for May 2004

In his book, The Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren asks the question "what is your purpose in life?" He then answers the question with five categories of answers: worship, fellowship, discipleship, service, and evangelism. But what is God's purpose in creating you and the rest of your universe? This is a really big question. If the answer to this mystery can be found anywhere in Scripture, perhaps it is in Paul's letter to the Ephesians.

"God made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment-- to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ." [Ephesians 1:9-10]

As strange as it appears, God's ultmate purpose and plan is to bring all things under the headship of Jesus christ. At the end of time, all people and all things in both heaven and earth will conform to God's will. Join us at Liberty as we study the letter to the Ephesians over the next several Sundays. We hope to discover (1) God's purpose for the church, (2) steps toward fulfilling God's purpose, and (3) practial ways of meeting God's purpose in th church.

Honking in support of Traditional Marriage

On April 27th I presented a message called “A Strong Delusion: What Marriage is Not”. When our church service ended at 4:15 or so, I headed down to 19th Avenue and Ulloa where a rally was taking place in support of traditional marriage. I had mapped out my sermon series months earlier so this concurrent event was just a happy coincidence. I was a bit disappointed that only a few people accompanied me for the walk down the street, but a public demonstration in support of such a controversial issue requires a brave heart and a committed soul.

The rally was sponsored by the Chinese Churches of San Francisco and my guess is that a few thousand people lined 19th Avenue. The participants were mostly Asian with a smattering of other races represented. Most people were wearing red t-shirts with the words “Marriage = 1 man & 1 woman”. On the back side of the shirt was the same thought expressed in Chinese characters. Many traditional- marriage supporters were also waving signs with the same message. The organizers discouraged participants from making home-made signs in order to set a positive tone for this event by “speaking the truth in love”. We were encouraging passing cars to honk if they supported our cause. There were many honking cars and I believe we gained the attention of city officials.

Of course it is hard to be “for” something without inferring what it is you are “against”. Obviously what we were rallying against (and indeed what precipitated this event) was the practice of granting marriage licenses to homosexual couples in San Francisco. It is a difficult thing to demonstrate anger against a “sin” yet express love for a “sinner”. Perhaps this is what keeps many good people away: a fear of being perceived as a hater of people. And yet, I believe that these few thousand people accomplished their aim with grace. The only hateful words that I personally overheard were spoken by counter-demonstrators against supporters of traditional marriage.

You probably know that there is legislation in the California assembly re-defining “marriage” as “a contract between two spouses to the exclusion of others.” This re-definition is commonly referred to as the “gay marriage bill” and is sponsored by Mark Leno. A few weeks ago I wrote the following letter to the editor of my local newspaper, the Marin Independent Journal.

Editor, I agree with Mark Leno's pronouncement about the gay-marriage bill. He commented, "once we pass this we will look back and scratch our head and wonder, Why was it such a big deal." This will probably come to pass. In the next generation homosexual unions will become as acceptable as heterosexual unions. But we are sowing the wind and we will reap the whirlwind. In a few generations beyond the next, we will look back and bang our head and wonder, “What in the world were we thinking?” These first tentative steps toward the celebration of full sexual expression without boundaries will lead first to the destruction of marriage, then to the destruction of the family, and finally to the destruction of the nation. The inventor of sex placed boundaries around marriage for a reason. We are breaking these boundaries at our peril. Chris A. Foreman

One more thought on The Passion of the Christ

I was discussing The Passion of the Christ with my brother Frank. He is intimately familiar with the Biblical storyline, but was inspired by the presentation. He said it was like looking at “stained glass for the masses”. I think he is right. Throughout the medieval centuries stained glass served more an instructional purpose than a decorative one. Since the majority of church goers were illiterate, presenting the Christian story through art was intended to inspire the devout and to inform the ignorant. It is the same in this 21st century now that motion pictures are the premier art form and much of the public is clueless about Christian basics. Through the grand visual of Mel Gibson’s art, the devout are once more inspired and the ignorant are once again informed. It’s like stained glass all over again.