Okay, sneak peak at my sermon for this weekend…

We live in a scary time. Have you watched the new recently? A friend had their boss laid off today – the layoffs got close to home again. The stock market is more than a roller coaster – it’s sea sickness on the Titanic….

How did we get here? Are we scared yet?

For years, we’ve been fascinated with homeland security. What has made us secure?

1) A strong defense and offense. Tighten borders. Attack countries that seem a threat. Tighten our borders.

2) Build a strong economy. We do this by encouraging people to spend. We do this by making money available to them – your home value is going up so refinance and take money out; we get 0% credit cards in the mail; we have 0% car loans which puts money into the auto makers pockets. Bush said it after 9/11 – go out and SPEND!!! GO SHOPPING! And we have. My life is currently deficient because I ONLY have a Palm Centrino – not an iPhone; I have a decent sized TV- not a LARGE flat screen; and my newest piece of furniture came from Craigslist. That’s okay though – I have car loan and an SUV that I put part of on a 0% credit card (which is 0% no longer! – Dave Ramsey calls this stupid tax!)

3) Enforce our morality no matter what.

And yet, it’s all fallen apart. The word depression is now common on the news – bringing us flashbacks to visions of the Great Depression – which I wasn’t there for – but I’ve heard was scary bad. In haste to fix this, the government passed a $700 billion bailout – which about half of it has been spent – and I’m excited to tell you that it has fixed our economy and we are back on level footing!!! NOT!

So, as someone who wants to be a radical Christ follower, how do I respond?

Frankly – I am excited.

Now, I come from a conservative Christian tradition which places a huge emphasis on prophecy and end-time scenarios – and so all of my friends from back in the day will probably read this and think – “Yes, he’s excited because it means it’s the END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT!!! and Jesus is coming. Which is great for him, but I’m scared of the disaster that happens before it and what if I’m not ready and what if I mess up and GO TO HELL!!!”

Nope – that’s not why I’m excited. I hope Jesus comes back this month. But I don’t know if it’s right now or 6 months or 60 years… I think it’s coming soon – but I don’t have the holy script – (and – subject of a different note or something, but it seems when people do get “the script” they start living out of fear and control instead of faith and rest… – but I digress…)

I’m excited because I think that as a Christ follower I actually have something to say. And simply put, in this culture of fear, I have hope.

And my hope is simply this – we get to finally get our priorities in tact and get back to what God has been saying all along.

1) My kingdom is not of this world – otherwise my followers would fight. Funny, the fighting hasn’t worked. Time for something else. I am ashamed that Christians promote war. Government of the people, by the people, for the people is NOT a theocracy!!!!

2) Money is not where peace comes from. Peace does not come from a 401K; peace does not come from financial security. Peace comes from a spirit of Thanksgiving because we were lost and God rescued us before – and He will do it again; peace comes from presenting all our petitions to GOD – not our financial adviser or mortgage company.

3) Romans 1 says that God gave them over to their sinful desires. Since we cannot change people – why are we going to war with them? Maybe what they need is Jesus looking into their eyes saying “neither do I condemn you! Go and sin no more…”

So, I’m excited. I’m excite that we may see an amazing true spiritual revival of something that means something to people and makes a difference in their lives. I’m excited that we get to present hope when everything else has fallen apart. I’m excited that we get to remember that money and control never satisfy and we are pushed to rest in God taking care of us!

And that is my rant for tonight…. What do you think? Put up some comments….