I think I had a Brother Lawrence moment tonight...
Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection was a monk living in Paris in the 17th century who, although keeping a lowly position as a kitchen worker in a monestary, has had a profound influence on believers for centuries, mainly for his book "The Practice of the Presence of God" which accounts how Brother Lawrence communed with God in mundane, everyday tasks. It was said that people would come from miles around just to watch him do the dishes, because he did them with such joy, and that joy was infectious to others.
At the end of a long and exhausting (but incredible) day, I spill a whole bucket of mop water all over the floor at Origin Coffee right before I was ready to leave. But before I had the chance to get frustrated and angry, God stilled my heart and asked me to enjoy this moment. Everything seemed to slow down, and I just started praying for a friend whom I saw tonight and it turned out to be the best part of my day (which is no small remark considering I saw two of my best friends get married, danced and partied with some crazy awesome people AND played Mumford covers at open mic night). There, mopping up the huge mess I just made, I was at peace, and felt the joy of the presence of God. Anything could've happened in that moment, and I would have been ok, because my joy was rooted in such a way that nothing could be taken from me, even if EVERYTHING was. It's funny, because we chase after that moment, that experience, that feeling, and forget the object that is behind our catharsis. People travel to distant countries, uproot their whole lives, join massive movements, all to find some sense of satisfaction, joy or excitement, and I stumbled upon it in a puddle of dirty mop water. God wants to be with you in the ordinary, often more than in the extraordinary because we live most of our lives in that; the everyday not-specialness. God wants your laundry time and your rush hour commute and your smoke break and your cleaning accidents.
Leave the mountaintops to the religious; let's live with Jesus here in the valley.
Showing posts with label Jesus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jesus. Show all posts
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Behind the shadow.
As a child, I was fascinated by shadows. I vividly remember Independence Day when I was four, and my parents took me to the park in our small mountain town where a 4th of July carnival was going on. As we walked down the street in the late afternoon, our shadows seemed to dance on the pavement, and my parents seemed tall as giants, their massive limbs swaying like the branches of an autumn tree, seemingly weightless with the absence of its leaves. But oddly, as my shadow grew along with me, my fascination with it did not. The mystical quality of them dwindled, and as shadows seem to blend into the night, irrecognizable from the surrounding darkness, so did my fascination with them. This was until my sophomore year of high school, when an encounter with Jesus in the Scriptures re-ignited a curiosity once lost with these dancers of the dark. As I read the Bible, and other theological works, I began to see what both Paul in Colossians and the author of Hebrews describe as “…a shadow of things to come” (Col.2:17, Heb. 10:1). I've been reading Exodus a lot lately, and this theme has literally been jumping out at me, so I thought I share a bit. The Book of Exodus is a story of redemption, and of the making of a redeemed people, by and for a personal God, who reveals himself simply as “It is I who will be with you”
This personal God makes Himself known and declares He will redeem those whom He has promised blessing and will secure them against all their enemies. He then works against these enemies with mighty acts of power to save them from endless slavery. But redemption is never free, and the cost is severe. Blood must be spilt to snatch people from the clutches of bondage and death. This sacrifice institutes a feast, where they celebrate the fact that God has looked over their sin because of the blood that was spilled. Then God makes them a people by sending help and offering Himself if they will have faith in Him. He makes order out of chaos, appointing people to carry out the charges He gives them, and gives them authority to lead and guide this Redeemed into the fullness of joy and blessing. As they live out this blessed life, in touch with their Creator and Rescuer, others, who are trapped in their own slavery, look to this Redeemer for transformation in their lives, and the pattern continues. The Redeemed become instruments of hope, bringing the story of redemption to everyone near them, in hops that they will “taste and see that the LORD is good’ and be saved from their bondage to false lords and false gods. So, I come back to my point at the beginning; we can see a shadow and have an idea what is casting it, but with out seeing the full form, we will always be in the dark. That is why we have to remember; behind the shadow, there’s a person.
This personal God makes Himself known and declares He will redeem those whom He has promised blessing and will secure them against all their enemies. He then works against these enemies with mighty acts of power to save them from endless slavery. But redemption is never free, and the cost is severe. Blood must be spilt to snatch people from the clutches of bondage and death. This sacrifice institutes a feast, where they celebrate the fact that God has looked over their sin because of the blood that was spilled. Then God makes them a people by sending help and offering Himself if they will have faith in Him. He makes order out of chaos, appointing people to carry out the charges He gives them, and gives them authority to lead and guide this Redeemed into the fullness of joy and blessing. As they live out this blessed life, in touch with their Creator and Rescuer, others, who are trapped in their own slavery, look to this Redeemer for transformation in their lives, and the pattern continues. The Redeemed become instruments of hope, bringing the story of redemption to everyone near them, in hops that they will “taste and see that the LORD is good’ and be saved from their bondage to false lords and false gods. So, I come back to my point at the beginning; we can see a shadow and have an idea what is casting it, but with out seeing the full form, we will always be in the dark. That is why we have to remember; behind the shadow, there’s a person.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
An exercise in futility.
I don't know if you live in the suburbs, or if you have a grasp of what life is like here in the bedroom communities of America; but let me give you one little insight into the culture I happen to live in. This morning I volunteered with some guys from church for a festival of sorts called "Woofstock." Last year, all the volunteers bailed out at the last minute and so my church stepped in a provided some hands in order to pull the event off. They asked us back this year, which we considered a privilege to help out in any way we can. We want to be good for the city, and sometimes that means setting up booths for doggy day care spas.
Woofstock, in short it was a gathering of dog lovers to make much of their dogs by treating them like people and buying them a bunch of crap they don't need. Apart from all the commentary I could make on the ridiculousness of this experience(which could very well go on forever), I want to focus shortly on one thing. In the suburbs, people will go to great lengths, and spend exuberant amounts of money to please their dogs and impress their neighbors, but would never even think of doing half the work it took to pull of an event like Woofstock for displaced people groups in Africa or sex trade victims in Asia. This is one more reason why we need Jesus so much, and why apart from the good news of the Cross, we are just selfish idolators who rob God of his glory by giving it to other things. This event had professional dog etiquette trainers, custom made oak dog kennels, and gourmet dog biscuit companies. Anything and everything you could think of to get for your canine friend was advertised and demonstrated for your consumer pleasure. Here's the problem: While I happen to love dogs and have owned and treasured many of my own, a dog is not a worthy thing to devote this kind of time, talent and treasure on. In the global and eternal scale of things, Woofstock was(apart from a chance to point our community to Jesus) an exercise in futility. It did not ease suffering in the world, it did not change things on a eternal level, and most people are going to forget about it tomorrow. I don't want to devote my life to such useless commodities and activities. I want to say at the end of my life that it wasn't about music, writing, people, relationships, money, style or experience. I weep for those who stand before Jesus and try to explain why they spent $500 on a custom dog kennel when somewhere in the world, a child dies every 5 seconds from starvation. Even in the suburban facade of mellow, pleasant perfection, things are more dire than we think, people are more broken than we can possibly imagine and devotion ends up in the most impotent of places. That is why I'm so thankful for Jesus, because He loved the rich, religious and resilient Pharisees with a deep and unrelenting passion. And although they for the most part did not repent, there IS hope for us in Suburbia, who have the same problems. Maybe we can repent of our apathy, consumerism and counterfeit righteousness and turn to trust in the Savior who died for our fake piety, so we could take on his genuine holiness. Maybe we can focus our lives away from worthless things and on to a hurting, dying world that is bleeding out and doesn't even know it. Maybe Woofstock will turn into Save-an-orphans-lifestock(not as catchy, i know). Maybe suburban life can be known for generosity and love and mercy. Maybe.
Woofstock, in short it was a gathering of dog lovers to make much of their dogs by treating them like people and buying them a bunch of crap they don't need. Apart from all the commentary I could make on the ridiculousness of this experience(which could very well go on forever), I want to focus shortly on one thing. In the suburbs, people will go to great lengths, and spend exuberant amounts of money to please their dogs and impress their neighbors, but would never even think of doing half the work it took to pull of an event like Woofstock for displaced people groups in Africa or sex trade victims in Asia. This is one more reason why we need Jesus so much, and why apart from the good news of the Cross, we are just selfish idolators who rob God of his glory by giving it to other things. This event had professional dog etiquette trainers, custom made oak dog kennels, and gourmet dog biscuit companies. Anything and everything you could think of to get for your canine friend was advertised and demonstrated for your consumer pleasure. Here's the problem: While I happen to love dogs and have owned and treasured many of my own, a dog is not a worthy thing to devote this kind of time, talent and treasure on. In the global and eternal scale of things, Woofstock was(apart from a chance to point our community to Jesus) an exercise in futility. It did not ease suffering in the world, it did not change things on a eternal level, and most people are going to forget about it tomorrow. I don't want to devote my life to such useless commodities and activities. I want to say at the end of my life that it wasn't about music, writing, people, relationships, money, style or experience. I weep for those who stand before Jesus and try to explain why they spent $500 on a custom dog kennel when somewhere in the world, a child dies every 5 seconds from starvation. Even in the suburban facade of mellow, pleasant perfection, things are more dire than we think, people are more broken than we can possibly imagine and devotion ends up in the most impotent of places. That is why I'm so thankful for Jesus, because He loved the rich, religious and resilient Pharisees with a deep and unrelenting passion. And although they for the most part did not repent, there IS hope for us in Suburbia, who have the same problems. Maybe we can repent of our apathy, consumerism and counterfeit righteousness and turn to trust in the Savior who died for our fake piety, so we could take on his genuine holiness. Maybe we can focus our lives away from worthless things and on to a hurting, dying world that is bleeding out and doesn't even know it. Maybe Woofstock will turn into Save-an-orphans-lifestock(not as catchy, i know). Maybe suburban life can be known for generosity and love and mercy. Maybe.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Living the Truth+Loving the World=Confusing
Proverbs 3:3
"Let not mercy and truth forsake you;
Bind them around your neck,
Write them on the tablet of your heart"
As followers of Christ we live in very torn world. We exist in this broken society where self is glorified, and yet we are called to deny self and live for a bigger, better reality where Christ is the center. We have to live knowing "the Truth" and live accordingly and yet love "the world.".
You know, I always used to read proverbs and think "they should probably rename this book broken record. Yah yah, do what is right, don't do what is wrong, blah, blah, blah"( yah, its ok, i'm forgiven) But this one proverb has really shaped my life in the past couple months.
Let not mercy and truth NEVER leave you.
these are two critically important and unwavering themes of the Christian life. Mercy and truth. Yet, they are very different and sometimes difficult ideas to grasp together and practice parallelly. Of course they spur on one another once we choose to embrace these radical ideas. Mercy will lead us into truth and the truth will spur us onto mercy. But living in congruence with both has proved quite arduous.
The problem lies in the way we live this out around the people around us. You see, when you are around a group of people who have not been introduced to Jesus, it would be most advantageous for us and Jesus' kingdom to let them experience both, but we need to have more mercy to make our relationship with God seem appealing, because honestly, the truth can be a little hard to swallow sometimes. On the other end of things when we are in our Jesuscentric circles we need to have more truth in order to keep ourselves disciplined. I think the Christianese term is "rebuke." So, I'm guessing that overall its about discernment and keeping in step with the Spirit. We all should be watching our Holy Spirit meter to see where we should dispense mercy and truth and what the concoction of each wil look like.
"Let not mercy and truth forsake you;
Bind them around your neck,
Write them on the tablet of your heart"
As followers of Christ we live in very torn world. We exist in this broken society where self is glorified, and yet we are called to deny self and live for a bigger, better reality where Christ is the center. We have to live knowing "the Truth" and live accordingly and yet love "the world.".
You know, I always used to read proverbs and think "they should probably rename this book broken record. Yah yah, do what is right, don't do what is wrong, blah, blah, blah"( yah, its ok, i'm forgiven) But this one proverb has really shaped my life in the past couple months.
Let not mercy and truth NEVER leave you.
these are two critically important and unwavering themes of the Christian life. Mercy and truth. Yet, they are very different and sometimes difficult ideas to grasp together and practice parallelly. Of course they spur on one another once we choose to embrace these radical ideas. Mercy will lead us into truth and the truth will spur us onto mercy. But living in congruence with both has proved quite arduous.
The problem lies in the way we live this out around the people around us. You see, when you are around a group of people who have not been introduced to Jesus, it would be most advantageous for us and Jesus' kingdom to let them experience both, but we need to have more mercy to make our relationship with God seem appealing, because honestly, the truth can be a little hard to swallow sometimes. On the other end of things when we are in our Jesuscentric circles we need to have more truth in order to keep ourselves disciplined. I think the Christianese term is "rebuke." So, I'm guessing that overall its about discernment and keeping in step with the Spirit. We all should be watching our Holy Spirit meter to see where we should dispense mercy and truth and what the concoction of each wil look like.
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Counter Culture Vs. Sub-Culture
So, for the last two years or so, something has been well.....to be perfectly frank, pissing me off about Christians and Christianity. I could not put my finger on it, but i could plainly see instances where said grievances were taking place.
Well, last week after conversing with my friend Greg while he was delivering Pizza I had a small epiphany of sorts.
[Start Transmission from 123.21.453.21.1]
coun·ter·cul·ture [koun-ter-kuhl-cher]
n.
the culture and lifestyle of those people, esp. among the young, who reject or oppose the dominant values and behavior of society.
[End Transmission]
So, as followers of Jesus we are supposed to be different.(Romans 12:1-2) Jesus outlines practical ways to live this out in His famous Sermon On The Mount. He explains to those unknown onlookers that day that the way we are supoosed to interact with the rest of the world is to do the opposite of what your natural instincts tells you to do and what the world tells us we are entitled to do.
We are called to give up our rights to serve and love those around us.
Problem 1.
It's Hard.
Half-ass solution to Problem 1.
[Start Transmission from 121.54.656.43.2]
sub·cul·ture (sŭb'kŭl'chər)
n.
A cultural subgroup differentiated by status, ethnic background, residence, religion, or other factors that functionally unify the group and act collectively on each member.
[End Transmission]
So, instead of living counter culturally we haved demeaned ourselves by creating our own sub-culture. We now live in this safe and sanitary enviroment where we can live away from the corrupt world and feel good about it. This proverbial bubble that we have created for ourselves is warm and fuzzy and safe, but it is not condusive to Kingdom or missional living. See, we have our own Christian music, clothes, lingo, even theme parks. But would anyone not under this umbrella we have go out and purchase these things? take Christian music for example. A few months ago i was having a conversation with a few friends that were on tour and were staying at my house after a show here and one of them brought up the point that having a whole genre of music dubbed as christian is very confusing. What does christian music sound like? now, obviously there is Praise/Worship music because it has a certain sound and quality that makes it unique. But, as above said friend stated, " the only reason to label yourself as a christian musician or band is to make money, because you are marketing yourself to a certain type of people." anf then he so eloqeuntly staed "If we are to be the light of the world then we should be letting our light shine to everyone, putting ourselves out there so others that have not been introduced to Jesus can see a glimpse of the amazing God we worship."
So, here in lies the problem, we have segregated ourselves from our own culture and created a dangerous Us vs. Them mentality while all the while trying to grab people from the outside and pull them in to our bubble. Eric Bryant writes in his book Peppermint Filled PInatas,
" The world too often sees the invitation to connect to the church as irrelevant or at best a cumbersome process. People have to learn our religious language, sing our songs, and discuss our topics. For those who make the effort to connect with us, we reward them with rules, traditions, and conditional acceptance, yet Jesus offered grace, forgiveness and love. Rather than religion, Jesus offers relationship. As part of the body called the church, we need to strive to eliminate barriers that keep others from connecting with our community and connecting with Jesus."
I think that Jesus' idea of life is good enough to stand on its own, we dont need to give it a spa treatment, dress it up in a pretty outfit and sell it at the lowest price. We just need to live in the way Jesus described and the condition of the heart will begin to change and then people WILL notice. Grace is irresistable, but only if it is lived out. not just talked about.
Well, last week after conversing with my friend Greg while he was delivering Pizza I had a small epiphany of sorts.
[Start Transmission from 123.21.453.21.1]
coun·ter·cul·ture [koun-ter-kuhl-cher]
n.
the culture and lifestyle of those people, esp. among the young, who reject or oppose the dominant values and behavior of society.
[End Transmission]
So, as followers of Jesus we are supposed to be different.(Romans 12:1-2) Jesus outlines practical ways to live this out in His famous Sermon On The Mount. He explains to those unknown onlookers that day that the way we are supoosed to interact with the rest of the world is to do the opposite of what your natural instincts tells you to do and what the world tells us we are entitled to do.
We are called to give up our rights to serve and love those around us.
Problem 1.
It's Hard.
Half-ass solution to Problem 1.
[Start Transmission from 121.54.656.43.2]
sub·cul·ture (sŭb'kŭl'chər)
n.
A cultural subgroup differentiated by status, ethnic background, residence, religion, or other factors that functionally unify the group and act collectively on each member.
[End Transmission]
So, instead of living counter culturally we haved demeaned ourselves by creating our own sub-culture. We now live in this safe and sanitary enviroment where we can live away from the corrupt world and feel good about it. This proverbial bubble that we have created for ourselves is warm and fuzzy and safe, but it is not condusive to Kingdom or missional living. See, we have our own Christian music, clothes, lingo, even theme parks. But would anyone not under this umbrella we have go out and purchase these things? take Christian music for example. A few months ago i was having a conversation with a few friends that were on tour and were staying at my house after a show here and one of them brought up the point that having a whole genre of music dubbed as christian is very confusing. What does christian music sound like? now, obviously there is Praise/Worship music because it has a certain sound and quality that makes it unique. But, as above said friend stated, " the only reason to label yourself as a christian musician or band is to make money, because you are marketing yourself to a certain type of people." anf then he so eloqeuntly staed "If we are to be the light of the world then we should be letting our light shine to everyone, putting ourselves out there so others that have not been introduced to Jesus can see a glimpse of the amazing God we worship."
So, here in lies the problem, we have segregated ourselves from our own culture and created a dangerous Us vs. Them mentality while all the while trying to grab people from the outside and pull them in to our bubble. Eric Bryant writes in his book Peppermint Filled PInatas,
" The world too often sees the invitation to connect to the church as irrelevant or at best a cumbersome process. People have to learn our religious language, sing our songs, and discuss our topics. For those who make the effort to connect with us, we reward them with rules, traditions, and conditional acceptance, yet Jesus offered grace, forgiveness and love. Rather than religion, Jesus offers relationship. As part of the body called the church, we need to strive to eliminate barriers that keep others from connecting with our community and connecting with Jesus."
I think that Jesus' idea of life is good enough to stand on its own, we dont need to give it a spa treatment, dress it up in a pretty outfit and sell it at the lowest price. We just need to live in the way Jesus described and the condition of the heart will begin to change and then people WILL notice. Grace is irresistable, but only if it is lived out. not just talked about.
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