God, Line 1 is For You

I was visiting with a husband this week who came to see me with his wife.  He is from Iran and would like to be baptized.  He said his parents, who still live in Iran, have been living as Christians for 40 years.  He wants the baptism to be private, for the sake of protecting his family who might be threatened, harassed or persecuted for his profession of faith.  That led to a discussion about how relatively easy it is to be a Christian in the U.S.  There is not much in way of martyrdom going on here!  If I want to go to church, I go to church.  If I want to read my Bible at the coffee shop, I do so.  If I want to talk about my beliefs openly, I may get a few rolled eyes or silent stares, but I certainly don't run the risk of losing my life over it.  Does this mean I am not having an authentic Christian experience? Today I was reading one of my favorite theologians, Henri Nouwen.  He wrote, "Sometimes we have to dare to be fools for Christ."  And then he went on to unpack

 Sometimes I create drafts with a title and one line.  The idea is that I'm going to come back to it and write it later.  I have three posts in draft mode right now.  One is called "Oh So That's Humility?" and another "The Way that Heals You" and the third "Missing God."   All three, great, undeveloped ideas that will probably remain in my draft folder for quite some time; maybe forever. Or maybe not. Maybe I'll just take a shot at one of them here.  Why not? Oh So That's Humility? I won't lie, humility is right up there with "atonement theory" in the category of things that mystify and fascinate me.  I'm amazed by people who are naturally humble.  And they don't even think of it as being humble (because I guess if you tell yourself, "Wow I'm so humble," that wouldn't be humble).   Joel Goldsmith explained humility this way: "Humility in the sense of realizing that whatever it is we are, it is be

Several of the gospels record Jesus as weeping over Jerusalem.  In the Gospel of Matthew (Mt 23:37), Jesus said, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!  How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!"  But in Luke, Jesus lamented, "... You did not recognize the time of your visitation from God." (Lk 19:44) Matthew's charges are a little clearer; but Luke's are sad; terribly sad. I think we can all probably look in the rearview mirror and recognize moments in which we missed our visitation from God.  Some of us are too busy.  Others assume God has better things to do than engage with humanity on a personal level.  Luckily, God doesn't give up on us easily.  Always, God is determined to woo us, to draw us in.  If we could just hit the pause button on our agenda, we might just see it! Have you ever shared with someone that G

I think the way that God speaks to us is so interesting.  I believe that God has a different method for interacting with each of us, according to what represents the best way "in."  (And isn't that true in how we interact with our partners, friends and children?  Relationships are not "one size fits all.") For Jesus, the relationship with our Heavenly Father was extremely intimate.  God spoke to him in an audible voice.  And Jesus was completely obedient to the voice of God. How does God speak to you?  I ask this because for me, it has made all the difference in the world to say out loud to the Lord each day, "I want to be guided by You and I believe You are guiding me."  And for me, God's voice usually shows up in the readings that I do every morning; and also in conversations with others on a similar path in life. I won't lie or sugar coat it.  I have been in a funk for about two weeks (and it's been no secret to those around me).  My emo

 It happened again.  I read a devotional the other day that ended with, "...we must not let God down."  And I took my pen and crossed it out.  "Be gone, harmful idea!" If it were possible to take a phrase and do an autopsy on it, we would find more than the origins and use of a particular word -- the etymology.  We'd uncover the raw human emotion, anxiety, and fear behind the phrase.  And I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that this claim that we sometimes disappoint God is really  about shame and a lack of self-love. This concept of disappointing God -- who started this?  I know the Apostle Paul instructs his followers to live a life that is pleasing to God.  But the opposite -- displeasing -- is not the same as disappointing.  (And frankly I'm going to have to meditate on the idea of displeasing God.) First, I highly, highly doubt that our behaviors, choices and actions have the power to affect God's "mood" one way or the other.