The Crucifix

Evangelicals have long been an advocate for the empty cross as a Christian symbol stressing the Resurrection, that Christ is no longer on the cross but was buried and then God raised him from the dead. Unfortunately, Evangelicals have completely lost the beautiful artistry of the crucifix and often find it a symbol not of Christianity but of the Roman Catholic Church. I have even heard such audacious comments at Christian colleges that Catholics are not Christians and are not saved, which is completely untrue. But before I make this into a conversation between Catholics and Protestants and Jesus prayer for unity among all believers in John 17 let me simply offer a point of view not usuallyconsidered in Evangelical circles.

The Crucifix may not be so much a symbol to remind us of what Christ did for us but rather a symbol to remind us of how we should live for Christ and for one another. It is a reminder that we must constantly die to ourselves so that Christ may live in us. It is a reminder that we should place other people's interest before our own. It is a reminder that life as a Christian is sacrifice and not the pursuit of life,liberty and happiness.

The same can be said concerning our identity as heirs of Abraham, that we are also included into the family of the chosen ones. This is not an exclusive club to horde blessings (sometimes we even think we earned the blessings through our personal righteousness...we cannot earn grace!) as we blame the heathens for their own distress. Rather Abraham and all who have become his heirs are to be a blessing to the nations. Not tolook inward in arrogance but to look outward in mercy.

Disney is not Good News

In an article in the May-June 05 Issue of Prism Magazine (a publication of Evangelicals for Social Action), Peter Larson discusses the overwhelming influence that Disney has over America especially considering Evangelical Christians. He writes:

"What evangelicals failed to realize is that America has changed. The values of the average Christian are no longer based on the Bible but on shallow, mythological mush that Disney has spoon-fed us since infancy. The Jesus of the Bible has morphed, slowly but surely, into Mickey Mouse. George Barna, the evangelical pollster, makes this point when he writes, in a 2002 survey:
Over the past 20 years we have seen the nation's theological views slowly become less aligned with the Bible. Americans still revere the Bible and like to think of themselves as Bible-believing people, but the evidence suggests otherwise. Christians have increasingly been adopting spiritual views that come from Islam, Wicca, secular humanism, the eastern religions, and other sources. Because we remain a largely biblically illiterate society, few are alarmed or even aware of the slide toward syncretism--a belief that blindly combines beliefs from many different faith perspectives."

Not all mythology is mush but Disney mythology is. Myth is a powerful tool that shapes our identity, but when those myths do not match the principles that Christ gave us through his Word, and when we accept them without being critical of them or even aware of their power to shape who we are, then we have become a victim of our own indifference and are that much further away from looking and being like Jesus.

America's Not Judgmental...is it?

Maybe one scripture that I hear most often outside the Christian context is "Judge not lest you be judged." Often it is a defense a person uses against an admonished of questionable behavior. Sex outside of marriage, lifestyle choices that don't seem to jive with Christian teaching, etc. It is a defense used to guard ourselves from being told we are wrong by others and a sorry effort to legitimize our own actions.

judgment is something not to be taken lightly. However, even though it may seem the Church, with its biblical moors and moral fortitude, is the biggest judge of people and society, I am more inclined to believe that America is far worse.

In American culture we judge all the time. It is part of our spirit, our being, our community we call the United States of America. If you do not wear the right clothes, drive the right car, root for the right team you are judged and your punishment is banishment. We may not announce the judgment so that the whole world knows. Typically it is subtle. It may be the tightening of the grip on your purse when a black man walks by, or the teenager making fun of a girl because she does not meet his standard of pretty.

The banishment, however subtle it may also be, is truly evident. When the girl is not invited to the party, when the basketball player loses the game...and the scholarship. When your fellow church member wears a loud sweater to church and has the audacity to sit right next to you, even then you are less inclined to invite them for coffee. Try getting tattooed and get a row of earrings, walk into a church and you may see judgment, but you will get that from the police officer as well.

America judges. America has placed itself on top of the world so it can also judge them. America, when will you learn to love rather than manipulate? When will you learn to free rather than imprison people with myths of happiness wrapped up in consumerism, materialism and interest rates? When will you learn to stop judging people who disagree with you? When will you stop waging war with people who return your judgment with theirs?

Stop it. Because the plank in your eye is making you look ugly.

Jesus Died of Blood Clot But Jesus Still Lives!

According to a Reuters article on MSNBC, an Israeli expert has argued that the crucifixion led to a blood clot that killed Jesus when it hit the lungs. 20 years ago it was deducted that it was blood loss that killed him, but the researcher says we have come a long way in understanding blood coagulation and because of the trauma Jesus' body went through as well as his position on the cross and that he was a Jew from Galilee (genetically susceptible to the condition) all points to this mode of death.

These kinds of articles are always fascinating because we have a deep desire to see the incarnate Christ and science thinks it can give it to us. It gives us just a hint of who Jesus was as a person. It calms our doubts that Jesus may not have been really human. It calms our doubts to know articles about Jesus still get front page treatment in Time Magazine and on our home pages.

Here is the problem as I see it. America has no problem with Jesus who died on the cross. America has no problem with Jesus, the good teacher, the dark skinned Jew from Nazareth, the miracle worker. But as often as it talks about Jesus and about his death, how often does it talk about the Resurrected Lord, sovereign over heaven and earth, and even America? Jesus died, yes, but he was raised from the dead by God the Father and when he ascended he gave us the Holy Spirit.

Science cannot prove the Resurrection which is why so many struggle to believe it. Science is a religious force in our society, attempting to define our reality and giving us the liturgy to symbolize it. But the Resurrection is unscientific, not just because it is a miracle but because it cuts at the very assumption in science that everything must eventually die. The sun will go out and the world will end, unless, of course, you believe in the Resurrection.

When Jesus rises from the dead he proclaims his Sovereignty over all of creation and even the power of death is crushed by his heel. As the world and America talk about Jesus, maybe it should spend more time on his non-violent reaction to the guards who pinned him to the cross. He forgave them. Maybe we should spend more time looking to our Resurrected Lord for our definition of reality and his liturgy to symbolize it.

In no way does this mean science is evil or that we should not pursue science. It merely reminds us that science is under God's sovereignty, to be used for his purposes, and we should never allow it to define our reality above God's.