Living and Dying

We spent part of August in fusion reflecting on heaven and earth in a theme called It's Good to Be Home. We talked about how God's home is among mortals as scripture reminds us many times that God is trying to get to us. Revelation 21 brings this to light in a vision of heaven: "Then I saw "a new heaven and a new earth," for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Look! God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 'He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death' or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

The idea of no more crying and pain death is one of our shared experiences of heaven, but the coming of God right here among us, perhaps is not one of our visions of heaven. Rather we see ourselves going to God rather than God coming to us, though God intersecting in our lives is throughout scripture and the nature of Jesus Christ. Interesting though that if heaven were to come crashing into earth, would that be a good thing for us where we are in life? If God's kingdom come, what it mean for us everyday?

Would you enjoy it? Would you be comfortable? Where would the whiplash be? One of my favorite preachers asks: "If you are bitter—hard in your heart and bitter—and the Earth is invaded by pure, unadulterated joy, would it be heaven for you?" Or put it another way, if you are stingy and tight, and you aren't compassionate and aren't generous, and you find yourself in the presence of sheer, unadulterated generosity, would it be heaven for you, or would you be miserable? Or if you are a racist and you have bigoted, biased feelings and attitudes toward people of other lifestyles, skin colors, political preferences, and ethnic backgrounds, and you find yourself in the presence of people from every tribe and tongue and nation…. if you find yourself at the great wedding banquet table of heaven and you're a minority at the table and the table is populated with people that you have deep, racist feelings for, is it heaven for you? Where are we more at home … heaven or earth? Because in our minds the realm of earth certainly offers more personal control, right? Is this a matter of living and dying?

Hurricanes and Walking on Water

This morning as Hurricane Gustav made it to the U.S. mainland, many television reporters took their traditional places on the streets of the towns that were being bombarded by the storm (New Orleans and Baton Rouge to be specific). One reporter in particular, was standing on a brick wall clinging to a light post. He reported, "I do not want to let go as I will be forced into the Mississippi River directly behind me." And he was right, he gave his whole report clinging to that post, shouting into his microphone in order to give the best description of the conditions as if the picture was not enough. I never quite understood the lengths that reporters would go to cover a story.

I certainly do not want to downplay the disaster that a hurricane brings and I understand the newsworthy need of this storm given that this is the first presence of a major hurricane since Hurricane Katrina tore apart Louisiana and Mississippi three years ago. But what I kept coming back to today was how much attention we give to the storms we are going through personally. As individuals we experience loss, grief, pain, challenges in our relationships, finances, jobs, etc ... we can say we go through storms.

When Jesus invited Peter to come out onto the lake and walk on water to him, Peter only began to sink his attention turned from Jesus and onto the storm. If our time is spent worrying (oh man do I do that well) and stewing about the difficulty we face, we may never see the solution that could be right there in front of us. When Peter cried out because he was sinking, there was hand there ready to pull him up. Is life about the lack of hope we feel or the gift of hope in front of us? We need to keep thinking about that thing called hope and unpack that even further in our dialogue.

Pain, Suffering, and Hope

“Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance produces character; and character produces hope." (Romans 5:3-4)

100 years of misery. That’s what is being said this year about the Chicago Cubs as it is the 100 year anniversary of their last World Series Championship. 100 years is a long time. Think about the radical change of our country and the game of baseball over the last 100 years, but also the number of world events over that span as well. When they last won, Henry Ford was producing the first Ford Model T. Orville Wright was demonstrating the first “flying machine” , and we hadn’t seen a world war yet. I will say this just once: “this is the longest championship drought in modern sports history.” In fact the NFL, NHL, and NBA were not even in existence in 1908.

100 years, a couple of world wars, a cold war, a shifting in American culture, the creation of technology and plenty of cars and airplanes later ,Cub Fans remain faithful. To be a Cub fan also means you believe in curses. They have not been in a World Series since 1945, the year a Chicago tavern owner brought his Billy Goat to a world series game and he and his goat were denied entrance to the park and he in his anger stated, “Never again will the Cubs play in a World Series.” And we Cub fans believe it because of the black cat in 1969, the ground ball in 1984, Steve Bartman in 2003, and I am sure this article now will provide further jinxing upon the franchise I so dearly love. By the way, the Cubs name means a small bear, though many of you “other” fans believe it means (C.U.B.S) Completely Useless By September.

When Paul wrote to the community in his letter to the Romans, the doubt, the blame, the disconnection ran much deeper than any Cub Fan. Living at Ground zero of the world, at the vortex of political storms, situated as a lightening rod for everything that went wrong in the Roman Empire, these early Christians had every reason believe they were cursed, wondering why they could never experience hope or glory or if there was a way out of all of the evil done to them and wondering if they could ever ultimately triumph. Interesting enough, Scripture says hardly anything about winning. Jesus teaches us that loss is gain and being last means being first. St. Paul writes letter from prison emphasizing a life that gives glory to Jesus Christ over wins and losses.

I hardly find it a curse that my father made me a Cub fan or that I have instilled that in my children. Because suffering produces perseverance, perseverance produces character and character, hope. Wait til’ next year (the Cub motto) is perhaps the most positive expression of hope in sports. Life is not without disappointment. But hope helps us not only look to brighter days ahead, but to take joy in the life we live or the game we play day in and day out. That takes character, that takes hope.

Two Way Street

I used to hate one way streets. Galesburg, where I grew up (did you know that?), had two one way streets in the whole town. I just stayed away from that side of town. When my sister came to U of I in the late 1980's, I remember my dad getting frustrated with the the one-way streets around C-U. Sometimes one way streets are easier to live by.

When I first started preaching, I was approached by someone who did not like my preaching style because I did not tell her what to believe on the hot topics of our time. I told her that my job was to help her find the tools to discern her faith rather than just tell her what to believe. She disagreed. Her one way road moved on.

This past Sunday in fusion we dived into scripture to talk about heaven and earth. One of the interesting things we discerned is that Modern theology focuses our lives on getting to heaven when we die while scripture keeps telling us that God is coming to us. "See, the home of God is among mortals." "You are the Lord's Temple." "The Word became flesh and lived among us." We spend our lives trying to get to heaven for eternity, God is spending eternity trying to be at home here on earth with us.

Christian living is not one way. Christianity is not just about saving souls. Heaven is just not a place we go when we die. But Christianity is a life long process that includes living in a way that embraces God's realm now as heaven crashes into our earth more often than we think.

I think two way streets are much more difficult when I am trying to meet up with God. My concern is that I can be so focused on my agenda and my will and my direction (thinking that I am on my way to another world) that I will just pass God on God's way to meet me.

Give Me a Sign!

I need a sign, God! Have you ever said that? There is a great scene in Bruce Almighty where Jim Carey's character, in a moment of personal crisis, is driving down the road and beginning to offer up prayer for the first time in a long time. And he says, "just give me a sign God," as he is literally driving behind a Department of Transportation truck full of signs reading Stop, Yield, and Do Not Enter.

We have asked God for a sign when we are desperate for a sense of direction in our lives, whether it be in our careers or relationships. We have asked God for a sign when we were desperate to believe in Faith in the aftermath of a loss. We have asked God for a sign when we didn't know how to handle certain situations. Yet, I know there are times that we think God is sending us a sign. Yesterday, a wounded deer ended up outside our office windows and decided to rest under a tree on the front lawn of the church. A friend asked me if this was some kind of sign from God. Like what ... that Faith is a good place to die or that maybe this was the beginning of the end for my career (Oh My!). Could be?!?! Or it could be that the deer got hit on Prospect Avenue and stumbled over to our lawn.

Church "leaders" through the years have tried to interpret events as signs from God. The 1993 Mississippi flooding was interpreted as God's disapproval of riverboat gambling; Hurricane Katrina as God's wrath on New Orleans and the French Quarter; or the 9/11 events as a sign from God that America was full of sin. I guess this is where we start to feel that your God is not my God, because I can't imagine a God of love committing acts of such devastation upon life.

Interestingly enough, when the people prayed for a sign from God as they did throughout the Old Testament, God instead sent a Son. Flesh. Blood. Breathing. Living. And that Son, lived grace, love, peace. One of my favorite post modern theologians Leonard Sweet writes: "God's greatest sign, God's greatest miracle, isn't a symbol -- it's a person. Here is the work of God required of us all: are you in a believing, trusting, affirming relationship with this heaven-sent Son of Man, Jesus the Christ, the Son of God?"

God's sign is not found in a symbol of a dying deer or a hurricane of devastation or a mistake someone makes towards you .... it is found in a relationship of peace and grace.