Donald Miller's Benediction

I was proud of Donald Miller's benediction after Monday's DNC Convention. He is influential, thoughtful, and represents a new evangelical Christian. Social justice will take a lot of us out of the GOP this year. The Republican party will have to answer for its missteps and the Democrats will have to live up to their rhetoric. The new Christian majority has a broader platform and is actively leading in setting things right.

John McCain and the "Agents of Intolerance"

It was eight years ago -- February 28, 2008, precisely -- when then Presidential candidate John McCain delivered a searing speech before a crowd of Virginia voters critical of some in the Republican establishment, and he named names. Then-candidate McCain faced a governor from Texas and son of a previous President, George W. Bush. The Republican nomination had not been decided and many in the religious right had decided their candidate was Bush.

McCain had been embroiled in public attacks on his voting record, labeled as a closet liberal, or at best a renegade. His politics and voting record were contorted. He didn't fall in line with all of the talking points of the influential Republican stalwarts. He was the target of a determined and powerful machine of rhetoric and cronyism that would eventually land George W. Bush the party's nomination.

In the now-famous "Agents of Intolerance" speech, McCain drew a line in the sand and made a compelling argument for why he should be the candidate of the Republican party. He responded without apology to a smear campaign orchestrated by party supporters who backed Bush and held significant sway. Among these was Pat Robertson.

Robertson had joined a cacophony of religious leaders critical of McCain's choice as campaign chair a man who had warned of the party embracing closed-minded people who hold their personal values at the exclusion of others' liberties. Specifically, he pointed to those who took a stand against abortion, gay marriage, and indecent content in the media.

McCain fired back, pointing fingers and naming names of those who would buy a place at the table for their views and push their values on Americans. He identified Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and Bob Jones University in particular. These were the stalwarts of "Family values" and represented a significant group of Republican voters.

McCain's speech further ostracized him as an outsider and out of touch with values voters. However, his speech was an omen of the then-disregarded trend in American politics away from an hyper-partisan race for money and influence and toward consensus of different-minded representatives. McCain called to the forefront the issues that made many Americans lose heart with the Republican party. A party that had been established upon particular principles of liberty and fairness had been identified with a particular block that did not represent a growing number of Americans in general.

Recently the now-favored McCain found it difficult to live up to his own speech. In a media malestorm he found himself seen as pandering to some of these, the newer breed of leaders in the Evangelical right. McCain recanted the support of John Hagee and Rod Parsley, both of whom had made comments associated with their interpretation of Scripture and culture that were construed as offensive and intolerant.

As the candidate of the party he has taken to mending bridges and developing camaraderie. These actions could be seen as laudable leadership or desperate pandering. A maverick finds it difficult to carry the weight of his fight as leader. He has made compromises and taken criticism. John McCain of 2008 is not running as he did in 2000, but he may surprise many in the general campaign if he returns to some of his old values and stands:

• protecting the sanctity of life
• providing for veterans' care
• preserving Social Security and Medicare
• inspiring public involvement in government
• instituting campaign finance reform
• rejecting empire building

Video: Jesus People

This is a pretty good parody of too many of us in the church

Tempting Fate

A friend of mine has had a really rough year. The doctors amputated her right leg a few years ago. She has been doing a pretty good job working her way back in the saddle. The past year, though, she has had disappointment after disappointment. Each time she has said God has a plan.

The past week I have been following the play-offs closely because I had a pair of front-row conference tickets on the line. Unlikely as it was, I had picked the final four, two, and Memphis to win. There was no assurance of winning it all. None the less, all the playoffs I held out hope those tickets were meant for me.

We live day to day with little control over our lives. Things happen we do not necessarily understand. We hold out hope they will end up our way. When they do we rejoice. When they don't we are disappointed.

Fate is a concept from the mythology of the Romans which attributed certain deities control over the lives of humans. Destiny is a similar concept that one's life-path is predetermined and unavoidable. Providence is the belief in the unseen hand of the Almighty directing the lives of people. Somehow, these answers don't cut it.

Sometimes I wonder if God really does have everything under control, or if this world just goes on its weird way and he sustains us. This viewpoint puts our emotional roller coaster in perspective. In my highest highs, God is glad with me; in the lowest lows, he hurts too. When I rest in him and face everything with the assurance he will sustain me the peaks and valleys aren't so dramatic.

A Personal Faith

Think a minute about how you describe your relationship with God. Go ahead, I'll wait.

Did you use words like friend, lover, or father? Was your description more about Him or you? Did you go back to a script you memorized about something that happened to you five, 10, or 15 years ago?

I learned growing up that we are here to tell others about Jesus and convince them that they had to "put their faith in him" or they would spend eternity in hell. In fact, I learned two questions I could ask someone that would open the door to me sharing the gospel. I memorized a five-step model with a tract that was a convincing argument and even the right words someone could pray (as I led them) to reserve their place in heaven.

Every Sunday, and weekdays on Christian TV and radio I hear people repeating similar arguments and prayers, convincing hundreds - even thousands - of people to "give their hearts to Jesus".

It reminds me of the story of Cyrano de Bergerac, who was not attractive, but articulate, who helped his more attractive (but less eloquent) friend win the heart of Roxanne (the title of the movie starring Steve Martin of the same story). This begs the questions: is God a naive woman who needs us to feed our friends lines to convince Him to accept them? or, are our friends really ready to start a real relationship with the Almighty if they need us to tell them what to say to him?

Don Miller develops this idea in his book Searching for God Knows What. For too long, I've tried to rationalize whether someone who prays the right thing when he's twelve can still be saved at 23, when he's turned from all that he believed then. Is he still a believer? Does he have a relationship with the Lord? Is Jesus Lord of his life?

It's a lot less complicated to consider the relational parallels Jesus himself used to describe his followers. He considered us "sheep who need a shepherd", "the sick who need a physician", his "bride", his "friends", and "sons of God". Relationships aren't fabricated; they grow naturally. They come from a heart that gets to know someone else and falls in love with and learns to trust another as that relationship develops.

Instead of persuading others to say a prayer, making a bargain with God I hope to live a life that convinces them He is the lover, shepherd, father, friend, they've been looking for -- that they will be able to express on their own the desire of their heart to turn to him, however that comes out.

Spring Cleaning

This week has been the annual (if I'm so inclined) spring cleaning around my house. Going through boxes, sweeping cobwebs, and sanitizing the bathroom has been very rewarding. With my physical limitations come huge blessings; friends have helped sort (and dispose) and do the hard-core scrubbing and dusting. Working together (my job is to keep up with where everything goes) we are almost finished. All that's left are the odds and ends.

Ecumenical churches have a kind of spring cleaning: Lent. Growing up Baptist, all I knew of this strange ceremony was folks living it up on "Fat Tuesday" at Mardi Gras then giving up a bad habit for the forty days before Easter. Honestly, a lot of church traditions didn't make sense to me back then. I thought it was hypocritical to give up something you know is bad for forty days, then pick it back up. Doesn't the Bible warn us about doing naughty things and presuming on God's grace?

In my enlightened thirties, some of the old rituals make more sense. Lent, like other church holidays, is a commemoration of significant Biblical events or principles in tangible human ways that help us identify with our spiritual heritage. We recognize the significance of Jesus' imminent suffering at the hands of those he came to redeem. Before the celebration of Easter Sunday (in the western tradition) the believer solemnly ponders our own sin. Lent, like spring cleaning, offers believers the opportunity to get rid of spiritual clutter let the Lord renew us.

With Easter around the corner, it's not too late to participate in the observance of Lent. Let the Spirit lead you how you should respond, but find some way to reflect on the significance of the season and address those dusty, cluttered corners you've neglected the past year (or so). We could all use a little spring cleaning every year in our houses and hearts.