Christian Leaders Waking Up

I’m tipping my hat to OneMom for this. As near as I can tell, everyone else who’s read the article is giving credit to everyone else for pointing it out, but I saw it from OneMom …

World Magazine is carrying an article about a meeting of Evangelical leaders, during which many of them lament their handling of the Republican nominating process. I think that Paul Weyrich’s comment is particularly noteworthy.

Weyrich supported Mitt Romney in the nomination run, but now admits that he should have backed Mike Huckabee.

In a quiet, brief, but passionate speech, Weyrich essentially confessed that he and the other leaders should have backed Huckabee, a candidate who shared their values more fully than any other candidate in a generation. He agreed with Farris that many conservative leaders had blown it. By chasing other candidates with greater visibility, they failed to see what many of their supporters in the trenches saw clearly: Huckabee was their guy.

As one of the grassroots-level Christians who was trying to get Mike Huckabee nominated, I’m pleased to see that some of the leaders are finally seeing what I saw a year ago. I don’t want to be too hard on Weyrich, because he’s a man that I genuinely admire, but the truth is that instead of choosing the candidate who fit his values, he picked a candidate that he thought would win. He’s right — they were wrong.

Mike Huckabee had few big endorsements and even less money. While Gary Bauer, Tony Perkins, Paul Weyrich, the NRLC, and such went after the better-known candidates, Mike Huckabee was winning races with little money and endorsements from Janet Folger, Star Parker, and Michael Farris — not the big names.

They went for Romney, Thompson, McCain, or even Giuliani (in the case of Pat Robertson), the ones who couldn’t be bothered to show up for the Values Voter Debate.

By doing their best to marginalize the candidate who best represented their values … our values … various leaders of the “Religious Right” have managed to guarantee that the next President won’t be one of us.

We’ll see where this goes in the future.

What Makes a Pharisee?

If we’re honest about it, much of blogging is incestuous. We find ideas somewhere, answer them, expand, and so the pattern repeats. Obviously, there is more than that, but a lot of the time we generate ideas by answering each other. I don’t have a problem admitting it. The entire convention of the “hat tip” is because of this.

This particular post, however, is a little bit more obviously so. Last night, I read on Matt Schultz’s “God, Politics, and Lessons Learned” blog a post which he had originally left as a comment on Joel’s “Sovereign God Ministries,” the post for which had actually been copied from Ingrid Schlueter’s “Slice of Laodicea.” The theme of these posts is one that represents a sore spot for me, really … very harsh criticism of churches which have a contemporary style.

Chrstian Carnival CCXVII

The 217th Christian Carnival is posted at Diary of 1, and I would encourage you to check it out, as always.

It’s arranged this week into attributes of God, which I think is very clever.

The Christian Carnival is a weekly collection of blogs submitted by the writers, and represent Christian thoughts about anything. This week, I even participated.

Enjoy!

What did she mean to say?

By now, you’ve probably heard about Hillary Clinton’s story that she went to Kosovo under sniper fire, and had to duck as she ran into the vehicles. Her welcoming festivities were canceled as the greeters had to move inside to be safe.

It’s a fairly compelling story … and, like such compelling stories as Treasure Island, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and The Island of Dr. Moreau, it’s fiction.

This is another one of those random things that politicians like to say. and I’ve heard people making excuses for it. I’ve heard people saying that this, finally, is the thing to destroy her campaign (which is interesting, since Obama was declared destroyed by the same people last week … and some of them declared John McCain done last year, so I guess we’re not going to have a President next year …).

Song Review: “If We Are the Body”

I’m doing a hit-and-run on the blog today, so here’s a fast post about one of my favorite songs — “If We Are the Body” by Casting Crowns

One of the things I love about Casting Crowns is that they challenge believers to grow and expand in our faith. They’re not necessarily an outreach-focused band, but rather one that calls for some growth in Christians.

Here’s a video, which I haven’t seen (because I use dial-up), but I hope it’s good.

My last word on Wright/Obama

I really have nothing else to say about this. Perhaps, sometime, I’ll talk about my theological issues with what I’ve heard from Rev. Wright. Probably not, since I have better things to do. But, maybe …

I find no merit in the argument that a couple statements from Rev. Wright proves that he is an unforgivable racist, and therefore Obama’s association with him proves that he, too, is an unforgivable racist.

Nor do most conservatives.

Huh?

No, they don’t. You see, this kind of logic means that George W. Bush is a supporter of Saddam Hussein. Before you argue with me, I have photographic proof.

Easter: One Rock Cries Out

(This is not actually original. At least, not this year. I wrote it last year, on the day after Easter. It found its way onto my own writing web site and a few e-mails, things like that … But here I’m posting it for the wider audience.)The Rock that Cries Out

In the Gospel of Luke, chapter 19, we see the account of Jesus making what we call His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, on the occasion that we now know as Palm Sunday. Riding on a donkey, He is making His way into Jerusalem and His fans are out in force. A massive crowd of followers showed up in front of Him throwing cloaks and palm branches on the road. At that time, some of the Pharisees called out to Jesus and told Him to tell His disciples to be quiet. Presumably, they needed their quiet for something vitally important. In verse 40, He tells them, “I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

This opens a week in which Jesus picks more than a few fights with the leaders of Jerusalem, throws the money-lenders out of the Temple, and is confronted time and again by the corrupt. I don’t know what it looks like when the rocks cry out the glory of God because no one else will. I have heard explanations that say this was just a response to the fact that all nature reveals God’s glory (a Romans 1:20 preview, I suppose). I don’t buy this explanation. Something happened on that Palm Sunday, and the earth itself knew it. This is one of those most-crucial moments in time, when Jesus made His return to Jerusalem for the week that would end in His death and resurrection.

At Jesus’ birth, the sky was rolled back so that angels themselves could announce it to shepherds. Apparently, the Triumphal Entry was a similar kind of situation. Salvation had been determined, and was going to happen. There was such power in this moment, I think that the rocks really would have burst out … whatever that means.

As I work my way through Luke, I move from wondering about this to the other end of the week. In Luke 24:2, the women found the stone rolled away from in front of Jesus’ tomb. Looking to Matthew for a bit more information, we see in Matthew 27:60 that Joseph of Arimathea put a large stone in front of Jesus’ tomb, shortly before the governor, Pontius Pilate, had the tomb sealed and guarded.

It struck me yesterday, during the Easter sermon, that that stone would have had a lot to say were it given the opportunity. This stone was supposed to be the symbol of Jesus’ final defeat and burial. It was supposed to stand as a permanent reminder to the disciples that they lost, that their faith was no match for the practicality of the Romans and the religious leaders of the day. Instead, everyone knows what it means that the stone was rolled away - even if the person doesn’t believe it.

If the stones along the road to Jerusalem had a lot to say about the coming of Jesus to the site of His final victory, this one - an integral part of that victory celebration - must have been something to see. It stands, no longer in front of the tomb, as a monument to God’s power over death, and thus as a symbol that everything Jesus said about resurrection, redemption, forgiveness, and love is true.

In many places through the Old Testament, it was traditional to set up small piles of rocks as memorials of what God did for the Israelites. Surely, one could make a case that this rock towers above them all. This rock was placed over a grave, and sealed at the order of Pilate by the priests of Jerusalem. Then it moved because God wanted it out of the way.

The thought crossed my mind … What would that stone cry out? If, for whatever reason, it was called on to praise God because not enough people were doing so, what would it have to say? This stone, after all, was witness to the validation of everything that Jesus Christ ever said and did. It was put in front of a grave that was emptied three days later, and where the women first met an angel who said that Jesus of Nazareth wasn’t there.

Ultimately, we don’t need the rock to cry out in any way. Its mere movement was a witness to the miracle that happened behind it.

For that miracle, we should never let it fall to the rocks to cry out.

Where Jeremiah’s Right

We’ll see how many friends this post costs me …

I didn’t necessarily want to jump into this issue, for several reasons. First of all, I’ve made my position on Sen. Barack Obama as a Presidential candidate pretty clear, I think. My main choices are either to side with a candidate I dislike, or join the cacophony from the Right. Also, frankly, I thought that this was going to go on my list of issues about which no one cares.

Like Mike Huckabee’s “floating cross” and Mitt Romney’s grandfather’s polygamy, I expected this to make noise for a couple days and then go away. I was wrong, and so I’m going to jump in on the issue.

Good Friday

After the events of last night, one might think that Jesus deserves a break.

Not to be. Today we celebrate Good Friday, which is good for those of us who know why it’s good. There was little good to see about it on the first Good Friday. Those living it were having a very bad day.

Beginning with Matthew 27,  we see how Jesus’ morning begins … with a trial before the Roman governor Pontius Pilate. When Jesus refused to answer any of the charges against Him, Pilate knew that he was in the presence of someone special. The various Gospel accounts talk about just how Pilate reacted to this. For now, I leave it at this … Jesus had no need to play into the trial.  He knew what was going to happen … He had to be crucified, and for that to happen, He had to be tried and sentenced. There was no reason for Him to take part in the formality, the useless spectacle, that was His trial.

Maundy Thursday

It’s 11 pm as I begin writing this, which is later than I meant it to be … one of those days … anyway ..

Of course, it is reasonably appropriate to be talking about Maundy Thursday this late at night, because this is the night really to remember the Last Supper. Surely, we all know the story. Jesus and His disciples were celebrating the Passover in Jerusalem, and Jesus told the Twelve that each of them would fall away from Him that night.

This is a sleepless night for Jesus, and the beginning of the horrors that we call Good Friday.