Can a Nation Hate Itself?

Self-hatred?
Is it possible for a nation?
To "enjoy" such a misery?
To lacerate itself with its own contempt?

When hope is gone for reason and wellness?
Then to jump into a cauldron and be done with it?
To make a mess of the mess even messier?
To cheer the insanity of failure?

Because self-hatred is the flower of all hatred:
Our racism, a cancer of the soul.
Our misogyny, a disease of the spirit.
Our willingness to throw one another away.

And our religion:
Oh God, what a foolish business it is.
From Billy Sunday to Billy Graham.
Megachurches and miracles and always the quest:

For the golden day, the 5 easy steps.
Into the kingdom of fraud, and to be with Jesus.
And along comes the pretender king.
And all the pretending grows all the more harsh.

And foolish.
And ugly.
And full of deception.
And all the more, the lies.

Self-hatred?
When there's no one else left to hate?
Can a nation hate itself?
... out of shame?

No One Should Call Themselves "Evangelical"

The term "evangelical" should never have been co-opted by a singular group of people.

It's one of the worst syntactical moves ever made.

Those who claimed the word are the descendants of the Anabaptists, and while many in that movement, such as the Amish and the Quakers, have given to the world some remarkable insights and examples of faithful living, but for many American "evangelicals," what with Billy Graham and his "puffed" 1949 Los Angeles Revival, and the money and the "under-God" crowd that flocked to his side, the term quickly became a badge of pride - they would show the rest of the Christian World what "true" faith, "real" faith, is all about. It was a stroke of one-upsmanship, an effort to divide the Christian World, into two camps, those who are "christian" in name only, and those are "really Christian" by their dogma, their enthusiasm and their title - EVANGELICAL, and to hell with the rest of ya'.

Jesus is the Evangel, the Good News - not any of us.

And everyone who claims the name of Jesus is both faithful and not faithful to that Evangel. No one has a leg-up on anyone else.

No one is evangelical - shall I say it?

Only Jesus is Evangelical - that is, faithful to the Father in all regards, faithful to God's People and faithful to the world, including all of humanity, and all creatures, great and small. Faithful from the beginning, and faithful to the end. Only Jesus is Evangelical.

The failures of the evangelical side of things - preachers who "fall from grace," and church members who sin reveal a simple reality: We're all sinners, and if we're saved at all, it's by grace, and grace alone.

So quit puffing yourself!

We're all in the same boat, and in spite of the fact that Peter got outta the boat - (a very evangelical move), with a brief moment of wave-walking, reality sunk him, and Jesus had to save him. And rather that trying it again, Jesus took Peter back to the boat, where he belongs, with all the disciples, and it's in the boat, that Jesus joins them, not on the waves where folks can show off for a few moments, but in the boat, where all of us are in this together, with all of our gifts and insights and abilities and sensibilities, the ways we see the world, and the manner in which the Holy Spirit has gifted and compels us.

How much better to say, "I'm a sinner saved by grace."

I can imagine Peter reflecting: "I tried wave-walking once, and it didn't work, and I'm not proud of it - I'll never speak of it again. Jesus took me back to the boat, and that's where I belong."

That's the end of it ... nothing more needs to be said, no titles claimed, and with that, the best is said, I"m a sinner saved by grace."

America's Love-affair with Conversion

From a recent message:

We don’t know when the disciples were converted.

The Bible says nothing about it.

Even someone as distinguished at the Apostle Paul is reticent about his “conversion” – he says almost nothing about it.

Why?

Because human beings love the spectacular.

In America, “conversion” is big business.

TV preachers and traveling evangelists.

From the tents of old and the sawdust trails, to the latest book telling us how to get close to Jesus.

Lights, camera, action.

Dwight L. Moody and Billy Sunday and Aimee Semple McPherson … Paul Crouch and TBN … and a multi- billion dollar publishing industry.

Conversion is big business in America.

Sadly, the business of conversion has only added to our spiritual confusion and religious division.

The kinds of conversion we see in the Bible are very different.

They’re quiet and slow and no one truly knows the moment.

How about Abraham and Sarah?

Or Jeremiah?

Or Jonah?

We read their stories, and there are lots of odd moments, and wonderful moments, and hard moments, but there’s no one moment, no singular moment, nothing all that splashy or profound … just the slow road of faith … a little here, and a little there, two steps forward and one step backward, and it all adds … a God who walks slowly with us, maturing us in the faith, bringing us along the way, like a fine bottle of wine!

The disciples leave their nets to follow Jesus, but do they understand him, in the fullness of God’s revelation?

Of course not!

Matthew leaves behind his ledgers to follow Jesus, but does he have a full grasp of the message, the glory, the love of God?

Not at all.

At the end of the gospel, Matthew 28, on the mountain in Galilee, the writer notes with accuracy, that some worshipped Jesus, and some doubted … and the language could also suggest that while they all worshipped, they all had some doubt in them, as well.

It takes a lifetime to grow into Christ, and then some.

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The "conversion" method popularized in America with Dwight L. Moody, Billy Sunday and most spectacularly by Billy Graham has done enormous damage to America's spiritual psyche, adding to our confusion and intensifying religions division.

The message of conversion is a "Southern" phenomenon based upon faulty interpretations of the Bible; it's pure Americana, with little to do with the reality of God's mighty work to create a people on the face of the earth who know and love and serve the Lord as we see God's work spread out before us in the Bible.

Conversion tactics rely upon fear and the threat of eternal damnation, with lots of emotional manipulation to move people out of their seats and toward the front.

This is no way to reach anyone for God, and no wonder so much of the fundagelical church is full of angry people who are quick to condemn and slow to welcome. They've been manipulated and ripped off, and, guess what? they know it, but without the wherewithal to do anything about it, and lacking the courage (which has been whipped out of them) to challenge the authority of their tradition, the soldier on, bitter and vengeful. 

I have always had positive regard for Billy Graham, and still do, but his message has caused untold harm. His refusal to allow segregated crusades speaks to his integrity and vision, but the Southern phenomenon of conversion that he popularized and injected into the American imagination has left us with us a serious mess that will take several generations to clear from our system.