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words with(out) meaning

words with(out) meaning

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So much of language is just “fill” … words to fill empty space, words to comply with the rules and expectations of social interaction, words to avoid an awkward silence, words to avoid a more threatening eye-to-eye, soul-to-soul contact. We have to use so many words just to get through a day, words not well thought out, revealing nothing particularly profound, revealing nothing much of what is “really real” about ourselves.

And yet, even these “throwaway” words carry meaning. Even these “lightweight” words make a real and valued and valuable connection to another human being. The words we may “toss off” may well be received as a true gift and a blessing.

The same is true of the language of prayer. So much of my praying to God may be “going through the motions,” words to comply with the rules and expectations of a viable faith, praying so as to be able to say I have prayed. Not well thought out, not particularly focussed, not fully engaged.

And yet … To have prayed, however we have prayed, is to have made a real connection to the living God, a connection I dare say that brings delight to God and untold blessing to us.

So pray! Don’t wait for the right time or the right words or the right mood. Just talk to God. And when you do, those startling moments of profound self-revelation and unexpected intimacy that happen from time to time in your human conversations will happen too in your conversation with God.

So much of language is “fill” …… but not all of it!

genuine faith

genuine faith

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Genuine faith can be such an elusive thing …

So much of what we believe derives from childhood experiences, from our parents’ faith or lack of it. We “inherit” our faith just as we inherit so much of what we think and feel and believe. Or we learn when we are young to despise or distrust the protestations of faith that seem so disingenuous. We want to be like mom or like dad, or we want to be anything but like mom or like dad.

Faith can be a hedge against fear or doubt, a way to avoid staring into the emptiness … of a vast and incomprehensible universe, or of a dark and incomprehensible soul. Faith can be a security blanket, a means of cobbling a sense of order onto the chaos of our lives. Faith can be a tool of denial, a means of avoiding questions and bypassing uncertainty.

Faith can be a wall, a wall to stand between us and our shame, a wall to stand between us and those parts of ourselves that baffle us and frighten us and resist our control.

Faith can derive from so many different roots and thrive for so many different reasons. Which makes it all the more amazing, truly amazing, that genuine faith does exist among us! Faith that is unselfish, that is humble, that seeks above all else simply to honor God and follow where God leads. Faith that knows itself, that knows its weaknesses and fragility and acknowledges them. Faith that is teachable and agile and always enlarging. Faith that does not have to have all the answers because the presence of God is answer enough. Faith that does not have to maintain control, because it knows enough to know that it can’t. Faith that is gentle. faith that listens … to God and to other human beings. Faith that is full of joy, not because all is well or all is in order, but simply because God is. Simply because God is …

Genuine faith is such an elusive thing. But it does exist … and it is a beautiful thing indeed!

faith without passion?

faith without passion?

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Faith without passion …

… is like playing soccer without the ball. You may go through all the motions, but you don’t really accomplish anything and it’s not much fun!

Faith without passion …

… is like marriage without love. All form and no substance. It may serve a purpose — for maintaining some kind of social stability and keeping people out of trouble, but has no depth or intimacy or life … or satisfaction.

Faith without passion …

… is demeaning to God. If God is God — the one whose breath is the source of life, whose power and wisdom and glory are beyond imagination, whose grace and mercy and love seek and save and lift up a wandering and broken humanity — how can we relate to this God with indifference, with a shrug of the shoulders or a nod of acknowledgment … or a lukewarm faith?

Faith without passion …

… is an oxymoron, because faith is passion!

as a mighty ocean

as a mighty ocean

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O the deep, deep love of Jesus
Vast, unmeasured, boundless, free,
Rolling as a mighty ocean
In its fullness over me.

Standing on a boat thirty miles offshore, with no land in sight in any direction, the imagery of this favorite hymn comes to life.

vast, unmeasured …

All there is is ocean — underneath me, all around me. There is seemingly no end to these waters, as far as both eye and imagination can see. This is what Jesus’ love is like! Without limit and without end! Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me …

boundless, free …

From this vantage point it is clear: the land does not put boundaries on the sea; the sea puts boundaries on the land. The sea is everything — foundation, source, sustainer — from which all else rises to life.

And the sea is itself a living thing, not made heavy or slow or inflexible by its great size. It is lithe and dancing and free! Always in motion, always changing, unpredictable, uncontrollable. You don’t tell Jesus what to do or where to go … but Jesus’ love is there, boundless and free, of its own choice, of his own will.

Today, from this happy vantage point, the wonder of the love of Jesus is impressed on me … It is like this! Like this ocean! Rolling in its fullness over me!

May the eyes of your heart, the eyes of your imagination, allow you too to fathom the breadth and depth of the love of Jesus for you …

i have a dream

i have a dream

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I have a dream …

Like the dream of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., it is a dream about reconciliation. It is a dream about two groups of people divided by history and culture and prejudice learning to live together, to respect each other, to recognize the strength and beauty in each other, to work alongside each other to make the world new.

I dream of reconciliation between “progressive” Christians and “evangelical” Christians. I use these particular terms because they are the terms the two groups use to identify themselves. I put the terms in quotes, however, because the words may not be the most apt descriptors for the two groups. “Progressive” Christians may well be evangelical in the sense that they bear a message of good news into a hurting world. And “evangelical” Christians are certainly progressive in that they seek not just to preserve the status quo, but to transform it.

Why do I dream of reconciliation? Because the antagonism and mistrust of each group for the other cripples their witness and defames the name and the way of Jesus! And Jesus is what they have in common. They are “progressive” Christians … “evangelical” Christians. The key to reconciliation must be found in what they do have in common: Jesus Christ, Jesus the Christ who prayed that his followers be one.

It may seem preposterous to think these two groups have anything at all in common. Their values and principles and practices are so much at odds that surely one must be mostly right and the other mostly wrong. Or both groups may be mostly wrong. Now, I believe, we are getting closer to the truth! Both “progressive” Christians and “evangelical” Christians need a healthy dose of the cardinal Christian virtue — humility.

“Progressive” Christians need to realize, need to BELIEVE, that they need Jesus; it is not Jesus that needs them. They need to learn from Mary, who sat at Jesus’ feet, to be content with saying nothing, doing nothing, coming empty-handed to Jesus to listen, to be healed, to be given gifts of light and life. They need to work hard, yes, but know that the future rests in God’s hands, that at every moment they live in and by and for the grace of God.

“Evangelical” Christians need to realize, need to BELIEVE, that Jesus does not need them to defend him or to speak for him. Jesus can that just fine on his own, thank you! Instead of telling everyone else what Jesus wants them to do, they need to listen to Jesus themselves … and obey. Not listen to the “Jesus’ jargon,” the packaged “gospel” all done up neat and tight, but listen to the real Jesus. Read the gospel record and listen! And then … follow.

I have a dream … that all of those, all of us, who desire nothing more than to follow Jesus faithfully, will need no other title than Christian. That word will say enough. And that word, that name, will be one that brings us together and leads us into the world with news that is truly good!

jargon

jargon

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I don’t like labels and I don’t like jargon either.

Jargon is insider language, code language, technical language that is intended for and understood by “those in the know.” You can tell when jargon is being used: all the insiders are cheering and all the outsiders have no idea what everybody is so excited about!

Jargon infects and corrupts our religious language, too. When I ask, “Are you born again?,” I am using jargon. I want to know: Do you know the code word? Are you one of us?” The metaphor of spiritual rebirth is a wonderfully meaningful metaphor, but when the term is used as jargon, it does not communicate; it divides. Tell me you are born again … but tell me too what that means! Tell me of your experience of God’s healing grace in your life; tell me what you were and what you are. Tell me what new things God is teaching you day by day by day, and I will tell you too what God is teaching me. Tell me what you see and hear and taste of the grace of God is your own words!

On the other end of the religious spectrum, the word “justice” is also used as jargon. All you have to do is say the word and you are identified as one of the “good guys,” not one of “them.” Again, the word “justice” itself is a powerfully descriptive word, aptly characterizing God’s will and God’s way in relating to the human creatures God made. But used as jargon, without content, it is an overused cliche and communicates very little. Don’t just tell me to do justice. Tell me what that means in your own words. Tell me what you care about and why you care about it. Tell me what God has called you to do and to be.

In our present context, the word “patriot” is jargon. It is used not to unite people through the expression of a diversified and many-faceted love for one’s homeland. It is used to divide people and to categorize people. You’re either “for us” or “against us.” If you agree with me, you’re a patriot. If you disagree with me, you’re traitor … So don’t just tell me you’re a patriot. Tell me what it means. Tell me why you love your country and what you are doing to show that love. And I will tell you how I love my country and how I may show that love by speaking out against whatever degrades us and compromises our best values.

From the time my parents began reading aloud the books of the Narnia Chronicles to my sister and brother and me, I have appreciated the Christian witness of C. S. Lewis. He has been a lifelong tutor of my growing faith. I believe the effectiveness and enduring popularity of a book like his “Mere Christianity” is rooted in its clarity and authenticity. In other words, Lewis doesn’t use jargon! He uses fresh language, genuine and meaningful language, describing faith in terms “outsiders” as well as “insiders” can appreciate.

It has been my goal in my work as a minister to do the same, to communicate the gospel not just with cliches and code words, not just with jargon, but with language that is authentic and evocative, language that can speak both to those who have lived within the Christian context for a lifetime, and those for whom anything “religious” is utterly alien. If God is real, if our experience of God is real, we surely can find our own words to describe what we know and believe!

true Christian?

true Christian?

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What makes a true Christian? Sometimes it is hard to tell!

People calling themselves Christian worship in any number of different ways — from very formal to very informal, with classical music to contemporary music to Christian rap to no music at all, celebrating communion at every worship service or every first Sunday or once a quarter or even almost never.

People calling themselves Christian have very different political persuasions, from far right to far left and everything in between, from believing that religion should have nothing to do with politics to believing religion should have everything to do with politics.

Some people calling themselves Christian focus their energies on “winning souls,” while other people calling themselves Christian focus their energies on relieving human suffering.

So in the midst of all these differences what does make a true Christian? Or is there no such thing?

I believe a true Christian does worship — in whatever fashion. A true Christian lives out the faith in the real world — which means faith will have something to say about politics. A true Christian cares about people’s bodies and their souls. But the defining characteristic of true Christians — however they worship, whatever they think about politics, however they choose to show love their neighbors … the defining characteristic of true Christians is this: knowing for a fact that they are not master of their own lives.

True Christians know that all they are and all they have comes by grace. They know they must look outside themselves for wisdom and direction. They know that personal value is not earned or won, but is bestowed, a gift from God thanks to the obedience and sacrifice of Jesus.

True Christians are humble, recognizing the very real limits of their own wisdom and power. True Christians know they belong to God by God’s choice. True Christians spend much of their time saying “Thank you!”