We are not alone

A poem for you, the reader. If you care to know what's behind it, a brief description follows the poem. I hope you know- you are not alone.

We are not alone

You made dust, you made dirt, finger touched all the earth.

Plants and trees, birds and bees: from your breath we have birth.

Lord God, you come to us, uniting God and man,

Inviting us to walk, in Spirit, in your hand.

No more walks, no more talks, we fell flat on our face,

Giving up our Garden, so ashamed, so disgraced.

You kept us from yourself, with a sword and a flame,

Took from us your Spirit, your presence and your name.

Decades spent in despair, we went years without you here.

When it seemed you didn’t care, that’s right when you drew near.

Jesus Christ, in our midst, healing some, touching all:

In his voice, we felt love; his presence reversed the fall.

When he died, to bring us back, we were left, alone once more.

But he sent the Advocate, to be with us forevermore.

Took away the orphan curse, Jesus made us God’s own.

Breathes new life into dirt, together we’re not alone!

We are not alone; we are not alone!

You gave us bodies, you gave us Breath.

Spirit indwelling keeps us from death.

Now and forever, free and alive,

God with us – Immanuel – has arrived.

(Recently, I contemplated what it meant that we have God's Spirit. Within us. Yet we are still separate from God... God is wholly holy mystery, unless such a being would choose to reveal God's own self and nature to us. As a Christian, I believe that God did do this, through Jesus Christ, the "Word made flesh." At the beginning of the Bible, God speaks, and the world is made. God's voice has power, and we find out later, and the beginning of the New Testament, that God's voice also has flesh and blood. Jesus came to make the unknowable God known. And more than that, Jesus promised us the Holy Spirit, so that we would never be without God's presence. This poem is meant to be a picture into what it means that we have the Holy Spirit, from the teachings of the Bible, especially in regard to the loneliness that we experience in the world today. It was originally a song, and maybe some day, we will be able to sing it together, because we are not alone!)

A Day Forgotten, A Life Lived

I had just gotten back from a trip to Guatemala, and I began to write down some of the memories I made, the highlights that hung on tight. After I had written down some of my experiences, I wrote the date of one experience: 3-4-14. And that's when it hit me.

March 4th had come and passed. And I didn't even notice.

To you, March 4th might not mean anything. But to me, it marks a day of life change. It marks a day that has marked every day after it. It is a day that requires reflection, demands my attention, demands my life be put on pause. March 4th is a day I have written about many times (here, and here, not to mention countless notebook pages), maybe the renewal of my self- and God-discovery through writing. I don't know what else to do with what goes on in my soul on March 4th.

I lost three friends in a car accident on March 4th (3-4-05), and ever since that truly terrible tragedy, every March 4th has been a reflective day in my life. I made a public promise to live my life remembering the lives of Dan, Carrie, and Lisa. I demanded that others do the same, patterning their lives in a way that would show honor and respect for those who no longer live. I commanded my community and school to live differently. And when I forgot to remember the day, I felt a tinge of guilt in my heart. I felt like a betrayer, one who has forgotten about those he has sworn himself to. Have I left their lives in 2005? Have I forgotten my friends?

I stopped writing for a long moment. My eyes continued on to the story I had just written. It was about Manuel, and Carlos. It was about visiting them, and their little village nestled between farmland and banana plants at the bottom of an active volcano in El Rincon, Guatemala. I could tell you the rest of their story, but that will be saved for another day. As I read over the words I had just written, I realized something profound.

I was living out the promise I made. I was doing exactly what I should have been doing. I was serving other people, showing them that their lives mattered, telling them that they are special. I wasn't focused on reserving a special moment for meditation, but rather I had refocused my life to accomplish a mission. I had promised to honor Dan, Carrie, and Lisa, by showing love and compassion to the world, especially those who need it the most. And I was doing just that.

It is easy to live in fear when we lose loved ones. We are afraid to forget what they meant to us, and miss important days (I remember January 3rd, too!). And these days can keep us from weeks and years of living our lives. What I realized is that I honor these people through living, and not through fearing. Maybe you have lost a loved one. Maybe one of your loved ones is the same as mine. Don't live in fear of forgetting. Live as a remembrance. And it isn't too late. You probably have some unresolved issues with that person(s). It is time to move on, and just change. Make the change that you wish you would have before they died. Live the life you have been given.

And if you forget the day that you used to fear, reflect on what you actually did that day. Maybe you will realize that you honored them not by removing yourself from the world, but rather by living your life for others. Or maybe it's time to change the way you live every day, and not just one day. Don't worry about a day forgotten, go experience a life lived.


How are you living (or going to start living) to honor someone you have lost?

A Hill to Die on

The Christian Church in America is up in arms. A flagship mission organization has issued a statement on homosexuality, and both sides are excited: some with anger and some with elation. Many are thinking about pulling support from the organization- and some already have.
"This is the battleground," people will say. "We gotta win the war on marriage; it's a war we must not lose!" Homosexuality is a direct, full on affront to God's ordained plan for the world. We cannot let it take place in America. America is doomed, damned, if homosexual marriage becomes a reality. It is a slap in the face to God, who designed things to be a certain way.

The reality is that the war on marriage has already been lost in America. It was decided long ago, and the church didn't do too much about it. It's something that Jesus actually does talk about by name, and not just by association: divorce. In America, people can get divorced without proof of infidelity, abuse, etc. They can get divorced on a whim, with no strings attached. It is called No-Fault Divorce.  See, the thing about marriage is it is not just a "union before God." Marriage is also a very public act, binding someone to another person and giving that person certain rights and responsibilities. It is an earthly covenant; some people make that covenant before God, while others choose to make it only before a judge. When no-fault divorce was legislated, the effect was that people were not held to their covenant responsibilities in America.

No-fault divorce destroyed the institution of marriage. It was exactly what the Pharisees were asking about in Matthew 19 ("Can a person get divorced for any reason??"), and Jesus said that was totally off from God's intended purpose. Jesus talks about marriage as something that binds one man to one woman, unites them for service and selfless love. Many Christians are debating the one man and one woman part. But I would contend that the American Church has by and large given up on the "binding" part.

The church is ignoring the conversation about divorce (not to mention pre-marital sex). It has become a norm in society and is not talked about much anymore. Many Christians are willing to die on the hill of homosexual marriage, but it is merely one side of a much bigger issue. If Christians want to die on the hill of marriage, that is all good and well, but please make sure it is upholding the whole of marriage. Talk about divorce, call people out for it, hold them accountable. Talk about pre-marital sex, tell children they are throwing away a precious gift from God, call out their parents for doing the same. Talk about pornography and how it is destroying how people view the opposite sex and totally objectifies men and women. And take it to the government! Demand that marriage actually be a binding covenant between two people: what God has put together, let man not put asunder. Demand that the multi-billion dollar porn industry be shut down. Please, don't stop halfway up the hill. Take your cross to the top, and die there.

But Jesus did not die on that hill. Jesus thought marriage was pretty important. Jesus thought a lot of things were important. But what he thought was most important was that people were separated from God and his love. People didn't know that their Creator cared. Can you believe it- God cares deeply for them, and they think he hates them! So Jesus came to this earth, met with adulterers, prostitutes, divorcees, and all kinds of people with shady lives. And he showed them God's love. He showed them that they had a place to belong. It offended a lot of "religious" people, because they didn't think those people were worth the love of God. They need to follow a bunch of rules to earn God's favor. Jesus had no room for those people- he actually refused to let them believe such a thing. He took his stand. Jesus called out people for refusing to care for those that God cared about. Jesus wanted sinners to know God's forgiveness and grace. That is the hill Jesus died on. The "religious" leaders condemned him because he opposed the rules, and they nailed him to a cross on the top of a hill.
I want to follow Jesus. That's the hill I want to die on. I don't want to give up my life for rules. I want to be so stubborn about people knowing that God has given them a place to belong in Jesus, regardless of where they have been, that it is offensive. Showing the unbelievable grace of God does not negate his truth. But, as Jesus proved, it is the only hill to die on.