I am home today with back pain from a fall at work on Thursday. I was carring a box of paper for recycling down the steps and slipped hitting my back pretty hard. I think I cracked some ribs. My almost immediate thought was, “I don’t want to give my life for recycling!”

I love to ponder the grand sweep of history. Bear with me on this extended reflection on the 4th century AD. It is an ideal window through which to view our present situation in America. The 4th century must have been an exhilarating time for the church. It began with a sharp persecution from Domitian and ended, unbelievably with the Roman goddess of Victory (Nike!) being taken down from the Roman Senate. Bishop Ambrose who was influential in Augustine’s conversion led the fight to have the goddess removed.

The turning point was Constantine’s vision and subsequent victory at the Battle of Milvian Bridge. In response to the vision of a cross in the sky (there are several versions of the vision) Constantine had his soldiers paint over the image of the sun god on their shields the Chi-Rho of (X and R are the first two letters of Christ’s name in Greek) Christianity. Then for the rest of the century, edict by edict Christianity became first accepted, then dominate, and finally the only game in town.

The century ebbed and flowed as one would expect. There were brief reversals such as when Justinian the Apostate tried to restore the pagan gods and put Christianity in its place. It didn’t work—you can tell how effective he was by the name given him by the winners! Christianity had become too powerful. Legend has it that his dying words in battle were, “You have conquered Galilean.”

It is popular to decry “Constantinianism” and its corrosive effects on the human soul that come from the merging of your own culture with Christianity. You can’t tell who the real Christians are any more. Phariseeism comes into the church in spades. You also get blamed for every misstep that the culture does (crusades, witch burning, Inquisition).

I heartily agree with many critiques of Constantinianism, but without Constantine and the 4^th century dominance by Christianity there would have been no Western civilization, no world-wide church, no democracy, no science, no sports, no women’s liberation, no diplomatic corp and yes no post office. You just can’t separate the two.

An excellent argument for this is Bernard Lewis’ best selling, “What Went Wrong?” Lewis teaches at Princeton and is considered America’s leading Muslim scholar. The title of the book is the question Muslims have been asking for two hundred years, “Given that we are right and the Infidels are wrong, why are they winning in almost every area of life?”

My favorite story in the book is report of an Islamic traveler to Vienna about 1660. The Turkish Muslim traveler is clearly in shock over what he has just seen. He describes how even the king will stop for a woman on the street and wait, for her to go by and take off his hat. If that isn’t bad enough, in his opinion, the women run everything! Now we don’t think of 17^th century Vienna as breeding ground for the women’s movement, but there you have it. That would have been impossible without 1) Jesus and 2) Constantine.

Another great argument is that where there weren’t Christian princes (as bad as many of them were) Christianity simply did not survive. Nestorian Christianity, a slightly unorthodox version of Christianity, traveled east (it appears all the way to China) was eventually crushed without the protection of Christian princes. Tamerlane the Great wiped out what was left of Nestorian Christianity in the Middle Ages. The Protestant Reformation would never have made it without the protection of Lutheran Christian princes.

Now what does this have to do with our present context? The 21^st century is the reverse of 4^th century. Christians are losing power. We either no longer or are rapidly losing power in our culture. That means we can’t get things done.

This isn’t just academic or political. It means our kids are highly vulnerable to the siren song of the culture. One of the early shocks for me was to discover in my travels in the mid-90s that most Christian families were losing one or more of their kids to the culture. It used to be the “prodigal” who lost his way to licentiousness. Now our “prodigals” have reasonably well-ordered lives but see no need for Christianity.

In fact the de-Christianizing trend began in earnest about two hundred and fifty years ago in intellectual circles, took root deep about a hundred years ago in the university and spread into the media and our schools. Satan was both brilliant and patient. He went after the cultural transformation points. I’d much rather have the Universities, Hollywood and the Media that the presidency, the congress, and the courts.

How is this helpful to see that our century is the reverse of 4th?

It is exhilerating to be gaining power, to be in control of culture. Imagine what it felt like for the 4th century Christians to slowly take over Hollywood, the Universities, and the Media. Imagine hearing Dan Rather pray in Jesus’ name, Oprah becoming a Christian, and the Supreme Court outlawing abortion. After almost 300 years of suffering, it was resurrection time for the church.

Now the opposite is happening and for many it is depressing. We are losing power, it ebbs and flows but the decline is very clear. It is just downright discouraging. We long for it to be “the way it was”…the “good old days” when Christians were in charge. At church we are listening to Focus on the Family’s “Truth Project” in Sunday School. I love how well it is put together and how thoughtful the teacher is about culture, but it has a bit of a angry feel, of standing up for our rights, that doesn’t reflect the spirit of Jesus in his Passion. We will not reach this dying world unless we ourselves are dying Christians. Our death is not vicarious, it is not atoning–only Jesus’ death is vicarious–but it is the pattern of his life and his life is our life.

At the gym I have 12 TVs in front of me. I can go liberal with CNN or conservative with Fox. It is the ultimate post-modern experience! Anne Coulter was on Fox and had just gone off on something and Neil Cavuto asked her, “Anne, are you angry?” She didn’t say anything, but she was.

Here are some more organized thoughts:

1.      Sadness. Instead of anger we can feel sadness. Instead of a fist, a tear. Anger can have the spirit of trying to get American “back the way it was”. Anger at having something stolen from us. Sadness is grieving over the loss. It is such a pure response to pain and disappointment. During a particular painful time in my life God brought to mind Isaiah 53, “It pleased the Lord to bruise him.” God was pleased to permit me to go through suffering. It helped me not to kick against what God was doing and demand my rights. [I’d suggest reading the chapter in Love Walked Among Us on how Jesus faces sadness. I think it is about chapter 21.]

2.      Prayer. Let your sadness turn into groaning and prayer. During one particular difficult moment of humiliation in my life, John 12 came to mind, “Unless the seed dies, it remains alone, but if it dies it bears much fruit…Where I am, so will my servants be….my Father will honor the one who serves me.” I thought, by not lashing out, by serving in humility when I have no future, by letting someone else take credit for my work, I am serving my Father. The next moment I was overwhelmed with the thought that by doing that I was serving my Father and nothing would stop him from honoring me.

3.      Sovereignty. Knowing that God is in control allows us to pull back and say, “Wow, this pattern of declining Christendom has been going on for a long time. Sometimes it accelerates and sometimes it pauses or goes slightly in reverse, but it is a dominate pattern that God is permitting. What is God doing? What opportunities does he have for his church in a dying world? As the world increasingly resembles the paganism of the first three centuries of the church, we need to respond to that world in the same way the early pre-Constantine church did. We need to learn how to die again. We need to relearn how to be bold, to engage a dying world with a dying and risen Savior.

4.      Love. Love our enemies. How can we as Christians love when we have less power, are more easily misunderstood, and stereo-typed? My board chairman Timo was turned down by a donor for a gift to our work. The donor said that he’d already allocated all his giving for the year. He had none left. Timo didn’t miss a beat, “That’s great. I don’t want your easy money, I want the stuff that really counts. I want your heart.” Now as Christians we have to move from easy love to the stuff that really counts. We have to learn to love in an uneven world, where we are stereo-typed, where love isn’t fair. And it never was fair anyway. Love is simply the extension of grace. Grace never pretends to be fair.

I have two other thoughts both with Biblical roots as to our current location in history.

The first is the Passion. I will expand on this at some other point, but I believe that the Book of Revelation is the Passion of the Church. Just as Jesus completes Israel’s life so the church will complete Jesus’ life. At the very least, you have to admit that the immediate context of Revelation is suffering. It is through suffering, I believe, that the church will be purified, united, made ready for her Lord. We are in the early edges, historically, of that Passion.

The second is the Millenium. I think a pretty good case can be made that Christendom (literally, Christ’s Kingdom) was the millennial rule of Christ. More of that at another time.

By the way, forty years after the Goddes Nike came down from the Roman Senate, Rome fell, and the only thing left standing in the West was the church. The Galileean had conquered. Jesus alone was victor.

Now off to the chiropractor.

Christmas morning, three weeks ago, I awoke to the sounds of a Bach cantata coming from the kitchen below our bedroom. I thought, “How nice, Jill has put on some music downstairs.” But after the same few chords kept playing. It was my cell phone ringing. I knew it had to Kim’s aide calling in sick. I glanced at my watch on the way out of bed. It was 5:15. Yes, Kim’s aide had sprained his ankle. I braced myself for spending the morning with our daughter Kim walking dogs, and at the same time prayed with Jill that Emily who was home from college would be willing to walk them. At 6:00 I crept into Emily’s room and tapped her, “Emily, would you be willing to walk dogs this morning?” She said through the fog of sleep, “I just prayed yesterday that I’d be able to walk with Kim.”

Emily and Kim headed out the door at 6:30. At 9:00 we got a call from the home where Jill’s mom lives, “We think she needs to be taken to the hospital, her bronchitus is worse.” That lead to a ten-minute discussion between Jill and I whether the trip was necessary. Me thinking it wasn’t and Jill thinking it was. I lost the “discussion” and spent the morning at the hospital with her mom. As soon as they checked her out I called Jill and told her she was right. Her oxygen levels were down to 91%.

I was struck by how a praying life was shaping that morning. I’d prayed for Emily to have that kind of heart for years. It was pure miracle the she responded so sweetly and so quickly. That is not the Emily I know and yet it is. She has been so changed by the activity of God on her heart and life.

The same was true with Jill’s mom. I’d started praying for our relationship about seven years ago and God had used me serving her repeatedly during times of illness to bless our relationship. It was a real story that God was weaving. So instead of disjointed incidents, messing up Christmas morning, my Father is at work. I love to watch that. It was a Colossians 1:24 morning. We make up what is lacking in Christ’s afflications for the sake of his body, the church. What on earth could ever be lacking in Christ’s afflictions? Simply this: our death. Jesus’ death is finished for Jill’s mom…now for her to experience his love I need to have a dying life.

I counldn’t image a better morning for going low.

Below is the president of Iran’s first ever Christmas greeting. It was requested by an edgy British TV station. It is a fascinating look at Islam’s view of Jesus. From a Christian perspective, there is actually little that is theologically incorrect in the speech, although a Muslim would read it very differently from a Christian. The only two points of disagreement I’ve put in italics. The first is typical Islamic legalism and the second is the veiled reference to Mohammed’s coming back with Jesus. Notice that Muslims believe that Jesus will return some day. Of course, they believe that he will declare to all the world that Mohammed is a true prophet.

I say this because it is remarkable how much we can agree with in his speech. In protecting truth there are two perspectives that we always need to keep in balance as believers: irenics and polemics. Irenics (from the Greek word peace) emphasises our similarities. Polemics the differences. If you think of truth as a circle. Polemics would be the edge, and Irenics the center. You don’t loose your faith by being irenic. Paul is very irenic in his speech in Athens in Acts 17. It is actually a brilliant piece of irenics. Stephen on the other hand in Acts 7 is much more polemic. You need both.

Notice also the prominence that Mary has in his view of Jesus. Mary is the only woman mentioned in the Koran. I would love to use quotes of this in a poster to invite Muslims to a Person of Jesus study. I hope we can get an invitation designed just for Muslims. I think I’ll send Ahmadinejad a copy of “Love Walked Among Us”.

Here’s his speech:

In the Name of God the Compassionate, the Merciful.

Upon the anniversary of the birth of Jesus, Son of Mary, the Word of God, the Messenger of mercy, I would like to congratulate the followers of Abrahamic faiths, especially the followers of Jesus Christ, and the people of Britain.

The Almighty created the universe for human beings and human beings for Himself.

He created every human being with the ability to reach the heights of perfection. He called on man to make every effort to live a good life in this world and to work to achieve his everlasting life.

On this difficult and challenging journey of man from dust to the divine, He did not leave humanity to its own devices. He chose from those He created the most excellent as His Prophets to guide humanity.

All Prophets called for the worship of God, for love and brotherhood, for the establishment of justice and for love in human society. Jesus, the Son of Mary, is the standard-bearer of justice, of love for our fellow human beings, of the fight against tyranny, discrimination and injustice.

All the problems that have bedevilled humanity throughout the ages came about because humanity followed an evil path and disregarded the message of the Prophets.

Now as human society faces a myriad of problems and a succession of complex crises, the root causes can be found in humanity’s rejection of that message, in particular the indifference of some governments and powers towards the teachings of the divine Prophets, especially those of Jesus Christ.

The crises in society, the family, morality, politics, security and the economy which have made life hard for humanity and continue to put great pressure on all nations have come about because the Prophets have been forgotten, the Almighty has been forgotten and some leaders are estranged from God.

If Christ were on Earth today, undoubtedly He would stand with the people in opposition to bullying, ill-tempered and expansionist powers.

If Christ were on Earth today, undoubtedly He would hoist the banner of justice and love for humanity to oppose warmongers, occupiers, terrorists and bullies the world over.

If Christ were on Earth today, undoubtedly He would fight against the tyrannical policies of prevailing global economic and political systems, as He did in His lifetime. The solution to today’s problems is a return to the call of the divine Prophets. The solution to these crises is to follow the Prophets – they were sent by the Almighty for the good of humanity.

Today, the general will of nations is calling for fundamental change. This is now taking place. Demands for change, demands for transformation, demands for a return to human values are fast becoming the foremost demands of the nations of the world. The response to these demands must be real and true. The prerequisite to this change is a change in goals, intentions and directions. If tyrannical goals are repackaged in an attractive and deceptive package and imposed on nations again, the people, awakened, will stand up against them.

Fortunately, today, as crises and despair multiply, a wave of hope is gathering momentum. Hope for a brighter future and hope for the establishment of justice, hope for real peace, hope for finding virtuous and pious rulers who love the people and want to serve them – and this is what the Almighty has promised.

We believe, Jesus Christ will return, together with one of the children of the revered Messenger of Islam and will lead the world to love, brotherhood and justice. The responsibility of all followers of Christ and Abrahamic faiths is to prepare the way for the fulfilment of this divine promise and the arrival of that joyful, shining and wonderful age. I hope that the collective will of nations will unite in the not too distant future and with the grace of the Almighty Lord, that shining age will come to rule the earth.

Once again, I congratulate one and all on the anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ. I pray for the New Year to be a year of happiness, prosperity, peace and brotherhood for humanity. I wish you every success and happiness.

I was talking with my mom, Rose Marie Miller, this morning on the way in to work (I have a part time tax business so I work on Saturdays and evenings to get that going now) and she was asking me (mom has a wonderful teachable spirit!) about obedience…that hard, grinding obedience when you don’t feel like doing anything. I gave her a quick summary and she asked me to write it out for her so here it is:

The really, difficult obedience where you endure by a pure act of the will is faith. In fact it is pure, unadulterated faith. Particularly in America we tend to equate faith with feeeling good about God. We mingle faith and optimism. Put when you chose to obey God when nothing in you feels like it, when everything seems pointless, you are down to raw faith. Faith is showing up for life, putting on the pajamas, when there doesn’t seem to be any point. It is standing in front of the cross with Mary, in front of your dying Son, simply enduring where there all seems to be lost.

Anyone can believe when they feel good about God, but when you don’t see Him, when all His plans seem to have gone awry, when life no longer has any point, but you still endure, you still act on his promises, you continue to be faithful—that is faith. Faith is the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11); especially when life seems to have no substance, and all the evidence seems to point to discouragement.

Kim’s job keeps her on her toes, literally. She works 30 hours a week as a dog walker at Molly’s Run Kennel. She has flat feet and can get pretty thick caluses which she can pick, leading to scabs. Finally, about a year ago, I realized I had to check her feet every morning. So every morning, I’m down on my knees in front of her, snipping off dead skin, rubbing on lotion, and making sure the lifts in her shoe are rubbing her.

It has made me think of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet. I first thought he did it as an example. He does. He says he does. But the more I’ve studied Jesus and reflected on love I realize that he loved doing it. It was a privelege for him to wash his disciples feet. He loved it. Likewise, with Kim, I don’t have to check her feet, I get to check her feet like I get to go on a vacation. It is my honor. It is a little piece of glory.

Several months ago I noticed in that when John describes how Jesus washes his disciples feet, the text slows down. It is like the video goes to slow motion. You see every movement. John captures every frame, “He rose from supper, laid aside his garments, and girded himsefl with a towel. Then he poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded.” I think it is in slow motion because the images, every movement of Jesus burned itelf on his heart. No leader had every loved like that. It is so physical. I think that was the day John learned how to love.

One other thought. Jesus tells us to follow his example. “If I your Lord and Teacher have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.” Paul the Apostle picks up that same theme and on at least five occassions tells the churches to follow his example. He then passes on the baton by telling his readers to follow the example of their leaders. The writer of Hebrews, likely Apollos, does the same.

But the church has dropped the baton. You never, ever hear a pastor or leader say, “Follow my example as I follow Jesus.” I’ve told this to groups of pastors or lay leaders and they all start laughing. It just sounds so out of place, so arrogant, to say, “Be like me.” What we applaud is when the pastor tells us what an awful sinner he is. I don’t want to diminish the importance of brokenness in a pastor’s life, but why the complete absence of this way of leading? I

There are mulitple reasons. Greek Gnosticism pulled the spiritual away from the physical. It disconnected this from life. Pietism is another. There is much good in pietism, but it can exhalt brokenness at the expense of love. Another is Reformation’s discovery of Justification by faith and rejection of legalism can lead Protestants to fear moralism. So how does the church handle Paul the Apostle? We make Paul into a super-saint, someone whose life is untouchable.

I think it is also scary for pastors to say, “Be like me.” It sets you up for an uncomfortable level of scrutiny. Isn’t that great! At Joni and Friends Camp this summer I built a whole talk around this and encouraged the workers to love the way I was loving.

I’m thinking of starting a book next spring with this as one of the chapters. It is really burning on my heart. A book on Jesus and how depersonalized Christianity is.  I feel like almost going for broke in the book and putting my whole heart out there. A depersonalized Jesus. A depersonalized Gospel. A depersonalized Scripture. Who knows what God might do?

Now back to painting. I’m on a “painting sabbatical”. Finished the walls in Kim’s room today.

I heard yesterday that a friend of a friend was killed by the Taliban in Afghanistan. Cyd had been kidnapped by the Taliban a couple of weeks ago. The day after her kidnapping the Muslim woman of Kandahar staged a protest. Such a public show of disapproval is almost under heard of in a Muslim country. It made the major wire services.

Cyd was a friend of two of our staff, Bob Allums and Carol Smith. They had worked at Christian book store chain years ago. Carol told me this morning that Cyd had never gotten married because she had wanted to be a missionary.

Cyd is a true martyr for the gospel. After I immersed myself for three months in Jesus’ life during the sabbatical in ’91, I understood why martyrdom was so prized by the early church. The shock of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection imprinted in the early church a whole new way of living and dying. They wanted to be joined with Christ in his death and resurrection. Martyrdom was the closest thing to being Jesus that you could come up with. You can see this emerging in the New Testament in the book of Revelation, and of course in Acts as well.

We have a series of letters written about 105 AD from an early Christian bishop named Clement. He wrote them to different churches as he traveled from Syria to Rome. In his letter to the church at Rome he pleads with them not to intercede for him with the Roman government. He wants to die for Jesus. He believes that the witness of his dying will be more effective than the witness of his life. The early church longed for martyrdom the way American Christianity longs for retirement and vacations.

This is not ascetism. This is not weird. It is normal Christianity. It is a small step from the Pauline mindset in Colossians 1:24 (“I fill up in my flesh what is lacking in Christ’s affliction”) to literally dying for Jesus. Paul spent his whole life in little deaths, so a final actual death was a prize. It was the gold watch of Christianity.

What does this mean? Jesus’ death for the Afghanistan church was a once for all death. It is finished. Jesus said so himself. But now for Afghanistan to know Christ we have to die. The same is true with my marriage. Jesus’ death for Jill is once for all. My death is now an ongoing death for Jill so that she will know Jesus. So dying and resurrection is the central experience of the Christian life. Philippians 2 makes that clear. So much in Paul’s epistles sparkle when you see this.