harbarger theory: there's always a "now what"

harbarger theory: there's always a "now what"

One of the dirty little secrets about pastors is that we're usually exhausted by the time Easter's over. The whole process of getting ready for these powerful and holy times of worship like Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, SONRise Service and, of course, Easter worship services tend to wipe ... us ... out. At least ... it does to me.

It sort of reminds me of what the Disciples went through after that first Easter ... but maybe theirs had a LOT more confusion and more overwhelming.

Their Lord ... their Messiah ... their inspiration ... their everything had died. He was gone. They had no idea that he was coming back. He was just ... gone.

Then ... he CAME BACK!!! Can't you imagine what was buzzing about in their brains? Wha?? How can this ...? I can't believe ...! I'm not sure they could have even finished a sentence. At the same time ... life was going on.

So, the question came percolating up. What's next? How do I live now that my Lord has resurrected? In their case, they changed the whole world, spent their life at it and then gave their lives for it.

In my case, what do I do next? Where do I lead next? What do I throw the weight of my attention to? How do I spend my time? What gets my attention?

Hmmmmm. Good questions. I know where I want to go in general. I want to be an even better husband and father and son. I want to lead the church I serve where it needs to go next. I want to continue to try to figure out how to find life balance between ministry, family and personal time. I've never been good at that last one. But maybe .... maybe not!! = )

In the end, my "now what" is to live a life that is reflective of the resurrection. You know, second (and third and fourth and fifth and ...) chances. Treating all people as if they are worthy of the the Son of God giving his life for them ... without exception. Making reconciliation a lifestyle, not a task. Finding joy in the darkness, peace in the storm, love in the loneliness. My 'now what" is to focus on sweating the big stuff and focusing my life on what God declares is important.

What is your "now what?" How will you live out the Resurrection? How?

Easter

harbarger theory: empty can be good!

This is one of my favorite Easter stories. In fact, I told it as the Children's Moments yesterday. Sorry, I didn't blog yesterday. With 3 service after a busy loooong weekend and fixing dinner for my parents (it turned out WONDERFULLY!), I was pooped.

So, here's my Easter post.

Mrs Adair, who was a Sunday School teacher, wanted to teach her kids about the meaning of Easter, so she gave each of the kids an empty plastic egg (a big one like the ones that L'Eggs pantyhose used to come in, remember?). She asked them to go outside and fill them with something ... anything that told the Easter story.

So, the kids stormed out of the building picking up various flotsam and jestam around the church yard. Mrs. Adair called the kids back into the Sunday School classroom and asked them to open their egg and share what they had found.

Millie opened her L'Egg and inside was a dandelion. Millie talked about how the flowers die every winter and rise again every spring. Mrs. Adair complimented her on how well she understood Easter.

Freddy opened his L'Egg and inside were some blades of grace. Freddy talked about how the grass goes brown and then, miraculously in the spring turns green again. Again, Mrs Adair showered Freddy with praise about how well he understood the Easter story.

Ling opened her L'Egg and insde was a rock. Ling shared about how the stone was rolled away from Jesus' tomb on Easter morning. Mrs. Adair was beaming over how well her class was understanding the Easter story.

And so it went around the room until they got the last kid. Craig had multiple learning deficits. He was in special classes at school and would never develop intelligence that would get past a 5 year old. He was a sweet kid, who loved everyone and everyone loved him back. But, he could be a distraction in a classroom of "normal" kids.

Finally Craig opened his L'Egg and inside was ... nothing. Nothing at all. Mrs. Adair was so concerned that Craig didn't understand his assignment, or that she should have gone with Craig to help him, or kept him with her so he wouldn't be embarassed, or ...

But, because Mrs. Adair trusted God and had an inordinate courage, she pressed ahead. "Craig," she said, "tell me about your Easter Egg."

Craig did. In his halting and child-like way, he shared. "My egg is empty," he started, "because it's Easter and Jesus' tomb was empty!" And he beamed the most beautiful smile you could imagine.

And Mrs. Adair cried grateful and joy-filled tears and hugged Craig with a fiercely loving hug.

harbarger theory: empty can be good!

Holy Monday

harbarger theory: the poor need nard



I'm gonna try to post each day this week. This is Holy Week (the week just before Easter) and it's a powerful week. Of course we celebrate the big days like Maundy Thursday (the first communion service ... ever!), Good Friday (the day of the crucifixion) and the REALLY big day, Easter (the day of the resurrection), but the other days are powerful as well.



Today, the bible reading is John 12:1-11. Here is a link to it on Bible Gateway. It's about the instance where the woman breaks into a dinner party and pours an obscenely expensive jar of ointment on Jesus' feet. Nard, in Jesus' day, was the kind of ointment that only vastly wealthy women could afford to use. We don't know how this woman got it (some scholars suggest that she was a high-priced hooker ... but we don't know). But, she extravagantly shared this expensive potion on someone that she felt was worth it!



Judas (who is described as dipping his greedy little fingers into the Disciples' money bag) complained that this Nard could have been sold for a whole bunch and the money given to the poor. Jesus responded that we'd always have the poor, but they would only have him for a little longer. Not surprisingly, he was right. Jesus indeed left them when he died (and then resurrected, of course, and at that point didn't need freshening up!).



So, the question stands in my mind ... What do the poor need with Nard? Do the unwashed need some scent-management? Do the hungry need a little beauty treatment?



Here's what I think. We need to give Nard to the poor. You see, so often, when we have a food drive, we reach into the back of their cupboard and pull out some can of bizarre/out-of-date/unwanted stuff and give it to the poor and feel so good about ourselves. When we have a clothing drive, we give away the stuff we're too fat/too thin/too fashion-forward to wear anymore (our unwanted items) and we give it to the poor and feel so good about ourselves.



What if ... we gave them the Nard? What if we gave them the GOOD stuff? What if we found a way to effectively "anoint the poor with Nard?" What if we gave them good food, real jobs, decent clothing, genuine respect, actual eye contact, true compassion? What if we treated them like Jesus did? What if we treated them as if they were Jesus? What would that look like?



Yea, yea, yea ... we need to be good stewards of our resources. We need to stretch out dollars to meet as many needs as possible. I know all that. But ... is there a way to be a good steward AND treat the poor as if they were Jesus? I think so. I'd love to spend time in conversation and THEN action trying to do exactly that!!



What if we started a Nard Initiative where we acted like Christians toward the poor? Hmmmm

harbarger theory: the poor need nard