mbjones

I just discovered this new conglomeration of artists called Bifrost Arts. They seek “to enrich the church and the world with beauty and truth” and include artists you’ve probably heard of (David Bazan, Leigh Nash, Damien Jurado, Sufjan Stevens to name a few). Their song “Come Oh Spirit” is the most beautiful song I’ve heard in quite some time (it’s on their myspace page).

I’m engaged and that means busy, if you didn’t know. There is lots and lots that needs doing and it seems that the majority of my free energy is spent in that direction. And so — that’s meant less time here writing. I’m working on changing that though (and have some things worth writing about on paper already).

Just wanted to highlight this again as today is “Blog Action Day”.

Last week I finally bit the bullet and did something I’ve been meaning to do for quite sometime: join Kiva. For those unaware, Kiva is an organization whose goal is to see worldwide poverty eliminated. They go about things differently though than your typical aid organization: they provide local people with small micro-loans (generally only a few hundred US dollars or less) that empower them to start, expand and develop their businesses, with an end goal of financial independence.

How It Works:

Kiva directly partners with various micro-financing across the developing world who then provide the Kiva community with loan opportunities. These various institutions upload pictures of the people, their history and a detailed plan on what the money is to be used for. When I first heard about it, I was intrigued but at the same time skeptical because it sounds like a system just ready for scams of all sorts. But Kiva does their homework. Not only do they do detailed checks on all of the micro-finance institutions they partner with but they also keep detailed records of all loan history. That way, you can see payback rates, default rates and more for every institution (and even those receiving loans if they’ve had them in the past). Everything is designed to be completely transparent so that you know exactly where your money is going and what type of risk is involved. Oh and Kiva keeps none of your monies themselves. They rely completely on the donations of the community to function. One hundred percent of what you lend goes straight to the field, so to speak.

Why do it?

A lot of organization operate under the “handout” system (I’ll call it) where the provide goods and service without price to those in the developing world. And in a lot of cases, these organizations are great, needed and much appreciated. But one thing that was expressed to us repeatedly by the missionaries in Cape Town this summer was the importance of letting the people take ownership in what they are doing. There, the m’s told us that rather than pass out Bibles for free, we should charge some nominal sum (and I do mean nominal…practically nothing) because if the people purchased their Bible they were immediately vested in it whereas if they were given it, many times they would turn around and sell it (and head for a beer at the nearest Chabean). The same principle is at work in the ideology of Kiva: empower and enable the people to work for change in their lives — vest them in it in fact — and you’ll begin to see real change.

And so — I’m directing a portion of my charitable givings (even though this really isn’t a charity) to Kiva. It’s encouraging to know that my monies last month went to helping Abena Banwah, widow and mother of three, expand her food business in Ghana. And, once she repays (8 months from now), I’ll be able to relend that money! If you want to join with me, let me know! We can start a group and impact people’s lives together! (note: I’ll be focusing on African countries and any business that isn’t a bar. If that sounds intriguing, let me know!)

Some Stats for the Curious

• Total value of all loans made through Kiva: $40,462,385

• Number of Kiva Lenders: 331,071

• Number of loans that have been funded through Kiva: 57,186

• Percentage of Kiva loans which have been made to women entrepreneurs: 77.45%

• Number of Kiva Field Partners (microfinance institutions Kiva partners with): 88

• Number of countries Kiva Field Partners are located in: 42

• Current repayment rate (all partners): 98.47%

• Current default rate (all partners): 1.53%

• Average size of loan for funding: $473.41

• Average total amount loaned per Kiva Lender (includes reloaned funds): $123.61

• Average number of loans per Kiva Lender: 3.24

It’s fascinating (but not super surprising) that the majority of the loans go to women. Also, a 98.47% repayment rate is not to shabby at all and makes it totally worth the risk (in my eyes).

Also! I totally forgot my birthday is the month! If you want feel free to send me Amazon.com gift certificates!

Things have been quiet around here lately because I’ve been busy in real life. For a quick update, I’M ENGAGED! That’s incredibly exciting. It is also keeping me busy with planning and such (the wedding is only about 4 months away). So — don’t expect me around here to often. I’ll probably try to post a few life updates and book reviews (I’ve got several I need to do, including The Blue Parakeet).

People also seem to want to talk about politics. That’s another reason I’m not likely to be super active here as those discussions aren’t proving fruitful at all. In fact, it’s brought out truly hateful sides in surprising people. And so this rule I’ve instituted: If you are republican — I’m not likely to talk to you about politics until you admit that (a) Jesus was not a republican (nor any other party as we know political parties) and (b) a Christian can be a Christian and registered independent, another party or even (shocker) democrat.

That being said if you really want my opinion on the political side of things (and pay attention as this will probably be the most I say here), here you go:

I have trouble deciding between the lesser of many evils. While the candidates themselves are not any more evil than you or I, like it or not their campaigns aren’t ever going to match what I would consider the Politics of Jesus because they approach power from a different angle. And like it or not they all have “trouble spots” in their campaigns. Because of that I haven’t fully decided if I’m even going to cast a vote as I’m not really sure my place is to play Caesar. That’s still be prayerfully considered though.

If I do cast a vote — it will not be for the McCain/Palin ticket. From a leadership standpoint, McCain has shown particularly over the past month that he can’t lead his own campaign. How could we expect him to lead our nation? The biggest issue here is his use of FUD tactics (fear, uncertainty and doubt for the curious). I haven’t seen a single commercial or ad or anything from him in quite some time that wasn’t some sort of direct attack on his opponent (most of them being outright lies). Not only that, his mockery of a VP candidate is stirring the pot even more — encouraging chants of “Terrorist!” and “Kill him!” at the mention of Obama’s name. These folks are coming to rally’s believing him to be an “Arab” or “Muslim” or “Terrorist” and those flames are only be fanned and honestly its outright despicable. And yet with all of the attack points — he’s unwilling to say these face to face in debates (truth be told, for some reason he seems unwilling to even LOOK at Obama in debates). My stomach honestly turns at the lack of integrity exhibited here and it pushes me even harder towards casting an Obama vote because, through it all, he’s looked presidential — he’s remained calm — and he’s resisted the urge to attack at all costs (most of his ads still are about issues and polices, over 2/3 last I saw). Regardless of who’s elected, I just pray that all of the fear and hate stirred up by McCain’s campaign doesn’t lead to violence; we don’t need that hanging over the nations head.

Back to a potential vote though: Some of the strongest Holy Spirit driven conviction I’ve experienced has been from regret for casting a vote for Bush. What this country desperately needs is change. The neoliberal philosophy driving the current republican party isn’t going to offer that, as our current economic mess indicates. Obama offers an alternative way (with policies that attempt to make a difference in the lives of people) but when all is said and done, I don’t think that is even the change that we need (regardless of how much I might or might not agree with him — there are definitely problem areas with his policy choices).

And so I’m back to where I started this political rant: playing Caesar. Like it or not America is empire. And like it or not, I don’t think Bush is our emperor. We are (right now) as it’s our voice that drives policy. If we want to see real change in America we need to recognize this and be willing to do a couple of things about it. First — recognize the power that drives every government. I’m thinking Revelations 18 is a fitting scripture:

18:3 For all the nations have fallen from the wine of her immoral passion, and the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have gotten rich from the power of her sensual behavior.” 18:4 Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, so you will not take part in her sins and so you will not receive her plagues,

It’s speaking of the whore of Babylon and how ALL the nations have, well, been with her. What is the voice of heaven telling us to do? “Come out of her!” Played out I don’t have any hard and fast advice for you — I’m still figuring that out myself. At the very least though it should force us to examine our own roles in the political process and how we treat political power. The second thing I think necessary if we want to see real change in this nation is to stop pretending and actually be the church. We need to be ambassadors for the alternative kingdom. That means a whole lot but starts with throwing off the lust that drives consumerism and individualism and replacing it with genuine generosity and concern for our neighbors. Social policy is an issue solely because the church refuses to do this (investing in multimillion dollar buildings for example instead of providing for the widow, orphan, broken and needy in their own midst). More energy needs to be spent here rather than campaigning. In the end being the church really does matter.

Anyways — I think that’s all I’m in the mood to say for the time being. Maybe after the election I’ll have more thoughts. Chances are I’ll be too busy though.

Good answer to the outright lies of McCain’s campaign. To think that Karl Rove even called McCain out on this is crazy.

Zondervan just sent me a review copy of The Blue Parakeet by Scot McKnight. I’m looking forward to reading it and will be reviewing it shortly…

“…The church must recover its prophetic voice, but it cannot be merely negative. If the church is going to call people away from idolatry and remind them of their primary allegiance to Christ, then it will have to do more than to rail against the illusions of freedom enforced by coercion. The church will have to tell a more persuasive story of liberation than that told by the Empire. It will have to tell a more difficult and complex story of liberation through obedience to God’s will, not to the human will. It will have to tell a story of the conquest of violence not by inflicting more violence, but by absorbing it. And it will have to tell this story of liberation not just in words, but in witness…”

And Your Right to Vote! Thanks to the GOP in Michigan and Ohio…

I’m thinking of a doing a series on politics and the Bible because I get asked lots of questions about my political stances. I think it might be helpful to have a resource to point people to when they ask me (particularly the more conservative of my friends that think it crazy that I would even consider voting anything BUT republican). And so, I’ll kick things off by rehashing an old article that sets the stage: Political Language in the New Testament.

In that particular post, I mention some of the “Gospel” language that comes directly from the imperial language. Here are some examples (if you aren’t interested in clicking the link):

Gospel:

• Imperial definition: an important pronouncement such as the birth of an heir or a battle won

• Gospel definition: the good news that Jesus came proclaiming (Repent! The Kingdom of God is at hand!)

Basilea:

• Imperial: The empire of Caesar

• Gospel: The kingdom of God (YHWH at the head)

Son of God:

• Imperial: Caesar’s popular title

• Gospel: Jesus’ title

Ekklesia:

• Imperial: Town meeting or public assembly where citizenship was bestowed, political concerns discussed, elders appointed, Caesar was worshipped

• Gospel: The name for the Church

Parousia:

• Imperial: The return of Caesar to a town

• Gospel: The second coming of Christ

Savior:

• Imperial: Specific title of Caesar Augustus who “healed the chaos of Rome and brought it into a new golden age”

• Gospel: Simply put, Jesus

Growing up — I was never told about any of these connections but none the less they are there, clearly visible in the New Testament. Our political words are different than those of the Roman empire so its honestly easy not to see the connection. And honestly — it is understandable to see no direct correlation between Jesus and politics because of the culture we live in. Religion is just another consumed good — individualized and privatized. It doesn’t seem to penetrate all of life as it did in New Testament times. And so, the assumption would go, his language speaks to only private matters of the heart and doesn’t encompass all that we are. But thank God this isn’t the case — the message of Jesus and the Kingdom of GOD does speak to all of life (including the political). By co-opting this language in the gospels, Jesus sets Himself against Caesar and the empire; the kingdom of GOD becomes a visible, viable alternative to the empire power structure. To use one example from above, whereas Rome hails a parousia event as the blessing of Caesar’s return to a town, Jesus turns this on its head by instilling a wild hope in an ultimate coming of Christ that establishes His reign for good (answered at least in part by His impartation of the Holy Spirit).

By taking these political words and radically re-defining them, Jesus very much says something about politics, if we care to listen. The answer to the question posed by this post is most definitely “Yes!” Naturally following this (and what I plan on exploring) is how it informs our own politics as Christians.