A Hole in One

"Starting from scratch, he made the entire human race and made the earth hospitable, with plenty of time and space for living so we could seek after God, and not just grope around in the dark, but actually find him. He doesn't play hide and seek with us. He's not remote; he's near." (Acts 17:26-27, The Message)

There's something written into the human soul, a need, a desire, more specifically a yearning for something beyond oneself. It's been in every person. It's in us. Our quest for the meaning of life comes from this prompting. It has made the human family speculate, discuss, seek the otherness that is connected ever-so-loosely to this one, in order to bring it closer to understanding, to this life.

It's that empty part of our soul that humans have always worked at filling with meaning. It's what's been called in evangelical circles the "God-shaped hole." And it means that God has been speaking to the human family from its creation, not only through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob's family (Israel), but also through Abraham's other children, Isaac's other children and the whole human family around the world. I'm not so naive to think that in only one people and in only one fashion God has tried to make himself known. That's not the God we know, who cares about all humanity, desires all of us to come to faith in him.

Now while it's true that we attempt to fill this hole with the wrong things, (that's not our purpose this week) it's also true that we've tried filling it with our (even at times misguided) quest for God.

So the whole human family has attempted in some ways to define God. Now that has created many problems such as nations fighting over their own "superior" idea of God; some creating multiple gods; and some who have missed completely the very loving nature of God (preferring a god who is spiteful, mean-spirited, vengeful, etc. and who should be feared instead of worshiped, paid back instead of honored, served (unwillingly) instead of followed.)

It makes sense then that what we see is the Biblical account is a story of one people's quest for the true God and were blessed because they got it right (at least many did). It's why Jesus and his Gospel appeals not only to Jews but to Gentiles then and through these last 2 millenia. Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of the God-revelation. There's no speculation anymore. No doubts about who God is, what God is like.

It's like all human history and religion pointed toward the land of Canaan during the early first Century, toward a God-human baby born in Bethlehem to poor parents, who grew up to ride into Jerusalem on a donkey's colt while the people along the road cried out "Hosanna." It was he, Jesus the Messiah, who came to draw all people to himself; to the one, true God.

Paul told the people of Athens they were so close, they even had a shrine to the right God, they just didn't know him. "I was fascinated with all the shrines I came across. And then I found one inscribed, TO THE GOD NOBODY KNOWS. I'm here to introduce you to this God so you can worship intelligently, knowing who you're dealing with." (Acts 11:22-23, The Message)

It's in him that the hole is completely and perfectly filled. No other god can, no other religion even comes close.

Peace ><>

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A Divine Understanding

"No other gods, only Me." (Exodus 20:3, The Message)

I don't believe that there are any other gods. There is only one. The rest are stories made up by humans who felt the divine tug at their spirits and made up stories of thess other worldly beings that would help explain the way things were, the way things happened, how the world worked.

I was a Latin student in High School. There weren't many of us. We knew taking Latin wasn't very practical. (I later discovered many in this class with me were Roman Catholic, so maybe it was practical for some of us, and yes it's true, I wasn't very observant at the time.) What I remember most about those 2 years of Latin was that I was the only guy in the class. (which is why I took the 2nd year as I recall!) The second thing I remember most was our study of Greek mythology, of the gods of the Greek peoples. What a web of intrigue. It's like reading Entertainment Weekly or People magazine, discovering whether Brad Pitt will ever marry Angelina Jolie. The Greek gods were an interesting bunch!

So I took a Greek Mythology class in college. (I'm not sure exactly why, maybe because underwater basket weaving was already full!) It was interesting. I don't remember all that much about it, but I still have the books and refer to them once in a while.

I think that is why it doesn't make sense, why I know that there are no other gods. Human speculation about these gods have made them out to be way too human. That's why I think God is displeased when we place our trust in any god that shows so much weakness, so much lack of wisdom. While I believe what the scriptures say that God is jealous, it's because God has revealed himself to us and we find something lesser to trust. We as humans will look for anything we can grab on to that makes sense to us, because trusting God doesn't always make sense.

So we make try to make God in our own image, a god who will conform to our understanding, a god whom our minds can wrap around instead of the God who wants to embrace humanity with acceptance and unconditional love. I can see why God is jealous.

And when we don't want a god ruling over us, we put ourselves in the role of God.

It's because we don't understand God. We don't comprehend the mystery, which is why it's called mystery. It's not meant to figure out, it's meant to accept, to embrace in return. Why? Because God just wants to be close to us. Donald Miller, the author of Blue Like Jazz, in his newer book, In Search of God Knows What, desribes God as one who creates humanity in an act of utter selflessness. God created humanity so that God could relate to them, have relationship with them. It was not in arrogance, but in love, especially recognizing that once created it was going to take a great sacrifice of love, God's only Son, to redeem these people. God's jealousy was not and is not filled with spite or anger, but with sorrow and disappointment because God just wants to be with us, and ultimately, us with God, heart, mind, soul AND body.

Not Zeus, not Buddha, not Ba'al or Asherah, not the wind, fire or rain, not any living in an underworld, not even self, not by any other name, not by any strange method or mantra, it's just God.

"No other god, only Me," God said. "I am what I am," (or "I will be whom I will be.")

When we trust this, when we trust Him, it all begins to make sense.

I still don't understand God fully. I never will in this life. But I understand where God needs to be.

First!

Peace ><>
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Vigilante Christianity

Okay so the title may be misunderstood. To be a vigilante is to take the law into one's own hands. Yet to be vigilant is to be watchful, aware, attentive, living "wide-eyed" and alert. I'd like to think that God wants us to be vigilantes, taking God's commands into our own hands, not to make others keep them, but so that we might remain faithful. I'd like to be known as a Christian Vigilante as one who stays true to myself and true to Christ in a radical fashion.

"But be vigilant, lest you be seduced away and end up serving and worshiping other gods and God erupts in anger." (Deuteronomy 11:16, The Message)

Why is it so important to be vigilant? Casual observance of faith is dangerous. In a casual faith, other doctrines and practices sneak in unexpectedly. For example spirituality is one of the most popular topics in our world today. Being spiritual is a good thing and there are many books and practices on spirituality. Most of them can be very good when the object of our spiritual practice is God, but many of these spiritual practices have arisen from other religions and have as their focus other gods.

New Age spirituality, in a broad generality, believes that collectively we are a part of God, that together we are God. So the quest is to become more and more god-like, to reach deep within and claim our divine nature. On the surface it doesn't sound bad, to be more god-like, but aren't god and our nature sure isn't divine.

I've noticed a creeping Buddhism within the Christian faith and I'm sure it doesn't please God. It's not that people are turning away from God toward Buddha, but that the tenets of Buddhism are replacing Christian ones, especially when it comes to who goes to heaven. The way of salvation in Buddhism is enlightenment obtained through right conduct, wisdom, and meditation which releases one from desire, suffering, and rebirth (reincarnation).

I mention this because there is but one God. Shema Yisrael, Adonai eloiheinu, Adonai echad. (Deuteronomy 6:4, my Hebrew transliteration) It's called the Shema (shee-ma'), or listen, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord is one God, the Lord alone." And God desires us to be true, not fickle.

"If you diligently keep all this commandment that I command you to obey - obey God, your God, do what he tells you, stick close to him - God on his part will drive out all these nations that stand in your way." (Deuteronomy 11:22, The Message)

It's simple, casual faith can lead us astray. It's not usually our intention to look toward other faiths for answers although sometimes we might. It happens almost accidentally when we discover something that makes us feel good (meditation, yoga, chanting, etc.) only to discover we've been honoring other religions and focused on other gods.

All God desires is that we stay close to him, which means be in a tight relationship with God. Vigilance is what God has called us to. Learn our faith, be diligent in practicing it, focusing on the one true God and we'll have all we need in this life. God is faithful and will provide all we need. There's no reason go to anywhere else!

A Vigilante for Christ ><>
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A Monogamous Affair

Since moving to Northwest Indiana many years ago, I've had the opportunity to experience first hand many people and faiths that I had only read about before. I've had a chance to sit and discuss Islam with a Muslim and read some of the Qu'ran. I've sat in synagogue worship and discussed Judaism with Rabbis over dinner. I've met many Hindus, Buddists, Athiests, Agnostics and others. I've experienced the faith of Unitarians, the culture of Orthodox Christians and the steep traditions of Roman Catholics from around the world.

God has blessed me with this experience, to allow me to see from a different perspective, to choose for myself what to believe. I don't think God brought me to this place to make me question my faith, but to cement it, to make it stronger. To meet the idea of foreign gods and still trust in God.

I think I understand now how easy it must have been for Israel to stray away from God. As they went into other lands and experienced other cultures that were more advanced, that had their own land, that were wealthy, at peace, powerful. The people of Israel would easily question whether these others had it right. And so many followed these foreign gods. (Although I still don't understand how anyone could bow down to a golden calf that people watched be cast from earrings and bracelets saying"this is the god who rescued us from Egypt! That still makes no sense to me.)

I guess it is really true that humans throughout history have made God in their own image. Imagining what God should be like, could be like and developing practices and doctrines to follow. It's what happens even within the Jewish faith and in Christianity. (how our many differences have arisen through the centuries.)

The thing that is interesting and I guess makes sense in some wacky way is that many people didn't give up one god to serve another but kept all of them. Israel may have cleansed their peoples of the foreign temples, but many of the people kept their statues and idols as keepsakes, as back-ups, like hedging their bets for their own sakes, hoping that at least one of the gods would bless their lives.

It's like keeping the pictures and phone numbers of your old girlfriends, just in case your marriage doesn't work out.

That's crazy! (and a guarantee that it won't work out.)

I like today's reading from Joshua. He puts it plain and simple. He doesn't argue about the evil of foreign gods. He doesn't make a case for their false nature. He simply says that you need to choose. Joshua wants desparately for his people to embrace the God who had been revealed to them, YHWH, but knew that God demanded strict obedience and exclusivity. "If you decide that it's a bad thing to worship God, then choose a god you'd rather serve - and do it today. Choose one of the gods your ancestors worshiped from teh country beyond The River, or one of the gods of the Amorites, on whos land you're now living. As for me and my family, we'll worship God." (Joshua 24:15, The Message)

I've met many of these other faiths, been exposed to other gods and discovered that I need to be true to my faith, my God. I've discovered that there is no other god for me because there is no other god except for those made up by humans throughout history and the world. I must be true to God, faithful, exclusive. It's what God expects.

It's what my wife expects.

Peace ><>

A Kind of Kindness

When I pause to think about Jesus and the life he lived, I am touched by how he acted and reacted to those around him, how he treated those on the margins of society, how he treated the religious leaders, and how they treated him. Jesus lived a kind life. He was kind to strangers, lepers, beggars, the lame, the sick, the hungry. He was kind even to those who would eventually turn their backs on him. He lived life with respect for people, a kind of kindness that goes well beyond what most of us live. It's something to behold.

The only group that shifted his kindness (although it is still a kind of kindness, just different.) was the religious group: priests, scribes, rabbis and their close followers. He was harder on them. He was tougher on those who treated humanity with less kindness. Another way to put it, Jesus came choose sides with the those outside of the religious community, which in turn ticked off the religious who kept them out. The kindness of the religious was a kind of earned kindess system.

When I pause to think again, about how Jesus lived, I wonder sometimes how Jesus would come across today if he arrived in our world. (I know he's present in it, but I mean like he did back them, in the flesh.) How would he treat religious people? the church? Would he side with the church in how it reacts with the world? Or would we find Jesus in places the church doesn't want to go? To the people the church doesn't want to admit? To those who have been marginalized by our society and our religious system?

I think you know the answer as well as I do. Jesus first stop wouldn't be in any church. And we know why: we don't live with the same kind of kindness he did!

"Friends, the world is not your home, so don't make yourselves cozy in it. Don't indulge your eto at the expense of your own soul. Live an exemplary life among the natives so that your actions will refute their prejudices. Then they'll be won over to God's side and be there to join in the celebration when he arrives." (1 Peter 2:11-12, The Message)

We need to "drink deep of God's pure kindness" as we become fully mature in God. That way we can share in this kindness with others, an unconditional kindness, showing true love, honor, respect for all God's children. Our job is to become like Christ in all things, mimicking his actions, his reponses, his suffering, his kindness. "This is the kind of life you've been invited into, the kind of life Christ lived. He suffered everything that came his way so you would know that it could be done, and also know how to do it step by step." (1 Peter 2:21, The Message)

We need a kind of kindness, Jesus' kind. It's just one of the things that the Spirit grows in us when we let him have control. Paul calls it the Spirit's fruit (see Galatians 5:21-22). It's what was produced in Jesus. It's what God wants to produce in us.

God didn't ask us to be nice. But we have been told to be kind.

Just like Jesus.

Peace ><>
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The Song of Generosity

This morning I'll be helping deliver not one but TWO truckloads of food to the local food pantries because of the generosity of the church AND the community. In addition to these trucks, there is also a car trunk filled to capacity. God has moved through us to accomplish a simple goal, to stock food pantry shelves in order to help feed people in need.

Now I wouldn't call it a miracle (maybe if I had gotten the truck inside!) but I would call it the carrying out of the Gospel. Paul worked at something similar when he gathered an offering for the poor Christians in Jerusalem. Throughout his mission he talked about generosity and the need of the people where the church began. As people gave throughout the Roman Empire, Paul was touched and to the church at Corinth he wrote this:

"Carrying out this social relief work involves far more than helping meet the bare needs of poor Christians. It also produces abundant and bountiful thanksgivings to God. This relief offering is a prod to live at your very best, showing gratitude to God by being openly obedient to the plain meaning of the Message of Christ." (2 Corinthians 9:12-13, The Message)

Simply put, when we are generous, recognizing the needs of people around us, helping provide out of what we have to those who don't is an act of praise to God. When we give to others we are giving thanks to God. But only when we give out of a generous heart and not out of compulsion. I know that I've walked a fine line between teaching about generous giving and the desire to fill a truck with food, but it has all been to fulfill two needs: many people's need for food and our need to learn generosity.

I've not always given with a generous heart. Sometimes I've given because it was the right thing to do, because I felt pressured to share, because someone asked and I didn't want to be the only one not giving. I've walked away from these times frustrated and sometimes angry. I wasn't wrong in giving at these times, but I also didn't receive the blessing through the gift. But it has been through my giving that I've learned this blessing.

There is a "feel good" part of giving. Once I gave a man who held a sign saying "will work for food" a $20. He genuinely thanked me and I drove away feeling good. Now I realize that it may have been a scam, but that's not my problem. God didn't demand that we check all the references of people we give to, rather we've been told to be generous with those who ask, with those in need.

I've probably given more in the past year than ever before in my life. Now I do not say this to be boasting, but simply to say that it has meant so very much to me to give. I've found a joy in giving. My wife and I talk more about how to give now than ever before in our marriage. Instead of being a point of contention, we find it a challenge. We look for ways to give, we share it with each other and we decide together and we give. Then we receive the blessing of God.

So, maybe you've felt that blessing this weekend. If not maybe you've got some more learning to do about God's generosity through us and in us. My challenge to you is simple: give until giving is a habit and a joy. There is where you will find the blessing of God as you meet the needs of God's people.

Generosity is a song of praise to God.

So, Sing!

Peace ><>
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