life is great, but crazy busy. church is going well, new people are coming around and joining, including some artists. we are in the midst of a series on the Sermon on the Mount, where artists are interpreting and creating and leading us in worship...
check out the Convergence blog to read more...
I've been in an exhausting conversation with a friend who adamantly opposes Obama, basically saying that Christians who support Obama are defying God.
Four years ago, eight years ago, actually every election since I could first vote in 1984; I have voted Republican, because I was told that Republicans championed Christian values and that Democrats were Godless liberals.
As my thinking has opened up in recent years; and seeing much in the current administration, and our country, that does not reflect God; my political views have changed.
If you are a Christian (or even if not) I encourage you to look at the ProLife, ProObama page from the Matthew 25 website for a different perspective on Christians, the election, and abortion...also see this Put Away Falsehood page from Matthew 25 that addresses a lot of, well, falsehoods about Obama and his positions.
Another good site is Clergy for Obama.
As a pastor, I realize I am taking a risk in endorsing a candidate. I do not do so from the pulpit (we don't us a pulpit anyway :-) )
But we have a very open and diverse community at Convergence, and I think I communicate an attitude of acceptance and respect for all people and all opinions. I would rather us have conversation about politics, and learn from one another, than create an atmosphere where people are afraid to be honest or feel judged if they have a different perspective.
8 comments:
Thanks for the link, and for starting such an important conversation!
Brandon Gilvin
clergy4obama
Great post Todd - you should be in the Politics of Theology class where our heads are exploding with these same conversations. We're grappling with concepts such as if the church is a witness to the world, and we model Christ - then do we even care what the "state" does? So, for example, if abortion is legal or illegal, does it change our actions? At what point do we move from being "in" the world to being so far "out" of the world that we are irrelevant? At what point do "intentional community" and "cult" converge? Pretty heady stuff to be considering, and as I said, my head is about to explode or implode. We're reading both Claiborne's "Jesus for President" and Yoder's "Politics of Jesus". I miss you in class buddy!
Jill
Thanks for the kind words and the link...we posted a snippet over here:
http://www.matthew25.org/blog.htm
I only have one question... on your Matthew 25... do it to the least of these...
Exactly how can you say that an unborn child is not "the least of these"
As for choice... most of the time... maybe not all but most of the time it is a woman who went to bed... as in her choice was to have sex in the first place. I said most of the time pay attention!
So exactly where is the childs choice?
Remember you were a baby too!
Can anyone tell me anything, and I mean any little tidbit, about the Freedom of Choice Act that is pro-life?
p.s. You can only ignore the post by "anonymous" for so long.
wasn't ignoring anonymous, just didn't think much to respond to. I never said unborn don't matter. I'm not saying abortion is good, or that I don't care about unborn babies, just that it's not the only issue I'm voting on, and that electing McCain is not the answer.
wasn't sure what to make of his/her admonition to pay attention. I'm trying! :-)
Your 1st post-er mentioned the start of an "important conversation." I'm certainly game to take our prior discussion (I understand you've been busy and I haven't wanted to push on you, but my last e-mail contained a question that I am waiting on to be answered) into this blog. My comment about "anonymous" was to your audience as much as to you. His point is that an organization which professes to do unto "the least of these" supports a candidate who supports, yes, undeniably supports, acts and organizations which will do horrific things unto the "least of these." I'm not sure that's what Christ was speaking about.
Oddly, although you deleted me (perhaps blocked me too?) on Facebook during the 2008 election cycle, you showed up today on LinkedIn as hitting your 5 year anniversary with FaithLife. Congrats on that.
I didn't even realize we were connected on LinkedIn, and perhaps you didn't either, or that would have changed.
We are six months out from the end of this particular nightmare. Nearly eight years of relentless support by Obama for Planned Parenthood, and continuously pushing for limitations on rights of conscience with respect to abortion and abortafacient contraceptives under the failed Obamacare regime.
Do you have buyer's remorse?
Do you see how you were misled regarding Obama's pre-White House commitment to abortion rights and how it has been prioritized over things I suspect would appeal to you but that have never materialized under this failed presidency? Things like innovations and strategies to address poverty (more Americans have slipped into poverty under Obama), initiatives to reduce racial tension (surveyed black Americans believe that racial tensions have worsened under Obama), etc., etc.
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