I was reading Romans 9 this morning from The Message:

All those people who didn’t seem interested in what God was doing actually embraced what God was doing as he straightened out their lives. And Israel, who seemed so interested in reading and talking about what God was doing, missed it. How could they miss it? Because instead of trusting God, they took over. They were absorbed in what they themselves were doing. They were so absorbed in their “God projects” that they didn’t notice God right in front of them, like a huge rock in the middle of the road. And so they stumbled into him and went sprawling.

As I read these words, I got a terrifying feeling that I can get so caught up in my “God projects” that I don’t notice God right in front of me. But worse, I have a stronger sense that for so many churches this is the standard operating procedure.

In these moments when I am gripped by such realizations, I want to get out of the “God project” business. My first inclination is that that means getting out of ‘paid ministry’ (oooh, I hate that term!). But I don’t think that that is necessary. I just have to order my efforts around a different agenda. Now, that might get me pushed out of a place, but it might also be an opportunity to become the small rudder that turns the great ship.

O God, I don’t want to take over anymore. I don’t want a do-it-yourself life. I want to ‘find you on the way, not in the way.’ I want to embrace what your doing as you straighten out my life. Don’t let me miss you at any moment today. Make me wide-eyed and awake to your Presence around me and your work within me today. I don’t want to end up absorbed in my “God projects” and miss out on what you’re really up to. Lord have mercy. Yes, may it be so.

getting heard

everyone's screaming; longing to be heard.
to have their voice be raised above the noise
for a moment
in the ear
of one person

everyone's reaching with their heart,
longing to be valued
for a lifetime
in the eye
of at least one person

everyone's busy screaming and reaching;
some from neglect, some from insecurity,
some from vanity.

will I be still enough
and silent enough
so they can
get heard?

or will I keep adding
to the noise
and busyness;
joining the deadly frenzy
of those
deaf to those beside them?

I was asked to share a few reflections on "What the resurrection means to me", so I thought I'd share it with both of you.

I will once again betray the infulence of a certain British scholar-preacher, but so what? He's one of my teachers right now, and I'm not greater than my teacher. And in further defense (as if anyone cares...), I am taking some intellectual ownership of the things I'm studying from that certain British scholar-preacher. It's not just parroting anymore--I am really thinking that way now, for better or worse. I think it's for the better. (O man, I'm in one of these annoyingly introspective ruts...)


What does the resurrection mean to me? I grew up being fed the line that truth comes in the form of sterile proposition. Truth could be typed out on a computer and run through a printer. You could print truth on little pieces of paper, staple them together, and pass them out to strangers. Then they would have the truth in their hands. "Information Evangelism!" Truth was an irreducible logical set of propositions. You could take truth and present it in debates, which of course you would always win. And if you don't win the debate, you could walk away feeling good about yourself because, hey, "Some people won't listen to the truth."

The problem was that I started chasing after all the ‘right answers’. I wanted to get the ‘truth textbook’ and get a handle on the truth so I could use it to win arguments and get people to think like I do. Truth became a weapon (though a benevolent one, I assumed), and a weapon that could be mastered and weilded for conquest.

So I read books that concerned themselves with making a case for truth; presenting evidence that demanded a decision. I armed myself with propositions and proofs and all the words I needed to make a water-tight case for the truth. Okay, I tried, but what I found was that it always seemed to be one proposition away. I was never able to bring my information to bear on people and convince them.

It became clear to me that my problem was not that I didn’t have a long enough list of propositional statements. I had plenty of ‘reasons’. My problem was that I was missing the point. Gradually, I learned that truth isn’t a proposition, it’s a Person and a people who are indwelt by that Person.

The resurrection is not a matter of propositions and proofs. There are enough good reasons to put together a plausible case for it—and that is important—but proofs and propositions just don’t cut it for most people. Everybody has proofs and propositions, and they think theirs are the right ones.

For me, the resurrection means that truth has come in a Person: Jesus. He was vindicated as the Messiah when God raised him from the dead on the first day of the week so long ago. It wasn’t a proposition that spoke to Mary in the garden. It wasn’t a proposition that walked with the couple on their way home to Emmaus. It wasn’t a proposition that let Thomas see and touch the wounds. It wasn’t a proposition that forgave Peter for his denial. Easter means that truth has come in a person.

And that means that in our lives, we must bring truth as a people who are indwelt with that Person. The truth we present cannot come stapled together in a neat little booklet. It must come in the messy, yet beautiful lives we live: in the things we do and in the ways we relate to each other and to the hurting world around us.

As we experience the reality of having lives that have been crucified with Christ, and therefore raised to new life with him (i.e., not I but Christ that lives within me), people will recognize the verity of what we say. The resurrection is a call for us to move truth from idea to reality, from words to acts, from proposition to person.

And we can do this insofar as we have the Spirit of the Resurrected Master present and active in our lives—insofar as we live, not us, but Christ living within and among us.

Okay, I just got my computer back, so here's some stuff I wrote last week (with considerable influence from N.T. Wright)...

How was Jesus presenting a new and different way of being Israel?

First, a quick overview of four of the main ‘ways’ of being Israel
1. Pharisees: the path of strict Torah obedience. The way to see the return of YHWH was through strict, legalistic obedience to Torah.

2. Herodians: the path of compromise with the Romans. The way to survive under the occupying forces was to go along with Rome. “ Let’s just quietly get along with things the way they are; keep bringing sacrifices to the temple, keep celebrating the feasts. Opposition is a good way to get oneself killed, so why fight?”

3. Zealots: the path of violent resistance against Rome. Why fight? “Because YHWH is on our side,” the zealots would say. The only way to get rid of the Roman army is to lead ‘God’s army’ into battle against them. This path, however, always ended up with rebels hanging on crosses or falling on the point of a sword.

4. Essenes: the path of escape and separation. The Essenes saw the temple as completely compromised, and so they got away from Jerusalem and created their own community in the wilderness.

Jesus was not suggesting the kind of Torah observance the Pharisees demonstrated. Jesus was not advocating violent revolt against Rome, but neither was Jesus suggesting a path of compromise with Rome.
Jesus was not advocating an escape from engagement with the nations (the Gentiles). In fact, Jesus was pointing out that the nationalism of the Jews was keeping them from being faithful to their vocation as the light of the world and a blessing to the nations.

Jesus was therefore suggesting a new way of being Israel—which was really the old way—the way YHWH had always intended them to be Israel. What was new was that he was suggesting that he was, in some way, the pattern for what the true Israel was to look like and the path by which Israel would live out her true vocation.

Maintaining the special place of Jews in God’s redemptive plan for the whole world, yet challenging the Jewish nationalism that was (ironically?) preventing them from fulfilling their ancient vocation, Jesus was not rejecting Judaism (he was a Jew!). Rather, he was calling Israel to return to YHWH by repenting of their wrong paths and following him in his ‘way’.

Thus, when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the back of a young donkey, and then turned over the tables in the Temple, Jesus was making symbolic declarations, not only of his claims to be the Messiah, but of the judgment that was about to come to Israel—the Day of YHWH’s visitation was at hand.

Whose vision—whose way—would be vindicated? Only time would tell.

And time did tell. The scriptures say that Jesus was vindicated as God raised him from the dead to be the firstfruits of Israel’s rebirth. History tells us that those who opposed Jesus received God’s wrath by the hands of the Romans as Jerusalem, and the Temple were destroyed in 70 AD.

What does all this mean for us on Palm Sunday? Let this question ring in your mind, “What kind of Messiah are you assuming Jesus to be today?” Imagine yourself waving palm branches and reciting Zechariah and Psalm 118. What path of being God’s people are you following?

The path of legalism: loving rules more than people?
The path of compromise: loving culture more than God?
The path of violent resistance: hating your enemies and cursing those who persecute you?
The path of escape: living in your own little Christian ghetto, cut off from a world in pain?

Or are you following the path of Jesus: loving God, loving your neighbor, loving your enemies, engaging with outsiders and those in pain, and even laying down your possessions, your preferences, your life for a friend?

A few little bits of things I wrote last week as I thought about loving our neighbors...


/Don’t be satisfied with being nice and polite. Nice and polite is certainly preferable to angry and contemptuous, but nice and polite is not enough. Be courageously engaged in loving your neighbor as yourself. (Oh, and begin with your neighbors in your home.)


/Jesus didn’t send his disciples out to start churches with children’s programs and worship teams and many other things by which churches today choose to define themselves (not that those things are wrong or unnecessary). Jesus sent his disciples out to begin a worldwide moral revolution where the entire population of this planet would come to experience the abundant goodness of life as God has always intended for human beings. He sent his disciples out to transform the world so that everyone would know the God of love and light and love the Creator God with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love their neighbors as themselves.


/There is a great danger for us who live in this individualistic, consumer driven culture. The danger is that we start approaching the spiritual life as individualistic consumers: “What can this church do for me?” “Was this week’s sermon entertaining?” “Do I like the color of that church’s carpet?” “Wouldn’t I be more comfortable in a church with air conditioning?” It’s surprising to me that we don’t have some version of “Consumers Reports for Churches.” Maybe we already do.
But if you can get beyond that to a higher level of thinking, you see that you are not just here for you—you don’t just participate in community for what you get out of it or how it makes you feel. You begin to see it as a means of acting in responsibility for the people around you. You start asking questions like, “How can I be a blessing to that person?” “What can I do for the benefit of the person next to me in line at the grocery store?” “What will it mean for me to will the good of my neighbor?” Even, “How can I learn to appreciate a different music style for the benefit of someone else?”


/What is preventing people from demonstrating love to others?
1. Busyness. Frankly, many of us are too busy to care. One of the great deceptions in our culture is that busyness equals significance. The truth is that busyness keeps us from being available to others.
2. Debt. Many people are so far in debt that they have absolutely no ability to provide for those who are in need.
3. Consumerism. If you are more concerned with measuring up with what your friends and neighbors have that’s bigger, newer, and faster, you will miss out on the blessings of contentment. I think more people should be concerned with 'measuring down' and identifying with their neighbors at the short end of the stick.

'Cain replied to the LORD, "My punishment is too great for me to bear! You have banished me from my land and from your presence; you have made me a wandering fugitive. All who see me will try to kill me!' (Genesis 4:13-14)

When we act in rebellion against God we are made restless.

When I act in rebellion against God I cannot sit still. I am made a wandering fugitive. I fear the stillness and silence that exposes my shame.

See, when we're busy, we don't have to look in the mirror. When everything is quiet (quiet enough for the blood that we've spilled to cry out!) we are forced to confront our failure, our emptiness, our loneliness, our brokenness. Everyone becomes a potential enemy. We believe that our secret is secretly known and everyone is suspicious. We trust less. We love less. We risk less. We hope less. And so despair and depression crowd in with the noise and busyness to isolate us on an island somewhere east of Eden in a land called Nod (Gen 4:16).

Have you experienced this wandering life of noise and busyness? Have you understood your restlessness as an estrangement from God? The experience is truly more than we can bear, and that is why we run from the stillness and into the distractions of busyness and noise. That is why we turn our angry music up so loud. That is why we work 60, 70, 80 hour weeks (some of us).

Will you try something with me? Will you do something entirely courageous? Will you rest? Will you take a day and do nothing? Will you spend time in silence and stillness and look long enough into the mirror and listen long enough to hear the whisper of God? Will you allow yourself to be confronted with your failure, your loneliness, your emptiness, and your brokenness? Will you wait around long enough to hear God speak "Peace" into your hectic life? Will you stop fidgeting around; stop trying to wiggle away from the reality that you are living east of Eden? Will you open your life to God's peace so you can start trusting again? So you can start risking again? So you can start loving again? So you can start living in friendship with God again?

We don't have to live as wandering fugitives. Following Jesus means that we are following him to our Home. Our baptism is a passage through the Jordan, into the place of rest. Our salvation is a rescue from bondage and restlessness, and into freedom and rest. Jesus has made a new way for us--a way that leads us back into God's presence, back into community with God.

When we act in cooperation with God we find peace.

Shalom.