Keeping Holy Week Holy

The donkey has been saddled, the palms have been waved, Jesus has entered Jerusalem, and the week we know as 'Holy Week' has begun. It's a week of mixed emotions, as we teeter between the frivolity of Palm Sunday and the desolation of Friday, which is anything but 'good.' It would be natural for us to be emotionally and spiritually shaken during this hectic week, but the frenzy of church activities that we wedge into this 8-day period can even leave us physically discombobulated.

Holy Week can pretty easily become anything but holy.

Holiness is about being set apart; about things being special and sacred and meaningful. So, I always fear that trying to sandwich so many events into a short period of time does not allow us to properly reflect on the special-ness, sacred-ness, and meaningfulness of the triumphant entry, betrayal, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus in the original Holy Week. 

Let's remember to keep Holy Week holy.

Let's commit to the spirit of contemplation, repentance, and worship that a week of this level of significance deserves. Let's take time to reflect and pray. Let's take time to process our own culpability in Jesus' death. And ultimately, let's take time to celebrate the great hope we have in the resurrected Savior, who has saved the world and opened up resurrection potential to us all. Let's allow the holiness of Holy Week to govern our hearts and minds throughout this week -- allowing this week to truly be special, sacred, and meaningful -- not just frenetically busy.

The Spiritual Discipline of Trying Stuff

I'm not sure about you, but I can easily be a pretty cautious person. I like to know what I'm getting myself into before I commit. I want to be able to weigh the risk and rewards before embarking on a new adventure. I like a predictable outcome. 

But that's not often how faithfulness works. When Jesus was searching for his disciples, he didn't hold job interviews and check references. He simply invited people to follow him. When asked, by one potential disciple, where Jesus was staying, his response was not passive and informational, but active and committing: "come and see." There's no room for deliberation, as the disciples don't get to cautiously ask questions and weigh their options. Heck, they don't even get to say goodbye to their families or bury the dead. They just lay down their nets and follow. They jump in with both feet, because faithfulness often carries an element of risk and adventure.

It's the spiritual discipline of experimentation. 

As I've been preaching the spiritual disciplines over the past month, I've been constantly reminded of how following Jesus almost always takes us out of our comfort zones and asks us to try things we aren't comfortable with. I preached on fasting this past Sunday, which is something I'm terribly uncomfortable with...and I'm sure our church is too. But the invitation is to risk giving it a try -- even if we hate it -- in an effort to connect with God in a deeper, more profound way. Jesus is always poking, prodding, and stretching us -- trying to take us from our place of ease and comfort to a place of depth and abundant life. 

And the spiritual disciplines are a fantastic way for us to move toward deeper spirituality and faithfulness, but they will require us to venture outside our status quo and try something new and potentially hard. So, in an effort to utilize the spiritual disciplines as a means to greater connection with God, let's be willing to undertake the spiritual discipline of trying stuff -- the willingness to take risks and experiment with new ideas and practices. Try something new. Experiment with a new practice. Read a book you normally wouldn't read. Watch a documentary instead of binge-watching that sitcom. Introduce yourself to someone you've never met. Have a conversation with someone you might disagree with. Work on being a better person and follower of Jesus. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with the blessings you find from those risks.

The Difficulty of Discipline

Spiritual commitments are easy to make and terrible hard to keep. Maybe you all are stronger humans than I am, but I really struggle with staying consistently devoted to my vows of discipline. It's so simple to fudge; to say "I'll get back on track tomorrow." And before we know it, it's been a week or a month or a year since we last kept to our promises.

Discipline is difficult. 

Just a few weeks ago, in my Sunday sermon, I talked about my desire for holistic health and the practices I was taking on in order to finally get healthy again. And now, just a few weeks later, I'm already tempted to neglect some of those important health routines.

Or...a few months ago, I set a recurring timer on my phone to ring at 9:00, 12:00, and 3:00 each day -- as a rhythmic reminder to pray. But already, just a few months later, I often find myself ignoring the alarm and neglecting to pause for prayer. 

Or...just yesterday in my sermon, I challenged many of you -- my congregation --to be committed to prayer throughout this week. Yet already this morning, as I awoke, for some reason my first thought was not one of prayer. I was was already undisciplined. I already failed to practice what I preached.

Discipline is difficult. 

And yet, that is the point. Life can be so hard sometimes, so we need spiritual disciplines in our lives to reground us in those moments of difficulty. So, I'm reminded to keep at it when it comes to being spiritually disciplined. And I'm inviting you to the same. Don't worry about failure. Forget about your screw-ups. Brush off your lack of discipline and keep trying. And see if God doesn't form you mightily through that process of failure and re-dedication.

An Unusual Connection

There are a number of major events coalescing on the same day this Wednesday, with the two major ones being Valentine's Day and Ash Wednesday. But if you know me very well, you know I'm crazy about baseball -- and more specifically, the Seattle Mariners. So, one of the things I'm really excited about is that Wednesday is the first day of Spring Training. America's pastime is back!

Now, at first glance, you're probably wondering what baseball has to do with Lent. Let me explain. This time of year, as a Seattle Mariners fan, is an interesting time of year. On the one hand, the Mariners have been bad for so long -- 17 years since they last made the playoffs -- that it's easy to be pessimistic about their chances this season. And yet, this is the start of the new year and anything is possible. So, this is a really hopeful time of year, as well.

And the season of Lent is the same way. Lent is a time of self-discipline -- a time to focus and center ourselves on our deficiencies and worldliness, temptations and shortcomings. We are reminded that we came from dust...and to dust we shall return. And yet, Lent is also a time of hopefulness. No matter how dark life gets, how challenging the trials and temptations are, or how destructive and unhealthy our lives have become...there is always hope. There is always resurrection on the horizon. No matter how dark and depressing Friday seems...Sunday is coming.

So, the impending baseball season -- which always brings me equal parts joy and sorrow -- is a perfect reminder that life is the same way. But no matter how hard the past season was, there is always hope for the season to come. No matter how much 'death' we have experienced, there is always the hope of new life. 

The Kingdom of God is Like...

In Mark 4, Jesus tells parable after parable about the nature of the Kingdom of God. Most of his parables in this section are about agriculture and seeds, which is not an area in which I have much experience or expertise. To some degree I can relate to and understand each parable, but there is also a cultural barrier that is difficult to move beyond. As I read, I found myself wondering what kind of parable Jesus might have told for our contemporary generation. Here is a crack at a modern parable about the Kingdom of God:

This is what the Kingdom of God is like. A woman created a personal video that spoke from her passion, interests, and context and uploaded it to YouTube. She had no visions of grandeur about the video's popularity or reach, but simply desired to share her thoughts and dreams with her family and friends. But as the video was increasingly viewed and its network was rapidly enlarged, the video had suddenly gone viral and her thoughts were recognized, honored, and appreciated by millions.

____________________

The following was my first draft of this parable. It did not end up as a parable, but more of a metaphor. I thought about just deleting it and never showing anyone, but maybe someone might be interested. It at least serves as a rather obvious and overt explanation of the parable.

The Kingdom of God is like a YouTube video. It starts small - as a personal video that is only viewed by family and friends. Some end their life at this stage, while others enjoy a moderate existence, bearing an average amount of entertainment or illustrative value. But from time to time, as a video is gradually viewed by an increasing amount of people and its network reach is exponentially enlarged, it slowly but surely spirals out of control. The video has gone viral.

New Thoughts on an Old Practice

During this season of Lent, my boss Gary and I have taken it upon ourselves to read all four gospels during the 40 days and blog about what we are learning. We have invited our faith community and the students at the youth center where I work to join us on the journey. One section from our readings a few days ago is one of the more popular passages in all of the gospels. Matthew 18:15-20 has long been used by the church as a model for church discipline. The way the passage is typically read, understood, and practiced is that if someone is in sin, you go to them individually to try to correct their behavior. If they do not listen, you then go to them with two or three people. If they still will not listen to your advice and correction, you take their story before the whole church. And finally, if they still will not modify their sinful ways, they are to be expelled from your community, a practice traditionally known as excommunication.

But this is not how the actual biblical passage reads and is a grave misunderstanding of Jesus' words. Jesus says, "...if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector." While the church has often interpreted this passage as the license and liberty to excommunicate the unrepentant sinner, this is actually the EXACT OPPOSITE of Jesus' words. Jesus is not asking us to break communion with pagans and tax collectors, because these are the very people with whom Jesus frequently communed. He constantly befriended and loved those who the world loved to hate. He constantly communed with all the 'wrong' people. He constantly loved the unlovable.

"Treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector"

With these challenging and engaging words, Jesus is inviting his followers to actively engage and commune with people who are resisting the way of Jesus. He's not asking us to break these relationships and solely commune with those that are like us. He is inviting us to push further into community and fellowship with those who badly need the good news of Jesus. May we have the courage to not resist and avoid relationships with the other, those different than us, and our enemies.

P.S.  To add one more thought - I don't think it is just random coincidence that the section of text following this passage on church discipline is the story of Jesus telling Peter he must forgive others 70 x 7 times. What do you do when someone has wronged you? Sure doesn't look like Jesus wants you to kick them out of church.