Who's Hope is it?

On the heels of Barak Obama's inauguration, I feel a certain weighty inspiration. Here is a man that appeals to our ideals of hope. Agree or disagree with his specific stances on issues, but hope is universal because it springs from our God and it was Jesus' message, His Good News, before it was anyone elses.

There was one particular part of our President's speech today that captured me because I feel like its a message the Church could take to heart in the era of transition we find ourselves collectively in.

...They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint...

The Church for too long has enjoyed a season of Power and has operated in the world under that mode. The consequence is a culture that rejects us because the Gospel is not a message about power. The Gospel is a message about justness, humility, and restraint (more on this in a future post).

Earlier in his speech, President Obama said that the world has changed and so should we. He meant the country but I think its a message for the Church as well. We shouldn't fear change as if the Gospel will be altered in the process. And we shouldn't see change as merely packaging. If the Gospel is timeless, it will find context in our current time. In these changing times, we will contexts shift but our Gospel of Hope remain the same. As I said, before Hope was Barack Obama's message, it was God's. As followers of Christ, we should be a people inspired by Jesus' message of Hope and Change. To those that carry that banner, I look forward to joining with you...

The Wager of Devotion

What if I told you something really bad was about to happen to you? You won't know when, where, how, who - nothing, just that something bad is going to happen to you and when it happens...well, its gonna be bad. You would probably walk around pretty jumpy. Perhaps you would find yourself being a little more timid, not taking as many risks. But as careful as you are, you can never be sure if or when "it" is coming.

Now what if I told you why something was bad was going to happen to you? What if I told you the reason was because you were a follower of God? That one day there would be consequences for being so devoted to God, persecution, death, or even worse - ridicule!

How fortunate are we that our hardships as Christians in America don't even come remotely close to violence or death? This is, unfortunately, not always in the case in other areas of the world where following Christ can mean jail or death. Their plight is much the same of the Jewish nation throughout the ages. I was reminded of the story of Shadrach Meshack and Abendigo in the book of Daniel. Faced with the consequence of a fiery death in a furnace, they chose God over the king, boldly stating that they would rather die than disavow their God. They said that God had the power to save them from this fate. But even if he chose not to, they would still not bow down to the king. This was quite a dangerous wager they had going with the king and with God. They could face the fire and God would either save them or not save them, but what was more unbearable to them than anything was walking away from their God. Their boldness for God was rewarded as God stood with them in the fire; their devotion, shining in sharp contrast to the thousands of Israelites that had chosen to capitulate in the same situation rather than face the same trial.

Lest we think that God is somehow obligated by our actions to work this way or that, think of John the Baptist. He is our counter-example in one way. Like many prophets, he was bold for God but was eventually killed by the same people that he was sent to. We should hear echoes of Jesus' life in this example as well. Here were more followers of God that decided that nothing would stop them from proclaiming their devotion to God boldly and suffered as a result. What was more unacceptable to them than even death was to say that they almost fought the good fight, almost finished the race, almost keep the faith.

This brings us back to our current dilemma, if fiery furnaces and death aren't our consequence for following God then why do we walk around as if it were? At the risk of scorn or a snide comment from a coworker or classmate, many Christ followers sheepishly go about their devotional lives hoping to not draw much attention to themselves. Their compromise is a devotion not so bold as to draw attention but not so cold as to equate to, at least in their own minds, rejection of God. I doubt that God is fooled or that he's very pleased. Should he savor a glass of lukewarm water anymore than you or I would?

By their scorn, our culture in many ways has the church up against the proverbial ropes. Where Christians have found the courage to boldly display their devotion for God, they often lack the love and respect necessary for the message to be pure and the hearers to be affected.

We've feared the fire for too long and our world is ill served by the timid faith produced as a result. What this world needs more than anything is a Church that is proud of her Savior. Nothing will build peoples' faith in God more than people with faith in God. Nothing will give people confidence in God more than people who are confident in God. Nothing will help this world know what God is like more than people that model, by their lives, what God is like. Nothing will make people desire God more than people that desire God.

So if my life is a wager between the possibility of persecution or the assurance of God's pleasure then gimme the dice - I'm betting it all on the latter.

U-turns in the Kingdom

We've spent the last several Advent weeks preparing for Christmas tomorrow. What continues to strike me is Jesus born in a barn. The humility and simplicity of how God chose to enter into our world carries a profound weight to it that's too easily lost on the season. Philippians 2 says,

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!

We understand what happened at Christmas but we don't understand what any of it means. Not that there's any one meaning or reason but, more to the point, that we don't give it any thought at all. I should wonder as I think about Christ's birth if the humility I see in that act would have some influence on the way I live my life. Christ had everything we strive for in life, and he forsook it to be with us. And, in some kind of ironic twist, we find ourselves forsaking God for all the things we strive for in life.

If it seems backwards, it should. We often find ourselves going in the complete opposite direction that we should be going, doing exactly the opposite of what we should be doing. Our values, our goals and pursuits are cast in stark contrast to God's. That's why God's ways seem so counter-intuitive to us sometimes - who's wrong, him or us? That's why Jesus and others use religious terms like "repent", which literally means, "to turn around" or "to go the other way".

God, born a helpless baby in a stinky manger. Divinity stuffed into humanity. Light shining in the darkness. The most valuable thing in the world, found among the worthless. Its the incredible foolishness of the Christmas story cast against our "normal" values and pursuits that jars us out of our apathy and spiritual inertia. All of a sudden, I'm left to ask what's more foolish, God sacrificing his glory to be with us or me selling my soul for money, prestige, or power.

Looking into the face of a little baby, I'm brought to my knees. Yes, God I hear you. Yes, I understand - or at least I'm beginning to.

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned...

Blogger's Block

Hello long lost blog. It's probably been evident that I have lately found a lack of time and motivation for writing more in my blog. I'm honestly not too worried about this. First of all, the day that I wrote because I felt obligated too this would cease to give me any pleasure at all. Secondly, I've noticed in my life that I go through seasons when I am either "inhaling" or "exhaling" spiritually. In other words, sometimes I have something to say, sometimes I feel I should just shut and listen. One inevitably leads to the other so I'm confident this "blogger's block" will come to an end.

Sufficed to say that, during this season of listening, God has begun to tell me much. I feel like he's leading me into some very new exciting directions. I feel like God is actively at work in my life. I get a sense of his movement and his pulling in a very specific direction. I'm trying to confirm all of this with him by staying in conversation with him.

In the meantime, I'm just going to sit here, be quiet, and listen...

Army of None

Rule #1 on the battlefield - find out who's firing at you.

I've been doing some thinking lately about what/who the chief opponents of the church truly are. There's a lot of rhetoric around this issue and a lot of comforting answers that don't have that much truth to them. And so while the church would like to think the cause of its problems are some combination of gays, MTV, and the democratic party, I think the root cause hits a lot closer to home.

Taking a long term view of church history over the last 2000 years it would seem that the church is a victim of its own success. The church was a tiny mustard seed that grew into a 300 lb. gorilla which then in turn became a 90 year-old women in a walker. As a church, we wonder what we can do to fight those that oppose us but I propose that our greatest enemy is oftentimes, ourselves.

The church suffers from a self-imposed sickness that has perhaps more severely hindered its health and growth than Satan’s opposition ever did. Or, to think about it another way, perhaps apathy has been Satan’s most effective tool over the millennia.

In short, apathy has led to lethargy which has, in turn, led to atrophy.

At the risk of nostalgia, a summary reading of Acts picks up on something very fresh about the Christ followers before they had even begun to be called Christians. There was an urgency to their mission; a sense of sacrifice and excitement that has since largely abated. Somewhere along the way, Christians ceased to be the ones being thrown in the lion's den anymore, they were the lions. For centuries, the midevil and catholic churches could sit back and tell the world that it should come to them - effectively reversing the Great Commission that Jesus had left his followers when he returned to heaven.

Had the church really heard from Jesus to change his command to them or, having achieved a certain level of power and comfort, thought it had accomplished its goal of conquering the world and welcomed anyone that wished to relish that victory to join in doing so?

Before the church had even effectively begun, Jesus stated the problem and the solution in very clear terms. Staring out over a valley of hurting and lost people, he said, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." Jesus is saying that the problem is not the harvest but the workers!

The modern day church is in urgent need of a sense of urgency about its mission. Is the church still filled with men and women willing to sacrifice anything to glorify Christ in the world? Are we even excited about our faith anymore?! Thankfully, I do believe that the answer is yes. As with every generation, the Lord preserves out of it a remnant that has stayed true to his calling. There exists in this remnant a passion that can still save the world.

And, as it most always is, that remnant is led by its young people.

I see a certain sense of irony in the fact that the generations (X and Y) accosted and chided for their relative lack of motivation and apathy would be the generation whom, by its passion for God, could save the church - and thereby, the world.

In Isaiah 6, God calls out, “Who will I send and who will go.” In the story, Isaiah responds that he will go but, notice carefully, God wasn’t speaking directly to anyone – there is no referent in God’s statement. What I’m led to believe about this call is that its an open invitation as valid today as it was when Isaiah heard. God’s voice is echoing out of heaven calling to each of us and demanding a response. I believe that our generation will respond but let us state very clearly to those that hestitate that no response is effectively a ‘no’.

The time for inaction in God's church has passed. Echoing the words of many a biblical author, love for God will not merely be shown by sentiment but truly by action. I believe that this valley of dry bones can once again rise to be - "a vast army".