Tag Archives: Body

Chapter-a-Day

The Goal, the Role, and the Lesson

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“With him I speak face to face,
    clearly and not in riddles;
    he sees the form of the Lord.
Why then were you not afraid
    to speak against my servant Moses?”
Numbers 12:8 (NIV)

For a handful of years I had a rare privilege to serve as mentor and coach to individuals among my local gathering of Jesus followers who wanted to give preaching a try. Our gathering is unique in that we have a second worship space on Sundays that gathers concurrently with the main worship area. It was designed to be a space to experiment and try new things. One of those “new things” was to recognized that individuals in our midst might have the gift of preaching or teaching and perhaps we should identify, develop, and allow those who are gifted to use their gifts. This runs directly opposite the popular paradigm of the celebrity pastor and the traditional paradigm of the spiritually-elite priest.

During my time, I think there were somewhere between 30 and 40 individuals who at least gave it a shot. Some were already known teachers who wanted to continue to develop their gifts. Many had never given a message before. Individual results were as varied as people’s own stories. On a macro-level, this period moved our local gathering further away from the celebrity pastor paradigm and further into a team teaching concept.

I’m honestly not sure how well I performed in my role. It was something I’d never done before and there was no template. In the end, I think I learned more than those in my charge. I’d like to touch on a couple of those personal lessons that came to mind as I meditated on today’s chapter in which Aaron and his wife Miriam work themselves into a critical lather about Moses. The source of their critical spirits is prejudice, as they were upset he’d married “a Cushite.” We can’t know for certain what “Cushite” refers to, but suggestions range from her being from Sudan to Arabia to the term simply referring to Zipporah, Moses’ non-Hebrew wife from. Midian.

Father God calls Aaron, Miriam, and Moses to His study at the entrance of the traveling tent temple in order to have a talk with His children. He scolds Aaron and Miriam for being so mean to their brother, affirms his love for and support of Moses, then punishes both Aaron and Miriam, sending Miriam into a seven-day time-out outside the camp.

At the heart of this story is the fact that we human beings can be envious, jealous, catty, and downright mean to one another. When it comes to what God is trying to do in and through His people in community, that is not only not-productive, it can be destructive. It erodes the loving-order God is trying to develop and leads towards the chaos that our spiritual enemy initiates, supports, and celebrates.

In my tenure mentoring prospective preachers, I knew that not everyone I worked with would be truly gifted at it. But here’s a few quick hits of things I observed and learned:

Every message bore fruit. There was never a Sunday that I didn’t have at least one person tell me something to the effect of “I needed to hear that this morning.” Through the prophet Isaiah (55:11), God said that when His Word goes out it does not return empty. God used every person I ever worked with, no matter how much they struggled and sputtered through their message. It may have been one or two little fruit blossoms, but the tree was never void of fruit.

Every messenger was God’s vessel. Every individual I worked with was a wonderful human being and child of God. Every one wanted to do a good job. Every one had a unique voice, their own story, and a sincere desire to do a good job. Results varied, but what never changed was how special each person was in God’s eyes. Jesus loved and died for each of them. Each person was God’s vessel indwelled by God’s Spirit.

There was no failure. Some individuals realized that preaching was not their gift, but that doesn’t mean they or their message was a “failure” (see the previous two observations). In the paradigm and metaphor God gave us through Paul, we are all one body, but there are many different parts, different functions, and entirely different systems with different essential functions within that body. We all have an essential role within the system whether I’m a tooth in the mouth speaking God’s Word or a booger in the nose helping the entire body breathe God’s Spirit well.

The goal, I’ve learned, is to discover and embrace the role I was created and gifted to play in service to the whole, and to respect and honor every other part for the roles they were created and gifted to play. If every part of the body is not willing to embrace this truth, then we’re back to order giving way to chaos.

We live in the most divisive times. Fueled by the anonymity of social media and online commentary, people are downright terrible to one another. I observed that people are more quick to anger, quick to speak, and quick to criticize than at any time in my lifetime. Name calling, insults, threats, and demeaning/dehumanizing messages towards others has become not only normal, but those who do this communicate smug self-justification for doing so.

It’s not creating more order, only more chaos.

In the quiet this morning, the story of Aaron and Miriam, and the lessons of my time as a preaching coach, remind me that God calls me to do things differently than what I see in the world, and differently than how my sinful human nature emotionally prompts me to react. I am to honor my fellow human beings as God’s sacred creation and individuals Jesus loves and for whom Jesus died. I am to honor my fellow believers as indispensable parts of God’s body no matter how different they are and how differently they are gifted. I am to lovingly treat them with deference, kindness, and gentleness. And, I am to embrace my unique gifts, calling, and role within God’s body and the part I’m playing in the Great Story God is authoring.

These lessons have taken a lifetime to learn.

I’ve had to sit in time-out many times in order to learn it.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

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Chapter-a-Day

Humanity’s Spiritual Graduation

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On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”
Matthew 26:17 (NIV)

On our kitchen island downstairs is a stack of graduation announcements and corresponding cards that are waiting for me. It is the annual celebration of young people’s rite of passage known as commencement. It’s a celebration of academic completion, but it is more than that. Whether going on for more school or going off into the world to start working, it typically marks a departure from home and the beginning of a young person’s independent life journey.

Immediately before starting this chapter-a-day trek through Matthew’s version of Jesus’ story in March, we had just completed a journey through the ancient Hebrew priestly manual of Leviticus. Several times in that series I made reference to God’s leading the Hebrews out of slavery in Egypt and starting something new. It was a new way of living together in community with God, who placed Himself in a tent at the center of the Hebrew camp. Leviticus gave instructions for a series of festivals, none bigger than Passover, an annual celebration of God miraculously and graciously delivering the Hebrews from their slavery in Egypt. An event that had just happened when Leviticus was given through Moses.

It is no coincidence that the events of Jesus crucifixion and resurrection occur during the festival of Passover. It is no coincidence that Jesus establishes the sacrament of Communion during the annual Passover meal know as the Seder.

The two events connect.

Many times in the journey through Leviticus I mentioned that God was relating to humanity in the toddler stages of development. Just as God was doing something new with the establishment of Passover in the book of Leviticus, God is starting something new during this Passover celebration. Humanity has developed since Leviticus. A whole bunch of life has happened from wilderness wanderings to conquest, a period of judges, the establishment of an earthly kingdom for God’s twelve tribes that ended in divorce and civil war. Then there was a period of strife and exile followed by a period of return and restoration. It’s been a tumultuous childhood.

I think of Jesus’ death and resurrection much like graduation in our culture. For humanity, it was a rite of passage out of spiritual childhood and into spiritual adulthood. The black-and-white rules a parent lays down with a toddler don’t work with a high school senior. We have graduated from very explicit rules about not having sex animals or family members to Jesus’ teaching spiritual principles like making God’s kingdom your priority knowing that God will take care of your daily needs. The old lessons remain, the principles that lie within them are still relevant, but now the emerging adult must willfully choose to apply those principles for themselves in spiritually mature ways as they navigate life in the world on their own.

Jesus will leave His children 40 days after the resurrection. He will ascend to heaven and they will begin life on earth without His physical presence, though His spiritual presence will be readily available through Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, God is doing something new. It is a rite of passage. This Passover meal is a spiritual commencement. The bread, wine, and sacrificial lamb of the Passover Seder are transformed into the body and blood of the Lamb of God who will take away the sins of the world. Death will be defeated once and for all. Jesus Himself says it is a “new covenant.”

Everything is connected.

In the quiet this morning, I’m thinking about those young people whose graduation cards sit down in the kitchen. Oh, the places they’ll go in life.

I’m also thinking about a message I’m giving on Sunday in which I’m going to contrast “life-giving freedom” Jesus prescribes for His disciples and the “human legalism.” It is not uncommon for we humans to cling to toddler-like systems. Children never spiritually (and sometimes physically) leave. Elders continue to rule with black-and-white fundamentals and control the system through shame and fear. But that was never Jesus’ paradigm. He launched His disciples despite the fact that in today’s chapter it would seem they weren’t really ready for the task.

I don’t want to be a spiritual toddler my entire life. I want to be a healthy and productive spiritual grown up.

[cue: Pomp and Circumstance]

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
Chapter-a-Day

Giftedness and Honesty

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Giftedness and Honesty (CaD 1 Cor 12) – Wayfarer

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.
1 Corinthians 12:7 (NIV)

In the past several years, I’ve been surprised to have multiple clients ask me to mentor and coach individuals on their teams. In many cases, these individuals are young people in the early stages of their careers and having their first experiences in management. In other cases, I’ve been asked to come alongside someone who is struggling in their role and system around them is experiencing pain as a result.

I have found through these experiences that sometimes individuals simply need help in managing their time, improving their organizational skills, or learning how to better communicate with team members who have different temperaments or communication styles. On occasion, however, I have helped people discover that they are in a job for which they are not suited. They are a square peg in a round hole, and the mismatch has negative ripple effects across the team and the broader system.

When I discover that an individual and their job are not a good fit, things typically go one of two ways. If my protégé is frustrated and struggling with the job, it can be fairly easy to help them see that it would be a win-win for them and the entire company, if I help them navigate to a different position that better suits their individual strengths and desires. If, however, my protégé is thoroughly convinced that they are, in fact, a round peg that fits perfectly in this round hole job and they have everything they need for the task, my job becomes far more challenging.

In today’s chapter, Paul addresses the concept of spiritual gifts. It’s fairly simple. When a person receives Christ the indwelling Spirit infuses them with a spiritual gift or gifts so that every believer can provide particular acts of service and work for the good of the whole. Paul famously uses the human body as a metaphor. Depending on our individual gifts, we may be a different part of the body (e.g. eye, ear, hand, foot, and etc), but all parts are necessary for the body to function as a whole in a healthy way.

The problem, of course, is phenomenon I’ve witnessed consistently in my experiences in different churches as well as my experiences working with different businesses. I see individuals convinced that they are an eye, a gifted eye, despite being blind to the fact that they are most definitely an elbow. A body in which all of the parts know and embrace their unique and essential role in the functioning of the body will operate smoothly. A system in which parts are ignorant regarding their gifts, demand that they are gifted in ways they are not, and refuse to embrace the ways in which they are actually gifted will continually struggle to exist and operate in a healthy way.

In the quiet this morning, I’m reminded of my post the other day in which I’ve observed the unique ways that Wendy is gifted and has a “many, not me” way of approaching all things. I have different gifts than she does and I operate differently. We have, however, done the work to recognize and know our different gifts, temperaments, and ways of operation. We have learned to embrace not only our own unique gifts but also the unique gifts of the other. When our differences create conflict (and boy do they sometimes create conflict) we have worked to extend grace to one another and consciously choose to remember that different is not wrong. The good things our giftedness brings to the relationship far outweigh the challenges that arise from our differences, but it requires both of us to honestly and humbly embrace our own gifts as well each other’s.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
Chapter-a-Day

Radical Conversion

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Radical Conversion (CaD Acts 9) – Wayfarer

Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah.
Acts 9:22 (NIV)

While I was in high school there was a bit of a spiritual revival that broke out at our school. Among those who placed their faith in Jesus were some individuals with reputations for being pretty wild. I can remember hearing the news and immediately feeling skepticism. It was such a radical conversion in some cases, that it was hard to actually believe it.

Today’s chapter contains one of the most dramatic life changes in history. Saul of Tarsus was a zealous, educated, and well-connected Pharisee who was fully committed to imprisoning Jesus’ disciples, snuffing the Jesus Movement out of existence, and even killing people if necessary to make it happen. Jesus appears to Saul and calls on him to switch teams. In an instant, the enemy becomes an ally. The hunter becomes the hunted. Saul, who will become Paul, becomes arguably the greatest example of what can happen if you follow Jesus’ teaching, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

Paul would later write a letter to believers in Corinth and describe all followers of Jesus as the “body of Christ.” It’s a powerful word picture because he makes the distinction of the body needing all of its parts to function in a healthy way. With Paul’s conversion, the body of Christ added a key part.

Unlike the Twelve, Paul was educated by the best. Paul was a man uniquely gifted for establishing the theological foundations of the Jesus Movement and could go toe-to-toe with any Jewish critic.

Paul was part of the Jewish establishment, yet he was also from Greece and knew the Hellenistic world and customs. Just a few chapters ago, Luke records that there was tension between the Greeks and Hebrews among Jesus’ followers. Paul was uniquely suited to help bridge this rift, as well as being uniquely suited to take Jesus’ message to the Greek world while still having respect for non-Greek Jews within the movement. Paul was also a Roman citizen, which would become instrumental in his witness and his missionary journeys.

In the quiet this morning, I spent some time meditating on the very nature of the body of Christ in the “holy catholic” sense of it being made up of all believers of all types around the globe. God uses so many different people with different gifts in different ways to accomplish His purposes on a grand scale that is hard for me to even fathom. At the same time, every member of that Body is a gifted part of it and has a part to play in it. My job is to consciously use my gifts as God leads me in accomplishing His purposes within my circles of influence.

Which has me thinking about my brothers and sisters from that revival back in high school. I didn’t really know those I referenced personally. It was a large high school, they were older, and I operated in different social circles. Still, I wonder how their stories have played out. Like Jesus’ parable of the sower and the seed falling on different types of soil, I imagine there is a spectrum of stories and outcomes. I spent some time this morning picturing faces, recalling names, and praying for them wherever they are and whatever God’s purposes in their life journeys. I may be in a different part of the body, but I can certainly pray for each and every other part.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

God in (and Out of) a Box

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God In (and Out of) a Box (CaD 1 Sam 5) – Wayfarer

…the following morning when [the Philistines] rose, there was [their god] Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord! His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold; only his body remained. That is why to this day neither the priests of Dagon nor any others who enter Dagon’s temple at Ashdod step on the threshold.
1 Samuel 5:4-5 (NIV)

For many years, I’ve had an idea for a book about the things the contemporary church continues to get wrong. If I ever do write this book, one of the chapters would be about church buildings themselves. From an early age, I was taught to treat a church building as a sacred space. The church building was and sometimes is, referred to as God’s house or the house of God.

In yesterday’s post/podcast I spoke of treating God like a good luck charm. I like to think of our perception of church buildings as God’s House as the notion of “God in a box.”

The problem with believing the church building is “God’s house” is, of course, that Jesus was very clear that He was changing the paradigm. In His conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus addressed her question about the “right” place to worship God by saying, “…believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem...a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.“

Jesus doubled down on this when He and the disciples were leaving the Temple in Jerusalem. His disciples commented on the magnificent Temple and Jesus replied that it was all going to be reduced to rubble, and it was just 40 years later.

Jesus’ taught that the “church” was not bricks and mortar but flesh and blood. When the Jesus Movement was changing the known world in the first two centuries, it had no churches or temples, no basilicas or cathedrals. The “church” was millions of followers who met, almost clandestinely, in people’s homes. It was only when the church became the Holy Roman Empire that the institution decided that God needed opulent cathedrals. The motivation wasn’t divine. It’s what human institutions do to centralize power and control masses of people. Jesus’ successful paradigm was that of Spirit-filled people loving, serving, and sharing in every home, neighborhood, and business. God was released from a box and carried by flesh-and-blood “temples” everywhere in the world. Jesus was wherever His followers happened to be. In Jesus’ paradigm “sacred space” was now the coffee shop, the office, the home, the pub, the park; It was wherever a believer, filled with Spirit and Truth was physically present in the moment. This is what Jesus meant when He said, “Wherever two or three of you are together, I’m there, too.”

The Holy Roman Empire put God back in a box. Then they made sure that only an institutionally educated and approved class of elites were qualified to be God’s representatives. Way too many people still believe that God is confined in the building on the corner and that only educated men in robes represent Him.

Today’s chapter is also about “God in a box.” The Ark of the Covenant was literally a box that represented God’s presence among the Hebrew people. The Hebrews reduced the notion of God’s holy presence to a good luck charm that would secure victory. They were defeated and the box was taken by the Philistines who put the Ark in the sacred space of their patron god, Dagon, underneath Dagon’s statue. Mesopotamian peoples routinely saw battles as not just contests between peoples, but contests between deities. The Hebrews’ God was now subject to Dagon.

But, God will never be contained inside a box of human design. The statue of Dagon fell, its head and hands breaking off. This was significant because heads, hands, and limbs were often cut-off and brought home by victorious armies as proof of victory and as a way of tallying up the body count. It was an omen the Philistines would have instantly understood. There was also a plague of tumors that broke out among the Philistines, which is ironically the outcome God warned His own people about in Deuteronomy 28, should they stray from His ways.

In the quiet this morning, I’m reminded that if I truly believe what Jesus taught, then my home office where I’m writing/recording these words is sacred space because God’s Spirit indwells me. I take Him with me everywhere I go today. God’s temple isn’t a building, it’s my body, and that should change my perspective on everything in my daily life.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Awareness and Ego

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Awareness and Ego (CaD Jos 8) – Wayfarer

Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. For I have delivered into your hands the king of Ai, his people, his city and his land.“
Joshua 8:1 (NIV)

Along my life journey, and my spiritual journey, I’ve learned that there is wisdom and goodness in having sober self-awareness. This includes knowing my strengths, my abilities, my weaknesses, and my ego.

I grew up around music. I sang in choirs throughout my school years. I sang in small groups, in musicals, and taught myself to play guitar and bass. I also confess that my ego really wanted to be a great singer and musician. My ego wanted to be in a band and be a lead vocalist.

I was never that good, and any ego-fueled attempt I made to do something beyond my ability utterly failed. I learned to accept that I’m adequate when it comes to music. I can function on a team and positively contribute to the whole. I can adequately perform a solo in a musical on stage. However, I know gifted vocalists and musicians, and my ego eventually learned to accept that I’m not one of them.

There are, however, other things at which I’m gifted. In the flow of life, those are the things that God has continually given me opportunities to do, and they’ve been successful even if/when my ego wasn’t exactly excited about it.

In reading today’s chapter, it was the contrast to the previous chapter where I found the most fascinating lesson.

At the beginning of yesterday’s chapter, there was no mention of God being part of the preparations for or engagement in the battle. Joshua sent the spies. The spies gave their report and recommended action. Joshua acted on their recommendation and sent a small contingent to take the city. It failed.

At the beginning of today’s chapter, the Lord encourages Joshua, the Lord gives the command to attack, and the Lord provides the battle plan. It succeeds. And, having taught/learned the lesson at Jericho that everything belongs to God, the Lord shares the plunder of Ai with His people.

Joshua and the Hebrew tribes are learning a lesson similar to the one I’ve had to learn. In God’s silence, Joshua allowed his ego to take over. There’s no record that he even thought about asking God for direction. On the heels of a victory at Jericho, Joshua takes command, makes the strategy, and pulls the trigger to attack.

1500 years later, God would reveal that we are all like a body with Jesus as the head. We’re all connected. We each have certain gifts, abilities, and temperaments that allow us to positively contribute to the health, strength, and life of the whole body. Yet, just like our bodies, there are entire systems that function independently of one another yet no other system of the body can survive and thrive unless each system is doing the thing it’s made to do.

My ego might really want me to be part of a different system but there’s wholeness and peace in having the self-awareness to know where I fit and best contribute to the whole body. Beyond that, if I’m not functioning in the system in which I’m gifted and best contribute, the entire body suffers. Joshua made the easy mistake of thinking he was the brains of the operation, but only God occupies that position in the body. When Joshua was back in the position of being God’s mouthpiece taking orders from the brain, everything functioned as it should.

In the quiet this morning, I’m meditating on the reality that this lesson of self-awareness, humility, giftedness, and ego is not a flip-the-switch type of lesson that you learn once and then are done. Getting my ego out of the way and learning to know and understand myself are never-ending lessons on this earthly sojourn. The more I embrace and learn these lessons, the further I progress spiritually, and the more peace and joy I experience in my daily experiences.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Body

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Body (CaD Ps 133) – Wayfarer

How good and pleasant it is
    when God’s people live together in unity!
Psalm 133:1 (NIV)

Over the past few years, I’ve had the honor of leading a team of teachers in my local gathering of Jesus’ followers. They are a diverse and gifted group of people, representing paid staff members and volunteers of different ages, denominational backgrounds, gender, vocations, educational levels, and personalities.

Almost every week, I assign the group a message to watch on the internet. We’ve watched teachers and preachers from the National Cathedral to small rural towns. We’ve watched teachers of different styles, traditions, denominations, backgrounds, and abilities. We gather for lunch once a month to discuss what we’ve heard, observed, and learned from the different teachers and preachers we’ve watched. It’s been a really interesting experience.

In the first century, the followers of Jesus used the metaphor of a body to describe all believers. My experience of leading our local teaching team has given me a deeper appreciation for, and awareness of, just how beautiful and powerful that word picture is. The body is made up of eleven different systems. The systems do their thing and have various parts that provide particular functions unrelated to other systems, yet without them providing that function the health of the entire body suffers.

I’ve observed that the different members of our teaching team, each with his or her own communication style, personality, and waypoint on life’s journey, resonate deeply with different constituencies within our local “body” but less so with others. I find this to be natural and healthy for the “body” which benefits by learning from and appreciating different voices and perspectives. I’ve come to meditate quite a bit about unity.

Today’s chapter, Psalm 133, was another one of the songs that ancient Hebrew pilgrims sang as they and thousands of their fellow tribe made the trek to seasonal festivals in Jerusalem. It’s a short little ditty celebrating national unity that would have resonated with the travelers as they encountered fellow citizens making the same trek alongside them.

Along my life journey, I’ve come to understand that unity does not mean sameness. In fact, it doesn’t mean agreement. I am grieved by the level of discord, dissension, conflict, and “cancellation” in our culture of late. I was raised to be respectful of differences in people and appreciative of the opportunity to learn from those differences. As a follower of Jesus, those beliefs have been strengthened and reinforced in me by Jesus’ teaching that calls me to humbly be gracious; To love, forgive, and serve others, especially those whom I might otherwise consider my “enemy.”

Increasingly, I’ve come to realize that spiritually speaking, I am a very minute part of a massive, complex “body” made up of different systems, organs, limbs, and cells. There are parts of the body I don’t touch, and will never interact with. There are parts of the body with completely different functions than mine. There are other systems of the body I don’t fully understand and with whom I observe we are totally different in almost every way. Nevertheless, we are part of a “whole” that may well be beyond my human comprehension.

In yesterday’s post I wrote about things I control and things that I don’t. I can’t control others who choose to live in anger, stir conflict, and sow division and dishonor with anyone who looks, thinks, believes and/or lives differently. It’s unhealthy for the whole, and yet I can only control the part I play in my little part of that whole.

And so, I head out on another day of the journey, choosing to do the best I can to live in love, stir understanding, and sow peace with those I meet along the road on this pilgrimage called life.

Chapter-a-Day

“God is Grape”

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"God is Grape" (CaD Ps 102) – Wayfarer

Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the Lord…
Psalm 102:18 (NIV)

One of the silver linings of our family’s COVID plague has been the extended amount of time we’ve had with our grandson. This includes both moments of three-year-old hilarity and DEFCON FIVE toddler tantrums.

One of the more endearing developments has been Milo’s insistence on praying for our meal every night. Some nights he insists that we hold hands and pray two or three random times during the meal as he prays:

“God is grape. God is good. And we thank Him for the food.”

The sweetness melts this grandparent’s heart, of course. But for me it’s also witnessing the innocent openness and sensitivity of Spirit in the wee one.

Today’s chapter, Psalm 102, is another ancient Hebrew song lyric that was written during a time of intense illness. In fact, the songwriter was not sure that he was going to make it. The song begins with the writer calling out to God to hear and quickly respond, then he pours out the angst-filled description of his medical and emotional symptoms.

As the song proceeds, the tone of the lyric makes an abrupt switch. The writer stops focusing on his momentary circumstance and, instead, focuses on God’s eternal nature and the perpetuity of life. It’s as though the writer is saying “Even if this is it for me, and my number is up, life will go on. That which is eternal perseveres. The universe continues to expand. The next generation will emerge, then the next, and then the next.”

One of the oft-forgotten themes of the Great Story is that of descendence.

“Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.”
Genesis 1:28
“God said to Noah and his sons with him: ‘I now establish my covenant with you and your descendants.’”
Genesis 9:8-9
To Abram: “I will make you into a great nation.”
Genesis 12:2
Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.
Deuteronomy 11:18-21 (NIV)

The Great Story is a story because it continues, it goes on even when my role is over and I make my final exit. Even in the most tragic and bleak dystopian imaginings, the premise is that Life endures and the story continues.

In the quiet this morning I feel the lingering effects of the virus on my body and realize that at this point in this life journey I don’t bounce back the way I once did. I listen to the unbridled energy of my grandson whose body felt none of the viral effects and who will live his earthly journey without remembering these weeks shut-in with Papa and Yaya.

That doesn’t mean they aren’t important, for him or for me. No matter the narrative of my story, life will continue in his story. Life gets handed off, a little bit each day, as we sit around the dinner table, holding hands and listening to that little voice say “God is grape.”

Chapter-a-Day

“If I Really Believe What I Say I Believe…”

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"If I Really Believe What I Say I Believe…" (CaD Ps 26) – Wayfarer

O Lord, I love the house in which you dwell,
    and the place where your glory abides.
Psalm 26:8 (NRSVCE)

“If I really believe what I say I believe…”

I used this phrase a few weeks ago as the foundation for a message I gave about resurrection and eternity. It’s a phrase that I utter increasingly in my personal conversations with Life. Along my spiritual journey, I have observed that the institutions of Christianity to which I’ve belonged, along with their respective members, are faithful in reciting what we believe, but our personal beliefs and subsequent behaviors don’t always align with the recitations. Often, this is because of well-worn patterns of thought and belief that are embraced without question.

Jesus came to radically change the way we think about God and relate to both God and others. Instead of believing, embracing, and living out what Jesus taught us, the institutional church largely fell back into ancient patterns of religion. In short, we don’t really believe what we say we believe.

One of the more common ways I’ve observed “stated belief” being incongruent with “true belief” came to mind this morning as I read David’s song lyrics. David states that he “loves the house in which [God] dwells, and the place where [God’s] glory abides.” For David, he is referencing God’s tabernacle/temple which is the central location God asked the Hebrew people to worship.

Jesus changed that. Jesus changed that completely. Jesus tore down the established human concept of “temple” and told His followers to follow an entirely different train of thought.

The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”

Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”
John 2:18-19

You realize, don’t you, that you are the temple of God, and God himself is present in you? No one will get by with vandalizing God’s temple, you can be sure of that. God’s temple is sacred—and you, remember, are the temple.
1 Corinthians 3:16-17 (MSG)

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NIV)

Jesus shifted the location of God’s dwelling on Earth from a physical building in a central location to the flesh and blood humans in whom His Spirit resides. For the first 300 years after Jesus resurrection and ascension, the followers of Jesus had no buildings. There were no churches. Believers met mostly in homes around a dinner table. God’s temple was the flesh and blood individuals who believed and followed Jesus.

So, if I really believe what I say I believe…

I don’t go to church, I am the church.

Loving God’s house means loving my own body.

When I don’t take care of my body, I’m not taking care of God’s temple.

Treating my body with contempt, neglect, or abuse is a spiritual issue in which I am profaning the dwelling place of God.

Acting one way on Sunday in a church building and another way all week at work or home is evidence that I really don’t believe.

In the quiet this morning, I get why followers of Jesus went back to the old edifice complex. For 1700 years we rebuilt temples made with human hands and ignored one of the fundamental changes Jesus came to make on Earth. We shifted the dwelling place of God from ourselves back to church buildings, cathedrals, and basilicas. In essence, we said:

“No thank you, God. Really. It’s nice of you to want to dwell in me, but I’ve come to realize that it’s so much easier the old way. I’m much happier if your house is a building down the street. If you’re dwelling in me, then there are so many strings attached. That’s a whole new level of expectation, and I’m not sure I’m up for that. I mean, there’s no escape. This whole COVID thing has taught me that sometimes I’m better off having my own space. Seriously, if you dwell in me, all the time, you’re always there. I have to be honest. I’m not sure you want to see me at my worst. I know I don’t want you to see me like that.

“In fact, God. I have to tell you. I’m not all that thrilled with this body you’ve given me. I despise it sometimes. And I know you created it, and that’s just not a conflict I really want to get into because I’m pretty comfortable being self-critical. It’s all I’ve really known.

“So, let’s go back to the old way of doing things, God. Hang out in that building down the street and I’ll visit you on Sundays and holidays. I’ll drop in, sing your praises, say that prayer you taught us, and recite the words on the screen. I’ll even give a few bucks. Is it still tax deductible? Whatever. I’ll give. Let’s just forget this dwelling in me and me. Let’s just keep our boundaries.

Trust me, it’ll be better for both of us.”

If I really believe what I say I believe. Then loving the house in which God dwells takes on a whole new level of meaning.

I’m headed to CrossFit.

Have a great day.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day, Wayfarer Podcast

The One-Person Org Chart

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The One-Person Org Chart (CaD Ex 18) – Wayfarer

Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing is not good.”
Exodus 18:17 (NIV)

I have heard it said that there are three things that most commonly lie at the root of marital discord: money, sex, and the division of labor. Based on my own experience, I can believe it to be true. Each of them requires the negotiation of power and responsibility within the relationship. With the division of labor within a relationship and household, my experience is that it can take time to understand one another’s strengths, abilities, interests, disinterests, and quirks in order to get into a good groove.

Within any human system, there is a structure of power and responsibility. In some cases, that structure is well-defined and ordered like a community organization with by-laws run by Robert’s Rules of Order. Companies have organizational charts to define who answers to whom. My observation is that the more intimate and small the system, the more difficult things can get. And I’m not even talking about the passive-aggressive ways power can be manipulated within a system.

One of the fascinating things I find about the Exodus epic is that we get to observe the organization of a nation. From Genesis 12 through today’s chapter the narrative moves from one man, Abram, who becomes the father of Isaac and the grandfather of Jacob. Jacob then has 10 sons and two grandsons settled in Egypt during a famine. They are eventually enslaved but over hundreds of years grow exponentially into the 12 tribes who leave Egypt. They are now officially a large people group, a small nation, and they’ve got to figure out how they are going live and govern.

In today’s chapter, we find that the org chart for this emerging nation has just one box on it. Moses is a one-man show, and he’s handling everything. Now, along my journey, I’ve led small teams, a small church, a small community organization, and a small business. They have all been incredibly challenging experiences. I can’t even imagine the headaches Moses had trying to lead a million people and their livestock through the wilderness. That’s, like, a form of slow, painful suicide.

Moses’ wise father-in-law immediately sees that, too. He helps Moses get organized. There are capable leaders all around. Every human system is an organism with lots of individual parts with individual gifts and abilities to contribute to the good of the whole. So, Moses essentially adds four management levels to the org chart and appoints leaders for every five, ten, hundred, and thousand people complete with a multi-layered process of appeal. It works.

I’m reminded this morning of the early Jesus’ movement who organized in a similar fashion. The word picture given was that of a body. Each member is a part of that body and serves in an indispensable role in the healthy function of that body. No one person can do it all. Every person contributes to the whole just like every cell in my body plays a part in my health and life.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself looking back at various leadership roles I’ve had along the way. As a capable individual, there have been plenty of times in which I took on way more organizational responsibility than I should have. While it may have worked for a while, I eventually burned out and others missed out on using their gifts and the fulfillment that accompanies being a part. Of course, there are always issues and struggles that come along with any human system. They’re always messy. But, like Moses found out, a system always runs better when every part of that system knows its part, is in the right functional role, and knows that it is contributing to the life and health of something greater.

How am I doing in the various systems in my life? My marriage, my family, my job, my local gathering of Jesus’ followers? Am I in the right roles? Do I know where I best contribute? Am I contributing to the health and life of each system? Am I taking on responsibilities for which I’m not really suited? Am I finding purpose and goodness in them?

All good questions to reflect on as I enter back into another day in the journey.

Have a great day, my friend!

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.