WEAKNESS EXPLORED

God works in the most beautiful ways. When God breaks into humanity, the frail become mighty warriors, the weak break down strongholds, shame is woven into grace and virtue. In His Kingdom, strength and power and holiness are found in the most unexpected places. The cross, foolishness to the Greeks and shame to the Jews, becomes the power of God for salvation. A tiny baby, lying in a filthy feed-trough is the light and hope of the entire cosmos. Dirty, unacceptable shepherds are chosen to receive the announcement of the greatest news that the world has ever heard. Yes, I think it's fair to say that God has a sense of irony.
All through Scripture, God works in this beautiful, paradoxical way. Prostitutes and murderers are listed in Jesus' lineage. An adulteress woman at a well becomes the first missionary to the Samaritans. Christ preaches that children are closer to the truth about his ways than religious authorities. And if God delights in using these weak members to do the most important business of His Kingdom, then the question that begs to be asked is this: who are we to judge what is weak and useless in this world? I think that we often make the tragic mistake of dismissal. By dismissal I mean that we don't even take into consideration the incredible potential that every human being has in the Kingdom of God. Sometimes we dismiss ourselves; sometimes we dismiss others. We don't think we are good enough or smart enough or strong enough to step into the battle against darkness ongoing that Christ leads us into. How dare we think so lowly of ourselves. Really, if God can use weak, betraying men like the apostles to change the face of the entire Roman world, surely he can take us in all of our brokenness and turn us into forces to be reckoned with. He's done it all along. He will work his beautiful irony in us as well.
What weak parts of your life do you dismiss as being un-workable or un-usable? Have you ever experienced something wonderful come about through something that you considered unimportant or weak? Are there other people that you've dismissed as being unreachable or untouchable?

REDEMPTION

At my Care Group on Sunday night, after hearing Troy's message and the stories that people shared about God coming through when it looked like things were falling apart, Tim, who is in my group, asked a question. You know those questions that haunt you and won't leave you alone until you've obsessed over them for three weeks? It was one of those questions. He asked if when we talk about God working good things out of bad situations (like Troy and others were talking about) it is the same thing that non-Christians are talking about with things like Karma or Fate? It was a question that I don't think there is an easy answer to. It certainly sounds the same, or a least similar to talk about God showing up and things working out when we didn't think they would. Maybe people who believe in karma and fate really believe in an over-simplified and incomplete piece of the same thing that we do. But that idea troubles me. I don't want to believe in some sort of vague hope that things will work out. I want a God who enters into my pain and walks through it with me. Whether or not things work out, I want to believe that it's worth living in a world where the apple-cart gets spilled, if only because God is there with me.
As I've reflected on Tim's question, I've come to see that what we were really talking about on Sunday was Redemption, not Karma. Karma, or fate, or whatever you want to call it, is only concerned with restoring something to the place it was in before. But Christ is not in the business of karma; Christ is in the business of redemption. Redemption is not simply a restoration of original balance. Redemption picks up the things that are out of balance, the shattered fragments of a broken life and builds a mosaic or a tapestry out of them. Redemption builds a work of art more beautiful than anything that we could have imagined before things came crashing down. This is possible because Christ Jesus (a personal, loving God manifest in human flesh and not an impersonal, vague force like karma) enters into the dirt of what we are going through and bears the worst of it for us. That is the Christmas story. Jesus comes to be with us, takes on the very worst of who we are and what we do, and turns all of it to glory.
Don't make the mistake of thinking that pain will never affect you because you are a Christian. Sometimes, it might not even come to the place where you can see the good in the pain at all. But God is There. And He is in the business of redemption. Have you experienced redemption? Does any of this ring true for you or do you see things in a different way? I'm interested to hear other perspectives on this, so let me know what you think.

WORLDS APART

Sometimes, there just isn't anything new to say. Someone somewhere has already said how you are feeling in a beautiful way, and so the best thing to do is fall silent, and let those words speak for themselves. The following are the lyrics of a song that I've come back to over and over again over the years, Jars of Clay's "Worlds Apart". Something about them touches the deepest part of my soul. I know that this blog is usually a place to keep dialogue going from what Troy speaks about on Sunday, but I don't know, this seems to be the only thing that I can think of to say. So, enjoy the poetry; get wrapped up by the mystery of the song. Maybe you want to share an important poem or song on here. By all means, let's be blessed by the words that others have been inspired to write.

"Worlds Apart"

I am the only one to blame for this
Somehow it all ends up the same
Soaring on the wings of selfish pride
I flew too high and like Icarus I collide
With a world I try so hard to leave behind
To rid myself of all but love
to give and die

To turn away and not become
Another nail to pierce the skin of one who loves
more deeply than the oceans,
more abundant than the tears
Of a world embracing every heartache

Can I be the one to sacrifice
Or grip the spear and watch the blood and water flow

(Chorus)
To love you - take my world apart
To need you - I am on my knees
To love you - take my world apart
To need you - broken on my knees

All said and done I stand alone
Amongst remains of a life I should not own
It takes all I am to believe
In the mercy that covers me

Did you really have to die for me?
All I am for all you are
Because what I need and what I believe are worlds apart

I look beyond the empty cross
forgetting what my life has cost
and wipe away the crimson stains
and dull the nails that still remain
More and more I need you now,
I owe you more each passing hour
the battle between grace and pride
I gave up not so long ago
So steal my heart and take the pain
and wash the feet and cleanse my pride
take the selfish, take the weak,
and all the things I cannot hide
take the beauty, take my tears
the sin-soaked heart and make it yours
take my world all apart
take it now, take it now
and serve the ones that I despise
speak the words I can't deny
watch the world I used to love
fall to dust and thrown away
I look beyond the empty cross
forgetting what my life has cost
so wipe away the crimson stains
and dull the nails that still remain
so steal my heart and take the pain
take the selfish, take the weak
and all the things I cannot hide
take the beauty, take my tears
take my world apart, take my world apart
I pray, I pray, I pray
take my world apart