Driving in the Fog: An Advocacy Metaphor

Recently as I was driving to work I was surprised by the fog in-between the towns along the way. After a long, dry, often hot summer, it reminded me that the weather is changing and one aspect of fall driving in the Northwest is fog. We hear a lot about the hazards of winter driving, but honestly when we have a snow or ice “event” most people around here just stay home. What you hear less about is the danger of driving in fog. Experts suggest a number of things we can do to improve safety when we have to drive through fog. After reading a number of these lists of safety tips and driving directions I have discerned a metaphor…that may help us as advocates and ambassadors for Christ.

Advocating for/with others is in many ways like driving in the fog.

In any given situation, we may not know everyone’s backstory or cultural conditioning. It also seems that we rarely hear both sides of the story, or systemically analyze all the contributing factors. Our understanding of the situation is actually far more limited than we realize. Sometimes when we might not know what to do, we follow others who seem to have a clue. Unfortunately, they might be just as blind as we are. In such situations, our hurry to do something might cause more damage than not doing something. Let’s take a look at the common safety suggestions for driving in the fog, but let’s be thinking about how our advocacy could benefit from such an approach.

Slow Down

The consensus “#1 fog-driving safety tip” is to slow down. As the range of our vision decreases, so does the time we have to react and adjust to curves, cows, and other cars. We will also need to keep an eye on the speedometer since “we may lose visual cues as to how fast we are going.” This is true for ministry leaders as well as for driving. In seasons of cultural fog and reduced understanding of what is going on and what lies ahead, we need to slow down. Just as driving into a ditch or running into another car won’t get us where we need to be any faster, so too our rushing ahead with our plans without asking the hard theological “Why-type” questions will not save us time in the long run…and may be quite dangerous.  If we are going too fast we risk collisions—even with those going the same direction who might have been our greatest allies.

    “The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer,
         but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things.” (Proverbs 15:28)

    “Before destruction a man's heart is haughty,
         but humility comes before honor.
    If one gives an answer before he hears,
         it is his folly and shame…

    The one who states his case first seems right,
         until the other comes and examines him.” (Proverbs 18:12-13, 17)

Use Our (Low-Beam) Headlights

It is important to make sure your headlights are on in foggy weather for two reasons. First, we want to see where we are going. Second, we want others to be able to avoid running into us. However, our temptation when visibility is limited is to turn on the high-beam lights in hopes of seeing farther. However, with low thick fog, this will actually impair our vision as the light is reflected back off the fog into our eyes. High beams also make it harder for other cars to see where they are going. The low-beam headlights will not reflect as much glare back into our eyes, nor blind other drivers.

This high-beam temptation is like when we think too much of ourselves and our opinions during a time when we do not have a clear picture of our context or the path forward. Such confusing times come to us all, perhaps more frequently than we would like to admit. However, when we begin to consistently apply the Word of God to the situation we should be able to make slow steady progress. The Bible teaches that we are not to think too highly of ourselves…for pride, like high beams can tend to make us blind to potential dangers as well as endangering others. Instead, we are challenged to consider others more highly than ourselves, to bear one another’s burdens, and to follow the low-beam attitude of Jesus Christ as described in Philippians 2:3-11,

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Use Fog Lights… If You Have Them

Some vehicles are equipped with special fog lights that are low to the ground and are designed to better reveal the lines on the road and not add to the glare in your eyes. Such lights help us to find our way not by seeing a mile down the road, but by helping us to see the next few yards. King David wrote, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (Psalm 119:105) The type of oil lamp this refers to doesn’t provide light to see far away but gives illumination for us to see where to place our feet and take our next steps. In times of fog, we need to stay in the Bible allowing it to illuminate not only our path but the condition of our heart (James 1:22-25; Heb. 12:12-13).

Follow others, but not too closely

Just as drivers in foggy conditions might “be tempted to drive more closely to the car in front of you to keep it in sight” the advocate can begin to rely on the experience and methodology of another, the preacher can become reliant on podcasts of other preachers instead of developing a listening ear for the contextual clues the Lord gives when we slow down and listen. It helps to have mentors and inspirational people that speak into our lives and ministries, but following too closely without being able to see the road for ourselves may end up with both of us in the ditch (Matt. 15:14).

There is one person to follow closely in our fog and that is the Lord himself. As we draw near in prayer and in reading his Word, the Bible, he will lead us and turn the darkness to light.

And I will lead the blind

    in a way that they do not know,

in paths that they have not known

    I will guide them.

I will turn the darkness before them into light,

    the rough places into level ground.

These are the things I do,

    and I do not forsake them. (Isaiah 42:16)

Turn On the Wipers and Defrosters

Always use your windshield wipers and defrosters in fog to help you see and reduce glare from the headlamps of oncoming vehicles. Sometimes we don’t notice that our vision is not as clear as we think until the lights of another car reveal it. Running the defroster will clear the fog on the inside of the window and the wipers will help clear the outside. In this part of the country, the wind usually scours out the fog but it is in times of cold and calm that the fog thickens. Similarly, a kingdom advocate should regularly allow the Holy Spirit to blow the internal fog away and wipe the outside in honest confession and repentance in response to the Scriptures. It is the internal fog that makes us ineffective and unfruitful.

For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. (2 Peter 1:5-9)

Roll Down the Windows

Some say that if you roll down the windows, at slower speeds you will be able to hear what’s happening around you (if you turn your music down), which is important when your visibility is reduced. If you hear any suspicious noises—such as squealing or crunching—safely brake and pull to the side of the road. If you have a passenger, rolling down their window may help them better see the fog line and edge of the road. It is all about using all your senses to help stay on the road and avoid hitting others who may have stopped. As ministers and advocates, we will need to be spiritually attuned "watching in prayer" and not merely mentally engaged (Eph. 6:18-19; 1 Peter 5:7-9).

Follow the Fog Line (the Right-Side Pavement Line)

When visibility is reduced, use the white line on the right-hand side of the road to guide you. It is natural for our eyes to be drawn towards the lights of oncoming cars, but we must resist this for it impairs our vision once they pass and it will tend to draw us closer to the oncoming traffic. The fog line is on the right side of the road for just such a time as this. When we are unsure of the future, remember the clear boundaries for our lives and ministries that the Lord has given to us. There are lots of Biblical lists that are very clear, and then there is Colossians 3:17 (look it up) which, if understood, basically says that Jesus’ attitude, character, and teaching should be the fog line of our life. The question is not, “Where did that car in front of me go?” but “Where does that white line say I should go?” 

“Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. 

 Let all that you do be done in love.” (1 Cor. 16:13-14)

Don’t Stop On the Road

One of the most annoying things about winter driving in Portland is that when it snows, or there is ice on the road, hundreds of people abandon their cars right in the middle of the major roads. This is crazy, right? At least in the brightness of our light snow, you can usually see the stopped cars, but in the dark fog, stopping on the road can be disastrous resulting in being rear-ended and causing a multi-vehicle accident. Some of the largest and most tragic freeway pileups happen in fog or smoke. Experts suggest that if we have to stop that we pull over to a safe area, completely off the road, and turn on our hazard lights.

“And let us not grow weary of doing good, 

for in due season we will reap, 

                          if we do not give up.” (Gal. 6:9) 

In advocacy, as in all ministries, we should not just quit and walk away for that will potentially harm us and others. Better to consider the needs of others and get out of the way and wait until we can, in faith, move forward again (Gal. 6:2).

Turn On Your Hazard Lights

If we need to pull off the road, multiple sources remind us to “turn on your emergency flashers or hazard lights.” We need to do this “so other drivers will know you are parked and won’t try to follow you.” There are times when we just need to be honest and say, “Don’t follow me…I have no idea where I am going!” Such an attitude is much better than leading other people into a ditch.

It is not a cultural value for ministers to admit that they can’t see and need to “pull over” due to either the fog of changing culture, the dust of swirling circumstances, or the blinding smoke of systemic burnout. It may take courage to pull over and turn on the hazard lights, but it is an act of kindness and is helpful to others. When was the last time we stopped and let Jesus advocate on our behalf?

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. (1 John 2:1)

No Road Rage

Is there impatience or hate that has crept into our advocacy? It is easy for this to happen. When we are dealing with people who have been objectified or oppressed we may begin to desire the worst for their oppressors; yet if our love for one person turns into hate for another, then we are in a blinding fog and don’t realize our own danger.

“But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.” (1 John 2:11)

Few things could be scarier than to continue in such self-deception as that which Jesus called out in the Laodicean church, “For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.” (Rev. 3:17) Instead, may we cry out like Bartimaeus, “Rabbi, let me recover my sight.” (Mark 10:51).

Bringing It Home

Simple advice for driving in the fog is remarkably applicable to the life of an advocate whether personal, governmental, through a non-profit agency, or even in a church setting. Go slow, assume that you see less clearly than you think you do, communicate well with others both about what you are doing and what you are not doing, ask for help, don't neglect the spiritual dimension, stick to your core values, and don’t be afraid to pull over and wait for your vision to clear.

Darwin, Dawkins, & the Darkness in my Soul

This post is an assigned response (in a course on Christian Advocacy) to Social Darwinism, Richard Dawkins, and Down syndrome by Paul Louis Metzger 

In his post, Dr. Metzger treads dangerously close to the swamp of misunderstanding by writing semi-favorably about Darwin and Dawkins. He could be misunderstood by those on either side depending on their biases. However, in the process, he makes one very good point. He writes,

Why all this fuss on the need to understand Darwin and Dawkins on their own terms?

Charles Darwin

Generally, conservative Christians do not show much love for Darwin or Dawkins. Still, we need to practice the Golden Rule (Matthew 7:12) and do to others what we would want them to do to us. We should try and interpret their claims in keeping with their intended aims rather than with how we might wish to interpret them for partisan purposes, just like we would want others to interpret our positions as we intend them. Take for example the accusations and misperceptions of others concerning the early church, where the church’s critics falsely claimed that Christians were engaged in cannibalism and orgies in their love feasts. Such accusations and misunderstandings hurt the church’s witness. Conservative Christians who take seriously the Golden Rule yet who are critical of Social Darwinian thought should be especially careful about not distorting the positions of others, including an atheist like Dawkins. After all, Christians committed to biblical absolutes don’t believe anything goes for the sake of the survival of our particular Christian species.

Do we interpret the claims of those with whom we disagree “in keeping with their intended aims” instead of how they best fit into our talking points? I hope so. Metzger’s appeal to “the Golden Rule” carries more weight than we might want to acknowledge. As with the freedom of speech and the freedom of religion, there needs to be equality under this rule. We need to exegete their work within their actual context no more, no less.

While I disagree with many of Darwin and Dawkins’ presuppositions, conditions, and conclusions I see no need to demonize them. We should live by an ethic such as that tweeted recently by Glenn Burris, "Never express hate on behalf of the God of love."
I would do well to consider their stories, to listen to them in their own words, to hear their own stated purposes. In addition, I am thankful for the added understanding of their positions that Dr. Metzger's post supplies… but in the end, Darwin’s theory and available evidence fail to adequately answer questions about the transitions of “life from non-life” and of one species to another (macroevolution). Dawkins’ utilitarian approach to morality is also inadequate in caring for the marginalized and powerless…for whom a utilitarian ethic—no matter its root—will always bring oppression and further powerlessness.

I appreciate my friend Becca McMartin’s comment on the original blog,

While Dawkins' utilitarian standard of happiness sounds good at first, it seems to create more problems than it solves. What is happiness? How is it judged? Who decided? Is it possible to predict the amount of happiness and act preemptively? Is happiness really the point of life? There are no easy answers.

It seems that...

Richard Dawkins

• One man replaces God the Creator with time and chance and hopes for the best. 
• The other replaces God the Judge with his own subjective matrix of happiness and suffering and judges as he feels fit. 

Both academic considerations are tragic and have led to untold suffering through the application of their ideas to policies and processes that have real-world consequences. Yet, to be honest, are we any different? Do we not all too frequently do the same things in our own hearts and lives? Do our closet motivations and classroom ideas come with significant collateral damage for others?

• Do we call God Creator and then treat resources—both environmental and human—as though they were our own possessions?
• Do we speak of a Righteous Judge and a Coming King, yet sacrifice the happiness and increase the suffering of others for the sake of our own comfort and convenience? We are inherently selfish, and apart from a completely hedonistic motive might settle for a utilitarian approach that validates our collective ego and those in power rather than truly valuing everyone. But to set aside our own happiness for that of another is indeed a challenge.

I hope not, but know that too often this is the case. In our hearts, we turn away from God and seek to build a framework to sustain us in our darkness and rebellion instead of abiding in the love of God. Sometimes it is in a macro (very public) way, and other times it is in a micro (private and internal) way. No matter, the darkness is shockingly real. 

Be appalled, O heavens, at this;
    be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord,
for my people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me,
    the fountain of living waters,
and hewed out cisterns for themselves,
    broken cisterns that can hold no water. (Jeremiah 2:12-14)

Yes, I am thankful for this opportunity to better hear others’ thoughts in their own words. But even more, I am thankful for the opportunity they provide for me to search my heart for where I manifest such fallen thinking and actions…so that I might repent of my hewing and seek God who alone is good to all.

The Lord is gracious and merciful,
    slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
The Lord is good to all,
    and his mercy is over all that he has made…

The Lord is righteous in all his ways
    and kind in all his works. (Psalm 14:8-9, 17)

And without faith it is impossible to please him,

                for whoever would draw near to God 

must believe that he exists

              and that he rewards those who seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)

"Don’t Get Cocky!"

This post is an assigned response to Dr. Paul Louis Metzger’s blog post, Unfinished Business, which focuses on the ongoing need to address civil rights, racial reconciliation, and Martin Luther King’s prophetic vision of the “beloved community.”

I remember when the first Star Wars[1] movie was released in 1977. It was in the spring of my 9th-grade year. At that time the special effects were unparalleled— such as the light sabers and famous “jump to light speed” that awed us all, and brought us back to the theater again and again (VCRs and DVDs didn’t exist). Where I lived in Oregon, the theater had entered into a strange agreement to continue showing Star Wars until revenue dropped below a certain point. If memory serves me, it was three years later when the sequel, The Empire Strikes Back (1980), was released and the first movie was still showing at that theater. It was the movie's longest continuous run anywhere. 

The movie was about a community of creatures (from various races and species) fighting for their very survival against the powerful monolithic structures of evil found in the Empire. While Star Wars was not an example of King’s non-violent approach to “beloved community”, the movie’s hero, Jedi-in-training Luke Skywalker, was instructed by Masters Obi-wan and Yoda that the dark side of the force took control by giving in to fear, anger, and hatred…leading to “suffering” (e.g., violent and vengeful attacks). The same danger exists for us today in working for social justice that existed for Rev. King, the temptation to give in to hate and fear, to be overcome by the “dark side” that is the native language of a fallen world. 

Do you remember watching Star Wars for the first time and celebrating with Luke after he successfully destroyed one of the TIE fighters that was attacking their spaceship (the Millennium Falcon)? Then Han Solo (Harrison Ford) quickly brought him back to the unfinished business at hand, “Great kid! Don’t get cocky.” It seems that great strides were made back in the day of King and the civil rights movement…but that doesn’t mean the battle is over. There is still too much fear, hate, and suffering. Yet we must not lose the vision of the beloved community, As Dr. Metzger writes,

So, what does the beloved community look like, and what is the unfinished business to which we must attend in light of King’s life and legacy? The beloved community is a community of love and justice and peace and equality that breaks through the chains of racism and classism and abuses of various kinds. Beloved community requires that we connect the dots of those things that destroy beloved community and come together in solidarity to consume those dots and connections, just as King did.

If we are going to connect the dots" we need spiritual wisdom and understanding. This was the Apostle Paul's prayer for the church in Colossae. We need precise and correct knowledge of God's will for society not just for individuals. We need spiritual wisdom from above not the "dark side" (James 3:13-18) if we are to use our knowledge fruitfully. Finally, we need understanding (Greek synesis) which enables us to put the pieces together into a cohesive whole; to treat the causes, not just the symptoms, and to incite thankfulness, not riots.

And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. (Colossians 1:9-10)

We live in a world of turmoil and oppression. We see increased racial tension in America,

Created by Jean Jullien in
response to Paris attacks, 2015.

some legitimate conflicts over racism, other incidents are less legitimate and are being pimped to the benefit of one side or the other. Islamic terrorism has been especially vicious in recent months with the most recent being the heinous attacks in Paris on November 13-14, 2015. In this attack, the current death toll is 136, with another 33 wounded. This is not the beloved community. Nor can such a beloved community be established by military force alone. It will take the power of God expressed in sacrificial love.

So what will we do? Will we change who we are at the core of our being? Will we grow weary of trying to understand each other, will we quit looking for ways to work together with others? Will we respond in unkind ways to the unkind or will we be able to stay "on target" with the love of God no matter how much it costs us?

I am prompted to consider that I will need God’s help. Thankfully he not only doesn’t grow weary but he gives power to the faint and powerless (Isaiah 40:28-29). And, strengthened by the Holy Spirit we are able to obey the repeated New Testament command to not grow weary in our mission to do good for others no matter how tough it gets. Here are a few such scriptures…

For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. (Galatians 6:8-10)

As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good. (2 Thessalonians 3:13)

Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. (Hebrews 12:3-4)

Martin Luther King’s beloved community cannot be fully realized on earth until we who are the church can engage others in light of Jesus’ own voluntary humiliation on our behalf.  As it is written,

“So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” (Philippians 2:1-3)

“…for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:3-5)

As a new installment of the Star Wars movie franchise is scheduled to be released in December, some 38 ½ years after the first one, perhaps it will remind us to not depend upon the successes of the past, nor the methods and power of the world to carry us into the future. Perhaps we will once again band together to build the blessed kingdom of Christ, the beloved community indeed. Perhaps we should start by expressing gratitude to those fighting the good fight of love as Dr. Metzger suggests, "We must show gratitude to the often thankless labors of love of mothers who serve their families so sacrificially, fathering their children, holding down multiple jobs, teaching their children the value of hard work and how to stretch a dollar and stretch a hug to heal a family and a community."

Don’t get cocky! We have unfinished business.

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[1] This first film was later retitled Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

The Beauty of Red Cups

Every Christmas, there seems to be at least one retailer who forbids employees to wish customers a “Merry Christmas” or one municipality that removes a manger scene and as a result, bears the brunt of Christians venting a year’s worth of frustration at being marginalized by our post-Christendom culture. This year is no exception.

A normally chilly November has featured a rather heated debate, even a firestorm of resistance to Starbucks’ rollout of their plain red cups for the holidays this year. Many have taken to social media to proclaim their dissatisfaction. I have remarked to several people that this argument is misguided and actually counter-productive to the cause of Christ. I would like to go on record and say that I like the relatively simple yet elegant red cups marking the Christmas season at Starbucks…for several reasons.

I was encouraged to find that the Starbucks news blog post, dated November 1, 2015, shows an astute cultural awareness that is unfortunately lost on many American Christians who think that all cultures should revolve around them, using their language and symbols. The Starbucks cups appear after Halloween and signal the addition of special holiday drinks to their menu. While Starbucks might be trying to spin this conflict in its favor, I sensed a sincerity that needs to be heard. And that is the problem, isn’t it? Frequent readers of my blogs will recognize that this is a regular theme in my writing. Any time we respond without actually listening to the viewpoint of another (no matter which side of the argument we are on) we reveal ourselves to be unwise.

Why Did They Do It?

Jeffrey Fields, Starbucks' vice president of Design & Content is quoted in the post and I want you to be able to read his words for yourself,

Taking a cue from customers who have been doodling designs on cups for years (Starbucks held a contest to support this creativity), this year’s design is another way Starbucks is inviting customers to create their own stories with a red cup that mimics a blank canvas.  

“In the past, we have told stories with our holiday cups designs,” said Fields. “This year we wanted to usher in the holidays with a purity of design that welcomes all of our stories.”

In the nearly two decades since the first red Starbucks cup, the company has grown from 1,400 stores in a handful of countries to more than 23,000 stores in 68 markets around the world.

“Starbucks has become a place of sanctuary during the holidays,” he said. “We’re embracing the simplicity and the quietness of it. It’s a more open way to usher in the holiday.”

Creating a culture of belonging, inclusion, and diversity is one of the core values of Starbucks, and each year during the holidays the company aims to bring customers an experience that inspires the spirit of the season. Starbucks will continue to embrace and welcome customers from all backgrounds and religions in our stores around the world.[1]

While I have liked the special cups of Christmases past (I happily own some) I love the idea of the cup being a symbolic "canvas" where we can create our own stories in community with others. Past years’ cups have been almost too cluttered with seasonal themes (hope, peace, love, giving) and symbols—trees, snowflakes, ornaments, reindeer, gifts, etc. All are placed there with a marketing connection to increasing sales. None of these things are really outwardly Christian, so it is hard to see this as a credible attack on Christmas by Starbucks. The biggest danger to the western church is not the “bleak midwinter” of Christ-less secularism, but it might just be consumerism. In which case, a simple cup might point us back in the right direction… toward open engagement with others in time spent, stories shared, and all done around an open table.

A Place of Sanctuary

Are our homes a sanctuary?

Are our homes and churches known as places of sanctuary, or are they filled, in turn, with bustling acrimony or bored apathy? Not only am I impressed with the reasoning behind the red cups, but I am also personally convicted when Mr. Fields says, “Starbucks has become a place of sanctuary during the holidays,” he said. “We’re embracing the simplicity and the quietness of it. It’s a more open way to usher in the holiday.” As I have written previously (Rethinking “Don’t Talk to Strangers!”), I rarely sit in a Starbucks without speaking to a stranger, making a new friend, working on a sermon, mentoring other Christians, or just enjoying being with family and friends. I see others doing likewise. Why are we the church not more of a “sanctuary”? Why is it that we are rarely described by words like “simplicity” and “quietness”? And for those who consider “holiday” a trigger word, it literally means “holy day” so if we truly considered a day holy how would we treat others on it? I have apologized to the baristas in my local Starbucks because they have to work on Christmas, but they say they love sharing the day with the crew and the people who come in are happier than normal.

Back to the Red Cups.

What does red mean? Is it not rife with biblical symbolism? Certainly, it reminds me of the “blood of Christ” that was shed on a Roman cross to wash away our sins. But perhaps more seasonally appropriate, red is the color of humanity for Adam was made from the red dust of the ground. It is at Christmas that God the Son left the culture of heaven behind to become fully human so that he might redeem us, become the perfect advocate for us, and set us free from our slavery to the fear of death (Hebrews 2:14-18). If we are going to engage the world like Jesus did, we will have to start with humbling ourselves, not grasping or demanding (Philippians 2:1-11).

I don’t agree with everything Starbucks does nor with all the values that they profess…like when they spell my name wrong. Yes, coffee drinks are often too expensive, though I usually drink the less expensive iced coffee. Having said that, Starbucks has been a blessing to the church as a “third space” in the community to talk, listen, laugh, study, and share with believers and those who don’t—even without reindeer on their cups.

Finally, I don’t need to fib about my name to force baristas to write "Merry Christmas" on my cup and then have to call out “Merry Christmas, your tall non-fat iced coffee with mocha is ready!” I am more interested in talking to them while they take my order and make my coffee…treating them as fully human and even as friends. So hopefully, when I wish them a "Merry Christmas!", and I will, they will believe I mean it and agree that it has been merry indeed.

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[1] Pasted from https://news.starbucks.com/news/the-story-behind-the-design-of-starbucks-red-holiday-cups-for-2015

Fighting Fire With Fire

This post is an assigned response to Paul Louis Metzger’s post, Fire Fighting and Religious Conflicts

I am intrigued by the use of this firefighting metaphor in the context of religious conflicts. With four young men in my family pursuing a career in firefighting I can relate to the metaphor. Are we ignoring the burning tree in the room? [All fire photos used in this post were provided by my fireman brother, Steven Dueker]

Dr. Metzger is not using “conflict” in the sense of violent outbreaks but in the sense of identifying and addressing real points of disagreement between religions. While we can find areas of mutual concern between major religious groups, at their roots they are very different. When we take time to consider it, we realize that it takes conflict on the cellular level just to stay alive. The immune system depends on the right balance of conflict within the body to remain healthy. A forest is much the same.

Just one tree?

A healthy forest can usually survive natural lightning-started fires. The problem comes when the forest is not healthy. Summer heat and extended periods of drought can produce tinder-dry fuels. Insects can damage or kill large swaths of forest and ironically fire can be a natural way of controlling the damage and promoting new growth.

Smoke over  Fire-camp in Washington

Recently when commenting on a classmate’s writing on this subject, I agreed with her first paragraph, “Fighting fires is hard exhausting work…So it is when speaking with someone who disagrees with you on religious issues. It can be exhausting, hard work before we reach a resolution.” While I am not a fireman, I am a pastor and have fought a lot of relational fires over the years. It is hard and often frustrating work. Sometimes such fires, like those in heavy timber, will not be extinguished until the winter rains come.

Setting a Backfire

While compromise is not a satisfactory answer in discussing religious differences, we should not grow rigid and defensive at sincere questions and doubts, but welcome them, listening deeply before we answer. Often such discussions, which Dr. Metzger calls “conflicts”, are a natural way of cleaning out the brushwood and undergrowth of man-made ideas and non-essential practices on both sides of the table. If so, then the fire lines cut can be beneficial to overall relational health and religious understanding. If there is a problem with their reasoning then carefully setting the backfires of logical questions can be effective in slowing the spread of wildfire. In any event, earnest listening and active loving-kindness make an effective relational fire retardant.

I must confess to being a little hesitant to stir up conflict through aggressive over-engagement. I once had a professor whose approach to teaching a marriage enrichment course was to provoke couples to fight over various topics (even where there were no differences to work through) because “what didn’t kill you made you stronger.” Such an approach is foolishness. My experience reminds me that we need to be careful to balance properly our communication (10 positive comments to each negative or critical remark) or like the Santa Ana winds in Southern California, it will make the relational forest dangerously dry and susceptible to combustion. However, on the other hand, we should not withdraw and under-engage assuming that the quiet and the calm means we are in agreement—because it doesn’t. 

The Bible teaches that while followers of Jesus need not run from such relational and multi-faith “conflicts” we are not to be quarrelsome. St. Paul made this clear by writing to the young pastor Timothy “not to quarrel about words” (2 Tim. 2:14); and again, “Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness.” (2 Tim. 2:23-25a)

While it is true that there is a season for everything, including “a time to keep silence, and a time to speak” (Eccl. 3:7), we would do well to follow St. Paul’s guidelines for those times when we should speak. For, as James, the brother of Jesus wrote,

“How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 

And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness.

The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.” (James 3:5-6) 

If our tongue is not controlled by the cool fire of the Spirit of God, then we may blacken more than a meal with our inflammatory words.

As I write this I am reminded that 30 years ago this week, I wrote the following poem that still fits this subject very well. I have resisted the urge to edit and revise in order to preserve its “Greg’s early works” vibe!

Conflict, Growth & Perspective

Conflict

Norm of the day.

Key to strength

Or, to death.

It keeps the living alive

Causes the rest to die.

Growth,

Birthed only of conflict.

Subject also to the curse;

`Thou shalt have pain,

In Childbirth!'

Growth,

It is painful

Indeed.

Christians struggle

Toward Jesus

Unto life,

Then sacrifice their gain

For the world,

That some might be saved.

Those of the world

Struggle Into self

Or,

In moments of platonic thought,

Each other,

Only to die in the grinding collision.

© 1985 Greg K. Dueker

Together

This is an assigned response to Paul Louis Metzger’s important post entitled Lessons from Baltimore and the Bible: Work with the People, Not for the People.  Dr. Metzger quotes Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed to support his position, and while taking issue with many of Freire’s concepts I will offer a couple valuable Freire quotes of my own.

Are outside experts and problem-solvers the answer or part of the problem? In many places around the world, this is more than an academic question. From Baltimore to Bangladesh and beyond there are people suffering injustice. Will we be moved by compassion to advocate for them or with them? It makes a difference. 

Jesus sent his disciples out two at a time to establish the truthfulness of their witness, but also perhaps to teach us something about kingdom work—that it is to be done together. A partnership between those sent and the people of peace in each place to which they are sent. Hospitality and a "dwelling with" that mutually honors and respects the other as the kingdom of heaven breaks out in their midst.

God in the Trinitarian community of himself does everything as one and yet together as three, “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…’.” (Gen. 1:26). Jesus, God the Son, did nothing on his own, but only what he saw the Father doing (John 5:19-20) and was filled with the Holy Spirit (Luke 3:22; 4:1).

Too often, those with the privilege of resources, education, and mobility, try to fix the circumstances of suffering experienced by those without privilege alone. There can be a bit of a messiah complex about our efforts if we think we are the answer. While it is right to show compassion to those who are oppressed in one way or another, we should not make the assumption that the person needs our help more than we need theirs. Our western, dominant-culture, problem-solving approach has a tendency to minimize the strengths and knowledge already present in an oppressed, under-resourced, or marginalized community. In our defense, we realize that we have freely received and desire to pay it forward by freely giving. Yet, despite good intentions, this may result in maintaining our own power and privilege at the expense of those whom we seek to help. Freire calls this false generosity and contrasts it with the true,

In order to have the continued opportunity to express their "generosity," the oppressors must perpetuate injustice as well. An unjust social order is the permanent fount of this "generosity," which is nourished by death, despair, and poverty. That is why the dispensers of false gen­erosity become desperate at the slightest threat to its source… True generosity consists precisely in fighting to destroy the causes which nourish false charity.  False charity constrains the fearful and subdued, the "rejects of life," to extend their trembling hands. True generosity lies in striving so that these hands—whether of individuals or entire peoples-need be extended less and less in supplication, so that more and more they become human hands which work and, working, transform the world. [1]

Listen First, Help Second

Why do we assume that we know best? Why do we presume that our answers are better than what others might come up with on their own? How can we diagnose a situation accurately when we don’t listen well and connect symptoms with historical and contextual causes?

The man or woman who proclaims devotion to the cause of liberation yet is unable to enter into communion with the people, whom he or she continues to regard as totally ignorant, is grievously self-deceived.[2]

In a recent sermon, I likened judgmentalism to a type of spiritual king-of-the-mountain game, where we try to climb to the top—the supposed place of God’s favor—by criticizing and judging others. At best such behavior is merely an emotional sleight-of-hand for certainly, God’s kingdom doesn’t play by such rules. I mention this here because if we are going to truly help others and work for the peace and justice that pleases God, we have to start by humbling ourselves and considering others as inferior no longer (2 Cor. 5:16), but as equals… or betters (Philippians 2:3).

Another of Dr. Metzger’s favorite sources (and mine), Dr. John Perkins wrote,

There is an old Chinese poem that illustrates the felt-need concept very clearly:

Go to the people

Live among them

Learn from them

Love them

Start with what you know

Build on what they have:

But of the best leaders

When their task is done

The people will remark

“We have done it ourselves.”

Felt needs are different from person to person and place to place, and in order to do ministry effectively, you will need to discover and identify these needs.[3]

Jesus did not complete his work of redemption from a distance, but to use Perkins’ term “relocated” and became one of us, taking our problems upon him, to set us free from ourselves so that we might be able to live free together.

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. (Hebrews 2:14-15)

I wonder about something else. Without denying the omniscience of the Lord, were the first 30 years of Jesus' life spent listening to and experiencing the human condition (together with us) before he began speaking the good news of God's solution?

---

[1] Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 44-45.
[2] Freire, 61.
[3] John Perkins, Beyond Charity: The Call to Christian Community Development [Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition], 35.