Dan Carter

Ethics: why enough isn't always enough

2012-02-03T00:20:43Z

I was working out at the gym the other week and happened to see a conversation on ESPN that fascinated me. Three sports' journalists were discussing the recent (very recent at that moment) death of longtime Penn State football coach Joe Paterno. One theme dominated their spirited and lengthy conversation - How should Joe Paterno be remembered? What should his legacy be? The debate was mildly interesting. But what really grabbed my attention was the simple fact that they, and so many others around the country, were having that discussion and had framed the question this way. By now most of us have heard of, and may have even forgotten already, the child sexual abuse scandal at Penn State. If you are unclear on the details here is a summary: link. Joe Paterno, the beloved coach and mentor, icon of football and grand vizier of Penn State was fired in the fall. He was fired for doing the bare minimum in reporting the horrific allegations brought forth against Jerry Sandusky.

The journalists were wrestling with difficult issues - what were the ethical demands of the situation? Did Joe Paterno do what was legally necessary? But the deeper question they were touching on was this: How do we measure and judge the legacy of a human being? Now you can see why I found this topic so important. It is a question we all ask, should ask and must ask at various times in our lives as we evaluate people's actions - and not just other people's, but our own.

The problem set before them was, should Joe Paterno's legacy be defined by decades of quality coaching or by one possibly weak response to an issue of justice? One of the reporters seemed reluctant to tear down all of Paterno's accomplishments because of his failure to take more definitive action. One of them was adamant that this proved that the man was not the lord of Happy Valley that many made him out to be. My goal is actually not to claim to have the definitive view on this, though my opinions will be fairly clear. I am not going to try to be comprehensive or to present sympathies with all sides of the arguments. My primary goal is to point out several things about legacy and ethics that we should learn from this discussion. Specifically, I have observed 3 related instincts that surfaced during the societal discussion, instincts that I am glad we still show as human beings.

Instinct for ethics: The fact that we would have this discussion at all as a society demonstrates that deep down we have strong priorities. We worship sports in our culture and the people in them. But something deeper surfaces when a story like this occurs. Suddenly the life work of a man and his sport can seem very insignificant when placed next to something of true consequence. I love Sport and think there is a great deal of value to it. But isn't it striking that decades of being good at a game do not amount to much if you have possibly failed at the most important things? We do this all the time on a much smaller scale - we risk the legacy of truly meaningful things in order to chase after things that may or may not have significance. This is as true for a pastor or stock broker as it is for a football coach. This does not diminish the importance of work and even play in human life, but it does tell us that human nature does not evaluate all decisions equally. Whether you were good at calling blitzes, in the end, pales when compared to such an issue of justice, to that one moment when faced with a decision of dire consequence.

Enough isn't enough: When it comes the the weighty significance of those moral decisions we face, enough is not enough. I have heard a few people say that Paterno was unfairly treated because he did what was necessary, but these folks are in the vast minority. Again, our instincts about legacy tell us that men and women are not remembered well for the times when they did just enough to get by. The great men and women (in Christianity - the servants) are remembered well for going above and beyond the circumstances that threatened them. It bothers us that Paterno did 'just enough' or 'only what was required.' Laws are, of course, related to morality. But deep, robust ethical actions always go above and beyond the mere laws of the land. Occasionally they even break the laws of the land in order to pursue a higher law. Enough isn't enough. We yearn for a higher morality in our heroes.

Speaking of Heroes...: Our truest heroes are still the ones whom we want to admire. We may sympathize with the moral decision of Paterno - we cannot easily judge that we would have done better in his shoes. But we wish we would have. And this says a lot about our natural sense of ethics. We may admire him for many things and we may sympathize with his decision in this case. But most do not admire his decision. We don't strive to emulate him in that moment. Admiration is another level all together. Even in our hollywood and sports idol culture we still yearn for and demand 'real' heroes to follow, people who demonstate courage and boldness in the face of life's biggest questions and opportunities. In this sense, I hope we continue to look beyond Joe Paterno for other people who can give us a legacy of courage to live up to.

Bearded Angels

2012-02-02T18:49:12Z

I want to be the first this year to wish you:

"More than a Merry Christmas!" Or maybe "May your Holidays Be Soul-piercing!" Or "Have a Throne-Crushing Christmas!" Or "Epic Christmas to All!"

A few days ago I was discussing our church's Live Nativity with other church leaders. Every year we put on a nice performance that tells part of the Christmas story and is infused with familiar Christmas hymns and songs. We spend the month leading up to the Nativity recruiting folks to dress up as wise men, an angel, shepherds, Mary and Joseph. We always come to a point when we look at our sign-up sheet and see what spots we still need to fill. This year someone said, "we still need an angel for Sunday night." The conversation then turned to naming the people who might be available to do this. Inwardly, I began to find it very humorous. The only people we brainstormed as qualified candidates were...teenage girls. That may not seem funny to you, but in that moment I was suddenly tempted to start suggesting large, middle-aged men. I eventually shared this and someone else caught the humor and added, "yeah, maybe someone with a beard."

That image makes me laugh every time I think of it. I love the absurdity of an imposing figure booming out in a commanding voice over the quiet manger scene, his tiny, feathered wings shaking on his back and his golden, bedazzled halo swaying on his head.

But why does this seem absurd?

Our idea of the Christmas story is shaped by many things. Perhpas no image shapes our imaginations more than classic nativity scenes, complete with shepherds, stable, cute animals and an angel that usually, more or less, looks like a teenage girl. But when I read the story in the Bible it seems no more absurd to imagine a bearded angel than a teenage girl - it's just that we are used to the latter. Our perception is the result of decades of decisions dictated by our culture. We're so strongly conditioned to it, in fact, that the thought of a man-angel with facial hair makes us giggle or even makes us uncomfortable.

That is why returning to scripture for the birth stories is so essential - to be shaken out of our culturally shaped slumber. Of the approximately 150 verses that comprise Jesus' birth stories there are about 3 (or 2) that are directly about this one moment we try to freeze in time every year. In the Bible the birth itself is almost an afterthought compared to the incredible angel visitations, songs of praise and dangerous conditions that sweep in and out of the story before and after Jesus' birth. And nativities don't even really portray that moment; they portray a conflation of several pieces of the narrative. Nativities have always served a purpose: to teach the elements of the Christmas story in a single image. We speed up the time frame and combine different parts in order to reach this memorable picture. We can recall so much of the tale because we know there are wise men and shepherds and a poor mother and father. Nativities, therefore, have purpose. But that purpose is limited.

The birth story in the Bible is full of twists and turns with crushing moral decisions, narrow escapes from bloodthirsty tyrants and suprising prophesies of a world turned upside down. Our society's version of the nativity is staggeringly ironic because it attempts to instill us with peace. Yet one of the central themes of the Bible stories is that, though the world may look the same on the outside, God is rending the heavens and reshaping history and is coming down to us. It is actually quite difficult to read peace into the stories. Several characters recognize this - Joseph receives disturbing visions and warnings to escape and flee as a refugee to Egypt. Mary sings of a radically changed world where rulers are brought down and the humble are lifted. Zechariah ('who is that?" We ask.) proclaims that the rising sun will come from heaven and shine on those living in the darkness of death. And a random man named Simeon holds the baby Jesus in God's temple, leans over to Mary and whispers an ambivalent portent, "This child will cause the rise and fall of many...and a sword will pierce your own soul, too." These are strange and even frightening events for those who live them. The tranquility of the nativity scene is not necessarily wrong. But it is incomplete. The stories surrounding Jesus' birth are epic and full of danger and mystery and the promise of the rising and falling of kingdoms and souls.

The drama of the universe, the struggles of humankind, the redemption of the world have all converged on one tiny, quiet moment. God is enacting an ultimate plan. The vast sweeps of history and time rush through the earth. Yet, as C.S. Lewis said, "The whole thing narrows and narrows, until at last it comes down to a little point, small as the point of a spear - a Jewish girl at her prayers." May you not only feel the peace of Christmastime, but the excitement, too. May you be overwhelmed as Mary, Joseph and others were at the mysterious and risky nature of God's unfolding plan. May you revisit the birth stories this year and hear them as for the first time. And, as you hear them, may you hear, pulsing beneath the lull of hymns and the soothing firelight of the manger, the rumblings that signal that God is turning the world inside out to rescue the ones he loves.

In other words, I hope your Christmas is more than 'merry.' May it be filled with visions and dreams and the possibility of bearded angels.

O Come, O Come Emmanuel

2011-12-15T14:07:42Z

The Christmas season is here. Think of all the images and events this season brings to your mind. These few weeks leading up to Christmas are about preparing for family events, wishing for soft snow and dancing to familiar holiday songs on the radio while hanging greenery in our homes. This time is about eating wonderful food with other people, finding just the right gifts for loved ones and celebrating the joy of tradition with nativities and fragrant Christmas trees. And, of course, it is about realizing our desperate need and deepest longing for the redemption and restoration of our depraved and tragic lives and world.

Were you with me until that last one? In Christian tradition the word 'advent' describes the weeks leading up to Christmas day. Traditionally, they have been not just a time of celebration, but also of reflection on our human condition - namely, our need for a savior. The word 'advent' means 'coming'. It is all about longing and anticipation. But don't make the mistake at this point of assuming that longing is such a bad thing. Longing can lead us to despair. But it can also lead us to our truest hope. The difference is where we place our faith.

Advent is the great recognition that God sent his Son into the world while it was still a mess. It is also a time to remember that, even though christians know where to place their hope - in Jesus Christ - that hope is still yet to be fulfilled. So we not only remember with anticipation the great story of Christ's coming, but of Christ's coming again. While we do reflect on our need for God - the brokeness of the world, the unfulfilled longings in our hearts, the mistakes and sins we commit - we also reflect on how God has and will fulfill that need. The christian meaning of this season is the anticipation of salvation. The celebration of redemption comes out of our experiences of the darkness into which God has and will come again to shine his light.

I still have not come across a better display of this than a video that my friends made for a seminary course. Take a quiet moment to watch the whole thing. May you see that our greatest hope is not born out of the moments when we dance around the Christmas tree to Jingle Bell Rock. It is born in the moments when, surrounded by deepest darkness, we hear the whisper of a longed for voice - be ready, O sleeper, for though night surrounds us now, it is nearly time for the dawn.

God in the Shadows

2011-11-29T19:04:01Z

We often misunderstand something about the Christian faith - it is sometimes more like a Caravaggio and less like a Baroque.

Wait. What?

Maybe when you have read about the miracles in the Bible you have had this reaction: if only I could see something like that happen, then I would have (more) faith. Have you ever thought that before? I have. We wish for something more, for some more concrete certainty that will banish the doubt from our minds. If you are not sure what I mean or do not think that this happens to most of us, think of it this way. Have you ever said to yourself, if only _______ would happen, then I would be happy? But is this ever really true? Could one thing make the difference between true joy and discontentedness? Almost never. Yet we often live with this view of happiness, thinking that if there were just one more thing in our favor, then we'd be happy. And we often live with a similar outlook on faith. We have this all backwards.

Did you ever think about how many people must have witnessed Jesus' ministry? This would include not only his teaching, but also his public miracles. Yet so many of them walked away from him, were skeptical of him or even worked to kill him. We can only come to one of 3 conclusions about his miracles - 1) The miracles told of in the Bible did not happen. This means that all those who did believe in him and those who wrote about him were delusional. 2) Those who rejected Jesus saw the miracles, but did not perceive any significance in them unless it was to confirm their suspicion of him. 3) The miracles did happen, but faith is required to believe in their meaning - even when they were witnessed firsthand.

This is why if only I could see that happen, then I would believe is tragically backward. Jesus told his listeners in so many words (see John chapter 10 for example) that seeing miracles and wonders is not enough to create faith. Rather it is faith that creates the possibility of seeing miracles for what they are - signs. Signs must be read a certain way and they always point to something other than themselves. Jesus' miracles were not just to instill faith in people - in fact they seemed to instill faith very inconsistently. His miracles were to demonstrate who Jesus is. The types of signs he performed confirmed his mercy, power and harmony with the hopeful visions of the prophets. His miracles also demonstrated the nature of the Kingdom of God. Most of all, they pointed to the fact that he was who he said he was, the Son of the living God. But none of that can be seen simply by being impressed with some kind of marvel. It is understood through eyes of faith.

On the radio yesterday I heard part of an interview with Andrew Graham-Dixon. No, I had never heard of him either. He has just completed a biography about the renowned painter Caravaggio (16th and 17th centuries). You can listen to the interview or read the transcript of it here. A caller asked him if she were right that Caravaggio's works reveal that he had religious 'doubt'. She pointed to the way he paints Christ and saints as very human. He doesn't paint them 'emanating any divine sense', she said. Graham-Dixon's response was amazing. He said, " In a Baroque painting [the style that Caravaggio inherited but from which he broke away], if a miracle takes place, a fricassee of angels will appear stage left, possibly carrying the Madonna aloft in their arms. Caravaggio does not paint miracles like that. But I think you'd be wrong to think that he doesn't paint miracles at all." In my view it is not that the Baroque painters were wrong. They often were trying to paint spiritual realities into a scene, not paint a scene exactly as it would have looked to physical eye. But Caravaggio captured something that is possibly even more true. Graham-Dixon illustrates this by describing a painting to the caller. To get the full effect of what he says first read the Bible story in Luke 24:13-32. Then look at the painting here.

Andrew Graham-Dixon: "Think of "The Supper at Emmaus" in the National Gallery in London. It's a painting about those who see and a painting about those who don't see. Everything looks exactly as a normal supper scene might look. Three men are seated at a table. An innkeeper looks on. The innkeeper has his hat on. Two of the men realize that a miracle is taking place. How do they know? They know because God has arranged things in the form of a shadow play. The innkeeper's head casts a shadow on the wall behind Christ that gives him a halo.

"The light that rakes down from the upper left corner touches the bowl of fruit and deposits a shadow on the table cloth in the shape of a fish. The fish being the ancient mnemonic sign for Jesus Christ. What Caravaggio is saying is if you had been there at that miraculous moment, would you have seen what was happening in the shadows with the light? It's a miracle, but you have to look to see the miracle. It's not that he doesn't believe in the possibility of the miraculous. It's just that he believes if it were to happen, things might look almost exactly as they do right now."

I am not suggesting that miracles do not happen with heavenly choirs and flahses of stars. I believe they sometimes do. But rarely can a miracle increase or secure our faith. Instead, it is faith that gives us eyes to see the miraculous for what it is. Sometimes we find God not in choirs of angels or blazes of light, but in shadows.

Know Yourself

2011-11-03T18:56:50Z

This month's Christianity Today magazine arrived today and as I skimmed through it I came across an article with a fabulous titile:

"Intercultural Fiesta Fail"

The article is not online yet, but will be shortly, I would think. The article has some excellent points and one statement stands out particularly. Leslie Fields writes, "We are one in Christ not because we are one and the same, but because Christ is the same." This is the testimony of the New Testament writers. Paul writes frequently and beautifully about the unity that Christians have (1 Corinthians 12, Philippians 2, Ephesians 2, and Galatians 3 to name a few). But Fields' article reminds me to ask the question, "From where does this unity come?" Too often we believe that it comes from sameness. But unity and sameness are distinct concepts in the Christian life. We have unity not because we look, talk, act or share history or culture with someone. We have unity because there is "one Lord, one faith, one baptism" (Ephesians 4:5). This point should not be overlooked because our tendency is to search for only a superficial unity which can be found in ourselves. But Paul has better news.

The better news is that unity is found outside of ourselves - in Christ who unites us. When we talk about crossing racial, cultural and economic lines it is encouraging to know that there is something beyond us ("above all" Eph. 4:6) that can bring us together, something with power greater than our own. But 'better' news doesn't mean 'easier' news. For just expecting people to mold into copies of ourselves is the easy way out. But even Paul emphasizes later in Ephesians 4 that there are diverse gifts that God gives his people. It is hard work to get past superficial displays of unity into the true and messy relationships of Christian unity. The really good news is that those diverse gifts should all work to bring the Church into "unity of faith" (Eph. 4:13). Our diverse gifts and backgrounds can all work together to serve the same Lord.

One of the reasons this is a difficult lesson for many of us is because many (not all) of us reading this come from culture where we do not reflect very much on our culture. In fact, many white Americans do not feel that they really have a culture. I spoke recently with someone from my churchabout a time when he was given a packet of materials from the company he worked for. The information outlined essential things that business people needed to understand when they worked with their business partner in other countries. He said the learning was fascnating. But the most incredible part was the section about the United States. How strange to see your own country's quirks and nuances on display like that!

This kind of reflection has powerful value when we approach cross-cultural relationships. We need to know where we come from first. We face many dangers when we do not know ourselves and are simply not as effective. In other words, you need to know yourself in order to know deeply others who are different. What is your cultural inheritance? What values were you raised with? What we must not do is demand a false sameness in our relationships. We also must not claim that we do not have a cultural perspective of our own. Instead we must work for a deep unity that comes from above ourselves and know ourselves. How do you know yourself? That is another huge topic. Suffice it to say for now that as John Calvin taught, we know ourselves best when we strive to know our God.

One of the reasons this article jumped out at me was the timing of it. This Sunday, our Urban Entry class will be discussing these very things at 10:00am in the Front Street conference room. Email me if you have questions or would like to join us dan@thepresby.org.

Don't Do It!

2011-10-18T19:51:05Z

I am writing this week to issue you a warning. I plead with you to beware. Over the next few weeks you may be approached by one (or more, heaven forbid!) of our church's youth. They will probably act very polite and even respectful. I urge you, don't buy into their insincerity - they're just trying to get their little speed-texting thumbs on your money. They may call you or email you or text you (kids these days!) or even approach you at your workplace or (the impertinence!) even your private home. The hooligans may even dare to solicit you in our church's sacred sanctuaries, impudently propagating their misdeeds in God's house. They appear innocent enough, but they are manipulating you for their own devious ends.

This is how the scam works: they'll come up to you and say (sweetly - as if they were doing something they were proud of!), "would you like to donate to the 30 Hour Famine?" This is the crucial moment: do not act interested or in any way receptive to them. Because if you do they will latch on to you (sucker!) and launch into their story. They will tell you tear-jerking statistics about how 11,000 children starve around the world every day. And they'll tell you about how preventable much of this is. And they'll tell you (sob, sob) about how they want to be part of the solution. And then when they bring you to your weakest they explain that YOU can join with them in 'fighting hunger' (silly idealists!) by supporting them in their goal of - here comes the hook - going without food for 30 hours in order to help those who go without all the time. "It's so easy!" They'll say so convincingly. As if simply giving them cash or writing a check to World Vision (and sending it to The Presbyterian Church 23 S Front St Hamilton, OH 45011) would 'only' take you "like, 1 minute, duh!" Then they'll explain that your contribution goes to this wonderful (oh puh-lease) organization World Vision and is 100% tax deductible, blah, blah, blah. A teenager willing to not eat to help children they'll never meet? Ha! They should go and make some maple syrup with all that sap. Give me a break.

So don't do it. Don't give in to them.

What?

You think that sounds like a great idea?

Well, I think you're crazy. And I hope you change your mind and choose to boycott these fanatical young people with their pushy idealism and silly ideas.

The author would like to state for the record that his views, opinions and brazen name calling are in no way influenced by the agreement he reached with said teens to shave his head completely bald if they collect $3,000 for World Vision's 30 Hour Famine. The writer is not merely disgusted by the youth's seeming delight in shaming their pastor or their grotesque fascination in wanting to sign his shaved head with a nonpermanent marker.His perspective is not motivated by the subsequent awkwardness and embarrassment of the potential head-shaving and signing, but is driven soley by his disinterested observations as a church leader and youth pastor.

Urban Entry

2011-10-06T17:21:28Z

Our church sits in a fantastic location right in the heart of downtown Hamilton, Ohio. We are near businesses, other churches, and the Great Miami River. We are also close to the less desirable parts of town. Over the years we have chosen to remain here so that we might have an impact on our community. We want to symbolically send the message that we will not abandon Hamilton.

But the people who worship on Sunday morning do not represent the neighborhoods that immediately surround us. Our outreach to the rough parts of town is charitable, but for most of us, it is occasional and distant. Many of us are still not sure if our church is really for 'those people'. My purpose in pointing to this reality is not to evoke guilt (so if you do feel guilty then this would be a good time to ask yourself why and do some soul-searching). But I do want to bring into the light the fact that our desire, as shown in our church's vision, does not yet match the reality of our actions and programs. I know there are people at The Presby who are ready to change this. People want to know how to help those in need. They desire to build up the deserted places and persons in our downtown. But are we ready to ask the hard questions? When we start thinking about how to serve our urban neighbors we are flooded with questions:

Where do I start?

How do we serve without fostering dependency? How do I serve people who are so different from me? What kind of charity is best? What will it mean if we start having 'those people' at our church services? What if they want to change our church? What if I say something offensive? What if people don't appreciate what we do? What if I don't feel safe? What if someone takes advantage of my generosity? What if I'm just not ready for that type of change?

If you want to talk about how we can serve our neighborhood, if you have ever asked some of these questions, if you love Hamilton and love Jesus and never thought how those two things go together - then I have good news. We have a 5 week class starting on October 23rd from 10:00am-11:00am. You can come 1 week or 5 weeks and there is no cost. Just bring a Bible and your honesty. As always, everyone is invited. You don't even have to be part of our church - so pass the word! We will be watching the provocative videos from www.urbanentry.org and discussing how we can impact our neighbors (and be impacted by them). I hope you'll join me in learning to love deeper.

October 23rd - Anything helps?: Charity versus transformation

October 30th - New Neighbors: The changing demographics of the suburbs

November 6th - Race and Culture: How to listen

November 13th - Immigration: How do we talk, think and act about this hot topic

November 20th - The Presby and You: What our church can do / what you can do

Can't make it? I'll be trying to keep the conversation going on this blog. I'll share some of our discussion, arguments and brilliant epiphanies here after each class.

Be Part of Something Special

2011-09-28T19:14:01Z

Right now I am very excited that we have both men’s and women’s group studies going on right now at The Presby. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to be part of a small group. Small groups can function in many different ways – they can do different things, study various topics, worship, serve and live out their Christian vocation in numerous ways. But Christian small groups still have a great many things in common, especially in their broad goals and outcomes. The writer of Hebrews 10:23-25 addresses this. This passage can help us think about the why, what and how of small groups and studies.

Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Three things come to mind in answer to the question, “why should I be part of a Christian small group?”

Insight
Accountability
Obedience

As for insight, there is a time for personal study and reflection. But we need to wrestle through certain issues in community. We gain such richness of thought when we can hear the perspectives of other believers on matters of scripture and faith. So getting that diversity of experience from multiple people is key to spiritual growth. In short, we learn from other people. We gain an advantage not only from the other people in the group, but also the resources of the group. Many women in our Beth Moore Esther study have expressed that they have never had to read the Bible so deeply as they have in the past two weeks of the study. The resource of a professional Bible study has helped them to piece together scriptures they would not have otherwise read or studied. Plus, when we discuss these things we come with more and more questions spurred by our new insights. This cycle of insight-gathering and question-asking is the wheel on which much spiritual maturity travels. Hebrews says, “let us hold fast to the confession”. In order to hold fast, we need to know what it is we’re holding on to – small group study is one of the best ways to do that.

The more serious Bible reading of the women in my congregation speaks to the powerful accountability that groups provide. Peer pressure is not always bad. Verbs in the above passage that jump out to me are ‘hold fast,’ ‘provoke,’ ‘meet together,’ and ‘encourage.’ Accountability is the provoking part of small groups. We can be inspired to more consistent study and holy living when we know that others are provoking us to good deeds and also encouraging us in our faith. The vulnerable part of this is that there will be other people to correct us and to see the 'real us' in all our failings and foibles. But they will also be there to encourage us. When we get to hear the struggles and triumphs that others live through in their relationship with Christ we have the opportunity to be inspiring and inspired, encouraging and encouraged.

But part of the reason we stay connected with other believers is out of obedience to Christ. We do it because Christ has shown us that this is the way. That our worship, confession, study, and ethics are not done in a vacuum, but with other people. I love the phrase in the Hebrews passage that says, “for he who has promised is faithful.” If God has called us, then his faithfulness is always with us. We have nothing to fear in meeting together, in holding fast to faith in Jesus or encouraging one another. We can press forward in our faith knowing that we are measured by the faithfulness of God.

And You gave it to me.

2011-09-13T18:14:28Z

One of the great themes in humanity is the struggle to see familiar things from a new perspective. It is hard to see the beautiful tree in your yard or to hear the melody of a moving song and to know them as if for the first time. You no longer reel from the enormity of the tree or cry from the aching notes. But wonder is necessary for human flourishing. To really live in fullness we need to be caught in awe. Frequently we go about this in two ways. One of our instincts is to change the object of our wonder. We can either increase the frequency or amount of the object or we can just keep trying new things. If we try to obtain that sense of excitement or purpose by only increasing the volume of the thing which once made us feel alive then we can degenerate into addiction, which is the growing need for more of something to obtain the same effect. If we just keep trying new stuff we develop, at best, a risky need for dangerous things that thrill us. Most common, though, is we succumb to our instinct to quietly let the wonder slip from our lives. In the moments we do remember wonder flashing like lightning in our hearts we feebly remind ourselves that those feelings are only meant for the young. And we say it with a sigh. But we do not need to resign ourselves to a life of dull acceptance. And we do not need new thrills.

We need new eyes.

Rabbi Abraham Heschel famously said, "I did not ask for success; I asked for wonder. And You gave it to me." The God of scripture sometimes gives success when we ask for it. But almost always he gives wonder. God grants it to those who see the world through his eyes. GK Chesterton writes beautifully that it is we, not God, who tire of looking at the sunset. He concludes that "we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we." So we need the eyes of the Maker to truly behold what he has made.

If you dare to ask for wonder, be warned: wonder is not the feeling you get at Disney World. Wonder is not always pleasant. How could it be when its principal quality is to open our eyes to the deepest human truths? Remember that you once may have had wonder at the monsters you saw in dreams. As a child I had wonder at the smell of a rose, but also at the cruelty of a venus fly trap. Eyes of wonder allow us to see clearly not only the good in the world, but also the darkeness. Our adult dullness acts like a flourescent, windowless office building. It prevents us from feeling the warm light of day. And it makes us forget the night.

One of my favorite children's authors is Sharon Creech. In her book Heartbeat the main character is given the assignment of drawing the same apple 100 times. At first this baffles her. But through the discipline of this homework she begins to understand the wonder of that simple apple. But we are not called just to examine the ordinary and to find it extraordinary. The story of the gospel is that the extraordinary became ordinary. In others words, we are supposed to stand in awe of the fact that God became human. I am inviting you to come to the story of Jesus with new eyes so that you can see the wildness of his claims. We become numb to the gospel most easily when we simply don't read the gospel. It is not familiarity that creates the numbness, but the illusion of familiarity. So go to your scripture again today. Read about the man Jesus. The portrait there is hardly meek and mild. For that matter it is hardly rational. It shocks us and confounds us. He talked about being not a teacher of truth, but about being Truth itself. He used outrageous images like camels going through needles and men finding pearls and moving mountains. He had children on his lap and made his own whip. He weeps for the city that will crucify him. He made claims and did things and told stories that are wonderfully bizarre. But this sense of wonder is far better than a boring indifference. Sometimes we choose indifference toward God and Christ. It often seems like the easier road. I think we are afraid - because wonder leaves us changed.

GK Chesterton says it much better than I can (and with bigger words, don't be ashamed to reread this). He writes about reading the gospels and hearing Jesus' claims afresh in his book The Everlasting Man, which I just finished. pp. 197-98.

We should have a worse shock if we really imagined the nature of Christ named for the first time. What should we feel at the first whisper of a certain suggestion about a certain man? Certainly it is not for us to blame anybody who should find that first wild whisper merely impious and insane. On the contrary, stumbling on that rock of scandal is the first step. Stark staring incredulity is a far more loyal tribute to that truth than a modernist metaphysic that would make it out merely a matter of degree. It were better to rend our robes with a great cry against blasphemy, like Caiaphas in the judgment, or to lay hold of the man as a maniac possessed of devils like the kinsmen and the crowd, rather than to stand stupidly debating fine shades of pantheism in the presence of so catastrophic a claim. There is more of wisdom that is one with surprise in any simple person, full of the sensitiveness of simplicity, who should expect the grass to wither and the birds to drop dead out of the air, when a strolling carpenter’s apprentice said calmly and almost carelessly, like one looking over his shoulder: ‘Before Abraham was, I am.’

The great CS Lewis owed several of his ideas to GK Chesterton. This Sunday at Youth Group I was talking to the middle schoolers about a well-known CS Lewis quote that says Jesus was either a crazy man or our Savior and that there is no third option. We read the complicated quote and I asked, "Could someone summarize what we just heard?" One student immediately raised his hand and said, "Either we should see that Jesus is the Son of God, or we should get on with our business."

Choose wonder.

Here comes the bride...

2011-12-19T20:23:21Z

This past weekend I had a great privilege. I officiated the wedding of my wife's brother and his fiancee. It was a marvelous wedding between two beautiful people. It is a clear sign of God's grace that they met and love with each other. We laughed and cried and celebrated because, as Jesus seemed to believe (John 2), marriage is something worth celebrating to the full. A Christian wedding ceremony has so many highlights that come to us from tradition: the prayers, the declarations of intent (I do) and the enchange of rings. And the vows! Such words of power, words that bind the couple in a lifetime of faithfulness. Our lives are over-saturated with information. Words can become cheap. But wedding vows are one place in our culture where we are prompted to remember the precious truth that promises have power. Each part of a wedding ceremony is rich with meaning.

But what set me thinking this time was the entrance of the bride.

Everything is set, the music swells, but the wedding really has not begun because the bride has not yet entered. The doors swing open, everyone stands in respect and awe and the bride lights the space as her dress dances with the stained glass silhouetted to the side. The groom waits at the altar. The moment he has prepared and planned and pursued for perhaps years. Now enters his bride. For the groom this should be all joy as she approaches. For she is radiant with expectation. And she is his. He is hers.

Through scripture, God compares himself several times to a bridegroom. Entire books could be written about the depth and emotional power of this metaphor. But here are few examples should suffice. In Isaiah 62:5 God promises the people of Israel that a day will come when he will "rejoice over them as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride." This image purposes to give them hope. Hope that although they feel now like anything but a beautiful, pure bride, God will restore them to that honor. The truth is that they are not beautiful, they are downtrodden by the world. And they are not pure, they have constantly rejected God. But Holy Love is not distant. It is persevering and passionate. You can read this passage as the emotion of romance. But it also goes much deeper than that. Israel was broken and scattered. So to them, the words of Isaiah speak like the vow of someone when they propose. Right now it is hard to be apart, devastating, in fact. But God has made a binding covenant with them and they are to remember that even in distress.

Then Jesus does and says many things that evoke wedding imagery including comparing his coming to the coming of an honored groom (Matthew 9, Mark 2), offering to 'go and prepare a place' for his believers, which is something a groom in that culture would do for his fiancee, and claiming his first miracle at a great wedding feast (John 2). One of my favorites is when John the Baptist compares himself to a best man whose job is only to serve the groom and make him look good (John 3:29). So Israel is compared to a bride and then also those who answer Jesus' call. We start to see something remarkable taking shape in scripture. God's story is not just a list of rules. It is not just the tale of heroes of the faith. It can be read as a love story. It is the love story of God and humanity. It is the truest of all tales in that it takes twists and turns and sometimes turns quite tragic. It even ends up requiring sacrifice. We have not been a faithful fiancee.

At the end of this epic tale we see bridal imagery on full display. When the apostle John sees a vision of the end of time, God shows him a city coming down to earth. To say that this city is resplendent or magnificent is an understatement of great magnitude. So he compares God's kingdom to a bride adorned for her husband. But not just any bride, the bride of Christ himself. This is where our ideas of weddings fall short. For this bride does not prepare herself, cannot go to the salon to do her hair or have her maid of honor fix her train. God himself has prepared his bride. Only his love is enough to redeem, to remain faithful and to rebuild. And it isn't just we as individuals who are the bride, but the entire city of God. This is a mighty banquet, for God is reconciling all things to himself.

So may you know that we have broken our vows. May you know that God will never break his. May that inspire you to stay ready for the return of the groom. May you long for and prepare for the day when the doors open, the music swells and you find yourself standing before God's kingdom, a city like a bride adorned for her husband. May you stand in awe.

Touching Righteousness

2011-08-24T15:19:34Z

We are suckers for pay-it-forward stories. The tales of the peasant boys who become kings because of their act of service or bravery delight us. We long to know that Cinderella really has a chance to go to the ball – after all, she deserves it for all she has persevered through. And the man who stops to help the family on the side of the road in a snowstorm? We hope that someday the favor will be returned. But what if that reward never comes? Or, at least, what if it is uncertain? Or, perhaps, what if it is guaranteed, but it is intangible? You can clasp a medal of honor. You can cash a check of thanks. You can benefit from a good deed returned. But you cannot touch righteousness. It has no weight in your hand.

“Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.” Mark 12:41-44

She put in everything. So we desperately want to believe that she went home and found a sack of money waiting for her. This story is familiar to many of us. Did you ever notice how Jesus does not seem to give a thought to her plight? He praises her for sacrificing ‘all she had to live on’ without a single word of concern. But if that is all she has to live on…how will she live? So often we do good things because those things make us feel good. And there is a deep truth that living generously in service to others is near to the heart of God. Therefore, it often feels right. It puts us more in step with the people we were redeemed to be. But what about the widow? She presents us with essential questions. Will it always feel good to give? Will it always feel good to serve others the way Christ taught us – by picking up a cross? Will it always feel easy?

Should it?

Our assumption that good deeds feel good often keeps us from doing the great things that don’t feel good. 2 Corinthians 9 is a classic passage about giving money – but I believe this part also applies more broadly. Paul is encouraging the church in Corinth to challenge themselves in their giving and that God will bless them.

10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

It captures the paradox throughout the Bible that when God ‘enriches’ us it so that we will be generous with resources of time, energy, skills, words and material goods. When we sow good deeds in this world the harvest is not always a warm and fuzzy pay-it-forward story. We do good only through Christ, the one who tells us to pick up our cross daily. So, with Christ, the harvest is righteousness and thanksgiving to God. Put simply, Christ does not express concern about the widow, not because he doesn’t care, but because that is not the point. The point is that the worth of our actions cannot be measured by the pleasure they bring. The faithfulness of our decisions does not directly sync with the security they ensure. They cannot be measured by the number of stars, pins or other assorted accolades they accumulate. They are measured by the more intangible and more important things - by the righteousness and praise to Christ they produce.

The Scandal of the Gospel

2011-08-15T19:07:55Z

I have been thinking a lot about sin and grace. This, you might think, is something very normal, even natural for a pastor. But too often we in the American church are sidetracked and satisfied with something less than 'sin' and less than 'grace.' We spend time talking about how we can just be a little better (usually just nicer) and wait for God to reward our positive, if not overwhelming, efforts. But this is not the gospel. In the story of the gospel sin is not a sniffling cold for which we only need a little cough syrup. It is a wicked case of asthma - a death vice on our very breath. And grace is not a proverb of good advice from a beloved teacher. It is the sacrificial death of the only One who never had to die at all but chose to out of overflowing desire - it is a rescue.

These are the things I will be preaching about this Sunday morning. The scripture is Genesis 4: 1-16, the story of Cain and Abel. I am excited to reflect more on the scandal of the gospel. But for now, I leave you with a passage that continues to shape this coming sermon and continues to shape me. From C.S. Lewis' classic Mere Christianity (cancel whatever you're about to do, get a copy of this book and read it...then read it again).

“Niceness” — wholesome, integrated personality — is an excellent thing. We must try by every medical, educational, economic, and political means in our power, to produce a world where as many people as possible grow up “nice”; just as we must try to produce a world where all have plenty to eat. But we must not suppose that even if we succeeded in making everyone nice we should have saved their souls. A world of nice people, content in their own niceness, looking no further, turned away from God, would be just as desperately in need of salvation as a miserable world — and might even be more difficult to save.

For mere improvement is not redemption, though redemption always improves people even here and now and will, in the end, improve them to a degree we cannot yet imagine. God became man to turn creatures into sons: not simply to produce better men of the old kind but to produce a new kind of man. It is not like teaching a horse to jump better and better but like turning a horse into a winged creature.

Your story; the Story

2011-07-21T19:51:55Z

Notes on Nicaragua: Part III God loves stories.

Each night we had time with our group (including Nicaraguans). During this time we would play games, sing songs and talk about Jesus together. Our talking about Jesus did not entail rigorous Bible study. There was no sermon. No curriculum rife with provocative questions guided our discussion. For that matter, there was very little discussion. What was there?

Story.

Nicaraguans, both youth and adults, offered to share their stories of faith with us all. So we listened. We listened to tales of devoted mothers praying, a soldier granted peace, a life on the streets turned to a life of purpose, gang members freed, and a drug dealer looking into the face of his son and feeling, like a splash of cold water, that he needed to become a different man. There were dramatic twists and simple acts of daily life. Stories. The remarkable thing to me was the continuity that these vastly different stories maintained. Each had a single fulcrum, a critical theme without which the stories would only be the fragmented vignettes of unrelated individuals. But together they formed a narrative of humanity as it was meant to be: redeemed, healing and purposeful. And that one theme was the intervention of Jesus Christ.

Eact story did not stand alone because each story involved a single savior. In simply relating what they had experienced in their lives they told of God's incredible power not merely to intercede in our stories, but to radically rewrite them if necessary. Without a sermon from a 'professional' we were able to understand God's power and love in ways that even transformed us, the listeners.This is the power of testimony.

The power, uses and abuses of story in our lives could fill volumes of books. But I am going to share 4 of story's incredible qualities.

1) Stories are non-coercive: Testimonies, in their simplest forms, have a remarkable disarming quality. Like any witness, the storyteller relates what she has seen. You can take it or leave it. But being non-coercive does not reduce its power to transform. On the contrary, its power is rooted in the courage of the storyteller to share her tale. And her courage is rooted in the bold proclamation that "I have seen the Truth." And this claim itself is rooted in the Truth, which gives her both the courage and the story in the first place.

2) Stories are universal and personal: A testimony about Jesus always includes two things: total intimacy and total universality. The basic story is "in my most personal of moments I encountered the God of the universe." A testimony is based on the truth that the God of heaven has come to us in Jesus Christ. One of the greatest confessions of Christianity is that God is a personal God while still being Lord over all. Thus, testimonies appeal across formidable cultural barriers. In the personal parts of stories (things like love, disappointment, struggle, family) stories have their universal appeal. But in the Christian story we also find that in the universal parts of stories (God, Christ, redemption, Truth) we find the personal because God is personal.

3) Stories are transformative: We transform stories and stories transform us. Whether we tell a story or listen to a story it shapes us. Yet we also shape the story as we tell it and hear it. It is partly for this reason that stories are so destructive when purposefully distorted (think propaganda or gossip or lies). It is precisely a story's ability to shape and be shaped that make it such a dangerous thing. But dangerous things are not always bad - in fact, they are usually the best (most powerful) things that our sin disfigures and perverts.

4) Stories are revealing: They reveal Truth. They give us narratives for our lives. Our "God-stories" are the intersection of theology and life: "I believe God is this way because I saw him do this" and "I believe God is this way therefore I saw him do this." In short, we learn from stories - both in telling and hearing.

As we listened to many testimonies the first few nights in Nicaragua it began to gnaw at me that we had only heard stories from the Nicaraguans. After all, we all have stories. And we were here for mutual benefit. But I was not sure of the protocol and, more than that, I was scared of putting someone in our group on the spot. Yet when our liaison approached me and asked, "do you have anyone in your group who would like to share tonight?" I actually heard "Yes," come out of my mouth. The problem was that I hadn't asked anyone yet. But somehow, what I had doubted so recently (that anyone in our group would want to 'be on the spot') seemed silly now. So I quietly went to one of our leaders, Dave, during a meal and said, "I think you should consider giving your testimony tonight." He said, "I was just thinking the same thing. I need to share my story with the group." I was astounded. But I probably shouldn't have been. My story, which included feeling insecure about my leadership of the trip, Dave's story, which included his need to share what God was doing in his life, and the stories of the listeners were playfully wrapped together into a larger story. We all have a part in the Story. Our challenge is to look at our past, present and future and witness the ways that God has not just entered our story, but is rescuing it from the attic shelf, dusting it off and preparing to enscribe it into his Book of Life. Where is God is your story? More importantly, where are you in The Story? It is the Story that, in the Bible, begins with a tree in a garden and brokenness and ends with a tree in a city and redemption and contains a lovely mess of stories in between.

Volcanoes and Canchas

2011-07-14T13:16:29Z

Notes on Nicaragua Part II. A story about Nicaragua and my new hero, Manuel.

Dozens of emaciated cows graze free in ditches alongside the roads. Brightly colored, cramped busses swerve around and pass hundreds of homemade carts drawn by underfed horses. Men sit, stand, lay in the back of trucks, trailers, busses in the rain, sun, dust trying to get to work, home, supplies. Women, children and mostly young men ride bikes up and down mountains on busy highways.

All of this moves against the backdrop of gorgeous, lush vegetation, beautiful colors and stately, surprising volcanoes that spring up from the forest to keep watch over cities and roadways. Nicaragua's volcanoes are the state of the nation. It resides on the landscape with such pride and beauty. But the thin line of smoke from the volcanoes' rims quietly mingles with the clouds - the omnipresent reminder that the verdant vistas merely cover quaking magma somewhere angry and not so deep below. Economically, most people live on a fault line, at the base of a volcano.

Our reactions to this, if we're honest with ourselves, usually fall somewhere between sentimental compassion and patronizing sympathy. Our first and last takeaway is usually to reflect on how materially blessed we are and to try not to take that for granted - and that's about it. This may sound like an unfair assessment of what we usually think are noble feelings, but allow me to explain. I label our compassion 'sentimental' because we usually feel sad about abject poverty but do not dig very deep into the issues or rarely allow those feelings to motivate us into action. The world expects us to feel sad about the poor and, in turn, grateful about our own situation. But sadness without charity is just sadness or, at best, personal catharsis (or, at worst, it looks to an outsider like despair or apathy - despair and apathy are both the combination of sadness and inaction). And gratefulness, for material blessing, without generosity is just a mild form of greed. I label our usual sympathy 'patronizing' because we allow people's poverty to become their identity in our eyes. I am so thankful that we were able not only to look from a bus window, but also to live in people's homes for a night and then work alongside them most of the week. It forced me to rethink their primary identity as Christian, father, mother, athlete, comedian, gentleman, reescued sinner, Vida Joven leader, coach, kitchen queen and countless other selves that Nicaraguans have in spheres of life in which they often thrive. If 'poor person' even makes it onto their list, it is far below these others. We, the outsiders, are the ones that designate them primarily as poor.

I will not spend my time reflecting on how materially blessed I am (though that is true). Instead I propose a different conclusion from this trip. I praise God that ministry can flourish in the economic conditions of Nicaragua. This trip has been a profound reminder to me of a simple truth. Real, God-inspired ministry can happen under any circumstances. Instead of feeling pity, I stand in awe of the incredible work that God is doing in Nicaragua through Vida Joven. Last week I wrote how the premise of Vida Joven is simple: "find ways to relationally connect with youth; invite them to youth gatherings; tell them the story of God's power and love in Jesus; mentor them into their own leadership role; then continue being their teacher and friend." Think about that. Doing this kind of life-altering, world-changing work requires almost no resources. God moves no matter what. It is so obvious - yet I forget it all the time. But there it is, a basic fact of God's mission in the world. Salvation in Jesus Christ took incarnation, discipleship, self-giving love on the cross and incredible power demonstrated in resurrection. None of this needed a budget.

My new hero is Manuel. He is the leader of Vida Joven in Chinandega. He has a remarkable story that includes the horrors of forced army service at the age of 19, a life of anger and violence and a redemption from God that has allowed this shy man to speak in front of groups about the love of God, a salvation that set this troubled man free to be the gentle, strong, pure man of God he is today. For God to use Manuel in God's plan to rescue youth and assure them of the power of God's love for them Manuel uses some baseball and soccer equipment. He meets youth at the local canchas (usually a slab concrete basketball court that serves as a neighborhood hangout and soccer field) and starts from there.

In other words, he doesn't need an iphone, flat screen or Starbucks to do anything meaningful or productive with his life. He finds a cancha and goes to work. We make so many excuses that keep us from living out God's radical call on our life. You do not need to have a degree or use social media or mow your lawn or have a budget or be hip or own a car or have windows in your house or have a church building or be a youth pastor to serve youth. Or to serve God.

You need the Holy Spirit. And God's Spirit is available, maybe especially, at the base of smoking volcanoes.

What else matters more?

2011-07-08T16:22:42Z

I am going to share some thoughts over the next few weeks based on my experience in Nicaragua. Some will be stories, some will be ideas that Nicaragua prompted within me. This is one of the latter.

A) Nicaraguan culture values relationship. This means that if I am having an excellent conversation with someone then I will gladly be 'late' for the meeting I have in 5 minutes. I put 'late' in quotation marks because with this type of attitude, late takes on an entirely different meaning (it generally means not showing up at all). In the United States we value productivity and, therefore, punctuality. To be punctual also shows respect to the person you are meeting and is valued as being more efficient time management. My intention is not to endorse one of these views - they are both worthy, yet deficient. But I was struck by how much this difference made me think about the question - what is really important in this moment? So often I convince myself that getting things done is the most important part of my job, family and even free time. Yet the Nicaraguan culture gently and beautifully challenged that tendency in me. It makes me question - what really matters here? I can get satisfaction from a job well done, but almost nothing can compare in value to the building, sustaining and cultivating of human relationships.

B) On a different but importantly connected note, I just began a book called "Almost Christian," which gives a glimpse into the North American church through the eyes of teenagers. It is by Kenda Creasy Dean. The first chapters are incredibly challenging. Dean uses the findings of the National Study of Youth and Religion to point out this very sobering fact: what most self-identified 'Christian' teenagers believe looks almost nothing like actual Christianity. And the most convicting part? Their faith is a direct reflection of the teaching of our church. In other words, the study shows clearly that the faith of our youth comes directly from the older generations and that their faith is, for the most part, not very Christian. Dean therefore asks the hard question - Are we doing our jobs as parents and leaders? do our churches really matter? It seems that we (churches/Christians) do not a shoddy job of teaching authentic Christianity to youth and that when we do we don't model it for our kids in a way sticks. So her real question is - do our churches really matter when what is taught and modeled for them isn't really Christian at all? That is sad news. But I feel so blessed to be able to say that in Nicaragua I was able to be part of a ministry that does matter. It matters on the most fundamental level.

The ministry we joined in Nicaragua is called Vida Joven. It is YoungLife in Latin America, for those of you familiar with the North American version. The premise is simple: find ways to relationally connect with youth; invite them to youth gatherings; tell them the story of God's power and love in Jesus; mentor them into their own leadership role; then continue being their teacher and friend. For the youth that we met in Nicaragua, this was a ministry that mattered. Through the Vida Joven leaders they were able to find parental love where they didn't have any; they experienced freedom and power from God when all they knew was the chains and helplessness of poverty; they found friendships that had no strings (or guns) attached; and they were found by God, who cares for them beyond their imagining. The leaders give of themselves over and over again not just because their culture values relationship, but because in viewing youth through God's eyes, they have asked themselves what else matters more?

When we have the privilege to interact with another human being we need to ask ourselves the question - what really matters here? That next appointment? The favor you're trying to get from them? The speed with which they check your groceries? What matters is that you take the time to see the image of God in them. What matters is when you get the chance to serve them, when you have a deep relationship with them, that you share the story of God's great love. That you help them see their part in the Story - the forgiveness Christ offered on the cross, the victory he promises in the resurrection and the power and presence that is guaranteed in God's Holy Spirit right here and now. Taking the time to communicate God's story to someone through words and actions is the most important thing you have to do. It is the most important thing you will ever do.

Of fishing and mountain moving.

2011-06-23T21:34:03Z

I am getting ready for a wonderful trip. On Saturday, I am traveling with eight other people to Nicaragua. There we will have cross cultural experiences, worship with local people and work hard at a YoungLife camp in the mountains. With Nicaragua being one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere, we are guaranteed to come face to face with serious poverty. This will be sad to witness. It is usually easy to be full of the intellectual sympathy that comes when we think about these things from our places of material comfort. But face to face? That is when your stomach drops and you become dizzy with the weight of poverty. In moments like these, we see that if we really desire change for the billions living in poor conditions then handouts just won't cut it. Like getting a call from a friend to help him move some rocks and arriving only to find that he has a mountain in his backyard. That shovel in your hand looks awfully small.

Most of us know the aphorism, "Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day. But teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime." That is a wise adage. But I want to take it several steps further. The gulf of poverty is crossed for some by the bridges built through gifts - temporary relief is all that is needed to span the divide. We are very good at giving this kind of assistance. It requires writing a check or mailing supplies or passing out a bowl of soup.

Other people need the skills to be effective in the workforce. They need to learn how to fish. So job training can give bring out talents that will help a person to develop a trade. This can give them dignity, a livelihood and enable them to share those gifts and skills with society. This is harder to give. It may require first breaking habits, family patterns and addicitons that so often accompany cyclical poverty. But it is still within our charitable traditions. Many organizations offer these skills to those in need.

But what if someone knows how to fish but still cannot feed their family? What if the pond has been poisoned by the mining factory upstream that provides certain elements used in the computer I'm typing on? What if the pond is in this person's backyard, but she is not allowed to access it? What if the pondowner requires payment from the fisherman - payment that so happens to be just slightly more than the yield of the pond, thereby creating a cycle of debt? What happens when our fisherman sells himself to that system of bonded slavery in order to simply survive? What if our fisherman knows how to fish but doesn't understand how to create a sustainable business? What if he doesn't know how protect his land for the interests of the corporation that seeks to take it? What if the government is incapable or unwilling to uphold his rights to the pond from thieves or scummy businessmen?

This is not hypothetical.There are structural problems and injustices in our world that create these situations. In case you are skeptical about that you can read this recent news from El Salvador on a related topic http://voiceselsalvador.wordpress.com/2011/06/15/anti-mining-activist-juan-francisco-duran-found-dead-in-san-salvador/ The bad news is that these problems are nearly intractable. The corruption is so deep or the economic factors so complex that they defy the simple solutions that mere good will offers. When our hearts break for the suffering we see in the world too often rely on the emotional high that comes from dropping packages from airplanes to people in need. We need multi-faceted approaches to our helping that serve both individuals and systems. If you are unclear on what this might look like, this mission statement is one of the clearest examples I know: http://www.ijm.org/ourwork/whatwedo. The commitment to what IJM calls here, "Structural Transformation" is essential unless we want to keep fighting the same fights. Cases of poverty alleviation can be even more complex. In this paragraph I have conflated the concepts of injustice and poverty. But when we're talking about the structural causes of poverty, there is such tremendous overlap that they are practically interchangeable.

The good news is that as the problems get larger, the opportunities to help get more numerous. When we think of combatting the exponentially growing income gap in our world we often think of the compassionate work of missionaries or humanitarians, doctors or gentle souls who offer a little comfort to downtrodden people. But when we keep our eyes open for the structural problems that cause poverty we see that there are many entry points for helping. It means that you can job train not only fishermen, but also lawyers and judges. It means that people with experience in law enforcement can offer their expertise and integrity to developing areas. It means that politicians, engineers and businessmen can be the most effective humanitarians in the world - simply by doing what they do best, but for the sake of others, with justice as a guiding principle. If the problems were only at the level where nurses and gentle souls could reach then we would just need armies of social workers to find solutions. But because the problems are also rooted in law and global economics and policy the gate is wide open for people to use their skills for good in the world.

You still just have a shovel in your hand. But you're not alone. In fact, the stories in the Bible tell of a God who is continually working for, in and through the lowliest people on the planet. God has a deep passion for justice. And God's power makes shovels move mountains.

Then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday...you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail. Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in. - Isaiah 58: 10b-12

Surprised?

2011-06-11T12:57:07Z

It seems that every day there is a news headline about some public official or personality involved in a scandal of sexual ethics. Affairs, lewd photos, prostitution, abuse of power and sexual assault cases have come to the forefront in the last few months alone. It is not always on the front page, so to speak, but it is there - every day. And I am absolutely shocked and surprised by this.

Let me rephrase that.

I am absolutely shocked by other people's surprise at this news. I am surprised that anyone is surprised. In the last month I have heard numerous people publicly and privately lament that so many of our elected officials seem to have warped sexual views and habits.

"What is wrong with them?" we say.

But if we truly wish to see change in this facet of life then that is the wrong question. The right question is, "What is wrong with us?" The reason I am surprised at our surprise is because lust is not a new thing. It is also not something that is relegated to congress. Lust, adultery and problems with pornography are not issues for 'them' but also for 'us'. We should care about the ethical behavior of our public servants. Character should not be divorced from policy-making (we could argue about what priority they each should be given but, in the end, almost no one believes that character and private ethics should not matter in politics). But I am convinced that we will not find solutions for this problem if we only show a fascination and disgust with the actions of the famous and forget to see the brokenness in our own communities, our homes and, yes, our hearts.

I love this article that Jim Wallis wrote. In it he calls men to show zero tolerance for the philandering of the famous. But I would challenge him to take it a step further. These sexual problems of infidelity, lust and assault are not the exclusive sins of some especially evil elite. They are struggles and sins for so many men (and women!)...including ourselves.

Infidelity is not uncommon. Men view pornography at astoundingly high rates. Sexual assault happens with nauseating frequency on the campuses of well-to-do American colleges and universities. I am calling us, for the love of God, to shift our focus from seeing these scandals as the revolting problems of the powerful to seeing them as public examples of the universal human problems we all face regarding sex.

I am not writing this because I am cynical, but because it is reality and because I believe healing is possible. The prevalence of the problem is something we all need to face up to. And we can all aid in the solutions. So many people struggle with these problems - sexual addictions and perversions. So many are victims of these problems - scarred or scared. But they are not alone. There are so many resources that are available to take the first steps in purity, especially if you are a believer in Jesus Christ. The first is the gift of community. Don't be in secret anymore. You can hide nothing from God. So do not hide from your friends. Make an agreement with a friend or two to confess to them, to ask them for strength and accountability. Turn to God. Reach out to help and be helped.

What we see so clearly in these public scandals are men who have not wrestled with the demons inside of them that lead them to succumb to the temptations of power and lust. We all have baggage from the past that we carry with us that leaves us vulnerable to temptation - that leaves the need for addiction, coping, companionship, adventure. We've all believed lies about who we are - that we need to hide from ourselves in addiction, that we need someone to desire us to have worth, that we need something other than the love of God to affirm us or please us. A trusted counselor or friend can help you pray to that place of healing, to get to the root of the problem. Getting angry about a public scandal may be a helpful pruning. But trimming leaves is not enough when the poison is in the soil.

The problems should not surprise us. But when families, friends and individuals bring what is dark into the light, when we make confession and forgivenness to God and to one another, when we face these uncomfortable issues arm in arm with other recovering sinners - we find Jesus' strength to heal. And the power of that redemption is

surprising.

Trust

2011-05-18T20:10:59Z

I have had a very long 'to do' list these past two weeks. Many things at home and at work have caused me to create several sheets worth of reminders, notes and tasks. Thankfully, I am approaching a time in the flood when my head will break the surface of the water and I will breathe sweet air. But this busyness allowed me to have a remarkable moment a few days ago.

I was flipping through task reminders - crossing some off, adding others and trying to process the growing list of things that needed my attention. As my hands raced through the papers my mind categorized, prioritized and tried to file all the different obligations while I strategized a plan of attack. Then my eye strayed to the top of the master list. I held the scrawled scrap in my hand and sat back in my chair. At the top of the list was one word:

"Trust"

There it was; the one thing I needed more than anything in that moment. Trust. The trust that God is really bigger than the tasks I make for myself, bigger than the temporary high of crossing things off my list or the general busyness in which we often spin our wheels. Now, all that 'Trust' meant on that page was that I was supposed to review the legal documents we've made for our son so that they can be made official. Yet, for a sweet moment, all I thought of was the word itself. Out of all the tasks I could have done, the one that deserved the most attention was the ruthless trust (a phrase from Brennan Manning - go and read his books) of an all powerful God. Trust, in this way, means two important things.

1) The faith to hope that there will be relief from daily stress. In God's care we can find peace. We can hope, despite our own issues or the issues of the world, that God really does work good for those who love him and that he gives them rest (read Hebrews 4 right now and take some deep breaths).

2) That I have some say in this peace. It often comes from the recognition that God is in control and that his plan includes me but, thank God, is a whole lot bigger than me. Not that our daily struggles do not matter, but that precisely because they do matter, God finds a place for them in his story of redemption. A story that is bold, sweeping and epic. And so in trust I can step back, even take a break from my busyness, to remind myself that it is not by my efforts that the stars shine and the earth spins. I can't even get through a few pages worth of job responsibilities and home projects. And this should free me to trust.

We don't often equate faith and trust, but we should. The Bible uses them almost interchangeably. And the important connection is this. When we think of 'faith' we often think of believing something with our minds. When a child stands on the edge of a pool for the first time and her parent in the pool tells her, "I will catch you" she can remain on the pool deck and believe that her parent will catch her. But trust, as we use the word, is harder. It requires action. Only if she actually jumps will she be trusting the faithfulness and strength of her parent. May you add to the top of your to do list:

Trust.

Osama bin Laden

2011-05-03T17:32:31Z

I had on my weekly to do list: 'Write blog". Yesterday morning I had a wrestling match with myself.

"What could you possibly blog about other than Osama bin Laden?"

"I don't want to blog about bin Laden."

"Why not?"

"I'm intimidated to speak on that subject."

"You're going to run away from writing your blog out of fear?"

"Yes. I would like to run away."

Yet here I am. I share this with you to be sure you know that I approach this post with humility and fear - I do not consider myself fully qualified to touch on such an emotional and politically sensitive topic. I do not have political expertise and my life has not been torn by the tragedies that bin Laden perpetrated. So I will try to simply share the relevant things I do know as a Christian pastor. If you are wondering how to best process your mixture of emotions and to do so as a faithful Christian then I hope these thoughts will help.

1) Osama bin Laden was an enemy. I begin with this because it is essential to name much of what he did as evil. He murdered innocent people, horribly misrepresented orthodox Islam and influenced others to follow those ways. He openly declared himself an enemy to many in the world. He was an enemy of justice and peace.

2) The New Testament has a lot of specific things to say about enemies. The three most clear themes I see at first glance are as follows:

a) warnings not to be enemies of God. Bin Laden's actions certainly revealed him as an enemy of God's ways. But we need to be careful - Romans 5:10 says, "While we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son." Have you done the things bin Laden did? Probably not. Yet 'we' - you and I - were counted as enemies of God. We have all denied our Maker.

b) the declaration that Jesus is Lord over all. The New Testament writers constantly quote Psalm 110:1 and apply it to Jesus: "I will make your enemies your footstool." Jesus is the One who is in charge, who holds the power not only to reconcile humanity and God, but to claim obedience and loyalty over everything else; including all earthly powers. In the end, God wins. In fact, nothing is beyond his reach, even death itself - Paul writes in 1Corinthians 15 about this that "the last enemy to be destroyed is death."

c) because Jesus has been given all authority and power he can command us to do something crazy - love our enemies. We talk a lot about Jesus' command to love our neighbor, but often forget that he commanded us to do the same thing for our enemies. He said to pray for them and love them. Paul says the practical outworking of this is to feed them, clothe them and give them water when they're thirsty.

3) The image of God is in every human being. That includes Osama bin Laden. You can add all of the "but he was...", "but he did..." that you want. Like all of us, the image is tarnished, rejected and bloodied, but there it is.

4) Even more important is the idea in Romans 5:10. The image of God can be hard to see in many of us. But one thing is crystal clear for Christians - Christ hung on a cross for each one of us. "While we were enemies of God..." Jesus hung on the cross for bin Laden? There is no doubt. After all, we believe he hung there in love because of the sin of the world. That would certainly include bin Laden.

5) God loves justice. The Bible is clear that God wants to see justice done on earth. He works against oppressors and the violent. God cares about the death of innocent people and has created human government to work to enforce punishment to promote stability and justice in this world. Osama bin Laden deserved to be 'brought to justice' through the force that God allows governments to wield.

6) God executes judgment. We trust that God will bring about judgment on the world and that we are held accountable for what we have done. Ironically, this frees us from having to always crave and demand retribution in this life knowing that 'revenge is the Lord's.' There is a great tension in numbers 5 & 6 because on the one hand we are called to promote justice, on the other we are called to forgo our illusory 'right' to revenge. The line between justice and revenge is a fine one. But it is essential. As Miroslav Volf writes, it is only through our belief that justice is in God's hands that we arrive at the place of forgiveness and end cycles of violence.

7) God celebrates the freedom of his people. God led the Israelites out of Egypt and asked them to praise God for it. We see the people of God rejoicing when justice is done, oppression is lifted and the mighty are brought low. But what are we celebrating today? The death of a man that Christ died for? The dangerous intoxication of revenge? The illusion of national security? Justice? Freedom? People partied like it was New Year's in New York City at the news of bin Laden's death. Even with God's love of justice it is hard to imagine the angels dancing around God's throne in celebration with them. President Obama said in his address Sunday night - "we [Americans] understand the cost of war." I heartily disagree. A very small percentage of us do. For the death of 3,000 innocents we will erect a fitting memorial and museum. But 3,000 people die in Sudan, or in Iraq or in the Ivory Coast and they will be lucky to have any sort of tribute other than tears. We do not know the cost of rebuilding cities, of seeing an entire generation of young men wounded, killed and scarred or being uprooted by foreign soldiers. Bin Laden committed atrocities - but let us not be arrogant in assuming that we, from our couches, can empathize with the horrors that other places and generations have experienced.

8) Death is the final enemy. We do not rejoice in death. Death is the result of sin, the ultimate symbol of our broken humanity.

May you work out your reactions to this momentous news in prayer. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

The only thing to do is sing.

2011-04-21T14:19:56Z

What can we say when faced with such things as the death of God's Son and his surprising resurrection? No greater gift has ever been given, no greater battle has ever been won. No greater story will ever be told. The only thing to do, sometimes, is sing. So may you sing along to this Easter song - 'Death in his Grave' by John Mark McMillan. I have put the lyrics below. Go to a undistracted place for 5 minutes, pray and then sing along in your heart. He is risen! Watch the video here.

Though the Earth Cried out for blood
Satisfied her hunger was
Her billows calmed on raging seas
for the souls on men she craved

Sun and moon from balcony
Turned their head in disbelief
Their precious Love would taste the sting
disfigured and disdained

On Friday a thief
On Sunday a King
Laid down in grief
But awoke with the keys
Of Hell on that day
The first born of the slain
The Man Jesus Christ
Laid death in his grave

So three days in darkness slept
The Morning Sun of righteousness
But rose to shame the throes of death
And over turn his rule

Now daughters and the sons of men
Would pay not their dues again
The debt of blood they owed was rent
When the day rolled a new

On Friday a thief
On Sunday a King
Laid down in grief
But awoke with the keys
To Hell on that day
The first born of the slain
The Man Jesus Christ
Laid death in his grave

On Friday a thief
On Sunday a King
Laid down in grief
But awoke with keys
Of Hell on that day
The first born of the slain
The Man Jesus Christ
Laid death in his grave

He has cheated
Hell and seated
Us above the fall
In desperate places
He paid our wages
One time once and for all