Beauty for Ashes

My family and I always enjoy interactive museum exhibits. We love hands on activities involving building things, playing with magnets, and even touching animals of all kinds. Such displays make for great opportunities for learning. Once, while exploring a museum in Washington DC, we came across just such a display for hands on learning. The display highlighted American inventions, and one of the things highlighted was synthetic rope verses it's predecessor steal cable. The interactive learning experience showed how the lightweight rope was not only lighter and more pliable than steal, but it was also safer, stronger, and more durable. Steal cable is strong, no doubt, but it is susceptible to developing rust and kinks that weaken the structure, and when it snaps, it is quite dangerous and potentially destructive to anyone or anything that might be nearby.

Have you ever met anyone whose faith is like that steal cable? Their faith appears strong, rigid, and unshakable. They never bend or waiver in what they believe. There is a problem with faith like that. It doesn't stand up to the wear and tear it comes against. Often this type of faith is the kind that has to have an answer for everything. if something bad happens, there must be a reason for it, someone's sin must be to blame. This is the kind of faith the Pharisees had in Jesus' day. There was no room in their faith for someone to say, "You have heard it said...but I say to you..." When they brought a man born blind before Jesus, they asked, "Whose sin is to blame for this?" They had no room in their system of belief for suffering without sin. Faith that appears rigid and unshakable is sometimes so weakened by the kinks and rust that all it takes is one good wind for it to snap, and when it does, it is not easily repaired.

The stronger faith is the one that is more flexible. Like the newer skyscrapers that are built in areas of the world where earthquakes are common, it will sway, but not collapse easily. It is a faith that can allow for difficult things to happen, even when there is no good explanation of why. It is a faith that is okay with the answer, "I don't know, but I still trust in God." Casting Crowns is one of my favorite groups, and they have a song entitled, "Love Them Like Jesus." The song tells the stories of people who find themselves in situations that could be devastating to a person's faith. One of my favorite lines in the song says this, "You don't need the answers to all of life's questions, just show that you love them and stand by their side. Love them like Jesus."

How strong is your faith? Is it strong enough to endure the loss of a loved one? Is it strong enough to not be broken even when your prayers aren't answered the way you want? Is it strong enough to obey God, even when your friends and family question your decisions? Can it absorb the impact of a life-changing 7.0 earthquake, or would it crumble into rubble with a quake half as strong? Do you always have to have an answer? I encourage you during this season of Lent to reflect on the things that could shake our faith. Reflect on the things for which we may not have an answer, and remember that we do not have to explain why the ashes were created. Sometimes we just need to go to the tomb to weep, like Mary and the other women, without hope, without understanding why, only to get there and discover that God has turned the ashes into something beautiful.

The Human Connection

My family and I went to dinner a few nights ago and we were disturbed by something that seems to be becoming a trend in American families. It was like a scene from a bad science fiction movie. You know those movies where the aliens plant some device into the culture that gradually eats away at the higher reasoning of the people, in an effort to take over the world and enslave all humanity...Well, maybe it isn't quite that bad, but sometimes is feels that way.

The restaurant was crowded, being the weekend before Valentine's Day, and like many other parties, we had to wait for a table. As we were waiting, we began to notice others around us. One family in particular caught our attention. It was a family of three, a mom, dad, and son, who were seated on the bench near the door of the restaurant. The reason this family caught our attention was because, unlike the other parties waiting who were noisily chatting away, this family was quiet. They were not talking to each other or to anyone else. The son was on his personal tablet, playing video games, lost In his own world. Mom and dad were no better, lost in their own smart phone worlds, paying no attention to one another.

This prompted me to look around some more. The party sitting on the other side of me were talking together, while at the same time having their eyes glued to the screen of their own mobile devices. I even noticed a couple, clearly on a date sitting alone at a nearby booth, who appeared to be texting rather than talking to the person across the table.

Now I will grant you, I am guilty as well. I occasionally find myself more focused on a screen than another person. In many ways these mobile devices are meant to connect us. They allow us to stay in contact 24 hours a day. Facebook and Twitter even allow us to find and reconnect with old friends who we had long ago lost touch with. However, I am finding myself more and more wondering if the value of such things outweighs the cost.

If the price we are paying is face to face conversation, the smiles and giggles of our children, and the joy, peace, and comfort that can come from actually looking into the eyes of the one we love, is it worth it? I am not saying, or evening implying that we should give up technology all together, but maybe we should think before we mindlessly answer a text or check our Facebook page during dinner. Maybe we need to start being intentional about operating, or even turning off our mobile devices instead of letting them run our lives every minute of every day.

Obeying God, Not Man

As a lifelong Southern Baptist, I was taught certain principles. For example, I was taught unapologetically that faith in Jesus is the only sure way to heaven. I was taught that every believer is responsible to share the love of God with the entire world. I was taught that as a Baptist I was to have a great deal of reverence for the Bible as the inspired Word of God. I was also taught about the priesthood of the believer, a doctrine that says each believer has opportunity to go directly to God for help, has the responsibility of reading, studying, and interpreting scripture, and is commanded to serve in the church and world in the way that God has called and gifted them to do so. I cherish many of the things that Southern Baptists have taught me, and I especially have embraced the passion for missions that is such a rich part of my Southern Baptist heritage.

Unfortunately as a Southern Baptist, I was also taught things that always troubled me because they did not seem to fit with the doctrine of the priesthood of the believer. I hold a very high view of the Bible, but I believe that God used the personalities and experience of the writers, allowing them to choose words that would speak to the people in their own context. However, if my understanding or interpretation of a particlar passage differs from the pastor or Sunday school teacher, or curriculum does that make it misguided and incorrect? Does God's inspiration only apply to the writer of scripture, and not to the reader also? Understanding how only certain people's interpretation of scripture could be correct has been one of my struggles for I find that there is no ONE  way to understand all scripture passages. Instead, I think God speaks through scripture in multiple ways, and the tension and diversity of scripture has power.

When we select only certain stories to be read and leave out other stories or aspects of stories, we are specifically promoting a particular view point. Selective reading does make it easy to create a "biblical" argument for just about anything. For example, a Bible study on the early life of Jesus from Luke's gospel that highlights Simeon and Zacharias but overlooks Anna and Elizabeth makes a statement to girls that their role is unimportant. I find that troubling.

The Bible has been used in this way in many churches, teaching girls that, though they are equal in salvation, they are not equal in the church. Just because I was born female, I could not be called by God in certain tasks. I am not seeking to argue a biblical case even, though I know some of you will want to engage me in such a debate. I could give scripture after scripture and example after example from the Bible to support my beliefs,  and many of you could do the same, but I do not want to debate. Instead, I want to share a personal struggle, and how I have come to terms with it.

For much of my life as a Christian, I have been caught between the person that my imbedded theology told me to be and the person I believe God called me to be. My Southern Baptist heritage has told me that my goal in life should be to glorify God as a wife and mother. I could work with children, sing in the choir, and make a divine casserole dish for homecoming supper. Maybe, once in a while, I could pray in church, or sing a solo. When I showed promise as a writer and better than average skills at studying the Bible, I could be encouraged to write a study for women or lead a youth Sunday School class. Certain things, however, I was not allowed to even consider, including preaching or teaching a mixed group of adults. I most especially should never aspire to be ordained. For years I tried to fit in to this mold. I suffered from severe depression in part because I never experienced peace. I never felt satisfied with the roles I was given.I never found contentment but instead was miserable. So I begged God to help me love my life.

Over the years, I also felt that God had called me and gifted me for something more than what I was allowed to do. As much as I tried to fight it, I knew I wanted to preach. As difficult and nervous as it was for me to speak in public, the Holy Spirit inside me compelled me to want to teach, and much like Jeremiah I felt the Word of God as a fire in my bones. The harder I tried to hold it in the more miserable I became. I also felt a call to do more than preach and teach. I felt a call to reach out to others with the presence of God in the midst of their hurts. Along with all of this, I felt God’s leading of me to be ordained, to be recognized and set apart by the church as having a call from God in my life.

I believe that God can use anybody and can and does call whoever God wills. My job, our job, is not stifle the Holy Spirit, but to live in the call. The road has not been an easy one for me, or for my husband, who is also a called, ordained minister of the gospel, but God has now put us in a place where we can both work out our callings and giftedness.

I have determinded that from this point forward in my life I will not try to fit myself in the mold some would try to place on me of "biblical womanhood." Instead I will celebrate the woman that God called me to be, happy in Jesus as I trust and obey.As of today, I am making the official announcement. In addition to my other titles of wife, mother, daughter, friend, sister, neighbor, I am adding one other: Reverend.

Loss of a Legand

He was a modern-day legend and icon of my lifetime, and it is hard to believe it's even true, but Steve Jobs passed away today. The story of his success has inspired an entire generation. I grew up knowing the story it seems, from humble beginnings in his parents' garage, a college drop out, to becoming a multimillionaire in his early 20s. He is responsible, not just for the success of Apple, but also for that of Disney-Pixar, and, in many ways I think he was seen as the image of what it means to really "make it" in this world. Yet, with all of the power, all the technology, all of the wealth and fame, he could not escape a tragic and early end, much like Walt Disney, Jobs corporation will continue, sadly without the benefit of his vision and leadership.

Christ's followers also suffered the premature loss of a leader. In response they scattered, becoming disorganized and afraid. Fortunately, unlike the leaders of Apple, Christ's followers did not have to continue on with out him.  Three days after his death he rose again, and he is still seated at the right hand of God the Father, leading his people through his Word and Spirit. Aren't you glad to serve a risen Savior, not a lost legend?

RIP Steve Jobs.

Dress for the Job You Want

A mentor of mine used to tell me, "Dress for the job you want, not the job you have." I was a college student at the time, and would often just blow off this statement.  I would think, "but I'm not there yet, what is the point." I didn't really understand what she was trying to say to me.

Now that I'm in Divinity School, working toward a M.Div. degree, I'm starting to see the wisdom of her words.  Every semester we have a special chapel service at school to commission the new students as they begin their theological education.  It is a lovely service and definitely a time to wear your "Sunday best."  This year in particular it was special because we celebrated the 15th anniversary of the divinity school with an elegant and special lunch.  I went out and bought a new suit for the occasion.

 After lunch, however, I had just enough of a break to go home and change before my next class, so I took advantage of the opportunity.  When I arrived back on campus a little while later, in my black capris and my mickey mouse t-shirt, I felt suddenly completely out of place.  Most of my classmates had not had opportunity to change, and were still in their chapel clothes. Sitting there, the words of that wise mentor came back to me.  "Dress for the job you want, not the job you have."

As I was preparing to head for the church where I am currently working as an intern for part of my requirements, those words came back to me again.  I was prepared to lead in a women's ministry meeting, with a short Bible study and even a hand out with some things to be discussed.  I knew, as an intern, and the youngest woman at the table, and especially in the very relaxed setting of this church, that I could easily have gone in the casual outfit I was wearing, but I didn't.  I changed into the suit that I'd worn to chapel the day before, and I think it paid off.  The ladies noticed right away, and I think I gained a new level of respect, even as the youngest woman in the room.

In reflecting on this lesson learned for me, I could not help but think about the words of the Apostle Paul in Romans 13:11-14.  In this passage Paul reminds us that we are to live as if we are already in "the day." He's talking about living as if we are already walking in the day of Christ's return, when He will establish His Kingdom with us.  He says to put off the darkness, and put on the light.  In essence, when Paul says, "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh" (Rom. 13:14), he is really saying, "Dress for the job you want in the Kingdom, not for the temporary position you hold on this earth." What job do you want in the Kingdom?  Are you dressed properly for the One who has the power to grant that job to notice you?

VBS

As a child, I dreaded Vacation Bible School. I would always go for at least a couple of days at my grandmother's church and I always thought it was so boring.  There were no cool songs to sing, no decorations or theme, there were snacks I supposed, but not very creative ones, and the only crafts I remember making were homemade bookmarks.  We would spend forever in the sanctuary memorizing long passages of scripture and, to be honest, the only thing that I really can quote to this day from those Bible schools is this:

I pledge allegiance to the Bible, God's Holy Word, I will make it a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path, and I will hide its word in my heart that I might not sin against God.


These are wonderful words, and I know that some of them are taken from Scripture, but they are not exactly words that changed my heart and made me excited about Jesus.  In fact, I don't even remember having the Gospel presented to me at those Bible Schools, at least not in a way that I could understand.


It is amazing how much VBS has changed since then. Over this summer, my three children went to FIVE different Vacation Bible Schools, three of them with different themes, and all very different from the ones I grew up with.  Each church made every effort to transform the sanctuary and Bible study classrooms.  There are awesome songs that teach the Biblical truths and Scripture verses. The snacks and crafts are amazingly creative, and the games are a lot of fun. Most importantly, the VBS curriculums today teach leaders how to present the Gospel to children in age appropriate terms. Unlike when I was a child, these kids want to come.  They look forward every year to seeing what the next year's theme will be and they leave singing the songs and telling the Bible stories.  They are excited about Jesus.

What are your fondest VBS memories?  Are there any songs or Bible stories that you remember specifically? Maybe you accepted Christ as Savior because of VBS, or maybe you were like me, bored to tears and wishing you could be anywhere else on those beautiful summer days.

Reflections on Luke 10:38-42

When I was a teenager, my pastor initiated a new program in our church. It involved holding in-home, small group Bible studies. Of course, my parents were among the first to volunteer to host a study in our home, and, on Friday nights, three couples, each with a teenage daughter, gathered in our living room. This sent my mom into a frenzy of activity. She would clean and shop for a full day, always looking for a new recipe to try, then she would serve as hostess for the two or three hours they were there. After they left, she immediately started doing dishes and straitening up. Everything had to be just right for her guests. Imagine what it would have been like if the guest had been Jesus himself.

Martha didn't have to imagine. In Luke 10, Jesus and his disciple were the guests she was to entertain at her home in Bethany.  I imagine her running around, much like my mother when I was younger.  She made sure everything was spotless, the food looked as good as it smelled, and no one ever went with an empty cup. Maybe she caught a word, here or there, of Jesus' teaching and pondered it as she was doing dishes or preparing the meal, but perhaps her distractions were so great that she didn't even take the time to process the little nuggets of truth.  It was, after all, her duty as a woman to serve.

Mary took a different approach to Jesus' visit.  She sat, listening to his teachings.  I imagine her hanging on every word he said, letting them sink in to her heart and her mind.  Women were not supposed to learn in this way.  Most rabbis would have condemned her and sent her away to serve alongside her sister.  She was sitting as a disciple, among the disciples.

Martha, overwhelmed by all the work to be done, expected Jesus to follow the cultural norms and insist Mary do her duty.  After all, wasn't it important work to minister to the needs of one's guests? Later on Paul will even call this kind of service a spiritual gift ans some will even be set aside as "deacons" or literally servants.

Jesus' response to her is interesting.  He doesn't tell her not to serve at all, but he tells her only one thing is necessary.  He knew it was important to her to be helpful, bu he also did not need her to work herself into a frenzy.  Mary had chosen the better task, to spend time listening, letting his words abide within her.

As women, many of us find ourselves like Martha. We need to keep in mind the same thing Jesus tried to teach her.  We should not neglect serving those who Christ brings to us, but we also do not need to work ourselves to death. The most valuable thing we can do, for ourselves and for those God placed in our lives is to bring them to the feet of Jesus.  We need to learn with them there how to be more like him in every aspect of our lives.