the event of church

I think I am getting tired of church again. Please do not worry about that comment, it happens to me every once in a while. Let me point out a few things about that first comment. Notice, I am not sure about being tired of church. I only think that I may be. While that may be splitting hairs, I will attempt to explain the more important part of that statement. That being I am tired of “church.” I did not say “the” church, for “the” church is the Community of God worldwide … I said simply “church.”

To clarify, “church” is what you do. The cultural meaning of “church” (okay, I am now going to stop with the “quotes” around “church”) is the event that people plan for Sunday mornings and the event’s accompanying programs (i.e. Child Care, Sunday Schools, Support Groups, Youth Groups, Greeters, Bulletins / Programs, Music, Coffee, Donuts, Bagels, Power Point …). So church (small “C”) is the event that a group of people gather around and pay others to execute.

With that said, I have recently read several articles about church. I have also had opportunity to speak with several individuals (both those who execute the event and those who pay for it) about church. The thing that I keep getting hung up on is that I think that many people keep on getting The Church and church confused. Many of the articles and conversations I have taken in focus on what needs to change.

The Older Generation talks about how we have strayed and what needs to remain, and how the hymns have such great theology that the new praise songs do not have. The middle-age generation likes the old hymns, but to admit that seems to be their undoing. They talk about the “contemporary” style, which is now yesterday. The young people talk about authenticity, simplicity, contemplativeness, community, and ask the question “Why do we need church?”

My problem with all of this is simply that we discuss these preferences as though these are incredibly important issues that are vital to the health of The Church. However, this focus seems to be what is making The Church more ill. Why? Well, because all of this seems to ultimately focus not on the event, but the individual and what he or she likes about the event. This is what is driving me crazy.

The Church is the only organization that exists for the benefit of its non-members. While we sit around and talk about whether to have drums, incense, hymns, suits, jeans, chairs, pews, and everything else that goes into the event … we have to keep this in mind. The events are warranted in that The Church should be gathering as faith communities. However, these events are not so that people can find what they like (some people even go to several different events in one day!). These events and their accompanying smaller events (some call these small groups) ought to be for one purpose. That being to equip the Community of God to continue the mission that Jesus started 2000 years ago.

I have frequently heard some speak in amazement about Jesus. They are amazed that he really lived for the sake of others. They are amazed that he lived and loved those who could not do anything for him. The Church has been called to follow Jesus, to live in his ways, and imitate him. This would mean that our focus ought to be serving the needs of those who do not yet know Jesus. This would mean then that our focus should not be on having things at an event be about us and our liking. This would mean that these events should focus on helping our faith communities become men and women who understand how to live like Jesus.

This is why I am tired of church. I am tired of people who say that church needs to be something different. Then all they do is talk about the events, and they focus so heavily on how to be catchy, edgy, cool … what about events that help men and women become more like Jesus so that they can help others to become more like Jesus. I think the most authentic, relevant thing The Church could do is this … To live as a group of people who believe that everyday it is our job to revolutionize our world for Jesus.

fight for rights

A few weeks ago I was sitting in Starbucks with a guy who is just about to enter law school. He had large dreams of going into politics, prosecuting the life out of perpetrators, and making his way to the big time. As I sat and listened to him talk the thing he seemed to circle around constantly was this idea of fighting. Not with fists, but with something that seems to do much more damage, words, ideas and agendas. He kept on talking about his rights. The rights of Christians. How he was continually victimized by the anti-Christian culture that existed in America. He went on about prayer in schools, the Ten Commandments in courthouses, and how the church in America is scrutinized by the media.

After hearing him talk for about 35 minutes, I finally asked him a question. The question I asked him has caused me to think about my own heart, and the way that I view life, and living it. More so, it has caused me to think about the way the church in America is living. How we view life in our time and culture. I said to him, “I have listened to you talk for a while about your rights, and how you will change the world someday. I have not however, heard you speak about the rights of the poor and disenfranchised in our culture, and the world. Why are you so taken with what you perceive you deserve, while not seemingly being interested in what all people deserve?”

As a good future law student, he promptly spoke louder and with more generalisms to make his point. I kept on asking him that question over and over. Then I would add things like, “Was Jesus more concerned about his rights, or the rights of the poor in his midst?” While I was asking him these questions, I was asking myself the same thing. As we continued to speak with one another I began to realize something. That is this.

If the Church in America spent as much energy on issues of social justice, racism, extreme poverty, hunger, and peace as we did on getting prayer in schools, the Ten Commandments in the courthouses, smut off the airwaves, and “our guy” in the Whitehouse … our world may well look much different than it does today. It is interesting to me that Jesus in his day, never went after the “pagans” waving a cardboard protest sign that said, “Shame on You for What You Do!” Rather, Jesus spoke to his followers about meekness, humility, turning the other cheek, caring for the least of these, and ultimately being willing to give our own lives to make disciples of all nations.

Somehow we have become more like The Sons of Thunder only wanting to know who will be in the positions of power when Jesus restores all things to himself. This imperialism we have somehow stumbled upon, and mistakenly labeled “Christian” has marked the Church far too long. Lest we think this is a 20th Century American phenomenon, let us not forget an ugly thing called The Crusades. Many of the people who are living this way honestly are doing their best to serve Jesus. But when we are teaching our kids to sing, “Onward Christian soldiers marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before …” we sound more like, as one journalist recently wrote, “… Al Qaeda than a group of people who supposedly follow a guy who died for the whole world.”

Although this may sound like doom and gloom, I do not think that it is. I am beginning to see a movement back to being a people who do not fight for our rights as Christians, but stand up for the rights of all men and women because they are made in the image and likeness of God. I see many men and women today who have understood the call of Jesus to decrease so that He may increase. There is a movement that is more concerned with feeding the poor, visiting the sick, clothing the naked and giving water to the thirsty. I see men and women who are post-conquest in their view of Jesus and culture, and are doing all they can to move toward being people who serve culture. I pray that we will all continue to move in this direction, for it is in this, that we truly find Jesus, and that others will find him too.

save a life in 30 seconds

As many of you know, I have a deep passion for the people of Africa. Right now in Africa people are dying not only because of AIDS, but also because of very curable diseases. Many would be cured if they had access to simple over-the-counter medications that we have in surplus. I do not wish that any of us would feel guilty for what we have been given. However, we ought to look inside ourselves and ask what are we unwilling to give. This is the greater question.

With that said, I have learned from the ONE campaign that within the next 2 weeks the U.S. Senate is poised to slash billions of dollars from President Bush's plan to fight AIDS and poverty. The President laid out a reasonable International Affairs budget with the power to create hope and stability for millions of people in the world's poorest countries. America still has an opportunity to restore these cuts and lead the world in turning these life-saving
promises into reality.

The good news is that the budget slashing can be stopped. Please join me in speaking out right now! Senators Mike DeWine (R) and Dianne Feinstein (D) have written a letter to their colleagues in the Senate asking them to stop these devastating cuts in funding for the fight against AIDS and extreme poverty. With just 30 seconds of your time, you can send a quick note to your Senators asking them to support this funding and add their signature to this important letter.

The work we are doing on the ONE Campaign will change the world. It already has. Let's keep up the pressure and make sure they know we won't let billions of dollars in cuts to the President's request for the world's poor go unnoticed.

So please click on this link Send a Letter to Your Senator and give a moment of your time to ask your Senator to support critical development assistance. Thank you.

bono and me

Last night I was invited to attend the Economic Club of Grand Rapids Annual Dinner. There were 2,000 people in attendance including the famed “guest of honor” namely, Bono. For those of you who may not be aware of who Bono is … he is basically the Michael Jordan of the music world. As the front man and lead vocalist of U2 he is perhaps one the most globally recognized people on the planet. Yet here he was in Grand Rapids, Michigan.From the moment I was invited to the dinner at which he was scheduled to speak I wanted to figure out a way that I could perhaps meet him. Maybe just shake his hand, look him in the eye and say thank you … and of course get a picture with him. I had no idea how this would happen, but I thought I would “give it a whirl.” So I did.Try as I may, I began to figure out that, as one person put it, “getting face time with Bono is more difficult than getting face time with the President.”So I went to the dinner with my Dad, and figured, well at least I get to hear him speak in person. This is going to be great. Then I realized two things. One, I was sitting at the table next to him, and two, that my Dad knew several of the people at that table.So my Dad knowing that I would love to just shake his hand, walked me past the security protecting his table, spoke to those that he knew, and asked on my behalf, if I could just say a hello to the “guest of honor.” The next thing I knew I was chatting with Bono.I had always had in my mind that he was more than likely a pretty level guy. He has been married to his high school sweetheart for over 20 years. They have 4 children. And while his music has made him famous, his heart is planted firmly in leading change in the way America, and the West view the crisis in Africa.So I tapped his shoulder, and confidently said the words, “Bono, it is nice to meet you, my name is Michael Hidalgo.” He smiled, looked me dead in the eye, and replied, “Nice to meet you Michael.” We chatted for a very brief time, and it struck me that while everyone in the room wanted his time, he looked me dead in the eye the entire time we spoke, never once looking around at anything else. So I thanked him, not for his rock stardom and music, which I do love. More so for his life. The fact that he has chosen to use his fame wisely. He has been an example to many of what it means to, in his words last night, “Be someone who goes to the cardboard boxes, the gutters, and the shanty towns where the poor live. Because even though I hope that God is with me in my mansion on the hill … and I do have a mansion on a hill. I know that he will only truly be with me, when I am where He is, and that is with the poor.”We talked a little more, and he asked about my wife, my kids, what I do … then the dreaded announcement, “Please return to your seats the program is about to begin.” I smiled, and asked one thing of him, “Could we have a picture together?” He agreed … and as you can see … Now one thing I am fully cognizant of is this. If you look at me, you can clearly see that I am like a kid in a candy store. Idiot stick smile and all. Bono, however looks … well like an angry rock star. Then I realized something … he never smiles in any of his pictures. Beyond that, that is not the point. The point is, I have a picture with him … and I am comfortable in saying, “I have met Bono.”I have no grand illusions that if he ever sees me again he will say, “Hey Michael, how’s Beth?” But I do not think that is the point. What I know, is that for so long I have wanted to meet this guy who has influenced millions world wide, me included, and last night I did. It was a great night, and one I am sure not to forget.*Much thanks to my Dad who gave the invite for me to go …

doing the rules

This weekend as I was teaching our faith community I made a startling confession (well, startling for some, but for most it was affirmation). I said in a confident tone, “I hate rules.” The gasps thankfully were hardly audible. After my confession, I asked who else felt the same way. To my astonishment nearly half of the room raised their hands. One who did was a 13 year-old kid who raised his hand, and then looked up at his Dad.

This was not all that I said, but when I said it, I meant it. I still mean it. It really is not the rules themselves, rather it is the way the modern world has couched the rules. Rules are always about “do not.” This is so negative, and for me an optimist, it always caused a grind. I grew up with a long list of “do nots.” The rule books at most of the institutions I attended were exhaustive in their prohibitions. You had to think twice before you ate your dinner, let alone kiss your girlfriend. It is this kind of world that drives me crazy.

More so, these lists of rules were the measuring stick used to gauge one’s godliness. As you can well presume, due to my disinterest in negativity I was quite an ungodly person. The problem was that in my heart I wasn’t. My wife (who during my college years was my girlfriend) was always having to explain to people why she was dating me, because they thought I was such a bad guy (incidentally, she still answers questions about why she married me, but for different reasons). Some of the people who were questioning my wife were the “godly” people. Meaning, they were able to live up to all the “do nots.” Troubling for me was that I knew these people. Not all of them were what they appeared to be, they just could “not do.”

For a long time many said that this drove me crazy because I was rebellious. For a long time I believed that. However, I later graduated from all academic institutions, burned the “do not do” rule books, and still felt the same way. However, this time it was more serious because my attitude cringed at the thought of what God said I couldn’t do (or at least what I thought he was saying). The larger problem was that I was a pastor … I was the guy who was supposed to the ambassador of the “do not” administration.

About 7 years ago, I began to realize something. This realization came by way of prayer, illumination from the Text, and from the community of people in which I found myself. I was seeing people who loved God with all of their minds, hearts, souls, and strength and loving their neighbors as themselves. The thing that I could not figure out is that these were the same people that were sneered at by the “do not” people. However, when I hung out with them there was more freedom in them than I ever saw in those who imprisoned themselves with rules. They lived by two rules … Love God, Love others.

These two rules call us to “do.”

This simple understanding of “doing” versus “not doing” that I was blind to for so long is what awakened in me an understanding of true freedom in Jesus. Now, one might say, “Well the Ten Commandments are all framed in the negative.” For sure the words are … but the intent of how one obeys them is not. We would focus on the “do not” part, the Holy Spirit speaking through the Text empowers us to “do.”

For example, “Thou shalt not murder” (I had to use the King James Version for effect). If we take our “do not” world to its furthest extent then we can rest easily knowing that most all of us can get by without killing someone. Most are not likely to shoot, stab, choke, bludgeon, or whatever someone to death. So, we hear about “murderers”, and with mirth in our hearts we know that we “do not” murder. What if this commandment was understood as calling us to action? What if it reflected the beauty that God places on life? What implications would it have for us? What if this command were viewed as one that demanded action of us in relation to life?

If we are obedient to this command, then we would be people who would “do.” We would speak on behalf of the widow, the fatherless, and the foreigner who have lost their rights that all men and women ought to have as people in the image of God. We would speak into the hearts of men and women who perform abortions, and we would walk alongside of women who are considering having an abortion. We would be forced to help, raise our voices, and bring awareness to those who die of hunger and curable diseases every day. We would have to consider what this view of life means in relation to capital punishment. We would have to assess war and conflict in light of this commandment. Obedience to this suddenly becomes about “doing.” It ceases to focus solely on what we are “not doing.”

If we were people who cared about life like this, not murdering another human being would be a natural by-product of our active obedience.

There is so much more that God tells us to go and do, compared with what He prohibits. I would love to see a faith-based academic institution have a rule book telling their students what they have to “do” in order to be a student. I wonder what that would look like. Many would say, “Well you have to have things that you don’t do if you want to have order.” Given, but this is too often where we stop. We never move beyond that. Sadly, for many this is what is killing the faith of some. They have never been introduced to what they can do, only what they cannot.

If I have an XBOX I want to know how to play the games. I do not want to focus on not dropping it, not getting it wet, not allowing it to be in intense heat … no, I want to “do” something with it, I want to play games until my eye sockets dry-out and get fried by the television. This is the kind of Jesus follower I want to be. Jesus himself said, “Go.” This is doing. Let’s stop focusing so much on what we are not doing. If you smoke, and chew and run with girls who do … my question would be, “What are you doing to continue the revolution that Jesus started 2000 years ago?” (My second question would be “Why are you running with girls who chew?”)

I believe that being obedient to Jesus is about our “doing.” When we are living out his mission and “doing” the “do nots” take care of themselves. Recapturing this mission that He has asked us to continue in our day is the essence of freedom, and the most beautiful kind of living.

mad about fiction

There are a lot of people talking about a certain artist named Leonardo Da Vinci these days. Few however are talking about his amazing artwork. The focus is something that he had nothing to do with … namely The Da Vinci Code, the best-selling book by author Dan Brown. Many people are intensely interested in this work of fiction because of all the true facts of which it speaks (wait … it’s fiction right?). I have seen, heard, and read many people who are seeking to disprove what Dan Brown speaks about in his book. Among those speaking toward this book are journalists, literary critics, historians, and theologians.

There has been countless hours dedicated toward Brown’s claims in his fictitious work that claim among other things that Jesus was married, that Constantine and the Church manipulated history to convince people of Jesus’ Deity, and that Da Vinci was in fact a woman (okay the last one I made up, he did say that Da Vinci was the Grand Master of the Priory of Sion). As professors, scholars and average citizens have wrestled over the contents of this novel there is one thing that has confused me. Why if this is not true do people get so irate when proving that it is not true? Why are some so dogmatically opposed to this book? (wait … it’s fiction right?)

I have seen and read several things that have really been of interest to me because I was intrigued to say the least by Brown’s book. As I have done so, there have been several who in an attempt to prove Brown’s fiction untrue they do so in an angry tone with clenched fists. I just thought that maybe we could all just say, “It’s fiction.” That way we would all know that it is not true, but in today’s world we can take nothing for granted. Maybe fiction is the new non-fiction like pink is the new black.

I came across one book in particular that went into great detail defending Brown’s claims about the Bible, Jesus, and the History of the Church. I truly appreciated the tone of the author. Beyond that however, I began to discuss what I read with other people who were angrily thrilled that the “Anti-Da Vinci Code” book was written to disprove that “liar and heretic” (just a few of the names that I have heard Dan Brown called). Why are people upset? (There were no parenting books written when Anakin became Darth Vader and cut off Luke’s hand).

I guess I ask this question more of the Christian community because we serve a God who doesn’t defend himself. As a matter of fact, he doesn’t even try to prove that he exists. He wastes no time in the Bible telling us simply that he is, “In the beginning God …” In the ancient world in which that was written all creation myths began with the cosmic battle and birth of the gods. The God of the Bible just was, and he never seeks to defend himself. The Bible also never lays out its own “proof texts” claiming to be all that it says it is. It just is. Yet we spend a lot of time attacking those say that what we believe is not real.

I suppose we ought to just live like Jesus told us to. Loving God with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength, and loving our neighbor as ourselves. I think that if we truly were people who lived like that then we would not have to defend ourselves. Rather than say “This is what we believe!” We could say nothing and just keep living. There will always be those who want to believe something different … our job is not to silence critics, it is to love them. And by the way, The Da Vinci Code … it is fiction.

the great day

We have come to the conclusion of observing Holy Week. We finish on a high note by celebrating the resurrection of Christ on Easter Sunday. Each year I hear questions like, “Should we really celebrate this day?” Some feel it is simply the Church ripping off a pagan holiday that celebrated the goddess Ishtar among other things. So some choose to point and ridicule and hold their positions very highly while turning their back on the tradition of the early church fathers (For examples of this just Google Ishtar + Easter).

This honestly bothers me a little. I did some reading on it, and wanted to understand on a deeper level exactly what all this came from. The opinions are mildly diverse and there is little agreement on the exact details. One of the things that I found interesting is that those who claim Easter is a pagan holiday in Christian dress typically skew the details ever so slightly, and use generalities to get their point across.

I can understand people who get ruffled by Easter Eggs and Easter Bunnies. The eggs and bunnies are indeed connected to ancient pagan worship both of which symbolize fertility, and represent great hope for a bountiful crop each spring. Let us however, not confuse the commercialization of a holiday with its roots.

Some decry Easter as the great fallacy because of its name. Easter … Ishtar. Easy connection, or is it? There is an Anglo-Saxon god of spring named Eostre, while their names may be connected, there is little to no evidence proving such a thing. Ishtar, in her day however was influential, and her myth begat the myth of many other goddesses. The myth was basically that her son/lover went to the underworld. She went to save him, was imprisoned, but every spring she was released for six moths to give life to the world (while this is a simplification of the tradition, it captures it in broad brush strokes).

Today, people in the English-speaking world piously stand and point to this day and say, “Easter is Ishtar!” That would work except that the we are celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, not a pagan festival. You see Christians all over the world are remembering Christ’s resurrection. While eggs and bunnies are present (and are a connection to pagan festivals) this is not the focus of the Historical Church. The rest of the world does not call this holiday Easter … they connect it to the Hebrew word Pesach which is the name for the Passover festival during which Jesus was crucified. The Greeks call it Paskha; in Latin it is Pascha (which is what the Roman Church would have called it); the Italians celebrate Pasqua; in Spanish it is referred to as La Pascua; and in Scots Gaelic it is An Casca (in may Eastern European Languages the day is simply called “The Great Day”). The holiday was not called "Easter" until the 8th Century, by which time it had already been in existence for 700 years. The modern languages that still call it by this name are English, German, and Samoan.

Why, however, isn’t celebrating this day spoken of in the Bible? Surely, if Jesus wanted us to celebrate this day, then he would have commanded it! I would appeal to Apostolic Tradition on this one. Some hold that if the Bible doesn’t command it, we shouldn’t do it (many of us however are very comfortable with disobeying explicit commands that are in the Bible, weird huh?). I realize sadly, that Apostolic Tradition is much forsaken in the Modern Evangelical world, yet for 1500 years it was recognized with great respect.

In the earliest records of celebrating the day of Jesus’ resurrection, there was much debate about what the actual day was according to the Hebrew calendar. The gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke have one day and John seemingly has another. So the early church fathers tried to understand the day. One of the people intimately involved in this discussion was Polycarp. It is widely accepted that Polycarp was a disciple of John, who was a disciple of Jesus. Polycarp was disagreed with Bishop Anicetus of Rome not in whether or not we should observe Resurrection Day, but when we should observe it. Polycarp in this discussion claimed Apostolic Authority for his position … again he was not arguing against celebrating, only when. Here we have a disciple of John who never once argues against celebrating the day, rather his passionate concern about exactly what the date of the celebration should be seems to validate the celebrating of Resurrection Day. The interesting thing about Polycarp is that the date for which he argues is the date the John points to in his Gospel. Beyond Polycarp there were numerous Bishops who favored celebrating the festival on Nisan 14 in accord with the Biblical Passover and the tradition passed on to them by the Apostles.

So what are the origins of Easter? Simply put, it is the day when the women who followed Jesus went to the tomb to care for the body of Jesus. It is the day when an angel told them, “He is not here, He is risen.” It is the day when Peter and John ran to the tomb to see if what they heard was true. It is the day that is the hope of our ancient past and our eternal future. It is our hope for today. Let us not hang ourselves on etymology and semantics. Let us rather run to the spirit of the day, the beauty of the day, when Jesus the Christ, Son of the Living God, was raised from the dead through the power of his Father.

eternity and yellowstone

So much is said about eternal life in many Christian circles. As well it should be. Jesus was always talking about it, Paul wrote about it, leaders asked Jesus about how someone gets it. It was a big deal in Jesus’ day, and it still is today. The seeming downside of eternal life is that one has to die to get it. While I am looking forward to eternal life, I am not looking forward to dying … call me crazy, but I like it here.

Recently I spoke to someone about this very thing. I asked him, if we are born dead (spiritually speaking) then how is it that we can receive eternal life while living, and then have to die to get it again … sounds confusing. We often hear about so-and-so who “entered eternal life” ... which means that she died. Is that really when we enter eternal life?

Several years ago my wife and I went snowmobiling in Yellowstone Park (to you conservationists who are cringing … I am sorry, if you did it you would like it too). We rented the snowmobile in a small town in Montana, and we headed out. We drove for a while near main roads. As we drove we went by large rivers and streams, saw a few waterfalls, and were in dense forest. After driving for about 45 minutes we finally saw a sign that read, “Yellowstone National Park.” We drove past it and entered the park. The scenery did not change much for the next hour or two. We passed a sign that read, “Welcome to Wyoming”, so at least I knew that we were actually driving somewhere. There were cliffs, trees, rivers, streams … a lot of beauty. While this was all good it was nothing like what were about to see.

We went up a hill, and came around a bend in the road, and for the first time I saw what I thought Yellowstone would look like. There below us was a endless expanse of rolling hills and meadows dotted with buffalo herds and deer, that went on into the horizon. We stopped, stared and said nothing. We could not capture the massiveness of what we were seeing.

Maybe eternal life is like this … a snowmobile ride through Yellowstone. There was a point at which Beth and I did enter Yellowstone. The scenery was pretty, and there were moments when we stopped to take in a waterfall … but it was still forest and streams similar to before … but this was Yellowstone. In this life when one finds eternal life there is newness for sure, but at the same time we are on the same earth, in the same bodies with the same surroundings. We live with a different perspective, but we are in the same place. We have eternal life here on this earth now … not someday. Maybe then death is not entering eternal life, but the realization of exactly where you are when you crest a big hill, and sit at the top of the hill mystified by the beauty that surrounds you. While we may experience eternal life here we are still unable to see the fullness of it, that happens when we enter the presence of God.

The beauty of eternal life is that it is here now, and it is available. The implications of “eternal life now” point to the fact that becoming a follower of Jesus is not about getting in the gate of heaven some day when we die. It points toward us living out the reality heaven and eternal life here on this earth. It is a mission.

Death then, while a result of the fall, is not a hard right turn where we mysteriously graduate into something else. Rather, the eternal lifeline has a point where it begins in this life on this earth. When God gives that lifeline to a person, there is no end to that line. We then should become people who are less preoccupied with death when we speak the gospel and more concerned with life and living. Living in such a way that we tell others in word and action of the availability of eternal life here and now.