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Mark

Obama, social media

Social media pastors cast stones on Obama’s faith

As millions watched President Obama take a public oath of office, popular mega church pastors sought to cast some social media stones on our president’s faith.

Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, set off a social media firestorm with this tweet:

That message was retweeted over 3,000 times and favored over 1,000 times on Twitter.

Now, I think it is just great that Driscoll prayer for our president. Thank you, Mark. However, what is extremely troubling and ugly is that Driscoll has no understanding of Obama’s faith. Our president has publicly and privately shared his faith. Not only was he a long time member of a church in Chicago but has shared about his personal relationship with Jesus Christ over the course of his adult life.

In the beginning of 2012, Obama gave the keynote speech at the National Prayer Breakfast. Obama said,

“For me, as a Christian, it also coincides with Jesus’s teaching that ‘for unto whom much is given, much shall be required… I know that far too many neighbors in our country have been hurt and treated unfairly over the last few years, and I believe in God’s command to ‘love thy neighbor as thyself.

The facts are overwhelming despite Mark Driscoll’s ignorance. The president is on record proclaiming his faith and belief in Jesus Christ.  Obama has spoken at length about praying and reading a personal Christian devotional everyday.  In addition, our president regularly praying and meets with Christian pastors for spiritual advice.

In 2011, Obama responded to the questioning of his faith at the National Prayer Breakfast:

My Christian faith, then, has been a sustaining force for me over these last few years, all the more so when Michelle and I hear our faith questioned from time to time. We are reminded that ultimately what matters is not what other people say about us, but whether we’re being true to our conscience and true to our God. Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you, as well… As I travel across the country, folks often ask me, what is it that I pray for? And like most of you, my prayers sometimes are general: Lord, give me the strength to meet the challenges of my office.

Still, other mega church pastors have commended Obama’s faith on inauguration day. John Piper, a popular mega church pastor and author, tweeted:

I don’t agree with 100% of President Obama’s stances on political issues but that doesn’t mean I need to publicly bash his belief in Christ. This type of Christian stoning is ugly. It in no way furthers the Kingdom of God. It is easy to lob stones across social media and never face the person who you defame. On social media it is just too easy to be snarky, rude, or just plain uncouth. Anyone who is in Christ needs to resist the temptation to hurl a stone at another on social media.

Driscoll and Piper have very successful ministries that have brought thousands to Christ. I commend them for that. They reach the unchurched.

However, is it possible to live a life of ministry without bringing down others who’s Christian beliefs don’t match up with ours? Yes! I may not be particularly pleased with an organization’s or church’s stance on an issue or two but I can still support the fruit of their work.

We Christians must strive to end the questioning of another’s faith in Christ. God is the ultimate arbitrator of who is and is not a follower of Christ. Let’s put down the stones. As Jesus said, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”

Pentecost 2b

The Power of Small Things

There seems to be a trend in technology: nano.  Everything smaller, thinner, and powerful.  We even have the Ipod nano.  Growing up in Gaithersburg, MD we had the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST).  Many people from my home church worked there and one gentlemen even had a PhD in nano technology.  He would tell me about things working on sub atomic levels!  I  have a netbook computer that is small enough to fit into my pocket of my cargo pants.  We are coming out the era of “bigger and better” that we inherited from the 1950’s where cars were as big as boats and ladies had big hair.  We are entering into the age of “small things”.

In our two lectionary passages this week, we see that there is power in small things.  First, we have 1 Samuel, where Samuel is grieving over King Saul’s removal from power.  God instructs Samuel to invite Jesse and his sons to the sacrifice.  One of his sons would become God’s anointed and would lead all of Israel.  As the sons of Jesse are presented and none of them, not even the oldest, was the one that would be anointed.  There was one son missing, David who was the smallest and the youngest.  He was ruddy (my nickname), handsome, and full of life.  You can imagine the shock that the brothers and their father felt when Samuel anointed the smallest and youngest son.

In our second passage, we find in Mark 4, Jesus is comparing the ability of a small muster seed to grow into a mighty plant to the amazing nature of planting seeds of spiritual growth within people and reaping the enormous spiritual benefits within the Kingdom of God.  I always thought it was funny that Jesus talked about “shrubs”.  When I think of shrubs, I always think of Monty Python and the evil knights who say “Ni!” asking for shrubbery. Continue Reading…

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