Posts Tagged ‘goodness’

The Dilemma of the Ice Cream Cone

{ June 25, 2013 @ 4:39 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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The Dilemma of the Ice Cream Cone

Have you ever eaten one of those ice cream cones that looks like it came out of a promotional magazine ad for Baskin-Robbins? You know what I mean.  There is nothing more tasty than an ice cream cone on a hot day.  It is to be savored and enjoyed and experienced as a thing of beauty and a blessing from God.  But let me rephrase the question.  Have you ever eaten an ice cream cone in front of child that wants one, but not only cannot afford one now, but may never be able to afford one?  Have you truly enjoyed that treat while a child looks at you eating it with a wish in her heart that is bigger than either of you are?  Would it even be possible to enjoy such a thing as it was meant to be enjoyed while you were being eyed longingly…and not even jealously…by a waif who can have no such blessing? Does that change the experience? Is true “enjoyment” even possible under those circumstances?

When faced with this dilemma, what do we do? I mean, we want to enjoy that ice cream cone, right? Enjoyment is the reason God created ice cream.  Well, that’s not ACTUALLY in the Bible, but no one had thought of ice cream at the time of the writing.  So what can we do?  As I see it, we have a couple of options.  We can go somewhere where that child cannot see us eating it.  Out of sight, out of mind.  We can lock ourselves in a closet where no one can see us and then we, existentially at least, don’t have a problem.  In that same vein, we can hire some security guards and build some fences and arrest any waifs who venture too close to our potential enjoyment.  We can make sure the bus line ends far away from the ice cream parlor. Or we can give the ice cream cone to that child and watch them eat it…but then, of course, WE don’t have an ice cream cone.  Or…we can share it.  Then not only do we get to enjoy some sugary bliss with a little less damage to our waist line, AND we get the added enjoyment of watching a child be blessed at the same time we are.  We even get to be the agent of that blessing, and THAT is a true joy.  So, what’s the best option?

We answer the question, but the dilemma continues because then comes those other nagging questions.  What about all the other children who can’t afford an ice cream cone?  What about them? Where does it end?  I mean should we even bother with one if we can’t give them all an ice cream cone?  We give this kid some, and what about the children in Ethiopia?  Rats! We might as well just eat the thing because we can’t fix a broken world.  But is there any enjoyment in that way of thinking? I doubt it.  There’s a look on the face of people who cope with this dilemma this way and it is anything but joyful.  It’s a scowl…a defensiveness. Somewhere in our psyches we logically know that if there are enough people without any hope of ever having ice cream, they will simply overwhelm our spheres of protection and take what we did not give them.  Waifs grow up to be thugs, don’t they? Scowls aren’t arrogant expressions.  They’re fearful expressions. There’s nothing really simple about the dilemma of the ice cream cone.

I guess the answers to these questions are really personal.  It isn’t about THE answer.  It’s about YOUR answer.  Where can YOU find a place of joy?

Of course, this post isn’t really about ice cream.  It’s about blessings and enjoyment…the visitation of joy upon us.  It’s about houses, and education, and spiritual growth, and cars, and clothes, and healthcare, and dental coverage, and food, and meaningful labor, and fun, and self-worth, and security, and choices, and the simple pleasures of this life.  Can we enjoy any of those as they were meant to be enjoyed while being watched by someone who cannot have them? What are our choices? We can cloister ourselves in smaller and smaller gated communities with more and more layers of security, and handle the problem existentially…sort of. We can make sure that the bus line ends at the county line.  Out of sight, out of mind, right? Or we can give everything away and have nothing ourselves.  Or we can share.  And where does that end? I don’t know. I have no idea where that ends.  Neither does anyone else, really.  But a better question that will actually lead to joy is not, “Where does this end?”  Rather it is, “Where does this begin?”  In the Kingdom of God, there is always enough if we share. Enjoy.

How about a Little Grace?

{ May 8, 2012 @ 3:20 pm } · { Footsteps }
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How about a Little Grace?

Amidst all of the clamors and cries these days for justice for this person and justice for that person, I just want to put in a plug today for a little bit of grace.  Among the zealots of every stripe the cry goes up, “Justice!! Justice!!”.  The truth is that the truth is elusive.  “Now I see dimly, as through a glass.  But one day I will see face-to-face.”  Someday, we will all know the truth.  But someday is probably not today.  Today what we know is only what our perception allows us to see…what our human limitations allow us to see.  And justice requires truth…so the justice we clamor for is going to be problematic.  I don’t think the world needs more justice.  I think the world needs more grace.

So, today when someone cuts me off in traffic, instead of swearing and praying that that person gets their comeuppance, I am going to remember that that person is someone’s mother or grandfather or cherished child.  And I am going to think about how I would feel if someone screamed obscenities at my elderly mother or tried to run my son or daughter off the road.   And I am going to try to remember all the times that I have made a driving error that should have cost someone their life and didn’t.  And I am going to offer grace. I am going to offer a prayer of blessing for that not-so-awesome driver.

Today, when I pull up to the drive-thru window at McDonald’s and I get my McDouble with onions even though I ordered it without onions, I am going to try to remember how awful I was at my first job and how my boss was patient with me and I learned and I got better.  I am going to remember how many things I’ve screwed up at work over the years…and even just today. I am going to remember that I have never had an easy job.  I am going to remember that if I worked at McDonalds, how grateful I would be to even have a job and how much I’d need that job to put food on my family’s table.  I am going to remember what it’s like to have a job that so many people think is beneath them…what it’s like to work at a job that is actually hard where people think they get a free shot to insult you because you work there and they think that their job is so much more important than yours.  And I am going to give grace instead of demanding justice from the manager for the error that that employee made.  I am going to offer a prayer of blessing on that employee that God might remind that employee of how proud God is of them for taking the hard way and working a legitimate job instead of selling dope to make money.  There’s enough justice today.  There’s nowhere near enough grace.

Today, when somebody loses their temper with me…though probably not with me at all, but with their circumstances…I am going to remember every word that I have said that I wish I could have back.  Instead of spending my time today thinking of a snappy comeback to be sure I get the upper hand and justice for the sleight, I am going to spend my time thinking of the times that my words have cut someone.  And, instead of justice, I got grace.  Grace.  Crazy grace.  I am going to give people to God today.  I am going to think about what I don’t know about them, instead of just the behavior that is in front of me.  I am going to remember that if I thought what they thought, I’d probably lose my temper, too.  And then…I would need grace.  There’s enough justice in the world today.  Imperfect justice.  There’s nowhere near enough grace.

Today, I am going to remember that if I got the job I deserved, I wouldn’t have a job.  If my friends treated me the way I deserved to be treated, they would have turned their backs on me long ago.  If I got the wife I deserved, I wouldn’t have a wife at all.  If I got the life I deserved…if I got justice in my life…I would be living up underneath a bridge huddled around a little fire I probably don’t deserve either. In fact, I would probably be dead.  For some strange reason that I do not understand at all, I have received grace from God.  Instead of justice, I have received blessings beyond measure.  No idea why, but I am grateful.  So, today, I am going to give a little grace back and see what kind of a world that creates. Maybe something I didn’t even see will get healed today. I’ll probably screw this up, too.  And then…I’ll need grace.

If I can find the heart to give grace in the little things today, maybe I can find a way to give grace in the big things, too. Maybe.  Easy for me to say.  I guess we’ll see.  In the meantime, let’s see how much grace I can give in the little things that come my way.

Beware of Simon the Sorcerer

{ March 8, 2011 @ 7:14 pm } · { Subject and Object: Sermons and Interactions }
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Beware of Simon the Sorcerer

The book of Acts relates a story about a sorcerer of some renown in Samaria who became enthralled with healing miracles performed by the apostles in his part of the country.  The sorcerer’s name was Simon.  We don’t know the nature of his sorcery, whether it was hocus-pocus sleight-of-hand trickery or whether it was more akin to witchcraft.  The story goes into no detail on the matter.  The Bible doesn’t say that witchcraft isn’t real. The story of Saul and the Witch of Endor relates apparently real sorcery. It instead tells us that we are not to mess with it.  We were not created to fool around with it.  We simply don’t know what it was that this Simon was engaged in. But whatever it was, the people that he practiced it among were impressed enough by it to give him the name, “The Great Power”.  The internalization of that kind of fame has a sorcery of its own that plays with the mind of the recipient – it makes that person appear to himself to be more important than he or she really is.  It creates its own dark illusions and distortions, and if we are not careful, we can find ourselves donning the wizard’s hat and memorizing incantations.

Upon gazing with amazement at the miracles that God was doing through the apostles that God sent out, Simon is said to have “believed” to such an extent that he was baptized.  The question that doesn’t get asked in the story is, “Believed in what?”  Clearly he believed that what he was seeing had real power.  But it is just as clear, though only implied, that he saw baptism as some kind of power-giving incantational ritual. The Book of Acts relates that this Simon even went so far as to offer money for the “How-to Manual of Signs and Wonders”.  His mind was filled with wonder, but the wonder that his mind was filled with led him to desire the power to perform miracles and wonders and thus become even more renowned and great in his land and among his people.  Baptism not being a magical act did not rid him of his motive of ambition.  The wonder that filled his mind did not lead him to surrender.  It didn’t lead him to humility.  It didn’t lead him to a posture of servanthood.  Instead, he apparently saw that mastering this “skill” of miracle-making would be another rung on the ladder to worldly fame and fortune.  He’d be an even bigger “rock star” and  “hit with the ladies”.  He saw people pouring out of their homes and villages, seeking what was happening in the mission that the apostles were participating in.  He wanted to be like the apostles…more correctly, he wanted the “mojo” that he mistakenly thought the apostles possessed.

In the mission fields where we serve, we see miracles happen all the time.  We see hearts transformed.  We see lives literally changed before our eyes.  We see addicts break free from their addictions, loosed from the bondage of overwhelming impulse.  We see hope long lost found again among the rubble of really broken things. And we see people who have witnessed these amazing signs and wonders bring their whole households out to participate in the Kingdom of God in our midst.  And on occasion, we find Simon the Sorcerer in our midst.  Seeing a miracle happen is intoxicating.  And if we aren’t extremely careful, it can also be distorting.  I have seen many miracles, and I have never performed a single one.  Every miracle that happens in the midst of our mission is performed singly and solely by the power of the Holy Spirit in relationship with the one being healed.  We wield no supernatural power.  We claim no ability.  We cry out to the Holy Spirit to heal the sick and broken-hearted because we have nowehere else to turn, and because we know for a fact that without the Spirit of God we are powerless.  Indeed, we ARE powerless.  WE are powerless.  And we are dispensable.  We are nothing but ashes and dust.  The King of the Kingdom is the sole power.

It is important to remember that the mission is not what we do.  It is what we PARTICIPATE in.  It isn’t our mission.  It is God’s mission.  If people witness the crazy signs and wonders and imprint on us – seek to become like us, then we have utterly failed in the mission.  Maybe more correctly, we have failed the mission.  We do not exist. We are dead people walking, dead and raised in Christ.  What does a dead person care about being a “rock star” or a “hit with the ladies”? Of what possible good is fame to a dead person? People in need need Christ and the Kingdom, not us.  It is Christ, the Teacher of The Way, that must be imprinted on.  We aren’t placing peoples’ hands in our hands.  We are placing peoples’ hands into the hands of Christ who is reaching out to them.  Anything short of doing that is sorcery, and we will be opening doors to things that we were not created to let loose.  We must be careful to stay small, indeed to not exist, so that Christ may be all that is seen or heard.  I don’t know whether sorcery has any real power.  The Bible seems to indicate that it does.  But the Bible is also clear that though it may have power, it doesn’t have the power to give life.  And life is what people need.  Only Christ can make the lame walk and the dead rise.  Christ alone.  Beware of Simon the Sorcerer in the crowd.  Beware of Simon in your mission teams.  And beware of Simon in our own hearts.  We are all susceptible.

The Mission Doesn’t Care Who Gets the Credit

{ September 9, 2010 @ 2:51 pm } · { Subject and Object: Sermons and Interactions }
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The Mission Doesn’t Care Who Gets the Credit

Hijacking is illegal.  Hijacking the mission of Jesus Christ is unconscionable. And yet…it happens all the time among people who should know better, but don’t seem to.  Participation in God’s Kingdom means complete surrender to God’s purposes.  It means being a slave (the Greek word that Paul uses is “doulos”) to God, not being God’s partner.  Partners get equal credit.  Slaves have no need of any. Their desire is to please their master.  Is the institution of religion our master, or is God?  Whose affection we seek tells us the answer to that question.  Jesus taught that, “You can’t serve both God and mammon.” It’s one or the other, not both. There is no equality here.  God is God, and we have the almost unbearable honor of being God’s slaves. The upside-downness of that statement is mind-boggling by any earthly value system.  I know this sounds crazy to those who have not found themselves at the crossroads and made the choice to give up their life to follow Christ.  I know how insane that sounds to people who live life other ways.  But those who have surrendered their lives to Christ know the absurdity of seeking credit for the actions and goodness of the one that we have surrendered our lives to.  What difference could it possibly make to a slave who gets the credit? Can the world’s recognition lift the burden of a slave? No. Only the master can.

The hijacking of the mission for personal or institutional gain reflects glaringly a slavery to the institution of religion, rather than to the will of God in our lives. Beware, because hijackers often disguise themselves as fellow travelers until the moment is right to seize control.  I am not unsusceptible to the temptation to take credit for something that God is doing in order to get a leg up in my career. I have painfully learned, though, that when I have fallen prey to the temptation, it has only led to disaster. When that plane inevitably crashes, the debris scatters for miles.  Every day I have to get up and remind myself that I am a dead man.  I have died with Christ, and have risen anew to a new life in the Kingdom of God.  Anybody else out there been baptized? That’s what it means.  Of what relevance is a career move when you’re already dead? Slavery to Christ is not a career – it is a state of being, no matter how God has called us to make our living. Why would a dead person feel the need to hijack a movement of God?  Either we’re not hijacking it on purpose (which is a highly dubious claim given the amount of weaponry required to give it a try), or we’re only “playing dead”.  My soul tells me that when I get caught up in the power plays of profession or denomination that there is some place in my life or mind or soul that I have not fully surrendered…that isn’t quite dead yet.

None of this is really my point today.  My point today is two-fold.  First, faith is not an institution.  It is a movement.  It can’t be controlled by anyone.  Only a fool tries to harness the wind and call it their own.  Only a really misguided soul tries to take credit for the incoming tide. We might be able to fool people for a little while into thinking that we control the tide. But when people figure out that we are not the force behind the tide, what we find as the tide goes back out is that it has taken all of our integrity with it.  Mission is all about networking, and maneuvering for power destroys networks. Participation in the mission is participation in God’s Kingdom.  And participation in God’s Kingdom is participation in a movement… THE movement.  Participation in the movement requires that we give ourselves away.  In order to participate, we have to pass on what we are receiving as fast as we can. Amazingly, nothing that I have ever given to God or to another person in Christ’s name has ever returned to me empty.

The mission is a constantly overflowing cup.  The credit belongs to the wellspring, not to the cup.  The things that we love most – that are most meaningful and moving to us, are the same things that most people in the world are starving for.  They are designed to flow through us to others.  It’s the way a movement works.  We experience it by passing it along. We aren’t IT…we get to be part of it.  It is a generosity and forgiveness and grace gig…all of those things can only be experienced by passing them on without putting our logo on it.   The crazy thing about THIS movement is that, just as Jesus promised, we find that in giving it all away, it is returned to us a thousand fold.  Jesus said, “Those who seek to save their life will lose it, and those who give their life away will find it.” Those who are branding their programs with the term “missional” are trying to make the mission “theirs”.  I saw a missional promotion video recently for a string of mega-church spin-offs.  It was very cool.  It was very well put together.  It essentially invited people to come and worship in their churches.  It must have cost a fortune to put that thing together.  Every week I have to beg for hours for the funds to feed 150 people a week at the pantry, and to fund the street ministry. I bet I could feed a couple thousand people for the cost of that video alone.

The movement isn’t theirs.  It isn’t mine.  It isn’t yours. As soon as we make it ours, we drag it down to earth and it becomes just another institution with a marginally cooler way of talking.  The movement of Christ is God’s and God’s alone.  As a wise friend of mine named Darren Smith (Streetscape Ministries – Google it, support it) wrote recently, “Only dead people see God.”  If we want to see God in the mission, the first thing that has to happen is we have to die to our own desires and fears.  Personal desire leads to fear.  And dead people have no fear.

The second point about this is the reality that people caught up in real suffering don’t care where relief comes from.  The people that the Kingdom of God is most desperately trying to reach are so desperate themselves that when a cup of living water is handed to them, they don’t remember which person gave it to them.  Why would they? Would you?  They only remember that in their time of trial, they cried out to God and God sent someone to them to act on God’s behalf – in Christ’s name.  As soon as we stick our name on it, the water dies…there is never again any real life in that water because we have no life to give.  It becomes merely water.  But when we die to our own desires for accolades and applause and power, and we offer a cup of water that is not ours but God’s, then it quenches both the thirst of the body, and the thirst of the soul. Does a severely wounded child even know who places the bandage on them?  Does the mother of that child even care? Does a starving person even remember the face of the person who hands the food off of the relief truck? No.  How silly we become when we try to move ourselves ahead by taking credit for a goodness we don’t author.  How much we miss the boat when our desire for professional advancement or church growth are fully alive and functioning in our motives after we have gotten in the water of baptism and told the world that we are already dead. What difference could it possibly make to a dead person what human gets the credit for delivering the blessings of God? What care is it to a dead person to hear the applause of the earthly masses? Only the dead see God…and seeing God is the greatest blessing of all.