    So before the fasting there was feasting. Ages ago, folks would spend Tuesday eating up all the grub (and drinks) that would go bad during the season of fasting, especially in the days before refrigeration.

But the question surfaces, what relevance does any of that have for us?

Our priest did an incredible job reminding us that in a world where many of us are “full of ourselves” we need to be emptied of ourselves – so that our lives can make better music.

All the major world religions have an element of self-denial at their core.   Jews have Yom Kippur.  Muslims have Ramadan.  Christians have Lent.

Shane Claiborne: Occupy Nonviolence – Not Flesh and Blood

In a world filled with clutter, noise, and hustle, Lent is a good excuse to step back and rethink how we think and live.  In a world of instant gratification, it’s a chance to practice delayed gratification – to fast – so that we can truly appreciate the blessings we have.  In a world where virtual friends are replacing real ones, it is an invitation to turn off TV and computer screens so we can spend time with real people again.

It’s an opportunity to give up something that is sucking the life out of us so that we can be filled with God, with life, with love again.

So consider taking the invitation this Lent to “repent” – to rethink how we think and live.  I had one friend tell me his Lenten commitment was not to spend a single dollar these 40 days.  Another woman said she was giving up gasoline, only driving one day a week.  Others of us may take up smaller commitments – giving up sweets or alcohol or meat.

One of my friends who talks a lot decided to spend time in disciplined silence.  Another friend of mine who is a hermit committed to get out a little more and be social.  So there isn’t an anecdote, but there is an invitation – an excuse – to try something new.  Some folks may choose, not just to give up something, but to take on something new – to exercise, read, learn a new craft, or pray.  So whether it is giving up an old bad habit or take on a new holy habit… May we each use this Lenten season as an excuse to do something that empties us of ourselves so that our lives make better music.

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Shane Claiborne is a prominent author, speaker, activist, and founding member of the Simple Way.  He is one of the compilers of Common Prayer, a new resource to unite people in prayer and action. Shane is also helping develop a network called Friends Without Borders which creates opportunities for folks to come together and work together for justice from around the world.

It was only in recent years that I began to reflect a lot about the Christian meaning behind the season of Mardi Gras, and I’ve discovered that as a Baptist, I may have missed out on what Mardi Gras can teach me about faith and celebration.

We Baptists need to lighten up, let our hair down, and live it up from time to time. Even King David got so excited he danced through the the streets in a big parade, eventually stripping down to his Fruit-of-the-Looms. Sounds like Mardi Gras to me.

Remember the story of Jesus turning the water into wine? Yes, my Baptist brethren, it was real wine – as in the Tom Paxton song, “bottle of wine, fruit of the vine, when you gonna let me get sober?” I’m certainly no biblical scholar, it seems to me that Jesus was giving his blessing to a party (not a dignified and quiet reception, but a par-TAY).

All Baptists know that Jesus was supposed to turn out the lights and declare the party over. Jesus should have stopped the party and preached on the evils of alcohol. Some Baptists know that Jesus was supposed to throw a good-old-fashioned-guilt-trip on everyone about how they were wasting all that money on fun when it could be spent on helping the poor and neglected. Jesus should have stopped this selfish party and got them busy doing some justice.

That’s what my Baptist Jesus would have done. But as I remember Mardi Gras in New Orleans, I’m reminded that Jesus wasn’t and isn’t (and nor will He ever be) a Baptist.

The story of Jesus turning water into wine – in order to keep the party going! – is about Jesus enjoying a celebration. It’s about Jesus contributing to the party. To the dancing. It’s about Jesus doing his part to let the good times roll.

There are plenty of reasons why my hometown shouldn’t be partying. Murders and high crime rates still make the national news. Racial tensions are still high. Poverty is still a big problem. And over six years later, Hurricane Katrina still haunts large portions of the region.

And yet, once a year, in the midst of all the messiness of everyday life, everyone comes together to celebrate. And maybe Jesus – the not-so-Baptist Christ who turned water into wine to keep the party going longer – can be found along Canal Street yelling out laissez les bon temps rouler!

It’s been over twenty years since I’ve returned home for Mardi Gras. I’ve gotta go back soon. And, when I do finally get back, and I see an overly joyous man dancing in his underwear at front of the parade, in honor of King David I’m going to toss him some beads …

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Bert Montgomery is a writer, minister and college lecturer living in Starkville, Mississippi. His new book is Psychic Pancakes & Communion Pizza (2011, Smyth & Helwys).

Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, a forty-day period of penitent reflection in which we remember our sins and our need of Christ’s redemption. It’s a long-standing tradition in Catholic and many Protestant denominations to have your forehead marked with a cross of ashes both as a reminder to be humble since your sins nailed the Son of God to a tree and as a public witness showing the world that you are a sinner dependent on God. If there ever were a time in our country when Christians needed to put ashes on our foreheads, it is now.

In Ezekiel 9:4, one of the scriptural sources for Ash Wednesday, the voice of God says, “Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.” I know that we all have different culprits that we accuse of flushing our country down the toilet, but I’m sure we can agree that it’s appropriate to mourn the state of our country.

I strongly believe that wearing ashes on our foreheads on Ash Wednesday is the best way to 1) assert our religious freedom as citizens and 2) remember that our call as Christians is to be witnesses first and foremost. God doesn’t build His kingdom through petitions or angry signs or blogosphere comment wars; He has always built it through the patient witness that can only occur face to face in personal relationships.

There are people with whom you work that may have negative stereotypes about Christians, but they know that you are a decent person. They need to be reminded that you are who they’re bashing if they bash Christians (as long as you’re not the reason they bash Christians). It’s a lot easier to hate people you don’t make jokes with on a daily basis. It’s not going to  hurt anybody else for you to have ashes on your forehead. Nobody can say you’re cramming your religion down their throat. If the ashes make you self-conscious, all the better. If you don’t have anything intelligent to say, your witness may actually be more powerful. Just remember the words of St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:1-3:

When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling.

Maybe it’s the case that you’ve been a royal pain to your colleagues and you need those ashes to humble you and remind you of who you have been representing every day. Maybe people need to see you mourning your own sin. Of course, this only has meaning if it’s accompanied by “fruit worthy of repentance” (Matthew 3:8).

I realize some people will think this is very simple-minded, but I honestly think that if enough Christians are willing to represent Christ with ashes on their foreheads during the day Ash Wednesday, it could have a tremendously positive impact on the religious climate in our country. I can’t see how having ashes on your forehead could offend anyone, but if they do lash out at you, then treat them with such love and dignity that they will be ashamed and repent. 1 Peter 4:16 says, “If you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.” Whatever else is true, people across our nation need to see Christians wearing a sign of humility and weakness to counteract the stereotypes that we are an arrogant, powerful species of people. I pray and hope that you will join us in this simple, non-confrontational means of bearing witness.

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Morgan Guyton is the associate pastor of Burke United Methodist Church in Burke, Virginia, and a Christian who continues to seek God’s liberation from the prison of self-justification Jesus died to help him overcome. Morgan’s blog “Mercy Not Sacrifice” is located at http://morganguyton.wordpress.com. Follow Morgan on twitter at www.twitter.com/maguyton.