The Politics of Christianity

Tony Campolo was the speaker at this year’s Yearly Meeting for the Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends, and I happened to be the one responsible for the live streaming of it (you can still go watch the video on the site). He spoke three times, but there was one topic that has stuck with me — he talked about the distinction between power and authority. The origins of the topic come from Max Weber‘s The Theory of Social and Economic Organization.

He defines power as the ability to coerce, to use force, even if you don’t use coercion. He uses the example of nuclear weapons, or even a traffic cop. Even though we haven’t nuclear bombs since WWII, they serve as a coercive deterrent. Even though he hasn’t pulled his weapon, I know the cop has some beyond the sidearm on his belt.

With power, you obey me because you have to. With authority, you obey me because you want to. Authority is gained by loving sacrifice. Tony goes on to share a story about Mother Theresa, as an example of one with authority.

All of this preface leads up to this quote from Tuesday evening. He leads into this by talking about the three temptations that Jesus faced.

Jesus rejected economic power [turning stones into bread], religious power [throwing himself off the temple], and certainly political power [lands promised by Satan].  That’s very important right now, because we’re facing an election. And Christians are easily diluted into thinking they can create the Kingdom of God through a political process. “If we could just elect our people to office. Godly people to office. Then we can make America a great country again.”

Knock it off. I mean, the reality is, if getting political power would be the way to change the world into what God wants it to be, Jesus would have come as a Caesar instead of a baby in a manger. You feel like thinking, saying to these people who say “If we just have enough power we could straighten out America. If we just have enough power we can get rid of all the evils!” Geez. Why didn’t Jesus think of that.

I’ve been trying to unpack and digest this for three months now, and I’m still working the big bites out, so getting to the smaller, more detailed pieces is still a ways off. I’m trying to re-learn what it means politically to be a Christian, and it’s not easy. Shocker, I know.

Economic Cycles

I heard an interview with David Rothkopf about his article in the Washington Post, and he talked about how there is somewhat of a cycle to economic policy. That’s started me thinking about economic policy, and where we are going to go in the next few years.

The last time the US was in this bad of a financial situaion is when Reaganomics came in and turned the economy around. Reduced government spending and reduced government regulation were probably the two major initiatives of Reaganomics.

Before the early 1980s, the last major economic situation was the Great Depression, and it was FDR’s New Deal. A program highlighted by government programs like Social Security, TVA and Timberline Lodge, among other things.

So in the 1920s the economy tanks, and government regulation and social programs are credited with reviving the US (and world) economy. In the 1970s the economy tanks again, and the government de-regulates previously set regulations, and the economy is revived.

Once again we find ourselves in a failing world economy, that has been corrupted by corporate greed in the financial markets. I think we’ve probably hit the turning point in the cycle, and are about to head into a period of increased government regulation and social programs.

If history shows us anything is that governments come and go. The Roman Empire was going to last forever, but then it didn’t. I don’t want to sound like the world governments are going to collapse, because I don’t expect that to happen in my lifetime. I do think we are going to see some major shifts on par with the New Deal, though.

A Little Sprinkle For Your Yard

Last summer our HOA decided to start enforcing the rules, and they started cracking down on brown lawns.  I did my best to keep the lawn green with typical sprinklers, but there were two big issues with it:

  1. I had to remember to turn the sprinklers on
  2. I had to remember to turn the sprinklers off

There were nights where I meant to turn the sprinklers on, but then the night just disappears and it’s too late to do it.  And there were nights where I’d turn the sprinklers on, but realize 2-3 hours later that I forgot to turn them off.  Enough with that.

Earlier in the Spring I started working with Alan on a design (I helped measure, he did the real design), and we set Memorial Day weekend as the target for install. Saturday went well; had great weather for it. We started back up on Sunday afternoon, but it had unfortunately started raining overnight, and everything was muddy. Monday morning saw us take it closer to completion, burying most of the pipe and setting heads in place, all while still in the rain.

Two-and-a-half weeks later I just tonight got the last technical piece complete; the timer is now set! I didn’t quite know how hard it would be to do this project going into it, and if I didn’t have Alan to hold my hand through it I would have been lost.

I still need to spread grass seed over the trench lines, and possibly touch up some trench coverings a bit more, but I’m done for now. Hopefully the HOA will stay off my back this year.

JASon Lately

You might be wondering what I’ve been up to in recent days/weeks/months.  So do I.  Just a couple of things to mention today.

Back in the fall I started a job split, keeping half of my old job in Admissions, and picking up some responsibilities in the IT (Administrative Computing side) office.  The university has entered a new software implementation, which is chewing up most of my time.  It’s very energizing, and very tiring, all at the same time.  Because of my job split I’m the functional lead (representing Admissions) and the technical lead (representing IT).  I’m going to some training in California next week, so things are really in swing now.

A new, exciting outlet has started for me.  I asked a group of guys if they wanted to co-author a new blog with me, found at wearebutmen.com.  How did I come up with that name?  See here.  What’s it all about?  See here.  It’s still pretty young, but there has already been some lively discussion in the comments.  Stop by and look around sometime.

All I Have Are Questions

So tonight in our small group it was my turn to share some of my spiritual journey. As I’ve been doing my mental preparation for it over the last couple of weeks I’ve been looking at things from my past with my present-day glasses on.

The more I looked at a situation from 15+ years ago I recognized similarities in some present-day situations. Talk about an eye-opening realization. For someone who likes to know things, and have answers for even the most obscure questions, I have no answers, but I have a bunch of my own questions.

Disclaimer: These are honest questions. I do not intend to question anyone’s service to the church. These questions come from a desire to understand.

The biggest question in my mind right now is what does “worship” really mean? What does it look like? I know what Google says worship is, but those are just words. I know I experienced it this morning when Julie Anderson led us in song during Open Worship. The problem was that I was so excited to sense and recognize the worship happening that I almost missed participating in it. I’m silly.

The second big question, which is a follow-up to the first, is what is the point to church? Why is it that we get together for the “worship service” every week? Is it bad that I believe the purpose of the worship service is not to make me feel good, and get me energized to go out and face the “evils” that the week is going to throw at me? If it’s called a worship service, why is it used for teaching? I don’t know if I’ve ever felt worshipful listening to a sermon. Teaching and preaching is important, don’t get me wrong, but why do we treat the 30-45 minutes singing spent on Sunday morning as sufficient? Is singing the only “acceptable” way to worship?

I’m not trying to say that God does not respond during worship, and you should leave church feeling empty. What I’m saying is why do we expect the act of going to church to be for our benefit? Are we so consumeristic that we look for what we can take away from our time in the pews rather than focusing on being in the presence of the almighty God? On the flip-side, we can’t be so complacent that we don’t recognize when God responds to us. So where’s the point of balance?

See, I just have questions.

Obama Facebook Ad


Obama Facebook Ad

Originally uploaded by jschwanz

I’ve seen this pay-per-click advertisement on Facebook a handful of times over the last couple of days. All I have to say is his campaign understands new media very well.

Pot Meet Kettle

When two multi-millionaires call another millionaire an elitist, isn’t that like the pot calling the kettle black?  Just wondering.  This whole election season has been tiring and kinda depressing.

Make Believe in a Galaxy Far, Far Away

Judah has been walking around tonight talking about Artoo, Prince-a Way-a, and Yoyo.  He can’t find Artoo and Prince-a Way-a.  “Where’s Artoo, dad?”  He might be the youngest boy ever to have a crush on Princess Leia.

Twitter, the Torch, and NPR

Today the spectacle known as the Olympic Torch Relay passed through San Francisco, but nobody who really wanted to see it — for or against — got to see it.  Not that people didn’t try to find the updated route.  Man Twitter is getting some interesting publicity out of this. “Twitterati,” I love it!

BTW, you can follow me on Twitter @jschwanz.

One of my favorite things about going into work on Wednesday mornings is I might be going in at the right time to hear my favorite segment on NPR‘s Morning Edition.  Frank Deford‘s segment this morning was about the torch, and the Olympics in general.  He’s got some interesting thoughts to go along with this already very interesting upcoming Olympic Games.

Prank

Best. Prank. Ever.