What Would You Give Up to Gain Grace?

Much of North American Christianity is promoted in ways similar to marketing. We present the "product" (a relationship with Jesus) in terms of what people will gain by "buying." Salvation of your soul, peace within, a purpose in life, joy that passes all understanding, and a host of other "gains" provide incentive. Unfortunately, we're reluctant to stress the "give it up" dimension of following Jesus.

A wealthy young man wanted to know what he needed to do to inherit eternal life. (See Luke 18:18-30 in the Bible.) Jesus asked whether or not the well-to-do man lived by the commandments. He told Jesus that he did, and had always done so. Jesus said, "There is still one thing lacking. Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come and follow me." (Luke 18:22 - New Revised Standard Version.) The guy couldn't do it. The point wasn't that he was rich. Rather, his love for his wealth was greater than his love for God. As long as that was the case, no amount of commandment-obeying would get him into the Kingdom. His pathway to the grace of God was blocked by his own addiction to his material success. The most gracious, loving thing Jesus could do was to invite him to purge himself of it, and then follow Him.

We all have things in our lives that we treasure and that would be hard to give up: material items, positions and status, relationships, mechanisms providing security, opinions and stances, habits and addictions, etc. Consider the following questions:

Beyond your immediate family relationships, what are the very most important things in your life - really? (Be honest. Don't answer just the way you think you ought to answer.)

Looking at what you have noted in the question above, do those things help or hinder your relationship with God? How so?

Imagine giving up those things. How hard would that be? What would make such relinquishment worthwhile?

I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

The church of which I am a part is going through some changes. Some of those are transitions in specific, measurable ways of doing things. Many of the changes involve a shift in focus, thus a shift in identity. Change is never easy. It's turbulent, frequently messy, and often uncomfortable. People don't always agree on everything. The territory ahead seems uncertain. Surroundings look different and atmosphere's feel different. There is an unsettled sense around us.

However, purpose often arises from that which seems to be turmoil. In the midst of it all, once in a while, I'm beginning to hear this kind of phrase: "It's an exciting time." Even in the most wearying moments, I catch myself saying, "Well, at least it's not dull."

One hundred and forty-four posts ago I started this blog with the image of a canoe or kayak trip on an Ozark river. When the river's flow thrusts you into a set of rapids, you may find yourself unsettled by the turbulence of the water. You're wondering where submerged boulders will hit you, and you're bracing against the thrust of the mainstream, heading your vessel straight for a downed sycamore. You're praying you can paddle hard enough and fast enough to avoid swamping, and you may be saying, "Why in the world did I want to do this?" Those are the experiences, though, that make for the vitality of the trip. Those are the stories you tell, and those are the stretches in the river you hope to hit again. Life is in the rapids on a float trip. It's the same in this disciple-growing mission in the Body of Christ.

I'll see you around the next bend in the river, provided neither one of us tip and swamp!

Eye on the Prize

This morning I ran in 5K race hosted by our area YMCA. I finished 10th overall out of about 35 runners, with a time of 25:51. That wasn't too bad, in that I haven't run a 5K in about a year and a half. (I got first place in my age group. Don't be impressed. I was the only one in my age group; the oldest male runner there.)

It having been a while since I ran "competitively," I had forgotten what the last mile is like. I have a bad habit of expending too much energy in the first 2/3 of the race. Then I'm barely able to hold my own for the last mile or so. To make matters worst, most of the last third of this race route took us straight into a fierce south wind. At one point it seemed like the last turn was an eternity away. I was praying that I would at least make it to the finish line before I started dry-heaving. Then we turned, and I could see the small crowd at the finish line. It's amazing what that sight will do for a runner. I hit a good, determined stride and made it to the end just fine, with no ill affects.

These are exciting days to be followers of Jesus. Rough waters are ahead for many, though, if they are not here already. "Comfortable, surface Christianity" has no future in our land. Central allegiance to Jesus demands determination, resilience, sacrifice, radical forgiveness, and boldness, the likes of which we rarely see. The times will come when our running legs will hurt bad, our lungs will burn hot, and we will gasp for breath. We'll be tempted just to quit the race. A follower of Jesus named Paul reminds us, "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:14, New International Version.)

If you are a Jesus-follower, committed to and involved in the current renewal of disciple-making mission in the Body of Christ, and if the race it getting hard, keep your eye on the prize.

I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

A Trap or a Trailblazer?

In his book Blue Like Jazz Donald Miller tells about an experience he and a few other Jesus-followers had while students at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. They set up a "Confession Booth" on campus in the middle of a party weekend. Students who saw this hastily built wooden structure with a "Confession Booth" sign on it assumed they were supposed to go in there and confess their sinning to a Christian. Instead, for those who ventured in, a Christian confessed to them. Some Jesus-follower would apologize for everything Christians have done that is hurtful to people who have yet to meet Jesus...seeking forgiveness for every hurtful word, every judgmental dismissal, every act of hate and violence done "in the name of Jesus," and every way Christians have ever been a barrier to Christ himself.

Jesus said, "...stumbling blocks are sure to come, but woe to the one by whom they come." (Luke 17:1) The word translated "stumbling block" is a form of the Greek word "skandalon" which can mean "trap." Especially thinking of trapping an animal, we know that traps can injure, immobilize, and spell doom. Jesus warns us to be careful not to injure or immobilize someone who could turn to God or who is new to a relationship with Jesus. If we are a "trap" we hinder someones pathway to the presence of Jesus. Instead, we need to be "trailblazers" - clearing the path to the presence of Jesus. Consider these questions:

Have you ever been "trapped" in your faith journey by an experience involving someone who claimed to be a Christian or involving a church? Did you get past it? If so, how? If not, what would help you get past it?

Do you know of a situation in which you were more of a "trap" than a "trailblazer" for someone? Have you confessed it and sought God's forgiveness? Is there someone who needs to know that you are repentant?

How can we help each other to be trailblazers rather than traps?

I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

Delighting in You

Several days ago my wife called our daughter and son-in-law's home. Our oldest granddaughter now answers the phone once in a while. My wife was greeted with a resounding and gleeful, "Hi, Nana!!" from the other end of the line. Our granddaughter delights in those she loves. Needless to say, it made Nana's day.

When was the last time someone delighted in you? Stripped down to the core, with all human baggage removed, it could be said that the essence of the good news of Jesus is this - God delights in us! Mess that we are, God cannot help it...God loves us, seeks us, and delights in us.

If you worship regularly, what did you experience the last time you participated in a service of worship? Did others smile at you politely? Were you ignored? Did you speak to the same persons with whom you usually speak, about the same subjects you usually address? Did people gush all over you in a programmed rush of cordiality? Or did someone just purely delight in you, just as God does?

I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

The Need for Grace

Luke, a physician from 21 centuries ago, tells the story of an encounter between Jesus of Nazareth and a man from the ancient town of Jericho named Zaccheus. (See Luke 19:1-10) Zaccheus was a tax-collector in the employ of the Roman Empire; one of thousands recruited from among the people conquered by Rome. Given the chance to become fantastically wealthy with Rome's support, Zaccheus did so, to the scorn of his own people. He would have had all the money, stuff, power, women, and manifestation of the good life he wanted. Yet, when an itinerant Galilean carpenter/preacher wandered into Jericho, something pulled at Zaccheus' gut. He ran to see Jesus, and shinnied up a tree to get a good look at him. Both actions, running and tree climbing, would be a social embarrassment to a man of his position and power. What would cause him to risk all that? What would Jesus offer that he couldn't buy with all his resources?

I suggest that without even knowing it, what Zaccheus wanted was the very thing Jesus offered him. Jesus wanted to sit at a meal with him. In that culture, no gift of grace was greater than sharing table fellowship. It was especially poignant given Zaccheus' position and reputation. The concept of "grace" comes from the Greek word charis. It came to mean a gift that is unearned, undeserved, unanticipated, but freely given. The saving act which is Jesus crucified and risen, and in our midst, epitomizes and embodies this grace.

Think how absent this kind of grace is in our world? How many times are people gifted in this way, without having to qualify for it, pay for it, do something in return, or have some other condition attached? Consider the following questions:

When was the last time you were "graced" - given something out of the blue, not because you deserved it, and with no thought of payback or glory given to the giver?

When was the last time you "graced" another human being?

What would it look like for Jesus-followers to be concrete examples of pure grace? What would it look like for a congregation to "grace" a community?

What could you do in the next 24 hours to give unconditional grace to someone else?

I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

Reverse Confessional

Later this month some folks in our congregation are doing something pretty creative. They're preparing a 30 minute, walk through experience called "Living Grace." "Living Grace" is designed to be an immersion in the grace that God provides in and through the risen Jesus. It is experiential, hopefully giving visibility and tangibility to the concept of a gift that is unearned, undeserved, unanticipated, but freely given.

One event within this experience will be something called "The Reverse Confessional." The idea of a Reverse Confession is taken from an event related by Donald Miller in his book, Blue Like Jazz. Miller tells of a party weekend at some college in which some Christian students set up a confessional booth in the midst of the campus debauchery. However, those who went to the confessional booth did not end up confessing their sins to representatives of Jesus and the Church. Instead, Jesus followers made confession to the students who went to the booth. They asked forgiveness for the ways Christian people have thrown barriers in front of persons seeking Jesus. They asked forgiveness for hatred, violence, and bigotry proliferated in the name of Jesus. They confessed and repented of anything churches or church people had done to hurt, belittle, or chase off any who came to the confessional booth.

Interesting concept...maybe offensive to some Christian people. I think somebody once told me that Gandhi once said he could become a Christian if it weren't for the way he saw many Christians acting. Now, let me quickly say that many followers of Jesus live and act in ways that reflect the welcoming, saving power of Jesus. Until all of us do, though, we may need things like reverse confessional booths in order to connect with the people Jesus wants us to reach.

I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

Saving Private Ryan, And Us

Let's just go ahead and say it...it is the unacknowledged elephant in the room for Jesus-followers every Easter weekend. Many places of worship will be packed-out tomorrow. It's an odd mix of joy and discouragement. It's great to have that many people present to hear or hear again the proclamation of Jesus risen. It's discouraging that a good number of those people won't be back in worship until maybe Christmas Eve.

I don't want to be negative or unrealistic. Easter is a good-feeling day, just like Christmas. For folks who believe such things, it is the central good feeling of our faith. Execution and the grave cannot hold the one who is both fully God and fully human. In and through the risen Jesus we are rescued from bondage to Sin, death, and alienation from God and each other. We like that... it ranks right up there with the message that God is now with us through the baby of Bethlehem. Easter actually ranks a significant notch above that, for folks who understand the theology of it all.

So once the good news is in, why are so many people content to head back to business as usual? I guess if Jesus is risen and we're saved that's all that matters, right? After all, we cannot save ourselves by our own good works - worshipping regularly, or whatever those good works may be - so I guess we just accept the rescue of the Resurrection Day and go on with business, until the time comes and we punch our get-out-of-hell-free card and head on to glory, right?

Musing on this, a friend of mine recently thought about the end of the movie Saving Private Ryan. In this film, Tom Hanks plays Captain John Miller, a G.I. who survives the first wave landing on Normandy Beach on June 6, 1944. Miller is given command of a small detachment with the mission of locating and extracting a Private James Ryan (Matt Damon). Ryan is to be returned home to his family, as two of his brothers in uniform have already been killed in action.
Ryan is rescued, but Captain Miller is mortally wounded in the effort. In his dying breath Miller pulls Ryan close and whispers into his ear, "Earn this!"

Ryan didn't do anything to effect his rescue other than to be found by those who would save him. He didn't earn it or achieve it. Once he had been given this great gift of deliverance, and once he had accepted it, he was expected to live out the gift with gratitude and purpose. This may be a loose analogy, but it makes sense to me. Once the gift which is Easter is given, we are to live that gift, not just claim it as a personal prize. If we don't, I'm not sure the gift which is the resurrection of Jesus really has impacted us. I hear the risen Jesus saying to us, "Live this!"

Last year, on the Sunday after Easter, I had the privilege to worship with a congregation that planned a special service of celebration and commitment for the Sunday following the biggest Sunday of the year. On that day, among other things, they best their yearly average for worship attendance by well over 100 people. That's the kind of thing I like to see. Anybody can get happy, excited, religious, or whatever on Easter Sunday - and that's important and necessary. In a larger sense, though, it's what happens on the Sundays following that tells the tale.

Have a blessed and powerful Resurrection Day. I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

A Different Place

Mark 16:1-8 is arguably the earliest account of the disappearance of the body of Jesus of Nazareth. The oldest manuscripts of Mark's gospel end at 16:8, which is something of a problem. Mark records that three women went to pay respects and tend to the body of Jesus of Nazareth, who had been executed just prior to the Sabbath that week. In the New International Version of the Bible, verse 8 reads as follows: "Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid." Initially this might cause us to ask, "How did the word about the empty tomb get out?"

The word translated "bewildered," which can appear in other forms in English Bibles - such as "amazement," has an interesting etymology in the original Greek. It's root meaning is literally something like "a change of place." The whole issue of place was alive on that resurrection morning. Jesus was not in the place where the women expected to find him. A messenger from God was in that place instead. The messenger told them to tell the disciples to go to a different place where the risen Jesus would meet them. And, in the original intent of the word for "bewildered," the whole experience put the women in a different "place" than they anticipated.

I think there's a message here. If Easter is more than just a day on a calendar, if it is more than just something a church does once a year (like Christmas Eve communion or Vacation Bible School), if it is more than a story in history, then the Jesus who ignored a sealed tomb and dismissed the reality of death will put us in a different place. If Easter doesn't do that, have we really experienced it?

Consider these questions:

How did their experience put the three women in "a different place"?

How has the news of a risen Jesus put the world in "a different place"?

Are you in "a different place" because Jesus is alive again? If so, how?

How do you want Jesus to put you in "a different place"?

I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

A Weird Week

This is a weird week in the Christian year. It starts all happy, at least in some worshipping congregations. Remembering how Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem before his last Passover feast, many churches distribute palm branches while preachers speak of Jesus' "triumphal entry." This particular Sunday, known commonly as "Palm Sunday," is sort of a warm-up for the big day, which is a week away. Easter is the celebration of Jesus' resurrection for Jesus-followers, and it is a kind of Spring "mini-Christmas" for a lot of western culture.

I have found it ironic, both before I was a Jesus-follower and since, that one of the biggest Christian worship attendance days (Easter Sunday) is preceded only two days before by by one of the hardest sells in the Christian year - Good Friday worship. (Good Friday observes the day that Jesus was executed by Roman authorities.) Getting people to worship on Good Friday often presents a challenge. Some communities combine Good Friday services, partly to elicit a larger crowd. Some churches abandon Good Friday worship altogether. There are probably lots of reasons that Good Friday worship is a difficult draw. Sometimes I'm afraid people just want to get past all the hard stuff (the difficult and baffling necessity of Jesus' death) and get to the good stuff (new life and salvation in the risen Christ).

But the good stuff has no meaning without the hard stuff. Without the cross, the empty tomb is just a happy fantasy. Without Calvary, the impact of a dead man walking again has no power. Do something courageous. Spend time at the cross before Easter Sunday. Worship on Good Friday, somewhere, even if on your own.

I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

Oh, Lord, It's Hard to be Humble

How in the world does anyone teach and model humility now? We live in a culture in which athletes are praised and rewarded if they pay more attention to their own statistics and salaries more than they pay attention to the success of teammates and the team as a whole. In a world of reality (pseudo-reality) entertainment we're buying into the belief that anyone can be a star at any time. Seek more than just your fifteen minutes of fame; broadcast yourself, as YouTube urges. Get the glory, one way or another.

So, Jesus is just as counter-cultural now as he was then...The Sunday before Easter, known through Christian history as "Palm Sunday" or "Passion Sunday," commemorates Jesus entering Jerusalem for the Passover festival. As recorded in the Christian Bible, he entered to the adoration of a crowd of people. Had he done it now, trust me, he would have been on YouTube several times over. It was a glory moment for him. However, he chose to make it a moment of humility. Rather than entering Jerusalem like a conquering hero, he rode in like a poor, common traveler. He did this by design. The full expression of the intentional level of Jesus' humility is found in the song/creed expressed in Philippians 2:1-11. If you have a Bible, read it. If you don't have a hard copy, find an on-line version. Then consider the following:

What is the nature of Jesus' humility?

Jesus' humility happened by choice, not by accident or circumstances. Why is that important?

Why does Jesus' glory depend on his humility?

If we are to be like Jesus, how do we choose humility in a "look-at-me" culture? What does that look like?

Something to think about. More than that, something on which to act. I'll see you around the next bend in the river.