harbarger theory: God is STILL calling women and men to share life together.

I just read Mark Driscoll's blog about "Complementarianism." Mark is the pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle. Mark has done a great job growing a church in a town that's tough to be a Christian in. He also did an EXCELLENT job in the Nightline Debate about whether Satan exists. Watch it here.

But, Mark and I don't agree on the role of women in life and in the church. While I agree that Mark's view is not as extreme as some who would relegate women to very minimal roles in the church, I'm not sure how he deals with the Apostle Paul (as opposed to my buddy Paul) having Lydia and Priscilla/Prisca lead churches. Those don't seem like complementarian roles. I'm not sure how he deals with Deborah being a Judge way back in the pre-monarchical days of the Hebrew people. I'm not sure how he deals with the Acts passage that quotes the Joel passage about young men and young women will prophesy. Those don't seem like complementarian passages.

New Calvinism (or even Old Calvinism) aside, these are not Calvinist/Arminian arguments. These are ways that we see the freedom of God's Spirit to call people as the Spirit will. Why, oh why, would God not allow women to do the job that God has called all of us to do? If women are not fit to carry the gospel to men, then why, oh why, did the angel tell the WOMEN at the tomb to tell the MEN about the resurrection? The very, very FIRST preachers of the gospel of the resurrection were ... wait for it ... women. Sure, the men dismissed them as being silly women ... but the gospel was STILL TRUE!!!

Mark, I pray for you. I support you in your work. But, let God be God. Let the Holy Spirit go and move and call whoever the Holy Spirit will call. God will call who God will call.

Therefore, I stand here. God calls men to do great things. God calls women to do great things. I am honored to stand beside my colleagues and partners in ministry and will do my part and will do what I can to support my colleagues in their ministry, regardless of their sex.

harbarger theory: God is STILL calling women and men to share life together.

Pain

An interesting week.

Tuesday morning, I buried a 32 yr old single mom. She was in a single car accident and left behind a 14 year old orphan. Dad was never around. The daughter is well loved by her grandma with whom she and her mom have always lived and her aunt and uncle and their families. She's not without love ... but she doesn't have her mom's loving anymore. Extraordinarily sad!

Tuesday night, we got a call from our daughter that she had a massive infection in her leg that caused significant pain. (She's a toughie, so if it caused significant pain, it really, really hurt!). She went to the Urgent Care, had it lanced, dressed and infused with antibiotics and sent home. She's better, but still hurting. She's 600 miles away from us.

Thursday afternoon, I got a call from our son who has a friend who broke his arm badly in the middle of the night and so he went to that hospital straight from a hospital room where another friend's dad had a stroke. He went from caring for emotional pain to physical pain. He's 2,400 miles away.

The issue is that there is pain all around us, isn't there? It never stops. It never sleeps. It just keeps sharing it's infection.

But, isn't that why we have each other? Isn't that why we have the Church (caps intentional!). We can't hold our daughter when she's crying because of her leg pain. We can't hold our son when he's crying over his friend's pains. We can hold this newly orphaned girl as she cries and rants and rails over the injustice of never knowing her dad and now losing her mom. We can hold the ones close to us and hope that others are holding the ones close to our hearts, but not close to our bodies.

My friends ... step into other people's pain. It's our job. It's our duty. It's our honor. Step into it and share it. It may hurt YOU more, but it will lessen the impact on them. Do it. No whining. Do it.

Do it today.

Who gets bailed out?

Lehman Brothers must be really ticked off!! Doesn't it seem that EVERY other financial institution has been bailed out, but them. Must remind them of elementary school when they were the last ones picked for kickball teams.

It makes the conspiracy theorist who lurks in my soul's shadows wonder who they made mad.

It makes the compassionate one who tries so hard to push his way to the front of my soul wonder, "Why them?"

It makes the pragmatist in me wonder how folks make these choices. I'm just glad it's not me making those choices.

But, on the other hand why did this happen? How did it happen? Why aren't the people responsible for this catastrophes fired and publicly shamed? Who do they know or what do they know about them? conspiracy theorist back again!!

I'm the first to admit that this level of finances is over my head, but maybe it's over the heads of the ones leading these companies.

I just find it aggravating that these huge companies are run by people making bazillions and yet they, too, are incompetent and make hugely bad business choices. But, they seem to move from CEO job to CEO job and spread the misery around.

Maybe it IS time for people with less experience to be in charge?!?! Sen Obama's inexperience has always scared me. Sen McCain's deep experience and debts owed also scares me. Which is less scary? Which can bring real and positive change? I'm not sure I'm smart enough to know for sure, but I will make my decision by November, I'm sure.

But, it's not easy, is it? I guess (I actually know) that's what prayer is for. It's also what trusting in the sovereignty of God is for, as well.

Finances, politics, religion. Who knew they are so intertwined?

A New Theocracy

As I ponder this election and the "religious" furor associated with it, a few questions have come to mind.
1. How important is it for a candidate's stated theology to agree with mine?
2. Does their theology have a great impact on their domestic or foreign policy decisions?
3. Should I vote for the candidate with the "better" (by that I mean, like mine!) theology or should I vote for the candidate who is the better leader, regardless of whether they agree with my theology or even have a coherent one?
My take on these questions. I think it's important for me to have a grasp on a candidate's theology, but they don't have to be in my "camp" or even close to it. I DO think that a candidate's theology and cosmology DOES have great affect on their domestic an foreign policy. I think it has to! It has with GW Bush (world-wide hegemony), Clinton (private actions are not as important as public actions), Reagan (compartmentalized and pragmatic over idealistic), Carter (human rights are global, not local). Therefore, we should vote for a candidate who has a theology/cosmology that is good for our nation and for the world (not a triumphalistic one, not a compartmentalized one, not an overly idealistic one).
I think a candidate should have a vibrant personal faith that guides and directs them, but they should also be open to hearing other points of view and to see their leadership as a servanthood, rather than an empire-building exercise. They should NOT be people who make public policy based on a "word from the Lord." That scares me to no end!!
In the end, I want a leader who leads based upon what is good for the world and for our nation and is humble enough to listen carefully to people who disagree, but can and will make the tough calls. Leadership is not about popularity, but if you don't have followers ... you aren't a leader. I pray that our next president is a servant leader who seeks to make this world a more verdant, just and healthy place for humanity.