Jesus

Monday Map: Radical Friendships

July 13, 2020 — Leave a comment

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

John 15:12-17

At first blush, I get the warm fuzzies. Friendship goals! Sacrificial love! Laying down your life for your friends. Until you read that friendship with God requires you to follow his commandments. What friendship is contingent on my obedience? Friendship with God! What do I gain? The Father’s message. So…? Bearing fruit. Okay…? The ability to love one another. Is it worth it to sacrifice my autonomy to obey Jesus to know God and to love others?

  • What is your relationship with obedience? What images, feelings, people, colors come up for you?
  • What fruit do you actually want to bear? Economic? Relational? Emotional? Character?
  • What do you gain from loving others beyond what they can give back to you?
  • What’s missing from your friendships?

Ask God for the relationship you want with them. Ask God for the friendships you need.

CBG: Mercy

June 27, 2020 — Leave a comment

And [Jesus] opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

Matthew 5:2-7

What is required in mercy?
A choice.
A sacrifice.
A forgiveness
An opportunity for reconciliation.
Mercy is the journey of being wronged, recognizing the wrong and not asking the person who committed the wrong to compensate for the pain and loss.
Mercy is the faith of taking a temporary self loss for the sake of relational hope.
Mercy is the belief that healing and justice spring from sacrifice and forgiveness.
Mercy is an ownership of one’s own change and growth over enforcing change on another.
Mercy is self-responsibility for making things better regardless if others will do the same.
Being merciful grows one’s capacity for love and forgiveness. Being merciful is radical and does not add up in human mathematics. Being merciful is seeing a greater battle beyond flesh and bones and defeating the evil spirits that seek to divide humanity. In being merciful for others, I see mercy is possible on earth and that will open me to receiving mercy myself. Being merciful helps me to see that I, too, am worthy and capable of the mercy of God. There is nothing so unforgivable that God’s mercy does not cover.

Prayer: God I pray to keep my eyes on the battle against evils. God eradicate any tit for tat sentiments in me. God help me seek justice through mercy.

How has the feeling of “being owed” affected my relationships and how I view my place in the betterment of this world?

If you haven’t read Bryan Stevenson’s memoir Just Mercy, I encourage you to do it now.

CBG: Mourning

June 23, 2020 — Leave a comment

And [Jesus] opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Matthew 5:2-4

When do we mourn? What fills us in times of mourning?

We mourn when we had and now we have lost. We mourn what was and are approaching what is. We mourn what could have been while waiting for what’s next. Mourning is an expression of care. Mourning involves emptying and letting go. Mourning is painful because it feels like the only thing that matters in the moment isn’t making the situation any better. It can overtake you. It can fog everything. It has its own timeline and reminds us again we are not in control. Yet this act can be a blessing because it reveals our capacity to love, dream and hold. Mourning reflects the depth of our connection and care. Mourning demonstrates that this present moment cannot be the end. In mourning, it is healthy and right to feel the heartbreak and hopelessness. In the void and hole is its corresponding space to be filled. It is a space ready to be with newness, unimaginable pivots and an intimacy with God that otherwise cannot be accessed. Comfort is the closeness of another.

Prayer: God make me brave to fully grieve the things I have lost and desired. Help me feel your presence in that grief.

What scares you about comfort in mourning?

CBG: Poor

June 22, 2020 — Leave a comment

Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.

And he opened his mouth and taught them saying:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:1-3

What is the purpose of the Beatitudes? Who is the audience? What does this teach us about the goal of sermons?

Jesus speaks to his disciples, those that already follow him. He is telling this to those who are already open to hear. The Beatitudes are not done to convince an audience of God’s power; they are blessings for those who are in the community to feel connected to their leader, to each other and to their now purpose. This is a teaching on identity and a call to action to keep pressing into those identities. Sermons are reminders of our identity in Christ and the corresponding promptings for action once we are sent out into the community. How can people who don’t believe in Christ still be moved by the Beatitudes and sermons? Because in hearing these identities, they see themselves; and to keep pushing into growth and discomfort in these identities requires a faith of promises. For those in Christ, we believe God will provide.

How does being “poor in spirit” make one a recipient of “kingdom of heaven?” What is the reality of one who is “poor in spirit?”

Poor requires sacrifice and wisdom. Limits and priorities are at the forefront. There is more a presence to the current situation and its needs. In poor, there is the balance of what one has and what one does not have. In poor, one can see most fully the power of faith and gratitude, resilience and perseverance, of what can be! These are the characteristics of kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven is a perspective and reality of all that can be. It is the faith that abundance and fulfillment lie in sacrifice, wisdom, boundaries, priorities and presence. In one’s surrender and trust that tomorrow God will yet again provide, one lives in a realm void of fear and lack and full of joy and peace.

Prayer: God I pray for a trust in your abundance and provision, that all the areas that the world paints as poor, weak and lacking are the exact places I have my strengths and answers.

How does lack feel? How is that feeling a call to faith and community?

CBG: Fatherhood

June 22, 2020 — Leave a comment

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken to the prophet:
‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’
(which means God with us.) When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

Matthew 1:18-25

Joseph receives in a dream to marry Mary even though she’s suddenly with child that isn’t his doing. He does. Joseph later receives a dream to flee to Egypt with his family. He does. He then receives another vision to go back to Nazareth, and he does. The faith, the flexibility, the follow up — these are the marks of fatherhood. The lack of ego, the quickness to surrender plans for the sake of the family and the insane belief that he was part of something bigger than whatever he could conjure up — the marks of a good father.

To all the fathers out there that have surrendered plans, led with faith for the well-being of your family and cared for those vulnerable, thank you. To all the fathers that have been scared shitless, thank you. To all the fathers that have doubted and wanted to quietly get by and really didn’t know how, thank you. To all the fathers that got the spotlight when you didn’t ask for it, thank you.

Thank you — To all the fathers that were taken away from us too soon. To all the fathers that feel alone right now. To all the fathers who feel misunderstood. To all the fathers taking up the hardest task and privilege of fatherhood.

Rest. Celebrate. Commemorate.

CBG: Leadership

June 20, 2020 — Leave a comment

When [Jesus] had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’ I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he. Truly, truly I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”

John 13:12-20

What do Jesus, James Baldwin, Laverne Cox and Brene Brown have in common?

They lead by example. They lead from self-examination and self-responsibility. They lead from seeing their own souls first. They are bold in getting messy. They are brave in saying where there needs growth in themselves because in talking about themselves, I recognize it in me. They hold themselves to the same standards they hold us. When I listen or read their words, I am convicted and challenged how I can receive as they have been convicted and challenged how they have can receive. I thank them for their example. I thank them for their pure authenticity and honesty. I thank them for expecting the impossible from us. I thank them for desiring all of us to experience a wholeness that we were made for. I thank them for showing us the way to freedom by being the freest people. Happy Juneteenth.

Prayer: God I want to lead from vulnerability and self-examination. God I want to lead from seeing myself clearly and seeing the fullness of others.

From what wounds and pains can I lead from?

CBG: Scarlet Letter

June 12, 2020 — Leave a comment

So [Jesus] came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman from Samaria came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water I give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Go, call your husband, and come here.’ The woman answered him, ‘I have no husband.’ Jesus said to her, ‘You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one who now have is not your husband. What would you have is true.

John 4:5-18

The woman comes to draw water at the well at the sixth hour, which is noon. She comes at this time because no one else comes at this time. She won’t have any awkward and uncomfortable run-in’s. She can’t talk to the Jews because she’s a Samaritan, and that’s the way of the land. She can avoid judgmental eyes and whispers she can deduce are about her. She might not want to talk to her own people because they know her past and her present. Her practice of drawing water at this hour and then her response to Jesus’ ask demonstrate a desire to hide and squelch connection.

The Samaritan woman must have felt like Hester from The Scarlet Letter. In this Jewish land where she is a Samaritan, she is a minority that well-acquainted with the racial and ethnic tensions. In this encounter with Jesus, her systems and cultures are questioned, her story and beliefs are revealed and her work of bridging communities began.

These sound bite phrases are frequently used and may lose their potency. So for today, this is the language I’ve chosen to find resonance.

  1. This Samaritan woman was given the opportunity and permission to converse about the systems she has been living in. She was invited into a conversation about attitudes and cultures that have been passed down from generations, without being shamed for having these thoughts.
  2. This woman was given space to share her story, her questions and her hopes. Even though Jesus knew all the answers, he never comes at her with an arrogance or impatience. Because part of healing one’s shame and trauma is to feel, hear and experience one’s identity in the safety of another who is gently and non-judgmentally holding it.
  3. This woman was so inspired and uplifted that she ran back to her community, forgot the task that she was doing and entered the path she was always called to. She ran back and told others and in that bridged even more relationships between Samaritans and Jews. She shared her revelation because it was a gift for all.

While the spaces and life we live may not be marked overtly by the presence of Jesus, may we enter hard conversations with this openness and honesty, even if there are high risks. May we educate ourselves on our history, our trauma, our wrongs and our hopes. May we share gifts and grace with all because grace begets grace and grace opens hearts to the love of God.

Prayer: God may every day feel like an encounter with the curious, kind and radical Jesus at the well. May that spur me onto community building words and acts.

Where do we see our desire to hide and squelch connection?

CBG: Fear

June 11, 2020 — Leave a comment

On that day, when evening had come, [Jesus] said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side.’ And leaving the crowd, [the disciples] took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still.” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, ‘Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?’ And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’

Mark 4:35-41

The disciples blamed Jesus for the waves and storm. The disciples accused Jesus of not caring when they were freaking out. The disciples also knew that Jesus could do something about their fears.

Cursing the storm and waves can feel futile. It would make sense to blame who and what brought them on this boat, the person who put them in this situation. Their fears projected into blame and anxiety.

Jesus wasn’t upset with the disciples’ fears. If your boat is sinking in the water, you should feel afraid. It’s their reaction to the fear that reveals their lack of faith. They questioned God’s character and projected their future. When our circumstances bring up fear, does it shake our view of God? That God is intentionally putting us in harm’s way? When we are afraid do conjure up a reality that is not true?

The beauty of Christ is that even in our fears and in our lack of faith, he still shows his power. He still rescues us. He still reveals his goodness. He isn’t a tit for tat kind of God. He meets our lack with wholeness.

Prayer: God help me to voice my fears without being consumed by them. Help me to be afraid without blame and resentment. Help me to be afraid in the moment without coloring my whole future as hopeless. Help me to see you are in the boat with me.

How are you processing fear right now?

CBG: Sacrificial Love 3

June 3, 2020 — Leave a comment

And behold, a man came up to [Jesus], saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell, what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

Matthew 19:16-22

This man has good intentions. He’s showing up. He’s asking questions. He wants to be on the right path. When Jesus lists out commandments for him to follow, the man clearly knows them and says he has indeed followed them. What else? So, Jesus tacks on sell it all and follow me. That crushes the man because that’s A LOT he has to sacrifice.

The road to hell is paved by good intentions. Good intentions are not enough. First, the man’s question was already faulty. Yes, he’s asking, and the question reveals his heart. He believes that his way to heaven lies in his good deeds. He believes that his way to eternal life lies in his power to do good. He believes he can do good. He already exists in a false paradigm of a work-based life. Jesus tries to reimagine and expand the man’s concept of good and the man’s ability to do good. First he reflects back the man’s way of thinking and then responds with a question in the language the man would understand to further expose the man’s heart. And the man responds with a lack of humility, a lack of self-awareness of his own lack and full-blown ego and self-congratulation. Jesus then reflects that the man’s response demonstrates the man thinks he’s done well, perfect indeed, but still truly knows there’s more. The man really thinks he’s done it all, he’s not at fault, throw him the next challenge. Jesus then cuts straight in: surrender all the present security, trust it lies ahead and come with me. Jesus pushed the man beyond his comfort, beyond what he was willing to give up, beyond his security into a land of discomfort and hard uncomfortable faithful sacrifice.

My intentions may be good. Bravo for a beat. However, am I willing to check my heart and my ego beyond my good deeds and practices. Do I recognize that good actions are not enough for change? Good actions might prompt for and reveal a changing heart, but I need to always be working on changing my mindset, my views, my perspectives, my heart. Then that heart MUST be demonstrated by good actions. And the work NEVER STOPS on this side of heaven. Our heart always has more room to expand and grow and learn. And our actions will keep reflecting that. A messier take on the chicken or the egg.

I need to do the hard work of seeing where I am arrogant, where I am self-righteous and where I am truly truly putting my security. Am I asking the right questions? Are my questions centering on my goodness or are my questions scary, uncomfortable invitations to see where I can shift and be more? Am I living a life that is truly sacrificial, where it actually hurts my own security, where it relies on faith, where it relies on the trust that if ETERNAL LIFE is what I believe and seek, then whatever I give up now in the present is a drop in the bucket! Currently, not really. I don’t only need to do better, but I need to be better. And if I truly believe I have it all and my soul is most important, what do I have to fear.

Prayer: God in my discomfort and inabilities, give me the courage to see how you see me and what you have in store for me, so that I can continue the work every day to be better and do better.

What hurts to sacrifice and surrender?

CBG: Sacrificial Love 1

June 1, 2020 — Leave a comment

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross!

Philippians 2:5-8

We preach this passage a lot. It’s the fuzzies. It’s warm. It makes us feel all things are possible. Hope, you know. Humility. AMEN. Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. #humility #vibes

Let me break down what Jesus really did, void of the fluffy intentions we think and hope in theory we too “want” to enact. Jesus was GOD. He was safe. He was chillin’ in heaven palace. He was GOOD. He was SO DAMN GOOD, like 100%, Webster’s definition of GOOD. He was privileged. Shout that for those in the nosebleeds. JESUS WAS A GOOD DUDE WHO WAS PRIVILEGED.

And he gave it up. He gave up his status. He gave up his home. He gave up his accolades. He gave up his position. He gave it all up to be a vulnerable baby.

Guess what?! Then he earned that all back! Yes, he did! He learned the Bible like no other. He was the best preacher by far. He was a charismatic leader. People were throwing themselves on him. People were following him. People were sacrificing expensive perfume to wash his dirty feet.

And then he gave it all up. Again. Stripped himself of dignity, of voice, of clothes, of family, of community. Stripped. Humiliated. Silenced. Accused. Mocked. Became nothing. Again.

Why? Because he loved us. He loved us oppressed, up our asses, humans. He loved the vulnerable, the ugly, the messy, the undeserving, the imprisoned, the sick, the healthy, the greedy, the generous. He loved us. He saw what could be possible — a redeemed humanity. A humanity freed from greed and evil, of -ism’s and separations — a humanity restored. He broke himself and broke the system for redemption.

May we, may I, love in this manner. Can I give up my voice? Can I give up my place? Can I give up my status? Can I give up my achievements? Can I give up all the things I’ve earned for the sake of a redeemed humanity? Can I give up my life for the sake of a full soul?

Prayer: God make me this kind of woman, daughter, friend, sister, colleague, human.

What am I holding onto that I am unwilling to give up because I am afraid of losing my place and privilege?