Sent

Mesmerizing
Tantalizing

Able to evoke a smile
From the darkest of days
Capable of instilling hope
At despair's front door

Lovingly
Longingly
Passionately
Genuinely

All these things and more
The faith
The hope
And the love

Sent from heaven above

Unity: Step #2

Abandoning sectarian designations and names is the first step in recognizing the unity that all Christ-followers have. Until we are ready to sacrifice denominational pride, we will continue to be divided. Individual congregations will keep making plans to evangelize their communities and impact the world, while at the same time competing with other congregations for the same people. The result is that the world will not believe, as long as we play these deadly little games and convince ourselves that we are doing good.

We will do good when we recognize and embrace the unity we share in Christ.

According to Jesus, that will lead the "world to believe."

A second step on the road to affirming the unity of all followers of Christ is remember that unity is not uniformity. The call to embrace unity is not a call to tear down buildings and have all congregations meet at a single location. Unity is not organizational. Unity in Christ is a gift of the Spirit. We can remain at individual congregations and still be united.

This is a tough point for me because the group of which I am a part has a horrible track record in this regard. Most of the congregations do not get along, and you do not have to look far to find a congregation that began as the result of some angry, unhappy person leaving one church to begin a new one. Therein, is the reason I do not think much of the formation of new independent churches. I think it is just as bad as denominationalism. It is far easier to start a new church than it is promote unity in Christ.

One thing I admire about the German reformer Martin Luther was his commitment to his church. He sought to reform the Roman Catholic Church. He wanted to address the abuses taking place and bring about much needed reformation within the church. His intention was to stay. Of course, when he was excommunicated, he did not have much choice.

Most of us are not being excommunicated from churches today. Let us continue to work for reformation as we hold tightly to the belief that the dream of Christ-followers embracing the unity they have in Christ will one day become reality!

The Lake

In view of the hills
Surrounding the water
Troubles are stilled
As I watch my son and daughter

The sun warms
And the trees provide
There is no alarm
At nature's pride

Conversation circulates
Eyes meet in friendship
The atmosphere dictates
That one simply sit

Beauty for a moment
Resonates forever in the soul
Guiding the traveler
And making him whole

Nothing

Nothing unique
Nothing is your own
Experience is shared
Your mind is no longer your home

What will you gain?
Can you make your claim?
When everyone borrows your name
And no one is willing to bear your pain?

Mountains stand in the aftermath of the waves
Desert follows in the land of lakes
Water and sun combine to create the mist
And your hand forms into a fist

One voice unheard among the shouts
A simple faith oppressed by doubt
The best of you stolen away
While the rest of you aimlessly strays

Unity: Step #1

In recognizing the unity that all followers of Christ share, there are several tangible actions that Christians can take to make this unity visible to those outside the Christian faith.

Step #1 -- Do away with sectarian names. No church that claims to follow Christ should bear any other name than that of the Church's founder and savior. Names like Methodist, Lutheran, Episcopal, Wesleyan, Baptist, and Presbyterian do not point to Christ, as much as they promote division.

Ask someone (who is a Christian) what faith they are and a likely response is, "I'm a Baptist," or "I'm Methodist." These names divide followers of Christ and as long as such names are advocated, we will never break down the walls that divide us.

We are Christians. We belong to Christ. Any other name on a church sign or any other designation does damage to the body of Christ and fails to promote the unity of all Christians. In short, these names remind us that we are divided, and they even promote continued division.

Unfortunately, we even take a name like "church of Christ" and use it to promote a sectarian mindset. In turn, such a name has become a mark of sectarianism rather than unity. Those who use this name must remember that all of those who have been baptized into Christ and seek to obey the commands of the New Testament are a part of the universal Church of Christ.

That being said, we are responsible for allowing the current divisions to continue unabated. Where are those who will take a stand and fight against a divisive Christian mentality? Where are those who will look division in the eyes and proclaim it as a horrid evil?

We must dispense with our denominational designations and lift high the only name that unites us: Christ.

Certainty

Patrick Mead spoke at our church this morning and, as always, he stretched me, challenged me, and made me laugh in the process. I am thankful for his ministry, and his honesty in being a "reluctant minister."

This afternoon I find myself on some sort of pilgrimmage. Funny thing is, I am sitting on the couch typing on the laptop. I have not gone anywhere physically, but nevertheless find myself moving.

Such are moments of introspection and relentless reflection. Comparing the past with the hopes of the future leads to an uneasy relationship with the present. This relationship spawns an uneasy partnership between insecurity and assurance.

There are matters about life which we are certain. The fact that we will all die tops the list of universal certainties. Yet, existing under this list are a vast array of other possibilities, some of which may never come to fruition.

These are the matters which haunt us.

This past week, I have begun to reshape my faith and what it means to follow Jesus.

What I have discovered is that my conclusions about God are easily shattered. God can take my preconceived notions and tear them apart piece by piece. What I have learned is that God does not just shatter my conclusions, He also rebuilds them in new ways that deepen my relationship with Him.

Of this, I am certain.

I think ...

Heart Mending

This risky business of parenting leaves me, on most days, dazed and confused by the time the brief silence of the night fills the house.

There are some aspects of parenting which I find rather simple. Bandaging a scraped knee does not require a college course on parent-child relationships. Wiping tears from the eyes of my daughter after a soccer or basketball game loss does not entail first writing a treatise on the psychological effects of losing.

What gives me the most problems is when my daughter hurts emotionally. I can bandage a knee, and have become somewhat adept at giving pep talks after a loss, but healing her heart? I am unqualified and incapable of doing such a thing.

Every child struggles from time to time. Kids seem to always be in perpetual motion. Friends change, plans are made, invitations are given, and sometimes you are a part of the moment and other times you watch the moment from afar.

Every child experiences the loss of friendship or the feelings that come with "being left out." As Michael Stipe once sang, "everybody hurts sometime." I wish that I could remove the hurt that my daughter feels from time to time. I long to tell her that growing up really sucks sometimes. I hope that she can see that time changes so many things, and in the end -- thanks to God's grace -- things do really work out for the best.

Despite my parenting foibles, it is reassuring that God's tremendous love and grace for my children fills in the gaps of my inadequacies as a parent.

I cannot mend the broken heart of my daughter.

But God can.

Therein, resides the reason why every parent can hope even when little girls and boys come home with bruised and broken hearts.

Spiritual Chemotherapy

In her book, Traveling Mercies, Anne Lamott answers the question of why she makes her son attend church with her.

Here is what she writes:

"Sam is the only kid he knows who goes to church -- who is made to go to church two or three times a month. He rarely wants to. This is not exactly true: the truth is he never wants to go. ...you might wonder why I make this strapping, exuberant boy come with me most weeks, and if you were to ask, this is that I would say.

I make him because I can. I outweigh him by nearly seventy-five pounds.

But that is only part of it. The main reason is that I want to give him what I found in the world, which is to say a path and a little light to see by. Most of the people I know who have what I want -- which is to say, purpose, heart, balance, gratitude, joy -- are people with a deep sense of spirituality. They are people in community, who pray, or practice their faith; they are Buddhists, Jews, Christians -- people banding together to work on themselves and for human rights. They follow a brighter light than the glimmer of their own candle; they are part of something beautiful. I saw something once from the Jewish Theological Seminary that said, 'A human life is like a single letter of the alphabet. It can be meaningless. Or it can be a part of great meaning.' Our funky little church is filled with people who are working for peace and freedom, who are out there on the streets and inside praying, and they are home writing letters, and they are at the shelters with giant platters of food.

When I was at the end of my rope, the people at St. Andrew tied a knot in it for me and helped me hold on. The church became my home in the old meaning of home -- that it's where, when you show up, they have to let you in. They let me in. They even said, 'You come back now.'

My relatives all live in the Bay Area and I adore them, but they are all as skittishly self-obsessed as I am, which I certainly mean in the nicest possible way. Let's just say that I do not leave family gatherings with the feeling that I have just received some kind of spiritual chemotherapy. But I do when I leave St. Andrew."

Morbid Curiosity

Some days it is hard to tell friend from foe.

It seems that the human psyche has perfected the art of deception and superficial speech. People often use words as a means to an end. If compliments will achieve a desired objective, then by all means heap them on. If accusatory rhetoric will accomplish the outcome which you are seeking, then fire away. If flattery gets you one step closer, then go all out. And if word play streamlines the process, then play the semantics game.

"Church people" are proficient at deceptive and superficial speech.

It's not that they are bad, per se, it is just that they tend to be products of their culture rather than of their Savior. Maybe it is the morbid curiosity against which we all resist. Or maybe it reveals something intrinsically faulty with the marriage of church and culture.

One thing is said to one individual and then something else is said to another. The game of semantics breeds mistrust. The incongruency in our expressed thoughts gives rise to an atmosphere of paranoia.

Some days it is hard to tell the saints from the sinners. Some days there is more peace and healing among the sinners, because the saints are too busy trying to satisfy their morbid curiosity. And so it goes.

And so Jesus enters the world as a "friend of sinners," and associates with the shunned, polarized and ostracized people of society. Spurning the religious establishment, He advocates and demonstrates a new way to express faith and honor God.

Thousands of years later, His followers claim to continue on this road. Unfortunately, most seem to have taken a detour and run back into the arms of the same religious establishment that opposed Jesus.

Of course, Christians like to think they are revulsed by others because of their faith. It is not their faith, it is their warped version of what Jesus gave us.

Blessed

Blessed is the word.

It is the acknowledgement of a gift from another.

It is a the recognition of a Greater Force present in my life.

Blessed is the one who sees through the shadows.

Blessed is the one who embraces the light.

Blessed is the one who is beaten down, but not crushed.

Blessed is the one who exits the tunnel into the reality of Yahweh.

Today I hold in my hands a gift.

Written on the pieces of paper I now hold is a book publishing contract.

It is now signed and will be deposited in the mail tomorrow morning.

I am blessed.

By God.

Writing

Today my wife presented me with a special gift after learning that a publisher has offered me a contract.

It is a case with a pen inside it. The pen is not what is special about the gift. What makes it so special is the quote on the outside of the case.

The words were written by F. Scott Fitzgerald:

You don't write because you want to say something,
You write because you have something to say.

Thanks for the inspiration, Mendy.

Thanks for believing in me.

Post #200

Post #200 finds this blog in somewhat of a disarray. Of course, if you are a regular reader you already know that this blog is symbolic of the journey we are all on, as we seek to better understand the human experience, and long for a deeper connection with our spiritual nature. Simply put, we desire to embrace our humanity while connecting with our Creator.

These thoughts came rushing through my brain the other day during a conversation with a group of women (all but one old enough to be my grandmother). They are all regular "church-goers" and they love what they call the "old hymns." As we read together a verse in Proverbs, the title of one of those "old hymns" surfaced in my mind: "Rescue the Perishing." I mentioned it to the group and several of the ladies began to either hum the tune or sing the first verse. I grabbed a song book and looked up the song. As we read the words together, I could not get past the third verse. The words, though written in 1869, were new to me. They even spoke to me. I could not ever remember singing them. But here they were leaping off the page and refusing to allow me to ignore them or quickly speak them and move on.

As the ladies continued to hum and sing the song, I entered into some sort of mental dance with each word in this verse. It was like the words sought to capture my attention, provoke my imagination, and comfort my soul.

While the entire verse spoke to me, the first part resonated the loudest and deepest. Here are the words:

Down in the human heart
Crushed by the tempter
Feelings lie buried
That grace can restore

There is a danger in life that we lose connection with self. It is quite a treacherous undertaking to differentiate between that which is true (reality) and that which is false (fantasy). The words above, though written 137 years ago, deal with this danger -- "down in the human heart, crushed by the tempter ..."

Yet the words also speak of successfully crossing the tattered and broken bridge on which we find ourselves: "feelings lie buried that grace can restore."

Maybe when the apostle Paul writes about the salvific nature of grace he does not have the salvation of our souls solely in mind. Perhaps, he also envisions the reestablishment of connection with self.

John Newton was so right! How can we not say "amazing" when we think of grace!

Oh, there is so much more I want to understand.

Fenelon's Prayer

As the new week commences, I offer for your reflection the following prayer written by Francois de Salignac Fenelon (1651-1751):

Lord, I know not what to ask of Thee;

Thou knowest what I need;

Thou lovest me better than I know how to love myself.

O Father, give to Thy child that which he himself knows not how to ask.

I dare not ask either for crosses or consolations;

I simply present myself before Thee.

I open my heart to Thee.

Behold my needs which I know not myself;

See and do according to Thy tender mercy.

Amen.

A Question of Division

The question is not new or creative. In fact, it is a question that continues to haunt us from the past, prick our consciences in the present, and threaten our future.

Why are there so many "churches"? Seriously, why, in the name of Christ, is our country full of denominations? For the sake of this blog entry, I am solely focused on groups that believe Jesus is the Christ.

Why are these groups divided?

No "canned" answers please.

Oh, one more question: will we one day be held responsible for our actions concerning the divisions that run rampant throughout Christendom?

Strange Happenings

Something really strange is happening.

The Sunday morning sermons at the church I attend are getting longer.

And ...

I have yet to hear complaints.

Possible explanations:
1) I am "out of the loop" and am not privy to critical comments
2) People could care less
3) The sermons are improving
4) It's not football season

Wonder what will happen this Sunday.

Power Surges

Two power surges so far this evening have resulted in a shutdown of power in our neighborhood. Interesting that a "power surge" leads to a "blackout."

According to the Christian faith, the Spirit of God is a source of power for the Christian. Is it possible for a "power surge" from God's Spirit to lead to a blackout?

Just wondering.

Defining Identity

There are defining moments that mark us all. These moments arrive as the result of our conscious choices, which flow from the will of the intellect and the desires of the heart.

We are marked by these defining moments because of what they reveal about us. Forget the charade or the superficial pandering. These moments cast off our well-placed disguises and forever mark us by revealing our true identity. It is akin to someone figuring out that Clark Kent is really Superman or that Bruce Wayne is the one who becomes Batman.

Sometimes our choices are based on sound reasoning. These choices are born from a union of reason and common sense logic.

Other times, however, our choices spring from seemingly illogical foreplay.

In the movie, Kingdom of Heaven, Orlando Bloom plays the role of Balian, a man in search of forgiveness and healing. In a moment of irrational behavior, Balian commits a crime that hastens the beginning of his personal search for forgiveness. That one moment marks Balian because it reveals the immense pain smoldering inside of himself.

The quest for forgiveness and healing leads Balian to Jerusalem where he climbs to the top of the hill where Christ was crucified. Upon reaching the top he attempts to enter into dialogue with God ("God, what would you have me do?"). His question is met with silence, which leads Balian to conclude that God has abandoned him. As he later remarks to a Hospitaler, "I am outside of God's grace." In response to this comment, the devoutly-religious man tells Balian that (as he points first to Balian's head and then to his heart) "what God wants is here and here." He makes the point that righteousness is exemplified in right action.

Balian seems to embrace this response (along with his commitment to follow the oath his dying father administered to him), as his desire to "do right" eliminates any fear he might have.

Throughout the movie, several defining moments in Balian's life are shown. These moments arrive as a result of conscious choices that Balian makes. Some of his choices are based on sound reasoning. But we also witness choices that he makes from illogical foreplay. Yet each moment reveals Balian's true identity, thus making Balian neither all good or all bad.

In the end, Balian's humanity is revealed. Defined by his actions, but not indebted to them, Balian epitomizes the human struggle for righteousness.

As Geddy Lee put it so well, "No one is blameless, but we're all without shame."

We are Balian.