A popular trend in management circles is. ‘Don’t be afraid to say no.’

Don’t try to be everything to everybody. Don’t over commit. Draw boundaries and stick to ‘em.

Saying no is rather easy. We learned it at a young age.

Saying yes, on the other hand, takes a certain skill. And it is a habit worth cultivating, especially when it involves saying yes to God.

The nativity story is one in which its main characters make a habit of saying yes.  First Mary welcomes the angel’s news, then in this Sunday’s Gospel we hear Joseph doing the same thing. They said yes to God in the face of some pretty good reasons to respond otherwise. Mary and Joseph were yes people.

How does this challenge us to do the same? What is God asking us to say yes to? In what ways do we need to emulate the attitude of the holy family, ‘not my will be done, but thy will be done?’

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Reading

The Social Media Gospel - Meredith Gould
Pursuing God's Will Together - Ruth Haley Barton
The Reformation - Diarmaid MacCulloch

I was looking through some old photographs recently and came upon a picture of the kitchen of my childhood. In my mind I knew right where the chairs were, the dishwasher was located, the cabinets, and the countertops. And the color of the walls: blue. Except, they were green. I stared and stared at the picture until it hit me that the photograph wasn’t discolored. My memory was. My conception of my childhood kitchen was not my childhood kitchen. I had equated my conception with the reality, and was once again reminded that the two are not always the same.

This same thing happens with God.

In fact, on Sunday, as we meet John the Baptist in our gospel reading, we see that he makes the same mistake – and goes from John the Baptist to John the Idolater.

Here’s what I mean. John had a certain idea of who God was and how God acted. In Sunday’s reading John gets so confused over this that he sends his disciples to ask if Jesus is, indeed, the messiah.  Now remember that John was Jesus’ cousin and had baptized him. But John’s conception of who God was seems to have overshadowed that. And now John is thoroughly confused about the whole thing.

You and I get the same way.  And because God doesn't fit our idea of who God should be we can find ourselves not only misunderstanding God but getting angry at God, and even pulling back from God, which is counterproductive because God is the very source that is most likely to help us.

This is why openness and humility are so important for us to cultivate. Our default settings need to be calibrated to accept newness and novelty with more of a ‘wow, tell me more’ approach and less of a ‘this can’t be so’ attitude. 

How is God asking us to be open today? What are we being urged to try, explore, and imagine? In what ways do our conceptions of God keep us from drawing nearer to God?

Reading

The Social Media Gospel – Meredith Goulc

The Distant Mirror – Barbara Tuchman
Matthew for Everyone – NT Wright

“So you’re coming to visit? What day? What time? Oh, you don’t know?!?”

When a dear friend tells me they’re coming over, and they neglect the ‘minor’ details, like date and time, it causes no shortage of anxiety - even more so when it’s a dignitary, celebrity, or even the Lord of the Universe.

So at this time of year, when we’ve already got holiday stress to deal with, why would Jesus throw lighter fluid on the fire with an Advent warning about His impending visitation while neglecting what could otherwise be known? How do we know what to cook, when to serve it – which bedroom to prepare, and how much room will be needed?

Perhaps it’s because we’re already, ready.

Maybe it’s because the things we are so apt to stress out about aren’t really details He’s overly concerned with.

The message of this season is that Jesus loves us just for being us. That’s why He came to us in a manger in the first place. It’s not for who we’ll be one day when we get the house finished, the work-life balance sorted out, and the endless duties on our To-Do lists checked off. God is coming for us just as we are and that’s OK.

Sure, we’ll keep busy with the tasks at hand, working as we do for the Kingdom. But the last place we look to to add stress onto our already overwhelming existence is God and God’s expectations of us.

So as we enter into this blessed time of preparation and expectation, relax - let’s do so with the underlying knowledge that what has been done has been done and what has been left undone is undone – and that’s just fine.

Happy Advent.

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Reading

Matthew for Everyone – NT Wright

Unapologetic – Francis Spufford
The Christian Century

From my cozy office overlooking an autumn palette crowned with an icy blue tiara it’s easy to see how God made the world and called it good.

Then there’s Haiyan, Syria, and the Midwest’s own tornado alley. There are crack babies, Alzheimer’s patients, and pimps who peddle little girls. There’s Detroit, Congress, and Obamacare. One need not look very far to figure out that things are broken – really broken. Were we to condense the world into a college engineering project, there is not an instructor in the world who would hand out a passing grade. What gives with this ‘good’ God and this busted world?

This weekend the Church celebrates Christ the King Sunday – in which we hear the story of Jesus hanging on the cross. Here we catch the image of the God who’s in charge - a God who would rather suffer love than punish the unloving. It’s a God whose dominion over the world is best expressed by the words, “Father forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” It’s a kingship we don’t fully understand, but are irresistibly drawn toward.

The desperate brutality of the world raises questions to which no one has good answers. Christianity is no different.  But what we do have is a story.  It’s a story that finds its fulfillment in the selflessness and altruism of a God who saves by sacrifice and sanctifies by suffering.

While it is tempting to allow our preoccupation with the unanswerable to keep us from opening up to God, the Spirit is calling us elsewhere.  The time is short.  We are being compelled to be part of the solution, to give of ourselves to others, to heal, comfort, and love.  May this love fill our hearts and strengthen our faith, with confidence that whether or not we ever get the answers we seek, God will use us to spread that love all along the way.

Reading

Unapologetic – Francis Spufford

The Social Media Gospel – Meredith Gould
Luke for Everyone – NT Wright

Once again this Sunday’s gospel paints me a scenario about what being a disciple is all about that I can, in no way, relate to.

I have not been through insurrections or wars, famines or plagues, nor arrested and brought before kings and governors because of my faith. My parents and relatives have not betrayed me. I know no one, personally, who has been put to death.

The biggest danger I’ve faced was wearing my U-of-M t-shirt to the game only to find my seat was in the student section on the M-S-U side.

Sure, times have changed, but the call of Christ that asks us to do really difficult things, has not.

So one of my biggest challenges is not being attacked as much as it is being apathetic. Given the economic, vocational, and family constraints we all face, making time for God – and convincing myself that God’s mission is really important becomes difficult.

Plus, there’s an ever-present temptation not to believe in the first place. How do we make sense of our very cruel world - where a typhoon takes 10,000 lives at a swipe? Where a pimp gets paid extra to furnish a 12-year? And where a hospital emergency room fills up with the tiny victims of another school shooting?

In the walk of faith, endurance isn’t just putting up with interrogation room beatings, it’s about doing our best to believe when so much that surrounds us is trying to convince us that it doesn’t really matter.

So don’t go there. Keep the faith. By your endurance you will gain your souls.

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Reading

Unapologetic – Francis Spufford

Making Sense of the Cross – David Lose

Animate – Augsburg Fortress Publishing

Last year we took a family photograph in the backyard.

We all sat on a step leading up to the back door, outfitted in nice jackets and dresses, my wife and two kids. In the background you could see the rear of the house.

When we got the picture back from the photographer we asked our four year old what he thought. He immediately exclaimed, ‘ATV!’ We were puzzled. Then we looked closely at the photograph. And sure enough, in the background, in the rear of the house was a small living room window, and in that window, a small toy ATV. What would very likely go undetected by everyone who would ever see this photo was the first thing my son noticed. What was a family photo to the rest of the world was, to him, a prize image of one of his favorite toys.

It would be unfair to say that my son is not fully appreciating his family by his preoccupation with a toy car (he is only four), but it is fair to say that, like him, we can get so focused on small details that we miss the big picture. The consequences range from sad to tragic.

This Sunday we will hear Jesus talk with a group of religious people who were so obsessed with a detail of their religion that they did not see the big picture. Their fixation on the details kept them from realizing they were talking with God in the flesh. Their passion for the trivial kept them from being the best they could be individually and as a force for God in the world. This is the tragedy.

How are we obsessing over minutia – and how does it steer us off track? Does the 5 pounds we gained at a holiday bring a pall over the fact that we have a healthy, prosperous, and happy family?  Does the nick on our car paint overshadow the fact that we’re incredibly blessed because 93% of the world doesn’t even own a car?  Does our body’s inability to do what it once did, keep us from focusing on the incredible things we were able to do during the span of our lives?

The solution is to step back. Take a deep breath. Plan a quiet time. Realize that there is a big picture. And your part in it is insanely important.

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Reading

Unapologetic – Francis Spufford

The Distant Mirror – Barbara Tuchman

Party of One – Beth Knobbe

Here’s my take on the Beatitudes:

Blessed are you:

When you’re poor because you gave your money away.

When you’re hungry because you gave your sandwich away.

When you’re sad because you’re helping your depressed friend.

When you’re not part of the ‘cool crowd’ because following Jesus pretty much guarantees you won’t be a part of the cool crowd.

Unblessed are you:

When you’re living the high life really selfishly.

When you overate because you didn’t share.

When your life is primarily about entertaining yourself.

When you are king of the cool club because having other people like you is really what life is all about.

So the beatitudes aren’t like solving a sudoku– rather they’re pretty obvious statements about what it means to lead a Christian life – and pretty much a happy and fulfilling life in general.

I think we hear them on All Saints’ Day (we’re celebrating it Sunday) because the saints are the ones who’ve figured this out – and really want us to get this.

So read ‘em again and be blessed.

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Reading:

Unapologetic – Francis Spufford

The Distant Mirror – Barbara Tuchman

Free- Mark Scandrette

I remember driving through southern Utah years ago and seeing big warning signs about the scarcity of gas stations. There were 100 miles or more between service centers – so you better check your gas gauge and plan accordingly. Nothing ends your journey quicker than running out of gas: when you go on a trip you need to refuel – often.

The journey of faith is similar. You and I often run up against running out of gas.

We are tempted to ask if it all really matters. If there is any more to our Christian faith than the simple projection of evolving minds that are responding to primeval, meaning-making forces? Is our belief in God anything more than a sociologically formed conception that has far more to do with the zip code in which we were born than divine transcendence?

Sigh.

Running out of gas is running out of faith – faith that there is a God, there is meaning in the universe – that my life is precious, purposeful, and irreplaceable.

And nothing puts gas into our tanks better than prayer.

In prayer we acknowledge who we are, whose we are, how we’re here, and God’s eternal ok-ness with it all. Prayer is grounding ourselves in the divine love that rules the universe. Prayer builds faith.

Nothing ends a journey quicker than running out of prayer.

When’s your next fill-up?

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Reading

A Distant Mirror – Barbara Tuchman

Monster Loyalty – Jackie Huba

Jesus the Jewish Theologian – Brad H. Young

We all know that one of the best ways to get out of a funk is to take a moment (or longer) and simply give thanks for what we’ve got. How does this work?

As you probably know, I have a gratitude list I carry in my smart phone. I look at it regularly, especially when I’m tempted to get bummed about what I don’t have or who I am not. I always recommend this to people.

In Sunday’s Gospel we will hear about the 10 lepers whom Jesus healed, and the rather surprising notion that only one came back to say thanks. Sure it’s rather astonishing so few had the courtesy to do so, but also because the expression of gratitude is so good for us.

For what are we grateful today? Who do we need to thank right now? How might we go about doing so?

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Reading

A Distant Mirror – Barbara Tuchman

Unapologetic – Francis Spufford