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problems with political parties…

I ran across this blog post today on churchleaders.com. It is an interesting article on how young evangelicals are struggling with their particular political party affiliation, and how they seem to be at odds with their beliefs. This was true whether on the Democrat side or the Republican side.

Take a read and give me your thoughts on this issue!

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A recent study of young evangelicals sponsored by the progressive Christian agency Sojourners showed that the majority in the sample feels poorly represented by their political party at times. As reported by The Christian Post, the sample was largely Republican (54 percent vs. 26 percent Democrats), mostly male (63 percent) and college educated (95 percent). The average age of participants was 24.

Participants were asked how closely they agreed with their political party’s stance on a number of issues. When asked if their personal faith convictions ever conflicted with their preferred political party, 29 percent of Democrats answered “frequently” and 54 percent answered “sometimes.” That’s more often than the Republicans in the study: only 17 percent of Republicans answered “frequently” and 48 percent answered “sometimes.”

When asked about specific issues, 75 percent of the Republicans in the sample said they agreed with their party’s position on abortion, while only 10 percent of Democrats said they agreed with their party’s position on the issue. Asked about domestic poverty issues, only 41 percent of the Democrats surveyed said they align with their party’s position on it, while 29 percent of Republicans feel the same. The percentages were similar for the issue of international poverty.

“As a young Christian, I know no candidate or party ever lines up perfectly with my religious beliefs. But that doesn’t stop me from voting or engaging the political system,” said Tim King, a young evangelical who also works as a spokesman for Sojourners, speaking to the Religion News Service.

“Voting is always a choice between imperfect people. That’s why engaging in advocacy is so important—when politicians are missing important issues, we have the ability as voters to try and put those issues on their agendas,” King said.

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So…how is your party aligning with your christian faith??

Monty

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It’s Football Time!

Football season has descended and we are firing up the 12th man in Seattle! The level of commitment that football fans demonstrate is awe-inspiring. In so many ways, the worship that happens inside the stadium is more intense than the worship we see in many churches. What is it about football that ignites her fans so intensely?

As I think about the question of the influence of football, a few thoughts come to mind.I think the words “tribalism” “consumerism”  &  “competitive-ism” sum up the questions of football’s powerful influence.

Humans are a tribal people. We click up and team up with people who are generally wired like ourselves. We rally around a common cause. We group up around ethnicity. We band together and fight for the protection of our tribes. This is normal and good. It creates a sense of personal and group identity which fills our need to belong somewhere. Football is a tribal game. A fan-base has a common enemy, common identity (team colors, mascot etc.) and common goals, to win! When we create tribes in this way, it unleashes a powerful group dynamic and we feel the power when we enter our tribal stadium.

Americans are a consumeristic people. This one is true, but has less positive attributes. Did you know that if the rest of the world consumed products at the same rate as Americans do, we would need 6 additional planets to produce all the goods that would be consumed. We buy into Madison Avenues branding and sell job convincing us of all the things we need to purchase. They  brilliantly tie their marketing into our tribalism, and the net result is a nation addicted to consuming. When you have bought in and invested in your tribe, your commitment level naturally increases with your financial buy-in.

We are competitive by nature. Football also unleashes the competitive gene within us. When our tribes enter the stadium, our adrenalin and endorphins go nuts, much like group blood lust in days gone by. While we have evolved somewhat, the drive to win, beat, destroy and demolish is always within us, and football creates the tribal, consumer and competitive trinity of identity that fills stadiums across the country. The competitive nature within is very powerful, never underestimate it. Many people live vicariously through their team,or favorite player to such a degree that each win, loss, hit, fumble or spectacular catch becomes theirs as well!

I’m sure there is a great study out there somewhere on the power of team sports, but in light of our fresh season of football, I think we can acknowledge that we enjoy it and  it’s time to start rooting for our particular tribe.

My greater hope tis that our faith would move beyond the football stadium and go beyond the commitment and intensity we see there. Maybe there is something here the church needs to learn eh? Or perhaps that is my consumeristic grid speaking!

Here are some great quotes about football to help you get a first down this week!

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Football is like life – it requires perseverance, self-denial, hard work, sacrifice, dedication and respect for authority.   ~Vince Lombardi 

Sectional football games have the glory and the despair of war, and when a Texas team takes the field against a foreign state, it is an army with banners.   ~John Steinbeck 

Pro football gave me a good sense of perspective to enter politics: I’d already been booed, cheered, cut, sold, traded and hung in effigy.   ~Jack Kemp

When I was playing for tips in college, I felt a fire in my soul. I had the same principle of focus that I had learned playing football.   ~Kenny Chesney 

Our goal was to win, to win a Super Bowl, but also to win in the right way, to be role models to our community, to represent Indianapolis, the state of Indiana and the National Football League.   ~Tony Dungy

“An atheist is a man who watches a Notre Dame – Southern Methodist University game and doesn’t care who wins.” ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

We didn’t lose the game; we just ran out of time.  ~Vince Lombardi

Gentlemen, it is better to have died a small boy than to fumble this football.  ~John Heisman

Football is mesmerizing, because it’s a figurative war. You go in one direction till you get there, but you get there as a team, not as an individual. Players bond whether they’re black or white, much as soldiers do.  ~Oliver Stone

Every time a football player goes to ply his trade he’s got to play from the ground up — from the soles of his feet right up to his head. Every inch of him has to play. Some guys play with their heads. That’s OK You’ve got to be smart to be number one in any business. But more importantly, you’ve got to play with your heart, with every fiber of your body. If you’re lucky enough to find a guy with a lot of head and a lot of heart, he’s never going to come off the field second.
~Vince Lombardi

Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare.  They are consumed in twelve minutes.  Half-times take twelve minutes.  This is not coincidence.  ~Erma Bombeck

Football is not a contact sport.  It’s a collision sport.  Dancing is a good example of a contact sport.  ~Duffy Daugherty

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The Power of Education

Poverty is an ever present evil all around the planet. You would think that by now we would have a handle on the great divide between those who have nothing and those who have an abundance, yet the truth remains that the chasm perpetuates.

Poverty is complex. There is not one single issue that needs to be addressed in order to reduce it. Rather there are cultural, global, spiritual, philosophical, economic, and even governmental issues (to name a few) involved in the global poverty crisis.

While it’s not -the- fix, education is perhaps one of the most important ways that we can wage a war on poverty.  When speaking of education I am including not only traditional educational systems, but also education on a moral, economic, spiritual and even technical and agrarian levels. As we invest in education,  there is a natural empowerment that happens. An empowered person knows how to find and utilize resources and create a new reality.

In a 2009 letter to G8 leaders, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Mary Robinson and Muhammad Yunus noted:

“Education is the key to unlocking inter-generational deprivation, as it offers the knowledge people need to live healthy, happy lives…By investing in education, the G8 can leverage huge returns in women’s and children’s health, nation- and peace-building, and global economic development now and in the future.”

Education is essential if we are going to eliminate poverty, empower individuals and communities, and create sustainable solutions to the challenges we face globally such as HIV/Aids, inequity, violence, and life degradation.

There is currently more than 67 million primary-aged children who are deprived of basic education around the world. On one of my trips into Uganda I noted that the majority of the children who did attend primary education would not reach the secondary level due to family financial needs.

This truly broke my heart as I remember asking the kids, “So, what do you want to do with your life?” and the answer was just like the answers I hear from US kids.  “I want to be the President if Uganda” said one girl. “I want to be a doctor” said a young boy. “I want to be a teacher” said another young student. How heart breaking to think most of those dreams will not find fruition because of the stranglehold poverty has on our worlds children.

Global statistics tell us that over 250 billion primary aged children will not move into secondary or high school education…over 796 million adults and youth are illiterate today. This designation absolutely limits their potential and their life choices which makes them highly vulnerable and destined to remain stuck in a poverty straitjacket.

It’s time to look at how we can take a bigger role in eliminating poverty. I would encourage you to check out my non-profit  Planet Changer by going to http://www.planetchanger.org and invest in the elimination of poverty as well as help us look at how we can address increasing global education through our efforts at Planet Changer!

To help you ruminate further, here are some great quotes about education….

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”  ~Mahatma Gandhi

“Educate a boy, and you educate an individual. Educate a girl, and you educate a community.
African proverb via Greg Mortensen”   ~ Greg Mortenson, Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace … One School at a Time

“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”
~William Butler Yeats

“Do not train a child to learn by force or harshness; but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each.”   ~Plato

“A good head and good heart are always a formidable combination. But when you add to that a literate tongue or pen, then you have something very special.”   ~ Nelson Mandela

“Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.”   ~Margaret Mead

“The educated differ from the uneducated as much as the living differ from the dead.”  ~ Aristotle

“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.”   ~ Aristotle

“Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.”   ~ Malcolm X

“Prejudices, it is well known, are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilised by education: they grow there, firm as weeds among stones.”   ~ Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“The best thing for being sad,” replied Merlin, beginning to puff and blow, “is to learn something. That’s the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then — to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for you. Look what a lot of things there are to learn.”   ~T.H. White, The Once and Future King

“Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education.”
~ Martin Luther King Jr.

“When you know better you do better.”   ~ Maya Angelou

“Whatever the cost of our libraries, the price is cheap compared to that of an ignorant nation.”   ~ Walter Cronkite

“He who opens a school door, closes a prison.”   ~Victor Hugo

“Children deprived of words become school dropouts; dropouts deprived of hope behave delinquently. Amateur censors blame delinquency on reading immoral books and magazines, when in fact, the inability to read anything is the basic trouble.”   ~ Peter S. Jennison

“A primary object should be the education of our youth in the science of government. In a republic, what species of knowledge can be equally important? And what duty more pressing than communicating it to those who are to be the future guardians of the liberties of the country?”   ~ George Washington

“Teach the ignorant as much as you can; society is culpable in not providing a free education for all and it must answer for the night which it produces. If the soul is left in darkness sins will be committed. The guilty one is not he who commits the sin, but he who causes the darkness.”  ~ Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

“Give a bowl of rice to a man and you will feed him for a day. Teach him how to grow his own rice and you will save his life.”   ~ Confucius

“Tell me and I’ll forget. Show me, and I may not remember. Involve me, and I’ll understand.”  ~Native American Saying

 

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7 Father’s Day Ideas

Ah Father’s Day. It’s the day that Home Depot executives smile and the BBQ industry dances a little jig. On Mother’s Day the restaurants are over-booked for that special brunch, but Father’s day…argh…it’s about dad’s BBQ genius demonstrating why God chose him to be a  man and that there is no better!

I still have countless Father’s Day artifacts from both Emma and Liam at various stages of life. A construction paper tie; a box to hold manly stuff-and-things; pictures drawn with love and garnished with various colored food items from the fridge. Mostly, I have memories that I don’t ever want to lose. It is amazing how little our kids remember about their growing up years. Events and trips that are forever embedded in my heart and mind retrieve a complete “huh” from my kids when I ask them if they remember.

So I think that the best way to celebrate Father’s Day this year is to consider some things that you won’t find at Home Depot or the Nordstrom Rack. Here are seven powerful suggestions for a Father’s Day that might surprise you, but as a dad, I think they have some real potential.

1. Retell a Favorite Story:

Take a moment and think back…Do you remember that special trip, or school event or perhaps it was a baseball game that your dad was at and it meant the world to you. Write a one page letter retelling the story and let your dad know that he truly made that day special for you  and that you will always remember it. Be detail oriented, fill in the memories!

2. The Gift of You:

You have probably figured out by now that the older you get the faster time dissipates. One of the best gifts you can give your dad is the gift of your presence. The gift of your presence is spelled T-I-M-E, hang out together. Write up a little card that is redeemable for some time to  do whatever, fish, hang, go to a movie. Your dad knows that your life is busy, but he would love to have some time to simply be with you.

3. Advice List:

Men are wired as fix-it pros. We morph and come alive when we can help, make a difference or fix something. Most dad’s dread the day when they are no longer needed. For a dad, fixing your stuff and/or your problems is energizing, However, as you got older and smarter, you needed dad’s fix-it help less. This Father’s Day prepare a list of questions asking for his advice on various things from relationships to clogged sinks!

4. Your Dreams:

As a dad, I want to know what stirs my kids’ soul. What do they dream about? What are they most passionate about? How would they like to be a Planet Changer? Where does their mind go when they have time to think? So give your dad a visionary list of the deep desires God has infused into your soul. Share the whys and the whats about your passions and let him explore the possibilities with you.

5. His Dreams:

Have you ever taken the time to ask your dad about his dreams, his passions, his goals? We so often forget that our parents are people too! And that just like us, they too have God infused dreams in their soul. Ask about the dreams that have happened. Ask about the dreams that didn’t. Ask about the dreams that were sacrificed so that you could have the life that you have. Parents have sacrificed much that goes unnoticed by their children, and the sacrifice was generally made for them. This conversation will give you a whole new perspective on who your dad is, and it will affect the way you invest in your future.

6. A Repeater:

How about giving your dad a gift that keeps on giving! A once a month hike…a weekly coffee meet-up…a mile or more walk every week…read the same book and get together to discuss it…a monthly movie date…it could be anything, just make it consistent!

7. Amnesty

Ok, let’s admit it, all dad’s blow it. All dad’s make mistakes. All dad’s need forgiveness. This gift of forgiveness might be the best offering that will bless both you and your dad this year. To forgive someone doesn’t mean that you are forgetting the past or denying a wrong-doing. It doesn’t mean that you are waiting for an apology or neglecting or approving of a sin… rather you are choosing to free yourself from a self-imposed prison of hate or anger that seeks revenge. The benefits of forgiving others is worthy of an entire post! We long for our dad’s to be perfect, and when they aren’t it can be crushing. Our ideals are altered and our reality takes a hit. This Father’s Day choose to look at your dad as a broken human just like you…a man who is imperfect, just like you…a person in need of grace just like you…Let this be the year that you choose to forgive and begin building a relationship that fills your soul.

Happy Father’s Day!
Monty