Cuz, I'm leaving, on a jet plane...

As I was flying home from Boston last Friday, I journaled the following in my 3x5 journal, just small enough to fit in my pocket...

Sometimes I think it's easier for me to express myself in pictures rather than words. Words are a high form of art, not to be tampered with, whereas pictures, I expect to butcher...

I am on my way home from Boston visitations and my thoughts are so incredibly muddled... yet at the same time, clear. It's like... if you've flown 5 gazillion times... when they read the safety information, you don't really listen, so it's kind of fuzzy in the background, but at the same time, so unmistakably clear, understood, and fully know.... I felt very at home easily in Boston, and excited about the prospect of moving there and working there... but at the same time, there is a certain "yikes! this is real!" sensation."

As many of you know, I have been wrestling for several weeks with the decision of where to go for InterVarsity staff next year... A few months ago, I was asked to consider going out of my locale, finally narrowing things down to either Baltimore or Boston. After visiting both, meeting staff in the respective areas, and much prayer, I finally made the decision less than 3 hours ago to accept the position in Boston!

While it is with great sadness that I will say goodbye to UNC, the LORD has had me here for a really good season! I will miss the campus, the students and the staff dearly, but I know that God is calling me to new things which will both challenge and stretch me, as well as truly bless me. I'm super excited to get to move to the Boston area, start learning the language (quite literally in some ways!) and start meeting the students.

Today, as I have been finalizing the decision, I have repeatedly been reminded of the verse in Psalm 139:5 which says of the LORD, "You hem me in-- behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me." While this move will be a huge change, I am confident that the Lord goes before me, behind me, and walks alongside me!

Remember

We all have memories....

... our first time at the zoo, and how BIG the elephants were...
... our first kiss...
... the last time we saw each other...
... what he said then, that made all the difference...
... the time when we ____...

Some are funny, some are sketchy, some are sad, some are life-changing, others are mundane moments that became monuments for us... all of them are permanently glued in our minds by our memories.

The Bible also talks about memory many times. The word "remember" appears in Scripture 233 times... Repeatedly, God reminds his people to remember what he's done for them in the days gone by:

Exodus 3:15
God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.

Nehemiah 4:14
After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, "Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes."

Even outside of the direct wordage of "remember," God repeatedly identifies himself with things done in the past, when calling the Israelites to something in the future:

"I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob..."
"I am the God who brought you out of Egypt..."

Why? Why is it important for the Israelites to remember?

• What do you do when you're in a relationship that you're committed to, but that's going through a rocky spell at the moment? You remember the days when it was good. You cling to those in the hope that the future will likewise hold something good.

• What about when you're picking a doctor for a major surgery? You look at his track record, to see how he's done on surgeries like this in the past.

• What about when you're interviewing someone for a job? You call their references, past employers, and friends, to see if in the past they have been reliable.

• Even when you're buying a used car... you go to one of those cheesy "Am I buying a lemon?" websites, to see if the past track record has been good...

See here's my point: I think all of us hit points in our lives when it is difficult to believe that God has got our best interests in mind... when it is difficult to believe that God is good... when it is difficult even to believe that He exists.

And in those moments, the unchanging God of the universe, the great I Am, reminds us to remember. To remember his faithfulness to us in the past, as a reminder that He will continue to be faithful in the future. ..

• To remember that He is the God who brought us out of Egypt, and He will again bring us out of captivity, even if it takes 70 years.

• To remember that He is the same God who was faithful to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and he will continue to be faithful and good to us.

• To remember the time when God met you... when you felt his fingerprint on your life and knew that He was good... to be reminded that He continues to have your best in mind.
  

Sometimes it's hard to see God's faithfulness in the present tense, and in those instances, God reminds us to remember: to look at His track record, and to rest in the assurance that I AM does not change. He who has been faithful in the past will continue to be faithful in the present.

We remember as a foundation of faith, as an act of faith, and as a hope for faith.

Beauty

culture.
custom.
unity.
conformity.
majority.
the only way.

solidarity.
culture.
awareness.
choice.
clash.
beauty.

the ultimate dilemma of feminine beauty:

it's the only thing she's ever known;
beauty in long necks, small feet.
does that automatically make it wrong?
does that automatically make it right?

what about us?
skinny? fat? plastic surgery?
anorexia? bulimia?
corsets all over again?
let it out?
cover it up?

what cost is it worth in the end?
do we sell our souls in search of our selves?

but "for everything else, there's MasterCard."

Upside Down

This morning I was hanging out with a future staff-intern in Boston...

The other day, a friend of hers was standing on his head and invited the rest of the group to join him, saying,

"Guys, the world looks pretty cool upside down. Have you ever seen it from this perspective?"

She said initially they mocked him, but then they actually got down on the ground and looked at the world upside down. And she was so excited by the new perspective that she had gained, from standing on her head and seeing the world in a new light.

Yet, before you write this experience off as loopy... she went on to say,

"You know, my experience standing on my head was kind of like my experience with InterVarsity... they challenged me to change my world-view: to look at the world from a kingdom perspective, not a normal perspective. To see things differently To operate differently."

And indeed, the kingdom that Jesus presents is upside-down...

... the least shall be greatest...
... blessed are the poor in spirit...
... blessed are those who mourn...
... blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake...
... whatever you do for the least of these, you do unto me...
... release for the captives... freedom for those in darkness...

Friends, if we legitimately follow Jesus, it requires us to fundamentally change our world-view... kingdom lenses look entirely different from modern culture lenses...

... social justice
... view and value of self and others
... care for the environment
... prayer for the city
... stewardship

I'm not recommending that we all stand on our heads... too much blood to the head is potentially dangerous. However, I think the metaphor is good!

To truly follow Jesus requires that we change the way we view the world... it's the same world. The same people. The same us. The same situations. We are not called to be completely separate from the world. But, our perspective, our vantage point, and our world-view should be completely transformed and indeed turned upside-down.!

circle, square, dot, dot...

Today on the airplane, on the way to Boston, I sat next to a schoolteacher from Maine and then a retired military-man-turned-juvenile-rehabilitation-officer from Boston.

And as I sat in the seat next to both of them in turn, I was struck by how honest we are on planes.

How many of us will tell our life stories to a perfect stranger, just because we have to spend an hour or two next to them on a 747 (or, in today's case, a 747 minus about 700)?

Now, granted, maybe my Orphan t-shirt did give an open door for conversation (and nicknames from the stewardess), but, my hunch is, that's not quite it...

From one man, I learned about his passion for Carolina basketball.
I learned that he loved Tyler Hansbrough, and thought he could do no wrong...

I also learned that his father had just died two days earlier.
I learned about how he was emotionally processing that.
I also heard about his worries about fatherhood, his 12 year-old son, and his infant daughter on the way

I think perhaps we are more comfortable telling our deepest feelings to a perfect stranger on a plane, precisely because we don't ever have to see them again.

We don't have to deal with the awkwardness of accountability.
We don't have to deal with the awkward questions from friends who don't quite know how to respond.
We don't have to deal with being called out, because, really, how many perfect strangers have you ever called out for something that they said?

We don't have to deal with the awkwardness of someone knowing and trying to care too.

Bottom line, we are comfortable telling our secrets to strangers because we can get a shot of pseudo-vulnerability without having to deal with community, and call ourselves immunized.

We are more comfortable with the vaccinating ourselves against community than we are with actually letting ourselves be known.

Or maybe we just get bored sitting on planes... :-)

Leaving the Garden; Entering the Holy City

A few days ago, the top news story on Google news featured the striking announcement: "Over 400 children taken from Texas Polygamist Ranch."

The investigation began when a 16-year old girl phoned Texas authorities, stating that she had been physically and sexually abused, and, at age 15, had born the child of her then 50-year old husband. Officials raided the ranch, removing 401 (no, that is not a typo) under-aged girls.

The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints (FLDS), associated with the now jailed polygamist Warren Jeffs, split off from the Mormon church about a century ago, when the Mormon church officially disavowed polygamy. They take quite literally the Biblical command to be "fruitful and increase in number" (Genesis 1:28), and coupled with Joseph Smith's original revelation, assert that polygamy is one way of fulfilling the divine mandate, and suggest that men should have at least 3 wives.

Interesting. (And illegal.)

It's interesting to me because in reading the Old Testament, we see many examples of polygamy. Lamech. Abraham. Jacob. Solomon. just to name a few... we also very clearly see the command to "be fruitful and increase in number." And yesterday morning in church, one of the pastors told us that "God longs for us to be back in the garden."

So why are we not jumping on board here? Why does this article make us angry?

See I think there's a catch here. And the catch is this: we are not intended to continue living in the same cultural scenario that Lamech, Abraham, and Jacob lived in. And I think there is a fallacy in saying "God longs for us to be back in the garden." Allow me to explain...

I've been reading a book on controversial issues in the Bible, namely "Slaves, Women, and Homosexuals" (William Webb) in which the author addresses issues such as polygamy, etc. Dr. Webb introduces a hermeneutic (a method for applying scripture) called the "redemptive movement hermeneutic." In essence, his argument is that scripture often called the Israelites and the surrounding nations to a standard which was counter-cultural. Yet the trajectory of the counter-cultural standard was always redemptive. The standard itself was not a perfect reflection of God's ideal, but its trajectory always moved people towards God's kingdom coming. His argument is far more complex, but for the sake of clarity, a simple example will suffice:

The Bible sets certain standards for humane treatment of slaves, in such manner, under a static and literal hermeneutic, endorsing slavery. However, modern Christians (at least in the USA) have no difficulties saying that slavery is not right. How does the disconnect work, then, hermeneutically? Why do we believe what we believe, and can we do it, without actually discrediting the validity of scripture? Dr. Webb argues that this is where the redemptive movement hermeneutic comes in...

The redemptive-movement hermeneutic says that scripture was counter-cultural to its time, in mandating humane treatment of slaves... it began moving us in a trajectory of equal treatment for humankind. In other words, the movement from culture to Biblical mandate was one of change, and the trajectory of that change was redemptive treatment of one group of humankind. Modern abolition of slavery is a continuation of that trajectory of redemption, Webb argues, continuing to move us towards heaven and God's ideal standard.

But back to the garden and polygamy... If you look closely at scripture, I don't think you can substantiate the idea that God intends for us to return to the garden. See, I think we see the same type of redemptive movement in scripture from the Garden of Eden to the New Jerusalem... In the same way that scripture calls the Israelites to a counter-cultural, higher standard, so too, the trajectory of Scripture is calling the Israelites out of the primitive (the Garden) into the developed (the New City).

So, here's the punchline: A return to polygamy, child-brides, and nomadic isolation living standards (a return to the Garden) would actually be counter to the redemptive trajectory that God has set in place.

Now I want to be very careful to ensure that you don't hear what I'm not saying. I am not saying that we throw out Old Testament law. I am not saying that the Bible is outdated. Nor am I saying that I can glibly determine how to interpret scripture.

What I am saying is this:

I feel fairly confident that you will agree with my conclusions that polygamy is rightly illegal. But I hope you will actually think about why you think that is true.

• Why was it okay in the Old Testament, but not now?
• Can you uphold a standard of consistent hermeneutics to justify your argument?
• And can you apply it across the board, not just on one issue?

That's something to think about.

Odds and Ends

On occasion, I like to digress into moments in time which have struck a funny bone or made me think... these are the moments to which a full post cannot be devoted, but each individually merit a bullet point. I hope you enjoy!

• Riding home on the bus the other day, I was companion to an older gentlemen who carried on a 20 minute monologue with himself about ending nuclear holocaust and impeaching the Kennedy family, loudly enough that the entire bus was privy to his thoughts. Reason number 473,001 why I love riding the bus.

• A friend of mine was working in county office that was up for review. In typing up a paragraph which went in a large percentage of their documents, sent via email to the reviewers, the editors missed the fact the "l" in the word "public"had been left out. They sent the document to the auditors with said spelling mistake. Yes, friends, one letter does make a difference.

• As a result of sitting outside for meetings, I sunburned my right knee... and nothing else. To this day, I'm still not sure how that works.

And, finally, in the last two weeks, I have:

• sat in an airport waiting for a Southwest flight with the airport fire alarms literally going off and the news advertising that Southwest has failed to comply with safety regulations this year
• run 6.2 miles in the rain
• had three interviews
• realized that gmail doesn't always send email when it says it does
• killed yet another house plant
• nicknamed my volleyball Thorr

and, fallen even more in love with my job!