Bullet Points from Sun (2/8)

Yesterday, our topic was "Enlarging Your Soul Through Grief and Loss." We looked at how Jesus engaged grief and loss by looking at the gospel passages related to the Garden of Gethsemane (see previous post).

[Also, it sounds like I generated some good dialogue through my comments on racism. Just to be clear... I believe that Anglos (white-folks) carry a cultural propensity toward racism. And that until we admit it, we can't really begin to be free from it. I'm not insisting that I am right about this, only that it is my current thinking (and has been for quite a while). My objective is to encourage people to think, pray, and dialogue. Remember, unity is not a goal, but a fruit -- the fruit of knowing, respecting, and relaeasing one another to be who God has called us to be.]

RE: Gethsemane passages -- If I were a gospel writer I might have conveniently forgotten to add this text to the narrative...

1. This text depicts an unsettled – and unsettling Jesus. In this text Jesus is a little more human than we’re comfortable with...
2. In the West, we like our heroes steely, strong, and dignified (like John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, etc.). This is not the mighty, victorious Jesus that we are used to seeing depicted.
3. Part of the mystery of Jesus is that he was both fully God and fully human. (Maximus the Confessor)
4. In the passage we see the MAN, Christ Jesus deeply struggling with the fulfillment of his calling.
5. What’s Jesus struggling with? While we can’t REALLY know the depths of his struggle – we know he was facing total abandonment by his Father in heaven, betrayal by a beloved friend, he struggled with facing the physical agony of a torturous death. And how could we possibly know what it would feel like to bear the full weight of every sin that was ever committed – and would ever be committed?? Every act of injustice, every murder, every rape, every racist act, every adulterous act, every incestuous act, every lie, every bribe – the full weight of every sin for all time was bearing down on the Man, Christ Jesus.
6. These moments in the Garden of Gethsemane become THE defining moment in the history of the world… where the Man, Christ Jesus chooses, by an act of human will – empowered by the HS, the Father’s will and desire over his own – and he fully embraces grief and loss.

What does Jesus teach us about prayer? That we should ask away -- "This is what I want…" YET MORE IMPORTANTLY, "I want to want what You want God."

How Enlargement Happens…

1. Pay attention to the interruptions.

• Avoid superficial forgiveness. Pete Scazzero make a pretty bold statement in EHC: “I do not believe it is possible to truly forgive another person from the heart until we allow ourselves to feel the pain of what was lost. People who say it is simply an act of the will, do not understand grieving” (pg 157).
• So, how do we pay attention? 1) We need to stop and feel. It may spending time in thought and prayer – or it may be journaling… 2) It would be helpful to read the journaling, poetry, and prose of the Bible writers: More than half the psalms are lament psalms, Jeremiah wrote the book of Lamentations – lamenting the destruction of Jerusalem (City of Peace), Job is about grief and loss. Notice how Jesus grieved in the gospel accounts. 3) Pay attention to our pain.
• Try not to stuff interruptions -- or medicate them.
• Take a retreat day and journal your grief and losses.

2. Aim to live in the confusing “in-between.”

• Heb 5:7 tells us that Jesus, “learned obedience from the things he suffered.” Being willing to go here will break down our self-will.
• We are invited to live with our confusion and bewilderment – and to take it to God. I spoke a few weeks ago about a three-fold cycle that Linda and I have adopted to build our marriage: romance, disillusionment, and joy…
• In EHC Scazzero quotes OT theologian Walter Brueggemann as describing the psalms in a similar way – 3 types: orientation (songs of delight in God’s blessings and goodness), disorientation (songs of hurt, suffering, and grief), and reorientation (songs of deliverance, what we would now call songs of resurrection – or transformation).
• If we’re honest, we’d have to admit that in times of disorientation we are given to either rebellion or willfulness in an attempt to escape the pain.
• It’s in these confusing, disorienting times that we have the opportunity to be discipled to Christ...

3. Allow the old to birth the new.

• A grace disguised…
• To the degree that we are willing to feel and embrace grief and loss is the degree to which we will know joy – and true compassion.
• As we deeply grieve it empties our soul of all kinds of junk. 1) It pulls stuff out of us, 2) Creates a vacancy in our lives for God, 3) A couple of weeks ago I said that prayer is, first and foremost, listening for God to tell you that you are his beloved. And that obedience is, first and foremost, building a quiet center into our lives, 4) What I am trying to say is that leaning into grief and loss and learning to live in those confusing in-between times will lay the foundation for that quiet center in our lives, and
  
• We are not to get over our losses, we are to absorb them into our being and let them take us to God – it creates unimagined joy and authentic compassion.
• Do you know what our greatest fear SHOULD BE? Hardheartedness.

This coming week: Living in Brokenness and Vulnerability (probably from Matthew 5:3ff)

Gethsemane Passages Transposed

This Sunday we will be looking at the response of Jesus to his impending death. Below you'll find the passages from all four Gospels transposed into one passage. It helps us to get a more complete picture than if we simply focused on one of the Gospels. John doesn't take the time to go into the specifics of what happened in the Garden (maybe he was embarrassed because he fell asleep :), yet his words provide an excellent introduction to the other three Gospels that describe what happened with only slight (yet helpful) variation. I used Matthew's description as the base text and added Mark and Luke's accounts to make it more descriptive.

The picture is what the Garden looks like today. The site was/is a grove of olive trees (Gethsemane literally means "oil press" - geth-semane). Apparently it was a place where Jesus and the disciples often went to pray and engage the Scriptures. Today there is a church that has been built next to the Garden (as is the case with many of the "holy" sites -- sites aren't really holy - we just say that ;). For a very cool 3-D tour of the Garden and it's relative distance from Jerusalem proper, click here.

The Garden of Gethsemane
[Jn 18:1-2-When Jesus had spoken these words, He went forth with His disciples over the ravine of the Kidron, where there was a garden, in which He entered with His disciples. Now Judas also, who was betraying Him, knew the place, for Jesus had often met there with His disciples.]

Matthew 26:36-46
36Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane [Lk 22:39as was His custom], and said to His disciples, "[ Lk 22:40-Pray that you may not enter into temptation][and] Sit here while I go over there and pray."

37And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed [Mk 14:32 (MSG)-He plunged into a sinkhole of dreadful agony]. [Lk 22:43-Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him.]

38Then He said to them, "My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me."

39And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, "My [Mk 14:36-Abba] Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will." [Lk 22:44-And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.]

40And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping [Lk 22:45-from sorrow], and said to [Mk 14:37-Simon] Peter, "So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour?

41"Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."

42He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, "My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done."

43Again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy [Mk 14:40-and they did not know what to answer Him].

44And He left them again, and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more.

45Then He came to the disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.

46"Get up, let us be going; behold, the one who betrays Me is at hand!"

And BTW -- Did Jesus really sweat drops of blood as (Dr.) Luke notes?
“And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.” --Lk 22:44 (NAS)

This was written by the physician Luke, a well-educated man and a careful observer by profession. Luke is also the only gospel writer to mention the bloody sweat, possibly because of his interest as a physician in this rare physiological phenomenon, which spoke eloquently of the intense spiritual agony Jesus was suffering… (Dr. Henry M. Morris, The Defenders Bible, marginal notes for Luke 22:44)

Although this medical condition is relatively rare, according to Dr. Frederick Zugibe (Chief Medical Examiner of Rockland County, New York) it is well-known, and there have been many cases of it. The clinical term is “hematidrosis.” “Around the sweat glands, there are multiple blood vessels in a net-like form.” Under the pressure of great stress the vessels constrict. Then as the anxiety passes “the blood vessels dilate to the point of rupture. The blood goes into the sweat glands.” As the sweat glands are producing a lot of sweat, it pushes the blood to the surface - coming out as droplets of blood mixed with sweat. (Here's a link to a medical dictionary.)

2 Most Admirable Qualities in a Leader

I thought this was interesting... The 2 Most Admirable Qualities in a Leader...

When asked what they look for and admire in a leader and in a colleague, people put:

1. Honesty
   
2. Forward-Looking
   

But the second-highest requirement of a leader -- that he or she be forward-looking -- wasn't applied to colleagues. 72% of respondents wanted leaders to be forward-looking, but only 27% looked for that trait in a colleague.

SOURCE: "To Lead, Create a Shared Vision" in Harvard Business Review, January 2009 (Excellent article, BTW)

10 Signs You're Not Ready for Change

Change is hard work. Looking at the book of Nehemiah (an example of a masterful change-agent) we see he did three initial things -- 1) he established a sense of urgency (including identifying and embracing the crises as well as "grace disguised" opportunities), 2) he created a guiding coalition (in other words he put together a group with enough influence to lead the change and sought to help them work together like a team), and 3) he developed a vision and strategy (asking, "how do we get there from here?").

Following is a list that has been percolating in me regarding the opportunities that have been placed before us to take our church to a new place. What does it take to change?

10 Signs You're Not Ready for Change

1. You believe conflict is a bad thing.
2. You are trying to avoid the criticism that comes when you fail -- and when you succeed.
3. You think the surrounding culture needs to think like you do (instead of contextualizing the gospel for them - like a missionary would).
4. your life is too fast and cluttered -- and there's no space to dream.
5. You value being right over being in right relationship.
6. You think disillusionment is a bad thing (remember, to have an illusion is to have a false idea).
7. You've stopped asking questions.
8. You think systems and strategy are the enemy of creativity (remember, we’re invited to live in the tension of Spirit AND Truth).
9. You're expecting to receive credit for your ideas.
10. You think you've already arrived.

BTW -- Clicking on the pic above will take you to kiva.org - loans that change lives...

Resource Page on the MPVCC Website

We now have a "Resource" tab in the upper right-hand corner of the church website (soon, BTW, to be updated). Check it out here. There are three documents that are worth checking out:

1. A position paper on women in leadership in churches (I'm for it, and more importantly, I think the Bible is too).
2. An article to help inform us of a biblical perspective of financial stewardship. Read, think, dialogue, pray, and commit to what you believe God and the Bible are speaking to you.
3. A graphic (pie chart) of our 2009 budget. Click the graphic to enlarge it. (The percentages in parentheses are the healthy percentages for a workable budget.)

To go directly to the "resource" page click here.

Finally, I am so pleased with all the enthusiasm and people stepping up with creative ideas, and offers to serve. It's really very impressive...

Learning to Love Well

Yesterday we spoke about our vision for 2009. (It would be good for us as a church to take some time and focus on the fundamentals this year...)

1. Our vision for this year is simple and to the point: Learning to love well. (Pete Scazzero states this as his thesis statement in the book The Emotionally Healthy Church - p. 18)
   
2. Loving authentically and honestly – and venturing below the waterline to those places that hinder true and godly intimacy in the scope of all our relationships.

I also provided a snapshot of contemplative spirituality, which we will be focusing on later in the year…

1. My (current) understanding of contemplative spirituality is that it is about building spiritual and holy rhythms into our lives (sometimes it’s called a “rule of life”).
   
2. It is also about growing a quiet center in our hearts -- where we enjoy communion with God (Did you get a chance to read the My Heart, Christ’s Home booklet by Robert Munger?).

What does communion with God mean? It means that we are creating space in our lives to be with Christ. This is where Henri Nouwen, a Dutch-born Catholic priest and writer , reminds us of an excellent perception of the fundamentals/basics...

1. Nouwen said, “To pray is to listen…” To encounter Christ is to learn how to listen. The work of prayer – or growing intimacy with Christ -- is to create that space and to learn how to listen.
2. What are we listening for? (Nouwen says it so well…) To pray is to listen to, or for, the One who calls you, my beloved -- "my beloved daughter," "my beloved son," "my beloved child." This is what Jesus heard from his Father when he came up out of the water at his baptism.
3. To pray is to let that voice speak to the center of your being, to your guts, and let that voice resound in your whole being. Who am I? I am the beloved. That's the voice Jesus heard throughout his life and his ministry.
4. If you can’t hear that voice above the tapes that are already playing in your head then seek out some prayer and help...
5. If we can hear God’s voice saying we are beloved we can deal with an enormous amount of success as well as an enormous amount of failure without losing our identity.
6. True ministry (and evangelism for that matter) starts when we operate out of the understanding that we are beloved. We claim our belovedness and use it as a response to all the voices and tapes that play in our heads.
7. When we discover our belovedness by God, we see the belovedness of other people and begin to call that forth.
8. What we are talking about is the definition of obedience… (The Church has made “obedience” a “religious” word, not a spiritual word.) The primary action of Christian obedience is for us to make room in our lives to hear God call us beloved.

Click here for an excellent article by Nouwen entitled Moving From Solitude To Community To Ministry. Thanks to all the people who are stepping up to get things done and make things happen -- you help make this fun!!

Vision Sunday

There's a story about a major corporation that launched a new brand of dog food. Through research, they developed the most sophisticated, most nutritious dog food to date and poured millions into marketing it.
But it didn't sell...
Out of frustration, the corporation gathered in a Chicago hotel. The national sales manager got up and said, "What's the problem? We have this nutritious product that is cheaper and better marketed than our competitors' product. Why is nobody buying it?"
There was a long, uncomfortable silence. Then, from the back of the room, a salesman from Atlanta drawled, "The dogs don't like it."

Sometimes vision is overrated. As this story reminds us, vision is no match for reality. Here's a great quote (I think):

"A vision from God goes beyond simply recognizing that change is healthy; it celebrates the ability and opportunity to change." (Anonymous)

The above quote speaks to our vision for 2009: A Quest for Authentic Christian Spirituality. I (prayerfully) decided not to teach on "Enlarging Our Soul Through Grief & Loss" this week. I want to spend some time dreaming about possibilities for this coming year. If you go back a couple of posts (or click here) you'll find a questionnaire related to uncovering your spiritual passion. If we take the time to think deeply about our God-breathed holy passions it will help us think through the many opportunities before us. It's still important that we manage ourselves within the tension of grief and hope (or vision). We've also had some pretty cool people step up and take on some ministry responsibilities in the last couple of weeks. I'd like to take the time to acknowledge them and pray for them. Also, families talk about finances, so I'd like a chance to give a macro overview of our 2009 budget. Finally, we'll have a chance to interact and dream out loud together. And then there's worship...

Also, soon there will be a couple of documents that will be downloadable from the website. One is a position paper regarding women in leadership. We have added two women to our preaching/teaching team, which can be a hot-button for some people. So, read the article and if you'd like to dialogue, I'd be happy to. The other is an article on financial stewardship. This is especially important, I think, in a down economy like ours -- as a nation we're being forced to re-think how we spend our money. Via con Dios...