It was a moment of utter shock. It was unexpected

The Oscar for Best Picture of 2017 envelope was opened. Millions of viewers experienced the shock, embarrassment and confusion of the presenter as the wrong winner was called out. The social media world exploded. It sent the accountants, actors, winners and losers scurrying.

In short, it was a circus complete with the high drama on the tightrope of fame, ego and ambiguity. And everybody knew. All because of what was inside the envelope.

So I have a question for you. What’s in your envelope?

Everything we do is an indication of our trust in God and our holy discontent with a dying world. How we serve the people we love and even the people who don’t love us, as Jesus commanded all Christians to do is an indication of our devotion to Jesus. The questions we must ask ourselves are so important.

• How do we connect and serve others?
• How do we share our faith?
• How do we minister to the least of these?

The answers are all in the envelope.

And there’s an envelope inside the envelope.

It’s really a test of our faith.

It’s a trust that says, God I believe that you are going to take care of me. And this act of giving is my message to you that I am all in. That’s what we do when we tithe. We are placing our faith in the envelope. We are announcing to the world, that Jesus is our greatest, indeed, our only true eternal hope…

One day there’ll be another awards ceremony, far more important than the Oscars, the Emmys, the Nobel Prize or the Miss America Pageant.

This ceremony will be a time for us to celebrate our journey of faith. The envelopes will be opened.

All of them.

Jesus promised the Church: “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done.” (Revelation 22:12)

Paul challenges us to avoid the dispassionate, passive, selfish life and to be eager to do good.

For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. (Titus 2:11-14)

Our eagerness to do good should flood every day of our lives because we are reminded of the day when the envelopes will all be opened and the truth, our generosity, our faithfulness to provide for the poor, our willingness to share Christ– all of it will be revealed.

Wouldn’t it be a let down if our gifts to God never really reflected the majesty of His gifts to us?

So what’s in your envelope?

Dearly Beloved,

We are here to say good-bye to an old friend: a friend we have loved for years. We did not come to praise her; we came to bury her. What can you say about a church that weathered the riches of the 90s, the emergent movement of the 2000s, and the schisms of the 10s? In 2009 we knew she was sick, so we hooked her up to committees and brought in consultants.

Yes, we tried new-member transfusions, and we cloned new additions to her. We felt certain that a new recreation center, a change in music style, more variety of worship times would breathe new life into her veins.  We even blended our worship, but it caused more controversy among those hoping to save her.

What disease slowly squeezed the life out of her? Was it her inability to accept others because of their appearance, race, or social status? Or was it her constant obsession with the churches nearlby? She was always so busy, so conflicted. Yes, she had issues: the color of the carpet, the bitter taste in her mouth, her frequent bouts with fatigue, narcolepsy, and acute preoccupation. Yes, indeed, she was self-absorbed. But, no one can deny that she loved to have a good time. But, even good times and the good medicine of a merry heart couldn’t revive her.

We bury her today, but, alas, she died quite a long time ago. She just didn’t have the good grace to lie down until now. In truth, I believe it would be fair to say that her death can beattributed to her tragic flaws: an inability to love, to weep, to speak, to serve…

These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God.
Revelation 3:1-2

We are a savage tribe. Often hiding behind our rules to make us as a sort of spiritual hall pass. We live in a world where poverty is the dominant issue and we, the rich Christian nations, are more concerned about sports, tax breaks, and oil prices. In a larger sense our prayers are feeble attempt to affirm our existence rather than to exert the power of God in the world around us.

For instance, the key word throughout the book of Leviticus is not legalism. It’s not obeying the rules. Hands down, it’s holiness. Legalism is box-checking, and barely getting by. Holiness is a statement of relationship where we say, “Lord, I am so in love with you that I want to become like you! I want to run as fast as I can into your presence and I will remove all obstacles to get into relationship with You. I want to take what would seem absurd and obtuse to the world and hold it up to Your presence. We no longer burn the fat of animals. We don’t remove the kidneys and livers of goats in worship. (Thanks be to God!) But we are called to do things much more radical: To present our bodies, the very life we live, as living sacrifices. We are called to perform gratuitous acts of grace. It has been estimated that there are between 500 and 600 Levitical laws in the Torah. Jesus narrowed it down to two. Love God with everything you’ve got and love others as much as you love yourself. (Jesus laws are fewer but much more difficult to keep.)

For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have appointed it to you to make atonement on the altar for your lives, since it is the lifeblood that makes atonement.
Leviticus 17:11 HCSB

God from the very beginning has been about the business of redemption. Even in the complicated and labyrinthine book of Leviticus we see glimpses of the redeeming grace. We see instructions of sacrifice that ultimately down the path to the Sacrifice of Christ for our sins. All the instructions on sacrifice with elaborate details point to the cross of Jesus Christ.

Christ followers have to relentlessly ask if we are just checking off boxes, justifying our existence or truly falling in love with God. Is that what my life is about? Is that what the Church is about? Far too often it is not. Often the church doesn’t have time to deal with the pain of the world because we are too busy trading pain with each other. There is so much power playing in our religious organizations. It’s sick. We make rules about who can do what in the church. We (including me) are so easily distracted away from the great Commission and we forget that we are called to share Christ not America with the rest of the world.

This love of Christ and our walk to the cross is not complicated but it is hard. We need the wisdom of Forrest Gump: “I’m not a smart man but i know what love is.”

Amen, Forrest. Amen…

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to be awestruck by the grace of Christ. No, it only takes a believer.

It doesn’t take a physician to tell you that life is distinctly tied to the blood that flows through the body of a man.

And it doesn’t take a theologian to say, “Jesus loves me. This I know.”

It’s all there in Leviticus Life, grace, blood and forgiveness.

Lord Jesus, God’s only Son, I cease my self-congratulatory posture when I stop and think of all You are and evermore will be. I am amazed by Your power. I’m overwhelmed that I’m a part of this rich panorama of life. My soul craves to know how I fit into your story. I shutter to think of the times I denied your presence through my self-centered actions. I have often shuffled sideways to avoid You without realizing the absurdity of my actions. Hold me in your hands because it’s true. I am weak but You are strong.

So your boss sends you on a business trip and, somehow, you and your wingman decide to stay in a prostitute’s abode.

This does not look good.

It’s scandalous at the very least but it’s also straight out of the Holy Bible.

Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two men as spies from the Acacia Grove, saying, “Go and scout the land, especially Jericho.” So they left, and they came to the house of a woman, a prostitute named Rahab, and stayed there.

It’s found in Joshua 2. Most biographers and historians would have left out some of the more seedy details but I believe that, even beyond the Bible’s integrity, this aspect of the narrative speaks volumes about the mercy of God. Yes, it presents many dilemmas and questions but the exciting final mystery is that this pagan woman of the night gets connected to the story of the King of the Ages. She became a direct link into the lineage of Jesus. The gifts of imperfection manifest themselves in Holy Scripture. What an amazing God! He emphatically illustrates that He can use anybody He chooses to display His unstoppable providence.

And it all started with a woman who obviously had a lot of baggage. She realized that something incredible was on the rise and she had a chance to leap from the dredges of abuse, slavery, and disgust to epic eternal significance. What happened when she joined God in the overthrow of Status Quo Incorporated? Here are four things that happened to her.

1. Rahab lept from prostitution to passion.

The archetypical character of Rahab, reminds us of the call we all receive to move from the quid pro quo formulas of religion to the wild, radical rhythm of grace. We leave the mad-grabbing battlefield of survival to the adventure of passionate living- no longer prostituting ourselves in order to survive, but rather leaping into the great unknown of God’s plan.

God hates it when we give the best of ourselves away for a few coins or a little more security. It’s a theme throughout scripture:

You lay down and acted like a prostitute on every high hill and under every large tree. Jeremiah 2:19

‘I am filled with fury against you, declares the Sovereign LORD, when you do all these things, acting like a brazen prostitute!

Ezekiel 16:30

God doesn’t want us to prostitute this life so that we can get what we need. He deeply wants us to take the leap into a life of passion and risk and trust that He will take care of everything. Are you fearful? Engage life with loose hands and firm resolve. Leap into the unknown territory of faith.

2. Rahab lept from many gods to one God.

Rahab cut her teeth on polytheistic theology, much like the people of Athens in Paul’s time. Remember his proclamation to the Athenians of Acts 17?

`You men of Athens, I see that you are very religious and worship many gods.” (Acts 17:22

We, like Rahab, have an invitation to worship the one true God who calls us to the adventure.

3. Rahab lept from safety to adventure.

Rahab’s life inside the wall wasn’t nearly as attractive to her as life outside the walls of addiction, prostitution and isolation. Danger presented itself and she found it pleasing. It’s nerve-racking to go on an adventure because you never know where it will take you. But a divine adventure of risk and abandon is a risk worth taking on Earth because the payoff is so much greater in the life to come.

4. Rahab lept from status quo genealogy to history-making adoption.

If she remained a citizen of Jericho, her story, her life, her bones- all of it would have faded in the fuzzy billions or hazy humans who have lived and died on earth. But look what happened: She was recorded in the lineage of Jesus.

Likewise those who connect their lives with Jesus receive the same designation and name.

For consider what he has done—before the foundation of the world he chose us to become, in Christ, his holy and blameless children living within his constant care. He planned, in his purpose of love, that we should be adopted as his own children through Jesus Christ—that we might learn to praise that glorious generosity of his which has made us welcome in the everlasting love he bears towards the Son.

Ephesians 4:4-6 (Phillips New Testament)

We all have two roads diverged in different worlds. We must choose between the humdrum life in a flophouse of Jericho, living inside the walls of slavery and nothingness or leap into the wild blue yonder of God’s promise.

Let’s take a familiar journey to the foot of an ugly hill of slaughter outside the walls of Jerusalem. Your imagination has been there before, I’m sure. It was the auction block of the cosmos. Jesus Christ put everything on the table for us, willing to bear the brunt of a fallen world to rescue us.

I’d like you to listen to two very distinct voices.

The first voice reeks of sarcasm and mockery. The religious leaders who came to this showdown of power spewed forth words that will haunt them for eternity: “He saved others, but He cannot save Himself! He is the King of Israel! Let Him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in Him.” (Matthew 27:42 HCSB)

In other words, “Jesus, we knew you couldn’t defeat the power structure we’ve developed here. We’ve seen your miracles, we’ve witnessed your grace, we’ve heard Your teaching. Let’s see you be the King now that your body has been crushed. Now that you find that all you’re followers except three have fled. You threw yourself against us and you broke. We are still standing.”

Jesus Christ, grace and love incarnate, spent the last few painful beats of his earthly heart listening to the voice of men void of mercy. Taunting, mocking, laughing- yes, reveling in this horrifying moment. Just for a moment, observe a world without mercy.

Now turn your head slightly and view the death of a scoundrel. He’s spent his life in rebellion. The reason for his punishment isn’t political or philosophical. His punishment was meted out on the altar of justice. There was nothing becoming of his story- no real excuses as far as we know. It was too late to rationalize, remunerate, compensate, or even apologize. He would soon slip into eternity unsure if the punishment would be even harsher there than here. But as he approached the end of his life he calls out to Jesus, “Remember me when You come into Your kingdom!” The man surely didn’t have a resume’ to remember. He didn’t have anything. But the voice of mercy spoke the words that encourage all of the unworthy scoundrels of the world, (writer included) “I assure you: Today you will be with Me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43 HCSB)

While judgment, greed, fear, and hatred rule the year, the day, the hour. Mercy will rule for eternity. Mercy accepts the screwups and the misfits. It redeems the outlaws and miscreants.  The entire whole of the Gospel is mercy that saves.  We must reflect the grace of a God who gave His only son away to the rabble of the world in order to rescue us from our own tyranny and falleness. This opus declares the truth seasoned with love, hope, mercy and grace. It heals the heart and strengthens the soul. Mercy is the default of the Divine.

Cowards are cruel but the brave love mercy and delight to save.

I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.
Abraham Lincoln

When our country loses its love of the poor we have lost our identity.

When we have lost our radical defense of the refugee, we have lost our courage and our soul.

The bread of brokenness

The wine of grace

The fellowship of His sufferings

Our hearts long for communion with the One whose glory overshadows every joy, ever fear, every act of contrition and amazement.

The broken bread

The red blood washing away cleansing, rectifying, forgiving, renewing, like rivers of hope

Flooding the arid field of our helplessness

Wash us Jesus

As we move into the about-face of repentance.

We’ve seen a glimpse of your majesty

We’ve experienced your fellowship in the furnace of suffering

And in the bliss of worship

Sometimes momentary, ephemeral

But we want so much more

So Lord Jesus

Son of God,

architect of infinity

Ageless wonder of mercy

Loose your power among us.

Devour us in love

Until we are lost in you.

So lost we can’t even find our identity outside of you!

As we approach these elements the bread and the cup.

We are saying yes to You.

Yes to everything about You

Yes to your holy purpose

Yes to your Spirit

You to the pain it may bring

Yes to the cross

Yes to the consuming fire- the eyes of love

Yes to all that will bring us into your courts of praise

We say yes to the bread and the wine

Which is bigger, wider, stronger, deeper, louder, and longer than anything this broken world could offer.

We want so much more.

As we call for more of you- we hear you calling for more of us.

And such is the element of communion

May we waste our lives in a reckless pursuit of You

Here’s a simple poem that works great as an ending to a sermon on the Healing of the Paralytic in Mark 2:1-12

Dust and shingles fall on the floor

Hypocrisy has blocked the door

A suffocating crowd around

And all of this distracting sound

These four guys had no building code

To renovate this small abode.

To see a beggar meet a king

Makes a roof a minor thing.

Religion always judges men.

Their patience now is wearing thin

But in the middle of the mess

A hopeless man meets holiness

And all the crowd could seem to say

was, “What a wild amazing day.”

~

And I don’t know your present state;

The things that cause your heart to break,

The people who have let you down,

The chaos swirling all around.

But this I know, one thing is true:

The God we trust makes all things new.

So take heart and learn to say

Each morning is a brand new day!

I grew up under the theology of scarcity. It centered around the hear-tell rumours that I didn’t have what it took to be a “really good” Christian. There were those repetitive voices outside and inside my head that said, “try harder, do more, get better.”  I gazed up at the impossible bar and counted myself out. My inadequacy labeled me, before I stepped on the scales.

My past haunted me
My scars mocked me.
My failures demoralized me,
My shame poisoned me.

I never would admit it, but I was certain that no one was as big of a poser as I was. I was weak and the more I tried to fix myself the more self-hatespeech would roll around in my head. And then one day I really did let go.

I raised a white flag and surrendered my efforts, my self-hope, self-punishment, and self-focus. I. JUST. LET. GO.

Then I discovered that the whole point of the gospel is that God is enough.

I just have to love him for being enough. It’s always been about God’s total sufficiency. What does it take to be held in the love of God? It takes a person willing to be still. This is the skill I need before everything else– to be still.  He is so much stronger than I have acted like He was.

But I am learning that He is more than enough to carry a struggler. It’s what He does. It’s His specialty and it’s His passion.  He’s not wringing his hands over your failures. He is ready to use each one to tell a story of grace and mercy.

It’s the same story that Mephibosheth experienced 2 Samuel 9. It’s an unfortunate name. It’s hard to say and spell so I call him Phiby. Phiby was the physically disabled grandson of a dead, vengeful King named Saul. When summoned, in his self-marinating humiliation he asked, “What does the King want with a dog like me.” He had nothing to offer the present king. But the king sought him out and he was seated at the kings table out of mysterious grace.

King David said to Phiby:

Don’t be afraid, for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table. 2 Samuel 9:7 (NIV)

In the same way God the Father says to us, “I will show you kindness for the sake of my Son Jesus.”

John the Beloved put it this way:  Consider the incredible love that the Father has shown us in allowing us to be called “children of God”—and that is not just what we are called, but what we are.  1 John 3:1 (Phillips Translation)

Throughout my days of striving to be acceptable, walking with a spiritual limp, striving to find a place, there is a Good Father who has already accepted me, not as a good servant but a beloved son. And that is good enough for me. In fact, He is more than enough.

I’ve seen him among the children and anyone who loves kids like he does, can be trusted. He is merciful to those who need mercy and He is always just. He willing to sacrifice everything for you and He never sleeps.

He is a doctor who can diagnose an illness before the symptoms appear.

He is a baker and when you go to his house there is always the wonderful smell of bread.
But more than anything…. He is a peacemaker.
He is available to you any time day or night.
He fights for the helpless
He makes time for the lonely
He is ready to step between you and your enemies
When you are befuddled confused and indecisive, He has a plan
When the walls are closing in, His doors will open wide.
He listens when no one else is around to hear you.
He consoles you when there are no arms to embrace you.
He weeps with you when all others curse at you
He is redeemer of your yesterdays and foreseer of your tomorrows.
He been to hell and back and He is still standing strong.
When others doubt you, He says, “you can do it.”
When no one knows you, He calls you by name
When few are truthful He will tell it to you straight.
He has set you apart and pulled you together
He lifts you up and He settles you down.
He’s not insecure, detached or ruthless.
All His plans are above board.
He’s written them all down in a book for you.
And nothing catches Him by surprise.
Many have tried to imitate him
And even more have tried to eliminate Him
But no one can intimidate Him
He is independent and self-sustaining and yet He longs for your love.
He could turn the world on its end and yet he has loved you from the beginning.
And He has invited you to come to His table.

While churning away on the eliptical Saturday at Planet Fitness, I saw the very beginning of Sandra Bullock movie called “The Proposal.”  As the movie opens, a busy office is on high alert because their  oppressive, driven boss is walking through the door. “It’s Here!” they message each other in the on their bulky 2008 computers.  (See clip below)

Most of us at one time or another have been associated with a person that causes pandemonium upon their arrival. These are the hurricane people. If you are in ministry, politics or involved in any aspect of a school system, you’ve definitely been there and know them by name.  Here are a few real life examples:

Many years ago a pastor, dissatisfied with the choir’s performance walked up to the podium to preach and said, “Well that was a little sub par. Choir stand to your feet. Let’s show them how it’s done.” Then he turned around and conducted the choir HIMSELF as they re-sang the song.  Can you imagine the humiliation of the minister of music? You’d think that the pastor would be reprimanded, but he was a gifted speaker and the band played on.

In an office, long, long ago, there was a department director of a ministry who would habitually pilfer through the refrigerator and eat other people’s lunches.  Believe me, I’m not making this up. An administrative lady caught him eating her lunch and she said, “You owe me five dollars.” His face turn red as he wiped his mouth after finishing her chicken salad in the Tupperware bowl.

“What?” He barked.

“I said, you owe me five dollars because now I’m going to have to buy my lunch.”

“Why do I have to buy your lunch?” He said acting like he didn’t understand.

“Because you just ate mine. It has my name on it.”

“Do you know who I am?”

But the administrative assistant held her ground. “Of course I know who you are. I’ve worked here for years!”

Finally he pulled a five dollar bill out of his wallet, wadded it up and threw it at her!

These are the hurricanes.

A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back.
Proverbs 29:11

A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion.
Proverbs 18:2

Hurricanes are often gifted, brutal narcissists. They get the work done but have blind spots regarding work relationships, especially regarding subordinates. A friend of mine who was a media minister was ordered to fire up the studio cameras for a pastor who was going to be on television. His assistant rolled in several sport coats, and despite my friend having a load of real work to do, he asked him to let him see himself on the monitor with each coat on, one by one,  in order to select the one that made him look the best. The process lasted for two hours.

One of my most frequent prayers is simply, Lord, please shelter me from the hurricanes in my life, and help me to never be one.

There are hurricane people and then there are storm shelter people. These are the safe people who you go to, when life is brutal. You know you will be refreshed, restored, and replenished by them. You won’t get judgment.

I want to be like the man of Isaiah 32:2:

“A man will be as a hiding place from the wind,
And a cover from the tempest,
As rivers of water in a dry place,
As the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.”

Oh, if I could be that man for everyone around me! A place to hide in the path of the storm…

Storm Shelters include Barnabas, Jonathan, and John.  They don’t have to be the lead guy. They are fierce in loyalty and love.

Storm Shelter People have some common characteristics:

• They keep secrets. We all need people we can tell our secrets to. They make us whole.  Storm Shelter people keep their word and honor your secrets like a sacred trust.
• They are ruthlessly in your court no matter what. They refuse to walk away when everybody else does.
• Storm Shelter people are truth tellers and yet what they speak is always infused with love and commitment.
• Storm shelter people never stop you mid sentence with “Enough about you, lets talk about me for a minute”  or with a behavior that communicates that phrase. Their nature is listening actively and there’s healing in their silence.

I really want to be a storm shelter to my friends. I want to be a person of the highest integrity and devotion to the people in my tribe. There have been days when I have failed. But I believe I’m getting better at it. God is reinforcing my walls and building my fortifications.

More than being known or admired, I hope I’ll be a shelter to people because there have been so many storm shelter people who have saved my life when the weather radar is swirling in red.