Busier Than Jesus

John Bishop wrote a blog for the National Outreach convention entitled, Are You Busier Than Jesus?" He said,

 

There is nothing wrong with serving. Service is a hallmark of great leadership, but there is a big lesson here:  "Our activity for God has to be the response of intimacy with God."  So often we get this backwards.    One of the biggest things I am doing in the next several weeks is letting go of ministry details that have caused me to be distracted unnecessarily.  Sometimes as leaders our activity becomes our identity, but who we are, is always more important than what we do.

 

Are you busier than Jesus? If so, why? Does God have a better plan? What might it be?  Start with intimacy with God. Don't start with "less busy." If you don't know what that is or how to do it, ask.

Dumb?

The Pew Forum (a reputable group) just released the results of a religion quiz it gave to Americans. The results are both surprising and disheartening.  For people who know loads about sports statistics and celebrity lives and song lyrics, we do not know much about religion. Worse yet, the atheists did better than the religious people and much better than those who are of mainline churches (Episcopal Church in this group.) It makes me sad. To see the results click here. To take a similar 15 questions test (theirs was 32 questions,) click here. I got a 100%. It was not too hard. I would have thought we could do better than getting half the questions correct. You too may have gotten 100%. Some did.

 

Here are the questions that arise in my mind (and heart.)  How can we love the Lord if we don't really know much except what we feel about God? I admit that religion and Christianity are about relationship more than fact but we know more about Paris Hilton (or the flex defense) than about God. Speaking of relationships, how can we love our neighbor if we have no idea who she is? If I know how many sacks Mario Williams has, should I know at the very least the basics about my neighbor, a fellow citizen.

 

What really is painful about these data is that it makes us so susceptible to bad information, innuendo and rumor about people who are not Christian and it plays into the hands of those who find us more culturally religious than true followers of Christ.  Talk radio and television exploit our ignorance. Christ is not served. Regardless of the religion, God cares about all his children. We who claim Christ are given a special mission to reach out to those who do not know Christ. To do so, we must know Christ ourselves and know enough about our neighbor to respect him as a person and not a project.

 

How do you feel about these results? How would you fare? What is your responsibility now that you know this? Open these questions to God and to your neighbor as well.

Leaders

What makes a leader? People who claim leadership or command our follower-ship seem to be a mixed bag. Some leaders talk a lot, appeal to our feelings in order to get elected but leave us empty. Some swagger and glow in fame and money, allowing us vicarious glimpse of their life. Others fill pulpits in order to benefit themselves and the cult of personality, even exploiting the very people Jesus held dear – the poor, widows, and children. And a few lord it over others, barking orders, using manipulation and control. And some lead like Jesus.

 

All of us have to lead. Some more than others. Jesus taught to lead by serving. He listened a lot. He had no swagger and few possessions. He traveled light. He had no pulpit and was hated enough to be done away with. He sought out those deemed "losers."

 

The economy of Jesus' leadership was 'the last is first and the first will be last." He washed feet. He gave his life to 12 very frustrating rabbinical drop-outs. He was focus on a vision of a better world. He called it "The Kingdom." He had very strict standards, which he salted with generous helpings of forgiveness.

 

Who will you follow today? What kind of leader are they? Truly? How will you lead when called?

The Handshake

I miss the power of a handshake. My dad actually taught me about handshakes. He didn't tell me anything about a curve ball and little about sex. But I got a lesson (formal) on handshakes.

 

I was to firmly grasp the other hand but not so hard as to hurt the other person. I was to look the other person in the eye till I was done. Even more than the mechanics was the lesson in everything that stood behind the handshake. By shaking a hand, I was transmitting the fact that I was good for everything that I would promise or say. I was genuine in my transaction. The handshake was my expression of integrity. I became a real man when I deployed the handshake. I was good for what I said.

 

Now, I must admit that I have not always lived up to my standards but I tried. I sought forgiveness when I failed. I return to the handshake. But the land has shifted.

 

As I grow older, I notice that The Handshake is typically just a formality. Not much behind it. The world prefers the "I'm committed until something better comes along" tip-o-the-hat. As long as it's not too inconvenient.

 

I bet Jesus' handshake meant business. He'd deliver or die trying. Community is strengthened in the presence of such people. They are bedrock.

 

Today, be bedrock yourself. Put all of you in your handshakes and the promises that go with it. Build unshakable community.

 

Good Enough

Andy Borowitz wrote in a recent The New Yorker a humor piece entitled, "The Good Enough Baby." His humor bordered on satire and, at the same time, contain wisdom. He wrote in support of raising "good enough" babies instead of "perfect ones." We all know that the perfect child (didn't we all strive for this on the first one?) is an impossible goal.  Everyone wins if we lighten up and enjoy our kids (and they, their parents) without the pressure of the impossible "perfect."

What if we all lived "good enough "lives?  Perfect, if we mean  following the plan, without mistake or blemish, is a crushing fantasy we keep. Even Jesus, when he tells us to be "perfect," means for us to be perfectly who God intends us to be - whole and loving.

I say we all strive for "good enough" and enjoy the life God gave us as well as take the pressure off parent as well as child. Good enough is not bad and very serviceable. One can follow Jesus by being forgiven but cannot follow by being perfect. Perfect people, you see, have no need of a savior.

Bear in mind that good enough does not mean "let the other guy do it" or "slack off and do nothing" or "lowest common denominator." Its good. God likes good. We all benefit from good.

I think we would do quite well with good enough parents, children, marriages, churches, jobs, sports, lawmakers, schools, volunteers, and bosses; and gave up pretending that we were actually going to pull of perfect and ruining "perfectly" good lives in the process. Think of all the free time we would generate. All the reduced stress. The money channeled elsewhere than debt (which we use to "create" perfect.) We would begin to appreciate each other and stop wearing out those who are willing to lead. Expectations might become holy instead of grandiose.

Good enough today.

Banned in Houston

The Houston Chronicle ran a story about books banned in Texas. Some books are not banned but are "challenged" in school districts. Happy Banned Book Week.

 

I personally think banning books is un-American. Some of these books are dumb. Some gross. Read a few myself. Banning books is also a huge advertisement to our children to "READ ME!"

 

Reading material is part of the bigger issue of raising children. My dad said to me, "Enjoy life but once you decide to have kids, you can no longer let life be about you." It ain't about me.

 

Children are raised differently than I remember (I may have a bad memory.) Parents are more fearful. I am not sure the greater fears are based in reality but we are surrounded by a lot of fear-mongering. Fear crowds out love (at least God says so.) Fearful people make bad life decisions. As a result we over protect, over organize and over censor children. Parenting is hard. No manual. Parents need allies. No adult should "graduate" out of or claim immunity to mentoring children.

 

Curve balls, wide-outs, double times, hit-the-marks, practices, homework, science projects, scouting, spikes, and alike are all very important to raising loving, productive adults. Thank God for those who mentor the next generation in these and more.

 

Yet, as a priest, I find one area that I wish had the zeal of sports or band or grades or even banned books. That endeavor is mentoring a child to know God. Not know about God but to know, personally, God. It takes as much practice as that curve ball or a perfect SAT. The task of a child knowing God primarily falls to parents. Often parents need to get to know God themselves. I thank God for parents and others who (often without cheering, consistency in access or thanks) work this part of God's vineyard.

 

Help a child to know God today. Thank those who help parents in this endeavor.

Sacrifice

The current issue of The Atlantic has an article the basic gist of which is this: The Baby Boomers may not be responsible for the current Great Recession but they have the resources to get us out of it (if Boomers exercise financial sacrifice.) Further, the Boomers have a legacy of idealism (I was a child of the 60's) and were a generation who wanted to make a real difference but may not have yet delivered on that. In effect, my generation, for the good of all, can say, "This one's on me," and pick up the tab.

 

As a priest, I find that we want easy ways out of things but there are no easy ways out. This creates a terrible tension, which only is alleviated by some one or some group making a sacrifice. This is our Christian story (I am aware that there are some in the Christian stream who say God is a cosmic vending machine and will give those who are really faithful all the want. I think this is baloney and not a faithful understanding of Christ and the Cross.)

 

Regardless of our political allegiance, is God calling us, you and me, to sacrifice, to give up having our way? Is the answer to our problems today right in front of our noses? Is the solution not found in "I am right!" but in who will live the life of Christ? God is speaking to us. A response in the shape of The Cross will yield life. Nothing else will. There are no easy ways out. There is a way out, however. One that is FOREVER.