There's an article on urbana.org this week called Understanding Authority, written by a pastor. I agreed with some things he wrote and disagreed with some things. After you take a few minutes to read it, here are some thoughts in response.

There are many other passages in scripture about human and divine authority, but since it was mentioned, here's the Romans 13:1-4 passage: (NIV)

Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.

So we have these words which Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome a couple thousand years ago. Like much of scripture (including much of Romans) if these words are taken completely on their own, outside the context of the rest of Romans and all of scripture, they could lead to some understanding, but perhaps also some misunderstanding.

For example, verse 3 of this Romans passage states something which at face value is proven many times in history to be plainly false: "For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you."

If we assume that every ruler were upright before God in their leadership, this could at least be possible; but there are many cases then and now where rulers most certainly can and do exercise injustice, whether or not the people on the receiving end are "doing what is right."

Through history, millions of people who were "doing what was right" (or just minding their own business) have been killed rather than "commended" by political rulers.

So what is Paul saying, how can we understand this? When we have a disconnect like this in scripture, we should welcome it as a challenge and opportunity to better understand God. What is NOT recommended is for us to walk around mindlessly repeating the words (such as "rulers hold no terror for those who do right") that don't measure up to reality and which we may not even understand yet in their full context.

Instead, an apparent disconnect in scripture is an opportunity to seek God's face and prayerfully study what light can be shed on the matter from ALL of scripture, from God's Spirit speaking to us, from the teaching and example of Christ, and from the wisdom and collaboration of other Christ-followers who are seeking the truth along with us.

Large volumes could be and perhaps have been written about a scriptural basis for understanding and honoring authority as a follower of Jesus. I agree with Pastor Flaherty (and lucky for me, with the Apostle Paul) that in some sense God "establishes" all authority, although the fuller implications and meaning of that are a huge mystery which this article does not unravel for us.

Quite often, truth is not very simple.

Along with the pastor I agree that probably most American Christians, myself included, "don't understand how God feels about positional authority."

I'll suggest a couple assumptions that might be reasonable to make, as a Christian.

First, every type of human authority is subject to God's ultimate authority.

Second, while God somehow does have authority over all human authorities, this does not necessarily mean God endorses every individual who has this human authority, nor sanctions the decisions, actions, and leadership that each of them might carry out.

This article stated, "There is no freedom of speech in the kingom." I disagree. There seems to be a huge amount of freedom of speech in the kingdom of God. However, it comes with some qualifications and a lot of responsibility. It's how we use our freedom of speech that matters to God.

Galatians 5:13 says, "You were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' "

I Peter 2:16-17 says (MSG), "Exercise your freedom by serving God, not by breaking the rules. Treat everyone you meet with dignity. Love your spiritual family. Revere God. Respect the government." (Note, the last sentence was not "endorse everything your government does.")

James talks about the importance of taming the tongue, likened to a rudder steering a ship. He concludes, "No man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison."

Freedom of speech in the kingdom? Yes, I do think so. But freedom of speech is not license to say anything. It's responsibility to speak the truth in love.

There were many times when Jesus used his freedom of speech to challenge authority.

It's the implied statement in this pastor's article that gives me the greatest concern, that there is "no freedom of speech in the kingdom" and therefore (here's the implied part) if any Christian disagrees with or observes wrongdoing by a person in positional authority over them, they should keep quiet (e.g. not exercise freedom of speech) in order to honor the positional authority.

The article states that "All authority has been instituted by God (Romans 13:1-4), and therefore should be unconditionally honored."

I disagree with the second part of this statement, and I do not see in the text from Romans any mandate for "unconditionally honoring" the words or actions of any authority which might happen to do wrong or evil.

For example, in what way should I as a Christian "honor" a political leader (might even claim to be a Christian too) who has many clear opportunities to denounce and reject torture (as defined over many decades by a global community and also from everything Jesus said about how to treat our enemies), but instead this leader shuns those opportunities and intentionally leaves lots of room for torture to be used when and if deemed "necessary" by military insiders who have little or no accountability?

I'd like to hear Jesus' answer to a question like that.

How should I honor the positional authority of the political administration "established" by God, without honoring the huge moral pothole that my "ruler" just drove through in his humvee?

Honoring positional authority is quite different from irresponsible silence, or breaking the silence to speak truth.

So yes, the challenge for Christians is how to submit to positional authority when a leader in such a position of authority might do things that are clearly wrong.

There's a difference between submitting to positional, political authority (such as Jesus' clever answer to give to Caesar that which is Caesar's and to God that which is God's) versus condoning or silently looking the other way when a ruler does wrong.

Jesus challenged the positional authority of the Pharisees, and made it clear he had little respect for them. ("You brood of vipers.") Was it wrong for him to do this? I don't think so. On the other hand, did he actively try to overthrow their authority? No. For that matter, did he actively work against the Roman occupation like many Jews were expecting the Messiah to do? No, he went about his more important work.

Was it wrong for Bonhoeffer to conspire to assassinate Adolf Hitler? I haven't reached an opinion on that. Even if someone today were to argue that was wrong, it's perhaps easier to come to such a conclusion from the safety of a 21st century armchair than under the tyrannical rule of a mass murderer.

Was it wrong for Christians (or anyone) to join the nonviolent protests in the Indian subcontinent in the 1940's which led to the end of British colonial rule?

How should Christians in Sudan respond to their government which enables a slow motion genocide to continually take place in their own communities?

Is it wrong for Christians to thoughtfully and respectfully speak out against any form of unjust leadership, on behalf of those who are unjustly treated? Of course not.

How should Christians "submit" to positional authority while they do speak truth to power? That's the real question.

I don't think we should suggest there is no freedom or responsibility for Christians to speak truth to power in some appropriate way when the powers that be might act unjustly.

Was this something OK for Jesus to do that's not OK for us to do?

I think it's not only a freedom but an obligation for Christians to speak and sometimes even act against positional authority when it is clearly wrong. There are appropriate (and inappropriate) ways to do that, of course. In love, not anger. In humility, not arrogance or self-righteousness.

As a Christ follower and American citizen, under an administration that I believe has repeatedly contradicted several fundamental principles of truth and justice that are plainly laid out in the gospels, the notion that scripture somehow calls me to be a submissively silent citizen is a curious one.

What do you think? 

The apostle Paul writes in the first chapter of Romans,

I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.

Sometimes when I read or hear this passage, I recognize some uneasiness in myself. Why am I uneasy? Am I ashamed of the gospel I have chosen to believe?

Or if not, am I ashamed of some other things surrounding that gospel? And as I think and pray about the matter, I am usually reminded that yes, there are some things regarding the "reputation" of Christianity in this country and other parts of the world of which I am indeed ashamed. There are things which are said and done in the name of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which conflict with the very essense of the things Jesus himself taught and demonstrated and died for. Of those, especially if and when they come from within the church, I am ashamed.

I'm ashamed of the Crusades. I'm ashamed of the church's complicity in some destructive parts of the history of colonialism which even today are still playing out all over the world. I'm ashamed of the church's abuse of power at many times in history. I'm ashamed of hate speech by Christians. I'm ashamed by mediocrity in the church. I'm ashamed when people aligned with Christianity bomb abortion clinics, or favor violence before the alternatives have been exhausted. I'm ashamed of angry street preachers. I'm ashamed of safe communities of church goers who disobey Jesus and don't apply their overabundance of resources to engage the needs of the poor in their midst, not to mention across the street or around the world. I'm ashamed of divisive bickering among Christians over theology or politics especially when accompanied by our own ignorance, and by the absense of the "fruit of the spirit" in our lives.

I'm ashamed of my own complacency, my own selfishness, my own sin, my own involvement in some of the above shameful things.

That doesn't mean I'm ashamed of the gospel; but the dividing lines can be blurry, putting me and many Christians in an awkward place, to be associated with things said and done in the name of the gospel which are NOT part of the gospel.

What do we do about this?

There are four answers I've found so far.

The first thing is to keep seeking, looking, asking, listening, and learning what the gospel is and trying to live it out. In humility and obedience, to keep acting on what I already know. The gospel is not a package, not an outline, it doesn't fit in a box, it's not something we can label and contain. It's something we can choose to believe and then move into a life long journey toward experiencing, gradually understanding more, deepening in faith, making mistakes and misunderstanding some things about Jesus along the way.

We need to act on the simple things first, like loving God with everything I am, and loving others sacrificially. We need to be in community with other believers, locally and also those who are far away, to have the best shot at better understanding the full implications of the gospel. This is not a private quest that can be fulfilled in a holy silo.

The second thing is to NOT be ashamed of the gospel itself, to have confidence as we explain in appropriate ways, in loving relationship with people created by God who are placed in our lives, the faith we choose in the good news of Jesus. The opposite of "not being ashamed" is not merely some pious inertia and private worship of God who has shown us such mercy and grace, but it should involve sharing, telling, explaining, risking, demonstrating all the things that we say are Good about this News. We can imitate Jesus and find no shame in anything that is really true to the Word become Flesh for us.

Thirdly, I should do my best to not contribute to the problem - to not add shame to the name and cause of Christ. This involves repentance, forgiveness, renewal, and conforming to Christ. When (not if) I do repeatedly fail, the point is not necessarily to avoid failure, but to learn from it and move beyond it with God's grace and strength. This is the essense of the faith journey of following Christ - to keep turning and returning to Jesus, pointing ourselves and those around us to the Good News, of which there is nothing to be ashamed.

Lastly and somewhat unfortunately, when there is peripheral noise and misinformation about the gospel itself, "not being ashamed of the gospel" involves lovingly and graciously correcting false information or conduct, setting the record straight, helping to clarify the gospel's reputation and that of Jesus, so that people's faith decisions might be based on more accurate information than the public square might offer.

In a nation obsessed with everyone having and voicing their personal opinion, many of our opinions are ill-informed. It's the responsibility of Christ-followers to help correct the ill-informed, starting with ourselves.

There is plenty of negative advertising about the Gospel, not just in election years. Those of us who are not ashamed of the Gospel, and are still on the faith journey toward seeing and understanding a little more of it each day, are called to strip away the peripheral misinformation and instead emphasize the Good News that Jesus offers.

Peter, who was martyred for his faith, encouraged the church:

In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

- I Peter 3:15

How can you have Chinese New Year without electricity?

Based on the lunar calendar, Chinese New Year started last Thursday and the celebration spans 2 weeks. Firecrackers, parades, bright lights, red lanterns, special foods, gifts, and special hospitality.

But in parts of China, severe winter weather has caused major electricity outages, stranded holiday travellers, and left homes and businesses to be lit only by candles and lamps. People have had to improvise, to celebrate the most important cultural holiday of the year, and even to stay warm and safe.

If for no other reason, because one in five of the people in the world are Chinese, it's important to understand their culture and heritage, within China and in the many dispersed Chinese communities around the world. Here's a Chinese New Year primer at wikipedia.

The abundant use of light for decoration and celebration at Chinese New Year is not unlike Christmas lights or fireworks. It's easy to imagine how the holiday spirit would be dampened by electrical outages and heavy snow that hinders travel.

A couple scriptures for reflection:

Isaiah 60:1-3, 19

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn... The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.

And from Revelation 21:23

The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.

Electricity or none, Pray for the church in China, for the light and love of Christ to shine through Chinese Christians to their neighbors throughout the country and throughout the Chinese diaspora. Befriend a Chinese student (there are around 60,000 in the U.S., and over 3.5 million Chinese immigrants here). Ask a Chinese friend to teach you about their Chinese New Year traditions, and discuss how these traditions relate to belief in God. See where the discussion goes.

Photos: Chinese New Year around the world

 

I came upon a significant (for me) realization recently when reading Matthew 3:13-17.

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented. As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."

I've always thought that "righteousness" meant holiness, purity, without blemish, sinless. The dictionary says it means "just or rightful, morally right, virtuous."

But in this context, Jesus uses the word "righteousness" very differently, I realized that it means something much more along the lines of these ideas:

• the way God has intended things to be
• what God wants
• what God plans for the long haul
• what God designed to be and to to come about
  

Jesus's baptism was not about morality or repentance from sin. He insisted that he be baptised by John in order "to fulfill all righteousness" -- to fulfill God's will with a long view of human history.

What does all this have to do with Kenya? Or any place in the world today, for that matter?

It reminds us that God has a certain intent, from the beginning, for ALL THINGS. Virtually all parts of God's creation have fallen short of God's original design and intent; all righteousness has NOT yet been fulfilled.

While the Biblical understanding is that this degradation of creation was and continues to be a result of sin, God is in the process of reconciling all things back to himself.

This includes Kenya and her ethnic, political, and economic struggles which erupted in January; and it includes every community, tribe and nation in the world. God, through Jesus, is reconciling all of us back to what was intended for us.

Violence that shocks us might (will) break out. We might (will) be surprised at the horrible things we, and others, are capable of doing to each other when things like mistrust, fear, and resentment, just below the surface, get stirred up a little too much.

While on a much smaller scale in Kenya, this is not unlike the surprise with which Rwanda found herself in the midst of a genocide, before the world realized the scope of what was happening, what life-long neighbors were doing to each other out of extreme fear and distrust.

Colossians 1 says:

He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Pray that this fullness and reconciliation with God will take place in tiny and huge ways, every minute, hour and day of the times that are ahead for Kenya. This is a prayer that God will accomplish, God's word clearly states this is what Jesus is all about.

Let us pray that God's image (Jesus) will be known in Kenya, through his Spirit and through the hands and feet and mouths of those who follow Jesus throughout Kenya as they love their neighbors in a time of fear and turmoil.

It's mid-January and I'm still hearing people talk about Christmas gifts. Jesus said it is more blessed to give than to receive and as usual, he couldn't have been more right. As Christians, we get to do both.

Even though we're wired with some selfish tendencies, we're also wired (created in the image of God) with an impulse to give and find deep satisfaction in doing so.

And we also get to receive. God is an amazing gift giver.

What are some of God's best gifts as we enter into 2008? The best one, in my opinion, is abstract and intangible until and unless we receive it by faith and begin experiencing it: reconciliation with God through Jesus.

We who were "far off" have now been drawn near.

By God's mysterious and miraculous power, we get to be in restored relationship with our creator if we respond to God's initiatives. It's a relationship that's confined in one sense by the limits of our humanity, but it's also infinite in its possibility.

One of the best presents FROM God is the presence OF God in our world and our lives. It almost never appears the way we expect. Sometimes it's a quiet voice, not a big demonstration. Sometimes God takes a position of vulnerability rather than power.

There's not the absence of evil and suffering that we might expect with God present. This requires faith on our part, when the circumstantial evidence is less empirical than we 21st century scientists might prefer.

There is always surprise in the presence of God.

The presence of God comes to us in many forms, and one form is through other individuals and groups. Families, neighbors, friends, classmates, colleagues, and even larger communities like cities and nations, all can have a part in conveying God's presence to others. Some do this intentionally, trying to be obedient servants as they strive to follow and imitate Jesus. Some others do this instinctively out of impulses to share and give and sacrifice for others, impulses that they may not recognize or attribute as coming from the very God who created them.

Is God glorified and pleased when any human being (a follower of Jesus or not) does what we were designed for? I think so.

The presence and evidence of God in our world in 2008 -- in the Holy Spirit, in God's written and incarnated and living Word become flesh, in the amazing created world around us, in our spiritual living selves, in the lives of many others around us -- in all of this, the presence of God is ideally the lens with which we should view the things taking place in our days.

It can be easy to forget or wonder about God's presence when we experience pain and loss; when something angers us; when the day's bad news from Kenya or Palestine or Pakistan or Indonesia comes across our screen; when families and churches struggle or even split apart; when ethnic groups slaughter their neighbors, or even live quietly for years with the inner turmoil that would somehow enable them to do such violent things one day.

These experiences confound us. They don't look like Immanuel, "God with us," as we just commemorated Jesus' birth.

But these experiences can also be reminders to us of God's presence -- not as we always expect it and want it, but in a persistent, patient, purposeful carrying out of a long range plan God has in mind, which not only requires some suspension of our disbelief, but also invites our participation and response.

It's partly in the human participation and response to human need that we see the presence and evidence of the God who created us with inherited qualities. In part, it's in the churches and individuals who demonstrate extreme love and sacrifice that we can see a hint of the one who is reconciling all things back to their original intent and design.

It's also partly in the miraculous transformation that can take place with God's help in a person here and a community there, taking off the old self like soiled clothing, and daily putting on the new self that God gives as a gift - this becomes one of the most powerful ways that we see God's presents and presence among us.

May the best God has to offer be recognized and received by you throughout this new year, and may you find much joy in the collaboration.

Yesterday or thereabouts, as those of us who seek and follow Jesus (and many millions of others by their cultural affinity with the Christian religion) chose to remember in this 21st Century, true humanity came to town.

Today there are Christmas trees, lights, sleds, chimneys, bearded men, elves, gifts, extended shopping hours, and many other distractions from the real birthday party.

But what is true humanity, and what is false or less-than-true humanity?

True humanity is what God designed it for and designed for it... if, that is, you grant the possibility that God designed the world and the human race and then gave a loose leash.

(If you do not even remotely grant this possibility, you are entitled to your human opinion but you may also be among the most arrogant people alive - if you insist there is absolutely no possibility that a higher being than yourself created our race and our world. Even if you are there, or somewhere in the middle, you are making a choice of faith, just like everyone else who believes or suspends their belief.)

In my understanding, true humanity is what God designed if God designed us and all this stuff around us - some of it degraded, some of it preserved.

Less-than-true humanity is an aberration, a volitional distortion by a creation that was strangely free to choose loyalty, disloyalty, selfishness, even rebellion against its creator. (How many of us as parents would tolerate this?)

The result of our human rebellion? We're still humanity, but less than we were cracked up to be.

When God (the creator) became Flesh (the created) as the Christian scriptures teach, this would have to be some kind of miracle by any definition.

There's no way scientists could map this on their flowcharts. That's why some of them do not believe. But some of them DO believe, because they realize there is more to life and truth than the flawed and finite yet fantastic tunnel-view of human science.

So rumor and story has it, that God came to town unlike any prior visit, this time in the vulnerability of human form, but not like Arnold Schwartzeneger as a muscular, grown, crouching-nude, pre-gubernatorial "Terminator" man, oh, no.

This was a coming of God to Earth in the vulnerable form of a newborn infant. Not all newborns make it. The elements, the imperfection of genetics, the stress of the birth canal, the frailty of proper nutrition and proper genetic development, the risk of "complications" during the birth experience outside (or even inside!) the context of modern medicine and technology.

This particular infant did make it. Far away from any neo-natal clinic with its technology on standby, in a decidedly lo-tech animal shelter, Jesus was born!

Was he God? Was he human? Was he an infant angel? Is he, as the Bible claims, the same entity who also created everything that exists? (Ref: Read the Gospel of John.) How can the creator fully enter into his or her own work, the finite framework of the creation itself?

Would this be an unprecedented miracle? Quite possibly. Is it unbelievable? Yes according to some, and no according to others.

Who would even dream to convincingly make this stuff up? Personally, I don't believe any human scheme would conjure up this particular conception, so to speak.

So... what?

You either believe that the creator became (incarnated as) the created being, or you don't believe it. Either way, it's an ongoing believing, not a once-for-all choice.

You actually get to change your mind, too, at will. People who believe this for decades can decide it's too crazy after all, can't possibly be true. Those who think it's bizarre can decide there's maybe something there to explore after all, this truth might be stranger and truer than all other fiction.

The key is to search, seek, ask, test the waters, read the story, knock on the door. There's a promise, from the one whose birthday we're celebrating, that the door will be opened.

The Bible teaches that Jesus' name is "Immanuael" which means "God with us." Not just moral support, but quite literally with us.

The birth of Jesus is a great mystery. It was predicted many times by God speaking through the prophets. I don't think we will ever fully understand its implications.

Even today many of us are looking for a different kind of Messiah to solve external problems, rather than the Messiah who came as Jesus to address our personal, internal problems of the heart. 

Merry Christmas! Because of the mysterious joy of Christmas, when "true humanity" came to town, the New Year might quite possibly be full of many things: happiness, challenge, empathy, servanthood, stretching and super-natural experiences.

"In addition, some of our women amazed us."

When I read this short sentence in Luke 24:22, and think of it outside of any context, it makes me smile. (In typical fashion perhaps, another case of men amazed by things they could have noticed long before had they paid attention? Say the phrase above in your best Homer Simpson accent.)

But the fuller context of these accounts of Jesus' resurrection in the gospels shows the interesting fact that after being raised to life, Jesus reveals himself to first to a woman (Mary) rather than to his core (male) group of disciples. He tells her to go tell the others. And through the angels at the empty tomb, women are among the first to be instructed to go tell the others.

I've heard people claim this or that place and moment as the "birthplace" of Christian missions. It would be not at all difficult to make the case that it really began with the women in the garden of Gethsemane who were charged by angels and by Jesus to "go and tell" others the Good News.

The impact of that moment -- the theological significance of Jesus' death and resurrection, the new covenant in his blood, the defeat of death's grip -- none of this seemed to be at all understood by Jesus' closest companions, male or female. Understandably, there was instead mainly confusion, fear, uncertainty, shock, and excitement.

It would take months and years for the impact of that moment to sink in, for the disciples, for the first groups of believers, for the Apostles who were soon after "sent" by Jesus. It would be years before the Apostle Paul would himself believe, and eloquently write that in Christ, there is neither male nor female.

(A separate and sizeable topic that I won't take the time to delve into this week is a discussion of the cultural, spiritual, and gender roles of men and women who follow Jesus around the world. Personally, I have more questions than conclusions here. One of my assumptions is that God did uniquely design some special characteristics and roles for men and women. But an observation is that many of the gender-based characteristics and roles historically seen in various human communities appear to be culturally based, and may or may not be very representative of God's "pure" and original intent for the unique roles of men and women. A topic for another day? Yes.)

Jesus started by sending women to tell the others. And Jesus has continued to send women -- single and married -- in uniquely powerful ways to be his hands and feet, both within communities and nations, and also across big cultural and geographic barriers.

In some of these places women have done things which men would be unable to do. In some, women have done a better job in areas that men are thought to be strong. All to the glory of Jesus and the service of God's kingdom on earth and in heaven.

Some pieces this week on urbana.org further explore this theme:
Feminism on the Field?
The Place of Women in World Missions (Urbana 73)
Little Women, Big God
Gladys Aylward (Great Cloud of Witnesses)

Pay special attention this week, especially if you're a male, to the amazing women of faith around you whom God has created "in our image" (God's choice of plural personal pronoun in Genesis when creating Adam and Eve) and whom God has gifted to "go and tell."

No, it's not a new band.

Scanning today's headlines, which are fairly typical, my first inclination is how much I am not thankful for in our world. Violence, anger, injustice, hatred, disease, disagreement, power struggles, suffering, lives cut short, excess here and not enough there.

But I'm going to turn that around and take note of a few things for which I'm thankful.

I'm thankful that today's news indicates the overall security situation is improving in Baghdad.

I'm thankful to hear the U.N. is announcing that there are only an estimated 33.2 million people worldwide infected with HIV rather than the higher estimate of 39.5 million from last year. That's still a staggering number of people, but it's over 6 million souls worth of better news than was thought to be the case.

I'm thankful for medicine that is becoming more accessible and effective to extend and improve the lives of people with HIV.

I'm thankful for organizations like World Vision, and millions of generous givers and volunteers behind these organizations, that can respond with urgency and infrastructure and expertise when there is a crisis like the cyclones that hit Bangladesh five days ago.

I'm thankful that Olmert is "optimistic over peace" today in Israel and Palestine. Because I've heard that before, I'm even much more thankful for people who live there, on both sides, who are determined to demonstrate daily the feasibility of peaceful coexistence.

I'm thankful that Pakistan has released 3,400 people recently jailed under "emergency rule."

I'm thankful for the third of a million new lives that were born today around the world, the significance they will bring to their communities and the ways they will shape history.

I'm thankful for churches around the world where people can strive together to know and serve God in their own culture and context.

And, on a whole 'nother genre...

I'm thankful for harvest and fall, my favorite season, the beautiful colors and the hunkering down for rest, to sift and ponder and store things up, wait for the new life and realization that will come on the other side of winter.

I'm thankful for hospice, and what it has meant in the life and leaving of people close to us this year.

I'm thankful for community, people to serve and to depend on for help. I'm thankful for people who are different from us which increases the amount that we can learn from one another.

I'm thankful for bounty and abundance.

Most of all I'm thankful for the creative and sacrificial love of Jesus; for God's grace, love, forgiveness, mercy, and empathy.

Have a peaceful, safe, thoughtful and prayerful Thanksgiving Day. 

Is there any circumstance that would warrant being ambiguous about the ethics of waterboarding, where a person is forced through the simulation of drowning?

No.

1) Waterboarding is torture.

2) Torturing any person (physically or psychologically) is wrong.

There need not be any ambiguity about either of these facts. But leave it to us sinful human beings to quibble over the precise definition of torture - and how we might go up to the edge of the torture line but not cross it; or even how to redraw the line since "everything changed after 9/11."

Did God's character, intent, or truth change after 9/11? As if God reeled back in surprise and said "Woa... ok, take the gloves off if you have to."

Whatever the "war on terror" is (so far an apparently self-defeating choice of words), any authority or legitimacy it might have would be severely undermined in the eyes of the whole world of onlookers, by any ambiguity by the world's superpower-turned-victim about whether or not torture is OK, or whether or not medieval techniques like waterboarding constitute torture.

Terror is real, it's on the increase, and of course it's not a simple problem, nor is fighting it, which we must.

But "waterboarding is torture is wrong" is very simple stuff. My kids' spelling words are harder than this. Not only is torture wrong, it's the dead-wrong way to fight terror.

So why can't we just SAY that? Why would an attorney general of the United States not be able to just say the obvious in the middle of a job interview?

What's at stake when our nation beats around the bush on this issue? We sacrifice a few little things like our credibility, our legitimacy, our friends and allies, our reputation, our trustworthiness, our moral voice as a nation on matters of justice and fairness in the world.

How could the United States apply pressure on a powerful nation like China in the area of human rights abuses, when our Attorney General (the former one or the new one) cannot simply say, "Waterboarding is torture, and torture is wrong and unacceptable," without ambiguity?

How can our nation talk about justice when we hold terror suspects for years without charging them or giving them a fair trial?

From a Christian perspective, what does God's word say about this matter?

Jesus left no room for "an eye for an eye" reciprocity toward terrorists. He declared the opposite approach, to love our enemies. Are we willing to believe everything Jesus said, or just the easy things?

Enemy combatants and suicide bombers were crafted in God's image every bit as much as you and I were.

Tainted? Yes, they are, and yes, we are.

Should murderers including suicide bombers be resisted and thwarted? Absolutely. But not with immoral techniques that contradict the sacrificial love and basic character of God (in whose image we are made), or the sanctity of every human life God has made.

Where is "pro life" advocacy when a torture victim needs protection? The pro-life posture, in faith, goes much farther than the womb.

Everyone who is not tainted in any way from what God designed for us gets to "throw the first stone" in this post-9/11 world.

For a visual quick tour of several far and wide parts of our world and its cultures, people who are all created in God's image, check out a random sampling of images:

People of the World
Faces of people all over the world. (You can search within this group of 85,000+ images, for example, for Korea or Congo. There's also the world map view.

Places of Worship
Places where people worship their God, gods, or dieties.

Beauty in Creation
A group of Muslim women photographers celebrating the beauty of creation together.

Chinese Culture
Photos about the Chinese cultural activities and arts.

Indigenous / Tribal Photos
(just like the title says)

Global Poverty
This group is about all kinds of poverty all over the world.

Christian Missions
Photographs of Christian ministries; of Christians in service to the world.

God's Artwork
God's creation... nature, mountains, wildlife, flowers, sky, beaches.

World Culture
"Let's register the resemblances and celebrate the diferences."

The earth is the Lord's, in all its fullness.

Question: If you take even 10 minutes to scan some of these images, what are one or two observations you come away with, regarding God's creation of and love for all these people and places, and what this means for the world wide church, and for you and me?