Category Archives: Following

The Path

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I just finished “Simply Christian” by N.T. Wright.  While I wouldn’t want to “spoil the ending for you”, I’m going to show you the final paragraph of the book.

Say “Christianity” to ten folks, and you’ll likely have ten images flash across ten minds: Life after death, morals and ethics, heaven, opponents to secular society, average citizens who attend church regularly, decent folks who try to be nice, and on it goes.

But I’d have to agree with Wright that those aren’t what the Bible is speaking about when it speaks of Jesus and what he invites us into.

Here’s that last paragraph…

Made for spirituality, we wallow in introspection.  Made for joy, we settle for pleasure.  Made for justice, we clamor for vengeance.  Made for relationship, we insist on our own way.  Made for beauty, we are satisfied with sentiment. 

But new creation has already begun.  The sun has begun to rise.  Christians are called to leave behind, in the tomb of Jesus Christ, all that belongs to the brokenness and incompleteness of the present world. 

It is time, in the power of the Spirit, to take up our proper role, our fully human role, as agents, heralds, and stewards of the new day that is dawning. 

That, quite simply, is what it means to be Christian: To follow Jesus Christ into the new world, God’s new world, which he has thrown open before us.

Now go get into some of that!

Thought

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A thought from years ago has been rolling around my head for weeks now.

While still a student, I recall listening to some teachers discuss the role of government in our society. More specifically, the conversation was about the place of government in influencing a country’s ethics. It was around the time of an election, and the topic of Christians in government was getting attention. In some minds, the thought is simply one like, “If only we had some Christians running our country, then we’d get things straightened out.”

Of course, one is shocked to learn that if a flawlessly moral leader (Christian or otherwise) were ever found, the trouble would then begin:

How would he/she possibly get the rest of the nation to do what was right? No one can make up the minds of others. Right and wrong (even if they could be agreed upon) cannot be legislated or forced upon another free person. There’s simply no loving way to make someone do something. If “Bruce Almighty” taught us anything, it should have taught us that… along with how nasty little monkeys can be.

So…

Back in that discussion, I recall someone taking a stab at defining what the role of government then was in the whole process of “making people good”. They said something like this: “Good government should make it easier for people to do the right thing and more difficult for people to do the wrong thing.”

Hmmm.

That thought has been twisting and mutating in my mind lately.

How does it apply to the church?

How does it speak to attempting to lead among God’s people?

We often speak of our very real needs for accountability, encouragement, and challenge to be all that God calls us to be. How might we actually structure our congregations so that it became easier to do what we should and harder to fall short?

How might I build my relationships with others so that their touches on my life have this kind of effect?

How can I personally structure my life to increase my chances at actually becoming what I know God wants me to be and decrease my chances of failure and frustration?

Grittier questions: Do we actually desire that? Or do we just say we do because that’s what we should say?

These thoughts have been brought to you by the Department of Scattered Minds. If you care to join the Department, leave a comment containing your own scattered-but-slightly-connected thoughts.

Often Worse

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A preacher I know was recently visiting with one of the “regulars” from his church.

Mr. Regular had a relative visiting that week, who attended service that Sunday.

Mr. Regular told the preacher: “I asked Relative what he thought of service on Sunday. He just asked me a question…”

Well, does the sermon always mess with your mind and thoughts that much?

“I told him…”

No.  It’s often worse than that.

On that day, a preacher smiled.

And dare I assume… the Word may have been preached.

Rob Bell on Poverty

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Just finished listening to a Catalyst podcast featuring an interview with Rob Bell, an enjoyable enough fellow to listen to with some good ideas to share. He spoke about South Africa, church in the West, and more. Then he got speaking about poverty and the church’s response to it. These were no doubt the most powerful words to this listener…

I don’t think this is necessarily to save the poor; I think it’s for our salvation. I think that we have been blessed beyond measure, and if we don’t give it away and steward it well, our own souls are going to shrivel up. This is about the state of our own souls. According to Jesus’ teachings, we’re in trouble if we hog it or keep it to ourselves.

There’s 2103 verses on the poor and oppressed. This is how Jesus began his first sermon: ‘I’ve been anointed to preach the good news to the poor.’ God is with the poor; we’re with God when we’re with the poor.

God has no interest in us building our empires.

This is a huge issue. The rich man and Lazarus… I mean, the rich man is in hell because he ignored the needs of Lazarus by his front gate. So for Jesus, there’s a very literal, earthly hell for those who ignore the need of those around them. I would even argue the man who builds bigger barns… the only clear passages where Jesus speaks of somebody in hell are about a religious person with extraordinary wealth that doesn’t share it with those who are in need. That’s where he gives specific cases of those who are in hell even if they are parables.

Man…

PS: On a lighter note (but don’t let it derail the above thoughts)… Rob Bell has never listened to a podcast in his life, and he doesn’t do much on the internet… his own words.

Q’s

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“There’s no such thing as a dumb question.” I’ve heard that a few times.

I’ve also set out to prove it wrong more than a few times.

I don’t know what your questions might be these days, but I do hope you’ve got some. Whatever your questions, I’ll bet that they themselves are worth questioning.

Huh?

The people around Jesus had their own questions: Is he THE one? When will his kingdom come? Will it look like we’ve always dreamed?

N.T. Wright grabs it here…

“As was so often the case, Jesus didn’t answer their question directly. Many of the question we as God can’t be answered directly, not because God doesn’t know the answers but because our questions don’t make sense. As C.S. Lewis once pointed out, many of our questions are, from God’s point of view, rather like someone asking, ‘Is yellow square or round?’ or ‘How many hours are there in a mile?’ Jesus gently puts off the question.”

Hmm. I’d never thought of it that way before.