In effect, Santa is providing for us an example of what a Christian actually is. He’s demonstrating Christian spirituality as he brings gifts, as he spreads hope, as he delivers joy and as he demonstrates to the whole 21st Century world what it means to truly live a life of generosity. The things Santa does are themselves rooted in and motivated by his love for Jesus Christ. So, too, we ought to look at the person and work of Jesus Christ and be motivated to be like Santa.
Is that a bit of a stretch? It was for me too when I first began to think about it. Then I started going back again and again to the pages of the New Testament and reading through Santa Claus-colored glasses what we were being instructed to do by the Apostle Paul or what Jesus was instructing us to do. What kind of instructions do we see in the pages of the New Testament text?
I want to read from Ephesians, Chapter 4 in The Message translation. This is Paul writing to the persecuted Church in the region of Ephesus, which is the same region in which Santa Claus was born. Remember, Santa Claus read this letter; this was part of Santa’s Bible. These are the words that made Nicholas, St. Nicholas. These are the words that transformed a fishing boy into the most powerful and significant cultural icon in the last two millennia. He’s more famous than any theologian, pope, charitable person or movie star; everyone knows Santa.
Look at the words now that made Santa, Santa.
While I’m locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get
out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to
travel. I don’t want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don’t
want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And
mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts,
but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert
at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.
You were all called to travel on the same road and in the same direction,
so stay together, both outwardly and inwardly. You have one Master, one
faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who rules over all, works
through all, and is present in all. Everything you are and think and do is
permeated with Oneness.
But that doesn’t mean you should all look and speak and act the same.
Out of the generosity of Christ, each of us is given his own gift.
He handed out gifts above and below, filled heaven with his gifts, filled
earth with his gifts.
We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. He
keeps us in step with each other. His very breath and blood flow through
us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love.
Think about what those words must have done to a simple, little boy who grew up surrounded by the courageous confidence of men and women who are willing to be put to death for their religious convictions. For Nicholas, as a boy, all of those heroes for him would have been people who looked almost the same. They would have been from the same kind of socio-economic class, gone from place to place preaching and praying for people to perform acts of healing and acts of proclamation.
But Nicholas does something totally different. He makes the mission of Christ his own. He changes the way he is going to express Christian spirituality. Instead of going and preaching, he goes and gives gifts. He doesn’t go and give gifts publicly, he does it at night, in secret, so no one will ever look to him and talk about how great or wonderful he is. He just wants to give because he’s motivated by generosity.
It’s hard for us sometimes to separate the real St. Nicholas from the Santa Claus on the Christmas card, or the Santa Claus on the Christmas ornament, but we must – we must remember that Santa Claus is real. Santa Claus is motivated by affection for Jesus Christ to do things that will never benefit him or make his life better, but will only help to make our lives more full of joy. He teaches us what it means to believe. If you’ve got kids you see what Santa Claus does; you see how he awakens hope. He changes the perceptions of people and families from brokenness to joy, from despair to hope, from poverty to prosperity.
These things are Christ things. These are Jesus things, the things Jesus taught the apostles, the things they wrote about in the Bible. For us, this year, as counterintuitive as it might seem to talk about Santa Claus at Christmas in a church, it changes Santa from just a pop culture symbol and puts him right in the middle of the Christian Christmas story.
It teaches us Santa Claus isn’t a provider, but an example. We ought to be like him as he endeavors to be like Jesus Christ.
It’s our great ambition and hope for us all this year (and every year to come) that as you look at Santa Claus in the mall or in the cards that you recognize there is in St. Nicholas a power to change the world. That authority, that motivation, is placed there by God in him and it’s ready and able to be placed in us as well.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
is porn psychologically combatible?
had lunch with my friend greg, a mental health professional, today. he and i have been talking about the incredible cultural saturation of pornography - an epidemic, in his words - and about the inadequacy of both the church and the state to truly offer any real world help.
it seems like, when people become addicted to porn, their best hope is to just stop and hope for the best.
they're like white-knuckle drunks.
sure, there's accountability software which (in my mind) is the best option
but even that only makes failure doubly-painful because now someone knows all your secrets and is forced to act on them
which usually have some painful (and shameful) consequences,
often disproportionate to the crime.
anyway,
greg has a hunch that there has to be a way to fight porn addiction
much like we fight other illnesses (because it does contain many similar characteristics to mental illness)
and much like we fight other addictions (because it does contain all of the same characteristics of other addictions - alcohol, hard drugs, etc).
so he's on the lookout for some people of passion to dig up some research on porn, addiction, recovery, and re-mapping neural pathways for the next year in an effort to establish a treatment program.
it is very much needed
after all, if someone comes to me and tells me they have ADHD, i send them to greg
but if they confess an addiction to porn all i can really tell them is that they should stop.
people need real help for their real problems,
not just guilt and a high punishment for failure.
it seems like, when people become addicted to porn, their best hope is to just stop and hope for the best.
they're like white-knuckle drunks.
sure, there's accountability software which (in my mind) is the best option
but even that only makes failure doubly-painful because now someone knows all your secrets and is forced to act on them
which usually have some painful (and shameful) consequences,
often disproportionate to the crime.
anyway,
greg has a hunch that there has to be a way to fight porn addiction
much like we fight other illnesses (because it does contain many similar characteristics to mental illness)
and much like we fight other addictions (because it does contain all of the same characteristics of other addictions - alcohol, hard drugs, etc).
so he's on the lookout for some people of passion to dig up some research on porn, addiction, recovery, and re-mapping neural pathways for the next year in an effort to establish a treatment program.
it is very much needed
after all, if someone comes to me and tells me they have ADHD, i send them to greg
but if they confess an addiction to porn all i can really tell them is that they should stop.
people need real help for their real problems,
not just guilt and a high punishment for failure.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
allegiance, not behavior
People make the mistake of thinking that it’s our actions that send us to Hell (or, conversely, to Heaven).
But our actions are only indicative of the deeper, truer, person that we are. Our actions are only servants to us – they are the things we do because of the people we are.
The real issue regarding salvation is not our actions/behaviors, but our allegiance.
Christianity spirituality is about a changing of allegiance. In its most basic sense, it is a changing of allegiance from ourselves to Christ Jesus; in more dramatic scenarios it is a changing of allegiance from some religion, or some servitude, or some dark master to Jesus Christ.
But we find it hard to remember this.
So, when someone asks me: are you saying that God is going to send my friend to Hell for being a homosexual?
I am more than a little hesitant to answer yes.
1. because I don’t think Heaven and Hell are “real” issues so much as scapegoat rhetoric utilized to either:
a. make religious people look bigoted, or
b. make non-religious people look wicked
2. because Heaven and Hell are not determined – as far as I can tell in scripture – solely on our score as good people
Heaven is about allegiance far more than it is about behavior.
However, behavior flows from allegiance; which is why – if forced – I would have to say that practicing homosexuals are not (in all likelihood) Christians.
Because Christians are those who have given their allegiance to Jesus Christ, as revealed in the Holy Scriptures, and He leaves no room for ambiguity on the topic of sexual sin.
Some might think this is harsh, but I’m not sure why…honestly, if loving and following Jesus Christ is the most important thing to you in the world than you should be able to give up whatever else you need to surrender in order to serve Jesus better.
But if you don’t want to serve Jesus, then who cares what you do with your sexuality so long as it is within the law?
Anyway, I make the point of saying all this because people often respond with genuine heartbreak when they hear how narrow the standards are for following Jesus…and it’s true, the Way of Jesus Christ is wonderfully and fantastically difficult to follow, but our primary concern should not be managing our behavior.
Our primary concern should be Love for, and Oneness with, God.
If we are driven into the center of Christ, then our behavior will increasingly conform to the standards of Scripture and no sin will be any barrier against our entry into Heaven.
If, however, we are concerned with issues and sins and particulars more than we are concerned with giving our whole selves to God, than anything can prove to be an insurmountable barrier that separates us from Christ.
Because – again – the issue is not sin, but allegiance.
Which is why I try very hard not to monitor or police non-Christians on their conduct (unless, of course, it is something so heinous or dehumanizing as to warrant a just response). Christians, in the end, should only be ‘sharpening the iron’ - that is challenging one another on their sinful behavior – of other Christians.
So – again – if allegiance is the thing we focus on, then we can have confidence that all the other, less significant battles, will get worked out through the process of discipleship;
But if any one issue, or sin – like homosexuality, or financial generosity, or biblical credibility, etc – is what we focus on then we will spend the rest of our lives wrestling with issue after issue after issue.
And we will never find peace
Or wholeness
With God.
But our actions are only indicative of the deeper, truer, person that we are. Our actions are only servants to us – they are the things we do because of the people we are.
The real issue regarding salvation is not our actions/behaviors, but our allegiance.
Christianity spirituality is about a changing of allegiance. In its most basic sense, it is a changing of allegiance from ourselves to Christ Jesus; in more dramatic scenarios it is a changing of allegiance from some religion, or some servitude, or some dark master to Jesus Christ.
But we find it hard to remember this.
So, when someone asks me: are you saying that God is going to send my friend to Hell for being a homosexual?
I am more than a little hesitant to answer yes.
1. because I don’t think Heaven and Hell are “real” issues so much as scapegoat rhetoric utilized to either:
a. make religious people look bigoted, or
b. make non-religious people look wicked
2. because Heaven and Hell are not determined – as far as I can tell in scripture – solely on our score as good people
Heaven is about allegiance far more than it is about behavior.
However, behavior flows from allegiance; which is why – if forced – I would have to say that practicing homosexuals are not (in all likelihood) Christians.
Because Christians are those who have given their allegiance to Jesus Christ, as revealed in the Holy Scriptures, and He leaves no room for ambiguity on the topic of sexual sin.
Some might think this is harsh, but I’m not sure why…honestly, if loving and following Jesus Christ is the most important thing to you in the world than you should be able to give up whatever else you need to surrender in order to serve Jesus better.
But if you don’t want to serve Jesus, then who cares what you do with your sexuality so long as it is within the law?
Anyway, I make the point of saying all this because people often respond with genuine heartbreak when they hear how narrow the standards are for following Jesus…and it’s true, the Way of Jesus Christ is wonderfully and fantastically difficult to follow, but our primary concern should not be managing our behavior.
Our primary concern should be Love for, and Oneness with, God.
If we are driven into the center of Christ, then our behavior will increasingly conform to the standards of Scripture and no sin will be any barrier against our entry into Heaven.
If, however, we are concerned with issues and sins and particulars more than we are concerned with giving our whole selves to God, than anything can prove to be an insurmountable barrier that separates us from Christ.
Because – again – the issue is not sin, but allegiance.
Which is why I try very hard not to monitor or police non-Christians on their conduct (unless, of course, it is something so heinous or dehumanizing as to warrant a just response). Christians, in the end, should only be ‘sharpening the iron’ - that is challenging one another on their sinful behavior – of other Christians.
So – again – if allegiance is the thing we focus on, then we can have confidence that all the other, less significant battles, will get worked out through the process of discipleship;
But if any one issue, or sin – like homosexuality, or financial generosity, or biblical credibility, etc – is what we focus on then we will spend the rest of our lives wrestling with issue after issue after issue.
And we will never find peace
Or wholeness
With God.
Monday, November 17, 2008
westwinds voted: best place of worship
isn't that funny?
there's a "best of jackson" awards thing-y, and this year we won best place of worship.
it must be our all-you-can-sin buffet on tuesdays...which is waaay more popular than our we-were-just-kidding-seriously-get-over-here-and-repent-your-face-off wednesdays (2 for 1).
there's a "best of jackson" awards thing-y, and this year we won best place of worship.
it must be our all-you-can-sin buffet on tuesdays...which is waaay more popular than our we-were-just-kidding-seriously-get-over-here-and-repent-your-face-off wednesdays (2 for 1).
Sunday, November 16, 2008
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