Do You Not Yet Understand?

I feel like to some degree I've come to a life conclusion, and I'm not sure how much a like it.

There's a scriptural problem, a life problem, a salvific problem. So many times in Jesus' ministry he says things like, "Many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able," or, "Let anyone with ears to hear listen," or "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few..."

There's a Gospel message, there's Good News, there's miracle after miracle, parable after parable, truth after truth; and yet this news is problematic, it's hard, it's "a rough rule."

It breaks my heart again and again because this truth, that the laborers are few, is one of the greatest & saddest truths of all. 

As I've referenced in earlier blog(s)(i.e., "A Struggle of Christ"), this problem is clearly emphasized by the frustration of Christ himself. In Mark 8:18 Jesus says, "Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes, and fail to see? Do you have ears, and fail to hear? And do you not remember... Do you not yet understand?"

How can such a bountiful harvest exist in such a desolate land? How can laborers run to California in search of yellow metal, when they could stay where they are and harvest wheat for the bread of life; pull water from the well of Christ's Love? Why do we trade our eternal joy for garbage like Italian leather & German exhaust pipes?

I'm afraid for myself, for my siblings, for my parents, and for the extended biological family we call "humanity." It's not a problem to make light of, but it seems like it's become the the biggest & least funny joke in the history of humanity. 

Again, in Romans 3:21-27, Paul resonates on the same point. He says that we have all "sinned & fall short of the Glory of God." There's a few things that strike me about this phrase. 

First, I think it's important that we remember that THIS is not the Gospel message. It's not great that we all suck a lot, in fact, it sucks a lot! Perhaps this is the introduction to the Gospel message, the Preface, "Since we all suck... GOSPEL MESSAGE." 

Second, the greek word we translate as "fall short" actually implies some kind of deficiency. What Paul is saying, then, is that humanity at large has a righteousness deficiency. What's unique about a deficiency? It's beyond our control; it's a constant, inherited, and unavoidable nature. 

Third, the verb for "fall short" is not conjugated here in the past or future tense. It's a present & a continuing, active, verbal clause. That is, the problem isn't that I have fallen short or that I will fall short; the problem is I am falling short. Again, and again, and again, and again. 

And yet, because of God's intervention, our filth & dirt somehow becomes BEAUTIFUL. 

Paul tells the Romans that they have a righteousness deficiency, and yet instills in them hope.

Paul tells the Corinthians that they do so many things wrong, but that because of the death & resurrection of Christ they have something worth being excited about; they have something to proclaim to their death.

We are incapable & helpless. We cannot fulfill every, or any, need that we have to make ourselves "better." We can't do it. It's a brokenness that's hard to come to terms with, but it's beautiful that He's come to terms with it on our behalf. Every need, every failure, every broken piece of yourself was laying on his chest as he laid face up towards the heavens & yet he's able to lift your burdens up among so many others. He's able to stand up and walk, defeating death with a willingness to carry our burdens to the depths of Hell and back up to the glory of Heaven; beyond death & further than what we know as life. 

I know it's hard to believe, hard to come to terms with, and that it sometimes doesn't seem like any consolation, but it really is unfathomably incredible & undeservingly beautiful. That we can need so much & know that He's been there too, right where you are.

And yet, after his living message, Jesus is forced to ask again and again a rather bleak question,

 "Do you not yet understand?" 

How many times do we have to be told that we need to surrender ourselves to the will of God?

 

How many times do we have to be told that we can't do it if we're involved?

How many times do we have to be told that it's practically impossible for the rich to enter the kingdom of God?

How many times do we have to be told that criticizing ourselves translates to criticizing God's own creation that was knowingly doomed by itself so that God might restore it's beauty?

How many times do we have to be told that it's not right to disgrace Christ's good & perfect gift by continuing in a path of destruction?

How many times must we be asked, "Do you not yet understand?"

Update

I wanted to take a few minutes & talk about the progression of the "Loved & Loving" project & the Campaign for Brokenness. If you haven't heard about these yet, there are some blogs that sort of chronicle what they are & what we've done already.

Real quickly  I want to give you the goals for the next few months:

1) Keep meeting & growing the L&L project for the spring semester.

2) Develop a website for the Campaign for Brokenness as well as logos/graphics for L&L by next fall.

3) Work on developing a peer mentorship program for APU.

Loved & Loving:

Right now there are 20 members of the launch team. We're trying to stay low-key & under the radar at APU so that our wristbands don't become too watered down & so that this project can naturally run a course of its own, rather than a course we prescribe it. Right now there are, I'd estimate, 600 wristbands floating around APU, we also sent/will send 95 wristbands to the Lost Boys of Sudan within care packages from APU. In the last couple weeks I've begun to adopt a sort of duplication model for the deployment of the project, this is the first point I want to highlight.

What seems to have happened naturally is that, as the project spreads, new people ask about the project. Consequentially, I've been sitting down with some of these people and getting them involved (i.e., I give someone a wristband, they ask me about it, I talk to them about it, I give them 20 wristbands, then someone they give a wristband too asks about it, etc, etc, etc.). Maybe a "discipleship" model is a more appropriate name for this model, which brings me to the next point.

I've had many encouraging conversations over the last few weeks with a lot of very passionate & able people who want to be involved with the project or who are already involved with the project. I can also say, easily, that I've made new friends & strengthened existing relationships this way. I really think it's powerful just to sit down & have conversations with one another, build relationships, and talk about what we're struggling with. I've been thinking a lot about these conversations because they are the real purpose behind the Campaign for Brokenness.

Campaign for Brokenness: Peer Mentorship?

The big idea behind the Campaign for Brokenness, as I've outlined already, is to acknowledge our brokenness & to be open about it, to talk about it with each other. That's why the first & primary concern of mine is to develop some kind of peer mentorship program at APU, and possibly to bring this program to other academic institutions if proven useful.

I hope to work with APU (specifically, the office of campus pastors) over the summer to develop this program. I'm not sure yet what it will look like, I only know there is a need for SOMETHING like this...

That's about all I've got so far. Again, our goals are to create a website & develop the beginnings of a peer mentorship program by Fall 2008. Thanks!

Inclusive Romance

Inclusive Romance is an idea I've been thinking about for quite some time. The seed was planted a few years ago, I think, when I heard a story about pie. 

There was a couple at church who, as part of the prayer team, were aware of not only all "church office" related issues, but specific congregation-related issues. That is, they knew almost everything that was going on with the congregation. Much of it broke their hearts, and they decided to do something small to mend the brokenness that was ever-present in the congregation. 

Naturally, they gave people pies. 

They would bake pies & leave them on people's doorsteps anonymously. Nobody really knew who did it, but it became a somewhat well-known & common occurrence.

So, what if we all did things like that for each-other on a regular basis? 

When you date or marry someone, romance ensues. The individuals in the relationship, being full of compassion for each-other,  naturally give each other things. Flowers. Chocolate. Love notes, a candlelight dinner. Even better, compassion leads to creative passion. Flowers delivered to you at work, chocolate on your doorstep (or a pie), Love notes under your windshield wipers in the morning, a candle light dinner on a hillside overlooking the San Gabriel Valley. This is the natural result of loving someone, longing to experience an intense unity with another person. Romance is what instigates joy and love in response to joy in love. 

So what does "Inclusive Romance" mean?

Inclusive Romance is a pie-idea. It's about being romantic with your peers. Imagine finding an anonymous box of chocolates at your doorstep in the morning... or breakfast on fancy dishes. Imagine an anonymous love note on your car after class signed "Your Friend" or "Your Sister." 

I think it's an idea worth toying with. I think its something worth encouraging. Let's be loving to our brothers, sisters, friends, parents, trolley drivers, and teachers. Let's be mutually appreciative & inclusively romantic.