The Gaither Vocal Band, brought to you by Cialis…
So, I was reading this and this over at Monday Morning Insight and to be honest with you, I am not surprised.
With the mobilization of the Evangelical Christian Voting Block for the Bush presidency and the incredible success of Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ, there has been an awakening in the marketing world to the evangelical market, and the power that those in ministry leadership have in that world.
While it does not surprise me that this kind of suggestive, follow-the-pastor, advertising is going on, it does worry me. They say that every man has his price… I wonder what mine is…
I also wonder who else has been bought out. In the increasingly polarized political climate that exists in this country I am fearful that many of those that would be considered “Evangelical Leaders” may have lost sight of what it is that they were called to do… and instead of modeling Jesus for their flock, they have begun to act as power brokers… a medium between the evangelical sheep and the world of politics.
I am not saying that those in the Christian community need to stay out of politics, but I am highly uncomfortable with having a Christian voting block… the Christian Coalition, or any faith-based organization that publicly annoints a candidate (how did that work out for Israel?).
One of the reasons that I am a fan of the emerging church is because it seems to me that there is no real spokesman for the movement… even those that the world would dub leaders of the movement try to shy away from titles as much as possible. And while those in the church with a more modern mindset shake their heads (and fists) in frustration at this apparant lack of organization, there are those of us who find comfort in the fact that there is not a figurehead for the movement. There is not a Ted Haggard, Pat Robertson, or James Dobson that is a readily recognizable person to the outside world to critique and shake their heads in disgust at…
And so, I return to the begining of the post, and ask again, what is my price? What is your price? And how do we keep from being bought?
Filed under: church, leadership, ministry
bummer… Yeah, we’ve definitely gotta start to be more counter-cultural. Even if that means that we refrain from exclusively aligning ourselves with a political party. I still think we should be involved in politics, and vote, etc. but we just can’t let ourselves get strapped to one side or the other anymore. I’ve heard it called “prophetic distance” before (I think it was Rob Bell, but I don’t think it was his phrase either), where we maintain enough distance from the different sides and parties so that we are still able to be prophets and to speak critically about anything on either side.
I don’t believe that eveyone has a price. That’s the world’s system. That’s the lie of our empire. I believe the call of CHristianity is to find “the third way” or the alternative route — to lose ourselves as opposed to “selling out” (which usually means a material gain in some way).
Curtis:
I am not saying that we (as individuals) should not be involved in politics, but I am saying that we (as an organized voting block) should be involved in politics.
I think that the voting block, quasi-political party methodology has failed us greatly, and the only way that we can see this nation changed is through people in and out of office living a life that bears fruit…
Joel:
I don’t disagree with you… At the same time I realize that we are all men, who struggle with sin… I guess the question becomes how do we keep ourselves from selling out?
(to which I would answer through authentic community, both with the spirit and others)