¡Viva la Vida!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is our SIXTH Thanksgiving living out of the USA. It doesn't affect us too much, as we aren't surrounded by the images of a turkey, pilgrims, etc since it's not celebrated outside of the US, but we do miss the time with our families and friends, enjoying a good meal, and giving thanks to God for His blessings in our lives.
Tomorrow we are driving North to Texas to meet up with my parents (Jan speaking here) for the weekend. I am really excited to be away and to find some good turkey, gravy, dressing, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie.
May your day be full of blessings as you enjoy time with special people and remember that we give thanks to God for YOU, the people in our lives who have held us up and been with us through this incredible journey.

How Christians can "win" the Culture Wars in the U.S.

(1)  It's not about "winning" or "losing"!  Is anyone even asking if we've been called to participate in a culture war (more like a pissing match, it looks to me) in the first place??  We should be counter-cultural revolutionaries - surrendered to Jesus Christ and dying to self.  But what about standing up for what's right in our society?  I think it's about being faithful to the "Micah Mandate" which sums it up so nicely:  "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.  (Micah 6:8).  This, of course, opens up the questions of "What is good?  What is acting justly or loving mercy?"  For that, I don't have any easy, simplistic answers but, to be sure, God does.  The bottom line for me is that I don't think the way we're (American Christians) managing/fighting/participating in the "cultural wars" is glorifying Him as much as it's propping up a domesticated, powerless American civil religion.

 
(2)  Stop calling ourselves "Christians."  That word has lost most of its meaning.  And you Charismatics should stay away from using "born-again," and "spirit- filled" - it just weirds people out and makes you look arrogant.  In most of Latin America we say "evangélico" but "Evangelical Christian" has negative connotations in the U.S. (this is a rebuke to us in and of itself).  How about "Disciple of Jesus" (but maybe this is too individualistic, and also a denomination has robbed us of that term), or "Follower of Jesus" or heck even "Jesus Freak" works for me.  Any other suggestions?

(3)  Stop putting our hope in politics.  The Christian right is the Christian wrong and the Christian left is not right.  Got that?  You cool-goateed-Starbucks-sipping emergents who think Obama's the spotless saviour of mankind are just as guilty as the Bush-Can-Walk-On-Water evangelicals!  Whenever religion and politics get mixed together we either get suicide bombers or a watered-down domesticated civil religion.  Evangelicalism was in many ways tamed by the Republican Party and became America's civil religion.  It's time to become revolutionaries again.  Study church history from the time of Roman Emperor Constantine and you'll see how submitted a "Christian state" is to a Holy God. 

(4)  Remember that our primary citizenship is in God's Kingdom.  Ok I want this point to burn a hole in your mind!  You are firstly citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven and then citizens of the United States of America.  Read that last sentence ten times.  And about that U.S. flag in your church sanctuary... either take it down or put the flags of other nations there as well.  One church I went to gets this and even had a North Korean flag in its sanctuary with many others - I love it!  Your God is Holy - He will not share his "sanctuary" (from the Latin "sanctus" - HOLY) with other "gods" - and He is Lord of the Nations so why not reflect that with many flags?  One really begins to understand this when one has spent considerable time outside the U.S. with their brothers and sisters in Christ of other cultures and languages. 

(5)  Start taking the weapons of our warfare seriously.  The apostle Paul told us clearly about how we are to fight.  And yes, you emergents, we are to fight - don't throw out the military metaphors.  It's not about just sitting around sipping our expensive shade-grown coffee and tapping away on our iMacs and "conversing."  That's great but there's more:  we've been called to FIGHT and to WAGE WAR.  It's time to stop just talking about prayer and intercession and DO IT!  We've got to ask God for a strategy of prayer.  And that Third Person of the Trinity's pretty important - involve the Holy Spirit!

(6)  Remove those silly Christian bumper stickers and stop wearing those silly Christian t-shirts.  In short, dump the Jesus junk!  Do you realize how we've sold out a Holy Jesus to marketing?  The pagans mock us for this probably more than anything - we're a laughingstock.  Seriously.  Walk into any Christian bookstore and, if you have eyes to see, you'll know what I'm talking about.  Do we really need Christian breath mints or Chrstian evangelistic flip flops or any other of this "Jesus junk"???!  Here's a good question:  WWJDIHWIACB?  "What Would Jesus Do If He Walked Into A Christian Bookstore?"  I personally think He'd turn the place upside down.  So, brothers and sisters, let's quit wearing our faith on our sleeve and let's stop trivializing a Holy God with cute, modern marketing and sales. 

I'm sure there are many more points.  Now I throw open the comments for one and all!

AFA's Christmas Cross - WHAT were they thinking?!

The American Family Association, an evangelical ministry to families, has unveiled it's "Christmas Cross" for sale on its website.  From the website:

Let Your "Light" Shine For Christ This Christmas Season!

Looking for an effective way to express your Christian faith this Christmas season to honor our Lord Jesus? Now you can.... with the "Original Christmas Cross" yard decoration.

 

Light up your front yard, porch, patio, driveway, business, organization or church this holiday season with a stunning Christmas cross.

This beautiful Christmas Cross is 5.5 feet tall, with 210 individual ultra bright lights. SHIPPING IS INCLUDED!

* * * * * * * *
I mean, REALLY!  Do they just not think these things through??? 

God in the Alcove...Friday morning thoughts...

They saw they had to draw the line
So they sent him far away
So they sent him far away
To a little alcove
To a little alcove
All alone

He's a God, a God

Now I am silly
Now I am silly
Silly, silly, silly, silly
Silly

    - Bauhaus, "God in an Alcove"

"The church in our generation needs reformation, revival, and constructive revolution.
At times men think of the two words, reformation and revival, as standing in contrast one to the other, but this is a mistake.  Both words are related to the word restore.
Reformation refers to a restoration to pure doctrine; revival refers to a restoration in the Christian's life.  Reformation speaks of a return to the teachings of Scripture; revival speaks of a life brought into its proper relationship to the Holy Spirit.
The great moments of church history have come when these two restorations have simultaneously come into action so that the church has returned to pure doctrine and the lives of the Christians in the church have known the power of the Holy Spirit.  There cannot be true revival unless there has been reformation; and reformation is not complete without revival.
Such a combination of reformation and revival would be revolutionary in our day - revolutionary in our individual lives as Christians, revolutionary not only in reference to the liberal church but constructively revolutionary in the evangelical, orthodox church as well.
May we be those who know the reality of both reformation and revival so that this poor dark world may have an exhibition of a portion of the church returned to both pure doctrine and Spirit-filled life."

    - Dr. Francis A. Schaeffer, Death in the City

Día de la Revolución 2008

This year's parade was special because Jackson got to be the "general" which means he had the responsibility to give all the orders to "turn left", "halt", etc.  He wasn't feeling too well last night or this morning, but we made him go anyway because of his important job - only to learn after the parade that he has chicken pox!

Last night we did an evangelistic outreach in support of a new mission church in Salinas, and, after passing out invitations throughout the colonia, the crowd that turned out was composed mostly of children age 10 and under.  It made me think of Jesus and how he related to children - when he rebuked his disciples for trying to keep the little ones away from him and even said, "unless you become like a little child you cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven."       

Congratulations, Mr. President-Elect

We want to officially extend our congratulations to Senator Barack Obama as our next president.  With the election of the first minority president, the United States has passed a crucial milestone in its history.  Imagine, only a hundred years ago the very first black man was ever invited to even visit the White House (Booker T. Washington was invited by President Teddy Roosevelt) and that created quite an uproar.  And now, just over a century later, a man of color occupies the most powerful office in our land.  Whether one agrees with Mr. Obama's politics or not, we should all agree that this is indeed an important event in our shared history.

The First & Only Taco Bell in all of Mexico!

November's a very busy month for us as we're hosting 5 teams, but I (Greg) still had time to take my student leaders out to the first and still only Taco Bell restaurant in Mexico.  Their reaction to the cuisine - Mexican food as interpreted by the American fast food industry - was interesting to say the least.  They politely tolerated it...not sure they enjoyed it as much as I did!  But it was their first time so I'm willing to give them a break.