politics

Thoughts on The Hunger Games

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 4 Comments

I saw The Hunger Games last night. I believe that leaves two people on the planet who have not seen the movie. I am a bit behind on these things, but eventually I figure them out. One day I may tackle this whole “world wide inter-web” thing.

The premise is that there is a country called Panem with 12 districts. Once, these districts rebelled and were summarily squashed. As punishment, each district must send two tributes, one male and female, each between 12-18 years old, to fight to the death until only one remains.

I was reminded again how foolish it is to trade freedom for security. To trade inalienable rights for immediate needs. Kinda like when Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of soup.

When we give any government enough power to give us everything we want, we also risk that same government taking away everything we have. In exchange, we get told how to raise our children and how to run our businesses.

This is not about how one political party is right and the other wrong. This is about keeping your eyes wide open to what’s going on around you. To getting the facts before you jump to conclusions. To making informed choices at the voting booth.

The Bible tells us to be innocent as doves and wise as serpants, to know the times, and to trust not human beings, but only God.

Ultimately, we as believers can’t forget that our hope is not in a President or Congress or a revamped judicial system or new Supreme Court justices, but in a King and a Kingdom.

We’re not called to take back a country, but to help usher in a new kingdom– the Kingdom of God that will never end and will see wrongs made right and justice prevailing at last.

I love that in the movie what ultimately wins is being willing to lay down your life for another. After all, greater love has no man than he is willing to lay down his life for his friends.

That reminds me of another story. The greatest story ever told.

Some Things I Love

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 2 Comments

1) I love downtown Franklin, especially at night and even better when it’s not so stinkin’ humid that you can hardly breathe. I love the history and the ambiance of the place.

2) I love when Sweet CeCe’s has red velvet as one of their frozen yogurt flavors. I forgive Sweet CeCe’s for all those times when my hopes were dashed and I had to settle for cable car chocolate or cake batter.

3) I love anything and everything put out by Hillsong. I especially love the fact that I got to see Hillsong United in concert and hear all these songs live.

4) I love that my cat likes to hang around with me and occasionally sleep on me. I feel privileged.

5) I love discovering anything new that broadens my horizons, like new music or books or movies or friends or places or foods. Anything that stretches me, ’cause when you get stretched, you never can go back to your original shape.

6) I love long weekends and vacation days and those days when you get to sleep in to some ungodly hour.

7) I love all things U2 and Coldplay.

8) I love the fact that God’s mercies are new every morning and that His love is unfailing and that He won’t stop wooing my heart until the day I die. And beyond that day.

9) I love the fact that just about every day a song I hear or something I read or a conversation I have will give me one more facet of the beauty and faithfulness of my God. I will get one more thing to be thankful for.

10) I especially love the fact that everything I see on the news that makes me sick to my stomach and breaks my heart will one day be put right. There will be no more hurt or injustice or pain or loss ever again. He will wipe away every tear from our eyes and we won’t be able to see for being bedazzled by the joy we find then.

11) I love most of all that my Abba is very fond of me and that He is also very fond of you, too!

My Political Blog

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 3 Comments

“All religious and political systems, Right and Left alike, are the work of human beings.  Abba’s children will not sell their birthright for any mess of pottage, conservative or liberal.  They hold fast to their freedom in Christ to live the gospel-uncontaminated by cultural junk, political wreckage, and the complex hypocrisies of a bullying religion” (Brennan Manning)

I get so sick and tired of political parties. I’m tired of the Republicans blaming everything on the Democrats and the Democrats blaming everything on the Republicans. Both have very strong notions about what’s wrong and who’s to blame, but neither side seems to have any answers. Neither side seems to be able to fix what’s wrong.

I’ve decided to form my own political party. I’m calling it the hot chocolate party, or the hot cocoa party. I haven’t decided for sure. All I know is that chocolate will be involved. Lots of it.

Whatever I call my party, I know my hope is not in politics. I as a ragamuffin refuse to sell my birthright as a child of God and citizen of a heavenly kingdom for man-made political systems. I refuse to buy the idea that I need to take back my country. This is not my country. My country is a “far country,” not of this world, just as Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world.

Maybe I’ll go with the Marshmellow party, ’cause marshmellows go with hot chocolate the way eggs go with bacon. Kind of a package deal. Plus, you can eat them solo or throw them at people.

I don’t know. I think the idea of a Marshmellow party makes as much sense to me as any other political party I’ve seen so far. I think I’ll just go read a good book. Thanks and good night!

 


 

I want to be maladjusted

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 1 Comment

I was thinking about a speech Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave where he stated that he was proud to be maladjusted to things like social injustice. I like that terminology. I am also proud to be maladjusted to this world that doesn’t work and to the church when there’s too much world and not enough Word.

I want to be maladjusted to superficial relationships and fair-weather friends and to me when I am both of these.

I want to be maladjusted to when the most exclusive social circles are in church settings.

I want to be maladjusted to inauthenticity in myself and others instead of compassionately bearing one another’s burdens.

I want to be maladjusted to looking out for my own interests as I walk right past the broken and hurting without even seeing them.

I want to be maladjusted to thinking that spiritual problems can have political answers.

I want to be maladjusted to giving God my leftovers and not laying down my life for the Kingdom of Christ.

I want to be maladjusted to a self-sufficient American Church who relies on their own talents, abilities and strategies and does not cry out to the Holy Spirit out of utter need and dependency.

I want to be maladjusted to commitment-phobic Christianity when other Christians around the world are willing to pay with their lives for the privilege of what we take for granted on a daily basis.

I want to be maladjusted to anything less than building-shaking, fire-falling, Spirit-drenched revival among God’s people.

I want to be maladjusted to this world and not try to fit in, but instead be like my Lord Jesus Christ.

As always, I believe. Help my unbelief.

A Church Without Walls (Part 2)

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I see a church where we will not be afraid to stand up and declare that Jesus is Lord, that there is no other God but Yahweh, and that there is no other way to heaven but through Jesus Christ. I see a church who instead of condemning sinners, will cry out to God and repent of our lack of love and take the blame for what is wrong with our culture. I see a church who will not just give out of her excess, but will sacrifice to meet the needs of those hurting and needy. I see a church where our worship costs us something and we like David proclaim, “I will not sacrifice to the Lord that which cost me nothing.”

I see a church where it is not about being right, but about giving up your rights. Where we will turn the other cheek, walk the extra mile and keep our word even when it hurts. I see a church who tries to match their lifestyle with what they profess with their lips. I see a church where we stop pretending to be perfect people who have it all together and are so much better than everyone else. Where we admit to being broken and helpless without Jesus and to admitting that the only difference between us and the worst sinner is the grace of God at work in us.

I see a church who is not selling out to a political party or a form of government or a way of life, but who are citizens of a kingdom where the King is Jesus. Where not political might, but the power of prayer and fasting will bring about lasting change.

I see that church and as much as I want that, I have to be the first one to change. Better yet, I need to seek after a transformed heart, God’s own heart, inside me.

As always, I believe. Help my unbelief.