In the moment

As I sat in Caribou today praying silently the Lord's Prayer, pausing at each petition to expand on it, I found myself praying a petition that I have never before prayed. When I came to, "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven," I began praying that God's will is done in this person's life or that person's life like, "Lord, your will be done in (insert name here) life/ministry..." But then, as if the Holy Spirit was directing my words I said, "Lord, let your kingdom come and your will be done in this moment, in these seconds, in this minute, because this is all I really have." It's not the most impressive prayer of life, but my heart resonated with the truth of it. I don't need to see God work tomorrow or in an hour or in a week, I need God now. I need God right this moment even as I write these words.

Reward for patience and persistence

This morning I read the story from Luke about Zechariah (chapter 1). Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth were older adults, married for quite some time, and childless. Zechariah goes into the inner sanctuary of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem to offer incense. While there he meets the angel Gabriel who tells him that his wife will become pregnant and bear a child. To me, the miracle is not that Elizabeth would be pregnant. The miracle to me is that Zechariah kept praying for a child for a number of years. Gabriel tells Zechariah, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard." It seems that deep in Zechariah's heart was a desire to be a father. He wanted a child. This deep desire, a burning deep in Zechariah's soul, manifested itself into a prayer request, a continual request to God.

I think I would have given up. Especially as the years passed...the same request prayed for a decade with no answer from God. The body begins to age. As the years turn into a decade or two my prayer to God for a child probably would be ended. I probably would conclude that God's answer is "no" and I better get on with life and face the reality of God's negative answer. Bitter? Yes. Hopeful? Not much.

And yet, Zechariah persists in prayer and FINALLY God answers.

What have I prayed for in the past that I have given up on because of time? Who have I been praying for but seen little if no results of God's activity in their lives? Will I give up praying? What is deep inside my soul that I want, but don't think I will ever get, especially as I consider the times, age factors, and the "reality" of this situation? God is not locked into our reality. I need to remember that. With God the right time to answer prayer is the right time. Timing is everything. Am I am able to persist and be patient in prayer? Can I keep the communication lines open between me and God?

Just start writing/speaking

One of the lessons I've learned in life over the course of my brief, 34 years of existence, is that lots of life is spontaneous. Yes, we have our daily plans programmed into our palm pilots, written in our day planners, etc. But what about those random conversations with people that we run into while picking up coffee at Caribou? How about the conversations we have with our friends when we just pick up the phone, or the conversation over dinner with family and friends? We can plan to show up, but the content is rarely planned.

Living life fully is a courageous act. When we show up and don't know what to say, do we risk just letting the words come out? Have we ever just let the words tumble freely from our mouths and hearts in a moment? Or have we listened deeply to another, put aside our next "brilliant" insight or comment, to respond exactly to what the other person has said to us? Are we fully invested in the moment with another person, or are we physically present, but mentally absent? I hope that all of us courageously show up completely for each other. It seems to me such acts of courage are more often than not rare; Cell phones ring, watches beep indicating times up and time to move to the next project, we have another "important" item to get to on our plans.

I'm as guilty of this as the next person. On the best days I can be fully present for those around me, and other days I feel scattered and distracted by the crush of the "to do"s of life.

In January I'm heading to India for two weeks to work with the folks from Bible Faith Lutheran Church. Eric, my traveling companion, was telling me this morning that while we are there, we will travel from village to village to visit churches there. However, he said, the joke is that if you see someone killing a chicken while you're in the village, be prepared to stay awhile. Their going to make dinner and you're invited. It would be rude to move on because we just so "busy." While I love the conveniences of modern America and the technology we have to move into the future, I believe we sacrifice important relationship time to interact with technology or our work.

Maybe this hasn't made the most sense. I hope it has made some sense. Here's the truth, I just let the words flow on to the page. When I logged on to write today's blog I had no idea what I was going to write. I simply showed up and started writing. I'm glad I did. Thanks for reading.

Ils ne comprennent pas

Yesterday I watched The Passion of the Christ for the 2nd time, the first time since the day it opened on Ash Wednesday 2004. While I understand that Gibson made artistic and cinematic choices when making the film, the story itself impacted me again. At no time did Jesus curse, abuse, or mock those who were mocking him. Like the Gospel account, Caveziel's representation of Jesus shows him silently going to his death. There were others who came to his defense, but Jesus never defended himself. Instead, Jesus speaks those powerful words of grace as he hung from the cross, "Father forgive them for they don't know what they are doing." When squeezed and pushed, what came out of Jesus' heart was grace and a passion for God. What would come out of my heart? What would come out of our hearts?

In 1969 Brennan Manning spent time in a monastic community in France. As the seven monks were sitting around a dinner table, they talked about their employers. He writes, "The table grew animated when the German brother remarked that our wages were substandard and the Spaniard added that the hours were lousy. I noted that our employers were never seen in the parish church, and a French brother suggested that they were hypocritical. The salvos got heavier and the tone more caustic...

Brother Dominique Voillaume sat at the end of the table and never opened his mouth. I saw tears rolling down his cheeks.

"What's the matter, Dominique?" we asked.

His voice was barely audible. "Ils ne comprennent pas (They don't understand)" was all he said.

organic religion?

Recently I had a conversation with a young woman who, after discovering I am a pastor, said to me, "I don't attend church. I've gave up on organized religion long ago, like many people in my age group." She is in her early 30s. She went on to tell me about her sister and brother-in-law who don't attend church but maintain an interest in spiritual and theological matters. They listen regularly to a preacher and teacher and are telling her to listen to this guy as well.

"I'm interested," she said, "but I haven't listened yet." Her face displayed the skepticism her voice conveyed.

While this young woman may not be interested in "organized religion" is God at work in her life? Yes. As communities of faith I believe we need to understand that "organized" religion works for the already convinced and committed today, not necessarily the skeptics, Christians on the fringes of community, agnostics, and atheists. This woman's comments to me reinforce my notion that people start with an organic spirituality then move into organized religion, but they will do so only as the organization is healthy, affirming, and life giving. God is not confined to the structure of a church's system nor the walls of a building. The Spirit of God, as Jesus said, works like the wind, "The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."

Let the Spirit blow into into our lives organically producing from within us faith, hope, and love.

Rhinocrash?

What's in a name? Why is my blog called "rhinocrash?" Erwin McManus points out in his book, The Barbarian Way, that a group of Rhinos is called a "crash." A group of birds is a flock. A group of fish is a school. A group of Rhinos is a crash. Even at rest they are called a crash because of their potential. Why a crash? Rhinos run can run 3o mph at full speed, but they can only see 30 feet ahead of themselves. We don't want to be in the way of a charging Rhino!! Get the picture? They will crash into something.

McManus rightly points out that the church needs to act like a crash...as individuals and as a community. We need to boldly go full steam ahead into the future with this movement of Jesus trusting that while we can't see beyond "30 feet" God can. God will direct us so that we don't crash and fall flat on our faces. Will we fail? Sure. Failing is part of life, but we go boldly forward anyway because we go with a God who rights our wrongs, forgives our mistakes, and loves and empowers us to do God's will unconditionally.

Run with me.

All talk, no action

Yesterday my son Ethan, my wife and I ate lunch at that wonderful chicken establishment...Kentucky Fried Chicken. Ethan had on his plate, a small amount of macaroni and cheese, a half eaten biscuit, and a few pieces of chicken torn from the chicken breasts we were eating. Being 2 1/2 he nibbled on the biscuits, ate a couple of pieces of chicken, and didn't touch the mac and cheese.

Half way through lunch, Ethan turns around in his seat, hands on the back of the chair, standing (or sitting...it's kind of a halfway position...) on his knees. He then calls out to the table behind us,

Ethan: "Man. Ethan eating macaroni and cheese and bread!"

Man: "Really?"

Ethan: "Yeah."

(Pause)

Ethan: "Man! Ethan eating macaroni and cheese and bread."

This went on for probably 5 minutes. Ethan said the same thing over and over to the same man. We joined in on the litany as parents, "Ethan. Turn around, sit down, and eat your macaroni and cheese." Ethan ignored us. Over the course of those five minutes I realized the human propensity to talk big but with no action starts at age 2. Ethan SAID he was eating mac and cheese, but he didn't touch the stuff. Ethan SAID he was eating bread, but he wasn't at that moment. Now, this isn't a criticism of my son at all. He's two after all. I just realize that we all do what Ethan did; all talk, no action.

How many times in the past week have we said we'd do something but haven't followed through?
How many times have we described ourselves in a flattering way when we really aren't who we say we are? "Oh yeah, I exercise..." "I'm an athlete..." "I spend time with my kids..."
How many times have we said, as Christians, "I believe Jesus is the way for everyone..." but never engage in personal evangelism?

Me. I'm as guilty as the next guy.

What if we were known as people who were more about action, less about talk, and we could back our action up with honest sharing, not good intention.

Quiet on the set...Action!

Step into community

I really love this image from Grace Presbyterian here in Columbus. The key phrase for their congregation is "Grace changes everything." Never a truer statement has been made. Grace indeed changes lives. Hopefully, when you and I step into Christian community, we experience grace, that is unconditional love and acceptance. It is the important place to start with people...where we can step into a room of people and be at ease, as our imperfect selves. Does it mean blanket acceptance of every sin and behavior? No. It's not sloppy love. There is accountability, challenge, and encouragement. But growth begins with grace...acceptance...love.

I was talking with a friend of mine this afternoon about community. We are in an improv group together that performs regularly. We meet weekly to rehearse (rehearse improv? I thought it was all improvised...you may ask...more in another blog), and to twice a month to perform. We pointed out that really, the people in our group are friends and a tiny community, but we really don't know a whole lot about one another. We don't know each other's histories, our likes and dislikes, our birthdays, our favorite colors, where we grew up, etc...but we all consider each other good friends. How can this be? We simply showed up as ourselves, without all of the extra stuff we bring with us to impress others. We don't have the "props" of life. Improv as in life, there are no props, only actors. Life as in improv, there is only people. We've known each other for nearly 2 years, the six of us, but on a week to week basis. We simply are who we are. We show up, have fun, laugh, create, and make one another look good. It began however, when we all decided to show up, as ourselves...taking a step, an important step, into community.

Is the Christian community like this, or do we unconciously place standards on others or ourselves to "be somebody" before they are accepted?

"While we were STILL sinners, Christ died for us." Apostle Paul (Romans 5:8)