McMahon Life

It’s raining outside.  My friend David told me that his grandmother use to say that it rained because God was crying.  We made a joke about wishing people would be repentant of their sin causing God to cry every time that it rained.  I don’t think that’s why God is crying today.

They tell us to arrive early or we may not find parking.  Maybe you don’t know.  Pastor Tom Ferguson passed away this past week from his second heart attack.  I have been to a few memorial services, some for good people, but never to one for a great man.  Tom was a great man.  I never met him, but I am surrounded by people whose lives were touched by this mighty man of God.  A pastor of New Life Center for 15 years (out of which my church, Mill Creek Foursquare, was planted), district supervisor for Foursquare Northwest, planter and pastor of Hope Foursquare Church in Snohomish.  I wonder if Newlife has ever had a shortage in parking before.  They will today.

They say Tom was unassuming.  They say he was kind.  They say he was generous, dedicated, loving, caring.  They say he was great.  He will be missed.  Tears come to my eyes as I recall all that people say about him.  I think people always speak well of those who are gone, but I don’t think these people are speaking “well” of Tom – I think they are simply being honest.

I will be there among the masses of people to honor Tom Ferguson today.  I may not have known him, but that does not mean I have not been impacted by him.  Isn’t that a picture of true greatness?

As we honor this great man of God, I wonder what people will say of us when we are gone.  Will they conjure up something to “speak well” of us?  Or will they simply state the truth, and will that truth say that we transformed the world around us as we left nothing behind in our quest to make Jesus known, to bring people to healing at the foot of the cross?

Let us simply pause, and honor a great man.  Let us recognize that greatness is not found in energy, volume of voice, charisma, or any of the hundreds of other ways the culture around us tries to be great.  Greatness is found in character: in a heart that stops at nothing, but pursues God relentlessly, and facilitates a way for others to find Him too.

Thank you, Tom, for all you have done for our community.
Thank you, Tom Ferguson, for being a man of God, a model for generations to come.
Thank you, Tom, for loving God enough to love all the broken people around you.
Our community is better because you walked among us.
You will be missed. We honor you today.  

My friend David King wrote a little blog on facebook account* a little while ago that I found incredibly challenging.  I am going to quote the entirety of it below.

It’s a bit long, but I think it’s worth the read.

The greater question that provides the framework behind the blog is, ”how do we function as followers of Jesus in the society in which we find ourselves in the United States?”  The layout of the blog was a description of how capitalism views and treats three pillars of the way of Jesus.

Wherever you find yourself on the political/economical spectrum, I encourage you to simply allow his thoughts and questions to challenge you regarding how we live in this setting in which we find ourselves.

We may all arrive at differing conclusions, but let us never forsake the asking of the questions.  And in the midst of conversation, dialogue, and debate, let us remember the apostle Paul’s call to unity.  Even as our minds may disagree, let our hearts be united in the love of God for one another and for a world that is broken and in desperate need of the light that we possess.

David wrote (in a blog entitled: Christianity & Capitalism: A Match Made in Hell),

“I’ve had a growing concern over the last several months that the capitalistic way of living is keeping the Body of Christ from growing and maturing. I’ll try and unpack this idea a little more…

THE BODY OF CHRIST: From my understanding, the Body of Christ is a community of people who choose to love and serve each other, with each member using his or her strengths for the good of the community (I Corinthians 12). For example, someone who is good at and enjoys brewing beer can brew a large batch and then everyone can relax and have a drink on the weekend. Another person may be good at and enjoys working out at the gym. This person can design exercise plans for everyone so that people can work their beer bellies off. : )

GROWING AND MATURING: I used these words because a physical body grows and matures (height, weight, deepness of voice) and I think the Body of Christ should grow and mature too. To be more specific, the members of the community must be acting out the teachings of Jesus and his early followers, which from what I’ve read, seem to center around equality, reliance, and sacrifice.

EQUALITY: Can members engage in side-by-side, egalitarian relationships or do some try to claim superiority?
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).

RELIANCE: Is each member getting his or her needs met and giving to the needs of others?
“Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms” (I Peter 4:10).

SACRIFICE: Is each member willing to sacrifice his or her comfort for the good of the community?
“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).

TO SUMMARIZE: The Body of Christ is growing and maturing when members are valuing each other as equals, serving each others needs, and making personal sacrifices for the well being of all.

Alright, now that I’ve offered some criteria for healthy Christian community, let’s pull out the litmus sticks and test how capitalism holds up.

EQUALITY: NO
In a Capitalistic society, members are systematically ranked byincome and then grouped into different social classes (i.e. SES, lower/middle/upper classes). With marketing a key aspect of both political and economic success, and marketing being driven by monetary resources, the rich are able to use money to gain much more power and influence than the poor.

RELIANCE: NO
In a Capitalistic society, members are in competition with each other for jobs/promotions and companies are in competition with each other for market share. Can FOX ask ABC for help when American Idol fans migrate over to Dancing with the Stars? No, it would be bad for business for ABC to promote a show on a competing network. On a more personal level, this emphasis on individual success leads to a mentality of self-sufficiency and isolationism in which people live in large houses, watch television on big screen TVs, and never meet the people living next door.

SACRIFICE: NO
In a Capitalistic society, there is no incentive to sacrifice personal comfort. Do CEOs choose to work for free so that their employees can have 401k plans? No. In fact, in recent years, companies such as ENRON, have done just the opposite. This makes complete sense from the capitalist perspective of competition. The ENRON executive board cared about the bottom line: making as much personal profit as possible. How else could Ken Lay buy a pimped out yacht?

CONCLUSION: While Christian Community promotes the equality of its members, Capitalism promotes the inequality of its members. While Christian Community promotes mutual reliance among its members, Capitalism promotes self-sufficiency and isolationism. Finally, while Christian Community promotes the sacrifice of personal comfort for the well being of all, Capitalism offers higher ranking members too many toys and incentives to make personal sacrifice appealing.

So there you have it.  I recognize that David paints a very stark

contrast between capitalism and Christianity, and allI will say is that if we are determined to find the way of Jesus within the United States, we must be willing to hold everything – every lifestyle, every political view, every economic practice – up to the light of Christ and ask, “is this what Jesus had in mind for His people?  I am grateful to my friend David for his willingness to ask the hard question.

Let us not allow ourselves to be influenced by anything without asking whether or not that influence is of the Kingdom.  Not everything in the world is necessarily bad in itself (politics, capitalism, etc), but if we are not aware of what it is speaking and promoting, then we stand in jeopardy of being controlled by the culture around us and not by our God.

May your day be blessed.

*you will find David King’s blog in its original context along with conversation and comments about it at: http://www.facebook.com/notes/david-king/christianity-capitalism-a-match-made-in-hell/391576570892