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.
Photo by <a href=“[unsplash.com/@reka](https://unsplash.com/@reka)”>Korney Violin</a>
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.
My brother and many of my closest friends are police officers. I love police officers. I am grateful for them and the service they provide. We couldn’t live the lives we do without them.
But, in that moment it, there was fear, a raw fear that sucked the air out of my car. This fear demanded two young men to immediately become silent upon seeing officers even while being in the car of a white man.
We can love and respect and support our police officers and still recognize that there is something beyond broken in our culture. This fear was real.
I have no answers.
But we need to make changes. Those of us who are white need to learn. We need to listen. We must not marginalize people’s experiences.
As a pastor, I have to lead in the pursuit of justice. I’m still learning what that means. I know that it won’t be done on social media. It will be done in relationships, relationships that I pursue. I will be able to lead only as I change.
All I know, is that there are good young men, honorable young men, hard working young men, who live their lives in fear. They know a fear that my son will never know.
If you found this post helpful, inspirational, or just OK make sure you click on the heart and recommend it!
Here is What I Know… was originally published in The Subversive Journey on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
Photo by <a href=“[unsplash.com/@jakemeye...](https://unsplash.com/@jakemeyer4)”>Jacob Meyer</a>
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.”
A central tenet of the Jesus way is forgiveness. Jesus said,
For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
In Colossians 3 Paul echoes what Jesus says,
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
The Christian must forgive. It’s not an option. It’s not something we get to choose and decide that we don’t want to do that today. No, the call to forgive is an imperative, it’s a command.
Think about this for one moment. If you say you follow Jesus you are commanded to forgive.
Christian, how are you doing with this?
Now, before you set aside the command to forgive by saying, “Paul is only referring to other Christians,” let me stop you. Yes, Paul is being very explicit about the necessity to forgive other followers of Jesus. Clearly, we are failing at this. When our family history includes two schisms (East from West, and Catholic from Protestant) and countless local congregation splits, we have ample evidence of our need to recall Paul’s explicit command.
Beyond that, Jesus simply says, “others.” Paul is doing what many other writers in the Bible do. They take the global and broad scope laid out by God and make it more specific to help move the people of God down the road a bit. Or as Leo Marvin would say, “Baby steps.”
So, I ask again, how are you doing? Are you forgiving others as you’ve been forgiven? If not, I think it might be because we don’t fully realize the depth of our forgiveness. Check out this story that Jesus tells (from Luke 7),
“A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.” Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven — for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
One of the things that this story shows us is that if we understand the depth of our sin we will also understand the depth of the forgiveness that Jesus gives. This understanding drives us to love and forgive others in equal measure. Sadly, many of us do not forgive. We struggle to forgive our brothers and sisters, let alone those outside the faith.
How different would this world look if Christians engaged it with a posture of forgiveness?
What if we were more willing to forgive than to demand our rights?
What if we were a little more like Jesus? Remember what he prayed as he hung on the cross dying on behalf of his creation which had utterly rejected him (Luke 23:34),
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Behold our king! Even on the cross dying an unjust death offered forgiveness!
Photo by <a href=“[unsplash.com/@fableand...](https://unsplash.com/@fableandfolk)”>Annie Spratt</a>
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.
In passing, I mentioned that this grace was a gift from God.
Logan, a 6th grader who is always listening, always questioning, and always perceiving asked, “Alright, alright, but what is the gift?”
That really is the question isn’t it?
It just might be the question.
The gift is, in a word, adoption.
When we place our faith in Jesus we are adopted into God’s family. We become part of this family that is chosen, loved, and forgiven. Think of it! We are wanted by God even though we have sinned against him.
By becoming a part of God’s family, by being adopted by our heavenly father, we receive “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.” What are these? They aren’t listed anywhere, but, we can know these blessings include: grace, mercy, love, forgiveness, joy, life, and peace. The Hebrew word for this would be “shalom.” Which is being made whole. The word Paul uses in Ephesians is “redemption.”
The greatest gift that we have been given is to have been adopted into God’s family. Why? Because it means that we can live as ones who are chosen, loved, and forgiven.
Photo by <a href=“[unsplash.com/@lucistan](https://unsplash.com/@lucistan)”>Luca Upper</a>
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:
The 100! was originally published in The Subversive Journey on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
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.
I am growing unconvinced that there is such a call.
What I am more convinced of then ever is that the Church is called to create culture.
As I continue to study and read the Scriptures and work really hard to apply their truths to my life I am learning that the follower of Jesus is called into life. We are called into mission. We are called into community. We are called into culture creation.
There is a calling out of darkness and into the kingdom of the beloved son.
There are enemies: our flesh, the world (broken human systems, injustice, etc, not other people), and the devil. We strive against these by setting our minds on what is good, holy, and righteous. We do not strive against them through destruction but ultimately through creation.
Is the Christian called to be different? Yes. But is the Christian called to be “counter”? I don’t think so, at least not in the active sense.
What do I mean?
Generally speaking the idea of being “counter-cultural” refers to taking action against the culture. This action usually is described as rejecting the unrighteous world around us. Typically, you see this by the “do-not” list that is either overtly or implicitly taught.
We see the “counter culture” war waged through the efforts of well meaning Christians who boycott certain companies. These attempts at being “counter-cultural” spill over into the way Christians engage their relationships. “Oh you do or believe in such a such? Well, you know you’re going to hell. And I can’t be around you.”
Some friends of ours were at the Michigan football game this past Saturday. Outside of the stadium there was a man and woman with a megaphone berating passersby with the message that they were going to hell and there was no message of grace. These people were clearly counter-cultural and they were also counter-gospel.
The Christian is not called to be “counter cultural” by taking action against the culture within which they live.
Christians are called to pursue a life that is marked by holiness. This means they are taking action to become something different. The identity of a Christian is not marked by what they are against but what they are for. The Christian is ultimately to pursue holiness.
As we pursue holiness we will necessarily have lives that look different from those around us. The holy life is marked by the consistent development of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control. Paul writes, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (Philippians 4:8)”
Paul emphasizes a change in thinking because it is by the renewing of our minds that actions change. When we begin to set our minds on the things above then we will begin to offer ourselves as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1).
The Christian is called to be holy (which means set apart). As we pursue this calling we will look different than our culture in some ways. Yet, we will also reflect it in other ways. We will reflect our culture in the ways that it is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, and excellent. We will look different from it in the ways that it is untrue, dishonorable, unjust, impure, and unlovely.
As Jesus’ ambassadors to the world we are not called to be against his creation. We are called to engage it. As we engage with culture our hope is that we will create something true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, and excellent. We then trust that God will redeem those aspects of the culture that are untrue, dishonorable, unjust, impure, and unlovely.
No, we are not called to be counter-cultural. We are called to create culture and to be agents of redemption within it.
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.
After leaving the campus ministry I continued to work through this area of my life. What God began to reveal to me was that I was not “putting on love.”
I am very much truth oriented. My preference is for people to play it straight and give me the facts. I don’t like it when people beat around the bush. I don’t sugar coat anything. In many conversations I would simply drop the truth bomb, “it’s biblical, that’s why.” Which is the pastor’s version of the great parental saying, “Because I said so!”
I was not very loving. I missed out on half of the command from Paul in Ephesians 4:
Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
No, I simply heard, “…speaking the truth…” and missed the love piece. In Colossians 3, Paul writes,
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
He reminds us that we must “put on love” above all else. We can do this only as we understand who we are in Christ. We can love well when we know that we are chosen, holy, and beloved. When we are confident in the love that the Father has for us through Christ then we can love well.
As we love well we will discover that it “binds everything together in perfect harmony.” What is this everything? It all that comes before! Compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. All these work together in perfect harmony when we first put on love.
If you found this post helpful, inspirational, or just OK make sure you click on the heart and recommend it!
Put on Love! was originally published in The Subversive Journey on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
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.
While much of this is owed to the individualism inherent in the Americanization of the church in the United States there is something deeper that I think we have largely lost.
Paul, in Colossians 3, challenges followers of Jesus to “put on” certain qualities as a result of their identity in Christ. One of these is “…patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”
I think that we have largely lost this in our congregations. We, the people who ought to understand the most about forgiveness, lack the willingness to patiently bear with one another and forgive. Why would we? There’s another congregation down the street that will “meet my needs” more. Their music is better, their pastor is cooler, and the people are nicer.
I love how Paul assumes the existence of conflict within the community of faith. We are all broken and imperfect. None of us will do the right thing all the time. We will sin against other people and other people will sin against us. It’s part and parcel to being a human in relationship with other humans. Instead of patiently bearing with one another we too often pick up our Bible and go.
To be patient demands from us a strength and courage to step into conflict. We must turn and look at it straight in the face. Then, as we do, we extend forgiveness.
Are there times when fellowship needs to be broken? I think so. Particularly in situations of abuse. At the same time, we must also wrestle with the necessity that sometimes church discipline is necessary and is not abuse. In the same way that disciplining a child is not always abuse. In the same way that there is a clear line between sending a child to their room and neglect, there is a line between proper church discipline and spiritual abuse.
I long for the day when “church hopping” and “church shopping” are things of the past.
In that same passage in Colossians 3 Paul tells us that we are chosen, holy, and beloved. If we can begin to see other followers in that light it makes it just that much easier to patiently bear with one other extending forgiveness. Why? Because God is. God is patiently bearing with us and forgiving us.
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.
Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary gives this as the primary definition of meekness: “enduring injury with patience and without resentment.” This sounds like Jesus. This sounds like Paul.
Could you imagine being a follower of Jesus and living this way? Choosing to endure injury with patience and without resentment. This takes strength and courage. This demands an extension of grace, mercy, and forgiveness.
We live in a time when every perceived slight sends people off the deep end. It seems as though many are offended all the time. There seems to be little that doesn’t offend. What we need is more meekness. We desperately need more people who are willing to endure injury with patience and without resentment.
Without resentment. That catches me up short. Often people will acquiesce to something but then they will resent the person that they have yielded to.
Where can we find such strength and courage? I think it comes from our identity. Who we are as followers of Jesus. If we could own and embrace the reality that we are chosen, holy, and beloved (Colossians 3) then we would have a basis from which to be meek. We must have a base from which to be meek from. This base is our identity in Christ.
Over the last few months I have learned that the second greatest sin in my son’s teenage world is to “boost” (here’s the first great sin). There may not be anything worse than to be known as someone who “boosts”. If you’re like me you’re thinking, “I have no idea what those words mean.” To “boost” is to exaggerate your exploits. There are certain guys who boost about their lift or their forty time or the girls they talk to. The thing is, everyone knows the truth so they get called out and branded as a “booster”.
It turns out that the Bible talks about boosting. No really. In the Scripture it’s called “humility.” Humility is best understood as a right understanding of yourself. To be humble is to know who you really are before God.
Some people have in their mind that humility is the person who walks around saying things like, “I’m such a sinner,” or “I’m the worst of the worst, man I’m terrible,” or “I’m not worth anything.” Here’s the crazy thing, for the Christian, saying those kinds of things are actually pride. Pride is the opposite of humility. Pride is an incorrect view of oneself before God. Many people think that pride is just thinking too highly of oneself. But that’s not really it. It includes thinking too lowly of oneself too.
In Colossians 3 Paul says,
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
As we seek to follow Jesus we have to keep putting on humility. Every day we wake up and every day we put it on. Who are we before God? We are chosen, holy, and beloved. This is who we are. Do the followers of Jesus sin? Yes. That’s why we confess and repent. Are the followers of Jesus perfect? No. That’s why we confess and repent. Are we great? Not really, but our God is and he loves us.
Humility, true humility is living into this one reality: You are chosen, you are holy, and you are loved.
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 know this to be true: Most Christians are like me. Most of us are aware of our brokenness and most of us are wounded healers. That is, we come alongside not as those who have finished the race but as those who are fellow sojourners.
We see on TV and the Internet the worst of ourselves. Whether it’s Christians, Muslims, Police Officers, or Activists, it’s the worst half percent that get all the attention. What we very rarely hear of are those who quietly and faithfully live lives of character, integrity, and humility loving well and impacting their neighbors for good.
I am grateful that my friends see me as something different from the norm. What I’d like even more is that they would stop comparing me to a ghost, a shadow Christian. I’m here, I’m real, I’m in the flesh.
If you hate Jesus because of “his followers” then I’d challenge you to look around and ask yourself, “Are the followers I know like the caricature that social media memes created?” If not, then be honest enough to change your view.
If you say you’re a Christian then I’d challenge you to look in the mirror and ask yourself, “Am I a jerk? Do I have a martyr complex because people don’t agree with me? Do I pick fights?” If you do, then be honest, confess your sin, repent, and change.
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.
Peter says that we are sojourners and exiles. Why? Because we are part of Jesus’ kingdom and his kingdom is not of this world. We wait for it, with expectancy. So, we live with the knowledge that the kingdom isn’t here yet. This tension is strong in my experience right now that I could cut it with a knife.
Carmichael, for me in this moment, has the words:
The mountains hold their breath;
The dark plain wispereth,
“Hush, O thou singing rivulet,
The sun hath not come yet.”
The dawn-wind bloweth cold,
On fen and fell and world, And heavy dews the lowlands wet – But he hath not come yet.
And now the silver star That far can see, doth far And farther call, “The time is set, And he will not forget.” — — — — Lord of the morning star, Lord of the singing brook, Lord of the peaks that to a far And clear horizon look –
Lord of the delicate Faith flush in lighted air, I with all this would watch and wait, Rejoicing and aware.
(As published in “Mountain Breezes: The Collected Poems of Amy Carmichael”)
The last two lines catch me up short: “I with all this would watch and wait, rejoicing and aware.“
May we ever be rejoicing and aware of the reality that “The time is set, and we will not forget.” It is the already, not yet.
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?
I think that before an answer of “who to vote for” can be given we must first answer “who am I?”
Our identity determines how we respond in these kinds of moments. So who am I? Ultimately, I am who the Bible tells me I am because I am a follower of Jesus.
Peter offers us some help in the second chapter of his first letter,
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
— 1 Peter 2:9–12
Who are we?
a chosen race
a royal priesthood
a holy nation
a people for his (God’s) own possession
God’s people
recipients of mercy
sojourners
exiles
This is who followers of Jesus are.
There are a couple of things that I don’t want you to miss. First, the follower of Jesus is part of a holy nation. This holy nation is not bound by geographic borders. It is not bound by ethnicity. It is bound by faith, it is marked out as those who receive mercy. This holy nation is not our nation or anyone else’s, it can simply be known as the “Kingdom of God.” This is where the Christian’s ultimate loyalty lies, with the people of God in the Kingdom of God. We can not be caught up in nationalism or globalism.
Second, we are sojourners and exiles. We are not yet in our home country. We are much like the Pevensies in Narnia. Though Narnia felt like home and they became comfortable there, their real home was elsewhere. When the people of God were sent into captivity, exiled, they were told by God to make homes for themselves, engage in business, and live, yet retain their identity as his unique people. There is no difference now as there was then. This place we live in is not our home. It’s not where we really belong. We belong in the kingdom with our King.
How does this help? First, it centers us and orients us to where are loyalties ultimately lie. They are with Jesus and none else. He is our true North. The follower of Jesus must fix her eyes on the King and start there. Second, it frees us from the constraints of the expectations of others. We are free to follow Jesus. As we follow him we learn to embrace his reality.
When it comes to the arena of politics we can know with certainty this one thing:
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.
– Romans 13:1
Whomever wins the election in our country or any other have been allowed to do so by God. This should give us great relief. There is nothing that surprises God. The one who wins is his man or woman for this time. Therefore, we are commanded to pray…
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
– 1 Timothy 2:1–4
Let us embrace our identity as sojourners and exiles by giving our loyalty to our one and only king, Jesus. Then, let us pray for those earthly leaders whom he appoints over us.
How should you vote? For whom should you vote? That I can’t tell you. What I can tell you is this: Pray. Study. Learn. Listen. Then, vote as one who knows that they are voting as ambassador for Jesus.
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…
