A reminder on "now"

My small group is reading through Henri Nouwen's book "Here and Now." In the first chapter, there's one point I found to be very poignant.

"We are constantly distracted by things that have happened in the past or that might happen in the future. It is not easy to remain focused on the present. Our mind is hard to master and keeps pulling us away from the moment."

This may be one of my most difficult challenges in life--living in the present. I have big plans. I have things I want to accomplish or simply do. I have the tendency to focus on the end result and often times either miss the journey, or never even work toward the goal. Accomplishing something in future requires doing something in the now. For me it's just much easier to dream about what could be than to actually takes steps to make it happen.

Nouwen says the same about prayer.

"Prayer is the discipline of the moment. When we pray, we enter into the presence of God whose name is God-with-us."

I can act like what really matters is my projects that I need to get done. But when I take the time to stop and reflect, life is really about the relationships--with God and with people. Like prayer, relationships are a "now" kind of discipline. I would like to have a better marriage in the future, but the only real way to have that is to focus on the now. I can't do anything about the future, I can only work with now. I can only improve my marriage now.

"If we could just be, for a few minutes each day, fully where we are, we would indeed discover that we are not alone and that the One who is with us wants only one thing: to give us love."

If I could "be where I am..." As strange as that sounds, if I really want to care for people, it's where I have to live...not worried about the future or regretting the past, but fully in the now. As it is, I think I miss out on a lot of opportunities to love because I'm stuck in another place or time, always wanting to have my life be different in some way.

But I think as learn to I trust God, I will learn to trust that He has me where He wants me and I'll be satisfied with my place and the influence I have right here, right now.

Did Jesus Intend This?

I just finished teaching a class called "Exploring the Church." A good portion of the class, we looked at church history. In case you've never studied it, the church has a pretty mixed history. Certainly, there have been some very good things. Teachings about Jesus' spread very quickly all throughout the world as a result of the dedicated people of the church. The church cared for people others wouldn't during the big epidemics in the Roman Empire. The church worked to solidify doctrine, defend the faith and lay the foundation for Christians all throughout the ages.

But there is much in church history that makes me ask the question, "What does this have to do with Jesus?" The more I study Jesus, the more things in church history look to be directly contradictory to Jesus' teachings.

Even maybe the most influential (and controversial) event in church history gives us pause. Constantine, who had designs on ruling the entire empire had a dream (or vision) the night before a very important and decisive battle. In the dream he saw Christ, who told him "In this sign, conquer." He had each of his men mark their shield with the sign of Christ. As you may expect, he won the battle despite the fact that he was outnumbered two to one. While Constantine had been a pagan up to that point, he "converted" to Christianity.

While the church had been persecuted up to that point, Constantine eventually granted favor to Christians and we all know Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. While I'm sure if we were Christians at that time, we would definitely have celebrated the fact that we were no longer persecuted, but looking at what happens in the following years, I have to wonder if that was what Jesus really intended?

Did He intend for the church to grow through force? Did he intend for Christians to take back the "holy land" by the sword in the Crusades? Did he intend for Christianity to become the law? Did he intend the Inquisition and the riches and power of the Pope? I look at much of church history and compare it to what I read in the Gospels and wonder where Jesus is. Whatever happened to "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you?" Whatever happened to "you know that the rulers of the gentiles lord it over them...but not so with you...whoever wants to be the greatest must become the least?"

I think we would do well as a church to look at our history and then renew our focus on Jesus. I think if we did, some of the things we focus on today would go by the wayside. If we did, would we rely on politics to forward our "agenda?" If we really returned to living out Jesus' teachings, would western Christians be known mostly for what they're against? If we did, would we spend more or less time in the church building?

Personally, I've begun to ask myself these questions over the last couple of years. Just like the church, I see glimpses of Jesus' teachings in my own life, but I think Jesus would like to see more than just glimpses. I suspect that if we were all to ask these questions and look to Scripture for our answer, our lives would begin to look much different. Maybe we would look a little more like Jesus intended.

God is Opposed to Fun

Interesting message by Pastor Randy this weekend in church. (I wish I could include a link to it so you could listen, but apparently we didn't get it recorded.) In any case, the title of the sermon was "Myth or Truth: God is Opposed to Fun." Of course, any Christian who's any fun would say it's just a myth, but I would guess there are a lot of people who went to church when they were little who disagree. I can't tell you how many people have come to church at Hillside for the first and said something to the effect of, "I didn't know I could actually enjoy church!"

The main objection when it comes to fun is that people see Christianity as a religion of rules (as all religions are). Actually, I think they're right. I just don't believe that Jesus intended for His life and teachings to become a religion, so to speak. (Incidentally, a great book on this is "The End of Religion" by Bruxy Cavey.) Religion is about the rules and rituals, but Jesus was about relationship and restoration.

The point Randy made that I think is a good one is that, even in relationships, there are rules, but it's not the rules that are important. The rules enhance and safeguard the relationship. Our lives are much richer with deep relationships. Not only this, but God created us a certain way -- in His image. In other words, we are most ourselves when we act consistently with that image, when we're fulfilling God's purpose for us. When it comes to following Christ, rules, instead of being restrictive, are prescriptive. They tell us how we can live consistently with the image of God. When we do that, our lives will be fulfilled and even "fun."

I can think of a great example of this from a few years ago. A few of us from the church went to the park to play basketball. A short while later, another group came and wanted to play. We were glad to play with them. It ended up being "us" against "them." All started out fine, until they started making up rules. Out of bounds was no longer out of bounds, fouls were no longer fouls, traveling and double-dribble (basic basketball rules) were virtually non-existent. It got to the point where the game devolved into on big argument, so we just decided to leave.

Without the rules, the game wasn't any fun. You would think that having the freedom to make up rules would make things more fun, but I bet you could think of some examples like our basketball game where breaking the rules (or making them up) ruined the whole experience.

The purpose of basketball is not to keep the rules, but succeed within the rules. I believe the same thing about faith and life. The purpose of faith in Jesus is not to follow all the rules, but to live out who God created us to be -- in relationship with Him and in loving relationships with others (Matthew 22:34-40). When you're bent on fulfilling that purpose, you'll automatically be following the rules and I think you might even have some fun in the process.

The Cross and the Sword

The last couple of days, I've been listening to a series called "The Cross and the Sword" by Greg Boyd. Greg Boyd is the pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul. The series is about the relationship between the church and the state. He's very passionate and I believe He's right on. Apparently 1000 people in his church didn't think he was right on because they left.

You can download the sermon series here. For a taste of what Boyd says, watch this CNN piece on Boyd. His part starts at about 2:07 on the video.



From my perspective, church history shows Boyd to be right. Do we really trust in Jesus' way? Do we really seek to live by His principles rather than the kingdom of the world? I think many of us don't.

Trusting Jesus

All my life, whenever I've sat in church or listened to other Christians talk, they've talked about trusting Jesus. It always seemed to me an elusive idea. Trust Jesus? I understand the spiritual thing--even though Jesus died, He's alive. But still how do you wrap your mind around what it means to trust Jesus. I won't pretend that this is all there is to it (I'm not even talking here about trusting Jesus for salvation), but on a very practical level, this is one aspect.

When you look in the Gospels, Jesus talks about two different Kingdoms: the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of the world. Each kingdom has different values. The world values money, power, success, charisma and performance. The Kingdom of Heaven, on the other hand, values powerlessness, servanthood, selflessness and authenticity.

Since the world is always in our face and filling up our senses, guess which values we gravitate toward? I think anyone who pays attention to life knows we tend to gravitate toward the world's way of thinking and doing. We want to be in power, we want to have the upper hand, we strive for success and money. But Jesus calls us to something different.

In many ways, He teaches the two kingdoms as diametrically opposed and it's easy to see why--their core values are completely opposite each other. For instance, we see in Matthew 20:25-28, Jesus says, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Here's where, it seems to me, trusting Jesus comes in to play. Do we really believe that His way--the Kingdom way-- is the better way? Do we put all of our eggs in the "heaven" basket? I suspect that many of us kind of trust Jesus and His teachings here. We'll serve people to a point, but just in case, we'll hold something back, just in case the servant thing doesn't work out. I can focus on money just a little bit. I'll follow Jesus' teachings and example, but I'l keep a little back just in case His way doesn't really make me happy.

Trusting Jesus is living life sold out to the Kingdom of Heaven way of doing things. It's believing that if I give up my life, my preferences, my comfort, my rights, everyone will be blessed--including me. The hard part about it is that I really have to walk through that door to find out the blessing. If I wait to see proof before I begin to serve, I'll never do it. But once I begin to give myself up, I'll start to see that Jesus was right afterall.

Finally at It!

I've resisted blogging for a long time even though there has been a lot of people (OK, actually just 1) who have been bugging me to start. I can't guarantee any regularity to my blogging, but then again you never know. I hope you're interested in what I have to say. Mostly, I think, I'll point you to many people who are much smarter than me and hopefully bring up a few issues you're interested. I very much welcome interaction, but again, I can't guarantee you an intelligent reply. So, I hope it's worth your time.

As I start my blog, here are some things about me that will let you know where I'm coming from:

• I believe very much in the inspiration of the Bible, so I hope everything I say is firmly grounded in Scripture. On the other hand, I find that much of what we (evangelical Christians) read today will often claim to be the "Biblical" way to look at an issue, but is really only a particular (evangelical) interpretation. Remember, there are many good, Biblical Christians out there that aren't necessarily evangelical.
• I'm finding out more about grace all the time. I was talking with a friend last night who asked me when I really felt like I understood grace. I told him it was some time after I came to Hillside in 1997. Now I'm feeling like it was last night. I think my first official, actual post will be about trusting in grace (Jesus).
• I grew up as a Christian in a mildly fundamentalist home. I knew more about doing the right things to please God than I did about grace. It took me a long time to figure it out--as I said, I'm still trying to really understand it. I grew up worrying if I was going to be "left behind." I felt any little sin would send me to hell. I may have swung too far in the other direction now, but I'm still trying to figure that out. I wouldn't call myself a fundamentalist and in many ways I wouldn't even call myself an evangelical. I think on a lot of things, I could be considered an evangelical (the need for personal relationship with Jesus, I pastor and evangelical church, etc.), but there are a lot of things about me that I would put me on the fringe of evangelical (leanings toward preterism, open theism, I'm in strong agreement with separation of church and state, etc.). I'm in a much different place than I was growing up.
• Finally, I'm all about Jesus. I think we can get side-tracked with a lot of things when it comes to faith. We can get hung up on being religious, but never really follow Jesus. That's my greatest pursuit -- to think and act like Jesus, to make His heart, my heart. I don't always do that well, but I'm on the journey. So if you're travelling with me, I hope you enjoy the ride!