Hide and Seek...

"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.

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"

"Everything is Spiritual" DC Series...

We are starting a new "dive" at DC this Wed night. We're big fans of Rob Bell and have dug his teachings for "many moons". We're taking his teaching DVD called "Everything is Spiritual" and rolling with a new series on it this Wed night. Here's an excerpt to whet the appetite!



*DC meets every Wed night at 14606 S. Alden (check the map below) @ 7PM. Coffee, snacks, and a children's environment is provided. We use a variety of tools and learning experiences to help people experience God's heart. (Teaching, processing, music, video, questions, etc.)


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Umbrella

You've probably figured out I dig live music and those "moments" that seem to happen with the right song and the right concert or gathering or whatever. Could be 3 people...could be 30...could be 300...or in this case 15000. Great song...cool lyrics...cool moment...I think. See if you can play it only once! May it give you hope.

"These fancy things,
will never come in between
You're part of my entity
Here for Infinity
When the war has took it's part
When the world has dealt it's cards
If the hand is hard
Together we'll mend your heart
Because ...

When the sun shines
We'll shine together
Told you I'll be here forever
Said I'll always be your friend
Took an oath
I'mma stick it out 'till the end
Now that it's raining more than ever
Know that we still have each other
You can stand under my Umbrella
You can stand under my Umbrella"

-"Umbrella" Rihanna and Jay Z

"In"courage thoughts....

*I've never had someone tell me "Quit encouraging me!" Not once. If it's sincere encouragment...I've never had it happen. I know I've touched on this before...Paul in the Bible said to "encourage one another and build one another up". There's a fascinating correlation with encouraging (putting courage into someone to be who they're created to be) someone and building them up. I've never met someone that said to me "I would like to be hopeless...that's what I'm shooting for in life." We want to believe better about ourselves. When others come along and believe what God has always believed and reinforce that...it matters. It changes us. May that increase.

*Along the same lines, I think it's sad and fascinating that the times where we fully and wholly celebrate and properly remember a person's life and value is......after they die. Why not take the time to do that while people are alive and around to embrace it and enjoy it and soak it up. Can you imagine the impact on people if we did that more today? Interesting, nonetheless.

*I keep coming back to the life-changing and healing power of forgivness. It's amazing the amount of bitterness we can carry around and "unlove". It's also amazing how those realities can be tied back to simply not being willing to forgive someone....maybe ourselves. Much, much more on this later.

Enough?

"Take your shower, shine your shoes
Well, you got no time to lose
You are young men you must be living
Go now you are forgiven."

-"The General" Dispatch



"It's one of those days, where it's a minute away from snowing and there's electricity in the air.

This bag was just...dancing with me. That's the day I realized that there's this entire life behind things, and this incredibly benevolent force that wanted me to know that there's no reason to be afraid. Ever."

-"American Beauty"



"The Matrix is a system Neo. You have to understand that most people aren't ready to be unplugged."

-"The Matrix"



"In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was presently originally with God. All things were made and came into existence through Him: and without Him was not even one thing made that has come into being. In Him was Life, and the Life was the Light of men. And the Light shines on in the darkness, for the darkness has never overpowered it.

There it was--the true Light coming into the world that illumines every person."

-John 1:1-5, 9

Jim couldn't get the image out of his head or the shame out of his heart. He kept telling himself that he did the best he knew how to do back then. Was it? No one knew the pain he caused. No one knew the shame he lived with. He went to church every week....not for community...not for love...but to feed the sadistic self-talk that was running amock within him. "God knows....oh yes...He knows, what you've done!" No person could love him if he told them, he thought. God certainly would take that a couple of notches higher on the condemnation scale. "I can't be loved if I'm known." For many years, the same dark place. The worst of it was when the fears paired up. Relationships fail...."It's because of what I've done"....job loss..."I deserve it"...on and on. It's enough to have a drink a bit of "You couldn't love me if you knew me", but add that to "I'm afraid their won't be enough" or worse yet, "I'm afriad I'm not enough"...you can get a deadly poison real quick.

What would happen if Jim found people and a God that genuinely knew him and loved him? What would happen if Jim allowed love and light to illumine those dark places? What are the dark places in your world? Are their things...moments...that, if you're honest you can't imagine really being loved, in light of...maybe "in spite of" but certainly not "in light of"? What do we do with our shame?

There is the constant comparison in the New Testament section of the Bible between love and light. Light of love in our lives brings life. We go on various "value hunts" or "love hunts" in our lives hoping to find something or someone that gives us what we secretly need or think we need. It's interesting to think about why we go on the "hunt" to begin with. It's like there's some magnetic pull deep inside of us to find it. To find love in light of our shame. We have moments and when they happen we remember...we cherish. A look....a kiss....a word....a song....a movie....a place. They speak to something bigger. Something deeper weaving it's way through life. Unfortunately, the same it true on the other end of the scale. Shame...we remember...a look...a word...a song...a place...a person. Here's the deal....When we allow the light of love to enter our lives...to illumine our hearts and minds...ultimately it will encounter shame....and fear...and darkness. I'm convinced gang, that when real love, as in "God is love", meets shame...love wins everytime. Everytime. Love trumps fear. Light expels the darkness. "Love never fails." Ever. Never? Never. May you find the love of God in you and through you in this moment in new ways. May you believe again. May you trust again. Never fails. May you find, in the words of the old song, "the things of this world will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace." Shalom.

Amazing Book...

So I was referred a book recently by a good friend, who said that it was a "paradigm shifter". I'm always up for a good stretch so I dove in. An absolutely hope-giving, heart-opening book. One of the best books I've ever read. Here goes "So You Don't Want to Go to Church Anymore" by Jake Colson is the name. It's a conversation with a frustrated associate pastor and a spiritual sojourner. Nothing I can say can adequtely describe how good it's done my heart to read this. I'll give a few quotes.

*"But why can't we see how this game is so destructive? Others are being lied to!"

"They don't want to see it Jake. Religious systems prey on people's insecurity. They haven't learned how to live in Father's love, to follow his voice and depend on him. Consequently they can't do anything that might upset their place in the game, or they'll feel lost. We wire people to their approval needs at a very young age and try to exploit it their whole life long."

"And part of that training includes marginalizing those that don't go along." I let out a deep sign. "I've certainly done that to others. I had no idea how it felt from this side."

"Institutionalism breeds task-based friendships. As long as you're on the same task together, you can be friends. When you're not, people tend to treat you like damaged goods. Now you know what that's like from the other side and one of the big things Jesus is doing in you now is to free you from the game, so that you can live deeply in him rather than worrying about what everyone else thinks about you."

"I've been tortured by that my whole life, John."

*"You're the one who helped me see through organized religion."

"It's one things to see through things and quite another to be against them. That's the game--and I'm not playing."

"Any human system will eventually dehumanize the very people it seeks to serve and those it dehumanizes the most are those who think they lead it."

"I don't care about all that, John. I just want Jim's failure exposed to the world." I could feel my face flush with anger and my hands ball up into angry fists.

"Why are you do angry, Jake?"

*"I never thought of it that way. But I hate it that people think he's so righteous."

"But they only think he is. It's an illusion and while illusions can be powerful, they are still illusions."

"But most people live by those illusions."

"Only because they want to, Jake. I don't want you to. You appear to be the bad guy when you know it isn't true. You appear to be on the verge of financial ruin, but you're not. Never let mere appearances become you're reality."

"But I want others to know the truth, John. Why should they get to live in their illusions?"

"Believing a lie isn't something someone gets to do. It's something they are trapped in."

Another book in the docket to read is called "The Shack". The same friend recommended it. Also, reading "Everything Must Change" by Brian McLaren. Good stuff is afoot!