Barack Obama ran on the promise to bring change to Washington. So what change will he lead our country in? Pondering this historic moment suggests that it is not that Barack Obama will bring change, but it is that HE IS THE CHANGE. He embodies the change. He is the son of an immigrant. He and his family are African-American. He is ethnically mixed. He is diversity embodied. Diversity is taking the highest seat in the land. Diversity has ascended to the presidency. This is the change people voted for. Much was made of the question: “Would race be a factor in this election?” Would he not be voted in because of his race? People who asked that question didn’t understand the next generation of Americans who have come of age. People who asked that question were thinking about older, racially biased white Americans. They were not thinking of the new Americans. Why were young people across America so excited about Barack Obama? Because they value diversity. They live in a multi-ethnic society that is blending people of all races. Just look at our marketing now. It intentionally is multi-ethnic. What we’ve looked at in the last decade in marketing and in all forms of media (ethnic diversity) we finally saw in real life in a presidential candidate. Across the nation, on Tuesday night there was so much euphoria, joy and hope because we saw an embodiment of what we see in our diverse communities we now see personified in the president elect. America voted for values, not for ideas on Tuesday. It’s the values of ethnic diversity, the value of bringing all Americans to the table, the value of a handsome, articulate, likable, young leader that our nation voted for. That’s why this election is historic. It was an overwhelming referendum on a more ethnically diverse America, on equality for all Americans, the shattering of the highest glass ceiling in America. It’s historic because no longer are we speculating on where we are headed in America. The future realities of a diverse America are now a present reality. For the old guard, this is a scary threshold we have crossed. As a church planter of a multi-ethnic church, this is a vision of the future that suddenly now is a present reality. We at All Nations Fellowship know first hand the joy of doing life together across ethnic lines. Ethnic and cultural variety is a beautiful tapestry woven by God and the rich detail viewed up close in our new global world and in our new America.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Thoughts on the new president elect: Barack Obama
Barack Obama ran on the promise to bring change to Washington. So what change will he lead our country in? Pondering this historic moment suggests that it is not that Barack Obama will bring change, but it is that HE IS THE CHANGE. He embodies the change. He is the son of an immigrant. He and his family are African-American. He is ethnically mixed. He is diversity embodied. Diversity is taking the highest seat in the land. Diversity has ascended to the presidency. This is the change people voted for. Much was made of the question: “Would race be a factor in this election?” Would he not be voted in because of his race? People who asked that question didn’t understand the next generation of Americans who have come of age. People who asked that question were thinking about older, racially biased white Americans. They were not thinking of the new Americans. Why were young people across America so excited about Barack Obama? Because they value diversity. They live in a multi-ethnic society that is blending people of all races. Just look at our marketing now. It intentionally is multi-ethnic. What we’ve looked at in the last decade in marketing and in all forms of media (ethnic diversity) we finally saw in real life in a presidential candidate. Across the nation, on Tuesday night there was so much euphoria, joy and hope because we saw an embodiment of what we see in our diverse communities we now see personified in the president elect. America voted for values, not for ideas on Tuesday. It’s the values of ethnic diversity, the value of bringing all Americans to the table, the value of a handsome, articulate, likable, young leader that our nation voted for. That’s why this election is historic. It was an overwhelming referendum on a more ethnically diverse America, on equality for all Americans, the shattering of the highest glass ceiling in America. It’s historic because no longer are we speculating on where we are headed in America. The future realities of a diverse America are now a present reality. For the old guard, this is a scary threshold we have crossed. As a church planter of a multi-ethnic church, this is a vision of the future that suddenly now is a present reality. We at All Nations Fellowship know first hand the joy of doing life together across ethnic lines. Ethnic and cultural variety is a beautiful tapestry woven by God and the rich detail viewed up close in our new global world and in our new America.
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God talks about a change in the future (or maybe not) that is radical: reconciliation become a norm / normal (Father & Son [daughters too]), Great paradigm shifts (hearts turning, significant attitude change to social norms), apathy becomes engagement, beauty for ashes, poverty for wealth, brokenness for joy, etc.
At various season, epics, generations, God has allowed quickening, acceleration; and at other struggles were longer, results seemed fewer. Is this a season of quickening, acceleration: that which is not becomes something unthinkable; job change happens overnight, moving happens in months, a year of development happens in months or a year. What would this revolution - paradigm shift look like? Like the early church - Acts 1 - 10, or so? Something that was not became (the church), the no church in the rest of the world; and then all across the roman World.
What God Does in the natural, socially, he is also orchestrating in the Spiritual? So what about our national transition - economy, political, sociologically is God doing in the Spiritual?
The church is supposed to be the vehicle which Father God uses to bring about his objectives (kingdom revolutions [heavenly])- we are to model and exemplify (the dawn) the change, we are to facilitate the change (show how to weather the seasons - movement form summer to fall to winter and sprint); we are to speak and release the harvest.
Where is God left after the season we have just come out of? Who was He not? What would He not do? What is he now? How big is he?
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