When death comes knocking

My dad is not doing well. He is in the last stages of a disease that will take him soon. It is becoming clearer to me, how brief our life on this earth is. Life is like the fog; it envelopes us in the morning, and burns off by noon.

As I look through a 4^th story window in the hospital where my dad is being treated, I can see the town where he spent many healthy years as a young man, cutting his path in life.

And now, just a few miles away, he lies in this hospital bed at the end of that journey; one can say this is the ‘circle of life.’ As King Solomon says ‘Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.’

I am also confronted with the notion that when my dad passes, the barrier between mortality and me is removed. And now I come face to face with my own death. Death has come knocking, not only for my dad, but for me, as I contemplate its purpose.

Existential Psychotherapist, Dr. Irvin Yalom says, “Death rumbles continuously under the surface, it is a dark unsettling presence at the rim of consciousness.”  

Death is a human ‘boundary’ that fences us in a world, that is temporal and transitory; a life where all things fade. We only have a brief time on this earth, and the ‘attachments’ I hold on to will burn-off like the fog.

So death is no longer an ‘academic question’ for me, it is here and real. I catch myself taking inventory of what really matters. I ask myself if the things I hold onto really mean much?

My mind flashes to the past resentments or anger at being wronged; all this comes into play when death comes knocking at the door. How much more should I throw those things off that tether me to this earth.

I am a Christian, and along with my dad we stand ‘in Christ’ and await the hope of eternal life. I completely understand ‘death’ has no power; I get that. But while I am here, on this earth right now, I am confronted with deaths’ finality on this side of heaven.   

We ‘believers’ sometimes miss ‘deaths’ lessons. It was easy to brush it aside-until now. Death is here; in my face, and now I understand who I am and my limitations. It is becoming clearer what really counts in this life, and what I can let go of.

With this lesson in mind, my faith is strengthened; not only in the knowledge that my dad will be in a better place, but while on this earth there are some things not worth being attached to.

When death comes knocking I will hold on to Faith-Hope and Love and from there, I will decide what really matters.  

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The Easter Question

Jesus rose from the dead or he didn't. Jesus was, who he claimed to be, or he wasn't. His death and resurrection was staged or it's the real thing. "Easter" forces these propositions to the surface. He was either the "Criss Angel" of his time, or the "Christ" of eternity. Jesus put this proposition to his followers one day by asking them a simple question. And the question he asked, and the answer he received, are still being "asked and answered" today.

We find this question and answer in Matthew 16:13-17 (and I paraphrase). While hanging out in Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asked his disciples, 'Who do people say that the Son of Man is?' Because they were speaking for others, they easily shouted out the answers: 'Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.' Then Jesus made it personal, by asking 'But who do you say that I am?' You see, it's easy for me to speak for others but when forced to look at my own beliefs, I open up a window to my soul and I don't want to be exposed. Because It's within our soul that we either believe or we don't. But Peter exposed his soul and revealed the answer to Jesus' personal query: "Simon Peter replied, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.' And Jesus answered him, 'Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven'"

On Easter, this question is asked and I have two ways I can go with it: Either Jesus Christ rose from the dead and is the Christ, the Son of the living God or He didn't and was a fraud. I answered Jesus' question when I was 19 years old. But The question is still out there for anyone to answer: 

Who do you say that I am?


Happy Resurrection day...

Budgets, Programs and the Gospel-oh my

If

A nice lady, at a table next to me, wanted to share my outlet for her lap top. As she was "plugging in", her cell phone rang. I soon realized that she was pouring out her heart to a fellow church attendee about the mismanagement of her Church and its incompetent Pastor. A conversation I was well accustomed too-unfortunately.

"The Pastor has no 'business plan' for the Church" the lady said. She then exclaimed "the people with the power, who run the church, will not tithe if their agenda is not met." This is, sad to say, a common attitude of the disgruntled and misguided Christian. The lady next to me was hurt because of this "political power" struggle in her beloved Church. At one time or another, all of us, who are involved in Church, have experienced this "ugly side" of the Christian community.

These "power struggles" are not new and illustrate the corruptive power of "the love of money" as Paul say's in I Timothy 6:10: "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs."(NIV)

Using tithes as a "protest" is sin, plain and simple, so the lady next me was right to be upset. But this attitude is also reflective of a "consumer" mindset that has permeated the Church-the Body of Christ. (I wrote about this also in my post: "CEO" Pastor: http://thepirateway-bob.blogspot.com/2009/05/ceo-pastor.html)

In the Organizational Church (OC) the paid Pastoral staff put together a "religious service" and delivers it weekly. Most believers are blessed by the ministry, but in this "religious event" there is an expectation, that lingers just below the conscious level, that the "service" meet the needs of the parishioner, since the people putting it on are paid professionals.

It is from this un-biblical expectation we experience "attitudes" like this lady was discussing with her friend. How many times have you heard people say "the worship was too loud" or "the sermon was long"-as if the worship or the sermons are products? This "consumer" mindset put's the focus on programs and the paid professionals. It takes the focus off the simplicity of the Gospel where the ethic of love rules.

The Organizational Church must fight this "consumer" mindset. The Church-in all its forms-is first and foremost the body of Christ and we are witnesses to His Gospel. I no longer attend the organizational church. I lead a simple church-a house church. I'm not foolish to believe the HC is superior to the OC. Those of us in House Churches must fight a prideful attitude that this is the "true way" to do church. But all of us-OC or HC-who are under the headship of Christ must be diligent to live a kingdom life of love and not a consumer life of mammon.


 

 

 

A Million Miles in A Thousand Years: A Book Review

I'm a big fan of Donald Miller http://donmilleris.com/ . (I'll refer to Donald Miller as DM for brevity and becuase I'm lazy)

I've read all of his books. So it was just a matter of time and a Borders gift card that I would get his latest book: "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years." The book highlights a time in DM's life when two filmmakers sat down with him to write his story based on the book "Blue like Jazz". One problem, DM's life was pretty boring-or so he thought. And so he began the hard work of editing it.

My life is a story mostly lived on the unconscious level where meaning and purpose are sacrificed for comfort and safety. DM's life was not boring-just the opposite-he was not willing to push himself into a better story. 
In the book DM walks into his bedroom and he realized there were no pictures on the mantle-no real tangible evidence of living a real story. His home was more like a stage with props in which he was living a fake story instead of a real human narrative.

"Editing" my life is hard work because it demands that I dig deep-take risks and challenge the status quo. Conscious stories are not formed in the safety of the familiar. Meaning is found in a good story-a conscious story. 
What are the elements of a good story and how can I edit my life to create a good story? DM uses his experience to answer these questions.

Elements of a meaningful life: "A story is a character that wants something and overcomes conflict to get it" this is the essence of a good story.

A Character is what he does: It is a person's actions that point to their humanity. We see what a person "is" when they make choices under pressure.

Inciting Incident: DM's reason why he has no clear ambition is because, once he stands up and points to the horizon, he realizes how much he has to lose. For DM it was meeting his father who abandoned him, and his mother when he was a child. It was fear that kept him from pursuing this desire-fear that his dad would reject him-again. DM does meet his dad and brings on the inciting incident which pulls this part of the story to the conscious level. His father asks Don for forgiveness and Don accepts and for the first time he sees his dad in a new light.

The reason God doesn't fix you yet: DM reminds us that the fantastical climaxes in movies and books do not happen in real life. We do reach goals and have success-to be sure, but after that achievement the story doesn't end-the hard work begins. Some Christians also give the false impression-on the unconscious level mostly-that Jesus will take care of your problems. This is not true and definitely not biblical-Jesus gives us hope and invites us into His suffering. Our story includes walking in hope in the midst of pain. There is no utopia.

Manmade or Jesus made-there is no utopia this side of heaven. No act of man is going to make things on earth perfect-an enormous amount of damage is created by the myth of utopia. It creates unreal expectations.

Individuals are not the only ones with stories-our culture has a narrative also: In the book DM attends a writer's conference by legendary screenwriter Robert McKee to find out what makes a good story. McKee defines "an interesting story is one that highlights archetypes as opposed to stereotypes." Archetypes are universal human traits and stereotypes are traits limited exclusively to a group. 
I find this true in a "cultural story" or narrative. For example in our culture today there is a strong push to identify with your "group" and in doing so we nurture stereotypes-note our incessant need to hyphenate our "group" with being an American.

We live in a world where bad stories teach us that life has no meaning and that humanity has no great purpose. But we can edit our lives and create better stories.