blessed are the poor in spirit

the most famous sermon ever recorded started with these words, "blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." the poor in spirit are the broken, the weak, the vulnerable, the needy, the outcasts, the crying, the helpless. their blessing is the recognition of reality. it is impossible to see a humble God without humility, without poverty of spirit. that would be like trying to see the poor without being poor. or the rich without being rich. each carry a unique set of burdens. each carry a common set of burdens as well. you must identify with people in order to see them. we get this relational component from God. in order to see God, we must be made like him. we must confront, or rather be confronted by reality. this is the humiliating work of the gloriously affronting Gospel. by his initiation, this happens. we are changed. humility enables us to actually see. admitting blindness promotes sight. declaring the reality of weakness is actual strength. sacrificing is actually gaining. becoming less is becoming great. not in our world. but in reality.

poem: humility

does one forget who he is?
or embrace the person of Christ?
the first leads to veiled sin
the latter to life


elusive is the nature of meekness
pursuing it by own strength false
the end result opposes weakness
only known through the atonement fall


10.11.10 Beaufort West, South Africa

Heaven

a guy named Rich Mullins impacted my life drastically as a teenager. he was dead when i "met" him for the first time. Rich Mullins was a musician most known for a cheesy song called "Awesome God." ironically, of all of his lyrics and musical artistry, that song came to the fore. funny.


Rich's music is respected by many good artists, one of them being my brother. Jeremy has been a musical "genius" of sorts since we were children. like siblings do, i overlooked his abilities, especially the one to astound people with his passion. he plays something like seven instruments. but piano is his heart. he makes magic with the piano. magic. people have told me this ever since i was young. it honestly did not make sense to me because i was so used to hearing it.


the ability to hear his music has been a gradual growing process in my adult years. i now love to simply listen to him play. and he doesn't just have a song bank of say 25 or 50 songs. for that matter, his song bank is not even 500 or 1,000. he can and does play literally any song you can imagine. no joke. he even knows music and lyrics to school fights songs such as Montana State University! he's ridiculous. i might be overstating this, but i think his song bank is only limited by the number of songs in the world. people will often say to him, "if you know this song,[insert some amazing "then..." statement]." in all of my years of hearing this preface, not once has he not known a song! no exaggeration.


of all of the music he's played over the years, nothing clutches the face of my heart like Rich Mullins. when he plays Rich, tears often swell in my eyes. only one or two leak out, but they pile up. it's two of the people that have impacted me greatly working together. those moments create a deep longing for Heaven. For a brief moment, Heaven is in the room.


thank you Jeremy. i love you my brother. thank you Rich. i look forward to meeting you.

this song has never gotten old

quote in context

a forward-thinking pastor in Lafayette, Indiana had a brilliant idea. he wanted to draw the area's youth to the church premises with a skate park. many of the folks in the church were gravely concerned that a skate park might attract the wrong kind of crowd. the pastor humbly replied to them:

you will need to show somewhat less grace to them than Jesus showed to you

demonized and sanctified

this post is about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. his biological details are easily found in any bookstore. simply googling his name produces more than enough information. his actual story is not the focus of this post. rather, this post is about the reactions he invoked from the two culture groups in America. blacks and whites. or African-Americans and Anglo-Americans if you prefer.

as a child, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Martin Luther of Wittenberg, Germany were the same person. this juvenile confusion is completely understandable as neither were discussed in any depth in our home. the founder of the Protestant Reformation and the impetus behind the Civil Rights movement were the same person to me. ha! maybe not so ridiculous after all! i've jokingly asked my parents why they didn't discuss these world shapers with us.

growing up in a white, evangelical world, Dr. King, was not honored. in some fairness, he was not dishonored in the sense of active dishonoring. however, he was dishonored because he was ignored. the third Monday of January means little to nothing to most white, evangelical Christians. this is not only unfortunate, but un-Christian.

Dr. King has also been actively demonized by a great number so-called Christians. his moral character. his refusal to submit to authority. his preaching on social issues. all have completely decimated any good he might have done. because he was less than perfect, the positive change in American society is discredited. if you can demonize the leader, you can demonize the movement, right? this has been an underlying stance of many white, older evangelicals since the Civil Rights movement. and it's sad. it's really sad.

i have asked older people in my sub-culture where the white Christians were during the Civil Rights movement. some whites can be viewed in those historic pictures, but not many. what were the white churches doing? what were they thinking? why were they so far behind in pursuing righteousness for an entire segment of society?

flip the coin. the third Monday of January is a largely celebrated by the black or African-American community. he is a hero. he has influenced so much change. not to recognize him is taboo and utterly disrespectful.

the recognition or lack thereof of the third Monday in January is a blatant picture of the open wounds that still bleed in our America. if we are to live in socio-economically segregated communities for various reasons, then fine. i am ok with living a segregated life. it's much more comfortable. it's easy to control. i don't have to deal with fear. i do not have to change. i am fine with it.

but.

it's not ok to live a sanitized life and be named as a Christian. if you are not a Christian, you are off of this hook. (truth be told, you are on a much bigger hook.) if you have named yourself as a Christian, then cut out the religious association or change. stop playing games. stop justifying. stop allowing that little lawyer on your shoulder to win all of your cases in court. simply realize that your life is an outflow of what you actually believe. not what you say you believe.

lest any should think i am being too harsh, please read the words of Jesus. he was perfect. his words were spoken aptly. he told well-meaning followers of his that they were actually his enemies even though they looked like his friends. we might have fooled the world around us, and even ourselves. but we have not fooled him. last i checked, he is the one that matters.

truly a work of the Spirit

a certain sub-culture of people to which i belong use a word in regular intervals. calling. this word is jam packed with meaning. it has so much meaning that i think it has too much meaning. allow me to explain. or unpack. if you will.


calling has it roots in the Hebrew Testament (or Old Testament). Abraham was called by God to leave the comforts of his home and sojourn to an unknown place. what a journey! virtually everything was uncertain, except the calling on his life. he did not know where he was going, what he would eat along the way, or whom he might encounter. but he knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that God called him into and eventually through all of that uncertainty. Abraham was commended as a righteous man for trusting the voice of God.


calling also has a presence elsewhere in the Bible. it is a common theme throughout. Christians are called to do a great many things. pray. love God. love everybody. eat with wisdom. take care of their animals. protect the weak. die for each other. these are blatant throughout the Scriptures.


but for some reason, the clear calls of God in the Bible have been traded for something more elusive and mystical. the calls of God that require no extra cost still remain the calls of God for all. but the more difficult calls are relegated to a select few for some reason. for the more costly calls, God is now required to jump through some extra hoops to prove himself. it's a bit like the folks who asked Jesus to prove himself by doing miracles. just like in Jesus' day, the great majority wanted to see his miracles. only a few actually followed after the magic show was over. nothing has changed. we still attempt to force God to prove himself before we follow him. if God does not prove himself in the ways we want, He gets traded in.


you will often see people communicate that certain calls in the Bible are just for a select few. such calls are caring for the poor, defending the marginalized, and caring for orphans in a face to face capacity. these are only for a select few as is evidenced. everybody is privy to the fringe benefits (or miracles in Jesus' day). but only a few are reserved for the costly calls. this is the same mindset of the great multitudes in Jesus' day who ended up indicting him to the point of death.


now i am not making an argument for all people to care for the poor, adopt a child, or become a politician to impact systemic injustice. i am not calling anybody into anything. this is a work of the Spirit in conjunction with the calls already explicated in the Bible. i am simply asking Christians to hear the calls of God that have already been given.


please stop hiding behind the mask of calling when you're really just afraid. Jesus is the greatest resource for alleviating fear. use him. use Jesus. he said to cast our cares on him. do it. he really cares for you. please stop hiding behind the mask of calling when you really just don't care. you are not totally indifferent, just indifferent to the point that it does not cost you anything. if you don't care, know that Jesus still cares for you. so much so that he is constantly pleading for you in spite of your indifference. forget what's behind and run toward what's ahead. please do not abuse the precious theme of calling. it is not yours, but God's. he has already communicated it and is waiting for us to participate for our joy.