New Blog Site

Hey all -

If you're reading this, you should be at www.raggedfaith.com - my new website designed by my good friend Craig Fairley at imaginecreative.com. Head on over!

A New Standard

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

James 1:27

I have a problem. I look up too much and down too little. I look up to what other people have and attain, but rarely do I look down to what others have lost. I desire to step up to the higher standard of living while ignoring the gift of living more simply. I grow anxious as I think about ways to increase my financial security so I feel like I always have enough but miss the joy found by those who have less.

It is quite easy to be polluted. In our world pollution is a value. We are polluted by greed, security, and opulence. Living within your means (or living below your means), using things till they've lost usefulness, and identifying with the poor on not even on the radar of our world's value system.

But they seem to be the values Jesus shows His disciples.

How then will we live and with what values will our lives be guided by? We have the choice to be mindless as we absorb the polluted value system of the world in which we live, or we can set new standards based on the example of Jesus and the call to love and value all humanity. We can live these values and demonstrate the joy that comes with them.

Who's in?

Few leaps, Many Steps

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

Hebrews 11:1

Faith is something we want ... but we really don't want it. Faith requires trust beyond our own abilities and comprehensions. By the very definition of faith we cannot make it happen, for if we could then it would no longer be faith but self reliance.

Therein lies the challenge of faith. We cannot make it happen, for it we do it is no longer faith. Even if what we make happen by our own ability is good it turns out to be too small because it is filled more with the power of self-ingenuity than the power of God. The Christian faith is faith beyond the self. The only time there is faith in self is when we see ourselves as servants of God endued with the power of God to serve the mission of God.

My family and I are learning a lot about faith lately. What I'm learning is that God rarely solves things all at once. It's not as though there are great miracles of faith. Correction - there are great miracles of faith but they are the rare exception. What is more the rule is the small steps we take in faith that lead to miraculous things.

So many times we followers of Jesus look for the miraculous for proof that our faith is real or that God is present. What is even more formative, and need I say normal, are the everyday opportunities in front of us that afford us another opportunity to trust God.

To have love beyond ourselves to love those who hate us.

To trust that God is working when there seemingly is no activity.

To believe that it will all work out ... somehow ... even when logic can't figure out how it all will.

It's all faith. We're stretched so little - or perhaps we allow ourselves to be stretched so little. We miss out on so much when we can do it all on our own. The beauty of what I'm learning is that my call is to walk in the direction God calls and do my best to obey. He'll take care of the rest - the unseen.

The value in others

"Blessed are those who esteem others more than themselves, for in doing so they participate in the Kingdom of Christ." (again, an adaptation of Matthew 5:3)

The poor in spirit can't help but see the value in others. Being poor of spirit means you realize the lowliness of your own position and lay aside your quest for importance. Arriving at such a state of poverty comes from realizing your own condition of sin.

When this condition is realized you can love others more than ever before because your expectations of them are much less. You don't expect perfection. You gracefully receive their shortcomings. Because you see the log in your own eye you have a greater understanding of the speck in your brother's (or sister's).

And it's just that - a speck. What before drew most of your frustration for your brother now draws nearly none because you understand your own shortcomings and as a result give more grace. Now that the frustrations are taken down to a speck you are able to see the vast amount of worth and beauty God has placed in this person - because this person, and all people, are made in and with God's image.

Being poor in spirit - realizing the sin in our heart that frustrates others - gives us grace to accept how others frustrate us and frees us to see God in them.

Holy Spirit of truth, help me to understand the truth of myself. Help me gain a right view of myself and others. Help me to see my sin so that through Christ I may be free from it - and therefore free to see you in those I formerly judged for their imperfections. Through Jesus Christ our Lord I ask for this grace and gift.

Amen

Poor and blessed

"Blessed are those in humble position, for they realize the place of this position is not their home." (Based upon Matthew 5:3)

If you were grateful for being unnoticed, would it take the pressure off of you to become noticed? If you cared little for wealth, would it be right to say you would spend little time or effort pursuing it? If you cared little for greatness, would you judge yourself with more grace?

Being noticed, wealth, greatness...all these are values of our culture, of this kingdom. They drive us to become different people. We morph from the beautiful creatures we've been designed to be into something God never intended for us to be. The gifts God has given us in our personalities and our abilities are minimized when compared to what everyone else has. Rather than having a spirit of gratitude we develop envy and exchange our unique imprint for the impersonation of someone else.

The humble person gratefully excepts the way they were designed. They thank God for it and work to cultivate and steward it so they can fully be who God's created them to be. They realize the place of honor is not defined by certain cultural status, but the place of honor is already in themselves - because God created them in a specific way.

Therefore we can rejoice in our humble position. It may not be as noticeable as someone else, but then that is not the point. The point is not to measure yourself on the cultural norms of success, achievement, and importance in the world around us. We must find our merit simply in who God has designed and created us to be. As we live out the position God has given us in the midst of this world that is based upon a hierarchy of position, we point to God's kingdom where there is only one king...and the rest of us sit on equal ground around His throne.

Heavenly Father, my maker, help me to humbly accept and delight in the way you have designed me. Take from me the weight and pressure of envy that often overtakes me. Give me freedom to love the creature you've created - with all of my gifts and abilities - and even my imperfections. You are a lover of the humble. By your grace help me live in such company.

Amen.

A Reflection on the poor in spirit

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

Matthew 5:3

I am blessed when I realize the actual state of my soul

when I see how sick and impoverished it is

prone to do and say things I would be ashamed of.

When I realize the state of my own soul I acknowledge the richness of the gift I've been given.

a life of freedom from those things that would otherwise hold me in shackles

a freedom I receive rather than work hard for

a freedom I trust rather than one I earn.

One could say you inherit the kingdom of heaven when you accept your own sense of being found wanting

of not measuring up

of continually failing

of being unable to sustain in yourself a sense of consistency of thought, emotion, or action

When you accept you are poor in spirit, there is no lower to go nor is there a higher place to stand

everything is a gift, and you receive it with joy because you realize it is of great value and have done nothing of worth to deserve it.

Lord Jesus Christ, who became poor and who lived among the impoverished of spirit, grant that we might find freedom through such poverty so that we might live gratefully receiving everything as a gift from you.

Amen.

Effort and Earning

I spent three days last week at a conference of missionally minded church practitioners. We were privileged enough to have Dallas Willard as our speaker for three days. He said the following:

"God is not opposed to effort, but He is opposed to earning."

Effort comes as a response to the immense love of God. There is a desire to give oneself fully to God in response because we experienced and continue to experience life in the Kingdom of God. This Kingdom is about the restoration of all things in this broken world, and it involves us putting every effort forward to be about this Kingdom of His.

Earning is what you do out of obligation. You want to be and do good because God says so, not because you've found that way of living to be true. Earning is action put forth to justify yourself before God, which none of us can do. Earning, I would say, is the impression most people get when they think about religion/church/Christianity.

But Jesus isn't about religion. His doesn't want our obligated duties - he wants followers who've found that His way is the best way to live ... the most true ... and he invites us to put every effort forward to living in this truth. Effort comes from the heart ... earning comes from the tallies we keep in our mind.

I'm challenged each day to give my full effort to God and to trust the grace given to me in Jesus. At times this is at odds with the darker side of me that wants to justify myself to God and others. The results of this type of thinking lead me to live to prove myself ... the world begins to revolve around me. Putting full effort toward the Kingdom of God leaves the results to Him (my goodness, what others think of me, the definitions I and others have of success, etc) ... I'm simply called to respond to him in efforts that come from a heart of love.

Legitimizing our Activities

"Rather than finding biblical legitimation for our activities, we should be submitting all our missionary strategy, plans, and operations to biblical critique and evaluation...Mission today must be seen as arising from something fundamental, from the basic movement of God's people to the world." - Christopher Wright, p. 37 The Mission of God

I'm being challenged lately by the boxes I deal with in regard to faith and theology. It seems that we like nice, neat, packaged systematic theology. However, what I find is that it's not so neat and tidy. For instance, each sermon I work on could have a hundred different angles. There is always more to be said...other thoughts to be had on or around the text. At any given time the text can speak in different ways (granted it's still trying to say what it's trying to say). I used to think if I could just memorize what each verse meant then I would be in good shape...but then the verses spoke in many ways.

I've been brought up in a certain tradition - Anabaptist, Wesleyan, Holiness, and WESTERN. These all impact my reads of Scripture. However there are many more insights into the Scriptures from people of my same theological traditions but in different parts of the world, dealing with realities in different ways.

I've been afraid not to have my theology line up...to have it all together...to have my ducks in a row. But theology is messy, and neat theology that doesn't need to be grappled with seems to me more weak that a theology that isn't all that worked out yet (in fact, is it ever really all worked out). I've been afraid of the criticisms of those who have everything figured out and thought through...those people with all the answers. Then I realize I'm more afraid of the fact they actually think they have it all worked out.

I like what Wright says because he deals with the thrust of the scripture...the movement of it. When I think of the Bible in a sweeping sort of way...as a large story rather than a whole bunch of facts to be figured out...I feel I can breathe! I get excited about the story. The story speaks. If I think of it as facts to memorize...things stuck on a page...a systematic way to explain everything...it takes the life out of the Scriptures (for me).

A Theme

As this year began I searched out a theme for me personally this year...what is God saying to me?...What is He speaking into my life?

Freedom

That's it for me. It's freedom. Time after time as I've met with my spiritual director this theme has come up. It's come up as I've tried to work through a number of things in life and ministry. Freedom.

So my question for you is this: what does God want to speak to you?

It's funny that we think of God speaking something to us and then it being over and done with. What if God speaks to us and then works with us on what He speaks? So each day we work out what He has spoken. Those who get frustrated that they don't feel God or hear God may perhaps experience this frustration because God has spoken to them...now it's time to wrestle with what He's said...sit with it...let those words shape and form who we are.

I'm being shaped by "Freedom." How 'bout you?

Anticipating Easter

Easter is the time in the Christian year to celebrate the hope we have through faith in Christ. In Easter we can truly say that the powers and authorities of this world have NO power and authority over us.

I've been struck in recent conversations by the hopelessness of followers of Jesus as they digest the dismal news of our day. They see the economy collapsing. They hear of all the conflicts of the world and the uncertainty of our times. They worry about what the future will bring.

Isn't this the time we are to have hope? When all the powers of the world seem to fail, aren't we about a Kingdom that stands in the midst of the smaller ones failing? I realize it rattles our security...or sense of security, but then shouldn't we be examining exactly where we find our security?

Easter says to us that the powers of this world don't have the power. We identify with Paul's hope. They can beat him, lock him up in chains, and try to silence him, but they cannot take away his hope. The powers cannot take away our hope. No matter how much the choices of the powers (our government, bailouts, jobs, etc) effect our lives because of the resurrection of Jesus we have hope.

N.T. Wright writes the following in Surprised By Hope:

-

"Who, after all , was it who didn't want the dead to be raised? Not simply the intellectually timid. It was, and is, those in power, the social and intellectual tyrants and bullies; the Caesars who would be threatened by a Lord of the world who had defeated the tyrant's last weapon, death itself.

Hope is what you get when you suddenly realize that a different worldview is possible, a worldview in which the rich, the powerful, and the unscrupulous do not after all have the last word. The same worldview shift that is demanded by the resurrection of Jesus is the shift that will enable us to transform the world."

-

Dear Jesus Followers:

It is now during the times of worldwide despair in the season of Easter that we remember we have a hope that is beyond the death that we are currently seeing. It is our job to be livers of this hope...proclaimers of this hope...beacons of light that scream out against the darkness that pervades the lives of the hopeless. Put not your trust in the powers of the day that are fleeting and crumbling, but put your hope in the resurrection of Jesus who gives us the power to hope in the midst of death.

Quote

"We should pray that we would become the sort of people who are safe for God to trust with miracles. We must become people who will not exploit or market or pervert the power of the Spirit. We must become people who get out of the way of God."

pg. 113 Prayer for Ordinary Radicals

Effects of War

Every day I go to the NY Times website just to catch up on the news. It's a good place (and free!) to get a glimpse at what's going on around the globe and in our own country.

Today I ran across this photo slideshow of the damage done in the Israli-Gaza war. It is a good reminder that there are NO good sides to war. There is always damage and in my opinion, war is never a 100% good thing. I find myself again drawn to the love of Jesus for ALL people, not just the people who are on the good side of things...for the Muslim AND the Jew...for the Iraqi AND the American.

As we see the destruction of war and the suffering it brings, let us be reminded of Paul's words in Galatians 3:28..."There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, for you are ALL ONE in Christ Jesus." Therefore, let us suffer with our fellow man as they suffer in war. Let us not be ignorant of their plight, even though our culture or political system defines them as the enemy. If nothing else, may we be reminded that Jesus loves them as deeply as He loves us.

Colossians Pt. 5: Living in Community

"For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross."

Colossians 1: 19-20

-

Jesus makes peace. Jesus sets us free. Jesus is the embodiment of all mystery (power) in human flesh. Jesus is it. There's nothing more and nothing less. To embrace Jesus is to embrace the supremecy of Christ over all the powers. To embrace Jesus is to embrace his ideology and to let His ideology expose the ideologies of the world (that we talked about in the last post). We've got to take everything to Jesus and to His cross. What I mean is that we've got to take a hard look at our lives and see how we've bought into the mysteries (powers) of this world over and above the mystery (power) of Christ. That means there's a lot that needs to change.

-

1:28 - "We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me."

-

Paul's entire life (post Damascus Road) was given to the proclamation of the mystery of Christ (2:2). I want to encourage you to see your mission as that of Paul. Paul hears of the potential of this group of Christians being led to something other than Christ, and he pens these words. All around us there is a world that is building itself on that which is unsustainable. Anything not built on Christ is not sustainable. It is time you and I are challenged in the way we think and live and live not as captivated by the powers of this world and begin to proclaim in our ACTIONS and MINDS (the reversal of 1:21) the mystery of Christ. What he writes in 2:2 should be our call. How can you make the following your call and challenge?...

-

"My (your) purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by find-sounding arguments."

-

How can you and I live this way? What in how you do and think needs to change so this is your purpose as well? How does Christ want to set you free from your dependance on the mysteries of this world and into the freedom of the mystery found in Christ?

Colossians Pt. 4: Loosening the Grip

When we live as part of the powers of the world we live in a way that alienates us from Christ. I love Paul's words here - "Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds...because of your evil behavior" (1: 21). We were enemies in how we thought because of what we did. When we live lives that are consumed with our sense of self our mental orientation focuses first on ourselves...not on Christ...not on others. Why and how does this happen?

-

Have you ever thought about how much you've bought into the normality of the world's systems? I'm taking heavily here from a great little book entitled, Colossians Remixed. We are all in school. Our teachers are advertisers and manufacturers of the goods we consume. We are taught to be consumers. We are taught that enough is never enough. We are bred to want the next thing without being satisfied with what we have. We are inundated with these things. These are the things that really lead us into bondage...bondage to stuff and into a false ideology that makes us think we need what we don't need.

-

Current trends allow us to be connected without ever being connected. We communicate without ever seeing people or hearing their voices (Facebook, texts, e-mails, twitter). In regards to consumption, we consume good without ever meeting the people in the process - those who work in slave labor to make our goods - those who loose jobs because their quality product has been undersold by a cheaper manufacturer. We have the blessing of sensing security in our own country without thinking of the great insecurity our brothers and sisters around the world face in violent or impoverished situations. We are insulated. This insulation leads us toward a lack of connection with others. A lack of having to empathize. We don't have to think about how our lifestyle and what we're being taught to do and think and believe actually hurt other people. But this is the sad truth of what happens when we just take in life centered around us. We are alienated from God and the emphasis on ourselves alienates us from others.

Colossians Pt. 3: Power

"...and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority."

-

I'm still going off of last week's sermon from Vern here...but there was a great contrast here between the powers as how the world yields power and the power of Christ. What I'd like to focus on primarily is not the world's use of power, but how Jesus displays power.

-

Power for Jesus did not come through ordinary means. Power for Jesus came through death. Power for Jesus came through the cross. Power for Christ meant a rejection of the way the world sees power and overcoming the world's supposed power through what was seemingly defeat. That crucifixion day it would have seemed as if the powers had won. Caesar had won. Pilate had won. They had silenced the message of Jesus. Instead of an insurrection to claim the power, you have a resurrection.

-

If Jesus' power came through his death and resurrection, the same is true for us, especially if you think in the context of baptism. Paul writes, "once you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ." Through the baptism waters we are made new creatures...the old is gone the new has come. We put to death the old person who was without Christ (3:5) and in so doing forfeit the power we have over our lives. If the power of Christ is to come into our lives it must mean the death of ourselves, our will, our sinful desires. In its place comes the power of Jesus to transform us into the image of the resurrected Son.

-

It is through death you and I find life. What is it in our lives that makes us think we have power and control that must be put to death...so that in so doing we might find life in Christ?

Colossians Pt 2: Power to Free or Enslave

The power of the mystery of Christ brings freedom. The power of the mysteries of this world bring bondage.

-

You and I can be challenged today just as the Christians in Colossae were challenged in their day. They had people telling them that Jesus wasn't enough. Jesus was just an option...one of many ways. The book of Colossians is situated in the time of Roman occupation and governance. It was a time of polytheism (many gods). Can you imagine being a Christian at a time when many gods were worshipped all around you? There were statues erected in their image? It was expected for one to believe in many. It actually doesn't sound much different from our current situation, does it?

-

We face the same sense of plurality that the Colossian Christians faced. There are many gods around us as well, and while there may not be statues of them, we encounter them everyday. Look in the mirror. There's one god that we've created for ourselves. It's us. We worship us. Pull out your wallet and look at a piece of plastic or paper. Money. We worship that as well. Not only money but what money gives us - an ability to quench our desires for more; instant gratification; power to do what we want when we want. Consumption is an unseen god. We inately look for how we can gain more.

-

Can you see where we've bought into the same type of thing the Colossians faced? Jesus isn't enough. The ways of Jesus are not enough. There's got to be more. And that more serves us and enslaves others. It doesn't set people free how Jesus sets people free. It leads to us depending on other powers...other mysteries...rather than Christ. We've all bought into it. The question is, will you let Christ set you free from it?

Colossians Pt. 1: Mystery and Power

Christ is it. Nothing else. Just Jesus. That's Paul's point in the opening chapters and verses of Colossians. The Colossians were being challenged in what they've been taught as the 'mystery of the gospel' being revealed to them. They were taught that it began and ended with Jesus, but now there were those who were challenging this mystery. They were saying, in fact, that there were more mysteries...that Christ was just the beginning (2:18, 20-23).

-

The word 'mystery' has great significance in the book of Colossians. At the time of its writing mystery had to do with greater and greater spiritual experiences. The more 'experiences' you had the more the mystery was unlocked (2:18). The experiences were not to exalt god but rather to hold it over the heads of the people who had NOT had the experience. It was to make them feel inferior and certainly less spiritual. It was an exercise of power.

-

Christ is the source of creative power (1:16). The passage our church is trying to memorize throughout this series on Colossians (1: 15-20) tells of the powers of this world...and how Christ is BEFORE them all. These things (1:16) in and of themselves are a shadow of power (2:17). The Roman empire which is ruling at the time of this letter was a shadow of power. The vast forms of spirituality of the day were all shadows of power. The key to understanding power was that the power is power to LORD OVER others. The mystery of the challengers of the Colossian Christians was to lord over them and make them feel inferior. Here again we confront the thought of power as something to be used against others.

-

Not so with Jesus. The mystery of Christ was power not used to lord over but to bring freedom and liberation (1:13-14; 2: 9-12, 14, 15). He doesn't use power to condemn us but to free us...to reconcile us and the world to God (1:20). And herein we see one of the first things we must take note of about the book of Colossians: the difference in the understanding of power.

Hope Full

One becomes hopeless when his eyes are taken off Christ and focused inward on himself. One becomes hopeless when he looks at the chaos of the world without the prospect of redemption. The troubles of this life are too great for an individual to bear. In fact, I'm not sure we were meant to bear them at all. The weight is too heavy and must be bore by the shoulders of God. Whether it be the troubles of the day or the wars of the world - no individual can handle these things on their own, nor were they meant to.

-

The human life, then, become about trust, faith, and perseverance.

Trust in God over and above self, institutions, governments, money, or anything we rely

upon for our sustainability that is in and of itself not sustainable.

Faith in that we are calling things that are not as though they are - believing in the unseen -

peace instead of war, love instead of hate, justice over injustice.

Perseverance in that we continue to live out the life of Christ in the midst of surrounding

death.

-

To surrender to the evils of ourselves and the world destroys the flicker of light that represents hope - hope for our own lives and for those who depend on our light to see - for they would not know how to see through the darkness and tragedies of our world without the small light we boldly, yet frailly, carry.

-

Therefore let us carry this light in faith that Christ will magnify it, that the darkness would flee, and all may find hope.

Things Have a Price, but No Value

I was watching CNBC the other morning (don't tune me out yet!) and one of the commentators said something very telling, and in some ways, a bit scary. This is a paraphrase of what he said:

"Very few things have a value, they just have a price that people are willing to pay for it."

So it struck me that there is little value in what we deem valuable. Houses have fluctuated in their worth depending on the market for them. We've seen oil come down over 2 dollars a gallon in the last few months. Food prices seem to be going up a bit. While my wife and I were Christmas shopping on Thanksgiving weekend (Saturday...not Black Friday) many of the stores we went into were holding sales of 70% off. Why? My thought, at least, is because the psychology of the market is pegging us as much less willing to spend. This is in stark contrast, supposedly, as to not long ago when people were blowing money on anything and everything and therefore getting themselves into debt buying things they didn't need. So the price on the 'stuff' comes down, because we're not willing to pay for it...or as much anyway.

So if those types of things hold a price, there are certainly those things that are valuable, even though they can't be measured in dollars and cents....relationships, marriages, children, etc. Those things the good ol' MasterCard commercials would call priceless. These are things you can't assign worth to because they are beyond any sense of compensation. Their value is immeasurable.

So if we look at the things that hold a price tag, would it be fair to say purchasing these things ought to hold little worth in our life? I'm talking more about the above and beyond things more than the gallon of milk. When we think about what we purchase for ourselves, it adds little value to our life. In some instances it may take away from the value of our lives. What we buy may steal valuable time from honest and intimate relationships.

There are things in this life that do hold value...invest in those things...give yourself to them. You will find that they are greater than you. You will not be able to possess them because they are not something to be owned but treasured. After you're done reading this, look upon your spouse, child, friend, or neighbor that way...as someone with immeasurable value whose worth can never be determine and whose well being is worth giving yourself for.

Peace.

Carrying the Cross Amidst Bombs

I'm wrapping up a three week series with our church talking about the subject of peace. As I was finishing things this afternoon I moved from my work space into the living room to turn on CNN. What I saw was the news reports of terrorist attacks in India...ongoing...with many dead. And here I am preaching on peace.

-

Peace is a core conviction I hold as a Christian...it's something I believe Christ-followers should represent. However, it is incredibly hard to think of how this violence can end without retaliation. I must admit, when I encounter issues of violence my first inclination is toward violence...to combat evil with evil, but this is not the theme of the gospel.

-

I am realistic in believing there will always be wars and rumors of wars until the return of Christ. I am hopeful, however, that Christians can stand for peace, for well-being and mercy toward both the oppressor and the oppressed. It is difficult to imagine freeing the oppressed in a non-violent, non-military fashion, but this is our story in Christ. This is how Jesus brought freedom to the oppressed. This is how Jesus freed the oppressor. He did it by setting us free from our sinful inclinations toward evil and the abuse of power. He showed us the way through submission and service.

-

I must admit, I feel a little awkward preparing to share something that seems so unrealistic in today's culture. However, I feel it must be said...it must be talked about. So in the midst of a violent world we proclaim love for our enemies and prayer for those who persecute us.

-

May your Kingdom come, and your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.