The Path

Posted on by
Reply

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!

Raptors Hangin’ it Up

Posted on by
Reply

A banner, that is.  And yes, that’s their first division championship banner.

I know, I know, I can already hear you: “Jay, that’s a pretty weak division.  It doesn’t really count.”

That’s fine.

But it’s the same division that Paul Pierce, Allen Iverson, Chris Webber, Jason Kidd, Jermaine O’Neal, and (oh yes) Vince Carter couldn’t lead their teams to the top of.

And speaking of arguably the greatest dunker of all-time…

I just get the sense that the welcome mats will not be out for good ‘ole Vincy when this one starts in Toronto on the weekend.

Just my gut feeling!

Simple Words

Posted on by
3

The following was printed some time ago in an American publication called Nation’s Business. It was a list of informal guidelines from an experienced Army colonel to new military officers. I’ll bet you won’t need long to apply these to more than army life.

  1. “If it’s stupid but works, it isn’t stupid.”
  2. “If your attack is going extremely well, it’s an ambush.”
  3. “Anything you do can get you shot, including doing nothing.”
  4. “If the enemy is in range, so are you.”
  5. “The important things are always simple; the simple things are always hard; the easy way is always mined.”

I’m pretty sure a book could be written about #5 alone. “The easy way is always mined”… man, that’s the truth.

It reminds me of a line from the movie “A League of Their Own”… “If it was easy, everyone would do it.” Yeah, the easy way gets picked over by everyone, even those who have little to no heart.

It reminds me of an image of Jesus’… “Broad is the road” and crowded is the road too. They’ll never be a shortage of traffic on easy roads. I find myself looking for them too.

The theme of simplicity has long struck a chord with me. A Richard Foster book carries the title “The Freedom of Simplicity”–I suppose I’m drawn to the idea of greater freedom just like people of all types have been longing for it since the start of time. And I guess that deep inside, I really believe that the phrase is true: Freedom IS found in simplifying. Complicating things never seems to lead there.

Maybe that’s why #5 jumps out for me.

The important things are always simple.

The simple things are always hard.

The easy way is always mined.

Desert-Tacklers

Posted on by
1

Canadian Ray Zahab is nuts!

How nuts?

I’ll give you some clues…

It has to do with the Sahara Desert…

And some spandex…

And WAY too much wear on any pair of feet.

The answer is HERE.

Thought

Posted on by
4

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.