Serving Like Jesus

It seems as though lately I've been doing more of reading other people's blogs than writing my own (though I've done some writing for http://nextphaseblog.blogspot.com), but here is a post that I thought particularly poignant to our time.  As a culture, we've gotten beautifully caught up in serving and giving, though I fear sometimes it is more about making ourselves look or feel good then about genuinely helping our neighbor.  In this article by Jamie the Very Worst Missionary, she examines how Jesus served compared to our typical mission trip model.  Check it out:

http://www.theveryworstmissionary.com/2012/04/healthy-short-term-missions-do-it-like.html

Luke 11:4

 *For those of you who don't know, I am working at Mercy Street with their summer internship program.  Here is a post I wrote for their blog about a recent experience and some of the lessons learned.

Forgive our sins, as we forgive everyone who has done wrong to us.  And keep us from being tempted.  – Luke 11:4

This past week we had a beautiful opportunity to put this verse into practice.  Last Monday, we were able to visit a local Goodwill and learn about their many community development projects beyond simply their thrift store.  Unfortunately there were some miscommunications about the rules and we did not conduct ourselves in a way that best represents our priorities, Mercy Street, or most importantly, the Lord.  While this was not an experience to celebrate, we can most certainly praise God for teaching us a valuable lesson and growing our character through it all.

Forgive our sins…

It was important that we asked for forgiveness for the areas where we had fallen short.  For several of the interns, this was a new skill to develop.  It takes a bold combination of humility and courage to walk up to someone and admit your faults, but this morning, all of the interns dressed up, headed over to Goodwill, and handed Ms. Georgette Caldwell hand-written letters of apology, as well as their salaries from Monday as a token of their sincerity.

…as we forgive everyone who has done wrong to us.

As we considered how much God loves us and how much He has already forgiven us, we knew it was important to offer forgiveness to Goodwill.  Before heading over, we even got to discuss the idea of forgiving those who aren’t asking for forgiveness or who aren’t repentant.  How often do we ignore our own sin, yet through His work on the cross, Jesus has even forgiven us of the sins we’re unaware we committed.

And keep us from being tempted.

This last part of the verse is often separated from the part about forgiveness, but I think it shows an important piece of the repentance process.  “May I not be drawn back into my sin.”  We praise God for forgiving us of the sins we have yet to commit, but I praise Him even more that He gives us the strength and power to not sin as we used to.  If we ask for forgiveness, but do nothing to change our behavior, it doesn’t appear as though we are truly repentant.  Today when we apologized to Goodwill, we also made a commitment to change our ways and act more respectfully in the future.

Thanks be to God for making a way for us to be reconciled to Him and reconciled to our fellow brothers and sisters.  Praise His Name for healing our relationship with Goodwill and bringing us back together.  We thank Him for teaching us about repentance and forgiveness, lessons that are not easy to learn and therefore often skipped over.  We are also grateful this truth found in Psalm 103:8-12:

The Lord is compassionate and gracious,

     slow to anger, abounding in love.

He will not always accuse,

     nor will he harbor his anger forever;

he does not treat us as our sins deserve

     or repay us according to our iniquities.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

     so great is his love for those who fear him;

as far as the east is from the west,

     so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

"I'm ever more convinced that to embrace struggle is to welcome grace."

- Courtney Chapman

Stop Reading My Blog

...and read this one, because it's way better than anything I have to say.

The Beginning of Wisdom, by Jen Wilkin: "Why Transformation Eludes Us"

Semana Santa

This week is Semana Santa, or Holy Week, which apparently is a pretty big deal in Antigua.  From Wednesday through Saturday, they have several processions, where purple-robed people carry giant floats with various scenes from Christ's final week.  These floats weigh about 6600 pounds and require 60-80 men to carry them for one block, before changing out to a new group of sixty.  Anyone can sign up to carry the floats, or the cathedrals' statues of the saints, and since these floats get carried for up to 10 hours at a time, lots of people are needed.

The streets are covered with alfombras, or carpets, for the floats to pass over.  These range from simple patterns of pine needles and flowers, to elaborate designs of sawdust, to creative fruit carvings.  It is impressive to walk up and down the streets and see everyone's hard work.  To create the more elaborate alfombras, people stay up all night on Maundy Thursday to have them ready for the Good Friday processions in the morning.

After the death of Christ, everyone switches to wearing black robes instead of purple, and the music becomes even more somber.

With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.  The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.  And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, "Surely this man was the Son of God!"  (Mark 15:37-39)

Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.  (Hebrews 10:19-22)

And Now for Something Completely Different

We saw this little old man performing in the streets and he definitely made us smile :)

P.S.  Click here to see more videos from my time in Guatemala (most are about Semana Santa)

Sometimes the First Step is the Hardest

For those of you who didn't know, I am now in Guatemala for 4 weeks of language school.  Speaking Spanish fluently has been a dream of mine for awhile now, and even more so since moving to Dallas and seeing all of the opportunities to use those linguistic skills.  So here's to hoping that this endeavor will move me in that direction and I'll be able to use this time as preparation for things to come.

Antigua (the town I'm staying in) would most dynamically be translated as: Paradise.  The weather is in the 70s during the day, cooling off to the 60s at night.  Mountains and volcanoes surround the city, adding to the already gorgeous views of tropical flora.  And there aren't even mosquitoes :)  The city itself is an impressive blend of colonial ruins, restored buildings, ancient cathedrals, and more contemporary architecture.

While I presently find myself in this utopia, the getting here was not so easy.  The trip began with Dallas being hit by 13 tornadoes and torrential downpours.  My roommates and I closely watched the weather report, waiting for our opportunity to brave the drive to DFW and back.  The airport cancelled about 80% of its flights, but fortunately, after 3 hours of delays and a gate change, I was able to board my flight.  Once on the plane, we waited another hour for maintenance to come and check one of our engines (since they were backed up inspecting over 100 planes for hail damage).  Every time the pilot came on the loudspeakers, I couldn't help but just laugh.  Fortunately, everyone on the plane was in good spirits, thanks to it being over half empty (I had several rows to myself, which I became increasingly grateful for as the hours dragged on), and the flight attendants giving us free granola bars, water, and earphones.

In the process of inputting the mechanical data, they managed to erase all of the cargo data, a problem that could only be solved by unloading and reloading all of the bags.  Finally we began backing up and the plane erupted in applause.  We then sat on the tarmac for an additional 15 minutes or so, waiting for the baggage information to actually get on the plane's computer.

The flight was a little extra long due to flying around several storms, but on the upside, we got to see lightening from above the cloud line, which is one of the cooler things I've seen in my lifetime.  After finally landing 4 hours behind schedule and spending another hour getting through customs, I wondered if my ride would still be waiting for me or not.  I was planning out how to best stay in the airport and wait until the next day when they'd have to come pick up my friends.  Fortunately, my ride had persevered and he was able to deliver me to my host family at a little after 12:30am.

An adventure, for sure, but worth every moment of it, as I tucked myself in to bed the first night thinking, "Welcome to Paradise."

Amena Brown

I was introduced to the work of spoken word poet Amena Brown at a Gungor concert the other weekend.  Both artists are fantastic, but I highly encourage you to check out some of her work.  To whet your appetite, here is a bit of what grabbed my attention:

This second video is an adaptation of her poem "You."  See another version at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATowY8fuAEY.  Or her poem, The End, is also pretty great.  Really, just check out all of her stuff :)

amenabrown.com

Merger

A few of you may have been aware that I had two separate blogs going.  They were split for more or less arbitrary reasons and so I am finally taking the initiative to just combine them.  Over the next little bit you might notice a few changes to this blog (raykray.blogspot.com) to more fully reflect this combination and evolution in my blogging purpose/habits.  So if you're confused about things seeming different, that is what has happened.  Thanks for following and thanks for any thoughts or comments!

A Response to "Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IAhDGYlpqY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ru_tC4fv6FE

These are two videos that have been posted all over facebook.  The first one, "Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus," has gone viral with over 15 million views.  The second one, "Why I Love Religion, And Love Jesus," is newer and beginning to make the rounds.

Ultimately, I think both of these videos are trying to make the same point, though they seem to be arguing from opposite ends.  Jefferson Bethke, the spoken word artist and writer for the first video, notes that this poem is to highlight the difference between Jesus and false religion.  Unfortunately, despite the line confessing that he does not hate the Church, the video still comes across suggesting that all religion is bad because it gets in the way of following Jesus.  Fr. Pontifex, the lyricist (and I believe performer) for the second video, comes back to argue that religion is most often the vehicle for following Jesus and the oft-needed framework and structure.

It seems like these days a lot of people have been burned by a church, thus making them "spiritual, but not religious."  There are two main ways we can respond to this:
1) Turn our frustrations against certain aspects and people of the Church and reject the whole thing entirely.
2) Recognize the broken and weak parts and work to redeem the Church as the Bride of Christ.

It seems to me that God is in the redemption business, so maybe with His help we can straighten some of this stuff out.

I want to commend both Jefferson Bethke and Fr. Pontifex for making creative and inspiring videos charging people to follow Jesus more whole-heartedly and not get caught up in empty actions and promises.  Their work is valuable and important.  However, it is important that we define our terms in this type of discussion (what do we mean by "religion"?).  I also encourage everyone to spend less time discussing what is right and wrong, so they have more time to simply be obedient to Christ and live out their convictions.  I'll close with this response by Dietrich Bonhoeffer to Luke 10:25-29:

"We have literally no time to sit down and ask ourselves whether so-and-so is our neighbour or not.  We must get into action and obey - we must behave like a neighbour to him.  But perhaps this shocks you.  Perhaps you still think you ought to think out beforehand and know what you ought to do.  To that there is only one answer.  You can only know and think about it by actually doing it.  You can only learn what obedience is by obeying.  It is no use asking questions; for it is only through obedience that you come to learn the truth."

The Tentmaker's Dilemma and Joy

This is the first time I have tried the tentmaking approach to ministry.  I love the fact that it gives me the ability to volunteer in various ways, instead of being a financial burden on those I wish to serve.  However, there are times when work and ministry conflict, at which point I must decide whether to go be the hands and feet of Jesus, or whether to stay back and earn some money that will later enable me to be His hands and feet.  It is an interesting balance I have never had to maintain before, which has given me increased respect for everyone working in "the secular world" and also striving for that balance.  Erring to either side can be costly as one sets up work and money as an idol, and the other side fails to be a careful steward of the opportunities and resources provided by the Lord.

Being a tentmaker has also taught me to be more grateful for work and opportunities to earn an income when they come my way.  Growing up I always thought of work as "that annoying thing that gets in the way of having fun."  After working at a camp for a number of years, I came to learn how much fun work can be.  And now I'm also learning that work can enable fun and service later.  Every hour of work is one more opportunity to take someone out to lunch, another bit of gas to drive a friend to the airport, or maybe just the money to pay rent and stay one more month in this beautiful city God has placed me in.

So I take my hat off to all of you who have been balancing earning an income and serving others for years now.  And I also want to encourage you as you plug in one more hour at the office, one more late night waiting tables, or however you currently find yourself employed.  Remember that every dollar into your pocket is another dollar you can use to bless someone.  Get creative in what that looks like, and you might find that grueling job to be a little more enjoyable when it is a means to someone else's happiness.


"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?  When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?  When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
     "The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'"  - Matthew 25:37-40

New Year's Resolution Bitterness

As we find ourselves at a time of the year where people are focused on New Year's resolutions and how things will be different in 2012, I confess that I find myself resistant to join the tradition of resolutions.

Perhaps it's the fact that I've never successfully kept a New Year's resolution through to the end of January, but I seem to be in good company on that one.  I think it has more to do with the fact that people are resolving to be different based on the time of the year, rather than a true desire to change.  As a procrastinator myself, I recognize the down falls of planning a later resolution instead of just beginning your new resolution.  If you want to make a change, why not begin immediately on December 29th instead of waiting until January 1st?  Then when January 17th comes and the old routines have taken over again and you struggle to remember what you had even resolved to do, you give up, saying how you've already blown it for this year, but maybe next year you'll do better.  If one were truly resolved, failure would not be the end, but merely a starting over.

It's not the resolution I am opposed to, merely the fact that it is a New Year's resolution.  It is a wonderful desire to grow, change, evolve, and improve yourself.  I'm just concerned that there is a toxicity in linking this desire to a time of year that can delay and/or cut short the hard work and process of personal growth.

My encouragement to everyone making resolutions, New Year's or not, is to be full of patience and grace toward yourself.  Growth takes time, as we see in the parable of the sower.  When the seed fell on rocky places, it grew very quickly, but it could not last because it didn't have any roots.  So take the time to grow deep roots.  Be "like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water.  Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought.  Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit." (Jer. 17:8)  We see how patient God constantly is with us ("But you, O Lord, are a God of compassion and mercy, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.... Give your strength to your servant" Ps. 86:15-16); why should we treat ourselves any differently?  So go ahead and make a resolution, but don't wait until tomorrow to start it.  And when you fail, don't give up.  The fight isn't over.  Pray to God to give you strength and keep working at it.  You don't have to wait until next year to try again.