The Box

Warning: Spoiler Alert...if you are planning to see The Box anytime soon, which I do not recommend, do not read this post as it gives away the whole movie.

Recently, my wife and I sat down to enjoy a movie together called, "The Box." Unfortunately, there was little enjoyment as we followed Cameron Diaz through a bizarre journey where higher alien life forms were conducting an experiment on the human race. The gist of the experiment is that a couple is given a box (by a very strange man with a disfigured face) with a large red button. They are told, push the button and you will receive one million dollars, but someone whom you don't know will die. If you don't push the button, the offer will be made to someone else.

Cameron and her husband have some pressing financial needs and so they push the button, believing the money will assure them of an easy life. And, as they conclude, everyone dies sooner or later, so if someone we don't know pays the price, it's not such a big deal. As you might image, pushing the button is a big deal. Pushing the button only leads them to frustration, pain, and chaos. It does not end well for them!

The one redeeming moment of the whole film comes when the disfigured man is being asked about how the experiment could be stopped. He replies, "Oh, the experiment could quickly come to end. People just have to stop pushing the button. But no one will stop." Faced with a choice for perceived personal gain at someone else's expense, the human race continues to choose for the self.

While I cannot recommend the movie, I do recommend considering how we are faced with this choice on a regular basis in our own lives. We have a button in front of us that we can push called "self". Pushing this button seems to promise an easier, better, and happier life. But just like the movie, this promise is an illusion. If we are honest, we can see that pushing the button of self leads to a great deal of frustration, pain, and chaos in our lives. The very things we thought would help us- doing what made us happy- actually end up destroying us.

This is why Jesus was so adamant about calling people to deny the self and lay down their lives. This is why Paul invited people to consider others as better than self and to throw off our old nature (self) in order to follow Christ. A choice to gratify self at the expense of others will always put us in opposition to what God wants to do in our lives.

So, the button sits before you. The button is red and shiny, full of promise. Don't push it! The easy way out is never easy and it never leads out. It is only when we deny ourselves and follow after Christ in complete surrender that we find life, hope, and true freedom.

Journey in peace today!

Nick

Dare I Ask?

Why is it that you're not supposed to ask hard questions in church?

One of the themes of our class this week has been how important it is for us to ask and wrestle with tough questions about God and our faith. But, by and large, churches and other religious institutions (i.e. seminaries) have become places where you are expected to toe the line and nod in agreement. If you ask about something that might challenge orthodoxy, you are viewed as weak or a trouble-maker.

Our professor told a story about his first experience in seminary. Having an undergraduate degree in literature, he entered seminary with a different lens. In one of his first Bible classes, he realized that the story of Sampson and Delilah fit ALL of the historical parameters for a fable, and so he asked his professor about this. Rather than addressing the question or even acknowledging the tension, the professor blew him off and encouraged him to pray. This led to a fairly quick exit from seminary for our prof. (He says the second time around was much better.)

Here's the dilemma for me. We believe that God is truth and the source of all ultimate truth. So, when we start to ask really good questions, Christians should believe more than anyone else that this will lead us toward God. And yet most Christians fear that asking hard questions will lead us away from God.

I want to reject this. I want to reject that my faith only makes sense when I blindly follow what I have been taught. I need to believe that I can ask the hardest of questions, and if my motives are good, these questions will draw me deeper into the Father's heart.

So, I ask again: why are churches the last place where you can ask a hard question?

May you know today that faith is not belief in the absence of doubt, but clinging to God in the midst of it.

Peace-
Nick

Prayer as Theology

Class started today with an interesting statement- "the way that we pray tells us more about our theology than anything else." The central beliefs that we hold about God, both expressed and unexpressed, are most evident in the kind of prayers that we most often pray.

And then we were challenged with this question, "If I pray for a safe trip, am I more likely to be safer?" How we answer this question begins to give us insight into our God-image. I tend to think that if God has ever once in all history answered this prayer (which so many of us pray), then yes, we are more likely to get home safer. But, that tells you more about my math than my picture of God. :-) How would you answer the question?

For many of us, listening to our prayers will reveal how incredibly me-focused we are...God help me...God bless me...God give me a good day, a good test, a trip, etc, etc, etc. Without realizing it, we turn God into a cosmic traffic cop who exists to make our commute better than the world around us. What was suggested in class today was that we use prayer to help us manage the anxiety of our day more than we do to help us know God or come under his authority in our lives. This kind of praying also sets us up for an unhealthy dualism- if my prayer is "answered" and things go well, God is for me. If things go wrong, then God must be against me or angry with something I have done. Our professor told a story about praying as a child for a snowstorm so school would be canceled. The next day, sure enough, the ground was covered and school was axed. But later that day he heard about a family who had died on the roads because of the snow- and he felt responsible!

Here's where the rubber really meets the road: we will worship the God we imagine, and this is the God we introduce to others! How often do we get involved in selling an image of God that will make your life better? If you read between the lines, this is often our appeal to Christ- come to Jesus and your life will get better. Really? Is that really who God is?

So, I ask you- if you pray for a safe trip, are you more likely to arrive home safely? Why?

Let the discussions begin...

Peace,
Nick

I Know God! Uh, Maybe Not...

Well, friends, it is on to a new week of class and a whole new round of thinking. This week's class is "Self In Community". I invite you to share the journey with me through some posts this week. I have no idea what this class is about- something to do with self and community. When I get the picture, I'll let you know!

We did a thought-provoking exercise in class today. The professor had us make a list of names/images of God used in Scripture. We took at least 15 minutes giving suggestions while one of the students wrote them on the board. Our list easily contained 50 items, and could have included many more. Then, in reflecting on the whole list, we were asked to consider which ONE of these was God. (Hmm- none of them and all of them is the best I could think of) And then we were asked how many of these were metaphors. (Hmm- pretty much all of them!) And finally, the kicker question- How many of these images are YOUR image of God?

Here was the point for me- with a list of over 50 images of God, I have three, maybe four of them that are really central to my way of knowing and approaching God. If I'm honest, I have easily a dozen of these images that I rarely if ever think about, and I have several more that I try NOT to think about when it comes to God. So if my image of God is formed primarily by 3 out of 50 God-images in Scripture, how accurately do I know God? It's not that my image is flawed- but perhaps wildly incomplete. This leads me to a few conclusions:

1. We need to have much more humility when we speak of God. He is far bigger and far greater than we can fit into our concepts of deity. In many ways, it is very freeing to begin worshiping a God that is far greater than I can imagine.

2. We need others to help us see God. I am constantly amazed how different God looks through other people's lens. And yet, how often do I surround myself with people who think just like me? If we want to grow in our knowledge and love of God, we have to willingly seek out Christ-followers who have a different perspective. This can begin to fill out our picture of God.

3. We need to continually be passionate seekers. The moment we think we've cornered the market on God and got him figured out is the moment we need to start over again and realize how little we know. I have been challenged through this seminary experience to read church fathers, men who are revered for their faith, and see how frequently they expressed their inability to know God fully. Somehow, in their confession of ignorance, they were free to continue pursuing a fuller reality of God in their lives.

So, how about you? What images make up your picture of God? Have you ever had an experience where you realized how little you actually knew?

May you know that God is bigger than your imagination, and may this draw you to continue pursuing His glory and splendor-

Nick

Reflections on Church

Today, we moved beyond looking at the Spirit to considering the church and the sense in which God created the church to be on a mission. I've had so many different ideas for a blog, that I decided to just jot down some of the basic insights I have found challenging and refreshing. Feel free to respond to anything you'd like- I love hearing from you!

1. God's mission in the world is NOT to save people. God's mission is to create a new humanity- the people of God. While it is accurate to say we must all choose Christ, it is not accurate to call our faith personal. The idea of a "personal faith" is not only foreign to Scripture, but to the first 1500 years or so of Christian tradition. To be saved is to be brought into God's family, the church. Only as part of God's people are we able to experience his plan for us.

2. Being the people of God has less do with behavior and more do with relationship. When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, the ultimate falling was a loss of relationship with God. As a result of the fall, they gained the knowledge of good and evil. This was not God's intent! God desired a people that lived only on His word; knowledge of God and not knowledge of laws/rules! To become the people of God is to come under the rule of God in our lives by re-establishing relationship with Him through Christ.

3. Salvation is more than a moment. From a Biblical point of view, salvation is the process of coming completely under God's rule and living in His Kingdom. While this process must have a beginning, it will not find completion until we enter heaven. In other words, we should place a little less emphasis on "crossing the line" and a little more emphasis on continuing to place our lives completely under His rule.

4. We gather in community because of our bond as the new humanity; the people of God. “The community is not to be visualized basically in terms of ‘natural’ bonds of gregariousness but in terms of God’s act. Before we say any of these terms we should first think: God’s purpose, his promise, his calling.” (Minear)

5. Following Christ means NOT that Jesus exists for us, but that we exist for Him. We have created a kind of faith that says Jesus is here to make my life better. Sorry, but that's not true! Jesus is here to make you and I into a new kind of people. This will only happen as we re-orient our lives around Him and His word.

6. There are times when the church needs to close the doors. Luther once said, "God doesn't sleep with his bride in public." In other words, there are times when the church needs to gather in intimate fellowship with only the church "membership" (those who are committed to Christ). It is through these times of intimate worship that the church can be formed and strengthened to have something to offer the world. (I think our new worship nights have become a beginning expression of this.)

7. Churches lose sight of love over little things! Did you know that the largest split in church history (catholic and orthodox) occurred over one word- filioque? The word means "of the son" in Latin, I think. Basically, because the Catholics added the word to their creed, the Orthodox church took off. Now, I know that some theologian will explain exactly why that was such a big deal (as we spent a good hour on it in class), but my point is obvious. If we are to be a witness to the world of a new humanity that has been transformed by relationship with God, then we have to get over our pettiness! We need to be on a mission- in our own churches! We need to strive to BE the people of God so that the world can see the Body of Christ. This is the heart of true evangelism.

Well, there ought to be something there for you to chew on! I just summarized two days of theology, so you should thank me. :-) No, seriously, I hope you'll push back on anything here that strikes you as unique.

May you be willing to THINK on your journey today! God gave you a brain- so use it! When we begin to understand faith and church from God's point of view, it really makes sense. You have a reasonable faith- get to know it! Blessings-

Nick