Offended

Perhaps the most atrocious thing about the Israelites’ plight in the Old Testament is that they continued to hold their religious worship services and monthly/seasonal/yearly rituals as if everything was great. 

They were whoring themselves out for power, and they continue to paste on a smile and say “amen.”

They confessed the name of the Lord with their lips and denied Him the practical effects of their lives, and yet they continued to sing praise as if they were Joyful and Thankful.

Money was their idol, yet they continued to give their tithes and offerings in uniform fashion, relying on the pattern of worship to be sufficient. 

They mocked the name of God openly by their oppression of the poor, yet they boldly claimed God as their refuge, shield, protector and redeemer in battle.

There’s nothing wrong with being broken. There’s everything wrong with acting like it’s all good. 

There’s nothing ultimately detrimental about screwing up. There’s the loss of the soul when we act like it didn’t happen. 

There’s nothing wrong with having a bad day. There’s a lot wrong when we let ourselves go numb to the bad and receive it as normal.

There’s nothing wrong with being mad at God (He can take it). There’s everything wrong with being mad, or passive, or indifferent towards God and showing up, like clockwork, to sing happy praises and answer the question (“how are you?”) with the answer (“good”). 

I hope we are moving towards lives that reconcile the bad times with honesty. We can stand up in the face of failure, hurt, or hypocrisy and undress our motives, standing helpless and hopeless in our own pride and worth. Last week I heard a woman explaining to someone that she didn’t understand why her friends wouldn’t want to know Jesus. After all, she said, knowing God makes life so much better (in the typical, achievement-oriented way), easier, and happier.

Is that true?

If it is, I have to confess that it hasn’t always really meant those things for me. 

Because with how much I’ve failed in big ways and small ones, I feel that I’d be offending God if I acted like my life in Christ was always better, easier, and happier.

I hate all your show

I hate all your show and pretense
The hypocrisy of your praise
The hypocrisy of your festivals
I hate all your show
Away with your noisy worship
Away with your noisy hymns
I stomp on my ears when you’re singing ‘em
I hate all your show

Instead let there be a flood of justice
An endless procession of righteous living, living
Instead let there be a flood of justice
Instead of a show

Your eyes are closed when you’re praying
You sing right along with the band
You shine up your shoes for services
There’s blood on your hands
You turned your back on the homeless
And the ones that don’t fit in your plan
Quit playing religion games
There’s blood on your hands

Instead let there be a flood of justice
An endless procession of righteous living, living
Instead let there be a flood of justice
Instead of a show
I hate all your show

Let’s argue this out
If your sins are blood red
Let’s argue this out
You’ll be one of the clouds
Let’s argue this out
Quit fooling around
Give love to the ones who can’t love at all
Give hope to the ones who got no hope at all
Stand up for the ones who can’t stand at all, all
I hate all your show
I hate all your show
I hate all your show
I hate all your show

Instead let there be a flood of justice
An endless procession of righteous living, living
Instead let there be a flood of justice
Instead of a show
I hate all your show

JonForeman // Instead of a Show

¹¹ ”The multitude of your sacrifices— 
       what are they to me?” says the LORD. 
       “I have more than enough of burnt offerings, 
       of rams and the fat of fattened animals; 
       I have no pleasure 
       in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.

 ¹² When you come to appear before me, 
       who has asked this of you, 
       this trampling of my courts?

 ¹³ Stop bringing meaningless offerings! 
       Your incense is detestable to me. 
       New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations— 
       I cannot bear your evil assemblies.

 ¹⁴ Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts 
       my soul hates. 
       They have become a burden to me; 
       I am weary of bearing them.

 ¹⁵ When you spread out your hands in prayer, 
       I will hide my eyes from you; 
       even if you offer many prayers, 
       I will not listen. 
       Your hands are full of blood;

 ¹⁶ wash and make yourselves clean. 
       Take your evil deeds 
       out of my sight! 
       Stop doing wrong,

 ¹⁷ learn to do right! 
       Seek justice, 
       encourage the oppressed. 
       Defend the cause of the fatherless, 
       plead the case of the widow.

Isaiah // 1.11-17

God is the Pilot

I’m not a fan of clichés. 

They often spoil our stories and thoughts, trivializing them and heaping upon them all of the baggage associate with clichés. They can make a great point seem rather trite, as we all struggle to break the barrier between “been there, heard that” and “wow, what an amazing thought!’.

So I hope this isn’t as cliché as I feel it is.

If it’s true that Faith at its core is just Trust, then perhaps thinking about God as a pilot is helpful. 

Because when I repeatedly get on planes to fly across the country, I place a requisite amount of trust in the pilot’s hands. I don’t tend to struggle with trusting a pilot, because if I did I’d fly much less. And though I joke about being scared of flying in the midst of all the bad news recently, I really know that I’m safe on a plane (generically speaking).

But here’s the thing: if God is like a pilot, and he’ll take us somewhere if we just put our trust in Him and get on the plane, then why do we have so many people (in our churches) that seem to struggle with living by Faith. 

Maybe… they don’t like where the plane is headed. 

The FEAST Rhythm

I would love some feedback from my friends who check out this blog.

As part of our YA Community discipleship, we’ve created a simple set of spiritual practices we want people to commit to. They are not so much a list of rules, but a way of framing your day-to-day that we hope helps you live more like Jesus.

Can you, faithful (or new… or sporadic..) reader, please take a peek and let me know your thoughts? you can comment on the post or shoot me an email (dockin80 AT gmail DOT com). To find out more, either click the image above (which will take you to the HPPC page) or, below, I’ve linked a series of posts I wrote about FEAST. Thanks!

I want to live well. I want to live better.

FEAST Part 1: F is for Feasting!

FEAST Part 2: E is for Empowering!

FEAST Part 3: A is for Awaiting!

FEAST Part 4: S is for Studying!

FEAST Part 5: T is for Transforming!

Guide us!

Guide us, O God, by Your Word and Spirit, that in Your light we may see light, in Your truth find freedom, and in Your will discover Your peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Yesterday was a good day. It started, as usual, with staff chapel. What made this staff chapel different was that it was led by the music department and conducted in liturgical fashion.

We stood, we sat. We stood, we sat.

We responsively answered and prayed, we recited Creeds together and listened to the simple proclamation of Scripture.We sang hymns. 

For a guy with very, very little exposure to liturgical services, I was stoked! 

The prayer above was a part of the latter half of the 30 minute service, and it struck me because it clearly shows the advantages of having a well defined liturgy. I didn’t have to come up with those words! Someone else came up with them, and I got to pray and meditate on them, and it required nothing of me but to allow God to have that moment.

I love spontaneity, but I also love finding the value in rich traditions. There’s a time and a place for Creativity, and there’s a time and a place to rest. In my opinion, liturgy helps me rest. Praying through this prayer helps me rest. Reading Scripture without trying hard to exegete it is refreshing. 

It seems that we take things like this for granted. I think they should be part of that Sabbath break, that rest for productivity and self-worth. Can we just let go and find ourselves blissfully free in Christ. I hope there are times in my day, and yours as well, when we can drop our guard and find the peace (the comfort & joy, not the hippie peace) in not having it all together. Isn’t that what faith is? Admitting we don’t have it all together but trusting that God does?

FEAST Part 4: S is for Studying!

Studying: We want to experience God through studying and learning. The Hebrews saw the presence of God in everything–working the field, the rains, the birth of a child. They could learn from God and about God through any circumstance. Since we’re afforded the Scriptures in accessible form as well as other books, we want to be good stewards of our resources and make a commitment to learning and processing

the practice: we want to always be reading slowly and thoughtfully through at least one book of Scripture together, and an external book if you’d like further study. 

the value: we want to seek out knowledge about God to help us take on the image of Christ and to participate in his plan (incarnational presence), desiring to utilize the transformational power of studying and learning.

the prayer: Let the day teach you. Really encounter it. Think through your day and contemplate where God was at work, where you partnered with God, and perhaps where you were too busy to pay attention. Look to God for guidance.

for people who are curious about following Jesus: what can you learn from Jesus by reading through the story of his life? What things about his life could be a great example for you to follow?

If we’re going to recover Jesus for the everyday life and for the Kingdom to have an impact in the here and now, we have to start diving into the stories of Jesus and his followers. How can we live out those stories if we’re not well acquainted with them? We have to learn to Study!

FEAST Part 3: A is for Awaiting!

Awaiting: We want to let God have control by taking time to let go. Every week, we want to find some expression of meditation or solitude, as a way to disconnect from the business of our lives. In this mini-practice of Sabbath, we want to practice reliance on God by stopping.

the practice: we want to spend at least 1 hour a week waiting on God, meaning meditation and possibly also silence and solitude. This means pausing. It means taking a break and relying on God, realizing that we are more than helpless. For us to await means that we’re cutting back on our own rhythm and allowing the call of God to seep into our lives in such a way that we’re yielded to Him.   

the value: We believe that God is wanting to speak to us, and we believe that we are capable of listening. We do not confine him to any particular medium, but we try to be attentive and await his voice, wherever and whenever it speaks.

the prayer: Await God’s whispering to your soul. Patiently listen to how God wishes to respond to your day. Allow God the space and the silence to make known what is precious and necessary.

for people who are curious about following Jesus: will learning to slow down and let go of control improve your life? Try to establish some patterns of meditation and intentional solitude and see if it can make its way into your soul. 

If we’re going to recover Jesus for the everyday life and for the Kingdom to have an impact in the here and now, we have to start learning to give up control and realize there are bigger things at work—like God speaking to us and calling to us, but he refuses to fight with the competing voices in our lives when we’re unwilling to listen. We have to learn to Await!

Adventures 005: Was that Rain?

Was that rain? I can’t tell….but my gut instinct is to mutter prayers underneath my breath begging for the answer to be no…

The girl only appears to be unconscious–in fact, she is wide awake, but absolutely exhausted and almost collapsed under the weight of the recent chain of events that led us to this moment. She feels like a ton of bricks in my arms as my elbows are locked under her armpits, and I’m trying my best to scoop up her upper body as I drag her along the sand and out of the ocean’s water. I haven’t had too many negative experiences with the Gulf, but this isn’t going to create a fond memory…
The previous ten minutes run through my mind. Why is this happening? We have 3 medics on the beach, and I’m not one of them. The primary medic is attending to a high school boy who broke his arm while diving into the hard, crusty beach. The two backups are both attending to heat-stroke victims, one of which was carried away moments ago in an ambulance.
A few minutes ago, I was standing on the beach and surveying the scene when I saw a young lady dragging another one through the waves on the shallow ocean bottom. While sprinting into the waves from the shore, she had taken a bad misstep and twisted her knee. It will come out later that she tore every major ligament and had to go through hours of surgery. That’s really irrelevant at this point, as she’s  limp and covered in sand and salt water. Her friend is much more panicked than she is, and I can’t afford to stress my inexperience over the pressing need.
What am I going to do? What are we going to do? There are over 800 youth and adults on the beach, and the dark clouds forming above don’t look encouraging or promising.
Was that rain?
An older lady screams down the beach. There’s a young girl lying on the beach in front of her, beet red and almost completely non-responsive. I instinctively grab my walkie talkie–not because it’s instinctual for me to react that way, but because 8 weeks of summer camp have trained me to realize how “cool” it looks to respond in such a way–and I call out for another staffer to attend to the issue. Another ambulance is called, and it seems like things are coming to a halt.
And then the unthinkable happens. Thunder, lightning, and the roof of Creation lets out a solid downpour, turning the massive crowd into a frenzied mob. The facilities are about a 1/4 mile away, just on the other side of the beach road and about a block further North. With no consideration for the heavy traffic on the beach front road, the mob begins to charge their way back across to the camp, many of them in full sprint.  I remain to make sure the people in crisis get on their way to medical care and then, with the help of a few staffers, we make sure the beach is clear.
We nervously pull up the rear and heard everyone towards the camp at a fervent pace. As we stumble into the office, where several staffers are collapsed on the floor, we get a report that one kid fell on the road while running back in the rain and has some pretty deep scrapes on his arms and legs.

Why do crazy things happen? We have worked all summer for weeks on end with no sort of major accident, and then the world falls apart on us. Why?

Is there a rhyme or reason to the day-to-day happenings of life? When Paul says that all things work for the glory of the Creator, does that mean we’re supposed to force injury and disaster into trite spiritual sayings? Or is something else going on? Would Paul say that there’s a silver lining in everything? Or is that folk wisdom?
Perhaps we just have to love God and love people. Bad things happen to good people, good things happen to bad people. Sometimes love wins, and sometimes people lose hope. We need love to win more often, but we don’t need forced, trite spiritual sayings. If we learn to see all of life as spiritual and all of Creation as the Creator’s domain, then we can’t help but see opportunities for peace in all of life. Shalom. Wholeness. And it shines most evidently in the midst of the most obvious brokenness.