A Political Glossary #1

After writing it, I decided to not publish my blog about my son-in-law’s deployment to Iraq.

Experience has taught me that our culture – and especially church culture -- no longer tolerates nuanced opinion. The prevailing belief is that one is either on the “right” or the “left”, and that all subcategories of thought, emotion and opinion assigned to those two broad labels naturally attach to one of these polar positions. Thus, we tend to select the media outlets most favorable to our stated position, form our friendships, alliances and even our churches according to how they revolve around one of these labels. We also tend to consider or dismiss issues and ideas according to how they seem to support or threaten our social and political identity.

This polarized environment leads us to speak in sound bites and clichés with those who agree with us and call the result, “a conversation.” Of course this is not real conversation at all but it takes a lot less work than a “real conversation.”

A real conversation requires the following:

1. A willingness to speak one’s true thoughts about the subject at hand

2. A willingness to listen to the true thoughts of another; without using the time when the other person is speaking to craft our own speech

3. The ability to maintain respect for the person with whom we are conversing even when we disagree with his or her opinion

4. Being more concerned with finding the truth about a matter (or at least gaining understanding the other person’s opinion) than with winning an argument.

I invite the reader to ask himself or herself if we have very many conversations these days, at least as I define “conversation” here.

I say all of this to point out the fact that it has become notoriously difficult to have a political conversation nowadays – at least with people who feel differently about political matters. One of the reasons is because we don’t always share with them the same definitions for the words we use to discuss political life. So I thought it might make sense to create a political glossary – defining our political vocabulary in an unbiased way and with as much “common” sense as possible.

We could begin a political glossary with the words “right” and “left.” The terms were first used in a political way in France, where the early attempts at parliamentary democracy resulted in hundreds of delegates sitting in a massive room, grouped by political orientation, from the royalists on the extreme right to the anarchists and socialists on the left.

So do those labels tell us anything at all, here in the United States, in 2008? Well, yes. They tell us whether a person is generally more interested in social change (left) or in maintaining continuity with the past (right). Few people sit on the extreme boundaries of these positions, however. Most people position themselves somewhere away from the extreme of their stated position. This means that a person who is somewhat more interested in social change than in continuity with the past will have a lot in common with a person who is somewhat more interested in continuity with the past than with social change. In fact, these two people will likely have more in common with one another than with those who “sit on their side of the aisle” but at the edge of the room.

At present, the American media seems to define us all as sitting at the edge of the room. Thus, if we are on the “right” side of the aisle (as I am) then we are expected to be in agreement with every idea and emotion represented on “our side of the aisle” and to find every idea represented by the folks on the other side of the aisle thoroughly repugnant and nauseating.

As I just said: I sit on the right side of the aisle. That tells you that I am more committed to maintaining continuity with the past than I am to facilitating social change. This does not mean that I am uninterested in social change at all, however. Actually, I am extremely interested in social change. I just want to experience change in a way that does not sever my social, spiritual and cultural root system. That makes me a conservative, although not one that a person like Rush. Limbaugh or Ron Paul (both of whom claim to be conservatives) would affirm. Both of those gentlemen (if gentlemen they are) sit further toward the edge of the room than I do.

I am also a Republican, or at least I have voted that way most of the time. Now what does that mean? What exactly is a “republican” or a “democrat?”

Here’s a simple explanation. Since the beginning, our country’s leaders and thinkers have been divided about whether the nation ought to be governed as a pure democracy – a place where every citizen has as much say about every decision as everyone else – or as a republic – where every citizen helps select the best and the brightest political thinkers among us to make those decision that most of us do not have the experience or training to make.

So. A democrat leans more toward the idea of pure democracy. A republican leans toward the idea of a republic.

Historically, republicans have kept democrats from degenerating into mob rule. However, democrats have kept republicans from forming an oligarchy. That’s why we tend to change parties every few years – to keep our nation from tilting toward either one of these extremes. Kept in power too long, each party tends to drift toward its most radical position.

In the last twenty-five years or so, both of our parties have shifted away from being republicans or democrats and toward being conservatives and liberals. Before, each party had both liberals and conservatives and had to work through the differences of the nation before arriving at a party platform. Today, the parties – and those who belong to them – are able to escape real conflict of opinion within their own parties. It is possible to read only those magazines, listen only to those radio personalities and to affiliate only with those people who are in substantial agreement with us. This creates a climate in which the opinions of the other party seem like insanity, like the babblings of madmen. It opens up a chasm between the parties that forces people at the center to choose between the extremes, least they fall into the widening abyss.

In such a climate, nuance and moderation gets lost and civility and respect colors one as cowardly or duplicitous. So the radicals and extremist rant while the centrists and moderates remain silent, shamed by their desire to maintain community with those with whom they disagree.

That’s why I thought I would create a political glossary before sharing my own views on the war, public service and political life.

Response from A Soldier

Dan,

My heart is filled with love and regard for both you and Talitha. We have a saying in the military: “we serve, the family sacrifices.” I know you are at a loss for words and I can understand. When I left for both tours, Sandy could only say, “I love you” while inside she was proud, angry and hugely burdened. On the other hand, I and every soldier has difficulty saying what we feel because the emotions of fear, pride, honor, love for family and concern all rush together at the same time creating a bottleneck of words and emotions. After I had deployed, I was finally able to express my feelings in a prayer which I imagine is what Tyson is feeling. I have attached it. I hope maybe it is a comfort to you and your daughter. Feel free to share/use it however you wish.
Just know that I understand, love, care and support you any way I can,

Jim Patterson

It’s me Lord.
Sometimes I don’t know what to say to You especially when war looms so near.
As dawn breaks, I hear a bird sing and realize that Your peace is still present even in the midst of such awful anticipation.

Right now, my mind is dancing with memories of all those I love so much.
Like a kaleidoscope I see faces of friends and family;
I see places and things;
I hear songs and laughter and joy and they make my heart smile.
Lord I wish I could be in church right now just to hold hands with my wife and sing a song of wonderful praise.
Just to be there one more time.
Oh Dear Lord, thank you for these precious memories.

On this dawn of the unknown, please be with my wife, my family and loved ones.
Place Your hand on their heart and let them know Your presence. Comfort them, as You are comforting me now, with Your love.
Take away their fear, wipe the tears from their eyes and hold tight to their trembling hands.
Dear Lord let them know how very much I love them and how very close to me they are right now.
Tell them I am in Your hand; You will watch over me and I’ll be all right.

Well Lord, the time is near.
The threat of violence is on the horizon; the great engines of war are screaming across the sky and every eye is wide with great awareness.
As the hatred of the enemy is waved before us, I wonder why mankind has to come to such a horrible confrontation.
Questions flood my mind: Will I do my job? Will this war be won? Will I live to see my family again?
Forgive me Lord for being afraid.
Please give me courage so that I might do my duty and be faithful to my country and my fellow soldiers.

Oh Lord help me understand the right to self-defense, the nature of retribution and the wisdom to know the difference.
Somehow, let peace and love and freedom be born out of this trial.
Let the world see and know Your truth, Your love and Your redemption.
As we march now into the future I hear the words so clearly that I learned in Sunday school years ago:
“Yea, though I walk through the valley and shadow of death, I will fear no evil for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff shall comfort me”.
I know you are here.
I feel so small and unworthy right now.
My heart begs that you protect me and keep me safe.
Throughout this trial, let me be brave, let me be true, let me be honorable.
I am a soldier Lord, please never let me fall from your hand.
In Jesus name

Lt Col James Patterson
12 October 2001
Deploying to Southwest Asia
Operation ENDURING FREEDOM

War, Political Life, and The Gospel

This past Tuesday, my son-in-law said goodbye to his wife and daughter and headed out for a year and a half deployment to Iraq. I had so many emotions and thoughts when I tried to blog about it that I realized that I was not quite ready to share them. So I thought I should start here: with my daughter’s blog.

I will respond soon to her blog and probably write a series on “war, political life and the gospel.” Anyway, by way of introduction, my daughter’s name is Talitha Kartler. She lives in Phoenix and is a gifted and called eighth-grade teacher. My granddaughter’s name is Kendall and she is four years old, very pretty and above average in every way! ( I have pictures if you are interested!)

**********


Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Until A Soldier Comes Home

Tonight I sit at my dining room table, eating a peanut butter sandwich, and it is completely silent. My daughter, exhausted from a day of playing, is asleep on the couch. I, on the other hand, am restless. Today I dropped off my husband, my companion of 10 years, at the airport as he heads for deployment in Iraq. There are a lot of other things that should be done right now. There is a pile of laundry on the couch, and the bills are next to me at the computer. I need to throw away the crusts from my peanut butter sandwich.

I wish I could say something profound about his departure. Just like this morning when I dropped him off, there were not adequate words. "I love you" had to cover the vast range of emotions that I had been reeling through in the last few days. Even now, there are so many things I want to say, and instead I'm trying to decide how I feel. It's a new emotion, or maybe no emotion at all. I'm not sure. I think that now I have resigned myself to the task that is at hand, which is to be the keeper of the household while Tyson is gone. I can handle myself; I know that there will be good days and crying days. So far I have been able to have a good cry and then pick up and move on. What I cannot figure out how to handle, however, is what just happened.

Kendall woke up from her late nap, lifting her fuzzy blond head from the couch in a bewildered state. Then the crying began. I couldn't quite figure out what she wanted, until she whimpered,

"Mommy, I miss Daddy."

So we fixed some chocolate milk, put on Loony Tunes, and now she and I are cuddled up on the couch.

I know that in time, Kendall and I will settle into a routine, fixing lunches, running late for school, watching movies on the couch. The days will pass. And then, by the grace of God, Tyson will be home.

I have never regretted Tyson's decision to join the Army. The Army needs someone like him. Anyone who knows Tyson would instantly agree with me. Tyson will be in his element over in Iraq. He will miss home, I know, but he will have quite an adventure. I also admire the way that our country has rallied around its military. Regardless of the public's varying views of the war, I feel that our soldiers have been treated with respect and appreciation. Our country is aware of the sacrifices our soldiers make.

But the families make sacrifices too.

Just remember that for every soldier fighting, there might be a child who is drinking chocolate milk, watching cartoons, and waiting for her daddy to come home.

Wedding Vows and Credo

If you have been to a wedding in the last twenty years, and especially in the last five, you might have noticed a trend. More and more couples are deciding to write their own wedding vows. This change no doubt reflects the desire for the couple to really 'own' their vows, to put their own spin on the words they would nervously utter while exchanging rings.

I understand the desire to do this; after all, our society is now very far removed from using words like 'with my body I thee worship' and all the other antiquated phrases that have been used through the centuries. There isn't anything wrong with altering the vows, given that the bride and groom understand and thus mirror the oaths that the older vows represent.

You might think me old in saying this, and that is of course your perogative. But I do think it very important to maintain the ideas behind our older ceremonies, even if we change the words. It would be appropriate to vow your devotion and service to your spouse, regardless of situation or feeling. But it would be less than fitting on your wedding day to say, "Hey, you're pretty cool and I think we can take a swing at life."

Why?

Well, there is power behind words. Despite our society's desire to deny this truth, it remains unaltered. When we vow and affirm our promises, we say something about our ability to hold to them. Understanding what millions of people throughout history have said and believed and held to can help connect us to a community that spans even time.

This is why we need to understand our spiritual heritage and the words and vows that our ancestors made. It is a good thing that we are always trying to relate to the world in ways that make sense. We employ technology, sound, visual aids, and modern vocabulary because without these things, we aren't very relevant! But as we do this, we must also keep the same message. We can change the wrapping, but the gift still needs to be the same.

It is with this understanding that I want to present something I wrote a few years ago regarding the Apostles' Creed. If you aren't familiar with it, or want to commit it to memory (a very good idea), I will include the text below.

No doubt, many of you who are reading this blog attend non-denominational churches. Churches like these are relatively new, historically speaking. They are usually independent congregations, made up of believers who come from every conceivable background. This tells me why some of my readers may be cautious about the study of doctrine. Their unity in Christ is precious. They want to guard it. Believers in these churches have enjoyed a generation of unity because they decided not to discuss doctrinal differences. The problem is, most of these churches have now come to the time when they must decide what to teach their children and new converts. Trying to meet this need often opens up the potential for disunity. When I served at a church in central Phoenix, this very dilemma pushed us towards a new and, for us, a surprising insight. We decided that if we could go back to the days before Christians began to divide from one another, back to the days before the great denominations were formed, we would find the common deposit of faith, the essence of "Mere Christianity. " We wanted to get in step with the steady beat of the Great Parade.

For three centuries after the death of the apostles, Christians struggled about what they believed. Even when the apostles were alive, Christians often disagreed among themselves over issues such as how to interpret various portions of the Scriptures (what we call the Old Testament). Then, immediately after the apostles, they argued about which writings should be included in the New Testament. Early Christians also held different beliefs about Christ. Some of these beliefs questioned the deity of Jesus Christ. Others questioned His humanity. Differences like these left Christians divided and discouraged.

To settle such issues, the Christians held special gatherings called councils. Christian churches all over the known world sent representatives to these meetings. In these councils, the believers worked to define and describe the doctrines that would be common to all Christians. The first of these councils is recorded in the Bible itself, in Acts, chapter 15. In the next few centuries there were several more church councils. In them, the Christians decided things like which writings would or would not be included in the New Testament, how much of Jewish practice would or would not be retained in the Christian Church, and what Christians would teach about Jesus Christ. Through the ages since, the overwhelming majority of Christians have agreed with the decisions these early councils made. They have played their music to the steady beat established in the church counsels. The decisions of these councils have stood the test of time through countless trials and tribulations. They are important to all of us.

The early councils struggled over how to describe Jesus Christ and the doctrines about Him. Their decisions were then worded in such a way that they could be memorized and used in public worship by common people. We call these doctrinal poems "creeds," since the first word in each of these doctrinal poems is the Latin word "credo," which means, "I believe."

The first and most important of these creeds is called the Apostles' Creed. No one knows for sure when it was written. We do know that Christians were quoting it in the second century. A couple of centuries later another important creed, called the Nicene Creed, was written. There are few Christians anywhere, with all our differences, who do not accept the doctrines that these creeds teach. So it is in these creeds that believers in Christ find their common doctrinal heritage. The creeds contain what C. S. Lewis meant by "Mere Christianity."

The Apostles' Creed

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
the Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:

Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.

He descended into hell.
The third day He arose again from the dead.

He ascended into heaven
and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty,
whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy *catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting.

Amen.

*The word catholic refers to Christ's universal church, not to the Roman Catholic Church. You will often hear this replaced with 'holy Christian church' to promote clarity.

I'd Rather Be Casting Out Devils

When I heard the song about exorcism on Keith and Megan Cook's CD project, I just laughed out loud. (Well, have you ever heard a song about exorcism before?) So I sent out a blog about it, just last Monday, in fact. Then, as the week went on, I came to the conclusion that I should organize my Sunday sermon around the theme of the CD project: Narrow Road. So that’s what I did!

We also asked Keith and Megan to sing for us in our morning service August 10. We videotaped them and wanted to give you a chance to see it.

Of course, it wasn't just the Cook's CD project that inspired the sermon. I had been profoundly moved by a holy moment that occurred as we were receiving communion in the Sunday PM Service the week before. Our singers and musicians lost themselves in worship as we prepared to approach the table. That moment too was captured on video and I encourage you to watch all five minutes.

We are sending you this email because we are trying to learn how to share the gospel and build Christian community in our highly technological age. In fact, that's what my sermon was about: Discerning the mission of God by observing how He distributes the gifts of the Holy Spirit upon a particular people in a specific season.

So if you enjoy either -- or both of these videos -- share them with friends. By watching how widely they get distributed, we hope to learn how to use internet related technologies to make friends for our church, share our mission with the world and expand the gifts (and vision) of our congregation.

Ok, one more shameless plug: you can see the sermon in its entirety by clicking on visiting the sermons page of the Christ Church Website. Or, if you prefer a written version, just write me a note: dan@christchurchnashville.org. You can also purchase the Cook's CD Narrow Road and other products by Christ Church composers, singers and writers on our site.

God bless each of you -- we are thankful for every member of our extended Christ Church Family.

Dan Scott
Senior Pastor
Christ Church Nashville

Is Creed A Good Thing?

I recently heard a story from a friend about something that took place in her church which absolutely baffled her. The pastor began a teaching series on the apostle’s creed. He walked the congregation through the meaning of each of the concepts of this ancient statement of faith. He even went so far as to explain the meaning of words that might be “offensive” to some of his congregants. My friend said that he did nothing more than lay out the basics of our faith in a clear and concise way. At the conclusion of this series the pastor asked his congregation to join him in affirming this creed together in their public worship service. After such thorough teaching there was now no reason for anyone to be confused about the truth claims of the creed. But before the congregation had finished the last line, a whole family of faithful congregants stood up and walked out of the service. They refused to be part of a church that used a written creed in their worship service. It’s absolutely amazing how many people question whether a creed is a good thing.

Is a Creed A Good Thing? (Taken from Twelve Drummers Drumming)

Perhaps you have heard people say something like, "Christians don’t need creeds, they don’t need doctrine! They just need to love Jesus!" I have certainly heard people talk like that. It sounds right until you ask, “What do you mean?” For if you ask a simple follow-up question like, "Who is Jesus?" he or she will, without fail, begin to unfold his or her own doctrine. For if, in trying to answer the question “who is Jesus,” he says something like “the Jesus of the Bible." You need merely ask, "And what does the Bible say about Jesus?" You will soon see that any answer he gives reveals his doctrinal viewpoint.

The fact is we all have doctrine! Our doctrine may be “homemade,” something we have pieced together ourselves from countless experiences, teachers, preachers, and personal feelings. Or, we may have learned much of our doctrine from some seasoned mentor. However we came up with it, we all have some sort of doctrinal system, formal or informal, that forms our practices and beliefs. The question is not whether we have doctrine or not. It is impossible not to have doctrine. For the conscientious Christian, the question is, How does my doctrine compare with what the Bible teaches and what the saints through the ages have believed? Am I marching to the steady beat, the common rhythm of my faith?

The family that walked out of my friend’s church did not understand what the pastor was trying to do. We live in an age that denies the existence of absolute truth with such loud shouts that it drowns out the music of our faith that has played through the centuries. That pastor was merely trying to beat the drums a little louder in order to help his people find their place in the music again.

I received this e-mail from a younger member of the congregation. As it raises some pertinent questions (and difficult ones at that!) I thought it might be some fodder for conversation. Please add your thoughts, and let's get some dialogue going!

Am I marching to the steady beat, the common rhythm of my faith?

This question leapt off the page when I began to read Twelve Drummers. Though I know the typical answers, I struggle with it nonetheless.

It is my experience that today’s society asks us to eschew labels and yet simultaneously embrace them. We desire to define ourselves by these labels, but not to be bound by them. I don’t think that churches are any different in this regard.

I have always attended a church. More often than not, it has been a quasi-charismatic, non-denominational, Evangelical church. These churches have been happy to tell me that Jesus is Lord, that Easter is about the Resurrection, and that the Bible is a very, very important read.
Beyond this, I’m sorry to say that there was little formal teaching. I gleaned things from Sunday School, VBS, and my Christian school Bible classes. I was left to the very differing whims of the Southern Baptist, ex-Pentecostal, and former Lutheran.

Upon meeting someone my age who was very catechized, I realized that my beliefs were…interesting. This is not to say that they were incorrect or even uninformed; no, they were just different from those of someone who served in the same realm of religious life that I did.

What I am trying to get at is that the churches I grew up in didn’t want to try too hard to be ‘penned in’ by the confines of an absolute catechism. I both appreciate and mourn this idea, and I believe that it has much to do with my level of difficulty with the aforementioned question.
I am surrounded by good, loving, Christian people of all colors and stripes. This adds to my life greatly. But it also means that I am sitting in the middle of a very mixed up pot of beliefs. Why does this matter?

Well, if we are trying to walk to the ‘common rhythm’ that the question presents, we have to come down to the bare minimum that the drummers are drumming!

If we have all manners of beliefs on who the Holy Spirit is and who is saved and what the process of sanctification includes and WHAT on EARTH should the choir wear for the Christmas concert, then we really have to simmer this pot down very, very low.

What we come down to are several things, and these things are usually those that are included in the Apostles’ Creed: Jesus was a man, Jesus was God, He died, He rose, and the other ‘basics’.

The problem is, if we only stick to these basics, we are left with a large problem.

Someone who is living a homosexual lifestyle can believe these things and yet, according to ‘mainstream’ Christianity, not be considered to be living within the Biblical framework that we are trying to uphold.

We can say that the issue of morality is not a salvific one. Indeed, if we are to be judged, we all fall miserably short. And yet, we know that it is important to try our best to adhere to Biblical principles on Christian living.

While even casually perusing the Bible, I can see many examples of how even the most conservative of modern Christians do not practice the ideas of the Old and New Testaments. We understand that some things were ‘for a time’, and that time has now passed. If you are a woman, you are most likely able to speak in church or hold a class in which you instruct women and men. This would not have been kosher, so to speak, during Biblical times.

How then do we know what to cast off and what to retain?

Commonality is a difficult thing to understand, as people and institutions are fickle by nature.
In order to march to a common beat, we need to carefully define what set of drummers we are following.

In today’s times, there are many people in the band, and it seems as if they all want to be in the drum core. I hear many beats, many rhythms, and many sounds that cause me to get lost.
Lately, it isn’t about staying away from those whose beliefs are widely different from our own. No, it is more important to know what subtleties and slightly varying scores will cause us to forget what tune we are supposed to be playing.

Recognizing The Hour of Our Visitation

I am working on a sermon for next week. Several things have come together that seem to be God’s direction for that message. I told you about a couple of them last week. I had been thinking about the message when I first heard Keith and Meagan Cook’s album, Narrow Road. Then I watched through the week as the video from the Sunday PM service kept getting more and more hits on YouTube. I watched it a few times, and during each viewing I felt the deep sense of anointing that it projected. Finally, I read 1 Corinthians, chapter twelve.

These events have made me think about how we do church work. I think we might have it backwards. The leaders of the church plan, organize, and assign responsibilities in order to focus the people towards a common mission. Our intentions are good, and we accomplish some notable things that way. However, 1 Corinthians seems to point in another direction.

In 1 Corinthians, St. Paul seems to view the work of the church as being accomplished through the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit pours out gifts upon the people and then calls them to specific works. For these works, His gifts are able to serve as ‘power tools’. If this is the case, then the work of church leaders should be that of discerning what God is ‘up to’ in the congregation, and acknowledging that work. We then should champion the people and their gifts. We should organize to accommodate their callings, and train and care for them as they do God’s work. This makes leadership a matter of running, in order to catch up to what God is doing!

What God seemed to be saying to me this week is that He has already poured out the gifts on the people. He has already called them to do specific missions, and He is waiting on us to acknowledge His work. We just need to organize ourselves to accommodate it.

This is why I have been watching the Sunday PM video – because God is in it. He is telling us what He wants us to do and how he wants us to do it. He wants us to worship in ways that connect people of our times to Him and to one another. He wants us to make time and space for Holy moments. He wants us to find ways to communicate these moments to the world. He wants us to cherish and help the ones He is using to do this work.

Jesus came to Jerusalem and was ready to fulfill all that the prophets had promised. Unfortunately, the people of Jerusalem did not recognize the hour of their visitation. So, the Lord wept and went away for a season. We have to pay attention when He is among us to do a special work.

Now is such a time.

Next Sunday, Keith and Megan will sing for us. We will also view this five-minute video from the Sunday PM service. I will talk about ways of paying attention to what God wants to do among us and about ways of spreading this word to others.

Please pray, and come expecting to receive some word about God’s gifts and callings in your own life.

Something is happening among us. Let’s not miss our hour of visitation!