Jesus Was An Immigrant

Our good friend, Mike Angell, has posted a superb blog post regarding how our understanding of Jesus and who he is informs how we interpret issues dealing with migration and the border here in San Diego:

Beyond that Jesus calls his followers toward an immigrant identity. “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God” tends to be heard figuratively, but the connotation is that the follower of Jesus is constantly seeking a homeland that is not her own. Christians are all united in their common identity as immigrants to the Kingdom of God, the promised future country in which the poor are uplifted, the hungry fed, the sinful forgiven, the outsiders included. As followers of Christ we are called to be immigrants seeking the Kingdom of God.

Go read the rest and comment.

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Originally uploaded by jasonevans.

Defending Globalization

quoting Boff

"There won’t be a Noah’s Ark to save only some of us. To meet people’s fundamental concerns, change is needed. The world as it is does not offer the majority of humanity life but rather hell. I believe that change is possible, because I cannot accept a God who could remain indifferent to this world, but only one who cares about the poor and the suffering."

- Leonardo Boff, from Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor
(via Inward/Outward)

Yes!

books!

The benefits of being one of theOOZE select bloggers...

Got a package in the mail with these four books today. Reviews to come!

church, money and the future... again

The conversation relating to church, money and the future continues to evolve. My friend Aaron is archiving the conversation here. I'm impressed with the depth and range it's had.

I don't feel like I have a whole lot to add right now. I will say, again, that this isn't about models and this isn't about whether or not we pay people or go to school for theological training. I don't think I've seen anyone really say as a blanket statement that these things are officially bad ideas altogether. But we are trying to honestly offer these things up for critique. This is scary territory. It plays with our hearts and minds and really challenges were we seek out our protection and provision. I pray we can all hang on long enough to find answers and responses together.

YAR article

I submitted a guest post for the Young Anabaptist Radicals site (YAR). Here's an excerpt:

Last year, I was asked to speak at the national convention for the Mennonite Church USA. I had the opportunity to listen to the opinions and concerns of many young adult Anabaptists. I was eager to hear what my fellow Christians–with a heritage of nonviolent theology–had to say. I was anxious to hear their ideas about the future of Anabaptism.

I was surprised to say the least.

My idealistic perception of this tribe did not prepare me for the reality of those that have grown up in this tradition. What I found in the eyes of many young people I saw was disillusionment and frustration with a pacifist gone passive-aggressive system. Sitting there, I wondered what the future is for denominations rooted in the Radical Reformation. And what did that mean for someone like me who came to this tradition out of conviction rather than bloodline? … and how did a guy like me end up at a Mennonite national convention in the first place?!

You can read the rest here. And on the request of the editor of YAR, I left this extensive comment for Tom Sine... hope he reads it. That's why I haven't been writing much here lately. More soon.

sustainable kingdom, sustainable church

So, it looks like we've struck a nerve here! There's a really great conversation going on here:

• Chris Marshall starts with This Hurts
• I chimed in next
• Mike addsJesus Underground
• Chris again
• then Steve chimes in
• Aaron steps in with How Then Should We Live
• Kimberly adds her thoughts on the role of Seminary and Church in this with Church Structure Breaking Down?
• Mark adds Startving Ecclesial Artists Unite!
• Alan makes sure the Roman Catholics aren't left out
• Good Ol' Boy Glenn Johnson steps in with Saved By The Second-Tier Rejects
• Steve documents the thought trail for us
• And fellow San Diegan, Dan So adds his two cents with Now You Tell Me

And that's just what has popped up so far. Plus, you've got to read the comments on each post.

A few things that stand out:

Economics: Not only can the church no longer sustain the running assumptions, leaders have to reconfigure how they're going to make ends meet any way about it. Most importantly, the economic concerns only expose the idolatry we have had with capitalism and that this has, in many ways, kept us from being about the Missio Dei. So, what has often been mistaken as being an alternative to church, or simply about models is now being crystalized in our minds as neither of those but most sincerely out of our deep love for the Body.

Justice and Liberation: Because of the bondage that we see as a result of our current economic paradigm we realize that we've got to be about setting people free. This is economic–everything from personal debt to global unjust trade agreements that empower some to enslave others, it is spiritual–read Wink, Wimber and Eckblad, it social and structural-we are realizing that many of our previous assumptions existed to empower some and make the rest listen and this has been most heinous when coming out as racist and sexist.

Lastly, I hope this is not interpreted as "throwing the baby out with the bath water" as some are bound to presume. I reiterate what I said above, since I know most of the people who have expressed their thoughts in this trail thus far, I can sincerely say that these ruminations are out of a deep love and devotion to the Body. This doesn't mean we're dumping the sacrements, discipleship and some of our deeply held theologies (you may just have to visit some of our communities to get that). It means we're digging beneath the assumptions we've had about these things for the last few decades, at least, to find the raw beauty in those things once again.

I wish I had time to write more but Brooke has left for NYC once again and I've got to get my little girl to school.

church, money and the future

Today, Chris said,

Recession seems inevitable, will it go way beyond that? A nation already ruled by fear and over-spending with no margins by individuals and the government, what will be the consequences?

How will this impact churches and mortgages and credit lines that can't be fed? As builders pass on who are the committed givers what is left? 1/2 of boomers are there to give and the other 1/2 are driven past their financial margins with consumerism and can't help. Gen X and Millenials have very little value in long term comittments, are all about instant gratification and consumerism is their native language. Commonly this group of up and comers are living on 125-140% of their income taking on exponential debt per year. What will be the result of these decisions having no margins when the shoe drops?

It's true. We've got to start thinking long term about some of this. The trends do not seem to say that we can fend this off by building bigger, regional churches. Though there is limited success there, I don't see it being a long term fix to a growing problem. I've said this before, but I really don't think the experts have many answers for us. They have too much invested in the Christendom machine. So, it's going to be up to the rank and file folks to come up with the solutions.

For example, I've just been checking out a few video clips of the stuff Alan and Allelon are talking about on their site. It's good stuff. But while it seems to be covering the theological shifts necessary we're still in serious need of how to do the practical stuff. All the while, we watch pastors that have seen the necessary shifts, follow those shifts and sink further into debt and depression trying to figure this out all alone... not a good place to be when you're trying to reinvigorate the Body of Christ.

Both planters and pastors have got to do self-image re-alignment, learn other skills/trades, learn how to be entrepreneurs, become community organizers, etc. No longer can we depend upon our previous economic paradigms within the Church...

This isn't easy. Don't I know it.