LIFE TO THE FULLEST

LIFE TO THE FULLEST

Choking through our sobs, Patricia and I bid Madeline, our oldest daughter,  goodbye in front of her student apartment building in New York . At the last moment I lay my hands on her shoulders and blessing her and praying for her safety, happiness and wisdom. I get choked up thinking about it now, actually.Corny and embarrassing, but it was the best I could do in the moment. One last prayer for our baby, our oldest, our sweet girl, as she left the nest.  

Jesus’s  prayer in John 17 seems as if  he is trying to get one last prayer in for the people he loves. What I especially love about the prayer is that it is the same prayer we pray for our loved ones- especially those of us who have children.  Jesus wants the best life for his followers- his children. Jesus says, in verse two, “And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” The most common interpretation of the words “eternal life” is to relate it to some kind of afterlife. All throughout John, though, “eternal life” is meant to be read as “life to the fullest.” 

Jesus wants wants us to life to the fullest through him and with him right now! Brian McLaren, a writer I like a lot, says in his book, The Secret Message of Jesus that this life “a life that is radically different from the way people are living these days, a life that is full and overflowing, a higher life that is centered in an interactive relationship with God and with Jesus. Let’s render it simply an extraordinary life to the full centered in a relationship with God.” 

Jesus doesn’t want to save us from the world by granting us access to some kind of eternal life on streets paved with gold. Even better, Jesus wants us to have life to the fullest through his way- a way that lives from the the reality of a self-giving love that sits at the center of all things.

MEET JOEL SMITH!!! NEW LAY ASSISTANT FOR YOUTH MINISTRY AND STUFF!

Ed. Note-- Joel will be joining us August 1st as a Lay Minister for Youth. He will be focusing on small groups out in the community that we are planning for this year, service Saturdays, and increasing our presence "out there" with all of you. He will also be with us on other days at church, too. We are so excited to have him as a part of our staff and youth ministries team.

I asked him to introduce himself to all of you for this week's email message.

Peace--Tim+

Hello, everyone!

My name is Joel Smith and I am the new lay youth minister at All Saints. I’m very excited to return to the Atlanta area after I spent the last two years in Athens in the automotive program at

Athens Technical College. I was intent on finishing that program and diving head first into the workforce as a mechanic. However, upon finishing up at Athens Tech, I didn’t feel that I was making the right decision concerning vocation. I spent some time discerning what I felt called to do, and after some serious thought, I felt that I needed to devote my time and energy to the Episcopal Church.

Working in the Episcopal church is nothing new to me. I was a devout youth group attendee at St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church in Alpharetta, where I also helped on the breakfast team and worked as an acolyte and an usher. Along with my new position as lay youth minister, I am on Summer Staff at Camp Mikell, which is the camp of the Diocese of Atlanta. I’ve been going to Camp Mikell since 2006 and I really encourage you to make a trip up there as well.

Father Tim and I have been busy as can be planning awesome activities for all the youths including, but not limited to, bible studies, Camp Mikell retreats, super awesome days of fun with St. Luke’s, and service Saturdays! We’ve got some great things planned so be sure to keep an eye out for updates.

Now, a little more about me. I love all kinds of music, cars, reading, the great outdoors, and sometimes I even like the great indoors. (Oh, and also Go Falcons and Go Braves). The Episcopal Church was an extremely important and formative aspect of my youth, and I hope that it can do the same things for you that has done for me. I can’t wait to meet all of y’all!

The Peace of the Lord be always with you.

Joel Smith

The Waze of the Father

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” John 14:5-6

Neighborhood streets in Atlanta are clogged with traffic like never before. As a result, people are hacking the popular mapping application, Waze, by telling it that there is traffic on their streets so it will not route people through their neighborhoods. Waze works well because it gets updates from users. The maps themselves are good, but people cannot find the best way anymore. The "users" are messing up "the way."

Thomas needs a map. He and the other disciples are feeling lost and confused in the days following Jesus’ death and resurrection.Thomas is a literal thinker, because he thinks that Jesus is talking about going down the road, or to another country, and he wants to know the way to get there so he can be with Jesus. The only “map” that exists, Jesus tells him, is to follow the path that Jesus has walked- loving others, welcoming the outsider, forgiving, healing and restoring the world. I still think Thomas must have been confused even after Jesus tried to set him right. Humanity has continued in its confusion as well.

Our “maps” towards Jesus are often no good, or at the very least confusing. The "users" - Christians- do well at messing up the way sometimes. All kinds of things are labeled as Christian when they are really just hate or fear for the other. Being who we are does not mean that everyone else not like us is wrong, or lost. Being who we are means that the end result of our faith practices should be lives that look like Jesus- lives of self-giving love like God has for us. Our “map” is our prayers and way of life and if it takes us down a path that leads towards violence, anxiety, fear and distrust of the other, it is probably no good. We are still lost, because Jesus is somewhere else. 

A life spent pursuing the way of Jesus may not be perfect or without doubt or hardship or confusion. Jesus does tell us  that any life lived with love and compassion, however imperfect it may be, leads toward home. Jesus has shown us the way- now we are called not only to follow it home but to be with him during the journey. 

God's Wasteful Love For Us

Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” John 10:6-10

My Dad has a lot of great sayings on his office wall. My favorite is, “Live fully, love wastefully, and have the courage to be yourself.”

God loves us “wastefully” or with an abundance beyond the limits of our conception. 

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Even hen Jesus tries to describe God’s wasteful love by using overly-familiar images of temple, sheep gate, shepherd and sheep his followers  “ … did not understand what he was saying to them.”  (Jn 10:6)  In the midst of the harsh realities of their lives in the ancient world, I imagine it was easier to believe in a violent and vengeful God than the one Jesus is describing. In the end, he has to spell it out for them and give them the definitive good news that “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (Jn 10:10).

Our lives sometimes make it hard to see, but Jesus reminds us God’s love is  huge and obvious as the temple, humble and gentle like a sheep, guiding us like a shepherd, and safely leading us to holiness through the “gate” that is communion with his love for us.  

Jesus is shepherd, gate, and sheep rolled into one. He is self-giving, guiding, saving love made plain for all humanity. Abundant life- being truly human- is found not in “killing and destroying” but in constantly orienting our lives (with God’s help) towards self-sacrifice, humility and compassion for ourselves, others, and the world. 

50 Days to FEAST

 If you look at that picture over there of Jesus, you will notice that he is destroying  hell, probably Christianity's most prominent (if not very theologically and biblically flawed) symbol of death. In this way, I am probably very Easter Orthodox in my faith, because I see the

resurrection as having done away with needing an image of separation from God. Now that Christ has come, and we believe he is resurrected, death is no more (not even spiritual death). (In this picture, in fact, he is pulling Adam and Eve out of the grave.)

 

Take these 50 days to FEAST and CELEBRATE  the resurrection of Jesus and to celebrate what God says is true about creation: that she put love and life at its center and that we can act as if that is true (because it is). 

A few suggestions for feasting:

JOY- Take on some joyful habits. Give yourself a daily dose of joy. I don’t just mean watching funny videos on your phone or viewing your favorite Will Ferrell movie for the 12^th time. Begin practicing, or re-establish some routines/ practices/ activities that you know bring you deep joy. Mine: riding my bike more, playing more mandolin and guitar and singing more, cooking some good food, going to hear live music a few times this month. What are yours? 

NEW LIFE: Pump some new life into some areas of your life that may have gone long neglected. Call a friend you have  not heard from in a long time. Finish that short story. Start back on your yoga/running/walking practice. Go vegan again. Pick up the Bible and READ it (start with the book of Acts if you want to read the “sequel” to Easter). Pray every day.  Start your day by thanking God for 10 things. Make amends with that person with whom you have had a “stupid” fight or break-up. New life is everywhere if you look for it! 

BEAUTY AND TRUTH- Spend some time with God’s two greatest messengers- beauty and truth. Read a hard book. Watch some “important” films. Go to the art museum. Spend some time outdoors where there are lots of flowers and green stuff.  Listen to some good and meaningful music. Do it all with gratitude in your heart for the beauty and truth God fills our world with. 

PEACE- Find some silence in your life. Start with just 5 minutes a day and sit quietly and breathe. Turn off the screens for a night a week. Get enough sleep for once. Listen in the silence for what God is saying to you. 

True, we are about doing the hard things in the world—reconciliation, peace, feeding the hungry, healing the sick- but we are also about noticing and celebrating the outward demonstrations of God’s continuing presence in the world. JOY, NEW LIFE, BEAUTY AND TRUTH and PEACE are just a few ways God is made known. How else do you see God alive in the world? Easter is our time to notice new life and celebrate it.

Tim

Lament+ God= Resurrection

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? and are so far from my cry and from the words of my distress?  O my God, I cry in the daytime, but you do not answer;  by night as well, but I find no rest.  Psalm 22:1-2

Who in your life can you tell just about anything? 

Patricia, the person I have been married to and with for the last 25 years, and 2 men named Brad Davidorf and Brent Darnell are my “people.” When I tell one of them that I am in a dark and lonely spot, just the act of sharing with them changes my reality. My telling them may not actually solve the presenting problem. What is most transformative in the moment is that our connection takes what was previously wrapped in darkness gives it a peak of the light of the love and friendship that we have for each other. 

I have been learning, most of my life, how to have the same kind of relationship with God. We can shake a fist at him when things fall apart. We can laugh with her when life goes our way. We can say, out loud, that we feel as if we are alone,(even if we are not). We can even do like the psalmist and lament.

Prayer is not, as writer Rob Bell says, “Just saying pretty things to the sky.” Prayer is about honesty with God.Prayer- and more specifically, lament-  is, during bad times, our coming out with our grittiness and ugliness and opening up to God about who we really are and how our life feels. Lamenting is  an intimate act of devotion that opens up our hearts and minds to God’s healing and life-giving work. Lamenting prayer promises not just a “peak” of light, but the light of God. 

Lament. Call out. Share your heart with God and trusted human beings. (Remember- you have an army of us at All Saints’!) Jesus laments when he experiences the darkness of abandonment and physical, spiritual and psychological pain and suffering. Holy week comes to its culmination in the moment of darkness Jesus experienced on the cross.

Remember, friends, that  resurrection follows his lament.

What that offers us is a beautiful pattern for how to live our lives in an often difficult world. We will have cause to lament. Yet, we are promised- that when we connect our darkness with God’s love, through the ear of a friend or through lament or prayer, resurrection will happen. 

Shalom-

Tim

Jesus Wept

“Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” John 11:35-37

At a church-league softball game, (back when I was a wee lad), I heard the older, tobacco-spitting Sunday School teacher say,  “Jee-sus Wept!” under his breath in response to a bad call by the umpire. (Adding the word “wept” was a loophole so  he wouldn’t  be taking the Lord’s name  in vain. I don’t think he was quoting scripture for righteousness purposes). Later, John 11:35 would become a prayer for me, because sometimes I will say “Jee-sus Wept” and I am not cursing. Those two words make me feel better, every time, because they  remind me that Jesus responded and stuck with his grief. 

Jesus’ grief is a comfort and a challenge, because we live in a time of unprecedented distraction. Whenever we want, we can choose to check out of the present moment by looking down at small, rectangular, glass screens that can broadcast cat videos or pictures of our friends sticking food up their noses. I know that sometimes when I am sad or even just bored or stressed, I will fire up my phone and check out. Checking out is easy.

Escaping the present takes us away from the opportunity to live authentically in the way that Jesus does when he learns his friend has died. True, Jesus was human because he had a body and suffered the multitude of indignities and complications that come with them. Most importantly, he he laughed, got angry, frightened, and wept. He did not check out in the face of “normal” human life. 

Human pain like break-ups, academic disaster or social drama, often lead us to check out. Being fully human is about being present to one another and ourselves during all human experiences. Our hope in being present comes from one another- and from our connection to a God of the Universe who “lived and died (and cried) as one of us” 

Jesus didn’t just cry out to God, though, he cried out to Lazarus’s sisters, Mary and Martha. He cried out to the other mourners who were present. We can be present when one of our friends is crying out, and we also can reach out for help when we are in the midst of pain. If you get overwhelmed, make sure someone who can take care of you knows about it and gives you what you need. Keep me at the top of your list of folks you call when you are in the midst of a hard time. 

Jesus is the human being. Stay with your discomfort sometimes. While the joy of being able to play Angry Birds can be a nice distraction, being present to what is in front of us – be it good or bad- is what makes us human.  God incarnate wept for one of us, weeps with us, and wants for us to be fully human, fully present, and fully alive.