Month: November 2008

The Scandal of Christian Self-pity

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I sometimes wonder if being raised in such a blessed culture is a good thing. There are times when I wonder if we ever even notice the abundance of goodness that surrounds us and threatens to overwhelm us. Perhaps it is my perspective these days but lately things have been feeling pretty good. You know – one of the things I notice when I’m in a good mood is the intense sourness of the world around me. I mean sometimes people can be pretty darned miserable. I know at this point I’m sounding fairly unsympathetic and for that I apologize so lets just consider this a small rant.
 
Ron Sider is a great Christian writer in the Anabaptist tradition and he’s offered up some pretty good books in the past few years especially Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger and The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience. Reading Sider can sometimes feel a little like taking a cold shower on a warm Summer day. He points out a few things like:
 
– we live in the richest culture on the face of the Earth
– if the world was a street with 100 houses we would live in one of maybe three wealthy homes while the rest of the street lived in abject poverty
 
You get the idea…despite the fact that even the most poor in our culture live like kings compared to most of the world we seem to have cornered the market in feeling sorry for ourselves. We moan about our jobs and how difficult they make our lives and fail to see the blessing of even having a job. We complain about how small our homes are and fail to see the uniqueness of having a roof over our heads. We gripe about the lack of the latest fashions in our closet or that we only have one car or that we don’t have the latest toys when the rest of the planet cries out in pain every second on the day.
 
In the midst of our self-pity we drown in a pool of medication and therapy while most of the rest of the planet doesn’t even know the definition of those two words. Eventually, when we’ve been pushed far enough about our situation compared with others, we can often be heard saying in exasperation – "I don’t care what everybody else has or doesn’t have, I care about ME and what I DON’T HAVE!"
 
Exactly.
 
Deep down I think we know that the things we have, the people in our lives, the blessings of our country, all these things do not ultimately make us happy. Sadly – when we realize this we fail to look in the correct direction and assume a buffet mentality which says "maybe if I have more I will feel better".
 
Ultimately our needs are fulfilled by Christ but He is often the last person we look to. We will pray as a last resort when all else has failed and when the latest shopping trip and half-caff caramel machiatto has not soothed our souls. I wish we wouldn’t have to suffer as Job suffered before we recognize our hope is found in Christ alone but sometimes I think that’s what it will take. We are not very much different than Israel when it was released from slavery in Egypt…we get part way through the desert and we’re already thinking our captivity was better and maybe we should return. We think maybe God does not have our best interests in mind.
 
I realize the irony of ranting about our culture’s self-pitying lack of love. I mean, it’s hardly a Christ-like thing to be doing. I should be meeting such atittudes with compassion. I hope you’ll forgive me. In the mean time I really do love you all (just venting) and wanted to leave you with maybe the ultimate expression of love in the face of real adversity. It is Christ’s prayer for His followers just before His arrest and crucifixion and it is my prayer that maybe in the midst of oyur own pain and lack of joy it creates a little perspective:
 

After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:

 "Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

"I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.

"I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

"Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. "Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."

I Heart my Back – Part 2

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Well – we made it through the service. It was a quick but beautiful wedding between an awesome young couple who I wish all the joy and love they can handle. The back still feels like it’s going to snap at any second so we’ll have to lie on the floor for a while and see what happens.

I Heart my Back

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Well this morning my back decided to take a break. All I was doing was playing shoots and ladders with Itsy when I decided to stand up. So I stood up, nothing too strenuous, and there was this small click followed by intense pain and a complete inability to breathe. Now I almost never have back issues so of course this happens on the day I have to marry a young couple. Hopefull I won’t be speaking the words through clenched teeth.
 
So – I spent some time rolling around on the floor and laughing in pain (you know that kind of pain) while Itsy was watching and wondering if she should call someone. I’ll let you know how the wedding goes. Pray for my spine (stupid spine!)

I Like Yan Naung’s Blog

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I like this blog and I think you should too. Go and visit Yan Naung’s blog here: http://chinyin28.spaces.live.com/default.aspx . I like his heart and how he writes even the simplest things like his discovery of a need for regular fitness. Post a comment on his blog to say hello if you get a chance. According to his first post he is from Myanmar but is working in Singapore and misses the joy of family and friends. I found his blog while exploring the links that people visit my blog from.
 

Calling

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You know I call
with fleece in hand
and listen
what voice but an echo
and my own comes back
till every question
becomes
every answer
and God
sings in the heart
of the ones who cry

Ol’ Rabbit

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This one jumped once
he did he did
ol’ rabbit ran like life
never looking never caring
just moving
                careening
crazy killing of
the laughing ones
the smiling ones
a dumb destroyer
all broken heart and heat
wreckage of light
sometimes you showed heart
but mostly
just ripper and runner
and stealer of this son’s love
have it
have it all
I have too much
 

Crooked Still

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Another good band (my opinion) called Crooked Still. They are an alternative bluegrass group. Check out their website: http://www.crookedstill.com/ . Especially look for their song Ain’t No Grave which has some fantastic lyrics. Here they are:
 
there ain’t no grave gonna hold my body down
ain’t no grave gonna hold my body down
when i hear that trumpet sound i’m gonna get up out of the ground
aint’ no grave gonna hold my body down

go down yonder gabriel put your foot on the land and sea
oh gabriel don’t you blow your trumpet until you hear from me

i looked way over yonder and what do you think i see?
i see a band of angels and they’re coming after me

then i looked way down the river saw the people dressed in white
i knew it was god’s people ’cause i saw them doing right

ain’t no grave gonna hold my body down
ain’t no grave gonna hold my body down
when i hear that trumpet sound i’m gonna get up out of the ground
aint’ no grave gonna hold my body down

i’m going down to the river jordan and i’m gonna bury my knees in the sand
holler "ah, hosanna" till i reach the promised land

then i looked way over yonder and what do you think i see?
i see a band of angels and they’re coming after me

so meet me king jesus meet me wont’ you meet me in the middle of the air
if these wings should carry me, i won’t need another pair

ain’t no grave gonna hold my body down
ain’t no grave gonna hold my body down
when i hear that trumpet sound i’m gonna get up out of the ground
aint’ no grave gonna hold my body down
ain’t no grave gonna hold my body down

Ida Maria Rocks

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I read a small article about 24-year-old Norwegian singer Ida Maria in Spin magazine. She’s got a pretty rough voice but it works for her and there’s something pretty cool about her music and the fact that she puts everything into her songs. I can’t really think of anyone to compare her to. I was listening to some of her songs on Youtube and so far my favorite is Stella…there are some pretty cool lyrics in it including the following:
 
And It made me realise
how much you wanna give away just to feel love
And the Lord blinked to me and asked
what is real love to you
what is fake and what is true
Anyhow, she rocks pretty fine and is worth listening to. Let me know if you’ve heard of her and what you think.

The Wrestler

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I have posted about this upcoming movie before but now a trailer is available and it simply confirms my belief that this is going to be an incredible movie. Check the trailer out here: http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox_searchlight/thewrestler/
 
Also – the theme song for the movie was written by my favorite singer/songwriter Bruce Springsteen. Here are the lyrics to The Wrestler that speak to me in a deep way that few songs do:
 
The Wrestler
 

Have you ever seen a one trick pony in the field so happy and free?
If you’ve ever seen a one trick pony then you’ve seen me
Have you ever seen a one-legged dog making its way down the street?
If you’ve ever seen a one-legged dog then you’ve seen me

Then you’ve seen me, I come and stand at every door
Then you’ve seen me, I always leave with less than I had before
Then you’ve seen me, bet I can make you smile when the blood, it hits the floor
Tell me, fan, can you ask for anything more?
Tell me can you ask for anything more?

Have you ever seen a scarecrow filled with nothing but dust and wheat?
If you’ve ever seen that scarecrow then you’ve seen me
Have you ever seen a one-armed man punching at nothing but the breeze?
If you’ve ever seen a one-armed man then you’ve seen me

Then you’ve seen me, I come and stand at every door
Then you’ve seen me, I always leave with less than I had before
Then you’ve seen me, bet I can make you smile when the blood, it hits the floor
Tell me, friend, can you ask for anything more?
Tell me can you ask for anything more?

These things that have comforted me, I drive away
This place that is my home I cannot pay
My only faith’s in the broken bones and bruises I display

Have you ever seen a one-legged man trying to dance his way free?
If you’ve ever seen a one-legged man then you’ve seen me

Christ is not attractive

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 I read a few pages of Philip Jenkins book The New Faces of Christianity: Believing the Bible in the Global South and I began to wonder about what makes a church an attractive place for people. I mean, whether I like it or not, that is one of the things I think about as a pastor – why this church? Why do people come here and not there? Or worse – why do people go there and not here?
 
We are tempted to believe that when things are going "well" from a ministry perspective and you’ve got lots of people and lots of programs for those people that this is occuring because you are becoming more and more like the body of Christ and therefore more and more attractive to people. But – is the body of Christ attractive? This sounds like an easy question to answer…of course Christ is attractive, to say otherwise would be blasphemy, but consider the following verse from the Gospel of John 1:9-11:
The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.
Does this verse tell us that Christ, the Word made flesh, was attractive? It tells me that the world was not in the least attracted to Him…that in fact He did not reflect the world and therefore the world ignored Him (to its own peril). What are the implications of this for the church? Should we be wary of too much "success"? Should we be wary when the world is beating a path to our door and overwhelming our sanctuaries? This goes for whole denominations as well. When the world is beating a path to your door is that because you are so good at reflecting the character of God that they can’t resist or is it, perhaps, because you are so good at reflecting the character of the world they see you as one of their own? It has been said that growth is good and a sure sign of health. This is true, growth can be a sign of health but growth can also be a sign of cancer. By definition uncontrolled growth, growth for its own sake, is cancer and if left unchecked it will surely destroy the body.
 
The goal of course is not to intentionally make the world hate us by being intentionally anti-world and anti-contextual. God did the most contextual, culture-pandering act ever when He put on flesh and became one of us to deliver the good news in a way we would understand. We should never slander fellow churches for attempting to deliver the gospel in a culturally contextual way…nor should we be critical of fellow brothers and sisters in Christ for doing this.
 
We should however always question our motives. If we are clergy we need to ask ourselves why we do what we do and plan what we plan. Is it to draw more people or is it to better emulate the character of Christ to the world? As Christians the question we should ask ourselves is why do we like or not like something about a particular church or person? Do I dislike my church because I find it boring? Do I find it boring because I want to be entertained? Am I more focused on having my needs met then on meeting Christ in every situation no matter what the circumstance? The reverse of the question should also be asked: Do I like my church because it meets my own self-centred needs or because I am genuinely meeting Christ?