A Test of Identity

As we come toward the end of this Lenten Journey and step into Holy Week, how are you doing?

Writers of the good news story, Matthew & Luke , tell us that as Jesus ended his forty days in the wilderness he was hungry and vulnerable and that Satan tried to take advantage of his vulnerability and shift Jesus’ worldview.

LIfe this last year has been so very difficult for all of us. Stating it like that seems to diminish it and makes it sound trite but know that I have lived the difficulty with you: relationships upended, financial stability disrupted, physical health threatened, feelings of isolation and abandonment, betrayal and distrust on both personal and societal levels.

And, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that In our vulnerability Jesus stands with us to keep our eyes focused by God’s Kingdom.

In the Temptation story, Satan tries to get Jesus to take his eyes off of the Kingdom. We put a lot of heavy negative connotation on the word ‘temptation’ as if the test itself were the sin, but to tempt is just that: to test or to try out. The key point is our response. When we ask God to save us from the time of trial, we are asking God keep our eyes on the Kingdom so that we make Jesus-centered and other-focused decisions and choices.

In this test Jesus is being asked to reveal his true identity – is he truly of God’s Kingdom or is he willing to accept something less for himself to relieve his own suffering.

The first test seems like a simple, even innocent, idea: you are so very hungry, so why not turn some stones into bread to relieve that hunger. I mean, a key part of Jesus ministry to come is feeding people. What’s so bad about wanting to feed himself? And, the good news writer John tells us that Jesus’ first miracle is to turn water into wine at a wedding, so changing one thing into another isn’t it either.

This temptation, this test, is about Jesus living into who he is. Satan says, “since you are God’s son, turn these stones to bread.” In other words, take advantage of who you are for your own benefit, you’re entitled, you deserve it. Go for it. And Jesus’ response puts things into proper Kingdom perspective: Life, real life, life as God intends it, isn’t about getting what we deserve or taking what we want because we think we are entitled. Life is a gracious gift from our loving Creator and Jesus doesn’t accept anything less.

Our life is a balance of physical and spiritual and we need to feed and care for our whole and holy humanness. Even if we were to feast regularly on the finest of foods, we would not be fully alive without also regularly feeding on God’s word so that we are equipped to see through a Kingdom lens.

How has spending more time reading and reflecting on God’s Word this Lent strengthened you? Are you discovering your true identity as Kingdom people, beloved children of God? Is your vision changing?

We’ll spend the next two days talking about the other two tests of Jesus’ identity before we return to Jerusalem on Thursday for the final meal Jesus has with his closest followers. For today, let’s pray together with Jesus:

Our Father in heaven,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what’s best— as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You’re in charge! You can do anything you want!
You’re ablaze in beauty!
Yes. Yes. Yes.”

The Way of Life and Peace

The readings for Palm Sunday: http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/HolyWeek/BPalmSun_RCL.html

I find Palm Sunday to be a day of emotional whiplash. We begin the service with a joyous parade to celebrate Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem and as we settle into our seats we transition so quickly to betrayal and death that I think we miss out on details of the entry that can teach us so much.

I get it – we do the whole week in one hour because we don’t expect everyone to attend all of the Holy Week services. So, please indulge me as I situate us in the moment and don’t rush ahead to what’s next. We’ll get to the final meal, arrest, and death soon enough.

Jesus’ itinerant ministry has reached far and wide in three years. His name is recognized and people travel from all over to hear him preach. People seek him out to heal their loved ones and friends. The religious leaders don’t know which is the greater threat to their power – stopping him or letting him continue. People who have been marginalized and told they aren’t worthy to be a part of a community have found belonging with Jesus while people in societal privilege are uncomfortable with his teachings.

Jesus’ closest followers have struggled to understand that the power of God’s kingdom isn’t the same as political power or societal privilege. They, too, even after living with him for three years, still expect the success of this ministry they’ve given up everything for to be measured by worldly standards instead of the ways of God’s Kingdom.

The story of Jesus’ final entry into Jerusalem is told to us by all four of the good news writers: Faithful people from all over are gathering in the city of their faith for The Feast, Passover, the meal which God has instructed them to do every year in remembrance of God freeing them from the oppressive power of the Egyptian Pharaohs.

Throughout his preaching and teaching, Jesus has told them that if they follow him, they will be free.
Free from those who think power and control are more important than relationship and love.
Free from our own egos that tempt us to seek retaliation rather than reconciliation.
Free from having to prove ourselves worthy to be loved because God loves us unconditionally.
Free from the competitive nature of this world that says we have to fight for all we can get because God has already given us the gift of everlasting life, the good life we are created for, here and now.
Free from the impossible task of measuring up to the world’s ever changing standards because in God’s Kingdom we are all heirs to all that God has.

They’ve been promised freedom. They’ve been promised life and peace. And yet, this man they want to believe in has no army, no weapons, no wealth. He must have something up his sleeve, right? He’ll save them. He says he can.

Jesus enters Jerusalem not with a pre-organized parade of religious leaders and government officials riding with him in the fanciest of carriages through the main gate, but on a simple donkey, unannounced, and through a side entrance. The so-called parade was a grassroots event of the people who recognized him and wanted to elevate him by the standards of the world’s view of leadership. With their coats and palm branches they attempted to create the pomp and circumstance the world would expect of a great leader.

These well-meaning folks chanted and sang, “Hosanna! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessings on the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest!” Even seeing his less than spectacular entrance into Jerusalem, they still expected this man to operate in the same way as the current people in power over them.

And the anti-climatic ending to this final entry as the good news writer Mark tells it is almost comical, if it wasn’t so very tragic. “Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. After he looked around at everything, because it was already late in the evening, he returned to Bethany with the Twelve.”

Jesus knows this isn’t the climax of the story, that his entry and the days to come will be considered an utter failure by the world’s standards. Seen from a Kingdom view, however, it is triumphant because it upends every single world standard they knew then and that we know now … because that’s the whole point!

Following Jesus to the cross and beyond isn’t about the world’s standards. It isn’t about fitting Jesus into our way of doing things. We follow Jesus to learn to live as Kingdom People here and now, living the good life God created us to live.

When we rush past the story of this final entry, this Kingdom Triumph, we lose the opportunity to ask ourselves about where and how we set our own standards and expectations on God; to consider when do we try to make God into our own image instead of living into the image of God in all of us.

When we smash the week to come into an hour, we miss the lesson that enables us to see the Way of the Cross as the Way of Life and Peace. We stay bound by our own expectations and standards instead of letting Jesus set us free as Kingdom People.

Beloved children of God, don’t rush past the events of this coming week. Spend time walking with Jesus in the days before his death. Let Jesus shape your ideas of power and privilege. Participate in all of the Holy Week services, either in person if you are safe to do so or online. Don’t go straight to Easter because there can’t be a Resurrection without first being death. We can’t live in the freedom of the new life of Easter without allowing what comes before to transform our worldview to a Kingdom view on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.

Kingdom Crazy

So I know a few of you think that after yesterday’s post that I’ve lost my marbles. How can any sane person equate chores and spirituality? And what does washing dishes or doing laundry have to do with our Lenten Journey?

In one of my pre-Lent posts, I asked us to consider Jesus’ question, “do you want to be well?” and throughout our journey together, we’ve pondered questions and ideas all intended to retrain our eyes and ears – and hearts and souls – to experience our lives from a Kingdom view. We’ve worked at pealing back the layers to remember our created purpose, to (re)connect to the image of God in each of us, and (re)discover that we are the way God has chosen to reveal Kingdom Love and Kingdom Light on earth as it is in heaven.

Every aspect of our lives is an inseparable combination of physical and spiritual. As much as we like to think we can segment ourselves into family/work/play/other, we can’t. Everything influences and affects everything else. The way we view and the attitude with which we approach even the simplest and most common of tasks like sweeping the floor both affects and is shaped by our most complex relationships and vice versa.

For example, if I see cleaning as a mundane task beneath my abilities or intellect and I hire someone to clean for me, do I view that person as a human being or as a tool to use as I need? Do I even stop to consider this person as I go through the routines of my day leaving a trail to be cleaned up behind me? But, if I see cleaning as a valuable task reflecting the holiness of God’s Kingdom and I hire someone to clean for me, I see this person very differently. I am more aware of the work they do for me and more than likely I’ll not leave as big a mess.

As we step into the last week of our Lenten journey together, how are you seeing and hearing differently? Are you more aware of the signs of God’s Kingdom all around you? Are you more aware that you are a signpost of the Kingdom?

Tomorrow is Palm Sunday, the day we celebrate Jesus’ final entry into Jerusalem before his arrest and crucifixion. We will sing praises to God and joyfully proclaim that Jesus is Lord. This day of extraordinary events is meant to shape and direct our ordinary as we follow Jesus in God’s Kingdom every day.

Kingdom Work

Have you ever prayed while sweeping the floor? As I hear most folks, including myself, talk about the necessary tasks we must do to keep our homes clean, we speak negatively. These are the things that prevent us from doing the other things, stuff we must do before we can do what we want to do. And these tasks are never ending, so it feels almost futile to make the bed that’s just going to get slept in, sweep the floor that’s just going to get dirty, wash the dishes that just end up back in the sink.

Do you think it’s possible to reframe our necessary chores as tasks for the upkeep of God’s Kingdom? Do you think it’s possible to approach these tasks as forms of prayer or to see them as part of the regular rhythm of restoration and new beginnings of God’s Kingdom?

When our faith ancestors tell the story of creation, they said that God put people in the garden to tend the garden, keep it in order, and care for the animals that lived in it (See chapters 1 & 2 of the book of Genesis).

In the letter to the Romans, Paul says, “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.”

As we look at the daily tasks of our life (I use household chores as my example because most everyone of us as some sort of living space to tend to regardless of the paid work we may do but the idea of all work being kingdom work applies to paid or volunteer work as well1) from a Kingdom viewpoint even the simplest of tasks becomes an act of giving thanks back to God for the life God breathes into us.

Each time that we clean and restore that which has become dirty or out of order, we are participating with God in the rhythms of the Kingdom. Every day is a new day. Every clean dish is ready for a new meal. Every load of laundry restores the purpose of our clothing.

Let God’s love color the way you approach everything you do. Give thanks for the tasks you do knowing God has entrusted you with Kingdom work. We are God’s beloved, created in God’s image, equally physical and spiritual.

1An excellent resource of the Theology of Work is the Theology of Work Project.  Check it out!  

The Beauty of Ordinary

Good Thursday, Y’all! Can I ask you a question? Yes, I realize I just did ask a question but I have a deeper query for you: in the course of our Lenten journey, in what ways have you been particularly aware of God with you?

For most of us who regularly exercise our spirituality in prayer, scripture, study, and worship, we know there are moments when our awareness of God’s presence with us is so very palpable. We can feel, touch, taste, and hear God’s goodness.

And, I would venture to state that most of us have experienced the reality of God when in the scary and dark moments, as hate and violence seem to be the prevailing force, we are strengthened in the hope of the promise of redemption and can hear God say, “do not be afraid.”

What about when you are washing dishes or doing laundry or vacuuming the floor? What about when you are preparing a meal or standing at the counter with a quick breakfast? Or driving to the office, or logging into your computer to work remotely, or dropping the kids off at school, or grocery shopping, or any of the ordinary daily tasks of your day and week?

Do you ever consider these to be spiritual practices? Have you ever had the awareness of God in the midst of some ordinary task take you by surprise?

The good life God has created us for is to live in the awareness of God, not just in the extraordinary moments but in the ordinary moments of every day. Our daily tasks and routines are just as sacred and holy as what we do in worship and prayer. Indeed, our time in worship and prayer and study is preparatory time for the ordinary where we live into our purpose of bringing out the God-flavors and God-colors in the world.

Exercise your awareness of God in washing the dishes. Let God’s presence illuminate the beauty of your ordinary.

A Kingdom View

My original posts planned for this week were to continue with the idea of purpose as we talk about the spirituality of ordinary tasks and we’ll do that but I’m going to adjust our focus a bit because the horrific extraordinary events of this past week (and so many other violent events this past year) DO reshape us and affect our ordinary. And we need to pay attention to how we allow them reshape us.

We could come to a point where they just become another sensational story on the news.
We could enlarge our blinders and say “never where I live” as we maintain what we think is ordinary.
We could let our fear cause us to distrust our fellow human beings.
We could seek retaliation instead of justice and revenge instead of social responsibility and accountability.
We could let these horrific events shape our worldview.

OR

We can allow Jesus to shape our view of the world into a kingdomview of compassion, love, grace, and forgiveness.

We begin in the place of lament: sitting with the pain and grief that acknowledges that the world is broken and hurting. People, God’s beloved children, are in pain and are suffering. And we face this not with some pie-in-the-sky, toxic positivity of “don’t cry, everything will be alright” but allowing God’s promise of redemption to strengthen us in our sorrow.

As we talk about and pray about and think about the situations, we can choose to keep it human. Instead of talking about generic victims and shooters or any other labels, we choose to know their names:

Soon Chung Park, Hyun Jung Grant, Suncha Kim, Yong Yue, Delaina Ashley Yaun, Paul Andre Michels, Xiaojie Tan, Daoyou Feng, Denny Stong, Neven Stanisic, Rikki Olds, Tralona Bartkowiak, Eric Talley, Teri Leiker, Suzanne Fountain, Kevin Mahoney, Lynn Murray, and Jody Waters.

We speak their names in prayer knowing they are God’s beloved children and because praying changes and shapes us. We make it personal because these are persons, our fellow human beings, and the good life we are created for is to be humans as image bearers of God of our creator.

And yes, we must also pray for Robert Aaron Long and Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa because they, too, are loved by God their Creator.

How we pray today shapes us for tomorrow and all of the ordinary and extraordinary events of our lives. Amen.

Taste the Goodness

My heart is heavy with the weight of the hate and darkness that plays out in this world. The shootings in Atlanta and in Boulder bring me back to the reason I started writing publicly about compassion. In the sadness and anger and frustration it is easy to throw up our hands and scream “not again! Why! What’s the point?” It is easier to shut it all out and turn away.

Stronger than my shouting is Jesus’ voice saying, “do not be afraid. I am with you.”
Stronger than my desire to ignore what has happened is the purpose in which I am created as God’s beloved, the purpose in which WE ARE ALL created as God’s beloved.

And so I cry, grieving over the loss of precious life.
I cry for the people, human beings – mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and friends – God’s beloved who have died at the hands of others.
I cry for the families of these people who have so much loss to bear.
I cry for the individuals who carried out these crimes in their brokenness.
I cry for the brokenness of this world that teaches and enables the idea that taking a life is the solution to any problem.

And I pray.
I pray that I may be God’s light of Love to each person I encounter this day.
I pray that others may taste the goodness of God through my actions and behaviors and habits.
I pray that the words I write will teach and enable us to be more compassionate, to see as Jesus sees, to love as God loves.
I pray that you know you are God’s beloved, that you are precious, that you matter.

And so, for today on our Lenten Journey, crying and praying are enough.
In our lament, we learn compassion.
In our lament we feel God’s tender strength holding our pain and our tears.
In our lament we are equipped to love.

Being Human and Human Being

Howdy, Y’all. How are you on this Monday morning? How’s your coffee?

As I was sitting down at my desk this morning, a flock of little birds were quite busy outside my window, flying between the trees and the bushes, looking I assume for whatever they were having for breakfast. I delighted in their work and I watched them for quite a while, grateful for the signs of life in creation in my front yard. Even though I had my own tasks to get to, I delighted in their being and found that my approach to my own work was more joyful.

I keep this quote at my desk:
“Seeking to live a good life is very different from seeking satisfaction for my felt needs and cravings. It’s not about ‘me’ as a particular individual; it’s about being human, which is a very different idea.” 1

We are a purpose driven2 people. As human beings, we are created by God with purpose. Where we go sideways is by defining ‘purpose’ in a way that is different from God’s way. One of the writers of the good news story, Matthew, gives us these words of Jesus:

Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. … You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill…. Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.

a portion of Matthew 6:13-16, The Message

Our purpose is about who we are. We are God’s people, beloved by The One who created us in community for community. This is the good life, the life God created and called Very Good.

For so many, this gets lost in the busyness of proving our purpose with what we do. We have forgotten that we call ourselves human beings, not human doings. And yes, I do say often that ours is a faith of movement but I don’t mean to imply that “getting things done” is the goal. The journey, life following Jesus in the light of God’s love and shining the light of God’s love is our purpose. In fulfilling this purpose we also manage to feed some hungry folks physically and spiritually, heal some wounded souls with kindness, welcome the marginalized and strangers in love. These actions are the fruit of our purpose of being humans who follow Jesus.

The birds outside my window this morning bore fruit they were completely unaware of: they brought me joy. As we follow Jesus, living in our purpose of being salt and light, living the good life we are created for, we will bear fruit we are unaware of. And, yet, we are making things on earth as they are in heaven.

1 The quote is from Dr. David Yeago. It came to me through my Systematic Theology class at Wycliffe College taught by Dr. Joseph Mangina. The textbook we used was a then unpublished book of Systematic Theology being written by Dr. Yeago. I do not know if the book was ever published but I have many, many gems from the draft we were given and it was quite formative for me.

2 Yes, I know there is a popular book published with a similar title but that’s not what I’m talking about here.

Unruly Wills and Affections

For the Fifth Sunday in Lent: http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Lent/BLent5_RCL.html

The gospel writer John begins the story of Jesus public ministry at a wedding in which the hosts have run out of wine and Jesus’ mother asks him to fix the problem. Jesus tells her that his time hasn’t come, to not rush things. And, yet, she persists and Jesus turns water to the best wine anyone had ever tasted, the first glimpse of the glory to come.

In the bit we read this morning, we are toward the end of Jesus’ public ministry. Jesus and his disciples have gathered in Jerusalem in the days before the Passover Feast. Some folks came to Philip and said they want to see Jesus. We aren’t told why they want to see him, perhaps one of them or a loved one is ill and they want to ask for healing; perhaps they’ve heard of the signs Jesus has performed and want to see for themselves; perhaps they have heard him teach and they want the life he’s spoken of. Whatever the reason, Philip first finds another disciple, Andrew, and together they go and tell Jesus these folks are looking for him.

And Jesus tells them, “It’s time.” The time has come to show the world the meaning of the signs, the purpose for all that come before: so that everyone, E V E R Y O N E, would gather around him for God’s glory.

Jesus tells them a parable of a seed that is buried and dies so that it can make more of the fruit it was created to make. He doesn’t address the request to see him directly but says that anyone, everyone who follows him will be with him. We won’t need a ‘go-between’ or a third party introduction as these folks had asked Philip to be. Everyone who follows Jesus has direct access. Or, as my husband says, “God has no grandchildren.”

To live this life in direct relationship with God, to live as we are created to live, Jesus says, we have to let go of the life we’ve constructed for ourselves with our “unruly wills and affections.” Following, Jesus explains, is serving God and others just as he modeled in all that he did – turning water to wine to prevent the host family facing the shame of not having enough, healing and restoring people to full community life, feeding the hungry crowds with a single sack lunch, calming storms, and giving life. And dying.

Jesus’ pending death, he’s saying, isn’t death as we understand it. If you continue to read the remainder of this section of John’s telling of the Gospel story, the crowd who has just heard Jesus’ explanation of what is to come continues to argue with him: “we’ve heard that the messiah is to live forever so, if you are the messiah, how can you be talking about death?”

Unruly wills and affections.

They didn’t, couldn’t grasp what Jesus was telling them, what he’d shown them, what the voice from heaven had spoken, because they didn’t want to let go of what they’d already heard and chosen to believe as told to them and accept what they were witnessing directly themselves. Having a go-between takes away direct responsibility for our behaviors, giving us someone or something else to blame for our choice to not see and hear Jesus.

The explanation of the seed was lost on them. It’s often lost on us. We see only death, not a way to new and restored life. We want fixes to the life we have. Jesus tells us of a whole new life that is for ever. We can’t see beyond ourselves and miss the joy of the good news Jesus is telling us.

We are, each and everyone of us, given the invitation to follow Jesus in the light of God’s love. We are, each and every one of us, God’s beloved children. The time has come for us to walk in love and Jesus loves us and gave himself for us. Amen.

The Journey of Belonging

Jesus not only tells us he is the light of the world and that as we follow him we walk in God’s light, he tells us that we are also to be light to this world. The point and purpose of following Jesus is, two fold: we live in God’s light AND we are to shine the divine light of Love so that others can see the Way, too! The means is the goal.

As we make our way closer and closer to Jerusalem and Holy Week, following Jesus to the cross and tomb and beyond, I’m finding it difficult to remain in this Lenten journey and not just skip to the end. How about you? Are you finding it challenging to remain in the journey?

In the movie The Princess Bride, Prince Humperdinck is marrying Buttercup as part of his plot to start a war and gain more power for himself. He doesn’t want to waste time on listening to the priest blather on about true love and ‘mawidge’ because love isn’t his goal, it’s the means to his attempted evil end so he interrupts the priest insisting he skip to the end. (And for those who don’t know the movie (WHAT?!) Humperdink’s plot is thwarted and love wins. The End.)

And so, as we resist the temptation to skip to the end, we encounter the questions: Why do we want to skip to the end and what would we gain by doing so? (Please don’t think I’m accusing you of some secret evil plot, it’s just a funny illustration to assist us all in looking at our motivations because sometimes humor eases the challenge of the tough questions.)

Let’s do a bit of remembering. (Re)read this post on why we do Lent and remember we are only fully, truly, really human with God and each other and that in this season of Lent we are choosing to make more room for the awareness of God’s presence in our lives. Are you finding yourself more aware of God?

Our Lenten journey is to shape us into kingdom people who continuously seek to make more room for the awareness of God’s presence.

The purpose is the journey. The purpose is being.

The purpose is the continuous discovery of belonging in God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, journeying with Jesus in this season and every day, shining the light of God’s love.

Today and tomorrow, I pray that we all clear space for sabbath rest – abiding in God’s presence in the peace and confidence of our belonging. We have plenty of time this next week to talk more about purpose. Be in peace, my journeying friends.