Walk Up Not Out

“Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.” Ephesians 5:2

To this day I still remember my biggest regret from my days at Oak Grove elementary school. This isn’t regret that I realize now, that I didn’t know then. Instead, I knew then what I didn’t do that I should have done.

Here it is: I should have been a friend.

I had a lot of friends and for the most part I think I was a good friend. But, there was a girl that I intentionally kept at a distance, simply because she smelled.

Her odor made her an outcast.

This girl from my childhood came to mind recently when our children in our afterschool program were encouraged by our children’s director to “Walk Up, Not Out.” Here is the poster from our program that explains the idea:

At a time when activism is encouraging people to speak up and walk out, I doubt either of those things would have made a difference to that little girl sitting alone in the lunch room. Then again, writing and reflecting now does nothing for her either. But maybe, I will see a person this week, walk up to them, take them to lunch, and treat them like a friend. Whether it does anything to change their life doesn’t really matter. The point is to change mine.

Well Done Not Well Said

According to many scholars, the last letter Paul wrote was Second Timothy. In it, he gives some hard-nosed instructions to a young man. Among other things, the letter talks about how a person should live. I once heard someone say,

“When I come before the Lord, I don’t want him to say, ‘Well said, good and faithful servant.’ I want Him to say ‘Well done.’”

The Bible says that the Word became flesh. The Bible doesn’t say that the Word became more words. As Christians we are to be the body of Christ, not just one big talking mouth.

Five hundred years ago, a group of people rediscovered the Bible and the idea of faith alone. They described faith as a fire. They described works as the heat from the fire. You can’t create the heat without the fire. But if there is no heat, you can’t help but wonder if there is really a fire. The two things, fire and heat (or faith and works) go together. We will be remembered not just for what we believe, but for what we do.

God Keeps Losing

God lets Abraham win the argument over how many righteous people need to be in the city in order to save it. God lets Jacob prevail in the wrestling match.  God lets Moses win the discussion over whether to destroy the people in the wilderness. Our Lord takes the position of the disciples in the talk with the Canaanite woman concerning what is fed to the children and not to the “dogs.” Then Jesus lets the woman win the argument.

God sends his Messiah to free his people from the oppressors, and then it looks as though those colonizers actually win, and they execute the Messiah.

We look to the divine throne at the end of the Bible and we expect to see a victorious lion, but instead we see a lamb, who seems to have been killed.

What is going on here?

God is God, but it sometimes looks as though he allows himself to lose. Mothers and fathers and lovers can understand this sometimes…