Thursday, May 31, 2012

I Matter!

I have a group that meets on Wednesday nights to talk about God and spiritual things while taking advantage of the Hayloft's cheap taco night. The group is therefore called "Taco Theology," and they regularly expand my thinking outside of my narrow confines. The group has three rules: "All perspectives welcome," "Keep it civil" and "Tip well." I find that, as our friendships deepen, the second rule has faded into "duh" territory, and the first rule is foundational for our existence. I don't really police the third rule.

Our conversation this week was "Why do people pray?" Our conversation quickly moved into technology and social media as communication. At first glance, it seems like we were off-task, but the thoughts that kept moving into my brain were connecting prayer with Facebook and Twitter. Finally, the last piece clicked and the group inspired me to a new and deeper place.

I matter.

What Facebook offers me is the chance to matter. I have a quantity of friends that can be measured. I have a quantity of "likes" and comments to the things I post. I can see what happens on other people's postings as well to measure myself against them (we all do it...). Twitter is even more aligned to calculate my "mattering." I collect followers and watch my statements turn to trends. Hotels in Las Vegas even have a 24-hr live feed of people's "tweets" about their hotels. My opinion matters. I matter.

In the midst of all this, I couldn't keep it in anymore, and I blurted a short sermon (sorry guys and gals) that ended with "I matter!" Prayer is the declaration that I matter. I matter to God. What I want matters to God. This reality is not prideful, it's humbling. Consider the words of Psalm 8:

"When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?

You have made them a little lower than the angels
and crowned them with glory and honor."

In other words... Wow. I matter. You matter. In God's eyes, although God sees the majestic universe, you matter. God is mindful of you. It can be a challenge to consider this "mattering" in the face of an increasingly quantified mattering found in the opinion sections of newspapers, polls and Facebook. But when I consider how I matter before the throne of God, I wonder if I put too much of my identity in how many clicks I get. Maybe my identity is best found in Psalm 8, standing before God and saying "I matter."

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Everything I Love About Summer

Memorial Day weekend this year was nothing short of amazing. It included everything I love about summer. I was able to run, bike and kayak in the best environments God has to offer. And while my bike was sometimes an effort to just keep the wheels moving, my run was more of a climb and the kayak was sometimes a fight against the wind and waves, there were also moments of pure exhilaration. But nature was not always so welcoming this weekend, as an incredible thunderstorm thundered through the area with intensity and power. This I also love about summer. Psalm 19:1 imprints itself once again on my mind: "The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of his hands."

Beyond the weather and the outside activity, I love how summer encourages us to intentionally enjoy each other's company. I was rarely alone the whole weekend. When I kayaked, it was with a friend. Three of the four nights of Memorial Day were spent with friends. Sunday morning worship was a great time of welcoming our summer crowd back into the fold. Psalm 133:1 resounds with me, "How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!"

I couldn't get too far without talking about food. My dear love of food was not disappointed as the grill fired up and churned out delicious burgers and steaks. Combine that with a stop at the world-famous (or at least, should be world-famous) Leland Cheese Shanty and eating became more enjoyable. Psalm 63:3-5 gives me a glimpse of heaven through the feeling of satisfaction: "Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you."

So yes, this weekend held great promise of everything I love about summer. The Psalms give me a language to express my gratitude and to remind me that these gifts, like all gifts, come from a loving God. Happy Summer!

Saturday, May 26, 2012

A Memorial Day Prayer

I am grateful for the self-sacrifice and service of our friends, family and neighbors who serve in the Armed Forces. I also pray to see the day described in Isaiah 2.

"This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:

In the last days

the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established
as the highest of the mountains;
it will be exalted above the hills,
and all nations will stream to it.

Many peoples will come and say,

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the temple of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,
so that we may walk in his paths.”
The law will go out from Zion,
the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He will judge between the nations
and will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore.

Come, descendants of Jacob,
let us walk in the light of the Lord."

Friday, May 25, 2012

What I Like About a Judge Pt. 2

As much as being labelled a judge is a scary thing, recognizing God as judge is even scarier. We project our image of judge/judgmental onto God and assume that God the judge is someone waiting to condemn us. But how does the Bible view God as judge?

God's salvation power is in God's "judge-ness." Revelation 19:1-2 says "“Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for true and just are his judgments." Revelation 19 celebrates the destruction of Babylon, the earthly capital of injustice, and the progression forward of God's kingdom of peace. That is a judgment I am happy for.

Continuing the theme, salvation from sin is often viewed as an obstruction of justice. "If we got what we deserve, we would be distanced from God forever..." or something like that is an oft-used statement in the line of reasoning of evangelicals nation-wide. And certainly, the inability of humankind to achieve salvation on our own merit is a good point. But 1 John 1:9 shows the aforementioned statement to be limited at best, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." It seems that God's system and God's "judge-ness" is rooted in forgiveness and grace. After all, God did set up the system of salvation. It would only stand to reason that God's justice would be rooted in God's character.

And therefore, God as judge doesn't provoke fear in me. In fact, like Abraham, it provokes faith. When God was ready to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham appeals to God the judge for mercy. Genesis 18:24-25: "Will you really sweep it away and not spare[e] the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing —to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?"

God as judge allows me to pray for justice. God as judge allows me to pray and be heard. And most importantly, God as judge assures me that salvation is irrevocable and that shalom will overcome.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

What I Like About a Judge, Part 1

Labels are scary and painful things. In today's culture, the label of "judge" is one of the scariest, especially for a people who are called to speak the truth (and witness to the Truth). Biblical prophets had no problems lifting up the injustices of the world, although they rarely pointed the finger at one person and said "you are to blame," but invited the people to reflect on themselves and their participation in injustice. Still, it's hard to know where the line between "judge not, lest you be judged" and speaking uncomfortable truth.

And here's the danger for pastors. We have the capacity to speak for 30 minutes at a time without interruption. In my tradition, preaching is a one-way flow of information and thoughts (which may have its own pitfalls...) and not necessarily a conversation. And so, despite my best efforts to bring in other voice, invariably you get uninterrupted Andy for 30 minutes. If I haven't thought of something, or if the Spirit moves in a 1 Corinthians kind of way, there isn't really space for that in my tradition's worship service. And therefore, whether this format still rings true or not, having those thirty minutes is an incredible responsibility. It's a powerful time; that is, I have a lot of power in those moments. The temptation to settle a personal dispute by addressing it with finality from the pulpit can be great. The temptation to simplify complex issues can be great.

And so when I watched, with horror, a video of a pastor suggesting a "Final Solution" for the LGBTQ community involving electric fences, I was shaken by the power of a person speaking. The crowd was riled up, "amening" the pastor's words. And then I realized, "I am a bad day away from committing the same verbal violence every week." I could be the next YouTube infamy (except that our services aren't video-recorded). So how do I (and you) keep from this kind of violence?

"Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed." - Proverbs 15:22

What I like about judges is that you never talk to an individual judge. Every judge stands (or sits) with all that has gone before. Prior cases, the work of other judges, the work of the attorneys and the counsel of higher courts. True judges are not people who make arbitrary decisions based on emotions, but are careful and thoughtful learners who examine themselves and hear from other people. And it's in this learning community that we can have the capacity to speak without committing acts of spiritual violence. It's in the act of learning and discerning from the Spirit, the great teacher, that we can avoid emotional reactions and instead seek the peaceful way of God. May we all find ourselves here today.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Still boring.

This Wednesday morning started as most Wednesday mornings do- a 17 mile bike ride around Glen Lake. I love that ride. For a while, I am going up and the work is really hard. My gears are shifting rapidly in order to keep me moving forward. Then I go back down, and my gears are slamming again to take advantage of the easier pedaling in order to get some speed going. Then there are the flat spots, where I have to negotiate preparing for the next hill and pushing forward. It's a good ride, and one I hope to undertake as often as possible.

And it's never boring.

I'm still on the idea of boring, but it's a good subject to stay on. After all, if boredom is as dangerous as the last post states, we ought to hang out with boredom just a little longer.

I think that it can be very easy to develop and express a boring faith. A boring faith is one that has been sanitized and limited. In other words, boring faith only has meaning in experiences of happiness or anger. My faith is boring when I only recognize God while life is easy. My faith is boring when my response to the world is dictated by a continuum of happiness (when things go my way) and anger (when they don't). Look at Christians picketing. It looks boring to me. It's stale and predictable, and ultimately changes very little. But people who are picketing experience tremendous community because they are with people who share their emotions and thoughts. And so people who picket generally walk away with good feelings, even if little change is enacted.

The Psalms are the ultimate antidote to a boring faith directed by anger and happiness. The Psalms are an intersection with acute emotions (even murderous rage and near-suicidal depression) and thoughtful reflection of who God is. What happens in my boring moments is that I beat myself up until my emotions match my thoughtful reflection of who God is. It usually doesn't work. In full moments, I recognize that God intends to meet me in my emotional moments and even dares to absorb my emotions as I stand before God.

A full and rich faith holds all of me before all of God. A full and rich faith is standing before God when I am struggling, joyful, depressed, disinterested, excited about things I shouldn't be, focused, and everything in between. May we all have a rich and full faith today.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Boring.

Last night was the closing night for House, MD, my favorite TV show. Without spoiling the ending, House has to confront some deeply held convictions of his in order to stand by his friend who is dealing with cancer. One of those deeply held convictions is that life is not separated into right and wrong, but interesting and boring. Another of my favorite fictional characters holds the same conviction. For those who watch James Bond movies, the character is an action hero who seems to live every story as though the others didn't happen. However, the Ian Fleming character of James Bond is an expression of fear regarding boredom and apathy. James Bond (the novel character) constantly throws himself into missions, not for Queen and country, but out of fear of boredom. When he finally hunts down his arch-nemesis Blofeld, they have a conversation that looks like this:

"I will make a confession to you, Mister Bond. I have come to suffer from a certain lassitude of mind which I am determined to combat. This comes in part from being a unique genius who is alone in the world, without honour–worse, misunderstood. No doubt much of the root cause of this ‘accidie’ is physical–liver, kidneys, heart, the usual weak points of the middle-aged. But there has developed in me a certain mental lameness, a disinterest in humanity and its future, an utter boredom with the affairs of mankind." - Blofeld, "You Only Live Twice"

There seems to be an undercurrent of boredom that runs through the narrative of heroism. Consider the classic revenge story that creates the backdrop for so many heroes. Somebody does something wrong, the hero springs into action to fight against the oppressor, then... the movie ends. The movie ends because the hero's story post-revenge is boring. Their purpose for being is taken away by the act of revenge. In order for the hero's story to continue, a new villain must be introduced or the old villain has to return. For example, after crushing Blofeld's SPECTRE organization, the literary James Bond resigns because the greatest villain has been destroyed. There's nothing left worth fighting.

I turn to Jesus with the question of boredom. Why is it that we battle boredom and require increasingly dramatic distractions from the mundane life? What keeps returning is the quote from Jesus: "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full" (John 10:10).

Life to the full. This is the gift of Christ. Life to the full seems to stand in the face of my own boredom. If I am bored, and Jesus offers life to the full, what is going on?

Typically, I find that I settle for far less than the gift of Christ. I trade in deep and abiding relationships for casual friendships. I trade in authenticity for a superficial image of what I want you to think I am. I trade in God's mission of reconciliation for a life of increasing convenience and consumption. When I have been most fully alive, it is typically because I have been pushed outside my limits and into a place where my life is focused on service. This is the way Christ showed us to live, and so I hope I can live this way each day.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Manifest Destiny... no, not that one...

I have fallen in love with a few words in my life. Some of them are in English, some not. Two of my favorite words in the English language are "Manifest" and "Authenticity." Today, I want to touch upon the word "manifest."

Manifest is an inside-out reality. You cannot manifest anything outside of who you truly are. You can copy behaviors, imitate role models and such, but you can only truly manifest what has happened within you.

Paul prays the Christ would be "formed" in the Galatian church (Galatians 4:19). What an amazing inner reality! The only other place that the phrase "is formed" is used in the Bible refers to the potter forming the clay and a child being formed in a mother's womb. Admittedly, I know next to nothing about the experience of a child formed in me, and so I rely on the experience of mothers everywhere to describe what it is like. But the experience of manifesting an inner reality is something everyone can relate to.

At my most anxious, I am the kid who desperately wants to be like, no matter what the cost. The inner dialogue is "You have to prove that you are worth something, that you are not a liability. After all, you don't want to disappoint someone..." And that voice gains a threshold and I manifest that. My joy is siphoned away, my actions are meant to minimize potential harm, I find patterns of escape. I manifest my inner story.

But what happens when Christ is formed in me? Then I begin to manifest Christ. My conversations become immediately more impactful in that I emotionally connect with the words I am saying and they are no longer words. I think that's what the prophets must have felt like when their words could build and destroy (Jeremiah 1:10). Words take on a certain power, they manifest truth. I feel the weight of glory, as Paul says and CS Lewis elaborates, I feel more alive.

I call this post "Manifest Destiny" because I believe eternity is going to be the constant experience of what I only taste now. I will feel that alive (moreso, probably) continually. I'm not sure how I am going to handle that. But for the moment, I enjoy the times when I manifest my eternal destiny today. When everything clicks and I am in that "alive" moment, I can feel Christ being formed. My prayers are different and my experience is different, and that anxious kid who desperately wants to make friends gives way to the friend of Christ who is created for purpose. May you manifest your destiny today.