Name:Stacy Location: Lincoln, Nebraska, United States Birthday:1/15/1981 Gender:Female
Interests:Jesus, China, Missions, Politics, and Changing the World! Expertise:Crossing my eyes and blinking one eye at a time :) Occupation:Administrative Assistant Industry:Government
There are some things that blow me away and I can’t quite wrap my mind around during this season. I think through these things as I sing Christmas songs, and usually cry tears of joy and wonder.
The enemy of advent however is familiarity. Yeah, Yeah…away in the manger, Jesus Birthday, Virgin Mary, Wise men, Children’s programs, blah, blah, blah we know, we’ve heard it a billion times. It becomes old hat. That is not judgment, that is where I was when one Christmas G-D was like “really? Blah Blah Blah about the incarnation?”
Some things that Should blow us away:
G-D was silent for 400 years! If you’re in that last generation before Jesus came, faith is probably pretty hard to hold on to. That’s why the story of those who did is so amazing! Many people probably thought that it was nice legend, but G-D didn’t care about them or He would have intervened a long time ago or at least spoke to them. These people were living in exile and oppression.
But for some there was still a sense of anticipation. Some knew the prophecy and knew the King was about to come (whether they understood the type of king who was coming or not).
Then you have the Genealogy of Jesus, filled with Sinners, Misfits, and Losers. A picture of our redemptive G-D before He even arrived on earth.
Then you have Mary…faithful Mary. This beautiful young woman sacrificed so much to bring us our King. And Noble Joseph doing the right thing by Mary, though it could cost him everything. (For more on this, Listen to the song Labor of Love From Andrew Peterson’s Behold the Lamb of G-D*)
For many of us the Incarnation has become old hat. How many times have you heard
“G-D put on flesh” or “Immanuel, “G-D with us” ?
But think about it:
The same G-D who spoke the universe into existence and set the earth at the exact position that keeps us from freezing or burning to death.
The same G-D who stopped the sun in the sky and shut the lions mouth in Den with Daniel and used a Donkey to speak to some.
That G-D set aside that power, majesty and glory and entered into our frail, broken, fallen existence.
AS A BABY! Any of you who have ever had a Baby should understand just how totally dependent they are on their parents. The G-D of the universe in the person of Jesus suddenly could not feed, clothe or burp himself. He could not speak anything into existence…He couldn’t speak! When the G-D of the universe made a dooty in his “diaper” * and he had to sit in his own dooty until Mary changed him. The G-D of the universe could not wipe his own butt!
My point (however sacrilegious you may think it to be) is that Jesus was completely dependent and vulnerable. He came in the humblest of circumstances.
Still as He grew, He understood his connection to the Father. He understood His identity as Jesus. He was completely dependent on the Father, but He lived His life with the Freedom of only doing what the Father directed. Can you imagine the freedom we would enjoy if we only did as the Father directed?
Finally Think about the Angels! (most of this is speculation, but it brings a sense of wonder to think about it)
The angels were/are not omniscient. They didn’t know everything like G-D. Can you imagine the sense of “Wait, What? Jesus you’re leaving us? “ Those people don’t appreciate you? They didn’t even listen to the prophets you sent. Are you sure about this?
Then G-D calls the angels to announce Jesus entry into humanity to the Shepherds. While I imagine the Angels might have questioned G-D’s wisdom in delivering the good news to Shepherds as opposed to say Showing up to Herod’s house and saying “So the King of Kings…meaning the King of even YOU, is Here on earth now. Just thought you should know your worst fear has come true…thanks for playing though”.
But I often imagine the angels would get frustrated watching humanity in all their sinfulness, their lack of trust in G-D and their Lack of belief that G-D is good. I imagine them thinking G-D was getting a bad rep and they probably longed to set the record straight. THEY knew G-D was good.
Can you imagine the excitement when G-D tells them to say Peace on Earth, Good Will Toward Men!! They finally get to set the record straight!!
Those are the words that G-D chose to break the silence.I will good toward all of you. I know you have thought that I am mean and distant, but the truth is that I want good for you. I want to be back in relationship with you so much, that I’m here, now, in person. I’m going to experience all the pain, trials, frailty and brokenness that you do, and I’m going to show you what it looks like to live through that brokenness in community with the Father! I come to make the pathway for you to do the same!
THAT, my friends, is incredibly hopeful, good news!!! I encourage you to re-engage your brain, heart and imagination this Advent! Anticipate his coming. Be overwhelmed by the incarnation!
*I also recommend Bebo Norman's "Angels From the Realms Of Glory" Christmas Album, specifically the song Born to Die (but the whole album is incredible)
*again speculation, I don’t know if they really had diapers in that area or time period :)
So, it’s only been like 4 months since I last wrote about Sacred Rhythms. I know, I know it’s a book about disciplines and I can’t be disciplined to blog my way through the book in a decent amount of time. I do intend to finish though. I only have 3 more chapters ☺
The chapter on Self-Examination is one of those that I think you need to read fully to really catch everything she is trying to express. I do have to say it is the only chapter where I had any noticeable disagreement with her conclusions or recommendations, so this entry will include some push back on what she said. It’s hard to define and summarize Self-Examination, but that never stopped me from trying.
The best way I can summarize Self-Examination is to say it is the practice of gauging our awareness of and our response to G-D’s presence and activity in our lives.
She explains this concept through an explanation of what monks do, complete with names like examine of consciousness. Now, I don’t necessarily mind these explanations, I’m just not sure you need a muddy a subject that is already somewhat difficult to understand. Even if it is easy to understand, it’s certainly not easy to practice.
She lays a very solid foundation for this discipline though, that I greatly appreciate. She starts with making sure we rightly view G-D and that we are convinced of His goodness. She basically makes the argument that if you question whether G-D is good, that Self-Examination will be pointless or even detrimental to you because you will probably respond out of guilt, hopelessness, or indifference. She says it this way:
“If we harbor any concern that we might be abandoned because of some lack in ourselves or some untrustworthiness in the other, it will be very difficult to give ourselves to G-D’s penetrating gaze. However, when we have come to a place of certainty in the steadfastness of G-D’s love and are anchored by a sense of the basic goodness of our created self, there is nothing to lose and everything to gain in inviting G-D to search us and know us to our very depths.”
She also mentions: “…we surrender ourselves to the Spirit of G-D, who reveals truth to us as we are able to bear it”.
So assuming you have a right and good view of G-D, how then do you practice the discipline of Self-Examination. Here are some steps she recommends with my recommendations mixed in:
1. Go back and examine your day/week. a. Were there times you felt resistance to do something you should, or more overtly acted poorly like an angry outburst or something? Is there a reason you can pinpoint with G-D? b. Were you ever aware of or did you acknowledge G-D’s presence during the day? Did He invite you to give something to Him or do something for someone? Did you respond? How so? Was there room in your day for you to hear him? c. Did you actively ask Him to be involved with things you did today? Did you need something and ask Him to meet said need? If not, why not?
2. Be willing to name your failure. Identify it. Call it what it is. Learn to speak freely with G-D about your sin. Contrary to popular belief, conversing with G-D openly about your sin helps you experience His grace and goodness. Also celebrate the times you heard G-D and responded to Him. Thank Him for making Himself known and for being active in your life.
3. Confess: So this is where it gets a little cloudy. Confessing is essentially agreeing with G-D that His way is better and you desire to choose His way.
A few thoughts on confession:
1. This may seem like I’m contradicting myself, but please stick with me. 2. Christian culture right now seems to think it’s hip to confess all sin, in all venues, to all people. It’s under the guise of “being real” and while I appreciate the need to “be real”, I think confession takes some wisdom and discernment. Confession is not a contest to see who can be the most real or vulnerable. When it gets to this level, we have this warped sense of pride that says “Look at how humble and needy I am, I’m glad I’m not like those people who always act like they have it together and don’t share their struggles with the entire congregation.” 3. I honestly believe that confession needs to be reserved to G-D and those you’ve offended and those you’ve brought into your life to hold you accountable. Please see the distinction here between confession and say a testimony of how G-D met you through a sin struggle or using your personal struggles as a teaching example for others. I’m talking about the moment of contrition and agreement with G-D that His way is better or acknowledgment to others that you were wrong. Just to be clear, I am not suggesting we lie and act like we have no sin or that we never name it in front of others I think we just need to use wisdom and discernment as to when it is appropriate or helpful. 4. One thing that Barton does say about confession that I really appreciate is that we should learn the discipline of confessing at the moment of realizing our error. This can be extremely difficult to do. It is a discipline that I try to practice, but I’m bad at it. The temptation in the moment (say when I’m in an argument with someone and realize I’m wrong) is to fight it out and write a note or email later. What would transform my relationships with people is to at that moment to say, I am wrong and I am sorry, please forgive me. This can transform my relationship with G-D as well. 5. Finally Barton says that the End-Game of Self-Examination is Confession. That is one place that I must disagree with her. If this is where we end I think we are missing a vital step and potentially setting ourselves up to repeat the behavior. Once we confess, I really feel like we need Praise and Thank G-D for forgiving us. We need to acknowledge, accept and live in the truth that we are forgiven and clean and that G-D has cast our sins as far as the east is from the west and remembers it no more (Psalm 103).
I think too often we are tempted to beat ourselves up for a while. We feel like we need to wallow in the guilt because that’s what we deserve and we are not worthy of His grace and forgiveness. There are many problems with this behavior, but two major things come to mind
1. We are calling G-D a liar and acting as if His sacrifice was not enough to cover how bad our sin was (as if we have achieved some new class of sin that G-D just hadn’t accounted for).
2. It makes us live in defeat, which gives satan a foothold. If we say/think “Oh I’m just so terrible and how could G-D love me and why should I even try, and I can’t believe I did this again” Satan comes along and says “You Bet Your Sweet Bippy you suck at this. G-D can’t love you. Why do you even bother to live in the light…you don’t belong there”. (that’s right, satan sounds like a 50’s laundry detergent ad :) Point being is that it’s dangerous territory to live there. It’s deliberately choosing to live under the law and lies, when G-D has freed and invited us to live in the Kingdom of light under grace and love.
CONCLUSION: If you truly believe and trust that G-D is good and intends good for you, that He keeps His promises, and Loves you like crazy Self-Examination becomes the venue through which we ask G-D to lovingly help us identify areas in our walks that are not life-producing or kingdom-building. Once revealed we submit them to His loving direction and care and ask Him to give us the strength to change those things so we can live the abundant life we all long for.
Recently I had a short dialogue with a fellow believer/blogger about government services that I, personally, think the church should probably be providing. I feel that I need to say from the beginning that this may come across as a strong critique of the church, and I want to make it clear that I am being just as hard on myself as a member of the Body of Christ. I also apologize in advance for lacking the gift of pithiness.
Let me premise this with a few verses:
Zechariah 7:9-10 9 “Thus has the LORD of hosts said, ‘Dispense true justice and practice kindness and compassion each to his brother; 10 and do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the stranger or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another.’
James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
These verses are just a sampling of countless verses that refer to these issues. They are certainly a theme in the Bible and make up what can be referred to as Kingdom Economics. More verses can be found here
These themes reappear in the Bible so often because these are real felt needs that appear in every society. One of the ways that G-D desired to make his Glory known was to use the nation of Israel to be a very peculiar people. Believe it or not, it was peculiar to care for the poor, widowed, orphaned or foreigners who lived around them at the time. So G-D established these as priorities in His law for His Kingdom. Since G-D had already established himself as King, a Kingdom, His Kingdom Laws, and promised that they would be His people, you can understand why G-D was resistant to giving them an earthly king. Why would they need one? Besides it was just a really bad idea, and G-D knew that.
But eventually Israel decided they didn’t want to be peculiar and stand out from the rest of the nations and decided to turn their lives over to an earthly king. The history of the US is similar. There were many believers that established themselves as the Body of Christ, completely separate from the Empire that was establishing itself after the revolutionary war. But over time Christians sought leadership in the government and the functions of the church were 1 by 1 turned over to the government…..marriage, birth law (birth certificates, records, etc.). schooling, care for the orphaned, poor, and disabled. These are all things that used to be done solely within the Body of Christ that eventually was turned over to the government for administration and funding. That all seemed like a great plan until the government starting allowing for the protection and care of other groups besides believers.
We have seen this phenomenon happening a lot recently. The government does what it should do to be just and fair and the church throws a big whoppin’ fit and demands the government get back to G-D. The problem with that is there is a false assumption that the government was ever submitted to G-D in the first place. If believers are so fed up with the way the government is handling these services and institutions, they should just go do it the “right” way on their own, completely apart from the government…the way G-D intended. Instead believers pour billions of dollars (time and resources) into getting Christians elected, lobbying government to change their ways and adopt more Christian friendly policies, seek tax-exemptions and shelters, establish faith-based initiatives that are funded with government dollars, create “The Truth Project” and try to “Take America Back for G-D”.
I’m sure if you know me you think I sound like a hypocrite. As a believer who works in government I see how grossly inefficient and corrupt government is at carrying out the roles of the church. BUT in many ways I am also in a prime position to see where the church fails to provide an alternative. Even when they do “provide an alternative”, they tend to run it like the government program or like a business, and if you have to fill out an application to get food anyway you might as well go to the government where people won’t question your moral integrity when they give you the food.
So what are some areas of need that the church could maybe provide a real alternative to what the government offers?:
-The need for mental and behavioral health care for a kid or family member. -Respite care for those who care for the mentally and physically disabled. -Health Care in general -Drug/Alcohol treatment -Protection from Domestic/Child Abuse -Money to get by while people are unemployed/re-training of the work force so they can find another job.
See...the church dabbles in some of these areas, but we blend into the empire, getting our tax shelters and "faith-based initiatives" covered by the government's dime. We dabble because just like the world and the government, we believe there are limited resources. Certainly the church in and of itself has limited resources, but G-D doesn’t. If we live in such a way that demonstrates our deep belief that through G-D there is enough to share and go around, then there will be. That is just simple Kingdom Economics my friends. Anyone ever heard that story about some kid’s loaves and fishes feeding a big honkin group of people? Yeah, same G-D still around today. Instead we put our faith in Adam Smith and Alan Greenspan to explain market forces and explain why we couldn’t possibly feed everyone in the world. (btw. A great book on Kingdom Economics is Jesus for President, by Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw).
We can't dabble and be effective. We have to be ridiculous and unreasonable to come up with High-Trust initiatives that require G-D to be involved or it fails. It also has to look completely different than all the government services, or the empire will get credit instead of glory being given to our Father, who has enough resources to meet all these needs. We have to get back to being peculiar. People should write articles about the things believers are doing and be writing things like “the plan seems absolutely crazy, but it seems to be working.”
So, what are some examples of this craziness I’m dreaming of?
1. Step one would be a simple shift in resources. Instead of pouring billions into elections and lobbyist groups, let’s move that money into providing job training and unemployment insurance. 2. Let’s establish our own scholarships to train doctors, mental health professionals and respite care professionals within every community and congregation and bravely ask the government to send people our way, instead of telling them they don’t qualify. 3. Some local bodies (like The Simple Way) are already doing a coop for health insurance, we should just make it standard practice. 4. Churches should be providing non-lethal self-defense courses and using them as an opportunity to explain why we should cling to non-violence as believers, instead of promoting 2nd amendment rights. 5. When women and/or children are being abused a coalition of men and women should come around the women and children to protect them and help provide for their needs. The men should also attempt to come around the man to help him overcome his anger, and possibly save the marriage. 6. There needs to be more groups that aid, shelter and help immigrants (illegal or otherwise) acclimate to the US. There are some amazing groups (like Border Angels), but there need to be more. We should train do more to train them for jobs, and teaching them English.
The list could go on and on. I recognize that I sound overly idealistic and optimistic, but allow me to temper that by saying that most people who know me would say I’m a bit of a cynical realist. I also recognize that I seem to make is sound oh so simple. It is hard, that’s why I haven’t started all of these initiatives. BUT the fact is the government has somehow managed to come up with ways to quasi-meet all of these needs. How can the church, who knows the G-D of the universe that has unlimited resources honestly say these things are too hard so we’ll just leave it to the government?
I was reading through some scripture this morning and had an interesting realization. Do you ever read a scripture and hear a scripture so many times that it just becomes old hat, but you read it again and you realize there is something in that section of scripture that always seems to get over-looked or left out.
The prime example of this to me is psalm 46:10…You know “Be still and know that I am G-D.”It is almost always left at that. It is easy to believe that is the complete verse. People use it to take comfort in all sorts of situations. But when you put it back into context and actually bother to complete the verse, it does (in some ways) change the meaning.
Psalm 46:10
"Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."
Now, don’t get me wrong. People should take comfort because of this verse. I know I do. I take comfort because I realize that regardless of my effort or failure to exalt Him among the nations, He will be exalted among the nations. That gives me great rest as I toil and am tempted to beat myself up for not doing enough. In the context of the psalm the traditional interpretation of this verse doesn’t seem to fit well.Anyway, my point is that people may not be doing any real theological damage by misinterpreting these verses, but I feel like they are missing out on the fullness of it when that happens.
I had one of these realizations this morning…that I had been missing out on the fullness of a commonly used verse.
I’m a worrier by nature, and people have always quoted Philippinas 4: 6-7 to combat my concern:
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to G-D. And the peace of G-D which surpasses all comprehension will guard your heart sand your minds in Christ Jesus.
OK…it’s a good verse to combat worry, I understand that. Intellectually I submit to this verse and believe it’s true. Emotionally it’s a little harder, as a worrier to be anxious for nothing. This section of scripture has two commands that are really hard to live up to on an emotional level…Rejoice in the Lord Always, and Be anxious for nothing.
But I noticed something cool this morning that I had never noticed or heard before. No one sees the need to quote this part when they tell me to be anxious for nothing. There is a small little phrase in verse 5 that changes everything for me:
The Lord is near.
Here it is in context:
Philippians 4:4-7 (New American Standard Bible)
4Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! 5Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. 6Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
This little phrase in the middle of those commands almost reads like a therefore phrase. The Lord is near, THEREFORE be anxious for nothing.It’s hard for me to be anxious for nothing just because it’s commanded of me. But if someone says The G-D of the universe who provides all your needs, who has loved you from the foundation of time, who knitted you together in your mother’s womb, who sent his son to make a way for you to be reconciled to Him, who knows when a hair falls from your head and knows exactly which hair fell from your head, who feeds the birds and dresses the flowers of the field…That G-D is near to you, so don’t be anxious.
It seems silly that this is a fairly recent realization for me, but I’m noticing more and more that there are no commands given without the promise of his nearness, or some sort of comfort. It amazes me. G-D knows that we are intellectual beings that are also emotional. He knows that in order for us to live out his commands he must empower us to do so through his Holy Spirit. He is so good.
So friends….Be anxious for nothing, because He is near!
Continuing my series on blogging through the book Sacred Rhythms by Ruth Haley Barton.
Chapter 5 was a good one, and it was one that I particularly enjoyed because I felt like G-D had allowed me to experience some of these principles during my retreat weekend.
• Many of the principles in this chapter are taken from the story of Elijah in 1 Kings 19. This takes place after the spiritual high he experienced when G-D consumed the sacrifice, then Jezebel puts a hit out on his life and he ran like crazy. He winds up exhausted and discouraged in the wilderness. He falls asleep under a broom tree. • In this chapter Barton discusses the spiritual discipline of caring for the physical body. This is not a discipline that is typically associated with spiritual disciplines like prayer and scripture reading, but the others are not possible without this one. • She discusses how when Elijah falls asleep from exhaustion that an Angel of the Lord comes and wakes him up and tells him to eat and drink, and he does. Then the amazing thing is Elijah rolls over and goes back to bed. The text does not say that the Angel of the Lord shook him again and said…You’ve slept long enough get up man”. The text implies that he left him to sleep for a while, and then came back a second time to wake him up. This time the Angel of the Lord says, "Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you." And strengthened by that food, he got up and traveled for 40 days and nights, and got back on track with G-D’s plan. • Essentially what Elijah was experiencing was burn out. We’ve all been there, some of us more aware of it than others. I think it’s important to note that it’s apparent that G-D knew he needed to rest, and he needed good food and water to strengthen him, after all, G-D made Elijah. • But many of us are guilty of neglecting our body, thinking it’s so temporal that it’s not worth spending time on when there are spiritual matters to attend to. And believe me, I am mostly describing myself here, because I’m more guilty of this than most. • I feel like I have to learn this lesson over and over and over. As soon as I start to feel healthy again I tend to run my body into the ground. I am sitting here still dealing with issues with my voice. I sprained my ankle severely and was considering putting off physical therapy for it, when a good friend intervened in that poor plan. When I get busy the first things to go are healthy options because I don’t take time to cook, and I cut out exercise because it takes time and energy, even though both of those things would actually help my energy levels. I really am a failure in so many ways, but thankfully G-D gives me an enormous amount of grace and helps to heal my body even when I’m being foolish. • Here are a few quotes from the chapter that I absolutely loved.
“The spiritual discipline of honoring the body helps us find our way between the excesses of a culture that glorifies and objectifies the body and the excesses of Christian tradition that have often denigrated and ignored the body. As we become more intentional about finding this middle way, we will be surprised by the spontaneous combustion that comes when aspects of ourselves that were always meant to exist as an integrated whole finally come together in a way that produces great joy and vitality.”
“Most times, our body is the first to know if we are overcommitted, stressed, uneasy or joyful, and when we need to attend to something that is causing us pain or disease.” [This is why listening to our body is so critical]
“If I experience a particular activity as being inordinately draining, I begin to consider very carefully how much of myself G-D wants me to give to that. On the other hand, if I feel particularly energized by a certain person or activity, I can pay attention to how G-D may be leading me to incorporate more of that into my life”
“Moments of physical activity and exercise can become prayers of gratitude and moments of consecration. Eating food that we enjoy and is healthful for us can be the occasion of experiencing G-D’s care for us, reminding us of our dependency on Him and of His faithfulness to care for our needs. By scheduling at least some of our meals at times when we can eat slowly and prayerfully, we can make mealtimes occasions of true communion and gratitude.” (I love this one because while I was on my retreat, I worked out 4 times and it just felt great, and my heart was over-whelmed with gratitude that I was free and able to move like that. When I was 100 lbs heavier I could not and I felt like a prisoner).
So the over all point here is that G-D wants us to care for our bodies because it’s directly connected to our souls. We are whole beings, not compartmentalized so we must thing of spiritual disciplines as the things we do to care for our entire being, so our entire being can experience life with G-D to the fullest!
