Waving or Drowning?

state of the gospel

45 minutes to the State of the Union address, and I'm sitting here wondering what's in store for the world. Here's something I've been meaning to post on for a few days. Maybe the time is right now.

Through the miracle of modern (or should I say postmodern!) technology I watched Brian McLaren deliver a sermon on the web a few days ago. It was from January 12, and he called it "How's Your Backbone?"

Here's a couple of bullets I wrote down as I listened...

+ There is a strong and dangerous temptation to remake Jesus in the image of your political party, to use Christianity as an adornment for your political views.

+ Instead of letting your politics form or mold your Christian belief, let your commitment to Christ form your political stance.

+ Stand tall and strong. Not as a proud Democrat or Republican or even a proud American, but first and foremost as a humble and sincere follower of Christ.

That really resonated with me (not the American part, but you know what I mean). Those of you who only know me through this blog will probably assume that I'm a bit of a liberal pacifist. The reality is I have been a fairly right wing conservative "hawk" up until recently. As I listened to that sermon it occured to me that I am undergoing a transformation from "bending" Christ to fit my political views, to bending my political views to fit Christ. That's how I know it is Christ working in me - trust me, the views I now find myself holding are very new to me, and I did not set out to rethink my politics. It happened, I believe, as a bi-product of something else, some other transformation.

I encourage you to listen to the whole talk.

Posted by mike at January 28, 2003 08:26 PM