The Christ Life

What does “the Christ life” look like? (This is what John’s Gospel calls “eternal life”; I like to call it “the good life”). It is a life of non-violence and one that exposes the myth of redemptive violence. It is a life of grace and goodness, a life of forgiveness and moral strength and courage. It is a life that confronts the false claims and values of “the System” (what John’s Gospel calls “the world” in its delusional and alienated state) and refuses to get sucked into a spiral of bitterness and hate. It is a life committed to compassion and justice for the disenfranchised and most vulnerable among us. It is a life of loving God, loving others, and loving self in healthy and transformational ways. It is a life of balance between joy and sorrow, giving and receiving, suffering and contentment. 
   --the Rev. Chuck Queen in his blog, A Fresh Pespective

WWJD?

In my early adulthood, I read books on Saint Francis of Assissi (1181/1182 -1226). I was especially impressed by his living his life in imitation of Christ (imitatio Christi) and that set me on a  certain path. Later, in the 1980's, I encountered the book, In His Steps by Charles Sheldon, that portrayed late nineteenth century imitatio Christi in light of the Social Gospel. In the late 1990's and early 2000's, I read books by Marcus Borg and Dominic Crossan on the Historical Jesus that further widened my path.

The subtitle of In His Steps is What Would Jesus Do? In the 1990's this phrase became popular with Christian youth and they used the letters WWJD.

In the lead up to the Iraq War, this question, "What would Jesus do?", kept coming to my mind. I knew the answer in that regard and I became quite distressed when my local church and local churches in general would not stand up for Jesus as the old song said. The heads of the major denominations, though,  including my own, had come out in opposition to the war. I took to the street in protest.

Recently, I was interested in the remarks of President Obama at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington on February 2. I was impressed at how he spoke of the role that faith, his Christian faith, plays in his job as President. He spoke of not leaving our values at the door. He spoke of the importance of the Golden Rule, treating others as we wish to be treated. He spoke of the financial difficulties of many Americans today. He spoke of treating people fairly and providing opportunities for all. He even mentioned the most vulnerable among us. He did have some good words.

There is a question, though, that I would like to ask our President. I have posted previously on our use of drones in warfare. The President has spoken of how few civilian casualties have come from our drone attacks.  However, in August of 2011, the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism produced a study that said at least 385 civilians had been killed by our drones in Pakistan in the last seven years and that at least 168 of these were children. Now my question is: Who Would Jesus Drone?

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As a postcript, I would like to link to a  very recent blog post-sermon by the Rev. Chuck Queen that speaks to WWJD. I believe it is quite worth reading.

A Peaceful, Christian Way

Frankfort, Kentucky's progressive Baptist pastor, Chuck Queen, has written a book on the Christian life that is based on the peaceful message and life of Jesus. The 168 page paperback is called, A Faith Worth Living: The Dynamics of an Inclusive Gospel. Saying that Jesus proclaimed the kingdom of God, Queen says that that kingdom "pertains mostly to a transformed earth, a world healed and at peace, sustained by distributive, restorative justice, not another-world reality."

Queen even has a chapter called, "God's Dream for the World," that encompasses the peaceful kingdom. There he writes:

The prophets envisaged a new world of restorative justice and peace. It was against this backdrop that Jesus announced the good news of God's reign. Jesus infused the concept with a more expansive, flexible, and dynamic meaning (in some passages "kingdom of God" simply functions as a intensive symbol for the healing, transforming power of God), yet his vision was firmly grounded in the eschatalogical hope of Israel's classic prophets and their portrayal of a new society freed from poverty, oppression, and violence.

Obviously, there are deep inner, spiritual and personal dimensions to the good news of God reigning in the world. In order to have transformed systems, institutions, and communities, the individuals who constitute and lead them must be transformed. This is why Jesus talked about dying to the ego, about being born anew, about being pure in heart, and about hungering and thirsting after righteousness/justice. The call to repent, in light of the present/coming of God, was a call to stop living for self-glory, self-honor, and self-fulfillment, and to live for the good of all humankind and all creation.

Queen writes about  the unpopular notion of forgiveness:

The only thing that can possibly break the cycle of hate, violence, and retaliation in our world is forgiveness. There can be no reconstruction, no reconciliation, no coming together and healing of persons and nations, without forgiveness. But forgiveness is a hard sell. It defies all reason, logic and worldly standards of worthiness. But without forgiveness there can be no future. We have hurt each other in too many ways. 

...

Albert Einstein said that the world's problems cannot be solved at the same level of thinking that caused them. Forgiveness reflects a new level of thinking. It enables us to let go of all our grievances, to transcend all our differences, and to see the other as our sister and brother in the family of God. 

Queen also writes about those of other faiths, "It's good for us who are Christians, in our little part of the world, to realize that God has many daughters and sons besides us."

This little book packs a lot. It encompasses some of my previous reading in one place in a very succinct and enjoyable manner. (See my Beautiful Books tab above.) Queen even includes anecdotes and movies in his writing.

Two and Two

I read two posts the other day that seemed to complement each other from two very different, super blogs.

The subject was stupidity and its antidote: thinking (along with prayer).

The first blog was of a rather political nature: The Book of Cletis, from a retired Kentucky teacher on the left.

The second blog was of a religious nature--Christian, to be exact: A Fresh Perspective, from a Frankfort, Kentucky preacher, progressive.

Here are a couple of excerpts.

The first is of the post from The Book of Cletis and called,  Quotes to Consider:

"... Stupidity never permeated the highest levels of power and influence before. Now it has. So it seems it is time to confront stupidity once again. We can no longer afford to sit back and wait for it to shrivel and die." Daniel Berry from The Book of Cletis

The second is of the post from A Fresh Perspecive and called, The Spirituality of Mindfulness:

To be awake is to be mindful of God’s mind, and part of this involves developing the capacity to think. One of the great challenges in American Christianity is to get Christians to think.

...

The capacity to resist conformity to the Domination System, to the powers that be, is difficult and must be nurtured. If we are spiritually sleepwalking there is no way we will have the inner strength and courage to resist conformity to the will of the powers that be, let alone be able discern what is good and right and just and loving.  

Read the full posts and especially check out the two blogs.

The Jesus of Christmas

The Rev. Chuck Queen, controversial pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church here in Frankfort, KY (See my previous post here.), has published a rather small Christmas book this year. The book is entitled Shimmers of Light: Spiritual Reflections for the Christmas Season (Eugene, OR: Resource Publications of Wipf and Stock Publishers). Adaptive portions of it are found in his blog, A Fresh Perspective, and have been published in his column in The State Journal of Frankfort.



This Christmas book, unlike so many others, is quite unsentimental and not fluffy at all. Queen writes of the historical Jesus and the Christ of faith and intersperses it with lively illustrative  anecdotes. I really recommend the book which I have enjoyed immensely. Although it is too late for most readers for this season, some might want to purchase it to read next year. For those who follow the Liturgical Year, however, Christmas does not end until January 6. They still have a chance for this year.



Below, I am giving three excerpts that speak especially to the mission of The Peace Advocate. Two of the excerpts are from Queen’s blog postings and one from the book itself. Queen writes:

Luke begins the actual birth story by setting it in the historical context of Emperor Augustus. Caesar Augustus was heralded as the greatest of the emperors. He was born Octavian and was the adopted son of Julius Caesar. Following his father’s assassination a great civil war tore Rome asunder, wrecking havoc on the empire until Octavian defeated Mark Antony and Cleopatra in 31 BCE at the Battle of Actium. He then assumed the position of emperor and became known as Augustus, the Divine (the imperial myth had him being conceived by the gods). Augustus ushered Rome into a great era of peace and stability. He was proclaimed throughout the land—on coins, inscriptions, and temples—as “Son of God,” “Savior of the world,” “Lord of the whole world,” and “God made manifest,” among other titles.

Undoubtedly, Luke is drawing a contrast between the one he believed would occupy the throne of David (1:32), and the one who brought peace to Rome. The peace ushered in by Augustus was a temporary peace, enforced and supported by imperial might that violently subdued all opposition. It was a kingdom maintained by violent power, exercised by the powerful.

How different is the kingdom of the Christ child! He was born, not in pomp and pageantry, but in a humble peasant’s house among the animals. He did not walk among royalty in palace halls, but among the poor, oppressed, diseased, and demonized in the towns and villages of Galilee and Judea. Lowly Jewish shepherds, often despised among their own people, came to honor him, for to them and their kind he had come, bringing hope of a new world where the power of love would take the place of violent force. He did not wield sword or spear and he admonished his followers to love and pray for their enemies. He taught his disciples a nonviolent strategy for asserting their humanity and dignity as children of God under the crushing hands of imperial force. He pronounced blessing on peacemakers, judgment on warmongers, and he challenged all security systems rooted in wealth and control. He is a different kind of king, the viceroy of God’s peaceable kingdom, and he manifested in his life, words, and deeds the character of a forgiven, healed, and restored world. (from the blog here)

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Jesus, empowered by divine love, challenged the powers that be and stood in solidarity with the poor, oppressed, marginalized, and excluded, confronting the gatekeepers of conventional religion and the powerbrokers of the social order. Courageously, he preached, taught, and lived the kingdom of God, and the kingdoms of the world were offended and outraged. (from the blog here)

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When we abide in God’s love and stand in solidarity with the marginalized, there will be times when we have to swim against the swift current of popular opinion, common cultural values and standards, and corrupt corporate practices, even at the risk of drowning. Those who are compelled by divine love are not only committed to comfort and encourage the hurting, they are also willing, at great personal sacrifice, to challenge and confront the powers that be who are determined to muzzle and immobilize an opposing voice. (from page 69 of the book. Italics are Queen’s.)

Peace On Earth. Goodwill to All. I Declare World Peace.

"Blessed are the Peacemakers"

Note: This post and the previous one are pointing to blog posts by others that fit in very well with the purpose of The Peace Advocate. I am trusting that the authors do not mind the reposts. I am grateful to both authors for their writing. I enjoy reading both blogs.

The Rev. Chuck Queen is pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church here in Frankfort, KY. He writes a paid weekly column on progressive Christianity in our town's newspaper, The State Journal. His columns have provoked quite a conversation in the paper's Letters to the Editor.

This particular post of his speaks to the mission of The Peace Advocate. He speaks of peacemaking and nonviolence from a progressive Christian perspective that needs to be spoken out loud and taken seriously.

See ~

A Fresh Perspective: Blessed are the Peacemakers