crazy world

it seems the longer i live the less i know. i see things now that aren't black and white. just nebulous random acts. we live in a world where poverty is the dominant dictator. and we the rich christian nations are more concerned about sports, tax breaks, and oil prices. (me included)

we are a savage tribe, we americans. listen to our politicians. we have this self hatred. we have politicians that want to crucify anyone that is pro-life while on the other side of the aisle we're very content cater to large corporations that are slaying the rest of the world. We are gun crazy and the evangelicals are the ones that seem to support the legal ownership of assault weapons. it's crap. Do we have to have these things to make us feel safe?

Our government has no scrupples- dems and rebulicans- both....

And then there are our religious leaders. i checked out one of our seminary presidents radio shows. It's all politics. period. It's not the Bible. it's not missional.

the church doesn't have time to deal with the pain of the world because we are too busy trading pain with each other. there is so much power playing in our religious organizations. its sick. we make levitival rules about who can do what in the church. we (including me) are so easily distracted away from the great Commission and we forget that we are called to share Christ not America with the rest of the world.

this morning i don't get any of this.

we need the wisdom of forrest Gump: "I'm not a smart man but i know what love is."

Comments

[Paul ATkins]

I agree, I feel like I am stuck in my own culture and no one else in the church notices! Thankfully there are those individuals that come along in your life that help you refocus on what is important.

[Matt Tullos]

Thanks... perhaps there is hope for us....

[Shane Yancey]

Whenever I look at the big picture of politics and religion and the messed up connection between people in power who are trying to do good things but are trapped by agendas and deals and pride I almost want to walk away from this whole God thing.

But then something wonderful almost always happens—God shows me a picture of real worship. It might be an ordinary service that suddenly fills with an eternal connection when it seems like everyone in the room notices together that God is with us. It might be something as simple as a senior adult in tears during a hymn or the look on a teenager’s face when this whole God thing “clicks” in their heart for the first time. It might just be a small moment when I watch a child sing to God with reckless abandon.

When I feel like all of the public face of Christianity is out of control I am amazed at how many times I see my local church reaching out to help people in need or the one of the teenagers that I work with going the extra mile to help an outcast kid.

For me that is where the hope always comes, and where God meets people—one life at a time.

[matt]

great words shane. Thanks for the reminder.