I was having a casual conversation with a guy yesterday about raising money. He was inquiring about a project I am working on, and was curious as to how I would seek out funding.

In a rather funny turn of events (as he didn’t know my background) he said that I should start a church. I informed him that I had been part of a church plant last year, and that they weren’t exactly always a cash cow. I asked him why he thought starting a church would lead to significant financial contribution. His insight struck me initially as funny, but all too often true.

From his perspective, outside of faith and organized religion, I think he is calling it as he sees it:

Church people don’t want to actually do anything, they just want things done on their behalf.

While I don’t think this is true across the board, I can even see tinges of it in my life. Sure, I’ll donate to your cause, because I don’t have time to help the orphan and the widow, and Lord knows I don’t serve the poor in my daily life.

I am working on this, as it’s a daily struggle. We live in an upside down kingdom – and sometimes in our culture, that’s hard to remember.

It is similar to sports fans who cheer for their team in good times. We had such a great game, and we played so well. But then when things head south, they were pathetic out there, and they can’t coach or execute. It’s easy to be “us” in the good and “they” in the bad, because we can associate ourselves to a cause, team, group or affiliation and dissassociate ourselves at will. This is a dangerous cycle that leads to a lack of accepting responsibility, but accepting praise all the while.

I hold myself at arm’s length of what “they” are doing, and rebuke the “greedy/lazy Americans” but don’t associate myself with those whom I find at fault like I should. It is my problem as much as anyones. I am part of the problem. And I need to repent.

Here is an exerpt from the email that caught my attention:

Tragedies never cease to dominate the headlines, but two events in the last six weeks tear a hole in our hearts.
Big Oil’s broken well in the Gulf of Mexico is destroying God’s creation – the lives of fish, birds, and turtles – as well as the livelihoods of many people in a vulnerable regional economy.
King Coal’s disregard for safety regulations caused our nation’s worst mining disaster in more than two decades, with 29 lives lost.
These disasters are a call to repentance for each of us. Our overdependence on coal and oil requires repentance and immediate personal change. But now is also the moment to advocate for energy and climate legislation.

Let me bear my soul for a quick moment:

It was hard for me to be challenged. I post on this blog daily. Almost everyday more people than I think is appropriate come and read what I have written (largely because I remind you all via Twitter and Facebook status updates). Rarely do I get negative responses; people who think I am wrong letting me know so. And when that happens on rare occasions, readers usually come to my defense. Well…this time, even though there was some great conversation happening, I felt as though I was taking on my readership.

I felt defensive; they aren’t listening to me!

I felt disappointed; they just don’t get it!

I felt like I had failed; none of this is the point!

I second-guessed my motives. Why I had written the posts? Could anything good possibly come out of them. Did I simply facilitate an argumentative snark-fest instead of a conversation? It sure seemed so…at the time.

But then something staggering happened. I received a tweet from a good friend of mine (one who disagreed with me throughout the political series :) ) announcing a new blog called Be The Now. I read The Kick Off post laying out the vision of the blog, and the heart behind the movement. I was blown away.

The entire purpose of the series I wrote was to encourage you to wrestle with your faith, no matter where you are on the journey. If we consider ourselves Christians, I believe we need to take a long, hard look at what that means for today. For now. I could not be more thrilled to announce Nate’s new endeavor, Be The Now, to you creators of culture. Please take a few minutes to click over to BeTheNow.com and look around.

You can also follow the blog on Twitter @BeTheNow. This is is what it is all about!

Go be the now.

• Letters are intimate; conferences are gatherings of strangers
• Letters are personal; conferences must be impersonal in order to address all in attendance
• Letters are soul-bearing; conferences deflect with pomp and circumstance
• Letters are meant to be read; conferences are meant to be observed, engaging the mind in a passive way – think book vs. television
• Letters are fluid; conferences require themes and continuity to keep speaker and attendees on the same page
• Letters are built out of a context of relationship; conferences are indifferent to relationships, assuming everyone in attendance should hear the same message

That, my friends, is why the Christian conference is not the modern-day epistle.

Fellow Believers

Paul’s letters were written to leaders in the new church, growing at rates that were unmanageable. Although Paul speaks for the importance of reaching unbelievers with Jesus’ message, his letters are reserved for the like-minded men and women who were laying down their lives for the cause of Christ. Brothers in arms, if you will. There is a sense that Paul is a pastor, friend, admirer and role model in his letters. The mutual affection is based on the common denominator in their lives; Jesus.

Christian conferences are similarly intended for the fellow believers who are living their lives for the glory of Jesus. Usually geared to those who serve in vocational ministry, conferences often serve as an oasis for dry and weary ministers. If you have ever attended a Christian conference, you would have experienced the pastoral/friendly/admiring/role model dynamic in the relationships among presenters and attenders.

Encourage

Paul is largely seeking to encourage the church leaders who are dealing with unmanageable growth, persecution, and the blending of cultures. No doubt the pastors of these local churches were in overdrive trying to keep up. Paul emphasizes that it is about the work that God has done and is doing, not about the individual leaders ability or qualification.

As a 21st century leader, this is something that can quickly be overlooked. With big personality leaders, and churches that seem to explode overnight, it is important to keep our eyes on the Creator of the Church, and not our abilities, or lack thereof. This theme is the through-line of many conferences.

Correct

Because cultures were blending, the theology was developing, and people are people, Paul spent a good amount of time in his letters correcting the young leaders. Much of which was reminding them to keep their hearts right before God and men. If something wasn’t right, Paul would bring it up.

This is harder to do in a conference setting, where speakers may be addressing representatives from multiple churches. Correction can be made about things like leadership perspectives, programming strategies and stewardship of time and finances. The best example I have seen of this was Rob Bell’s talk at Catalyst this past fall, where he urged leaders to let go of their attendance aspirations and to be faithful to those whom God has called them to serve.

Teach

Paul addresses many theological stances in his letters. Especially in metropolitan areas where cultures and religions are meshed, strong theology is difficult to uphold and communicate.

Conference speakers are unique in that they usually speak/teach about a specific characteristic of God. Many times, several speakers will cover very different aspects of God, which helps to form and reaffirm a strong understanding of Scripture.

Motivate

Paul constantly urges the church on through his letters. Although he encourages, teaches and corrects, Paul always left the readers with a strong motivation to carry on in their work.

At conferences, motivation may be one of the best things a speaker can provide. If a leader walks out of a conference with the truth that they can carry on, and that they are being greatly used by God, the conference has done it’s job. I would imagine the leaders in Phillipi, Corinth, Rome and beyond had that same feeling after reading a letter from their friend Paul.

When the Inquisitor ceased speaking he waited some time for his Prisoner to answer him. His silence weighed down upon him. He saw that the Prisoner had listened intently all the time, looking gently in his face and evidently not wishing to reply. The old man longed for him to say something, however bitter and terrible. But He suddenly approached the old man in silence and softly kissed him on his bloodless aged lips. That was all his answer. The old man shuddered. His lips moved. He went to the door, opened it, and said to Him: ‘Go, and come no more… come not at all, never, never!’ And he let Him out into the dark alleys of the town. The Prisoner went away.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

My point was not to make a case for Jesus being the new face of Socialism. I thought I made this clear when I said:

In Scripture, we get no indication that Jesus was the least bit interested in what the Empire of Rome was up to. When pressed, he encouraged the Jews to pay their Roman taxes to Caesar, and to be faithful with God’s things to God…Jesus’ point when asked about paying taxes was, We don’t belong here. If we define ourselves and our existence by the flag flying overhead, we have lost sight of the Gospel.

and especially when I said:

Now before anyone gets too upset, I don’t claim that we need government to redistribute wealth for us.

By referencing the flag flying overhead, I was speaking about government, any and all kinds of government. It is not the kingdom to which we belong. God’s kingdom is one that can’t be contained inside of a governmental system. Not even in the U S of A. And I think that thought is what gets people riled up.

I also feel some misunderstanding came about by how I ended the post:

Socialism does not fit well with red-blooded democracy, which also doesn’t fit well with the American Dream. Maybe that’s because Jesus, the socialist, didn’t come up with the American dream…

This comment was, again, not my claim that Jesus was a socialist. That statement was made after I opened with this question and conjecture:

I have often wondered how Jesus’ actions would be viewed in our contemporary culture. Imagine with me for a moment that Jesus was traveling around, teaching in Bible studies, raising up a ragtag group of leaders in 21st century America…

I even think if Jesus were to come hang out in our culture, people like (Glenn)  Beck would call him a socialist, and warn us of the danger inherent in his message. He may even encourage us to run away from him as fast as possible.

I believe we need to always be wrestling with our faith. The Gospel is a message that is alive and moving in our culture. Jesus doesn’t need our defense, but rather our effort to tend to his message of hope.

My challenge then, is for us all to lean deeply into Jesus’ message, responding to our culture with grace, mercy, love and generosity. It makes no difference what you believe until you live it in front of others.

I have often wondered how Jesus’ actions would be viewed in our contemporary culture. Imagine with me for a moment that Jesus was traveling around, teaching in Bible studies, raising up a ragtag group of leaders in 21st century America. This thought is what led me to make the comment:

I even think if Jesus were to come hang out in our culture, people like (Glenn)  Beck would call him a socialist, and warn us of the danger inherent in his message. He may even encourage us to run away from him as fast as possible.

I made this claim, and stand by it, not because I think Jesus would be engaged politically in order to see government move on behalf of the widow and the orphan.

In Scripture, we get no indication that Jesus was the least bit interested in what the Empire of Rome was up to. When pressed, he encouraged the Jews to pay their Roman taxes to Caesar, and to be faithful with God’s things to God. I think our misunderstanding of this passage is that we see the United States of America as a peace-loving, God-fearing nation when it is not. We live in a polytheist nation that has the obligation to protect it’s citizens. We live in a modern Empire. In fact, we live in the Empire of our time.

Jesus’ point when asked about paying taxes was, We don’t belong here. If we define ourselves and our existence by the flag flying overhead, we have lost sight of the Gospel. The gospel of Jesus the Christ is freedom for the oppressed, help for the needy and a shoulder to carry the burden.

When Jesus encounters a young man who we often refer to as “the rich young ruler” he says something that in our culture, would be condemnable. The young man has done everything right, obeyed all the laws, lived a moral life and obtained (what he thought) was righteousness. Then Jesus says, “you have done all these things. Now, go sell everything you own and give it to the poor. Then you may follow me.” It’s easy to sit back and glean from that story a warning to not worship money. While that is clearly at the heart of the exchange, there is something else we neglect.

If we aren’t redistributing our wealth, we aren’t following in the way of Jesus.

Now before anyone gets too upset, I don’t claim that we need government to redistribute wealth for us. However, I do believe that if our paycheck hits our bank account, and we don’t respond by generously giving to those around us, we have missed the point of our faith.

In our culture, however, redistribution of wealth is called socialism. Socialism does not fit well with red-blooded democracy, which also doesn’t fit well with the American Dream. Maybe that’s because Jesus, the socialist, didn’t come up with the American dream…

Any theology that uses political persuasion for any kind of footing seems overly dangerous to me, and doesn’t seem to follow in the lines of Jesus’ teachings. With the Marxist leanings of such theological interpretations, I can understand how right-wing talking heads would vehemently condemn any such praxis. I do, however, believe their concerns are more patriotic than spiritual, which is equally as dangerous in my opinion. It is that lack of spiritual concern that led me to write the response to Beck a while ago.

What makes a theology?

I believe all theology is grounded in a person or community’s understanding of 1. Scripture and 2. their culture. All attempts to understand the nature of God should be grounded and tested in and by the Scriptures. This makes sense for Christians who believe Scripture to be divinely inspired, and is rarely disputed in theological circles. A person’s understanding of their culture, however, is where many theological divergences occur.

Those who engage Scripture through the liberation theology understand their culture as a result of class struggle and oppression. Reading Scripture through this lens surely brings a heightened awareness to passages addressing caring for the poor, coming to the side of the oppressed and seeking justice for the forgotten. What it can’t do, however, is aid in developing a political strategy derived out of Biblical passages. Marxism is not the political counterpart to Christianity, because Christians pledge their allegiance to the cross and not to the flag.

Theology without praxis is no theology at all

Praxis (actually doing something about what you believe) is central to the liberation theology (and to Marxism, which excites social commentators such as Beck). From how I understand the liberation theology, praxis is the foremost important part of the hermeneutic. Second to praxis is the theology itself. The idea is that a theology that isn’t realized through action is no theology at all. This would be a familiar thought to those who have read the book of James.

Jesus said that when his followers acted on the behalf of the downtrodden, they were acting on his behalf. He also said that his followers would be recognized in their culture by their love for each other (not their theological stance). James said faith without works is dead. Bottom line: If you aren’t living it, you don’t believe it – not matter how often you say it. Herein lies the danger of knowing something by rote, but not allowing it to penetrate your heart, which Jesus was warning against over and over throughout his teachings.

So what’s a Christian to do?

While Jesus doesn’t lay out a clean theological stance for his followers to pick up and run with, there are specific instructions he gives in order to take up his name and his cause. When asked by a religious leader what is the most important commandment, Jesus responded:

‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.

I think the most important thing to keep hold of when dealing with theological and pragmatic issues is that all of the Scriptures, church history and future hang on loving God and loving our neighbor. If this remains our focus, and Christ remains the source of our redemption, our theology will be the words we put on our actions as opposed to the crutch on which we lean in conversation.