Winning and losing, part 1...

     Well, here we are...It's Friday, February 12th - a pretty incredible day..On what other day can you find tens of thousands of people from all over the world congregating under one roof for a common purpose? Today's purpose is, of course, the opening ceremonies to the Winter Olympics. The context of today's ceremonies is really breathtaking, when you think about it...Thousands of athletes have trained, sweated, sacrificed, bled, fought, competed, won, and lost to find themselves in the unique position of being one of the very best in the world at their chosen sport. Many more thousands have poured their time, energy, creativity, and passions into planning and staging the Games, starting years ago! And literally millions around the globe will watch, cheer, scream, sigh, hope, rejoice, laugh, and cry as they follow their friends, family members, and countrymen and women as they take on the greatest competitive challenge of their lives.

     I can't lie; I absolutely love it - I've always loved the Olympics, ever since I was a little kid cheering on the Canadian hockey team. Yeah, I'm Canadian, and I cheer for the Canadians. Get over it :) And yet these Olympics feel a little different to me...In part, that's due to Vancouver being my hometown. I'd give my right arm to be there right now - how often do the freakin' OLYMPICS come to your hometown? But in part, I think it's because I have a different perspective than I used to have. I'm older than many of the athletes that will be competing, which is kind of weird by itself. I still feel like I'm about 18 most days, until I look in the mirror and see that the muscles are much more, um, well-hidden than they were at 18, and that my hair lacks a certain fullness that it used to have (alright, it's thinning and going gray). My hat is my friend :) But with age comes a different way of looking at the world, and the Olympics, as amazing as they are, have taken on a different feel to me over the past few years. It's wonderful to celebrate the human spirit and dedication and achievement. It's awe-inspiring to see what people can be capable of. It's flat-out a blast to watch a sport you like and cheer yourself hoarse with your friends...Competition can be a really great thing!

     And yet, I see us often bringing the same "competition" ethic into the spiritual journey (our relationship with God). See, we go to church, and that's great, but we elevate our particular church to "winner" status. That is, we often buy into a particular church because it passed all the tests the best; it conformed to what we like and what we want better than anything else. To use an overused term in the church today, it "fed" me better than the others. It won. And that's where I make my church home, at least until it disappoints me, or something better, or newer, or shinier comes along. 

     Or we elevate certain people to "winner" status...We hitch our wagon to their star - they seem to be going the direction we want to go. It seems like they're winning in this whole life with God thing, so maybe if I do what they do, I'll see the same results. They're worth listening to, or hanging out with, or trusting for any number of reasons until they disappoint (which is inevitable). And in many cases, frustration and a sense of entitlement gets the better of us, and we move on to someone else. Maybe THEY can win this thing for me.

      Or we simply can't rid ourselves of the notion that I've somehow gotta look better or  perform better, or at least as well as, the next guy or girl. My relationship with God becomes one of performance, comparison with others, and one-upmanship that I just can't shake.

     Or maybe it's God Himself who's not performing up to our standards. It's as though He's the odds-on favorite in the ski jump, and we can't understand why He doesn't seem to be going as far for me as He seems to for someone else. 

    It all comes down to performance...Am I performing up to the standards I think I should be as a Christian? Is God performing His job the way I think He should? Are other people reaching the standard I set for them? And the Church, honestly, has to shoulder some of the blame for this attitude. I can't tell you how many conversations I've had over the years where the basis of someone's struggles was the idea that they just weren't good enough; that they just didn't measure up. And these were people who had spent much of their lives in the Church. Now, granted, it's not all the fault of the Church. It IS human nature to feel that acute sense of comparison to each other, or to a standard of some sort. 
     But the truth of Jesus is simply very different from this. We're all in the same boat. None of us can be considered good, by God's standards (Romans 3:10, 23). There are no gold medal winners in this thing. You don't get more of God's love because you did a few more thing right than the next guy. But the beautiful thing is, God loves each of us, in a insane and incomprehensible way (John 3:16). And choosing to follow him means nobody's a loser, ever, for any reason (Romans 8:1-4). We will still sin, yes. We'll still blow it, yes. Sometimes we'll get it right and sometimes we won't. But it's not now, nor has it ever been a competition. God doesn't work that way. He loves us, we choose to follow Him - He looks at us as completely different creatures (2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 2:1-10). You can't cause Him to love you less by poor performance, neither can you make Him love you more by being a better Christian. I know this is an uncomfortable thought sometimes, because as humans, we like for our efforts to be rewarded, and we like the ego boost of doing something better (even in the pursuit of God) than someone else. But this, to me, is an incredible message of hope. Because as much as I like competition, I don't want my eternity to hinge on how well I do in life. I'll embrace the The Biblical truth that says that God's love for me isn't withheld until I finally do everything right. I'll leave the winning and losing to the speedskaters, and revel in the arms of a loving God in whose eyes I am worthy, because of the beautiful sacrifice of Jesus. 

And a Dangerous New Year to you...

Seems pretty crazy that it's already ten years ago that the world was going through the Y2K scare, doesn't it? Here we are on the doorstep of 2010...And I couldn't be more excited about what the future holds, although I AM a little disappointed that we're not all driving flying cars or wearing jetpacks already...I've never been much for New Year's Resolutions, but I have made a promise of sorts to myself this year - actually, it's more of a promise to God. Most of you reading this know that this is the first "Lead" pastor position I've ever held, and the past three months have an absolute whirlwind for me...Transitioning into the role, getting a feel for what the Element community needs from me (and what it doesn't need :), and making some sense out of all the stuff flying around in my mind the whole time...It hasn't been the most relaxing time of my life, to say the least! But getting back to the promise...I don't want to be safe. I don't want this church to be safe. And I know, if you've been around Element for a while, you might have heard that we desire to be a "safe place to consider the claims of Christ." I still agree with that, as long as we have an understanding about the word "safe". "Safe" in this context means simply that you're free to check things out at your own pace without pressure. It means that your questions, no matter what they are, are welcome. It means you can be free to be yourself, and not have to pretend that you're someone you're not. I hope Element will always be that kind of safe.
     But I don't want to approach this whole journey timidly...I don't want to navigate through life guided by a fear of offending...I don't want to act like there's not a lot at stake, because there is. I don't want to take the easy way out. Jesus didn't. Why do we sometimes act like the church's role is to be a warm place to seek refuge from the nasty world, without seeking to actually change the nasty world? I'm reminded of something I heard Francis Chan say...He said that if Jesus had a church near his, his church would probably be bigger than Jesus' church. The reason? Francis admits that his church is safer than Jesus' church would be. The bar Francis sets for people is much lower. Jesus requires a full-on, "go nuts for what you believe in" attitude. In other words, buy into the idea that Jesus can change your life, or don't. What's the point in allowing Him only part of the way in? And I don't want to do that. I want my life to personally be a reckless pursuit of God. I want this church to be a place that God changes lives so completely that we stand amazed, continually amazed, by God's power. I know we're only human beings, and we get wrapped up in the petty concerns that humans get wrapped up in, but I can't stomach the thought of that being the model for how we live our lives, and how we pursue Him together. I want a dangerous pursuit of Him. We'll have to risk more, that's true. But we'll see Him in a whole new light, and the risk becomes nothing compared to what God has in store for you and me. Let's make this a year of living dangerously...I look forward to the journey with you all!

Real vision, or just a fleeting fancy...

I had the great privilege of hanging with some of the Element community last night and talking about vision. Now, the thing about vision is, it gets me super stoked to think about what kinds of things could possibly happen in the future, but I often find myself wrestling with the difference between a God-breathed vision and something that I cooked up for some kind of selfish gain. I assure you, I'm not thinking that's what I'm doing while in the middle of it, but we as people deal with this struggle all the time. The danger, of course, is that we often get off-track with vision from the beginning, and then it becomes incredibly difficult to correct (or be corrected) later. That's why last night was so affirming, encouraging, and necessary for me...I believe that the vision for this church from the beginning was solid, it was and is God-designed, and it excites me like you wouldn't believe to think about what God has positioned this community to do! We are called to connect people with the hope of Jesus Christ. We are called to give ourselves away for each other. We are called to live life together. That's it. No frills, no grand plans to take over the world - just a simple desire to be real with each other and pursue God. To see that vision alive and well in you guys, to see the reality of who God is come alive in the way you all love and encourage each other - I face the day knowing that people need God and that Element is a church that's passionate about connecting each other to Him: that's life-changing for me! I'm honored to be journeying with you!

A little food for thought...

Hey Element people! Just wanted to kick off this new blog with a quick thought...I don't have enough deep thoughts to post on here daily :), but I will periodically share a few things with you that are kicking around in my muddled brain. First, I am incredibly blessed to be able to serve you guys in this position...I can't even tell you how humbled I feel. For the last few years, I have felt the tugging of God to change the direction of my life (in terms of where my time is spent) to supporting the Church...And now that's exactly where He's put me. I love you all a ton, and I'm so eager to see what kinds of amazing things God does as we take this journey together in the Element community. I had a really great conversation yesterday with a dear friend, you know the kind that seems to help with gaining perspective and sharpening focus all at once? I was left with a real simple thought - If I love people, and God's put me in their lives, then they oughta know how much I care about them. It's way too easy for me to get wrapped up in the details of the stuff that has to get done...But if I don't visibly and tangibly show love, then the stuff is just another task that ultimately doesn't mean a whole lot. Now this might well be something you've got a great handle on, and since I know a lot of you, I can tell you that some of you ARE exceptional at this, but for me, it's a constant choice. Show love, or retreat into my comfort zone. Show love, or bury myself in task completion. I want to show love. Love changed my life. The love of God changed my life. It's that simple. And it leaves me no choice...