My last post was about how much I was enjoying N.T. Wright’s book: “The Challenge of Jesus”. In the book Wright gives a view of Jesus as being completely human, a Jesus never truly realizing his God-ness until the Resurrection. Wright portrays Jesus’ time in the gardens of Gethsemane in such a vivid human context as to mirror our own pain and suffering, so that I truly felt closer to Jesus. I have had this sense of utter uncertainty, utter desperation and desolation… and while I have never confronted anything like what Jesus was going to confront later that day… but thinking of him as “just a man”, “just like one of us” allows me to [ touch ] what it must have felt to be like Jesus.

So I finished reading the book. There were many more insights and wonderful things to ponder in the book, but more processing must ensue.

So what to read next?

When Suzy and I taught Disciple, I purchased nearly the entire set of William Barclay’s commentaries on the New Testament for use in the course. Recently digging through our moving mess I stumbled upon the two volume set of “The Gospel of John”. I needed no other encouragement to jump into the reading of this wonderful gospel commentary.

As I was reading Barclay’s preface, I came across this section regarding the omniscience of Jesus:

“It is John’s view that apparently miraculously Jesus knew the past record of the woman of Samaria (4:16-17): apparently without anyone telling him, he knew how long the man beside the healing pool had been ill (5:6) before he asked it… John saw in Jesus one who had a special and miraculous knowledge independent of anything which he might be told.”

If Jesus already knew what to a human, was unknowable, then wasn’t Jesus always a God in human form?

And Jesus would never be accused of being ignorant of his gift, so doesn’t it make sense that Jesus always knew he was God?

Thinking of Jesus as wholly and truly human, a man, not unlike me, helps me want to be more like Him. And in his human-ness, even though He was without sin, gives me hope that my life will have meaning and importance in furthering the Glory of God.

Thinking of Jesus as God ties me to changing the way I live my life, for as C. S. Lewis says (and I paraphrase): “Once you understand, you live your life in a new way, for the first faint gleam of heaven is inside of you.”

God wants to tie us to Him through the human-ness of Jesus Christ. Though He was a king, Jesus showed us how to love and how deeply the pain in our lives affects Him.

So as I spin myself in the multiple permutations of “Jesus was truly just a man”, “Jesus was God… and on and on, I realize that this is unknowable to begin with since it was 2000 years ago.

And then I realize that during the seeking, during the attempt to understand, during the yearning to know, heaven had crept up inside of me. The unknowable and the un-understandable gave way to faith and belief.

To strive to know leads to no certainty, but a renewed strength of purpose to live my life in order to know, at my ultimate call, that I have done all that I can do to live with heaven inside of me. And, to direct my steps toward the eternal and to the everlasting toward ultimate understanding and rest.

RMC #40 - What if God was one of us? Just a stranger on a bus.

Do you ever think of Jesus as a man?

I can truthfully say I never did. What Jesus had to say to us was so perfect, it could only be God speaking through him, the God incarnate, brought to earth.

If he were human, how do you explain the miracles he performed? Oh and please ignore the fact that he sent out his disciples to teach and that they performed many miracles while they were on the road…

So can we mere men perform miracles?

I don’t know that anymore than I have seen profound changes in people once they believe. Is that the same thing?

So many questions…

What brought this on is a book I am finishing up by N.T. Wright called the “Challenge of Jesus”.

Reverend Smith gave me this book to read. He has been giving me ever more challenging readings. I asked for it actually.

What Wright does is approach Jesus historically. As in “What was Jesus like in 1^st century Israel?” And for the first time in my readings he frames Jesus as a true human.

When you “see” Jesus, not as a God, but as human, how more real are his tears at Gethsemane? Think of the time you have approached your greatest fear. How deep did the hurt or shame engulf you? How deep were the tears? Did you ever feel like you were crying inside out, that the more you cried and anguished, the more you were being emptied.

Now… think of Jesus, as a man, knowing that all of his actions were bound to lead him to the worst of punishments from a society that knew all about “taking care” of malcontents and troublemakers. Jesus, the 1^st century man, knew what was in store- scourging, whippings, deceit, spittings and being hung and left to die on the cross.

Could you do it, endure what Jesus was bound to endure, in the belief and the hope that what you were to do could change the world?

I wish I were that kind of man. Knowing me I know how far I am from that capability.

Jesus knew what he was trying to do as no human has ever known, He knew how much value his life would have in the future, to all of mankind. Jesus was to be all of the former prophets and messiahs come together in one God fulfilling moment.

Wright says in his book:

“In Jesus himself, I suggest, we see the biblical portrait of YHWH come to life: the loving God, rolling up his sleeves (Isaiah 52:10) to do in person the job that no one else could do: the creator God, giving new life; the God who works through his created world and supremely through his human creatures: the faithful God, dwelling in the midst of his people: the stern and tender God, relentlessly opposed to all destroys or distorts the good creation and especially human beings, but recklessly loving all those in need and distress. “He shall feed his flock like a shepherd; he shall carry the lambs in his arms: and gently lead those that are with young” (Isaiah 40:11). It is the Old Testament portrait of YHWH, but it fits Jesus like a glove”.

So if we follow what Wright is saying, how can we reflect God’s glory more than by believing in Jesus, the man, the risen man seated at the right hand of God. And now that we learn that Jesus may have been just like you and me, and that knowing that we can act even more closely like Jesus than we have ever believed.

We can change.

We can love more.

We can give more.

We can forgive more.

What if Jesus was one of us?

I know he is. I saw him one morning.

He was on crutches, dirty, and he was standing on a street corner with a cardboard sign asking for money.

I drove by in my nice new shiny car.

Something struck my heart as I drove by this man in my plenty. Why couldn’t I give something to help? The stop I had planned was rushed. I hurried back to his corner to make amends and give him whatever I could give.

And of course… he was gone. It had only been a few minutes, but he was gone.

We can change.

I haven’t driven by many corners since my encounter with Jesus without giving to the people there who are simply trying to survive in a world without enough love.

I started thinking one morning about being in God’s will. Here it is we say: “Thy will be done.”, yet since everything is all and all in God isn’t His will always done?

I started thinking about this as I struggled with a question in my life. It had turned into an anxiety. I worried.

I know the belief in Jesus means I am not to worry, but I did and I do.

One of my favorite things to say to myself when I am worrying is:

“Be not anxious, but in all things trust in the Lord.”

But still I worry. Is this bad? Or, is this just my human-ness?

So here I am struggling with some human worry, not able to sleep or not able to not worry about what is to happen. When I reach the point I am spinning around in indecision, frustration and conflict. When I get to that point I will say to God: “Thy will be done.”

But what I think I really say is “I surrender to you.” I can’t figure this particular problem (one in a long string of problems) out by myself. So I give up, I turn it over to His will.

For I know deep in my soul that God’s solution is always better than my own. My “ego” tries to intervene, but deep inside, in the quiet part of my soul that always knows right from wrong, there is no hesitancy. I accept I can’t do it. I surrender.

And I always find out that I am better off when I do so. Surrender may seem difficult at first, but in seeing the results of the conscious effort of surrender, the active choice of surrender, I can tell you that the results of allowing God to take over my life have produced far better results that anything I can do.

I can tell you an example that happened just this week. I had a really wonderful client, someone I wanted to do a really good job for. Initially the client requested a designer of their choice to work with me on the project. We did not come to an agreement on the direction and procedure for completing the project. It was not that he was a bad designer or that it was his fault, we were just different. He resigned from working with me. So I went and got my normal designer to do some samples. I submitted them to the client, they seemed happy with the result. Then I didn’t hear from them for almost 10 days. I started worrying… and worrying… and worrying.

I don’t know that I did anything, but somewhere along the way, I stopped worrying. I gave in to whatever would happen.

Last week they emailed me. It was a simple miscommunication on their part. We got everything straightened out and are proceeding with the project, full steam ahead.

So I think it’s more about surrender.

And I love that word, since it is so hard for this human to do. For that matter I think it is hard for every human to do.

The human thoughts of surrender mean defeat.

The Godly version, I believe, is the recognition of our inability to control life to exercise any control over or future, and that surrender to God actually is required to produce victory. For God is always victorious. He can not lose anything that is always His, so our surrender allows Him to help us… in spite of our human selves. 

This life lesson was also brought clearer to me when the sermon today at the Vail Church revolved around John 6:22-71.

In these verses Jesus confronts the Jews at the Temple at Capernaum. In his discussions he talks about being the bread of life. It is an extremely challenging verse made only slightly easier since we have experienced through Scripture the Last Supper and the Resurrection of Jesus, so that we have a historic perspective of a reality the Jews of the time did not have the ability to understand or see.

But in these verses, for this writing in particular, Jesus says in verse 65:

65 “He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him.”

As I heard this, I wrote the following in my sermon guide:

“Even though we may be enabled, we may still choose the life that leads to death.”

We may choose to follow our own advice, we may choose to listen to the voice of the world, and when we do we fail. We may have been enabled, but we have only been enabled to follow God, to listen to Him and to pray that His will is shown to us that we may follow.

For I am convinced that when we follow God our life is enriched beyond our own ability to envision the wonder of what is to come when we do so.

RMC #38- FUMCR Cross

When I first started going to The Vail Church I never noticed the cross in the church. I remember thinking that one morning as I drove to Avon to join in the Men’s Bible Study being held early each Wednesday.

So as I drove on this cool fall morning in Colorado I was caught by surprise of my memory of the cross that hung in the main church at First United Methodist Richardson (FUMCR).

It was about 3 years ago as FUMCR was just finishing up its new campus. The old cross that had hung in the sanctuary ever since that building was constructed was going to be moved to a place of prominence in the new church. The new church was far bigger than the old one and the scale of the old cross did not lend itself to the size of the new sanctuary. But the cross was being lovingly taken down and carried the few blocks and was being placed in an honorable and beautiful place in the new church.

One night Suzy and I were at the church, probably working on my favorite event the “Cookie Caper”. This was where the members of the church would bake 12 dozen batches of cookies, each, then have a cookie sale. Essentially buying their own cookies back. That year we would sell $7,000 worth of cookies. And since I love cookies this was a true labor of love for me.

Anyway, Joy Anderson, our totally fearless leader said that the workmen had just taken down the cross and would we like to see it up close and bless it before they moved it to the new church. We all said of course we would do so.

So we all bounded in the short distance to the sanctuary where this old rugged wooden cross lay silently on the ground.

I can barely even write this now even 3 years plus later.

The cross was alive.

I could barely move toward it I was struck with so much awe.

How many joys and tears had this wood absorbed in the years it hung so reverently above our heads? How many people were struck by the simplicity of the statement of this cross. How many people remembered the Son who had been placed on pieces of crossed wood not unlike this.

I remember saying a blessing through my tears.

I also remember there was an inscription on the cross, but couldn’t remember what it said. I remember it had been inscribed on the cross as almost a mistake. I couldn’t quite remember the story so I wrote my good friend Ed Murray to see if he remembered the story. He remembered something about it, but emailed Joy since he knew she would know.

Ed sent this back:

“The scripture on the cross is: “Father, forgive them. . . “

Bob Middlebrooks, Senior Minister at the time, was just thinking about what quote to put on the cross and wrote down that, intending for the message to include the entire quote, not just part of it, but whoever was in charge of getting the cross made took his scrap of paper and put that on the cross instead of the whole quote. 

Nothing mysterious or mystical about it.”

Nothing mysterious or mystical about it.

But then I am beginning to believe that everything is mysterious and mystical.

And magical.

I actually didn’t find the cross at The Vail Church the first time I looked that morning. I was after I had received back Ed’s response that I was actually able to see it. The cross at the Vail Church is a simple wooden cross, hung high in the chapel. It is very beautiful.

RMC # 37- The Importance of Glory

Sometimes the obvious is not so obvious to we humans. Or, at least not to this human.

My “understanding” and importance of glory really began when I read C.S. Lewis’ sermon called “The Weight of Glory” about a year ago. I thought that an odd title. It’s as if glory had a negative. As if glory weighs on men. That didn’t seem right. glory seemed more like an uplifting a goal of men and women.

Lewis said much about glory, but in the end, for me, it came down to a fairly simple thought:

“For glory means good report with God, acceptance by God, response, acknowledgment, and welcome into the heart of things. The door on which we have been knocking all of our lives will open at last.”

He goes on and discussed the divine accolade when we are before God and He says to you or me: “Well done thou good and faithful servant.”

So to Lewis, and to my mind at that time, glory meant to be accepted by God… an altogether overwhelming thought for me. “I can only imagine…” to borrow a phrase from one of my favorite songs of the same title by Mercy Me.

I was then led by a wise man into another reading. It was a book written by John Piper which including the writing of Jonathan Edwards. The Piper book is called “God’s Passion for his Glory” and the complete version of Edwards writing was “The End for Which God Created the World”.

Yep, some more lightweight reading for the Durkster.

Piper writes of his discovery of the writings of Edwards who was a famous pastor and writer in the early days of the American colonies. He wrote this particular book in the 1760’s. Its importance is still felt today.

The book was written in an era I have little affinity for. To say it was difficult and unusual for a 21^st century reader was obvious from the get go even with Piper’s impassioned lead-in.

But in his writing Edwards would stack argument on top of argument saying over and over how glory was the virtually sole reason of God. His Glory.

I hung in there as a long as I could trying to figure out where all of this groundwork was leading to.

And to my astonishment it leads directly to Scripture: Old Testament and New Testament Scripture.

Over and over and over in scriptural examples, Edwards showed how important Glory was to God.

In legal terms Edwards was delivering a “preponderance of evidence” that God’s sole reason for helping His creatures (you and me) was for His Glory.

As I read these familiar scriptural passages in a new light I saw over and over again what Edwards was getting at, in his words:

“There are many reasons to think that God has in view, in an increasing communication of himself through eternity, is an increasing knowledge of God, to love him, and joy in him. And it is to be considered that the more those divine communications increase in the creature (you and me- my parentheses), the more it (us- my parentheses) becomes one with God; for so much more is it (us) is united to God in love, the heart is drawn nearer and nearer to God, and the union with him becomes more firm and close, and at the same time, the creature (you and me) becomes more and more conformed to God. The image is more and more perfect, and so the good that is in the creature (us) comes nearer and nearer to an identity with that which is in God. In the view therefore of God, who has a comprehensive prospect of the increasing union and conformity through eternity, it must be an infinitely strict and perfect nearness, conformity and oneness. For it will forever come nearer and nearer to the strictness and perfection of union which there is between the Father and the Son.”

The Glory of the Father is best realized when you and I become as close to Him as he is to his Son.

Then Edwards says:

“God is their good. Their excellency and happiness is nothing but the emanation and expression of God’s glory.”

So the next time you read the Bible, look to see how many times the word “glory” is used. It is the clue to God we must not miss.

God Bless You to the Glory of God and His Son.

Ron and Brenda were some of our favorite friends when we lived in Dallas. They actually left before we did and we have not been able to see them other than a night in St.Louis before a golf tournament. That was way fun! Anyway, they have since moved to southern California and you know what has been happening there this week. Please read this moving account from Brenda and keep them in your prayers!

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Ron and I awakened to a second dawn of sobering gratitude for our continued safety from the fires raging in three directions around us.  You asked if we are safe and doing ok, and my answer is a heartfelt “more than ok”, we are blessed, because we still have power and water and are able to live at home.

We began to hear fire engines racing and helicopters buzzing early Sunday night. The swirling winds were blowing with gusts up to 70-100 miles per hour from the Santa Ana Mountains. The humidity level was a mere 3%, with a record-low annual rainfall of less than 4 inches, so the thousands of acres of dry tinder were easily fueled with a mere spark.

By 2am Monday, the winds were high, and the stench of burning trees and homes were so strong we closed our windows to try to shut it out. We tried to rest, but the intense smoky air was a constant reminder of the helplessness of damage and losses occurring. We offered silent prayers for those lives affected in much worse ways than simply dealing with smoke fumes.

5am passed, (after a sleepless night), as we watched the sun attempt to force its way through the corpse-like-grey rain of ashes blanketing the air. We began to watch and read the tragic news about our neighboring towns evacuating for the safety of their lives.

As you probably know by now, Ron and I live in southern Orange County; equal distance between Los Angeles and San Diego, and approximately five miles inland from the Pacific coast. San Diego county, approximately 30 miles south had mandatory evacuations of more than 300,00 people, and neighborhoods ranging from low income homes to $10 million+ homes have been leveled to nothing more than embers. To our north in Malibu, known for its “paradise of homes to the famed” destruction falls at the same pace as neighborhoods with less fortunate financial status. To the east of us, in Orange County through the canyons are many newly developed neighborhoods with young families displaced by the inferno. We witnessed the effects of Mother Nature’s powerful control over our lives without judgment of age, gender, race or faith; and without regard to one’s station in life.

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The Blessings I Have Received from the Churches I have Attended

I started to think about my spiritual journey over my life and was struck by a thought… how fortunate I had been in belonging to two churches that have been and are now being lead by really great Christian examples. The “pastors” of these two churches have blessed me, enlarged my faith, challenged me to learn and have comforted me in wonderful ways.

The Intellectual

I began going to the First United Methodist Church in Richardson, Texas shortly after moving to Richardson about 15 years ago. Keaton was in first grade and Sarah must have been about 3-4 years old. We went for the kids, and thankfully God was there waiting to help me too.

It would be another 5 years before I stood up for Jesus, but the time spent at FUMCR was far from a spiritual loss for this sinner. I was baptized in the church along with the kids. My heart felt awful at this time in my life as I knew how troubled I was personally and how far away I felt from God. Over time, as I went to more and more sermons given by my first “pastor” - David Shawver - God began to reach me as I was entranced by his sermons. The sermons appealed to me on an intellectual level that I had never experienced before. I started to understand the reasons why God worked and could work in my life. I was being drawn into God without my asking for it or understanding even the most basic of reasons.

After I came to Christ, got divorced and Suzy began to go to church with me, she too was taken by David’s sermons. But most of all she was taken in by his kindness to her and his unconditional acceptance of both of us into the church. For that and the encouragement of other members of FUMCR we became dedicated to working in the church wherever and whenever we could.

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At church Sunday at the Vail Church we had testimony from a young women who had gone through these kind of trials. It is only apt that I should receive this from one of my Choices buddies- Sandy Valenzuela. Thank you for sharing this with me.

“If the mountain was smooth you couldn’t climb it.”

For people who have been moved to tears by hearing Amazing Grace, then you should get some tissues ready.

Have I said yet, or told you that Suzy always knows what’s best for me? Sometimes in unimaginable ways.

My nephew Scott was being married in St. Louis. I was invited. I had been fussing about whether or not to go. The cost to fly from Denver to St. Louis, the drive down the mountain, the time off from my busy work schedule… and on and on.

Of course I wanted to go be at Scott’s wedding. I had heard wonderful tings about Scott’s betrothed: Denise (confirmed), how charming her family was (confirmed), how big her family was (conformed) and how much fun the day was going to be (it was).

I was able to spend time with my mother (I danced with her), my two sisters Cathy and Patty (Scott’s mother), my two nephews Scott and Michael and my two nieces Katie and Jenny. All grand and glorious events.

What I didn’t expect was to meet Val.

Val is a long time friend of my sister Patty’s. I have been praying for Val off and on for 5 years. Val made it to Scott’s wedding only a few days after having surgery to have a brain tumor removed. This was the second or third occurrence of cancer in the preceding 5 years. Val is a small woman with a smile and an attitude that fills any room she is in with her goodness. I sat next to her at the church and at dinner. She was so kind and generous, even laughing at my silly attempts to get her 10 year old daughter Reed to laugh (something about trying to convince Reed during the wedding ceremony that the backlit case to the right of the altar was a popcorn machine, and that they would be serving soon… well you had to be there).

So an hour at the church and a couple of hours at dinner, I sat beside her eating my humble pie.

I didn’t know what to say to her. I wish I could have said something of comfort to her… anything. I had nothing. I didn’t even think until the very moment of writing this to ask God for something to say to her.

So now I will write it.

Val I will pray for you. I will keep you and your family in my prayers for as long as I have breath. I do know that my prayers will abide in you as the Holy Spirit abides in me and that my in-eloquence will be changed to eloquence.