God, Are You Angry?

I’ve been fighting with the lexicon and our interpretations of Scripture, this week, because that totally makes sense in the midst of a time when I have almost no wiggle room in my schedule…  Typical L…

Jeremiah 30:22-24:

“‘So you will be my people,
    and I will be your God.’

See, the storm of the Lord
    will burst out in wrath,
a driving wind swirling down
    on the heads of the wicked.
The fierce anger of the Lord will not turn back
    until he fully accomplishes
    the purposes of his heart.
In days to come
    you will understand this” (NIV).

Just in case you didn’t know (because I sure didn’t), the word we translate here to “wrath,” is actually closer to “heat.”  Maybe that doesn’t make a difference, at all, but I think it might.  Maybe instead of a vengeful God, we have a passionate one who relentlessly works until “he fully accomplishes the purposes of his heart…” which might be lovingly forming us into God’s people.

In reading this passage, anew; I certainly think God is frustrated—perhaps even angry—but I’m not convinced that translates to punishment, death, and destruction!  Sometimes aggravation precedes realization.  Maybe it translates to prevenient grace, persuasion, and redemption (because all of that stuff looks like a raging storm, too).  Or maybe I haven’t reached the day when I understand this, at all.  It could go either way.

L.

This “Lame Duck” Week

Revelation 21:5-6, “…I am making everything new…  It is done…”

It’s been awhile since I have blogged here at “These Ordinary Days.”  How appropriate that they are now coming to an end.  I guess this page will need an Advent facelift for the next several weeks! 

As I went to read the daily office, this morning, I realized that I had left my Sacred Ordinary Days journal at home, so I clicked over to the “backup” site I use to gather the daily office Scriptures when I find myself in this predicament.  Strangely, it had already transitioned to the Year B readings, which apparently start on Thursday.  It’s Monday.  Is there no Scripture for Monday? 

Well, of course there is, but this all got me to thinking about how miserable we (ahem… I) do transitions and also about how this might be something of a “lame duck” week… sandwiched between everything ordinary and extraordinary… a place where we pause to think about how everything is over and everything is beginning again, but nothing is actually happening right now.  And since that is pretty much exactly what these phrases from Revelation (finally found the daily office) seem to indicate; I guess it’s true.

And yet, there is this one thing that remains… 

Psalm 117:2, “For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever” (NIV).

Is love and faithfulness enough to sustain us in times of seemingly nothing-else-ness (humor me, sometimes I have to create new words)?  I think so, but waiting is so hard… 

L.

A Convicting Verse for Someone Who Stinks at Delegating

“You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone” (Exodus 18:18, NIV).

There seems to be a theme running through my life the past few months, and the verse above… that’s it.  That’s me, thinking I can do it all… wanting to do it all… falling flat on my face, because no one can do it all…

But oh, how the lectionary connects day after day after day…

Philippians 1:15-18 is just as convicting, because I think it gets at the root of the problem of busyness and burnout.  We struggle to let go of our own ways, even if someone with a different perspective is achieving the same result:

“It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel.  The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains.  But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice…” (NIV).

And so I find myself, today, wondering which tasks of which I might let go…

There’s something about being willing to delegate anything that can be done at about an 80% proficiency level…

It’s a struggle for this Type A perfectionist, but I’m desperately trying to say, “What does it matter,” a little more often.

 
L.

Water from Rocks

The Israelites were pretty great at complaining.  Well… me, too…

I am an excellent planner.  I am not so awesome when my plans fail, and I’m not just talking about the ‘big stuff.’  It can take me days to get over it if someone orders the ‘wrong’ ice cream on vacation (OK, I’m lying.  I can take years.  I am actually referencing a real thing that happened years ago…)

And yet, somehow, I find myself living this crazy, divergent, dichotomous life that I did not expect…

Some weeks back, I was described as ‘tenacious’ (I think endearingly so).  The words that followed were, “Nothing shakes her…”

Are you kidding me?  I must either be wearing an incredibly convincing mask, or I’m actually morphing into a person who can handle transition, change, and spontaneity at break neck speeds.  I hope it’s the latter, but I’m fairly certain the jury is still out.

My lists of tasks to accomplish on any given day have become somewhat humorous.  As an example, among my responsibilities yesterday were things like: buy every Halloween decoration ever created, interview a philosophy and religion department chair, finalize details for a class reunion, and make rocks out of baking soda.  Who has a list like that?  To be completely candid, the baking soda rocks were really getting to me.

I feel as if I should reiterate… over and over again, for the sake of redundancy… that I like my job, and I’m glad to be here.  Before I accepted this position, I made sure I could come to terms with the phrase, “Wherever you are, be all there” (-Jim Elliot).  It’s a good place, these are good people, and I am committed to serving them well for as long as I’m here.

I have, however, had to come up with creative ways in which to wholeheartedly embrace this time of my life, which is not quite what I expected it to be.  I had a couple of very convicting moments, yesterday.

First (and I would not recommend this to anyone who is even mildly struggling, because it’s so very raw), I decided it might be a fabulous idea to use St. John of the Cross’, Dark Night of the Soul, as devotional material.  Allow me to give you a few moments to laugh at me… 

Alright, that’s enough now…

But seriously, Chapter II.  Is my crappy attitude coming from pride?  Have I become one of ‘those people’ who resolves much and accomplishes little?  I don’t want to fall into that, “the more they do, the less they are satisfied” (pg. 8) category.  And I know that’s my M.O.  If I’m going to swing the pendulum (widely) to either side, it’s the ‘try to drown out everything even remotely difficult with busyness’ side.  And this is where the parallel with the Israelites comes in.  These people actually uttered words about how it would have been better to die in slavery than to be free in the desert!

Now, there’s a lot that can be said about how they should have just entered the Promised Land when directed to do so, in the first place.  I get that.  But it’s also rather remarkable that God was still willing to provide for them, even if it meant doing insanely miraculous and unexplainable things like sending bread and meat from heaven and making water spring from rocks. 

And here I sit, looking at my baking soda creations that will (hopefully) get this point across to Kindergartners and fifth graders and teenagers and me: Even when people mess up, God is faithful.

To be honest, the most life-giving conversation I had, yesterday, was when my podcast guest said something to the effect of, “I was doing children’s ministry while I earned my PhD.” 

Wait, really?  What a breath of fresh air!  As it turns out, it doesn’t hurt to have something to keep us grounded in real world, accessible theology.

L.

To Lay Down Our Lives

This morning, the following verse struck me:

I John 3:16, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters” (NIV).

Sounds nice (wait, what?).

It’s pretty basic… even fundamental… and yet I think we have lost sight of the significance of sacrifice in the name of love.  I think, much like the expert in the law from Luke 10, we are asking, “Who are my brothers and sisters?  Who is my neighbor?”

I think we are asking how far we actually have to go in order to (just barely) satisfy the requirements of the law.  We want to justify ourselves, but that’s not what love is about.

Love is extravagant.  Love is excessive.  Love is asking, “How much can I give,” as opposed to, “How little can I get away with.” 

The second question is more like tolerance…

No, it’s not even that.

The second question is more like saving face through the use of deception and façade.  Seriously, why even bother? 

Let’s not mistake inconvenience for persecution, friends.  We are called to lay down our lives for the other.  Love is about giving everything.  And it’s about giving everything for the people with whom we do not easily self-identify, because, “us and them,” is a false dichotomy.  The problem is not that people are diverse.  The problem is that we have failed to recognize the Imago Dei as the core of who we all are.

L.