"God had formed out of the ground every wild beast and every bird of heaven. He brought them to the man to see what he would name each one, and whatever the man called each living thing was indeed its name.” -Genesis 2:19 I’m not a big fan of name calling. I raise 3 kids and coach another 50+ of them every fall, so I’m familiar with the creativity that can be used when calling someone a name (it’s not usually the good kind of creativity). In our house, for years I remember telling our kids to avoid the “you’re so…!” statements that tend to label a person as negative, rather than address a specific action. In the Kabbala, the Jewish mystical teaching that is passed down through generations, there is an understanding that the name of everything is its life-source. The Hebrew letters carry God’s power in a unique way, and when put together in different formations they give life wherever they are applied. In other words, according to Hebrew thought, something’s name, or the words they are called, directly affects what or who it actually becomes. Name calling is incredibly powerful. Maybe that’s why God renames Abram and Sarai to Abraham and Sarah when they join his family, and God renames Jacob after their wrestling match. They’ve become something new. Maybe that’s why Jesus speaks a new name to Peter as he commissions him to lead the first generation of his Church. And maybe that’s why John reveals in his vision that each faithful person will receive a new name as they enter the fullness of the kingdom (Revelation 2:17). Each represents a new start, full of life with God. Wild stuff, huh? Names are a big deal. That’s why it’s so crazy that in Genesis, the job of naming all of creation is given to a human. Seems like the sort of thing that would best be left in God’s hands, if you ask me. I’ve heard the names that we come up with when we think it’s our job. It’s not pretty, friends. Many Jewish interpretations hold that even when God formed the animals in Genesis 2:19, they weren’t given the breath of life until their names were spoken by Adam. Then life and purpose began. And taking things a step further in chapter 3, Adam names Eve, reminding us that people have been given the task of even naming one another. God’s partnership in this way… that’s a lot of responsibility. Words can destroy and maim, or words can build and heal (read James). And that power has been entrusted to you. Let’s not screw this one up. What if we looked around our world daily with a focus on name calling everything we see in both the natural world and the world of humanity? And what if our name calling is in line with the value and beauty and dignity that Jesus teaches us to model? Maybe it starts today by noticing the name badge at the cash register, and thanking Jessica for serving you. Maybe it extends to declaring the good you see in your children and coworkers. Maybe it extends to telling someone that you believe in them. To reminding someone that they are loved and valuable. To noticing the image of God in someone and then calling them that name. And maybe it means that when we see someone we are uncomfortable with, scared of, or even disgusted by… that we remember that God has given humans the task of calling things what they are in God’s world. And in God’s world, everything is created valuable. Jesus, help me give names to the overlooked, forgotten, and mundanely beautiful things and people in my life today. May my words bring your life into each one. Peace, Keith* *I'm on sabbatical, so Together For Good will be highlighting our favorite reminders from the archives. Don't worry, if I can't remember writing half of them, I'm hopeful they'll be fresh reminders to you as well!
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Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. -1 Corinthians 13:12 Every Sunday morning during our LifePath gathering, we have a few unpredictable things that we do where we never know exactly what's going to happen. One of those elements is when we speak aloud something we call Common Prayer. Throughout the morning as we sing, people walk to the back of the auditorium and write down prayers of thanks, of hope, of heartache… it can be anything. Later, they are read aloud and after each one, we all say, “Lord, hear our prayer” together. It helps us be the Church together, and reminds us that these worship gatherings are real life with real people, never a prefabricated show. I was captured by something that happened a while back. Embedded in the middle of the prayers read aloud from the front was this one: "Lord, we thank you that you fulfill our hopes and prayers…. most of the time." The prayer caught us all a little bit. There was a pause, and a few chuckles… and then we responded enthusiastically, “Lord, hear our prayer!” It was a funny moment. But it was profound at the same time. Because we all knew there was truth there. This is real life and faith, isn’t it? That simple-yet-complicated prayer exposed a challenging, wonderful, frustrating dirty little secret of ours. And that secret is this: our theology isn’t airtight. We don’t have everything figured out. There are times that we just don’t quite understand exactly how God works and what prayer does or doesn’t do. There are times that we’re not sure what is God’s will and movement, and what is just people being good or bad. There are times that the scriptures have gaps or diverse perspectives and we’re left wondering what we’re supposed to do with it all in order to be faithful. There are times where prayers are answered, and then times that other prayers that we are sure would line up with God’s heart… remain shrouded in silence and mystery. We can ignore it. Many do. We can try to explain it away with a nice little bumper sticker slogan like God answers every prayer, just not in the way we think. Or we can just lay it out there honestly. There’s something freeing in being able to rejoice in the moments that we see it and get it… and chuckle at the moments that we have no idea what is going on. Because in those moments, we can actually reach new levels of faith. First, they teach us honesty and mystery. There are times where Christians are tempted to be dishonest with God about their own feelings, doubts, or uncertainties because they think God gets upset at them for asking questions. This is not God’s posture. If God can’t handle your doubts and big questions, then God is not the loving and grace-filled Father that Jesus reveals. Secondly, when we acknowledge that hopes are unmet and prayers feel unheard… we learn what it means to see Jesus as enough. I have no doubt that the Apostle Paul prayed for freedom and open doors during his imprisonments. Sometimes that happened. At other times, like when he was in jail writing to the Philippian church, he declared that he had learned the secret to a full life, and the circumstances didn’t matter. The secret to contentment was that Jesus was enough (Phil 4:12-13). Nothing else had to be answered. That’s where the joy was. Yep, there’s mystery. Sometimes we will find answers. Other times we won’t. But something continues to draw us to the truth of Jesus, even when we don’t have everything packaged neatly. How beautiful that our hope comes from the grace of God, not our foolproof understanding of all questions in the universe. When you don’t know, it’s ok to laugh. it’s ok to be grateful. It’s ok to be unsure. Just make sure you keep telling God about it all. One day, all will be understood. Jesus, give me peace the mysteries, and joy in your presence with me today. Peace, Keith* *I'm on sabbatical, so Together For Good will be highlighting our favorite reminders from the archives. Don't worry, if I can't remember writing half of them, I'm hopeful they'll be fresh reminders to you as well! My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. -Jesus, John 10:27 Do we think that God is intentionally difficult to understand? The late Dallas Willard was a professor of philosophy at USC for most of his career. He was also one of the most influential Christian spiritual formation voices of our time, writing a number of profound books on following Jesus. He trained an entire generation of pastors toward spiritual depth (myself included). If you’ve never his work, check out his seminal book, The Divine Conspiracy. There’s a story that a young man tells about his interaction with Dallas during a ride to the airport after a conference. The young man was trying to figure out a PhD program to pursue. This decision would affect where he lived, what specific career path he would be moving in, financial implications, and more. The decision-making deadline was right upon him. He shared with Dallas the difficulty and complexity of the decision and his anxiety at a lack of guidance from God though he had prayed about it many times. Dallas listened, asked a few questions, and then gave this response: “Well, simply pray, and say: 'Lord, I do not believe that you mumble, so if you’d like to direct me, you need to do so before Friday. Otherwise, I will presume your blessing to make my own choice.'” Whoa. That sounds terrifying. God would give us the freedom to make our own choice about important things? I’ve known many Christians that approach life as if it’s a nearly impossible maze, and at every turn there is the way God wants and the way God is against, yet there’s little clarity on which is which. It suggests God’s will is one single path made of hundreds of little decisions that I could get wrong at any point and screw up forever. Therefore, there is a constant underlying anxiety that we are always about to get it wrong. Sleep well tonight, friends! I’m not talking about moral decisions here, of doing something loving vs. something selfish. We’re talking about decisions that have no clear moral implications. What if God trusts us to be seeking after Jesus and acting accordingly? Maybe much of this is less about God’s will and more about our own. I remember, as a youth pastor, having senior high students in my office who were paralyzed about which college God wanted them to attend. Have you spent some time praying for guidance? Yes. Well, do you sense that you can serve Jesus more faithfully at one school over the other? Not really. Can you imagine yourself glorifying God at both schools? I think so. Then uh…. where do you want to go the most? God’s will for us is not a needle in a haystack. God’s will is that we would trust in the way of Jesus and the rescue of Jesus, and live our lives openly, inviting others to join us in expressing God’s kingdom. That doesn’t mean we don’t prayerfully discern. The flip side is dangerous too. To act as if everything we do is obviously God’s heart for us without prayer and discernment is arrogant and foolish. But if we have been set free, and we trust that disciples of Jesus can hear his voice and guidance…. then maybe we need to stop it with the constant fear and pressure. From the beginning and through til now, God has entrusted humans to partner in God’s redemption purposes. Like Willard says in his book Hearing God, "God is not looking for people to endlessly command; God desires to form persons and a people who can bring to bear all their own redeemed creativity and will into the realization of the Reign of God on earth..." Let’s seek God for guidance about decisions and constantly move in the best direction. Let’s be patient with those decisions and not rush. Let’s involve other trusted disciples in those decisions. And when no clear path emerges, maybe it’s not because God is silent and unreachable. Maybe it’s because God is saying… I trust you. Is there a decision that you’re stuck on because you feel a lot of pressure? Maybe you need to hear God’s grace and trust. Jesus, speak to me. And when it’s not audible, form me enough so that I can express your heart in everything. Peace, Keith* *I'm on sabbatical, so Together For Good will be highlighting our favorite reminders from the archives. Don't worry, if I can't remember writing half of them, I'm hopeful they'll be fresh reminders to you as well! Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith… -Hebrews 12:2 And you should imitate me, just as I imitate Christ. -Paul (1 Cor. 11:1) Babies are kind of stupid. I mean, I love them and I think they are wonderful and cute and immeasurably valuable…. but they can’t reason well at all. Have you ever tried to have a conversation with one? They just stare at you. It’s like they don’t even know what you’re talking about. Until you smile. Then, something really interesting happens. They smile back. Why? We used to think that it was just because our joy was so contagious. And maybe it is. But now we know something else. We are all mirrors. And we have a hard-wired tendency to imitate what is in front of us. Facial expressions. Behaviors. Values. It’s called mimetic desire, and it’s how we learn most things in life (for more, study Rene Girard). So maybe those of us who are parents should stop emphatically asking: WELL IF YOUR FRIEND JUMPED OFF A BRIDGE WOULD YOU DO THAT TOO? Statistically speaking, yes. It’s likely. Something in us is hardwired to copy. We see something in front of us and it immediately becomes more real and possible. In the mid 1900’s running experts didn’t think the 4 minute mile barrier could ever be broken. It stood at 4:01 for a decade. Then Roger Banister broke it in 1954. Six weeks later, someone else brought it down another two seconds. Thirteen months after Bannister, three more runners broke four minutes- in one race. How is that possible? When we see someone do something, two things happen. 1- We believe it’s possible. 2- Something in us is drawn to copy it. We are mimetic people. Imitation is our reality (just consider TikTok dances). This is why understanding discipleship is so important. In the Hebrew world, it was about so much more than knowledge. You didn’t want to just know what your Rabbi knew. You wanted to become who your Rabbi was. Discipleship was learning the actions and the behaviors of one who knew how to walk with God. That could only happen by imitation. So when Jesus calls disciples to follow him, he does far more than talk. Over and over again he models a life that can be imitated. Jesus doesn’t simply talk about compassion. He shows it. He doesn’t just talk about prayer. He models it. He doesn’t wax eloquently about a self-giving life. He dies in front of them. It’s no surprise then, that the writer of Hebrews implores his readers: “Fix your eyes on Jesus! He is the one who is creating this faith of ours!” We need to keep the life and behaviors of Jesus in the world so that we can believe they are possible, and have a real model to work with. And, like Paul figured out, we also need living examples right in front of us so that we can see something in order to practice it. A living breathing person brings Jesus to life in a new way. We need people to imitate as they imitate Jesus. What might it look like to move toward that this week? Maybe you need to dive back into the gospels, reading them and paying close attention to the actions of Jesus. Maybe fixing your eyes daily on Jesus will remind you of what love really is. And who is in your life that you can learn Jesus from? What real models do you have around you that are worth imitating? They are deeply flawed individuals, as we all are, but maybe we need to walk a little more closely with other people walking with Jesus. And maybe, like one of those little mirror funhouse rooms, we can just encourage each other exponentially into eternity. Keep smiling at babies, even when they are terrible conversation partners. And keep your eyes on Jesus, so that you can keep believing that all of this wild “on-earth-as-it-is-in-heaven" stuff is really possible. Jesus, give me the strength to imitate you. Peace, Keith* *I'm on sabbatical, so Together For Good will be highlighting our favorite reminders from the archives. Don't worry, if I can't remember writing half of them, I'm hopeful they'll be fresh reminders to you as well! |
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