So, it’s the “day after” Trinity Sunday and I’m all caught up in the mystery!

Yesterday, my message at The Bridge Community was terribly short and shallow.  We were meeting outdoors and having a cookout and party afterward, so it just didn’t feel appropriate to plumb the depths of the mystery of the Godhead while sweating in the 85 degree sun!

Maybe it’s because I didn’t get to explore it more in the sermon, but I’m left pondering the nature of God.  One of my lingering questions is why Jesus or the Spirit-inspired New Testament writers didn’t speak more directly to this thing we call the Holy Trinity?  Why couldn’t they have come out with a clear statement on God being three-yet-one/three-in-one?  Instead, we have a doctrine that emerges from the biblical narrative and remains elusive, like a mystery.

On his blog, JD Walt writes about parables and poets, and he gives some thoughts on why Jesus didn’t always make his teachings more clear.  I’ve adapted a couple of his thoughts on parables and applied them to the concept of mystery.

• Mystery subverts our “mastery” approach to knowledge.  It requires submission leading to a “be mastered by” approach.
• Mystery creates a context where epiphany can happen; where “reality” can be discovered.  I love this approach to understanding, because it seems that we remember and are shaped by truth more when we’re allowed to come to our own “ah ha!” moment.
• Mystery works in the dynamic world of wisdom and imagination rather than the static realm of knowledge and information.

Knowing God, like all mystery, is not easy.  It is not something we can control, or tame.  But it is a fascinating pursuit, worthy of our lives!

Related posts:

1. Buechner: Live the Mystery

In preparing to speak this Sunday on Luke 4:22-30, I’m struck by the ways Jesus (then and now) challenges our boundaries and blows open the scope of his grace.

The Quaker author and activist, Parker Palmer, writes in The Company of Strangers: Christians & the Renewal of America’s Public Life:

“At the heart of any authentic religious experience is the recognition that God’s nature is too huge, God’s movement too deep, ever to be comprehended by a single conception or point of view … God’s truth is singular and eternal, but the forms in which we give it expression are as finite and fragile as clay pots, and we must always be ready to break them open on behalf of a larger vision of truth.”

[Update: I gave the message on January 31 at The Bridge Community; it is linked here.]

Related posts:

1. Truth Is Not An Abstract Idea
2. The “Jealousy” of God

Dear God,

I want to jump right in with the questions: Why? Where are you? How long?  But, first, let me say, “I trust you.”  At least, I want to.

In weeks like this last one, honestly, it’s harder to do.

This planet just doesn’t make sense sometimes.  I’ve gotten to see quite a few parts of it in person – a masterpiece of creation, really.  I’ve marveled at the tides, lapping wave after wave onto a white canvas beach.  I’ve gotten to see towering mountain ranges and sprawling valleys; majestic lakes and trickling, entrancing streams.  I made mud pies with red clay, wiggled my toes in the sands of the Pacific, and planted seeds in the soil of the Appalachian Mts.  I’ve seen Autumn in Kentucky.

And, while I’ve not seen it all personally, through photographers’ art and through satellite lenses I’ve gotten a pretty good idea of your power and beauty and grace. I understand just some little bit about geological formations, outer crust, tectonic plates, and the like.  Something about a living, breathing planet, the scientists say – dynamic, moving …

But when shifting plates crush a city, I don’t understand at all.

When the earth you created collapses under the feet of thousands of people, I don’t understand.

Why?

I’ve seen the pictures.  Lives, families, communities — torn up.  Haitians seem a world away, but I’m bound to them by the human condition we share — that frail human condition, so raw on their faces in the face of that god-forsaken place. Yes, it seems god-forsaken – I don’t know what else to say.  Unsuspecting people died in an instant, others fell under the weight of buildings and cried for help for hours or days.  Simple broken bones turned into fatal wounds because of lack of medical care.  Where were you for them?

Where are you …?  Did you just put this big ball in motion and then step back?  Or do you not see?  Do you not hear?

Or is it that I just don’t understand?

I’m sure that must be it. I believe the words of scripture, that “Your ways are higher than my ways, your thoughts are higher than my thoughts.”  Of course – it would have to be that way.  But that, frankly, doesn’t help right now.

If your ways are higher than my ways, then your eye for justice must be sharp.  Yet I see it … and it seems you don’t … injustice, suffering, pain for the seemingly undeserving.

Can you step in? Are you able to stop this out-of-control planet?

Why don’t you? Why won’t you?

How long until Haitians don’t have to fear?  How long until mothers don’t lose their daughters when all they wanted to do was go outside and play?  How long until memories aren’t scarred?  How long until this place gets set right?

I’ve got a lot of questions right now …

I’m not looking for an excuse to walk away.  I trust you.

I’m not trying to be vindictive, as though I were somehow your equal; as though I were there when you set the stars in their place and formed this big rock we call Earth.

I don’t mean to challenge you. You’re in control.

I just have questions.

.

.

.

Related posts:

1. Images from Haiti

“Glory is to God what style is to an artist.” With these words, Frederick Buechner cracks open a fascinating definition of ‘glory’ in Wishful Thinking: A Seeker’s ABC.  He goes on:

A painting by Vermeer, a sonnet by Donne, a Mozart aria — each is so rich with the style of the one who made it that to the connoisseur it couldn’t have been made by anybody else, and the effect is staggering.  The style of artists brings you as close to the sound of their voices and the light in their eyes as it is possible to get this side of actually shaking hands with them.

In the words of the nineteenth Psalm, “The heavens are telling the glory of God.”  It is the same thing.  To the connoisseur, not just sunsets and starry nights but dust storms, rain forests, garter snakes, the human face, are all unmistakably the work of a single hand.  Glory is the outward manifestation of that hand in its handiwork just as holiness is the inward.  To behold God’s glory, to sense his style, is the closest you can get to him this side of Paradise, just as King Lear is the closest you can get to Shakespeare.

Glory is what God looks like when for the time being all you have to look at him with is a pair of eyes.

I want to be a “connoisseur” – what about you?!

Related posts:

1. Buechner: Live the Mystery
2. Buechner: Thoughts on Principles

Comedian Steve Harvey takes a shot at introducing Jesus in this video.  What about you, if you could introduce Jesus to an expectant audience, how would you do it?

Enjoy:

The idea that the God of the Bible is a “jealous” deity has always left me wandering.  On one hand, I kind of like that God is “jealous for me!”  It shows a passion and interest that is comforting (if not egocentric).  On the other hand, jealousy is not the most admirable emotion – it seems kind of petty, especially for the sovereign King of the universe

So what are we to make of the “jealousy” of God, mentioned in these passages, among others:  Exodus 20:4-6; Exodus 34:14; Deuteronomy 4:24?  [You can move your mouse cursor over the verse references to read them.]

Perhaps a helpful first step toward understanding comes in linking God’s jealousy to the practice of biblical monotheism.  Monotheism is more than simply a doctrinal statement about God’s eternal being; it is, for God’s people, a summons to relational fidelity.  In Deuteronomy 6:4-5, what is commonly known as the Shema, we see a clear, holistic call for covenant loyalty based on the singular one-ness of God.  The fact that there is only one God works itself out in this very practical way:  this God is Lord over every aspect of life.  The polytheists of the biblical world had to give up their many gods, assigned as they were to the many aspects of life.

Theologian, Paul Minear, wrote:  “To the biblical writers, monotheism begins, not as a stage of metaphysical speculation, not as a final stage in the development of polytheism, not as a merging of all gods into one, but when one God becomes the decisive reality for a particular man and thereby calls for the dethronement of all his other gods.”

So, cast in this light, the jealousy of God is easier for me to understand.  The God of covenant love simply will not share his people!  He desires an exclusive relationship.  We don’t belong to ourselves, as the apostle Paul wrote, we’ve been bought with a high price (1 Corinthians 6:20).  Divine jealousy is not the petty, emotional response of an insecure being.  It is the natural consequence of the “one God” making his claim over and against the claims of all “other gods.”  Of course, today, we wouldn’t call ourselves polytheists and openly practice worship to multiple gods; but our idols are just as numerous and our tendency to compartmentalize life into many parts is just as strong as those in the ancient world.

May this jealous God lead me to strip away the false labels of “sacred” and “secular” from the various parts of my life, and help me to live in the reality that he is concerned with every aspect.  Lord, have mercy …

There is a destructive cycle of spirituality where we begin with “doing,” or self-effort.  Then we link our sense of significance with our achievements.  I wrote about this in a post called, “Cycle of Grace.”  Here is one of the illustrations from that post:

We have a choice in our lives.  We can begin with work and try to make it to acceptance. Or, accepting the invitation of Jesus, we can start from the other end of the cycle?

Because of God’s grace and the finished work of Jesus, we can begin each day with a clear sense of acceptance – that God is our father, we are his sons and daughters.  We will then learn to come to him for sustenance.  Then our sense of significance will follow, leading us to work as a natural outflow of a healthy spirituality.

It’s in the quadrant labeled “sustenance” that I want to offer a couple of thoughts.  In a healthy Christian life, this is where spiritual disciplines come in.  In the past, I used to see the traditional spiritual disciplines like prayer, meditation, fasting, worship, etc., as something I did, or worked at, in order to get the cycle rolling toward acceptance.

But, if we relocate these actions into the realm of relationship and spiritual sustenance, then we’re able to experience them differently.  God has not given us the spiritual disciplines because these are just some more ways in which to please God.  Instead, they are the means by which he comes to us and says, I want to affirm for you that I am your father, you are my child.

Take a minute and think about each of the spiritual disciplines in this way.

How does your perspective change if you see fasting not as a “work” but as a response to the invitation to block out distractions to your relationship with Jesus?  What would it mean if meditation was not, as I used to think, the effort to please God; but rather the act of a child longing to hear the Father’s voice?

Related posts:

1. Cycle of Grace
2. Who Am I? Why Am I Here?

A common approach to life seems to be the cycle from “work” to “significance” to “success” to (the hope for) “acceptance.”  Something like this:

The key is that, for so many of us, the cycle begins in the “work” quadrant.  We feel the intense need to achieve in life.  Our identity is, all too often, based on what we do.

Tell me about yourself … Who are you?

How many times do we answer in terms of our “occupation?”

So, what if this general “Cycle of Work” invades our spirituality?

We import the way of life we’ve learned into our approach to God.  Only now, a very destructive pattern begins to emerge.

Yes, in a life of faith, there may be things “do” (obedience), and that’s cool.  But for some of us, depending on our past (especially when we were new to faith) and depending on our relationship with significant authority figures in our life, if “achievement” is the only route to acceptance and appreciation, then a very unhealthy link gets forged between the first quadrant and the last.  Recognition and acknowledgment become the basis for feeling significant.

The tragic part is that sometimes we fail.

• Deadlines pass and the work doesn’t get done …
• Dissatisfaction with a job leaves us wandering …
• We miss an opportunity …
• Our children stray in harmful, hurtful ways …

But even when we succeed, there is a danger if we have established the link between work and acceptance in our lives.  When is it ever enough? How much do we have to do to be accepted?

And how do we maintain the cycle?  It’s pretty natural to see that to make it through the critical points in our life, emotional or spiritual “highs” become our (illegitimate source of) sustenance.

But, the good news is Jesus modeled a different way to be human – not based on this vicious cycle of spirituality, but based on a life-giving Cycle of Grace.  Take a look at how he changed everything!

The key to understanding the Cycle of Grace is realizing where it starts!  In the quadrant called, “Acceptance.”  And the cycle is reversed.

For Jesus, his earthly work began with a thunderous voice of approval and acceptance at his baptism (Matthew 3:17).  Before he had done anything!  Jesus was accepted by the Father.  Then, at his Transfiguration in Matthew 17:5, we get an example of Jesus being sustained by the re-affirmation of his identity and relationship with God.  Then, moving into the quadrant of “Significance,” we see that Jesus expressed a self-secure understanding of his vocation, or “calling” in John 13:3.

Finally, after beginning with the acceptance of God, being sustained by his relationship with God, and finding significance in his calling from God, Jesus does the work he came for.  During some final moments with his friends before his execution, Jesus expresses this in prayer (John 17:4), and then with his final breath on the cross, he proclaimed “it is finished.”  Work, achievement, “doing for God”?  Yes, but as a result of his acceptance and sense of significance, not as a basis for it.

Life as a follower of Jesus must begin in the quadrant called, “Acceptance.”  Work is no longer the starting point, it is the natural outflow of the life-giving Cycle of Grace.  When we accept the invitation to be adopted into God’s family, we are called “beloved,” holy and without blemish in God’s eyes!  From that beginning, we are invited into a daily relationship, spending time with the Father, hearing his voice sustaining us (not the illegitimate voices the world offers).  Then we will gain our sense of significance from the vocation he calls us to – being salt and light in the world, loving God with everything we have and loving others as ourselves.  And as a response to God’s grace, we will “work” – obedient to the tasks he calls us to.

May God rescue us from the vicious cycle of life and place us in the flow of his Cycle of Grace!

Related posts:

1. A New Way of Thinking About Spiritual Disciplines
2. The “Jealousy” of God
3. Who Am I? Why Am I Here?

Drawing from an idea I blogged about awhile back, I want to have another go at micro-theology!

How many of you are on Twitter?  How many of you use SMS as a regular communication medium?  You know about the need to say what you mean in a succinct, clear way.  Facebook updates?  Even email, to some extent, has taught us to communicate in fewer words, while not sacrificing clarity or intelligibility.

Here’s the question that stands behind micro-theology:  if you can’t summarize what you believe, do you really understand it?  So, let’s do a mental exercise together, Twitter-style, in an effort to crystallize what we believe. 

What is the message of the Bible in 140 characters or less?

In the comments below, share what you think.  Be as creative as you like with characters and (understandable) abbreviations!

I’ll give it my best shot in the comments. Can’t wait to hear what you think!

Related posts:

1. Gospel in 10 Words or Less

An encouraging word for the weekend …

I’ve been studying the book of Colossians for several weeks now as part of a teaching series at The Bridge Community.  It’s a first century letter written to a young church, giving them a vision for life and faithfulness.  One of the significant passages in the book is Colossians 1:15-20, a great poem, or hymn of the Christian faith.

With this passage in mind, I want you to have this poetic, interpretative expansion on that text.  It’s written by Brian Walsh and Sylvia Keesmaat in their book, Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire.  I hope this will allow the Scripture to come alive and confront our changing cultural reality …

So, this weekend, may we see all the “dehydrated” images for what they are.  May we fight the robber-barons of the soul, those competing images that seek a “monopoly of our imaginations,” and dwell on the only image that matters!

Related posts:

1. Who Am I? Why Am I Here?