Christians and the Climate Debate – Is this a fight we want to have?

I read today in the Wall Street Journal (see article here) that the American Values Network was running an ad in eight states supporting climate change legislation. In the ad, a prominent pastor encourages Christians to support a climate bill that "creates jobs, reduces our dependence on foreign oil, and especially protects vulnerable families and communities at home and abroad who are most hurt by climate change." The ad ends with the familiar ask, “ Please join the chorus of the faithful by calling 877-88-CLIMATE to learn more and be connected to your Member of Congress.”

Evidently the traditional Christian right is very concerned about this new campaign. Groups like Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council are working with the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation to combat the ads by organizing pastors to carry the message that climate control legislation could cripple the country.

Last year this time left wing Evangelicals were proclaiming that they were a fresh expression of modern evangelical beliefs, now it seems they are just another group pushing the Democratic legislative agenda. Of course my friends on the right aren’t doing any better. Focus and FRC have waded right into the mud with the left and both sides are enlisting pastors to spread the word about their position on the bill.

Can we get one thing straight? The pulpit is a sacred place. The man standing in that spot had better be seeking God’s will in the message he is proclaiming to his congregation – not reading the talking points from political handlers. Sometimes it seems we have forgotten WHO we are dealing with.

I have no doubt God has a message for America . He wants to heal His church. He seeks to reconcile His church – not see it divided by momentary political initiatives. He wants to break the enslaving chains of wealth and indulgence and comfort that make this Church so weak.

He wants to draw all people to HIMSELF. He wants to ignite a passion for knowing HIM in every one of us. He wants us to be compelled into actions of sacrifice for the weak and the poor because of His extravagant love for us. He wants a Church that seeks justice in every corner of society because He is just.

Any sermon or message that seeks any goal other than HIS GOALS is life threatening to the Church and the organizations involved.

If a pastor feels led by God to preach about global warming - pro or con - then fine, but the solution has to be deeper than “now call your Congressman.”

Jesus died to reconcile the world to Himself. The primary purpose of the Church should be reconciliation in itself and with God. If we find ourselves squaring off with each other over political issues maybe those issues aren't central to God's plan on earth.

Here's a company I can get behind.

Yesterday I talked about the fact that I didn't think I could biblically justify a business that is only focused on making a profit. To succeed in God's eyes we have to be focused on expanding His kingdom. As I was visiting Northland Church's website today I ran across this video of one company that gets it. I hope you enjoy.

Storyville and IJM from Northland Media Design on Vimeo.

What's great is this isn't as rare as you think. God is raising up a generation of young business leaders devoted to expanding His kingdom on earth. It's exciting stuff and I'm going to get some Storyville Coffee for sure. You can order the coffee at this website: http://www.storyville.com/

The Pope, the Supply Chain and Christmas Boxers

For most of my political life I’ve been around people who claim to be socially moderate but fiscally conservative. Or socially conservative but fiscally moderate. I’ve always found these sorts of labels amusing. They don’t really describe anything concrete, they just mean what the person or politician or professor wants them to mean. These labels are designed to put you at ease about the politics of that individual. This week we get a chance to see one public figure take an unabashed stance. Pope Benedict sweeps away all our comfortable Americanisms in his new encyclical, Caritas in veritate (Charity in Truth), in which he makes it clear that we cannot separate our social political stances from our fiscal political stances. Consider this paragraph: "Charity demands justice: recognition and respect for the legitimate rights of individuals and peoples," he says. "Justice must be applied to every phase of economic activity, because this is always concerned with man and his needs," he writes. "Locating resources, financing, production, consumption and all the other phases in the economic cycle inevitably have moral implications. Thus every economic decision has a moral consequence." [my emphasis] In America we have gotten very comfortable with the idea that the market decides value, whether it be the value of a shirt or the value of a meal or the value of a man’s labor. We have lengthened the supply chains to the point where the harsh realities at the far edges cannot possibly have anything to do with us. None of this is to denigrate the idea of profit. Nothing is more dignifying to the human creative spirit than the pursuit of and gain or profit. But as Benedict says, "Profit is useful if it serves as a means towards an end . . . once profit becomes the exclusive goal, if it is produced by improper means and without the common good as its ultimate end, it risks destroying wealth and creating poverty." Today there is vast, intransigent poverty gripping over half the planet. This poverty is certainly caused by the corruption, abuse and sin that people poor out on each other and themselves around the globe. But if anyone has the power to change this fact it would be the rich – us. Only we can choose to use less. Shine a light on corrupt practices and stand up to tyrants. Or refuse to deal with those who press labor from the poor for a substandard wage. The other day I heard the story of a guy named Kelsey Timmerman who decided to go to Bangladesh to meet the people who made his fancy Christmas boxer shorts. When he went home with them he was stunned to see how they lived. He said he always figured they would make less than Americans but would make a fair wage for their country. In fact these people barely made enough to stay alive and crawl back to work the next day. I’m scared to death that I might find myself standing before the Lord of Heaven and Earth one day explaining how Adam Smith’s invisible hand and the market means it really wasn’t my fault that I lived off of the abuse of so many for so long. I wonder if Americans would have any interest in a party that: -Believes in hard work for just rewards, -Seeks to foster environments where economies can flourish, but -Also is conscious of the need to protect the weak and create just economic results around the world and here in America . No I don’t . . . I just don’t know of a party willing to take that stance. __ The quotes of Benedict’s work were taken from the Washington Post article where you can learn more about Charity in Truth. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/07/AR2009070700656.html You can learn more about Kelsey Timmerman’s work and writings at: http://whereamiwearing.com/ A good first step to learning more about how people live at the other end of the supply chain would be to listen to the World Vision Report at this website: http://www.worldvisionreport.org/