do i have to make a decision in 2006?
Last night I was sitting in my chair in our reading room at my house. Suddenly, my children who up until that point were giggling and playing in another room, began to get nasty with one another. I heard Myles calling Payton all sorts of names. I got up and realized that I was after all dealing with a three-year old, and walked into the room only to see them still playing kindly with one another. What I thought was my children arguing was actually a political ad on television.
Is any else tired of these ads? It boggles my mind that anyone can get serious about voting for these men and women who are stooping to levels that would make a middle school student blush. What is scarier is these candidates are not just making and/or approving the ads, one side or another will be leading our state, and representing us in our Capital.
I have a proposal should any candidate happen to read this blog. Get ready, this is earth shattering. I think that candidates should tell us what they are about. I think candidates should tell us about their plans for continued improvement in our state. I think candidates should not say anything about their opponent, only themselves so that voters can make educated decisions about that candidate.
Most men and women vote on one or two issues. Those issues are usually understood by what the general public hears on the television. As it stands now, we know that one side thinks the other has mush for brains, and the other side thinks the one side are incompetent fools. Is this really what we need to vote on? The opinion of one person about another? Surely no one running for public office would think that his or her opinion of another person would garner an informed persons vote … right?
So please candidates, could you stop? Maybe I should say could you start? Could you start telling us why you would be a good citizen serving in public office. Enough of the name calling, cynicism and divisiveness that has plagued our government far too long. After all true leadership should not be about left or right, it needs to be about going deeper.
in defense of bono
Recently I have had many people ask me about Bono. The way they have asked is in a condescending tone, looking down their nose at me and saying, “So, what do you think about Bono?” This then is usually followed by a mild scoff, and/or moderate diabolical laughter. All this as if to say they know something about him that will expose his imperfection.
People are asking this because recently there have been a few decisions Bono, and others he is involved with (including the band) have made that has raised some eyebrows. As a result they have been accused of being money hungry and greedy. The first is that Elevation Partners (of which Bono is one of six partners) purchased a significant minority stake in Forbes Media. The financial terms were not disclosed, but the investment was reportedly pegged at more than 40%, at a cost of $250 million to $300 million.
The second thing people are pointing to is U2’s latest album titled, “U218 Singles”. It is a single disc 'best of' coming in just a few weeks. Featuring 16 of the band's best known songs, the album also includes two new tracks produced by Rick Rubin at Abbey Road Studios last month. Many have rolled their eyes and accused the band of just wanting to make more money.
The third thing is product red (see the icon on the top right of the page). Many have rolled their eyes saying things like, “Real cool buy a t-shirt from Gap that is twice the normal cost so Gap can make money too.” They have called this nothing more than a publicity stunt for others to sell more gear and get more money.
Many from the government of Ireland, to fringe fans, to people who want to show me that Bono may not be a great guy have pointed fingers at him. The main reason for this connects to his work on behalf of the poorest nations of the world. How could a guy who is investing millions, and making millions possibly care about the poor? So the criticism comes.
I have wondered why people always want to tear down people like Bono. What is it about someone who is doing good things that gives them the bulls-eye on their back? My thought is that when someone is doing good things he or she exposes our lack of doing good things. We all want to be known as people who are doing good things. Yet when someone like Bono comes around he seems to dwarf our efforts.
If we can make someone who is doing good things imperfect, if we can point out their weaknesses then we can sleep well knowing they are hypocrites and we are not. It’s actually nice to live this way. Our role stops being about serving the poor, following after Jesus, and loving our neighbor. Our job changes, and it is about pointing out faults. This is a much easier way of life. If we are busy pointing we do not have to be busy doing. Moreover those who we criticize are bad, and not wanting to be like them we can continue to sit and do nothing.
I am getting tired of people calling others hypocrites. The truth is we all are. All of us say things that we do not live out everyday. My bother is not that people point out Bono’s warts; it is more that people spend time trying to find what is wrong with people making our world better. I know Bono has faults, so does he; he speaks more about those than what he is involved in on behalf of Africa. My point is that we need to spend more time looking within, and building something than tearing down.
One thing anyone can learn about another very quickly is what they are against. Let’s spend our time showing others what we are for. Stop pointing the finger at others. Use your hands to build something, and live with a bulls-eye on your back.
telling our story
This week is our last Mi-Week Session until February. Below is an exceprt from Derasha about telling our stories. We'll see you on Wednesday.
Once upon a time in a land far, far away … (Shouldn’t every story begin like that? I know that all the Star Wars fans are saying no). While those opening words may become stale over time, when we read them at the beginning of a fairy tale it always seems intriguing. As we read, the story pulls us into itself, and invites the reader to become a part of its world. Then we come to the words: THE END. The story is over, finished. However, the implications of the story, its characters, its apex and conclusion stay with us far beyond our time spent reading. Indeed there is something magical about the phrase, “Once upon a time.” Those words are more than an introduction; they are an invitation.
In The Lord of the Rings, Sam the Hobbit says to Frodo Baggins, “I wonder what sort of tale we’ve fallen into?” This is a question that would help all of us along if we would only ask it of ourselves. Tales enchant and delight us, yet often we fail to see that we are in the midst of a great story here and now. We want to tell “my story” when really no one man or woman can have a story that is completely his or her own.
When I tell my story it involves other people. The story of my birth definitely involves my mom. She would tell the story of my birth in a completely different way. The story of my birth is not mine alone, it is my mother’s, my father’s, and my siblings’ story. It is everyone’s story who participated in that moment. As I enter into telling my story I am forced to recognize that my story is a sub-story in something much larger.
Another way of understanding this is in the movie series Star Wars. There are many stories in the Star Wars narrative. We have the father son love and hate relationship between Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker. We have the love interest relationship between Han Solo and Princess Leia. Then there is Chewbacca who is always doing the growl-yawn thing that no one gets.
However, Star Wars is ultimately about a larger than life story of the continual struggle between good and evil. George Lucas, the creator of the movies, creates a science fiction world of planets, creatures, and characters to tell his story of the embittered struggle between the dark side and the light side of The Force in a galaxy far, far away. While each character and place has a story it is all part of the big story, the metanarrative, of good versus evil.
die?
At our last Mid-Week Session a question was asked that I had never considered. “When God warned Adam ‘not to eat from the tree of knowledge or he would die’ how would Adam have known what death is?” I thought, “Wow, that’s a good question!” I told the group that I would blog about it, so here it is.
It is interesting to note that in the Garden of Eden God tells Adam about the Tree of Life. He never prohibits him from eating of that tree. We know that the tree did give life to the one who ate it, because when Adam and Eve sin God feels it necessary to guard the Tree of Life. If we ask “How would Adam have known about death?” Then we must ask, “How did Adam understand life?”
When Adam was created I like to think that he poked around the garden and like my kids pointed and said, “What’s that?” God, the Creator would stand over him and say, “That is a banana. You should try it.” Then Adam would point and say, “What’s that?” And God would smile, put his hand on his shoulder, bend down to see what he is pointing at and say, “Oh, do you like that?!? It’s called a flower … a rose, doesn’t it smell good?”
Adam had to learn some things. My guess is he had some sort of knowledge when he was created, but he learned like the rest of us. Genesis 1 and 2 do not give us all the details of Adam’s time in the garden before or after Eve. We do know that he hung out with God, and we do know that he understood consequences of disobeying God. My assumption, based on others is that God taught him these things.
Some assume that Adam may have seen dead animals and understood it that way. They argue that if Adam was to live forever why was there the need for the tree of life? While it is not popular to think about animals dying before the fall, and roses having thorns before the fall many believe this may be the case. They ask questions like, “Did the lion just grow huge flesh tearing teeth after the fall?” About this there is much debate … but we can presume that Adam was given by God an understanding of death.
The immediate consequence of his sin was separation from God. Perhaps this was his understanding of death. Whatever the case, we know that God spoke to him in these words. Most agree that if God used these words then Adam had some understanding of it. How? We may never know, but we do know that we serve a God who communes with his people,
going home
This is the third week of Mid-Week Sessions. This week we will discuss repentance. Below is a sample of the chapter from Derasha:
If you are anything like me, you have occasionally heard the word repent in less than ideal circumstances. There is a preacher on TV who is sweating so profusely the moisture is seeping through his three-piece suit, and as he wipes away the sweat gathering on his forehead he yells into his handheld microphone, with veins popping out of his neck, “Repent!”
Of course the people that are present in the live audience respond because something about not listening to this guy is scary enough (not to mention all the threats of fire, heat, darkness, torture, burning, falling, thirst, and other miserable living conditions if they refuse). Something about this repentance makes God seem like an immature boyfriend who is going to make a person miserable if they don’t choose Him.
This kind of repentance is not an invitation, it is a threat placed on men and women. This threat can often turn into manipulation by scaring someone into repenting. Who wouldn’t choose rivers, trees and robes over fire, pain and pitchforks?
We are like the younger of the two sons in the parable known as The Prodigal Son. He begins his life in his father’s world. He has everything one could ask for. Yet one day he decides that the life he has isn’t doing it for him anymore. So he tells his Dad that he wants some money, the keys to the car, and heads off for a place no one has heard of.
This is our story isn’t it? Adam and Eve start out in paradise and at some point decide that the garden isn’t good enough. They want the one thing they can’t have. Then they decide they will go get it. They left the house, and humanity has been leaving ever since.
Repentance is the call of our Father to come home. It is God asking us to return to paradise, to come back to where we started. Repentance is not just turning around and heading home. Repentance is seeing the father run to us, having him kiss us, having him throw his arms around us, and hearing him say in our ear, “I am so happy you’re home.” The invitation of repentance is a love story about a Dad who misses his kids.
thoughts on heaven
This past Wednesday, October 11, at Mid-Week Sessions a woman asked a question regarding heaven. She said, “If we are in heaven will we know who is not there? And if so, how can we be happy?” I repeated the question, saying, “You mean, if we are in eternal bliss how can that be if someone we love is not there?”
She said, “Yes. I pray for my son all the time, but right now he does not know Jesus.” My heart hurt for her. To think of living with that day in and day out has to be heavy. So I told her I would blog about it because I wanted to think about it for a time. Here are some of my thoughts …
We often have an idea of heaven that may not be completely accurate. I know that I do. This question however, made me think about misconceptions that we all may have. One thing I do know is that John in his vision sees God come and live with men and women on the new earth. We will forever bask in the presence of the eternal Triune God free of sin and death.
If this is the case, then I wonder, can we live in complete bliss? Is this reality? I ask this question because we know from the Text that God does not want anyone to reject him. Then how does He, who is love, live in bliss knowing that people have rejected him? It may be possible that we do not understand bliss well. If ignorance is bliss, this does not mean bliss is ignorance. Maybe bliss is not the best word to think of, rather let’s define our eternity with the word love. I say this, because this is God’s essence, and he will be with us.
So would anyone want to live with a God who knows about all of those who have not chosen to have relationship with him without feeling sorrow? Without caring? I think this would be a cold, unmoved-mover kind of God. Not really one that I would want to get to know. He seems to be a little scary to me. The God that we have faith in is revealed in the person of Jesus. One who wept over the un-repentance of Israel, the One who reached out to Judas, the one who wants everyone to come to Him for their own good.
When we read the words in Revelation 21 that there will be no more “grief, crying or pain” in heaven we think it is impossible that we can feel anything for the loss of others. I know that heaven is much greater than any of us can imagine. C.S. Lewis states that joy of union with God will far surpass the deepest satisfaction we can ever experience in this life. Maybe we will have an understanding of God’s justice, His rule, and His perfection that will help us to understand why some are separated.
Maybe we will be able to live in perfection and in complete love, and precisely because of that be able to feel pure compassion for those who are separated from God. Not that we live in abject pain, and mourning … but that we have the compassion of Jesus. We are moved by those who do not get to experience this kind of love. One way I think of this is in relating to my brother. My middle brother lives in Texas. During Thanksgiving, his in-laws go and visit with his family. On my end of the country, I play football with my oldest brother and 15 of our closest friends. We call it the Turkey Bowl, and it is a hilarious event.
Each year I think to myself, “It would be awesome if Bumper was here.” (Bumper is my brother’s nickname). However each year I know he will not be around. Do I have fun at the game? Absolutely? However, with all of the fun I have I miss my brother with whom I played football for years. I think this will be like heaven.
The one difference is this. The game would be better for me if both of my brothers were there. When we are present with God there is nothing that can make it better. And therein lies the mystery. Nothing could make heaven better than it will be … even if everyone was there.
For more information go to life more fully
We had a great first "Mid-Week Sessions" as we dicussed the implications of the Gospel. Derasha: Our Journey, God's Story (the first in a series of short books) has been printed, and is available now in The Source at Ridge Point. What follows is from Chapter 02, titled Heaven and is a preview of what we will discuss on Ocotober 11 at 7:00PM in The Commons:
My friend, Matt, and I were recently involved in a conversation with some friends about “full life.” In the conversation Matt made the observation that the dialogue kept circling around the idea of “destination” or “arrival.” There seemed to be a sense that there just has to be a point in time when we find this “full life”.
One guy named Dan remarked that the full life of which Jesus spoke only happened when we were in heaven. It seemed as though this earth was just a colossal waiting room before our name was called to see the Great Physician in the sky who would in our death give us “full life”.
I looked in my Bible at John 10:10 and saw these words, “life more fully.”
I asked, “How do we know when we have accomplished this ‘full life’ thing?” I continued, “The Text says ‘life more fully’ so if this is the case then could it be said that a pagan could experience what we are talking about?” As I began processing this, I started speaking faster, “I mean what if you took the worst kind of person you could imagine. What if that person started hanging out with a group of people who followed Jesus, and as a result started to love other people? What if he was involved in less evil, and was doing more good? Can we then say that he is experiencing life more fully?”
We sat silent for a time. Our friend Brie reflected on her friend Dan. She said, “So Dan is experiencing life more fully?” Dan has just recently begun hanging out with Brie and her husband. Dan had lived for many years far from God, and had absolutely no interest in Jesus or the Church. Dan has recently begun to serve others, and is discovering the joy in it. He is intensely interested in Jesus, and the study of the Bible.
Brie told us that there are some who question whether or not Dan is “saved” because Dan still struggles with some addictions.
Matt said, “Yeah, but everyday, he is choosing to do more things right. He is helping others in their life, he is starting to allow the Bible to transform him, he is serving the needy in his midst, and he is even drinking less. Is this a more full life than he was living?”
I smiled and said, “Dan has life ‘more fully.’” We sat quietly for a time and smiled to ourselves. I think we began to not only think about Dan, but about ourselves and others who have for so long wondered whether we would ever get “there”; wherever “there” may be.