Name

I'd like to introduce you to my wife, Brenda.

When my wife was born, my mother-in-law wanted to give her a name that couldn't be shortened into a nickname. She got the name Brenda. Since we've been married, however, I've heard her called by a whole host of other names. In Ireland, she was often called Brid (pronounced "breeg"), Breeda, and Bridget. Here in the US, she's been called Barbara (my mother's name), Ray (which is our last name), and our landlord now thinks she is Linda.

We get a good laugh out of it when it happens. Still, it is nice when people get your name right.

Have you ever called someone by the wrong name and felt aweful for it? Three times last week, I passed a co-worker at my school and said "Hi John". I'm sure James didn't mind (too much), but I still felt like a snail as soon as the words came out of my mouth...all three times. I hate getting someone's name wrong. It really bothers me. It's personal.

I believe there's a deep need in the hearts of people to be known by others. For twenty years, I have been working with teens, and I know how much their struggle for identity and security and belonging can impact them and the decisions they make. I make it a point to know the name of every kid I work with, every teen I teach, and every young person who has ever been involved in my youth work.

That's a lot of kids.

When I know a student's name, I use it as I pass them in the hall or see them in the store or address them when teaching. I don't know if it makes a huge difference, but something tells me that knowing and using their name makes a subtle but profound impact. The more anonymity in our society and culture increases, the deeper and darker the personal search for identity will become. Something as simple as knowing someone's name can be a real gift, especially to someone who lives in crowded isolation.

"I exist to someone."

People are worth knowing, and it would be better for us all if we spent less time meandering in namelessness and more time learning to acknowledge the existence of others. Knowing someone's name makes them part of our story and connects us in meaningful interaction. It's good to be known.

"He calls his own sheep by name..." (John 10:3).

I Go, He Goes

Sicilian mosaic of Jesus.

Brenda was talking with our real estate agent recently when he told her about an encounter he had with a couple who were interested in buying a home. This couple had made it quite clear that they were Christians. They invited him over for dinner, and as they sat around the table for the meal ready to discuss the purchase of the house, they prayed a blessing on the food. After the "Amen", the next words out of their mouths were "OK, how can we screw the seller?"

Begs the question, "What kind of god do they pray to?"

Yesterday, I went to Wal-mart to pick up some medicine for my wife. I didn't see the camouflaged woman behind the pain relievers who was waiting in line for the next cashier, so I approached the pharmacy and paid for the cold and sinus medicine. As I was leaving, this concealed woman gave me an earful and wanted me (and everyone else in earshot) to know what a horrible human being I was. I apologized to her, but that apparently didn't settle the account. As she continued to huff and snort, I felt my tolerance drain from my brain at the same rapid speed the blood was rushing to it. What followed was a string of sarcastic pleasantries that I'm sure entertained no one but me.

Sometimes I wonder what God I pray to.

Thankfully, I wasn't wearing my 12-inch cross necklace or carrying my 30-pound version of the Bible or sporting the latest clever evangelistic t-shirt. And since the encounter took place at Wal-mart instead of Family Christian Stores or Holy Grounds Coffee Shop, I didn't play artificial nicey nice. She probably had no idea I was a Christian. Good for me. Good for her.

Granted, we all get a wasp up our nose and lose our temper from time to time. It's good to know that anger is normal and is a created part of the full range of human emotions. I can be angry, but my anger doesn't give me the right to be cruel. I'm not going to be too hard on myself for being the Great Sarcasmo from time to time, but I do want to recognize those moments when I could be better to those around me.

I am a bit of a mystic when it comes to the Christian faith. I don't believe in disconnecting faith and life. To me, they are one in the same thing. I don't see the point in going to church to be reverent and holy while being a holy terror elsewhere, as though the Christian faith were something to be "put on" and taken off again. I wonder how much of our life we live without being aware that we carry Christ with us wherever we go?

Almost on a daily basis, I speak with someone who has a very negative impression of Jesus because of the actions of those who bear his name. We need to understand that when we [metaphorically] slap someone in the face, it is as though Jesus has slapped them. When we take advantage of someone, it is as though Jesus is taking advantage of them. When we get greedy, people see a greedy Jesus. When we spew hate, they think the hate comes from the Lover of their Souls.

I love the church, and because of my concern for those outside it, I know we can be better than we sometimes are. I'm not very concerned with how people view us, but I am concerned about how people view Christ because of us. For that reason, Christian discipleship (how we grow our people) needs to be more than simply educational. It must be incarnational and relational, teaching and modeling love, service, and mercy in action. It breaks my heart to see people reject Jesus because we have rejected them (or ignored them, for that matter).

How do we deliberately live our lives among our neighbors? It's a good question. Sure, there will be those unintended times when our everyday humanity will be as dim and dark as the next guy, but how we choose to live is a different matter entirely. Will Christ be able to bless those around me today?

Home

We feel again as if the stone has been rolled away
and we could live forever,
hope is in our step, joy in our hearts,
the Risen Christ stands before us,
inviting us to come alive in Him and with Him.
God's love becomes our home.
Alleluia!

Easter Traditions

Eggs.

One of my favorite Easter traditions that I have learned about along the way comes from the Czech Republic. According to our friends there, it is customary that boys are given sticks and switches with which to chase the girls and beat them. No joke. I'm not sure how long this fun lasts, but I'm almost certain that it is only fun for half the group. On Easter Monday, the men are allowed to spank women but the women are permitted to get revenge later on in the day by dousing a man with a bucket of water.

Good times.

In Denmark, Sweden, and Finland, children dress up as witches and go door to door collecting candy in exchange for decorated pussy willow branches. This tradition is a mix of pagan practice as well as the Christian practice of blessing houses with pussy willow branches. In Norway, the simply read or watch murder mysteries at Easter.

The Germans build massive bonfires called Easter Fires, and the Irish do something similar called the Paschal Fire which is rooted in both Celtic pagan traditions celebrating the return of the sun and Irish Christian history which re-enacts the fire St. Patrick built to challenge Irish paganism.

Before you get smug about how weird these other cultures are, we must remember that sitting on the lap of an over-stuffed Easter bunny and hunting eggs scattered all over the lawn is a fairly strange thing too. It's simply our prefered method of madness. When did children start sitting on the Easter bunny's lap and posing for pictures start anyhow? Is it the capitalistic venture of chubby, unemployed Santa's trying to make an extra buck? I'm not sure, but I think it's wierd.

A lot of the things we (and others) do around Easter really has nothing to do with the resurrection of Christ anyhow and is more tied into neo-pagan celebrations of the Spring Equinox. Sure, we come up with ways to relate yellow chicks and candy eggs and beating women into something deep and spiritual, but these traditions are usually a mix of Christian and pagan. Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference.

Every since Constantine ripped the date of the Christian celebration of the Resurrection from the Jewish calendar, our celebrations of Easter have been more or less a mix of pagan and Christian. Do these activities make our celebrations of the resurrection of Jesus Christ less significant? Less pure? Some might say so. Our Quaker brothers and sisters don't celebrate Easter although the resurrection of Christ remains of paramount importance to them. I'm not convinced that the Christian faith is a religion of dates and places anyhow.

Perhaps the mixing of cultural tradition with Christian celebration helps make our expressions of faith more indigenous, more tangible. For example, if lillys and chicks and eggs help a child to understand new life and the promise of eternal life from God, I can see that as a good thing. I'm still trying to figure out how beating women ties in, but give me time...

We know from history that the Celtic pagans of Ireland loved the sun and particularly the sunrise. The Celtic Christians also worshipped at sunrise quite often. Was this a carry-over of paganism or did they see the return of the sun each morning as the promise of new life and the return of Christ? Many Christians today continue this tradition with our sunrise services and their mantras of "If Jesus Christ could raise from the dead, you can raise from your bed!" I think there is something profoundly spiritual about the sunrise as nature screams of the glory of God!

It's when we remove Christ and his resurrection from our celebrations that we should be concerned. The Apostle Paul said that the resurrection of Christ is essential to our faith. "If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is useless and so is your faith" (1 Corinthians 15:13,14). Every since his death, people have been trying to conceal his resurrection or prove that his body is still somewhere. They know that such a find would be the nail in the coffin of the Christian faith, and so many are desperate to find it.

I add my voice today to the chorus of the ages as we declare "He is risen. He is risen indeed!"

"Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?"

Happy Easter!

How deep is the Father's love for us that He should submit His son to scorn and peril and slaughter to bring us life! How broad is the Father's mercy that He should choose to include us with Himself in this life and the next! How grateful I am for his deep love and broad mercy and gift of Jesus!

Happy Easter!

On the Love of Jesus

"All you lovers of Jesus, I pray now behold him,
With his purple blood streaming from his new naked sores,
His body quite weary and really exhausted,
They loosed him then scornfully to draw again his gores.

Then they pressed on his head a wreath,
Of sharp long thorns that caused much pain;
And fixed in his hands a rod or cane,
In his face then they spewed.

Their phlegm which so basely destraped all his beauty,
And yet to salute him they rudely then bowed,
After disgorging their thick phlegms so nauseous,
In the face of my darling, they all then agreed,
To nail him most barbarous on a long tree with scorn,
And then to exalt him his heart's blood to bleed;

When his journey was over in this doleful situation,
They fastened him with gross nails to the load he did bear,
And raised him with ropes as a show to spectator,
And he for those slaying him offering his prayers.

They pierced his heart with a lance by force,
And made his side so wide a wound,
That his precious blood then gushed in gores,
To save and restore.

Author Unknown

That Was Jesus

This is us.

I was attending a gathering of church leaders a couple years ago who were discussing, among other things, how our youth should be staying away from people and homes who were not very spiritual. It seems that there was a new young couple in the church who was interested in hosting the rotating youth meetings one evening. Since the couple didn't "have their act together", the leaders thought it was best to keep the youth away from them.

And then I opened my mouth.

In my opinion, when we constantly reinforce the notion to our young Christians that they should stay away from "those people", they grow up to be the type of Christians who stay away from those kinds of people. If Christianity were all about moralistic separatism, they might have a point. However, the example of Jesus teaches us to love and serve our neighbor (and, God forbid, sinners too!).

When I pointed out to the gathered leaders that separatism is not healthy nor Christlike, one particular leader responded by saying, "That was Jesus. This is us."

Interesting.

Interesting, but wrong. If we call ourselves "Christians" or followers of Christ, doesn't the name imply that we follow Jesus? Oh, sure, we emphasize how we should not sin just as Jesus didn't sin, but aren't we missing the bigger picture if it's only about what we don't do? To follow Christ along the Way implies movement not just restraint.

Should we not be teaching our young how to be better neighbors, how to love and serve those (and even be-friend those) who don't believe or live like we do? Should we not, by our examples, be demonstrating how to genuinely connect and hang with, love and serve those who are not like us? Should we not be teaching them the stories of Jesus with the prostitutes, the Samaritans, the poor, the outcasts, the adulterers, and the Gentiles and then seek to follow his example? Should we not be showing them how to bring life and mercy to others without coming at them from a position of superiority or demand of duty?

Today is being celebrated as Palm Sunday in many churches across the world, celebrating the moment the triumphant Christ entered Jerusalem on a donkey met by palm waiving crowds declaring their adoration for the Messiah. A few days later, the Hosanna's hushed and the crowds dispersed. I am sure that many of those who witnessed his entry into Jerusalem on that day also witnessed his execution a few days later.

Their voices were silent.

I am not sure I am any different when I declare his praises on Sunday but do not walk with him to the places and people he wants to go the rest of the week. It's easy for us to only walk with him so far. I think he begs more of me than my words, and I know he asks for something different than my moral outrage. He delighted in people and gave the best of himself because he loved them.

That was Jesus. This is us.

Out of Bounds

U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C.

For nearly 20 years, I have been working with youth in one form or another. While my job has changed, somethings haven't. On Monday morning, I will be heading to Washington, D.C. with nine of our students and four staff from L.A.H.S. Almost as long as I have been working with kids, I have been taking them on the road (or in the air, for that matter).

There's something about changing locations and getting out of our familiar boundaries that changes kids. Whether a work camp in Kentucky, a rafting trip to Tennessee, a mission trip to Africa, or an educational trip to DC, the change of venue (and cultures and sights and experiences) opens minds and liberates them from the narrow confines of their limited experiences. These kinds of journeys are good for kids, especially those who haven't been given many opportunities.

I find it interesting that some of the disciple's greatest learning moments took place when Jesus took them out of their familiar surroundings and submersed them in places that were unfamiliar to them and among people they were taught to avoid. I'm not convinced that Jesus wants us to live in our safe circles of familiarity with little interest or regard for the "outside world". He engaged different cultures in strange places and challenged his followers to do the same. Perhaps the journey is an important part of our journey.

I am not expecting a life-changing experience for our students this week, but I do expect their eyes to be opened and for them to learn a little bit more about the world around them and their place in it. For many of them, this will be their first time flying or even their first time out of the state of Colorado. Their mix of anxiety and curiosity will put their senses on high alert and keep them primed for learning.

It's good for all of us to get out of bounds from time to time.