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?
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