Day 268 Inconveniently Peculiar

I have come to wonder whether the real clash of religions (or even of civilizations) may be going unnoticed. I am beginning to think that for all the religions of the world, however they may differ from one another, the religion of The Market has become the most formidable rival, the more so because it is rarely recognized as a religion. 

The traditional religions and the religion of the global market, as we have seen, hold radically different views of nature. In Christianity and Judaism, for example, "the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and all that dwell therein." The Creator appoints human beings as stewards and gardeners but, as it were, retains title to the earth. Other faiths have similar ideas. 

In Market religion, however, human beings, more particularly those with money, own anything they buy and -- within certain limits -- can dispose of anything as they choose. Other contradictions can be seen in ideas about the human body, the nature of human community, and the purpose of life.

The older religions encourage archaic attachments to particular places. But in The Market's eyes all places are interchangeable. The Market prefers a homogenized world culture with as few inconvenient particularities as possible.
                                                                                        - The Market as God

Day 267 Digging Down, Reaching Out

It is hard to imagine sustaining significant friendships on the margins if we ourselves are not part of a community. It is simply too difficult to do alone. A community of friends who share our deepest commitments to God and to those on the margins keeps us accountable and gives us strength and support. But even more than that, it is hard to conceive of ourselves apart from the life of a community. We are who we are because of the communities in which we dwell.
                                                                       
                                                                                -- Friendship on the Margins

Day 266 Radical Relavance

Jesus was not just a moralist whose teachings had some political implication; he was not primarily a teacher of spirituality whose public ministry unfortunately was seen in a political light; he was not just a sacrificial lamb preparing for his immolation, or a God-Man whose divine status calls us to disregard his humanity. Jesus was, in his divinely mandated prophethood, priesthood, and kingship, the bearer of a new possibility of human, social, and therefore political relationships. His baptism is the inauguration and his cross is the culmination of that new regime in which his disciples are called to share. Hearers or readers may choose to consider that kingdom as not real, or not relevant, or not possible, or not inviting; but...no such slicing can avoid his call to an ethic marked by the cross, a cross identified as the punishment of a man who threatens society by creating a new kind of community leading a radically new kind of life.
                                                                            - The Politics of Jesus

Day 263 Wayside Sacraments

"Never lose an opportunity for seeing anything that is beautiful; For beauty is God's handwriting -- a wayside sacrament. 

Welcome it in every fair face, in every fair sky, in every fair flower, And thank God for it as a cup of His blessing." 

                                                                              - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Day 255 Tomorrow!

Tomorrow, tomorrow, I'll hug you tomorrow! It's only a day away! Love, Mom

Day 254 The Groove

The groove is so mysterious. We're born with it and we lose it, and the world seems to split apart before our eyes into stupid and cool.

When we get it back, the world unifies around us and both stupid and cool fall away.

I am grateful to those who are keepers of the groove. The babies and the grandmas who hang on to it and help us remember when we forget that any kind of dancing is better than no dancing at all.

                                                            - Lynda Barry, One Hundred Demons

Day 253 Not Just Any Peace

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

Day 252 Where it is

If clouds are full of water, they pour rain upon the earth. Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where it falls, there will it lie. Ecclesiastes 11:3

Well. That's pretty matter of fact. Where ever it falls, there it is. I suppose Solomon could afford to think that. Besides, there aren't many trees in Israel. It's a desert. On the other hand, I think the challenge might be in living out that matter-of-fact-ness in our daily lives.

Here's a college student's take on that. Kelly lived in England for a year, and she was finally flying home. She decided to standby for an earlier flight from Heathrow to Los Angeles. She presented Her standby request to the gate representative and watched as the room began to fill with other passengers. After an hour, they began boarding the plane and calling standby passengers to board.

"I watched as not just one, but a dozen people were called ahead of me," Kelly said. "The room was nearly empty and the flight was loaded. About five minutes before the gate was to close, my name was called. A huge wave of relief rushed over me. I was onboard.

"What frustrates me, though, is that I probably spent 24 hours stressing over whether or not I would get on this flight. As a result, I was short with my friends as I packed. I was rude to the taxi driver because I was stressed and in a hurry."

 We all have areas of life that we stress about, get angry over, and worry about that we have absolutely no control over at all! Whether a cancelled or delayed flight, a rainstorm when you planned an outdoor event, waiting in line at the checkout counter, a restaurant not serving you as quickly as you would like, or something else.

What Solomon understood was that there was a lot in life that was out of his control. If the clouds are full of water, then it will rain. If they’re not, it won’t.... If they have a seat, I will get on the flight. If they don’t, I won’t. oh. (doh.)

It is easy to get caught up in the moment and panic if you try to control everything going on around you. But, there is great wisdom in what Solomon is saying. Sometimes (sometimes!) you just have to go with the flow.

A lot of life is out of our control.... What we can control is how we react. Will we be short with a waiter because our food isn’t perfect, or will we kindly explain our need? Will we be rude to others because our flight has been cancelled, or will we be able to take a deep breath and remember that where a tree falls, it falls?

Dang. I hate that.

Day 251 Practice

Have you ever seen Martha Graham dance "Lamentation"? It was cutting edge when she performed it in the '30s. It's worth a look, here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb4-kpClZns. I think Albert Einstein would agree with what she says below, but I think he would (likely I would) change the word "perfection" to "success."

"I believe that we learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living, the principles are the same. In each, it is the performance of a dedicated set of acts, physical or intellectual, from which comes shape of achievement, a sense of one's being, a satisfaction of spirit. One becomes in some area an athlete of God. Practice means to perform, in the face of all obstacles, some act of vision, of faith, of desire. Practice is a means of inviting the perfection (success) desired.
                                                                                      - Martha Graham, "An Athlete of God"

Day 250 Refuge

Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the woman who takes refuge in him. Psalm 34:8

Day 249 Standing O

At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to stand before the Lord to minister and to pronounce blessings in his name. Deut. 10:8

What kinds of events make you rise to your feet? Music? Sports? Public figures?

In OT Israel, the tribe of Levi was set apart, chosen, to "stand before the Lord to minister and pronounce blessings in his name." They awere to help people worship God and share the good news of God's blessings for all

This involved everyday work and routine, bu tit also involved heart-stirring responsibilities to stand up for and honor the amazing Lord of heaven and earth who had delivered his people. In that way, the Levites were like the angels--they came to pronounce good news like the birth of John and Jesus.

God calls us to stand too--by putting on his armor so that we can "be strong in the Lord and his mighty power" and "stand against the devil's schemes" using God's gifts to honor him in all we do.

Lord, we stand in awe of you. Help us to live faithfully to you. Amen.

Day 247 Curiosity and Awe

"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity."    

                                                                                                   - Albert Einstein

Day 246 No Business being Usual

Jesus in his solidarity with the marginal ones is moved to compassion....

The compassion of Jesus isn't simply a personal emotional reaction. It's a public criticism in which he dares to act upon his concern against the entire numbness of his social context: Empires live by numbness.

Empires, in their militarism, expect numbness about the human cost of war. Corporate economies expect blindness to the cost of poverty and exploitation. Governments and societies of domination go to great lengths to keep numbness intact.

Jesus penetrates numbness with his compassion. With his compassion takes the first step by making visible the odd abnormality that had become business as usual in this world.

                                                             - Walter Brueggemann, The Prophetic Imagination

Day 245 Step

Don’t sit paralyzed waiting for all your answers before you trust God. Take a small step of faith towards Him, and He will show you the next one. His Word is the lamp at your feet and the light for your path.

Day 244 More than an Idea

We live by revelation as Christians, which means we must be careful never to get set into rigid molds. The minute we begin to think we know all the answers, we forget the questions, and we become smug like the Pharisee who listed all his considerable virtues and thanked God that he was not like other men.

Those who believe they believe in God, but without passion in the heart, without anguish of mind, without uncertainty, without doubt, and even at times without despair, believe only in the idea of God, and not in God himself.
                                                                                                               ― Madeleine L'Engle

Day 242 Dressed in a Crisis

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

Get this: it's a mission trip nightmare! At a summer workcamp, a student workcrew was making repairs to drywall at the home of two women: an elderly mother on oxygen therapy and her daughter.

While they were working, they had to move the washer and dryer, and when the washer was moved away from the wall, one of the incoming water lines broke. Water started spraying everywhere! The floor flooded quickly while the kids frantically tried to locate the water shut-off valve. They soon realized that the source of the home’s water was a well, so they turned off the electricity to the home to shut down the pump. The water from the broken pipe stopped spraying.

But. The machine that delivered the mother’s oxygen was also powered by electricity now wasn't working. The workers finally located the water shut-off valve, so they were able to promptly turn back on the electricity to the home. Now however, the oxygen machine would not function. Seriously!

Unable to get the machine working again, the workers called the paramedics. When they arrived, they found that the machine had been malfunctioning before the electricity had been turned off. They then gave the mother a new, reliable oxygen machine.

The students were upset and felt responsible for causing the crisis that had threatened the home and the mother’s health.

But after a while, another perspective began to dawn on them. As it turned out, the water pipe that broke had not been installed correctly to begin with. Two pipes had been simply glued together without any sort of connector between them, and any movement of the washer would have easily caused the pipes to come apart. The substandard plumbing was replaced later that day. And, by shutting down the electricity, the mother learned that her oxygen machine wasn’t functioning properly.

In the end, the kids realized that God had used their presence at the house – and what were scary moments of crisis – to provide the additional help that the women didn't even know that they needed: these problems would have occurred anyway, and because of their presence the work crew was there to help the women deal with situations that would have been devastating had they been alone. At the end of the day, both the women and the work crew were certain that they had seen God at work, blessing everyone involved.

Our God is more than big enough to orchestrate blessing out of a crisis. When trials come your way, trust Him!

Day 240 God of Celebration

The LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘These are my appointed festivals, the appointed festivals of the LORD, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies.’”

Leviticus 23:1

After this verse, the rest of this chapter in Leviticus seems pretty dry. It's a list of required assemblies.... Doesn't that sound like grade school.

But if you look more closely, you see that God wants to celebrate with his people--not just recalling a historic event but claiming it in the present. The purpose was that God's people would know that he is still the God who was with them in the past. So in the festivals, God was giving them a multi-sensory experience of His goodness and provision, both past and present.

When I think of “the appointed festivals of the LORD,” I imagine traditional church services: you know the kind. But really, these festivals were blow-outs filled with food, drink, dancing, and laughter. They were loud, raucous, and sometimes lasted a week or more.  They were times for some serious celebrating!

Ever thought that we serve a God who loves a good party? In Leviticus, he basically says, “Be sure to stop working and start partying...or you’ll be disobedient!” What if Christians were known more for our celebrations than stoicism? Epic, God-sized parties that celebrate life and beauty and goodness.

God tells us that there is a time for celebrating, He wants us to have rhythms and times of celebration where we reconnect ourselves with the larger story of God, one that is beyond our work or accomplishments and focuses on God’s goodness. This is a gift God who knows how we are wired, that we need times to be reminded of what is important, what is essential…and that life is more than work.

Maybe we (and me especially!) need a reminder sometimes that “This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.” (Leviticus 23:31)

Day 239 Patience and Courage

"Have courage for the great sorrows in life, and patience for the small ones. And when you have accomplished your daily tasks, go to sleep in peace: God is awake."

                                                                                                                                  - Victor Hugo