Through Stained Glass: A Mid-Week Reflection-Soon

The snow falls quietly outside. It blows and swirls, making the line in that song relevant just 3 days from March. You know the one, “Oh the weather outside is frightful…”

We’re under a winter advisory for another 30 minutes.

The good news, we are within 30 days until the first day of spring.

There are probably many of us who are tired of the snow. In comparison to our friends out East, we have had a pretty mild winter. A total of 12 inches or so over a season is a little easier to deal with than 12 inches or so every week for the last month.

That is a little dramatic, but you get the point.

Before you know it the sun will be shining across my old Illinois home, buds will be budding on the trees, and kids will be kidding around outside in short sleeves and shorts. Soon, the world will be green again and it’ll look like paradise.

However, I was told paradise is a word we must use carefully. This piece of advice came again via a Christian tract. This time the card consisted of two lawn chairs sitting next to a palm tree, on a sandy beach, looking out over the ocean, a perfect juxtaposition to the weather we are currently experiencing here in Illinois.

On the backside of a card is the explanation of why this world is not paradise. That if you believe a peaceful existence is possible then you have believed the lies this world has to offer. Furthermore, paradise is where God dwells. And that dwelling place, is not here. Rather, it is up there, somewhere. And the only way to get there is if you ask Jesus into your heart and repent. If not, don’t expect sunny skies where you’ll go. You’ll be enduring an eternity of living in Death Valley…

Before sounding too pejorative, or judgmental, there is a need to repent, to believe in the good news that God loves us, and to further the incarnation with our lives. I’m not denying this. However, to declare this world is not a place of paradise is ludicrous.

Anyone who has ever resisted or mourned the destruction of the earth or the demise of one of its living species

or has wondered at the beauty of a sunrise,

or the awesome power of a storm,

or the vastness of prairie or mountain or ocean,

or the greening of the earth after periods of dryness or cold,

or the fruitfulness of a harvest,

or the unique ways of wild or domesticated animals,

or any of the other myriad phenomena of this planet and its skies has potentially brushed up against an experience of the creative power of the mystery of God, Creator Spirit. As the Bible’s love songs show, the love of God for the world is revealed through the depths of love human beings can feel for one another.

What does this have to do with paradise? It speaks to God’s continued creation in our lives. To believe paradise is some far off place is to deny the very real presence of God here and now. God is not a god who set into motion the world, destined it for corruption, and then leaves, only to return just in time for some people and not others. Creation is not a one-time event. Rather, God’s creative activity involves a continuous energizing, an ongoing sustaining of the world throughout the broad sweep of history.

God is the giver of life and the lover of life, pervading the cosmos and all of its interrelated creatures with life. If God were to withdraw God’s divine presence everything would go back to nothing.

And that nothing is a far cry from

                                             

paradise.

The last sentence of the card encourages its readers not to “live in a fool’s paradise thinking this life is all there is. God is inviting you to the ‘real’ paradise through faith in Jesus Christ.”

Honestly, while we have hope in the resurrection, what we have is now and this now is a gift. What is so compelling about God’s love and God’s goodness is that God has promised to remain with us as we return to God’s original vision of earth—paradise. Perhaps we would actually come to know what paradise has to offer if we believed in the goodness of all people, committed to the uplifting of one another, and made sure care was taken of all.

If God can make dry bones walk, why can’t God use us to usher in paradise?

God loves us and this love God has for us creates goodness, making the entire world and us lovable.

That sounds like a place I could call paradise…even when it does snow.

Through Stained Glass: A Mid-Week Reflection-Shall

Shall

It was cold to say the least.

But for over and hour and a half we stood out on the corner of Broadway and Kickapoo handing out ashes.

If I’m honest, I’m still cold. Though the coffee was great, it couldn’t penetrate as deep as the cold did.

So this week I’m “cheating.”

Below is a video that articulates not only what Ash Wednesday is about but why taking ashes to the street is so important.

May you all be warm and well.

May you all never forget God’s claim on you.

May you remember that from dust you were created and to dust you shall return, resting peacefully in the grace of God.

Prayers rising for you on this the start of our Lenten journey.

Through Stained Glass: A Mid-Week Reflection-Second

Second

“Every second, two people die…What if this is your second?”

…

..

.

That thought you just had. You know, the “Wait, did he really just say that?” one?

It might have even made you feel a bit uncomfortable.

Those are the exact feelings I had when I read that line Monday night. These words are from a religious tract that was placed on the windshield of my truck. In under 400 words this tract asks the reader 24 different “What if?” questions.

They ranged from “What if you won a million dollars?” to “What if hating without cause was considered murder?”

If I’m honest, for some reason I have not been able to let go of this tract. In fact, I’ve kept it in my pocket and have found myself on a couple different occasions staring at it. Perhaps, subconsciously, I am trying to make sense of these ‘what if?’ questions.

Maybe it was because all the “what if?” questions that were asked were all self-centered.

What if the world needs more of what is on the right than on the left?

Maybe it was because all the “what if?” questions made God out to be an angry parent who is quick to hate and slow to love.

Maybe it was because all the “what if?” questions made humanity, specifically the person reading the card, out to be anything but good.

All this “what if-ing?” has lead me to ask some of my own “what if?” questions.

Like, what if we started with questions that weren’t so negative or made us out to be helpless puppets of an angry God?

What if God really is love?

What if faith isn’t about a rugged individualistic relationship with Jesus but a life lived in community?

What if we begin God’s story in Genesis 1 and not Genesis 3?

What if we talked less about Jesus and more about what Jesus talked about?

What if we quit focusing on the afterlife and started living it right now?

What if we helped the person who is currently living in hell—someone who lost a child to suicide; someone who has had a miscarriage; someone who has just lost their job; someone who is in an abusive relationship—what if we helped these people now rather than inquiring about where they’ll be after it is all said and done?

What if we actually believed Jesus when he told us to “be perfect as I am perfect”? Or is that taking things too literally?

What if heaven is real and every time we protect the image of God in someone, or care for God’s creation and not worry about them pearly gates up yonder, it is made manifest right in front of us?

What if we didn’t hate at all?

What if we actually loved our neighbors—especially those who we disagree with or who may not believe as we do?

What if violence isn’t the answer?

What if instead of seeing labels like “handicapped,” or “reject,” or “liberal,” or “transgendered,” or “conservative,” or “gay,” or “straight,” or “Baptist,” or “Christian,” or “other,” or “Cubs fan,” we see each other as God see us:  beloved human beings?

What if instead of worrying about what happens when we die we choose to live

here

and

now?

What if we quit playing the “what if” game and use our life, our time, our energy making a prayer shawl for someone in the hospital, or buy the coffee for the person behind you, or we planted seeds at a community garden, or we bought Gatorade for those teenagers who “are always up to no good”?

What if we believed Paul when he said that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female? Too literal again?

What if we told our children they possess an inherent goodness, and that life is about discovering this goodness, and that we call this journey towards discovering the divine spark we all possess…salvation?

What if,

in all of this,

what if

we

                                    are

all

wrong?

What if LOVE is all we need?

After all, if God is who we say God is, then Love is not only the answer, but it is our identity—for we are created in the image of Love.

Last thing, what if we approached life with this thought from Thomas Merton:

“It seems to me the most absurd thing in the world is to be upset because I am weak and distracted and blind and constantly make mistakes! What else do I expect? Does God love me any less because I can’t make myself a saint by my own power and in my own way? God loves me more because I am so clumsy and helpless without God and underneath what I am God sees me as I will one day be by God’s pure gift and that pleases God. Therefore, it pleases me and I attend to God’s great love which is my joy.”

Every second somebody is wondering, “what if I am not loved?”

What if this is your second to tell them they, in fact, are?

Through Stained Glass: A Mid-Week Reflection-stronger

stronger

It was a simple statement.

Because of its simplicity, I stop sipping my coffee and read it again.

Here’s the statement:

Gospel: The crowd tries to stop Jesus from healing the girl then mocks him. Don't let anyone prevent you from loving.

February is culturally known as the month of love. Amidst those tasty, staled, delightfully colored candy hearts and Hallmark cards, there we don’t want to forget:

Love—isn’t only a feeling.

Then what else is it?

Love—is a verb.

God is love.

Out of God’s love God created. That is the good news. God didn’t have to but God did. And thus, we are.

7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God... ⁸Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love… ¹¹Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. ¹²No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.

It really isn’t that easy? Or is it?

Jesus loved radically. Radical love, is a love so extreme that it dissolves our existing boundaries, whether they are boundaries that separate us from other people, that separate us from preconceived notions we my have about each other, or that separate us from God.

 ⁹Whoever says, ‘I am in the light’, while hating

a brother or sister, is still in the darkness.

¹⁰Whoever loves a brother or sister lives in the

light, and in such a person there is no cause for

stumbling. ¹¹But whoever hates another believer 

is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and does

not know the way to go, because the darkness

has brought on blindness. ~1 John 2

Despite the warnings and threats from the community, Jesus compassionately cared for those on the margins in his community. But also, Jesus cared selflessly for those he called disciples.

Here in lies a potential problem:  it is easy to spot the outsider but do we know who is an outsider on the inside?

Not sure what this means?

Here is an example our own denomination faced and still faces at times:

To be an outsider on the inside looks like a woman pastor not being treated in the same way as the stereotypical male pastor.

Essentially, in God’s sight, no one is a misfit. There is no set protocol for God’s community. It is our call as God’s people not to cast judgment or the first stones but to join God in love the world and everything in it.

Often the crowed tried to stop Jesus from loving. But he didn’t listen. Selflessly he gave of himself until there was nothing else to give.

In turn, those he loved, well, they lived.

Love, friends.

Will you prevent it or perpetuate it?

“Love your neighbor; she/he is like you.”

Martin Buber’s translation of the biblical command is rhythmically stronger than what we are used to. The pause in the middle of the sentence makes us think.

How so?

Love of self and love of others are not compared in this translation. Working on a deeper level, this translation points to their common root, which is equality.

Our love assumes likeness in others, even if we cannot see the likeness.

Love is perhaps the deepest need that people have; learning to give and to receive, their our greatest task.

Don’t let anyone prevent you from loving.