the real world

For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
-Romans 14:17

Hello, friends! This week I am emerging from my rest and renewal sabbatical over the last 3 months. I find myself joyful and refreshed, and ready to re-engage in my pastoral work once again. (Sorry for all those R-words. Pastoral alliteration doesn't just magically vanish after a sabbatical.) 

My time away was necessary, and it included many diverse experiences. I traveled, rested, prayed, read books, and adventured. I met Jesus again in fresh ways. I have stories to tell, and they'll emerge in the coming months through my writing and preaching. 

But even as early as mid-April, while I was sitting alone on the coast of Puerto Rico, this little thought crossed my mind. I'm going to have to go back to the real world at some point....
Since then, that thought and others similar to it have always been there. People asked me in June: Are you ready to get back to reality?  I'm sure it'll be tough to enter the real world again!

Now I'm thinking differently. Why is it that we assume that unique moments of rest and goodness are not real life? What is it in us that pushes us to exclude these from "reality?" It can do some real damage in both directions. 

Let's rethink this mentality in light of Jesus. When Jesus came, he revealed to his disciples that there was a whole reality that they had not been in touch with. In fact, he reminded them that much of what they spent their time and energy on wasn't actually the deepest reality. He flipped things. 

In moments of revelation and wonder, he showed them what was real and true in such a way (think about the transfiguration and ascension) that it changed the rest of their life's moments. Conversely, he also taught them that the kingdom was around them all the time. There was no time or place that God's good life was not accessible, if they were moving with Jesus and looking for God at work around them. This is an extraordinary reminder: even the most typical, mundane moments are dripping with grace if we are in tune with the love of God. Every moment is an opportunity to respond to God or express God's care. Going "back to reality" as we might say... does not need to be this tragic, joyless buzzkill as if God only hangs out on mountains. Remember, Jesus changed all that. 

Perhaps much of our lives are actually not spent in reality: endless worry about things we have no control over, stress about priorities that have little lasting value, constant obsession with having enough or being enough?  We may have convinced ourselves that it is, but according to Jesus, that's not real life! 

What is real life? Real life is being able to rest in the fact that Jesus is a trustworthy Lord, and we don't have to fill that role ourselves. Reality is when we are aware of God's goodness and presence enough to live in that deep truth, wherever we are and whatever we're doing.  I'm living in the real world right now in my coffee shop office. And I was living in the real world when I met Jesus among Franciscan monks on the coast of England. Both were real, because both belong to God. 

Real life is whenever we realize how real Jesus is in life. And that, my friends, can happen in the middle of a work day or as you're preparing dinner for your family. It can happen when you're having coffee or tea (maybe) in the morning as you first encounter a new day with all it's possibilities. It's whenever God's love flows in and out of you. 

My friends, let's not create a little bottle of holy moments and beautiful experiences that we seal off as "not real life." They are absolutely real, and remembering that allows them to spill out and help us see goodness and rest and grace and connection with God everywhere. 

I'm glad to be back in the real world this week. But the last season was the real world, too. Because it's all full of wonder, full of grace, and full of Jesus. So is your workplace. So is your kitchen. So is your upcoming vacation or your day off or a powerful retreat. It's all an opportunity to encounter the living God, and that's the deepest reality there is.

Jesus, open my eyes to the reality of your kingdom all around me, in big and small ways. 

Peace,
Keith

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