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Christian is a great noun and a poor adjective.-Rob Bell in Velvet Elvis

Do you ever sit in church and find yourself nodding your head vigorously as the preacher says something in the sermon? Something that you believe so strongly that you PHYSICALLY have to express agreement?

Rob Bell's book makes me do that. And, I try to write about it here when I find myself nodding. So, here I go.

Try as you might, you cannot divide the world into "Christian" and "secular". You can stick a fish on a picture frame, but it doesn't make it any more Christian than one without the fish. You can put a U-2 album in the pop section of the music store and a Mercy Me album in the Christian section, but that doesn't mean that a listener will get more truth and hope from the second than the first. And it certainly doesn't mean that a Christian should not be a consumer of the first because they aren't found in the Christian stamped and approved section of the store.

I read once that there was no Hebrew word for "spiritual". Why? Because there was no separating the spiritual and secular for the Jewish people.

EVERYTHING that is done is connected to your beliefs.

Even that job you have that you think has nothing to do with your faith. (If you are performing your job in a way that is disjointed from your faith, well, things like Enron come to mind.)

Paul said, "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." (Colossians 3:17)

Whatever you do. Do it all. In His name.

Not just the things you have labeled "Christian".

Context is everything

To grab a few lines of Jesus and drop them down on someone 2,000 years later without first entering into the world in which they first appeared is lethal to the life and vitality and truth of the Bible.-Rob Bell in Velvet Elvis

Have you ever overheard part of a conversation then run off and told someone something based on what you thought you heard only to find out later that that wasn't it at all?

Have you ever started watching a movie in the middle and then get to the end and not understand it at all because you missed something key at the beginning?

Context is so important in these and other aspects of our lives. Why wouldn't it be important in our understanding of the Bible?

Sure, the Bible can bring meaning and enlightenment into our lives wherever we are...whether we are Bible scholars or first time readers. But, to take bits and pieces of the Bible and proclaim them to be speaking truths to us today without also understanding the context in which they were written is only getting part of the picture. The Bible is so much more vibrant when we get "the rest of the story".

One study I read, for instance, discussed the social climate that existed in Jesus' day that would have made the fact that the father of the Prodigal Son ran to his son to greet him more than just a visibly emotional way for him to say "welcome home". In that society, it was humiliating for a person of his age to run...much less to pull up his robes and run! The father risks humiliation to welcome his son home. When we read the story without understanding the full context in which the story was being told, we only get a shallow understanding of this father's actions. And since this father is a representation of our Heavenly Father, we aren't grasping the full depth and breadth of His love for us until we know the full social context of the parable.

In Movement Two of  Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith, Rob Bell gives several wonderful examples of this sort of depth that can be added to the Bible through more thorough understanding of the culture in which the books of the Bible were written. He says,

The Bible originated from real people in real places at real times...To take statements made in a letter from one person living in a real place at a moment in history writing to another person living in a real place out of their context and apply them to today without first understanding their original context sucks the life right out of them.

But, how do we get this additional understanding? I wish I could tell you. But, I have found that Beth Moore breathes life into the scriptures beautifully when she writes a book or study guide*. She will fill in gaps in your knowledge that make Jesus' actions as a Jewish man in a Jewish culture facing Roman occupation so much more meaningful that what it means when read through just the filter of your own modern situation.

Is the story of Jesus' life powerful even if you don't know these things? Sure it is.

But it is so much MORE if you do.

*I recommend Beth Moore's Jesus the One and Only study highly.

The smackdown

The moment God is figured out with nice neat lines and definitions, we are no longer dealing with God. We are dealing with somebody we made up. And, if we made him up, then we are in control. And so in passage after passage, we find God reminding people that he is beyond and bigger and more.-Rob Bell in Velvet Elvis

My latest lunchtime reading material is a book by Rob Bell called Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith. I came to know Rob Bell through his video series, Nooma, which our Sunday School class uses occasionally during those Sundays we are in between studies. Bell is the founding pastor of Mars Hill in Michigan. His videos are spiritually motivating and thought provoking (and they are visually pleasing, too).

Yesterday was a Nooma Sunday in our class. We watched the latest in the series, Whirlwind. In this installment, Bell discusses the seldom asked question, "Why do bad things happen?" He, as a lot of these sorts of studies do, goes to the book of Job for guidance. Of the 11 minutes in the video, 9 minutes are Bell reciting the questions that God asks of Job after Job has questioned God as to why all the bad stuff has happened to him. You know, the sorts of things like, "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundations?" and "What is the way to the place where lightning is dispersed?" On and on, God points out the length, depth and breadth of his might, power and glory. In our discussions after the video, Steve referred to it as the "smackdown".

Appropriate.

Job's response? He put his hand over his mouth and said no more.

Debris

The first step in any spiritual awakening is demolition. We cannot make headway in seeking God without first tearing down the accumulated junk in our souls. Rationalizing has to cease. We have to start seeing the sinful debris we hadn't noticed before, which is what holds back the blessing of God.-Jim Cymbala in Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire

Debris. What an excellent word for the things of this world that we surround ourselves with. No, immerse ourselves in. Willingly, knowingly immerse ourselves in. Things that keep the noise level up around us so that we don't have too much head time. Things that occupy every waking moment so that we can't possibly commit to doing something God is calling us to do.

Heck, we can't even hear Him calling.

I can think of several in my life.

1. Television. I could add up how many hours of tv I watch every week pretty easily, but I don't want to put it in a concrete number and admit it.
2. Books. I have started reading from a devotional every night before bed and then I read a Psalm and a Proverb from my One Year Bible. Often I read something that really gets me thinking. Something that is really convicting. But, not one to stay in thought for long, I almost always pick up the book I'm reading for my usual "reading before bed" time.
3. Music. I have about a 30 minute commute each day. It is never quiet. I fill the van with either my favorite morning show or music from my iPod. (My iPod is not very Christian, by the way. I seem to especially love music that I have to find "CLEAN" versions of when I buy it so the kids won't be exposed to bad language when they ride with me. But I still know what the artist is singing and, let's be honest, the kids probably do, too.) Some days, although not many, I will have a mini worship service in my van with some of my favorite music from Christian artists. Even then, though, I am surrounding myself with noise to occupy my mind rather than sitting still and listening for God.
4. Photography. I have a photo blog and I find myself striving to put an image out on the blog that will get praise from someone. Anyone. It feels good to be told that something you did is liked. This coming week's blog theme is "manipulated", so it gave me free rein to open up my favorite photo editing software and play with photos. I spent, literally (and I, unlike sportscasters, do know what that means), hours on this.
5. Online communities. The photography blog is just my latest attempt to reach out into cyberspace and get positive feedback, friendship and affirmation. I have already been through parenting communities, diet and exercise e-mail groups, Facebook, and Twitter addictions. I also love to blog. I have two other blogs beside the photo blog (this one and a more personal one focused on diet and exercise). I have tried to go cold turkey from each and every one of these except blogging. I have broken away from some but not all and every time I break one addiction, I pick up another.

I think I need to pray, as Jim Cymbala put it, for the Holy Spirit to put a shovel and broom in my hand to help me get rid of this debris.

Case in point

I finished Cure for the Common Life and started a new book during my lunch time getaways. Before I tell you about the new book, let me just say that having cleansed my palatte of the last book for about a week, I'm going to return to what I originally said about Christian "self-help" books like that one.

Not my cup of tea.

Here's the problem: for the duration of the time that I was reading that book, I was focused on ME, not God. I need to turn my gaze up, not in, folks. You can see from my blog posts during the time that I was reading the book that I wasn't thinking about anything but me. (And, I deleted one post about 10 hours after putting it up...even in the heat of it, I knew that one was too self-indulgent!)

Moving on...

I'm now reading Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala. Cymbala is the pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle, which I was familar because of its amazing choir (which is led by his wife). I'll write more on this book later, but I wanted to go ahead and share what it was that I was reading.

And, while on that subject, I'll also mention that I'm reading Bread and Wine each night. This is a Lenten/Easter devotional book just like the one I read at my pastor's suggestion during Advent (Watch for the Light).

Eye opening exercise

I've gotten through the actual reading of Max Lucado's Cure for the Common Life and am now working through the "Sweet Spot Discovery Guide" at the back of the book. It's an interesting exercise designed to make you think back through your life to the things that you did well and enjoyed doing. First, you just write a brief summary of a few of those things from your childhood, youth, and adulthood. Then, you expand on them with more detail, including what was the most satisfying aspect of the experience. I've not gotten any further than that, but just this has made some things more clear than they were before I started.

Do you know what I recalled as I thought back through my life's sweet spot experiences? When I was in grade school, I would write books, complete with illustrations, for a friend of mine. (She did the same for me.) This love of putting something together and sharing it has not been something that only goes as far back as junior high school. (I started down the road to true yearbook geekdom in junior high and went on to become editor of my high school and college yearbooks.) This is a thread that has been there throughout my life. Homemade books. Yearbooks. Family websites. Scrapbooks. Keepsake books. Calendars. Sermons. Blogs.

So, now to finish these exercises, pray and figure out how God wants me to deploy the gifts He gave me for His glory. (It sounds easier than it is, but at least I'm thinking.)

A disclaimer

I started a new lunchtime book today. The book is Cure for the Common Life by Max Lucado. I have to admit, it's not my usual sort of read.

Here's the thing I don't like about this type of book: scripture fishing. These sorts of self-help books will dive into scripture, choosing from many, many different translations, to find a snippet that will fit the particular point the author is making. I'm not crazy about this because scripture is contextual and pulling a verse or half a verse out of context and smashing it into a pretty three step list of how to be a better Christian isn't really the point, is it? I am not saying that the author was trying to manipulate his readers with scripture, by the way. I'm just saying I'm not fond of this particular genre of Christian writing.

However, I have read a few such books before (The Purpose Driven Life anyone?). And, I do think this one will make me think about what my gifts are and how I should be deploying them in the world as God intended.

In fact, today after reading a few chapters, I was asking myself a few questions:

Why did God make me so good at what I do for a career if that career occupies so much of my time that I have had to turn down the opportunities to assist my local church with the same sort of work? (Trust me here, reader. I am not working alot because I'm trying to have a high-powered career. I'm working alot because I can't seem to do otherwise and keep my job.)

Why do I feel that, despite being gifted in these areas, these gifts aren't what God gave me to serve His kingdom with? How can that be right? Am I just not grateful for what He has given? Am I trying to run from the gift by trying to serve my church in other ways, such as teaching?

Get out there

In the concluding chapter of The Jesus of Suburbia, Mike Erre writes:

The most common (and powerful) objections to faith are no longer intellectual, per se, but rather are moral in nature. In other words, the predominant questions culture was asking fifty years ago were intellectual questions: Has evolution disproved creation? Does God exist? Can miracles happen? What are the proofs for the resurrection of Christ?

Erre points out that, in response, the Christian community responded by focusing on answering these questions through apologetics. Today, however, the main consumers of apologetic books and studies are those within the church who are seeking to strengthen their faith. It's not the outsiders and the outsiders aren't even asking these questions anymore. I know that I have read (and am reading) lots of apologetics. These are all great for enhancing my understanding of Jesus but, in thinking about my earlier post about how we tend to box Jesus into the little bit that we udnerstand, I think that my focus in this area has led to me doing just that: boxing Him in because of all I THINK I understand.

Erre continues:

Today's challenges to followers of Jesus come in an increasingly moral form. Why can't two gay men who love each other marry? What is wrong with experimenting on stem cells harvested through aborted fetuses? How can Christians claim that their religion is the only correct one and that everyone else is damned to hell? In all of these debates, the Christian position is typically portrayed as the least moral position!

I have to step out here and admit that I have fallen victim to this exact thought process. Isn't it more loving and just to be tolerant of these things? All of those thorny issues aside, Erre points out that what is missing today is a good, solid demonstration by Christians of the way Jesus ministered to people: by serving and loving people.

This past Sunday, the district superintendent preached a particularly biting sermon on issues such as these. He pointed out that there are churches that spend a lot of time and energy on a one week mission trip to a third world country while each and every week those same church members drive past people in need on their way to church. I think this is the point being made. Someone once said (I believe it was Phillip Yancey) that the people that the church will travel halfway around the world to help wouldn't be welcome through the front door of the church if they showed up there.

In short, churches have become very inward focused. Jesus told us to go out into the world and preach the good news.

The world is out there...not already in the church building.

Lions who are lambs

Continuing my lunchtime reading of The Jesus of Suburbia, today's section talked about the problems Christians have identifying the true enemy and what our posture should be in the face of them:

As much as we are tempted to view culture or individuals as our enemies today, this text reminds us of the greater conflict being waged around us and our place in that conflict. Our bosses, annoying neighbors, immoral movie stars, and cultural icons-none of these are our real enemy. They may be used by the enemy, but they are not the enemy.-Chapter 8

When we, as a church act as if the these tools of the enemy are THE ENEMY, we are missing the boat. And, when we fight the true enemy (Satan), we are to overcome him as Christ did: "through sacrificial love and perseverence through suffering...We become lions who are lambs."

Mystery and paradox

Some snippets from today's lunchtime reading of The Jesus of Suburbia:

We have made a god out of our intellects. We worship God only when he makes sense. God reveals himself as a God we will never figure out. And yet we can know him intimately. That paradox sets us free.-Chapter 7

God is bigger than, more powerful than and more majestic than we can grasp. We can not understand the fullness of Him nor the ways in which He works. However, this is the God we should worship, not the small piece of Him which we THINK we understand.

Adding on

One of the best new habits I have developed is to spend time before bed reading from one of the many spiritual books I have. During Advent, I read each night from the book (Watch For The Light: Readings For Advent And Christmas) which my minister gave to me. I have already purchased another similar book for Lent (Bread And Wine: Readings For Lent And Easter). In the meantime, I read more from my minister's book (The Theological Implications of Climate Control: Reflections on the Seasons of Faith) which follows the church calendar. I finished up the chapters on Ephiphany Wednesday evening. Right now, I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to read in the evening until Lent, but I read a little from a Beth Moore book last night.

I'm going to start doing this same thing during lunch at work. I have a couple of books here already, including The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?which is a great book. I enjoyed another chapter in it today. Here's what struck me in it today:

When we think most of our days are spent doing things that are not spiritual or sacred in God's sight, we subjugate Jesus to simply being our forgiver.

Pretty thought provoking, as this whole book has been.

The Jesus of Suburbia

I'm reading a very thought provoking book by Mike Erre entitled The Jesus of Suburbia. This book has made me think about the revolution that Jesus represented to religion of His day and how we have gotten far away from that in our churches today. It is soundly based in scripture and it fills in a lot of the blanks that we, as 21st century Christians, cannot understand such as Jewish tradition and belief, the political landscape and cultural norms. It places Jesus' life in context and shows you the powerful message that He brought to a world in which religion was used to label and exclude people from God's grace. It makes me realize how much about religion today leans the same way.

A New Song

"To repent means to turn, to turn from whatever binds or enslaves you."-Father Tim Kavanaugh in A New Song by Jan Karon

After reading a very good, but very dark book (Piercing the Darkness), I decided I needed to go back to Mitford. This book, the fifth in the series, follows Father Tim and his wife as they go to a new town where the he will serve as interim priest. In his new capacity, he is told by his bishop not to worry about his old parishioners, which he finds difficult to do. However, after a terrible storm rips through his temporary island home, he finds it easy to say "no" to a planned trip back to Mitford to stay and tend his new flock.
This book has a few wonderful pauses in the action (so to speak) that allow us to share in some of Father Tim's personal reflection...and which caused me to reflect myself. At one point, the priest reads over the following passage from a sermon of Charles Spurgeon's:

Go to Him without fear or trembling, ere yon sun goes down and ends this day of mercy, go and tell Him thou hast broken the Father's laws-tell Him that thou art lost, and thou needest to be saved; tell Him that He is a man, and appeal to His manly heart, and to His brotherly sympathies. Pour out thy broken heart at His feet: let thy soul flow over in His presence, and I tell thee He cannot cast thee away...

Father Tim jots down in his notes, "Not that He will not turn a deaf ear, but that He cannot."

I will share later, perhaps, my reflections on the Frank Peretti book I mentioned earlier, but will say, for now, that the most amazing section of that book was a brilliant portrayal of heaven's response to a lost soul crying out to God for forgiveness. This passage in A New Song brought that imagery flooding back and makes me know that I need to spend some time on my knees in His presence...real quality time...soon.

Out to Canaan

"We think we dare not be satisfied with the small measure of spiritual knowledge, experience, and love that has been given to us, and that we must constantly be looking forward eagerly for the highest good."-Dietrich Bonhoeffer, quoted in Out to Canaan by Jan Karon

In Jan Karon's Mitford Series, we follow the life of Father Timothy Kavanagh, the Episcopal rector in the small Carolina town of Mitford. It is encouraging to me to read of a man, a man who has given his life to God, who questions whether he is doing all that God would have him do. Because I question that a lot...particularly of late.

In one exchange with the chaplain of the local seniors' home, Father Tim muses about a ministry he feels he should be leading at "the Creek". The chaplain indicates to the rector that he already has a Creek ministry of his own and proceeds to list three individuals that the Kavanagh had personally saved from a grim life in that bad part of town. To Father Tim, these things had not even occurred to him to be a service to God.

The chaplain goes on to note, "I think we're always looking for the big things...The big calling, the big challenge." And that brings up the quote above from Dietrich Bonhoeffer. They also note that Bonhoeffer says we must be "grateful even where there's no great experience and no discoverable riches, but much weakness, small faith, and difficulty".

One other segment of the book that made me look inward occured when Father Tim was overtaken by a feeling of overwhelming gratefulness for everything that he was blessed with. He drove through town seeing people and things he was thankful for and recalled a quote from Patrick Henry Reardon:

Suppose for a moment that God began taking from us the many things for which we have failed to give thanks. Which of our limbs and faculties would be left? Would I still have my hands and my mind? And what about loved ones? If God were to take from me all those persons and things for which I have not given thanks, who or what would be left of me?

PrayerRun

I wasn't kidding when I mentioned in an earlier entry that I make excuses for not praying. I do consider myself a spiritual person. A born again Christian, if you will. But, prayer...not my thing. I sit down to pray and my mind wanders and next thing you know I'm pondering some work problem or planning my weekend. Not good.

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed my mother-in-law had a book called PrayerWalk: Becoming a Woman of Prayer, Strength, and Discipline (by Janet Holm McHenry). One quick glance at the book and a short conversation with her about it and I knew I needed to get the book and get serious about making my early morning runs a time of prayer. So, the last two trips out to run, I've gone without my MP3 and with prayer on my mind. My thoughts still wander, but not far. Usually only as far as, "Holy smoke, breathe, Terri!" and then I'm back on task.

I have a lot to learn about prayer. But, at least now I have some time set aside for this specifically and that is a powerful step for me. Practice makes perfect?