Monthly Archives: March 2013

If you believe in sin

Posted on by
Reply

I have been stalling on the medial point of the gospel of Mark. It is a deep discourse on what it means to be fallen and need a savior. It is tough stuff.

But…

Some of us don’t believe in sin anymore. Unless we are the victims.

Non-monogamy is now a lifestyle choice. Pornography is an accepted part of our culture. The last definitive points of outrage in the human condition appear to be (not murder, not aggression against the innocent)..consumerism and intolerance.

Yep. I am not even sure about the consumerism. Our houses are our gods. Our couches: our monuments.

How do you begin to hear a man discourse on the desperate human condition if you doggedly refuse to admit your desperation?

At that point the only despair is in the Cross. The only tragedy his death. We become angry at the notion of a saving God.

Do you need a Redeemer?

If you answer no, enjoy. The house of this world is left to you. A billion shards of plastic in a dying sea. And that is all.

But what about you?

Posted on by
Reply

Imagine you have stumbled onto a ceremony–a young man stands before a prophet, a priest. The holy man raises his flask above the young man’s head and pours out rich oil over him.

Anointed. The king.

Religion is unnecessarily complicated. Jesus is not. He is or he isn’t. There are no in-betweens.

So when he asks–

Mark 8:29 (NIV)
“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Christ. ”

The question is as surgically incisive as the answer. You are the chosen king. Peter says it. But will he trust? Will you? Do you know Jesus well enough to know…he is the King?

Is it?

Posted on by
Reply

Imagine.
You have resuscitated the carrier pigeon.

you bred raptors?

Why yes.
Actually I did.
they live far from me now
One is a runner.
Not like track.
Tracks. Lines…
In the spring snow…

The other?
An enigma.
I wish I had a machine…
Like Enigma.
I could put it all down–
My coded message to you
About the hurt and confusion
Injustice was a U-boat
Sinking good men
He says,

life is sweet right now

And I wonder,
What is the unbreakable
Code
I could write you this and know
It will be clear.
It will all be
Made clear
In the end.

Faith.

Posted on by
Reply

Last night I saw a meme for “love never fails” from first Corinthians.

Love wins
Love endures
Love triumphs
Love is stronger than death

Sounds pretty good, right?
Sounds crazy good.
Ok, sounds ridiculous.

Love triumphed in Nazi Germany? In Hiroshima? In Rwanda? Hardly seems to have…

We have to fess up. The Bible is just a bad Hallmark greeting card if love fails.. And there are times when it seems to be coming dead last in the race.

Times indeed. But that is the point. For love to win in the end, win in the world, love has to win in me.. I have to not only believe in love, I have to stake my fate to it. Hard to believe an abstraction can win like that–over the wreck of human history.

What can a single word do? Can it win anything? Can a word truly triumph?

Yes. If the word is Jesus.

On the way

Posted on by
Reply

Who do people say I am?

Huh. I admit every time a young celebrity does something stupid I tell my kids they need to prize obscurity.

Getting treated like a god can make you act like a moron.

Jesus, on the other hand, was God. He never acted like a celebrity. In fact, he distrusted the opinions and valuations of men. He knows we trade our souls for trinkets.

Which makes the question all the more interesting–who do people say I am? He is traveling through a region marked by celebrity conquerors and he asks the question-does public opinion matter? Do people get it right? Can we trust ourselves to see the truth?

On a clear day…

Posted on by
Reply

Mark 8:27 (NIV)
Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”

Imagine you had magic binoculars. When you put them to your face you could see forever. Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow. Opera glasses.

Jesus did not need them. He can see the vast canvas of our history. Mark tells us “Caesarea Philippi” for a reason–the weight of history.

As Jesus walked over this place he could see the men and nations who would lay their claims to this place. He could tell you not just about the Greeks and their panic god, he could tell you about the Romans and the Muslims who would follow after.

We men want nothing more than glory. That is Caesarea Philippi.

He, on the other hand, volunteers for shame and humiliation, torture and obscurity for me.

Swimming

Posted on by
2

We went east instead of west. We cancelled the trip we had planned for the one we had known could happen.

Well, I knew.

But even I had not anticipated the jackknifed truck across the bridge, the hours of waiting and praying as my father died hours away from me.

I had to let him go.

We stopped in Mobile, exhausted, not there yet. They were so kind, they gave us snacks. Snacks at midnight.

The next morning we knew he was gone. I swam laps in the hotel pool. Not just for grief but because you had a fit, one of your usual hold-my-family-hostage-in-a-public-space fits.

So I swam while you took a time out. Then I reminded you that staging a tantrum at an indoor swimming pool on the day of your adopted grandfather’s untimely demise was a weenie move.

After all that happened then and after I know…I might as well have been speaking Swahili.

Forgiveness. Tough gig.

Literal Jesus

Posted on by
Reply

I take God very literally. I do this out of long years of watching Him pull stuff off that no one else can–like trees and sunsets.

He is the Master.

So when Mark quotes him–

Mark 8:26 (NIV)
Jesus sent him home, saying, “Don’t go into the village. ”

I kinda wanna know why and I kinda wanna know what next?

He doesn’t tell me specifically. He says, what do you know about Me? How do I operate?

I know these things:

Jesus loves
And because he loves he sacrifices
And protects

Jesus wants to be with us
So he finds lovely and extravagant ways to insert himself into our stories

Jesus is faithful
He never wanders off
Never gets distracted
Never loses interest.

Jesus sees the whole story.

Sometimes the terseness of God can be vexing–whatcha mean, don’t go to the village?

He means

Trust me. I am the way , the truth, and the light.

Hm. Light indeed. Light for the blind man. Good stuff.