Accidental Pastor

I don’t usually discuss politics in any way, either in Next-Wave or on my journal. I find that like religion, political discussions can be very divisive. However, I want to go on record with a political prediction, just so I can look back and say I told you so 11 months or so from now! Here we go:

1. I predict that Barack Obama will not be the next president of the United States.

2. I predict that the next president of the United States will not be a Republican.

3. I predict that the Republican nominee will not be a Mormon.

Here are my reasons:

Cultural change comes slow and in an incremental way. For Barack Obama to be the next president we will have to overcome a number of historical firsts. First freshman Senator to be elected President. in the post-television era (read 1950 to present). First black man to be elected President. It is more likely that we will elect the first woman president, than the first black president.

In times of slow economic growth or recession, the party in power nearly always loses the presidency. It is pretty clear that 2008 is going to be a very difficult year economically. The Republicans have had eight years to address these issues and they are not finishing well, at least that will be the perception.

Check back with me on Thanksgiving Day and we will see how I did.

I don’t have much faith in the conventional wisdom. When the entire crowd is proclaiming some sort of "truth" my hackles begin to rise and I tend to question their view. I guess it is the same for me with science. I don’t have much faith in science.

I was watching a documentary the other night talking about the progenitor of the Big Bang Theory. He was a catholic priest, mathematician who extrapolated the tenets of Einstein’s theories and posited that if the universe is expanding that at some point it must have been smaller. From this came the "cosmic egg" and the big bang idea. Uh, that seems like an interesting theory and certainly is the result of some deep thinking. But I’ll tell you what, I am going to wait and see about the whole thing.

At one point in history a fellow named Galileo pointed out that the earth was not the center of the universe. That got him excommunicated, but we have pretty much been able to ascertain that he was right.

Okay, I said all of this just to say, Global Warming, huh? It snowed in Daytona Beach, Florida this week. I hate it when it gets that warm!

I like to read the news. As I scanned my daily LA Times email I came across this article, Larry Flynt: My friend, Jerry Falwell.

Rev. Falwell is a polarizing figure, no doubt. There are times when statements he has made have been an embarrassment. Reading Flynt’s article though, I saw a different, non-public side of the political pastor, Jerry Falwell, friend of sinners.

Flynt concludes:

 "I’ll never admire him for his views or his opinions. To this day, I’m not sure if his television embrace was meant to mend fences, to show himself to the public as a generous and forgiving preacher or merely to make me uneasy, but the ultimate result was one I never expected and was just as shocking a turn to me as was winning that famous Supreme Court case: We became friends."

From the New York times obituary of Rev. Jerry Falwell:

But, at his core, he remained through his career what he was at the beginning: a preacher and moralist, a believer in the Bible’s literal truth, with convictions about religious and social issues rooted in his reading of Scripture.

So there was no distinction at all between his view of the political and the spiritual. “We are born into a war zone where the forces of God do battle with the forces of evil,” he wrote in his autobiography. “Sometimes we get trapped, pinned down in the crossfire. And in the heat of that noisy, distracting battle, two voices call out for us to follow. Satan wants to lead us into death. God wants to lead us into life eternal.”

I was reading eric keck’s excellent post about last night’s charity fundraiser sponsored by American Idol. He writes:

doing the stuff… without any explaination… other than the obvious social justice…  (which was implicit and not delved into… but rightly so… a talent search show isn’t necessarily the platform or the motive.)

$30,000,000 for the poor… amazing in ONE night.  i was saddened to watch as i realized that money is a beautiful band-aid

I confess. I am an American Idol fan. I really liked Carrie Underwood, and I thought Taylor Hicks was the right choice last year. And yes, I like Reuben, Fantasia, Clay and Kelly Clarkson.

It just felt odd to hear Ryan Seacrest and Simon Cowell walking and talking in what I am sure were well-scripted scense through the poverty-stricken conditions in Africa, expressing compassion and really, abhorrence of what they were seeing. And then the videos of poverty-stricken American kids that are going to be helped by the money raised.

Here is what I was thinking: Where is the Church of Jesus Christ? I was wondering what would happen if we spent half as much on marketing, the production of weekend services and facilities and took the surplus money and poured it into attacking the roots of spiritual darkness at the tactical level. Attacking poverty with education and compassion and job training and financial initiatives. Attacking homelessness with clinics and housing and relationship. Attacking hunger and thirst with food and drink. Attacking violence with love. And fatherlessness with the love of the Heavenly Father. Maybe then we wouldn’t celebrate our efforts with a song that proclaims the absence of God and religion and we could imagine just a little bit what the kingdom of God might be like.

Ah well, I am pretty sure that wouldn’t meet my needs. I wonder if the worship leader is going to do my favorite songs this weekend.

Bad things happen, and from time to time, they happen on college campuses. In Nov. 99, twelve students died in the collapse of a bonfire on the campus of Texas A&M. At the time, I was struck by this tragedy. I wrote:

When tragedy strikes, people of faith are called upon to respond to tough questions. "God, why do bad things happen to good people?" One thing that can be certain is that the Christian God is a suffering God. Many times in the ministry of Jesus, He was moved by compassion. (See the gospel of Matthew, Chapter 9, verse 36). In our tragedies and sorrows, God suffers along with us….until that day when…"He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." Rev. 21:4.

Eric Stanford contributed a great article to a special report we published at the time, in it he wrote:

There’s nothing like the sudden death of the young to punch a hole in our papier-mâché "reality."

* In a world where medical advances are announced daily and life expectancy is stretching like a rubber band . . .
* In a world where the economy has been so strong for so long that it’s calling into question the very idea of "economic cycles" . . .
* In a world where we have more ways to distract ourselves (Discman, Nintendo, satellite TV, on and on) than ever before . . .
* In that sort of a world, we can easily become insulated from what’s really real. The padding muffles the sounds, softens the edges. We are anesthetized.

Life is for real. This is the real thing. People don’t always get that, anymore. And then the young die suddenly.

These are some of the thoughts swirling around in the aftermath of yesterday’s tragic shooting on the campus of Virginia Tech University. The media is demanding the answers to other questions: Can gun control prevent this kind of violence? Are campus officials to blame for not issuing an earlier warning?

I am reminded that all around the world, particularly in war zones, mass casualties are happening every day. People died on our nation’s highways over the weekends (this happens week in and week out in America). Storms and flooding claimed lives in the last few days.

I have no answers. Just a sadness and a desire for God’s kingdom to come, on earth, as it is in heaven.

It is an interesting time of year for the above entitled article, but leave it to the Los Angeles Times. It seems as though this apologetic for atheism holds it out as just another form of belief, or religion, if you will.One interesting note, it seems that atheism would keep a presidential candidate from being elected, at least, as things now stand.

This post by one of the folks who visited Next-Wave from the "slicers" is just too good not to mention. What a great, biblical approach to what we should do in the face of serious sin in our leaders. Nice work, Rick. From the post:
"First. We should never discuss a man's sins publicly. We who confront doctrinal departures must be careful not to mesh a brother's sins in the same boat. Just in the last several months the secular world was astounded by the forgiveness shown by the Amish community in the face of the murder of some of their very children, and now we go on "lost TV" and discuss the sin's of a brother in Christ as if the world has a say. The world has no part of us, this brother should be dealt with by the elder body and by the Lord himself, not Larry King (et. al.)."

Several years ago I sat in a pastor’s meeting as the regional overseer made the announcement. A prominent pastor had resigned his position in one of the leading churches in our association. “He resigned because of sin in his life: pornography, misuse of alcohol and prescription drugs. There have been allegations of improper use of church funds.” [It later turned out that nearly every one of these allegations was untrue, and blown out of proportion]
The announcement went on as I thought about the public confession of this man’s sins. “What if other people knew about the secret sins in my life,” I thought. "If my personal struggles became public knowledge would I be judged any more fit than the brother who was the subject of the meeting?" In the harsh light of my own self-examination, I found myself wanting.
I thought: “If they knew me, really knew me, they wouldn’t let me pastor.”
Questions and answers and comments flew around the room. I sensed an undertone of anger and judgment. I felt a personal sense of shame as I heard the leader say: “Now, if any of you are struggling with these kinds of issues, tell us so we can help you.” “Yeah,” I thought, “Help you out of the ministry!”
Now it seems clear that Ted Haggard was struggling with serious "temptation." Unfortunately, it is also clear that he had no one who could share his private struggle and help him carry his burden. Now an opportunist who is attempting to make a political point has accused him. Another sad chapter that points out the reality that even the most visible, and strongest of leaders may have feet of clay.
But here's my question. While others may gloat, who among us is without sin? Who among us is righteous enough to cast the first stone of condemnation? Whatever our politics may be, whatever our theological inclinations, I pray that mercy would triumph over judgment and that devastation in this situation might be minimized.