jonathan stegall

From the Internet Explorer team blog:

…I’m delighted to tell you that on Wednesday, December 12, Internet Explorer correctly rendered the Acid2 page in IE8 standards mode. While supporting the features tested in Acid2 is important for many reasons, it is just one of several milestones for the interoperability, standards compliance, and backwards compatibility that we’re committed to for this release. We will blog more on these topics.

Wonderful news. Web designers and developers everywhere agree with me that IE6 is the bane of our existence. There’s no need to discuss this further. IE7 is a massive improvement, and in general I’m pleased with the direction that the team seems to be taking for the future.

Acid2 compliance is, for me, an unexpected leap forward. Currently, Opera and Safari are the most widely used browsers that have achieved this milestone. Firefox 2.x does not reach this level, although Firefox 3 (which is in beta and, I’m sure, will be released well before IE 8 is) does.

I spent the last week recovering from surgery, so I had a lot of time to read various things around the Internet. I’m sure we’ve all seen a good amount of coverage about Mike Huckabee, and I want to put together the various thoughts I’ve had.

From Fox News:

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee … defended statements he made 15 years ago in which he advocated isolating AIDS patients from the general public and suggested homosexuality could “pose a dangerous public health risk.”

“But you know if the worst thing somebody can say about me is that 15 years ago I said that we need to be very careful about this transmission of disease, then I’m probably gonna be okay.”

Jesus, not to mention several of the Prophets, was entirely willing on many occasions to not only be around, but touch and heal, lepers of his day. These were viewed at least as badly as AIDS patients were fifteen years ago, as I’m sure Huckabee understands with his theology degree. In any case, he feels that his stance was worth standing by, although he might state it differently today.

In the above article that gives a little light on Huckabee’s theological education, he is quoted as saying:

“I’m as strong on terror as anybody. In fact I think I’m stronger than most people because I truly understand the nature of the war that we are in with Islamofascism. These are people that want to kill us. It’s a theocratic war. And I don’t know if anybody fully understands that. I’m the only guy on that stage with a theology degree. I think I understand it really well.”

There are people out there who honestly hold to the Just War theory, and some of these people have occasionally tried to apply its criteria to various parts of the war on terror. But to promote one’s “strength” against something like terrorism as being even remotely derived from one’s theological education is ludicrous, and brings up thoughts of the Protestant Reich Church of Nazi Germany.

Finally, there is the Christmas ad. From Ron Paul, quoted in the Houston Chronicle:

“It reminds me of what Sinclair Lewis once said. He says, ‘when fascism comes to this country, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross,’ ” Paul, a Protestant, told Fox News. “Now I don’t know whether that’s a fair assessment or not, but you wonder about using a cross, like he is the only Christian or implying that subtly. So, I don’t think I would ever use anything like that.”

From Bill Donahue, quoted in the same article:

“What he’s trying to say to the evangelicals in western Iowa (is): ‘I’m the real thing,’ ” Donohue said on the same news network. “You know what? Sell yourself on your issues, not on what your religion is.”

This is the frightening thing about politics in the Republican Party. It is entirely possible, and evidently it may be essential in order to win a primary, for a candidate to promote Jesus while ignoring the things he actually said and did.
A Washington Post article says it this way:

Rather, it’s the gap between the teachings of the Gospels and the preachings of the Gospel’s Own Party that has widened past the point of absurdity, even as the ostensible Christianization of the party proceeds apace.

We live in a frustrating time.

In March, Tom Sine of Mustard Seed Associates is releasing a book called The New Conspirators. The book has a blog here.

“In the UK, more churches were planted in the last seven years than Starbucks were opened–over 1,000 churches compared to only 750 Starbucks coffee shops. Interestingly, most of these church plants were ethnic and multi-cultural.

“God is doing something through a new generation, as I report in The New Conspirators: Creating the Future One Mustard Seed At a Time, which will be published by IVP in 2008. I believe God is working through at least four streams: the emerging church, missional churches, mosaic church plants and the monastic movement.”

Amazing stuff. God is moving in the U.K., and most of us in the U.S. are totally unaware of what he is doing. We think of the country as totally secular, and most Christians see that as a bad thing.

I present the idea that that’s a good thing. I look forward to the day when the American church does not have the political and societal influence it thinks it has, and has nothing to save it from itself but the living God. Nothing it can do but figure out what God is doing.

On a purely anti-corporate note, I find it wonderful that there have been more new churches than new Starbucks.

Chapter six of This Beautiful Mess is a reminder that, although the kingdom is here, it’s around for us to join and live in, it’s also not here. There is a tension. There is a “not yet.”

Somehow Christians have a hard time saying things like, “I don’t know why the hell this is happening or how this will end. You guys must be scared to death.” I guess we all need to be able to explain life down to every last detail even when the answers don’t mean anything to us. We just can’t stand the questions. But in the kingdom of God, I have come to believe, it is all right not to have all the answers, and I think Jesus likes it even more when we don’t make up ones that are safe and easy but hollow.

I have been blessed with a faith community that gets this, and refuses to make up safe and easy, but hollow, answers. Does it make it easier that when we don’t know what’s going on, we know it’s ok? No. But it does give us the freedom for it not to be easy. To admit that it’s not easy. To ask the questions, and to be confused.

That kind of freedom, I think, is the only way to be authentic before God. To really know that God knows us, and not to be afraid of what he knows. Can you imagine being entirely known, and yet not being afraid of the one who knows you?

Chapter five of This Beautiful Mess gets me right here:

When Jesus talked about building the kingdom, He never talked about us building it or advancing it. Never. He said, “The kingdom is…” He simply invited His followers to see it, embrace it, believe in the unfading reality of it - and join in what His Father was already doing in the world.

I’ve said here before that I’m a Pentecostal. Sort of. I met Jesus in a Pentecostal church, and I attended a Pentecostal college to earn a degree in Pentecostal ministry. I have a theology that is profoundly influenced by Pentecostal theology and experience. And that’s a great thing.

Pentecostals often talk about building the kingdom. Evangelizing the earth. And so on. It’s rare to hear Pentecostals talk about seeing the kingdom, embracing it, and joining in what Jesus is already doing. That phrase, join in what Jesus is doing, has gripped me for several years. I have been fortunate to know Pentecostals (and non-Pentecostals) who get what that means. I’ve talked about it. Thought about it. Prayed about it.

And that’s become my passion for life. To know what Jesus is doing, and join it. I remember reading in one of Brian McLaren’s books or articles that he was told by a mentor to always seek the forefront of what God is doing and just get involved with it. I resonate with this. It’s a difficult thing to seek, but it’s a worthy thing to seek.

It’s difficult to throw off the desire to keep doing things, and building things, and achieving things, and think about being things. And that’s what this chapter is talking about. It takes the focus off of me. It puts the focus on Jesus.

The chapter has me again when it says:

Choosing to live in the kingdom dimension creates some major shifts in our thinking. One of those is the shift from advancing to embracing.

Here, Rick McKinley is talking about that desire to move “to the next level.” I have prayed that prayer so many times. There’s a constant desire to reach a new level of whatever it is that we’re trying to achieve. Here, though, he’s talking about living in a new dimension.

The dimension of the kingdom, where Jesus has already placed us. There is something significant in that thought. If we live in that dimension, we don’t need to be constantly comparing ourselves and trying to achieve the next big thing.

I have to admit: I’m not a fan of Christmas music. I can pick out a very small number of Christmas songs that I like. But, today I can add another one.

August Burns Red is one of my favorite bands. Great music, great lyrics, great live show, great guys who are always willing to hang out and talk to people. Just an amazing band. Anyway, check out their purevolume page where they have posted a Christmas song. Very good song.

On a more serious note, Advent has been difficult for me as a follower of Jesus. By difficult, I mean it has been difficult to actually get anything out of it. To see past all the pansy angels, Caucasian wise men, jerky shoppers and customers (I spent enough time in retail to learn this pretty well), horrible music, and bad theology that surrounds the Christmas season and actually see the radical nature of the humanity of God has been hard.

Last year, I was fortunate to be part of a faith community that got it, and really understood how to engage with it in contemplation. This year, I’ve thus far neglected it again, being in a different situation with different issues.

On yet another note, I may be more sporadic in my posts for a couple of weeks. I’m having surgery on Wednesday, which will hopefully have a positive effect on my sleep apnea. Best wishes while I’m out.

I married my best friend at a church in Lakeland, Florida, in a building that had previously been a Scotty’s hardware store. Right now, at 2pm EST as Wordpress makes this post live, our ceremony was starting.

I have an amazing wife who walks through life with me. Plus, she’s hot. We were twenty year old college students, and I wouldn’t change a thing about our lives together.

She’s an amazing woman with a wonderful heart that sees the best and the worst of mine. I have learned so much from her, and continue to learn everyday.

Below are lyrics to our wedding song that I play on the morning of each anniversary. Tourniquet’s When the Love is Right. Kiera, I love you. Thank you for always being with me.

The journey through our life can bring
A place and time for everything
A day of hope, a year of fears
A thousand smiles, a million tears

Our paths were meant to cross
And I couldn’t forget you
No matter what the cost
We both had to see this through

Take my hand, take my heart
We will never be apart
Never be apart
Because I love you

Follow me and I’ll lead you
Lead me and I’ll follow you
Anywhere, anytime
When the love is right
The path is bright

From the Father of lights you came
And I know I’ll never be the same again
A beautiful gift has been given to me
Your smiling face is all I see

The look that’s in your eyes
And your smile that sets me free
Has made me realize
All that you see in me

Take my hand, take my heart
We will never be apart
Never be apart
Because I love you

Follow me and I’ll lead you
Lead me and I’ll follow you
Anywhere, anytime
When the love is right
The path is bright

Together now and forever
You are the one
You are my everything
To me you bring
The love that I have waited for

The look that’s in your eyes
And your smile that sets me free
Has made me realize
All that you see in me
Our paths were meant to cross
And I couldn’t forget you
The soul in you is the soul in me
The way that it was meant to be

Scot McKnight runs one of my favorite blogs. There is a post that looks at a chapter of John Goldingay’s Israel’s Gospel (OT Theology). I haven’t read this book, but after reading this post I want to. Anyway, Scot’s post mentions a sentence that closes this chapter, and gives us a way in which we might understand a bit of our history.

“The church in Europe lives in exile; is may not yet have seen the release of Jehoiachin. The church in the United States lives in the time of Josiah, assimilated to the culture that surrounds it. The question is whether it will turn or whether it must follow the church in Europe into exile” (695).

Brilliant words. I’ve often taught that, at this time in our history, we can look at the state of the church in Europe, and in doing so we can see where the church in the United States will be in 20-50 years, barring a change for better or worse (yes, it could get worse than it is).

In Europe, the church is generally an irrelevant part of society, but it does not have the advantage of being an unknown, or neutrally viewed part of society. If only because of its recent history (to say nothing of the last thousand years), from its general support of fascism in the 20th century to its horrible mainstream existence in the United States, Christianity in Europe has a difficult position.

In looking at this position, the question is not whether we are moving in that direction, but what should be done about it. This is the root of the war about religion that continues to wage in our country. One side clearly believes that Christian nations are possible, and that we are a Christian nation, and that Christian nations are nations that follow and spread conservative politics all over the world. The other side clearly also believes Christian nations are possible, but that we are not a Christian nation, and that Christian nations are horrible, bigoted places that should be left as memories of the Dark Ages.

A third way believes that neither side is right. Christian nations are not possible, because the power of the Cross stands in subversion of the power of the State, not joined with the State or in a war with the State. This kind of Christianity cannot seek the power of the State, but seeks to serve and love humanity in the way of the Cross.

In Europe, the churches and movements that are accomplishing things for the kingdom of God know this. There isn’t a choice. In the United States, it’s easier not to learn a truth like this, because we don’t have to.