Musings from the last best place - Thoughts on living and working in Montana

Thoughts on Passion Week 2009

As I grow older, one thing that's continually humbling is learning how much I don't know. I've been in the faith for most of my life, and yet this morning's sermon taught me something I certainly should have known, but didn't. I'm sharing this because I think it's really a pretty fundamental piece of the whole redemption puzzle.

On the cross, Christ's final prayer is this, "My God, my God - why have You forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46) Now, the astute (in this case, the pastor's daughter) may ask, "Why did Jesus ask this question? Didn't he know what was coming?" I mean, if Christ is truly God in man, this crucifixion thing shouldn't have taken him by surprise, right?

As pastor Brett LaShelle pointed out this morning, the answer is both simple and obvious - but it's something I've missed my entire life.

While the phrase is presented as a question, it really isn't a question at all - instead, Jesus is making direct reference to Psalm 22. At the time of Christ, folks weren't walking around with the NIV tucked under an arm. No - scripture existed only on scrolls, and those scrolls were typically available only in the synagogue. In addition, there was no chapter/verse system - that's a classification mechanism that we've imposed in translation to make it easier to break things up into digestible chunks. So a reference to a Psalm was made by simply quoting its first line - in the case of Psalm 22, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?" So Christ wasn't asking God why, he was making reference to a Psalm that tells us why. You can read the Psalm here.

With this understanding, Christ's 'question' in Matthew 27:46 goes from strange query to intentional invocation. Right up to the end Jesus is connecting the dots, showing the Jews (and us) how he fulfilled the prophecy of the Old Testament.

If you're a believer, I hope you have a happy and blessed Easter. And if you're not, I hope you also have a great passover week and Easter weekend!

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Filed under  //   Easter   Religion  
Posted April 5, 2009
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"The Coming Evangelical Collapse" - Thought-Provoking Article in Christian Science Monitor

Ironically, the billions of dollars we've spent on youth ministers, Christian music, publishing, and media has produced a culture of young Christians who know next to nothing about their own faith except how they feel about it.
via csmonitor.com

If you're an evangelical Christian, you should take a look at this article for some very thought-provoking insights about what the future may hold for us. I don't agree with every thought, but I'm certainly right there with the writer's indictment of the mega-church and prosperity gospel. I also find the author's suggestion that it is time for missionaries from Africa and Asia to come to minister to the US to be especially humbling.

I've often discussed with my father a perceived fade in the churches of my own faith tradition - a definite impression that things are past their zenith. Some readers of this post may rejoice in that - the continuing secularization of our culture and diminishing of the church is only perceived as a bad thing if you're a believer - which I am.

Yet the writer manages to see hope in the wreckage. And I guess that's the crux of the matter - if the church is only a human construct, we have plenty to be concerned about in the coming years. But if the core beliefs of the church are true - that God has redeemed his creation through the sacrifice of His own Son - then there's really nothing we as failed and flawed can do to screw things up beyond repair. The church as institution may fail, but the Church as bride will live on...

Read the complete article here: http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0310/p09s01-coop.html

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Filed under  //   Christianity   Evangelicalism   Orthodoxy   Religion   Secularism  
Posted March 10, 2009
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The Power of Positive Thought

Lately, I've been particularly convicted by quotes I've encountered that underscore the importance of positive thinking. I have a slight tendency to approach things from the perspective of a well-grounded realist (understatement intended). I'm conservative by nature and typically apply my analytical skills toward envisioning all the things that can possibly go wrong with a plan or scheme. This suits me well in my role as project manager; risk management plays a major role in successful project implementation. But I realize that my tendency to focus on the things that can go wrong often means I ignore the likelihood that things will go right.

So it is interesting that notions of positive thinking have been resonating so profoundly with me lately. First, I encountered the following quote in a business magazine I was reading a couple of weeks ago:

"If you knew you could not fail, what would you do?"

This one hit me right between the eyes. So many of my decisions in life have been made based on mitigating the chances of failure. And yet here is encouragement to take an opposite tack, to live life assuming success rather than failure. This is pretty elementary stuff to the optimist or born entrepreneur, but a bit of a stretch for this INTJ project manager. It is a tremendously freeing concept.

And today, I read this quote from Gainsville Health & Fitness' employee handbook, as related in a recent issue of Inc magazine:

"Our greatest power is the freedom to choose; we decide what we do, what we think, and where we go...We can do what we want to do; we can be who we want to be. We develop our own future by applying persistence to the possibilities. Our future is all around us. If we seek, we will find it. If the door is closed, we must knock and keep knocking until it opens. We never give up...."

Whether intended or not, this quote borrows heavily from New Testament principles. In Matthew 7:7, Jesus says, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." I've mentioned earlier that I'm no proponent of prosperity gospel - that is, I don't believe God wants Christians to be rich and successful just because they believe. But I don't think that's what's being claimed here. Instead, this quote simply embraces the concept of free will and the impact it can have on our daily lives if we truly own the principle.

My favorite quote of the lot: "We develop our own future by applying persistence to the possibilities." That's powerful stuff.

I'm still not sure what it means for me to live a life that assumes success instead of failure. But I'm thinking about it seriously, and that's very cool.

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Filed under  //   Positive Thinking   Religion   Self Improvement  
Posted October 14, 2008
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A Cool Story About My Son

Some time ago, our family had a chance to visit the San Diego Zoo. If you've been, you know there's a serious amount of walking to be had when touring that place. This posed a bit of a problem for us, as our son had just been diagnosed with JRA (Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis) not long before. Between strollers and shoulder rides, he got around the zoo just fine. But there was one moment that day that cast a pall on an otherwise great time. As we walked, I noticed a little boy merrily flying up and down the trail like greased lightning. It's not that I resented him for his health and happiness, it's just that his athleticism stood in stark contrast to what I anticipated for our son. I just knew my son would never be able to run with such grace and abandon.

Fast forward five years to today. Seems my son had a play date this afternoon with one of his little classmates. Her mom talked to my wife a couple of weeks ago; apparently, her daughter wanted to spend some time with my boy because he is the fastest kid in class - she wanted to practice racing him so she could beat him.

It's funny how life works out. We're not promised prosperity, happiness, or endless good times. But even when life throws us its challenges, we can be confident that all things work to good for those who love our Creator. God is good - we just need to align ourselves with Him to truly understand that.


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Filed under  //   JRA   Positive Thinking   Religion  
Posted October 7, 2008
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