Articles
The God Experience
What does it mean to be a follower of Christ? I find myself asking this question more and more lately. I look at the world around me and I look at this thing we call the church and I find myself wanting… imagining that there has to be something better… something more… real, uncut, raw and organic.
Rain
So we had a huge thunderstorm a few nights ago. I would have to say thunderstorms are one of my favorite things. I could sit and watch a thunderstorm for hours. The sound of rain falling on the roof, the claps of thunder that can be heard for miles, the flashes of lightning that design the night sky,the woosh of Little Kitty running through the dark room…
Faith in us
So we’ve been talking about faith lately in Sunday School. What it looks like, how it works… how we put it into practice in an active and real-life situation. It’s definitely been an interesting topic and we have had some good discussion on it. The kids have responded well and it seems like this topic of faith has led us into a place where we can see how faith is embedded into us… it’s part of us… and when we understand it better it doesn’t seem as silly any longer… but that is all for another blog entry.
Today, being Easter, every pastor is talking about the resurrection and God’s completion of salvation for his creation. As I was browsing around in Luke I ran across something interesting.
In Luke 22 we are told the story of Jesus’ arrest and how the disciples ran away in the heat of this moment. One disciple sticks out though, Peter. If you have been in the church for any period of time you already know this story I’m referring to. Peter disowns Jesus three times while hiding out in the court yard where Jesus is being accused; even though he told Jesus that very day that he would never disown him and would die for him; it’s at that point Jesus tells Peter he will disown him or reject him three times before the rooster crows (or the day is over).
Luke tells the story like this:
“54 Then seizing him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance. 55 But when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them. 56 A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, “This man was with him.” 57 But he denied it. “Woman, I don’t know him,” he said. 58 A little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.” “Man, I am not!” Peter replied. 59 About an hour later another asserted, “Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean.” 60 Peter replied, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. 61 The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.” 62 And he went outside and wept bitterly.”
Now, let’s pause here for a second and take a deeper look at the story we are reading here and the people involved, Peter for the most part. Try to picture this… Peter is this rough edged, straight forward, tough, tell it how it is fisherman guy. He has lived his life working hard and by the many stories we get from scripture we can tell he is also very passionate about what he believes. He has worked in the family business for a while simply because he did not make the cut in the schooling system of his time. The Rabbis of that day basically told him they knew he loved the scripture and torah but he just didn’t make the cut to go to the next level of teaching. Peter knew scripture, he loved God… but he wasn’t one of the elite’s in his day.
So, this young man, just like any other young man of his day, did what he only had left to do… work in the family trade. Every young man wanted to sit under a great Rabbi and be his disciple. They all wanted to hear those words “Come follow me” but the sad reality was only a few heard those words and Peter was not one of them. So, what we have left is a young man who, in societies eyes, didn’t make the cut.
What surprises me is Jesus chose his disciples from men like this… the one’s who didn’t make the cut. It’s no wonder then why Peter dropped everything when Jesus said to come follow him. Jesus said the words Peter had always wanted to hear. Now, from this point on, I’ve always found it funny the relationship between Jesus and Peter. To someone just reading by it could seem weird. One minute Jesus is telling Peter how he is going to build his church on this rock (referring to Peter) and then not even a few paragraphs away he’s telling Peter to get behind him satan.
Then there’s the whole scene when the soldiers show up to take Jesus in the garden and Peter goes for the sword and cuts the mans ear off. I can guarantee you he wasn’t going for just an ear, he just missed. But this shows us a deep picture into this man called Peter. He’s passionate but at the same time still trying to figure this whole thing out. He’s eager to learn, he’s quick to jump (remember the whole walking on water thing) he’s a rough around the edges man trying his best to be like his Rabbi… then when it all comes down to this one moment of denying Jesus… he fails… it’s safe to say Peter was crushed.
He was devastated by what he did. This is the same man who when Jesus asked “who do you say that I am” nailed it, saying You are the Christ. “The Christ” is the greek equivalent of saying the Messiah or the Hebrew equivalent of saying “The Anointed One”. Basically, Peter nailed the big question gold star style and Jesus commends him saying that man had not revealed this to him but only Jesus’ father. Peter realizes that Jesus is this Messiah they have all been waiting for for so long. He realizes Jesus is the Messiah he heard stories about as a kid, he’s the Messiah his grandparents talked about and he’s the Messiah he read about so much in the scriptures. This same man who realized such a great thing, has just denied the very one that he put so much faith in.
This is all about to come together, I promise… so bear with me
Think about this, Peter has spent the last 3 years of his life learning, living, and experiencing life with Jesus. He has seen the dead raised, blind see, broken walk and countless other things we don’t even know about in the scriptures. He has put all his stamina and passion and life into the faith that this man is who he says he is. For three years he has seen Jesus do great things and now he is seeing this king, this Messiah about to die… and he knows that he could be right there with him. He’s scarred, confused, and like many of us when we feel backed into a corner, just wants to get out and make everything stop just so he can think, so he can process all this madness. But, he doesn’t get that chance people keep saying he is one of the followers of Jesus and Peter in this state of confusing and fear denies him… and then Jesus looks right at him when he did it for the third time… This would crush me. It would be like having a parent or anyone really important to me watch me deny a sacrifice they had made for me or watch me deny them as my family.
Now why have I gone through this long drawn out explanation of Peter and what does it have to do with faith. You see, faith is not just one directional… God has faith is us. If I was God and I was going to save humanity and I needed 12 people to trust my teaching to, and trust this task to, and to trust to tell others about it… I would probably go for the elite, the best of the best, the smartest of the smart. the best spoken, best presenter, best personality, best of the best student…. But that is not what Jesus did. He chose the low… the rejects… the one’s that everyone else said were not good enough.
You see, Jesus could have chosen anyone but he chose these 12 guys who didn’t make the cut; just like he has chosen us. When you sign up for this Christian gig it’s much more than just being about heaven and hell and which one are you going to. No, it’s about keeping the story going… keeping the movement moving… it’s about faith and knowing that the God of the universe has placed faith in you and me to fulfill this task he has given us… to share his story, his love and his journey to restore mankind. That’s great faith put in small people. Our faith in God is important but it’s also comforting to see how he has given faith in us to share his story with others. Not that he can’t but that he has chosen to allow us to do it.
God doesn’t have to put faith into us to complete his task. No, for that much he could just do it himself, he is not going to be any less of God if we failed. But the neat thing is he lets us see his faith in us… even though he already knows the outcome… so for him its not so much faith… he knows the end… but for us, it give us value. It’s like having someone believe in you to accomplish a task even though they know you can do it…. you don’t know though…. but that belief empowers you and enriches you to do better because you have someone bigger, smarter, and more able telling you that they believe you can do a fine job at this task. It’s something that makes us feel valuable. It’s something that when we think about it reminds us that we have someone cheering for us in our corner, even if the rest of the world isn’t. And, it’s something that causes us to do better than we ever thought we could simply because the one who is putting faith in us… believes we can do it.
So this easter, remember that you are a work of faith and love. Remember that your imperfections are not bigger than God and remember that God has given faith to you to be active in sharing his story. Remember that God doesn’t have to put faith in you, but chooses to and that you have someone rooting for you in your corner knowing that if you just get up and try you will surprise yourself… because He knows you can do it… it’s just getting you to a place where you can see what he has seen all along, even when the rest of the world doesn’t.
Technorati Tags: devotional, faith, teachings
Snow and Remembering
Well, I’ve been asking for it all year. There have been a few times that I thought we were about to get hit but they were only false alarms. But, now… it’s happening. The snow has finally come.
Now, where I live if we see a snow flake or even feel like one could form, school is canceled and everyone runs to Wal-Mart to stock up on the essentials (toilet paper and milk – I think one may be a little more essential than the other, but I’ll leave it up to you to decide which one that is:)
As the years have gone by it seems like we get fewer and fewer snows. Whenever it happens it makes me start remembering my childhood and how I would anxiously watch the local news station in the morning hoping I would see a glimpse of my schools name under the canceled list. I think this is something we all, as kids, have been through a few times. For that much, I sometimes wish it was the same for work. Pop on the tv to see if work was cancelled or not. Unfortunately that never happens.
It seems like as kids knowing how to anticipate and get excited over the simplest of things came natural. Snow brought excitement because, well first off no school, but also because it meant sledding and snow ball fights, friends and forts, all to end by telling our stories of the day while drinking hot chocolate. These were all things that we just couldn’t do any time we wanted… we had to wait for them. Sometimes it would only happen once a year but when it did we were ready… at least I know I was.
I think a lesson can be learned out of remembering. The snow reminds me to take time to stop and enjoy the change going on around me. Just to take a minute or two to watch green turn to white and the air become thick with flakes. It reminds me to remember… remember stories of times with family and friends of the last snow; because I know eventually the snow will be gone.
The same thing can be seen at work in our spiritual life. God wants us to remember… and take time to stop and watch how things around us are being changed. To remember that He is in control and just because our day may not look sunny that doesn’t mean it still isn’t be beautiful. Things change in our lives, jobs change, hobbies change, tasks change, minds change, things change… it’s what we do when things change that matters. Do we stress out and beat our heads against the wall trying to fix everything or do we take time to watch the snow, and remember… knowing that this change could very well be one of those changes, just like the snow, that may only come every once in a while, providing us with opportunities that we normally would never have.
Technorati Tags: christianity, devotional, teachings
