trials and tribulations

I just finished reading an excellent work of fiction: The Last Disciple. The novel was written as a sort of "counterpoint" to The Left Behind series. The authors interpret The Book of Revelation and other Old Testaments prophecies as pertaining directly to the first century church (what they call the "fore future" as the events happen shortly after John pens his letter on Patmos). The book takes the stance that the great tribulation warned of in John's Revelation was not a far future event, but directly related to the persecution of Christians under Nero. Setting Nero up as the Beast from Revelation, the authors paint a thrilling and shocking picture of life under Nero.

The eschatology of the novel has certainly gotten me thinking, but even more so, the descriptions of Christians suffering in the arenas and in other manners became more "food for thought" than the more directly theological aspects.

In John 16:33 Jesus states "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." Jesus outright proclaims that we will have troubles in this world, yet so many of us act that as Christians, our lives out to be easy. In the spirit of The Prayer of Jabez, we see God as the great big Santa Claus in the sky that should give us what we "deserve". And when someone simply sneers at our faith, we see ourselves as persecuted.

And we forget that there are others sitting in jail, starving, being raped, tortured, all for their faith. Yet we think God is a God that ought to give us our comforts.

Reading books like The Last Disciple with accounts and depictions of persecution such as being covered in tar and set on fire to provide street lights in the evening....it makes me wonder how strong my faith would be in the face of real persecution. I fail so many times in just the day to day matters, the exasperations of life, that I wonder if I could stand up to something much worse. I can only pray that if that ever happens, I could be strong in my faith and not deny my Lord.

Life is short....

There are a lot of "modern proverbs" beginning with "life is short..." (so play hard). My two favorite are "life is short, eat dessert first" and "life is short, read fast". Words to live by....

But today I couldn't help thinking about how life really is very short, and then pondering what all I have accomplished in twenty-seven years. Sometimes I get so caught up in the humdrum of life, that I don't think much about what I'm doing from the eternal perspective of things. I find myself so wound up in the tedious rituals of my day that I don't even think about the eternal goal of glorifying God and knowing Him better.

I spent the weekend with my parents, and this morning my mother took me on a tour of her yard. My mother's garden is her crowning glory. Flowers are everywhere, spilling out of flower beds, and making excellent efforts to engulf the entire yard. Every spring, the yard explodes into color with flowers of every sort. I can only recognize a few flowers, but my mother can name every one, and usually tell you who gave her the plant (many coming from the yards of grandparents and other extended family members...some who are no longer with us).

Walking through the yard this morning, I realized how much I miss out. As a child, I took the beauty of the yard, and the hours my mom spent working in it, for granted. Now, as an adult, I spend most of my days in front of a computer, whether the eight hours I spend at work or for entertainment in the evenings and on weekends. I spend hours updating my life on Facebook and Twitter, but walking around in the gardens by the lake, I realized I was missing out on a lot. God has given us a beautiful and amazing array of diversity to enjoy, if we'll just take a moment to look out the window instead of the haze of the computer screen.

wanting our "oughts"

I can now add The Gospel According to Starbucks to my have-read pile. And like many other books I've read before, Leonard Sweet had a lot to say about what he thought was wrong with the church. And he's not the only one. Rather traditional or emergent, a lot of people aren't content with the state of the church today. And everyone seems to have a pretty ardent opinion with what's wrong with the church.

But they all seems to be missing one point: the church is not a building or an institution; it's the body of Christ. You can go on and on about what the church is doing wrong and how it needs to change, but until the individuals that make up the body of Christ change, you're wasting your breath.

Also, the church will never be perfect and fit the needs of ever member of the congregation. One thing I've noticed in reading these different books is that everyone has their own idea of what would make the church better, and much like children, they are going to pout and fuss until it pleases them (or straight out leave the church). But a part of being an adult is realizing that things can't always go your way and compromising.

I'm not saying that there isn't a lot about church that does need to change...but it starts in the hearts of the congregation, not in matters of doctrine versus experiential lifestyles. But going to church and expecting it to meet every one of our expectations for what church "ought to be" is ridiculous. And unreasonable when you think of trying to cater to the individual needs of an entire congregation.

The Gospel According to Starbucks failed to inspire me to adopt Sweet's vision of the church. He gave a lot of his opinion, but very little application. It also didn't help that I'm not a fan of Starbucks (though I did visit a Starbucks in downtown Kyoto...they had a very tasty chicken salad sandwich). Still, I'm not sure if a coffeehouse franchise is an appropriate example for what the church ought to be.