"Movement"

Christmas is full of typical phrases, such as “Merry Christmas” and “Happy Holidays”. In our house, the tradition include ones that, while familiar, aren’t usually associated with Christmas. They include: 
“Let’s get this show on the road!”
“Time to get moving people.”
“Off your butt and on your feet”
“Boots and saddles!” 
(Yeah...just Google that last one to find out where that saying comes from.)

These sayings pop-up because of our annual trek to the midwest to visit relatives for the Christmas season. This time of year my family and I will load up into our gianormous SUV and start a seventeen

"The Princess"
(Our family SUV)

hour 1,200 mile journey eastward on I-80, and these idioms are frequently heard at our gas stops…although admittedly they are not always spoken by me. (My girls are road warriors and aren’t interested in languishing at truck stops or restaurants.) 

I will admit that I love the experience of movement. I love the travel and the sense of adventure. Even though we have traveled this road enough times that it has become almost intimately familiar to me, the sense of movement still thrills me. There is an overwhelming sense that we are on the road to somewhere; to a destination; to an arrival full of family and friends and reunions. 

I’ve come to realize that the movement is toward an ideal that is somehow deeply embedded in my family's collective and shared memory. So I move toward the future because my past has confirmed the worthiness of the experience. And in that moment, I realize that movement is not only a good thing, it is wonderfully life affirming. My past, which is so full of wonderful experiences, was only accomplished because I was willing to move. To take the first step. To get off my butt and on my feet. To drop everything and saddle up. To risk the journey of getting the show on the road.

I am who I am because of my willingness to embrace movement.

But I am also a pragmatist. I understand there is an associate cost with movement. I have spent

This isn't heaven...
it's Iowa.

some long hours driving thru the middle of Nebraska where all I could do was watch the odometer slowly roll over and wonder if the Iowa border would ever come. I recognize that sometimes it takes sheer grit and fortitude to put up with movement, but I endure it to reach the cherished destination. 

In many ways, this is our spiritual journey as well. We all seek movement closer to God, but we discount the fact that the actual progression requires determination. But move we must. We need look no further than Jesus’ challenging statement to find that truth: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” (Matt 16:24). Movement is required in following. We cannot stay motionless if we are going to pursue our Lord. 

That movement will reveal itself in many different forms in our life. It will require change. It may need a willingness to sacrifice, or to let go and leaving certain things behind, or simply to grit our teeth and persevere. But we do it because there is an overwhelming sense that we are heading somewhere; to a destination; to an arrival that will be worth all the endurance, toil, and pain. We move and follow our Lord because our past collective experience affirms the worthiness of the journey. 

Wherever you are headed this holiday season, embrace the movement.

Merry Christmas! 

Keep the faith,

Justice and Living in the Empire

Good Morning...and
welcome to church!

The whole narrative of the bible (both Old and New Testament) has a major theme of justice coursing through it. Justice for the oppressed.  Justice for those in dire need.  Justice for the environment (God's creation.)  In the stories of the Bible, you will see protagonists and antagonists.  The antagonists is always on top in the world.  A group we could refer to as the "Empire".  Those in power.  Those who have the ability to change things, but only change it to benefit and preserve themselves.  The protagonists are what those without power.  Those who have little ability to change.  They live at the whim of the Empire.  We can call them the "Underdogs."  

When we read those stories, we are always find ourselves rooting for the Underdog. Unfortunately, in America, most Christians fail to realize that they are people of the Empire...not Underdogs. Maybe to to keep this false impression alive...some cast themselves as the Underdog in the context of religious beliefs.  The complaint is cast as: "I am being persecuted for what I believe!" Personally, I believe God isn't very concerned about that kind of perceived 'persecution'. (Honestly, we enjoy more religious freedom in the United States than anywhere in the world.)  Rather, what God is truly interested in is how they treat and respond to the Underdogs.  

In the Gospel, Jesus says to a rich young ruler: "If you want to be perfect, sell everything you have and give the money to the poor.  Then come follow me."  The rich young ruler goes away sad because he has great wealth. Interestingly, this is an example when many Christians make the decision to to interpret this command metaphorically instead of literally, which is an inconsistent approach to scripture. The same approach is applied to when Jesus says: "If someone strike you, turn the other cheek."  Or "Love your enemies".  Or "If your eye causes you to sin, then gouge it out."  The list goes on.  Instead, many American Christians think it is a "God given right" (ironically, no such thing exists in the Bible) to own guns, kill those who threaten us, and let the poor suffer because they deserve their lot in life. They choose to interpret the bible in the way that suits their own warped worldview.   

At least let us admit that we are all members of the Empire.  Furthermore, let's admit that it's rather comfortable being part of the Empire.  Life in the Empire is good.  But let us also understand that we have a responsibility to the Underdog.  We have an obligation toward that which cannot defend themselves. So we should try to do something on behalf of the Underdogs. In the grander scheme, it's not much, mostly because we haven't sold everything to follow Jesus. Honestly, we're probably just too scared. Our fear is rooted in the realization that we don't want to give up our privileged position in the Empire.  But understand this...and it is important: One day we will stand in front of Jesus and have to account for that shortcoming and that fear.  But also understand this: We don't stand in front of Jesus to account for ourselves on whether or not we get into heaven.  It is not a courtroom where we plead our case.  To the contrary, we stand in front of Jesus to account for what did with our life AND what did learn through our life. 

The New Face of
American Christianity?

As I imagine that scene for me, I understand that my day of accounting will be a deeply shameful moment because I had the power to act on behalf of the Underdog, and I chose not to do it because I realized it would cost me...and I was unwilling to pay it.  I didn't help the poor, the underprivileged, the immigrant, the widow, the orphan, the environment because I was scared...and more truthfully...too interested in preserving and protecting me and mine.  Remember the Looney Tune cartoon of Daffy Duck?  Watch this scene.  That is me. That is most of American Christianity.  "We may be cowards...but we're greedy little cowards."  

But of course, if the majority of American Christians actually read the bible, then we'd know all this.  We'd understand that the people most in need of a savior is not 'them'...but 'us'...the privileged American Christian who thinks of themselves as Underdog and not Empire.  We'd also understand this is reflective of another scene in the Gospel where Jesus looks over his people and weeps.  We just don't get it.

Keep the faith,