Wallis and Stewart talk briefly about Haiti and suffering…
“It would seem there are a lot of quotes there (in Scriptures) that would provide comfort not only to Haiti but to our country as well.” – Jon Stewart
“The God I believe in is with those who suffer, he doesn’t punish those or create evil for those who are already suffering. Haiti was a collision of poverty and an earthquake.”
Wallis also suggests that the U.S. banks should offer the same grace to their customers as the U.S. taxpayers offered to them — and then after saying his family has fired their bank, he offered this advice:
“The banks say they’re too big to fail – let’s make them smaller.”
Yet, even with those great ideas, what I love most about this interview is Jon Stewart’s comments towards the end…
“It certainly an interesting way to apply your theology to day to day problems and do it in a practical way that people understand.”
Want to break the “Grinchy feel” this Christmas? Want to see things differently? Want to be more thankful? The secret is not in getting the perfect gift, getting more, or having a picture-perfect Christmas. The answer comes with a heart that finds contentment and thankfulness – a place of rest joy and peace for where I am and what I have right now.
My heart can easily run to discontent and complaint. I have to train it to be thankful. I have to direct it to perspective, balance, and gratefulness. To remember what is most important, to see clearly, and find real thankfulness, try this:
associate with the lowly spend time with those who have less, who have need, who live humbly. it will break the eye of greed that wants more and what others have.
watch for what other’s need it is easy to know what I want. its also easy to become ungrateful when things don’t go like I want them. turn your view inside out and learn to see what other’s need. make their need more important than your own and watch what happens.
serve every chance you get those with greater thankfulness are not those who are served, but those who know what its like to serve others.
daily look for what you can be thankful real heart change happens when we see differently. in every moment look for what you can be thankful and watch everything change.
say “thanks” often keep your heart in check by engaging your mouth – say “thanks.” say it often. say it for small things. say it for the common things. say it with sincerity.
By practicing these simple actions, you may just find this Christmas that the people in your life mean more than they have before, the gifts mean a little less, and your thankfulness to God fill your heart.
What can be said about a bar of soap and our faith and relation to the world around us?
One small bar of soap can spark many reflections—spiritual, sociologic, entropologic and ecologic—according to Claudio Oliver, who has spent 20 years working with the urban poor, and on community development, dental and medical projects, team equipping, and teaching in Curitiba, Brazil.
“All this got started because we were talking about holiness.”
Claudio shares the problem of used oil being poured down drains, where it goes on to pollute the community’s water. The center of community at his church has been collecting used oil from homes and small businesses in the neighborhood and using it to make soap, which is then wrapped in recycled newspaper and sold. Claudio uses this soap instead of commercially-made soap for all his washing needs—dishes, clothes, body—an example of how something that would have caused damage to nature is remade into something useful. He also gives a tour of his recycling barrels that store glass, plastic, paper, and other materials that come from people’s garbage. Two families come weekly to collect the garbage and from it are bettering their lives. One family has moved from being homeless, to the slums, to a poor neighborhood—all starting with the garbage collected at Claudio’s center of community.
But back to holiness: to be holy is to be used for a specific purpose. Oil, when it starts out, is used for a specific purpose—to cook food. But once it is used, it is damaged and it doesn’t matter what you do with it—put it in the sink, put it somewhere else—it’s going to cause problems in the nature around it. But if you clean the oil, mix it with caustic soda, and pass it through fire, it is transformed and can be used without damage. This, says Claudio, is a reflection of the Jesus-process in our lives. There is an outside intervention that cleans, and not only cleans but changes our nature, transforms us. You can’t change the soap back into oil, and similarly we are permanently transformed from something that causes problems to people and the world around us into something that can be used without damage. And so, cooking oil and soap are the modern-day metaphors for redemption in Claudio’s world . . . and possibly ours. To find out more about Claudio’s community, visit his website www.docaminho.com.br.
what would it take for others to recognize that God is real in your life? for many years I thought it would happen if I…
wore Christian t-shirts
had Christian bumper stickers
played my Christian music real loud
always quoted Bible verses
went to every event the church offered
went out “witnessing” to others
don’t get me wrong, those can be good things. but the reality of God in my life is much more than just whatI present to others outwardly.when God chose to show thereality of Himself to us, He did so throughshowing grace to us. He favored us when we didn’t deserve it. He loved us when we were unlovely. He gave whenall we had done was take.
the reality of God came to usthrough relationship.
relationship that He initiated in sacrifice, love, and grace.
what He calls us to be and do with others is the same. relate. relate to other with grace. show them by your sacrifice, grace, and love that God is real in you.
if we can’t relate to others with forgiveness, compassion, grace, mercy then the outward actions of going to church and displaying our faith will be of little substance.
the message of the New Testament calls us to show grace with such extravagance in our actions that it causes others to notice something is very different about us. we don’t have to “publicize” our faith, because the reality of it in our relationships already speaks so loudly about God in us.
try this…
for one week, don’t say anything to anyone about your faith. don’t use words, t-shirts, orbumper stickers to announce who you are. instead for live with such extravagant grace for others that it causes them to wonder what makes you so different.
overwhelm your spouse with grace. cause your children to wonder what happened to you. make your friends curious. live it in such away at work that others are the ones bringing up faith in the workplace.
but have reverence for Christ in your hearts, and honor Him as Lord. Be ready at all times to answeranyone who asks you to explain the hope that you have in you… 1 Peter 3:15
if we do this, we just might be getting somewhere.
