Grace: Both End & Means

In the last video segment from the Animate: Bible series, we heard from Jay Bakker.  His experience growing up as a high profile preacher’s kid in a very conservative tradition was challenging, to say the least.  But what captured his heart and life, what was strong enough to compensate for all the baggage of his upbringing, was grace.  Grace is inherently compelling, provocative, and certainly counter-intuitive and counter-cultural.  And yet it is what captivated Jay and countless others to become fully devoted followers of Jesus in their pursuit of God.

After Jesus turned legalistic thinking on its head (Matthew 5:21-27), he then pushed his audience off a cliff with outrageous statements regarding how to deal with those who inflict harm in various ways (Matthew 5:38-48):

³⁸ “You have heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ ³⁹ But I say, do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also. ⁴⁰ If you are sued in court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat, too. ⁴¹ If a soldier demands that you carry his gear for a mile, carry it two miles. ⁴² Give to those who ask, and don’t turn away from those who want to borrow. 

⁴³ “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. ⁴⁴ But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! ⁴⁵ In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. ⁴⁶ If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. ⁴⁷ If you are kind only to your friends,^[e] how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. ⁴⁸ But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.

After reading what Jesus said, it is obvious that Jesus never spent recess on a playground, because his ideas certainly did not come from there.  I remember goofing off before gym class in Middle School, and a good friend and I were shadow boxing.  My shadow got a little too close, however, and I accidentally popped him square in the nose.  Apparently, my friend Stephen was unfamiliar with Jesus’ words, because he began chasing me all over the gym to pay me back.  I managed to avoid retribution for a full hour.  I began to think that the truth started to sink: it was an accident – why would I want to hit my good friend?  So, at the end of class, we were all getting ready to leave class.  He calmly walked over to me, and just as I was starting to apologize once again, he decked me.  “We’re even,” he said.  And that was that. 

My incident with Stephen happens in myriad forms all the time, everywhere.  From snarky sparring with friends to biting jabs between spouses; total strangers pushing each others’ buttons, escalating conflict to the point of homicide over movie popcorn or loud music; nations launching all out assaults on others nations – or even their own citizens – causing casualties by the thousands.  I was behind a truck the other day with this bumper sticker: 

Maybe Jesus needed to read that bumper sticker before he offered his advice.  Could it be that Jesus was wrong?  Probably not.

In truth, war didn’t end slavery, fascism, Nazism, or communism.  These centers of conflict, and the violence they perpetuated ended with treaties that were signed by leaders representing opposing sides.  Essentially, when enough blood was shed, when enough children were orphaned, when enough sons and daughters perished, when one side finally cried “Uncle”, the game was over and an agreement was reached.  To recap: there was conflict, both sides decided to continually up the ante, lots of violence ensued, and then papers were signed.  Why didn’t people just move from conflict straight to treaty?  Why not save millions of lives and the billions of dollars weaponry costs?  Because that’s not how the playground works.  The playground demands justice.  And until justice is served, those on the playground will not be satisfied.  If Stephen had hit me twice instead of just once, maybe I would have hit him back to make it even, which he may have interpreted as unjust, which of course would have led to Samurai swords and flame throwers…

Jesus was fully aware of the rules of the playground.  His instruction, however, was not for children who wanted to remain childlike.  The wisdom he shared was for people who dreamed of a world where the ways of God permeated so much that there would be peace.  Jesus wasn’t telling uninterested passersby something they had no time for.  He was offering the path to the life we all really want to those who would be able to hear it, and to the courageous few who could actually act on it.

Jesus was saying, in effect, that when evil is done to us, stop it by ending the cycle of violence by choosing not to retaliate.  When someone slaps you in the face – literally or metaphorically – turn the other cheek.  To turn the other cheek means, of course, that you are squaring yourself up to the person who just hit you, looking them in the eye as an equal, and by not swinging back, letting them know you refuse to play by the rules of the playground.  When the law calls for you to give your shirt, give your coat, too.  When you’re required to carry a load one mile, go two.  When asked for help, give it.  Each of these statements by Jesus challenged the normal way of being for people in antiquity, and now as well.

Then Jesus puts the final nail in the coffin with his remark on enemies: love them instead of hating them.  Love the terrorist, the rapist, the murderer, the pedophile, drug dealer, the addict, the pimp, the prostitute, the gang-banger, the dictator, the greedy CEO, the power-driven politician, the adulterer pastor, the jerk who cuts you off in traffic, the Dodger fan, etc.  This was way more than his audience ever expected – then and now.  Why would he say such a thing?  Because it actually works.  The childish, playground rules approach is hurtful, harmful, inefficient, and ends in the humble place Jesus is saying we should begin.  But we must have ears to hear this.  We must have open minds to accept this.  And we must have soft hearts to live this.

I guess Jesus did know a thing or two about this nonviolent approach to handling conflict.  Of course, he wasn’t alone.  In our memory, Martin Luther King, Jr., led the Civil Rights movement with the condition that his followers would be nonviolent even when treated with gross inhumanity. More recently, an Amish community chose to react with radical hospitality toward the family of a gunman who shot and killed their children who were attending school.  Any time I hear of such an act of forgiveness, I hear myself saying “WOW!”  This is simply because I find it to be a rare occurrence, and utterly Jesus and exceptionally beautiful and inherently inspiring.

Donald Hagner, in his volume on Matthew in Word Biblical Commentary notes:

… the true disciple does more than is expected. He or she is free from society’s low standards of expectation, being subject only to the will of the Father. The conduct of the disciple is filled with surprise for those who experience it. This element of surprise relates closely to and reflects the grace that is central to the gospel. It is the unworthy who have experienced the good things of the kingdom; and as they have experienced the surprise of unexpected grace, so they act in a similar manner toward the undeserving among them… Kingdom ethics demands not mechanical compliance to rules but a lifestyle governed by the free grace of God.

We are not called to be doormats.  We are called to great strength.  To rise after being beaten and look into the eyes of our assailant and say “no more” takes the indwelling power of God – at least for me.  But this way of Jesus is really the way of God that leads to the deep shalom-peace-wholeness-holiness-harmony every person longs for.  If we want to see God do that, we need to do what Jesus calls us to do, and, in fact, do what Jesus did.  Remember, Jesus follower, that Jesus was the one this passage and early hymn was written about (Philippians 2:1-11):

Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? ² Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose. 

³ Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. ⁴ Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.
⁵ You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

⁶ Though he was God,
he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to.
⁷ Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
he took the humble position of a slave
and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,
⁸  he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

⁹ Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor
and gave him the name above all other names,
¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
¹¹ and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

 Grace is what brought us into and sustains us in relationship with God.  Grace is what we will find at the end of our days.  Grace is the means to get there, well, gracefully. 


So, the net time you have to deal with an evil act, or a slap on the face, or have to give someone the shirt off your back, or carry a load, or asked for help, or address your enemies, remember the words of Jesus.  Pray for insight and strength.  And may you end the childish, playground rules of engagement as you choose the counter-intuitive, countercultural, world-transforming means and end of grace.

Olympic Christians

Jeremy Abbott did not win a medal for his skating in the men’s competition.  He didn’t come close, actually.  But he will be remembered by all who watched him perform for being a true Olympian skater.  Early in his routine during the short program, he fell so hard it caused a mild earthquake in the Black Sea.  He laid there against the wall of the rink, motionless, for what seemed like an eternity.  Then he rose, a little disoriented, and began to skate.  The crowd erupted in cheers and applause, which energized him to finish his routine with great strength.  The focus after this routine was not on what he didn’t do – win a medal – it was on who he was: a great athlete who finished what he came to do.

When Jesus hit the scene in the first century, he gain renown for many things – his teaching was inspired, his miracles were empowered, and his company was ordinary.  During one of his most famous teachings, he took some liberties with his handling of sacred text.  For the most part, when a rabbi or Jewish scholar would give an interpretation of the ancient Jewish law, they would quote someone from the past to strengthen their position.  What right would they have to give insight to a new audience?

When Jesus spoke about the law, however, he did so with personal authority and conviction, which would have raised eyebrows and focused attention on what he was saying.  What he said was profound because it drove right to the heart of Jewish thinking regarding ethics.  He moved the dialogue beyond simple do’s and don’ts to examining our interior life and innermost motivations. 

At the time of his ministry, a lot of focus was given to living to the letter of the law.  The Sadducees – the dominant group that held leadership in Jesus’ day, was invested living righteous lives.  And they were quick to alert anyone who wasn’t.  Their attention to detail clearly defined where the line was separating sin from non-sin.  But their efforts left a lot to be desired, and a lot of people judged unjustly.  This is why Jesus got in trouble for healing on the Sabbath, and for his disciples picking a few heads of grain on the Sabbath as well – the line regarding working on the Sabbath had been drawn, and he crossed it.  Same reason why he got in trouble for keeping company with tax collectors, prostitutes, Samaritans, and lepers – he couldn’t help but cross the line.  Not because he was rebelling against the law, but because he understood the heart of the law differently than his contemporaries.  Jesus was after the Spirit of the law – the heart of what God is all about – more than the letter of the law.

A grave mistake, then, would be to interpret Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 5:21-37 as being even more narrow than his already hyper-conservative contemporaries.  At first glance, a reader might conclude that if you have ever been angry, called someone an idiot, cursed someone, held a grudge against someone, sued someone, had lustful thoughts, done anything devious with your hands, divorced your spouse, or made a vow, you just might find yourself burning in hell.  Isn’t that good news?

While this interpretation has been used to get people in line out of fear of God’s wrath, I think it completely misses the point Jesus was trying to make.  He wasn’t trying to raise the bar, he was redirecting the focus of our morality, of the ethics involved in following Jesus.  Defining sin is a secondary concern for a Jesus follower.  Our primary interest is in growing in our relationship with God.  Instead of debating if Chardonnay is any more or less sinful than Cabernet, we should be asking ourselves how our relationship with God or with others is impacted by our life choices.

If you are looking for a list of do’s and don’ts to make sure you are on God’s good side so that one day God will let you into heaven, I am sure you will find churches to support you in your effort to do so.  We can always find people to gather with and determine who is wrong while we – who are right – pass judgment on them.  If all you want is a simple contract with God to give you eternal security, you’ve got it.  You can certainly make a case with scripture to do just that. 

But if that’s your goal, you have stopped following Jesus.  Because Jesus is one who continually pursues God at every stage of life, and invites the Spirit of God to examine, enlighten, and inspire every corner of our lives.  God is about redemptive relationships with those who want it.  God’s Spirit constantly flows toward shalom, salvation, saving those who are lost.

Maybe that’s why our rebellious, radical Jesus said that the way to fulfill the law isn’t in trying to define it to the nth degree, but to rather spend our time loving God and loving our neighbors as ourselves.  Maybe it’s this insight that led Augustine to say such a bold thing as this: Love God, and do as you please.

Being an Olympic Christian isn’t about the medals, it’s about living out who we are and who we can be.  May you find yourself finishing what you started even after you’ve fallen and hit the wall.  And may you hear the crowd roar, inspired by your devotion to keep moving forward with your God.

Salty

Helen Spires is 97 years old.  I went to see her in the hospital this week.  I am here to report to you that she is quite… salty.  Even from her bed, she encourages those she encounters more than they encourage her.  She shares her hope in God with anybody who dares to listen.  She is in pain, yet she thanks God for every moment of her life.  Her health is not good, but she holds fast to a very real hope that this life is not the end, and what is to come is glorious.  She has learned to see out her window and behold the majesty of creation, and she finds herself immersed and embraced and inhabited by her Creator.

I’m telling you: she’s salty.

Remember those hot air popcorn poppers that saved our lives by eliminating hot oil from the process of making a delicious snack?  Does anybody use those anymore?  My hunch is that sales of those units plummeted, primarily because the appliance robbed the popcorn of taste.  The popped corn would get so dry that it wouldn’t hold salt.  So you were left with plain corn.  Maybe better for you, but who wants it?  The popcorn those make is so bad, Goodwill has stopped accepting them as donations.  The CIA has even been reported to sending these poppers as Christmas gifts to Al Qaeda headquarters as a counter-terror initiative, and has been known to make prisoners eat the stuff during interrogations to gather sensitive information.  By the way, the CIA neither confirms or denies these allegations (as far as I know).

Last week I went home after church and heated up some chicken noodle soup.  It was a rainy day, so I was looking forward to it.  But this soup was the Healthy Choice brand.  Technically, it contained broth, chunks of chicken, and noodles.  But I was remembering another brand I had made earlier that week for my wife as she fought the flu.  And I remembered with even greater fondness homemade soup by a saint in my church, who also supplied decadent sour cream biscuits.  As soon as I took a bit of the Healthy Choice, I knew it was going to be a really disappointing lunch.  Any guess what was missing?

When we think of salt, we think of a seasoning.  In the right amount, it makes popcorn pop with taste and soup soar to a new level.  We were with friends a few years back for dinner.  They were experimenting with different types of salt.  We just stared in ignorance at what they were saying.  So, they brought out four different salts for us to try.  Plain old iodized Morton’s, some sea salt, some rock salt from somewhere in the Middle East, and what they called “crack” salt.  We tasted a pinch of each, and much to our surprise we discovered that the taste was different with each one.  And we didn’t need to wonder why they called the last one “crack salt” – it was laced with black truffles.  OMG.  That’s some tasty stuff.

If you reside in the Midwest, especially this winter, you know salt provides another use: it melts ice on roads, sidewalks, and driveways.  It also has this other property that managed to eat away the fenders of my first car in Michigan.

Salt in Jesus’ day brought seasoning to mind, for sure, but it was also used as a preservative, for purification, and for fertilizing.  It was used for wages and trade as well.  And, because of its lasting qualities, it was viewed as a metaphor for wisdom, for sacrifice, covenants, and morality.  So, when Jesus told the disciples that they were the salt of the earth, it was a significant statement with great depth (Matthew 5:13-20).

Being the salt of the earth meant that in some way they were to add flavor, preserve, purify, and fertilize the world.  That somehow what they were learning from Jesus was going to bring wisdom that would inform how they thought about sacrifice, covenants, and morality.  And the pressure was on, it seems, as Jesus essentially commanded that the disciples’ righteousness had to be better than the Pharisees, who were known for living nearly blameless lives – they prided themselves for it.

So what do we get out of Jesus’ instruction here?  Is this merely the command of a dictator or is there something for us in his words?  We all bring a “what’s in this for me” mentality, so, what is it?  We need to be careful with all this saltiness business, right?  Or wasn’t Jesus aware of the risks of a high sodium lifestyle?

First, let’s cover the righteousness better than the Pharisees comment.  In fact, nobody was more interested in living by the letter of the law than were the religious leaders of Jesus’ day.  They were well known for their strict attention to obeying the letter of the law, which was why they had problems with Jesus.  It wasn’t that Jesus didn’t care about the Law of Moses so much as he seemed to care more about something else – the spirit of the Law.  He was more interested in wondering about the intent behind the Law – which was to foster a healthy relationship with each other and God and the whole world.  The Pharisees, according to the witness of the Gospel writers, missed the forest for the trees, as it were, in their legalistic approach to living the law.  So we are not called to be better legalists.  We are called to discover and live out the spirit of God in the instruction we have been given.  We are called to boldly live out our relationship with God, other people, and the world, which will in turn act as salt in all of its wonderful qualities.

In short, following in the footsteps of Jesus leads to a radically different kind of life that truly impacts the world for the better.  Gives it flavor.  Acts as a preservative for what needs preserving.  Purifies what needs to be cleaned up.  And serves to promote growth as a nutrient.

So, what does this look like?

You don’t know Bill Moreland.  But you wish you did.  He’s salty.  Not like the proverbial sailor who can’t get through a sentence without dropping an F-bomb, but salty like Jesus.  I’ve known Bill for almost 20 years now.  I was his pastor when I served a church in northern Illinois.  I spoke to him recently, and got salted.

Bill and his wife, Oneida, were farmers before they retired.  They grew up in the faith, and are an example of people who chose to follow Jesus proactively instead of reactively.  In other words, their decision to follow Jesus was not due to horrible decisions that finally caught up with them once they hit rock bottom.  Their decision to devote their lives to living in the way of Jesus was based on clear thinking and common sense – why wouldn’t they follow Jesus?  What possible reason could they come up with to choose a lesser way?  So they committed early in life, and stuck to it.

Be certain of this: they met many challenges along the way.  But as they did, they just kept moving forward, salting everything and everyone with their faith along the way.  And they served where they could, while they worked the farm, and after they retired.  They were quick to help anybody who needed it.  They would come by the church and dedicate themselves to deep cleaning the bathrooms when they needed it.  Bill could fix anything.  Farmers have to be able to do that.  They were wonderfully hospitable, too, inviting people to their home for a meal.  When you were with them, you were family.

Bill told me that he went to the doctor and was told that he had prostate cancer that had spread into his hip, and also to his pancreas.  Pancreatic cancer is lethal and painful and fast.  Bill was told he had eleven months to live.  He went the Mayo Clinic for a second opinion and they concurred.  But Bill’s faith wasn’t shaken.  He told his doctor, “I’m going to live every day I have.”  His salt was still salty.  Given his prognosis and his age, he decided not to pursue aggressive treatment.

Months went by, and Bill did not experience any pain, which is weird for someone with pancreatic cancer.  Then, fifteen months into his death sentence, having lived longer than expected already, he was helping down at the church during a clean-up day when all of a sudden he experienced pain that doubled him over.  He just told some folks that he needed to go home and rest.  But John Albrecht, a younger guy in the church who had experienced the power of prayer, helped him to the pastor’s office where he and a few others prayed for him.  The pain left.

A couple of years later, Bill went to the doctor for a check-up.  His doctor had retired, and his new doctor came and told him there was a mistake in his file.  Apparently, somebody thought Bill had pancreatic cancer, which was obviously wrong since Bill was still alive.  Bill explained to him that it was no mistake.  He had a second opinion to confirm it.  He told the doctor plainly that God had healed him, but not for his sake, but rather his wife’s.

“You mean to tell me that God didn’t heal you for you, but for somebody else?”

“That’s right, Doc.”

A few years after he was told he wouldn’t live another year, Oneida started to show signs of dementia.  When I spoke to Bill this week, she was still struggling with it, but, as he told me, “she is as beautiful as ever.  We’ve been married 65 years and never had a quarrel.  God gave me Oneida – who else could live with me that long?  I was healed so that I could serve her.”

Don’t get distracted by the small miracle of cancer being healed.  Be blown away by the miracle of saltiness that still pours out from this 88 year old man and his 87 year old wife.  Wherever Bill and Oneida walk, life tastes better for everyone.  The sacred way of Jesus is preserved.  People are made more whole.  And the world grows brighter.  This is the kind of salt to which Jesus referred.

How is your sodium level?  Do you realize that when we walk with Jesus, life comes on line not just for us, but for everyone we touch?  How is your sodium level?  Are you salty?  How seasoned are your most significant relationships?  How salty is your relationship with your children?  Your coworkers?  The people you meet while waiting in line?  Strangers who need your help?

May you choose the way of Jesus and find yourself continually covered with salt.  May you choose to shake yourself all over the place.  May you have the capacity to see the beauty that results when you do – a more beautiful experience of life for you, and a more lovely life experience for everyone your life touches, too.

Groundhog Day, Again?

Phil Connor dreaded the annual event.  He and his crew headed to the sleepy, small town where a few thousand people gathered together to let an animal out of its cage, only to see how quickly it would return.  The animal in question?  A groundhog – god of determining when winter passes into spring.

But this would not be an ordinary Groundhog Day for Phil Connor.  He would soon discover that this day would be set on auto repeat – at least for him – and he would be stuck on it until he figured out how to grow out of it.  What started out as horror turned into opportunity.  He realized he would not suffer the consequences of his actions the next day, so he went wild.  Ate whatever he wanted.  Punched whoever he wanted.  Slept with whoever he wanted.  Died however he wanted.  Only to wake up the next morning on the same day, with all the experiences in his memory.  Sounds kinda cool, right?  In control of your destiny – and at least the daily experience of everybody you meet, too.  God like.

In short order, however, the opportunity turned into agony.  He could not get off the train, no matter how hard he tried. 

The movie strikes a chord here.  I’ve come across many people who feel like they are just living the same day over and over and over again.  Their basic needs are met.  They have a lot of stuff they want.  And yet they are bored.  They don’t look forward to the next day – what’s the point, anyway?

Some people have the same experience when it comes to their faith.  They’ve been going through the same motions for a long time, and each day brings the same experience of dullness.  After a while, it’s pretty easy to throw in the towel, or at least stop trying.

The Bible bears witness to the fact that this phenomena occurred throughout its history, which implies to me that this is a human condition issue.  We struggle with the monotony of the daily routine repeating itself ad infinitum.  And yet there are many occasions where people break through to a new understanding of life and God. 

King David, for instance, is credited with writing Psalm 15, which asks and answers the question of who has access to God?  He seems to speak from experience, indicating that those who essentially align themselves with what is sensed to be God’s character have access to intimacy with God.

Hundreds of years later, the prophet Micah witnessed the crumbling of the nation of Israel, and tried to call her back.  Israel was apparently thinking that they needed to do something more to wins God’s favor and redemption – greater acts of worship, bloodier sacrifices, etc.  But that’s never been what God is really up for.  God – at least as witnessed in the Bible – seems to be much more interested in a relationship with humanity than BBQ’ing more lambs, goats, and bulls.  Micah, as if speaking for God, says it plainly: do what is right, love mercy, and walk humbly with God (Micah 6:1-8).  These are the things that align us with the Almighty and pull us out of our routine misery.

Jesus pipes in as well, hundreds of years after Micah’s input.  Speaking to a crown of severely poor people who had no hope of overcoming their Roman oppressor, he spoke of an alignment that seemed to favor his audience.  Apparently, God comes close to those who are poor, are in mourning, are humble; those who long for justice and righteousness, are merciful, are pure in heart, are peacemakers, are persecuted for the sake of God (Matthew 5:1-12).  Why would these people sense God’s blessing?  Because they are more likely to be aligned with God by virtue of their difficult circumstances.  Extreme poverty and sorrow have a way of stripping people of the prideful, self-centered arrogance that causes us deny our need of God for anything at all.

After some unknown period of time, Phil Connor got bored with his vain pursuits.  His attention went from basically shallow pursuits to deeper passions.  He shifted from being satisfied with essentially anonymous sex to desiring love.  He moved from fun and games to saving people from harm.  He began to become a better, more humane Phil.  A Phil that was hiding beneath his very normal and self-serving pursuits. 

Early in the story, Phil had no problem flaunting his ego wherever he wanted without concern for others.  Most of the recipients of his self-absorption let him know that he was a serious jerk, including the woman he would eventually fall in love with.  But at that stage, concern for others who could not further his personal agenda seemed a fruitless pursuit.  Why care what other people think?  What business is that of his?

The Apostle Paul recognized this same attitude at work when he wrote the church in Corinth somewhere around 55 CE.  Probably from personal experience with audiences he addressed, he discovered that the way that Jesus taught – and especially the way he died – was absolute foolishness to those who were wrapped up in the world around them.  The way of Jesus was founded on the same principles that Micah spoke of and David proclaimed.  A way of being and living that sought alignment with God, the very source of life itself.  A way which requires those who trek upon it to be humble, to look out for those who suffer, and to live in mercy.  These are the ways of being that fosters an intimate relationship with God because this way of being is the way God chooses to be.  To quote Henry Blackaby of Experiencing God renown, we experience God when we go where God is already at work.  God is at work where redemption is needed, where mercy is required, where love is longed for.

When Phil pursued his True Self (thank you, Thomas Merton), he blossomed.  He became who he was created to be, and he thrived.  He became a joy to all who knew him instead of a pain in the neck.  He learned to love and be loved.  When he did, he fell asleep, only to wake up to a truly new day.

I think everybody is up for a new day.  I think we have good news in these texts, because they point us in the right direction.  They encourage us from the perspective of a thousand years of history and different voices.  These witnesses tell us to go deep and close to the God who redeems, who gives rest, who loves, who made us to be more than people of drab routine.

So cherish and pursue this news, and embark on the path that invites you to move toward God and toward the person you were really made to be.  There are markers along the way.  There are vistas that let you know you’re still on the path.  They include moments of personal sacrifice, seasons of extraordinary beauty, stretches of personal mountains to climb and dark caverns to examine.  And they all generate the same kind of God fruit that Paul spoke of: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness and self-control.  May you get off your respective Groundhog Day repetition, and find yourself more alive than you have yet been.