The Presbyterian Polis - Connecting Churches to Churches

RandomKid December 2007 Newsletter

RandomKid is an organization that my daughter has been involved in for about a year. I wrote about the organization here.   It is a unique organization because it is focused on kid initiated, kid directed projects.  Check out the project page of their website.  These aren't adult projects where kids can participate. These are projects that kids have thought up, and through the support of their parents, families, friends and RandomKid, are either making a difference or a looking for the funding to start.

Here is their latest newsletter. I post it to bring encouragement and opportunity. Share it with kids that you know. Maybe one of them has a project idea that RandomKid can help them start.

RandomKid Newsletter
National Task Force Visits the Gulf

Watch NBC Nightly News This Sunday, December 23*for a Special Report on RandomKid's Water Project. 

December 2007

I’m really excited for you to read what we have to share with you in this newsletter. RandomKid’s National Task Force to Rebuild the Gulf, a group of 10 kids from around the country, had the opportunity to visit the largest chapter of Habitat for Humanity, tour and volunteer in the gulf, thanks in large part to a grant from Target Corporation and a kind invitation from the Mississippi Gulf Coast chapter of Habitat for Humanity.  Our mission was to witness the progress that’s being made, the work that still needs to be done, and report back to kids across the USA to encourage continued support.

There are still nearly 60,000 people living in FEMA trailers over two years after Hurricane Katrina.  Faith has helped them all get through a tough time. It is a message we hear from everyone over and over again. They also are being helped by Habitat for Humanity, the Salvation Army and the countless volunteers that go down there to rebuild homes. But none of this can happen without money. We can’t allow ourselves to be tired of the story because it’s old news and we want to move on to something new. We have to commit to helping every last hurricane survivor back on their feet.  It is the patriotic thing to do, and our human responsibility to help people who can’t help themselves. We need to show them that the power of their faith can also be seen in each of us, their fellow Americans who care.

All but one of the articles here were written by the RandomKid Task Force kids.  One column was written by our newest Board Member, and dad of one of our Task Force members, Ed Brenegar.  Please take a moment to see the gulf from a kid’s point of view.  We hope you’ll help.

Happy Holidays!

~Talia Leman, 12-year-old CEO, RandomKid

“The Gulf trip was the best thing I’ve ever done in my life! I got to meet new people and help out in the Gulf.  After being there, I’ve come up with a new idea on how to children in that area.  I LOVE being a part of RandomKid!” –Task Force Member, 10-year-old Emma

Having Hope and Faith on the Gulf Coast
By Task Force Member Shelby of North Carolina

Nasheka Chatman and her three children met with the RandomKid Task Force on a warm Fall day in Biloxi, Mississippi.  Chatman has been living in a FEMA trailer with her three small children and her husband for over two years now. The FEMA trailer that the Chatman family is currently living in is 10 feet by 40 feet, or about the size of your garage.  They are very cramped and there is not a lot of privacy. When Nasheka was asked how she has gotten through everything over the past two years, she replied, "with prayer, lots of prayer." Chatman says she has had lots of support from family and friends. Of all the things that this family lost, what they miss most are family pictures. She wants other people to know that Habitat for Humanity was "sent by God. The people were sent by God." Nasheka's children, ages 4,6 and 7 have put lots of thought into what colors they will paint their new bedrooms.  The family is moving into their Habitat house on November 12th and they are going to celebrate by making a sign for the front yard that says, "Thank You Jesus for our new home." Chatman reminded us that, "People on the Gulf are doing okay. We still need you're help, but we are okay. People here are strong in their hearts." When asked what other Katrina victims should remember, she thought for a moment, then added, "Don't give up on your dreams [of getting out of a FEMA trailer and into a new home]."

“They will remember this trip for years to come.  So will I.   Nicholas is already brainstorming new ideas.  He can’t wait for the next conference call!” –Task Force Mom, Kelly

Leaving Louisiana
By Task Force Member Nicholas of Massachusetts

As the jazz music dies; the scent of beignets disappears; the wrought iron architecture ends; and the skyline of the French Quarter blends in with the horizon, the memory of the destruction comes back to mind. The bus rattles and shakes along the highway. We pass abandoned homes and empty lots – painful reminders of the past. I can’t help but think of everything lost during the storm. There are so many still left with so little. It makes me feel like I need to do more. Money is really necessary to help others. I am reinvigorated. I am inspired to take up the task where I left off. I will once again look for new and creative ways to get others interested in the Gulf Coast disaster. So many have forgotten. But not me. I want to help the poor people of Mississippi and Louisiana. And I will.

Click here to DONATE  to RandomKid’s “Rebuild the Gulf Fund.”  100% of your donation will go to our “Rebuild the Gulf” program, 90% of which goes directly to building a Habitat for Humanity house in Biloxi, MS.

“Being a RandomKid parent has been an amazing experience!  I feel blessed and renewed as I see our children...our FUTURE... at work, giving so selflessly of themselves and their time!  I feel like I’m along for the ride of a lifetime as I see what these children are able to accomplish through their hopes, dreams, and energies!”  -Task Force Mom, Eldonna

A "Taste" of the Gulf
By Task Force Member Emma of Iowa
(Editor's Note:  These are reflections written after a day when the task force got to experience many of the wonderful, unique things about the Gulf  Much of their time was spent in the New Orleans area on this day, and Gulf Port / Biloxi the other two days.) 

Our day started with a LONG bus ride!  During the ride we rode on the bridge over Lake Ponchartrain.  It was really scary because the bridge went on and on for miles over nothing but water!  It was a funny feeling!

When our ride was done we ate brunch at Court of the Two Sisters in New Orleans!  It was really good food, and they had a jazz trio playing that was fun to listen to.  I tried crawfish for the very first time (I don't think I'll try it again for awhile!), and I also tried grits (I'll pass on those next time too!).  But the omelets were super, and so were the desserts!

After brunch we went on a ferry ride across the Mississippi River.  It was really cool! Even cars could drive right onto the ferry so they could cross the river! That was a strange sight!

After the ride we went to the Swamp Fest at the Audubon Zoo.  It was neat seeing al those animals!  It's hard to believe that alligators can be so dangerous because they looked really lazy and didn't even move a muscle!

Next we went to Cafe du Monde (that's where the picture of the task force above was taken), and ate bengiets.  They tasted like funnel cakes at our State Fair, only better!  I ate three! We then had about an hour to walk around in the French Quarter and do things. It was really fun.  My mom and I had a street artist draw our caricature!  We look kinda funny in it...he gave us real big heads and big teeth!

Then we went to the "old" Brock Elementary in Slidell that had been destroyed by Katrina.  We interviewed the principal, Rose Smith.  The school was all boarded up, but they're working on the inside and hope to be in by next school year.

We then saw the current school the Brock students are in.  They all have double-wide trailers for their classrooms.  It was neat seeing all the things they've been through and knowing that they have never given up hope.  Their trailer classrooms were actually very, very nice and big.  It was a nice feeling to know the kids can have good classrooms until they get back in their real school.

At the end of the day we ate at the Southside Cafe.  It was really good food...I had fried oysters!  I like oysters anyway, and these were yummy!

After that we went back to our stadium and went to bed.  It was a good, busy, and tasty day!

“We are honored to be hosting these children here in the gulf. They have proven to be a driving force in bringing awareness to our gulf rebuilding efforts, and we hope that their reports from the gulf will inspire many more children around the country to continue to help rebuild the thousands of homes that were destroyed by the 2005 hurricanes.” ~Kent Adcock, Director of Business Development & Community Relations for Habitat for Humanity of the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Carabiners:  A Kid’s Idea and a RandomKid “Micro Loan” are Catalyst to Gulf Trip
by Talia Leman, RandomKid CEO  and Task Force Member 

It all started with our carabiners. You know, those cool clips you can stick on your backpack, key chain, and just about anywhere else (They make GREAT GIFTS—HINT HINT!!   Click here to buy some!). Click here to read backstory on carabiners.

Kent Adcock with the Mississippi Gulf Coast Chapter of Habitat for Humanity received a carabiner at Habitat for Humanity’s “1000^th Home Celebration.”  He thought they were pretty cool, and called us up to see if we’d partner with them to sell carabiners with their logo and our logo on them at a big event with professional golfers in November.   Next thing you know, he invited the task force to come!  But we still had a big hurdle:  How to pay for everyone to get there.  That’s where Target Corporation comes in.  Hooray for Target! They helped the entire task force come together in the gulf.  The Task Force has worked  together for over a year, and finally met in person for the first time.   We stayed in the Salvation Army’s VolunteerVillage in Biloxi, MS.  The Salvation Army ROCKS!  We met a really great kid named Conner there.  He and his family moved to Biloxi to help the Salvation Army after the 2005 hurricanes, and they’ve been serving volunteers in the MS Gulf Coast now for a year and a half.  I am happy to say that Conner is the newest member to our task force!

In Closing

by Anne Ginther, President of RandomKid

There are many more stories to tell.  "RandomKid National Task Force to Rebuild the Gulf" members met kids who had to swim through their house to get to safety, parents who lost everything.  Can you imagine having survived such a disaster and then living in temporary housing for over two years, knowing that there may be thousands ahead of you on the building list? 

GOAL:  Break ground on a  RandomKid / Habitat for Humanity house in Biloxi in 2008 = $25,000 needed!

The children on the Task Force were so moved by what they saw, that they have decided to set a goal to raise enough money to break ground on a MS Gulf Coast Habitat for Humanity house in Biloxi in 2008.  These kids have already raised a lot of money with their entrepreunrial ideas.  They need to raise $25,000 more to be able to break ground on a house.  Please help these kids make their goal, and help a family into their home.

Please click here to donate online using any major credit card, or make out a check to

"RandomKid - Rebuild the Gulf",

and send it to: 

RandomKid

P.O. Box 2064

McKinney, TX 75070.

In the coming months we'll share more of stories, photos and video from the Task Force trip.  We'll also introduce you to the new things they are doing to help our fellow Americans in the gulf.

We thought we'd close with some favorite quotes from Task Force member Shelby:

*Be the CHANGE you want to see in the world. -Mahatma Gandhi

*A big shot is a little shot that kept shooting.-Unknown

*You are never given a dream without also being given the power to make it come true. You may have to work for it, however. -Richard Bach

Thank you for not only helping the gulf, but helping KIDS realize their power to help others.

Sincerely,

The RandomKid National Task Force to Rebuild the Gulf:

Ellison, Tiron, Shelby, Tonisha, Sarah, Talia, Lanna, Emma, Tonisha, and Conner

Anne Ginther, RandomKid President

RandomKid Quick Links

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Final Comment:
I written about RandomKid previously here . You are going to hear more from me about RandomKid. I've just joined their board. I believe in their mission. I endorse their - our - mission because it is about the Kids and their ideas, and their leadership and their impact.   

Your financial support will help kids make difference.  I hope you'll consider making a donation.  You are not only investing in the future, but making a difference today.

Celebrating a Chesterton Christmas

GK Chesterton wrote some great stuff about Christmas. Here's some past postings and one from Bill Kinnon that feature Chesterton.

Did Shopkeepers Invent Christmas? - Bill Kinnon

Christmas Paradox

A Chesterton Christmas

More to come in days that follow.

Crazy for God by Frank Schaeffer - A Review

The other day I came across an interview of Frank Schaeffer and his new book. I wrote about the interview here.  The next day I picked up Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back and have just finished reading it.  Occasionally a book comes along that is like opening up a window upon your life so that you can see familiar things in a new way. This is one of those books.

Schaeffer's book is a memoir of his life as the son and youngest child of Francis and Edith Schaeffer. The Schaeffer's were missionaries to young people who were trying to make sense of the world during the 1960's and 70's.  They lived in Switzerland, and young people came to their chalet to ask questions and listen to Francis talk about art, music, philosophy and the Christian faith. Their L'Abri community became synonymous with an open, compassionate, intellectually alive engagement with Jesus Christ.

I never went to L'Abri, but I read Francis Schaeffer's books, listened to his lectures on tape, and heard him speak once at a conference in Atlanta. His books Escape from Reason, The God Who is There, He is There and Is Not Silent and True Spirituality introduced me, as a college student, to a way to think deeper and more concretely about the Christian faith. They weren't the typical dense abstract theological monographs that fill seminary shelves. Nor were they sweet spiritual tomes about a Christian spirituality that is more fantasy than reality.  They were about how to think in a world that was not longer explicitly Christian.

Later I came to understand that Francis Schaeffer's philosophical and cultural stance was one man's perspective. Yet, he established for me a standard of judgment that has continued with me until today. That perspective is both spiritual and rational and at its heart humanistic as can only be understood from the perspective for what it means for us human beings to be created in the image of God.  In this respect, though I'd never thought of myself as a Schaefferite, I can easily say that his writings were the most formative for me as a college student in the early 1970's.

Frank Schaeffer's book is a glimpse behind the curtain of the family whose writings influenced me so. It is a memoir about the family, not an intellectual treatise about his parents' intellectual thought. His experience as a child and later a young man is very different than mine. But his journey through the evangelical sub-culture of his parents is very similar to mine.  I loved reading the book because there are so many moments in Frank's life where there is a counterpart in mine. This is especially true as he became more involved with his father's work as the filmmaker behind the How Shall We Then Live? and Whatever Happened to the Human Race? series.

While not intending to be an analytical critique of modern evangelicalism, it is a serious critique of the movement from one who was at the center of its ascendancy in the 1980's.  Evangelicalism is rooted in early 20th century Fundamentalism. Schaeffer writes:

Fundamentalists never can just disagree.  The person they fall out with is not only on the wrong side of an issue they are on the wrong side of God. ... A church split builds self-righteousness into the fabric of every new splinter group, whose holy reason for existence is that they decide that they are more moral and pure than their brethren. This explains my childhood and perhaps a lot about America, too.

This is not the Christianity that I grew up with as a child in my home Presbyterian church.  It wasn't the Christianity that I discovered in college or for the two years, post-college, as I did youth ministry.  It was the battleground I found when I went to Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in 1978.  When I arrived there, The Battle for the Bible was in full force.  The divide was between the systematic theology department and the New Testament department.  The issue wasn't precisely inerrancy, but close. It was more about the interpretation of the Bible, between an interpretation based on a formula or system and interpretation based on tools that let the text speak for itself, sort of.  As a student, it was a great environment to be in because we were experiencing the fault-line of American Christianity.  That fault-line is between Christianity as a program and doctrine to defend and Christianity that is simply about how one lives as follower of Christ.  This is easily seen in Frank's description of his parent's way of ministering to the "students" who came to L'Abri.

I saw my parents' compassion was consistent. Their idea of ministry was to extend a hand of kindness, and to truly practice the rule of treating others as you would be treated.  It was such a powerful demonstration that it gave me a lifelong picture of what Christian behavior and love can and should be.

My parents were not advocating compassion that someone else would carry out with tax dollars, or at arm's length, but rather they opened their home. The result was that those gathered around our table represented a cross-section of humanity and intellectual ability, from mental patients to Oxford students and all points of need in between.  My mother and father marshaled arguments in favor of God, the Bible, and the saving work of Jesus Christ. But no words were as convincing as their willingness to lay material possessions, privacy, and time on the line, sometimes at personal risk and always with the understanding that if they were being taken advantage of, that was fine, too.

This is far different from the evangelical world that Frank and his father would find themselves in the late 1970's and early1980's, as they became the leading advocates for the pro-life, anti-abortion movement.

Dad and I were mixing with a new set of people who had not known much, if anything, about my father. If they had even heard of Dad before he came on the pro-life scene in the mid-to-late seventies, they probably hadn't liked the sound of him.  These people include Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, James Dobson, James Kennedy, and all the rest of the televangelists, radio hosts, and other self-appointed "Christian leaders" who were bursting on the scene in the 1970s and early '80s.

Compared to Dad, these slick media figures were upstarts.  They were "not our sort of people," Dad often said. What people like Robertson and Falwell got from Dad was some respectability.

Dad had a unique reputation for an intellectual approach to faith.  And his well-deserved reputation for frugal ethical living, for not financially profiting from his ministry, for compassion, openness, and intellectual integrity, was the opposite of the reputations of the new breed of evangelical leadership, with their perks, planes, and corner offices in gleaming new buildings and superficial glib messages.  Empire builders like Robertson, Dobson, and Falwell like rubbing up against (or quoting) my father, for the same reason that popes like to have photos take with Mother Teresa.

What I slowly realized was that the religious-right leaders we were helping to gain power were not "conservatives" at all, in the old sense of the word.  They were anti-American religious revolutionaries. ... The new religious right was all about religiously motivated "morality," which it used for nakedly political purposes.  ...

The leaders of the new religious right were different from the older secular right in another way.  They were gleefully betting on American failure.  If secular, democratic, diverse, and pluralistic America survived, then wouldn't that prove that we evangelicals were wrong about God only wanting to bless a "Christian America?"

What began to bother me was that so many of our new "friends" on the religious right seemed to be rooting for one form of apocalypse or another.  In the crudest form, this was part of the evangelical fascination with the so-called end times.  The worse things got, the sooner Jesus would come back. But there was another component: the worse everything got, the more it proved that American needed saving, by us!

My own experience was at the far periphery of these evangelical leaders. I knew many people involved with their ministries. But my immediate evangelical environment was not apocalyptic, but missional. It was much more in tuned with the message that Francis and Edith Schaeffer had been presenting to guests at L'Abri for a generation.  I graduated from seminary in 1981, spent a summer doing refugee ministry in Pakistan, and then became a community minister for a large Presbyterian church with strong evangelical roots in Atlanta. When I left that church four years later, my immediate, day-to-day contact with the evangelical culture ended.  Twenty plus years later, and now having read Schaeffer's memoir, I now have a better understanding of my own reticence towards evangelicalism. 

A few years into this journey into the American evangelical subculture, Frank Schaeffer quit it.  He closed the film production company and gave up the money, the fame and the constant contact with these mega-stars of the evangelical world.

I was surprised by how quickly I was forgotten, how calm the waters were, as soon as I paddled out of the center of the evangelical right-wing whitewater. From one day to the next, I went from daily calls to be on some TV show, or be on the radio, or to be a participant in this or that symposium, march, seminar, or publishing venture, to blessed silence.  It was a relief.  It also confirmed what I already knew; that evangelicalism is not so much a religion as a series of fast-moving personality cults.

There is an element of truth in all segments of American society.  We raise up the celebrity personality because it relieves us from having to be responsible.  As long as I follow Reverend So-N-So, I don't have to deal with my inner demons. I just close off my inner life and live in the glow of celebrity.

I've seen this clearly throughout my adult life.  My perspective has always been relationship first. In that sense, I've never been a fundamentalist, and most likely not even an evangelical.  What I am is anyone's guess because I don't find liberal Christianity any more appealing.  Schaeffer articulates something I have have seen, but didn't have a broad enough context to understand in the way he does.  In commenting on his own childhood as a homeschooled child, he points to a difference that he sees in the approach that many homeschool families have taken.  As a homeschool family, our values are much closer to the Schaeffers' than to those he criticizes.

Where homeschooling had meant freedom for me - albeit chaotic, crazy freedom - homeschool leaders ... were pushing homeschooling as a means to isolate and brainwash a generation of children.

The evangelical homeschooling movement was becoming profoundly anti-American. And Dad and I had done our part to empower them.

At the heart of this mindset is something quite troubling to anyone who has spent time studying the early Greeks, traveled through the great cities of Europe or has spent anytime in an art museum.  Schaeffer writes,

The idea of public space, the ideas that led to the building of my father's and my favorite places, for instance all those civic works in Florence and the piazzas we so happily strolled, was the very idea that the evangelical homeschool movement unwittingly wanted to destroy.  They wanted no public spaces (physical or intellectual) to be shared by people of all beliefs. They wanted only private spaces, where they could indoctrinate their children from "interference."

What is ironic about his critique of evangelicalism, about it being anti-American and a destroyer of public spaces, is that this is a critique that can also be placed at the feet of their arch rival, the liberal church and political class. If he is correct, then our society is under a greater threat from within than from any terrorist bomb. It means that our strength as a nation is not longer a shared strength, a common strength, a universal strength. It means that we each have rationalized our way to a belief in the supremacy of the individual over society.  When this happens, we no longer have the moral will to join together to do the right thing for the right reasons at the right time.

Following his departure from the evangelical sub-culture, Schaeffer directed four films, wrote some novels, write several non-fiction books about being the parent of a Marine, and joined a Greek Orthodox church. 

Perhaps I converted to the Greek Orthodox Church (rather than simply abandoning religious faith) because spirituality is a way to connect with people and might even be a part of a journey toward God. (If there is a God.) According to Jesus, community is spirituality: "Love one another."

To me, the Greek Orthodox Church is not the community but a community. Community is an antidote to the poisonous American consumerist "me" and "I want" life that leads to isolation and unhappiness. ...

When I left evangelicalism, it certainly was not because I was disillusioned with the faith of my early childhood. ... I think my problem with remaining an evangelical centered on what he evangelical became.  It was the merging of the entertainment business with faith, the flippant lightweight kitsch ugliness of American Christianity, the sheer stupidity, the paranoia of the American right-wing enterprise, the platitudes married to pop culture, all of it ... that made me crazy.  It was just too stupid for words.

Crazy for God is a book that anyone who today wants to understand the continued wars of theology, politics and culture in the church.  It is one man's perspective. However, it is a man whose journey has much to teach us about how the truth of the Gospel is something lived out in one's relationships.

My own journey through evangelicalism is now better understood because of Frank Schaeffer's memoir. My theology, my faith, my understanding of my call is basically the same as they were over thirty-five years ago when I discovered Christ's reality in this world.  I realize better why I've eschewed the attachment of labels to my faith. Apart from being a Presbyterian, all I can say is that I am just a guy who daily discovers God's grace and love for me. I think Frank would understand that as well.

UPDATE: Here's Frank Schaeffer's CSPAN BookTV presentation.

UPDATE 2: A review from the Boston Globe.

UPDATE 3: Books and Culture Review

Stepping back in time with Frank Schaeffer

In my previous post, PastorM comments on an interview that Frank Schaeffer gave to John Whitehead of The Rutherford Institute. For me it was a fascinating trip back to my youth when I was a big follower of Schaeffer's father, Francis, evangelical philosopher guru and counter-cultural interpreter. His intellectualism was attractive to me. He turned me on to philosophy, and fed my interest in art, film, music and popular culture.  In that respect, I am a Schaeffer offspring.

I was raised in a traditional southern Presbyterian home.  I never heard the word evangelical until I became involved with Young Life as a high school sophomore. Then in college, I had a brief involvement with Campus Crusade for Christ.  A more engaged involvement with InterVarsity immersed me in Schaeffer's thought. Later after two years on staff with Young Life, and three years at evangelical Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, I came back into my southern Presbyterian world as an ordained minister in late 1981. From that point on, my "evangelicalism" began to diminish. At the same time, cultural evangelicalism began to become more politicized, more right-wing, Republican conservative and more focused on the kind of moralistic dualism that Frank Schaeffer describes in his interview. I saw it in seminary, and saw it as I began the first years of my ministry.

Frank Schaeffer's perception of evangelicalism is very similar to mine.  I tend to think that it lost its humanity, and thereby its spiritual authenticity. And to be fair, I'm not referring to the whole movement, but to those leaders, organizations and churches who carry the mantle of leadership of it.  I have many evangelical friends who are examples of the best that evangelicalism has to offer.

Evangelicalism became a social/political movement of big names and big organizations. It was a movement of money, power and influence. Its message became more about what it was against than what it was for.  It is the easiest way to build a national movement. And that is what it did.

When I was in seminary, many of us were Schaefferites. We looked at culture as a repository of values.  It is still true today. Just look at any of the reality shows on MTV. The young people they feature are not exemplary examples of leadership and citizenship, but are lost souls.  They are not like the kids that I know who spend their off hours looking for ways to raise money to build Habitat houses or support a poor child in a jungle village in South America. Popular culture remains both a mirror and transmitter of values. And for us who were influenced by Francis Schaeffer, what we learned is that we had a responsibility as followers of Christ to be involved in the culture.

The difference is that for many of us that involvement is carried out at a more personal, local level. We want to build relationships of caring, trust and openness. We don't want to treat people as abstract objects of our political agenda. We don't want to be treated that way either.

In my opinion, evangelicalism got in trouble when its national leaders were not held accountable for their words and actions. This is both a moral and an organizational structure problem.  This inadequate, ill-equipped system paved the way for the blind acceptance of consumerist, health & wealth Gospel, bigger is better models of being the church. 

More than the intellectual learning I gained from Francis Schaeffer was the experience of listening to tapes of his lectures with 15 or 20 people, and sitting for hours talking about these ideas. Today, the inter-personal nature of the shared faith of the church still rings true as the one of the most authentic experiences of the church that I've every had.

UPDATE: Here's my review of Crazy for God by Frank Schaeffer.

HT: IM

Looking for the Real Jesus in Life

When I'm with clients, strange things happen.

This week, I spent an hour and a half with a seriously paranoid business executive.  His twisted view of life was very disturbing.

I've met with egotists, the chronically depressed, the lost, the forelorn, and people that everyone thinks is normal, but are hiding all kinds of trauma.  Many of these people are angry and in control. Some are on the edge of breakdowns. 

I'm not a depressed, pessimistic or fatalistic person. I'm a glass is half-full kind of guy. I look for the positive, for opportunities to learn, grow, develop and being transformed.  That is my personality.

I also recognized that to be a human being is to live with suffering. For some it is more physical, others more emotional or psychological, and even for others it is social, spiritual and intentional.  Suffering is reality. Jesus is peace. Yet, those words don't help when we are not just morally broken, but broken at the level of our DNA.  Good theology doesn't have much effect there. It would be nice, but it doesn't work that way.

Read these two postings from Brant, here and here.  Here's a real man. Not perfect, not complete, not a failure, not a celebrity-level success, just a man who is trying to maintain order in his relationship with himself, his family and his God.  He takes meds to do it.  If I was him, I'd do it too.

What concerns me as I need to walk out the door to church in three minutes is that we plaster over reality to convince ourselves that Jesus has saved and healed us.  My experience is that we don't get healed that way. We get healed by facing up to our brokenness every day. It requires honesty and humility.  It requires coming to the end of our rope.  It requires seeing Jesus not as an abstract theological concept, but a divine person whose life has been passed to us.

I don't have Brant's issues, but I know I suffer from many of the same expectations of success, productivity and completeness. All I can say as a consolation to myself is that the more in touch I am with my own suffering, the more I am able to see it in others, and be a friend who offers hope and healing.  I know this because I've seen healing to come to people just because I was there.

So, as hard as it is to say, Praise Be To God for Our Suffering that lets us find that same depth of life in others, and consequently know the surpassing comfort of Christ.

HT:BT