Champagne for Breakfast

I hit my snooze too many times this morning. I usually try to wake up early enough to get at least 30 min. of quiet time in. But many mornings (like today), I end up hitting the snooze, and squeezing in a quick 5 min. "Yay God" moment before grabbing my coffee and heading to work.

Today it felt irresponsible. I'm not talking about legalistic guilt, but honest regret that I didn't give Him more of my time this morning.

Here's the deal. This weekend I'm going to celebrate THE most significant spiritual event in history. Hebrews refers to Jesus's life, death, and resurrection as "the culmination of the ages." The resurrection embodies hope! We have victory! We get second chances...and third chances, and fourth! The ugliness of our humanity no longer dominates the picture, because of Easter!

Yet somehow, every year, Easter seems to kind of sneak up on me. And I feel regret.

It's the same feeling I get when I look at the calendar and realize my mom's birthday is in a few days. I quick call my two older sisters (we don't ask my younger sister...because she will have had something thoughtful picked out for at least a month by now) to see what we can throw together and mail--if there's time--or deliver that will show we care. But deep down inside I feel like she deserves better. I feel like my gift does not display the magnitude of my love for her. And that's how I usually feel about Easter.

I'll enjoy the church service, time with family, and nice weather. But deep down inside I feel like Jesus deserves better. I feel like my lack of thought doesn't display the magnitude of my love for Him.

My friend Ruth was telling me last night that NT Wright says we should drink chapagne for breakfast on Easter. Which seems like a better option than hitting 'snooze'.

He is risen.

Excerpt from My 5th Grade Sunday School Class

Tiffany: So, this week is holy week, right?
(Confused looks from children raised in the Evangelical Church.)
Tiffany: I mean we don't call it that very often here at E-Free... But we're celebrating what this week?
Sarah: Jesus' death.
Carie: Yeah, Jesus was crucified next to two guys. One wanted to be with Jesus after they died, the other one made fun of him...then a bird came and pecked his eyes out!
Tiffany: Did you watch The Passion, Carie?
Carie: Yeah. I love that movie!
Tiffany: Well, I don't know if the bird was in the Bible. But,...
Sarah: In our big group time, it was kind of weird how they just said "Judas died," but didn't explain how he died.
Tiffany: Well...I guess they were just lookin' out for the second graders, Sarah. Maybe a little too gruesome for them?
Caitlyn: Guess what, Tiffany? The word "cross" is in my Bible FIVE times (Caitlyn's looking in the concordance--a seemingly incomplete concordance).
Tiffany: So, what day do we celebrate Jesus dying on the cross?
Carie: Good Friday.
Sarah: And then He rose from the dead on Sunday.
Carie: Why do we call it 'Good' Friday? That's weird.
Sarah: I know...I mean He died that day.
Caitlyn: But He died for our sins...that's why it's good.
Tiffany: I've always thought that was weird too, Carie.
Carie: We should call it Sad Friday!
Tiffany: And Happy Sunday?
Carie: (Smiles).
Tiffany: I agree.
The Apostle Paul: If we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin--because who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God (Romans 6).

The Source of My Expectations

I've been sick the last few days. So, I was half-aware while reading more of NT Wright's book, "Surprised by Hope" on Tuesday. I'm not sure if my following thoughts accurately follow what Wright was saying...but I'm curious as to some of you people's thoughts. (So, some of you people should comment.)

Wright writes (HA!) that the foundation of our hope is in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. His thesis is that the resurrection is WAY cooler than we give it credit in the western, modern church. Agreed.

This is the part that may have been the delirium more than the actual text: but one thing that often robs the resurrection of its power is our belief in human effort. I felt like Wright was calling out even those who view social activism as the answer for the problems of the world.

Which is kind of disrupting for me, because I love social activism.

But, I also want to be formed not to form. So, I'm chewing on this one. I think the church needs to give more money to the poor, that we need to redefine our perception of 'justice,' and that we need to seek restoration.

But, how much emphasis do I put on the human side of that effort? Does this rob my focus from His redemptive power? Am I wasting time and effort, impatiently trying to change circumstances He is patient with? Why don't I pray more often for my friends and community?

Comment please...

God Loves Trashy Art

Scott Oliver created "The Valley" (pictured below) using a rotting arm chair from a salvage yard.

Oliver's piece was one of many among the 2009 SMART Art Competition, showcasing artists who choose trash as their primary medium.

I've been thinking about art created with trash...

God is like the ULTIMATE Trash Artist.

Let's revisit Noah's story for an example.

There's a connection between the language used in the creation story (Genesis 1) and the language used to describe the flood (Genesis 6-8). It's as if the author of Genesis wants to emphasize that God revisited creation during the flood. He re-created the world.

Having recreated the world, God gives Noah a promise for the future.

He starts (8:21), "I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth..." And He finishes (9:15) "...And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh."

Basically God is saying, 'I know you're imperfect. I destroyed the imperfections once, and that was enough. Now I will work with who you are." Here at the beginning of the Bible, God claims the title of ULTIMATE Trash Artist. Instead of destroying trash, He will recreate once, then make art!

God recreated me once through Christ. My sin was destroyed on the cross. I am still sinful and my heart seems prone to imperfection. But Christ recreated me, and now God chooses to make art...He no longer desires to destroy.

If Scott Oliver can use a rotting arm chair to paint a breath-taking landscape; what can God do with your life? When others think I look like a rusty old snow shovel, God sees music.

What are our expectations?

My friend Keturah asked me recently what I meant by an 'Expectation of Good.' She asked with the understanding that what we view as good...may in fact not be good. As a toddler, my sister Amanda wanted to look just like Boy George. She thought that would be 'good.' My mom had the wisdom to encourage her in more fashion saavy directions, that were in fact good. We may want a job or relationship to work thinking it would be good. But God often says 'no' because He knows it is not good.

So in light of my blog's title, what is this good that we are expecting?

I initially responded to Keturah that I think expecting good mainly rests on our perception of God's character. One of my fifth grade Sunday School girls said she sometimes views God as a strict teacher.

I admit that most of my life, I lived with the same perception. I imagined God sitting in heaven blessing the perfect and cursing the corrupt. Unfortunately, that meant that my discontentment must be a result of my imperfections.

But, note popular memory verse Matthew 7:11 "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!"

God is good. So we expect good...from Him.

I also read this quote from NT Wright in Surprised by Hope (see previous post 'Resurrected Crazy'), "Hope for the Christian is not wishful thinking or mere blind optimism. It is a mode of knowing, a mode within which new things are possible, options are not shut down, new creation can happen."

I like Wright's definition. Expecting good means viewing God as One whose character is so founded on resurrection, restoration, reconciliation...that we can honestly and realistically trust in those concepts for our life.

The sea is too deep
The heaven’s too high
I cannot swim
I cannot fly;
I must stay here
I must stay here
Here where I know
How I can know
Here where I know
What I can know.
...

The sea has parted. Pharaoh’s hosts −
Despair, and doubt, and fear, and pride −
No longer frighten us. We must
Cross over to the other side.
The heaven bows down. With wounded hands
Our exiled God, our Lord of shame
Before us, living, breathing, stands;
The Word is near, and calls our name.
New knowing for the doubting mind,
New seeing out of blindness grows;
New trusting may the sceptic find
New hope through that which faith now knows.

(Easter Oratorio)

Covenant 1: Noah

So, originally I wanted to just post a cheesy picture or the theme song to Rainbow Brite...but then I decided to not be lazy. Maybe Noah's story is way cooler than the flannelgraph, Sunday School version.


But, I had to look outside the typical story. Genesis first mentions Noah in 5:29:"He [Lemech] named him Noah and said, 'He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed.'"


Lemech most likely refers to the curse proclaimed to Adam and Eve after the fall (3:17-19). Note 17a, "Cursed is the ground because of you."


Isn't it intriguing that God cursed the ground--at least the relationship between man and the earth--because of human sin? If we stop to look at the state of humanity's current relationship with the earth we see how obvious this effect is. Our selfishness, greed, pride, superiority-complex, impatience fills landfills with ziploc bags, disposable diapers, prevents car-pooling, prefers polluting factories to local production...shall I go on?


But God prefers reconciliation over destruction.


This aspect of God's nature is evident in the covenant with Noah. After the flood, when God decides to re-create the earth and those who live on it He promises in Genesis 9:15-16, "I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth."


The covenant of reconciliation over destruction continues. In fact, it culminates in the life and ministry of Jesus.


Paul says in Colossians (1:13-20) that Jesus reconciled all things "on heaven and on earth." Instead of choosing to look at creation or people who fail and destroy...God chooses to reconcile. Which is a pretty good reason to hope.