Why are you here? Part 2

Ok, so we addressed the survival element last time.  There’s got to be more to going to school than that.  Why are you here?

First, why ask?  So, let’s say you’re going to catch a plane in a few days.  Imagine how hard it would be to pack if you didn’t know where you were going.  Outside of that, think of how it would affect how you feel too.  There would be a big difference between finding out that you were going to a funeral versus going to Myrtle Beach.

Ok, yeah, I know most are saying “I’m at LW because my parents are sending me here.”  Ok, fine, we all have to deal with the fact that we don’t have control over everything.  Like it or not, you’re here.  Now start dreaming.  Yes, dreaming.  School is an opportunity.  Most of the world envies the chances you have.  This is the point where most people start thinking about careers.  That’s what school is for right?

This is where I’d say: we need to go higher.  We need to go from “Why are you here (at LW)?” to “Why are you here (at all)?”  I believe that our life experience is entirely affected by what we believe to be the answer to this question.  I’ll let you ponder that one until next time.

Why Are You Here? Part 1

Why are you here?  It’s a question worth asking in anything you get involved with.  Could it be that God has you here at Lutheran West on purpose?  My guess is: yes. 

So, high school.  What do you want from it?  Ask yourself that question.  Don’t worry about what you’re supposed to say.  What do YOU want? 

Let’s start from the ground floor.  There is a survival element going on.  You may simply want someone to eat lunch with you or say hi to you.  Some of you came in with friends, some have none, but even if you know people, you may not have them in every class.  In this area, you need two things: patience and guts.  It will take you time to get comfortable.  You could look at this as a nerve-wracking tragedy or…you could see it as an adventure.  You’re going on the ride either way so you might as well find joy in it.  Either way, in time you, yes you, will actually have a table to sit at in the lunchroom and will have people to say hi to in less time than you expect. 

But you also need guts.  I’m an introvert, so I know this is hard, but look o u t w a r d.  Instead of waiting for someone to invite you to sit next to them in a class or at lunch, why don’t you do the asking?  At the end of class ask someone what the homework was again (even if you already know!).  Say hi to that upper classman who has a locker next to you.  If they grunt, oh well.  20 bucks says that next time they’ll respond.  When you step toward people you are saying to them “I care about more than myself.”  People will feel drawn to you and feel comfortable with you and, go figure, you’ll get the friends you were looking for.

BTW, I know this is majorly difficult for you if you consider yourself “quiet.”  Do it anyway.  You don’t have to be the life of the party.  You just have to make some “first move” gestures. 

Consider this:  You’re doing more here than just getting comfy.  You’re becoming more like Christ.  Paul wrote in one of his letters : “Don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.  Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.” Philippians 2: 3-4.

Should America Be the World's Policeman?

Today is Patriot Day.  I honestly didn't know that.  I saw it on my planner.  So, I looked it up and discovered that Patriot Day is a day of remembrance for the over 2000 people who died as a result of the Islamic, Jihadist attacks on September 11th, 2001.

I remember that for a short while after these attacks, our country rallied together and truly believed we had a duty to defend, not only ourselves, but also to intentionally protect and foster freedom around the globe.  What other country in history has done this?

Of course, it didn't take long before people started saying again, "The US shouldn't be the world's policeman"

In this video, Pulitzer Prize winner Bret Stephens argues the opposite.  In true Patriot spirit, he believes that there is a very, very good reason for the US to be the "world's policeman."

How to Be Happy

Here is a great talk from nationally syndicated talk show host Dennis Prager to a high school on how to actually be happy.

The Fault in our Stars...er Selves

Two years back I read The Fault in Our Stars.  The title, as I see it, really means "The Fault with

God."  It's an understandable issue, especially for the characters who are struggling to find a reason for the existence of their lives and the universe mixed with the fact that they are teens terminally ill with cancer.

I wanted to turn the question of fault, though, to ourselves.

Many of us, who grow up in church often hear phrases about The Fault in Ourselves like this:

You are a poor, miserable sinner.

Don't trust yourself because you are fallen.

Your heart is deceitful above all things.

Jesus, I want less of me, and more of you.

You are nothing, God is everything.

This seems so pious, so religious, so good, but it's also problematic.  If taken to its full course, you might as well say, I'm a pile of crap that can't do anything good, so Jesus should inhabit my body and turn me into a God-robot.

Didn't Jesus say, "My sheep know my voice" (John 10:27)  and "You don't need anyone to teach you." (1 John 2:27) and "shine like stars" (Phil. 2:15)?  This means that Jesus actually trusts His followers.  He knows that they know him, like they know anyone they love, and even have the ability to follow His heart and ways even without constant instruction.

On the other hand, yes, we must recognize our inherent faults or weaknesses.  This is beneficial in any relationship.  I have to be honest with my wife.  She knows my weaknesses.  She knows how I can get overstressed, for example, or how sometimes I avoid asking for help, when I really should.

So, I think we need a balance here.

I am not a worthless piece of sinning crap; I am an invaluable son of the living God.
While I am an invaluable son of the living God, I still need His grace to follow Him.
And yet, the more I live in the Father's affection, the more I naturally live in ways that honor Him and bless others.

And, guess what? He even trusts me.  Weird, right?  But the Father's love does that-it makes you become the person He always dreamed you could be.

Should, Want, & God

So recently I spoke in chapel about the value of worship in God's heart.  I've been asked to give a
"Why worship" chapel at the beginning of the school year for probably 5 years now.  I always struggle with the tension between: "You should sing" and "I encourage you to want to sing."

You could apply the "should"/"want" dichotomy to almost anything related to our relationship to Father.

For me, when I was younger, I was so good at doing what I "should" do that it also hardened my heart and I didn't feel close to God.

When I finally let myself experience Father's affection and felt truly loved (once I really believed I (1.) needed that love and (2.) didn't have to earn it), then I found the pleasure of "wanting" the things that my Father loved.

I guess I'd put it like this: I "should" be sweet to my wife, but if I lived my relationship to her with all "shoulds" she would know it and it would lose its real value.

What she wants and truly loves is when I "want" and take delight in her and being sweet to her.

I think this is why Paul wrote, "God LOVES a CHEERFUL giver."

Katy Perry tweets from the Bible?

Every once in a while, instead of writing my own post, I copy another one that I really liked from someone else.  I thought this was an interesting look at a celebrity, her faith (or not), and what that means for our own.  The article originally appeared here.

65 million Twitter followers saw it. Before the halftime show of the recent (and most watched) Super

Bowl, Pop Superstar Katy Perry quoted Psalm 118:24,

“Today is the day that the Lord has made! I will rejoice and be glad in it.”

Then according to her, this happened, “It’s funny, I was praying and I got a word from God and He says, ‘You got this and I got you.’ 

And then I was on top of the lion and a guy, a random guy, just looked on me with a headset that I’ve never communicated with before and he just looked me straight in the eyes and said, ‘You got this.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, this is God confirming I can do this.”

The religious critics were unleashed! Like hounds they sniffed for the heresy of her words. And filled with righteous anger they said, “How could God speak to such a sensuous and evil person?” “Of course it wasn’t God! She’s a rebellious, divorced, LGBT defender who has abandoned the one true faith.” “She’s stupid and part of the Illuminati!”

Maybe.

Maybe it was her own mind who made it up. Maybe it was the devil tricking her. Or maybe it was God. Because maybe (just maybe) He still speaks to those who are broken and afraid. Maybe God is still a father, and maybe He still likes to encourage. People will say that it is impossible for God to be nice to Katy Perry right before she was about to sing “I kissed a girl and I liked it” in front of millions of people. But if God refrained from speaking to humans based on the proximity of their next sin, trust me friend, no one would ever get to hear His voice.

Who knows? Maybe God said those things because,

His kindness leads us to repentance.

I believe the God of the Bible is interested in being the God of the people. And Jesus proved that by not setting a new religious standard but actually signing for us, a new contract of relationship. It is very clear that Jesus came for the lost. That was His mission. (Maybe we should join Him, because that includes us.)

Katy Perry still has a tattoo that reads “Jesus” on her left wrist. She got the tattoo as a constant reminder of her religious upbringing, which will always be a part of her. In 2009 she told Katie Couric “I knew I wanted this on me because no matter how much changes around me or how much I change, there’s not really an eraser for this.” She says that when she plays the guitar, “It stares right back at me. It’s like ‘remember, you came from this, and you can always go back to it.’”

Yes she can–Always come back. But the better news is that God has never left her. He’s always available, to all His children, whether they are home or they are drifting.

And if we are so sure that Katy Perry can’t hear the voice of God then we need to question the Burning Bush for the murderer Moses, or the encounter on the road to Damascus for the terrorist Saul, or the multiple times the adulterous King David entered the presence of God. You see, Scripture is full of undeserving hearers who somehow (just before or after sinning) got to hear God’s voice, and their lives were changed forever.

Long before Katy was singing about kissing girls, she used her talents as a “Christian singer.” (And you can buy her Christian album as Katy Hudson in Amazon – for more than $100 dollars!) She once told Vanity Fair that as a child, her parents, both evangelical pastors, wouldn’t read any book to her other than the Bible and refused to let her listen to non-religious music. So she questioned Christianity from an early age.

In a 2013 interview Perry said that she no longer identifies with a specific religion, but still feels that she has a connection with God. “I’m not a Buddhist, I’m not a Hindu, I’m not a Christian, but I still feel like I have a deep connection with God,” Perry said. “I pray all the time for self-control, for humility. There’s a lot of gratitude in it. Just saying ‘thank you’ sometimes is better than asking for things.”

So I’m not sure, but I want to believe God spoke to Katy. I want to believe He’s still speaking to her right now! Because that’s my hope for everyone who is lost or broken or famous or perfect, that they will hear the vibrations of love and the sounds of Salvation Himself.

Perry’s dad, Keith Hudson, is a pastor in California, and has said that he’s proud of his daughter, despite previously criticizing the messages in her music. (And that’s probably similar to what God the Father would say.)

I believe Jesus wants to share so much redemption and beauty with Katy Perry. So I pray that she would continue to remember the good seeds planted by her mom and dad (and forgive all the bad ones). But most of all, I pray that we the church would continue to focus on the plank in our eye, instead of the speck in everyone elses.

Yes, I’m always tempted to judge the ridiculous excitement we feel when someone on TV says the

word, “God”. But somehow I feel hopeful about this one. I don’t feel hopeful because I want her 65 million Twitter followers to hear about her, “Born Again Experience.” I feel hopeful because I know that God loves His daughter. I know that He’s been there when she’s ignored Him. And I know that His mercy has been new through her brokeness and shame.

Just as He has done for me. Just as He has done for you.

So let’s join sister Katy and declare with a smile,

“Today is the day that the Lord has made! I will rejoice and be glad in it!”

Now maybe (just maybe) we will also get to hear His sweet encouraging voice.

Peace.