Category: Podcast

This piece was originally published at Patheos on December 14, 2012.

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What is it about the mass murder of innocent children at school that troubles us so? I would dare say that elementary school killings trouble us even more so than the horrific mass shootings at shopping malls and movie theaters. Why?

One reason is that many if not all of us feel some level of responsibility for school children’s wellbeing. We promise innocent school children so full of promise and potential that they are safe and sound, when they are dropped off at school. These kids depend on us to protect them. They are not allowed to carry weapons to protect themselves. They are defenseless children. Our society is without defense (and many of us feel this burden deep within our souls), when we do not do everything possible to keep them safe from harm.

Another reason why the mass murder of innocent children at school troubles us so is that all their promise and potential bound up with learning is snuffed out by their senseless deaths. They go to school to be educated and socialized. While movie theaters can educate, their main focus is to entertain. While shopping malls can socialize us, the kind of socialization that occurs there centers on buying and selling goods and services. While movie theaters and shopping malls have important functions to play in our society, they do not serve as storehouses of knowledge and public virtue. You won’t normally find bars and porn shops near schools (except perhaps in places like Portland, Oregon) because schools are sacred ground for the cultivation of innocent lives. We have to do a better job in making sure guns are not on or near school grounds either (except in the case of the police).

During one of his teaching sessions, Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” (Matthew 19:14). He rebuked his disciples—his own students—for rebuking those who brought these children to him to place his hands on them and pray for them (Matthew 19:13-14). Jesus’ disciples did not see these little children as all that important; in their estimation, the little children weren’t worthy of Jesus’ time. How wrong they were, for the kingdom of God belongs to those who are like them—young innocent lives, so vulnerable and trusting and full of hope.

Although prayer is not allowed in public schools around our nation, many people are praying around our schools today. Pray that as a society we find a way not to hinder the little children from experiencing the fullness of life. Let’s place our hands on these children’s heads, bless them, and do whatever it takes to protect them. Let’s make sure that just as the kingdom of heaven belongs to those like these little children, our public schools belong to the little children; otherwise, the last remaining spark of our own innocence will die with them, when a gunman’s shots ring out.

At this time, we are all vulnerable, just like little kids. What can we do together to protect the little children and secure our country’s future? May the same hand used to bless the little children lead and guide and strengthen us to welcome them back to school and shield them from all harm.

This piece was originally published at Patheos on December 11, 2012.

Listen to me read “Uncommon Decency”.

A Macy’s employee led a customer to safety and went back to help others during the mass shooting in Clackamas Town Center yesterday. The Macy’s employee’s deed has been rightly hailed as a heroic act. It was an act of uncommon decency.

We are all familiar with acts of common decency at stores: sales clerks ask us “How’s it going?” as they ring up our purchases and wish us “Merry Christmas” to which we respond in kind as we depart.

Sometimes sales clerks and customers don’t talk to one another. In such situations, all they seem to be concerned about are the transactions, not the interaction—an all too common indecency on the part of both parties. I must confess that I’ve been guilty at times of using sales clerks to check me out so I could get out with my purchases ASAP. Salespeople sometimes give the impression of using customers in checkout aisles to get their paychecks (saying such things to their fellow clerks as “I can’t wait for closing time,” not even acknowledging their customers as they process the sales). Unfortunately, these forms of transaction are all too common indecencies.

What is so uncommon about the decency of Macy’s employee Allan Fonseca who helped customer Jocelyn Lay and then went back to see if others needed help is that he simply thought he should do what he did. He knew how to get to safety and so he wanted to get as many people to safety rather than save himself or help only one. He didn’t do it for a Christmas bonus or a benefit associated with helping people in crisis situations. He simply did it because he believed it to be the right thing to do, no matter the cost.

You can’t put a price tag on such an action. It gives me hope that for all the commodification of human identity in our market-driven society we can move beyond such reductions. We can move beyond our market value as customers and sales clerks bound up with mere transactions and forms of polite nicety interaction to make real life and death connections. Priceless.

This piece was originally published at Patheos on December 11, 2012.

Listen to me read “Mass Shootings”.

This afternoon there was a shooting in the middle of a major shopping mall near where I work. At least two people have been confirmed dead so far. What do such shootings say about our society? Random violence? Random lives? Random meaning? How do we respond?

So often we approach one another simply as mass, where we have no inherent meaning or value. Kind of like the stuff we buy at Christmas—no inherent meaning, only the value we give to it. Of course, people are more than mass, as a collective and as individuals. Next time I am in that mall, I am going to look at each person I pass by not as a mass, and not simply as one of the nameless mass of people shopping, but as those whose lives are by no means random. They count far more than the stuff we buy.

This piece was originally published at Patheos on December 13, 2012.

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You may have seen the Dos Equis beer commercials that feature the most interesting man alive. His charm is so infectious that vaccines have been developed just for it. Whereas many guys have tattoos saying “Mother,” his mother bears a tattoo saying “Son.” Unlike many men, if he had a feminine side, he would show it. His legend is so great that it goes before him like lightning before thunder.

Sometimes you get the impression that Jesus is framed as the most interesting man alive or the strongest man alive or the smartest man alive. Was Jesus the strongest man alive, the smartest man alive, the most interesting man alive? What epitomized Jesus’ greatness?

According to the doctrine of Spirit-Christicism, Jesus chose not to exercise such attributes as omnipotence and omniscience in his human state; rather, he depended on the Spirit in all things. He provides us an example to follow; more than that, he shares his life which we are called to participate in through the Spirit. Jesus may not have leaped tall buildings in a single bound or bent steel bars with two fingers (though he could have done so, if he wished…). He probably didn’t ace all of his mathematics or physics exams growing up. He may not have been voted the most likely person to succeed in his graduating class or most handsome since he had no majesty or beauty to attract us to him (Isaiah 53:2). However, I do know he was hailed as “demon-possessed and mad” (John 10:20).

Was Jesus the most interesting person alive? It depends on what you mean. I do know he was the most relational, as he depended on the Father in the Spirit, as he cared for those for whom no one else cared, as he put our needs above his own.

One can learn a lot about what others esteem based on how they view Jesus. I have had a hard time over the years coming to terms with him because I have often wanted him to be what I need him to be for my own growth and advancement. Grievously, I have often approached Jesus according to worldly standards of power and wisdom and wealth of personality and a host of other things (See Jeremiah 9:23-24; cf. 1 Corinthians 1, including verse 31). As I grow older, I am learning that “truth is relational” is really true. Relational truth is more powerful than brute force, more wise than a mental warehouse of facts, and more beautiful and interesting than dazzling charm. Like me, you may find that Jesus epitomizes relational truth, but will we desire to pursue him even when the other “truths” of Rambo Jesus, Einstein Jesus or Dos Equis Jesus compete for our attention? You and I don’t have to drink beer to feel a buzz when confronted with these alternatives. The only way to stay sober and make the right choice is to be filled with Christ’s love. Stay relational, my friends.

 

This piece was originally published at Patheos on December 7, 2012.

Listen to me read “Approaching the Alien with a Benevolent Spirit not an Alien Idea to President Bush—or to the Bible”.

On Tuesday, former President George W. Bush encouraged lawmakers to engage in debate on immigration reform with a benevolent spirit (The Dallas Morning News, article by Tom Benning, republished in The Columbian titled “Bush Urges New Approach to Immigration” on Wednesday, Dec. 5, A7). The former President had hoped to bring about widespread immigration reform during his tenure in the Oval Office. Still, his remarks could and should spur Republican lawmakers on to consider bi-partisan work with the Democrats in overhauling the country’s stance on immigration. This is an area where I hope Mr. Bush will have an enduring impact on his party. He has been known to lead his party in the past on building ties with the Hispanic community. While my larger concern is simply care for the alien in our midst rather than strategic demographic connections for either party, nonetheless, it can only help our nation if both major parties are building strong ties with various ethnic communities.

Mr. Bush noted that new immigrants benefit our society in a variety of ways. Going beyond Mr. Bush’s remarks, I hope Christians would not base our welcome primarily on the ways in which the new immigrants benefit our society economically, but rather on their shared humanity and their need. The Bible makes very clear that God’s people were and are to care for the alien in their midst as equals regardless of how they benefit a GNP or a political party: “The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the LORD your God” (Leviticus 19:34). I believe Mr. Bush would share this conviction. Emma Lazarus certainly did. As her poem “The New Colossus” makes clear, she envisioned America as the gracious and welcoming host to the least fortunate souls of other lands. A benevolent spirit concerning the alien is not alien to Mr. Bush, Ms. Lazarus, or to the God of the Bible who rules over all lands and is not limited by any nation’s borders.