Break New Ground! People from the 70's don't get a second turn in their 70s!

     Over the last few years, hugh shifts have been taking place throughout the world due to the new technologies that have emerged.  Job losses, company buy outs, church consolidations, and 1000 ministers resigning per month in the USA all can be attributed to the hugh shift in the way our world has changed.  My focus over the recent years has been to learn about these cultural shifts, explore where it may be going, retool myself, and make the paradigm shift to a new position in the back half of my life.  But there is a few aspects of this shift that we all have to grasp.

     First, we need to recognize at least here in America, that the last generation of church leaders did not embrace the cultural changes brought on by the Boomers. Every generation has a right to reshape their own institutions and world around what is important to them - the church included.  The unfortunate thing has been that the "Builders" or what has been called "the greatest generation" - those born in the 1930's did not accept my generations redefinitions and reshaping of the church. They just wanted the church left alone.  However, in recent years the contemporary church has finally emerged with boomer pastors finally having the opportunity to express their own cultural tastes within the life of the church - sadly without the blessing or permission of the builder generation who still think the church ought to be left alone.  The problem is that 88% of GenX and 98% of the millennials have not darkened the church doors due to the culture within the church walls having no relevance to them because it is still a part of a bygone era- it seems that the builders have still sought to maintain control even though they are in their 80s.  Recently, in the past few years I have sensed a tremendous call by God to begin the journey of becoming a part of "The Religious Society Of Friends" - (Quakers).  I was greatly influenced to do this by a number of factors emerging from my own "Family History" and discussions with my doctoral mentor Dr. Len Sweet.  Len is a noted christian semioticians who has a gifted insight into the state of the church in America. He said, “George Fox and Quakerism will be rediscovered in the 21st century and may be the best answer in presenting Christ to the postmodern mind.”  

     As a result, I began to explore Quakerism and found in my discussions with them that most of their leadership is 80 years old and above.  One of these leaders said to me, "Oh, having you join us might help us get these younger people to become a part of our denomination."  Not trying to be disrespectful, I looked at the board I met with and recognized that their youngest member was 67, three members were over 80, and two members were in their 90s.  I responded to them and said "Well, I'm not sure I can serve you well in accomplishing that because I'm now to old to be on this board. You need to be passing the torch onto GenX and  below now!"  In another yearly meeting group, one 80 year old guy said to me, "You're not going to just send us out to pasture..."  Wow, my generation has been no where to be found on most of these boards.  When my generation does emerge within these contexts I have found that the 80 year olds are either working behind the scenes to undermine the boomers or seeks to regain control of the church in order to maintain the structures, values, and church cultures they crafted to serve their own generation.  This stuff just doesn't work and I guess we need to be asking them permission to now let the emerging younger generation - "The millennials" to be given the opportunity to reshape the church so that the church has a future.  But, it has been discouraging. 

     The same problem now lurks in the boomer "contemporary church" model also.  The church must find new ways to break out of "modernism" paradigms.  CS Lewis wrote in his essays and fiction consistently his belief that the Modernist agenda is founded on a bankrupt philosophy for which its ultimate end is little more than a struggle for power. I believe that much of the fight within the "modern classical, contemporary, post-modern" church paradigms has nothing to do with the Gospel but is a fight between old modernism hierarchical models of church faith and practices and on the deconstruction of the hierarchical centralized church polities that were based on the "modernism" that CS Lewis wrote about.  The major problem with "Builders" and "boomers" alike is that they are married to "modernism" and hierarchical structures.  They love climbing corporate ladders and think they earned their position and now is their time.  Just look at American Politics,  Why is it that "Bill and Hillary Clinton" or "Jeb Bush" won't just go away?  I believe that boomers culture was rejected by the builder generation who suppressed them so long that they feel they need this time to get out of their system what should have happened 20 years ago.  Mitch McConnell is 72 (born 1942).  Harry Reid is 75 (born 1939).  Nancy Pelosi is 74 (born 1940).  Jeb Bush is 61 (born 1953).  Bill Clinton is 68 (born 1946),  Hillary is 67 years old.  Barack Obama is 53 (Born 1961).  They waited their turn, climbed the ranks, paid their dues and believe its their time... everyone else needs to sit down and shut up.  Hmmm, John Kennedy was 40 years old when he took the oath of office!  

      When these shifts of power are challenged by a post-modern, non-hierarchical, egalitarian,  leaderless, consent approach generation - leaders who have been raised in a culture of modernism begin to fight the emerging post-modern decentralized groups as though they are defending the faith of the bible.  They will even find Bible verses to defend "modernism."  The only way for the church to break out of these paradigms of hierarchy is for the boomer leaders of today (who are now entering into their 50s through 70s) to give the church over to the millennials and let them redefine and reshape the church to serve and meet the needs of this new post-modern era. Unless we do this there will be no future for a church stuck in methods that served the past. This includes the HOME DEPOT churches where centralized authority and hierarchy is immortalized on multiple campuses and on big screens. Talk about power and control?  At least the church architecture of the classical church has stained glassed windows honoring Jesus and his story.  Today's stained glass VIDEO SCREENS make the Pastor their focus as though he is the Vicar of Christ on earth!  When God gave the five gifted ministries of Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors, and Teachers (Eph.4:11) he did not give them as a paid celebrity gift to be an oracle of God for us.  He gave them to teach all of us how to hear and obey the voice of the Lord for ourselves. Unfortunately, our present video windows focus on who can give the most clever lines to be quoted on "twitter" or posted on FaceBook.  One guy I know who is nearing 75 recently "twittered" "Come get Ricked" (his first name) rather than saying "Come get rocked!"  Yup, that's why we should all go to church - to get Ricked! - Not to worship Jesus - not to encounter the Holy Spirit... we go to get inspired by the celebrity anointed one on the big screen.  John Wimber was right when he said, "I'm concerned the Church has become more of a theatre experience, rather than a meeting place for people to encounter & interact with God. People don't need more entertainment; they need to encounter the King."

      We are not called to mentor this emerging generation to our own "church structures" or "boomer paradigms."   Age wise we see "boomers" in positions of power today with very little attention being given to "Millennials" about what they see the future looking like.  GenX is forty years old and above now.  The Millennials are beginning their 30s.  When are they going to take the leadership of the church?  Did you know that George Fox was 26 years old when "Quakerism" shook up the western world and created a nation called "America" during his time. General George Washington was 26 when he led the American Revolution.  But we can't give the church to the millennials because they might mess it up and make all of us uncomfortable with the redefinition of "church."  The change is here.  If we can send our young men and women to the middle east to fight "ISIS" and other threats to the power brokers of that part of the world... why not give those same young men and women the chance to do the same with the current culture of the church?  I can guarantee this... the next American Idol will not be 70 years old!  It's time to give it up and find an isle called patmos.

    

LEARNING HOW TO BE ABASED

Each week I have opportunity to interact with some of the greatest leaders of our time.  I have have met so many wonderful people over the years and am very glad to have shared time and moments with these great leaders. However, I value several close relationships I have with the less famous no one knows about.  I have friends who have served faithfully in the backwoods of Maine, from the back towns of Pennsylvania to the Island of Tasmainia, to the rural villages in Germany, to great cities like Melbourne, Australia and Auckland, New Zealand.  You never heard of these guys but they hear God very well, are great friends to have and lead great churches.  The other day, I spent some time on the phone with my friend Jim Cucuzza, who has pastored, overseen hundreds of church plants, and served behind the scenes of some of our nation's greatest prayer meetings on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.  As we talked he bagan to share a very important scripture with me that moved me to listen to The Holy Spirit about the quiet periods of my life.  It comes from Philippians 4:11-13... 

"I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 

I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. 

In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret 

of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 

I can do all things through him who strengthens me."

As Jim shared this scripture with me, he pointed out the phrase, I've learned how to be "abased" and I know how to "abound."  Oh, the church worldwide knows how to feed into our "consumerism" addiction by teaching us on "How To Abound."  But when have you last heard our celebrarity pastors and churches teach on "How To Be Abased"?  Oh, I needed to hear this word from The Holy Spirit.  Just like you I love abounding. I'll be the first to admit publically that I've loved having the opportunity to be a major conference speaker, a radio and TV talk show on major international Christian networks, I've loved having a great lifestyle, abounding in everything and the attention it brings.  My own consumerism has been worse than the addiction for posting selfies.  Now don't get me wrong here. Like many others, I have my own dose of self-inflicted trouble, but where I live, the places I still minister in no way has hurt my lifestyle.  I'm still living a very blessed life.  Since 2008, there are a few moments I'm cashed strapped but I am still very much abounding.  However, God knows how to put me in personal situations to "bring to death" my self life.  I like you, can get very bothered at this idea of being ABASED.  I'm a Western Civiliation guy.  I can't even fathom what it was like for American Journalist James Foley in the last moments of his life. According to Christian today, www.christiantoday.com, Prayer was his inner freedom.  Dressed in an orange jumpsuit, on his knees before his executor, he was abased of all need for fame, self importance, or need to have his worked recognized and was beheaded before all the world... and that is what we will remember about him.  He will be remembered for giving his life tyring to show the world the plight and suffering of the Syrian people. How many of us would volunteer for this calling from God?

Revelation 6:9

When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the 

souls of all who had been martyred for the word of God and

 for being faithful in their testimony.

Let's go to the next level!  Phil. 2:5-11

Nope, not me.  I'm not interested in joiing this group.  Getting honest about my own personal journey with God it bothers me when ask myself questions like am I willing to die for my faith... I don't think I'd deny my faith but I've never been put in the position to deny Christ or die like many of our Christian brothers and sisters are facing in the middle east right now. What would I do if my daughters were threatened with beheading or having their bodies cut in half because of our family's faith?  Get real.  Most leaders and church members today are more concerned about their reputation, how they are seen, and protective of their need to be maintain how others see them.  I know one "famous" guy who lost his marriage because of his own self-inflicted decisions and the only thing he was worried about was when he could up and preach again.  But, who are we to judge him. A dear, Man Of God, once said to me about watching another major leader "falling" that I should never judge any person unless I've walked in their shoes.  God exposes our flaws, failures, and takes us in unwelcomed places, seasons, and puts us in humilating situations for one purpose.  To let us know that He Is God and we are not!  Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith.  We have become to enamoured with thinking we are writing our own stories.  In my journey faith, I can't of one moment of my story that I wrote.  God has been writing my story all along. 

Deuteronmy 8:10-20 

When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God 

for the good land he has given you.  Be careful that you 

do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, 

his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day.  

Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, 

when you build fine houses and settle down, 

and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and 

gold increase and all you have is multiplied,  then your heart will become proud 

and you will forgetthe Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, 

out of the land of slavery. He led you through the vast and dreadful wilderness, 

that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. 

He brought you water out of hard rock. He gave you manna to 

eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, 

to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you.  

You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of 

my hands have produced this wealth for me.”

But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the 

ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, 

which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today. 

If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and 

worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that 

you will surely be destroyed. Like the nations the Lord destroyed before you, 

so you will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord your God. 

I still am not sure what the Apostle Paul ment on "How To Be Abased?"  But here's a couple of things I'm reminded by those men of God who spoke into my life when I first entered into ministry years ago.  Oh!  the blow to my ego.  I need times to be abased.  My heart has given me great trouble at times.  You might say I suffer from heart trouble and so do all of us.  We all have the capacity of having our hearts become proud because of the blessings God brings and we tend to want to tell others "My power and strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me."  Just the shear arrogance of this thought demands our need for being abased.

In the late 1970's a major Christian television producer asked me, "Mike, do you want to be in front of the camera or behind it?"  Of course, being in my early 20's I wanted to be in front of the camera, however, I didn't want to tell him that.  But, God heard me.  Another friend, who was once a major player in the national limelight left it all for the backwoods of Maine to pastor a small church once said to me, around the same time, "Mike you need to leave chasing after all the national limelight and give yourself to ministering in a place like God has called me to minister.  I hated his words.  I had too much ego.  I wanted to be famous in men's eyes- the next Charles G. Finney, John Wesley or whatever. My flesh needed to be stroked.  Now, I've had opportunity to do everything a young "preacher" wants to accomlish professionally. But, I have always backed off seeking the limelight because Of my heart condition... an so should all of us.  We need to be pleasing the Lord.  He is the one who exalts one and puts down another.  I have always been so priviledge to have great men of God in my life, famous too, who have been used mightily by God and still remained the same after humble person they were before God promoted them.  My 1970's TV friend told me, that the most disturbing thing he observed in Christian TV were those preachers who were on TV because of their own egos needing to be stroked vs. because God called them.  I needed to hear all this cousel.  God sent another great "famous" business man into my life when I was in college studying for the ministry.  He looked at me and said, "Son, are you going into the ministry?"  I said, "yes sir."  He replied, "Good.  But remeber one thing, preachers are a dime a dozen. Be a man of God!"  Wow.

2 Cor. 11: 21-29 provides us a God-given model of Leadership

Whatever anyone else dares to boast about—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast about.  Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham’s descendants? So am I.  Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again.  Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.  Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea,  I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers.  I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.  Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.  Who is weak, and I do not feel weak?   

Though it is hard for me, after being in those very tempting places of "abounding."  My heart need to learn how to be abased.  I need to learn to be content in whatever state I am in.  Each of of us just need to be honored that God allows us to participate in his plan, his church, and his agenda.  I'm honored to have been given great opportunities but and I want to learn How to feel the same when I am in the place of being abased... whatever that is for me.  

I Peter 5:6

Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God

and in due time He will exalt you

"Which part of this verse excites you more is an indication of your heart condition!

Going It Alone...

In 2010 my whole world changed.  It was disrupted by the death of my mother, my father, a major divorce of friends, and a life altering lawsuit against the organization I've worked so hard to build for the last 24 years.  There is a quote I've often heard, "I would rather try and fail than never having tried at all."  Well, I'm not sure that is true.  In fact whoever said that probably never "failed" at trying.  Another platitude that fails to speak to anyone who feels they are failing is. "It's not how you begin, it's how you finish."  Well I'm glad "finishing" well doesn't include that battle with cancer.  My mom never smoked a day in her life and died of small cell lung cancer.  My dad was sprayed with Agent Orange in Vietnam and died of the cancer from it... yet he was a highly decorated US soldier.  I guess my parents illness doesn't meet the "criteria" of finishing well.  I have also noticed that when you personally go through tragedy and loss a lot of people just go away, fall off, and even make up stories of why they can't hang with you through those rough moments in life.  Is anybody hearing me?  You need to be a friend when being a friend is not convenient for you.  I have stuck with many of my friends through the hard moments of their lives.  In the last few months, I've had long term friends (45 years and counting) going through major health challenges.  Each day, I have tried to call encourage them, pray for them, share wonderful memories with them, and try to make them laugh.  It's hard but its loving those whom God has given to you to love the best you know how.  It may not be up to everyone's expectations but the gift of being present, fully present, when there is no "major move of God" or "being in the spotlight of the crowd" and loving your friends when no one else is looking that God is really present.

This past week I faced the hardest moment I've had in life so far.  With me stood three men who I greatly want to thank.  My attorney, a business friend, and a former employee of the group who has scammed churches all across America stood with me for "righteousness."  Even though, I had these three great friends with me - I can't explain how "lonely" I have felt because I felt abandoned by those who I thought would stand with me.  There I said it!  Abandoned.  Is this what it felt like to Jesus to have Peter standing at a distance meaning to see the end of it all?  Too often, we think the "outcomes" should be some kind of miracle the way we would like it to be.  We celebrate those kind of outcomes because it fits with our American Consumerism Cultural expectations... right?  But when have we seen that "disruptions, betrayals, and even death may be true marks of success in God's eyes? Disruptions may be as much a miracle as walking on water was. Without disruptions we might find ourselves shipwrecked.  But in our Western ideologies the villains always lose and the good guys get the girl.  Really?  

I'm sure the middle eastern men who killed whole Christian families this past week in iraq feel justified and victorious while their leaders praise them for pleasing Allah. I guess the recent beheading of Christians and children cut in halves is failure in our eyes. Right?  Did you know that their are thousands of people throughout the world who never built big churches, filled stadiums, or became superstar pastors who died as a martyr because they would never deny Christ. They would rather be beheaded than to to convert to a false religion. The book of revelation speaks about the martyrs cries coming out from the gates of Heaven... yet by our own western ideologies these people failed.  Failed at what?  Failed whom?  I've had enough of these cheap shots false perspectives found in the western church world.  Haven't you heard that the foundation of the church rests on the martyr of the saints.  Peter was crucified upside down.  Legend has it that the Apostle Paul was beheaded.  So lets look at how St. Paul defined success? " I was beaten times without number, often in danger of death. Five times I received from the Jews 39 lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and day I have spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among the false brethren; I have been in labour and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure" (2Cor.11:24-27).  He didn't measure success by numbers, buildings and assets he had.  He talked about his suffering as an important mark of true apostleship.  I haven't heard one thing in the Western Church about success defined in terms of danger and false brethren.  I sometimes wish I had false brethren. It would be easier to take emotionally.

Most of the time, people are so consumed with their own worlds, they just forget you.  It's all about the selfie.  Let me see if I can say it any clearer.  People in our own culture are very well connected, wired, and carry whole communities around on their phone and other social media... but they are dying.  They are going it alone.  They just need a friend.  If you are rightly related to God - then giving and caring for others may require you to stop looking for the likes on Facebook, measuring how many hits to your social media pages, and lay down these obsolete means of communication and get back to real relationship building time - facetime - being fully present with one another in the good times and bad.  Guess you never failed yet?  your time will come.  The scriptures are still true "selfie"  Romans 3:23 ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  Romans 3:10 "There are NONE righteous no NOT one!  

Life Is More Than A Sound Bite!

Friendships are very difficult to maintain when life is based on the speed of trust.  Relationships take time, commitment, face time, and being able to discuss important relational matters.  Too often, people are making assumptions, holding unexplained expectations on others, and holding differing values without those values being articulated to those we assume are on the same page as we are.  This is the age of sound bites.  You can use 140 words a tweet.  You can use a facebook paragraph.  You can text a thought but none of these technologies really present to you who a person is.  These days you can create any identity you want to portray to others.  Most relationships take time.  Intimacy takes deep conversations.  It also takes trust.  When a person opens up, becomes vulnerable, shares the deepest part of their lives - trust is imperative.  Your personal boundaries can only be opened when "trust" is present.  Can I trust You?  Are you really a friend that can know the other and protect them from those who want to use and exploit you for "business."  I have worked hard to build relationships that are authentic.  I have tried to be a trustful person.  I have worked hard to be an example of friendship to others who don't know how to be a friend... and most of the time I've gotten hurt.  But I haven't quit.

I need my friends.  I have great networking skills.  I have developed an ability to listen to differing points of view without taking sides.  Some may think that's hard to do... but not when you are a kid who grew up in a home with divorced parents.  You don't take sides when your mom and dad divorce each other. You have to learn to relate to them without choosing sides.  One of the major problems that emerge in a friendship and having a learned behavior like mine is when a friend asks you to choose them over another friend you love too.  I don't like choosing sides when someone asks me to choose them over another.  I have republican and democrat friends.  I have conservative and liberal friends. I have Christian and non-Christian friends.  When people push me to agree with them and then threaten me I just move on because I will not take sides.  I love people too much to be limited by partisan positions.  I love my Calvinist friends. I love my Quaker friends! I love my Pentecostal Friends! I love my friends no matter what label you put on them.  I am a lover!  Not a hater. 

Twenty years ago, I lost who I thought was my best friend. We had a great friendship but I always knew that this friendship would be hard to maintain because of the conflicts he had in himself. I did everything I could to protect this relationship but finally realized he was never going to be on the same page with where I felt God calling me to.  He was making some life choices and going in a direction I could not follow.  He sat in an office and asked me to choose what he valued and expected over what I thought what we both had valued.  We had a values conflict.  He left and hasn't spoken to me for the last 20 years.  I have never once exposed him.  I have never struck out to hurt him.  I have forgiven him and protected the friendship we once had... because the scripture teaches that a true friend loves at all times. I am still his friend... but his choices in life have resulted in him building with other people who know nothing about him because he has recreated a new world... and if that's what he needs that's okay with me. Our differing values brought an end to our relationship. For me... I need authenticity.  Friendship has categories.  You have marriage and family, neighbors, workmates, acquaintances, brothers, those within a faith community, partners, business leaders, all who have some sort of relationship with you that you call friends.  However, there is one kind of friend that sticks closer than a brother.  Covenantal friends.  Heart to Heart. Spirit to Spirit.  Friendships that move you beyond words.  The problem with most of us is that we do not know how to handle the relationships God gives us.  Don't assume that everybody that comes into your life has been sent by God. Some relationships are totally inappropriate and to engage in them will lead to failure.  The Bible is filled with such stories. Proverbs describes the type of people to avoid. However, every relationship given to us by God is a sacred trust. Too often, when we do not follow the guidelines of friendship laid out in scripture we get blindsided by people who the scripture warns us about.  When God gives me the people he sends into my life - it's important I recognize the gift of "them" that God has given me.  Likewise, the other party needs to understand the same.  It's also important to understand what role we play in each others lives so that we do not get confused with our understanding of the other's values and expectations.  Don't assume you understand anything - even if you had relationship for 20 years.  If it is not a covenant relationship then don't expect the benefits of the covenant.  If it is another category then don't set yourself up for failure by trying to be something the other person has not asked you to be a part of.  People don't fight over scripture, over worship practices, or styles, goals, or their relationship.  They fight over values... and end relationships because of them.

I often wonder, with all the infighting, mishandling of relationships, and broken trust that have resulted over those unspoken expectations and differing values found in relationship what we are all going to say in front of Jesus about our broken relationships with one another.  Do you think Jesus will choose between me and you?  Is he caught in the middle of the disputes?  Will he let both of us in heaven?  Or will he choose you over me and send me to hell because I didn't live up to your expectations, share your values, agreed with Fox News or MSNBC political blood sporting, or held to your wrapping your interpretation of scripture around your values, or having different sins than you.  Obviously,  Jesus will choose  between our views, and has aligned himself with our opinions, and is wrapped in our disputes and will send me to Hell because I'm don't agree with you. Your facebook comments, tweets, and all your instagram photo opts are the are the right perspectives only if I agree with them. The moment I show any disagreement - I get deleted.   I wonder what Jesus has to say about the new communities we carry in our pocket and how easily our sound bites determine the future of relationships.  FB, Tweeting, and Instagram can become the new living Hell when all the rules, protocols, and respect of boundaries is redefined by those daily sound bites we receive in the texts...  Do you really want to offer yourself as a friend or not?  Do you really want to be a friend or not?  The only thing you need to carry forward in any relationship is "loving others" the best you know how?  Jesus had to ask Peter three times "DO YOU LOVE ME?"  Why did it take him so long to answer Jesus back "Jesus, you know that I love you?"  Is it because He Knew Jesus would give him the final proof of love?  Peter, If you love me then take care of those relationships I have given you.  True friendship is demonstrated in how you love the others around you.

Proverbs 18:24

There are “friends” who destroy each other, but a real friend sticks closer than a brother.

Immigration Reform

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Most countries around the world are struggling with issue of dispossessed refuges - resaulting from war, famine, climate change, or poverty.  Every parent is looking to give their children a better shot at life than they have had.  My country is struggling with this same issue.  Over the last month, the national news media has focused on the 50,000 children coming across the Texas and Arizona borders from Central America.  This has provoked further discussion about the growing problems of immigration control and what has been a major discussion about the problem of illegal immigrants.  I am somewhat amused that the focus has always been on Central America when we have huge populations of Asians, Africans, Haitians, Cubans, Middle Easterners, and others coming into our country illegally the same way.  However, I want to state right out the gate that I believe we do have a problem controlling our borders.  This problem needs to be fixed. However, before we just make rash decisions and have knee jerk reactions, we need to examine what our calling as a nation is and then work together to follow that purpose assigned by God to us in our time and in our generation. 

Our nation was built on immigration.  People who had fled other lands because of extreme persecution built it.  English Puritans, Quakers, Anabaptists, Presbyterians, Irish Catholics, French Huguenots, and others all fled Western Europe seeking relief from the tyranny of violence, persecution and intolerance they faced and came to shores of North America seeking refuge, religious freedom and recipical liberty.  Those movements of immigration were illegal entries and violations from a Native American perspective based on the Roman Catholic Church’s edict known as “The Doctrine Of Discovery.”  But the European immigrants didn’t care if they were violating and stealing the land of the American people.  As far as they were concerned America’s resources were available to enrich their lives.  These European refugees also didn’t think it was a problem to import African people to provide them a labor force to support their aristocratic European lifestyles. This is the history that no one wants to talk about.  But it’s this history that should provide a foundation for all our discussion on our country’s immigration policy before we undertake immigration reform.  What do we do about the stranger seeking refuge in our land?  For people of biblical faith, the scripture is clear: "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Leviticus 19:18). The question is, "Who is my neighbor?"

The answer is found a few verses later. "The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.” The command to love the "stranger," however, is not open ended. The Hebrew language of the Old Testament uses three words to describe strangers, aliens, or immigrants. Two words basically mean the same thing: nekhar and zar refer to foreigners whose allegiance remained with their native country. These people were denied the benefits of citizenship in Israel, and are not in view in Leviticus 19:34. On the other hand, the Hebrew word ger, often translated "sojourner" or "stranger," as in Leviticus 19:34, is a person who had immigrated to Israel legally with the intention of becoming a citizen. Israel was to treat these immigrants as if "native" born, granting them benefits of citizenship, including the right to glean fields (Leviticus 19:10; Deuteronomy 24:19–22), to receive a portion of the special tithe collected every three years for the poor (14:28–29; 26:12–13), to be paid in a timely manner (24:15), allowed to rest on the Sabbath (5:14), and to receive fair treatment in legal cases, without discrimination (1:16–17) or being taken advantage of (24:17–18; 27:19). But when applying biblical truth to immigration reform today we need to keep in mind that America is not Israel.  America, as we know it today, was birthed by a God-given vision given to William Penn.  He is the architect of the “Holy Experiment,” which has been translated now into the American Experiment and experience for more than 333 years.  But we need to be careful to how we interpret scripture, history and our current cultural perspectives in light of our current immigration crisis.  Israel’s history is littered with “Doctrine Of Discovery” like history, William Penn was granted a charter on the basis of the “Doctrine Of Discovery” and owned African Slaves.

Likewise, our own family heritages emerge from our own American Immigrant histories – good and bad.  I guess what I’m trying to say is, “we need to be thoughtful about our immigration reform.  On the one hand there are those who argue that illegal immigrants take away American jobs, tax our health care and educational systems. On the other hand, our current millennial generation is NOT going to pick our vegetables, construct our brick laid houses, cut our grass or cook our Chinese or Mexican food?  So who’s doing the work they don’t want to do?  Illegal Immigrants… that’s who!  And that maybe this is the root of our immigration problem.  But hasn’t that been the role of all immigrants when they came to America over the last 238 years?  As a part of our journey forward as Christians, I hope we see the opportunities God is giving us.  I believe that the major reason God brings the immigrants to this land is to present the nations represented with the Gospel.  There is no other nation where the Gospel can be heard without the threat of being beheaded, persecuted, or protected as a believer than what America offers as an opportunity to the illegal immigrant.  The system is broken but the calling remains sure… American is called to be a City of Refuge – and a land of opportunity.