Category: Podcast

This piece was originally published at Patheos on December 22, 2012.

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There’s something very magical about Christmas for many people. The reasons vary, from sensing something special in the air to falling snow against the backdrop of a lit night sky to Christmas lights and nostalgic music to the anticipation over giving and receiving presents. The list goes on.

The children’s Christmas concert I attended the other night was filled with Christmas magic. The children varied in size and age and musical ability, as they played their instruments and sang. What was most magical to me was the sense of normalcy as parents, siblings and friends watched with pride and joy, snapping pictures and videotaping their kids as they performed. After the past several days bombarded with gun shots and news reports of tragedy, the room filled with regular people and nostalgic Christmas music played by aspiring amateur musicians was magical.

There was nothing amateur about the conductor, though. He is a professional musician in every way—how he carries himself, his dramatic flair, and skill in conducting and accompanying his young apprentices with instruments. By looking at his face and gestures, one would never know if his music students had made a mistake. He praised them appropriately and led everyone in the celebration of the festivities.

Taking it all in took me back in time to reflect upon what that first Christmas must have been like. Bethlehem was by no means Jerusalem. It was a normal little town, I suppose. The divine conductor chose the town of the shepherd boy David for the birthplace of the Messiah (Matthew 2:6). The heavenly choir performed—not for royalty in music halls, but for shepherds watching their flocks in the fields by night (Luke 2:8). Amateurs performed in the Christmas pageant as well. Just think of Mary and Joseph; as great as their faith was, they were very average people by most accounts (Luke 1:39-56; 2:4-7). Then there were the aged Anna and Simeon (Luke 2:25-38). The foreign dignitary wise men would make their appearance later (Matthew 2:1-12).

God was with us—even us—Immanuel (Matthew 1:23). The uncommon God sees fit to live among an all-too-common people. There is something magical about all this to me. Something so supra-normal cloaked in normalcy. So often, the kingdom of God appears to us in this fashion. The divine conductor makes it possible for all of us to play a part. Of course, there is the pursuit of excellence, but there is also the place for everyone to make a joyful noise to the Lord.

I hope and pray that we can bring a bit of this Christmas magic into the coming year and make space for everyone to play their parts to their hearts’ content and to the best of their abilities. Not writing them off or making them exit center stage, but making room for them in our hearts, even today.

This piece was originally published at Patheos on December 21, 2012.

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During the Depression years, people conserved. More recently, when facing tragedy and crisis, Americans have been called upon to consume. You may recall the Bush Administration’s talk of supporting the war effort in Afghanistan by going shopping and the terrorists hating our freedoms. Did such talk disguise our bondage to consumerism? If so, America’s greatness as a nation has been greatly diminished.  To some, its Messianic vision for America’s role in the world was/has been reduced to “Save the world; spend money,” as a friend once remarked. A similar point on consumption was raised in a post-9/11 New Yorker cartoon caption that read, “I figure if I don’t have that third martini, then the terrorists win.” What has terrorized Americans more—the terrorists or the all-consuming fear of not having enough?

It is important to pause at this juncture to complicate the matter. While the consumerist ideology is certainly problematic from a variety of angles, including the compulsive drive to buy and sell far beyond what is needed to survive, we must come to terms with the fact that we live in a society increasingly dependent on consumerism. Consumption itself is not the problem. Consumption is a part of life. It is inordinate consumption that is the problem. However, it is very difficult for most of us to get a handle on what inordinate consumption looks like.  What do you think it looks like—from the intake of food to the purchases at Christmas? Morgan Spurlock’s films Super Size Me and What Would Jesus Buy? give us some unique perspectives on America’s inordinate consumption patterns. Take a look.

It is not only difficult for most of us to get a handle on what inordinate consumption looks like. It is also exceptionally difficult to come up with an alternative system to the consumerist culture bound up as it is with the capitalist, free market system. Such an alternative would need to safeguard the well-being of people in terms of economic sustainability on a personal and societal level. For many, no credible answer appears forthcoming in terms of economic structures and the society at large. It is difficult to come up with compelling alternatives to the consumerist and capitalist, free market system running rampant in the broader culture given how dependent our culture is on it. Consumerism (which involves getting what I want, when I want it, and at the least cost to myself, a point made in my book Consuming Jesus) is certainly destroying American society; and yet, given the current structuring of the economy and culture, if Americans were simply to stop consuming, the society would likely collapse. Thus, there appears to be some merit to the call to go out and shop and spend.  One must guard against sheer polemics, especially if no superior alternative is put forth.  The old saying, “Put up or shut up” applies here.

Moreover, it is equally problematic, if not more so, for doomsayers of consumerism to rage against this demonic force if they themselves are beneficiaries of the consumerist system: getting rich off of a niche audience of disillusioned and market savvy consumers, who buy their books by the dozens.  To the extent that this is so, such doom and gloom prophets actually bite the hand that feeds them.  Furthermore, if such doom saying is taken seriously and acted upon in such a way that people refuse to shop and spend money, it will likely impact most severely those individuals these prophets claim to want to aid most—the poor, who are even more dependent upon that same hand that feeds them.  At the very least, regardless of one’s position, it is incumbent upon those weighing in on consumerism to demonstrate an awareness of the complexity of the problem.

One thing that can and should be said is that the driving, motivating force behind the market should not be to acquire greater wealth but to redistribute the wealth and resources acquired so as to benefit all people, especially the poor (Pope John Paul II makes a similar claim in his critique of the free market in Centesimus Annus, 1989). We also need to consider more ways to establish micro-enterprises among the poor. Such enterprises do not use people to build the economy, but rather build the economy around people, especially those most vulnerable, assisting them in moving toward sustainability in their communities. Muhammad Yunus’s work, while criticized and under scrutiny in his home country, is a sterling example of the kind of program that needs to be implemented in various quarters among the poor around the world. The work of John M. Perkins and the Christian Community Development Association also provide models of people and organizations coming alongside and working among the poor so that they can also take ownership of their economic futures rather than be dependent on charity and terrorized by poverty.

This piece was originally published at Patheos on December 19, 2012.

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Jesus’ birth in Palestine a few thousand years ago was not so silent. As much as I love the Christmas carol, “Silent Night,” I have a hard time imagining newborn baby Jesus wasn’t crying and that his mother Mary wasn’t crying either. Herod was also getting ready to make mothers cry in that whole region after the Magi’s visit. Scripture tells us that Herod was going to make sure that no king would rise up to take his place, and so he slaughtered all baby boys two years of age or less in Bethlehem and its vicinity. Matthew 2:18 quotes Jeremiah the prophet in recounting the event:

“A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more.”

While Jesus came to bring peace, his birth led to further violence in a world drenched in violence. We are all too aware of how violent our world can be at Christmas, whether we are in Portland, Oregon, Newtown, Connecticut, or in Bethlehem in Palestine.

We are days away from celebrating Jesus’ birth. While there are fears that the recent spate of violence in Gaza will keep pilgrims and tourists away from visiting Jesus’ birthplace this Christmas, still the Arab Christians living in Bethlehem will celebrate his birth.

So many of these Arab Christians have fled Bethlehem and the surrounding region over the past several years because of the increasing pressures they face on all sides. They are as a National Geographic article indicated a few years ago “The Forgotten Faithful” (June 2009 issue). Those Palestinian Christians still living there no doubt hope for a silent night in terms of relief from violence, but not in terms of a celebration of Jesus’ birth by people who come from near and far to welcome Jesus the king.

I have been struck by how many Christians in my circles are surprised that there are Palestinian Christians. Indeed, there are. They worship Jesus, who was Jewish, but who lived among the Gentiles, many of whom came to follow him. Just as Jesus’ followers in that region millennia ago placed their hopes in him, so also, these Palestinian Christians do as well. What are their hopes? What are our own? Are they any different from us? I am sure they long for violence to cease and for justice to prevail. But there appears to be no end to the violence and justice is so hard to find for everyone on all sides who have suffered in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

I am sure my Arab Christian brothers and sisters in Palestine know Jesus did not come to destroy Rome or for that matter give Jerusalem back to the Zionists—then and now. While Jesus’ birth then and now is surrounded by violence, he comes again and again to bring his peace. Jesus’ own people lived under foreign rule and oppression for so long. In fact, the reason for Jesus’ parents coming to Bethlehem was a direct consequence of Roman rule, as Caesar Augustus had issued a census for taxes to be taken of the whole Roman Empire (Luke 2:1-3). Jesus’ parents could not protest this ruling; Jesus himself grew up under the oppressive force of Roman rule. Jesus also faced the rejection of his own people’s ruling class for not siding with them. Jesus knows what it’s like for powerful forces on all sides of a conflict to try and silence him and/or those closest to him.

Christians from the West often visit the holy land but fail to listen to the voices of their Palestinian brothers and sisters in Christ. These Western Christians may visit the birthplace of Jesus in Bethlehem, but fail to realize that some of Jesus’ cherished brothers and sisters who were born there are being forced to leave. This Christmas, may we listen to our brothers and sisters in Bethlehem share their hopes and fears and longing for Jesus to return and silence the violence and grant them his peace.

This piece was originally published at Patheos on December 18, 2012.

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Like so many other Americans, I can’t wait for Christmas. I can’t wait to see children open gifts and to worship Jesus to whom the magi of old brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Still, like for so many Americans this Christmas, my thoughts and prayers will wander on Christmas day to Newtown, Connecticut, where some children who would be opening presents won’t be.

As I drove home last night, my thoughts wandered until I turned on NPR. I listened intently to an interview on the assault rifle used in Newtown—the semiautomatic AR-15. According to NPR’s Melissa Block, the AR-15 “is essentially a civilian version of the military’s M-16. And it is, according to the NRA, the country’s best-selling firearm.” Ms. Block interviewed Malcolm Brady, a retired assistant director with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. I was as surprised as Ms. Block was when Mr. Brady said that he expected consumer demand for the gun to jump dramatically: “…it may be for protection. It may be for the coolness. And it may be for the fact that people will be in fear that the weapon will be put back on a banned level, and they want to obtain it before it is banned again. But I think you will see the popularity of it and the purchase of them increase drastically, in between now and the holidays, near Christmas.”

One does not need such a gun for hunting. A simple rifle will do. I sure hope people in my neighborhood aren’t buying this gun for Christmas. I would hate to see anyone lost to friendly fire or caught in the crossfire between modern day Hatfields and McCoys. While some might think the gun has a Rambo effect (as stated in the interview), Rambo didn’t go around killing innocent civilians; I would hope people will reconsider what associations are made with this gun in view of its use in gunning down movie goers in Aurora, Colorado, shoppers in Clackamas, Oregon, and kindergarteners in Newtown, Connecticut. Besides, this gun was once banned. That should at least cause us to ponder the questions: why was it banned and why then was the ban lifted?

People can talk all they want about how it is not the gun, but the person using the gun. I get that point. In fact, that is the point. Make sure those people don’t get these guns. How many innocent and even helpless people need to die before we come to realize that such violence will not likely lessen but will increase the more such firearms as this are available for sale and purchased? Where are the wise men today? If only people would exchange their M16 equivalents for myrrh. Jesus didn’t come to play Rambo. As king to whom homage was paid with gold and incense, homage was also paid with myrrh, which was used for embalming. Quite possibly, the wise men’s gift of myrrh foreshadowed Jesus’ burial: Jesus did not engage in violence as he atoned for the sins of a violent world in which he lived and in which we still live today.

Wouldn’t it be an amazing Christmas gift, if wise men today were to come and lay down their M16 equivalents at Jesus’ feet to worship him? (Matthew 2:2, 11)

This piece was originally published at Patheos on December 17, 2012.

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I was talking with someone the other day about Nostradamus’ prediction that the world is going to end on December 21, 2012. I have also been informed that the Mayan calendar ends on December 21^st. Some people have determined that these two items alone provide sufficient grounds for them to get their houses in order for the end. It doesn’t matter that NASA has gone on record saying that life will go on just fine on and after December 21^st. No collisions in the sky or changes in the universe signal that the end is upon us. I’ll go with NASA most any day, except if NASA were to predict that the stars are aligned for the Chicago Cubs to win the World Series next year. I have come to the point with my beloved Cubs that I say in Spring Training: “Wait ‘til next year.”

It’s amazing to me, though, that people will go to great lengths of stockpiling food and possibly ammunition for the end in view of Nostradamus and the Mayan calendar. I’m not sure what takes more faith—believing that the world will end on December 21^st because of these “signs” or believing that the Cubs will win the whole thing next autumn because the stars are aligned. What I do know is that after December 21^st has come and gone, most of us will not be making sufficient preparations for the end of our own lives. No wills. No “I love you” to our spouses or “I’m proud of you” to our kids, as we step out the door to go to work. Building bigger storehouses to stockpile the surplus of our wealth in order to kick back and enjoy life, we forget Jesus’ story of the rich fool who did the same. Jesus says that God says, “‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:20-21) In the very next passage, Jesus tells his disciples to give to the poor because the kingdom of God has been given to them (Luke 12:32-34). Here he basically sets up a contrast between the rich fool—young or old—and the holy fool. Which kind of fool are we?

Whether or not we are stockpiling for the Apocalypse, storing up for a life of Acapulco leisure, or saving up to buy tickets for a Chicago Cubs World Series next year, do know that all other predictions ring hollow in view of Jesus’ words. You can count on it.