A PARABLE FOR TODAY

The Parable of the Americans and the Haitians

If Jesus were telling parables today what kind of stories would he tell? Let me suggest an updated version of the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus from Luke 16:19-25. We could call it The Parable of the Americans and the Haitians.

The United States flourished on a major portion of the North American continent with the vast majority of its population living in the lap of luxury. A short few hundred miles off the shores of America lay Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere. Most of the Haitian people were sick or under nourished and would have given anything to have eaten even a small portion the scraps that the Americans threw in the garbage.

Now a day came when an magnitude 8.8 earthquake devastated the capital city of Haiti and 250,000 people were killed and the angels carried them up to heaven; and at the same time another magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck on the San Andreas fault near Los Angeles devastating the city and another 250,000 people died and these people were buried. And in hell the Americans lifted up their eyes, being in torment, and saw God far away and the Haitians gathered close around him.

And the Americans cried out, "O God, have mercy on us, and send the Haitians that they might bring us a drop of water to refresh us for we are in torment in these flames." But God answered and said, "My children, remember that in your life you lived in the lap of luxury and lacked for nothing while the Haitians lived in abject poverty or worse; but now they are being comforted here, and you are in agony..."

Or perhaps he would tell the story like this: On the continent of North America a great population lived, many gathered together in vast urban sprawls with plenty of food, clothing housing and health care and all the luxuries that money could buy. At the same time, scattered throughout the nation in desolate wasteland places lived the reservation Indians...

It's just something to think about.

THOUGHTS ON THE EMERGING CHURCH MOVEMENT

The attached https are a couple of 8-10 minute video clips of discussions on the
Emerging Church - check them out and my response below -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv6uxCch7oc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxfobXmmRx8

The emergent movement is a natural consequence of the hypocrisy within the traditional church of Europe and America which persists in schism, an affront to Jesus' prayer for the unity of the church in John 17:21-22, with an arrogant and dogmatic adherence to theological traditions. The dogmatic assertions of having the "true" interpretation of scripture especially on the part of the most extreme conservative "fundamentalists" and extreme liberal "progressives" as each side builds their respective theologies on their personally preferred proof texts of scripture while virtually ignoring other passages which do not support their theological positions is the very seed within the church from relativism would be the natural fruit. To quote Pilate in John 18:38 "What is truth?" The elevation of "doctrinal assertions" and "creedal postures" to a place of preeminence over Christian living: "we can't kill truth in the streets for the sake of peace" affronts Paul's directive in Romans 12:18 "so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men," and illustrates the principle of 1 Corinthians 8:1 "Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies." It also ignores the illustrations of the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25:31-46 and the parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31 wherein a persons condition after death is determined exclusively by how they lived their life and used their resources in their relationships in this life with doctrinal correctness not being a factor in the determination. Also it is the arrogance of western culture that would reduce "true" Christianity to a matter of intellectual pursuit while the entirety of scripture illustrates that our response to God is intended to be a whole life response, experiential as well as intellectual.

Today is a good day to remember it is not about our nationality - it is not about our ethnicity - it is not about our political affiliation - or any other thing that divides us - If we claim the name of Christ it is about our unity in him and how we reflect him to the world!