Don't Go to Church!

This is what we told our Southbrook Church community, as we participated in our 3rd annual Compassion Weekend. For 3 days we participated in acts of Compassion toward our local communities, modeling the love of Christ to everyone we met. Through organized service projects, we went out and served with abandon. Over the weekend of June 12-14 2009, over 20 service events occured throughout Southeastern Wisconsin, giving young and old the opportunity to serve together. We skipped going to church on Sunday June 14th and instead served our neighbors through free car washes, free bottled water give-aways, and through many other opportunities.

Abortion Kills

The statistics on abortion are sobering. 1.25million babies have their lives ended yearly in America alone. The murder of Dr. George Tiller, the late-term abortionist of Wichita, Kansas brought the tragedy of abortion back to the forefront of American society. Dr. Tiller was shot to death inside of his church on Sunday, May 31st, 2009, by an anti-abortion advocated named Scott Roeder.

Sadly, both sides of the abortion debate manipulated this killing for their own political gains. The Left- predictably hailed Dr. Tiller as an advocate for women, and positioned Dr. Tiller as a passionate supporter of the underprivileged. Ironic, in that he was killing the most underprivileged patients he ever had. The Right- predictably was either silent in condemning the murder of Dr. Tiller, or saw his death as an unfortunate ‘wart’ in the abortion debate.

At least one anti-abortion activist realized that his past rhetoric of describing those like Dr. Tiller as ‘Nazi’s’ and ‘mass murderers’ made him complicit in Dr. Tiller’s death. Of course the obfuscation of what it means to be for ‘life’ is compounded by the tacit approval of the death of one hated by some, beloved by others.

To date, the most consistent ethic of life comes from the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago. Cardinal Bernardin wrote passionately about the Seamless Garment of Life. The Seamless Garment of Life ethic is a consistent approach to matters of life, an approach which is against war and the death penalty, for comprehensive health care and the reduction of poverty. This approach is passionate in its support of life in all forms, whether within the womb or in a nursing home.

Abortion kills children, this is for sure. Abortion also kills doctors, kills Truth, and kills our sense of what it means to be an advocate for life. Christian principles that stand in opposition to the ‘end justifies the means’ are also victims in the current bi-polar abortion debate.

Let's Get Desperate

Who wants to be desperate? Desperation usually marks one as being weak and needy. The guy in college desperate for a date, the young woman desperate to be loved, etc… We have Desperate Housewives on TV, which help to perpetuate the myth of the relationally-dependent female. These women are pursued by desperate men who drive their pimped out trucks, desperate to display their manliness.

I believe as followers of Christ, that we are to be desperate… If I knew that my entire life depended on prayer, I’d bet that my prayer time would involve a greater level of urgency and importance… If I knew that my entire life depended upon studying God’s Word, I’m sure I’d study with an insatiable appetite.

For followers of Christ, being desperate seems to come more at times of crisis, instead of the ebb and flow of ‘normal’ Christian living. My personal challenge is to live a desperate life: desperate to know and love Jesus.

Truth found in the Wreckage

On Wednesday June 24, 2009, the Republican Governor of South Carolina, Mark Sanford, addressed a packed press conference as to his mysterious disappearance of last 5 days. His aids and family originally stated that they didn't know where he was, then his office reported that he was hiking along the Appalachian Trail. Today, Governor Sanford admitted to being in South America and to having an affair. Tragic on so many accounts, especially as the Governor is married with four young sons. What hit me the most was the Governor's account of how his affair began.

“The bottom line is this,” he said. “I have been unfaithful to my wife. I developed a relationship with what started as a dear, dear friend from Argentina,” Gov. Sanford said. “It began very innocently, as I suspect these things do, in just a casual e-mail back and forth. But here, recently, over this last year, developed into something much more than that. And as a consequence, I hurt her. I hurt you all, I hurt my wife. I hurt my boys."

His comments reminded me of the Book of James 1:14-15. "...but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death." Sadly, Governor Sanford illustrates all to well the truth that is found in God's Word. Sin perniciously creeps upon us, and slowly, we are lead away from how God intended, towards the inevitable end: death.