Playfully Irreverent

A couple months ago I was reading the collected writings of Mike Yaconelli. It's a fantastic, yet easy must read that reminds me why I loved this guy and why he's one of the few people that I look to as one of my personal heroes, despite the fact that I never got to meet him face to face (and I never seem to be able to spell his last name correctly). There are many people I have and do admire, but very few that I actually see as a personal hero. I think even my closest friends would be surprised who's not on the list while Yac is. If you aren't familiar with him, he had clarity and passion for his faith and life, the skills to start an organization like Youth Specialties, and yet the spiritual maturity and humility to be able to pastor what he called the slowest growing church in the country. Each year I try to watch the only video of him that I have and I try to read one of his few books that aren't specifically about doing youth ministry.

As I was reading his collected writings I came across the phrase, "playfully irreverent." Playfully irreverent, that described Yac and it used to describe me. Then I became a pastor and despite the fact that Jesus says we are supposed to be like children, Paul tells us to put away childish things. Evidently playful irreverence is one of those things, or at least the easily offended seem to think so. However I'm not so sure. Because when I see Yac I see someone who had clarity, who had a lot better handle on the things that really matter, and that playful irreverence seemed to let him take his faith seriously and at the same time cause less hurt that the seriously reverent folks I've come across.

So, maybe the childish things that need to be put away are actually pride, ego, the need to convince others that I'm right and force them to come around to my point of view, lack of emotional maturity to get beyond being easily offended, the need for others to like me and all the ways I hide who I really am in order to gain their favor, the fear of how offending someone will negatively impact my future (which is actually nothing less than a lack of faith in God) and the fear of criticism that forces me to hide my playful irreverence that kills faith, dwindles hope, keeps me from loving well. This fear steals joy and keeps us from experiencing God more fully.

So, playfully irreverent, I'm not as good at it as I used to be, but hopefully I'll be regaining that. It's not so much who I am as what I want to be.
Blog posts - not for the easily offended. Forgive me when I get too serious, I'm working on it.

Lent Parable 6: The Reward of a Good Life

Two brothers embraced faith together at an early age. One of the brothers took his commitment very seriously and wrestled diligently with the Scriptures. When he became a man he gave up all of his worldly possessions and went to live in the poorest and most dangerous area of the city. Many of his friends deserted him, and, because of his uncompromising dedication to the oppressed, he lost the one woman he truly loved, forsaking the possibility of marriage for the sake of his work.

the pain of this separation haunted him all his days. And because of the conditions in which he lived, he was frequently ill. When he died, no one was present, and only a handful of people showed up for his funeral.

In contrast, the other brother never took his faith seriously at all. As a man he became very settled, satisfied, and influential. He married the woman he loved, had many children, and lived in a beautiful home. As his satisfaction grew, his thoughts of God dissolved to nothing. He gave little to charity, unless it was prudent to do so for the sake of his reputation, and he paid little heed to those who suffered around him. After a long, happy, and successful life, he died in the arms of his loving wife with his children surrounding him.

In heaven God called the two brothers before him, embraced them both warmly, and to each gave an equal share of the kingdom.

As one might expect, the brother who had been faithful all his years was surprised-he had given up everything to live what turned out to be a torturous life of hardship.

However, his surprise was a joyous one. He turned to his brother, smiled deeply, and said, "Today my joy is finally complete, for we are together again. Come, let us break bread together." In response, his brother said nothing, but began to weep over the wasted life that he had led.

Unpacking Jesus and the Five Thousand

Last week's parable is one that is quite heavy. It is dependent upon twisting a particular moment in the life of Jesus on it's head in order to make a point. Like the others, it is not exploring doctrine as much as practice. It is not describing the life of Jesus, rather it is challenging us to live into the life of Jesus.

The story begins in very familiar fashion, weary, hungry people listening to Jesus teach. Food is needed, but all that can be scrounged is five loaves and two fish. Then Jesus sends the disciples out to find more. One expects, or at least I did, for them to find more food, and the point of the parable to be that the miraculous happens when we all make what we have available. And while this would be a wonderful twist to this parable, this is not the direction it takes, it is more poignant that that. Instead, masses of food are found, then Jesus and the disciples help themselves to a feast, exploiting the weary and their resources and leaving them hungry, with nothing.

Obviously, the shock of this story is the point, that is simply not what Jesus did, nor is it what Jesus would do. My opinion is that the author is making a critique concerning the western church. As I mentioned in an earlier post, followers represent the one they follow. This is part of the reason Paul calls the church the body of Christ. We represent Jesus. There are many who are extremely critical of the Church, especially in the west, in regards to our consumerism, our levels of consumption, and the ways in which we thrive on the backs of the poor. I personally am not so critical. I think that much of this happens unbeknownst to most of us, at least I know that has been the case for me. A couple of years ago I came across various statistics that really took me aback. Things such as the fact that the projection for what it would cost to end world hunger was actually less than the U.S. and Europe spent on ice cream that year, that most of the chocolate we consume comes from the ivory coast where children are stolen from their homes and forced to work in the cocoa fields. For the author, I believe, the shock of the parable lies in the fact that Jesus would never do such a thing and in the idea that this is exactly what he does, because this is what we, his followers, the body of Christ, do.

Now, before reacting, please realize a couple of things. I hate guilt driven religion. By and large it doesn't work. When our faith becomes about a list of things not to do it loses the beauty and life it should give. So, there is no list of things not to do coming. I personally am still trying to figure out what to do with all of this. However, the point for me is not, hey we should feel guilty about these things. For me the point is hope. There is brokenness in this world and we have the ability to do something about it. Our faith should not be about a list of things not to do, it should be about giving our lives to something larger than just ourselves, about putting flesh and blood on the prayer, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." For me it's about asking how can we move forward differently. How can I help to put and end to this stuff, what do I need to be throwing myself and the resources I've been blessed with into? The issues are thick, there's not simple, easy answers and I'm still bewildered by all of it.

If this is all new to you, let me offer a couple of introductory resources. Rob Bell explores this a bit in his nooma films Rich and Corner www.nooma.com and for more on the chocolate issue visit stop the traffik http://www.stopthetraffik.org/

Lent Parable 5: Jesus and the Five Thousand

Jesus withdrew privately by boat to a solitary place, but the crowds continued to follow him. Evening was now approaching and the people, many of whom had traveled a great distance, were growing hungry.

Seeing this, Jesus sent his disciples out to gather food, but all they could find were five loaves of bread and two fishes. Then Jesus asked that they go out again and gather up the provisions that the crowds had brought to sustain them in their travels. Once this was accomplished, a vast mountain of fish and bread stood before Jesus. Upon seeing this he directed the people to sit down on the grass.

Standing before the food and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks to god and broke the bread. then he passed the food among his twelve disciples. Jesus and his friends ate like kings in full view of the starving people. but what was truly amazing, what was miraculous about this meal, was that when they had finished the massive banquet there were not even enough crumbs left to fill a starving person's hand.

On Church

As I've reflected on my post from last Friday, I feel that I may need to do a little clarifying of what I am hoping as well as what I am not hoping to accomplish through this exercise. I might need to post a few words on church and my approach to it's past, present, and future.

Jesus once told a story about a man who was throwing a party. The man invited various people who for some reason or another didn't show. Then, so as to be able to throw the party since none of the invited guests came, the man proceeded to invite anyone and everyone (all those that did not make the initial invitation aka the rejects) from the area. He scrounged up anyone he could find that was willing to come. This among many things is a parable about the church.

Jesus' followers weren't the Pharisees and Sadducees, the religious who should have been following him. No, he called the working people, the ones who were not good enough to be rabbi's. In his parable about the church, it's the losers and rejects that get in. This is what explains why I am in. I'm not supposed to be in, according to the old way I shouldn't be accepted (I like bar-b-que too much), but Jesus' grace is bigger than that. It includes me. The problem is that this causes problems, because we all know that followers represent to non-followers who the person is they are following. I personally don't live up to that. I try, I strive, and hopefully I'm making progress, but as anyone who knows me can tell you, I'm definitely no Jesus. So, first off, I need to apologize because I'm part of the church, I'm what you're stuck with. In my opinion, anyone who claims to follow Jesus or calls themselves a Christian should have no superiority complex whatsoever, because according to the parable Jesus told, we shouldn't be in. We're only in because of grace.

But, if I'm in with all of my shortcomings, brokenness, and questions and the church is full of other people with shortcomings, brokenness', and struggles then this is going to make for a church full of issues. I realize there is more that I don't know than I do when it comes to this. But when it comes to this subject, the way I see it we've got several options.

First, we can become cynical. We can focus all our attention and energy on the negative, ignore the positive, and throw the baby out with the bath water. We can walk away from church and maybe even our faith. We can claim that religion has done nothing but produce fighting and war. We can become angry and bitter, less and less the type of person we want to become.
(I in no way want to become or produce cynics. My intentions with these parables is in no way to try and make people cynical or angry with any church. I have no wish to be a source of division, and no comments during any of my blogs are intended to reflect any local church, denomination, etc).

Another option is the opposite extreme. We can focus only on the good of the church, but completely ignore the bad, disavow the problems. There is this toxic thing in many "Christian" circles that tells us we have to have a super faith that we don't really have, that no matter what is going on in life we can't question God or be honest about what's really going on inside of us. It reminds me of Job's friends who have the easy answers and tell Job he can't question God (however in the end it's Job, the one who was honest and sincere, who challenged and questioned, he was the one that God honored). God is big enough to handle our questions, our doubts, our fears, our struggles, and our lack of faith. This super faith where we're supposed to convince people that everything is always alright with us regardless of circumstances bleeds over into the church. We feel like we have to pretend that the church is perfect and the answer to anyone's problems. But, I believe this is why when people ranging in age from the late teens to the early thirties were polled about the first words that come to mind when they hear the word Christianity at the top of the responses were judgmental and hypocritical (for more info see Kinnamen and Lyons book UnChristian). I believe that this sweep problems under the rug and pretend like they're not there, that everything is always awesome mentality is part of what is driving younger generations away from the church. Why? Because it's not honest and they see through it. In the end, it doesn't actually take us forward, it doesn't make us better. Things that lie inside of us are stuffed only to explode when we can no longer contain it. Because if we don't let it out in positive, constructive ways, it's still in there, and it will usually come out at the least opportune time in some of the most destructive ways. But, there is a third option.

The third option is what I call an honest, hopeful humility. This option does not say, hey there are all these problems with the church, so we all need to leave. It's not cynical. Neither does it pretend like those problems aren't there, it doesn't become oblivious. This approach has the humility to recognize that I am flawed and broken, but I am invited to be a part of this thing nonetheless. It recognizes that since I'm part of the church, the church is going to have some things that are messed up. I'm messed up. It's honest, it recognizes things that are wrong and apologizes (especially to those it has hurt or alienated). But, it also has faith that God is continuing to work in us, that God is continuing to take us somewhere. So, it not only recognizes the bad and apologizes, but it also celebrates the good, when the church rally's around it's hurting, all the good ways it is making the world more what God longs for it to be, the orphanages and wells built, the starving fed, the healthcare provided in the third world (the list goes on further than I could type).
This approach is hopeful, because it doesn't simply see the flaws and walk away. Instead it recognizes the good and the bad. It celebrates and repents, and through the process moves forward, becomes better, helps more, hurts less. This, I believe is the direction this whole thing has been going over the course of human history and I have faith and hope that it is the direction we are continuing to move.

My intentions for this series are not to hurt the church in any way. Rather, it is to take part in the conversation of who we are and what we could be and in so doing honor the work of Jesus making all things new (including the church).

But, there is another danger. Even when having these conversations from the third point of view we can lose the plot. We can get so wrapped up in conversations about the church that we can begin to think that the church is the point. The church is not the point. Connecting with God, following in the ways of Jesus, and making the world more like God longs for it to be is the point. Praying and living out "thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" is the point. Love is the point. Because God is Love. And the great thing is, in the end Love Wins!

So, hopefully that helps give insight into my intentionality. Again, there may be better ways to look at it that are more constructive and helpful. If you disagree with me, I welcome the conversation. It seems like the more I learn the more I realize I have yet to learn. However, I do ask that you be respectful, not attack me, anyone else who makes comments, or any specific local church by name. In my experience that doesn't take anyone anywhere.

Lent Parable 4: Engaging in a game that no-one believes in

There was once a British army base located in a tiny town in rural Northern Ireland. The story goes that each time a new battalion of soldiers arrived to do their tour of duty one of the resident Officers would show them a trick that could be played on the hapless locals.

When the latest group of soldiers arrived the Officer brought them down to the local pub for a drink. When they were settled he got out an old twenty pound note and a one pound coin. As the soldiers watched he crumpled up the twenty pound note and polished the pound coin before placing them on the table. Once he had done this he then scanned the bar for one of the oldest and drunkest men in the place, and called him over. When the local had settled himself the Officer said, ‘I want to give you one of these, but which would you prefer, this bright shiny coin or this old crumpled piece of paper’?

In response the old man picked up the coin, bit into it with his teeth and then exclaimed with delight, ‘I’ll take the shiny coin please”. The soldiers, of course, found this hilarious and started trying it with others. The foolishness of the Irish provided them with endless hours of entertainment.

However there also happened to be a tourist in the bar that night who watched what was taking place in disbelief. When the soldiers had left, she went up to some of the old men and exclaimed, ‘why on earth did you take the coin when you could have had the note? Do you not know that it is worth twenty times more’?

‘Of course we do’, replied one of the locals, ‘but if we took the note they would stop playing’.

Unpacking the Parables

If you’ve been reading the parables with me, thank you. I hope you are enjoying them as much as me. I have chosen the parables I have used quite intentionally, and they are about to shift.

The previous parables tell of individuals who have missed the point. The good hearted person who with the best of intentions has immersed themselves in religious activities and even leadership and yet missed something along the way. Often, it is easier for those around us to see this in us than it is for us to see this in ourselves. We can get so busy doing stuff for God, that we can miss God. We can miss the change that God wants to bring about in us and the world can miss the change God wants to bring about through us, because what we achieve inwardly will change outward reality. These parables ask us questions such as, are we seeking God simply for the sake of seeking God or are we seeking God simply for what could be done for us?

But, the issue isn’t simply one of the individual. The church plays a role. In the previously posted parables for me at least the movement is one from where it first raises questions about the individual (the main character, or namely me) but then radiates out to the larger issues. The next series of parables do exactly the opposite, at least for me. They question the systems and structures first, then raise questions about the individual.

For me this is an exercise in re-imagining what a community of faith could be. What would a community of faith look like that had the ability to churn out people who would be convicted, choose God and hell over satan and heaven, and that had somehow found a way to keep people from using their religious activities in order to make them feel good enough about themselves that they can go on living into the systems and ways that further the brokenness of this world rather than help repair it? How do we avoid the regular pitfalls that can commonly come with church as usual?

I don’t think there is a magic bullet answer, but rather a process to work through. I hope that these parables are helping you work through a process as they are doing for me. I hope that you have enjoyed the ones thus far and that you will enjoy the ones yet to come.

Lent Parable 3: Finding Faith

There was once a fiery preacher who possessed a powerful but unusual gift. He found that, from an early age, when he prayed for individuals, they would supernaturally lose all of their religious convictions. they would invariably lose all of their beliefs about the prophets, the sacred Scriptures, and even God. So he learned not to pray for people but instead limited himself to preaching inspiring sermons and doing good works.
However, one day while traveling across the country, the preacher found himself in conversation with a businessman who happened to be going in the same direction. This businessman was a very powerful and ruthless merchant banker, one who was honored by his colleagues and respected by his adversaries.
Their conversation began because the businessman, possessing a deep, abiding faith, had noticed the preacher reading from the Bible. He introduced himself to the preacher and they began to talk. As they chatted together this powerful man told the preacher all about his faith in God and his love of Christ. He spoke of how his work did not really define who he was but was simply what he had to do.
"The world of business is a cold one," he confided to the preacher, "and in my line of work I find myself in situations that challenge my Christian convictions. But I try, as much as possible, to remain true to my faith. Indeed, I attend a local church every Sunday, participate in prayer circle, engage in some youth work, and contribute to a weekly Bible study. These activities help to remind me of who I really am."
After listening carefully to the businessman's story, the preacher began to realize the purpose of his unseemly gift. So he turned to the businessman and said, "Would you allow me to pray a blessing into your life?"
The businessman readily agreed, unaware of what would happen. Sure enough, after the preacher had muttered a simple prayer, the man opened his eye in astonishment.
"What a fool I have been for all these years!" he proclaimed. "It is clear to me now that there is no God above, who is looking out for me, and that there are no sacred texts to guide me, and there is no Spirit to inspire and protect me."
As they parted company the businessman, still confused by what had taken place, returned home. But now that he no longer had any religious beliefs, he began to find it increasingly difficult to continue in his line of work. Faced with the fact that he was now just a hard-nosed businessman working in a corrupt system, rather than a man of God, he began to despise his activity. Within months he had a breakdown, and soon afterward gave up his line of work completely. Feeling better about himself, he then went on to give to the poor all the riches he had accumulated and began to use his considerable managerial expertise to challenge the very system he once participated in, and to help those who had been oppressed by it.
One day, many years later, he happened upon the preacher again while walking through town. He ran over, fell at the preacher's feet, and began to weep with joy. Eventually he looked up at the preacher and smiled, "Thank you, my dear friend, for helping me discover my faith."