Grace: The lazy man's approach to life.

I'm always doing something, thinking up schemes, remembering to do something while I'm in the middle of watching TV.  That gives some people the impression that I am a very hard worker.  But I'm really not.  I'm fairly lazy.  Most of the work I do is all about finding easier ways of doing something.

That's why I like grace over law.  Grace is easy and simple.  Law is exhausting.

Now some might like to say that forgiving and accepting others is incredibly hard compared with living life according to a certain structure.  Others might say grace is fine, but "you can compromise your beliefs or life just falls apart."  I disagree on both counts.  Grace is easy... it's just not comfortable when your foundational ethic is on law.

Here's what I mean:

A life with a foundation of law means you have to vet everyone and everything that comes into your life (vet means "make a careful and critical examination") to make sure that you stay on the straight and narrow, and that everyone else believes you do to.  That takes an incredible amount of effort.  If you make a mistake in the vetting process you run the risk of "appearing" sinful, so you have to make sure (and you actually never will be).  That requires you to hold everyone and everything at arm's length for a very long time.  Friendships never solidify, knowledge is stilted and walls begin to form around the society that happens to pass muster.

On the other end of the scale is a life based on grace.  You can accept everyone rather than except everyone.  New experiences can be judged for their value, not because they "might" be acceptable.  You lack walls that keep you from reaching out, or for others to reach in.  The only rules that apply are those you set for yourself.  You are answerable only to you, God and people God sends to you for accountability (and you'll be able to recognize them because you don't have to run them through the law filter.)

I'll give you an example.  Years ago, shortly before my conversion, I got into the marijuana clique.  I started consuming marijuana in various forms, but mostly in social settings.  But I didn't participate because I was coerced into it.  I wasn't trying to fit in nor was I trying to be a rebel.  I was curious.  I enjoyed the society of my friends and we did silly things under the influence.  One day, though, I went out to the beach, alone, just to think and lit up.  The same thing happened that always happened:  I started dry coughing and feeling light headed.  About 2 minutes in I started to think, "This is really stupid.  Why am I doing this?"

The next day I was with a very good friend that I respected and that knew I used the drug and I recounted my experience on the beach.  She breathed a sigh of relief and said "I've really wanted you to quit for some time."

She never told me that before.  Never said a word.  She was walking on a foundation of grace with me.  I thought about my beach experience and what my good friend had just said to me.  I decided at that moment that the drug was just not what best for me.  And I got rid of my stash.

Think about what exists today in the illicit drug society.  We have laws up the wazoo.  We have a legal multibillion dollar industry that works to get people off drugs, an illegal multibillion dollar industry to get people hooked on them; a multibillion dollar entertainment industry that both glorifies and demonizes the practice and a multibillion dollar government infrastructure to deal with it all.  Our society polarized on either side of the issue.  Drug users don't feel welcome in polite society, much less the church, and polite society wants the users put away in prisons and medical facilities so we don't have to look at them.

It's all so complicated and takes so much effort.

But I had a friend that decided to deal with me in grace and transparency.  She didn't shut me out of her life because of my practices.  She didn't look at me as a sinner.  She just looked at me as a friend.  And that influence was enough to nudge me away from a potentially darker lifestyle.

It was so simple.  Imagine how uncomfortable it was for my friend to not complicate the process for both of us.  But it wasn't hard.  It was simple.
Now I'm sure I'm going to get a lot of comments from this about my stand on drugs so let's make this very clear.  I'm not talking about drugs, dammit.  I'm talking about living in grace and how it simplifies your life and the lives of others.  The grace lifestyle transcends topics.

I have people whose opinions I value that are diametrically opposed to my political, moral, economic, sexual environmental, religious, literary, musical and artistic positions.  That we disagree is not a reason to avoid relationship.  It is the reason to pursue it.

The Bible puts it in many different ways.  "Iron sharpens iron," is the most common.  Finding people with hard positions that oppose our own is the best way of finding if our positions are correct.  Grace allows me to hear what other say and consider it.  Some believe, however, that opening yourself up to those contrary positions can cause you to stumble.

But the Bible also records the promise from God, over and over, that He will write His laws and words in our hearts... not the other way around... and his laws are always based on grace, not judgement or separation.  I have found that to be the reality in my life, which is good because I'm so very lazy.

How to really "Put Christ Back in Christmas"

"Really!?  You go away for months, not writing a single word here and you come back with that crap?  WTH?"

Yeah, I know it's a really trite statement for a headline, and every time I hear it I throw up a little in my mouth. But I was hoping it would piss you off just enough to read the rest.  Really want you in an agitated frame of mind for this.

I was out grocery shopping and finishing up at the checkout at one store.  As the bagger finished up he gave me a big grin and said "Happy Holidays!"

The human brain is amazing in how fast it can process thought, because this whole post came to me in the split second before I responded to his exclamation, which I will be my conclusion.

Every year around this time we enter into the great campaign to "put Christ back into Christmas" by making a distinct effort to say "Merry Christmas" to all, especially when others use the less specific "Happy Holidays."  We have conversations about it.  We hear sermons on it.  We even read blog posts on it.  It is a polarizing moment every Christmas season pitting dedicated and even nominal Christians on one side and non-believers on the other.  Well, that's not quite right. On the other side is a small contingent of angry anti-religionists.  In between is the larger component of people who aren't sure what the problem is.  Those are the people this post is about.

In the Christian world, we have this thing called "The Great Commission."  In Matthew 28:19, Jesus tells his disciples to go into all the world spread the word.  The various translations say it differently, from teach to preach to "make disciples.  But the literal translation is "be a model of."  It's not about what you say, or yell or tell, it's about how you live.  So in the context of this post, I'm saying the best way to put Christ back in Christmas is to be like Christ.

So let's go back to the checkout at the store where the bagger wished me a happy holiday.  He wasn't making a theological statement.  I have no idea if he is or isn't a believer.  He may have very well been following a corporate policy.  But his attitude in delivering the non-committal benediction was heartfelt and enthusiastic.  All the above flashed through my mind at that moment and I put aside any sectarian discussion, looked him square in the eye, gave him my biggest smile and said "Thank you! Same to you and yours."

At that moment, we had reached an accord.  We wished each other well, warming in the glow of the beginning of a wondrous season and opening the possibilities of an incarnation of truth for both of us.  I had accepted what he offered without judgement or offense, just as Jesus had accepted the world without condition.  For a brief, shining moment, I felt joy and refused to let a theological position rob me and my new friend of that joy.

So in this season, put Christ back into Christmas by making a special effort to avoid judgement and confrontation for the sake of confrontation.  Be Christ for all this Christmas.

Chapter 15: A Family, Conclusion

There are stones in everyone's lives that can block their view of God.  

God, however, is in the business of rolling away stones.  

When a loved one dies, the depth and breadth of a family's faith is tested.  

For this family, such an event became much more; 

became yet another story for the telling

...another stone to be rolled away.

We are still in the home of Lazarus, but someone is missing.  

Grief has come to this home, again.  Mary is packing her belongings

Martha--What are you doing?

Mary--What does it look like?  I’m packing.

Martha==Whatever for?

Mary--Now that he’s dead, we can’t stay here.

Martha--Running away isn’t the answer.  We need to wait.

Mary--We have to do something.

Martha--We need to wait.  

Mary--Wait for what?

Martha--I'm not sure.  I just know we need to wait.  We have to be patient, Mary.  Panic won't help.

Mary--I can't believe he's gone.

Martha--I know.  We have to learn to trust God in this.

Mary--I still struggle with that.  Trust doesn’t come very easy for me.  Neither does patience.  I don't see how you do it.  How you've done it for all these years.

Martha--Practice, my love.  Practice.

Mary --How could Jesus allow this to happen.  It didn't have to be this way.

Martha--You don't know that.

Mary What are we going to do without him?

Martha--Just what is expected of us...and maybe a little more.

Mary --It wouldn't have happened if he was here.

Martha--We don't know that, either.  This could be part of the plan.

Mary Plan?--Death isn't a plan?  Death is the end.

Martha--Not with Jesus.  And you, of all people should know that.

Mary --I know Jesus could do anything he wanted.  But, this ...  No, he couldn't do this.  Martha, it's over... and I don't want it to be.

Martha--Mary, it will never be over.  Not as long as we live.  Jesus is life.   We can't forget that, Mary.  He restored you to us ... to yourself... and to each other.  Jesus made us a family again.

Mary--It's just that... I didn't have enough time with him.  Martha, I wasted so much ...

Martha--We both did.  We wasted it in anger and hate and pride.  We robbed ourselves of so much precious time.  But there is still much more to come, Mary, I know it.  I just know it.  For now, though, we wait ... and, perhaps, learn to grieve.

The sisters embrace and Mary begins to sob. 

 The silence screams in rage. 

There is a shout.  Lazarus runs into the house.

Lazarus--Mary!  Martha!  

Mary--Brother! I thought you were in Jerusalem.  Are they chasing you?

Lazarus--(panting) It happened!  He did it!

Martha knows exactly what he is taking about begins to laugh.

 Mary is clueless.  

Lazarus dances a jig.  

The Traveler, enters, unseen by Lazarus and Mary and moves to Martha.  

Martha sees him and falls to her knees.  

He helps her up and they both begin to laugh.  

Mary sees none of this as she watches Lazarus do his absurd dance.

Mary--still unseeing) What happened?  Who did what?

Lazarus--The tomb ...  the stone ... alive ... THERE! (points to the Traveler)

Traveler--(still laughing)  Mary!

Mary-- My Lord?  .....  My Lord!

Chapter 8: Centurion, Part 1

At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment.

Over the past few chapters we have search for 

faith in the realm of anticipation and expectation. 

Today we move into a new area of our search, 

where frustration and violence are the norm.

Faith doesn’t just happen.  There is a thought, an event or even 

just a casual word from a stranger that just 

seems so out of the ordinary that you can’t ignore it.  Faith invades 

your status quo at that moment and throws fear, 

uncertainty, even doubt into your conventional wisdom.  

You first thought on this invasion:  What’s the catch?.  

One might say that the initial evidence of real faith is ... suspicion.

We are at an outdoor religious service.  

People are flocking to hear an evangelist  in animal skins.  

He is baptisizing them in a muddy, shallow, slow moving river 

flowing through a desert wilderness. 

This is a familiar scene for many of us.  

But we are not concerned with the familiar.  

Over there, on that outcropping of rock above the river, 

is a man in a dull red cloak, huddled in the shadows of the rock.  

He is out of place in this gathering.  

That’s who we are looking for.  

Sir, a moment of your time.

I haven’t got time for you.  Be on your way.

We just have a few questions.  We won’t give you away.

What?  What do you mean?

We mean that we know you aren’t here to listen to the Baptist.

How do you know that?

You seem quite content with what and who you are.  

You are not a seeker of absolution.

And what am I then?

A servant of the status quo.  A Soldier.

That’s is very observant.

It wasn’t hard.  You are clean shaven with cropped hair in a land in 

where beards and long hair are the fashion.  

Also, your short sword was glistening in the sun.

Damn!  I thought I had that covered.

So.  May we talk a bit?  We are not from around here either 

so we have no agenda against you or your mission, whatever it may be.

There seems to be no harm in talking. I am not here in secret.  I’m juist being discrete.  What are your questions?

What are you doing here?

I thought you weren’t interested in my mission?

We have no agenda against it.  That doesn’t mean we have no interest in it.  

You are out of place here.  We are interested in the out of place.

Alright.  That man down there -- the baptist -- is causing quite a stir in both Jerusalem and Ceasaria.  Even though he hasn’t gone to either city.  I was ordered to find out what he is doing and why...and if it poses a threat.  He is, as you put it, out of place in our view of things.

And is he a threat?

Not as I can see.  In fact, he has some benefit to Rome.

How so?

He is insulting the local leaders; impuning their integrity.  And the people listen to him.  That weakens the leaders’ authority.  Makes them less likely to be able to stand up to the Roman authority.

But doesn’t that strengthen subversive movements that might be a threat?

Those kind of movements are poorly equipped, undisciplined and under trained.  They cannot stand up to the army of Rome.  They are merely an annoyance.

So you will be leaving soon?

Not so sure.

Why?

I am a soldier.  I understand authority.   A few minutes ago, a man came forward to be baptized.  The baptist stopped his preaching and talked quietly with him, deferentially. He recognizes this new man’s authority...and he hasn’t recognized any man’s authority.  The baptist has a following but not the desire to lead.  If he has found someone to submit to, his people will turn and follow whoever he tells them to.  Look!  There!  The baptist has sent two of his own after the new man.  That’s where the threat lies.  Not in the baptist.  He is now my mission.  I will follow him and find out what his plan is.

Very interesting.  We’ll catch up with you later.