Merry Christmas!

"Hail Emmanuel (God with us), Prince of Peace and King of Kings! Praise the LORD for coming to earth as a baby, humble, showing His gentle Love for all who welcome Him into their hearts. The Light has come into the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it! Merry Christmas, everyone!" ~ Laura Hannesson (Facebook Status)

Christmas is a very secularized holiday.  Personally, I don't mind the majority of the secularized holiday.  I love eating great food and giving/receiving presents (I won't try to hide my selfish love of getting lots of presents to unwrap!).  Even Santa has it's/his benefits.  He stands as a symbol to the world of the generous, selfless nature of giving.  He reminds us of--allow me to be cheesy for a moment--the spirit of Christmas.  (For all you cynics out there, if you can't see the beautiful spirit of Christmas, read "A Christmas Carol" and put yourself in Scrooge's place.  Then tell me there is no spirit.)

With all this secularization, Christmas has become a lesser holiday in the Church.  Some people say that we shouldn't celebrate it and others say that it should only be acknowledged on December 25.  My question to this thought is this: Why?  Why does Christmas get so tainted by the world that we Christians are willing to diminish the incarnation of our Saviour?

This all hit me yesterday when my 94-year-old grandma prayed over our dinner.  She thanked Jesus for sacrificing for us when He came to earth.  How often do we think of the Christian Christmas this way?  Paul says:

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,even death on a cross.

~ Philippians 2:5-8

Jesus chose to give up His right to be sitting at the right hand of God the Father and came down to earth as a baby.  He put Himself in a position where He could do nothing for Himself.  The Creator of the universe is now at the mercy of His creation.   Bathing and feeding, activities in which He never previously had need to participate, now become habitual and governed by the will of His parents.  He now submits Himself to the limitations the fall has put on our bodies.

Without the incarnation, there would have been no child-Jesus teaching the Pharisees, no miraculous life of Christ, no temptation in the desert, no kangaroo-court trial, no crucifixion, no resurrection.  No salvation.  His sacrifice didn't come so late as the death of Christ, it came the moment He was born.  The moment He entered this world, emptying Himself, and becoming the least of the people.  To minimize the importance of His birth is to minimize the humility of Jesus throughout His entire life.  Every moment of His life is characterized by servant-hood.  From moment number one.

We should be celebrating Christmas all year round, just like we do Easter.  We need to remember how amazing His birth is all year round.  God considered it significant, so what right do we have to minimize it.  I'm not saying we should sing Christmas carols all year or study the Christmas story constantly (although, there should probably be more study on this subject), but I am saying that we should talk about it a little more and consider it with more reverence.  It is, after all, a Holy day we are remembering and we should treat it as such.

The gifts, feast, and traditions of secular Christmas are so much more wonderful when we remember Christmas with this reverence.  The freedom we have with Christ allows us to experience joy like never before.  We can give presents, eat tons of food, and participate in traditions with joy because our Saviour became human for us.  This celebration of life would be so empty if Jesus never came to earth.

Why not participate in this tradition?   Why not enjoy every moment of it?  After all, life after death is going to characterized by the purest celebration of life possible.  Why can't we start now?

My excuse? I'm dating God

I recently read a Facebook status of a friend of mine inquiring about the positive aspect of being single.  I am, I believe, very well versed in this topic as I have gone my entire life being single and have no "prospects" (so to speak) at the moment.  My grandmother stopped asking me if there were any "special friends" in my life (imagine a 93 year-old woman asking this) a few years ago and friends have stopped assuming anything about my relationship status other than single.  But, for me, I would never say I'm dating God or wanting to focus on Him instead of a relationship.

Disclaimer: Before you read on or get angry and close my blog, please understand that I have no problem whatsoever with someone "dating" God or saying that they want to focus on Him and not a human relationship.  In fact, I have advised many people to adopt this mindset.  A lot of people become dating/relationship addicts and need to feel what a close relationship with God is like.  If they "date" God they can treat their relationship with Him like they do a relationship with someone of the opposite gender.  Or, if someone has just got out of a relationship, it's usually best to take time away from dating and really focus healing from the relationship before jumping back into the dating pool.

But not everyone falls under these categories and most of us who are single just lament the fact that we are single.  And, let's face it, singleness is not usually painted in a favorable light.  People who are single are portrayed as either (A) on the look-out for the next great guy/girl/man/woman or (B) bitter and career-focused, not willing to compromise on anything and really, deep down, unhappy with life.  Yet I can guarantee you that, out of everyone who reads this blog, they will not all fall in these two descriptions.

I don't fall under either of these descriptions.  Yes, I'm focused on my career, but not so much that people take the back seat.  Actually, I've chosen a job that encourages me to make sure people are prioritized.  And I'm not on the lookout for the next great man.  Sure, I keep my eyes open, but I don't think "Could this be the one?" every time I meet a random guy.  That's absurd!  Not to mention draining and terrible for friendships.  And, if pop culture and "He's Just Not That Into You" has taught me anything, it's that the guy will make it happen and I just need to chill out.  (My only thought on this is to the gentlemen: Make it happen if you want something to happen.  Thanks.)

Now, as a happily single person, I think there are a lot of positive things about being single.  YET, if I truly love whoever I'm dating (and, yes, this is probably later in the relationship), these positives will pale in comparison to everything positive about being in a relationship.  But for now I choose to focus on the great freedom in my life to do whatever I want whenever I want at no inconvenience or disrespect to others.  All the other "positive" stuff really is just using singleness as an excuse to treat our bodies as less then temples (see 1 Corinthians 6:19).

The positive that most Christians raise is that, while single, we are able to really focus our heart, soul, and mind on God and obey His will.  This, I am happy to say, is false.  In actuality, it is based on the misinterpretation and mis-contextualization of Scripture.  Most people direct us to 1 Corinthians 7 where Paul instructs the people of Corinth in the ways of marriage and non-marriage.

Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: "It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman." But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband....

Now as a concession, not a command, I say this. I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another. 

To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am. But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

~ 1 Corinthians 7:1-3; 6-9

In an initial reading of this passage, it seems that Paul is instructing people to marry only if they can't control themselves.  But we have to understand who was reading the letter.

The city of Corinth was a central hub of their world.  Almost every person had a reason to go to Corinth at some point in their life, weather it be for tourism or for work as it was one of the main ports between the Saronic Gulf and Corinthian Gulf.  It's kind of on the same level as Paris, New York, and L.A. today.  This brought people with varying traditions and lifestyles to the city.  Corinth also had the temple of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, which housed over 1,000 cult prostitutes who sold themselves in the name of religion.  The people in the Corinthian church had lived in this culture for years before hearing the Gospel and dedicating their life to Jesus.

The new Christians had also been under intense persecution from the Jewish people.  Those who converted from Judaism had to deal with old friends and maybe even family members disowning them and/or publicly ridiculing them.  They were even banned from the synagogue, a place of worship and rest. The Gentile Christians were despised and rejected along with their fellow Jewish-Christian brothers and sister, but were also dealing with the temptations of their former life.  With all the convenience of sin at their finger tips, they were tortured with temptations by just walking down the street and probably also by their friends and family.

Also, with the wide variety of backgrounds represented in the Church, there were bound to be disagreements on the interpretation of Scripture.  Paul addresses this throughout the letter, speaking to everyone at one point or another in the letter.  One of the biggest subjects was that of sexual immorality.

Now understanding this brief background of the people of Corinth, re-read the above excerpt from 1 Corinthians 7 (or read the whole chapter).

Whenever someone lives in a lifestyle of sin for a long time, it is usually advisable for that person to completely avoid that act, whether or not the act in-and-of-itself is sinful.  For instance, an alcoholic should not even tempt themselves by walking into a liquor store or serving alcoholic beverages to anyone.  To the best of their ability, their life should remain dry.  It's not that drinking alcohol is necessarily wrong.  The addiction to and abuse of the substance is wrong.  Paul is advising these people in a similar manner: if possible, the sex addicts should refrain from sex unless they cannot gain control.  In this case, they should definitely get married so as not to sin.

Now, Paul does not say here (or anywhere, for that matter) that marriage is bad.  He is saying that, because of their social situation, they should avoid marriage because it will give them more trouble than good.  Marriage is not just something to keep people from sinning.  God created the partnership between a man and a woman because it was not good for man to be alone (Genesis 2:18).  At this moment, God created marriage.  And, since God's solution to the problem of man's loneliness was marriage,  then marriage is good.  We must also remember that God created this sacrament before sin had entered the world.  Marriage was uncontaminated and perfect.  God did not create it to keep Adam from sinning, but to make his life good.

When Paul says that he has been blessed with the gift of celibacy (a rare gift of control over sexual urgings) and wants others to have the same, he is merely saying that he wishes more people were blessed with this gift.  Considering the social environment in which the people reading this letter were immersed, it make sense that it would boost the church if more people weren't even tempted by the prominent sin.  But unfortunately that was not the case. Paul is not saying that it is wrong for them not to be blessed with that gift, but is merely wishing for something.

Saying that marriage is a sin and that the gift of celibacy is necessary for all Christians is the same as saying that all people should have the gift of preaching or leadership.  Paul clearly had those, but he never says that everyone should be a preacher or leader.  In fact, Paul recognizes the beauty found in the diversity in the church.  Later in 1 Corinthians, Paul describes the church as a body and highlights the effectiveness of the many parts.  He says:

For the body does not consist of one member but of many...If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing?  If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?  But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them as He chose.  If all were a single member, where would the body be?  As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. (1 Corinthians 12:14, 17-20; emphasis added)

If this is not a public declaration of the need of varied gifts, I don't know what is.  He concludes this thought reminding the church that, no matter what, every gift needs to be seasoned with love.  Gifts are nothing without love, whether it be celibacy or not.

Just one more point and I will be done.

For those who believe that we can focus more on God while single than while we're in a relationship, wake up.  We are supposed to make everything in our life be about loving God and serving Him better.  By participating in marriage we are doing something that should reveal to us something more about God.  He has left His fingerprints all over creation (Romans 1:20).  Therefore, His fingerprints are on marriage.  If someone you are dating distracts you from God, then you shouldn't be with them.  Any relationship, whether romantic or not, should direct our attention to God, not take our focus away.

That's what I have to say on the subject.  Any thoughts?

Forgiveness

Without being forgiven, released from the consequences of what we have done, our capacity to act would, as it were, be confined to a single deed from which we could never recover; we would remain the victims of its consequences forever, not unlike the sorcerer’s apprentice, who lacked the magic formula to break the spell.
(Hannah Arendt)

If one by one we counted people out
For the least sin, it wouldn't take us long
To get so we had no one left to live with.
For to be social is to be forgiving.
(Robert Frost)

The concept of forgiveness frustrates me.  Not the actual act of forgiveness nor receiving forgiveness, but lifestyle required by the choice of forgiveness.  It's not as easy as the first act of forgiveness feels, and some say the first step is the hardest.  And, if I'm really being honest, I guess I'm not frustrated with the lifestyle as much as I'm frustrated with the fact that it's a daily choice I'm so tempted not to make.
After years and years of anger, pain, and some healing, I was--for probably the millionth time--challenged to forgive someone who had caused the majority of pain in my life.  It started as an intellectual choice which I made after struggling with my pain.  I knew that it was getting in the way of my relationship with Jesus and He was calling me to do it at that moment.  So I told Him that I forgave this person.  And then a weight was lifted and my heart felt lighter.  I didn't even realize it was heavy.

For the first time I realized that I was holding this person responsible for the sins that even God wouldn't.  I held on to my anger because it made me feel justified in my pain, but this act unwittingly slapped the sacrificial act of Jesus in the face.  His death covered all sins.  All of them.  My sins; the world's sins; the sins of the past and the future; my sins that hurt others; others' sins that hurt me.  They are all covered.

But Jesus doesn't just tell us to forgive others over and over and over again, He tells Peter this in Matthew 18:22 with a sense of finality and closure.  The Greek word for "said" or "answered" originally comes from the statement "I lay down to rest" and become the word that held the connotation of laying an argument to rest. (www.biblos.com)  Jesus pulls out His authority on this one with a gentle statement similar to a parent's "We aren't having this conversation again.  This is final."

Jesus follows this with the story about the king and the servant.  The servant (me) begs the kind (God) for more time to pay off his debt (sin).  The king graciously forgave the debt completely and sent the servant on his way. The servant then held another man responsible for a debt owed the servant and put the man in prison until he could pay the debt.  When the king heard this, he threw the servant in jail until he could pay the debt. (Matthew 18:21-35)

Then Jesus says: 

So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart. (Matthew 18:35)

Oof.  That's one to the gut.

The Greek word for heart here is kardiōn which refers to "our 'desire-decisions' that establish who we really are." (www.biblos.com)  We must forgive from the deepest part of our being.  Sorry, moms and dads of the world, but all those apologies you forced us to make when we were children, they weren't apologies.  We knew it then, but it carries so much more weight for us now that we know it doesn't count.

But why can't it stick the first time?  I know that we are sinful and the heart is desperately wicked, but the struggle between my love for God and my love for self seems so real when the idea of forgiveness presents itself.  It seems like all the triumphs (e.g. the act of forgiveness) is only momentary.

Forgiveness is not just a daily choice, it's an hourly--sometimes minute-by-minute--choice.  And we have no excuse of being too tired or drained from the pain.  If God can do it every single moment with trillions of people, then I should be able to do it with the few people in my life.  We are made in His image after all.
I guess it's just so darn annoying that it's so hard and constant.  I know it's like every other habit and you have to do it over and over again until you finally get it, but this one comes with so much more weight.  It comes with wading through the pain and seeing it for what it really is (our fallen humanity).  Yet it also comes with so much more freedom than any other habit can.  We are released not only from anger and pain, but from our own insecurities which prevent us from trusting Jesus to heal the wounds.

I guess it all comes to down to who you trust more: yourself or Jesus.

Time to take a break...right?

There is a time for everything.  If you have any question about it, read Ecclesiastes.  But should everything have our time?

Being raised by a pastor I learned quickly that people needed to take a break from ministry.  Sabbaticals are expected and positions at well-off churches have sabbaticals mandated in the contract. But I have always felt that this language was strange.  Yes, Jesus took breaks, but they were short.  He took naps and got away, but He never took months away from His God-ordained ministry.

Just after my most recent burnout, I was faced with the question: How much time is enough?  People kept asking me when I would be back, and I couldn't give them a timeline.  In fact, I was instructed to put no timeline on my "recovery".  But then I went to another church, heard of all the ministries they had going, and saw what an impact I could have.  I have talents that the church could use!  Shouldn't I serve?

Thus began a struggle within myself: to serve or to be served?  And are these two mutually exclusive?  Is there no balance between the two actions?

And, yes, these are both actions.  Most people understand that serving is an action, but I feel that being served takes action from the recipient as well.  We must actively accept the service.  We must allow our hearts to be touched, soften, healed.  If we do not allow these to happen, we will not truly be served.  In a world of doing, it takes a lot of activity to take a breath; to allow the service to heal our poor soul.

Because, when it comes down to it, burnout is really our souls being so drained of resources that we are no longer able to be a resource for others.  Every request for help or advice becomes an aggravation rather than an opportunity.  We stop seeing God in the little moments and only see the amount of energy needed to get to the other side.  Our soul is poor.

And instead of using this moment to feel God's Kingdom in our lives, we see it as a time to retreat from ministry and take a break.  But Jesus tells us, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:3)  This statement is in the present tense meaning the poor in spirit can experience the Kingdom now.  Not in the future.  Not when we are "recovered".  Now.  And because Jesus makes it clear that the Kingdom is at hand, we can assume that the poor in spirit experience the Kingdom in a way others cannot.  Or maybe in a way they do not.

We are always taught that when we are the weakest, that is when we can experience the strength of God the most acutely, but then we use our times of weakness as an excuse to "take time off."

And it always sounds so darn spiritual.  "After much prayer and guidance, I have realized that it is time for me to take a short sabbatical.  God is calling me to prioritize my relationship with Him.  I will be taking time off for study and prayer and will come back ready to once again be on the front lines of ministry, able to lead you all once more into battle."  Instead of allowing people to see the God we experience when we are weak, we claim a need for privacy and shut the world out.  Instead of allowing God to show us a different perspective of the world, we shield ourselves from the "harsh world."

Poor in spirit has been equivocated with incompetence.  We no longer have the ability to "do ministry".

But poverty, whether in spirit or in money, is not--and has never been--a Biblical excuse to stop doing ministry.  The only reason to stop doing ministry is if one is living in a lifestyle of sin and therefore is no longer an accurate guide to follow.  In fact, poverty has inspired the church to great things in the past.  God blesses those who express their devotion to Him  despite their poverty and sometimes because of their poverty.

In 2 Corinthians 8:1-5, Paul tells us of the churches in Macedonia who give out of poverty:

We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches in Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.  For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own free will, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints---and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.

They gave from their joy and poverty.  Their poorness contributed to their giving and can even be seen as a catalyst for the extent of their giving.  They pushed themselves beyond limitation out of their poverty and joy.

The definition of joy here comes from the Greek word charas which properly means "the awareness (of God's) grace, favor" (www.biblos.com).  Thus, out of their extreme poverty and based on their abundant awareness of God's grace and favor in their lives, they gave, first to God and then by God.  And God blessed them with more and more grace in the midst of their trials because of their generosity.

So what does this mean?  We should be giving of ourselves out of our current situation, whatever that may be, while being totally and completely aware of God's presence in our life.  It doesn't matter what our external situation may be.  What matters is where our heart is at.  Are we seeking after God and searching for His presence in our life whatever the circumstance?  Or are we using our current situation as an excuse to stop giving?  Are we allowing God to be bigger than our situation?  Or have we decided that we have to make changes so that we can be more effective, forgetting that God is the one who works in us?

One Talent

"For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, 'Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.' His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.' And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, 'Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.' His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.' He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, 'Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.' But his master answered him, 'You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'" [Matthew 25:14-30, ESV]

How often have you heard this parable?  I've probably heard it more times than almost any other parable.  In fact, until recently, the story bored me.  The conclusion is always the same: God has given you talents.  Use them or lose them.  The person with more talents is blessed more than the person with only one talent.  If you only have one talent, you aren't going to be wise with it and you'll end up losing it and then cast into a very unhappy place.  Pray that you get more talents.  Work hard for more.  You don't have enough with just one.

But this bitter look at this parable is based on a workaholic philosophy.  We are told throughout our lives that since we are so good at so many things we need to find a job that uses them all.  Sometimes this motivates someone to greatness, but it can also paralyze someone.  How is it humanly possible to use all our talents in one occupation?  And what if we aren't as good at something as people think?  What if, in reality, we are just good at making ourselves appear good at everything?

All of this stems from the idea that one talent is worth very little and that we give worth to a talent by using it in conjunction with all our other talents.  To put it bluntly, this is a lie.  In Jesus' time, a talent is worth approximately 75 pounds and is usually used in reference to gold.  As soon as I read this in the footnotes of my Bible I realized that something was missing from the interpretation of this talent parable.  75 pounds of gold is a big deal!  If someone gave you 75 pounds of gold today, you would have $1,892,010.36 worth of gold in your possession!  And this isn't even considering inflation.  One talent is worth almost 2 million dollars.  Think of what you could do with this money!

You could buy:

• 8 brand new Ferrari 458 Italia (with money left over)
• 7 brand new Lamborghini Gallardo LP 570-4 Performante 2-door Spyder Convertible (with money left over)
• 1,261 of the most expensive Jimmy Choo shoes (with money left over)

You could also put only $1,000,000 of the money into a savings account with only 1% interest and gain an extra $120,000 per year.

This puts an entirely new spin on what the master says to the servant with 1 talent.  Had the servant put all the money into a bank, he could have yielded $227,041.24.  Sure, he wouldn't have doubled it like the other two servants, but that's still a pretty good pay for just leaving the money alone in a bank.

But this servant put more effort into hiding the money than he would have if he did nothing with it.

Think of all the worry that would plague this servant any time someone went near the place the 75 pounds of gold was buried.  He would have to keep watch over that specific spot every day to make sure no one accidentally became $1,892,010.36 richer.  I can imagine him barely sleeping and then jumping up as soon as the sun peaks over the horizon to check the spot.  Running to the spot every time he had a break from his servant duties.  Spending every ounce of free time guarding this spot.  And Jesus tells us that the master was gone for a long time (verse 19).  We can't know how long, but we can assume it was more than a couple years.  This servant put so much effort into keeping the talent "safe" that he probably became a complete mess, probably even unable to perform his normal duties as a servant.

So what should this new understanding do with our interpretation of the story?  First of all we need to understand that whatever talent we have (even if it's looking like we can do something when we really can't) is of high value.  Any talent of gold is worth more than the average person makes in a year.  Your talent is at least worth your acknowledgement.  And, trust me when I say this, you will have to work extremely hard to hide your talent.  Are you willing to put your energy into hiding something of such great worth?  Or are you willing to acknowledge your talent and receive the fruits of God's blessing?

The second thing we need understand is that what you do with your talents--no matter how many you have--is what matters.  Once you make over $1 million and have made the proper investments, it doesn't matter how much you have.  A billionaire can invest their money in the wrong thing and then lose everything they have.  If you put your energy and talents into the wrong activity, you will eventually burn out and may lose your talent for something.  Burn out happens to everyone who doesn't consider the entirety of an activity or doesn't listen to or seek the advice of those wiser than them.  I have spoken with many talented people who speak of the days they "used to be able" to do something, but now no longer have the talent because they got burned.  Mr. 5-Talent in the parable could have invested in the wrong things and lost a couple talents rather than gained 5 more.  But he didn't let his fear control and was wise with his trading.

Once again we are confronted with the normal question placed at the end of a sermon on this parable, but this time we understand that we are blessed beyond belief with our one talent (or more).  So, what are you going to do with your talent?