The diverse Body of Christ, or Unfaithfulness?

One of the things I have noticed in American Christianity in recent years is the tendency of many people to now have affiliations with more than one church.  I've not always been sure about this, since of course I believe in my tribe and would like people to know who it is they belong to.

But it's hit home to me in the last 24 hours that I, too, am part of this as well.  Last night my daughter had basketball practice at the Christian church gymnasium as part of her Upward program.  Today I had lunch with my son at the Baptist church where he goes to pre-school (and my wife has worked for many years).  And tonight I will as I usually do be teaching Bible class at the church that employs me, the Church of Christ.

When we first moved here and my wife started working at the daycare located at the Baptist church, I wondered if there would be any negative fallout from our church, since by my experience most members of Churches of Christ are rather tribalistic in their mindset.  Indeed, one of the churches I used to preach for now regularly has its Wednesday class on the subject of 'denominational doctrines' (not something I did, but still reflecting their conservativism).  The basic attitude I was raised with was that other groups could come and be a part of us and our activities (but don't try to lead or make us believe what you do, and most importantly leave your pianos at home), but we could not be a part of them.  Young people who went to activities at other youth groups were looked at with suspicion.

Maybe this was because I was raised in the Bible belt where churches were so competitive.  Maybe it was because this was also a time in which churches (and Christian mindsets/morals) were still a dominant social force.  Because we could dominate, why did we need other churches?

Today, of course, things are much different.  Most churches are on the decline.  We've realized that we have more in common with other churches than we once did.  We realize that individual small churches cannot do everything that its members now want.  And so maybe we're OK with more cooperation now.  We don't see it as a sign of unfaithfulness, or of lax feelings about denominationalism.  Maybe we aren't going to be having worship services together anytime soon and maybe we don't always agree about points of doctrine, but maybe inching ever closer together in activities of fellowship is part of what it means to be the body of Christ.

"Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone." (1 Corinthians 12:4-6 ESV)

Things that annoy me, #112: rewards cards

Am I the only one who is sick of having to have a special card every time I enter a store these days?

When it was just my local Dillons, I was fine.  I can keep track of one.  Now I go to Autozone to buy a battery, 'do you have our card?'  When I go to Walgreens to get a valentine's day card for my wife, I'm asked if I have a card.  When my wife goes to Kohl's to buy a pair of pants for our daughter, she needs her special Kohl's card to get a discount.  Last night at Sears, I was asked about not just one card, but two cards I could have to give me special rewards.  It's getting out of control.

Basically these companies are trying to make us become loyal to them out of frustration.  Knowing that our wallets can at most contains 5-7 cards, they figure, hey, if we can get them to get our card, they'll come here because they know they will be screwed if they do not.

So from now on, anytime I go to a store in which they ask me to get their card, I'm going to be straight with them as I should have been with the pleasant Sears lady last night:  "I'm sick of cards.  I will not have them.  I want your best deal regardless of whether or not I have your reward/plus/loyalty card or not.  If you won't give it to me without having to track all of my spending habits, I'm not coming back.  Tell your managers.  Tell your marketing people.  I'm out."

The libertarian within me rises to the surface once in awhile about the strangest of issues.  Maybe if I can get everybody else to do the same thing, this foolishness will end.

Kick off your Sunday shoes

The other day I watched on Netflix the remake of Footloose that came out a few years ago.  Some of the same songs, same plot lines, same names.  Hey kids, wouldn't it be freaky if your life was exactly like a movie that had occurred 25 years ago?  You'll know not to cross that bridge while drunk or you'll get hit by a semi and the reactionary town council will ban dancing!  Don't people ever learn?

Sure, there are differences.  The part of Sarah Jessica Parker is now played by a girl of indeterminate ethnicity.  It's located in Georgia (since, of course, the south is where backwards religious people live now, right?).  The preacher's daughter is a skank with mental problems, not just a bit wild and rebellious.  The uncle is a much more sympathetic character.  The chicken/tractor scene is replaced by a bizarre school bus race.  But it's mostly the same thing.

I would wonder if the original of this movie has helped to change the evangelical church's position on dancing more than anything in my lifetime.  When I was a kid we heard sermons and classes about the evils of dancing.  Now?  Except in the most conservative churches it's a given, and in some places it's encouraged.  Heck, I go now to an evangelical Christian university that has dances.  Who knows if it's always been that way, but nobody thinks anything of it.

In both movies there is a climax scene in which bad-boy Ren comes before the town council to plead his case for the big dance.  Helped by the preacher's daughter finding him some Bible verses, he passionately speaks about the need to dance, and hey, it's in the Bible, too!  A psalm speaks of dancing.  David danced before the Lord.  So shouldn't we dance too?  The town council sits in silence, destroyed by the word of God.

Of course, it ain't that easy.  While I no longer think that dancing is the epitomy of evil, and fully expect my kids to want to go to dances when they get older (my son especially already has rhythm), in a Christian sense  how dancing is today is very problematic.  I don't go clubbing...but what I see of it shows me that there ain't a lot of 'dancing before the Lord' in much of modern dancing.  Maybe in high school dances or evangelical Christian university dances, it's a much more tame thing.  Nobody looks like they are simulating sex in such places, I would bet...but in much of the rest of the world godliness is nowhere in sight.  Drunkenness, promiscuity, and the like are all encouraged in much dancing today.

But like most things, we can't make the distinction between these things.  Like the reactionary town council in the movie, it's all or nothing.  Either you can't even choreograph, or you have to bump and grind like a couple of dogs in heat.  Why can't Christians make the determination about what is good and what is evil?  Because for years we have held to slippery slope arguments or have been obsessed with extreme positions that have no basis in reality.  Only when we will start to understand degrees, and see things through eyes of the Spirit, will it really start to make sense what is acceptable and what is not.

Enemies List

Back in the early 1970s Richard Nixon became obsessed with his enemies.  Such obsession led to his eventual disgrace and downfall, and we now view him as a petty little man who destroyed himself.

So today on Twitter great sportswriter Joe Posnanski mentioned that the NRA publicly keeps an enemies list, and that both my Kansas City Royals and Kansas City Chiefs are on it.  What???  I've never particularly thought of the Royals or Chiefs as anything more than poorly-run franchises whom I still continue to support for whatever reason.  But I continued to look at this list and wonder, hey, these people are all anti-gun?  Really? I'm sure that the gun nut advocates are not surprised to see the major networks and newspapers on there, but Silver Dollar City?  Former NFL quarterback Doug Flutie?  Hallmark cards?  Yep, they are all there, and many, many more.

I'm a bit sad that somehow they have not put me on their enemies list yet, but then again I'm just a small-town preacher who isn't big enough to be on their radar. That's fine...I don't need to have people writing me and telling me I'm un-American because I have a different perspective on the second amendment than they do.  Maybe someday I'll be fortunate enough to receive death threats.

But what I'm really interested in is the fascinating idea of having an enemies list and keeping it in a very public place.  Who does this?  Who sits around and compiles the names of hundreds of people and organizations who do not like you?  If this was a person, we'd think him/her to be petty and paranoid all at the same time.  What do we then think about the NRA?

The NRA exists because they stand against the growing trend of public opinion about guns.  That's fine, we need those who will stand up and take a different road, even when that road leads to disaster.  That's part of the public debate.  Freedom means we need NAMBLA, it means we need euthanasia advocates, it means we need both the John Birch society and American communists.  Just as we needed those who would advocate against Jim Crow laws when they were common, or just as we need people now who will prick our consciences about the homeless when we'd rather have them out of mind, we need somebody who will stand up and say that guns are not the sole reason there is so much violence.  They need to keep speaking up even though the more they talk, the more many of us continue to run from their position.

But when you get to the point that you obsess about how many people don't like you, you've shown yourself to be nuts.  NRA, welcome to Crazytown.