As a retrospective on the year I am highlighting one post a month from this blog. Each, in its own way, tells the story of 2013, as we winded through the news of the day, ministry here in Hallock, and life at home. I hope you enjoy and pick out a post or two to have a read.
January: Lance Armstrong and the power of myth-making
"Last night, when Armstrong was giving his "tell-all" interview with Oprah he talked a good deal about losing control of the narrative. In his way, this was Lance attempting to apologize, even if it appeared half-hearted at best. But it's also true that there was a narrative throughout Lance's career that was bigger and more mythical than anything reality could offer. This would have been true even if he has been racing cleanly, even if he would have been the person we wanted him to be, because the story offered something cogent that each of us could hold on to: we wanted to believe in Lance because if we believed in Lance it offered us an avenue to believe in ourselves. We wanted somebody to "defeat" cancer. We wanted him to rise above perhaps the most demanding aerobic sport in the world and we even wanted him to crush those who suggested the myth was anything but gleaming gold. In some sadistic way, we wanted Lance to shut up Betsy Andreu, Emma O'Reilly, Tyler Hamilton, Floyd Landis, and anybody else who threatened to tarnish the legend."February: Why should I go to church?
"[The church] is one of the few institutions capable of saying “no” to the culture, while admitting that this culture is no better or worse than any before. In fact, that is what we do all the time when we are being faithful to the scriptures. We say “no” to reckless consumerism, we say “no” to purposelessness and nihilism, we say “no” to the abuse and neglect of people, the environment, and our spiritual health, and we say “no” to the culture of individualism and self-sufficiency that is today’s norm. That is what the church offers to people who feel outside, who have followed the way of the world and realized finally that it leads only to death—spiritual, emotional, physical death. The church offers something no other thing does: it offers resurrection."March: The order of operations matter: The Last Supper and the betrayal
"The order of operations matter, because the fact that the betrayal bookends the promise means that we no longer need to split the hairs of God’s grace; we no longer need to make banal assessments about suicide victims or people with mental disabilities; we no longer need to decide who is in control of their actions or not; we no longer need to validate conversion experiences or determine when a person is worthy of salvation. All are worthy of it, even if all do not know it. All are condemned, even if all do not feel the weight of guilt. All have fallen short, but all are redeemed. This is the great promise of the Last Supper that, though all of our hands lie on the table so all of us have a hand in Christ’s death, God’s radical grace trumps even the betrayal."April: Why we rarely go to church: Pascal's Wager for the modern world
"I do too many baptisms that, if the parents are honest, are "just in case." Just in case of what? Just in case this is all true? Just in case there is a God? I've heard that many nurses in hospitals do the same thing, often baptizing children without their parents even knowing--you know, just in case. I do not baptize just in case; I baptize because. Because we claim a promise that sin and death and the power of the devil are conquered. Because we believe that God is not only real but because without God we simply cannot see the world as we see it now. Because, as C.S. Lewis once said, 'I believe in Christianity as I believe in the sun; not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.'"May: A sermon for the high school graduates of 2013
"The church is a place that rests of the mercy of God, a place filled with people who are slaves—to their pride, their ambitions, their legacies; their sin. It’s a place that has spent too long trying to cater to you and figuring out how to entertain you when the truth has been staring us in the face. You don’t need entertainment; there’s X-Box and TV and sports and Twitter and even less healthy things for that. What you need is a place that is honest about who you are: a place filled with people willing to admit how sometimes messed up we all are. All of us are the same; all of us are broken; all of us are slaves “to the elemental spirits of this world.” That means we are sinners. So are you. You’re going to find out how much of a big, fat sinner you are when you go off to college or into the world of adulthood."June: To become bound to the things that matter
"In subtle ways, you will be told that your goal in life should be to acquire more freedom, but the truth is, when you stand up here today to share your vows with each other, you proclaim that that worldview is a lie. The goal of life is not to become freer; the goal of life is to become bound to the things that matter."July: Mission trips and mission at home
"Mission trips end when we step off the bus and get a nice warm shower and find a comfortable bed to sleep, but mission does not. The distinction between mission time and normal time is completely made up, and, frankly, it’s devastating for our youth. It needs to end right now. I’ve seen too many cool things happen with our young people to pretend like that side of them should be confined to one week a year. For all the work that the Devil does here on earth the most damaging may well be telling us that what our youth experienced on a mission trip is exceptional and this is normal; that expressing love is exceptional and keeping it to yourself is normal; that serving others is exceptional but serving ourselves is normal."August: How I "won" a triathlon... and then didn't
"The swim and the bike and the run all together just never stops being hard. I felt slow. SOOOOOOO slow. In fact, even as I finished the first mile of the run I expected somebody to come up behind me and leave me in their dust. Please understand how ridiculous this is: I had at least three minutes on the nearest competitor after the bike, these clearly weren't world-class triathletes, and I had run only one mile. For somebody to make up three minutes on me in one mile, even if I was running a glacial (for-me) 8-minute mile pace (which I wasn't; it just felt like it) they would have to be running a 5-minute mile. That clearly wasn't happening."September: Faith, sports, and what is really important
"I worry that we are being taught that our primary way of identifying as human beings is in our ability to defeat an opponent at a given task. Even more subtly than that, I worry that we are being taught that the purpose of life is found in the limits to which you push yourself. I can resonate with that idea. It’s why you might see me peddling my bike or running, completely exhausted, down the street. I love the idea of pushing my limits, but the extent of my limitations broken is not my true measure as a human being."October: Be a member--why not?--but, more importantly, be a follower
"So, here are your three pieces of wisdom as new members of this church all tied up in a nice bow. First, in this place you are free to disagree as long as you allow others the same courtesy. Second, it’s far more important that you be a disciple of Jesus than a member of the church. And third, being a follower of Jesus involves much more commitment than membership, but it is also much more important. Being a follower of Jesus involves taking up your cross, which is a decidedly unsexy thing to do. It’s much sexier to feel entitled to membership and do lip service to Jesus. Don’t go down that road, as tempting as it can be. That’s the danger of Solomon’s temple. Once built, it becomes an idol—an attraction that takes away from God’s presence rather than adding to it. Membership in a church can do that to you. It can be your status symbol. Don’t let it. Instead, follow Jesus."November: 7 signs you're doing Christianity wrong
"6. You don't pray
[...] Authentic prayer is time consuming and it's hard. Honestly, I struggle with it. Sitting in silence for ten or twenty minutes is not going to get you followers on Twitter like attacking a popular Christian writer or pastor, but those minutes or hours are where the rubber meets the road for the Christian faith, because prayer is about both being honest with God and lifting up our concerns, and then (perhaps primarily) it is about listening to God and discovering our rightful place in the universe (which is, I'm sorry to say, pretty small). You may have a great grasp of what the Christian faith means academically, but if you do not spend time in prayer on a regular basis you are not actually being Christian. That may sound harsh, but I think it's true."December: Light it up: The light of the world and how we are unified by darkness
"Our ideas of sight and blindness are mostly shallow imitations revealed for what they truly are every time the power goes out. In spite of how we look—whether it’s our race, or gender, or age, or whatever way we see distinctions—we are one people, equally in need of every word of grace and mercy we can get. I’ve also never felt as united with an audience as I did with a few hundred Tanzanian men, women, and children who could not see us, even as we could not see them.
And it is for moments like that that Jesus came into the world. The light shines in the darkness and darkness did not overcome it, because, frankly, darkness is not a real thing. It is fear and insecurity and psychological triggers that give it its edge, but darkness only reveals that all people are in need of the same baby in the manger. It is darkness that unites us. All of us sometimes have darkness that clouds our days; all of us live in thick darkness from time to time; some of us are there more often than we’d like to admit. Darkness is nothing but the imperfections we know too well that we have."
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