With
Being election season, our mailbox is jammed with the flotsam and jetsam of candidate bloviations, and my phone loads up with texts several times a day asking for my support. Please! Make it stop!!
The other day while Claudia was out and I was reading/napping in my chair, the doorbell rang. Our little Annie-dog goes nutso whenever someone comes to the door, so between getting coherent and corralling the mutt, it took a bit to get up to see who was there. On my doorstep stood a 20s-ish woman with multiple piercings and ink, and accompanied by a huge German Shepherd. I think her name was Moon Blossom, or something like that. She asked to speak with Alfred. I asked, in my most passive-aggressive voice, who wants to know. She responded that she was with a certain candidate and hoped she could count on my vote.
That got me to thinking.... What’s it mean for her to be “with” her guy? Possibly:
She agrees with his platform as it tracks with hers (maybe he’s tatted up and loves dogs)
She rejects the other options as not as good or helpful or sound
She was willing to look me up (and disturb my nap) in hopes of enlightening me on her guy’s merit
Or maybe she was just getting paid to look earnest
That got me to thinking, again.... There is an interesting tidbit in Mark’s account of Jesus’ life. As you probably know, Mark reads as the gospel of action and spare dialogue, almost like he hurried to get down his memories before they faded even a bit. In Mark 3, the stories of this amazing rabbi drew large diverse crowds who witnessed healings and teachings like none could recall. By that time Jesus had a bunch of followers and in 3:14 he called a few to form his inner circle.
Jesus went up into the hills and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to proclaim good news and to have authority to drive out demons.
These guys were called to be with Jesus. It makes sense that in an extended way, the same is true for all believers, and then you and me as well. Ponder that for a bit: What’s it mean to be with him? This talks of closeness, of agreement, of alignment, of mission. Being with Jesus fills a bucket of practical implications. Let that idea roll around in your noggin for a few laps. I recently asked a group of guys what being with Jesus means to them, and I got responses like:
A sense of the presence of God in all daily life without pressure to perform for his smile
That it gave a sense of mission and context to our actions
Feeling confident that he will be alongside no matter the challenge
A desire to stay in sync with his ideas for a best life and not be “not with” him
And what it doesn’t mean is just as powerful. Skye Jethani wrote a book (worth buying and reading!) all about this, simply called With. He uses prepositions to describe faulty ways of doing faith apart from being with him. Here are just three:
We are not over God in the sense we can manipulate him to get our way by good behavior or religion. We might say, “I’ve done my religious duties, and so God accepts me, and so he owes me.”
Nor are we under him, cringing in fear like with a Greek god who might capriciously turn on us. When we are here we say, “I’d better shape up and do right or he will turn a scowl my way and wreck my plans.”
And we are not apart from God, having been vaccinated but not really interested in living the faith. Folks here will say, “I’ve prayed a prayer of inviting Jesus into my life (or confirmed or baptized or another initiation ritual) and can do whatever I choose to do and still be alright.”
I must admit that I’ve lived at times with each of these options to doing faith. But, each of these misses the point of what God has in store for you. It is about connection, integration, living out our divine design as. Here is how Peter puts it in his second letter:
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world driven by evil desires.
Reread those verses again. Did you catch the last half of that passage? Through God’s promises to you as a follower of Jesus, sourced in his power, you may participate, partake, live out a slice of his divine nature. This isn’t you becoming a little god, but living what being with Jesus looks like, whether in Bend or Berlin or Beijing.
Once his disciples were with Jesus he set them on a path of letting others in on the good news and through him carrying spiritual authority against the evil they encountered, to step into darkness and cast light. This is the ministry of the word and work. Our trajectory once we get the with part down might look similar in our time and space. Having experienced life with Jesus, it’s only natural that we live and speak in such a way as to attract others and stand strong against wrongs as we come across them.
Living with Jesus is good in itself, but it doesn’t stop there. We, as Paul says, are ambassadors inviting others into the kingdom. We are brought close to God through relationship, and through relationships we naturally show-n-tell the story to folks we meet. Not transactional but relational. Just like Jesus.
Music time! It's choir week
...and a choir of Drums, because I like it!
And a bad joke for the road...for us really old youngsters
Q&A ABOUT RETIREMENT
Question: When is a retiree's bedtime?
Answer: Three hours after falling asleep on the couch.
Question: How many retirees to change a light bulb?
Answer: Only one, but it might take all day.
Question: What's the biggest gripe of retirees?
Answer: There is not enough time to get everything done.
Question: Why don't retirees mind being called Seniors?
Answer: The term comes with a 10% percent discount.
Question: What is the common term for someone who enjoys work and refuses to retire?
Answer: NUTS!
Question: Why are retirees so slow to clean out the basement, attic, or garage?
Answer: They know that as soon as they do, one of their adult kids will want to store stuff there.
Question: What do retirees call a long lunch?
Answer: Normal.
Question: What's the biggest advantage of going back to school as a retiree?
Answer: If you cut classes, no one calls your parents.
Question: Why do retirees often say they don't miss work, but miss the people they used to work with?
Answer: They are too polite to tell the whole truth.