Been a long time

When I get wrapped up in school work I tend to let this blog slide. I produce and write so much that I just want to copy and paste my papers from school! So in a way I've done a little bit of that here.

I know this isn't the normal format for my blog. But if you have ever read Romans 13:1-7 it is a complicated passage. Paul writes about our relationship with the governing authorites. I researched this passage because I have always been fascinated by the way Christians interact with the State. Coming up on the elections there are a lot of observations to be made. I plan on sharing my perspective on all this political frenzy that sweeps America every 4 years

Maybe if you have a chance to read that passage and meditate on it my conclusion from my paper will be an added feature. Here it is

The powers we live under are ordered by God and submit to that Sovereign authority. The way we function in this world, as peaceful citizens, is to witness by embodying the cross. Romans 13:1-7 teaches Christians to engage the world, discern the “good” with love and to live with the freedom of Godly submission. Human authorities are good insofar as they uphold the ethic of love. The church responds by transforming the powers of the world through submission, not coercive rebellion. Our attitude and practice is birthed out of the victory on the cross and maintains the goal of proclaiming Christ’s victory over the powers. It is only in serving God and our fellow man we will live with a proper relationship to the authorities.

Text (Messaging) and Context

Here is a text message:

“I can’t believe you sent me flowers!”

Here are a few ways this message could be interpreted:

1. “They’re beautiful! I love you! I wasn’t ever really mad at you in the first place.”

2. “Do you really think you can get off that easily? This is a way bigger issue than some stupid flowers are going to resolve. You’re in a deeper hole now.”

3. “You embarrassed me at work. Why would you do that?”

4. “I’m surprised. You don’t seem like the kind of guy who’d send me flowers. I really had lower standards for you.”

5. “They’re ugly.”

If, as they say, 90% of communication in nonverbal, texting leaves a meager 10% to be interpreted and get stressed about. Even something as innocuous as “Thanks for the flowers” would have many of the same possible interpretations.

This context problem is most exaggerated with text messaging. Text messaging is basically instant messaging crossbred with cell phones. But subtract from IMing the "in-front-of-the-computer" context, and subtract from the cell phone the background noise context. These context clues are gone with text messaging; the texter could be anywhere (at a party, in the shower, on the road, out of range), distracted (talking with a friend, sleeping), or simply busy (being mad at you, recharging a dead battery, in a meeting, working).

Without context, much the meaning of the content is left wide open, as the flowers scenario shows. Even if the texter is feeling joy when she writes the text, the receiver may be experiencing a different fear or insecurity and so interpret her text as indignation.

Text messaging is a simple idea, but it could be the most complex form of communication that people are using today, simply for the lack of context it provides for any texting conversation. So I came up with a few good practices for communicating (and conveying context) in text messages. Please offer your own, if you think of any.

1. Being intentionally vague isn’t a good idea. Maybe you mean to be flirtatious, but it may just look like you’re avoiding the question. The more personal the communication the more important it is to be careful how you say it.

2. Use “lame” obvious cues like smiley faces and exclamation points to indicate the accurate emotion.

3. Consider the worst possible interpretation your words could have, or the worst scenario that could result from them.

4. Avoid subtlety, sarcasm or otherwise. Exaggeration can even be difficult.

5. Don’t be impulsive. Consider your words. (This is a good rule for any sort of communication.)

6. Make the implicit explicit.

7. Don’t have conversations via text messaging. This opens the door for every sort of problem.

8. Use texts to communicate information, not feelings. (“Just the facts, ma’am.”) If it's getting personal, personalize it with a phone call or even in person!

There are lots of other rules and dynamics that could be explored, but hopefully this will help you think about it a bit and guard your friendships and relationships from unnecessary harm.

Child Vision

I don't know what sparked this memory but it re-surfaced a couple of days ago. Disclaimer: I have no experience raising children.

This summer while waiting in the doctor's office (to get the good ol physical for teaching) the sirens in the city went off. When I pulled in the sky was radically pink sky and now morphed into a teal monster. Rain, lightning, and of course some tornado watches and warnings.

So me and all the other patients in the waiting room gathered in the back hall with the doctor's and nurses. I was comforted to be around physicians in a dangerous situation but less than thrilled to be sharing tight space with a bevy of germs!

At first it was kinda fun. We all made small talk and joked.
After about 30 minutes people were on their cell phones giving updates.
After about 45 minutes people were frustrated, uncomfrotable, and annoyed.

My brother was waiting for me back at the apartment. We had some plans (something about us driving together up to Michigan so he could get married, nothing big!) but he was of course easygoing and chilled.

What kept me calm was the little 3 year old sitting across from me on the floor in the hallway. He found the situation to be absolutely amazing. All the new people, lights, nooks and crannies in the hallway.

His mom was not as entertained. I'm sure she was stressed and overworked. Finally she sat him down and said, "look around you. Stop and look around you. Do you see anyone else acting that way? Is anyone else climbing all over everything in sight?"

I thought, "Is anyone else 3 years old?"
I thought, "Does anyone have so much joy as your son in this inconvenience?"

Often we correct children not because they aren't acting right but because they aren't acting like us. Maybe they should be correcting us. Maybe we should see like them.

TV Turnoff Week

Here's a challenge, no T.V. for a week!

If you can't imagine doing forgoing The Office, Sportscenter, American Idol, the NBA playoffs or some D.I.Y TLC show than try one or two days.

Good luck, hope to hear some people are going for it.

no habla Espanol

I'm teaching Spanish today. I know barely any Spanish except for some greetings and naughty words.

I really enjoy subbing. The day is well structured, the kids are great, the pay is surprisingly good, and it is a new challenge every day.

But this is what I don't like about subbing. As a substitute teacher your authority comes via threats. For instance:

get this work done or else it's homework
be quiet or else your teacher will be angry
listen to me or else you will go to the Principal's office
be respectful or else you don't have recess today

I don't see the benefit of using these tactics. Sure, it gets the kids to respond but any relationship built on threats resorts to fear not love. Permanent teachers have the advantage of seeing the kids every day and building relationships to nurture and mentor them. I on the other hand do not.

So what do I do? Well, in the short time I have with them I try to create as deep of a relationship as possible. How?

I call out their names for attendance and ask them how they want to be called.
I tell them about where I am at in life.
I share a story maybe from the news.
Better yet I share them a story from my own life that is connected to their class. Like....

How most of my Spanish is from movies I've watched and by the way these are my five favorite movies.
Or I don't know Spanish but it would have been helpful when I went to Venezuela to do a mission trip.
Or I know some Spanish by watching a lot of soccer which is one of my passions.

I try to connect my life with their life. I try to make a friendship and than teach.

My Team is Powerful!

I actually have a lot of things brewing in my mind but not a lot of time to post. So this will be short and pithy and an echo of an earlier post.

Last night a Cubs fan said to me when finding out I am a Pirate fan, "oh, we have you next. You better look out, we are going to take you out."

I couldn't help but notice the personal pronouns, we and you.

It wasn't simply this girl saying that her team was going to beat my team. But in a sick sense it was her taking dominion over me. She was exerting power over me by claiming the Cubs were better than the Pirates (which is hard to argue otherwise).

I realized that our sports teams are really exercises of our power. That is why we love it when our team wins, because it vicariously gives us power and a sense of accomplishment. Like we have conquered somebody else and achieved a level of status in the world.

I think if Jesus was a baseball team he would be in last place.

The Well of Beer

At a place called Beer, the Lord provided a well for his people.

There the Israelites sang this song: "Spring up, O well! Yes, sing its praises!"

Numbers 21:17

That's the technology talking.

We’d call anyone stupid who used a saw for a can opener, or a pickaxe as a nutcracker. No, using the right tool for the task helps lower the risk of hurting ourselves (or others). The stupidity of these simple examples is plain to us because these tools are so low-tech, but we still learned these facts at one point or another. With high-tech tools though, the tasks they accomplish are much more complex, but likewise their purposes are much harder to discern.

Blogs. Blackberrys. Facebook messages. E-mail. Cell phones. Wall posts. Text messages. Of these, the only one I’ve not used is a Blackberry. In the past two years, every other mobile device and social networking tool has been in my relational toolbox. The ways to communicate keep multiplying. Staying connected is easier than ever.

I don’t need to tell you though that for all these tools, we’re not building better relationships. In high school, I was IMing with this one girl in my group of friends. I’d never really known someone to be so into other people’s lives and so willing to talk about them. During one online chat, I told her bluntly, “You’re a gossip queen.” Looking back, I can hardly believe I was so unkind. Who cares if it was true . . . what was I thinking?

This is sort of like the morning after being drunk. You remember enough of what you said last night that you have to call to apologize. You blame it of course on having too much beer. But in this case, the insulated feeling created by telecommunications is a false sense of security and the relationship suffers for it. "Baby, it was the technology talking! Please forgive me." Damage done.

I’ve found these new communication tools to be poor at building meaningful, healthy relationships with anyone. Maybe two years ago, I was discussing with a friend via email issues we both care about passionately. But over time, I sensed it slowly deteriorating, my own feelings toward him growing irritable, hurt, and even angry. It had never been like that before, when we’d talked face-to-face. What changed?

I’m not lamenting the poor quality of these tools though (or you could call use the word technology). In fact, I don’t think that these tools are poor quality. Rather, I think it’s user error. That is, I’ve used these tools poorly, inebriated with high-technology. As a kid, I always tried to be innovative and use an old tool in a creative way. (If you’ve ever watched The Red Green Show, they do this best.)

Can we really compare cell phones to pickaxes or e-mails to handsaws? Well, all of them are different types of technology humans use to accomplish various tasks. With communication tools, the relational element to them adds near infinite complexity alone. But they are still tools used for communication.

And while the purpose of a pickaxe seems pretty intuitive, it’s only because we’ve learned it. In the same way, the purpose of these high-tech communication tools will only become apparent if we really give them some thought. After that, they’re purposes might seem intuitive as well.

I'm only exploring the answers when it comes to these gadgets. I’ve tried to use them to accomplish certain tasks and relationships have suffered and bridges have burned because of it. Just like being the fool using a pickaxe for a peanut, I don’t want to look stupid or get hurt (or hurt others) just because I didn’t know what I was doing with the tool in my hand. Better than that, I won't have to call the next day to blame it on being technologically impaired.

Take A Minute

You have a lot of things you could, should, want, need to do.

Right now you are reading my blog.

Stop.

Think about somebody close in your life you will talk to today.

Put the laptop down or push back from the computer monitor.

Take 60 seconds. That's right a full minute! You will have several more of these today. Take that minute and pray for that somebody.

That wasn't hard was it?

Are you watching Me?

Sometimes I just feel obligated to post something. This is one of those times! So we'll see where this goes.

I tend to be a private person over the Internet so I'm going to step outside and share where I am, what I'm doing. Just in case you are desperate to spy on me.

I'm reading a lot about Spirituality and Galatians

I'm listening to Steven Delopolous and Umbrellas

I spend time with friends here, here, and here

And of course here

I'm watching Dan Lugo

I'm loving the weather

I'm optimistic

I love playing here

You can stalk me here

That didn't take too long.... :)

There's a Cubs shaped Hole in all of Us!

Hi, I’m Rick, another roommate of Mike’s taking over his blog. Apparently I need to be careful what I say around him, because yesterday I just happened to make what I thought was a fairly clever and witty observation, and now he is forcing (yes, forcing!) me to post said observation on this blog.

So without further ado, here is the thought I had. Mike and I were watching a little bit of baseball on Monday (the REAL opening day) and we got to talking about annoying sports fans (specifically certain cubs fans that we know, my goodness can they ever be insufferable…) Anyway, I made the comment to Mike that I think Christians can be some of the worst (read: most annoying) sports fans in the history of sporstfandom. Allow me to unpack that (I had a communications professor in undergrad who used the word unpack at least once every class, it was annoying, and now I cannot escape the word…but I digress.)

Christians, at least in the evangelical tradition in the United States, are taught that their belief system is correct (and everyone else’s is wrong) and that it is their God-mandated duty to “convert” (read: tell everyone else how wrong they are) the masses (read: godless heathens.) That is a jaded, cynical overgeneralization to be sure, but stay with me. This zeal creates annoying sports fans b/c they have that same “evangelistic” mindset. That is to say, their sports team is the greatest (God’s team, even?) and yours is clearly inferior (and possibly a spawn of Satan) and you need to “see the light” and come over to their side (which in Chicago is the North Side.)

So to that I say, BOO!

And go Tigers!

And, for Mike, go Pirates!

And to the Cubs, just go (away!)

Mike's Disclaimer** Rick's doesn't really hate the Cubs that much but we do share the annoyance of some Cub's fans "sportsfandom."
For the Tigers I also say "go" and for the Pirates I say, "Can we end the season now so they finally have a winning season!"

Getting Funky with Jesus

Word are always limiting to an extent. They are all we have been given. The reason I like the word perichoresis (over personal) is because it is language rooted in the character of God, not the character of the self. It is a word designated for the Trinity so it draws from the Trinitarian life.*

Perichoresis describes the mutual dwelling and shared relationships of the members of the Trinity. The word can be broken down to mean around + dance.

I love the image of the persons of the Trinity dancing together in harmony and inviting humanity to join in. Our relationship with God invites active participation with the movements of the Spirit.

Imagine someone dancing by themsevlves. It's hilarious. The music is playing and they go out on the dance floor and move without a partner. That is how most of our spiritual lives are. I choose the music, I push play, I lead the dance, I choose the steps, etc.

But a "personal" relationship with God is different. It's God's playlist, God's pushing, God's pulse, God's performance. A simple challenge for me is to daily find myself entering that cosmic activity. So today I hope you can dance and get funky with God!

*Ironic that the word personal, rooted in the word person, created some controversies in early Trinitarian theology! The Eastern church Fathers, first ones to write about the Trinity, described it as one ousia and three hypostasis. Tertullian, the first Western theologian, (he wrote in Latin, not Greek) described God as being one substance and three persons. This seems innocent enough if ousia=substance and hyspostasis=persons. But in the West, Tertullian, translated both ousia and hyspostasis=substance. So Tertuallian asserted that God is one ousia/hypostasis and introduced the word three persons.! Semantics, semantics!

Word for the Day

When I was in high school my English teacher got a gift for his birthday. It was a free subscription to the now defunct website once listed at www.wordsmith.com. The process involved filling in your e-mail address and automatically geting a new word sent to you everyday.

First, that is an awful birthday gift. Look I am all about being cheap and creative and sentimentel but come on. Seriously. Is that the best you can do? The idea sounded great to me and I actually subscribed for about one year even though I quit opening the e-mails after about a week. I like to learn new words and what they mean but am pure rubbish at putting them into practice.

Every once in ahwhile a new word will absolutely capture what was void in my vernacular.
When describing my relationship with God the word I frequently think of is personal. Many cry against this word because it alludes to a "me and only me" spirituality. Sure, I agree, a personal relationship with God is not a simple two way conversation. It does include the social aspect of caring for our neighbor.

I'll unpack this more later, but the word I am choosing is perichoretic

What's the word?

But are we? Are we made to be happy? [...]why are we so perpetually in search of it [...] what are we missing that will consummate it?
-Adam Graber

I wish Adam would get with the program and post again. I'm half joking and three-fifths serious because his previous post really intrigued me. So I am going to gank his stream of ideas.

My thoughts center on the word happy in the Bible. In the Greek the word is makarios. Depending on the translation the word is used differently

Blessed (makarios) are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. (Matt. 5:9 TNIV)

But the word makarios also means happy

Happy (makarios) are the peacemakers -- because they shall be called Sons of God. (Matt 5:9 YLT)

Even in the Hebrew, (like Psalm 1:1 and 119:1) the word esher often translated as blessed also means happy

I do not interpret happy and blessed to be the same thing. In my modern translation (even though I'm so post-modern...haha) this is the definition

happy=state of mind, like being in a good mood.
blessed=state of being, like having money.

If happy=blessed how does that change our pursuit of happiness?


(By the way the end of the movie Pursuit of Happyness.... terrible ending)

The Tyranny of Happiness

I’ve recently seen a spate of articles on happiness. It seems that a few new books on the subject have been on the radars at Newsweek, New York Times Review of Books, and the Washington Post. Most specifically, a new book titled Against Happiness is getting noticed. The cover is perfectly designed: a yellow cover whose title is in the shape of a frowning mouth. It reinforces the book’s ideas—perfect.

From what I’ve read, psychologists are retrieving meaning and purpose in melancholy. I don’t need to prove to you that we are a people bound and determined to be happy, with our self-help books, our bigger and better whatevers, and the advertising that keeps telling us bliss exists. In a country where the pursuit of happiness is as basic a right as living, the concept that being thoughtfully sad is necessary seems quite foreign. Melancholy? Leave that to Russia.

Even while the contrarian in me revels in the idea that maybe constant happiness isn’t so great, something more fundamental to the argument is being made here: Sadness is beneficial, and whatever’s beneficial will make you happy. Whether or not sadness will in fact make you happier, the belief is that embracing sadness can lead us back around to happiness. The story is the same tired refrain. Our pursuit of happiness simply becomes more nuanced, more subtle. We don’t come at happiness head on, but flank it by embracing its opposite. We humans are so clever.

Upon reflection, this approach really isn’t new though. We’ve always sought to flank happiness by pursuing something else. Our real aim is happiness, but we know we can’t just take it by the horns (or its soft, huggable middle). So we flank happiness by getting lost in good books, faraway places, success, lovers, dreams, or ___________. And if we’re not careful, those things, those people become weapons we use in our back-end assault on happiness.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the desire to be happy. There are needs embedded in us that drive us to search for it. Nearly every desire in man is a good one that has only been perverted and recalibrated on the wrong objects. It’s as though we set out exploring the seas using the stars as our guide, but we’ve fixed on the wrong star. We’re doomed to wander instead of discover. In this country where life, happiness, and freedom are rights fundamental to existence, we come to believe, as we live, that we are made to be happy.

But are we? Are we made to be happy? I don’t have the answer, only the question. If we are, then why are we so perpetually in search of it. If we are, then what are we missing that will consummate it. Perhaps believing that we are is like believing the world is flat (the Christopher Columbus version, not the Thomas Friedman version). This belief that happiness is our ultimate goal could be holding us back from a fuller understanding of who we are and of what the world is like. The world could be much bigger and grander than flat happiness could let us imagine. O, the glorious possibilities as we spin the globe and consider them.

4.12.8 Update: "Married, religious people are more likely than secular singles to be happy"? "It helps to be religious, sexually active and a college graduate with a short commute to work."

The In-Between

I remember pondering this last year and my Dad sparked it again with this observation:

We celebrate Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday.  But what about today?  What about the Saturday when Jesus was in the grave?

Sure it doesn't make sense to celebrate.  Especially if you were one of the disciples.  You have just followed a teacher to Jerusalem with the expectation that he was going to establish a worldly kingdom.  One moment he comes into the city with "Hossana in the Highest," and days later he is surrounded by the words "crucify him!" 

Today Jesus is dead.  Today Jesus is in the grave.  Today is often ignored. 

As of today there is no resurrection, no life, no fulfillment, no hope.  Of course we have the advantage of foresight.  In our eagerness to celebrate tomorrow morning I think it appropriate to simply think about what it means that today Jesus is dead.  I am not trying to be fatalistic or wallow in grief but how can salvation make sense about from despair? 

Rather, how can we understand the power resurrection without understanding the gravity of death?

Rationalize

My professor Gary Sattler cited this quote in class.  It is from the 1983 movie Big Chill

Michael: I don't know anyone who could get through the day without two or three juicy rationalizations. They're more important than sex.
Sam Weber: Ah, come on. Nothing's more important than sex.
Michael: Oh yeah? Ever gone a week without a rationalization?

Sam (Tom Berenger) typifies our obsession with sex.  I'm more interested with Michael (Jeff Goldblum) insight into rationalization.  I couldn't go a day, let alone a week, without a "juicy rationalization."  Every day I justify my choices, actions, decisions, etc.

Think about it.  Why do you do what you? 
-Why did you put on that shirt today?
-Why didn't you call your Mom last night?
-Why do you want to go out to eat for Chinese and not Mexican?
-Why are you speeding on your way to work?
-Why do you like that song so much?

O.k. there is obviously a point to where this just gets neurotic and unhelpful.  If you question every decision you'll dissect your soul until there is nothing left but little fragments of a self.  However there is a healthy awareness, a generous vigiliance, needed in our lives.  There is no place this is needed more than in areas of sin.  Whereas the above questions are mostly pointless and have little redemptive value, we need to question sin.

In sin we rationalize and justify our actions.  

For instance:  I stole the money because I needed it.  I punched him because I was mad.  I cheated on my wife because I don't feel attracted to her anymore. 

I think the best way to reconcile sin is to question it. 

For instance.  Why do you need the money?  Why were you mad?  Why don't you feel attracted to her anymore? 

This is the point where most people just give up and walk away.  We think these questions are just a Freudian attempt to get to our "real self" and undo all that society, parents, and pop culture has plagued us with.  Like if we are able to remove all the layers of the onion than the "core" our "real identity" will emerge and thus we will be a better person.  (Jungian psychology) 

I would give up and walk away too.  There is only so much I can unwind and dissect myself.  Eventually I feel so undressed and exposed in my weakness.

But there is no power in sin when it is undone before God.  When I question my sin I don't try to get to a more "ideal self" but I open myself up to being forgiven and reconciled to something far larger than a "real self."  (I am not trying to live my story better, but I am being swallowed up by God's story.  So in light of the Easter season I am reminded to take my sin and crucify it.   But like Christ, the crucifixion is not something I can do on my own.  It is a part of being obedient to where God is calling me to go. 

So my challenge isn't necessarily to "unrationalize" your sin, but to rather crucify your sin and find redemption in the resurrection.  So when you feel undressed, exposed, and weak you are clothed with the mercy of power of Christ. 

Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature
Romans 13:14

Tis the Season

In news this week:

This past weekend we celebrated St. Patrick's day.
These couple of days America is gearing up for the Men's College Basketball Tournament. 
This month is known of "March Madness." 


In other news:

This past Sunday was also Palm Sunday, when Jesus entered Jerusalem with praise and glory. 
These couple of days Jesus prepares for the crucifixion in Jerusalem
This month marks the remembrance of the passion of Christ leading to Jesus' crucifixion and the beginning of the church.

Meditation on a Plastic Bag

I’ve been thinking again about spiritual disciplines and their purpose and effect. The last metaphor that helped me to understand it was a paper clip, bent so as to be useful, much like the posture—physically and spiritually—of humility and availability that is adopted by the one who prays.

A new metaphor that has helped me to understand spiritual disciplines more broadly is that of a plastic bag. I’m thinking of those typical bags I get when I shop at Target or at the grocery. A plastic bag is easily compact but useful when opened up. It can serve to carry more than I could pile into my arms.

But have you ever had trouble getting a bag open or trying to finagle some object into it when the opening is clinging shut? That’s so frustrating. I worked at a grocery store for two years, first bagging groceries. I showed those bags who was in charge.

I think of the soul as being like that bag. It is often shut up on itself, flat and useless, and even getting it open can be a chore. The spiritual disciplines I think of as that practice of opening up and creating space for what will be put in. Yet, practicing these disciplines does not mean that anything is put in, only that we are, like a bag, prepared to receive. Spiritual disciplines are not the contents for the bag, they are the space created for God.

Leaving ourselves open like that can be scary. When we create space, we create our own emptiness and acknowledge our need. It’s vulnerable. It is tempting to be filled with many things that God is not putting in. I think I allow music to shape my thoughts and emotions into a attitude or mood I want to experience instead of waiting for God to act.

But part of the discipline is to bear the need, to endure the emptiness. “More often than not we are left with the painful sense of emptiness and can only experience God as the absent God.” That’s why it’s really scary. To experience the absent God is to know that there is a space that only he can fill. But in its own way, that vacancy is way of knowing God. Experiencing the perpetual absence of God does not necessarily mean that God is absent but we have found new spaces where we need him.

Sometimes, to get a sandwich bag open, I blow into it. Or with a grocery bag, sometimes I whip it up then down to get the air inside to open it up. It makes me think of the Spirit of God (spirit and breath are a single term in Greek), as he might blow through our souls to open us up. And in fact, we talk about practicing the spiritual disciplines as if they are completely our doing, but it is the grace of God that empowers us in the first place to act. It is the hand of God that pulls at the handles and the breath of God that creates space in our souls for himself.

And then there are moments when God fills our bags with himself. Our silence with his sound. Our blank pages with his words. Our weeping with his laughter. And when he puts his Spirit within us, our souls, like those plastic bags, begin to take the form of that which fills it.

Two Ways to Look at Someone

One Way: The Jesus Glasses
I remembered in college being challenged to see people as Christ sees them.  This summer I gave a "message" (sermon, homily, whatever you prefer) that pretty much said our identity is found in God because we were created in God's image.  

At one point I said the following:

When Jesus sat across from the woman (at the well) he didn't see a whore, but he saw a woman in need of healing.  When God looked down at Saul on the road to Damascus he didn't see a villain but he saw a future disciple. 

The idea behind this thought is that God/Jesus, (our model, perfecter of faith) sees people with a different lens, not as broken but as beautiful.  In retrospect I struggle with this concept.  It isn't that I disagree with it but I find it so daunting.  I admit that I cannot look at people like Jesus does.  It is a great challenge but it leaves me frustrated and discouraged. 

Second Way: The Jesus Gene

Recently I was challenged to see people in another way.  Not as Jesus sees them, but rather to see Jesus in them.  For me this just works a lot better.  I don't think one is "better" than another but when I look at someone as carrying the DNA of Christ, because they are a splendid part of creation, it is more encouraging.

The challenge still remains: how will you look at people today?

What do I look like to you?

My posts have been absent the last two weeks.  I have been writing papers and I thought about posting those but I don't think 15-20 pages of research is blogger material. 

I wonder how I come across to people.  Especially with people telling me the following this week

1) At Starbucks a lady says to me, "You look like you come here all the time, where is the clock?"

My response, "Actually this is my first time here, I don't know."

2) While subbing a kid says to me, "Mr. Moore I bet you play a lot of paintball.  You look like a paintball player."

My response, "I've played twice before, sorry."  (What does a paintball player look like?)

3) While subbing another kid said to me, "Mr. Moore you look like Jesus."

My response, "Except I have about 5 inches in height, paler skin, lighter hair, and I'm guessing Jesus was good looking." 

4) This is the best one, it happened last week while subbing:

A girl says, "Oh I thought you were our teacher, you look like her."

My response, "You know I'm not offended but if your teacher has a beard she is in the wrong profession (alluding to the circus)

My point?  These assumptions, presumptions, expectations, interpretations, were wrong.  I don't go to that Starbucks all the time, I don't play paintball, I do not look like the historical Jesus, and I can say with confidence I do not look like a 40 year old woman English teacher." 

When we look at people we don't always see accurately.  How than should we see?

Coming apart at the ends

This week I was talking with my colleagues, Jon and Matt, about the recent memoir scandals. If you don’t pay attention to that sort of news, two recently published memoirs have been outed for being wholly fabricated. In one, the story of a daughter of Holocaust victims was shown to not even be Jewish. In another, a middle-class white girl told her story as a mixed-race drug runner among the gangs of L.A. Literature has, of course, a genre for these types of stories called fiction, but instead these authors chose to, like many others, position their story as true accounts.

Also this week I was talking with my friend Sarah about photography and art. She’s a photographer herself, so I e-mailed her an article entitled, “Is Photography Dead?” The article traced for a novice like myself the history of controversy surrounding photography as an art form and its trustworthiness for depicting truth or reality in the Photoshop age. Sarah made the good point that photography has always chosen to show some things and not others. Even if it’s not photoshopped, it’s composed with light or angle to highlight certain things and cropped to leave out other things. Every photo leaves out more than it includes, I guess you could say.

I discussed these memoirs with my colleagues and the nature of photography with Sarah when I realized that, in many ways they have similar symptoms. Memoir and photography both purport to show reality as it is and to give the facts. This may not be the intent of the writer or the photographer, but that is the understanding of the general reader or viewer (and everyone knows it). “As any publisher will tell you, memoir sells better than fiction.” It’s a “question of sincerity and authenticity. Memoirs are seen as more authentic than novels.” The same is true of photography. The viewer believes that what they are seeing is not derived from the photographer’s imagination.

At the same time, both attempt to show that reality through a finite lens and not without bias. Both have a vested interest in putting forward a picture of reality that grabs the attention of the reader/viewer. That way it reaches a broader audience. This inclination, however, leads away from “sincerity and authenticity” and toward sensationalism.

It is a strange paradox that readers’/viewers’ values of authenticity are threatened by their desires for the sensational. What’s more is that, when forced to choose, some publishers and photographers will essential manufacture both. They will photoshop a memoir beyond anything genuine in order to make for a sensational story. But the sensational isn’t sensational by the mere fact that it’s not true. It’s only truly sensational if it actually happened. In the same way, some photographers will fictionalize their art for the same ends. And in the end, both the sensational and authentic are ruined by man’s manipulation of them for his own ends.

"What are you thinking?"

What am I thinking?

Feelings are so hard to capture in words. When someone asks me, “What are you thinking?” it’s not quite what they’re asking, or at least, I can’t quite answer that question in isolation. I have to answer it not only by talking about my specific thoughts but also what impact they are having. And to do that I have to track back to the source for my thoughts and often to how I’m feeling as, something that is much harder than putting just my thoughts into words.

Feelings capture an environment we find ourselves in. It might be a string of thoughts that gather momentum to become a feeling. Sometimes the thoughts themselves are driven first by feelings, or sometimes the thoughts come first and evoke the feelings. Sometimes it an experience that produces thoughts or feelings. Being able to capture that is like swatting at a swarm of gnats. You might nail a few thoughts, but a hundred others just blow away with the gust of wind.

Feelings might reflect the mood we are in. But sometimes we can’t simply identify why we’re in that mood. Is it something that happened today? If it were only generally that simple. Maybe I’m getting sick, or maybe I didn’t eat anything substantial today. Maybe I didn’t sleep well last night. Maybe I’m under long-term pressure that I’ve calibrated to and don’t even notice anymore.

When someone asks me, “What are you thinking?” it’s just not that easy. Even if I could clearly analyze the biological and psychological and mental components of my mood, and how it’s impacting my thoughts, I’m not sure I would have the words to articulate all that. Even if I had the words, very few of those who ask could listen long enough to really get a feel for where I’m coming from, to get inside all these things and capture “what I’m thinking.”

Why, what were you thinking?

Cynicism: Measurements

Continuing from "Cynicism: Highs and Lows"

My friend Sarah’s observation about my own cynicism highlighted my own pride and my own brokenness, and now it leads to even deeper matters. The dividing line between the wise and the unwise are those who, like Joseph, are “filled with the spirit of God” and those who aren’t (Rom 1:21-22, 28). My own cynicism and pride would put me in the second category. “Insolent, proud, and boastful . . . they refuse to understand . . . are heartless, and have no mercy,” seems to describe a cynic more than one who is “filled with the spirit of God.”

These are spiritual matters that I’m not sure I can navigate. Does my nature as a fallen man reduce my wisdom to nil? Does God’s redemptive work in my life raise me up to “understand the truths of God’s Spirit” and “evaluate all things”? Amid all this, I find only one constant: I am not the measure by which I evaluate all things. Whether my wisdom is broken or I “have the mind of Christ” makes no difference: I cannot measure anything against myself (or my ideal self). The standard by which I evaluate all things is God alone. Indeed, that was the purpose of the Law: to reveal God’s character. And the purpose of knowing God is that we might be like him.

It is a quick resolution to quote Proverbs and say, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” I believe it is true but that proverb captures a deep and complex idea. In part, it means that we recognize God above all things, as the measure of all things, and the standard by which we compare all things, even ourselves. Indeed, that we do not measure up to God’s own good character is what Christians call sin.

I fall desperately again on the promise that God gives wisdom to those who ask, without considering all their (my) failures to measure up (James 1:5). Desperate because I can only ask, but I cannot take. I can only receive, I cannot find. In the end I echo the sentiments of a friend who writes, “I believe the promises of God. May he count me as righteous,” for righteous is what God is. It is part of his character to which I do not measure up. It humbles this cynical spirit, but it does not remove it. That is where I will turn next.

Cynicism: Highs and Lows

Continuing from "Cynicism: Broken Wisdom."

Joseph, of Technicolor fame, seemed to get the idea that human wisdom is broken and that no human can imagine God’s wisdom. He exemplified the humility of a man whose wisdom was broken. When the Pharaoh called Joseph, saying, “I have heard that when you hear about a dream you can interpret it,” Joseph replied, “It is beyond my power to do this.” (Gen 41:15; cf. Dan 2:27)

What can we know? Can we live wisely at all? The existential despair of this position seems unbearable. Am I doomed to stupidity, indeed, insanity? Gloriously, no! I was reminded of a great promise. How had I forgotten these verses I had memorized in junior high? “If any of you lacks wisdom, let his ask God, who gives freely to all without finding fault, and it will be given him” (James 1:2). Paul affirms that we humans are not doomed: “No one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. And we have received God’s Spirit, … so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.” And “those who are spiritual can evaluate all things…. We understand these [truths from God’s Spirit], for we have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor 2:11-12, 15-16). Joseph, too, seemed to understand this. After he admitted that he could not himself interpret the Pharaoh’s dream, he said, “But God can tell you what it means” (Gen 41:16; cf. Dan 2:28, 30).

The Pharaoh, upon hearing Joseph’s interpretation, is advised to “find an intelligent and wise man and put him in charge” (Gen 41:33; cf. Isa 29:14; 1 Cor 1:19). Cue Joseph. The Pharaoh, impressed by Joseph, says, “Can we find anyone else like this man so obviously filled with the spirit of God? Clearly no one else is as intelligent or wise as you are” (Gen 41:38-39).

So now I’m hearing two different things: As a fallen man, my own wisdom is broken, and I cannot grasp at God’s; as a man being redeemed, I “have the mind of Christ,” enabling me to “understand the truths of God’s Spirit” and to “evaluate all things.” In one extreme, I’m so low and broken that I’m unable to distinguish anything good or bad. In the other extreme, I’m raised to such ability that I can make every judgment.

How do I reconcile these two extremes? How do I live this out practically?

Continue.

What is it with winning?

I am in a big losing streak right now.

 

Both of my soccer teams are on 3 game losing streaks.  I occasionally play on some Sundays and last night we got smoked by a bunch of high schoolers.  (I recognize some of these kids from substitute teaching so maybe they were motivated to get revenge from the test I handed out on Thursday!)  The previous game my team was clearly superior and clearly was playing selfish and clearly got beat.  I also lost the Oscar contest at a friend's house last night.  Although I showed up late (which had me in the hole) I couldn't pick a winner for the life of me until I rattled off 6 in a row. 

 

In watching the Oscars I noticed there are significant more "losers" than "winners."  One person "wins" something at the expense of others losing.  My team loses at the expense of the other team winning.  In the larger realm one team will win the league and all the other teams will loose. 

 

Why is it that winning is defined from the perspective on the end? 

 

It is like the modern view of salvation that says the winners and the losers are separated at the end, when people are divided between heaven and hell. 

 

Why can't we "win" now?  Why can't people experience salvation how?  Why is salvation only official when in the end we are given an Oscar to hold?

 

If winning is more than a final result and a prize given than maybe I'm not on a losing streak.  Perhaps I "won" our game last night because I was able to celebrate the gifts and skills God has endowed me with.  Perhaps I was victoriously because I played well with my teammates.  Perhaps I was the conqueror of the Oscar contest because I shared fellowship with friends and enjoyed the joy of laughter and community.

 

Guess I'm a winner.  :)

Relationship Advice

If you are single and need relationship advice check out www.danlugo.com.  More proof that the best, brightest and most clever American Puerto Rican independent musicians from Florida who read Dr. Seuss and Robert Weber go to Northern Seminary 

Cynicism: Broken Wisdom

Continuing from "Cynicism: Name It and Claim It."

I was thinking about my critical attitude when I read 1 Cor 4:6: “If you pay attention to what I have quoted from the Scriptures, you won’t be proud of one of your leaders at the expense of another.” For me, I’ve realized that the leader I am proud of is an ideal I’ve set up in my imagination; I’ve set up a glorified ideal Christian leader (and community) and criticized everyone by measuring them against that.

In some ways, that ideal is a projection of myself, proud and pathetic as that is. (I suspected as much in my last post: [believing I have license to criticize everything] is a few small steps from setting myself up as the standard . . . and the judge . . .) Maybe not the person I am now, but who I think I could be if I truly lived by my values and beliefs. As I compare, I do this “at the expense of another,” judging them and finding them lacking some essential by measuring them according to my fallen concept of perfection. But my ideal is a nobody, nonexistent, unreal.

But Paul offers some hope, that “if [I] pay attention to what [he has] quoted from the Scriptures,” I could possibly avoid this proud pitfall and a subsequent judgmental attitude. In the chapters preceding this verse, Paul does in fact quote a number of passages: Isa 29:14; Jer 9:24; Isa 64:4; 40:13; Job 5:13; Ps 94:11. In all these verses, we might find a common theme: Human wisdom is broken, and no human can imagine God’s wisdom.

Here I'd used my own imagination to create some clever ideal, but these truths blow that apart. The Scriptures he's quoted certainly accomplish Paul’s purpose: so “you won’t be proud.” Not only am I wrong to establish myself as judge, but the ones I am judging are in this boat with me. There's nothing for me to be proud of. Together in our community of stupidity, we decide what’s cool or valuable or true or legitimate (is this “culture”?), but even if we set about to think it through carefully, our wisdom is broken. Even if we set about to imagine what God’s values are, we can't.

Paul seems to back me up: “It matters very little how I might be evaluated by you or by any human authority. I don’t even trust my own judgment on this point. My conscience is clear, but that doesn’t prove I’m right. It is the Lord himself who will examine me and decide.”

With broken wisdom and impotent imagination, can I even obey Paul’s instruction to “question everything” and “keep the good”?

Continue . . .

Laundry 101

This month is black history month.  At the school I sub at they have a quote a day.  I liked today's quote:

 

"Laundry is the only thing that should be separated by color."

 

I agree with the spirit of the quote.  I disagree that laundry needs to be separated by color. 

 

Future college students everywhere take note of this simple advice.  You just need to know two things:

 

1) Cold water wash

2) Cold water rinse

 

If you do that than you can mix the colors up like a bag of Skittles.  I have heard this does not get the clothes as clean.  However, realize the important word as.  This means the clothes still get clean, they just don't meet some uber-Tide-commercial-whiteness-standard of cleanliness. 

 

These thoughts logically lead me to the church.  :)

 

The popular quote is that Sunday morning is the most segregated hour of the week.  In talking with fellow seminarians and friends many of them admit they find it hard to imagine a segregated church.  One confessed to me that she thought it was better to just worship in our isolated communities because it was so much easier and created less problems. 

 

I couldn't disagree more.  Many Churches will worship in all white (or Asian, black, Latino, etc..) congregations because of their geography.  My home church in Michigan couldn't be racially segregated because we didn't have racial diversity in the community.  However, where there is the opportunity to worship in diversity we must seek it.

 

Worshiping in diversity brings us to an awareness of the creative beauty God bestows on all people.  Diversity helps us celebrate our uniqueness and gives us opportunity to learn from each other. 

 

Let me use the laundry metaphor some more.  I don't mean to use the words light and dark in a derogatory or offensive manner.) 

 

If "light" clothes and "dark" clothes are going to worship together we will have to start with some "cold water" rinsing and washing. We will have to learn how to worship together with gentleness (the gentle cycle).  But cold water and the gentle cycle can only get us so far.  This cycle has it's time and place.  But we want to use hot water, we want to use water that will get us to that uber-Tide-commercial-whiteness-standard of cleanliness.  That level that will get us closer to God.  Why settle to be "as clean" when we can be fully clean?

 

When we use hot water to wash and rinse the colors will start to bleed and mix and appear ruined.  But what might appear to be a loss of identity on the outside is really a deepening of our individual mosaic.  We might loose a little bit of our identity but in that process we gain the identity of the other.  What looks like a mess to the world is the most fashionable thing to God. 

 

 

Christ is not Sympathetic.

Adam wasn't the only one convicted at that conversation. Let's be a little more honest! Sarah said, "You guys (both of us) are cynical."

I'll be the first to admit that I'm pretty cynical. I remember in my sophomore Advanced American History class my friend had just learned what the word "pessimist" meant. He was quick to tell me I was a pessimist. He was like a little kid who just learned a new word and he delighted in labeling me. I delighted in telling him to quit talking because I was sick of listening to his voice (I know, I'm so kind!)

I think our generation is inherently cynical. Our parents lived during a time where education and hard work could provide financial and family stability. They grew up with the values of the 50s and in a world where things were somewhat secure.

But they also grew up during the time of the World Wars and human failures. Thus we were birthed into a time where families split up, there is no authority in Christianity, violence in schools is typical, violence overseas is the norm, one educational degree means you just have one, and the minute you get a job it could be outsourced to India. Our President's have lied, our athletes cheated, and even reality TV is scripted.

Overall we are a generation of cynics. We find it difficult to trust. If I am speaking too broadly I apologize, perhaps I am projecting my feelings too generally. But I think I would find some sympathizers.

I am challenged because I find no sympathy for cynicism in Christ.

I find that cynicism is diametrically opposed to the kind of hope that Christ ushers into humanity. Despite our failing and sin there is a reality to live in that is not of this world. A reality that came (Jesus incarnated as sent by the Father) is here (as witnessed by the Holy Spirit), and is yet to come (the culmination of history, when "Jesus returns").

That is the real reality. That Jesus redeems the brokenness of this world and calls us to live in the hope of love. Not a distant future hope but a budding hope that blossoms everyday.

Cynicism: Name It and Claim It

Recently a friend spoke to me as the voice of conviction. I had gone to IHOP with Mike and our friend Sarah. We were discussing things that we all deeply care about, things we want to see change, things that we hope for. In the conversation, I had drawn a conclusion with grave finality, punctuated by the silence as we all absorbed it, myself smug and unhappy. Sarah broke the silence with “You seem really cynical.” She wasn't being mean. I didn't feel judged. She said it like she was telling me how her meal tasted. Perhaps it is that I am someone for whom words are not taken lightly. Or perhaps it is that her words staked out a place for the truth where only an unspoken haunting had hung. I knew she was right—I was critical and cynical—and I didn’t like it.

One of my mantras is “Question everything. Keep the good” (1 Thess 5:21). I hold it high and proud as license to critically evaluate everything. The drawback is that this thinking is a few small steps from setting myself up as the standard by which I evaluate anything and the judge for all that I criticize. In this spirit, I can easily become focused only on the failures and miss the good things in what I’m judging. Another mantra I live by is the belief that “the danger is in the extremes.” While I’ve spent a lot of time questioning everything, I failed to balance that by “keeping the good.” My friend Sarah distilled all these convictions with her terse observation over pancakes, bacon, and orange juice at IHOP.

Since then, this conviction has taken root, and I’ve been struggling to find some direction or corrective. The question I’ve come to ask is “What’s the difference between being discerning and being merely critical or cynical?” Discernment seems to have a more positive, proactive nature, whereas criticism or cynicism only sees what is wrong. But beyond seeing what’s wrong, what else does discernment offer?

Continue with "Cynicism: Broken Wisdom"

Compulsion

I read Adam's post and felt compelled to write one as well.  I realize staring blankly at the blank Word document that compulsion is so agonizing.

 

I feel compelled to write something, to produce something, to give a token of thought to this blog.  Compulsion is effective, just like guilt is effective, to creating change.  But it is only effective for a short amount of time.  Guilt is like a New Years' resolution.  I have a cd Learning Spanish from my resolution two years ago and I don't know hardly any Espanol.  Last year I was going to memorize a Bible verse every week but that lasted only about 2 months. 

 

So guilt can drive me to write this blog post but not develop it anymore.  And you know what?  I'm not going to write anymore!  I'm just going to wallow in this guilt...

 

Hasta luego   :)

Paper Clip 3

The analogy of a paper clip certainly need not be confined to the discipline of prayer alone. The paper clip (oh small and unimportant paper clip!) could represent any number of spiritual disciplines that an individual incorporates into his or her life. Still, the bent posture of prayer and the openness, expectancy, and trusting implicit in the act of prayer are valuable pictures of how we might rightly approach any discipline we undertake—not for the value innate to any discipline, but for the infinite worth of the one for whom we undertake them.

It is an easy conclusion to draw that practicing spiritual disciplines like prayer makes us spiritual people or that doing so will bring us closer to God or make us holier or more righteous. Those things are possibilities, but not inevitabilities.

Mike’s “Paper Clip 2” post reminded me of an insight that revealed to me that I’d believed this falsehood. I trace it to Richard Foster’s book, Celebration of Discipline. Actually, I’m not sure if it was his book at all, although my memory recalls it as such. Do you ever have that experience? Where you try to recount your memory through a book or a place only to find that it was nothing like you remembered, in other words, not nearly as good?

No matter, I found the passage that captures that informed my thinking about the purpose of spiritual disciplines: “By themselves the Spiritual Disciplines can do nothing; they can only get us to the place where something can be done…. The Disciplines allow us to place ourselves before God so that he can transform us.”

Think of it in terms of the paper clip. Laid out straight and proud, the piece of wire might masquerade as a key or suffice as a toothpick, but it was not made for that, and those other things do it better. Bent as it was meant to be, it is ready to be used for any two or more papers. Does its form ensure that it will be used immediately? No. But it is available and prepared for use when that purpose might arise. In the same way, spiritual disciplines like prayer prepare us. They make us ready to be used by God, in his time, at his disposal. But if we are not bent, we will not be ready. Certainly we could do other things, but we were not made to. John the Baptist knew what it meant to be bent.

He is a voice shouting in the wilderness, “Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming!”

Fred Flinstone....backstabber.

I heard some funny stuff today because I was around my friends and they are funny people. 

 

This is the conversation.

 

Guy 1 "Isn't it kinda messed up that Fred Flinstone ate a big rack of meat?  I mean he worked on a Brontosaurus all day and then went home and ate a dinosaur.  How could he betray his co-worker-kind like that?"

 

Guy 2 "Well look at farmers, they work with cows all day and they eat hamburgers."

 

Guy 1 "That's not the same.  This is like a cowboy eating his horse."

 

Maybe you had to be there but I thought it was gold.  I just got a mental picture of the Lone Ranger barbecuing Silver over an open fire!  (If you dont' get that reference it is probably because you are cool.)

 

If you think Guy 1 is funny check out his blog: http://joshsabo.blogspot.com/

Paper Clip part 2

One of the first things I do when I arrive to sub at school is look for paper clips.  Each class has handouts, tests, or work to turn in and it must be "sectioned off" in the folder.  Heaven forbid, if the 2nd period algebra worksheets get mixed in with the 5th period!

 

For me a paper clips represent boundaries.  Going out on a limb here...I think spiritual disciplines can be thought of as boundaries.  They keep us in right relationship with God.  They keep us balanced and aligned with God's work. 

 

Discipline has such a negative connotation, which is unfortunate.  The disciplines of prayer, fasting, fellowship, etc, aren't to be "endured" but rather celebrated. 

 

For Lent I too decided to take up the practice of prayer.  By not surfing the net, or purusing endless info. I am better able to free my time.  Now this was intially hard because I don't have a set time everyday where I "surf" the net. 

 

So after the first couple of days I was not very obedient in re-orienting my prayer life.  I found that I wasn't able to naturally subsitute my "surf" time for "prayer" time.  What I have done in response is set aside time for purposeful prayer.  I realize that by actually making an effort to pray it happens! 

 

Even though I freed up the time before it wasn't happening.  Why?  Cause prayer is hard.  Prayer doesn't happen in removing priorities.  Rather, prayer happens by making it a priority. 

 

 

Meditation on a Paper Clip

I push a lot of paper at my job. Thus, there are plenty of paper clips roaming about looking for work. I have a drawer full of them, big and small. I have one in front of me right now. I turn it over in my fingers as I’m reading at my desk. The paper clip is this simple little piece of wire bent three times into a useful tool.

Sometimes, for whatever reason, I unbend a paper clip so that all I have is a long, straight metal…nothing. The only uses I can think of for a straightened paper clip are to pick a lock, pick your teeth, or poke through that little hole to reset your PDA. These are functions for sure, but even if you try to bend the metal back to form, it just is never quite the same.

I mentioned last week that during this Lenten season, prayer is one of the disciplines I’ve committed myself to. It’s going okay. I admitted to myself last night that I really don’t know how to pray much at all. I mean, I can do prayer and I can say some words and bless a meal, but I can’t pray for much more than 10 minutes. I confess that one inspiration for me is this general impression I have of some of the famous spiritual men and women of centuries past having spent long hours in communion with their Lord. Perhaps that betrays the truth most of all. I don’t know what it means to pray; I’ve idealized it. It all appears very spiritual until your sitting there, kneeling there, wondering, “Okay, now what?”

The man who inspires my prayer most is Daniel, of lion’s den fame. His story has taught me the few things I believe about prayer. That’s where the paper clip comes in. Like the paper clip, Daniel was bent at the knees, probably again at the waist, bowing before his God. He was not about his own goals, straightened out and useless. A man does not pray who has things to achieve. This bent posture of reverence showed Daniel to be available to God’s purposes, not because he prayed outwardly, but because inside his will was bent like a paper clip. His prayers were so regular, Daniel so committed, that even his enemies depended on them in their plans to destroy him (and they were proved right, or Daniel proved faithful, for he faced the lions as a result).

There is much more to heed from Daniel’s disciplines and practices—well worth your time. Prayer is still largely a mystery to me—in purpose, method, results. But for now, I think it suffices, and perhaps is God’s own clever means to his end, that I come like a paper clip, like Daniel, regularly, openly, honestly, determined, asking God, “Okay, now what?”

Continued here, then here.

Jesus:contradiction

Note: This blog continues a series that started with Jesus:counterculture.

Jesus’ teachings baffle me sometimes. Consider a few scenes from his life.

First, in the temple. Jesus and the disciples are loitering about, when Jesus pauses. Look. Quick, look! The disciples scramble, looking about. What is Jesus pointing at? Where? There! That old woman? Yes! Why? She just gave her last two pennies. So? She gave her last two pennies. It was everything she had. (Lk 21)

Then in a home, while Jesus is eating, (Jn 12) a single woman, of no status in that day, brings some spendy Calvin Klein Eternity and douses Jesus’ feet in the perfume. Judas, of betrayal fame, couldn’t believe it: That was a year’s wages! That money could’ve gone to charity! But Jesus blows him off, “Leave her alone….You’ll always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.”

So Jesus watches a poor, old widow give up everything and then accepts a year’s worth of cash poured on his feet?

In his famous “Sermon on the Mount,” Jesus warns his audience, “Unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of the religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven” (Mt 5:20).

But on another day, Jesus is having lunch with these Pharisees and said, “You crush people with impossible religious demands, and you never lift a finger to ease the burden” (Lk 11:46).

Jesus accuses the pastors and leaders of demanding too much from the Jews, but then he calls the people to even higher standards. Isn’t that hypocritical?

On another occasion, hoping to catch Jesus in a subversive mood, someone asks Jesus, “Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar of not?” Finally, let’s hear it straight from Jesus about the government.

You know the rest (Lk 20:20ff). Whose image is on the coin? So then give Caesar his money. Jesus the revolutionary isn’t sounding too rebellious at the moment. Strike that story for the cause. So what’s the deal? Is Jesus for or against the government?

Two more scenes. The first is the woman at the well (Jn 4). She was a Jewish half-breed and a slut. To her, Jesus offers a life worth living for, the “living water…giving [her] eternal life.”

The second is an obscure story (Mk 7). The woman is a Gentile, an outsider like the first woman but subject to less racism. “Her little girl was possessed by an evil spirit, and she begged [Jesus] to cast out the demon from her daughter” (7:25-6). Jesus responded, “It isn’t right to take food from [the Jews] and throw it to the dogs.” Yes, he was referring to her, a Gentile, a dog. (But see how it ends.)

This countercultural Jesus offers life to a half-breed no-status slut but disregards the needs of a humble Gentile widow. Was he only compassionate if you caught him on the right day?

Doesn’t Jesus make you mad? Not like angry mad, like insane mad (well, maybe that last one would make you angry mad too). He seems so evasive. At every turn, his words seem to contradict themselves.

This question of the countercultural Jesus strikes at deeper problems; these scenes paint a maddening, apparently contradictory, picture of Jesus. It’s not just a question of whether Jesus is countercultural but whether he lives by any principles at all. It’s about something more than (or other than) being subversive or countercultural. But what is Jesus about then?

Do you believe in Miracles?

I have about 15 minutes here at work and I don't have access to my Bible.  But I remember reading in Hebrews early this week about miracles.  It got me thinking about the lack (or our lack of what we call) miracles.

Al Michael's is famous for his often played quote, "Do you believe in miracles" when the United States hockey team upset the Russian giants during the 1984 Olympics. (I think that's right, I can't quite verify this stuff and lack of internet access makes it difficult!)  Was that a miracle?  An underdog hockey team full of college kids defeating the Goliath of international hockey?  Maybe.

Maybe a miracle is simply a surprise.  Or an anomaly.   Something  unexpected.  Something we didn't predict.  Better yet, something we didn't expect.

Our expectations tend to determine our reactions.  For instance, when somebody gets cancer we expect the worse.  Rarely do we expect healing.  And when healing does occur it is "miraculous!"   It shatters our expectations of what can happen, or what should happen. 

So perhaps miracles would be more prevalent if we re-orient our expectations.  Or better yet, if we don't have any!

The WikiBible!

Adams post made me think about how we read the Bible, how we "filter" the text.

 

About two months ago I heard Scott McKnight speak on this topic.  I don't remember the entire lecture but he was detailing how people study the Bible.  I recall two ways he cited people read the Bible.

 

1) The Hallmark Method:  Here we read the Bible for an encouraging word or clever phrase that will energize us for the day.  For example, we are feeling anxious so we read all the verses from our concordance that correspond with being anxious.  This isn't bad but it is problematic because it tends to subject the Bible to our repetitive state.  There is a good chance we might suffer from anxiety consistently and thus we devoid ourselves of rich material to read.

 

2) The "To Do" Method:  Here we read the Bible for instruction for how to live and act.  The Bible becomes a rule book that simply prescribes how to live. Of course the Bible does provide this for us but it is more than just a list of rules.  There is context, culture, characters that interplay with the practices and principles God sets out in the Bible.

 

McKnight suggested that we read the Bible in a Wiki method.  Like the popular website Wikipedia the Bible is a collection of information (that is a crude way to put it) that constantly changes each day because people can contribute to it. 

 

What McKnight means (what I think) is that the Bible takes a dynamic role in people's lives and forms them each day.  The "reader" participates in "re-writing" the text as they interpret it within their life.  The cool thing about Wikipedia is that it has to be legitimized in community.  Your interpretation must be confirmed and affirmed within the body of Wiki readers and gains validity as it is worked out in dialogue. 

 

None of that is my original ideas and maybe Scott has posted these thoughts on his blog.  Check it out, I can't think of the site but if you search "Jesus Creed Blog" it will come up! 

 

 

God's words > RSS feed

Jumping off of Mike's thoughts. He wrote:

People live with "mental blinkers" that help them filter their experiences. Because of overload we let a lot of information pass through without noting its significance.

The danger is that we live with a short memory. We let the information hit us and than we discard it. Not because it isn't significant but because we are bombarded with so much information we need to prepare for the next wave.

I know I deal with this on a daily basis. Mike can attest. I'm constantly sending him links of articles to read, sometimes 3 or 4 in a day. I'm constantly sifting through my RSS feed for new valuable thoughts and ideas.

In a sad irony, one of the things I've committed to renewing during Lented season is meditating on the revealed words of God. For all the time I spend sifting through the ideas of men, I am spending nearly no time taking in the words that God would speak into my life. He's spoken, but I'm busy listening to other voices.

But even then, when I am reading God's revealed words, am I sifting through it for good content the way I do online magazines and blog posts? Would I email my friends, saying "read this!" or judge it worthless and move on to another feed?

I must practice reading it differently than I do when I filter through the internet content providers'. I must dwell there in the time and place set apart (made "holy") by the reading of the words God spoke. I must meditate, wandering through his words like a lost man looking around for any sign that will point him in the right direction.

Rememeber this Information!

If I had access to the Internet I would look up some statistic that cites how much information we are bombarded with everyday.  I'm sure it's a lot.

 

Much of this is due to our inter-connectivity.  75 years ago I wouldn't have access to the weather in Hong Kong or hear about the new CD my favorite band is going to produce.  I don't think that technology is bad, after all it enables me to write this post and some random guy in Texas to read it! 

 

I'm reading a lot about Urban Ministry and one author cites that people live with "mental blinkers" that help them filter their experiences.  Because of overload we let a lot of information pass through without noting it's significance. 

 

The danger is that we live with a short memory.  We let the information hit us and than we discard it.  Not because it isn't significant but because we are bombarded with so much information we need to prepare for the next wave.

 

I think that is true of our lives in Christ.  It is easy to forget God's faithfulness.  It is easy to forget God's grace.  It is easy to loose perspective.  It's hard to remember.  It's hard to pause.  It's hard to be steadfast.

 

But all it takes is a moment.  A moment to remember what God has done and will do.  And that change what we do. 

 

So our ordinary lives are transformed into extraordinary worship.  Through something as powerful as memory our simple acts, like sharing table fellowship, have cosmic power.

 

do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.  For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

 

1 Corinthians 11:25

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jesus: counterculture

This is the second Adam. (No, not Jesus, although Adam might have a Messiah complex! Just kidding!) What I mean is this is Adam's second post. It's an insightful look into what it means to be a Christ follower in American culture. Enjoy!

I recently finished Niebuhr's Christ and Culture and am currently reading a new book, unChristian, which considers what Christianity's reputation is currently in young culture. In some ways, these two books are dealing with the same issues, the same issues that people have been dealing with since Noah stood alone before God as a righteous man, or perhaps even before that. More recently, Christ became the ultimate example of what it looks like when God interfaces with culture.

Some Christians, following their reading of Jesus, have chosen to distinguish themselves from their surroundings by taking the countercultural approach. In Niebuhr's terms, this paradigm is "Christ Against Culture," and their hero is Jesus the revolutionary. This is very much in vogue, as it is already in the larger culture. For example, Shrek is the counterculture of Disney and its modern retellings of popular fairy tales. The rise of the emo kid or the punk in contrast to the athletic jock is a victory for outsiders everywhere. In like fashion, some Christians have chosen to define themselves by what they're not. This is where unChristian chimes in its insights: the foremost concepts that come to mind when young culture thinks of the Christian faith are hypocritical, conversion-focused, antihomosexual, sheltered, too political, and judgmental. Predominantly, these concepts are negative and define Christians by what they're aren't, what they don't, or what they're against. So, if countercultural is the target, we certainly appear to be succeeding.

Yet, I challenge this belief that because Jesus was countercultural, we should be also. I am not saying Jesus was not countercultural. He certainly disregarded social norms, religious traditions, and governing powers in dramatic fashion. But Jesus was countercultural in relation to a specific culture in a specific time and a specific place. Yet, because culture is always changing, we do not face the same culture that Jesus did. Certainly there may be some parallels, but by and large our cultural landscape is far different—economically, socially, religiously, politically, you name it. That Jesus was countercultural in that Jewish-Roman culture means only that. To say that Jesus is always countercultural in all cultures at all times and in all places is to misunderstand what motivated his intentional and specific disregard for authority.

What motivated him is much more exciting than simply the prospect of having the reputation of being a rebel.

Fat Tuesday and Ash Wednesday

Tomorrow is Lent.

 

Today is Fat Tuesday.

 

What are you doing for 40 days? 

 

Me?  (Well thanks for asking)

 

I'm giving up Internet access for 40 days except e-mail.

 

This has meant the last 3 days have been spent paying credit cards in advance, making reservations, canceling online subscriptions, getting directions for trips weeks away, renewing library books, printing off soccer schedules, downloading articles I have to read for future classes.

 

I use e-mail to communicate with people so that is all I am going to use the Internet for.  I found a way to post via e-mail so that's what I'm going to do. 

 

Giving up Internet access and I'm substituting reading and prayer. 

 

 

24 turn 25

So I am at the mid-mid life crisis.  I turned 25 on Sunday.  Yeah, that's right.  I had a Super-Bowl-Birthday!  Jealous? 

 

I don't feel 25 years old.  In one vein I feel a lot older. 

 

In a lot of ways I'm fortunate and spoiled.  Not many people my age have had such a vast array of jobs and relationships.  Not many my age have my unique education or travel experiences.  But I don't highlight those things to bolster myself, rather it reminds me to be thankful.

 

On the other side of the spectrum, I'm not so fortunate or spoiled.  I think I have experienced some things that have aged me well beyond 25.  My cross-cultural experiences have brought me face to face with a lot of poverty, brokenness and pain.  Working at the hospital ushered me into places of death and despair.  I don't highlight those things for empathy, rather it reminds me that God goes deeper than pain.

 

The things that use to make me laugh, (Family Guy, the Simpsons, certain humor) doesn't anymore.  I don't think that is necessarily a lack of joy but my humor has matured.  I find joy and laughter in more intricacies in life.  Recently I really feel like God has just restored a sense of joy in my life, thanks to the people I'm around.

 

Still I don't feel 25 years old.  In the other vein I feel a lot younger.

 

My friends are getting married or are married.  I'll admit I'm just too selfish with my time to be prepared for marriage.  Other friends are having or have kids.  I have a hard time keeping track of my work schedule and fiances let alone worrying about raising a family!  I'm not ready for a full-time job and I still laugh when one of my friend farts. 

 

As for this next year I don't know what is going to happen.  In recent years I always have a concrete plan or timetable (1 year volunteer service, 8 month interim job, 3 month summer job, hospital work for 5 months, etc)  But now I am just walking forward without knowing. 

And I get a feeling that God is preparing me for something big.  I'm ready.  Bring it on.

 

 

 

 

The American Church Government

So I'm off to Atlanta to participate in the New Baptist Covenant. They are estimating at least 10,000 people will gather as an informal alliance of more than 30 different Baptist organizations, that claims 20 million members.

My classmates and I are getting credit for the conference and are reading some Baptist books, one in particular, Bill Leonard's Baptist River.

Leonard writes “Baptist denominations expanded their organization systems, with structures that mirrored those of American corporations.” I find this issue fascinating because it alludes to the way our the American church is similar to our government. In America there is high regard for individual freedom and liberty. This freedom is obvious in the Baptist life that has often times produced fragment groups and sub-denominations.

In maintaining our Baptist identity how much of our current life is shaped by “American values?” (Like capitalist ventures, consumerism, and freedom of the individual.) We must be aware that often times the strongest voice in our church is not God but the society. Instead of the church transforming society the church is transformed by society. The business models and organization structures of America have their negative and positive facets. The problem begins when we organize the church from American principles, not Godly principles.

I believe there needs to be proper engagement with our surrounding world. Obviously Baptist in America will be influenced by America, but what is the appropriate way to enter this land? To be the church requires cultural aptitude but we must look beyond the culture and find God bearing qualities in being the church in that specific context.

The Death of Celebrity

It's good to have friends. This post is compliments of my roomate Adam. He is an editor so you might notice a significant upgrade! Anywho, I'm a fan and so should you!

In the wake of Heath Ledger’s death, I found myself thinking something like “What a pity! What a waste!” He’s not the first nor the last to suffer an ultimate end like that. I found myself, given my convictions, wanting to make an example of him: an example of how success, celebrity, money, and fame are worthless in the cold light of death. I think many Christians will want to as well. His life, that apparent emptiness, are easy prey for Christians with conviction that there’s more to life than accomplishments, that there’s emptiness even at the top, that meaning is not necessarily found in obtaining all your dreams.

Certainly those conclusions could be reached and preached, but to my mind, Christians, myself included, are wrong to descend like vultures on the corpses of broken lives and squawk, “See! See! We’re right! Material success isn’t what life is about!” To tear the flesh from their limbs and cannibalize it as evidence for what we believe is disgusting. To moralize on the carcasses of men seems quite irreverent to the lives God graciously breathed into them.

To bolster our claims on the death of a young celebrity in fact only undermines our perspective. Who would trust a man who uses another’s death as an opportunity? But who would not trust the man who grieves? What credibility have Christians, who are intent upon proliferating Jesus’ eternal life, when they prey upon death rather than mourning life? Compassion cannot be sacrificed for the sake of conviction. We should not make a mockery of a celebrity’s hopeless end. We should be grieving the end of a life that God saw fit to bear his image

The Poor Suburbs

In December of 2006 AP released this report:

The suburban poor outnumbered their inner-city counterparts for the first time last year, with more than 12 million suburban residents living in poverty, according to a study of the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas released Thursday.

Where I live, suburbs of Chicago, I don't see a lot of poverty. There are few visible homeless people but, as this report shows, poverty runs deeper than not having a home.

I mentioned this to a friend and he told me about several people in the suburbs who have an immaculate house on the outside while the inside is complete bare! Imagine the beautiful lawn and suburban-perfect design. On the outside they belong to the neighborhood and meet all the cultural codes. But you walk inside the house and it is a mess. It's like the line from a Denison Witmer song

"Outside the homes line up straight
But inside they aren’t that way"

I imagine this is what the poverty in the suburbs looks like. Pleasant on the outside but empty on the inside. We are so clever with hiding our needs and dressing up the things that don’t really matter. It reminds me of what Jesus told the Pharisees,

Luke 11:40, "Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness."

It’s sad but as I drive by the suburban houses I pray for them. I don’t know how many of those houses are bare on the inside. But I’m not praying for IKEA furniture, I’m praying for a heart that releases it’s façade of self-sufficiency. The real poverty of our nation, in the suburbs and the city, is our denial of a need for God.

Got to get 3...

I promised 3 posts this week so I feel a little obligated to write.

All I have is an insight to offer from today. After having some car issues I realized that problems in life are opportunities for other people to intercede. If somebody is struggling that is a chance for me to bless them and vice versa. I'm grateful for the blessings in my life.