WE NEED SCHOOLING

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I have taken a lot of classes in my twenty years of education. 

Classes in math, ship navigation, journalism, engineering, psychology, French, and the Bible.

Many of the classes are ‘how to’ – whether it’s speaking, writing, preaching, or caring for others.

But…I have never taken a class on how to sin. Interesting, huh?

Why is that?

No classes on stealing, selfishness, or greed.

None on lust, hate, envy, or sloth.

Not one class on the joys of drunkenness, promiscuity, or any other vice.

Why is that?

We don’t need to learn sin. It’s already within us—the potential, the proclivity, followed by its production.

Some say it’s because of Adam and Eve. 

Maybe so, but maybe Adam and Eve are characters who demonstrate what humans already knew: that within each of us is the search for meaning apart from God- that’s what sin means: not breaking rules but moving away from God and towards ourselves for the meaning of our existence. We might call it egotism. Self-centeredness. The late Dallas Willard, philosopher and theologian, describes it so well:

“Egotism is pathological self-obsession, a reaction to anxiety about whether one really does count. It is a form of acute self-consciousness and can be prevented and healed only by the experience of being adequately loved. It is, indeed, a desperate response to the frustration of the need we all have to count for something and be held to be irreplaceable, without price.”― Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life In God

Being loved. That’s the life class we all need. Love is God’s gift for all humanity. It’s God’s desire that we all know we belong to God.

Here’s what happened to me one time when I was at a monastery, in silence one afternoon.

God clearly revealed to me a truth I still hold onto in my days of uncertain faith:

“George, you are my little boy, and I love you just as you are.”

That’s how I know that I am never away from love.

That’s the class we all need. That’s theory. That’s practical. That is life-giving.

Read how Jesus put it in his words to the crowds of people who gathered around him:

 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recoveryour life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me, and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” -Matthew 11 THE MESSAGE

The one who created us knows best how to live and matter in this world. That God loved us and sent his son into this world to reconcile us to God is one of the clearest evidences that we, every one of us, matters. 

The world will try to make us believe that we have to ‘do’, ‘achieve’, ‘succeed’, and ‘accomplish’. But God tells us that we are loved. Jesus shows us that we are loved.

Even ‘religion’ doesn’t do that. As Jesus puts it, ‘religion can wear us out’ with all of its demands and doctrines. God isn’t a doctrine. God is a loving relationship with humanity.

That’s the class I’m signing up for.

LET’S BE VERY CAREFUL

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What does it mean to be a follower of Christ?

Let’s look at Philippians 2. We are to have the same attitude in this world as Jesus did. He was God, but he let go of that power and privilege and instead became a servant, loving the people of this world. He was born to love. He was humble. He was obedient to the point of giving up his life for all people.

There is a movement afoot. No, it’s been around for many a long, long year. (Since 381 A.D.)

 It is a temptation to power. It equates a nation’s identity with that of Christianity. It’s not new. It started with Emperor Constantine in the late 4th century, when he saw a ‘vision’ of the cross as a sign that he would conquer his enemies. It was an identity theft of the highest magnitude.

Consider Jesus’ words in Matthew 26, when Jesus is being arrested. One of the disciples used a sword and cut off the ear of one of the high priest’s men. Jesus responded, “Put your sword away. People who use the sword will die by the sword. Don’t you understand that if I wanted to, I could call on my father and have him send me more than a million armed soldiers with guns and missiles to wipe out all my enemies (I paraphrase).”

It was actually 72,000 angelic soldiers.

That is not the way of the Kingdom of God. 

It’s not the way of the disciples of Jesus today.

Certainly, we vote our consciences for policies and people that help our nation. But as Christians, we are servants, caring for the poor, the widowed, the strangers in our land, and the ‘least of these’ as Jesus called the most needful people. (See Matthew 25)

We don’t exert power over people.

See what happened when the disciples asked Jesus if he would make them powerful associates of his in the future. Actually, in one account, it’s the mother of the two disciples who approached Jesus. (Make of that what you will.)

“It’s about my two sons. Please say that, when you are king, they may sit, one at your right hand and one at your left.” (Matthew 20)

Well, that started quite a bruhaha among the rest of the disciples. They all wanted some power over people.  But Jesus responded, “Knock it off. That’s what worldly people do. They get all high and mighty and let everybody know. But that’s not the case with my followers. If you want to be great, then you must be the servant of all people.” (somewhat paraphrased)

We need to be careful not to confuse the kingdom of the world with the Kingdom of God. We can’t let ourselves identify God’s Kingdom with the world’s power. 

Now I want to be careful about what I say next. 

IN the 1930s, Christians found the talk of nationalism very appealing. They were living in hard times imposed on them after they lost in WWI. The churches embraced the idea that God was on their side, even to the point of persecuting Jews and Communists.

The situation went from bad to worse. Jews couldn’t work. Their shops were closed down. They couldn’t marry Gentiles. And the atrocities that followed are recorded in more books than I can count. We know the horrible outcome.

Caution: Christians are NOT Christian nationalists.

Christian Nationalism means that we identify our nation’s goals with those of Christ, as Emperor Constantine did in the late 4th Century (yes, I’m repeating myself). That identification led to the death of the Christian nation’s enemies.

A nation is a world kingdom that, by laws and force, can appear to be ethically and morally Christian. But God’s Kingdom revealed in Jesus is not about power ‘over’ people. Rather, His is about the power of love and serving. Our weapons are not laws, guns, threats, and such. We are called to love our enemies, pray for those who persecute us, welcome the strangers, feed the hungry, and bear the Cross, not the sword. Jesus is our only King.

So let’s be good citizens of our country, but never forget that we are first and foremost followers of Jesus in all that we say and do. And yes, even when that to which we are called opposes the laws of our nation.

——————-

WELL, SHUT MY MOUTH

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You might not believe a lot of things in the Bible, but here’s a truth you can absolutely be sure of:

The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. (James 3:6-8)

YEP, I prove that almost every day in my marriage. After 54 years, I have not tamed that little beast inside my mouth. I say, each day, I’m gonna reign it in, put a harness around it, everything short of cutting it off. (I didn’t need to write that.)

I know it starts with the mind. But somehow by the time the thought, the feeling gets to my tongue, any good intentions have been short-circuited.

Oh, and the rule of waiting 10 seconds to speak? Forget it. 

So I have devised a list of better thoughts after the little monster gets loose. Here they are: Feel free to use any of them. They are on my refrigerator as multiple choice, including ‘all the above’.

I’M SORRY.

I DIDN’T MEAN IT.

MY BAD

I’LL TRY TO BE BETTER

PLEASE FORGIVE ME

IT’S ALL MY FAULT.

And…. I LOVE YOU.

Some rules of the road. 

  1. Listen a lot
  2. Don’t be contrary or correcting even if you know you are right.
  3. Find time to discuss stuff
  4. Listen a lot
  5. Don’t walk away
  6. Listen a lot
  7. Don’t interrupt
  8. Try a little humility
  9. Listen a lot
  10. Your turn

WHY I’M A CHRISTIAN- PLAIN AND SIMPLE

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I want to follow Jesus, to be his disciple. There are two rules of the road that Jesus gave. Both are centered on and in God’s love.

Love God and love your neighbor as yourself.

Not laws. Not rituals or ceremonies.

And what do we know about God through Jesus? Love. Self-giving intentional action for the well-being of another (to paraphrase author Thomas Oord).

Christianity as a religion has confused, disappointed, and turned away many people from following Jesus.

I wish we didn’t use that word at all. The first disciples simply used the term ‘the way’.

Jesus embodies the nature of God. Jesus is what God looks like.

Read the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (the first 4 books of the New Testament), 

not to find doctrines but to see Jesus loving others, loving us.

See Jesus serving and embracing the lost like you and me. 

When I say, “I am a Christian”
I’m not shouting, “I’ve been saved!”
I’m whispering, “I get lost sometimes
That’s why I chose this way”

When I say, “I am a Christian”
I don’t speak with human pride
I’m confessing that I stumble –
needing God to be my guide

When I say, “I am a Christian”
I’m not trying to be strong
I’m professing that I’m weak
and pray for strength to carry on

When I say, “I am a Christian”
I’m not bragging of success
I’m admitting that I’ve failed
and cannot ever pay the debt

When I say, “I am a Christian”
I don’t think I know it all
I submit to my confusion
asking humbly to be taught

When I say, “I am a Christian”
I’m not claiming to be perfect
My flaws are far too visible
but God believes I’m worth it

When I say, “I am a Christian”
I still feel the sting of pain
I have my share of heartache
which is why I seek God’s name

When I say, “I am a Christian”
I do not wish to judge
I have no authority
I only know I’m loved

Carol Wimmer 1988

EARTHBOUND

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The gravitational pull of earthly things is strong in my spirit. I know our citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 3:20), but worldly, fleshly life exerts a pull from which I find it hard to escape. 

Material possessions, judgmentalism (aka dualistic thinking), bodily hungers, anxiety, anger, impatience, and more. The list can be long, as many of us know.

It’s easy to keep a list of wrongs about others….and about myself. I’m so darn self-conscious of my own faults, regrets, and the feelings of others. The gravitational pull of earth’s (dare I say Satan’s) accusations is stronger than the love of God, who has embraced me, redeemed me, and loves me with an everlasting love.

I try to yield to the influence of his life in me. Try, too often unsuccessfully.

It’s like this: Christ dies for me and unlocks the cell door of the prison in which I find myself as a consequence of life’s miseries and my own sin. But he has forgiven that sin. His love is the key. The door is open. He bids me to come out to him, to live in his love. That little door is the narrow way of love. 

But I respond that I’ve grown so comfortable with my life in the 6×9 confined kingdom of my own making that the new life seems scary and, dare I say, dangerous. It’s more mysterious than my safe self-imposed haven.

Help me, Lord, to know and feel your love and life in me. Help me to slip the surly bonds of earthly life to soar to heights of love, living with and for you, right here, right now.  Let me have the desire to desire your love more than this confined life I feel right now. Amen.

The Honey Wagon-Revised with photo

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So…I’m in my study one day, having some quiet time, when outside my window I see a cesspool truck, aka, the ‘honeywagon’.

It’s laboring under a heavy load. I wonder where they are going to dump all that …stuff? Is there a gigantic toilet somewhere? Surely they aren’t going to dump it into the river, are they? I’m sure some of you know where it all goes, and most likely I’ll hear from you. So thank you in advance.

It brought to mind a Bible verse – funny how that works. Psalm 103:12: “As far as the east is from the west, that’s how far God removes our sin from us.”  So maybe the truck’s final destination is China? Anyway, whatever happens in our lives, God removes sin  – its stain, its smell, and its shame from us…takes it away….far away…it’s gone….outta here.

And once God forgives, he does not remember our sins (we could all take a lesson from that). “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more” (Hebrews 10:17). This isn’t a license to sin –  this is the Good News of God’s desire to make us brand new… every day brand new. We are then free to love God without wondering if he is thinking of us in any way other than as his beloved son or daughter. Remember, as Paul once wrote in 1Corinthians 13, ‘Love keeps no record of wrong.’

So off goes the honeywagon. Good riddance.

Grace in the Wilderness. 2009 redux.

THE HONEY WAGON

george gaffgaLeave a comment

So…I’m in my study one day, having some quiet time, when outside my window I see a cesspool truck, aka, the ‘honeywagon’.

It’s laboring under a heavy load. I wonder where they are going to dump all that …stuff? Is there a gigantic toilet somewhere? Surely they aren’t going to dump it into the river, are they? I’m sure some of you know where it all goes, and most likely I’ll hear from you. So thank you in advance.

It brought to mind a Bible verse – funny how that works. Psalm 103:12: “As far as the east is from the west, that’s how far God removes our sin from us.”  So maybe the truck’s final destination is China? Anyway, whatever happens in our lives, God removes sin  – its stain, its smell, and its shame from us…takes it away….far away…it’s gone….outta here.

And once God forgives, he does not remember our sins (we could all take a lesson from that). “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more” (Hebrews 10:17). This isn’t a license to sin –  this is the Good News of God’s desire to make us brand new… every day brand new. We are then free to love God without wondering if he is thinking of us in any way other than as his beloved son or daughter. Remember, as Paul once wrote in 1Corinthians 13, ‘Love keeps no record of wrong.’

So off goes the honeywagon. Good riddance.

Grace in the Wilderness. 2009 redux.

ASSISTED DYING

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Euthanasia. The term comes from the Greek: ‘good death’.

Last week, our dog Lucy was euthanized. At 20 years of age, she had become frail, sick, and immobile. We had the pleasure of Lucy’s company for 18 years, having rescued her from a kill shelter. We have lots of great memories and photos from our years together. 

But the time came for her merciful departure. We called a veterinarian who specializes in euthanasia at home. The doctor was experienced in such matters. She had what we call ‘great bedside manner’ with Lucy and a sensitive spirit with my wife and me. She took her time and included our other dog in the process.

Lucy was in her own bed. We gave her a last piece of chicken to eat, and the doctor proceeded to sedate her and finally to inject her with a medicine that would stop her heart. It was gentle, peaceful, and loving. We like to think she’s the leader of the pack somewhere in the new heavens and new earth.

This experience has led me to believe that providing a ‘good death’ is a right and merciful act for a human being who is in their final stage of life and experiencing intractable suffering. 

Some people may argue against taking one’s own life through professional assistance. But I think it is an act of mercy and love to care in such a way about a person. 

The Bible doesn’t give definitive guidance. It is, I believe, within God’s will for us to be merciful to another life by assisting that person in dying.

It is what I would want.