So this weekend during the church service, I sat behind a mentally challenged adult. He was about a foot shorter than me, sitting smack in the middle of a section close to the stage...and rockin' out to air guitar like I've never seen before. It probably made his day that the worship band played both an audioslave (I'm serious) and a Paramour song - perfect for air guitar. And it was...exhilarating. Almost laughable. I don't mean because it was embarrassing for him, or embarrassing to those around his flailing arms and jumping up and down, hands reaching to the heavens. I mean that maybe everyone else in the building should have been embarrassed.
Picture it: 2,000 people. lights dimmed. Drummer banging away on his set like there's no tomorrow, soloist wailing out the lyrics with an edge to her voice, lovingn the God we serve. a mound of people standing still, singing, yes, but sort of frozen in time. and this guy, jumping around like you couldn't hold him down if you tried. Nothing held him back. He sang louder than I've ever heard someone sing in church. He rocked better than any classic rock band from the 80s. He had more stage presence than anyone actually up on stage. In fact, though he would be labelled as mentally challenged....maybe, in this instance. he was more mentally present than anyone around him. Myself included.
Because as I stood there, in my skirt, heels, hair done, and, well, rather tame reflection of God in my life during a worship service, he was anything but tame.
He was exuberant.
He was celebrating with abandon.
He was undignified.
More than anyone else I've ever seen during a service, he was full of reckless love for his Savior.
Now I'm not saying that everyone around us wasn't worshipping. They were. you could hear the harmony, see people tapping their feet to the beat. But this guy was way over the edge. Multiple times during the service, I seriously considered climbing over the two rows of seats to rock out with him.
I hope that his exuberance is present in my life. I hope that I worship my God with abandon - maybe not as intensely during a worship service, but as intensely in my daily life. I hope that I remember that though my faith is more serious than anything else I'll ever encounter, it is the very joy that faith embraces that cannot help but well up and skyrocket out like a fountain. I hope that the importance of my message and my lifestyle is coupled with a reckless abandon of my love for my Father in Heaven and His spirit in me. I hope I rock at air guitar.
6.29.2009
6.23.2009
tattoos are....
not evil. Bet you couldn't see that coming. I was inspired to write this post by a co-worker who was designing her tattoo the other day (after deadline when there was no work left to do).
We were talking about our parent's reactions to our respective tattoos(yes I have a tattoo). Hers don't mind the actual act of getting a tattoo, but want her to be careful at this time of her life to a) not spend unecessary money and b)make sure she puts them in places that she won't regret later. Mine had more of a "why did you ruin your body" sort of reaction, though probably more graceful than mine would be if my just-barely-out-of-teenage-years-daughter got a tattoo. Different perspectives from both sides. I noted that my parents are both conservative because of their generation and because of their faith, two things I admire but on occassion disagree with.
She asked why their faith has anything to do with tattoos. I explained that in the Old Testament, its very clearly marked as something that followers of God did not do. This often mentioned along with braiding their hair, wearing gold jewlery, etc. Things that we don't really frown upon in today's culture (in most contexts, anyway).
Her immidiate question was "why?" which is a very good question that I figured she alerady knew.
So i then went on to quickly summarize that in that time, particularly with the incredibly numerous religions and gods/godesses to worship, followers of different icons would mark themselves with tattoos. Similar to how native americans often marked that tribe they belonged to. It was a basic symbol of their identity. Also going into some detail of ancient preistesses and acolites (sp?) often beign very, very decked out with too much makeup, jewlery, braided hair, etc. forerunners of our modern-day prostitutes.
And then it struck me. God didn't call us just to be different, you know, a heart tattoo instead of a lion, but He called us to be entirely other. He didn't say, hey, this is what these guys over there are doing, we'll do it kinda the same with just a few tricky little twists. Nope. He removed them entirely from the practices of the day. they didn't have idols in their homes and sacrifice humans, they went to one central place and sacrificed the best of their labors. They didn't have ceremonies for each god, they had a life dedicated to one God. they didn't have control, they had miracles.
So I have a tattoo. In today's society, its arguable what that means. But I'd like to strive to live for what God called his children to thousands of years ago: to be entirely other.
We were talking about our parent's reactions to our respective tattoos(yes I have a tattoo). Hers don't mind the actual act of getting a tattoo, but want her to be careful at this time of her life to a) not spend unecessary money and b)make sure she puts them in places that she won't regret later. Mine had more of a "why did you ruin your body" sort of reaction, though probably more graceful than mine would be if my just-barely-out-of-teenage-years-daughter got a tattoo. Different perspectives from both sides. I noted that my parents are both conservative because of their generation and because of their faith, two things I admire but on occassion disagree with.
She asked why their faith has anything to do with tattoos. I explained that in the Old Testament, its very clearly marked as something that followers of God did not do. This often mentioned along with braiding their hair, wearing gold jewlery, etc. Things that we don't really frown upon in today's culture (in most contexts, anyway).
Her immidiate question was "why?" which is a very good question that I figured she alerady knew.
So i then went on to quickly summarize that in that time, particularly with the incredibly numerous religions and gods/godesses to worship, followers of different icons would mark themselves with tattoos. Similar to how native americans often marked that tribe they belonged to. It was a basic symbol of their identity. Also going into some detail of ancient preistesses and acolites (sp?) often beign very, very decked out with too much makeup, jewlery, braided hair, etc. forerunners of our modern-day prostitutes.
And then it struck me. God didn't call us just to be different, you know, a heart tattoo instead of a lion, but He called us to be entirely other. He didn't say, hey, this is what these guys over there are doing, we'll do it kinda the same with just a few tricky little twists. Nope. He removed them entirely from the practices of the day. they didn't have idols in their homes and sacrifice humans, they went to one central place and sacrificed the best of their labors. They didn't have ceremonies for each god, they had a life dedicated to one God. they didn't have control, they had miracles.
So I have a tattoo. In today's society, its arguable what that means. But I'd like to strive to live for what God called his children to thousands of years ago: to be entirely other.
6.09.2009
“They don’t want disciples, they want either converts or dead bodies.”
All right, so that’s an extreme quote, applied to a very radical faith of the Muslim Shi’ite. It is often a true statement of those that hit the news and act in radical ways. My husband has been exploring the faith of radical Islam (not inflicting the more run-of-the-mill, less terrorist-centered Muslim faith in any way), and one of the things he has discovered in his rather thorough research is that one of the pillars of this radical viewpoint is that the subjects of Allah need to hasten His return. There are two main pillars, and that’s one of them. Now, sadly and often shockingly, the method to hasten God's coming is to rid the world of infidels (if they won't convert). Now, this in itself goes against the whole grain of God's grace and choice He offers us, along with Jesus' ministry of peace and healing.
But there's a grain of truth I think we need to glean from that. Radical Shi'ites live like they know God is coming back. Like the know. Like they KNOW. Like every action should speak for the future they are sure of.
Now. I'm not saying that our God is limited by time and by our actions, because He is not. What we do does not drive or even influence they day He picks to return and both save and condemn. BUT. Though we believe Jesus is coming back, though we say we KNOW He is....do we act like it?
You can tell by the actions of many Muslims that they Know their Allah is returning. Can you tell by my actions that my God is returning in Glory and Power and Grace? Can you tell by yours?
It's unnerving, to live like the Kingdom of God is in you. Is here and now, and He is coming again. It's a bit complex to think about. It requires a focus, a main thread that influences everything you and I do.
But it is the light, the shining, blinding, unextinguishable light that we are called to live by. We are called to make disciples. We are called to do so by living with Christ in us and Christ returns
All right, so that’s an extreme quote, applied to a very radical faith of the Muslim Shi’ite. It is often a true statement of those that hit the news and act in radical ways. My husband has been exploring the faith of radical Islam (not inflicting the more run-of-the-mill, less terrorist-centered Muslim faith in any way), and one of the things he has discovered in his rather thorough research is that one of the pillars of this radical viewpoint is that the subjects of Allah need to hasten His return. There are two main pillars, and that’s one of them. Now, sadly and often shockingly, the method to hasten God's coming is to rid the world of infidels (if they won't convert). Now, this in itself goes against the whole grain of God's grace and choice He offers us, along with Jesus' ministry of peace and healing.
But there's a grain of truth I think we need to glean from that. Radical Shi'ites live like they know God is coming back. Like the know. Like they KNOW. Like every action should speak for the future they are sure of.
Now. I'm not saying that our God is limited by time and by our actions, because He is not. What we do does not drive or even influence they day He picks to return and both save and condemn. BUT. Though we believe Jesus is coming back, though we say we KNOW He is....do we act like it?
You can tell by the actions of many Muslims that they Know their Allah is returning. Can you tell by my actions that my God is returning in Glory and Power and Grace? Can you tell by yours?
It's unnerving, to live like the Kingdom of God is in you. Is here and now, and He is coming again. It's a bit complex to think about. It requires a focus, a main thread that influences everything you and I do.
But it is the light, the shining, blinding, unextinguishable light that we are called to live by. We are called to make disciples. We are called to do so by living with Christ in us and Christ returns
5.27.2009
Unpeeling the layers
Luke chapter 14:
25Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. 27And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 28"Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? 29For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, 30saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.' 31"Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple. 34"Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? 35It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out. "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
So at first reading, this entire section does not have a whole lot of flow. At first, Jesus is talking about giving up family and friends to follow Jesus. Then he talks, appropriately, about carrying our cross. Then he switches to building towers, fighting wars, and salt.
What. does that have to do with the other.
Okay, so I tried to strip it down and figure out what these stories and examples have in common. After what ended up being literally weeks of thinking about it on and off, I think I have discovered one of what are probably the many layers of this mini-section of Luke's usually so organized writing:
Commitment. This has actually been coming up a bit in conversations my husband and I have had, both with each other and with other people. Even my coworker, a sworn non-religious person (minored in religion at Temple and decided that none of them "spoke to her") understands that if you're gonna do religion, be real about it. Commit. The amount of times in the Bible that Jesus blasts people for being lukewarm, un-genuine, and fake about their beliefs are many -- he often notes that it would be better to just not believe at all than to be wishy-washy about it. Kind of a scary statement to those of us working to integrate faith into our whole lives, not just Sunday mornings or wed. at youth group.
So that's what I think these verses have in common. The first bit, rather obviously, Jesus talks about putting Him before all else.
But then he goes off into talking about building stuff. How you have to plan for layouts and blueprints and contractors. And its true: you don't start a huge building project without planning, and, more importanly, without committing to it fully. If you half-heartedly committ to building an addition to your house, it may end in mayhem. If you committ to it 100 percent. you'll live to see it beautiful and finished, done right.
The same goes for planning wars, apparently. You don't (or shouldn't) just pick up your uncle's old rifle and go running off into some country to declare war. You should get the best military tactical experts, weapons experts, and leaders you know together in a room and let them plan out the strategy. It's not something you do half-way. If you're willing to bet your life and the people who you serve's lives on a violent endeavor, you better committ to it all the way. You better pour the money, the resources, and the blood into that war to be victorious for whatever just cause you have sat down and decided to fight for. You half-ass it, send in half the troops needed, don't bother training them, give them poor equipment and even poorer leaders, and you'll be devoured by the enemy. You'll fail. You'll fall. You'll 'be spit out.'
And then...salt? be salty? be like...little grains of spice that comes out of the ocean? heh? We understand the metaphor, but what the heck does it have to do with fighting wars and building towers?
The same. Committment. You can't eat food that has completely lost its flavor. Well, unless you like the Dutchy style of my current home county. If you want to live like Jesus, and to live so that people know and see and hear you acting like Jesus, you have to maintain that committment, that flavor. If you're a dim light in a room that flickers and sometimes goes out, what good are you? We want a truckload of salt. We want to be those crazy bright flashlights that almost blind people, we're so bright you can't miss us if you try. No luke-warm, mushy, tasteless food. I'm talking Mexican chile sauce, the kind Tim shoveled on his pork and felt his lips burning for 48 hours afterwards. That's committment. Who would use spices in their kitchens if they thought they might lose flavor? Who would buy flashlights not guaranteed to work when you need 'em?
25Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. 27And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 28"Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? 29For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, 30saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.' 31"Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple. 34"Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? 35It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out. "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
So at first reading, this entire section does not have a whole lot of flow. At first, Jesus is talking about giving up family and friends to follow Jesus. Then he talks, appropriately, about carrying our cross. Then he switches to building towers, fighting wars, and salt.
What. does that have to do with the other.
Okay, so I tried to strip it down and figure out what these stories and examples have in common. After what ended up being literally weeks of thinking about it on and off, I think I have discovered one of what are probably the many layers of this mini-section of Luke's usually so organized writing:
Commitment. This has actually been coming up a bit in conversations my husband and I have had, both with each other and with other people. Even my coworker, a sworn non-religious person (minored in religion at Temple and decided that none of them "spoke to her") understands that if you're gonna do religion, be real about it. Commit. The amount of times in the Bible that Jesus blasts people for being lukewarm, un-genuine, and fake about their beliefs are many -- he often notes that it would be better to just not believe at all than to be wishy-washy about it. Kind of a scary statement to those of us working to integrate faith into our whole lives, not just Sunday mornings or wed. at youth group.
So that's what I think these verses have in common. The first bit, rather obviously, Jesus talks about putting Him before all else.
But then he goes off into talking about building stuff. How you have to plan for layouts and blueprints and contractors. And its true: you don't start a huge building project without planning, and, more importanly, without committing to it fully. If you half-heartedly committ to building an addition to your house, it may end in mayhem. If you committ to it 100 percent. you'll live to see it beautiful and finished, done right.
The same goes for planning wars, apparently. You don't (or shouldn't) just pick up your uncle's old rifle and go running off into some country to declare war. You should get the best military tactical experts, weapons experts, and leaders you know together in a room and let them plan out the strategy. It's not something you do half-way. If you're willing to bet your life and the people who you serve's lives on a violent endeavor, you better committ to it all the way. You better pour the money, the resources, and the blood into that war to be victorious for whatever just cause you have sat down and decided to fight for. You half-ass it, send in half the troops needed, don't bother training them, give them poor equipment and even poorer leaders, and you'll be devoured by the enemy. You'll fail. You'll fall. You'll 'be spit out.'
And then...salt? be salty? be like...little grains of spice that comes out of the ocean? heh? We understand the metaphor, but what the heck does it have to do with fighting wars and building towers?
The same. Committment. You can't eat food that has completely lost its flavor. Well, unless you like the Dutchy style of my current home county. If you want to live like Jesus, and to live so that people know and see and hear you acting like Jesus, you have to maintain that committment, that flavor. If you're a dim light in a room that flickers and sometimes goes out, what good are you? We want a truckload of salt. We want to be those crazy bright flashlights that almost blind people, we're so bright you can't miss us if you try. No luke-warm, mushy, tasteless food. I'm talking Mexican chile sauce, the kind Tim shoveled on his pork and felt his lips burning for 48 hours afterwards. That's committment. Who would use spices in their kitchens if they thought they might lose flavor? Who would buy flashlights not guaranteed to work when you need 'em?
4.20.2009
Regressing progress
Oh. To be Amish.
Yes, I really said that. I have a tattoo, several piercings, enjoy my 2009 Hyundai, and probably couldn't live without electricity. But in a recent seminar about some basics of Amish beliefs and histories, I stumbled upon what, I think, is one part of the answer of the "problem" of our culture.
I've been discussing in recent weeks the struggle teenagers and middle-school kids have with purity. purity of thought, speech, interactions, respect for the opposite gender, sexuality, dress, etc. And we've got a great message: Jesus calls you to be an example in purity. And the best part - the Holy Spirit can give you the power to actually combat all of the cultural bombardments that tell us otherwise. Great stuff. But, still insanely hard. Why? main reason for young girls (read: those who engage in sexting) is because they are missing fathers, mothers, are products of divorce, step-parents, second and third marriages, and so on. Thus, with their disconnected and often self-centered parent(s) or guardian(s), they feel the need to be loved. Girls, being so emotionally centered, feel it very acutely in their junior high years. They may or may not know it, but they search for someone, anyone really, to say "I need you. I love you. I want you. I can't resist you, you are beloved and you are mine." with any sort of intonation behind those words. If they're lucky, and maybe a little determined, they'll hear Jesus whispering that through connections with churches, nature, mentors, and so on. If they're the majority, they will look for those words in guys without their best interest in mind, in relationships in general, in unfortunate addictions such as alcohol and drugs, sometimes pornography (junior high girls are the fastest rising market for porn), and many, many more places.
How do we stop this? Often, girls realize that they need to live better lives, that there has to be something beyond the drama,the gossip, the boys touching them, the parents and fighting and abercrombie, etc. something. anything. anything to save them from this havoc-creating world.
My husband preaches that we have to cut off problems at the root. Any good psychologist/counselor would say the same. Not that we can just uproot our entire culture and say "its time for a change, lets head back into the direction of our puritan roots," but that if we strive to live selflessly, the way God meant for us to live, these problems will, literally over time, start to evaporate.
Here's where I see the root of the problem, and why I brought the Lancaster County phenomenon up: Broken families. Yes, I'll even say it, Jesus says it, and Paul says it: Divorce. Its the result of living focused on one-self, not focused on your spouse, as God designed it to be (note: I'm not barring legitimate, biblical reasons for divorce, namely adultery and/or abuse. Check out Gayle Haggard's response to even this one exception: Gayle: "I know your hearts are broken; mine is as well ... What I want you to know is that I love my husband, Ted Haggard, with all my heart. I am committed to him until death "do us part." We started this journey together and with the grace of God, we will finish together."Source: NewLifeChurch.org 11/5/2006).
Its an ugly truth. Ugly to our culture, ugly to the direction we've been going in for literally centuries. But God's pretty clear about this one. We don't like to hear it. Divorce is a nice option when you realize you're not "compatible," sexually satisfied, the center of the relationship, the one calling the shots, and on and on and on down an endless and fatal road. Its nice to know you can date other people, maybe even remarry.
But its wrong. And you know why I think this - other than the very obvious biblical statements? Because I can see the Amish community.
Fact: The Old Order Amish in Lancaster county (black buggies, no electricity, home churches, no state or national overarching organization) retain 9 out of 10 of the kids and youth that grow up in their culture. 90 percent. 90 PERCENT. Show me ONE church that claims to do that. The Catholic church comes close, or used to anyway, because of their youth catechism classes and their ritualistic practices ingrained for life in their parishioners. Not anymore.
And its not like its a blind following here. Every teen gets like four years to go out and do whatever they want, and they will be welcomed back with open arms if they choose to join the church and be baptised around the age of 20. They taste our culture. And not once, not some sort of American streamlined shock, but for years! and they choose to go back to their life. Why? arguably, its simpler with less drama. But there's less individual focus, less privacy, and face it, more hard labor!
Here's why: family. With an average of 7 kids in each family, the Amish children aren't neglected or left to fend for themselves. They grow up spending their entire lives knowing that they are loved. Individuals in Amish communities often have their own special nicknames. They are part of a collective whole that live and move and support each other in everything they do, and they are treasured individually, from birth, for the part they play in that. There is no divorce (or only on the rarest and often rough occasions). Death is a part of life. Hard work is a given, frugality is a must, caring for one another is the bottom line. Widows are loved like mothers, orphans are embraced like biological children. Hurts are healed, pain is born, connection is uppermost.
The Amish are the American puritans before the industrial revolution. A family that prays together, stays together, lives together, loves together. Their love is not, cannot be self-focused. There is no place for that. There is no teaching for that (I'm not undermining self-confidence, that's a whole 'nother topic that I happen to think being a beloved child both at birth and forever after contributes positively too). There is no premise for choosing self over family, siblings, or friends in the community.
Not that its utopia. There are many glitches and inconsistencies in that community. But their basis of culture maintains the family structure as God created it in perfection to be: whole.
So, yes. In many ways, I wouldn't mind being Amish.
Yes, I really said that. I have a tattoo, several piercings, enjoy my 2009 Hyundai, and probably couldn't live without electricity. But in a recent seminar about some basics of Amish beliefs and histories, I stumbled upon what, I think, is one part of the answer of the "problem" of our culture.
I've been discussing in recent weeks the struggle teenagers and middle-school kids have with purity. purity of thought, speech, interactions, respect for the opposite gender, sexuality, dress, etc. And we've got a great message: Jesus calls you to be an example in purity. And the best part - the Holy Spirit can give you the power to actually combat all of the cultural bombardments that tell us otherwise. Great stuff. But, still insanely hard. Why? main reason for young girls (read: those who engage in sexting) is because they are missing fathers, mothers, are products of divorce, step-parents, second and third marriages, and so on. Thus, with their disconnected and often self-centered parent(s) or guardian(s), they feel the need to be loved. Girls, being so emotionally centered, feel it very acutely in their junior high years. They may or may not know it, but they search for someone, anyone really, to say "I need you. I love you. I want you. I can't resist you, you are beloved and you are mine." with any sort of intonation behind those words. If they're lucky, and maybe a little determined, they'll hear Jesus whispering that through connections with churches, nature, mentors, and so on. If they're the majority, they will look for those words in guys without their best interest in mind, in relationships in general, in unfortunate addictions such as alcohol and drugs, sometimes pornography (junior high girls are the fastest rising market for porn), and many, many more places.
How do we stop this? Often, girls realize that they need to live better lives, that there has to be something beyond the drama,the gossip, the boys touching them, the parents and fighting and abercrombie, etc. something. anything. anything to save them from this havoc-creating world.
My husband preaches that we have to cut off problems at the root. Any good psychologist/counselor would say the same. Not that we can just uproot our entire culture and say "its time for a change, lets head back into the direction of our puritan roots," but that if we strive to live selflessly, the way God meant for us to live, these problems will, literally over time, start to evaporate.
Here's where I see the root of the problem, and why I brought the Lancaster County phenomenon up: Broken families. Yes, I'll even say it, Jesus says it, and Paul says it: Divorce. Its the result of living focused on one-self, not focused on your spouse, as God designed it to be (note: I'm not barring legitimate, biblical reasons for divorce, namely adultery and/or abuse. Check out Gayle Haggard's response to even this one exception: Gayle: "I know your hearts are broken; mine is as well ... What I want you to know is that I love my husband, Ted Haggard, with all my heart. I am committed to him until death "do us part." We started this journey together and with the grace of God, we will finish together."Source: NewLifeChurch.org 11/5/2006).
Its an ugly truth. Ugly to our culture, ugly to the direction we've been going in for literally centuries. But God's pretty clear about this one. We don't like to hear it. Divorce is a nice option when you realize you're not "compatible," sexually satisfied, the center of the relationship, the one calling the shots, and on and on and on down an endless and fatal road. Its nice to know you can date other people, maybe even remarry.
But its wrong. And you know why I think this - other than the very obvious biblical statements? Because I can see the Amish community.
Fact: The Old Order Amish in Lancaster county (black buggies, no electricity, home churches, no state or national overarching organization) retain 9 out of 10 of the kids and youth that grow up in their culture. 90 percent. 90 PERCENT. Show me ONE church that claims to do that. The Catholic church comes close, or used to anyway, because of their youth catechism classes and their ritualistic practices ingrained for life in their parishioners. Not anymore.
And its not like its a blind following here. Every teen gets like four years to go out and do whatever they want, and they will be welcomed back with open arms if they choose to join the church and be baptised around the age of 20. They taste our culture. And not once, not some sort of American streamlined shock, but for years! and they choose to go back to their life. Why? arguably, its simpler with less drama. But there's less individual focus, less privacy, and face it, more hard labor!
Here's why: family. With an average of 7 kids in each family, the Amish children aren't neglected or left to fend for themselves. They grow up spending their entire lives knowing that they are loved. Individuals in Amish communities often have their own special nicknames. They are part of a collective whole that live and move and support each other in everything they do, and they are treasured individually, from birth, for the part they play in that. There is no divorce (or only on the rarest and often rough occasions). Death is a part of life. Hard work is a given, frugality is a must, caring for one another is the bottom line. Widows are loved like mothers, orphans are embraced like biological children. Hurts are healed, pain is born, connection is uppermost.
The Amish are the American puritans before the industrial revolution. A family that prays together, stays together, lives together, loves together. Their love is not, cannot be self-focused. There is no place for that. There is no teaching for that (I'm not undermining self-confidence, that's a whole 'nother topic that I happen to think being a beloved child both at birth and forever after contributes positively too). There is no premise for choosing self over family, siblings, or friends in the community.
Not that its utopia. There are many glitches and inconsistencies in that community. But their basis of culture maintains the family structure as God created it in perfection to be: whole.
So, yes. In many ways, I wouldn't mind being Amish.
4.13.2009
Wine spilling everywhere
From Luke Chapter 5:
33They said to him, "John's disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking."
34Jesus answered, "Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? 35But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast."
36He told them this parable: "No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. 37And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. 38No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. 39And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, 'The old is better.' "
The new living translation of that last verse reads: But no one who drinks the old wine seems to want the new wine. ‘The old is just fine,’ they say.”
I was intrigued by this parable over the weekend. Partly because I was sitting in an Easter Sunday service that included a rendition of “You Found Me” by The Fray, rather than the marchy-nazarene song “Up from the grave he arose!” and partly because I usually find Jesus’ parables both so profound and so cryptic that I love to try to take them apart and explore the context. This one is interesting. Jesus just went around healing bunches of people. Each time he heals them, he says not to say anything to anyone. Either a clever marketing ploy or a genuine strain towards secrecy: it doesn’t work. No matter where he goes, people know who He is and the power He has. Both those who have faith and wish to be healed, and those who lack faith and don’t think they need healing. The Pharisees and saducees, namely. So sometimes, Luke tells about the person who comes up and says “if you are willing, heal me.” But other times, Luke writes very blatantly about how church leaders questioned Jesus outright.
This case is of the latter. Self-important people (for this is not an inquisitive-type question, this is a challenge question) ask Jesus why everyone else who is supposedly religious fast and pray, but Jesus apparently nourishes himself all the time. His direct answer confuses them. He basically says “party with the King, dude, why mourn when you’ll have time for that later.”
But His parable is the real answer to the question. The parable, talking about very practical things like clothes and wine, two staples of Jewish life, discusses the quality of each. No one decides to half-heartedly update and old, holey garment with a shiny new patch of fabric. It looks stupid. If you are going to patch an old garment, use old cloth. Ah, but if you are going to have a new shirt, then have one! Don’t do the job half-way.
Same with the wineskins. This example is a little more graphic. If you pour new wine into old wineskins, it will literally burst the old skins at the seams, and wine will spill everywhere. If you want to do it right, you have to get new skins to hold the new liquid. There’s no two ways about it, no shortcuts. New goes with new, old goes with old.
Gentle though it is, this rebuke is still explicit. You cannot say to Jesus, Yo, why aren’t you doing everything the way we always did things. The way we’re supposed to do things. The way it makes sense to do things?!
And Jesus said – because you can’t fit new stuff into old clothes. The skins will burst. The outfits will be ruined. The reputation will cease. If you want new stuff, and believe you me, He came with some new stuff in His mission statement, you gotta go the whole way. 100%. New. Not old. You can’t just hang on to that old pair of pants and replace the shoes and the shirt. It’s gotta be all new.
And here’s the cool part.We don’t have to be or get the new stuff ourselves. It doesn’t outline in the Bible where sinner have to change their ways, and then Jesus can take a look-see, maybe set up camp. It doesn’t say we have to use our own willpower and goals list, be our own heroes and change the world (see post later from my husband about the mis-step in the Men’s Frat teaching), and when we’re good enough, humble enough, successful enough, missional-minded enough, sacrificial enough, then Jesus will hang out with us.
Nuh uh.
It says, He’ll go ahead and give us all the new stuff Himself!! Because, lets face it, we can’t be all that. We can try really hard, and we can make resolutions and to-do lists and suffer through, but we will never be as Christ-like as Jesus Himself without letting Him commit and do the cleansing. (Note: I’m not for the “I’ll lay on the couch and think Christian thoughts and let Jesus figure out how to fix me” at all, I’m all for going out and serving and sacrificing and building relationships. I just want to make the point that we can’t do it ourselves and then sometimes talk to Jesus. It’s a God-thing. He’s all over it.)
All that to say. I hope I can become the kind of person who doesn’t stick to “the old is just fine,” Parts of the church, my soul, and my life. Because, the old isn’t just fine. The old has gone, the new has come. I want to live like that’s the reality in my life.
33They said to him, "John's disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking."
34Jesus answered, "Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? 35But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast."
36He told them this parable: "No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. 37And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. 38No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. 39And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, 'The old is better.' "
The new living translation of that last verse reads: But no one who drinks the old wine seems to want the new wine. ‘The old is just fine,’ they say.”
I was intrigued by this parable over the weekend. Partly because I was sitting in an Easter Sunday service that included a rendition of “You Found Me” by The Fray, rather than the marchy-nazarene song “Up from the grave he arose!” and partly because I usually find Jesus’ parables both so profound and so cryptic that I love to try to take them apart and explore the context. This one is interesting. Jesus just went around healing bunches of people. Each time he heals them, he says not to say anything to anyone. Either a clever marketing ploy or a genuine strain towards secrecy: it doesn’t work. No matter where he goes, people know who He is and the power He has. Both those who have faith and wish to be healed, and those who lack faith and don’t think they need healing. The Pharisees and saducees, namely. So sometimes, Luke tells about the person who comes up and says “if you are willing, heal me.” But other times, Luke writes very blatantly about how church leaders questioned Jesus outright.
This case is of the latter. Self-important people (for this is not an inquisitive-type question, this is a challenge question) ask Jesus why everyone else who is supposedly religious fast and pray, but Jesus apparently nourishes himself all the time. His direct answer confuses them. He basically says “party with the King, dude, why mourn when you’ll have time for that later.”
But His parable is the real answer to the question. The parable, talking about very practical things like clothes and wine, two staples of Jewish life, discusses the quality of each. No one decides to half-heartedly update and old, holey garment with a shiny new patch of fabric. It looks stupid. If you are going to patch an old garment, use old cloth. Ah, but if you are going to have a new shirt, then have one! Don’t do the job half-way.
Same with the wineskins. This example is a little more graphic. If you pour new wine into old wineskins, it will literally burst the old skins at the seams, and wine will spill everywhere. If you want to do it right, you have to get new skins to hold the new liquid. There’s no two ways about it, no shortcuts. New goes with new, old goes with old.
Gentle though it is, this rebuke is still explicit. You cannot say to Jesus, Yo, why aren’t you doing everything the way we always did things. The way we’re supposed to do things. The way it makes sense to do things?!
And Jesus said – because you can’t fit new stuff into old clothes. The skins will burst. The outfits will be ruined. The reputation will cease. If you want new stuff, and believe you me, He came with some new stuff in His mission statement, you gotta go the whole way. 100%. New. Not old. You can’t just hang on to that old pair of pants and replace the shoes and the shirt. It’s gotta be all new.
And here’s the cool part.We don’t have to be or get the new stuff ourselves. It doesn’t outline in the Bible where sinner have to change their ways, and then Jesus can take a look-see, maybe set up camp. It doesn’t say we have to use our own willpower and goals list, be our own heroes and change the world (see post later from my husband about the mis-step in the Men’s Frat teaching), and when we’re good enough, humble enough, successful enough, missional-minded enough, sacrificial enough, then Jesus will hang out with us.
Nuh uh.
It says, He’ll go ahead and give us all the new stuff Himself!! Because, lets face it, we can’t be all that. We can try really hard, and we can make resolutions and to-do lists and suffer through, but we will never be as Christ-like as Jesus Himself without letting Him commit and do the cleansing. (Note: I’m not for the “I’ll lay on the couch and think Christian thoughts and let Jesus figure out how to fix me” at all, I’m all for going out and serving and sacrificing and building relationships. I just want to make the point that we can’t do it ourselves and then sometimes talk to Jesus. It’s a God-thing. He’s all over it.)
All that to say. I hope I can become the kind of person who doesn’t stick to “the old is just fine,” Parts of the church, my soul, and my life. Because, the old isn’t just fine. The old has gone, the new has come. I want to live like that’s the reality in my life.
3.30.2009
Love everlasting
This post is dedicated to my simply amazing junior high life group - I think they teach me more than I teach them most of the time!!
We've been working through a series describing and exploring the week before Jesus' death in church for about a month. We picked up the story at the triumphal entry, discussing his peaceful entry, followed it through his accusing the Pharisees to stop being hypocrites, through being honest and genuine, and this week touched on forgiveness in the form of an intense narrative of Peter's last days with Jesus.
After these lessons, we had discussion as a group of what the girls' had learned in the past few weeks.
A couple of girls presented some incredibly deep thoughts. One in particular described a bit that the pastor had said in his monologue:
"When Peter denied Christ the third time, he said that Jesus looked right at him when he swore to God that he'd never known the man before, and Jesus' eyes weren't full of disappointment, hate, or anger. They were full of love."
I have no words for that. because she captured the essence of grace in that moment. The story that we live every day. We make the wrong choice. We choose to undermine, to not give our best, to look to ourselves instead of to Christ. And He looks back at us, even in the moment when he was bleeding, failing from pain, dying, falling. and He sees his child, His beautiful one. He loves in the midst of betrayal. He extends mercy in the moment of blackest sin. He looks right at us, and there is not one trace of rejection in His eyes.
Sam, you brought it to the table. you opened my eyes, and probably several others. Way to be like Jesus.
We've been working through a series describing and exploring the week before Jesus' death in church for about a month. We picked up the story at the triumphal entry, discussing his peaceful entry, followed it through his accusing the Pharisees to stop being hypocrites, through being honest and genuine, and this week touched on forgiveness in the form of an intense narrative of Peter's last days with Jesus.
After these lessons, we had discussion as a group of what the girls' had learned in the past few weeks.
A couple of girls presented some incredibly deep thoughts. One in particular described a bit that the pastor had said in his monologue:
"When Peter denied Christ the third time, he said that Jesus looked right at him when he swore to God that he'd never known the man before, and Jesus' eyes weren't full of disappointment, hate, or anger. They were full of love."
I have no words for that. because she captured the essence of grace in that moment. The story that we live every day. We make the wrong choice. We choose to undermine, to not give our best, to look to ourselves instead of to Christ. And He looks back at us, even in the moment when he was bleeding, failing from pain, dying, falling. and He sees his child, His beautiful one. He loves in the midst of betrayal. He extends mercy in the moment of blackest sin. He looks right at us, and there is not one trace of rejection in His eyes.
Sam, you brought it to the table. you opened my eyes, and probably several others. Way to be like Jesus.
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