It’s hard to understand why Pastor Terry Jones of Gainesville, Florida, will burn a Koran on September 11. After my 36 years of Bible study, three degrees from Bible-believing schools and 28 years of preaching in Bible-centered churches, it’s impossible for me to cite one instance in the life or teaching of Jesus Christ that could justify such an act.

Taking Pastor Jones at his word that he sees all Muslims as violent extremists who want to impose sharia law in the United States, it is still clear the New Testament teaches Christians to love even their enemies. When He said from the cross, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34), Jesus showed consummate generosity to the people who spit on Him, mocked Him, beat Him and ultimately murdered Him.

Later, one of the first missionaries, Stephen, as he was stoned to death, prayed to God and said, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” (Acts 7:60)

The Apostle Paul instructed the Romans that when it comes to those who harm us, “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:19-21).

Following his service as a missionary abroad, surely Pastor Jones knows the Koran is more than the Holy Book of the Islamic religion. For most Muslims, the Koran represents a culture, a heritage, a people and even a language. Burning the Koran is not instructive, but insulting. It also says we don’t really believe the message we preach, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

Surely Pastor Jones knows burning a Koran will not bring a Muslim to faith in Christ. Surely he knows insulting Muslims will not make Christians or our message more appealing to them. Certainly the pastor knows burning things belongs to groups like the Ku Klux Klan, Nazis and, yes, terrorists.

If the pastor knows these things, then what could be his reason for doing something so contrary to Christ and the Gospel?

Burning a Koran is un-Christian, unkind and un-American. Pastor Jones and those who intend to aid and abet his intended act should confess their sinful attitudes and repent of them.

Only after the Pastor admits he is wrong will Muslims take seriously whatever else he may want to say to them.

Rob +

The question about Barack Obama’s religious identity has been asked and answered before, but not to a lot of people’s satisfaction.

By Rev. Rob Schenck, Missionary to Capitol Hill, Washington, DC

“I am a Christian, and I am a devout Christian. I believe in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe that that faith gives me a path to be cleansed of sin and have eternal life. But most importantly, I believe in the example that Jesus set by feeding the hungry and healing the sick and always prioritizing the least of these over the powerful. I didn’t ‘fall out in church’ as they say, but there was a very strong awakening in me of the importance of these issues in my life. I didn’t want to walk alone on this journey. Accepting Jesus Christ in my life has been a powerful guide for my conduct and my values and my ideals.” – Barack Obama

From Q&A: Barack Obama, Christianity Today Online, January 23, 2008

A recent survey by the renowned Pew Research Center published last week re-ignited the public conversation about Barack Obama and his religious beliefs. That report, from as close to a neutral source as I can think of, indicated, “A substantial and growing number of Americans say that Barack Obama is a Muslim.” The controversy over a planned Islamic center and mosque near the Ground Zero site in New York has added considerable interest to the question of Mr. Obama’s religious sensibilities and sensitivities.

As I travel the country speaking in churches, conferences and conventions, I am frequently asked this question. While it’s not really possible for me to answer (because only Mr. Obama truly knows what he believes), I do venture my best opinion based on what I know of him publicly and privately. I’ll reiterate that opinion after I give you some background on how I arrive at it.

First, I took a great interest in Barack Obama’s religious beliefs, opinions and attitudes before he even indicated his interest in running for president. I knew him as a US Senator and had explored his background during his US Senate race. In the interest of full disclosure, I backed Alan Keyes in that contest, so I viewed Obama as I would any challenger to a favored candidate. Still, I found his personal story interesting, complicated and even intriguing.

The Muslim part of Mr. Obama’s background was what first grabbed my attention, because even before his senate race, I had already actively engaged Muslims on a religious and cultural level. Just four months after the September 11 attacks, I had hosted a C-SPAN televised panel on Christian Muslim Relations. Three years before Mr. Obama announced his presidential candidacy, I was a delegate to a formal dialogue with Muslim leaders in the North African nation of Morocco. I also hosted a series of reciprocal visits from Moroccan Muslim leaders to the United States. I have traveled to several Islamic countries and I maintain a close friendship with a high-level diplomat from an Islamic Kingdom. Through my work on the board of the Institute on Religion and Public Policy (IRPP), I have met the ambassadors and other diplomats of nearly all the Islamic countries represented in Washington. (On a side note, my identical twin brother, the Reverend Paul Schenck, personally knows the primary organizer of the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque,” Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, and we have talked frequently about the Islamic cleric.) Finally, on a very personal note, I have a Muslim married into my own immediate family. All this is to say that Islam, in its varied forms, is of far more than academic interest to me.

Back to Mr. Obama: Not only was—and is—his Muslim history of interest to me, but his Christian history is even more so. As soon as his presidential candidacy was rumored in the media, I sent a paid research assistant to Chicago to explore Mr. Obama’s then church of membership, The Trinity United Church of Christ, and its pastor at the time, the Reverend Dr. Jeremiah Wright. I would later talk personally with Dr. Wright when he addressed the National Press Club in Washington. While my researcher was doing her work, I read both of Mr. Obama’s books, Dreams of My Father and The Audacity of Hope (the title of which was borrowed from a sermon by Dr. Wright.) What I discovered through all of this was fascinating and helped me to form what I believe is a well-considered opinion on Mr. Obama’s religious identity.

A final note before I tell you what I think. As most of my readers know, I am an Evangelical Christian by personal faith, by training and by my professional credentials as a member of the clergy. I hold degrees in Bible, theology and Christian ministry and I’m currently in a doctoral program in strategic church leadership. I sit on the board of the Evangelical Church Alliance International and serve as chairman of its Committee on Church and Society. All this will factor, too, into my assessment.

Here is my opinion in brief: Mr. Obama is not a Muslim, but he is also not a “devout Christian.”

I’ll explain my assertions more completely.

I don’t think Mr. Obama is a Muslim because a Muslim could never—and would never—make public statements that he is a Christian. Saying so would violate not only cultural practice and / or personal religious compunction, it is forbidden by Islamic tenets of faith and by religious law. For a Muslim to proclaim himself a Christian for political or any other reasons, would not only alienate him from virtually all fellow Muslims, but would likely garner him a death warrant from the tiny minority of violent extremists in the Muslim world. A Muslim of any kind—including the odd notion of a “secret Muslim” –would certainly not speak to the media of accepting “Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior,” as Mr. Obama has done.

There are other good reasons for determining that Mr. Obama is not a Muslim: Neither his mother, who was the dominant biological parent to him, nor her parents, who were his surrogate parents, were ever Muslim. In fact, for the most part, they were completely non-religious and perhaps even anti-religious. (His mother, though baptized as an infant in a Christian church, rejected organized religion as an adult and adhered to an idiosyncratic “New-Age-like” spirituality.) The young Obama’s biological father was, for most of his life, a non-practicing Muslim, and his short-term stepfather was mostly a nominal Muslim whose revolutionary political motivations appear to have been far greater than any religious impulses he may have had.

From everything I can determine, Barack Obama’s young life was shaped inside a mélange of religious beliefs, practices, cultures and opinions, most of them superficial and skeptical. As he matured, he seems to have developed a disinterested “universalism” that allowed for an impersonal God or spiritual force of some kind, but one that didn’t command much need for attention, at least from him. Then, when he entered politics, he discovered the Black Church and its importance in social organization. He was witnessed to by Black preachers, lectured a few times by them and finally adjured by them to join a church if he was going to get anything done in Chicago. This led him to the Trinity United Church of Christ and to his eventual tempestuous relationship to Dr. Wright. In a speech given in Hartford, Connecticut in 2007, Mr. Obama spoke about hearing the pastor preach,

“[H]e introduced me to someone named Jesus Christ. I learned that my sins could be redeemed. I learned that those things I was too weak to accomplish myself, He would accomplish with me if I placed my trust in Him. And in time, I came to see faith as more than just a comfort to the weary or a hedge against death, but rather as an active, palpable agent in the world and in my own life. It was because of these newfound understandings that I was finally able to walk down the aisle of Trinity one day and affirm my Christian faith. It came about as a choice, and not an epiphany. I didn’t fall out in church, as folks sometimes do. The questions I had didn’t magically disappear. The skeptical bent of my mind didn’t suddenly vanish. But kneeling beneath that cross on the South Side, I felt I heard God’s spirit beckoning me. I submitted myself to His will, and dedicated myself to discovering His truth and carrying out His works.”

These are not the words of a Muslim—even a duplicitous one. Neither, though, are they necessarily the words of a born-again, Bible-believer—nor even of a convinced and well-initiated convert to another Orthodox expression of Christianity. What this “testimony” is to me is a sincere conveyance of a “spiritual” or perhaps more “emotional” awakening to religious sensibilities, but, very importantly, within a definite “liberal” Christian context. The United Church of Christ is a classically liberal denomination that eschews the idea that the Bible, or indeed any doctrinal or dogmatic authority, is final or absolute in any way. Religious beliefs are never rigid, but are instead fungible; they may be freely questioned, rejected, modified, exchanged or replaced at any time. Of course, no religious group is absolutely without their absolutes, and that’s certainly true of the pastor under whom Barack Obama made his decision to become a Christian and to join a church. Dr. Wright confided in me one of his own apparent absolutes. In doing so, he also indicated Barack Obama had broken this rule, leading to at least the pastor’s exasperation with the President, if not a measure of disdain for him. (Our conversation, which took place in a very public setting, still had a sort of implied confidentiality, so I’ll keep the details to myself!)

All this is to say that while the President continues to self-identify as a Christian, he does so in the loosest way. He retains an air of skepticism about religion; he holds a universalist philosophy (there are many roads to God and to salvation); his church attendance is sporadic (though on Easter Sunday this year he did kneel with his family at the altar of a Bible-preaching church to receive Holy Communion—something a Muslim would never, ever do!); and he still appears ill-at-ease in religious settings, as I witnessed at this year’s National Prayer Breakfast.

What is Barack Obama religiously? The answer is a bit difficult to nail down because, I believe, the President wants it to be somewhat ambiguous. He does have a Muslim history and Muslim family members; he does have a Muslim name and he wants to build strong relationships with the Muslim world. He does not believe that Christianity is the only way to God and to salvation, and he is by nature a religious skeptic. He does not believe America is a “Christian nation,” but instead a religiously neutral country open to all religions and that disfavors none. In a sense, he is keeping all his options open.

Barring a miracle (and I certainly believe in miracles), don’t expect Barack Obama to stand up to the microphone and say, “Jesus Christ is my personal Lord and Savior and is the only way to heaven. I urge every American to repent of your sins, surrender your life to Jesus and put your trust only in Him.” That would not describe the President’s concept of Christianity.

Barring an even more bizarre turn of events, don’t expect him to stand up and declare “Allah akbar” either. Mr. Obama’s embrace of homosexuality as a morally legitimate lifestyle is enough to preclude that, and his advocacy of full and equal rights for women would be a huge problem in most of the Islamic world, to say nothing of the abortion question, which would also be problematic. Islam, and its absolutes, including many moral tenets it shares with much of Christianity and Judaism, are huge problems for the liberal ex-United Church of Christ member.

I don’t believe Mr. Obama is a Muslim, but I don’t think he’s a seriously devout Christian either–in that way, he fits in with so many other world leaders. The rare head of state that stands up and unequivocally declares Jesus Christ as the only hope of humanity and repentance and faith toward Him as the only way to heaven is a rare leader indeed, and remains one of those elusive miracles we all pray will happen—maybe even here in America!

As an itinerate preacher (without a local church assignment), I have traveled preaching in other ministers’ pulpits for over 25 years. I stopped counting after I had visited over 1000 different congregations–that was a long time ago. These days I’m out about two Sundays a month–sometimes more–bringing a message consistent with our mission here in Washington, DC. During the last six weeks, I spoke in six very different churches, in six very different cities, in four very different states. And that doesn’t count addressing soon-to-be ministers at the commencement of my own alma mater, Faith Seminary, in Tacoma, Washington–and hundreds of pastors, ministry directors and chaplains at the annual conference of the Evangelical Church Alliance in Ft. Mitchell, Kentucky. Our own National Clergy Council, a component of Faith and Action in the Nation’s Capital, includes member clergy from Catholic, Evangelical, Orthodox and Protestant traditions. So, in the course of any year, I’m in churches and with ministers from every denomination and no denomination at all.

This is one of the side benefits of what I do, and it’s a magnificent one. I get to see and experience the Church in all it’s shapes and forms; the Body of Christ “at large” in all of its varied expressions. There was a time when some would not keep company with others. A Baptist minister once told me there was a time in his life when, if he walked into a restaurant and saw a Catholic priest sitting in there, he would walk out. He didn’t even want to be seen in the same place with a “papist.” Today, that same Baptist minister regularly prays with and works alongside one of the most prominent Catholic priests in America. Why? Because he discovered that he needed the priest and the priest needed him. These are terribly challenging days for Christians–as all of time has really been since the Day of Pentecost, when very different kinds of people first discovered something very important:

“Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Utterly amazed, they asked: ‘Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs-we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!’” (Acts 2:5-11)

When the focus was on God, the cultural and language differences melted away. They heard them “declaring the wonders of God” in their own languages. It was a miracle–and one that taught a lesson. These very different people were united by their acknowledgement of the One, True God. When our focus is in the right place, the differences aren’t so important. In fact, our unlikely unity in “declaring the wonders of God” is a miracle that proves His reality.

When I’m out in the churches–humble little country churches and sophisticated mega-churches–elaborate cathedrals and simple auditoriums–quiet and reserved, loud and raucous–very poor and very wealthy–my faith in the wonder-working power of God is strengthened and my resolve to do His work is reset.

Here’s to ALL our churches–God bless, use and multiply each one!

Rob +

"appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions”

In addition to the backyard BBQ, the touch football game and the
spectacular fireworks show, here’s another way to celebrate the Fourth
of July: Do a reading of the Declaration of Independence. (Reading the
entire Declaration out loud takes less than eight minutes.) More
importantly, join in its prayer at the end.

I’ll get to the prayer part in a minute, but first, let me make a case
for the reading: Not only does the Declaration state clearly the reasons our nation exists, but it also details the philosophy that underlies that existence. Most importantly, the Declaration demonstrates how God and His will are at the center of that philosophy.

For me, the best part of the Declaration is one phrase toward the end,
“appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our
intentions”. This is what I call, The Prayer of the Declaration. According to the
Oxford Dictionary (the best source we have for the meaning of English
words as they were defined when the American Founders employed them),
“to appeal” means, among other things, “a serious or urgent request.”

The Founders were making a serious and urgent request to whom? “The
Supreme Judge of the World.” Is there anything ambiguous about who
this “Supreme Judge” might be? It’s obvious on it’s face; this was a
serious and urgent request to God, and for what? “For the rectitude of
our intentions.” This clause, “rectitude of our intentions” means,
again according to the Oxford, “morally correct behavior or thinking;
righteousness.” In other words, the writers and intended signers of
the instrument that would bring the United States of America into
existence ended their monumental Declaration with a prayer. They asked
God to help them do what was morally correct and righteous.

That’s pretty powerful stuff! When the Signers put pen to paper, they
were saying “Amen” to this prayer. On this July 4th, I hope and pray
all Americans will join in this great foundational prayer of our
Nation. Perhaps we could express it this way: Holy God, may all we do
as a people be morally correct and righteous in Your sight; You who
are the One, Supreme Judge of the World.

“God is a righteous judge” Psalm 7:11a, ESV.

She could have been my cousin!

Elena Kagan, President Obama’s most recent nominee to the Supreme Court, looks and sounds like anyone of my cousins. Maybe that makes her less scary to me. She’s so familiar—from the mild pinch in her voice, to the soft r’s in her speech, to her facial features and even to her body morph. Even more so, it’s Miss Kagan’s worldview—her philosophy of life—that pervaded my own upbringing. So, in that way, she’s definitely one of my “peeps.” For me, the only thing that is unusual about her is that her idiosyncrasies—unlike those of my cousins—could, very soon, become the law of the land.

What I learned about Elena Kagan this week was, well, at the same time a lot—and nothing at all. What I learned was, again, oh so familiar. She’s the quintessential Northeastern liberal–make that, the epitome of the New England liberal, cast in an ethnically Jewish personality. (During my growing up years, my father’s side was almost entirely in Connecticut.) At the same time, on the legal front, none of us really learned anything at all. What people saw was a likable and unflappable personality (she stuttered in only a couple of exchanges), but she largely deflected the pointed questions and gave only bland and ambiguous answers on the really salient subjects.

One certainty I think anyone one of us could take away from the committee inquiry is that Miss Kagan engaged, at least at one time, in pro-abortion activism. This point is quite significant. We haven’t really had an unapologetic, politically oriented abortion activist on the Court since the late Harry Blackmun, the author of Roe v. Wade. (And he didn’t start out his professional career that way, as Miss Kagan apparently did.)  So, Miss Kagan, as “Justice Kagan,” could turn out to be Harry Blackmun revivified on the High Bench—and then some. That would be a bad thing. Having said that, though, let me tell you what I harbor in my heart for the likely and near-future Justice Kagan.

Although (we’re told), Miss Kagan had a falling out with the Orthodox Judaism of her childhood, she still has a Jewish conscience in her soul. (There is no indication she has utterly repudiated her Jewish roots—culturally or religiously.) This is hopeful. The Great Apostle Paul (and former Rabbi Saul) wrote of those who may not apparently know God, “the work of the law [is] written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness” (see Romans 2:15). A seed of conscience can always be nurtured. I’m convinced for most of us, the older we get, the richer is the soil of our hearts and, therefore, the better are the chances the seed of conscience can sprout—and even grow.

Should the Judiciary Committee vote this month to recommend Miss Kagan to the full Senate for a vote; and should she subsequently receive a majority of “Yea” votes in August (both outcomes are a virtual fait accompli), she will be sworn in as the next sitting associate justice of the United States Supreme Court. That’s when our work begins. Faith and Action will call the people of God to pray for Justice Kagan, and we will do everything God enables us to do to persuade her to return to the roots of her conscience, which are found in God’s Word, and epitomized in the Great Commandments.

The success of this endeavor is predicated on building an amicable relationship with Miss Kagan, starting now. So, at the expense of criticism from our friends and allies, we will continue to treat Nominee Kagan (the presumptive Justice Kagan) with all due respect, deference and generosity. For those who think we are compromising by doing so, I would hope they would consult the entirety of God’s Word on the treatment of others—including enemies—before rendering a final verdict on us.

To review or catch up with the Kagan confirmation, be sure to go to http://www.c-span.org/Special/Supreme-Court-Kagan-Senate-Confirmation-Hearing.aspx.

Rob +

I am monitoring the last hours of questioning for President Obama’s nominee to the US Supreme Court, Solicitor General Elena Kagan. Hope you’re watching and praying with me. I highly recommend watching at http://www.c-span.org/Special/Supreme-Court-Kagan-Senate-Confirmation-Hearing.aspx. Today will be the last day for questions to be posed to the nominee. Tomorrow will be witnesses speaking mostly in support of her. A committee vote will be taken sometime before the end of next week, and a vote by the full Senate is expected in late July.

Tonight I’ll post my full appraisal of General Kagan as an individual, a nominee and a prospective Supreme Court justice. It will be my take as a missionary to elected and appointed officials and a chaplain on Capitol Hill. It will not be a legal or constitutional analysis. That perspective is better left to other experts and our allied ministries.

Back later . . .

Rob +

While monitoring the proceedings and praying inside the hearing room, Faith and Action’s Peggy Nienaber had this view of Nominee Kagan.

Below is an article that will post later this morning at www.faithandaction.org on last night’s declaration by a federal judge prohibiting President Obama from recognizing the National Day of Prayer on May 6. In her order, Judge Barbara Crabb compared recognition of the National Day of Prayer to the practice of “rune magic.”

National prayer observances date back to George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt. All recent presidents, including President Obama, have issued National Day of Prayer proclamations. It’s uncertain how the ruling will affect the 1952 law passed by Congress creating the National Day of Prayer, and its modification in 1988, signed by Ronald Reagan, that set the first Thursday in each May for its observance.

This ruling shouldn’t shock anyone. Atheist activist and lawyer Michael Newdow, with whom I’ve had a couple of face-to-face ministry moments, has for years been relentlessly filing lawsuits against every public acknowledgement of God. It was inevitable he would find a federal judge somewhere to agree with him. He did in the Madison, Wisconsin based Judge Barbara Crabb. What really matters are two things: Whether President Obama will order his Justice Department to appeal the ruling and ardently defend the National Day of Prayer, or, whether he will simply let it stand. Another option he has is to “throw the fight,” by offering only a tepid, half-hearted defense.

Lamentably, President Obama cancelled last year’s White House observance of National Day of Prayer, saying it’s better for citizens to stay home and privately observe it. That doesn’t suggest he’s up for a vigorous fight to preserve this long and enormously meaningful American tradition.

Much more importantly, it focuses attention on the President’s nominee for the Supreme Court to fill the vacancy created by Justice John Paul Stevens when he retires this June. I will urge my friends and allies in the US Senate to be sure to ask any candidate for the post where he or she stands on the constitutionality of calling out to God for blessing on our land.

Here’s our news item on it . . .

FEDERAL JUDGE ORDERS OBAMA NOT TO RECOGNIZE NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER

A federal judge in Wisconsin has ordered President Obama not to issue a Presidential Proclamation recognizing the National Day of Prayer which Congress has set as the first Thursday of each May. In the same opinion, Judge Barbara Crabb declared the annual observance in America to be unconstitutional, writing that the government’s acknowledgement of the importance of prayer is no different than if it were to recognize “rune magic.”

Judge Crabb issued her injunction against the National Day of Prayer in response to a lawsuit filed by the Freedom from Religion Foundation, an atheist organization co-founded by a former Pentecostal minister. One of the group’s champions is infamous atheist activist and “mail order minister” turned-lawyer Michael Newdow, who unsuccessfully argued before the Supreme Court against the Pledge of Allegiance (because of its clause, “one nation, under God”). Newdow has also filed lawsuits against the National Motto, “In God We Trust,” and against displays of the Ten Commandments.

The Freedom from Religion Foundation has amassed more than $5 million in cash to continue it’s campaign against the National Day of Prayer.

“Faith and Action and its allied partners, including the National Clergy Council and the Christian Defense Coalition, will urge President Obama to order the Justice Department to immediately appeal this outrageous order and to defend the long history of America’s calls to prayer that date back to Presidents Washington, Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan and even President Obama himself,” said Rev. Rob Schenck, president of Faith and Action and its lead missionary.

Rev. Schenck and Rev. Pat Mahoney plan a national news conference at the White House early next week to appeal to the President to take urgent action, as the National Day of Prayer events are only 3 weeks away.

As I write this, President Obama is hosting a private Easter prayer breakfast at the White House for a select group of religious leaders from around the country. The only minister I know personally is in the room is Joel Osteen. (I’ve never commented on my relationship to the Osteens, but I preached for his father at the Lakewood Church many years ago, when Joel was just a young guy on staff!) Anyway, the other person I think is there is Washington Post reporter and fellow Christian Hamil Harris. I’ve done many interviews with him over the years. Mr. Harris and I once actually teamed up in an televised debate with Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Viewers were surprised that a Post Reporter and I were on the same side of the argument!

In any case, I was NOT on the invitation list for the breakfast. (Hmm . . I wonder why?) I’ll pass along anything I find out about what went on and what was said.

On a related matter, you may have seen that we covered the President’s Easter visit with his family to a nearby church, the Allen Chapel AME (African Methodist Episcopal) congregation in Southeast Washington. I’m familiar with the church and know one of the deacons there. I was actually criticized for the posting, as if we shouldn’t mention when the President goes to church. Frankly, I’d rather see the President attending church–no matter his motive–than not attending. A lot has been made that Mr. Obama, since being inaugurated, has spent more Sunday mornings shooting hoops than sitting in pews. This was a positive break in that pattern. Let’s pray it has a lasting effect on him.

OK, back later with more.

Rob +

Now that I have your attention, I’ll say, well, sort of . . .

Today, from the very same podium on the very same stage in the very same room where in January I called the nation to pray for an end to abortion in America, President Obama called lawmakers to pass a health care bill that will be a huge financial stimulus for the abortion industry.

The President spoke to Democrat members of Congress in the Congressional Auditorium this afternoon. It’s the same venue we used this past January 22 and last year for our annual US Capitol pro-life event. We plan to use it again next year and every year until our nation finally recognizes the value of every human life and protects them under law. It was sad to see that same podium used to advance an agenda that will place the resources of the federal government in the hands of abortion business owners. (See yesterday’s post for an explanation.)

Today wasn’t all bad news, though. While I was at the Capitol earlier today, I learned that a church service will be held inside the Capitol tomorrow morning–the first such service in more than 150 years–so members of congress can pray before casting their votes on health care. The members that organized this extraordinary prayer and worship service were concerned that because the vote is being held on Sunday, they wouldn’t be able to pray at their own churches. They’ve asked all Americans who care about this enormously consequential vote to pray with them beginning 11:00 AM EST tomorrow, Sunday, March 21, 2010.

More to follow . . .

Rob +

Evangelical Protestant Christians like me aren’t generally big on saints–that is “official Saints.” I’ve always been the exception to the rule on everything, though, and this is . . . well . . . no exception! Many of the Saints in the historic churches are great Christian heroes. One among them is Patrick of Ireland. (Not Mahoney–he’s a different Patrick. Very different!)

Here’s what Wikipedia says about the St. Patrick:

Little is known of Patrick’s early life, though it is known that he was born in Roman Britain in the fifth century, into a wealthy Romano-British family. His father and grandfather were deacons in the Church. At the age of sixteen, he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and taken captive to Ireland as a slave. It is believed he was held somewhere on the west coast of Ireland, possibly Mayo, but the exact location is unknown. According to his Confession, he was told by God in a dream to flee from captivity to the coast, where he would board a ship and return to Britain. Upon returning, he quickly joined the Church in Auxerre in Gaul and studied to be a priest.

In 432, he again says that he was called back to Ireland, though as a bishop, to save the Irish, and indeed he was successful at this, focusing on converting royalty and aristocracy as well as the poor. Irish folklore tells that one of his teaching methods included using the shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) to the Irish people. After nearly thirty years of teaching and spreading God’s Word he died on 17 March, 461 AD, and was buried at Downpatrick, so tradition says. Although there were other more successful missions to Ireland from Rome, Patrick endured as the principal champion of Irish Christianity and is held in esteem in the Irish Church.

Patrick is a great example of not just missionary work–though he is certainly that–but mission work to an entire civilization. In many ways, Patrick could be the patron saint for Faith and Action. Note that Patrick aimed his missionary work at the “up-and-outers” as well as the “down-and-outers.” By reaching up to the tribal leaders and the aristocracy who shaped the society, Patrick evangelized both individual souls and the whole culture.

A big part of our mission here at Faith and Action is to evangelize souls and culture. The most important thing we do is win people to Christ. The second most important thing we do is Christianize culture. Both are critical in these critical times. So, this St. Patty’s Day, think about more than Ireland–but do think about Ireland–and all that was accomplished for Christ by this humble and sacrificial man.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Rob +