13-1

A few posts back I spoke of our local high school football team. They went 10-0 in regular season play, winning both their conference and district for the first time since the nineteen-seventies. Subsequent to that, they won three play-off games in a row, making it to the final four in our state. Then it ended. In the semi-final game they lost decisively to one of the strong private schools in our state. Taking nothing away from the victors, they have resources and capabilities that simply are not available to a public system like ours.

Still, as my father always said about championship games, "You have to be there to lose it!" Our coaches and team team took a shot for the stars. They didn't quite get there, but they had a great run. They made history and made our town proud. I'd rather see them lose a state semi-final game than not be in one.

That kind of describes my outlook on much of life. Sometimes I think our culture rewards only extremes. We revere and remember the winners only, easily forgetting the individuals or teams who challenged them. On the other hand, we condition one another to play it safe, don't rock the boat, don't take risks. Often we fail to recognize the effort and courage of those who go out on a limb and take a chance for something great or right, even if it means the chance of failure.

I'm more impressed by a Jesus follower who takes a chance on sharing his/her faith with another and gets rejected than I am impressed by someone with perfect attendance and who tithes, but who does not give witness when given the chance. I'm more impressed by a church that risks becoming more focused on making disciples than on maintaining itself and fails in the process, than I am impressed by a church that keeps itself afloat but ignores the lost people around it. I'm more impressed by servants who roll up their sleeves to address human need and risk the scorn of others than I am by those who keep a safe distance.

I'd rather try something in the will of God and fail at it, than merely stay safe or only do the things that are a guaranteed win. But that's just me. Anyway, I'm proud of our football team. I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

Black Friday?

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. This morning, while running, I listened to a local classic rock station, hoping to hear some kind of light-hearted banter from the morning crew, regarding the upcoming Turkey Day. Instead, in about three and a half miles at a slow, old man's pace, I heard way more about Black Friday than I heard about George Washington's vision of a national day of prayer and gratitude to the Author of life.

Black Friday. Some cultures once knew that label as an ancient way to speak of the day on which Jesus of Nazareth was executed. Now, in our culture, it has nothing to do with a sad but necessary death. "Black" refers to the likelihood and hope that most retailers will end the day in the black due to high sales officially starting the Christmas commerce season. The boldest headline in our local newspaper simply states "BLACK FRIDAY." When did this become the high holy day of this week? When did it become almost un-American not to get out and spend amounts of money that are obscene to most nations of the world? When did we decide that it's patriotic to over-indulge and watch endless football on the Thursday before Black Friday instead of pausing to humbly give praise for the endless manifestations of Grace that we've inexplicably been afforded?

I don't know the answer, and I am surely part of the problem. I am aware that the God I know is beyond comprehension in his resolute love for we who tend to define life as endless indulgence. For that I am truly grateful.

A colleague of mine says that an entire day is shaped by starting it with praise to God. I've been trying to practice that as intentionally as possible lately. She's right, it changes the way a day unfolds. I intend to practice it tomorrow, of all days. If by the grace of God I awaken to greet Thanksgiving day, the very fact that my awakening happens is reason enough to praise the God who created me, loves me, and has a plan for my life.

I invite anyone to join with me in this approach tomorrow. And if you really want to walk the ragged edge of discipleship, don't buy anything on Black Friday. Bless someone in some special way instead. I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

Islam

Issues in and around Islamic faith have been real disturbing to me lately. I know Islamic people who exhibit nothing but respect for me and for my faith in Jesus. Yet clearly there are those who believe Islam means death to all who are non-Islamic, all who are American, and/or all who follow Jesus Christ. There are places and situations throughout history and throughout the world where adherents to Islamic faith have been the perpetrators of violence, as well as places and situations wherein they have been the victims of violence. The terrible tragedy at Fort Hood is disturbing on several levels.

On the one hand, some people argue for tolerance in dealing with Islam. To be sure, adherents to Islam are as diverse in their beliefs and emphases as are Christians. There are extremists and there are tolerant people among them. Still, some interpret their own Islamic faith as a mandate for our destruction. If it wasn't clear before, it became crystal clear on 09.11.01. In the 1930's Chamberlain of Great Britain called for tolerance of Hitler, and look how that turned out.

On the other hand, I now constantly see and hear a complete demonizing of all Islamic people by way too many sources. In the name of patriotism, God, the Bible, or whatever, people claim Islamic people are to our era what Communists were to the 1950's through 1980's. Fear is a great motivator, and the single most effective way to galvanize fearful people is to give them a group to hate. (Again Hitler comes to mind.) I'm not saying that we don't have a real threat to face. I'm just calling into question the labeling of an entire segment of the world's population. In doing so, how are we different than those who lump all of us together and blindly hate us? Some people may have the leeway to do this. We who follow Jesus do not.

So it's a quandary for me. While not having a clear answer, I believe I heard a hopeful message. I recently learned about a young student who gave her life to Jesus Christ and was baptized a couple of days ago. She is from an Islamic background. Her parents reacted fiercely at first, disowning her and taking her possessions. Now, however, her possessions have been returned to her. Whatever relationship she is able to have with her parents from here, she has taken a brave step of faith. Hearing this story, I think the Holy Spirit reminded me that, whatever is going on politically right now, and whoever is to blame, people who live by choice or default with the Muslim label are no less passionately sought by the love of God in Jesus Christ than any of us.

That makes it harder, not easier, for we who claim Jesus. We were told the way would be narrow. I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

Bless You?

Someone sneezes and you quickly respond with, "Bless you!" What the heck does that mean, really? "Hope you didn't get any on you!" or what?!?

Seriously, people of every faith and no stated faith toss the word bless around like we actually know what it means. "Well, we're really blessed!" So, does that mean we have lots of good stuff, a family with no problems, friends who think we're great, good health, all of the above, or what? "Her prayers were answered; what a blessing!" So God likes her, right? Is that what blessing means.

Maybe the place to start isn't with a definition, but with personal experience. So, do you feel blessed right now? If so, why? If not, why not?

The original Hebrew means something like, "to bend the knee." That is, to give honor to someone of great worth and value. According to the faith history to which I adhere, God once told a couple named Abram and Sarai that he would bless them so that all people could be blessed through them. Jesus followers believe he is the culmination of that very promise of blessing.

So, again, what does it mean to be blessed? I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

The Good Samaritan Revisited - Part Two

Jesus told a story to a Jewish legal expert, seeking interpretation of the command to love God and to love our neighbors as ourselves. It was a story about a Jewish man, robbed and beaten while travelling. Two Jewish men of high esteem pass him by without helping him. A Samaritan, though, rescues him. In hearing, sharing, or interpreting this story, we tend to overlook the details Jesus gives about this man's actions. First, he risks a great deal. He risks violent reprisal for touching a Jew, and he risks the anger of his own people for helping a Jew. Also, the Samaritan sacrifices a lot. His oil and wine medicate the man's wounds. He would have had to use his own clothing as bandages. He gave up his own beast of burden and walked so the wounded man could be transported. The Samaritan sacrificed his time and his money.

However, we don't get any sense that the Samaritan viewed his own actions as sacrifice. As Jesus tells it, the Samaritan didn't do what he did grudgingly. Instead, Jesus paints a picture of someone willing to do whatever it takes to rescue the wounded man. He practiced eager sacrifice.

How much of what I do in Jesus' name is a sacrifice I'm so eager to offer that I don't even think of it as being a sacrifice?

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

The Good Samaritan - Revisited

The phrase "Good Samaritan" has become a part of our lexicon. Even people who know nothing about faith in Jesus or the Christian Bible have a general idea of the concept of a "Good Samaritan." (Good Samaritan Laws, etc.) If you don't know the actual story, that's good, in a way. It saves you from presuming the messages it contains, and therefore not hearing it in a fresh way.

Those of you who know the story, (see Luke, Chapter 10), know that it's a story of someone travelling on a dangerous road who gets robbed, beaten, and left for dead. To people of Jewish faith pass by him and don't stop to help, for a variety of reasons. A person known as a Samaritan stops to help. In its original context this story told by Jesus is scandalous. Jews and Samaritans hated one another worse than Yankee fans and Redsox fans, or Missouri Tigers and Kansas Jayhawks. For a Jew to tell a story in which a Samaritan was the hero was unthinkable.

Yes, there are some basic messages in the story. There's the message of being a neighbor to those in need; obeying the commandment to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves. There's the truth that the good news of Jesus is for everyone, not just for people who are like us. But I believe there's another message in this story that goes unnoticed, and it's in the actions of the Samaritan himself.

More on this on Friday. I'll see you around the next bend in the river.