Easter Week: More than just chocolate eggs?

One thing constantly amazes me about human beings.  We are able to suffer some of the most grievous and most cruel imaginings, and yet often the body, mind, and soul can miraculously be restored.  If we are given a chance, and often this is only afforded through the compassion of others.  

This theme keeps popping up in my life, evoking from me a strange curiosity and wondering.  My wife is a doctor and I am constantly around stories of people being healed, but in all fairness these stories are tragically associated with stories of being people un-healed.  There are those who do not get better, take unexpected turns for the worse, or are too broken for a healing hand to help.

Perhaps we are all too aware of these tragedies in our midst.  The media tends to gravitate towards stories of corruption, depravity, death, and mayhem.  It can be difficult at best to believe there is good in this world at times, unless we search for something to drag us back to the reality of its existence on occasion.

Last week I gathered with other believers in Christ, and as we finished our time in worship a guest speaker who grew up in Uganda stood to share with us her story.  It was simple in the end.  She had been born into such poverty that her parents had sold her into slavery.  It was a choice between this or letting her die.  So from an age where most of us are getting dressed up by our parents so pictures can be sent world wide of our insane cuteness, she was being forced to wake up before dawn to go and draw water for her...owners.

The quote she said that most stuck in my heart was, "Do not cry for me tonight.  I have lived and have experienced the joy of compassion."  You see her life was changed by one of those countless folks who give money to an organization that reaches out to these children, freeing them from a lifestyle of slavery and offering for them instead - a family, food, education - freedom.

A group called Fountains of Peace changed her life forever, and listening to her speak I could not help but think about how the only thing that seemed to remain in her from that terrible start to life was a drive to help the other children still in that situation.  She was not broken.  She was not irreparably damaged.  She is whole and an agent of change!  She was restored by her God thanks to the help of her brothers and sisters.

Another story I read this past week touched me because it put stories like this one I have just shared into vivid photos.  This is a story of an abused dog that had been tossed down a trash chute.  As unimaginable as that is to me as a human being, what is even better then the evilness of this act, is the compassion of the countless acts that nursed this dog back to health.  Read the story by clicking here.   

It truly is amazing how much change we can bring about in the lives of others.  Moving into the celebration of Easter I am focused intently on the idea of resurrection.  My whole faith and life depends on a belief that resurrection is not just something that happened over 2,000 years ago, but is something that continues to happen on a daily basis in my life and in the lives of others.

If you get a chance open up the Bible and read Psalm 118, the psalm which is most likely being referred to when the people shout to Jesus as he proceeds into Jerusalem on the donkey, "Hosanna!" (in John 12 and Matthew 21)  As a form of exclamation this word most often is translated from the Hebrew as "Save us!" (as seen in Psalm 118:25)

People all around us are shouting "hosanna" and you or I just might be the answer God is sending them.  Will you kneel down and embrace the disfigured man?  Will you nurse an animal back to health?  Will you give a monthly donation so a child can be freed to live?  Where is someone shouting or even whispering "hosanna" near you, maybe too weak to raise their voice any longer?  Will you save someone?

The tomb is empty and Christ lives.  He lives in us.  Let us be the loving arms of God to those around us this week as we turn to celebrate the greatest miracle of all!

Indissoluble Union: Baby Steps

I was reading today in John 10 and I hit verse 34 - Jesus answered, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If those to whom the word of God came were called ‘gods’ - and the scripture cannot be annulled - can you say that the one whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world is blaspheming because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’?”  (read Psalm 86 too)

So interesting.  I've always been fascinated with how we perceive ourselves in Christ.  For instance, the idea of the priesthood of all believers is a favorite of mine.  But there has always been the notion that we are missing something... that we haven't quite understood some key aspect of it all.  And then I read a verse like this and it reminds me.

Oh ya, we ARE sons and daughters of the Most High.  I tend to think of myself, as I have been taught, as a little Jesus growing and becoming more like Jesus everyday.  But as I sit here I wonder, is this correct?  Is it possible that I am not meant to live as someone who might one day be more like Jesus and then be wholly like him in death, but that we who are in Christ are to live fully as Christ NOW and in the present?

Yes I know this question leads to a difficult, "Ok buddy, it's not that easy to just be like Jesus" sort of response.  What I am trying to get at though is our, or at least mine, thinking does not allow for us to be the Jesus we need to be because we are trying to hard to be someone else.  What if, just what if, you could learn to believe and cherish the concept that as a son or daughter of God, you ARE a son or daughter of God?  The son or daughter of God as was intended in the creation of you.

As I was thinking about this, I took up a new agreement with my brother back home in Memphis to listen to his pastor's sermons so that we could in turn grow together and have some wholesome dialogue.  I listened to the sermon from January the fifth (click anywhere on this sentence to find them), and wouldn't you know it, he was preaching on "how do we live as a child of God?" (pretty good and I recommend a listen if you have time - the sermon also helps to note how we need to behave as those who are in Christ - good stuff). Nice.

To keep this short... I'll tell you one thing.  I am so excited to live the rest of the day focused on being as fully a son of God as I can be - wholly myself.  Yes I have lots of work to do as I become myself, but everyday I'm going to wake up and focus on my indissoluble union in God as God's son - as Brett Baddorf redeemed (I found that in the description in the online pulpit commentary and just love it).

Let us live as who we were born to be - ourselves - fully ourselves in God through Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.  To paraphrase a quote from the movie What About Bob, "I'm going to take baby steps on being my true self today."  

Advent - Do you know what the word means?

Advent is one of those words that we use to describe the Christian calendar, if we in fact use the Christian calendar.  Funny words and strange traditions get lost in stuffy churches with robes and organs.

But there is a rich history there and we should be at a great loss if we simply neglect to look backwards from time to time at how our ancestors worshiped Christ.

I found that a love for words and etymology can be a fun source of knowledge.  Why do we use the words we do and what do they mean?

Advent is one of those words.  Defined simply the word holds the meaning waiting on an arrival of sorts, usually a special one, but it does not have to hold that connotation.  For example, "The mother and her son waited anxiously for the advent of the soldier.  As the husband/father rounded the hallway in the terminal and came into view, they all began to weep."  That is an advent we all like to witness in our busy airpots.

The Christian calendar most notably takes this word and uses it in association with the first coming of the Messiah.  You will notice it is the season Advent now, or the time just prior to when we celebrate Christmas.  And Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, the moment God comes into our world.

How are you celebrating the advent of our Lord?  Now we also await a second advent - the coming of Jesus again but in a much different way (but that's a whole other story).  This Christmas season celebrate new beginnings and fresh starts, while we stop to consider that first advent - the Advent - the birth of our Lord and Savior.

A friend wrote this post and it is well worth the read - much more so than my own post for certain! (Click anywhere on the text)

Sin: Driving Too Fast So God Crashed My Bike??

(We saw a few crashes.  Did the biker crash because of some
punishment being dealt out by God, or was it the fact that
while driving super fast he made a mistake? He in essence
sinned and when he did he paid the price immediately)

This weekend I was reminded of an idea I've been thinking for some time now.  While watching motorcycle drivers race around the streets of a small town in New Zealand for the Burt Monroe Challenge, the notion grew until I had to post about it.  It was amazing watching them fly by at ridiculously fast speeds, most of the time with great control and focus.  But if we just watched long enough eventually someone crashed.  The more I watched them race by the more I was drawn back in my mind to countless conversations I have had with people about sin.
This might seem odd but I think by in a moment it will all become clear.

The way we think of and talk about sin can be quite destructive, especially for those who have yet to begin a relationship with God.

Let me back up a little bit and explain.  Working as a high school minister for four years just out of seminary was good and bad.  In many ways I felt that I had learned so much about Christianity, our faith, and its history that I might not ever be able to talk about a good deal of what I had learned in the presence of church going folks, because they had already been taught other views since childhood (well if I wanted to keep my job anyway).  But at the same time I found high schoolers eager to listen to pretty much anything, especially if it came across as honest.  The students I worked with were willing to be challenged, ready to be pushed, but abhorred anything they perceived as less than genuine.  If I did not believe what I was saying they stopped listening.  Luckily for me I usually do not say too much I do not believe in, although it does start arguments at times.

During these four years I discovered that the concept of sin was problematic.  A good number of students were already deep within a rebellious phase of their lives when I  met them, and yet at the same time if I invested in building a relationship with a student they seemed willing to talk openly about almost anything (some even prior to really knowing me at all which was always surprisingly fun).  Many of these students drank alcohol, smoked cigarettes, were having sex, had issues with honoring their parents, and everything in between.

Spending time with these students allowed me to see there were some issues with how they understood Christianity before even truly really being introduced.  Living in Memphis, TN there was no lack of knowledge about general Christian concepts in an average youth.  In part this was the problem, though in all fairness, it was not so much these students had heard wrongly but perhaps been taught kind of sideways, at least in how I see many issues.

A prevailing conversation always circled around the idea of sin - how could it not when trying to explain why a relationship with God is necessary right?  First we have to make sure everyone knows truly how much of a "bastard" (sorry) they really are so that we can accept God's grace.  And while it is Biblical truth that the greater the sinner the more he/she will understand God's grace in their life (parable in second half of Luke 7), so many students I met did not need one more beat down but rather was in dire need of any affirmation they could find (so much so that cigarettes, alcohol, idiotic friends with no concern for their welfare, drugs, and sex were welcome parts of their lives because they falsely felt these things gave them some form of at least approval).

Every single Wednesday night we shared the gospel.  We were thankfully encouraged to do so creatively and with passion.  I found the more I shared the gospel the more I felt compelled to make it "good news" for the students.  A small tweak I made to my talks focused carefully on sin, which generally our average student saw as things they did wrong and then in turn were punished for by God.  This is actually pretty common.  And while I am sure at times God does, as any good parent, take us out back to the woodshed (as needed), I think a better understanding that I came to was that God was always actively trying to keep us from sinning and fixing the sin in our lives, with much less focus on punishing us for the sin.

(I know the sinful dark side of myself all to well.
Maybe there is a way of telling me that God can free
me from this part of myself without first smashing me
to pieces with the doctrine of sin fully explananed)

Here's the switcharoo, in almost all cases sin is punishment enough of its own accord.  If I smoke cigarettes there is a good chance I will develop many various problems - not punishment from God but actual side effects of my own choices.  If I drive to fast and break the speed limit my chances of crashing and dying go up drastically.  If I cheat on my wife she will most likely leave me for the lousy scoundrel I am.  All Christians know that sin fully developed leads to death - a serious issue.  It destroys the lives of those who sin and the lives of those around them.  But the distinction I am making is this destruction comes from us, our history of making sinful choices, our ancestors history of making sinful choices, and from living in a world where sin is abundantly wrapping its disgusting arms around us.

With this distinction, I could free myself up to preach actual good news to my students.  God not only does want a relationship with you, but loves you so much that God would do anything to remove sin from your life (yes including at times admonishment and growth).

Do you feel the difference such a small way of talking about sin could make in the lives of insecure students who already are seeking affirmation in any place they can find it?  What if we gave them the only affirmation that will ever matter by actually affirming them instead of destroying them further?  Most of us know how terrible of a person we are and do not need the extra weight of another person reminding us of that fact.  I am the worst sinner of all and will gladly weigh mine against Paul's one day for the title prize.

In the meantime I'm going to preach that Jesus came to give life and life more abundant.  I have a firm belief that our God is alive.  I believe this God works in the lives of those who pursue the truth of God's love in their lives through the power of the Holy Spirit.  I think I can trust that power to be responsible for some of the process don't you?  What if we don't fully explain just how much of a sinner every person truly is...?  Do you believe God works in people's lives?  Do you think your voice is the only way God works or speaks?  Poppycock.

Let's all calm down, celebrate a little bit more, love a little more fiercely, and share GOOD NEWS with folks.  Jesus is alive.  Originally that was all of the good news needed to be, wrapped up with a nice little bow.

Breaking the Cycle of Violence: The Voice of Anmol

There are so many thoughts and ideas that permeate Christian thought and theology.  When we meet new Christians, I have found at times, there is a hesitancy that comes along with trying to discern if we will truly be friends based on some core belief system. How refreshing it is, when in my travels, I come across believers who just love on you, whether you believe in their Jesus or even their idea of predestination.

The topic of Christianity and my beliefs come up often and quickly because people always ask, "So what do you do?"  Their responses vary and sometimes, before we even really have taken time to know one another, we have waded together into the depths of complicated issues - or they just tell me what they think.

Because of this need for clarification ("so what denomination" or "what do you believe about 'x' ") often times I will simply say, "I'm a follower of Jesus Christ."  But even that can be confusing.

Predestination. Free-will. Where is God in suffering? What do you actually think happens during communion? Elders. Deacons. Bishops. Popes. Suits. No suits. Contemporary. Traditional. Accept gay people. Love gay people but not their lifestyle. Reject them altogether. Mission projects. Abortion. Women's rights. Women in the ministry. Interpretation of the Bible. KJV.  NIV. NRSV. NKJV. RSV. The Message. The Way. Endless other translations. Believer baptism. Infant baptism. Conformation.

So many various issues define who we are as a body of believers and as individual believers.  Can we ever make the merry-go-round stop long enough to just look and see if we are still following the living Christ? Which denomination would he choose? Which is the Holy Spirit's favorite? Does God feel that one comes closest to worshiping God's true nature best?

This very blog exists to contemplate many of these various topics (I even had one chosen for today), but when I was reading through the news as reported by Christian Today (an online webpage I visit) one story stuck out.  Headline:  7 year-old Indian boy tortured and killed for being a Christian. I did not want to read it but I felt compelled to hear his story.  You can read it by clicking the link.

None of the things I mentioned before matter to me right now. I have an image stuck in my head of the violence done to this child and I just sit. It is a gripping story that I am sure will haunt me for some time to come. No one should ever die like this.  What can motivate another human to do something so atrocious? Was it their own religious beliefs? Usually this is what causes killing over a person's convictions. A quote from the article said, "but the killing of a child like this is unheard of." If only that were the truth.

We have not to look beyond our own Holy Scripture to see the Psalmist praying, lamenting to God, for the children of their enemies to be dashed against the rocks (Psalm 137 - happy is the one who dashes your infants upon the rocks). Our Bible is riddled with acts of violence, many done in the name of God and even in obedience to God. It can become confusing.

Yet here is where we turn to Jesus, the model and perfecter of our faith, just as the family of this young boy have. A favorite description given to Jesus from seminary was when a professor looked at us all and said, "Jesus breaks the cycle of violence.  He steps into the cycle and instead of perpetuating it he absorbs it."  Through the cross he absorbed the violence of the world and of all sin, though through great cost and intense pain, while at any moment he could have called on a host of angels.

We will never understand all of what truly happened through the cross, but it seems important that our Christ chose to end the cycle of violence in this world by taking it upon himself.

It hurts to absorb violence, even when it's the small stuff. Allowing someone else to win an argument when you know you're right. Ignoring a hurtful comment from someone and letting it go. Getting cut off in traffic and not retaliating instead of instigating a hand gesture match which might very well escalate more violence. Forgiving someone of a wrong they have done us.

These are all quite difficult things to do, but what about praying for and forgiving those who brutally murdered your seven year old son? Did you read what they did to him? And after all of his torture he died from drowning. It would be beyond difficult for me to not immediately begin plotting my revenge, even calling out to our Father for sweet retribution to the children of my son's killers.

(Found at christiantoday.com)

This is when we find out none of our theology matters - not really. What matters is the question - do we follow our Messiah? Our Messiah stepped into the path of violence to end it. Maybe this is what Matthew 16:25 is all about. Can we follow in those footsteps?

Can we break the cycles of violence in our own lives by letting the voice of Anmol whisper to us through his untimely and horrific death? What were you thankful for this Thanksgiving? I'm thankful for Anmol and his faith. I am thankful that he reminds me of what real faith costs and how I should be pursuing Christ in my own life. Thank you my brother.

Charles Stanley Induced: God Is Up To Something Good

(Sometimes when it rains it pours)

This Sunday Charles Stanley came on my television,
which to me is a welcome break from the normal televangelists or pastors I catch on the tube (nothing against them inherently, they are just not my cup of tea).  But Stanley I can listen to no matter what he's talking on and I always learn something.

This week he was talking about suffering, or in general anything from illness to the terrible things that come into our lives creating havoc.  The use of Scripture, his exposition, and everything he said was spot on.  Pastor Stanley was encouraging and was giving great insights for those who are suffering.  He  focused on the only thing we can change amidst trying circumstances, which is our attitude and how we handle ourselves - do we get upset, treat others poorly, complain, give in, or do we maintain our character, perhaps even build character.

It was a great sermon.  The theme being when something terrible is in your life, take heart, because when this is the case you know for sure "God is up to something good."

I completely agree with what Stanley said, and I love his theme because, as I am sure he does, I believe God is always up to something good in our lives. My one gripe on this subject, and in fairness I did miss some of the sermon, is that as Christians we often imply from our belief system and theology that God in fact is responsible for the evil in our lives.

This always gives me pause.  It makes me think of the verses in Mark 3 when Jesus is accused of casting out demons by the power of the prince of demons.  As Jesus responds he makes a statement about blaspheming the Holy Spirit, which in my experience has always intrigued and confused readers. If we interpret this to mean that when we see God working, such as Jesus exorcising demons, and yet say instead that it is evil, we are committing blasphemy against the Holy Spirit - an unforgivable sin (perhaps the only unforgivable sin as I have found in the Bible).  It seems God (Jesus and the Holy Spirit) does not like being accused of doing evil.

Why does so much of our theology, especially when we really delve deep into it and play it all the way out, insist upon making God the author of evil?  Why does God have to be in control of everything?  And what does this say about the nature of God in this world where evil is so abundant?

As one of my favorite professors taught me, let us use the story of Joseph being sold into slavery (as a better option than killing him) by his own brothers found in Genesis 37.  Having two brothers of my own, I can only think of how terrible this story truly is, especially when I stop to imagine two of us plotting to kill and then instead selling our other brother into slavery. What a disparaging story!?

But, do not fret, for any good pastor will tell us loudly, "This is not the end of the story."  Or if we were in Joseph's place we could recall to mind Stanley's comment for comfort even while being sold into slavery, "God is up to something good."  When we see in the end that God saves the entire people of Israel from an intense famine through Joseph, and the high position he has attained in the Egyptian government, we can then perceive correctly God was in control all along.  What a relief because for a minute there I thought perhaps God was snoozing while Joseph's brothers were up to no good.  But instead of being asleep somewhere, just not caring, or perhaps some other explanation, worse yet most of the time our theology goes beyond this and actually implicates God as a moving force behind what the brothers did!  When we see what happens in the end we can clearly see it was not evil, but part of God's plan. Come on, that's just ridiculous.

It's always been difficult trying to balance everything that I know and believe about God with all of the suffering and evil that exists in this world.  I've read books devoted to the subject, sat through seminary courses entirely focused on this one topic, and have of course heard a wide ranging set of opinions on the matter from ordained ministers and well informed friends.  And some of these conversations get quite hot because of course we are all saying something quite significant at times about our own, or adopted, interpretation of Scripture, or even God.

I'll admit I floundered through this conversation looking for something I felt actually worked for quite some time.  It was not until I met Dr. John Claypool and listened to his take on theodicy, that I finally heard a theology that when taken all the way to its end does not make God the author of evil (feel free to delve in yourself for a fuller explanation of this thoughts in his book God The Ingenious Alchemist: Transforming Tragedy into Blessing).

Instead of blaspheming God and placing God in control of Joseph's brothers so that later God could save an entire nation, God instead is the One who works through a willing and faithful servant in the most dire of circumstances.  Instead of saying that Joseph was sold into slavery as part of God being up to something good, I had finally found a way to say that when we are up to no good God is always there and waiting, if we will let God, to come in and transform sin or evil into something good.

I do not know what theology you ascribe to or how you think about God in relation to evil, but in the most heartfelt way I can say, please do all you can to ensure so that you never tell anyone that God is the reason for evil or the effects of sin in their life.  Yes God teaches us and is always moving us to become more like Christ, which can be difficult, but this is not the same as the powers of evil and sin at work in our lives.

God is good.  God is love.  I will do my best to never see evil at work and call it God.  Likewise I will do my best to never see God's amazing work and call it evil.