Gathering for July 30

"Greetings True Believers," to quote Stan Lee, I'm back from a blogging hiatus (read: a combination of business and much needed laziness). This Sunday's lesson presents two areas for conversation: faith's relationship to politics & the necessity of suffering. Here is this week's reading.

Faith and Politics: For all of our talk today about the seperation of Church and state or religion and politics, here we find Jesus dying at the hands of a politician (not even a powerful one!) and for political reasons (crucifixion was a death reserved only for enemies of the state, Rome). For some reason nowadays people wrongly make faith a private matter and politics a public one. Why do we have a privatized faith, a faith that is all about my relationship with the Lord (nothing wrong with this), but rarely speaks truth (meaning, speaks out against or challenges) to power?

Faith and Suffering: "You know what really grinds my gears," to quote that Family Guy Peter Griffin, is the current popularity of the Prosperity Gospel. What is the Posperity Gospel? Well, watch nearly any (insert your favorite popular preacher here) of (insert your favorite mega-church here) on your TV. These preachers usually present Christianity as a sound business proposition, "come to Jesus and you'll be richly rewarded..." Personal Rant: If wealth is a blessing then does this mean God curses or hates 2/3 of the world's population? Wow, in all my readings of the New Testament the only thing Jesus promises us is a cross! I am not surprised that such preachers are in front of mega-sized congregations. Who wants to hear about suffering for what you believe? No one! Yet, a faith that suffers nothing is also worth nothing! So consider the comforts we enjoy each day and the suffering we avoid. Consider also that the world is so interconnected that my comfort may cause others to suffer. To do this try this thought exercise: Add up the cost of all the clothes you have on while you're reading this blog. Take that sum and then visit any grocery store webpage that allows for online shopping (Lowe's Food offers this service) and see how much food you can buy for that sum and then consider how many people with no clothes on their back that could feed.