What's the Worst Bad Word?

Hi Everyone-

I pray you are doing well and experiencing blessing in your lives.  I hope that you enjoy the blog, I certainly enjoy writing about these things, to the point that I literally have a page of quotes, notes, and ideas for future blogs on my iPad.

What's the worst bad word in your opinion?  I'm coming to think a "regular" word is actually one of the worst ...

In reading for a class the other day I came across this story about Carl Sundburg, a well-known historian, poet, and entertainer from years past:

A reporter interviewed him near the end of his life and asked, "What in your opinion is the ugliest word in the English language?"  Sundburg paused and repeated the question.  He sat silently, looked around and rephrased it.  After sitting for a while longer and letting some poetic tension build he said, "The ugliest word in the English language is ... exclusive."

As I reflect on the Gospels and the story of Jesus' life, I think He very much lived against the tendency us humans have to exclude.  Think about the Pharisees and religious leaders who frequently were at odds with Jesus.  What words would you use to describe them?  Legalistic?  Judgmental?  Hard-hearted?  I think perhaps the best word to sum them up was exclusive, and by contrast one of the best ways to sum Jesus up is inclusive.

Time and again Jesus was accused of, or looked down upon for, hanging out with the "bad" sort of people.  He ate with prostitutes, tax collectors, unclean, etc.  He talked to and touched unclean foreigners.  Jesus accepted everyone for who they were, He included.  He didn't leave them the way they were, but He accepted them the way they were by including them right off the bat.  The religious leaders, on the other hand, excluded.  They were the chosen people who obeyed the laws and kept themselves clean.  So, they shunned, stayed away from, and prided themselves in NOT being like the "sinners".  They excluded.

Perhaps the epitome of this is the story of the Good Samaritan.  In it, the religious leaders shy away from the hurt man.  They don't want to become unclean, have to go out of their way, or spend their money, so they exclude him by walking on by.  The Samaritan, however, goes up to and lovingly takes care of the hurt fellow, he includes him.

I think this is one of the most fundamental things that Jesus calls anyone who follows Him to do.  Christ Followers and the Church are urged to strive to be as inclusive as possible.  Which isn't always easy.  Read Acts 10 as an excellent example.  God challenges Peter to include Gentiles and has to tell him three times to get the point across.  Peter's realization is summed up in Acts 10:28, "Peter told them, “You know it is against our laws for a Jewish man to enter a Gentile home like this or to associate with you. But God has shown me that I should no longer think of anyone as impure or unclean."

What do you think?

Grace and peace,
Lang

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Can We Pray Without Ceasing?

Hi Everyone-

I hope you're doing well.  We had a pretty crazy week with a snow storm hitting us, which threw all our schedules out of whack.  Have you ever read, or heard, anything from the Bible and thought, "Yeah, that sounds cool, but it's totally not doable'?  Or maybe, "Yeah, right.  The author has got to be exaggerating for effect!"

I have long thought this about Paul's words in 1 Thessalonians 5:17.  He writes, "Never stop praying." (NLT)

Really?  Never stop praying (or "pray without ceasing" in other translations)?  That can't be possible, Paul must be speaking in hyperbole.  Right?  I don't think I've been alone in this thought have I?

One of my classes last term was Spiritual Formation: Prayer, Practice, and Presence.  We talked and read a lot about prayer.  Something I learned, and am still learning, is that with intention anything/everything can become a prayer.  The key word, in my opinion, is intention.  First let me briefly give the foundation for this and then a couple examples.

God is everywhere.  And prayer is a conversation with God.  So, every place and situation contains the opportunity for conversation with God, right?  So, it is technically possible to always be praying, if we recognize the opportunity.

I learned/discovered last term a few cool ways to recognize and take advantage of this truth last term.  First, when I see beauty out in the world (the snow capped mountains, the sunrise, beautiful forests, etc) I try to remember to use that as an opportunity to prayerfully praise God for the goodness of His creation.  Another thing I think is pretty cool is combining the Jesus Prayer with walking or running.  It can look a lot of different ways, but what I've experimented with is repeating "Jesus ... Have ... Mercy" in time with my footfalls, over and over again.  As I do this, some images of what this would look like come to mind as prayer-images.  Finally, I like to work out.  So, I've started trying to pray for God to use and bless particular body parts as I use them in a workout (biceps, shoulders, legs, abs, breath, core, etc.).  I found this particularly connecting to God during the hardest parts of workouts.

I'm not saying I actually pray all the time, but I am praying more and more.  Plus, I see Paul's exhortation as not a hyperbole, but a possibility.

What do you think?  Is it doable?  What are some ways you can imagine prayer becoming more a part of our lives?


Grace and peace,
Lang

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Is it Important to be Disappointed?

Hi Everyone-

 May this winter find you enjoying cool breezes, snow, rain, and all the other wonders it brings before new life comes in the spring.  One of my classes this term is Homiletics (a class about preaching), and I'm very excited as I get to preach three times, next week being the first.  So far this term I've been struck by a rather pleasant trend ... all the books I've been tasked to read so far have been great.  In reading for Homiletics I came across the following conclusions about the nature of disappointments in as they pertain to our relationship with God.  The author contends that instead of driving us away from the divine, they can draw us closer.  She writes:

Disappointments "draw us deeper into the mystery of God's being and doing.  Every time God declined to meet my expectations, another of my idols is exposed."  "Did God fail to come when I called?  Then perhaps God is not a minion.  So who is God?  Did God fail to punish my adversary?  Then perhaps God is not a policeman.  So who is God?  Did God fail to make everything turn out all right?  Then perhaps God is not a fixer.  So who is God?" - Barbara Brown Taylor in Preaching LIfe
 
My short summary of what she's saying is that disappointments shatter our misconceptions about God, which become our idols, which allows us to know Him better/truer and draw nearer our God.  I'd say the Bible is littered with tales of this.  Abraham and Sarah were old and childless, which had to be very disappointing.  It was only through this disappointment that they got to know the awesome power and love of God who allowed them to have a son at an age beyond the possibility of humans reproducing naturally.  Take David as another example.  He's anointed as the future king and kills Goliath, but then ends up hunted and on the run from Saul.  He writes Psalm after Psalm lamenting his fate and pleading with God to help.  I'd imagine it was pretty disappointing to know one's supposed to become king, but then be fleeing for one's very life.  But, God proves His awesomeness and comes through big time for David.  I think David draws nearer God in the midst of, and through, his time of disappointment.

Personally, when I got divorced I was pretty disappointed.  Yet, through it I learned so much about God, I drew near to Him in ways I never had before.  My life began to be transformed in ways it wouldn't have otherwise.  There was a lot of significance in my disappointment I think.

How about you?  Have you experienced this to be true?  What do you think?

Grace and peace,
Lang

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Joy

Hi everyone-

I pray the new year is going great for you.  I started the spring term at school this week and have some pretty interesting classes.

The professor gave used a quote in New Testament class which is really sticking with me.  Here it is:

"Joy is the most infallible sign of the presence of God" - Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

I think there's something profoundly true about this statement.  What's more, from my experience I believe I've seen this to be true for myself as well as others.  First, let's look at the converse.  Would you consider people who are bitter or hostile close to God (generally speaking)?  Wouldn't these typically be markers that someone isn't connected to the Holy One?  When you're bitter do people want to be around you?  I know I'm absolutely no fun when I'm bitter about something ... and if God is "with" you people will generally be drawn to you, right?  So, I think one could conclude that there are attitudes that indicate a person isn't near the presence.

Now, consider the flip side.  Do you know anyone whose typically pretty joyful?  Don't you find yourself drawn to her/him?  I know I am.  It's easy to by joyful when things are going well though right?  Have you ever met a person whose life circumstances just plain suck (sick, unemployed, getting divorced, etc) but they're filled with joy?  Has it ever seemed to defy reason, as in there's no way they should have joy in that situation?  I think that's God.  God isn't about happiness, in my opinion, God is about joy.  God brings joy.

With that in mind, I think joy is the best indication of a person being near to God.  What do you think?

Grace and peace,
Lang

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