A pastor's thoughts on yet another "God Bless America" feud

When a man in Lompoc, Calif. complained about a "God Bless America" poster in the post office, he incurred the wrath of many Christians. Scenarios like this one seem to be playing out over and over again, all across America, fueling the fires of reactionary emotion and obliterating any chance for civilized discourse.

In his regular column for the Lompoc Record, Disciples pastor Bob Cornwall steps in and calls a time out to ask, what exactly are we doing when we ask God's blessing on America? And if we are blessed, what is required of us, as Christians?

Read it here.

Iraq for Sale

War is not only a moral issue, or an issue of military might, it's also a money issue. Regardless of where you stand on the war in Iraq, it might be of interest to take a look at who is profiting from it. Robert Greenwald, who made the Wal-Mart movie and several other documentaries, has a new one out - "Iraq For Sale." Greenwald, kind of like Toto in the Wizard of Oz, pulls back the curtain on the Great War Machine to find out who's behind it. And instead of a small-time wizard from Kansas, we see a few of the usual suspects, like Halliburton/KBR, and others like Blackwater, CACI and L3Titan, a provider of interrogators and translators for Abu Ghraib.

Peace is not profitable for companies like this. We ought to ask ourselves, if the continuation of war is what puts bread on the table, then perhaps we've got the wrong kind of bread and the wrong table....

Is a Christian liberal pastor an oxymoron?

I came across an article about Disciples pastor and author Jan Linn. The article appeared in a weekly newspaper in the Twin Cities and is positive in its portrayal of Linn, but it begins with this curious opening:

"In a religious and political climate such as the one currently in America, Jan G. Linn is a walking oxymoron.

Linn, a Lakeville resident is what you could title as a “liberal Christian pastor.”

Is it really that bad out there? Bad enough that a "liberal Christian pastor" is newsworthy? In some places, it is. But one doesn't have to be a seminarian or Bible scholar to see in the Bible the need for care of creation, peacemaking, love of neighbor, care for the poor, community living, anti-materialism, etc. This is stuff that kids learn in Sunday School.

That doesn't mean the Bible is a blueprint for political liberalism (nor political conservatism). But it ought to give pause to anyone who would open an article with these sentences. In praising Linn, the writer also undergirds the notion that Christians are/should be politically conservative.

Cane River Revival

Nope, that's not a mistake in the headline. In western North Carolina, northeast of Asheville, a tent revival meeting that was supposed to last 2 weeks has been going on now for six. According to the AP article, attendance has been a high as 4,000 on certain days.

Beijing, 9/10/06

Another day, another exhausting, exciting experience here in China. We went to church this morning, and it was amazing. Around 2,500 people -- 1,000 in the main sanctuary, another 1,000 in the basement watching on screens, and then another 500 in the courtyard, listening throught he open windows.

But here's the really amazing thing. As soon as the service was over, the doors on one side of the church opened, and as people were leaving through those doors, more people were coming in through the other side for the next service. People actually show up early just to make sure they get seats!

After church, we changed clothes, had lunch, did some shopping, and then went to the Great Wall. It is the most amazing thing I've ever seen. It goes on for 6,000 kilometers and it runs straight up and down mountains. I climbed to the first watch tower -- straight up the mountain. The steps are very uneven and a lot of the "steps" are more than a foot and a half high.

One member of our group, David Shirey, who is 6 feet 4 inches tall with very long legs, climbed to the ninth tower. But it took him almost two hours. I couldn't have done it if I'd had a week! I was just happy to get to the first tower. In fact, I was ecstatic just to be standing on the Great Wall of China!

Tomorrow we meet with government officials in the morning, then go to the Forbidden City in the afternoon. Then an early evening because we have to check out of the hotel at 5 a.m. on Tuesday morning to head for the airport and another LONG flight.

I have learned so much on this trip, and am sorry to be leaving China so soon. But I'm sure I will be back!

Beijing, 9/9/06

We spent the morning visiting two rural churches about 100 kilometers outside Xi'an. The churches were beautiful. One is built into the side of a hill, with more than 100 steps from bottom to top. We saw many houses built into hillsides in the country. Very cool.

At the second church, it seemed that the entire congregation had turned out to see us. They sang for us. We sang for them. They prayed for us. We prayed for them. Then everyone hugged everyone, and several of the women wept. It was tremendously moving, and something I will never forget. I had the gut-level realization that we are all truly one in Christ Jesus. I've read that and sung that and said that, but I never really GOT that until this trip.

This afternoon we flew to Beijing. We are in Beijing! It is a big, beautiful, bustling, and very busy city full of skyscrapers and cranes building new skyscrapers. And everything is getting a new shine in preparation for the 2008 Olympic Games.

Tomorrow we attend a church service and then visit the Great Wall. We are all exhausted and running on sheer adrenaline at this point, but we keep telling ourselves we can sleep when we get home. In the meantime, we are making every moment of this wonderful trip count.

Xi'an, 9/8/06

Today we visited a Bible school in Xi'an and had the opportunity to meet with the students and ask and answer questions. We sang together and learned from each other and had a grand time.

I am continually impressed with the dedication of the Christians in China. Many of the students travel a long way from home to attend school, often leaving behind families and jobs. And many are not even training to be pastors, but are simply full-time volunteers.

There is such a severe shortage of trained and ordained pastors and elders here, most groups rely on volunteers to preach, evangelize, and pastor their communities. The volunteers are (obviously) unpaid, but they are so dedicated to spreading the gospel that they bear many hardships to serve their churches.

In the afternoon, we visited the museum of the terra cotta soldiers, which was a highlight of the trip for me.

The museum is build over part of the excavated tomb of Emporer Xin, the first ruler to unite all of China. His tomb covers several hundred square kilometers and includes many underground chambers, called "pits." So far, 60 pits have been discovered, although only a few have been excavated.

Three of the pits contain thousands of life-size terra cotta soldiers -- each with a different face, different clothes, different weapons. There are foot soldiers, officers, generals, bowmen, and chariot drivers. There are life-size horses and chariots. They go on and on, as far as you can see. And they were crafted in 200 BC! The history of China is just stunning -- and seeing the terra cotta army is the fulfillment of a long-time dream for me.

Tomorrow, we head out EARLY to visit a rural church, then catch an afternoon plane to Beijing. I have done more traveling in the last two weeks than I ever have, by bus and by air. But I feel like I haven't even scratched the surface of this place.

I'm already planning my next trip here. I've caught the China bug!

Xi'an, 9/7/06

What a whirlwind of a trip we are having. On Tuesday we drove from Nanjing to Hefei, where we visited the provincial seminary. They are doing so much with so little, it was inspiring and wonderful to see.

We were also privileged in Hefei to attend the memorial service of Rev. Shaotang Zhu, father of Xiaoling Zhu. Xiaoling is head of the East Asia Office of Global Ministries, and has been our host on this trip. The memorial service was very moving. Rev. Zhu was baptized by Disciples missionaries at the age of 17, in 1931. He paid for his faith dearly during the Cultural Revolution, but survived to become one of the fathers of the new Christian Church in China. We were honored to be witnesses to his life and his work.

From Heife, we flew to Chengdu, in the Szechwan Province -- which is as far west as you can go in China before reaching Tibet. There we visited with Elizabeth and Doug Searles, our Global Ministries mission personnel. The Searles teach English classes for teachers from China's ethnic minority areas. We had the opportunity to visit with some of their students -- a delightful group of young adults who are committed to helping their communities thrive.

Tonight we flew from Chengdu to Xi'an, where we will meet with local church groups. We'll also have a chance to visit the famous tomb of Qin Shi Huang, first Emperor of all China. The tomb is filled with hundreds of life-size terracotta soldiers and horses. I'm looking forward to that trip.

I am learning so much on this trip, and finding that so many of my previous ideas about China were incomplete at best, and sometimes downright wrong. I have definitely been bitten by the China bug, and am already planning my next trip to this land of so much history and so many big cities -- this land of profound contradictions.

Nanjing, 9/2/06

We worshiped this morning at the oldest Christian church in Nanjing, and it was amazing. More than 1,000 people packed into the sanctuary, and another 1,000 watched the service on screens in the Sunday school building. And this was just one of six services they do every weekend. The people were friendly, the fellowship good, and the music beautiful. I didn't understand a word that was said, but I felt like I had worshiped God today.

Later, we visited the Nanjing Massacre Memorial, a truly haunting place. In just six weeks at the end of 1937, Japanese soldiers killed more than 300,000 Chinese people in Nanjing, in what is often called the Rape of Nanjing. The Memorial offers photos, news clippings, and art depicting the horror. But the most gut-wrenching part of the experience is the excavation of a mass grave. Nearly 300 bodies were unearthed when they began excavating for the Memorial, and the government decided to leave them where they lay, to bear silent witness to the tragedy.

The skeletons are numbered, and the numbers are color-coded -- red for women, blue for young people, and so on. Yellow numbers are for the children. More than 60 small corpses bear those yellow numbers ... 60 small children murdered in a single night in just one location. It's an image I will carry with me for the rest of my life.

But there were moments of hope, even here. Two of our Disciples missionaries were instrumental in setting up a "safe zone" in Nanjing. Working with missionaries from other churches and with foreign newspaper correspondents, these brave souls literally put their lives on the line as a shield between the Japanese soldiers and hundreds of Chinese civilians. After the war, their testimony helped to convict several Japanese officers of war crimes.

It's hard to imagine driving around Nanjing today -- with its shining office buildings and huge shopping malls -- that such horror took place only 70 years ago. It's even harder to imagine that the 1937 massacre is only one of the slaughters that have happened here. So much history in China -- some of it spectacular, some of it gruesome. And yet, through it all, the people survive, rebuild, raise families, and go on.

And the church is here with them, today as in years past. We saw that today in the faces of the thousands of people gathered at the church. We heard from church leaders of the transforming effects of Jesus' love in the lives of new Christians. And we feel so blessed to be witnesses to the faith in this ancient land.

Sherri

Nanjing, 9/1/06

It's been a very busy couple of days for our group here in China.

Yesterday we met with leaders of the China Christian Counsel (CCC) and the National Committee of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) of Protestant Churches in China. Working together, the two groups represent all of the Protestant churches in China.

Elder Jianhong Ji, chairman of the TSPM, welcomed us warmly as "colleagues and coworkers in Christ," then laid out the work of his organization, which includes research into the church in China, training of church workers, publications (including a magazine with a subscription base of over 100,000), social services, and relations with overseas ministries partners, including the Disciples.

Member churches of the CCC are fairly autonomous and include a wide variety of practices regarding baptism, communion, and worship styles. Elder Ji noted, "The Apostles Creed is the basis of our faith in China."

Later, we visited with the president and faculty members of East China Theological Seminary. The seminary offers a 4-year undergraduate degree plus programs for church musicians, lay church workers, and church volunteers. They are working hard to fill the shortage of trained church workers in China, where just a few thousand ordained pastors are struggling to minister to the country's 16 million Christians.

Today, we toured Shanghai, visiting a huge garden built in the 16th century, two wonderful museums, and the Shanghai Radio Tower (the city's answer to Seattle's Space Needle). Then a 4-hour bus trip to Nanjing.

We are staying in the heart of Nanjing, inside the "old city" which is still surrounded by a city wall built several centuries ago. Tomorrow, we will get our first taste of Protestant worship in China, then tour the Nanjing Massacre Museum. I am thinking it will be quite moving.

Christianity is alive and well and thriving here. Lots to learn from the Chinese churches, and lots of good dialogue between the new church pastors I'm touring with and their Chinese counterparts.

More tomorrow!

Sherri