Thursday, December 25, 2008

Christmas as Breaking and Entering


God should be thrown in jail. “For what?” you may ask. For breaking and entering. In American law I think that’s more than a misdemeanor when you enter and then actually take something-which he clearly did, eventually. Let me make my point.

We are at the season when Christians everywhere celebrate this breaking and entering; God’s felony. That’s what Christmas means. God broke in—to our world. He came in uninvited. The whole Christmas story of the baby in the barn with the angels and all that is about the start of God’s heist, about his breaking and entering (which leads ultimately to a murder but I’ll talk about that in my Easter post). Most Westerners seem out of touch with the crime. I’m not sure why. I’ve had someone break into my house, and believe me it gets your attention. But in the US, it’s almost as if it didn’t really happen. And anyway, we replace what he stole pretty quickly because we just go out and get more stuff. We don’t even miss anything.

But today when we celebrate this crime, I’d like to offer one thought: in this break-in we have revealed to us the true nature and character of God. He could have broken in by smashing down doors or breaking windows or making a big scene. He didn’t. He could have come on a white horse or in a motorcade or in a tank or something like that. He didn’t. He snuck into our world looking like a snotty nosed kid who cries and poops in his pants, like every other kid. The break in was a farce on the outside, but ultimately it became an inside job. Word has it that the thief looked sort of like the picture on this post!

He broke in because we locked him out. He broke in because we’d bought a bill of goods about who he was and who we are what the future holds for humankind. Some really old writer, who seems to know what he is talking about, said that we preferred stolen fruit with our significant other to sweet friendship with the sovereign creator (Read Genesis 3 to get the full story). There were eternal consequences to our choices. So he broke in, showed up, and revealed himself to woo us back and to demonstrate clearly to everyone, even those who don’t really like him, who he was and what he was about. And, he did this in a way that no religious figure on earth has ever done.

This is what makes Christianity so unique and frankly, it is why I celebrate Christmas. And what did he ultimately steal? Our faults and flaws and sins and mistakes and everything that ruins our lives! But there is more to it than that. God’s break-in was a Robin Hood Christmas. He stole from us, who thought we were rich (when we were actually impoverished) and gives us back something much greater, if we are willing to have it. He offers us back our hope, our lives, and our true selves when we, by faith in what he accomplished through the break-in, reject our false selves, along with the sin that goes with it, and trust the criminal God (Jesus) with our lives. Trust a criminal with my life? It’s an insane idea! But, it’s Christianity. I hope anyone who actually reads this post will ponder this and celebrate the crime with joy! I plan to.

Monday, December 22, 2008

Why I Don't Like Religion

I was in California a few weeks ago and read an article in the San Diego Union Tribune about the nativity scene set up in the Washington State capital building. Next to the nativity scene there was a sign posted that read, “There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but a myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.” (San Diego Union Tribune, December 7, 2008) I’m sure that will tick off some religious types. Sadly, while I personally disagree the ‘no gods or devils’ thing, and especially with the way irreligious types try so hard to denigrate what is important to so many religious types (like diluting the real meaning of Christmas or Easter) I can actually understand why they say what they say--about religion that is. Frankly, at one level, I agree with them. Religion does harden hearts and minds! And for that reason, I don’t really like religion. Religion has been the root of a great many atrocities. Religion has caused untold heartache. That’s a true statement. The weird thing about their perspective, however, is they seem to forget that the same thing is true about irreligion! While the Christians have the Crusades and the Muslims have their holy war and current jihad against infidels like myself, the irreligious types have Hitler, Stalin, and Mao. Talk about hard hearts and enslaved minds?! And all of those guys were atheists! So lets get off the “religion is the source of a great many atrocities” gig. The truth is, so is irreligion. The question really is why? What makes religion and irreligion the same or different? And why, would a guy like me, who is technically religious, not like religion? Hmmm. Sounds like the start of a series of blogs! More later!

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

What Sean Bell Tells us about Race Relations

Sean Bell has been dead for a while now. But he’s still talking. It’s been a few weeks more than two years since Sean Bell, a black man, was killed outside a strip club early in the morning on his wedding day, November 26, 2006. He died under a hail storm of bullets when a police sting went bad. Two of the three officers involved were minorities. One officer, a minority, fired 50 shots from his service revolver. The officers felt their lives were threatened and had understood one of the suspects to have a gun. There was no gun. There was no crime being committed. There was just one big bad mistake.

Last May a judge handed down a verdict of not guilty for any of the police officers on any charges. I was a little surprised at the time, as it seemed that manslaughter, at least, would have been something they’d be charged with but it was not guilty. The black community was outraged per usual. In all of this there seems to me to be several challenges as we consider race relations and our human condition. First, people want justice. And justice sometimes doesn’t seem to be just. What is just for one person seems unjust for another. Would it have been just to put the police officers in jail? Second, it seems that we all need to believe the best about others a little more. The police officers heard one of Bell’s friends say he had a gun in his car. These friends were formerly convicted felons and they were all outside a strip club at 4:00 am. We can’t bring Sean Bell back but maybe whites and blacks alike need to believe the best in each other a little more. I have some terrific African American friends. I believe the best of them not because they are black or white but because they are human, created in the image of Almighty God, and have demonstrated that they are trustworthy. I could give you the names of some white people I wouldn’t trust for a minute. It’s not a white or black thing! It’s a people thing. Third, I think we need to spend time getting intentionally involved in the lives of those who are different than we are. How many of us actually go to someone’s home and eat if they are of a different race or different religion than we are? It’s rare, even in New York.

Each racial community brings special reminders of God that should be mixed into the soup of life. The relational meal smells really really good when a variety of racial spice is added! I think we all need to recognize the contribution each ethnic community brings and celebrate it. We also need to be aware of the negative tendencies of our own racial community. If we started dealing with the junk our own racial groups contributes to the trash of life perhaps we’d be less likely to be critical of others.