In and Out

From a young age children are taught that in and out are opposites. Which is true, in and out are opposites. But what happens when they see their parents and elders applying this word pair negatively in society. Many churches (not all but many) including the church that I grew up in spend a great deal of time teaching their children about in and out. From a young age I was taught that a certain group of people was "in" and another group of people was "out". The "in" according to these types of churches are the people that fit what they think the perfect Christian is and the "out" is anyone who does not believe the same thing they do and in many cases is not of the same race and/or socioeconomic bracket. 
I was taught that in order to be "in" you had to fit the following characteristics:
      1. White
      2. Republican (as far right as one can possibly get)
      3. Upper Middle (if not Upper Class)
      4. Christian (b/c if even if you fit the first three and you don't have the fourth one you are out)
      5. Racist (and I mean racist)
      6. and more recently Islamophobic
      7. number 4 needs to be expanded upon; the Bible is the word of God and everything it says happened
          happened, the end of the world is coming very soon (see the book of Revelation and the Left Behind
          Series)
      8. you would not be friends with anyone who did not fit any of the above mentioned categories
      9. you would not welcome a stranger with open arms until you know how much money they made in a
          year and what political party they were affiliated with
      10. straight
      11. Hell and the Devil are what everyone who does not fit 1-10 have to look forward to
I was taught that you were "out" if you did not meet numbers 1-11ntioned above. According to the way I was taught I am "out" and I am perfectly ok with being "out". I am out because of the following:
      1. I'm more towards the left when it come to all things political
      2. I'm going to be living near/at the poverty line for the first few years after seminary
      3. I am not racist, skin color is only that.
      4. I am not Islamophobic (also taking a class on Islam this semester)
      5. I believe that the Bible is a myth
      6. Revelation is not about the end of the world. It is a message of hope.
      7. My best friend is an atheist and I dated an Indian.
      8. I invite people to come to church with me (just not the church I grew up in)
      9.I am Bi.
      10. I don't believe in hell of  the devil.

See Jesus came to save people from the idea of "in" and "out". Jesus was friends with the people who are considered to be "out" and a great deal to say to the people who thought they were the only ones who were "in". The thing is we are all "in". In God's eyes there is no word pair of in and out.
The idea that a "church" is only for the people who are "in" goes against everything that Jesus stands for. At while I'm thinking of it a church is not the building the church is the people. People are "in" because we are all created equally by the same God.
In his book "Jesus Wants To Save Christians" Rob Bell makes the profound statement that "A church is an organization that exists for the benefit of nonmembers." Just pause and think about that. Think about what you were taught growing up (especially if you grew up in the church).  Were you taught that church is only for those who are "out" or that church is for everyone especially for the people who don't belong.
I leave you with another statement from "Jesus Wants To Save Christians", "Because Jesus was a Middle Eastern man who lived in an occupied country and was killed by the superpower of his day"

go in PEACE. be PEACE. live PEACE.

Taking God With You

So I have been doing a great deal of thinking about my future the past few days. For the past few months I have known where I wanted to go to seminary and now it has all changed because I did some research and received a phone call. I got a call from a seminary that I forgot I had even looked at and was informed that I could go to Kenya my final year of seminary. Kenya! Studying abroad somewhere has always been something that I have wanted to do, but Kenya isn't exactly Barcelona or Paris. And I don't really know if I want to go to this school. I mean it sounds great but how much can you really learn about a place in a 14 minute phone call.
But I know that no matter where I end up God will be with me. If I go to Kenya God will be there. If I stay in PA God will be with me. If I go to Cali God will be with me. If I go to Massachusetts God will be with me.
I guess what I am trying to get at is no matter where I go God will be with me. Because God is everywhere. When I told one of my friends about Kenya they replied, "Oh that's great. You can take God Kenya." But the thing is God is already in Kenya because if He wasn't in Kenya there would be no Kenya. God is everywhere, that's part of His job description as God.
In the Bible, Jacob runs away from home and has dream at a random place along the side of a road. He dreams about God and God makes a promise to Jacob in this dream. This idea of God coming to Jacob in a dream on the side of the road was a revolution in Judaism because the ancient view was that God was only in the Holy of Holies and the side of a road is most defiantly not the Holy of Holies and yet God was there.
This is because God is everywhere. God is in everything. God is always there. Even in places where it seems He is not, He is.
So in one way I will be taking God to Kenya. But at the same time God will already be in Kenya because God was always in Kenya. This is one of the mystery's of God that I have come to love, no matter how confusing it can be at times.

go in PEACE. be PEACE. live PEACE.

Not Good Enough?

"Jesus calls the not good enoughs" (Rob Bell- Velvet Elvis). So this is all about Jesus (a Jewish Rabbi) calling His disciples (Talmidim). The reason that His first followers weren't rabbi's is because the weren't good enough for job. But Jesus thought that they were good enough and He asked them to come and follow Him. How many times are we told that we aren't good enough, well it doesn't matter what the rest of the world thinks because  Jesus thinks we are good enough.

I promise that this really does have a point. I've noticed lately that when I'm praying instead of praying I'm silently singing some song that I either heard on the radio, that I heard on my iPod, or that I grew up singing in church. This has caused me to pay more attention to the lyrics in the songs I am listening to and I've been trying to tie them into my faith or some sort of something to do with Jesus. I've heard Chris Tomlin's "I Will Follow You" a few times on the radio now and this morning I finally paid attention to the lyrics.

Where you go, I’ll go
Where you stay, I’ll stay
When you move, I’ll move
I will follow

All your ways are good
All your ways are sure
I will trust in you alone

Higher than my side
High above my life
I will trust in you alone

Where you go, I’ll go
Where you stay, I’ll stay
When you move, I’ll move
I will follow you

Who you love, I’ll love
How you serve, I’ll serve
If this life I lose, I will follow you
I will follow you

Light unto the world
Light unto my life
I will live for you alone

You’re the one I seek
Knowing I will find
All I need in you alone
In you alone

Where you go, I’ll go
Where you stay, I’ll stay
When you move, I’ll move
I will follow you

Who you love, I’ll love
How you serve, I’ll serve
If this life I lose, I will follow you
I will follow you

In you, there’s life everlasting
In you, there’s freedom for my soul
In you, there’s joy, unending joy
And I will follow

Where you go, I’ll go
Where you stay, I’ll stay
When you move, I’ll move
I will follow you

Who you love, I’ll love
How you serve, I’ll serve
If this life I lose, I will follow

Where you go, I’ll go
Where you stay, I’ll stay
When you move, I’ll move
I will follow you

Who you love, I’ll love
How you serve, I’ll serve
If this life I lose, I will follow you
I will follow you
I will follow you
I will follow you

So at first I thought about how I could apply the song to my life as a follower of Christ, my thought process was as follows



1. The Great Commission...the whole "go ye therefore thing"

2. Then who the disciples were (fisherman and not so popular ppl for the most part)

3. Rob Bell and Velvet Elvis (see begining of this blog)

4. OMG!!! this song is about Talmidim (I mean it probably is more about

us "modern Christians" following Jesus then it is about Talmidim)

5. oh wait Jesus did technically  call all of the world to follow Him..."I am the way...."

6. which therefore makes me a Talmidim

7. so this song is about me following Jesus

I would like to point out that this thought process took about an hour which would have made me late for almost everything this morning so I just didn't really do anything to my hair and makeup was minimal. But I'm following Jesus and that is really the important part.

go in PEACE. be PEACE. live in PEACE.

Hope!

So this week was challenging for many reasons and at times I just wanted to give up on life. But I didn't and I'm glad that I didn't. Monday morning started out with a text from someone I care about very much (so much that I consider her to be my mom) that she and her husband were splitting. This was a problem for me, not because I don't believe in divorce but because they are my family, or at least the closest thing to a loving and caring family that I have right now. I went to work crying because I was scared and hurt and angry and I didn't know what else to do.

I had a horrible childhood parent wise and I didn't know if I could handle loosing another father, not after everything that happened last year with my mom's ex and my biological father. Thankfully they are staying together.

I sat through my art history class staring out the window trying not to fall apart in the middle of a lecture on Picasso. Throughout the class I had the lyrics for The Words I Would Say by Sidewalk Prophets stuck in my head.

Be strong in the Lord
And never give up hope
You’re gonna do great things
I already know
God’s got His hand on You
So don’t live life in fear
Forgive and forget
But don’t forget why you’re here
Take your time and pray
These are the words I would say

I give up hope very easily and it isn't good, but I just do it without even realizing that I have done it some days. I keep reminding myself that no matter what is going on in my life it's going to be ok because God has it under control. "Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." (Joshua 1:9 kjv) and then For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  "Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity." (Jeremiah 29:11-14) And yes I know that the passage from Jeremiah is about the Babylonian captivity but for me the Bible is living and therefore it is about my captivity in a life without hope.

So as the song says "never give up hope God's got his hand on you."

go in PEACE. be PEACE. live PEACE