Taking Things with Gratitude and not for Granted

I haven’t asked for permission but I am giving full credit here to Oz Guinness and his book, The Call. Here are a couple of excerpts from chapter 23. At Thanksgiving time I think they are very appropriate. “…In his Notes from underground in 1864, Dostoevsky wrote of humanity, ‘“If he is not stupid, he is monstrously ungrateful! Phenomenally ungrateful. In fact, I believe that the best definition of man is the ungrateful biped.”’ Albert Camus wrote similarly, ‘“Man’s first faculty is forgetting.”’ More recently novelist Milan Dundera attacked the Marxist censorship of history as “organized forgetting.” Ingratitude and forgetfulness are ultimately moral rather than mental; they are the direct expression of sin. No culture has nourished such tendencies as consistently as ours. We pride ourselves on being autonomous, self-creating and freestanding. A modern world with no need of God produces modern people with no sense of gratitude…” “…Thus at the very heart of the modern world is the almost complete absence of dependency and indebtedness and a corresponding reinforcement of forgetfulness and ingratitude. Abraham Lincoln warned his fellow countrymen against this tendency early in the modern world. In 1863 he declared, ‘“We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God.”’ Now the problem is universal. ‘“If I were called upon to identify the principal trail of the twentieth century,”’ Solzhenitsyn declared, ‘“men have forgotten God.”’ Or as Bart Simpson, America’s favorite cartoon kid, put it baldly when asked to say grace at supper time, ‘“Dear God, we pay for all this ourselves. So thanks for nothing….”’ 1Corinithians 4:7 - What do we have that we did not receive?

Giving

People will sometimes ask me about giving money to organizations outside their church. I found this article (and entire website for that matter) helpful. Check it out if you have questions. www.epm.org and search for “Nineteen Questions to Ask before You Give to Any Organization” Here are the first three questions… 1. Am I fulfilling my primary giving responsibility to my local church? 2. Are there things about this ministry that make it uniquely worth investing in? 3. Have I read the literature and talked with others who know it close up but have no vested interests in it?

Branding Christianity

The outside is something of European glory
With steeples, bells and angels holy
The inside is old and barely swept
With years of tear and miles of debt
(this is a poem i wrote a few years ago. maybe it fits for the subject of this blog)

Well, I know I’m not the only one but I am completely and totally frustrated with yet another story involving a minister/quasi-political figure caught in a scandal. My frustration is not so much with Ted Haggard himself* as it is with the whole ‘system’ we currently find ourselves in. (i.e. the media, politics, preachers, etc…). I’ll just get straight to the point: I don’t like the idea that by virtue of me being a Christian I am generally lumped in with the current ‘branding’ of Christianity that is so often portrayed. This really isn’t an attempt to speak from any position of authority or to point fingers in judgment. It is an attempt to give voice to the concerns that I have and that I know many new believers have about this situation. Oh boy, buckle up… four things at least… The key players in this ‘brand’ often appear to be more concerned with:

A. Conforming to external standards rather than living an authentic life. Put another way this group is failing to “walk the talk.” And it’s embarrassing! When we value authenticity we say, “Hey, I’m messed up without Jesus as well. I don’t have all the answers either. And because of those things I’m not going to pretend that I’m better than I am… or better than you are.”

B. Legislating morality rather than pursuing inward purity. In many cases now Christians are perceived to be people who spend their time imposing rules, laws and belief structures on others. Look, legislation is not inherently bad and I hope we have good laws but c’mon, the world will not know we are Jesus-followers because of the great laws we impose. They will know we are Jesus-followers because of our love. Didn’t Jesus talk more about the internal than the external? Wasn’t that a major point of contention between himself and the religious leaders of his day? One more question: What if we took all that time, money and energy that went into passing new laws, boycotting new products and issuing statements and put it into striking up honest, humble dialogues with our neighbors? There are no amounts of laws that we can pass that will make us more moral.

C. Power rather than serving. Why do we continually fall into the trap of thinking that power comes from the rich, those in the media, those who are ‘connected’ with the politically ‘in’ crowd, etc…? To try and answer my own question a bit, I think in part we do this to influence our society. That’s the good news. The bad news is that it continually comes off as being like Jimmy Terp. (Jimmy Terp was in my grade school for several years and was a pretty nice kid except he was so smart he had to win every argument. He even tried to tell me that he knew more about snakes than I did when we were in the 2nd grade! Can you believe the audacity of the guy?) That’s what the current brand of Christianity looks like to the world – the kid who is so arrogant that he thinks he knows all the answers. And worse, he won’t stop until he wins at any costs. This is called, “winning the battle but losing the war.” When will we remember that those who are “last are first”, that “unless something dies it cannot come to life” and that it’s okay to lose an argument? (When’s the last time you heard any preacher/politician admit to that?) Yes, it’s counter-intuitive and it feels like we are being hammered to death at times but Christianity is an anvil that has worn out many hammers!

D. Belief rather than passion. Oh, boy, I feel strongly about this one. Christianity is weakened when it is defined only by its doctrines, statements and bylaws. The first believers were called “people of the way” not “people of the set of beliefs” or “people who believe this and that but not that or that”... It was “people of the way”. Put simply the way of Jesus is a better life. Please don’t misquote me here – beliefs are important and they serve a purpose. Without beliefs we’d be lost but the new brand of Christianity frequently gets ‘the cart in front of the horse’. (The old stumbled at this point also as any look at the history books will tell you.) When belief structures receive supreme billing eventually walls get built up. I think it’s safe to say that the average media-watcher around the globe is now under the perception that Christianity is about ‘wall building’. Rob Bell, author of Velvet Elvis, says it better than anyone when he asks, “What do we do with walls…? We defend them.” He goes on to say that a better perspective may be of a trampoline. Because what do we do with trampolines? We jump and we invite others to jump on with us. Jumping on trampolines is scary and fun. You never quite know how or when you are going to land. It’s much more difficult than building walls. As believers the great majority of our time shouldn’t be going toward defining and defending who we are… a great majority of our time should be saying, “Hey, come on and jump with me. Let’s learn together.”

In summary, if you are reading this blog and you are not a Christian… you’re probably smart enough to know this already but don’t get caught up in the current branding going on in the media… If you want some direction, purpose or freedom… or if you just want to dialogue… find someone who subscribes to some of the aforementioned points, who is humble, who is willing to admit that a relationship with Jesus is the focus and not a religion about Him.

peace,
j

*Officially, and unofficially for that matter, I will say that I am deeply saddened for the Rev Haggard and for his wife, family and church. It’s amazing how someone in so much of a public spotlight could take such a fall but the truth is between the lust for power and the deceptiveness of sin nothing really shocks me anymore.

People of the Door

Romans 5:1, The Message - We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise. How do I know which door to walk through in life? Great question, I’m glad you asked. First I’m going to give the answer you don’t want to here... The truth is sometimes you’re not going to really know. Remember Abe? (Not the 16th president, Abe but the Patriarch of the Jewish faith, Abe) The Book tells us that he “went out not knowing where he was going.” This great main of faith didn’t know where he was going but He went anyhow! Of course you should seek God for direction (as I outline a bit below) but sometimes you’re just not going to know for sure. If that’s the case don’t get caught in “chair-land” forever waiting for God to miraculously give you a “door” to walk through. Sometimes the door doesn’t materialize until you start moving. Faith isn’t knowing all the doors to walk through. Faith is moving precisely when you don’t know all the doors to walk through. I like this quote that says, “The most important things in life are things we cannot see. I trust a book, whose original I have never seen, to help me learn about a man I have never met, to save me through an event I have never seen, and take me to a place I have never visited. Nevertheless, I believe.” (sorry I don’t have a source for this) The Apostle Paul said it more simply this way, “We live by faith not sight.” (2Cor 5:7) But, I’ve gotten ahead of myself a little bit. Let’s back up. Ask yourself these questions when trying to discern and ‘unlock doors’. A. Is there anything between me and God? Is there any unconfessed sin? Is there something that I’m hiding? If there is you can be assured that it will keep you from unlocking the door. B. Have I put in an appropriate time of waiting and seeking God on this matter? We cannot assume that a prayer here and a prayer there (while at the stop light… while waiting for our hair cut… whatever) will really help us connect with God’s Spirit. Or that one a glance at the Bible every other week is going to yield the most productive results. I’m not suggesting these things are bad I’m just asking, if there is truly a discipline in your life to want to hear from Him…? Are you hungry for Him…? Or… are you just throwing out a life line here and there for something like ‘good luck’? C. Have I received feedback about it with wise, mature and righteous people? (that is people who have some common sense, who are willing to look at the big picture and who are righteous not in the sense of ‘surfer-language-righteous’ but in the sense of ‘pursuing-God-with-all-their-heart-righteous’.) In summary, "people of the door"... Open their entire life to God (motives, agendas, future, bank account, past, present and future). Then they seek Him with all their heart (this is reflected in how much time you spend praying and reading His word as well as a million other things). Next they bounce the idea off of their most trusted friends. Finally, they take in all the feedback and see which dots get connected. (If they don't connect wait some more and/or move past 'go' collect $200 or as much as you can and go directly to my first thought above.) Have fun. Walk through some doors. J

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People of the Chair

Sometimes us believers (certainly non-believers as well but I will ‘stay in the family’ for a minute) can wind up stalling and instead of becoming people of “the way” (as they called those Christians in the N.T. By the way, they also called them Nazarenes which would be a good name for a denomination or something) or becoming “people of the book” (a term that has been used of Christians over the centuries denoting their tenacity in sticking with the Word of God) we become what I like to call “people of the chair”. It’s probably self-explanatory but “people of the chair” do a lot of sitting. They sit and sit generally in the same spots at church… and they watch others do the adventuresome stuff… and they remember what it used to be like in the ‘old days’… and they kinda settle into their chair and into life. “People of the chair” please listen up. There’s still so much to do. You still have your whole life in front of you. Stop sitting and start moving. ‘Chair-landers’ love to live in the past. I know that life is best understand in retrospect but looking back too much is hazardous. (Think of the rearview mirror in the car… if you keep staring into it you will eventually hit something in front of you.) Now it gets tricky here because some of you look back because at best you you’ve been second-guessing yourself and at worst you have serious regrets. And you think things like, “Wow, I really messed up there, or they really missed up there and now my life will never be the same.” Then others of you tend to look back for opposite reasons… it’s not that there’s negative feelings in the past but rather positive feelings. You’re the type of ‘chairlander’ who keeps trying to recapture those great feelings and ‘fireworks’ that you once experienced. You play those experiences over and over in your mind and you think, “Wow, now those were the days! It’s never going to be like that again.” Both groups are correct: It is never going to be the same again. For good or bad. But the reality is… it can be much better but it won’t be if you don’t get off the chair and start walking through some doors. When you venture outside of “chair-land” you know what you find? You find “the land of doors”. Yeah, I know, sounds cool doesn’t it? You remember that old gospel songwriter, Jim Morrison? He once said, “Behind is what we know, in front of us is the unknown, and everything else is just doors.” (Hey, you know what you might enjoy? Going through the scriptures and finding all the references to the word “door”. It’s really cool. You’ve got prison “doors” being flung open, you’ve got “doors” that only Jesus can open and lock, you’ve got “doors” of the heart, “doors” being slammed shut, etc, etc. Check them out in the translation, The Message, by Eugene Peterson for even more fun.) By the way - Here’s my current favorite passage regarding “doors”. It’s found in Romans 5:1, The Message - We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise. Now that sounds awesome. That’s what you want. That’s not living in ‘chair-land’. Thank God that’s something completely different. “People of the Chair” repent from your ways, get up and move through the doors! You will not regret it. Former president of the "People of the Chair" J

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