Category Archives: story

Ups and Downs with Voyage of the DT

4 Replies

Eustace from Voyage of the Dawn Treader

This week-end I watched the movie The Voyage of the Dawn Treader which is adapted from the third book in C. S. Lewis’ Chronicle of Narnia series. I was disappointed, even though I think the producers and screenwriters were faithful to the story. Since Lewis’ story is episodic, a string of small encounters, the movie tries to tie the episodes all together by introducing an “evil mist” that must be destroyed.

I struggled with the “evil mist” because for C. S. Lewis, evil was not some nameless vague mist, but actual angelic powers and individuals. Satan and his minions are accountable to God. There was no central person/being/intelligence in the movie’s mist to be held responsible. It was some vague power invading Narnian space, like an environmental contagion.

My real disappointment was the transformation of Eustace Scrubb. In the book this is a pivotal moment when Aslan the Lion encountered Eustace as the dragon. First Eustace tried to cut away the dragon skin and failed after several attempts. Only after the failure did Aslan release him out with one lash of his claw. Finally the restored Eustace is cleansed in the pool of water. The whole scene is a powerful description of baptism. The movie’s version did not fulfill my expectations for the scene and my baptismal perspective. Plus it came so late in the movie, we are unable to witness any transformation in the Eustace’s human character.

Still I enjoyed how the movie captured much of the joy, wonder and strangeness of Narnia. The character development in Edmund, Lucy, Caspian and Eustice was worth seeing as were the majestic sea scenes. It made me want to get my father’s tiny sail boat out and brave the waves of the Puget Sound. But that is a different post.

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. Romans 6:3-4

How has a movie or story helped you understand a Christian concept or doctrine?

Lord Jesus, thank you for being my savior and rescuing me from sin and death.

Two Portraits of Jesus

2 Replies

In John 17, Jesus prayed with confidence and clarity.  After finishing the Last Supper  Jesus looked to heaven and prayed, 

Jesus looked to heaven

So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed. (John 17:5)

This confidence is such a strong contrast with the prayer he prayed in Matthew, Mark and Luke when he went to the Garden of Gethsemane a short time later.  As the disciples slept, Jesus prayed for strength to face the cross:

Jesus praying in Gethsemane by artist He Qi

Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want, but what you want.  (Mark 14:36)

In John’s Gospel there is no prayer in the Garden.  In Matthew, Mark and Luke there is no extended prayer at the Passover meal.

Such contrasts can be disturbing for some.  I believe that the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are more like portrait paintings than historical biographies.  Whereas John’s Gospel  paints a portrait in which Jesus had a laser-like focus on his “hour” to be glorified on the cross (John 2:4, 7:30, 8:20, 12:23, 12:27, 13:1, 17:1), Mark’s Gospel shows Jesus wrestling with this cosmic decision as he approached the cross (Mark 14:32-41).  Both portraits are true, yet they reveal different insights.

Mark reveals that Jesus was truly human; his emotions were raw and deep.  On the cross he would cry out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  (Mark 15:34).  Jesus understood our own human dilemma, our trials, our brokenness.  Mark’s portrait is so brutally human.

John reveals the divine purpose of Jesus and his constant trust in God’s purpose.  Jesus accomplished God’s purpose of reconciling the world.  As he breathed his last breath, Jesus said, “It is finished, (accomplished, completed).” John’s portrait is so beautifully divine.

In my own life, at times I find support and comfort in Mark’s raw intimacy.  At other times, I am inspired and uplifted by John’s cosmic vision.   Together with Matthew and Luke, I have a deeper understanding of the mystery of Jesus Christ, my Lord and my God.

What stories of Jesus do you turn to most often?  What stories do you try to ignore?

Lord Jesus, be my light in the midst of whatever confusion or darkness I experience this day. 

Marketer for the Ages

Leave a reply

Seth Godin is a marketing author whose blog I read regularly.  Today he wrote regarding worldviews:

In All Marketers Tell Stories, I argue that most organizations shouldn’t try to change the worldview of the audience they’re marketing to.

Worldview is a term popularized by George Lakoff. It’s the set of expectations and biases that color the way each of us see the world (before the marketer ever arrives on the scene). The worldview of a 45 year old wine-loving investment banker is very different from that of a fraternity brother. One might see a $100 bottle of burgundy as both a bargain and a must-have, while the other might see the very same bottle of wine as an insane waste of money.

It’s extremely expensive, time consuming and difficult to change someone’s worldview. The guys at Opus One shouldn’t spend a lot of time marketing expensive wine to fraternities because it’s not efficient. Sell nuts to squirrels, don’t try to persuade dolphins that nuts are delicious.

There’s an exception to this rule, and that’s the necessity of changing worldviews if you want to become a giant brand, a world changer, a marketer for the ages. Starbucks changed the way a significant part of the world thought about spending $4 for a cup of coffee.

Another exception is Jesus Christ.  He came to transform the way we look at and live in the world.  Sometimes our problem is that we want to fit Jesus into some niche in our lives, “Jesus, just fix this problem I have and then leave me alone.”  We want Jesus to rescue us from a difficult circumstance and then quietly step back from the foreground, but he comes to the Lord and Master of our house.   Jesus truly came to  be the “marketer for the ages” that changes the story by which we live. 

 Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed – that exhilarating finish in and with God – he could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. ( Hebrews 12:2 The Message)

How have you tried to adapt Jesus to your life rather than allowing him to rule?

Lord Jesus, be LORD today in my life.

The Door of Death

2 Replies

In reflecting on the deadly tornadoes this week, one spiritual question arises about which I am hesitant to write. The question has an answer that has caused harm to grieving people. “Is death always a tragedy?”

A Door into Deeper Joy

In C. S. Lewis’ The Last Battle, the last book of his Chronicles of Narnia, all the children* who once visited Narnia are reunited in a new, wonderful land that resembles Narnia. They wonder how this is possible since the great lion Aslan had told them that they would not return to Narnia. Yet this new land is more spectacular and more real than the old Narnia they had known. Slowly the children come to realize that their last memory of our world had been a terrible train wreck. Unlike previous stories, Aslan had not transported them from our world to the world of Narnia. Instead they have walked through the door of death and entered the outskirts of heaven itself.

Lewis does something incredible in this story. Certainly he could have written about their deaths from the tragic perspective of the survivors still on earth: friends and relative who grieved the children’s sudden absence from life on earth. But instead Lewis gives an imaginative description of their homecoming in heaven, where the joy and delight of heaven grows deeper and more profound each moment.

As Christians we believe in the promise of God that whether we live or die we belong to Christ. In Philippians 1:21, Paul writes, “For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain.” The gain in dying is to gain more of Christ and his joy. Death is not something to be feared, but rather embrace as the door to God’s good presence.

So what is the harm in telling a grieving person, “Your loved one is in a better place?” The harm comes from the fact that a grieving person does not want the person “in a better place” like heaven. The grieving person wants the loved one in this life, sharing in the joys and sorrows of their mutual love. In time the grieving person may embrace the truth of “a better place,” yet in the aftermath of death, such words can be biting and harmful. Compassionate silence is better than quick answers.

What perspective do you have on death?

Lord Jesus, help me to see death as the door way into the resurrected life and to be gracious towards those who grieve.

*Susan is not included, but that is a different posting.

The Journey Towards Transformation

2 Replies

The Turning Point in My Journey

Tomorrow I am driving to Bloomington, Indiana, to pick up my daughter Suzanne and her things and together we will drive home.  It will be short trip, but I am looking
forward to it.  I am not looking for any drama, but I am open to an adventure and change during the journey.

Journeys are a frequent theme in the Scriptures. A couple of weeks ago in worship, we read about the two disciples who walked seven miles to Emmaus and during the walk encountered Jesus.  Their simple walk became a spiritual journey of transformation. (I posted on this story here).

There are many other such journeys in the Bible.   The Israelites journeyed/wandered in the wilderness for forty years after their exodus from slavery in Egypt and prior to their
arrival in the Promised Land. Elijah the prophet made the journey from Northern
Israel to Mt. Horeb in Sinai to encounter God (I Kings 19).  Jonah made a side trip to the sea and a whale before making the trip to Nineveh. Jesus went into the wilderness for forty days to pray and fast before starting his ministry (Matthew 4) and later set his face towards Jerusalem for his passion (Matthew 16:21).   The book of Acts is filled with journeys, especially Paul’s missionary sojourns.

Contemporary literature also uses the metaphor of journey for spiritual transformation.  J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and C. S. Lewis’ Voyage of the Dawn Treader both use the journey motif as means to describe the main characters movement from self-centered, complacent beings to courageous, self-sacrificing heroes.   Their stories carry the Biblical image into our current worldview.

I don’t expect any major transformation during my drive to and from Indiana.  After all it is only three days.  But I think any journey has the potential to open us up to new perspectives and insights, especially if we invite God to be a part of the journey.  I’ll let you know when I return.

Jesus said, I am the way. (John 14:7)

Do you remember a trip or journey where the Spirit renewed or redirected your life?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, guide me this day on the path to life.

Turning the Faucet On

2 Replies

The New Faucet

Yesterday (Friday) was my day off. Days off are meant to be relaxing, non-stressful, and harmonious, so naturally yesterday was filled with drama and tension. (Warning: this post is longer than most and slightly sanitized).

Several months ago I had purchased a new faucet for the downstairs bathroom. I had procrastinated with installation, because the upstairs bathroom had been a pain. Our house, built in the early ‘70s, does not have shut-off valves under the sink and the pipes are old. The only scheduled event yesterday was to take my mom to the dentist in the early afternoon. So, at my wife’s suggestion, I got started on the faucet replacement hoping to be finished by noon. After all, the instructions with the faucet said it could be installed easily without hand tools!

The instructions said nothing about removing an old faucet in the tiny, cramped space of small bathroom, especially when the locknuts are rusted and frozen. My wife, trying to be helpful, asked how she could help. In as few words as possible, I strongly recommended that she stay far away. With frustration building in my throat, I grunted, groaned and called out for mercy, as I twisted, turned and grappled with a ten-cent nut. I tried first one tool, then another; I sprayed WD40 around every nut, bolt, faucet, pipe and joint within a six-mile radius. I was not finding harmony.

Finally I removed the old faucet and started installation of the new. It actually progressed smoothly. The instructions were helpful and accurate. I thought, “I could be a plumber,” until I tried to attach the waste water trap and the waste pipe snapped off behind the wall. Reality crashed in upon me.

“I am not a plumber!” I shouted at the world, or more specifically my wife.

On the phone she quickly found a plumber who could come that afternoon. She took my mom to the dentist, while I waited for the expert. Jerry arrived, courteous and knowledgeable. He got to work, without any groans, shouts or comments. He had all the right parts and tools in his truck. Within an hour he had the faucet, two new shut-off valves, and a new waste pipe and trap installed and working properly. I paid for his service, grateful for his expertise.

This morning I read an e-mail that one reason the Christian faith is at risk, is that we have turned it into a religion run by experts. People feel uncomfortable studying the Bible because they don’t feel like they have the proper tools or expertise to understand it. Many feel like they will only make a bigger mess if they read the Bible on their own, like me trying to replace a faucet.

I admit that there is a time and place for experts, even in Bible study. Yet most of us take time each week or month to mow the lawn, plant a garden, change the light bulbs, and clean the kitchen without using an expert. To simply read the stories of Scripture and to ask for God’s guidance does not require an expert. You can do it today. God delights in teaching us the story of his people.

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. (Psalm 119:105)

What fears keep you from reading the Bible? What joys have you discovered in God’s Word?

Lord Jesus, teach me to read your Word with joy and hope.

Easter – The Morning After

Leave a reply

Jesus Resurrected

Easter is not celebrated the same as Christmas.  Our culture embraces the Christmas story and the pageantry around it.  The story of the Mary, Joseph,  shepherd, angels, stable and baby Jesus is one that many understand and embrace.  Easter morning with the empty tomb and the various accounts in the Gospel as to who was where when can be most confusing.  A humble birth makes sense; a resurrection does not.

Frederick Buechner has written a helpful word on Easter in his book Beyond Words.

Easter is not a major production at all and the minor attractions we have created around it — the bunnies and baskets and bonnets, the dyed eggs — have so little to do with what it’s all about that they neither add to it nor subtract from it.  It’s not really even much of a story when you come right down to it, and that is of course the power of it. It doesn’t have the ring of great drama. It has the ring of truth. If the Gospel writers had wanted to tell it in a way to convince the world that Jesus indeed rose from the dead, they would presumably have done it with all the skill and fanfare they could muster.  Here there is no skill, no fanfare. They seem to be telling it simply the way it was. The narrative is as fragmented, shadowy, incomplete as life itself.  When it comes to just what happened, there can be no certainty.  That something unimaginable happened, there can be no doubt. (p. 91)

The unimaginable has happened.  Jesus has risen from the dead.  We may never fully comprehend all that this means, but we can be messengers of this truth for the world.  Like the women at the tomb, we may be confused, unsure, even afraid.   Yet we continue to have the same task, to go and tell, even on the morning after. 

How has the message of Easter changed your perspective or life?  How do you life in the light of the empty tomb?

Prayer: Lord God, though my mind may never fully comprehend the depth and height of the resurrection, continue to fill my heart with the joy and power of Easter.

The Holy Week Story – Friday

Leave a reply

Crucifixion by Mexican Artist Octavio Ocampo

Holy Week Reflections for Friday

Read Matthew 27:32-56

Those who passed by derided Jesus, shaking their heads, and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the son of God, come down from the cross.”  Matthew 27:39-40

 

Crucifixion was always done in public spaces so that Rome could demonstrate its power.  Thus Jesus was crucified out in the open, naked and humiliated, for all the world to see.  This was no private affair, like John the Baptist’s beheading inside King Herod’s palace.  Anyone and everyone mocked Jesus: the religious elite from the temple, those who passed by, even those hanging on the cross next to Jesus. (In Luke’s gospel, one thief repents, Luke 23:42-43.)  The public humiliation added to the pain and suffering. 

An amazing aspect of the taunts was that they held truth.   Jesus could have saved himself and stepped down off the cross, but instead chose to save us and stayed nailed to the cross.  The sign above his head mocked him as ‘King of the Jews;” yet the cross becomes Jesus’ throne of mercy, his royal decree of forgiveness and hope. He was “the temple of God,” where God’s Spirit resided.  

When I was in confirmation, I remember taking a test that asked for the name of the day on which Jesus died.   The answer had two blanks.  I knew that the second blank was Friday, but I could not remember what word filled the first blank.  I racked by brain, “blank Friday, blank Friday.”  Finally I filled in the blank with the word: Bad, Bad Friday.   My thinking was that it was certainly a bad day for Jesus with his suffering and death.

Of course I was wrong.  We know the day as Good Friday, because it was good for us.  God turned humanity’s total rejection of his love into the final victory for us. 

How does Jesus’ death tell the truth about our lives and world?  How does it give us hope? Where do you see God at work to redeem creation?

Prayer: Lord God, on the cross you suffered the very depths of our human brokenness and sin. Your humiliation on the cross became our path to You.  Help us to remember the depth of your love and the powerful hope you give.

Holy Week Story – Thursday

2 Replies

Pilate Washing His Hands by artist He Qi

Reflections on Jesus’ Trial with Pilate.

Read Matthew 27:1-31

So when Pilate saw that he could do nothing, but rather a riot was beginning, he took some water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.” Matt 27:24

Jesus’ trial before Governor Pilate changes the tenor of the story.  It is no longer a  religious squabble between Jewish sects.  Jesus claims are extended beyond international boundaries, into the very halls of the political power and authority. Rome was known for its power and system of justice.  Who is the real King or Ruler of this world?  Jesus exposes the self-serving character of Pilate and the Roman system.   Though he tries to wash away his connection, Pilate remains complicit in Jesus’ crucifixion.

It is easy to paint Pilate as a self-serving bureaucrat who was either corrupt to begin with or was easily manipulated by the crowd.  Yet I can see the Pilate in me, the part of me unwilling to take a stand against the mob and stand by someone who is innocent.   Are there not people in our community who need someone to be their advocate?

In his book, Tattoos of the Heart, the Jesuit priest, Gregory Boyle, describes his ministry with the gangs of LA.  One day he takes two gang members, Chepe and Richie, on a road trip.   They stop at a Coco’s restaurant for dinner.  Their welcome by the receptionist and other diners is ice-cold.  They stare at Chepe and Richie’s shaved heads, tattoos, and all their baggy clothes gangster garb.

Richie whispers, “We don’t belong here, we should go somewhere else.”

“What are you talkin’ about?” said Greg.

“There’s just pure, rich white people here.” Richie pleaded.

Then the waitress came.

Our waitress is an entirely different story from the frozen and awkward reception we seem to be getting from everybody else. She puts her arms around the “fellas,” calling Chepe and Richie ‘Sweetie” and “Honey” and bringing them refills (“and we didn’t even have to ask”) with extra this and more of that, and supplying Tapatio on demand. She is Jesus in an apron. (p. 136)

When have you experienced either abuse of power or an advocate for justice?

Prayer: Use us, Lord God, as instruments of peace in a world broken by violence, hatred and fear.

Holy Week Story – Wednesday

Leave a reply

Jesus Arrested by the Crowd

 Holy Week Reflections for Wednesday

Read Matthew 26:47-75

At that hour Jesus said to the crowds, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as though I were a bandit?  Day after Day I sat in the temple teaching, and you did not arrest me.  But all this has taken place, so that the scriptures of the prophets may be fulfilled.”

Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.  Matthew 26:55f

The Garden of Gethsemane has always fascinated  me.  After the last supper, Jesus and his disciples retreated to the Garden where Jesus prayed for a way out from the suffering to come.  He prayed, “Father, not my will, but your will be done.” Jesus found clarity, strength and courage in prayer.  Meanwhile, the disciples slept.

Then the crowd arrived and Judas betrayed him with a kiss.  At first the disciples tried to resist with a sword, but Jesus stopped the violence and reminded them that he could ask for an army of angels to fight if he wished, but that was not the plot of Christ’s story.  He would go to the cross.  Calvary was the chosen battlefield with Satan and death.

So the disciples fled.

I have tried to remember a time when I was so abandoned but all seem trivial in relation to this story.  There have been times when I felt very much alone. Once late at night I walked the deserted streets of west Philadelphia back to my college, thirteen miles, but that was my own foolishness.  To experience abandonment means others choose to leave you.  People have experienced being abandoned by their spouse, or family, or friends. I can only imagine their depth of pain and grief.  Jesus experienced such rejection in the Garden.

Still Jesus stayed the course.  He endured the ridicule, mockery, and humiliation of a religious trial.  He stayed the course because he would not, does not, will not abandon us.

The disciples fled.

He stayed.

He stayed the course towards the cross for us.  

What strengthens you to keep the faith in God and others?  What tempts you to abandon them? Where have you felt abandon?   Where is God for you right now?

Prayer: Almighty God, protect and preserve us in this world that we might keep faith in your promises and our call to serve you and one another.