Edit: It was after reading this to post that nowhere in the post did I use the phrase exquisite to reference how much He loves me anyway. This is where that gets rectified. Okay, back to the post.
I struggled with a song for this week. As quick as I am to judge newer Christian songs (and thus have shied far away from Christian radio in the past), I was looking at You Love Me Anyways by the Sidewalk Prophets.
Video: http://youtu.be/y8BBCYFAYRI
They were a few hours away from where I lived recently. They were on a bill with about five other bands and I immediately had no interest in going because I don’t take well to most new Christian songs. In fact, I’ve been quite prideful about it. Coming from the Midwest and breaking the bonds of the Gaither family style of worship has been difficult.
I have had some friends who have turned me on to other bands that lead me to Casting Crowns and Third Day and it was even college where I first heard of Shane & Shane, but I’ve stuck with classic artists for a long time. Heck, even admitting to liking MercyMe took longer than it should have.
And there are some things in You Love Me Anyway that I just don’t get. The opening talks about a question or a lie, very generic, and I’m not immediately drawn to the song. It sounds just like any other song I’d heard on Praise 106.5, some of which just doesn’t always strike me as good and profitable to the Christian walk. They are all creamy 1% milk when the flock really needs a T-Bone steak to be healthy.
And there are more problems as the song continues. The first verse itself seems indulgent, talking about spreading our dreams and flying, when Jesus was very specific about giving up your life to gain it -which I’ve always equated included my dreams.
I know I’m being harsh on the band, I don’t know why they wrote the song or what time in their lives it comes from. Perhaps they are my age and have started to lose grandparents (they even talk about doubt and ask why loved ones have to die in the second verse). That being said, and realizing I have a high threshold for what I consider a “good” Christian song, you have to admit that the chorus is both catchy and resonant.
It’s like nothing in life that I’ve ever known
Yes, you love me anyway
Oh Lord, how you love me
How you love me
A chorus like this doesn’t necessarily set them apart from others using the message God sent with Jesus to the world of his love and salvation, but its not dressed up fancy to be something else either and that wins them a point from me.
Truth is, when I was at my lowest, Jesus did grab me and carried me (still carrying, actually) while telling me I was his son and he would get me through this. Its something I can be grateful for, a catalyst to the sometimes nightmare and sometimes beautiful life I have been through this past five or six years.
Anyone with a really hard story that revolves around God (like my friends Harvey or David, for instance, who are both recovering addicts in AA and who I love dearly for their honesty and sometimes propensity for swearing to prove a point) can generally agree that it can become like nothing you’ve ever known. If you let yourself truly be transformed, even colors and the taste of fruit can change. As in my case, it took longer than it needed to, but we’re getting there.
What really drew me to this song was the bridge. It has an unexpected brutality. It is the “Good Friday” of a song that revolves quite heavily around “Resurrection Sunday”.
I am the thorn in your crown
-But you love me anyway
I am the sweat from your brow
I am the nail in your wrist
I am Judas’ kiss
Oddly enough, it does not follow the actual trajectory of Judas Iscariot’s betrayal to Jesus but it references how Jesus prayed for himself, leaving himself ultimately and finally in the hands of the Father. He prayed so much that he began to sweat blood, as though he were a boxer.
And Judas’ kiss is the ultimate mark of betrayal. Jesus references that he knew who would betray him and called him anyway, let him be in charge of funds, and even let him take that first communion at the last supper. He washed his feet, he let Judas watch him heal and then gave Judas the power to heal when he sent the first twelve emissaries out. He did all of this knowing that Judas would betray him.
An argument could be made that Judas was not in charge of himself when Satan came upon him and he decided to betray Jesus, but there is always something when he is mention that makes you stop and wonder if he’s not just not getting it (because the disciples never really understand what Jesus is talking about until after his mortal body is hung on the cross) but if he’s willfully disappointed and hardens his heart or even allows himself to be tempted by demons.
In the end, I don’t think a book called the Gospel of Judas is really going to help up sort it out. People have to make up their own minds about the why. I’ve got things in front of that to ask Jesus when I see him anyways.
See now, I am the man who yelled out from the crowd
For your blood to be spilled on this Earth shaking ground
Yes then, I turned away with a smile on my face
With this sin in my heart- tried to bury your grace
The above speaks for itself, personal to all of us who have turned away from our old lives (repentance) or are actively trying to turn away from our old lives and addiction (still repentance, but some repentance with feet to it) and it speaks to me.
When I was a child, I had a hard time accepting that I would have ever mocked Jesus or beat him or betrayed him. But as I turned to him later in the years, I can see how I did what was above. I can’t say I held the spear in my hand that pierced his side, but I can say that I actively participated in the creation of my sins - whether or not I knew I was sinning at the time.
Its like that old question about natural law and whether people know if they are sinning if God’s law is not present. What people forget is that God’s law does run on nature and its not supposed to be that to do list that we drudge ourselves with. It’s far more Whoopi Goldberg in Sister Act than we’d like to admit.
And then alone in the night
I still called out for you
So ashamed of my life, my life, my life
But you loved me anyway
It’s in this little patch of song that I must have been sold on the Sidewalk Prophets for this week. Because, for me, it was true. When I was young and alone and cold in my misery, I did often cry out to God in the night (for a brother, which - if you know my story- is both a funny and cautionary tale of being careful of what you pray for (that I wouldn’t have changed for anything).
Well, that’s it for this week. I’ve got tech week for Godspell next week and then performances, which will be exhilarating and exhausting and worth it. Because He does love us anyway. In a world where remarkable evil can happen, his even more remarkable and durable goodness not just answers prayers, but heals and saves lives until my life becomes my life under Him.
Is there a story waiting to be told there? Not just yours but those around you? Think of someone this week who might be crying out to Jesus alone in the night. Reach out to them. I know its tough and yes, there is a conversion aspect, but its more than conversion.
In Luke, when Jesus sent out the 70, he told them to make themselves part of the families they went to. To become more than just isolated zealots, but to give a community new birth and to give themselves permission to be involved in new lives.
Witnessing is this and its very difficult for me (that’s why I hide behind this keyboard, I suppose). But, as the song goes, he loves me anyway.
Thanks for reading,
John
Friday, April 27, 2012
Friday, April 20, 2012
Week 3: Mighty to Save
Mighty to Save (Jeremy Camp style): http://youtu.be/YVeQoHdIDEE
It’s a blanket statement if I’ve ever heard one. Everyone needs compassion and I’m not sure there is anyone that would disagree with that (perhaps that family of a murder victim withstanding, they’d perhaps seek justice over compassion). But, unique cases aside, these three are a universal need, no matter what creed you adopt: compassion, love, mercy.
Compassion is what gives families that ability to accept their son wanting to be a drag queen. Love is what drives a family to work in a soup kitchen during the holidays. Mercy is what tugs at your heartstrings, giving someone standing on a street corner with a sign a few dollars from your wallet or change from your cup holder.
Compassion is also what keeps families from killing each other on long road trips. Love is what keeps a teacher motivated when parents yell and scream because their “perfect kid” isn’t quite so perfect. Mercy is what has stopped back alley abortions and gay bashing and laws against things like interracial marriage.
I thank God for these things that he has brought into the world: Compassion, Love, and Mercy.
Perhaps, though, you feel numb to these things. Late night infomercials about the ASPCA or to sponsor a third world child have left you dry and unmoved. Scandals about where that money actually goes leaves you feeling like its an empty gesture, hollow to the point of ignoring it. In some ways, it might be a hollow gesture - a guilt being projected that some do want you to pay for. it’s the old adage: Finish your dinner, there are starving kids in Africa. My generation replies: So what? Are you going to mail my food to them? We used to joke about things like that. They get clever in college and all of a sudden Spencers has a poster that states: Finish your beer, there are sober kids in India.
Reality: That’s horribly jaded, we are horribly jaded as a culture, society, even as a global village. We create remarkable feats in our minds for those who do simple and wonderful things for others (Mother Teresa being a supreme example of this), when it could be more commonplace, where Jesus wants it to be more commonplace. I can’t remember him ever saying that this was a faith that was solely for after death.
This is a life: a community built on those principles. That was the whole point of Jesus’ ministry, of new Jerusalem, of the first eight chapters of Acts. It wasn’t just the Holy Spirits that fell in Acts 2, it was the capability to see and give mercy. To be the good Samaritan, not the judge or the Levite that just walks past the bruised man, as Jesus shows in the parable of Luke 10:25-37.
Moving into the second verse of Mighty to Save, doesn’t it sound wonderful to think of everyone getting forgiveness? Are there some throughout history (both personal and global) that you think forgiveness is too good for? Those hypocrites in the 700 Club, perhaps? Genocidal dictators?
God knows hearts. We’re not supposed to judge, not that those genocidal dictators or the Westboro Baptist folks make it easy. They make it downright difficult- like something right out of Levitical law. Truth be told, we want them to be below the bar of Jesus‘ forgiveness. We see Jesus on the cross as something for grandmothers and little kids and addicts in the program or even maybe for the more repentant criminals, heck sometimes even for vampires in Joss Whedon‘s world.
The truth? Jesus wants to forgive Ken Lay for what he did as CEO. He mourned over the genocides in the Balkans and Rwanda. He can’t be too fond of those politicians and rappers and football stars who leech onto him without any idea who he actually is. I have to be honest here. For me, I hate people like Tim Tebow that push forward an anti-abortion agenda because of celebrity. It disgusts me when you see pictures of Rick Warren and people laying hands to pray for Rick Santorum on the campaign trail because they believe that America should be a theocracy and a Christian nation.
And after hearing about Rick Warren’s pledge signing to stone gay people in Uganda(?), I certainly had/have no desire to forgive him for that. But I’m not Jesus. I don’t sit on the throne and listen to people’s hearts throughout their lives. I don’t have access to the tapestry of time and its hardships. I don’t understand how people can abuse the name of God for their lust or anger or power or greed.
I’m not Jesus. Some should be very grateful I’m not.
Suddenly, we find that the ideas behind this song go from communal to personal, such as it is with God. Indeed, he came to save the whole world but knew each person individually that he called, talked to, or even just saw in the crowd around him. And that was just during his 3-½ years of ministry, not to mention how many of us he must have seen accepting him from that cross. After all, he came to save the whole world (1 John 2:2)
What is most interesting in this portion of the song is that there is an endorsement of being imperfect and yet loved and cared for by God. There is a recognition of having fears and failures and that it is okay to have them after you are saved. Now, I think some people have the idea that at the moment of conversion, everyone suddenly becomes perfect and that there are no addictions or battles to fight. The opposite is actually truer in that the battles are still there, only there is an awareness of sin and that awareness is most often just the beginning, the first step of a longer journey to come (what you surrender to, what you leave belief in to find Jesus, that “life“ that you give: (Luke 17:33) .
-Chorus-
I bet you’ve heard something in relation to Jesus being able to move mountains and its usually in relation to moving a mountain of sin or getting a needing believer a job or a car or just into a better situation physically/mentally/emotionally/spiritually. The mountains can really be anything and its great symbolism for the hard things of life (if you’ve ever done a hard climb like Half Dome or Mailbox Peak Trail, you know what I’m talking about).
Thing is, Jesus talked about giving us the power to move these mountains. Not that we’re God- like once we believe in him, but that we would have the faith to believe that those mountains are nothing, that they don’t need to stand in the way of the journey. This particular scripture is found in Matthew 17: 14-20 (and Luke 17:6, but a mulberry bush isn’t quite as impressive as uprooting a mountain, is it?) and this is right after he has sent out his disciples, deputizing them with the power to heal and cast out demons. He goes out to pray by himself (Jesus loves doing this) and he comes back down from whatever mountain he was on to find that there is a demon that the disciples couldn’t cast out and he replies thusly (to the disciples) after casting out said demon, about why they were unable:
“ Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
The salvation in this song doesn’t just talk about salvation, but its also about the faith through times good and bad, a faith that is cultivated through maturity and community. If you only ever get to 8th grade confirmation and then just stop, there’s a good chance that your mountain probably isn’t going to move in the near future. Its not just one moment, it’s a journey. That may be the hardest myth of Christianity to debunk.
I was reading Eat, Pray, Love (journey books like that are some of my favorites, like Julie/Julia and the stuff by Kathleen Norris, who became a Benedictine oblate) and Ms. Gilbert (the author) addressed her personal beliefs in God almost at the very beginning, since she was going to be using the word throughout the book.
She actually confessed to loving Jesus (“that great lover of peace”), but did not want to be encumbered with the idea of him being the only way to God. Its unfortunate, however true, that this idea of one solitary way to God keeps so many from believing. People of this age believe in choice and individual and it becomes burdensome in a way to think that there is only one way. Often, a Christian can be accused of being short-sighted or exclusionary. Parts of this song would argue that is not the case.
As for Ms. Gilbert, I respect her opinion and what she did throughout her book (same way I feel about Julie Powell actually), but I cannot agree with her view of Jesus. She kind of cut and pasted her own view of the Christian life and left out the bulk of what he actually said and did. Not knowing her personally, I cannot say how she came to this view nor do I feel a need to debate with her on it, but I also remember reading Josh McDowell (a present from my baptism) and his talking about how you cannot separate the parts of Christ. The argument in More Than a Carpenter is done more justice by Mr. McDowell than I would do, believe me. I’d recommend a read-through of that rather than some Cliff Notes version in my blog.
There is actually quite a celebration at the end of the chorus of the song, and, as a Christian, I have taken for granted that Jesus came and rose from the dead. It was miraculous, sure, but after so many times of hearing it- it just lost the power to move me, especially if you‘re a kid and no one around you seems to be moved by it to any sort of emotion.
One of our scripture readers addressed this at church last week in his little pre-verse address. He stated that the phrases “He is risen” with its answer “He is risen indeed” should have the power to move and transform and yet they so often lose that power. I regret that for so long I did not cherish the uniqueness and power of what God did through Jesus.
Granted, there are those in the world who try to either scientifically, historically, or empirically change what Jesus did. There are lots of excuses: there was something in the wine/vinegar combo that just made him look like he was dead, there was something in the spear that hit his side, his body was moved/ he left the tomb and disappeared to create his own religion (which feels like it really just gives the whole thing a more malevolent purpose than it should), and even some have claimed the Jesus himself was a wiccan or had pagan powers. Those voices often add to those who have claimed Jesus to be another story, another part of the sacrifices that various gods made for us throughout history (apparently Greek mystery cults are rife with stuff like that).
In college, I was faced with these arguments. People really like adding a spin to what Jesus did, perhaps refusing to either acknowledge him or the circumstances of his deity for their own needs. And, truth be told, some of the above excuses are easier to believe. They allow you to minimize what Jesus did for us and move on with our lives without him.
But, seriously, I’m getting too old for crap like that. I prefer to admit that I do need Him, and I’m not sure that makes me as weak as some would argue. Needing God is something I think denotes a strength of character that some never achieve or find in other ways (power, money, sex, anger….). I have some atheist friends who this might land me in hot water with, though I doubt it since most of them know that I prefer Jesus, but like I said- getting too old for crap like that.
Would you like to minimize what Jesus did for you? I know that Easter is supposed to be over and that Christians all across the country are putting away the paper mache tombs and the “Friday and Sunday” videos in favor of Acts or Romans or Psalms or Daniel, but what does that leave us with? It leaves us with that calendar of the Pharisees, without time to dwell, to process, to extol on what has happened. It leaves us without the heart and soul of our own message to the world (even to the ones who have rejected it).
This week, I want you to take two blank note cards. I want you to write on one “He is Risen” and on the other “He is Risen Indeed!”. I suggest using a colored sharpie or something to make the words pop (lectio divina style).
Note: Lectio Divina is an old latin phrase the church has used as a way to study the bible. Its where you take a short passage and meditate on a word or small phrase that sticks out to you. Its not only personal, but it’s a great way to invite God into a conversation. I heartily endorse this form of studying as its one of my favorites.
Now those two blank note cards should go somewhere that you will see them often throughout the day or in a place where you begin and end your day. Fridge, bathroom mirror, car dashboard, maybe even your work cubicle. Its like a reminder, maybe even a way to pause to think of God and his mercies and blessings for us.
A bonus achievement for all this is what is says in Proverbs 3:3:
Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart.
Thanks for reading,
John
It’s a blanket statement if I’ve ever heard one. Everyone needs compassion and I’m not sure there is anyone that would disagree with that (perhaps that family of a murder victim withstanding, they’d perhaps seek justice over compassion). But, unique cases aside, these three are a universal need, no matter what creed you adopt: compassion, love, mercy.
Compassion is what gives families that ability to accept their son wanting to be a drag queen. Love is what drives a family to work in a soup kitchen during the holidays. Mercy is what tugs at your heartstrings, giving someone standing on a street corner with a sign a few dollars from your wallet or change from your cup holder.
Compassion is also what keeps families from killing each other on long road trips. Love is what keeps a teacher motivated when parents yell and scream because their “perfect kid” isn’t quite so perfect. Mercy is what has stopped back alley abortions and gay bashing and laws against things like interracial marriage.
I thank God for these things that he has brought into the world: Compassion, Love, and Mercy.
Perhaps, though, you feel numb to these things. Late night infomercials about the ASPCA or to sponsor a third world child have left you dry and unmoved. Scandals about where that money actually goes leaves you feeling like its an empty gesture, hollow to the point of ignoring it. In some ways, it might be a hollow gesture - a guilt being projected that some do want you to pay for. it’s the old adage: Finish your dinner, there are starving kids in Africa. My generation replies: So what? Are you going to mail my food to them? We used to joke about things like that. They get clever in college and all of a sudden Spencers has a poster that states: Finish your beer, there are sober kids in India.
Reality: That’s horribly jaded, we are horribly jaded as a culture, society, even as a global village. We create remarkable feats in our minds for those who do simple and wonderful things for others (Mother Teresa being a supreme example of this), when it could be more commonplace, where Jesus wants it to be more commonplace. I can’t remember him ever saying that this was a faith that was solely for after death.
This is a life: a community built on those principles. That was the whole point of Jesus’ ministry, of new Jerusalem, of the first eight chapters of Acts. It wasn’t just the Holy Spirits that fell in Acts 2, it was the capability to see and give mercy. To be the good Samaritan, not the judge or the Levite that just walks past the bruised man, as Jesus shows in the parable of Luke 10:25-37.
Moving into the second verse of Mighty to Save, doesn’t it sound wonderful to think of everyone getting forgiveness? Are there some throughout history (both personal and global) that you think forgiveness is too good for? Those hypocrites in the 700 Club, perhaps? Genocidal dictators?
God knows hearts. We’re not supposed to judge, not that those genocidal dictators or the Westboro Baptist folks make it easy. They make it downright difficult- like something right out of Levitical law. Truth be told, we want them to be below the bar of Jesus‘ forgiveness. We see Jesus on the cross as something for grandmothers and little kids and addicts in the program or even maybe for the more repentant criminals, heck sometimes even for vampires in Joss Whedon‘s world.
The truth? Jesus wants to forgive Ken Lay for what he did as CEO. He mourned over the genocides in the Balkans and Rwanda. He can’t be too fond of those politicians and rappers and football stars who leech onto him without any idea who he actually is. I have to be honest here. For me, I hate people like Tim Tebow that push forward an anti-abortion agenda because of celebrity. It disgusts me when you see pictures of Rick Warren and people laying hands to pray for Rick Santorum on the campaign trail because they believe that America should be a theocracy and a Christian nation.
And after hearing about Rick Warren’s pledge signing to stone gay people in Uganda(?), I certainly had/have no desire to forgive him for that. But I’m not Jesus. I don’t sit on the throne and listen to people’s hearts throughout their lives. I don’t have access to the tapestry of time and its hardships. I don’t understand how people can abuse the name of God for their lust or anger or power or greed.
I’m not Jesus. Some should be very grateful I’m not.
Suddenly, we find that the ideas behind this song go from communal to personal, such as it is with God. Indeed, he came to save the whole world but knew each person individually that he called, talked to, or even just saw in the crowd around him. And that was just during his 3-½ years of ministry, not to mention how many of us he must have seen accepting him from that cross. After all, he came to save the whole world (1 John 2:2)
What is most interesting in this portion of the song is that there is an endorsement of being imperfect and yet loved and cared for by God. There is a recognition of having fears and failures and that it is okay to have them after you are saved. Now, I think some people have the idea that at the moment of conversion, everyone suddenly becomes perfect and that there are no addictions or battles to fight. The opposite is actually truer in that the battles are still there, only there is an awareness of sin and that awareness is most often just the beginning, the first step of a longer journey to come (what you surrender to, what you leave belief in to find Jesus, that “life“ that you give: (Luke 17:33) .
-Chorus-
I bet you’ve heard something in relation to Jesus being able to move mountains and its usually in relation to moving a mountain of sin or getting a needing believer a job or a car or just into a better situation physically/mentally/emotionally/spiritually. The mountains can really be anything and its great symbolism for the hard things of life (if you’ve ever done a hard climb like Half Dome or Mailbox Peak Trail, you know what I’m talking about).
Thing is, Jesus talked about giving us the power to move these mountains. Not that we’re God- like once we believe in him, but that we would have the faith to believe that those mountains are nothing, that they don’t need to stand in the way of the journey. This particular scripture is found in Matthew 17: 14-20 (and Luke 17:6, but a mulberry bush isn’t quite as impressive as uprooting a mountain, is it?) and this is right after he has sent out his disciples, deputizing them with the power to heal and cast out demons. He goes out to pray by himself (Jesus loves doing this) and he comes back down from whatever mountain he was on to find that there is a demon that the disciples couldn’t cast out and he replies thusly (to the disciples) after casting out said demon, about why they were unable:
“ Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
The salvation in this song doesn’t just talk about salvation, but its also about the faith through times good and bad, a faith that is cultivated through maturity and community. If you only ever get to 8th grade confirmation and then just stop, there’s a good chance that your mountain probably isn’t going to move in the near future. Its not just one moment, it’s a journey. That may be the hardest myth of Christianity to debunk.
I was reading Eat, Pray, Love (journey books like that are some of my favorites, like Julie/Julia and the stuff by Kathleen Norris, who became a Benedictine oblate) and Ms. Gilbert (the author) addressed her personal beliefs in God almost at the very beginning, since she was going to be using the word throughout the book.
She actually confessed to loving Jesus (“that great lover of peace”), but did not want to be encumbered with the idea of him being the only way to God. Its unfortunate, however true, that this idea of one solitary way to God keeps so many from believing. People of this age believe in choice and individual and it becomes burdensome in a way to think that there is only one way. Often, a Christian can be accused of being short-sighted or exclusionary. Parts of this song would argue that is not the case.
As for Ms. Gilbert, I respect her opinion and what she did throughout her book (same way I feel about Julie Powell actually), but I cannot agree with her view of Jesus. She kind of cut and pasted her own view of the Christian life and left out the bulk of what he actually said and did. Not knowing her personally, I cannot say how she came to this view nor do I feel a need to debate with her on it, but I also remember reading Josh McDowell (a present from my baptism) and his talking about how you cannot separate the parts of Christ. The argument in More Than a Carpenter is done more justice by Mr. McDowell than I would do, believe me. I’d recommend a read-through of that rather than some Cliff Notes version in my blog.
There is actually quite a celebration at the end of the chorus of the song, and, as a Christian, I have taken for granted that Jesus came and rose from the dead. It was miraculous, sure, but after so many times of hearing it- it just lost the power to move me, especially if you‘re a kid and no one around you seems to be moved by it to any sort of emotion.
One of our scripture readers addressed this at church last week in his little pre-verse address. He stated that the phrases “He is risen” with its answer “He is risen indeed” should have the power to move and transform and yet they so often lose that power. I regret that for so long I did not cherish the uniqueness and power of what God did through Jesus.
Granted, there are those in the world who try to either scientifically, historically, or empirically change what Jesus did. There are lots of excuses: there was something in the wine/vinegar combo that just made him look like he was dead, there was something in the spear that hit his side, his body was moved/ he left the tomb and disappeared to create his own religion (which feels like it really just gives the whole thing a more malevolent purpose than it should), and even some have claimed the Jesus himself was a wiccan or had pagan powers. Those voices often add to those who have claimed Jesus to be another story, another part of the sacrifices that various gods made for us throughout history (apparently Greek mystery cults are rife with stuff like that).
In college, I was faced with these arguments. People really like adding a spin to what Jesus did, perhaps refusing to either acknowledge him or the circumstances of his deity for their own needs. And, truth be told, some of the above excuses are easier to believe. They allow you to minimize what Jesus did for us and move on with our lives without him.
But, seriously, I’m getting too old for crap like that. I prefer to admit that I do need Him, and I’m not sure that makes me as weak as some would argue. Needing God is something I think denotes a strength of character that some never achieve or find in other ways (power, money, sex, anger….). I have some atheist friends who this might land me in hot water with, though I doubt it since most of them know that I prefer Jesus, but like I said- getting too old for crap like that.
Would you like to minimize what Jesus did for you? I know that Easter is supposed to be over and that Christians all across the country are putting away the paper mache tombs and the “Friday and Sunday” videos in favor of Acts or Romans or Psalms or Daniel, but what does that leave us with? It leaves us with that calendar of the Pharisees, without time to dwell, to process, to extol on what has happened. It leaves us without the heart and soul of our own message to the world (even to the ones who have rejected it).
This week, I want you to take two blank note cards. I want you to write on one “He is Risen” and on the other “He is Risen Indeed!”. I suggest using a colored sharpie or something to make the words pop (lectio divina style).
Note: Lectio Divina is an old latin phrase the church has used as a way to study the bible. Its where you take a short passage and meditate on a word or small phrase that sticks out to you. Its not only personal, but it’s a great way to invite God into a conversation. I heartily endorse this form of studying as its one of my favorites.
Now those two blank note cards should go somewhere that you will see them often throughout the day or in a place where you begin and end your day. Fridge, bathroom mirror, car dashboard, maybe even your work cubicle. Its like a reminder, maybe even a way to pause to think of God and his mercies and blessings for us.
A bonus achievement for all this is what is says in Proverbs 3:3:
Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart.
Thanks for reading,
John
Friday, April 13, 2012
His Eye is On the Sparrow
Week 2: “His Eye is on the Sparrow”
His Eye is on the Sparrow was made into one of the more famous older spiritual songs by a scene from Sister Act 2, sung by Lauryn Hill in one of her only movie performances. It evokes a sense of the more Southern Baptist or Pentecostal traditions of worship with a greater emphasis on personal love and spirit that can sometimes be lacking in more formal hymns.
Personal note: I was pretty sure that at least part of the song was somewhere in the psalms or proverbs, but the song is only a passing reference to Matthew 10: 28-31. Maybe its just owed to the fact that it seems like something David would have written while being chased through caves by Saul or waiting to hear if his newborn son would survive the wrath he had brought on his own head.
Of course, that doesn’t deter me from deconstructing this beautiful and emotional ballad to God. In some ways, I think about this song around Easter because it reminds me of beautiful flowers laid around an altar between Good Friday and Greatest Sunday (the Resurrection). In my family, those flowers serve as a tradition of remembrance for a loved one that has passed on- usually grandparents- and somehow Easter lilies are a stronger reminder of my grandmother than most things.
Week 2: "His Eye is on the Sparrow": http://youtu.be/_eAboY5zfYE
I find this song to be ironic almost. When you read it, when you sing it, it just doesn’t seem like an inherently happy song. The pace is not quick, people generally don’t dance in the aisles to it, and its usually sung by a second alto with a deep, soulful voice. I think, those same idiosyncrasies actually highlight the fact that it is a worship song of joy and depth for all those whose love from God and hopefully for God runs deep. Now, I want you to stop and let the opening lines sink in a bit.
Why should I feel discouraged? Why should the shadows come?
Those are some pretty intense questions to ask yourself, considering that there always seems to be a reason to feel discouraged. Heck, I was my friendly neighborhood Tree of Life Christian Bookstore this week and I saw tons of books devoted to varying topics of how to banish discouragement in all areas of life. Stuff like :
Raising teenagers (to LOVE God!)
Finance (or lack thereof) (and GIVING them TO GOD!)
Understanding marriage (And How God Wants You to Connect With Your Husband!)
Connecting with God (On A DAILY Basis)
Spiritually leading your household (Men’s section/Business)
I don’t want to get into the topic of why Men’s Leadership/Business were melded together and was only one bookshelf long, but I’m sure I’ll derail myself eventually and discuss it sometime in the future. I should also state here that while there is a bit of sarcasm in the above book sections/title selections, I don’t inherently believe that it is bad to want to instruct your children in the ways of God, give God the glory he deserves through your earnings, trying to reconnect with your spouse, doing devotionals, or even being the spiritual leader of your house - I’m just not thoroughly convinced that most American Christian bookstores are doing it right.
I’m tempted to believe that those questions (about discouragement and shadows) were originally posed to a different set of circumstances. Its not unrealistic to assume that lower mortality rates, the amount of households with abusive or alcoholic husband, and the stigma of being an unwed mother or gay person in different periods of history (and that’s just in America) gives the question something more jarring and realistic.
I myself have often felt discouraged with God. I read that Footprints poem about God carrying us when we could no longer walk on the sand and I love its romance and grandeur, but let’s face it, folks- sometimes, life with God feels like you’re just sitting in the road and you’re too bruised to move on. Especially if you’re the mother with the gay son. The father who has to stage an intervention for his brother’s drug use. The social worker who has to watch a 15 year old get kicked out of her home. Divorce after 20 years of marriage. Losing a job. Losing a scholarship. Your first driving ticket. Losing your first love. Being passed over for a promotion.
Sometimes it feels like the question is Why shouldn’t we feel discouraged? Why shouldn’t the shadows come? Why shouldn’t my heart be lonely and long for heaven and home?
I don’t want to give you a pep talk. It can sometimes feel insulting if you understand how it feels to utter the above questions in dark and hard times, when rebuilding your relationship with God is harder than anything you’ve ever done before. At some stage, you’re past a point where putting a couple bucks in the plate is gonna do it for you and people are telling you that you can just pray through it and trust God and it’ll all be okay….
And you just sometimes wonder if those people have ever felt anything like what you’ve felt and you simultaneously both wish and never want them to feel it - whatever it is. And you have to resist stabbing them with your fork at the church social.
But there hope in this song, even in just the next moment when we find that Jesus is our portion, our constant friend is he (some versions use that as a pre-chorus, others in the chorus itself- depends on the arrangement mostly).
Please take a moment to flip to the story in Gospel of John, Chapter 4 of the Samaritan woman at the well.
As far as Jesus being our portion, one of the best references for that is the above meeting between Jesus and the woman at the well. He reveals himself as clean water that will fill, refresh, and purify. I can imagine that for the woman, it must have been a dumbfounding moment. I’m not familiar with Samaritan culture, but five husbands must have been a stigma even for them. What did that woman know of life? Loneliness, anxiety, being ostracized?
But she responded differently than most of us do to Jesus (sometimes even beyond just the first time we meet him). But, seeing as how I’m currently one of the folks drinking the Living Water and receiving joy and thankfulness from it, I want to say that I admire how she responds. Because, in all fairness, we deserve less than her for our mistrust and adultery and idolatry and so much more. We don’t deserve a portion of God, Living Water, a communion with which to remember him by. We are reminded, sometimes constantly, of our sin and that we merely deserve death (the wages of sin being death).
But God offers the same grace and mercy that he offers to the woman at the well that may have been waiting her whole life for someone like Jesus, without even knowing what she was looking for. In some ways, Jesus was her Footprints in the sand.
I can also imagine that the ending of this week’s song came to the woman much later, in the quiet stillness of her home, at a place where Daniel and David both found communion with the God of their Fathers. Maybe no longer with the fifth in a long line of men, maybe now with some hateful fires of her soul quenched by the soothing water of God, she could sing, quietly, breathing:
I sing because I’m happy
I sing because I’m free
I sit here, typing, overwhelmed by the simplicity and by the implications of those lines in this song and what they could represent if we choose them. In this age, we often chose polite cynicism, atheism or embarrassment in the faces of the shouting Tea Partiers, or apathy when we turn away from the Occupy protesters because we believe in good intentions but that small voices are never loud enough, or because we believe all good and true things have been bartered and sold until there are none left on the face of the earth. And I believe this song would dispute that claim, using a small and defenseless bird much like Jesus would later describe lilies and grass and how they are cared for and clothed in greater splendor than Solomon (Matthew 6:29):
I sing because I’m happy
I sing because I’m free
His eye is on the sparrow
And I know He watches me.
I suppose you could still choose cynicism, atheism, embarrassment, or even soul pollution. I’m certainly not going to stop you from that. But I want to choose differently for myself. I want to choose to believe that He watches over me (in fact, I know he has, but I still feel like I need to choose it everyday or lose myself to cynicism).
I got the inspiration for this week’s song from Diana Ross’s Memoir entitled “Secrets of a Sparrow”. I picked this particular celebrity bio in the manner I usually pick library books, wandering the aisles of tomes until something sticks out.
Miss Ross is a fan of knowing she is watched over and protected and maybe we should take this week to think about that. Even if you don’t feel like you’ve been watched over, even if you feel like you’ve been passed over, take some time and write out some major or minor events of the past that have happened.
If you’re angry with talk, talk to Him about it- ask him where he was. (I used to have a lot of trouble being angry with God, but my friends also used to remind me that he was a big God and could take me being angry with him- they just wanted me to talk with him and I advise you the same). If you find that he lead you to a certain place through these events that was all for the best, thank him for it.
Remember: God doesn’t need us as much as we need him. You not believing in him will not change whether or not he exists. Dear ones, he wants us, its that simple. At the base of theology is his love in creating us and not chaining us to an empty faith. As hard as it may seem and as much as we sometimes see past experience to the contrary, its true. God merely wants us.
Thanks for reading,
This is John- signing off
His Eye is on the Sparrow was made into one of the more famous older spiritual songs by a scene from Sister Act 2, sung by Lauryn Hill in one of her only movie performances. It evokes a sense of the more Southern Baptist or Pentecostal traditions of worship with a greater emphasis on personal love and spirit that can sometimes be lacking in more formal hymns.
Personal note: I was pretty sure that at least part of the song was somewhere in the psalms or proverbs, but the song is only a passing reference to Matthew 10: 28-31. Maybe its just owed to the fact that it seems like something David would have written while being chased through caves by Saul or waiting to hear if his newborn son would survive the wrath he had brought on his own head.
Of course, that doesn’t deter me from deconstructing this beautiful and emotional ballad to God. In some ways, I think about this song around Easter because it reminds me of beautiful flowers laid around an altar between Good Friday and Greatest Sunday (the Resurrection). In my family, those flowers serve as a tradition of remembrance for a loved one that has passed on- usually grandparents- and somehow Easter lilies are a stronger reminder of my grandmother than most things.
Week 2: "His Eye is on the Sparrow": http://youtu.be/_eAboY5zfYE
I find this song to be ironic almost. When you read it, when you sing it, it just doesn’t seem like an inherently happy song. The pace is not quick, people generally don’t dance in the aisles to it, and its usually sung by a second alto with a deep, soulful voice. I think, those same idiosyncrasies actually highlight the fact that it is a worship song of joy and depth for all those whose love from God and hopefully for God runs deep. Now, I want you to stop and let the opening lines sink in a bit.
Why should I feel discouraged? Why should the shadows come?
Those are some pretty intense questions to ask yourself, considering that there always seems to be a reason to feel discouraged. Heck, I was my friendly neighborhood Tree of Life Christian Bookstore this week and I saw tons of books devoted to varying topics of how to banish discouragement in all areas of life. Stuff like :
Raising teenagers (to LOVE God!)
Finance (or lack thereof) (and GIVING them TO GOD!)
Understanding marriage (And How God Wants You to Connect With Your Husband!)
Connecting with God (On A DAILY Basis)
Spiritually leading your household (Men’s section/Business)
I don’t want to get into the topic of why Men’s Leadership/Business were melded together and was only one bookshelf long, but I’m sure I’ll derail myself eventually and discuss it sometime in the future. I should also state here that while there is a bit of sarcasm in the above book sections/title selections, I don’t inherently believe that it is bad to want to instruct your children in the ways of God, give God the glory he deserves through your earnings, trying to reconnect with your spouse, doing devotionals, or even being the spiritual leader of your house - I’m just not thoroughly convinced that most American Christian bookstores are doing it right.
I’m tempted to believe that those questions (about discouragement and shadows) were originally posed to a different set of circumstances. Its not unrealistic to assume that lower mortality rates, the amount of households with abusive or alcoholic husband, and the stigma of being an unwed mother or gay person in different periods of history (and that’s just in America) gives the question something more jarring and realistic.
I myself have often felt discouraged with God. I read that Footprints poem about God carrying us when we could no longer walk on the sand and I love its romance and grandeur, but let’s face it, folks- sometimes, life with God feels like you’re just sitting in the road and you’re too bruised to move on. Especially if you’re the mother with the gay son. The father who has to stage an intervention for his brother’s drug use. The social worker who has to watch a 15 year old get kicked out of her home. Divorce after 20 years of marriage. Losing a job. Losing a scholarship. Your first driving ticket. Losing your first love. Being passed over for a promotion.
Sometimes it feels like the question is Why shouldn’t we feel discouraged? Why shouldn’t the shadows come? Why shouldn’t my heart be lonely and long for heaven and home?
I don’t want to give you a pep talk. It can sometimes feel insulting if you understand how it feels to utter the above questions in dark and hard times, when rebuilding your relationship with God is harder than anything you’ve ever done before. At some stage, you’re past a point where putting a couple bucks in the plate is gonna do it for you and people are telling you that you can just pray through it and trust God and it’ll all be okay….
And you just sometimes wonder if those people have ever felt anything like what you’ve felt and you simultaneously both wish and never want them to feel it - whatever it is. And you have to resist stabbing them with your fork at the church social.
But there hope in this song, even in just the next moment when we find that Jesus is our portion, our constant friend is he (some versions use that as a pre-chorus, others in the chorus itself- depends on the arrangement mostly).
Please take a moment to flip to the story in Gospel of John, Chapter 4 of the Samaritan woman at the well.
As far as Jesus being our portion, one of the best references for that is the above meeting between Jesus and the woman at the well. He reveals himself as clean water that will fill, refresh, and purify. I can imagine that for the woman, it must have been a dumbfounding moment. I’m not familiar with Samaritan culture, but five husbands must have been a stigma even for them. What did that woman know of life? Loneliness, anxiety, being ostracized?
But she responded differently than most of us do to Jesus (sometimes even beyond just the first time we meet him). But, seeing as how I’m currently one of the folks drinking the Living Water and receiving joy and thankfulness from it, I want to say that I admire how she responds. Because, in all fairness, we deserve less than her for our mistrust and adultery and idolatry and so much more. We don’t deserve a portion of God, Living Water, a communion with which to remember him by. We are reminded, sometimes constantly, of our sin and that we merely deserve death (the wages of sin being death).
But God offers the same grace and mercy that he offers to the woman at the well that may have been waiting her whole life for someone like Jesus, without even knowing what she was looking for. In some ways, Jesus was her Footprints in the sand.
I can also imagine that the ending of this week’s song came to the woman much later, in the quiet stillness of her home, at a place where Daniel and David both found communion with the God of their Fathers. Maybe no longer with the fifth in a long line of men, maybe now with some hateful fires of her soul quenched by the soothing water of God, she could sing, quietly, breathing:
I sing because I’m happy
I sing because I’m free
I sit here, typing, overwhelmed by the simplicity and by the implications of those lines in this song and what they could represent if we choose them. In this age, we often chose polite cynicism, atheism or embarrassment in the faces of the shouting Tea Partiers, or apathy when we turn away from the Occupy protesters because we believe in good intentions but that small voices are never loud enough, or because we believe all good and true things have been bartered and sold until there are none left on the face of the earth. And I believe this song would dispute that claim, using a small and defenseless bird much like Jesus would later describe lilies and grass and how they are cared for and clothed in greater splendor than Solomon (Matthew 6:29):
I sing because I’m happy
I sing because I’m free
His eye is on the sparrow
And I know He watches me.
I suppose you could still choose cynicism, atheism, embarrassment, or even soul pollution. I’m certainly not going to stop you from that. But I want to choose differently for myself. I want to choose to believe that He watches over me (in fact, I know he has, but I still feel like I need to choose it everyday or lose myself to cynicism).
I got the inspiration for this week’s song from Diana Ross’s Memoir entitled “Secrets of a Sparrow”. I picked this particular celebrity bio in the manner I usually pick library books, wandering the aisles of tomes until something sticks out.
Miss Ross is a fan of knowing she is watched over and protected and maybe we should take this week to think about that. Even if you don’t feel like you’ve been watched over, even if you feel like you’ve been passed over, take some time and write out some major or minor events of the past that have happened.
If you’re angry with talk, talk to Him about it- ask him where he was. (I used to have a lot of trouble being angry with God, but my friends also used to remind me that he was a big God and could take me being angry with him- they just wanted me to talk with him and I advise you the same). If you find that he lead you to a certain place through these events that was all for the best, thank him for it.
Remember: God doesn’t need us as much as we need him. You not believing in him will not change whether or not he exists. Dear ones, he wants us, its that simple. At the base of theology is his love in creating us and not chaining us to an empty faith. As hard as it may seem and as much as we sometimes see past experience to the contrary, its true. God merely wants us.
Thanks for reading,
This is John- signing off
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Beauty for Ashes
Hello, my name is John and this is my new blog. I wanted to make this a youtube vlog but taking 385 minutes to upload a 6 minute video is just silly- so here we are.
The goal of this blog will be more focused than my previous attempts in that I am going to merge two of my loves: faith and music together. Also, this will be participatory because we are nothing if not a community. I hope together we might discover more about our faiths and the faiths of those around us.
Week 1: Beauty for Ashes
http://youtu.be/clVVdlyD2bw
Beauty for ashes is a love song to God, recognizing his grace in a way that doesn’t make you feel like you’re being hit over the head with the fact that we are all sinners and that we need grace. It is a song that evokes the image of trading a sinful past for a holier present and the breaking dawn of the future. It does not promise that there will be no hardships and there is no guarantee that all problems will immediately vanish when you turn your life over to God like some magic Houdini.
I appreciate that about Shane & Shane. Their music is honest, good for the soul, and even bittersweet in its joy- a reflection of what the Christian life can be. Beauty for ashes can be for anyone and indeed, it should be.
The words of the song talk about delighting ourselves in the richest of fare. For me that means the delight isn’t just in the richness of the fare or the goodness of whatever the fare is, its about the fact that its undeserved. I’m sure you’ve heard that before, Christians talking about undeserved grace, but I want you to take a moment to think about that. To think about the grace of Jesus.
I know that not all of you have had good experiences with Christians. I can almost guarantee you that in certain parts of my life, I’ve been one of those people. But this isn’t about me, this is about the grace of Jesus, not the imperfect people that make up his church. The grace of Jesus is huge, there are books written on it-dissertations, sermons. But what does that grace mean to you? Not just in the way that Jesus has changed your life, but how have those experiences gone deeper and penetrated your heart?
In Matthew 11:30 , Jesus talks about his burden and his yoke. He talks about how easy and light they are and he was juxtaposing what his followers could expect (grace and mercy) with what the Pharisees of Israel in those times were offering-rules. Jesus, on the other hand, was offering a way to examine yourself and your heart, not just rules. The Pharisees had a hard time with grace, and Jesus certainly gave them more than some would say they deserved.
It could be argued that his burden isn’t always easy and his yoke isn’t always light but in those cases I think that is a result of putting a lot on ourselves, working ourselves to death for our own salvation and letting ourselves get bogged down in the rules, in Romans, in the great commission (not that those things are bad, mind you). But, at the end of the day, grace gets you much farther than rules. Because you can follow the ten commandments to the letter, but if your heart isn’t in it, then it doesn’t matter how much you follow thm
The Pharisees always followed the laws, but Jesus told them about their insides, the rat infestations and the empty tombs where their hearts used to lie. He was saddened and disgusted because he knew the Father and knew the Father’s grace and mercy and love for Israel were more than just phylacteries, tassels, and the Ark. Those were all symbols of what life could be, but, at the end of the day, the curtain of the temple wasn’t nearly strong enough to stand up to God’s love.
In the song, Shane and Shane also mirror God‘s delight back to him, thankful for receiving it and thankful for him. And God delights in the grace Jesus has provided you today, this minute. What does his grace mean to you? If you’re going through AA, is it because he’s helping you battle addiction? Did God’s grace give you the strength to leave a hard marriage or go back to university? How about leaving a job where your integrity slipped away or the grace to restart a friendship that you missed desperately?
Grace can mean so much and I think we often let grace slip away because the rules are easier, they can define us and tell us who the enemy is. They give us direction for bible studies, but the songs and the psalms and the strong emotions all come from grace, mercy, and love. Grace is the richest fare we can have and for me that fare is found in the ways I have come to join the community of faith.
It has not been easy for me, I am mistrustful of many Christian organizations and for a long time I had a really bad attitude about Bible studies and the great commission and I was just really haughty, really didn’t understand but thought I knew everything. I’m not saying its all perfect now, but giving myself the grace to be imperfect and realize these things about myself, as unflattering as they are, has also given me the grace of God in growing to embrace the real community of God- not necessarily the one I’ve made up in my head.
So after you think about the grace of God in your life, I want you to praise him for it- however you do that best- and it’s a pretty long list. It can involve various forms of art, spending time with the family you’ve been provided, or even something like jogging. Praising God for his grace should come through your personality- after all, that is why God made you special and unique.
I will be the first to admit that I don’t praise him for his grace enough. I don’t sing loud enough in church or dance around like I used to with reckless abandon. I don’t listen to the breeze enough. I don’t offer up enough of the best of me to my fellow humans who are just trying, scraping, hoping to get through this life as least scathed as possible. I certainly don’t want to make it any harder than it has to be.
And I think that not praising him for grace enough can be part of the stony heart that Shane and Shane sing about. In the story of the Prodigal son (Luke 15:11) the older son who didn’t run away had stone in his heart. He was angry about the grace that the father showed the younger son. I’ve felt like that, known entire congregations like that really. Aren’t there people in your congregation you have trouble getting along with? I can’t think of a single Mayberry congregation anywhere, though maybe in an underground church somewhere they get it. I don’t know. I’m not nearly oppressed enough to know.
Oddly enough, we never find out in the prodigal son how the father’s grace (bringing his dead son back to life) affects the older son and if his heart of stone chips away at all or if it becomes harder because he thinks his father is a fool or going senile because he didn’t make his younger son into a slave, like what might have been deemed prudent at the time. The oldest son, and rightly so- some would agree, probably thought some retribution was in order. But God’s not really looking to retribute anybody. He doesn’t want to judge as much as love and its something he wanted us to understand. Jesus says so when he addresses the two greatest commandments in Matthew 22:37-40:
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. The second is to love your neighbor as yourself.
I’m not pretending that’s not a tall order to love your neighbor as yourself after somehow mastering loving God with all heart, soul, and mind, but maybe this week as a community, lets extend some of God’s grace to people out there. I think its hard enough in this world without us destroying each other and ripping each other to shreds. So your first assignment is grace. First, give it to yourself (because you fall short of glory- not because you‘re God), then thank God for the grace he has given you, and give others grace - even when they hate you. Especially give grace to that person that takes 21 items into the twelve item checkout line at Walmart.
Thanks for reading and remember to comment! This is John (the Christian tiger)- signing off
The goal of this blog will be more focused than my previous attempts in that I am going to merge two of my loves: faith and music together. Also, this will be participatory because we are nothing if not a community. I hope together we might discover more about our faiths and the faiths of those around us.
Week 1: Beauty for Ashes
http://youtu.be/clVVdlyD2bw
Beauty for ashes is a love song to God, recognizing his grace in a way that doesn’t make you feel like you’re being hit over the head with the fact that we are all sinners and that we need grace. It is a song that evokes the image of trading a sinful past for a holier present and the breaking dawn of the future. It does not promise that there will be no hardships and there is no guarantee that all problems will immediately vanish when you turn your life over to God like some magic Houdini.
I appreciate that about Shane & Shane. Their music is honest, good for the soul, and even bittersweet in its joy- a reflection of what the Christian life can be. Beauty for ashes can be for anyone and indeed, it should be.
The words of the song talk about delighting ourselves in the richest of fare. For me that means the delight isn’t just in the richness of the fare or the goodness of whatever the fare is, its about the fact that its undeserved. I’m sure you’ve heard that before, Christians talking about undeserved grace, but I want you to take a moment to think about that. To think about the grace of Jesus.
I know that not all of you have had good experiences with Christians. I can almost guarantee you that in certain parts of my life, I’ve been one of those people. But this isn’t about me, this is about the grace of Jesus, not the imperfect people that make up his church. The grace of Jesus is huge, there are books written on it-dissertations, sermons. But what does that grace mean to you? Not just in the way that Jesus has changed your life, but how have those experiences gone deeper and penetrated your heart?
In Matthew 11:30 , Jesus talks about his burden and his yoke. He talks about how easy and light they are and he was juxtaposing what his followers could expect (grace and mercy) with what the Pharisees of Israel in those times were offering-rules. Jesus, on the other hand, was offering a way to examine yourself and your heart, not just rules. The Pharisees had a hard time with grace, and Jesus certainly gave them more than some would say they deserved.
It could be argued that his burden isn’t always easy and his yoke isn’t always light but in those cases I think that is a result of putting a lot on ourselves, working ourselves to death for our own salvation and letting ourselves get bogged down in the rules, in Romans, in the great commission (not that those things are bad, mind you). But, at the end of the day, grace gets you much farther than rules. Because you can follow the ten commandments to the letter, but if your heart isn’t in it, then it doesn’t matter how much you follow thm
The Pharisees always followed the laws, but Jesus told them about their insides, the rat infestations and the empty tombs where their hearts used to lie. He was saddened and disgusted because he knew the Father and knew the Father’s grace and mercy and love for Israel were more than just phylacteries, tassels, and the Ark. Those were all symbols of what life could be, but, at the end of the day, the curtain of the temple wasn’t nearly strong enough to stand up to God’s love.
In the song, Shane and Shane also mirror God‘s delight back to him, thankful for receiving it and thankful for him. And God delights in the grace Jesus has provided you today, this minute. What does his grace mean to you? If you’re going through AA, is it because he’s helping you battle addiction? Did God’s grace give you the strength to leave a hard marriage or go back to university? How about leaving a job where your integrity slipped away or the grace to restart a friendship that you missed desperately?
Grace can mean so much and I think we often let grace slip away because the rules are easier, they can define us and tell us who the enemy is. They give us direction for bible studies, but the songs and the psalms and the strong emotions all come from grace, mercy, and love. Grace is the richest fare we can have and for me that fare is found in the ways I have come to join the community of faith.
It has not been easy for me, I am mistrustful of many Christian organizations and for a long time I had a really bad attitude about Bible studies and the great commission and I was just really haughty, really didn’t understand but thought I knew everything. I’m not saying its all perfect now, but giving myself the grace to be imperfect and realize these things about myself, as unflattering as they are, has also given me the grace of God in growing to embrace the real community of God- not necessarily the one I’ve made up in my head.
So after you think about the grace of God in your life, I want you to praise him for it- however you do that best- and it’s a pretty long list. It can involve various forms of art, spending time with the family you’ve been provided, or even something like jogging. Praising God for his grace should come through your personality- after all, that is why God made you special and unique.
I will be the first to admit that I don’t praise him for his grace enough. I don’t sing loud enough in church or dance around like I used to with reckless abandon. I don’t listen to the breeze enough. I don’t offer up enough of the best of me to my fellow humans who are just trying, scraping, hoping to get through this life as least scathed as possible. I certainly don’t want to make it any harder than it has to be.
And I think that not praising him for grace enough can be part of the stony heart that Shane and Shane sing about. In the story of the Prodigal son (Luke 15:11) the older son who didn’t run away had stone in his heart. He was angry about the grace that the father showed the younger son. I’ve felt like that, known entire congregations like that really. Aren’t there people in your congregation you have trouble getting along with? I can’t think of a single Mayberry congregation anywhere, though maybe in an underground church somewhere they get it. I don’t know. I’m not nearly oppressed enough to know.
Oddly enough, we never find out in the prodigal son how the father’s grace (bringing his dead son back to life) affects the older son and if his heart of stone chips away at all or if it becomes harder because he thinks his father is a fool or going senile because he didn’t make his younger son into a slave, like what might have been deemed prudent at the time. The oldest son, and rightly so- some would agree, probably thought some retribution was in order. But God’s not really looking to retribute anybody. He doesn’t want to judge as much as love and its something he wanted us to understand. Jesus says so when he addresses the two greatest commandments in Matthew 22:37-40:
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. The second is to love your neighbor as yourself.
I’m not pretending that’s not a tall order to love your neighbor as yourself after somehow mastering loving God with all heart, soul, and mind, but maybe this week as a community, lets extend some of God’s grace to people out there. I think its hard enough in this world without us destroying each other and ripping each other to shreds. So your first assignment is grace. First, give it to yourself (because you fall short of glory- not because you‘re God), then thank God for the grace he has given you, and give others grace - even when they hate you. Especially give grace to that person that takes 21 items into the twelve item checkout line at Walmart.
Thanks for reading and remember to comment! This is John (the Christian tiger)- signing off
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