Faithfulness

"Faithfulness is the gift of the spirit most foreign to our generation."

I'll never forget hearing that statement. Aaron Baart was towards the end of a series of chapel's on the Galatians text and dropped this seemingly uninformed line. Surely peace or patience is scarce these days. Self-control and even joy are ill-practiced manifestations of God's movement among us. The only place I had previously heard about faithfulness was as a sterile, moral counter to adultery. Baart explained how the days of our grandparents are gone - working for companies for their entire vocational life and companies trying to keep them employed at great expense. He then went on to talk about the modern narrative - companies being unfaithful to their employees in trade for profit and employees returning the favor for personal gain and professional advancement. Friendships are sacrificed for power and grace is withheld to enforce superiority. Our obsession with being right depletes the strong and humble nature of pursuing a right relationship with another.

My main inspiration lately has been the concept of being a peace maker.  My earliest attempts at peace making centered around can I respond to each individual in a way that shows I support the truth of their opinion while trying to lessen the distance between the "opposition?" This sort of conflict resolution centers around all sides being heard and affirmed, being cautious to dance around high tension with carefully manicured language.

The national discourse this week has been too much for me. Pressure to have a comprehensive, eloquent and prophetic answer to every question has stolen the majority of joy or health from my soul and many of my relationships. I strive to stand for justice, become exhaustively informed, focus on empathy, and call others to action while trying to stand up myself for the just cause. I am determined to please all sides, trying to make the hands of every side of a polarizing culture meet.

My conversations around recent international events have led to a realization - I have consumed many lies intended to profit a distant messenger a small amount at a great cost to my life. I am guilty of spreading hysteria and fear when it was socially profitable to me. I have been trying to bring a visionary kingdom by the means and broken rules of the world. In order to be faithful to my neighbor, to pursue God by tangible peace making, and to be faithful to myself I must first recognize the complexity of being human. We must be suspicious when we can be split into two ideological camps. We must pause when our conversations become binary. Our views are not as divided as our quick-to-respond group identities would have us believe. Our differences are sure, but not at the cost of another's worth.

The fruit of peace is not an avoidance of conflict but the diligent work of reconciliation and inspiring justice to affirm what God affirms and dethrone what he denounces. When we don't take time to look past the loud rhetoric and sort through the muddy tension we miss our opportunity to be faithful. We must sacrifice our pride and calm our amygdala to listen to the oppressed and call back the humanity of the oppressor. We must defend life and the struggle of humanity as we find it. In pursuing justice, we want to dream bigger than a transfer of who's in power and proclaim there are enough rooms in the house and an abundance of food at the table for all.

I am quick to further polarize and divide. I am slow to truly hear the cries of my neighbors and respond in faithfulness. Wherever we find oppression we must overthrow it; wherever we find light, may we enhance it. Let us establish pillars of faithfulness to create space for reconciliation.

Belonging

Hello blogspot my old friend. It's been a while since I have practiced engaging myself and others through writing. Lately, transition and general life-things have left room in my soul, longing to grapple and synthesize what I see in the world, what I feel in my heart and the vision I pick up from great leaders into one, cohesive understanding. In short, what the heck is going on in the world? What is God's plan, if any? How are we to be transformed and actively proceed in this world?

Unemployment has granted a lot of reading and listening to many social leaders and pastoral thinkers. My general interest has been social psychology - how the dynamics of an individual changes in a group setting. What has really stood out to me is the perversion of belonging. I heard Jay Pathak of the Vineyard movement say although there is a God-shaped hole in our heart, Christians rarely speak of the human-shaped hole that often remains, even in our communities. It's easy to make the story mundane - God created the world good, apparent perfection. Yet when Adam walked through the garden alone, God saw the one thing that was not good - a lone wolf, of sorts. Adam was seemingly created with this need but even the entire original cosmos nor God himself did not quench this need.

Fast forward millions of friendships and romances, births and betrayals, wars and acts of reconciliation, and we find ourselves today with the same need, along with the original temptation. 

Delusions present a little truth slightly distorted. The deep longing for social wholeness begins with the blessed desire to build up others and be edified ourselves. A simple slight of hand and we suddenly arrive in groups of people that generally think, look and act like our self. Diversity is outcast in order to protect our values, comfort, children or even to defend God himself! Fear creeps in and we suddenly find ourselves unable to hear those outside of our group, but blindly supporting those inside of it.

Jesus warns us of the death of community. The toxicity that flourishes in divisiveness stems from our separation of our individual or communal selves from the larger whole of humanity. In Matthew 5:21+ Jesus warns of an act more divisive from the originally blessed "other" than murder - anger, insult and exclusion. The death of our neighbor's humanity in our hearts.

How can we be blamed for this? We rarely have access to the entirety of a group, others have taught us more about another group than we have experienced and even our minds are hardwired for confirmation bias! 

More so, our identities are greatly defined by group affiliation. Our initial questions of an acquaintance are to more easily understand and interact by categorizing them. A demonstration - I am a husband, barista, Pentecostal, son, brother, craft beer drinker, independent and am currently unemployed. What nuances about my story, worldview, passions, fears, experiences, dreams or even work ethic were overlooked by initial assumptions when reading this social profile example?

We are a people quick to devalue diversity and exalt conformity. We belong to groups when we have the same (not similar) morals and self labels. Jesus warns us the symptoms are simple: "Whoever says, "Raca (or, you fool!)" will be liable to the hell of fire." (Matt 5:22) We feel this manifest in our guts when out of frustration we cry "Idiot!" to the driver (granted, most likely making an endangering error), political adversary or even when we have been truly wronged. Even worse is that our groups focus on our differences from other groups instead of the goodness our affiliation affirms!

The devaluing of the humanity of our neighbor. When the common humanity is lost, we have committed a sin against the other and God far more dangerous than murder, we have committed an image-bearing suicide; laying down the inherent goodness of our role as fellow creators and peace makers for the cheap substitute of social superiority or being found right.

I could do more to love my neighbor through creatively engaging before rebuking, researching before reposting, affirming as fellow instead of fool, and being intentionally aware of the struggle of humanity we all know to be more common than shared views.

Youth Culture and the Church

The perfect storm is a very fitting term for what is going on in our culture. The obsessive service of the individual has led to the abandonment of many groups – youth, elderly, etc. The postmodern mindset no longer allows for others to speak into our lives. Technicism (technology as our savior) has become the means and the end purpose of life. Consumerism is the way to fulfill this purpose. And who we are is defined by our relationship to these things – our profile picture and friend count on MySpace, our rebellion to our parents, our consumption of goods and the group we most closely “relate” to. This context has led to the complete depravation of identity in our culture.

At the basic components of being a human is the need (more than simple desire) to be loved and a part of a community. Seperatist technology – everyone having out own cell phones, computers and social networking profiles in our private rooms – has eliminated the family from our identity. The need for community and love still remains. Thus youth must find their fulfillment in their peers. However, their peers have requirements that must be met as prerequisites to “relationship”. They must be popular, look a certain way, act in a specific fashion, be a part of the correct groups, hold culture’s sexual values, own a plethora of products and so on. This is the setup our culture has placed against the youth: these criteria can never be met. The youth have been predestined by culture for failure. This leads tot eh youth going against their humanity in search of an identity. They seek intimacy, they obtain sex. They seek love, they obtain superficial popularity. The seek beauty, they obtain promiscuity. All along this trail of insufficiencies youth must learn to cope with the inevitable outcome of not being enough. Thus they learn to accept means of escape – cutting, depression, compromised values, loss of humanity.

This is the hope of the church: these criteria never should be met. The church is not to live by the rules and norms culture is regulating. Rather it lives among the weeds in order to produce wheat. The narrator of the gospel provides youth with what they are looking for – purpose, value, mission, acceptance, forgiveness, love and hope. As a community, Christians must call these false idols what they are! We must challenge youth to think critically about the culture rather than mindlessly consuming it (which we must guard ourselves against also). To those too young or incapable of such a task we must be in such a developed, trusting relationship that we have earned the right to speak life and truth into their lives.

We must first believe this gospel that we preach. We are incapable of challenging the culture to new heights if we do not believe them ourselves. Secondly, we must live out these holistic laws. By prayer and fighting temptation we discover our own identity and sureness of our message. Lastly, we must create a new culture in the midst of our present cultures. We do not have to follow or play by the rules culture has set up. Instead, we develop new just, true laws by which to live. Our culture will gain legitimacy as we live out and see the fruit of our faithfulness. We do so by living prophetically regardless of the consequences, success or view others have of us. We live so for the favor of God and by the strength of His Spirit. We live so for the fullness and restoration of the broken and those oppressed by our culture.

doG fo modgniK

I have spent a lot of time wondering what the Kingdom of God looks like. Most of this has been from my (or our) perspective as a Christian. Many times we wonder how we are presenting ourselves to the outside world, or more importantly how we are presenting Christ?

In the midst of all this chaos, questioning what we are supposed to look like I find that our viewpoint is wrong. We wonder what we look like to others, from our own perspective. But what does our culture think of us? Also, should we strive to be so seeker sensitive in the first place?

When I look at John the Baptist, Jesus, Paul, Stephen, Peter, John, etc. I see people who lost themselves in loving others. These were Godly men (one of them a manly God?) who were focused on evangelizing to the lost and discipling the found, picking up the broken and leading them to wholeness and victory in Jesus Christ.

Yet these men were not seeker sensitive. They were prophetic. They spoke the truth in love in all situations. The unmasked the powers that were behind social problems, religious tyranny, and governmental corruption. Simply put, these men did not mess around. They had wonderful relationship with everyone they came into contact with, yet they also preached to those who hated them.

To what extent are our Sunday services to be seeker sensitive? Should we be more concerned about making sure we are not offending outsiders to the point we do not edify the insiders? Need our speaking in heavenly tongues cease so that we do not step on toes? Are we seeking to witness to man rather than glorify God (though they should flow out of each other, is that what is happening?)

I do not know if the world will even accept our message as we would like it to. There is a sense that our message is so natural to the human heart that none would reject it, yet look what they did to the Cornerstone of our faith! 

Here is my understanding. The world cannot understand Christ until our orthopraxis (right action) reflects our orthodoxy (right doctrine). From the world’s perspective, the Kingdom of God is foolishness. The problem is simple: it is illogical to follow God. Why should we place total trust in the hands of something we cannot see? Why are the wealthy made low and the poor exalted? Why must I die to myself in order to live? Why does less of myself mean more of what I was intended to be? In the world’s eyes, the Kingdom of God is backwards. It does not make sense to follow someone who died 2000 years ago and fall in love with the broken and poor of this world when we may become like them.

I am convinced that the world will not accept Christ until we start living out this alternative reality that Christ preached.

Questions

It seems that fitting Christianity into modernistic, defined categories is not plausible. This Christmas break has made me question a lot of things. Many questions arise when we wonder what the Kingdom of God looks like. Tommie Zito wonders if we reaching out enough, taking the Great Commission seriously? Francis Chan wonders if churches are supposed to spend millions on bigger, more comfortable buildings when people are starving? My friend Andrew asks how defined can we make Christianity? My own heart wonders isn’t there more to Christianity than systematizing God?

What does Christianity look like outside of the church on Sunday mornings? Is there more to it than just being a good example at work or for our families? What does the gospel look like when we use our actions AND our words? I do not know, but I’m set on finding out.

Sunday's comin

One thing I've been seeing, as I talk to more and more people on an intimate level, is that this world is broken. In all honesty, I feel as though everyone I know has recently lost someone, is in the process, or has a loved one who has just been diagnosed with cancer. I say this not to make sarcastic remarks at the situation but rather point out just how broken this world is. I was given the opportunity to pray in front of my school today in chapel. I pointed out how we superficially pretend everything is so great! Yet we are not called only to suffer, for Christ has come and succeeded in presenting us with the resurrection and life, and that more abundantly. Yet he also calls us to sacrifice. What do we do, O God, when the affects of sin are so present they appear tangible? But God answers our question with such a response: "Where do you turn your eyes to, beloved?"

Understand this age in the context of the days of Christ's persecution and crucifixion. The disciples have ditched him, the soldiers are mocking, sin appears victorious, the women are weeping, Satan is laughing, the Father has even turned His face away... But it is only Friday.


That is it. Simply put - It is only Friday.... Sunday's coming. One day Christ will return. One day He WILL conquer, again and for the last time.
I feel the cliche statement offered by elder pastors holds water here: this world is not our home. Find comfort in the life to come as it comes now. I feel that Christ has died for us to live, here and now. Yet it is not complete until that day when Sunday truly comes and Christ completely reconciles the world to Himself.
This world is not our home.

What to do...

I have been struggling lately with two topics. The first one I want to address here. What are Christians to do with our spare time? Many of my friends have been asking me to play card games with them (they enjoy losing a lot!) and watching movies. I was taking a look at what the early church did - primarily Acts 2:42-47 and 4:32-37. The apostles did a few primary things: eat together, live together, pray together and learn the Word together. Using this as a context for Paul's words, "All things are permissible, but not all things are beneficial," (1 Corinthians 10:23) I question what we should be doing in our spare time. Is our devotion shown in what we do? We are constantly worshipping and witnessing to something. Are we showing our devotion to lesser things when we spend more time watching television, playing video games, surfing the internet, or playing communal card games (not trying to make an individualistic religion v. communal religion debate) showing our witness that these things deserve our time more than serving others, interceding to the Lord on behalf of others and spending time with the Lord? 

I believe the early church had a very real understanding that the presence of Jesus Christ through (and?) His Spirit dwelt inside and among them because they were always talking about Him! Maybe instead of jokingly poking fun at each other or spending time in other ways we could be encouraging towards each other and feeding one another with the Truth. Maybe our community will have more meat and a more concrete understanding of the presence of God in us and through us to other people.

Jesus says "For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." (Matthew 18:20)

We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord 
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord 
And we pray that all unity may one day be restored 
And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love 
They will know we are Christians by our love 

We will work with each other, we will work side by side 
We will work with each other, we will work side by side 
And we'll guard each one's dignity and save each one's pride 
And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love 
They will know we are Christians by our love 

By our love, by our love 

And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love 
They will know we are Christians by our love 

We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand 
We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand 
And together we'll spread the news that God is in our land 
And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love 
They will know we are Christians by our love 

By our love, by our love 

And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love 
They will know we are Christians by our love 

Love is patient, love is kind 
Never boasts, not full of pride 
Always hopes, always trusts 
The evidence of Christ in us 

This is my commandment that you love one another that your joy may be full

Revelations... A Call to Arms: Spiritual Warfare

I have been thinking about this subject for a few months now. When studying a lot about Revelations you cannot read it without seeing a cosmic battle occurring – and this is now simple dogfight. Let me start by drawing attention to a name we use a lot when talking about Christ – King.

In the times before Christ many civilizations were governmentally ran by a king. Kings had incredible expectations about them from being able to lead a nation economically and socially to being on the field during war. Kings of ancient days were not the kind to sit back and simply command people. They led by example. Kings were expected to be incredible warriors. Not only was it assumed of a king to have conquered but to be able to continue to conquer.

When early followers of The Way proclaimed the kingship of Christ they meant all of these things. Christ was calling His people. He had led them by example (we’ll take a look at that later). He was on the field readying the troops and was the first one to run onto the field to fight. He came to earth in order to lead His soldiers to war by hitting the enemy first and hardest. Jesus allowed Himself to be mocked by peasants, spat on by religious and political leaders and ridiculed by earthly kings. Yet He knew that He was not facing earthly powers but spiritual principalities. So He remained faithful to His duty to the point of death on a cross. (Here is where my heart begins to beat uncontrollably.) But this is why we call Him King! He is that incredible warrior! Jehovah Nissi has conquered and reigns victorious - even over sin and death! Satan has lost all of his power over Christians and can no longer be victorious unless we allow him to be. The same Spirit that lived in Christ, a Spirit of conquering and victory, now lives in us (Romans 8).

Kings were expected to be incredible warriors. Not only was it assumed of a king to have conquered but to be able to continue to conquer. Our King HAS conquered and continues to conquer. He is looking to conquer today, right now and tomorrow but is looking for soldiers who have eyes to see and ears to hear. The war is real and the spoils are souls that will ultimately go to Heaven or Hell.

I learned an interesting lesson the other day with some buddies as we watched 5 matches between 2 sets of men trying to make the other pass out through vicious blows to the head. I began to think about how I have spent many hours for many days training for many sports such as soccer and football. Immediately I Timothy 4:8 came to mind, “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” If we are willing to train for 2+ hours each day, change our eating habits and our daily activities in order to compete physically how much more should we be committed to training ourselves spiritually? If there really is a battle going on (Daniel 10:5-14; Ephesians 6:12) and the wages are souls (Romans 6:23) then we should be much more serious about training ourselves spiritually. We lift weights for hours but do put our spiritual gifts to work in order to prune our gifts? We deprive ourselves of unhealthy food but will we abstain from endless hours of television or videogames in order to cut the dead weight? We eat less to lose weight and eat more to gain but will we fast and pray to catch on fire for God and chew on the Word more often in order to nourish our inner man? We encourage our teammates but do we take time to encourage our brethren?

I am obviously not saying that we should not play or train for sports, for it “is of some value.” But I question our (a word which includes myself) commitment to God when we cannot make the sacrifice in order to reap the gain of spiritual training. Maybe hours of training everyday in the Word, prayer, fasting, service, etc. are what we need to grow to maturity, being the spiritual giants so many of us aspire to be. I do not doubt these were the practices of Elijah, Moses, Abraham, Daniel, Calvin, Luther, Graham, Theresa and even JESUS held to faithfully.

If we are committed to being soldiers in the Lord’s army, as many of us have sung since our childhood, our actions should follow this commitment. Think seriously for a second about spiritual warfare and the costs. How much are we really doing?

Revelations... A Call to Arms (Part 1)

         I'm taking a class right now on Acts and Revelations. It's interesting how we normally think of Revelations as dealing with the end times. Throughout this semester it has become clear to me that John was not concerned with the end times as much as he was the present... It has become my favorite book in the Bible aside from the Gospels, Acts and Ezekiel... Revelations is focused on unveiling the world, showing Christians their situation seems horrible from their perspective but it looks completely different from the throne of the Most High. I would love to take the time to explain a few things (in different posts) I think the church needs to hear from this book... I'm thinking about writing a Bible study about it... I won't be exhaustive here...

          The church was dealing with extreme governmental and societal persecution, the kind we can only read about here in America. The church was afraid. They were losing their passion. Imagine having an entire world around you hating you for following Christ. You could make it in this world and have incredible happiness and acceptance if you weren't so straight forward about your faith. Instead you were suffering for your faith every day. The Romans were blaming the Christians for the fire, for bad luck and for everything that could go wrong. They were killing your friends and family, or turning them into slaves or keeping food from them. The religious leaders hated Christians. The big religion at the time was what is known as the imperial cult- to worship Rome herself. This is where my first interesting point comes from. To worship Rome was to worship the one providing you food. Over 50% of Romans were on the food-handout plan - they were dependent on the government to supply their portions of food. 

         On top of that Nero, Domition  and the other Caesars were claiming to be sons of the gods. They were demanded worship because of their graciousness and generosity to the people. Since Caesar provided your food as a god then he deserved to be worshipped. So what started happening was a spring up of temples to the emperors. Citizens were to have the religion of the Roman Empire. Worship involved paying tribute financially, prostituting yourself, and focusing your mind on Caesar to worship him. Interestingly enough, scholars generally agree that this imperial cult movement started in Asia Minor, the churches John wrote to. 

         Also realize that Rome was looked at as a goddess. She was a beautiful women who had grace, wisdom, wealth and stature. Being a confident woman she demanded respect. 

         Here's where it gets good! John comes right out and says it... This woman everyone around you is praising as a gorgeous, wonderful woman is a whore! " The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, festooned with gold and gems and pearls. She held a gold chalice in her hand, brimming the defiling obscenities, her foul fornications. A riddle-name was branded on her forehead: Great Babylon, Mother of whores and abominations of the earth." Understand that Rome was seen as Babylon in its context, for John could not use the name Rome itself; if he did Rome would've killed him too! From the world's perspective Rome seemed to be powerful. Everything she did was beautiful, upright, just, holy. Throne room perspective shows us something different entirely. Rome was a woman prostituting herself in abominations and fornications. 

         The Old Testament is pregnant with the same type of imagery. Hosea actually marries a prostitute and names his children "Not pitied/loved", "Not my people" and "I am not yours". Hosea and John are speaking the same message - do not become adulteresses between God and the world. There are some things that seem so gorgeous, peaceful, hopeful, life-giving, even holy... But from the throne room of God they are sin-saturated whores that most of us have given into! John says this whore is someone, "who the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and with the wine of whose fornication the inhabitants of the earth have become drunk. We give into so many things that are culturally normal; so normal we don't even think to question them! My question I am wrestling with and asking you today is, what are the whores that we are prostituting ourselves to?

         So many people think Revelations is a book that only deals with the end times. It is apparent that John was concerned with the early church more than the second coming. He was demanding holy, obedient lives. The Lord was/is telling His church that He demands holy lives, that we will be judged according to what we have done (See Rev. 20:12-13). He demands the same things for us today. This is no slight guiding hand, this is a wall that is demanding us to make a decision, a choice, a change. We are to analyze our actions. Jesus says in Matthew 7:16-18, "You will know them (false prophets) by their fruit... The same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit." We (definitely myself included) need to take this challenge seriously. Assess yourself. What does your fruit look like? Who are you whoring yourself to?

Plagiarism

I have a friend who's going to the world's most prestigious journalism school. She's an incredible writer. I was going to write a story about an experience that we had along with Andrew "the stud" Feight but I thought that her words were better articulated then mine could ever be. I went to her blog to post a link from mine to hers, but she has redone hers and now no longer has it... So I'm going to post it up for everyone to read until hers gets reposted. Take to heart her openness and honesty:

Giving to the Hungry

So last night (technically the night before last night - Wednesday night) I attended a youth Bible Study with Vineyard Church. Turns out, Google deceived me; they are not a cult. Not that that's why I was going. We talked a little bit about feeding the hungry, about how God has called us to give to the needy. We would have right then and there, mind you, but we were quite busy enjoying our ice cream sundaes. But we would have, honestly. After the Bible Study was over, we (my boyfriend, Andrew, and our friend, Daniel) decided to go try it out. Can I just interrupt myself for one moment and say that it was the most rewarding thing I've done in a long time? Seriously, do it. But back to the story. We went to Taco Bell where we ate some of those crunchy-flat-taco-burrito things (I don't remember what they're called, just that the commercial says they're "good to go".) and ate them quickly while deciding where to go and what to do. We started by asking the lady behind the counter if she knew where any homeless people congregated at night, and she looked at us like we were sick. She probably thought that we wanted to start a hobo war and film it for YouTube. (Turns out people actually do that. Weird.) Anyway, with the entirety of the Taco Bell staff laughing at us, we purchase 5 tacos (the lady probably felt bad because she threw in some extras) and head on our way. We begin searching the streets for hungry-looking people, but it was harder than we thought; the first guy actually turned us down. Not too long after, we pull into a Home Depot parking lot (day laborers, right?) and Daniel began to pray. We couldn't find anyone there, so we make a U-Turn and by some miracle, or perhaps because it was nighttime and we were in a Home Depot parking lot, we find ourselves a guy that couldn't have been more than five years older than us. He was tall, skinny, and carrying what we couldn't decide was a beer or an energy drink. We gave him the benefit of the doubt and assumed the latter. We pull up next to him and ask him if he'd like a hot meal. With zero hesitation, he responds, "Hell yes, man, whatta you guys got goin on here?!" We laughed and got out of the car and handed him the tacos, which were luckily still warm. He told us that his name was Andrew and that we had just granted his Christmas wish. His Christmas wish?? Seriously? It's freaking January 10th, we were sixteen days late. You want to know what my Christmas wish was? A new iPod and Guitar Hero 3. That could have been 375 tacos. And I already had an iPod. What the hell, man. And it gets better. We go to another Taco Bell and purchase another half dozen tacos or so. We begin driving, and after about two miles, Daniel and I spot some bums literally digging pizza out of a dumpster. Perfect. We make the most ridiculous U-Turn resulting in my head hitting the window quite hard, and turn into the parking lot. Daniel and I grab a Bible and get out, hoping for the best, and hoping we weren't about to get killed. Or mugged. But you know what? They needed my material possessions more than I do. I live in Phoenix and I'm walking around with a scarf? What the hell was wrong with me, I should have given it to them then and there. We walk up to them mid-dumpster-dive and ask if they'd like a hot meal. The two men get up and smile at us as if they never had been shown charity without first asking for it. They introduce themselves to us as Daryl and Kevin. We asked them where they slept at night and they looked at each other hastily before answering. “We sleep under the overpass a few blocks south of here,” Daryl said. (Seriously? Well it’s a good thing I have two bedrooms.) Andrew got out of the car (probably not in hopes of talking to homeless guys, just to make sure Daniel and I were okay) and joined us after about five minutes. You know what? It didn’t even feel like charity. It felt like talking to really pleasant people at the grocery store. I can’t believe I’ve been told to give to the poor for the past eighteen years, and I just now did it. It was exhilarating. And even better? We’re meeting them Sunday morning and taking them to church. And that was their idea. How cool can God be if you let him? Seeeeriously. - E M Kunz

posted by Eleni at 5:37 AM on Jan 10, 2008

Underwear, socks, undershirts.

Here's something that just happened, which I found very interesting.

I was contemplating some things I heard Tony Campolo say that I normally tell people. I did this during the 45 minutes it takes me to fold all of my laundry. I have a friend named Kevin. People complain about how bad he smells because he has been wearing the same pair of clothes for the past 4+ months. This happened a few days after I read an article online where people commented for 2000+ posts in 4 days about the hypocrisy of Christians. I'm not trying to be legalistic but when you love someone (for instance... Jesus) certain actions/life styles just happen (not having that much clothing?). What do you think?

Dry Bones

Ezekiel 37:1-14 says:

1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, "Son of man, can these bones live?"

      I said, "O Sovereign LORD, you alone know."

 4 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones and say to them, 'Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! 5 This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.' "

 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

 9 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.' " 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.

 11 Then he said to me: "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, 'Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.' 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.’”

 

If you’ve read the text before and decided to skip it as I regularly do when I am dominated by my American/lazy ways, reread it so that it is fresh on your mind.

I hope that no one takes me as trying to be preachy or simply listing Bible-study ideas or that I think I am something that no one else is. In fact, maybe the things that Christians talk about on a regular basis should be things that are Bible-study worthy… But PLEASE understand, as my close friends do, that I know I fail at an incredible amount of things. My life has only proven that without Christ, I am not only bound to fail but WILL fail. I know that I have many shortcomings and that Christ is still working on me and always will be! Also, to my two friends (about 50% of the readers of this blog) who were at the Bible study that I greatly miss when I said this, I am sorry. I am writing this primarily to remind myself of the commitment I spoke aloud to other believers. I need to be reminded why and what statements and ideas I have dedicated myself to.

With all of that said, at the beginning of this year I was prompted with a question. Marty – a great man/singer/preacher/small group leader/now church planter – asked those of us at his small group what changes were we really going to focus on making this coming year. What spiritual journeys are we focused on embarking this coming year? Little did I know that God had been building up knowledge inside of me to answer this question the entire past semester. I wrote a 10-page paper on Ezekiel 34-48 focusing on chapters 34, 37 and 47 (which my dad said he enjoyed reading!). I waited the entire conversation to add my $.02. I speak a lot during get-togethers but I am tentative when to speak because I generally dominate the conversation. Knowing this would probably be a lengthy rant – as this blog might be becoming already – I decided to not speak. Finally towards the end of the small group I was about to burst. Marty asked if there was anyone else who wanted to speak. The Spirit was saying… now! Now! NOW! Since no one answered Marty said, “If no one has anything to say,” before I interrupted him. Thus it began…

I have been thoroughly upset with the church lately – as is every member of the church. Know that I am trying to not focus on complaining but changing. So I started with telling everyone else this vision I have been having. Ezekiel’s vision is one like nothing else in the Bible. In it we see resurrection that leads to life and prosperity; resurrection that happens by the Spirit – as it did with our beloved King. In it we see dead, lifeless bones with no meat or purpose to them. They simply are. Interestingly enough, the Lord asks Ezekiel if these bones can live again which we just read Ezekiel’s answer to. Then the Lord tells the mortal to command the bones to hear the Word of the Lord! Live again! Be active, be human, LIVE! And the bones are resurrected. Then the Lord tells the mortal to command the Spirit to enter into these bones! Now what does this mean? Can we command the Spirit; do we have some sort of power that commands the nature of this world? I’ve been wrestling with this for a while. Expect another post… In the end these lifeless, dry bones are resurrected, the Spirit enters into them giving them breath and making them human once more.

So many times in the church I feel as though there is no life. There may be enthusiasm, but is there life? We (myself included) sing songs to a God Who we claim brings life to our bodies and quenches our every thirst. Yet I feel as though I am involved in a play in which dead bones are bouncing about and singing as though part of a collection of entertaining marionettes. We sing, we (don’t) dance, we shout, we claim that we have victory. Yet we go into the week expecting to be defeated, to end up depressed, to end up right back where we were last Sunday morning. The glory of Easter does not stop at the forgiveness of sins! More is to be said! Jesus overcame the grave; His Spirit resurrected Him, conquering sin, evil, and anything standing in His way of restoring us! Jesus’ resurrection is not to stop with Jesus. Our resurrection is not a far away date. Jesus is looking to make us human again! We are to be alive, to be restored, to be human again! We are not to be constantly dominated by anything Satan throws at us. We are to dominate through the name of Jesus who has resurrected our dry bones.

My focus to change for this year is to learn to command dead bones to come back to life, to reveal the worthless things that fill our lives, and to pray my guts out so that the Spirit will resurrect our lifeless bodies into something that He truly finds joy in! I am most likely going to fail and that is something that I’m wrestling with is ok… But I have to throw myself out there and step out in faith! Who knows, I might walk on water! And I might see Christ resurrect a few piles of lifeless bones.

Learning How to Live, as we were supposed to live

Over Christmas break a song that dominated my mind was "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel". It is a song that, along with "Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer", so many people know from their childhood and sometimes tragic youth group Christmas caroling experience. But contemplating the concept of Christ, this song fits perfectly. It explains so many theologically incredible points. The whole idea makes me emotionally confused; that a holy God would make Himself limited to the rules of a physically, spiritually, emotionally, socially, etc. fallen world to come and suffer for people who will definitely continue to stab Him in the back after they kill Him. I definitely feel the great sorrow and guilt of my problems and short-comings that nailed Him to that tree but also feel the victory that comes through His blood! This Spirit that raised Christ from the dead is living in us (which I will address in a different post) so that we may have a community marked by His power and love. When I see His infinite love in this context and His desire for us to live focused on this point I begin to question a lot that the church does. Many have said that blogs of our generation are filled with church-hating propaganda, and that is not what I am desiring to do. I desire to change it. 

            I have questioned God before why God didn't make independent, self-sufficient beings. He knew that if sin entered the world we would be selfish. We would not seek to meet the needs of others especially when it requires us to give up our own time, energy, money and other resources. So why would God create beings that would need each other but not take care of each other, thus causing hurt continually to other humans. But we must not focus on the state of this fallen world, rather the intended design. God's idea of a people following after Him is one marked by its community to each other and devotion to Him. These are one in the same thing. When a teacher of the Law asks Jesus which commandment is the most important He answers that it has two parts that are one in the same: to love the true God and love your neighbor. You can't fully love God without loving your neighbor. You can't fully love your neighbor without loving God. The two are parts of the same message and commandment. To love the person next to you at all times of the day will certainly teach you to be selfless and care whole-heartedly about the other person's needs. In this light we see why God created us to be dependent on others and ultimately Him, because He works through other people. The true beauty of the people of God is not that they are better than the other religions or that they are a "special" people, but rather that we are a loving people. We are a people marked by our care for one another, our selflessness of everything that we are and have, and our interdependence on the people around us who live in this beautiful reflection of the community that we see in the Trinity. 

            So this is the beautiful web of interdependence that God has created us to be in. It is the primary focus of Christ's teachings (the coming of His kingdom, well what is His kingdom? Expect another post...) and the passion of His life as a man. This is what we are to focus on as well. If this is the only thing that we are supposed to do - becoming this loving Christ is what we are called to strive for, fight for, pray for, and live for - then why do we fail so miserably? If we are to take care of the homeless, poor, starving, elderly, illegal immigrants and all other neglected groups of minorities why do so many depend on the government? Why do we call the cops to remove a bum from our church property as we drive off in our gas-guzzling SUVs? Unfortunately the Black Eyed Peas and Snoop Dogg can show up Christians when they make songs about "Where is the Love?" and talking about loving others at their concerts. How can this be! Surely we have many shortcomings but how come people view the church as judgmental (being moralistic to unbelievers) and hurting many situations? Is it because we are failing at what we are attempting to do? Or is it possibly because we are not trying as we think we are; are we practicing what we truly preach? Or maybe that's the problem; we're preaching the wrong things. Love is not self-seeking.

            We need to focus on understanding the love of Jesus. He was so overwhelmed with compassion and love for people that He couldn't help but give everything of Himself to them! Once we understand that and let ourselves be transformed by this compassion maybe, just maybe, we will have compassion for others.

            Mother Theresa had messed up feet. She didn't have any disease or disability from birth. She would go through the piles of donated shoes to the orphans and take the worst pair for herself, so that no one else had to wear them. Years of this sacrifice took a tole on her feet so that she could not walk right...

            My intent, as I stated before, is not to tear people down but rather unveil the lies that seem to dominate the minds of North Americans. Love is sacrifice. Love takes on suffering. Love is... loving others... and trusting God to take care of us. In this beautiful community that is supposed to be marked by the power and love of God how are we trying to love others? How are we trying to love our close family/friends (Jerusalem), our neighbors (Judea), our greater community (Samaria), our world (the ends of the earth)? How are we trying to change the ourselves, our friends and the church to become this incredible community that God has given us plans to build?

            Loving people is a tough struggle. We must fight our guts out to learn how to live, as we were supposed to live.

 

 

“Love.”          - Jesus

Love

Over Christmas break a song that dominated my mind was "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel". It is a song that so many people know from their childhood and sometimes tragic youth group Christmas charolling 

rhythm

In my practical issues in youth ministry my professor (Jason Lief) said something that has been making me want to jump out of my shoes! Background: We are learning the best way to get across the gospel is through story telling. Stories help you to relate, stick longer in your mind, and can communicate things that a 3 point sermon simply cannot no matter how hard you try. Stories communicate our history as the people of God - a community that has its origins dating to the beginning of time. When we learn our story we find our identity and place in the story. Our identity allows us to stand against peer pressure, cultural pressure and even temptations. When we understand who we are and why God wants us to follow His example we find motivation and purpose, dominating many of the enemies schemes. In a postmodern world that is seeking experience and guarding its heart and mind with the "dragons of cynicism and skepticism" we must connect in an intimate way to the heart of the person, sneaking past the guards through story telling. Thus a youth pastor must be an artist of story telling, stretching the imaginations of an inarticulate generation.

So in this context we look at what is our story and how we tell it. In Sarah Arthur's The God Hungry Imagination she tells about how C.S. Lewis and J.R Tolkein are Christians who desire to tell the story of God under the radar, challenging the imagination of youth and adults alike without being explicit as to turn them off. The thing that has driven me crazy since Monday is the way that Lewis and Tolkein tell the story of creation. In the Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia series we see both Middle Earth and Narnia being created by song. In Narnia Asian, the Christ figure, sings Narnia into existence. In Lord of the Rings there is a communal sense of creating Middle Earth (Correct me if I am wrong for I have not read either series and am doing this without the book present). And that is how I read Genesis 1; it is written as poetry, a story told through poetic rhetoric. We see God hovering over the chaotic waters and speaking things into existence. This is not a monotone voice in which God says, "land". Rather it is a symphony. Here we see God dancing with His creation and constantly singing over what He has made "good". Now we are to fit into this song, this dance of life. Every person, plant and created being is a part of this song. Sometimes we are out of tune, as Rob Bell would say. But we are still a part of the great composure that is God's "good" creation. It is this beautiful melody that our life is a part of. We become loyal co-creators by living our lives in sync with God's original masterpiece. It is His composition that we live in. Such a beautifully festive, emotional and joyful noise it is! The world is constantly writing its choruses. Our decisions strike the chords of its verses. Creation unites as one in the beat of its rhythm.