Owner’s Manual – part 2

If you missed part 1, go here.

‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’ -Jeremiah 33:3

Here’s the thing. It’s not that I think the analogy of the Bible as our “owner’s manual” or “rulebook” is wrong; it’s just that it’s so limited.

We want order, instructions, procedures, guarantees. If we follow the rules, we want our lives to “work out”. We want to put tab A into slot B and end up with a nice little box for our animal crackers. But, what if God wants to scatter your animal crackers across the sea? What if, for your good, he wants to let them get a little chewed up and broken? What if he gives you way too many animal crackers for your neat little box? What if he just gives you one, special one, to cherish close to your heart? (whew … talk about taking an analogy too far …)

I’ve seen people ask a question and close their eyes and point with their finger … like the Bible is a magic 8 ball. It’s not that I don’t think God can work in that way … but it is so self-focused. How do we know we’re asking the right question? We might be having a problem with a co-worker, and be so focused on that that we miss the “great and unsearchable things” God has for us.

The Bible does have guidelines for how to live, but, I think the secret to learning them, to living them is going deeper into him. If we simply look for procedures, but miss the relationship … it’s going to be mighty hard to follow the manual.

We follow, not because it’s right, but because he loved and he gave … out of love and gratitude for who he is and what he’s done. The more we know him, the more we know how.

So, maybe the right question (or at least a good question) is, may I see you in my reading today?

What do you think?

 

Lifted Up

Twice in the past few days, I’ve run across this verse, But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself. (John 12:32). Anytime that happens, repeated references to the same verse or idea, I try to take notice. And here’s the progression of my thoughts:

If my mission is to make disciples (and it is)

And if making disciples means helping others know and follow Jesus (and I believe it does)

And if Jesus said men would be drawn to Him as He is lifted up (and He did),

Then, I should be lifting Jesus up with my life.

What does it mean to lift Him up?

Did I lift Him up today?

More than I lifted myself?

More than I tore others down?

Did you?

 

The Jesus in the Middle

Off and on I’ve been reading “A Generous Orthodoxy” by Brian McLaren. Understand that McLaren is not for the faint of heart and I do not recommend him wholeheartedly, but I like much about this book especially with regard to unity and the Church.

One of the things he talks about early on in his book is the tendency for evangelicals (full disclosure: though I don’t like labels, evangelical is the tradition I grew up in) to focus almost exclusively on Jesus’ birth and death, the incarnation and the cross, while some other traditions tend to focus much more on the Jesus in the middle.

And I’ve been thinking about the Jesus in the middle.

In the middle Jesus had compassion on the multitude.

In the middle Jesus healed the sick and the lame and the blind.

In the middle Jesus fed the crowd.

In the middle Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners.

In the middle Jesus walked and he taught and he prayed and he helped.

He laughed and he ate and he danced and he loved,

and he loved and he loved and he loved.

I praise God for the birth of Jesus, the Word became flesh, God stepped into time … a mystery unfathomable.

And I thank God for the cross: salvation, redemption, restoration … blessing beyond compare.

But for today, for life, and for joy, and for truth, and for peace, and for love, I try, and I try and I fail and I try, to pattern my life on the Jesus in the middle.

Because the beginning and the end seem a bit empty without the life in the middle, like a story with no plot, or a melon rind with no sweet fruit … hollow … don’t you think?

 

Amateur Christian

My sister in law is a hair stylist.  She used to run her own business.  After the birth of her second child, however, she closed her business and only worked on family, in her kitchen.  One day when she was cutting my hair I remarked that she was a highly skilled amateur.

She bristled, “Oh no, I’m a professional.”

I tried to explain that I hadn’t meant to insult her, but the literal meaning of the word amateur was one who does it for the love.  She no longer cuts hair professionally, for money, but now does it for the love.

And I’ve been thinking …

Many of us approach Christianity like it’s a profession.  I am a Christian, so I do this and I don’t do that.  Which makes my Christianity about me.  Which makes me a hypocrite.  Professionalism implies a level of training, competence and skill.  Does that speak to our unrealistic expectations of our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who are at a different point in their journey and walking a different landscape than our own?

I’ve been an amateur musician since I was 8 years old (I just had a birthday and I don’t feel like reckoning up the years just now, but suffice it to say that’s a long time).  In that time I’ve gone through periods where I’ve played and/or sung a lot.  Just this week I opened a book I bought a few months ago and started to teach myself to play the piano.  Is this because I’m super good at it or because I think I might like to or be able to earn my living at it some day?  No way.  It’s pure love.  I love music.  At my best, I’ve achieved some degree of competence, but I’d be kidding myself if I thought there was a future for me as a professional musician.  I don’t have the talent.  And, frankly, I don’t want to place myself in the position where the work required to achieve professional level musicianship would detract from the love …

What does this mean for me as a Christ follower?

First and foremost I must remember that I’m in it for the love.  Love for Jesus is my motivation for all that I do, not some list of rules posted in the church bylaws or even some list of rules printed in the bible.  Those are guidelines for how I live out my love for Christ.

It also means that my attitude toward my fellow followers is one of grace and not judgement.  I might think they should or should not be doing something, but it is unrealistic to expect professional level competence out of one who is just taking his first steps on the path of love.

It means that I have to follow the path of love that is laid out in front of me regardless of whether it measures up to popular Christian culture.  I’m not talking about going against the bible, I’m talking about a path that’s outside the mainstream experience.  There are many things in our contemporary Christian culture that are traditions and practices, this is the way we’ve always done it.  And I must be free to take them or leave them as Love dictates.

And it might mean that my attempts to be more like Jesus are sometime, well, amateurish.  Maybe I’m visiting in the nursing home for the first time and I don’t know what to do, don’t know what to say and I stand there awkwardly and I stammer and I repeat myself and I leave too soon or stay too long.  But, I love Jesus.  And I want to be like him.  And I believe that if he was living my life, he would visit the sick and lonely.  And I’m not doing it because I’m good at it, but for the love.  So I’ll go back next week.  And, just maybe, after a while, I’ll achieve some degree of competence.

Maybe it’s like my friend Jon wrote about should and could.  A professional should, but an amateur could …

 

Finishing Well

I’ve been haunted by Matthew 25 (see below for text) for the last several months:

What’s occurring to me and convicting me and breaking me is that this isn’t about my money, this is about me.  If Jesus was here, physically right now, living my life or living your life, I don’t believe he would be satisfied with writing a check, giving a hand out, but he would be stretching his hand out …

Well.  One of the things this has caused me to do is ask God what I can do to become more like Jesus and what I can involve my girls in so they can be learning how to become more like Jesus?  So, today, for the first time, we visited a nursing home.  I went earlier in the month and filled out the paper-work, talked with the activities director and told him we wanted to visit some people that don’t have regular visitors (in hind-sight I wish I had put further stipulations on it).

I was given a list of 7 names in the “A” wing.  More than half of them were asleep.

Then there was Marie.

I poked my head into the door of her room and a pair of bright eyes met mine.  “Are you Marie?” She shook her head, “no”.  But, in fact, I found out later, she was Marie.

“May we come in?” 

She smiled a lopsided smile, nodded vigorously and mouthed a garbled, “yes”.  I found out after a few minutes that “yes” and “thank you” were the only words she could say that I could understand.  But she used them freely and generously.  I told her a little about us and she said, “yes, yes.  Thank you, thank you.”  I asked her name and I could tell she was trying to tell me but couldn’t articulate it.  As I spoke to her, I couldn’t tell if she could understand very much of what I was saying, but she nodded to me and smiled at the girls and kept up an almost constant litany of “yes, yes, thank you, thank you.”

And as I drove home I found myself weeping, weeping for these people that most of us have forgotten and overwhelmed by the beauty of Marie.  There she lies, trapped in bed, trapped in her body and all she had to offer us was smiles and nods and “yes, yes, thank you, thank you.”  And I thought, she’s been emptied of everything extra and all she is left with is the core of herself, her beautiful, shining essence.  And what is at that core?

Yes. Yes. Thank you. Thank you.

O my Father, when I get to the end and am emptied of everything may I have nothing left but “yes, yes, thank you, thank you.”  In fact, I could use a little more “yes, yes, thank you, thank you” in my life right now.  Help me to live in “yes” and “thank you” right now so that at the end it is all I have left to give to you and to those around me.

Help me to finish well.  Like Marie.

Matthew 25:35-40
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

 ”Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

 ”The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

 

Fat Tuesday

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent.  I, along with 7 other writers of various denominations and liturgical backgrounds, am writing at Lent 2008.  Please visit us there and leave your comments, suggestions, questions and observations.

 

The Weaver

Yesterday, when I woke up, I was fretting.  I had a mental picture of myself weaving . . . without a loom.  I had the warp threads in one hand and the weft in the other, desperately trying to hold them all while with one eye I looked over my shoulder at the mess I had made of the tapestry behind me, the picture obscured by knots and snarls, loops sticking up where I hadn’t pulled the thread through completely, and holes where I had dropped the threads altogether.

“O God”, I cried out, “I can’t hold all this.  I am dropping threads all over and I don’t even know what the picture is supposed to look like.” 

And He gently said to me, “You’re not the weaver . . .  Put them down.  Take this thread.  Put it in that hole.  Pull it all the way through.”

“But,” I said, dropping the thread as I turned to look at the mess behind me, “what about that?  You can’t even tell what the picture is.”

And He patiently turned me and handed me the thread again,

“This thread.”

“That hole.”

“Don’t worry about what’s behind.  Let me take care of that.  Maybe I’ll take you back to fix some of those threads.  But maybe, after we’ve woven a little more, you’ll realize that the picture is not as obscured as you thought.  And maybe I’m fond of that “mess” because it is part of you and it’s making you into the person I’ve meant you to be all along.”

O God, what freedom to serve you, the Sovereign Lord of the universe who loves me as a daughter, delights in me.  There are no words to thank you for all you’ve done for me.

 

Follow Me (by way of reminder)

don’t count the cost - 
And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.
Matthew 19:29

don’t look back -
At once they left their nets and followed him.
Matthew 4:20

don’t try to figure out where we’re going -
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 6:34

don’t fear -
 If God is for us, who can be against us?
 Romans 8:31b
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
 John 16:33

don’t worry about what to bring -
If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
Matthew 6:30-32

don’t worry that you can’t make the journey -
I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength. 
Philippians 4:12-13

don’t give up -
I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
Philippians 3:12

don’t worry about results -
Offer right sacrifices and trust in the Lord.
Psalm 4:5

 

on discipleship/small groups/etc.

Yesterday, our elders were trying to explain their vision for developing a vibrant small group ministry in our church.  During the course of talking extemporaneously, one elder shared that the purpose of the groups was to foster: teaching, fellowship, prayer, service and outreach.  I wrote them down because I wondered whether those were in any particular order.  Later, they passed out a handout that said small groups were to be a “primary model for evangelism, service, discipleship, and fellowship.”  And another person asked whether those were in any particular order and was told yes, they had prayerfully considered the order.

What I would like to suggest is the discipleship does not belong in that list.  it seems to me that discipleship is the umbrella under which all the other areas fall.  My working definition (on which I welcome your input) is that discipleship is following/being like Jesus. 

I think all other areas, evangelism, service, fellowship, teaching, prayer, and outreach fall under the umbrella of following/being like Jesus. 

Evangelism is telling people about Jesus, just like He did, “I am the way . . . no one comes to the Father except through me.”  Service is “[taking] on a servant’s nature”, just like He did.  Fellowship is spending time with other Christ followers so that we can encourage and uplift one another, just like He did.  Teaching is providing opportunities to understand this Jesus we are following and what following Jesus looks like, just like He did.  Prayer is talking to the Father both individually and corporately, just like He did.  Outreach is a little fuzzy for me.  Jesus went where the people were and the people came where He was – so outreach, at it’s best, is providing opportunities, both formal and informal, for us to be where the people are so that we can tell them about Jesus, pray for them, serve them . . .

So in the above scenario, I don’t know what the working definition for discipleship was that it was one of a list, nor why it fell so far down the list, but I would like to suggest the definition is incomplete.

NOTE:  worship was mentioned at one time as well, but not in these two particular lists, but I would like to suggest that like discipleship it belongs over the rest, because at their best, fellowship, prayer, service, teaching, evangelism are all acts of worship.

 

On Discipleship

Since Jon posted It’s the Relationships on his blog I’ve been trying to wrap my head around the very complex concept of being a disciple and making disciples.  I’ve been praying two things lately – that God would show me if there is someone I need to be discipling and that He would help me see people the way He sees them.  And something interesting is happening.  I am waking up to the fact that I am surrounded by women in pain.  And God is telling me to be more intentional in the relationships that I already have.

In light of Malachi 2:7

For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge and from his mouth men should seek instruction – because he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty.

• Shouldn’t there be an element of discipleship in all our interactions as believers?  If yes, then why are we wasting time talking about the weather and our happiness?
• Does God bring people into your life that need your brand of discipling?  Hurting people are brought to those with gifts of mercy – those who need to be grounded in the word are drawn to those with gifts of teaching, etc.  If yes, then shouldn’t we be looking and listening for those opportunities . . . and expecting them?
• Have we missed the boat looking at discipleship as leading a younger Christian through a book study?  trying to make a program out of it instead of living it?  I’m not saying book studies aren’t valuable – but I wonder if telling our stories to each other and praying for one another might not be more effective.

I’m having a hard time articulating what I am thinking about discipleship, but these questions are a start.  And I think, for me, one of the first steps is to surrender my agenda to God and be willing to follow the Holy Spirit as He leads throughout my days – so, so hard.  So many times the things I think are important are not kingdom things.

Thoughts?