18-21The Message that points to Christ on the Cross seems like sheer silliness to those hellbent on destruction, but for those on the way of salvation it makes perfect sense. This is the way God works, and most powerfully as it turns out. It’s written,
I’ll turn conventional wisdom on its head,
I’ll expose so-called experts as crackpots.
So where can you find someone truly wise, truly educated, truly intelligent in this day and age? Hasn’t God exposed it all as pretentious nonsense? Since the world in all its fancy wisdom never had a clue when it came to knowing God, God in his wisdom took delight in using what the world considered dumb—preaching, of all things!—to bring those who trust him into the way of salvation.
22-25While Jews clamor for miraculous demonstrations and Greeks go in for philosophical wisdom, we go right on proclaiming Christ, the Crucified. Jews treat this like an anti-miracle—and Greeks pass it off as absurd. But to us who are personally called by God himself—both Jews and Greeks—Christ is God’s ultimate miracle and wisdom all wrapped up in one. Human wisdom is so tinny, so impotent, next to the seeming absurdity of God. Human strength can’t begin to compete with God’s “weakness.”
26-31Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don’t see many of “the brightest and the best” among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families. Isn’t it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these “nobodies” to expose the hollow pretensions of the “somebodies”? That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God. Everything that we have—right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start—comes from God by way of Jesus Christ. That’s why we have the saying, “If you’re going to blow a horn, blow a trumpet for God.”
There was a time not so long ago when I watched every “Christian” movie I could find. Mostly the ones centered on the rapture, end times, armageddon, that sort of thing. End of days for sure. While it was difficult to find ANY of these movies that were well made or produced, there were a few. But that isn’t what I was watching them for. I was watching them because I was looking for God in them. I was looking for some clear, distinct messages within their scripts that might bring me one step closer to the truth of prophecy, and ultimately the truth of God’s word.
There is a common theme among most “pre-trib” rapture movies. The Hater…These films depict a time when people will become haters. Haters of Christians, primarily, however, conceptually it is all the same. I found it fascinating many times over, to see the Christian world depicted as one that had been moved from “safe” to perilous and that one may be shot on sight if found claiming to be Christian, or practicing Christianity underground, because it was outlawed.
The picture above is NOT of Christians, but gay men killed for being found out. Where they live, not only is it a “punishable by death” offense to be gay, but there is also isolation from family, or the potential for your own family to be duty bound to do the right thing by killing the disgrace in their family.
Sounds all too Klingon if you ask me. For those who don’t know, Klingons are a race that live not too far from Earth on a planet named Kronos. (From Star Trek) – Their culture was one of honor and pride, violent, aggressive, and above all NOT afraid to die. In fact, it is an honor to die in battle. If a family was disgraced by the acts of one, it was their duty to banish him, or kill him in order to lift the stigma and disgrace from the family name.
It has been my experience in the many years I have been in and out of church, that “Christians” often tend to operate in this manner, particularly with regard to the gay and lesbian community. Many say they “love the person just not the sin” but from what I have seen, this is rarely true.
I say that because we do not see the traditional model church engaging this culture in any way that is tangible and real, without ensuring that they clearly dictate their message. That message being if gay people do not turn from their sin, they will go to hell. Now, regardless of what you believe, the turn or burn message has proven ineffective for centuries and even less effective today.
The gay and lesbian communities are sick and tired of listening to fundamental ideals that quote a couple scriptures with megaphone wielding preachers whose sidekicks are packing a club in one hand and protest sign in the other that reads “GOD HATES FAGS!”
Where have we gone wrong??
How is it that we who have claimed to desire so wholly to be transformed into the image of Christ have demonstrated that not only do we NOT love them like Christ did, but we will surely encourage their trip to hell fire damnation alley if they do not conform to what we believe, and within the time table we set?
It is extremely discouraging to me that most of the Christians I have met in my years past look nothing like Christ. And that is not to say that I do, but I am trying. I am beginning to understand, and as I press in to Christ he has shown me that there are deeper and richer things for me to experience and learn. He has shown me it is only the beginning, and as my emotional state varies from one hate crime to the next, I am both encouraged and discouraged by these responses.
There must be a way for the “Christian” church to STOP hating, and to BEGIN to see the world, and all of its people the way Christ did. He loved EVERYONE, and he cared for and treated them ALL equal.
So next time as we are preaching to the youth group, or to the congregation, maybe we can begin to help mold and shape them into the image of Christ by sharing the truth about what HE did, not what our man made Christian agendas have become.
If you are wondering what Christ did, read the Gospels…Its all there.
What ISN’T there is all the hate displayed by MUCH of Christianity today, particularly against the gay and lesbian communities…
Solitude. A word that means many things to many people. To some it becomes reminiscent of peace and tranquility, to some it means isolation, and to others maybe it represents escape.
I think of the apostle Paul. A man chosen to represent the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout a large majority of the new testament. Even though he was guilty of many atrocities against Christians and humanity, the Lord saw in him the strength to face more adversity than most could endure.
So it has been for me. At least it feels that way at times. I can only imagine what it must have been like for Paul. Being jailed, chained, abused, starved, and much worse, he believed that these things were small ways he might atone for his sins.
Paul chose to stand in the face of all adversity, knowing that the promise was much greater than the current circumstance.
I find this both fascinating and compelling, but I also find it foreboding. When one feels called to be like Paul, to stand, it can be difficult to navigate.
Not that I would ever claim to be anything like Paul the apostle, but I do often feel like I am all alone in the process. And maybe thats what it is. It may be that I am alone. I think there are times and seasons that we must endure in order to be refined into something more Christ like.
Many times I have felt like this….
And yet through all of it there is growth and opportunity. New awakenings and experiences to share. Through this refinement comes a grace to be less about self. I struggle with the need to be vinidcated. To be right, if you will. I know it is primarily human emotion driving the desire to be validated in ways that everyone will know we were right, but the reality of this is not God’s way.
The way of the Lord is sometimes solitude. A solitude born of a desire to grow spiritually. A solitude that allows a reflection in the mirror that begins to look more like Christ and less like ourselves.
Enduring solitude is not the way. I believe embracing it, in all of it’s ups and downs, its feelings of peace and harmony, the emotion of fear and frustration, all lend to the refinement that is my walk. God will never leave us nor forsake us, as the bible says. He does however, I believe, at different points along out journey, allow us to experience the eagle like soaring, the depression like lonliness, and the sovereignity that is the heart of God through solitude.
Isaiah 40:30-31
Even children become tired and need to rest, and young people trip and fall. But the people who trust the Lord will become strong again. They will rise up as an eagle in the sky; they will run and not need rest; they will walk and not become tired.
Ryan, the 13 minute 2005 Oscar winning film by Canadian artist Chris Landreth pays tribute to the life, work and decline of one of the most influential and celebrated pioneers of film animation, Ryan Larkin.
(WARNING – Contains brief elements of PG13 & R ratings)
Christ dealt with the complexities of human nature in ways we cannot begin to fathom. He could see into the heart and soul, and He understood deeply the realities of human frailty. In person he met people where they were at, and He is still doing that today. I long to be a part of something bigger than me. A mix of Christ like life, love, and pursuit of truth that is lived out in a way that is tangible and real. Not just real to me, but real to those in my own little circle of influence.
I have recently had opportunity to be at some level an influence in a younger persons life. Someone who has turned from God. They have done this as an expression of disgust for what the church looks like to them. In the face of adversity and persecution, I see real opportunity to be a friend, and to gain one in return.
As God sees fit, I desire more of this type of interaction. It would seem that God has made me to be more comfortable than some in the midst of turmoil and confrontation that many would simply turn and run from. The difficulty lies in being of help in these situations, while trying to balance prevention of causing or escalating said confrontation.
I struggle though, with where to draw the line, if there is a line to be drawn. I share truth the way God has shown me, has led me, and has provided opportunity for me. If, through that, a new friend is made, a relationship is born because someone cared more about the person than their alignment with Gods will, then thats a good thing.
For me, this video not only represents outstanding skill and ability, it shows a glimpse into the complexities of real life. Real life and real people, with real struggles, and it is, I believe, the realities that Christ was so deeply moved by to interact with and wanted us to care about…
Landreth uses a method of CGI animation he developed and termed “psychorealism” that aims to visually explore the complexity of the human psyche in a way that realism and dialogue are unable. Landreth reintroduces the world to Ryan Larkin; or rather his ghost, long stripped of his creative spirit and reduced to a frail, penniless, bitter drug addict left with nothing but his memories and regret of who he once was and what his life could have been. (see more here)
I’ve noticed this last year or so, more than ever in my life, that many things make me begin to weep. A few months ago someone posed the question “what makes you weep?”
As I reflected on that question I had little to respond with as I was unable to articulate clearly these things. A part of me wanted to express the many things that have begun to. Another part wanted to be more clear in my own understanding and yet another part wanted to cling to the old me, the one whose pride and arrogance would not admit to crying or weeping over anything, especially some sappy chick flick or something. I’ve discovered that it is so much deeper than that.
Recently a story was shared with me, as only my wonderful wife can share it. As she retold a story she had seen in a childrens video, it was obviously difficult to retell and it was difficult to listen without weeping.
While I won’t go into details about the story of the three trees at this point, I will say that I have had the opportunity to share this same story twice in the last week. Both times I found it extremely moving and yet difficult to share without weeping. As my voice would tremble and pause for brief seconds throughout the telling, I would silently pray for composure to finish.
The meaning and depth of the story of the three trees is a spiritual awakening to the depth and breadth of God’s love for us, and it is also a wonderful view into patience we all must learn. For me it has been a faith journey guiding me at every step, teaching me with gentle kindness and love that waiting for God’s timing is not always easy, but the reward is so great.
The two times I had opportunity to share this story this week, I was reminded that we are given these chances to glimpse the heart of God. As God continues to mold and shape us into the image of Christ, we begin to capture that depth in our hearts and thoughts. This has been a struggle for me.
As I have felt this deepening within my own heart the mysteries and the value of these gifts, I have also had to be more transparent, more vulnerable, and more comtemplative of the true message. The love and compassion born of these things has given me a reverence and fear I’ve not known before.
When I look deeply into the troubled eyes of the poor and downcast, when I observe human atrocity through the eyes of Christ, when I reach out to a child who has only known pain and abuse, when I have opportunity to share a parable about God’s answer to prayer, these things make me weep….
Recently I asked my pastor about this subject, and he shared the following “Gift of Tears” with me…
Prayer is not a disembodied exercise of the mind or intellect. At the deeper levels of prayer, the body and its senses are involved, and prayer becomes an experience of the total person. “Becoming prayer” is a favourite patristic expression. Tears, as an expression of the “sensible” experience, have always been associated with deep compassionate prayer. When the ascetic tradition speaks about “the gift of tears” (charisma ton dakuron), it is not as an expression of sentiments, but as a special charism of the Holy Spirit that induces an incessant flow of tears that “make the flesh bloom” (Isaac the Syrian) in joy and compassion.
In a civilization dominated by the objectivity of cold reason, tears are a matter of shame, vulnerability and the expression of subjective and irrational sentiments. So they are censored from public display and banished from all serious intellectual discourse. Christian theology has followed other scientific disciplines in ignoring the value of tears as signs of metanoia and signals of a compassionate transcendence. Although tears retain a central place in Eastern Christian spirituality, very few people speak about this openly, as they belong to the hidden side of the spiritual life.
Tears originate at different levels. There are tears of sorrow and grief occurring to every human being sometime or other. This is the primary level of tears springing from our fundamental experience. The new-born child cries (though without tears) at the breaking of the umbilical cord, as it comes out of the cosy womb of the mother. The tear glands begin to secrete later on, about the third month. The cry of the baby signals its need of food or warmth or simply the presence of another. Tears here invoke the profound and invisible links the human baby has with other persons and with its surroundings.
In spiritual practice one speaks of the tears of contrition or repentance. This is the phenomenon of tears transformed to the spiritual plane. Sin alienates us and breaks the umbilical cord from God and fellow human beings, and the repenting person weeps in sorrow over this separation.
There is another level of tears in the spiritual tradition of the Christian East: tears of compassion. God’s tender mercy and love enter the whole being of a person and that person melts into tears which continually flow in compassionate love for God’s creation.
“The gift of tears” is not necessarily reserved for a spiritual elite but, as Gregory of Nazianzus affirms, is open to all, though everyone has his or her special gifts. For Gregory tears are a fifth baptism, “a more laborious one” than the baptism of Moses in the Red Sea, of John in the Jordan, of Jesus in the Spirit or of martyrs by blood.
For Symeon the New Theologian (949-1022), tears carry a profound baptismal significance for spiritual regeneration, which purifies and illumines the inner person. In tears “one drinks the grace of the Holy Spirit who unites us in Christ.” As a second baptism it washes away the dirt that accumulates in us after baptism.
Tears can be a sign of deep repentance, but great discernment is needed to judge the level of the inner state of the spiritual seeker. Tears can appear in a beginner as well as one who is advanced in spiritual life. Deep penitence (penthos) is not simply an act of will, but is intimately connected to bodily sensibility. J. Hausherr points out that penitence as an act of will is not necessarily a physical experience, while penthos in the Eastern tradition is always linked to the shedding of tears, a profound bodily sensation. Isaac the Syrian places tears at the border line between our physical and spiritual natures. Tears mediate between the material and the spiritual and signify the stage of transition from one to the other.
Although tears in a spiritual person begin with compunction, repentance for one’s sins, sadness over the alienation from God, terror of coming judgement and fear of God, they rise to the higher levels of compassion and genuine love. John Climacus contrasts tears of love with tears of fear. In Isaac the Syrian, compassion and tears of love open up to embrace the whole of created reality, including those elements which are usually thought to be inimical to human life. In a celebrated passage, the bishop of Nineveh is asked: “What is a compassionate heart?” He answers:
The heart that is inflamed in this way embraces the entire creation – man, birds, animals and even demons. At the recollection of them, and at the sight of them, such a man’s eyes fill with tears that arise from the great compassion which presses on his heart. The heart grows tender and cannot endure to hear of or look upon any injury or even the smallest suffering inflicted upon anything in creation. For this reason such a man prays increasingly with tears even for irrational animals and for the enemies of truth and for all who harm it, that they may be guarded and be forgiven. The compassion which pours out from his heart without measure, like God’s, extends even to reptiles.
K.M. George, The Silent Roots. Orthodox Perspectives on Christian Spirituality (Geneva, WCC Publications, 1994) 62-65.
Clinging to Christ is a journey that takes root and begins to grow in ways that can be difficult to understand. At various points along the journey, I have found great comfort in the gifts, admonishments, corrections, and fulfillment that is new and different each day.
Having been a loud clanging gong against the toxicity of fundamental legalism, I have also been given grace to refine that gong into an instrument that is beginning to be somewhat more palatable to the taste, possibly a little more tolerable to the ears. When I pray and seek direction, I don’t pray for “alignment” of Gods will for my life, nor do I ask God to ensure he provide me ample opportunity to share my faith. Instead I pray that God use me. Use me in whatever way he sees fit for this hour, this day. I pray that he continue to mold and shape my image so that people begin to see Christ in the way I live my life, by my love for others.
Today I was once again assaulted with the distorted views of religiosity that turn the Word of God into fear tactics. These forms of evangelism offer a crippling christ that seeks to destroy everything that has not been officially sanitized and approved by the self appointed sin patrol. The sin police seek to analyze, scrutinize, demoralize, and capitalize on everything that they have deemed unholy, as seen through their eyes into your life. This belief system prevents all who fall prey to it from knowing the Christ of the true gospel.
When one begins to walk with Christ, he begins to work in us. He does not see what the world sees, and He does not judge or condem us for our past. Instead, he offers us hope through grace. Our image begins to transform, and we begin to look like Him. The struggle in this picture is common, but Christ can change us from the inside out.
When we look into the mirror, we begin see ourselves the way Christ sees us. No longer are we bound by the things that have held us hostage. We begin to discover freedom and grace as only He can give. Legalism may get hung up on the picture because the person appears to be in underwear. It might see that as some sort of soft porn that one MUST guard the EYES and HEART from … Christ will see the image and look closely at what it represents.
The world view of the Church has got to change. We as Christ followers should stand for truth. NOT the truth of the Pentacostal, evangelical, charismatics that preach “NO R rated movies” or “Christian ONLY music”, or worse. NOT the truth that seeks to locate the next move of God through lying signs and wonders. NOT the truth that says that evangelism is the most important thing. NOT the truth that says speaking in tongues is the ONLY way to show real evidence of begin spirit filled. NOT the truth that promotes program driven holy huddles with no regard for the poor and marginilized. NOT the truth that believes Jesus is a republican and hates fags. NOT the truth that says abortion is the most important political issue when far more babies die everyday of hunger and disease. NOT the truth that teaches it is more important protect your eye gate and your ear gate than to get to know a poor family or a homeless person. I could go on indefinately, but your get the point I’m sure.
We as Christians have to begin to do what Christ did. He lived and died serving the least of these. He taught that the most important thing was caring for the poor. The New Testament has more that 2100 verses discussing poverty. That seems significant to me. This speaks loudly of the command for love of one another.
Why is it that the modern / relevant / hipster suburban church model has evolved into “Look how many things we have going on!”. I find it disgusting when I see church web sites FULL of promotions about all the great events they have going on, without a single “event” that has anything to do with service to the poor. We have THIS bible study, and THAT Financial Peace program that teaches you MUST be financially secure BEFORE you can be a blessing to others, and WE have THIS New Revelation book with 40 steps to Jesus that everyone has to purchase and you can get yours today for only $99 plus shipping (the regular price is $149 but we get a group discount), AND you have to purchase the workbook to go along with it for only an extra $39!! It goes on and on and on…
I believe that these examples are the falling away. When Paul told Timothy there would come a day when people would stop listening to sound doctrine, this is what he meant. He was saying that someday churches would forget how to live like Christ, they would become all about themselves. They would seek to serve themselves by always trying to “DO” something, and stop trying to “BE” something. Ephesians say to imitate Christ. Christ CARED ABOUT THE POOR! He wanted us to live a humble life before God, and be willing to forsake ALL for the Kingdom through faith. Believing that our needs would be met, by meeting the needs of others, is the core of the Gospel, NOT evangelism with tracts and invitations to the next meeting. Yes, faith sharing has a place, but Christ taught they would know us by our love and caring for one another.
Too many pastors today are consumed with drawing the crowds in, teaching tithe out of fear of not making budget, or prosperity through more giving. Faith in Christ teaches the opposite. If these suburban churches would spend even a quarter of the time they spend on web development serving the poor and marginilized, there would simply be less needy. Too many churches teach the importance of obtaining money to get out of debt and obtain wealth, without teaching that using your money to serve the needy is what Christ taught. There were no wealth speeches, only discussions about being a vessel by which He can use your money to care for others. That care extended FAR beyond the church walls. He wasn’t about new sound equipment and better instruments. He was about serving first, trusting and believing that through faith fulfillment comes. If God wants you to have some better stuff, how about serving some needy shelters, food banks, and people on the street. You might be surprised what God will do when you first seek to be Christ like, love like he did, serve like he did, and cultivate community and mission like he did.
Cling to the father. Cling to Christ.
Live like He did, do what He did, give of yourself like He did, and through that your faith will be strengthened. Through that faith ALL your needs will be met. I want to do what Jesus asked me to do, care for the least of these, because when I do that, He tells me I have done that to Him….And that my friends, is the TRUE message of the gospel of Christ….
