The Achilles Heel

COMPETENCE is the Achilles Heel of the Christian faith.  The more COMPETENT a person is the greater the temptation for that person to take care of things on his/her own.  If I am generally COMPETENT in ABILITY, perhaps I have talents that enable me to accomplish much with little concern for God’s will.  

If I am COMPETENT with LIFE CHOICES, perhaps I can put off the air of having things together, managing the exterior space of my life, the space that everyone sees.  If I am COMPETENT in KNOWLEDGE, perhaps I can maintain the illusion of wisdom and counsel.  If I am COMPETENT in WILL, perhaps I can most often make the appropriate choices, willing myself through great difficulty and trial while standing on “my own two feet.”  

Unfortunately, COMPETENCE is an OBSTACLE to faith.  The longer I cling to my own capabilities, the less I turn to God for the POWER and SUBSTANCE of GRACE that infuses all I do with HOLY POTENTIAL.  The COMPETENT PREACHER speaks well, relates to his/her audience, can be considered relevant and funny, offers engaging content with thought-provoking illustrations, but often lacks the PRAYERFUL ANNOINTING that comes on a person when they’ve been CALLED BEYOND their capabilities and into a space of complete DEPENDENCE on GOD.  The COMPETENT CHRISTIAN can fulfill all the exterior expectations of religious practice, being in the right places, reading the right things, often choosing the right moral direction at life’s little intersections, but often misses the FULL outpouring of GOD’S SPIRIT that TRANSCENDS our NATURAL ABILITIES and empowers us to live LIVES pointing to GOD alone.  THE COMPETENT CHURCH conducts its business well, EXCELS in its programs, hangs its hat on its staffing, and celebrates its EFFECTIVENESS in engaging it TARGET DEMOGRAPHIC, but often NEGLECTS the kind of KINGDOM-minded ministry that LEADS us into the UNCHARTERED WATERS of faith where we are utterly DEPENDENT on GOD every step of the way.  

COMPETENCE treats PRAYER as a last resort once all other OPTIONS have been tried and found wanting.  COMPETENCE treats GOD as a solution to a PROBLEM rather than the SOURCE of all LIFE. 

LORD, may we never SUBSTITUTE our COMPETENCE for DEPENDENCE and FAITH in you.   

Never Running Out

WORDS FAIL.  We live in a culture of “just enough” and “it’s running out.”  Many of us live paycheck to paycheck, just barely squeaking by.  Our bodies seem to run out of energy.  We’ve watched relationships apparently run out of love.  There’s either just enough or not quite enough.  The worries about the “amount left” seem to affect everything we do, including our relationship with God.  We often wonder, when is God’s love, mercy, grace, patience, and forgiveness going to come up short for me?  When is He going to run out…just like everything around us?  

GOOD NEWS – God never runs out!  God never has just enough!  God never just gets by!  God is OVER THE TOP!  That’s why I love the language of Scripture, it’s EXTREME.  It says things like…the grace of God that He “LAVISHED” (Eph. 1) on us.  We are promised that God can do “IMMEASURABLY” (Eph. 3) more than all we ask or imagine.  His love is described as “BEYOND KNOWLEDGE” (Eph. 3).  His grace is always “SUFFICIENT” (2 Cor. 12).  We are promised that His strength never fails us and we can do “EVERYTHING” (Phil. 4:13) through Him who gives us strength.  The grace of Jesus “OVERFLOWS” (Rom. 5) to the many.  

This EXTREME language reminds us that God has more than enough for all of us.  His supply never fails.  HE NEVER RUNS OUT!  His MERCY endures FOREVER.  His GRACE is LIMITLESS.  His LOVE is INEXPLICABLE.  

The only thing that runs out in our relationship with God is our words.  WORDS FAIL to capture the super-abundance of God who always goes OVER THE TOP and whose favor towards us can’t be measured.  Rest assured today!  GOD is OVER THE TOP in LOVE with you!  HE does not RUN OUT!  HE always has MORE THAN ENOUGH!!

The “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” Personality

Philippians 2:1-11

As a young parent, one of my favorite times of the day was bedtime (and no it wasn’t cause I was finally getting the kids to sleep – well not always).  No, I loved the bedtime because that was story time.  We had a shelf of favorite books.  We’d grab one and in our best character voices, we’d read and laugh with our little ones.  It was quality time.  One of my favorite books to read to my children was If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.  It’s just a cute book, right?  Wrong…it’s a life lesson.

What I didn’t realize when I was reading that book is how closely it mirrors life.  The whole premise of the book is very simple, “If you give a mouse a cookie, they will want a glass of milk.  If you give the mouse a glass of milk, they will want a straw.  If you give the mouse a straw they will want a napkin…and on and on and on.”  This book speaks to the truth that for some of us, the cookie is never enough.  There is always something more we want, we demand!  We have an unrelenting, insatiable demand for something more. 

Now, before I go pointing fingers, please understand…this is sometimes ME!  (Especially with God!!)  Often I will ask God for something, he will give it.  But when he gives it…immediately I try to inform Him of what He left out.  My list of demands seems to grow with every blessing He grants me.  Funny how that works right?  Perhaps I ought to try gratitude which leads to contentment a bit more often.  Yikes.  So there…there’s the plank in my eye.

Can we talk about your speck now?  Some of us have the kind of personalities where we are never content with the cookie that someone in our lives gives us.  We are takers.  We don’t want to admit that, but we are.  We want cookie, milk, straw, napkin, toothbrush…and on and on.  Trouble is…when we don’t get it, we get disappointed and bitter.  We feel short-changed even as we are sucking down that cookie.  People in our lives run around trying to make sure they’ve met all our demands, asking for forgiveness every time they’ve run out of milk.  There is just no pleasing a mouse…or a taker.  They always want more. 

Do you fall into that category?  Be honest…are you hard to please?  Do you ever stop and take time to consider all the cookies you’ve been given, content yourself with that and just give thanks?  Do you ever stop and look to those around you and offer to give them some of your cookies?  Do you wear people out demanding they meet another need you have or think you have?  Do you live bitter constantly because everyone else around you seems to have enough milk, another napkin…and all you have is the cookie? 

Tough questions…right?  But necessary.  God has called us in Christ Jesus away from being a “taker.”  According to Phil. 2, it says, “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; ⁴ do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.”  Can I also tell you that gratitude is the best weapon against being “taker.”  Gratitude leads to contentment. 

If you have a cookie monster mouse in your life, it may be time to start drawing loving boundaries instead of feeding into their unrelenting, insatiable demand for more.  When is the last time you simple said, “No!”?  Drawing healthy boundaries avoids the co-dependency of trying to please the mouse in your life.  

Hope is Dangerous

The hopeful person is a dangerous person.  To hope is to creatively imagine a future different than the present.  It is to imagine a world freed from the constraints of present power structures, unhitched from the chains of social, economic, and racial distinctions.  To speak a hopeful word is to speak a disruptive word to the protectors of the status quo, those who through privilege, good fortune, social capital and influence, wealth and power, seek to preserve and defend the “way things are” because they reap the blessings of the current establishment.  

The hopeful person is a citizen of humankind and not merely a member of a narrowly defined clique or subculture, but one who has drunk deeply from the myriad of human experiences, who has looked deeply into the mosaic of human faces, whose heart has been wounded by the suffering and injustices of intolerance, abuse, violence, and exploitation.  But, having taken in the despairing realities of many, refuses despair as an option, instead mustering every bit of God-given strength, courage, and creativity to inspire the dream of difference.  The hopeful person is one who believes that in God’s wiring of humanity that the flame of human solidarity still flickers in the hearts of many.  Certainly there are those that seek to extinguish that flame, dousing that fire with the putrid waters of greed, arrogance, and selfishness.  But the hopeful person believes that all that fire needs is a bit of wind, a bit of breath blown on the embers to ignite it to a raging, all-consuming fire, one that consumes our lethargy, complacency and indifference.  The hopeful person prays…”Lord breathe on the embers so that the fire might again rage.”  

The hopeful person expends themselves, giving themselves away for a cause much greater than themselves, who refuses personal comfort and security as the end-all-be-all of human striving.  No, the hopeful person lives in pursuit of change, affecting and promoting change on the behalf of others, giving voice to the desperation of those whose voices have been quieted.  The hopeful person has no towel in their hands, for there is no giving up or throwing to the mat that towel.  Oh, they will draw the vitriolic condemnations of those in power, those threatened by promise of creative change.  They will be distrusted and abused, discredited and accused.  But they will prevail.  They will cling to the belief that God’s writing a redemptive story in this world and we are the pens he holds in his hand.  Though some may smear our ink, God continues to write for He will not be denied the final word.  

Hope is rooted in God’s promise of a world redeemed.  Hope is anchored in the example of Jesus.  Hope is made possible through the faithfulness of God’s Spirit traversing this earth awakening people to dream.  Hopeful people are dangerous because they announce to the world that things will not remain as they are.  God is at work.  Hopeful people are dangerous because they dare to dream!

Be a #hopetimist today!  One who believes that though the world is not as it should be, God is busy, at work, making it as it ought to be.    

Breaking up with Old Friends

Sometimes it's just too easy to go out in search of our old friend. Most of us have one, that friend that's been there in times of stress and trouble, the one that's always waiting for us when we are frazzled and desperate. The old friend is always there. That old friend is like the child's blankie. It's security. It's been there through the thick and thin. It doesn't judge or ignore us. Notice I'm saying it and not he/she. For many of us our old friend is a compulsion, an addiction, an unhealthy habit, or some form of stinkin thinkin. Our old friend is the place we run when we are at wits end or lonely, the bottle, the pills, the website, chat room, credit card, cutting, eating disorder, ego, attitude, etc..

Though the old friend is always there, it has the propensity of getting us in trouble. After a long night or few weeks with the old friend, we are worse off than we started. Our old friend promises so much but leaves us broke down, wore out, and let down. Our old friend just can't seem to deliver. We might forget about our problems for a moment, but when we've stepped away from our old friend, they hit us 10x harder.

Maybe it's time to break up with our old friends!

In John 15, Jesus calls us friends. That's quite a statement from the One through whom all things were created. He calls us friend. He steps into that void left by our old friend and fills that space with grace and mercy, patience and peace. His friendship offers healing and strength to weather the storms of life. His voice can calm our anxious hearts. Our old friends seem to take life from us whereas our new friend Jesus gives his life on our behalf that we might find life. Our old friends may be comfortable but Jesus is compassionate seeing us through struggle and granting sufficient grace. Our new friend stands before us with arms open wide and invites, "Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

Who is your old friend? Maybe it's time for a breakup. Maybe it's time to get a better friend.

Gospel Reading Plan - Day 9

Day 9 Readings
Matthew 9
Luke 9
John 9

He must of looked a bit foolish.  His head must have whipped from one side to the next, every step causing him to pause.  He didn't saunter.  There was no air of dignity about his walk.  Instead, he leapt from one place to the next.  He sprang about like child who for the first time entered a world of wonder.  This was the first stroll he'd ever taken that he could see where he was walking.  He'd been blind from birth, but Jesus had opened his eyes.  Now he saw everything for the first time.  All things had become new.

This is the story of the man in John 9 from your reading today.  A flat reading has him walking home unphased by the incident.  A full reading has him overwhelmed by sight, dancing and prancing about like a man with no care of his dignity in the world.  We are reminded today about the gift of sight.

What do you see?
When reading the Scriptures, we are often confronted with the question, "What do we see?"  Today's readings throw us against that question, not only in the life of the blind man, but in a variety of ways.

Matthew 9:
What do you see in a room full of tax collectors (cheats and sell-outs) and sinners?  Do you see a table to avoid or great dinner companions?

What do you see in the presumptuous actions of a bleeding woman?  A rule breaker that gets in the way as Jesus makes his way to somewhere really important or a divine appointment with someone in need?

What do you see on the seashore filled with broken hurting people?  Do you see people that will require a lot of energy and time or do you see a responsibility to act on the behalf of those struggling and suffering throughout life?

Luke 9:
What do you see in a crowd of thousands that are hungry?  Do you see people that need to go get a job, stop expecting hand outs and fend for themselves or do you see an opportunity to display the generosity of God?

What do you see in those moments when you discover something profound about God?  A chance to stay put, camp out and never go away from that moment or an opportunity to come down off the mountaintop with a fresh gift of God to give to others?

The Scriptures stretch and expand our vision.  They invite us to see things differently, through the eyes of Jesus.  The question remains, in seeing all things new, will you prance about like a child overcome by the wonder, or will you saunter away wishing you could unsee what you saw, cause not seeing was easier than seeing what Jesus sees?

Gospel Reading Plan - Day 8

Day 8 Readings -
Matthew 8
Luke 8
John 8

Playing Around in the Text
We are often locked in a rigid, flat, one-dimensional reading of the Bible.  Throughout this reading plan, I've been challenging you to get lost in the Stories.  One can't wander too far away from the comfort of home, when the path is already flat, straight, and well-marked.  One-dimensional reading of the Bible treats the path as though it's already clearly marked out.  What you get is what you immediately see.  But what if?  What if the Scriptures invite us into creativity and imagination.  What if reading the Scriptures is like playing around in the text?  To some of us, this can almost seem blasphemous.  The Scriptures aren't to be played with...these are serious.

Throughout the centuries, the Jewish Rabbis have worked at perfecting the art of interpretation of the Hebrew Bible (what we call the Old Testament).  The method they use is called Midrash.  Midrash isn't a technical, rigid, stale approach to the text.  Midrash invites the reader into playfulness.  Midrash recognizes that in the stories of the Bible, there are gaps, places where details are left unsaid.  These gaps mean that the text has an abundance of meaning.  At each gap, the reader is invited into the a moment of wonder, of surprise and shock, of playfulness and creativity, of (dare I say) imagination.  In this playfulness, the text comes alive in new ways.  Reading the Scriptures, by means of Midrash, invites the reader to step off the well-beaten path only to arrive at the destination in a new way.

Today's texts invite us into such encounter.  In John 8, we encounter a woman nearly stoned to death by the religious conservatives (the strict letter following folks) for her adultery.  These men make the mistake of asking Jesus what he thinks about this woman.  Here is where the gaps can make room for playfulness.  The story tells us that Jesus, knelt down and wrote something in the sand.  Have you ever stopped to think, "What did he write?"  "What did he draw?"  Reading the Bible invites us to linger in those moments.  Don't rush.  Let the Spirit of God to guide your imagination, evoke your creativity.  I've thought of a number of different options (that I'm not going to tell you here because I want you to make your own discoveries.)  In both Luke and Matthew, Jesus calms the storm.  Great.  One dimensional reading tells us, "Jesus can calm the storms of life."  Sure, absolutely.  But what else?  What else is happening on those boats?  What comes before?  What comes after?  Are there connections to be made?  Who is freaking out in the boat?  Who is trying to act tough?  Who is hung over the side crying out for momma?  Did you give yourself room to play?

Playing around in the text invites the text to come alive.

However, there are a few guiding principles for us.

1.)  Playing around in the text doesn't mean the text can ultimately mean whatever you want it to mean.  Playfulness fills up the text, but it doesn't conform the text to your wishes.  Our faith tradition establishes some boundaries (think the lines of a football field or a basketball court).  These lines protect us from landing out of bounds.  The more we understand our tradition and the more we compare what we read to other passages of the Scripture, the more we will feel the freedom to play around faithfully.

2.)  Often our playfulness and creativity will be determined by where we are standing in life.  There is no neutral place from which we can stand and make sense of the Scriptures.  We are shaped by the context of our lives.  I often hear people say, "every time I read the same story it means something different to me."  In some ways that's true.  However, I'd like to change the language a bit. "Every time I read the same story I find myself standing in a different place of life which enables me to see the story from a different angle, which adds depth and meaning to the text."

3.)  It's always more fun playing with friends.  The Scriptures were never simply intended to be read as my book (in the individual sense).   The Scriptures were intended to be read as our book (in the communal sense).  Playing around is always more fun when there are others to share in the delight.  Reading the Bible well means finding people with whom you can share what God is showing you and hearing what God is showing others.  Community can also help to serve as a safe-guard from landing out of bounds.

4.)  A Trail Guide is always helpful.  If you are going to play around and wander off the beaten path, don't go alone.  When you read, invite the Holy Spirit to take your hand as you journey.  Allow the Spirit to be the One that stirs your imagination and invites you into creativity.  The Spirit is faithful to help us discover new things in the text and convict us when we begin to use the text to justify our selfish intentions and ambitions.

Read, play, have fun!  Let the stories come alive today.    

Gospel Reading Plan - Day 7

Day 7 Readings:
Matthew 7
Luke 7
John 7

St. Augustine, perhaps one of the most influential early Christian leaders of the first 400 years of the church, once wrote, "Scripture teaches nothing but charity, nor condemns anything except cupidity, and in this way shapes the minds of men." These words are found in his book called On Christian Doctrine. This book is one of our earliest pieces we have describing how followers of Jesus ought to read the Bible. (Yes, this was even an issue way back then.) What he captures in this short statement is something I believe to be central to our reading of the Bible and today's readings in particular.  

Augustine will emphasize over and over again throughout this work that the reading of the Bible should produce charity. By charity, he did not simply mean giving to a non-profit organization you believe in from time to time. Charity is the early way of speaking about Love. For Augustine, this was a particular kind of love. It is the devoted, rightly-ordered, sacrificial love of humanity toward God and their love toward one another for the sake of God. Let me say it this way, "If you are reading the bible and it doesn't produce the fruit of Love in your life for God and others for the sake of God, then you are reading the Bible wrong."  

By cupidity, Augustine is describing a life driven by all the wrong kinds of passion. It is a life when our love is thrown off course and we love all the wrong things for all the wrong reasons. The Bible is a re-ordering and re-orienting of our lives back to God. Any reading of the bible that neglects this re-orientation is a misreading of the Bible.

Where might Augustine get such confidence to speak with such clarity about the right way of reading the bible? Today's passages might be a good place to start. Throughout today's passages you are encountering a similar theme. The validity of our lives, our actions, and our identities in Christ isn't determined by what we say, how much we know, or how often we do the right "churchly" stuff. It is determined by the fruit our lives produce. Those that give themselves to a journey with Jesus should have that journey evidenced in the sweet tasting fruit of their lives. For Augustine, and for many Christian writers, the fruit is very clearly a life of rightly-ordered, God-enjoying, neighbor-respecting love. In Luke 7, Jesus demonstrates this himself. Driven by the mission of Love, every where he went lives were changed, people were restored, lives were healed. (The power of Love is healing). When asked by John the Baptist's followers if Jesus was in fact the One they had been waiting for, He simply says, "Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor." (Luke 7:22) Jesus simply says, "You've seen the fruit of Love for yourself. What do you think?"

No matter how new one is to the Scriptures, no matter what tradition one finds oneself in reading the bible, no matter how well or poorly one understands the complexities of Scripture, if the fruit of love isn't being produced, "you are reading the bible wrong." Jesus might end by saying from Matthew 7, "everyone that hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is is like a wise man who built his house on a rock." (Matthew 7:24)

Gospel Reading Plan Day 6

Day 6 Readings - Side Thought
Matthew 6
Luke 6
John 6

Recently at an airport, I had the pleasure of sitting next to a very nice, very gregarious individual who discovered I was a pastor (I was reading a pastor-kind of book) and proceeded to tell me how I could grow my church into a "huge church."  Now understand this man was nice, genuine, and a delight to talk to so what I am about to say means absolutely no disrespect.  He said, "Jeff, I'm an agnostic.  I don't know what I believe.  But I do know this, that I like the values that Jesus teaches.  I really think that if you could just pull out the values, leave all the peculiarity of the stories in the book and just teach people the values, you will grow your church.  The reason why churches are dying is because they are holding on to Ancient stories when what people really want are the principles."

I listened.  I was respectively attentive.  I waited until I felt like he'd given me permission to respond and I said, "Friend, it is the peculiar and particular stories of the Scriptures that give meaning to those values and principles of Jesus.  Without the stories, we don't know what we are saying."

What my new airport friend was doing, without even realizing it, was entering into a modern debate that spans the last couple of centuries.  What's really important about the Scriptures? Is it the stories it tells or the principles that can be extracted from those stories?

What my friend didn't realize is that if we simply extract values and principles from the Bible, serve them up without any Jesus, we don't really have the principles or values of Jesus at all.  Besides, one might ask, which values would you care to serve up?  "Sell everything and give it to the poor," like he tells the rich young ruler.  "Forgive people 70 x 7 times," like he tells his followers.  The values and principles of Jesus' life only make sense in the stories that He embodies, the very same stories that he invites us into.

When we read the gospels, we are not looking for easy extraction.  There is no Cliff Notes version of the Bible.  No, when we are reading these stories, we are allowing our lives to be overcome by these stories, to lose ourselves in the pages.  In today's reading in John, Jesus talks about being the bread of life.  There is no easy principle there.  Jesus is claiming to be the very nourishment of God in our lives, and you know what many of the followers did who heard this claim?  Listen to this, "From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him." (John 6:66)  The values and principles of Jesus (whatever that may mean in a person's mind) don't gather large crowds, in fact, the deeper one enters into the stories, the more one finds oneself confronted by a call to follow the One who refuses to leave the cookies on the bottom shelf, offering us ready made moral principles.

Yesterday you started reading the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 and today you pick up a version of that same message in Luke 6.  These sayings of Jesus make NO SENSE outside the stories of Jesus that follow.  It is his life that gives meaning to the statements.  Only as we, followers of that Jesus, enter deeply into the call to abandon ourselves to Him and take on His stories as our own do those stories make sense for us.

Principled Christianity quickly degraded to arbitrary moralism.

The peculiar and particular stories of Jesus call us into a life of self-abandon and into the deeper life of radical obedience to the life of Jesus.

Gospel Reading Plan - Day 4

Day 4 Readings - Daily Thought
Matthew 4
Luke 4
John 4

Growing up, the pictures I remembered seeing of Jesus in the churches I had passed through were always very sweet, serene, calm, and sentimental  Hands folded neatly in front of him, He calmly gazed up into the sky, praying to the Father.  For years, this was the picture I had of Jesus.  Jesus was the sweet Jewish guy/God that wanted to save my soul.  I had a Hallmark version of Jesus that appeared to be the currency of the day.

Then I read the Gospels!

I hope that as you are making your way through the stories of Matthew, Luke, and John so far, a different picture of Jesus is beginning to emerge.  Today especially, you will begin to recognize that perhaps Jesus isn't the sweet, sentimental, picturesque framed figure hanging in the lobbies of dying churches.  Instead, Jesus is the One who has come to turn the world upside-down and inside-out.  Jesus has come to inaugurate a Kingdom Revolution.

In Matthew, after battling the enemy in the desert, He begins his ministry with the announcement "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near."  (Matthew 4:17)  This is an announcement of displacement and should mess with us a bit.  He is announcing that the way you once understood the world has come undone, all the idols of power, control, domination, and fear have been usurped by the power of a Kingdom that is born in the heart of God's love and plays out through the person of Jesus who lives to deconstruct the status quo and in its place build a Kingdom that rightly orients people back to God's life-giving intent.  This is no sweet, sentimental, Hallmark card dealing Jesus.  This is a Divine usurper, a rabble-rouser, a revolutionary encouraging a coup de tat.

In Luke's gospel, Jesus builds on this announcement with a vision of God's Spirit breaking into the dark, dreary, desolate places of life and bringing hope.  He says, I have come to "preach good news to the poor, proclaim freedom for the prisoners, recovery of sight for the blind, and release the captives."  Anyone hearing Hallmark in this?  The vision of God through Jesus is to make a splash.  It is to infiltrate the places where darkness seems to reign, where despair appears to have the final word, where bondage seems as though it can't be broken and unleash God's restorative, liberating, healing, justice-making power!  The intent of Jesus may not simply have been to save my soul but also to change the world.  Sounds like a revolution to me.

And finally for today, revolutionaries recruit.  Today's passages speak about the types of recruits that Jesus calls.  They are left-outs, forgotten ones, and those that are forced to the margins of society.  He calls fishermen, broken people and women.  Yes, I said women.  This is not the sweet Jesus.  This is the rule-breaking Jesus.  In Jesus patriarchal (chauvinistic) society, women were marginal figures who weren't granted many of the rights and dignities of a real person.  In John 4, Jesus breaks all sorts of social norms, offering dignity and hope to someone who has regularly had that denied.

Let the Jesus revolution happen!!