Why Dad?

On our way home from school I decided to break the news to Ethan. He had only one question, "Why Dad?" Listening to all the talk about Miguel Cabrera and thinking about my own family's history with alcohol and drug abuse, I am realizing that all of us are asking the same question. We feel a lot like this: You know what though? We don't want to hear the answer. Why would a man who has a great wife sleep around? Why would a person with a family who loved him turn to drink? Why would a kid with everything in front of her slice up her arms? Why does a kid with a great future waste it away sitting on a couch getting high? We are constantly left with the question, "Why Dad?" The answer, while simple, is profound. The answer, while simple, sounds weak coming off the tongue. The answer, while simple, is not what we want to admit to. The answer is that the world is broken. Each of us are broken. There is a cloud of stink that sticks to us and we can't shake it. Some of us can go about hiding it really well, for a while. Some of us can even hide it for our whole lives, but deep down we know it's there. What bothers most of us is that we know, "...but by the grace of God go I". What keeps any of us from doing these things? What keeps us from living out our brokenness in such a way that leaves us alone in a jail cell? It seems like there are two are things. The first is that there is someone in our lives who is willing to fight for us. They make it clear that they are with us and for us no matter what. For me, it was my mother. I remember when my mom and dad were divorced and her telling us, "You will not become 'those' kids. Your Dad and I love you and we expect that you will become successful, hardworking, good men. This divorce is not an excuse for anything." She backed it up. Over and over. The second is that there comes a point where individuals take responsibility for their own lives. There was a time, for me it was college, that each of us have to decide how we are going to live and whether or not we will take full responsibility for our actions. For those of us don't get to that place we become like this: So, how did I answer the question, "Why Dad?" I told Ethan that we live in a broken world that is filled with broken people. Sometimes this brokenness gets the better of them and they do things they don't want to do. That's why we have each other and that's why we need each other. Then I told him we need to pray for everyone we know who's broken and hurting because God really does care. That's why Jesus came here and that's why Jesus died and rose again. Because God, really does care. How would you answer?

Dear Miguel

Dear Miguel, I don't know you. I have not ever met you. I have watched you play baseball every summer since your arrival in Detroit a few years ago. You may be the best baseball player I have ever seen. Every night before I go to bed I see your life sized poster hanging on Ethan's, my nine year old son, bedroom door. You are his favorite player. He's never met you either. Ethan and I cheer for you. We feel like we know you because you are in our home nearly every night from April through September (hopefully October too). Ethan wants to be a baseball player when he grows up and you are one of his heroes. Today as I drove into work I heard on the radio about your DUI. My heart broke and my eyes filled with tears. I thought this is stupid, I don't even know him. My heart is broken because I know that Ethan when he watches Sportscenter tonight or tomorrow will find out too. So, I know that he and I will have to talk about it. I know that he will experience heartbreak. I know he will cry. I know I will hold him. I can't imagine what it's like to be you. The pressure you must feel everyday has to be overwhelming. To live every single day in a bubble because you play a boy's game better than anyone else has to be one of the most difficult things there is. I don't want to pretend to understand. Because I don't. I do want to say this, I am praying for you and Ethan will be too. Whether you know it or not you're part of our family. You're one of us, even though we've never met you. When you hurt, we hurt. Miguel, I hope that you will set aside baseball for a while and get the help you need. I hope that some day soon Ethan and I will be able to watch you play baseball again. We will be praying and asking that God will heal your brokenness and that he will break the addiction to alcohol. My hope is that you will realize that you cannot do this on your own. My hope is that you will realize that you are not invincible and that you need other people to come alongside you and care for you. Let them help. I also hope that you will realize that there is great grace, mercy, and community available to you in relationship with Jesus if you will repent and seek the forgiveness he offers. Ethan and I will be praying and waiting. Sincerely, Ethan's Dad

Overlords, Overseers, and a Glimmer

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Last week I wrote that we have experienced an epic fail regarding our roles as ambassadors for the Creator to the creation. We rebelled and separated ourselves. We lost our way and began a corrupting process that led to shame and guilt (the first sin was Adam's silence followed quickly by fratricide, that's one heck of a spiral). The story though is just beginning.  Thankfully we are not the heroes or the centerpieces of this story.  A good story needs a hero who desires something and overcomes conflict to get it. The story that I am talking about has a hero, God.  He wants something, relationship with people.  So, what is he doing to get it? That's the question I want look at. It started in Genesis 3:
And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.
(Genesis 3:21 ESV)
If you look a few verses earlier you see that Adam and Eve were experiencing shame from being naked.  So, God, kills a few animals and gives them clothes.

Shame is removed. A glimmer.

As time goes on humanity continues to go it's own way.  Through Abraham God calls out a people to be his own, the Hebrews.  To these folks he gives the Law.

Have you ever read it? It's remarkable.  It's merciful, gracious, and loving. Paul says it this way,
Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.
(Galatians 3:19-20 ESV)
It was an overseer.  The law watched over God's people leading them to him.  If they would just follow it they would see him and know him.

They didn't.

What will God do? He sends his son...
“Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”

Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

“‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
this was the Lord's doing,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”
When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet.  (Matthew 21:33-46 ESV)
It didn't go well for the son.

Thankfully that's not the end of the story. The death of the son changed everything. It opened a way for humanity to finally become, well, human.

Cannibal? Yes, yes, I am.

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The early church was accused of being cannibalistic.  They were thought to be such because they feasted on the body and blood of Jesus the Christ. This was an unthinkable ritual and act.  It was seen as barbaric and it was a stumbling block to the world around them.  The Eucharist split churches in the 1700s and was a cause in Jonathan Edwards being released from his position in Northampton. Today communion is a mundane and humdrum ritual that nobody really notices. This is a tragedy. The celebration of the Eucharist, the Lord's Table, the Lord's Supper, Communion is one of the most beautiful acts that we as Christians get to participate in.  When we do we experience the presence of Christ and join with the great of cloud of witnesses in a spiritual act that bonds us as the body of Christ. How can this astounding and beautiful means of grace become something that is largely ignored? My senior year at Central Michigan University as new church was planted in Mt. Pleasant, MI.  This church was unlike any I had ever seen.  It met in an airplane hangar.  Yes, that's right an airplane hangar.  The seats were couches and plastic chairs.  The room was dimly lit and cold in the winter. There was nothing routine about this church.  It was determined that the celebration of the Eucharist would occur whenever it seemed right to "us and the Holy Spirit." The first time that Amy and I celebrated communion there we were amazed.  I was moved to the core of my being and changed that evening. The bread was homemade without yeast and the juice was in a 64 oz containers next to a stack of 12 oz cups. Barry, the pastor, stood and read 1 Corinthians 11:23-26. Then he said (atleast this is how I remember it), "This was supper. It was a meal that was shared.  Jesus is not stingy in his grace or his mercy.  Come, take, eat to your fill and drink till your thirst is quenched.  Seconds, thirds, fourths, whatever you need Jesus will provide. Come, taste and see that the Lord is good."  We partook and we were filled. I was left in wonder and awe.  This was a far cry from the thimble of juice and crumb of bread that I was used to.  We celebrated together the beauty and wonder of the crucifixion and resurrection.  We marveled in the grace of God.  We were a community perfectly united in a feast of grace.  The bread was warm and smelled wonderfully.  The juice was cold and refreshing. I was changed. I was left in awe. I got lost and found in the mystery and limitlessness of God's goodness. I feasted that night on the body and blood. That night I became a cannibal and was forever changed. Are you a cannibal?

"Pastor" Pat...

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The scene is Haiti is horrific. The cries for help. The reality of people being buried alive. The dead littering the streets. The pain, chaos, and heartbreak enveloping a country that is already impoverished and broken. To this situation Pat Robertson on the 700 Club today spoke.  He stated among other things that it was a "blessing in disguise". Check out this video and then read my response:

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