I've had ideas, nearly made it to the keyboard a few times, but just haven't updated this blog in a while.
Funny thing is, sometimes I think things like that happen because God's not done with a previous idea yet.
That notion came full circle for me with this week's Sunday morning sermon. It was about Jesus' parable of the prodigal son. Oh boy, heard this one a few times before, right? Wrong.
As the pastor spoke, he emphasized this crazy notion of grace. The idea that we don't pay the penalty for our wrongs. Instead, someone else -- Jesus -- pays the penalty despite doing everything right.
It's not fair is it? But that's just it. The prodigal son came home knowing what he deserved, but instead of an "I told you so" and being sent to live with the servants, he got a feast and a festival. He got grace.
And so it goes for us. Heaven knows we don't want what we deserve, yikes! We want grace ... which brings me back to my post about Easter being for me and my plank-eyed soul.
What I was really trying to say is that Easter is about being offered grace, even when I don't deserve it. It's about someone else paying the penalty for my wrongs. It's about a father, a Heavenly Father, that not only welcomes me home but runs to meet me.
He knows I've been slopping hogs and squandering my gifts. He knows I deserve nothing more than a swift kick to the posterior and that I am inferior.
But he gives me a party hat and some presents, and says, "Welcome back."
That's not what I deserve, but that's grace, that's Easter, that is a miracle!
Monday, April 26, 2010
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Happy endings
The stage was set Monday night in Indianapolis. Underdog Butler had a chance to win the NCAA men's basketball championship against perennial power Duke. In fact, the Bulldogs wound up with not one, but two shots at victory.
But as many say, sports is a microcosm of life, and that means no one should be surprised when both shots missed and the happy ending of a movie script was not to be.
For all of us on this earth are headed to an unhappy ending. It is inevitable -- "the wages of sin is death." Even Jesus as he took on our sin was forced into an unhappy ending on the cross.
But that celebration we just had on Easter Sunday gives us hope. The resurrection of Christ tells us that all those unhappy endings can turn out to be new beginnings.
Death is not the destination, it is the doorway.
But as many say, sports is a microcosm of life, and that means no one should be surprised when both shots missed and the happy ending of a movie script was not to be.
For all of us on this earth are headed to an unhappy ending. It is inevitable -- "the wages of sin is death." Even Jesus as he took on our sin was forced into an unhappy ending on the cross.
But that celebration we just had on Easter Sunday gives us hope. The resurrection of Christ tells us that all those unhappy endings can turn out to be new beginnings.
Death is not the destination, it is the doorway.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Easter is for me
From Ash Wednesday to Palm Sunday and Maundy Thursday and Good Friday to, finally, Easter Sunday, we've probably heard and will hear no shortage of meditations, sermons and thoughts on Easter. So here's mine. 
Let me start with Matthew 7:3-5, not your typical Easter text:
"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."
I quote this passage because it is the basis for one of my favorite songs, "Easter", by an obscure band called Raspberry Jam. It is preceded by the recitation of the George Herbert poem, Easter. The chorus is this simple thought:
"She whispers support and I scream judgment,
You see Easter is for me and Plank-eyed soul."
The simplicity and truth of this floors me. Jesus died upon the cross for the thousands who offered support as he rode into Jersualem on a donkey then screamed judgment days later when offered a choice between the criminal Barabbas and their former messiah.
He died for Peter, who told Jesus "I will never fall away," and within 24 hours had denied every knowing the man.
He rose again for the very same, and for Thomas, who would not believe until he had seen and touched the scars for himself.
He rose again for a man named Saul, who persecuted Christians in the name of the Lord until a blinding light on the road to Damascus changed his name to Paul and his mission to salvation.
He died and rose again for me, who would scream judgment at the tiniest speck of sin in the life of my friend, family or even a stranger while a plank the size of Texas obscured my own vision of God.
Jesus' resurrection on the third day -- on Easter -- is all about second chances, and sometimes third and fourth, even 999th chances. That empty tomb gives every man the chance to one day return to the Garden of Eden, to perfection.
Every plank in my eye was the wood Jesus' hands and feet were nailed to.
On one side of him, a criminal whispered support, "This man had done nothing wrong. ... Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."
On the other side, a criminal screamed judgment, "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!"
There, but for the grace of God, go I. You see, Easter is for me and my Plank-eyed soul.
Let me start with Matthew 7:3-5, not your typical Easter text:
"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."
I quote this passage because it is the basis for one of my favorite songs, "Easter", by an obscure band called Raspberry Jam. It is preceded by the recitation of the George Herbert poem, Easter. The chorus is this simple thought:
"She whispers support and I scream judgment,
You see Easter is for me and Plank-eyed soul."
The simplicity and truth of this floors me. Jesus died upon the cross for the thousands who offered support as he rode into Jersualem on a donkey then screamed judgment days later when offered a choice between the criminal Barabbas and their former messiah.
He died for Peter, who told Jesus "I will never fall away," and within 24 hours had denied every knowing the man.
He rose again for the very same, and for Thomas, who would not believe until he had seen and touched the scars for himself.
He rose again for a man named Saul, who persecuted Christians in the name of the Lord until a blinding light on the road to Damascus changed his name to Paul and his mission to salvation.
He died and rose again for me, who would scream judgment at the tiniest speck of sin in the life of my friend, family or even a stranger while a plank the size of Texas obscured my own vision of God.
Jesus' resurrection on the third day -- on Easter -- is all about second chances, and sometimes third and fourth, even 999th chances. That empty tomb gives every man the chance to one day return to the Garden of Eden, to perfection.
Every plank in my eye was the wood Jesus' hands and feet were nailed to.
On one side of him, a criminal whispered support, "This man had done nothing wrong. ... Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."
On the other side, a criminal screamed judgment, "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!"
There, but for the grace of God, go I. You see, Easter is for me and my Plank-eyed soul.
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