No Training Necessary

In his book, SoulTsunami, Leonard Sweet writes, "Our problem in evangelism is not a lack of training.  The problem in evangelism is that we don’t love enough.  Do you need training to talk about your grandchildren?"  I have used that quote off and on over the last few years in sermons, but now I know, by experience, the emotional impact of what he is saying.  


Raya Grace Mireles arrived yesterday at about 1:00 pm and I've told many people about her.  Her picture is on the desktop of my computer at work and my netbook at home.  She is also on the desktop of my smartphone.  When asked about her this morning by friends I probably told them more than they wanted to know about this incredible human being.  So go ahead, ask me about my grandbaby.  And about my Jesus.

ReJesus

Into my inbox this morning came an e-mail from my team leader containing the following short review from a friend of his.  

"One of the books I really enjoyed reading last year was ReJesus by Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch.  The sub-title of the book is A Wild Messiah for a Missional Church.  The book explores the connection between the way of Jesus and the religion of Christianity.  The authors ask a variety of questions including: Why is what we experience as Christianity discontinuous with the way of Jesus?  How consistent is our witness with his life and teachings?  Can we move away from his prototypical spirituality without doing irreparable damage to the integrity of the faith?  How far is too far?

I enjoyed the whole book, but their chapter on ReJesus for the Church and Organization really challenged me.  Here are some excerpts from the chapter" :

As Jesus’ disciples we are called to a Christ like life, and no matter how we configure it, that must surely mean that somehow our lives and our communities must be in significant congruence with the life, teachings, and mission of Jesus.  The degree that we are living the life laid out by our Master is directly proportional to the degree that we can call ourselves authentic disciples.

We have built and established a massive global religion comprising thousands of organizations with massive capital and resources.  The problem is these organizations drift towards pragmatism over radicalism, although, we suspect, in more honest moments many of them would probably admit that much of what we do seems to only have an indirect correlation to the uncluttered, nonreligious, life-oriented faith so compellingly portrayed in the Gospels.  These objectors might, in spite of their deepest spiritual intuitions simply say that we have no choice but to continue to operate the services and maintain the system or else the whole edifice might crumble.  But we cannot escape the question:  “Is this what Jesus really intended for his movement?”

Does advancing in the kingdom of God boil down to this? Running programs and services and/or guiding the laity through liturgical complexities in order to help people get to the God they are all meant to access directly through Jesus anyhow? Was this what Jesus had in mind when he established the church (Matt. 16:18-19)? And, whatever happened to the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers that many within the Protestant movements are meant to adhere to (I Peter 2:9)?

Unless we can validate who we are and what we do by lining ourselves up with the measure that Jesus laid down in his life and work, then what in God’s name are we doing? His modus operandi, teaching, his critique of religion, his commitment to the way of the kingdom, must become our primary source of guidance.

We believe that in order to find renewal we need to discover Jesus afresh even though this be a dangerous course of action because it calls into question so much of what we might build our various religious houses on.  At the beginning of this new century, we have never needed so desperately to rediscover the original genius of the Christian experience and to allow it to strip away all the unnecessary and cumbersome paraphernalia of Christendom.

Roland Allen wrote about missional movements: The spontaneous expansion of the Church reduced to its element is a very simple thing. It asks for no elaborate organization, no large finances, no great numbers of paid missionaries. In its beginning it may be the work of one man and that of a man neither learned in the things of this world, nor rich in the wealth of this world. What is necessary is faith. What is needed is the kind of faith which uniting a man to Christ, sets him on fire.

We need to learn from the story of the Israelites in the wilderness.  They tried to store up manna from heaven for another day.  Religion can give in to the same temptation to try to store up and rely on souvenirs of a past spiritual experience.  For how many years did the church rely on the system of holy Christian relics – a bone from Peter’s finger, a wood shard from the cross of Christ, cathedrals and sacred buildings, inherited rituals, even creedal formulas, more than it relied on a fresh, daily encounter with Jesus?  We, like Israel, are called to be willing to collect the fresh manna every day – and we are to do this without becoming spiritual thrill seekers but rather lifelong worshipers.  To do otherwise is to “outsource your encounter with Jesus” to a religious system of souvenirs, ritual, and religious paraphernalia.

To ReJesus the church, we must first look in the mirror and ask ourselves whether the strange and wonderful God-Man has invaded our life with purpose and freshness. If Christianity minus Christ equals religion, then Christianity plus Christ is the antidote to religion.

Max Weber, the famous sociologist, noted that in order to survive the loss of the founder, the movement has to somehow build the charisma of the founder into the life of the organization.  We also know from the Gospels that Jesus spent significant and strategic time devoted to initiating his followers into the ways of the kingdom and to discipling and teaching them to recognize the dynamics of what it meant to be one of his followers.

Likewise for the Christian movement, the founder must be able to be seen in the lives of the found. This must surely partly be what it means to live “in Christ” and he in us. People observing us ought to be able to discern the elements of Jesus’ way in our ways. If they cannot find authentic signals of the historical Jesus through the life of his people, then as far as we are concerned they have the full right to question our legitimacy.

"Frost and Hirsch certainly have some challenging thoughts.  They cause me to reflect on my daily encounter with Jesus.  Am I living on day old, or even month old manna?  Do I see regular evidence that Jesus has invaded my life with purpose?  Do people in my orbit see authentic signals of the Jesus life in my life?  So this month I’m praying that you will ReJesus.  That you won’t mistake the programs and rituals of Christianity for the authentic Christ. "

Discerning God's Will

I'm one of those who believes that, generally speaking, "if it isn't sin, it's an option".  That is, God's will for His children is much broader than some would assume.  It seems from Scripture that God is far more interested in who you are than where you are, for instance.  He is far more involved in developing your character than your career.  He's far more concerned about the kind of spouse you are than who you chose for a spouse.  God's will is our salvation, our sanctification, and that we keep in step with His Spirit.  All the rest of our decisions should reflect the reality of these larger realities.  Proverbs calls it the way of wisdom--factoring in God's existence and our relationship with Him into all we choose to do.  There is great freedom in this.  And, as a corollary, there is great responsibility.  I wouldn't have it any other way.

Getting Ready

Sometime in the next few weeks my first grandbaby will arrive.  I've had about 36 weeks to prepare, but most of it has been happening these last few weeks.  We've been sorting through the toys that we saved from our own kids (which we used when company came with small children) and setting aside those which she will play with first.  We've even hung the Noah's-Ark-cloth-bath-toy bag on a hook in the bathroom in preparation of some crazy fun.  We discovered the windup turtle's legs still rotate, propelling him around the tub.  I was saddened that the clam still had his shell, but not the soft inner clam that shoots water into baby's faces.  (Where does one go to find replacement parts for cheap bath toys?)  This is going to be fun.  Raya will, no doubt, be the a topic of many conversations since she will, of course, be above average in beauty, intelligence and talent.


So, for both of you who read this blog, be prepared for stories about my amazing grandbaby compared to whom all other grandbabies will pale in comparison.

Seasons

I had my birthday again a few days ago.  It comes every year whether I'm ready or not.  I enjoyed the time with family and friends.  I received a number of iTunes gift cards.  What surprised me a bit is what I purchased.  Crosby, Stills and Nash (C, S & N), Cat Stevens (Tea for the Tillerman, Teaser and the Firecat), Simon and Garfunkel (Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme), Gordon Lightfoot (The United Artists collection) , and Carole King (Tapestry, of course).  I guess I was in a mood to hear music that is connected to a much earlier season in my life.  Every album I downloaded is one that I had previously owned on vinyl.  (I think I also had Tapestry on 8 track).  


I have no doubt that I'll play these mostly when I'm on one of my road trips.  I'll leave it to others to figure out the "why".  In the meantime I'll enjoy the music.

Ordinary-Extraordinary

I had the privilege of preaching at the Yucca Valley, CA EFC yesterday.  I took the congregation through the familiar account of Jesus' birth in Luke's Gospel.  I asked them to pretend that they didn't know the end of the story.  If one is able to do that it's interesting (to me anyway) to note that the first 8 verses would probably have the reader asking, "So what?"  


It was an ordinary time.  Caesar is taking a census in order to levy taxes to pay for road maintenance, support of the armies of Rome and to keep him in the lifestyle to which he has grown accustomed.  There is nothing extraordinary about that.  


It was an ordinary place.  Both Nazareth, where the young couple starts out from and Bethlehem, where they stop, are backwater towns.  There is nothing extraordinary about that.  


It was an ordinary couple.  Luke does not give the back story of angel visitations, so the reader simply sees a couple, not yet married, who are expecting a child.  There is nothing extraordinary about that.  


It was an ordinary birth.  The time came for her to be delivered.  Like millions of women before her, the baby makes his way into the world.  She wraps him snuggly like millions of mothers before her.  There is nothing extraordinary about that. 


It was an ordinary setting.  The shepherds were doing what they always had done, watching their sheep.  There is nothing extraordinary about that.


In verse 9 everything changes.  Angelic messengers, a good news announcement from God for all people, a response of faith by the shepherds (who traditionally didn't get to the Temple much because of their profession), a glimpse at the face of God in the flesh, and an amazed wonder from Mary who treasures all that has happened.


I've been part of God's family through faith in Jesus since 1970.  One of the things I've discovered over those years is that God does extraordinary things, but most often He does them using ordinary people in ordinary circumstances.  Part of the reason, Scripture tells us, is that in this way, God gets the glory He deserves.  


Paul writes to the Christians at Corinth, "Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God. God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin. Therefore, as the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the Lord.”  1 Corinthians 1:26-31  NLT


So continue to do the ordinary and watch for God to do the extraordinary.

I'm Back

We finished the Bible in 90 Days.  It was harder than I thought it would be to read through the text and blog.  But it was, for all of us, a very helpful exercise.  Some will be finishing up in the next week or so, others slowed down more.  But we all agreed that reading it in a shorter period than a year was helpful for getting the bigger picture.

I blogged every day except when I was out of range of an internet connection (yes, there are places in the U.S. where that is possible.  I don't think I'll try to do the same with this blog, but I will try to post at least once a week.

BTW, just watched Slumdog Millionaire for the first time last evening.  Painful reminder of the brutality and poverty of the 2/3 world.  Yet even in that setting, a recognition of the image of God, however tarnished it is from the Fall.

Hiatus

I may blog some on this spot, but because of the Through the Bible in Ninety Days I am more liklely to post something at EFCHBBiblein90Days.blogspot.com through the end of November.

There Arose Another Generation After Them...

I'm still working my way through the Bible. This morning I arrived at Judges. Judges is that book with stories like the king who was so fat that his stomach closed around the hilt of the sword used to kill him, the woman who drove a tent peg through a man's temple while he slept, and the man who hacked his concubine into twelve pieces after she was raped.

But before all those stories there is a statement in chapter 2 that bothers me each time I read it. The passage begins by recounting, "And the people served YHWH all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that YHWH had done for Israel." You can almost see what comes next by the way the author makes a point that the people served YHWH all the days of Joshua and the elders who outlived Joshua. What the author says next concerns me every time.

"And all that generation [who had seen all the great work that YHWH had done for Israel] also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know YHWH or the work that he had done for Israel."

The generation referred to are the children of those who had experienced 40 years of God's faithfulness. Honestly, I can understand those children not knowing YHWH. We can never have a relationship with God for someone else. Everyone has to make their own decision about what they will do or not do with God. They could have decided, collectively, that they didn't want to know YHWH. But the verse goes on to say "...[they] did not know YHWH or the work that he had done for Israel."

How can they not know what he had done for Israel? Only because they were never told. I know that's an "all-ness", but isn't that what the text says? They did not know the work God had done for Israel. They were not there when it happened or they were too young when it happened. So how could they have known? Only because their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, neighbors told the story. But they didn't. As a result an entire generation did not know YHWH or the work he had done for Israel.

Before we come down too hard on the generation who didn't tell the story, who are you telling?

What Goes Without Saying...

One of the lasting impacts of living in Santa Margarita was a new appreciation for Country Music. Our whole family became Paul Overstreet fans. One of his songs is What Goes Without Saying Should be Said.

"He stood looking at his father who was eighty-five years old
He remembered all the ball games they played so long ago
Then he put his arm around him and kissed him on the cheek
He say dad it's time I told you what a friend you've been to me.

'Cause when you love someone you gotta let 'em know
When you're thinking of someone you need to tell 'em so
Don't know what makes us think our minds and our hearts can be read
What's going without saying should be said.

She stood in the kitchen doorway all grown up with children too
Watching as her mama cooked just like she used to do
She slowly walked up to her and she held her wrinkled hands
She said do you know you are the greatest mom a daughter ever had.

No one needs our roses when the sun of life's gone down
If you're gonna send a message of your love then send it now.

Oh, I don't believe I've let you hear the things you should have heard
I don't believe I've truly put my feelings into words
'Cause to me you are so beautiful much more than words can say
And if you don't mind and you've got the time I'd like to try today."

In one of my favorite, quirky movies, "Waking Ned Devine," Jackie O'Shea pretends to be Ned who died upon learning that he had won the lottery. When the lottery officials arrive in town, the eulogy for Ned quickly turns into a eulogy for Jackie so that the officials will assume that Jackie is Ned. (Rent the movie, it'll become clearer.) Anyway, on the spur of the moment to the surprise of his fellow villagers, Jackie is attending his own wake. In those moments he hears from his friends what he has meant to them.

This past Saturday I was blessed to be at a similar occasion. Several former students of the now deceased Voyager's Christian School pulled together a reunion of what the school's only principal described as a "home school group that got out of hand." The students who were there on Saturday spent a significant time recounting [in the presence of Thenell and Gary Hanggi who served as principal, teacher, surrogate parents, mentors, sports coach, driver's education instructors, and all the other hats they wore throughout the life of the school] the life-transforming impact they had on the students. One by one these adults were able to articulate what a difference these two people had made in their lives. (One of the students calculated that Gary and Thenell were about the age the students are now when they began the school. That was sobering.)

Rather than waiting until some point down the road when or more of the Hanggi's were dead or dying, they set aside time to tell them now how God had used them to impact their lives for good. Is there someone in your life that needs to know how much they imprinted your life? What goes without saying should be said.

An Extension, not an Exemption

In his book, "Traveling Light, Eugene Peterson writes, "Paul will not permit us to compensate for neglecting those nearest us by advertising our compassion for those on another continent. Jesus, it must be remembered, restricted nine-tenths of his ministry to twelve Jews because it was the only way to redeem all Americans. He couldn't be bothered, says Martin Thornton, with the foreign Canaanites because his work was to save the whole world. The check for the starving child must still be written and the missionary sent, but as an extension of what we are doing at home, not as an exemption from it."

Earlier in Peterson's book he quotes from John Updike's novel, "The Coup." A U.S. embassy official, Don X. Gibbs, is murdered in his attempt to deliver a load of American junk food to the drought-ridden land of Kush. His wife later reflects, "I've forgotten a lot about Don...actually I didn't see that much of him. He was always trying to help people. But he only liked to help people he didn't know."

Life, and ministry in the context of life, is messy. As 21st century, North American Christians we have worked hard not to "do" messy. We have believed the lie that if we are good enough, life won't be messy; if we make enough money, life won't be messy; if we get enough education, life won't be messy. But the reality is, life is messy. And seeking to live out a relationship with Christ in the daily-ness of our lives is messy. And pointing people to Jesus is messy. And actually being in relationship with people is messy. That is why, it seems to me, we find it much easier to write the check or send the missionary than to engage the actual people in our lives.

B.I.N.D.

To both of you who read my blog:
Check out EFCHBBiblein90Days.blogspot.com. A group of us at the Evangelical Free Church of Huntington Beach (EFCHB) are going to read the Bible in its entirety in just 90 days (Bible in Ninety Days=B.I.N.D.). And we are going to read it chronologically. That means Job will follow Genesis 11. David's songs will be read during the season of his life in which they were written. The various prophets will be read during the narrative on the period in which they prophesied. Paul's letters will be read at the appropriate spot in the Acts narrative.

If you'd like to join us in the journey, you can do so anonymously (as the thousands do who read this blog and never comment), or you can become a "follower" by joining the blog and you'll be alerted when someone posts.

The blog will contain insights and questions submitted by those who are taking the challenge to read through the Bible in 90 days. If you'd like to join us, but don't attend EFCHB, you can drop me a line and I'll send you a PDF version of the reading calendar.

Our adventure in God's story will begin Monday, August 24 and end November 21. At EFCHB we will meet on Sunday mornings to talk about what we're learning beginning, Sunday, September 6 at 10:30 a.m. (sharp) in the Chapel of the Cornerstone Building and ending November 22.

So, if you're up to the challenge, join us on a 90-day, non-stop journey through the Bible.

Descarte Redeux

Seeds

For many years now I've been collecting quotes that act as prompts for blogs and illustrations for sermons. I thought I would share some of these with you with the hope that they will stimulate your own thinking.

Never teach a child something they will later have to unlearn. —Earl Palmer

People go through three conversions in the Christian faith: their head, their heart and their purse. —Martin Luther

The truth is never a wrong answer. —Brother Cadfael in The Virgin in the Ice by Ellis Peters

If God were small enough to be understood, He would not be big enough to be worshipped —Evelyn Underhill

The times most favorable to fits of depression, I have experienced, may be summed up in a brief catalogue. First, among them I mention the hour of great success. When at last a long-cherished desire is fulfilled, when God has been glorified greatly by our means, a great triumph achieved… Before any great achievement, some measure of the same depression is very usual… This depression comes over me whenever the Lord is preparing a larger blessing for my ministry… In the midst of a long stretch of unbroken labor, the same affliction may be looked for. The bow cannot be always bent without fear of breaking… —Charles H. Spurgeon

If you think you are too small to be effective, you have never been in bed with a mosquito. —Betty Reese

Doing good is imperative. Doing everything is impossible. — Grant Howard

The fact that you were okay yesterday has nothing to do with whether you are going to be so today. The fact that you were close to God yesterday has nothing to do with whether you are going to be close to God today. All Satan needs is an opportunity. You don’t even have to open the door for the devil. Just leave it unlocked; he knows how to turn the knob. —Tony Evans

The qualification for having a public ministry is not giftedness. The qualification for ministry is proven character. —Steve Farrar

Sin will take you farther than you wanted to go; keep you longer than you wanted to stay; cost you more than you wanted to pay. —Steve Farrar

Many believers are simply frantic over the fact of failure in their lives, and they will go to all lengths in trying to hide it, ignore it, or rationalize about it. And all the time they are resisting the main instrument in the Father’s hand for conforming us to the image of His Son! —Miles Stanford

Even When It's Not Easy

As I mentioned in a earlier blog, I'm reading through the Bible in a year even though I got started in May rather than January. So I'm in Exodus while my friends are all in the Psalms. I can't tell you how many times over the years I've read through Exodus, but today I noticed something I don't remember seeing before. Already the sabbath has been mentioned repeatedly. In one section God even prefaces yet another statement about the sabbath (31:13) with the phrase, "Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the LORD, sanctify you." Then in chapter 34 I saw this sentence that I don't remember seeing before. It starts with a familiar statement, "Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest." It's the next statement that grabbed my attention today. "In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest."

I'm not much of an agriculturalist, but I know from helping Sharon with her gardens over the years that there are two times I am most involved with her gardens. Preparing and harvesting. Dig, mulch, weed, rototill. Multiply that many times over for those who actually raise the food they need to live on. Mass quantities.

So here's the nagging voice in my head (the Holy Spirit?). In this simple sentence is the implication that Israel was to obey this command from God even when it was going to be hardest to do so. Can't you hear the rationalizing. "If I don't go out there again today to get the ground ready, we'll starve." "If I don't get out there again today and get the manure turned in, the ground will be worthless." "If I don't go out there again today and get the seeds in the ground, you can forget about the harvest." If I don't get out there again today and bring in that harvest, it will rot on the vines and we'll be begging for food."

But God told Israel to do something that was very hard for them (and hasn't gotten easier in the centuries since then). He told Israel to stop. He told Israel to pray and play for an entire 24 hour period. He told them to do nothing that would increase their income (read that "harvest"). In short, God told them to trust Him enough that they would bring all of life's usual work, the wheels of commerce, the daily-ness of life, to a halt.

Lest they miss the point about trusting Him, God clearly said, "In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest." God is saying, in essence, "When it would be most difficult to justify a 24 hour rest, that's exactly what I want you to do: rest."

My point in bringing this up is not to address the issue of whether or not Christians should keep a sabbath. That's a blog for another time. My point is that when God gives a command, which He clearly says in several places in the Bible are always for our good, He does so with the implication that we are to obey that command, even when it is most difficult to do so. And then trust Him with the results.

By Ourselves

In his book, "Answering God," Eugene Peterson writes, "By ourselves, we are not ourselves."

I've been chewing on the phrase all afternoon. In the culture in which I live we have personal water craft, personal DVD players, personal computers, personal digital music players. We champion personal rights (while, I might add, we avoid personal responsibility, but that's a blog for another time). We even invite people into a personal relationship with Jesus.

But I think Peterson is onto something. From some moment very near the beginning of human history God said clearly, "It is not good for the man to be alone." God made us to be in relationship with others. One of my favorite passages is from Paul's letter to the church at Ephesus where he says, in effect, "Until we're all mature ain't none of us mature."

By myself I can convince myself that I possess all kinds of sterling qualities of character. In relationship with others, the mask is torn away and I see more clearly how much more I need to learn of humility, patience, kindness, gentleness, etc. By myself I am a paragon of virtue. With others I can be a pain in the rear.

My real self can only be known in the context of others. That is why God created all of us. It is why he gave us families, and neighborhoods and churches. And it is why we need to stop absenting ourselves from the very people who will help us be ourselves. They will both make us who we are and show us who we are. And we return the favor.

By ourselves, we are not ourselves.

Marriage is Daily

I wrote the following in July of 2006 for the newsletter of Santa Margarita Community Church. As I read it over this afternoon (in between getting cold packs, chicken broth, water, and apple juice for my wife who had two wisdom teeth extracted), I thought I'd post it on my blog. This article looked forward to a major event in the life of one of my daughters. Since then her brother has also learned the significance of what I wrote. I thought it bears repeating both for those who are married and for those who will one day be married.

"Over the years I’ve mused about many things in this column. The purpose of the church. The importance of rest. The power of the resurrection. The struggle for holiness. The heart-breaking reality of sin. The profound relief of forgiveness in Christ.

I’ve also chronicled the more pedestrian seasons in my own life, both implicitly and explicitly. I have, at some level, let you into the mundane, menial aspects of life as a pastor, a father, a husband, a friend. I’ve shared with you the joy of children who follow Jesus. I’ve written about the humbling I’ve received at the hands of my children or wife. I’ve opened myself to you regarding the bittersweet season of having them graduate high school and launch (and then re-launch) into adult life.

Over the past few years, Kelli has done a marvelous job planning weddings for some of her friends. Recently Kelli was looking at a church building with a view to its suitability for an upcoming wedding. In the back corner of the sanctuary, I noticed a room with a large window that allows you to see and hear the wedding without those in the wedding hearing you. I told Kelli that during the wedding she’s planning, that’s where I will be. You see, it’s the crying room, and the wedding she is planning is her own.

I am still amazed by the father of the bride at a wedding over which I officiated. In the middle of the wedding, he sang “Sunrise, Sunset” without wavering once. (The rest of us were undone.) I distinctly remember the umpteenth viewing of the aforementioned “Fiddler on the Roof” when I switched my allegiance from Teyve’s children to Teyve. How could the girls grow up and marry those boys?

Yet I find myself in Teyve’s situation. A young man has captured the heart of my daughter. He is a man of integrity. He is a man of faith. He is a man who is willing to work hard. He is a man who is willing to commit himself to the daily-ness of life with one woman and one woman only…for the rest of his life. That woman is my daughter.

Pray for David Mireles and Kelli Schliep as they make public and permanent the most profound promise anyone can make to another person. As Kathleen Norris writes in her book The Quotidian Mysteries: Laundry, Liturgy and “Women’s Work” (quotidian is a word meaning “occurring every day; commonplace, ordinary”), “In seeking any covenantal relationship we must be willing to say ‘yes’ long before we have a clear idea of what such intimacy will cost us. Marriage is eternal, but it’s also daily, as daily and unromantic as housekeeping…Paradoxically, human love is sanctified not in the height of attraction and enthusiasm but in the everyday struggles of living with another person. It is not in romance but in routine that the possibilities for transformation are made manifest. And that requires commitment.”

You will never find that written in a Hallmark© card. But those who have been married for more than six weeks know the reality of it. It is quotidian, dying to ourselves in order to live the life that God desires for us to live. Pray that Dave and Kelli’s married life will overflow with a deep and abiding commitment that expresses itself in daily acts of service for each other."

Even if...

I'm reading through the Bible again this year (although I only started a few days ago). I've gotten through Genesis 18 so far. What struck me today is how often Abraham (and others before and after him) had questions for God. And how often he questioned God. The distinction between the two is that one seeks information, the other seeks a Plan B. (Both responses, by the way, are quite natural. God tends to be far more gracious about the question that seeks more information than the question that seeks an alternative. But with both, He knows that we are limited. Notice the response of Zechariah, the father of John the baptizer in contrast to Mary, the mother of Jesus the Messiah in Luke 1. Similar questions, but different responses from God. Zechariah's seems to question God's ability, Mary's seems to question the logistics, as it were.)

What began to roll around in my head is how often over the years people have said to me (and I have sometimes thought to myself), "Why doesn't God show Himself to me. Then I would believe. Then I would follow Him. I would have no question about His existence or His authority."

The Biblical narrative says different. The Biblical story, in fact, tells us that even if God were to show up in your bedroom some night, you'd still have questions and you'd still question. In other words, our problem is deeper than simply needing some sort of external "proof" of God's existence. We are so broken that even if God deigned to appear in a way that you could see, you would still remain, at your core, unconvinced to some degree. That's how self-focused we are.

It reminds me of the time early in our relationship when Sharon flew to Coeur d'Alene to visit me without my knowing about it. She plotted with my parents to keep it a secret. I came home from spending time with friends and walked into my bedroom. There, sitting in a chair in the corner of my bedroom, was Sharon. I looked at her, turned and walked out of the room. I could not take in the fact that Sharon was in Idaho. I had just spoken with her the day before. She was in Redondo Beach, CA, not Coeur d'Alene, ID. It just didn't fit.

In the same way, when we encounter God in His word we are expecting it to fit our paradigm, our understand of life and how it works. It is no wonder that we are conflicted with what He reveals about Himself and the way life really works. We're living in Cd'A and He's in Redondo Beach. The worlds cannot occupy the same space. But that's the beauty, isn't it? He leaves His home to come into our space. He condescends to communicate. And as difficult as it is for us to comprehend, He continually shows us who He is and what He has done for us. Slowly, over time, we ask less questions and we question Him less, but it will never go away completely because He is God and we are not.

So our response, really, is always about faith whether we have had a direct, physical encounter with God or a "secondary" encounter by means of Scripture. Either way, we need to moving toward the place where we trust Him. And then live accordingly.

Welcome Home

Sharon returned home from Germany last evening. It is these relatively brief separations that remind me how much I appreciate our friendship. I am painfully aware that for many marriages, this kind of friendship is missing. I have known the joy of this friendship for most of our 35 years (When I introduce Sharon and I in public speaking settings I say, only half-jokingly, that we have been married 35 years, 34 of them happily.). When I have opportunity to talk with young adults about what they are looking for in a mate, I emphasize the importance of this factor. C.S. Lewis, in his book "Four Loves," talks eloquently about the importance of "side by side" love, the love that works alongside each other and enjoys the camaraderie of friendship. Oh, the joy of this friendship with Sharon, my lover and best friend.

The Journey Continues...

On the way home from Munich we traveled back through Zurich. We had time before we needed to be back in Kandern, so we took a detour into the old city of Zurich. There we saw the church from which Zwingli launched the Swiss branch of the Reformation. (On our last trip to Germany, we saw Calvin's church in Geneva, Switzerland. Now I just need to get to Wittenburg.) We enjoyed people watching along the Platz Promenade where people gathered on a glorious, sunny Sunday afternoon. We drove home, having visited 3 major European cities in 3 European countries in 3 days. Pretty impressive. And, yes, we did stop for coffee at Starbucks near the Platz Promenade in Zurich and I did get my mug.

The Problem of Sin

Saturday was our trip to Munich and Dachau. We spent 4 hours at Dachau, which was the first of Hitler's work camps and became the model for all others. Even experiments and camp organization were first tested at Dachau before becoming the rule at the other camps. It was sobering and disturbing. It was set up in 1933 on the site of a former munitions factory.

As you wander the grounds, you keep asking yourself questions like, "How could this happen?" and "Was anything being done to stop this by those who lived nearby?" and "Why were the Allies so slow in seeking to stop Hitler?" and "Isn't it a bit scary that many of the conditions that were true of Germany in the early 30's are now true of America in terms of economy and the prevailing view of the value of human life?"

The image I always had of the furnaces was that they were at the camps for purpose of extermination. Eventually that was true at some of the camps. Originally, though, they were there as a way of dealing with the many bodies of those who died of disease, overwork, malnourishment, and fatal lead poisoning (bullets from the guards). Extermination camps were built for the purpose of extermination alone. Work camps were built to extract work from the undesirables, the less-than-human population (which turned out to be most people who were not German or were German but were not Nazi. Roman Catholics, Jehovah Witnesses, Evangelicals, homosexuals, Gypsies, Poles and those whose political views were different than the Nazis were all treated with contempt and found their way into work camps or extermination camps by the millions.)

After 4 hours of Dachau where people endured unimaginable cruelty and degradation, we went into Munich on the S Bahn to have dinner. We did sightseeing first (and bought a Munich Starbucks mug. But I didn't have a Zurich mug.), then we began looking for a restaurant. Between the crowds who were in town for the Munich soccer team's home game, thus