Archives For Agitations

Bring Life by Restoring Habitat Around You

Nathan Aaberg —  November 30, 2021 — Leave a comment

One of the ways we can live out a whole Christian faith-life, whether as families or as communities of faith, is to restore and maintain natural habitat on our own properties.

Whether or not we do so matters.

Without natural habitat – without food to eat and places to find shelter – much of the wildlife of God’s earth cannot survive.

Restoring habitat usually and primarily means replacing lawn with vegetation that is native to your particular place. But if your property already has areas that you do not keep as lawn or garden, then restoring habitat can also involve removing invasive plant species and, again, planting more native plant species.

To inspire you, I want to share the video below of a presentation by Stephen Barten entitled “Backyard Wildlife: If you Build It, They Will Come.” He gave this presentation for the non-profit group Chicago Living Corridors through the Barrington Library in October.

Stephen, a veterinarian and award-winning wildlife photographer, has been restoring his family’s property in the Barrington area for the last 25 years. In the ~75-minute presentation, he shares photos and trailcam footage of 70 species of mammals, insects, reptiles, amphibians, and birds that have been seen on their property.

If you’re like me, you’ll be gobsmacked by the sheer variety of creatures Stephen documents.

That experience of sharing their world with a wide vairety of creatures is something Jesus and the other people of the Bible would have understood. From bears and jackals to the white stork and partridge, the Bible is full of many references to wildlife in the air, on the land, and in the sea. We need to visualize the many shepherds in the Bible interacting with livestock, wildlife, and complex vegetation ecologies all of the time. We know, too, that King Solomon paid a great deal of attention to plants and wildlife as well. I suspect Solomon and Stephen would have a great time discussing their observations together, despite being native to two very different places.

You will also appreciate the insights Stephen provides about a number of the different species of wildlife he encounters. He even shares tips about living with some of that wildlife, like what to do if you find a fawn.

Stephen and his family do benefit from living within two blocks of a lake and from living in a wooded area with few homes. If you are living in a dense city area or subdivision, you will likely not be able to attract flying squirrels and mink no matter how much habitat you restore. But you will still see God’s creatures and help sustain them.

Now is the time to plan for what you will do with your personal property or church’s property in 2022.

Study the habitats of your area. Figure out where you will source native plants for planting in the spring. Get help from someone who knows those plants in designing your habitat. Remove and treat invasive woody brush (like Stephen describes in his presentation). Start small to get the knack of it all. Plan to plant some native plants (even just a few oak trees) in the spring. Get ready by spring.

There are a wide variety of resources available for learning about native plants and restoring habitat to your property. The organization Wild Ones is a good place to start. I would also highly recommend Doug Tallamy’s book Bringing Nature Home. (And if you don’t have your own property, volunteer to help create and restore habitat at your church or another place.)

Will your property look a little different from your neighbors?

It may.

But work to retrain your eyes and cultural assumptions to be in line with God’s perspective. Ask yourself this question – what kind of culture and values does a yard (or a church landscape) really communicate when the plants there almost completely deprive the life of God’s earth life itself?

A well-designed yard that includes habitat and a bit of well-placed lawn, on the other hand, communicates something very different. That yard communicates that the people of that place care about God, the life of God’s world, and their human neighbors, too.

Enjoy. Learn. Grow. Embrace challenge. Show your love of God. Create habitat.

 

P.S. My wife and I have devoted much of our small property in Grayslake, Illinois, to native plants and maintain the prairie sections with occasional prescribed burns. We’ve been delighted to see cedar waxwings, cardinals, squirrels, chipmunks, voles, chickadees, goldfinches, toads, a variety of bees, monarch butterflies, hummingbirds, house wrens, rabbits, Cooper’s hawk, and a red-tailed hawk eating a rabbit. And, honestly, we’re still learning as we go.

Image of Nathan's home with native plants and prairie habitat using most of space

Here is an image of the habitat around our small home just after a late summer rain. Native shrubs and trees are great additions to your home landscape. This section of our yard includes native trees like hackberry and bur oak. There are also native shrubs like elderberry, serviceberry, nannyberry, and witherod viburnum. A native habitat landscape in Arizona would, for example, look very different. Please share images of the habitat you create on your property with me at wholefaithlivingearth@gmail.com.

 

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10 Thoughts from Giving Two Sermons

Nathan Aaberg —  October 31, 2021 — 2 Comments

Earlier this month I gave two sermons in joint services for two congregations on our Christian calling to be good shepherds of God’s Creation. What was that like? What did I learn? I share my thoughts below:

1. Sharing Whole Faith Ideas in Sermons and Discussions Was Great: I gave the first sermon in a hybrid service with some people present in the space North Suburban Mennonite Church rents out and with some people, including the Christ Community Mennonite Church of Schaumburg, attending by Zoom. I decided to speak in person. And I’m glad I did. Making eye contact as I spoke, I noticed that many people were engaged with the message. That did my heart good, especially in this time of covid. Those unspoken responses and the positive energy during the discussion that followed the service were immensely rewarding.

This blog has been an act of faith. The years of working on it, I realize, have enabled me to crystallize convictions and insights that I’ve hoped to be able to share. I am deeply grateful to both congregations for giving me the chance to do that. I’m especially grateful to North Suburban Mennonite Church, which has always warmly welcomed my family and me in the years that we have known them.

2. Importance of Rooting Principles and Ideas in the Bible: In the first sermon, which was the opening sermon for the Creation Care series, I shared a number of Scripture verses. In the second, I shared several more at the beginning and used an additional verse midway through. I did this to highlight one of my key points – if you are paying attention, you will find that the Bible makes clear that Creation matters to God.

That Creation matters is both very conservative and very radical. It is conservative because it takes the whole Bible seriously.

Believing that Creation matters and living out those convictions are, simultaneously, very radical. Most humans throughout history have taken Creation for granted and used it for their purposes without regard to Creation’s wellbeing. To live and advocate for a different worldview, a Biblical worldview, puts a Christian on a collision course with the human powers that be. Our economy and civilization are built on mining and extracting wealth from Creation without regard to Creation’s own prosperity. To live as if Creation matters to God also runs counter to centuries of Christian disregard for Creation in theology and church life. In short, the Christian advocate for Creation is a human monkey wrench in the secular economy and in traditional Christian culture.

Most radical of all, loving God and loving our neighbors by preserving Creation means a Christian approach to economic activity would involve restraint and limits. Our American culture celebrates freedom above all else. Calling for restraint and limits to protect and prosper the wellbeing of the whole Creation is, in our setting, supremely radical. It is radical even as it honors God and leads us on the path to true wealth.

Is God our treasure or is treasure our treasure? How we treat Creation answers that question.

3. Several Insights Seemed Especially to Resonate: I made a point to talk about what a Biblical perspective on human exceptionalism really is. I also called attention to the cross and the crucifixion. The cross, as I’ve written, was a tree. It now lives as a symbol for the Christian faith. And in its “symbolness” we no longer see that it was a tree. When we don’t see it as a tree, we don’t see the crucifixion as a pivotal moment involving God, Creation, and humanity. These insights seemed to resonate.

4. Speaking is Very Different from Writing: This is likely not news! While I certainly have developed ways of thinking and expressing the insights I’ve had (and been given), they have mostly been in written form. I did not want to just read a sermon so my brain and tongue needed to figure out how to articulate in spoken words what I had spent so much time writing in my blog posts. I need more practice doing this.

5. So Much More to Say: Two 25-minute sermons were not nearly enough (at least for me). There is so much to say about the Bible, Creation, and how we should be trying to live with it and prosper it. My major challenge in planning both was choosing what not to include in order to give a cohesive and focused talk. I’m ready to write a book and/or develop a podcast.

6. The Challenge of a Diverse Audience: I came to appreciate the challenge of speaking to a diverse group of people. From the discussions that followed the services, it was clear that members were at different places in their thinking about their lives and Creation. How does one introduce ideas and theology that are new to some and that are standard operating practice for others? I did not want to overwhelm the first group. Nor did I want to seem to be soft-pedaling the issues the second group is acutely aware of and has made significant life changes in response to.

7. Is There Hope?: The question of what kind of hope there is for God’s Creation is a fraught one. It comes up, directly and indirectly, in almost every conversation.

The truth is that the scale of the problems for Creation is immense, and many trends are negative. Just one example – I shared information in my second sermon from the Environmental Working Group about the metastizing of factory farms across the Iowa landscape. In 1990 there were 789 factory farms (Confined Animal Feeding Operations in industry parlance), where at least 1,000 animals are kept. In 2019, the figure was 3,963. Animal waste from these factory farms is now estimated to be 68 billion pounds per year. Human waste from the 3.15 million human residents of the state is estimated to be 1 billion pounds. Unlike the animal waste, the human waste is treated. Every new factory farm means more animal suffering, more misery for neighbors, more overuse of antibiotics, more degradation of the streams and rivers of Iowa, and poorer quality food.

This is just a small example of the forces at work in our world. I haven’t even mentioned climate change and how populations of unique species of Creation are shrinking and even winking out at a growing rate.

In my second sermon, I noted that the declining condition of God’s earth is a symptom of system problems. So restoring health to God’s earth will not come about just from families recycling and making more God-honoring food choices, although those are important.  It will take changes to systems. And system change is challenging at a whole different level.

Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, a Christian climate scientist, is a wonderful voice of hope, as you can hear in this interview. Yet, as appealing her positivity is, I believe she underestimates how structural, cultural, and even theological our issues are.

Where am I? I have ultimate hope most days. I am committed to doing what I can here and now. Simultaneously, on many days, I perceive what has been lost and what is on the verge of being lost. My heart sinks into lament and despair. Yet, I know God is a creative, surprisng God. And God’s earth can surprise us with its resilience. I don’t know how to tie up all those threads I feel and think. The neatness and tidiness of “hope” doesn’t seem to capture them all.

8. Food and Farming – The 20% of the 80/20 Rule?: The Pareto principle says that in most human endeavors approximately 80% of the results come from 20% of the activities or factors involved. As an example, for many non-profit organizations, a large percentage of donation incomes will come from a relatively small number of donors. So when we think about where to focus Christian commitment to living out a whole faith that includes Creation, it makes sense to figure out what is the pivotal 20%.

While decisions about energy, landscaping, and simplifying are also important, I would ultimately choose food and farming. This was why I chose to focus the second sermon on food and farming and invited Bryce and Jen Riemer to be part of the discussion after that service.

One reason is impact-related – approximately 50% of the world’s terrestrial surface is used for growing food. We eat multiple times a day. And each time we eat we are choosing the kind of farm system our brothers and sisters experience and how God’s earth is treated. What’s more – choosing to eat with love and consciousness for God, God’s Creation, and our neighbors is good for our health and a spiritual discipline.

The challenge, of course, is that in a community of farmers making judgements about what kind of food is congruent with the God of the Bible and what isn’t gets personal and controversial very quick. And, oftentimes, more God-honoring ways of raising food are more complex and time-consuming and are not subsidized by the U.S. government. So the foods become more expensive.

How to reconcile all of that is one of the challenges we all will need to wrestle with. But who said doing anything the right way with one’s values is easy? it’s not easy being a good parent. It’s not easy being a devoted spouse. it’s not easy being a good friend. It’s not easy being good at a challenging job (like being a health care worker the last two years).

It’s the same with shepherding Creation. I am hoping that North Suburban Mennonite Church (and Jesus followers in other churches) will not content themselves with platitudes. I am hoping they will focus their personal change energies on their eating decisions and find help in making the best food choice decisions.

9. A Need for More Expressed Anger: Perhaps it’s legacy of my Midwest Lutheran background. Perhaps it’s a legacy of my introverted nature. But I found myself speaking in a largely reasonable and calm and sometimes even light-hearted way. In retrospect, I wonder if I would have been better served to have added in more anger and urgency. What works better? Did the fury and despair of the Old Testament prophets bring about change in their time? But do we call 911 in a calm and deliberate voice when our child is in mortal danger?

I believe I need to be both full of grace and love while also authentically open about the full range of emotions I feel around these topics.

10. How Would My Message Go Over in a Different Kind of Church?: My wife was talking to a Christian friend recently and told her friend about my sermons. Her friend gave her a blank look. “What is Creation care?” she asked my wife.

That was a good reminder that there are many churches right now who would never dream of devoting a service, much less a month’s worth of services and discussions, to Creation.

So what would it be like to present the ideas behind this blog and my sermons to congregations where many of the members have not thought about the topic or might even see the topic as the intrusion of progressive politics into a spiritual setting? Would they be open at all? Would I even be the right person?

I don’t know. But I pray God will show me the path I should walk in the years that remain. I pray I will have opportunities to make a difference for how Christians walk in God’s world. Even if that brings challenges.

I pray, too, I pray will be able to bring together Christians who are doing their very best to creatively restore God’s earth for encouragement and community.

 

P.S. The sermons were recorded. I plan share them with people who are interested.

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A New Kind of Faith Community

Nathan Aaberg —  September 30, 2021 — Leave a comment

I’ve written from time to time about my challenges in finding a church that felt complete and whole to me. Not surprisingly, a big part (but not the only part!) of that challenge has been my unwillingness to be committed to a church where God’s Creation is not seen as significant to God’s purposes.

Yet I long for community around faith in the God of the whole Bible and in Jesus.

I have asked myself whether I could be wrong and misguided. I know that many Christians find deep satisfaction in their church lives. In The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis portrays a junior devil being advised to encourage his assigned human target to search far and wide for a “suitable” church. This, it is suggested, will make the human a critic when God actually wants humans to be pupils. Is that me? Could I have the wrong expectations for what church is supposed to be? Are my expectations too high? Should I work to be a voice within a church for paying more attention to Creation? I know good and faithful people who are doing that.

Here’s the thing – I’m in my late 50s. I know what resonates and what doesn’t. I have sat in the pews of many churches and found myself feeling empty and even heartsick. Even as I know others find deep meaning in churches, I must listen to myself. My mind, heart, and body are telling me something that I must finally respect.

I am indeed hungry for a Christian community of faith. But faith communities as they are commonly done in churches don’t seem to be the right place for me. That leaves me with several options. One would be continuing to search for the right one. Another is to give up on having a faith community.

A third is coming up with something different.

For more than a year I’ve found myself musing on what something different might look like. From what we know of the early gatherings of believers from the New Testament and from the examples of the Quakers and Amish, it’s clear that the modern, mainstream approach to church is not the only way to do a faith community. (For much more provocative thoughts, check out Pagan Church by Frank Viola).

So here I put myself out on a limb. I will share the unique elements of the faith community I’d like to see that I have come up with to this point. Down the road, I’d like to flesh out each element in greater detail and explain why I believe each is important to have. Here I just want you to see how everything fits together as a whole.

(One last word before you read the unique elements – holding everything together would be worship and discipleship of Jesus and the God of the Bible and of Creation with communion and baptism.)

Focus on personal transformation to whole holiness: The faith community would invest significantly in enabling its members to become more holy in every aspect of their lives. There would be concerted efforts made to provide members with the guidance, support, and spiritual development tools to open themselves to the Spirit, to become more like Jesus, and to live out the fruits of the Spirit that God offers. After several years as a member, a person could literally not be the same person they were when they joined.

Instruction in Kingdom living: God loves us and this world. How we live in it matters deeply. Yet never before have so many people lacked fundamental knowledge about the craft of living. There is an infinite amount of wisdom to be gained from the Bible and from people who approach living with compassion and wisdom. This faith community would invest in helping its members grow in Kingdom living in every aspect of life. Marriage. Money. Growing food. Cooking. Parenting. Prayer. Art. Advocacy. Friendship. Carpentry. Productive conflict. Conversation and the use of words. The fellowship would be a center for just and satisfying living skills that would benefit members and other people in the local community.

Tapping Kingdom gifts: This faith community would collectively help each member identify and use their unique spiritual gifts and their other gifts for God’s kingdom within the faith community and in their lives in God’s world. The community as a whole would honor and celebrate each and every member’s gifts and how they are being used on a regular basis. Spiritual entrepreneurship would be encouraged and fostered. The community would seek to grow each person’s gifts and their use of those gifts. The faith community would be a dynamic place where people become better and fuller versions of themselves.

Rich with art and song: We are made in the image of a creating Creator God. We are meant to be creative in ways that are generous, good, and just. Art can also free and open our hearts.The community I envision would be a vibrant place of diverse music and artistic expression by adults and children. Each member’s voice and creativity would be encouraged, valued and heard. There would, for example, be a wide variety of music – traditional, modern, acoustic, chants, jazz, international, and of all emotions.

Surprise, variety, and diversity of tone: Every month there should be surprise and freshness in the format and tone of the worship. While there should be some consistent elements and themes, there should also be great variation and creativity. Members should arrive in expectation of surprise and engagement with an infinite, surprising God. There should be services of lament as well as services of celebration and everything in between. Our lives, our relationship with God, and the books of the Bible itself are all complex and nuanced. Consider the emotions of Job, the Psalms, the prophets, and even Jesus. Worship should reflect that complexity and diversity.

Fellowship commitment to certain ways of living: I’ve been very struck by the concept of ordnung from the Amish. The ordnung is an unwritten set of guiding rules among a particular group of local Amish on how they will live. I am not suggesting that the community of faith I write of be like the Amish in terms of prohibiting electricity and the use of cars, for example. There should be freedom in many things. However, the community’s members should have a common commitment to living patterns that are consistent with the fellowship’s convictions. This doesn’t seem so far removed from the early house churches of the New Testament. One good example would be Sabbath – honoring the Sabbath should be something people of faith do because it honors God and it brings so many blessings. But there could be latitude for how exactly each family would actually carry that out. Does this all sounds cult-like or Puritanical? That’s not my intention, although I know what I suggest is radical. But imagine if a community of faith did their best to live out similar convictions outside in the world  that were not only good for each person but also good for how the community as a whole functioned?

To build or not to build: There is value in having a building that is the center of a faith community’s gatherings. It puts the community on the physical and mental map of a community. But maintaining the building can draw away resources from actually living out God’s Kingdom. The Amish, for instance, don’t have church buildings but meet at each other’s homes. That might be one option. Another might be using a building as both community center and place of worship. Or perhaps a barn could function as meeting space, worship space, farm building, restoration hub, learning space, art space, and dance hall. In any case, there should be careful thought given to whether and how the community invests in a building.

Community common life reflect a 100% commitment to Kingdom living: As an example of this, common meals, like the Lord’s Supper and potlucks, should come from farms where God’s earth has been respectfully treated. If there is a church building, then it and its landscaping should be as Creation friendly as possible. Green burial would be the standard burial method.

Communal, interactive, creative worship: Worship should not be a passive, spectator experience. Members should be as involved as possible. There should be interaction along with singing by all attending and insights into the Bible. Hands-on activities, like foot-washing, should be used as much as possible. People should share insights from their own lives. In this community, the sacredness of the God of the universe would intersect with the real people the community brings together.

Membership means something: I envision people needing to acquire a base level of Bible and faith knowledge and committing to certain patterns of life before they would become members. To become a member, a person should first be given a thoughtful understanding of how the Bible works and what a whole faith looks like. There would be classes and mentorships. And, as per Hebrews 10:24-25, members would, like fitness buddies, goad and push each other towards good deeds and faithfulness while also encouraging and consoling each other when difficulties come. In a loving and engaging way, members should give and receive feedback on how they are living and contributing to the faith community. Yes, I know this sounds restrictive and perhaps exclusionary. It’s not intended to be that way. But it is intended for membership to mean something. The Christian faith is hurt deeply by card-carrying church members who act in ways that reflect badly on the faith. (Read more about lessons in membership from the history of a church in my previous post.)

A place of seeking, open discussion, and whole Bible inquiry: This would be a community where people could ask questions and seek God. Because Jesus’ Bible was the Old Testament, understanding how the whole Bible fits together and what wisdom we can gain from the whole Bible would be a fundamental and engaging part of the life of this faith community. I’ve been tremendously inspired by Tim Mackie and The Bible Project in this regard.

Creation as fundamental part of the whole faith-life: Creation would not be ignored nor denigrated in this faith community. It would be celebrated, savored, and cherished. As part of the whole range of member commitments would be a commitment to being as holy as possible in our interactions with God’s Creation. Members called to devote their lives to protecting and restoring Creation in the world as a ministry would be celebrated and supported just as much as anyone else called to live their life for mission.

Thoughtful, intentional planning for how the faith-life is shared: Sharing Jesus and the eternal life Jesus offers would be a key element of this faith community. Life skill classes and art demonstrations would be ways of attracting people just as would creative sharing of the Bible’s messages. Members gifted with teaching and explaining would be empowered to provide classes and other venues for engagement. There would be a system for how seekers would be welcomed and taught about the faith-life of this faith community.

A different kind of leader: Because this faith community would be worshipping and living out the Christian faith differently, the skill set and character of its leader or leaders would need to be different. Ideally, the leader or leaders would be deeply rooted in a whole understanding of the Bible and would help build the right “architecture” of the community while coaching and encouraging members to grow in their gifts and faith-lives. The leader or leaders would have little ego but would get the most joy out of seeing the community and its members having success as a community that learns and lives the faith together.

 

What to Call This Community?

For a while, I thought about calling this faith community a “whole faith church.” But now that seems needlessly provocative and limiting. “Church” also conveys expectations of what will and won’t be done. Rather than struggle against those expectations, I believe its better to use a fresh word that suggests something distinct.

The phrase “fellowship” seems better to me. “Fellowship” has strong Christian roots and a sense of common labor and work. But it does not carry with it long engrained assumptions about how it will be organized. There’s a freshness and unboundedness to it.

Here is a quote from a blog post of Grace Theological Summary that resonates with me. The post describes the origins of the Greek word we translate as “fellowship” and what Christian fellowship entails:

The word fellowship is derived from the Greek word koinonia. Koinonia can be defined as “holding something in common” and is specifically used 20 times in the New Testament (e.g. Phil. 2:1-2, Acts 2:42, 1 John 1:6-7). Koinonia describes the unity of the Spirit that comes from Christians’ shared beliefs, convictions, and behaviors. When those shared values are in place, genuine koinonia (biblical fellowship) occurs. This fellowship produces our mutual cooperation in God’s worship, God’s work, and God’s will being done in the world.

I love that phrase – “mutual cooperation in God’s worship, God’s work, and God’s will being done in the world.” Even the term “cooperation” suggests an interlocking of efforts and resources for a common goal. “Work” and “God’s will being done” are even stronger in conveying the focus of the fellowship – a common commitment to down-to-earth action springing out of faith.

The faith-life of early Christians was known as the Way. We need to again convey being a believer as being a way of understanding God and the world and a way of loving God and God’s world in our everyday lives.

Fellowship, it seems to me, suggests a group of people committed to some task or way, like the diverse fellowship we see in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. The word carries with it notes of engagement with life with a larger purpose. It also suggests mutual dependence in very practical, real ways.

That feels right. That’s the kind of faith community I am looking for.

How about you?

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What Would It Take?

Nathan Aaberg —  July 31, 2021 — Leave a comment

In this episode of the podcast How to Save a Planet, you hear of native peoples protesting against oil pipelines because the pipelines break their tribes’ treaty rights, threaten the water and land they rely on, and continue actvities that are propelling our planet towards climate change.

I encourage you to listen to it.

In addition to the sheer bravery and commtiment of the native peoples involved in the protests, two small details of the podcast were particularly striking me.

One was hearing a speaker share that not only did native peoples from around North America rally together at the protests, but there were even indigenous peoples from Ecuador and northern Scandinavia (the Sami) who had traveled to stand with the protesters.

The other was hearing of a group of Quakers from New England who blocked a fuel pumping station at a point along the Line 3 pipeline project route in Minnesota.

Tara Houska, a Native American who is a leader in the protests seeking to stop that pipeline, describes how the Quakers used a piano to block the station and to play beautiful songs together as well. “One of those moments you’ll never forget as long as you live,” she said.

So here’s my question.

What would it take for it to be part and parcel of being a follower of Jesus to defend God’s earth and to help others, whether they are Christians or not, who are doing the same thing?

In other words, what would it take for followers of Jesus to love God, to love people, and to love God’s earth that is full of God’s glory with all of their heart and strength? What would it take to give our highest allegiance to God and what is God’s?

I honestly would like to hear your answers and ideas.

I need to know because seeing that happen is my dream and my prayer.

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Whole Faith Thoughts in a Wholly Unholy Time

Nathan Aaberg —  November 3, 2020 — 2 Comments

I’m currently working on two blog posts. One is the transcription of a great conversation I had with a Wisconsin farm family about how their faith has led them to a form of livestock raising that rejuvenates the land, produces healthy food, and is good for the animals. The other examines Revelation 5:13 and what that means for our understanding of the whole arc of the Bible and of time itself. I’m also planning to partner on some future posts with Ryan O’Connor to share reviews of documentaries and other environment-focused resources that individuals and churches would find helpful.

I can’t, however, ignore these turbulent times and the election. So I am going to dive in with some observations in the form of a letter to a fictitious cousin. I present him as someone becoming curious about Jesus and the God of the whole Bible but confused and even unsettled by our current times.

Dear Wyatt;

I want to say how much I have enjoyed our renewed relationship. We’ll need to get together sometime some place in the middle with our wives and children. I know we’d have a great time. It’s a heartwarming to not only connect with family but then to find one shares many similar outlooks on the world.

I’ve welcomed the fact that we’ve begun discussing the Bible, Jesus, and how everything all fits together. Our common ancestors had some very deep religious roots, didn’t they? But those have not carried into the modern generation very well. Many of our extended family no longer believe in the God their ancestors did. Why that is the case would make for another good conversation.

But I write because in our last converation you expressed confusion and even cynicism about the veracity of what is in the Bible because of the state of our country and the upcoming election. Specifically, you did not understand how so many people calling themselves Christians can be strong supporters of President Trump and the Republican Party.

I didn’t have good answers, but I felt I should. This letter is my attempt to do that.

When I need to wrestle with hard questions, I turn to writing. Good writing can only come from clear thinking. So forcing myself to write coherrently on an issue forces my mind to think about the issue squarely. When I find a line of insight that hangs together well, I take it, even if it takes me in a surprising and unorthodox direction.

I’ll be honest. I am having a difficult time making sense of our country and the role many Christians are playing in its direction. I feel anger, frustration, fear, and sometimes pure hopelessness. But every morning I pray, and I try to hold on to faith. In Jesus I know that God also understands our suffering even as God also calls for us to live with the love and courage of Jesus.

So I offer my own opinions to the questions that seem to be at the heart of what you are struggling with. These are my opinions based on what I read in the Bible and what I believe I have learned about God and Jesus over the years.

What would a truly Christian approach to politics look like?

Every Single Thing: All of life would be lived out in ways that reflect God’s wishes and God’s ways. And that includes politics.

Even Words: Words are the fundamental foundation of politics. Our use of words is an ethical and spiritual act. The words of Christians must be full of truth and show love of neighbor, even in the world of politics. Politicians, of course, lie and misrepresent so often that we are calloused to it. But God is not. And it’s time for us to stop being calloused about it, too. Christian politicians, and the politicians Christians support, would be at a level of truth and integrity above all others.

Cautious About Power: Politics is largely about how power is used in and outside of a country. Governments have power to make rules, to enforce rules, and to exercise in our international relations. True Christian politics would be cautious about the use of power and would be concerned for the vulnerable and the poor. You cannot escape the concern in the Bible for the vulnerable and those who do not have power. Both oppressive governments and overly dominant business interests run counter to the grain of the Bible. This never means that power is to be avoided. Government can play a wise role in directing society’s common interests. Private entrepreneurial creativity can bring great benefits. But a Christian politics would continually push for the right balance.

God’s Kingdom and Values Above All: The loyalty of the Christian should always be first to God and God’s Kingdom. When the values of God’s Kingdom clash with our country’s interests or our party’s fortunes, God’s Kingdom must come first.

Rules and Laws: Christians and the people they allow to lead them should have the highest character. They should follow laws and rules zealously and be as fair as possible. Corruption and exploiting the system for personal or party gain are, again, grievous sins against God. Christians can’t accept these kinds of actions.

Humility and Openness to Rebuke: Christian politics are inherently humble. True Christians reocgnize that they are fallen and that they need God’s grace just as their neighors have fallen and also need God’s grace. True Christians are open to correction and rebuke and are ready to change their own ways.

How can we make sense of strong Christian support for Donald Trump and the modern day Republican Party?

I agree with everything you have said about the current president. He breaks all of the Christian norms of life and the principles of Christian politics I’ve just listed. That church-going Christians can vote for Trump reflects an approach to Christianity and life untethered from the Bible, Jesus, and the Spirit of God.

A vote for Trump, it appears to me, is part of a reaction among conservative Christians against a growing secular and atheistic culture. That culture appears openly hostile and dismissive of people of faith. This is a real thing. But that is no excuse for voting for Trump and the Republican Party he is making in his image.

How to explain it?

Start with the marriage between the Church and national power. When Chrisitanity first appeared, it was seen as a radical, strange, subversive movement that was antithetical to Roman values and Roman power. When Emperor Constantine made Christianity the Roman Empire’s religion, Roman interests and Christian interests were brought together in ways that resulted in a less pure practice of the Christian faith. When Christianity became married to nation states, the interests of the nation state and its dominant culture then tempted churches to compromise the values of Jesus. Vice President Pence epitomizes the moral compromises conservative Christianity is willing to make for national power to serve its interests.

It is not just American national power that conservative Christianity has become very comfortable with. Conservative Christianity tends to favor the corporate and individual’s freedom to use power almost without limit. It worships freedom without any hint that freedom must be balanced with responsibility and ethical concern for others and other life that God loves. It is also comfortable with the political system today that is lubricated largely by funding from business interests. Republican Christians look the other way when power is cunningly used to suppress voting and gerrymander voting districts.

You must still ask why does this cruel and unbiblical approach to power find a home in the hearts of some Christians? When you feel you are in a spiritual war, then I think it is easier to go along with harsh measures and to look away from the worst things your allies do. The dominant narrative of the End Times, which is not the only interpretation of Revelation possible, gives conservative Christians license to feel that we are in a take-no-prisoners struggle against evil. The ethics of Jesus no longer apply.

Finally, we need to be honest about race. President Trump has made the Republican Party the comfortable home for white power and white racism. Christian Republicans go along with this. Could this reflect the comfort that many churches had with cruel slavery for centuries?

But what about abortion?

Wyatt, I can read your thoughts. I know you and your wife have deep emotions and convictions around abortion, especially because of your experience with having difficultty conceiving. You and wife also know the intricacies of the life and development of a child in the womb.

It is this issue that causes many Christians to vote Republican. The concern of many Republican Christians for unborn babies is sincere, real, and full of true Christian compassion.

But there is something very wrong in how myopic Republicans apply their pro-life principles. I’ve already written about this. Use laws to limit abortions? Of course. The more the better. Use laws to limit polluition and chemicals that cause cancers and harm God’s life? No. That will harm our economy and limit our freedoms. Use laws and government bodies to protect vulnerable consumers? No. Too much government interference. Use laws to protect coverage for existing conditions and offer a public health care option? No. That might nudge us into the orbit of something that smells a little like socialism.

In short, the pro-life position of Republicans is, it seems to me, in direct contradiction to the Repubican Party’s larger fealty to a completely unfettered free market economy and culture that supports commercial interests over people and God’s earth. The cynic in me sees the Republican Party’s pro-life platform as a deal that doesn’t harm business interests but gives the party’s Darwinian approach to the economy a sheen of religious goodness.

Why do I not feel enthusiasm for Democrats?

A second term of president by Donald Trump would be a disaster for many true Christain values and for the ability of the faith to appeal to people like you for decades to come.

But the Democratic Party is also a hard place in which to find a home.

Here are just a few reasons why I say that.

Joe Biden, from all indications, is a fundamentally decent person. Our government under Joe Biden would work again and not be corrupt. His administration would adopt many specific policy measures that are more compassionate.

However, one of his deficiiencies, which is a Democratic deficiency, is an inability to speak of positive values that hold together the Democratic Party and would hold together America. The Democratic Party is too often a loose coalition of interest and identity groups. The Party doesn’t seem to have binding principles that would resonate with most Americans of good will.

What will hold our country together as one? What standards does everyone need to live by? I have not heard anything like that from Democrats. And the fact that the pro-lifers are largely unwelcome in Democratic circles indicates that Democrats are not fully committed to holding people accountable to protecting vulnerable life

It has also been stunning that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have not been able to speak against China what is doing internally  and externally. This is a ruthless empire within its own borders (see Hong Kong and with the Uighurs for examples) and beyond. Freedom and fairness mean nothing to its leaders. When Democratics go soft on China out of fear of loss of trade, one cannot help but think the Democratic Party’s concerns about justice are very selective.

And, of course, there is a tendency in some progessive circles to dismiss and ridicule people of faith, especially the Christian faith. Is some of it a reaction to the trends we’ve seen in conservative Christianity? Probably. But there is something more there as well. The ideas that there might be a God who holds people accountable for certain standards of life and there might be mysterious power in the universe that does not fit with orthodox science are profoundly threatening to the most progressive Democrats. And the most progressive Democrats tend to be comfortable with shutting down ideas and thoughts that don’t fit their own orthodoxies.

As a whole faith Christian, I’m sad to say I cannot truly be at home in either party. And our two party system freezes out true potlical diversity that could actually give us a party of integrity and coherent values.

If Christians can differ so much about American politics, what does it say about the Christian Faith?

My wife recently received an email from another church member strongly encouraging church members on the email chain to vote Republican. In a follow-up exchange with my wife, the church member called President Trump “a God-fearing man.”

If President Trump is considered a “God-fearing man” then the Scriptures and two thousand years of the Christian faith and thousands more of Jewish traditions are meaningless.

In short, we’ve crossed a line. The term “Christian” no longer means anything.

There is no commonly accepted definition for what the Christian faith-life really looks like.

There are some who will point to confessions and doctrines as giving us those distinctions. But doctrinal correctness matched with consistent patterns of behavior  and philosophy that are the opposite of virtue in the Bible is meaningless. In fact, it is worse than meaningless. It mars the goodness and truth of God and God’s wishes for the world.

A transformed life in communion with God is the point of giving one’s life to God, not an optional amenity.

Is there any reason to continue to look for a church or some other faith gathering?

The Bible is full of people living in communities of God-following people. So it is ideal to be with other people of faith. If you can find a church where God is worshipped and you feel comfortable and challenged, that is a beauiful thing. There are millions of sincere, loving Christians around the world, and many are in churches.

But I’ve concluded that you and I should not feel guilty if we find that our reading of the whole Bible makes us feel comfortable neither with conservative churches nor more liberal ones.

Remember, conventional church is not the only option. Prophets and prophetic communities can be needed when mainline religion is no longer a good fit. The early Christian gatherings were largely in people’s homes. Remember, the first monastic orders were in reaction to the excesses of the Roman Empire. It is also said that every 500 years or so the Judaic-Christian tradition goes through dramatic change and revision. I feel we are due for that.

There are stirrings of people longing for a diferent experience of faith and life in the service of Jesus and in communion with God. We may well be on the path to a new way of following Jesus with others in a whole faith way. They may offer a better way to reach people turned off by conventional Christianity or who have never really encountered a loving relationship around God.

I meet and communicate with many people like this. They are out there.

How does God’s earth fit into all this?

We’ve already had some good conversations about this as both of our families share love of hiking and growing healthy food. So I wanted to end this letter on this topic. The earth is not a disposable trifle. How any body of faith thinks and acts together towards Creation is a pretty good indicator of how whole its approach to faith is. It’s a bad sign when the fruits of a body faith are the ongoing destruction of God’s earth and an unwillingness to even try to deal with growing climate chaos. You are not alone in not understanding how you could follow a faith whose members support what President Trump has done to weaken protections for the health of God’s earth.

What I most want to say to you, Wyatt, is this – don’t give up on engaging with the Jesus and God of the Bible and being open to God’s Spirit in your family’s life. If you cannot find a church where you find a deep reverence for God, a willingness to be accountable to each other, and common commitment to learning together and transforming one’s character together, then be willing to be a spiritual nomad for awhile until new expressions emerge.

This is a world that is holy and full of meaning and that God needs us to engage in. Whatever the new forms of Jesus-centered communities and ministries will be, they will need good and creative and humble people like you and your family.

But be sure to find even one other family, one person, who can take that path with you. We would love to do that with you.

Fondly,

Nathan

P.S. To read a more hopeful and very insightful piece about divisions within Christianity during this election, check out this article in Christianity Today.

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