Plastic Faith

Last Saturday I had the “opportunity” to eat at Cracker Barrel. I’m sorry, but I’m just not that into breakfast foods, nor am I that into “country cookin.’” Oh now … come on folks … I need all the help I can get in maintaining a steady but safe decline in my weight. “Country cookin’” does not exactly help.

However, I very much appreciate the chance to file through their “country store.” It certainly has the effect of helping to long for days I have never seen before: the days of authentic rural Americana. On this particular day I even had the opportunity to chat with a fellow for “quite some time,” sitting in rocking chairs on a lazy afternoon. Yes, we solved the world’s problems, but, as always with front porch conversations of this nature, the world wasn’t listening.

Oh well, no matter, I was listening … both to my friend and to the moment. What is so valuable that we rush, rush, rush through life, passing up opportunities like the one at hand, only to find that there’s one more order to fill, one more paper to write, one more problem to solve … alone?

And yet, as I wondered through the country store, I was amazed at all the plastic things for sale. Is plastic really dainty morsel of yesteryear? While I certainly have nothing against plastic per se (the computer I’m typing this on is plastic), often times plastic is merely a cheap time-saver. And in this store, dedicated to whetting the appetite for the best of rural Americana, can cheap time-savers (from rural China, no doubt) really replicate the iron-n-steel wielded by backbones of the same material that actually plowed the lifestyles of yesteryear?

Plastic. Cheap time-savers. With the time saved on the cheap I am now able to rush, rush, rush to fill one more order, write one more paper, and solve one more problem (all alone); so that I can now pay down the balance on my plastic, which I used to buy more plastic things: more cheap time-savers, more imitations of the real-steel of yesteryear.

Unlike my coffee, which doesn’t care if it lives in a plastic cup, made in China that reads, “Proud to be an American,” my soul does care if cheap imitations are used to “save time” in his cultivation. I may think it a mark of ingenuity to rightly divide the word of time into “quality” and “quantity,” but my kids’ self-images will reflect this plastic care. I may think it efficient to simply remove the “problem” person (or people) from my life to promote peace, but when conflict arises in the next relationship there will be no superglue powerful enough to fix my broken, plastic heart. In reality there is no proverbial factory in China that can produce any metaphorical plastic capable of functioning in the Temple of God, which is the “oneness” of the Spirit-redeemed/redeeming relationships among the people of God. He does not build his Temple on the cheap, nor does he expect us to use cheap, time-savers in producing authentic worship. Consider the following real-steel of Paul:

If, then you have been raise with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of god is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do no lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And by thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him (Colossians 3:1-17; ESV).

Bargains are great for basic material things in our lives. When it comes to the heart of Christianity, which are right, redeemed relationships (with God and neighbor), remember that if it is a steal, then it is most likely not the real-steel of Paul. The real-steel of Paul produces pain and anxiety in us and requires sweaty-hard work from us, as the Spirit refashions us into the image of God, described in the passage above. Plastic faith will melt and disintegrate in the blacksmith station of the Holy Spirit, known as the Church.

Rethinking Sacramental Theology

Just like any good, orthodox Wesleyan, “partaking” of Communion is one of God’s umbellical tubes to my heart. Just like any good, orthodox evangelical, I suckle God’s nourishment from his Word. Yet many well-meaning believers tend to herd in one ”milking” camp or the other. The “high church” is driven into the Eucharist stock yard. The “low church” attempts to ride the bucking “preacher” with his “The Word” in eight seconds to glory.

However, if you listen closely to the mooing in the background you might find a distinct low mum of satisfaction droning forth from inconspicuous golden calves. While both are meant as vehicles to experientially know God, attention is more often payed to waxing our “vehicles” in private than driving them public. Oh that many good liberals in the high church would place as high a value on the bodies and blood of the unborn, as they do on the bread and wine at the Table. Oh that many good “right wingers” would fly their passion for the Word into war zones of the “least of these” among us, landing on the Matthew 25 runway.

In reality we need all the means and avenues of grace we can get. Yet, if grace gushes into our hearts but does not flow forth into the oceans of both personal and social holiness, then our hearts become the Dead Sea. God’s grace is not meant for us alone, but for flowing in a cleansing way through us into the vile and depraved world God loves so much. In reality we need both Table and Word. Word directs us into the proper Way of God, and Table reminds us that we are to live in Holy Communi-ty with one another and with Father, Son, and Spirit.

We have our sacraments to be sure, but did you realize that Jews have a sacrament, as well. It is known as the mitzvot. The literal translation of this term is commandment, while the practical translation is keeping God’s commandments. Engaging in mitzvot ranges from keeping the fine technicalities of ceremony and ritual to generally doing good works in society. In living out their beliefs through ceremony and good works in obedience to God, they expect God to show up and change them and the world into his image. While they might not call mitzvot a sacrament, this is certainly what it is.

While I certainly will continue to embrace all “official” and unofficial sacraments in the church, especially Table and Word, in practice I will have an ultimate sacrament … the mitzvot. No, I’m not going to blow the shofar or wear little tiny hats or rock back and forth as I pray. No, I’m not converting to Judaism. Rather, Christianity, which was first known as “The Way,” has become so much deeper and so much more real for me.

With the mitzvot as a backdrop, consider this teaching of Jesus, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 15:15; ESV). Now adding the true sacramental nature of the mitzvot to this backdrop, consider the larger context of Jesus’s urging for us to practice mitzvot which are his:

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whome the world cannot receive, because it neither see him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you (John 14:12-17; ESV).

It is my desire to aquire grace through any means without letting the particular means of grace take on a certain golden bovine flavor. They are not worship in and of themselves, nor are they to be worshipped. Rather they are tools God uses to transform us his into his righteousness … so that we can engage in the truest of the sacraments … the Jesus-mitzvot.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship (Paul, Romans 12:1; ESV). 

Piety

I don’t know whether it’s American culture or simply human nature, but most of us truly despise that lone teacher’s pet in our midst. He is something we’re not. She receives the favors we don’t. He’s fake. She simply does it to receive those authoritarian favors. We beat up the teacher’s pet!

Now that you and I have repented of our baser nature, consider with me why piety is not well embraced even in our churchy worlds. Is it possible that our inner playground children are still running amok, looking for teachers’ pets everywhere … to give them knuckle-sandwiches? Is it possible we view the pious among us as suck-ups to the Great Teacher in that pearly-gated classroom? Or … we might regard the pious as simply robed with Joseph’s coat-of-many-colors-of-luck.

We typically hold the wild alcoholic who came to Jesus late in life in high regard, for her “good testimony.” We give faint, lip service to the man who plugged it out day after day, year after year, for Jesus, faithfully. Or we may even hold these soft-spoken saints in the highest regard, sending them cards, holding dinners in their honor. But we hold them at arm’s length.

This is truly unfortunate, as it perhaps reveals an underlying attitude of disbelief. The so-called pious are either sucking-up to God, or they are too holy to even be around. Nonetheless, piety is for them. As for me, I’m just hoping to make heaven. The disbelief comes in refusing to accept, perhaps even subconsciously, that piety is for me … is for you.

Instead of thinking of piety in terms of Stephen King’s version of the holy (possessing special powers to ward off evil beasts), it is better to conceive of piety as simply the practice of consistent deliberateness regarding God and my fellow man.

In other words, instead of viewing that gray-haired-and-bent-over Sunday School teacher has possessing lucky-rabbit’s foot powers, think of her as simply practicing … rather faithfully … to deliberately study and prepare for her lesson.

Besides, if the rabbit’s foot is so lucky, why did it not prevent the rabbit from losing his foot?

Seriously, though, we tend to think of those who succeed in our culture as having done so on the basis of special treatment or on the basis of luck stalking and seducing talent. Perhaps we should remember that talent without deliberate hard work only renders an interesting person to dialogue with in the unemployment line. Perhaps we should also remember that special favors don’t necessarily produce success. Without character training and development, special favors milked from Daddy Warbucks only produces spilt milk. 

In the same vein, the pious are not the lucky-of-God; nor are they God’s suck-ups. The fire of his pet-act of refining character will not allow suck-ups to hang around his desk too long. The truly pious among us are simply the ones who take their faith serious enough to act with certain deliberateness and consistency in their everyday lives. And those everyday lives are deliberately and consistently lived for the love of God and of neighbor … not for the love of self-image (as in the archetype of the teacher’s pet) … and certainly not lived as the love-child of luck and talent. The pious are simply deliberate and consistent in the active practice of their faith.

Thus, the question is not “why them?” The question is isn’t even ”why not me?” The question is “why should I not?” which alludes to my willingness or unwillingness to practice consistency and deliberateness in all areas of my faith. Such is a lifestyle of worship to which God has called every believer.

Rituals Can Be Rich…uals

Among many concerns plaguing we evangelicals is summed up in the catch-phrase, “Not Religion, Relationship.” We evangelicals, it is usually boasted, don’t have a religion, we have a relationship. These people are to be admired for their authentic desires for real, authentic experiences of Jesus-Christianity. Religion and rituals are merely crutches, they say, preventing real experiences of the heart.

I can certainly be sympathetic to my well-meaning friends. I have sat besides many people in Church, wondering if their Christianity extended past the last drop from their Communion glass. However, I am afraid their proposition actually grows more stale than the unused wafers in grandma’s old church.

Rituals and traditions are not something that can be as easily discarded as we may like to believe. While specific rituals might well be tossed on the old dusty shelf with those ragged hymnals Great-granddad sang from, rituals and traditions in general cannot.

Even though we move from pews to chairs in building that new sanctuary, we usually lay claim to a certain row of chairs … in much the same way our family laid claim to “our pew” in the old building. In moving from traditional “worship” to contemporary “worship,” do we not mindlessly clap through the up-beat music … in much the same way we mindlessly held our hymnals and mouthed the lyrics we did not understand?

Do we not in some sense make a tradition out of breaking with tradition … thereby undermining our own mines? Should we break with the time honored traditions simply because it is easy to simply go through the motions? How many of consciously thought of the mystery of toothpaste this morning, when we brushed our teeth? (If you did not brush your teeth I don’t want to know.)

Yes, traditions and rituals can become “sacred cows” we worship quite blindly and mindlessly … until they are threatened or missing. One church bulletin designed for an annual 4th of July Worship service listed “America the Beautiful” for the closing altar hymn. Certainly we should be in the constant practice of bringing our traditions and rituals under close scrutiny of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God.

Even still, rituals and traditions can be powerful, giving channel to living water flowing in our hearts … that we otherwise have no words for. Consider POWs, whose well worn path of singing certain hymns led them through the dense jungle of doubt, anger, and despair. Consider Katherine Greene-Mccreight. The Liturgy of the Episcopal Church anchored and deepened her faith during the ravages of psychosis in her Bipolar Disorder. (http://www.amazon.com/Darkness-My-Only-Companion-Christian/dp/1587431750/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1217272136&sr=8-1)

In short traditions and rituals provide a certain amount of discipline to living faith. What happens to children who are not trained in any form of discipline and order? Do they not become somewhat spoiled and emotionally frail? Rituals and traditions, when used appropriately, provide voice to the un-nameable happenings in my heart. Traditions and rituals anchor my soul during upon life’s stormy seas. Rituals can actually be rich–ual.

Remember the Original Santa Worshipped Jesus

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Christmas is a truly wonderful American holiday that is one of the last anchors for the family in our society. Despite whether one is a believer or not, seeing family at Christmas is a top priority for most in our society. Gift-giving … at least for a moment … potentially draws the focus off of oneself and onto certain special others. Let’s not forget that glorious bird who lays down his life every year for us … and turkey gravy, turkey sandwiches, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pies … well you get my point.

Yet, in watching my baby girl tear into her presents this morning … as well as tearing into everyone else’s presents … tore into a certain part of my heart. “Mine, mine, mine,” was her anthem. Now you might well say that “mine, mine, mine” is the anthem of every 2-year-old, and you are certainly correct in this dry bit of factual information. However, the implication is on the naughty list. As our society grows infinintly more secular, I’m afraid that the “mine-mine-mine” anthem lasts a bit longer past toddler-age than ripped-up wrapping paper. I know many adults (myself included at times) whose anthem is merely a more sophisticated version of “mine, mine, mine.” In my favorite movie, “A Christmas Story,” the mom asks her two present-happy boys and worn-out, syncial husband if everyone is ready for Christmas to begin. This morning I even found myself teaching my baby-girl to say “Merry Christmas” after the paper-ripping fest.

While I am certainly not advocating the complete abandonment of gift-giving as a major facet of Christmas, as a believer and as a decent human being, I wish to train my children in civility and train them out of barbarity. The root of this is found in who Jesus is and was … this Jesus who came “to give his life as a ransom for many” and “came not to be served but to serve.” May we not deceive ourselves into thinking we are serving the children in our subsidizing of barbaric “mine-mine-mine” attitudes through indulging their commercialized whims and fantasies. Rather may we train our children to truly worship the same Jesus that the original St. Nicholas truly worshipped (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Claus). May we train them to be givers and producers rather than merely consumers.

God Is Looking for a Few Good Worshippers

During college I served in the Marine Forces Reserve. It was often said of us that we were “weekend warriors.” However, upon being called to active duty in January of 2003, we “part-timers” showed up in force and proudly served our country at Camp Lejeune, NC with great honor and distinction. In fact we reservists (as a whole) vastly out-preformed our “Active Duty” comrads by a margin wide enough to drive a Bradley Tank through. Granted many of us had college and career experiences in which being overachievers is not an option. Yet Parris Island gave us no choice but to be transformed from the inside out into Marines through and through. In other words, though our duty as Reservists only beckoned our presence once a month, Parris Island called our hearts to attention every waking moment. There was never a moment we were (or are) not Marines. “Honor, courage, and commitment” flow through our veins long after we no longer wear the uniform.

“Please join us for worship today.” “I like contemporary praise and worship.” “Hymns are the tried and true choice of worship for the church.” Such phrases are quite commonly heard in many churches today…and belies an understanding of “worship” that is vastly too narrow. Perhaps many of us are Worship-Reservists not only in deed but also in heart, showing up for part-time duty on Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings. Scriptural worship, however, is vastly more consuming. The call of Jesus is for us to “present your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable unto God” (Romans 12:1). Note Scripture’s use of the phrase “present your bodies as living sacrifices.” Such a radical call demands not only our church attendence, but indeed every aspect of lives being given over to God as worship. For the true believer there is never a moment when we are not in “worship.” Loving God with all of your heart, soul, and mind and loving your neighbor as yourself continues to flow through your veins, long after you as a true believer leaves the church grounds. God is looking for a few good worshippers. Will we answer His call to duty?