This morning I shared some of my thoughts on The God of The Living. We perceive based on our previous patterns. This morning I lifted up a small box we have that diapers come in, and I asked, "What could this be?" Someone yelled out, "A box!" No... I didn't ask what it is! I asked what it could be! And that's when the young ones in the congregation said... a car, a drum, etc. Then I lifted up a wooden rod and asked the same thing. And you know what that was... A pointer, a sword, and a few other things. But the intersting thing was that basically the young people were yelling out answers mostly. Those of us older than, say, 29, were mostly quiet. So I asked the members of this group specifically what they thought this could be. And I got some good anwers from them too. Once they got the hang of it, they were just as imaginative as the kids.
I remember the first time I saw snow. I was 6 years old. My father had just come home from work in the evening, and he said, "It's snowing." My sister and I went to the window, pulled back the curtain, and under the street lamp we saw snow on the ground. And in the light cast by the street lamp, we could see the snow falling at a 45 degree angle.
I remember the first time my son saw a dog. When he was about 10 months old, I was in the neighbors driveway talking, holding him. Their dog came around the corner, a little black cocker. I sat down and held my son as the dog came over to him and sniffed him. Well, that boy began laughing like the pilsbury dough boy. I'd not seen him laugh so much before.
That really showed me that for him, everything he saw was new. He was seeing everything for the first time. He had no preconceived notions about anything, about what and how things should or shouldn't be. If he had seen a pig flying, he wouldn't have immediately thought... "Well that shouldn't be! I must be seeing thing" He would have just accepted it as reality. His vision was fresh, and in many respects still is.
God is a God of Life! This is the message that struck me for this morning! That got me thinking... isn't that obvious that God is the God of Life?!?! But maybe it's not so obvious.
What did Jesus come to do? Why... save us of course! Doctrinally well said! However... I'm looking a little deeper than that.
Were you in Confirmation when the pastors typically taught in this manner?:
The students seated, usually in rows, but certainly at desks. And the pastor's job was to literally indoctinate the children... to teach them the churches doctine, theology, and dogma. It was the pastor's job to figuratively put the churches teaching "into" the children. In some churches, when confirmatin was over, some children had to endure the ritual of sitting before the elders of the church or the congregation, and state some of the churches doctrines to the people, explain what they had learned. Truthfully, you can train parrots to state church doctine.
Then I learned about another style of teaching. One in which the idea is to connect the God-stuff to what the children already know about life. in this style, the pastor's job is to help bring out in the children what is already in them... that God is ever-present, that God loves them, and God always will.
Jesus didn't re-invent the wheel! He just helped them see again! He helped people remember what they already knew. He helped them perceive God in a brand new way.
You really are important to God. You really are a treasure to God! And what you do, and how you live your life, does make a difference in helping people learn this truth.
God is A God of Life! God wants us to live! But sometimes we forget.
In the book "One Door Away From Heaven", Dean Koontz has one character say to the other... "If you want to change your life, you have to change how you think. If you want to change how you think, you have to change what you believe." Changing what you believe will change not only what you see, but how you see it.
When she was younger, my daughter was a Tomboy. She loved to be outside playing. And she and the neghbor boy loved to play "Fort", or something like that. One day, when they were in the back yard playing, I decided to come out and see what they were up to. I found them in the middle of some trees, surrounded by a circle of stuff they had found; wood, branches, lawn furniture, etc. So I wasked how I could get in their Fort. They said... Through the door! Okay... Where's the door? They said "Right there!" and they pointed at a Lawn chair tipped on its side. In the words of the famous wise man, Yogi Berra, "Who'd a thunk it?" I wasn't in a state of mind where lawn chairs were doors. But they were!
Change what you believe, and it will change what you see, and how you see it!
God is a God of Life! We open up to this, and we'll open up to life! And we'll open up to love!
I love my family. I love my wife and I love my children! You can't beat that feeling!
Have you ever been in love before? Do you remember the feeling? You were perpetually happy, no one could send you into a bad mood, food tasted better, music sounded different, you coudn't wait to play in the snow with them. With all the hormonal changes, and "Happy" chemicals crashing over the brain like a chemical hurricane, it's no wonder people in love are out of their right mind. I think a case can be made that people in love are crazy... but that's a whole other thing. My point here... People in love "see" life differently. Their perception of life is very different from others that are not in love!
God is A God of Life! We see differently! We perceive differently!
This theme is not uncommon in the movies...
Dead Poets Society is one. A movie with Robin Williams, where he plays a new teacher at an all-boys school who teaches his young charges to perceive life differently. Then ther was a movie with Julia Roberts where she plays a teacher at an all-girls school, who teaches her young charges to perceive life differntly. Then there is the movie with Michelle Pfeiffer, who plays a former Marine (BTW there ar no EX Marines... once a Marine, always a Marine!) teacher who teaches a groupof kids at an inner city school, and she also succeeds in helping change the student's perception of themselves. What about Sister Act? Whoopi plays a "Nun" who helps her convent re-think their ministry in the neighborhood. And then there's the new movie, We Are Marshall.
in 1970, almost all the players, almost all the coaches, and many boosters, of Marshall University, West Virginia, were killed in a tragic plane crash. It devastated not only the university, but the town the University was in. One Assistant Coach, and five players, were not on that plane. They went through a long preocess of determining whether to even have a football program for the following season. Well, they did, and they found themselves a new coach.
There is a scene in the movie where the Assistant Coach (who comes back again to help with the New Coach) and the new Coach are talking after another team loss. The Assistant Coach is still mourning the loss of his friends and players, and he's angry that their team isn't doing well yet. He reflects what the previous Coach used to say, Winning Is Everything! The new coach responds tha, yeah, usually that is the case. Usually you put a team on the field to win! You want to do your best and win! Usually... but not this time! This time just putting a team on the field is winning!
The new coach helped them see differently. He helped them believe differently! He helped them open to new possibilities!
Love does that too! Believing in the God of life opens us to Life, and Love, and Joy, and Hope!
Have you ever been in love? Yes? Have you ever had your heart broken? Yes? The down side of believing in and being open to the God of Life also means we'll be open to pain, rejection and loss.
I told you I love my family. I said you couldn't beat that feeling. And I said I would have it no other way! But there are times where my wife says things that hurt me, and my daughter says things that hurt me too. (And I'm not angel, I do the same thing to them.) But I'd have it no other way (meaning being able to feel not only the joy but also the pain) because it shows me I'm still alive! It shows me I still love them!
We can live, we can learn and we can grow, and that can help us be better people in the long run.
Jesus Had a vision... God is the God of LIfe... Life in it's entirety, it's up's and it's downs. If we look at life through the lens of "God is A God of Life", then we will see Life! But we'll also see the absence of life as well. But we can't go wrong.
Jesus believed that! He saw life through that lens! He sawlight... but he also saw darkness... but he saw that as an opportunity to bring the light.
He taught his disciples the same thing. God is a God of Life! Don't forget! Bring this light were you see darkness! Teach others... teach them to see differently... and you'll teach them to live differently!
Can I get an Amen?!?!
Comments/thoughts??
No comments:
Post a Comment