Interconnectivity

I preached a sermon yesterday on the crowds of the Palm Sunday story in Mark 11. I talked about how the gospel writers tell us that Jesus looked on the crowds with compassion, and how we are called to see the crowds through Jesus’ eyes (Phil 2 etc). I suppose it is not unnatural on the day after to be thinking about additional thoughts I could have shared, like how John Donne’s Meditation 17 paints us all as one giant interconnected crowd. With the prevalence of electronic connectivity options these days, it’s much easier to feel connected to the rest of the world. We can follow Facebook posts or tweets from friends across the country, and see live video of “breaking news” around the world or even just watch the lack of news through a myriad of strategically placed webcams. We carry cell phones in our pockets throughout the day and take them everywhere. We text at the most random of moments and for the most random of thoughts or events. And yet we can still walk through Walmart or drive down the freeway as if there isn’t another person on the planet. We have an incredible ability to filter out everything but that on which we choose to focus in a given moment. I suppose that’s a good thing in one respect—we’d go insane if we couldn’t filter, and indeed that’s one of the issues that plaques those with some forms of autism. In fact, a Google search on the phrase “inability to filter out irrelevant stimuli” brings up a list of articles on autism, schizophrenia, anorexia, and ADD, just to name a few. But I don’t think that people are “irrelevant stimuli,” although I know some of you might be inclined to argue otherwise. And if we are all indeed interconnected…which might also be arguable, but I think it’s pretty easily provable, so let’s just go with that as a given for now…then how much different might the world be if we actually walked through the day without ignoring most of the people around us? Taken to the extreme, this would be problematic, as Bruce discovered when God gave him a glimpse of omniscience (Bruce Almighty 2003). Considering how far most of us are from having this problem, I think it’s safe to suggest that increased awareness is something we could all stand to work on. I don’t think we’re in any danger of ending up like the Borg. My father has long argued that the increase in reliance on digital means of communication is contributing to the demise of our ability to have meaningful, direct, personal communication. Since he is my father, I think I am required to disagree about these sorts of things, and for a long time I did, but I’m starting to think he might be right. I myself am remarkably disinclined to use the telephone to contact anyone. I thought it was just me, but the other day my son demonstrated a similar disinclination about contacting friends to make arrangements. He used texts, Facebook, and instant messaging, and even when those failed he didn’t resort to old-fashioned voice communication. How easy it would be to live in total isolation and still feel connected because of all the ways we have to send and receive information. Although there was a time when I would have called that heaven, I’m afraid I’d have to give that a much more negative but ultimately more realistic label—selfishness.

Unity

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one…” John 17:20-22.

I recently learned that January 18-25, 2012 is noted on the PC(USA) calendar as a time for prayer for unity. In digging further, I discovered that this is not just a PC(USA) observance, nor is it just a Presbyterian observance. This is a worldwide, ecumenical effort, and in my opinion a very important one. I have long been struck by Jesus’ prayer recounted for us in the book of John. Here we see Jesus praying for all of us who follow him—not just those following him in the 1^st century, but all those who would ever follow him. And what I think is particularly important about this prayer is that he tells us that our unity will be instrumental in bringing others to faith.

I don’t know if it’s a byproduct of American individualism or just human nature, but it seems to me that we have a great tendency to focus on the things that divide us, rather than the things that unite us. There’s some irony to this, because on the one hand our culture encourages homogeneity in our appearance, and we do tend to be like sheep following the fashion trends, but I think this comes more out of our need to have what we see others having, keeping up with the Joneses. On the other hand, in a culture where belief in God is still basically expected, we get caught up in differentiating ourselves from other believers in God.

We talk often about inward focus versus outward focus, and in the area of individual spiritual development, it’s important to have individual time with God to develop the inward aspects of our relationships with him so that this life with God can inform and feed our outward expressions of his will. As a church, inward focus needs to be similarly purpose driven—to feed and inform our efforts to follow Christ out into the world to tell others about him and to share his love. Everything we do needs to keep this in perspective, including our prayers for unity this week.

We have deep divisions within our denominations, and between our denominations. In some cases, even individual churches are struggling with divisions. It might seem like this prayer for unity is the unanswerable impossible request. But God promises to hear our prayer (John 16:24 et al). And indeed with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible (Matt 19:26 et al). So I hope that you will join me in praying for unity, and not just for this week, but always.

May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 15:5-6

Define Impossible

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21

This is such a huge promise, but also one that we’re afraid to trust. Why? Is it that logic overpowers us? Are we afraid of being disappointed if we trust this? But we believe in God’s power to create the world from nothing, and to heal the sick and to raise the dead, right? Maybe the problem is that we do believe and are afraid that God will answer with more than we can ask or imagine, and we don’t want to have to face that?

This verse comes at the end of Paul’s prayer that we would grasp the immensity of God’s love which surpasses knowledge. That certainly sounds like an impossible request. And yet I think we do get the chance to have moments in which we “see” God in a way that speaks this understanding into our hearts, and in a way that goes beyond the capacity of our minds to fully comprehend or explain. Maybe this is what Mary was experiencing when she “pondered” things in her heart. I think this is what happens at the moment of conversion for those who become Christians as adults, and for those who find God in a new and deeper way in the midst of a crisis. How someone gets to this moment is less important than just that they do get to this point.

Immediately following this verse, Paul begins his teaching about unity in the Church. That certainly seems like the impossible dream right now. Looking back through the Church’s history, I think it has always been a struggle, though. And yet this is what Jesus himself prayed for us (John 17).

He is able. I think we need to hold on to our hope and keep on praying—for deeper understanding of the immensity of his love, for answers in the midst of seemingly impossible situations, and for the unity of the body of Christ.

To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Close Your Eyes

We live by faith, not by sight. (2 Cor. 5:7)

Today I seem to be back on the theme that was part of my sermon last Sunday, and also reflected in many of my blog posts--sight. We live in such a visual world. Our eyes are constantly being bombarded with pictures and data, words and motions. I think this is why closing our eyes to pray is so important. In doing so, we take time to shut off the distractions of our physical sight so that our spiritual sight can gaze on the One who is unseen, and to rest in His loving arms. To be still and know that He is God. (Psalm 46:10). May you find rest in Him today and always.

Holy Spirit Eyes

However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” — the things God has prepared for those who love him—1 Corinthians 2:9

Christmas is always such a feast for the senses. Lights and decorations fill our sight, along with TV specials and movies. Christmas carols, bells, and the sounds of hustle and bustle fill our ears. We indulge ourselves in the taste of food and drink that would be too rich for us any other time of year. And yet the better experience of Christmas is in the less tangible love shared with family and friends. We are so easily caught up in the physical, material aspects of life, especially at Christmas, but during the holidays we also seem to have a greater capacity for experiencing the intangible and the supernatural. We expect a sort of magic at Christmas, and it does seem as we’re out encountering the world running from store to store that we let down the walls that usually separate us. We connect with strangers over the shared experience of preparing for Christmas. At our house, Christmas movies are an important part of our tradition, and these will include sappy feel-good movies that we wouldn’t dream of watching most other times of the year. After the holidays are over, those heartwarming Christmas stories lose their appeal and we’re back to our usual action and adventure fare.

I think that’s what we really like so much about Christmas. Unlike any other time of the year, it’s ok to believe the unbelievable, and to talk about extraordinary things like how Santa comes. We hardly believe that peace on earth is possible most of the rest of the year, but at Christmas it seems so much more like a reasonable expectation.

Maybe we’re missing an opportunity here—or maybe we’re not, depending on how you celebrate Christmas. Wouldn’t this be the best time of year to connect with people who wouldn’t even give you the time of day the rest of the year? And to renew relationships that have gotten stale? We don’t talk to our neighbors all that much normally, this is the season when we notice them more.

In my devotional reading this morning, Isaiah asks, “Do you not know? Have you not heard?” (Isaiah 40:21, 28) He focuses entirely on what we learn from hearing—no mention of seeing. Seeing requires a physical presence on which to rest our eyes, but hearing is less tangible. Hearing requires words—telling. We call people who tell about something “eye witnesses” because we assume they have seen something, but Isaiah is taking about something that cannot be seen. Still, the truth can be told and heard—“The Lord is an everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 40:28). We can see God’s creation all around us, but knowing that he is the one who made it involves words. Telling. Hearing.

Sure, we doubt. The shepherds had to go see for themselves that what the angel had told them was true. Thomas wanted to feel Jesus wounds before he would believe that Jesus had really risen from the dead. And I think God knows we have this need, and he gives us signs. In our modern cynicism we so often fail to notice them. More importantly, we aren’t looking for them. But God says that if we seek him with all our hearts we will find him (Deut. 4:29; Prov. 8:17; Jer. 29:13; Matt. 7:7). We have to be willing to believe what seems unbelievable. Not like we believe that Santa can get to every child in the world in one night. This is a deeper belief, one that our own hearts will confirm if we’re willing to listen. And one that we’ll be able to see more and more as long as we allow ourselves to see with Holy Spirit eyes. What is God showing you through the Holy Spirit today?

Tutoring (from December 2007)

She is sad today. She says she broke up with her boyfriend because he lied to her. But the director tells me she passed both her tests and as soon as the next semester starts up at the other building, she will be gone. Maybe we are both thinking that now we are just marking time until then, but neither of us says that. She is surly and doesn’t want to work or talk, but we review what she was doing when I arrived anyway. I give her a phone number I looked up for the wellness center, suggesting that they can help her get a handle on her diet and her sugar levels and then maybe she will feel better, my response to her ongoing complaint over the past few weeks that I’ve been meeting her here. “I’m not depressed,” she blurts out. “Ok,” I respond, not knowing what else to say. She is hard as nails and I think, as we talk, that she begins to act more like herself because she has willed herself into being ok. “I threw his ring down the toilet,” she announces. We’d talked about the ring the day we were reading an article about how diamonds are mined and processed. She was quite interested in that article, and already knew quite a bit about diamonds. She’d told me then that if she he ever broke up with her she would keep that ring. Now it’s lost forever. “Did you get mad at yourself afterwards for throwing the ring down the toilet?” I ask. She says no, but I know I would have been and I know how much she loved that ring.

We didn’t do much work today, but we talked a lot about why she wants to be a vet tech and how she plans to finish college because she thinks it’s stupid that her brothers and sisters have all started and then dropped out. I tell her it’s hard but there’s always someone who can help you, so don’t give up. She is tough and determined now, but I wonder if she is too tough, and maybe that’s why she got sent here from the high school.

Half an hour before we are supposed to be done, her phone is buzzing and she says it is her boyfriend. She had told me she had to leave early to go to the doctor and that her mom was coming to pick her up. She jumped up to look out the window into the parking lot and giddily said, “He’s here.” He? Her dad? Her boyfriend? No time to ask. She packed up her things and headed out the door, wishing me a happy holiday and tossing off, “See you in January.”

I will be back in January, but I wonder if there’s really anything I can do for her. I can listen and give encouragement, and I will go over the math problems she will do over the holiday break. She may tell me then that she reconciled with her boyfriend, or got a new horse for Christmas, or maybe even a new ring. We will only meet 3 times before she moves up to the other building, the last step before the GED and then on to Tech and on with her life. I will wish her well and wonder, then as now, what really brought her here, and what will happen after she’s gone, but I’ll probably never know. And so it goes.

Scholarships and Spiders

My daughter Tabitha is the family photographer and has entered this photo in a contest. Will you vote for her photo and share the link? Thanks!

My Favorite Photo (I've Ever Taken) 3 Brickfish