He Is Not Here? Well, Then Where Is He?

One of the things you will quickly find out on a trip to Israel is what you think of the Christian tradition. I am not talking about the whol of Christianity but the idea of traditions, of the legacy behind to us by the past saints, and how authoritative it is for how we live.

Personally, I like tradition a whole lot. I like going to traditional sites, like the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, that have been visited for centuries and are gaudy looking with lots of gold, mosaics, and images everywhere. (I’m sure if you could translate Latin, you would like it too)

However, for those who don’t like the tradition with all its antiquity and flashiness, you can go visit a separate ancient tomb called the Garden Tomb, which is pretty much a Protestant equivalent to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. You will get an informational tour of why this tomb is a good candidate for Jesus’ real burial place based on being in a garden, near a mountain face that looks roughly like a skull. Even if Jesus wasn’t ever buried here (which he probably wasn’t), it is still a neat little place. I’ll throw in some pictures below so you can see what its like.

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The reason I bring this up is that in this Garden tomb, inside the tomb, is a quotation from the Gospel of Luke:

“He is not here; for he is risen!”

I love the resurrection, the defeat of death and the promise of eternal life and the renewal of all creation. In this one moment, God’s story had culminated in a surprising way and inaugurated a whole new vision of the world. After the resurrection, things are different!

But as I looked at this Protestant prayer site, with its bare stone walls and a stone rolled away, I couldn’t help but ask myself: if Jesus isn’t here, where is He?

Some quick answers come to mind: He’s in your heart, he’s in the gift of the Spirit dwelling in you, he’s seated at the right hand of God, he’s acting as head of the church, he’s among the least and the lowly. All are correct and seem supported by Scripture. But in the heart of Palestine/Israel, the Holy land, where is Jesus?

Having met and talked to several different people in the area, Israeli and Palestinian, one can’t help but be overwhelmed by the immensity of the conflict occurring in the land. People on both sides have died over the land. The bst advice I was given during my time there was never to side with one side or the other, neither needs more enemies. Rather, one should work for love and justice in the land as a whole.

Which is why raising the question of where Jesus is is so important, if I really believe he is among the least of these. Yesterday, a fellow Christian posted a very ill-informed article on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with the blanket statement, ‘I don’t care who you are, Israel is a state and its sovereignty should be respected and supported.’  I almost became one of those people who blow up on someone’s wall with anger and attack a position from multiple fronts, starting an argument that last 40+ posts. But that’s not where Jesus is. He’s not in the opinion column or the political polls or the hot button issue debates.

No, Jesus was somewhere else.

As I walked the streets of a Palestinian refugee camp, I heard stories of Palestinians who were arrested without cause, children who were shot at as they studied in their school, families that went for weeks with out water. I heard stories of Palestinian artists trying to spread the message of their cause, practicing civil disobedience against these injustices, and Christian pastors proclaiming the whole gospel even at the cost of persecution.

That was were Jesus was. He was no longer in the tomb, but was at work in the lives of those who were working to make his name known through acts of justice, love, and mercy.

I’ve been home for two weeks now, as of tomorrow. It hasn’t taken long to get back into my routine, letting the testimony of the saints, both living and dead, experienced in the Holy land become a whisper of a voice amidst all the other things I hear. It hasn’t taken long for the resurrection to become just another doctrine, just another theological hook to hang my seminary hat on, just another bible passage to exegete.

God, where are you in my life right now? How can I live the resurrection in the throes of seminary, the chains of America? I pray my willingness to serve you will be met with the grace to obey when you call.

 

 

Caesarea: In Retrospect

Giant thousand seat amphitheatres showing the best performances. Circuses with chariot races so exciting one couldn’t help but place a bet. Giant bathhouses where everybody who’s anybody hangs out. A massive palace with its own pool fed by the Mediterranean Sea. Beautifully paved streets flanked by Corinthian columns. Indoor plumbing.

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While this could be the description of any Roman city in its heyday, it just happens to be the landscape sprawled out before me at Caesarea, the capital city and harbor built by Herod the Great. It was here that Paul spent several years in prison for his proclamation of the gospel (Acts 23-26). This was the capital of the king, while another king, Jesus of Nazareth, was preaching among the Jews. Caesarea, with its allure of greatness, with its colossal architecture making a powerful claim: look at all of this wealth, all of these public works. They are the gift of the king, provided you continue to obey him.

Every circus race, every theatre performance, ever statue of the traditional gods or the Caesars demand certain obedience, or at least an apathy toward change. Peace will be kept, the pax Romana, provided you just stay in line.

It’s amazing that the impact of this message that can still be felt when you walk the streets of the Roman city, when you stand in its massive structures. And yet, the Christian message called all of this into question by calling the world to recognize that its true Lord and King was Jesus, the Messiah, the one who died on a cross and was raised again. This message breaks through the numbing effect of the city and created a crisis. It demands a choice. Who is Lord, Caesar or Jesus? In which city will you live, the city of God or the Roman city?

While one’s allegiance should never be divided, navigating how to live that out was never that easy, never simply an all out acceptance or rejection of the world. There are times where the lies of the Empire need to be rejected, where their ethics fall silent to the truth of the gospel and its claims. On the other hand, Paul is willing to recognize what might be kept, as he states in Philippians 4.8:

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

But as I stood in the midst of the city, I have to admire the early Christian testimony, how so many stood faithful to witness to Jesus Christ, to raise a small voice of truth that challenges the screaming messages the Roman city declared. These are the saints who have gone before us, the fathers and mothers of our faith, the living stones built on the foundation of Christ

I can’t help but wonder how my Christian witness is being raised in the messages of our world. With politicians spewing hatred at one another, with the deafening messages of sex, wealth, and selfishness, with the centrality of entertainment in every perceivable form electronic and otherwise, with violence so prevalent that a neighborhood shooting seems normal, with religion being used to support every perceivable agenda, what does it look like to proclaim Jesus, the crucified one, as Lord?

God help us find our voices and lifestyles to proclaim Christ like those who have gone before us. Thy kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven

Amen.

 

Return from Israel

As many of you know, I was in Israel for the past two weeks or so. I am working on getting some more content specific reflections up about the trip as I process through it, but I wanted to go ahead and start the posts with a brief synopsis of some of the key insights I gained on the trip and a few pictures. There is more to come, consider this an appetizer.

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This trip was full of wonderful experiences that can best be described under three headings: pilgrimage, Christian fellowship, and challenge to faithful living. The pilgrimage sites were all that I hoped they would be. During my time in Israel, I was able to visit many of the places Jesus walked that have been visited by Christian pilgrims for generations. I got to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane, take a boat ride along the stormy waters of the Sea of Galilee imagining how Jesus would have calmed the storm, and enter the tomb of the resurrection within the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. As I journeyed throughout the land, the stories of the Bible came alive in a new way and reinvigorated my passion to study the Bible. Moreover, I felt God working in my heart, opening my eyes to an even greater appreciation of the glory of the Incarnation, where God became man in Jesus Christ. How awesome is it that the very God of the universe walked on earth in so many of these places in Israel!

If all of those opportunities weren’t enough, I also was privileged to share in a 7 day conference with Methodist leaders from several nations across the world, getting to hear the story of what God is doing in their ministries. Whether in the conversation with several UK church planters who are finding ways to welcome atheists into their churches through food banks or learning about the ministry of an older woman from the Congo who now cares for the orphans and single mothers in her community, I was greatly encouraged to hear about all God is doing worldwide and blessed to be a part of such a great Christian fellowship. During the conference, we worshipped in several different languages and prayers were offered in every dialect, acting as a foretaste of the day when all nations will be gathered to Christ. One of the pictures is of the smaller discussion group I was in during the conference, where we shared our faith journeys and prayed for one another. I am sure I made friends that will last a lifetime!

Finally, my trip took me deep into the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as I heard the stories of the Jews during the tragedy of the Holocaust in the Yad Yeshem museum as well as the stories of Palestinian Christians who now live under the Israeli oppression. While the conflict is very complex, my trip to the Palestinian refugee camp in Bethlehem, where the bullet holes of Israeli soldiers were left in the doors and walls of UN schools and Christian organizations (see picture) reminded me of the need to work and pray for peace in this difficult land. Indeed, the conference brought in speakers who called Christians around the world to work for the good news of peace to all nations, whether that is the occupied Palestinians or the persecuted Nigerians (several of whom couldn’t come to the conference because of persecution).

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A Salute to a Lost Era of Rock: A Playlist

I remember very vividly less than two years ago reading in a Rolling Stone magazine about the trends in music from 2000-2010, and how they talked specifically about the rise and fall of certain genres of rock music (specifically emo and screamo) in this decade. It really shocked me because, having sought to be a rock star for most of my junior high and high school years, the majority of the music I listened to fell in this range of bands. These were the guys I wanted to be like, and whose sound I still really enjoy.

Fast forward to New Year’s Eve and I am hanging out with a friend, waiting to party the night away, and I begin playing through some of these fantastic rock tracks. And, like all music, the powerful thing it can do is transport you to the time you first heard it, how you felt, what you were like, what you wanted to do with your life. These songs in this supposedly ‘dead’ genre deserve a bit more credit for being really awesome when I was growing up. I imagine people will scoff at my musical taste, but it was cool back then to wear chick pants, lots of black, eyeliner, and randomly placed sweatbands.

So as a New Year’s salute and a shout-out to a friend’s request for this playlist, I give you my “High School Rock Star Wannabe” playlist. Enjoy.

1. Car Underwater by Armor for Sleep

2. Honestly by Cartel (first song I ever bought on iTunes)

3. Ohio Is For Lovers by Hawthorne Heights (emo stereotyped)

4. Anthem of Our Dying Day by Story of the Year (a band about two years too earlier with their sound to make it big)

5. Dance, Dance by Fall Out Boy (cliche? yes. catchy, most definitely)

6. Swing, Swing by the All American Rejects

7. Last Train Home by the Lost Prophets

8. Memory by Sugarcult

9. Vindicated by Dashboard Confessional

10. The Adventure by Angels & Airwaves

11. The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide is Press Coverage by Panic! At the Disco (an example of obnoxiously long titles popular at the time)

12.  Helena by My Chemical Romance

13. Face Down by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

14. An Honest Mistake by the Bravery

15. Shimmy Shimmy Quarterturn by Hellogoodbye

16. Hair by the Early November

17. Pressure by Paramore (they made it into 2011, but have since floundered)

18. Four Kicks by Kings of Leon (this was the cool thing to do, “I knew them before they were popular.”

19. Paris in Flames by Thursday

20. I Caught Fire by the Used

21. Existentialism on Prom Night by Straylight Run

Now within this plethora of one hit wonder bands (for the most part) lay an equally as inspiring assortment of legitimate rockers who also happened to be Christian. Here are a few wonderful tracks from them…

1. Walls by Emery

2. Phoenix with a Heartache by Kids in the Way

3. Change the World by Anberlin

4. Reinventing Your Exit by Underoath

5. Down Here, We all Float by Sullivan

6. Oh! Emetophobia by Showbread

That is all for now. Hats off to you, you wonderful rockers who put out some great music regardless of how Rolling Stone wrote you off as a dead genre. You still inspire me.

 

 

The Four Friends Everyone Should Have

Christmas break is over and my time back in small town Illinois was pretty great. I got to spent some quality time with people I’ve been around since I was old enough tot remember. If you’ve never been in a small town, you are missing out on some really great stuff. Granted there’s lots of dumb stuff  and boredom too. But who’s keeping a tally. Anyways, I digress from the point which is really all about friends, and the four friends everybody should have in life. I hope you have more than four friends, and I am sure friends should never be pidgeon-holed into one of these ‘types.’ But true friends, and I use that word broadly, will eventually act in these four ways to help make you a better person.

I realize this looks like a dumb Seventeen article or something. And, if I’m honest, it is probably subcnsiouly inspired by that form. But it is also a shout-out to those awesome friends from Illinois, and college, and all other walks of life who have been the best group of people to be around and grow up with. Thanks you crazy kids.

1. The “Remember Back in the Day” Friend

This is the friend who knew you way back in the day, back when you had braces and terrible acne, back when you dated that dumb girl (or guy). They saw you grow up and every time you get together it is a great re-hashing of old stories and memories you thought you had lost. But this is more than just glory-daying, more than a run-through of every high school or college reunion you will ever go to. Rather, these friends remind you of your roots. They make sure you no where you came from, lest you try and escape the past. They help you stay rooted, making sure you recognize that whoever you want to become, whatever you are journeying towards, is grounded in the place from which you came. You can’t have an end, or even a journey, without a beginning. And these friends remind you of that.

2. The “That’s a Dumb Idea” and “Don’t Be Dumb” Friend

In a world where people rarely give you honest feedback (unless its a jerk boss, the really attractive girl who will never date you, or the teacher who is a tool), this friend has your best intentions in mind when they constantly reject your dumb ideas or force you to honestly examine how immature or irrationally you are acting. It takes a really special, loving person to rebuke you. Only a true friend will do this and be there with you as you either follow their suggestion, or reject it to your own detriment. When you pick up the pieces of your dumb life, they will be there beside you with a smirk that says ‘I told you so’ but enough love to get you back on your feet. This is the friend everybody needs, especially in those times where tough decisions need to be made. Love, unlike most popular notions, also has a rough side which this friend, this true friend, is able to fully share with you.

3. The “You Can Totally Make That Jump” and “Stop Being a Wuss” Friend

While there is a friend to point out how dumb you can be, this needs to be counterbalanced by that crazy friend who motivates you to do the craziest things. This friend helps you keep your life exciting, perhaps to the point of your own welfare. Now, this friend is not a distorting peer pressure that simply wants you to do dumb things to fit in with the crowd. Rather, this friend knows that you need to have fun in your own ways and will help you do that, even when you aren’t feeling up the challenge. Moreover, this friend provides that added confidence boost by showing their confidence in who you are as a person. When it comes to getting ready for a job interview, or asking somebody out, or wearing a crazy outfit, this person (in moderation) will support you the whole way through, even if things go sour. This friend keeps life exciting and pushes you to a more fully expression of what it means to be you.

4. The “Let’s Grow Old Together” Friend

The final friend is a bit more nebulous. Your friendship begins with a deep faithfulness, a willingness to stay in touch even when it seems impossible. You seem to have been through it all together, even though you weren’t together for some of it. When you get together with this friend, you just kind of jive-sure there is catching up, but you always seem to be at similar places in life. I suppose it could be some sort of mystical connection, or perhaps it is a shared personality type. But what is key is that this is a person you can grow old together with. Perhaps this is what marriage looks like (I’ll let you know if I ever get married) but it goes beyond just growing old together. There is a sense in which this person shares who you are in a profound way and your lives are so linked that despite distance or difference in life situations, you are together. Maybe this is what it means to be a best friend, something that is bigger than how much you life each other. Whatever it all amounts to, friends like this need to be held on to though I imagine if this makes any sense to you, then you are already united to one.

There it is, some cheesy reflections on friendship that nevertheless get at some deep truths about what true friends look like. Hopefully this cuts against some of the cheap and dumb distortions of friendship that social media has created. Surely friendship is, and must be, more than this reoccuring status I read today:

“a good friend will bail u outta jail…a great friend will b sittn next to ya sayin damn that was fun!!!!”

A real friend is so much more than this dumb phrase. Give them a little credit.