If we are not heretics in the Empire—and its Empire churches—then we are certainly not following the narrow way of Jesus.
Jesus follower | Anabaptist | Mennonite pastor @ Linwell Church | Helper: @intentionchurch.com | Fan of sci-fi, ☕️, 🍕, & the Toronto Raptors, Blue Jays, & Leafs.
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If we are not heretics in the Empire—and its Empire churches—then we are certainly not following the narrow way of Jesus.
42.
The Christian religion in America looks more like American values (guns, flags, freedom, prosperity) than like Christ’s values. The Empire faith that has often called itself Christianity throughout history is still alive & well—& still nothing like the narrow way of Jesus.
Always room in our lives for exercising lovingkindness.
Did they say that? Words mean little when not put into practice.
Just speaking to my personal context and especially to those that claim to share a similar religious belief while ignoring the one they claim to follow.
I’m sorry for whatever hurt brings you here today, friend. May you experience peace and hope.
To pledge allegiance to a flag is to reject Jesus for another master.
The narrow way of Jesus, yes. You cannot serve the Empire and Jesus. To pledge allegiance to a flag is to reject Jesus for another master.
The myth of America?
“Our primary allegiance is not to a nation, a flag, or a political party, but to the Kingdom of God. Our task is to live in the world as citizens of this new Kingdom, witnessing to God’s love and justice for all people.” ~Henri Nouwen
Today would be a great day to never swear allegiance to the Empire ever again: Let’s follow Jesus—and Jesus alone—and never embrace the idolatry of pledging allegiance to any flag or nation.
Today’s fortune cookie wisdom:
Hope Beyond Nations: Loving Our Neighbours in a World of Fear John 18:33-38 & 1 John 4:4-21 (& please consider liking the video too to offset the hate-thumbs down) youtu.be/pFXRaPd6zko
Looking for a message this morning? My friend Kit shared at our church last Sunday, & their message was described thusly by someone on YouTube 😂 If supposed “Woke left-wing garbage” about Jesus’s command & example to love our neighbours is your thing, give it a listen! 👇👇👇
"Kindness is the real punk rock." ~Superman Be punk rock.
“Deliverance for the captive sounds like curses to the captors.” @pastortrey05.com via @intentionchurch.com
“As the salt of the earth and the light of the world, we are called to live in such a way that others can taste God’s goodness and see His love.” Book: Bread for the Journey: A Daybook of Wisdom and Faith by Henri J.M. Nouwen.
“As you walk the good road with me, you are the salt of the earth, bringing cleansing and healing to all. Salt is a good thing, but if it loses its saltiness, how will it get its flavor back? That kind of salt has no worth and is thrown out.” Matthew 5:13 FNVNT
Those who do evil will always see truth as a hostile act.
Thank you for sharing, friend.
That’s interesting… which translations do you prefer for Genesis 1? I’ll be using the newer NIV because that’s what we have in our pews, but I usually expand on some language choices.
They’re everywhere, from start to finish!
“No matter what our day to day work is, we never clock out of being a neighbour.” ~Kit Andres
🔥Any hot takes on Genesis 1?🔥 This Sunday I’ll be starting a series going through Genesis, so I’ll be preaching on Genesis chapter 1. So please share your Genesis 1 hot takes, tidbits of wisdom, or other insights with me! 👇👇👇👇👇
Honestly, that’s a fair assessment. And it holds up through much of history. I’m sorry for what you have experienced and endured under the guise of “Christ.”
He’s too busy deporting anyone who might look like Jesus to hear from me.
Thinking of and praying for all our students headed back to school today! (and their teachers!) ❤🙏
Happy Labour Day! Thinking and praying for all of our teachers and students as they prepare to return to school tomorrow! ❤🙏
The American Christ is certainly nothing like Jesus. But I think we could say the same about the white American Jesus too. Actions tell the truth about what we really believe and who we truly follow.
Empathy is only a sin to those who reject Jesus and embrace evil.
ICE is antichrist.
Them: “Empathy without morality is completely unbiblical… I've read the Bible numerous times. I study the New Testament in its original Greek.” Me: What verse(s) are you talking about? Them: “So you believe in empathy… Welcome to modern liberalism in America.” Me: 🙄
If you’re looking for a message that deals with Jesus’s approach to welcoming in the rich and how following Jesus will change their approach to their stuff, here’s my message from earlier this summer (outdoor service): How We Behave - Luke 19:1-10 youtu.be/Q3elOSlcsu4
(via @brcremer.bsky.social)
Compassion and empathy are the way of Jesus.
I’ve never heard the camel hair rope one! That’s new. I’m very familiar the weird gate that a camel has to kneel to get through (which is probably entirely made up, though I’ll let that it could just be anachronistic). That’s the interpretation I grew up with.
Apparently the Biblical teaching/preaching on this passage is incredibly lackluster and frequently repeats the entirely ahistorical falsehood about a gate (100% not true). tl;dr—how do the rich inherit eternal life? Look to Zacchaeus & read all of Luke 18–19. It’s explicit.
I’m partial to reading all of Luke chapters 18 & 19 together… frames things more explicitly.
We shouldn’t take any supposed biblical literalists seriously who don’t have a gouged out eye and a hook hand.
We shouldn’t take any supposed biblical literalists seriously who don’t have a gouged out eye and a hook hand.
I often read the Kingdom as a both/and on that front. Eternal living that begins today. Especially since it’s in response to inheriting eternal life… so I think Jesus’s response goes beyond the here and now.
In fairness, that’s repeated in a bunch of old commentaries. It’s not true—it’s a misunderstanding that includes elaborating on something that happens later in history—but it certainly doesn’t start with MacArthur. (Again, that’s interpretation is 100% incorrect and unbiblical)
The rich: “I want to try and get to heaven if possible.” Jesus:
American Evangelicalism:
Love thy neighbor—abolish ICE.
Today's Public Service Announcement #YouAreHere
Or in American evangelical terms: We deport the poor and we fire the prophets.
That wouldn’t stop the shootings. Because armed guards run away from people wielding assault weapons. We know this because it already happens. It’s the guns.
“The poor tell us who we are. The prophets tell us who we can be. So we hide the poor and kill the prophets.” ~Philip Berrigan
Now. If only we’d listen and follow. But we’d rather baptize guns, bombs, and holy wars. Even if the collateral damage is our own children.
Wolves howl to protect their chosen idols. Burn away the idolatry, turn around, and follow Jesus instead. 🔥 🇺🇸 🔥
Yes, it looks very cool in a similar way!
They will beat their [guns] into iron plows and their [assault weapons] into pruning tools. Nation will not take up sword against nation; they will no longer learn how to make war. Micah 4:3b
It’s the guns. They protect the guns (& not the children) because they love the guns (more than children). Empty thoughts, empty prayers, children sacrificed, rinse & repeat. It’s the guns (& the people protecting the guns).
44 (so far).
Thank you!
I mean… it’s a surprisingly popular topic, though most people prefer the weird Nationalistic version.
Could be.
Verbing tells me more about a person’s heart than the use (or misuse) of a name. I will not pretend that a mystical belief/commitment makes sense to those who haven’t experienced it.
Sorry, I’m speaking from an academic understanding of history and the documents we have from the ANE and how we approach/interpret them. I get that such an interest and expertise ends up as niche online.
If you’re actually interested in a conversation about ancient documents, interpretation, and historicity etc, I’m also happy to engage in that! It’s a fascinating academic pursuit, and History is the discipline where I would have continued schooling if not going into this weird pastoring gig.
I 100% get that the Christian/Follower off Jesus distinction is likely annoying. But I’m much more interested in how someone verbs than how they put on adjectives. Because many who claim to have the same faith as me are far more interested in self-serving adjectives than selflessly verbing.
If you’re not subverting the nation you are in, then you are not a church of Jesus.
If you want to follow Jesus, just do the opposite of whatever Charlie Kirk “preaches.”
What do my actions say about my faith? Our actions will tell the truth about what we really believe. May we follow Jesus's example in how we love others.
Definitely a correlation here with interpreting history in general—but perhaps even more so for documents out of the Ancient Near East.
“I'm in a stream of Christianity (Anabaptists) that has been protesting Christianity's marriage with empire (& the violence that marriage inflicts) for 500 years. It's never gone well when Christianity has been wedded to state power.” ~Michael W. Pahl @mwpahl.bsky.social
I'm in a stream of Christianity (Anabaptists) that has been protesting Christianity's marriage with empire (and the violence that marriage inflicts) for 500 years. It's never gone well (at least not for long, and not for more than the few) when Christianity has been wedded to state power.
To defend Empires—such as the British Empire—is to defend evil, racism, rape, murder, violence, opulence, and historical slander. To follow Jesus as His disciple is to turn away from such evils & live a life that embodies Jesus’s loving, radical, opposite way.
“Today, professional theologians interpret the Bible so that the Bible affirms their modern values, just as medieval theologians interpreted the Bible so that the Bible affirmed their medieval values.” ~Kurt L. Noll
If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality. ~Desmond Tutu
"Justice demands that we stand with the vulnerable, not as detached observers, but as compassionate participants in their struggle for dignity." — Henri Nouwen in The Road to Daybreak
"Christians are called to be apologists for the vulnerable; not apologists for Empire." ~ @joashpthomas.bsky.social
Here’s the playlist for the first 3 Titus messages (if anyone’s interested): youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Just finished my last preaching note for our series on Titus! (I’ll be going through the first 12 chapters of Genesis in the Fall)
“When we bring a smile, a gentle touch, a word of kindness, we participate in God’s healing presence in the world.” 📖 Bread for the Journey: A Daybook of Wisdom and Faith
Kindness can be healing. Both for you and for others. Photo taken at Heartland Forest Nature Experience, in Niagara Falls, ON.
“May you find the peace Dobson tried so hard to rob you of.” @rohadi.com
The Empire is fiction when judged by the Gospel of Jesus.
“Racism is a form of hatred that denies the divine presence in our neighbor and wounds the Body of Christ.” Henri Nouwen—Peacework: Prayer, Resistance, Community
Not being overtly racist is called woke in America.
It’s always interesting how quick we are to blame the gods for our own decisions or how we want to separate “us” from “them” instead of taking responsibility for being a part of the whole of humanity that makes these choices. It’s easier to blame than to see it in ourselves and to fix things.
To pattern our lives after Christ requires death to our egos, our false selves, and the larger culture that incentivizes self-centeredness. ~ @richvillodas.bsky.social
I’m not sure where you got that from what I “tweet” on here, friend 🤷
“Working for justice is not simply a political act but a spiritual calling to stand with the oppressed in the name of Christ.” Book: The Road to Peace: Writings on Peace and Justice by Henri J.M. Nouwen.
Jimmy wrote a good one.
Happy World Humanitarian Day! May we be humankind by being kind humans. (Abolish ICE & Free Gaza!) #WorldHumanitarianDay
A faith that does not live out God’s justice is already dead.
"The phrase 'Christ is King' becomes a way to manipulate and dominate others, rather than a call to humble service." ~Henri Nouwen
“Christ is Lord” in words and billboards is a meaningless statement—it is only shown through our loving actions.
The second of the greatest commandments is a parable of the first. So when the people asked, “who is my neighbor,” the question was akin to “who is God, that I should obey His voice?”
Full article: rootsmc.org/restore-us-o...
“It’s about allowing the gospel to form us into people who cannot remain passive when witnessing potential injustice, who cannot separate worship from witness, who understand that following Jesus means standing where he stood—with the vulnerable, the marginalized, the silenced.” ~Rev. Osheta Moore
A curious yet accurate denominational name.
“Others will lie about you, speak against you, and look down on you with scorn and contempt, all because you walk the road with me. This is a sign that Creator’s blessing is resting on you.” ~Jesus Matthew 5:11 FNVNT
IBS?