Lent Day #16

Philippians 2:1-8 (ESV)
1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

THOUGHTS:
Paul writes to the Philippians to encourage unity in their community. He implores them to be "of one mind". I don't think this means we all have to think alike. He's not saying "check your mind at the door and toe the line". He's telling them that they shouldn't have rival factions among them. They should lovingly work out what they are going to do as a community so that they will be "in full accord". This reminds me of how Quaker (Society of Friends) communities traditionally do business: seeking consensus, and if they can't come to unanimous agreement, they table the issue to be decided at a later date. Then when they act, they are all "in full accord and of one mind." Is this what Paul is calling for?

Also, take another look at verses 3-4 (emphasis added): "...in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others." I find it interesting here that he's not telling them to ignore than own interests, but rather to also look to the interests of others. However, "others" aren't aren't second rate, but rather more significant.

Our society tends to value the self foremost. We always look out for #1 (ourselves), right? Sure, we value certain causes and it feels good to be charitable, so when it comes time to give, we look in our wallet, pick the medium-sized bill and give it away. It feels good & we helped someone else -- we're doing God's work...but don't we put ourselves first, rather than others? We value the new iPod we want to buy more than the food that could be bought for a family who desperately needs it. I'm not saying it is intentional, but as we talked about at the "Gospel According to the Simpsons" on Friday, we all benefit from the misfortunes of others in one way or another...

As Shane Claiborne points out in "The Irresistible Revolution": The world doesn't have enough resources for everyone to have a big house with a white picket fence and 2.3 kids driving a SUV everywhere -- but there are enough global resources to meet the basic human needs of every person on the planet. When asked why there are so many poor people whose needs aren't being met, Rob Bell told his congregation that it is because we, as the body of Christ, haven't been doing our job.

What if each of us put the needs of all the lonely and hurting people that we pass each day above our own time commitments each day? What would it look like if we led our local congregations work with other congregations and communities to prioritize caring for all the poor people in our neighborhoods above building renovations, carpet cleaning, new sound system or discussions about changing worship services? What if all Christian communities united together with "one mind" to, working with other like-minded organizations, to attempt to wipe out hunger in the world? Is it really possible for us to treat others as more significant than ourselves?

Note that I'm not saying to neglect your own needs, but to consider the implications of thinking about the needs of others as more significant. I'm not advocating starving yourself to death to feed others for a few days! What I'm asking is if we might be able to start by putting the basic needs of others before the luxuries we want? I don't know if I can do it, but I pray that God help me to try...

PRAYER:
Dear gracious God, you have given us so much. Help us to share this bounty with those who have not been so fortunate, that their struggle may be as if it were our struggle. Lead us to be the Church, uniting all of Your communities to do Your work.. Aide us in doing Your Will in all aspects of our lives. In the name of Jesus, we pray. AMEN.

NOTES:
We'll be gathering at the George Mason Statue on campus at 8:45am tomorrow (2/24/2008) morning to carpool to the Washington National Cathedral to hear bestselling author Jim Wallis speak, worship there, and return to campus by 1:00pm. RSVP by email or at http://gmu.facebook.com/event.php?eid=10421801061 appreciated, but not required.

Lent Day #15

Mark 8:27-33 (ESV)
27 And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" 28 And they told him, "John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets." 29 And he asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered him, "You are the Christ." 30 And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.

31 And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man."

THOUGHTS:
Who do we say that Jesus is? What role does our answer play in our lives?

Peter told Jesus that he believes he is the Christ -- the Messiah who will redeem and heal Israel. Jesus tells him to keep his view a secret, and then starts describing how he is going to have to suffer and die. Would you have challenged this notion like Peter did? I probably would have. I mean, Peter basically says "Jesus, you're the one! ALL of our hopes rest in you." Jesus responds with "Shh, I'm going to be tortured and killed soon..." Peter's whole brain probably blinked in confusion.

If you've seen movie "The Matrix", imagine if when Neo hears people tell him he's the one, he says "you know, I'm really thinking I'll just let them kill me." Those who believed he was the one would probably be telling him "NO -- you can't do THAT!"

Is that how Peter felt? I can't imagine I wouldn't have tried to talk Jesus out of it too. We so often get our minds focused on the way we think the world works, or the way we think that God should work. It's so easy to forget that God's ways are not our ways. God's ways are sometimes the farthest things from our comprehension at a given moment.

How do we remain open and ready to hear God's ways? How do we figure out when God is leading us in comparison to when our own ideas are the ones tugging us along? How do we set our mind on the things of God?

PRAYER:
Dear God, this Lent, we acknowledge that we tend to follow our own ideas down tangental rabbit-holes. We admit that sometimes we think we've figured out the point, and that our own certainty can sometimes lead us to miss out on Your still small voice whispering in our ears. Help us to work as a community to follow you. Help us to rely on each other, and to support each other. Help us to do Your will today. In Jesus name we pray, AMEN.

Lent Day #14

Luke 5:12-16 (NIV)
12 While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean."
13 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" And immediately the leprosy left him. 14 Then Jesus ordered him, "Don't tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them."
15 Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. 16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.

THOUGHTS:
I always find it amusing when Jesus tells people "Don't tell anyone". The result is usually the same -- soon everyone knows about it! Is Jesus using reverse psychology? Does he really want people to tell, or not to tell? I don't know.

Maybe it is simply that when something so wonderful and miraculous happens to us, we can't help but tell the story. That's part of what evangelism is all about -- sharing the story of how Jesus changes our lives.

Verse 16 is easy to gloss over, but quite important: "Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed." We see this throughout the Gospels...and it seems like it is usually mentioned when Jesus is busiest. Consider any of the political candidates all over the news these days -- everybody wants to talk to them, to shake their hand, to hear them speak, to be around them. This is the kind of attention Jesus was probably getting from the masses -- only with more intensity because they had heard that he could heal them on the spot!

Jesus leaves the throngs of people to find solitude with God. In the midst of his busy-ness is when Jesus makes time to find a "lonely place" and pray.

If Jesus, who in some way was God, needed these times to recharge -- to connect with God to get him through the chaos of life -- how much more do we need to make time in our lives to make ourselves available to God. What are your "lonely places"? Do you find time to go there and be present with God? Can you find ways to make more time to pray in your busiest times?

LUTHER'S MORNING PRAYER:
(As found in the Lutheran Book of Prayer, Concordia, 1970)

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray You that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the wicked Foe may have no power over me. Amen.

Lent Day #13

This immediately follows the scripture we looked at yesterday.

John 14:8-14 (ESV)
8 Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us." 9 Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. 12 "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it."

THOUGHTS:
This may bring up quite a few questions, and I'm not going to pretend that I have answers for all of them -- and I certainly won't address them all in the next couple paragraphs! Sometimes living in tension with the questions is the most faithful response available to us, and I think this is probably good. Reading the Gospels, it is clear that Jesus was not out to answer questions. He was thought provoking, faith inspiring, and miraculous, but sometimes it seems like you'll get more direct answers out of a magic 8-ball! (No, that doesn't mean you should trust a magic 8-ball...)

Look again at what Jesus says in verses 9-11: Seeing Jesus is seeing God, because Jesus is in God, and God is in Jesus. OK, so Jesus and God are intertwined such that they are either (1) the same being, or (2) of one essence. This is part of our trinitarian theology. God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are all facets of ONE God. They are the same being, but separate and distinct personas as well. It sounds like polytheism in monotheistic clothes or like monotheism masquerading as polytheism or something. That's OK. At some point we have to trust the almighty on this one, but sometimes we also get to wrestle with the ideas. Even when we think we understand it, it can be pretty elusive to try to explain, but it's pretty exciting stuff!

OK, so God and Jesus are one. Then we see that Jesus says that he doesn't do things of his own authority. Er? Does this shoot a hole in the "God = Jesus" interpretation? Jesus then says that God dwelling in him does the works. OK, so somehow God lives in Jesus and it's really God who is acting. I think somewhere in here is where we say that Jesus is both FULLY HUMAN and FULLY DIVINE. Mathematically: JESUS = 100% HUMAN + 100% GOD.

Clear as mud? Great! Then get this: Jesus says: "whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do." Yes, that's right, Jesus said his followers will do the same that he does, and even GREATER works. How does that sit with you?

What are the "greater works"? People come up with many answers, such as building the church into a Christian empire, or a by saying that it refers to the accumulation of all accomplishments by Christians over the ages, etc. Maybe, but couldn't we also say that Christians have been responsible for many terrible things too? The Crusades come to mind...as well as backing the dehumanizing of various populations at various periods in history, such as women, slaves, gays, non-Christians, etc. I'm not sure what these greater things are. I pulled out my Bible commentary, but it is silent on this one.

Finally, verses 13-14 tell us that whatever we ask for in Jesus name, he will do. Well, maybe my paraphrasing is too presumptuous. When Jesus says "you" here, are we included, or just the disciples sitting in the room? Let's note that it's open to interpretation, then assume for the moment that we are included. My first question starts, "so if I were to pray for a billion dollars in Jesus name ..."

My Bible commentary does address this -- it says that Jesus is alluding to the type of prayers that will be answered. Namely, those that correspond to the nature of Jesus. Hmm...OK. So my next question starts, "if I pray for homes to be found for all orphans, support networks to be formed for all widows, and the end to all war ..."

It still leaves questions, doesn't it? The only follow up I have is that maybe we bear some responsibility for our prayers. If we are the body of Christ, might the action of Christians (and ourselves specifically) be an integral component of our prayer? A quote I like about this is from "The Holy Longing: The Search for Christian Spirituality" by Ronald Rolheiser, where he says that when we pray "not only God in heaven is being petitioned and asked to act. We are also charging ourselves, as part of the body of Christ, with some responsibility for answering the prayer. To pray as a Christian demands concrete involvement in trying to bring about what is pleaded for in the prayer."

Think about it. Pray about it. What do you think?

PRAYER:
Dear God of the margins, sometimes we get confused. Help us to live in the tension of our questions. Lead us into communities where we can wrestle with your Word together. Help us to be the answer to prayers that we are waiting for, both for ourselves and for others in the world. All this we pray in Jesus name, AMEN.

Lent Day #12

John 14:1-14 (ESV)
[Jesus speaking:] 1 "Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going." 5 Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" 6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him."

THOUGHTS:
It's an interesting exchange, isn't it?

One of the many books I'm currently in the middle of is "Organic Community" by Joseph R. Myers. It's mostly old-hat about working in dynamic non-hierarchical ways rather than with a master plan and a chain of command. Then there's this chapter on language where he says we are moving from a noun-centric culture into a verb-centric culture. He asks how that might change our understanding of the Bible. Here in John, we have Jesus saying his is "the way, and the truth, and the life."

Traditionally, these have been given static interpretations. Christians try to devise a specific prayer for using Jesus as the way to God -- like a password you have to know -- and if you haven't said the password, you aren't "in". We talk about "truth" as an immutable and dogmatic "thing" we need to know and attempt to perfectly understand. We end up with a "life" that must be lived by an accumulation of rules. What if these terms were dynamic?

What if "the way", "the truth", and "the life" are verbs being acted out for you, in you, or through you right now?

Why do we limit Jesus to only being "the way" in one way? Do we really have to treat him as the express lanes on a highway, where you have to get on at a specific point and then stay in your lane until you reach the destination? What if Jesus as "the way" is more dynamic than that? What if Jesus is "the way" to God in the way that highways lead into a metro area like spokes on a wheel? Instead of a particular rigid lane, what if Jesus is the highway system, where different people enter from different places going different directions, and through improbable detours or in ways we never thought possible, we are led to God? What do you think about Jesus as "the way"?

Why do we see "the truth" to a formulaic and rigid type of "thing"? In the musical Jesus Christ Superstar, Pilate's line to Jesus from John 18:37-38 comes out as: "What is truth? Is truth unchanging law? We both have truths? Are mine the same as yours?" What exactly is the "truth" to which Jesus bears witness? Is it every little detail that we glean from the parables or scripture as a whole -- literally or interpretively? Maybe it is a broad sweeping truth like "God loves you" -- which is true, but also works dynamically in our lives. If Jesus is the embodied form of God's Word -- the fleshy version of God's love -- and "the truth", maybe they are all the same thing. How do you understand Jesus as "the truth"?

What is "the life" we find in Jesus? Is it a litany of rules prescribing what we may and may not do? Or is it a dynamic adventurous journey of a life, where we are free to live as God's children: playing, loving, learning, and even making a mess of things? Is this "life" one in which we need to struggle to be good enough, or is it one where our struggle is to be open to letting Christ live through us? Who are you, and how do you live, if Jesus is "the life"?

PRAYER:
Dear Lord, thank you for community -- for people who journey with us. Help us to work together for the good of Your kingdom. In, through, and with Jesus the Christ, AMEN.

Lent Day #11

On Saturday, we started looking at what is commonly known as the Parable of the Prodigal Son, which actually seems to hinge more on the Loving Father. The severely abridged version of the story to this point: a younger son asks for his inheritance and his father does the improbable by consenting. The son blows all the money having a good time, then goes broke and feels like he's hit the bottom of life. The son comes home to ask to be a servant, but the father comes running to greet him and throws a party to welcome him home. Then this happens...

Luke 15:25-32 (ESV)
25 "Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.' 28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 29 but he answered his father, 'Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!' 31 And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.'"

THOUGHTS:
What do you think about this?

The elder son seems like a bit of a bookkeeper -- rather stuck-up about rules and business matters. He finds out that his ungrateful little brother has come home -- the same brother that had zero respect for the father's life and asked him to enact his will early. So he sits outside the party and pouts. The older brother's feelings are justified, right?

The father comes out and tries to talk him down from his anger, and the elder brother responds with a litany of how he keeps the rules, he runs the business, and he never gets to have any fun. He sounds bitterly jealous about the fun his younger brother had, and bordering enraged about the fact a party is being thrown for the little bugger. He also makes it sound like the father never gave him anything...

The father points out that, although his bookkeeping may be accurate, it simply isn't true that the younger son gets everything while the elder son does not. In verse 31 he's basically saying "My last will and testament has already been put into effect. I own nothing anymore, and everything I have comes from your table. If you don't have any fun, that's your choice. You are abiding by your own rules -- all I can give is advice. You already own everything!"

The same father that shows overflowing grace to the younger son is now judging the older son, not for his actions, but for his mindset. He seems irritated that the older son just doesn't get it.

The father continues in verse 32: "We aren't rewarding your brother based on his actions. We are celebrating the fact he has come home. He is no longer dead, but resurrected -- alive! Now please forget about the accounting ledger, quit sulking on the stoop, and come join the party -- come live with us!"

Sometimes I hear sermons framing this whole story around the younger "bad brother" and the older "good brother" -- and that we should be more like the older brother. I think this story is about the loving father, who I think is supposed to tell us something about what God is like.

What do you think? What does that mean?

Do you spend your energy accounting for your deeds and the actions of the others, or do you spend it living life?

PRAYER:
Dear loving God, help us to understand how to live, how to swim in your grace, and how to carry out your will. In Jesus name, AMEN.

Second Sunday in Lent

As I pointed out last week, Sundays aren't technically part of Lent -- every Sunday is a celebration of Easter, even the ones in Lent -- they are feast days! I'm not saying we stop "returning to God" on Sundays in Lent, or that there is anything inherently wrong with however anyone chooses to observe them. Like last week, I'm going to share some quotes with you. We'll continue with my daily Lenten devotions tomorrow.

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History suggests that change doesn't start inside the beltway, inside our chambers of power, inside the heads of politicians. Change begins outside Washington, D.C., in the hearts and minds of those who first experience society's brokenness, envision a different future, and then bet their lives on a new vision. That's how social movements begin.
-- Jim Wallis, From http://blog.beliefnet.com/godspolitics/2008/02/pomp-and-people-power-by-jim-w.html

The kingdom of God, I think, is that tribe…a tribe of migrants moving through from the beginning to the end that will never be because, outside of the restraints of time, endings can not be since there are no beginnings. The scenery of the Kingdom–the landscapes of the migratory moves–may change, but that is all that changes. The tribe is. It is beyond the concept of either "now" or "later," for like endings and beginnings, now and later are artifices of time, not reality. Thus it is, Father, that we pray that Your kingdom come and Your will be done in this landscape as it is in the center. Amen.
- Phyllis Tickle, From http://pomomusings.com/2008/01/24/phyllis-tickle-on-the-kingdom-of-god/


"The mission of a community is to give life to others, that is to say, to transmit new hope and new meaning to them. Mission is revealing to others their fundamental beauty, value and importance in the universe, their capacity to love, to grow and to do beautiful things and to meet God. Mission is transmitting to people a new inner freedom and hope; it is unlocking the doors of their being so that new energies can flow; it is taking away from their shoulders the terrible yoke of guilt and fear. To give life to people is to reveal to them that they are loved just as they are by God, with the mixture of good and evil, light and darkness that is in them; that the stone in front of their tomb in which all the dirt of their lives has been hidden can be rolled away. They are forgiven; they can live in freedom."
-- Jean Vanier, Community and Growth, From http://nextreformation.com/?p=2021