Dreamer

I sometimes sadly reflect on the rebukes some teachers, or even parents, give to their children saying, "get your head out of the clouds!" or jeers of, "oh, you're just a dreamer." Well I say, "dream on!". I've always been a dreamer, a man of dreams and visions, of hopes for the future and a brighter day--and those dreams have led me around the world! From as early as 12, I remember pondering the scripture from Proverbs 29:18 that reads "were there is no vision the people perish." I still remember my pastor's sermon on the topic wherein he told us all the we needed to have goals for our life, a path to follow forward. Otherwise we were like the children of Israel wandering in the desert going around and around and around with no real direction. Or perhaps worse, we just sit there, in that same old spot till we die of utter stagnation (or is that petrifaction?). Perhaps we are going in circles just waiting for a generation of scoffers to die off before we really move forward (that's what happened to those Israelites who didn't have a forward vision! They were so stuck-in-the-traditional-mud-of-Egypt that they couldn't see the reality of the promised land!).

We are often scolded for being dreamers, unrealistic: these qualities are considered "youthful" (as in immature). Some of us once dreamed (the once-dreamers are the saddest folk). Failed dreams have caused many to become skeptics and in their disillusionment they simply give up, sit down and never get going again: couch-potatoes who were once the football stars of yesteryear, now resting on yesterdays laurels because they have none today. Many end up simply living out their lives in the past or in the "good old days." They only have ancient memories to live with until they die. Oh, don't get me wrong, eventually all we ever have in our last days is our memories--so, since that is the case, MAKE MEMORIES! Don't limit memories to those of the ancient and distant past! Find your progressive vision, one that pushes you to grow and moves you toward a promised land! Experience and live life! Some poor souls never start the journey because they know (or believe) they will never arrive at their "promised land." Perhaps you've said to yourself, "why start at what I cannot achieve?" Perhaps your right, perhaps you will never arrive at the destination you originally set out to find--but you will find new and wondrous things on the journey. You will grow, experience, and succeed at actually living life. As they say, living life is not a destination it's a journey...so, move it and travel on toward life!

In the Genesis account we are given six days of new creation and one day to look back and enjoy it, perhaps this is a good guide for all the days of our lives. 6/7 of the time work toward your future and create a new world for yourself, and 1/7 of the time simply enjoy what your done and relax. In this way you will see what you have already achieved; you will see how you are moving, changing, growing and really living life!

OK friends, my meaning is simple. Let's continue to believe tomorrow's hope, that vision that moves us toward a wondrous future! It doesn't have to be perfectly defined, it just needs invigorate and motivate us toward a shared goal. What is wonderful is that regardless to how long it takes, we will grow in the process!

The Truth in Love

Aslan (the Christ figure in the Chronicles of Narnia), has just raised up from the dead. Lucy and Susan are asking him how that is possible. He states that though the Witch who killed him knew that that law (magic) said a traitor's life must be paid by death, the deep law (magic) said that when one who is innocent of any sin dies for the life of a traitor even death itself is overturned. That's what Jesus did! He overturned the Laws of Sin by the deeper law of Love.
We sometimes argue scriptures as if the Old Testament laws (those we choose to follow) are the deepest foundations of our theological truth... The Old Testament is not the deepest foundation. It certainly is a foundation, full of the stories of humanities struggle to find God and be a people of God. But every theologian knows that the deeper truth, and deeper foundation is the very existence of God who is first and foremost united in LOVE. Paul states that you can be holy, prophecy like an prophet, speak with the language of angels, cast out demons...but it is nothing .... absolutely NOTHING without LOVE. Jesus said that all the commandments of the Law and the Prophets are fulfilled in LOVE, and against LOVE there is no law.
So why is that so many times we argue out of a lesser truth of Law and ignore the greater truth of Love? The Old and New Testaments are filled with laws and rules we haphazardly and inconsistently follow (if at all). Too often we beat each other over the heads for the ones we think others should still follow. In some cases we get on our soap boxes and preach hell and damnation to those who don't agree with our "truths." We might feel that the "truth" is in danger if we don't proclaim it, or qualify our "love." We are angry, self righteous and divisive--we are hurtful. We kill in the name of love, and Aslan's blood is shed again. At that point perhaps we have forgotten the deeper truth of Love. The litmus test of our communication one with another is "is what I am saying of the deeper LOVE?" if it is not of the deeper Love... perhaps it's best unsaid and should be overturned in your thoughts.

When is it Enough?

(mirrored from 2nd Congregation "Advance")

Have you ever wondered, “Does it ever stop?” or cried out, “Make it stop.”My son Jeremy made a picture of himself surrounded by images of those loved ones who had recently died with a large slash through the picture and the words expressing the idea of “NO MORE.” He was feeling overwhelmed by the sorrows of life, sorrows usually felt by those much older than he. But the world is not always fair, hardship doesn’t discriminate according to age, and life’s trials can come all at once. We have to trust that God will not give us more than we can bear – but at times one wonders if one can bear anymore!

Jeremy asked me how I deal with so much strife and sorrow, how do I live through it. My automatic answer was “God,” but that wasn’t quite clear enough, so I elaborated. I remembered what my Grandpa Miller would say to me, “count your blessings.” This is to repeat something the Apostle Paul said, “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honorable, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” This tells me that I should remember all the blessings I do have and count them with joy. My family, my friends, my health (or relative health), my loves and gifts, my successes, the good things I have and have shared. When pondering the good things in my life, my sorrows seem to diminish a bit and become more bearable. I also remember that sorrow might endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning!

I remember my coach telling me “no pain, no gain.” I wonder if that is like passing through David’s “valley of the shadow of death” to get to the “Lord’s House” (Ps 23), or Israel ’s wandering for forty years in a wilderness before passing into the Promised Land (boy, I don’t want 40 years of it!) Perhaps, we all have to pass through some desert wildernesses. You might feel as if we have been wandering around in a wilderness for the last decade! Perhaps you’re tired and don’t want to have to face another problem, or another set of controversial discussions and the options that rage around them. Are you tired of the journey and have sore feet? Are you at the point where you want to cry out, “can’t we just enter the promised land?”

Yet, something wonderful happens in the desert of our lives, the old passes away and the new is found. Egyptis burned out of us, and we become a new people of the Promise. In the desert, we learn to hear from God and trust God. In the desert, we are changed from a slave nation to a mighty people. In the desert, we will face the walled cities of our fears and see them tumble. In the desert, we learn to count our blessings and not take them for granted. When is it “Enough”? When we become the people of God we are called to be…people who don’t simply exist as they bemoan the past, but a people who fully live in the hope of a better future.

I love God!!! .... liar.

(copied from a church newsletter and repeating a topic from an earlier discussion)

1 John 4:19-21 reads, "We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother."

The scripture time and time against tells us similar truths, about Love and how it is the completion of the Law, law's fulfillment (Luke 10:27-28). Scripture tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves. The Law would have us punish the transgressor, Love tells us to forgive. But who is my Brother or Sister, who is my neighbor, who is the transgressor? Is my neighbor that irritating funnily dressed Hara Krishna following me in the airport, or the Mormon knocking at my door? Can I love those country hicks who teased me as a little hippy boy from Hawaii? Can I love a person who molested me? Can I love those who try to destroy my life? Can I love my step-dad who got my brother addicted to drugs and put my brother in a life style that would lead to his brutal death? Can I love those friends who have said they love me but betrayed me and abandoned me? How can I love those that judge me? Hum... I'll have to think about that.

You see, we want to be "good" Christians so we say, "I love you but hate your sin..." to the betrayer, the deviant, the drug addict, the prostitute, the murder-- somehow we feel safer when we add a statement that denounces their sin--lest they think you approve of it. We say, "I love you but hate your beliefs [aka sin]" to those who's faith confronts my own; the Mormon, the Muslim, the Heretic, or the Hara Krishna. We say, "I loved you but hate your lifestyle [aka sin]" to those who lifestyle is different; the transvestite, the transsexual, or other sexual "deviants." Perhaps "hate" is too strong, we should just say "disapprove." Can I love without qualification, or is qualification needed to "protect" truth...is LOVE conditional or unconditional? Did Jesus "protect" himself from those others called "sinner" and "unclean" ?

"For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him shall not die but have everlasting life." I know many who would like to rewrite John 3:16 to be safer and to fit a more conservative religious approach to Love, "for God so loved the world [and hated sin], that he gave his only begotten son [please note he is male], that whosoever [is chosen and] believeth in him [by confessing their sins] shall not die [unless they deserve to die] but have everlasting life [in heaven unless they are unrepentant sinners then they go to an everlasting hell]."

So in the name of love and truth we Christians have fought religious wars, burnt heretics, drove our gay children to suicide, bombed abortion clinics, shunned "sinners," and in the pursuit of "truth" divided churches and started new denominations... all the while preaching a "Gospel of Love." Is it any wonder that the world thinks we are fools and "liars" for our "love" is very weak, though still strong enough to hurt.

God help me to truly love...