I happened upon a blog the other day where the author’s theme was, I’ll sum it up, “Lent, and celebrations like it, are the reason for American Christianity’s ineffectiveness.”  I found all sorts of things I wanted to say to the blogger, none of which I will share.  Instead I wrote the briefest story about the man, and am offering it to you today…

So It Goes…

read the story

It’s Thursday.  Maundy Thursday.  Maundy is from a Latin word meaning “mandate.”  Something about the celebration of this particular day is mandatory.

The footwashing.  what else is mandatory?

Recently I was having lunch with a couple of friends.  Conveniently, it was cold, so I was able to keep my cell phone in my coat pocket.  I say “conveniently” because my phone weighs about 3 pounds and is about the size of an encyclopedia.  Unfortunately it rang.  When I had wedged it out of my coat pocket and rested it upon my shoulder, one of my kinder friends (he happens to be a bit extroverted, by that I mean he requires constant public attention, a trait for which I love the man) blurts out into the restaurant, “What in the hell is that?” click your bleeding iPhone to continue

god in times of economic crises…

(Idealistic Satire warning…)

Let’s start in the beginning.  In the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth, and then he said it was good.  Throughout history, all cultures have had some kind of god.  Farmers farmed.  Hunters hunted.  Gatherers gathered.  The success of or failure of these endeavors were largely pinned on a god or a collection of thereof.  pick a god, keep reading

As I do not currently have an official job, the idea of  being “too busy” is both fantasy and reality.  I mean, I’m plenty busy; I have a couple little jobs, lots of responsibilities and some ideas that I’m pursuing.  Having no job is a very interesting experience.  It makes everything seem like work.  This surely isn’t something that I imagined to be true before I landed on the downside of our economic situation.  So I guess I am saying that I wish I were busier in a certain respect.

On the other hand, being without a job forces one to find out who they really are.  You cannot hide behind a title.  It was easy to describe the purpose of my life when I was being paid to pastor people.  Ryan = pastor.  I think men probably wrestle with this “identity = job” thing more so than women, but I may be wrong.

Here’s what I’ve learned through this time: Ryan = pastor, it’s true.  Not because I have a job, but the thing that I can’t stop doing is moving people toward the cross.  Pastor is probably the wrong word.  Most of them are warm and fuzzy.  I’m kind of prickly.  Most pastors attempt to make people feel better about themselves, while I find that method often ineffective.  I’ll attempt to explain.

There is a certain false safety that exists when we attempt to move ourselves toward God.  It feels good, but that idea begins with self as the key component.  God, at Jesus’ baptism in Mark’s Gospel, is described as “tearing” (schizo – Greek) through the heavens.  God interrupts.  Someone described it as all heaven breaking loose.  Rather than beginning with self, we must start with a bigger, truer, longer existing reality, who happens to be here whether we like it or not.  Thereby God is the key component, who simply extends an opportunity for humans to be grateful.  We call this gratefulness – worship.

A motivational poster says, “Character is who you are when no one’s looking.”  It could say, “when no one is paying you.”  As the “too busy” week comes to a close, I hope you’ve discovered something about the nature of God and how you relate to him apart from your accomplishments.

Sorry for the personal nature of this post.  I thought it might help someone out there in reader land.  I will post on this week’s topic later in the day.

Grace.

There are some daylilies jamming their way through the final layer of the Earth’s crust in my backyard.  I once heard some advice that asked me to – “Consider them.”  So I did.

These are some of the things I was told I must consider: consider reading the whole post…

Who do you say that I am?

“Who do you say that I am?”  It’s a great question.  This famous Biblical exchange between Jesus and Peter is cited as the birth of the church by some, the installation of the first Pope by others.  I don’t think Jesus was fishing for a compliment.  Regardless, Peter’s answer seems to excite Jesus’ sense of enthusiasm, like a teacher whose class has just advanced miraculously into the next area of study.

Though this question is asked by and about the Messiah, I wonder what might have happened had Peter answered and then asked back, “Okay, now who do you say that I am?”  Maybe Jesus discover who you really are; keep reading.