God and politics. Oh no, not you too?!

I am just all over the place with this some days and am really curious as to what others in my circle or out there in the cybersea think about it. I know that 'among us' in the churches of Christ lives a wide variety of political opinion. So...where do you think God and/or Jesus stand on this whole political thing? Which way goes God 'lean'? Do you think God leans like you do politically? Think about a whole range of topics as of late and how you think God would land on them...

• Medicare, Social Security, Prescription Drug Benefits, etc.
• Capitalism versus Socialism and other 'ism's'
• Illegal immigration and the US
• The war in Iraq
• God's name being removed from the pledge of allegiance
• And any other topic that you've found to be interesting or frustrating with government or politics, etc

Now before you shoot from the hip and tell everyone how it is, think also of how God and/or Jesus has dealt with governments, countries, cultures and societies, since...well, ever.

• Yes, God did have his people wipe out a few cultures that were being a royally bad influence and were thus an 'indirect harm' and/or who were threatening his people with direct, physical harm
• God sent Jonah to preach to a culture/city that was not 'Jewish' as we think about it and told them to repent. As far as we know, they didn't suddenly become good Jews, but repented of some evils and God spared them.
• God intentionally brought in other cultures/societies to 'take care of business' among his own people when they weren't turning to him after a good long time period
• When Jesus and the other New Testament folks arrived on the scene, the Romans ruled the day in most of the known world.
• Jesus said to give to Caesar what belonged to him and to God what belongs to God.
• Paul and Peter admonished us to either give honor to all, even politicians, and to especially pray for them so we could have peace.
• And so forth...

I see a lot of 'Christians' of various stripes taking up very interesting postitions about a variety of things that seem so odd or not very well thought through and it makes me wonder:

1. how much most believers/disciples have allegiance to a political party or cause first and then to Jesus
2. and whether or not Jesus/the church is simply a tool or a means to an end for some believers
3. what other scenarios are 'out there among us' who claim to follow Jesus?

What do you think? How many things can a person throw into a worldview?

What am I supposed to do with this?

A few years ago, a church in Atlanta did something a little different. When time came to pass the offering plates, the church was asked to keep their money in their pockets & instead take an envelope out of the plates as they were passed & not open the envelope until they were told to. After everyone got an envelope, they were told that inside was anywhere from $5 to $50 - the challenge for the next couple of weeks was to take the money they found in their envelope and use it for God's Kingdom in some way other than for something 'at church'.

The first reaction of many folks was 'Well what are we supposed to do? We usually let the leadership decide how it's going to be spent. I have no idea of what to do...." But after about two weeks, the idea began to 'click' with people all across the church. Really incredible stories came out of how people had prayed, asked God to show them opportunities and he did! Below are some of the examples of what people said they did with the money:

• "I am sending the money to a couple who takes in crack babies and who feed and help find employment for the homeless."

• "We have a very precious Christian neighbor who works at our elementary school and is a blessing to hundreds of kids every day. We found out that her husband had been in the hospital for a while, and we knew that her bills must be piling up, although she always praises God every day. So we got together with [others] and our $15 turned into $100 [to help her with her expenses]."

• "I am taking the money with me to Bolivia to help with the college education of a girl there. She is 20 years old and the oldest of six children. She has worked since she was 8 years old to support her family and is currently director over eight Compassion Centers in Santa Cruz. . . I was at my Dad's house in Florida this past weekend, and I shared the story of what Andy had done at church and how I was taking my $5 plus to Bolivia. Each time I told the story, people gave me money [to help with this girl's education]."

• "I gave the money to a lady with two children who is going through a divorce. When I gave her the money, she told me she had just told God that morning that she didn't have enough money for milk for the kids."

• "I was in Kids R Us. . . [T]here was a woman ahead of me who was purchasing warm clothing for her daughter, who was with her. [T]he woman gave [the cashier] a small amount of money toward the purchase. She was putting the clothes on layaway. She walked out of the store with nothing she had purchased. I put myself in her shoes and imagined how it would feel to have to wait to get warm clothes for my children. . .I wanted to pay off her balance right then and there, but I didn't want to make a scene or embarrass her. When you gave out the money that Sunday morning, I knew exactly what I needed to do with it. I went back to Kids R Us and had them look up the transaction. They allowed me to pay off the balance. On the way, I stopped and purchased an adult Bible and a children's Bible to include with the clothes."

• "Six of us put our money together and made sack lunches with it. We went downtown one night and handed out 45 lunches."

• "I bought cookie dough with my $5 and made cookies for the local nursing home."

If you were a part of that church what do you think would you have done with 'extra' money and the instructions to go out and use it for God's Kingdom? More specific to our situation at Central Church, what will you do with the 'extra' time given to you with our new format with no 'set' Sunday PM program?

Having a congregation to work together with in God's Kingdom is such a great blessing! We can do so many things when we pool our resources. At the same time God calls for us to live out our faith in him in other ways besides through coming to a building with other believers to learn, worship and encourage. We as a congregation have been challenged this month to step out in faith and learn to think in a new way about who we are, what we believe and how we are to live out our faith in Jesus.

In the book of Acts and in other New Testament writings we see that disciples are to use their spiritual gifts and resources for God's Kingdom in many different ways. Some of those gifts and resources go toward strengthening and maturing the church in a variety of ways while some gifts and resources go toward doing good to all people (Galatians 6:9-10).

It's tempting for some to 'just want to go to church' again on Sunday PM's and not take up the challenge to grow and develop. James (chpt. 4) writes that we need to be careful not to make plans in our life that would preclude us from being able to do the good that is right in front of us. Our leadership at Central has come to a point where we realize that what is good might not always be the best choice (Philippians 1:9-11) - what've we've been doing has been good and has taken us to a great place and now...

...to continue growing in the Lord, it's time to step out and mature in our faith in Jesus and his calling by taking the time we normally use on Sunday nights as a group and instead finding new and stronger ways of growing in our families, in our communities and in the different groups and needs among us as a church.

What has God put on your heart thus far about what you and/or your family will do with the time? Will you do something on Sundays or will you use that time on Sunday PM to free you up at another time throughout the week? What are some ideas that you feel drawn to?