When I was a pastor in Redding, CA. we had a family who operated one of the local marinas on Lake Shasta. Once a year they would make available to us a huge patio boat as a home base for a congregational lake party. People would bring their speed boats and all would join in for a great outing on the lake, especially all of us who didn't have boats.
One year as we were heading out of the marina, I was behind the wheel steering this huge barge of a boat like I knew what I was doing. The woman who operated the marina was concerned that we were exiting the marina a bit too fast, and so she starts saying, 'Pastor... Pastor!' I, on the other hand, with the breeze in my face and the wheel in my hands, heard her say 'Faster... Faster!' Fortunately for us all, it didn't take her long to start yelling, 'Slow Down!'
We are fast approaching the season of Lent, a time when God starts yelling at us, 'Slow Down!' Left to our own devices, we will just run ourselves into the ground. I cannot tell you how many conversations I have with teens that begin with the phrase, 'I don't have time for that!' They are good kids, doing great things, but it seems that from 6 am to midnight they have no free time. Is that really the world we want to live in?
Fasting is one of those ways we slow down. When we fast, it effects our metabolism and forces us to slow down. Just as important, our gurgling stomach reminds us that we are indeed a blessed people, and that life is a gift generously shared with us by a loving God. Through fasting we are reminded of what we have lost and all that has been given us. Fasting provides a perspective that enables us to see what we typically take for granted.
Finally, fasting is a means to identify with those for whom fasting is not a voluntary act but a way of life. Fasting is more than a spiritual practice, but it is an act of suffering that enables us to better appreciate the needs of those around us who suffer on a daily basis. When we rush from one appointment to the other, we really don't have time for those who are not on our approved list, the ones who will benefit us. Yet when we fast it has a way of opening our eyes as well as our heart to all those whom the world typically chooses to ignore. It opens our hands perhaps to grasp the hands of Jesus in our midst. (Matt. 25)
We want to go faster in our attempt to get a head start on everyone else. God invites us during this season of Lent to fast, so we might slow down to discover the beauty around us. Consider the lilies of the field...
Peace,
Pal
Monday, February 24, 2014
Monday, February 3, 2014
Winners and Losers...
Wow, it wasn't even close!
In Seattle they are celebrating right now, but in Denver it's back to work.
Of course those who are celebrating will learn sometime soon; that as hard as it was to get to the top, the slide down is even harder to prevent.
Now the Seahawks deserve their victory, but the bigger life question deals with our response when we lose. I have a friend who has just witnessed a family member pass away. Death has not come easily, and there are no good words to be offered at a time like this. We cannot sugar-coat the pain of life and death, for if we cannot accept the concept of loss, we ultimately are destined to sink deeper into despair. Whether it is the small deaths we face each and every week, or whether we are humiliated on national TV, we are all losers. Our struggle for success will ultimately fail us as we struggle under the gravitational pull that drags us down into our humanity.
We live in a world that loves 'rags to riches' stories, or the image of the 'self-made man.' The truth is, however, that no matter what we do, we cannot escape the dust. The earth has a claim on us. As the minister is likely to say as the saint is lowered into the ground, 'ashes to ashes and dust to dust.' No matter how strong we might be, eventually we must succumbed and be pulled back to earth.
Now I don't mean this to be maudlin. I find the struggle to appear successful to be deadly to the soul. It steals from the heart. In the attempt to prove ourselves successful we miss out on significance. I find it comforting that we are not to be evaluated by God as to whether we made it to the top or not. Our value is not to be measured by success, but instead, life is found in the depth of our humanity. The closer to the ground we are, the closer we are to our origins. The closer we are to our origins, the closer we are to God. It is not our goal in life to show ourselves better than others but to make the world in which we live a bette place for all. The goal is not to divide ourselves between winners and losers, but to dig deep into our fallen nature and thereby discover our common humanity.
So I have learned a lesson in humility this weekend as my Broncos lost. Perhaps, however, this makes me the ultimate winner because I am more human than I was before. It's lonely at the top, but there are plenty of losers all around who will share in our grief.
Peace,
Pal
In Seattle they are celebrating right now, but in Denver it's back to work.
Of course those who are celebrating will learn sometime soon; that as hard as it was to get to the top, the slide down is even harder to prevent.
Now the Seahawks deserve their victory, but the bigger life question deals with our response when we lose. I have a friend who has just witnessed a family member pass away. Death has not come easily, and there are no good words to be offered at a time like this. We cannot sugar-coat the pain of life and death, for if we cannot accept the concept of loss, we ultimately are destined to sink deeper into despair. Whether it is the small deaths we face each and every week, or whether we are humiliated on national TV, we are all losers. Our struggle for success will ultimately fail us as we struggle under the gravitational pull that drags us down into our humanity.
We live in a world that loves 'rags to riches' stories, or the image of the 'self-made man.' The truth is, however, that no matter what we do, we cannot escape the dust. The earth has a claim on us. As the minister is likely to say as the saint is lowered into the ground, 'ashes to ashes and dust to dust.' No matter how strong we might be, eventually we must succumbed and be pulled back to earth.
Now I don't mean this to be maudlin. I find the struggle to appear successful to be deadly to the soul. It steals from the heart. In the attempt to prove ourselves successful we miss out on significance. I find it comforting that we are not to be evaluated by God as to whether we made it to the top or not. Our value is not to be measured by success, but instead, life is found in the depth of our humanity. The closer to the ground we are, the closer we are to our origins. The closer we are to our origins, the closer we are to God. It is not our goal in life to show ourselves better than others but to make the world in which we live a bette place for all. The goal is not to divide ourselves between winners and losers, but to dig deep into our fallen nature and thereby discover our common humanity.
So I have learned a lesson in humility this weekend as my Broncos lost. Perhaps, however, this makes me the ultimate winner because I am more human than I was before. It's lonely at the top, but there are plenty of losers all around who will share in our grief.
Peace,
Pal
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