A Baby, A Cross, and a Catharsis

Don't we all love the prayer scene from Talladega Nights?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7pco3TTV5k

OK, maybe not all of us.  But, I sure do.  What strikes me is that today is the day when we all celebrate "sweet baby Jesus". On Christmas Eve we watched a full slate of classic Christmas movies for kids and all of them dealt with skepticism regarding the existence of Santa.  At the end of the day the point was always, "Christmas is about helping poor people" or some derivation.

In my head though this wasn't ringing true.  I am becoming more and more convinced that Advent and Christmas cannot be separated from the Cross. The Magi brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh, all important for middle eastern burials.  Jesus was most likely born near Passover (that's a discussion for another time) and he died at Passover.

The Lamb of God born at Passover, the Bread of Life born in the City of Bread.

What is Christmas about? It's simple, it's about a Cross and a Resurrection.

It had to start somewhere and it started in Bethlehem in a common cave used for the keeping of animals.  To close I want to leave you an extended quote from Jonathan Edwards (this quote was taken from here):

What an amazing act of grace was it when Christ took upon our human nature. In this act of great condescension, he who was God became man. The Word should be made flesh, and should take on him a nature infinitely below his original nature. We should appreciate the remarkably low circumstances of his incarnation: He was conceived in the womb of a poor young woman, whose poverty appeared in this, when she came to offer sacrifices for her purification, she brought what was allowed of in the Law only in the case of poverty, a pair of turtle-doves or two young pigeons.

Christ's infinite condescension marvelously appeared in the manner of his birth. He was brought forth in a stable, because there was no room for them in the inn. The inn was taken up by others, that were looked upon as persons of greater account. The blessed Virgin, being poor and despised, was turned or shut out. Though she was in such need, yet those that counted themselves her better would not give place to them. Therefore, in her time of giving birth, she was forced to give birth to her son in a stable, and laid him in a feed trough.

There Christ lay a little infant, and there he eminently appeared as a lamb. But yet this feeble infant, born this way in a stable, and laid in a feed trough, was born to conquer and triumph over Satan, that roaring lion (cf. 1 Peter 5:8). Jesus came to subdue the mighty powers of darkness, and make a show of them openly, and so to restore peace on earth, and to manifest God's good-will towards men, and to bring glory to God in the highest!

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I Can See Clearly Now...

...the rain is gone,
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
It's gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-Shiny day.

It's funny how clarity can change things.  After the first big winter storm the schools were all closed and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader had just been released, so we packed into the car and headed to the show.

The roads weren't too bad but there was a constant spattering of stuff on my windshield.  I hit the mister and nothing happened except for the mud and grime to smear.  The realization of traveling on an expressway with no visibility was a little nerve racking.  This got worse as I had to slowly make way around the exit ramp cloverleaf without falling off the side.

I learned a timeless that day: Clarity IS important.

In the previous post we talked about the importance of language.  Here's the thing though: language without clarity is useless.

This hit home for me a few years ago as I was engaged in a conversation with some Mormon missionaries (it always strikes me as odd how many are named "Elder").  We were talking about Jesus, grace, faith, God, and Bible.  It seemed as though things were moving along well but it turned out that we were going nowhere.

I thought we were discussing the same things because we were using the same language.  I could not have been more wrong.

We did not have clarity.

Our definitions were totally different.  We were not even close to understanding one another and as a result our conversation slipped into mundane futility and frustration.

In a conversation about anything, let alone Jesus, the conversants must have a clarified understanding of the words they are using or there will be constant confusion and frustration. For those of us who want other people to follow Jesus we must listen closely to hear where we can build a bridge and in so doing we bring clarity.

Paul Tarsus was speaking at the Areopagus in Athens when he said these words, "For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. (Acts 17:23 ESV)"

He wanted to bring clarity and that he did by redefining "the unknown god" to that of the revealed God, Jesus.

May we take the time to clear the clouds and reveal the Son!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HagzTRmUBIE

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Watch Your Language!

Sa a se bagay ki pi enpòtan ke ou te ka janm li. Ou ka li li l '? Si ou pa kapab alò ou pa pral kapab konprann. Ou dwe konprann! Frape, frape! Ki moun ki la a? Ou. Ki ou? Oh pa kriye, li jis yon blag!

I think that I have heard the words, "Watch your language!" more than I could ever imagine. It turns out that when I was younger I did not have much of a filter. It also turns out that as an adult I do not have much of a filter. Every day my poor wife has to remind what not to say.

Don't you feel bad for her? I do.

My issues are not the point of this post, however. The issue is language. Could you read the opening few sentences? Unless you are some sort of awesome linguist, then probably not.

If you are a follower of Jesus you speak a secret language, a language that not everyone speaks. To he honest, most people don't speak our language. It is comprised of big words, special words, insider words and most of them end in "-tion".

When I have conversations with people I am reminded that sometimes my Christian language is different from their language. I want them to understand what I am saying because when we are talking about Jesus, we are talking about the most important thing.

What is the language of your neighbors? I am not taling about English. What are the metaphors and narratives that give their world meaning?

I will almost guarantee it's not the biblical narrative.

Television, films, music, celebrities, and to a lesser extent books provide the narrative arc for the world around us.

Can you speak their language?

If we want to be able to invite them to know Jesus we must be able to speak the language.

Oh, if you want to know what the opening paragraph says leave a comment!

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Destruction or Construction?

I was 18 or 19, the room was jammed with more than 1,000 college students and we were enthralled by the man on the stage.  He was thick necked and spoke with power and authority.  When he got passionate the veins in his neck bulged.  As a young man, I found in him the embodiment of all that I wanted to be: strong, intelligent, quick witted, and a command of philosophy and logic that left your head spinning.

He shared story after story of destructing the worldviews of other people thereby creating a vacuum for the message of Jesus to fill.

He didn't share many stories of people becoming followers of Jesus.

Fast forward nearly ten years.

I am alone in my basement listening to a man with an English accent, whom I have never seen.  He is sharing story after story of people responding to the story of Jesus.

One man built bridges and the other created vacuums.

One man started with humanity being created in the image of God and the other with human sinfulness.

One man started with the mindset of a builder and the other with the mindset of destruction.

If we respect people and understand what they believe we will necessarily find points from which to build bridges from their world to the glorious grace of God in the face of Jesus.

Building is harder than demolition, but it is worth it. It's worth it because regardless of response the conversation stays open.

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Can You Understand Me?

One of the most powerful feelings I have ever had was the time that I landed in Germany and realized that I had no idea what the signs said. It was remarkably uncomfortable. I had no idea what he ads were saying, I had no idea what the people around me were saying, I could not understand a thing. I felt very lost and very confused and very much alone (which is weird because I was traveling with a group of six others).

I felt these things because I knew I had no hope of being understood.

I have found that as a Christ follower who intentionally seeks to introduce others to Jesus I unwittingly speak German to them.

In my previous post I talked about respect.  Well, if I respect someone then I can not caricature them.  I need to honestly and authentically understand what they believe.  This means that I must listen. Not only that it means that I must hear them.

This is hard.

It's hard because the universe revolves around me and to really listen means that I need to set myself aside.

When you engage in conversation with someone about belief systems it is incumbent on you to be able to communicate back to this person their belief system in such a way they say, "Yes, that's what I believe".

Have you seen the movie White Men Can't Jump?  There's a great scene where Woody and Wesley are listening to Jimi Hendrix and Wesley challenges him and says, "You can't hear Jimi".  This is the point.

Can you "hear" another? If not then you are not really listening and you don't really respect them and you will never understand what they believe.

I love the fact that Jesus took time to hear people and listen.  John 8 is an incredible story where Jesus hears and understands and then responds in a way that changes lives.

Will we?

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R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Aretha sang, "Find out what respect means to me".  Respect is a simple word.  It is one which causes people to get into fights, feel good, or get loud.  Respect is something that is intangible and yet is required.

Today I interacted on a blog where some people were critiquing a friend's book.

They had not read the book.

Yet, they trashed the book.  They trashed him.  They challenged his character.  It was a personal attack.

They claim to be Christians.

Over the last couple of weeks I have been teaching a group of people about how to engage with those who don't follow Jesus.  We began with "respect." Why? Because this is the place that Jesus starts.  This is the place that Paul starts. They were respecters of people.

Consider Jesus' interaction with the Samaritan woman in John 4.

He respected her.  He did not pull any punches but he dealt with her in love and did not demean her.

Respect is a powerful form of love and it opens many doors that might not otherwise open.  It is foundational for relationship.

If the Church is going to be what it's called to be it has to respect those who are far from God. This means that to caricature those who disagree with you is out.  This means that you must take time to learn and actually hear what these people are saying.

Back to my friend, he has a dynamic to atheists at a large state university.  He has written a fiction novel that uses a genre that is attractive to those whom God has placed on his heart.  I am probably not going to read the book, because it's simply not a genre that I enjoy.  But, I am quite certain that many people who are far from God will and as they do they will come face to face with the story and message of Jesus.

Will that message look like the Four Spiritual Laws? Nope. But it will challenge the mind and will of those who read it.

Interestingly, the Christians who have displayed such disrespect are probably never going to have the hearing that a man who has written something they detest will.

Why?

R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0XAI-PFQcA

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Community and Christmas

What is the meaning of Christmas? That was the question that NBC's Community asked last week in an incredibly creative stop motion animation episode that left me laughing. The episode was full of hat tips to great Christmas specials of the past and a few nice shots at the Christian faith.

Shots at Christianity in a Christmas special? Yes.

Are you offended?

The shots that they took weren't the kinds that you might expect.  The most crushing one came from Shirley, whose character is an outspoken Christian. She said, "I am a modern day Christian, I have learned sensitivity and so I say Happy Holidays not wanting anyone else's religion to feel inferior to mine."

I laughed. Then, I cried.

Not really. But, I have been thinking about this for the last few days.

Christmas has lost something in the post-modern malaise of mutual worldview affirmations.

Then I remembered last Friday, my son sang in a "Holiday Concert" at his school.  They sang Happy Hannukah, Mud Slide, and Up on the Housetop.

Silent Night was played on the piano, no singing.

Something manifestly changed.

A hush came over the crowded cafeteria. You could have heard a pin drop.

Christmas, the moment when God split time one passover many years ago and entered into history. Even today with all of our sensitivity and complacency humanity still becomes silent before the reality that took place when God moved into the neighborhood.

Everyone in that cafeteria experienced something different in that moment than all that had come before. That moment was thick with the holy.

I wish I could sit down with Abed and over a peppermint mocha just talk about the meaning of Christmas.

Maybe I can, maybe there are people all around me looking for the real meaning if I would just open my eyes to see and have ears to hear.

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