Refreshing Candor at Christmastime

[First things first - my thanks to friend & UM Minister extraordinaire Brad Martin for getting me this picture.  I saw it as I was leaving Parkview UMC in Miamisburg (Ohio) but didn't get a picture until Brad was willing to tromp out there on foot & get it & send it to me - muchas gracias, Brad (I was going to try to say that in Hindi or Tamil in honor of your recent trip to India, but Google Translate let me down)].

It's good to be reminded occasionally that if you are trying to live a Kingdom kind of life, you will spend a lot of time 'swimming upstream' with regard to the world in which we live.

We don't need to be reminded so that we can think bad thoughts about that heathen world 'out there', but so that we remember why we keep running into lots of people/philosophies/lives headed in a different direction.

As a (not so) proud owner of my very own Storage Unit, this sign made me laugh out loud -  NOT at the folks at Advantage Self Storage, but at my own sometimes fevered attempts to hang on to my Stuff (George Carlin, you were right again).

Again, our job is not to throw rocks at the folks who aren't trying to live as members of the Kingdom, but to make our own course corrections day by day.  Remember the complete list of rules for how to live as members of God's Kingdom:

1. Remember Christ is Lord.
2. Don't be a jerk.

Namaste 

Christian T-Shirts & Mugs

You've seen the T-Shirts.

"Mom & Dad went to Hawaii

and all I got

was this lousy T-Shirt"

This came to mind yesterday afternoon as I was listening to the new Bishop for the West Ohio Conference* speak at Ginghamsburg UMC.

He spoke, in part, about the difference between Pilgrims & Tourists.  Pilgrims are on a journey to get to somewhere significant.  Tourists want to hit the sights they have seen on postcards and pick up a t-shirt or mug to prove they were there.

My mind almost always moves directly from words to images, and so it was perhaps inevitable that I could immediately see this T-shirt for sale at any number of Christian outlet stores:

"Jesus went to Calvary

and all I got

was this lousy T-Shirt"

In a judgmental moment, I added a postscript to the text on the shirt: '... and most days, to be honest, that was all I wanted out of the encounter'.

I was thinking of how tempting it is to experience what Christ has done as a tourist - or (perhaps even worse) as a member of an audience.

Jesus went to Calvary and all I got was this lousy T-Shirt

 - but that's not a complete story.

Jesus went to Calvary  - . . . and defeated Death and its power over me and all of Creation - and all I got was this lousy T-Shirt

Jesus went to Calvary - . . . and broke the power of Sin and mortally wounded the Adversary - and all I got was this lousy T-Shirt

Jesus went to Calvary  - . . . and opened to door to Life, and to a relationship with the God who made us - he went there and made his death an invitation to live as God's sons & daughters - and all I got was this lousy T-Shirt - 

We need more than spiritual souvenirs.  The world needs more Pilgrims who are going somewhere (to return to the Bishop's words)  "on purpose"  - and fewer Christian tourists.

+ + + + + + +

The new Bishop for West Ohio is Gregory Palmer.  If you have not heard him yet, I recommend you click on this link as an introduction: Bishop Gregory Palmer preaching on Isaiah - then spend a moment thinking about whether this faith is a spectator sport, or an invitation to be on the front lines fighting against sin & death in a world where the Kingdom sometimes seems very far off.

*(of The United Methodist Church)

CONFIDENCE!

I came across a great phrase in a great book last week.

The book was from 1995: The Trivialization of God: The Dangerous Illusion of a Manageable Deity by Dr. Donald W. McCullough (an under-appreciated book and worth looking up).

In the book the author describes being lost on a rainy night in Edinburgh, Scotland - a city with which he had no familiarity to begin with.  Having gone out alone he found himself without an umbrella or a raincoat in a late-night rainstorm.  Convinced that he could find his place of lodging before getting soaked, he describes himself as setting off "with confidence bolstered by complete ignorance."

'Confidence bolstered by complete ignorance'

 What a phrase - what an idea!

 On the surface it sounds like the worst of a collection of bad ideas, but there are times when that kind of confidence is just what is needed to get us moving.

Many of us know the reality of "analysis paralysis" - the condition of being unable to begin because we cannot see how things will work out perfectly.  To that degree, CBBCI can get us moving without waiting for all the answers - but it can also lead all the way to a brick wall.

That's what happened to the author, who got hopelessly turned around in a driving rain.  Two thing saved him that night.

• A local who knew where he needed to go, and (just as importantly),
• His willingness to give up on the plan begun with only CBBCI and follow the new direction (directions, actually) offered by his rescuer.

Many cultures have noted that the most difficult part of a journey is getting beyond our own front gate.
Boldness - even badly informed boldness - coupled with humility & flexibility, can get us on the road and can even manage to get us somewhere.