"The man and his wife were both naked and unashamed."
-Genesis 2:25
So we find in the Genesis story, that Adam and his wife (no mention of a ceremony...interestingly) Eve were originally naked and unashamed. They were created that way. There were 2 "named" trees with fruit. You got the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil" (fascinating stuff, the desire to label things good and evil)...and the "tree of life". I could spend a good bit of time talking about how we still choose the "good and evil" tree today in so many ways over life. Nevertheless, God says...you can have any tree...but the "good and evil" one...you will die...something in you will die. Serpent comes along and frames the story differently from God. He also frames the choices differently. "You won't die. You'll actually have your eyes opened. You'll be more alive." Interesting. Eve believed the serpent...took the "good/evil" fruit and ate it and passed it onto Adam. The Genesis story then says that they "eyes of them both were opened"...which is what the serpent promised...but that they "knew that they were naked" and they "sewed fig leaves together" and made "apronlike girdles". Amazing. They hide. Eventually, God comes walking around and they hide behind trees. Fig leaves with each other...trees with God (thicker I suppose). Adam says "I heard the sound of you walking around in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked...so I hid." Fear. Shame. Hiding. Lies. It's all there. We see it flesh out not just in the Genesis story but in life.
I'm afraid...of what you'll think...of what you'll do...of what you think about me...that you won't love me...that you won't accept me...that you'll act like you love me but talk about me behind by back and I can't trust you. I'm ashamed...of what I've done...who I think I am...you couldn't love me...I'm human...I've been hurt...I've hurt people...I'm ashamed....I'm defective...I'm not enough.
"I know the truth about me."
"If you really knew me, you wouldn't love me."
"I'm not worth it."
"I have to acquire value. I have to acquire acceptance."
So we hide...in our work...in our abusive drinking...in our drug abuse... in our sarcasm...in our religious activity...in our words...in someone else's life...in our secret relationships...sometimes in our smiles...on and on and on. It's a game we learn as kids but perfect as adults.
I'm coming to believe that the heart of the message of Christ is to invite people out of hiding into life. God is inviting people our of darkness into light. Out of lies into truth. Out of death into life. Out of the system of fear and shame and chains into freedom and love...real love. The kind of love that brings freedom and casts out fear.
"You will know the truth and the truth will set you free."
-Jesus
The cool thing is that we are becoming people who encourage others out of hiding by journeying down that road ourselves or we are becoming people who, often without knowing it, encourage people to hide, by not journeying down that road ourselves. Are I connected with people and places that encourage me and enlighten me to come out of hiding? That's a pivotal question. It's not a solitary moment...it's a journey. If you find yourself in the blessed friction of that place, you gotta know, you're not alone. You never have been alone. You never will be alone. God is always with you, of course, but there are so many others who are finding life by...strangely...giving up the game and calling it the load of crap that it is. That it's not what God's doing in this world...in fact it's what God is undoing in the world to ultimately make things right.
It's in that journey that we find the way we see the world changes. The way we see God changes. The way we believe God sees us changes. The way we believe God sees everyone changes...for the better...on all accounts. We begin to see what is real...what has always been true. We take off the shades we've been see things through and hiding behind to find a world of "beloveds" who may or may not know that reality. We find color. We find beauty. We find love. We find life. It all starts when we decide we don't want to play the game anymore...we want to play for real.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Sunday, March 2, 2008
You
"She said 'If we're gonna make this work
You gotta let me inside even though it hurts
Don't hide the broken parts that I need to see'
She said 'Like it or not it's the way it's gotta be
You gotta love yourself if you can ever love me'
-Lifehouse "Whatever It Takes"
"Evey Hammond: Who are you?
V: Who? Who is but the form following the function of what, and what I am is a man in a mask.
Evey Hammond: Well I can see that.
V: Of course you can. I'm not questioning your powers of observation, I'm merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is."
-from the movie "V for Vendetta"
"Love your neighbor as yourself."
-Jesus (Matthew 22:39)
The truth is that it was just a breakup...but it felt like so much more. "Just a breakup!". She thinks. Jonie put her world into him. She didn't feel like she mattered until she met him. The fact that he didn't treat her well was beside the point. She mattered now. He mattered to people. She was with him. She mattered to people. The real truth was...she didn't matter to him. The question "Who am I?" was so lost....in a thick fog.
Tony was a great athlete. A fierce fighter. Every time he knocked out some other hopeless boxer, he could feel the anger from the punches he took when he was younger. He knew then, it was either him...or his mom...or his younger sister. His dad has pursued healing roads and had softened up immensely. It make Tony even more angry. His career was taking off...his heart was leather...his wife knew the real truth and often paid for it. The pulse of forgivness was beating deep beneath the leather veneer of his heart. "What was he like before the anger?" He wondered privately. "Who am I?" swam below the surface.
How much energy have I spent in my life at "impression management"? Why did I do it? I didn't like what God made. The truth is that I'm still coming to value the creation of me. It's a process. On clear days, I'm confident, light-hearted, and loving. On foggy days, I'm timid, unsure, and second guessing myself. I've had clearer days lately. I've noticed that the comparison road is a subtle one. It can start as a suggestion on a foggy day and lead to a personal melt-down. I think that road can vary for each person. What I'm learning is that it matters immensely to not give life to those voices that would dare to compare. God doesn't want me to be anything or anyone other that me...the real me. Beneath the crap...the lies...the veneer...the layers...whatever it is for you...God wants you to be you. That's how things are supposed to work. I'm supposed to be me. You're supposed to be you. Jesus is supposed to be fully Jesus (which He was). Jonie is supposed to be Jonie. Tony is supposed to be the real Tony. The eternal idea is that when you are you...you make things better. Life happens. Light happens. Love happens.
I hear so many stories of people who've been told that God is in the clone-making business. That they should be the prototype. The way they dress. The way they talk. The way they sneeze. Yada...yada...yada. How freaking boring and uncreative! Jesus was truly himself and he lived 30 years as a son and an obscure carpenter. He spent 3 years telling people, in his way, about who God really was and showing them. A lot of people who thought they had God figured out didn't like it or him...they ultimately killed him.
May you be who you truly are! May you work through all of the things in life that have been built on your heart of body or life that would make that journey of discovery harder. May you surround yourself with people and community who bring the real you...out. May you begin to ask how things would change in the world if you were yourself. May you quit playing the comparison game. The truth is no one wins in the comparison game...no one. Everyone gets devalued. Period. May you realize what God realized then and still belives today when He said "It is good!"
"We are the ones we've been waiting for."
-Barack Obama
"Evey Hammond: I don't want you to die.
V: That's the most beautiful thing you could have ever given me."
-from the movie "V for Vendetta"
You gotta let me inside even though it hurts
Don't hide the broken parts that I need to see'
She said 'Like it or not it's the way it's gotta be
You gotta love yourself if you can ever love me'
-Lifehouse "Whatever It Takes"
"Evey Hammond: Who are you?
V: Who? Who is but the form following the function of what, and what I am is a man in a mask.
Evey Hammond: Well I can see that.
V: Of course you can. I'm not questioning your powers of observation, I'm merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is."
-from the movie "V for Vendetta"
"Love your neighbor as yourself."
-Jesus (Matthew 22:39)
The truth is that it was just a breakup...but it felt like so much more. "Just a breakup!". She thinks. Jonie put her world into him. She didn't feel like she mattered until she met him. The fact that he didn't treat her well was beside the point. She mattered now. He mattered to people. She was with him. She mattered to people. The real truth was...she didn't matter to him. The question "Who am I?" was so lost....in a thick fog.
Tony was a great athlete. A fierce fighter. Every time he knocked out some other hopeless boxer, he could feel the anger from the punches he took when he was younger. He knew then, it was either him...or his mom...or his younger sister. His dad has pursued healing roads and had softened up immensely. It make Tony even more angry. His career was taking off...his heart was leather...his wife knew the real truth and often paid for it. The pulse of forgivness was beating deep beneath the leather veneer of his heart. "What was he like before the anger?" He wondered privately. "Who am I?" swam below the surface.
How much energy have I spent in my life at "impression management"? Why did I do it? I didn't like what God made. The truth is that I'm still coming to value the creation of me. It's a process. On clear days, I'm confident, light-hearted, and loving. On foggy days, I'm timid, unsure, and second guessing myself. I've had clearer days lately. I've noticed that the comparison road is a subtle one. It can start as a suggestion on a foggy day and lead to a personal melt-down. I think that road can vary for each person. What I'm learning is that it matters immensely to not give life to those voices that would dare to compare. God doesn't want me to be anything or anyone other that me...the real me. Beneath the crap...the lies...the veneer...the layers...whatever it is for you...God wants you to be you. That's how things are supposed to work. I'm supposed to be me. You're supposed to be you. Jesus is supposed to be fully Jesus (which He was). Jonie is supposed to be Jonie. Tony is supposed to be the real Tony. The eternal idea is that when you are you...you make things better. Life happens. Light happens. Love happens.
I hear so many stories of people who've been told that God is in the clone-making business. That they should be the prototype. The way they dress. The way they talk. The way they sneeze. Yada...yada...yada. How freaking boring and uncreative! Jesus was truly himself and he lived 30 years as a son and an obscure carpenter. He spent 3 years telling people, in his way, about who God really was and showing them. A lot of people who thought they had God figured out didn't like it or him...they ultimately killed him.
May you be who you truly are! May you work through all of the things in life that have been built on your heart of body or life that would make that journey of discovery harder. May you surround yourself with people and community who bring the real you...out. May you begin to ask how things would change in the world if you were yourself. May you quit playing the comparison game. The truth is no one wins in the comparison game...no one. Everyone gets devalued. Period. May you realize what God realized then and still belives today when He said "It is good!"
"We are the ones we've been waiting for."
-Barack Obama
"Evey Hammond: I don't want you to die.
V: That's the most beautiful thing you could have ever given me."
-from the movie "V for Vendetta"
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