Hijacked Agendas

I’ve attended a meeting or two in my life in which the presiding person’s agenda was hijacked by an issue, a person with his own agenda, or what I will just politely call “forces of nature.” Depending on how important I viewed the agenda to be, those kind of meetings can be extraordinarily frustrating.

Occasionally, something similar happens in class. A student’s question might derail the best plans for class on any given day. Such moments can be good or bad – but the simple reality is that when agendas are hijacked, they are most often ignored. 

We have watched more than a few big corporations get derailed for a while by a poorly stated comment on something not related to the corporation’s business. The House committee on Benghazi – without any political opinions expressed here! – has been derailed a bit by an ill-timed comment from the want-to-be Speaker of the House, whose own goal was derailed by that same comment. 

Those kinds of realities have me wondering if sometimes the church doesn’t let our culture hijack our agenda. William Willimon, in his book, Pastor: The Theology and Practice of Ordained Ministry, notes, “Modernity has conditioned us to think that we are privileged to live at the very summit of human development, from which we look down with condescension upon everyone who arrived here before us. The Christian reading of Scripture is thus countercultural, provocative, strange . . . A major task of pastors is to assist congregations in reading carefully in order to align ourselves to a text, in order to submit and bend ourselves to the complex redescription of reality that is Scripture.” (pp. 111, 112) 

I love the phrase “the complex redescription of reality that is Scripture.” That seems like Scripture has an agenda – and I’m wondering if we don’t sometimes allow cultural issues to hijack that agenda in ways that leave us sounding more like the world and less like the kingdom.

Let me explain.

According to The National Health Interview Survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fewer than 3% of respondents self-identified as gay, lesbian, or bisexual. In that same survey, 96.6% of respondents self-identified as straight. This study was first done in 1957, but the figures above are from the 2013 survey, for which 33,557 adults between the age of 18 and 64 were interviewed, face-to-face, with follow-up telephone questions. 

There’s a side of me that wants to point out that if every single gay, lesbian, or bisexual person in the United States got married, it would be a very small percentage of our population – with little likelihood of having a huge cultural impact. Except, that is, for the fact that the media, on the one hand, and many Christian groups opposed to same-sex marriage, on the other, have elevated the issue far above its “3% range.”

To be clear, if there were only one gay person in the entire universe, I would hope that the church would find a way to be like Jesus to him or her. So I am not being dismissive of gay people because they constitute a smaller portion of the world’s population. I am, however, wondering if we haven’t allowed our kingdom agenda to be hijacked.

Yet the U.S. Census Bureau reports that the poverty rate in the United States is 14.8% in 2014 – that’s 46.7 million people. 21.1% of children under the age of 18 live in poverty. Statistically speaking, the average local church is much more likely to have people in poverty within their reach than they are to have same-sex couples in their congregations who to get married.

In 2013, 1.57 million inmates sat behind bars in federal, state, and county prisons and jails. In federal prisons, more than half of the population sentenced to a year or longer is imprisoned for drug crimes. Some studies suggest that the number is actually closer to 2.4 million, when people who pass in and out of county jails for less than a year are factored into the equation. Black men are six times more likely than white men to end up in prison; Hispanic men are 2.4 times more likely. The Sentencing Project, the source of these numbers, says that 1 in 31 Americans are under U.S. corrections custody, either through parole, probation, or incarceration. One in three of us has a criminal record.

Statistically speaking, the average local church has a much greater opportunity to speak out about justice – and injustice – in this area, and could do much more to help our culture move in the right direction, than we will ever accomplish through concerns about same-sex marriage. Yet evangelical Christians, at least, are more often interested in “three strikes” laws being enforced than we are in justice.

Numbers about sex trafficking vary greatly, depending on the source. The U.S. State Department, in 2005, estimated that somewhere between 600,000 and 800,000 people are trafficked across international boundaries each year. That same study said that up to 17,500 people were trafficked in the United States. Other agencies report much higher numbers (UNICEF used the number one million in 2000), and it seems that it is impossible to know reliably the extent of this horrific mark on our world. Are we talking about this issue in the same way we do same-sex marriage, homosexuality, and related topics?

Or what about creation care? Should kingdom people give this issue to groups like Green Peace and the EPA, when our own Scriptures tell us that God declared His creation to be “very good” (Genesis 1, 2)? We can’t forget that Christ came “to reconcile all things to himself” – things on earth or in heaven (Col. 1:20). Paul declares in Romans that creation itself longs for the appearing of the children of God (Romans 8:18-25). Those most impacted by a lack of creation care – polluted water, for example – are typically the poor:  the very people Jesus is referring to when he says that when we give them a cup of water, it is as though we have given it to him. (Matthew 25:31-46)

I can’t imagine that more innocent children will be impacted by the decision of the Supreme Court to redefine marriage – as unbiblical as I think their decision is – than will die today because of dirty water. 

In their book Church Refugees, Josh Packard and Ashleigh Hope describe people they call “dones.” They are “done” with church. It is an interesting study to read for any of us who are interested in reclaiming our kingdom agenda. Here is one of their interesting summary statements: “Our respondents didn’t necessarily disagree with conservative church views of homosexuality, but they found the issue to be relatively minor compared to the amount of division and distraction it created.” (p. 105)

I want to be a person who learns how to discover and live in “the complex redescription of reality that is Scripture.” I want to lead and influence those around me to do the same thing. I know that this “complex redescription of reality” includes being faithful to God’s word – even in those areas like the whole same-sex marriage issue. But I don’t think it includes letting that issue – or any issue for that matter – distract us from issues that most often have greater potential to impact our communities than same-sex marriage does. 

The Bible, when faithfully read and studied, can make us very uncomfortable. It creates a world different than the one we experience daily. Yet it is the very world that the Bible creates that reminds us of Eden, and those walks with God in the cool of the evening. It is that very world that convinces us that heaven really can overlap earth, as N.T. Wright likes to say. It is that world that reminds me daily of my own failures, while at the same time reminding me that in Christ, I have become a new creation, welcome to live in that new world.

The kingdom agenda seems to be that no matter who I am or what I have done, there is an invitation to a new and better way of living. To use Willimon’s language, that is “countercultural, provocative, strange.” We can’t let any issue – including same-sex marriage – hijack that message. The gospel is rooted in loving God and loving neighbor – and it’s a shame that sometimes it isn’t believers who do the best in modeling that message.

 

Kelly Gissendaner: One More Post

“I'm currently sitting in the beautiful sanctuary of First United Methodist Church in Newnan. A concert on their magnificent pipe organ awaits. The stained glass windows stunningly portray Jesus, the one who came to bring redeeming forgiveness to all who come to Him. How sad that the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole seems convinced that justice eliminates mercy and refused to commute the death sentence of Kelly Gissendaner. Equally sad is how many elected officials in the state government and especially the judiciary will brag about how tough they are on crime because of this. Perhaps their politics will allow that. It doesn't seem to be how Jesus behaved or thought - and neither should His followers. The stained glass windows around me weep tears of sadness. Jesus would gather us as a hen gathers her chicks but we refuse to come. And He too weeps.”

I wrote those words last night after seeing on a news feed that that the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole would not commute Kelly Gissendaner’s death sentence to life in prison. I posted them on Facebook and there were lots of “likes.” It was encouraging to see so many Christian people agreeing that the State of Georgia really dropped the ball in this situation. 

One person did object to what I wrote, but his argument was so specious that I will only say by the logic expressed in that disagreement, Christians should be fine with abortion because after all the dead babies are with Jesus; and you might as well go ahead and approve of euthanasia, at least for Christians who are old and sick because they will be with Jesus also. And forget persecuted and often murdered Christians in places like Syria and the Middle East – ISIS is sending them straight to Jesus also. 

His objections reflect a kind of patriotism that places faith under the state flag of Georgia and the stars and stripes of the United States. Yet when confronted with a similar issue before Pilate, Jesus was quick to say “my kingdom is not of this world” and when Pilate asked him “Are you king of the Jews?” he replied “You say that I AM King.” (John 18:36ff) He is King - but not of this world. Thinking that some act of the state is acceptable because the state says it is, while it stands in brutal contrast to core values of the kingdom of God, can only mean that our pledge of allegiance to our nation will always trump our confession of faith that Jesus is Christ. That’s simply not orthodox faith.

So why do I think “He too weeps” in response to the murder of Kelly Gissindaner? I’m so glad you asked!

First, by the same argument that I would use to suggest abortion is morally wrong, one is put in a difficult position as a follower of Jesus in thinking the death penalty is “of God.” Forget about all the little proof texts anti-abortion people use to show opposition to abortion (they aren’t really about abortion). Scripture opposes abortion because it creates an image of life where God alone is the author, giver, and sustainer of life and abortion violates that image. 

I understand that sometimes godly law enforcement people and godly soldiers and godly civilians are put in places where lives are taken.  I’ve never met a truly godly person in that circumstance who was happy about that. But I understand it happens. In this particular case, the state had multiple options other than lethal injection. Why unnecessarily violate the premise that God alone is the author, giver, and sustainer of life?

Of course the state doesn’t have to follow God in the way that I do as a believer. So the question really is why do Christian people find themselves lining up to vote for politicians who are interested in notches on the belt of “hard on crime” rather than interested in the idea of mercy?

Second, forgiveness is a big deal to anyone who follows Jesus.  By the standards of those who preach a kind of “she did the crime, she has to die” message, the apostle Paul would have been put to death before he wrote the first word of what would become nearly one-half of the New Testament and the impact of his work as a missionary would never have come about.

No one, including Kelly Gissendaner herself, was denying that what she did was a heinous act and deserving of punishment. While I didn’t see one person suggest that her conversion was nothing more than “jail house faith,” I did see lots of women prisoners and former prisoners who spoke of her genuineness as a believer and how much she had helped them.

Just think pragmatically for a moment. Go check out the recidivism rate for prisoners in Georgia. It’s horrendous. Go check out the overcrowding of Georgia prisons – in part because of recidivism. Forget the gospel, faith, forgiveness and all that silly stuff – wouldn’t it just make good sense to keep a women like this alive and functioning inside the prisons of our state? 

Third, the use of plea arrangements by the court system in Georgia as well as other places in the United States has become a “let me get another notch on my belt” by prosecutors more interested in their next election than any sense of justice, mercy, or human decency. Kelly Gissindaner, for reasons I don’t know, took the risk of going to trial. The realization that the person who actually committed the murder was given a sentence with the possibility of parole and she was given the death penalty once convicted by a jury should cause any decent, justice-loving person pause. Is that really where we want to be as a country?

The whole plea bargain approach eliminates the long-cherished American ideal of “innocent until proven guilty.” The behavior of government and courts in Germany in the years leading up to and including the Hitler years of terror sound awfully similar sometimes. To suggest that because she went to court and lost it is wrong to show mercy is not only un-American, far more importantly it is un-Christian. When the state can threaten you with dire options if you to plead out – you can be sure that the idea of justice is but a shrinking memory of a day long since passed.

This isn’t just about Kelly Gissendaner – though if it were that would be adequate reason to be disturbed.  Rather it is ultimately about the danger of the church – followers of Jesus – going to bed with any government, including our own, that will tempt us to salute flags before we kneel at the cross. My initial blog on this situation suggested that it was the result of Sadducees who were comfortable going to bed with Rome and Pharisees who thought it was all about tradition and rules that Jesus was crucified.

I still think I’m right about that and determined that I won’t yield to the temptation to be like them. Every morning I get up and walk around three miles before leaving for work. On that walk I pass a house where there are all sorts of “look at me, I’m a Christian” indicators. Oddly, there is a flag pole on which hangs a US flag and a Georgia flag.  Much lower, underneath those two flags, there is a Christian flag. The image of subservience can’t be missed.

God forgive me if I ever get to the place where I think Georgia law is more important than the grace and mercy of Jesus.

Sobering Reality

Early Sunday morning (20 September 2015) we heard the news that our good friend, colleague in ministry, and fellow alumnus of Point University, Joey Mullins, died during the night. In some ways it was not all that surprising, given the kind of cancer he had been fighting against; but in other ways utterly shocking because Joey put forth such a great, Christ-like attitude in the battle that you just assumed he would win. Should I ever face such a moment, I pray that I would be as strong as he has been. 

Of course in real terms he did win – but in more temporal terms that awful disease called cancer won. For Diane, he three sons Brandon, Jason and John, and daughters-in-law, grandchildren, brothers and sisters and a ton of friends there is that vacant spot in life once filled with a godly follower of Jesus. 

Vicki knew Joey longer than I did since they grew up together at Central Christian Church in St. Petersburg, Florida where Joey’s father and Vicki’s father were elders and worked with Curt Hess to build a great church in St. Petersburg. When he came to Atlanta Christian College a year behind us, he and I became friends in a kind of friendship that would last a life time. We were actually friends before Vicki and I ever had our first date – but that friendship was so strong for both of us that Joey was a groomsman in our wedding.

Joey and I were on a “youth team” as they were called back then, along with other friends our junior year in college and had lots of fun travelling all over the southeast. When Vicki and I graduated, we both went to graduate school in Cincinnati and a year later, Joey and Diane moved to Ohio and Joey preached at a church not too far from Cincinnati and enrolled in grad school as well. Vicki, Joey, and I often met at Stake-n-Shake for “ACC Alumni” meetings in the shadow of “THE seminary” as they saw themselves!

Our lives took different paths, but both in ministry. Joey served a church in Florida, and then in Bremen, Georgia. He was, in no uncertain terms, a very fine student of Scripture and a very good preacher. No church he served ever realized what a great person they had chosen as their preacher. While he was at Bremen, our paths crossed again because we both cared deeply about Woodland Christian Camp. Joey was born to be a camp leader and his presence at Woodland made my being a program director a piece of cake! I don’t know how many years we worked together at Woodland, but every time I was with him I was reminded of the blessing of a good friend.

Joey eventually became a leader in a group focused on better child care for poverty stricken children in Georgia. My youngest daughter, Bethany, worked with that organization for a while. He was greatly respected by his colleagues and his passion for being Jesus to children caught in the most difficult of circumstances was amazing.

Even though he didn’t spend the last part of his life in a local church as a preacher, folks at Bethany Christian Church in Carrollton where his brother-in-law Alan Howard was the preacher and later at First Christian Church in Carrollton were blessed by his ministry. He believed in the local church and was committed to sharing in its ministry.

During this extended period of battling with cancer, Joey wrote and posted some amazing blogs on a website called Caring Bridge. I – along with Vicki – followed those posts religiously. Back in the spring I talked with him about speaking for a class I facilitate at Point called “Healthy Congregations.” I wanted him to come and talk to the young men and women in the class – future kingdom leaders – about how to minister to critically ill people. In that conversation Joey told me he was putting those posts into book form and that the book would be published. The title of the book is Hezekiah’s Maple: One Man’s Journey with Cancer and Hope. It is available on Amazon.com. He was excited about coming to my class – and I was excited about what he could say to my students. I will have to purchase them a copy of the book – it is too important a subject to ignore.

Joey was just a year younger than I am. It isn’t all that unusual to see people in our age category to be listed alphabetically in the metro section of the AJC under the heading “Obituaries.” Yet it is still a sobering reality to think that such a good friend, a colleague in ministry, and just all around great guy is no longer among us.

I’ve been praying for Joey’s healing since the first day I learned of his cancer diagnosis. We saw him and Diane at the Cancer Treatment Center of America in Newnan several times – on one occasion delivering a Point University baseball cap he wanted.  Vicki regularly sent cards and notes – including the “40 cent” reminder of a childhood joke. Since early Sunday morning, I’ve been praying for Diane, her boys and their families, and so many people who have this idea that someone important is missing and no longer among us. I think about all the families served by Georgia Family Connection Partnership. They have lost a great advocate. I think about all the kids yet to come to Woodland Christian Camp who won’t get to experience a week of camp with him.

All of that is deeply saddening. But I also must think of our great promise of a day coming when the kingdom Christ inaugurated and in which Joey faithfully served will be fully consummated and the children of God will be fully revealed. Paul says that so great is that hope that even creation itself longs for it (Romans 8:18-25). Joey now knows that text better than I – but I suspect he might think creation at Woodland is on the verge of shouting about God’s glory, knowing that among the redeemed are Joseph Clay Mullins.

Vicki and I are sending a gift to Woodland this morning in memory of Joey. I’d love to encourage you to do the same.