The power to be
The power to give
The power to see

Suddenly I see
This is what I wanna be

“Suddenly I See” by KT Tunstall

In 1916  Russian Greek Orthodox priest Father Grigori Rasputin was a feared and hated man.  He was thought to be many things: a mystic, a psychic, a hypnotist, a faith healer who could work miracles, a crazed man, a lecherous and dangerous person, a demon, and a political threat.  His closeness to the Royal Tsar (as the faith healer supposedly keeping the Romanov’s son Alexi from dying of hemophilia) and his wild ways drew scorn and blame when Russia plunged into war, poverty and famine.  In fact, when a prostitute who claimed he gave her syphilis stabbed him two years earlier in 1914 she screamed, “I have killed the anti-christ!” and no one argued.  Except – she didn’t kill him.  He miraculously lived through the stab wound that actually severed his intestine, which furthered the idea there was something unnaturally powerful about him.

That spiritual, physical, mystical power myth wouldn’t end with his death, but grew larger when the details of his eventual murder came to light.  On the night he was killed by a group of Russian noblemen – they reported the following dramatic tale:

At the palace of  Prince Felix Yusupov Rasputin was taken to the basement for a talk with the prince. He was fed cakes and wine laced with cyanide. After what seemed like a very long time of pointless chatting, Prince Yusupov went upstairs and told his friends that the poison was not working.  He went back downstairs and shot Rasputin in the back.  Elated, the Prince ran back upstairs claiming he had “killed the devil” but when they went down to see him – he was very much alive and tried to strangle the prince. The group of friends shot him 3 more times.  While figuring out what to do with his body, he lunged at them – proving once again to be living. They took a chair and wooden implements in the basement a beat him badly.  With Rasputin seemingly finally dead they tied up his body, wrapped him in a carpet and threw him off a bridge into the freezing Neva River.  To their horror –  a still alive Rasputin got out of the bonds, and the carpet.  Eventually he drowned in the turbulent water of the river.

There were, of course, questions about this amazing story – however the written autopsy of Rasputin, which was an open record until the Stalin era, recorded that the body “contained poison, 4 bullet wounds, bruises from a bad beating, evidence of being restrained, and water in the lungs from drowning.”   Talk about having 9 lives!

The world's creepiest Superman

Rasputin clearly had some kind of personal strength most people didn’t understand. It wasn’t the powerful people around him that gave him power, it was something within him.  I’ve always wondered – with that kind of constitution and passion – if he had just stayed a local priest and not gotten involved with fame, politics and royalty – what an amazing ministry he might have had.  Truly, having “something within” is not helpful unless you are within something good.

The boxing equipment I use comes from Everlast and is emblazoned with their slogan:  Greatness is Within.

One of the bags I use for cardio punching practice is a heavy rubber bag covered in nylon with nothing put air inside so I have to chuckle when I see that logo even though I understand they are trying to inspire me into the thinking the “greatness” is within me, not a bag of air.   I have quite a love/hate relationship with exercise so this is how I prefer to think of greatness within:

Why do they even bother with that cookie part?

But no matter how you see internal greatness – the strength of a mystic, the power to strengthen your body, or appreciating the joy of a simple dessert there is still the truth that what is inside you matters most depending on what you are inside.

In American culture we value individualism and that value doesn’t just play through our politics, families, parenting or consumer habits – it plays out through our interpretation of theology as well.  We tend to spend a lot of time focusing on God with us or God in us.   What is the first thing churches invite you to do? Invite Jesus INTO YOUR HEART.  It’s clear from our earliest faith memories of songs we sing, that aged fading picture on a sunday school room wall of Jesus knocking on the door with no handle, the way we are taught about salvation and the ways we are taught to teach others about Christ that our focus is recognizing the greatness of God within us.

And we miss the point.  Relationship with God is not simply about having the spirit of Christ within you. It’s about YOU being within God.  Let me say that again, in case you were distracted by the cookie picture (I know I am…).   Faith life is not simply about God being in you.  It’s about you being within God.

What does it mean to be in God?  It means to recognize ourselves as part of a whole being and joined inherently with the creation, goodness, compassion, grace, abundance, giving, healing and freedom that is the very nature of that being.  We are not always  graceful people but we are people who live in grace and do well when we remember it.

Psalm 100 is thought to be a Psalm of praise – but it is also a good reminder of how we should understand ourselves not through the lens of individualism, but through the fountain of beloved belonging.

 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
Worship the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
Know that the LORD is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Psalm 100

We are God’s people, sheep in God’s pasture. We are within God.

How does that help us to know that?  It gives us a chance to truly reflect and re-prioritize our life and the message of God we carry to a world that needs to hear it.  When we seek to be the people God made us to be, we can find comfort and inspiration understanding that we don’t have to reach to something inside us and find God – but God is around us and we have that love of God in abundance.  When we need to be forgiving we are surrounded by forgiveness. When we need to be compassionate in circumstances we don’t like or with people we are challenged to care for – we don’t have to dredge it up from inside – its around us – we need to take it in, learn it and live it.  When we are unsure or feeling unwise, we can pray and admit we don’t know what to do – then remember we are in a pasture of wisdom with a shepherd who wants to walk with us as we forge ahead together.

It also says something about the way we view “evangelism” – and maybe why it’s not really working.  Churches in our mainline modern day don’t really seem to do much gospel teaching and good messaging as much as we focus on discipleship development (always worthwhile). We don’t bring people in as much as we “people swap”.  When was the last time someone came into your church and said, “I didn’t know who God was” or “I have never been a Christian but now my eyes are opened.” and you knew it was the first time they really got the gospel?   More likely the last 2 or 20 or 200 people came in saying, “I used to go to “X Christian Church” but I like your youth program, or your preacher speaks to me, or I want to be part of your mission.”    There’s nothing wrong with people moving about faith places finding a field in which they can both feed and be a feeder.  But there’s not much evangelistic about it either.

People who haven’t seen or heard of God’s love aren’t really ready for a message that they need to bring Jesus into them. Many of them feel (or have been told) that Jesus or God or the whole christian family wants nothing to do with them.  But the message that they are within God’s pasture – already there – not waiting to change or needing to take 3 membership classes and a bible quiz –  is something they have been waiting to believe their whole lives.  And once they realize we are God’s created people – the changes God desires, the wisdom they require and the beauty of community will all come into being.

In sharing the gospel:

It’s not our job to bring people into church.

It’s not our job to bring people into our view of “right”.

It’s not our job to bring people into agreement with us and what we believe.

It is our call, and our great joy, to show people they are already brought in – created and loved by God, and that from within God they will forge the relationship with God that can heal, change, encourage, and grow in them.  Then the community of the church, the discipleship and development  and the empowerment to share their witness can begin.

Greatness is Within.

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.

“Wild Geese” by Mary Oliver

A number of years ago, before Chris Tomlin was a praise band must-know, Cathy and I went to a Steven Curtis Chapman concert which featured Tomlin and Jeremy Camp as openers.  Tomlin absolutely “stole the show” creating a worship space out of a concert center and leaving the audience so tired after standing and singing with him that when Chapman came out, we mostly just sat and listened politely.  We were apparently all thinking the same thing, “when Chapman finally stops singing, I am going to find that tiny Chris Tomlin booth in the lobby and buy his CD.”  And so, after the last prayer (for a safe ride home) we stormed the lobby where a crush of people were all trying to get to the swamped table at the same time.  As Cathy and I were being pushed, gouged and jerked around there was one of those odd unplanned moments of quiet, and then we heard a voice thick with 100% pure, honest, adolescent sarcasm say, “Christians, stop shoving!”

Of course, I know Christian people are still people and act accordingly but the memory of that night brings about a question I have been asking myself, God and others since I walked into Highland Park Baptist Church at the age of 17 and heard the gospel for the first time.

Why aren’t Christians more peaceful?

In Christianity we seem to have a long-distance relationship with peace.  We treat it like a spouse who happens to be in Antarctica doing research. We show peace’s picture around, telling people all about it and how much we love it and miss it, but we don’t have any real plans to make the journey to get it or unite with it full time.

Oh, good! Satellite radio! Now peace and I can Skype, or play a game of checkers together.

The key to the question seems to be that Christians don’t really have a place for “peace practices” as part of their expectation, liturgy or understanding.  Churches are full of programming – book groups, Sunday School, Youth group, Divorce Recovery groups,  Chronic Illness Support Groups, Mommy Groups, and Christian men’s breakfasts. We have plenty of space and  time devoted to Upward Sports and downward spirals.  But not peace.

Let’s face it – church worship is anything but peaceful.  We have so much stuff crammed into that hour (50 minutes if you go to the early service) – music, pastoral prayer, announcements of more activity, sermon, communion, children’s sermon, offering, special music – that churches who do “passing of the peace” often give the practice a very generous 2 minutes where people turn to the person next to them, shake hands and tersely mumble, “peace by unto you” before sitting down and waiting for the worship train to leave the station once more.  In church peace is simply a rest stop.

Every once in a while, a “peace trend” will hit the church. A few years ago it was Labyrinth walks – encouraging church members to come and walk the maze of contemplation gathering peace.  Some churches even committed all the way into digging up the grounds and building replicas of the Chartres labyrinth into their property. Others used the easier and more fleeting “Labyrinth In A Can”.

Just make sure to pack the peace up and put it away before the Swinging Seventies group comes in for tea and bible study.

But the labyrinths grew over or got put away because the Lenten family fair needed the fellowship hall floor.  Taize is another peace practice churches flirt with – holding it once a year as a special service and making sure to warn people there won’t be any talking.   We adore Buddhist monks and invite them to speak whenever possible, because we secretly envy their seemingly solid, enlightened peace.  We love peace – but our love for it and our church’s ability to encourage it don’t often work together.

Churches are made of people. And so, if we want a church and a faith more centered in peace – then we as the building blocks must have peace in ourselves first.  Jesus seemed to know we as a faith community would have problems with peace.  I think that’s why he said, “MY peace I give you.”  Because he knew we weren’t very likely to get some of our own. Listen to his words:

 “All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.  Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”  John 14:25-27

So what can we do to become a peace-filled people?

1.  Take responsibility for your peace.  Don’t expect the church to hand it to you or create a program for you to accumulate peace like so many glass beaded crosses we get from the Women’s Mission Project.  Don’t expect a TV guru or  a book with a lotus on the cover to overwhelm your heart with calm.  Jesus tells us the Holy Spirit will “teach you all things” — that means YOU have to learn.  Set aside space, time, attention for peace practices in your life.

Oh Geez – I can already hear you shouting, “Are you crazy? You must live in a fantasy world. I have KIDS, WORK, DOGS, CHORES, CHURCH, CHURCH CHORES, LIFE. I don’t have time for peace!!!”  Stop yelling, it’s not very peaceful. And stop making excuses while you’re at it.  People with children can still find peace.  Work with it.  Work with your kids – maybe teaching them to meditate (if only for 5 minutes) or sit a listen to a nice peaceful song with you would start them on a better road.  Ultimately – how are you gonna do it?  I don’t know.  But ask the Holy Spirit to teach you how — don’t just leave the spirit standing at the door while you say, “I’m too busy to learn peace today.”

2. Don’t be ashamed of your peace.  In America we value stress and productivity. The more stressful and harried you are – the more important you must be.  We have lifted Steve Jobs up as the pinnacle of American success and then mumble quietly, “he was a work addict, mean-spirited, and isolated.”   All this push for activity makes it seem as if you are some kind of freak or socialist-communist-hippie-loser if you manage to get to work on time, walk in calmly, and smile because you feel at peace.  It’s not popular to live at a sane pace – and sometimes it even takes sacrifices (sorry, I can’t be in another book club, take on another bible class, start another jogging group).  But the solid joy and peace it provides makes it worth it.

“I do not give as the world gives,” says Jesus.  The world gives with strings. The world gives with false promises.  The world gives with “karma” (what you do comes back to you). The world gives with stress.  Jesus gives unconditionality, truth,  grace, and peace.  Don’t be ashamed to have those gifts.

3.  Lose your peace when it matters.  Jesus wasn’t some prozac driven happy guy who never lost his cool. He was angry (we love that temple story, don’t we?), he was sad, he was annoyed, he was argumentative.  But, all of those times we see his less-than-overtly peaceful side — were for good reason.  Jesus got angry over corruption, sad over loss, annoyed with stupid entrapping Pharisee questions, and argumentative with anyone who tried to say the Kingdom of God should leave someone out.

Don’t lose your peace over political differences with your neighbor, whether the youth group spilled juice on the new carpet, or who at work doesn’t have to use a copier code like you do.  Don’t give up your peace fighting over whether God helps football players, or which translation is the ONE TRUE TRANSLATION of the Bible.   Lose your peace over the millions of hungry people in the world, the physical violence toward women and children that happens in countries large and small, the spiritual violence of intolerance aimed at so many vulnerable people.  You want to be upset? Be upset where it matters.  Leave the guy who cut you off on the freeway to God (and accept that he may get grace instead of karma).

I heard a young man say not long ago, “As far as I’m concerned Christianity is just another hate group.”  I grieved his opinion, but also saw the logic by which he had achieved it.  We have been so busy allowing the loud, angry voices of faith dominate the media, the church, and the grocery store that we are playing catch-up in trying to show the world that we really are a love group – that has somehow lost its peace.   Let’s make an effort as individuals who make up the body of Christ to get it back, and this time – stay with it.

Christians, stop shoving.

Prejudice.
Wrote a song about it.
Want to hear it?
Here it go…
Free Your Mind

“Free Your Mind” by En Vogue

As people in modern culture, we know all about lines. Long lines in stores that are only as tolerable as what you are hoping to acquire or let go. Loud lines outside theaters and sporting events where anticipation fills the air and you become very grateful there is assigned seating and very aware of how many onions the big guy behind you had in his lunch. Lingering lines as people watch the train, plane or bus leave the station and they turn to go but move slowly, frequently looking back for one last glimpse of what was.

The Bible knows all about lines. Both Old and New Testaments are filled with passages of lineage – the line of birth from one to another (or as people with older bibles call them – “the begats”).   The animals didn’t really march into the ark two by two or clean and unclean – but I would like to think they got into the boat in some sort of orderly line-like fashion. The prophet Samuel lined up David’s brothers to seek a king (only to discover the chosen one was not in line that day).  The Magi came to see Jesus in a caravan; nothing more than a moving line (with camels!) and Jesus rode his donkey through a line of palms and people who didn’t really get what being Messiah was all about. I think most of us are still in that line sometimes.

Yes, faith is full of lines. We have become so used to them we don’t always see what they are or what they do when drawn by human hands.  Lines divide.  Like the veil of the temple and the walls of the city, lines keep us one from another.  Lines create two distinct areas in place, time and mindset:  “In” and “Out”.  The people who create what it means to be “in” like to stay “in” and the folks left on the “out” are usually trying to get “in”.  And then there are those brave few who can traverse between the two:

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. saw the lines in this country. The lines that held in privilege and the lines the left out justice – lines based on race. He took on the challenge of the divisiosn and did everything he could to erase them, shine light on them and march across them. He had a vision and a passion for a world without those lines.

 There are other lines, of course:

•  Lines drawn because we are told they will keep the “in” safe from the “out.”
• Lines placed down to ensure the “in” always have a place in the world to call their own – because we can’t have an “in” without an “out.”
• Lines we have painted permanently like white stripes on highway lanes for the very same purpose – to keep people in their place.
• Lines based on race, age, intellect, gender, money, belief system, sexuality, body type, history, and future all ensure our comfort within our own expectations.

 It can be stated, quite accurately, that the history of Christianity (and pretty much any other faith) is a history of lines. Religion, tradition, practice and polity all exist to create lines around what we believe and who we are. Lines tell us what to embrace and what to reject; they have dictated who we include and who we repel. Time, spirit and God’s good intervention have broadened our lines from times past. Yet, still we have so much more to do.

As people of faith, even when we draw lines we challenge them. We speak openly and often about the way Christ came for all people. We teach our children to sing “Jesus loved ALL the children of the world.” Pointing to the Gospels with great pride as Jesus talks to Samaritans, lepers, prostitutes and sinners we say, “Jesus loved people who were on the outside. Jesus reached to the people on the outside. Jesus died for people on the outside.” And, we never get how truly wrong those statements really are. Let’s be clear:

Jesus did NOT love people on the “outside.”

To Jesus, who came as the living embodiment of God’s love, God’s way, and God’s ideas, there was no outside.

Let me said that again: There was no outside.

Jesus didn’t reach across lines. He didn’t accredit them. Oh, he knew they were there – humans had drawn plenty of lines around gender, status, culture and faith by then. But he seemed to regard them as no more than a fantasy of infantile elitism and he went over them, around them, through them and ignored them because they were not the reality for God or for him.  Jesus knew there were rich and poor, slaves and free, oppressed and oppressors, friends and enemies, but he saw what differentiated them as a construct of our prejudices. He preached to all of them, and saw all of them as brothers and sisters – children of God.

Over and over he tries to reveal God’s vision of this world without lines dividing us from one another.

  43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”   Matthew 5:43-48

Theologians have argued for a long time about verse 48 – realizing it is clearly not within the potential of humans to “be perfect”. I would suggest that part of the “perfection” Christ is calling us to in this passage is to remove the lines that separate us and recognize our common bond as God’s created beings here on earth.

This weekend as we celebrate the legacy of a man who worked with others to erase some of the lines so we could experience the world the way Christ experienced it – open and equal – take some time to look at the lines in your life.  Do you see the world in terms of rich or poor, white or “other”, male roles or female roles, gay or straight, old or young, Democrat or Republican (or even <gasp!> Independent), friends or enemies?  If so, pray and study to learn how God might inspire you to reduce the lines in your life and open you up to the world your Savior saw –a world of God’s children – equal and beloved.

“Before you can read me,
You got to learn how to see me.
Free your mind and the rest will follow.”

“What is REAL?” asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. “Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?”

“Real isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.”

The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams

We like to look back in time and marvel at the things folks used to believe and act upon. The people of  Salem believed in witches and executed people. The people in the Dark Ages believed water spirits lived inside stone wells, and they took the Roman aqueducts apart.  People in the 1500′s believed touching a piece of wood that might have been Jesus’ cross could heal them from sickness and they gave everything they had to touch it.  Witches, fairies, relics — they all have gone out of favor now.  Yet, in our marvelous technologically blessed world with virtual pets, friends, and connections it is getting harder and harder for us to distinguish what is real.

• Is a facebook friend a real friend?
• Is an ad you see online an opportunity or a scam?
• Is a movie “based on a true story” really true?

No matter how superior we think we are, we – like our ancestors centuries ago – struggle to know what’s real.  That struggle came to light for me this week on facebook when a gentleman trying to convince a group of comic book fans that demons don’t exist accidentally stumbled into quicksand when he blurted out that Superman was not real.

What do you mean I'm not real? I'm on a US Postage Stamp! Can YOU say that?

It started innocently enough. A comic book store owner posted an article by a Catholic priest who is an “expert on exorcisms” about the idea that maybe Heath Ledger had somehow been possessed by a demon during his performance in the Batman movie.  It wasn’t an idea I put much stock into, but it spawned an interesting conversation.  A self-proclaimed atheist was the first person to post.  He started us off by saying, “How does one get to be an “expert” in something that isn’t real? I swear, we get stupider and stupider.”

The argument went on from there.  He stated that anything real had to be tested for, proven, and verified – or it was not real.   I offered the idea that not everything could be proven by a test or confirmed by a physical reaction.  For example, there were diseases that did not have tests which confirm their presence but were diagnosed by exclusion – by ruling out other things.  MS is one such disease.  That prompted this exchange (his identity concealed):

The rest of thread went on quite as you might imagine. People on the spiritual side claiming the devil is real and possibly possessing people and people who were more skeptical claiming the whole thing was a bunch of hocus-pocus-mumbo-jumbo.  I got busy doing something else and left the conversation.  However, if I had stayed I wouldn’t spend time arguing over the devil (doesn’t Satan already get enough press?), but assuring the post writer that Superman was indeed real.

As a child reading comic books to escape the chaos of the dysfunctional family and world around me – Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman all stood up for things I desperately needed to know were true. They proved to me that there were beings who would stand up for people who couldn’t defend themselves. They gave me the understanding that sometimes personal sacrifice is required to make a difference in the world. Their 16 page adventures gave me the solace to know that even in a big, frightening world like the one I lived in – it would all be okay in the end.  Those characters were more real to me that people I saw on a daily basis because I needed them to be, and I needed to believe.

The New Testament writer to the Hebrews was writing to a group of people who also needed to believe. Having left Judaism to forge ahead in this new relationship with God called “Christianity” – the people Hebrews was written for were struggling with that question about what was real.  Judaism was very real to them. They had temples and traditions, they heard the stories of the patriarchs and even clothing and customs all designed to solidify their faith experience.  But this new way – following Jesus and proclaiming salvation through him – didn’t have the hand-holds they wanted.

There wasn’t an established Christian culture, there weren’t special clothes or long standing stories. The stories of Jesus were told from person to person – not written like Torah – and instead of the “Law” there was this idea about love.   They also weren’t seeing much payoff for their new faith. Christians were being persecuted by Rome, by Pharisaic courts and Jewish councils, by outsiders who did not want/understand a new religion growing in the  midst of an already full religious landscape. Disciples of Christ were killed, tortured or cast out.  For many of the early converts even family members called them “race traitors” and reacted with rejection to the acceptance of this new faith.  Watching so much struggle — these Hebrew people began to ask, “Is this Christianity stuff REAL? Where’s the power? Where’s the promise? Where’s the Lord?”

The letter to the Hebrews answers that – the first 10 chapters go back through the gospel – who Jesus was and is now, why he should be followed, and what Christianity is all about.  Then comes the famous chapter – Chapter 11 – the faith chapter.  Most people with even the slightest experience with church know Hebrews 11:1 – “Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.”   But there is a more intriguing passage than that.  After listing the great faithful people of the Old Testament – the writer says:

¹³ All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. ¹⁴ People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. ¹⁵ If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶ Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.”

Hebrews 11:13-16

So – after all these acts of great faith – these people died before the promise (of the messiah, most likely) came true. So — they didn’t get what they wanted. They didn’t see in person what they expected. And yet — God is their God and is making their city.  They didn’t have empirical evidence, a balance sheet or even a research study. They had faith, and it was real. Because it was real – they went on in the relationship and life God made with them.

Today we live in a world where people who go to church and people who don’t are asking that same question. Is any of this real?  That’s what the Jesus Seminar – the group of professors and scholars looking for the “historical” Jesus were asking. How much of what we believe was “real” and how much was narrative?  That’s what post-modern teachers and learners are asking. What do I believe and how can I know it is real?  And at then end of a long hard day or a spiritual let-down we ALL – saints and sinners alike – wonder “what real difference does it make?”

The answer to this great philosophical and personal queries according to the Bible is, “Yes.”

• Jesus is real.
• Narrative is real.
• Facts are real.
• Stories are real.
• The meaning is real.
• The difference it makes in our lives is real
• The difference it makes in our world is real.
• We are real.
• God is real.
• Love is real.

Faith isn’t about knowing God loves us because we are blessed with a nice home, good job, and perfect teeth.  Faith isn’t about thinking God made you win a football game because you prayed, or thinking God made you lose a football game because you had a lusty thought the night before.  Faith isn’t about the payoff, the payroll, or the pay forward.  Faith is about knowing what is real.

As a child, I knew there wasn’t a physical being named Superman (or Batman) who was ever going to walk into my world. But those things Superman embodied – strength, morality, truth, justice, sacrifice, and helping one another – even if the “other” is a stranger – were very real to me and still are.  And so, I encourage you – even in the darkest or most questionable times to remember  you don’t need a sworn statement or a sudden blessing to know the Velveteen Rabbit became real, Superman is real, and the God who made you, knows you, and loves you is real.  That’s faith.

“Eleanor Rigby, picks up the rice
In the church where a wedding has been
Lives in a dream

Waits at the window, wearing the face
That she keeps in a jar by the door
Who is it for?”

     The Beatles

Cathy and I went to Cinebistro – a movie theater that serves fine dining type food – to see a movie this week. An older couple sat in the booth next to us. When the waiter approached they proudly (and loudly) announced, “We’re gluten free!”  We listened as the wife ordered the salmon, essentially stripped of every sauce, side, and spice possible.  The man ordered a Caesar salad with chicken breast.  The waiter said it would come without croutons.  When the food arrived, a few minutes before movie time – the following discussion occurred:

Woman:  (pointing at the salad) ‘There’s gluten in that.

Man:  I don’t think so.

Woman: Yes there is.

Man: (to waiter) Excuse me, is this gluten?

Waiter: No sir, that’s cheese.

Man: Well, IS there gluten in this?

Waiter: No Sir, there isn’t.  (waiter leaves as previews start)

Woman: No matter what he says,  there is gluten in there!

Man (hissing):  I don’t care!

Then he began munching his salad with great delight.  The exchange showed me two things.

1.  Being “gluten free” was not his idea.

2. They have no idea what gluten is.

Gluten is a by-product of wheat and grains (rye, etc).  There are people who have allergies or are sensitive to gluten and try to avoid it.  Accordingly, there are a number of “gluten-free” books, websites, etc. Even our church offers some gluten-free bread for communion.  However, for most people gluten (and wheat products) is a staple of the Western diet and one of the things that makes our bread rise, our pizza crust doughy, and our pasta taste good.  Gluten is not for everyone, but living without it is not for everyone either.

In the spiritual world, “ritual” is our gluten.  For centuries Christian churches have thrived on a diet full of ritual. Whether it is catholic people making the sign of the cross, Presbyterians engaging in pastoral prayer before the children’s sermon, or the Disciples of Christ reminding you each week to pick up and recycle your bulletins – ritual – or it’s lessor cousin- tradition – has always been around. Jesus encountered it many times during his ministry on earth.

In nothing short of a glorious rant (if it happened now, it would probably be a youtube meltdown that went viral overnight!) – Jesus talks about the “Seven Woes” of the Pharisees and temple leaders.  He says, in part,

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. ²⁴You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

²⁵ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. ²⁶ Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

²⁷ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. ²⁸ In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”

Matthew 23:23-28

In other words — they have the rituals down – but not the right.  There is no meaning nor spirit in their law following, ritualistic faith style. They have lots of “how”, very little “why”, and even less “what good does it do?”

The New Year is a time of  starting over, renewing or changing, and very often we do that by way of ritual. We are going to go to the gym 3 times a week.  We are going to have only 1 Pepsi a day.  We are going to read a devotional every morning so we put the book by our bedside at night.  We are going to pray the prayer of Jabez before going to bed.  On and on we seek to make change by adding rituals to our already time-challenged, scheduling cramped existence.

"Let's see, I turn three times to the left, then one time to the right, then lie down, then get up and do two more turns..."

If we want to really create change in our lives, the kind of change Jesus wanted the religious leaders to make in the world, the rituals we enact have to have meaning and purpose behind them.  We can’t just wash the outside of the cup – we have to clean the inside, put cold water in it, and offer it to the thirsty.  Bringing God’s love to the world doesn’t start at the sink – it starts in the heart. We can’t just say we will get better about the gym – we have to know that our bodies are important and taking care of our bodies help us to live better, freer lives.   Going to the gym doesn’t start in the car – it starts in the head.

Spiritually there are some people who prefer to do without gluten. They don’t go to church and they don’t find the comfort in the rituals of prayer, confession, mission and music we find there.  They prefer to find God in their lives in other ways – through the love they give and receive, through their private prayers said alone at the end of a long day or in the morning in those few precious quiet moments before the kids wake up.  They do not “forsake the gathering of saints” as we might suppose. They just hold that gathering around a kitchen table, a playground swing set or a group of kayaks.  However, if they share the gifts of God, and are pursuing justice, mercy, and relationship with God, they have the meal of heaven here on earth.

For most of us, however, ritual is a staple of our faith. Church, study, prayers, pot-luck dinners…they all comfort and guide us.  They remind us in the most wonderful ways who we are, and who God is within and among us. We gather, and we go out. As surely as my grandma thought a plate of food without bread wasn’t a meal, faith without church isn’t our diet.  And yet – we too must be vigilant to ensure we are doing more than shining cups, washing tombs, and ignoring the living work of God to be done in ourselves and in the world.

So – this new year – whether you are gluten-free or gluten giddy — make sure  you aren’t just adding more rituals – but more meaning into the time you have.  And, make sure – if you do give something up or add something in – you know what it is, why it is, and who it’s for.

Oh I been getting heavy into my reading
Oh I been listening to my favorite song
Well I could never keep down a force-feeding too long
Eat up whatever I want whenever I want

Well you’re gonna meet the wall
When you think you’ve heard it all
And then you got nowhere left to go
Then you’re gonna know

Where not to look for freedom
When you’re inside your prison
And you’re the only warden…
Tell me where to look for freedom
“Where Not To Look For Freedom” by the Belle Brigade

I picked today to write this note because it is my favorite day of Advent – the Day of Joy.  And it is a joy to me and hopefully a joy to you when I tell you the reason for this note after such a long silence is to share two good things.

1.  I have been resting
2.  I am starting anew (not again, but anew) on January 1

The inside view from an amateur rester:

Resting did not come easily to me, so fortunately it came naturally – without my consent.  I decided in June to take a 2 or 3 week break and come back after July 4th. But when I got ready to write, I found I had nothing to say. (Those of you who know me well understand what a shocking and odd thing that would be). So I decided to take a little more break time. I thought of scriptures, themes, ideas…but still – none of it made it to the screen.  July ended and August began. I decided to start back when school started.

“I’ll call it a summer vacation,” I told myself.  September became October and I realized I was nowhere near ready to return.  I started justifying to myself:

• Work is really busy
• I’m doing a webcomic, starting another web outreach in Jan and writing a lot.
• I’m co-teaching a bible study requiring tons of prep time
• I’m writing Bible Curriculum
• I’m learning – It’s not just like I’m sitting around.

Finally when I ran out of excuses – I asked God – “What am I doing with this blog? Am I quitting?” and Wise God said, “No, dear. You’re resting.”  October and November have been much easier on my psyche.

I’ve been studying, and playing games. I’ve enjoyed reading other awesome blogs, and times when I didn’t read a darn thing.  I’ve been at the gym, comic conventions, watching netflix documentaries, and staring off into space.  I have not been productive in the slightest in regard to this blog. It’s been lovely.

Why wait for our “eternal rest” — when I can start now?

 But for everything there is a time – and a season — and the time for rest came to a natural end at the gym a week ago when a thousand Shepnerd writing ideas all flooded my head at once. I asked God, “What am I doing with the blog? Am I starting back?” and Wise God said, “No, dear. You’re starting anew.” It hit me – “starting” and “back” don’t really go together half as well as “starting” and “new”.

That’s what rest does. It helps make us new.  That’s what Christmas does – The Christ child appears in our churches and in our hearts – a baby again. The newborn baby Jesus doesn’t come “back” every year. He comes anew.  Forget New Year’s Eve — Christmas is the day we can begin. Praise be to God.

So – Jan 1 – Notes from the Shepnerd will begin with its first new post and be updated on Sundays as per usual. However, I have such a flood of ideas – I would like some help in decision making.  It is great for me as a writer to know what you – the readers – want/like/think/imagine from this blog.  So, I did what any good ShepNERD would do — I made a 5 question Survey Monkey survey.  Input appreciated, and thankfully received.

 5 questions, anonymous, no one will see the answers but me (and God). Please take a minute (unless you are resting) and give me your thoughts.

For to us a child is born,
   to us a son is given,
   and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
   Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
   Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
 Of the greatness of his government and peace
   there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
   and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
   with justice and righteousness
   from that time on and forever.

Isaiah 9:6-7

Baines:  Have you even bent your knees, Malcolm?.
Malcolm X:  Yes, when I was picking a lock to rob someone’s house
Baines:  Tell Allah that.  (Malcolm tries to kneel but can’t bring himself to do it.) You can grovel and crawl for sin but not to save your soul. Pick the lock, Malcolm. Pick it!
Malcolm X: I want to. God knows I want to.
         “Malcolm X” directed by Spike Lee.

In many of the world’s religious practices, the bended knee holds a special place and spiritual value. Whether it is kneeling in prayer, the lotus position, sitting with someone and holding hands or bowing in faith — there is something powerful about bending your knees. Most people talk about kneeling before God as an act of submission to God, and the physical acknowledgment of who God is in relation to who we are.  But, kneeling or bending the knee has a lot more advantages and purposes than reinforcing the fact that God is bigger than us. Bending your knees offers a host of spiritual lessons.

Flexibility 

I don’t know about you – but I don’t have a problem kneeling down on the floor. The problem I have is getting back up! I am always grateful I don’t go to a church that practices kneeling in prayer during its Sunday worship because the moaning and groaning it takes to put me back in standing position would ensure me a seat in the narthex or our choir would begin to repeatedly sing “dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones!”  I am simply not flexible.
   “You should try yoga,” some helpful person will say.
   “I love yoga,” I respond. “Except for all the falling down and screaming.”
   “That has never been a part of my yoga class,” they say.
   “Then you’ve clearly never been there with me.”
 Flexibility isn’t just something good for the body. It’s good for the soul too.

Inflexibility is one of the things Jesus strongly opposed when he talked about the Pharisees dedicating themselves to the “letter of the law, but not the spirit.”  Too often people have confused worshiping the “One God” with enforcing the “one way” – one way to think, one way to be, one way to know.  Yet the bible describes itself as the “living word” and what do we know about living things? The more flexible they are – the more suited to both surviving and thriving.

Cats:  Our flexible overlords

That is not to say the Bible can “mean anything” – but it does mean that the more we are open to history, learning, listening and growing in biblical understanding the stronger we become in faith and in life. 

Function

 One of the many things I’ve discovered since I started gardening is the simple fact that if you want to get your hands in the dirt – you’ve got to put your knees on the ground. I saw plenty of tools at Home Depot designed to let people stand up while working on the garden, but none of them seemed as efficient or as functional as just getting on ground level and getting things done.

Spiritually bending allows us to be closer – closer to people, closer to the problems, closer to the joy, closer to the work.  That proximity gives us the heart and ability to reach out with God’s love and God’s empowerment and make things happen in the world. Spiritual bending may mean we have to go places unfamiliar to us, or hear things that challenge us. It may mean we have to refresh our minds and hearts in God more frequently to be clear on what God is calling us to do. Almost always – spiritual bending, like physical bending, will develop our muscles and led to a strengthen of our heart and spirit.  My favorite quote on spiritual bending comes from Rabbi Israel Ben Eliezer (of the Talmud):

“If you want to pull a friend out of the mud, don’t hesitate to get a little dirty.”

Focus

One of the first things we teach youth workers or people who work with small children is that the best way to instruct them or have a conversation with them is to sit down in a chair or on your knees to be at their eye level. It is much nicer for them to see the adults who are speaking to them than to be talked at from above.However, the benefit is not just for the child – but for the adult too.

Once you get down to that level – you instantly get a sense of how big the world is and how overwhelming it can be. You realize that to spend most of your time looking up at things, not being able to reach things without help, and experiencing most people as a talking set of calves is to be at mercy to the forces around you.  Spiritually bending the knee has the same benefit. You aren’t just showing submission to God, but you are reminding your spirit how very big the world is, and how very much we need and long for someone who can reach all the counters, and guide us safely through the things that crowd around us.

There are many postures in faith that give us spiritual abundance. When there is turmoil God wants us to stretch out and rest. When there is injustice, God wants us to stand up and fight. Yet in the day to day relationship we have with God, there is always a time to bend.

What are we scared of? Why are we frightened of the dark?

Maybe it’s nothing. Maybe it’s nothing but a spark

Everyone’s longing. Everyone’s longing to be wise.

What if its simple? Easy as opening  your eyes.

               “Breathe” by The Kennedys

  

Spirituality  can be transformed, enhanced and nurtured through readings and writings in sacred texts. However, while we manage to find plenty of spiritual encouragement in everything from TV sitcom theme music to elegant 15th century poetry, we seem to have problems finding it in a text designed for spiritual encouragement. The bible.

Too often the bible is written off as an archaic rule book we really don’t need or it is studied at such a close and scrutinizing range that we miss the larger point of living in the world with a faith based on love.  The problem isn’t just the fact we rarely read anymore – but the lens we look through when we read it.

Armageddon: This time it’s personal!

• “The Bible is so anti-woman.”
• “It’s nothing but a bunch of rules that don’t matter anymore.”
• “The Old Testament God is so angry; I can’t stand to read it. It’s like being trapped in a car with my grandfather who is throwing a raging fit and telling me how messed up I am.”
• “It’s a series of folk and cultural narratives that have nothing to do with my life.”
• “The Bible is just used to shame and keep us from asking real questions.”

• ·         “The Bible lifts up women as examples of courage, faith, hope and life”
• ·         “Living by codes like “do unto others” and “love your neighbor” can make your life better and joyous.”
• ·         “The Old Testament God tries time and time again to make a lasting love with the people of Israel, and every time they fail that relationship God forgives them, brings them back and tries again. The Old Testament is the story of a God who never stops reaching.”
• ·         “The stories of rage, regret, love, sacrifice, ambition, and hope are still played out in our relationships with each other to this day.”
• ·         “The Bible wants us to think, like Thomas did, and shows Jesus revealing answers to the questions and proof to the doubts. The Bible repeatedly encourages us to ask, seek, reach and knock.”

Xena: See how calm the surface of the water is. That was me once. And then….(throws a large rock in)….the water ripples and churns. That’s what I became.
Gabrielle: But if we sit here long enough it will go back to being still again. You’ll go back to being calm.
Xena: But the stone’s still under there. It’s now a part of the lake. It might look as it did before but it’s forever changed.
“Xena: Warrior Princess” – Episode 1.3 Dreamweaver

 
 One of my favorite lessons in middle school science was the Mobius Strip. They are easy to make. Take a strip of paper, give it a twist then tape one end to another creating one strand. The curious thing about the mobius strip is that because of the twist – you can trace the entire surface of the strip in one continuous movement without ever coming to an end or an edge.  It is both changing and unending. It’s good sometimes to remember spirituality follows that form.  Why is it good to remember? Because it is so easy to forget.

The Myth of Lost Faith

I’ve heard it. I’ve said it. You’ve heard it. And maybe, just maybe, you’ve said it too.  “Lost faith.”   I usually encounter the myth of lost faith when talking with a group of people or listening to prayer requests.  However, when you stop and think about it – its something that seems to hang in the air around religious conversations  like a mosquito swarm.

•      “Please pray for my son-in-law. He’s lost his faith.”
•      “I used to be active in youth group but when I grew up I saw church as hypocritical and I just lost my faith in it.”
•      “I don’t want my students reading ideas from the Jesus Seminar.  They could lose their faith.”
•      “I’m going to a pastor’s conference on reclaiming those who are lost to faith.”  
•      “Losing my Religion: How I Lost My Faith Reporting on Religion in American and Found Peace” is a book by former LA Times religion reporter William Lobdell. 

Surrounded by so much rhetoric and repetition it becomes easy to believe lost faith really happens. However there exists numerous forms of evidence to suggest faith really doesn’t get lost at all. It changes, it causes ripples in the calm waters of our being, and it may seem to disappear beneath the surface but the fact remains that once you’ve had a spiritual experience you are forever changed.

Part of the reason for this myth is the tendency of evangelists to promote spiritual change as a “one time only” kind of deal.  When they are talking to someone about Christianity they really play up how gaining a relationship with God through Christ is going to change you.  What they fail to stress is that once you change – you’re gonna change again, and again, and again.  So we see the phenomenon similar to William Lobdell’s situation frequently.  People’s lives are a mess, they embrace Christianity and change, then they get disappointed (in Lobdell’s case he traces his change of heart to years of reporting on the Catholic sexual abuse scandals), or they embrace something else and they change again, claiming to have lost faith.  Only they haven’t lost it. They have changed it and chosen to believe in something more comfortable, or less disappointing or more reflective of where they are in life.

People marvel and feel spiritual awe when they encounter the beauty of a deer drinking from a creek, or look at the sonogram of their new baby getting ready to enter the world.  They may place the credit for this awe on God, science, or nature, or kismet, but the fact remains the spiritual experience is still a part of their being – they haven’t lost it at all. These feelings change them and add to the complex system they understand in life.  What is seen, can’t be unseen. The rock is in the lake and nothing is the same again.

Jesus frequently describes the idea of teaching about faith as “planting seeds” and uses quite a few seed parables to remind us faith life is a process which involves change at every juncture.  When you plant a seed the ground is changed and the seed is changed. As it grows the plant will change. When it is harvested the fruit will change and the harvester will change from having the experience of gathering fruit. The ground isn’t lost, the seed isn’t lost, the fruit isn’t lost.  It’s all just changed.

mmmm….change is good…..

Once we rid our thinking of the myth of lost faith – spirituality regains its place as a connection we all can share.  When we no longer have to hold on to our faith with such a tight grip that we can’t read, hear, see or learn things that challenge us, we open ourselves up to a more adventurous faith and a stronger bond with God.  When we don’t have to label people as “lost” – we find our commonness with them creating the pathway to peace, not the highway of suspicion, superiority or seclusion.

Think of the great things that happen in our hearts and in our world when churches stop scrambling for programs to keep from losing attendance, and start programs designed to bring more of heaven to earth. Imagine the peace that could be found in families when we stop thinking someone who is experiencing spiritual change is “off the path” and start embracing them with love so they can find a steady path to walk upon.  Without fear, we can revel in the times we share spiritual moments with one another, knowing after that interaction or experience we will not be the same again.

There are people who fall into depression. There are people who seem to have given up on life.  There are those days we have when our prayers seem to bounce off the ceiling and we wonder if it wouldn’t just be easier not to believe.  However, that is not a loss of faith. It is a blockage of a faith that is still there.  Even in the most angry heart a shadow remains of the good, the God, and the positive spiritual experiences.  With medical treatment, connection or persistence that shadow can guide us like a sundial back to a place where our faith is waiting.

Spirituality is not being seduced by the calm water and pretending the ripples never happened.  It is also not being caught up in the ripples and thinking the calm water will never return.  Most importantly, spirituality is not pretending that when the calm waters do return that everything is the same as it was before.  Spirituality is the forward moving, continuously changing lake of our soul.  May we refresh it, and be refreshed in it, always.

The wise:
Teach without telling
Allow without commanding
Have without possessing
Care without claiming
The Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu

I have to admit that every time I come across that verse from the Tao Te Ching I normally get distracted by the “teach without telling” part and end up thinking of “wax on/wax off” from The Karate Kid.  However, in a culture as beset by economic issues, consumerism and downright fear as our modern western culture, I have been paying more attention lately to the “have without possessing” part.  How do we “have and not possess” and, what’s so wise about that?

To possess something is to own it fully and have the power to use it at your will. The American Heritage Dictionary tells us the word possession came into Middle English from the word posidere -  posse (to be able) and sidere (to control or inhabit). To possess is to use one of the first words we learn once we realize there are other people in the world besides ourselves: Mine.

Let’s face it. Someone else’s toys are just cooler.

To have something is to be able to access it, to use it at your discretion but to also understand that it is something meant to be used not held or secluded from others.  When we possess something – it is ours to keep. When we have something it is ours to use and to share.  We should be cautious though. Whether it is money, property, credit, glory or fame – the desire to possess is mighty indeed. 

One of the stories in the Jataka involves a turtle who could not stop talking. On and on he talked until everyone he knew became quite bored with him.  He was very unhappy where he resided because few would come by to listen to him talk anymore. One day two geese came by and he started talking to them. He praised their feathers and their abilities and spent most of the day chatting them up. When it came time to leave they said they enjoyed his company but had to depart.
     “Take me with you,” the turtle begged.
     “We can’t,” the geese responded. “We are flying far away and you cannot keep up.”
     The sad turtle looked around, and seeing a stick came up with a brilliant idea.
      “Wait!” He said as the geese were leaving. “You two can hold this stick in your beaks and I will clamp onto it with my strong mouth. You can use that to fly me to the next pond where the people don’t know me and I can make new friends.”
      “It’s too dangerous,” replied the geese. “If you were to let go of the stick you would drop to your death.”
      “My mouth is very strong,” the turtle replied.
      “Yes,” said a goose. “From all your talking. But during the flight you would not be able to talk at all or you would drop.”
       “I can do it,” said the turtle. “I have discipline and since I know talking would mean my death, I know I will not talk.”
        So the two geese decided to give it a try.  Holding the stick between their beaks they took off with the turtle clamped on tight.  Everything was working as planned.  Until….
        A group of children saw the geese and began to clap and cheer for them.
        “Look at those geese!” Exclaimed the child calling to the heavens.
        “That is the smartest thing we have ever seen. Look how cleverly the geese are carrying that turtle!”
        “Way to go, Geese!” One child called.
The turtle was incensed. The children were mistaken and giving credit to the wrong parties! After all it was the turtle who figured everything out.
        Unable to withstand the geese getting all his praise the turtle cried out, “This was MY IDEA!!!”  and in doing so, let go of the stick and fell to his own demise.

Good thing they didn’t have cell phones then…

Instead of having the knowledge that his idea worked, the turtle wanted to possess the idea and have credit for it was well.  Because he could not give or share, he ended up losing it all.

Spirituality is the ability to have without needing to possess. That doesn’t mean it is wrong to own something – a story you wrote, a house or a degree – but when the ownership of a thing becomes more important than the actual use or value of it -  you’re headed for spiritual trouble.  Jesus seems to give the same message through the gospels.

“If someone asks you for your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic too” (Luke 6:29). Jesus isn’t advocating we run around naked  and give away all our clothing, but that we recognize that the value of people is more important than the value of clothing, and we give to those who need. Jesus wants us to have clothes (consider the lilies in the field) but not simply to possess them.

In the big picture, we realize our life is God’s given to us to use, to enjoy, to share in this world. Our life is something we have, not something we own or can always control.  In the day to day – our talents, our gifts and our passions are something we have but we have them in order to develop them, share them and make the world better with them. They are not something we own that needs to be hidden away or kept from others.

The spiritual practice of having something, without possessing it, is the ability to celebrate all that is within our grasp and let go of the stress of simply hoarding up more to own.   Now, if we can just get that wax on/wax off thing down — we’ll all be okay.