I know you’ve done this yourself. If you have little kids you’ve seen this happen before your very eyes. When a Hollywood movie star does it, you stand and applaud their Oscar winning performance knowing full well that it’s a sham. We all know how the ‘Sorry, not sorry’ works. Whether it’s apologizing for hitting a sibling or apologizing for the most recent offensive thing to cross the lips of an athlete or celebrity, we all know a false apology when we see one. They may be sorry that they got caught, or sorry that you were offended, but it is not the kind of sorrow they are trying to portray or want you to buy. Slow movements. Keep your head down. Lower your voice a few decibels. "I’m sorry for throwing my toy at your head." Ten minutes later the apology is forgotten but you have learned a lesson. You didn’t learn ‘your’ lesson but ‘a’ lesson. Don’t get caught next time or at least have an excuse ready if you do.
In 2 Corinthians 7 Paul does his own ‘Sorry, not sorry’ and then tells us about another kind of ‘Sorry, not sorry’:
Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it—I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while— yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.—2Corinthians 7:8-10
If you know anything about the church in Corinth you already know that it was MESSED UP! A young guy is sleeping with his stepmother, people are gorging themselves on the Lord’s Supper so that some don’t even get any, and there are divisions everywhere. The letter Paul refers to was probably tough to write and even tougher to read or listen to. He is sorry that he had to send that letter because he doesn’t know how they will respond. Earlier, in chapter 2 he says:
Another reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything.—2 Corinthians 2:8
He sends the letter off, unsure of how things will go, but here in chapter 7 we see that Paul’s regret turned to happiness because of what actually happened in the church that he loves. The people in Corinth are sorry! But not just any kind of sorry, they are ‘Sorry, Really Sorry’ and that true kind of sorrow leads to repentance and salvation.
Before we get to our New Year’s Resolutions I want to suggest that we start with a big ‘R’ that we see in scripture: Repent. As we kickoff 2014 take a look at how Jesus kicks off his ministry.
From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near."—Matthew 4:17
Jesus’ opening message has us dealing in a very particular way with our past as a way of preparing for the coming kingdom, and that is the way of repentance. Before we can step into something new (a new year that is on our doorstep) it is important that we adequately and honestly address where we are coming from (a year that is in the books). Many times we look back and see a year that has some missed opportunities or things we wish we had done different. We can look back in a way that fills us with regret for past actions or keeps us from being hopeful about the future. However, Paul is clear that Godly sorrow leaves no regret and Jesus is clear that this coming kingdom is something worth hoping for. The sorrow and repentance that they are talking about lead to something worthwhile.
Did you host any gatherings during this holiday season? If you did, I’m pretty sure you did a decent amount of cleaning before anyone arrived. If you’re a bit on the OCD side like myself you probably had a nice little checklist to make sure you didn’t miss anything. Get things clean before people can come in. Repentance isn’t about cleaning ourselves up first. Isn’t that what most New Year’s Resolutions are about? We list our intentions to get ourselves straightened out and cleaned up so we are presentable by this time next year. Repentance is about inviting someone into the mess we’ve made. Isn’t that exactly what we celebrated last week? Christ entered into our mess before we cleaned up. We didn’t even have a room ready for him.
Repentance is hard to do. Either we don’t want to admit there’s a mess or we don’t want to let someone else try and fix it. Have you ever seen how tough it is for people on the show Hoarders to let go of things? They are afraid to let others clean things up because of what they may lose in the process, so they fight to be in control of the cleanup. How crazy is that! In the midst of the absolute chaos that they created they want to be in control! How easy is it for us to have that same posture towards God when it comes to getting our lives together?
Being sorrowful and repentant frees us up for Christ to take residence within us.
Jesus,
Sorry for my mess. Thank you for coming anyway.
Love,
Ryan
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Monday, December 23, 2013
Fowl Ball: America's Pastime Meets Duck Dynasty
I know that many of you may still be wondering how this NFL regular season is going to finish up but did you know that MLB Spring Training is only 2 months away? I am not much of a baseball fan but I know a few people who are counting down the days to a new season. One of the most exhilerating aspects of America’s pastime is the long ball, the home run. Back in the late 90’s I was one of those people drawn in by the home run chase of Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. The hoopla surrounding their home run slugging was about as juiced as they were, and we ate it up. As that season and the next went along, the only stat we were following was the home run total. However, with big beefy guys swinging a bat as hard as they could, it was inevitable that they were also going to swing and miss. A lot. And so it’s not surprising that many of the top homerun hitters also lead the league in being struckout. While homeruns are exciting, being struckout can be embarrassing, especially as wildly as some of these guys swing at the ball. In generating power, they lose a bit of their control and there is a tendency to swing hard at almost everything.
The best pure hitters in the game know how to wait for their pitch. They are excellent at reading the pitch and knowing when it’s a good thing to swing at. A pitcher can throw a myriad of pitches and not every batter has the same level of success with certain pitches, so it’s vital that a batter know what they’re good at and what they’re not. They pick their spot and try to get in a good situation where they can get a good pitch and a good opportunity to get on base. They may not hit as many homeruns, but they rarely find themselves embarrassed by a pitch. Homeruns can energize a crowd but players with a high OBP (On Base Percentage) are what help win games and pure hitters have a smart swing and a keen eye for getting on base.
Another aspect of baseball I’d like to mention before getting to the recent situation involving Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson is the perspective of the fans in the stands. Even though I’m not a big baseball fan, as I earlier mentioned, I do enjoy going to a White Sox game from time to time. I love the smell of the food and the evenly cut grass with straight lines makes my OCD heart content. I’ve been there enough times to know that different sections can have very different perspectives. Sitting in the upperdeck and close to homeplate means that almost every high flyball looks like it just may be a homer. You stand up in anticipation but it didn’t even make it out of the infield. It isn’t until the ball actually lands that you see where the ball was heading. Sometimes you are certain that the ball is "going going gone" only to find that the ball trajectory was curving or the wind was pushing/pulling the ball until it lands foul. Our perspective can be flawed.
This past week statements made by Phil Robertson, Duck Dynasty patriarch, caused quite a firestorm on media outlets and the interwebs. As soon as I caught wind of what happened I knew it was going to be a doozy of a week and attempted to stay off of facebook as much as possible to avoid getting drawn in. I was mildly successful and had enough time away from the online activity to really process things a bit. And so, instead of posting a comment here or a comment there and ending up in all of the emotionally charged back and forth that so easily happens, I’m doing this post.
Let me first state that I’ve seen quite a few episodes of the show. We don’t have television programming at home but there always seems to be a marathon of Duck Dynasty going on when I’m spending a holiday with family who do have cable. So I’m familiar with that aspect. I’m also familiar with their personal testimonies shared outside of the actual show. This past Father’s Day, my redneck pastor interviewed 3 of Phil’s boys as a way to talk about fatherhood and the role of faith within their family. They shared their lives with all of their imperfections along with the redemptive work of God every step of the way. And lastly, I’m familiar with the unbelievable amount of marketing that has it’s fingerprints on everything it can get a hold of. I’m guessing that if you’re not a Duck Dynasty type of person, you can’t possibly stand going to Walmart. Their merchandise is everywhere. All that being said, "Here. We. Go."
In his interview with GQ magazine, Phil swung at a pitch and hit the ball hard and far. With every tweet, status update and shared meme this ball went further and further. All across my newsfeed I saw Christians jump out of their seats and start to applaud this pivotal and game changing homerun. But it wasn’t a homerun. Not even close. I’ve seen Phil hit homeruns. Many times! Each and every time he shares his story, and how God intervened to make it His story through the redemptive work of Christ, Phil hits a homerun you can’t deny. "You can put it on the board……Yes!" as Ken Harrelson says for each White Sox homer. When Phil swings at an opportunity to share God’s work in his life and that of his family, it results in a ridiculous amount of glory to God, rather than a bunch of ridiculousness. The opportunity to share about God’s work in our lives is a pitch down the middle of the plate that each of us as followers of Christ ought to hit with great success. Unfortunately, I don’t think we swing at that one nearly as often as we should. You can still strike out even if you didn’t swing the bat and I think many of us do just that every time we fail to share what God is doing in our midst.
In this case, however, Phil did swing and did make contact but this ball went ‘fowl’. We may disagree on how ‘fowl’ this ball went (some say horribly offensive and homophobic, others say he was crass or was just the way he says stuff) but when it comes to baseball a foulball is a foulball. It doesn’t matter if it was just a couple feet from the post in the outfield or spins back into the backstop wall. It’s still foul. Even after a ‘fowlball’ Phil is not out of the game and will have other opportunities to swing. I just hope he saves his swing for ‘his pitch’.
There are pitches that every batter should be able to hit and there are opportunities that every Christian should swing at. However, batters can gain experience in hitting pitches that fall just outside the strike zone. Some may be able to swing at ‘high and tight’ or ‘low and away’ with success if it fits with who they are as a batter and with enough practice. A pitch that may be tough for one batter may be a piece of cake for another. In swinging at a pitch about the definition of sin during an interview with a men’s fashion magazine representative I think Phil was swinging at a loaded pitch. The pitch had something on it and he went for it. He’s a smart guy and maybe he knew it and swung anyway. Homerun hitters think they can hit everything and so maybe pride was an issue in tackling this question. He thought he could handle it fine. Regardless, in my opinion, the swing looked horrible. I know plenty of people who could have at least got on base safely on that pitch. I know others who could have hit that pitch over the left field, center field, or right field wall. That’s because it’s their pitch. They’ve seen that pitch before and they’re more than capable of a smooth swing. This didn’t look like Phil’s pitch.
This is not to say that a Christian has to have a personal experience or superior depth of knowledge about the issues Phil addressed in order to swing at an opportunity like he had. For example: There are followers of Christ who have drug addiction in their past or even their present which is a part of His story and theirs. Their experiences give them an ability to swing at things pertaining to addiction and faith with a tremendous amount of courage. What’s funny is that I can swing at some of the same pitches they face even though I’ve never dealt with substance abuse addiction and honestly know very little about drugs. I have spent the last 10 years working with teenage guys struggling with addiction, broken homes and all that goes along with growing up. I can take a swing at some of those questions whereas others probably shouldn’t.
My overall sense of things is that this just wasn’t Phil’s pitch. He shouldn’t have swung as wildly as he did for one simple reason: He didn’t have to. When I ask someone a question it is usually because there is something I don’t know and I venture that most people knew where Phil stood on this issue long before this pitch. The way in which he went about giving us an anatomy lesson was unhelpful and unnecessary. I can’t speak for what his experience is on this issue but maybe there was something that made him feel qualified to do what he did. Maybe there wasn’t. Regardless, he needs to go back and ‘watch the tape’ on this swing. Where did it get us? Right back in the middle of another divisive debate. He needs to wait for his pitch until or unless he is able to make a better swing at issues of sexuality. There are other batters who may be better equipped to take a swing at this one. By waiting for his pitch, the one that allows him to share his story and His story, he can advance the runner and advance God’s Kingdom. Put that one one the board…….or newsfeed.
The best pure hitters in the game know how to wait for their pitch. They are excellent at reading the pitch and knowing when it’s a good thing to swing at. A pitcher can throw a myriad of pitches and not every batter has the same level of success with certain pitches, so it’s vital that a batter know what they’re good at and what they’re not. They pick their spot and try to get in a good situation where they can get a good pitch and a good opportunity to get on base. They may not hit as many homeruns, but they rarely find themselves embarrassed by a pitch. Homeruns can energize a crowd but players with a high OBP (On Base Percentage) are what help win games and pure hitters have a smart swing and a keen eye for getting on base.
Another aspect of baseball I’d like to mention before getting to the recent situation involving Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson is the perspective of the fans in the stands. Even though I’m not a big baseball fan, as I earlier mentioned, I do enjoy going to a White Sox game from time to time. I love the smell of the food and the evenly cut grass with straight lines makes my OCD heart content. I’ve been there enough times to know that different sections can have very different perspectives. Sitting in the upperdeck and close to homeplate means that almost every high flyball looks like it just may be a homer. You stand up in anticipation but it didn’t even make it out of the infield. It isn’t until the ball actually lands that you see where the ball was heading. Sometimes you are certain that the ball is "going going gone" only to find that the ball trajectory was curving or the wind was pushing/pulling the ball until it lands foul. Our perspective can be flawed.
This past week statements made by Phil Robertson, Duck Dynasty patriarch, caused quite a firestorm on media outlets and the interwebs. As soon as I caught wind of what happened I knew it was going to be a doozy of a week and attempted to stay off of facebook as much as possible to avoid getting drawn in. I was mildly successful and had enough time away from the online activity to really process things a bit. And so, instead of posting a comment here or a comment there and ending up in all of the emotionally charged back and forth that so easily happens, I’m doing this post.
Let me first state that I’ve seen quite a few episodes of the show. We don’t have television programming at home but there always seems to be a marathon of Duck Dynasty going on when I’m spending a holiday with family who do have cable. So I’m familiar with that aspect. I’m also familiar with their personal testimonies shared outside of the actual show. This past Father’s Day, my redneck pastor interviewed 3 of Phil’s boys as a way to talk about fatherhood and the role of faith within their family. They shared their lives with all of their imperfections along with the redemptive work of God every step of the way. And lastly, I’m familiar with the unbelievable amount of marketing that has it’s fingerprints on everything it can get a hold of. I’m guessing that if you’re not a Duck Dynasty type of person, you can’t possibly stand going to Walmart. Their merchandise is everywhere. All that being said, "Here. We. Go."
In his interview with GQ magazine, Phil swung at a pitch and hit the ball hard and far. With every tweet, status update and shared meme this ball went further and further. All across my newsfeed I saw Christians jump out of their seats and start to applaud this pivotal and game changing homerun. But it wasn’t a homerun. Not even close. I’ve seen Phil hit homeruns. Many times! Each and every time he shares his story, and how God intervened to make it His story through the redemptive work of Christ, Phil hits a homerun you can’t deny. "You can put it on the board……Yes!" as Ken Harrelson says for each White Sox homer. When Phil swings at an opportunity to share God’s work in his life and that of his family, it results in a ridiculous amount of glory to God, rather than a bunch of ridiculousness. The opportunity to share about God’s work in our lives is a pitch down the middle of the plate that each of us as followers of Christ ought to hit with great success. Unfortunately, I don’t think we swing at that one nearly as often as we should. You can still strike out even if you didn’t swing the bat and I think many of us do just that every time we fail to share what God is doing in our midst.
In this case, however, Phil did swing and did make contact but this ball went ‘fowl’. We may disagree on how ‘fowl’ this ball went (some say horribly offensive and homophobic, others say he was crass or was just the way he says stuff) but when it comes to baseball a foulball is a foulball. It doesn’t matter if it was just a couple feet from the post in the outfield or spins back into the backstop wall. It’s still foul. Even after a ‘fowlball’ Phil is not out of the game and will have other opportunities to swing. I just hope he saves his swing for ‘his pitch’.
There are pitches that every batter should be able to hit and there are opportunities that every Christian should swing at. However, batters can gain experience in hitting pitches that fall just outside the strike zone. Some may be able to swing at ‘high and tight’ or ‘low and away’ with success if it fits with who they are as a batter and with enough practice. A pitch that may be tough for one batter may be a piece of cake for another. In swinging at a pitch about the definition of sin during an interview with a men’s fashion magazine representative I think Phil was swinging at a loaded pitch. The pitch had something on it and he went for it. He’s a smart guy and maybe he knew it and swung anyway. Homerun hitters think they can hit everything and so maybe pride was an issue in tackling this question. He thought he could handle it fine. Regardless, in my opinion, the swing looked horrible. I know plenty of people who could have at least got on base safely on that pitch. I know others who could have hit that pitch over the left field, center field, or right field wall. That’s because it’s their pitch. They’ve seen that pitch before and they’re more than capable of a smooth swing. This didn’t look like Phil’s pitch.
This is not to say that a Christian has to have a personal experience or superior depth of knowledge about the issues Phil addressed in order to swing at an opportunity like he had. For example: There are followers of Christ who have drug addiction in their past or even their present which is a part of His story and theirs. Their experiences give them an ability to swing at things pertaining to addiction and faith with a tremendous amount of courage. What’s funny is that I can swing at some of the same pitches they face even though I’ve never dealt with substance abuse addiction and honestly know very little about drugs. I have spent the last 10 years working with teenage guys struggling with addiction, broken homes and all that goes along with growing up. I can take a swing at some of those questions whereas others probably shouldn’t.
My overall sense of things is that this just wasn’t Phil’s pitch. He shouldn’t have swung as wildly as he did for one simple reason: He didn’t have to. When I ask someone a question it is usually because there is something I don’t know and I venture that most people knew where Phil stood on this issue long before this pitch. The way in which he went about giving us an anatomy lesson was unhelpful and unnecessary. I can’t speak for what his experience is on this issue but maybe there was something that made him feel qualified to do what he did. Maybe there wasn’t. Regardless, he needs to go back and ‘watch the tape’ on this swing. Where did it get us? Right back in the middle of another divisive debate. He needs to wait for his pitch until or unless he is able to make a better swing at issues of sexuality. There are other batters who may be better equipped to take a swing at this one. By waiting for his pitch, the one that allows him to share his story and His story, he can advance the runner and advance God’s Kingdom. Put that one one the board…….or newsfeed.
Friday, December 13, 2013
Dominoes and Jesus
(I originally wrote this for something else and decided I might as well revise it for my own blog)
Anyone who knows me knows that I love playing strategy games. For more than 5 years I have routinely, almost weekly, gathered together with friends to play a variety of games. Over my Thanksgiving break I had the joy of playing one of those games with my parents and they loved it! On our last evening together we needed a break from my game and so we played one of their favorites: Dominoes. And what better time than Christmas to spend some time talking about Dominoes!
Dominoes is one of those games that is easy to pick up on because there aren’t that many rules and is a lot of fun for young and old alike. Basically, your goal when playing is to get rid of all of your tiles before your opponent by strategically connecting your tiles to tiles already in play. Each tile has 2 numbers, designated by dots, which restrict your ability to connect tiles. If the end of a tile has 3 dots on it, for instance, you can only connect that to a tile with 3 dots on one or both ends. Since tiles have 2 numbers on them you can string your tiles together so that you can connect a tile with a 3 on one end to a tile with a 5 on one end using a tile that has both a 3 and a 5. This 3/5 tile connects 2 tiles that could not otherwise connect because it is able to connect to them both.
So what does Dominoes have to do with this Christmas season? Jesus! As I’ve been thinking about connecting I can’t help but look at what God did in Christ. Who Jesus is and what he did reminds me an awful lot of that connecting 3/5 tile. “Man that he might represent us, God that he might save us.” This is a statement I heard years ago in college in regard to the divinity and humanity of Jesus. Some may even refer to Jesus as the Godman because of the understanding that Jesus was both divine and human. It is because Jesus is both divine and human that a door is opened for an amazing connection between God and man.
Knowing how far God had to reach in order to connect with us, how far will we reach to connect to people this world? Knowing that we are uniquely designed and gifted by God and for His purposes, where can you be a connection between this world and Christ?
Anyone who knows me knows that I love playing strategy games. For more than 5 years I have routinely, almost weekly, gathered together with friends to play a variety of games. Over my Thanksgiving break I had the joy of playing one of those games with my parents and they loved it! On our last evening together we needed a break from my game and so we played one of their favorites: Dominoes. And what better time than Christmas to spend some time talking about Dominoes!
Dominoes is one of those games that is easy to pick up on because there aren’t that many rules and is a lot of fun for young and old alike. Basically, your goal when playing is to get rid of all of your tiles before your opponent by strategically connecting your tiles to tiles already in play. Each tile has 2 numbers, designated by dots, which restrict your ability to connect tiles. If the end of a tile has 3 dots on it, for instance, you can only connect that to a tile with 3 dots on one or both ends. Since tiles have 2 numbers on them you can string your tiles together so that you can connect a tile with a 3 on one end to a tile with a 5 on one end using a tile that has both a 3 and a 5. This 3/5 tile connects 2 tiles that could not otherwise connect because it is able to connect to them both.
So what does Dominoes have to do with this Christmas season? Jesus! As I’ve been thinking about connecting I can’t help but look at what God did in Christ. Who Jesus is and what he did reminds me an awful lot of that connecting 3/5 tile. “Man that he might represent us, God that he might save us.” This is a statement I heard years ago in college in regard to the divinity and humanity of Jesus. Some may even refer to Jesus as the Godman because of the understanding that Jesus was both divine and human. It is because Jesus is both divine and human that a door is opened for an amazing connection between God and man.
Jesus is how God connects to us
When we think of the incarnation, or God becoming flesh, we generally just think about the birth narrative of Jesus but that is incomplete. God didn’t just become flesh in Christ, but also experienced everything that we fleshy people experience in our lives. From the time when Jesus was wrapped in cloth and placed in a manger until the time when Jesus was wrapped in cloth and placed in the tomb he connected with our entire humanity. Jesus celebrated at a wedding at Cana in Galilee. He had a close group of friends he shared life with. He was filled with sorrow and cried when his friend Lazarus died. He experienced rejection when people turned away and no longer followed him. He felt the pain of deep betrayal when Judas sold him out and Peter denied even knowing him. And finally, he felt the sort of physical pain we can barely fathom and ultimately experienced death itself. God connects to us by experiencing what we experience and that happened in Christ.Jesus is how we connect to God
Jesus describes his close relationship to the Father throughout the book of John and ultimately he says to his disciple Phillip that anyone who has seen and heard him has seen and heard the Father himself. How do we know what God the Father is like? Jesus. How do we know what God the Father feels about us? Jesus. Jesus has an intimate relationship with his Father and he wants to share that with us. He invites us to experience what he experiences. It is difficult to connect with someone you don’t know and since Jesus wants us to know his Father he helps us out big time. Time and again he makes it clear that what he is saying and doing ought to be directly connected to the one that sent him, the Father. He is doing what his Father does. Jesus is how we connect to God.Jesus is why we connect to others
In 2 Corinthians 3 we see that as people connected to God in Christ we have a role in this world as ambassadors. This tile chain doesn’t end with God connecting to us in Christ. God wants to go a step further. God wants us to be a connecting tile too! In 1 Corinthians 12 Paul talks about how we are uniquely gifted and how we all have different roles within the body of Christ. In Dominoes there are a variety of number combinations on the tiles and so each tile has the ability to connect in ways that other tiles don’t. The church, with its diverse members, has the ability to connect to a diverse world. The end result is a tile chain that connects God to our world and reconciles this world back to God.Knowing how far God had to reach in order to connect with us, how far will we reach to connect to people this world? Knowing that we are uniquely designed and gifted by God and for His purposes, where can you be a connection between this world and Christ?
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Thanksgiving: A Path to Worship
Over the past few weeks I have seen numerous friends on Facebook doing ’30 Days of Thanks’ with their statuses. People are thankful for things ranging from family and friends to their local Starbucks establishement and so it’s on Thanksgiving Eve that I’d like to share a few thoughts on giving thanks.
Let me start by saying that I am horrible at saying thank you, especially for daily common courtesies. I’m not sure why, but I doubt it has little to do with my upbringing. I was taught at home and in school to say thank you, but like many things, including my size 32 jeans, I outgrew them. And just like the jeans from my skinny days (I refuse to call them skinny jeans) I really should fit back into a healthy routine of saying thank you. I like to be helpful and do things for others but I always feel a bit awkward when people say, "Thank you". Most times I do what I do as a way of saying, "Thank you." And so receiving a "Thank you" in return for me saying "Thank you" in my deeds feels odd. I need to be a better giver and receiver of thanks.
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.—Romans 1:21
They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.—Romans 1:25
‘Thanks’ leads to ‘Worship’
These 2 verses and their context are helpful for us to understand the importance of ‘giving thanks’ because how we give thanks is directly connected to how we worship. There is a rhythm in how creation and Creator relate to each other and things go terribly wrong when that rhythm is disrupted. I love how Matt Chandler, pastor of The Village Church, describes how Christians ought to respond to all of creation. When it comes to the sorts of things I see people sharing on Facebook each day, those things ought to, in Chandler’s words "roll up into thanksgiving to God." There is a higher level of joy that goes beyond the actual thing itself. Our enjoyment of a meal ought to roll up in thanksgiving to God, our provider. Our enjoyment of a beautiful spring day ought to roll up in thanksgiving to God. Our enjoyment and delight in our spouse or kids ought to roll up in thanksgiving to our Creator, from whom every good and perfect gift comes. (James 1:17) These things for which we’re thankful lead us into a place of worship.
Unfortunately, being thankful doesn’t necessarily lead to a worship of God and, as we see in Romans 1, we can direct our worship toward created things. The very things that are intended to direct us toward worship of God are instead turned into gods, false idols. Rather than our worship ‘rolling up to God’ it instead rests on creation and creation makes for a lousy God. Bad things happen when we make our job, our health, our spouse, or our children an idol. How many families have suffered because a parent worshipped their job sacrificially? How many husbands or wives feel the burden of being their spouses source of joy and struggle to live up to it? How many kids connect their achievements to how much they will be loved by their parent? So be careful not to make the things you are thankful for a source of false worship. It’s when we worship God as God that we are free to enjoy creation for what it is, a blessing from God.
Tomorrow many of us will be sitting around tables full of food and surrounded by family and stating the things we are thankful for over the past year. Perhaps when we share things that we are thankful for we should do what Paul does earlier in Romans:
First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world.—Romans 1:8
Don’t just make a list of the things you are thankful for. Put the list in an envelope, place a stamp on it and address it directly to the Creator.
Let me start by saying that I am horrible at saying thank you, especially for daily common courtesies. I’m not sure why, but I doubt it has little to do with my upbringing. I was taught at home and in school to say thank you, but like many things, including my size 32 jeans, I outgrew them. And just like the jeans from my skinny days (I refuse to call them skinny jeans) I really should fit back into a healthy routine of saying thank you. I like to be helpful and do things for others but I always feel a bit awkward when people say, "Thank you". Most times I do what I do as a way of saying, "Thank you." And so receiving a "Thank you" in return for me saying "Thank you" in my deeds feels odd. I need to be a better giver and receiver of thanks.
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.—Romans 1:21
They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.—Romans 1:25
‘Thanks’ leads to ‘Worship’
These 2 verses and their context are helpful for us to understand the importance of ‘giving thanks’ because how we give thanks is directly connected to how we worship. There is a rhythm in how creation and Creator relate to each other and things go terribly wrong when that rhythm is disrupted. I love how Matt Chandler, pastor of The Village Church, describes how Christians ought to respond to all of creation. When it comes to the sorts of things I see people sharing on Facebook each day, those things ought to, in Chandler’s words "roll up into thanksgiving to God." There is a higher level of joy that goes beyond the actual thing itself. Our enjoyment of a meal ought to roll up in thanksgiving to God, our provider. Our enjoyment of a beautiful spring day ought to roll up in thanksgiving to God. Our enjoyment and delight in our spouse or kids ought to roll up in thanksgiving to our Creator, from whom every good and perfect gift comes. (James 1:17) These things for which we’re thankful lead us into a place of worship.
Unfortunately, being thankful doesn’t necessarily lead to a worship of God and, as we see in Romans 1, we can direct our worship toward created things. The very things that are intended to direct us toward worship of God are instead turned into gods, false idols. Rather than our worship ‘rolling up to God’ it instead rests on creation and creation makes for a lousy God. Bad things happen when we make our job, our health, our spouse, or our children an idol. How many families have suffered because a parent worshipped their job sacrificially? How many husbands or wives feel the burden of being their spouses source of joy and struggle to live up to it? How many kids connect their achievements to how much they will be loved by their parent? So be careful not to make the things you are thankful for a source of false worship. It’s when we worship God as God that we are free to enjoy creation for what it is, a blessing from God.
Tomorrow many of us will be sitting around tables full of food and surrounded by family and stating the things we are thankful for over the past year. Perhaps when we share things that we are thankful for we should do what Paul does earlier in Romans:
First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world.—Romans 1:8
Don’t just make a list of the things you are thankful for. Put the list in an envelope, place a stamp on it and address it directly to the Creator.
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
My Birthday Wish
In a little over 2 weeks I will be celebrating my 35th birthday. I’ve never been one to make a big deal out of birthdays or birthday wishes so I’m going to do something a bit taboo by sharing my birthday wish with ya’ll. But first, a bit of birthday history.
My birthday is December 7th and for you history buffs the first thing you’ll think of is the bombing of Pearl Harbor when 2,386 Americans were killed. But did you know that on this day in history the first prisoner was put to death by lethal injection in 1982? My wife’s birthday is August 6th and on her day we dropped the bomb on Hiroshima and tried out the electric chair for the first time. And so, twice a year, when our birthdays come around I am reminded about the thousands who died in WWII and of the ways in which we hand out justice to the worst of the worst. Over the past couple years my thoughts have been drawn toward the latter group of people time and time again and this week while reading a devotional/liturgical type book I read a quote related to the death penalty. With thoughts on the death penalty once again rattling around in my head I figure I might as well organize my thoughts a bit and express them here. Here we go:
Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.—Hebrews 13:3
The Forgotten
As the saying goes, "Out of sight, out of mind." Prisoners are, for the most part, a forgotten population of people. Aside from particular occupations or having a loved one in prison, the vast majority of us have no experience or contact with prisoners. Those unfortunate enough to be in prison experience little or no interaction with people on the outside. Kept separate by high walls and fences. Kept separate by bars and bulletproof glass. The separation between them and us is established and increased until ultimately they are forgotten. And for those that do get released the transition to the ‘real world’ is a difficult and uphill battle. Prisons are primarily designed to detain, not rehabilitate, and so many come out in no better situation than when they went in. There are many dehumanizing aspects to prison life which complicate social aspects of life on the outside and so many end up returning.
The author of Hebrews wants us to remember those who are too easily forgotten. We are to identify with them as if we ourselves were in their position by moving from sympathy to empathy. Sympathy essentially implies a feeling of recognition of another’s suffering while empathy is actually sharing another's suffering. I am reminded of the story of the Good Samaritan when the Samaritan is moved with compassion and took pity on the nearly dead man. The verb used in that verse implies being deeply moved, in the gut. The Samaritan is deeply moved on the inside and, in turn, is moved toward the man on the outside. I’m sure the other two passers by felt sorry, or sympathetic, for the guy’s situation but only the Samaritan was empathetic. We are to remember prisoners and identify with them in a way that moves us to them.
"Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
"The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’—Matthew 25:37-40
The Least of the Least of These
Not only do we have a tendency to forget the people we don’t see but I think many of us forget that prisoners are a part of ‘the least of these’ group. Most times when I hear people reference this passage it is in the context of caring for the needy. We remember to feed the hungry and clothe the homeless but when is the last time we’ve been reminded to visit prisoners? Before reading this blog post? What does it say about our approach toward prisoners when they are at the end of the line of the least of these? I wonder how many prison ministries there are in relation to food pantries in churches today. In Acts 6 we see a problem being addressed by the disciples. Widows were being overlooked in the distribution of food and so people were assigned to make sure this didn’t continue. As a church that is called to meet the very real needs of the least of these, we need to be careful not to overlook the easily forgotten.
Another aspect of this passage deserves our full attention. What we do to prisoners we do to Jesus! The fact that Jesus connects himself not only to the hungry and homeless but also to prisoners is a huge deal. To be clear, in neither of the passages I have brought up does there seem to be the implication that these prisoners are innocent or falsely accused and imprisoned. Jesus isn’t connecting himself to some righteous group of individuals that are suffering for His name and saying we need to visit them only. We don’t make those kinds of distinctions, or at least shouldn’t, in terms of helping the poor and so we shouldn’t make those sorts of distinctions when visiting and caring for those in prison. If remembering and visiting prisoners is a way of remembering and visiting Jesus than what are we doing when we kill prisoners? Or at least condone of our justice system killing them? Forgive me for saying it like this but it reminds of the Jews handing Jesus off to Pilate to crucify him. Sure, the Romans killed Jesus on their method of execution but Peter was very clear in Acts about who was guilty. Jesus’ connection to prisoners in this passage has me looking seriously at how I, myself, view and treat prisoners. I feel neglectful. I am neglectful.
Then two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and another on the left.
—Matthew 27:38
Jesus on Death Row
Early this week I started a new book with daily readings for the entire year. In the middle of my first day was this quote:
"Isn't it odd that Christendom- that huge body of humankind that claims spiritual descent from the Jewish carpenter of Nazareth- claims to pray to and adore a being who was a prisoner of Roman power, an inmate of the empire's death row? That the one it considers the personification of the Creator of the Universe was tortured, humiliated, beaten, and crucified on a barren scrap of land on the imperial periphery, at Golgotha, the place of the skull? That the majority of its adherents strenuously support the state's execution of thousands of imprisoned citizens? That the overwhelming majority of its judges, prosecutors, and lawyers- those who condemn, prosecute, and sell out the condemned- claim to be followers of the fettered, spat-upon, naked God?"-- Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Jesus didn’t just connect himself with prisoners by what he said. He connected with them in an even greater way by what he did as a recipient of the death penalty. He prayed that his Father would forgive those who did such a thing to him. He even offered forgiveness to his criminal neighbor while they died together. The overpowering message of forgiveness in the context of prisoners and the death penalty is undeniable. Far too often when the death penalty is discussed, forgiveness is pushed to the background while justice and getting what you deserve is center stage. What we see at the cross makes a mockery of our idea of justice and questions our ability to forgive.
My Birthday Wish
My wish is simply that we would remember those in prison. If we remember them, maybe we will go to them. And if we go to them, maybe we will forgive them. And through it all maybe we get to see Jesus.
My birthday is December 7th and for you history buffs the first thing you’ll think of is the bombing of Pearl Harbor when 2,386 Americans were killed. But did you know that on this day in history the first prisoner was put to death by lethal injection in 1982? My wife’s birthday is August 6th and on her day we dropped the bomb on Hiroshima and tried out the electric chair for the first time. And so, twice a year, when our birthdays come around I am reminded about the thousands who died in WWII and of the ways in which we hand out justice to the worst of the worst. Over the past couple years my thoughts have been drawn toward the latter group of people time and time again and this week while reading a devotional/liturgical type book I read a quote related to the death penalty. With thoughts on the death penalty once again rattling around in my head I figure I might as well organize my thoughts a bit and express them here. Here we go:
Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.—Hebrews 13:3
The Forgotten
As the saying goes, "Out of sight, out of mind." Prisoners are, for the most part, a forgotten population of people. Aside from particular occupations or having a loved one in prison, the vast majority of us have no experience or contact with prisoners. Those unfortunate enough to be in prison experience little or no interaction with people on the outside. Kept separate by high walls and fences. Kept separate by bars and bulletproof glass. The separation between them and us is established and increased until ultimately they are forgotten. And for those that do get released the transition to the ‘real world’ is a difficult and uphill battle. Prisons are primarily designed to detain, not rehabilitate, and so many come out in no better situation than when they went in. There are many dehumanizing aspects to prison life which complicate social aspects of life on the outside and so many end up returning.
The author of Hebrews wants us to remember those who are too easily forgotten. We are to identify with them as if we ourselves were in their position by moving from sympathy to empathy. Sympathy essentially implies a feeling of recognition of another’s suffering while empathy is actually sharing another's suffering. I am reminded of the story of the Good Samaritan when the Samaritan is moved with compassion and took pity on the nearly dead man. The verb used in that verse implies being deeply moved, in the gut. The Samaritan is deeply moved on the inside and, in turn, is moved toward the man on the outside. I’m sure the other two passers by felt sorry, or sympathetic, for the guy’s situation but only the Samaritan was empathetic. We are to remember prisoners and identify with them in a way that moves us to them.
"Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
"The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’—Matthew 25:37-40
The Least of the Least of These
Not only do we have a tendency to forget the people we don’t see but I think many of us forget that prisoners are a part of ‘the least of these’ group. Most times when I hear people reference this passage it is in the context of caring for the needy. We remember to feed the hungry and clothe the homeless but when is the last time we’ve been reminded to visit prisoners? Before reading this blog post? What does it say about our approach toward prisoners when they are at the end of the line of the least of these? I wonder how many prison ministries there are in relation to food pantries in churches today. In Acts 6 we see a problem being addressed by the disciples. Widows were being overlooked in the distribution of food and so people were assigned to make sure this didn’t continue. As a church that is called to meet the very real needs of the least of these, we need to be careful not to overlook the easily forgotten.
Another aspect of this passage deserves our full attention. What we do to prisoners we do to Jesus! The fact that Jesus connects himself not only to the hungry and homeless but also to prisoners is a huge deal. To be clear, in neither of the passages I have brought up does there seem to be the implication that these prisoners are innocent or falsely accused and imprisoned. Jesus isn’t connecting himself to some righteous group of individuals that are suffering for His name and saying we need to visit them only. We don’t make those kinds of distinctions, or at least shouldn’t, in terms of helping the poor and so we shouldn’t make those sorts of distinctions when visiting and caring for those in prison. If remembering and visiting prisoners is a way of remembering and visiting Jesus than what are we doing when we kill prisoners? Or at least condone of our justice system killing them? Forgive me for saying it like this but it reminds of the Jews handing Jesus off to Pilate to crucify him. Sure, the Romans killed Jesus on their method of execution but Peter was very clear in Acts about who was guilty. Jesus’ connection to prisoners in this passage has me looking seriously at how I, myself, view and treat prisoners. I feel neglectful. I am neglectful.
Then two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and another on the left.
—Matthew 27:38
Jesus on Death Row
Early this week I started a new book with daily readings for the entire year. In the middle of my first day was this quote:
"Isn't it odd that Christendom- that huge body of humankind that claims spiritual descent from the Jewish carpenter of Nazareth- claims to pray to and adore a being who was a prisoner of Roman power, an inmate of the empire's death row? That the one it considers the personification of the Creator of the Universe was tortured, humiliated, beaten, and crucified on a barren scrap of land on the imperial periphery, at Golgotha, the place of the skull? That the majority of its adherents strenuously support the state's execution of thousands of imprisoned citizens? That the overwhelming majority of its judges, prosecutors, and lawyers- those who condemn, prosecute, and sell out the condemned- claim to be followers of the fettered, spat-upon, naked God?"-- Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Jesus didn’t just connect himself with prisoners by what he said. He connected with them in an even greater way by what he did as a recipient of the death penalty. He prayed that his Father would forgive those who did such a thing to him. He even offered forgiveness to his criminal neighbor while they died together. The overpowering message of forgiveness in the context of prisoners and the death penalty is undeniable. Far too often when the death penalty is discussed, forgiveness is pushed to the background while justice and getting what you deserve is center stage. What we see at the cross makes a mockery of our idea of justice and questions our ability to forgive.
My Birthday Wish
My wish is simply that we would remember those in prison. If we remember them, maybe we will go to them. And if we go to them, maybe we will forgive them. And through it all maybe we get to see Jesus.
Thursday, November 14, 2013
"Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin."--The Christian Tightrope
On June 15, 2012 Nik Wallenda walked his way into the history books when he tightroped across the Niagara Falls. It was a daring feat that took nearly 26 minutes! Maybe you’ve had the opportunity to see a high wire act in person at a circus. How stressed did you feel as an onlooker? How stressed do you imagine the performer felt? What best communicates the difficulty of this kind of stunt are the slow and methodical movements of the performer. Every step is carefully chosen. Precise movements, perhaps using a balancing bar, and extreme focus help the performer make their way from one end to the other safely. And when the stunt is done there is a tremendous sense of relief.
"Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin."
I have felt uneasy about this common Christian line for quite some time now and it’s not getting any better. The situations and the conversations in which I hear this line being used always leave me with a bad taste in my mouth. While there are a variety of reasons for my discomfort, for purposes of this post I will focus on only one: The Application.
This line is short, sweet and to the point but time and again when life happens and the rubber meets the road, so to speak, things get complicated. What started off as simple words of wisdom lead to some big questions that can be difficult to answer. Trying to live this out looks a lot like that high wire balancing act. Lean too far to one side or the other and someone is going to end up hurt. Love the sinner too much and you’re condoning sin. Hate the sin too much and it will be difficult to love the sinner. The end result is that you have Christians trying to choose each step/action carefully. You don’t want to choose an action that says you aren’t bothered by sin and you don’t want an action that fails to communicate your love for the sinner. And so we have a world full of tightrope walking Christians trying to find the perfect words and actions to communicate that they love sinners but hate sin. And while they search for the perfect balance, they hesitate. They hesitate to act. They seek advice from ‘professionals’ on how they should proceed. Step. They share their specific situation and want to know how to love the sinner and hate the sin as they deal with a parent, spouse, child or friend. Step. Actions are placed on a scale and proportioned because you don’t want to enable. Step. I’ll do this, this and this for you but not that or that. Keep your balance. I will do this list of things because I love you but I won’t do this list of things because I hate sin. Step.
"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."—Romans 5:8
This verse knocks me off balance. Like Karate Kid standing on one leg in the ocean trying to kick into a wave, I am overwhelmed by something powerful. There is no balancing here. There is no proportioning of love here. Nothing is held back, not even the life of the Son. Everything is poured out and it’s poured out on you and me. Sinners. What God does in Christ is messy. Keeping up with Jesus was tough because he was on the move. He stressed out the people accustomed to the tightrope. Pharisees were freaking out every week because of how Jesus walked through their Sabbath. Jesus’ steps were not careful and he acted without hesitation and it is how Jesus interacted with the sinners of this world that has me uneasy. And I should be. I’m used to the tight rope.
In our hesitation we fail to love the sinner. In our proportioning out of actions/love we fail to love as Christ loved. We are called to love with an off balance and out of proportion kind of love and we should throw off anything, even an easy to remember line, that slows us down from doing so. Be done with the tightrope and get swept away by the Falls!
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Jesus and Rodeo Clowns
What does it take to strap yourself to an angry 1,200 pound beast? Guts? Stupidity? Maybe a combination of both? Riding a bull, or at least attempting to ride a bull, has got to be one of the strangest sports ever invented. Who looks at a large animal with horns and says, "Yeah, I want to ride that!"? I guess there are some who do or it wouldn’t be on television and it’s because it’s on television that we get to see another odd occupation. Qualifications for this odd occupation include a willingness to wear face paint, goofy clothes, and risk your life for the sake of a person dumb enough to strap themselves to a fierce animal. If you are willing to do the first two items you can be a circus clown but if you are willing to do the third you have found your calling in life as a rodeo clown.
After the rider has willingly jumped off of the bull or simply been thrown to the side by the bull it is the job of the rodeo clown to keep the cowboy safe. The bull would enjoy nothing better than to gore the guy who was holding a tight rope around his sensitive areas and so the rodeo clown is trained to divert the attention of the bull while the cowboy makes a hasty escape over the fence. Rodeo clowns risk their lives dealing with angry bulls despite the fact that they aren’t the ones who put that rope on the bull in the first place. The guilty party got away free and clear while the rodeo clown interceded on their behalf.
I have heard renditions of the gospel that in many ways resemble this bull, clown, cowboy scenario. We are guilty cowboys who did something that really shouldn’t be done. We offended the bull, God, and now he’s angry so we deserve to die. However, Jesus the rodeo clown gets in the way and gave his life so we could get away from the angry bull and our lives are spared. The part of this scenario where we are spared despite being guilty sounds great. The part where Jesus risks his life for me has me really loving this Jesus guy. But then there’s the part about the angry bull trying to kill me. I don’t like that part. I am pretty fearful of that bull and to be honest I’m not quite sure why he’s so angry.
I think there are many who like, or maybe even love, Jesus that have extremely mixed emotions when it comes to talk of God or God the Father. Every time I see a photo of some person picketing and holding a sign saying "God hates______" I totally understand why people in today’s world would want to keep that God at arm’s length or further. In college I had to read a sermon by Jonathan Edwards called ‘Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God’. Who could forget a sermon with that title? The title alone creates an uncomfortable kind of imagery. As a sinner in the presence of a holy and righteous God I get the sense that things will not go well for me.
The disparity between how people feel about Jesus and how people feel about God bothers me for a couple reasons. First, I am bothered because of what I read in the book of John.
19 Jesus gave them this answer: "Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. 21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. 22 Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.--John 5:19-23
And later,
9 Jesus answered: "Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. 12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.—John 14:9-12
It seems to me that people who love Jesus should also love the Father. If you want to know what the Father is like then look no further than Jesus. What he says and does gives us a glimpse of the Father and time and again we see in scripture that sinners LOVED Jesus. They couldn’t get enough of him! And Jesus sure seemed drawn to those sinner folk. The angry bull and the clown just don’t resemble each other in the way that Jesus says the Father and Son do.
Second, I am bothered because of what I read in Hebrews, which, ironically enough talks a lot about bulls too.
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.—Hebrews 4:15-16
The reason this passage comes to mind is because the imagery we see here is so totally opposite of what we see in the bull, clown, cowboy example. It is here where we see Jesus doing what he did as a high priest in order that we may come TO the Father. Jesus didn’t offer himself as a sacrifice to keep an angry God away but instead offered himself as a sacrifice so we can be together. Jesus doesn’t protect us from the wrath of the Father, he invites us to experience the love of the Father. What happened in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection opened up the opportunity for us to approach God’s throne and it’s at this throne that we find grace and mercy. Boy, do I need those!
My guess is that there is also a disparity between Christians and Jesus. I know I don’t resemble Jesus as I should. Just ask my wife. What if our disparity with Jesus is what is causing the disparity people ‘feel’ between Jesus and God? Maybe people think God resembles an angry bull hell bent on their destruction because God’s followers act like angry bulls hell bent on their destruction. But what if we looked more like the Jesus who looked like his Father? What if by the work of the Spirit we were molded and shaped into Christ likeness? If this world were to be filled with a bunch of Jesus look alikes it would have a front row seat in terms of seeing what the Father is like. And if they saw what the Father is really like maybe they would turn to head home only to see the Father has already left the porch and is coming to embrace and bless them.
Friday, August 30, 2013
Beware of Worry
Many years ago I was watching a Chicago Cubs game on television. I’m not sure why I would do something that depressing and as a Sox fan I can only imagine I was watching for a good laugh. And I did get a good laugh. On an outfield hit the ball went into that green ivy, aka vines, and the outfielder was not able to locate it so the he threw up his arms to signal his situation. The call on the field was ‘interference’ and limited the number of bases for the baserunners because the fielder was restricted in their ability to retrieve the ball. Even though managed and cared for on those recognizable Wrigley Field walls those vines are still able to do what vines generally do: Restrict and Interfere.
A couple weeks ago I was doing some extensive yard work and had my own opportunity to deal with vines. The vines I had to deal with were planted along a chain link fence shared by two neighbors. I’m not sure who planted them but I was the one who had to deal with them and many of the things I had heard about vines were proven true. It was fitting that it was during this time I was working on a message about our ‘tomorrows’ and so Jesus’ words came immediately to mind:
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.—Matthew 6:34
Later on in Matthew Jesus is telling a parable about a farmer sowing seed and he talks about seed that fell among thorns, a particular type of vine. The parable is explained and we see that this portion involving vines is about a person who is choked by the worries of this life because that’s what worry does. That’s what vines do.
I call this picture ‘The Heart of the Beast’. It was hard work to defeat this vine and this portion is what remains clinging to the fence. It even resembles a human heart and is roughly the same size. Jesus wants us to remove worry from our lives and for good reason. Our worries are detrimental to the kind of Kingdom life he wants us live. Removing worry may be a lot of work, especially if it’s been growing unchecked, but once you’ve removed it chances are it will be a lot easier keeping it from showing up again and the results will be worth the effort.
Worry Spreads
The first part in dealing with worry is identifying the areas affected. A vine has one main root but as I encountered a vine has the ability to re-root in other areas as well. By cutting off the main root you may kill a lot of worry but you may notice other areas thriving just fine. Worry has a tendency to spread and so if you’ve let things go unmanaged for any length of time you’re probably going to find numerous areas affected in varying degrees.
Worry Fills
Our day-to-day routines in a large part are occupied with things like family, jobs and school. Worry fills the remaining space in our lives with unhealthy preoccupations. We can find ourselves consistently worried about our tomorrows and the myriad of ‘what if’s’ that we may or may not have to deal with. Being pre-occupied essentially means that a particular space is occupied in advance. We worry about that meeting before we even get to work. We worry about the doctor’s results before we’ve even had the test done. We worry about paying for our kids college even before they start kindergarten. Worry fills up our tomorrow’s before we even get there and so we enter each new day with a list of things to occupy our day and another round of worrisome preoccupations concerning the day after that. If God is going to have space to work and move in our lives we need to quit filling our days in advance.
Worry Kills
If you’ve ever removed vines that have covered over a tree or a bush you’ve probably been surprised to see just how much death the vines were covering up. Every plant needs sufficient sunlight to survive and while a vine early on is only filling in the open spaces to get the sunlight that it needs, it’s only a matter of time before the vine takes over its own space. Areas that were previously occupied and healthy become restricted and malnourished. The vine creeps in and steals a little more and a little more until a branch or more is left unable to survive. By removing the vines of worry from your life you can give areas of your life the light it needs to survive and flourish.
Be On Your Guard
Did you know that some people intentionally plant vines? The walls in the "Friendly Confines" didn’t get those vines by accident. Someone either planted them or let them grow. I mentioned earlier that the fence I was clearing up involved two neighbors. Perhaps at one time one of the neighbors didn’t want vines growing over into their yard and onto their trees. I don’t know the history there, so who knows. Some people have so much worry that it spills over into other people’s ‘yards’. Maybe you do a good job of maintaining the health of your own yard but you have this neighbor problem. Maybe you’ve had something like this happen in your own life. You have some sort of dream that you’re excited about. The more you think about future possibilities the more excited you get and you just have to share your dream with someone. So you share it with a neighbor, someone close to you. This person expresses their concerns about your dream. "Did you consider this?" "What if ‘this’ happens?" And just like that someone has planted vines of worry in the middle of your yard, your dreams. We all need to have people with discernment who can speak truth into our lives and help us make wise decisions. What we don’t need is a person inflicted with worry spreading their worries into our lives.
As I was working on this message about our tomorrow’s I was led to a passage in Joshua. While cleaning up rocks and debris where I was working I came across a smooth rock and upon closer examination it had a scripture reference on the bottom. Why should we not worry about our tomorrows? Let’s listen in to Joshua as he speaks to the people about crossing the Jordan River:
Joshua told the people, "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you."—Joshua 3:5
A couple weeks ago I was doing some extensive yard work and had my own opportunity to deal with vines. The vines I had to deal with were planted along a chain link fence shared by two neighbors. I’m not sure who planted them but I was the one who had to deal with them and many of the things I had heard about vines were proven true. It was fitting that it was during this time I was working on a message about our ‘tomorrows’ and so Jesus’ words came immediately to mind:
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.—Matthew 6:34
Later on in Matthew Jesus is telling a parable about a farmer sowing seed and he talks about seed that fell among thorns, a particular type of vine. The parable is explained and we see that this portion involving vines is about a person who is choked by the worries of this life because that’s what worry does. That’s what vines do.
I call this picture ‘The Heart of the Beast’. It was hard work to defeat this vine and this portion is what remains clinging to the fence. It even resembles a human heart and is roughly the same size. Jesus wants us to remove worry from our lives and for good reason. Our worries are detrimental to the kind of Kingdom life he wants us live. Removing worry may be a lot of work, especially if it’s been growing unchecked, but once you’ve removed it chances are it will be a lot easier keeping it from showing up again and the results will be worth the effort.
Worry Spreads
The first part in dealing with worry is identifying the areas affected. A vine has one main root but as I encountered a vine has the ability to re-root in other areas as well. By cutting off the main root you may kill a lot of worry but you may notice other areas thriving just fine. Worry has a tendency to spread and so if you’ve let things go unmanaged for any length of time you’re probably going to find numerous areas affected in varying degrees.
Worry Fills
Our day-to-day routines in a large part are occupied with things like family, jobs and school. Worry fills the remaining space in our lives with unhealthy preoccupations. We can find ourselves consistently worried about our tomorrows and the myriad of ‘what if’s’ that we may or may not have to deal with. Being pre-occupied essentially means that a particular space is occupied in advance. We worry about that meeting before we even get to work. We worry about the doctor’s results before we’ve even had the test done. We worry about paying for our kids college even before they start kindergarten. Worry fills up our tomorrow’s before we even get there and so we enter each new day with a list of things to occupy our day and another round of worrisome preoccupations concerning the day after that. If God is going to have space to work and move in our lives we need to quit filling our days in advance.
Worry Kills
If you’ve ever removed vines that have covered over a tree or a bush you’ve probably been surprised to see just how much death the vines were covering up. Every plant needs sufficient sunlight to survive and while a vine early on is only filling in the open spaces to get the sunlight that it needs, it’s only a matter of time before the vine takes over its own space. Areas that were previously occupied and healthy become restricted and malnourished. The vine creeps in and steals a little more and a little more until a branch or more is left unable to survive. By removing the vines of worry from your life you can give areas of your life the light it needs to survive and flourish.
Be On Your Guard
Did you know that some people intentionally plant vines? The walls in the "Friendly Confines" didn’t get those vines by accident. Someone either planted them or let them grow. I mentioned earlier that the fence I was clearing up involved two neighbors. Perhaps at one time one of the neighbors didn’t want vines growing over into their yard and onto their trees. I don’t know the history there, so who knows. Some people have so much worry that it spills over into other people’s ‘yards’. Maybe you do a good job of maintaining the health of your own yard but you have this neighbor problem. Maybe you’ve had something like this happen in your own life. You have some sort of dream that you’re excited about. The more you think about future possibilities the more excited you get and you just have to share your dream with someone. So you share it with a neighbor, someone close to you. This person expresses their concerns about your dream. "Did you consider this?" "What if ‘this’ happens?" And just like that someone has planted vines of worry in the middle of your yard, your dreams. We all need to have people with discernment who can speak truth into our lives and help us make wise decisions. What we don’t need is a person inflicted with worry spreading their worries into our lives.
As I was working on this message about our tomorrow’s I was led to a passage in Joshua. While cleaning up rocks and debris where I was working I came across a smooth rock and upon closer examination it had a scripture reference on the bottom. Why should we not worry about our tomorrows? Let’s listen in to Joshua as he speaks to the people about crossing the Jordan River:
Joshua told the people, "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you."—Joshua 3:5
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
A Greater Freedom: Your brother is more valuable than your rights.
I figure there is no better time to blog about a topic such as freedom with the 4th of July fast approaching. By the time you actually read this it may already be the 4th and you may have just finished watching Joey Chestnut attempt a new world record in hot dog consumption at Nathan's Famous Hot Dog-Eating Contest. Nothing says ‘Proud to be an American’ like wasteful eating glorified on television for our sacred holiday. I feel like many of the words we typically think of around this time of year such as freedom, rights, and liberties have been discussed nonstop since the last time we saw people dunking their hot dog buns on live television. While I don’t want to spend my time here talking about the variety of discussions currently taking place across this country I do want to look at an interesting situation that Paul deals with in Corinth. If you aren’t familiar with the situation in 1 Corinthians chapter 8 here is my summary:
A major issue in the church came up in regard to whether it was okay to eat food that had been sacrificed to idols. Christians found themselves living in a culture which worshiped a variety of gods and goddesses in stark contrast to their belief that ‘There is no God but one’. If you were invited to a meal by a neighbor or maybe a co-worker that was not a Christian there was the off chance that the meat they were serving for supper may have previously been offered in sacrifice to a false idol. Some Christians were conflicted while others were not. Some justified that because they knew the idol was a human fabrication there was nothing to worry about so they would eat the meal. Others did not want to offend their host and so they also ate but later felt convicted about what they had done. Still others may have refused to eat the meat altogether and offended their host by their actions thus creating difficult situations down the road. Some felt they had every right to eat with a clear conscience even though it was causing issues for their ‘brothers with a weak conscience’.
It is in the context of sacrifice (food sacrificed to idols) that Paul teaches us an invaluable lesson in regard to true sacrifice and true freedom. Paul time and again affirms the group of believers who think that eating this food is no big deal and that they have every right to eat such food without worry. He affirms that their knowledge is correct in that an idol is really nothing at all and eating the food or not eating the food does nothing in terms of bringing them closer to God. But Paul doesn’t end there. He concludes with a guiding principle that could be applied in a variety of circumstances as well as what his response would be in this particular situation.
Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak.—1 Corinthians 8:9
Your brother is more valuable than your rights. I don’t care what the situation is or who is right and who is wrong. When all is said and done what matters most is what happens to your brother. If your brother is ‘destroyed by your knowledge’ what is gained? Paul is very clear about what you are doing when you love your rights more than your brother. You are sinning against Christ. You are violating your clear calling as a Christian to ‘love your neighbor as yourself’ when you place being right and excercising your rights ahead of being a loving neighbor. Paul can’t state this any clearer and he continues on.
Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall.—1 Corinthians 8:13
This week I have heard plenty about sacrificing for freedom in the context of our nation and it’s liberties. Here Paul is talking about sacrificing freedom itself. Who does that? Who willingly gives up the right to exercise their freedom? A person who loves their brother, that’s who!
I mention Alex Jones not to single out a particular issue (2nd amendment gun rights) but because what I heard him loudly declare a few months ago stands in stark contrast to what Paul does in this situation. Jones states that, "1776 will commence again if you try to take our firearms".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtyKofFih8Y
People are going to die if anyone tries to infringe on his rights. In many ways Paul shows a greater freedom than Jones could ever dream of and Jones preaches about freedom on the radio and online nonstop. Paul displays a far superior freedom where rights can be laid down and placed in submission to the law of Christ. What freedoms would you sacrifice in order to fulfill the law of Christ toward your brother?
A major issue in the church came up in regard to whether it was okay to eat food that had been sacrificed to idols. Christians found themselves living in a culture which worshiped a variety of gods and goddesses in stark contrast to their belief that ‘There is no God but one’. If you were invited to a meal by a neighbor or maybe a co-worker that was not a Christian there was the off chance that the meat they were serving for supper may have previously been offered in sacrifice to a false idol. Some Christians were conflicted while others were not. Some justified that because they knew the idol was a human fabrication there was nothing to worry about so they would eat the meal. Others did not want to offend their host and so they also ate but later felt convicted about what they had done. Still others may have refused to eat the meat altogether and offended their host by their actions thus creating difficult situations down the road. Some felt they had every right to eat with a clear conscience even though it was causing issues for their ‘brothers with a weak conscience’.
It is in the context of sacrifice (food sacrificed to idols) that Paul teaches us an invaluable lesson in regard to true sacrifice and true freedom. Paul time and again affirms the group of believers who think that eating this food is no big deal and that they have every right to eat such food without worry. He affirms that their knowledge is correct in that an idol is really nothing at all and eating the food or not eating the food does nothing in terms of bringing them closer to God. But Paul doesn’t end there. He concludes with a guiding principle that could be applied in a variety of circumstances as well as what his response would be in this particular situation.
Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak.—1 Corinthians 8:9
Your brother is more valuable than your rights. I don’t care what the situation is or who is right and who is wrong. When all is said and done what matters most is what happens to your brother. If your brother is ‘destroyed by your knowledge’ what is gained? Paul is very clear about what you are doing when you love your rights more than your brother. You are sinning against Christ. You are violating your clear calling as a Christian to ‘love your neighbor as yourself’ when you place being right and excercising your rights ahead of being a loving neighbor. Paul can’t state this any clearer and he continues on.
Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall.—1 Corinthians 8:13
This week I have heard plenty about sacrificing for freedom in the context of our nation and it’s liberties. Here Paul is talking about sacrificing freedom itself. Who does that? Who willingly gives up the right to exercise their freedom? A person who loves their brother, that’s who!
I mention Alex Jones not to single out a particular issue (2nd amendment gun rights) but because what I heard him loudly declare a few months ago stands in stark contrast to what Paul does in this situation. Jones states that, "1776 will commence again if you try to take our firearms".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtyKofFih8Y
People are going to die if anyone tries to infringe on his rights. In many ways Paul shows a greater freedom than Jones could ever dream of and Jones preaches about freedom on the radio and online nonstop. Paul displays a far superior freedom where rights can be laid down and placed in submission to the law of Christ. What freedoms would you sacrifice in order to fulfill the law of Christ toward your brother?
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Megachurch Myths and how I ended up in one!
Since I don’t have to do any sermon preparation this week I figure it’s a good time to return to my blog routine. I have numerous unfinished blog posts in the works but tonight I really want to share how Lori and I ended up at Parkview Christian Church. If you haven’t heard of this church you obviously haven’t talked to Lori or I in the past 3 years because we end up talking about it pretty regularly. PCC is a megachurch of 6,000+ about 40 minutes from where we live. Many people wonder why in the world we would drive that far to go to church and Lori’s response would be, "Because it’s that good!"
Just over 3 years ago Lori and I had dinner up north for our anniversary and while we were eating we were trying to decide how to spend the rest of our evening. A couple years prior we got involved in a small group and in the process met some wonderful couples who attended PCC. We knew the church was in the vicinity and thought it would be fun to see what it was like. We just wanted to visit. Lori and I were happy with where we were going at the time and are by no means the ‘church shopping’ type. How many people incorporate going to church into their anniversary plans anyway? The Kuehl’s are weird like that.
What started off as a visit quickly turned into much more. Lori was set on making the change much sooner than me simply because I didn’t want it to be some sort of consumer Christian shopper type thing. A few months later I was in a position where my life and what I was hearing and seeing at PCC intersected powerfully. I had just returned from a weeklong Bible Quizzing event and some conversations I had during that week stirred up some passions for ministry that I had let die years earlier. It was time for a new thing. Shortly after this experience they did a series of messages on Nehemiah. If you’re not familiar with the story it’s basically about a guy building a wall. He finds out that the wall protecting a city he has only heard about was destroyed many years earlier and God uses him to rebuild the wall and gate. For me it was time to start rebuilding parts of my life that had been destroyed years earlier. PCC was the right place at the right time for me to start the rebuilding work.
Three years later there is probably still some rebuilding left but a lot has been accomplished over that time. I am excited about the opportunities that still lay ahead for Lori and I as we continue to grow and serve. I am sure that there are many ‘new things’ in store!
Initially I was considering doing a post about megachurch myths but actually found an excellent article on that topic so here is the link for that:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2013/february/debunking-megachurch-myths-especially-one-about-sheep.html
Here is some of my megachurch input based on my experiences at PCC:
Myth #1: ‘They grow because they water down the gospel.’ Would anyone conclude by reading about church growth in the book of Acts that they were watering down the gospel? I doubt it. I think this is a cheap shot, especially considering 80% of churches aren’t growing. After reading Acts I am more inclined to question what declining churches are preaching because it sure isn’t catching fish. Perhaps megachurches are catching fish precisely because they are preaching the gospel. If you think that megachurches aren’t catching new fish but simply other churches fish I’d suggest you read the research in the link I provided.
Myth #2: ‘They don’t have the kind of connection like you do at a smaller church.’ I heard something along these lines earlier this week, which is why megachurch stuff has been on my mind a bit. You are only as connected as you want to be and that is irregardless of church size. As I mentioned earlier Lori and I first became aware of this church through our not-so-small group. Large churches almost all have an extensive small group ministry because people need to have a close connection to people in the church. Add to that the number of ministry groups available to serve in and you’ve already got a large number of people that you connect with weekly. Once Lori and I got involved in Kidz Connection at PCC we had all the sense of connection we needed.
On a side note: A little bit of anonymity when it comes to attending church isn’t always a bad thing. Put yourself in the place of an unchurched person or someone who has been away from the church for an extended period of time and you’ll realize how intimidating a smaller church might be. I remember when I met Lori’s extended family for New Year’s a few months after we started dating. Walking into a situation where everyone knows everybody else and you’re the one that doesn’t is awkward to say the least. Only a special guy or girl can motivate you to willingly walk into that situation under normal circumstances. The ability to walk into a large church and blend in is a big perk that many unchurched folk take advantage of. The trick is funneling those people over time towards connecting type experiences that they need to grow and mature.
Just over 3 years ago Lori and I had dinner up north for our anniversary and while we were eating we were trying to decide how to spend the rest of our evening. A couple years prior we got involved in a small group and in the process met some wonderful couples who attended PCC. We knew the church was in the vicinity and thought it would be fun to see what it was like. We just wanted to visit. Lori and I were happy with where we were going at the time and are by no means the ‘church shopping’ type. How many people incorporate going to church into their anniversary plans anyway? The Kuehl’s are weird like that.
What started off as a visit quickly turned into much more. Lori was set on making the change much sooner than me simply because I didn’t want it to be some sort of consumer Christian shopper type thing. A few months later I was in a position where my life and what I was hearing and seeing at PCC intersected powerfully. I had just returned from a weeklong Bible Quizzing event and some conversations I had during that week stirred up some passions for ministry that I had let die years earlier. It was time for a new thing. Shortly after this experience they did a series of messages on Nehemiah. If you’re not familiar with the story it’s basically about a guy building a wall. He finds out that the wall protecting a city he has only heard about was destroyed many years earlier and God uses him to rebuild the wall and gate. For me it was time to start rebuilding parts of my life that had been destroyed years earlier. PCC was the right place at the right time for me to start the rebuilding work.
Three years later there is probably still some rebuilding left but a lot has been accomplished over that time. I am excited about the opportunities that still lay ahead for Lori and I as we continue to grow and serve. I am sure that there are many ‘new things’ in store!
Initially I was considering doing a post about megachurch myths but actually found an excellent article on that topic so here is the link for that:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2013/february/debunking-megachurch-myths-especially-one-about-sheep.html
Here is some of my megachurch input based on my experiences at PCC:
Myth #1: ‘They grow because they water down the gospel.’ Would anyone conclude by reading about church growth in the book of Acts that they were watering down the gospel? I doubt it. I think this is a cheap shot, especially considering 80% of churches aren’t growing. After reading Acts I am more inclined to question what declining churches are preaching because it sure isn’t catching fish. Perhaps megachurches are catching fish precisely because they are preaching the gospel. If you think that megachurches aren’t catching new fish but simply other churches fish I’d suggest you read the research in the link I provided.
Myth #2: ‘They don’t have the kind of connection like you do at a smaller church.’ I heard something along these lines earlier this week, which is why megachurch stuff has been on my mind a bit. You are only as connected as you want to be and that is irregardless of church size. As I mentioned earlier Lori and I first became aware of this church through our not-so-small group. Large churches almost all have an extensive small group ministry because people need to have a close connection to people in the church. Add to that the number of ministry groups available to serve in and you’ve already got a large number of people that you connect with weekly. Once Lori and I got involved in Kidz Connection at PCC we had all the sense of connection we needed.
On a side note: A little bit of anonymity when it comes to attending church isn’t always a bad thing. Put yourself in the place of an unchurched person or someone who has been away from the church for an extended period of time and you’ll realize how intimidating a smaller church might be. I remember when I met Lori’s extended family for New Year’s a few months after we started dating. Walking into a situation where everyone knows everybody else and you’re the one that doesn’t is awkward to say the least. Only a special guy or girl can motivate you to willingly walk into that situation under normal circumstances. The ability to walk into a large church and blend in is a big perk that many unchurched folk take advantage of. The trick is funneling those people over time towards connecting type experiences that they need to grow and mature.
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Broken and Shared
In my last post I shared a shortened version of my first preaching message in over 10 years. I wanted to do a series focusing on the Last Supper and in particular the 4 actions we see Jesus doing with the bread that is representative of his body. Jesus took (chose), blessed, broke, and gave (shared) the bread to his disciples. I covered these first two actions in my last post and so tonight I’ll share the shortened version of my message discussing the latter two.
Preaching about being broken and being shared had a very different vibe altogether compared to being chosen and being blessed for obvious reasons. Chosenness and blessedness are things we readily invite into our lives and the more the merrier. But suffering and brokenness enter our lives much like uninvited guests. They arrive at inopportune times (as if there is ever an opportune time for suffering), stay longer than you wish, and make a mess of everything. From our vantage point nothing broken is perfect. When a drinking glass gets a chip on it we don’t say, "Now that’s better." Instead we throw it out because not only does it not look good anymore but that chip detracts from it’s useability. So when we read in Hebrews that Christ is ‘perfected’ through suffering and in 1 Peter that we are to rejoice that we participate in the suffering of Christ we think that suffering must mean something different in Greek.
In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered.—Hebrews 2:10
Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him –Hebrews 5:8-9
Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.—1 Peter 4:12-13
How could suffering make Christ perfect and why in the world ought we to rejoice in any way about participating in it?
A couple years ago I followed along with a very helpful conversation about incarnation and suffering. Incarnation is about much more than just the Word becoming flesh. It is about the Word experiencing everything that flesh and blood human beings experience. The visual image that was presented in this conversation was that of Mary wrapping Jesus in cloth and placing him in a manger. This image was laid along side of the image Joseph of Arimathea wrapping Jesus crucified body in cloth and placing him in the tomb. Both of these pictures bookend the story of incarnation. From birth to death Jesus experienced the depth, width and breadth of our human lives.
Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—Hebrews 2:14
Jesus freely participated in humanity and was perfected through suffering. This leads to two life changing truths:
In this whole ordeal we see that our creator is no stranger to suffering. The God who created us and loves us also understands the depth of our brokenness and suffering because he experienced it all firsthand. Anyone who has ever felt the pain of rejection, betrayal or outright physical abuse can know that God is in their midst as a fellow sufferer.
We also can know that suffering has an expiration date. Suffering and brokenness do not get the last word. The resurrected Christ and the kingdom that he ushers in offer the confident hope that all will be made new.
The fourth and final action of Jesus is the giving of the bread to his disciples. As I worked on this particular aspect of the meal I had avoid the easy temptation to discuss ‘giving’ in the ways we typically think. I could have talked about giving food, water or clothes to those in need. I could have talked about the giving of our time, energy and resources to Christian causes. While all of these things are very important and very biblical I think they miss something critical. Jesus didn’t give us ‘stuff’. He didn’t just give us his time, energy and resources. He gave us himself. He gave his very life as a ransom for many. (Matthew 20:28)
What Jesus shares with the disciples is broken bread that represents his very self and he invites us to do the same. We are invited to share our lives with others in a way that is truly transformational. Even the broken parts of our lives become opportunities to connect with others. I doubt there is anything more universal than suffering. We are broken people in a broken world. If you were speaking to a large group of people and asked if anyone were fans of a particular sports team and put those people together they would have a community of sorts. They could chat about their beloved team and sense a level of closeness with each other on the basis of that commonality. But if you were to ask that large group if anyone has ever lost a loved one to cancer, not only would you have many more people but you’d have an immediate sense of community and a level of intimacy that the sports group could only dream about. Suffering unites in a unique and universal way.
But the sharing we see in this supper is not just sharing for the sake of sharing. It is the kind of sharing that gives life. Jesus shared his life in order to give life. I love what the apostle Paul does in his letter to the Corinthians. He doesn’t share his struggles for the sake of sharing or in order to gain sympathy. He shares it in order to proclaim the all sufficient grace of Christ!
Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.—2 Corinthians 12:8-10
We share our lives in order that we may share His grace with a broken world. We can stand together with others in the midst of suffering and declare the two truths I mentioned earlier. God is no stranger to suffering and suffering doesn’t have the last word. God does.
We are chosen. We are blessed. We are broken. We are given.
Next week I will share how I wrapped up this series as I did my first ever communion service!
Preaching about being broken and being shared had a very different vibe altogether compared to being chosen and being blessed for obvious reasons. Chosenness and blessedness are things we readily invite into our lives and the more the merrier. But suffering and brokenness enter our lives much like uninvited guests. They arrive at inopportune times (as if there is ever an opportune time for suffering), stay longer than you wish, and make a mess of everything. From our vantage point nothing broken is perfect. When a drinking glass gets a chip on it we don’t say, "Now that’s better." Instead we throw it out because not only does it not look good anymore but that chip detracts from it’s useability. So when we read in Hebrews that Christ is ‘perfected’ through suffering and in 1 Peter that we are to rejoice that we participate in the suffering of Christ we think that suffering must mean something different in Greek.
In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered.—Hebrews 2:10
Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him –Hebrews 5:8-9
Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.—1 Peter 4:12-13
How could suffering make Christ perfect and why in the world ought we to rejoice in any way about participating in it?
A couple years ago I followed along with a very helpful conversation about incarnation and suffering. Incarnation is about much more than just the Word becoming flesh. It is about the Word experiencing everything that flesh and blood human beings experience. The visual image that was presented in this conversation was that of Mary wrapping Jesus in cloth and placing him in a manger. This image was laid along side of the image Joseph of Arimathea wrapping Jesus crucified body in cloth and placing him in the tomb. Both of these pictures bookend the story of incarnation. From birth to death Jesus experienced the depth, width and breadth of our human lives.
Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—Hebrews 2:14
Jesus freely participated in humanity and was perfected through suffering. This leads to two life changing truths:
In this whole ordeal we see that our creator is no stranger to suffering. The God who created us and loves us also understands the depth of our brokenness and suffering because he experienced it all firsthand. Anyone who has ever felt the pain of rejection, betrayal or outright physical abuse can know that God is in their midst as a fellow sufferer.
We also can know that suffering has an expiration date. Suffering and brokenness do not get the last word. The resurrected Christ and the kingdom that he ushers in offer the confident hope that all will be made new.
The fourth and final action of Jesus is the giving of the bread to his disciples. As I worked on this particular aspect of the meal I had avoid the easy temptation to discuss ‘giving’ in the ways we typically think. I could have talked about giving food, water or clothes to those in need. I could have talked about the giving of our time, energy and resources to Christian causes. While all of these things are very important and very biblical I think they miss something critical. Jesus didn’t give us ‘stuff’. He didn’t just give us his time, energy and resources. He gave us himself. He gave his very life as a ransom for many. (Matthew 20:28)
What Jesus shares with the disciples is broken bread that represents his very self and he invites us to do the same. We are invited to share our lives with others in a way that is truly transformational. Even the broken parts of our lives become opportunities to connect with others. I doubt there is anything more universal than suffering. We are broken people in a broken world. If you were speaking to a large group of people and asked if anyone were fans of a particular sports team and put those people together they would have a community of sorts. They could chat about their beloved team and sense a level of closeness with each other on the basis of that commonality. But if you were to ask that large group if anyone has ever lost a loved one to cancer, not only would you have many more people but you’d have an immediate sense of community and a level of intimacy that the sports group could only dream about. Suffering unites in a unique and universal way.
But the sharing we see in this supper is not just sharing for the sake of sharing. It is the kind of sharing that gives life. Jesus shared his life in order to give life. I love what the apostle Paul does in his letter to the Corinthians. He doesn’t share his struggles for the sake of sharing or in order to gain sympathy. He shares it in order to proclaim the all sufficient grace of Christ!
Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.—2 Corinthians 12:8-10
We share our lives in order that we may share His grace with a broken world. We can stand together with others in the midst of suffering and declare the two truths I mentioned earlier. God is no stranger to suffering and suffering doesn’t have the last word. God does.
We are chosen. We are blessed. We are broken. We are given.
Next week I will share how I wrapped up this series as I did my first ever communion service!
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Chosen and Blessed = Bacon and More Bacon
Ten years ago I thought I’d preached my last sermon. I was wrong. This past weekend I came out of retirement, so to speak, and shared a Sunday morning message with a very friendly group of folks in Dekalb, Illinois. Someday I’ll write about that ten year gap in preaching, why I stopped preaching and why I’m starting back up, but not tonight. I need to spend some more time finishing up this weeks message and so tonight I’ll just share a shortened version of last weeks message.
I am a firm believer that we have just as much to learn from Jesus’ actions as his words. Jesus provides patterns and rhythms for our lives and the more we watch the ‘how’ the more we understand the ‘why’. To begin I read the Last Supper account in Luke 22, focusing on the taking, blessing, breaking, and the giving of the bread. When we participate in these actions we are to do them while remembering Jesus. These actions ought to remind us of him and his invitation to participate in them means that we are to also connect with these actions. When we take bread we are to remember how Jesus was taken (chosen) and how we are taken (chosen). When we bless the bread we are to remember how Jesus was blessed and how we are blessed. For the first week I wanted to focus on these two actions so I could give each action more time than having to hurry through all four actions and not adequately deal with each one.
First we are taken, chosen. Last weekend was an event beloved by men all across this country called ‘NFL Draft Day’. College football athletes had already competed in the NFL Combine where they ran, threw, caught, jumped and did every conceivable quantifiable exercise in order to be evaluated by scouts. By the time draft day arrived the experts already had thorough evaluations of all athletes as well as lists of the needs for the teams drafting. If a team had weaknesses in their offensive line (insert Bears joke) these experts had the highest rated athletes to meet that need. Players were ‘taken’ according to their own ability as well as according to the needs of the team. Choosing or selecting is something we’re very skilled at in this world. If you want to see this art form in everyday life just go watch ladies shop for clothes or guys shop for power tools. When we choose items we evaluate all sorts of factors that have everything to do with the item we are choosing. Whether it’s appearance, cost, usefulness or convenience the factors we look at involve the item itself compared to other items.
What I find interesting when God chooses Abraham in Genesis 12 is that there are no factors listed. The passage says absolutely nothing about why he was chosen to be the father of many nations. You’d think if he were filling such an important role in human history God would have given us some sort of idea why he chose this guy.
His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.—2 Peter 1:3
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.—2 Peter 1:10-11
These 3 verses tell us quite a bit about God’s choosing. First, he doesn’t call us because of anything to do with us. We aren’t chosen because we are the ‘best available’ on the draft board. He called us, chose us, because of HIS glory and goodness. God’s choosing has everything to do with Him. Second, we have some pretty bold promises if we are grounded in the knowledge that we are called by God. Through that knowledge we have what we need to live a godly life and being sure of our calling and election keeps us from stumbling. Those are some pretty big claims! These claims speak to the importance of knowing your true identity. People that are uncertain of who they are, or in this case ‘whose’ they are, find themselves continually in need and continually stumbling through life. How many problems can be boiled down to identity issues? How many people are burnt out trying to please everyone in the hopes that their value may be affirmed? How many people are absolutely devastated by the hurtful words of others? I am fully convinced that were people to understand the pure delight they bring to the Father and the fact that they are beloved by Him, they would be transformed to their core. They would live life differently grounded in that knowledge.
Second, we are blessed. Being chosen and being blessed go together like peanut butter and jelly or like bacon and more bacon. Whenever you see one in scripture you see the other. Abraham is chosen and receives a blessing. The prodigal son is embraced as a son and kissed (blessed) by his father on his return. While working on this message I couldn’t help but picture again and again the image of the father holding and kissing his son repeatedly. Being chosen is the embrace before the blessing. The Father pulls us in close so we can hear the blessing he has for us. You can’t hear a blessing from a distance. The image of a father yelling a blessing from the front porch all the way across the field to the returning son pales in comparison to what we see described. What if the father had thrown his arms around the son and pulled him in close only to say, "I’m not very happy with you." Wouldn’t that have been a hurtful betrayal? Invite the son in close only to deny a blessing and bestow a curse. The fear of this happening is why, I think, people keep God in the distance. Living in this world we are all to familiar with betrayal and the cursing words of others that we can barely comprehend the possibility of a blessing. Much less a blessing from a God that knows what we fight tooth and nail to hide from others. Their gut feeling is that if they are brought close to God that conversation is not going to go well for them. And so they intentionally deny the invitation to be taken, brought close, only to also miss the blessing.
There are also unintentional things that get in the way of hearing God’s blessing. Do we really need to be as busy as we are? Truth is that if something is important we take time for it. The problem then is not that we don’t have time for the important things but that we aren’t treating the important things as importantly as we should. We habitually treat as important and valuable things that in actuality aren’t important or valuable. We run around with flailing limbs all the while missing out on so much. Stop for a second and realize what you are doing and what you are missing. Be still. While driving the 3 hour trip from Holland, Michigan to Dekalb my wife experienced something extremely rare. I was quiet. For those that know me I can be very talkative but when nervous or anxious I go to my default introvert mode. For the most part I think I’m an introvert posing as an extrovert. So here my wife and I were for 3 hours 1 foot apart from each other and my mind was somewhere else entirely. Physically present but mentally absent as I was thinking through what I had prepared and dealing with the anxiety I was feeling about my 10 year break from preaching. While sitting in the Sunday School class and especially while singing during worship I had to fight to be present. Hearing the Father’s blessing requires us to be still and be present.
In Luke 22 it mentions that the passover is the day the lamb was sacrificed. Prior to passover Jesus entered a very festive Jerusalem on what we know of as Palm Sunday. The reason for the city being so jubilant actually had a lot to do with the feast they were celebrating. That Sunday was the day that the lamb was selected and so people were celebratory because a lamb had been selected which would spare the lives of their families. Little did they know that the Lamb had already been selected and had already been blessed.
When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."—Luke 3:21-22
It is here where we see the Son taken (chosen) and blessed by the Father. The blessing did not come from a distance as the Spirit descends upon the Son. The Father closes the gap and says to the Son the very words we need to hear ourselves. Jesus invites us to participate in the very same relationship with the Father that he himself enjoyed. In Christ we are brought close to the Father as his sons and daughters. In Christ we are told the truth about who and whose we are. We are His and we are loved.
I am a firm believer that we have just as much to learn from Jesus’ actions as his words. Jesus provides patterns and rhythms for our lives and the more we watch the ‘how’ the more we understand the ‘why’. To begin I read the Last Supper account in Luke 22, focusing on the taking, blessing, breaking, and the giving of the bread. When we participate in these actions we are to do them while remembering Jesus. These actions ought to remind us of him and his invitation to participate in them means that we are to also connect with these actions. When we take bread we are to remember how Jesus was taken (chosen) and how we are taken (chosen). When we bless the bread we are to remember how Jesus was blessed and how we are blessed. For the first week I wanted to focus on these two actions so I could give each action more time than having to hurry through all four actions and not adequately deal with each one.
First we are taken, chosen. Last weekend was an event beloved by men all across this country called ‘NFL Draft Day’. College football athletes had already competed in the NFL Combine where they ran, threw, caught, jumped and did every conceivable quantifiable exercise in order to be evaluated by scouts. By the time draft day arrived the experts already had thorough evaluations of all athletes as well as lists of the needs for the teams drafting. If a team had weaknesses in their offensive line (insert Bears joke) these experts had the highest rated athletes to meet that need. Players were ‘taken’ according to their own ability as well as according to the needs of the team. Choosing or selecting is something we’re very skilled at in this world. If you want to see this art form in everyday life just go watch ladies shop for clothes or guys shop for power tools. When we choose items we evaluate all sorts of factors that have everything to do with the item we are choosing. Whether it’s appearance, cost, usefulness or convenience the factors we look at involve the item itself compared to other items.
What I find interesting when God chooses Abraham in Genesis 12 is that there are no factors listed. The passage says absolutely nothing about why he was chosen to be the father of many nations. You’d think if he were filling such an important role in human history God would have given us some sort of idea why he chose this guy.
His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.—2 Peter 1:3
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.—2 Peter 1:10-11
These 3 verses tell us quite a bit about God’s choosing. First, he doesn’t call us because of anything to do with us. We aren’t chosen because we are the ‘best available’ on the draft board. He called us, chose us, because of HIS glory and goodness. God’s choosing has everything to do with Him. Second, we have some pretty bold promises if we are grounded in the knowledge that we are called by God. Through that knowledge we have what we need to live a godly life and being sure of our calling and election keeps us from stumbling. Those are some pretty big claims! These claims speak to the importance of knowing your true identity. People that are uncertain of who they are, or in this case ‘whose’ they are, find themselves continually in need and continually stumbling through life. How many problems can be boiled down to identity issues? How many people are burnt out trying to please everyone in the hopes that their value may be affirmed? How many people are absolutely devastated by the hurtful words of others? I am fully convinced that were people to understand the pure delight they bring to the Father and the fact that they are beloved by Him, they would be transformed to their core. They would live life differently grounded in that knowledge.
Second, we are blessed. Being chosen and being blessed go together like peanut butter and jelly or like bacon and more bacon. Whenever you see one in scripture you see the other. Abraham is chosen and receives a blessing. The prodigal son is embraced as a son and kissed (blessed) by his father on his return. While working on this message I couldn’t help but picture again and again the image of the father holding and kissing his son repeatedly. Being chosen is the embrace before the blessing. The Father pulls us in close so we can hear the blessing he has for us. You can’t hear a blessing from a distance. The image of a father yelling a blessing from the front porch all the way across the field to the returning son pales in comparison to what we see described. What if the father had thrown his arms around the son and pulled him in close only to say, "I’m not very happy with you." Wouldn’t that have been a hurtful betrayal? Invite the son in close only to deny a blessing and bestow a curse. The fear of this happening is why, I think, people keep God in the distance. Living in this world we are all to familiar with betrayal and the cursing words of others that we can barely comprehend the possibility of a blessing. Much less a blessing from a God that knows what we fight tooth and nail to hide from others. Their gut feeling is that if they are brought close to God that conversation is not going to go well for them. And so they intentionally deny the invitation to be taken, brought close, only to also miss the blessing.
There are also unintentional things that get in the way of hearing God’s blessing. Do we really need to be as busy as we are? Truth is that if something is important we take time for it. The problem then is not that we don’t have time for the important things but that we aren’t treating the important things as importantly as we should. We habitually treat as important and valuable things that in actuality aren’t important or valuable. We run around with flailing limbs all the while missing out on so much. Stop for a second and realize what you are doing and what you are missing. Be still. While driving the 3 hour trip from Holland, Michigan to Dekalb my wife experienced something extremely rare. I was quiet. For those that know me I can be very talkative but when nervous or anxious I go to my default introvert mode. For the most part I think I’m an introvert posing as an extrovert. So here my wife and I were for 3 hours 1 foot apart from each other and my mind was somewhere else entirely. Physically present but mentally absent as I was thinking through what I had prepared and dealing with the anxiety I was feeling about my 10 year break from preaching. While sitting in the Sunday School class and especially while singing during worship I had to fight to be present. Hearing the Father’s blessing requires us to be still and be present.
In Luke 22 it mentions that the passover is the day the lamb was sacrificed. Prior to passover Jesus entered a very festive Jerusalem on what we know of as Palm Sunday. The reason for the city being so jubilant actually had a lot to do with the feast they were celebrating. That Sunday was the day that the lamb was selected and so people were celebratory because a lamb had been selected which would spare the lives of their families. Little did they know that the Lamb had already been selected and had already been blessed.
When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."—Luke 3:21-22
It is here where we see the Son taken (chosen) and blessed by the Father. The blessing did not come from a distance as the Spirit descends upon the Son. The Father closes the gap and says to the Son the very words we need to hear ourselves. Jesus invites us to participate in the very same relationship with the Father that he himself enjoyed. In Christ we are brought close to the Father as his sons and daughters. In Christ we are told the truth about who and whose we are. We are His and we are loved.
Monday, April 29, 2013
Driving Lessons
- I don’t remember ever having a formal discussion with my wife before or after getting married about who drives when we travel together but looking back over our 9 years of married life it’s pretty clear that I do the driving. Whether short trips or long I do virtually all of the driving and there are 2 major lessons that I have learned over these years.
Lesson 1: She notices a ton more than me when I’m driving.
Maybe it’s because I’ve got a destination and objective in mind or I’m talking a ton while focusing on the road ahead but it’s pretty clear that she is able to notice the bigger picture much better than me. There are countless times when there is no rush that I happen to notice something new along the way. I’ll see a new store open, an old store closed, and think that this is a new occurrence only to be informed by my wife that it’s been that way for weeks or months. As a passenger she has the freedom to actually observe her surroundings in a way that I cannot. While I am busy avoiding the crazy drivers filling the roadway she is able to enjoy the ride so long as I’m not being a crazy driver myself.
Lesson 2: I am a horrible passenger!
I can’t overstate this fact enough and I know my wife is nodding as she reads this. Perhaps this is why she lets me drive virtually all the time. The only thing worse than my driving is having me as a passenger. One of us has been pulled over 4 times since we got married and it’s not her. Granted, I get out of any and all tickets because I am the smoothest man alive but Lori has yet to be pulled over once since we exchanged vows. That says plenty about her driving and the few times she drives she deserves some peace and quiet when it comes to my driving comments. And as far as passengers go Lori is wonderful! She reserves her comments until after her breath returns and I have managed to avoid another accident. It was the other driver’s fault of course. I’m not sure how she does it but I’m guessing it has a little to do with radical trust.
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.---Romans 12:2
You’re probably wondering what a verse like this would have to do with the driving lessons above but I think there is plenty to be learned here. Here are two lessons we see in this passage.
Lesson 1: Drivers Conform.
The more we are behind the wheel the more we start driving like everyone else. This is something we actively do. There is nobody forcing us to live in ways that conform to the patterns of this world but in an effort to blend in we naturally steer that way. Chances are that we don’t even notice how much we blend in. We can get so focused on where we’re going and the traffic in our immediate area that we miss most of what’s going on. Conforming happens when we’re in control and along with a false sense of power we struggle to trust others with the wheel. I wonder if my comments about life addressed to God resemble my comments about driving to my wife.
Lesson 2: Passengers are Transformed.
In contrast to us changing to blend in with the world this is more about letting God mold and shape us. When we try to do the forming we end up conforming. When we slide over to the passenger seat we are in a position to be transformed. This passenger view provides quite a few perks provided we learn to trust the driver. If you struggle with trust you just may be too scared or nervous to notice the possibilities.
The first perk is rest. The main issue that requires me to be a passenger is exhaustion. If I worked the night prior and Lori is in a hurry to hit the road I try to get some shuteye during the first part of the trip. I do manage to fall asleep because falling asleep is my spiritual gift but I struggle to stay asleep. Every little tap of the brake or turn of the wheel is enough for me to sit straight up and look around wide-eyed fully expecting to see our car sliding under a semi. Trust helps us get rest when we need it because we’re not worrying about who is in control. Another perk is the ability to actually enjoy the ride. There’s nothing worse as a driver than having to miss something because you have to keep your attention on the road. You can only steal a quick glance while passengers are able to give something their full attention. I have lost every game of ‘yellow car’ for the sole reason that my wife has free reign to look down every alley. That is why I purchased a little yellow matchbox car as her trophy and the game is forbidden when we travel.
So who’s in control of your vehicle as you travel down the road of life? Maybe it’s time you handed over control. Maybe you’ve handed over control but you’re still learning to trust. Maybe you’ve learned to trust and are now able to not only enjoy where you are currently in life but are also able to discern his ‘good, pleasing and perfect will’. The issue of control is an ongoing one as there is always the temptation to return to the driver’s seat. But if the destination is transformation there is only one seat where you can fully enjoy the ride.
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Bath Time!!!!
Of all the experiences we have in this world I doubt there are many that can compare to that ‘just out of the shower’ feeling. I’m not sure what it is about being clean that is invigorating (maybe it’s the chemicals in bodywash) but I like it. For many people a bath is how you start your day and so it symbolizes a fresh new beginning and it’s only downhill from there. Or maybe you’ve just finished some sort of physical labor type activity and getting a bath symbolizes completion and now you are free for the more fun things in life. In either situation a bath is a highlight but there are definitely times when a bath is SCARY!
Unless you are a caregiver for someone in need chances are that you have not had the regular experience of giving someone a bath or been the recipient of a bath by someone. Perhaps due to some sort of an injury to yourself or a loved one you have had a few of these experiences in your lifetime but I reckon there are quite a few who have never had any experience like this. It is truly one of the most humbling experiences I have ever had.
A couple of years ago I was assisting at a special needs camp and the camper I was assigned to had physical limitations and required assistance in getting ready for his day. Being that I did not know Tom and I had never helped someone bathe before it was an interesting first day. Frustrating might be a better description. Each morning afterward I was up by 4:30am so that I could be up and ready and have a couple hours to myself before I would need to start Tom and I’s routine. Many lessons were learned when it came to vulnerability, trust, patience and compassion. I can only imagine what it was like to be in Tom’s place and have to be so vulnerable to someone he didn’t even know at first. I can only imagine the amount of trust he had to place in my very literal hands as we worked and maneuvered together to do what needed to be done. No imagining on my part was necessary when it came to learning about patience. My wife can attest to my impatience and that was challenged to the extreme that week. I had to relinquish all control and go at the pace of another. If there was one thing that I needed and didn’t have on that first day it was the kind of compassion necessary to truly care for the needs of someone like Tom. If there was one thing learned in those early mornings alone it was the depth of the compassion of Christ. I needed to tap into that deep well in order to have what I did not have naturally.
I recently listened to Brennan Manning speak of Christ as the ‘Son of Compassion’. He warned that we are misguided if we try to compare our human, far from impartial, shallow, self-serving kind of compassion to the compassion of Christ. The compassion that Christ has for those who are suffering is a compassion that resonates in the womb of the eternal. This is so much more than the kind of ‘My heart goes out to….’ that we so regularly hear during times of tragedy. The heart of Christ doesn’t simply ‘go out’ to people in such times but is instead twisted and wrenched, torn and broken, opened and poured out. It is this ‘Son of Compassion’ that we see washing the feet of his disciples.
John 13:4-10
So he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?"
Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand."
"No," said Peter, "you shall never wash my feet."
Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me."
"Then, Lord," Simon Peter replied, "not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!"
Jesus answered, "Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you."
I could spend hours writing about the significance of who is doing the washing but I’m going to fast forward to those of us getting a bath and the two words I used in describing Tom’s side of our experience: Trust and Vulnerability. Trust is a huge deal because without trust you will never be vulnerable. There will always be barriers, there will always be distance and there will never be a true intimate relationship if there is not trust. It is by trusting Jesus that we open our lives up to the reality that we need a bath. Then it’s bath time and just like in this story there are those of us who need our whole body washed and there are those of us who just need our feet washed. Everyone needs their whole body washed at some point (baptism) but in a spiritual sense this is not something people need to have done over and over and over. I do, however, think we regularly need what Peter needed as Jesus offered to wash his feet. Life has its way of collecting dirt as we go along and it’s easy for people to reject Jesus’ invitation to wash the more objectionable parts of their lives. "That’s ok Jesus. You’ve done enough. I’ll wash that area myself." We don’t like to admit it but when it comes to this kind of spiritual bath we need help. The truth is that He can reach areas we can’t no matter how hard we try. Trust Him. Be vulnerable. Be clean.
Unless you are a caregiver for someone in need chances are that you have not had the regular experience of giving someone a bath or been the recipient of a bath by someone. Perhaps due to some sort of an injury to yourself or a loved one you have had a few of these experiences in your lifetime but I reckon there are quite a few who have never had any experience like this. It is truly one of the most humbling experiences I have ever had.
A couple of years ago I was assisting at a special needs camp and the camper I was assigned to had physical limitations and required assistance in getting ready for his day. Being that I did not know Tom and I had never helped someone bathe before it was an interesting first day. Frustrating might be a better description. Each morning afterward I was up by 4:30am so that I could be up and ready and have a couple hours to myself before I would need to start Tom and I’s routine. Many lessons were learned when it came to vulnerability, trust, patience and compassion. I can only imagine what it was like to be in Tom’s place and have to be so vulnerable to someone he didn’t even know at first. I can only imagine the amount of trust he had to place in my very literal hands as we worked and maneuvered together to do what needed to be done. No imagining on my part was necessary when it came to learning about patience. My wife can attest to my impatience and that was challenged to the extreme that week. I had to relinquish all control and go at the pace of another. If there was one thing that I needed and didn’t have on that first day it was the kind of compassion necessary to truly care for the needs of someone like Tom. If there was one thing learned in those early mornings alone it was the depth of the compassion of Christ. I needed to tap into that deep well in order to have what I did not have naturally.
I recently listened to Brennan Manning speak of Christ as the ‘Son of Compassion’. He warned that we are misguided if we try to compare our human, far from impartial, shallow, self-serving kind of compassion to the compassion of Christ. The compassion that Christ has for those who are suffering is a compassion that resonates in the womb of the eternal. This is so much more than the kind of ‘My heart goes out to….’ that we so regularly hear during times of tragedy. The heart of Christ doesn’t simply ‘go out’ to people in such times but is instead twisted and wrenched, torn and broken, opened and poured out. It is this ‘Son of Compassion’ that we see washing the feet of his disciples.
John 13:4-10
So he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?"
Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand."
"No," said Peter, "you shall never wash my feet."
Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me."
"Then, Lord," Simon Peter replied, "not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!"
Jesus answered, "Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you."
I could spend hours writing about the significance of who is doing the washing but I’m going to fast forward to those of us getting a bath and the two words I used in describing Tom’s side of our experience: Trust and Vulnerability. Trust is a huge deal because without trust you will never be vulnerable. There will always be barriers, there will always be distance and there will never be a true intimate relationship if there is not trust. It is by trusting Jesus that we open our lives up to the reality that we need a bath. Then it’s bath time and just like in this story there are those of us who need our whole body washed and there are those of us who just need our feet washed. Everyone needs their whole body washed at some point (baptism) but in a spiritual sense this is not something people need to have done over and over and over. I do, however, think we regularly need what Peter needed as Jesus offered to wash his feet. Life has its way of collecting dirt as we go along and it’s easy for people to reject Jesus’ invitation to wash the more objectionable parts of their lives. "That’s ok Jesus. You’ve done enough. I’ll wash that area myself." We don’t like to admit it but when it comes to this kind of spiritual bath we need help. The truth is that He can reach areas we can’t no matter how hard we try. Trust Him. Be vulnerable. Be clean.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
While it was still dark.....
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb….—John 20:1
I have worked nightshift for over 9 years and so I have a different routine than most. Rather than sleeping during the night and working during the day I am quite used to the opposite. As such, I get a steady dose of the dark night. The unit where I work has a residential pet named Spot, an Australian shepherd who occassionally steals my food if I’m not careful. In the middle of the night he will wake up from his doggie dreams and come to the office doorway and give me the look that says I need to drop what I’m doing. As he runs around in the backyard I get the chance to look up at the stars in the dark night sky. Darkness for most people can be disturbing or even terrifying. Some may find it peaceful but I assume that that is only the case when one is in a familiar setting or reasonably safe environment.
Typically people think of daytime as the beginning of the day as that is when people wake up and start their activity. Nighttime is the time when people come indoors and end their activity so that they can sleep and get ready for the new day in the morning. Jewish tradition is much different and we see it most clearly in how they honor the Sabbath. Sabbath begins sundown on the 6th day and ends sundown on the 7th. That routine involves beginning with night and ending with the daylight. Why do they have such an odd arrangement to their day? The roots go back to the creation story itself.
And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.
And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.
And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.
And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.
And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
In Genesis we see the regular pattern of evening followed by morning. In the bigger picture we at first see a formless void of darkness but God speaks and light breaks forth. This pattern of night to day is a daily rhythm that testifies to the creative direction since the beginning. Light from the darkness. Life from death.
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.—1 Peter 2:9
Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali,
on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—
the people who sat in darkness
have seen a great light,
and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death
light has dawned.—Matthew 4:15-16
Earlier I did a post on the suffering of Christ but I want to do one more thing before we arrive at the resurrection. I want to spend some time looking at someone who is very representative of where we find ourselves as Christians from time to time. Let’s look at the situation of Mary on her way to the tomb. This is not some sort of serene and peaceful darkness where Mary finds herself. Inside she is anything but peaceful. I can only imagine the fear, doubt, and grief that flooded her mind as she made her way toward the tomb. I am really good at having those internal conversations or recounting past conversations and so it is easy for me to place myself in her shoes in that sense. I’m sure she is placing the expectations she had alongside of the recent events and wondering where everything went wrong. How do you go from the celebration of Palm Sunday to this? I’m sure the whole thing was a blur. Unanswered questions start piling up with no clear place to start. It was dark.
When you turn the lights out on people there are two universal reactions: fright and freeze. When things go dark it catches people by surprise and you immediately stop what you’re doing because you can’t see and things get complicated. It’s in the dark times in life that it is easy to lose hope, give up, and stop moving forward but that’s not what we see Mary doing. Others are huddled together in hiding, unsure if they will be next if they show themselves. But Mary is making her way to the tomb and facing the one big thing that is to blame for her darkness. Later on she will get to see that amazing moment when darkness turns to light but for now it is dark.
What is your current darkness? What are the areas in life needing light and life to dawn anew? No matter how dark things are, no matter how tough the questions or severe the doubts, don’t give up hope. Don’t stop moving forward. The day is coming.
I have worked nightshift for over 9 years and so I have a different routine than most. Rather than sleeping during the night and working during the day I am quite used to the opposite. As such, I get a steady dose of the dark night. The unit where I work has a residential pet named Spot, an Australian shepherd who occassionally steals my food if I’m not careful. In the middle of the night he will wake up from his doggie dreams and come to the office doorway and give me the look that says I need to drop what I’m doing. As he runs around in the backyard I get the chance to look up at the stars in the dark night sky. Darkness for most people can be disturbing or even terrifying. Some may find it peaceful but I assume that that is only the case when one is in a familiar setting or reasonably safe environment.
Typically people think of daytime as the beginning of the day as that is when people wake up and start their activity. Nighttime is the time when people come indoors and end their activity so that they can sleep and get ready for the new day in the morning. Jewish tradition is much different and we see it most clearly in how they honor the Sabbath. Sabbath begins sundown on the 6th day and ends sundown on the 7th. That routine involves beginning with night and ending with the daylight. Why do they have such an odd arrangement to their day? The roots go back to the creation story itself.
And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.
And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.
And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.
And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.
And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
In Genesis we see the regular pattern of evening followed by morning. In the bigger picture we at first see a formless void of darkness but God speaks and light breaks forth. This pattern of night to day is a daily rhythm that testifies to the creative direction since the beginning. Light from the darkness. Life from death.
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.—1 Peter 2:9
Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali,
on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—
the people who sat in darkness
have seen a great light,
and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death
light has dawned.—Matthew 4:15-16
Earlier I did a post on the suffering of Christ but I want to do one more thing before we arrive at the resurrection. I want to spend some time looking at someone who is very representative of where we find ourselves as Christians from time to time. Let’s look at the situation of Mary on her way to the tomb. This is not some sort of serene and peaceful darkness where Mary finds herself. Inside she is anything but peaceful. I can only imagine the fear, doubt, and grief that flooded her mind as she made her way toward the tomb. I am really good at having those internal conversations or recounting past conversations and so it is easy for me to place myself in her shoes in that sense. I’m sure she is placing the expectations she had alongside of the recent events and wondering where everything went wrong. How do you go from the celebration of Palm Sunday to this? I’m sure the whole thing was a blur. Unanswered questions start piling up with no clear place to start. It was dark.
When you turn the lights out on people there are two universal reactions: fright and freeze. When things go dark it catches people by surprise and you immediately stop what you’re doing because you can’t see and things get complicated. It’s in the dark times in life that it is easy to lose hope, give up, and stop moving forward but that’s not what we see Mary doing. Others are huddled together in hiding, unsure if they will be next if they show themselves. But Mary is making her way to the tomb and facing the one big thing that is to blame for her darkness. Later on she will get to see that amazing moment when darkness turns to light but for now it is dark.
What is your current darkness? What are the areas in life needing light and life to dawn anew? No matter how dark things are, no matter how tough the questions or severe the doubts, don’t give up hope. Don’t stop moving forward. The day is coming.
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