Rosa Parks and Christianity: Activism

Fifty-five years ago today, a woman riding a bus in Montgomery, Alabama was asked to leave her seat so that a person with a different skin tone could sit in her seat instead.  She had worked a long, hard day and was tired.  She was on her way home, when the bus driver asked her to move to the back of the bus so that a white person could sit in the front of the bus instead of her.  She refused.
Freeze frame.
I have grown up in a time since Rosa Parks' historical action.  Today, I struggle to really understand what this time would have been like, when a person can be told to leave their seat for another person based solely upon the fact that they were born with a darker color skin than another.  And it wasn't like Rosa Parks was the first person of African descent to refuse to leave her seat on the bus so a Caucasian person could sit near the front.  But it was her action, which sparked a bus boycott and the actions of several other persons and communities which made today's work possible.
But what does this historic event have to do with Christianity?  The Christian community was a vital force in the Civil Rights movement, especially as lead by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.. . Part of the Christian message, in addition to the fact that Jesus restores us to God by paying the price of our sins, but is that his grace extends beyond that to our relationships with each other as well!  Jesus said:

¹⁸ "The Lord has put his Spirit in me,
       because he appointed me to tell the Good News to the poor.
    He has sent me to tell the captives they are free
       and to tell the blind that they can see again. — Isaiah 61:1
    God sent me to free those who have been treated unfairly — Isaiah 58:6
    ¹⁹ and to announce the time when the Lord will show his kindness." — Isaiah 61:2 (Luke 4:18-19, New Century Version)

 His grace helps restore us to each other, and especially motivates us to give a voice to those who lack a proper one in society.  And so we banded together with the civil rights movement to give those being treated like second class citizens equal rights.  And so we band together to give a voice to the unborn children of God who otherwise would be (and still are) being cast aside due to inconvenience.  And most recently I have been made aware of a problem that we should be aware of as a society--and especially as Christians so that we will band together to end a problem we had previously thought finished.


The Not For Sale campaign http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/ is an organization that has partnered with many churches in our area, as well as hundreds of churches throughout the country.  There are other organizations around the US and the rest of the world who are working to abolish slavery in all of its many forms.  According to these organizations, there are more slaves in the United States today, than there were before the Civil War!  And they are cheaper as well.  Slaves in the middle of the 19th Century cost the modern equivalent of thousands of dollars.  Today, you can go buy a slave not for thousands, nor even hundreds.  In some places you can buy a slave for $50 or less!


One of the things that we are known for in Tacoma, and the I-5 corridor in general, is our traffic in sex slavery.  There children, teen-age girls and young women who are being taken up and down the I-5 corridor to be sold for a few minutes of pleasure for those who buy them.  Their pimps are actually slave holders.  In addition to this, there are people who have been brought into our country in order to be house servants and free workers.  According to http://slaverymap.org/ there have been at least half a dozen reports and actions taken to their knowledge in our city recently.  And perhaps hundreds more that we don't even know about.  Even from establishments that I had thought about as being reputable--including one that I have eaten at several times!

We have to stop this!  So what can you do?  If you see something that you suspect, call the authorities.  It is not enough to just look at a girl walking down the street and say "Oh, I wish these prostitutes would go somewhere else!" Because the truth may likely be that they are being held to it as a sex slave.  If you see something that you suspect (even at restaurants and coffee shops!) report them.  Call the police, or call:

• National Human Trafficking Resource Center: 1-888-373-3888 (24hr Hotline)
• Washington Anti-Trafficking Response Network (WARN): 206-245-0782

Also!  We can partner with organizations like the Not For Sale Campaign (local contact: Kevin Austin, Free Methodist Missionary with this organization) and our local churches in order to raise awareness and fight this evil in our country and world.  Sin that is brought to the light will soon shrivel and die, but as long as it is allowed to be ignored and kept in the dark, then it will flourish and grow.  Just think of what you would want others for your sons and daughters and do the same for them.  Together, by the power of Jesus' cross, we too can see this changed.  We just need to band together, like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. did in order fight for fair treatment of all our fellow citizens.

For lots more information go to http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/about/slavery/ and  http://www.freetheslaves.net/Page.aspx?pid=348.  Please share this blog and this information!  Send to your friends, share on facebook, email it, print it off and hand it out!  Go to the websites and get tons more information to share and give people too!  This is so vital, don't just take my word, but read about it, Google it, and above all: share it!  Blessings on you all!

Mighty Men (and even not so mighty), check this out!

I have subscribed to Bill Perkins' email newsletter for men.  I have found it very encouraging.  I have shamelessly copied this week's encouraging email here for you (understand that I did not write a word of it, it was all done by amazing author Bill Perkins).  If you find it encouraging, please sign up here: http://www.millionmightymen.com/  Or, go buy one of his books like Six Rules Every Man Must Break or Six Battles Every Man Must Win.

I thought that the lesson we learn about Nicodemus fits many of us guys, who definitely desire to do good but approach commitments cautiously.  Enjoy!

Today we learn the importance of delaying judgment ...

Forego Judgment and Process Information

Bringing about change is tough because people tend to polarize around a position and feel they have to be right all the time. Rather than fighting it out at the OK Corral, suggest everyone delay making a judgment until more questions have been asked and answered. I find it fascinating that there were times when Jesus drew a line in the sand and told people they were either with him or against him. On those occasions he left no middle ground. But there were also situations where he clearly interacted with men over a period of time. The Man Who Met Jesus at Night My favorite example is Nicodemus. Their first, and best known meeting, occurred one night when the religious leader told Jesus, "No one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him" (John 3:2). Instead of dealing with the issue of his identify, Jesus told the Pharisee how he could know God. Jesus explained a man could only enter the kingdom of God if he was born again (notice Jesus gave an alternative to the Jewish list of cleansing rituals and other regulations). Unlike the combative encounters Jesus had with other Pharisees, the one with Nicodemus was tame. There's no indication Jesus asked Nicodemus to make a decision to follow him at that time. But he did give the Pharisee something to think about. Later, when the Jews were spewing venomous words about Jesus, Nicodemus asked, "Does our law condemn anyone without first hearing him to find out what he is doing?" (John 7:51). Nicodemus was urging them to delay judgment, the very thing he seems to have been doing with Jesus. After the crucifixion of Jesus it was Nicodemus who accompanied Joseph of Arimathea in the preparation of Jesus' body for burial. Apparently, Nicodemus quit delaying a decision about Jesus and accepted him as the Jewish Messiah. He embraced the change Jesus offered. Forego Judgment and Process Information That delay was crucial because it allowed Nicodemus to further examine the words and works of Jesus. He was able to determine if his previous assumptions about how a man could be made right with God were valid. It's fascinating that in the face of unsurpassed social and religious pressure, Nicodemus was open to the possibility that he might be wrong. Instead of backing him into a corner Jesus gave him room to process--time to consider a viable alternative to his previously held assumptions Getting a hard-line opponent to be open to the possibility of another legitimate alternative is a major step in the direction of change. Instead of using the gunslinger approach, simply ask him or her to suspend their judgment. And indicate your willingness to suspend judgment yourself--after all, you may discover an approach superior to the one you preferred.  It's important to remember the issue here is not implementing a particular change, but creating an environment where people are comfortable with change--a setting where people see the benefit in challenging assumptions and the way things are done. In that kind of environment change will be dynamic and life giving.  Miracles and Mystery In the Grand Inquisitor section in The Brothers Karamazov,The Grand Inquisitor was mad at Christ, insisting he was just involved with miracles and mystery. Frankly, I've convinced the people you lead want to see more miracles and mystery. Perhaps the greatest miracles they'll behold will be the transformation in their thinking as they learn to question long held assumptions and open their minds to the mystery of change. Locking arms, Bill From "Awaken the Leader Within" by Bill Perkins bill@millionmightymen.com

Christianity 101: SIN

This blog is one of the hardest ones to write.  For one reason, in our culture it is becoming increasingly controversial to say that specific actions may not please God--that some of us may actually be living our lives in the "wrong" way.  For another reason, I personally have not yet achieved perfection (some of you are saying right now, "Big surprise.") and I still fail.

How would you define "sin"?  How would you explain to another person what the Christian view of sin? I know when I first think of this idea, I get all kinds of pictures in my head of actions that are wrong and all kinds of messages telling me in strong, condemning voices how bad they are.  Whether or not we agree with the idea of sin, I know that any one of us could easily come up with some kind of list of things that are considered to be sin.  I have a friend that though he is not Christian, challenges people he meets to be able to say all Ten Commandments.

I think that we have the idea of what sin is all backwards.  We view sins merely as actions that displease God.  We may even view these as His arbitrary rules designed to spoil all of our fun.  We even have websites like http://www.areyouagoodperson.org/ which are designed to make us feel guilty for letting God down because we could not live up to His standards.  Yet we fail to recognize that the Bible teaches us that even those of us who may be able to follow all the rules, can still live lives full of sins.  You can "do the right thing" and STILL fail!  Hold on a second, and I will clarify that last one in a bit.  First of all I am not trying to say that when the Bible calls lust a sin, it really isn't.  God clearly lays out in the Bible the things we can do to please Him, as well as which things we can do to displease Him.  But it really isn't about what things we can do or not do.

What sin really is about, is our relationship with God.  I can be a perfect person in following all the rules, and still be a "sinner" if following all the rules is about me being perfect.  I can have struggle with following the rules and be without sin, if my life is about following Jesus.  How else can Paul call himself the "chief of sinners" (1 Timothy 1:15-16) in the Bible when he also claims to have lived according to the strictest sense of following God (Acts 26:5)?  There is no doubt that Paul lived his life according to the rules.  But he missed the mark in the end, because following the rules became the end and not the means.  His righteousness became more important to him than God. It wasn't until he met Jesus that this was corrected and all of his efforts to please God finally became worth anything.

Let me say this another way, what we do or don't do does not have any significance if our actions are aimed at the wrong thing.  It is my relationship with Jesus that ultimately determines whether my actions are good or bad, sin or not.  In turn, it is also my relationship with Jesus that leads me to pursue the things that please God or not.  I obey what the Bible says God wants me to do simply out of my love for God.  I can't make Him love me by doing good things, any more than I can lose His love for me by doing bad things.  I can be a good person all my life, doing good things and making a difference in people's lives.  But without a relationship with Jesus those things lose their significance for me when I die.  But, when I do them out of my love for Jesus first, all of the good I do in my life carries its significance with me--because their significance is found in Jesus.

For example, I can "do a good thing" and donate above and beyond the Biblically mandated 10% (tithe) of my income.  Say I even go to the point where I donate 30% of my income to the church, where it will do lots of good and change lives all over my neighborhood and on into the world.  Yet say my motivation is the tax write off.  While you might cite the good achieved by my action, can you really call it a good act?  No, I am being motivated by how it benefits me.  In fact, you could say that the amount really doesn't determine its worth.  We could easily agree that a millionaire's $10,000 donation this week is no more or less valuable than an average person's $10--though $10k would do much more good than $10.  I might even go as far as to say that the percentage itself does not really matter.  But the heart does.

But I also said that the actions that we do still matter.  And they do.  It matters that God has told us through the Bible that we should remain faithful to our spouse.  But more important is that I have a relationship with God.  For me, it is much easier to follow God's commands when the goal is showing Him that I love Him, than it is to follow His commands out of a desire to be good, or righteous.  Without a love for God it is much easier for me to agree with "Good girls rarely make history" (Marilyn Monroe).  Without a love for God it is easy for me to view tithing (giving my 10% to the church) as a loss.  But because of my love for God, and especially because of His love for me, everything changes!

In closing, I have to say that sin is not an issue of actions.  Sin is an issue of whether or not we love Jesus.  Our actions have little merit or bearing compared to the significance they have when we live in the love of God.

Christianity 101: WORSHIP

Have you ever wondered what the deal about "worship" is?  I have heard many things from Christians over the years, and have been continually surprised at how we seem to have so many different definitions for it.  Basically, I guess I have never heard it defined wrong.  Or that is to say, what I have heard is always a part of worship, but not the whole of it.  Before I go on, take a moment and think for yourself what worship is.  How would you define or explain it to someone who asked you what it was.
(If this were a worksheet, I'd have you fill in your answer here: _______ maybe you'd be willing to put your original definition in the comments?)

Worship is simply working out your relationship with God in everyday life.  Most commonly we use it to refer to the Sunday morning church service, or more specifically in evangelical churches we use it to refer to the singing part of the worship service.  In scripture however, worship refers to any act used to specifically connect with God, usually the offering of sacrifices, petitions, and praises to God.

¹Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual^[a] act of worship. (Romans 12:1)

 We are urged by Paul in this passage to offer our whole lives up to God in an act of worship, in other words can we say that we are being called to work out our relationship with God in every area of our lives?  How awesome and scary a thought that is!

Think about your personal definition of what worship was.  I hope I am right in believing that it described a way or some of the ways that we already think of worshiping God.  Because we are correct when we call the singing part of the service worship.  In fact, one of the great things about singing is that songs offer us a chance to practice ways of talking about and speaking to God, as well as giving us memorable ideas to hold on to in the various areas of our lives.  We are also correct in calling the whole service an act of worship (everything that we do in church hopefully connects us with God, if not we either need to adjust how we approach it or have a serious heart to heart with our pastors).

Yet, its not enough to connect with God only at church.  It is so important that we extend our worship beyond the four walls of the church!  The following was said by one of the most influential persons of the last century who wasn't Christian, and I wonder if you can see how it applies to the simple definition of worship that I gave above:

"If all Christians acted like Christ, the whole world would be Christian."  -Mahatma Gandhi

 Lets have that definition of worship again: Worship is simply working out your relationship with God in everyday life.  What then are some "non-standard" things we can call worship?  Where, with whom, and how I bank?  What kind of coffee I buy?  How I treat my friends (or enemies)?  How I drive?  What else can you think of?  I have found that as I think about what I do as a way of worshiping God, then I start to look at what I am doing in a different way.  For example, if I found out that my bank was investing my money in porn, drugs, or environmentally damaging companies then I might decide that that was not a good way to worship God and in order to use my bank to "worship" God I would have to change it.  Or, I might even decide that how I raise my kids was a great way to worship God.

In view of all that, if you have time, lets turn to a worship song and think of the lyrics being sung in light of our simple definition of worship.

Christianity 101: PRIMER

This marks the first in a series of blogs aimed to discuss the things we do as followers of Christ.  My goal is to take things down to brass tacks and succinctly describe different aspects of our faith and perhaps how then do we live those out in our lives.

Our problem as Christians is that I think we make things too complicated and then lose sight of their purpose.  For instance, why do we sing songs in church and call that part "worship"?  Why do we meet on Sunday mornings?  What is a tithe?  What is communion?  Baptism?  What are spiritual disciplines (sounds like going to the principal's office) and why should we "fear the Lord" (I thought God wanted us to love him...)?

What I am not saying is that a complex and well nuanced faith is not to be desired.  On the contrary, our faith should be very nuanced, complex, and integrated into our lives.  Our lives are complex and messy and we need a faith able to handle that.  I also am not suggesting a one-size fits all understanding of the parts of our faith.  If I give an explanation of something that doesn't exactly include something that you have experienced and feel is appropriate, then it may well be.

Someone once told me that all we need to know to share our faith is, "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so."  I love that, for the reason that we tend to think that we need years of study before we can tell someone about our faith.  The truth is that all we need to know is that (and how) Jesus loves us, and we have an authority (the Bible) to go to in order to help prove that.  Now, would a class in the topic help? Yes!  Would role playing help? Yes!  Would developing a complex and nuanced understanding of how to talk to people about Jesus help? Probably.  But the fundamental part of this is that all I need to know is that Jesus loves me--all the rest is beneficial.

Bottom line: this series of posts will hopefully help me to be able to describe the purpose of the things we do and believe as Christians simply and concretely.  Hopefully it will help you to, if you are a newbie that needs to understand what's been going on or as reminder to you seasoned veterans.

One more thing, if you have questions or ideas for something you'd like explained please feel free to email me or post comments.  Also, if you want to push back and start a discussion please feel free to do so as well!