Archives for June 2008

I think I might have found a cool title for future posts about music and reads that I’m enjoying! One of the many reasons I love living in a big city is mass transit and the moments I have to read, listen, study and/or pray while I move around the city. Recently, I have been challenged by words in my ears and before my eyes that kind of run in the same vein. The book is They Like Jesus but Not the Church, by Dan Kimball, and the music is the newest EP, Summer, from Jon Foreman. Both are beautiful and challenging. What I’ve been pondering a lot, as of late is the Christian sub-culture we have created and all too often, me included, have consumed mindlessly. Both Kimball and Foreman, in their own way tackle this. Here is a quote from the book I’ve been thinking about:

Like Jonah, who, even after God gave him a second chance and he saw the people of Ninevah repent and cry out to God, complained about not having shade over his head and being uncomfortable (4:8-9), we complain about how well the church is providing what we want and grow numb to the fact that people all around us need the love and grace of Jesus.


We can actually get a bizarre sense of enjoyment sitting around with Christian friends talking about how lucky we are that we aren’t “in the world” anymore. We get into a retreat mentality in which we think of the church as a protection-from-the-world social club. (Whether or not we actually call it that, we end up treating it that way.)

We are content living in our little Christian subculture as citizens of the bubble, but we don’t even know it because everyone in our social circle is also in the bubble.

Ouch! The sting of conviction! Then Foreman’s newest EP has a song entitled, “Instead of a Show,” based on Isaiah 1:11-17 that has hit me square in the face too! Here is a live version of it:

And here are the lyrics:

I hate all your show and pretense
The hypocrisy of your praise
The hypocrisy of your festivals
I hate all your show
Away with your noisy worship
Away with your noisy hymns
I stomp on my ears when you’re singing ’em
I hate all your show

Instead let there be a flood of justice
An endless procession of righteous living, living
Instead let there be a flood of justice
Instead of a show

Your eyes are closed when you’re praying
You sing right along with the band
You shine up your shoes for services
There’s blood on your hands
You turned your back on the homeless
And the ones that don’t fit in your plan
Quit playing religion games
There’s blood on your hands

Instead let there be a flood of justice
An endless procession of righteous living, living
Instead let there be a flood of justice
Instead of a show
I hate all your show

Let’s argue this out
If your sins are blood red
Let’s argue this out
You’ll be one of the clouds
Let’s argue this out
Quit fooling around
Give love to the ones who can’t love at all
Give hope to the ones who got no hope at all
Stand up for the ones who can’t stand at all, all
I hate all your show
I hate all your show
I hate all your show
I hate all your show

Instead let there be a flood of justice
An endless procession of righteous living, living
Instead let there be a flood of justice
Instead of a show
I hate all your show

Don’t dismiss these words, as the words of “radicals” but let them linger, and ask God to help you see if there be truth in them. Blessings…

Their basketball tour ended and now they are crashing at my place! So excited to have great friends under my roof! So sweet to the soul!

I love working for Athletes in Action! I do. God has used this ministry, I happen to work for, to change my life and so many others’ lives I know. (And we have a cool logo.) So when I got an email this afternoon from a fellow staff member back in Xenia, OH (my home for nearly two years), I was so excited to see the very positive press we got from what might have been an “unlikely source”. A piece in the USA Today, entitled Evangelicals You Don’t Know, is a beautiful reflection of what I would hope and pray many of those who have a bent against “evangelicalism” would see from Christians engaging cultural in loving manners. Here is a portion, but please do read the whole article:

So what would this non-evangelical progressive religion writer from the People’s Republic of Portland find during his two days at AIA’s small-town Ohio home?

Hospitality. Curiosity. Respect. And surprising amounts of incipient change in the air.

My own stereotypes had me in an apprehensive state as I checked into AIA’s dormitory-style retreat center on the eve of my visit. Were these dedicated sports-world missionaries going to scold me for critiquing aspects of their movement in my previous writings? Were they going to give me the hard sell for the rightness of their philosophy and cause? Were they going to question the validity of my beliefs?

No, no and no. But they did patiently explain their mission and operation, tell me their personal coming-to-faith stories, describe their hopes for organizational change (particularly in the area of race), ask about my views and listen while I answered with the candor they made possible. My host, Ed Uszynski, AIA’s director of resource development, welcomed me to his home for dinner with his family and invited me to sit in on a massive meeting and diversity workshop for all of AIA’s field staff based in the USA.

Props to my dear friends back in Xenia! “Hospitality. Curiosity. Respect. And surprising amounts of incipient change in the air.” Love it! I loved reading about the author having dinner with my former director’s director, Ed, and his family. A place I spent many Monday nights watching 24, while arguing about whether Jack Bauer was indeed righteous and trustworthy. Good times. (Miss you Uszynskis and so many more of you back in Xenia!) May the Bride of Christ reflect Him with words of beauty like – “Hospitality. Curiosity. Respect. And surprising amounts of incipient change in the air.”