Fat people can’t be Christian.

At least, that’s what I heard. A while back a friend of mine came to me and asked me if I had heard a certain sermon from a certain well-known preacher concerning obesity.  I told him I had not, to which he said  I was going to be really angry.  I listened to said sermon by said preacher and he does in fact make the assumption that if you are fat that there is no way you can really be a Christian.  His point was that because the apparent addiction to food had not come under the Lordship of Christ then you couldn’t be really saved.  I heard this message shortly before moving back to New Orleans and with everything else that was going on I pushed it out of my mind.

That is until two days ago when I heard another message by the same preacher where in it he again pushed the fact that fat people can’t be Christian.  Now, I fully believe that context is king so I made sure I listened to the entirety of the messages even looking at the message series as a whole to see if I was missing something…yeah…I wasn’t.

Here’s the deal.  I fully believe (even as a fatty) that all things should come under the Lordship of Christ. I would never argue against that, except in this case this preachers point goes far beyond the Lordship of Christ and more into a dogmatic authoritative bias presented in arrogance and lacking any real biblical merit.

My point is this…to say that someone is not a Christian or is unable to be in relationship with Christ  because of a struggle, addiction, past sins, generational sins, etc is saying that grace does not exist.  And if grace does not exists than what’s the point? So, to all my fellow bigguns…to all my fellow wanderers who struggle with a myriad of things life throws at us…don’t let the arrogance of one get you down.  His grace is sufficient…even if a few say otherwise.

Until next time…

Believing in something greater

I think, within each of us, there is this desire to believe in something greater than ourselves.  We join clubs or fraternities.  We latch ourselves to a favorite sports team (Go Saints!).  We join churches, synagogues, masques, and other such institutions.  And we put our ideologies firmly on the shoulders of leaders making believe that we are some how apart of what they are doing.

This innate desire drives us, inspires us, comforts us, and at times it crushes us.

We have been living in New Orleans for 7 months now and everywhere I look I see people who are crushed because the “something greater” turned out to be pretty dang ordinary, or it just didn’t deliver.  The truth is, that it doesn’t matter which city we live in…if you take time to see people…and I mean really see them, I think you will find that all around us are people who are sad, or frustrated, or angry or lonely with nothing to believe in.

Right about now you might be thinking to yourself…thank you captain obvious, which is a fair statement. What I am saying is nothing new or ground breaking. My question is, what are you going to do about it? My belief in Christ will always be the lens I see life through and what I see is the church missing the boat on simply offering people hope to people who don’t believe in something greater.

In your city and in mine there exist a need for people of hope and grace and truth.  Christians who will come down from their lofty places and do something to actually care for the people around them.  It’s easy to go to church…but its whole other thing to be the church.

Until next time…

Obama = End of the World

This is for all of my friends out there who are still freaking out a bit since the election.

I know that many of you are disappointed, but you have begun to move on.  You have begun to pray and you continue to trust the sovereignty of God – which is a good thing.

There are some who can give a rip – to you I say – you should give a rip.

And then there is the rest of you.  Oh the rest of you.

Let me give a little perspective.  You may think that its the end of the world now that Obama is the President elect,  but what’s the worst thing that happens? The church gets persecuted and the country goes to hell in a hand basket?

To my knowledge – mostly do to the study of church history as well as some persecuted countries today – it is in times of persecution that Christ is seen in beautiful contrast – it is in times of persecution that the church actually becomes united and *gasp* even grows.  But hey, what does church history know? I mean those Chinese believers – well it’s just a fluke -same for those in Afghanistan, Indonesia, Congo, and Venezuela. No, no, your right – America is the only hope of the world.  I mean that’s why so many of these persecuted countries are sending missionaries over here right? And sheesh, if it ushers in the return of Jesus – well that’s just down right unacceptable.

Relax – Fear God and nothing else.

You might also find it therapeutic to go listen to REM’s It’s The End of The World As We Know It. Although you and I both know the only part besides the chorus you sing along with is when it says Leonard Bernstein.

Love God – Love People…Could it really be that simple?

“What the world needs now, is love – sweet love.” At least that’s what the song says. Why bring up a crappy song for a serious discussion…because the song is amazing! Seriously, why you gotta hate on the classics?

Love God – Love People. Could it really be that simple? That is the question I pose for you. In my life experience as well as my leadership experience I have found that we as humans have this way of making things more difficult then they need to be. This seems especially true in the church. Ahh yes the church – that splendid place where we find our quest for relevance and accuracy being lost in the pursuit of growth – essentially neutering our own potency leaving us flaccid and ineffective. That’s right, I said flaccid.

Now sure, the realities and mysteries of God are deep and profound to where we will always have the opportunity to go deeper and God willing swim in the unknown depths of who He is – but who ever said deeper means more difficult?

If the greatest command is, “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind” – and if the second is like it, “love your neighbor as yourself” – then what the heck are we doing?!

Maybe I really am just a simpleton, but I don’t see in scripture Jesus trying to trick us. Although it would be funny, He doesn’t do it…that there be the devils work! I see Jesus making it simple. Simple truths that have depth that we continue to discover as we surrender all who we are and follow The Leader. (I’m talking Jesus here)

Here is the sad reality. We live in a country the provides much freedom and the church as a whole continues to decrease in number and effectiveness even with the freedom to do pretty much whatever it wants. (which is part of the problem, but that’s a different discussion)

Do you ever ask yourself why? Why do people not come to church? Why is the church declining? It can’t all be because of crappy music, and lack of vision. My hunch is that most people don’t even ask that one question of why because they are oblivious to the realities of need around them as they rest in their own comforts an security of four “holy” walls…and the truth is we all do it in varied degrees.

The reason, I believe, is because we lose focus of the simple (yet deep) truths that rest in those four words. Love God – Love People. We lose sight of the audience of one.

In our hyper real – pop culture saturated world we forgo the basic simple truths we are called to for a consumer mindset that slowly eats away at the soul like a ravenous slug. Why a slug…cause their icky.

All that to say, “what the world needs now – is love – sweet love, it’s the only thing that there’s too little of”!

So what do you think? Could it really be that simple?

Discuss.