As I write this, I am sitting at a Books a Million in Southeast Louisiana three days after Christmas. From my vantage point I can see a sad remnant of leftover stuffed Santa dolls and other unwanted Santa swag that sit all but ignored in their little island of misfit toys marked down to half price. Like many, many parents before me I had to deal with that troublesome imaginary elf this year. Santa presents a dilemma for Christians. If we reject Santa all together our children’s friends and acquaintances will almost certainly not. Then parents start looking like another imaginary figure from holiday lore–the Grinch. On the other hand, if we embrace Santa we have a whole different set of problems. First, we seem to decieve our children for a few years about a man who lives at the north pole and defies the laws of physics every Christmas eve. Then one day, the magic fades and we make cynics of our kids. Perhaps they begin to wonder is there anything else we blindly believe in that makes us happy but ultimately is a myth. In other words, we run the risk of creating not just cynics but hard core skeptics about anything they can’t see like Natalie Wood’s character in Miracle on 34th Street. My own mother has a novel way of solving this conundrum Continue reading …

“What’s Christmas time… but a time for paying bills without money?” (Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol)

The meaning of Christmas seems to have been conflicted for a long time now. Charles Dickens well captured the view of the materialists in Ebenezer Scrooge. Is Christmas primarily about stuff? Getting deeper in debt without financially advancing oneself? I am not sure if people’s understanding of the celebration is better, worse or the same today. Our friend Pastor Keith did a Meaning of Christmas Survey A.D. 2010. Surprisingly a fairly high percentage of those surveyed had an accurate understanding of the Christmas celebration. I say surprisingly because Continue reading …

The possible repeal of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy in the U.S. military has, as you might guess, brought great dissention and consternation on both sides of the issue. Senate Republicans Block ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Repeal and of course, the women of The View have weighed in. What is the right answer to this question? That depends on your starting point. Your worldview informs your answer. Would Jesus have an opinion on this and would it be politically correct or politically incorrect? Again, that depends. Let me explain.

In an atheistic, agnostic or polytheistic culture, or some combination of these, morals are arrived at by Continue reading …

In last week’s blog, Was Jesus into Social Justice? Jonathan raised to assumptions that would seem to, as Jonathan put it, “are indeed hiding behind the furniture at Sojourners.” We had some great responses to the blog but I thought I would revisit the assumptions as we look at the politically incorrect Jesus.

1) Jesus would approve of redistributing wealth to create fairness.

2) The second assumption I find hiding in social conscience of the Evangelical left is that government is a neutral tool for securing social goods.

On the first assumption, we don’t really find Jesus being overly concerned with financial or material fairness. His concern seems to primarily be about man’s (and woman’s) heart for God. “YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND” (Matt. 22:37) is the Great Commandment and from it flows the next, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.”

Our love for and devotion to God informs our actions toward others. Money and material stuff Continue reading …

So this is one of those YouTube . . . what are the young people calling it these days . . . “mash-up” of some comments by Jim Wallis calling for the redistribution of wealth in the name of social justice. Normally I would be wary of homemade videos of audio that can be taken out of context. However, in this case I’ll risk it in order to get at what I think are important questions about social justice. However I will leave it absolutely open that this video may be doctored or whatever to misconstrue what Jim Wallis thinks.

I think what surprises me the most about the progressive Christian movement exemplified by Wallis’ Sojourners and the Center for Progressive Christianity is Continue reading …