Hand Sanitizer

Sometimes my mind wanders...Sure many will interject "Squirrel," here, but that is not the case for my wanderings. In the wanderings of my mind's eye I often times wonder, what does Jesus think about His Bride today? Who are we faithful to? His way or the world's way...

I am talking about a place where truth is truth. But we must ask, do we want the messy, unsanitized version of truth? What pains me is the thought that many in the church do not want Jesus' way and life of truth because such truth disrupts as is re-directs. It challenges as it transforms. It asks us daily, "who do you say I am?"

Instead of the truth of Jesus, we want a sanitized version - a Hippy Dude that walks around in Birkenstocks telling everyone "Hey man don't worry, be happy. The future is bright with optimism."

Is the Jesus being preached anywhere near the man from Nazareth? Do we preach Jesus so to become pious or are we too pious to even preach Jesus? Is what we are handing out as authentic faith simply another form of hand sanitizer…cleaning the outside while leaving the inside still dirty? Do we seek to satisfy the masses by telling them what they want to hear? Is the church leading culture or culture leading church?

I wonder if we are missing the Truth. Instead of wondering why people are the way they are, we need to seek to understand and love them. Instead of believing that love is love, we should be showing the world what it means to be bound to the insane love of Jesus - a love that sets the prisoner free, clothes the homeless and loves the sinner. A love that shines light upon the darkness so as to give us sight. G.K. Chesterton said: 

Love is not blind; that is the last thing that it is. Love is bound; and the more it is bound the less it is blind.

Faith is dynamic - at least the Christian faith is because the God of Christianity is dynamic. Through the action of revelation, God - in Christ, through the Spirit - takes life, and as theologian Karl Barth illumines, 

sets it into crisis, shaking its false foundations, and bringing to bear upon it the very Goodness of God.

Through such a shaking, our faith and our theological endeavors can begin to understand the confrontation between Creator and creature; an inter-action whereby the creature is confronted by the mystery comparable only to the impenetrable darkness of death, in which God veils Himself precisely when He unveils, announces, and reveals to the human Himself and the crazy intensity of His love. Such love is what breaks the chains of oppression, shatters the power of death and breaks down the walls of division. This is the reality of Jesus' messy, unsanitized crazy insane love - a love that makes right what the darkness has disjointed, makes beautiful what sin has defiled. This is the insane love the world is in need of! 

What the world does not need is for the church to follow its lead. Nor does the world need more rhetoric and reasons it is wrong- what the world needs is more Jesus and more Love. What are you doing to give the world what it needs?

Fake Plastic Bobble Head Jesus

Cops killing cops, Blizzards of unprecedented strength, 26 shot dead in an elementary school, elementary children taken hostage...from Syria to the climate to the "post-Gangnam" era, the looming question beckons: What do we really have to hope in?

The news of today makes me wonder, has the darkness of the world made us lose sight of  "Carpe Diem." How can one be blamed if they do not see the hope of humanity. Rather than living for, let alone thinking of the "other," people today live as though seizing the moment or the day means acquiring more stuff for themselves. "Love your neighbor" is nothing more than a statement given by pastors before the "sacred" offering of our money. We are living out purgatory...


Tell me something I don't know Dr Farlow. Okay, let's get rid of our fake plastic bobble head Jesus religion. The Christian life does not suggest there might be tough roads ahead - it explicitly shouts at us - the roads ahead will most assuredly be bumpy! The problem arises when those that call themselves "Christian" tell us that faith does not require sacrifice. This type of thinking leads to what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called "cheap grace." 

Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

Jesus does not tell us that life is all about comfortability. In fact, the writer of Hebrews makes the audacious claim that Jesus, "the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God," (Heb 12.2). Following Jesus means living sacrificially and in so doing you will receive generously the joy of life! 

Generosity and self-giving  are so often thought of materially. But theologically they should be thought of relationally. C.S. Lewis in the Weight of Glory, wrote: 

Next to the blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest thing presented to your senses.

Selfless living and self-centered living are not opposites, they are enemies that are in competition for your heart. 

A relational church is a self-giving church, it is, a Eucharistic church. The church is what William Cavanaugh calls the Eucharistic community. It is the community who “participates in the life of the triune God, who is the only good that can be common to all. Its reality is global and eternal, anticipating the heavenly polity on earth.” A Eucharistic church is a missional church.

The difference between being missional and being static in expressing the good news of the Kingdom is this: A church that evangelizes from a static paradigm creates space for those who seek it out, and politely leaves the side door open for those who don’t fit its categories (or target market). A church acting missionally forever redefines itself,  “extending its hand”, sacrificially, to draw boundaries of loving inclusion around all who enter its province.

 The Gospel of the kingdom is the person of Jesus Christ himself and the church is his body on earth (Col 1.28, 1Cor 12.27). Emanating from his hands is the sweet smelling balm of social injustice made whole, brokenness mended, the lost being found; resounding from his mouth is the message of reconciliation (2Cor 2.14 & 5.19), and we, the church, are called to live out this performance.

The reality of today: the world is in need of selfless, generous churches. Newsflash - it is not about butts in the seats or making the church or the gospel relevant! Its about our heart - about the souls of those lost. Is the purpose of the church today the pursuit of the consumer crown or the pursuit of the crucified crown? Does that which breaks Jesus' heart break ours?

Living out heaven here and now on earth cannot occur through isolated lives, nor can it occur through lives bent towards the trajectory of loving only that which is like. Life is meant to be lived out in authentic community as it is in and through such community that authentic living occurs. A missional church emulates her Savior and His sacrificial life. Anything other than this is the worship of a fake plastic bobble head Jesus.We worship a King who dramatically entered into the mess of life (remember He was born amid the stench of donkey doo!) so as to re-orient humanity thereby generously offering us the abundant life! The question remains, are we, His church, willing to participate in this act? Tomorrow is no guarantee - but right now is! Live the crazy insane life of love right now!

The Greatest Show on Earth

"Touchdown Jesus" nickname given
to the large mural that overlooks
Notre Dame Stadium 

The Greatest Show on Earth: The Superbowl?

Is this true? Is the Super Bowl the "greatest show on earth?" Do we really believe that Jesus cares about football (cross reference "Touchdown Jesus"). Does it really matter if Beyonce lip-synched or really sang during the halftime show? Should the Christian church by into the hype? And if I question it, am I a "negative nancy," a "downer," a "joy-drainer?" Why? I wonder if the lights going out at the Super Bowl is not the greatest of all metaphors - you can hype up materialism, consumerism and humanism all you want, but eventually, the lights are going to go out.

Should the Church play such earthly games? That is, should we buy into the hype of a game or some type of societal event (Grammy's, Sport's championships, Oscars, 4th of July, etc). I mean think about it, millions huddled around a glowing object with a group of dudes moving all around the green carpet. People from all over the nation shouting at a flat screen as if those on the inside of that screen can actually hear your shouts - and if they could, would they really care? Sure, the lights eventually will and do come on, but what does the light illuminate?

Don't get me wrong, I dig sports - I participated all the way through college and even attempted to go for the Olympics (wrestling), so I am not one who doesn't appreciate the art of competition. I just wonder why all the hype on this weekend (Superbowl weekend)?

What is the super bowl all about anyway? Commercials controversy, materialism, etc...See unfortunately, the numbers accounted for over the weekend of those participating in super bowl parties far exceeds the numbers of those taking in communion, a sermon and worshiping the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Instead of folks from the church huddling around a screen that presents images of people in Africa, Oakland, China, Canada, witnessing about the life-changing message of Jesus, the millions we speak about are huddled about a glowing screen that illuminates the finer points of capitalism. Over the next few days, Facebook will blow up with people putting in their 2 cents as to the best commercial. These type of events and situations always seem to get me wondering the same thing Jesus did, when "the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?" (Lk 18.8)

Again, I know many will balk at my argument, but I wonder why? What am I saying or presenting that is not true? Truth is, we live in a world bent towards materialism. A post-modern world that tells us we are the center of the universe. We are the masters of our own fate. Today's prescription of happiness (as defined by society) is subtly blurring our vision such that the church and the world are becoming one right before our eyes.


Stop and think, what if you and I, the church, spent as much time, hype and money on the "least of these" as we did this last weekend on our super bowl parties? Concerning the pursuit of the material world C.S. Lewis wrote:

As long as this deliberate refusal to understand things from above, even where such understanding is possible, continues, it is idle to talk of any final victory over materialism.

Whether we like it or not, we Americans are programmed to be consumers. Even when hard-pressed financially, we are pressured by our culture to forget our situation (in the betterment of the whole) and maintain our rate of consumption. This is our identity. We have become sewer pawns to the system of materialism. It is better to be an optimist or positive thinker than a critical thinker in today's post-modern, post-christian society.

Let us not attempt to engage culture within the context defined by culture, but instead, let us stand up and live the life deemed crazy and insane according to the standards of society. Indeed, the break from mainstream thought and consumption will be a struggle, but it is a struggle we must joyfully accept (Heb 12.1-2). Our perspective on life cannot continue to be defined through the consumer mentality prevalent today. We, the body of Christ, must have a Trinitarian perspective if we hope to engage the situation of today.

We have to understand the gospel is relational. Christ comes to earth and draws a circle around himself and He says everybody outside this circle is broken—you are all equal—you are broken, but behold, here is your hope...marry Me, marry Me. So what is our response? Are we willing to walk down the aisle with the Savior of the world, or would we rather climb in bed with the world? Truth is, you can't do both.

Let us not continue to be consumers of society for the good of society but instead, be consumed by the crazy insane love of Jesus for the good of society. Then, in our insanity we truly can give the world the "greatest show on earth" - the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. A show that does not simply remain a show because instead of seeking to be observed, Christ's performance invites the world to participate in this act of love so as to reorient and re-humanize the whole of humanity. Are you ready for the role of a lifetime in the greatest show on earth?