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“Good” Friday: The Machine and Someone

On a Friday, a long time ago, evil overcame goodness. As you can imagine it was brutal.

Evil was a machine that kept churning and spinning, with no one seemingly willing or even able to stop it. Like a woodchipper pulling in a single branch only to spit wood out to the air in a million pieces, ready for the next object to enter its mouth.

But the machine cannot operate by itself. Someone has to do maintenance. Someone has to make sure the parts are in working order. The wheels have to be greased, so to speak. It needs to be well-oiled.

The machine also needs food. Someone has to offer it material to crush and split. Someone has to stand at the ready, giving the machine more matter to destroy.

It was a stormy day. I stood by as I watched, simultaneously willingly and yet against my own desire participated in the destruction. A dirty, oiled rag hung from my pocket, my hands held the limb in place.

The machine was primed and pumped. The machine received its feeding.

Someone died, gasped their last breath. The machine purred to an idle.

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Relent: Simplify

A(nother) Lenten thought:

Simplify.

We live in a world (those in the “1st world” anyway) that seems to value quantity over quality, busyness as a marker of success, and doing more as a means to being more or being better or even being a good follower of God.

But Jesus lived an intentional, slowed-down, your identity as well as your neighbor is one of already being a child of God life.

May we free each other to be who God created us to be. Breathe in God’s graceful presence this day, and every day. Your identity is good, return to it.

Live simply.

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Relent: I’m Giving In

Relent. This is what I’m telling myself these days.

As Florence and her machine (Florence + the Machine) sing so beautifully in their lenten-like song Never Let Me Go: “I’m not giving up, I’m just giving in.”

To be clear.
This does not mean oppression does not matter.
This does not mean sin is just accepted.

Giving in, instead, means someone else does not rule my life.
Giving in means something else, like money and power, does not own me.
Giving in is the way to freedom, to security, and to peace. This is the way of Jesus’s cross.

So I am relenting to the knowledge that I am beautifully and wonderfully made.
So I am relenting to be a small, but meaningful part of the whole.
So I am relenting to needing others in my life.
So I am relenting to trust God with every moment.
So I am relenting to hope, that good will overturn the bad.

I readily relent because Jesus has gone to the lowest low, taking on the role of slave/servant, coming alongside others and caring deeply for their being.

Yes, this Lent I am relenting. But I’m not giving up, I’m just giving in.

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Marriage = Equal Partnership

There is a thought and belief going around, mainly among Christians, that is very destructive.

I normally don’t make definitive statements, but I have to about this: Men and women are created equal. Marriage is a partnership, in every sense of that word.

Last week Mark and Grace Driscoll – Pastor Mark is very influential in some circles of Christianity – came to Sacramento to share their thoughts on marriage, love and sex from what they consider the Biblical perspective. While we need to talk about sex, to destigmatize so love-making is not gross and to keep it beautiful so it doesn’t turn into a god, their understanding of the roles of men and women are actually harmful. They are not alone in this belief about marriage and the role of husband and wife. I used to believe this too, but I do not anymore. Many have a particular understanding of some passages of scripture (let alone the way God’s Word – bible here – is to be interacted with) and how we are created as men and women. But these unique roles are actually based in “the world” and not in Jesus Christ.

There’s much written about marriage and men and women in the Bible. I’ll address just a couple of them, but it gets to the heart of the matter, the essence of the Gospel in a world and culture that can strangle the life out of people.

Paul and others wrote the pastoral letters – books written to specific churches in the First CE. In Ephesians and Colossians, typical Roman “household codes” in the description of Christian life are addressed. Both letters address marriage roles for men and women in slightly different ways but both are counter-cultural in a society where men basically owned women in marriage. Paul may have left a “leadership” role for men intact, but the pervasive notion of submitting and love from both husband and wife stand out in his teaching. There’s nothing about how they are created differently, with men in a more powerful position and women as the “weaker sex.” To do that would actually reflect this particular ancient cultural norm Paul was combating!

The problem with reaching for standardized “leadership” roles for men and women from a Christian perspective is that this measure is actually based upon oppressive cultural mores and not Jesus’ gospel. We are all to be respected. We are all to be loved. Equally.

God has created both male and female, but in Christ we are one. To quote another piece of Christian scripture which highlights our equality in God, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

This is freedom. We, men and women (including those who “blur” those lines – Queer, Transgender, etc), are created equal and are one in Christ.

If you need a leader in your marriage, seek Jesus Christ not your mate. Husbands, don’t oppress your wife. Why would you want to do that to her, your love and if you’re fortunate, the mother of your children, anyway?

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God Isn’t Against Science

It feels somewhat obligatory, but I don’t want some of my friends or others for that matter to think science – as determined by scientific theory and most scientists – is not a good endeavor. Science is even a holy pursuit. I actually believe God’s Spirit is in the midst of all that we can know empirically. I believe that everything physical is inherently spiritual. I also believe that there’s something “behind” what we see, something more that we can know. What you see is what you get basically and yet we continue to know more about creation. I believe, essentially, in Intelligent Design.

If you didn’t know, there was a “televised” event with Ken Ham of a Creationist Museum and organization and Bill Nye, who you might remember from PBS as the “Science Guy”. There are others better at explaining and discussing the issues raised and those which were not addressed and most certainly could have been. But here goes:

A very small minority of Christians believe in a “new earth,” one that literally believes, because of a particular interpretation of an ancient Hebrew and Christian biblical text – Genesis –  that the world began 6,000 years ago, as if these scriptures were a calculator or math book. So I need to say one can very easily, and I would say, more accurately say, because of taking this ancient text seriously, believe that the 6 days of creation, for instance, mean periods of time or that they can be taken metaphorically. Much of the Hebrew Scriptures are beautiful narrative and poetic works. And spiritual ones at that.

Also, Mr. Ham’s assertion that for one to be saved by Jesus Christ and “forgiven of sins” one has to believe that the ancient Hebrew scripture of Genesis is a literal, scientific account of creation is untrue. God is bigger and greater than this in my estimation.

So, hear it from me since you didn’t hear it during the debate last night:

God Isn’t Against Science

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Epiphany – Surprise, Surprise

It’s Epiphany. So Christmas is officially over.

Today is a traditional Christian celebration of the wise men – non-Jewish spiritual leaders who read the stars (astrologers and/or scientists?) – that protected a conceived out-of-wedlock Jewish baby boy whom they believed to be “the one” and honored him with unique gifts.

This would have been an outrage.

This would have been entirely inappropriate.

There’s no way they would have worshiped God correctly, let alone known he was the Son of God, the Messiah or the Christ. And wait – did you see how Jesus was born on earth?

And yet the “wise men” did.

Matthew 2:1-12 records the story of the magi finding Jesus because they followed their own religion and worshipped Jesus in their Eastern custom when they came upon him. They also protected Mary and “Step-Father” Joseph’s son from potential death at the hands of a blood-thirsty jealous King.

You never know who will honor and worship Jesus – they might be someone who’s seemingly far off. But by God’s presence and their seeking after truth they are able to follow and find Jesus, even worship God by their own customs. In spirit and in truth as they say.

Just like some of us already have. May we make room for brothers and sisters such as these. Jesus is truly Lord of Lords and King of Kings, and worthy of all good gifts this Epiphany, even if we think our lives are outrageous or inappropriate.

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Year End

Should I really write and end-of-the-year blogpost? I’m not sure, but it looks like that’s exactly what I’m doing. I’m compelled by a desire to not not communicate. Lord knows I don’t write here enough anyways.

These have always seemed weird to me, the quick rewind over the last year or a note in reflection. If one is to live into the moment, slowly and centered as God seems to direct for one’s path, it seems odd and inappropriate to recount the past and tell you about it. I mean, you have your own life to review and live into and so do I. It might not be safe for me to share, anyways. But I’ve realized this year how structure and set moments to plan and reflect are really helpful. Even someone kicking things off by sharing their own thoughts first is a good thing.

Here’s what I’ve seen this year:

• Relational growth and depth among people in the communities I participate in, from The WordHouse, Faith Presbyterian Church, the Sacramento Presbytery and Old Soul coffeehouses, to name a few.

• For those who have “moved on” for work, career, and family reasons over the last few years the bonds we have because of our sharing in Christ (whether we have intentionally or not) continue despite the less frequent get togethers or traditional participation in our faith communities.

• I became ordained. After being officially recognized and called as a Teaching Elder, I still have a difficult time describing the gravitas of it all.

• My relationship with my wife continues to grow and deepen. For her I am very grateful.

This life is mystical. Really. We can plan and strategize, and that can be helpful, but we really don’t know what’s going to happen. This is why life is so beautiful, especially for those who are after God’s heart, as they say, or whatever is really true and noble in life.

As you reflect on your own 2013 calendar year, may you stay connected to who you are and go after a life truly worth living in 2014, for your sake, God’s sake and for the sake of our larger community.

Hope to see you next year.