Holy Fool

I had a thought provoking conversation with my wife today, who is just about as smart as they come.  We were talking about the concept of relying on God—as to the meeting of one's needs.

In the past week we had heard a religious leader make the comment that the problem with social government is that it causes people to rely on the government rather than on God.

I had a number of problems with this line of thinking.

First, it turns our reliance on God into a transaction.  We rely on God, and in return we are taken care of materially.  We rely on God out of obedience, not because of what we receive.

Second, it equates God with the actions of a civil government.  It’s not just an apples and oranges comparison, it’s an apples and solar systems comparison.  They just aren’t in the same ballpark.  This is why I get tired of the belief that God is somehow in competition with our government.  The government is one tool of human creation that God can use out of many; which brings me to my third point.

Third, to promote the military use of force by our country as somehow with the patronage of God you have to simultaneously accept that God is the patron of welfare, of social security, and medicare.  To limit God’s influence to one area and not the other creates a false dichotomy.  I don’t mean that to say that all of the affects of the government are God’s direct will; rather quite to the opposite that if there is any of God’s will exemplified in the government we do not have the ability to claim it’s power only aligns with our political presuppositions and desires.

Fourth, it turns reliance in God into a choice rather than a way of life (an orientation of being).  There are many systems and cycles of poverty that keep poor people impoverished, it has nothing to do with relying on God.  To ask them to simply let go of government funding and ‘rely on God’, is an immature remark when made without any attempt to help others realize that reliance in their lives.  Obedience to God is the choice, but reliance on God can look different in differing situations depending on context, history, ability etc.  To ignore the systems of injustice as part of the equation oversimplifies the issue at hand and if you live in an impoverished community, implying that people should let go of the very systems set in place to keep them alive is an ignorant remark.

Anyway, grace and peace to you.  Keep striving, keep living out an orientation of reliance in God through obedience.

Adapted from Ezekiel 2 and 3 (NLT)

"Stand up, son of man," said the voice. "I want to speak with you." The Spirit came into me as he spoke, and he set me on my feet. I listened carefully to his words." Son of man," he said, "I am sending you to the Christians, a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me.  They and their ancestors have been rebelling against me to this very day. They are a stubborn and hard-hearted people. But I am sending you to say to them, "This is what the Sovereign LORD says!' And whether they listen or refuse to listen–for remember, they are rebels–at least they know they have had a prophet among them."

"Son of man, do not fear them or their words. Don't be afraid even though their threats surround you like nettles and briers and stinging scorpions. Do not be dismayed by their dark scowls, even though they are rebels. You must give them my messages whether they listen or not.  But they won't listen, for they are completely rebellious! Son of man, listen to what I say to you. Do not join them in  their rebellion."

Then he said, "Son of man, go to the people called Christians and give them my messages.  I am not sending you to a foreign people whose language you cannot understand. No, I am not sending you to people with strange and difficult speech.  If I did, they would listen! But the Christians won't listen to you any more than they listen to me! For the whole lot of them are hard-hearted and stubborn. But look, I have made you as obstinate and hard-hearted as they are. I have made your forehead as hard as the hardest rock! So don't be afraid of them, or fear their angry looks, even though they are rebels."

Then he added, "Son of man, let all my words sink deep into your own heart first. Listen to them carefully yourself. Then go to the Christians in exile and say to them, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says!' Do this whether they listen to you or not."

For those of us in the U.S. we will be sitting down tomorrow, most likely with family, to share in our tradition of the Thanksgiving holiday and the meal that is a part of it. The origins of the American celebration (Canada has Thanksgiving the 2nd Monday of October), are murky and somewhat contestable.  Some say Florida, others say El Paso, traditionalists claim Plymouth or possibly Jamestown, Virginia.  Whether you are celebrating with tamales or turkey, this is a time in which we give thanks for the blessings we have received.

The question then arises, who are we giving thanks to?  While Thanksgiving was largely treated as a religious observance for Christians here, a day that marked the end of the harvest and the entrance into advent, it is focused more today on the tangible bits of our life.  We give thanks for prosperity, for family, for our country, for the food and football.  Many, regardless of religious observance, will offer a prayer before the meal to give thanks.

I find Thanksgiving interesting, from a scriptural standpoint, because I see it as a continuation of levitical laws. When the Israelites offered up their sacrifices at certain times of year the coupled the sacrifice with a feast. While we certainly do not 'sacrifice' our turkeys to God (I am not sure he would have counted frozen ones anyway) we do partake in the 'feasting' ritual of the Thanksgiving experience.  Whether it be the Turkey, the potatoes, the green beans and yams, we gladly take part in the feast.

Now, I know that Christ's sacrifice is all-sufficient, and I am the last one to beat the legalism drum; however I find it interesting that as Americans we have become more than happy to engage the feast, to be "thankful" for the bounty that has been provided, but I wonder if we are missing that whole 'sacrifice' part of it.  It's pretty rare that anyone is asked to 'sacrifice' anything these days.  Sure, we have the military, who continue to serve and protect us and sacrifice themselves.  We have the single moms and dads who work two and three jobs to support their children.  We have the brave police and fire servants that give their lives to protect and serve.  We have the pastors who take calls at 2 or 3 in the morning, only to be yelled at for not 'doing enough'. Our Christians brothers and sisters that are oppressed and die at the hands of others daily. 

There has sure been a lot of people all rankled over the fact that President Obama was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize. Usually the Nobel prize is given to a person after they have done something rather remarkable in their given field. This year, for instance, three men each shared the nobel prize in Physics for their achievements in the capture and transmission of light particles. The award wasn't given to them because of some future achievement, it was a reward for hard work. In contrast Obama hasn't even finished a single year of his presidency, his stratospheric demeanor of hope has been seemingly brought back down by the realities of two ongoing wars, a shaky economy, and a democratic congress that is more concerned with re-election in conservative states than in effecting a rash of progressively liberal legislation.

So the question then is, why in the world does he deserve a Nobel Prize? The answer is, he doesn't. But then neither do the physicists, chemists, doctors, and authors that receive one. They did not receive the prize because they deserved it, they received it because the academy which judges the potential recipient's showed grace. All of the men and woman involved are all very talented in some way, and would continue to be so even if they had not been awarded; however they were each chosen for whatever reasons to be highlighted with gift of the award. There is no way to apply for the award, to fill in a series of check boxes that prove your merit and ensure that you will get one. The Nobel prize's are as close as we can get in our human systems to reflecting the nature of grace.

Grace ticks people off, especially when we live in a legalistic mindset that is always judging our position relative to those around us. The minute someone receives grace, that we don't believe should, we react in that sinful way that is called envy. People are furious because Obama is clearly the recipient of grace, and in their minds grace is not free, it must be earned at a price. This is the kind of thinking that kept the pharisees ignorant of Jesus' words. They were envious of the grace that God was enacting through Jesus and his followers upon a people that did not 'deserve' it.

So, if this whole Obama/Peace Prize thing has you so riled up, just ask yourself what you are so mad about. Grace is by it's nature seemingly unfair to those outside of it's bounds. That's what makes God's grace so wonderful for those that have accepted it's gift, and seemingly so foolish for those that would rather try and earn their way into heaven via some kind of bell-curve grading process.

Posted via email from David's posterous

If you have ever moved from one place to another, and if you are like me (and I know I am), then you have no doubt at some point wondered what in the sweet world are you going to do with the mountain of junk you have somehow managed to attain and then stow into the nooks and crannies of your home/apartment/hobbit hole, etc..  As you begin to gather all of your bounteous loot and place it into box after box you reminisce a bit, perhaps even fawn over, some item of past worth.  Perhaps it's your trophies from Junior High Track, or your mint set of 1988 Donruss baseball cards, or in my case a small box of knickknacks that contain a variety of American and foreign coins and postage stamps collected from relatives and visiting missionaries.  After your moment of cherishment you place the item in a box, take it to your new destination, and after settling in it ends up tucked away until you repeat the process over again.

Our Christian life can sometimes end up being a lot like this exercise in moving.  We have a lot of miscellaneous junk that we have stowed away in our psyches.  A bad deed there, a hidden longing over here, a well intentioned plan in the attic that we are saving for some rainy day.  From time to time God asks us to move, and so we box up all of our assorted junk that we have attached personal meaning to, and bring it out of hiding just long enough to acknowledge it; but before you know it we have moved into our new pad and all of the junk has been tidied up and placed out of sight and mind.

The thing is we have often misunderstood God's command.  Location is hardly ever the issue, it's the presence of God in the midst of our circumstance and awareness of his abiding love that makes the difference.  If you are feeling restless, like you need to move on, chances are you are simply going to box up the same old junk that is holding you back now and only end up with a change of scenery.  God isn't interested in competing with FedEx or UPS, he is not interested in helping you be emotionally unhealthy somewhere else.  We think God is asking us to move on, when he is simply asking us to let him dump our junk so that he can move in.

God wants to inhabit the deepest parts of our being and to transform them.  This is the essence of sanctification, God transforming us into the person he always meant for us to be, His image bearer.  Are you allowing God to transform you in this way?  The essence of your faith hangs on this question; are you attempting to define yourself, or have you found the freedom that is discovering who God already made you to be?  In your story is your house full of boxes of self-loathing, regret and pain; or is it full of mysterious and wonderful packages yet to be opened?