prayer for peace, a prayer for courage in charlottesville
As I arise this morning to pictures and videos of a church full of people worshipping (some who I know personally) while a group of angry, torch bearing white supremacist rallied outside in Charlottesville, my heart is in knots. I honestly feel sick.
It feels like our world is going insane. May God give my brothers and sisters who are there grace, courage, and protection and… May God give the same to white Christians to use their voice to speak out against the hatred that is seemingly growing in our land (many who were quick to use their voices in protest of BLM rallies). Sadly, I hold little hope that they will use that same vigilance and protest regarding what happened last night. May Christ, who is our peace and has broken down every wall, raise up his true church. rSeeking Shalom for Spokane
Here is a talk a gave a month or so ago at Life Center, here in Spokane. Immanuel is partnering with LC in our new church plant. The text for the talk is taken from Ephesians 2.
A Liturgy of Peace
I wanted to put this out before it moved from the front of my thinking. A few of us have been very concerned about the increase in violent activity in our city (here is a different recent post about this). The question I have been grappling with is what is the church’s response to such issues. To be honest, the complexity of urban violence is beyond me. What can be done? What can I do? I am not sure.
Liv Larson AndrewsOne thing we (Eric Blauer and Liv Larson Andrews) arrived at was we did not want to become desensitized to how these brutal acts fractured shalom. I believe many Americans are becoming fatigued by the constant cascade
of news of this kind; that they are in a way de-selecting it for their possible choices of issues to be concerned about.
Cry for Peace
Honestly, it seems like there are a millions things on the minds of Americans right now and the potential of entering into another war seems like a strange little (and inconvenient) “gnat” only mildly clouding our attentions. We have been in international conflict for so long, for some it just seems like a “same old, same old” thing. I can remember not long ago that when our country was on the precipice of a international conflict (war) people would freak out.
Have we become that desensitized? Are we that callous? Does it not alarm you that our country is about to drop more bombs…on a different country?
Why Do We Call Him Lord (HT – McKnight)
I came across this today and felt like posting it, particuuarly as our country continues in its warring posture and stands on the precipice of another engagement.
We call a poor man “Lord” and in his name determine friends and enemies on the basis of who has oil for us.
Ron Paul on Nation Building (HT – Eric Blauer)
I don't usually put a lot of political stuff on here, but I do post stuff that relates to peace and how to live lives of shalom. Here is a quote at the first Republican debate from the "crazy" Ron Paul about the war in Afghanistan.
"[Bin Laden] wasn't caught in Afghanistan. Nation-building in Afghanistan and telling those people how to live and getting involved in running their country hardly had anything to do with finding the information where he was being held in a country that we give billions of dollars of foreign aid to, at the same time we are bombing that country."
Taking the Low Place – Pt 2
I posted yesterday a call to those who lead in the Body of Christ to seek the “low place.” The magnificent portion of Schaeffer's book, No Little People, was our starting point. He mentions in the book two reasons for moving to humility. The first one is here. Today I want to share the second.
The second reason why we should not seek the larger place is that if we deliberately and egotistically lay hold on leadership, wanting the drums to beat and the trumpets to blow, then we are not qualified for Christian leadership. Why? Because we have forgotten that we are brothers and sisters in Christ with other Christians. I've said on occasion that there is only one good kind of fighter for Jesus Christ–the man who does not like to fight. The belligerent man is never the one to be belligerent for Jesus. And it is exactly the same with leadership. The Christian leader should be a quiet man of God who is extruded by God's grace into some place of leadership.
Picture of Christians and Muslims
Depicted in this photo, an image from an anonymous source on the ground in Egypt, is a team of Egyptian Christians forming a massive human shield to protect their Muslim countrymen as they prayed during the violent protests yesterday. Beauty amid the chaos.
via www.good.is
Finding Shalom in Today’s World
In the Bible, the word shalom is usually translated into English as “peace.” So when I think of shalom, peace is the first idea that comes to mind. Although there are some rather bloody moments in the Bible, particularly in the Old Testament, I do believe that God wants His people to be peaceful, and he wants peace for them. So when I think of God’s shalom, I usually tend to branch the idea out of peace. In Jeremiah 29:1-7, God instructs His people to live among the people of Babylon. He doesn’t want them to become like them; but he does ask them to live peacefully amongst them. He tells them to plant gardens, build houses, and marry their sons and daughters. These are not things people tend to do when they are in a state of war; on the contrary, these are things people do after the war, when peace reigns in the land and they are free to go about their lives once more. I’m beginning to realize that tension is a major theme with God. He wants us to live peacefully in the culture He places us in, but He also wants us to be separate and not actually be part of the culture. That creates a major tension, and I really think it will look different in each individual life It would be so much easier to just make a choice between living completely separate from culture or completely immersing in culture and ignoring God. But that is not what we are called to do. And now we have to figure out, each person for him or herself, what that will mean in their individual lives. – Diana C.
On being Missional: Finding the Person of Peace
We often talk about the “Person of Peace” strategy that Jesus clearly outlines in Luke 9 & 10 and then see playing out in the rest of the Gospels and in the early church. Admittedly, this can be difficult to wrap our minds around if we have only ever seen blitzkrieg evangelism used. Understanding that Jesus meant for evangelism to be deeply relational and keenly strategic seems a bit off if you’ve never seen it done before.