easter in june…

it has been about three months since easter…so it may now be an appropriate time to talk about resurrection.  being one that has been a part of the church my entire life…i have found it increasingly interesting over the years how we isolate and discuss the resurrection one time a year and then hide it away to be yet discovered again the following year.  this is haunting.  the resurrection of jesus christ is the most pivotal moment in history and evidence that death does not have the final say.  conventional wisdom, and common sense, says that when people die they are dead.  that is a fact.  so the very notion and belief of one having power over death and resurrecting to life after three days dead in a tomb ought to…not only cause every single person on the planet to deal with and consider its’ implications…but ought to completely and radically transform those who believe it.

 

a 2007 study by the barna group indicates that in most ways…christians are no different than non-christians in lifestyle behaviors.  the study compared those who identify themselves as born-again christians to those who do not identify themselves as christians.  the results were sobering and revealed that there was not a statistical difference between the two groups when looking at behaviors such as gambling, recycling, looking at pornography, stealing, getting drunk, fighting and retaliating against others, and getting divorced.

 

skeptics are quick to point out the contradiction and hypocrisy of christians, citing the irony as evidence that God does not exist.  other cynics…like myself…who believe in God and the centrality, historicity, and life-changing nature of the resurrection through the work of the holy spirit…see the contradiction and hypocrisy as evidence that many christians view jesus as only good for “personal salvation” but not life transformation.  in essence… Jesus is good for me to get “saved” while I watch the world go to hell in a hand-basket…so it goes.  in contradiction to this sentiment…jesus did not come to create a special group of “saved” people…rather a kingdom of priests that offer themselves as living sacrifices used by God to restore a broken and fractured world.

 

the dilemma for the 21st century church in the united states is how to help people broaden their limited view of jesus christ…as merely the means for salvation…but also as the one who announced and embodied the kingdom of God and who invites his followers to be a part of this kingdom that operates and orients itself around the life-changing reality of the resurrection.   This kingdom movement is not contained or constrained by bureaucratic institutional thinking within organized religion or the walls in which organized religion is housed.  it is a new way of living that breaks forth with so much force and so wildly that the masses are drawn to it.  it is a kingdom that manifests in self-sacrificial love, not resisting evil, going the extra mile, giving the shirt off your back, forgiving and reconciling, and embodying wholeness in all relationships.  it is a kingdom that does not give up on people, get frustrated or angry with people, judge people, or tear people apart with actions and words.   it is a kingdom of patience, kindness, joy, and love.  in this kingdom defined by the resurrection, we proclaim to follow jesus with our words and then actually take steps together to make the Word flesh in our everyday lives becoming the body of christ in our world.

 

it is simply not enough to say the right words, have the right beliefs, participate in bible studies, wear a cross on your neck, put a fish on the back of your car, go to church service on sundays, or depend on the political process to change the world.  Word becoming flesh actually…literally…means becoming a new creation that manifests heaven on earth each and every moment of the day.  it means dying to the old self and experiencing the resurrection full on everyday with every breath you take.  we become individually transformed by the resurrection and together become a community defined by the resurrection.

 

brandon

land of the rich…

my second-grader blew my mind the other day.  at an age when parents assume the natural inclination of a young child is to be quite selfish…our daughter came home and told us what she had purchased with her hard earned points in her classroom auction.  as she stood in front of me with her backpack…she reached inside and pulled out a flimsy gardening hat and said, “dad, i used all of my points to buy a hat for grandma since she lost all of her hair through cancer treatment.”  as a father, I am not sure I have ever been more proud of my child and her selflessness.

honest conversations about Jesus’ perspective on wealth, greediness, and the rich are some of the most difficult to have in the church.  some may get upset and leave the church, or just quit giving their tithe if they are offended by how the preacher explains Jesus’ tough words on possessions.  there may be others who believe they are exempt from the difficult words of Jesus if they satisfy a “10% tithe.”  while these reactions are concerning for any professed follower of Jesus, maybe the most ignored reason why these conversations are so difficult…or why they fall on deaf ears…is that we believe Jesus is talking about rich people and we do not consider ourselves rich.

it is easy for us as Christians in the United States to dismiss the words of Jesus because we do not view ourselves as rich or as inherently greedy.  why would we think of ourselves that way?  we see movie stars, athletes, and other celebrities on television and convince ourselves that we are middle or lower class.  even closer to home we drive down our city streets and see people driving $35,000 cars and trucks and convince ourselves that we are not rich.  we make a meager wage.  we have a simple home compared to “the rich.”  we don’t drive the best or nicest cars comparatively.  we certainly do not view ourselves as rich by comparison in the United States.

if our means for comparison is limited by proximity (to those we live close to) it’s no wonder we do not view ourselves as “rich.”  our context shapes our thoughts and attitudes.  yesterday a lady on the radio said, “we don’t even view millionaires as rich anymore.”  wow…really?  we don’t view a millionaire as rich anymore?  how and when did a million dollars become so commonplace?  our lens for viewing wealth has made us quite myopic.  when we view ourselves as middle to lower class citizens…and when we are surrounded by others like us…we isolate ourselves from the broader reality of (and inequity of) wealth in the world.  if we don’t see the problem, then the problem does not exist.  it is easy to consume and hoard when our context is so limited and narrow.

to be amongst the top 10% of the richest people in the world you only have to have $60,000 in ASSETS…not money alone…ASSETS.  the top 10% controls 85% of the worlds total global assets.  all of this while 50% of the worlds’ adult population owns less than 1% of all global wealth.

we are the rich.  even those we consider poor in the United States are rich globally. 

can you imagine watching ten kids sitting at a table preparing to eat with each other.  in the middle of the table is a large supreme pizza cut into ten pieces.  one child takes nine of the pieces of pizza for himself…while the other nine children share one piece.  this sounds so exaggerated and ridiculous!  but it is a simple and accurate representation of the larger world that we live in.  what would you…as an adult…say to the one child that took NINE PIECES for himself?  SHARE!!!  QUIT BEING SO SELFISH!!!  you might even tell the child that he is out of his mind for thinking like that.  a scenario like this certainly makes one wonder how we operate by such a double standard.    

have you every heard a skeptic ask, “if God is so loving and compassionate then why does He allow people to die of hunger in Africa?”  maybe the problem isn’t God, but the people who ought to be continuing the blessing from God by sharing rather than hoarding and consuming more than we need.  in God’s economy, the rich do not get richer and the poor do not get poorer.  God blesses us so we can bless our brothers and sisters (see Deuteronomy 15).  although the previous scripture is direction from God to the Israelites as to how they are to take care of the poor in their land, i can’t imagine that God would not want us, as the Church, to care for the poor in the 21st century. 

there is nothing that would make a Father happier than to see His children giving everything they have so selflessly to anyone and everyone in need.

*the [living] room is a partner with New Song Mission in Brown County, Indiana.  New Song Mission will offer 3 to 9 foster homes and a school to abandoned children on 100 acres in beautiful Brown County and is currently in the process of beginning development.  through this caring community…children will experience the truth that nothing can ever separate them from the love and healing of Jesus.

over the next several months the [living] room would like to be a catalyst to help raise the necessary funds for the development of this God honoring mission.  without being too specific…New Song’s dollar target is in the millions.  would you please give a tax-deductible donation today.  send it to the address below and 100% of the funds will be given to New Song.  please email me at brandon@the-living-room.org if you have questions.

send a tax-deductible check made out to: 

The Living Room, P.O. Box 1358, Columbus, Indiana 47202

peace always…

brandon

Jesus was just a great teacher (ugh!)…

there will be many within Christianity that will offer criticisms and attacks on the central notions and claims made by Eckhart Tolle in his New York Times best-seller and Oprah Winfrey Book Club selection A New Earth.  and while Tolle sometimes twists the words of Jesus, misunderstands what “a new heaven and a new earth” actually means, and reduces Jesus to a wise teacher, Christian leaders should pause before going on the attack.

i am not an eckhart tolle apologist, nor am i a fan of A New Earth (and yes…i have read the book and am participating in the webinar with Tolle and Oprah).  in fact, any book or movement that strips Jesus of being the fullness of God in flesh and one who defeated sin and death becoming the firstfruits of new creation through bodily resurrection, loses my respect.  but…this book is wildly popular and it’s message is resonating, not only with those who have been disengaged from the Church for awhile and those who have never been associated with the Church, but with many people in the Church.

so what is the message of this book and why are so many, including those in the Church, latching onto it?  Tolle explains that humanity is facing a crisis and we are at the next evolutionary step.  we must evolve or die.  this next evolutionary step is to a higher consciousness and away from the egoic self.  the egoic self is the voice inside…i want…i need…me…me…me…I…I…I.  in order to begin that movement from the ego to a higher consciousness one must be in this moment.  listen to your breath…be here now…be in the moment…there is power in now.  once we can identify and leave the ego, we can find stillness in life.  we won’t be consumed by feeding our ego and the collective consciousness of humanity will begin to evolve into a Christ-consciousness which will lead into a new earth.  Tolle explains that the great teachers understood this and many of them tried to explain this to their contemporaries but were misunderstood.  some were even killed.  others were made into gods.  Jesus, he explains, spoke of this through his parables and teachings but his disciples misunderstood his message and ultimately deified him (made him a god).

Tolle believes all the world religions, in essence, are speaking of the same experience but each explain it with different terminology.  for instance, the ego to a Christian would be sin, higher consciousness would be the Holy Spirit, etc.  he says that there is inherent danger of language because it limits and categorizes, and this ultimately results in religions saying that their way of explaining it is the only right way, or that their way is exclusively and exactly the right way.  Tolle would suggest that religion is archaic and limiting because of the language and symbolism and the egoic power it creates, and people need to be free to pursue their own spiritual awakening that will lead to a higher consciousness.

i am going to switch gears here for a second to make a point to Christians in the Church.

many times when we talk about the parable of the Good Samaritan we are very quick to dismiss it as just a story of helping someone who is in need.  this is right, so far as it goes.  but…if we were to dig into the cultural aspects of what is going on in this story we would learn a profound truth.  jews hated samaritans.  and contrary to what many believe, the samaritans did not receive their name based on their geography but rather by the phrase “observant ones,” or  Shamerim, and later Samaritan.  they believed that their observance of the Law was the true religion over Judaism.  Jesus used a Samaritan to teach the Jews, who had in many ways forsaken their responsibility as God’s chosen people, a lesson in who they ought to be as God’s image bearers, as a light to the world. 

the profound truth and application that we can learn from this simple historical lesson is that God can use those who believe something radically different than the way and truth of Jesus (New Agers) to teach and help Christians rediscover the beautiful elements of the faith that we lost a long time ago and that the world so desperately needs, like peace, reconciliation, forgiveness, wholeness, completeness, beauty and a detachment from materialism and consumption, while finding the awe and beauty of nature and relationships.  this is not a statement in support of Tolle’s mix of a little truth and ALOT of lies, but please don’t miss this point…followers of Jesus OUGHT TO BE the ones known for justice, peace, reconciliation, forgiveness, wholeness, etc.  we OUGHT TO BE the specialists in these matters…since we are to be like Jesus in all things.

as a follower of Jesus, i am deeply disturbed by every false claims and assertion Eckhart Tolle makes about Jesus.  but as an honest person, i can not blame anyone but the Church for missing out on the life that God has called us into and the new creation he has made us to be, and missing out on every opportunity to share that richness with the world.  and unfortunately it is taking someone who reduces Jesus to a good and wise teacher, and who is convincing millions of people to buy into his new age thinking, to teach us and call us, as the Church, to deeper lives and richer relationships that look more Jesus.

the reason that so many people in the Church, as well as others, are interested in pursuing what Tolle is talking about and leaving the Church is multi-faceted and we could spend an entire book breaking down the issues and the problems within the Church.  let’s suffice it to say for tonight that people are hungry for answers, meaning, life, wholeness, completeness, joy, love, etc.  all of which are from God and embodied in Jesus Christ, but the larger society has lost confidence that the place to find those things are in the Church.  you see…the moment that we stop being the body of Jesus in the world by offering hope and life to the fullest…and start becoming a boxy, rigid religious structure that is more interested in tradition, dogma, ultra-orthodoxy, and entertainment…is the moment that people start flocking to shallow, syrupy, and empty philosophies.  and it is officially happening…in a big way.

 it is time for the Church to wake up.

 brandon