I recently ran across an article on this subject and it grabbed my attention. Here’s is a portion of it:

“Political discourse is the Las Vegas of Christianity—the environment in which our sin is excused. Hate is winked at, fear is perpetuated and strife is applauded. Go wild, Christ-follower. Your words have no consequences here. Jesus doesn’t live in Vegas.

“Not only are believers excused for their political indiscretions, but they are often applauded for committing them. Slander is explained away as righteous anger; winning arguments are esteemed higher than truthful ones (whether or not the “facts” align); and those who stir up dissension are given the pulpit…

“Rather than engage in the political process, Christians have a duty to elevate it. Like any other sin, we are called to stand above the partisan dissension and demonstrate a better way. Should we have an opinion? Yes. Should we care about our country? Yes. Should we vote? Yes. But it’s time we talk politics in a way that models the teachings of Jesus rather than mocks them.“

Roberts, Bryan. “7 Things Christians Need to Remember About Politics.” Relevant. 4 September 2012. https://www.relevantmagazine.com/current/politics/7-things-christians-need-remember-about-politics

The author makes some valid points in the article and I began to speculate why many people (especially Christians) show such hate for those with differing opinions. Hate is not something encouraged in (most) Christian circles.

When asked what is the most important commandment, Jesus said, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:36-40)

He also said, “The three most important things to have are faith, hope and love. But the greatest of them is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13)

This ethereal “love” is a hot topic for Christians – you only have to look at almost any song that ever existed:

• “All You Need is Love” (Beatles)
• “Love Story” (Taylor Swift)
• “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” (Queen)
• “Endless Love” (Diana Ross & Lionel Richie)
• “One Love” (Bob Marley)
• and…

Well, you get the point. We love to wax poetic about love. But other than a quick utterance of “love ya” to our spouse as we bound out the door or uncontrollably screaming “I LOVE THIS SONG” every time our playlist advances, how do we really express love in our day-to-day lives. Jesus provided us a perfect example when he stood up for the woman who was caught in a vulnerable situation and threatened with death (John 8:1-11).

The religious leaders and followers of His day wanted to kill this woman because of her life choices (the guy she was caught sleeping with was noticeably absent from prosecution, but that’s another issue). The way they were treating her seems no different than the way I see so many Christians today attacking others that do not share their beliefs.

Jesus did three specific things in a specific order to show his love to everyone involved in this situation.

The first thing he did was to protect the girl. He did this without reservation or condition. The church leaders were about to kill her and knowing that she probably didn’t know who He was and that she was most likely guilty of the charges, He immediately risked His life to stop the execution. This is the purest example of unconditional love. Knowing she made different life choices, that she may never decide to follow Him and by law she could be executed, He still loved her enough to risk everything to stand beside her in her time of need.

Secondly, He respectfully disagreed with the leaders. When they said they had the right to kill her, Jesus essentially said, “OK, I see your point. If you have never screwed up and never made a mistake, then go ahead and kill her.” He did not call them liars, insult their reputation or be disrespectful in any way. He loved them, as He loved Himself, by treating them with respect.

Finally, after the leaders left and after Jesus earned the girl’s trust, He told her He did not condemn her. It’s important to note that He said this to her without presenting any conditions.

So how can I show this kind of Love (especially during this politically charged election season)?

1. Risk everything to defend those of differing beliefs and life choices.
2. Be respectful to those disagreeing with my point of view.
3. Refuse to make condemning accusations.

Bottom line:
Politicians will come and go, but our reputation of integrity (or lack thereof) will remain. According to Matthew 28:19, showing the world this kind of Love, not getting someone elected, should be our main goal.

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Here is the transcript:

Hi, my name is Colin Burch, Creative Director at Salem Fields.

Recently, our nephews stayed with us. As we were getting them ready for school, 6-year-old Josh asked me, “Will you make my hair REAL spiky?”

“Like a faux hawk?”, I asked.

“Yeah, a faux hawk!”

So off to school he went with pointy, 3-inch high hair. High fives all around; an uncle’s job well done!

My wife picked them up after school and she asked about their day.

The older Elijah remembered, “Oh, today was photo day.”

My wife whirled around to see Josh’s spikes still reaching for the sky, “Was it photo day for you, too?”

“Yep”, he replied.

You know, the Bible tells us, “all things work together for good to them that love God”

Well, our nephew’s photo shoot may have gone awry of the best-laid plans, but we just received the best school pictures ever!

Enjoy!

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However, if at any point the audience loses focus on God and is paying more attention to the technology itself (because of some glitch, mistake or even using production techniques that do not have the right “feel” for a particular moment in a service), then we have failed to meet our objective. This may sound harsh or melodramatic, but we are attempting to reach a culture that is used to getting their information in quick bursts of catchy sound bites and 15 second videos on most social media platforms. If there is a technical glitch during a national newscast, it is a statistical reality that a large percentage of the audience will change channels in search of a more polished delivery of the same information.

Question:

Pick your favorite live (or live to tape) TV show (one of the evening news shows, Jimmy Fallon, The Voice, etc.). Which of the following events is most common during the broadcast?

A) The host’s microphone being muted while the host is talking

B) The camera pointing in one direction while the host is somewhere else

C) The host is standing in the dark while speaking to the audience.

D) The host is talking about one subject while the supporting graphics describe an altogether different topic.

Answer:

The instance of any one of the events is an extreme anomaly. Why? Because of the high degree of preparation and the intense focus, each production member has on their assigned tasks.

These are not new concepts by any means, but in the church, they have a tendency to fall by the wayside. In response to a mistake or poor technical performance, how many times have you heard (or said) something like, “It’s no big deal; it’s just church,” or, “It’s good enough for church”. Yet God has called us to excellence!

“Servants… don’t just do the minimum that will get you by. Do your best… Keep in mind always that the ultimate Master you’re serving is Christ. The sullen servant who does shoddy work will be held responsible. Being a follower of Jesus doesn’t cover up bad work.” Colossians 3:23-24 (The Message)

Make It Happen

So how do we, as a production team, become excellent at being “transparent”?

• Prepare.
  Become an expert. If you don’t know the purpose of a button, knob or piece of equipment, then read the manual (or ask a team member to train you). Subscribe to magazines and frequent websites related to the area where you are volunteering. Do everything you can to learn everything you can.
• Practice
  There is simply no substitute for hands-on experience. Do everything you can to get as much hands-on experience as possible with the gear you will be operating during a service. Always attend scheduled practices so you can work with your gear in a live situation. As mistakes happen in practice, you will gain the confidence that only comes with experience that will allow you to have smooth performance during the weekend services.

  “An amateur practices something until they get it right. A professional will practice something until they cannot get it wrong.” 
  ~Kenneth van Barthold, (1927-2016)
  Pianist, teacher and co-author of The Story of the Piano

• Be Punctual
  Every production event has (or should have) a “Call Time”. This is always a bit before the event is scheduled to start and it allows the team to get the gear set-up, fix any problems and go over the game plan for the event. It is during this time that the team set up their equipment, troubleshoot and fix any problems, talk through the service order so everyone understands the transitions and each element of the service.
• Pay Attention
  During the event, live in the moment and focus on the immediate tasks at hand, but keep an eye on what is just around the corner. A live event is like surfing. Surfers study a particular beach to understand how the waves break and the tide ebbs and flows. When the moment is right, the surfer will swim out and grab a wave. Surfers know the direction that wave is going and how it is going to break, but they are constantly making minor adjustments as the wave progresses. They are living in that moment, that very second, as they are flying down the face of the wave. They are feeling every ripple on the water as their board skims over the water. At the same time, they are keeping an eye on the shore to give them perspective. They also know the location of any coral reefs or sandbars, so while in that moment they can instinctively make any adjustments to correct their course and avoid disaster. As member of the production team, our focus needs to be razor sharp so that we can be flexible in the execution of our tasks as the individual cues during an event ebb and flow.
• Prayer
  We cannot forget that we are fighting against an enemy that does not want us to succeed. Keep the entire team in prayer. Not just for a particular event or venue (although that is very important). But consider your team members throughout the week. What are their needs? How can you help them? How can you lift them up in prayer? How can the team pray for you?

Foundations of Excellence

Once we as team members begin to implement these steps, we will begin to see our productions not only achieve a broadcast quality, we will see lives changed through the transparent amplification of God’s Word.

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