God's World...

I know a middle schooler who went to a youth conference this summer.  She left her world feeling just like every other middle school girl in our society...fat, ugly, lonely.  (Even though she is not any of these things...in any way...)  She came home reminded that she is a beautiful, beloved, child of God...celebrating and able to see the beauty in herself, her family, her community, and her church--local and global.

Almost as soon as she got home and reported the transformative power of choosing to spend a week in Christian community focused on learning, worshiping, and serving God, she began grieving the impossibility of living in that world in her "real life."  Too bad it can't last.  There is no way to live like that except at church camp.

It is definitively more difficult, but is our very call, is it not?  I have often wanted to be one of those early church fathers...living alone in the desert with the other hermits living alone in the desert...and being fed and supported by people from the surrounding towns who brought food and supplies to support the mystics in their prayerful search for the divine.  Their wisdom is beautiful.  Their words, inspirational.  Their lives, unreal.  Jesus Christ didn't separate himself from very messy humanity.  He did the exact opposite of the church folks of the day...instead of excluding those fat, lonely, ugly people, he loved them.  He reached out and showed them God's unconditional love, and in so doing, brought the Kingdom of God to the here and now.  Though it is easier to be spiritual as a desert hermit, it is not what God calls most of us to do.

One of our youth spent a week at a counselor at the same camp and posted on Facebook that she had just arrived home and wanted to go right back.  True.  It is soooo much easier to live in the presence of God without the messy reality we call life.  But we are called to that messy world.  The ability, with God's help, to live as a beautiful, beloved, child of God in the midst of the message of insignificance and devaluation that surrounds us is the greatest evangelism work ever.

No one does it perfectly.  There are days that we all slip into the ugly, fat, lonely selves.  That's when we need to reach out to our fellow disciples and ask for help.  And if we are remembering our beautiful, beloved, children of God...we better be reaching out our hands and our message to the world...because that is why we are here...to bring God's love to the world.

Our middle schooler's parents were wise and challenging.  They reminded her that she could choose the world in which she lives.  Now that you have experienced God's Kingdom, do you want to choose to live there, or in the American kingdom of consumption, power, and status that leaves all but a few feeling fat, ugly and lonely?  We who have experienced the love of God have that choice.  Our call is to be sure we have shown that kingdom to the world so they, too, have the choice.

It's not about us changing the world.  God has already acted to do that.   We just choose to live there...or not.

Driving to work (at the church) this morning and a big honkin' truck turns in front of me.  I notice it is a septic system clean-out truck with a huge tank on the back.  Wonder if it is full...then notice on the side of the tank the very large script words....JESUS SAVES...

Jesus saves on a truckload of ????....Just thinking...

The Church...

I'm reading Eugene Peterson's Practice Resurrection. ( http://www.eugenepetersononline.com/)  He offers a definition of church: 

Church is the appointed time and place of conversation between the two "beings"--the being of God and the human being.  Both 'beings" get equal time."

If we do not go to church, do we make the effort to appoint a time and place of conversation between ourselves and God?

If we do go to church, do we participate in the conversation or do we just show up and hope for the best?

Everything that God is and everything that we are intersects locally in the company of family and friends and the immediate circumstances of our lives.

You should stop reading me and start reading Peterson...or go to church.

Fundamental Acts...

I was listening to NPR this weekend...People's Pharmacy...crying as I listened.  Strange.  But the guy was a doctor who used poetry in his practice.  He writes.  He helps others write.  And every time he read a poem...I cried.

So aside from feeling totally stupid crying at People's Pharmacy, for goodness sake, I did write down a phrase that he said.  I used to teach writing and have said this a million times to my students (and their freaking-out parents because I required their kids to write): "The fundamental act of writing is putting words on paper."  You cannot write until you are willing to sit down and commit words to paper.  Then, you have something to work with.  You cannot say it is writing until someone else can read it.  You cannot work with your writing until it is written.  And writing well is the art of re-writing...and re-writing...and re-writing.  It is never the act of putting the first words on paper.

So, if the fundamental act of writing is putting words on paper, what is the fundamental act of faith?  Baptism?  Don't think so.  It is easy to be baptized and how many baptized people do you know who would readily admit they have no faith...don't know how to have faith...and perhaps have no interest in seeking faith.  The very thing about faith is the impossibility of defining one specific "fundamental."  In our culture, if we could define that fundamental, we'd have far more response.  Do "A", get "B."  We really like those equations and the message of our time is that it is possible.  The definition of a commercial/billboard/advertisement is "Do 'A', get 'B'."  We think that's how it should work.  I'd be one rich, famous, church professional if I could define "A" and "B" and tell you how to use them.

So having said that, I'll tell you what I think the fundamental is.  "Practice."  For thousands of years as the human race has developed its relationship with the God that created them to be in relationship with God, the "practices" of faith have gotten them there.

I had a conversation years ago with the mother of an early teen in my office asking me what to do to get her daughter involved in and committed to church. I suggested regular attendance at Sunday school and youth fellowship.  The mother explained that the family wasn't committed to coming regularly.  They needed to rest on Sundays and they often used Sundays to catch up on chores at home or to--well--you know--just relax.

OK...but if you don't commit the words to paper...if you don't commit the life to practice...you don't get the writing...you don't get a life of faith.

No parent whose child was on a sports team would even consider skipping practice because everyone was "tired."  Everyone I know easily skips church for fatigue, "mental health days," "insert your excuse here."

There is NO question that church can be boring.  There is no question that we need to rethink how we schedule, what we do, who we are in the "practice" of our faith.  But we are missing step one--the commitment to practice regularly--without excuse.

"The church" is us.  If it needs to be changed, WE must be there and actively work to change it.  Faith is not magic.  It doesn't appear from nowhere to suit us when we need it.  It must be cultivated in an environment in which we submit our wants to a practice of putting God first. Faith will not grow outside of the Christian community...never has...never will.  It might be discovered in a private experience...but it will not grow and develop until we are in that community which requires from us forgiveness, humility, and servant leadership... and which gives to us an embodied grace of God.

Everyone tells me how important faith is in their lives and how they want it for their kids.  Just remember, "The fundamental act of writing is putting words on paper."  The fundamental act of faith is committing to the regular practice in community.  Just saying...

Changing the World?

I have friends who just returned from a trip to Israel/Palestine/Egypt.  One of them was asked what was the most life changing aspect of the trip.  He replied that his perspective on the Israel/Arab conflict had changed.  They met many Palestinians on their trip and had the opportunity to get to know them.  He was surprised to find they were very hard-working, concerned for the welfare of their families and the surrounding neighborhoods and countries, and wanted (as we all do) a chance at a prosperous life.  My friend said he had always been a supporter of Israel, and he still was...but his perspective of Arabs had changed.  "We have to find a solution that works for everyone," he said.

Life changed for people who lived in Northern Ireland when relationships began to build between Protestants and Catholics.  I love this picture which symbolizes all the programs introducing Israeli's and Arab's to each other at young ages to build relationships in the hope for peace.  Jesus Christ built his life and ministry on relationship.  Relationship is the very identity of God...Father, Son, and Spirit.  Consistently Jesus modeled the ability to see people through relationship and not through law or economic status, or social prejudices. 

Even in the most basic conflict in our lives and our churches, I wonder what could change if our fundamental operating mode was what is good for others even when it is not so good for us...I believe it is the "love God, love your neighbor as yourself" stance.  That is undoubtably the hardest thing we are called to do.  Even loving God gets defined through what is best or "healthiest" or most convenient for us. 

My friend's experience reminds me that I need to look again at my relationship with God...then with my fellow travelers in this world and ask God to show me what I can do to build those relationships...moving myself out of the way of God's work.