Power of the Story

I deal in stories. I am an experience vampire and I will create them myself if need be. I look out at a street and I see dozens of stories walking to and fro; each a living spark of creation; a precious glowing ember. I read stories and see the light of life refracted as through a prism exposing the precious, the authentic, the story. A city is a river of stories teeming from every shop, loft, and hotel room. Every streetlight and cobblestone is a testament to the spark of the Divine. Each story, each circumstance, speaks of the Story. Each joy, each pain sings of blessing and screams for justice; true justice.    I am a gunslinger. I deal in story.

I Am Prejudiced

I’ve been doing a great deal of thinking about prejudice, racism, and its place in our country and the world. Numerous public incidents have rightly brought the issue to the forefront of our cultural conversation. I have come to the belief that we are coming to the wrong conclusion. We have traded the noble quest for justice for one of finding scapegoats. In our discussions on the matter we have rightly sought to root out injustice but our means to do so is by labelling people as “racist” or creating racist monsters. In the age of social media and instant new feeds it has become par for the course to scour a persons’ tweets, public statements, or Facebook posts for instances of prejudice. When we find them, we label that person a “racist” or the crime a “hate crime.” In doing so, we do not accurately address the problem. Instead of addressing the issue we instead create an “other” that allows us to shift the focus off ourselves. A celebrity with a twitter post becomes a “racist”. A police officer who allows his biases to affect his actions becomes a “racist.”

The reality is that we are all prejudiced. All of us. Racism is not something “other people” are. Each of us comes into people and situations with preconceived notions about others whether that is due to race, gender, age, socioeconomic statues, or what have you. When we walk into a convenience store, or a library, or an opera house, we all make judgements about the people we see there. Racism is merely one form of prejudice. The problem is when we let our prejudices outweigh logic and our command to love our neighbor. All crime is hate crime because we are asserting that our needs or beliefs outweigh the rights of others. When we turn our God-given desire for justice into a witch-hunt to find “those racist people” we do not accurately understand the problem. The problem is in us as much as it is in the neo-Nazi, or the abusive cop, or the militaristic regime. Throwing the term “racist” about like a grenade may be the easy way of addressing the issue but it will be ultimately unsuccessful. Until we admit that we are all biased, we can never have a real conversation about how to remedy it. Until we admit that we are all biased, we can never truly fulfill Christ’s command to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. The only cure for prejudices is found in admitting that we have them. I fear that we are becoming a society in which it is not safe to admit this. Just as the addict cannot hope to have victory until he turns the mirror upon himself and sees the truth of his addiction, we cannot hope to address the injustice of systematic prejudice until we see it within ourselves. Only then can we start down the path of allowing logic and real experiences to outweigh the prejudice.

Speaking to the prejudice of his day, Paul wrote: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus, then who are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to the promise”.

It is only when we turn the mirror upon ourselves and our own prejudices can we (as a society) ever hope to understand the unity in Christ that Paul was writing about. Unconfessed sin sickens the heart and is loathsome to the Lord. Let us come together and confess that we are influenced by our prejudices. Only then can light ever shine into the darkness.

Yes, I am prejudiced. Yes, I have let those prejudices lead me to sin. I am sorry. Let’s talk about this.

A Theology of Community

It’s graduation party season. One can hardly drive down a street without seeing lines of cars, colorful balloons, and signs with 2015 stretched across driveways. I was driving to one yesterday in fact (Congratulations Josh and Andrew!) and the first thought that popped into my head was this: ‘It’s such a shame that parents have to go through the rigmarole of having an elaborate party just because it’s a social convention.’ The way I’ve always viewed social gatherings is that they are purely utilitarian. You have a birthday party to honor someone’s birth, give gifts, and have some cake. At a wedding shower you give gifts and play some party games. This kind of thinking has even influenced the way I look at church gatherings. Church events fall into some pretty well-defined categories:

1.           Sunday service – purpose: worshipping God, prayer, being edified by a sermon

2.           Prayer gatherings – purpose: prayer

3.           Outreaches- purpose: attracting and reaching non-believers

4.           Small groups- purpose: discipleship

Books such as Rick Warren’s The Purpose-Driven Church (and the student ministry focused Purpose-Driven Youth Ministry) have helped to shape my beliefs. I don't want to slander those needed and we'll-intentioned books but I think they've reinforced my own personal eccentricities. You see I've always been a bit awkward in social situations. I loathe small talk and honestly have always thought I communicated better I writing (you are the judge). I always wanted to be the quiet, introspective guy who said little but when he spoke, spoke with such profundity that he was always well-regarded. I think though I've just become a guy who doesn't talk.

I've always been a bit socially-averse. That is if you count wanting to "pull a Thoreau" as socially averse. Recently I was checking out these (http://www.relevantmagazine.com/slices/these-eco-friendly-tiny-house-pods-look-amazing) as a real option. All of this has shaped my life thus far. Lately though, I've been pondering the validity of my beliefs.

The Bible is a record of community. The history of the nation of Israel is one of festivals, remembrances, and celebrations (prescribed by God, nonetheless). Social interaction was not only a practical necessity in the context, but also instituted by the Lord. The lines between social life and religious life were blurred. Passover was as much a communal event as it was a religious one. The New Testament continues the trend of social interaction. Jesus engaged his audience at dinners and parties. The first disciples embraced the concept of communal living even further. Not limited by perceived notions of sacred and secular, they ate and prayed; they celebrated and sang; they served and they shared. So how did we end up in a climate where we are so compartmentalized and isolated? How did we end up where the social and the spiritual exist in completely separate worlds? I'm sure there are a lot of deep societal reasons (Western culture, technology, and travel among them) but what I am left contemplating is how to embrace a healthier level of engagement.

In reading Shauna Niequist on the topic (http://www.shaunaniequist.com/) I've been left unsettled by the level of disengagement I see in my own life. To be sure, we want our gatherings to be purposeful when they need to be. We should pray when we need to pray. We need to teach and to learn when the situation arises. We do need to make sure that we don't shy away from the spiritual to ensure that things don't get awkward or complicated. We need to engage. Perhaps, though, the line between purpose and pleasure needs to be bent. Perhaps we need to view community in less utilitarian terms. We need to take down the doors of our homes (probably not literally) and invite people in. It seems like that’s what Jesus did. 

I envy my friends who see this more clearly than I. Those who understand that there is value (to use my logical terms) in being around friends and family live a far healthier existence than I. Those who can see that surrounding oneself with others is not merely the setting but also the plot are getting something out of life that (if I'm honest) I'm not. A chef (or Shauna Niequist) might say that the sauce is as much a part of the meal as the meat. Perhaps, no, not perhaps, certainly, I have lost out on something by approaching life and faith piecemeal, taking the elements without embracing the whole community (even if it is awkward and messy).

Census-taking

Then Satan stood up against Israel and moved David to number Israel. So David said to Joab and to the princes of the people, “Go, number Israel from Beersheba even to Dan, and bring me word that I may know their number.” 1 Chronicles 21:1-2

God was displeased with this thing, so He struck Israel. David said to God, “I have sinned greatly, in that I have done this thing. But now, please take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have done very foolishly.” 1 Chronicles 21:7

On the surface of things, we of course are prompted to ask the question: ‘how bad is a census really?’ It seems to us an arbitrary reason to incur the Lord’s wrath. What was it about David’s push to number the people of Israel that prompted such a response? We see that it is not only is the Lord displeased by David’s decree but even Joab, who is assigned to carry out the task, tries to push back against it.

First, the Chronicler gives us additional information that the 2^nd Samuel recording of this event does not, namely that Satan prompted David’s actions. Not a good sign for success. The instances of Satan directly referenced in the Bible are so comparatively few that we are bound to notice when he is mentioned.

Secondly, the purpose of a census was to determine (and muster) how many fighting men there were to be found. The strength of the nation of Israel was always to be derived not from its armies or chariots but rather from the Lord. Historically, they had always been the underdog, the oppressed, and underprivileged. That is why the Lord’s assistance is so revealing about His character. He chooses those who are not strong to demonstrate His power. Israel’s victories, and indeed, their very existence came only when they trusted in the Lord for their survival. Think of the moments throughout history when this is demonstrated. Gideon’s army is purposefully reduced to show that the victory came from the Lord. Caleb confidently entrusts himself to the Lord’s will despite the odds stacked against him as he ventured forth to take his portion of the Promised Land. Complete reliance upon the Lord was to be the hallmark of the nation of Israel.

To take a census of the eligible warriors in a nation is to consider the likelihood of victory in war. ‘How do we stack up against our enemies?’ This type of economics makes perfect sense in worldly thinking. It was (and is) the prudent method of weighing the risks and rewards of a military engagement. Israel, however, was not to be a worldly nation and its determining factor in victory or defeat was not numbers or arms but rather the good pleasure of the Lord.

This is why David’s decision smacks of arrogance. It flies in the face of the radical dependence that the Lord required of Israel, His chosen nation and covenantal partner. In evaluating strengths and weaknesses, as other nations did, the census essentially said, ‘we only have ourselves, let’s see if victory is expedient,’ rather than asking whether the Lord would provide the victory in spite of the odds.

Observing and understanding David’s sin must not lead us to a pharisaical self-righteousness though. In fact, it is the very fact that I can empathize with David’s fleshly calculations, which brought this verse to my attention in the first place. I tend to be an over-thinker (that might be an understatement, let me think about it) who often finds himself crippled by the possibilities of success and failure. I think that we all have tendencies toward self-reliance in this regard. We see with our eyes the temporal and earthly facts. It is much harder to focus instead upon the Lord who controls unseen the world. I can think of a half dozen areas in which I try and analyze myself to victory rather than trusting instead the Lord.

-          Money – how often does my prudent approach to money deprive the Lord the chance to provide for me?

-          Conversation – how often does fear and ‘rational’ thinking rob me of situations to tell others of the glory of God?

-          Spontaneity – Oh, how few are the times that I promptly answer the call that the Lord has placed upon me. Instead I analyze and rationalize away that which the Lord desires for me.

-          Prayer – How rarely I pray when I should. Instead I put my requests on a ‘prayer list’ for some future time of concentration that never comes.

How different are we from David really? He wavered and trusted in his own reasoning and in the forces available to him. We seem to trust in anything but the Lord far more often than we would dare to admit. How different are we from Ananias and Sapphira who in their human reasoning saved some of the sale of a house for themselves? May we make choices in a way to be rewarded by the Lord rather than punished as David (and Israel) was or with the finality of that young couple in Acts.

Logic and wisdom in such calculations may be all the world has to depend upon, but we who follow Christ and who abide in His Spirit are not confined by rationality. Our God is bigger. Our God is stronger. Our God is not limited by that which is visible. That is the God that we must embrace.

Our aim is complete surrender; complete and absolute dependence. Our aim is to be so deeply embedded with the Holy Spirit that we see the power and trustworthiness of the Lord rather than the twisted prudence and logic of this world. To be sure, we use the wisdom and intellect He has given us, but never should we let mathematics trump the call of the Lord.

Our aim is simple:

The Lord calls,

We promptly answer.

Blue Jays, or, What We Must Never Mistake

It started as a Wikipedia search (doesn’t it always?) after I had bought some new birdseed and refilled my feeders. I was doing a little research on goldfinches which led to looking up interesting facts about several common backyard birds. I looked at the House Finch, the Starling, and the Blue Jay. It occurred to me that I hadn’t seen any Blue Jays in my yard in a while. They seem to come out of the woodwork the second I put a peanut outside but since I hadn’t put any out in a while, they too, were noticeably absent. In addition, my neighborhood lacks the tall oak trees that the birds adore.

Later in the day I was trying to decide where to go for a walk. I try to find time to unwind every weekend (so that I don’t go crazy, as my wife will tell you). I finally settled on Lower Huron Metropark, which is a ten minute drive from my house. As I walked along the bike path there I realized that I had subconsciously chosen this park in part because of the oak trees with form a canopy over a portion of the trail. I was struck at how remarkable (and scary) the human brain is. I gave no conscious thought to seeking out oak trees and the Blue Jays that inhabit them, but something in my mind pushed me towards that environment. Something within me wanted to experience the thing I had been thinking about earlier.

Knowing God is a similar experience. Despite our assertions to the contrary and the other things that draw us, we desire to know and experience the Lord. We want to know God not just know about God.

I don’t know about you, but every once in a while I will find myself with vague notions of pious intent. I want to surround myself with godly things, hang out with my Christian friends, and do good, righteous, Christian things. I want to change my behaviors to be more ‘Christian’. But the truth is, just like every other idol we seek in this life, these pious intentions will not sustain me. Only the true experience will do. Just like reading about Blue Jays still left me with the desire to see them. Much of our Christian life is built around the trappings of experience. If we’re honest though, the experience of knowing the Lord comes far too rarely. We know volumes about God but have little in the way of practical knowledge of Him.

J.I. Packer puts it this way: “A little knowledge of God is worth more than a great deal of knowledge about Him.”

We are always longing. We long for objects. We long for people. We long for emotional experiences. All of these things, however, are substitutes for what we truly desire: a vivid, personal relationship with the Lord.

Even our “spiritual” inclinations can, by themselves, be poor substitutes for the real thing. At the end of the day we don’t want to be longing for a great Bible study, but rather a transformative, intimate moment with the Lord. All the trappings of the Christian faith, necessary as they may be, are tools and practices to take us to where we desperately need to go --- into the arms of our Lord. We get into trouble, however, when we mistake the journey for the destination. When we substitute anything, ‘Christian’ or otherwise for intimacy with God, we have gone the easy way and set up our own idol and altar.

Packer again writes: “We must seek, in studying God, to be led by God. It was for this purpose that the revelation was given, and it is to this use that we must put it.”

It is only in moments of great clarity and humility do we see that what we’re really longing for is the only fulfilling thing: our Creator and Lord. We must turn our knowledge about God into knowledge of God. We must seek humbly to search out the Lord through His word, through fellowship, through prayer but never losing focus of our aim: the only One thing; the only satisfying Thing --- God our Father and Christ Jesus His Son.

Wins and Losses

For over a hundred years a baseball pitcher’s effectiveness has been determined (largely) by one overarching statistic: wins. It seems logical enough. At the end of the day, what matters more than whether a team was victorious or not? And who affects that more than the starting pitcher? Salaries, bonuses, and accolades are awarded based on the number(s) in the Win column. In fact, the highest award a pitcher can achieve is named after Cy Young, who is most remembered for accumulating 511 wins over the course of his career, the most in league history.

However, recent observers of the game have suggested that this stat is not a true measure of a pitcher’s worth. What about the starting pitcher who allows no runs but is replaced by relief pitchers who blow their team’s lead and thus deny the starter with a win? Many say that once the ball is put in play, the outcome is out of the pitcher’s hands and thus he should not be punished for being on a team of less than excellent defenders. These fans and statisticians have created new metrics such as WhiP (walks + hits / innings pitched), FiP (fielding independent pitching), and WAR (wins above a hypothetical league average player). The key theme in all these is that perhaps the outcome of the game (of which a pitcher’s performance is merely one factor) is not a proper metric for measuring a pitcher’s success. Perhaps winning, after all, isn’t everything.

Many of us (and when I write ‘us’, I mean ‘me’) have a tendency to view life in a similar regard. What is more quantifiable than results? At the end of the day, are we not judged by what we have accomplished? Modern logic would confirm this.

Perhaps though, there is more to life than cut and dry results. Perhaps unintended outcomes pulse with just as much opportunity and potential as desired ones.

My father and I set out to hike the Manistee River Trail this weekend. We’ve had it planned for a couple of months. I bought the maps and planned the hike. We calculated our days and divided our snacks. When the day arrived, we drove the four hours north to Mesick, Michigan. The hiking was warm and humid and we were glad to finally set our packs down in a gorgeous meadow beside the Manistee River to watch the swallows dart joyously in the air above our heads. At about 8:30 that evening we were forced to retreat into our tent by the arrival of a rain shower.

 At 8:30am, it was still raining. At 9:00am it was still raining. While we took down our tent it was still raining. When I put on my raincoat it was still raining. I noticed that the rapidly falling water seemed to seep right through what I thought was a waterproof coat, soaking my skin. We had a brief conference about the now-waterlogged coat. The temperature was to drop into the mid-thirties that night. We made the decision to not risk a 30 degree night in wet clothes (and hypothermia) and instead return the four miles we had hiked and drive home.

My first thought as I led the way back over the slippery roots and muddy soil was this: ‘What a failure.’

Hiking has a funny way of eroding and shaping your thoughts over the long haul of a day’s walking.

My mind turned back to baseball (as it often does) and upon wins and losses. We attribute wins and losses in life based upon our expectations of what a desirable outcome would be. To be sure, there are times when we all need the motivation and accountability that this type of thinking brings but it also smacks of hubris and defeatism. Where we might not accomplish a particular goal or outcome, we may at the same time, achieve another desirable result. When our desire for success robs us of noticing other positive outcomes, it becomes a hindrance that we must either shed or use as fuel. We must never drag it behind us like an anchor.

Beyond that, our goals are driven by a severe ignorance of the larger picture. In light of an omniscient God, who lays the plans of this world (and our lives) out before Him in His hand, our personal goals must be held lightly and with the greatest humility. We don’t really know what we need. We only know our personal preferences and desires. We must always be quick to defer to the One who holds our life and knows our needs. These are not excuses for inaction but rather assurances that His plan for those who love Him is far beyond our meager imaginations.

At the end of the day, I spent a day and a half hiking with my father, a fact to which few can joyfully claim. We sat beside a marvelous river in the amber rays of sunset. We marveled at the beauty of a created world; the grasses, the rocks, the hills. We heard the symphony of falling water amid the boughs of silent pines. We spent hours together of a life on this earth that is far too brief to be taken lightly.

We may not have gotten the win, but perhaps we gained something greater.

All I Am To Do

This morning I was afforded the opportunity to stand beside my friends Josh, Andrew, Krystal, Alyssa, and James as our church recognized their graduations from high school. In addition, my friends Tyler and Nate were recognized for graduating college. Over the years I’ve spent a lot of time with each of these people and it meant a lot to be able to watch them be recognized in this way. Being up there with my friends informed me to two things:

1)      It made me feel very old

2)      It made me understand what it means to serve the Lord

This should have been obvious to me but I could see it today with clarity. You see I’ve spent many years working with students and have considered it a service to the Lord and perhaps it was, but what I saw today showed me that serving the Lord really is as simple as three elements.

1)      Be willing – this is where we begin, where we live, and where we die. Willingness really means submitting to the will of the Lord as we understand it. More often than not, this submission comes tentatively and begrudgingly like leading a contentious mule. We approach service with only the barest notion of what it entails or what is required. At its core, willingness requires humility that the Lord, omniscient and omnipotent, knows the path. In faith we step into service, whatever it may be, in ignorance.

2)      Observe what the Lord does – our meager act of submission is the seed which the Lord, through His Holy Spirit chooses to use (despite our ignobility and doubts) to fulfill His plans. We submit. He works. Abraham believed and the Lord gave him a son. Moses yielded to the Lord and the Lord brought His people out of Israel. Jonah relented in his disobedience and the Lord saved Nineveh. Our contributions (as we see them) of knowledge, skill, or even passion are of little account in the Lord’s work. In my years of service to the Lord (such as it is) I have come to the conclusion that I am less of an active combatant and more of an observer. I have been given the opportunity to see the Lord move in the lives of my friends who stood with me today and many others.

3)      Praise Him for what He has done – we are not only observers to the Lord’s work, we are also His correspondents. “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth,” Jesus declared. Since our only contribution to the Lord’s work is our willing submission, we have no claim to its success or failure. Our role then is to praise the Lord for what He has done.

My life is nothing more than these. There is nothing about me or anything that I’ve done to justify standing beside my friends and celebrating the Lord’s work in their lives. They are testaments to the Lord’s love and power. All I am on this earth to do is submit myself to the Lord, to watch Him do amazing things, and my obligation becomes to thank Him for the wondrous things He does.

Thank you indeed.