IT IS NOT ONLY ABOUT WHERE WE ARE GOING, BUT WHAT ARE WE DOING ABOUT IT?

    I have been on the road a lot over the last month, and while I have been on the road it seems the world has too, but there is a question as to where it leads.  How do we look at life?  Is it that all of history moves in a linear line toward its ultimate conclusion?  Is it that we as humans move along our path, or make our path, through the world and through time?  Is it that we stand still and waves of events sweep over us, or else wash us away in their wake?
    I am a believer, and I believe in One sovereign hand who controls time, and events, and history.  He  creates, shapes, and controls it so that it comes out just as He wills.  While believing that I also believe that I along with all the rest of us are totally responsible for the paths we choose, the lives we lead, the decisions we make, the trouble we cause.  I believe that we can do good, and that we should, and are created for that end.  So, I believe in a Sovereign preordaining God and lives that make a difference.
    These two simultaneous beliefs allow me to relax, and not worry, or fear that events might overtake and overwhelm me.  They give me confidence in the ending.  They also give me incentive along the way to shape the road I travel, to push in certain directions, to take responsibility for my own walk.  As I look back I am amazed at Someone controlling even the misdirection, the wandering, the stumbles, and using them to create a certain destination.  I realize of course that I don't know all of what lies ahead, I don't know the hills, valleys, obstacles that I may face.  I don't know the cliffs or sudden drop-offs, the rocks on which I might fall.  While I move so does the world, along a certain path, though often in total ignorance of a divine plan.
      I am afraid that in the face of "bad news" and sudden disaster or movements that seem to lead to the death of culture we believers abandon what we know to be the truth of  "all things working together for good, to those who love God, who are called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28)  We sometimes  feel as flotsam in the current because sometimes the events are so big, the results so disastrous, that we make no effort to swim for reason, but only to stay above water.
    I went to a conference in New Orleans and arrived early.  The hotel was just finishing a conference before ours would begin in a day or two.  The conference we encountered was the National Conference on HIV/AIDS.  I am sure there were many kinds of folk at the conference, many heterosexuals, many researchers, with probably a myriad of views about homosexuality.  There was no doubt there were more homosexuals than I have ever seen at one time in one place.  Now, I got along fine with everyone, but being a very conservative committed Bible believer this was hard to handle. Whatever my theological, philosophical, and political opinions Jesus calls me to love people.  Yet, it was hard to handle because the homosexual movement seems to be so strong, the promiscuous licentiousness of our culture, the desire to have sex without guilt, without repercussions or responsibility, is so prevalent in our society.  The demand to redefine marriage, the redefining of family so there isn't any.  The current of current events that have led to this have felt like a water fall, and makes swimming against the current feel useless.
    I read that the one percent, or whatever the top "haves" might number, just got richer and the poor are poorer.  I read that even with "Obama Care" the poor in my state will be left out of the coverage they could have had if our state had cooperated.  I see the homeless on the streets, I see men who are not homeless pushing shopping carts of discarded metal to recycle it, not because they are environmentalists but because they are hungry.  My observation is that the poor, the working poor, the trying not to be poor poor, are drowning, and getting loans from sharks that make them sink even further. We hear the news that the Congress wants to cut out a lot of money for food stamps. It feels hopeless, and the poor feel hopeless.
    The prisons are full, the schools don't teach, there are not enough jobs, and the jobs that are offered can't get a family through the week.  If the Muslim terrorists don't kill us then the angry crazy man with a grudge or a psychosis will bring a shotgun to work and kill us, and if he doesn't then someone wearing certain colors will drive down the street and shoot our children.
    Why call for justice in such a stampede of idiocy and nonsense?  Why practice mercy when someone else will steal, abuse, or crush what you give or those to whom you give it?
    I have managed to sound like Ecclesiastes.  The validation of justice is not that I achieve it, and not even that I attempt to create it, but that it exists as an existential drive in the human heart and  is demanded by the One who made it exist in the first place. To admit the thirst for justice, and the human ability to perceive injustice, is to admit there is a God. The flood of evil, injustice, violence, poverty, and sorrow in the world doesn't diminish the power of mercy, or the need to love it, but only makes it more necessary, only more insistent.  If I don't believe there is Someone who controls the outcome and that things will be made right then the news of the moment or the decade will cause me to despair.  The odds seem too stacked against us, against the Biblical call for a life of morality, justice, hope, order, and restoration.
    It is senseless and selfish to hide in a illusion of personal safety, prosperity, health, and happy possibility, while the world goes to hell in a hand basket all around you.  Yet, that seems to be the strategy of the uninvolved, the unengaged, and in this I include the white middle-class Evangelical and the African American Prosperity Gospel aspirant adherent.  There is a rush it seems to denial.  Some seem to live their lives as if they swim in their own backyard pool, thinking they are safe, while the river of humanity is smashed against the rocks.
     We are all in the same river, and the danger is real, but we do not have to be adrift.  Danger and hope, destruction and salvation, acted upon and acting; real life needs not to be simply endured, nor should we attempt to evade its trouble with a life of pretend, but it needs to be faced and engaged. Our challenge is not only to float in the river, but to swim, and to change its course as God enables us..
    I am an optimist because I believe in final endings that are controlled by a loving, all powerful, and purpose driven God.  I am an optimist because I believe that effort, action, and work toward the things which reflect the character of God have eternal purpose, not simply momentary efficacy.  I am an optimist because I believe in final victory in which evil loses, good wins, justice prevails, the poor are lifted from the ash heap and are made to sit among princes.  I believe that in the midst of the torrent there is not only a rope of grace extended, but a grace that controls the river. I believe that facing, engaging, and fighting for those things now makes a difference, for myself, for the few I can help, for my children and others who watch my life.  Maybe even to change the current course of a river to the place of still waters, instead of a tide of events that wash many out to sea.

FULFILLING OUR CALLING

    Recently I was asked to speak at the African American Leadership, Development, and Recruitment weekend.  This conference was held at South City Church (PCA) and Covenant Theological Seminary.  This was the third annual AALDR weekend, held on Labor Day.  The first was at New City Fellowship in Chattanooga, the second at Reformed Theological Seminary, and the third one was at CTS. 

    I have included my outline here and I believe you can go online and hear the plenary sessions and workshops at the Covenant Seminary website.  I will add some notes here to give you some idea of what I tried to speak about.

ISSUES THAT INHIBIT OUR FREEDOM TO FULFILL OUR CALLING.

   We need the kind of freedom that the Apostle Paul speaks about in I Corinthians 9, where he says "though I am free and a slave to no man, I make myself a slave..."  Without that freedom our ministries are held back or inhibited, but when we are really free in ourselves, spiritually, in our personalities, we can finally really serve people (as we serve Christ).

  I spoke of four cultural issues, or one might describe them as phases, that people in cross cultural situations might experience.  I discussed this primarily from the point of view of the those in the "sub-dominant" or minority culture.  These phases are similar to what missionaries tend to go through, except that Western missionaries don't usually have the same threat to their core understanding of themselves as those whose ethnic or cultural group has been oppressed, or who live with a constant challenge to an attack on their cultural selves.

I.                 FOUR CULTURAL ISSUES THAT INHIBIT OUR FREEDOM

A.    Culture Shock

B.    Cultural Fatigue

C.    Cultural Alienation

D.    Cultural Confusion

    This dynamic can come from individuals who are in a time of ethnic or group shame or loathing, rejection of their own ethnic culture, a desperate desire to be accepted and assimilated into the majority culture, possibly living in denial about the reality of racism, and a disassociation from other individuals if there is any suggestion of racial or ethnic solidarity.

A combination of these issues can cause a kind of Cultural Trauma,

Leading to a reflection of PTSD (Anxiety, Fear, Sudden Anger, Transference, Social Inhibition.)

Spiritual Identity can liberate our cultural identity. 

   This is our great hope, that  we who are in Jesus Christ are loved by God in our full selves; our souls, our bodies, our heritage.  That we are sons of God, cannot be separated from his love, that we are righteous in his sight and forgiven.  The confidence we have in his love means that we can repent in regard to our own sins, and see the sins in our own culture(s), and still realize the love of God for ourselves and our people group.

We need a healthy CQ (Cultural Intelligence) to recognize how we are interacting with our cultural environment.

II.              FOUR PERSONALITY ISSUES THAT INHIBIT OUR FREEDOM

A.    Narcissism*

*Every person struggles with the innate human sin of pride.  It is a constant battle for every self aware person.  Narcissism is way beyond the regular temptation to feel superior to others, or feel slighted when we don't get recognition.  Narcissism is when there is never enough of you, never enough notice of you, the constant dynamic of having to speak or write about yourself.  It is insatiable, and makes people really want to avoid such individuals.  The more they trumpet themselves the lonelier they become.  We will speak about the danger of hubris when we come to sin issues.

B.    Man Pleasing

          This is a constant struggle for pastors and it carries with it the seeds of compromise and a loss of integrity.

C.    Competitive Insecurity

   Many pastors suffer from this, and it is a life of constant comparison and a feeling that we are never good enough unless we can outdo others.

D.    Manipulative Control

    This is where pastors start using guilt to intimidate people, leverage them to obedience (not to God but to their opinion) and spiritually abuse people.  It is a desire for control.

We need a  healthy EQ (Emotional Intelligence) to recognize ourselves.  Character can trump personality issues.

   One great hope for those of us with personality disorders is that we can still walk with God, and that though we are plagued by our fallen personality and tendencies we can still have some measure of victory over ourselves and the Lord can still use us, and many with these tendencies have been powerfully used of God.

III.            FOUR SIN ISSUES THAT INHIBIT OUR FREEDOM

  I think I will let these words preach for themselves.

A.    Dishonesty

B.    Fear

C.    Bitterness

D.    Self-Indulgence  (LUST!)

Sometimes when pastors become "full of themselves" i.e., filled with hubris, they set themselves up for sexual sin.  It is at this place that our success becomes our enemy, we begin to act as if we are not held to the same rules as others, that we have license to indulge ourselves because we are so special, helping so many people, etc.  Hubris is a swelling up of ourselves and it usually leads to a great fall.

Grace from the Holy Spirit is the engine of godliness in us.

IV.            FOUR BAD IDEAS THAT INHIBIT THE FULFILLMENT OF OUR CALLING

A.    Correcting Bad Theology Is More Important Than Winning Souls.

B.    That Protecting Yourself Is Necessary or Possible.

C.    That The Authentication Of Our Ministry Has Something To Do With The Way We Compare With Our Peers

D.    That The Things We Do Are As Important As the Goal

(Studying/learning, Pastoring, Defending Theology, Serving, Polemics, Participating In and Perfecting Church Polity & Discipline, Writing, Preaching, Innovating Liturgy, Innovating Discipleship Techniques or Small Group and Body Life Strategies, Perfecting Evangelistic Techniques, Family & Children Ministry, Counseling, Justice, Mercy & Development Ministry – and all the other things we can find ourselves busy in)

We must not fail to keep the end in view:

1.    The Personal – to know Christ

2.    The Product – to win as many as possible.

Keeping our eyes on Jesus enables us to finish the race by helping us reorient ourselves to what is important to Him.

   Well, that about sums it up.  May the Lord help us to take heed to the ministry that we have received, that we fulfill it; as the Apostle Paul challenged Timothy.

IDEOLOGICAL REJECTION IN THE FACE OF GOODNESS

  I have friends who are so ideologically opposed to civil rights leaders that they find it hard to give any praise to the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.   I have friends who have hated Republicans so much that no matter if Reagan  or George W. Bush had done even one good thing (can you imagine it)they could not bring themselves to acknowledge it.  There are those who hate the Democratic party and President Obama to such an extent that if he says something (anything) that is righteous they will find a way to interpret it as meant for evil, that there is some nefarious agenda at work behind it.
    During the time of Dr. King there were many among theological and political conservatives who thought he was close to Anti-Christ.  The John Birch society had him pegged as a communist.  J. Edgar Hoover considered him to one of the most dangerous men in America.  To some degree ideology makes people idiots, they stop thinking clearly, logically, honestly.  It is certainly true that there are ideological agendas, and not all of them are equal.  Some ideas are just wicked, evil, and destroy people.  Sincerity of belief has nothing to do with truth or soundness of thought.  Yet, even among the wicked God lets himself be known.
    On this anniversary of the March on Washington and the famous "I have a Dream" speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.I find it hard to accept the opinions of those who would belittle, demean, or attempt to marginalize its significance for our nation.  I, like millions of others, love this speech.  I love it for its American ideals, I love it for its hope and its honesty about the reality of our nation's struggles with race.  I love it for its comprehensive call to all of us as citizens.  I love it for the way Dr. King delivered it and the glory it reveals of the African American church and the giftedness of the black preacher.  I love it because the man who delivered it strove to implement the principles he espoused with non-violence.
   The Apostle Paul said in Philippians 4: 8..."Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things."  On this day all Americans should be grateful for one of the great moments in our history.  One might say, "it is nothing but words."  True enough, but if you will consider it that is all America ever has been, words that capture ideas, hopes, beliefs, and dreams.  Look what God has wrought out of those lofty hopes.  We are not perfect as a nation, nor has any man been who helped it shape as such, but we have so much for which to be grateful and if your demand for perfection keeps you from seeing what is in fact good, and praiseworthy, you are truly blind.
   If you are one of those who just can't seem to get past all the problems you had with Dr. King, or that you have with present day Civil Rights spokesmen, or our present black president, maybe you could just think about the words and ask yourself if they do or do not correspond with your vision of what America is supposed to be about.  I think it might even be a good day for someone who was a bigot during that time to say to someone, even someone of another color, "I was wrong for what I thought."  Maybe you could even bring yourself to say, "America is better, America is greater, because of what Dr. King called us to be, and to do."  I am glad, as a preacher, that sermons do make a difference; if they are right, pure, lovely, admirable, and heeded.   

Parents Supporting Wicked Children

  Two stories have been in the Chattanooga papers recently.  One was the continuing legal complications of a family that are all locked up in prison.  They had appealed their sentences which came about due to a plea bargain over aiding and abetting a known fugitive, supplying a felon with weapons, etc.  Said felon was the son, brother, boyfriend of the family members now in prison.  The appeal was denied.  The crime of the "son" was killing a policeman in the midst of an armed robbery.
   The second story was the story of a female police detective who had applied for benefits for her lesbian lover/partner from the police authority/government where she works.  This story was about how the church in which her family were members had exercised  church discipline against the family due to their support of their daughter while she appealed for family benefits for her partner.  The disciplined the family not because they supported their daughter, but because they seemed to publicly support her lifestyle in appealing for family benefits.
    The local newspaper editorial of course mocked the church for taking the stand that it took.  This editorial actually referred to a a caricature used in a fairly liberal television drama as if it were a legitimate religious argument.  The news reporting typically interviewed a cross section of religious leaders who took different views concerning the decision of the congregation in question.
    One note about religious news reporting; it is simplistic if not misleading to quote religious leaders as if they are all equally qualified to speak for a certain religion.  Most religious leaders know that the religion of those who believe the Bible is a different religion from those who don't believe it.  Those who hold to a conservative theology actually believe and hold to the Bible as authority, while those who hold to a liberal theology use the Bible's words but only give it authority when they agree with it.  These are two very different things.
   I doubt most people have a problem with the condemnation of the family that supported their murderous relative.  I imagine most parents would find themselves in a horrible emotional state if one of their children broke the law, and while trying to maintain a tie of love and emotional support they would hopefully condemn the crime.
    This must happen frequently, seeing how many people we have in prison.  It is obvious that any parent can be in a situation where they don't approve of the moral choices of their children but don't want to completely end the relationship.  Most everyone is somebody's child, and all human beings have moral failings.  Sometimes they are fairly benign, but all too often they leave parents in a tough spot.
     How many parents have seen their kids strung out on drugs and alcohol and have had to struggle through co-dependency so as to love their child but not enable them in their addiction?  How many parents have watched their children get married, have children, and then commit adultery and leave that first spouse?  The parents (now grandparents) might have loved that first spouse, hate it that their grand kids are now in a divided family, and know they still have to somehow love and emotionally support that grown child that they feel has failed to have the character they had hoped to see.
    Yes, as in our first example, we have seen parents who have taken entirely the wrong approach.  When the police come they hide the child, even fight the police, and help the child break the law.  Some parents have so wanted to be accepted by their children that even though the child is isolated, morose, and bitter they keep buying them violent video games.  That hasn't turned out too well either.
    Over the last decade or so we have seen public figures whose children came out as homosexual take public stands to support them.   Even though these parents had never seemed to advocate this behavior they now seem to give public acquiescence to it based on the family relationship.  "I can't disown my own child," seemed to be the message.  I think the congregation in Chattanooga did the right thing.  They didn't condemn the loving and supporting of a child, even the child who the church considered to be living in known sin.  They did condemn the idea that a Christian family would stand with their child in the attempt to normalize and make acceptable that sin.
      This has been a dilemma many parents have found themselves in during this present cultural climate, and many have made the wrong choice.  We should always love our children, even the ones who are breaking our heart as we turn them over to the police if necessary.  Our children cannot determine our morality, that is left to a much greater family relationship, namely our Heavenly Father.  It is his opinion that counts not the Supreme Court, the President of the United States, public opinion polls, and certainly not the newspaper.
     People in the United States who think this is a passing commitment of conservative Christians needed to be disabused of that idea.  Though we hope to speak with greater and greater compassion, the idea that those who believe the Scriptures will somehow grow out of their stand against the practice of homosexuality is naive.  Some will lose their faith, that has always been a reality, but the Faith will not change.

GOOD MAKES A DIFFERENCE

    I really like good people, I really want good government, I enjoy good ideas and wish I could think of some.  What brought this on was being invited the other day to our Mayor's "prayer breakfast" with some our city's  pastors.  Our Mayor is Jewish, most of the pastors in attendance were African American, two Rabbis, and a couple of us white Protestants. 
    Now I have been invited by politicians before, to hear about faith based initiatives, community problems etc.  Most  politicians don't listen in large meetings, they usually deliver their strategy as a way of engaging community leaders and I imagine they hope to get political backing for their ideas.  I was therefore wary of getting my hopes up of having a real discussion about things.  We did have some time for input, some questions were asked and some input was given.  I was still glad it was happening.
   I am encouraged by our new Mayor.  Most of all I am excited because he has hired some good people.  Now, I imagine previous mayors have hired good people before, it is just that I didn't know too many of them or much about them.  This mayor seems to be on a deliberate campaign to hire exceptionally smart and talented people, with a record of good performance, and many happen to be Evangelical Christians and several were members of my own congregation.  I am also encouraged because I think this mayor is seeking good ideas, and at least at the start is attempting to establish good government.  He believes, as I do, that good government can make a positive difference, and he also believes that it should be done as economically constrained as possible.  I liked it when he referred to the rate of taxation as a "burden." 
    A city is blessed when it has good leaders, and not just the man at the top, but the team of people they recruit to administrate, lead, and execute what we all hope is a good agenda and philosophy of government.  Good people aren't just talented people, Lord knows we have enough of them in prison, and some we wish were in prison.  When I refer to the Mayor hiring "good people" I mean that they are talented, but they are also people of good character, and they are people of good will.  These folk intend to do good, and they intend to be good while they are doing it, and they intend to do things in a good way.  Being nice while doing good doesn't hurt either.  The phrase, "nice guys finish last" is a quote from the cynical who think being nice is a synonym for being a chump and a sucker.  Actually most of the successful people I know happen to be nice, and maybe that has something to do with their success. 
    Every city has problems, and every level of government has perplexing challenges.  While confronting those challenges, every political leader is surrounded by the electorate, who serve as critics, complainers, condemners, cheer leaders, influencers, beggars, demanders, etc. depending on the issue and their mood at the moment. I think it is important for us to pray and hope for every leaders success, even if we don't agree with all their policies and agendas.  We might dislike, even oppose, certain policies according to our conscience and I think that is fair.  However, to hope for the failure of a government or a leader I think is not only Biblically disobedient but also stupid.  It is stupid because it is self-destructive.  If one party says, "our only agenda is the defeat of this leader in the next election" then I think they have forfeited the right to serve in government, they should never be re-elected.  Not that I don't think there should be a loyal opposition, nor do I think there aren't some incumbents we would wish out of office from time to time.  That is different from not trying to make the best deal out of what elected leaders give us or propose, while we resist those ideas which are unjust, evil, bad, or dumb.  If they succeed in anything that is good then that success belongs to all of us.  If we see their success in anything as simply an endorsement of their party or candidate then I think we fail to see the nature of our cooperative society, and we are simply saboteurs.  In this case folks have put party over country.
    So, I have some ideas to offer, and maybe you have some you could add, and I hope they are good.  Ideas usually have to be discussed, and shaped and criticized, before they can be implemented.  I certainly hope the things I mentioned can be improved upon.
1.  We need a public, private, and faith based partnership strategy for summer youth employment.  We need the city to identify work that needs to be done that would improve our city, then we need to recruit teens and young adults, put them into teams with a mentor/foreman, give them the training and tools that need to be done, and pay them even the minimum wage.  If the city has any funds for these improvements that can go into the employment fund, more funds should be solicited from corporate and private donors, and faith based organizations (even churches) can supply mentor/foreman support for the work teams.
a.  Railroad right of ways that are no longer used can be trimmed and made into public use trails and jogging paths.
b.  Widows and elderly who need summer yard care or house painting, or even house cleaning.
c.  Local forest clearing and trail restoration and improvement.
d.  Landscaping and beautification of intersections and public spaces.
e.  Tuck pointing for the elderly (on their brick home, not their bodies) or public buildings.
f.  City and downtown hosts who welcome tourists and hand out information.
2.  We need a public, private, and faith based partnership for charter schools.  Whereby public money can be used, supplemented with private funds, and chapel and religious courses can be held prior to school day and classes taught by teachers paid by public funds:
a.  Action Academy where everything is built on activity.
b.  Physical participation required in hiking and knowing all our trails.
c.  Knowing the names of all trees and fauna (Latin names included), all the birds, all the animals.
d.  Knowing how to swim or drown proof.
e.  Knowing how to camp, wilderness survival, orienteering.
f.  Knowing tools, automotive, aeronautics, .
g.  All activities with a math and reading component.
h.  Gender segregated, at least in middle school.
3.  Public, private, faith based partnership in creating environmentally friendly church properties.  With some of the largest roofs and parking lots these spaces are heat generators and potential energy makers.  Most churches can't afford to make solar panels for their roofs, but could be leveraged into it with some outside financial help.  Better pavements for parking lots that are less heat generating.  Energy generation can be sold back to the city or Electric Power Board.  More water run off planning for church parking lots would be helpful.  Separation of church and state is fine, but can't we do some things together that are mutually helpful since we all breathe the same air and collectively use up our resources?
4.  Comprehensive effort to help every teen age mom learn to read to her children.  Reading mentors can be hired, children's books can be purchased and distributed.  The first three years of the child's life are crucial for later learning.  The whole city needs to deal with this as this will affect our schools over the lifetime of that child's education.
   Well, that's a few.  Give us some more.

How Would You Feel If This Always Happened To You?

This last June I was at the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America.  I was there with the Reverends, the divines, the pastors, those who wear the collar, the clergy.  I prolong this so you will get the point that these are men of the cloth who, believe it or not, are usually pretty good men.
The overwhelming majority of these men will not go to jail, will stay married to one wife, will be moral pillars of their communities, and most of their children will grow up to respect and honor them.  Do the research, check the statistics, it is real.  These men are educated, they are hard working (for the most part), and they actually do earn the respect to which their office might entitle them.
    Even as I write that I amazed that such a group still exists.  However, that is not what this blog is about.  It is about the fact that one of those men, another good man who earns respect everyday in how he lives and treats people, is a black man.  Not the only black man in their midst, but his color is relevant to my discussion here, and he is my friend.  Being my friend he shared with me what happened to him on the way to General Assembly in South Carolina.
    This, my African American pastor friend, had for many years been an over the road truck driver. I think for about fifteen years.   He knows how to drive, knows how to stay within the law.  He is also fairly large and strong looking.  I imagine if he was angry he would be pretty intimidating.  My friend rented a car, it turned out to be bright red, to make the trip down South from his home five states up.  As he went through one of the Carolinas he was pulled over by a police officer.  The officer asked to see his driver's license and my friend asked the officer, "why did you pull me over?"  "You were speeding, " was the reply.  My friend assured me he was not speeding.  "Where are you going" the officer asked.  When told he was on a way to gathering of pastors he was asked what he did for a living.  Things changed at this point as the officer asked my pastor friend to come back to his car where he asked him about how you could know if you are called to the ministry, since he was struggling with the idea.
    The officer warned my friend to be careful because about an hour down the road there was a speed trap.  Sure enough in an hour or so my friend was pulled over again, while driving within the speed limit which he was watching closely.  Again the questions were asked, and seeing a Bible on my friends front seat the conversation shifted.  In neither case did my friend receive a ticket.
    My friend is a Christian, in fact is one of the most positive, loving, and personally engaging people I know.  Those officers had put my friend and themselves in a dangerous situation, as all traffic stops can be due to traffic and due to the potential misunderstanding and possible conflict arising from such interactions.  My only conclusion is that they stopped him because he is a black man, driving a nice bright car.  This is called profiling.   There was no probable cause, this was not a road block random check point.  My friend was black, and the white officers thought they might in fact find something wrong.  Instead they found a good man, but they had still created a circumstance that might not have come to a good ending.  What if my friend had finally be irritated enough to say something antagonistic?  What if the officer(s) wanted to prove something that day, or reacted with fear?
    My friend was indeed irritated, but he knows how to forgive, he has the power of Jesus to love, and he was wise enough to be polite and respectful to authority figures without losing his self respect.  Not everyone has those strengths.  Every time authority figures profile a  person of color and put them in a position where they feel threatened, afraid, and demeaned it creates the potential for conflict, violence, and certainly anger.      We are a nation of laws, we believe in authority, we usually give the benefit of the doubt to those who wear a badge.  We expect them to be trained, wise and judicious in how they handle the use of force to control, arrest, or of if necessary, kill people.  Unfortunately we have had examples where this power invested in them has been unwisely used, or used in direct contradiction to their training and purpose.  The more confrontations the more opportunities for things to go down wrong.  One incident is too many of course, especially if someone ends up dead or needlessly in prison, and the racial reverberations set us back as as a nation, again.
    Race is a factor in these interactions.  Even good men have bad days, and this is as true for police officers as it is for pastors.  What we prejudge others to be can certainly color the way we treat them.  Certainly not everyone stopped is a good person, certainly some we suspect of wrong doing are actually up to no good, there is evil in the world.  What we don''t need is to bring any more to it by assuming authority we don't have, putting people in a situation where they feel threatened and demeaned, being surprised when they react with anger, and using deadly force when we haven't been sufficiently trained in its use.

GETTING PRACTICAL IN OUR REACTIONS TO GAY MARRIAGE

   Some folks have asked that I make some practical suggestions of how to respond to the recent Supreme Court decisions.  I will offer some ideas, and I hope others will put their minds and energy to this so that we can make some positive impact on our nation.   Obviously I am a Christian, and though like all Christians I am a compromised individual (in that I have my own sins and struggle with them constantly).  I also have a moral framework arising from my commitment to the Scriptures (the Bible) as the revelation of God's will.
     For those who have accepted a non-supernatural presupposition, and therefore cannot accept miracles as a historical fact, you will find such a stand to be non-intellectual and one that might sound crazy.  This is obviously an objection that believers have heard for a couple of thousand years and we understand it, and when you come to faith then it won't be a problem for you anymore if you are in that "unbelieving" category at present. It is interesting how many have been there before you, and when God chose to reveal his son in them, how radically did their views change.  We submit this is not an intellectual issue, Christians have no shortage of smart and educated folks in their ranks, and we listen and think through legitimate intellectual questions.  It is just that we have a presupposition of belief, and that changes everything.
    So, if God has spoken we have no choice but to believe and obey, and build our social-moral fabric from his Truth.  For the Bible believing adherent the issue of homosexuality is a moral one, not a justice issue.  There is an issue of justice in the sense of protecting even sinful folks from the loss of inherent dignity, and protection from attack and abuse.  This is not the same as a recognition of a new identity, such a race or ethnicity, based on sexual orientation.  A moral objection to homosexuality as a practice prevents us from thinking of it a legitimate form of loving.  Not that homosexual lovers don't experience intimate love and friendship with their partners, and of course that complicates the dilemma.  Such love is not the same from God's perspective (again from one who accepts the Bible as Truth and that which should determine our ethics and morality) of a moral love or commitment for marriage.  Love is an emotion in many immoral relationships, and because it is love in the wrong place it creates lots of wrong thinking.
    Some might object that I want Christian morals to be law in our country.  Of course I do, and why shouldn't I want the best for our nation?  Separation of Church and State has nothing to do with my freedom to want the best morality, the best system of ethics and laws to guide our nation.  When Justice Kennedy was examined prior to being confirmed as a Supreme Court Justice he said he would never allow his religion to have a role in making his decisions.  I didn't understand at the time why one would have a religion that didn't inform his understanding of truth, morality, or justice.  His inadequate self-understanding has now hurt our nation.
   I want to help create a consensus of Americans that understands that our Constitution is built on a moral framework. Without that understanding and commitment by us as a nation the document is not worth very much, because it won't be long until it is changed radically.  The only reason it was positively changed in regard to slavery and voting rights was to due to a moral consensus in this nation that was built on a Biblical idea of human worth, equality, and dignity.  The changes that are being introduced now are not by way of consensus, and nor are they derived from any set of absolutes.  This is dangerous territory and those who are simply celebrating individual choices in love making as harmless have no idea what they have set loose.
    My previous article was really to Christians, and especially to those who abdicate any responsibility they have as citizens by assuming they can just love their neighbors, preach the Gospel, and live for the eternal kingdom to come.  We are criticized harshly by unbelievers for daring to "impose"  our beliefs upon them, but this is exactly what they have done to us in the face of every previous culture of mankind through the ages, and they wish to shut our mouths.  I certainly believe in preaching the Gospel and loving my neighbor, I can only hope those believers who will say and do nothing over our present moral challenge will be very effective evangelists, and not assume their gentle silence will be taken as anything but acquiescence.
IDEAS:
1.  Speak with your children, and I mean get into some deep discussions, about the understanding of how freedom to make individual choices is not the sum total of freedom for ones life or country.  Start when they are pre-teens.  This current generation of high school and college students have hardly any ability to think critically to determine a difference between the liberty for self-indulgence and that which truly preserves liberty.
2.  Vote against and vote for in the area of gay rights and homosexual marriage.  Financially support those state legislators who hold to a moral agenda as this is the area to which the gay rights folks have invested millions of dollars.
3.  Push for an amendment to the constitution that defines that marriage is between a man and woman.  (I think the whole idea that we are now reduced to this is annoying beyond belief).
4.  Read about this issue, write about it, start getting angry (without rancor or personal attack) about this issue.  If you are able, learn to discuss it with some intelligence.  Start writing those letters to your government representatives.
5.  Love our opponents but make sure they know we are opponents.  Stay away from any mean spirited or personal attacks on anybody.
6.  Don't attempt to compromise your congregation by making it a political entity or movement, this should be a sweeping movement of the people.  Let the church as an organization do what it is supposed to do, preach the Gospel, and to love, minister, and heal people in their need.  Find those political organizations that will carry the banner for this fight and support them.
7.  Don't panic and don't believe every hysterical article or Facebook post that you read, and don't readily repeat them.  Don't fail to show respect to those in political office, no matter how you despise their stand and their decisions.  Fight ideas, not people.
8. Pray, and then pray some more.
9.  Don't lose hope, even it feels like we are losing.  If necessary use the courts if your rights are infringed, but put your trust only in God who will certainly vindicate his own justice.