Rick Warren Can Pray, Right?

Before too many people begin to wonder what on earth Obama is thinking by inviting Rev. Rick Warren to the inauguration, please read The Audacity of Hope, Chapter 6 entitled, "Faith."

In this chapter, a relational theology is set out. One in which the longing for a divine relationship that is eternal and present is set out. In seeking a faith to deal with the existential reality of loneliness, Obama speaks frankly about his mother's spirituality, and his search that led him to faith.

In speaking about his Christian faith, Obama sounds like some of the classic Baptist leaders of the past, especially Roger Williams (I mean the long ago past!), and not much like contemporary liberal or conservative Christian leaders. In fact, he comes out as a bit of an oddball. An oddball that would be too liberal for conservatives and too conservative for liberals. It not just politacal pragmatism, it is a stance that finds much of the certainties and the abiguities of faith too profound to be limited to one "camp" or another.

I think Rick Warren, especially because of his commitment to end poverty, provide HIV care to those in need, and his growing awareness to the validity of a truly social gospel makes Rev. Warren an excellent, albeit initially surprising, choice.

Hot Topics

One of the simple things I enjoy after a hard workout at the gym is to sit in the dry sauna. It's a hundred seventy degrees in there. If that's not hot enough, the men and women in there start talking. Usually it starts with a comment about prices of groceries and gas, childcare, and traffic. Mundane stuff, but if folks stay in there long enough, the conversations turn political, comments arise about values, then eventually God is invoked (pietistically or in blasphemy).

Yesterday it was about the prices dropping in the housing market. There were some well-to-do retirees there who worried about their retirement investments and there were a couple middle-aged folks concerned about their equity. One guy, though, mentioned the destabilization in the neighborhoods due to foreclosures. At first some got drawn into that conversation because any drain on the neighborhood, was a strain on their property investments. But then an amazing thing happened. People began to talk about how neighborhoods needed to share in more meaningful community, people getting to know their neighbors and caring about each other. The conversation skipped the politic (which in Idaho usually means blaming the Democrats) and went to straight to the values we share in common.

One of the books I am going through now is Barak Obama's The Audacity of Hope. In the opening chapter, he makes the point that we really want to be able to talk to each other outside the ideological positions. In fact, until can get out of the red-state/blue-state mentality we will not be capable of any real reform in government.

When the sauna conversation skipped politics and went straight to shared values and hopes, we skipped the ideological/political stage. It's been only a few weeks since the election, but are we rally beginning to take seriously the idea of listening to each other? I hope this becomes a habit.

A Black Eye to Racism

I am sure that last night's victory for Barak Obama was not the final blow to racism in America, but it was a powerful one.

Right before falling asleep last night, I remembered my sister's fight against racism when we were small children. Her friend, Phylis was crying. When my sister asked why, Phylis explained that a boy (who has become rather (in)famous nowadays, so shall remain nameless) had called her a name. I think my sister was about 7 or 8 years old. The word that made Phylis cry was the "n-word". Up to that point, we never really thought of Phylis or her little brother as African-American, they were just neighbors and playmates.

Though I wasn't there, the report was basically that my sister went up to Nameless Boy and socked him in the eye. He had a black eye.

Racism has always been a black eye on America. Last night, I thought something was beginning to change. Maybe we are finally growing up enough to see beyond the color of someone's skin. Maybe we are actually entering a new era. I am proud of my sister being a part of a long line of people beating down racism, she was a part of the process that found fruition in yesterday's election.

Way to go Sis!