Set Your Sights High

There’s a wonderful prayer to read over at A Household Kate that’s worth taking some time on.

The Whole “Witness” Thing

There was a good discussion this last Thursday at church about what it means to talk to someone about your faith. I’m not great at internalizing group discussions, particularly if there are more than three other people besides myself. That said, I think the end point was to care less about getting your message across and more about where the person you are talking to is coming from. Long story to follow, but the short is that I agree. You can stop now if you like. The fun part now is whether the long story fits the short story…

The one thing I thought afterwards was how things have changed. When I was a kid (8 or so, not the 28 year old kid I am now), I was told I needed to accept Jesus into my heart and be baptized to go to heaven (and get the bread and juice snacks that I was actually interested in at the time) It seems that this lingo hasn’t changed much since my childhood. I haven’t done a conclusive survey, so there may be a grain of salt around here somewhere for you to borrow.

Then there is the book of Mark dated to nearly 2000 years ago. I don’t have it memorized, but I can usually tell you if a particular story was in Mark or not, at the very least, and can reference stories from the book quite easily. The thing is, Jesus never called anyone to accept him into their heart. In fact, I don’t think that comes up in any of the gospels (if it does, my money is on John). The call is not to accept, but to follow. And not just that, but to take up your cross (or the instrument of death of your choice) and follow. The point isn’t about where Jesus is in relation to you but where you are in relation to him.

And that’s my problem. Accept and believe, by all means. But that isn’t the call to action of Christianity. Neither is baptism, at least in Mark (though Jesus did it, so it probably isn’t a bad idea and it’s just really awesome in its own right). The call to action is to follow a man the establishment considered a liability on a road that leads not to prosperity as we understand it, but to death. Potentially horribly painful and lonely death.

The good news is that death doesn’t matter anymore (not to mention that most of us in America will likely never face death for our faith). It’s lost its sting, as some hymns expertly put it. There’s nothing to fear anymore and nothing to lose from doing the right things that society may not agree with at best or punish/kill you for at worst.

That didn’t really come up, that I recall.

I accept lots of things. I accept that I can’t afford everything I want. I accept that I can’t be with all of my friends all of the time. I accept that I’m nearing my bed time right now. But Jesus isn’t like any of those things. And my acceptance is just that, an acknowledgement that I can’t do anything to change that situation, so I decide to live with it as it is.

But following, that’s a whole different ballgame. To follow, you must leave behind. There is a path to walk, marked by the leader. There is help from a leader. There is movement and ebb and flow of speed along the path. There is time to stop and consider the path behind. And there is acceptance here, too. That you can’t always change where the leader is going (but you can try). That you can’t tell exactly where you are going.

How did we get from following Jesus to accepting Jesus? Seems like a step backwards.

Arrogrance or Blessing

Last night I took part in a group Lectio Divina activity. I’ve done lectio before on my own and in a group, but it’s been a while. The group last night was perfectly suited to each other; very open and responsive to the ebb and flow of the mood and atmosphere of the room.

I shared about feeling like a spectactor watching epic events happening around me, mostly in the form of life-changing events in my friends lives. I pictured myself walking down a corridor. As I walked, I passed scenes that had little affect on me; my life insulated from the pains and the joys happening around me nearly to the point of not caring aside from the guilt of being so insulated from my friends and people I care about.

As the sharing and silent reflection continued, the scene began to change. Instead of being insulated and helpless to interact with the epics around me I saw myself as a spectator of another drama altogether. The joys and pains were not what I was meant to be seeing. Rather, in these events I was given a special seat to see the good happening in and around and because of these events, something that would be hidden to me if I were in the whirldwind.

Something I learned what seems like a long time ago is that perspective is everything when it comes to dealing with stressful situations. 99% of the time, the outcome of a given situation doesn’t really change the bottom line of our lives, though it may change temporarily. Spending less energy worrying about how things will change overall and putting more into the situation at hand works wonders.

I walked away last night seeing the insulation as a gift of having a perspective outside that of the epics I saw/see around me. From this point, I can calmly and peacefully search for God’s finger writing His signature onto the world and offer a better helping hand to those within the whirlwind.

Is it arrogance to ask for prayer in help with the problems of people aroud you when it seems like you have none of your own? Or is it a blessing to be in such a position? I certainly have my own problems, but those are minute and quiet for the time being. That said, I’m not sure which case is more true.

The Unfinished Talk

I gave the talk last night at Informal Worship. I thought it went very well. I had a good time talking about part of my life in front of a group of my friends and feel like I got a point across.

The problem is that while I knew the points I wanted to make before the talk started (I actually set them down over a month ago), as soon I started, almost everything went straight out the window. I wasn’t nervous, rather quite excited. So it wasn’t nerves that changed my talk and thus whatever point I had intended to make.

At a couple of points I tried very hard to get back to the points I had wanted to make. Each time I did that, it was like trying to talk through a mouthful of molasses. So I went back to feeling like I had no point and things flowed much easier. In the end, the same story was told and the greater point of a way that Jesus works in our lives was made.

As I drove home, all of these points that seemed necessary to make kept coming up in my mind; the things that now seem very important to have said that were left unsaid without knowing that I missed them entirely. It made me want to post the practice recording I made over a month ago as that had more of the points I wanted to make.

But I won’t. Part of my continued healing and growth is to trust people more and more, particularly my friends. My desire to “set the record straight” about the points I missed last night is an echo of the feeling that if the whole, complete story with every point outlined nicely and placed in the perfect context is another way of making sure people think well of me. The problem with that is people already think well of me.

Technorati Tags: healing, church, worship, talk, story

Today’s Rocketboom

Rocketboom has a great piece up today taking a nice shot at Scientology.

Is it nice to take shots at other people’s beliefs? Not really. But I like satire and this is full of it.

Enjoy! And go back sometime. It’s 5-6 minutes of better news than I see on any TV station and funny, funny, funny!

Technorati Tags: rocketboom, scientology, religion, satire

A Little “Woo-Hoo” in the Church

Life as a Mission has a good post up today with a great title. The comic is quite pleasant as well.

As I read this, I thought to myself that it seems on this end of the social spectrum that there is sometimes a disconnect between what women say they want in a man and what actually attracts them to a man. But I immediately turned around to think of the women I know in my life, particularly those at church, and was glad to see no such disconnect there. I love being able to say with integrity that the women I know are following what they want based on their beliefs (and happen to find men who would fit the ideal somewhat well on the way, in fact).

I would only add this: the door swings both ways. While men should strive to be leaders as servants, we too have our own manners of attraction towards women that could use a bit of tweaking. The same prayer suggested for the women should be prayed by the men, no question.

Technorati Tags: church, marriage, relationships

The Evolution of a Talk

I’m giving a talk at church on April 20. I’ve spoken once before, but it was at least two years ago and part of a more structured time when we were going through the book of Luke. One of my favorite passages happens to be in Luke, so I jumped on that opportunity. Since then, nothing has really come up and I had plenty of my own stuff to deal with that didn’t need to be aired out in public any more than it already was.

Time has changed, though, and I’ve had a growing number of thoughts. So it is now time to get back up and share what I’ve learned with others. I’ll be speaking from Mark, the book I know the best, chapter 5, verses 25-34; the story of a bleeding woman and her encounter with Jesus.

But, it’s been quite some time before I spoken in front of a group, even of my friends, so I’m taking some time to prepare and work out the kinks. To that end, I’ve created an outline of what I want to say. The last time I spoke, I typed it all out and read it verbatim. While that worked and I think did people well from the comments I got afterwards, it felt wooden and I felt disconnected with my listeners. There were also a number of points I felt myself pulled in a slightly different direction, but felt the need to stay the course. So this time, just an outline with some points I’d like to hit, the general order I’d like to hit them in, and reminders of good phrases I think of that explain my points well. This leaves only the one variable that I’ve had trouble with since my first book report: speaking on the fly.

For that, I’ve taken to recording myself on my computer reading from the outline just like I will in April. My first run went surprisingly well and much longer than I thought, though it’s on average with the talks given on these nights (about twenty minutes). Side note: If I keep this up, I may start a podcast to share these talks with people outside of the Thursday night group.

It only leaves a simple decision for me. Do I continue to hone this talk that seems to be exactly my point already or move on to the next one (which may require retrieving a book I’ve lent out before the borrower has a chance to read it)? If all the questions I face this week are as unimportant as this one, I’ll consider it a good week.

Technorati Tags: church, sermons, preparation, informal worship, mp3

Bible Swearing

Touché indeed.

Thank God we don’t have to swear on anything to uphold the Bible. However, it’s still dangerous ground. There’s a stereotype when people talk about upholding the Bible. Usually, it means upholding their interpretation of the Bible, which are as wide and varied as there is diversity on the Earth.

So rather, thank God we don’t have to swear on anything to love and care for one another as Jesus has loved us, particularly any law we’ve come up with.

Technorati Tags: Jesus, Bible, christianity

Heavenly Thoughts

The pastor’s sermon this past Sunday (the Super Bowl one) spoke about what heaven might be like. In particular, whether we’ll be with loved ones or not. One of the points that stuck with me is that Christians are brothers and sisters even now in this life and will be so much more in the next.

This got me thinking about those relationships I have with other Christians that aren’t quite complete or outright broken. In the world to come, a full reconciliation will happen. But there is nothing stopping it from happening or even just starting now.

So, what keeps us from reconciling? I don’t know and may not know for a long while yet, but I plan on keeping my eyes and ears open for it in the meantime.

Technorati Tags: heaven, christianity, friendship

Christian Cynicism Run Amok?

As the holiday season comes to a close, I’ve found an interesting idea has stood out to me more than most others. That is the trend of us in the Christian Church, or perhaps just my church or even just a subset of my church, feeling the need to shoot down those things in the world that detract from the holiday. The department stores that tell us that Christmas is about buying things. The gyms that tell us that the new year is our chance to lose those extra pounds (and, by extension, get laid). Society tells us to think of ways to be different for the dawning of the new year. None of this is necessarily bad, it just isn’t as good as it can be.

The church proclaims that Jesus fulfills our hopes and joys; that all of our desires can find their fulfillment in Jesus one way or another. It’s so simple, there really isn’t anything left to fill a paragraph in this post. I think the simplicity is what helps lead to the next thing.

The church tends to simply argue against these things rather than proclaim the alternative (which, by its very nature, shoots down the stores, gym, and society). Instead of a message of hope and peace and joy, there is a negative message of “not that!” It’s a cynical message of how this is what every holiday season is like and we all share it, so let’s talk about it endlessly.

This is how every holiday season is, at least in America. And it is rife with depression and raised expectations in things that can’t possibly meet them. But the message of the church is not that these times are depressing or that the holidays are run by Sears or Macys, but come to worship to hear the true story of Christmas when you’re done shopping. The message of the church is that there is hope for the depression, that there is something that fulfills the desires in ways the stores cannot. In that, we do proclaim that the stores are wrong, but that isn’t our message. I have heard too much talk where our message is that the stores, the gym, and so on are wrong. It worries me each time I hear it because it is full of cynicism where the message should be full of hope.

That being said, I have heard the message of hope and peace a great deal this year. Enough that it has sunk in deep and laid roots that are growing in surprising ways. My holidays were full of joy and peace, personally. I do hope that the holidays of others were similar experiences as well. There was a time when I would spend my Christmas thinking about how terrible the commercialism is or how the world has it wrong. But shouting against that is like tapping a brick wall in the hopes that it will instantly turn to dust. Better, I think, to shout not that there is an alternative, but the alternative itself. The people of this world are pretty intelligent. They’ll be able to make the comparison themselves if they want and probably reach even better conclusions.