I Waited...

On Sunday I preached a message from Psalm 130, as a part of NECC's "God At The Movies" series. I had been personally moved by the passage recently and really felt on mission for that message at that time and place for that people. I titled the message "The Call, The Wait, The Promise" and I would normally hyperlink to the message where it is posted but I was losing my voice Sunday AM. Since it was painful for me to listen to on Monday, I won't subject any of you to it.

My premise was this..."What does salvation look like?" Now I didn't have in mind, "getting saved" particularly or what we mean when we say "giving my heart" or "accepting Jesus." But more specifically what does it look like to be rescued, when we're in over our heads like the Psalmist in 130 seemed to be. So using the first four verses I talked first about the importance of "The Cry."

It seems as if salvation in scripture (and in my life come to think of it) always starts with the cry. More than that, on Sunday I said that "it is essential to what it means to be human that we cry out." I was reminded of this yesterday as I visited a brand new baby born to friends of ours, and as they were showing her off, she gave out a yell, to which her grandmother say proudly, "see there, she's doing well, listen to those lungs."

It also seemed important to me from the passage that our right to cry out is not based on how good we have been. In the passage right after the author cries out, there is this piece of confession coupled with confidence, "If you Lord, kept a record of sing, Lord who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you." Psalm 130:4-5

So I was reminded that I don't have to lie in the messy bed that I made, and I don't have to reap everything I have sown, and that I can still cry out. More importantly, we see throughout the Scriptures that God hears the cry of the oppressed and brings salvation.

But it was in the second section...in "The Wait" that I hit a sore point. Most of us are pretty good about crying out, but in the wait...not so much. I say a sore point because afterward in the lobby and this week since, I have heard several times, "I don't like to wait" and "I'm tired of waiting." I can identify. Now it's easy to see why, especially right now, in our advanced age, we don't like to wait...because we don't ever have to. Recently I was at the beach and upset because I didn't have a fast enough internet connection. I was connected to the internet sitting on the beach but I didn't like having to wait an extra 11 seconds for the email I wanted to read to download.

But waiting hurts so much. Because of the not knowing and the not having. In verses 5 and 6 of this passage, we see that after the cry comes the wait, and in both the Old and New Testaments our existence in relation to God is often described as one of waiting. You can see a patient waiting in the Apostle Paul in Romans 8 but here in the Psalmist the wait is an anxious wait. The condition of our relationship to God is first of all one of not having, not seeing, not knowing and not grasping. I think we often forget that, and when we act as if that's not the case (as much of Christendom today does) we have then replaced God with our own creation of an image of God. A God that we don't have to wait on then is a God that we can possess. If we didn't have to wait for God, then God would not be free and by definition God is infinitely free.

But even though waiting is not having, not possessing it is also having. The fact that we are waiting for something in some way shows that we already have it. Waiting anticipates that which is not yet real, but will be real. This is the truth that Romans 8:25 makes clear when the apostle writes, "But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it." I was absolutely leveled by the repetitive simile (it's not a simile in the TNIV but I still prefer to think of that way) that the wait section of Psalm 130 concludes with. We wait, "More than watchmen wait for the morning...More than watchmen wait for the morning." Psalm 130:6.

So how do watchmen wait for the morning? They wait with eagerness, anticipation and joy. The morning is when the midnight shift has ended, when they get to rest, when the city has been delivered safe through one more evening. Secondly, they wait with confidence, because they know this one thing: Although the night might be dark, the morning is coming. The morning always comes. The sun is coming. The wait will be over soon.

The passage ends with "The Promise." I love that although there is anxiety, the Psalmist ends with these two key God-directed promises. "...with the Lord is unfailing love" and "with him is full redemption." Psalm 130:7

But that's another sermon. :)

When A Colleague Falls

I started hearing the news via Twitter Sunday afternoon. A well-known pastor of a large church had resigned via letter to his church on Sunday morning. The reason he was stepping aside was because "... 6 weeks ago, I entered into an emotional and physical affair with my personal assistant..." As I always am when this happens (and it happens) I was overcome with emotion.

I wanted to call his wife and children and ask her how I could serve them. I did send an email and still may call, but I wanted her to know that she was not alone. Because believe me, she feels alone right now. I would try to find a way to protect her from all of the well-meant "counsel" she would receive...from those who would use this time to carry out various agendas and prove various points. I would tell her that the sacrifice she made in her life to live a life committed to the work of God is not in vain, and that God cares for HER and loves HER. I would let her cry on me as long as she needed to. I tried to live in her shoes for just a few minutes, and the pain was overwhelming.

I wanted to drive down and find this man and hug him. Sure he deserves a smack and I'm sure he even deserves the consequences that God has for him. But rest assured there will be plenty others to take care of the discipline. I would just want to be there for him...in his present disaster of a life and standing by him as he progresses into a difficult future. I would tell him that he doesn't need to make excuses to me, that all I want to do is love him like God loves him. I would try to find a way to spare him all the self-righteous babble he would be hearing from "well-meaning" people and encourage him to instead concentrate on himself, his family and his God. I would encourage him to not retreat completely as he mourns but instead continue to reach out to those he KNOWS are his friends.

I wanted to stand in front of the church he pastored and tell them to pray for this man and his family...to love them through this situation. I would let them know that according to scripture the church is built on a rock and is literally an unstoppable force, that even though this hurts, God would use even this to make that local congregation stronger.

I was reminded of myself and reminded that it could be me...not because I am involved in any illicit relationship, but because I could be. Not because I deceived my wife and church, but because I could do so. Not because I sinned before God, but because I could.

...and because I do.

I am praying for you pastor...and your family...and your church.

The Blog I've Been Waiting On...

...all my life.

Some of you are much hipper than me I know...so you probably already knew about this.

But stufffchristianslike.blogspot.com is just about some of the funniest stuff I have ever read.

So

1. If you are or have been a Christian
2. If you think that sometimes Christians are some of the wackiest people on the planet
3. If you have a sense of humor

You must...MUST (run, don't walk) check this site out.

Some of my favorite posts:

# 543- Throwing out disclaimers before recommending something secular

#530- Buying a New Bible (The 9 Easy Questions You Need To Ask Yourself)

#69- Saving Seats At Church

#545- Pastors Tell You How Hott Their Wives Are


Check it out, prepare to laugh (if you meet the above three criteria) and let me know what you think.

Why Then Matters- Part Three

I have been examining the following question and a residual question that are consuming much of my thought lately.

1. What comes next for humans? I mean once we die, what happens then.
2. What difference does the answer to that question make for now? What about this world?

Now that I've started reading and studying it seems like many of my everyday conversations illustrate the need for this discussion. Yesterday a friend was in the office and his particular question was in regard to hell. He was particularly bothered by the frightening thought (for him) that Gandhi might be in hell while George W. Bush might be in heaven. So next matters in many different ways.

If you haven't checked out the first post or second post in this series as introduction you might want to in order to have some context. I am using Bishop N.T. Wright's book Surprised By Hope as an introductory guide to my thinking on this topic and continue by looking at the remainder of chapter one. (I wrote about the first part of chapter one here.)

Bishop Wright continues to make the point that how we think about life after death (or "life after life after death" in his words), makes all the difference in how we live now. Although there is a lot of confusion inside the church as well (the topic of chapter two), in the wider world, outside the church there is the confused thought that has emerged that all religions are basically the same on the topic. Wright is quick to point out that this not the case as he writes, "there is a world of difference between the Muslim who believes that a Palestinian boy killed by Israeli soldiers goes straight to heaven and the Hindu for who the rigourous outworking of karma means that one must return in a different body to pursue the next stage of one's destiny." This seems to be right...Orthodox Jews believe that all the righteous will be raised to bodily life in "the resurrection" and Buddhists greatest hope is that they may lose their identity completely like a drop in the ocean in the great nameless and formless Beyond. So instead of us all basically feeling the same way about how things end up, really we have very divergent and non-compatible hopes for our afterlives.

Some of us like to avoid the topic as much as possible. Kind of more comfortable with pretending it will never happen to us, we try not to talk about death and the eternity that may or may not be attached to it, in hopes that it will just go away. Belief in hell came under attack in the 19th century by theologians who were very helpfully questioning everything and then it suffered its death as a result of the immense amount of death experienced as a result of the first World War. In Wright's words "there was so much hell on earth (as a result of WW1) that people couldn't believe that God would create such a place in the hereafter as well." As a result whole generations were raised with the modus operandi being "don't talk about it." Many parents didn't let their children attend funerals and there was a culture of silence about death and what comes next.

But there has been a shift...this silence has not been pervasive in my generation, instead there's lots of talk of it in today's films and death is once again in the air. We are talking about death again and Wright ends chapter one by listing the main beliefs that have emerged today...none of which "correspond to Christian orthodoxy" (which we may start to get to in one of the next few posts). These views are alternatives Wright adds, because the mood seems to be that more traditional views on judgement, hell, heaven and resurrection are "offensive to modern sensibilities."

1. Some believe in complete annihilation. This was the view of one of my formerly-Christian turned somewhat radically atheist professors at school. He took great comfort in knowing that after this...there is nothing. We die and cease to be. Wright points out that this is especially "clean and tidy" (I would add especially for some personality types) but an "...unsatisfying account of human destiny."

2. For those who can't deny any future life whatsoever, reincarnation becomes a nice option. I am always amazed at how completely saturated the religion sections of almost any bookstores are on this topic. This belief if not limited to practicing Hindus but all those who participate in it are practicing some kind of Hinduism. The ideal here is to learn (through the cycle of birth and death, followed by more birth and death) to achieve focused thought to replace the distracted mind or soul...that's how one escapes the wheel that never stops turning of birth followed by death. Wright points out that this continuing trend has become a growth industry for psychoanalysts who no longer have to confine their "what did your parents do to you" questions to this life alone.

3. Then there is the sort of nature/Buddhism view. At death one is absorbed into the wider-world, into the wind and trees. This person would instruct those standing at their graveside not to cry because all they have to do to see them again is to look to the trees and the wind and the snow and rain. I often hear Christians speaking in ways like this by the way, so it will be helpful fairly soon to get to the traditional Christian view.

So we are confused...we say things like "don't worry about your body...it's gonna' just burn up anyway" and we leave little items in our loved ones coffins so that they will have them "later" and as far as I can tell (which is why I began this journey) most people don't know what Orthodox Christian belief is. Most people recognize that Christian's at least don't believe in complete annihilation, instead preferring some sort of life after death, but what does that look like. So that's where I'm headed (guided by the good doctor), in particular (you'll remember from the first two posts) with an emphasis on resurrection and what that word actually means to and for us. Now that there has been a very basic examination of confusion outside of the church, part four will look at how we are many times equally puzzled inside the church.

Reflections on Judging from Good Mother jacintamullins.blogspot.com:

Note from Kevin:

Today is "blog-swap" day for me and a lady I met a few years back (really she's my wife) who is the only person (other than like Pope Benedict) that I would consider swapping blogs with. I really enjoyed her reflections on judging...(a big topic for us the last week or so.) So check out her blog @ jacintamullins.blogspot.com, don't get used to this level of writing in this space and enjoy!

I like labels and organization. I make a label and it says “Credit Card Receipts” and then I know exactly where to find what I need. Bills go in the bills folder, medical records in the medical records folder…..you get the picture. Having things labeled and tagged makes me comfortable. I like order and making sense of the chaos gives me peace. I realize that I often do the same thing to people; labeling them and then putting them in the appropriate category. And let me tell you- once people get in my filing system they are very rarely removed. They are doomed to remain labeled forever. For me judging is comfortable- a place for everything and everything in its place. It is hard for me to realize that I am not the One who places people where they need to be………. and so often I am convinced that I am.

Here are some of my labels. There is the annoying lady, the liar, the lady who doesn’t flush (gross, I know and sadly true) the cell phone talking driver, Mr. Speedy Pants, and my list goes on and on. Some labels aren’t negative. You will be happy to know that I also put people into the dear friends and beloved family category so their labels are much more positive, but I won’t bore you with those. (FYI- Mr. Speedy Pants is in the positive and negative categories and he owns this blog)

I realize that I often judge people and make assumptions based on one small glimpse into their lives never taking the time to see who they really are. I find myself using language like “You never,” and You always do this or that,” even when never and always don’t apply. My hope is that as I progress in my walk with Christ that I would truly see people as He does and look for the value in the person not just the things that annoy me or how they do things differently than I do. So I am striving for patience and Christ love towards others. Laters.

Don't Be a Judga'

Sunday morning I had a great time giving a message from Matthew 7:1-6 at NECC. This is the section from the Sermon on the Mount that Christ speaks this famous phrase "Do not judge, or you too will be judged." I won't recap the sermon (you can listen here if you'd like to hear it) but I did tell the group there that I would blog today on judging and its connection with anger, contempt and shame. All 12 of my readers are clamoring I'm sure so here's the fulfillment of my Sunday AM promise.

Some brief context for those that weren't there (and won't take the time to listen to the sermon...I know who you are):

1. I defined judgement (the way that Jesus is using the word here in Matthew 7) as "the deeply rooted human practice of condemning and blaming." On reflecting today I realized I should have given Dallas Willard almost complete credit for this definition. I have read and internalized him so much over the years that the phrase just flowed out of me like it was my own...it is not. Much of my theology here has been shaped over the years by his thoughts on the subject.

Judging is the practice of condemning and blaming.

2. It hurts so much because at it's core with judgement we are communicating to the person we are judging that they are in some deep and possibly irredeemable way "bad." Why does it hit us so deeply to be judged? Because at judgements center we are being told "You are not acceptable..You have not measured up...You are bad."

It doesn't take much reflection at all to realize how powerful these kinds of words are. They cut to the core of our being. So the decision to turn away from this kind of judgement, this kind of blaming is a major turning point in one's life. I mean the decision to both stop condemning and to stop "receiving" condemnation that's directed our way.

One major step in that direction is to give up anger and contempt. These two things (anger and contempt) is why I encouraged the listeners Sunday AM to read Matthew 5, 6 and 7 in their entirety, so they could get some context. Those that took me seriously would see that Jesus talks a lot about condemnation as it relates to self-righteousness and distancing ourselves from the ones we are condemning. Self-righteousness always involves some level of comparison.

In Luke 18:9 Jesus spoke of "some who relied on themselves for their right standing with God AND were despising others." He didn't choose that combination accidentally. When we hold people in contempt we are much more likely to condemn them More hopefully however for living the full life, when we STOP viewing someone with contempt we will very rarely condemn them.

This leads right to Anger...the relationship between anger and condemnation is a little more difficult...but this much is clear (think about your relationships as you read this), when we are angry with someone it almost always leads to condemnation. Mostly because blaming/judging is the easiest way to hurt the person we are angry with the most deeply. That's what anger always wants to do by the way....hurt. And then of course the one that receives the hurt responds with anger and they hurt in return...and the cycle of redemptive violence is prolonged.

And what about the connection to shame? It seems like judging/blaming/condemnation often grows into shame. I find that shame is most often seen in people who take righteousness and and "being good" seriously. This is the level where condemnation hits the deepest, because shame is self-condemnation..where we are condemned for being the person we are. We want to be someone else and since we can't, we are trapped and live hopeless lives.

Instead of this cycle of despair I suggested Sunday a Full Life Progression:

1. We become the kind of people who stop blaming and condemning
2. The Full Life becomes more freely available to us.
3. Then we are are able to bless and guide those around us into following the way of Jesus.

Growing, waving and torture

There are three things on my mind today..they are completely unrelated, which is kind of how my mind words, thanks for your understanding:

1. I am beginning to think that being a pastor is actually going to be good for my relationship with Christ. The last couple of days as I have been studying about judgement or more accurately the Christ command not to judge (examining Matthew 7:1-6 this weekend) I realized that all of this reflection on God's Word is really sinking into me...deep. I've begun to think before I speak..."is this statement going to bring value and communicate the love of Christ to this person or is what I'm going to say designed more to make me look good or build me up at this person's expense."

So I thank God that I have the privilege to spend "work time" studying the Scriptures. I know it's something many others would benefit from and the only thing I can say is this...based on my experience right here, right now....time spent studying God's Word will bring benefit to you and show you the fullest life possible.

2. I hate it when people cut me off when driving and then wave like I let them in. It happened earlier today and what I most want to do is just give them a little bump and say "take back that wave because I don't want it." I'm sure that some people are just so clueless on the road that they actually think that 3.5 inches of space was the other person's attempt to let them in, but more often than not, "the wave" just seems like salt on the wound...them saying "not only am I going to almost make you wreck but I'm gonna' acknowledge what I did with this wave right here."

3. I can't think of any way to spin this headline that would result in making Christianity and the church look good. I read this headline earlier this week from a story that recounted the results of a survey on torture..."Christians more likely to support torture than non-Christians." Read the story and survey for yourself here. Now I know all the right answers, and all of the talking points but anyway you slice it these are the two major findings of the survey.

A. The more white and evangelical these respondants were, the more likely they were to say that torture is "sometimes" acceptable. (44% for white-evangelicals to 25% for those who are religiously unaffiliated.)

B. The more these survey respondants attended church, the more likely they were to say that torture is "sometimes" acceptable. (38% for those who attend at least weekly to 30% for those who attend seldom or never.)

My point here is not to debate whether or not torture is "sometimes" acceptable or to make any ethical or moral stance..it is merely to wonder at these results and to not be surprised that many non-Christians have a bad taste in their mouths when it comes to this faith that I hold so dear.