How to get better….

“…fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement: he is a rebel who must lay down his arms.”

-C.S. Lewis

The good news of sin is that it is a diagnosis that provides the stark reality as to what is wrong with us, can be repented of, left behind, and thoroughly cured by a transfusion of Jesus’ blood. Where else in the world would we find such hope? Can we not, in our critical condition, with our veins attached to poison IV’s, listening to the fading sound of our own beeps, open our eyes and see that the world, in all its wisdom, hasn’t provided one lasting remedy to what is making us sick?

But, the pathology of sin is that it’s first symptom is blindness.

This Time of Year

Sometimes I feel like I am riding a bullet. When fall begins to leave subtle hints that it will soon be arriving, I always find myself slipping into a reflective, melancholy place. I hear the late sounds of summer, feel the tender chill and catch the tiny changes of color in the leaves as I run the local trail here in the mornings. I see a school bus going by, a backpack by our door, and soccer cleats on the porch.

And I drift. I remember my first day of first grade, since where I went to school there was no kindergarten, (we didn’t have a grade we couldn’t spell!). The smell of school: How does it remain somewhere locked up in my brain and always find my nose in August, for just a few seconds, long enough to make me a little sad? I hear the sounds of children, their colors flashing by carried on tiny tennis shoes.

Maybe it hits me this way because I want to go back to a place and time that was worth more than I could ever comprehend, and was so impatiently pushed forward at the time. Bus. Desk. Mrs. Pruit. Recess. Baseball glove. Reading that first sentence. Lunchtime. Crayons. Note. Clock. Nap. Recess. Spelling Words. Letters and lines. Windows. Yawn. Bus. How was it?

My youngest Son drove to school this year. I will take none of my children again.

I drove out to a little town this morning, with a bouqet of flowers, and found the elementary school there. I left them there at the office. They were for Ms. Moore, the new third grade Teacher, from her Mom and me.

 Just yesterday I took her, with her red curls falling down her backpack, to meet her third grade Teacher.

I am riding a bullet.

Meanderings

I have not posted in some time, as you know if you have checked this site lately. We have been traveling this summer, to Tennessee, Arkansas and Missouri for vacations, retreats and weddings and have not found a summer “routine”.  But, summer, which has not really felt like summer, is slipping away. I now have two teachers in my house (Micah will be in her first year as a third grade teacher for the Olympia school district) so you can imagine that the next two weeks start to get a little frantic. The idea that Teachers have all this time off is inaccurate, as they are constantly taking classes through the summer to stay current in the changing nature and complexity of education today, going to meetings, buying (usually out of their own money) materials for their classrooms and preparing for a new group of children to journey with them for the next 10 months. It is a calling. Pray for them and for the kids as a new year begins.

Hopefully, as we slip into fall and a routine develops, I will do better with this blog. It will be good to catch up. Meanwhile, I am going to hang on to what is left of this (Pseudo)summer as long as possible. The weather is calling for some 90 degree days, maybe my tomatoes will ripen!

Grace and peace.

The Heart of the Law (giver)

It is June and summer is here. Well, not officially until the 21st, when the northern half of the earth tilts as close to the sun as it is going to and then begins to go the other way again. Yep, the first day of summer also means the days start getting shorter again. That’s ok. As long as it feels like summer you can call it what you want.  If I were to ever go to the Bahamas in the middle of winter I would still call it summer because I could and I could prove that it was summer not by the calender but by the blue skies, warm sun and turqoise water I would be aaswimming in. And it would be summer. Yes, it would. I think I was suppossed to follow the tilt of the sun but got side tracked along the way.  Anyhoo, I ran this morning and for the first time it really did feel like a summer day.

But I am worried about something. It might be my timing is a little off, maybe I am too early or something, but I walk out in my back yard late at night and I hear nothing. No crickets, no frogs, no usual night rhythms, nothing but the traffic. And, we have very few fireflies flying around. So, do me a favor, go out and listen tonight or this weekend and respond to this and let me know if you hear anything. I always felt that if the tree frogs and crickets were singing things were ok in the world, so it has me a little worried. Of course, it could just be that my hearing is going.

I haven’t written in a while, but I have been doing a lot of reading and I want to leave you with this qoute from Rubel Shelley:

Beyond both a given law and the spiritual principle that justifies it is the heart of the Lawgiver. The ultimate goal of every rule in Scripture is not simply that one should grasp basic ethical principles but that she would come to know the God from whom the moral nature and duties of a human being arise int he first place. This is to use the word “know” in its biblical sense of familiearity, intimacy and like-mindedness.

     Thus I affirm that to live under the authority of Scripture is to accept God’s invitation to be an actor in the unfolding drama of human redemption. It is to enter a story line already well along in its development, to find one’s place in the current scene, to act that scene in terms of new-creation righteousness, and to help move th estory to its KIngdom of God destination.

From: Divorce and Remarriage, A Redemptive Theology

Have a great summer solstice and fun weekend!

 

Oh My MyVerizon

Yes, it continues. Starting with last week a total of 4 hours in two different Verizon stores, with sincere dough-eyed employees who shrug their shoulders as sympathetically as a mortician, all saying the same thing: “I would really like to help you but I don’t know what to do, but here is a phone number you can call.”

Ten more hours on the phone, the longest one lasting over an hour, before I was simply disconnected. Next, I am sent to India, where someone promises me that he can fix everything, and promises to call me back the next day. That was three days ago. Maybe it’s the time difference.

The problem: I have never received a bill, I do not exist in the system, except to be sent disconnect notices and threatening messages on my cell phone. I do not exist on line, in their one bill department, cell phone side or internet side or anywhere. I can’t pay a bill I don’t recieve, an amount that noone can agree on. I have a phone number on my bill that does not exist anywhere, even the area code is not real! I am thinking it might be the area code for hell.

Which if I die, wake up, and a guy in a grey jacket and thick glasses with a whole network of people behind him greets me, then I know where I’ve ended up and what the devil looks like. Can I hold Verizon accountable for losing my religion?

Words

There are sure alot of words anymore. I cannot keep up with all of them. Think of all the words that you now use that you didn’t even know two or three years ago. Twitter? Texting? blog? Google? Catscan? I saw on YouTube (a new word…) that there are now five times more english words than Shakespeare had access too. What will happen when China becomes the number one english speaking country in the world? Will english words then expand even more rapidly?

Think of how words change meaning: What do you think of when you hear words like tag, post, byte, send, receive, we, wii, wee-wee? How about “crash,” “down,” “boot,” “window,” “net”?

Japan has a fiber optic (words with new meanings…) cable that can send 14 trillion bits per second down a single strand of fiber. Think of that…and ask yourself, “what information, where is it going, and why?

The Sermon on the Mount has very few words by comparison. The amount of information it contains is very small. The whole text could shoot through a fiber optic cable faster than my brain can tell my fingers to type the first letter of it.

Yet it is still life changing, still world impacting, and still brutally honest and inspiring.

To have these words of Jesus penetrate and download to the hard drive of my heart I just need to remove all my self-imposed pop-up blockers and remove the firewall of my stubborn heart and hit receive. And it’s wireless too. I can get it anywhere if I want. 

Jesus’ words. In an information drowning world, with bits of bits coming at us faster and faster, do they matter? Can they get through? Is his net bigger?

Living Biblically: The Impossible Dream

I know it has been a while since the last post on this idea of living biblically. I am glad that I do not have a dead line or I would be fired by now. I admire those who can be creative on a continuing basis and put thoughts to words on paper (does that occur anymore? maybe thoughts to bytes) consistently. For me it always ebbs and flows, lately more ebbing than flowing. So, if anyone is reading this blog, sorry, I hope you will bear with me. I do want this series to be enlightening and encouraging, and not critical of our fundamentalism.

I say that because Matthew had to go and arrange many sayings of Jesus into what we know as the Sermon on the Mount. Luke has alot of the same teachings, but they are scattered throughout his narrative so it doesn’t slap you in the face as harshly as it does in Matthew where it feels like you are getting smacked by Jackie Chan.

If you know much about the Bible you know that whenever someone climbs a mountain you better be prepared to hear some stuff that is going to alter your comfortable perception of life. Think Abraham, Moses, Elijah. Great Sermons come from mountain tops.

So should we only preach from mountain tops?  We have plenty of examples and inferences. But Luke has the Sermon on the Plain so I guess that is authoritative also. Maybe we should just proclaim the good news whether we are high or low.

I have been preaching on this sermon, which, if you think about it, takes alot of chutzpah. After all, it is a sermon, by Jesus, and I am going to improve on it? Or explain it better than he did? Or give the real meaning?

As far as sermons go, it isn’t that long, and it defies all the rules of good sermon giving. There are way to many topics covered and not enough illustrations. Plus some of what Jesus says is confusing…like Blessed are those who mourn. Happy are the sad?  What does that mean?

Some of it is crystal clear though, like “If your right hand causes you to sin, cut if off and throw it away.” I have yet to see that verse  put on a church sign! , ”Welcome to First Fellowship, where we extend to you the left  hand of fellowship….come in and see why!”

And for such a brief sermon, there are countless books and commentaries and suggestions about how to understand it. I have at least ten different sources I have limited myself to in the study of this amazing homily, and that doesn’t even begin to touch the surface of what has been written about it.

Can we understand it? Was it meant to be applied? Or was Jesus simply giving us an impossible dream, and unreachable star to reach for (“Be Perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” 5:48) so that we would see our need for mercy? Does it have anything to do with the real world we live in today?

The setting is important. Jesus has been healing the sick and proclaiming the good news, which has drawn huge crowds. Seeing the crowds he goes up a mountain and sits down, which is what I want to do when I am in a crowd. But, instead of napping, he calls his disciples to him and begans to teach them. The healing and proclaiming yields to teaching. He teaches them about what it means to follow him, to be his disciple, to understand the Kingdom of Heaven and to enter it.

Crowds are impressive. Every preacher wants to draw a crowd, it is a sign of success. Jesus wasn’t impressed with himself or the crowds.

Everyone wants to be healed by Jesus. Everyone wants to hear good news from Jesus. Few want to climb the mountain and sit at his feet and embrace his teachings.

Heal me! Save me! but don’t make me love my enemies or give up my retirement account!

For those of us who claim to live Biblically, what grade do we get just on this sermon alone? Is it the Impossible dream?

I have been out of cell phone range and computer access for the first part of the week, which is why I did not continue with the Living Biblically posts this week. I have been in the Ozarks visiting my parents and chasing that elusive bearded bird, of which I saw many, but like the song says, “at a distance.”

Here is what I saw close up though, since there is nothing like being fully camouflaged and sitting very still in the woods before day break. My list of cool sightings:

1 hummingbird that kept flying under the bill of my cap and staring at me.

1 juvenile bald eagle being chased by a crow.

1 red colored raccoon walked by me heading for bed after being out cavorting all night.

2 blue herons fighting on the creek bank in front of me

1 deep pool of water from a spring hidden way up a valley I had never been in before

1 lightning bolt too close for comfort

1 very slick log that in my younger days I could have crossed without falling into the swollen river and having to walk home some distance soaking wet, and just a little cold. Least I kept my shotgun out of the water.

hundreds of ticks

a dozen mushrooms that I successfully stalked and harvested and enjoyed for breakfast.

3 beautiful sunrises through stormy skies

And, heard 2 whip-o-will’s texting each other very early in the morning.

Next week, back to Normal….

To B or not To B(aptize)

By now I hope you understand that I am wanting to have some fun with this series on “living Biblically”.  But, I am serious about the Bible and I do attempt to study it with the goal of letting my life be formed by it’s central character, that of course being Jesus. It might be important to keep in mind through this that the gift of God to the world was not a book, but a person. We study the book to know the person so we can follow him. I love the book because I love Jesus. I have to keep this in mind because growing up I always heard people say: “He (she) sure knows his Bible.” That was the highest compliment a person could give concerning someone. And, it is a good one! But, I never heard growing up, not one time: “She (he) really knows Jesus.”

I believe it is entirely possible, from personal experience, to know the book and not know Jesus. Maybe, then, this series should be entitled “Living Jesus-ly.” But to do that I must at the same time live biblically, because that is my source of information concerning Jesus.  That and the 700 club. (;

Jesus begins his ministry by convincing John to baptize him.  After he was baptized, standing there dripping wet on the creek bank , the heavens opened, the Spirit of God descended like a dove and a voice from heaven spoke declaring Jesus to be God’s delightful Son. Then, Jesus was driven by that same Spirit into the wilderness where he fasted forty days and nights and faced down the devil.

In living biblically, we follow the river example but not the desert example. Not hard to figure that one out. But, to be fair, we are later commanded to be baptized but fasting and times of solitude seem to be options, although Jesus left several examples (along with the Apostles) of both disciplines.

Jesus was also “led” by the Spirit after it’s visible manifestation by the dove. Paul would tell us to be led by the Spirit. The church I grew up in is debating this whole issue right now with some saying the Spirit is only in the Word. In other words, when one is baptized, a King James Bible falls out of heaven and clunks them on the head. I think the dove would be more gentle.

Baptism is easy, being led by the Spirit isn’t always. Maybe that is why we attach ourselves like a leech to the one and not the other. But, just as Jesus inaugurates his mission by water baptism and the descent of the Spirit, we also begin our mission the same way. To start without either one is a false start.

The beauty of it is in Jesus’ words: “Allow it for now, because this is the way for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Jesus didn’t say this is how I fulfill all righteousness, but how we (he and John) do it. Jesus confirms John’s prophetic ministry and authenticates his message while bringing it to an end in the beginning of his own. He would become greater while John would fade. From now on, baptism would be different, because beyond ritual cleansing there would be the something new: The gift of the Spirit, a delighted Father and adopted children. Who wouldn’t want to follow that command? In my years of ministry I have never had to convince people concerning baptism when I preached Jesus.

Oh, and Jesus fulfilled “all righteousness.” I didn’t add any of my own to it. In the Old and New Testament righteousness is not a matter of actions conforming to legal standards, but is about how one fulfills their obligations to a relationship. It is always a relational term. It is connected to God’s saving acts on behalf of his people. God shows righteousness by saving us, we are righteous by our faith in his actions and love. Jesus fulfills all righteousness by his identifying himself with all of sinful humanity in his baptism and later the cross. But only as the Son of God would it make a difference for us.  John was right, he should have been baptized by Jesus, but Jesus instead needed John to baptize him.  He came, like we all do, into this world, needing help from others to fulfill our purpose. He didn’t diminish John but rather affirmed him by saying in effect: “I need you to join with me to fulfill my task and begin this mission of salvation.” Being human means being needy, and Jesus embraced all of what it means to be human. His baptism didn’t just declare him to be the Son of God, it also declared him to be the son of man.

Living Biblically then, means that baptism isn’t just about us getting saved, it is about the Spirit leading us into all the world, for the sake of others. And that’s living pretty Jesus-ly.

Living Biblically and Jesus’ Baptism

Where else would I start, except with baptism? Ironically, just today I saw a link somewhere online, I think while I was at Amazon.com, for a Churches of Christ site with the lead “Why Baptism is Essential.” I wish it would have said, “Why Jesus is Essential,” but I guess that’s a given.

I begin with Matthew 3:13 -4:11, the baptism and temptation of Jesus, rather than the birth narratives because, despite the fact we have commands and an example  and even specific dreams it would be hard for us to follow Jesus by a virgin birth. That was solely for Him and never repeated, even by his brothers and sisters.

John is baptizing in the river Jordan and Jesus comes to him to be baptized. John was not a member of the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ because he “tried to stop him.” WE DON”T DO THAT! Good grief, it’s hard enough to get people close enough to the water to shove them in (see aforementioned website), we certainly never want to deter anyone. And, Jesus wasn’t the first! Look back at 3:7 and what he said to the Pharisees and Saducees, aka. “Brood of Vipers.” Is that anyway to pad the numbers? He practically pushed them away from the water like they were toddlers.

Maybe they were just coming for baptism but not the confessing of sins like all the other’s were doing, whom John did baptize. Uh-oh, there’s a clear example  from scripture I have never seen followed before, someone publicly confessing their sins as they were being baptized. Whew, good thing John’s baptism became obsolete.

So, regarding baptism, John is somewhat confusing in his example. Most folks he is willing to baptize. It is the Pharisees, the Saducees and Jesus he tries to deter, and Jesus was his cousin!

Good grief, where I am from, if we couldn’t baptize our cousins we wouldn’t baptize anybody!

More tomorrow on this subject. Until then, don’t do anything rash.