It is so much easier to label someone than to enter in with them as person. Life is simpler if we look at someone and say, “Conservative”, “Liberal”, “Republican”, “Democrat”, and so on. However, when we apply these labels we do two things.

First, we distance ourselves from them as people. We are saying, “You’re this or that and I’m not.” This distance gives us permission to caricature, to mock, to be unloving without seeing the consequences. When there’s distance we are able to ignore the response of the individual. By creating this distance we are able to only see them as a group and not as individuals.

The Curse Is Gone

Last night an epic World Series ended with one of the greatest game sevens in the history of sports. The Chicago Cubs defeated the Cleveland Indians in the tenth inning, 8–7. The Cubs had not won the World Series in 108 years. The reason for this drought was the Curse of the Billy Goat. A few years ago the Boston Red Sox ended their World Series drought overcoming the Curse of the Bambino (the Red Sox traded Babe Ruth to the Yankees).

In John 4 there’s a story that grabs me. It’s a story of shame being turned to honor. It’s a story that is, in its purest sense, a story of redemption.

In John 4 we read of a Samaritan woman who has to come and draw water in the heat of the day. She couldn’t come in the morning like the other women of her city because she was an outcast. She had five husbands and the one she was currently with, wasn’t her husband. A scandalous woman!

Shortly after I got serious about trying to follow Jesus I became consumed with “the truth.” I printed off hundreds of pages of articles from the Internet that helped me argue for “the truth.” I wasn’t interested, at that time, with “the truth” so much as I was interested in being right.

Often, as I shared my faith I camped out on a specific verse, John 14:6, which reads —

Over the last few weeks there is one verse that has been recurring in my thoughts and in my heart and in my soul. It’s been bubbling up like volcanic lava.

Micah 6:8 says,

He [God] has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

This verse. This one verse is tearing me up. It is chasing me down and it emerges under every rock, every conversation, every reading, and every time I consider this world.

I have a dirty secret.

Honestly, it’s not that much of a secret.

I am white, American, and male. Those three facts alone mean that I experience on a daily basis a level of privilege that many people don’t.

OK, many of you are about to stop reading and your eyes have rolled into the back of you head. I actually heard them roll. I have a teen-agers, trust me I can see an eye roll a mile away. Please keep reading. This is going somewhere. It’s not another “white man self-loathing” kind of piece.

Today, I sat in on a meeting where the main topic of discussion was “racial reconciliation.” We were all pastors and all but one of us were white and male. The lone exception was a black woman. She is someone that I count as a friend and I think the feeling is mutual.

Our conversation was started because there was a community worship service that was poorly attended by white congregations. My congregation didn’t attend. I didn’t even share it with my congregation. It just didn’t fit into the calendar or the mission. Nevertheless, this was the reason we began discussing “racial reconciliation.”

Happy fall Subversive Journeyers! I trust that you are well and that you’re enjoying the beauty of the autumn. This is my favorite time of year. I love the temperature and the colors that begin to explode in the trees and in the sky.

Last week I wrote something that might be the most important thing that I’ve ever written. Today, I might have written the second most important. I don’t know, maybe they’re just noise. But, I would love for you to read them and share them if you think they’re worth anything.

Two young black men were riding home from football practice in my car. The four us were laughing, cutting up, and making fun of each other. We came up on multiple police cars and officers investing something. These two young men immediately folded their hands in their lap, became quiet, stared straight ahead, and were silent.

After we passed the officers there was a moment and then the teasing, laughing, and cutting up began again.

The way of Jesus is not easy. One of my favorite quotes is from G.K. Chesterton who said,

Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.

To follow Jesus, to be a Christian, is decidedly hard. To follow Jesus demands us to stop focusing on ourselves. If we claim to follow Jesus, then we must become a people who are living after him and living according to “the Way.”

The sun was slowly setting over the horizon. The reds, oranges, and purples were magnificent. Our bellies were satisfied from the meal and the laughter was contagious. A cool breeze gently blew as we gathered on the deck with the Scriptures open.

We began reading…

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

As the words and ideas washed over us they filled our hearts and imaginations. We talked about the glorious grace that is lavished on God’s people. We marveled together at God’s great plan of redemption that has been in place from eternity.

Good morning! I hope that you’re well and that you are experiencing grace and peace. Today I opened Medium to find that The Subversive Journey had cracked 100 followers. Thank you to those of you have been here from the start. I hope that you will continue on with me and that you will continue to share the things here that you find helpful.

In light of reaching this little milestone here a couple of posts from the past that are still some of my favorites. Maybe you will like them too:

I read many articles and books about what it means to be “the Church.” As a pastor of a new congregation I think that I need to continue to refine and deepen my understanding of what the Church ought to be. A concept that consistently pops up, particularly in blogs, is that the Church is “called” to be counter-cultural. This idea is foundational to what many refer to as the “culture war” that has been raging for decades in the United States. To be faithful to the Church necessarily demands that you are in a posture that is “counter” to the culture, at least that’s how the thinking goes.

For most of my professional life I have often been told that I’m not approachable. You see, when it comes to things like Meyers-Briggs (ENTJ) or Strength Finders, my profile comes out as, “Jerk.”

When I served with a campus ministry I would often have to spend a great deal of time apologizing to the women with whom I worked alongside. It usually wasn’t anything that I particularly did. Yet, there was something there that created tension and caused some sort of break in our relationship.

We live in a time when there are congregations designed to meet every desire. Do you like contemporary music? Do you like traditional music? Do you like a young pastor? Do you like an old pastor? Do you like modern architecture or traditional? Do you prefer Sunday centric or mission centric? Do you…do you…do you…?

“Church hopping” and “Church shopping” are phrases that are now significant parts of the American Christian experience. Long gone are the days of aligning with a particular doctrinal standard and being a part of that particular congregation. Long gone are the days of being committed to church discipline and the like because, well, you just go down the street.

Jesus is famous for saying, “The meek shall inherit the earth.” In Colossians 3, Paul says that the follower of Jesus must put on “meekness.” What is it?

Many think that meekness is the opposite of being a “matador” as Frank Underwood says,

But is that really what meekness means? If Jesus commanded us to be meek, I have hard time thinking that it has much to do with being a doormat. If anyone was not a doormat, it was Jesus. He’s about as strong and tough as it comes. So, while meekness has gotten a bad wrap in our culture, I think it means something else.

Nearly every time I have conversation with someone who is not a Christian about the Christian faith they say something like, “You’re not like other Christians.” I take that as a complement. Although, recently it has begun to raise some questions in me.

It seems like a lot of my friends who aren’t Christians don’t want to become a follower of Jesus because of their perceptions of “Those Christians.” Many of them don’t know any of “Those Christians.” They know me though and tell me that I’m different from “Those Christians.” So if that’s the case why let this caricature of “Those Christians” impact so much of your worldview?

I have been reading the poetry of Amy Carmichael recently. There’s something about poetry that really grabs you in a different way than prose. It opens your emotions and your heart. For me it breaks me out of my intellectualism and gets my head out of the clouds and brings me back to earth.

As I read this morning there was a poem called, “Expectancy”, that captured something that has been rolling around in my heart and head. It gave words to this ever growing sense in me of the ever present “already but not yet” reality of being a Christian. As I wade through the section of Scripture about the exile of God’s people I am seeing so many connections to our own time.

Much like everyone else in the United States, I have been wrestling with what to do in November. There are many voices and competing claims. It often seems that there is little hope of making a good and wise decision. When it comes down to casting a vote it seems as though whichever way one goes will be to bow down Nebuchadnezzar and his golden image (Daniel 3).

What do we do? What do I do?

How do you simultaneously love your daughter well, embarrass her and yourself? EASY! Dance in the Dad’s Dance at her studio in front of 100s. It was a ton of fun and I would do it again in a heartbeat. So, without further ado, here it is…

DANCE LIKE YO DADDY!

https://danielmrose.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Dad-Dance.m4v

from The Subversive Journey https://danielmrose.com/2016/08/01/dance-like-yo-daddy/

via IFTTT

Nearly eighteen months ago our family did something crazy.

CRAZY I TELL YOU!

It was crazy if you asked anyone but the four of us living in this home. We invited my Mom, our kids Mimi, to come and stay with us. She is a retired teacher who has given her life serving others, not the least of which are her three sons, three daughter-in-laws, and five grandchildren. Nearly two years ago it became apparent that her apartment would no longer be sustainable. The rent in her area was skyrocketing. A teacher’s pension just could not keep up. So, she swallowed her pride, we moved into the guest room, and she set up home in our master bedroom: Mimi’s Suite.

Have you ever had a friend come up to you and quietly say, “Hey man, you have a booger hanging out…”? When they do that you know you have a true friend. Why? Because they are kind.

Kindness is something we want in our friends. We don’t want niceness. A nice person would try to ignore the booger, the kind friend would tell you the truth.

That’s the key difference between being kind and nice. A nice person will think, “oh man they have a booger, I don’t want them to feel bad so I will ignore it.” The kind person acts from compassion and makes sure you don’t walk around all day with that booger hanging on.

There are times when it seems like evil always wins. We read the news and see so much pain and suffering. It feels like bad things are always happening to good people. I find myself wondering when will we see the reverse? When will the good and the righteous finally experience victory?

As I read Psalm 112 this morning I was reminded that the pursuit of righteousness does eventually lead to joy.