Peace And/Or Justice

Peace and justice are big buzz words these days. Nothing feels better than saying, "I'm for peace and justice." I suppose that peace is something that we can all contribute to pretty easily. When it comes to justice we usually think of trying to stick up for someone who is being unjustly treated and call it a day.

But justice and peace don't always go together very easily. Sometimes you have to forgo one to get the other. A popular word of advice leaders hear is that you will have to apologize for things that you didn't do. It may not be just but it is just the way it works.

Of course, there is a danger in that. By allowing someone to "get away" with something you may be encouraging unhealthy behavior. You also may not be as good at letting an injustice against you slide of your back as you think you are. That can cause you difficulties as you deal with your own emotions down the road.

I was in Sierra Leone during the rebel war in the early 1990's. I followed the events after I returned to the USA to see how the conflict would be resolved. In the end the rebels wanted to negotiate with the government. That was difficult for the government because the rebels wanted amnesty for some incredibly barbaric acts as well as money to start a new life. Meanwhile, many of the victims of the rebels, innocent civilians who had their limbs hacked off, bodies mutilated, and were often raped, live in squalid camps to this day. I also know people who were young children at the time. Today they live next door to the former rebels who brutally killed their parents. There will be no justice and that has been an incredibly bitter pill to swallow. There is also fear that simmering beneath the surface of a society seemingly at peace is the idea that if I am violent enough I can get what I want and get away with it all in the name of peace.

All that to say that peace and justice can be difficult bedfellows. I think the key is maturity. It takes a willingness to address each issue on its own merits and not simply have one of those overriding policies we seem to be so fond of. It can be tough negotiating but that is the only path for a responsible, mature person.

But What About The Love

A lot of people talk about love. I do it all the time. Jesus tells us to love God and to love others so we hold that up as theme to live by. I preach it and I believe in it.

It is not just Christians who feel that way about love either. From "make love, not war" to "all you need is love" our culture has been bombarded with the love message. We talk about it all the time.

Now if we would just do it. In reality it has always been easy to love those we like but very difficult to love those we don't. I'm not just talking about those who are different from us or are "hard to love" either. I'm talking about those we strongly disagree with. How can we preach love and then not show it to those we disagree with. Our inconsistency leaves a foul stench.

There are several of my fellow pastors that I've disagreed with on a variety of issues. I'm not talking about a disagreement on a vague theological point where we agree to disagree. I'm talking about people I'm angry with. People that I see as pig-headed, obstinate, hateful, and even down-right unchristian. I'm sure they are wrong and I'm sick and tired of their blatant attempts to be an obstacle to the Church. Even writing this makes me angry.

But what happened to love?

I hate the fact that I can preach about our need to love everyone and not be judgmental and then turn around and hate and judge others. I'm not alone because I know that this same scenario is replicated in all sorts of situations by all sorts of well-intentioned people. It is just plain tough.

I would try to justify my hypocrisy except for one thing. Any reason I can give for me not to love someone else is a reason that Jesus could use against me. I guess I just need to learn how to love people I hate. Dang it.

Room For Everyone

Dave says there are 10 Million people living in Los Angeles County where we are. That doesn't include Orange County or any of the other surrounding counties. That's pretty incredible considering that the population of Indiana is under 7 million. When you think about it, it is pretty amazing that they fit everyone in. Imagine everyone in Indiana crammed into one county. No wonder the traffic is so bad. It really is amazing that things work at all here with that kind of population. It is kind of mind boggling how they manage it.

Santa Monica

Went to Santa Monica Beach yesterday. It is very strange how they give 3 weather forecasts here. One for the beach, one for the valley, and one for the hills. It is a good thing they do it though because the weather, especially the temperature, is very different. My brother, the one that flies airplanes, says there is also a difference in visibility due to the marine layer that creeps a little bit inland too. His daughter used to live in Santa Monica and he says he usually had to use the instrument approach whereas Burbank is usually clear.

The weather was great and the kids loved the ocean. They all logged several hours in the water. Towards evening we walked the Santa Monica Pier looking at more junk for sale and riding the roller coaster. The call it the West Coaster which is appropriate because it is probably about as far west as you can get since it is on the pier. No one got too sun burned so it was all good. Dave says he comes here maybe once a year or so which is a crime.

My older brother bought us lunch at Bubba Gump Shrimp's on the pier which was really nice of him considering it was his birthday. To pay him back for the kindness one of his daughters told the waiter it was his birthday so they were able to embarrass him in front of everyone. Oh the love of a daughter.

Sunday in California

Yesterday I went to Mosaic for church. The band played about four songs which very few seemed to know and even fewer seemed to sing. Then there was a short comic video while they got the band off and a chair and table on the stage. McManus came out and offered a prayer and then delivered his message. Then another guy they called the campus pastor joined him for a Q & A session. Then they took up an offering and gave a few announcements and that was it.

I didn't get the worship. It really didn't seem like worship and a lot of people seemed to view it as prelude as i would say more than half the crowd came in during the set. It just wasn't m thing but apparently a lot of people like it that way.

McManus is an intelligent, practical, and compelling speaker. If your looking for exegesis you better choose another church. He may be very good at it but he doesn't focus on it. On this day he was talking about relationships and I think he connected very well with his audience.

During the Q&A you could text in your questions but I don't think they were actually taking them live. They answered several questions that seemed to have come from a previous week but maybe I missed something. I thought it was a good format overall.

I would guess that a lot of visitors leave underwhelmed. My guess is that there is a lot of stuff going on during the week and with small groups that really attract a lot of people. Other than that the main attraction is McManus himself. I know I could listen to him every week. I would just miss a corporate worship experience.

We also went to China Town yesterday. There are tons of shops there selling tons of Chinese products for not much money. It is definitely a cultural experience. We bought some crap and enjoyed the day before riding the train back home. I think if I lived here I would use the train a lot rather than face the traffic every day.

California Trip

I've been on vacation at my brother's in Pasadena. I have a lot of thoughts but just haven't found the time to write anything down so here are some short snippets of a lot of things.

There is a lot of traffic here but not as bad as I was expecting. The drivers here are a lot more laid back than what you see on the beltline in DC during rush hour. It is frantic though so you have to pay attention.

GPS is cool. It takes a lot of the stress out of driving. We usually go places in 3 cars and it is hard to keep in contact with someone with all the traffic. The GPS may not take the same route but it gets you there.

It is hot during the day but cools down at night. i would compare the heat to a hot summer day in Indiana but what's the point. it is dang hot and you are better off inside or at least in the shade.

We went and watched the LA Galaxy get beat on Friday and then watched the fireworks afterwards. The Home Depot Center is a great soccer facility though the traffic is really bad. The fans are ridiculous in their worship of David Beckham but he did score so I'll give him a few props for producing.

We've been to the LA Zoo, the Autry Museum, and the Natural History Museum. I liked them all and I think the kids did too. To top it off the museums are air conditioned so that's a plus.

The William Carey University campus is a hodge podge of buildings filled with all kinds of different ministries. I think there are something like two schools and three churches that rent facilities here too. This morning I'll be going to church at Mosaic which meets in a nondescript auditorium across the street from my brother's house. They also rent office space here.

There are hills behind the campus but I don't know which ones they are. One of them has an observatory on it and was used by some guy names Hubble who discovered, or helped discover, an expanding universe from there. I know I should probably be more respectful about all of that but I'm not that interested.

There are a group of Micronesians having a basketball and volleyball tournament here this weekend. I guess they do this every 4th of July weekend and apparently a lot of them come up from San Diego. I haven't had the nerve to go over and ask but their BBQ smells delicious.

My niece introduced me to some new food last night. You take corn on the cob, slather it with mayo, roll it in some Mexican cheese called Cojita (kind of like parmesan), and sprinkle it with chili powder. I love it. Apparently there is some place in LA where they sell it off the street.

It never rains in southern California. Seems like I've heard that before. If you want a lawn or landscaping you have to water it. If you don't water the grass will die. If your sprinkler system is off a little you will quickly know it because the unwatered grass will die in a hurry.

It is wierd being on Pacific time. Everything is over a lot sooner than it should be. you can't check baseball scores in the morning because they've already put in today's box scores, ready for todays games. Wimbeldon is practically over before I get up.

That's all I can think of for now.