End of the (academic) year thoughts - Part 1

As we transition into summer and the change of pace and schedule of the academic year, we look on with joy at what the new season brings. It is at these times of change that we can look at our own lives and make changes to our own lives.

When we look to make changes to our lives, we look to Christ as our model. How do our lives correspond? In what areas do we lack? If we look at Christ's life, a few commons practices come out.

One of the most evident is that he poured his life into a dozen men. Christ called out twelve ordinary men and spent much of his last three years on earth with these men. He taught them. He helped them to transform their lives. How odd it must have been to see this group! You have Matthew, a man despised for his vocation, because he was so friendly with the government. Then there's Simon the Zealot, who would be among those who distrusted the government and would be ready to overthrow it if possible! Somehow these men, under Christ's instruction, put aside their differences enough to follow Him. John, who had been known as a “Son of Thunder” -- John, who asked Jesus if he could call down fire from Heaven onto disobedient people. Ultimately, John, now known as 'John the Beloved”, would share in analogies of light and dark, and would write to people about God's love. This first community of Christ-followers were changed.

We do a good job of forming communities of faith. We are networked together with other Christians, and we find great joy in our fellowship with them. Concerning our sin, we readily admit that we are imperfect, and our thankful that our position with God is dependent upon our faith in Him, and not our consistent obedience. I'm afraid we stop there, though – at admitting that we are imperfect.

Over Christmas break I worshipped with several thousand other college-age students at Passion '05 in Nashville. It was amazing to see the convention center flooded with people who were passionate about reaching their generation for Christ. We met in family groups of approximately 6-8 students, and one day we met strictly with our own gender. I don't remember what started it, but that day my group jumped into a time of confession. This group of young men – men ready to glorify Christ here and abroad, began to share of their battles with lust. Nearly everyone in the group added to the discussion, sharing how they rejected God with this particular sin. Confession is a very freeing thing.

But this session was also a very scary time. I realized that these confessions had come to strangers – but in a few days we would all be returning to our respective universities, and to our respective Christian friends with whom we lived and worshipped, yet we had failed to seek support from them in our own sins.

I was also shaken up to consider that, if nearly all of my sample set of men at Passion, men ready to reach their generation for Christ, struggled with lust in one form or another – either by the media, or pornography, or lust-filled masturbation, or by our thought lives -- what did this mean for the rest of the Church? It was a scary thing to consider, that, although we will quickly admit to being imperfect, we choose the to not do such uncomfortable things as really share our sins with those around us.

It is in light of this that I want us to reclaim what the church is meant to be. Christ invested himself into the disciples and their lives came away transformed. The Church is individual people struggling together toward a common goal – glorifying God. Invest yourself into your Church this summer. Find a handful of people to walk closely with you toward transforming your life to be more like Christ. Find one or two that you will commit to holding accountable, and speaking honestly about your own sins against God.

A New Understanding of Grace

A few months ago, while shopping at a used bookstore, I learned that my purchases earned me a free book! To my great joy I returned to browse through the rows of books for even longer. When I left I had a copy of a book titled, A New Understanding of Grace: How Good Do We Have to Be? by Harold Kushner. I was curious to hear someone's "new understanding" of grace. Especially for free. =-)

One of the most striking aspects of the book was the "re-telling" of the story of Adam and Eve. He spoke about God as being pained by the knowledge he bore, like God was lonely. Adam and Eve's first sin -- this he described almost as a sort of graduation rather than a cleavage between mankind and God. Rather than God's wrath being invoked as a result of their sin, God welcomed them to join Him in His world. Kushner described it like God had a sense of pride, like a parent has in seeing his child venture out on her own, to encounter good or bad.

This idea of God not being unhappy with our sin, of Him even being grateful for it frames the rest of the book. He continues on to teach that God knows better than to expect perfection, because he knows that humans will make mistakes.

How does a person of faith come to have such a loose idea God's standard for us? I understood that Kushner (a Jewish Rabbi) was not a Christian, but why does he even talk about grace? Grace is not lower standards! I realized that this is the end of someone of faith, whose faith is not in Christ. After failing God's standard for long enough, and never having any worthy means of reconciling with God - one turns to a lower standard. Like "re-telling" Adam and Eve as a graduation story. Like deciding that our lives of sin are okay, because God understands that humans will always make mistakes.

Kushner shared a pastoral counseling experience he had, in which a mother was feeling extremely guilty. He sent her off with some tasks to complete in order to earn forgiveness. He described that advice as the way to relieve the lady's guilt. He offered a Band-Aid of works to cover the wound of her own guilt.

This Band-Aid seems to be the faith that Kushner is teaching. With no Christ-sized bandage to cover our mortal wounds, we convince ourselves that we have only papercuts, and that all we need is a Band-Aid. This is a perversion of God's holy standard, and it spits in the face of God's worthy sacrifice, His Son.