The Distance Between Sunday and Friday

Day four of Holy Week has dawned and another day of our journey is upon us. As I have journeyed this week I find myself getting increasingly focused on the range of emotions this week represents. I have also become very aware of the different people we encounter in the journey through scriptures in this final week of Jesus earthly life. Today I am thinking about Judas, and in the Gospel of Mark we find this short account: "Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them. They were delighted to hear this and promised to give him money. So he watched for an opportunity to hand him over." (Mark 14:10-11). 

This last week in church one of our worship leaders shared a prayer that stopped me dead in my tracks, She lifted to God, "we are so good a worshiping you and praising you on Sunday Lord, but by Friday it is our voice that mocks you." For me it was one of those moments when all the random thoughts in my mind, all the details of a worship service, heck the whole world seemed to come to a halt and there I was with God owning up to the fact that I am Judas.

I am not sure there is another person in the Scriptures who gets a worse wrap than Judas. There is no shortage of people in Scripture to not like or even to despise, yet when it comes to Judas there is usually a special place in our hearts for him. That place we reserve for Judas is often not a real good place. Here we have someone who journeyed with Jesus for the better part of three years. Judas participated in the most intense and perfect seminary experience ever offered. If there was a person who should know the very heart of God, it would be Judas and any of the other twelve. Still, given the opportunity Judas sells out on Jesus. As a result there are many through the centuries who have hated on Judas because he should have known.

It is important to be careful in how harsh we are with Judas. If we are bold enough to take a good look at our lives we might realize we could just as easily be Judas. I have been attempting to follow Jesus for the better part of 30 years, and I know there are times when I find my only company in following is that of Judas. Sure I spend Sunday worshiping God with all my heart, yet through the week I find ways to drift from Sunday's passion. Before long I find myself more readily complaining about Jesus than following him.

Now there is a big difference between complaining and turning Jesus into the religious leaders. However that distance is not as great as I would like it to be. Like Judas, I find there are ways I wish Jesus would act differently. When that does not happen I find ways to get what I want, even if it means betraying what I know to be good and true of Jesus. When my willingness to forsake Jesus is high I do not have to look real hard to find someone who is delighted to hear and see that I am so willing to turn my back on the One I have followed for so long.

This short passage in Mark may seem like a simple transition giving a historical detail. Obviously I think it is much more. These two little verses present for us an example of the distance that often exists between Sunday and Friday. When we follow Jesus there is a strong sense of I ought to know better. Still we often fail to do better than we know. All of this is true. What is also true is Jesus knows all this about us and continues to shower us with extravagant grace and love. While the distance between Sunday and Friday might be great, it is not greater than the love God has for us and the desire God has for us to place our lives in the hands of Jesus.

Determining Extravagance

As we continue on the journey through Holy Week we now find Jesus in the little village of Bethany. This village is located just outside of Jerusalem and is home to Lazarus and his sisters. Jesus has joined with Simon the Leper for dinner. To read the full account according to Mark go to Mark 14:1-9.

Jesus is eating dinner at the house of a person that he should not be at, or at least according to all the religious leaders and human created religious traditions. The fact that Simon's identity is that of the Leper gives a clue that he has a past that is less than acceptable to the religious establishment. To further complicate the issue a woman approaches Jesus. In the other Gospel accounts the woman is a woman of ill repute. So Jesus is in a house he shouldn't be in and a woman he should not have contact with him pour perfume all over him. This is too much for those gathered, who by the way were the disciples and some of the religious leaders.

The claim levied against the woman in Jesus direction is that she has wasted that which is very expensive. Interestingly the issue is not the company Jesus is keeping, rather it is the extravagant gift lavished upon Jesus. Right away the practical voices erupt to point out all the practical things that could have been done with the value of the perfume rather than dump it on Jesus' head. No attention is paid to the sacrifice this woman has made. There is no recognition of this woman more than likely putting her livelihood at risk, certainly her security in terms of earthly things was being poured out on Jesus. Nope, the focus is the waste and so they rebuke the woman, not just rebuke her but do so harshly.

At this point Jesus enters the conversation with what are some of the most misused and confusing words he shares. "The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them anytime you want. You will not always have me." Jesus is calling the bluff of the complainers. The concern for the poor was not new and has not seemed to go away, yet all of a sudden these people, who could do something about the poor, are concerned about this act of extravagance offered by this woman. The people who were suppose to best understand the extravagance of God seem to miss it. It is save to assume those complaining about the actions would not have sold the perfume for giving to the poor, rather they would have horded up the value as a sign of their own extravagance. While those gathered try to make this about finances and serving others, reality is the issue at hand is the state of our hearts and determining what is extravagant.

What is the most extravagant thing you have ever done for another person? Now the harder question, what was the motivation behind that offering? Offering extravagance is not often the issue, rather it is right motivation and right offering. The woman in the passage is not trying to gain anything, her motivation is to shower, literally, Jesus with the extravagance of her heart. In this simple act she is offering to Jesus her life, her security, and her future. Any of the material things of the world Jesus had at his disposal. If he needed to be anointed with perfume before burial, he could have cared for that. The issue was the extravagant love this woman had for Jesus, a level of love which put everything on the line.

It seems to me the most extravagant thing we can offer to another person is our very life. When we offer or being to another person, not so we might gain, simply because of love, we are showing the greatest form of extravagance. There are many gifts we can purchase and give to other people. Stores are filled with items for us to purchase and offer to someone as a sign of our care, affection and love, still a store cannot sell us the most extravagant thing.

Jesus helps us determine extravagance, that he would lay down his life for us. There was nothing for him to gain. There was not secret motivation. Simply a love beyond comprehension. Like the love the woman at Simon the Leper's house, the extravagance has nothing to do with the perfume, and every thing to do with offer of a life. Take time today to bask in the extravagance of Christ in our lives. Also take time to lavish that extravagance on other people.

To prepare your heart, I offer this song as a way to focus on who God is and what extravagance is:

Jesus Junk, The Easter Bunny and Reality

Today brings us to the next step toward the Cross. Yesterday was the celebration of Jesus' entry into the city as the King. Today brings us to the day traditionally thought of as the day Jesus cleansed the temple. For Mark's account of this event please see Mark 11:15-18. Here we find Jesus not real happy with what is happening in the temple courts. The merchandisers are all set up are ready to capitalize on all the people going to make their sacrifice and show their relationship with God. The actions of Jesus can be pretty disturbing until we take a closer look, and then the actions are down right convicting.

In my journey with God I have had all varieties of Christian message t-shirts, trinkets and assorted what I call Jesus junk. If you are a Jesus junk lover and user these thoughts are not offered as a criticism of you, only as an invitation to think and examine. Jesus junk are those things that have quite little slogans about our relationship with God. I shutter to think about the amount of money spent of these items in a given year. I shutter to think about the amount of money I have spent on such things along my journey. This morning as I was praying I got haunted by a thought, what if we didn't need Jesus junk to tell others and ourselves about our relationship with Jesus? What by watching our lives people would see the Love we have for God and experience the grace of Jesus? The Jesus junk t-shirts and sundry items are not bad, but are they the only way people know we have a relationship with Jesus?

Then there is the whole Easter Bunny thing. This weekend I was with my family at a few of our local shopping establishments. There were egg hunts, and all kinds of frenzy about the coming of Easter. I day say the stores were more excited about the coming of Easter than many in our churches. The frenzy was brought to the height when the announcement was made that the Easter Bunny had arrived and all the children should line up and get ready for pictures with the Easter Bunny. I am no fool, at least about this, the reason the stores have events for Easter is not because of their deep love for the amazing work of God through the death and resurrection of Jesus. I know it is because they have figured out the greatest act of God is a good opportunity to turn a buck. People come to the stores and visit the strategically placed Easter Bunny, and while getting their pictures taken, there is all kinds of other "essentials" available in eyesight.

The reality is Jesus came into such a situation in the Temple. We read Jesus chasing the merchants out with harsh words, you have made it a den of robbers. I wonder how much Jesus weeps over the fact that places looking to make money celebrate Easter with greater excitement than those who don their Jesus junk and proclaim their relationship with God through t-shirts, bumper stickers and other items. Have we created and merchandised Jesus who is good buddies with the Easter Bunny?

As we move through this most Holy Week, I invite you to explore a few things. First, if you are annoyed with me for ranting about Jesus junk, the Easter Bunny and our relationship to God, ask why. Second, ask God to show you where you have missed it. Seek the voice of God to point our the ways we have made Jesus and the Easter Bunny buddies. Third, determine if you were sitting at one of the tables selling in the temple, or if you were one of the ones amazed by the righteous and holy anger of Jesus.

Finally, all of us need to take time to remember the journey of Holy Week is the foundation of our relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Ask yourself what kind of cleansing is need in your life today that you might experience more of what God wants for you. Then do not get another article of Jesus junk, simply and with great devotion live the calling of Jesus in your life.

When We Don't Like It

There is something to be said for obedience no matter the circumstances. When the call of God comes and we respond in faithfulness there is a closeness in our relationship with God that is rivaled by little else. Being obedient is easy when we like what it is God is calling us to, or what we are called to seems to be easy. This is obedience that should be celebrated. What about when the call is hard, and the task is difficult, and we simply do not really like what God is calling us to?

Following and trusting God especially when it is difficult and we do not like it is when obedience really kicks in. I think of some of the people called in the Scriptures, Moses was reluctant and did not want to transition from the Desert of obscurity to the challenger of Pharaoh. Isaiah was convinced God has someone better to be a prophet confronting the people. Even Jesus himself wrestled with God in the Garden asking if there was another way than for him to die on the cross. In the end of these and other accounts of difficult calls the response is the same, "Not my will but thy will." In his book The Great Divorce C.S. Lewis reminds the reader there are two ways people respond to God, those who say my will be done on earth and those who say thy will be done. If obedience through the hard times was easy everyone would do it. The reality is we are so willing to walk our own path instead of the one God is beckoning us down.

What we do when we do not like the situation is more revealing of our relationship with God than when we like what is going on. Take for another example Peter. In the relative safety of wander the Galilean countryside he was able to be very obedient and identify with Jesus, but in the courtyard of the high priest we have a different story. Often we are way more harsh to Peter for his disobedience than we should be. Many of us would have followed suit. I do not like to admit that, but to say I would do anything else would be wild speculation. Thankfully, I do not have to stand in the courtyard of the high priest as Jesus faces trail. I do however have to live my life with the ups and downs it brings my way. The question is not what will I do when I like what is happening and where God is calling me. No, the question is what will I do when I am standing in the place of not liking where God is calling me.

Let's see, I have thrown prophets, Apostles and Jesus into this mix, along with C.S. Lewis. So there is little harm in one more. Look at Jonah. God's call was clear. Jonah's disobedience was clear. The story of Jonah has a tragic ending. Jonah's worst fear comes true, the Ninevehites repent. Then instead of celebrating in the work of God done through obedience, Jonah goes to the edge of the city and whines. In the end Jonah is a bitter man not seeing the glory God called him to be a part of. I wonder how often we miss what God is doing and going to do because we are preoccupied with the ways things have been that we like?

I do not find a God in the Scriptures who keeps things as they have always been. This is true of communities and of individuals. Our obedience to God is celebrated and rewarded with greater opportunity for obedience. Usually the greater opportunity requires us to move into territory we would rather not. Rarely are we called from comfort to comfort. More often we are called from comfort to risk. This is the call of God that drips with one simple question, "Who's will is to be done today?"

When The Future Becomes the Past

I had one of those holy crap moments this morning. I looked at the calendar and realized we are almost halfway through February 2012. I am sure to most of you this has not come as surprise as you have by now stopped writing 2011 on things requiring a date, and your calendars are all on February. My shock was because I had been playing the role of the procrastinator for a good part of December. There were several tasks needing attention but I kept delaying them until I returned from a mission trip to Columbia. Because of this projection of activities I thought I had all kinds of time to get to these activities in the future. My realization this morning was the future of December has become the past of February. What was in the windshield is now in the rear view mirror.

It is with more than our schedule that we do this. There are those changes in our life which we know we need to make. This time of year they are called resolutions and if you are like most you have already failed on most of the resolutions you set out before yourself just a few short weeks ago. There was great intention of change, perhaps even a plan, but there was always tomorrow, better known as the day when I will get started. Then we reach today and find we have not gotten started and the intended start date is not longer in front of us but behind us. Rather than simply starting to change our lives we first lament about the ways we missed the opportunity. Rather than deciding today will be the day we do what we know we need to, we often give up because we feel like we missed the opportunity. In fact, that is what happens most often when the future becomes the past, we simply give up for a later attempt.

As I look around at this glorious mystery called the church I find we suffer from a similar affliction. I do not talk to many people who say there is not need for the church to change. To be clear they are out there, you know the people who think things are just fine and if the church dies with them that is fine. However, most people recognize the church needs to go through a season of adaptation if it is going to be a vital and healthy collection of disciples of Jesus Christ. The challenge is not in recognition it is often in action. Someday we will get started with making changes, or I know we need to change it is just that I know it will make people unhappy if we change things. There is my all time favorite, we want new people to come to the church, we just want them to do it on our terms. In other words sometime in the future.

For many a faithful congregation the future has now become the past and the death rattle has begun. The death rattle is the sound someone makes shortly before they die. I am sure there is a deeply medical reasons for the rattle but all I know is when I am sitting with a family as they say goodbye, I know when I hear that sound the time is short. For the better part of 25 years, some argue longer, the church has seen the need to change and adapt to meet the challenges of being a disciple of Jesus Christ in the present age. For the same time frame it has always been couched in a 3-5 year plan, in the future. Yes change takes time, however it cannot happen unless the first steps are taken.

Let us put an end to the procrastination. Personally, if it is time to do more than think or talk about the gym, get started today. If it is time to do more than stare at the closed Bible on the coffee table, do it now. If it is time for the church to adapt, take the first step today. It will take time. Still the future will once again become the past if we do not make a move.

Wrapped in Love -- Merry Christmas 2011

One of my favorite places to visit in a store during this time of year is the free gift warping area. You know the place I am talking about. It is the place where someone will take the $9.99 gift you bought and make it look like a $29.99 gift. There is something about taking some shiny paper, ribbon and the ability to make a bow, that makes the ordinary and average look extraordinary. Over the past couple of years in our family there has been less and less extravagant wrapping of presents. We went from actual wrapping paper to, the funnies from the newspaper, which moved quickly to just newspaper. From there we made the move to Duct Tape. Note of caution when wrapping things with Duct Tape you want to be careful as it does not remove as cleanly as you would think, just saying. Now for the adults in the family when it is time to exchange gifts for some reason we simply leave it in the store bag and wrap the tails of the bag as tight as possible. It’s kind of funny, no matter what you put inside that store given plastic bag it looks like a cheap gift.

I have noticed it is not just our gifts we give a wrapping. There is the very literal concept of wrapping our bodies in clothing. It is easy to see there are some people who place a high value on the wrapping and others who do not. My idea of an expensive shirt is anything over 12 bucks. While others pay more for their undergarments. In our culture there is an odd value assigned to the wrappings we put on our body.

We could also look at the lifestyle we wrap ourselves with. Perhaps you are a person who on the outside looks like you are living the filet minion life, when in actuality you have a Raman Pride life. You choose to wrap your life in something different than reality. Maybe you are the person who lives right on the edge of keeping it all together but you present yourself as someone who has it all together and under control. I wonder if the wrapping we are seeing right now reflects who we really are?

That brings me to this Jesus baby. Now if we believe the scriptures and prophecies about the Messiah, and we believe this to be Jesus found in the New Testament, what does the wrapping tell us? Look at the passage in Isaiah and the titles given to the Messiah, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. These are some pretty impressive titles that should come with some pretty impressive wrapping. If we take a look at all the expectations there were for the Messiah, He was going to set the people free from the Romans. The Messiah was going to establish Israel as the most important nation once again. This one person, the Messiah, would make everything just as it is supposed to be. With those expectations you would expect some pretty amazing wrapping.

But what do we find, and ordinary baby, in a less than ordinary nursery being wrapped in scrapes of cloth. This is the anti-wrapping station move. The most precious gift or greatest value is given a wrapping that appears to make the gift look like less than it is. At the same time we take the $9.99 gift to get a wrapping to look like a $29.99 item. However there is another wrapping around Jesus that is not as easily seen as the clothes. Perhaps Jesus is more like the gift wrapped in the Wal-Mart bag. Contained in that bag may be something plain and ordinary, just another item off the shelves. More than the object though is the heart and intention behind the gift. My office is littered with gifts that do not look very impressive until you know the intent. Those tatted gifts are handmade, one-of-a-kind masterpieces made especially for me by my children. This changes everything. Those pictures, rocks and other trinkets are wrapped with so much more than paint and paper, they are wrapped with the love of my children.

That baby in a cave, because there was no room in the Inn, was in many ways a normal baby, treated as most babies in that day would have been treated. To look at the baby Jesus you might think he was the equivalent of a Wal-Mart shelf item. Sure we think about the star in the sky and all the pictures which have a halo around Jesus. The star was there, but the baby was still a baby, remember Jesus was fully human and fully God. This means the experience of baby Jesus was similar to other baby experiences. The difference was not the baby but what the baby was wrapped in. Jesus Christ was a gift from God given to you and I, along with all creation and he was wrapped in love. Not just any love, the love the creator has for that which was created. Love that is pure, true and not matched by anyone or anything on this earth or anywhere else.

Christmas might be your favorite time of year and you wish it would come more than once a year. You might be a person who cannot stand Christmas and you wish it would never come. This time of year might be festive and joy-filled for you, or it might be a time of great pain, regret and struggle. Perhaps you are like me and you get almost physically ill to see the god of consumerism on full display. Whether you are Ebenezer Scrooge, Bob Cratchit or Tiny Tim there is one truth of Christmas which remains. God, the Creator of all things, the great parent to all, gave us the gift of stepping out of eternity and into this world. This gift was wrapped in frail humanity that we might experience wholeness. Jesus was wrapped in the ordinary of life that we might experience the extraordinary of life. The Messiah was wrapped in love in order to make a way for all of us to know the peace, hope, joy and love of our God. What is more, this wrapping is shared with us. Through Jesus Christ we are wrapped in God’s love. My Christmas prayer and hope is that you will feel the love of God wrapped around you.

Life Beyond Maintenance

Chances are you are familiar with the following cycle. You have a moment in your journey when you learn a lesson. It might some great spiritual insight, or a simple principle that helps with daily living. Over time this new insight grows cold and once again something seems broken. In an effort to repair what is broken, you seek after wholeness again. As you seek you remember the insight from before and feel whole again. You repeat this cycle endlessly. This is a cycle describing many peoples interaction with church. On the weekend there is a great insight that makes life seem livable, so you follow it. By the next week the struggle is back on. In this mode attending a church gathering becomes a form of maintenance in our lives. With startling regularity we find ourselves struggling with that same old issue once again, even though we preform our regular maintenance.

It could be that all you need is regular maintenance. Like an oil change in a car, there simply needs to be attention paid to keeping things running at their peak. However, there are times when the recurring problem requires more than maintenance, it requires an overhaul. This moves beyond a simple insight to apply to our lives. An overhaul is when we dismantle something and replace it with something more suiting to the result we are looking for. An example might be helpful. So many people tell me they want to experience a closeness with God like they have not experienced, and they are hoping that regular attendance of services will accomplish this end. Over time there is perfect attendance, however there is not greater intimacy with God. It is not because the services are failing to be effective, it is we need an overhaul. There is a need to change some of the fundamental actions and thoughts of our daily lives. Maintenance gives us the ability to manage the struggles without ever really addressing the issue behind the struggle. An overhaul goes deeper, to the root of the struggle.

I have a feeling that most of us go through life managing the challenges we face without ever really dealing with them. We find ways to function daily and keep our challenges in check, yet there are times when the in place maintenance plan no longer works. Rather than do an overhaul, we simply change maintenance plans. We are called by the God of love to do more than live a life on a maintenance plan, we are called to experience a life of fullness.

So how do we make this happen in our lives. First, is be willing to go beneath the surface. When we want to make changes to the way we experience life, we have to be willing to make more than maintenance changes. Feeling overwhelmed by a schedule will require more than a simple correction to the scheduling of my time. After I make changes in my scheduling patters, over time I will return the former place. The challenge is to dig into the question of why I over schedule my life, what are my motives? Or to put it another way, what need within me is being fulfilled by over scheduling.

If more of us began to ask the deeper questions and make the deeper changes in our lives, then more people would experience life beyond maintenance. Fair warning, this is not as easy as maintenance. Moving beyond maintenance will require digging into sections of our lives we may have ignored for a while. It will require us to re-pattern our lives. Old wounds left to fester will have to be reopened for full healing. So many people choose maintenance rather than overhaul because maintenance is safe and relatively harmless. An overhaul will mean great challenge. On the other side of things however, maintenance will keep you locked in the same place. The overhaul will open the doors of transformation.

So I invite you to a life beyond maintenance. Know that the journey will be difficult. Know also you will not journey alone. We have a God who is there with us. This is the truest understanding of Christmas. We have a God who made a dwelling place among us. This is the person of Jesus Christ who promises to never leave or forsake us. No matter what challenge you are facing, or how long you have faced it, you can move beyond maintenance. There is hope in the struggle.