Grass

"Look it up."

That's one of the most used phrases among my crew of friends.  Most of us are addicted to information, and there is an endless stream of data being presented to us that we are knowingly (or unknowingly) asked to sift through in order to make decisions.  Did you know that the average US citizen consumes a little over three hours worth of advertisements (including sources such as the internet, magazines, television, radio, etc.) every day?  As each advertisement shows us what we don't have, and what we "need," is it any wonder there is an ever-sprouting seed of discontentment among us?  Is there any wonder that we have a constant fear inbreed into the most recent generations of “missing out”?  (“Missing out” on what exactly? we’re not sure).

To be clear, I’m not blaming our discontent or indecisiveness on media.  However, I am making a point that if we hold a mirror to our actions, the reflection points to a people wandering around frequently fretting, and never satisfied.  We desire freedom and autonomy, without understanding that unlimited choices and independence has actually added to our bondage rather than taking it away.

Ever watched someone throw something away because they bought the exact same thing—only newer—because they thought they’d like it better?  (Only to find they miss what they had? Buyers remorse, anyone?)  Have you ever talked to a college student in a four-year university who had no idea what to do with their life?  (Do they know they’re paying (or someone’s paying) thousands upon thousands of dollars for their indecision?*).  Have you ever talked with someone who is getting out of a covenant marriage relationship because they have fallen “out” of love with someone?  (Do they know they’re going to have to change everything about their life, and possibly put their children through years rebuilding their trust in human relationship?**) 

We all know the old proverb: “The grass is always greener on the other side.”  We live by it as if it were the way life is supposed to be.  Yet, there is something inside each of us that knows this statement is incongruent with the way we want our lives to go.   Wouldn’t we rather be able to enjoy the things we have?  Wouldn’t we rather be discontent because of unjust behavior, instead of being discontent because everything around us is wonderful, yet we can’t enjoy it?

I have multiple amazing examples of selfless love in my life--but one in particular is our community care pastor.  She looks for ways to do something I call "pre-blessing" others.  Before she enters into a meeting or care-giving situation, she brings cards of encouragement or blankets--whether she needs them or not.  Instead of looking at how others might serve her, she is constantly looking for ways to bless those she comes in contact with.  That is not to say she doesn't graciously accept gifts or grace from others, but it is to say she is more concerned with the blessing than the being blessed.  Because I get to see her in the day-to-day, I know it comes from a secure understanding of how she is already blessed in Christ that allows her to focus on blessing others.

Fear drives out love, while Love drives out fear.  Our culture would tell us to act first to prove ourselves secure and lovable, while faith tells us to rest first in the security of Love, and then act out of that Love.  When you know you are wholly accepted and loved, there is no room for fear-driven discontentment.  When you start caring for the grass that you have (and even bloom where you are planted), you don’t have time to look at any other grass.  When you are being grateful for what you have and looking for ways to demonstrate that gratitude, you don’t have time to “miss out.”  When you’re taken care of—you understand that real freedom and opportunity come within loving parameters.

The grass may be greener on the other side--but I bet it's because that guy is actually taking care of his grass.

"For, 'All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.'"  And this is the word that was preached to you."

--1 Peter 1:24-25

___

* I’m not calling anyone out without also calling out my own indecision at the end of my four-year private university education.  I’m sorry Mom, and Dad—and my current bank account.

**I’m not equipped to know what divorce is like, but I am equipped with the experience of helping multiple family members and friends pick up the pieces after a covenant relationship is broken.  There’s a reason why Jesus hated divorce—not because He hates people, but because He hates it when we selfishly hurt each other.

Returning to grassy areas...

It's been a while...I know.  Sorry blog-readers!

I have been doing quite a bit of jet-setting since the summer, and am now settled back on the east coast for the holidays.  While I have much to write about regarding those travels, there's a question that plagues my mind that I want to address with you.  It is this:

"Who was the second gunman on the grassy knoll?"

Okay, not really.  But, I do have a question about grassy areas.

Among the travels, I got a sweet copy of the New Testament called "The Voice" at Catalyst (http://www.hearthevoice.com/), and it has been like reading the Bible for the very first time.  I have been going through the book of John, and I was reading in chapter 6.  In the chronology of events according to this book, Jesus has just performed a miracle where he feeds 5,000 people on this grassy knoll, then (at night) he walks on water to his disciples as they leave to Capernaum.

As Jesus and His disciples arrive in Capernaum,
"Other boats were arriving from Tiberais near the grassy area where the Lord offered thanks and passed out bread.  When this crowd could not find Him or His disciples, they boarded their small boats and crossed the sea to Capernaum looking for him.  When they found Jesus across the sea, they questioned Him.


Crowd: Teacher, when did you arrive at Capernaum?


Jesus: I tell you the truth--you are tracking Me down because I fed you, not because you saw signs from God." 
(John 6:23-26; The Voice)

Talk about calling someone out!  I don't know if this hits you the same way it hits me--but I was extremely convicted by these verses.  How many times have I tried to show up again and again to familiar "grassy areas" where I was fed once by Christ, and finding that He has moved on?

How many times have I tried to do the same thing I've always done, expecting God to work in my framework?  How many times have I shown up to the grassy area, and then got upset because I thought "Well, God's just not there anymore."?

Right, because He's moved on and I've refused to move with Him.

We've traded everlasting Bread for mere crouton crumbs and discarded fish bones.  Instead of showing up to old familiar places I expect, perhaps God wants me to come with Him to Capernaum.   (And, it seems he doesn't want me to come so I can get "fed"...but He wants me to come and participate with Him this time in the feeding--the signs from God.)

Jesus goes on to say
"Don't spend your life chasing food that spoils and rots.  Instead, seek the food that lasts into all the ages and comes from the Son of Man., the One on whom God the Father has placed His seal.

Crowd: What do we have to do to accomplish the Father's works?


Jesus: "If you want to do God's work, then believe in the One He sent."
(John 6:27-29, The Voice)

I don't want to stay on the grassy knoll looking for leftovers, when a banquet feast of the Bridegroom awaits.  Do you?

“…Faith, hope, and love—but the greatest of these is Love…”

Tension.  Last year I went to Catalyst in Atlanta with the staff of the church I work with.  Though choc full of good teaching, I am not a fan of some of the commercialism I feel is experienced there.  However, I am a fan of the theme.  It was called: “The Tension is Good.” 

Most of the time, the tension isn’t good.  Most of us want to resolve tension.  We don’t like being in “limbo” or being in “the in-between.”  I know I sure don’t for the most part.  I don’t like living in the fog of understanding with no clearing in sight.  I often seek understanding so much that I would forget virtues like faith, hope and love so that I might experience an illusion of control that comes with “understanding.”

However, God has really been working on my heart this month with “there is something greater than understanding, and that is love.”  (Brennan Manning, Patched Together: A Story of My Story).

You would think, since I work with a church—and God’s greatest commandment is “Love God. Love people” (paraphrase)—that I would obviously practice this.  However, for as simple as it is stated—it’s not always so easy in practice (aka--impossible without the Holy Spirit).

First Corinthians 13 is a passage that usually gets mistaken as the “marriage” passage in the Bible.  I have been to countless weddings where “Love is patient, love is kind…” is read over and over again for a new husband and wife.  However, as our pastor pointed out one Sunday, the passage was written by a single man.  Paul wrote these words, which I believe describe the character and activity of God—describing the One who is love, and how we are to live in His love.

My favorite part of this passage, however, is the verse that comes after the description of love.  In verse 12 it says:  “Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity.  All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.”  I might not understand everything right now—but that doesn’t stop me from being able to love.

Jesus sets the example for loving despite situations that may not make sense.  Just before He is to be crucified, he has a meal with his disciples.  Before they begin the meal, he washes their feet.  Now, at this point, he knows that Judas—one of the disciples who walked with him throughout his ministry—is going to betray Him.  Yet, that doesn’t stop him from washing Judas’ feet.  This makes absolutely no sense.  But, does love ever make sense?

I doubt he washed them with any form of resentment either.  Just washed them with the same love that He showed His other disciples. 

At the onset of the passage in 1 Corinthians 13, it says: “If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing.   If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.” 

I can be close to the things of God without love.  I can appear faithful and pious without love.  I can talk the right talk without love.  However, it doesn’t matter how many good deeds I can rack up if I do them without love.  It doesn’t matter how many people I serve, how many books I read, how much faith I have, how many languages I spoke, how much knowledge I possessed—without love…without God—it was for nothing. 

Sometimes, with love as the approach it seems like little gets done.  It gets frustrating at times, and we don’t know always understand or see what’s going on.  But understanding everything right now is not the point.  It seems that the point looks more like this: trusting and being obedient that with God’s love—much always gets accomplished—and hopefully one day He’ll let me see it clearly—even as He sees me clearly now.

Reflections on Communion

This is a reflection from when I served for a year as a full-time volunteer with an organization called "Faith Community."  I worked with homeless and runaway youth, 21 and under.  I love this story so much, and just had to share.  It is from January, 2010.

____________________

I love communion.  I used to just eat my little cracker and drink a cup of juice without really understanding what was going on.  However,not long after I became a Christian, I started asking God “What is this about?”  I mean, I knew what it was about in the sense of the bread is Jesus, the juice is His blood, yadda yadda yadda—but what did that mean to me?  I mean,  I struggled with if I was being a cannibal for a little while, and then God slowly started revealing to me what the act of communion means.  It means many things—too many to recount in a short reflection.

First, and most obviously, communion is a meal.  It is a part of a Passover feast.  It means forgiveness.  His body broken and His blood shed for us all.  It means a saved life, protection, security, promise, being set-apart.  What I have now come to understand more is that it means something broken to bring us all who are broken, back together as whole.

I take a group of youth to church on Saturday nights, and my motley crew of youth this particular outting included a former drug dealer, prostitutes, a stripper, and two ex-cons.  The service was a special one because we were taking communion at the end of the service.  My two ex-cons who were with me happened to become followers of Jesus during their time in jail, and one of them turned to me while they were preparing the elements and said “Miss Jenny, can I go up and get communion?”

In my mind, I’m thinking—well of course you can!! The table is open!"  While I’m thinking this, the pastor is calling up the lay leaders of the church to help serve the elements of communion.  As they are coming up, I turn to this young man and say with an enthusiastic head nod, “yes!”

I didn’t realize that his question meant, “Can I go up and get communion right now?”

As the lay leaders are approaching  the altar, this youth runs up to the front of the sanctuary, followed by his other ex-con buddy.  Then, their enthusiasm inspires some other young guys from the congregation to get up and rush toward the communion table.  The lay leaders looked around a little confused, but the pastor tried to maintain everyone’s composure and simply kept preparing the elements for the entire congregation.  I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself and smile wide as I thought about the social faux pas that they were committing at that moment.

However, the part that made me watch them in awe was the fact that these were two young men with dark stories, and yet, they had no shame or reservation about coming to the table of the Lord.  They knew who they were, and they knew who God is—and they knew that they had “large debts” that had been canceled—which only made them run even faster toward the communion table.

There is a Leeland song that I love called “Carried to the Table.”  The chorus of the song goes like this:

“I was carried to the table
Seated where I don’t belong
I was carried to the table
Swept away by His love
And I don’t see my brokenness anymore
When I’m seated at the table of the Lord
I was carried to the table
The table of the Lord”

None of us deserve a seat at God’s table—and yet, God says come anyway.  He invites the weary and heavy laden to enter into His rest, and to taste and see that He is good.

I wish we all had such an understanding of God’s love and grace that made us run like that.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”—Matthew 5:6

Kumbaya

Sunshine.  Beautiful water.  Swimming/boating/kayaking/canoeing/children-launching.  Bunk-beads.  Bugs.  

Yes.  I am talking about camp.  A rite of passage for some, a way of life for others.  Truly a week-long period of time that is either a "Sweet dream/or a beautiful nightmare..." (Depending on if you have to sleep near the snoring kid, the booger-picker, the bed-wetter, or the other normal kid like you).

As I was growing up, it was usually the latter rather than the former (not the bed-wetting part, the nightmare part).  I never really liked camp.  I hated (still hate) bugs, and I didn't really believe in something called "sweating" when I was younger.  Giving up my comfortable bed, and possibly forsaking air conditioning while putting myself directly with many other "sweaty" and immature peers did not sound like a good time. But, since God apparently wanted all His kids to experience camp, I went.

I wish I could say that I had life-changing experiences at camp as a camper--but, I never did.  In fact, I usually felt more isolated, alienated, and I actually sprained my ankle (for the second time) during my final teenage camp experience. I have many friends who "met Jesus" at camp, and surrendered their lives to Him there.  I have talked to many who have beautiful camp experiences, and then there are the few like me who leave enjoying camp--but secretly wonder why in the world they went.  

The after is what is always curious to me.  What happens after camp?  What happens after you have (or don't have) this close experience with God?  I know God doesn't just stay at camp, but is with us at all times.  But, do we choose to continue to commune with Him after the hype of a shared emotional experience is over?

Maybe the purpose of camp for me when I was younger was to OBVIOUSLY get me ready to organize one when I got older.  God sure does have a sense of humor, doesn't He?  So, now I am coming home from "Rhythm" camp with the students I work with.  It was a beautiful experience together, and I know there were bonds formed that have the promise of long-lasting friendships.  God really did Kumbaya--"Come by here."  My deepest prayer is that, regardless of their understanding of the camp experience,  the bonds they formed with Christ live into the promise of His long-lasting commitment of relationship with us.  May we always know that when we are in rhythm with God, that the melody of or lives will always be in tune--and may surprise us with the song it sings!

Awake My Soul

"In these bodies we will live/ In these bodies we will die/ Where you invest your love/ You invest your life..."--Mumford & Sons "Awake My Soul"

I'm just getting home from a Bible study that is focused on the book of Mark.  I love deep, meaty Bible studies.  You know, the kind that seek to get not only to the heart of the Bible, but allow for the Bible to penetrate to the bone marrow of the deepest places of your heart.  I love this so much not because it's pleasant, but because the after affects of this painful penetration bring the fruit of the Spirit.

We read many stories of healing tonight from the 2nd & 3rd chapter of Mark.  After each story of Jesus' healing came judgement from the religious leaders of the day.  I am reminded over and over again from this first part of Mark about how much I vacillate between the characters of those who get healed, and those who stand judging Jesus for healing them.  We talked about how we read the pages of these stories and find ourselves asking the question "Would I have actually followed Jesus if I saw him do all that he did?"  

It's funny how we can talk about this as if it's in the past tense--as if Jesus doesn't still heal today and we don't still stand in judgement of how he does it.  

One of the questions from our study was: "Compare the Pharisees' view of piety as a religious fast with Jesus' depiction of Christian discipleship as a wedding party.  How does that fit with your view of what it means to be a Christian?"

How does it fit?  Do I live every day as a celebration and preparation for my coming groom?  Do I live every day enthralled in love as a preparing bride?  Or do I find myself looking like bridezilla and discounting the wedding altogether unless I have the right color napkins for the feast?  I want to fall in love again.

"Awake my soul...You were made to meet your maker..."

I Just Love These...

I had never known Sermonspice.com until this past year--and somehow I stumbled upon these gems.  This is a particular favorite :)

"Thoughts on Life"

Hope you enjoy and don't get caught up on watching a bunch of them...(not like I have ever done that.... hehe)