Heirs Together

"...being heirs together of the grace of life..."

1 Peter 3:7

God has given us a rich inheritance; one that is lavish, free, and complete; a generous gift from a good Father to his undeserving children.

This inheritance is two-dimensional. We have inherited the gift of physical life - with all of its wonder and sparkle and colour - and we have also inherited spiritual life through the Gospel.

To marry is to join yourself intimately with another soul and share together the joy of this inheritance. There is love, there is patience, and there is mutual encouragement to claim these wonderful gifts as your own. When you're discouraged, there is a word of hope. When you fall, there is a gentle reminder of grace. When the world looks dark, there is a beautiful refuge of love, poured out in all of its sacrificial splendor.

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone?

Ecclesiastes 4:9-11

This person becomes a partner - indeed, a part of you - who knows you as well as or better than you know yourself and yet has the spiritual autonomy to speak the words you need to hear. It's like a pair of rock climbers working in tandem, completely dependent on one another. They are both sharing the same experience and subjecting themselves to the same risks, but at any given moment, at least one will have solid footing and be ready to catch the other.

To have someone who is willing to walk this closely with you through life's blessings and discouragements in this way is an indescribable gift. You're not alone anymore. Everything is shared, everything is together, and somehow, sharing two burdens makes both lighter.

In this breaking we are hand in glove / Come with me my love / We will find shelter here

-Sandra McCracken, Gravity | Love, "Shelter"

I love you Jessica!

Image courtesy of Jeff Slagg

Confessions of a Pacifist

I haven't talked much about nonresistance and political activism on this blog, mostly because it's been such a hot button for me in the past. However, a good friend recently reopened the subject, and in thinking about it again I'm realizing that as I move into a new area of life and contemplate protecting a wife and family, my perspective is changing.

Most who know me know that for a long time I have leaned hard-core nonresistant. I was raised on stories of martyrdom and nonviolence and identified strongly with Anabaptism and "The Remnant." In many ways, I still identify there, but it's becoming clear to me that the issues and questions are more complicated than I had originally thought.

One of those issues is family defense. I deeply regret addressing this question before I had any idea of what is at stake and what it feels like to have a wife and children that you are responsible for. It's just arrogant. In one conversation that I remember distinctly, after I had been aggressively zealously advancing my simplistic uncompromising stance, an older brother who was obviously sympathetic to the classic Anabaptist position told me simply and quietly: "I know where you're at. I used to think exactly like you do. But I don't anymore."

There was no argument, just a calm statement with the ring of wisdom and experience, standing quietly on its own two feet. Here was something that required reflection, not refutation. I was off balance, and I didn't know what to do.

From that moment, I suspected that all might not be as it seemed. It would be much longer before I really began to soften my heart and question the motivation and purity of my over-simplified idealism, but the seed had been sown.

Another issue where I've talked beyond my experience is military service. I've realized it's a very easy thing to criticize and a very hard thing to do, and while I won't be enlisting anytime soon, I won't be condemning those who choose otherwise. Every pacifist needs to read C. S. Lewis' pointed essay Why I Am Not A Pacifist to get the straight explanation on why their beliefs sometimes look a little pallid next to soldiers giving up everything and going to war.

Today is Martin Luther King Day, in honour of a man who worked hard for peaceful change. I have a lot of respect for men like that. They may not have been exactly right, but they did something.

On all sides, I want to learn to ask more questions and throw fewer rocks. Toward this end I'll be hoping to accomplish some reading on this subject over the next several months, eventually expanding the study beyond personal matters into Church & State issues. If there are books you've found helpful, please let me know in the comments.

Peace!

Image courtesy of perspectivesphotogallery.com

The Unqualified Jesus

Jesus is very hard to describe in a word. He is loving. He is also austere. He is down-to-earth. He is also holy. He is understanding. He is also unpredictable.

We know that Jesus is God, and that God is complete. The immediate difficulty is this: How do we present Jesus to people without leaving something out? There's simply too many adjectives and qualifiers to keep track of.

Truth may be a tightrope, but it isn't a tightrope that we walk alone. Jesus isn't watching from the ground and critiquing our performance; he's right there with us, holding our hand and helping us get it right. He's not somewhere way out past the moon, busy with cosmic accounting; he desires incarnation and participation in our lives. That is why I'm starting to believe that if there's one word to describe Jesus, it's this one:

Emmanuel.

God. With. Us.

Have you ever stopped to think about the joy of simply being with someone you love? There's sympathy, connection, a million interwoven strands of non-verbal communication. This is God's invitation. Walk with me, give me your cares, put your fingers into the holes in my wrists and your hand into my side.

Emmanuel.

Don't try to box him in or explain him. We should know God as an obsession, not an object. He is not defined by his attributes: he IS. He is the way. He is the truth. He is the life.

Jesus is the theology of the Father, revealed to us.

-Thomas Merton¹

Emmanuel.

To understand the with-ness of God is to understand the unqualified Jesus and breathe the free air of spiritual simplicity. He straightens the crooked road and smooths the rough places. His yoke is easy and his burden is light.

We don't need to constantly be balancing our presentation of God's nature to make sure we cover all the bases. He is with us.

We can speak his unique word to each unique situation, without qualification and without apology, relying on him to reveal himself more comprehensively to people in his time, as he chooses. He is with us.

We can be confident in the continuing work of sanctification, believing Philippians 1:6 for ourselves and for others. He is with us.

We don't need to be anxious about the future and we don't need to be afraid of man. He is with us.

We don't need to memorize what he looks like. He is with us.

Emmanuel. Think about it.

(1) Thomas Merton, No Man Is An Island, (Barns & Noble Books, 2003), 23

Image courtesy of wendyusuallywanders.files.wordpress.com

Great Music: Where We Are And Where We Long To Be

Every now and then you find someone making great music with creativity, talent, and conviction. It doesn't happen very often, so when it does I always want to share it.

A couple weeks ago I ran across Rick Hopkins on NoiseTrade, and downloaded his latest album Where We Are And Where We Long To Be. Wow. Talented vocal work, thoughtful lyrics, and strong rock rhythms make for an excellent collection of honest and worshipful songs.

They say You aren't there / and I'm inclined to believe them tonight...

From "Psalm 42"

Jessica and I both have been very encouraged by Hopkins' artistic expressions of faith. This is really good stuff. Don't miss it.

Image courtesy of rickhopkins.com

Kiva.org: The Ultimate "Building Fund"

Kiva.org is a perfect example of an active response to poverty that is creative, smart, and personal. Technology has many drawbacks, but it has made it possible to work together as the body of Christ as never before, and we ought to take advantage of it. There's a time to pray and there's a time to roll up our sleeves.

Check it out.


A Fistful Of Dollars: The Story of a Kiva.org Loan from Kieran Ball on Vimeo.

Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.

Galatians 2:10

There are people in the world so hungry that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.

Mohandas Gandhi

Travel Light, Part 2

In my last post I talked about our need to travel light - to discard all the materialistic and theological complexities that weigh us down. This is all well and good, but it invites a further question.

What should we keep?

What does a minimalist Christian creed look like today in America in 2009? What are the essentials? If we get rid of all the hype and rhetoric and intrigue, what's left?

Perhaps inventing creeds is too ambitious for a layman. Then again, perhaps we're too serious about creeds, and not creative enough. After all, a creed need not be exhaustive to be worthwhile; it's simply a statement of what you believe, what's important to you, what matters.

I'm a sojourner, and I don't want to carry more than I need, because The Way is uphill. If I forget everything else, here's twenty-five things I want to remember.

• I am a sinner.
• Jesus loves me.
• Jesus loves my neighbour.
• God is Jesus.
• God is love.
• Grace is free.
• The Gospel is Good News.
• Talk is cheap.
• Good trees bear good fruit.
• Words mean things.
• Wisdom asks questions.
• Humility listens.
• Life is short.
• Laughter is healthy.
• Choices are eternal.
• I don't know everything.
• I don't even know how much God knows.
• Answers are overrated.
• Pain is everywhere.
• Beauty is everywhere.
• The Bible is true.
• Truth can be messy.
• Faith is active.
• Hope is essential.
• Love is the greatest thing in the world.

The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

Ecclesiastes 12:13

Image "The Narrow Way" by Dan Hayward, courtesy of etsy.com

Travel Light

And he said to them, "When I sent you out with no moneybag or knapsack or sandals, did you lack anything?" They said, "Nothing."

Luke 22:35

In a world that grows more rabidly materialistic by the day, we would do well to remember a theme we find throughout the Bible, and possibly even adopt it as a motto for the coming year. If taken to heart, this simple formula could save us a lot of unnecessary grief.

Travel light.

Two simple words, alive with freedom and possibility. If you don't need something, get rid of it. Trim fat, shed ounces, discard baggage. Backpackers understand this principle, as do swimmers and certain successful writers. When there's something you want to say or somewhere you want to go, less is more. Holding a bowling ball in your lap is fine if you're sitting still, but if you want to run a marathon it's going to get heavy real fast. As we see in Hebrews 12:1, it's just spiritual physics.

We have altogether too much stuff. I mean this in both a practical and spiritual sense. Our houses, garages, and storage units are filled with clutter, and so are our minds. Our mental furniture is piled so high we can no longer see out the windows. It's time for a purge.

In speaking of spiritual cerebral clutter, I don't mean only entertainment, technology, and information. I mean theology too. Everyone has an opinion about God, and though we can glean much from others who have learned to share their schooling in Christ, we are not obligated to carry about in our heads the multitudinous theories of every evangelical pulpit pundit. It's futile, unnecessary, and presumptuous.

Paul knew this. He knew our tendency to adorn, embellish, and gather wool. He knew that things would become complicated and tangled up. And he feared lest Jesus should be lost in the process.

But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

2 Corinthians 11:3

For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

1 Corinthians 2:2

We can't talk sense if we've got a theological kitchen sink stuffed into our brains. That's not spirituality, it's suffocation. We need to be light, nimble, ready to move. Keep what you need: leave the rest behind. As Oswald Chambers would say, "May God keep us in fighting trim!"

This doesn't mean that we shouldn't believe stuff, and neither does it mean that we shouldn't possess anything. It only means we must maintain a vital internal detachment from theories and things, remembering our supreme purpose: that of knowing and serving Christ. If an object or idea doesn't help us on toward this goal, throw it away; it's only dragging you down.

This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealing with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.

1 Corinthians 7:29-31

Image courtesy of blog.wired.com

Big Family Survival - Part 5: Being Sick

The morning news is that So-and-So isn't feeling well. Everyone nods their heads gravely. Yes, we'll pray for them.

The evening news is that the Vitamin C is gone. Everyone looks surprised. Really? How could that be?

Unfortunately, it really doesn't matter how strong your immune system is, because with ten people the virus or bacteria or whatever nasty germ-thing it is will be hanging around for a few weeks. You'll get it sooner or later.

By far the most frequent family malady is the appropriately named common cold. Everyone has experienced the sinking feeling when your throat begins to tingle and your eyes begin to burn. Visions of nasty potions, painful thermometers, and unearthly quantities of mucus fill the mind. I'm getting sick!

It's not that bad, really. A few days of reading, sitting around drinking Squirt, and feeling generally like a rotten pineapple. Still, there's always a few in denial. "I'm not (sniff) SI-(cough)-CK!!" Right. Go back to bed.

More books, blankets, and tissue boxes. It's true that finding a Kleenex is often more aggravating than it should be; usually by the time you're checking the third bathroom there's things running through your head that you shouldn't say out loud. Toilet paper works too, just don't rely on it too heavily or you'll have a premature runny-nose rash. The more green types are proud of their sticky cloth handkerchiefs, and are often seen turning them around in circles looking for a "clean spot".

So far, that's pretty minor stuff. Sometimes, however, the danger gets really serious.

You see someone lying prone on the couch, looking a disturbing shade of red or green. When you see the tell-tale plastic bowl on the floor beside them, you know. They've thrown up! Gross!

You tiptoe up to ask them how they're doing, perhaps - if you're really brave - rubbing their shoulder gingerly. They moan. You tiptoe away, gratified that you've accomplished your sympathetic duty, resolved to spend the rest of the day as far away as possible.

God, send me to Africa, but please, please, PLEASE don't make me throw up!

Sometimes you make real memories being sick, like the time we all had chicken pox and watched more television in two weeks than we'd watched in the previous two years. Or the time we all had pinkeye and sat around the kitchen in the evenings dripping Colloidal Silver into each others' eyes. Or the time we'd all had colds for so long that we called the local water quality guy to see if there was something nasty in our well. Yes, good times.

Being sick in a big family is no fun, but it's survivable. Just don't forget your Vitamin C or your sense of humour.

Image courtesy of turnerdrugs.com

A Reader's New Year

Like last year, I decided it would be good to once again bring in the New Year with a book report. I guess it makes sense that readers would mark and remember the passage of time with books. Here's a few of my favourite titles from 2008.

1. Manalive - G. K. Chesterton

Set in Chesterton's beloved 19th-century England, Manalive is a delightful and provocative story about a man who steals from himself, uses a pistol to bring people to life, proposes marriage to his wife over and over again, and travels to the end of the world to find his own home. This is the sort of book that surges over you and makes you smile at the world, like a warm fire or a good wine.

2. Dissident Discipleship - David Augsburger

If there's any book that I would recommend as a sort of manifesto for 21st-century Christianity, this would be it. Augsburger has succeeded in painting a richly textured portrait of discipleship, avoiding the trite catchphrases of a bankrupt evangelicalism and appealing to the ancient truths and wisdom of God. The book is spiritual without being merely sentimental, and serious without being stiff, presenting classical Christian orthopraxy in contemporary terms. (For a more detailed synopsis, read my section-by-section review from earlier this year.)

3. The Presence of the Kingdom - Jacques Ellul

From 20th-century France comes the voice of Christian Anarchist philosopher Jacques Ellul, denouncing the idolatry of technology and institutions, raising high the banner of grassroots faithfulness. Ellul's rigorous reasoning and controversial positions make his work stimulating and stirring; I've read three of his books, and The Presence of the Kingdom is easily my favourite. Imagine a Christianity that is not merely a "cause" to advance but is rather the lifeblood of the way things are, the heartbeat of creation, the assured destiny of the cosmos. Imagine ignoring the deceptive allurements of power, and overwhelming the world with life. Imagine: love as a conspiracy!

4. The World of Pooh - A. A. Milne

Were it not for my beloved Jessica, I might never have had the pleasure of reading this unassuming collection of "children's" stories. (Thank you, darling!) Milne has crafted a delightful world of sunshine, green, and adventure, full of wonderful characters, unusual situations, and light, gentle humour. If literature is a celebration of words, The World of Pooh is a prime specimen. Don't miss it.

5. Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith - Rob Bell

If I can say so without descending to stereotypes, most of what has come from the "Emerging Church" has been unsubstantial at best. This book is different. In his nimble, straightforward style, Bell describes a Christianity that is alive, growing, and going somewhere. His sensitivity to the multi-dimensional nuances of faith in a modern and post-modern (and post-Christian) world continuously informs his writing, while his generosity remains rooted in a confidence in the truth. This is an excellent book for those who are interested in stripping away the layers and aren't prone to getting hung up on stories and analogies that disturb their sense of politically correct theology.

Honourable mentions:

1. St. Thomas Aquinas: The Dumb Ox - G. K. Chesterton
2. True Spirituality - Francis Schaeffer
3. The Children of Húrin - J. R. R. Tolkien
4. The Last Word: Scripture and the Authority of God - N. T. Wright
5. The Christian Imagination - Leland Ryken, Ed.
6. Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander - Thomas Merton
7. A Severe Mercy - Sheldon Vanauken

May the New Year bring much more growth, wisdom, and laughter. And books!

Images courtesy of images.barnesandnoble.com, menno.org.uk, robhorton.us, ecx.images-amazon.com, and standrewsbookshop.co.uk