it is not what you think

“If you read the Bible, it will mess with your theology.”
Pastor Bill Lepley,
Grabill Missionary Church
September 28, 2008

That showed up early in the sermon last Sunday. Hope and I looked at each other. Hope and Nancy and I all wrote it down.

Theology is, most simply,  the study of God. We all have a theology, an understanding of God, or at least of god.. We’re formed this understanding through study and conversation and life. We’ve arrived at it through good and lousy experiences, through odd people, through responses to and reactions against.

I want to narrow the discussion for a bit. If our theology talks at all about the God that is identified in the Bible, then we have arrived at several conclusions in our theology. We may say that we don’t believe in that God. We may say that we believe that God to be a certain way (loving, violent, distant, personal, arbitrary, confusing). We may say that we believe completely in that God.

Whatever our theology, it is likely that reading the Bible will be remarkably disruptive. Many of us have sampled, and form our conclusions on the sampling. Many of us have heard things second hand. Many of us have read as if a list of rules or boring essay.

But what if it is actually a collection of love letters? What if it is actually a collection of stories? What if it is actually a Story still being written?

What if…I actually read it?

devotional thought

college visit

We spent yesterday on a college visit. Hope is a high school junior and is starting to think more seriously about how to answer the question, “So what are you going to do after you graduate?”

Until two weeks ago, she was pretty uninterested in the school we visited. She has known about it forever. She thought about it at one point. But whether through (negatively reacting to) peer pressure or proximity to home or  something, she had moved it off her list. Until two weeks ago.

She got a recruitment call from the school, a call that Nancy didn’t want to pass on, a call that Hope didn’t want to take. But she answered and listened. And found out that they have the major, newly added, that is of great interest to her.

And so we went yesterday, Nancy and Hope and I. We listened to admissions counselors. We  talked with faculty. We toured the campus. We talked to a couple people that I know on that campus. We ate supper at Chili’s and she read “The Great Gatsby” while we waited for our order. We stayed for our first Gilbert and Sullivan (“Pirates of Penzance”). We got home 19 hours after we left.

Because she has the right to change her mind (because she’s a person), I have intentionally not linked to that campus or told you the major.  But what is so intriguing to me is this:

She almost didn’t take the call because she thought she knew what the message would be.

That conversation may have changed her life, established a direction for her future. But that conversation, that piece of information, that thing that she didn’t know, almost didn’t get through.

I’m thinking that there are way too many times that we are absolutely convinced that we aren’t interested in what someone is talking about because we “know” what they will say. We “know” what going there would mean, how choosing that would ruin our lives, how that place would be no fun. We almost miss out on the very thing that will allow us to be transformed, to be completed…because we don’t want to take that call, to hear what that voice has to say.

I’ll keep you posted on the college thing. After all, we have 18 months. In the mean time, if the phone rings, you may want to at least listen.

what i’ve learned in the last 21 years

Okay, you aren’t going to get everything I’ve learned during that time, but I have learned a lot. About God.

Some context.

Today is Andrew’s 21st birthday. He and I celebrated at lunch today (with a free burger and a free ice cream sundae at Red Robin). I told him, as I told the rest of the world over at GNMParents.com today, that when he was born, I wasn’t too sure about having a son.

I’m over that now and am incredibly grateful for Andrew (and Hope and Nancy).

One of the things that being a dad has taught me is about God. I mean, there is this biblical image of Father. And so it is possible that as I have learned about being a dad, I have learned something about how a heavenly father might look at us. (In fact, Jesus does draw this very comparison).

1. I can always love and still have to direct and discipline. I have never not loved Andrew. Never. However, in the middle of that love there have been times that I have said no, times that I have spanked, (one time that I slapped myself to take his punishment on myself (but relax, I never would have slapped him)), times I have not given permission to go where he wanted to go or to do what he wanted to do.

2. A smile from our kids delights my heart. It happened again today. Andrew grinned at me and my heart melted. I knew that he was relaxed and just enjoying something that I had done. I didn’t need some big speech about his undying gratefulness. I would have been offended if he assumed that he needed to do something for me to make up for my action to him. I just want him to have joy in my presence.

3. Different ages have brought different expectations. I haven’t always expected the same things from Andrew. And as he has grown and can understand more, I have trusted him with more knowledge about what I’m doing and planning. Of course, there has also been more responsibility.

4. I love lots of people, but I don’t always answer the phone or the door or my schedule for other people.

5. When Andrew asks me for help, I mean actually needs me and acknowledges that need, I pay attention.

6. When Andrew asks me to help someone else, or help him help someone else, I do my very best to help, and to help him learn how to help.

7.  When Andrew tries to talk to me and is exhausted or hungry or sick, I don’t expect much. I just do what I can to help him feel better.

8. If he needs to make changes in his life so that he can avoid being exhausted or hungry or sick, I remind him of those changes.

Am I done learning? Not at all. It will take me the rest of my life to understand how to live these things out.

But in the meantime, I’ve the smile from this kid to cheer me on.

The governor is in Avilla (and other musings)

From my brain blotter:

1. Yesterday I heard that the  governor was going to be at a coffee shop in Avilla, a small town not far from here. In fifteen minutes, I could meet with him at St James.  I thought about it, briefly, and then realized that I wouldn’t have anything to talk with him about. And I realized that my reaction to meeting with most famous people would be, “hi.”

Some people would have a list of public policy questions for the governor, would wonder about their garbage pickup with the mayor, would have a long list of questions for the president. I acknowledge that they have a lot of responsibility, but my guess is that they wouldn’t be much interested in talking with me. I assume that they have really important things to talk about, that they need to be managing the state or city or country. Anything I could ask would have been asked a thousand times already, often with greater precision.

And then, as I thought about it, I wondered how many people look at talking with God the exact same way.

2.  I taught, I think, in Cole Hall. I at least was a teaching assistant for a couple of classes there, perhaps in the same auditorium. I was a grad student in communication during 1980-81 at Northern Illinois University. My office was just one building over, in Watson Hall. As I watched the news develop yesterday, I realized that there isn’t much that can be done from a policy perspective. There aren’t many more things that can be done with security strategies. People snap and plot and fret and then destroy. What I realized is that I, more than ever, need to be about lives and hope and God. One life at a time, one decision at a time, one bit of grace and mercy at a time.

3. I preached on Sunday last. You can download it by going here.

4. My friend Randy likes Sky Bars. I’m glad he does. I like dark chocolate more than I like these. But that’s okay. We don’t have to agree on candy bars. But I know my friend Randy likes Sky Bars.  So I bought him one. And sent him a picture of it. Someday I’ll get him the real thing.

What I’m thinking about these days is whether I know God as well as I know Randy. I mean, if I was walking around the mall and wanted to buy God a gift card for $5, what would I get it for? What candy bar would I get?

And how would I give it to Him?

5. If you haven’t been rading what my friends have been writing about Lent, you need to.

6. Have a great weekend. I’ll be teaching on Sunday morning. Here’s what I’ll be talking about. If you weren’t reading this blog last March, check it out.

7. And now I’m going to a hockey game with Andrew. The best thing about hockey? Being with Andrew.

8 ways to audit my (spiritual) time.

If God isn’t on your radar, you can avoid this list. And if you work through this list, make sure that you take into account ONLY what the Bible actually says God says, rather than what someone said, or what you think you heard, or what people on TV say that God said, or any of those odd things that get us confused.

1. How much of my time do I spend thinking about the things God said not to think about? (“don’t worry about tomorrow” “Don’t be anxious for anything” “don’t lean on your own understanding”)

2. How much of my time do I spend thinking about the things God said to think about?

3. How much of my time do I spend doing the things God said to do?

4. How much of my time do I spend doing the things God said not to? (e.g. “Don’t judge” “Don’t fret”)

5. How much of my time do I spend avoiding what I should do?

6. How much of my time do I spend avoiding what I shouldn’t do?

7. How much of my time do I spend to bring me delight?

8. How much of my time do I spend to bring me numbness?

————

For a day-by-day journey through anticipation during Advent, join me at advent2007.wordpress.com

For more 8 ways…

To waste your blogging time
To ruin your day
To be thanked
To increase your stress
To explain 2.0 friends to 0.0 parents
To lose your faith
To make yourself angry
To make yourself jealous
To make yourself depressed
To ruin your marriage

Subscribe to this blog for free by clicking here.