The Incarnation is not Moderately Important

In these weeks of Christmas we are studying together the doctrine of incarnation and it's implications on how we live and how we see life.  I can't emphasize strongly enough how important it is for us to nail this.  It is important for us to have it clearly in our hearts and as parents to get this right with our kids.  In the face of so much cultural pressure to secularize the holiday, it is left to us, the church and parents, to bring to bear the most important elements of the season.  We could look at it as some do as a big negative and rail about the "santaizing" of Jesus' birth.  But I choose to see it as a positive and a fantastic opportunity.  But we have to get it right.

So for the Sundays of advent we will be all over this doctrine.  This coming Sunday I will deal with the aspect of the incarnation that has to do with the assault of Jesus on a world that finds it hard to receive Him.  Jesus birth was surrounded in controversy and trouble.  I think this is emblematic of how Christianity comes into the world.   C.S. Lewis has said that the one thing Christianity cannot be is moderately important.  People did not have a casual view of Jesus.  They either ran from Him, wanted to kill Him or bowed down before Him.  People who truly knew who He was did not think of Him in a casual way.  This was true of His birth and it is just as true of those who honestly analyze their views of Him.   In other words, the fact of His incarnation will inevitably evoke a passionate response.  People who think of this doctrine in a casual, cavalier way just flat out don't get it.

The word "incarnation" means "embodied in the flesh".  It is the teaching that Jesus is the embodiment of God Himself.  This is one of the most controversial, hardest to swallow teachings in the Christian faith.  It is also one of the most crucial to embrace.   It is why the most important image our children should get at Christmas is not Rudolf or Santa but that the tiny baby in the manger is God Himself.  God in the flesh.

I remember years ago a lively discussion I had with an Imam in a Middle Eastern village over this very issue.   For him this was the most important stumbling block for Christianity- the belief that God Himself could become a man.  I asked him the question, "Do you believe God can do anything?  That God is all powerful and nothing is beyond His ability?"  Of course his answer was yes.  I said "That's exactly what we Christians believe and therefore we believe that not only could God do this, but that it is the most important truth of our existence and the central fact of scripture."

I was struck not just by his disagreement with this but how he was insulted by it.  It was another reminder to me that when we truly embrace the doctrines, they are not just subtle truths we live with as we go on our merry way,  they are truths that evoke controversy and resistance and inevitably radically impact the meaning of our lives.  They are not moderately important- they are of ultimate importance!

The One Whom Jesus Loves

This morning in my quiet time I was reading the familiar passage in John 13 in which Jesus reveals to his disciples at the Last Supper that one of them will betray Him.  I've read the passage thousands of times but today these words affected me like never before,

"... one of them, the one whom Jesus loved..."

Of course this was the way John identified himself in the story without actually saying his own name.   But what struck me today as I meditated on this passage was that John's habit of identifying himself this way was more than just literary subtlety, it also displays a kind of profound spiritual discipline.  One of the most important lessons of the gospel is that Christ's love for us profoundly changes the way we live and even the way we see ourselves.  So John's identifier was much more than literary style, it was a kind of self awareness that all of us as Christ followers should possess.  Having embraced the gospel, we should all write ourselves into the story as "the one whom Jesus loved".  

When I look into my own heart I can see that the biggest issues I struggle with are the result of not seeing and understanding His love properly.  When I embrace the reality of His grace I no longer have to prove myself.  When I see His love in this way all of my worry and despair becomes unreasonable.  It is the awareness of His love that answers all my insecurities.   When I see that the God of the universe was willing to die for me I am made aware of my worth in ways that affect me profoundly.  He is the treasure I look for in all other treasure.  He is the joy I seek in all other joys.  He is the love the heart longs for in all other loves.  So when I am able to see myself in the story as "the one whom Jesus loves" it doesn't matter what else is written in the script- whether it be suffering, sadness, frustration or betrayal- because ultimately I know I am loved with an eternal love.  I am the one whom Jesus loves.

Called Out

This week I've been at our IMB meeting in Greensboro NC and wanted to share some thoughts I've had in reflecting on the call to missions:

1.  We say it so much it's become a cliche- but we are all called.  The longer I'm a Christian the more I'm convinced the call of God goes out to all of us- and the closer we are to the heart of God the more we are impacted by that incessant, persistent infinitely important call.  In my 5 years on the IMB board I've heard hundreds of testimonies from young men and women who have responded to the call to missions.   What they all have in common it seems to  me is that the bigger God became to their hearts, the more they believe Him for big things.   God's call is on all of us, and the closer we get to His purposes, the more we feel the weight of that call, no matter where it might lead.

2.  To be at the center of His will is not necessarily the safest place to be.  I hear people say it all the time- "the safest place you can be is at the center of His will." Where does one find that in scripture?  Was that true of Moses?  Of Abraham?  Of David?  Of Peter?  Of Paul?  Of Steven?  Of Jesus?   God hasn't called us to live safe lives, He has called us to live obedient lives.  Sometimes to obey Him is to go to places and serve in ways that are way outside our comfort zones.  When our trustees at the IMB meet with our new missionaries before they are sent out on the field, we ask them how we can pray.  Inevitably some of the biggest prayer needs revolve around parents and family members who are struggling with their decision to go on the field.  It isn't just the fact that so many of these young families are going out of the country away from families and friends, it is more often where they are going and the fact that they are in many cases living in places that are breathtakingly unstable and even dangerous.

3.  In my experience the people who are fully engaged with the call of God on their lives are the most joyful and fulfilled in spite of whatever perceived hardship they experience along the way.   I'm not saying there are no unhappy missionaries- as there are many who are miserable.  I am not saying that God's work is always happy work and God's servants are always happy people.  I'm saying that in my years of experience in ministry I have noticed that the people who give their lives away are the happiest people I know.   Don't misunderstand what I'm saying.  I'm not saying all Christians are living the dream.  Admittedly there are many pretenders who are miserable.  There are many people who are living unsustainably incongruent and unhappy lives within the Christian orbit.   But the people I know who are truly committed to His will and are letting go of their idols and are focused on His grace and goodness are on the whole much happier people.  It is not that they don't suffer or are not living in hardship- but I agree with John Piper who says that the missionary is the ultimate Christian hedonist.    There are many more happy givers than there are happy getters.

4.  The call is manifested differently on people's lives.  To some it means they will give their lives to go to a place where the gospel has not yet penetrated.  Yesterday I met a guy in his 20s who has spent the past few years on the mission field in South America.  He asked the board to reassign him some place else because he thought there were already too many Christians where he was serving.  He wanted to go some place where there was more darkness.  So the board is sending him to a place that is beyond the ends of the earth.  He is going to a place where once you get to the ends of the earth you have to keep going!  He sees his call as hard core trail blazing kingdom building.   There are many who are called to that kind of Kingdom work.  But others are called to serve where they are in compelling ways for the gospel.   Like the business guy in our church who has a vision for sending people into the field with the profits from his business.  Like the CEO in our church whose company has a vision for distributing Bibles around the world.  Like the couple in our church that is starting a ministry to troubled teens.  Like the retired school principle in our church who has started a homeless ministry.   They are all called.   The calling looks different for each of us but the closer we get to the heart of God the more we are compelled to do big things for His glory!

The Breath of God

Last Sunday in both of our worship services archaeologist Scott Carroll gave us a glimpse of some of  the most significant artifacts found within in the Green Collection, arguably the largest private collection of biblical artifacts in the world.

What an incredible blessing to be able to see up close and personal such significant biblical history.  Not many people in the world will ever have an opportunity to come face to face with seven thousand years of history including one of the oldest biblical manuscripts as we had last Sunday.  What a gift the Green Collection is to the Christian community.  I am praying that God will bless the efforts of Scott Carroll and Steve Green beyond measure as they move forward with their plans to make these artifacts available in a biblical museum some day.

While  I was listening to Scott's exposition of 2 Timothy and his explanation of the words "God breathed" I remembered a story I heard recently at one of our IMB board meetings.

In many Muslim dominated countries in North Africa it is against the law to give someone a Bible.   But there is a crossing from Europe into North Africa in the south of Spain that provides a great opportunity for Christians to get the Word of God into these countries legally.   There is a narrow passage in the straight of Gibraltar in which ferries operate all day long taking cars from Europe across a twelve mile stretch into Morocco.   It is at these docking stations that thousands of Christians have gathered over the past few years to walk from car to car handing out New Testaments to people who are waiting in their cars to get onto the ferries to cross over into Muslim dominated North Africa.  It may be illegal to distribute Bibles in Morocco, but it is perfectly legal in Spain.

The story my missionary friend told me was of a young man who accepted one of those New Testaments as he was waiting for a ferry in Gibraltar Spain.  His car was packed full of European goods to bring back to his large family in a small village in Algiers.   What he did not know was that back home in that village one of his young cousins had been praying that God would show her the truth.   A few nights earlier she had a dream in which God said to her that one day soon He would reveal Himself to her and she would finally know the truth about God.

She had the same dream every night until the day her older cousin arrived in her village with his car packed full of European goodies.

When he came into the village honking his horn the entire family excitedly ran to the car and helped him unpack.  Every bit of space inside and outside and on top of the car was packed full of things he had purchased.  It took the family a long time to unload his car.

When all the unpacking was finally done and all the gifts distributed, the young man reached into his car and pulled out the Bible he had been given at the border and said, "Oh yeah, and there's this that some fanatic at the border gave to me!"  He took the Bible and threw it over his head as far as he could as if to throw away a piece of trash.   

The package flew like a missile hundreds of feet behind the car bounced a few times and literally landed in the lap of his young cousin who was sitting in front of her house minding her own business.  The girl was amazed that the book had just miraculously landed in her lap.  And to think that this was a book about the revelation of God!  The girl knew in an instant that this was the answer to her prayers and fulfillment of her dreams.   The New Testament was written in her native Arabic language and easy to understand.  She carried it into her house, went into her room by herself and began reading.  Several weeks later that girl came to Christ and is today one of the key leaders within the underground house church movement in Algiers.  

What we all saw at the front of our church last Sunday was a physical demonstration of the miracle of how God's word has been passed down through the generations.  What we also need to all understand is that the miracle is not just in the formation of the Bible, but also in what happens every time someone reads it.

It is the very breath of God! 

This Is What Biblical Community Looks Like

Occasionally I receive an email that I think our entire church family should read.  Last week I got one of those emails from a member who reflected on her experience of biblical community.  When I finished reading it, I thought to myself, "that's what it's suppose to look like!"  It is stories like this one that make the point for me how incredibly important it is for all of us to be in life with each other- in the kind of fellowship and biblical community Christ calls us into.  The New Testament uses the words "one another" about 52 different times- one for each week of the year!  That's a subtle reminder to all of us that we should continually make the effort to develop friendships within the context of church community:

As you taught about biblical community last Sunday it brought to mind how blessed my husband and I have been since moving to Oklahoma and attending Council Road.  Last year I had to undergo a rigid chemo treatment for the Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma  that the doctors had discovered right after moving to OK in Dec.,2006.   For my treatments I had to be in the hospital for about 5 days at a time.  And because my immune system was so weak I hardly ventured away from home between hospital stays.   

After four times in the hospital I went into remission due to much prayer because my oncologist thought it would take six times !  At this point in the treatment my oncologist sent me to OU Medical Center for another round of intense chemo followed by a stem cell transplant.  This consisted of a 3 week hospital stay.    

During these months our connection class and our small study group were incredible.  They stayed in constant prayer for me.  They visited me in the hospital and at home.  They brought food when a son & daughter in law came so we wouldn't have to bother with fixing food.  They mowed our lawn---because in the middle of my treatments my husband had to have a hip replacement.  They sent many cards of encouragement, and they called. 

One night they rushed me to ICU because I was throwing up blood.  Unbeknownst to me a group of ten showed up, went into a room and started praying.  The bleeding stopped! 

 When the doctors could not find out where or what caused the bleeding we told the oncologist about our friends & family praying and that he had just witnessed a miracle. 

Health issues were not the reason we felt God was moving us to Oklahoma in 2006 but we have not only been surprised by the quality of medical care available here but most of all the support we have received from our connection class and small group.  And we are continuing to keep them on their knees as my husband is now going through treatment for cancer.  I can not even put into words how blessed we feel because of the love and care these groups have shown us.     

Who Is My Neighbor?

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

"What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?" 

He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself. 

"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."   

But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"  (Matthew 10:25-28)

I"ve been thinking lately about how easy it is for us to go about our lives without really paying much attention to the substantive needs around us.  Jesus famously told the story of the Good Samaritan to press this point.  We all like to think of ourselves as good Samaritans, but occasionally may be shocked to see that we are as guilty as the Levite who callously walked past.

That happened to me recently.

Last week News 9 did a story about hunger at Putnam City West High School.   Not just about poverty or declining enrollment or diminishing parent participation, but HUNGER.

P.C. West is my alma mater.  It is a school in the shadow of our church.  It is the school that many of our students attend and many of our church members either attended, had children who attended or are currently teaching or coaching there.  Many of us would say that PC West is OUR school.  

And according to the News 9 report, there are young people who come to class and go to after school activities every day who have gone without food and are seriously malnourished.  The problem is so bad that several players on the football team suffered broken bones last year not because of hard hitting, but because their under nourished bodies couldn't take the contact.

How could I have walked past this?

It's hard for me to describe the emotion I've felt since watching this news report.  It is somewhere between sadness and shame and then finally determination.   I am sad that this kind of thing is happening in our community.  I am ashamed it is so close to us and I've not paid enough attention.  I am determined that we do something about it.

Apparently many of you feel the same way.  Since the report aired hundreds of people from around the community have responded.  Many of our church members have been networking and calling and working together.  Alumni have formed facebook groups and have organized and are beginning to mobilize.    Connection Classes are responding.

We have church members who are already heavily involved, like Coach John and Tammy Jensen and Corey Tennell who were highlighted in the news story.  There is also our Bridge Ministry leadership including Corey, Amy Milner, Chris Allen and Beth Dempsey and our High School and Middle School pastors Michael Butler and Micah White.  We have people in place who can make a difference and who are making a difference.  The challenge for us is to determine what can be done and how it can be done most effectively.  We are working as a staff to find solutions (some examples here).  We are asking the administration at West what we can do to help.  We will bring many of those answers to the congregation in the weeks ahead.  Our intention is to work toward long term solutions, not just the quick fixes we may be tempted to gravitate toward when our emotions are running high.

But the first step for all of us is to see the situation in our community in the way Christ sees it and the way the Bible teaches.  When Jesus used the parable of the Good Samaritan to illustrate the meaning of "our neighbor",  He raised the bar on the conventional understanding of community responsibility.  He was saying in affect, "the desperate needs of the least of these in the community are the responsibility of everyone who is a part of me."  (Matthew 25:40)

In his book Ragamuffin Gospel, Brennan Manning told a compelling story about the famous former mayor of New York City Forello La Guardia that I think illustrates this point in an unforgettable way.  La Guardia is a legendary giant of New York City history who is now memorialized by the international airport.  Back during the depression La Guardia would barge into municipal courts and take the gavel from the presiding judge and hold court in order to make examples of petty criminals.  It was his way of keeping the order and sending a message during the desperate, dark days of the depression.

He was such a force of personality that simple courtroom rulings would often turn into front page news.  According to Manning, on a cold night in 1935 a grandmother was brought before La Guardias makeshift court in one of New York City's poorest districts.  She was charged with stealing bread.  The desperate elderly woman pled with Mayor La Guardia that she had no other way of feeding her grandchildren than to steal the bread.   The grocery store owner was not willing to drop the charges, explaining to the Mayor that it was a very rough neighborhood and he couldn't afford to back down.

La Guardia looked at the woman and said, "I have no other choice, the law must be upheld, ten dollars or ten days in jail." But even as he was saying it he reached into his pocket and extracted a ten dollar bill and threw it in his famous black derby hat and then called out to the courtroom, "Here is the ten dollar fine I now remit; and furthermore I fine everyone in this courtroom 10 cents for living in a city where a woman has to steal bread in order to feed her grandchildren!"

We should not forget that the pertinent question answered by the parable of The Good Samaritan is "Who is my neighbor?'    It was as if Jesus were saying, "Your neighbor is that person in need. The one over there on the side of the road you have been ignoring.  The one you wish you hadn't seen.  The one you have chosen not to look at- the one who desperately needs your attention! Yes, that one, the one who is going hungry- that is your neighbor.  And loving him is what I mean by loving your neighbor as you love yourself."

In many ways I think this News 9 report was for us church family.  It was God's way of saying to us, "Look over there, on the other side of the road, look at your neighbor."

A Defining Moment

My heart attack came on me suddenly and without warning.  I had no symptoms leading up to it.  Teri and I exercise together faithfully and I eat well, so not only did I not have physical warning signs, I was psychologically unprepared.  "I'm way too young and too healthy",  I could easily rationalize. 


But when the attack came, it was manifested in all the classic signs.  I had a severe pain in my chest that shot up my left arm.  My neck and jaws hurt and I had shortness of breath.  The most difficult of all the symptoms to deal with was an overwhelming sense of anxiety.  It is amazing how the body will tell you you are in trouble.  My body was screaming at me.  Emotionally I was in a kind of denial.  "It can't be happening", I told myself.  "Surely this isn't what I think it is!"  But my body was telling me with emphatic clarity what I did not want to believe to be true.


It turns out the left ventricle to my heart, the artery they call "the widow maker", was completely blocked.  My cardiologist told me later that likely I had a small blockage that broke free and caused the total blockage.


I was outside working in the yard when it happened.  I made my way to the house, told Teri I was not feeling well and took a cold shower.  The shower revived me somewhat but the symptoms quickly returned.  "We've got to go to the hospital", I told Teri.


After a quick conversation with our doctor friend, Matt Britt, who told us to get to the heart hospital as quickly as possible, we jumped in the car and Teri wasted no time getting me to the emergency room (our apologies to anyone we might have offended in that 7 minute flight).


I can't say enough about the professionalism of the nurses, doctors and specialists at the Oklahoma Heart Hospital.  Within mere minutes I was in a cath lab and they performed a balloon procedure utilizing a stent that liberated my stressed heart.  I have no doubt their quick work saved my life.


A friend asked me this week how my heart attack has changed me?  Of course only time will tell, but already I can see a perspective I only had in part before but now I have in full.  I would summarize them like this:


1.  I notice I don't worry as much about the small stuff.  If it's not worth carrying into eternity, why should it matter?    This is a truth that has been an important biblical concept to me that has taken on new meaning post heart attack.


2.  The big stuff seems to matter more.  I now see that every second I have with family and friends is a precious gift.   My wife's smile has never been so important to me.  My daughters silly jokes are more funny.  Every conversation with my son takes on new importance.   I find myself wanting to squeeze every ounce of life from each second I have with the people I love.    I have noticed that I notice more.   I notice how much my friends mean to me.  I notice how much my church means to me and what incredible love exists in the fellowship of God's people.  I notice the things I used to take for granted- things like children's laughter, a beautiful sunrise or a worship song that strikes a chord.  Life seems more full and has greater clarity.


3.  I feel a greater sense of purpose for what God put me on this planet to accomplish.  My calling to proclaim and live the gospel has never been more important to me.  I have had  so many people pray for me the past few weeks that I truly believe that whatever good might come from my life from this day forward- however many people may come to know Christ because of my ministry- will be the direct result of those prayers.   I have heard the expression "God isn't finished with me yet" thousands of times in my life.   It is more than just a cliche for me now.


More than at any time in my life I am excited to be on the journey we are on together.   Because of what God has brought me through in that defining moment three weeks ago, I am more determined than ever to see it through with purpose and joy.

The Learning Community

This past Monday I spent the day interviewing various church members about the lessons God has taught them through the years on various subjects.  The result of these interviews will be several videos we are having produced to show at various times throughout our Words of Wisdom series through the book of Proverbs.

Listening to their amazing stories and the accumulated wisdom of their many years of walking with Christ reinforced my conviction that one of the most compelling reasons for our regular gathering is that when we come together we draw from a deep well of experience, knowledge and wisdom that exists within the church family.  We regularly gather because that's what the Bible instructs us to do.   But more than that we gather because we are strengthened by one another and because we learn from one another.

I have my own experience to draw from her.  In a very real sense,  I was not only raised in the church, but was raised BY the church.  By that I mean the relationships I developed by attending church with my family reinforced the biblical principles I was taught in the home.  Not only did I learn the Bible didactically within the church but also experientially by the way people lived around me.

This is what we mean when we say biblical community is an important discipline of the faith.  The community of grace is an environment of dynamic learning from cradle to grave.

But you cannot be passive in the process, you have to dedicate yourself to involvement.  The growth process is enhanced as we go to church habitually, and when we serve and actively pursue relationships with other believers.  One of the great benefits of being a part of a large body of believers is the eclectic variety of influences and accumulated wisdom around you and your family.

I believe this is one of the most important reasons that Jesus gave us the church and that God called us into faith community.  To further reinforce this point, take just a minute to watch this slice of the interview John Ortberg did with Christian scholar, philosopher and head of the University of Southern California School of Philosophy Dallas Willard recently at Menlo Park Church in San Francisco California:


John Ortberg and Dallas Willard from MPPC on Vimeo.

How To Forgive An Umpire

Umpire Jim Joyce blew the call.  It was made painfully obvious with each replay on Detroit's Comerica Park's Jumbo Tron.  It was one of those moments umpires would give anything to get back- like a scene from the Southwest Airlines commercial, "Wanna get away?"


Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga had been nursing a perfect game against divisional rival Cleveland and this was his last pitch.


The crowd was practically apoplectic in anticipation of only the 21st such game in Major League Baseballs illustrious history.   They were on their feet cheering wildly as Jason Donald hit a weak grounder between first and second and the routine play was easily made to first base.  Donald was out by a full step and everyone knew it.  Everyone that is except umpire Jim Joyce who emphatically and enthusiastically made the wrong call.  


One second he was just another major league umpire, the next he is eternally and notoriously enshrined in baseball trivia.  


He didn't know it for certain until after the game when he watched the play on a monitor in his dressing room.  He was so upset by what he saw that he couldn't shower.  He felt sick at his stomach.  And in a rare admission for a big league umpire  he made his way to the Detroit locker room and asked Tiger's manager Dave Dombrowski if he could apologize to Galarraga.  


He gave the pitcher a hug and told him he wished he had it back.   "He felt really bad"  Galarraga said.   


Every now and then something emerges in popular culture that serves as a striking example of a deep truth of biblical teaching.  One such example occurred the next afternoon when the two teams faced each other again and umpire Joyce was at the plate.  


Dombrowski sent Galaraga out to sign the lineup card and to shake Joyce's hand to begin the game.  With cameras rolling the two men met, and in a terrific display of maturity and grace Galaraga patted the shamed umpire on the shoulder as a way of saying "all is forgiven."   Dombrowski wiped tears from his eyes in accepting the remarkable gesture of forgiveness.  


Galarraga may never get another chance to throw a perfect game.  But what he did on that home plate the day after the blown call that robbed him of it will go down as something almost as perfect and noteworthy.  In a culture where hating umpires is a religious rite and blaming others for every little thing that goes wrong is an art form, what the world saw at home plate stood as a shining example of civility and class.  


Would to God that little league parents across America were paying attention.  


It reminded me of Jesus' teaching in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 about the inevitable injustices we all face from time to time:

"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven."

The Bible teaches that as Christians we are to be good forgivers because we are all partakers of the ultimate forgiveness that God offers through His atoning work on the cross:

"Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you." Col. 3:13

As Christians we are set free from our anger and bitterness by a lifestyle of forgiveness.  In other words, because of what Jesus did, we can all "shake it off" and move on.  We live with these two realities: 

• Unfair things will happen.  The wrong calls will be made and injustice will adversely affect our hard work.  The world is fallen and as a result rain falls on those who deserve it and on those who don't.  Until Christ comes to make things right, life will always be unfair.
• When we bear a grudge we destroy ourselves.  The Bible says "Be angry and sin not."  Anger about injustice is normal, but to live in perpetual anger is sinful and destructive.  

So the forgiveness prominently displayed at Comerica stadium last week is a shining example of this important biblical principle- that we are not just to occasionally and begrudgingly forgive, but that we are to live our lives in a perpetual state of forgiving.   I know it seems hard to pull off in an unjust world with blown calls and blind umpires.  But when we consider how truly undeserving we are of His grace, how could we live any other way?

Hats off to Jim Joyce for being man enough to admit he blew it.  And hats off to Galarraga for giving us a great picture of how a real man forgives.

What To Make of Lost

Last nights last episode of "Lost", one of the most popular television shows in the U.S. and around the world, has provoked some substantive questions about the ultimate meaning of life.  When people are asking these kinds ofl questions, I think it's good to have some answers.

Maybe your not a fan of Lost and therefore have nothing really to contribute to the discussion.  But for those of you who, like me, have been following this series from the beginning, I want to pitch in a few of my thoughts.

The show ended with all the main characters gathered in a church building that was adorned with stained glass windows reflecting all the major world religions.  In this climactic final scene, the viewers learn that all the people in the show are now actually dead and that the "parallel reality" they had been in was in fact a kind of purgatory in which they hung in an immortal suspension while awaiting a form of redemption from their past lives.  Upon entering the church building they are filled with joy, peace and contentment as they are lead by "Christian Shepherd" toward a bright light at the back of the church.

Intriguing stuff indeed.  And really great fodder to invoke discussion about the meaning of eternity and man's need for redemption.

My take:

1.  The show was not meant to answer theological questions- it was meant to entertain.  In that regard I believe the script and production has been masterful.  All good art form seeks to ask questions more than answer them, and so the writers of the show, J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof are to be congratulated.  It has been perhaps one of the most compelling storylines ever written for television.

2.  With that said, it is obvious to me that Abrams and Lindelof are admirers of Buddhist Taoism and through their storytelling sought to converge Eastern and Western religious expressions .  This is an increasingly mainstream philosophy.

The final episode reveals a lot to us about current American culture in my opinion.  We must now admit that most people in America do not accept the Bible's teaching about the exclusivity of the gospel.   Most Americans believe that there are many roads to heaven and that there is no such thing as absolute truth.  Very few people today even in the Bible Belt have a comprehensive Biblical worldview.   When that belief is occasionally expressed in popular culture, it is seen as narrow and intolerant.

For example, in a recent article in the Washington Post, Kathleen Parker criticized Franklin Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham and head of Samaritans Purse for his belief that Islam is a false and evil religion.  Parker's point was that Graham's view is out of step with American culture, even some in Christian evangelical culture:

Graham isn’t alone in his views. A survey of 1,000 Protestant pastors, conducted by an evangelical polling firm, found that 47 percent agree that Islam is “a very evil and a very wicked religion.” But such opinions may be confined mostly to an older generation. Evangelicals under 30 believe that there are many ways to God, not just through Jesus.

Kathleen Parker was making the point that it won't be long before the old fashioined belief that Jesus is the only way to heaven will die out.  She then cites research by David Campbell of Notre Dame and Robert Putman of Harvard indicating that “nearly two-thirds of evangelicals under 35 believe non-Christians can go to heaven, vs. 39 percent of those over 65.”

As I was watching the final scene of Lost last night and saw all the different world religious expressions represented in the stained glass of the church, it occurred to me that far from being unorthodox, the stained glass actually represents the way most people in America view religious truth.

It dawned on me that we who hold to a Biblical perspective  are on the outside looking in at this argument.  So when people hear us say that our belief is that there is only one truth and there can't be more than one version of that truth (or any truth for that matter), we are the ones who sound unorthodox and unconventional.   

3.   I think it is important for Christians to be engaged with culture and to be willing to have the discussions.  Instead of complaining about what we see in popular art forms, we need to have substantive conversations about what they mean to us. I believe one of the most important approaches we can take in conversations like this is to simply challenge people to think through what they believe.

My suspicion is that a lot of people watch a show like the final episode of Lost and think something like, "Yeah, that's what I believe..."  but never really think through the implications of believing that all religions are basically the same.  They're not.  And they can't all be true at the same time.  It would be logically impossible to believe that if you really thought through what each religion teaches.

All the religions cannot be true at the same time because every religion makes absolute truth claims that directly contradict the absolute truth claims of every other religion.  Since two or more contradicting truth claims cannot all be true at the same time, reasonable people cannot say that they believe in the truth of all of them. 

Lets take Buddhism in contrast to Christianity for instance.

There is no God in Buddhism. Christianity, however,  presents a living,  personal,  holy and almighty God who created the world from nothingness.

In Buddhism, the world and human self are nothing but an illusion;   Contrast this with the Bible that teaches the physical reality of Jesus Christ, mankind and God’s creation.

There are many more contradictions such as the Christian teaching of sin, suffering and the reality of a physical heaven, all of which are directly contradicted in the teaching of Buddhism.

And these are just the contradictions between Buddhism and Christianity.  There are many more contradictions between Christianity and every other religion and as Christians we have to point out that there can only be one truth.   To the complaint that Christianity is too narrow  we say "All truth is narrow."   Any person who makes a truth claim (such as Christianity is too narrow for instance) is being narrow in holding to that truth claim.

4.  I think the biggest point to make to people is that Lost was enormously entertaining and that it provokes incredibly important questions.   The most important of which is "how does a person find ultimate reality?"

The Bible teaches that we were all created by God for an ultimate purpose that can only be realized when we give up on our tendency to find our own way and live for ourselves and see that Jesus Christ did all the necessary redemptive work on the cross so that we could be brought in and accepted by His grace.  If we follow our own natural inclination toward self idolatry, God will give us over to our choices resulting in eternal misery. 

Every other religion teaches that salvation is up to the individual and has to be earned, therefore there is no guarantee or assurance of what eternity brings.

And that's an ending none of us would want or enjoy.

For His Glory

Every now and then someone asks me what kinds of ministries we have in our church.  Usually they want to know about the reach of our on-site ministries, the relevance and activeness of our youth ministry, the strength of our children's and worship ministries and so on.

But I always like to remind people that while these ministries are top notch, they are just a part of the picture.  While it is true that many of the great ministries of our church are centered and driven from the church campus, the real truth is that  the most significant ministries that come out of CRBC are away from the church building on 30th and Council. 

The reason for this is that our church members are continually engaged in all kinds of ministry in the homes, neighborhoods, schools and workplaces all throughout our community.  We have church members who are engaged in Bible studies,  prison ministry, sports ministry, recovery ministry and home, school, and work place discipeship that are never seen by or reported to the church family.  

I was reminded again of this fact this week when I attended a breakfast that was put together by a couple of businessmen in our church for the purpose of raising funds for a new clinic at the orphanage in Motipur India our church is helping to build.  By the time the day was over these men had helped to raise over 70,000 dollars toward the 107,000 dollar project.

Because of their passion and hard work, thousands of people in this part of India will have access to medical care for the first time and the name of Christ will be glorified in one of the darkest corners of the planet.  So in these and countless other ways we don't even know about, the missional ministries of Council Road are advancing the Kingdom of God.

And it is all for His glory, not ours!

Live Sent

The missional church is a church that understands the Great Commission is not just for those who are called to cross-cultural ministry in a foreign country- but that every single one of us is a part of the cause- that we have all been "sent".   As Kyle Pewitt likes to say, "the missional church is one that lives sent". 

I have seen this mindset acted out in some awesome ways lately in our church family:

• Like the seven people who came to Christ last weekend because friends brought them to worship. 

• Like the host of  volunteers who help each week at the ROC clinic to care for the working poor in our community.

• Like the forty plus Middle Schoolers who spent their spring break caring for our homebound members.

• Like the testimony I heard a few weeks ago in Celebrate Recovery from a woman in our church who came to Christ in prison and told the group that when she walked down the dark cold corridor of concrete and steel afterward she felt more free than at any time in her life.  God is now using her to help set others free.

• Like the many children and pre-school workers who have stepped forward over the past few weeks to volunteer to help us during a transition in our Sunday morming minsitry and in our upcoming VBS. 

• Or like the terrific way God is using our teenagers.  Here is an email I got from one of our church members who was an organizer of the annual Memorial Marathan and wanted me to know how great our teenagers were at the event:

Thank you sooo much for all of your help with getting the teens out to the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon!  I know our Council Road kids are amazing, but it was still so much fun to watch them do their thing! They lined up along Classen, built human pyramids, cheered, hi-fived, and encouraged THOUSANDS of marathon runners yesterday.  They danced, they sang, they hopped a lot!!  They shivered, they jumped in and helped with different tasks in our area, they were a huge blessing!  I watched runners pull out their earbuds so they could hear our kids.  I even saw runners pull out their phones to take pictures of our group WHILE they were running the marathon.  Those teens were a huge inspiration!  We could physically see runners get their second wind as they came past us.  And the kids did all of this for a solid 4 hours!  Our teens are awesome!!!

One thing they did in particular at the end - there was an older, out of shape woman who was running all alone.   Everyone else had already run past.  She was very tired, but she was pushing through the pain just the same.  A large group of our kids ran down the road and joined her.  A huge smile came over her face when she saw the teens running to her.  They ran with her and encouraged her all the way to the checkpoint.  I was so proud to say that those were our Council Road Kids!!

Our area was a huge success because of each and every one of those kids that got involved.

Opportunity in Haiti

Over the past few weeks I've had several people ask me about opportunities to help in Haiti.   There is actually a short window of opportunity for anyone who wants to make the trip this summer.  Here are the details:

WHERE? HAITI

WHAT? Thousands of Haitians are homeless and displaced due to the earthquake. Refugee camps, tent cities and newly created villages are growing along the Haitian border with Dominican Republic as people flee chaotic and violent Port-au-Prince. Student teams will be involved in community development including developing 'Kid Zones" to bring a sense of normalcy to the lives of Haitian children in refugee camps, orphanages, children's homes, schools, and villages. Flexibility is a must. Ministry may include recreation, sports, music, English and math tutoring, art therapy, manual labor, and more. These activities will pave the way for missionaries to work in these villages and schools in the future.

WHO? Christian students are needed to do the work.  College students and young adults are encouraged to apply. Participants must have completed their junior year in high school in order to serve. We prefer students to come with teams (large or small) with an adult leader.

WHEN? 2 week assignments -- Saturday to Saturday, beginning May 15, 2010  Teams of 25 (maximum) will be deployed each week (beginning May 15)

May 15 -- May 29
May 22 - Jun 5
May 29 - Jun 12
Jun 5 - Jun 19
Jun 12 - Jun 26
Jun 19 - Jul 3
Jun 26 - Jul 10
Jul 3 - Jul 17
Jul 17 -- Jul 31

HOW MUCH? $975 plus airfare (approx $400-700) and insurance ($28)
Field cost includes food, housing, local transportation and border crossing costs.

A $100 deposit per person is required in order to hold spaces.

Your spot is not confirmed without payment. Deposits are Non-Refundable and Non-Transferable. For May/June weeks the balance of $875 is due May 1st.  For project in July/August a partial payment of $475 is due May 1st and the remaining balance of $400 is due June 1st.  Any balance that is not paid by 15 days following the due date will be canceled and will forfeit your deposit. Travel from Santo Domingo to base camp provided and included in cost.

HOW MANY? Maximum of 25 students/adult leaders per week. A team from a college, church or BCM could be 5 students, or 12, or 15, or you could fill the entire 25.

HOW LONG? 2 week assignment. Saturday arrival, Saturday departure. (local travel challenges make it impossible to grant exceptions)

TRAVEL? Valid passport required. Must be valid for 6+ months beyond the date you return from Haiti For coordination of team arrivals and departures, all students and teams will use designated travel agent. Airfare (approx $400-$700) and insurance ($28) are not included in $975 cost.
Travel to daily ministry site in Haiti provided and included in cost. 

HOUSING? Students will be housed in a secure, fenced compound in the Dominican Republic on the border with Haiti. Girls will stay in the house (electricity, running water). Guys will be housed in large tents on the grounds surrounding the house.

FOOD? Three meals a day will be provided for all participants.

HEALTH? No inoculations are required for entry into DR or Haiti but CDC recommends several. See the CDC website for travel health and immunization information.

SCHEDULE? Arrive in Santo Domingo, DR on Saturday - travel 3-4 hours to compound on Haiti border

Sunday - orientation, training and preparation
Monday-Friday -- spend each day working in Haiti (teams of 8-10)
Return to DR each night for sharing, worship, prayer, study, preparation
Saturday - Sunday -- refresh, relax, restore, refuel, retool...
Monday - Friday -- spend each day working in Haiti (teams of 8-10)
Return to DR each night for sharing, worship, prayer, study, preparation
Saturday - travel back to Santo Domingo. Leave for home.

TO REGISTER AND FOR MORE INFO VISIT gohaiti.org or Call (888) 421-4408
Please note: Register early for a guaranteed spot!

Two Very Big Reasons Easter is Important

This coming Sunday is the one of the most siginicant days of the year for every Christian for a couple of really good reasons.

1.  The most obvious reason of course is that Easter Sunday is that day on the Christian calendar that we all celebrate the resurrection of our Lord.  The fact that billions of Christians around the world will be celebrating the occasion all at the same time I see as a powerful demonstration of the global dimensions of our faith.  Since the beginnings of the Christian church in the first century the resurrection event has been celebrated this time of year as the central most important fact of human history.  In fact in the early church tradition Easter Sunday was often the day that large numbers of converts were baptized and became a part of the church.

After the resurrection of Christ, the church began the tradition of meeting on the first day of the week instead of the seventh (sabbath) day as a way of celebrating His resurrection (Acts 20:7 and 1 Corinthians 16:1-2)  So it is perhaps the most important date on the Christian calendar for all those reasons- because of the global nature of the celebration, the incredible history of Easter and because His death and resurrection are of ultimate importance to us.

2.  A second less obvious reason it is so important is that it is a great opportunity for witness.  People who don't otherwise have an interest in Christianity will have an interest this weekend just because of the holiday.   I hope you are inviting everyone you meet to come to church this Sunday.   One of the most natural and powerful ways for us to share our faith is to simply invite people to come to church.  To love people to Christ is to open up your life and welcome others into your community.  Most people come to Christ because they have been welcomed in by the infectious love of Christ experienced within biblical community.  As Charles Spurgeon once said "Most people come to Christ not because of a push, but because of a pull." 

A couple of weeks ago I read the incredible story of Mosab Hassan Yousef in the book "Son of Hamas".    Mosab is the son of the spiritual leader of the terrorist group Hamas in the West Bank of Israel in Palestine.  The story is how this radical Muslim converted to Christianity after meeting a group of Christians in Jerusalem.   This community of believers opened up the scriptures to him, befriended him and prayed for him, answered his questions and literally loved him to Christ over the course of several years. 

It was another reminder to me that the Christian church has always grown in this way.  People are not argued into Christianity.  They are not bullied into Christianity.  People are loved into Christianity by the incredible grace of God through His gospel.   It is life on life- one person sharing his or her life with another and bringing people to the best news they could ever hear- that the God of the universe has given His life as a ransom for sin.

The gospel spreads as we love people to Christ.  A great picture of  Christian witness is one blind beggar showing another blind beggar where to find the bread.

A fact that is especially true this weekend.  

Return to Delhi and Thoughts on Auroville by Kathleen

Yes, I know, we haven't been blogging. For those of you who were pinned to your seats, my apologies for the wait. I would say there was nothing to blog about but that would be wrong. Perhaps there was too much to blog about. There was also really poor internet connections in Auroville and it was generally really hot wherever a computer was which left me disinclined to stay in place and type.

But really, mostly the reason we have been so silent is we were immersing ourselves in the experience of Auroville. Blogging or staying connected to the outside world was taking us out of our experience and for that reason we shied from it.

There is so much to say about Auroville that I cannot possibly cover it all here. I don't even know if I can graze the surface. It was a very powerful experience for both the good and the bad. We went to Auroville searching for answers. Its a badly kept secret that we fancy starting our own eco-spiritual community at home and it was for the reason of research into what worked and what didn't that Auroville first caught my attention.

There are many examples of intentional communities, Western Mass. is full of them. The world abounds with them, even if you didn't think so. But Auroville is by far the largest in terms of their physical land size, population size and the scope of their vision. This size factor we found was more often a curse than a blessing and their vision was sometimes too grandiose, however, you had to be impressed that they were trying against the odds to pull this vision into reality.

That they were really struggling to anchor it down was often apparent, but that they were anchoring it down, with all its faults was amazingly powerful. A week into our time there we got up at 5 in the morning to celebrate Auroville's 40th anniversary. Simply put Auroville endures and prospers and is growing. Whatever you may say against it, and there is a lot to say, you cannot argue with the physical evidence of their continued existence which is in itself noteworthy.

Auroville strives to be a universal city, a place where men and women from every nation, race, creed and background can live together in peace. Auroville strives for human unity. The one main thing you need to be an Aurovillian is a willingness to serve the Divine Consciousness. I think that the core of the vision is more than admirable I think it is also my vision. To see humanity rise above its present issues and become whole. World Peace is never a trivial thing.

Because perhaps of our aligned visions I found that the spiritual side of Auroville was very open very welcoming and very, very powerful. This is all culminated for me in the experience of the Matrimandir. The soul of Auroville.

A giant golden, golf ball like, structure that looks like it just came off the set of a space age movie. At first you think the Matrimandir is strange but its beauty radiates from within and it grows on you. By the time we left I was in love with it. Inside is a big, silent, white "concentration" chamber which houses, as its focus the world largest crystal ball. Into the crystal is beamed a ray of direct sunlight. It’s pretty fucking cool.

Surrounding the Main structure are twelve "petals" which are in fact separate meditation chambers each devoted to a different quality needed on the spiritual quest. It starts with Sincerity, Humility, Gratitude and works its way through Perseverance and Generosity, Courage and others finally ending with Peace. Each room is a different color and has a yantra on its wall. It’s like meditating in the future, accept the future is now. Quite simply the Matrimandir is mind blowing.

The Matrimandir is where the love affair starts but it was also where it ended for me. While the Spiritual heart of Auroville was very easy to access and admire the same cannot be said for almost any other element of the city.

There were very obvious infrastructure problems. Namely the roads, which were all red dirt and dusty as hell and dangerous. It is a right of passage to crash your motor bike at least once( which we did) and its common to see visitors limping around with bandages. So getting around is not so easy and mobility is central to community. Transport is especially essential when your city is spread over 25km.

Disappointingly Auroville is misnamed as an eco-village. While some communities certainly strive to be eco friendly, namely the organic farms. Others, like our guesthouse were undoing the good as fast as it could be done. For example, Water, fresh water is a big problem. Auroville is by the sea and as its aquifer gets lower they run the risk of the salt water rising and flooding in. This will be a VERY serious problem. It could be the end of the community, once salt water gets into an aquifer you can’t really get it out.

So, while some places are taking messages to reduce usage and restore the water table. Others leave giant hoses running, wash their sidewalks and generally seem unconcerned. While Auroville can't account for waste on the part of local villages they certainly can within themselves, or so you would think.

There in the last sentence lies the two biggest problem of Auroville. The first is that while they may be working collectively towards human unity, they are not a unified collective. Each community has its own focus and aims, and (worse) its own interpretation of the vision.

You see, Auroville is the brain child of a woman known as "the Mother" ( ignore the creepiness for a moment) she was the spiritual counterpart( lover?) of Sri Aurobindo and both were pretty important in India in their day. (The Mother happens to be French btw). Now the Mother is no more and while she was really big on the no religion, find your own way, as most spiritual people are her words and teaching fell on deaf ears, as most spiritual teachings do. Now there is a quite well developed cult about her.

Everywhere in Auroville there are pictures of her, every time somebody wants to justify anything they quote her. Devotion to the Mother is the religion of Auroville, but don't you dare think that too loud.

As any Aurovillian will tell you there are not religions in Auroville. The Matrimandir means in Sanskrit " Temple of the Mother" but they will tell you it is no such thing " this is not a temple". In order to make sure that no religion has precedence over another they have banned all outward display of religion. No prayer beads, no bowing NO INCENSE! Ironically all their stipulations against ritual end up making.... ritual. It’s pretty funny, accept that the Aurovillians don't seem to realize what has happened.

That was a long tangent to say, as in all religions not everyone agrees on what the prophet said and this naturally divides the whole and makes progress difficult. The Mother, in her wisdom, saw this and I think this is why she had the whole " no religion ban". In short I felt that Auroville was not a living city, in the sense that it wanted to be, there were no visible leaders and it seemed mired in its own directionless-ness.

Worth The Trip

Today it rained all day in Matamores so our team made the best of it and did what they could in the two neighborhoods targeted for canvasing and backyard Bible Clubs.   All is not lost, however, because yesterday was a virtually perfect day- cool and breezy with clouds mercifully hiding the hot sun so that the swarms of children that live in these neighborhoods happily participated in all the activities.

The 40+ teenagers who have come on this mission trip poured out of our church buses and like an army of pied pipers drew the kids out of their pastel colored homes.  The children here enthusiastically participated in the crafts, the games, the skits but mostly the boys here like to play soccer.  One gets the feeling that if you only have four cones for goals and a soccer ball you could entertain them for hours.  Many of our kids are seasoned soccer players so their skill with the ball quickly broke down the cultural and language barrier.

There is no question that our presence here is having an impact on these neighborhoods around the church plants.  The benefit of this kind of trip is that the local pastors here are able to create excitement about the new churches that are emerging.  It gives them an opportunity to reach out to the community and establish relationships that are cultivated long after we leave.

But the benefit goes both ways.   It is on trips like this that our teenagers get a taste of missions and cross-cultural ministry.  It is fun to watch and to be a part of it.  A few of our Hispanic church members are with us and we are enjoying working together in this setting.  We are learning together the value of giving to others and the joy of sharing the gospel in a place where the evangelical church is growing, yet still very small compared to the total population.   

I am so proud of our group.  While many of their friends have chosen to go to the beaches or the slopes to enjoy their break from school, they have chosen to travel these 17 hours in an uncomfortable bus so that they can help proclaim the gospel  and make new friends in some of the poorer sections of this border city.

This kind of giving and serving has created a kind of joy here that is contagious.   A joy not dampened by a long bus ride to get here, long stops at the border crossing each day, or even a few hours of rain. 

Not Why but How?

One of the questions I get asked a lot goes something like this:

"Why did God have to pay such a high price for my sin?  I know I am sinful, but does it really require that Jesus die on a cross to forgive?  Why couldn't God just say 'I forgive you' and that be the end of it?" 

It really is a perplexing question if we don't think through our understanding of the nature of God.  We all have a tendency to place human-like qualities onto God to help us embrace our understanding of Him.  But this is not possible when trying to understand a Holy eternal creator God.  God is so much greater than us, so much "other than we are" that to try to describe His qualities is a little like an ant at a picnic trying to ascertain human philosophy.

In our world people forgive all the time.  If someone offends me and comes to me and says "I'm sorry, will you forgive me?"  It is very easy for me to say "Of course- you are forgiven!"

But I am not God.

To just "let sin go" would make Him less than a Holy and Just God. And if we really thought about it and admitted to it, we would all have to say that none of us wants any less than a purely Holy and Righteous God who is not like us.

Last week I reread the book "Why I am Christian" by John R.W. Stott and found this great passage that explains this truth much better than I could:

The cross of Christ is the only basis on which God can forgive sins.  By why, an impatient critic will immediately object, should our forgiveness depend on Christ's death?  Why does God not simply forgive us, without the necessity of the cross?  "God will pardon me" Heinrich Heine protested, "that is His metier (specialty).   After all, the objecter might continue, if we sin against each other, we are required to forgive one another.  So why should God not practice what He preaches?  Why should He not be as generous as He expects us to be?  (The answer) was given by Anselm, the arch bishop of Canterbury at the end of the eleventh century.   He wrote in his magnificent book, Why God Became Man,  "You have not yet considered the majesty of God".  To draw an analogy of our forgiveness of each other and God's forgiveness of us is very superficial.  We are not God but private individuals, while He is the maker of the heavens and the earth, creator of the very laws we break.  Our sins are not merely personal injuries but a willful rebellion against Him.  It is when we begin to see the gravity of sin and the majesty of God that our questions change.  No longer do we ask why God finds it difficult to forgive sins but how He finds it possible.  As one writer has put it, "forgiveness is to man the plainest of duties; to God it is the profoundest of problems."

Hot and Sticky....Again: A Mutual Effort

We're back from our stint in Delhi, which, let me tell you, was cold! (comparatively) about 40 degrees at night and as low as 60 during the day. Now we are in Auroville and it is getting hotter by the day.

Delhi was Delhi, in that the air quality is so bad by the time you wake up from your first night there your throat and lungs start to hurt. The pain gets worse over the next two days and you begin to start coughing up lots of gross shit ranging in color from yellow to brackish grey. For whatever reason the chill in the air went straight to the bone unless a pile of blankets covered you when you are indoors, regardless of the time of day. Which just exacerbates the pain in your lungs and increases the gross shit.

Aside form all that, we had a wonderful time in Delhi...sorta. We spent all day, every day, shopping at an incredibly slow rate for the wedding. Thus not completing our extensive list, which was added to nearly daily. Then the familial attack of love and kisses was a routine welcome every time we entered the room, even if we had been in our room for ten minutes. On top of this tensions between our host and his s.o made the last few days uhhh awkward to say the least.

Upon our departure the airport was awful nice though. India has changed so much and its only been two years. Soon the India I remember will be gone and I’m not sure that’s such a good thing after all.

At BKK we were standing in line and there were four Indian men with huge plasma TV’s checking in. They had bags and bags and crates of stuff they had bought while on business in Bangkok. The richer India gets the more materialistic, as though they are trying desperately to escape the spiritual heritage that was left to them. I wonder if anyone realizes what they are losing. We ended up griping with a professor from Calcutta about the phenomena of prosperity that is both blessing and cursing the subcontinent.

So we were glad to leave Delhi and travel south, through Chennai and onwards to Pondicherry (Pondi). The first couple of days here in Auroville however, was quite the disappointment. We quickly discovered that bureaucratic French, inherently making things unwelcoming and inaccessible, mostly run the city. Needless to say they were very unhelpful in us getting settled. They seem to accept tourists because they know, but probably don’t know that we know, that they are milking us for our external moolah. Thus adding to their ever-growing economy. It seems very much like a gated community with several worthy tourist attractions. One of them not being, repeat not being, a sustainable eco-village.

Not to say that there aren’t wonderful things being done here. The list we have heard of the positive affects of Aurovillians on the community at large and even in the southern bit of India are quite long and worth repeating, but not now. Now we are off to do something other than sit in the dark internet café.

All in all we are slowly settling in and I can safely say the place is growing on me.

Can Buddha Forgive Tiger?

On Friday Tiger Woods gave a tearful apology to his fans, family and friends for his numerous affairs and unfaithfulness in his marriage.  He accepted full responsibility for his “wrongs” and asked forgiveness somewhere around 20 times in his written statement. 

The apology, watched by millions across the country was heartfelt, contrite and I believe a necessary step toward his recovery.   Woods apology contained all of necessary elements of this process.  He accepted full responsibility not just for his actions but also for a part of the root cause of his actions.  “I thought the rules didn’t apply to me”, he rightly admitted.  “It is hard for me to admit that I need help, but I do.”   

Curiously, his speech contained many of the words familiar to Christian repentance such as “atone”, “grace” and “forgiveness”.  And although he never used the word “sin”, he clearly admitted that in his case rules had been broken.   The reason I find this last point curious is that he framed his entire apology in light of his Buddhism. 

And yet Buddhism has none of these concepts.  In Buddhism there is no fully formed concept of atonement because there is no concept of sin.   In Buddhism as in most Eastern religions atonement centers not on forgiveness but on “release from delusion and suffering through meditative insight into the nature of reality.”*   Buddhism is not a theistic religion and so there is no God to sin against.  So when Tiger says that he “broke the rules” and he is not talking about civil law, then one has to ask, “what rule?”  There are no such “rules” in Buddhism.  If he is talking about his rules for marriage, then why would any one besides his wife be offended if there was no greater authoritative moral law at play?  As Karma Lekshe Tsomo, a leading teacher in Tibetan Buddhism has put it:

"There are no moral absolutes in Buddhism and it is recognized that ethical decision-making involves a complex nexus of causes and conditions. 'Buddhism' encompasses a wide spectrum of beliefs and practices, and the canonical scriptures leave room for a range of interpretations. All of these are grounded in a theory of intentionality, and individuals are encouraged to analyze issues carefully for themselves. ... When making moral choices, individuals are advised to examine their motivation--whether aversion, attachment, ignorance, wisdom, or compassion--and to weigh the consequences of their actions in light of the Buddha's teachings." (Karma Lekshe Tsomo, a professor of theology and a nun in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition in an essay entitled, PROLIFE, PROCHOICE: BUDDHISM AND REPRODUCTIVE ETHICS)

It is interesting to me that Tiger framed his problem from a distinctively Christian world-view and yet called on his Buddhism to get him through it.   My contention is that you can have one or the other but not both at the same time.  

Buddhism and Christianity are not the same thing.  They are two completely different and mutually exclusive worldviews.

In Christianity we learn that it is only in coming to a knowledge of a holy and righteous God and His revealed Word that we come to understand there is a “moral law” or “covenant” that applies to us.  And in this law we find the basis of our relationship with God.   It is only in that understanding that we see that we have sin that must be atoned for.  And it is only in the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ, the perfect Lamb of God, that we are able to find that atonement. 

In Christianity we learn that we are completely powerless without His grace- to know our sin, to call on His mercy, to ask for His forgiveness and to find true repentance.    

Perhaps it was because Tiger’s father was raised a Christian that he was able to articulate those qualities that one finds in Christian repentance and atonement.  Or perhaps he expressed these sentiments because they are a natural outcry of the human heart in the midst of brokenness and shame.  But to take these expressions all the way through to there most important conclusion one must turn not to his own meditation or sense of enlightenment- but to the One who has been sinned against and who by His grace was willing to atone for that sin.

To Tiger I would say your sin is no delusion.   It is real and horribly destructive with eternal consequences. Your solution will not be found in the enlightenment of Buddhas teaching, but in the sacrificial death of the Son of God, whose work of atonement we celebrate during this Lent season is the most important reality of all of our lives.

*Joseph S. O'Leary,  Forgiveness and Buddhism 

Make Easter a Season

We are one of those rare conservative evangelical churches that actually observes the Lent season so every year at this time I give my annual explanation of why.

There is one simple answer:  "We are all about the cross."  It is our magnificent obsession.   We seek to be a cross centered church.

There is nothing more important to us than our daily habit of focusing on the cross and the intricate meaning of the gospel.  We find it a very good discipline to focus our hearts and minds for an entire season on the central issue of our existence- that our sin is so wretched and devastating that our lives are being pulled into a Christless eternity except for the incredible unimaginable grace of a Holy and loving God who was willing to give His life as a sacrifice for our sins.  And the more we focus on that reality the more our lives and hearts are changed.

We believe the Lent season is an excellent way to teach our kids the meaning of the cross and to help bring their lives in alignment with the priorities of scripture.  All of scripture points to the cross, from Genesis to Revelation.  Every story of the Bible is a reflection of THE story- the story of our redemption.

In a similar way, our lives should point to that one overarching truth- that our sin was so bad that God had to die to pay the price but at the same time His love for us was so incredible that He was willing to die.  On the cross we have both bad news and the best news.  The bad news is that our sin has a terrible price.  But the good news is that God's grace is greater than we could ever dream.

At the cross we see an intersection of God's justice and God's mercy.  Jesus satisfied the sense of wrath and justice of a Holy God and at the same time demonstrated the incredible compassion and grace of a loving God.

It is a season to focus, to meditate, to fast and to prioritize our lives around the meaning of the cross.  In our worship songs, prayers, scripture reading and preaching we focus our attention on the meaning of the cross.  We encourage all of our families to go through a daily devotional around the meaning of the cross each day of the forty days of Lent.  In other words, we are not just celebrating Easter over one weekend, we are creating the space to celebrate it for an entire season. We see this as especially important in a culture that is becoming increasingly secular humanist and materialistic.

One of the young couples in our church has written an excellent daily devotional for the Lent season for their kids they are calling "The Easter Tree".  They have graciously given me permission to make it available to all of our families.  

You can download the devotionals each day for the next forty days of lent here on Heathers blog.

I encourage everyone to come to our Ash Wednesday worship tomorrow night and begin preparing your heart to celebrate the meaning of Easter not just for one brief weekend in April but for an entire season.

The Impact of Life on Life

Yesterday was an awsome day of celebration for me.  Most significantly, it was a day that Teri and I celebrated our 23rd wedding anniversary.  Teri has been the love of my life for close to 25 years now- for more than half my life she has been at my side- it is hard for me to imagine what life was like before I met her.   Teri has been my best friend, my lover, my steadfast supporter, and prayer partner for all of these years.  How wonderful to celebrate the blessing God has given us in our marriage! 

It was also a day that I baptized one of my high school buddies for whom I have been praying for close to thirty five years.  I don't have space to blog about the significance of my "old" friend coming to Christ and being baptized yesterday- suffice it to say that one should never give up praying for a friend who needs to know the Lord.  The gospel teaches us that God's love for us is tenacious and long suffering and that He doggedly pursues us.  That point was never more poignantly brought home to me than when I baptized Rick.  

Finally, it was a day of tremendous worship for our church family as we celebrated how our faith is passed down from generation to generation.   What made the worship meaningful to me was that we focused on that element of discipleship within the church that is universally understood but rarely celebrated- the incredible impact of "life on life". 

What I mean is this - I believe all of us as believers know intuitively both the WHY and WAY of spiritual growth.  We know that it is the instruction of His word and the guidance of His Holy Spirit that is the WHY of growth.  And we know that it is because we have relationships with other Christians who know the word and live the word in front of us that is the WAY of growth.

But because the dynamics of that growth are so intuitive and understood, they are easy to take for granted and therefore overlook.  What made yesterday's worship so special was that we took the time to purposefully celebrate that dynamic.  It is Biblical community, life on life, and the dedicated influence of Christian love and grace that is most impactful in discipleship.  It is how we grow, how we serve, and how God uses us in each others lives.

And for families, it is how children are raised within the dynamic context of Biblical community.  God wants us to live life together in this way so that we both receive His instruction AND we live out His word in way that exponentially increases the impact of what we hear. 

This is why the Bible says in Hebrews 10:23-25:

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.