Hey Christians. Insulting the president makes it harder for you to pray for him, which is what the bible calls us to do.

I loved it. But then I made me wonder, should I be praying for FOX news then? I kid! But seriously, my Facebook feed is inundated with anti Obama news and comments, that this was very refreshing to read. A reminder for me that if a man who I don’t generally agree with is in power (I am an Obama supporter) I need to remember to pray for him/her.

I remember praying with a worship team when G.W. was in office, but not agreeing with the prayers. Prayers thanking God for a Christian in office, but no prayers to get us out of war. Prayers of antiabortion intention, but not prayers of for single mothers in the world. Prayers for a Christian Nation, not prayers for a peaceful nation.

What are our intentions when we pray for our President? We should pray for wisdom with the tough decisions he/she is faced with. But maybe we pray for the idea of peace that God has for His people – a nation that looks to remove the Yoke of Oppression. A compassionate nation who welcomes the alien and feeds the hungry – all in the name of Jesus.

It seems that the reasons that people are leaving the church all boil down to this: a lack of Grace and Love in the Church. The church seems to be continually divided right down the middle with the Right and the Left. I have talked many different times about the need for a seperation of Church and State. I still fully support it, because I feel that it takes out the idea of grace and love from our Christianity and instead leads to what would benefit our needs and beliefs rather than the need of others. The Jesus I have met and continue to follow would never look down on somebody for their religion or faith. The God I worship would not wish death on people even if they did the most horrible thing imaginable. Instead, I am led by the Holy Spirit to Love.

But this is difficult for us to understand. This is idea of “a lot of room in God’s Kingdom” may sound like awful theology to us, because we live in America. This is the land of Justice – a land where people get what they deserve – it’s an Eye for an Eye. Here in America, if a person slaps you in the face, you don’t turn the other cheek. Instead, you sue them. If someone asks for your clothes, you tell them to get a job and don’t take advantage of the welfare system that is set up for them. Strange theology indeed. It’s strange justice in my opinion.

This idea of strange justice was seen at the end of Jesus’ Parable of the Prodigal Son. The older son looks in the window and sees his younger brother at a party thrown for him; a younger brother who had just returned from a life of debauchery and silliness only to be met by the love and grace of his Father. The younger son deserved to be with the pigs, but instead they threw a huge rager for him. How peculiar indeed.

This lack of Grace and Love, this is why people are leaving the church. We hear and read words spoken from the mouth of Jesus, but we hardly see them lived out. Let’s revisit the overall theme of Jesus’ thesis: Love God, Love neighbor. There is nothing there about judging. There is nothing about American justice. There is nothing about politics and who and what to vote for. There is only love – acceptance of people. The acceptance of sinners. Not sin, of course, but sinners. Not the act, but the person.

Now comes the arguement of what about if people keep returning to sin. I say forgive them 77 times. well, not me, but Jesus told us this, and I believe that the number would have kept getting higher and higher if people gave a rebuttal.

And finally, let’s get real: this idea of Grace and Love isn’t easy. There are a lot of people that I really have a hard time with (I sling coffee in the PNW, for crying out loud). But if we are to call ourselves Christ Followers, it is essential. Though our church has become very Pauline in nature (preaching from the epistles more than the words of Jesus), I have a feeling that even Paul may have sided on this side of the arguement.

So, yeah, I see it. I see people leaving the church. I’ve heard the arguments of “isn’t this church that we are having here in my living room with ‘two or more gathered?’” I’ve seen people leave because they felt forgotten, lost, abused, judged, or “insert feeling here”. These people have lost their faith in the Church and it’s leadership and people, but all we can do is hope that they haven’t lost their faith in the Grace and Love of Jesus. The grace and love that he so freely gave all of us when he died on a cross, only to resurrect for the sins of the most dispicable among us: the human race.

On top of the SAD, my skin reacts horribly to the weather. I have an extreme case of eczema where it is all over my body, mostly behind my knees and the inside of my elbows. This year has been horrible. Absolutely horrible. The eczema has been on my face, around my eyes, on my hands. Ugh.

The thing is, I try to keep a positive attitude about it. Positive speak is what gets me through this season. I tell myself things like, “this is better than a tornado or tsunami”. It works a little, but it still sucks.

I find myself crying out to God. I know he has bigger fish to fry really. I know that my skin will heal and the sun will come, but still. Cut a brother a break. Then I saw this…

God hears the cries of his people. Throughout the Bible we are reminded of this. God answers. Even if it rains, I know that God heard me and others who are affected by SAD. This sunset was a reminder that he gave right out my back door. Thank you Jesus. I needed it.

The thing that I loved was the idea of worship leaders leading prophetically. Not in a predict the future sense of the word, but instead speaking to the church; leading the church with God’s calling that is placed on their heart. The amazing thing is this: if we as artists are called to lead as a Prophetic Voice, then how do we do so? Prophets were often ignored. Prophets looked pretty crazy. They were silly.

What is it then, that the church needs to hear? What is the prophetic message? Is it mercy and justice? Is it a song about love and compassion? is it a poem regarding race relations? What does your church need to hear? Who is writing these songs and are they written for personal worship or corporate?

Scott’s letter truly made me start thinking even more so through an artistic lens, but even more so through a prophetic filter. What does my congregation need to hear? What does God have for the church – for our neighbors outside of the church? Love.

But there is something inside that says this is wrong. Does testing for welfare take away from any american rights? More so, does it not take away human rights and dignity? Let’s take a minute to look at this, because I believe that it does take away from a person’s dignity. I know that there are people who take advantage of the system, but whenever there is a system made, someone will always take advantage of it.

So i guess my question is this –  Drug Testing for Welfare: is it helping or taking away from people? Also, as a Christian, how does one stand on this issue? Do we simply support the masses who are saying that it’s a great thing, or do we lean on the side of dignity?

Last time I did this run, It took about 5 minutes less than I did today, and I could run without stopping. Good news: I ran. It took a little encouraging and positive self talk from me, but it happened. While I was running I decided to put on Pandora’s “Foo Fighters” channel because it was a rocker, right? I was wrong.

The Foo Fighters channel will play 90′s music like Soundgarden, the Foos (naturally), Nirvana, etc. The problem is that it was their slower songs being played: Man Who Sold the World (Acoustic), The Best of You (Live at Wembley Acoustic), Blackhole Sun, and the coup de gras was finishing up my run with Wonderwall by Oasis. Not exactly the Power music that I would usually listen to. By the end of the run, I just couldn’t change the channel. I thought it would just interupt my run.

Hey. at least I got it done. But the thing that keeps me going on this run is the pay off at the turnaround:

For me, I prefer Creative Arts Director or Music Guy or him. But Pastor??? Too much to chew.

But alas, I have found this that I am excited to read:

From what I’ve seen and read, Peterson shares his memoirs and memories as he walked into and through this role of Pastor. Will it make me change my mind about adding Pastor to my name. Probably not. Will it make me think differently about the idea of Pastor? Having read Peterson’s books in the past, most definitely.

One of the points of National Night Out is to have police come out, communicate safety and safety procedures, and show that they are a presence in the neighborhood. Great. I love it. My friend, though, had pointed out that one of them was a political figure who is also a cop.

At one point, trouble was brewing between two groups at the event. As this was happening (i was told that it was hard to miss) the politician/cop walked right through oblivious to what was going on. Now granted I wasn’t there to see it, but my source is a first hand witness and credible.

So here is my take: This politician/cop doesn’t care. He walks through an argument and doesn’t do anything? Does he believe that his presence was enough to stop it? It says to me two things: 1) If he didn’t see it, then he is not very observant and doesn’t care about the people who he is catering to for votes. 2) if he did see it going down and ignored it, then he just plain doesn’t care about the people who he is catering to for votes. 

 The true hero of the night was the lady who lives in the neighborhood who went into the trouble and asked some of them to help her move tables. De-escalating in a positive way. This is caring. This lady cares for both sides no matter what. She didn’t want to see anything happen, and lord knows that the cops were far from the park at the time.

In the end, a party broke out in one group and dancing and fun was being had. The other side looked on cluelessly as if they were trying to figure out how to talk to some of the girls that were dancing. Resolution was found. The neighborhood was calmed. All because the lady asked for help. She cares, the politician does not.