Green Samaritans

I decided to wait and sleep on my blog yesterday, and I think it was a good thing. Today was an overwhelming flow of thoughts, so much that I had to list them as they hit me during the day. 
Lately my heart has been in the environment. I feel God calling me to examine my lifestyle and how it can reflect a healthier lifestyle that protects creation. It just so happens that the series I have been listening to through Mars Hill Church was called God is Green. The series has really made me pay closer attention to our society’s view of the environment. When I see someone litter or even just speed past me on their gas guzzling SUV I realize now that it is an environmental issue. But like most eco-issues their is a deeper problem. Most people believe the Earth is at their disposal. Regardless of what you believe (or rather understand, because it is facts) about global warming not caring about our world shows a disregard for our spiritual purpose. Say the ozone didn’t have a hole, or that greenhouse gases were simply obsolete. I still believe that recycling would need to be just as important because God commands us to care for the Earth numerous times even from the beginning in Jerusalem. The hebrew word from which we get “rule” refers also to that of a steward or servant. So God creates the Earth and humans in his own image, and He declares it to be good. The imagery of the garden as the place of purity appears to be a symbol of how the earth was created to be in the beginning before sin entered the world. And it is good. I am convinced that because God’s entire biblical narrative tells how we as humans are to further His kingdom, that the symbol of the garden is answer to our environmental questions. We ought to journey toward peace between people and the environmental as first described in the garden. 
Our society relies on the last overabundance like the fastest car or the biggest house. Everyone is trying to achieve success. The ultimate goal should be to further God’s kingdom and in my opinion it is a lot less trouble than scrambling to the top of the wealth ladder. In fact, when asked how to inherit eternal life Jesus plainly responds with love the Lord with all your heart, and love your neighbor as our self. What if the next story Jesus uses to define a neighbor covers a broader scope than just people, but actually loving our entire environment in a resourceful manner like the samaritan? I might be speculating but Jesus could be speaking about a overall lifestyle revolving around always looking for opportunities to serve. The samaritan, using the necessary supplies like bandages and money for he innkeeper provided for another man’s needs in order to  serve God. This relates to how I want to live. I want to possess only the materials I need to serve my Lord. If that means cutting back on my possessions like how the samaritan used his own money to provide, then I want to reconsider my choices in why I have the things I have. Everything I own should be at the disposal of my Lord. Do I really that extra t shirt when I have twenty others that already do the job of clothing myself? Then I think about the real issue. My wanting new clothes reveals a lack of confidence in myself that I need fabrics of new colors and design to keep satisfaction in my own mind and among my peers. It goes back to the overabundance. Most of the supplies I think I cannot do without I can do without. 
Occasionally when I hear the church examine the environmental issues apathy rings true. We just don’t have time to worry about these topics. It is not just about trees and oceans. It stems back to our clutter filled lifestyles rampaging in the fast lane with CO2 gases emitting behind us. Maybe environmental indifference is only a side effect of the real issue of losing the heart of the good samaritan. 
“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed” ---Ghandi


Sorry if that was a stream of conscience.. and I only got like a fourth of my list so more to come. 

In the Backseat

I happened to encase the real me on our mission trip. But the understanding that came with sacrificing my time and effort kind of started to scare me. In a way, I had been living a lie by living spiritually unhealthy. For example, not until I got back from Mexico did I somewhat realize the power that could come from praying on my knees. The actual physical position places one into a surreal, holy mood and concentration followed by reflection bellows over with vulnerability. It might even be emotional.

A word we like to skip here in Male America. Emotion.

Or rather, I like to skip.

It is much easier to just avoid getting in the messy, murky place of emotional vulnerability. I am not talking about those emo cliques, I am talking about a powerful Holy Spirit that sensually draws us to the alter. What if my spirituality was so captivating, so obsessive that I could not help but be overwhelming with emotion from the overflow of God’s grace and blessings?

I see this clearly in my grandparents. My grandpa can choke up just talking about relationships he has made that clearly define God’s spirit moving through the world. Just the other day, for example, my grandma teared and told me how much she yearned for heaven, and in the same tears, commanded me to celebrate at her funeral.

The first night in El Paso I drew a sketch of the scene painted in front of my solo time. I drew the road leading to the border and described my thoughts of what I was entering and what I was leaving behind. I was leaving my state of peace for a fearfully position, and uncomfortable and challenging road ahead.

“I like the peace; in the back seat.

I don’t have to drive,

I don’t have to speak.”

Then calamity struck when it was most important. I made a list of all the baggage I needed to leave at the steps of America: fear, worry, doubt, confusion, judgement, misconception, flippancy and sarcasm. Even the mountains, with all of their desert brute appeared to shelter me from Mexico.

Mexico taught me to jump into the water. I realized their were so many things in the world I did not know. I felt helpless. The basic form of communication and understanding, language, stripped away. The simplest little concepts could not be conveyed. But the most important, and for that matter intense, emotions passed all language barriers. The drug effect of a hug still remained.

“I’ve been learning to drive,

my whole life!”

The internal struggle and realization taught me how to feel emotion again. It can’t be formulated into tiny calculations, where if one person says one thing another person will give the appropriate response. Pretty robotic.

But I would rather just enjoy the peace, of the backseat. If I gave my heart to the Spirit’s calling it might be dangerously emotional. I might have to learn new things and admit my ignorance. Admit that I’ve been learning to drive life, my whole life---but at least I am willing to take the risk and learn to follow His steps.

Because of the Times

C.S. Lewis, in his Screwtape Letters, writes from the viewpoint of a devil teaching how to trap humans into a lifestyle of sin. Speaking of the ‘Enemy’, or our God, one devil writes this:

“The Enemy loves platitudes. Of a proposed course of action He wants men, so far as I can see, to ask very simple questions: Is it righteous? Is it prudent? Is it possible? Now, if we can keep men asking: Is it in accordance with the general movement of our time? Is it progressive or reactionary? Is this the way that History is going? They will neglect the relevant questions.”

Too often I get swept away with how I can approach the general Christian ‘movement’ with a new mindset. I challenge ideas all of the time and sometimes I only toss these things in my head so it will directly relate to our culture and to my needs, selfishly assuming what I need appeals to everyone. Lewis brings up a brilliant point that reminded me of the real questions I should be asking which depend on God for understanding through prayer and reflection.

I happen to be a super analytical person---I do consider it my weakness when it comes to spirituality. I judge my environment obsessively that occasionally I can’t even enjoy the simply encouragements like a sincere worship service. I want my version of Church, and Christianity for that matter, to be continually evolving. Maybe I am missing the point when I wrestle like this, because I forget that God is in fact everlasting and spiritual history as a way of making a point. Rich discernment focused on God’s will appears to be the way to discover how we should evolve, not how the media is reacting to our Time.

Jesus Christ was the ultimate radical who changed the Jewish way of thinking forever. But he didn’t just shatter the law, the old way of doing things; he built on them, keeping the foundation that God placed for his grand plan. Jesus never broke Jewish law given by God (as our pastor pointed out today, for example, the rules for the Sabbath were created by man). His respect for the law, while preaching new concepts (not commandments) gives us an illustration of how to handle change. Accordingly, I long to mirror my thoughts like Christ when it comes to the ‘post-modern’ church or whatever they are calling it these days. In Mexico I saw real love’s timeless power and it makes our arguments over spiritual preferences look ridiculous.

May the American version of church revolve around the solid vision of Christ and not how our wobbly society develops.