Five Lessons for Everyone (Part 1)

I’ve been reading a book called Adam’s Return: the Five Promises of Male Initiation by Richard Rohr. The book looks at a wide range of cultural male initiation rites that communities used to initiate a young boy into manhood. Among other things, and the subject I’d like to take up briefly here, the book talks about the five lessons that every young man must learn in order to be the leader that he must be as a male in his community. The five lessons are:

Life is hard.

You are not that important.

Your life is not about you.

You are not in control.

You are going to die.

These lessons were not simply found in Israelite culture, but in cultures across the board. Scripturally speaking these are lessons found, and not accidentally, throughout the Written Word. I think that these are lessons, male initiation aside, that we all need to learn if we are to understand our relationship to God and to each other.

Life is Hard

Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble on account of me.” Because of Jesus we will have trouble. Let me add this: because we are human we will have trouble. Because we are alive we will have trouble. You can’t avoid hardship. It’s not a matter of if but when and how severe. And the larger question is, How will we respond to it? We are a culture that avoids suffering, detests it, pretends like it doesn’t exist. We bury ourselves underneath a plethora of pleasures and distractions, seeking to forget that we are hurting, that the world is bent and broken, and that we ourselves are, deep down in the dark places of our souls, bent and broken. We must learn, and it is not an easy lesson to swallow, how to suffer and how to learn from our suffering. God uses suffering. Nothing is wasted in God’s kingdom. He uses everything--including our suffering. Life is difficult. How will we respond to it?

You are Not That Important

If I had a dollar for every time I’ve wanted to say or have said to a teenager seeking counsel from me that they aren’t nearly as important as they think they are. At first glance that seems like a harsh statement, but it isn’t. Here’s why: We are a very, very privileged country, our teens especially succumbing to our culture of conspicuous consumption, believing that everything is owed to them and that the sun rises and sets at their beck and call. Parents don’t help much, feeding their teens insatiable appetite for more with...well...more. Jesus said that life is more than food and drink. We need to understand and to impress on younger generations that the world is bigger than our own field of vision. It’s bigger than our own wants and needs. It’s bigger than our own personal destinies. Now, none of this is to downplay how important we we are in the eyes of God. And I believe that if we understood that, and if we understood that He sees every human being as important, then our own field of vision would expand. Our importance is not based on what we think of ourselves, what we own, what we do, but on Who we belong to and what we look like in His eyes.

to be continued...

shalom, matt

Reason 212 Why I'm Cooler Than My Brother

The number 1 song on the day I was born: (Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty by KC and the Sunshine Band.

The number 1 song on the day he was born: "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)" - Rupert Holmes.

Need I say more.

Go here to find out what the number 1 song was on the day you were born.

shalom, matt

Living. Moving. Being.

For in him we live and move and have our being. __Paul in Acts 17:28__

This passage has hung over me for, well, at least a year, perhaps longer. It is one of those passages that seem to be a black hole of meaning, endlessly deep and powerful, full of possible interpretations. I never have been able to get my mind around it, plumb the infinite depths. It just seemed like the thing I was seeking (or was it seeking me?) was hovering over me, that it was just out in front of my face, just beyond my grasp, like one of those electronic rabbits at the dog track. And like those dogs chasing the fake rabbit, I was in hot pursuit, but I simply could never get my brain to wrap its tendrils around Paul’s words.

That may have changed last week.

Maybe.

Rewind to Sunday morning at 5:30 AM. I was in my car on my way to work. Now normally there is very little thought process happening in my brain at 5:30 AM other than “keep the car on the road.” But for some reason, perhaps my mind was finally at a point where it could hear the Spirit, but I thought about this passage. Like I said, I’ve chewed on it and chewed on it—the Latin word is meditatio, meaning “to ruminate” (which is what a cow does to its cud)—and this time it seems like I’ve—pardon the expression—“hacked up” a possible meaning.

What if this is a Trinitarian statement, hinting at the work of each of the “members” of the Trinity—Father, Son and Holy Spirit? Watch.

In him we live… Christ is our life. Christ came to give life. Christ is Life. Paul wrote in Philippians, “To live is Christ” (1:21). He continues in Galatians, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (2:20). Jesus himself said, “I came to give you life” (John 10:10). Oh, and by the way, Jesus said, “I am the Life” (John 14:6). I’ll stop now, but there are more. There can be no argument that Jesus is a Life-giver, all of Christendom, nay, all of humanity is banking on that reality.

…and move… The Spirit is the “force” (with apologies to George Lucas, Luke Skywalker and Yoda) behind our movement, which makes sense given that is the Spirit of the Life-giver. Jesus tells Nicodemus in John 3, “The wind (read: Spirit) blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” Jesus tells his followers on the night of betrayal that the Spirit will guide them into all truth. All throughout Acts we find the Spirit guiding the apostles, guiding the followers of the Way, the early Church into situations that would lead to the glory of God. The Spirit even physically moves people at times: “The Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away…” (Acts 8:39). The Spirit is the mover in our lives, the power through which we do everything that we do for the Kingdom.

...and have our being… Hang with me on this because I need to break out my limited linguistic and grammatical knowledge (which would fit on the head of a pin) to make this make sense. In Exodus 3 Moses asks God what His name is. God says, “I AM.” Without going into the ridiculous depth of that answer I will say that “I AM” comes from the “be” verb: am, is, are, was, were. Microsoft Word © tells me, by my hitting Shift + F7, that synonyms for “be” are “exist,” “alive,” “be alive,” be real.” So God simply says, “I exist.” When we say that we have our being in God we are saying that because he is—because he “be’s”—we are—we “be.” We have our be-ness. We are made in the image of Be, therefore we are Be-ings. In his being-ness I find my be-ing, my existing, my aliveness, my realness. “Be” also has as its meaning “be present” or “be there.” Presence. There-ness. These attributes not only beautifully describe God, but they describe how we are to “be” in this world. We are presences, “there-ers” to the world, available and always living in the now. So in the Father we have our be-ness, our presence to the world and we are made available to all. Just as he is present to the world in his “Be-ness” we, too, are present to the world in our “Be-ness.”

Now to backtrack to the beginning of that passage that I intentionally skipped over to point out the role of the Trinity in our lives, I would like to take a quick look at the phrase in Him. I’ve always thought that this phrase, which appears over and over again in Paul’s writings, particularly in Ephesians and Colossians, applied to Christians only. But I’m not so sure. Remember that when Paul says in him we live and move and have our being that he is talking to a group of philosophers in Athens, a decidedly polytheistic culture. Paul is telling them (or so it seems to me) that all of humanity lives, moves and has its being in God. He even concludes his statement by quoting one of their own pagan poets to underscore his point. Think about that. Think about what that changes in how we present the good news. People aren’t somehow entering into a club that we’ve already bought memberships to; no, when they accept Christ as the reality of life they are awakening (the Biblical word for this is "enlightenment") to a reality that they have been a part of all along, namely, that in God, all along, they have been living and moving and being right along with us. They are now awakened to that fact and all of life looks different. Every action, thought, or word is seen in a different light now. How sweet is that!?

Now it is your turn. What are your thoughts?

shalom, matt

Willow Creek

I got fired for thinking this way.

Hurray for Willow Creek. May God bless their search for a new way of ministring.

shalom, matt

p.s. Willow Creek is one of the largest churches in America, located in the Chicago suburbs. Many churches have tried to immulate and immitate them and to try and be as successful as they are.

God the Recycler

Everything belongs; God uses everything. There are no dead ends. There is no wasted energy. Everything is recycled. Sin history and salvation history are two sides of the same coin. I believe with all my heart that the Gospel is all about the mystery of forgiveness. When you "get" forgiveness, you get it. We use the phrase "falling love." I think forgiveness is almost the same thing. It's a mystery we fall into: the mystery is God. God forgives all things for being imperfect, broken, and poor. Not only Jesus but all the great people who pray that I have met in my life say the same thing. That's the conclusion they come to. The people who know God well--the mystics, the hermits, those who risk everything to find God--always meet a lover, not a dictator. God is never found to be an abusive father or a tyrannical mother, but always a lover who is more than we dared hope for. How different than the "account manager" that most people seem to worship.

God is a lover who receives and forgives everything. The Gospel says "you will know the mystery of salvation through the forgiveness of sin" (Luke 1:77). "Fore-given means being given to beforehand--before you earned it, were worthy of it, or maybe even asked for it. So forgiveness breaks down the entire world of meritocracy and the notion of deservedness. Our logic of quid pro quo is useless in the realm of the Spirit. Instead, if we are open to it, we will be led into the realm of mercy and grace--the unique world of God. __from Everything Belongs by Richard Rohr__

shalom, matt

The Powerlessness of God

For me, the utter powerlessness of God is that God forgives. I hold myself in a position of power by not forgiving myself or others. God does not hold on to that position of power. God seems to be ready to surrender divine power. God forgives the world for being broken and poor. God forgives us for not being all that we thought we had to be and even for what God wanted us to be. That is probably why we fall in love with such a God. Why wouldn't you? You would be a fool not to--and you will be a "holy fool" if you do. __from Everything Belongs by Richard Rohr__

You should go and buy this book immediately and read it.

shalom, matt

Silence

Silence is golden, or so I've heard. My silence is due to a crappy computer giving me fits, work, not having much time to write recently, and the fact that I'm training for the Iditarod in Alaska. Okay, so one of those reasons isn't true, but the other ones are.

I'm working on something right now and will have it posted as soon as I can.

shalom, matt

The Trouble With Evangelism (part 4)

Let’s dispense with the formalities and dive right into the question at hand, shall we?

What if someone receives a Christian, that is embraces that person’s community relationally, has that someone received Jesus?

Big question, ain’t it? Lot’s of implications, right? Steps on a lot of doctrinal toes, crushing them into a meaty pulp, doesn’t it? Please understand that I’m not trying to establish in this, or any article I write, a doctrinal absolutes. Most doctrinal “absolutes” make me queasy, like I’ve just discovered a pile of someone else’s chest hair in my burger at Steak-n-Shake after taking several bites already (have fun with that image, by the way). Most doctrinal absolutes are not absolutes at all, but simply someone’s misinterpretation of random Bible passages that were not written with the idea of establishing doctrines by which churches and denominations can control people’s thinking and questioning and further fragment the body of Christ.

But I digress… (I’ll be working on that argument for another article…or maybe I already have…)

My intent here, before I veered wildly off course, is to ask questions that have been on my mind and share them with you. Let’s begin this discussion with a couple of scriptures.

We are intimately linked in this harvest work. Anyone who accepts what you do, accepts me, the One who sent you. Anyone who accepts what I do accepts my Father, who sent me. Accepting a messenger of God is as good as being God’s messenger. Accepting someone’s help is as good as giving someone help. This is a large work I’ve called you into, but don’t be overwhelmed by it It’s best to start small. Give a cool cup of water to someone who is thirsty, for instance. The smallest act of giving and receiving makes you a true apprentice. You won’t lose out on a thing. __Matthew 10:40-42 (the Message)__

And this is real and eternal life: that they may know you, the one and only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent. __John 17:3 (the Message)__

And just so you know that I’m not trying to manipulate the Scriptures by using a linguistically “loose” translation like the Message I’ll include a more accurate, direct translation.

He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward. __Matthew 10:40-42 (NASB)__

This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. __John 17:3 (NASB)__

So, let me get this straight: Jesus sends out his disciples into towns all over Galilee and tells them that when people accept them and receive them they are receiving Him AND receiving God, who sent him. So people all over Galilee are accepting Jesus’ emissaries, his direct representatives of himself, and, in accepting them they are accepting Jesus and God at the same time.

Talk about blowing apart most evangelistic programs and totally turning the whole idea of accepting Jesus (a phrase never found in Scripture to my knowledge) on its head.

In Acts 2, during Pentecost, the disciples receive the awaited gift of the Holy Spirit, literally, the risen Jesus takes up residence inside each one of them. This is traditionally the beginning of the Christian community, the ekklesia. Now, if in receiving the disciples people received Jesus, how much more true would it be for us as Spirit-filled Christians that when people receive us that they are receiving Jesus? How huge are the implications for this? If this is true it completely transforms what our communities should be, how we should live with and for each other as a legitimate conduit of reception. This is why it is so important for us to be authentic human beings, because when people respond by wanting to be part of this “new humanity” (Ephesians 2:15, TNIV) they are receiving Jesus—the supreme authentic Human, who now lives in us. After all aren’t we made in the “image of God” (Genesis 1:27, TNIV) and “clothed in Christ” (Galatians 3:27, TNIV)? The Church according to Scripture is now “the letter of Christ” (2 Corinthians 3:3, TNIV) not written on tablets of stone or paper with ink, but with the Spirit on human lives. Jesus is written all over us. We’ve talked about the importance of love in reference to evangelism in previous articles. What we do, how we receive people, accept them as one of us without restraint and with massive doses of grace, forgiveness, and patient love, serve as the pipeline through which people see the real Jesus, the one of the Scriptures that loves them and serves them through the willing disciple. Too often our evangelism and subsequent “accept Jesus” rhetoric has reduced receiving the extraordinary, mysterious, resurrecting and redeeming life of Jesus to a few propositional doctrinal statements. How many times have you heard this, or, in my case, said this?

Repeat after me: I believe (I believe) that Jesus is the Christ (that Jesus is the Christ) the Son of the living God (etc.) and I accept him as my Lord and Savior (etc.).

Not that these words of affirmation aren’t important, but does that really make you a Christian? If it does then why doesn’t any of that appear in the Bible? Why don’t we have record of Peter taking 3000 confessions at Pentecost and then baptizing everyone? This is not to make light of doctrine or deem it unnecessary. Clear cut verbalization of what we believe has its place and has for centuries in the church (see every creed of the church, particularly the Apostle’s Creed). Isn’t evangelism relational and communal? Shouldn’t it be if it isn’t already? Faith in Christ, life lived with Christ, is more than just a bunch of random crap (and by crap I mean over-emphasized doctrines that are forced on us and we aren’t ever supposed to question) that we are supposed to intellectual and verbally ascent to. It has to be or it isn’t life-giving; it is soul-crushing legalism and law.

If we are, in fact, as I believe we are, and I believe Scripture says we are, the Word made flesh again in our neighborhoods then in receiving us and our faith communities people are receiving the Word in us. I can’t get away from this very possible reality. This makes our evangelism entirely relational, loving people for the sake of loving them, knowing that when they accept us and our communities and desire to be a part of that they are, in some mystical way, accepting the One who has sent us out into “all Galilee.”

shalom, matt

Next time: why church is the last place you should invite someone. Stay tuned.