Blah Guy

When I was in college, I would often go hang out with some friends at a bar in Eugene. We’d listen to jazz; make fun of the waiter, and hit on the cute girls. All that stuff. It was nice. The smell of laughter and the joy of friendship always filled the bar every time we would go. Everyone always seemed to be enjoying themselves to the max. Sometimes, someone would go a little overboard. Not me. And that made for fun when everyone else wasn’t. I used to go into the bathroom when that drunk guy would go in there and sit in the other stall. I‘d begin to whisper lines from The Field of Dreams. “If you build it, he will come.” “Ease his pain.” It was more fun for me than for most of them, trust me. I couldn’t help but laugh. I was also a jerk back then. Not any more, of course.

My dad was almost killed in a bar. Growing up in Montana where there is nothing to do, my dad resorted much of his time to the pleasures of being a winebibber. I always feel uncomfortable asking him about his High School years because there are probably things that I shouldn’t know, or rather, things that I should know to solve some rather exciting FBI case my dad was loosely involved in. He became a drunk very fast. When he met my mom in Medical school, he had already developed a full dependence not only on alcohol, but on just about anything he could get his hands on. Drinks turned to drugs, drugs turned to depression, and depression soon turned to divorce. My parents broke up when I was 9 or so. Today, I have a terrific relationship with my living father because he is no longer an alcoholic. I wish I could say that it was he totally “got saved” or something likes that, but salvation for my father came not through a church service, but a family. Not a family of relatives, but a family of people struggling with the same thing. That family is called AA, alcoholics anonymous. Looking back, I consider all of those weird meetings a total godsend. I would share my name like, “Hello, my name is AJ and…”, and I would never know what to say after that. The alcoholics in the group would say, “…and I’m an alcoholic”. But I was not. So, out loud I would say, “…and I am happy to be here”, which brought an “ahhh” from the group. The old ladies loved it when I said that. But what I was thinking was not the same. I was thinking, “…and my dad is a raging alcoholic, please help him or my mom and dad are never going to be together again.” And, you know what; those people heard my silent prayer. He stopped drinking. He has not drunk anything for 15 years. I am so darn proud of my dad. Seriously.

People, Christians mostly, get so down on AA because they don’t force Jesus down people’s throats. Some churches don’t even let them use their facilities because of it. But AA is not a church. It has never tried to be. AA does not exist to get people to become Christians but to stop drinking and learn to grow. I think AA needs to do what it is trying to do, namely help people stop drinking. It seems as though the church should focus any attention they have on AA’s non-blatantly-Christian approach and find any way they can help in the process; not stand on the outside and complain. AA saved my dad from dying, not the church. It makes me wonder too. Does God get happy over an alcoholic breaking an addiction, or does God just get happy about people who convert to Christianity? God loves both. He loves seeing all of his kids become healthy. He loves seeing anybody become more human. Does he love it when people become Christians? Yes, he does. But He also hates it when Christians forget that God came not just to save Christians, but all the other ones too! He also hates it when the church forgets to celebrate non-believers coming one more step towards faith in experiencing some good ole’ fashion addiction breaking miracle.

Jesus loves AA.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom to the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Luke 4:18-19

Tell us what you really think Jesus?

The poor, the prisoner, the blind, the oppressed? What is this talk?

Some revolutions* come and go in violence. Death is left in its wake like a plague eating humanity from the inside out. These revolutions always begin with one thing in mind. Conquest. Taking over. To have just one more pay taxes. Just a little more income; enfranchising, enforcement, encroachment.

Some revolutions begin with something else in mind. They are few and far between because there is little to be gained but much to be given. People are not locked down and controlled, they are released. Their chains are destroyed and put aside for want of new life and freedom.

One revolution brings chains; another breaks them.

Listen to the words of this Jesus. He mentions all the unmentionables. Beggars, murderers and child molesters, people who need glasses (and those who altogether can’t see a thing), those who make less than minimum wage. And with one swoop of the savior, all things were meant for change. His vision is never pro-stagnation. He brought the change machine.

And this Jesus came to begin the most silent revolution this world has ever seen. From creation to crisis to calling to covenant, he has slowly but surely begun the process of eradicating the world of oppressive (my senior pastor calls them False Authorities) forces which seek to bring those chains back. And where there are chains, this Jesus is dying to bring change (or could we say he died to bring change).

Enjoy this freedom. Change is here!

*This term is used by Brian McLaren in The Secret Message of Jesus.

Does it feel like worship has been “franchised”?

Our conversations are so interesting. Sit sometime and listen to the little inuendos we use…

“Worship was good today!”
“Man that worship kicked.”
“I don’t worship that way”

Let’s all remember what Burger King says… “Have it your way!”

We have to have it our way don’t we?

I fully come alive when I realize something. But this is no secret that many want me to know. Not because it’s a bad secret, but because it is the best secret the world has ever seen. And when someone comes to this secret in faith, and grasps hold, and never lets it go, it changes everything. EVERYTHING.

“You will worship neither on this mountain or Jerusalem” - Jesus in John

Jesus of course is trying to explain to a theological confused and somewhat morally displaced woman who was convinced that worship was intended only for a few. Jesus stands with her…and passes on the secret.

“You will worship neither on this mountain or Jerusalem”

Worship remains not a location or organization centered activity. Nor does it have to be an activity. It is a reality. A place of Spirit, a heart, a life. And it doesn’t have to pay the bouncer at the door, because it’s been paid for. The secret sets me free. Free to worship. The gates are open. No more membership cards, no more bouncers, no more measuring sticks. Its free. And if you realize who it is who talks to you, you will surely understand this secret. That you are free. Jesus says so. Just believe.

There is considerable discussion today as to what “core beliefs” are necessary for being a Christian, a sort of “what makes you in/out” sort of discussion.

Two problems with this discussion are found in our assumptions. First, that our lists actually matter, as if God comes to me wondering, “What does AJ think the list should be today for everyone to be a good little Christian.”. Secondly, every-one’s list is different. I rarely to never find two lists the same, which from my perspective, appears to create somewhat of a theological “pickle” if you will.

At the same time, I think it is a cop-out to simply say “Jesus” like a 5 year old in Sunday School as an answer to that question.

I love the discussion, but it can only be done in the context of the understanding that this discussion will never end. At any point our little “list” is set, I am checking out of the talk. And at the same time, when the “list” never ends, I can never be in with God.

So, keep the discussion rolling.

Dan Kimball has an excellent discussion going on right now and I would highly encourage you to check it out. I love his style. So will you hopefully!

“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.” Rev. 11:15

I love urban renewal. It makes the dump that is downtown fun again. It takes the nasty old coffee shops and bars, gets a vision and a plan, an architect, and a new start. I am glad we don’t just let our down towns go.

I wonder why God didn’t just leave this world and start a new one. It seems at time that it would be a better time usage and he would get more free time. Why not just start over?

The nature of God is such that he creates, allows to fall apart, and re-creates. That is his nature. He is like the man who buys a house, watches it fall apart in a flood, and decides to stick around to see it get rebuilt. But why?

Maybe it’s the neighborhood. He likes the way it looks. Maybe it’s the location. God doesn’t have to drive to work, but walks or rides public transportation. Maybe it’s the mortgage. He can’t find anything for a better price.

I don’t think its any of those. I think God will renew creation as he knows it is because there is something about it he loves a ton. So much, that thinking about moving to another part of the galaxy where the grass is always greener, he comes back to the good ole’ dump he started here. He loves the neighbors. He loves those he moved in with. He loves his friends. He loves the people he can take cookies to when he has time on the weekends. He loves us.

And he loves us enough to stay. Not to quit and let all hell go loose. He stays. And when the flood that is our world ends, he will stand among the soppy and moldy rubble and say, “Man, this stinks. Its going to be way to much work to rebuild. Let’s get started.”

God don’t quit.

This week I was the guest of a local radio program. It is the most liberal radio station in Eugene. I loved it.

Born and raised a conservative who is learning to rid all labels and political subscriptions from his profile; I found the experience absolutely enlightening. They as well I am sure were expecting something quite different. They knew I am a pastor at a large (mega large) church in town that tends to lean quite right. With their expectations most likely hover somewhere between low to nothing, it was awesome to witness to Jesus without having to fight for a political party.

I am learning this as well. The people I am learning to love who happen to lean left in their own political fetish tend to be very good at listening. While this is of course not the case for every bobble head radio commentator around today, it is for the people I am beginning to know.

Jesus is teaching me to look past labels. It’s my mind that loves to find and obey them.

The great thing about truth is it doesn’t come by association. You don’t have to know the right people to know truth, although it can help. Truth is God’s. He owns it. He also gives it to people who hate him. Satan is smart.

The most dangerous Christian is he who is willing to be obedient to truth wherever they find it, whether at a Christian bookstore or not. I would argue that the Christian tradition has a large corpus of truth, it does not have a monopoly on it.

My point?

I am done seeing truth as something we have. Rather, I see truth as something we all have. I just have to shut up and listen.

I think there is a reason God does not speak like a piece of “chain email”? God does not always, and rarely does, speak uniformly to his church. He will give different messages to different people. Not different truth. God does not seem to lie. But he will present truth in so many different ways to so many different people because people hear truth differently. And people always have differing views and opinions on truth. It is like putting a coffee cup in the middle of the room and saying to the people standing around it, “what do you see?” This is okay, yet frustrating at times.

Yves Congar, theologian and overall brilliant guy, argues that the Holy Spirit speaks in two main ways. Personally and institutionally, meaning that he speaks to individuals and groups alike. The problem with this is truth can look so vastly different to both groups.

I have been wondering. Is my preaching an email or a blog?

Do I send people unwanted messages or are they coming to me to learn and sit at my feet? Don’t we always want to create ministries where people who want to come can come in freedom and not oppression?

That is the problem with text-messaging. You can’t text tears. Jesus didn’t text humanity his love. He came and showed it.