And here I thought I was finally starting to figure out Washington.
This weekend, I had the exciting opportunity to travel down to a town called Lyle in southern Washington, where I was allowed to speak with people about the work which God is doing up at WWU. My time in Lyle, while incredibly encouraging, was also something else I wasn't expecting. Convicting.
To give you an idea of Lyle, it's the sort of town where if you don't pay attention for a few seconds, you'll drive right through it. No, I'm not kidding, because I did exactly that. I had to turn around and everything. When that's your first impression of a town, it's easy for someone coming from a town like Bellingham to develop some negative preconceptions. This got reinforced when I was in front of the Church I was going to be speaking at. It was a simple building, nothing like the grandiose house of worship I attend in Bellingham. Little did I know, however, how God was planning on using this simple setting to speak something beautiful into my life.
God is into doing amazing things in the midst of simple trappings, as scripture reveals. My experience in Lyle was no exception. This outwardly unremarkable fellowship had one of the greatest hearts for worship I have ever experienced. It was refreshing to see how the Holy Spirit could inspire worship that no technical display could ever compare to. In one simple moment, God convicted me of just how much I had let the cultural trappings of academia blind me from the fact that I don't get to dictate what is beautiful in God's eyes.
Yay! Conviction happened! Story over! Oh wait, what? You're not done yet Lord? *Sigh*, O.K.
Before explaining the other part of what the Lord has been teaching me, let me preface with a bit about me. I have always been intimidated by wealth. Something about people who have attained a high amount of capital always makes me nervous. Yes, I know there are both righteous rich and righteous poor, but in my life I haven't met too many (or hardly any at all) of the former, at least not in the terms in which a Western society would define rich.
How fitting then, that now I am staying in Vancouver, Washington, in one of the nicest houses I have ever seen. Let me give you an idea. From where I sit, I can see two different ovens. The internet I am connected to is only good for the North wing of the house. When you get right down to the heart of it, though, a house is nothing without the people living in it. It's those people that the Lord has been using to teach me a great deal.
For example, the man of this particular abode has one of the most generous hearts I have ever seen. Not only is he supporting me incredibly generously for my internship next year, but he has a heart to help others in any way he can. To hear someone say that they're going to make some phone calls to make sure that the people they care about have opportunities to succeed is a model of what it means to use worldly influence with a heart oriented around the kingdom. If I am ever blessed with material wealth and social influence, I pray I can exercise it with the same grace and care I see modeled before me here.
So what have I gained overall from this whirlwind tour of different styles of living? The Lord truly does work through all, and we're doing a disservice to ourselves, and more importantly we're insulting God when we say "He can't work through that person or that situation because of my experience." Woe to me if I try to define what it is that God can or cannot do based on what little life I have lived.
With His love and grace,
Taylor
Monday, August 22, 2011
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Over 2000 Years and We Still Haven't Got It
And we probably never will.
What is this thing we still haven't figured out in such a grand scope of time? An effective, universally accepted method for following after Jesus. I'm talking about doctrine here. Yes, I know, half of you just fell asleep. If you're near one of them sleepy types, just poke them a couple of times. Or don't, I'll leave that call up to you.
Sure, doctrine can come across as being a bit boring. However, I think it's a topic we need to start paying a lot more attention to, particularly if we find ourselves in that fantastically vague group known as "young people." So, if (based on Grandma O'Dell's definition) you're between the ages of 12 and 50, I especially recommend that you keep reading.
The debate over doctrine is nothing new. We've been having arguments about how to follow well after Jesus since the events of the Book of Acts, and it's kept going right up to the modern day. Why has this debate persisted? Because these debates will always persist, in any field, as long as humans are the ones left in charge of running the discussion. Even realms which claim ubiquitous uniformity can't truly make this claim, as "that guy" is always yelling for a different way of doing things, no matter how fringe they may be. Patterns of common practice assert themselves, but total acceptance of one system seems to be impossible, based on my examination.
So why even talk about doctrine? Why frustrate ourselves with a discussion on something that we probably know will never really get anywhere?
Whether we want to our not, this is a particularly necessary conversation for Christianity, because we claim to hold knowledge of something beyond this world. We're dealing with things of eternity, and it's extremely dangerous when we don't agree on something. It makes people doubt that a faith which claims to know the Truth about what happens after we die, and works to explain what happens until we do, actually knows what it's talking about.
A lot of you are probably expecting me to start talking about hell right now. This has been a fairly hot button issue within Western Christianity ever since Rob Bell's "Love Wins" was published. Since then, the idea of hell seems to be something a great many people are interested in. I'm not going to deal with that now, however. That is a discussion I'm still reading the literature on, and thus I don't feel ready to comment. I think there's something in Proverbs to support that, here's to hoping.
Also, I don't think it would be productive to add yet another voice to that particular conversation. I think certain theological issues can be a bit trendy. They get a lot of press for a while, and then die down and we stop thinking about them. Take, par exemple, the issue of whether or not the Holy Spirit is still active in the modern day. Outside of Pentecostal circles, this doesn't get discussed very often anymore. And yet, it is a crucial topic to think on if we're going to follow after God well.
Question; do you think God can miraculously heal people? I mean something along the lines of someone prays and then a person is no longer afflicted by a disease or injury. My answer? Yes. I've seen it happen. Others don't believe this to be the case. They feel that the Holy Spirit stopped working in that way when the original apostles died off. I just made the apostles sound like they were dinosaurs. Anywho. What we think about this point dramatically impacts how we follow God. Chiefly, it governs how we try to love this world, as we are called to do. I believe God can use me to love the world by physically healing it's ailments. Others don't, and I think they're missing out on something.
So what should I do with these people I don't agree with? According to what I see some Christ followers doing, I should actively work to discredit them at every opportunity, be it from the pulpit, at a press conference, even right here on this blog. Let me be clear. This. Is. Stupid. Petty infighting amongst Christians distracts immensely from what our work should be; loving this world and seeking to bring every person into a relationship with Christ. That's all I'm going to say on that particular issue, as I don't want to fall into the very trap I just told myself to avoid.
What do we do, then? We learn how to disagree well, and encourage each other towards the True truth about following Christ.
Yes, I believe the Holy Spirit can do amazing things, and I'm going to encourage others to believe the same, because otherwise I don't think I really believe in what I'm saying. As I encourage people towards that belief, however, I am going to be praying for all the gentleness God can give me. It was said of Jesus that "a bruised reed He will not break." That is the kind of gentleness I hope for, as I encourage others towards what I believe to be properly following after Christ. This is a calling we all need to embrace. In matters of doctrine, we cannot exclude fellow Christ followers from the numbers of those we unconditionally love before all else. We're never going to convince each other of anything, and we're certainly going to bring people to Christ, by way of a yelling match.
With His love and grace,
Taylor
What is this thing we still haven't figured out in such a grand scope of time? An effective, universally accepted method for following after Jesus. I'm talking about doctrine here. Yes, I know, half of you just fell asleep. If you're near one of them sleepy types, just poke them a couple of times. Or don't, I'll leave that call up to you.
Sure, doctrine can come across as being a bit boring. However, I think it's a topic we need to start paying a lot more attention to, particularly if we find ourselves in that fantastically vague group known as "young people." So, if (based on Grandma O'Dell's definition) you're between the ages of 12 and 50, I especially recommend that you keep reading.
The debate over doctrine is nothing new. We've been having arguments about how to follow well after Jesus since the events of the Book of Acts, and it's kept going right up to the modern day. Why has this debate persisted? Because these debates will always persist, in any field, as long as humans are the ones left in charge of running the discussion. Even realms which claim ubiquitous uniformity can't truly make this claim, as "that guy" is always yelling for a different way of doing things, no matter how fringe they may be. Patterns of common practice assert themselves, but total acceptance of one system seems to be impossible, based on my examination.
So why even talk about doctrine? Why frustrate ourselves with a discussion on something that we probably know will never really get anywhere?
Whether we want to our not, this is a particularly necessary conversation for Christianity, because we claim to hold knowledge of something beyond this world. We're dealing with things of eternity, and it's extremely dangerous when we don't agree on something. It makes people doubt that a faith which claims to know the Truth about what happens after we die, and works to explain what happens until we do, actually knows what it's talking about.
A lot of you are probably expecting me to start talking about hell right now. This has been a fairly hot button issue within Western Christianity ever since Rob Bell's "Love Wins" was published. Since then, the idea of hell seems to be something a great many people are interested in. I'm not going to deal with that now, however. That is a discussion I'm still reading the literature on, and thus I don't feel ready to comment. I think there's something in Proverbs to support that, here's to hoping.
Also, I don't think it would be productive to add yet another voice to that particular conversation. I think certain theological issues can be a bit trendy. They get a lot of press for a while, and then die down and we stop thinking about them. Take, par exemple, the issue of whether or not the Holy Spirit is still active in the modern day. Outside of Pentecostal circles, this doesn't get discussed very often anymore. And yet, it is a crucial topic to think on if we're going to follow after God well.
Question; do you think God can miraculously heal people? I mean something along the lines of someone prays and then a person is no longer afflicted by a disease or injury. My answer? Yes. I've seen it happen. Others don't believe this to be the case. They feel that the Holy Spirit stopped working in that way when the original apostles died off. I just made the apostles sound like they were dinosaurs. Anywho. What we think about this point dramatically impacts how we follow God. Chiefly, it governs how we try to love this world, as we are called to do. I believe God can use me to love the world by physically healing it's ailments. Others don't, and I think they're missing out on something.
So what should I do with these people I don't agree with? According to what I see some Christ followers doing, I should actively work to discredit them at every opportunity, be it from the pulpit, at a press conference, even right here on this blog. Let me be clear. This. Is. Stupid. Petty infighting amongst Christians distracts immensely from what our work should be; loving this world and seeking to bring every person into a relationship with Christ. That's all I'm going to say on that particular issue, as I don't want to fall into the very trap I just told myself to avoid.
What do we do, then? We learn how to disagree well, and encourage each other towards the True truth about following Christ.
Yes, I believe the Holy Spirit can do amazing things, and I'm going to encourage others to believe the same, because otherwise I don't think I really believe in what I'm saying. As I encourage people towards that belief, however, I am going to be praying for all the gentleness God can give me. It was said of Jesus that "a bruised reed He will not break." That is the kind of gentleness I hope for, as I encourage others towards what I believe to be properly following after Christ. This is a calling we all need to embrace. In matters of doctrine, we cannot exclude fellow Christ followers from the numbers of those we unconditionally love before all else. We're never going to convince each other of anything, and we're certainly going to bring people to Christ, by way of a yelling match.
With His love and grace,
Taylor
Saturday, August 13, 2011
The Most Beautiful Revolution I Can Imagine
We really love humility. Just listen to our culture talk about some its greatest heroes. Sure, sometimes you get the mind-numbingly egomaniacal CEO or sports star, but their legacy tends to fade fairly quickly. Their company goes south, or the 17th season of The Apprentice flops like the 16 before it, or they start making dogs try to kill each other, and they end up drifting into obscurity, bragging the whole way. You want someone with real staying power, someone who won't be forgotten anytime soon, find someone who is incredibly humble.
I learned something interesting about humility recently. Apparently, right up until just under 2000 years ago, humility was not a positive thing at all. The word humility and humiliation in English come from the same Latin root, "humilitas," and ancient culture definitely leaned more towards that latter term. Humility was seen as being in the least odd, at the most morally questionable. Think about that. Today, it's "morally questionable" for someone to have an extra-marital affair. In ancient cultures, we would have put someone saying "I'm not that big of a deal," in the exact same category.
So what happened that changed all this? Why does our culture glorify humility more than almost any other attribute? The Son of God got nailed to a cross. This isn't just a Jesus freak talking. Historical research (check out the work of John Dickson) points to that moment in history as the site of a pivotal shift in our definition of humility. A man who had shown greatness beyond anything people had ever seen was killed in one of the most humiliating ways imaginable. Shoot, in Jesus' own culture, death on a cross was to bring with it a curse. So what did people do when they saw the greatest man they had ever known embrace humility in death? They redefined greatness.
And Jesus' humility was great indeed. We are, in no uncertain terms in my mind, talking about the Son of God, here. That brings with it some pretty cool perks, and more street cred than I could ever imagine (or at least it should). What did Jesus choose to do with this title? He hid it for the majority of his ministry. During Jesus' time of teaching, demons who were afflicting people would try to make those individuals yell out "I know who you are, you are the Son of God!" Jesus' first response was to shut them up.
This seems weird to us, because we have trouble embracing that kind of humility. If we want to do all that we can for the Kingdom in this world, though, this is exactly the kind of humility we need to establish as our norm. Jesus didn't draw thousands to Him by making a huge deal out of Himself. He brought God's truth in the trappings of a carpenter, traveling from city to city and depending on others for His needs.
Make no mistake, Jesus wasn't scared of His title or His calling. He simply knew their was a right time for Him to come onto the scene in all His glory. Start yelling about how you're the Son of God while standing alone on a hilltop, and not many people are going to follow you. On the other hand, spend years healing, loving, and proclaiming hope to a world that desperately needs it, and people are going to start listening when you tell them those things that are a bit harder to believe. Jesus' patience comes from His unbelievable humility, knowing that what He was doing was not to glorify His human form, but to prepare the way so that He could be sacrificed to bring this whole world, right up into the modern day, back into relationship with God. Jesus lived well below His station for over three decades, and He did it out of love for us.
This is the example that we are called to follow, and we are so blessed because of it. The opportunity to accept what Christ did for us us available to all. God so loved the world that He humbled Himself for years, ending His time here in the ultimate act of humility, that we might be saved. We're wasting our time if our service to Him isn't wholeheartedly committed to glorifying His name before all else.
With His love and grace,
Taylor
I learned something interesting about humility recently. Apparently, right up until just under 2000 years ago, humility was not a positive thing at all. The word humility and humiliation in English come from the same Latin root, "humilitas," and ancient culture definitely leaned more towards that latter term. Humility was seen as being in the least odd, at the most morally questionable. Think about that. Today, it's "morally questionable" for someone to have an extra-marital affair. In ancient cultures, we would have put someone saying "I'm not that big of a deal," in the exact same category.
So what happened that changed all this? Why does our culture glorify humility more than almost any other attribute? The Son of God got nailed to a cross. This isn't just a Jesus freak talking. Historical research (check out the work of John Dickson) points to that moment in history as the site of a pivotal shift in our definition of humility. A man who had shown greatness beyond anything people had ever seen was killed in one of the most humiliating ways imaginable. Shoot, in Jesus' own culture, death on a cross was to bring with it a curse. So what did people do when they saw the greatest man they had ever known embrace humility in death? They redefined greatness.
And Jesus' humility was great indeed. We are, in no uncertain terms in my mind, talking about the Son of God, here. That brings with it some pretty cool perks, and more street cred than I could ever imagine (or at least it should). What did Jesus choose to do with this title? He hid it for the majority of his ministry. During Jesus' time of teaching, demons who were afflicting people would try to make those individuals yell out "I know who you are, you are the Son of God!" Jesus' first response was to shut them up.
This seems weird to us, because we have trouble embracing that kind of humility. If we want to do all that we can for the Kingdom in this world, though, this is exactly the kind of humility we need to establish as our norm. Jesus didn't draw thousands to Him by making a huge deal out of Himself. He brought God's truth in the trappings of a carpenter, traveling from city to city and depending on others for His needs.
Make no mistake, Jesus wasn't scared of His title or His calling. He simply knew their was a right time for Him to come onto the scene in all His glory. Start yelling about how you're the Son of God while standing alone on a hilltop, and not many people are going to follow you. On the other hand, spend years healing, loving, and proclaiming hope to a world that desperately needs it, and people are going to start listening when you tell them those things that are a bit harder to believe. Jesus' patience comes from His unbelievable humility, knowing that what He was doing was not to glorify His human form, but to prepare the way so that He could be sacrificed to bring this whole world, right up into the modern day, back into relationship with God. Jesus lived well below His station for over three decades, and He did it out of love for us.
This is the example that we are called to follow, and we are so blessed because of it. The opportunity to accept what Christ did for us us available to all. God so loved the world that He humbled Himself for years, ending His time here in the ultimate act of humility, that we might be saved. We're wasting our time if our service to Him isn't wholeheartedly committed to glorifying His name before all else.
With His love and grace,
Taylor
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