Month: September 2016

What’s Your Why?

Sometimes success can be your worst enemy.

Success, getting what you want, can be good, especially when it results in the flourishing of those connected to your life. But success can be toxic when it comes at the expense of those around you. Success becomes your enemy when you hold on to it, become afraid that you can’t maximize it, or exceed it, or live up to it in the long term.

Success – good and bad – reveals your “why.” Do you ever stop to reflect on what is your why? Do you take time to contemplate on what success is for you? Where does your why come from? Is your why worth it? Who wins if your why is successful?

We see in the gospel of Jesus (according to the disciple Mark) that Jesus was crystal clear about his why, about what success meant for him and those connected to him. For Jesus, success was traveling to Israelite villages preaching the good news of the arrival of God’s kingdom while driving out demons and healing the sick. “That is why I have come,” Jesus stated, to his disciples.

the-gospel-of-markIt’s interesting that following a long night of driving out demons and healing those with various diseases in Capernaum, while still hungry and exhausted, he slipped out of the house while everyone was still asleep. “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” Success has it’s draining cost and distracting temptations. You can probably relate.

Following the mass-healing in Capernaum, Simon sought out an exhausted Jesus, excitedly telling him that “everyone is looking for you!” The implication being: we’re successful, let’s set up shop here and make the most of it. This was the kingdom breaking in, let’s set up the kingdom right here, right now!

But that is not why Jesus came to preach and heal. He came to announce the arrival, to embody the arrival, to evoke allegiance to the arrival. He didn’t come to establish the kingdom according to the imagination of everyone else. Jesus knew his why, and he wasn’t going to let others hijack it, nor let success derail it.

Have you ever wondered, what did Jesus pray when he got away to a solitary place? As a Jewish male, in first century Israel, he would have likely prayed daily the Shema, probably the Amidah, many of the Psalms (like 100, 145-150), and I wouldn’t be surprised if Jesus included the Lord’s Prayer.

jesus-prayer8Sometimes we think prayer is always asking God for stuff. For safety, for security, for success. But for Jesus, prayer was about presence. It is about being present with his Father, the one who revealed his why to him, who sent him with his why to embody the healing gospel to the children of Israel.

Prayer can be that for us; a time and a place where we dwell with the Lord in silence, with his Scriptures. In that way, we will discern our why, we can gain clarity on the why we are sent with, and how to stay connected to that why when success tempts us.

psalm-145-v-9-image

Feeling frustrated that you haven’t achieved success yet? Don’t make success your idol. Let success flow out of your why, and let your why flow out of your prayers. A why that emerges from dwelling on the Lord’s Prayer, or Psalm 145 would be a powerful why in the world.

White paper in a red background

Sensing that success might be one of your enemies? Becoming afraid that your past success can’t be repeated or exceeded? Reconnect with your why, with why Jesus has sent you to this place and time. Start your mornings with him. Be reminded of why you were sent here: for the flourishing of all.

Let me know if you want to learn how to pray as a way to learn your why and join Jesus in his gospel-work in the world.

 

Feeling Unlucky Lately?

Listening to NPR on my morning commute to the office, I heard a brief news story about the founder of Instagram, who quipped about how luck is what drives the world. He mused that maybe life was about recognizing luck when it was around you, and acting on it. Something like that.

Then I pulled into my parking spot and realized I had forgot my laptop at home. So much for feeling lucky this Monday morning!

the-gospel-of-mark

In the gospel story this morning, we read about Jesus heading to the home of his disciples Simon and Andrew for dinner and rest. Seeing as Jesus was homeless, he was always grateful for the hospitality of others. When he arrived at their home, he was told that Simon’s mother in law was ill in bed with a fever.

Fortunately for her, this was her lucky day! Jesus went up to her, sat at her bedside, gently took her hands, prayed over her with great love, and then helped her up to her feet. Now it was Jesus’ lucky day – she was ready to throw a huge feast in gratitude for his healing touch.

peters-mother-in-law

But word got out, and Jesus never got his dinner – so much for luck. The village of Capernaum found out that Jesus was there at Peter’s house, and as the sun set over the Sea of Galilee everyone brought anyone they knew who was sick, diseased and demon-possessed.

It was lucky for the townspeople that Jesus was there and able to heal, but unlucky for Peter’s household, as their whole evening was disrupted. Sure, the whole town got healed, but what about their dinner!

What is luck? I don’t know. But for Jesus, every day, every moment, was an opportunity to be good news. Luck is usually something good that happens to us, maybe unexpected, but also hoped for. But Jesus is more than just lucky, and way more than a bringer of luck. He comes to bless. On purpose. With a plan. For the flourishing of all.

You feeling lucky? Unlucky? Ready to ground your Monday mornings and future hopes on something more than luck? For Christians, everything good that happens ought to be received as a gift, as a blessing.

We don’t get “lucky” with God. He is loyal to us more than we can imagine! He gives sunshine and rain on the righteous and the wicked – which is another way of saying that he gives us goodness even when we don’t deserve it. That’s more than luck, that’s love.

Is everything bad that happens to you a curse, a sign of being unlucky? Or, is God at work in everything, and bad things that happen to us might actually be a doorway to some of the greatest blessings we’ve ever received? Maybe, with Jesus, even the worst things that happen to us, even our most unlucky Mondays, could be the gateway to great opportunities to bless, love, and cherish?

You don’t have to wander aimlessly through life, hoping for a lucky break. Join a Jesus-community that will help you see what God is doing around us, and what he is inviting you to do. Break bread with a close friend, share a cup over prayer, and together submit your grief to the Lord.

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Next time you feel unlucky, maybe even cursed – take a moment to pause and say thanks – this may be your moment to stop and get ready for a moment to bless someone unexpectedly. Sometimes our own healing comes from blessing others amidst your pain.

Life is more than luck, it’s a gift. May you take it all as a blessing, even if at first it feels like you’re unlucky, late, and forgetting your laptop.

Who Is Scared Of You?

We all try to be nice people. But what if being nice to everyone isn’t enough. What if more than niceness is needed in our world? What if you should be scary too?

One of the early stories of Jesus in the gospel (according to Mark), Jesus goes into the synagogue on the Sabbath to teach. This is a normal thing that rabbi’s do on the day of rest. It’s always a nice event for the community. But in this story Jesus isn’t just a nice rabbi, he is scary.

the-gospel-of-markJesus is teaching about the kingdom of God, exegeting the Law, Psalms and Prophets, opening up the minds of the people there that they might repent of their sins and return to the Lord their true king. And this teaching scares the devil out of one of the men. “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are – THE HOLY ONE OF GOD!!!!!!”

We always imagine Jesus as nice, maybe a polite introvert, calmly instructing people on how to be nice. But I’ll bet Jesus was deeply moved by the plight and oppression of his people, his heart was broken by the sins that wrecked minds and broke souls.

From this anger, this powerful love, this desire for their healing, he taught. And it stirred up fear in the impure spirits, they got scared. And Jesus didn’t let up on them: “Be quiet” said Jesus sternly. “COME OUT OF HIM!” The impure spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.”

candleWhat’s the darkness that you hate? What’s the sins in our community that anger you? What’s wrong with our world that you want deeply to fix? Jesus is against it even more than we are. In fact, you could say that he’s the one who ignites our desire for justice and mercy.

So with the evil in the world that we are called to resist, will we scare those spirits of torment, will they shriek at our presence, or will we just keep on being nice?

Jesus was teaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, calling his people to repent and believe the good news of God’s impending arrival as their king. Jesus was compelling his people to straighten up, get right with God and each other, clean up their act and their community. Jesus knew that how a community treats the least of these reveals the condition of their soul.

widows-and-orphansWhen you overlook the widows and orphans, when the poverty of the majority is ignored by the powerful minority, that community is sick and under judgment. Jesus came to drive out the spirits that drive us to madness – and that comes from deep love and hope, not from being nice.

We’re nice as a way to be polite, and nice is good when we’re with strangers and we want to extend social graces and foster good will. But nice is the wrong thing to do when you’re called to love someone, when you’re called to sacrifice, when you’re called to look darkness in the face and stare it down.

Be more than nice to those enslaved by sin, and be like Jesus when it comes to confronting the powers of evil.

Does being nice scare evil? Does Jesus? Maybe we should quit trying to be nice as a way to avoid the pain of others. Instead, join a community that works to embody the gospel of Jesus, his hope, his works of healing, his confrontation of darkness with the light of truth.