Sacramental Living

Those crazy Brits are at it again.  This satire has some bitter truth in it, does it not?

So I caught a bit of a Headline News segment last night called “To the Point” featuring Doug Pagitt and John MacArthur. They were asked to debate whether yoga was diametrically opposed to Christianity or not.

I said aloud “Ecky Thump!” (Ever since receiving the latest White Stripes CD by the same title, spelled “Icky Thump” I’ve become fond of the phrase.) Loosely translated from northern England, it means “What the heck?”

Has Christianity really become so irrelevant that all the main stream media can consult us on is yoga? Well, that does nothing to make me feel we are being missional. I can see it now …

“Hello, Pastor Niece?”

“Please, just call me Brian.”

“Well, um what is your stance on the yoga debate?;

“Excuse me?”

“I’m with the local paper and wondering where you and your congregation stand on yoga.”

“Well, some yoga poses do require you to stand … those are the easier ones. I used to do yoga three times a week when I was in the theatre. Is that what you mean?”

“I guess we’re wondering if you think it’s Christian or not.”

Good grief! Our Lord must shake his head in shame and disappointment when Christendom leaders like John MacArthur say that to relieve pressure and stress we should read the Bible rather than push our bodies through physical practices like yoga. Has he ever tried to read Job when stressed? Give me a break.

Apparently, we still suffer from the neo-Platonic divide of mind and body. This is a notion Jesus and the first disciples never expressed. The body was the body … and the mind was just a part of the body. The gospel of Jesus was for the whole person … the whole body.

If it didn’t make the Church look so ridiculous, I would laugh at the whole thing. But in reality, it’s heartbreaking to see that we have so distorted the message of Jesus, and been so unable to live the gospel, that now we are consulted on such silly things.

SO TELL ME SOMETHING:
What have you noticed lately that is an “Ecky Thump” moment?

——

Brian Niece
www.brianniece.com
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Tags: Headline News, Doug Pagitt, John MacArthur, Ecky Thump, missional

So today the Farm Bill will likely not be reformed in Congress. For all the joining of hands from social progressives and fiscal conservatives over the possibility of reforming this bill, our efforts will likely be defeated.

Why?

As stated on NPR’s Morning Edition large agribusiness interests (lobbyists) are just too strong. The richest 10% of American farmers and farming industries pour millions into congressional campaigns and threaten to oust incumbents over this one issue. All the while, the Farm Bill increases persecution of the poor world-wide and on US soil.

As Christians, we are to speak truth to power. Yet, there comes a time when power must embrace truth and act truthfully. How can our representative form of government be an authentic republic when the “power” entities succumb to threats to their power, rather than embracing truthful ways of living and being even at the expense of their power?

An example of truthful living … I’m a pastor. But God did not call me to be a pastor, rather to preach the gospel (in words and by the way I live my life in community). Now, it could be said that a pastor wields power (though it is ebbing away in our post-Christian society). That power is usually within one’s own faith community. When I am faced with the choice of living and/or speaking truthfully OR clinging to my power of influence and being well-liked, I must choose being truthful … even if that comes at the expense of my “pastor” position. I can always be truthful to the call to preach/live the gospel … though I may sacrifice the “power” of pastoring in order to do it.

Are our politicians called to be truthful representatives that make right choices on behalf of the republic, or are they called to be career politicians that must be powerful members of Congress at all costs?

SO TELL ME:
What power do you sacrifice in order to live truthfully?

Brian Niece
www.brianniece.com

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Tags: Farm Bill, agribusiness, persecution, poor, power, truthful