Leaning Forward

Chasing the Easter groove, 6

How deep is your rut? Us sandwich boomers, layered between our children and parents, know intimately the language and frustration of ruts. Maybe among the living cohorts we hold the advanced degrees in the bidness of same ol' same ol'. Back in the sixties we called it a groove and thought it was too cool. Now, we know better. It's really what Vance Havner called a grave open at both ends.How deep is yours? Or, how long is it?

The other day a much younger friend referred to her life as a logjam. Maybe that's the new twist on the rut thing, certainly more vivid. The image is different, the outcome the same---you know, things at a standstill, gridlock, nothing moving, snail's pace, dial-up. The repetitive motion of every day often creates the landscape effect, a familiarity with the things we pass everyday to the point that we don't notice them any more. As a result, the mantra of contemporary moderns is "BORING". With all it's many facets, life for many is lived in the doldrums. A rut!

What's ironic it that of all people groups, Americans are the most time sensitive. People around the world are much less time conscious that most of us. Ask fifty colleagues how their day is going and the vast majority are going to shake their heads and make some comment about needing more time. Lunch with a friend the other day was interrupted every five minutes by his Blackberry alarm reminding him of deadlines during the day. Next time we'll just meet at the Verizon store! If you just landed from the third rock from the sun and observed American culture for a day you'd say we didn't have time to get bored. I mean, we have every kind of diversion possible to the creative genius of the human species and still face every day with a yawn. Ho hum! 

Climbing out of a rut is a testy enterprise. Often we try to find a foothold to give us a boost---knock back a few, maybe a fling, something extreme to to create a rush, new toys, a vacation, unplug from the current flow for a spell. Of course, most of our ladders are temps and what goes up usually has to go back down at some point, and the routines of bills, work expectations, family obligations, and the other treadmill stuff comes back with a vengeance.

Something new, that's the ticket. Old Solomon said there wasn't anything new under the sun, and that is more than a little discouraging for those of us tracking along is our own personal rut. Yet, there is the possibility of a new kind of life discovered in the miracle of the empty tomb, the resurrection. Catch this: "...just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life" (Romans 6:4).

The language of Scripture is very expressive, two words usually being translated "new".  One is "neos", meaning new in time. The other is "kainos" meaning new in kind. This verse talks about a whole new kind of life, a whole new perspective, an entirely new outlook. It is the promise that He will give us a totally fresh way to navigate the tricky waters of life through our faith and belief in the Resurrected Christ. 

Chasing the Easter groove is really a cultural attempt to discover peace and joy in this life, and escape the dark side of doing this journey in a rut of despair or depression or futility. Easter faith promises newness, an absolutely new take on things.

God is doing a new thing! Can you perceive it?

Chasing the Easter groove, 5

Pop culture assumes faith is mindless. Presumably, believers check their intellect at the door when entering the regions of personal spiritual conviction. Or, perhaps worse, enlightened unbelievers, often the first to criticize Christian narrowness or  the exclusive claims of Scripture, treat most of us like we just fell off the turnip truck. Talk about profiling.

The tension between faith and reason is more subtle than whether or not faith is a matter of the heart or the mind. The more contemporary debate positions critical thinking against the capacity to accept things beyond human reason. As a result, Christians are not often invited to a place at the table where substantive ideas are formulated. So, even during the Bush years, generally perceived as a more faith-friendly time period, believers were most often shoved over into a faith-based sub-category where they could debate serious matters between themselves. Not enough gravitas for the weightier matters assigned to the intellectual community. By the way, Dubya was considered a light-weight dim witted President because of this very same bias. He was a person of faith and therefore thought to be shallow because of it. This is a modern prejudice that Christians must acknowledge and seek to change.

Believers are not soft, sticky, sweet marshmallow, brain-deprived peeps. OK, we count more than a few pin-heads among our numbers and I know a space-cadet or two who simply don't have a clue. At the same time, there are very many keen intellects in the Christian community, some of the brightest thinkers in nearly every human discipline. Of course, they are discounted by the elite. Take the climate change issue as an example. Liberal secularists lead the pack in claiming the ills of the environment and this global warming scare. Many fine conservative scientists, more than a few of them creationists, offer credible evidence against such claims. Yet, they are most often ignored or downplayed as the kook extreme. Go figure!

Christian faith is a heart and mind issue. At the deepest level, faith exists at the convergence of heart and mind, when the human creature can know intuitively and intellectually.In fact, if the Christian community has ignored any of the Biblical mandates for Kingdom building it has perhaps been in the area of teaching believers how to think like a Christian, how to actualize the "mind of Christ" in our approach to life. Our Great Commission is to "make disciples of all nations" and to do this by teaching, certainly a mind discipline.

The resurrection calls to to another level of affection and intellect. "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things" (Colossians 3:1-2). In fact, this call is to a higher thought process not limited by the frail limitations of human thought. It asks us to move it up a notch, to focus our minds in a elevated sense.

It's Easter week, Holy Week. Most of what will occupy us is mindless activity off the treadmill, a sort of disengagement from the gears of everyday busy-ness. Sure, we can enjoy our break, watch the Final Four, do the eggs and hallow bunnies, sport the new duds, kick back a bit.

But, we don't have to become marshmallow peeps to do it!

Chasing the Easter groove, 4

There was a time when belief was a national strength! Of course the worm turns and values that once were sacred have been blown away in a tsunami of cynicism. Mind you, the scope of our unbelief goes significantly beyond the tenets of personal faith. Enlightened people often sacrifice substance on an altar of openness, making dogma unacceptable. So, the exclamation point of certainty has been replaced by the question mark of doubt, and we have become men without chests, to borrow a phrase from C.S. Lewis.

Since the Revolution we've thought our representative republic to be the best form of government, our Constitution the envy of world governance. No longer. Now liberal and socialist politicians revile our form of government and seek to rule from the minority position or in behalf of special interests. The American economy, over the stretch of generations has been relatively stable and usually productive and efficient. Government intervention today seeks the correct what Montana Democrat Senator Max Baucus calls the mal-distribution of wealth, a new code word for leveling the economic playing field. Shoot, there was a time when elected officials were respected, when the clergy, and law enforcement officers were highly esteemed professionals, people in whom we could believe and depend. In WWII Hollywood stepped up in a wave of patriotism that grew victory gardens and sold war bonds and encouraged our troops. Now, they ridicule government and show every manner of disdain for American service personnel. Our world has turned upside down. Even little children don't believe in the Easter bunny anymore.

Here comes Peter cotton-tail, hoppin' down the bunny trail, hippity, hoppity Easter's on it's way. If you're up there in geezerhood with me you remember singing this Easter ditty as a kid. It was a kinder, simpler world back in the fifties and sixties, maybe a little on the naive side. They weren't necessarily the good old days, in my opinion, because that would be now and the future, at least to my way of thinking. Still, it was a time when beliefs weren't such a bad thing and we didn't label people with teeth in their values as narrow or shallow. Now we come to Easter and it just doesn't mean anything, except maybe a day off from work, a week out of school, a spring mental health break. The wonder of most everything is gone.

As an evangelical Christian belief is important to me. The articles of my faith have been examined and tested, verified in a thorough search for truth, and find their focus on a miracle in an ancient burial place in Jerusalem. My faith compels me to share it with others. This is done with care and compassion, a loving approach to people that matter. That empty tomb gives substance to my faith, the genuine belief that eternity is real and is made possible by the atoning death of Christ on the cross.

What is more, the empty tomb teaches me to believe in something extraordinary, miraculous. That faith gives millions of us hope in a world needing something to believe in. 

You see, everything is possible to him who believes. Mark 9:23

Chasing the Easter groove, 3

There's not much to the concept of holy these days! Very little is sacred in a profane culture, well, unless you include the counterfeit gods that we have deified. Holy Bible is stamped on the cover of the word, and once in a while the word holy pops in street language, you know, holy smoke, and worse. Of  course, we do set aside a week each year and call it Holy Week, as if a very unholy could suddenly become separated for God during this brief interlude in our self-absorbed lives.

Sociologists indicate that humans have an inclination to the sacred, what some call a God-sized void in us. Even the most primitive and secluded people groups develop a concept of the divine, an inner compulsion to worship and recognize something immortal, otherworldly. Most religions profess some concept of personal cleansing or sanctification, being marked or set-apart for use by their idol. It usually involves repeated ritual, annual or seasonal dedications to the god. 

Easter is when many people will satisfy these spiritual leanings. They will worship the gods of their preference and declare themselves clean for another year. Of course, this is no more than paganism American style, our sanitized version of world religion sans the jungle. It is laughable as well as sad, this belief that faith is something we can switch on and switch off like a Blackberry.

Here's praying for a more significant time in the life of believers, a turn to holiness that makes every week Holy and not just a name hung on one week a year.

Can it be?

It isn't what it used to be---

It's been said, repeatedly. It may seem trite. Great truths reduced to axiomatic phrases are often overused, thus robbed of profound meaning by familiarity. Yet, here it is, what preachers have said for generations.

Life without Christ is a hopeless end.
Life with Christ is an endless hope. 

This really is the core of our weekend themes at Northwood church on Palm Sunday. The resurrection offers us a living hope. The text this weekend, 1 Peter 1:3-5 explains how this occurs and in some respect, what it means for each of us. In a world gone mad, there is comfort and hope in what the empty tomb promises. It is a promise worth remembering because it guards us each and every day.

Easter week, called by many faiths Holy Week, begins tomorrow, Palm Sunday. It is a rich time to remember the work of Christ on our behalf, reflect on the deep meaning of the atonement for our lives, and experience personal spiritual renewal on the basis of promised hope. Faith is the substance of what we hope for. So, this week in history is important for us, giving us faith as the outcome of such hope.

Scripture says this hope is the anchor of our soul. This is what we prayerfully consider this weekend.

Shalom!

Chasing the Easter groove 2

Much of the time we just don't know what to do! One person with one vote and one opinion and limited dollars and even more limited influence seems kind of puny against the power of bigness all around us. Big government, big business, big bucks, big clout are intimidating to say the least. The result is a contemporary fatalism, a lack of meaning and purpose to give some of us a cohesive drive through life. Like the saying goes, whoever has the most toys at the end, wins.

Some people call this hopelessness, the sense that things are never going to be different. It is quite visible at several levels in contemporary culture and not always where you would expect. Surely despair haunts many of the inner-cities, especially among the poor, the chronically unemployed. Many elderly Americans, faced with critical life decisions regarding nourishment, medications, utilities, and legacy experience the daily reminders that may define their final chapter of life. Nursing homes and assisted living facilities are inhabited by lonely outcasts, often abandoned by family and friends. Then, there are the children, little ones all over America with few prospects of education, employment, or advancement. Hopeless, indeed.

Many demographic studies reveal the same dread beyond the down and out. The up and in often discover a shallowness that shadows their hard work, elevation, accomplishment, wealth, education, and stuff. Bright students on the cusp of endless possibilities often just drop out under the weight of expectations and fear of failure. Some shining stars suffer what psychologists call super-nova burnout, the fast consumption of life fuel at early ages with no new frontiers in sight. We even learned in the past few months that our retirement funds or nest eggs couldn't guarantee our future.

The artificial grass and hollow bunnies of Easter are just metaphors of life. They look good and provide something of a seasonal lift, some decoration and taste to brighten our lives. I remember a friend receiving some colored biddies at Easter one year. How precious and sweet, little yellow and pink and green chicks, all dead in a couple of weeks. You can rent them now so you won't have to bother with keeping them alive. We used to dye eggs too. Nice touch, family time getting them ready. In three or four says they were rancid. You see, all the glitz is temporary hope.

An empty tomb announces hope. "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead---" (1 Peter 1:3). You see, hope is the Easter groove too. And, you find it in an empty tomb.

Now, that's what I'm talking about!

Chasing the Easter groove

A world in turmoil telescopes down to individual souls grappling with their own particular lives. It's convenient to paint with a broad brush and talk about the ills of an over-populated planet, unstable governments, economic crises, the plight of the poor, social inequities, and moral digression. Governments and religions and social structures must certainly view the world through a panoramic lens. Yet, a the bottom of every socio-economic-political-cultural-religious pyramid there are people with names and faces seeking to carve out a meaningful existence.

Our nation is America the fortunate! At one time I might have said American the blessed. Our spiritual pulse today is so faint I''m not sure the blessed descriptions fits. We are, basically a nation of haves. Sure, there are have nots too but on a scale much different than could be applied in most other countries. What is surprising is that even in the vast extremes of wealth and poverty in our nation, the human element remains basically constant. People are stressed, time worn, and chasing a dream of one kind or another. Sure, there are people who have given up, segments of our population who cannot find a hand-hold out of a particular set of circumstances or lifestyle. However, even the homeless people I know, and there a quite a few, are trapped on a tread-mill of some kind, a fast-track to nowhere.

So, our culture is on the edge---survival for some, existence for others, the next-level for more. We chase it, whatever "it" is, each with our own bent, our own set of tools. Whatever our arsenal, we are taught to do it harder, do it more, go after it with greater intensity, push the envelop, stretch. Like running harder on the treadmill is going to somehow help us gain ground. So, we work more, drink more, party more, play more, escape more, gripe more, criticize more, wag our fingers more, et.al. Like the young woman said, "I don't know what I want. I just want more."

Spring springs! New life buds. Pollen accumulates on our cars and in our nostrils. So, let's chase the Easter groove and grab a handful of this freshness. School break. Time away from work. Schedules eased a bit. Beach weekends. Family gatherings. The Easter fashion parade. A basket of eggs, some choice chocolate bunnies, jelly beans, dinner out, The Ten Commandments on TV, the Passion of the Christ for some, and moments of diversion from life's realities.

Then, back on the treadmill, many of us empty as the hollow bunny we ate Sunday morning. You see, the Easter groove isn't a new suit or some yummy goodies or time with family. The Easter groove is peace. And, you can't buy it, find it under a bush, or in an Easter basket.

The Easter groove is peace. It is found in an empty tomb. After the resurrection Jesus said to his disciples, "Peace be with you!" (Luke 24:36). 

Peace.

While we're debating health care---

While government officials and the talking heads are kicking the health-care debate back and forth Americans are still on a gadget buying binge. Even during the economic slow down and spike in the unemployment rate consumers continued to purchase smart phones, Wii Fit, X-boxes, the all new e-readers, and dozens of other techno gizmos and gadgets that dazzle and amaze us.

I mean, take a gander of one of the new techie wonders, stage right. Here is the Stylish Wrap 920 AV, the cool way to avail yourself of video media of just about any genre. Price? $250 for first generation. Manufacturers are still trying to define the market on this one. But, I know quite a few wonder kids who'll have one as soon as they are being mass marketed and the second generation price adjusts some. It's a status symbol with some people, you know, keeping up with the Jetsons kind of thing. 

The gadget craze is more than a trend. We're a culture that likes our toys, maybe pleasures is another word, passions may be ever more stylish. Some are the tangible things you can touch---computers, nice cars, smart clothing, jewelry, homes, books, golf clubs, blah, blah, blah. Others are things you can experience---NASCAR, cable television, favorite teams, a great meal, a good movie, opera, rock music, a day at the spa, drugs, sex, to mention a few. Some people get their jollies owning cool stuff, the latest developments in technology. If you want to look around at some of the latest advances in the digital world, spend a little time here. You'll love it if this kind of thing is your gig. 

This is a loose connection, I know. But, here is one inequity in the health care debate. I know a couple who are heavy duty NASCAR fans. It's their passion. They go to four or five races a year. It is an expensive family diversion. They both work and make a decent living. Health care is not in their budget. To accommodate insurance premiums they'd have to give up NASCAR. OK, it's their money and life. But, now, they'll be forced to go the health care route. No argument from me. I'd do health insurance before golf, college football, bowling, hunting, or watching cable TV. But, there's something in me that resists big brother telling them what to do with their money. 

Are we a nation of inverted values? Perhaps. I mean we spend more on dog food than we do many other worthwhile humanitarian causes. That's why the Bible provides for the tithe and other offerings, to compassionately care for widows, children, the poor, the infirm, and others who slip through the cracks of a fallible system. But, I believe if someone wants to pick up the all new Table Tennis Mittens for $99., they should be able to do so. 

No government program is going to alleviate the economic extremes that have been part of the human equation since creation. The New Deal didn't do it, the Great Society didn't get is there, compassionate conservatism didn't make it happen, Camelot fell short, and you know the rest. Beyond that, the rule of law should always define how we handle dealing with these inequities and writing societal wrongs. We all have rights. And, I have a right to decide what is best for my family. If we'd rather purchase widgets with our money, that should be our privilege.

Go figure!

Too much health care talk?

Seeing double from all the health care talk? Well, you could get out the duct tape and do a turn or two around your head, just to be sure you don't explode from all the talking heads. Or, better yet, take a chill pill. OK, so I am opposed to Obama-care on many levels and can't really find an entry point to voice concerns over another government boondoggle. Still, this isn't the end of civilization as we know it and we'd be better off mentally if we cooled down the rhetoric a bit and gain a little perspective here.

Most Americans have done the sky is falling thing at other junctures in the American epoch. Shoot, passing the American Constitution in 1787 was pretty high politics for it's day and caused a good number of people to pack their trunks and head west, young man!The first 100 Days of FDR's first term introduced the New Deal, and many politicians and citizens thought that would be the end of the American way of life. Harold Ickes, Secretary of the Interior at the time and a card-carrying New Dealer himself said, "It's not a New Deal, it's a new world." Understatement of the millennium, perhaps! Fiscal conservatives went berserk. Oh yes, right here in  my own lifetime the left went bonkers when Richard Nixon was elected President, predicting jack-boots in the streets and paranoia run wild in the halls of Congress. Holy smokes, church people thought Clark Gable was the anti-Christ when he said, "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn" in the 1939 Gone with the Wind. America was going to you know where in a hand basket. Editorials lambasted Hollywood for loose morals and demanded a motion picture rating system to protect innocent ears from such vulgar language. My grandmother and a lot of people from her generation thought the world was going to end when men first walked on the moon, another accomplishment that made us question technology and doubt if we were even close to the right track.

I mean, it doesn't take too much to send us over the edge, since most of us live very close to it all the time. There's a cataclysmic dimension to life, a human tendency to over-play things a bit, a little drama queen in all of us. Want to compare scars? Then again, most of us are passionate about something and when our ox gets gored we like to make a little noise about it. That's not to downplay the selective reasoning of the current Congress in their interpretation of legislative power. They've trampled the constitution pretty hard this time and hi-jacked 1/6 of the American economy in the process.

But, it's not the end of the world, like when the Ford Motor Company stopped producing the Edsel, or something as drastic as Mars candies introducing blue M and M's. Get real, this is earth changing stuff. People thought we were going down the tubes when the franchise was granted to women, when schools were integrated, when Clemson adopted the Tiger Paw logo (1970). What is this world coming to?

So, health care reform is the law. Unless challenged by the courts we'll live by the letter of it, even if the Congress obliterated the letter of the law in passing it. It's going to cost somebody something, which usually means us working stiffs. We'll do it however, until a new Congress or law tells us otherwise.

And Jesus Christ is still Lord, and God reigns on His throne. 

Now, here. Take one of these twice a day to reduce high temp.

And, if you can't get this script at your doctor, or if you can't get an appointment to see your doctor, you can purchase a bottle of 60 on-line from the Medical University of Pago Pago for $249.95, plus S & H, if you call within the next ten minutes. 

Such a deal!

The Circus is Here

A couple of years ago, when I was doing a good bit of career counseling with pastors and church staffers, someone suggested a book to add to my arsenal of advice. Is It Too Late to Run and Join the Circus? by Marti Smye, Ph.D., was billed as an updated guide to your second life. The title gave me a good laugh but the book was a good assessment of mid-life career options and what happens to so many people when work becomes a job.

The other day I pronounced the title to our church staff, reminding them that we could all run away and hook up with a traveling circus on the road somewhere. They all laughed. One of them said, "you already did that." Understanding the bizarre turns that ministry takes at times, I knew that it does occasionally resemble a circus or side-show and we're often spinning the plates or jumping through hoops in the center ring.

Today I realized that life mimics the big top at many levels. Watching the shenanigans of the United States Congress as they paraded their self-absorbed stuff around Washington in the health care thing made me feel a lot better about the occasional weirdness of church life. The true circus is in Washington and the parade of clowns is the people you and I sent there with our votes. If it were not so tragic it would be laughable. But, the truth is, this legislation, besides being faulty at so many levels, involves the most corrupt positioning and maneuvering ever seen in our government. What C.S.Lewis predicted is now here in the flesh: men without chests ruling with their make-a-deal antics, bartering away deeply held convictions for the sake of a leftist political agenda that mocks our constitution and system.

Surreal, that's what it is. The players are clown-like in their caricature. But, it is more like a funeral procession than a circus parade, more tragedy than comedy, a parade of fools, perhaps. It saddens us. Not just because it is financially obscene or administratively nightmarish. No, because big brother has trampled our Constitution and presumes to dictate even more of our lives.

Still, it looks like a parade of clowns to me. Only, this is not laughter. These are tears.