Phoenix Preacher

Time Magazine has named Pope Francis as it’s “Man of the Year”.

Why?

For being nice.

“But what makes this Pope so important is the speed with which he has captured the imaginations of millions who had given up on hoping for the church at all. People weary of the endless parsing of sexual ethics, the buck-passing infighting over lines of authority when all the while (to borrow from Milton), “the hungry Sheep look up, and are not fed.” In a matter of months, Francis has elevated the healing mission of the church—the church as servant and comforter of hurting people in an often harsh world—above the doctrinal police work so important to his recent predecessors. “

 He hasn’t changed the churches doctrinal stances, he just chooses not to talk about them.

“And so Francis signals great change while giving the same answers to the uncomfortable questions. On the question of female priests: “We need to work harder to develop a profound theology of the woman.” Which means: no. No to abortion, because an individual life begins at conception. No to gay marriage, because the male-female bond is established by God. “The teaching of the church … is clear,” he has said, “and I am a son of the church, but”—and here he adds his prayer for himself—“it is not necessary to talk about those issues all the time.””

Read more: TIME’s Person of the Year 2013 Pope Francis, The People’s Pope | TIME.com http://poy.time.com/2013/12/11/person-of-the-year-pope-francis-the-peoples-pope/#ixzz2nH3K9P6M

The anathemas of the Council of Trent against Protestants still stand as well, among them:

Canon 11.
If anyone says that men are justified either by the sole imputation of the justice of Christ or by the sole remission of sins, to the exclusion of the grace and the charity which is poured forth in their hearts by the Holy Ghost, and remains in them, or also that the grace by which we are justified is only the good will of God, let him be anathema.

Now “anathema”at best means “excommunicated”, at worst, “devoted to destruction” or “damned”.

That is the official doctrine of Roman Catholicism.

I personally fall under around 20 “anathemas”.

I greatly appreciate Francis’s emphasis on the care of the poor and the humility he displays as a Christian leader.

He appears to reflect the biblical principles of servant leadership and compassion far more than many visible American evangelical celebrities.

Still, the same doctrinal issues that caused the Reformation are still in place.

Does a winsome character trump doctrine?

Why do so many find Francis such a breath of fresh air?

Tis the season…

How do you and your family celebrate?

Any special traditions?

Christmas Eve or Christmas morning?

Shopping done?

I traditionally turn green and black and sit in the litter box until the 26th…

Must reads this morning…

Matt Redmond…

Sarah…

Noelle…

We got their attention…now we must keep it and turn it into action.

EVERYONE: ACTION PLAN: By necessity, the action plans must become more detailed – so please read through completely. We want to contact the House committee members before Thursday.

However, the House of Representatives does not take emails unless you are a constituent, and they ask for address verification. So we need everyone to look at membership of the two committees involved in Thursday’s joint meeting.

There are 8 members in this one.

http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/subcommittees/africa-global-health-global-human-rights-and-international-organizations

And there are 22 members in this one.

http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/subcommittees/the-middle-east-and-north-africa

If you do not know your representative, you can find that info here. http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/

Many of us will not be able to email these people, but for those of you that see your representative, PLEASE EMAIL them on either Tuesday or Wednesday. We especially need YOUR help because of your unique position in being a constituent of a committee member. If possible, followup with a phone call to their Washington D.C office on Wednesday. The member’s name is also a link to their contact page.

Your email should be in your own words, but we believe it should include the following.

1. Expression of gratitude for having the hearing.

2. Mention you are a constituent but also one of thousands of concerned Americans united in the effort to see Saeed released. (You could paste a link to the facebook page here too)

3. Encouragement that he/she adjust schedule to attend the entire meeting to hear all the testimony.

4. Expression of concern that a recent deal with Iran was made without the good-faith action of Iran to release Saeed.

5. Request he/she uses all the power of their office to #FreeSaeed. (Use our hashtag reference)

For best results, please be respectful, nonpartisan, and focused on the issue of Saeed’s release only.

Our action plan has a second part for all of us not represented by one of the committee members. We will share that very soon.

For more information go to #FreeSaeed

1. The social media campaign of last week to #Free Saeed was successful…not just because of the numbers involved, but because you were heard. Congress has called for a hearing on Thursday morning on the issue and the ACLJ states that this was a result of “social media”. Now, as one of my co-workers said, we have moved the mountain, now we need to push it into the sea.We need to mobilize that great mass of people again before that hearing. If you haven’t signed up on the new page, please do so and check for this weeks action plan to #FreeSaeed.

2.  Mark Driscoll and his business associates have done an outstanding job of deflecting all the media attention to the sins of the messengers who brought news of his. Such is the way of the church these days that people actually fall for it.

3.  We who are “Bible believers” have to change the way we think about and communicate the difficult passages of Scripture. When I was a child the story of the Flood was always the story of Noah and the Ark…accompanied by cute critter pictures and ending with a rainbow. It wasn’t until much later in life that I understood that the real picture would have involved tens of thousands of floating corpses around the ark and the rainbow shined on their bloated bodies after the waters receded. We avoided that truth…and in doing so missed the whole message of the passage, which is about God’s hatred of sin and His willingness to destroy that which is unrighteous. That leads to a skewed view of God. People today see the implications of the story that aren’t on the felt board…and we have to learn to communicate the real truth about the Flood and the Canaanite genocide with clarity, compassion, and awe.

4.  Everything I just said about the difficult passages of Scripture applies double to discussions about gender roles in the church and culture…simply saying that “God declares it and that settles it” won’t work in an information age with so many conflicting voices.

5.  I can only ask for your forgiveness and understanding…December is a thick, cold blanket of despair for me. I’m doing the best I can.

6. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom…so when you have a God from whom there is nothing to fear, you worship an idol.

7. The fear of the Lord does not nullify the grace of the Lord…it makes you truly thankful for it.

8. The Incarnation is the most awesome doctrine of the Christian faith…in a world where men want to become gods, God became man and subjected Himself to us, for us. The wonder of this is beyond my ability to process.

9. One simple act of kindness can heal multiple years of offense and grief. Look for opportunities to commit one…

10. Do what you would hope others would do for you if you were Saeed Abedini… #FreeSaeed.

It’s all yours today…