Essays
One Another
Colossians 3:15-17
Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way. — Colossians 3:15-17, The Message
I love this image of the peace of Christ keeping us in tune with each other. It is this reminder of the one-anotherness of living in the way of Christ.
We live in a world where “going off and doing your own thing” is of the highest value. Yet, in the way of Christ, it is of little to no value. We are a people, a family, a one-another.
In my background there was this line of thinking that we could pursue a “just-me-and-Jesus” kind of spirituality. But, that is just not simply who we are or what we are called to. If we are going to try and follow Jesus in our lives then we need others with us. We need community. We need one another.
We are a one-another.
It is within this context that everything else connects here. We are to cultivate thankfulness. Have you ever thought about that word, “cultivate”? It means to “prepare and use” or “acquire or develop.” Thankfulness is not something that we come by naturally. We have to work at it. We must cultivate it in our lives. I love that it is couched here in the context of our one-anotherness because I have found that when I am deeply connected in community I am much more thankful.
It is in our one-anotherness that we speak gospel to each other. It is in our one-anotherness that we give it room to grow and develop and have its way.
The beauty of the gospel is that it grows in us. We don’t make some intellectual ascent and then BOOM!!! we are just like Jesus. No, we need a community of one-another to remind us of grace, mercy, compassion, and to love well.
Do you have your one-another community or are you trying to live this life isolated and alone?
Let Us Lament
Psalm 77
Lamenting is not something that we like to do. Lamenting is not something that comes naturally to us. But, when we are faced with a pain, a grief, a heartache that reaches into our soul, it is what we must do.
C.S. Lewis wrote in The Problem of Pain, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains; it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
Every once in a while you come face to face with a brokenness that overwhelms you. It seems that lately this has been the case more than not. I look around and people are not being healed, they are losing jobs, they are experiencing death.
This all sucks.
I know, I know, I’m a pastor and my Mimi would be mad that I just used the “s-word.” But, you know what, it does suck.
That’s the truth of the matter.
The brokenness of this world is overwhelming at times. I am so mad and frustrated with it. I wish God would simply do what I want him to do. When I pray for him to heal someone, I want him to do that. When I ask him to save a marriage, I want him to do that. Every once in a while, I want him to supersede the secondary causes of human sin, frailty, and brokenness to make this world how I want it.
He’s sovereign and good I remind myself. But, dang it sure does not feel that way at times. Not even a little. I don’t really doubt his goodness, but there are times when I wonder if he really does have control of this ball of dust.
Intellectually, I know he does.
Intellectually, I know that everything has purpose.
Today, as I drink my coffee, it doesn’t feel like it at all.
Emails, phone calls, texts, Facebook statuses, they all point to something else.
Even now, I am thinking about all the times God has responded. All the times when it made no sense for something to happen apart from God’s miraculous intervention. That makes me smile.
A few years ago my son said, “Dad, if I need something important to happen, I am asking the church to pray. God listens to our church and does stuff.”
It doesn’t feel that way this morning. But, I know it to be true. Me and God have history. But, I have a short memory.
“When my heart was grieved and
my spirit embittered,
I was senseless and ignorant;
I was a brute beast before you.
Yet I am always with you;
you hold me by my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will take me into glory.
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.” Psalm 73:21–26
I am still in the, “I was senseless and ignorant” stage. I am working my way toward the “Whom have I in heaven but you?” stage.
Even so, God can handle me saying, “This sucks.”
As you can probably tell, when I need to lament, I turn to the Psalms. More and more of that time is spent in Eugene Peterson’s, The Message. He gives words to my soul. Today it is Psalm 77 and it’s all I got.
I yell out to my God,
I yell with all my might,
I yell at the top of my lungs.
He listens.
I found myself in trouble
and went looking for my Lord;
my life was an open wound that wouldn’t heal.
When friends said,
“Everything will turn out all right,”
I didn’t believe a word they said.
I remember God — and shake my head.
I bow my head — then wring my hands.
I’m awake all night — not a wink of sleep;
I can’t even say what’s bothering me.
I go over the days one by one,
I ponder the years gone by.
I strum my lute all through the night,
wondering how to get my life together.
Will the Lord walk off and leave us for good?
Will he never smile again?
Is his love worn threadbare?
Has his salvation promise burned out?
Has God forgotten his manners?
Has he angrily stalked off and left us?
“Just my luck,” I said.
“The High God goes out of business just the moment I need him.”
Once again I’ll go over what GOD has done,
lay out on the table the ancient wonders;
I’ll ponder all the things you’ve accomplished,
and give a long, loving look at your acts.
O God!
Your way is holy!
No god is great like God!
You’re the God who makes things happen;
you showed everyone what you can do —
You pulled your people out of the worst kind of trouble,
rescued the children of Jacob and Joseph.
Ocean saw you in action, God,
saw you and trembled with fear;
Deep Ocean was scared to death.
Clouds belched buckets of rain,
Sky exploded with thunder,
your arrows flashing this way and that.
From Whirlwind came your thundering voice,
Lightning exposed the world,
Earth reeled and rocked.
You strode right through Ocean,
walked straight through roaring Ocean,
but nobody saw you come or go.
Hidden in the hands of Moses and Aaron,
You led your people like a flock of sheep." (Psalm 77, The Message)
Dress Up
Colossians 3:12-14
So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It's your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it. — Colossians 3:12-14, The Message
I hope you had a wonderful holiday! Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. It is a marvelous time spent with family and no agendas. Hopefully, yours was just as sweet.
As we return to Colossians we find Paul doing Paul things again. He is reminding the Colossians of who they really are in Christ. This description is their truest selves.
The kicker? The description is our truest selves too.
I have to be honest with you. When I read this list of “clothing” that we are to put on I find it deeply challenging. So many of these things are so counter-cultural to our way of life. Yet, when we find someone who lives out compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline, even tempered, forgiving, and love we want to be around them all the time. Don’t we?
Many of us will read this and our immediate thought will be, “But what’s the limit? I will not be a doormat!”
That’s the wrong question.
The real question that we must ask ourselves is this: How can I develop these things in my life?
How do I become more compassionate?
How do I become more kind?
How do I become more humble?
How do I become more quietly strong?
How do I become more disciplined?
How do I become more even tempered?
How do I become more forgiving?
How do I become more loving?
You see, if this is the best and truest version of ourselves then we need be about working on these things in our lives.
One of the things that I’m learning while I try to develop these things is that I have little time to worry about others. What I mean, is that by focusing my attention on becoming the best and truest version of who I am supposed to be my posture toward others becomes more welcoming and loving. I am learning to recognize the reality that others are on the same journey. So, instead of me being angry, upset, or offended by them I grow in my desire to walk with them and join them in their journey.
Truly, these few verses are a call to #LoveWell. Let’s walk this journey together…
Today is “Giving Tuesday”. If you have found that these little devotionals have in some way been helpful to you would you please consider sending a gift along to The Antioch Movement? This is the congregation that some friends and I planted that began in Ypsilanti, MI but now has expanded into a variety of communities. Through the Antioch Movement I am able to be a full-time pastor in our various communities.
Thank you for considering giving a gift.
Here is the link to donate: The Antioch Movement
Thief
Colossians 3:5-11
And that means killing off everything connected with that way of death: sexual promiscuity, impurity, lust, doing whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it, and grabbing whatever attracts your fancy. That's a life shaped by things and feelings instead of by God. It's because of this kind of thing that God is about to explode in anger. It wasn't long ago that you were doing all that stuff and not knowing any better. But you know better now, so make sure it's all gone for good: bad temper, irritability, meanness, profanity, dirty talk.
Don't lie to one another. You're done with that old life. It's like a filthy set of ill-fitting clothes you've stripped off and put in the fire. Now you're dressed in a new wardrobe. Every item of your new way of life is custom-made by the Creator, with his label on it. All the old fashions are now obsolete. Words like Jewish and non-Jewish, religious and irreligious, insider and outsider, uncivilized and uncouth, slave and free, mean nothing. From now on everyone is defined by Christ, everyone is included in Christ.. — Colossians 3:5-11
Every time I see these “sin lists” in Paul I am struck by two things.
First, I am struck by the communal nature of them. Did you notice that? The issues raised are, by and large, things that we experience in the context of community. We are social creatures for good or for ill. Our greatest joys are rooted in community but so are our greatest experiences of brokenness.
So often, I think we think of sin in the abstract. But, it’s not an abstraction. It has real impact in the world. I was reading the other day in a book called, Learning to Speak God From Scratch by Jonathan Merritt. In his chapter on sin he uses a definition from a theologian friend that defines sin as “anything that robs us of the fullness of life — or something we’ve done that robs others of the fullness of life. (p. 140)” This really seems to jive in my head and makes a lot of sense as I consider the way that the writers of the New Testament talk about sin.
Second, I am struck by the connection of the sin list to “idolatry.” In the more literal translations the sins are rooted in idolatry. Peterson describes idolatry in his translation this way, “That's a life shaped by things and feelings instead of by God.” When we place ourselves at the center of things then so many of these issues will develop. If we have God at the center, understanding that we are united with Christ then we will be more intentional about taking off the “ill-fitting clothes” of the ways of the life-stealing-sin.
I love the imagery of God putting on us custom made clothes. When something is made custom it is one of a kind and perfectly designed for the recipient. In John 10:10 Christ says that he came to give abundant life. This abundant life is a life that is custom made for each us in the limitless creativity of our Creator. This is what gets hinted at in Ephesians 2:10, “No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.” Each of us are called to join in the work that God has created for us to do, and it is custom made for you and me to experience the fullness of life.
But, to experience this fullness of life we have take that old life thief, sin, and deal with it. Paul says, put it off like we do old clothes. This means that living and experiencing the fullness of life will require us to be intentional and active in its pursuit. Clothes don’t just fall off. They have to be intentionally removed. Clothes don’t just appear on us. They have to be intentionally put on.
As you go into the weekend consider, in what ways is the thief-of-life stealing life away from you or how are you joining in the thief-of-life to steal life from others?
Contentment
Colossians 3:3-4
Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you'll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ. — Colossians 3:3-4, The Message
On Sunday night in our missional community we had a conversation about contentment. One of the things that were said about how we can learn to be content was the recognition that there was more to come. There is something to the reality that knowing there is more than just this life frees to experience contentment.
“Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ.”
This little statement drives home for me the depths of finding myself in Christ. I struggle with being content on many levels. The greatest one is being content to be obscure. There is something in me that wants to be “known.” I would love to be “on the circuit” or to have millions of podcast downloads each week, heck I’d love to have hundreds or even thousands. As I see that in myself I realize it’s because I am finding my identity in something other than Christ.
When I am in a season of contentment, because there are definitely seasons of contentment and discontentment, it is because I am leaning into the reality that my life is hid in Christ. Who I am is most rooted in the reality of myself being united with Christ. During these seasons I experience joy in the singular conversations. I am able to find happiness in being present with my community and seeing them connect with one another.
This is my real life.
This is who I really am. When I am not resting in that reality, I am pushing against something that quite simply isn’t real. It becomes obvious that when I’m chasing a shadow that discontentment naturally follows.
My prayer is that I will, more and more, lean into my union with Christ, so that I might live a content life.
Where The Action Is
Colossians 3:1-2
So if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that's where the action is. See things from his perspective. — Colossians 3:1-2, The Message
I keep seeing something in a lot of writings about the state of the church, it is this, “The average American Christian is discipled by the news more than the church.” This is quite the commentary on our times, is it not? Sadly, I think in many ways this is true. It seems that people are more likely to take their cues from Tucker Carlson or Rachel Maddow than they are from a crucified Jewish itinerant rabbi. The rush we get from hearing our favorite opinion personality “get” the other side is so addictive. We crave it more and more.
It appears that many of us who claim to follow Jesus have lost the plot. We are so caught up in the news of the day that we are missing the bigger picture of sacrificial-gracious-love that we get to participate in. We are overwhelmed by the need to pick a side and fight for the culture war.
The thing is though, when we get serious about living the resurrection life then we don’t have to play the game. We can step outside the game and see it for what it is. Whether the emperor rides a donkey or an elephant, the emperor is indeed naked. Like the conclusion that WOPR comes to at the end of War Game, “The only winning move is not to play.”
There real action is with Christ and seeing the world through his eyes.
When we do that we come to find out that what is most beautiful, most awe inspiring, most amazing, is being part of renewal, restoration, and reconciliation.
Don’t you see?!
You, me, we get to enter into this world as agents of renewal, restoration, and reconciliation. We get to play a part in helping people learn to love. This is the real action!
Why?
Colossians 2:20-23
So, then, if with Christ you've put all that pretentious and infantile religion behind you, why do you let yourselves be bullied by it? "Don't touch this! Don't taste that! Don't go near this!" Do you think things that are here today and gone tomorrow are worth that kind of attention? Such things sound impressive if said in a deep enough voice. They even give the illusion of being pious and humble and ascetic. But they're just another way of showing off, making yourselves look important. — Colossians 2:20-23, The Message
Few verses in the Bible have had as significant an impact on my day to day living as these. These few verses, for me, were the light bulb that went off and began to illuminate so much of the darkness. It was here that the shadows began to recede and the light of the gospel became something that was evermore beautiful. It was here that I realized that there was more to the Christian life than the dualism of my early faith.
For many of us, if not all of us, we must go through seasons of simplicity where everything is right or wrong, good or evil, beautiful or ugly, us or them. These lines of demarcation are clear and they allow us to find out feet in the world. Part of my psychology education included some work in childhood development. When children are young they are concrete thinkers. So, we engage with them in that way. They have not developed the ability for nuance. They need us to help them with “yes” or “no.” But, as they mature and develop they begin to ask, “why?” This is when the the real journey towards maturity begins. If we as parents shout down the “why” then we will stunt their growth.
We process through a similar pattern in our faith journey. Early on we need to find our footing. The Christ journey is messy and difficult. So, at first we find ourselves in a phase of simplicity. Believe this, not that, etc… But, then we inevitably come to the part where we ask, “Why?” This is when too often our institutions do not want to progress beyond the simplicity. The “why” questions appear to be challenges to authority and the like. But, they are simply the natural next steps in a maturing faith.
Paul is getting at this when asks, “So, then, if with Christ you've put all that pretentious and infantile religion behind you, why do you let yourselves be bullied by it?” Infantile religion is comprised of rules that you follow to “be good.” This is not the way of Christ. The way of Christ includes and transcends these rules like a Russian nesting doll. The rules ultimately become helpful as we wrestle through the “why” of them. When we work through the “why” we find the deeper principle.
Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) is a master class of including and transcending the “simple” to move towards maturity. Every single time he says, “You have heard it said, but I say…” this is the very thing he is doing. He is taking another step in putting infantile religion behind him and refusing to be bullied by it.
What are the ways that you are bullied by infantile religion? Where are you still living in the realm of “simplicity” without asking “Why?” I am wrestling with these questions today, as I have for a number of years now. As I work through them I find myself moving toward greater grace, greater empathy, and greater mercy.
The Substance is Christ
Colossians 2:16-19
So don't put up with anyone pressuring you in details of diet, worship services, or holy days. All those things are mere shadows cast before what was to come; the substance is Christ.
Don't tolerate people who try to run your life, ordering you to bow and scrape, insisting that you join their obsession with angels and that you seek out visions. They're a lot of hot air, that's all they are. They're completely out of touch with the source of life, Christ, who puts us together in one piece, whose very breath and blood flow through us. He is the Head and we are the body. We can grow up healthy in God only as he nourishes us. — Colossians 2:16-19, The Message
“The substance is Christ.”
Are you beginning to notice a theme in this letter? I am. It is becoming more and more clear that one of Paul’s concerns for this congregation was that they were possibly missing out on the centrality of Christ.
Could you imagine a group of Christians that are so completely concerned with…
specific diets,
worship styles, and
holidays,
…that they miss out on what is most important to their faith?
I mean that could never happen, right?
Oof.
If this isn’t a passage for our time, I don’t know what is.
We live in an age where the things that don’t matter have become of greatest importance and the things of greatest importance seem to longer matter. What takes top billing to many is the decoration of a coffee cup or the greeting of a store clerk. Yet, what matters most is our willingness to love our neighbor as ourselves and love our enemy.
Christian bookstores sell out of things like The Daniel Diet and books like Mere Christianity collect dust on their shelves.
Why?
Because we have lost the center.
No longer is Christ the center. So many other things crowd out Christ because the way of Christ is too hard, too sacrificial, too cross-oriented.
As I head into the weekend I’m going to be wrestling with this question, “Is Christ my center? Do I find all I need for spiritual sustenance in Christ? Is Christ the substance?”
You Can't Get It
Colossians 2:11-15
Entering into this fullness is not something you figure out or achieve. It's not a matter of being circumcised or keeping a long list of laws. No, you're already in—insiders—not through some secretive initiation rite but rather through what Christ has already gone through for you, destroying the power of sin. If it's an initiation ritual you're after, you've already been through it by submitting to baptism. Going under the water was a burial of your old life; coming up out of it was a resurrection, God raising you from the dead as he did Christ. When you were stuck in your old sin-dead life, you were incapable of responding to God. God brought you alive—right along with Christ! Think of it! All sins forgiven, the slate wiped clean, that old arrest warrant canceled and nailed to Christ's Cross. He stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe of their sham authority at the Cross and marched them naked through the streets. — Colossians 2:11-15, The Message
The depths of grace may be the most difficult thing for American Christians to wrap our minds around. We are so deeply rooted in the Protestant Work Ethic that we, almost by accident, ignore the marvelous workings of grace. There is something deep within us that bucks against the idea that grace is completely disconnected from merit.
We desperately want to “earn” things. There is nothing more significant than God’s pleasure, therefore, we have constructed systems to earn that pleasure. Now, let’s be clear nobody says, “Hey! Here’s our system for pleasing God!” Nah, that doesn’t really happen. But, there is social pressure that makes it clear what the system is.
When I was a missionary to college students our organization had a merit based system that determined whether or not God was pleased with us. Again, nobody stated it outright, it just was. The system included “quiet times,” “evangelistic conversations,” “prayer time,” and “scripture memory.” There were plenty other merit gaining tasks, but these were the most prominent. None of these things in and of themselves are bad. They are actually very good things. Problems arise with the “why.”
Grace is not something that we can obtain.
Grace cannot be bought.
Grace is simply a gift given. It’s given before we do anything. It’s just there.
Grace is the air we breathe.
Grace is the beauty all around us.
Grace is the ultimate reality.
This is what Paul means when he says, “Entering into this fullness is not something you figure out or achieve.”
All of this is centered on the cross.
I love the way N.T. Wright and Michael Bird put it in their The New Testament In Its World, “The cross is the surest, truest, and deepest window on the very heart and character of the living and loving God; the more we learn about the cross, in all its historical and theological dimensions, the more we discover about the One in whose image we are made, and hence about our own vocation to be the cross-bearing people, the people in whose lives and service the living God is made known.”
Grace frees us to live this way.
The Emptiness of the Argument
Colossians 2:8-10
Watch out for people who try to dazzle you with big words and intellectual double-talk. They want to drag you off into endless arguments that never amount to anything. They spread their ideas through the empty traditions of human beings and the empty superstitions of spirit beings. But that's not the way of Christ. Everything of God gets expressed in him, so you can see and hear him clearly. You don't need a telescope, a microscope, or a horoscope to realize the fullness of Christ, and the emptiness of the universe without him. When you come to him, that fullness comes together for you, too. His power extends over everything. — Colossians 2:8-10, The Message
Sometimes I think that we miss out on the things that are most obvious and right in front of our faces. It’s like the whole, “A fish doesn’t know it’s in the water,” phenomenon. There is a line in this passage that I think is like that and the ramifications of missing it are significant.
Peterson translates, “Everything of God gets expressed in him…” or in the NIV, “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form…”
It is for this reason that we don’t need to get caught up in the big words and intellectual debates. Let me be clear, I don’t think that Paul is arguing for some sort of anti-intellectualism or that he is arguing that what one thinks or believes doesn’t matter. Of course Paul thinks all those things are true, otherwise why write all that he wrote? Why care so deeply at helping these congregations shape their identities? I think what Paul is doing here though is making sure that everything is rightly ordered.
You see what is of first importance is the lived life. Christ, the Divine, are first and foremost embodied and lived realities. Could God have simply spoken the reconciliation, restoration, and renewal of all things into existence? I think so. However, the Divine Being chose to be embodied and do the work of reconciliation, restoration, and renewal as a man from Palestine.
I think it’s beautiful as we read in the book of Acts that the Jesus movement was initially called, “The Way.” This points so clearly to what we read in the writings of the early church that emphasized how people lived out their faith.
When we begin to truly consider “Jesus is Lord” as the center of our faith as opposed to theological conceptions (that’s not to say that wrapped up in the phrase, “Jesus is Lord” aren’t a ton of theological conceptions!) everything becomes a bit clearer. If Jesus, the person of Jesus we see reflected in the Gospels, is of the first order in our faith then we begin to center on the things that mattered most to him. I think that we can start in Matthew 5-7 and work our way out from there. Matthew 5-7 can be summarized as, love your neighbor as yourself and love your enemies.
What are the big words and intellectual double-talk that catch your attention? What are the arguments that draw you away from an embodied faith where you seek to love well? How can you press beyond them?
These are the questions that I’m asking myself today and it makes me uncomfortable. The intellectualized faith of my tradition is much more comfortable than the embodied faith of Jesus.
Get Busy Living
Colossians 2:6-7
My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you've been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him. You're deeply rooted in him. You're well constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you've been taught. School's out; quit studying the subject and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving. — Colossians 2:6-7, The Message
“Now live him.”
“Now do what you’ve been taught.”
These are the kind of statements that it feels like have been lost by many of us. We have begun to believe that all that matters is what kind of ideas we espouse. Do we “believe” rightly? Can we parrot statements of belief that are “orthodox”?
As important as those things are, what is just as important, perhaps more important, is how we live.
In the early history of Christianity what mattered most was The Way people lived. When a person wanted to convert to Christianity they had to show by their lives that they were indeed following The Way of Jesus. It is a fascinating history. The early church talked about people “seeing” how Christians lived and that by “seeing” the way Christians lived they would be compelled to follow The Way too. They also argued that if your life betrayed the words that you eloquently spoke to your neighbor you would drive them from the gospel.
For most of the history of Christianity the emphasis has been on living the way.
Only recently have we moved from a practiced, embodied faith to one that is just cerebral.
I think that if we could somehow return to a lived faith we might see the kind of dynamic, transcendent faith that is promised in the Scriptures. We might very well see a revival of The Way in our world.
As you consider your faith, is it something that you largely practice in your mind? Or do you live it out in your body?
A Tapestry of Love
Colossians 2:1-5
I want you to realize that I continue to work as hard as I know how for you, and also for the Christians over at Laodicea. Not many of you have met me face-to-face, but that doesn't make any difference. Know that I'm on your side, right alongside you. You're not in this alone.
I want you woven into a tapestry of love, in touch with everything there is to know of God. Then you will have minds confident and at rest, focused on Christ, God's great mystery. All the richest treasures of wisdom and knowledge are embedded in that mystery and nowhere else. And we've been shown the mystery! I'm telling you this because I don't want anyone leading you off on some wild-goose chase, after other so-called mysteries, or "the Secret."
I'm a long way off, true, and you may never lay eyes on me, but believe me, I'm on your side, right beside you. I am delighted to hear of the careful and orderly ways you conduct your affairs, and impressed with the solid substance of your faith in Christ. — Colossians 2:1-5, The Message
“I want you woven into a tapestry of love.”
I think that this is something that those of us who are pastors need to sit with.
When I began in full time ministry right out of college as a missionary to college students, my desire, my goal was to change the world. I wanted to reach the campus for Christ and as a result reach the world for Christ. There was no doubt in my mind that my calling was to change the world. I was also convinced that I would do this through my intellect and skills of communication. That is, I would convince people of the truth of the gospel by winning arguments. I must say, I won a lot of arguments. But, there was little by way of world changing or even life change in those early years.
As I matured I realized that it wasn’t for me to change the world. That was God’s business. I came to believe that I should preach. Yes! I would be God’s man speaking to God’s people and inspire them to share the gospel with all those in their lives. This was the calling I had been searching for. To this day, I find I am a pretty solid public speaker, above average I think, and often people share how my messages have impacted them. But, this has ultimately played out not to be the calling.
A few more years of maturing have happened and while I still want to be a resource for people who are wrestling with who God is in Christ and while I still enjoy preaching, I am coming to realize that these things are really quite empty.
“I want you woven into a tapestry of love.”
It is hard for me to admit this for some reason, but what Paul says here about his desire for the Colossians to be “woven into a tapestry of love,” this is what I am beginning to realize is what I am here for. I’m not here to build large congregations or to make my name great with book deals and being on the speaking circuit. I am coming to realize that when my days come to an end I want people to say, “He was instrumental in helping to weave our community into a tapestry of love.”
Could you imagine? Could you imagine if this is what people said about you? My goodness! How beautiful would that be! Surely, this is the trajectory for the one of whom Christ says, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
Pastors, let us sit in this statement from Paul. Let us consider how we need to move into the world as though seeking weave tapestries of love. Let us pray for how we can help those people whom we serve to do the same.
I have to wonder, if we got serious, really serious about weaving a tapestry of love in the lives of one another, how much more beautiful this world would be?
Y'all Basic
Colossians 1:24-29
I want you to know how glad I am that it's me sitting here in this jail and not you. There's a lot of suffering to be entered into in this world—the kind of suffering Christ takes on. I welcome the chance to take my share in the church's part of that suffering. When I became a servant in this church, I experienced this suffering as a sheer gift, God's way of helping me serve you, laying out the whole truth.
This mystery has been kept in the dark for a long time, but now it's out in the open. God wanted everyone, not just Jews, to know this rich and glorious secret inside and out, regardless of their background, regardless of their religious standing. The mystery in a nutshell is just this: Christ is in you, therefore you can look forward to sharing in God's glory. It's that simple. That is the substance of our Message. We preach Christ, warning people not to add to the Message. We teach in a spirit of profound common sense so that we can bring each person to maturity. To be mature is to be basic. Christ! No more, no less. That's what I'm working so hard at day after day, year after year, doing my best with the energy God so generously gives me. - Colossians 1:24-29, The Message
I find it fascinating how different Christianity has become since these early days. We now have tomes of theology books, two thousand years or so of writing about the profound mystery of the Message. If you look for a Bible you are overwhelmed by choices and decisions to make. There is a Bible for every niche. All of this so that we can try and understand “this rich and glorious secret.”
We have taken the profoundly simple and beautiful and made it profoundly difficult and often times ugly.
It is a remarkable phrase is it not, “To be mature is to be basic.”
Too often in our modern Christian world we believe the most mature Christians are those with tons of knowledge. We believe that maturity comes from adding the alphabet after our names: M.Div, Th.M, PhD, and the like. But, it does not. Often folks with the alphabet after their name are no more mature in their faith than someone who just began following The Way.
Why is that? They know so much!
It’s because often in our learning we lose sight of what really matters, Christ.
The most mature followers of The Way that I know are those quiet, humble, women and men who are simply showing up and loving their neighbor as themselves.
They are basic.
I love sports. I can become enamored with great feats in sports. For instance, Miguel Cabrera was chasing many career milestones this baseball season and every night I watched the games hoping to see it happen. Or when Tiger Woods was completing his “Tiger Slam,” winning all four golf majors consecutively, I watched every stroke of his rounds. We see these amazing athletes do some amazing things. What we don’t see or notice is the hours spent my Cabrera hitting off a tee or Woods working on his game at the driving range. What are they doing? They are working on the basics. The difference between average and greatness, often times, are the basics. The greats do the basics nearly perfectly, every single time.
Paul was desperate for his people to be basic. Grabbing hold of Christ and never letting go. Martin Luther in his commentary on Galatians wrote this, “Thus it is an urgent necessity that the preaching of the Gospel continue among us, that we may hear and retain it, otherwise we would soon forget our Lord.”
I find it interesting that in our culture the term “basic” has become something a bit derogatory. Yet, when it comes to following The Way we must hold onto being basic as though our lives depend on it.
How much different would our homes, neighborhoods, and towns look if those who followed The Way were simply, basic?
Put-Back-Togetherness
Colossians 1:21-23
You yourselves are a case study of what he does. At one time you all had your backs turned to God, thinking rebellious thoughts of him, giving him trouble every chance you got. But now, by giving himself completely at the Cross, actually dying for you, Christ brought you over to God's side and put your lives together, whole and holy in his presence. You don't walk away from a gift like that! You stay grounded and steady in that bond of trust, constantly tuned in to the Message, careful not to be distracted or diverted. There is no other Message—just this one. Every creature under heaven gets this same Message. I, Paul, am a messenger of this Message. - Colossians 1:21-23, The Message
When you think about the reality that God has “put your lives together, whole and holy in his presence,” what comes into your mind?
I am struck by the reality that I needed to be put back together. I wrote about this the other day, the sense of dis-ease and dislocation. Our world is so full of ways to help us put ourselves back together. I think we inherently know that we need to be put back together and we enter into deep frustration when we think that we can do it ourselves.
Because we can’t.
We need someone outside ourselves to help us do that. In our day to day, right here and right now this will be people in our community. Those that we allow into our lives can be agents of reconstruction. They can help put us together. The hard part is that they too are in need of being put back together and so, they can also be people who break us apart.
I am learning that one of the most significant things that happens as I follow Christ and trust the Spirit in me, is that there is an ontological change that happens.
What the heck does “ontological” mean? It’s defined like this, “relating to the branch of metaphysics dealing with the nature of being.” Wow, thanks, super helpful. What that’s trying to get at is the “nature of being” thing. When we talk about something from an ontological perspective we are talking what it actually is.
Christ has changed us ontologically. Christ’s work of reconciliation has changed the very nature of who and what we are. When we can recognize the reality of what has happened, that we have been put back together it frees us to experience that put-back-togetherness.
Have you noticed that when you’re around people who are what we might call, “comfortable in their own skin,” you too experience a greater sense of being comfortable? Why do you think that is? I think it’s because on that deeper level of being they don’t need anything from you or me. This is the effect of what Christ has done.
You see, in Christ the reality is that we are not broken. In Christ we are put back together, we are whole and holy. The work that we have to do is moving towards that reality and experiencing it. When we surround ourselves with people who are seeking to do the same, we become people who reveal as opposed to people who reconstruct. That change of role for ourselves and our community frees us to love more deeply and live even more honestly with one another.
What stands out to you in this passage? What resonates? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
Broken and Dislocated
Colossians 1:15-20
We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God's original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body.
He was supreme in the beginning and—leading the resurrection parade—he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he's there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the Cross. — Colossians 1:15-20, The Message
Colossians 1:15-20 is my favorite passage in the whole of the Scriptures. There is nothing quite like it, in my opinion. Romans 8 is pretty great, but, when I read this my heart swells and a lump in throat is formed. This is the first time that I’ve meditated on it using Peterson’s translation in The Message and it does not disappoint.
There’s just so much here! I feel like someone who wants to tour their family around their new city. Do you know what I mean? I want to point out everything from the reality that in Christ we see God, to everything getting its start in Christ, to Christ holding all the things together.
Yet, this morning I’m particularly struck by this image of Jesus properly fitting together all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe.
Oh, how often I have felt broken and dislocated!
For much of my life I felt like the odd man out. Always, it seemed, I was the third wheel. Everyone else seemed to be in on something and I was always one step behind. Whenever I would make a friend they would move away. It just never seemed that I was ever funny enough, good enough, or smart enough.
I was never enough.
The awareness of my brokenness and dislocation created in me an always present sense of dis-ease. It was as though I was going through life walking on one of those sidewalks where the tree roots have broken and disjointed the cement. I was never quite able to find my footing.
I’m grateful to have found a loving community that has embraced me. I have friends who love me well. The older I get the more I’m finding my footing.
These days I’ve never felt more healed and located.
This is part of what seeking the face of Christ does for us, I think. We find the healing of our souls and we find our location in the creation.
It is beautiful isn’t it?
Are you feeling broken and dislocated? Then let’s pursue this Christ together. I’d love to walk the journey toward healing and place with you.
Dead-end Alleys, Dark Dungeons, and the Kingdom
Colossians 1:13-14
God rescued us from dead-end alleys and dark dungeons. He's set us up in the kingdom of the Son he loves so much, the Son who got us out of the pit we were in, got rid of the sins we were doomed to keep repeating. - Colossians 1:13-14, The Message
Do you ever wonder about what it takes to change? Not the kind of change that lasts for a few days, but the kind of change that we call transformation. You know what I’m talking about, right? The kind of change where we become someone different than we were before.
Throughout my life I have tried make many changes. All of them were changes that I thought would help me become the best version of myself. Most of them did not stick. Every year I create a list of goals that I want to pursue. Most of them are never accomplished.
Why?
I think a big part of making any kind of change is an influx of energy. This could be physical, emotional, spiritual, or mental energy. When we are making a change in our lives it means that we are going in one direction and we want to go in a different direction. To change direction requires a significant amount of force to stop us, turn us, and get us going again. Over the last couple of years I have made a significant change to the way I eat. The force necessary came from the realization that food is an important tool to my health. My health was in decline and if I made changes to what I ate, I could change my health for the better.
What kind of force is necessary to change the spiritual direction of humanity? What is required to bring about the reconciliation of all things? On a personal level, what kind of force is needed to help us get “rid of the sins we were doomed to keep repeating”?
It turns out that it is a divine force. We, quite literally, needed divine intervention to change us.
I just love the imagery here of God rescuing us from dead-end alleys and dark dungeons. We could not save ourselves. There was no way for us to pull up our boot straps so to speak. No, we were stuck in a cycle of sin-sicknesss in dead-end alleys and dark dungeons. At every turn it seems that we would make the wrong turn.
But God.
God, not only saves us from the dead-end alleys and dark dungeons but sets us up in the kingdom of the beloved Son. There is a change that has taken place an infusion of divine energy and force to make us different. We are now free to live as those who live in the kingdom of the beloved Son. In our daily lives we can choose to put others before ourselves, we can choose to practice the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control).
I look so often at myself and see that I too often still live as one trapped in a dead-end alley or a dark dungeon. Why? I think it’s in those moments that I find I’ve come to the place where I think it all depends on me to “live right.” But, it doesn’t. Part of the learning the way of the Master is to learn how to yield and trust the Spirit of Christ in me and my neighbor.
How are you doing? Are you finding yourself experiencing the kingdom or the beloved Son or are you too often living as though you are in a dark dungeon?
Live Well
Colossians 1:9-12
Be assured that from the first day we heard of you, we haven't stopped praying for you, asking God to give you wise minds and spirits attuned to his will, and so acquire a thorough understanding of the ways in which God works. We pray that you'll live well for the Master, making him proud of you as you work hard in his orchard. As you learn more and more how God works, you will learn how to do your work. We pray that you'll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul—not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us. - Colossians 1:9-12, The Message
I am struck this morning by Paul’s prayer for the Colossians that they would “live well for the Master.”
If we are to live well then we have to live. That sounds a bit ridiculous, I know. Yet it seems to me that many people who go to churches on Sundays and even those of us who preach in the pulpits too often make following Christ out to be something that we accomplish in our minds. For a while now right believe, orthodoxy, has outweighed right living, orthopraxy. This has come as a result of people not wanting to become legalistic or somehow infringing on the beauty of God’s grace.
It turns out though that God’s grace is most greatly demonstrated in us as we live out our faith. The Christian faith is not one that is practiced through ideas or concepts. It’s a lived and embodied faith. We carry it with us where we go and we are to practice it in our daily lives.
I don’t think that anyone would ever claim that Paul teaches some sort of “works based salvation.” Yet, I do think that many have said that he teaches how we live matters little as long as we believe rightly. I think that if we take seriously what he writes in its entirety that we just can’t get there. It turns out for Paul that living well is crucial to following Christ.
To follow Christ is a call to live in the way of Christ. That is to live a life marked by, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”
Do you want to know what else is beautiful about what Paul writes here? He doesn’t expect the Colossians to have it perfected. He assumes growth as they learn the way of Christ. Did you catch that? “As you learn more and more how God works, you will learn how to do your work.” In the Christian life there is an expectation of growth, change, and maturity. It will take time to grow. We won’t have it all figured out. But, we will grow if we are seeking to follow Christ.
Following Jesus therefore demands all of who we are, body and soul. It’s not an either/or. There is no room for dualism in the Christian life. Following Christ is an all encompassing calling for all of who we are.
Uncontrollable!
Colossians 1:5b-8
The Message is as true among you today as when you first heard it. It doesn't diminish or weaken over time. It's the same all over the world. The Message bears fruit and gets larger and stronger, just as it has in you. From the very first day you heard and recognized the truth of what God is doing, you've been hungry for more. It's as vigorous in you now as when you learned it from our friend and close associate Epaphras. He is one reliable worker for Christ! I could always depend on him. He's the one who told us how thoroughly love had been worked into your lives by the Spirit. - Colossians 1:5b-8, The Message
Sometimes I think we miss out on the reality that the gospel message is not something that we can control. It’s living. It’s active. Or as it says here, “vigorous.” The message of the gospel, this message of grace is something. Too often, too many of us have fallen into the trap of thinking that the gospel is just an idea or concept. But, there’s something more to the gospel.
What is it? What is the more?
I think that the more is the reality that the gospel is not simply a truth to be believed or an idea to give intellectual ascent to. It is a call to join God in the work that God is doing in the world.
This work is the work of reconciliation. God is bringing together the whole of creation.
As I read the Scriptures what I see is a descent into isolation, separation, broken relationship, in a word, exile. It seems as though the trajectory from Genesis 3 until the coming of Jesus is one of greater depths of exile. The story of course begins in Genesis 2 where all is good. The whole of creation is living in harmony, there is no exile. Yet, with Genesis 3 humanity experiences exile for the first time. From there, it’s a never-ending cycle of a deeper experience of exile.
Then Christ comes and shows the way of reconciliation. He becomes “the other” and demonstrates for everyone how to live in the way of reconciliation. Reconciliation is defined as, “the restoration of friendly relations.” I think this what the gospel is at work in the world doing.
When we begin to fully understand
grace,
mercy,
hope,
faith,
and love
we move out into the world differently. There is less animosity and greater empathy.
As the gospel sets in it makes things messy and beautiful.
It is uncontrollable.
Hope
Colossians 1:3-5a
Our prayers for you are always spilling over into thanksgivings. We can't quit thanking God our Father and Jesus our Messiah for you! We keep getting reports on your steady faith in Christ, our Jesus, and the love you continuously extend to all Christians. The lines of purpose in your lives never grow slack, tightly tied as they are to your future in heaven, kept taut by hope. — Colossians 1:3-5a
I love this line, “the lines of purpose in your lives never grow slack…”
What draws me to it is this image that Peterson paints here of our purpose being tied into the future of heaven with hope pulling on them. This gives me some insight into this idea of purpose. Purpose is something that is important for us to have in our lives. When we feel purposeless then it makes it very hard to be content in our lives. When we lose a sense of purpose we can struggle with feelings of depression or apathy.
I love this idea that purpose is future oriented and pulled along by hope. I am finding that hope is often the animating force behind much of our actions. If we think a particular situation is hopeless then we give up. If we have hope, “a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen"," then we are able to press on and push through problems and difficulties that arise.
It’s interesting to me that Peterson translates this passage the way he does. It’s a bit of a departure from the NIV but similar to the way the Common English Bible (CEB) and the NRSV render it. Which makes sense because this opening section of the letter is one gigantic sentence in the Greek. As a result there are any number of ways of making sense of the passage.
Speaking of the CEB check out its rendering, “We always give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you. We’ve done this since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all God’s people. You have this faith and love because of the hope reserved for you in heaven.”
What I like about the more literal translations is that we see more readily how faith and hope are tied together.
I recently heard someone define faith as “risk with a direction.” That resonated with me and even more so as I consider the role of hopeful expectation and purpose being tied together.
What if the direction of risk that we are called into is one of hope? What I mean to say is, could it be that the way we are to move about in this world is not as cynics but as ones who are filled with hope?
How different would this world look if you and I entered every interaction with others as one filled with hope?
To quote the great Louis Armstrong, “What a wonderful world it would be!”
Sent
Colossians 1:1-2
I, Paul, have been sent on special assignment by Christ as part of God's master plan. Together with my friend Timothy, I greet the Christians and stalwart followers of Christ who live in Colosse. May everything good from God our Father be yours! - Colossians 1:1-2, The Message
I’ve been writing through the Gospels for over a year. It’s been a fantastic time of reflection for me and it has re-acquainted me with the subversive nature of Jesus. He challenges us at the core of who we are and calls us into lives of flourishing rooted in gracious-loving-kindness. It’s time for a change. I am going to spend some time bouncing around the epistles for the next few months. Which means, I’m starting in Colossians, it’s my absolute most favorite letter. It is dense and concise and subversive.
I was thinking that I would take a larger chunk of the first chapter but I couldn’t get around these first couple verses.
There is something about Paul’s sense of calling that I am enamored with. He was convinced of who he was and secure in his identity as one called by the Master.
Don’t we all want to know and experience that?
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about being present in the lives of others for the last number of years. In the midst of that thinking has also been a concerted effort to practice it. As I do self-evaluation of being present, when I succeed is when I am most secure in who I am. To say this another way, when I am in a season of healthy self-love it affords me the ability to practice self-forgetfulness. When I am able to do this then I am able to be fully present with another.
I think that a part of landing in this “self-security” is connected to our sense of calling. Do we really know who we are and what we are supposed to be doing? Paul had this clarity. He knew who he was. He was a sent one. Paul never claims perfection or having arrived. What he claims is that he was an imperfect, sin-sick, grace embracing person who was sent. Now, obviously, that doesn’t come from this particular verse. But you can read more about Paul’s journey in the letters to the Galatians and Philippians, also in the Book of Acts.
Paul also knew what he was supposed to be doing. He was to be carrying out a special assignment from the Master. What was this? This special assignment was to go to the world and teach people the way of Jesus through demonstration and teaching. Too often we miss the demonstration aspect of Paul’s life. He was out here writing about “imitate me as I imitate Christ.” This means he was seeking to live a life that was worthy of imitation. This was embodied.
How do you answer these questions: Who am I? What am I called to do? Sound off in the comments!
Ordinary
Matthew 10:34-42
"Don't think I've come to make life cozy. I've come to cut— make a sharp knife-cut between son and father, daughter and mother, bride and mother-in-law—cut through these cozy domestic arrangements and free you for God. Well-meaning family members can be your worst enemies. If you prefer father or mother over me, you don't deserve me. If you prefer son or daughter over me, you don't deserve me.
"If you don't go all the way with me, through thick and thin, you don't deserve me. If your first concern is to look after yourself, you'll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you'll find both yourself and me.
"We are intimately linked in this harvest work. Anyone who accepts what you do, accepts me, the One who sent you. Anyone who accepts what I do accepts my Father, who sent me. Accepting a messenger of God is as good as being God's messenger. Accepting someone's help is as good as giving someone help. This is a large work I've called you into, but don't be overwhelmed by it. It's best to start small. Give a cool cup of water to someone who is thirsty, for instance. The smallest act of giving or receiving makes you a true apprentice. You won't lose out on a thing."
Over the years within many Christian circles there has been this call to “radical” living. It’s as if many leaders think that to truly follow Jesus one must become something akin to a faith daredevil. I totally get the attraction to such messages. They are exciting and they tap into this desire that many of us have for adventure and feeling part of something bigger than ourselves.
Yet, they also create shame.
Most of us will never be in a position to be a “radical” for God. We have responsibilities that are important to keep. Responsibilities like marriages, children, jobs, and the like.
Some of you may be reading this and thinking, “Doesn’t Jesus say that if we count those things as more important than him then we don’t deserve them? Dan, aren’t you trying walk back what Jesus is saying here and making it less challenging?”
That is a fantastic question. Honestly, this passage more than most has caused me heartburn over the years. Are we supposed to simply leave our families to do something radical for Jesus? What does it mean to not put our families in front of Jesus?
Two things that I think hold the key for me, particularly reading this translation of the text. First, there is the aspect of self-forgetfulness. When Peterson translates, “But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you'll find both yourself and me,” he is translating the bit about “Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.” I have often struggled to put my arms around this idea of “losing” my life. To put it in terms of self-forgetfulness is so helpful. When practice self-forgetfulness we are freed up to be fully present in the lives of others.
Second, how does Jesus argue for the radical display of discipleship? Does say leave home and go to the mission field? Does he say become a martyr? No. He says, “Give a cool cup of water to someone who is thirsty, for instance.” Would you like to read that in the NIV? Sure, “And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.” Jesus is calling us to what might be called, “radical ordinary kindness.”
What a key idea for us to consider. The call of Jesus on our lives is fundamentally a call to radical ordinary kindness.
How can you practice some radical ordinary kindness today? Leave a comment with some ideas!
Intimidated
Matthew 10:24-33
"A student doesn't get a better desk than her teacher. A laborer doesn't make more money than his boss. Be content—pleased, even—when you, my students, my harvest hands, get the same treatment I get. If they call me, the Master, 'Dungface,' what can the workers expect?
"Don't be intimidated. Eventually everything is going to be out in the open, and everyone will know how things really are. So don't hesitate to go public now.
"Don't be bluffed into silence by the threats of bullies. There's nothing they can do to your soul, your core being. Save your fear for God, who holds your entire life—body and soul—in his hands.
"What's the price of a pet canary? Some loose change, right? And God cares what happens to it even more than you do. He pays even greater attention to you, down to the last detail—even numbering the hairs on your head! So don't be intimidated by all this bully talk. You're worth more than a million canaries.
"Stand up for me against world opinion and I'll stand up for you before my Father in heaven. If you turn tail and run, do you think I'll cover for you?
I love the balance that Jesus brings here to what he says in earlier in this teaching. It’s never either/or with Jesus. He is not a dualist. Everything is both/and with him.
If we stopped with “don’t bring attention to yourselves” we could get the sense that we shouldn’t really talk about Jesus and what he’s done for us. But that’s not the case. In the midst of the wolf pack he says, “don’t be intimidated.” We don’t need to fear the world we can speak into it.
I think in today’s climate this is more important than ever.
Why?
Because we live in a day and age of hyper-tribalism.
A friend of mine was working for a presidential campaign this past cycle. She ended up leaving the campaign because they were banned from any critique of down ballot candidates within the party. In other words, “Don’t say anything bad about our tribe!” The staffers were in a sense being bullied into silence about things that they knew were wrong, misguided, or untrue being stated by those within the tribe.
The thing is, it doesn’t matter which tribe you belong to these days for this to be true.
In the context of tribalism there is a demand for absolute and unquestioning support in all things.
When you seek to follow the way of Jesus you find that gospel truth doesn’t fit neatly into the tribal boxes. You will find that whichever tribe you are drawn towards will eventually demand you to speak against its values at some point. Why? Because at their heart tribes seek to “other” those with whom they disagree and the gospel near its core is an act of “de-othering.” When find ourselves at odds with our tribe then there is a reality that we will be bullied toward silence. Yet, the call of Jesus is to speak.
We do not need to be intimidated by our own tribes and we do not need to be intimidated by other tribes either.
When we choose to follow the path of radical gracious kindness we will find that no tribes will accept us. You will be mocked, derided, and called names. When we choose reconciliation over revenge we will be seen as weak, sell-outs, and traitors to “the cause.”
When it comes to speaking our faith we must not be bullied or intimidated into silence. For us to have courage we must realize that our faith is rooted in our identity, the core of our being. In so doing we are able to be free from the wants of the tribes around us because we don’t need them because we have our faith.
The Wolf
Matthew 10:16-23
"Stay alert. This is hazardous work I'm assigning you. You're going to be like sheep running through a wolf pack, so don't call attention to yourselves. Be as cunning as a snake, inoffensive as a dove.
"Don't be naive. Some people will impugn your motives, others will smear your reputation—just because you believe in me. Don't be upset when they haul you before the civil authorities. Without knowing it, they've done you—and me—a favor, given you a platform for preaching the kingdom news! And don't worry about what you'll say or how you'll say it. The right words will be there; the Spirit of your Father will supply the words.
"When people realize it is the living God you are presenting and not some idol that makes them feel good, they are going to turn on you, even people in your own family. There is a great irony here: proclaiming so much love, experiencing so much hate! But don't quit. Don't cave in. It is all well worth it in the end. It is not success you are after in such times but survival. Be survivors! Before you've run out of options, the Son of Man will have arrived.
It’s so interesting to me as I read these words with fresh eyes in The Message. They are familiar and yet shocking at the same time. The development of the ideas here by Peterson are something that I think Western Christianity needs to hear.
As Jesus sends out the Twelve (for this is the context of this passage) he is not going to sugar coat the situation. Jesus is not naïve. He tells them point blank that they are walking into a dangerous world. It can be scary and it can be hard to live life as as follower of Jesus. There is no deceit on Jesus’ lips.
So, what does he challenge the Twelve with? He challenges them to go and to be wise. He argues that they should not draw much attention to themselves but simply go and represent Jesus in the neighborhood. Remember, just before this he tells them to go and be present in the neighborhood. Now he tells them not to be naïve for as they go about teaching the way of Jesus they will face some hard things in a hard world. But, in a sense he is saying, “Don’t bring it on yourselves. Be present, be authentic, be faithful, but don’t be seeking the spotlight and bringing attention to yourself.”
When we were in campus ministry one of the things that we were committed to doing early on was “making Jesus an issue on campus.” We did all kinds of things to try and create a stir around the person and work of Jesus. In some ways I think that was OK. But, if I’m honest it always felt off. We would expend all kinds of energy and time to create a “buzz” but the pay off was primarily burnt out volunteers and staff. At some point we made the conscious decision to no longer “create a buzz” but to simply focus our energy and attention on helping one another grow in our faith. This translated into people trusting Christ and our ministry growing. People shared their faith with those in their community not as a result of compulsion but as a result of identity formation. They began displaying the fruit of the Spirit in their neighborhood and it was beautiful and attractive.
I think this is what Jesus is getting at here in his instructions to the Twelve. Go, be present and live authentic lives of faith. Living an authentic life of faith necessarily includes talking about your faith in Jesus. But, it ceases to be a canned elevator pitch and becomes something deeper.
If you’re a follower of The Way then show up today in peace, authenticity, and grace.
Show Up
Matthew 10:5-15
Jesus sent his twelve harvest hands out with this charge:
"Don't begin by traveling to some far-off place to convert unbelievers. And don't try to be dramatic by tackling some public enemy. Go to the lost, confused people right here in the neighborhood. Tell them that the kingdom is here. Bring health to the sick. Raise the dead. Touch the untouchables. Kick out the demons. You have been treated generously, so live generously.
"Don't think you have to put on a fund-raising campaign before you start. You don't need a lot of equipment. You are the equipment, and all you need to keep that going is three meals a day. Travel light.
"When you enter a town or village, don't insist on staying in a luxury inn. Get a modest place with some modest people, and be content there until you leave.
"When you knock on a door, be courteous in your greeting. If they welcome you, be gentle in your conversation. If they don't welcome you, quietly withdraw. Don't make a scene. Shrug your shoulders and be on your way. You can be sure that on Judgment Day they'll be mighty sorry—but it's no concern of yours now.
“Go to the lost, confused people right here in the neighborhood.”
That way of rendering the verse about not going to the Gentiles but the “lost sheep of Israel” really hits home.
I think Jesus is simply saying, “show up.”
Be present in the lives of those in your neighborhood. Just show up. When we seek to simply show up we don’t need a lot of money and we don’t need a lot of stuff. All that is needed is a willing and open heart.
Jesus’ ministry was all about showing up. He was present in the lives of those around him. Peterson taps into this concept in the way he translates the opening of John 1, “he moved into the neighborhood.” It is in Christ that God was made manifest. This means that God was physically present in the world. What a remarkable concept! There was no fear by God that corruption would naturally follow as a result of being in the world, there was only the promise of the redemption of all things.
Too many times those of us who are Christian are too afraid of being in the world. We fear becoming corrupted by the sin-sickness we see around us. Yet, the call of God is to go be present in the world. We are not to hide in holy huddles but we are to be lamp-stands in a dark world.
In other words, we are to show up.
Where do you need to be present today? With whom do you need to show up?
Life is Together
Matthew 9:18-26
As he finished saying this, a local official appeared, bowed politely, and said, "My daughter has just now died. If you come and touch her, she will live." Jesus got up and went with him, his disciples following along.
Just then a woman who had hemorrhaged for twelve years slipped in from behind and lightly touched his robe. She was thinking to herself, "If I can just put a finger on his robe, I'll get well." Jesus turned—caught her at it. Then he reassured her: "Courage, daughter. You took a risk of faith, and now you're well." The woman was well from then on.
By now they had arrived at the house of the town official, and pushed their way through the gossips looking for a story and the neighbors bringing in casseroles. Jesus was abrupt: "Clear out! This girl isn't dead. She's sleeping." They told him he didn't know what he was talking about. But when Jesus had gotten rid of the crowd, he went in, took the girl's hand, and pulled her to her feet—alive. The news was soon out, and traveled throughout the region.
Do you see! Do you see? The healing narratives are about an invitation, a clearing the way into full community.
The woman who had hemorrhaged for twelve years was ceremonially unclean. She could not fully participate in the community. She was always on the outside looking in. There was no way for her to be part of the life of her community, not fully at least. The act of healing, while important, is a bit player in the ultimate ramifications of the healing. This woman who had been on outside looking in was now on the inside. She could fully be with her community. The barrier of the ceremonial law of the Jewish Scriptures had been removed. This woman, was finally fully welcomed!
The girl that Jesus raises from the dead is one of the ultimate acts of reconciliation. She was in the place of the dead and yet this Jesus was able to bring her from there to here, the place of the living. You don’t get any more outside than death.
This action of bringing her from the place of death to the place of life is an image that other writers in the New Testament will grab onto, particularly Paul of Tarsus. We see this language all over his writing of the Romans, Ephesians, and Corinthians.
One of the things that I have learned over the last 18 months is that life to the full is found in community. We need one another. In our physical isolation I was able to find life and connection through the digital realm. I needed it. Yet, as wonderful as it was, there was nothing that could replace the vitality of being with people in an embodied way. I think that this reality hit home with me when I did a driving tour to see and pray for the people that I have been called to specifically serve. Even just seeing folks from a distance in a driveway was magic and filled me with wonder and awe at the beauty of our shared community.
So, do you see? Do you see that the goal of healing is not healing in and of itself? It is the bringing people together into a reconciled community! How beautiful is that!