If you haven’t already, watch it for yourself…

In the face of criticism, Invisible Children has responded with an official statement in order to clarify their intentions and draw attention to their financial transparency and on-the-ground efforts toward rehabilitation of those impacted by the LRA.

RESOURCES: Our friend, Rachel Held Evans, has done a stellar job at compiling A LIST OF IMPORTANT ARTICLES about Joseph Kony, the LRA, and Invisible Children. Check them out and tell us what you think!

• Welcome is passive. Welcoming is active.
• Welcome is safe. Welcoming is usually risky.
• Welcome is occasional. Welcoming is frequent.
• Welcome may be accidental. Welcoming is always deliberate.
• Welcome is comfortable. Welcoming can stretch.
• Welcome happens on Sunday. Welcoming happens every day.
• Welcome satisfies givers. Welcoming won’t pay the bills.
• Welcome waits. Welcoming initiates.
• Welcome controls. Welcoming unleashes.
• Welcome tolerates. Welcoming embraces.
• Welcome hoards. Welcoming gives away.
• Welcome is preferential. Welcoming is sacrificial.
• Welcome focuses just on those who are present. Welcoming includes those who are not and may never be present.

Welcoming worship never compromises biblically, theologically, or doctrinally but often accommodates culturally, contextually, and systematically. Welcoming worship is not just what we do on Sunday, it is who we are and how we treat people out in the world every day.

Welcoming worship purposefully considers those who are often neglected and easily ignored. Welcoming worship affirms that, “He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God” (Prov. 14:31). Welcoming worship loves, honors and praises the Father by loving those He loves. Could worship be any more profound?
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Dr. David W. Manner has served as Director of Worship and Administration for Kansas-Nebraska Convention of Southern Baptists since 2000. Before his current ministry position, David served for twenty years in music/worship ministry with congregations in Kansas, Arkansas, Texas, and Oklahoma. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Oklahoma Baptist University; a Master of Church Music degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary; and a Doctor of Worship Studies from the Robert E. Webber Institute for Worship Studies. Check out his blog or follow him on Twitter.

Created by the late Jim Henson and beloved by a generation raised on their 1976-1981 television variety show and subsequent movies, the Muppets return to the big screen courtesy of cowriter-producer-star Jason Segel (a member of that generation). Lovingly crafted, amusingly self-referential and deliriously silly, “The Muppets” isn’t just true to its tradition. It’s true to a contemporary world deserving of quality family films but too often populated with the likes of “Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chip-Wrecked.” It’s a corrective, not a bout of nostalgia.

Segel stars as Gary, a cheerful, small-town guy who lives with his brother Walter. Walter looks, well, like a Muppet. No one remarks on this much – though a photo from the brothers’ high-school prom catches Walter’s date in a hilarious double take – until the pair, along with Gary’s girlfriend Mary (Amy Adams), visit the now-closed Muppet studio in Hollywood. When they learn of a nefarious developer’s plan to take over the property, Walter convinces Kermit the Frog to come out of retirement and put on a studio-saving telethon.

Walter finds his true place in the process, but that’s about the extent of the lesson-learning in “The Muppets.” Ever since the episode featuring the tale of the grasshopper and the ant, in which the grasshopper moves to Florida and the ant gets stepped on, it’s been clear that this group is hardly interested in the moral of the story. That anti-tradition is carried on in “The Muppets.” Although Kermit is given to inspirational speeches, it’s notable that during one of them he’s flattened against the wall by an opening door.

Instead of lessons, we mostly get nonsense. Animal in anger management. Chris Cooper, as the evil developer, breaking into a gangster rap. Chickens doing a dance routine to a Cee Lo Green song (we can only assume it’s called “Cluck You”). Yes, occasionally, incidentally, a lesson is learned. As Walter tells Gonzo at one point, “When I was a kid and saw you recite ‘Hamlet’ while jumping your motorbike through a flaming hoop, it, well, it made me feel like I could do anything.”

The holiness of this nonsense – the spiritual joy it brings – can be difficult to quantify. As Frederick Buechner wrote in “The Hungering Dark,” “Joy is a mystery because it can happen anywhere, anytime, even under the most unpromising circumstances, even in the midst of suffering, with tears in its eyes.” I happened to see “The Muppets” a few hours after attending a wake, one marking a particularly unexpected and senseless death. If we have such nonsensical grief in our lives, doesn’t it stand that God provides nonsensical joy as a counter? A time to weep, and a time to laugh? Holy nonsense blows on the fading embers of our soul, bringing it back to glowing life.

That’s not to say this nonsense is only palliative. It also points to the world of which we live in hope, a restored creation where brokenness, strife and grief are nowhere to be found. In their place, filling that welcome vacuum, there surely will be room for the silly alongside praise for the sublime.

We’re far afield from the Muppets now, but maybe not so far as it might seem. “As long as there are singing frogs and joking bears,” Walter says at one point, “the world can’t be such a bad place after all.” There’s more to it, of course – much more – but the holy nonsense of the Muppets is a very good start.
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Josh Larsen is editor of www.ThinkChristian.net, where this review originally appeared. He also writes about movies at www.LarsenOnFilm.com and at Facebook.com/larsenonfilm.

This is the same for claiming to be a Christian, the best we could ever assume about ourselves is that we wish to be Christian. Lacan says we are fragmented in our very essence [this is our original selves] and the attempt to fill in the spaces is a form of idealism [i.e., looking for the whole]. Without getting too complicated, what this means is that we are always looking for something to make use ‘feel’/seem whole, which denies our very essence of fragmentation. What does this have with being a Christian?

Well, visualize your individual self as a series of parts [i.e., legs, arms, a head, feet, shoulders, eyes, ears and etc.] , the attempts at filling/hiding these gaps is what I call ‘sinew’, you know the tissue uniting the skin to the bone. The sinew is an attempt to deny our essence by projecting we are whole. God is here to remind us we are fragmented, that is what the cross is about, dying to the parts that hide our fragments. But the struggle lies not only in our theology but also in our society. Even down to our late night cartoons. Family Guy follows the life of one American family and their relationships however dysfunctional they might be.

The vulgarity of the cartoon is not explicitly in the content [although some might think so] it is something more sinister [yet hidden in the comic aftermath] – it is that the dog (named: Brian Griffin] is more human than animal. The irony is that the cartoon is written by humans who interpret a dog as a human. Just by following the simple pattern of anthropomorphism one can already see the problem, which is predominantly one of interpretation. Is this also not the same issue hidden within the altruistic notion of what most have historically called ‘Missions’?

Which is the attempt to over-interpret the ‘other’ to the point that anything that distinguishes ‘us’ from the ‘other’ is dissolved into nothingness. Which seems extremely counter-intuitive to another controversial theological element most know as ‘The Trinity’. The three-in-one. Three distinct [separate/distinguished] persons in ‘one’ God. The consumption of the other as the other leaves no space for difference. There is also this one point when the disciples come running to Jesus and complain about some ‘other’ people who are doing things in ‘his name’; Jesus’ response is basically to leave them alone and let them do what they do, if they are for him then they are not against him.

I wonder if we need Missions anymore? I wonder if what we now deem as Missions solely emerged out of a bloody history for dominance [for example: a la Constantine] and what we now have is an over-spiritualized simplified version of domination of that which is other? If the Trinity demonstrates anything to us it is that we can co-exist with people who are doing things in Christ’s name but might not ‘look’ like ‘us’.

If we consume the other, then there is no difference, there is no distinction. There is an ancient midrash [Jewish commentary] that tells the story of two guys who were walking across this mucky ground and they were complaining of how muddy the foundation was below them all the while being blind to the miracle of a parted Red Sea. Maybe we need to rekindle a love for the other, which is the miracle to ourselves rather than attempt to change them/it.

Rather than anthropomorphize them into our world which makes them more digestible. This all stems from our need to cover our fragmented selves and the attempt to consume that which other [i.e., war, missions, apologetic's and etc.] Missions is another form of the sinew I spoke of above that hides us from ourselves. At one point Jesus tells a woman [a Samaritan, or that which is other to the Jew] that we should worship in spirit and truth, the Message interprets that to mean that we should worship God as ourselves. This means we might have to give up both Missions along with seeing others as our sinew.
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George Elerick is a cultural theorist, author, & human rights advocate. He lives in England with his beautiful wife and amazing 4-month old little boy. Catch up with him at his blog, follow him on Twitter, and purchase his new book, Jesus Bootlegged.

For example, whenever non-violent Christians quote Jesus saying, “Put your sword back in its place…for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.” (Matthew 26: 52), there are pro-war Christians who will respond by saying, “(Jesus) said to them, ‘But now let the one who has a moneybag take it, and likewise a knapsack. And let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one.’” (Luke 22:36)

In other words, some Christians believe that Jesus fully endorsed owning and using weapons for self-defense (or for use in war), and other Christians believe that Jesus categorically prohibited His followers from using violence. What’s the real story?

Well, those verses where Jesus forbid violence are numerous and they are not difficult to understand. In addition to the one quoted above, we also hear Jesus declare that we should love our enemies, do good to those who hate us, turn the other cheek, and forgive those who seek to harm us. These are not figurative passages and taken together they paint (in my mind at least) a pretty straightforward picture of Jesus’ expectation that his disciples would not do violence.

In addition to Jesus’ commands we also have His example of forgiving those who crucified him, healing the ear of the soldier who came to arrest him in the Garden, restraining the Legions of angel soldiers at his command, and telling Pontius Pilate that his Kingdom was not of this Earth, and if it was his disciples would fight, begging the question, “If His disciples do fight then are they not part of Christ’s Kingdom”? (see John 18:36)

But this one verse where Jesus tells his disciples to go out and buy a sword is right there in the Bible, isn’t it? What’s it there for? If Jesus didn’t intend for us to own or use swords then why did he say this? Especially if, later on, he was going to contradict himself and rebuke Peter for using the sword he told him to go out and buy?

Well, here’s what I think is going on. First of all we need to look closely at this passage in Luke. Notice that right after Jesus tells his disciples to buy a sword he goes on to say, “For I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in me: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors.’ For what is written about me has its fulfillment.” And they said, “Look, Lord, here are two swords.” And he said to them, “It is enough.” (Luke 22:36-38 ESV)

Right away we can see that Jesus’ statement about the swords is directly related to prophecy (“…this Scripture must be fulfilled in me”) and what is the prophecy that must be fulfilled? The one in Isaiah that says, “And he was numbered with the transgressors”.

Was the statement about buying a sword about self-defense? Probably not. Why? Because first of all, two swords are not “enough” to defend 13 guys against a legion of Roman soldiers. Also, because when Peter uses his sword in self-defense (or to protect Jesus from the soldiers) he is harshly rebuked with the verse we’ve already looked at, “Put it away! Those who live by the sword shall die by the sword”.

Clearly, Jesus is not a fan of self-defense here. At least, not according to the overall context in this passage. However, he does tell the disciples that he wants them to have those two swords with them so that the prophecy about the Messiah being numbered with the transgressors may be fulfilled in Him. That’s why two swords are “enough” for Jesus; to fulfill the scriptures, not to endorse war or physical violence.

Are we sure that Jesus only meant this in light of fulfilling the prophecies about Himself? Yes. How? Because after Peter cuts off the soldiers ear, listen to what Jesus has to say, “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?” (Matthew 26:53-54)

See? Jesus tells them to get a few swords so that the prophecy in Isaiah will be fulfilled. Then, once it’s fulfilled in the Garden he makes a point of saying that this is what he had in mind in the first place. So, it’s all about fulfilling the prophecies, not a statement from Jesus endorsing violence.

As sincere followers of Jesus we must take into account all the many other teachings of Jesus regarding turning the other cheek, loving our enemies, and not resisting an evil man. We must also be careful to interpret the Old Testament scriptures in light of Jesus, not the other way around (i.e. – trying to fit Jesus into the Old Testament context).

Jesus came to fulfill the Old Covenant, and He accomplished this in full. The Old Covenant is obsolete. (see Hebrews 8:13) We don’t need to refer back to it again when it comes to guiding our daily lives. We have Christ. We have the Living Word of God who has come to make His home in us. Jesus gave us a New Covenant and He lived a better example for us to follow.

“Jesus said, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” (Luke 6.27-28)

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Keith Giles is the author of five books including “This Is My Body:Ekklessia as God Intended” which is available as a free e-book download for Nook, Kindle, or iPad at www.WeAreTheTemple.com. Follow his blog at www.KeithGiles.com.

Orthodoxy

For millions of professing believers getting this formula correct is paramount. After all, doesn’t it say—“Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved”? And of course this kind of believing isn’t a simple thing. As someone once responded to a man who affirmed his faith in Jesus, “Which Jesus, exactly?” Because there are some differences. There’s the American Jesus who is pro-economic expansion, highly capitalistic, a dyed in the wool individualist, pro capital punishment, anti-tree hugging (after all he did kill a fig tree didn’t he—this puts him in camp with loggers everywhere), etc… There’s historic Jesus—who, as one recent Jesus Seminar liberal scholar described him, was most probably short, balding, and pudgy; a skilled mental wrangler, and rabbi in the Jewish tradition with nothing exceptional except that he caught the attention of exceptional followers. There’s hippie Jesus—anti-American to the core. There’s Che Guevara Jesus, who simply lacks a machine gun to be relevant to the class struggles of South America. Well, you get the idea. There’s just a lot of versions of this Jesus fellow. It’s tricky, even agreeing that one needs to believe in Jesus, just knowing which one gets our belief.

Thankfully, two thousand years of intellectual wrangling has given us uncanny clarity as to what this really means. For one thing it means agreeing that Jesus is Co-equivalent with God the Father. He wasn’t just a nice young man who got killed for being a professional do-gooder…He was God in the flesh. It also means believing that God got into the flesh through a rather immaculate and improbable conception—The virgin birth. Of course all of belief is predicated on the assumption that every word in the Old and New Testaments of the Christian Bible is mostly literal—especially the creation account and the miracles of Jesus while on earth. It also means that Jesus literally died on a cross (as opposed to only appearing dead, but actually being in some kind of coma or trance), descended into Hell where he re-captured the keys of death from Satan, then was resurrected—supernaturally and bodily (meaning it really happened, he didn’t just come back as a ghost or something). And lastly after ascending to heaven (where he now sits at the right hand ), he waits for the appropriate moment when he will return to finish the work started in his first three years of ministry—though this time he will not leave any one confused if he was a hippie or not…he will be all business, so to speak (blood up to his horses bridle, sword drawn, etc…)

Clearly I’m being a little tongue and cheek. I don’t mean to be disrespectful—except to say that so much emphasis has been placed on these words, that they be literal and concrete and rigidly bought into or asserted as true and right. Each of these facts is seen as absolutely essential to the other—pluck one out, and as Rob Bell noted, the whole brick wall of fundamentalist faith, falls down. This is what it means to be orthodox—to have a right belief. It translates as having the proper mental structures that you hold onto, the correct categories to put your doctrines in.

Here’s where I’d like to take a right hand turn.

The Challenge of Terry

My friend Terry is medically labeled as profoundly retarded. His IQ is somewhere squarely located around 40. His memory is progressively degenerating. He, at times, fails to remember the names of people he’s known his entire life, let alone facts that you or I might take for granted. Now here’s the interesting thing. Terry is also a believing Christian. This is something he feels very strongly about. His faith, his belief, is very important to him. But if you ask him what this means he will be absolutely incapable of formulating anything close to the set of dogma’s I’ve described above. Even if I were to describe in great detail, or walk him through all of these core, foundational affirmations he would still not grasp them. It makes him frustrated to even begin talking about these kind of things. But, his answer to what faith means to him is revealing. His response is to touch his heart, soften his eyes and make a kind of swooning motion with his shoulders. For Terry Christianity means that at the center of his experience he connects to a sense of love. For him, this is God. This is, to him, what it means to be a Christian. These days I find myself asking if there is really anything orthodox, or more “correct” than this.

Because if there is–if all the formulations and right words and nuanced concepts that demand absolute belief, are necessary—then Terry doesn’t stand a chance. And if I’m really being honest, I’m right there along with him. Most times I fail to get the formula. Right beliefs, appearing from the stable base of historic Christianity, have never come easy for me. I don’t get them, don’t agree with many of them. Often I just don’t see it. Even when I do, my thoughts are finite at best.

Persons with profound cognitive disabilities tend to teach us that the truly significant thing, the main thing, is located at the ineffable core of our being—where we are left stammering for words, any words, just to express our experience of being loved by an indescribably Love that seems to pass all understanding.

For Terry, for others who share his challenges, and maybe for the rest of us too, what makes a Christian isn’t so much what we believe, rather it is that we are beloved.

Orthopraxis

Every so often the system of “sloppy grace” gets challenged. Some young, brilliant, reformer will stand up and say, “Yes, of course we are the recipients of God’s conditional love—but, doesn’t this change us? Shouldn’t we be effected by this?” In fact this camp often poses a real challenge to the folks entrenched in “orthodoxy” circles. It can’t all boil down to right belief, they push back. Didn’t Jesus say that “Those who hear my words and practice them are my disciples?” So it’s less about what you think about Jesus and his accompanying doctrines and more about your active response to the life and teachings of Jesus. It’s about what you do! How have you been living out the message of Jesus?

There’s a delightful story which articulates this position well:

A town was situated near a mighty river which every seventy years or so overflowed its boundaries, putting the buildings and people in danger. During such a season the town elders went to the local holy man and begged him to beseech God on their behalf in order to save the village. The old man immediately went to the secret place and spoke the sacred work to God, and the town was saved.

A generation passed and once again the river flooded. The elders came to the new holy man who had been an apprentice of the last. They begged him to speak to God on their behalf. And so he went out into the forest but he could not find the secret place where his mentor had always met with God. Finally he stopped searching and simply knelt where he was, praying: “Oh God you are not caged by a secret place, or chained to a special bit of dirt—the whole earth is filled with your glory!” Then he uttered the sacred words and God spared the village.

Once more a new generation came and as the great flood came the elders went to meet yet another holy man. He went out, as his predecessors had, but could find neither the secret place nor recall the sacred words. He came before God and said, “Oh Lord you are neither contained to a place, nor are you held in a certain set of words—for all belong to you—and we must use every word we know to adequately begin to express your greatness. Now I beg you, take pity on this town and save it from the flood.” And so God moved, the village was saved.

Time passed and yet another generation of elders came before a holy man in order to plead for the town. The holy man was quite unlike his spiritual ancestors. He did not know the secret place, nor did he recall the sacred words—but truth be told he did not even believe in God’s presence, at least not in such simple words.

When the elders begged him, he became exasperated, knowing very well the history of the village and flooding. He whipped about and grabbed his walking stick, then leaped out of the door and towards the town. The elders were perplexed, “What are you doing?”

He looked back and said, “Saving the village! Now go home, grab your shovels, we are going to move the town to higher ground.”

After every one had left the holy man’s hut a shadowy figure stepped out from the corner. It was God. He whispered to a nearby angel, “Now, of all the holy men who served me, this one is the holiest and the closest to my own heart.”

“I don’t understand” said the angel.

“Because he and I are the only ones willing to physically stop the waters. All the others only trusted in words and rituals.”

Of course this exaggerates the point. We need not be atheists in order to join God’s work. But the conclusion is valuable. Orthopraxy argues that we join with God in working his will on the earth. Don’t simply worship Jesus—do as He did.

Angela and actions

But what of my friend Angela? She has cerebral palsy—physically incapable of even the most basic range of motion, she is confined to her chair and the services of others transporting her. She is also profoundly impaired at a cognitive level. She can neither understand the depths of orthodoxy nor can she inact the breadth of orthopraxy. How is she to carry out the mission of God? How does she join in his great work? What is her role in fulfilling God’s eternal purpose?

In other words, if the essence of Christianity is action—then what of those Angela’s who will simply never “perform.”

I repeat what I said earlier: there is so little we can know of God, there is little we may actually do. But we can be loved. Both right belief and right action place their value is a strength based proposition, rightness. But neither of those come close to touching the wounded center of Christianity—a crucified God, foolishness to those who are wise, and a stumbling block to the religious.

Christianity conceals a rather startling concept—that neither our behaving nor our believing is the essential value of humanity—rather, it is our belovedness. This is the gift that those with severe disabilities bring to us. They remind us of the point.

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Brittian Bullock is an author, speaker/storyteller, and artist who lives in the Portland, OR area with his two sons Ransom and Judah. He has spent the last decade founding, consulting, or living within multiple intentional communities. He writes for various publications, and has penned two books (and counting) exploring urban mysticism–a fancy way of talking about the intersections of faith and culture. Follow him on Twitter or his blog.

“EMPOWERING YOU ON YOUR MISSION!”

Each day, there will be a different focus that is designed to inspire and challenge you toward the unique mission that God has given to you. This isn’t a one-size-fits-all conference. This is about helping you get in touch with what God is calling you to do uniquely in your community.

• Firestarters will fire you up to think and feel in new ways – 8 minutes of pure heat!
• Keynotes will kindle fresh insights and perspectives.
• Workshops will help you connect with others and wrestle with what you’re learning.

Day 1 – Redefine Your Theology
Firestarter - Jay Bakker
Keynote - John Caputo
and
Firestarter - Tim King
Live Podcast - Philip Clayton, Peter Rollins, Tripp Fuller, Jay Bakker

Day 2 – Rediscover Your Humanity
Firestarter - Monica Coleman
Keynote - Rita Brock
and
Firestarter - Morgan Myers
Keynote - Peter Rollins

Day 3 – Recommit Your Passion
Firestarter - Claudio Oliver
Keynote - Rachel Held-Evans
and
Firestarter - Brian Ammons
Roundtable - Mark Scandrette, Rich McCullen, Spencer Burke

Interspersed are over 40 workshops within 8 different tracks including church planting, creativity, social justice, family, and more!

REGISTER: Don’t wait another day - register now to join us for three days of empowerment!

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.

NOTE: Jon is leading a workshop entitled “Thin Places: Creating and Practicing Missional Community” at Soularize 2011 – October 18-20 in San Diego, CA.
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Jon Huckins is a veteran youth pastor and public school teacher who is now on staff with NieuCommunities, a collective of missional church 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 Red Letter Christians and Burnside Writer’s Collective and his book Teaching Through the Art of Storytelling.  He lives in San Diego with his wife Jan, daughter Ruby and three legged dog named Harry. Jon blogs at www.jonhuckins.net.  You can also follow Jon on Twitterand Facebook.

As I rode through Kandahar City the other day I saw a naked dust covered kid playing along the road. That was not a strange thing, we see that a lot here. It was when he picked up a large rock and hurled it at the truck that I wondered aloud, “WTF! Who lets their kid run around naked throwing rocks? What kind of place is this?”

As I heard the impact of the rock, a verse came into my head, But Jesus said, “Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Could this child be one of those who will show me the Kingdom of Heaven? Is this the child Jesus saw when he said let the children come to me?

Years of war and violence have produced a perversely unique system where hurling rocks at US Soldiers is a legitimate sport. It is easy to become cynical, even contemptuous of those kids who throw rocks. That said, being in combat has taught me I must not allow our anger numb my compassion. In a place like this compassion for a dirty rock-throwing kid is all that keeps us human.

Imagine if your entire world, from your first breaths, were a closely circumscribed existence defined by poverty, war, death, dirt and dust. How would you perceive the world around you? How different would you be? Maybe rock throwing would not seem so strange.

My son has in an Army Brat. Much of his life has been spent on military bases. He has grown up seeing men in uniform as “the good guys” not a threat. He has never been exposed to the violence of war where men in uniform must to unthinkable things to save their own lives and the lives of their comrades. When his bunny rabbit died he cried for a day and buried it in the back yard. That is as close to death as he has ever been. He takes a hot bath every night. He has ice-cold water, juice, and soda for the taking. His world is secure, reliable, and good. I miss him terribly, but I go to sleep each night with the knowledge that he is happy, safe, and loved

That kid with the rock has never known the world my son takes for granted. His world is not secure, reliable, and good. It is dangerous, uncertain and rough. His father cannot sleep knowing his son will be safe overnight. Explosions and gunfire ring out across the city every night. Still, that kid knows how to throw rocks. It is one certain thing in an uncertain world. So that is what he does. Understanding this my response is – must be – compassion; compassion for a child who seeks to hurt me; compassion for a child who is no less a child of God than my own son.

I cannot change his world, but I can, – I must – try to understand it. Otherwise, a kid with a rock is just one more kind of enemy instead of the person he really is: a kid who, like my own son, only wants to be happy, safe, and loved.
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Chaplain (CPT) George Tyger is a Unitarian Universalist minister and US Army Chaplain currently serving in Kandahar Afghanistan. Prior to becoming a Chaplain, he served civilian churches since 1993. You can reach him at george.tyger@us.army.mil.

Preacher opens with Gerard Butler playing drug-dealing, biker-gang criminal Sam Childers leaving prison…again. He is picked up by his long-suffering wife who has news for Sam. Due to a new life transformation, she is no longer stripping for a living. He asks her, “You found Jesus now?” and she replies, “He found me.”

With no desire of changing his own life, Sam continues down the dirty road he started years ago only to find what we already know – that it is a dead end. He finally surrenders his life to Jesus himself, which opens a door to a whole new lifestyle for the man. He picks up a construction job and stays away from the bars. He becomes a family man who attends church on a regular basis, but something is still missing. Sam decides to go on a short term mission trip to East Africa to help repair destroyed homes by civil war. While there, he sees the atrocities of this war and the effect that is was having on the children, many becoming orphans.

Soon, Sam is traveling back and forth from his home in Pennsylvania and breaks ground for an orphanage where it’s most needed—in the middle of territory controlled by a renegade militia that forces youngsters to become soldiers before they even reach their teens. Despite his best efforts to build something good, the soldiers destroy the camp. Fortunately, Sam knows a thing or two about fighting and guns. Determined to save as many children as possible, Sam raises his own small army, the Angels of East Africa rescue organization.

While technically not a “Christian” movie, Preacher preaches an inspiring message. It takes a route not followed by Christian film makers, and for that reason, many Christians will stay home instead of watching this film. This is a shame as Preacher shows a much more realistic portrayal of an imperfect person turning to salvation but is still a flawed human being like the rest of us.

Director Marc Forster, known for Monster’s Ball and Finding Neverland, chooses to portray the surroundings in East Africa as they were. It is a violent movie, but not to the extreme. It isn’t larger than life. Just like in the real world, there is plenty of foul language, especially in the beginning of the film, but it only serves to show the true change in Sam’s character when he becomes a Christian. What is most refreshing is that how realistic the whole story is played out. In the beginning of the film, the family lives in a small worn out mobile home and then moves into a much nicer home, but not overly nice. The family still struggles with money. They still fight from time to time. Things aren’t perfect. The controversial film also takes on the debate questioning if violence only serves to create more violence. From what I can tell, these children don’t stand a chance without Sam.

Preacher compounds more than 30 years into a 2 hour film, although it is hard to tell since nobody but Paige, Sam’s daughter, ages. Butler does an amazing job of hiding his Scottish accent. He shares the screen with Michelle Monaghan who plays his no-nonsense wife, Lynn. Monaghan plays her strong, able to stand her own ground against her sometimes abusive husband. Kathy Baker is understated as Sam’s mother who never stopped praying for him. In some ways, she is the little old lady we all know, but is stronger than they let on. Madeline Carroll plays Sam’s daughter Paige who struggles with thoughts that her father loves the children in Africa more than herself.

Machine Gun Preacher is difficult to watch at times and is compounded by the fact that is all true and this situation in Africa still exists today. It also challenges the viewer to wonder if they are following their true calling or not.

Cast: Gerard Butler, Michelle Monaghan, Michael Shannon, Kathy Baker, Souleymane Sy Savane, Madeline Carroll
Rating: R

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Jeffrey Totey is a pop culture enthusiast, founder of the Writer of Pop website, a future screenwriter (aren’t we all?) and former director of Acts of God Drama Troupe in Everett, Washington. He is a student of television, movies and more. He has written six full length plays and numerous sketches.