People who look through keyholes are apt to get the idea that most things are keyhole shaped. ~Author Unknown
Ever find yourself thinking about how something is, and realize that you're upset or frustrated with someone else for not really getting it? It doesn't really matter in what area - It could be in a relationship, a job, a political discussion, a church...We see things a certain way, and it's sometimes pretty bizarre to us when others don't necessarily see it that way. A few years ago, I was working in a church on the west coast, and I was having a conversation with someone about how much it seemed like God was moving in the church at that time. He looked at me kind of quizzically, and said the following: "I feel like you're trying to convince me that God is moving, because I just don't see it." After talking for a while longer, something became apparent. He and his circle of friends were seeing a pretty high degree of difficulty in life at that particular time, and to Him, God seemed kind of absent. And his conclusion was that God must be kind of absent from other people's lives as well. We've all been guilty of this at some point - however close we feel to God at a certain time, we can project the same thing onto others, and think that that's how it must be for other people as well. This can lead to being cynical when someone else feels particularly close to God, or feels like whatever God is doing is really worth celebrating, because we can feel they must not be looking at things realistically, or logically. In our "me-centered" approach to life, looking at things "logically" means seeing them the same way we are at that moment.
This is a particularly difficult thing in the church, which is (or should be) completely centered around God and His movement. It can get pretty tough when it seems like our perspectives on God's movement don't really line up. The beautiful thing is, though, that that's precisely one of the reasons God created us for community. When I feel distant from God, and you testify that God is doing awesome things in your life, I can have my hope jumpstarted. When I feel particularly encouraged, and you feel down, I can help you understand that God is closer than you think. The trick is to understand that part of community is lending each other perspective...We can, and should, be people who don't let opportunities go by to let each other know what God's doing in our lives. You never know how powerfully God will use that in someone else. And it heads cynicism off at the pass, as well. It's harder to be cynical when we get confronted by the goodness of God everyday...I'm so grateful for each of you, in my immediate church community and those who are a part of my life from afar - Through you, I get to see God do things in ways I might never have understood if I'm judging Him based solely on how I feel at the moment! Through each of you, I see Him in new and amazing ways every day! These past few months have been a phenomenal lesson for me on perspective, and I don't think I'll ever be the same! Peace...
Friday, May 28, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
What the heck does God want, anyway?
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the decision-making process, in a blog entry called "Making Decisions, Or Not..." This led to some really great (and ongoing) conversations with some of you about the decision-making process, something I've gotten more and more fascinated with. This process was really sparked several years ago after reading a book called "Decision Making and the Will of God", by Garry Friesen. The book provided a great jumping-off point for thinking through some things I had really been struggling with for a while - namely, how much does God want to be involved in the "minor" details of our lives? I mean, it's a given that God wants us to pray, and to ask Him for guidance. And most of us, if we identify ourselves as followers of Jesus, do that, at least in the major decisions. Should I marry this girl or guy, or not? Should I move a thousand miles away and change careers? Should we buy this house? Should we have kids? Should Tom Cruise be technically classified as a "midget"? You know, the important stuff...
But chances are that most of us aren't dealing with life-changing decisions on a daily basis. Most of us get up in the morning, accomplish what we need to, or least try to, and then go to bed, and start the same process again the next day. And hopefully somewhere in there we share a laugh or two, match our outfits well enough to not invite public ridicule, stay on the right side of the law, and avoid food-poisoning (trust me on this last one - if there's food-poisoning to be had, I'll find it. It's just one of the many services I provide :) In other words, there's a degree of sameness that characterizes many of our days. We've got to do many of the same things, day after day. The question is, how pleasing are we being to God in those things? Is God involved in those seemingly mundane, insignificant things? Does He even want to be?
A few days ago I was reminded of this quote from Anne Lamott: "You can tell you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do." I think the same goes for a lot of things in our lives. You can tell you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God magically wants you to be making all the decisions that you're comfortable making. Interesting, isn't it, that when we look at it honestly (and we sometimes need a little objective outside help in looking at it honestly), that God's will tends to look an awful lot like what we want. Everything becomes a sign from God that supports our actions and thought process if that's what we've decided we want to do. Now certainly, God's will is not automatically opposed to our own. One of the ideas the Garry Friesen book discusses is the notion that walking in God's wisdom, really knowing Him and striving to follow Him, means that my desires begin to line up more and more with God's will. I believe that's true, and I believe it's an idea well-worth teaching in the Christian community today. Most, if not all of us, though, have found ourselves making daily decisions about things based almost solely on what the comfortable thing is, or what our natural inclination is. I probably don't need to tell you that the comfortable or natural isn't always a good indicator of what's pleasing to God. Think through the last few decisions you've made, big, small, and medium sized. Huge, and seemingly not that important. Is God's reputation important to you in making those decisions? Is your integrity important? Have you, as Philippians 2 describes, treated others as more important than yourself? Or do you find that most of them are simply what made you comfortable at the time? Do you find yourself justifying the decisions with God language, because you know people won't argue with you if you say God was present in the decision?
If you see yourself in any of that, welcome to humanity! We've all done it, we've all watched people do it, and we'll all do it again. The exciting part is that God knows that we're prone to this kind of "me-first" based decision making, and He's all about helping us make a shift to a "God-based" process. It doesn't happen overnight, and it's not the easiest thing ever; after all, it does involve fighting your own natural tendencies, which are pretty stubborn. But the Bible is full of amazing verses and passages about how our lives really can reflect who God is...We really can learn to do and be all about the will of God in the big and small of our daily lives - in other words, God can change our natural inclinations to reflect His desires for us. That, by itself, is God's will for us! Let's take this journey together, sharpening each other, and holding each other to this...Anything less is just, well, less than God intends for us...Peace to you all!
But chances are that most of us aren't dealing with life-changing decisions on a daily basis. Most of us get up in the morning, accomplish what we need to, or least try to, and then go to bed, and start the same process again the next day. And hopefully somewhere in there we share a laugh or two, match our outfits well enough to not invite public ridicule, stay on the right side of the law, and avoid food-poisoning (trust me on this last one - if there's food-poisoning to be had, I'll find it. It's just one of the many services I provide :) In other words, there's a degree of sameness that characterizes many of our days. We've got to do many of the same things, day after day. The question is, how pleasing are we being to God in those things? Is God involved in those seemingly mundane, insignificant things? Does He even want to be?
A few days ago I was reminded of this quote from Anne Lamott: "You can tell you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do." I think the same goes for a lot of things in our lives. You can tell you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God magically wants you to be making all the decisions that you're comfortable making. Interesting, isn't it, that when we look at it honestly (and we sometimes need a little objective outside help in looking at it honestly), that God's will tends to look an awful lot like what we want. Everything becomes a sign from God that supports our actions and thought process if that's what we've decided we want to do. Now certainly, God's will is not automatically opposed to our own. One of the ideas the Garry Friesen book discusses is the notion that walking in God's wisdom, really knowing Him and striving to follow Him, means that my desires begin to line up more and more with God's will. I believe that's true, and I believe it's an idea well-worth teaching in the Christian community today. Most, if not all of us, though, have found ourselves making daily decisions about things based almost solely on what the comfortable thing is, or what our natural inclination is. I probably don't need to tell you that the comfortable or natural isn't always a good indicator of what's pleasing to God. Think through the last few decisions you've made, big, small, and medium sized. Huge, and seemingly not that important. Is God's reputation important to you in making those decisions? Is your integrity important? Have you, as Philippians 2 describes, treated others as more important than yourself? Or do you find that most of them are simply what made you comfortable at the time? Do you find yourself justifying the decisions with God language, because you know people won't argue with you if you say God was present in the decision?
If you see yourself in any of that, welcome to humanity! We've all done it, we've all watched people do it, and we'll all do it again. The exciting part is that God knows that we're prone to this kind of "me-first" based decision making, and He's all about helping us make a shift to a "God-based" process. It doesn't happen overnight, and it's not the easiest thing ever; after all, it does involve fighting your own natural tendencies, which are pretty stubborn. But the Bible is full of amazing verses and passages about how our lives really can reflect who God is...We really can learn to do and be all about the will of God in the big and small of our daily lives - in other words, God can change our natural inclinations to reflect His desires for us. That, by itself, is God's will for us! Let's take this journey together, sharpening each other, and holding each other to this...Anything less is just, well, less than God intends for us...Peace to you all!
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Anatomy, and history...
Are you a lifer? And by that, I mean, have you been in and around the Church your whole life? Have you run the gamut of the Church experience, from being a kid in Sunday School making Christian macaroni art and watching Flannelgraph stories, to being an adult trying to subtly dispose of your own child's macaroni art on the grounds that there's no more fridge space? If you've been around the Church forever, chances are good that you've heard the Old Testament stories about a jillion times, unless you grew up Episcopalian. I worked at an private Episcopalian high school for a few years, where the chaplain prayed to the "Spirit of Light and Truth", instead of actually saying God. No chance of an actual Bible story making its way in, there. Don't get offended, now...My Grandpa was an Episcopalian bishop, so I'm allowed to poke fun. If you know someone, that makes it okay to make fun of whatever they are, right?
But most of us have heard the Old Testament stories more than a few times...And even if you're brand new to God, and thus the Church, you're familiar with David and Goliath, and some of the more well-known Superstars of the Scriptures. And somewhere along the way, they change from being Stories to stories. Big "S" to small "s". They lose their power. That's actually a huge problem in the Church, in my humble opinion. We have a terrible sense of history. It's become small "h" history. The Old Testament is reduced to the creation story, the Psalms, a few terrifying reminders of God's wrath here and there, and that's about it. Let's move on to the kinder, gentler New Testament. And along the way, the record of God vibrantly moving in and through the lives of His people has been reduced to a few sound bites. And so, since we don't really have a great sense of what God has done, we don't really have a great sense of who God is. And since we don't have a great sense of who God is, we don't live as though He's lived up to His potential. You know potential - if you're anything like me, it's the word that showed up on every single report card since you started school. "Brian has so much potential, if he would just stop carving scenes from Star Wars into his desk top and apply himself to his school work." But we act like God's the same way - His power's just a rumor. His authority in this world, in this day and age? Just a glimmer here and there. He's got all the potential in the world, but He just doesn't seem to care anymore. Except that He does, and it's recorded for all to see, all the way throughout History. His Story. And that power to change a life, that authority to imprint a different story onto our page is still there. Just waiting to be recognized.
That's why, for the next six weeks, we're doing a series called "Anatomy of a Life with God." It's simply that - a look at some of the most incredible, amazing stories ever recorded...Stories that God thought would be good for us to hear, so He included them in the Bible. Stories about life-changing encounters with God - encounters with the living God, who still lives today...Stories about the crazy ways God works, and the "impossible by human standards" things He's chosen to do, through screwed-up, lost, confused, arrogant, hard-hearted, mean, directionless human beings. Some of these stories you may have heard...Some you may not have. All of them unforgettable, if we let them be. Let's become people who let Him continue the Story in us that He started writing back then...Let's do this! Peace...
Open your ears to what I am saying, for I will speak to you in a parable. I will teach you hidden lessons from our past— stories we have heard and known, stories our ancestors handed down to us. We will not hide these truths from our children; we will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the Lord, about his power and his mighty wonders. Psalm 78:1-4 (nlt)
But most of us have heard the Old Testament stories more than a few times...And even if you're brand new to God, and thus the Church, you're familiar with David and Goliath, and some of the more well-known Superstars of the Scriptures. And somewhere along the way, they change from being Stories to stories. Big "S" to small "s". They lose their power. That's actually a huge problem in the Church, in my humble opinion. We have a terrible sense of history. It's become small "h" history. The Old Testament is reduced to the creation story, the Psalms, a few terrifying reminders of God's wrath here and there, and that's about it. Let's move on to the kinder, gentler New Testament. And along the way, the record of God vibrantly moving in and through the lives of His people has been reduced to a few sound bites. And so, since we don't really have a great sense of what God has done, we don't really have a great sense of who God is. And since we don't have a great sense of who God is, we don't live as though He's lived up to His potential. You know potential - if you're anything like me, it's the word that showed up on every single report card since you started school. "Brian has so much potential, if he would just stop carving scenes from Star Wars into his desk top and apply himself to his school work." But we act like God's the same way - His power's just a rumor. His authority in this world, in this day and age? Just a glimmer here and there. He's got all the potential in the world, but He just doesn't seem to care anymore. Except that He does, and it's recorded for all to see, all the way throughout History. His Story. And that power to change a life, that authority to imprint a different story onto our page is still there. Just waiting to be recognized.
That's why, for the next six weeks, we're doing a series called "Anatomy of a Life with God." It's simply that - a look at some of the most incredible, amazing stories ever recorded...Stories that God thought would be good for us to hear, so He included them in the Bible. Stories about life-changing encounters with God - encounters with the living God, who still lives today...Stories about the crazy ways God works, and the "impossible by human standards" things He's chosen to do, through screwed-up, lost, confused, arrogant, hard-hearted, mean, directionless human beings. Some of these stories you may have heard...Some you may not have. All of them unforgettable, if we let them be. Let's become people who let Him continue the Story in us that He started writing back then...Let's do this! Peace...
Open your ears to what I am saying, for I will speak to you in a parable. I will teach you hidden lessons from our past— stories we have heard and known, stories our ancestors handed down to us. We will not hide these truths from our children; we will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the Lord, about his power and his mighty wonders. Psalm 78:1-4 (nlt)
Friday, May 7, 2010
Something Beautiful...
Well, it's confession time...I need to bare my soul to you for a moment. The truth is, I'm a bit of a music addict. I used to think I had it under control; that I could stop anytime I wanted. Now, I've come face to face with reality, and I know that's not true. I'm kind of helpless when it comes to music. I love listening to it, playing it, discovering new artists, and even new genres (post-hardcore Cuban funk, anyone?). I love the thrill of writing a new tune, even if nobody will ever hear it. I love the way the perfect combination of melody, rhythm, and lyrical poetry come together...I even the love the tiny, dark, sweaty clubs in Nowheresville, where the combination of rhythm and melody is anything but perfect, and the lyrical poetry is simply someone's inner angst screamed into a dented microphone. I know, I need help. Please feel sorry for me now. Donations are accepted. But here's the thing, for me...
Music is, at its core, a search for something beautiful - It's a pursuit of something elusive, that can never be quite explained, and never reduced to a formula. It's simply about how it makes you feel. A song makes your ears perk up and moves your heart, and there was no decision made on your part. It just happens. Getting lost in the details of genres, and analyzing songs, and why you like a song the way you do - Well, that's only interesting for a little while. If, at the end of the day, music doesn't move you, there's not much left to talk about. The same goes for any form of artistic expression. The same goes for God, in a way. Sure, we can talk about the nature of God, discuss theology until we're blue in the face, analyze the hows and whys of the Christian life, and try to come up with neat little ways to summarize it all...But at the end of the day, if God is alive, and He loves you intensely, there's at point at which we just need to respond or not. Let Him breathe into your life, or not. Let Him wash over you, or not. I'm not talking about turning your brain off, and blindly following religion. I'm talking about when the song wells up, when life seems to lead you to something bigger than yourself, when the inexpressible begs to be expressed, when it seems like Someone is whispering in your ear (and sometimes screaming), when the explanations aren't enough - Let Him be something beautiful to you. Let Him speak Love into your life. Letting Him do that won't answer all the questions...He won't swoop in and make sense of everything for you. He won't live life for you. But He will give you Life, the kind that doesn't need to be reduced to a mathematical equation, or a clever quote. Let Him be your Destination...
We're playing this song from Needtobreathe at Element this Sunday, called "Something Beautiful." I love it when music captures something my own best efforts can't...I love it even more when God meets me where my best efforts run out. Peace...
when In your ocean, I'm ankle deep
I feel the waves crashin' on my feet
It's like I know where I need to be
But I can't figure out, yeah I can't figure out
Just how much air I will need to breathe
When your tide rushes over me
There's only one way to figure out
Will you let me drown, will you let me drown
Chorus
Hey now, this is my desire
Consume me like a fire, 'cause I just want something beautiful
To touch me, I know that I'm in reach
'Cause I am down on my knees, I'm waiting for something beautiful
...something beautiful
And the water is risin' quick
And for years I was scared of it
We can't be sure when it will subside
So I won't leave your side, no I can't leave your side
Bridge
In a daydream, I couldn't live like this
I wouldn't stop until I found something beautiful
When I wake up, And all I want, I have
You know it's still all I need something beautiful
Music is, at its core, a search for something beautiful - It's a pursuit of something elusive, that can never be quite explained, and never reduced to a formula. It's simply about how it makes you feel. A song makes your ears perk up and moves your heart, and there was no decision made on your part. It just happens. Getting lost in the details of genres, and analyzing songs, and why you like a song the way you do - Well, that's only interesting for a little while. If, at the end of the day, music doesn't move you, there's not much left to talk about. The same goes for any form of artistic expression. The same goes for God, in a way. Sure, we can talk about the nature of God, discuss theology until we're blue in the face, analyze the hows and whys of the Christian life, and try to come up with neat little ways to summarize it all...But at the end of the day, if God is alive, and He loves you intensely, there's at point at which we just need to respond or not. Let Him breathe into your life, or not. Let Him wash over you, or not. I'm not talking about turning your brain off, and blindly following religion. I'm talking about when the song wells up, when life seems to lead you to something bigger than yourself, when the inexpressible begs to be expressed, when it seems like Someone is whispering in your ear (and sometimes screaming), when the explanations aren't enough - Let Him be something beautiful to you. Let Him speak Love into your life. Letting Him do that won't answer all the questions...He won't swoop in and make sense of everything for you. He won't live life for you. But He will give you Life, the kind that doesn't need to be reduced to a mathematical equation, or a clever quote. Let Him be your Destination...
We're playing this song from Needtobreathe at Element this Sunday, called "Something Beautiful." I love it when music captures something my own best efforts can't...I love it even more when God meets me where my best efforts run out. Peace...
when In your ocean, I'm ankle deep
I feel the waves crashin' on my feet
It's like I know where I need to be
But I can't figure out, yeah I can't figure out
Just how much air I will need to breathe
When your tide rushes over me
There's only one way to figure out
Will you let me drown, will you let me drown
Chorus
Hey now, this is my desire
Consume me like a fire, 'cause I just want something beautiful
To touch me, I know that I'm in reach
'Cause I am down on my knees, I'm waiting for something beautiful
...something beautiful
And the water is risin' quick
And for years I was scared of it
We can't be sure when it will subside
So I won't leave your side, no I can't leave your side
Bridge
In a daydream, I couldn't live like this
I wouldn't stop until I found something beautiful
When I wake up, And all I want, I have
You know it's still all I need something beautiful
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