Like i was saying in the last post, we had a great time last time, learning about fractals and appreciating how amazing God is. We also spent time focusing on people and both how amazing all of them (even the biggest pains in the butt ones) are and how broken and messed up and hurting they are. We truly care about each other and it is not because of what we provide to each other - there is nothing much we provide except support and acceptance - but because as we begin to look for More in life, we begin to see that what really matters...is people.
Ok, so after we spent some time focusing on each other and people in general and noticing them, we talked for a while about politics and bumper stickers - 2 topics that most wise leaders try to avoid - i guess that tells something about our leader!
So, i was out at the soccer fields the other day and saw this Chevy Suburban-type vehicle with 4 bumper stickers on it - here they are:
I will not be discussing the "Good Bush"/"Bad Bush" or the "Vegetarians Taste Better" stickers - i cannot speak to the validity of either of those...but it is interesting that they happen to be placed next to the other 2.
So, what do you think about "Religion. You can't start a war without it." and Religion is regarded by the common as true, by the wise as false and by the rulers as useful?"
These 4 stickers struck me so powerfully, that i had to get pix of them.
Then, the next day i was driving home and came across Jeep Cherokee with this bumper sticker:
and just below it was:
How interesting! 2 vehicles, 2 days, 5 bumper stickers ( i guess you might be able to guess that the suburban did not have the "In God we Trust" license plate), 2 license plates.
Well, we had a serious discussion about all this Thursday night!
The truth is that I feel a wide range of emotions and have a broad range of thoughts about the suburban and their clear feeling that religion is at best foolish and worst evil. One of the things, just to start off, is not violence.
I look at those and i am saddened by the distorted view that they have of the God who made fractals and them and me and gives so much More to life than i ever imagined before i began following Him. He is the God of acceptance and love and forgiveness and reconciliation and peace and joy and purpose and meaning. He is the One who made you to appreciate the wonderful moments of life, just like He does and to grieve the painful moments of life, just like He does. He is not a God who loves violence and war. He is not a God who wants to detroy or hurt. He is smarter than the wise and way more powerful than the rulers who may use His "religion" in a corrupted form to oppress or harm people. To view say religion of my God is false because corrupt leaders mis-use it would be like saying that the American government was not real, just because corrupt politicians mis-use it.
But, i am more than sad when i think of all this...I am angry. Who am i angry at?
Not the vegetarian, who apparently tastes so good. I am angry at the Jeep driver who apparently thinks it is a good idea to malign the president (no matter what you think of him, we, as Americans, elected him) right above his "In God We Trust" license plate. You see, by driving with that combination of plate and sticker, he is saying that the one thing he wants you to know about him other than his trust in God is that he thinks his president is a huge mistake. These are the only messages on his bumper - not "Love your neighbor." not "Forgive when you are wronged" not "Do something wonderful with your life." not "You can have healing from the brokenness inside you." not "There's More to life than economics and money and stuff and work." not "I will gladly help you if you ask me." not "I love all people." and on and on i could go. These would be Jesus' messages (were his messages when he walked on this earth) if he drove a Jeep and had an "In God We Trust" plate on it (and honestly i think if Jesus lived now, he might not be able to afford a vehicle - he would probably ride the bus or walk or bike).
You see, what i see in our world is that the majority of the population that claims Jesus and his teachings (called Christians as a religion) are much more ready to assert their political sentiments than to love their neighbor...more ready to trumpet the cause of their agendas than to forgive when they are wronged...more ready to beat on those who disagree with them than to do something wonderful with their lives...more ready to assert their claim to their lot line and neighborhood rights than to let someone know that you can have healing from the brokenness inside...more ready to flap their giant steaks in the face of the vegetarians and yell at them for not supporting beef farmers than they are to let them know that There's More to life than economics and money and stuff and work...more ready to give &10 via text to Haiti than to say to any random someone who appeared, in need, I will gladly help you if you ask me or I love all people. It is this kind of pervasive neglect for the truth of Jesus' teachings that allows someone to deny the Truth of it. There is no question in my mind that if the driver of that suburban met Jesus and hung out with Him for a few days, they would become convinced that He was not a starter of wars and that He was absolutely true - it rings with the quote from Ghandi - "I like your Christ, I don't like your Christians"
The misrepresentation of the the Truth of God is so bad in our culture that when More than more began, we started because there were so many who, encountering our love for them, wanted to know more about this God we talked about, but refused to go to church. So, we tell people about how amazing He is...and we find that more and more of them are encountering Him for real and see that He is not the God of the suburban, or the jeep.
You see recently More than more went to someone's house to help them for a night and the gentleman who lived there told me how he was struggling with God and whether He could be real with all the pain that was in his life. My response? "Look around dude. You may not be able to believe in God, but you cannot deny these people who have come out on a Friday night, to your house, for no payment, for no reason, except that they choose to share the love in their lives with you. This, my friend is what God is like."
Now, i don't want to give you any false ideas - we are soooooooo far from perfect. We screw up often, and we own it. We live broken lives and life has beat us up, one side and the other. We have addictions and bad habits and have made choices that we wish we could go back and change. We are mean sometimes and impatient and unkind. We are judgmental way more than we want to be. We are broken and hurting people. But, we will not deny it. And we are choosing to look at life in a different way. We are choosing a different path. Our lives will matter, not because of who we are - we suck - we will be very quick to tell you this - but because of the love that we are seeing in this God, this Jesus, this God of Christianity. Plus, we will accept you - we will help you - we will care for you - we will not make a war with you and by the end of it all, you may be able to deny God, but you will not be able to deny us!
So, to the people in the suburban, if you simply bought the truck with the stickers on it and could not get them off, then disregard the message, it is for the previous owner. If those are your stickers, i would love to have you join us at More than more, we will be hanging out again June 2nd, from 6:45-8:00PM
And to the people in the Jeep, we would love for you to join us too - we would like to re-introduce you to the God we trust - He is amazing and wonderful and i'm pretty sure He loves president Obama...
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