Hearing the Whisper of God

A number of people on our Katrina team went on the mission thinking that God would speak to them in a profound way. Few got the experience that they were expecting. I wrote them this note when we returned...

Katrina Team;

At Cafe DuMonde and in the truck going home people were saying that they didn't get the big AHA moment that they had hoped for on the trip. That didn't surprise me. I guess as I get older I "hear" God in the subtle things, not the big AHA moments.

This morning I read this in my devotions...

"We misunderstand God altogether if we think he deals coursely with our souls (meaning that he makes things obvious). If we consider what has really influenced our lives, we will find that it lies in a few silent voices that have preached to us, the winds which have passed across our soul so gently that we scarce could tell when they were come or gone. Even in the midst of the battle, when coarser weapons fail, let us not forget the lesson of Elijah: [who said...]
'A great powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks be fore the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquatke came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.' (1 Kings 19:11-12)

When God speaks he speaks so loudly that all the voices of the world seem dumb. And YET, when God speaks he speaks so softly that no one hears the whisper but yourself". Bread and Wine, page 129-130

I think God will be whispering to us all for a long time about our experience. So I encourage us to listen, reflect and then share what we hear with each other...even months from now.

I pass these thoughts along because you might be wondering how God speaks to you.

Looking Back on New Orleans

Sitting here looking out at a foot of snow inside of a warm, odor-free house makes me feel like New Orleans was a dream. Yet I know I was there because when I look at my house I'm always thinking how I could best knock out a wall or tear down the cubboards! Kinda weird. I also get sad whenever I drive by a nice shopping center with cars because so many in New Orleans are vacant and boarded up. (Picture: the team suits up for the first time, ready to enter the mold infested home.)

So, was it worth it? We traveled 2500 miles and spent $2500 to gut two houses. Only 199,998 more to go! Yeah, it was worth it. I'd do it again in a heart beat. I can't right now, but I hope our going will inspire others to take the baton and run with it. Like so many things, no one act of compassion/kindness is the answer. The answer is in a lot of people doing as much as they can for as long as they can with the help of God to empower and encourage them to keep at it. (Picture: this is the first house we worked on. The FEMA trailer is in front. The owner just moved into it on Thursday.)

New Orleans is in very tough shape. They won't turn the corner on this problem for years. Our team tried to come up with a way of relating what we saw but we can't. No one picture captures it. You really have to experience house after house and mile after mile of devastation to appreciate the magnitude of what happened down there. (Picture; Kate, Tom, Phil and Karla take a break.)

I mean, just think of where you live. Imagine that EVERY house needed to be repaired at some level. Imagine that MOST of the homes were unliveable and people were camping in a trailer or tent or even living in their car while their home sat rotting. And then you have to travel across town to find a store that wasn't damaged to buy what you need. Then imagine that most of your neighbors aren't even bothering to return because it hurts or costs too much. So, even if you do restore your home, the neighborhood may be a rotting ghost town. (Picture: a house was pushed off it's foundation and onto a car from the rush of the broke levee water.)

Our trip is over but I hope our heart holds New Orleans close to us. And I hope it's sensitized us to the needs that exist all around us and how we can help others instead of always looking out for our own needs. (Picture; this is what the house looked like after knocking out walls, etc. day one. After day two the toilet and all walls were gone as well.)

This Sunday at Cedarbrook our team will give an overview of our trip. We are looking to send another team down to New Orleans this Spring. Would you like to go? If you live in another city, I bet you can find a group going down that you can join. Or, just grab a few friends and contact Samaritan's Purse. They are a top notch organization that is doing a great work down there. Click here for more photos of the area. (Picture; our crew takes one last photo at base camp before heading home.)

New Orleans: Job Accomplished

We stumbled onto a great hole in the wall restaurant in the French Quarter (Coops).

We spent the last two days back in the Ninth Ward in St. Bernard's Parish (click for photos). The north side of this district got 20 feet of water. We were on the south side working in a house that got five feet. We drove through the neighborhood that was next to the levee breach. I was wiped out - totally leveled and washed away in parts - just depris remaining. I got a picture of a house on top of a car.

The sad thing about this district is that there was a million gallon oil spill from the local refinery (Murphy Oil). Because the oil made all the homes toxic the local city can't take the garbage. But Murphy Oil won't take the garbage unless the home owner settles with them. So the homes that are gutted have all kinds of gross stuff in front of their homes for weeks and weeks. Rats and cats and dogs are feeding off the refuse. Very gross.

We worked our butts off the last two days! We are exhausted - but in a good way. Today it was 85 degrees and we put in the longest day yet. People were pretty wiped but stuck it out until the end.

When we "gut" a house we start by taking out the furniture and personal items. We didn't have to do that in the first house. Taking out this stuff was pretty emotional for some of us - just imagining the family and all of their loss. After that we strip the floor and ceiling molding, knock out the sheetrock and pull up the wood floor, lineoleum, whatever. I spent most of the morning ripping out kitchen cupboards and built-in dishwasher and stove/oven. Then I moved on to the bathroom where I beat out the tile around the tub and walls. I've got a bad elbow so Phil took over, then Tom. I think they were getting into it. Swinging a sledgehammer is pretty fun. I was jealous!

We head back tomorrow at noon. I want to take the team to Cafe du Monde for coffee and bignets. You can't leave New Orleans before doing that. We'll recap our experience and then head to Memphis for the night. One more entry tomorrow.

New Orleans: Day Two

We finished our first house today then decided to take a peek at tomorrow's work before heading home. It's in the, now famous, ninth ward- one of the hardest hit areas.

As soon as we crossed the river we saw what we hadn't seen so far - devastation. Yesterday I talked about the internal damage to homes. In the ninth ward there are homes off their foundation, shrimp boats in neighborhoods and we saw an in-ground, concrete swimming pool in someone's front yard. Not sure how that happened.

But when we got to our house it had already been gutted by another team earlier this week. So I don't know where we'll be tomorrow.

The ninth ward is a large area, probably two miles or more east to west and a mile north to south. It's homes and shopping centers. It looks like a war zone. Just about every business is boarded up - whole shopping centers. And the neighborhoods are mostly deserted. People have moved to live with relatives or friends. We talked to one family that was back just to clean up then they are leaving. They don't have any neighbors that are staying. It's all very weird. I don't see any answers to this other than to bulldoze acres and acres. The ninth ward had an oil spill contaminating the floodwaters, so I don't see how people can even consider rebuilding. I guess when that's all you have, you do what you have to do.

We've talked to a few people but no dramatic encounters. Still two days to go. But I really think the best encounters so far are within the team. I'm really enjoying getting to know everyone and working hard together. It's a great experience and something that I know will serve as a model for the rest of Cedarbrook.

I'm taking the crew out for some Cajun food tomorrow so I won't be writing again until Friday. Thanks for your interest and prayers for us.

Live from New Orleans

Hey...here we are. I'm reporting in.

We made it down through incredible storms. We hit hail in Illinois and the temperature went up 30 degrees after that. Very weird. Ribs in St. Louis then on and off torrential downpours yesterday. We arrived to a very humid 78 degrees and a traffic jam. That surprised us. We had heard that New Orleans was a ghost town. Not so...at least not on the freeways. They are packed solid.

Our hotel is a big gym with 80 air mattresses. Comfortable. Good food. Nice hosts (Samaritan's Purse). We went through an orientation this morning and finely got to our house project around 11am. More surprises. We were braced for horror but if it wasn't for the piles of wood outside of some homes, and the porta-potty's on every other street corner, we'd never suspect a problem just driving down the street. If you turn off into a neighborhood you start to see what's wrong. Big trees uprooted. Houses boarded up or covered with blue tarps. The absence of normal life. Contractors looking for their assignment. You can't really tell things are wrong on the outside (in our neighborhood, that is).

Our house was a small two bedroom. We were told that we'd probably have to shovel out a foot of mud and carry out personal belongings but neither were true. The house was empty and no mud. But it was clear that there had been water up to the ceiling. Mold was growing all over and the ceiling had fallen in in the bedroom. The neighbor told us that two people had to be rescued by cutting holes in their attics after being stranded for days.

Our 14 members jumped into the work. We've got a great team. Everyone seemed to know where to go and what to do. It's not rocket science. We pull down everything but the studs and floor boards! Lots of dust and it's full of contaminants because the water is full of who knows what (oil, chemicals, sewage, etc.). We wear Tyvek suits with repirators and goggles. We look like a cross between aliens, astronauts and KKK members.

We sweat like dogs but thankfully the weather was like Wisconsin in the spring today; 72 degrees, low humidity and a nice breeze to cool us off. Another surprise.

I'm falling asleep writing this. I don't usually work this hard writing sermons and meeting people! You get the gest. I'll write again tomorrow if things change. We should finish our house tomorrow and move on to a new one.

Pray for us. Safety. Teamwork. Divine encounters. Oh, one funny thing. Most of the other 65 people here are college kids. Our team is feeling reeaaallllly old but at least they have lights out at 9:30pm. Works for me!

Headed to New Orleans

I leave in a few hours for New Orleans with a team of 14 people from Cedarbrook. I'm excited and a bit nervous at the same time. I've never gone on a trip with so many unknowns. And if anything goes wrong, I don't know how much help there will be around us (stores, gas stations, hospitals, etc.).

But beyond a desire to help others in crisis, I'm going to help Cedarbrook and I'm going to help myself. I'm convinced that the essence of the human condition is selfishness and the only way to address that is to go at it head on - by serving others. (Sorry if that sounds a bit negative but I really think it's true. Self love blocks a lot of good things from happening in our relationships and in the world in general).

Our selfishness is so pervasive - so much a part of who we are - that it's hard to escape. We even serve others to benefit ourselves!

Serving others is something that everyone talks about doing but rarely gets to. I know that's true for me. At best we fund others to serve, which IS a good thing, but we have trouble finding the time to actually do it ourselves. It's so much easy to pay someone else!

I don't have time to go to New Orleans. I'm just doing it and letting everything else suffer because I felt I had to make it a priority - for my own good and the good of the church.

Serving strikes at the heart of our condition because it reveals our selfishness. Our team might leave today full of good will toward men, but I know that it won't take long before we are inconvenienced. It will be hard work. We won't all get along. The living conditions will be substandard. The food may be poor. And that's only the first day!

Add seven more days to that and you start to see how spoiled you really are. You aren't the all loving, all compassionate person you thought you were. Serving shines a spotlight on your heart and then it shines a spotlight on where you need to turn to find a well of love, compassion and strength. That well is God. And that's why people who serve regularly are different. They are in touch with their own weaknesses and they are usually in touch with God's grace.

I hope that happens with us this week. And I hope it begins a pattern in both my life, the lives of our team and the life of Cedarbrook.

Stay tuned. If I can get internet access I hope to post a journal of our trip here.

Faith Starts with a Person

I've had the honor of talking with a number of people lately who are struggling with believing in God. They've heard all about how other people believe but they are personally struggling with believing.

I went home thinking about their struggle and then I realized that if I was them, I'd struggle too. For me, faith in God- at least a personal God - starts and ends in the person of Jesus, not the experience of someone else.

I was with a different group of people last month ( a new group we started at Cedarbrook called "Out of the Box". It's a discussion forum for people that aren't in "the box" of the church - people who aren't sure what they believe.) One person asked my associate and me what made us believe. It was interesting because we both came to believe for different reasons. My associate had a dynamic spiritual experience that convinced her that God existed and Jesus was, in fact, God.

But for me, I was struck by the person of Jesus. As I studied the New Testament I became convinced that it was an accurate document of a person that really lived and said the things that were written. Once I was convinced of that, the rest came naturally. If the Bible is telling us the truth about what Jesus said, then you can't be passive about it. It might be convenient to think that Jesus was "just a good teacher" or that people made more of Jesus than he really was (ala DaVinci Code) but that is only to your loss. For me, and countless others that I've had the pleasure of knowing, believing in Jesus and following him has been to my gain.

If you are searching, I recommend a book about the accuracy of the New Testament called, The Case for Christ. It's very readable. A former writer for the Chicago Times talks about his own skepticism and how his research of the New Testament brought him to faith in Jesus. You owe it to yourself to give it a read!

Do we have to forgive to be forgiven?

The comment in my post below mentioned what Jesus said about how we are forgiven according to how we forgive.

But if you don't forgive people, your Father will not forgive your wrongdoing. Matthew 5:15

That's one of those verses that sets you back on your heels! Did Jesus really mean that? I'd say yes and no. No, in the sense that I doubt if any of us will fully forgive everyone. None of us are that pure in our motives. Plus, we may have even forgotten a few people along the way that we should have forgiven but didn't. I don't think we have to lay awake nights worrying about that. If we had to be perfect forgivers to be forgiven then we'd be earning our forgiveness, wouldn't we?

But on the other hand, yes. If you aren't someone interested in forgiveness then you aren't someone interested in God. Forgiveness is at the core of who God is. It's only the hypocrite who says they love God yet refuses to forgive. Isn't that what John was saying...

If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For the person who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 1 John 4:20

In an odd sort of way, one of the greatest ways we can get to know God is through being deeply offended. It's in learning to forgive that we learn the depth of our sinfulness (we don't want to forgive) and the magnitude of God's love. But in saying that I hope you find other ways to know God.

The Faces of Forgiveness

I teach on anger and forgiveness on a regular basis. I find forgiveness to be a fascinating subject - something that strikes at the core of what it means to be both human and divine. Anyway, there is a new book called The Faces of Forgiveness by two profs from Bethel University and Seminary. It's pretty deep, but the research facts on forgiveness were interesting.

Stephen Sandage said that there are three key components to forgiveness;

1. Humility; the ability to understand that you are made from the same stuff as the next guy. Because of that, you are capable of doing the same evil to others as has been done to you. This keeps you from overreacting and treating your offender like scum.

2. Empathy; flows out of humility. Because you understand your ability to do wrong, you are able to put yourself in the shoes of your offender. You don't excuse them but you are able to see how they could do what they did.

3. Differentiation; the awareness that you are distinct from others. It's the opposite of being emmeshed or co-dependent. The co-dependent person needs affirmation from people. When they are offended it is very hard for them to forgive because they can't stand alone. Their anger is the only thing that protects them. But the differentiated person can more easily forgive because they find their worth apart from the affirmation of others.

Something to think about.

To Go (to church) or Not to Go

When I'm on vacation the biggest decision is always whether I should go to church or not. I had to make that decision this week. It's interesting to me because it puts me in touch with all the people that decide to venture into Cedarbrook back home.

I actually thought about it all week. My first decision was to not go. I don't like most churches and I didn't want to risk having a bummer experience. After all, it WAS my vacation. I could be sleeping! But I was intrigued by a church within walking distance. It met in the local high school and they had a nice banner displaying when they met along with their website. It looked like something Cedarbrook would do.

Having a website is a big plus. I thought I'd at least give them the benefit of the doubt and check them out on-line. You can check them out yourself here. Nice website. They are only two years old but they seemed to know what they were doing. I realized that if they didn't have a website I probably would have never visited. Too risky.

After going to the website my fears of a bad experience were alleviated. So I took the small risk and walked over this morning. It surprised me to realize that I was nervous going to church! Funny. I never think about that being how people feel. But I was. I was nervous about how long the service might go...nervous that they might zero in on me and overwhelm me and concerned that I'd be subjected to a long sermon that I might not agree with. I'm not sure if anything else made me nervous.

The whole experience was painless. The music was good. The sermon was alright (I felt like the pastor overemphasized the importance of me serving in the church). When it was over after 60 minutes I was surprised and relieved. I've been known to walk out of churches that don't know when to quit. So it was refreshing for them to quit before I was thinking about it.

Overall it was fine. I won't rehash all my reservations about church (see below). I left underwhelmed. I really want people to walk away from a church experience inspired to live a better life and feeling like they encountered God. I want people to feel compelled to come back - not sure why - just feeling like it's the right thing to do. I want people to feel like they tapped into something so deep and mysterious that one visit isn't enough, only the beginning. (I have no idea if people ever leave Cedarbrook feeling that way. But that's my goal).

So, was the experience worth my time? Well, as a spiritual experience, no. Being a visitor from out of state changes things. I was more of a fly on the wall/observer. But as a learning experience, yes. It was good to be on the other side of the church equation. I just want church to offer more...

Reclaiming the Early Church Character

I just finished my series on Church: It's Not What You Think It Is. I attempted to cast a new vision for church. Over the years we've managed to reduce it to a one hour Sunday meeting. But the Bible describes something much richer -something that revealed the heart of God when people encountered it.

I offered the following suggestions as to how we can move from being independent, self-centered followers of Jesus to followers that are willing to share their lives with each other, like the early church.

1. We can change the way we think. That is, think more corporately (we & Jesus) and less privately (me & Jesus).
2. We can change the way we talk. We need to be less sarcastic and superficial and start being more authentic, encouraging and forgiving – attitudes that will help build trust and intimacy so we will want to share our lives with each other.
3. We can change the way we behave. The shared life isn’t just a love fest of Jesus followers but at its core are values and ideals that we strive for as a community.
4. We can change the way we spend our time. We need to learn to be more selfless, involving ourselves in the lives of others rather than isolating ourselves to only help ourselves.
5. We can change the way we spend our money. The word devotion implies every part of our being. That means even our money will be devoted to our shared life.
6. We can change the way we relate. Randy Frazee, in his book, The Connecting Church, makes five observations about how effective communities relate. They are spontaneous, available to each other, meet frequently, eat together and live in close proximity.
7. We can change where we live. Living close to each other won't guarantee developing community, but living far away will make it hard.

Living a shallow faith is easy and it's available on every street corner in America. But claiming a transforming faith bears a cost. There's a sacrifice, even a death. But it's rewarded with a resurrection that only God can give. Let's give it a try. (Click the link at the top for an in-depth look at these points.)

Bono Doesn't Like Church Either

Did you catch Bono (U2) speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast last week? He had some great things to say about social justice. He drew a great distinction between charity and justice. I encourage you to read the whole text (link below). But he started out talking about why he doesn't like church...

I presume the reason for this gathering is that all of us here—Muslims, Jews, Christians, all are searching our souls for how to better serve our family, our community, our nation, our God. I know I am. Searching, I mean. And that, I suppose, is what led me here, too.

Yes, it's odd, having a rock star here—but maybe it's odder for me than for you. You see, I avoided religious people most of my life. Maybe it had something to do with having a father who was Protestant and a mother who was Catholic in a country where the line between the two was, quite literally, a battle line. Where the line between church and state was… well, a little blurry, and hard to see.

I remember how my mother would bring us to chapel on Sundays… and my father used to wait outside. One of the things that I picked up from my father and my mother was the sense that religion often gets in the way of God.

For me, at least, it got in the way. Seeing what religious people, in the name of God, did to my native land… and in this country, seeing God's second-hand car salesmen on the cable TV channels, offering indulgences for cash… in fact, all over the world, seeing the self-righteousness roll down like a mighty stream from certain corners of the religious establishment…

I must confess, I changed the channel. I wanted my MTV. Even though I was a believer. Perhaps because I was a believer. I was cynical… not about God, but about God's politics. Bono (click for link to entire text )

I can't blame him for his cynacism. I've shared the same feelings at various times. But the Bible paints a picture of church for me that has made me a flaming idealist. For my thoughts on how church can be something you are willing to give your life to see my recent sermon series.

Church as Reconciliation Center

From a recent message on living the shared life...

I think the world desperately needs a working model for conflict resolution. We need to learn how to disagree with someone without ridiculing them or divorcing them. It seems like everyone I know is quick to say how much they "hate conflict" and it's no wonder. No one likes to do something when they are clueless.

I think the working model I'm looking for is supposed to be the church. I’m convinced that one of the primary purposes of the church is to be a reconciliation center on earth- a training ground for conflict resolution. We are supposed to become experts at this. And when we do, the world will get to see God up close in how we treat each other. Unfortunately churches have failed miserably at this. We can follow Jesus for decades all the while harboring anger and resentment toward people that are closest to us.

But that doesn’t mean that we can’t change. We can do better than that. And when we do the world will sit up and notice. They’ll see God in our midst and instead of running away from church, they’ll run to it, because they’ll see that we have the answers they are looking for. They long for these answers because God made them relational, just like us.

Are You Afraid of Becoming a Religious Clone?

I've been speaking at church about church being a community of believers that follow Jesus together. I'm passionate about that idea but I'm also not naive. I realize that the thought of doing anything together scares some people to death.

I think we often fear sharing our lives with other people in the context of community because we think we have to give up our individuality. We think that we have to look and act and vote like everyone else which makes us afraid that we are going to turn into some kind of religious clone. So we keep our distance. Sunday’s are in our comfort zone - passively listening and observing - but getting more involved than that is a little too scary! We don’t want to get sucked into some kind of in-grown spiritual community that makes us weird. Right?

I know that happens in some churches but that’s not at all what God wants for us. The truth is, you actually gain your identity in true community because you finally see how the gifts and talents that God gave you can be used.

I see this happen at Cedarbrook all the time. People live a life that consists of mostly work and survival. Then they come here and get involved. At some point they offer to help serve in some area and, what do you know, they discover a talent they never knew they had. Or, they find a place to use a talent that they knew they had but never had a place to express it. Their individuality actually blossomed in the context of community rather than it being stolen from them. The community called something out of them that was lying dormant all this time. And now their life is more fulfilling.

So...be cautious, yes. But don't keep to yourself. God has something that he wants to release in you and through you that can only be revealed in the context of community.

Cancel Sunday Services?

I'm in the middle of a teaching series on the church (Church: It's Not What You Think it Is). It's fun for me because it's the culmination of 30 years of church experience. I've never had the chance to teach these things in depth and so I'm enjoying the opportunity. I'm excited to see the fruit it brings long term for us.

One of the things I'm pointing out is that most believers have a Sunday-only mentality about church. They approach church in a very independent way. I'm contrasting that with having a 24/7 mentality that is more corporate. But the thing that strikes me as odd is that I'm teaching this on Sunday. The "big-event" of the week for a church is the hour on Sunday but what I'm teaching is that Sunday shouldn't be that central. Catch the irony? If it wasn't for the big-event I wouldn't be able to reach as many as I do.

I thought that the best way to reinforce my teaching would be to cancel Sunday services for three months. That would definitely make the point but it would probably destroy the church too! We are too big and have too many new people to make that work. They wouldn't understand what we are doing and we'd just lose them. Besides, there is great value in corporate worship and teaching. I just want us to learn how to balance that out by developing relationships outside of Sunday.

But I like the thought! We need to do something to shake us up - to stop making our church experience all about us. We have to repent of the way we've made our faith a private affair and not a corporate one. We don't realize that one of the reasons that church leaves us cold is that it's so self-centered. We've made it that way because it's convenient in our fast-paced society. But a self-centered church experience is like drinking salt-water...it only leaves you wanting more.

A Tainted Experience

I write this blog primarily for people who want to check me out before they attend Cedarbrook. A big determining factor in choosing a church is the pastor so I help people get inside my mind a bit by writing. This blog gets a few hits a day from people like that or people who did a search for a topic I covered or people tired of watching the grass grow and looking for something a little more stimulating (or maybe less!).

So, you can imagine my surprise on Monday when I saw that 40 people had hit my blog by 9:00 a.m. (Over 250 by Wednesday). As I mentioned below, my post on Why I Don't Like Church got reprinted in a national blog. If 250 clicked the link that means that many more actually read it. I guess I had my fifteen minutes of fame! It was fun to see a national dialogue by fellow church leaders over a few paragraphs that I had written.

But I have to tell you that I was disappointed in some of the response. There were well over 50 different people who posted a comment. Many agreed. Some offered balance. But more than a few felt a strong need to correct me - some at great length. Now, I don't mind correction. My wife knows I need a lot of it (not to mention everyone in my church). But the correction was a bit ironic because it tended to embody the very problem that my post was addressing - they were more interested in telling me how wrong I was than in really understanding what I had to say (only a handful of people contacted me directly to gain a fuller understanding of my thinking).

As I read the comments I found myself reading the first few sentences to determine if I'd bother to read more. If the tone was negative or clearly off-target I skipped it. I could tell that they misunderstood me and were just looking for an excuse to rant. I wasn't there to listen to that so I checked out.

Then I realized that that's what people do every Sunday with me or any preacher that comes across in the same way. When we are more interested in telling what we know than connecting with the true concerns of our audience, they will check out...every time. That was the point in Why I Don't Like Church and ironically my critics proved it!

I'm sure the percentage of critics to readers was small. That's good. But it's sad that the critics often get the most ink, isn't it? And the taste in my mouth from the experience was a little tainted. It makes me less eager to get feedback. I'm afraid that's exactly why many people are slow to return to church.

How We Dehumanize the Soul

My posts on Why I Don't Like Church got picked up by a national church leadership blog/newsletter (Monday Morning Insight). It's been interesting to read the dialogue (click the link. Most people posted their comments there and not here).

I was pretty amazed to read the negative comments. I didn't think my words were that radical. I probably should have qualified one of my statements by saying that the church has made a mistake by believing that their SOLE purpose is to dispense information. A lot of ministers were offended by the ommission of the word "sole". Yes, yes, we are called to preach the word - the truth. Of course. I'm just trying to bring some balance here because there are too many walking wounded and the wounder is the church!

I personally love information and thoughts. That's a weakness of mine and I'd guess of many preachers. So, before I preach I always have to ask myself, "Is this just cool information that I like or will this really breathe life into people looking for God?"

Paul said that "the letter kills but the Spirit brings life." That's exactly what I mean. If you understand Paul, you understand what I'm saying.

I think I'm more sensitized than some of my critics to this issue because I've had countless conversations with people that have been cast off by church. Whether they accurately perceived the insult or not (as one person posed) doesn't matter. What they are sensing is a disregard for their humanity. And that's what I was getting at with my post about Jesus yesterday. Jesus was able to pinpoint sin in people and they walked away encouraged or at least thoughtful, not wounded.

As it says in Hebrews, the Word of God is able to discern between soul and spirit...it's able to separate between sin and sinner. It's able to value the human while showing them the destructiveness of their thoughts and actions. We are not always so successful. And when that happens we dehumanize our audience. We invalidate not only their thoughts or actions but their very being. We may not have meant that but that's what they heard and that's why they are so wounded. We often miss this subtlety and often justify our positions as simply "preaching the truth of God". But we are missing something and losing people because of it.

Why People Don't Like Church

This past week a number of people have written me their stories about why they don't like church. I spoke to this briefly in my sermon today called, "A Church That Looks Like God" posted 01/23/06.

As people have told me what they don’t like about church it often has something to do with being excluded. Church leaders told them that because they believed the wrong thing or behaved the wrong way that they weren’t acceptable to the church. They couldn’t attend the church or take communion at the church or be married at the church or burying someone in their family. It's very offensive.

Now, I understand that churches have the right to their doctrines and their moral codes. And they have the right to include or exclude anyone they want. But when they condemn and reject people they aren’t looking like God. And that’s sad.

Somehow Jesus was able to reveal people’s sin to them without rejecting them or making them feel like pond scum. Somehow, when Jesus pointed out a person’s sin they walked away feeling like he believed in them rather than feeling condemned by him. So I think that a church that looks like God will find a way to do the same. They’ll find a way to affirm people without approving their sin. And I think they’ll find a way to include people without compromising the truth.

Why I Don't Like Church (continued)

One thing that bothers me about church is that it is so easy for it to develop into a subculture. By that I mean that it becomes a world unto itself with it's own rules, language, politics and even dress. It becomes a closed system with ideas that never evolve with new discoveries. I'm not just talking about scientific discoveries but any new thought/ideas that have been developed outside of the church.

That kind of subculture is very unattractive to me. It makes me feel like if I joined that church I'd become "smaller" intellectually and as a person as a whole. I like new ideas. I like dialogue on issues, even if people disagree with me. I'm not offended by people who don't believe everything I teach. People's opposing view often stretches me to see things in new ways...ways that expand my thinking and make God bigger to me.

I want church to be a place that expands you and makes you "bigger" - a place that makes you a better thinking person - a place that is stimulating to the mind. I want church to be a place that welcomes spiritual travelers, people who may not agree with the group at large but are "in-process". Rather than feel threatened by them or compelled to "convert" them, I want them to feel free to hang with us, listen to us, observe us and enter in to whatever aspect of our life that they find interesting.

What I don't like about the church is when I see the opposite - spiritual travelers corrected and/or rejected for not immediately conforming to the church's idea of God and morality. I find it so dehumanizing when people with different spiritual ideas are invalidated this way. And what a shame! The church - who says that it wants to reach people for Jesus - undermines it's very purpose. They never are able to win anyone to Jesus because they offend everyone who even gets close.

I think the trick to creating a more open-minded culture is to understand that "the church" is more than a collection of true believers. It consists of true believers, believers in process and potential believers. There's an art to having all of these people in the same place and meeting all of their needs. I can't say that I know how to do it but at Cedarbrook we are working at it. The model that I keep in my mind is receiving a guest in your home for a weekend. You would never try to change their morality or beliefs just because they stayed at your house. You would note their differences, respect them and possibly engage them in a polite discussion about why they are different. But you wouldn't "lay down the law" with them. Yet, churches often do just that with their guest. Sadly, their guests never return.

Why I Don't Like Church

I've had 30 years of church experience; from megachurch to small church to house church. I've tried different size churches because I thought the size of the church might have a lot to do with the quality of the church. But after seeing that all structures (large and small) have their weakness, I decided that quality of a church has more to do with its attitude than its size.

One mistake that churches often make is in thinking that their purpose is to dispense information. In their mind they have the truth, and since Jesus said that truth sets us free, then all they have to do is educate the ignorant with the truth of the Bible.

But that simple mindset starts a snowball effect of legalism and hurt. This kind of thinking implies that we (those with the truth) are right and everyone else is wrong. People need to listen to us because we have the truth. If people don't listen to us, they hate the truth and are bad. Because they are bad we can exclude them and openly ridicule them. See what I mean? This happens in churches all the time. And that's why I don't like church (at least when I see this happen).

Lots of people turn up at Cedarbrook after experiencing some kind of church abuse. I've heard all kinds of awful stories about how churches have treated people who didn't believe right or act right. I'm amazed that these people even consider returning to church.

The purpose of the church isn't to dispense information. The purpose of the church is to love the world like Jesus did. Jesus said that he didn't come to judge the world but to save it. He laid down his life for the world.

When the world sees us laying down our lives in order to serve others then they will know that we have the truth. They'll know that we have the truth because they will see that we ARE set free. We've been set free from our independence and selfishness allowing us to love others. When they see that, maybe then they'll listen to what we have to say. But I don't think too many people are listening to the church that is merely pushing information.

The Kingdom of Heaven: the movie

As I've browsed the movies for rent I've been intrigued by the movie, "The Kingdom of Heaven". I hadn't heard much about it so I never wanted to risk renting it. But the other night my options were limited so I took the risk.

I was pleasantly surprised. The acting was excellent and I found it a fascinating overview of the Crusades. Now, before you run out and rent it, you need to know that it's rated R for violence. In the spirit of "Braveheart" you'll see a lot of bloody mass battle scenes. So don't say I didn't warn you! But I learned a lot. The Crusades are something that a lot of people refer to but know nothing about.

I didn't know the history, that Muslims governed Jerusalem until the Pope decided they should be driven out. And the politics and factions of the crusaders was interesting. Plus the siege of Jerusalem was interesting from a historical standpoint.

But in addition to the history, the contrasting religious views was interesting as well. The tension between opposing religious ideologies still exists today and so the lessons are very relavent.

It's definitely not a "chick-flick" (although there is a love story intertwined). So know that. But if you like action, historical accuracy, a religious theme and ethical dilemma's in your movie, this is worth the time.

By the way, be sure to look at some of the dvd extra's. There's an excellent documentary from the History Channel called "History vs. Hollywood" that goes into the history of the Crusades.

Advent: Who's Fooling Whom?

Soren Kierkegaard sees something different yet in this series of meditations (Watch for the Light). He notes that in the Christmas story, wise men from the East (non-Jews) cross mountains and rivers to meet the Messiah while learned Jews who knew of the Messiah's coming barely show an interest.

Although the scribes could explain where the Messiah should be born, they remained quite unperturbed in Jerusalem. They did not accompany the Wise Men to seek him. Similarly we may know the whole of Christianity, yet make no movement. The power that moved the heaven and earth leaves us completely unmoved.

...Who had more truth? The three kings who followed a rumor, or the scribes who remained sitting with all their knowledge?

Imagine the surprise and confusion of the wise men to learn of the disinterest of the Jews. Soren closes by saying...

This is as bad as if a person knows all about Christ and his teachings, and his own life expresses the opposite. We are tempted to suppose that such a person wishes to fool us, unless we admit that he is only fooling himself.

It's worth a moment of thought to ask yourself if you might be one of these people.

Advent: When the Time is Fulfilled

We're in the home stretch of Advent now. Today, Eberhard Arnold looks at the verse in Luke that says..."the time was fulfilled for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her first born, a son." Luke 2:5,6

The "fullness of time" is an interesting concept. I've often thought about it in terms of my starting a church. I wanted to start a church as early as twenty years ago but the time or conditions never seemed right. I had almost given up on the idea but then a few years back it looked like the time might be right. After five more years of waiting, it finally happened, and it's everything I had hoped for and more.

Arnold says we need to remember these things because there is always a temptation to doubt.

We work sometimes until we are weary and yet we see so little fruit. Does everything remain as it was? Haven't we gone forward at all? Have we really been able to help a little somewhere, or have we merely affected the surface of things? Where is the trace or glimpse of the goal we long for? What are all our efforts against the apparently indestructible powers of misery and evil?

Arnold says that at these moments of despair we need to remember that God is the one who brings things to fruition in his time and in his way.

Christmas did not come after a great mass of people had completed something good, or because of the successful result of any human effort. No, it came as a miracle, as the child that comes when his time is fulfilled ...

But to bring some balance, Arnold says that there is some degree of our involvement in God moving. Mary had to be willing to bear the child. It was her willingness that released the will of God. And so, in our lives, we can speed God's coming by our openess to humbly embrace his will for our lives.

For the miracle of God comes not only from above; it also comes through us; it is also dwelling in us.

Advent: Not So Silent Night

Did you realize that Advent continues through January 7th? Yup.

Today Phil Yancey (in Watch for the Light) looks at the incongruency of the warm and fuzzy Christmas cards he receives and the reality of what was taking place when Jesus was born. He says...

Sorting through the stack of cards that arrived at our house...I noted that all kinds of symbols have edged their way into the celebration. Overwhelmingly, the landscape scenes render New England towns buried in snow, usually with the added touch of a horse-drawn sleigh. On other cards, animals frolic: not only reindeer but also chipmunks, raccoons, cardinals and cute gray mice...And yet when I turn to the gospel accounts of the first Christmas, I hear a very different tone, and sense mainly disruption at work...

Yancey delineates the political unrest at the time and how even Mary's song refers to rulers being thrown down and proud men being scattered. He said that in contrast to what the cards imply, Jesus being born did not make life better or simpler. In fact, for Mary, becoming an unwed pregnant teenager was only the beginning of her trials.

Then Yancey looks at the book of Revelation where the birth of Jesus is talked about in apocalyptic terms. When God's child is born the devil's space is invaded and a mighty battle begins in the heavens. So, whether on earth or in heaven, Jesus' birth did not bring such a silent night at the song says.

As Jesus said himself, he didn't come to bring peace but a sword. His presence was never meant to lull us to sleep but to call us to action. What action has his coming prompted in you?

Advent: You are a Manger!

These are my closing comments from our Christmas service regarding the manger.

I want you to consider one last thing about this manger. Look at it. Look how simple it is – just a couple of 2x4’s and plywood. Every day of the year it holds grain and hay. Nothing special. Very ordinary. But then, suddenly, it becomes the throne of God. The moment that Jesus was placed in that manger its role changed. As common as it was its sole purpose was to feature and honor Jesus.

Have you ever considered that God wants us all to be mangers? We are all very common. And most of us perform very mundane tasks on a day to day basis. But when we receive Jesus that all changes. We become a throne for God. Suddenly we are called to feature and honor Jesus in all that we do. We’ve gone from being common to royal simply because we are holding Jesus.

As you leave today or as you wake up tomorrow, I hope you’ll consider that. I hope you’ll consider how you can receive Jesus into your life if you haven’t yet done so. And if you have, I hope you’ll consider how your purpose in life is radically different than it was before. Your daily tasks may be just as mundane as they were before but your purpose is different. You are now the showcase of God. (Note that I didn’t say that you are showing off for God.) God wants to use you to reveal to the world that he is approachable, condescending and subtle. So subtle that he’s working through you! Will you accept that role? Let me pray for you...

Father, thank you for breaking into history. I never would have done it like you did. Who could even conceive it? Yet you knew what you were doing. Nothing was by chance or coincidence. You were making a statement to the world, even in having Jesus placed in a manger. Father, I pray for everyone here to receive you into their life just like that manger did. As common as we are, might we embrace you and let people see Jesus in our lives. Thank you that you are willing to meet us where we are at. Thank you that you aren’t offended by us. Might we have eyes to see you and ears to hear you so we never miss what you are doing. Amen.

You can visit the Cedarbrook website for the full text of this message.

Merry Christmas

Our Christmas services are over now. I enjoyed seeing so many people at the Mabel Tainter Theatre. If you weren't there I shared my reflections on the manger. The following is a brief summary (I'll be posting the full message later this week).

God revealed three aspects of his character when he had Jesus born in a stable and placed in a manger.

First, God is approachable. There's nothing more approachable than a baby. Place a baby in a room and everyone gathers around. There's something about a baby's vulnerability that draws you to it.

But just coming as a child didn't make Jesus approachable. He had to also be accessible. Jesus could have been born in a palace with guards. To be fully approachable Jesus was born in a stable. Stable hands don't check I.D.'s screening people at the door. And that's why Jesus was born there. Everyone is welcome. God is approachable.

Second, God is condescending. That's a negative term when applied to a human but it's a compliment to God. God is willing to humble himself and come down to our level. Jesus emptied himself of his divine nature to meet us where we are at. He didn't hold any special privileges in coming. He didn't require a clean hospital or guards at the door. And that tells me that if God is willing to come into a dirty stable he's willing to come into my dirty life. It doesn't matter who I am or what I've done. He'll lower him self to whereever I'm at to relate to me personally.

Third, God is subtle. Jesus didn't come with a parade or fireworks or a trumpet fanfare. It was the opposite. It was almost a secret. God seems to take pleasure in revealing himself only to true seekers. He won't shake us until we believe. He can only be seen by those looking for him. I'm sure it was tempting for the shepherds to leave the stable. It didn't LOOK like God was there. But something inside of them told them to stay. God, indeed, was there.

We too need to have that same kind of discernment to see God where others don't.

Merry Christmas!

Advent: Shipwrecked at the Stable

Brennan Manning (Watch for the Light) uses the metaphor of shipwreck survivors who find the stable and worship Jesus. He says that it is these people, people who have experienced the humbling of a pain-filled life, that can appreciate the true meaning of Christmas. Let me quote from him extensively because I can't do him justice with a summary...

The shipwrecked at the stable are the poor in spirit who feel lost in the cosmos, adrift on an open sea, clinging with a life-and-death desperation to the one solitary plank. Finally they are washed ashore and make their way to the stable, stripped of the old spirit of possessiveness in regard to anything.

The shipwrecked find it not only tacky but utterly absurd to be caught up either in tinsel trees or in religious experiences ("Doesn't going to church on Christmas make you feel good!"). They are not concerned with their own emotional security or any of the trinkets of creation. They have been saved, rescued, delivered from the waters of death, set free for a new shot at life. At the stable in a blinding moment of truth, they make the stunning discovery that Jesus is the plan of salvation they have been clinging to without knowing it!

All the time they were battered by wind and rain, buffeted by raging seas, they were being held even when they didn't know who was holding them. Their exposure to spiritual, emotional and physical deprivation has weaned them from themselves and made them re-examine all they once thought important. The shipwrecked come to the stable seeking not to possess but to be possessed, wanting not peace or a religious high, but Jesus Christ.

On this Christmas Eve, I hope we can all come to the stable with this same purity of heart. It's not a purity that comes from a perfect life but a purity that comes from being solely focused on the Source of perfect Life. Might we not use Him but might we offer ourselves to be used by HIm to bring the good news of his coming to others. Merry Christmas.

Advent: Finding Jesus Today

Dorothy Day (Watch for the Light) challenges those of us who have said, "If Mary were looking for a room today to give birth to Jesus, I would have given her a room. Too bad I was born 2000 years too late!" Day says that Jesus is always with us, always asking for room in our hearts, and doing it through other people.

The early church was so profoundly aware of blessing Jesus through others that it was common practice to keep a "stranger's room" ready to offer shelter to those passing through town. Today, we have "guest rooms" for our close friends and family. How quick would we be to offer that to a stranger? The hosts didn't do this in memory of Jesus but, to them, the stranger was Jesus.

Day mentions how various people blessed Jesus; whether that was the shepherds and the wise men at his birth or those who prepared Jesus for the tomb after his death. Then she says...

We can do it too, exactly as they did. We are not born too late. We do it by seeing Christ and serving Christ in friends and strangers, in everyone we come in contact with.

Day says that Jesus will ask of us...

Did you give me food when I was hungry?
Did you give me drink when I was thirsty?
Did you give me clothes when my own were rags?
Did you come to see me when I was sick, or in prison or in trouble?

And to those who say, aghast, that they never had a chance to do such a thing, that they lived two thousand years too late, he will say again what they had the chance of knowing all their lives, that if these were done for the very least of his brethren they were done to him.

Day closes by saying that there is only one motivation for helping others...

Not for the sake of humanity. Not because it might be Christ who stays with us, comes to see us, takes up our time. Not because these people remind us of Christ...but because they are Christ, asking us to find room for him, exactly as he did at the first Christmas.

Take another look around and see if Jesus is asking for room in your heart today through someone you least expect.

Advent: A Checkered Geneology

Gail Goodwin, in Watch for the LIght, looks at the potentially boring geneology of Jesus (see Matthew 1:1-17). It takes over three minutes to read and mentions names that you've never heard of in the Bible. Most of us skip right over it. But the Jews of Jesus' day knew their Bible and every name meant something. Strung together, the names each told a story and made a powerful point.

Abraham was a reformed pagan. Isaac was the second try after a bastard child. Jacob was that shifty guy who stole the birthright from his brother. Judah was one of the brothers who sold Joseph into slavery. And Tamar, now that's an interesting story! She was a Canaanite who disguised herself as a prostitute and seduced her father-in-law Judah to get a son out of him. Or how about Rahab, the prostitute that was saved from Jericho for helping the spies escape. She ended up as a great, great, great grandmother of Jesus.

As long as we are discussing the women, there's also Ruth and Bathsheba. Ruth was an outsider from Moab. I'm sure it was a disappointment to Boaz's parents that their son looked to someone other than a Jew for a wife. And we all know about Bathsheba. The wife of Uriah whom David slept with and conceived a child. To cover up the scandal he had her husband sent to the front lines of battle to be killed.

I bet your family tree is looking pretty good by now! David's "problem" with Bathsheba was just one of a long list of sin. Then his son Solomon worshipped gods that required child sacrifice. Rehoboam, his son, split the kingdom in two. It's a sad list for sure. There's more names but I don't have the space and you don't have the time!

So what's the point? There were plenty of good people to highlight in Jesus' past. Why go out of your way to mention the shady characters? Because Mary was potentially a "shady" character and Matthew was sensitive to these kinds of accusations. He was saying right from the beginning, "Jesus comes from questionable stock and therefore every person who is questionable is welcome, including Mary."

Maybe you are of "questionable stock" yourself. Maybe you have felt like you don't deserve to be named as a follower of Jesus. You don't think you are worthy. Hey...join the crowd. No one is, but the beauty of Jesus is that he seems to revel in being associated with us low-lifes! He's not ashamed of us. I'm sure he'd be quick to tell us that "some of my 'best relatives' were low-lifes!"

So this Christmas, gather around the manger along with everyone else. There's a place waiting for you. You'll fit right in!

Get Your Site Feed Link

I've added some links to your right. The newest one is the "Blog Site Feed". If you have a browser home page with Yahoo! or whomever, there are usually places for you to add site feeds to your favorite blog. That way you don't have to save them to your favorites and go visit them. They are all right on your home page.

If you want "Thinking Out Loud" on your homepage, click on the link to the right and copy/paste the URL address to where it asks for the site feed address on your browser. Yahoo!'s new email now has site feeds built right into the mailbox area (by the files). I hope this all makes sense! Good luck.

Advent: Overcoming Our Fears

In Watch for the Light (see "Currently Reading" link), Johann Arnold focuses on the words of the angel to Mary when he said "Fear not!" He concludes that this exhortation means that the fear that grips human hearts will have to give way to the far greater power of love.

We don't fear the plagues of death that used to ravage the land (at least in the USA) but there is still plenty of fear to go around. We fear addiction, divorce, abortion, violence, racisim, poverty and war. As Pope John Paul II said, we live in a "culture of death".

Plus we fear the old, hiding them in nursing homes. We fear crime, buying guns and fleeing the urban areas. We fear anyone who doesn't look like us, choosing to live in gated communities. And of course we fear terrorism.

For those of us that seek to follow Jesus, there is plenty of reason to fear because Jesus often walks in vulnerable places. Born in a manger? That doesn't sound safe. Challenging the religious? Not wise. Entrusting his ministry to teenage dropouts? Petrifying! Claiming to be God? Well, we know where that got him. Arnold said...

But by overcoming death he took away all our reasons for fear, forever. Of course, it does no good to recognize this in a merely intellectual way. Knowing that Christ loves us may not save us from fear, nor will it save us from death. And so it comes down to this: the only way to truly overcome our fear of death is to live life in such a way that its meaning cannot be taken away by death.

Arnold admits that this sounds simplistic and grandiose but he insists that it is very practical.

It means fighting the impulse to live for ourselves, instead of for others. It means choosing generosity over greed. It also means living humbly, rather than seeking influence and power. Finally, it means being ready to die again and again - to ourselves, and to every self-serving opinion or agenda.

Arnold says that this kind of lifestyle is what true love is all about. It's not about a fuzzy emotion.

Love is a tangible reality...But when we live for love, we will be able to meet any challenge that comes our way - even the final one, death.

And when you can look death in the eye, any other fear that we may confront pales in comparison.

Advent: Learning to Receive

In Watch for the Light, William Willimon questions our ability to receive. He thinks that we are much more comfortable in the role of giving. He notes that the first thing we often do when given a gift is to want to give a gift in return...not necessarily out of love or kindness but...

We don't want to be indebted. The gift seems to lay a claim upon us... By giving us a gift, the person has power over us.

We to prefer to think of ourselves as givers - powerful, competent, self-sufficient, capable people whose goodness motivates us to employ some of our power, competence and gifts to benefit the less fortunate.

But in the story of Christmas, God has given to us in a way that we can never return payment and we don't know how to handle that. Again, Willimon says...

It's tough to be on the receiving end of love. God's or anybody else's... "Nothing is more repugnant to capable, reasonable people than grace, " wrote John Wesley a long time ago.

This is often the way God loves us: with gifts we thought we didn't need, which transform us into people we don't necessarily want to be.

This last quote is the most profound for me. Because we are so ingrained in our way of thinking and not in tune with God, his actions often seem foreign and even inappropriate, so we often reject them out right - barely giving them any consideration. (Hasn't this happened even in the Christmas story itself?)

This Advent I encourage you to receive the gift that God wants to give you - not the one that you think you need. What is it that he's been trying to give you (think character qualities or relationships) that you have resisted because that's just "not you". It's in receiving that gift and becoming the person he wants you to be that you will find peace and fulfillment.

Advent: A Call for Revolution

John Yoder gives us a totally different look at Advent. He notes in Mary's song in Luke (after hearing that she'll give birth to Jesus) that this is not a song of a sweet maiden but...

...of Maccabees (the Jewish revolutionaries): it speaks of dethroning the mighty and exalting the lowly, of filling the hungry and sending the rich away empty. Mary's praise to God is a revolutionary battle cry.

He goes on to say that every revolutionary thinks that "the system" is corrupt and needs overthrowing - and that's what the "gospel" is - a call to revolt - a call to do away with the old and to bring in the new. In defining the word "gospel" or (evangelion in Greek) he says...

Originally it is not a religious or a personal term, it is news which impinges upon the fate of the community. [The gospel or] "Good news" is the report brought by a runner to a Greek city, that a distant battle has been won, preserving their freedom; or that a son has been born to the king, assuring a generation of political stability. "Gospel" is good news having seriously to do with the people's welfare.

What a great take on a word that we have allowed to grow boring and mundane. The good news of Jesus' birth isn't meant to make us warm and fuzzy but to stir us to action- casting off the old system of selfishness and pride and working to build a new community of sacrificial love and good works. Yoder closes by saying...

The need is not for consolation or acceptance but for a new order in which men may live together in love. In his time, therefore, as in ours, the question of revolution, the judgment of God upon the present order and the imminent promise of another one, is the language in which the gospel must speak. What most people mean by revolution, the answer they want, is not the gospel; but the gospel, if it be authentic, must so speak as to answer the question of revolution. This Jesus did.

Advent: Pregnant with God

In his entry, "Yielding to God", Philip Britts considers the response of Mary when the angel told her that God would give her a child. She said...

Behold the handmaiden of the Lord;

be it unto me according to your word.

This most spiritual moment wasn't marked by Mary's activity (working to bring something to God) but her humbly receiving what God had brought to her. And as every pregnant woman soon realizes, this new life overtook and dominated her own; not in a bad way, not in a way that detracted from her life or robbed her of her identity. But in a way that added to who she was and her purpose in life. The sacrifice she made brought meaning and fullness to her life.

As humans, we tend to want to do things to manufacture some kind of spiritual experience. We will travel to holy places, light candles, offer prayers, wear crosses, read the Bible, etc., etc. - all fine and good- but if we are doing those things in hopes of earning God's favor or bringing his presence into our lives, we've missed the point. Britts says...

It is not that we, as pilgrims, climb to a celestial city,

but that the Christ child is born in the poverty of our hearts.

That is, God purposefully comes to us because there's nothing that we can do that will get us to him. And notice how Jesus came - in the most accessible form possible. There is nothing more approachable than a baby and no where more available than in a stable (He could have been born in a royal courtyard surrounded by guards).

This Advent, put aside your religious chores and simply receive the presence of Jesus. Then, let him fill every part of your heart and mind until he is "birthed" in your life.

Advent: The Shame of Inactivity

Loretta Ross-Gotta is our author du jour. She goes straight for the jugular when she challenges our need to be active instead of waiting for God. She says that we fear doing nothing. We fear that ...

this offering of oneself for God to be the actor, cannot possibly be enough. It all seems so passive. Do something, produce, perform, earn your keep. Don't just sit there.

Loretta challenges us to be more like Mary as she waits for Jesus to be born in us...

We create holy ground and give birth to Christ in our time not by doing but by believing and by loving the mysterious Infinite One who stirs within. This requires trust that something of great and saving importance is growing and kicking its heels in you.

The greatest challenge from Loretta may be her parting words. She suggests that we risk it all by not engaging in any of the cultural aspects of Christmas. No presents, no lights, no decorating. No worrying about uncle Fred's obnoxious behavior or if the sweater you bought for Michelle is the right color. Instead she imagines attending a church service, void of carols and candles, to only focus on the presence of God...

All of that would seem gaudy and shallow in comparison to the sanctity of that still sanctuary. And we, hushed and awed by something greater and wiser and kinder than we, would kneel of one accord in the stillness. A peace would settle over the planet like a velvet coverlet drawn over a sleeping child...We would be filled with the fullness of God...What if, instead of doing something, we were to be something special? Be a womb. Be a dwelling for God. Be surprised.

It's probably telling of us as a people, but simply being the dwelling place of God isn't enough for us. We seem to need the bells and whistles

Advent: God Comes to Shake Us

It's interesting to read a book where a different author gives their own perspective on Christmas. Today, Alfred Delp, shares his thoughts as a prisoner in Hitler's prison, condemned to death for his opposition to Hitler's regime. He was hanged in 1945. Delp was a Jesuit priest.

From his war torn perspective, Advent wasn't a time when God comes gently. Advent was a time when God comes and shakes you up. He was convinced that Hitler was being used by God to show the world it's weak foundation. He then says...

The world today needs people who have been shaken by ultimate calamities and emerged from them with the knowledge and awareness that those who look to the Lord will still be preserved by him, even if they are hounded from the earth...

...God's coming and the shaking up of humanity are somehow connected. If we are inwardly unshaken, inwardly incapable of being genuinely shaken, if we become obstinate and hard and superficial and cheap, then God will himself intervene in world events and teach us what it means to be placed in this agitation and be stirred inwardly...Advent is a time when we ought to be shaken and brought to a realization of ourselves.

Delp concludes by encouraging those that have been shaken to become messengers of peace to those living in the tumult of the day. People need to look at their lives from God's perspective otherwise they will be overcome with the despair of the day.

Thankfully we aren't in prison this Christmas but we may be in self-made prisons of hate or addiction or depression. Let Advent be a time when God shakes you up. Let God show you your weak foundations that you might be strengthened. And then may you be one that is sent out to encourage others to experience the same.

Advent: Love Comes to Earth

December 4th's reading in Watch for the Light is from Madeleine L'Engle. She says that you really can't explain the incarnation (God becoming human) but she wonders...

Was there a moment, known only to God, when all the stars held their breath, when the galaxies paused in their dance for a fraction of a second, and the Word, who had called it all into being, went with all his love into the womb of a young girl, and the universe started to breathe again, and the ancient harmonies resumed their song, and the angels clapped their hands for joy?

She goes on to say that God abandoned his power to become powerless in Jesus - identifying with the frustration of being human - and then continues...

Christ...the Maker of the universe or perhaps many universes, willingly and lovingly leaving all that power and coming to this poor, sin-filled planet to live with us for a few years to show us what we ought to be and could be. Christ came to us as Jesus of Nazareth, wholly human and wholly divine, to show us what it means to be made in God's image.

It's because of this that we have hope - for both today and the days to come. We are never stuck. As long as we look for his coming there is always hope of our lives being transformed.

Will Your Pet Be in Heaven?

Ten years ago I would have laughed off the question, "Will my pet be in heaven?" It seemed trivial in the scheme of spiritual things. Of course pets wouldn't be in heaven...not to say there wouldn't be animals in heaven... but why would God resurrect a pet?

Maybe it's old age setting in and I'm getting soft. Maybe it's my heretical tendencies. Or maybe it's the fact that I just put my eleven year old dog to sleep...but I take that question much more seriously today. (Someone just asked me this recently)

First of all, in answering this question, you have to loosen up your idea of heaven. Ideas of heaven, much like ideas of hell, are more manufactured from popular culture than they are found in the Bible. There are many prophetic passages in the Bible that speak of heaven as a restoration of the earth. Rather than God destroying the earth and creating something totally new, God restores the earth that was corrupted by sin. He puts it back the way it was...the way it was supposed to be in the first place.

I like that. It sounds exactly like what God does in people. Rather than wiping us out and starting over, he renews us.

So, my idea about pets is based on that understanding of heaven. It's a restoration of all that is good. It's not another world that we know nothing about. It's what we've always longed for earth to be. If that's right (and I'm not convinced that it is but intrigued by the thought) then it wouldn't surprise me at all if your pet is one of the first to greet you when you pass to the other side. ( Oh yeah, more speculation here...the natural question is...If heaven is a restored earth...where is heaven now? It's in another dimension! And when Jesus returns, the two dimensions will merge into one. Hey, I SAID it was speculation!)

I think every pet owner will agree that pets are not human, but they are much more than flesh and bone. There is a connection made that goes beyond the owner merely projecting their emotions onto their pet. Because of this, and because I believe that God loves and values all of his creation, I'm looking forward to running through some fields in heaven with my German Shepherd!

Advent: An Unimpressive Coming

My readings in Watch for the Light this week haven't moved me enough to write specifically about what the authors' said but they have got me thinking in more general terms about Advent.

I'm struck by the subtlety of Jesus' birth and how that is true even today regarding his coming. We often talk about the Bethlehem star like it was a neon sign or sky spotlight boldly announcing his birth. But it was only the discerning wise men who recognized what the star meant. And when they arrived at Jesus' home, their first thought was probably that they had it wrong. In fact, they missed the birth by about two years! (See Matthew 2 - Herod killed boys under two, meaning Jesus was up to two years old by the time the wise men arrived.)

We need to remember this as we look for God today. Even believers get sucked into the mind-set that "if it's God, it has to be obvious." That kind of thinking motivates the people looking for weekly signs and wonders. But I would venture to say that if it's God, He might be so subtle that we miss it. God might come to us in the scent of a flower, a gentle breeze off a lake, a smile from a stranger, or the radical thought that flits through our mind calling us to a place of humility and dependence on Him.

God is always speaking yet we so often limit our listening to the obvious (Bible reading, a sermon, worship music, etc.). This Advent, slow down and expand the possibilities of how God might speak to you...then, listen.

Advent: Waiting in Fear or Hope

In "Watch for the Light", Henri Nouwen talks about waiting for God. He observes that most people think waiting is a waste of time. Or worse, it's a time filled with fear as they dread what might happen to them. It's the fear in waiting that often causes people to strike out in anger or even violence trying to control their situation - stifling what they fear may happen at the end of their waiting.

But Nouwen notes that in the pre-birth stories of Jesus, everyone is waiting - not in fear but in hope. They are content to let God's will be revealed in his timing. Nouwen says that for the faithful, waiting is active. They believe that God is doing something in their heart; correcting them, directing them, maturing them - even if nothing is happening on the outside. And therefore the waiting of the faithful is open-ended - they never know all that God will do in a time of waiting. They have no preconceived ideas.

Close-ended waiting is when you think you know what the outcome of your waiting should be. You are just passing the time until you get what you want/expect. In a sense, close-ended waiting is a way of controlling your future. You wait until you get what you want. Open-ended waiting means that you have let go of your agenda and are willing to receive whatever it is that God has for you. You have relinquished your control. You will not "make something happen". You have chosen not to let your fear of the future intimidate others in order to manipulate the outcome.

Jesus' family (Elizabeth, Mary, etc.) waited as a community for the hope of the Messiah through them. According to Nouwen, their waiting was a model for how the church should wait for his coming. In the midst of a chaotic world, we wait patiently, encouraging each other, reminding one another of what is true - open to whatever it is that God wants to go both without and within.

Reflections on Christmas (Advent)

A friend gave me a devotional book last year that I've been saving for November. It's called, "Watch for the Light"...reading for Advent and Christmas. I thought I'd pass along some thoughts to you as I read through this over the coming days.

In "Action in Waiting" by Christoph Blumhardt, he challenges us to open ourselves to receiving Jesus. That's what Advent is about...preparing for his coming. But he's not talking about getting out the decorations and buying presents. He's talking about how we need to be alert to hear what God is saying to us when he speaks. So, he's broadening the idea of Advent to our entire life. Will we receive God's word - even his correction - when it comes?

He gives an example by saying that the cook learns to cook well and the farmer learns to farm well (today he might say the computer analyst learns to analyze well). But suppose that God comes to you and says, "Listen, don't simply cook as the world cooks or farm as the world farms. Stop and think how to do things in a way as to please ME!"

Then he says, "Maybe you will say, 'What do you mean? That's the way I learned it and that's how everybody else does it'. True, everybody does it that way; but you do not need to. Those intent on Christ coming into their lives have to bring a different way to their lives."

It's a subtle thing...doing things well versus doing things as to please God. But to those that want to receive Jesus' coming, it's an important distinction. Blumhardt challenges us to humble our hearts in order to hear God speaking softly to us.