Judas the Zealot

While reading Paul's epistle to Titus, I noticed near the end an admonition to "help Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way and see that they have everything they need." Most recently I've been wrestling with an attempt to reconcile in my mind the place of rich businessmen, lawyers, and the like within the Church. Within a Kingdom of ragamuffins I often find it difficult to find space for the rich type, but as I found Zenas was a lawyer, I began wondering what a lawyer would look like in 1st century Palestine. Is there a place for the wealthy upper-class? Does not everyone have to sell their possessions and follow Christ? A quick internet search found me a fictional letter by a fictional 1st century lawyer named Marcus written quite recently by W. W. Story. It has little connection with my reconciliatory attempt toward the upper-class, but it discusses the motives and actions of Judas Iscariot circa the time of Christ's betrayal. Was his motive pure or was he overcome by the devil? The article can by found at the Gutenberg Project, and though quite lengthy, you may find it some time for your amusement.

The Sign of God: Movement

In Africa and all other reaches of the world are people who have not yet seen what the redemptive love and power of Christ can do for them, for the world. It has become a problem so desperate that humanity is losing its purpose. The Image of God Himself, gifted us at conception, making us profound and unique to creation, is slowly being lost. It is not being taken or stolen. We, followers of Christ, lovers of all things true and good, broken and fixed, are giving it up freely. We have lost our genesis.

"Awake, you who sleep,
Arise from the dead,
And Christ will bring light to the world."

Hell is being allowed to reign on the earth. Unattended by us. People are walking around dead and we are watching.

"All the authority is Christ's (who is in us), so go and make Jesus-followers of all nations, redeeming them in the name of God, His Son, and His Spirit."

Those who claim Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life must now begin to move. We need to move in new, creative ways with a fervor not before felt by the world. We need to move together, with aim and purpose, loving God and loving our neighbor. We are a voice in the wilderness, preparing the way for Christ. We are an olive branch, bearing proof of dry land amid a world flooded by corruption. We are the Light in darkness.

Tomorrow is what they said yesterday.
Today we move.

Redemption is our calling, Love is our voice.

Bring out the Calamine

Selfishness does a good job ruining relationships. Over the past few years I've run into enough relational problems to construct, by experience, an infallible cure or 'fix' that will solve every conflict any relationship may have. Ready for it?

Be self-less.

It's actually quite simple, but when you think about, ANY conflict can be solved by sacrificial selflessness.


As I was maturing in this area (which I surely haven't stopped), my main focus was on the way my selfishness affected another person. By my selfishness I may have cause someone else to be disadvantaged. Recently, however, I've noticed how much more my selfishness affects me. When I want something for me, I am that much more unhappy when I don't get it. It works this way with friends, clothes, coffee, sports, even homework. When happiness is the result of my expectations, I will most often be let down.

Right now I have a Poison Ivy rash on my leg (mhmm...yea, it sucks). Its constant itch begs to be scratched, and every time I do scratch it, the itch feels relief. But only relief. Because eventually I'll have to stop scratching it, and as soon as I stop, the itch will crave to be scratched yet again.

And all this time I'm thinking how much more enjoyable life would be without this Poison Ivy. Without this selfishness.

Just Ask

"Never accept and be content with unanalyzed assumptions, assumptions about the work, about the people, about the church or Christianity. Never be afraid to ask questions about the work we have inherited or the work we are doing. There is no question that should not be asked or that is outlawed. The day we are completely satisfied with what we have been doing; the day we have found the perfect, unchangeable system of work, the perfect answer. never in need of being corrected again, on that day we will know that we are wrong, that we have made the greatest mistake of all." - Vincent Donovan, Roman Catholic missiologist

Why are we so afraid?

The Prayerful Love-life of a Christian

As I read an article on the Burnside Writers Collective today, I was brought back to my own emotion the day of the Virginia Tech shooting. I question whether my attitude and response to the shooting was healthy.
I must admit, my feelings toward the shootings were just less than nonchalant. I was saddened, yes, for the victim's family and friends, but that was the extent of my sympathy. Spiritually, I prayed with my roommates once and a few times alone, but the situation did not pervade my thought as I reckon it should have. Is this a result of my selfishness or immaturity?

Within the last month my prayers have had some renovations (with the help of a few authors). I have come to the realization that prayer is the overflow of our hearts to God. It sounds quite simple, I know, but many times I listen to my brothers and sisters pray while looking at a laundry list of names, praying off the requests beside them. Is this right communication? The "prayer list" seems to be an effective way to remember names so as to give the requests to God in the shortest time, but I often think it just doesn't feel real...or even personal.
True prayer is the expression of emotion to God when your mother dies... when my school bill is payed in full... when she feels love in a way she's never felt before... when a starving child receives food... when that young couple at church files for divorce... when they forgive each other and come together again.

Which is why I didn't cry for those young people's lost lives - I didn't apply myself, the way Christ did, as their neighbor. Artists don't write songs they care nothing about; they write songs which convey and express something deeply personal, something inside. In the same way, a child of God (myself in this case) cannot very well pray for something he cares nothing about. My faulty reaction toward the events at Virginia Tech was a result of misplacing myself in the global neighborhood. When Jesus said to "love your neighbor as yourself," he wasn't only referring to the guy standing next to you or me...in this case our neighbor is in Africa, in Argentina, in Virginia.

Sympathy now has new meaning in my love life.
Prayer now has new passion.


[only that I would live it]

A Hillside Heaven

Through the light, cool air I walk on the path sprinkled with twigs and crunchy leaves as though going nowhere. Times like this urge my mind to wander around thoughts that sometimes wish to be left alone, but here in the stilled quiet I find myself too consumed by my surroundings to think of them. I feel as though nature and I are one; not the way Thoreau did while writing books in the woods (I have a computer at my side), but the way each step I take is moving towards nothing. The way each unconscious breath I take is drawing beautiful nature into my being, my self. I see the light left over from the latter hours of the day bounce off the mountains, around the clouds, against the trees, and finally disappear into the great horizon getting bluer every moment. It gives me this feeling of fullness; of completeness and warmth.

I scan the path forward, then back, and not a person is around; this moment isn’t being shared with a soul. The thought brings a lonely jitter to by body, and a longing for the feeling I cannot have. I am alone on this planet. My thoughts shift to a soft ruffle amongst tree branches hanging in the sky. I meditate on this beautiful moment of loneliness and am suddenly taken back by a quick gust of chilled air. My eyes track the wind’s path back up to the sky where a rolling storm cloud is drudging its way to my hillside stay. The last of the sun’s light climbs up the peak of the cloud and quickly disappears. I turn to see twenty miles in the distance another, darker, cloud billowing into the atmosphere. In the hours to come I will watch and listen from the porch as white light flickers on the battleground in-between these enormous clouds. Particles of cold air and warm air will meet in an aggressive argument of noise that will catch my ear a few moments after my eye the flash.

But for now my feet keep moving. I spot a cement statue of sorts and sit on it for a moment to realize the view into my mind. One day, I say, I’ll hike up the yonder mountain and see the sun fall from the sky to take its rest, bedding in the cool valleys of the Appalachians. Maybe I’ll bring a tent and camp there for the night, gliding gently into a deep sleep amongst the trees. They would gently wake me as the wind catches each leaf and violently brushes one into the next. It’s nearly autumn and the leaves would make a crisp, flaky sound reminding me of childhood days when my brother and I would relentlessly work to put these same leaves into a pile that would bed us after we jumped from the branch of a tree. We laughed and fought about boyish things and lived happy and naive. For some it is a bad thing, time locking memories in the past; but for me, oh, how I’d love to revisit those times outside the vault of my mind. After lying for a while I would open my eyes, staring into the wispy, orange and yellow sky. I’d smile contemplating my small existence in such a large world. Coolness brushes my face as I hear a deafening crash. I decide to watch the show where I am.

September 19, 2006

Holy Crap - Literally

I've noticed there is a great pressure in childhood to do great things. Throughout my early life I was taught by my parents what was required to be successful, and this was only reiterated by children television shows and Sunday school teachers who let me know that "anything is possible if you only believe." Whatever the goal of my ‘informal’ education, these lessons were translated by myself into life ambitions. As is the case with most young children and adolescents, growing up to fight wars and defeat the ‘bad guys’ was top priority. As time progressed and I gained a few years on my life, I went through a period when I was reading books and feeling responsible to be a greater man than the authors of the book; because, after all we are to 'stand on the shoulders of giants'.

Martin Luther is in the history books. Whole class periods are devoted to the discussion of this man and what he did for Christianity. This may sound arrogant and egotistical, but I want to be another Martin Luther. If I’m right, others will agree with me on this. We want to be Mark Driscoll, John Piper, Jonathan Edwards, and Rob Bell (some may disagree on the latter). We see such a need in the Church, in the world, and we want to fix it. This drive to do great things isn't so terrible - in fact a Christian's passion for fixing the broken and restoring the damned is probably out of a love for God and a desire to follow the path of Jesus. Anything wrong with this? - Probably not, but does the Church have the need or even the room for another Martin Luther?

Just recently I was studying a few timelines. During the early years of college timelines are important because they fit together the small bits of information that teachers throw at me. Nothing makes sense unless my mind puts Alexander before Caesar before Christ. As I put together a few timelines to study I made an interesting observation. 2500 years ago there was Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Then there was Augustine, Hus, Luther, Descartes, and a sudden explosion. By explosion I mean numerous people began thinking for themselves. No longer were thinkers and philosophers the sole drivers of society, but society began to think for itself. Individuals had ideas, and some of them were different than their neighbor's ideas. A quick glance at any timeline with show a flood of people stepping onto the scene after the 17th century, and I believe it's because power in the individual is being given away.

I believe we are stepping onto the beginnings of a new movement. The power of the individual is being dispensed to the group of individuals. No longer do the Martin Luthers of today carry as much weight as before - society won't have it.

If you are reading these words, you are a part of this movement as well. This is why blogging has taken off in recent years - individuals have pulled the power off of the Martin Luthers and desire now to give their own piece of mind. And not only that, but we care about other people's ideas as well. There is power in within a group of individuals. Why are you reading this blog? If you’re like me you have a list of blogs you check up on twice a day. Because there's some truth in what everybody says…….writes..........thinks.

This means no more standing back and letting the guy up front take the lead, no more pushing your responsibilities onto the Christian.

Which reminds me of something I heard a while back. Jesus commands us to be “salt in the world”. The most common sermons I hear regarding this passage explain that we need to be flavorful Christians – we are here to add ‘flavor’ to the world in order that we might save the lost. Around the time of Christ, Palestinian salt was commonly harvested from the Dead Sea. The salt would then be sold to farmers who would use it as fertilizer for their fields. This ‘salt’ Jesus is referring to suddenly takes on a different flavor in his parable – we are to ‘fertilize’ the soul. Alright, I can do that. I can make the soil more suitable for plants. But it goes even further, because the farmers didn’t simply throw salt over their crop. They would shovel up cattle manure and put it in a huge pile; the farmers would then throw the salt over the manure and mix it in. The manure and the salt created a chemical reaction turning the manure into even better fertilizer. So, wait, what exactly was Jesus commanding us to do?

Did Jesus tell us to jump into cow dung???

So I've realized there is not a huge need to get my name in the history books. My work and my ministry goals are much more of a group work now. I need to take action, to work, to jump into the cow dung - only when we realize this will our movement actually move.