Headed Somewhere

There's a question we often ask ourselves in the moments when life seems to be stagnant. When progress decides to seemingly rid its presence from our life we are engulfed with the simple thought of “what now”. We humans are goal oriented. We wan’t to work for something, we want to be headed somewhere.

However, each moment has a lot tied to it. Each breath has different air, each sight has different colors and imagery, each sound has different noises, each taste has different characteristics, each touch a different feeling. Every moment we live is tied to our senses, tied to observation of some sort. The problem that occurs when we decide to think ahead rather than stay in the current moment is we rid ourselves of the ability to interact with our senses and then in turn gather some sort of understanding from what exactly it is we are perceiving. 

Our senses tell us that every moment is different, they are also the means or pathway to us being able to develop some thought or observation. Life itself is a process of observing, and observation is the gateway to thought and realization. 

To backtrack a bit, think back to the question I mentioned earlier. “What now”, it’s the right question, but we are asking it with the wrong mindset. Instead of “what now” meaning where do I go from here, “what now” should be thought of in terms of “What is occurring now? What is going on in this moment that will allows the worry of the next to subside so that I can recognize and be encouraged by this present moment and allow this moment to speak to me and help take me somewhere.” 

There’s a lot of talk about living in the present though. It’s almost cliche. The reason people have grown a bit stale to this idea is because when people preach about the present, they speak about it as this constant thing that is happening. Speaking strictly of the present is a lot like a life made up of still photographs. This idea of “presence” is relatively impractical because it does very little, if anything to promote any kind of development or recognition of the more that is going on in the present that you are supposed to be occupying yourself in. As I have expressed, I do believe the present is important and to live in it is beneficial, but for there to be true transformation in the way we interact with the world, there’s another step. 

We most live in the present, but we must also see how each different present moment that we are a part of is taking us to a moment of understanding through the cycle or process that is a part of each differing moment that we exist in. Living in strictly the present is nothing more than living in individual stories that lack development or intrigue. But living in each moment while simultaneously connecting them to other moments we are a part of allows for a plot to begin to form. The formation of plot provides the development of a storyline which is what leads us to some sort of lesson and a life that is consistently moving forward. 

We are always headed somewhere. Always. It’s a beautiful/haunting realization we have to come to at some point in life. Life is not a static report, it’s an unfolding narrative. The practice of living in the present serves absolutely no purpose if it stops there. The real transformation occurs when each moment we live attaches itself to an unfolding story that is taking us somewhere, progressing, and headed to a place of understanding. There is a lesson that can be learned in every moment we live. Whether it is the recognition of the need for reflection and peace that comes with time spent simply listening to music in a coffee shop, or the understanding of our need to be just plain goofy with friends, telling stories that make no sense but provide laughter and smiles. Each moment is good, and each moment attaches itself to the ever progressing reality that is the life we live. Jesus says do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Jesus knows that in the present moment we live, there is something to be learned, just as there will be in the moments of tomorrow. But Jesus knows that worrying about tomorrow’s lesson is impractical without the wisdom we can gain from todays. Let the days of your life be like pages of a novel. Some emotional and hard to get through, some beautiful and filled with joy, but all of them tied to a story that you can’t look away from because with each new page comes a further understanding as to where your story is headed, and where it is headed is a place you are not afraid of, but fully excited about due to how each page is full of some new found revelation and understanding about your existence and purpose. The book of life has many pages, and each page contains a moment, however it is only with the culmination of each page that a novel makes any sense. Pages progress. We progress. We are headed somewhere, and that somewhere is good. Take part in each moment that is taking you to that somewhere and enjoy each page so that when your story ends, you can feel complete.

Chipotle, the Church, and Spiritual Growth

I, like many others at the moment, have a special love for Chipotle. There’s something about a Burrito bowl piled high with brown rice, black beans, grilled chicken, pico de gallo, corn, sour cream, cheese, and guacamole that just sends my taste buds to a very, very happy place. However, the best part of Chipotle could be hidden outside of their incredible food in a rather unlikely spot. Their fountain drink cups. 

The other day, as I sat down to eat the mountain of food I had sitting in front of me, I noticed that there was a relatively extensive piece of writing on the cup which contained my Root Beer. Upon further inspection, I realized that this was not some advertising gimmick telling you about how great the Chipotle corporation was. Instead, there was a series of questions written by a guy named Jonathan Safran Foer. Not just any old questions either. Serious ones. Ones that grabbed my attention so much that for a second my minds focus was no longer on the heavenly tasting food occupying my mouth, but instead pondering things like “if your deepest, darkest secret became public, would you be forgiven” or “is there anything you would die for if no one could ever know you died for it”. Heavy stuff to be sure.

Which then led to this question… Is Chipotle doing more to promote spiritual growth than the typical Christian Church service? 

Ridiculous, interesting, or odd as this question may seem, it’s a serious one. I have been a person brought up and raised a Christian. My stances and definition of what that looks like now takes a completely different approach than it did just a couple years ago. However, through growing up in this system of belief and experiencing a year of Bible school, I feel like I know what your average Christian church service looks like. Typically, a church service will last an hour with an intro/welcoming, some music, a sermon, some dramatic prayer/offering music, and some more music. The point that is trying to be made is typically most directly found in the sermon, although the music will have lyrics that are tied into what’s being said as well. My focus though, is on the sermon, because this is where the “meat” really lies.

I’ve sat through countless sermons, and they are almost always focused on a certain message. The person delivering this message is known as the preacher… and this is where the fun begins. To preach, by definition, is to earnestly advocate for something. A church service, nine times out of 10, is telling you what to do, giving you direction, establishing guidelines. All of which is completely impersonal, unless phrased in a way that seems inclusive (a great trick learned in seminary). Usually the attendees of a church service will leave with smiles on their faces, feel a bit better about the world, and say hello to a person or two in the hallway. Then, by the time monday rolls around, focus is shifted to family, jobs, hockey practices, and all sorts of other things. This is because something that is preached, guidelines that are handed, heck almost spoon fed, are not what we learn from. They offer an “aha” moment or two, but they do not promote personal reflection, individual conclusions, or spiritual growth and transformation due to their lack of depth or personal impact.

Now, back to that cup. The complete opposite can be said of the side of a fountain drink cup from the fastest growing corporation in the world… The difference is so incredibly simple, it actually can be narrowed down to two punctuation marks; a period and a question mark. A sermon is preached. A question is asked. A sermon offers a blanket universal answer, a question gets personal and requires individual participation and thought. To preach is to think you know the answer, to ask is to learn what truth makes up an answer. 

The Christian faith is not meant to be something that is preached in a way that gives guidelines. Instead, it is meant to be a dialogue, something people wrestle with, have doubts towards, and a system promoting communities that allows people to feel comfortable making those doubts known. That Chipotle cup asks us to be honest with the pain and longing to understand what is inside of us. A sermon on the other hand acts as a repressive band-aid, covering up the doubt for a week at a time only to replace the band-aid every sunday so it doesn’t fall off. What is sad is that church services are supposed to be spiritual, and yet they can at times be more processed and impersonal than the words that are printed on thousands of cups distributed worldwide to a corporation. People want answers but people need questions. Discovering truth is a process, one that requires individual reflection, communal discussion, and outward action. I submit that this process is established much more smoothly from a cup found at a Mexican food chain than it is from a church service thats agenda is about giving an answer instead of asking a question. Has mainstream Christianity become complacent in giving a 12 step plan instead of a life long journey and pursuit of wisdom? I could go on and on but I guess the real information we’d all benefit from is, what do you think?

Being Open to This New World

If you have to try and convince someone how wrong their religion is, you’re probably not very confident in your own. This is important. Historically spirituality is something that has been incredibly vital to individual and cultural identity. What has happened recently, especially in the western world, is a intermingling of multiple different perspectives. There are two dominant results tied to this, I’ll start with the positive. This new culture shift has allowed people to acquaint themselves with people of other faiths. This has paved the way for us humans to become more educated and aware as to how someone with a different religious identity than our own operates and perceives the world. The negative that come’s with this, however, is the automatic assumption by some that because someone has a different spiritual stance, they are automatically wrong. 

In my personal experience, I have found that the particular religious group that does this more than any other is the one that I happen to be associated with, Christianity. For whatever reason, Christian’s have this assumption that it is their responsibility to shove the message of Christ down others throats. The great irony of this though is that this is a practice that Jesus himself never actually took part in. If you look at the way Jesus communicated what he was about, it follows a profound and rational pattern. As Dallas Willard was known for discussing, Jesus formed incredibly sound and rational logic. He spoke in a way that set up the cones to a path for someone to follow, but still allowed the individual to venture down the path themselves. Jesus speaks in a way that allows a listener to have an outline as to where the thought he is relaying is headed without forcing them into a strict and dogmatic conclusion.

Jesus’s method of “evangelicalism” was not a method of pointing out the flaws in other’s systems, his message was so much bigger than that. When a message is formulated around the flaws of a particular idea, the one relaying the message is generally not very confident in the idea that they believe in. This is because relying on what they attach themselves to isn’t profound or beautiful enough to speak for itself. Jesus was quite confident in his message however, and ironically, the only religious individuals that he did critique on a regular basis were the Pharisee’s who were the Jewish religious leaders of the time (Jesus was considered a Jew just so you know...). Can you imagine if Jesus was to go picket out front of some place like an abortion clinic? There is something incredibly odd and not right about that image. It just doesn’t line up to how he treated people and the message he taught. I can, however, see him walking into that facility along side a woman, counseling her, hugging her, being a shoulder for her to cry on, and letting her know that if she was to change her mind, he would be more than willing to help raise and support the child so she didn’t have to feel so alone and scared

The true and beautiful message of what Jesus talks about, the renewing of all things, the lost being found, mercy reigning over judgement, loving your neighbor as yourself, and countless other countercultural messages are so incredibly transformative that focusing on the “flaws” in other system’s or what is “not okay” is nothing but a waste of time and a perfect example of missing the point. Think for example about ad campaigns for smart phones. Apple has consistently led the market in this area with the iPhone. Their ads are completely reliant on their brand and what they can offer. Other smart phones companies, however, need to rely on ads that mock iPhones. Christ in this case would be an iPhone (there’s a new one). He provides that which is needed without having to bash other platforms. Oddly enough though, there are “Christians” who think they have to ridicule other systems to make their product seem worth it, resulting in Jesus looking like a much lesser product because he can’t speak for himself. He becomes directly associated with comparisons leading to him having no real identity. himself. 

Following Christ is not something you do because other religions are lesser, following Christ is a decision make specifically because of Christ. I have zero problem with someone who is a Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu, Bahai’i or of any other religious identity for that matter as long as they aren’t harming others in the name of their religion (don’t worry, I realize some Christians inflict harm as well and I hang my head because of this). When I talk to people of other faiths, I don’t try and point out their flaws, I try and portray through the way I live my life the incredible reality of what being a follower of Christ can look like and I also open my ears to the truth that they can offer me (if you are open to doing this, you may be amazed at how much you can find Christ and what he taught in other religious systems). After all, al truth IS God’s truth, and that is important to consider. Following Christ is not some connect the dot picture, it is a splatter painting with all different forms and colors held together by the canvas it occupies, not by a particular shade or shape. When we allow ourselves to open our mind to the reality of the world today, we can become overwhelmed and in awe of just how beautiful spirituality can be. Always remember that Jesus is far bigger than whatever ties or labels people put on him. He can be found in the most unlikely of places, all it takes is the longing to be able to see that.

Here’s another point (this is post is going in all sorts of directions, it’s more of just a vent session than it is a focus on a specific idea I suppose), if you are having a hard time with people who profess to be Christians and can’t stand their close-mindedness, don’t engage. However unfortunate it is, people will hold strict, stern, and often times incredibly irritating ways of perceiving the world. Whether it is how they treat other people who think differently than them, how they approach the gay marriage debate, how old they think the earth is or whatever else it might be, naturally people will be frustrating. The best way to approach individuals like this is not to engage in argument, believe me, I speak from experience. That method doesn’t work. People who have narrow way’s of perceiving the world are usually the same people who don’t want to expand their mind. If you try and force your opinions on them, how are you pursuing a life any more fulfilling than them? Embrace the beauty that comes from having an open mind and the incredible realizations you receive because of this, don’t be bogged down by that which you just escaped. For more on this, read this incredible blog post by Rob Bell:http://robbellcom.tumblr.com/post/79886748736/what-is-the-bible-part-53-a-shout-out-to-the-lonely .

I’ll end with this. The other day the sun finally appeared from behind the blanket of clouds it hid behind all winter. My skin was able to feel natural warmth for the first time in months. I decided to go for a walk, stop at Jimmy Johns for lunch, and go sit down by the river, all the while listening to music by Jack Johnson, Matt Costa, and other tunes reminding me of summer. These two hours were the most real and active interaction I have had with God in months and I attend a highly Christian institution. Jesus can be found in the most unlikely of places. He manifests himself in everyday life, we are able to see him in a variety of moments and in amazingly profound ways if we let him be more than just a character in a book. Look around you, breathe, listen; experience Jesus commitment to renewing all things back into their beautiful and perfect state. When you begin to perceive in this way, boundaries are no longer necessary, ridicule is meaningless, and love is the ultimate characteristic defining the world you inhabit.

No Pain, No Gain

In this post, I will attempt to define pain. That is not an easy task, however, because to define is to categorize, and to categorize something as personal to an individual as pain seems rather ill-informed to the depth of pain an individual can experience. For example; “The Readers Digest Great Encyclopedic Dictionary” defines pain this way: “The unpleasant sensation or feeling resulting from or accompanying some injury, derangement, physical strain, or obstruction of the physical powers”. Yet all of us who have experienced pain know that there is more to it than just that sentence. So, unlike this dictionary, I will not define this four letter word. Instead, I will embark on a step by step analysis that I suppose one might find an acceptable substitution to a definition, at least I hope that to be the case so you don't view me as completely incompetent... So, let's begin.

Earlier this month I pulled up to the airport in Detroit. In the car with me was my Father, my mother, and my little brother. I got out of the car, hugged them all, received some encouraging and loving words, a sly slip of cash from my father, and a much mistier set of eyes. I, in that moment, experienced what one might call “pain”. It was very hard leaving my family. My senior year of high school I was skating through the neutral zone in one of my hockey games. I turned my head back to where a pass from one of my teammates was coming from. As that happened, someone on the opposing team blindsided me with a shoulder to the head. It hurt. I felt “pain”. Over the summer I read a book that transformed my life. It prepared me for the study of God that would come from attending Moody. The first night I was here in Spokane, a few of my housemates, including my RA, labeled the author of that book a “heretic”. That “pained” me. In late October, I got a text from my friend back home letting me know that the girl who I had left behind and who I became close to over the past summer had made some “negative decisions” with another guy one night. She had moved on, and that was “painful” for me.

I’m sure, at least I am hoping, that you caught onto the trend of what I’m getting at with the numerous instances of pain I’ve had in my life. We cannot give pain one distinct label. It isn’t an emotion or a feeling that can be limited by such a category. How do we define pain then? How can we even know what I am talking about it? How is it that you, the reader, relate with my stories? Well, one reason is because it is a universal theme in the world; terrible, horrible, sad, and “painful” things happen to us all. More importantly, however, is the fact that pain is a part of a cycle that is engrained within the human soul. There is a greater mechanism that pain is tied to that makes the awareness of it always applicable, even if we cannot define it.

Pain, along with a few other words that I will associate with it shortly, is a part of the cycle the Divine uses to let us know that we are alive, that life isn’t defined by darkness, and that the acceptation of balance in life is where we begin to embrace all emotion that attaches itself to any given life situation. Every single one of those experiences that I listed earlier yielded “pain”. Although they were all distinctly different in nature, there was something involved in them that was associated with a certain “lowness’ or “negativity”. The only way we are able to define such a circumstance however, is attaching other characteristics to the experience. There is no darkness without light, no silence without noise and so on. This is where the cycle I mentioned in the last paragraph comes in. The experience of pain is only properly defined by other factors. Pain resulting in the epitome of the negative. There’s pain at the bottom, hope being the step above it, and rejuvenation being the culmination or positive outcome of it all. The pain I felt leaving my family was stifled by the hope that my studies will one day benefit others and with that resulting in something I am not yet fully aware of. The pain from being hit in my hockey game gave me the hope that I could induce payback, the culmination being me scoring my first goal of the season that game. The pain of hearing someone I look up to being called a “heretic” led to the hope of me being able to open minds a bit more, to address what exactly “right vs. wrong” looks like, with this culminated in the incredibly beautiful and progressive conversations I’ve had with my small group of Moody guys (and other relationships and conversations down the road hopefully).The pain that came from hearing about that girl back home led to the hope that there was someone much better for me out here, the culmination still being a bit of a mystery. Notice how pain is never final, hope requires action, and the rejuvenation is not always immediately apparent.

If we look at pain through the lens of where we could potentially go because of it, not where the pain has trapped us, pain can be an incredible tool to help us progress and become motivated. Now how does this apply spiritually? This is where the fun comes in! Right now the world is full of pain, people are suffering daily, there is a large amount of people in the world who don’t even have access to water still, the most basic physical necessity of life. Yet our hope can be found through Jesus’s message that He is renewing all things, and him teaching us that we will go on to do far greater things than him. He is inviting us into the restoration of the world, and through this we experience the hope of justice. Not justice in the “people who have wronged me will burn in hell” kind of way, but justice in the sense that people will be able to have access to life in the most plain physical sense and life in the most beautiful and spiritual sense as well. Leading us to the very beautiful and amazing culmination of heaven being welcomed back to earth, because justice has been served to all who have been wronged, and now we can experience the beauty and harmony of all things living in peace with one another. Pain isn’t so bad after all, is it?! 

If we try and define pain, we make it seem morbid. We give it no potential. It is like restricting a caterpillar to one state of physical life, limiting its ability to transform itself into the beautiful being God intends for it to become. Words need the potential to become more. They need to be able to tie themselves to other concepts so they don’t become trapped. God does not want pain and suffering to be in the world. The reason why he allows it however is to let humans experience the beauty of the incredibly transformative process I mentioned above. It is pain that can yield the most beauty, despair that leads to life. All we have to do is embrace and accept the journey.

I Know Nothing, and That's Okay

Blunt title, eh? There's a reason for it, one we will progressively get to. But for starters let's analyze two different words, faith and truth. These two appear to be friends, ideas or concepts that go hand and hand in our minds. There's an issue with that though. Ultimately, people's faith determines what is truth to them. 

As I'm sure you are aware, I am not the only person on earth, and neither are you for that matter. So when we perceive our faith to be the truth, we run into a bit of an issue. We all want to believe our faith is the one true way of perceiving, but unfortunately that would mean nothing really matters and we are just shaping our own faith and heaven and communal understanding holds no significant value... I don't know about you, but that's a bit too post-modern, even for me. So then, where exactly does that leave us? Because if we can't pinpoint what truth is really the truth, what's even the point of faith at all? I personally think the solution is rather easy. To quote The Mowgli's "let your faith guide your faith". 

At some point, the definition of faith (which by the way... Faith: to believe, or trust.) got replaced with a sense of certainty (and again... Certainty: an assured fact in which there is no doubt). Which is obviously comforting for some individuals, it helps them feel confident they won't burn in hell (if that's what drives your faith, we may want to talk a bit further on how that may not be the most healthy position...). But the trouble is, millions, heck maybe even billions in the world take this stance that's an advocate for certainty. Fact of the matter is though, certainty and faith don't mix well. Think of them as orange juice and toothpaste, both very practical and useful on their own, but when meshed together, they don't create a good result. It’s actually quite disgusting and takes away from the benefit of both.

When it comes to faith, we can't really be certain of anything. Christians get so mad at atheists claiming there isn't a God because they say atheists can't fully prove that claim. Well, hate to break it to my clan of people, but can we really prove there is a God...? Faith doesn't rely on proof, it relies on an individual relationship with that in which your faith is directed toward. A relationship that is so incredibly beautiful, awe-inspiring, and fulfilling that it exceeds the comfort the idea of being certain can provide because of it's personal effect on your soul.

The whole idea of agnosticism is incredibly interesting (this may seem like a random side fact but hear me out). What agnostics essentially believe is that they cannot be certain whether there is a God or not. It’s so baffling that this even has to be a separate category from Christianity because in all reality nobody can know such a thing. That is because Christianity, or any religion for that matter does not, or at least should not, rely on certainty. It should rely on FAITH. Unfortunately, this shift in what faith is supposed to look like has led most people away from pursuing a relationship with God because they are not certain about everything they are “supposed” to believe in regards to this spiritual deity. 

I know nothing, and that's okay. When we approach an idea with a certainty based attitude and stand firm in that approach, where is the room for progress? I don't know if Gandhi is in heaven or hell. I don't know if God will save all in the end. I don't know if gay marriage is okay or not. I don't know if God only accepts "Christians" into heaven. I don't know if the message of the gospels is encompassed in Christ's death or Christ's resurrection. Fact of the matter is, none of this is truly knowable. We must let our faith guide our faith in these areas, we must let our image of God, based on what has been revealed to us, lead us to personal OPINIONS (not whole-hearted truths) on these matters.

Now I know there's a lot of people out there who have some problems with this. Some will use scripture to try and give clear and concise answers on these topics. Some people will say "God can't do anything outside the realm of His character so therefore people must end up in hell if God is just" (so much to talk about here...) or "homosexuality is clearly not okay just look in Corinthians" (context, context, context...). But ones perception of another's character is all based on interaction, whether it's with a friend, a coworker, or even a spiritual deity. All I know is that the character of God that's been revealed to me is encompassed in the ideas of love, grace, mercy, and compassion. Notice these words are not condemnation, justified war, judgement, or damnation. When Gods character is shaped by love, grace, mercy, and compassion, none of these debates matter. They are just distractions from the overall beauty that God holds. 

When we pursue certainty, we miss the relationship. When we focus on the relationship, being certain of something is not even a relevant emotion. You just feel it. When someone is truly in love, they don’t have to convince themselves of it, they are just aware of it. Let your and Gods relationship not be a math equation of which you can be certain, let your image of God be a beautiful relationship based around an overwhelming sense of love. Because when that is how you see God, being certain is about as relevant as yesterdays rain cloud when today is full of sun.

Some of the sources that helped me come to these conclusions:

Benefit of the Doubt by Greg Boyd- Great book to help explain how being certain is not what Christianity is about and is, in fact, inherently dangerous.

Unapologetic by Francis Spufford- Not totally finished but an interesting read about how christianity can still make sense in our current world. 

Rob Bell's What is the Bible blog posts- Incredibly enlightening way to look at scripture. Check it out here...http://robbellcom.tumblr.com/post/66107373947/what-is-the-bible

Talks with my mom

I mentioned The Mowglis... they are a wonderful band that is "in love with love", they are super great group that promotes togetherness and unity. Check them out! Those particular lyrics come from the song Carry Your Will.