Split

I am the tree
Split by the Word
Shot like Lightening
Bone and Marrow
Soul and Spirit
Phased

I am the tree
Splayed all to see
Calm and frightening
Light and Dark
Turmoil and Tumult
Assuaged

I am the tree
Dipped in the blood
Like hysop brushed
Post and Lintel
Red right and center
Page

HD JESUS

What shall I say the kingdom of heaven is like?

There was a man who didn't have cable television. He didn't have Satellite Television. He didn't have an ATSC over the air HD tuner. He did have a television that was HD ready, but it didn't have the hardware to tune a signal on its own. It could still display an HD image if he could find a way to pass one to it. When he watched TV, he watched a low resolution analogue signal picked up by a pair of rabbit ears. But come February 17th, 2009 his system gave him nothing but static. Crystal clear vibrant images were beaming throughout his home, but he was not able to discern their presence.

So will it be for all those without the Spirit in the kingdom.

~

Spiritual discernment is sensing (looking, listening, feeling) for what God is saying in a given time, about a given thing. When your antennae are up, God can be heard and seen most everywhere. But, we don't all have the same hardware (or maybe I should say firmware). So many lack the tuner to pick up the HD JESUS all around us. Many others haven't configured the settings on their set top boxes, so to speak.

I've talked with my kids about praying to God, being with God and listening to Him - hearing Him guide and direct. I share with them the things God is teaching me. They are still young, so I have to keep it pretty simple. I love the story of young Samuel in the temple getting up in the night hearing God speak, and thinking it was Eli. I've encouraged them to be listening for God. A few days ago my wife told me that Isaac confided in her, "Mom, I can't hear God talking."

(I love this because it means He is trying to hear God!)

"What did you tell him?" I asked.

"We talked about how God speaks to us through his Word, and how it isn't always an audible voice." Then she asked me, "What would you have said?"

I would have said, "I think you will someday, if you really want to. We don't really listen with our ears. We listen with our hearts. We listen in Spirit." I would have told him that we learn how to hear God by spending time with Him, by trusting in Him, and the best place to start is to ask for His help to hear, and start reading and knowing the Word.

At which point he would have smiled and nodded and asked me to fasten his superman cape around his neck so he could fly off and save the day!

The coming of the Spirit of God at Pentecost was like this technology switch that is forthcoming for us. The old way of relating to God ceased. A new way had begun. This new way was better in every possible category.

What will you spend to make sure you can watch your TV come February? And how is your God reception?

Caiaphas

Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them,

“You know nothing at all. Nor do you understand

that it is better for you that one man should die for the people,

not that the whole nation should perish.”

He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.

Caiaphas was the leader of God's people. As such he exercised the gift of prophecy. What a profound prophecy he made! God let him in on something Jesus kept secret from all but His closest disciples - that He would die for the people. Caiaphas was given foreknowledge of God's plan. See that truth for what it is.

"You know nothing at all..." he proclaimed. It seems based on his prophesy he felt confident he did know something. "It is better for you..." he said. It seems he understood that the reason for the prophecy was the good of God's people. "One man should die for the people... not that the whole nation should perish." he boldly asserted, mirroring God's actual plan for the salvation of us all! But it's the next verse of John's gospel that gets me:

...So from that day on they made plans to put Jesus to death.

WHAT! How do you go from being a leader of the people of God, and hearing the prophesy of God, to being on completely the wrong side of God's plans? Caiaphas could have been like Nicodemas and honored Christ for the sacrificial lamb He was. The burden for carrying out the execution of Christ could have fallen on someonelse's shoulders.

Two things seem very clear to me from this passage.

1. God speaks His truth to the leaders of His people.

2. Even if they can and do hear God speak, a leaders sin can twist his thinking toward a wrong interpretation and a wrong course action.

Do you think the burden of guilt for Caiaphas' role in executing Christ landed him in Hell?

"Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers,

for you know that we who teach

will be judged with greater strictness."

Lord have mercy on us all. Protect us from our sin, and lead us into right interpretation, and right course of action.

Being Buletproof

You have heard it said,

"Be transparent,"

but I say to unto you,

"Be vulnerable."

Transparency is one directional. Vulnerability is open to a reaction - good, bad or ugly. Transparency is safe. Vulnerability can get you hurt.

"Let me in," He said.

"I can't really love you, because you never

gave me permission to hurt you."

I had never really thought about the difference between transparency and vulnerability. I had always valued being transparent.

"Why not?" I thought. "My worth and identity do not hinge on what you think of me."

I could tell you anything because I didn't care one lick what you thought. I saw this as a strength. I thought this was what self assured honesty looked like. I was bulletproof! And if you zinged one past my defenses, that would be the last time you were allowed to be that close.

Transparency can be an unassailable see-through fortress. I dwelled in transparency throwing out peace signs, platitudes and pebbles, protected from the wounds of the crowd or worse yet the wounds of a friend.

"Why would you let that person in?" I would ask when she was grieving the wounds of a friend. "Didn't you see this pain was coming? I don't understand."

"Wounds will heal," she said, "but in the wounding and healing we begin to know and love each other."

Christian faith is about relationship - relationship with God, relationship with others. And, relationship requires vulnerability. If I don't give you permission to speak into my life, with all of the risk and even assurance of pain that being open will bring, then you can't really know me. You can't really love me. I won't let you.

I see this from the other side now too. I can't reach you if your world is only see-through. The messy giving and receiving of love and pain is the hallmark of authentic Christian communion. Don't believe me? Then look at His hands, His side. That was vulnerable. That was love.

It doesn't get more open and receptive than Christ on the cross extending forgiveness for our sins.

Some say to be more Christ like we need to love more. I think the real deficiency is being vulnerable enough to receive. It is a sacred art.

Prayer, Hell, The Gospel, and Monsters

Tonight three different people asked me how my week was going.

"Fine, Just fine. Everything is fine!"

Not my exact words, but that is a close translation of intent. A round of golf, the latest digital camera, work, fine... just Fine.. Thanks for asking! Yet inside I am thinking... "Could we get out of here? I would love to talk with you more."

It wasn't obfuscation. My facade hid nothing dreadful or demeaning. Maybe it was laziness? Or just that the time wasn't right to let it all hang out. The shell is a bit of self enforced incubation. Timing is important. But I feel like a chick with a crack in its shell. I am driven to hatch.

I'll start with some innocuous details... *crack*

So how was my week?
MONSTERS!

Jack and I are working on a book. "Jackson's Monster Alphabet Book" is the working title. Here is a small sampling:

He is trying to get me to do the Greek alphabet instead, but I am pretty determined to stick with English. We can break into foreign markets once this one is a commercial success! :P Though, Lambda is for Luw (I AM DESTROYING!) would likely make a pretty good monster page!

So how was my week? *crack* *crack*
HELL!

I am in bolgia nine of the eighth circle of Hell. Here sowers of discord are repeatedly sliced apart for all eternity by a demon wielding a giant sword. As much as reading this work affects my mood, what must Dante have been like when he was writing it? I recall C.S. Lewis commenting on the darkness of Spirit he persisted through when writing the Screwtape Letters. While fiendishly clever and fantastic, Screwtape was just a minor demon compared to those black wraiths that inhabit Dante's Inferno.

So how was my week? *crack* *crack*
THE GOSPEL!

You can't dwell in Hell for long before you find yourself craving merciful fare. Some thirty chapters from four Gospels full of Christ's parables, prayers, healings, pronouncements, promises, rebukes, and even a transfiguration have kept me from drowning in darkness this week. But still every time Christ talks about Hell, or the place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, I find myself cringing, "That place is REAL!" Methinks we take it too lightly.

So how was my week? *crack* *crack*
PRAYER!

God gives direction, but he doesn't always tell you where to plant you foot on that next step. I am not anxious to know, as much as eager. I think it's time to widen the circle...

*crack*

*crack*

*crack*

Empathic

This last Sunday I was opening our worship service. It can so easily be a role call of announcements, a greeting, a perfunctory prayer. But that misses the point doesn't it? We are there to WORSHIP not go through motions. Far be it from me for any part of our service to be perfunctory. So regularly on Sunday mornings I find myself prayerfully reflecting on my week, and looking for what God might have me share with my congregation.

For two weeks now I have been immersed in Dante's Inferno. Visceral and pungent images of hell have been lingering in my peripheral consciousness. Needless to say it has been a dark season. Saturday night I was praying with another, and I was so touched by an evident sin in their lives that I began to weep. Visions of hell make the presence of passing sins like envy or that ever persistent pride much more frightening.

WE ARE NOT MADE FOR THIS STUFF. LUMINOUS BEINGS ARE WE!
(pardon the Yoda Paraphrase)

Dante intentionally matched his poetic stylings to the coarseness of his subject. At times he is rough and vulgar. But this is in direct proportion and ratio with what he is describing. I take heart knowing Paul does the same thing. Sin IS vulgar stuff. There is one circle where the identity of a soul cannot be discerned because it is so self smeared with sh*t. That was the image that was in my mind Sunday morning as I opened our worship service. Luminous beings self smeared with sh*t. Rough? Yes. Vulgar? Yes. True? ...

How is it with your soul?

As I delivered my opening monologue and call to worship I was on the brink of tears in empathy. The chief aim of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. We do not have glory to offer to God. He IS glory. He IS glorious. We are simply reflective. We are made to be mirrors of His glory. We are shiny, if you will. But in the fallen state of sin we are smeared, dulled, tainted. And the sad part is that we are often so ashamed of our souls appearance, so humiliated by our depravity, that we refuse to return to the only one who makes us clean! There is no joy in the life of an unrepentant Christian. Unrepentant we are miserable like Adam choosing to hide himself from He who can see all things. The only one we delude is ourselves. Our chief aim is to enjoy Him. To do that we must know Him and be known by Him. He does not stand in judgement of those who will re-turn to Him. He waits with open arms. His mercies are new every morning.

We create this time and place each week on a Sunday morning for one purpose. To commune with our God. It is an sensitive group ritual. It is a rhythm of life and faith. Let nothing keep you from turning yourself over into His care. Whether you are prepared, ready, distracted, beaten, or self smeared in sh*t... Recall that your true self is shiny. Re-turn now to the cleansing flood, His cleansing blood.

Worship your God.

Unto A Point

"It is not by might, and not by power, but by My Spirit" says the Lord of Hosts.

We are under-girded and enabled unto a point!

Singularity!

Unity!

Gethsemane

I am sad about God's call
The loss of what I have
Yet briefest thought
of what lies ahead
and His constant care
brings me peace.

So sad and peaceful,
moving... Moving...

I long to bring them with me
I know the destination
my heart rends for them
with them
their hardship is my own
their pain pierces me

Father, hear my plea
Gethsemane

Two Divine Comedies

I had a conversation this week that prompted me to pick up a few books from the library.

I am down to the 7th circle of hell in inferno. Talk about stunning imagery. Dante's poetry makes the putrid depths of hell viscerally real. I am excitedly anticipating paradiso. The nagging annoyance in all of this is the time required to put images to paper. If I could let you look inside the images of my mind, what would you say? The demands of everyday life make the time to create a physical representation of mental imagery hard to find.

The second book I was prompted to pick up is The Princess Bride.


I have been retelling the story to my sons from memory for the last week at bedtime. It has been remarkable watching their enthralled faces and disbelief at some of the plot twists. I shared my story telling adventure with a friend and he said I should definitely read the original. I never have. Though I love the movie. I can't wait!


INCONCEIVABLE!