Worldly Holiness

Multonomah Falls, originally uploaded by papalars.

Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

- Hebrews 12:14

Wow. What a verse. This one just popped up on my twitter link to Sojourner’s verse for the day and it reminds me of my call as a follower of Christ and sadly, my deficiencies. There are three key words that strike me in this verse–”peace,” “holiness” and then “pursue.” Some thoughts come to mind on each one.

The desire for “peace” is in vogue these days. Seems we want more interpersonal, international, and interracial harmony all over the place. We seem to have cycled through the options between war and peace and have come to realize the more we lack peace, the more we war with each other, the more conflict spreads across our globe, the more we end up blind and toothless. That was the comment on a wonderful soap opera [telenovela] I used to watch in Mexico where the protagonist once made this bright conclusion to the idea of an “eye for an eye and a tooth for tooth!” Kind of obvious, right. There are other manifestations to life without peace but you get the idea.

As individuals we also want more intrapersonal peace, putting to rest the many conflicts within our soul that rob us of our inner solitude and harmony. We often seem conflicted over options about choices, priorities and attitudes. Clearly the intra and the inter are many times related even though our culture sometimes leads us to think we can separate the two. That is not my main point, however, that these two orbits overlap. What I feel we miss in this apparent universal desire for peace is the necessary work that will lead to that coveted goal of peace, both the intra and the inter. In this area, like so many other challenges in our society, we seem to think a wave of the magic wand will cure all ills. I’m overstating the point but in reality we want more magic in our lives that effort.

The next key word in this verse is “holy.” Now that one seems entirely out of vogue these days. Images of prudish conservatives who are big killjoys comes to mind. Holy is not what you want at a party. Holy is not what describes our appetite, our consumption, our media viewing. I sometimes wonder why this word has fallen so out of favor in our Western values. Is it our culture’s revulsion to fire and brimstone preachers, many of whom have been found to be total hypocrites? Is it a backlash to the religious right’s agenda that seems mostly bent on imposing certain “family values” on the rest of society? Is it the Pharisaic types who want to correct the errors of others? Well, I do think this is part of the situation, maybe even most. Holy is not good. Period.

As with many other things in my life, I like to always ask the question, “what does Jesus think about this?” Immediately I’m brought to some hopefully resolution and instruction for life. For starters, Jesus seemed very comfortable at parties and his guests and friends at those parties seemed comfortable with him. And yet, we also get from the Gospels that Jesus was very holy. Nothing impure about him. No off color or degrading comments about his enemies, his friends, his family. No verbal grenades thrown. Now he was prophetic and said some stuff that upset certain folks, especially the Pharisees and religious leaders. So clearly, Jesus was not a wimp. He could say difficult things. That characteristic is what finally lead him to the cross.

But he also said some other things that we should not ignore, especially today. Like in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount he said, “therefore be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Mt. 5:48. Then a little further on Jesus challenges his listeners to “hear these words, and to act upon them,” thereby being “compared to a wise man, who built his house upon a rock.” Mt. 7:24-27. This all deals with the second word, “holy.” He also addresses the other word, “peace.” In an important section near the end of his life on earth when the guards came to take Jesus away, he instructed Peter to put his sword back in his sheath, saying, “all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword.” Mt. 26:52.

These are all part of the marvelous and important Gospel that those who claim to follow Jesus SHOULD be following. Simple. Period. The last word in this original text at the top is “pursue.” The first two words, holy and peace do not just happen. We need to pursue them. It is in the faithful pursuit that we find God, that we see him as he truly is. Many Christians pride themselves in having their doctrine straight and orthodox. I think the Bible teaches something more. In fact, I think Jesus would say that orthodoxy without orthopraxy is essentially heresy. We gotta walk our talk in other words.

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Reflection of Mount St. Helens / from 9,677ft. to 8,365ft. in seconds, originally uploaded by papalars.

Had a great, rather full weekend. It started with another Mosque visit on Friday night where my friend and I spoke with the Imam, who was from Egypt, through an interpreter. The conversation went slower than the visit to the other Mosque several weeks ago but that seemed to give us all a more time to carefully phrase our comments and questions. It was interesting. The tone was a little more somber than my last Mosque visit. Sounds like the variety of churches I visit in my work. Some houses of worship and prayer are more “charismatic” while others lean toward quiet reflection and carefully scripted liturgy. I like both actually, for different reasons.

My weekend of activities continued with giving a plenary talk at my home church, Quest Community Church on Saturday. They hosted a special “Global Presence” event that brought together speakers from different types of “serving organizations” helping poor and marginalized communities around the world. I also gave two breakout sessions on what I am doing. Then, after a quick power nap and some packing, I got back in the car and headed south to Beaverton, Oregon where I preached in a church on Sunday morning, again about my work and bridge building efforts with focus people. I met a lot of fascinating people over the entire weekend who are seeking to live their lives for God’s glory AND help others.

On the way back home from Oregon, I had to pull up to this mountain pictured above that has caught my gaze and attention since childhood. Many know the story of Mount St. Helens from its devastating eruption in 1980. Here is a volcano cam of it’s current condition. I have climbed this mountain 4 times actually, twice before the eruption and 2xs after. It is much smaller than her bigger brother to the north, Mt. Rainier, but is still formidable! My two boys almost pitched into the crater of this growing beast when we climbed it back in 2006 from the back side. They got a little too close to the crater’s edge and started to slide down the back side to avoid falling in the deep hole which dropped probably a 1000 feet down to the growing dome inside the crater. This is the stuff of nightmares for me. Glad to say we all made it back down in one piece but we still like to climb mountains. You’d think these kinds of experiences would cure us. Somehow it doesn’t. Anyway to appreciate the dimensions of this mountain and the magnitude and power of the eruption in 1980 I’ve posted a longer description just below.

Mount St. Helens is an active stratovolcano located in Skamania County, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is 96 miles (154 km) south of Seattle and 53 miles (85 km) northeast of Portland, Oregon. The volcano is located in the Cascade Range and is part of the Cascade Volcanic Arc, a segment of the Pacific Ring of Fire that includes over 160 active volcanoes. This volcano is well known for its ash explosions and pyroclastic flows.

Mount St. Helens is most famous for its catastrophic eruption on May 18, 1980, at 8:32am PDT which was the deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in the history of the United States. Fifty-seven people were killed; 250 homes, 47 bridges, 15 miles (24 km) of railways, and 185 miles (298 km) of highway were destroyed. The eruption caused a massive debris avalanche, reducing the elevation of the mountain’s summit from 9,677 feet (2,950 m) to 8,365 feet (2,550 m) and replacing it with a 1 mile (1.6 km) wide horseshoe-shaped crater. The debris avalanche was up to 0.7 cubic miles (2.9 km3) in volume. The Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument was created to preserve the volcano and allow for its aftermath to be scientifically studied.

As with most other volcanoes in the Cascade Range, Mount St. Helens is a large eruptive cone consisting of lava rock interlayered with ash, pumice, and other deposits. The mountain includes layers of basalt and andesite through which several domes of dacite lava have erupted. The largest of the dacite domes formed the previous summit, and off its northern flank sat the smaller Goat Rocks dome. Both were destroyed in the 1980 eruption.

Shaken by an earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale, the north face of this tall symmetrical mountain collapsed in a massive rock debris avalanche. Nearly 230 square miles (600 km2) of forest was blown down or buried beneath volcanic deposits. At the same time a mushroom-shaped column of ash rose thousands of feet skyward and drifted downwind, turning day into night as dark, gray ash fell over eastern Washington and beyond. The eruption lasted 9 hours, but Mount St. Helens and the surrounding landscape were dramatically changed within moments.

Tags: "Mount St. Helens"

Home Demolition in the West Bank, originally uploaded by papalars.

I’ve been torn recently by two conflicting, but related, realities in my heart. Many of you know that Carol and I are trying to buy a house. The market is good for buyers and interest rates low so that is bringing this aspiration closer to a reality. A year ago that would have been a long stretch, perhaps impossible. Pray for us. We want to have an adequate place for friends, family and ministry. It is about making a home, having a place we call our own. A basic need, right?

There’s another story that is rattling around in my head these days. It makes me conflicted. Last week, I heard a young Palestinian women at a chapel service share the heartbreaking story of what is happening to many of her friends in Palestine. Home demolitions are still commonplace in the West Bank, most often happening to Palestinians, to make room for new Israeli settlements. An alarming fact struck me in her talk. A full 80% of Palestinians have lost land in recent years. Furthermore, the huge wall, standing 26 feet high which has been built “for protection,” often separates family members, farmers from their land and makes normal day-to-day life very difficult. Many Palestinians are not given legal citizenship and if they leave the area, then need a visa to return. For many, they are not a legal citizen anywhere but just resident aliens. These stories resembled the ones I heard last fall when I was at a leadership conference in Palestine. I know some of these people. Their stories break my heart. I know the issues are complex and they resist simple solutions. It just seems wrong. I was encouraged to hear that some Israeli soldiers are being jailed for refusing to be involved in home demolitions and forceful takeover of land in the Palestinian Territories. A new word has been coined to identify these courageous contrarians–they are called Refusniks. [click the link for more information].

If you want to know more about the situation check out this website: Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions.

My last thought in this vein brings the issue of homes full circle. I just plopped some good money down on an airplane ticket to North Africa this summer where I will be joining a team building homes for a community struck by a recent earthquake. I’m reminded of the Psalmist who identifies the importance of shelter. I don’t think David was just speaking metaphorically.

“For in the day of trouble
he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle
and set me high upon a rock.” Psalm 27:5

Blue Mosque at Sunrise, originally uploaded by papalars.

Well, I haven’t finished my “Common Word” report yet because some other exciting things have come to the front burner since coming back from California. Last Friday I was the guest speaker at a local mosque, addressing the community gathered for Friday prayers. You heard right. This picture is not THAT particular mosque as many of you might know, unless of course I was speaking last Friday in Istanbul. My two sons just visited this city, but that is another story.

About a month ago I spent the good part of an afternoon with an Imam in the Seattle area for a great conversation, with another friend. This was one of those times when that certain “click” just happens and for one reason or another, or perhaps all of them together, we went deep fairly quickly. Near the end of our conversation I got this amazing invitation to come as a guest to the mosque to speak on some issues on Christian-Muslim relations. The agenda evolved a bit in the intervening time but last week it took shape. The Imam wanted me to address his gathered community during Friday prayers with the following questions: “why is there such a negative view of Muslims in the Christian Church? and what is your church doing to help change that predominant view?” More generally he wanted me to lead a discussion on how we could both minimize the negative perceptions of each other that are fostered by minority, fringe groups in our respective religions?

As you can imagine, these questions were somewhat delicate so I tried to tell my personal journey from ignorance of Islam to a better understanding and new respect for Muslims. I told the story of how I seek to help churches understand Islam better by teaching classes, and building bridges with local Muslim communities, etc. I also shared about what I learned through building friendships with Muslims. Then I told the story of a Palestinian shop owner I met in Jerusalem last year who was bitter about injustices that his people regularly suffer. That seemed to hit home. Maybe because it has hit me and is a growing burden. I also asked for their forgiveness if they had ever experienced painful or negative things at the hand of Christians.

They initially didn’t know how to respond to my confession. I really kind of bared my soul to them. There was an awkward moment of silence and then a string of spontaneous responses from the crowd across the main prayer room. The Spirit of God seemed to be especially present. We finished up the formal session with some Q & A, engaging me and another guest, a Catholic priest, in discussion and dialogue. Get this, after all of that, we were invited to another room for snacks, cookies and tea and I joined my 8 other Christian friends who accompanied me in multiple conversations until about midnight. The topics of conversation ranged from Middle East politics to who Jesus is and what is the nature of sin in each others’ faith tradition. I also heard the Imam declare in one circle that violence has nothing to do with Islam, that terrorists have a political agenda and do not represent true Islam. When I step back and ponder all that happened, I’m really quite amazed, blessed, and excited to see where God leads next in these relationships and conversations.

Let me know if you’d like to join me in the mosque sometime. It just happens to be one of the places where discussions on life and faith, between Christians and Muslims are getting pretty dynamic for me these days. And I really, really love it. My new friends have extended an open door to continue the conversations and relationships. One thing for sure, Muslims understand hospitality and we seem to keep coming around to talking about Jesus somehow.

In-N-Out Burger, originally uploaded by papalars.

I’m in Pasadena, California this week where I am participating in a very important event starting tonight with Muslim and Christian leaders from around the world. About 2 years ago a group of 138 global Muslim scholars, clerics and intellectuals wrote a letter to Christians inviting them/us into dialogue over our “common word” of faith. It was based on the dual command to love God and our neighbor as common ground for dialogue and understanding between Christianity and Islam. This overture was an amazing and historic initiative that is causing reverberations across the world. Nothing like it has ever happened in our tumultuous history. When the letter was sent, a group of scholars at Yale Divinity School lead by Miroslav Volf and Joseph Cumming wrote a response entitled, “Loving God and Neighbor Together: A Christian Response to ‘A Common Word between Us and You.”

I was one of over 300 Christians who signed the letter, seeing it as an important step in building bridges and engaging each other in important conversations at both the local level and between important bodies of leaders representing each faith tradition. It seems this is coming full circle for me, both this week and now with relationships I am building locally in Seattle. I’m sure I will have more to share after this exciting week but for now I invite you to pray for what God is doing through the Mosaics Project and for ways to engage my new friends in these special days in sunny California with the Gospel! I’m excited for what God has in store!

I’ve been eating a few burgers this week too and just thought I’d share a photo with you all from one of my favorite quintessential burger establishments in the region. If you want to know more about what is going on in this dialogue event and some of the developments in my on-going work, drop me a line at prayformosaics@yahoo.com. I will have a brief report sometime next week after this event.