Sojourn

The Simplicity of Being the Church

In the midst of their brokenness and the impending destruction of their way of life an ancient people cried out to God for a way to gain his favor. 

"What can we bring to the Lord?  What kind of offerings should we give him?  Should we bow before God with offerings of calves?  Should we offer him thousands of rams and ten thousand rivers of olive oil?  Should we sacrifice our firstborn children to pay for our sins?"

And the Lord responded to the complexity of their inquiry with an answer of utmost simplicity.

"No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you:  To do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God."

In the midst of their religion, many generations later, arrogant clergymen of the day tested Jesus by asking him how to find favor with God.

"One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: 'Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses."

And Jesus responded to the complexity of their religious system with an answer of the utmost simplicity.

"You must love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  But there is a second that is equally as important:  Love your neighbor as yourself."

In our time and place, as Christians in America, it seems we have a tendency to suffocate the simplicity of being a follower of Jesus with a blanket of doctrines, dogma, systems, and structures that leaves us bewildered and numb to the presence and working of God in our midst.  As a result of this religious complexity we tend to either walk away from "church" all together or settle for a cheap imitation of the real thing.

"Church" is really quite simple indeed.  To be "the church" in our time and place can be summed up like this:  We are a people who believe that Jesus is who he said he was and we have committed ourselves to living the way Jesus lived.  And the life of Jesus was a life of extraordinary love for God the Father, scandalous love for humanity, and a lifestyle of humility, doing what is right, and showing mercy to those in need of mercy.

When we move beyond the simplicity of the way of Jesus we begin to shackle ourselves with the inventions and imaginations of men that all too often distract us from what Jesus truly had in mind when he said, "I will build my church."

May we allow ourselves to be used by God to create communities of Jesus followers that will never become organizations for a man to rule.  May we not succomb to the temptations of building monuments or museums for the glory of human leaders.  May we exist, gather, and experience life together as a people who are deeply devoted to the way of Jesus, to one another, and to the world around us.  God help us to be a people of outrageous generosity, but not so our resources can be used for the emergence of a religious empire, but that our outrageous generosity will ensure that none among us is without the basic needs of life, that the poor around us are uplifted, and that the world will know the kindness of God.

Macaroni Dreams

In 1854 Henry David Thoreau penned these words while writing Walden:  "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.  What is called resignation is confirmed desperation."

I believe that Mr. Thoreau was quite right  with these insightful words.  I personally know what it is to live life in quiet desperation.  I've been there a few times.  And I have seen it in the faces and heard it in the voices of the majority of people that I've interacted with over the past 16 years.  Lynn and I have moved around a lot since we married.  We've lived in the Midwest, the north, the south, again in the Midwest, and again in the south.  Over the years our lives have been loosely entangled with the lives of literally hundreds of people, most of whom appeared to be living just as Thoreau described.

I'm not really sure of Thoreau's spiritual beliefs.  It seems I remember hearing that he was agnostic.  Nonetheless, with those words he pressed in on a deeply spiritual issue.  Why is it that so many around us live such lives of quiet desperation?  I believe it is because they have lost their sense of purpose.

As children, we are all existentialists.  We are very aware of our unique and mysterious existence in the world and insist upon the world taking notice of said existence.  And though as children we don't use these words, we all seem to have a brilliant, unfettered sense of destiny about the role we will play in the world.  "I'm going to be an astronaut!"  "I'm going to be a scientist!"  "I'm going to be a soldier!"  "I'm going to be a pirate!"  As children, not only do we make these bold, imaginative declarations of personal destiny.  We believe them!

But then something happens.  As we grow older our existentialist dreams become subdued by the numbing effects of rationalism.  "I can't be a scientist because my parents can't afford to send me to college." "I can't be a soldier because I have a disability."  "I can't be a pirate because there are laws against such things and I get seasick." "I can't, because."  "I can't, because."  "I can't, because."

We blink our eyes and we're thirty-five years old with a wife, three kids, a mortgage, two car payments, twelve-thousand dollars of credit card debt, and a job that has us packaging boxes of macaroni.  And we stand at the macaroni packaging conveyor belt trying to figure out how to justify our personal consumption of the world's resources.  Not that there's anything wrong with someone earning their living by packaging boxes of macaroni.  Somebody has to do it.  But I wonder how many macaroni packagers dreamed about that job as a child.  I have the utmost admiration for the person who did indeed grow up dreaming about packaging macaroni and is now living their dream.  But most of us somehow, somewhere along the line stopped believing in and pursuing our destiny and resigned ourselves to simply surviving.  Quiet desperation.

I believe that every human being is created by a God who has an amazing destiny in mind for that person.  To a young would-be prophet named Jeremiah God said, "I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb.  Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my spokesman to the world."  We may be tempted to think, "Well that's Jeremiah.  He was special!  He was a prophet."  All of which would be true.  But guess what.  You are special.  I am special.  Every human being was known by God before they were formed in their mother's womb.  And every human being has been set apart and appointed for...something.  Paul makes this very clear to us in his letter to the Galatians when he said, "For we are God's masterpiece.  He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago."

An amazing destiny.  What is that?  It is the unique purpose for which God created you to accomplish.  You and I are "assembled" and "equipped" in such a way to accomplish something in this world that no other person can accomplish.  And the adjective "amazing" has nothing to do with WHAT we are doing.  It has everything to do with WHY we are doing it.  If the macaroni packager was created and gifted by God to package macaroni then he is living an amazing destiny and God will do amazing things through him in that environment.  But if the macaroni packager is punching that time-clock every day because he has given up on his dreams and is simply in survival mode, then his amazing destiny is still waiting to be discovered.

So how does he discover it?  I believe that your life purpose is now and always has been hidden in plain sight.  What fascinated you as a child?  What games did you play the most?  What nicknames did the other kids give you?  What subjects in school did you really enjoy?  What have you been most frequently complimented on?  What subjects could keep you engaged in conversation until 2:00 a.m.?  If you had a full week to do anything you wanted to do, what would it be?  What do you daydream about while you're doing your job.  What coincidences have most startled you?  Which three movies could you watch over and over again without getting tired of them? 

Get a pen and a piece of paper.  I'll wait until you get back.

That was quick.  Now look at those questions again and then write down all of the answers that come to mind.  I'll wait.

I had time to refill my coffee that time.  Thanks.

Now.  There you have it.  You now have, on the piece of paper in front of you, all the clues that you need to discover the purpose for which God created you.  Get after it.  Don't ever again let the words "I can't, because" cross your lips as you set your mind and heart to pursuing your destiny.  Don't let anything stop you.  Take whatever risks you need to, regardless of how ridiculous or dangerous they may be.  Just do it.  The worst that can happen is death.  But how would you rather die:  chasing wildly after your dreams or in quiet desperation?

Tolerance, Taste, and Spirituality

I love food too much.  But it wasn't always this way.  Growing up as a kid I was a very picky eater.  There are many, many foods today that I love but thought were gross growing up.  I learned once that the reason your tastes change over the years is because of a change in your taste buds.  When you are young, your taste buds are more sensitive, therefore foods with a more powerful flavor can be overwhelming.  But with age, your taste buds loose their sensitivity and those foods become more enjoyable.

I remember walking through the Publix grocery store a couple of weeks ago and picking up a sample of lemon-encrusted tilapia on linquini noodles cooked in wine.  I wanted to pull a coupe on the sample stand and take it over for myself.  It was amazing.  Lynn also makes a fabulous lemon-pepper tilapia which we enjoyed last night.  I'm finding that the more flavorful a food is, the more I am enjoying it while I am becoming more and more bored with foods I used to enjoy.

This thought kind of reminds me of something we were taught in health class in high school when the lessons were about the dangers of drugs.  We were taught that over time, the body builds up a tolerance to certain drugs, so stronger and stronger ones must be sought out for the same high.  On the positive side, the body builds up a tolerance to beneficial drugs over time and we must use stronger and stronger ones to fight illness.

Where am I going with this?

A similar thing has been occurring with me on a spiritual level. When I first became a follower of Christ, my life exploded with new spiritual flavors, tastes, and sensations.  The first few years were amazing.  Nearly every time I went to church I could sense the presence of God all around me and could easily be brought into an intense time of worship.  Listening to sermons or worship songs in my truck or in my home or...anywhere...would often impact me in powerful ways.

I think my spiritual taste buds are losing sensitivity.  I think my heart and mind have built up a tolerance.  Because those same things now leave me feeling empty, tired, and bored.  It's not because I'm losing my faith.  My desire for a holy invasion and occupation of my life is stronger now than ever.    Yet in the context of a typical church service, I am often unmoved, unstirred, and starving for...something.  I don't even listen to Christian music outside of church anymore because it all seems so...cliche.

This is the reason that I'm finding such an attraction to other streams of Christianity, like Celtic Christianity, that lead us into knowing how to experience and live in the presence of God in all of life, not just the ecclesiastical setting.  I've always sensed the presence of God in more powerful ways in nature than in a sanctuary. My most spiritually powerful experiences of community have been in informal gatherings of brothers and sisters around meals and unscripted time together rather than programmed, time-restricted, scheduled small groups.

I would fit very well in a Celtic Christian setting.  Unfortunately, Lynn and I would have to move to Ireland to find it.  The practices and community ethos in Celtic Christian spirituality that have always resonated so deeply with me are not to be found in American church systems and structures.

Let me be clear, that what I am talking about is not about emotionalism.  I really am not interested in the manufactured, anemic emotionalism offered by and practiced in many religious settings.  I'm interested in something much more deep, holy, mind-renewing, and heart-transforming than mere emotionalism.

I know that many, many people are profoundly moved into meaningful relationship with God and others through their church services and programming.  I was once one of them.  So I believe this is more an issue of what God is doing...or is trying to do...to bring me into...something.  Perhaps others have experienced in their walk with Christ what I am experiencing now as I approach 40 years of age in the Bible Belt of America.  If so, I'd love to hear from you.

Occupational Spirituality

Every week I spend about 40 hours overseeing both the operations and marketing functions of a department within my company.  When I am not here crunching numbers, developing and executing strategies, and managing employees and contractors, I spend another several hours per week thinking (as I drive, shower, eat, and watch television) about how to successfully navigate the fundamental changes underway that will, ironically, eventually, render my role in this industry irrelevant. Yes, you heard me right.  I devote 40 to 50 hours each week to a role in life that will, in the near future, cease to exist.

So, because of that fact, and the fact that I like to eat, I spend another 12 hours per week sitting in classrooms, working on homework assignments, and taking tests that will culminate in a degree that, hopefully, will allow me to continue providing for my family into the foreseeable future.  The twist here, is that the foreseeable future becomes less and less distant all the time.  In other words, you used to be able to make occupational plans with a 40 or 50 year mindset. Now, what you spend four years planning to do may no longer be a viable career path in ten years.

All of this monologue thus far is meant to establish the case that, much of what troubles my heart and mind is really an exercise in futility.   There is really nothing that a person can truly depend on in this life.  You cannot depend on financial security.  You cannot depend upon the work you're doing today to be there tomorrow.  You cannot depend on physical health.  You cannot depend on anyone to keep you "safe."  You cannot depend on any of your hopes and dreams actually coming to fruition.

And it is in the midst of this reality that the oft read words of Matthew 6:33 crescendo from red ink on white paper into a thundering refrain that quiets our minds, calms our hearts, and sets our eyes upon a new occupation.

"Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need."

Jesus certainly has a way of turning things around, doesn't he?  This verse is found within a broader conversation about the basic needs of life and the human tendency to worry about these things and pursue occupations to secure them.  What I think I hear Jesus saying here, is that pursuit of the Kingdom of God must become the occupation out of which all of our needs are met by the only one who IS dependable in this life.

Please approach the bench for a sidebar:

I find two primary definitions for the word "occupation."  The first defines this word as that with which you are occupied for the sake of your livelihood.  The second definition puts this word in a military context, describing the state of a place under the control of an outside force.

What would it look like for an individual to so radically change their way of thinking that they now see as their primary occupation in life to be that of pursuing God and his kingdom?  What would it look like for me to wake up in the morning, get dressed, and drive into my workplace with this mindset: above and beyond anything else, my purpose in life for the next 24 hours is to discover the rhythm of God's heart, synchronize with it, and plumb the depths of his character and the realities of his kingdom?

I see both definitions at work here.  Could God so completely invade and occupy the space of my heart and mind to the point that pursuit of him and his kingdom becomes the very thing with which I am occupied for the sake of my livelihood?

If we can enter into this reality, then everything else simply becomes the prop-filled setting, or stage, upon which our spiritual occupation is played out.  My paycheck-generating activities today lose their place of supremacy and simply become the stage upon which I currently find myself as I harmonize with the heart of God; a stage filled with the props of spreadsheets and market analysis, and budget directives...but simply a stage.

It's in this perspective that transitions from Act 1 to Act 2 with different props and different stage lighting become much less frightening.  Instead of fearing the future, fearing the disappearance of some props and the appearance of new, unfamiliar ones, we rejoice that the unchangeable God is still the central character of the story, we are still his beloved ones, we are engaged in the preeminent occupation to which humanity can give itself, and his promise to us remains unshakable: 

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." ~ Jeremiah 29:11