So the rest of the evening, about 30 min, was talking about how we can embody the alt.way of Jesus. It was pretty good stuff and I think I need the evening to process it all…as a former employee of the Empire (i.e. United States Senate staffer) and political science major, some of the talk didn’t sit well, but in a sense that it grated against what I’ve studied and lived. And now as I train to be a pastor and grapple with how does it look to cultivate alternative communities that embody the different, alternative Way of Jesus, there is cognitive dissonance. I’ll give some more thoughts tomorrow…
(internet shut off…)
9:00–American will have its own religion…its own distinctive message of salvation and manifest destiny, set apart people group, and own creed. Its own symbols and enemies and deity. But in it all do we hear the cross, the enemy love of Jesus, the BLESSEDS. Does it look like Jesus. American can say one nation under God, but what is the character of that God…and is Americas gospel reflective of the gospel of our Lover Jesus…Reading Gal 1:6-7
8:57–Caesar has colonized our creativity and economy (God on money) and creation (pictures of Mt Rushmore). And then we try and brand Empire with the Cross…the SUV with the Jesus sticker. It becomes legitimization of everything that stands against the Cross.
(read quote from Hitler who thought he was doing the work of the Lord by coming against the Jews. Then Truman quote thanking God for bringing the A-Bomb to them instead of the enemy and sought guidance from god for its use.)
8:55–Can we serve two masters? How can we wait on God to move in history when we can move it now…Many will remain faithful, like those in the military will plunge themselves on their own swords rather than kill others. Eventually Empire takes notice of the spread…Constantine becomes a Christian/ For many, people see that the Cross of Christ was exchanged fro the sword of Rome. CHristians begin to kill, and ask Gods blessing. Religious leaders will do horrible things in the name of God and ridding the wordl of evil. Instead of following tragectrory of Abraham and Sarah, they follow the way of Empire.
Since the Church has become respectable, the Church has been able to be prostituted for any cause…especially war and killing.
singing now about Babylon and rising no more.
8:50–They were athiests and faithless because they rejected the religion of Empire Rome and turned into a new citizenship. So the Christians described the Empire as a charming Adulteress. John in Revelation described Empire as the great whore and called the Church to come out of her. Empire offers a cup to drink to all the world…but its a fraud. THere is a cup however that is the true Cup. What is highly regarded among men is detestable in Gods sigh. Romes splendor is false and comes on the blood of the innocent.
8:45–The early christians were called to make disciples of the nations, meanwhile the nations would be trying to make disciples of them.
We are fools for Christ…Paul
I recognize no empire of this present age–Acts of the Martyrs
Christ in disarming peter diarmed every soldier–Tertullian
If everyone were to act as you christians the national government would soon be left utterly deserted and without any help––Origen
(they’re reading a bucnh of quotes of early church and other ancient peeps)
emperors could only believe in christ if they were not emperors–as if christians could be emperors–tertullian
8:30–We’re back
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The following is a letter Dr. Carl Ruby, VP Student Life, sent to the faculty and staff PRIOR to Shane’s arrival. While it doesn’t address their cancellation, it does explain why they wanted him in the first place and what they hoped to accomplish. Again, the reasons for the cancellation are not explained, but I hope you can see Dr. Ruby’s desires were noble in bring Shane, desires that I am sure will translate into a re-appearance sometime soon.
If I may also say, while I believe my alma mater bungled this one, I’m thankful there is a spirit of dialogue and a willingness to engage the Other, both inside and outside the Church. This cancellation was a very unfortunate situation that was caused by bad timing and rabid criticism, creating an unmanageable situation for the institution, the students, and Shane. Hopefully, they’ll learn from this and not empower the criticizers by bowing out next time a ‘controversial’ speaker is invited to speak.
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I was given permission to post an editorial piece written by Dr. Carl Ruby, Vice President of Student Life, that appeared in the on-campus newspaper, Cedars. As I wrote earlier in an update to my original post, a number of events coagulated last week to cause Dr. Ruby to (momentarily) pull the plug on a Shane Claiborne visit. There was a concerted effort to sully the school and leadership on the part by radical watchbloggers and reactionary conservatives, and Dr. Ruby felt the timing was not right for Shane to come. Afterwards he wrote these words of instruction to the student body. Great words of encouragement in the midst of a crazy situation.
(Also, I’m waiting on word to post an excellent letter he sent to faculty and staff. Posting that should clear up a lot of confusion…)
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Related Articles
Dr. Ruby Editorial
Faculty and Staff Letter
UPDATE 3: Today sometime I will post an editorial piece Dr. Ruby wrote for the campus newspaper in addition to pieces of a letter he sent to the faculty. He’s given me permission to post both, if anyone is interested in gaining more clarity about the situation.
UPDATE 2: Dr. Carl Ruby wrote me an email yesterday in an effort to bring some clarity to the firestorm that erupted a week ago. We had a great conversation that helped alleviate my concerns with my alma mater and nuance the story. While I cannot go into details about the conversation out of respect for Dr. Ruby’s privacy, I can say that a number of extraneous events collided to create a perfect storm which forced Dr. Ruby to cancel the event.
After a concerted smear campaign by the efforts of Those Who Shall Not Be Named (many of you will know the watchbloggers to which I’m referring) to denigrate the school and leadership, Dr. Ruby wisely pulled the plug and took his lumps. And even though the event was cancelled, the school arranged for an alternative event at a local church, connected interested students to him through an arranged breakfast, maintained personal connection to Shane, and is looking to have him back on campus for another lecture at a better time.
Unfortunately, I responded far to quickly to a CT article that really did not do the situation justice. While the content and quotations did give a rather entrenched, reactionary appearance on the part of the University, I regret my response and apologize for adding to the confusion. In some ways it was a good lesson and a good barometer of the blogger I’m becoming/want to become (more on that later). For those of you who are visiting from Google, Yahoo, or Technorati, as a formerly concerned alumn, the situation is not as it appears. I still have respect for Cedarville, but especially for Dr. Ruby and his handling of an unfortunate situation. Again, sorry for the confusion and my knee-jerk response…
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