The American Dream

Ultimately, all of the great American heroes were after one thing: The American Dream. George Washington sought freedom. Benjamin Franklin sought independence. Thomas Jefferson sought security. Alexander Hamilton sought financial freedom. Abraham Lincoln sought unity. Martin Luther King, Jr. sought equality. They all had a vision that together we can call the American Dream. The American dream was broad in its vision, and they all saw the United States as being a beacon for the whole world, an ideal for all the oppressed to hold to.
However, over time, the American dream evolved. It has been taken up by advertisers, real estate agents, television shows, and cigarette manufacturers. Rather than being a quality of life, it has taken on the characteristics of a particular kind of life—a life of a certain economic level, a certain kind of work, a certain level of materialism.

Freedom
The freedom of the enlightenment idealists was originally an opportunity for everyone to reach to their highest moral and spiritual self. But our society has taken this freedom to be to partake in the lowest common denominator of pornography, greed, violence, covetousness and gluttony, while causing only a limited amount of harm to others.

Equality
The ideal of the American dream is that of equality, so that all are treated with fairness and justice, no matter what society or culture or race they are in. Now equality is meant to limit one’s choices to hundreds of channels on television, but if someone wants to live a different lifestyle, they are punished by having their children taken away from them.

Financial security
The financial security envisioned is that of living according to one’s own means, at whatever level that means. But this has been transformed to greed, with even the poor wondering what they have done wrong to fail to obtain the riches promised them. The wealthy, meanwhile, must keep a serving class of minimum-wage workers (or below minimum wage) in order to maintain their wealth. The greed of the ruling culture is based on the poverty of the lower class.

Luxury
The comfort of the idealists was equally realized in Thomas Jefferson, the inventor and (writer of Walden), the creator of the simple life. There was a variety of lifestyles which kept one at peace with one’s environment and society. But our society has taken comfort to be that of material comfort, with a minimum of physical effort for that life. This has turned into a culture of entitlement, where we don’t just hope for a materialist lifestyle, but expect it and think that we all deserve it.

Freedom of employment
To have work is to be able to be self-sustaining, to pay for one’s own life and family, whatever lifestyle that might be. But now, in order to obtain the lifestyle of greed, we must go the avenue of seeking the patronage and goals of one whose purpose in life is to make money, which he promises to share some sparse percentage of with the one whom he employs. We are trapped in a job ethic that we hate, but we cannot escape.

Democratic ideal
The democratic ideal that was originally held is rule by the people for the sake of the people. But somehow this has been translated to a plutocratic republic—where the only “people” who rule are the wealthy, for the sake of the wealthy. Then this ideal of government is imported to other nations when the “people” there don’t want this form of democracy, but a religious republic.

Security
The Constitution says that the United States must “provide for the common defense”. Yet this “defense” has become a military complex and society that shapes the rest of the country in support of it’s world-wide mission to promote American welfare. The result of this is a constant fear of those who want to limit American influence to its own country, even if they have no violent intent.

Happiness
Ideally, Thomas Jefferson wrote, the American dream is the freedom to pursue happiness. But the American dream today is not the pursuit of happiness, but the direct injection of it. All we want for our children is that they be “happy”. But happiness is found so much easier in an injection, mental health meds, alcohol, television or escapist novels. The harder to obtain, but more content-producing happiness of service, charity, peacemaking and working for God isn’t sought first or even primarily. They are small parts of our life that we gladly surrender when more direct happiness appears or is offered by our cable companies, drug dealers or health care specialists.

Our salvation is limited to what our society can give us. Our opportunities are limited to what we think we should have. Our choices are limited by what everyone thinks is best for us.

Yet there is another option, we are not limited to what our society offers us. Because Jesus offers us a different lifestyle.

Freedom in Jesus
Jesus offers us freedom from our own limitations. He offers us freedom from our own limited morality. He offers us freedom from a pointless existence of self-pleasuring, self-serving, self-pandering. Jesus offers us the power of God and the lifestyle that He himself lived in order to make a powerful change for good in this country, in the world. Jesus calls us to be more than human, to live according to the Spirit instead of the flesh.

Security in Jesus
Jesus offers us all the resources of God, without typical employment, without serving a society of greed. Rather, we can trust in God’s provision, trust in unseen defenses, trust in God’s ways to make a road of security for us and our family in the midst of that which the world fears.

Peace in Jesus
Jesus offers us a peace that is borne by the Spirit, not by a false security of missiles, diplomacy and economic sanctions. He offers us a peace that comes from within, a peace that we can transfer to others and help others live in.

Community in Jesus
Jesus offers us a people who is in the midst of creating a society based on the revolutionary ideals of Jesus, instead of the lowest common denominator. Jesus offers us people to live with, to share with, to work with, to pray with, to rejoice with and to support and minister to. Jesus offers us a full life, instead of the half-life of the American Dream.

Joy in Jesus
Jesus offers us joy—not just entertainment. Yes, this is joy in persecution, happiness amidst suffering. But this is the life of richness, the life of fullness, the life of God.

Why is the American Dream what the church seek, when Jesus says the kingdom of God is found through the loss of the American Dream?
Why is the American Dream the primary option offered to our children, when it fails us in so many ways?
Why is the American Dream the only real option offered to the poor, as if that is the true salvation offered by Jesus?
Where are the saints who sacrificed themselves for the poor?
Where are the godly who knew that one could either have God’s kingdom or the world’s?

Ultimately, it is because our church has accepted the American Dream as the true salvation.

Let’s not go the way of the standard church. Let’s not be content with half-lives any more.

Seek the community of Jesus

Created To Be Weak

Unlike the masses of animals, humanity has no clue as to why we exist. We have no skills to help us be who we are meant to be, ultimately, and all of our great plans have come to naught. We have tried to live our lives on our own terms, only to find ourselves impotent. We have tried to overcome our faults, only to find ourselves enslaved to them. We have gained the knowledge of success, of a good life, only to find that it was all a lie. We have loved, we have built, we have obtained wealth, we have planned, we have been empowered—only to have it all slip from our grasp. We are left with nothing. Our greatest achievements have ultimately been anthills—clumsy in design and as easy to topple. Our lives are but a leaf on a tree—quickly turned brown and withered and falling down, only to be crushed.

God is there, calling out to us, ready to meet our needs. Our relationship to God is not that to the harsh father, always wanting more from us than we can give. God knows our weaknesses, our helplessness. God made us helpless and hopeless on purpose. He created us weak so that we could recognize that we would never be complete without Him. So that, in the end, when we came to the end of ourselves, our plans, our hopes, our lives, we would turn to Him as the only fulfillment left.
But God also made us weak to prove something to all the universe. There are many powers in the universe, and God made them all. Some are less than humanity, and some are greater. But none are more helpless than the human infant. The human infant is more naked than any other creature, so helpless that he cannot even find his own food. The human infant’s only means of defense, expression and response is her cry. Almost any creature can destroy the human infant with a swipe or a bite. If an infant is left alone, it would die within hours.

Yet, amazingly, God pointed at that infant and said, “I choose YOU to rule the earth.” God’s most masterful creation, the ever-bubbling pot of life and creativity, and God put a helpless infant in charge of it.

How the great powers of heaven must have laughed! Had they the nerve to mock God, they surely would have. To place a baby in charge of the most complex system ever made is insanity, even stupidity. Yet this is what God did. God placed a small, helpless collection of gobs of cells to rule it all.

God did it, not to show humanity’s greatness. Their ability to “pull themselves up by their bootstraps” (which, by the way, is a great way to fall on your ass). God chose humanity, with all its failings, with all its weaknesses, with all its helplessness, to show how great anyone can be when He is helping them.
The greatest power, God is teaching, is not power at all, but anti-power. The greatest strength is weakness.

But the other amazing characteristic of humanity is its blindness. Not only is humanity helpless, but it sees itself as strong. Humanity thinks that it can do anything. It thinks it can live on its own terms and succeed no matter what. What idiots we all are! So we continue to reject God, wanting to relate to God only on our own terms. Even the most saintly of us really only depend on God when we recognize that we absolutely can’t do it on our own. We don’t realize that we, no matter how old we become, are still that baby, that helpless infant unable to control our lives.

So God came to earth. He became that helpless infant Himself. And he did it to show us that the best life that any of us could live is a life of dependence. As Jesus was on earth, he had no food, but depended on the Father to provide. He had no power to help, so he depended on the Father to heal. He had no time to rest, so he depended on the Father to give energy. He had no place to sleep, so he depended on the Father to provide shelter.

And his is the best life ever. He is the only one to know—truly know!—why he was here on earth.

He was here to serve the Father. Not on his own terms, but the Father’s terms. He was here not to do his own will, but his Father’s.

To be an infant isn’t so bad. To be helpless is right where God wants us to be. Helpless and crying out to Him. Helpless and seeking His help. Helpless and not knowing where to go or what to do or how to do anything so we can just be leaning on Him.

The best we can be is dependent.

Someone Stole My Jesus and Replaced Him With A Marxist!

Let’s look at the beatitudes again.

"Ahhh," everyone sighs. "The beatitudes. How lovely. How comforting."

How easy to ignore. How misunderstood.

We are all familiar with the words in Matthew. "Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are the meek. Blessed are the merciful." And on and on. And we love them because they seem so poetic and so loving and so helpful to us who live quiet lives of desperation in the pursuit of just living normal lives without poverty, without hunger, with some levels of justice and peace. We will buy plaques of the phrases and place them upon our walls to remind us of how loving and gentle Jesus’ teaching is.

But those weren’t the beatitudes I was talking about.

There’s another set, equally spoken by Jesus, found in Luke. They are certainly the same set of sayings, but they seem… different. They seem harsher, more difficult to accept, not the kind of Jesus who would comfort us.

How fortunate are you, the poor, for you possess God’s kingdom.

How fortunate are you, the hungry, for God will give you satisfaction.

How fortunate are you, the weeping, for you will be laugh.

How fortunate are you when people despise you, and ignore you, and insult you and slander you for the sake of Jesus—

Be glad when it happens to you, and give a praise offering, for this is how people treated the prophets of God.

How unfortunate are you, the rich, for you have received all the comfort you’re going to get.

How unfortunate are you, the well-fed, for you will hunger and not receive from God.

How unfortunate are you, the laughing, for God will make you mourn and weep aloud.

How unfortunate are you when everyone honors you and speaks well of you, for this is how people treated the prophets who weren’t speaking for God.

Who is this guy? This isn’t my usual preacher! No… preachers nowadays don’t talk like this. They use words like "beseech" and "Almighty" and when they say "comfort" it sounds like they really mean it. This guy, though, he sounds tough, almost mean. I mean, who would go to a church that sounded like this? People who were desperate might—or people that had issues with wealth—but not people who could afford to build a nice church building and give a guy a good salary and a parsonage. No wonder Jesus had no place to lay his head! Who would listen to this drivel more than once? The adage makes sense—A prophet is someone who isn’t invited to dinner twice.

While we can critique the style or question Jesus’ propriety, we do need to remember the positive points. First of all, it is direct. And simple—no one can misunderstand it. And if it is true, then the message is significant. Oh, and one other point—Jesus is our Lord. And these are the words of Jesus.

These words aren’t just there as a jumping point for our understanding of spiritual matters. They aren’t supposed to be a cover page for our traditional values—whether conservative ("Life is tough and you’ve got to be tough back") or liberal ("We should really be nicer to the poor"). They aren’t there to be politely ignored in preference to other passages that we prefer. Nor does it help for us to retranslate them into something more palatable ("Maybe it could say, ‘Gosh, what a difficult position you rich people are in.’ ").

How significantly we treat these words is how significantly we treat Jesus. This teaching is at the core of what Jesus had to say, and all that he said and did flows from this core. If we are to accept Jesus, we need to accept this basic creed.
What is Jesus speaking of? What really is the point? If there is a creed, what would it look like, were it based on this text? Let’s break it down into pieces:
"We believe in an Almighty God who will judge everyone on the earth"

Judgment isn’t really popular to talk about. To speak of hell or eternal dishonor or lake of fire isn’t really a popular topic, so many Christians just avoid it. Honestly, many people have abused hellfire for their own agenda. So speaking about God’s judgement is kind of like an uncle who was convicted of child molestation, and though he hasn’t done anything like it since, no one talks about him and at Christmas he just finds a corner to sit in and watches the proceedings from a distance.

But Jesus firmly believed in a judgment of God that would paste "good" and "bad" on every single person on earth. Well, let me rephrase that a bit. The problem with saying "good" or it’s antonym is that we have such distinct notions in our head about what constitutes this "not-evil." The early twentieth century bases of judgment seem so trite now: no smoking, no drinking, no dancing, no playing cards, no skirts above the lower calf, no fraternizing with actors. It seems trite because the values have changed so much.

When Jesus speaks of "good", he really means "honorable." At the onset, it seems so subjective. To have honor among Nazis is to be dissed by the masses. But Jesus gives this qualifier—the only person who counts, in giving honor, is God. I mean, if Simon Cowell determines that you suck, who really cares? But if God makes the determination that you are cool, or that you just don’t make the cut, then it is a more serious judgment.

Thus, judgment is boiled down to this: God saying to one group, "You’re my kind of people" and saying to another group, "You don’t really make the cut for me." The first group, after the determination of the Judge, gains possession of a new nation, which is ruled directly by God, and becomes the central nation over it’s empire of the earth. The second group, certainly the larger, is exiled from that nation and they make up the outer fringes. Considering that almost all of the merciful are within the bounds of the Nation of God, the outer fringes just don’t sound like fun.
This kind of judgment isn’t comfortable to a group of Christians who believe that the term "mercy" and "judgement" cannot even date, let alone be married together. They claim that Jesus hung out with lowlifes (true) and so he, as God’s representative, refuse to judge them (almost true), and so Jesus’ mercy has nothing to do with judging people (wow, you need to read Matthew 23 again). The fact is that every sub group of Judaism of the first century (and after) determined that there must be a line drawn separating those on the "in" with God and those on the "outs". Jesus was no different. (See "Jesus’ view on judging") What made Jesus so radical is not that he erased the line, but where he placed the line. Which is the rest of our creed.

"We believe that the disciples of Jesus who are poor and persecuted will, at God’s judgement, obtain the greatest blessings of God.

This is the central point of both sets of beatitudes—in Matthew and Luke. This is not to deny that those who act in a "pure and righteous" manner will not gain God’s blessings. This is indicated in Matthew’s list, by giving a special line to the "pure in heart". But for Matthew—as well as for Luke in the broader context—it isn’t enough to be "pure". Sure, keeping your legs closed until God approves and not bowing down before a moldy statue is good and all, but it doesn’t equate the life that God is looking for.

God is actually looking for the folks who are so pure, so loving, so bold about Jesus, that they get in trouble for it. This "trouble" looks differently in different cases. Perhaps the trouble is rejection by people—Jesus certainly said that his community should expect that. (see Jesus’ words on persecution). But other kinds of trouble also pop up. There will be weeping in the Christian camp, and poverty. Some of this may be as a result of persecution, some of this will be due to the system set up to exclude Jesus people from the blessings of this world. The fact that Jesus’ people don’t collect possessions, but give them to the needy; that they aren’t cut-throat, but humble in their leadership; that they depend on God for their needs, even if those needs are just barely met; that they do good to those who hurt them, which may give their enemies cause to think that they can get away with anything—that might have something to do with it. Let’s face it, Jesus’ way isn’t easy, and he doesn’t put up well with compromise. God might as well put up a sign, "Kingdom of God: Fanatics need only apply."

3. "We believe that the anawim should be envied, and that if we are persecuted or obtain poverty for God’s sake, we should celebrate and feel honored."

Saints are cool—from a distance. Some of the stories are great. Sebastian who was pierced by a hundred arrows for speaking about Jesus. Michael Sattler who was tortured, had his tongue cut out and then was drowned for teaching the Bible. Peter and John who were brought to court and beaten for healing a man in Jesus’ name. Anthony who lived in graveyards and the desert to live a life of purity. The stories are inspiring, but, ultimately, not for us.

We are the people who pray, "Lord, teach us patience, but not if it hurts too much." We are the ones who want to live for God, as long as it fits into our overall plan of achieving the American Dream. We are the ones who cry out "All for Jesus I surrender", but in practice, we limit our surrender to that which accomidates our society’s limits and morality.

If someone falls into poverty or persecution because of their stand for Jesus, how do we respond? Most people in the church would recommend a compromise, a standing down. "You don’t have to suffer like that—God doesn’t want that for you." The church’s positions is: Stand for Jesus, but sit down if your feet get sore. Or, if there seems to be true injustice, there are the Jay Seculas and Ruthaford Institutes who will take the persecutors to court and make them feel economic pain for the injustice of persecuting others.

Of course, Jesus’ command is a little different. How do we respond to persecution and pain and anguish for the sake of our religion? Have a party. Crank up the dancing music. Set out the little food that you need little forks to eat it with. Jesus’ bumper sticker is: Celebrate Poverty.

To be obedient to Jesus, it isn’t enough to just grit our teeth in difficulties, we need to rejoice, be happy, throw a party, invite our friends over to get ecstatic with us, watch the Wizard of Oz with the dip in bowls the shape of ruby slippers. "It’s the happy day!" Jesus says. "The day you get beat up and killed for God, that’s the day we’ve all been waiting for. The day you get sick and die because you were handing out tracts in a blizzard—that’s the party day! The day your airplane crashes because you were going to share the gospel with people in the jungle—that’s the dancing day! The day you get kicked out of your apartment because you’ve been inviting the mentally ill to worship God with you there—Live it up! Get some horn blowers and fireworks and make it seem like New Year’s day, because it’s better than that! It’s the day you’re assured of being right before God!"
4. "We believe that the disciples of Jesus who are conspicuously wealthy and honored will, at God’s judgment, obtain sorrow and rejection."

The real question is not, however, what happens to those who suffer for God. That’s a no-brainer. We’re all pretty sure of that, God will take care of them. They’ve got a place with God. Okay, that’s fine. But what about all those who hang with God and do all the religious things, but they don’t suffer. Perhaps they are doing the… um… opposite of suffering. There are people in God who are doing really well.

And, let’s face it, these non-suffering folks, the ones who have an excellent bank account (for many years, frankly, and the accumulated interest is really very healthy and can’t be given away willy-nilly), and a really nice home (meant really for family and friends, it just wouldn’t be comfortable to have strangers stay there), and a car that almost never breaks down (but I couldn’t pick up hitchhikers, because, well, who knows what they would do) and a line of credit that doesn’t end (and we have to take care as to what we invest in, because otherwise we couldn’t be trusted financially)—these non-suffering folk are really the ones who pays the bills in the church. They do their part, right? They show up on Sunday, sing as loud as anyone else, head committees, pay for the new building, makes sure the pastor has a decent salary. So, God has his place for them, right?

Absolutely. God has a place for them. It’s called "the outer darkness."

Paul and Barnabas at one point set out to do some revival meetings. The churches they had planted were struggling spiritually, so the apostles had a powerful message to give to them. The summary we have received is one sentence, "We shall only enter God’s kingdom through much tribulation." In other words, the ONLY door to God’s ultimate blessing is difficulty, sacrifice, persecution and hardship. There isn’t any other way.

This doesn’t mean that God doesn’t bless people on earth. Oh, my, I have seen many people blessed. Many rich people today are blessed in their lifetimes beyond the dreams of those who had lived on earth for more than ten thousand years of history. I mean, indoor plumbing, a health care system that can actually cure more illness than it causes, the ability to fill rooms with such variety of entertainment as has never been seen, never without food, never thirsty, never homeless. Such a plenty has never been seen in the history of the world for so many people. This is God’s blessing. And for those who are content to accept this blessing, that is all they will get.

For those who have all their needs met, and never meet hunger—God has for them a place of hunger.

For those who surround themselves with pleasantries and joy—God has for them a place of tragedy.

For those who reward themselves for the simple act of living—God will strip away all trophies.

For those who secure themselves by assuring their own wealth and separation from the poor—God will make them poor and expose them to eternal insecurity.

No, this isn’t funny. This isn’t entertaining. It’s scary. This is worse than Alien, worse than the Exorcist. This is real life. And for those who have all the world has to give—they should be grabbing someone’s arm, because the music is getting ominous.
5. "We believe that Jesus’ disciples who are honored and wealthy should set these benefits aside for the sake of our needy counterparts, so they can receive true honor and wealth."
But Jesus’ beatitudes aren’t one of those horror movies that finishes with "The End?" They are more like an epic move—Laurence of Arabia, Gone With The Wind, Top Gun—the center of which you find yourself almost weeping and breathing hard in your empathy with the hero(ine). But in the end, through some terrible tragedies and sacrifices, the hero(ine) survives and achieves glorious honor. This is the story Jesus is telling as well.

And the story is the same for the poor and the wealthy: the way to God’s honor and blessing and kingdom is through becoming the anawim. That route is simpler for the poor and persecuted—they get handed their tribulation on a silver platter. They don’t have to exercise their will to suffer or sacrifice. For the rich, the famous, the good-looking, those who are granted all the best of the world, the route to God’s blessing is difficult—they have to give up all the blessing they have been granted.

Have you ever worked for the needy? Those who are really needy, those whom our society calls "the bottom of the barrel", for whom no real help exists? To be friends with the friendless, to offer yourself to the needy, it is a daily sacrifice. You constantly struggle with how much to give, are you being taken advantage of, what is the real need, who of all the worthies should you give to with the limited resources you have? Inevitably, you give more than you realistically can, and personal and social conflicts arise. Your health fails. Your family and friends whom you trusted no longer find you to be trustworthy. You become an alien to all those whom you have loved. You become the avoided, the dispossessed. The one who surrenders themselves to the needy becomes one with the needy. The one who sacrifices for the anawim becomes the anawim themselves.

This is the challenge to the wealthy, the well-loved, the sheltered. Expose yourself to those whom you most fear—those whose needs far outweigh your ability to help them. Perhaps you will gain great satisfaction doing the work. Perhaps you will obtain prizes and be Time’s Man of the Year.

But let me be brutally honest. Of the few of you who make the choice to sacrifice all you have for the needy, to obtain God’s glory instead of security and inner peace—you will be put under the bulldozer. You will go to doctors and they won’t be able to tell you what’s wrong. You will be disinherited by proper society. You will have friends who tell you "you’ve just got to stop, for your own sake" but God won’t let you. You will wonder why you are exhausted all the time. You will go to bed each night as if you had been beaten. You will walk the streets and cry out to God, "Just give me rest!" but the rest never seems to come. The needy themselves will blame you for not giving enough. You will rack your brain to find ways to really help them, to really meet their true needs, and find no solution. You will cry and weep and mourn and wonder why God put you in this place. To do this work. To have what seems to be a pointless life.

Now I’ll tell you a secret. If you sacrifice yourself and feel all this—you’ve made it. You’re in. It’s time to celebrate. It’s time to party. Yeah, it seems pointless. To Jeremiah speaking about the destruction of Jerusalem seems pointless because no one he could see would listen. To David it all seemed pointless because his theocratic monarchy came crashing around his ears. To the disciples of Jesus it all seemed pointless because their Lord, their Savior was dying on a cross. Yeah, it all seems worthless—without resurrection. Without God.

"Vanity, vanity, all it vanity—everything done under the sun is vanity." That’s Scripture. That’s God’s word. But, you see, if we embrace the vanity of God, the foolishness of God, the sacrifice of ourselves for the poor and needy, the life of the anawim—then we get all that exists above the sun. Under the sun? Screw under the sun. I’m looking for the best retirement plan that exists. Sure, the salary’s lousy. But the benefits—nothing can compare to them. And the only way to obtain them is to sacrifice one’s wealth and to stand with the anawim.

"Jesus Was A Bum" "Some thoughts on Homelessness"

Two excellent poems from Street Roots, a local street paper in Portland:

Jesus Was A Bum
by Tobiah Tillman

Where do we find Jesus son this cluttered earth?
AS a bastard child He was in His birth.
Born out of wedlock, (gasp) Oh my God!
Destined to be struck down by Satan's rod.

Who was this half man that you follow?
His flesh you eat and His blood you swallow.
Did you know He was homeless and dirty?
Did you you He didn't live much past thirty?

A man born a fugitive to a crazy empire.
He called himself lliving water not holy fire.
A man of love, not a man of hate.
Sacrifice and suffering was this man's fate.

He washed our feet, we spit in His face.
We erected a Wall-Mart in providence place.
We worship the offering and forget the Lord.
When I got to His house I fall asleep bored.

We worship a man who hung out with whores,
And kicked it with lepers, healing their sores.
Did you know Jesus was just a simple hobo?
Yeah? Well how many of them do you actually know?

"Some Thoughts On Homelessness"
by Gimel Gaiah

Why did that street kid call me family?
Why did the rich man just peel a 20 dollar bill and
give it to me out of his wallet?
Why is it hard to look people in the eyes why you
are a stranger to them?
Why did that lady just give me cookies?
Why did that lady give me clothes and a scarf?
Why did she give me such a sweet smile, and he?
I am homeless. Why is all this happening?
A man walks up with 2 huge bags, one full of shoes,
the other a tent, he asks if I am truly homeless and
would I like these items.
All my life I never imagined this.
Homelessness.
Love for a new family of understanding life.
I see the love everywhere, on all street corners.

How Jesus Anawim Works

There are equal and opposite extremes between the gospel and culture: assimilation and complete rejection. Most churches are somewhere in the midst of some compromise between these two extremes. The Amish are at one extreme, rejecting all of culture until it can be found to be acceptable to the spiritual life of the community. However, even in the Amish there are cultural assumptions that are not biblical, such as a farming lifestyle as well as clothing fashions that might be more than a hundred years old, but they aren’t two thousand years old. Even so, some churches or youth groups seem to be completely assimilated, yet if there is any preaching of God’s word, then even the most liberal churches are a compromise between the gospel and modern culture, not true assimilation.

Culture, of course, is itself a compromise between traditionalism and new ideas. Any culture, as traditional as it seems, is an evolved form from the old ways of doing things and more recent. Perhaps a culture—such as hidden societies untouched by the world—seem so ancient to us. But every culture, without exception, is touched by human innovation. The more humans that touch the culture, the more innovation, but innovation and creativity is a part of every culture.

And with every innovation, there is a traditionalist portion of a culture that is disgusted by the innovation. It is not simply a disagreement about the innovation—it is an out and out revulsion. As if the innovation is the one item that would undermine the basis of the traditional culture. Sometimes the traditionalists—those who distrust innovation—are right. Some innovations really do undermine traditional culture. Some ideas are so radical, so in opposition to where a culture has been, that the older culture would no longer be comfortable in the newer one, should the innovations really take hold. In this way do the traditionalists rise up in opposition to certain innovations. Of course, traditionalists are not opposed to all innovation—only those that undermine the basic values of their traditional culture.

And innovation does not always win the day. Culture always progresses, but not always in the direction of new innovation. In fact, radical innovation often creates a backlash of traditional values, creating a pendulum swing. Should the battle be strong enough, then a culture war develops, battle lines are drawn and the whole world is seen to be on either one side or the other.

A compromise culture is usually created near the center of the battle lines. Thus a new set of values, philosophies, systems and cultural icons are created out of the previous battle. This new cultural consensus becomes the new tradition. When the next radical innovation comes, then it is this synthesis that feels attacked and creates the new battle lines.

In church culture, it seems that the traditionalists hold sway, but this is far from true. There are many innovationalists within church culture. The traditionalists in the church often have the older resources to have a louder voice, but innovationalists also have a strong voice, however weaker it is than the traditionalists. In this manner, the church can be an active participant in both sides of the culture wars.

The traditionalists seem to be more the heart of the church, because they have been able to use the cultural trappings of the church for longer periods of time. They have traditional songs and their interpretation of Scripture has been repeated so many times that it is the assumed “correct” interpretation of Scripture. What must be remembered, however, is what the Christian innovationalists repeat ad nauseum: that the traditionalists were once the innovationalists of old. That they do not, nor ever have had, a monopoly on “truth.”

This may seem to the innovationalists that their truth is equal to the truth of the traditionalist. In a sense, that is so—they could both be equally wrong. And they probably both are. Because, as different as they seem they are fundamentally the same—they are both swayed by the repeated a priori assumptions of their party, rather than seeking for truth in a semi-objective manner, recognizing their own weaknesses as seekers of God’s values as well as their oppositional parties.

The difference between the church and the rest of the world is the third group that is neither traditionalist nor innovationalist—or, one might say, they are both. These are the group that interprets the various culture battles via the word and acts of Jesus. Not necessarily by the “Bible” in general. The Bible is to vast, too varied of opinion, too complex in values to really pinpoint. But Jesus, as a single, but powerful force in the Bible, is much easier to read and understand. When interpreted against himself alone, his words and deeds act as a single testimony that continually speak to and challenge the church, as well as the rest of the world.

And within the church are those who do not align themselves with either the traditionalists or the innovationalists, but with Jesus alone. This group would instinctively see the weaknesses of both groups and so could not stand behind either. Because they would separate themselves from the culture wars and instead, in standing with Jesus, mount a lifestyle “attack” on all sides.

The innovationalist sees the Jesus follower as traditional, because they would accept a few of the values of traditionalist that they could not accept, simply because Jesus also held those values. However, Jesus is so radical, that He is seen as innovative to all cultures. Jesus is the promoter of the undermining of all systems—whether traditional or innovational. Jesus seeks to welcome the cultures that both the traditional and the innovational rejects. And Jesus does not participate in culture wars, for He is on a crusade for love of all people, which no cultural warmonger could ever support. For all war—whether martial or cultural—is a compromise of universal love.

Thus, those who focus on Jesus alone as their Lord—not the traditional Jesus, but the radical Jesus of the gospels—act as a third group in neither the traditional nor innovational parties. And this third party is what preserves the world, keeping them from destroying each other in the latest cultural war. The third party may suffer much themselves—as they accept suffering and persecution even as Jesus did—but they never fully disappear from this world. For every Jesus follower that disappears, one or two more takes his or her place.

The Jesus follower can be seen as traditional, because Jesus is the basis of all his or her values. Thus, like a traditionalist, the Jesus-follower can seem text-based and stagnant, without interest in any real change. However, since Jesus is such a radical that He has influenced the world without the world ever really accepting Him, standing for Jesus’ values and beliefs is always innovative, always outside the box. To delve deeper into Jesus’ principles of life is to automatically be seen as the outsider, the unacceptable to both the traditionalists and the innovationalists.

This is not the only manner in which the Jesus party is an outsider. The Jesus party, in following the example and principles of Jesus, is also a pursuer of the outcast. The outcast—the “sinners”, the “poor” the “needy”—are those who are seen as unacceptable to either the traditionalist or the innovationalist. Both cultural groups for one reason or another might want to adopt an outcast group, but only to bring them into their cultural agenda. Should the outcast group reject the assumptions of either the traditionalist or the inovationalist agenda, then the outcast individual remains outcast and the outcast society remains a viable cultural entity, separate from both sides of the culture war.

At the onset, it seems that the Jesus party and the outcast group are natural allies, as they have been both rejected by the main cultural forces. However, the Jesus party and the outcast societies do not share the same hopes or values any more than the Jesus party and the two main cultural groups do. The outcast societies (every broad society has at least one, often a number of them) are the children of their own sociological and cultural forces: disenfranchisement, dehumanization, sense of victimization, and a longing for being accepted for who they are. It is this last sociological force that draws the Jesus party and the outcast together: the Jesus party have a desire to accept the unacceptable and the outcast have a need for acceptance.

Nevertheless, it is a tenuous alignment. The Jesus party sees their hope in Jesus and want the outcast to seek Jesus as they do—His live, principles and His self as the center of their being. The outcast are constantly doubtful that they are being accepted for who they are, rather than for what they could be in Jesus. And those of weaker faith in the Jesus party end up standing in one cultural party or another, finally throwing their hands up in opposition to the outcast because, in the end, they believed in change more than in Jesus. But the strongest in the faith of Jesus remain with the outcast in patience and hope, because change or love is not in their hands, but in the hands of the all-powerful Spirit.

Because of this, the mainstream culture—involved in one way or another in the culture wars—don’t know what to make of the Jesus party. On the one hand, they identify with the outcast, which makes them one with the outcast. On the other side, they provide the best examples of love and society working despite differences that any culture has ever seen. Some become so oppositional against the Jesus party that they are openly attacked. Mostly, however, the Jesus party just does their work in quiet—quietly changing the world, quietly undermining all the premises of culture war.

A quiet revolution of culture, that will never completely take over the world. It remains at the edges, where it belongs.

A Very Brief Primer On Anawimic Theology, Being the Basis of All True Understaning and the True Good News To the Poor

Yeah, well, the title is longer than the post:

Jesus especially calls and ministers to the outcast of the world.
Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners. Mark 4:17

God greatly rejoices when a single one who is outcast from his kingdom returns to him.
There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. Luke 15:7

The outcast of the world who are righteous before God will receive God’s greatest blessings.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:10

The righteous should assist the outcast in any way they can, even sacrificially.
Sell your possessions and give to those in need; make yourselves money belts which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven. Luke 12:33

The outcast of the world who are disciples are to be held in equal esteem in the church as any other disciple.
If you show partiality against the poor, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. James 2:9

The outcast are to rejoice in their lowly position, for they will be raised up.
Let the believer who is lowly boast in being raised up. James 1:9

Money and Ministry

"I try to give to the poor people for love what the rich could get for money. No, I wouldn't touch a leper for a thousand pounds; yet I willingly cure him for the love of God. "
Mother Teresa

The ministry we do in Anawim is so hard that you couldn't pay us for it. We work at all hours of the day or night, work some days until we cannot stand. We work for some who are ungrateful. We work for some who threaten us. We work to save lives that our society say are not worth the ragged clothes they wear. We work in opposition to many others in society and the church who judge those whom we serve with our whole lives. Because of this work, our health is weak, our spirits are broken and we are forsaken by those who used to be our friends.

What is this job worth? Could you pay us a hundred thousand a month, and it would be worth this work? Not a single CEO with all the money they receive would think it would be worth doing the work that we do for no salary.

Instead, we do this work for the equitable payment of God:
for the peace of Jesus in the world,
for the changes we see in previously hopeless lives,
for our own salvation,
for God's love to be known,
in order to change God's church to become a revolutionary power of love in the world,
and especially, so that we can see the earth become the kingdom of Jesus when God determines it is to be so.

Shelter

Honestly, we at Anawim don't usually get into shelter that much.

Shelter is expensive, requires staff and requires rules that we don't usually want to get into.

But this week, we got permission to open up a warming shelter in Gresham for a few nights. It was necessary because the weather in Portland was in the teens (a number of degrees below zero). This may not seem a big deal to most of you guys, but here in Portland, such weather is unique, and no one is prepared for it, even the homeless. So we need to provide shelter for people or they will die.

I found someone who died of hypothermia. It's not pretty.

Anyway, so we opened up a shelter for the first few nights of the crazy weather Portland is still having. I guess a local tv station interviewed someone we were able to help and he said we saved his life.

On the first night, someone snuck up to the excluded part of the church and took a crow bar to the office. He didn't get in, but that's not the point. It was difficult for us to get the church because of the fears some of the church leaders had about the homeless. And now we might question that we might be able to use the church for this again.

But I know two things about this kind of situation:
1. Just because we help people, we can't require them to be grateful or respectful. The point is, we need to save lives, even if they stab us in the back. That's what Jesus was about, so that's what we need to be about.

2. We can't paint all poor people, or all homeless or anyone with the same brush. Most of the people we helped those nights were grateful and helpful and polite. One person who is hateful and hurtful shouldn't stop anyone from helping. Nor should it give us an idea of what all homeless people are like. To do so is to participate in the very worst kind of prejudice.

The Most Important Ingredient

The main characteristic of a successful worker with the needy is endurance. For the most part, helping the needy is a much longer, more complicated process than most people would ever think necessary in our fast-paced, direct society. There aren’t twelve steps to escape homelessness nor five easy lessons to learn how to help people on the street. So if our friend isn’t making the progress we thought they should, we could show this frustration and our friend could feel blamed by us that they aren’t where we think they should be. If it seems like the need never ends, just get comfortable and enjoy the ride.

One thing that might help is to remember that the goal of our friendship is not to make our friend middle class, but to help them follow Jesus with whatever resources is available to us. So we are not here to create change in people’s lives, but to be available for when God needs someone He can use. So let’s not measure our success in ministry by how many people got off the street or who came to the Lord. Rather, we need to measure it by how much we see God using us in other people’s lives. Our ministry is as much a transformation of ourselves as well as others.

Tip #1: Don't Give Junk

What many do, when giving to the poor, is think, “What have I got that I can’t use? I’ll just give that to the poor.” Thus, giving to the needy ends up looking like a rummage sale. And you know how you go to a garage sale and a lot of the stuff you think to yourself, “Why did they ever think this would sell?” Frankly, there’s a lot of stuff that shouldn’t even be given away. Go to any organization and they will tell you about the laughable stuff people have “donated” probably because they didn’t have enough room in their garbage can.

We at Anawim have been given stale bread, a mildew-y mattress, socks and clothes with huge holes in them, a backpack with the bottom blown out of it, sexy used lingerie (THAT will keep the homeless warm this winter!), and a notebook for a class on small business management (complete with hand-written notes on each page!).
Look, I’m a dumpster diver, so I know about finding gems amidst what others might call junk. But I also know just junk when I see it. And when I receive junk, then I know that it means that the giver was just getting rid of their excess, but they weren’t concerned about who would receive it. Again, we need to put ourselves in the other person’s shoes—how would we feel if we were given stale bread or clothes with holes in them? Honestly, we would feel that we were only junk to the people who gave them.

Here is my suggestion: Reuse. That’s great. Don’t waste unless you have to. Great for the environment, etc. But when you give to the poor, be generous in your giving. Give the best you have to give.

Here’s the reasoning behind it. Jesus said that if we are giving to the poor, we are actually putting money into our heavenly savings account (Luke 12:33-34). So we are only going to receive in heaven that which we give. So unless we want to live in heaven with holey socks (not “holy”), then we had best be careful about our giving to the needy on earth.

Giving to the Poor Etiquette

Giving isn’t easy. Don’t let anyone tell you differently. Everyone has a number of social rules about giving. And when you cross social lines—such as class or cultural lines—then the situation is just plain uncomfortable. So many people prefer to give through organizations, so they don’t have to deal with people face to face. And for some people, who might end up insulting the people they are trying to help, that might be best.

But in most situations it is best to give to people face-to-face. Can you imagine, if you just got kicked out of your house and needed a friend to give you some money for a bus ticket to live with some family in the next town and they responded, “I just give to the local mission”? How comforting would that be? How much love would you feel?

As believers in Jesus, we are to love those in need. Check out the parable of the Good Samaritan, if you doubt. Thus, if we see people in need, our obligation is to love—to feel compassion for them and to try to meet their need. No one can scream at you, “Love them or else you’ll be punished!” Love just doesn’t work that way. Love is something we develop over time so we can feel the emotion, not just do the action. But in order to feel love, we first have to do love.

So this week we will discuss some tips to get started. They are basic etiquette to helping the needy face to face. It isn’t a step by step guide—sorry, but you’ve got to figure that out yourself. But there are some guidelines here so we can remember that this is an exercise in compassion and meeting needs, not just charity.

How Jesus Christ Superstar Changed My Life

Jesus Christ Superstar (1970)
By Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_Christ_Superstar
http://www.amazon.com/Christ-Superstar-Original-Concept-Recording/dp/B000002P4H

I grew up in a house that didn’t talk about Jesus. When my friends asked me if I was Protestant or Catholic, I had no clue what they were talking about. My parents didn’t talk at all about religion in my early years, to my recollection. I suppose they might want to correct me on that, but I can’t remember a single thing they taught me about Jesus or God. It just wasn’t important.

But my mom did influence me in one way. In grade school, she took me to a neighbor’s house, put headphones on my head and played for me a portion of Jesus Christ Superstar, with the original vocals with Ian Gillian. That album has haunted me for the rest of my life. The vocals are so piercing and dramatic. Sometimes the music is simplistic, but this is what a grade school kid needed.

My parents purchased the two-record set and after I got my own record player…. Yeah, so I listened to records, so what? Does that show how old I am? Well, just wait until your children finds out that you actually liked Brittney Spears before she turned herself into the latest Michael Jackson! Anyway, where was I?.... After I got my own record player, I took the album to my room and it was never seen again. I played those records, all four sides, until the grooves ran so deep that you could rest a nickel in them. I had all the lyrics memorized by the time I was in high school and I would sing the songs through from “Heaven on Their Minds” to the climatic “Jesus Christ Superstar” and I would meditate silently on the crucifixion as my mind played through the final, agonizing instrumentals.

In my early years, this was the only gospel I knew, preparing me for the real Jesus, when I finally met him. And while it wasn’t very accurate with the written gospels, it was certainly written based on it. It helped me see that the church in general doesn’t always see Jesus with a clear vision. The song “Poor Jerusalem” introduced me to the basic paradox of Jesus’ teaching, that to live and to succeed, one must die. For Jesus, this was taken painfully literally, as was made plain in Pilate’s final words to Jesus:
“Don’t let me stop your great self-destruction—
Die, if you want to, you miserable martyr.
I wash my hands of your demolition—
Die, if you want to, you innocent puppet!”

In Jesus Christ Superstar, Pilate isn’t the unjust dupe of the priests as portrayed in the gospels. Rather, he is the only one who see what is actually going on—Jesus has set himself up, manipulating the Jewish and Roman justice systems in order to have himself crucified so that he might change the world. While this is only part of the truth, Tim Rice captures one of the basic insights of the gospels: the answer to the question “Who Crucified Jesus” is Jesus himself.

The Jesus portrayed in the musical is not altogether unlike the portrayal given Jesus by the evangelist Mark. Jesus is the suffering servant, unable to meet his own needs because he is too active serving others and doing God’s will. Jesus wears himself out healing mobs of people. He deals with dissention and open arguments among his disciples. The high priests are in open opposition against him. And all throughout no one understands Jesus’ purpose of his life. He is going to suffer and die. He won’t be conquering the Romans as Simon the Zealot wants him to. He won’t be living the normal life of a teacher, as Judas wants him to. And he won’t live to appreciate his fame as the other disciples want to do. This Jesus is all about his death, which no one seems to appreciate or understand.

Finally, it comes to the final night, the appointed time of Jesus’ death. The disciples have fallen asleep in a drunken stupor after the Last Supper, Judas had an open argument with him and left to betray him (with Jesus’ sarcastic approval) and even Jesus’ best friends—Peter, James and John—have forsaken him. Then comes the most heart-felt, heart-wrenching song of the suffering man, “Gethsemane (I Only Want to Say).”

The song is not completely accurate with Jesus. It tries to express doubts of God in general that Jesus never had. But it does demonstrate one difference between Jesus and the trumphalistic Christian martyrs of later centuries—Jesus didn’t want to suffer this way. He didn’t want to die this death.
“I only want to say
If there is a way
Take this cup away from me
For I don’t want to taste its poison
Feel it burn me…”

This Jesus, as well as the Jesus of the synoptic gospels, understands the suffering that is in store for him, and he frankly doesn’t want it. The “glory set before him” is shadowed by human frailty and emotional weakness. He doubts that this is the right path to take:
“I have changed
I’m not as sure as when we started….
But if I die
See the saga through and do the things you ask of me…
I want to know my God…
Why I should die?
Would I be more noticed than I ever was before
Would the things I’ve said and done matter anymore?
If I die what will be my reward?...
Can you show me now that I will not be killed in vain?”

It just doesn’t seem as clear as it had in the past. Why give up the ministry, which seems so successful? Why not just live a normal life? Why bear all the suffering? Is it really worth it all? As to all humans, the future is clouded, and the promised blessings seem unsure. Will Jesus obtain everything that seemed so clear in the time of prayer?

But the faith of Jesus in this prayer is found not in bold statements of certainly, but in simple obedience, although regretted, although agonized through. Weber’s Jesus screams to God:
“Alright, I’ll die!
Just watch me die!
See how I die!”And the music pounds, not with a gentle surrender into that dark night, but with a sorrowful, screaming, even regretful obedience to the One who knows better for all, even if we understand nothing. One can hear Jesus pounding the ground in terrible anger over the injustice against himself he is being asked to perform.

Finally, the music quiets as Jesus quits, exhausted. He reflects on his years of agony, that the crucifixion is only the climax of:
“Then I was inspired
Now I’m sad and tired.
After all, I’ve tried for three years
Seems like ninety…
Why then am I scared to finish
What I started?”

Perhaps the crucifixion isn’t an agony after all. Perhaps it is a release. It is a rest. All the years of sorrow and suffering and service are about to cease. And in this, Jesus fully surrenders to God:
“God, Thy will is hard
But You hold every card
I will drink Your cup of poison
Nail me to Your cross and break me
Bleed me, beat me, kill me…”
The anger is still there, but so is the surrender. And this is all that God expects

Again, this prayer doesn’t fully express Jesus’ thoughts before the cross. There is no twentieth century doubt of God’s existence. But it does express the regret that Jesus himself felt. And it ends with Jesus’ willing obedience, if reluctant. In four minutes we can experience the doubts and regrets and faith of Jesus in his all night prayer.

And the way I see it, this is not Jesus’ prayer at all. It is mine. It is expressing my surrender to the life of suffering God has required of me, of my family. Sometime I regret the all-nighters of prayer and worry. Sometimes I sorrow over the deaths of those dear to me. Sometimes I fear that the difficulties I put my family through will be required at my hand.

I am not as confident of being right as everyone thinks I am. Privately, I agonize and cry out to God, wondering why things are the way they are. Why won’t people just obey Him? Why do people turn to death every day? Why does a man have to surrender everything in order to offer an opportunity to salvation of others? Why does God’s offer of mercy require a willing sacrifice?

Just as in the musical prayer, however, there are no answers to the questions. We could give platitudes, but that doesn’t help anyone actually give up their lives to God’s purpose. Rather, it is simple faith and surrender.

It has been longer than three years for me. It has been ten, perhaps more depending on when you start counting. But I feel the thirty, the ninety years, just as Rice’s Jesus does. I agonize with him. Because perhaps this wasn’t precisely Jesus’ prayer. But it is mine. When I am agonizing over my ministry. When I want to just give up and live a normal life. When I am struggling to get out of bed so I can meet more people, and give what few words of comfort I have for them. When I have little for myself, then I pray with this artificial Jesus:
“Then, I was inspired
Now I’m sad and tired.
Listen, surly I’ve exceeded expectations…
Could You ask as much from any other man?”

And when I come full circle, offering my complaint, but still recognizing God’s sovereignty, God’s superior knowledge and love, even for me in my weakness, then I can offer myself to Him, even as Jesus himself offered himself for me. But this does not exhaust my anger at the injustice of being drained of all my energy for others and not having anything for myself. And so I cry in my mind the last line of Jesus’ prayer:
"Take me now, before I change my mind…”

Or perhaps, in my more gentle moments, I might reflect on Mother Teresa’s statement, reflecting on the same truth without being so testosterone-driven:
“God says that He would only give me as much as I can handle.
I wish He didn’t trust me so much.”

Fun and Ministry

A week ago Tuesday, Anawim had Johnny Cash night. We played Johnny Cash music, and showed the movie, Walk the Line. It was awesome. We had our largest attendance—70 people. And it was a blast.

Pleasure is one of the basic needs of humanity. Without a sense of pleasure, we move into deep depression, have no motivation for life and could possibly commit suicide.

God is all for having a good time. I often talk about the tithe of Deuteronomy 14, where the landowners are to take ten percent of all they earned that year (all grain, livestock, money, etc), and spend it on one huge party before the Lord, that all the poor and the community is invited to. God COMMANDS his people to have a good time and to blow a wad of cash. That’s cool.

Jesus’ ministry was to go from one town to another, preaching the gospel. What’s rarely spoken of, though, is that everywhere Jesus went there was a party, in which he was the guest of honor. Jesus was the original party animal. This is how come Jesus was called a “glutton” by his enemies.

It is not only okay to have a party, but God requires us to.

For this reason, it is important in Anawim to have humor and enjoyment in as much of our lives as we can. If we were as somber as our calling, we would fail our calling.

And it isn’t enough for us to just crack a joke at a beginning of a sermon. Fun should be woven into the fabric of all that we do. If we don’t enjoy it, no one else will, either. We need to seek the pleasure, so we can share it.

It is depressing enough to be homeless. We should make coming to church a bright spot in a poor person’s day.

Related to this, Anawim is trying to raise some money so we can provide art supplies for the folks on the street so they can worship God through paint, drawing and collage. If you’d like to help us in this, let us know.