Monday, August 27, 2007

"Where are you?"

We all know what it's like to feel ashamed, alone, or even abandoned. We want so desperately to be known and to be loved, but it feels like all that's out there is empty...or gone. It'd be nice in those dark times to turn to God and receive a big hug (or handshake if you're a non-hugger). So often we walk through this life asking God, "Where are you?"

The book of Genesis addresses this issue, but it has a radically different take. When adam (which means human) and his wife take of the tree of good and evil, they realize shame. They flee and hide for the night. But before night can fully set, God comes looking for them, but God cannot see them. They have hidden themselves.

Next comes something so profound, it takes my breath away.

God says, "Where are you?"

Vayaqra Adonai Elohim el-ha'adam vayomer lo aneka?

"So the LORD God called out to the human, 'Where are you?'"

The question turns our world upside down. The God of all the universe crying out, "Where are you?" In his shame and guilt and fear, Adam hid. He hid from God and tried to avoid being found. It wasn't God who was absent...it was Adam...the Human.

The story of Adam and Eve is our story. We are Adam for we are 'Human.' C.S. Lewis' Narnia books rightly call us "Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve." This story is our story. When Adam hides, we see ourselves, hiding from God. Hiding from each other. We too hide. We hide behind our power, our toys, even our humor and anger; yet, we are still humans, naked, hiding, afraid to be found out for who we really are.

This is why God's question is so profound: God seeks us. For all of human history, God has been calling out, "Where are you?" Our Creator is the greatest lover of our lives: The same image is present in the Song of Songs as the lover dreams she can't find her beloved. She cries out for him, but he is hidden. God wants so desperately to find us. God loves us regardless of who we are or what we've done or where we've been. God wants to be with you to love you.

Where is God? Where are we!?! God is crying out for us, calling to us, ready to cover our shame and offer us a new start to life. God loves you, and He is desperately calling out, "Where are you?"

Monday, August 13, 2007

Words

"Sticks and Stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."

It's a nice theoretical line. I remember saying it as a child. It was the perfect response to all those who put us down. I think we all so desperately want this to be true...words never hurting us. But, we know it's a lie.

The alternative 90's rock band, Bush, wrote a line "nothing hurts like...your mouth...your mouth...your mouth." Indeed, nothing hurts any worse than cutting words from those around us. Gossip, slander, lies, even hurtful truths can cut our souls to the quick. If words had no effect, why do we work so hard perfecting our comebacks and our put downs.

The number one thing that makes me angry, and I do mean angry, is when someone talks behind someone's back. Cowards without the guts to say things to one's face speak criticisms so easily when there are no repurcussions. What astounds me is the way our culture has embraced this attitude. Speaking truth to someone is "rude," while destroying someone behind their back is acceptable.

It is amazing to see someone abhor violence or violent TV and movies use words to beat others to death. Ironically, one of the loudest voices in theological pacificism is one of the most verbally violent people I have ever met.

Proverbs 16:27-28 says, "A scoundrel plots evil, and his speech is like a scorching fire. A perverse man stirs up dissension, and a gossip separates close friends."

I've found that nothing hurts others like the words we use. They separate friends. They lead to divorce. They lead youth to see themselves as ugly or fat or unsuccessful.

Words have power, and they can do more damage than any weapon ever will.

Beat me with sticks. Flog me. Do what you will, but please, don't cut me with words. They go deep, and they wound the soul.

I pray for all of us: that we are able to watch what we say, knowing that what we say about others can encourage them or harm them. Real friends, real Christians talk to each other. This is love. That is what it means to follow Jesus.

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

The North Star

I love space. My wife shakes her head everytime I look up at the sky and say, "I want to go up there so bad." From my childhood days of peering through a telescope with my dad to my young teen years taking pictures of the moon and Jupiter through my telescope and now to my constant monitoring of the space program, I am fascinated by the Heavens. I want to see them. I can't imagine the breathtaking experience of visiting another planet.

With my telescope, I've seen the rings of Saturn. I've stared at the Great Red Spot of Jupiter. I've seen our red little brother, Mars. I've tried desperately (but failed) to see the nebulas of Orion's belt. Seeing the moon with a telescope is stunning. Its features look like mountains and plains instead of light and dark spots. I've seen pictures of Uranus and Neptune from Voyager I and II. I've heard the whistling of alien winds on Titan, a moon of Saturn. I'll never forget seeing the first pictures of the Martian Rovers...I love the universe, and I sometimes wonder if NASA needs chaplains for its first trip to Mars!

However, there's been one thing in my limited understanding that I always thought was overrated. The North Star. It's small looking, not very bright, and it is pretty plain. You always here people excited to point out the North Star, but I inwardly always thought, "Bah, who cares." Until recently...

The Hubble Telescope recently discovered that Polaris, the North Star, is actually a Triplet Star. It is a massive yellow giant with two other stars orbiting it! This ho-hum star went from boring to amazingly interesting. There was more there than I thought.
The North Star is called such because it is almost fixed on the Earth's polar north. It doesn't move in the sky that much. It is constant. While the stars in Orion, Scorpio, Drago, even the Big Dipper have their seasonal positions, the North Star stays put. For this reason, humans have looked to the North Star as a compass. It was the sure direction finder at sea when there were no other landmarks.



I was wrong. The North Star is a big deal. Not only is it astronomically interesting, it has guided human history. For some of us God is like that. We're not real excited about it. It seems like something to do on Sundays for a few folks who we're not sure are any better than us. It seems boring and uninteresting. But, then we see it. We get it. We experience God, and our perspectives change...We make God the center focus of our lives, and we live by His light. I remember vividly the night Jesus became the center and my compass for life. Jesus is my North Star, and by his light I sail my ship.
What is your North Star? What do you look to to guide you on the seas of life? What gives you assurance that you are headed in the right direction? Len Sweet in his book Aqua Church encourages us to see Jesus as our North Star, a guiding light in the darkness. When all else is spinning out of control, Jesus remains steady, leading us home.


The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge
their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world(s).
- Psalm 19:1-4

Thursday, August 02, 2007

Weary


Have you ever been weary? I don't mean tired, but weary. We all get tired quite often. We work hard or don't get enough sleep or sometimes we even play ourselves tired. Tiredness isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's just running out of steam for the day. We rest, get some sleep, and we are recharged for the next day.

Weary is different. It is an exhaustion, an emptiness. It is a feeling that one has nothing left to give. Weariness, though, often is an expression of the soul. It is a tiredness of the heart.

I know a lot of people who feel weary right now. I think I'm there, too. Jobs, busyness, complaints, stress, lack of encouragement, unrelenting demands: These all make us weary.

Too often we dismiss weariness as tiredness. Weariness, however, is not solved by merely sleeping. One must find peace and strength to face the arduousness of life. Sometimes that means taking some time off. For others it might mean picking up a hobby to escape or unwind. Others need to spend time with their friends. In a time when we have so much and we have the means to spend out time as we wish, I find it ironic that we are so weary. Perhaps finding the rest from weariness is more than time "away."

Jesus said, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls."

My prayer for all of us who are weary is that we might find rest in Jesus. That we would know that we are not alone. That we would remember that Jesus taught us to stop all of the busyness and take time for each other. May we remember that Sabbath is for us, and a day of rest is holy time. God, may we find rest in you...heal our weary souls.