Matthew 10:7-10

And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay. Acquire no gold nor silver nor copper for your belts, no bag for your journey, nor two tunics nor sandals nor a staff, for the laborer deserves his food. And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart. As you enter the house, greet it. And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.

Tonight I learned. Tonight I was ministered to, completely by surprise. And I thank God for it. You see, Chad and Marjorie love Evelyn. It's a long story but a beautiful one. And because of her, they're on the Love and Destroy road trip. It's "crazy." it's "radical." Matthew 16:24 "Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."" Luke 12:33 "Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys."

Chad talked over dinner about meeting some people and seeing the face of Christ in them, not sure if they are even real. And after sharing dinner with them, I come away with a clear understanding of what he means. I'm going to love Detroit to death. It's what I'm supposed to do, God has been making that clear over the last year. Marjorie asked me tonight what that would look like. I laughed. You see, I dream big dreams, the kind that "they" say are "unrealistic" and "foolish." Which to me is just encouragement that I'm on the right track. I see 20 churches all made up of Detroiters living, working, worshipping and loving-thy-neighbor in the same place, everyday. I don't care what my role is, I truly, honestly only care what Christ's Love's Role is in the thing. Love is more than we give it credit these days. But believe me, it makes a difference. Actually, don't believe me. Believe the billboards:

As we were parting, Chad said to me "Consider us your servants." And that, my friends, is what love is. Love is the Movement. And Chad, Marjorie and Chili (yes Chris, I'm calling you chili in honor of the chili cheese fries) are three examples of what Christ's Love looks like in person. So pray for them. Pray for their safety in travel, and that they would have no shortage of love for those they meet. And may we all be servants to one another. Matthew 40:35-36 "For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me." Amen.

I've been ranting enough about politics and religion and the frustrations with talking and not doing. I smiled when I saw this article today:

Then came the morning of May 12, when both satisfaction and retirement ended for the 75-year-old priest. Federal immigration agents raided the Agriprocessors factory, arresting nearly 400 workers, most of them men, for being in the United States illegally. Within minutes of the raid, with surveillance helicopters buzzing above the leafy streets, the wives and children of Mexican and Guatemalan families began trickling into St. Bridget’s Church, the safest place they knew.

Hello all,

Many of you are my friends. Chances are I have not met most of you, as I imagine that there are hundreds of thousands (or perhaps millions) of you who I have not met in my various homes in Michigan. But I believe that I understand at least to some degree where you are coming from, specifically because of my experience with Focus on the Family as mentioned yesterday.

I'm writing to you as part of my continuing response to his radio show from Tuesday, June 24th regarding Senator Obama's speech from 2006. I have listened to Senator Obama's speech as well as the entire audio of the radio show from Focus on the Family's website, and I would like to bring to your attention a few points of concern I have. (I will break these into a few separate posts in hopes that this makes it easier to read.)

First of all, Dr. Dobson made a statement about Senator Obama's worldview that is wholly inaccurate. Dr. Dobson said "[Senator Obama] is trying to make the case that it's antidemocratic to believe or fight for moral principles in the Bible that are not supported by people of all faith, or presumably by people of no faith." That statement, if true, would quite simply be damning for Senator Obama in his attempts to garner support in the evangelical community. But what did Senator Obama say? He said:

Democracy demands that the religiously motivated translate their concerns into universal, rather than religion-specific, values. It requires that their proposals be subject to argument, and amenable to reason. I may be opposed to abortion for religious reasons, but if I seek to pass a law banning the practice, I cannot simply point to the teachings of my church or evoke God's will. I have to explain why abortion violates some principle that is accessible to people of all faiths, including those with no faith at all.

"Amenable to reason." That does not read as "antidemocratic." I can understand this statement by Senator Obama. It would make sense that we would need to have a universal value to convince those who are not Christians to support legislation as such. Just as the defense "God told me to" typically does not hold up in the American court system, so "God told me" does not typically hold water in the American judicial system. It seems that Obama was encouraging Christians to hold themselves to a higher standard, not writing Christian thought and politics off as "antidemocratic."

Stay tuned for Part II.

I do not wish to have any negative rhetoric or lack Christian spirit in this series, whatever its length, so please feel free to call me out if my comments seem vitriolic or mean. With that being said, make sure you're kind in your words and spirit as well, and I believe we will have a positive dialogue.

Dr. Dobson,

Having grown up in a predominantly evangelical community, I am quite familiar with who you are and what you promote. I was a regular reader and subscriber to your organization's magazines and newsletters. I don't listen to your radio show because, frankly, I don't listen to talk radio, but I did want to respond to your recent show that Jim Wallis also responded to today.

Let me preface this by saying that I typically do not agree with Mr. Wallis any moreso than I do with you. But I believe that rhetoric and public witness both must be taken into consideration as Christians. I am not a theologian, an ordained minister or a political expert, so I accept the fact that much like you, as a child psychologist, I am not qualified to commentate on American politics. Which is my concern.

First off, on your show, you misconstrued the things that Senator Obama said (transcript of Obama's speech is here). Senator Obama did not compare you to the Rev. Al Sharpton, as your site suggests. He simply asked that, "even if we did have only Christians within our borders, who's Christianity would we teach in the schools? James Dobson's, or Al Sharpton's?" Senator Obama also astutely observed:

Moreover, given the increasing diversity of America's population, the dangers of sectarianism have never been greater. Whatever we once were, we are no longer just a Christian nation; we are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers.

Secondly, Dr. Dobson, I believe the misunderstanding of Senator Obama's faith and politics lies in the ignorance of the following section of his speech:

This brings me to my second point. Democracy demands that the religiously motivated translate their concerns into universal, rather than religion-specific, values. It requires that their proposals be subject to argument, and amenable to reason. I may be opposed to abortion for religious reasons, but if I seek to pass a law banning the practice, I cannot simply point to the teachings of my church or evoke God's will. I have to explain why abortion violates some principle that is accessible to people of all faiths, including those with no faith at all.

This may be difficult for those who believe in the inerrancy of the Bible, as many evangelicals do. But in a pluralistic democracy, we have no choice. Politics depends on our ability to persuade each other of common aims based on a common reality. It involves the compromise, the art of the possible. At some fundamental level, religion does not allow for compromise. It insists on the impossible. If God has spoken, then followers are expected to live up to God's edicts, regardless of the consequences. To base one's life on such uncompromising commitments may be sublime; to base our policy making on such commitments would be a dangerous thing.

I was disappointed when you questioned Senator Obama's Christianity. If there is one thing I have observed over the past several years, it's that Christians can hold the same faith but believe in the political practice of it differently. The longstanding monarchies of Europe, the theocracy of Old Testament Israel, and the democracy of the United States have all been held to be God-ordained forms of political structures. You, me, Al Sharpton and Barack Obama are all Christian men with our own personal failings who disagree on how best to live out the Christian faith in the political sphere. But publicly attacking each other will get all of us nowhere.

I wanted you to know that I will not be listening to your radio show, subscribing to your magazines or supporting your organization anymore. I believe that the rhetoric coming from your camp is divisive and damaging to the Christian witness. I would encourage you to contact Senator Obama personally and talk about your differences, but more importantly, accept the fact that you both believe in One Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God.

Sincerely,
Dean Simmer

It has recently been brought to my attention that my blog is the first thing that comes up in a Google search of "Detroit homelessness" (same with Yahoo). As a website owner, it's always cool to discover keywords that bring readers to your blog, but I would much prefer that the search terms had less of an ethical, moral, and personal relevance. Simply put, my post that was little more than a rehashing of resarch done by the Detroit Rescue Mission hasn't changed a single life (at least not to my knowledge). The reality is that there are thousands of kids, adults, seniors, disabled, military veterans, single mothers, and orphans on the streets of Detroit. It's horrifying. They are real people, and yet we almost always step over them or walk across the street because we are afraid of them. Or more realistically, we're afraid of having to love them.

Which brings me to Chad and Marjorie. Their story is told on thier website here. It is a story filled with intrigue, sadness, dozens of characters and takes place in many of the worlds largest cities. But the sad part is, it's all true. They visit cities and live with the homeless to show them love. Just recentlty, Chad wrote:

As we sat with him (Pops, a homeless man in New Orleans), hundreds upon hundreds of people walked by, unashamedly starring at Pop, almost looking offended that a dirty man would set up shop right near a sidewalk that tourist frequent often. On more than one occasion, I made eye contact with people as they were walking by, and though no verbal communication happened, their eyes were asking me, “what in the world are you doing there? are you in danger?!”

When Chad shared this with me a few days ago, it crushed me. I personally am not familiar with New Orleans, never having been there, but I know Detroit and its people. And I know that there are tens of thousands of Christians in the greater Detroit area who stand up every Sunday and profess the Creeds. But what about Matthew 25:40:

And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'

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My friend, a Lutheran pastor, recently blogged about Luke 15 and how those celebrations compare with "celebrations" in the church today. Two snippets from Luke 15 follow below, or you can read the entire passage here:

7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

What Dion tackles is the difference between those heavenly celebrations listed above and those we have when our church membership rosters grow. His main argument:

Notice that Luke 15 does NOT say that the angels in heaven throw a party when a disgruntled catholic or baptist from the church down the street transfers to our church. Nor does it say that the angels in heaven wait to rejoice until the "sinner" who repents becomes a contributing part of the organization...pulling his/her own weight! It certainly doesn't even entertain the notion that the angels might celebrate when a church quits looking for valuable "lost" people altogether so that it can give more attention to those who are lucky enough to be found!

What a fair and accurate account of how 21st century American churchgoers tend to live! We tend to shut ourselves in our Fortresses and celebrate those who "sneak out the back door of one church and in the front door of another." It seems we do a pretty crappy job of living the Nicene Creed and ignore Missional Living altogether.

On that note, who is interested in doing some labor of love ministry in the Detroit area? There are a lot of people in this city who could use some help with their homes, yards, cars, etc.

I picked up the book Under the Overpass today and am reading it quite intently. Long story short: a guy and his friend decided to give up everything and live as homeless in several of America's big cities to learn, grow and understand. More importantly, they wanted to answer the question: "What if i stepped out of my comfortable life with nothing but God and put my faith to the test alongside of those who live with nothing every day?"

I'll let you know what I think. So far, it's very eye-opening. I hear that the author is coming to the Detroit area in a few weeks to speak on the topic.

It's true. For a long time I was anti-church calendar, anti-liturgy, etc. I remember hating having to go to a Good Friday or Christmas Eve service (and this at a church that didn't recognize the church calendar at all). Then I did my stint of anti-church in college, which worked out "oh so well." So it's probably ironic to find me in a traditional liturgical worship, especially this week when there are services nearly every day. For a while, I struggled to explain it, but I found the book that puts it into words. This isn't a new book, but Dr. Bob Webber's Evangelicals on the Canterbury Trail (available through my aStore here) emphasizes the beauty and mystery of God celebrated in liturgical worship. It is a relatively short, simple read (less than 150 pages I believe) and yet it is clear how relevant liturgical worship was to Dr. Webber. I know that things like Lent went from "geez, I have to give this up, I can't wait for Lent to be over" to a more Christ-like approach in the vein of the Book of Common Prayer description: "the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word."

In any church or faith, it is important to understand the rituals and methods of worship. In the anti-liturgical methods of Sunday worship, they are actually quite "liturgical" in the literal sense, and I believe that it is important to understand those as well. Diversity in worship in Christ's Church is important, to be sure, provided a certain focus is present. I'd like to see a better understanding amongst Christian traditions of "the other ones" out there, and by that I do not mean other faiths, but other practices in the Christian Church. I grew up not understanding, heck, not knowing about the church calendar because our churches did not teach us about them, and that to me is a huge loss. All this to say that I cannot write to nearly the quality and elegance of Dr. Webber's standards, so go read his book instead.

So everyone I know is celebrating "St. Patrick's Day" in one way or another. Everyone except me, and Todd & Kelly since they helped solidify what follows. St. Patrick's Day 2008 does not exist.

Consider this: it officially falls on March 17 each year, which happens to be during Holy Week. According to the Book of Common Prayer, "feasts appointed on fixed days in the Calendar are not observed on the days of Holy Week or of Easter Week" (Easter week being the week that follows "Easter Sunday" or the First Sunday of Easter). Also, "All other Feasts of our Lord, and all other Major Feasts appointed on fixed days in the Calendar, when they occur on a Sunday [or in this case, during Holy Week], are normally transferred to the first convenient open day within the week." It is also stipulated that feasts can not be moved more than 8 days out, but since the 8 day time frame from March 17 is March 25, which falls within Easter Week, St. Patrick's Day just cannot happen this year.

What to do.

You know you're a social networking geek when you try to Digg-down a post on a Facebook discussion board. You laugh, but I tried last night. No surprise, it didn't work.

MeLCat is one of the most underused tools in the post-collegiate era. Which is why I have been throwing a full-blown blitzkrieg at the Novi Public Library with all of my hold requests. I'm currently going through N.T. Wright's entire library as well as grabbing the Thomas Tallis music I can find. Remember, this is all free and available through many libraries in the state of Michigan (there is a list here).

Several shifts this week at Sbux, then a short week next week to get ready for the Pittsburgh trip. More details to follow on that I'm sure.