Radical Preference - including a conversation with Chicago area Liberian community leader and pastor Amost Miamen

The future of the church has arrived. Despite all the talk about the coming of global Christianity, Christians in America have failed to notice it has already arrived. And a "clash of communions" is alienating Christians from one another in denominations and congregations across the country. But we have resources for productive conversation in the body that can still preserve the integrity of a variety of perspectives. Among them is a very practical, and Biblically faithful, understanding of the work of the Holy Spirit in the common spirit of the church.

On Tuesday, June 2 at 6pm in Disciples Divinity House at the University of Chicago I will be hosting a meeting to discuss these issues as I engage them in my Masters thesis. I'll start by speaking briefly on the Holy Spirit as the mind of Christ in the Church from Philippians 2. This understanding of the Holy Spirit and of the Church can be a great source of guidance for relationships and partnerships between churches and church communions in a globalized, multi-cultural, multi-religious world. Then, I and Pastor Amos Miamen, a leader in Chicago's Liberian community, will have a "live" conversation as a test case for the ideas I am proposing about partnership and preference among Christians coming from different places and perspectives.

I hope that not only folks from Seminary but also friends and acquaintances from Wheaton, Naperville and Plano and Sandwich will consider coming. Light drink and refreshment will be provided.


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So thank a vet this weekend

You know when I was younger I think I appreciated freedom a lot more than I do now. Not by choice but rather by circumstance. I consider my self a fairly decent human being. With that said, I probably got in trouble more than any kid on the face of this planet when I was younger. (which my mother has since apologized for). I was always "walking on thin ice" or "waiting till your father gets home" or my all time favorite "go to your room your grounded." You should know that the Powell's idea of grounding is galaxies away from let's say, oh, I don't know the Robinson's definition of the punishment. Robinson is of course referring to my cohort on this page Matthew Robinson - the goofy guy in the picture at the top left of this blog. The Powell's lived with the Robinson's for a short while when we were building a house. ( It was an extremely gracious gesture and also some of the best times of my life.) If Matthew got sent to his room as a grounding, that meant, go to your room for 15 minutes, play with your GI Joe's, your Nerf hoop, read the Hardy Boys, build a friggin Lego spaceship for crying out loud as long as you're in your room.  If I on the other hand was sent to my room for a similar punishment it meant this: Go sit in your room, don't move, don't talk, don't get up , if I breathed to loud it would extend the sentencing. I wasn't in there for 15 minutes either, by the time I got out of there I was old enough to shave. But I digress, I will tell you one thing when I did get to come out of that cold, dark, dreary, wet, dungeon - (ok it was a carpeted, air conditioned, fully furnished bedroom with all the amenities you could want) but when I got out of there I never wanted to go back. Freedom never tasted so sweet. I experienced not having freedom therefor I was forced to appreciate the very idea of it. I am not sure I can share that same kind of appreciation for the freedoms we experience  in America today because I have never been without them. I have never experienced a concentration camp or been told what I can or can't believe. I have never really seen or experienced  the devastating cost of freedom. There are those that have seen it, experienced it, and even died for it. You don't have to agree with war but you do have to respect the selfless attitude it takes for an individual to commit themselves to such a cause even to    death. It is memorial day weekend so thank a vet, hear their story, give them a hug,  make them feel appreciated. Because of them you are free to do that. 

Vocation and Calling, Really?

Why do we place such a high emphasis on calling and vocation in ministry and in our careers? Specifically, how have we come to think that to be called to ministry you've got to be not called to anything else? A friend, Wes, brought this up to me today over BBQ - which may or may not be significant. But he is in ministry right now as a chaplain and intern minister at a local church, and we were discussing what he thought he might be moving on to next when the residency of his internship is up. He said he might consider moving into something unrelated to ministry and that ministry was not necessarily what he loved most right now. Although many people may then wonder why he's in ministry, he turned the question around and asked, "Where do we get the idea that in order to be a minister or pastor or whatever you have to love it more than anything else?" (My paraphrase) For one thing, he noted, that doesn't seem very Biblical. To the contrary, many of the figures in the Bible who find themselves caught up in the work of God would often rather be any place other than caught up in the work of God. Think Jonah, Elijah, Elisha, Gideon, Moses... And for another thing, such a high notion of calling and vocation can be elitist - what about people who have jobs they don't like or jobs that society overlooks or does not celebrate? Is a calling not available to these millions of people?

Just a few observations that made me stop and think. I've been thinking a lot recently about major transformations in the way we think of and practice "church". What things are essential and what things have we continued to insist on only because it's what we're familiar with? Part of me likes what I see in movements that are trying to "reimagine church". But another part of me is suspicious of "essentialist" approaches to Christianity that say only the first Biblical generation was the true way of organizing Christian community and that everything since then has been temporary forms that we don't need to worry about. Now I'm starting to blab on, which is an indication I should stop.

Traitor, Rendition, Lightman - They Lie to Me

I know, I know. It's just entertainment. But entertainers are not free of responsibility for the ethical claims their art makes. In the last couple of week I watched Rendition (starring Jake Gyllenhaal) and Traitor (with one of my favorite actors, Don Cheadle). Viewers are clearly supposed to think that these films are presenting a more nuanced view of the complicated relations between Islam, terrorism, the USA and politics. But in the end I think they only play on (and contribute to) the same old stereotypes.

Traitor features Don Cheadle as Samir. Samir is supposed to be a "complicated" character. He is a Sudanese born, faithful Muslim who is working undercover for the US government to take down a terrorist cell. So the movie is wanting us to see that being a faithful Muslim does not imply being a terrorist, which is of course correct. And I think that the movie thinks it is being sort of counter-cultural in making that claim. However, by making their "complicated" character an American military agent, what the film ends up saying is that one can be a Muslim and still be on the "right" side, a side which does not try to understand, let alone value, the worldview or political convictions of anyone who does not ultimately support capitalist democracy. Net statement of film: you can be different as long as you're like us.

Rendition errs in a different way. In Rendition Gyllenhaal also plays a CIA analyst in Egypt who is thrown into a new job position after a terrorist bombing kills the agent formerly in that position. The film nails the stereotypes of Americans who don't and won't appreciate the complexities of the situation and only want "justice" (this is well played by Meryl Streep). Gyllenhaal's character in contrast, in witnessing first hand the rendition and torture-filled interrogation of someone whom it turns out is innocent, decides to take a stand against this accepted practice. We are supposed to see Gyllenhaal as someone who does understand that torture is wrong and that not all Arab persons are terrorists. Via his character, I think the film wants viewers to also see that not all Americans are insensitive militarists. But, as with Traitor, the film stops short of saying we actually care about other people. Although I like Rendition better and thought it was more sensitive and aware of the issues, I nevertheless feel that it still focused only on the "us", the American, side of things. It left the terrorists' characters flat and interpretable only as simple minded extremists.

Finally, the season finale of Lie to Me, featuring the face-reading prowess of Dr. Lightman. Yes, I watched the whole season. Though ridiculous it is mildly entertaining. But the season finale was - I don't know how I want to describe it - disappointing, frustrating, bothersome, even saddening. Maybe I'm taking my entertainment to seriously, expecting too much. Like Traitor and Rendition, it picked the issue of Islamic extremism to showcase its brilliance. Except that the presentation of Muslims in the episode was so ignorant. At one point, Lightman's right hand assistant notes, with her sophisticated intellect, that "terrorists see the world in black and white". Are you kidding me? The episode, again, ostensibly aims to show that not all Muslims are terrorists (we know! okay?! why can't the studios come up with something more helpful or at least more interesting?!). But this storyline is a vehicle for showing that some indeed are and that American justice will always prevail. It seems we the viewing public are being sentenced to ignorance of Islam and the politics of terrorism for the foreseeable future.

Math Power Praise!!! The Hits!!!

It's always important to be able to make fun of yourself.

Happy May Day Not Starting Off Too Happy

Random thoughts and remarks for your May Day. Ministry conference has finally arrived. It took a lot of planning over the last year, but here it is. I spent way more time than I would like to admit thinking about what to wear today. lol. Suit and tie? Neo-Marxist grunge? (Zizek?) Jeans and t-shirt like the mathematicians my wife hangs out with who seem to never feel the need to dress up for presentations. I think they're on to something.

I don't experience nervousness / stress in my mind when leading up to big events like today. That doesn't make sense, I know. But I wouldn't describe myself as worrying. I do however inevitably end up manifesting stress in other undesirable ways. Last night I slept only 3.5hrs just because I couldn't sleep. I also have started getting stomach aches during stressful periods. I better not be getting an ulcer.

Yesterday I roasted a bunch of coffee for the baby shower my wife is hosting for her friend on Saturday. And I noticed that I really have to be careful with not letting it go too long because the lid on the popcorn popper/roaster started to get wilty, almost like it was going to melt.

It is going to be a good and fun day, but a few extra hours' sleep wouldn't have hurt.

Last thing, I wanted to say for the record how much I appreciated Jason's post a couple of days ago. While the issue is not one of personal opinion/taste, it is not easy to wrestle down a "right" answer either. It's a conversation that continues and we go back and forth - "what about this?" "have you considered that?" - and it is this kind of willingness to second guess and keep on digging in (seen in the comments and especially Jason's post itself) that keep us honest and focused on keeping the main things the main things.

Alas, I wax philosophic.