Fully Alive

Currently, I am reading Sacred Rhythms by Ruth Haley Barton. It is a rich read. In the opening pages she addresses a struggle that surfaced all sorts of emotions in me. She talks about the longings of our heart. Those linked to our faith journey. The deep, often hidden, ever present longings. You know the ones. They make you ask the question: "Is there more than this". These same longings often express themselves as the desire for more, for deeper, for greater significance. Barton suggests that Jesus invites us to surface the longings and give them to Him. She refers to the times when Jesus approaches people and asks the question; What do you WANT from me? Have you thought about that. Really? Jesus asks Bartimaeus this question. I am thinking, sight was probably high on his list. Surely Jesus knew this. But there is more going on here. This question is meant to surface the obvious needs and the longings of our heart.

These longings can be satisfied. As we draw in close to God through living out the spiritual practices the longings of our heart can be expressed. Once they are named and offered to the Lord, He is faithful to honor.

And here is the other aspect of this. Longing is our hearts way of begging for life. Our faith walk HAS to be about more than heaven or some eventual ultimate salvation. It has got to be about our life here and now. A life that is devoted to seeking Jesus. A life devoted to being shaped by Jesus. A life devoted to seizing moments and living them for Jesus. A life devoted to justice, to mercy, to love. A life lived in such a way that our being empowers others around us to live fully too.

Oh What A Day!

Sunday was a first for me. I was asked to preach for the Amarillo Unitarian Fellowship. I have never spoken to such a diverse group before, especially regarding spiritual things. The days leading up to Sunday had me tense. I wanted to speak a word that would be heard in language that would be credible to such a diverse crowd. Yet, the burden of being faithful to my love of Jesus.

God came through and together we formed a message that was relevant and true. The members of the Fellowship were gracious, welcoming and hospitable to me.

Travels and such

I recently returned from two weeks in Australia and a week in Papua New Guinea. I was part of a team that hosted two renewals with Come before Winter. What an incredible blessing. God does amazing things in us and the women who are attending the renewals. Too much happened for me to summarize in a blog post. But some of the enduring thoughts are this:

1.I have made some of the most incredible friendships that will last a lifetime. Inspirational, strong, intelligent, heart directed, spiritual woman. What a gift. It was so hard to leave.

2.Even after teaching a block on how to read the Psalter and a theological reading group on Psalm 103 (several times), I gained insights into this Psalm that were profound and forming. Continued revelation is a gift.

3.After the renewals I got to hang out with friends from years ago in South Africa. Few things are as fulfilling as sweet reunions.

4.The missionaries (linguists who are translating scripture, traditional missionaries, support ministers etc) in Papua New Guinea are awe-inspiring. This is not an easy country to move to but they have done it with grace and love. Their work is hard and long term. They are isolated and often alone for projects. They make you want to be better. Lift them up in prayer. Lift up Wycliffe, Pioneer Bible Translators, NewTribes - all of these sending organizations.

5.My heart was touched by the single women who are on the field. Working hard. Maintaining boundaries. Sometimes lonely. Quite amazing.

Quandary

I realize this is a delicate subject.

I am part of a group that is looking at our youth ministry space and making design recommendations for updates and improvements. We technically don't have a space besides regular classrooms. It is hard for kids in a youth group to see the mega churches in their cities and only wish to have the facilities and on tap entertainment that they provide. My home is pretty and certainly nicer than the majority of the world's population will ever dream of. But herein lies the quandary. Today I have been plagued by this thought: how can we expect our kids to simplify, do with less, intentionally recycle, give extravagantly and at the same time be party to trying to "update" their space. These are extremes, I know. Yet the question will not leave my heart.

Personally, I feel like God is taking me on a journey of living with less. I am loving it. I feel like the economy is proving that storing away for a future that is uncertain is not a goal worthy of the kind of dedication and slavery that consumes so many lives. People have literally seen there nest eggs evaporate. Should we be responsible? Sure. Do I think that we should be giving and generous ahead of financial hoarding? Absolutely. There has to be something to the idea of "daily bread' given that Jesus speaks to it so often. God is not big on the Israelites storing for tomorrow either.

But honestly, this is hard. Our Christian culture looks very similar to the world in general when it comes to money and stuff and I am over that. I made a decision to not buy any new clothing or anything decorative for my home for this year. It has required me just not going to stores. In certain stores I just avoid those departments. But it is hard. And this is just one small area. Now this is not just about doing with less, it is about enjoying and appreciating what we have. A hard discipline really.

So while I have these challenging areas in my life that God is trying to grow me in I am also faced with the youth space issue. What to do?

Hypocrisy

You've heard the research, maybe even heard the direct accusations. Christians are hypocrites. I am not a fan of casting any large group into one particular category with one foul swoop, and so my instant reaction is to say, "wait a minute." I want to do a good PR job on us and manage our images a little, justifying behaviors or explaining away actions. I so badly don't want to be "one of them" that my indignation and holier than thou attitude, lands me right in the middle of "them" more than I would like.

Like it or not, this is a worthy topic to think about. Servers in restaurants complain about the Sunday lunch crowd, unbelievers feel judged by Christians, many who have held themselves up as people of God have been exposed to the general public as cheats, liars, adulterers and manipulators. At some level it is not too much to say, some have earned the reputation of Hypocrite and all of us have to now bear it. But the court of public opinion is not really the greatest concern for me, albeit important. What about God...what does He think?

I have spent time in Acts 5 with Ananias and Sapphira lately. What a sobering read that can be. And after much reflection I believe we are being taught something so powerful in this account that it can not be ignored. God acted harshly, swiftly, decisively with these two. Why? Others have lied, others have cheated, many still do. I firmly believe the issue at stake was hypocrisy. God is ever patient with us as we attempt to live in kingdom ways - often messing up and allowing temptations to overcome us. Yet, if our hearts are turned to Him and we are desirous of a surrendered life and are making attempts to that end, He continues to grace us with gifts of growth and change. However with A & S He sees right through to the heart. They had predetermined to appear religious, pious, holy, sacrificial, surrendered- but it was all a show. God will not have that. If our aim is to receive the admiration, praise and respect of our spiritual family by our acts of faith that are borne out of ill-motive and deception we can expect the wrath of God. They were claiming to be something they were not. God did not require their land or the proceeds from it. And yet they chose to try to deceive the Lord, the Apostles, the community of faith in order to appear more righteous than they were.

For many of us, we will not face such a drastic situation. But on a daily basis as we live for God I have been challenged to review my motives, my heart, my intent and to ask God to cleanse any ugliness from my heart. How thankful I am for mercy!

Faith in a vaccuum

As I am reading Acts I am confronted with "the church" at every turn. This is hard for me. I know congregational ministry is how my bills are paid every month. But, truth be told, it is hard for me. I have often joked to David that church gets in the way of my faith all the time. Many jokes are told with truth lingering just below the surface.

I am in the middle of a conversation right now with a friend about his discouragement with organized religion. He is struggling with how to be a Christian without the trappings of church. I have been there. I am not a huge fan of the institution. I want to break the rules. I thrive in change. Creativity and reinvention are what sustain me. None of these are traits that the church is known for.

So, what now? Here is what I believe to be true. One can certainly be a Christian and live in an isolated situation. However, I don't really think we can be spiritually formed or have our faith refined unless we are prepared to live in community with others. There is just nothing that softens the edges quite like having to deal with people that take patience. And taken one step further as we are called to do in the community of faith...nothing softens the edges quite like learning to love people who are different to ourselves.

And so, as Acts keeps reminding me, God adds us to communities of faith because He knows that is where we are most transformed into His image.

Faith & Justice

For those of you who are reading this from Amarillo, I am not talking about Channel 4 news, but it is the perfect segue. We have a local TV station here with two night time anchors, Andy Justice and Faith Miller. What a deal for KAMR. Their news slogan is.....(drum roll) Faith&Justice working for you (or something similar).

And as I am about to tell my High School religion students this is no coincidence. Faith and justice go together because that is what God designed from the very beginning. The Old Testament is cram packed with references to God judging the hearts of those who are mistreating the weak, the alien, the under represented. Micah 6:8 says that God requires us to be people who Act Justly, Love Mercy and Walk Humbly with Him. Jesus' ministry is defined by His compassion and His care for the least of these. He tells us that when we ignore the plight of the thirsty, the hungry or the naked, we essentially ignore His plight. We read on and see that true and pure religion is defined as taking care of widows and orphans.

I have had my students looking at these verses and some shocking stats from Unicef on the real conditions of food, medicine and basic supplies around the world. One of them said, "this is just depressing" and wondered why I am making them face these things. My answer to her leads me to this post. It is a harsh reality, but empowering. Once we face the real condition of our globe, and we take the time to investigate what we can do, we can make a difference. And so I assigned them each two websites to read through and answer some questions about so that they can see how they can make a difference. We checked out everything from Tom's Shoes, to Christian Relief Fund to Kiva Microfinancing. I asked them to answer several questions about the organization and how much it would take for them to get involved in just one project. The tougher question was for them to look at their spending habits and see what it would take for them to divert money that usually flows to their entertainment etc and put it to one of these projects. It does not cost us that much really to make a difference in just one area. Buying a mosquito net from NothingButNets.net is just $10 and that can save a life. For $10 really? Just two trips to McDonalds. Hmmm..

We are taking the lesson a little further today with a field trip to Natural Grocers to hear a short presentation on Fair Trade/Equal Exchange. I am not trying to get them to spend every dollar on non profits or never drink a cup of Folgers again. I just want them to know their are options and choices where they can make an impact on the world. With Valentines coming up I thought showing them Fair Trade chocolate seemed like a good option.

Friday I have them reading a section from Irresistible Revolution and then hopefully this will lead to a school wide project or focus where we as a school can think beyond ourselves and make a mark for Justice on the world. Not because we want to be social activists (not that I would have a problem with that as the reason) but because we claim to be people of faith. And I firmly believe that faith should lead us to justice.

Incredible!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us-TVg40ExM