I’m Moving…

… to bunderwood.missionalrichmond.net

The death of a blog?

Ok… now that Jesus For President is over, I’ve been trying to think about what i need to do with this blog.  I’ve come up with three ideas for it that keep coming back around, so I need some help.

1.  I’ve been thinking about taking a sabbatical from blogging and then come back doing the same type of thing I was doing before we started the J4P community series.

2. I liked the J4P series and having the community of differing voices heard about the book, although there are a few things I’d change- like not dragging it out over 2+ months(I think it would be better to have put out posts back to back rather than every other day).  So, I’m thinking this could be a place to discuss different books throughout the year.  There are many reasons why this may not work, but I’d love to hear your thoughts or even books that might be of interest to the larger community.

3. It is time to kill it!  For those who don’t know, the Underwoods are in major life transition right now.  This is a difficult thing for me to think about because I have felt this a safe place to wrestle with many of the questions that I have.  I have had to take the time to write out my thoughts as i write them down in a way that birthed new hope in me at a time when the wilderness was feeling eternal.  I started this blog with the title ‘Hope like Mad” because I believed that there had to be more than what I had been sold.  I have found this to be true thanks to many of you who have walked beside me with your comments, encouragements and critiques.

So, what do you think?  Or do you have a different idea for this blog?  I’d love to hear you thoughts!   thanks -b

J4P – …Endorse No One

This came from Sojourners today, so I thought I’d pass it along.

Advise Everyone… Endorse No One (by Shane Claiborne)

As we pass the half-way point of our Jesus for President tour, we remember Jesus’ admonition that we be “as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves.” There is a lot of momentum around our little campaign of political misfits – from some of the mainstream media and from the dozen cities where we’ve had thousands of folks come together to plot goodness. And with the momentum comes temptation.  Click to continue to read the whole article

J4P – Love over Surefire Results

Guest Blogger: Ryan Ellis

A Real Security Plan

First reading this section, the strongest idea that I see is stated rather clearly: that our lifestyles drenched with materialism and independence make it harder for us to follow Jesus, to love others. We have to change the way we behave economically if we want to change the way we behave socially. We simply can’t live the status quo with our wealth and still follow Jesus and love others. It’s a charge that demands action on the financial level, so I did a little research.

Turns out, this Jesus fellow once told some decently affluent chap to sell all his stuff and give it to the poor or something like that. Frankly, following Jesus economically doesn’t sound like its going to be easy. So anyway, what do I need to do? I have to do something, that’s clear enough. Should I be selling everything I own? Should I be putting my car on craigslist right now? Since it’s for the poor, should I try to get the best price for my laptop on ebay, or should I just take what I can get? Would Jesus leave his songs on his iPod when he pawned it off? Difficult questions, to be sure.

Anyway, other things have brought up this debate before. What do we do economically? Should I be poor? Is that what is asked of me? Well, though I really really want to, I haven’t run out and sold everything. First off, my wife, not a big fan of poverty. Secondly, its hard for poor folks to write blog posts. So what do I do? I feel the message. I want to follow Jesus economically. I want to do something that feels radical like selling everything, just without selling everything. The ideas that materialism and individualism and having loads of stuff, as far as I can see, do make it harder to follow Christ, but what do I do? I’m ready, but I can’t seem to answer the question: what do I do?

Which is why I like the next sections. The first of which is…

The Third Way of Jesus

…which does not answer the question at all. It does, however, with a mix of a stolen power tool, Les Mis, and school bullies, remind me that love is not easy. Whatever it is that I need to do, it’s going to be hard. Going forth in love will require a lot of effort. I know this. I’m ready. I’m a bit scared, but I’m enthusiastic. So what do I do?

Bustin’ Out a Can of Grace

This section doesn’t answer the question either. In fact, none of them did for me. I don’t think that will surprise anyone though. Rather I found here a little encouragement for wrestling with the question. Shane finds himself in a blatant WWJD situation, and he comes up with a bit of a blank. He doesn’t know what to do. Granted the situation in which the question “What do I do?” arose for him did require a bit more urgency than does mine (perhaps we could all use a little threatening of mob violence now and again), but he does something a bit inspiring. When he doesn’t know how to answer the question, he just does something. He tries. He tries to be creative, to do something unexpected. Something imperfect, something difficult. A bit of trying would be a step forward for myself most of the time. Possibly even more important than just trying is the fact that the normal thing to do in the situation would have been fine. It would have gotten him out of the immediate trouble. But he tries to do something better, even if he doesn’t know what. He fights the instinct, the common sense, the normal behavior, the tried and true, and he opts to go for something difficult, with no guarantee that anything amazing would happen. He has no assurance that he will get results for his effort, but he tries to show love, even if he doesn’t know exactly what to do.

Sure, he got a kid hit in the face with a broomstick, but love is hard.

We need to try to love, even when, and especially perhaps, when the normal, the accepted behavior might have worked out alright. So what does that look like on a daily basis? I’m worried that I’m not creative enough to know what to do…

Like King David

For example, giving your stolen horse a haircut, top and tails style, and then leaving it tied to a tree? I would have never thought of that one.

Lydia

We believe in love. Ideally, we don’t want our materialism, and we’d say that we’re willing to give up our independence, but we’re still working on what to do. What does it look like?

Four out of these five sections, including this one, deal with theft or robbery. It is interesting to see all these stories of problems which arise from people who have need, yet the most explicitly stated difficulty in following Jesus in all five sections is having stuff and being independent. It makes one want to imagine a situation that rectifies this imbalance. We’ve pegged independence as a villain, and we see an uneven distribution of wealth as a cause for social instability. I’ll be honest and say I haven’t read the rest of this book, but I’m guessing that it holds high the idea of community. Somehow we need to be dependent. We need to depend on each other, on our neighbors, on the poor. We need them to depend on us.

I still don’t know what it looks like exactly, but it’s nice to see these stories of people trying to love in creative ways, not simply heralding a quick solution or some get-poor-quick scheme. I often feel like I need to know that if I try to do something creative, something difficult, something unexpected in the name of love, that I’ll get results, which usually means I don’t do anything unexpected. I have a fear of giving up things I want to give up, like some of my materialism and independence; because I want to be sure in giving them up I’ll get results. I like to read these stories where people seem to have chosen love over surefire results. I’ve still got a lot to learn as far as any of this goes, and knowing that love isn’t easy, I appreciate this last section about the woman name Lydia as she demonstrates a bit of courage.

Ryan Ellis is simply one of my best friends for helping me to see things in new and fresh ways. He is newly married and is currently living in Virgina in between stays in South Korea, England and possibly Thailand.

J4P – Looking Like Jesus

guest blogger: Keila Underwood

Do you know what confuses me? Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. George Bush (take your pick… either one). Leonardo DiCaprio. Jerry Falwell. Bill Gates. George Clooney. I could go on….

So what about these people confuses me? Why someone who doesn’t confess belief in Jesus can look and act like him more than someone who does. Please understand that I am in no way trying to bash anyone, or lift someone else up on a pedestal. I realize that the names I happened to use could be lightening bolts. I also know that each person mentioned not only has their redeeming values, but also their own moral and ethical lapses. I’m just seriously concerned that someone can obey Jesus’ mandates to care for the poor, oppressed, widowed, etc. without believing in him, and someone else can ignore the commands to love, not to judge, not to kill, etc. all the while using their faith as their argument.

This last section of the book starts out with these very mandates: “Clothes yourselves with Christ.” (Col. 3:12-17) and “Be imitators of God.” (Eph. 5:1) This means that we are to live as Jesus lived… and die as Jesus died. We are to look like Jesus. Do we? Do we remind the world of Jesus? Not just do we look like Jesus, but do we act like him? Do we have his temperament, his character? Do we follow so closely in the footsteps of our rabbi that we get his dust on us? Or are we imitating someone else’s image while calling on the name of Christ? Are we allowing those who don’t even call on the name of Christ to look more like him than we do?

It is the Christians, O Emperor, who have sought and found the truth, for they acknowledge God. The do not keep for themselves the goods entrusted to them. They do not covet what belongs to others. They show love to their neighbors. They do not do to another what they would not wish to have done to themselves. They speak gently to those who oppress them, and in this way they make them their friends. It has become their passion to do good to their enemies. They live in the awareness of their smallness. Every one of them who has anything gives ungrudgingly to the one who has nothing. If they see a traveling stranger, they bring him under their roof. They rejoice over him as over a real brother, for they do not call one another brothers after the flesh, but they know they are brothers in the Spirit and in God. If they hear that one of them is imprisoned or oppressed for the sake of Christ, they take care of all his needs. If possible they set him free. If anyone among them is poor or comes into want while they themselves have nothing to spare, they fast two or three days for him. In this way they can supply any poor man with the food he needs. This, O Emperor, is the rule of life of the Christians, and this is their manner of life.

-Aristides 137 AD

Keila Underwood is an amazing wife, a busy mother of four fun kids and a refreshingly honest voice. You can read more of Keila’s thoughts at her blog, Mosaic.

J4P – First Kill: the rest of the story…

There is no one who can speak better to what war is like, than someone who has been to war. There is no one who can speak better to what it does to you when you take a life, than someone who has taken a life. There is no one who can better help us rethink war, than someone who has had to rethink it for themselves.

J4P – The Empire Has No Clothes / On the Political Fringes

Guest Blogger: David Wolf (this is part two from Davids post on June 18th)

As Shane and Chris note many early Christians were known as followers of The Way. I find this a beautiful description of a Christian, and not that Jesus is the Way to heaven. Instead when one truly follows Jesus, it should cause one to life a way of love, hope, and new life practices.

So what does it mean “The Empire Has No Clothes”? I think I’ve missed how this title relates to this section. Can anyone help me? The authors jump into Revelation to discus how the followers of the Way knew that the Kingdom was at hand and it affects the way they live to how they interact in the Roman market. I’m not an expert, but in these times to shop with the Romans meant you had to claim Caesar was Lord, yet for the Christians Jesus was Lord. During the time that Revelation was written the emperor would sign document as dominus et deus (“Lord and God”). A central theme in Revelation is that Jesus is Lord, and his servants are to be selfless people who are not concerned with wealth and status, but with humanity, and that the God’s Kingdom is colliding with earth. John wasn’t allowing the followers to be comfortable; instead the way included all of life including every purchase and every bite. In a war torn empire, with unrest, and civil war, there was a way of hope. There seems to be a similar story today, and many times I find myself torn between comfort and The Way. Can we live without the market today? Or is the question how do we live for the good in out markets finding vendors who offer fair wages and benefits to their employees. Is there another way? Or are we satisfied with giving a pinch to those who are dehumanizing God’s beloved?

Following The Way should put people on political fringes during the first century, but it should also push us to the fringe. If Christians are to be about the ways of Jesus, justice, love, beauty, prayer, and hope; we cannot ignore political issues like Third World Debt, and the economic impact of slavery. Shane and Chris point out that the convictions of early Christians often had major costs, even life. This should not be a surprise for Jesus warned his disciples that following his way would have such ramifications. Does this challenge us today? Are we able to “pull out” of the intoxicating allure of our culture and society, of our empire? The comforts of the empire are so good, but I think that at time I get lost in such deception. I wonder if I’ve become content with what our culture makes to seem “good”, and am missing the fullness of God’s goodness.

(On a side note: N.T. Wright’s book “Surprised by Hope Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection and the Mission of the Church” that these concepts further and is a must read, especially if you have grown up going to church.)

J4P – He said what !?!?

Guest Blogger: Anna Miller

If we truly understood what Jesus’ words meant to his hearers, that would be the question we would continually be asking. In the beginning of section 2, the writring reiterates that the ways of Jesus, his words, stories, and lifestyle were part of a larger political picture that functioned on power, control, and corruption. All of Jesus’ movement rubbed it the wrong direction…. it was soooo counter-cultural. Why don’t I remember this kind of conversation taking place in the church where I grew up, or in any church I attended, or even at home? Although lots of folks must have understood this context and what Jesus was really saying throughout time, we sure managed to mellow it out, tone it down, and fit it into our culture. I listened to a sermon series at Mars Hill Bible Church via webcast about the Revolutionary Christmas story a couple of years ago that dealt tremendously with the world that Jesus entered (Rob Bell is listed as a source/ influence in J4P – and I think it’s still available in their listening archive). It gave a tremendous picture of the Empire, culture, deeper meanings of so many aspects of Jesus coming to earth there and then. Also, I began reading on www.followtherabbi.com and learning of some of the cultural make-up, political scenery, word plays of stories, etc… Then I reread the book of John and I found myself at times laughing out loud because it is almost comical and I thought, “No wonder they killed this guy”. He was so in their faces, bumping into them at every turn, flipping their thoughts, words, worship, practices all upside down. And when they tried to trick him, he would make them look so utterly stupid in front of others. Talk about “political satire”. The language comparison on pgs 67 -69 are helpful and are really a touch of the iceberg. And, if you read this and study a little further and then reread the gospels, wow, what a fresh reading. For the comparison of 2 kingdoms, that of the world and that of God, and that Jesus “was not trying to create and alternative society or merely be a better version of the kingdom of the world” (p 71), I think that Greg Boyd deals tremendously with this topic in “Myth of a Christian Nation” when he compares the 2 kingdoms and states the same thing but breaks it out way further and develops this particular area of conversation. Gods’ kingdom is not a better earthly kingdom, it is something else altogether; another culture, another kingdom.

I love that the Bible texts, stories, places and little mentioned facts are “loaded with meaning” that I haven’t gotten yet. It has opened my eyes (even just a little bit) to the exciting aliveness (is that a word?) of the gospel and how it festers and grows and is like yeast among us. I want to consume it now in a whole new way.

And, finally, It says “And into the culture with all of its popular movements of resistance – Zealots, terroists, hermits — Jesus breathed fresh life and imagination. People were hungry for a revolution…” And, I think they are again. Why else would there be such conversations sparking up everywhere… and the J4P tour and people giving up the institution for something more costly?? I’m wondering what God is up to and am so glad to be in the mix of the mystery.

Anna Miller is a wife, mother and pastor who is seeking to know what it means to radically follow the teachings of Jesus in suburbia.

A Conflicted Memorial Day Revisited

I remember reading the post below a year ago, and in some ways it has started me down a path that I’m not sure I have recovered from and maybe I don’t really want to recover from.

A Conflicted Memorial Day by Greg Boyd

Hope you all had a happy Memorial Day. (Isn’t that something of a misnomer — a happy time remembering people killed in war?)

Memorial Day honestly leaves me conflicted.

On the one hand, I am very happy I live in a country where I’m free to engage in my own “pursuit of happiness” (as in “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”). I also appreciate the fact that I live in a country where the governed people get to choose (to some degree) who governs them. For all its flaws, I think democracy is better (though not more scriptural) than dictatorship. And I can’t help but appreciate the young men and women who have laid down their lives to protect this way of life. I benefit from their sacrifice, so it seems appropriate to remember them.

On the other hand, my Lord’s words and example have taught me that it’s better to love your enemy, do good to them, pray for them, and bless them than it is to ever kill them. I’ve been taught to never retaliate but to always return evil with good. I’ve been taught that violence is cyclical, and that if you live by the sword you’ll die by the sword. By submitting myself to this teaching, I’ve come to actually see its wisdom and beauty. I’ve come to see the taking of human life as demonically arrogant – demonic, because it expresses hopelessness in another, which is the opposite of love (I Cor. 13:7), and arrogant, because only the giver of life can justifiably take it.

To be honest, I’ve now come to see war as sheer insanity, and every fiber of my being revolts against it. I’ve gotten to the point where I’d rather die than participate in any of this, for any reason. And I grieve for all who do participate in it, for any reason. The fact that I personally benefit from some of the killing, because some of the killing is (at least is theory) supposed to protect the “American way of life,” doesn’t alter this assessment. Jesus is my Lord, not the American way of life. My allegiance is to the Kingdom of God. (And, in any case, as a white person I continue to “benefit” from the often barbaric and dishonest conquest of my ancestors over the American Indians and the enslavement of blacks — but this doesn’t mean I should approve of it).

keep reading

Vote for Obama… just don’t put your hope in him

On July 23rd the Jesus for President Book Tour will be coming through Richmond. Until then I plan on posting interesting articles, things to ponder and other conversation starters on this site.

David Fitch has an excellent article over on the site: the church and postmodern culture: conversation.

Zizek, and the danger of Obama for the American Church

Fitch ends his thoughts with some interesting questions for us to ponder.

What do you think? Is there a work of “ideological cynicism” at work in Christians supporting Obama? Is the Obama bandwagon a positive or a negative (or neutral) for the church’s role in bringing justice to the nations? Is energy by Christians spent on Obama politics misguided, too hopeful, and misdirected? Is it too easy to just say “you should be doing both, voting for Obama and working for social justice in your local church”?