Tuesday, December 21, 2010

soul massage

What are you supposed to think about when you’re getting a massage? I like massages: I have plenty of aches, probably from internalizing too much stress. And at my age, someone said that if you don’t ache somewhere you’re probably dead. I like how a good massage therapist can tell if I’m tense, and then works on that part of the body, relaxing the muscles so that I’m able to use that part of my body the way it was supposed to be used. It may be a little painful at times (“deep tissue” massage is a euphemism for “painful”). And when s/he’s done the massage therapist always tells me to “drink lots of water” because of all the harmful stuff that’s been released from my body and is now floating around in my blood stream and needs to find a way out.

Not everyone likes massages. Some people are uncomfortable with the idea, even though it might be good for them to loosen up a little. Or they may not want someone else to know their body that well, where they’re tense or where they have a blemish that they themselves can hardly even see except with a tri-fold mirror in a dressing room.

I had a massage recently and here’s what I was thinking about: contemplative prayer is like a full body massage for your soul. It starts with my cooperation: I need to release myself to God’s loving hands. At first it may be merely relaxing. But then He finds the places where I’m tense and don’t want anyone to see and He works out the toxins. He tells me to drink of the living water so that the bad stuff gets purged from my soul. Often it’s painful, but I’m more able to live up to the potential that He’s built into me.

So when was the last time you had a full-soul massage?

compassion prayer

Lord, may I never be seduced by sweet devotion while I have more than I need and others have less. (from Sacred Space for Advent 2010)

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

waiting

A lot of us aren’t “into” observing Advent. If we're honest with ourselves, we don’t want the rhythm of our lives dictated by the Christian calendar. We’re so busy with our Christmas shopping and other activities that Advent as a Christian observance feels like an intrusion or, at best, a waste of time. We really don’t think that we can set aside some time each day for prayer and reflection, especially at this time of the year.

I recently read this Advent prayer: “Lord, help us to wait, with patience, with longing, for your coming – your coming into our poor lives. As once your people waited, and you came in our midst as a child, to be among us - so help us now to wait, and hope, and love what we wait for: your coming, and your peace.” The prayer seemed oddly anachronistic, out of place in contemporary American society. We are all about instant everything. We become agitated and even angry if a business makes us wait. And that carries over into our personal relationships. We can’t stand a person who makes us wait.

I think our impatience is one of the by-products of living in affluence. Do we really think that we need Jesus to come “into our poor lives”? What sort of poverty does it take to find the love, hope and peace that Jesus can bring? What kind of person is able to wait on God? Can this season help to make me that sort of person? What does God need to do in me to prepare me for his coming into my life and my world?

“Lord, help us to wait, with patience, with longing, for your coming – your coming into our poor lives. As once your people waited, and you came in our midst as a child, to be among us - so help us now to wait, and hope, and love what we wait for: your coming, and your peace.”

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

teaching songs

Psalm 60 has an interesting inscription: “for teaching”. The Psalms have been called “Israel’s songbook”. What is the purpose of singing? As a worship designer and leader I tend to use music for dramatic effect, to get the worshipers excited or reflective, to lift their spirits or to open their hearts. I’m not saying that this is bad. Worship should involve our emotions. But how often do I think of music as a teaching tool, one that opens our minds to new truths?

And Psalm 60 is about hard, challenging times, times when God seems to have rejected us (verse 1): “You have shown your people desperate times.” (verse 3). When we sing about those kinds of times we are being taught something about ourselves and about God that we might not get out of a “happy” song. So I’m glad that songwriters are still writing those sorts of songs for worshiping God. And I’ll try to use them more as I design and lead worship.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

for the King

Being a pastor brings out the worst neuroses in me. I feel responsible for everyone, I assume a “caretaker” role, I’m everyone’s co-dependent. I want to make everyone feel good and feel good about me. The result is that all I hear is complaints, which is to be expected if I’m hyper-vigilant about making people happy. But what’s worse is that I’ll mostly hear complaints if I’m encouraging people to focus on their own desires rather than leading them to follow God. For example, imagine if I were the coach of a football team. If I’m constantly asking the players if they’re comfortable, then I’ll constantly hear about whatever makes them uncomfortable: the pads are too heavy, the sun is too hot, the Gatorade is the wrong flavor. And I’ll spend all my time trying to make adjustments. But if I’m emphasizing winning games, then I’ll make sure water’s available, but I’ll also remind the team “no pain, no gain”.

The famous “prayer of Jabez” is in 1 Chron 4:9-10. Jabez requested blessings and God granted his request. Some see this as a justification for “name it and claim it” theology. But a few verses later (I Chron 4:21-23) another clan within Judah is listed, the sons of Shelah. What are they noted for? “They were the potters who… worked for the king.” Could I be content to be the best potter I could be, knowing that my work was being used by the King? Or would I plead with God, “Enlarge my territory!”

What’s more important than personal accomplishments is the fact that I work for the King of kings. Instead of trying to please everyone, I need to please only one Person. And it doesn’t matter where God places me. If I’m a pastor or a janitor, my calling still comes from God and I have something to contribute to God’s mission in the world. And that should be good enough for me.

I read about the sons of Shelah in the devotional book “Streams in the Desert” (Nov 12) in a selection written by Frances Havergal. She’s the author of the lyrics to “Take my life and let it be” and “Like a river glorious”. It seems that she knew something about consecrating one’s work solely for God’s use and resting in the presence of God. I’m glad that she focused on the sons of Shelah rather than on Jabez. I don’t know why Jabez’ story is included in 1 Chronicles. But I’m glad that the sons of Shelah are there, too.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

the God of Jacob

Who is the God of Jacob?

In Psalm 146 the God of Jacob is the God “who upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry.” Jacob was a fugitive because his brother was trying to kill him. His own uncle cheated him. And in a lot of ways Jacob deserved it. He had stolen his brother’s birthright and was a schemer by nature.

Yet God had mercy on Jacob. Not only did he survive his flight from his brother (at one time he had to sleep in the open with only a stone for a pillow), he eventually found shelter with his uncle and became wealthy. Jacob wrestled with God, and so God made him lame. But God also blessed Jacob, giving him the name Israel and telling him he had wrestled with God and won.

That is the sort of God that I have. He knows my weaknesses and sins and yet he is with me anyway through all the struggles, many of which are self-inflicted. I have no right to ask anything of him, yet he blesses me.

“Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob.” Psalm 146:5

Sunday, September 19, 2010

what God values

Yesterday I was part of a memorial service for a baby that lived only 3 weeks. Last night I attended a dinner to hear from a Thai woman who was herself beaten by her father, left home and was taken in by an orphanage, and has now started a home for Thai children who are similarly victims of abuse.

In the memorial service there was a huge outpouring of love. Strong men wept openly and there was no shame in it. It was right to love and to grieve, to express how valuable this child was despite his short life. And it was a great contrast to what we heard about later that day about how the world has treated the children taken in at the home in Thailand.

It boggles my mind that people can mistreat children. It shows how damaged our world is, that people who are wounded can in turn wound other people, even children. The injustice and inhumanity of it makes me ashamed and angry and sick.

Jesus loves the little children. It grieves him to see them hurt and abused. He hurts with the premature baby struggling to live. He hurts with the child afraid of her or his own father or mother (who will later learn to distrust all adults and come to despise her/himself and then repeat the cycle unless someone intervenes).

Jesus knows the horrors of our human experience because he has lived them himself. No one would give up room in their house, so he had to be born among animals. He lived as a member of an oppressed minority in a world ruled by the brutality of the Roman legions. He died as a result of betrayal by one who had said he was his follower, and with the entire system of justice perverted and corrupted against him.

What does God value? He values every human life. He values each one so much that he himself entered our human existence and died a horrific and unjust death to take on himself the penalty for our unjust wounding of each other and our world. And then he rose again to demonstrate that he is the true Lord of this world and to offer us life with him. This is the wonderful message that we who are Christ’s followers are called to live and declare.

wealth

The parable of the shrewd (and blatantly unethical) manager (Luke 16:1-9) has always made me uncomfortable. Is Jesus endorsing dishonesty? The story in itself is about a manager who has been hiding his own misuse of his master’s property, is exposed and about to be fired, and then protects himself by ingratiating himself to his master’s debtors by having them alter their accounts. And then the master praises the manager for being shrewd!

Something new struck me about this parable as I read it devotionally today. There is usually one explanation for a parable, a spiritual truth that Jesus illuminates by using a down-to-earth parallel. But in this case, Jesus follows up the story with not one, not even two, but three explanations. He starts by saying that worldly riches are to be used to gain friends. Then he compares worldly wealth to true riches. Finally he says that none of us can serve both God and Money. He hammers home his point by rebutting the Pharisees with a fourth explanation, that God detests what the Pharisees value so highly, i.e., worldly riches.

Jesus’ point is not a simple one. He is certainly not simply endorsing dishonesty (the Pharisees would have raked him over the coals for that). He is giving us a many-layered perspective of worldly wealth. His rebuttal to the Pharisees shows that many people who call themselves followers of God do not look at worldly wealth the way that God does. Jesus calls worldly wealth “very little” relative to true wealth (v. 10). He calls it “someone else’s property”, i.e., we do not truly own it (v. 12). He says that it has the ability to own us, to be our master (v. 13). And he calls it detestable to God even though some people value it highly (v. 15).

All of this begs the question: what is true wealth, that which is highly valued by God? And the problem with answering this question is that it may cause me to hoard something else in the mistaken belief that I am now hoarding something that is truly valuable. It is the hoarding that is in itself the problem. The deeper question is this: Is my value system the same as God’s? That is a question that can’t be answered like a math problem or a question in a catechism. It is a question that is meant to be “lived in”, a question that we will spend our lives answering. And that attitude of seeking to know what God values is what God values.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

wisdom

We all want to be wise. We want the ability to make right choices. My kids attended a Vacation Bible School last week that had James 1:5 as its theme: “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God…” There’s a connection between wisdom and our relationship with God.

So what keeps us from being wise? The same thing that keeps us from God: lack of humility, i.e., pride. Pride isn’t thinking that I know it all or that I know more than God. It’s merely thinking that I know more than someone else.

I’ve spent my life trying to know more than other people. It’s one of the reasons I try to read so widely. Knowledge in itself isn’t a bad thing. In Proverbs 8:12 wisdom speaks and declares that “I possess knowledge.” The problem is not in the knowledge itself, it’s when I use the knowledge as a shield or a weapon. It can become a shield, keeping me from getting to know someone else because I’m trying to prove that I know more than her/him. Or it can be a weapon that allows me to emerge victorious from an argument, but impoverished because I have lost the opportunity to listen and to learn from someone with a different perspective.

Pride severs relationships. It’s the cause of disunity. It quenches the work that the Spirit of Christ is seeking to do in and through his church. Pride doesn’t have to be all-encompassing to be destructive, it just needs to get between me and one other person.

“All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’" 1 Peter 5:5

Monday, August 9, 2010

persecution

Yesterday Dale preached on how the early church fled persecution in Jerusalem and as a result the gospel was carried to Samaria and even into Ethiopia. The day before, 10 members from a Christian aid organization were murdered in Afghanistan.

As I listened to the news reports today, I was outraged. I heard how members of this organization had left their own countries to serve the medical needs of a country in need. Some had raised their families there. But then I asked myself, what motivated them to serve and to give up dreams of comfort and prosperity in such a risky environment?

Even though the early Christians seemed to leave Jerusalem in the interests of self-preservation, they continued to take great risks for the sake of the good news. Samaria was a hostile place for Jews, yet the early Christians (all Jews at the time) went there, Philip preached, and as a result a whole town turned to Christ.

Where would I be willing to go to declare the good news? To my neighbor’s house? To the cubicle next to mine? To a family gathering with my anti-Christian relatives? Do I really believe that I have good news?

worshiping together

On Aug 1 we worshiped together with Foothill Covenant Church and Alum Rock Covenant Church. What happened?

We had a great time in worship. There’s something invigorating about worshiping with twice as many people as you have on a typical Sunday. And Foothill’s sanctuary is beautiful, a wonderful setting for re-telling, re-living, and re-creating God’s gracious work in and through us.

The kids made a bunch of money for LemonAid, raising money to bring fresh water to needy villages in Africa. And it was a beautiful day for lemonade and conversation on Foothill’s spacious front patio.

But the most important thing that happened was somewhat intangible. It was the bringing together of people with a shared mission, the mission of God in Silicon Valley. We tend to think of ourselves as islands of God’s light in a sea of secular darkness. It was good to realize that although our common mission takes on different expressions in our various church communities, we still have a common experience of God’s grace in Christ. Our light shines brighter when it shines together.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

anti-

Yesterday a judge ruled the California ban against same-sex marriages was unconstitutional. This made headlines on a lot of the major media outlets. I’m not going to add my opinion to the many already out there. But yesterday I learned that Anne Rice has said she has left the Church (but she hasn't left Christ). Why? She wants to distance herself from a group that is anti-feminist, anti-gay, anti-science, and anti-Democrat.

OK, I’m a little behind on my news, since Anne Rice made her announcement on her blog back in July. But I couldn’t help putting the two news items together. It’s disturbing to me, too, to have to be associated with a group that is defined more by what they’re against than what they’re for. Admittedly, the definition may be coming more from people with a bias against Christians than from people who know Christ. I hope this is a reminder to all Christians to define ourselves as Christ said we should be defined: “If you love one another, everyone will know you are my disciples.” (John 13:35 NIRV)

Saturday, May 15, 2010

thoughts on friendship 3

Imagine being friends with the President of the United States. Now imagine that he’s given you something important to do, something that he doesn’t want done by paid state functionaries, but by a trusted friend. How would you respond?

Jesus said that he calls us “no longer servants, but friends.” And he’s the King of the universe. Now he has some very important things for us to get done. Not that he’s abandoned us: “I am with you even until the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20) Being present is a mark of a good friend.

thoughts on friendship 2

I was on a jury last week and after we finished deliberating on the case we were actually a little sad that we wouldn’t be spending more time together. We’d only known each other for a week, but we’d learned a lot about each other (listening to each other questioned in the jury selection process). Still, it had to do with more than knowing about each other. Somehow the mix of people was right: some were quiet, some were outgoing, some knew how to crack a joke at the right moment, some kept us resolutely on track. We respected each person’s contribution and worked together (through several disagreements) to achieve our common goal.

Sometimes we gain friends through circumstances, rather than our own intentions. This isn’t to say that such people aren’t friends. But something good can be gained. In a sense, that’s what the body of Christ is like. We don’t choose who is in the body of Christ, just as we don’t choose our parents or siblings. God places the members in the body as he chooses. But by being together over time, we can learn about each other and then learn to respect and even enjoy each other. And we can get some very good things done.

thoughts on friendship 1

This past week President Obama announced his selection of a nominee for the Supreme Court. In the fourth sentence of the AP news report I read, it said that Pres. Obama referred to Solicitor General Kagan as “my friend.”

Did Pres. Obama need to nominate a “friend”? What sort of friends are they? Did he friend her on Facebook? OK, that sounds pretty ridiculous, but on the other hand have they had deep heart-to-heart talks so that they have a connection of like-mindedness, support and loyalty?

I don’t know how he was using the term in this case, but I’m guessing that even the President of the United States needs friends in the same way that I need friends. Case in point: he has guys that he plays basketball with. And that’s comforting to me. I need to have people that I trust and with whom I’ve shared some of my life to give me truthful critique and caring support, or the weight of my responsibilities as a husband, a father, and a church leader will literally depress me. I doubt if Pres. Obama can share state secrets with his basketball buddies, but I’m sure they help keep him balanced. In fact he may have shared a different kind of “state secret” with them.

What are my “state secrets”, i.e., the secrets about the state of my soul? With whom do I share my state secrets? If I’m to stay internally balanced I need friends who know my state secrets. Those aren’t the sorts of things I’m going to share on Facebook. Those are the things that I’ll share with someone I’ve known for a while, with whom I’ve cultivated a friendship over time so that when the occasion comes s/he can be there for me. S/he will give me insight into the state of my soul, and pray for me and support me as the Holy Spirit does his transforming work (which is often painful).

I’m not great at developing and maintaining friendships. I guess I have a kind of ADHD about relationships. Somehow I let work and other things distract me. But I’m learning that if I don’t entrust my state secrets to friends, the state of my soul is in jeopardy.

Monday, April 26, 2010

waiting

I’ve been listening to a well-known worship song that says strength comes from waiting on the Lord. What does it mean to wait on God?

This particular song has a pretty catchy hook that’s driving and upbeat. It implies that waiting on God is an exciting experience and even a bit cool. Drums and electric guitars can do that to words: they’ll make anything seem hip. But waiting on God isn’t always something that you do while tapping your toes or beating out a catchy rhythm with your fingers. Sometimes it’s dreadfully boring and seems to stretch on forever. Sometimes it’s painful to the point of agony and you just want the waiting to end. All the time you wonder where God is. Instead of tapping your toes you want to scream at God for not showing up, but you can’t because he’s not there.

Over a third of the Psalms are prayers of lament or anger (67 of the 150, according to one list I’ve seen). But it’s pretty unusual for us to acknowledge in our worship that we are sad or angry. What sort of music would you use for an angry psalm, a prayer that expresses the deepest heartache of someone who feels that God has forsaken her/him?

I don’t have a good answer for this, other than to say that we need songs of sorrow and anger as well as songs of praise and joy. And praise and anger aren’t necessarily mutually opposed. Sometimes we’re angriest at the ones we love the most, because they’ve made us wait when we didn’t want to. But they often have their reasons, and our anger becomes a phase, a season that helps us get to know ourselves and our loved one better.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

conversing with God

What is prayer? The simplest answer is “talking with God.” But what sort of conversations do I have with God?

I have a tendency to think about my conversations with God as if they were business meetings. Business meetings need to have an agenda and some sort of productive result. But is God a high-powered businessman with a very full schedule and very little time for small talk? Is prayer like a board meeting with Donald Trump? And if I’m not effective enough will he say, “You’re fired”?

When I’m hanging out with friends, on the other hand, there’s no pressure to have a resulting action item. I’ve never had a friendly chat end with, “So what’s our takeaway from this time together?” The conversation meanders and is about anything that we find pleasing to both of us. Or the topic may be something that’s important to one of us, and as a result it’s important to the other person, too.

I often begin my prayer times by repeating to myself the phrase “your quieting love”, taken from Zephaniah 3:17: “he will quiet you with his love.” God loves to have me spend time with him, not because he has an agenda for me to accomplish, but because he loves me. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t think that I need to change or that there aren't things he wants me to do. But what can be more life-changing or empowering than spending time with God and baring my soul to the transforming power of his Spirit? Prayer can be a conversation between friends that encourages, heals, and challenges. The shorter the business meeting, the better. But “pray continually.” (I Thessalonians 5:17)

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

about Pharisees

Jesus tells a story about a tax collector and a Pharisee who go to the Temple to pray. In Jesus’ day, all of his hearers wanted to be accepted and honored like the Pharisee. Tax collectors were thought to have turned their backs on any effort toward religious respectability. So Jesus’ hearers were stunned when Jesus said that God was more interested in what the tax collector had to say than in the Pharisee's prayer.

But now we hear this story very differently. Preachers hold up the Pharisees as the enemies of Jesus and examples of how baldly legalistic the religious establishment of Jesus’ day had become, making the Pharisees fair game for youth pastors everywhere. We think that we can now see through the Pharisees’ religious game-playing and power-grabbing. No self-respecting American evangelical would aspire to be like a Pharisee.

So maybe we need to re-cast this story. Instead of the Pharisee and the tax collector, we could call the story “the good Christian and the Pharisee”. And we’ll all be surprised that God is more interested in listening to a Pharisee who has a change of heart than in a good Christian who is locked in her/his ways.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Easter faith

It’s early on Easter morning and still dark outside. Appropriately, I’ve just read the words from John’s Gospel: “Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb…” (John 20:1) Why did Mary get up so early? She didn’t have a clock radio waking her up, she couldn’t flick a switch to turn on the lights and get out of bed, there were no streetlights to guide her way, and the tomb wasn’t a tourist attraction yet with signs pointing to the site. She went because it was a matter of life and death: someone she loved dearly had died and she couldn’t sleep.

I haven’t been to a sunrise service in years. Whatever motivated Mary isn’t motivating me. And it doesn’t motivate most people who celebrate Easter. Some kids get up early because they’re excited that the Easter Bunny has left them a basket. Some women are motivated by the opportunity to dress up and show off new clothes. Some people go to church because they feel guilty if they don’t go: they hear their mother’s voice in their heads. For others there’s a desire in their hearts to be involved in a tradition and a culture that’s bigger than themselves.

The last two are both a part of the reason I go to Easter worship (and because it’s my job!). But which is better: to be compelled because it’s a matter of life and death or to go because it’s part of the faith tradition to which I belong? I already know that Jesus is alive, so I can’t really be compelled by the first reason. Or can I? I can go to worship on Easter because I love Jesus and also because it’s an expression of my trust in him as the source of my life. His resurrection is the sign that God’s salvation has arrived. My trust in him is how that salvation is realized in me. And as I renew my trust through Easter worship, I become a messenger of that salvation for this world, heralding the future day when “the kingdom of this world” will become “the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ.” (Rev. 11:15)

Hallelujah! He is risen, he is risen indeed!

Thursday, March 18, 2010

good news

Why is that most people think highly of Jesus but not so much about people who say they are followers of Jesus? If you want a cinematic treatment of this question, I recommend the movie, “Lord save us from your followers” (lordsaveusthemovie.com). But a better approach would be to ask someone what s/he thinks. Yesterday I went to a meeting of pastors from all around the Bay Area. We broke up into groups of 3 so that we could say the things to each other that we know we’re thinking but can’t tell the people in our churches. It’s very cathartic. But I still got a bit of a surprise.

One of the guys in my group said that he wasn’t working in a church at the moment, but was working in a grocery store. He even admitted that he was considered the wine expert by the rest of the staff. As we talked I found out that he was doing this by choice because he’d been a pastor in 2 different churches and had “burned out” both times. In fact, he isn’t attending any church currently, although he’s still a professor of religion (professor as in teacher, not someone who is professing).

I won’t go into the details (although they’re pretty entertaining) because I don’t want to give away his identity (and because I don’t want people from Grace Community getting any ideas), but the gist is that he is still following Jesus but isn’t very happy with Christians.

So I asked him: how do you explain the gospel to your co-workers? To be honest, having to go to church and act like a good person doesn’t sound like good news to me, anyway. But I’m not going to answer the question here. I’d rather leave the question open: how would you explain the gospel to your co-workers?

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

slow fast

What’s the benefit of fasting? The temptation is to fast from food (there are other kinds of fasts, but that’s the traditional one) for purely physical reasons: to lose a little weight or to purge the body. I’m fasting for 24 hours one day a week for Lent, and it’s nice to have those physical benefits, but what I really want is a way to remind myself of what Jesus went through for the sake of his mission. He took on the limitations and irritations of a physical body, giving up the privileges and glories of his pre-incarnate experience. Giving up food for a little while is a small way of identifying with him.

But I’ve found that fasting does something else: it slows me down. Maybe it’s the lack of caloric intake that gives me a little less energy (probably not, though: I have plenty of reserve energy jiggling on me in embarrassing places). But my mind has one less thing to occupy it. I don’t have to worry about preparing food or getting to a lunch date. I’m surprised how many times during the day I find myself thinking about food (maybe more so when my stomach is grumbling about the lack of attention). It’s become a prompt to stop and remember that I’m fasting and why. As a result, I have a little more space in my day, time for pondering or praying or just slowing down. I take in a deep breath, not in preparation to gobble down a bite of food, but so I can slowly exhale. I’m actually more in tune with my physical world by not eating, at least once in a while.

So if you're having trouble slowing down to pray, try fasting.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

why pray?

Why pray? In Philip Yancey’s book on prayer he tells how he has spoken to Christian leaders in Burma and China who have been imprisoned and treated in unbelievably inhumane ways. Yet these are people of spiritual power. Some have led hundreds to follow Jesus in spite of the risk of imprisonment and torture. When he asked them how Christians in other parts of the world could help, they have answered the same way without exception: pray for us. Why didn’t they say something about appealing to the UN or getting their story to Amnesty International or organizing a human rights watch? Because sometimes it takes being without access to earthly power to make us realize that we have access to a greater power through prayer.

Who are the meek? The usage of the term in Jesus’ day referred to the poor and those without social status or access to earthly power. And yet Jesus said that the meek would inherit the earth. The conventional wisdom is that the earth belongs to those who are strong enough to take it by force. Yancey’s account underscores the point that Jesus is making. Prayer is how we get to know our Father, the one to whom this world really belongs. And prayer is how we ask our Father for things. Lord, teach us to pray.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

pairs

I was watching the pairs figure skating (it was a lazy Sunday afternoon and I had no control over the remote, OK?) and I saw one of the skaters fall. My first thought was, “What is his partner thinking?” When you fall by yourself, you have a choice. You can pick yourself up and, for personal pride, continue to skate even though you know you’re out of medal contention. Or you can just pack it in and you don’t affect anyone but yourself (and a few million of your countrymen, but they’re not on the ice with you). But if you have a partner you have to think about how your reaction affects your partner. It’s not just about you anymore. It’s not just personal pride at stake, but the morale of your partner and your future as a competing team.

In the Christian life we never fall alone. The other day I stumbled on an old song that I used to cover in a band 25 years ago (yikes, I’m ancient!). Twila Paris’ “The warrior is a child” describes the weaknesses that a soldier of the faith feels inside in spite of the bravado displayed on the outside. The song implies that the only one who really understands the inner life of the soldier is our Commander, but that can’t (or shouldn’t) be completely true. We have others around us, fighting the same battles, who would support us if we would get over our rugged individualism and open up to them.

God places the members in the body “as he wills” (1 Corinthians 12:18 KJV). Just as parts of the body need each other and can’t function by themselves, so God’s designed His Church to be interdependent. You and I can’t drop out without it affecting a lot of other people.

I suppose I could have had similar thoughts watching the interview with the losing coach of the Super Bowl, but I was too busy eating.

hosanna?

A couple Fridays ago, as part of a board meeting for The Mosaic Center (click on the link on the right to find out more about TMC), I slept overnight at the Fred Jordan Mission in Los Angeles’ “skid row” (if you want a cushy board member gig, don’t join a board that’s concerned with social justice). I was awakened by a recording of the worship song “Hosanna” being played outside on the street. I looked outside and saw a line of people a block long waiting in the rain for breakfast.

Listening to “Hosanna” in a comfortable sanctuary as it’s played by a high-tech worship band is worlds away from hearing it in a line of homeless people waiting for food in the rain. The word “Hosanna” means “save us”. It was the people’s cry of reliance on their king. Over the millenia it's come to be associated mostly with hymns being sung by people in suits and dresses or anthems sung by choirs in beautiful cathedrals. But it takes on a whole different meaning when you’ve been run over by the world system instead of enjoying the benefits of being one of the world’s privileged.

Our God has chosen to identify with the poor rather than the privileged. What did Jesus experience when he was on earth? He was part of an oppressed minority and spent his ministry years as a homeless person. But in the Kingdom that Jesus proclaimed (and of which his followers are ambassadors) there is no favoritism. No one will be excluded, marginalized, ignored, or taken advantage of. Hosanna.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Happy Ash Wednesday!

That phrase sounds a little weird. Ash Wednesday is the start of Lent, which is supposed to be marked by an attitude of sadness as we remember the human experience of our Lord Jesus, brought to a tormented climax by his death on the cross.

In “Letters from the Land of Cancer” Walter Wangerin shares intimate moments from letters to friends as he nears the end of his life. In 2006-7 his cancer slowed, which gave him time to reflect on life and to write. He shares that in such times we have two choices: “Wail, plead, beg, make deals with friends and with the Infinite. Sink into despair… Or else, prepare.”

Lent is a season of preparation. We are saying good-bye to the old life, to old expectations and old values and old ways of doing things. As much as we may be fond of our old life, it is not God’s way, not the life that God has for us. Or we may be glad to be rid of the old life, but we still mourn it because it is familiar. And change always involves some pain. So we mourn the passing of the old life.
For those who don’t understand the meaning of the Resurrection, who feel oppressed by the religious establishment, there’s no such thing as a good Lent or a Happy Ash Wednesday. Might as well party like there’s no tomorrow on Fat Tuesday because you have to put a lid on it when Lent starts and no one wants you to be happy.

But for followers of Jesus, we claim Lent as a time of preparation, knowing that leaving behind the old life lets us welcome the Kingdom of Heaven in which the good and loving King of kings and Lord of lords reigns first in us and ultimately in our world. He has broken into our world in the Incarnation, proclaimed the Kingdom in his life and teachings, bought our redemption through his death on the cross, and become the first of a new humanity in his resurrection. Those who mourn will be comforted. We know our mourning will turn to dancing. In fact, NT Wright says that we should mark the week starting with Easter with champagne breakfast every day! Pull out all the stops! Lent should be preparing us for a time of celebration that obliterates any sense of sadness or mourning and makes all the Christmas festivities pale in comparison.

So “Happy Ash Wednesday”!

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

happy new year

On Sunday we celebrated the lunar New Year with my wife’s family. It’s an annual event: hanging around with extended family, nourishing our tree of relationships through conversations and a days’ end feast. I talked for a while with my wife’s brother-in-law about how he’s helped to start the first school-based healthcare clinic with dental services in northern California (http://www.news10.net/news/story.aspx?storyid=71604). Why did he do it? Because God gave him a second chance at life.

A year and a half ago he fell off a ladder in his garage and his wife found him unconscious in a pool of blood. To look at him today you’d never know that he went through several hours of surgery and has enough titanium in his skull to build a small mountain bike. He’s retired from his dental practice but puts in two mornings a week at the school clinic so that under-served kids from economically disadvantaged homes can focus on their studies without also contending with dental pain. (He’s still trying to recruit enough dentists to help so that each dentist only needs to put in 1 morning a month.)

As the great theologian James Cameron says in the movie “Avatar”, everyone is meant to be born twice. God wants to give all of us a second chance at life (see John 3:1-5). For those of us who have been born again, what are we doing to be a source of life to others? Whether you celebrated the New Year on Jan. 1 or Feb. 14 (or both), that’s a New Year’s resolution worth working on.