Taking an honest look inside as we go throughout our day can be harrowing. This image from deviantart.com vividly expresses this idea. The image seems shocking at first, a woman underwater pulling herself open and having a look…then you realize she is holding a tortoise shell in front. The image brought to my mind how difficult it is for us to open up, to really face what is going on (or not going on) inside and taking it a step further…courageously share that with anyone else. Are we opening up or putting up a facade? Are we really looking inside or playing shell games? Can we bravely face our sense of emptiness, dryness, or pain, or do we do our best to cover ourselves with something crusty and durable? Is this fresh water that surrounds cleansing us or drowning us?
Life can easily pull us under. At any given minute we move from peace to panic. Other times we float, distracted, numb to our soul’s underlying misery. To stay sane and intimately connected with God, our self, and others we need to open ourselves regularly, rhythmically – lay ourselves bare.
Stop. Breathe. Reflect. What is happening in our soul? – What are we obsessing over? Where is our lack of control plaguing us? What’s behind the emptiness that haunts us? What erratic emotions are dictating our behaviors? How far out of line are our desires with our authentic self?
In the midst of reflection hopefully we find the strength to surrender. Release it all…to God and others when appropriate. Invite and allow God to search, disclose, heal, resolve, and encourage. Then trust peace to follow in due time…real peace, the peace St. Paul speaks about as a fruit of the Spirit – meaning being made whole or one.
One of my hobbies is to collect photos of outdoor/streetside church signs. I will be blogging about them from time to time. I didn’t start collecting these because they inspired my connection with God or the churches they represent…in fact the opposite is true. Unfortunately, many of photos have come from my town, even the street outside my neighborhood. You’ve seen them out there; “Eternity: smoking or non,” or “You think it’s hot here. – God.” etc. infinitum. Most often I am mystified as to why the church is representing themselves and God in this way. Do they have any idea how detrimental their message could be anothers’ journey? On the whole I don’t know that those posting the signs really think through what message the sign is communicating about God and their specific church
So, here is the one I took recently, “God sees what you are doing.” This is quite mild really…I’ve seen much much worse. I wanted to dissect a more subtle one to make a point. The meaning taken really has to do with your perception of God. My perception of the church’s purpose in putting these words up is to “convict people of their sin.” My understanding of and experience with God and people has impressed on me two ideals related to this notion.
First, it’s not the role of the church to “convict the world of sin.” I understand this as God’s role, specifically the role of the Holy Spirit. The church does not have capacity to do this… and when they do, the world is not convicted, they see through it. It is understood as blatant hypocrisy. At large this explains why the church is perceived as community of judgment rather than a community of grace and healing.
Second, God’s influence and simply being human is enough to convince people they are “sinful” or lacking abundant life. God’s convincing Spirit and life’s realities here on earth wakes people to their inadequacies. The job of the church is not to convict the world or protect God’s holy reputation. God is capable of doing both. The church is in a unique position to offer life, God’s life, to those who wake up to emptiness and death. Instead of signs communicating death, our signs are to be conduits of hope communicating God’s life.
To read the sign in a positive manner, I can read this sign and think…”thank God that God sees what I’m doing.” Even if what I am doing is suspect or outright foul. God sees me as a son, forgiven, as one in intimate union with himself. Because I am God’s and I am seen and known I can trust in his presence and guidance despite and in the midst of my moronic behavior. In another direction, I can know that if I am in difficult time of suffering…God sees me. God is with me.
We, as people, are in fact a sign, a message, as Thomas Merton says – a word expressed by God. God desires to live in and through us uniquely offering his divine life. God is always giving people a sign, us.
Somewhat recently Len Sweet and Frank Viola released A Jesus Manifesto. I appreciate what they have put together and think it integrates well with my last post, missio me. Jesus as our life, our source, center, our everything….his mission ours. Let me know what you think
A Magna Carta for Restoring the Supremacy of Jesus Christ
A Jesus Manifesto for the 21st Century Church
by Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola
Christians have made the gospel about so many things … things other than Christ.
Jesus Christ is the gravitational pull that brings everything together and gives them significance, reality, and meaning. Without him, all things lose their value. Without him, all things are but detached pieces floating around in space.
It is possible to emphasize a spiritual truth, value, virtue, or gift, yet miss Christ . . . who is the embodiment and incarnation of all spiritual truth, values, virtues, and gifts.
Seek a truth, a value, a virtue, or a spiritual gift, and you have obtained something dead.
Seek Christ, embrace Christ, know Christ, and you have touched him who is Life. And in him resides all Truth, Values, Virtues and Gifts in living color. Beauty has its meaning in the beauty of Christ, in whom is found all that makes us lovely and loveable.
Jesus by cakeknifeharlot
What is Christianity? It is Christ. Nothing more. Nothing less. Christianity is not an ideology. Christianity is not a philosophy. Christianity is the “good news” that Beauty, Truth and Goodness are found in a person. Biblical community is founded and found on the connection to that person. Conversion is more than a change in direction; it’s a change in connection. Jesus’ use of the ancient Hebrew word shubh, or its Aramaic equivalent, to call for “repentance” implies not viewing God from a distance, but entering into a relationship where God is command central of the human connection.
In that regard, we feel a massive disconnection in the church today. Thus this manifesto.
We believe that the major disease of the church today is JDD: Jesus Deficit Disorder. The person of Jesus is increasingly politically incorrect, and is being replaced by the language of “justice,” “the kingdom of God,” “values,” and “leadership principles.”
In this hour, the testimony that we feel God has called us to bear centers on the primacy of the Lord Jesus Christ. Specifically . . .
1. The center and circumference of the Christian life is none other than the person of Christ. All other things, including things related to him and about him, are eclipsed by the sight of his peerless worth. Knowing Christ is Eternal Life. And knowing him profoundly, deeply, and in reality, as well as experiencing his unsearchable riches, is the chief pursuit of our lives, as it was for the first Christians. God is not so much about fixing things that have gone wrong in our lives as finding us in our brokenness and giving us Christ.
2. Jesus Christ cannot be separated from his teachings. Aristotle says to his disciples, “Follow my teachings.” Socrates says to his disciples, “Follow my teachings.” Buddha says to his disciples, “Follow my meditations.” Confucius says to his disciples, “Follow my sayings.” Muhammad says to his disciples, “Follow my noble pillars.” Jesus says to his disciples, “Follow me.” In all other religions, a follower can follow the teachings of its founder without having a relationship with that founder. Not so with Jesus Christ. The teachings of Jesus cannot be separated from Jesus himself. Jesus Christ is still alive and he embodies his teachings. It is a profound mistake, therefore, to treat Christ as simply the founder of a set of moral, ethical, or social teaching. The Lord Jesus and his teaching are one. The Medium and the Message are One. Christ is the incarnation of the Kingdom of God and the Sermon on the Mount.
3. God’s grand mission and eternal purpose in the earth and in heaven centers in Christ . . . both the individual Christ (the Head) and the corporate Christ (the Body). This universe is moving towards one final goal – the fullness of Christ where He shall fill all things with himself. To be truly missional, then, means constructing one’s life and ministry on Christ. He is both the heart and bloodstream of God’s plan. To miss this is to miss the plot; indeed, it is to miss everything.
4. Being a follower of Jesus does not involve imitation so much as it does implantation and impartation. Incarnation–the notion that God connects to us in baby form and human touch—is the most shocking doctrine of the Christian religion. The incarnation is both once-and-for-all and ongoing, as the One “who was and is to come” now is and lives his resurrection life in and through us. Incarnation doesn’t just apply to Jesus; it applies to every one of us. Of course, not in the same sacramental way. But close. We have been given God’s “Spirit” which makes Christ “real” in our lives. We have been made, as Peter puts it, “partakers of the divine nature.” How, then, in the face of so great a truth can we ask for toys and trinkets? How can we lust after lesser gifts and itch for religious and spiritual thingys? We’ve been touched from on high by the fires of the Almighty and given divine life. A life that has passed through death – the very resurrection life of the Son of God himself. How can we not be fired up?
To put it in a question: What was the engine, or the accelerator, of the Lord’s amazing life? What was the taproot or the headwaters of his outward behavior? It was this: Jesus lived by an indwelling Father. After his resurrection, the passage has now moved. What God the Father was to Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ is to you and to me. He’s our indwelling Presence, and we share in the life of Jesus’ own relationship with the Father. There is a vast ocean of difference between trying to compel Christians to imitate Jesus and learning how to impart an implanted Christ. The former only ends up in failure and frustration. The latter is the gateway to life and joy in our daying and our dying. We stand with Paul: “Christ lives in me.” Our life is Christ. In him do we live, breathe, and have our being. “What would Jesus do?” is not Christianity. Christianity asks: “What is Christ doing through me … through us? And how is Jesus doing it?” Following Jesus means “trust and obey” (respond), and living by his indwelling life through the power of the Spirit.
5. The “Jesus of history” cannot be disconnected from the “Christ of faith.” The Jesus who walked the shores of Galilee is the same person who indwells the church today. There is no disconnect between the Jesus of Mark’s Gospel and the incredible, all-inclusive, cosmic Christ of Paul’s letter to the Colossians. The Christ who lived in the first century has a pre-existence before time. He also has a post-existence after time. He is Alpha and Omega, Beginning and End, A and Z, all at the same time. He stands in the future and at the end of time at the same moment that He indwells every child of God. Failure to embrace these paradoxical truths has created monumental problems and has diminished the greatness of Christ in the eyes of God’s people.
6. It’s possible to confuse “the cause” of Christ with the person of Christ. When the early church said “Jesus is Lord,” they did not mean “Jesus is my core value.” Jesus isn’t a cause; he is a real and living person who can be known, loved, experienced, enthroned and embodied. Focusing on his cause or mission doesn’t equate focusing on or following him. It’s all too possible to serve “the god” of serving Jesus as opposed to serving him out of an enraptured heart that’s been captivated by his irresistible beauty and unfathomable love. Jesus led us to think of God differently, as relationship, as the God of all relationship.
7. Jesus Christ was not a social activist nor a moral philosopher. To pitch him that way is to drain his glory and dilute his excellence. Justice apart from Christ is a dead thing. The only battering ram that can storm the gates of hell is not the cry of Justice, but the name of Jesus. Jesus Christ is the embodiment of Justice, Peace, Holiness, Righteousness. He is the sum of all spiritual things, the “strange attractor” of the cosmos. When Jesus becomes an abstraction, faith loses its reproductive power. Jesus did not come to make bad people good. He came to make dead people live.
8. It is possible to confuse an academic knowledge or theology about Jesus with a personal knowledge of the living Christ himself. These two stand as far apart as do the hundred thousand million galaxies. The fullness of Christ can never be accessed through the frontal lobe alone. Christian faith claims to be rational, but also to reach out to touch ultimate mysteries. The cure for a big head is a big heart.
Jesus does not leave his disciples with CliffsNotes for a systematic theology. He leaves his disciples with breath and body.
Jesus does not leave his disciples with a coherent and clear belief system by which to love God and others. Jesus gives his disciples wounds to touch and hands to heal.
Jesus does not leave his disciples with intellectual belief or a “Christian worldview.” He leaves his disciples with a relational faith.
Christians don’t follow a book. Christians follow a person, and this library of divinely inspired books we call “The Holy Bible” best help us follow that person. The Written Word is a map that leads us to The Living Word. Or as Jesus himself put it, “All Scripture testifies of me.” The Bible is not the destination; it’s a compass that points to Christ, heaven’s North Star.
The Bible does not offer a plan or a blueprint for living. The “good news” was not a new set of laws, or a new set of ethical injunctions, or a new and better PLAN. The “good news” was the story of a person’s life, as reflected in The Apostle’s Creed. The Mystery of Faith proclaims this narrative: “Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again.” The meaning of Christianity does not come from allegiance to complex theological doctrines, but a passionate love for a way of living in the world that revolves around following Jesus, who taught that love is what makes life a success . . . not wealth or health or anything else: but love. And God is love.
9. Only Jesus can transfix and then transfigure the void at the heart of the church. Jesus Christ cannot be separated from his church. While Jesus is distinct from his Bride, he is not separate from her. She is in fact his very own Body in the earth. God has chosen to vest all of power, authority, and life in the living Christ. And God in Christ is only known fully in and through his church. (As Paul said, “The manifold wisdom of God – which is Christ – is known through the ekklesia.”)
The Christian life, therefore, is not an individual pursuit. It’s a corporate journey. Knowing Christ and making him known is not an individual prospect. Those who insist on flying life solo will be brought to earth, with a crash. Thus Christ and his church are intimately joined and connected. What God has joined together, let no person put asunder. We were made for life with God; our only happiness is found in life with God. And God’s own pleasure and delight is found therein as well.
10. In a world which sings, “Oh, who is this Jesus?” and a church which sings, “Oh, let’s all be like Jesus,” who will sing with lungs of leather, “Oh, how we love Jesus!”
a Rembrandt depiction of Jesus
If Jesus could rise from the dead, we can at least rise from our bed, get off our couches and pews, and respond to the Lord’s resurrection life within us, joining Jesus in what he’s up to in the world. We call on others to join us—not in removing ourselves from planet Earth, but to plant our feet more firmly on the Earth while our spirits soar in the heavens of God’s pleasure and purpose. We are not of this world, but we live in this world for the Lord’s rights and interests. We, collectively, as the ekklesia of God, are Christ in and to this world.
May God have a people on this earth who are a people of Christ, through Christ, and for Christ. A people of the cross. A people who are consumed with God’s eternal passion, which is to make his Son preeminent, supreme, and the head over all things visible and invisible. A people who have discovered the touch of the Almighty in the face of his glorious Son. A people who wish to know only Christ and him crucified, and to let everything else fall by the wayside. A people who are laying hold of his depths, discovering his riches, touching his life, and receiving his love, and making HIM in all of his unfathomable glory known to others.
The two of us may disagree about many things—be they ecclesiology, eschatology, soteriology, not to mention economics, globalism and politics.
But in our two most recent books, From EternitytoHere and So Beautiful – we have sounded forth a united trumpet. These books are the Manifests to this Manifesto. They each present the vision that has captured our hearts and that we wish to impart to the Body of Christ— “This ONE THING I know” (Jn.9:25) that is the ONE THING that unites us all:
Christians don’t point people to core values; Christians point people to the cross.
Christians don’t preach about Christ: Christians preach Christ.
Over 300 years ago a German pastor wrote a hymn that built around the Name above all names:
Ask ye what great thing I know, that delights and stirs me so? What the high reward I win? Whose the name I glory in? Jesus Christ, the crucified.
This is that great thing I know; this delights and stirs me so: faith in him who died to save, His who triumphed o’er the grave: Jesus Christ, the crucified.
—
Jesus Christ – the crucified, resurrected, enthroned, triumphant, living Lord.
Missio me is the Latin + English way of saying, “the mission of me.” This is of course an indirect referencing of the popular Latin expression, missio Dei – the mission of God. This saying has always made me think… “What is my life’s mission and how is it related to God’s? or Jesus’?
I have discovered that missio me (and you) uniquely integrates with missio lesus – the mission of Jesus.
Isaiah (chapter 61) prophesied about the mission of Jesus and hundreds of years later Jesus reads the account aloud in the temple claiming Himself to be the mission’s agent. Luke 4:18-19 expresses the messianic mission in the following way:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
The missio lesus is individually and corporately our mission. Sure, this statement came at a specific time, to a specific people in Isaiah and Jesus’ case, but the activities of the mission are central to what we know of God’s character and eternal purpose. The living Jesus still works in this world carrying out the missio Dei.As He accomplishes His mission in us, this same mission is accomplished through us.
Closely related to this, I find myself extremely encouraged and a little concerned about the recent thrust of the church toward missional living; less rigid mission programs, more community partnerships, less church-building, more kingdom-building, etc. Missional living means more natural, embedded lifestyle & community ministry. Missional communities are externally focused and devoted to compassion ministry in their surrounding communities. They assertively engage issues like poverty, social justice, education, etc. Missional activity becomes a way of life.
This excites me in that communities of faith are more serious about compassionately engaging the community in broader and more real-life contexts. More and more churches are moving beyond treating people as projects to truly caring. The church at large is actually embracing its redemptive role in the community. This being said, my concern surrounds missional living being limited as the new trend in outreach. It can be understood as simply the new strategy to suck people into Christianity or the local church. If so, it will last about a decade or two…maybe. This would be incredibly unfortunate because I think the missional approach reflects the living out of our true identity in community within the scope of Jesus’ mission…and specifically the mission statement in Isaiah 61. Living missionally is the natural fruit of walking by the Spirit – moving in the missio lesus. To consider missional living an “effective strategy,” the new outreach, is short-sighted and counterproductive.
Our identity in Christ is missional. Christ in us, through us, lives missionally…period.
The components of Jesus’ mission directly reflect missional living – caring for the poor or downtrodden, helping people recover vision/sanity, advocating for the captive and oppressed, and compassionately offering favor/hope through the gospel.
To fully appreciate the missio lesus and its connection with missio me we need to unpack Jesus’ mission statement. We don’t have space here for a thorough consideration of all the components, so I will only consider the basics.
First, and most significantly, the mission begins with the presence of the Spirit of the Lord. Jesus says the Spirit of the Lord is upon him. In the presence and power of the Spirit, Jesus carries out His mission. This was true throughout Jesus’ ministry. He spoke and acted at the direction of the Father in the power of the Spirit. Our living by the Spirit’s presence, power, and guidance is essential.
The first action mentioned in missio lesus is the preaching of the gospel to the poor. Jesus comes telling the spiritually bankrupt….the soul paupers…the emotionally burdened… the mentally anguished…the physically exhausted…and the financially broke the good news. He comes bearing good news, saving grace that only the humble can hear. Come to me for rest and a real life…a fresh second, third, etc. start. In doing so, those who have no spiritual currency whatsoever take on abundance.
Jesus proclaims release to the captives. The original text here presents the idea of a messenger shouting a declaration – “All are to be set free! Be released!” This announcement immediately brings to mind two significant questions. Who is captive, and how are they captive? We are all captive in a sense. We search ourselves and the world over for meaning, love, and identity. There seem to be as many solutions as there are people. The missio lesus offers a message of freedom from self-made identities, performances, and the world’s captivation. Jesus offers himself, the Logos – divine life, as the solution.
Jesus’ mission statement continues with the announcement of the recovery of sight to the blind. Again, a question arises. How are we blind? Oftentimes, we simply cannot see the truth. Life can be confusing to say the least. The Bible suggests not that Jesus is the truth and he gives us eyes to see truth. God provides clarity.
Next, Jesus announces freedom for those who are oppressed. The word oppressed can also be translated downtrodden. The downtrodden are those who have been thrown to the ground and trampled, literally and figuratively. They are everywhere in our world. Jesus removes the giant thumb pressing souls to the ground.
The last component of Jesus’ mission is the proclaiming of the favorable year of the Lord. I immediately think…so…which year was it or is it? 33? 2000? 2010? I believe this statement refers to the era of new covenant…God’s agreement with humanity through Jesus. Jesus refers here to the era of the Anointed One…the messiah…Himself. The favor of God is fully granted to us in Jesus. We live as favored children of God in a favored era called the new and everlasting covenant.
The missio lesus has become missio me. The Spirit of missio lesus lives in us and empowers us. Each of us has the constant call and opportunity to creatively and uniquely participate in Jesus’ continuing mission . In God’s rhythm we share the good news of God, declare freedom and favor for everyone, assist others in seeing clearly, and fight oppression.
Making this a strategy is like creating a program to be yourself. That’s nonsensical..and schizophrenic. Carrying out our missio me is not about strategy or trend, but surrendering ourselves to our true identity and destiny. It’s about tuning and re-tuning into the Spirit.
We have an indelible missional identity and energy. We are missional freedom fighters by nature.
As a kid I loved watching cartoons on Saturday mornings. The Super Friends were my favorite by far. In case you didn’t see this cartoon or don’t remember…Superman, Batman, Robin, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, and others took on evil together using the Hall of Justice as their base. They foiled incessant plots hatched by seedy characters like Bizarro, the Black Manta, Brainiac, Lex Luthor, and the Riddler who formed the Legion of Doom.
I always wanted a superpower or two…and to have super friends. I kind of hoped I would grow into it…and find others who had as well (like a non-soap opera, real version of the current day Heros show). I found it mysterious and cool that every Super Friend was super and unique, offering their superpower for the team’s best interest.
Every now and then I would attempt to spin a web, telekinetically move a cow in the pasture out back, or jump off of something dangerously high hoping for flight. With my powers concealed I would retain my superficial identity – Artie, chubby, sporty, 5th grade, pimple-faced trumpet player, but beneath my awkward exterior I would be something supernatural and powerful. Not only this, other Super Friends would watch my back. Together we would live out of our deepest identity foiling evil plots and helping people everywhere. I prayed for this more times than was normal or rational for a kid my age.
Doesn’t my “super” obsession describe an authentic expression of Christianity?
- together we live out our deepest identity foiling evil plots and helping people everywhere.
These days I realize my longing was from God. I am in fact indwelt by God himself, the Super Spirit, who created us all uniquely super…and natural. God is our superpower, having within himself every power. As partakers of divine nature we possess God-given abilities and graces to be wielded at the discretion and by the enabling power of God’s super Spirit. This same profusely imaginative Spirit creates and sustains everything seen and unseen, eternal and temporal. So, though superficially we may feel ordinary, chubby, awkward, terribly human, or even worthless, we are nothing short of super-natural. We are simultaneously super and human expressions of God. In reality, our Super Friends are more than friends, they are family – together we create one body. Along with our do-gooder community of Super Friends we live from our innermost super selves as members of a Kingdom of God whose mission is to go about foiling evil and helping people everywhere. We do so by brandishing a sacred superpower that no legion, gloom, or doom can overcome – God’slove.
Our staff team is currently in the process of doing some personal strengths assessment using the Strengthsfinder tool through Gallup. I have to admit that I have a certain ambivalence about these types of evaluations. I know most are soundly research-based, but I generally I suspect given the weather in my head month to month, I would answer differently were I take the test two months from now. Additionally and more profoundly, researchers define the terms and their connections and base the outcome of the assessment on our answers related to these definitions and their connection/disconnection. So, when asked 200 questions about care, communication, learning, control, encouragement, teaching, empathy, action, rest, introversion, introspection, etc. our valuing of these things depends on our personal understanding of the terms and/or questions. My last beef…no one likes to be defined or pigeon-holed. It often feels confining, fatalistic, or depressing. Granted, I know that is not the intention of the assessors.
All this being said, there is great value in knowing more about ourselves so that we discontinue tripping ourselves and apologizing for our uniquenesses. In this case, it is about learning your strengths so that you can more effectively live in and from them.
I found myself getting emotional often as I read the evaluation. I was strongly resonating with the commentary related to my strengths. It felt really good to understand myself better. It was as if I was being validated as a person. This knowledge will certainly help me live in my strengths more fully and acknowledge my weaknesses more readily. There is tremendous value in this. No, the feedback was not perfect. I feel it really missed me in a particular area. As mentioned above, I think it had to do with defining terms. For thos of you who know the Strenghfinder lingo, this is how the themes played out for me; learner, positivity, ideation, activator, belief. Those who know me can see this is a pretty good assessment. However, I think I am more communication than positivity.
So why post this?
Personality/strengths testing aside, it is crucial that we ponder, process, and grow into our identity. Living from our God-given…or as I like to say, grace-given identity is fundamental for healthy holistic living. Our identity as accepted, beloved children of God must be our center, the core. From here we recognize ourselves as significant, unique individuals in and from whom the love of God is meant to flow. With this as our core ,we can readily and freely approach discovery regarding our uniqueness, strengths, and weaknesses (failures & successes)…. and live unclogged lives.
Having counseled many people, I commonly hear, “that’s just the way I am.” This is related struggle in marriage, at work, friendships, family, etc. This frustratingly reflects humanity’s identity crisis. It is sad to observe a sea of humanity forging faux identities and then using comments like this to defend or communicate their stuckness. Usually this serves us as a way to avoid facing the reality of sorely needed change. Often, it ends up that this is the way we are when we have no idea who we really are or go our own way apart from the Spirit. This is the way we are when lost, angry, unforgiving, sad, stubborn, obstinate, or bitter. Somewhere deep in that way we are is a kernel of truth and/or a strength gone wild or perverted.
I think God uses everything in us and around us to lead us to discover the royal child that lies beneath, one that does not have to make excuses, construct, defend, or pander to the whims and ways of the world or anyone one it.
Growing up in our faith means more fully embracing and living from our central identity as beloved God-assured children of the Father who are free and fearless. Acknowledging the life of Christ within, we assertively move forward in self-discovery related to our uniquenesses and strengths in order to supernaturally wield them in rhythm with God’s Spirit.
Life is brutiful. I know my jam-sandwich of the words brutal and beautiful may seem a little forced, unnatural or cliché, but this may be the best way to adequately describe real life here on earth. Doing life with intimate connection with God doesn’t change this reality. Just last week I experienced life as both brutal and beautiful.
On their Harley motorcycles on a beautiful Saturday afternoon a couple weeks ago, Hank and Jeanice traveled about an hour to check in on an elderly friend’s vacant house. She had recently moved into an assisted living facility, and as a service to her they were keeping the house in good order. Afterward, they stopped in for gas and planned to head just down the street for lunch before making the trip back to Orlando. While crossing the first intersection out of the service station, Hank was broadsided by a truck that ran the red light. Jeanice, just behind him, was not hit but saw her husband get slammed. In the blink of an eye, one driver’s mistake and perfect…or unperfect timing led to a brutal tragedy. Hank was flown to the hospital but did not survive. Hank was sixty years old with a beautiful wife, three beautiful kids, and four beautiful grandkids.
My wife and I are close friends with Hank’s oldest daughter and son-in-law, Mona and Dave. On the phone with Mona after the accident I could barely speak. Tearing up, I was in shock, it hurt just knowing that she and her family were experiencing such sudden deep pain and brutal loss. Life would never be the same for them and their kids.
We remember Hank as a Jesus lover and a free spirit. It seems we were not alone. As Hank was remembered by his family and friends these two characteristics continually came up. He loved God and he was wild at heart. He lived life well and he could naturally connect with virtually anyone. In the final estimation, Hank lived a beautiful life, rough in patches, but beautiful nonetheless. He leaves behind an amazing family who will remember him and miss him dearly.
To say life is brutal or beautiful simply does not express what it means for us to live, love, laugh, cry, and endure unspeakable tragedy like Hank’s untimely death or the untold myriad of circumstances we hear of or personally experience throughout life. Considered alone neither word describes what it is like to be truly, authentically human.
Life is brutal and beautiful, brutiful.
Our hope in this brutiful life comes from ruthlessly trusting in God’s graceful control and his loving presence above all else in the midst of brutality and beauty. God is always here saturating and surrounding. God was there when Hank was hit. He embraced Jeanice as she held her battered husband on the asphalt. Embracing God’s sovereign presence and each other does not always inspire immediate bubbly joy or dissolve soul wrenching anguish, but this is all we really have…and given some time it proves to be enough.
If you have a moment… pray for Hank’s family as they deal with their loss.
Recently I have had the risky urge to give poetry a try. Risky because I believe it is difficult to write good poetry and easy to write cheesy meaningless babble. So I am deciding to take the risk… put my babble out there. I really enjoy playing with words, images, meanings, etc. to process my journey. This being the case, I have been throwing some amateur poems together. Below is a poem I wrote no too long ago about dealing with fear and overwhelming circumstances…
saving face
could this be it? – the flood
when fear finally & fatally overwhelms
rush, sink
life drowns, now entombed by millstone anxiety
silt, sand, circumstance & consequence cloud and press
buried
could you be here?
breathless, hopeless, paralyzed, numb
from this angle….unrecognizable
mud for eyes, afraid
soon to be fossilized, brittle
facedown
I AM breathes
surrounds
my need for freedom consumes
worry weight spun
burdens made buoyant
rise
bright sun warms and wakes
the river deepens & breaks into a sprint
dependent
i float, bob, moved by divine current
through stone, silt, sand, circumstance & consequence
We were on our way to a visit another church. This is not among my favorite hobbies though I feel I have done it enough to officially consider it one. I stopped in for gas and while pumping left the radio on since the kids were happily singing along to a song. While gassing up, our battery died. I dug out my jumper cables and began scanning others pumping gas to see whom I could approach for a jump. Just adjacent I saw what I thought was a no-brainer choice, a truck with two oversized shiny Christian fish emblems on the tailgate. Surely he will help me out. I politely asked him if he minded giving me a jump. He replied, “Oh…..um…. I’m sorry, I can’t. I’m late for church.”
I said nothing. I was in such shock at the irony of it all that I smugly chuckled, turned, and walked away. This really happened.
I did get the car started. A weary mom who had risen early to pick up her son from night shift at Wal-Mart gladly helped us. In a final bit of irony, I ended up directly behind the shiny fish truck at the first stoplight outside of the gas station. Not helping me got him nowhere in more ways than one.
I have been that guy. This is a prime example of what religion does to us. This incident micro-cosmically characterizes what is wrong with Christianity today. There is plenty of good stuff but this exposed the self-righteous, ugly, disengaged nonsense that too many people associate with Christianity. Ritual rules rather than rhythm. Acknowledgement of daily grace and grace-giving scarcely takes place in the life of the everyday Christian. The Spirit leading us toward the unbeaten path is often unheeded, primarily because most of us ignore our inner trailblazer’s voice or simply do not recognize it.
From my understanding Jesus’ primary concern was not correcting or establishing behaviors like “one should always go to church…and be on time.” He went about giving sight, true sight, to the blind, mending broken hearts, setting captives free, loosing the oppressed and persecuted, and letting people know about God being in their midst, loving them. This was his mission and is ours…wherever, whenever, whatever.
Jesus’ purpose in our lives is not limited to forgiveness and lending our personal life a helping hand. He moved by the Spirit of his father, and amazingly we too may live in this way. He modeled a rhythmic relationship with the Father and made a way for us to have that same relationship. He modeled to us what it means live by the Spirit. His was a passionate, intimate, resonant union with the Father. His relationship was scandalously mystical, practical, and most of all…intimate. It made people feel uncomfortable, particularly religious people. It still does.
Jesus freed us to unhesitantly help people at gas stations and those in infinitely more serious situations (wherever, whenever, whatever) sometimes causing us to be substantially “late for church” or to miss it altogether…more than once.
Many of you know I recently finished a big project. This project was born out of ten years or so processing my faith (and lack there of) and more recently a ton of research and reading. I wrote a book currently titled Sacred Flow: Discovering Life in God’s Rhythm.
The book actually started writing itself a little over ten years ago when my life was rocked and rolled. As a result, I stumbled into the beauty of God’s grace in a way I hadn’t before. My life hasn’t been the same since. Very shortly after this (re)awakening, through too many circumstances to explain here, I connected what I was experiencing in my faith with the psychological concept called flow – the zone. You know…that experience you have when you are so engrossed in an activity that time, effort, self, and other things slip away, fade, and your awareness becomes insanely acute. Movement in this space is smooth, fluid, rhythmic. I fully acknowledge that connecting Christian spirituality with this flow may sound wierd, cheesy, or may not mean anything to you whatsoever. That’s ok, I understand.
Reconsidering the life of Jesus, I began to recognize Jesus as someone who flowed with and from his Father. He moved when the Father led, the Father did his works through him, he spoke when the Father initiated, taught the Father’s teaching. Essentially, the Father flowed through Jesus. This did not make Jesus less Jesus or the Father less the Father. It demonstrated the ultimate intimate relationship.
Not only this, but it illustrated to us redeemed, reconciled relationship and what it means to be a real human, a human with focused faith in the Father. Jesus modeled flow – sacred flow. I came to…and I am still coming to understand this is what “Christian” living is all about – living in the sacred flow of God. To flow is to walk in step with the Spirit.
Christ lives within us and desires to live through us uniquely. God’s Spirit is a smooth, rhythmic divine life within longing to empower, guide, teach us in each moment. This is not simply ethereal mysticism, it’s pragmatism. Authentic mysticism leads to trench-living pragmatism. Healthy Christians are what I call pragmystics.
Enough for now…As I continue blogging on this topic I will be dropping in bits and pieces from the book and other worthy pieces that were cut from it.
