Voice Box

the main character

It has been interesting to follow the response to the 'difficult questions' post from February 21.  There has also been some stimulating conversation offline on this topic.  It's a critical question - faith and pain, the Church and suffering, God and broken humanity.  We can't and shouldn't avoid these topics.  I'm not going to attempt to answer the questions.  These aren't the kinds of questions one answers, they are the kinds of questions one engages and lives with.  As I've read all the posts, I've formulated 4 different posts that I will write in the next few days to engage these questions.  Today, I will talk about 'the main character.'  In the coming days, I will engage the following questions and topics: 'why do the innocent suffer?', 'when Jesus gives the wrong answer...', and 'being fully alive.'  (Then I'll steer the blog back toward focusing on compassion, creativity, and community for the sake of of poor and orphaned children.)

the main character...

One of the most important things that we can do as Christians is to identify our role and God's role in the story.  A perspective known as anthropocentrism, puts humans in the center of the story - this word comes from anthropos meaning humanity and well you all know Greek well enough to guess the '-centrism' part.  This perspective is similar to putting the earth in the center of the universe.  When we live with this paradigm, everything we see and experience is judged by how it makes me feel... what I think about it... how it effects me... my budget, my time, my lifestyle, my relationship with God.  To move away from anthropocentrism is a bold and courageous move.  When Copernicus introduced the world to the heliocentric universe, a Revolution ensued and the Church excommunicated him.  I propose that we are so neck deep in our anthropocentrism, that we don't see how it has effected our entire paradigm, including our Churches and our personal relationships with Jesus Christ.  And I think many churches are so neck deep in their anthropocentrism that if people followed Copernicus's lead, they too might find themselves feeling a bit out of place in many churches.

So I want to live in and launch a new Copernican Revolution...  We need to learn to live in a theocentric way.  God was, is, and will always be the main character.  God (Theos) is the center of the universe.  On a side note, this is one reason why we have decided since moving to Colorado Springs to worship at Holy Trinity Anglican Church.  The liturgy places God at the center of our worship experience.  This flies in the face of many forms of worship I have experienced, participated in, and led.  I'm not saying it's bad to hear how Biblical principles when applied can make positive changes in your life.  I'm not saying it's bad to feel the warmth of God's presence in song.  I'm not saying it's bad to drink a latte while we sing and take notes during a sermon.  I am saying that all of this is dangerous if I am the main character.  James M. Gustafson is a leading voice in theocentric thought.  If this conversation piques your interest, check out some of his work.

Want to join The New Copernican Revolution?  I suggest that as we engage the most difficult questions of life, we do so with humility and total dependence on God, for God is at the center of the universe, not I.

difficult questions

This is a message I received on facebook recently from a friend I've known for 12 years.  These are difficult questions that we must wrestle with.  Over the next few days, I'll post some replies and reflections to my friend's question.  I invite you to 'listen' in on our conversation and join the conversation.  Here's what he says...

I've always looked up to and admired you to some extent. You were the man who taught me that worship could mean something and I count you among the few people who make me want to be a christian.

What I want to know is why. Why are you a christian?

You've travelled the world, you've seen the pain, the joy, the life of non-christians the world over. How can you believe that God loves them and lets them die? How can you (not saying you do) pray for food to be put on your table every day when so many go without? What kind of God is that and why should I worship him?

These questions tear at the very fragment of my being and prevent me from going in either direction. I look at the stars on a clear desert night and I can't help but believe that there is a god out there and then I return my eyes to street level and can't help but believe that there's not.

Help me understand Dan. I'm lost.

Let's prayerfully consider these questions together.

a tale of two cities (re:flection/re:cipe)

Have you ever read 'A Tale of Two Cities?'  Like Dickens classic, setting London and Paris over and against one another during times of revolution, we too live in two cities.  Some of us live on the east coast and some on the west coast.  People live in Washington and Baghdad.  People live in upper class suburbs and people live in slums in the Global South.  But our story begins before these cities and their differences were established.  In the beginning the earth was nothing.  The earth is void.  It is blah and bland.  There is no light, no substance, no color, no flavor.  It is repulsive and repressive.  Boredom reigns supreme.  But this isn’t God’s plan for life. 

We know this full well because now and then, here and there, light explodes in our lives.  We know this full well because light and life exploded into this primary story.  In Genesis 1, God says, LET THERE BE FLAVOR!  LET THERE BE COLOR!

It was good, very good.  Life in our universe left repulsion and repression, and went from blah and bland to bright and bursting.  Life with my wife has taught me so much about faith and grace, flavor and color.  When she and I met in 2001, I was driving a gray car.  My favorite shirt was a charcoal gray long sleeve T from Old Navy.  I wasn't sad by any means, just a bit gray.  Into my life rolls a yellow Jeep driven by an Italian girl with funk and flair.  This somewhat average life became a vibrant and colorful experience.  And it didn't stop with color.  Now many of our evenings begin with the smell of olive oil, garlic, onions, and red wine as she cooks up another Italian masterpiece.

Christ stands at the center of our story.  It was true at creation, it was true when we walked the earth, and it’s true now.  So he stands at the center of our story now.  Jesus moved into the world – what Christians call the incarnation – to show us how to live as dual citizens – or better, live as citizens of God’s city with zip codes in places like Colorado Springs, Orlando, LA, Kostroma, Russia or even Baghdad.  Jesus tells us why we're here.  Jesus says, BRING OUT THE FLAVOR!  BRING OUT THE COLOR!

That’s why you’re here.  The flavor and the color already exist – just live now to bring that out!  If we live like this – the City Bright with Light and Bursting with Flavor will invade and drive out the Dark and Bland City.  The recipe and the reflection will overcome the repulsion and repression.

But there is an enemy.  The enemy wants us to horde.  The enemy wants us to close and lock our doors.  The enemy wants us to become opaque.  The enemy wants us to lock our recipes up and not share them.  The enemy says, DESTROY THE FLAVOR!  DESTROY THE COLOR!  This is happening ever day in the lives of the poor.  Orphaned, abandoned, and vulnerable children are having what little bit of life left in them snuffed out by a destructive and disgusting enemy.  I won't stand for this!  It makes me sick to think of it!

But we can overcome the enemy.  Let’s start living the flavorful and colorful life.  Let’s invite others to the party.  Let’s invade the darkness and the blandness with this party.  Let's say, ENJOY THE FLAVOR!  ENJOY THE COLOR!

let my people go

I had the privilege of worshiping this morning at Payne Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Colorado Springs.  The AME Church is a historically black church that grew out of the Free African Society in the late 18th century.  This Church has such a rich heritage and it and its members have made great contributions to modern America.  I was warmly welcomed.  It was an experience that all of us should step into.  We spend so much of our time remaining in 'the majority.'  Something valuable happens when one has the courage to be 'the minority.'  One amazing thing happened.  A young man who was a victim of a shooting last weekend in Colorado Springs where 2 others were killed went forward at the end of the service and gave his life to Christ.  With his arm in a cast, he embraced Pastor Brown for quite awhile as his mother sobbed in the pew.  He will be baptized next Sunday.  The Black Church in America lives much closer than white evangelicals do to the struggles of oppression and violence and poverty.  Thus, it can be argued, they live much closer to the story of the exodus and of Jesus' time in the wilderness.  We need to live close to those stories.  We need to learn to listen.  We need a miracle of the ear as we seek to overcome that which divides us: race and ethnicity, class and socioeconomic status, gender and sexuality.  My prayer is that we would become one.

the kingdom belongs to children

I've learned a lot from my kids.  I used to say often in Judah's first weeks and months that he knows things I've forgotten.  His basic worldview at the time: 'if I'm not hungry or dirty and if 1 or 2 people I love are in the room, I am happy.'  I can learn a lot from this.  I learned another lesson from him this week.

I was forcing him to 'cry it out' once when he was really resisting a nap.  He would cry 'mama! mama!'  He would cry 'daddy! daddy!'  He even cried 'baby! baby!'  He wanted someone to come rescue him from this horrible fate: a mid-day nap.    Finally, when mama, daddy, and baby would not respond to his cries, I heard him crying, 'Jesus! Jesus!'  I laughed and laughed.  He is so funny and so sharp and so sensitive.  He knew who to cry out for when he was angry and frustrated and lonely. 

I guess this is one of the things Jesus could have meant when he said that the kingdom belongs to children.  (Read this story in Matthew 19:13-15, Mark 10:13-16, and Luke 18:15-17.)

where is Jesus going?

Yesterday in one of my classes at Fuller, we practiced the lectio divina with a text in Luke 10.  The story tells us that when Jesus sent the 72 out in pairs, they go to 'every town and place where he himself intended to go.'

Strategy.  In this text we see that Jesus had plans, a goal, a mission, a strategy.  Involved in any mission are the elements of preparation, activity/proclamation, and follow up.  These courageous missionaries were preparing the way of the Lord.

Incarnation.  As they went, they took up residence in different towns and different houses in those towns.  They talked and ate and drank with people.  They didn't fly in, put on a show, and fly out.  They didn't drive to the soup kitchen from their nice suburban home.  Rather, for as long as there was peace, they remained in that town and lived the life of those townspeople.

Sacrament. As they went, they carried Christ with them. Sacramental theology opens our minds and hearts to the places where Christ is present.  While many Christians disagree sharply over where, when, and how Christ is present with us, we can all agree that we desperately need Christ present.  So in our mission, if we can carry Christ to the places where he intends to go, we are engaged in sacramental mission.  Christ present in us.  Christ present in 'every town and place.'

I pray that as I engage in mission to orphaned children around the world by mobilzing the church to give hope and give help, that I would do this in a strategic, incarnational, and sacramental way.  I want to go where Jesus is going.

Where is Jesus going?  Where are you going?

the martyrdom of love (a reflection on Valentine's Day)

There are several legends for how we in modern America have come from the Catholic Church celebrating 11 St. Valentine's Days to 1 holiday of candy and cards.  The explanations involve the poetry of Geoffrey Chaucer, pagan fertility festivals, and a priest who secretly married soldiers who were prohibited from marrying.  Whatever version you subscribe to, two things remain: today we don't even acknowledge these roots of our holiday and today we often forget that love is martyrdom.  These 11 heroes of the faith named Valentine were persecuted and martyred for their faith.

Jesus said that the greatest love is when someone gives up their own life for the sake of a friend.  Jesus lived this ethic to a perfect and complete degree in his time on earth.  And he continues to live this ethic in taking up residence with the poor.  Jesus is among the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, and the prisoner.  The King of the Universe daily lays down his glorious life and takes up the grimy life of the poor.  This is love.  This is martyrdom.  And what happens when one shares in suffering?  One also shares in resurrection life.

For those of you who live this greatest love by sharing in the sufferings of the poor through praying, fasting, giving, going, and inviting others to the life of compassion...  For those of you who live this greatest love by giving yourselves to the down and out...  For those of you who live this love by serving and celebrating your spouses, your children, your parents, your siblings... you know that it is a mystery, and often a painful mystery, but you know that you also enjoy resurrection life!

So today as we eat too much candy and give and receive Valentine's Day cards, let's not forget that our Savior laid down his life.  Let's follow this example of a martyr's love.

Russian orphans are falling victim to HIV/AIDS

Here at Children's HopeChest and 5for50, we work hard to stand between the roaring and devouring lion of extreme poverty and HIV/AIDS and the precious children who are so vulnerable in places like Swaziland and South Africa and Uganda.  But this epidemic is not only active in Africa, AIDS is claiming victims on every corner of our planet.  Tom Davis' blog today talks about how this disease is taking the lives of orphans in Russia.  Read it here.

care for an orphan by folding the map

I went for a run this morning at around 6AM.  As I turned west and began running toward Pike's Peak in the distance, a song by Death Cab for Cutie came on my iPOD.  The lyrics struck me.

I wish the world was flat like the old days
Then I could travel just by folding a map
No more airplanes, or speed trains, or freeways
There'd be no distance that could hold us back.

The lyrics from this song, The New Year, made my head start to spin.  This phrase - folding a map, folding a map, folding a map - started running through my mind.  I thought of the children 6,000, 8,000, or more miles away who are held from us by so much distance.  I thought of the distance that separates humans from God.  But by the greatest map-folding act in history, Jesus became a human and moved into the neighborhood.  This distance would never hold humans back from God again.  I thought of Children's HopeChest and our endeavor to connect communities of faith here in the States with communities of orphaned children overseas.  By fostering relationships where there is financial support, prayer, letters, and visits, we are in the business of map-folding.  We work hard to overcome the distance that separates us.  Thousands of miles and thousands of years of history, culture, religion, language, economics, and politics separate us.  Not to mention that our lifestyles are worlds apart (we are the richest people ever to live on this planet, while the extreme poverty is claiming victims daily in the Global South).  But by following this incarnational example of Jesus, we can come close.  We can fold the map and be in community with those in need around the world.  If you or your church want to know more about how to fold the map, how to connect with orphaned children overseas, email me.

Together we can overcome the distance that holds us back from sharing God's hope and practical help with orphaned children around the world.  Fold the map.

labeled polaroids (re:mind/re:member)

my grandma was widowed young in 1971.  she lived alone for about 30 years before it became necessary to move her to a home for people suffering from alzheimer's.  the first time i visited her, i found her watching tv (i think it was the price is right) with a dozen other alzheimer's patients.  she glanced toward the door and then looked right back at the tv.  she didn't even recognize her own grandson.  i went to her and told her who i was.  'are you sure?'  'who?'  these were her responses.  finally, after showing her pictures of her son, my dad, and explaining over and over who i was, she believed me.  the longer she lived in that home, the better she got.  she had labeled polaroids.  so when i returned the next time, she knew me by name.

it becomes so easy to forget.  it's challenging enough when we forget to get the oil changed, to pick up the dry cleaning, put more diapers in the baby's bag before we leave the house, or when we miss a meeting because it wasn't written down in our planner.  but when we forget things that matter for life and death, it becomes dangerous.

read joshua 4:1-9.  after wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, the jordan river was stopped so that the people of Israel could enter the land of promise.  God instructed joshua to take 12 men from each of the 12 tribes and that they should get 12 stones from the middle of the jordan.  they would build a memorial that would stand forever.  a memorial to God's miraculous deliverance.

we need to stack up stones.  we need to label polaroids.  we need to do whatever it takes to remember God's activity in our lives. 

a memory is the reason God instructs us to care for the fatherless, the widow, and the orphan.  read deuteronomy 24:17-22.  because they were slaves they must now care for those who are on the fringes of society.

dany, a staff member here at hopechest, just returned from her first trip to swaziland.  as she has shared with us what she saw and experienced, we know she will not forget.  and these memories will motivate and move her as she works here on behalf of the poor and orphaned children we serve in that disease-ravaged country.  but we all need to admit that sometimes we do actually forget.  this is why we need labeled polaroids.  however you label your polaroids (and by that i mean... however you remember what's important in life), whether that's through journals, pictures, community, prayer, etc., you need to know that in this case, memory is a matter of life and death.

remember today to pray for and give to orphaned children.