Should we forgive Michael Jackson?

As I sit listening to people praise Michael Jackson today at his memorial service in LA, I can't avoid the lingering questions on most people's minds: "Is this ok to be celebrating the life of someone who was charged with molesting a child? Isn't he just getting this special treatment because he's a celebrity?" Well, of course he's getting special treatment because he's a celebrity--not many people are going to pack out the Staples Center for their funerals. But is this special treatment irresponsibly and immorally overlooking his failures?

From what I've sensed from a couple of people and from what I can guess with some confidence, many are ticked off or even disgusted that people would have such a celebration in honor of Michael Jackson. What really strikes me, though, is that this negative sentiment seems to come most strongly from the more conservative and/or Christian camps. On the one hand, this is understandable because such people generally hold moral behavior in a higher regard. On the other hand, though, we must not think that Christians or even serious religious people have a monopoly on ethics, or that our standards are completely different from others. Especially when it comes to children: almost everyone agrees that crimes against kids, especially sexual abuse or molestation, is black and white wrong. No relativism here. And more than that, most agree that these are among the worst crimes. So it's not the case that everyone celebrating Michael Jackson simply holds lower moral standards than we religious people. I bet almost everyone in that basketball arena today thinks that child molestation is deplorable. But they seem to be able to express their love for the king of pop despite this disapproval. Hmm, now the responses seem backwards: that is, why is it that, perhaps, Christians may be among the loudest voices continuing to denounce Jackson and refusing to memorialize him, while others seem quicker to forgive?

I don't want to overgeneralize: many of those speaking on behalf of Jackson do so as Christians or as otherwise religious people. Again, though, I feel pretty confident in my guess that many Christians, especially of the conservative type, disapprove of celebrating Michael Jackson's life because of what he was accused of doing (let's not forget that he was never convicted). And what people are celebrating, if you pay attention, is not merely his ridiculous talent as an entertainer, but his enormous humanitarian efforts before it was cool to be globally aware. Do we dismiss all of the good, loving things he has done and only retain the bad? This is definitely backwards. Our religion stands at the foot of a crucified Messiah who died to forgive the sins of the world after having been deserted by his best friends, the eventual leaders of the church. And this Jesus was clear as a bell about forgiveness: he said to love your enemies rather than hate them, pray for those who persecute you, and when Peter asked him how often we should forgive someone who has sinned against us, Jesus said either 77 or 490, and I think both readings get across the same point. Most frightening, the model prayer Jesus gives has that disturbing line, "Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us." (And by the way, I don't act as if Christianity has a monopoly on forgiveness among religions--others certainly emphasize its importance in different ways. So their practitioners should be troubled as well at any resistance to forgiveness, but as a Christian I know most directly that we have an unavoidable call to forgive as we have been forgiven.)

I have never been molested. I don't have children of my own, much less children who have been molested. So it's certainly easy for me to talk about forgiveness of such an ugly sin when I have never been sinned against. I have no idea how hard it would be to forgive a child molester, especially one that directly hurt me. So I'm not asking you to listen to me--I only want to point us toward Jesus. And when I look toward Jesus I see myself on the other side, that of perpetrator. Just because I've never molested or abused children doesn't mean I haven't committed heinous sins against others, especially in my heart. And I think all of those are sins against Jesus, because they are sins against God's children, who are Jesus' brothers and sisters. So I am in the same boat as Michael Jackson, and so are you: we have hurt God's children in many ways, and our only hope for restoration within and with those whom we have hurt is forgiveness. And herein lies our power to forgive others, whether it be a celebrity or (probably more importantly) someone we actually know who has wronged us deeply: the cross of Christ. There the debts are cancelled: those of Peter, who three times denied he knew Jesus to protect his reputation, and those of the whole world. May we pray that Jesus has forgiven the sins of Michael Jackson.

What Soul Asylum, C. S. Lewis, Bono & Billy Joel Have In Common

None of them are going to have Sinatra's "My Way" blaring at their funeral. (Billy might have it playing softly...but probably/hopefully not.)

Though almost every compelling story on paper or in the theater still says otherwise, it seems to me the most popular "gospel" of our day is one of self-preservation and self-justification: "You need to do what's best for you."

Thus, it makes quite a bit of sense that a song like"My Way" would be chosen for so many funerals. The "freedom" we celebrate is independence and self-indulgence - to be in control and "do what I please". But the problem is (and always has been) we never find any freedom in our freedom. In fact this version of "freedom" has been our master. I don't get to do what I want; I have to do what I want. Self-absorption is maybe the only thing I can't escape.

In the New Testament, Paul drives this point home by calling us "slaves to sin". In modern terms we might say, we are "addicts". The point being, living for yourself is not your privilege; it's your disease. This is the terrifying diagnosis the Bible gives the world when it uses that word "sin". Sin refers not simply to what we have done (as if by accident), but rather to what we love, who we are, and what we live for, as if it will produce life for us. But unfortunately, "the wages of sin is death."

Yet we live constantly in a state of denial about all this, and so are desperately dependent on those at the very bottom to remind us that we are on a one-way track in the exact opposite direction of where we think. And who could have put it better than the long-forgotten mid-90's radio rock band, Soul Asylum?

It seems no one can help me now
I'm in too deep
There's no way out
This time I have really led myself astray

Runaway train never going back
Wrong way on a one way track
Seems like I should be getting somewhere
Somehow I'm neither here no there

Bought a ticket for a runaway train
Like a madman laughin' at the rain
Little out of touch, little insane
Just easier than dealing with the pain

Most people choose denial, because "wrong way on a one-way track" is a truly terrifying diagnosis to come to grips with. Perhaps the only thing more terrifying is the prospect of going in the other direction. This is the uncharted territory of Love, where your heart is sure to be broken to pieces! Jesus did not prescribe "turn the other cheek" as an effective means of getting what you want through passive resistance. He said it, knowing that He would be the only one who could absolutely pull it off - the only one who was 100% victim and 0% offender. He said it knowing that to love your enemies was to be slain by them. But in so doing, we who were enemies became heirs through his death - through his Love. Love is death and resurrection.

And Love is the lifeblood of those who believe. It is the fruit we bear when we realize how much we have been forgiven and delivered from the narcissistic runaway train to hell that was our former life. We love because He first loved us. But Love on this earth is gritty reality. It's not dream land, it's not an escape, and it's not a drug. It hurts. It risks. It trusts. It bears with. It breaks your heart as it promises to make all things new. It's the left-handed power that conquers the world by being conquered. Love is greater than faith and hope, because it is where faith and hope find their truest manifestation.

C. S. Lewis speaks BRILLIANTLY about this:

“Love anything and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to keep it intact, you must...lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell."

Obviously, that speaks for itself. Here's Billy Joel's way of putting it, from a song (clearly in his later years) called "And So It Goes":

I spoke to you in cautious tones
You answered me with no pretense
And still I feel I said too much
My silence is my self defense

But if my silence made you leave
Then that would be my worst mistake
So I will share this room with you
And you can have this heart to break

And this is why my eyes are closed
It's just as well for all I've seen
And so it goes, and so it goes
And you're the only one who knows

So I would choose to be with you
That's if the choice were mine to make
But you can make decisions too
And you can have this heart to break

And Bono, seemingly answering the the question posed on the album cover, prays this at the end of U2's song "Yahweh":

What no man can own
No man can take
Take this heart
Take this heart
Take this heart and make it break

May our hearts be dismantled by Love so that Love can rebuild them from the ground up. So that we can be His and not our own. So that we'll continue saying, "Take this heart. Take this heart. Take this heart."

Depression: Just The Regular Type

I was listening to an interesting story on NPR this morning about the rising popularity of "non-religious" songs being chosen for funerals. This got me thinking about how badly I wanted Kelly Clarkson's entire debut album to be my life's soundtrack. No but seriously, I actually do want my life to be a celebration of Billy Joel's musical career, like a real life version of "Moving Out". Oh Billy...

Anyway, according to a study done recently, THE most popular non-religious song chosen to be played at a funeral is Sinatra's "My Way". Here are the lyrics:







My Way
And now, the end is near;
And so I face the final curtain.
My friend, Ill say it clear,
Ill state my case, of which Im certain.

Ive lived a life thats full.
Ive traveled each and every highway;
And more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

Regrets, Ive had a few;
But then again, too few to mention.
I did what I had to do
And saw it through without exemption.

I planned each charted course;
Each careful step along the byway,
But more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

Yes, there were times, Im sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew.
But through it all, when there was doubt,
I ate it up and spit it out.
I faced it all and I stood tall;
And did it my way.

Ive loved, Ive laughed and cried.
Ive had my fill; my share of losing.
And now, as tears subside,
I find it all so amusing.

To think I did all that;
And may I say - not in a shy way,
No, oh no not me,
I did it my way.

For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught.
To say the things he truly feels;
And not the words of one who kneels.
The record shows I took the blows -
And did it my way!

To me this is kind of depressing. I can see how the whole "I do what's best for me" thing can seem like freedom for a while, but unfortunately it turns out to be a delusion. In fact, the only thing that actually brings freedom is the exact opposite - Love. We are amazing creatures with the ability to literally orient our entire lives around the very things that make us most miserable, and then at the end of it all sing glorious songs of praise about the water in which we're drowning. This brings to mind a line from C. S. Lewis' novel, The Great Divorce:

"There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, in the end, 'Thy will be done.'"

I spend my whole life saying, "I'm doing it my way." Lord, by your grace, I at least hope my dying words are something like, "Okay, do it Your way."

Christian Depression

This is my favorite song by the band Switchfoot. To me, it expresses depression in the best possible way - acknowledging the deep dark issues with self and the world, and then instead of dressing them up or "learning from them" or even running away from them, it embraces the despair for just long enough to see that the true hope of all the world is found by falling to the bottom, not climbing to the top. It is the kind of depression that finds itself at the cross and discovers why we call Good Friday good. Because "nothing is okay until the world caves in".



The Blues
Is this the New Year or just another night?
Is this the new fear or just another fright?
Is this the new tear or just another desperation?

Is this the finger or just another fist?
Is this the kingdom or just a hit n' miss?
I miss direction, most in all this desperation.

Is this what they call freedom?
Is this what you call pain?
Is this what they call discontented fame?

It'll be a day like this one
When the world caves in
When the world caves in
When the world caves in

I'm singing this one like a broken piece of glass,
From broken hearts and broken noses in the back.
Is this the New Year or just another desperation?

You push until you're shoving
You bend until you break
Do you stand on the broken fields where your fathers lay?

It'll be a day like this one
When the world caves in
When the world caves in
When the world caves in

Is nothing here worth saving?
Is no one here at all?
Is there any net left that could break our fall?

It'll be a day like this one
When the sky falls down and the hungry and poor and deserted are found.
Are you discontented? Have you been pushing hard?
Have you been throwing down this broken house of cards?

It'll be a day like this one
When the world caves in
When the world caves in
When the world caves in

Is there nothing left now?
Nothing left to sing?
Are there any left who haven't kissed the enemy?
Is this the New Year or just another desperation?

Does justice never find you? Do the wicked never lose?
Is there any honest song to sing besides these blues?

And nothing is okay
Until the world caves in

Celebrating the Reality of Resurrection

Seven Stanzas at Easter
by John Updike (1960)

Make no mistake: if He rose at all
it was as His body;
if the cells’ dissolution did not reverse, the molecules
reknit, the amino acids rekindle,
the Church will fall.

It was not as the flowers,
each soft Spring recurrent;
it was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled
eyes of the eleven apostles;
it was as His flesh: ours.

The same hinged thumbs and toes,
the same valved heart
that–pierced–died, withered, paused, and then
regathered out of enduring Might
new strength to enclose.

Let us not mock God with metaphor,
analogy, sidestepping, transcendence;
making of the event a parable, a sign painted in the
faded credulity of earlier ages:
let us walk through the door.

The stone is rolled back, not papier-mâché,
not a stone in a story,
but the vast rock of materiality that in the slow
grinding of time will eclipse for each of us
the wide light of day.

And if we will have an angel at the tomb,
make it a real angel,
weighty with Max Planck’s quanta, vivid with hair,
opaque in the dawn light, robed in real linen
spun on a definite loom.

Let us not seek to make it less monstrous,
for our own convenience, our own sense of beauty,
lest, awakened in one unthinkable hour, we are
embarrassed by the miracle,
and crushed by remonstrance.

The Whole World Counting on One Execution

Everyone knows Wikipedia is right about everything, so...here's what it has to say about the tradition of "sacrifice" in the history of humanity:

The practice of sacrifice is found in the oldest human records. The archaeological record contains human and animal corpses with sacrificial marks long before any written records of the practice. Sacrifices are a common theme in most religions...Animal sacrifice has turned up in almost all cultures, from the Hebrews to the Greeks and Romans (particularly the purifying ceremony Lustratio) , Ancient Egyptians (for example in the cult of Apis )and from the Aztecs to the Yoruba. Animal sacrifice is still practiced today..."

What an odd common thread throughout virtually all societies. Why? In most cultures, sacrifices were offered to the gods or to a god for one of two reasons: 1) Fear - fear of what the gods might do if not satisfied; fear of droughts, fear of storms, fear of the sun not coming up, fear of the sky falling down, etc... 2) Shame - the feeling of guilt that gave way to the thought that the gods demanded some form of expiation or "making amends" for wrongdoing.

And into this world of people universally overwhelmed by fear and shame, either driven to obsessive sacrifice or even more obsessive denial, comes a new idea from the mouths of Hebrew prophets. A sacrifice that would end all sacrifices. A sacrifice that would finally drive out fear and do away with shame once for all. A sacrifice that would actually make peace with God.

...He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter... (Isaiah 53)

And then centuries later:

"Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1)

According to Christians, the very man of whom those words were spoken was nailed to a cross some 2000 years ago, and we are assured by his earliest followers that his death was the perfect sacrifice, once for all, the end of fear and the end of shame:

When Christ came into the world, he said: "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. Then I said, 'Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll— I have come to do your will, O God.' " First he said, "Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them" (although the law required them to be made). Then he said, "Here I am, I have come to do your will." He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: "This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds." Then he adds: "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more." And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin. - (Hebrews 10)

What a radical claim we Christians celebrate this week. What a radical message to the world, past and present:

Do not fear. Stop your sacrificing. You have already nailed a man to a cross. But He is God, He is Love, and He died for you. By his wounds you are healed. Simply trust. Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.

40th Street Song of the Week: Breathe by U2

This is my current favorite song on the new album - mostly because I've been listening to all the songs so much and this is a kind of a weirder deeper cut so it still feels new to me. You've got to respect the confluence of seemingly random phrases in this tune. Here's a fun game: Anybody wanna take a shot at what the heck he's talking about? I've got some guesses...

Breathe
16th of June, nine 0 five, door bell rings
Man at the door says if I want to stay alive a bit longer
There's a few things I need you to know. Three.

Coming from a long line of traveling sales people on my mother's side
I wasn't gonna buy just anyone's cockatoo
So why would I invite a complete stranger into my home
Would you?

These days are better than that
These days are better than that

Every day I die again, and again I'm reborn
Every day I have to find the courage
To walk out into the street
With arms out
Got a love you can't defeat
Neither down or out
There's nothing you have that I need
I can breathe
Breathe now

16th of June, Chinese stocks are going up
And I'm coming down with some new Asian virus
Ju Ju man, Ju Ju man
Doc says you're fine, or dying
Please

Nine 0 nine, St John Divine, on the line, my pulse is fine
But I'm running down the road like loose electricity
While the band in my head plays a striptease

The roar that lies on the other side of silence
The forest fire that is fear so deny it
Walk out into the street
Sing your heart out
The people we meet
Will not be drowned out
There's nothing you have that I need
I can breathe
Breathe now

We are people borne of sound
The songs are in our eyes
Gonna wear them like a crown
Walk out, into the sunburst street
Sing your heart out, sing my heart out
I've found grace inside a sound
I found grace, it's all that I found
And I can breathe
Breathe now

My Favorite Blog

I just got back from a conference put on by some friends in NYC who run a ministry there called Mockingbird. I don't really like conferences in general (and often times Christian conferences are the worst of all!), but this thing is run by a couple of truly down-to-earth dudes who are REALLY convinced that the gospel is true, and they see the world differently because of it. So, needless to say, the weekend had a profound effect on me and many others.

Anyway, Mockingbird has a blog that daily addresses pop-culture, art, current events and the like, in order to illustrate truth about the human condition and the gospel. It's creative, insightful, and usually pretty entertaining. I literally don't read any other blogs, but I read this one religiously, because it's that good. And I'm not the only one who thinks so. Just in the last few months their readership has grown exponentially to about 9000 unique visitors per month. So check it out when you get a chance. And if you don't at least find it amusing...I'll give you $5.

Stewart vs. Cramer on The Daily Show

Okay, sorry for all the financial stuff lately, but goodness gracious, this interview on The Daily Show is worth acknowledging. Jon Stewart recently had Jim Cramer, the host of Mad Money on his show to talk to him about all the "bad reporting" CNBC had done on the financial system before all the bankruptcies and bailouts. It brought me back for a moment to the time Jon Stewart came on to MSNBC's Crossfire, basically in the Trojan Horse of being "that funny guy" and very seriously and mercilessly picked them apart and detroyed the show. The only difference is this time everybody knew exactly what was going to happen - and I can only assume Cramer knew as well - he was humiliated.

The whole thing was just so uncomfortable, soaked in the kind of tension most of us spend our whole lives trying to avoid - the kind of tension that has given rise to entire social contructs that serve the sole purpose of avoiding that tension. And yet there it was as clear as day: pure, unadulterated law and judgment.

So here's how it went down: After a solid week of Stewart basically (and sometimes literally) saying "F you" in clever ways to Jim Cramer on his show, he actually managed to get Cramer to come on the show! Cramer admirably began the interview by admitting, "We all should have seen it...I got a lot of things wrong." To which Stewart replied, "So then...why were you mad at us? Because I was under the impression you thought we were being unfair?" Hmmm.

Of course Stewart knew the answer: Because no one likes to be criticized, ESPECIALLY not when the criticism points out truly bad things about them! That's when it sucks the most actually. Stewart then showed an ad for Cramer's CNBC show with the catch phrase, "In Cramer We Trust" and then followed it up with clip after clip exposing Cramer's own involvement in some very morally questionable trading tactics, ultimately exposing him as a liar and a hypocrite. At first he tried to make excuses, but the clips got worse and worse. One of the clips from his past awkwardly ended with him saying, "I'm not going to say that on TV." The live studio audience broke out in laughter at the irony of the situation, and all Cramer could do was sit there and say, "Well now it's on TV." Holy Moses. And that was only the first 10 minutes. Honestly it keot getting worse. Stewart was relentless, and yet, the circumstances seemed very clearly to justify his harshness.

Now, to me, Cramer was far more humble than most human beings. At times in the interview I admired the man. Don't get me wrong; he wasn't actually humble. He defended himself on and off for most of the interview, but also apologized quite a bit. He even said, "You're absolutely right," one time. That was really refreshing. But Stewart didn't let up AT ALL. It was so hard to watch.

The one thing I couldn't help but think the whole time was how beautiful and utterly strange it would have been if Cramer had simply said, "You're absolutely right. I'm sorry," and left it at that, with no defense, no arguments, just that. It was clear he didn't have a chance anyway, and the more he tried to fight it and to justify himself, the more he got hammered and humiliated.

And like I said, to me he seemed unusually repentant (though again it was nowhere close to pure). But I couldn't have expected any more from someone in his position, and if it were me, I would have fought much harder than he did! And that brings me to the main point I wanted to make: Sincere apologies are just so freaking hard to come by. To be left with nothing except, "You're absolutely right. I'm sorry," in the face of utterly relentless criticism and condemnation is a terrifying prospect. Everyone avoids it. And yet it is perhaps the ONLY human experience that actually makes sense of Christianity, precisely because it is the only experience that makes sense of the cross.

So here's to the relentless law! (Rom. 7:7) Without it we'd never taste the sweetness of grace.

Scandalous Good News for Really Bad People

Wait a minute...Is this about AIG bonuses? The federal bailout? Amnesty for illegal aliens? The pardoning of political criminals? The release of terrorists? That dude who cut you in line while giving you the finger and ended up with way better seats than you? It could be. But I'm talking about something even more offensive: Christianity. The only message in the world that, if true, is ACTUALLY GOOD NEWS for actually bad people. All those other scandalous things are just illustrations of what the Christian gospel actually IS. The grace of God is like taxpayers paying huge bonuses to the very executives who squandered the taxpayers' life-savings with their greed, except, take it like thirty levels beyond that. It's more like parents paying huge bonuses to the very mob who mocked, humiliated, tortured and murdered their only child.

But it's actually much more radical than that isn't it? Because we (yes, I am now referring to us as the criminals) are getting much more than bonuses, much more than wealth, much more than earthly riches - we Christian sinners somehow believe we're heirs to the infinite riches of the Kingdom of God. And it's not a reluctant bailout from angry, obligated taxpayers, but instead, it's a joyful gift given freely out of the infinite one-way love of our Father - the very Father from whom we have spent our lives running to far off lands where we squander his wealth and we cover our ears repeating mantras about how he doesn't actually exist and even if he did we're better off doing things for ourselves. All of that figuratively speaking of course. What we have literally done is far worse. And we he has literally done for us is indescribably better.

Here's a wonderful quote from a recent article in Christianity Today called, The Scandal of the AIG Bonuses. As usual, I got this from my favorite blog, Mockingbird (thanks Jon W):

When Paul talked about the gospel, many were shocked and appalled. It sounded as if God wanted to reward sinners, to give a bonus to scoundrels! They scoffed, "Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?" (Rom. 6:1). And when they figured out what exactly he was preaching, they got so angry that they told him to fall on his sword, and then formed a mob to run him out of town.

Bo Diddley, Showing Me Grace

So, aside from the fact he enjoys chewing on his back foot and occasionally runs headlong into trees, I’m pretty sure that my dog, Bo, is a genius. In 8 week-old Golden Retriever world, where no independent object is off-limits for snacking and the bladder is about as reliable as the 2009 economy, the last thing you expect as a puppy mama is to be able to sleep through the entire night. What you do anticipate is waking up to loud wails, moans, and general miserable vocal pleadings several times during the night. But let me tell you: after night two in his new home, Bo was ready to hunker down for the evening and give our house a greater gift than he will ever know. He slept through the night.

Granted, we take certain precautions such as avoiding feeding or watering him after 7pm, and we run him ragged, wrestling and playing with him until at least 11pm when we take him out one last time. However, even other puppies for which this is true still end up needing to go out to relieve themselves in the wee hours of the morning. And this was my expectation upon getting my furry ball of joy: delirious 3am rompings in the yard, and a lack of any sort of deep sleep for months. I assumed I was gearing up for something akin to having a newborn. But no. Bo’s bowels seem to be blessing me more than I could have imagined. It’s day 5, and the last three nights have been potty-break free- including last night, when he ended up getting four helpings of dinner at 10pm (due to some slight roommate miscommunication). I couldn’t believe it when I awoke at 7:30am. “How can this be true?” I asked myself. Life is good.

The only explanation is grace. I am receiving a gift far better than I could have ever fathomed. And it is continuing to happen, in spite of all odds. What is neat about it, is I am so grateful for the night’s sleep when I awake, that my first inclination is to get my tuchus downstairs ASAP to meet my dog with joy to take him on a bladder-relieving journey outside. I am not now, nor have I ever been a morning person. As a matter of fact, I am a widely-known snooze-abuser who will eek every last minute out of a morning to sleep in. But there is nothing that could make me happier to get up and head downstairs at an early hour than a sweet lump of fuzz who has graced me with 7-8 hours of sleep when I expected more like 3. I am responding to grace given to me!

And that is the life we get to lead as Christians, although I wish it was more true of the way I interacted with the world each day. We have been offered the greatest gift of love and full life by a God who limited and sacrificed Himself that we might approach Him and live in relationship with Him. We get to live lives of response to given love. Unconditional love. Love that’s better than even 9 hours of continuous sleep. We don’t live out of obligation to religious rules- to the Law; there is no power of duty which could get me out of the snuggly comfort of my cloud-like bed before absolutely necessary. But the gratitude which flows from an unexpected and undeserved grace can move mountains (aka my warm, comfortable, sleepy self). 1 John 4:19 says, “We love because [God] first loved us.” My prayer is that this truth would ever seep into my relationships to transform the way I love and care for people. And it’s such a treat to get to see it reflect in something as simple as a relationship with a puppy. But then, I’m convinced that Bo is no ordinary puppy…

U2's New Album - No Line On The Horizon

So U2's new album "No Line On The Horizon" is about to be unveiled, and I am feeling like it's my birthday and Christmas rolled into one. Having just read through some of the lyrics of the new tunes, it seems that Bono is continuing to be himself - uniquely, brilliantly, and shamelessly singing gospel songs that celebrate divine Love and reveal his own longing for the Kingdom to come and for God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, for there to be "no line on the horizon". There's a wonderful review of the album on my favorite blog, Mockingbird. Read and enjoy!

Learning to Pray with Bailout Bill

Are you familiar with "Bailout Bill"? According to an article entitled "The Way We Beg" from Slate magazine, "Tuesday morning, a guy named Bailout Bill set up the Bailout Booth in Times Square and started giving away money. His visitors received anywhere between $50 to $1,000—no strings attached, no taxes to be filed. All you had to do was tell Bailout Bill why you needed the money." This brief intro to Bailout Bail could lead you to believe this is yet another blog post about grace. "I get it", you might be thinking, "We come to God and he freely gives to us". But this post is much more about need than it is about grace.

For Bailout Bill turns out to be less charitable than he seems. Sadly, those who were not able to make it to the booth in time were directed to a web site in which they could post their desperate requests in a forum (please do not finish this without checking out at least a couple posts). Bailout Bill would then pick a couple of pleas a day and offer relief to the lucky ones in need. However, as noted in the article, it is actually a video-classified ad-site offering risky loans. The relief appears to be only for the sake of baiting the suffering into a pretty dark business.

At the same time, this forum has become a remarkable window into the brokenness of thousands of everyday Americans. Some posts are brief - simply asking for cash. Others provide detailed narratives of profound tragedy, including, but not limited to bouts with cancer, the loss of a job, abandonment by a spouse, or all of the above. These individuals, along with their children and extended families, need immediate relief today. In America, people are rarely willing to put their suffering on such public display. It is often something considered to be private and or shameful. We do this, though, when offered even the most remote promise of hope. This virtual bulletin board of grief seems vaguely reminiscent of the impromptu, make-shift displays after 9/11 seeking to locate missing relatives.

Like those boards, this forum reminds of us of two central realities of the human experience - the lack of control and delusion of self-sufficiency. In this time of economic crisis, we are reminded that these two concepts - perhaps the most essential tenets of American identity - are truly beyond our reach. Right now, most people will admit their inability to control the circumstances of their lives, including their health, relationships, and especially their finances. At the same time, our nation's recent woes have proven that the romanticism of self-sufficiency is more a curse than it is a blessing. Even many high-rollers on Wall Street have been challenged to consider whether self-sufficency really is the existential mirage it seems to be at this moment.

With powerful insight, the author of "The Way We Beg" articulates this much better:

"Either the visitors want Bailout Bill to know he’d be doing them a favor ("it would be a big help"), or they’re putting the onus on Bill ("please help"). Either way, it’s a reflection of the recession’s ability to strip its victims of agency. We need the help because we are helpless."

To me, these prayers to Bailout Bill sound like the most desperate of human pleas before God. In fact, most of us could learn a great deal on how to pray from this message forum. Praise be to the one that stands with us in the midst of suffering, while directing us to the only one proving sufficient.

(And if you think about it, you could certainly pray for these people and their situations - again, please visit this site to hear their stories. . . )

Am I In?

Who's in and who's out? Who's cool and who's not? We ask these questions often--sometimes in these words, sometimes more indirectly; sometimes out loud, sometimes to ourselves. At every stage of our lives past third grade, there are in crowds. It's the athletic kids in elementary school, or the ones who have hit puberty in junior high, or the popular crowd who have the parties everyone wants an invite to in high school. In college it's the ones who got into 'that' school, then it's those three or four frats or sororities, then it's the really cool or really thin or really sexy or really rich ones within those groups. Or it's a certain Christian fellowship group, and then the insiders within that crowd. After school it's the people landing the sweet jobs, or doing the 'right' kind of ministry, or getting married out of college. Truth is, in all these situations there are lots of different inner circles. And we want in, somewhere.

But sometimes these inner rings aren't merely concerned with outward appearance, ability, or achievement. Especially as we get older, we look to form these groups however we can. We look to categorize people into little boxes that we can label and dismiss with a word, and assure ourselves that ours is the right box. Oh, how easy and powerful it is to throw around classifications! 'Well, he's a Democrat, so you know...' 'She's in the drama crowd, so...' 'I went to this school...' 'They go to that church, so obviously they're...'. And we want to keep drawing that inner ring so that we can look out on 'the rest of them' with smug disapproval. We want to keep building that platform, so that we can perch atop and look down on those others who 'don't get it.' We love divisions. We love cliques. We love that feeling of being on the inside, referring to each other as 'we' and them as 'they.' We love to exclude. In fact, much of the thrill is not so much enjoying these supposed friends or whatever interest our circle concerns, but instead it's that very act of excluding others that gets us excited.

Did Jesus draw an inner circle? He had his twelve disciples, and it seems like he was really close with three of them. But what did his ministry look like? Did he go around drawing circles? Hardly. He hung out with people who didn't have an inner circle, who had been excluded by all the 'insiders' because they were ugly or poor or addicts or diseased or the wrong religion. And who did he get really mad at? The guys drawing the inner circles. The ones who wouldn't let in the losers or the kids or the drunks or the whores or the heretics. So you could say Jesus did in fact draw inner circles, but then he excluded the ones on the inside and included the ones on the outside. He said if you really want to be an insider, you can be. Have fun. The rest of these jokers are coming with me.

Dinosaurs: They're Back You Know

That's right, dinosaurs are back in style. And in this preview there appears to be some kind of link between dinosaurs and aliens! At long last. This is more than just absolutely brilliant entertainment folks; this is science. I'm not going to say they stole my theory and ran with it, but I think the evidence is pretty clear: It was either from me or the creator of Land Before Time 6. Will Ferrell, you owe one of us royalties buddy. But for now we are only left to hope that Hollywood uses this information to further this important field of study.

The Case for Spiritual Malpractice

In case you are unaware, there is an incredible religious movement growing in America - one that is bringing back a number of individuals to faith. It has become so large that it includes its own series of best-selling books, television empire, internet community, and satellite radio show. However, I'm not referring to Rick Warren or Joel Osteen. In fact, this megastar is afilliated with no particular church at all. Her name is Oprah Winfrey, and she has won an astounding number of converts in the last several years. While her message may appear alarming to many, Oprah's success is worth noting. Perhaps a closer examination will allow Christian fans of Oprah to help separate the wheat from the chaff in this faith.


First, what could Oprah be "preaching" that has captured the hearts of so many (predominately women)? In a nutshell, Oprah's journey of faith has led her away from organized "religion" and towards a broader notion of "spirituality", with many New Age tendencies. As one listens to the teachings of her spiritual confidants, the seemingly Eastern tenets become clearer. Essentially, this worldview affirms the inherent goodness of human beings. However, one somehow becomes distanced from this purer version of the self as he/she exists in the everyday world. Thus, human beings need liberation. This is achieved through practicing spiritual disciplines of meditation and reflection in order to realize our true connection with the Universe. As one guest on her show put it, we all have an inner light - like one inside a lantern. However, that glass tends to accumulate dirt, preventing the light from emanating in full. Our goal is to repeatedly wipe away the dirt in order that it may continue to shine. Faith is specifically addressed as a journey rather than adherence to any particular doctrine.

This view of the world is inviting for a number of reasons. First, it rejects the traditional understandings of religion that have failed many. To these people, Oprah's faith presents a lifestyle of pragmatism. Rather than having to serve any notion of God, people are free to focus entirely on their own desires. Furthermore, this spirituality lacks any serious historically-sensitive baggage. While Christians are continuously haunted by the Crusades, and Muslims jihadist fundamentalism, adherents to this faith have nothing to be ashamed of. They are free to focus entirely on their own spiritual journey. In addition, this faith lacks so little definition that there are no serious disagreements within its community. Instead, there is the communal emphasis upon love and tolerance. However, perhaps the most fundamental attraction to such a lifestyle is its promise of purpose and personal fullfillment. According to Oprah and her friends, we all have a reason for being. Not only do we have purpose, though, but the possibility of true spiritual self-actualization. It is finally in our hands. A fan of Oprah articulates it quite well,

"Oprah shows us that people are longing for meaning and significance in their lives. They want to know they have a reason to be, a purpose for existing. And they seek practical help in living out that purpose. In some ways, Oprah addresses our existential dilemmas."

Apparently, Oprah has helped millions wrestle with the most profound questions of the human experience. Are our own any different? When turning out your own bedroom light, have you ever not paused to consider why we are here? Has the death of a friend of a parent ever led you to wonder if there really is any meaning behind our lives? Or is it all a matter of chance? Oprah's marked authenticity and vulnerability have given her audience permission to ask questions they have always wanted to.

Perhaps the most clarifying insight into Oprah's way of thinking has been a statement she made years ago on her hit television show. In discussing her own journey to spirituality, Oprah noted her conviction that God is a feeling rather than a belief, or in religious jargon, "doctrine". While this may sound poetic, I am absolutely certain she doesn't believe it, as much as I am convinced that you don't either.

Here is why: for if God really is a feeling rather than any sort of belief, then God is less of a truth and more of a mood. This becomes a very slippery slope. As soon as truth becomes subjective, you and I lose any right to claim something is right or wrong. You may "feel" or experience rape as a bad thing, but your neighbor may "feel" it is just fine. You may feel like your marriage is fulfilling. Your spouse may not - and sleep with another person. What does truth become, then? Not a question of right and wrong, but of power - whoever has the most power determines truth. "Might is right". This is an extraordinarily dangerous concept, and has a terrible history, not least to mention the Holocaust or slavery. Ultimately, the means justifies the end. This is the serious danger behind Oprah's spiritual movement. Without any serious definition or precision, such faith becomes impotent. Ultimately, this relativism has no ability to judge the ways in which you might have been wronged (or perhaps how you have wronged others), nor does it it have any true promise of hope. It ultimately leaves us with lives bereft of hope and meaning.

Unfortunately for its followers, this lifestyle places individuals at the center of their universe. The onus is upon them to both purify themselves and desperately try to find the good in even the worst of experiences. I recently listened to one show on spirituality hosted by Oprah and her panel of spiritual authorities. As caller after caller described their own experiences of tragedy, the panel essentially asked each one to smile and put on a happy face, or in other words, "To try to listen to what the Universe is teaching you" in the midst of it. What is the Universe teaching you when lose your job? What might the Universe want to say when your health insurance refuses to cover your child's cancer treatments? What might the Universe offer to a parent whose infant died upon birth? Sadly, this form of spirituality demands its adherents to pull themselves up by the spiritual boot-straps when things get tough. One caller even confessed her repeated failures to maintain this spiritual marathon, and asked what she could do to keep running.


Fortunately, the race is over, as there is a God distinctly different from such an unmerciful, exhausting, and pantheistic existentialism. Rather than just one discipline away, this God chose to enter actual time and space that he might reveal the nature of the world. But rather than asking his followers to continually "dust off their lantern", he permitted his own child to suffer a tortuous death that we might be free from the judgment of our inability to shine. Not only a feeling, but truth Himself, this God offers the hope of a place where the true injustices of this world will be made right, and we will join him there . If you are exhausted from running the hampster wheel of this spirituality, or anything remotely related to it - if you are interested in a God that made His own arduous pilgrimage to you, you may experience it THIS day!



*Please note, while this entry is quite critical of the theological positions taken by Oprah Winfrey, I acknowledge and applaud both her humanitarian work and affirmation and valuing of women. These are two significant issues we must take more seriously in the body of Christ.

Luther & Lewis on Pleasure & Love

"...what the law (of God) demands, namely pleasure and love."

- Martin Luther

God demands pleasure? Really? Wow. This brings two thoughts to mind:

1) That we are WRONG when we outwardly obey God's commands while there is displeasure and unwillingness in our hearts. "The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." (1 Sam. 16) Jesus was not at all impressed with the discipline and obedience of Pharisees. He said, "their hearts are far from me." The purpose of God's law is something much deeper than simply to "discipline" or "improve" us outwardly. The purpose is to show us the GOOD we were meant for and then to point out the sad fact that our hearts do not want it, but have rather been deluded to seek pleasure in EVIL.

We are like ignorant children who want to go on making mud pies in a slum because we cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a vacation at the beach. (C. S. Lewis) God demands infinite pleasure and love, and somehow we have inwardly hated what he demands (even though it is exactly what we need and what we were made for!). According to the Bible, our problem is not that we do bad things sometimes, but that we want to do them all the time. And yet none of those bad things bring lasting pleasure or love. So then the law condemns our wayward hearts, and we are left desperate for a Savior, who alone can change us from the inside out.

2) That our desires are not too great but too small. (Lewis again) God is the author of everything that is good in this life, and therefore we Christians could be the sole defenders of every good and pleasurable earthly thing, rather than the smug prohibitors of pleasure that we often are. At a wedding banquet, Jesus turned water into wine. What a profound celebration of the goodness of wine and marriage amidst a world too accustomed to debauchery and perverse sexuality masquerading as "pleasure" and "love".

Here's the thing: We are, by nature, decieved about pleasure and love. We have thought the world to be their creator, and God to be their greatest enemy. Nothing could have been further from the truth. The world's "pleasure" is to drink from what you're drowning in. The world's "love" is to happily cheer you on as you drown.

But in Christ, who has fulfilled the law, we are met with a love that changes our hearts so that we find for the first time, actual pleasure in doing what is good. That's part of what we mean when we say Christ has set us free. We are reborn into a world that actually makes sense - where our hungers are met with actual food.

Gospel Break-Through

If you have ever wondered what "righteousness" God requires, if you've wondered if you will ever be good enough or worthy enough for Him, listen to these words. This is from a man named John Bunyan (author of Pilgrim's Progress) about the moment he realized that the gospel was actually good news. Maybe read it twice. If it's true, it changes everything:

Every little touch would hurt my tender conscience. But one day, as I was passing through a field, suddenly I thought of a sentence, “your righteousness is in heaven,” and with the eyes of faith, I saw Christ sitting at God’s right hand. And I suddenly realized — THERE is my righteousness. Wherever I was or whatever I was doing, God could not say, “where is your righteousness?” for it was right before him. I saw that my good frame of heart could not make my righteousness better nor a bad frame of heart make my righteousness worse, for my righteousness was Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever.

Now my chains fell off indeed! I felt delivered from slavery to guilt and fears. I went home rejoicing for the love and grace of God. Now I could look from myself to him, and I realized that all those weak character qualities in my heart were like the pennies that rich men carry in their pocket, when their gold is safe under lock and key. Christ is my treasure, my righteousness. Now Christ was my wisdom, righteousness, holiness, and salvation.

Obama & The Gospel

Completely ASIDE from the realm of political viewpoints and policy, I was recently struck by the words of a friend, R.J. Heijmen, who had noticed Obama's "obvious joy, energy, and creativity" in his first few days on the job. Here's what he points out:

Letting his girls take [the day after the inauguration] off from school after allowing them to run around the White House all night, a treat which culminated in a surprise private concert by their favorite band, the Jonas Brothers.

The party he held at the White House for 200 randomly selected supporters, whom he encouraged to "relax and look around."

The dinner he held in honor of John McCain.

The fact that he is a "struggling" smoker (give the guy a break!).

Perhaps all of this "fruit" is the result of the imputed righteousness that he has been granted by the American public in the form of 80% approval ratings. I can only hope that it lasts.

Of course, the "struggling smoker" part is not necessarily a way that he's brought joy or creativity to office, but it is one way that we're able to see Obama as an actual human being who has issues just like you or me. This leads well into RJ's final comment, in which he suggests that Obama's special kindness to his children, some random people off the street, and even his opponent(!) perhaps arose from the "imputed righteousness" of America's overwhleming approval.

"Imputed righteousness" means rightness, worthiness, beauty, goodness that is not built-in but stamped-on. It is not pre-existing on the inside, but gifted from the outside. It is the gift of unconditional love. And it is the meat of the "good news" that Paul brings to sinners in the New Testament, when he says: "But now a righteousness from God, apart from law (apart from ourselves!), has been made known..." in Romans 3. Or when he says, "You have clothed yourselves with Christ..." in Galatians 3.

Yeah, we actually believe that God sees the righteousness of Christ when he looks at us. Because Christ died in our place, we stand in His. And this not only saves us, but makes us into the kind of people he created us to be. His Love compels us.

If you have a father who is always expecting you to earn his approval, despite your best efforts, it can only be embittering. But if you have a father who loves you unconditionally (no matter how much you let him down), you will actually want to please him. His love will compel you.

Perhaps this could explain, at least partially, the impotence and failure that (most people think) marked the end of Bush's time in the White House? Maybe not. That's a complicated situation. But unconditional love is a powerful thing! And God knows he needs it now.

PIN Ministry Update

“If you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.” -Isaiah 58: 10

Ross and I would like to thank all of you for the countless donations of hats, gloves, scarves, socks, toys and toiletries that you gave to PIN ministry this Christmas. We would also like to take this time to thank any lama, sheep, alpaca, badger, or any other anonymous animal donors who so selflessly gave of their luscious fur, coats, pelts, and what have you. There was plenty of hard work and selflessness that went on behind the scenes to make this project a success - and a success it was – we made over 200 festively decorated gift bags for men, women, and children.

In the Bible we are continually reminded about the poor and afflicted and how we are to treat them – in over 300 verses actually! But why? What is it about being a Christian that leads us to serve those who have less than we do, to care for the homeless and dejected? Why does the Bible beckon us to look beyond ourselves to the needs of others? Dallas, the creator and director of PIN ministry, reminded me of the reason in one of his most recent sermons to the homeless community…

On the Sunday when we went to drop off Galilee’s donation - the 200 gift bags, each lovingly tied with a green bow and cheerful red tissue paper - Dallas spoke about why he invites outside churches like Galilee to come and do volunteer work at PIN. He said, “It’s not because we need them. I don’t need these churches to come and help – we have tons of volunteer already!”


I began to wonder what the world I was doing there. Why did I just spend so much time trying to work on these darn gifts? Why did I have poor Middle School boys make Christmas cards with markers and construction paper mostly against their will (while making faces that looked pretty similar to the kid on the right)? Why did we ask our parishioners to come every month and sacrifice three and a half hours of their Sunday evening if they don’t even need us??!! I was definitely a little offended.

And then he said it…
“I ask these churches to come and volunteer so that they can experience Christ and the joy of serving as Jesus served us! I ask them to come so that they may actually be encouraged by you (meaning the homeless men and women present) by how you love each other despite your extreme poverty. So that they will see, that though you have nothing and they have everything, the Spirit of Jesus is alive within you – and you have joy!!!!”


Of course Galilee was there to serve the homeless, but what Dallas was trying to say was that when we went to PIN, Jesus was doing something within us! By giving of ourselves we could experience the privilege of commonality with Christ. This is why Jesus calls us to serve and love the poor all throughout the Bible! This is how He loves us, as the ultimate servant. So, let us continue to experience the joy of knowing our maker more intimately - through service.