Building a Solid Foundation

Continuing on in our series on all the stuff you shoulda learned in Sunday school…we’re going to talk about a few parables over the next few weeks and then we’ll be done with this series and you’ll graduate with a Sunday school education. Congratulations! You’re basically in your senior year. Which means you can skip class and stop paying attention and you’ll still probably turn out just fine.

Today’s parable:

Everybody who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise builder who built a house on bedrock. 25 The rain fell, the floods came, and the wind blew and beat against that house. It didn’t fall because it was firmly set on bedrock. 26 But everybody who hears these words of mine and doesn’t put them into practice will be like a fool who built a house on sand. 27 The rain fell, the floods came, and the wind blew and beat against that house. It fell and was completely destroyed.

~ Matthew 7:24-27, CEB

When I was a youth- well- let’s just pause here for a second. If you grow up in the church, teenagers are called youths. Not teens. Youths. Anyway. When I was a youth- we were taught a mantra for spiritual disciplines. Specifically: daily morning scripture reading combined with prayer. Imagine these words being spoken with an almost military-level precision, rhythm, and delivery. It went like this: 5 minutes a day? No. Way. Gotta have more. To be hardcore.

The message was clear: in order to be a spiritual person you need to do more than 5 minutes of scripture reading and prayer each day. How much more? Well- you know- “let your heart be your guide.”

As a youth- I was curious- could I do 5 minutes and one second? It’s tricky to say 5 minutes isn’t enough but then you have to follow your heart to find the right number of minutes. What if my heart says 3 minutes? My heart must be wrong. So, I guess the principle is, listen to your heart for any amount of time over 5 minutes. But then 6 minutes still seems like cheating. So maybe follow your heart for anything over 10 minutes? But then WHY NOT JUST SAY 10 MINUTES!? My guess is 10 minutes still wouldn’t be enough because 10 minutes just doesn’t feel hardcore.

This is the kind of spiritual anxiety spiral that it’s easy to fall into if we confuse spirituality for spiritual performance. The good news is: This wasn’t a trap Jesus fell into.

Now, these verses are commonly used to tell people to do more spiritual stuff because, so the logic goes, Jesus is saying to do spiritual stuff. Because, if you do more spiritual stuff, you will have a firm foundation for your spiritual house.

Logical enough, right?

But- read these verses closely. Jesus says to put his words into practice. The question is- what words is he referring to?

Well, the simplest solution is whatever he just said right before this. So let’s look at some of the instructions he gives right before this (in Matthew chapter 7):

• Don’t judge (and make sure you’re cleaning up your side of the street)

• Don’t try to convert violent people (re: don’t throw pearls before animals that will attack you)

• Ask God for what you need

• Take the road less traveled (because following God’s will is hard)

• Be discerning about who you listen to (by paying attention to the “fruit” their lives bear)

• Follow God’s will

Okay- that’s a bit different than spending 15-300 minutes per day doing spiritual exercises. These are, on the whole, pretty concrete instructions. The instructions have nothing to do with daily quiet time (yes, Jesus spent time alone in prayer, but a daily quiet time would be totally foreign to him because the vast majority of people could not read or write. So reading scripture was impossible).

Jesus’ instruction is more like live a spiritual life. We may hear other instructions rising to the surface: treat others the way you want to be treated. We may remember the story of the good samaritan- a reminder to not only love but to care for and offer mercy to people who we might otherwise find despicable. We may think of the prodigal son- and remember the importance of returning home to a loving father when we’ve strayed (as opposed to staying “lost” out of fear or shame or whatever else). We may consider the call to offer forgiveness where we can. We may even fast forward and think of Paul’s instructions to build others up, and bear each other’s burdens, and so on and so forth.

Of course- living a spiritual life may include spiritual disciplines. But spiritual disciplines in and of themselves are not the goal. They are one piece of a much larger puzzle. As a kid, I knew plenty of people who were good at spiritual disciplines (or so they say) who I would not consider spiritual people in any way.

For instance: Would you consider an adult volunteer in the youth group who calls a youth an asshole just because he slightly giggled to be a spiritual person? This kind of thing was common for him. And pretty common for the adults who were supposed to be leading me in general. This was not a person who was bearing fruit. He just happened to be hanging around.

Spiritual disciplines don’t guarantee a spiritual life. The only way we know if a person is spiritual, according to Jesus, is by the fruit that person bears. But even in saying this- we’re missing part of the picture- which is that we should not be so preoccupied with the fruit others are bearing and more preoccupied with whether or not I am bearing fruit.

Yes- I have demonstrated my own hypocrisy by judging my former youth leaders and doing so publicly. To be honest- it feels good to put them on blast a little bit and if God is upset with me for it later I might repent. We’ll see! Either way, I’m trying to illustrate how hard it is for me to live out the principles Jesus is calling us all to even when I’m the one drawing attention to them.

The ultimate point here is a challenge to all of us: Are you willing to examine your life and consider whether it bears the fruit of a spiritual life. And, if it doesn’t, to then ask the question: What am I going to do about it?

Learn to be courageously YOU

Scott is guiding our community through a series of Bible stories that he believes are often misunderstood, because he is diplomatic and is prone to understatement. I, when I substitute in, feel a certain freedom to say what I think (as if this were a new concept). I think we have learned a lot of the WRONG stuff. Sometimes it even makes me mad.

I, we, all of us - misinterpret what other people are telling us - and it can have negative consequences, making our life more constricted than necessary. For example, one of my favorite poets Mary Oliver wrote "The Summer Day" and asked the following question: "What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" I was so captivated by the possibilities, the vision, the challenge of the question. I ran with it.

What COULD I do with my one wild and precious life? Surely, something BIG and AMAZING! Right? Isn't that the answer? Private detective. Author. Fitness fanatic. Secret Shopper. Barista. Bookstore owner. Some of these dreams even came true.

Busy also reading the scriptures, I stumble across Ezra 7:28 ESV, "I took courage, for the hand of the Lord my God was on me." Check. Got it.

One wild and precious life.

Be courageous.

Another day I read Psalm 56:3 NLT, "But when I am afraid, I will put my trust in you." Ok. More good information. Geez, there is so much to keep track of it's almost as overwhelming as following all of Oprah's suggestions for a perfect life.

One wild and precious life.

Be courageous.

Trust God.

All this I read through the lens of my own personality, culture, even my job description. I draw conclusions and act on them. I overcome my skepticism. I fight the good fight with myself - where many competing messages vie for my attention.

One wild and precious life. (So don't waste it you ungrateful little girl. You are lucky to be alive, so you better be dutiful and try to make it up to Jesus who you practically killed single-handedly with your sins.)

Be courageous. (Because that anxiety you feel is a sin [again, killing Jesus] and you should be ashamed for your fears because you KNOW God's got you and not going to let anything bad happen to you which means I pretty much have to ignore huge portions of my life where people I love die by suicide, overdose, and cancer.)

Trust God. (Just do it. Don't be difficult; don't ask too many questions; be a good girl.)

Yes, it is true, my mind is a beehive.

But listen up. If you actually read Mary Oliver's entire poem, you know how she answers her own question? She says, I kid you not, a summer day is about doing nothing. Like lilies of the valley that bloom without my intervention, courage or trust - just rest. Do nothing. Enjoy your day. Summer has begun. I pray for you times of rest, a break from false assumptions and jumped to conclusions. God's got this - whether or not we trust perfectly, understand clearly, and obey continuously. Amen

You can go your own way (and God will be okay with it)

We are marching along in our series on all the stuff you shoulda learned in Sunday school. And maybe did, or probably did…but you might’ve forgotten. Or maybe you never went to Sunday school. That’s fine too- we’re either learning new stories or re-learning them but, either way, we’re playing the Bible’s greatest hits.

Normally I give you a link to the story in question…but I assume probably about 8% of you actually click on it. Today’s is important, so I’m going to paste the whole thing in here.

And Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning he returned to the temple. All the people gathered around him, and he sat down and taught them. 3 The legal experts and Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery. Placing her in the center of the group, 4 they said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of committing adultery. 5 In the Law, Moses commanded us to stone women like this. What do you say?” 6 They said this to test him, because they wanted a reason to bring an accusation against him. Jesus bent down and wrote on the ground with his finger.

7 They continued to question him, so he stood up and replied, “Whoever hasn’t sinned should throw the first stone.” 8 Bending down again, he wrote on the ground. 9 Those who heard him went away, one by one, beginning with the elders. Finally, only Jesus and the woman were left in the middle of the crowd.

10 Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Is there no one to condemn you?”

11 She said, “No one, sir.”

Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on, don’t sin anymore.”

12 Jesus spoke to the people again, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me won’t walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”

- John 8:1-12

There’s a lot we could talk about here. But let’s talk about judgment. That’s the hardest thing to deal with, right? So…here’s my question…is Jesus judging this woman or not?

I don’t know if this is true or not, but I suspect this passage could be triggering for some. Yes, Jesus says he does not condemn this one, and goes to great lengths to show that none of the others gathered have a right to condemn her. But he also says go, and from now on, sin no more.

So, there is a sin committed and he’s asking her not to repeat it. Is that condemnation? Is that judgment?

Well- I’m not the expert and am barely an authority (if at all)- but here’s my take. There are a bunch of factors. Let’s go through them.

For starters, the story is not really about the woman, she’s a pawn in someone else’s game. The Pharisees are trying to trap Jesus in a discussion about legal logistics to test his knowledge and discernment and so on. For all his faults (joke), Jesus will not miss the forest for the trees (or maybe in this case, he won’t miss a tree for the forest). He is not going to let a child of God made in God’s image get put to death over a conversation about the newly updated 30 B.C. edition of the Code of Conduct.

Instead, he turns the conversation around. Let’s not make this about the law, and be subservient to the law. Let’s instead make this about the practice of condemning others. Do humans have a right to do this? Well, uh, no, it seems. Okay- this could be (and probably should be) a message all unto itself. But I’ll leave this here for now because there are other things to do. If you want to talk more about this- send me an email. I love a good dialogue.

Alright, alright, so what about the part where Jesus says to, “Go your way and from now on do not sign again.” (NRSV version). Is Jesus demanding spiritual perfection from this point forward?

Okay- no. It’s our turn not to miss the forest for the trees. This isn’t about literally not sinning anymore. This is a manner of speech. In fact, given Jesus’ gentle disposition in this story, we might read this as, Stop hurting yourself. We might read it this way because we know that there are consequences to our actions- and these consequences can be quite painful. My hunch is Jesus doesn’t want her to continue to experience this pain…and he doesn’t want her to experience the pain that comes from being rejected and isolated from the community. Remember- her behavior puts her entire livelihood at risk in this culture.

Side note: Obviously there are others involved as well- perhaps a husband, perhaps her partner’s husband. It’s not really clear. When we cause harm there are consequences for ourselves and others- but Jesus is speaking directly to her in this story so that’s all we have to work with.

For Jesus’ part, he says he doesn’t condemn her. He hasn’t even seen what comes next for her- his decision is based solely on the fact that condemnation is not part of his package of acceptance and inclusion.

I suppose I’ll frame this last observation like a question: Is there a difference between the judgment of one “regular” human of another human and the judgment of God in the flesh? For the sake of argument, let’s say there is. There probably is, right? (It’s not a hill I’ll die on but seems a safe bet).

When I’m practicing therapy, one of the things that sometimes comes up is the difference between a judgment and an assessment or an observation. A judgment implies some criticism or contempt or a negative attitude or negative disposition towards another. An assessment or observation is a pure statement of facts. (It’s the difference between: Scott is a liar and Scott told me something that turned out NOT to be true).

So, I believe that we’re dealing with a kind of translation issue. There is (probably) a very key distinction between condemnation and judgment in Biblical terms that we need to parse out…because I suspect we use the word judgment a bit differently than the Bible does.

Condemnation is probably more similar to how we use the word judgment in our culture (in this context). Condemnation is more like, I look down on you and you deserve some punishment.

The way the Bible uses “judgment” (in stories like this anyway) is probably more like an assessment or an observation. To paraphrase a different way, Jesus might be saying, “This behavior causes you harm and puts you at risk, so take care of yourself.”

I don’t know how you respond to this, but I find myself comforted even as I type it. This behavior causes you harm and puts you at risk, so take care of yourself. If this is what Jesus is saying, and I believe it is, then what does this tell us about God?

Many things, perhaps, but at a minimum God is concerned not so much with what we’ve done but more with living in ways that serve our best long term interests. Ways that allow us to thrive and flourish. Ways that help us become the best possible version of our human selves.

And I’ll add this. Living in ways that are in our long-term best interests does often involve some sacrifice and maybe leaving behind some things that feel good in the moment. But, what I hear over and over from those who have gotten sober from substance use disorder is that these sacrifices are worth it. These sacrifices help you feel more free. They contribute to your self-image, self-worth, self-esteem, and help you feel even more like yourself.

The spiritual path does not feel like you are keeping the real you bottled up so tight that you’re constantly “white-knuckling it” in life just trying to hold the real you somewhere deep down inside. It feels like unleashing the real you with the supreme confidence that you’re going to be better off for having done it- even if there are things about yourself that aren’t quite perfect.

The good news is: you don’t have to be perfect. You can have parts of yourself that are incomplete, that are works in progress. That isn’t our work- it is God’s work. God will perfect us in his way, in his time. (I have no idea what perfection looks like for God so please don’t email me asking about this because I legitimately don’t have an answer. You can still email me about it- you’ll just be disappointed).

So, to summarize the last bit here, pursue freedom. Tread the path that leads you to the best version of you. Let God handle the rest. He’ll be standing at the end of the path with arms stretched wide.

Being a Sinner Isn’t So Bad

Click here to read this week’s passage, Luke 5:27-32.

The book of Luke is largely an attempt to answer the question, Who gets to belong?

This begins with John the baptist. He’s inviting all people to the water to change their hearts and lives in order to live in accordance with God’s values. John warns the people that merely being a “descendant of Abraham” (aka a Jew) is not enough in order to count as a follower of God. A person’s life must somehow reflect the nature or character of God. 

This is a bit abstract- so let’s update the point John is trying to make. There were plenty of people in the church I grew up who lived one way during the week, while they were away from church, but show up on Sunday mornings with smiles on their faces, in their Sunday best, and saying things like, “I’m too blessed to be stressed.” They would then return home and verbally abuse spouses or children and, I’m sure, a whole host of other things. They could call themselves Christians because of the time spent in church- but their lives did not reflect the grace and mercy of God. 

Just as it was not enough to call oneself a descendant of Abraham, it is not enough to call oneself a Christian. It’s a way of life- not a title. People were confused by this in John’s day and age and they continue to be confused by it today. Christians are people who go to churches on Sundays and who vote in very specific ways and so on and so forth. This is who belongs. 

But, to my eye,  it’s easy enough to get to a building one day a week. It’s easy to cast a vote. It’s quite difficult to be a gracious kind of person. 

And yet, we have so often settle for titles and a couple of hyper specific behaviors and less so on a person’s actual character. 

In walks Jesus and he’s here to tell us, “You might be surprised who has character.”

One of the things I’ve started doing in the last few years is interventions. The first thing I do when I sit down with a family is I ask them, “What do you love about your person? What do you admire?” 

We might assume these would be difficult questions to answer if we are assuming that people with a substance use disorder have low character, or whatever. But I’ve yet to meet a family that struggles with this question. They say things like, “He/she has a gentle spirit. They’re kind. They’re always checking in on all of us. They’re hard workers.” And so on and so on. Now, substance use likely makes these relationships quite difficult and it quite likely changes some of the behavior these families are used to seeing in their loved ones. But they know that the character is still in there. Even someone who is down and out, and who has fractured relationships, maybe even committed crimes, might have quite a bit of character in there. 

People in Jesus’ day and age would have assumed a tax collector had low character. They were working on behalf of the Roman government and were stereotypically known as cheats, who would demand a little extra and shave a bit off the top. 

Levi might have been one of these- but it doesn’t say so. In fact, Joel Green and others have written on the use of the word “sinner” in the book of Luke and illustrated that being a “sinner” is not necessarily about being a person who does bad things. It’s being a person who is not a part of our group. For a Pharisee, a Sadducee is a sinner, even though they are a religious person. 

So we don’t know what we have in Levi. There’s no evidence that he’s a bad person, in fact, when Jesus refers to him as a sinner, it’s possible that he’s observing that this man is not a member of the group he’s talking to. 

This would totally change how we see these last words in this passage. Healthy people are people who are included and part of the group. Sick people are outsiders. And this is the type of person Jesus comes for. 

Jesus comes not for the person wearing the Sunday best (and a happy mask). He comes for the outsider- the person who does not feel particularly welcome because they don’t have the Sunday best, or they can’t even pretend to have their life together. 

The good news is- neither is required because God’s logic about who belongs doesn’t work the same way ours does. Anyone gets to belong. And the type of person who wants to belong might surprise us. 

Once we belong, there’s a question of what’s expected of us. And the answer to this is to live a gracious merciful life, wherever you are, that reflects the character of God. You might be surprised, again, at who has character. It might not be the person with the neck tie and the brightest white teeth. 

At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter who has character and who doesn’t. It’s up to you to decide what it looks like to live as a gracious and merciful person. The offer of inclusion is available to you, regardless of what you’ve been told. How to live as an included person is up to you. 

Will you settle for a title? Or will you choose the path of mercy?

Encouragement for Mothers

By faith Moses was hidden by his parents for three months when he was born, because they saw that the child was beautiful and they weren’t afraid of the king’s orders.

This is one of those blogs I never do - thematic around a particular holiday. I will share this message on Mother's Day - a day traditionally celebrated in our country and especially at church. We thank our mothers, we celebrate motherhood and all that women do from the pulpit. But often these same pulpits are nailed down on stages where women are not welcome unless they are singing a solo, reading a scripture passage, lighting a candle, or begging the congregation to volunteer for vacation bible school or...burn in hell. Too strong? Maybe. But I am not sure that Mother's Day is always meant to be celebrated. Not all mothers deserve our respect; not all women get to be mothers, even though they desperately wish to parent a child. Mother's Day is freaking complicated and I want to acknowledge that reality.

It was complicated in the scriptures too. One of my favorite mothers in the Bible is hardly mentioned - her name is Jochebed. Most of what we know about her is found in Exodus 2 - but her name is not given. Dig deep into one of those genealogical lists that the Bible loves to include and you find her. Daughter of Levi; wife of Amran; mother of Aaron, Miriam, and Moses.

We may not know her name but surely we remember what she did. She saved Moses, who saved his people - eventually. During the time when the Pharaoh was killing off male children of the Israelites, Jochebed was not afraid. This allowed her to be creative and clever. It turns out that fear stifles both of these traits, thankfully Jochebed was able to hatch a plot to put Moses in a basket, send Miriam down to the river, and create a "chance encounter" with the Pharaoh's daughter, who took Moses and eventually adopted him. My historical research cleared up some confusion about this for me. It turns out that in that time in history, it was not uncommon for someone else to be the primary caregiver of a child until they were around 6. So it is possible that Jochebed not only nursed Moses, but parented him long enough to strongly influence his worldview.

No wonder Moses was reactive when he saw the injustice perpetrated on the Israelites! He understood who he was - he was both the son of an Egyptian Princess and a son of Jochebed. It also makes sense that he has a relationship with Miriam and Aaron. He builds his leadership team around them - his older siblings who he knows and trusts.

Great story. What is my point? Very simple. Mothers matter. Mothers are influential. Mothers do very hard things. Mothers may have periods of time where the fruit of their labor feels under-appreciated and ineffective. Moses was a murderer before he set his people free. Aaron crafted a golden calf and participated in idol worship the second Moses headed up the mountain. Miriam complained and ganged up with Aaron to criticize Moses for marrying poorly. At the end of the day families are messy.

So moms everywhere, may I encourage you? You are more than who your culture might want you to be; yes, your job is hard and you will probably feel inadequate almost every day of your life once you birth a child. But you are a person of influence - I don't care what those kids do in their free time! You are influential regardless of what politicians say or church policy declares. Use your influence for good. Work on you. Be the absolute most healthy, truest you that you can become regardless of whatever is going on around you. Have courage. Be a faithful person - faithful to yourself, your character, your virtuosity. This may require that you stop looking around for validation and instead, gaze steadfastly into a mirror; live a life that you want to see reflected there. There are many obstacles. But let's follow Jochebed. She won against daunting odds and it changed the course of history. Even though her kids were kind of a mess at times. The great thing about life, from my aged perspective, is coming to understand that God is ok with messes. His will still manages to get done. So on this Mother's Day I hope you give yourself a break. If the kids forget to call, if you are grieving the loss of a child or fearing you may never have one, still do you. The most influential women in my life mothered me, even if only one of them birthed me. Find a way women to be influential; the world needs you.