why tragedy?

Tragedy. Suffering. Pain. Loss. Evil. These are all issues of the real world, both inside and outside of the Church. Yet, too often, we as Christians are either silent at the wrong times (that is missing in action), or we speak with great selfishness (a self-righteousness that is separate from God's word). The parents of soldiers killed in Iraq over the last few years of war. The thousands of Iraqis who have lost parents, siblings, or children within that same conflict, and even before. And now before us are the latest to wrestle with these challengers to life, the survivors of Hurricanes Katrina, and now, Rita.

Why. A simple word that often requires an exceptionally demanding answer in the face of the deepest soul pain.

Tragedy has been before us, Christian and non-Christian alike. But what do we do with it? Evil has haunted our kind from almost the beginning. Today, we have never been so far from, yet so close to the answer to, the reason for not giving up all hope. In his book, Jesus Among Other Gods, Ravi Zacharias frames the ongoing wrestling match between the peaceful life we all desire, and the stomach-churning realities that many of us face via the ninth chapter of John's gospel. [I encourage you to read his book, even as I quote from it.] Zacharias speaks to the core of the question of why in the face of tragedy and evil.

"Not only is God holy, but He also reveals to us the sacred nature of love, to which He beckons us. And from this sacredness of His love must flow all other loves... The inability to understand the mystery of evil leads to an inability to understand the sacredness of love. A deadly mistake that I believe our cultures make in the pursuit of meaning is this illusion that love devoid of the sacred, a naked love, is all we need to carry us through life's tests and passions. Such love cannot sustain us... In fact, love by itself will make evil more painful. Love can only be what it was meant to be when it is wedded first to the sacred. Sacredness means separateness. Holiness beckons not just to love but moves in increments till it is climaxed in worship. What does all this have to do with suffering? Everything. You see, when the skeptic asks why God did not fashion us so that we would only choose good, he or she completely misses - drastically misses - what goodness is in God's eyes. Goodness is not an effect... But if life is born out of sacredness, neither goodness nor love alone
is the goal. It is reverence, and it must be chosen even when it is hard and costly. This kind of love is a choice to let the sanctity of life dictate the commitment of the will. This kind of reverential love can look upon suffering and see it beyond the clutches of time and through the victory of eternity... We all recognize a sacred love when we see it, and we long for it... Until we understand that kind of love we will never understand why it cannot be programmed. Nor, for that matter, will we ever grasp the true nature of evil. From worship flows this love. That is why God did not make us choose good. It is not goodness we are called to but worship... When that kind of love is expressed to God, every other love finds its cue... Only when holiness and worship meet can evil be conquered. For that, only the Christian message has the answer" (pages 128 - 130).

My thoughts on this are simple, but, I do not think simplistic. Too many people speak to tragedy and evil from thoughtlessness or self-righteousness. We see that behind the disciples' question to Jesus about the blind man, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" And this might have actually been one of their more thoughtful questions. But it was one that Jesus was able to speak to in a way that they, nor us, could equivocate. Jesus' answer, in word and deed, shows us how holiness and worship conquer evil. "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life." Some might choose to see a "sick" kind of god behind such an answer - what kind of god would create or allow a person to be blind so that this god could get some credit? But such a response would miss the issue and the point. Interestingly, sacred and sacrifice share the same root. I think it no mistake that at root here is a truth that it is only when love originates from the sacred, and [that love] is acted upon, that is, expressed sacrificially, that we can answer evil in this world. And that answer is that a sacred sacrifice, that is a life lived for God, is worshiping God in the face of an evil that would seek to persuade or intimidate us into believing that God is either absent or altogether fake.

By reframing our lives so that our view of all whom we know, and all whom we see (that is our neighbors - and who is my neighbor?), as through the framework of Jesus Christ, will we see that all people are created in the divine image of God. When Jesus healed the blind man, it was not to defend the Father from false assertions, but instead to show God's glory at work, that is, how the sacred love of God, through God's people, can meet and overcome evil. We may not see so many miracles like that today (oh that we should), but we can respond to tragedy, suffering, pain, loss, and evil like Jesus did. We can, through such terrible things, display the glory of God, and through that, worship this God who endured evil personally on our behalf. Tragedy is only as defeatable as is our willingness to love and worship a holy God in word and deed.

real prayers

As I sit here writing, I am burdened by the fact that I am no expert in prayer. Last week, I "penned" an entry that asked the question, "Are you praying?" (see below), and in that offered some basic information that Christians should know, so as to give them, in the least, some sort of biblical idea and model of how to go about praying. But I'm no expert in prayer. Yes, I pray every day. With my wife, with my kids, and by myself. Somedays I do get to pray with collegues in ministry, fellow youth pastors, or with students. But I struggle with prayer. It doesn't come easy to me like it does for some. Call it spiritual ADD, call it being too busy, I don't know. I have a hard time sitting still, concentrating, focusing on the LORD, and even worse, I struggle to sit in the silence, waiting, listening. Yet I still pray. I'll use a variety of prayers. I'll pray free-style, I'll delve into a prayer written by an ancient brother or sister in the faith, or I'll read a prayer from a prayer book (I still love the collects contained in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer - 1979 edition).

But I wanted to share with you some real prayers from students and youth ministers gathered this past Sunday morning at the kick off of our weekly Sunday morning offering, preworship. These prayers may seem unpolished at best, they may seem even a bit artificial in places, but they are first and foremost prayers from the hearts of each of these people. I seek to pray over and through these collected prayers throughout the week, so that our students and youth ministers know that what they've put down on paper is being taken seriously; that these prayers are treated with holy respect. Join me in lifting them up...

"That this year go well and lots of people do show up, have fun, grow in their faith."

"for this to be a great year for everyone to grow closer to God."

"For Foot - that she can play [field hockey] this week."

"the physical healing of Gilbert Ramerez, he is a minister in LA and Mexico."

"For students who have been away from YG and church to come back into the fold."

"My friend Cara's town was destroyed in hurricane Katrina and no one has heard from her. Pray for her and her family's safety."

"My mom's best friend needs a liver transplant."

These are the real prayers of real people. A few students and I started a prayer wall last Good Friday as part of a Spiritual Formation overnight. We even had two middle school students participate! It was quite wild. They were given permission to just listen to God, through music, taste, and recitation, and then given opportunities to respond. Out of that has come a sense among many students that they want to share with God, and with other students and adults, their heart, their needs, their fears. Let's all pray, for them, for us, that the LORD is His mercy will hear our prayers.

'you should know what to do by now'

Voice mail prompt messages are a funny thing, as I recently was made aware of. The current manifestation of the prompt for my cell voice mail is a good point. It merely says, "Hi, this is David. You should know what to do by now, so just do it." When I left it, I was merely trying to leave a prompt that was different than the typical, "Hi, this is David. I'm not here right now, so please leave your name, your message, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can" sort of message. While I didn't want to spend too much time being creative, whatever that all means, I did want something different, yet not so crazy as to confuse people. Hence, my current message.

But how interesting to discover that a friend, in trying to reach me, discovered some deeper, hidden meaning in the words of my prompt. In leaving me his message, a friend of mine replied something to the effect, "hey, this is a bit of a prophetic message. I should know what to do by now, so just do it? Hmmm. what are you trying to tell me?" And then he left the rest of his message (which has little to nothing to do with this blog). Perhaps this friend was merely in a very thoughtful mood. Then again, maybe the prompt struck him in his heart regarding what was going on his life at the time.

To me, the question begs to be asked, of myself, others, perhaps of you, 'do you know what to do?' Many of us claim ignorance as to why we don't 'do' something. We think, perhaps, that the sin of omission is far better than a sin of comission. Yet rather than a mere voice prompt, my friend heard not so much a digital recording of my voice, but more aptly a prompt from the Holy Spirit (no, I'm not confusing my voice with God's!). In hearing, 'you know what to do by now, so just do it,' maybe my friend's own spirit was pricked by words that spoke to his own [internal] struggles. Maybe we need to hear those words afresh. Maybe we need to reexamine our own hearts, and ask the Lord to show us, and speak into, those same hearts. What do you think?

Are You Praying?

Some people see prayer as a waste of time. "It doesn't do anything," some say. But the reality is, prayer does work. Even modern medicine has concluded that those patients who regularly prayed generally had easier times of healing and recuperation than those patients who did not. But that's not the point here. Prayer, for all of its mystery, for Christians, is a direct link to God. We do not need to burn incense and utter meaningless incantations in hope of getting God's attention or manipulating Him to come down to our level. Instead, Jesus taught us how to pray (see Matthew 6), and that when two or three other believers are gathered in His name, He is there with us (see Matthew 18).

Jesus taught a lot on prayer, and the importance of it often in the gospels. As Christians, we have something of a responsibility to be in prayer. Through prayer, we have fellowship with God, we worship God, we are nurtured by God, we depend on God, we open our hearts to God, we listen to God, we are led by God, and we grow in God.
Yet there are some who do not pray. They don't "see" any changes in their lives. They don't get what they want. Well, with an understanding and practice of prayer like that, I tend to agree, except to word it like this: prayer that's based on my own selfishness, and my attempts to manipulate God don't work. Prayer is ultimately about our own humility. When we pray to God and bear our hearts before Him, we humble ourselves. We are admitting that we need Him. We are admitting that we don't know something. We are facing the fact that He is God, and we are not. Prayer is also humbling in another way. When we pray, we are putting our trust in God's goodness. This is probably the hardest part of prayer. This means that even when we have brought something of great personal importance, and are praying with an extreme personal bias, we must trust that God is in control (He is sovereign!), and that He knows what needs to happen. It means God has a plan. In prayer, we make ourselves available to the plans of God.

If you're struggling to pray (and believe, I know what it's like!), try this...use the acrostic ACTS. Adoration - spend a few minutes just praising God for whatever comes to mind. I always try to praise God for the beauty of His creation in all of its many forms. Confession - spend a few minutes confessing to God the sins you done (committed yourself), as well as those things you should have done (sins of ommission). This is usually far easier than I wish it was! Thanksgiving - spend a few minutes just pouring out your thank you's to God for all He has done - for you, for your family, for your friends, for the world. I always give thanks to God for each and every day, for another day of life, as well as for my great wife, and my wonderful kids. Supplication - this is an old word that we don't use much any more, but it simply means the requests we bring before God - prayers for ourselves and for others. One important thing that this acrostic does leave out is that we need to learn to listen for God in prayer. I'm not necessarily talking about hearing the audible voice of God, though I know of some who have heard God's "voice". Rather, I'm talking about hearing God in your heart, in a mysterious way that you just know. But often this only happens when we make ourselves be still and quiet before God in prayer. Another thing. It's always good to test what we receive in prayer with what the scriptures say, or with other, more mature and godly believers. Sometimes Christians will think that God is calling them to do something, but after checking with other Christians, or looking in scripture, they discover that what they thought they were "hearing" from God was not in line with what we know about God and His character. St. John says to "not believe every spirit, but test to see whether or not they are from God" (1 John 4:1).

When we pray with our focus on God and His heart, we will see changes. What they will be is anybody's guess. Maybe the answers will indeed be a "yes" to the particular request we've brought before God. Maybe it will be a "no". But I believe, that when you take a step of faith, and you pray to the Father in the name of the Son, your own heart will be changed. That's the ultimate purpose of prayer - to affect our hearts toward God. Keep praying!

feeling down

I'm feeling down today. I just can't kick it. Maybe it's because the day started off cloudy. Maybe. Honestly, I think it's because I received a harsh email from one of my students this morning. It was one of those critical, run-on sentence filled, mean-spirited emails that makes you want to respond back, "double-damn you." But you don't. I didn't.

Some might ask, was the attack justified? were the charges true? Is that why it smarts so? The fact is that I've been having a back and forth discussion with this student. This student thinks I'm being stubborn and 'holier than thou.' The words hurt. Are they true? Well, I can be stubborn. You don't last in youth ministry long if your not stubborn in some way. Am I holier than thou? Let me put it this way. The only time I've been called that is when what I'm saying to someone is hitting them square in the heart, and they don't like it. As a youth pastor, you're called to seek God on behalf of your students, their families, your leaders, heck, everyone. But you're also called to speak prophetically sometimes, probably even more than I do. The point is, this student is self-destructing, won't accept it, and doesn't want to hear it. More over, this student wants to turn around and make this an issue about my personal problems. Hence the criticisms.

I feel down. But rather than scream back, I prayed as I emailed. Not consciously, but hoping that every letter and word that I typed would speak God's truth in love. I had to apologize for a couple of things, but I also said I wasn't going to take ownership of their problems. I feel down, because I hate when things get negative between myself and my students. But praise God, at least this student is still emailing me - for now!!!

It's a funny thing, you know. Here I was feeling down about myself, and suddenly, it's like heaven's flood gates opened up. First, I received a phone call from a parent who has worked with our ministry to youth and their families. He was to the point: "you're doing a great job. Remember, we aren't responsible for moving the rock. We're just responsible for showing up and faithfully pushing." The second was a phone call from a fellow youth minister, who was visiting this site, and aside from some ministry business to pass on, he wanted to thank me for my faithfulness to God in being at the same church for almost ten years. The third was a letter from one of my former students, who's at UCONN. She wanted to catch up, let me know what's going on with her. She wanted to just share that the year is off to a good start, and her faith is alive and well. She said she feels comfortable and well equiped, "which I think is really due to [youth group] and you. Thank you so much for giving me that environment."

I'm still struggling with the earlier email. But I praise God, because He heard my heart's cry, and in ways that He knew I would understand, He sent me word that He thinks I'm doing well. That's the kind of God that holds the world together, even when buildings collapse, cities flood, and nations war. That's the kind of God I want to give my life to, because He's the kind of God who has already given His life for me.

safe to struggle

is it safe to struggle in life? is it safe to be honest about one's struggles in the church? can one expect compassion, or should one steele themself for judgment? do we consider one's situation, listen for the right words of brokenness and contrition, and penitent response? or do we automatically challenge, label, and create space?

sin kills. blatant tolerance and a blind eye, ignorant acceptance, and self-righteous justification only numb the death.

grace and love bring life. grace and love reclaim what was once dead. grace and love raise those killed and being killed by sin over and over again to a life that is hidden, rooted in God. grace and love allow honesty. grace and love allow struggle. grace and love see perfection in the process. grace and love see the difference between accountability and judgment.

grace and love say it's safe to struggle. but I'm not so sure that people are listening. people, even God's people, rush to either condemn or accept; both wearing the blindfold of self-righteous ignorance. sin misleads us into one extreme or the other. grace and love allows the struggle, discounts rejection, yet allows accountability, but all within the context of grace and love.

let's make it safe to struggle in our churches. let's let grace and love abound.*

* the context for this thought is scripture, which by no means turns a blind eye to sin, but speaks to the sinner in the loving voice of God Himself, saying, "is there no left to condemn you? then neither do I. go and sin no more."

Hurricane Relief and It's Problems

I've been watching terrible pictures, and heard terrible stories out of New Orleans. All of us our saturated with the raw footage, and we are torn with having it so easy while so many have it so bad. Today's storylines, though, seem to be more about finger pointing, particularly partisan blame placing. 'Race', 'poor', 'urban' - all epitaphs thrown around today to describe the reasoning behind the particularly slow and seemingly ineffective relief efforts. Interestingly, the complaints about how the poor and urban (be they black or white) seem to center on how governments coulda, shoulda, woulda done more prior to the hurricane hitting the gulf coast, and how it's entirely unfair and wrong that all of these people are trapped in down town New Orleans. After all of the talk, I've got a question. What about the responsibilities of these people to live with their decisions to stay putt in the face of terrible odds? What I hear, when it's all said and done, is that these poor souls are the victims, not of a natural disaster, but of someone's political agenda, victims of someone else's classism and racism, and how if the government really cared about all people, they would've been taken care of before the storm even hit.

Now, let's get one thing straight. I agree that the relief efforts have seemed paltry at best. Heck, even the President realized he had to criticize the efforts today, even as he prepared to visit the storm stricken areas. But it's not just the national government's problem. What is the mayor of New Orleans wagging his finger at anyone, when he could've moved all sorts of resources, not to mention people, out of the city before the levees broke? Why didn't the Governor of Louisiana have the National Guard standing by with all sorts of resources and relief aid, when they knew this was going to be the mother of all storms? Why didn't they just order the complete evacuation of the city? Yes, these people are victims, but me thinks that there's fair blame to spread around to the local and state leaders well before we get to el Presidente.

One last thing... with regard to the people who are stuck in the city... what about their own responsibilities at choosing to stay? I'm not trying to point the finger back at them, but it seems to me to be the unasked question. They need a lot of help. And the Federal and State governments need to do as much as is feasible and maybe then some. But the bottom line is, as much as the different levels of goverment knew the crap was about to hit the fan, so did the people. They chose to stay. These people need our compassion, but they don't need us treat them as if they are merely stupid victims of someone else's dislike for poor, urban people of color. The real people who are causing problems here are the ones who are treating these people as if they were stupid for not realizing the danger, for being stupid enough to have to wait for the local government to tell them to leave. I think that's far worse than any other 'ism' I've heard leveled so far. God created government to take care of its citizens, but before that, He created us to take personal responsibility for our own being. The people of New Orleands deserve our compassion and tears, and anything we can do to eleviate their suffering now is the least we can do. But I hope after it's all said and done, someone will have the guts to ask and pursue the question of, "Why didn't you get out when you heard it was coming?"

reflections on what does it mean to be the body of Christ

It's an intriguiging and most important question for Christians of all denominations and fellowships to not only consider, but to wrestle with. It has far less to do with decided who's "in" and who's "out", and everything to do with understanding who God is, who we are, and what are real mission is.

There were some interesting responses to the questions posed with the context of the overarching theme. One person, rather than share their thoughts, merely agreed that they, too, would like to find the answers to these questions. Two others offered their thoughts to the mix. [you can read them by checking out the comments below the August 2nd post]. What is interesting are the differences and the similiarities between the two respondents. But here's my take on the questions posed...

How would you define 'the Church'? The Church is the body of Christ, with Christ as the head. That is, the body of Christ are all believers, every where, who confess Jesus as Savior and Lord, who have confessed both their own sinfulness, and their need for a savior, who have/are experiencing the regeneration of the Holy Spirit, who, by that same Spirit, are disciples of Christ, living changed lives, and have joined, where possible, for regular worship with fellow believers. That's a mouthful, and I'm sure the argumentative amongs us might find something to pick over or add to the mix. Note that I also consider that there really is no difference between "Church" and "body of Christ". They are one and the same.

Why do Christians need the Church? Simply put, as we read throughout the epistles, Paul, James, Peter, and Jude, are all writing to a group of believers, not a single person (please note: Paul's letters to Timothy are not considered epistles). As such, the implications are for the general body of believers as much as and more so than just for individual believers. So, when Paul says, work out your salvation with much fear and trembling, their's an implication that we are to be doing this together, in the context of the body of Christ. Church is not an option in as much as it's an option. Any American who considers themselves a Christian has every responsibility to pray for and be led to a body of believers, regardless of how imperfect that body may be. There are too many American Christians who have adopted the cultural standard of consumerism and applied it with gusto to how they go about picking, participating, and, sadly, staying at their local church. That's not to say that there aren't bad churches. But too often your typical Christian cuts and runs at the first sight of trouble. But how about this: does God ever call His people to stay and resolve things? Hmmm. We need the Church, plain and simple. Gathering as the Body of Christ on Sunday mornings or evenings is our part of our overall purpose to worship and glorify the Triune God. And in gathering as the body to worship Him, we realize the very nature of God as Triune, that God is the divine community that He calls us to imitate, and is bringing us to be a part of. I could go on.

Can a person be a Christian, that is, be saved in the name of Jesus Christ, apart from being a part of the Church? One respondent said, 'yes and no'. I think this is the most correct answer, though it would probably bother all who like 'black and white' answers. The ultimate answer is, of course, 'NO'. Once one is saved, you are a part of the Church. Christ does not save individuals for the sake of saving individuals. He saves them for a purpose, of which being saved for being a part of the Church, the divine community on earth that will one day be brought to perfection, is that chief part. Our individual salvation is part and parcel of being the Church. That is, there is a mystery to our salvation by which we are working out that salvation as being a part of the Body of Christ. God does not save individuals - He saves the nations, that is, He has called out a people who were not a people, who are now the people of God. There is no such thing as a 'lone ranger' Christian. He or she who thinks they are saved and don't need to participate in the local body are, I think, in for some sort of trouble along the way to Heaven's proverbial gates. If one has made a profession of faith, and then thinks they need not be a part of a local body, I would have serious misgivings concerning that person's profession or their understanding of what it means to be a Christian. At the same time, the answer is what I might call a partial 'yes' in that being a part of a local church does not automatically insure one's salvation, any more than my going into and sitting down on my garage's floor makes me a car. Attending all that the local church has to offer is not equated with salvation. God isn't sitting around checking off our attendance, or how many of our local church's weekly activities we've taken advantage of. This is not about earning our way into heaven via good church attendance. It's completely a heart issue. Do we not realize that we need one another because God has saved us to be His people, not just His person. I've essentially answered the last two questions in this one paragraph. I've met people who say, "I love Jesus, I just don't like the Church", and think that excuses them from participating in the local body. I've met some who say, "I don't need the local church, the leaders are corrupt, ect., ect., yada, yada, yada", and they think that God is looking down on them with a smile, thinking, "well done, good and faithful servant." Hmmmmmm. Don't think so. For one thing, we are interdependent upon one another. To withhold yourself from participating is tantamount to withholding who you are from God. It is hubris, plain and simple. It is ignorance of who God truly is, what He has saved you for. If you have found your local church's elders and/or pastor "corrupt" or not right, have you prayed about whether or not God is calling you to leave? If you have concluded that is so, humbly go about finding a new body of believers to call "home". There is no excuse for the believer who is disassociated from any and all churches. That person either deceived, and is not a believer, or they are ignorant of Scripture.

An Episcopal priest at the church where I first started doing full time youth ministry once said to me, "people don't believe in the devil, they should come work in the church." The Church is not an easy place to "live", let alone work. The moment you think you've found the "perfect" church, it will cease to be as soon as you join. And yet, the Church is the bride of Christ, too. When Paul tells men and women to submit to one another, wives submit to your husband, Paul also tells husbands to love their wives as Christ loves the Church - that is, be willing to live in such a way as you would be willing to die for your wife. Paul makes this important illustration based on God's fervant devotion to and love for the Church. If this is the heart of God, then we as those saved by God's love must understand that we are to be a part of the local church in order to understand God, and live out of His grace. It is being a part of the body that the Holy Spirit, in part, uses to transform us more and more into the image of the Son. It is joyful obedience to be a part of the Church, even when it's tough. But it is our calling.

Thoughts? Let me know...