MESSY HOPE BLOG

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March 6, 2019

Right near my home in the San Fernando Valley lies an abandoned Lutheran church that formerly served the area in various ways besides providing a place for its small congregation to worship. This is more than a one-off exception, but an example of a larger trend. In the article What To Do With Empty Churches, Karl Zinsmeister notes that “when a church [facility] becomes a burden on a dwindling fellowship, moldering deterioration and demolition often result. Other fading parishes sell once-beautiful churches to be remade into condos, restaurants, theaters, and even bars. Such conversions

tripled nationwide between 2010 and 2015, according to the real-estate tracker CoStar Group.”

Zinsmeister goes on to explain how valuable churches are to their urban neighbors, “Once a church is lost, that neighborhood seldom regains a public space offering services like daycare, schools and free or below-market space for local groups, arts events, Boy Scout troops, and sports teams, Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and more.” Quoting from a 2016 University of Pennsylvania study, he offered the surprising statistic that 90% of the people served by older urban churches weren’t church members. He goes on to highlight some of the many ways that congregations positively impact their cities, concluding that “if U.S. religiosity continues to decline, there will be serious tears in the fabric of American society.”

It’s nice to know that churches are serving their communities—Christ called his followers to let their light shine before others so they will see their good deeds and glorify God the Father. Good works are indeed valuable, but the ultimate and complementary value is to point to God, the One who transforms lives. Only God revealed in Christ can dispel guilt and shame and infuse lives with purpose—that’s the Good News, the Gospel entrusted to Christ-followers. In every place we meet, and even more so, may every person we touch, be pointed to Jesus, who can restore each person to their God-intended purpose.

- Richard Burton

February 15, 2018

Yes, I’ll admit that my first attempt at miracle analysis didn’t turn out so well (see 2/7/18 blog). With that in mind, I decided to tackle something other than Jesus’ miracles of multiplying food, so this time I’ll look at healing.

Even though the Gospels document many, many healings by Christ, only a small percentage of those healings have specific accounts of how Jesus interacted with the sick persons. There are multiple passages similar to Matthew 4:23 recounting that Jesus healed “every disease and sickness among the people.”

Amazing, yes, but not much insight as to what Jesus specifically did to heal people. In some cases, we know people were healed by touching Jesus (such as Mark 3:10 and Mark 5:28-29). Sometimes Jesus simply commanded wholeness, often by directing the person seeking the healing to do something—to take up their mat and walk, or stretch out their hand.

But we do have several incidents where we have the opportunity to see Jesus in action. First, we’ll look at Jesus healing a deaf/mute, and then two incidents of healing blind persons. To heal the deaf/mute, Mark 7 tells us that Jesus took him away from the crowd, put his fingers in his ears, spit and touched his tongue, looked up to heaven, and said with a sigh, “Be opened!” (well, actually Jesus said it in Aramaic – “Ephphata!”).  

In Mark 8, we see how Jesus healed a blind man. Jesus took him out of the village, spit on his eyes, and put his hands on him, causing him to see partially. Jesus put his hands on him once more, and he gained perfect sight. In John 9, Jesus made mud with his spit and put that on the blind man’s eyes and told him to go wash in a nearby pool, resulting in his healing.

Okay, I think I have it! For deaf guys, fingers in the ears and spit placed on the tongue, all while saying “Be opened!” (I think the English should work). For blind guys, spit on the eyes, or use mud made with spit. Hmm…but what if the person isn’t deaf or blind? Then what do I do? And when Jesus directed his disciples to go out and heal, why didn’t he share these very insightful guidelines with them? I mean, didn’t they need a basic healing manual, at least for the deaf and blind category? All Jesus did was give them authority and power to heal and told them to go heal people. Well, maybe I’ll need to try one more time to figure out this miracle stuff.

- Richard Burton

January 13, 2018

You may have seen the recent headline on your Internet news feed: “20-Year-Old Claims $451 Million Jackpot, Hopes to ‘Do Some Good for Humanity.’” We all commend the winner, Shane Missler of Port Richey, Florida, for his good intentions.

There are some hurdles, however, between good intentions and good outcomes, even for the winner of a $451 lottery. For starters, since he decided to take the lump sum payout instead of annual payments, the actual amount of his windfall is “only” $281.2 million. This amount will of course be taxed, leaving about $170 million (fortunately for him, Florida has no income tax; he would have been $37 million poorer were he a California resident).

Now things get complicated. The Good Morning America article noted that “Missler plans on plunking down some of the lottery loot for a new home in Tampa and then pursuing a ‘variety of passions,’…as well as helping others.” Their article also included a statement from Missler: "I intend to take care of my family, have some fun along the way, and cement a path for financial success so that I can leave a legacy far into the future. I have always been one to encourage the idea of chasing dreams and I believe life is about the pursuit of passion. I am 20 years old and my journey has only just begun.”

I certainly wish Mr. Missler well, though there are certainly many pitfalls that will confront him. The stories of bad outcomes for lottery winners have been well-documented, highlighting pitfalls such as poisoned relationships, lavish and sometimes destructive spending, and poor financial management.

But let’s assume – and hope – that none of those affect Mr. Missler. He hopes to “do some good for humanity, to help others,” and he has lots of money – what could go wrong? It turns out that even if he had virtually unlimited money, it is very possible that he could not fulfill that good impulse. Without looking too far for insight, one colossal example comes from the so-called “War on Poverty” launched by legislation in 1964. The 50-year milestone of these efforts arrived in 2014 leading to some harsh assessments – over $20 trillion (yes – that is a “t”) spend over the 50 years and little to show for it in terms of the poverty rate in the United States. $20 trillion is virtually unlimited money, and the result was negligible. Ironically, one analysis showed that based on the money spent on all the current programs annually, it would only cost 20% of those expenditures for the government to simply gave cash grants to every family unit under the poverty level an amount that would put them over the threshold.

Which brings me to a dream. I was on a college campus speaking to a group of students, and I knew that they wanted to have a positive impact on the world around them (which I believe to be largely true, despite the goals being sometimes misguided). “You want to touch the world, to help the world,” I proclaimed, “but to do it, to truly do it, you will need the help of Jesus Christ.” I believe this to be true on both counts – many, many post-high-school and twenty-somethings want to do good, and for it to work, they will need the God of all goodness to be in the middle of their efforts.

Does that mean that every Christian enterprise will automatically be helpful and effective? You already know the answer to that – of course not. But having Christ’s love and compassion as motivation, his wisdom to direct, and his supernatural resources to draw upon can bring about results that cannot be duplicated.

- Richard Burton

The month leading up to Christmas in the San Fernando Valley is marked by two things: stress and decorations. Sure, everyday life here is stressful year-round, from the infamous traffic on the 405 and 101 freeways to express lines that aren’t very fast to the gazillion soccer leagues jamming every park every Saturday, and Christmas puts it into overdrive. But we will leave the topic of stress to another day and talk about something a bit lighter – literally – and that is decorations.

As soon as Halloween is over, Christmas displays start to appear in stores and malls as well as commercial streets. By the time Thanksgiving rolls around, the decorating has spread to homes, peaking in mid-December. Santas and sleighs, elves and reindeer, Christmas trees and stars, wise men and mangers, wreaths and bows, snowmen and snowflakes, not to mention Hanukkah menorahs and stars of David. The sizes range from towering trees in malls to bigger-than-life-size inflatables of Santa and Winnie the Pooh (not sure how he relates to Christmas) to tiny ornaments.

And there is one feature common to the vast majority of these decorations: light. Strings of light envelop houses, lights covering fir trees inside and outdoors, spotlights aimed at displays, and lights even implanted into those inflatables. Yeah, Christmas has become too commercialized and secularized, and our “stress and decorations” version of Christmas that thinks “Rocking Around the Christmas Tree” is a classic holiday song doesn’t seem to closely resemble what happened in Bethlehem some two thousand years ago. But maybe it’s closer than we think. I’ll bet Mary and Joseph were stressed as they were having a hard time finding lodging and her water had already burst. OK, that’s not in Luke’s narrative of the story, but it’s probably not far from the truth. And a God star and a nearby field shining with the glory of the Lord are pretty impressive decorations.

I’ve decided that every time I see the lights of the season in all their myriad variations, whether it’s a Santa or an icicle or a star, I will think about the Light of the World and the Prince of Peace. Yes, even as I sit helplessly looking at the taillights snaking down the 405 freeway, I will choose to consider the Light of the World. He has come to give us peace in the middle of stress and light in the darkness. Jesus even wants to “decorate” us, placing on us “a crown of beauty instead of ashes…and a garment of praise” (Isaiah 61:3, NIV), the very best decorations to be found anywhere at any price.

- Richard Burton

By the way, the sparking view of the Valley on the cover of my novel Messy Hope was inspired by one of the scenes set on a Valley overlook during the Christmas season.    

July 5, 2017
 

Just last week my wife and I returned from vacationing in France with one of our daughters and her family. As you no doubt know, France uses the metric system for all of its measurements, from weight and volume to area and distance. While riding my bicycle yesterday, I thought that the speedometer was malfunctioning, showing that I was going 25 when I knew that I was going nowhere near that speed, despite any hopeful imaginings on my part. Upon looking closer, I noticed the little notation “K/hr” after the 25, sadly confirming that I was not doing 25 miles per hour. Rather, my speed was 25 kilometers per hour, that is, 15 miles per hour.

My bicycle speedometer decided to welcome me back from my vacation by magically converting to the metric system that I had become (a little bit) accustomed to while in France. Measurement systems are interesting. While driving in France, when the speed limit was posted as 110, that sure seemed fast but is merely 66 miles per hour. When we went to buy some fruit, the prices sure seemed expensive. Nectarines for 3.50 Euros?! Oh, yeah – that’s per kilogram, about 2.2 pounds, so it was only 1.59 Euros. And of course, Euros is a whole other measurement system, so I needed to convert Euros into dollars, which in early June was about 1.12 Euros to a dollar, so the nectarines were about $1.75 a pound. I’m glad my computer didn’t magically convert all our financial transactions into Euros upon return!

Each different measurement system, or standard (as in “the metric standard”), can give a certain impression to someone who uses a different system. When my bike measured my speed in kilometers per hour, I momentarily thought that maybe I was going fast, though it only took a split second to quickly adopt a better hypothesis – my speedometer is malfunctioning. The price of nectarines seemed high until I realized I was buying 2.2 pounds per unit, though that was tempered by the fact that one dollar was only worth about 0.89 Euros.  

With these examples, we are talking about different ways of measuring the same thing. The rate of travel on my bike was unchanged whether it was described as 25 kilometers per hour or 15 miles per hour. The number of nectarines was the same whether measured in kilograms or pounds, and their cost did not change whether denominated in Euros or dollars.

But there are measurement systems that can be starkly different, valuing different items in deeply contrasting ways. As an example, while at a party several years ago, a person whom I had briefly met a couple of times but whom I barely knew started our conversation with this question: “Do you own your home or rent?” For this person, this was the most important thing he could know about someone, revealing his measurement standard. Our culture has many standards, often overlapping, including income, size of the home (or its zip code), type of car, career, education, vocabulary, dress size, and many other measurements. Less often is the standard based on integrity, kindness, or patience.

In the real world, measurement systems don’t change magically like my bike speedometer, though people can often adopt standards without making a conscious decision, especially when it is a widely-embraced standard in our culture. I remember when the Holy Spirit whispered to my heart that “more is not better.” That was stunning, yet at no time do I remember deciding to adopt “more is better” as a personal standard; it was just obvious – until God declared it an inadequate standard.

Whether we use the metric system or the English system ultimately makes no difference, though using the metric does force me to do some extra math to make the conversions. But the standards we embrace, often without thinking about it, have a big impact. May the Holy Spirit bring light to all of our standards and direct us into His standards and His ways that always bring peace and joy.

- Richard Burton

May 2, 2017
 

My wife and I recently had the chance to visit Yosemite National Park, renowned for its waterfalls. Spring is the best time to see the waterfalls, and with the heavy snowpack this winter, God served up an unparalleled water show, including waterfalls that I had never seen in my many trips there. Which brought to mind a waterfall in the west San Fernando Valley.

A waterfall in The Valley? Let me tell you the story. When I was a boy, my family made an excursion to Chatsworth Reservoir in the west valley shortly after a rainstorm. Yes, I know…the whole area is fenced off these days, one more natural preserve that no one can appreciate up close; but back to the story. So as my brother Allen and I were clambering around the hills, I looked up, and there it was – a waterfall! OK, all of 15 feet high, but a waterfall nonetheless. And I promptly named it “Burton Falls” (I didn’t realize that a waterfall with a single span was a “fall,” not “falls”; hey, I was a kid).

Of course, it was a highly seasonal waterfall from a highly seasonal stream in the hills of the west valley, and I never saw it again, in part because I didn’t bother to drive miles on a wet day to try and find an elusive display. But not so elusive was my evident lack of humility. It never occurred to me to name it “Two Brothers Fall” “West Valley Fall” or “Chatsworth Hills Fall.” Immediately and virtually automatically it was Burton Falls (I’ve already admitted the improper usage, but that’s what I called it), and the Burton I was thinking about wasn’t my brother or my parents.

When Jesus said that we must receive the kingdom of God like a child (Mark 10:15), I don’t think the model he had in mind was the 4th-grade version of me. Maybe a younger kid would have been closer to what Jesus was trying to illustrate. And while I don’t want to emulate the me-focus I had as a nine-year-old, I do want to have a childlike trust in God and a humility that isn’t concerned about who gets credit for the good things that God invites us to participate in. 

- Richard Burton

March 27, 2017
 

I have a lot of relatives in Minnesota where the highest point in the entire state is Eagle Mountain at 2,301 feet elevation. That’s pretty good compared to Florida’s highest point, Britton Hill. Just the name tips you off that it may not be very impressive, so its 345 feet elevation may not be entirely surprising to you. In comparison, we here in the San Fernando Valley have a local peak of 3,750 feet elevation, Oat Mountain. Looking further afield in Los Angeles County, you will encounter Mount San Antonio’s 10,000-foot peak (10,064).

I certainly love the hills and mountains that are abundant in our area for their beauty as well as the hiking I have relished since I was an 11-year-old Boy Scout. But going back to the 19th century and early 20th century, our local mountains made travel difficult. For instance, to travel by stagecoach from the north end of the San Fernando Valley in 1850 to Newhall, the next town north and just a matter of several miles, was an arduous affair. In the middle of Newhall Pass, the coach had to be winched up the highest point of the pass until 1854 when a narrow cut was dug in the past and eventually deepened to 90 feet. It was a sheer cut right through the hill and was called Beale’s Cut. Although partially collapsed in the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, you can still see it today (see my 12/2015 photo below).

To the present day, the number of transportation corridors into and out of the San Fernando Valley is relatively limited for a community of more than 1.5 million, and the mountains and hills that surround the valley are the main challenges. “Eye-catching and enjoyable obstacles” might be a succinct summary of these mountains and hills. In reading the Bible, there are many references to the beauty of the valleys, hills, and mountains of Israel, and yet in Isaiah 40:3-4 (NIV), there is the “obstacle” sense:

A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
   the way for the Lord;
make straight into the desert
   a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be raised,
   every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
   the rugged places a plain.

In these verses, there is a heavenly call to prepare a way for the Lord, but the ups and downs of the mountains and valleys impede making a highway in the anything-but-level terrain. But an amazing thing happens – the valleys are lifted, the mountains are made low, and the rough ground becomes smooth, so a “highway for our God” can be made, a harbinger of the glory of the Lord that verse 5 says will be revealed.

When the mountains and valleys in your life are obstacles to you moving ahead, they are no longer beautiful and enjoyable instead they are imposing. But God can change the entire landscape to make a level highway. When you are facing mountains, call out to Jesus. As this passage continues, it declares that God will come with might, and like a shepherd, he will tenderly care for his flock (verses 10-11). Our God is ready to do the same today.   

- Richard Burton

February 21, 2017
 

I helped put myself through college with a part-time job throwing newspapers. No, not the two-block paper route done on a bicycle as you saw on a “Leave It To Beaver” rerun, but a serious paper route that delivered to about 2,000 homes covering large swaths of Encino and Sherman Oaks in the San Fernando Valley south of Ventura Boulevard (often with the help of my future wife). Most locals know that “south of the boulevard” in our town means an area of high-end homes.

Having gone to high school with kids who lived in Encino (whereas I lived on the “wrong side of the boulevard”), I was familiar with the area and had visited some of these homes on occasions such as debate team briefings or practices. This was the Beverly Hills of the San Fernando Valley, and in this hilly area, there were a lot of impressive homes.

One thing I discovered while driving through these areas throwing newspapers in the pitch black of 2 in the morning or even the early morning light of 6 in the morning was the fact that these upscale neighborhoods were often akin to a wilderness. About the only people out were police officers, who made my acquaintance many times when they saw an old black Ford driving around with a guy in a stocking cap and a grubby jacket. Fortunately, they waved me along when they saw baled stacks of newspapers in the car. But while there was a paucity of humans, there were plenty of other denizens. I think it was Wile E. Coyote who regularly loped down Valley Vista Boulevard in the early mornings. I saw skunks on front lawns, deer munching on beautiful landscaping, a covey of quail in the same place just after sunrise each morning, and plenty more. I realized that by day, it was a high-end suburb, but by night it was a wilderness and the wildlife ruled. To discover this, I needed to take a fresh look from a different perspective (or time).

Similarly, many people in our lives seem to have it all together and desperately need the love of Jesus. They may be articulate, nice, and maybe even live in one of those Encino homes. But beyond all that, they may be searching for answers, empty, and not sure if it’s safe to make themselves vulnerable. As a Christ-follower, you are called to join Jesus in extending Good News to each person in your life.

On the other hand, there are many Christ-followers who view themselves as disqualified or unqualified to be one of God’s ministers. Worldviews or models or teachings – whether explicit or implicit – may have told you that being a woman, or not having a theological education, or being young, or being too old, would keep you from being a full partner in God’s work. I invite you to pursue the fullness of what God has called you to do, seeing things that may not be obvious in our worldview but that God wants to reveal by his Word and his Holy Spirit.
 

- Richard Burton

February 1, 2017
 

There is a sculpture at Cal State Northridge, San Fernando Valley’s large public university, that is almost an optical illusion. Sitting on the southeast edge of the campus, the sculpture is simply four letters – C S U N, the initials of the school’s official name: California State University, Northridge. If that were the extent of it, it would be no more than a sign, and would hardly be of interest or worthy to be considered a piece of art. What is unique is that from several different angles, it still reads “CSUN" (see the photo below).

We know by experience that when we look at things from different angles, absent a cleverly-designed installation, the view is different. We also know that this is helpful in most situations, allowing us to see different aspects of a particular item by moving from one position to another. If I am buying a car, I want to see the front and back, right and left, as well as in the passenger compartment and obviously under the hood. If my wife and I are making an important decision, I want to gain multiple perspectives.

As a thoughtful person, I like to think that I do a good job of seeing situations from various angles or perspectives, but it is easy to sometimes forget the most critical viewpoint of all – the God perspective. I remember early in my career I had the opportunity to consider a job that looked great from multiple angles. It paid more – and at that point in life we definitely could have used the extra money – it was interesting with the potential for substantial professional development, and did I say that it paid more? But there was one hitch – a lot of travel, some of it international. As my wife Dorothy and I prayed about it, the answer was pretty simple. We had one child and Dorothy was pregnant with twins, and I needed to be around.

From this and many other situations, we learned a few things about God’s view of situations. First, God is very practical. He knows our needs, the balance of our checking account, and the cost of two extra children. Second, God doesn’t sacrifice one value for another – he knows how to perfectly integrate them into his wisdom. Finally, God’s ways are good. As we follow Christ and his direction, we are blessed (John 13:17; John 15:11).

That CSUN sign is pretty cool, but I want to have multiple perspectives, most particularly Christ’s perspective.
 

- Richard Burton

January 13, 2017
 

I was at church on a Sunday morning to worship God and grow in Christ-like character. I was standing at one end of the church’s multipurpose room and I caught sight of the new guy on the other end of the room. He was probably six feet tall, a couple of years older than me, and well-groomed. And in the seconds, it took to make those observations, I decided I didn’t like him. Why? He was tough and cocky. How did I know that? He had a cocky stance and a tough expression on his face. He was trying to look casual, but his posture was taut, and he was taking in the scene with condescension.

Boy, that’s a lot to determine in a few seconds from fifty feet away, without even a hello or handshake. Being a male and 18 years old probably didn’t help my assessment skills (my apology to those who might fit that profile), and uninformed snap judgments aren’t the exclusive domain of males or 18-year-olds. But how wrong my appraisal was!

It took me some time to overturn my instant opinion, but I eventually found out that Mike – did I mention that was his name? – was smart, inventive, funny, and loyal. And though – in the best way, the guy you wanted on your team. Cocky? Nah, but confident, allowing the entrepreneurial part of him to flourish. And it also turned out that he was studying at UCLA just as I was, on the other end of the campus, in Engineering. We became good friends and even shared rides to school. Yeah, I had it wrong; not just a little, but completely wrong.

I won’t say that I haven’t made any snap judgments since then, but I certainly learned a lesson at the ripe age of 18 about the severe limitations of five-second assessments. And that certainly paid off over the years. In my work as a consultant, I met many clients who were not very likable based on my first – or even second or third – impression. But some of those gruff, salty exteriors concealed solid persons underneath.

Studies indicate that many people rely on first impressions more than they realize, often far beyond the potential for such a five-second interaction to yield accurate information. As usual, the Bible’s recommendations are brimming with wisdom for every situation, including this one: walk in humility (Ephesians 4:2a) and earnestly look to God for true wisdom and understanding (Proverbs 2:2-6).
 

- Richard Burton

December 31, 2016
 

I have lived in the San Fernando Valley for a long time. In the 1960s it was a fast-growing suburb that even had some remnants of its agricultural past. Back then, it was primarily a white middle-class community, and church membership was prevalent. Over the years, and yes, the decades, significant changes occurred, but I didn’t always notice them in real-time.

However, there was a day when what was obvious to statisticians and new residents registered with me – that the San Fernando Valley was no longer a suburb but it was a city, an urban locale. If it were a stand-alone city, it would be the fifth largest city in the United States, with a population of almost 1.6 million and filled with a wide range of businesses. The suburbs were the places beyond, like Santa Clarita and Simi Valley.

It is also no longer primarily white and middle-class, and church membership is the exception, not the rule. Its people represent a rich, multi-ethnic tapestry, and instead of it being a seeming Christian bastion, it is a mission field. Although I may have been slow to fully realize the urbanization of my hometown, I was quick to note the things that I did not like. “L.A. schools are lousy. The traffic is bad. Half the shop signs are in Spanish or Arabic or Korean or something else. Churches are in decline.” To sum it up, I missed the big picture, highlighted everything not to my liking, and also missed the embedded opportunities.

In the Gospel of John chapter 4, Jesus had an encounter with a Samaritan woman. The text made it clear that Jews had nothing to do with Samaritans, and from a broader understanding of the culture at the time, women were second-class citizens. Yet with two cultural barriers to even acknowledging her presence, Jesus engaged this woman, to the great surprise of his disciples. To these 12 men, Jesus offered an important insight: Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest (John 4:35 NIV). Jesus was imploring his followers to gain spiritual eyes to see harvest right in front of them when others would say it is a long way off. In this same chapter, Jesus explained that although he had not eaten lunch, he had food that they didn’t understand – to do the will of God the Father.

And while Jesus didn’t go into detail as to what that meant right then, he had explained to them before: he came to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10). Jesus made it clear that he didn’t come for the healthy, but for the sick (Matthew 9:12), and in his final commission to his disciples, he made it clear that his good news was to be extended to the ends of the earth, to every ethnos – every people group. As Jesus’ followers, he wants us to have spiritual eyes to see opportunities where others see a woman who is twice disqualified. Jesus wants us to see an opportunity to serve and bring good news in all the things that I might include in my “this bug me” list, and then for us to go and make disciples in his love.
 

- Richard Burton

December 16, 2016
 

Marriage is a union between one man and one woman. That is the position taken by most evangelical Christians, as well as its logical counterpart that views gay marriage as unbiblical. Gay rights have been a contentious political issue in the United States for years, with gay marriage possibly being the pre-eminent flash point over the last decade or so, finally settled in law by a Supreme Court decision (Obergefell vs. Hodges, 2015). However, just as the 1973 Supreme Court decision to legalize abortion fell far, far short of settling the issue of abortion rights in the public square, it seems that this 2015 decision to legalize gay marriage has not settled the dispute among a divided American public.

For Christians, even though this debate has been battled most prominently in the political arena, it is not a political issue. It is an ethical/moral issue based on a biblical understanding of Humankind, not a political issue, even though it has been played out in legislatures and courts across the nation. Politics by its nature is about competing views vying for control, and unsurprisingly it manifests itself in adversarial ways. That leads to an important question: as Christians, is political engagement our primary purpose? And while we are at it, we should probably also ask whether we can accomplish the goals Christ imparted to us through political means.

I think many believers could endorse a summary of Christ’s calling in three essential commands: Go and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19); love God with everything you are (Matthew 22:37-38); and love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:39). Politics is somehow missing on that “top 3” list. Even if you decided to make a longer list – the top 5 or 10, even the top 25 – I doubt that politics would get on the list. As an aside, how a Christian should approach politics and civic responsibility are worthy topics in their own right but are going to be almost completely ignored in this blog.

So here I am, a Christian who believes that gay marriage is not biblical. How does that play out in my life? Do I abandon that position? No, but I take the right stance: remember what my highest priorities are – like going and making disciples and loving my neighbor – and if it somehow comes about to deal with this topic, to do it biblically.

In their book, Evangelical: Becoming the Good News People We’re Meant to Be, Lance Ford and Dan Kimball observe that evangelical Christians are often not viewed as “good news people” by those around them, and one of the reasons is their politics. As we discussed earlier, politics is adversarial by its very nature, and many Christians have adopted an adversarial tone towards those who have different views, the very ones that God loves and wants to draw to his Son. What would be a biblical way to express my views? “With gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15b). Paul writes that “the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone” and that “opponents must be gently instructed” (2 Timothy 2:24-25).

So I take the stance of loving my neighbor as myself, the posture of expressing myself on every issue with gentleness and respect. Having done that, I can then kindly maintain my biblical position.
 

- Richard Burton, RichardBurton@messyhope.com