periphal faith

Peripheral– def. adjective.

of, relating to, or situated on the edge or periphery of something.
of secondary or of minor importance; marginal.

Peripheral vision is something we all desire to attain, whether consciously or unconsciously. Those conscious of their search enjoy a normative 160 of vision. They take in more than those who just stick to the straight & narrow.

When it comes to our faith, being able to see a more expansive picture is of great benefit. It provides the believer with greater perception into the depths of faith, and a clearer comprehension of how to face the uncertainties of the future. Studying Scripture, our world, cultures, and history conjoins our faith with those around us and with those who have gone before. It gives us a clear eye-on-the-world while establishing a rich safety in the heart of God.

Sadly, this is not true for every Christian. For most have merely a peripheral faith; that is, a faith that resides at the outer edges of their lives, which they only recall when reminded. Their faith is not central to their lives; it is far from their core, absent from the warp ‘n woof of their daily meanderings. They chose to be ‘Christian’ by designation, not so much by determination.

They may attend Church every week, or just at Christmas and/or Easter, or for the occasional funeral or wedding. When they exit the church, they discard their faith at the door, reentering their world of reality with little thought of their faith or the life-principles granted them in the Bible.

Consider this, if you embrace the name of Christ in any way, what self-evidence do you have which confirms that faith? Do you hunger to learn more about your faith? Are your prayers perfunctory or passionate? How does your faith spur you on to make a difference in our society, especially among the poor?

If you are a genuine follower of Christ, your faith will not fall on the periphery of your life: it will seethe with energy and power at your core. It will make a great difference in your life: and you will make a great difference in our world.

For what it’s worth,

Gary

nah nah, nah nah nah

This children’s taunt, is a wonderful reminder that some of us have to be better than somebody else. AND that we have to remind them of it. So there! I’m-better-than-you-are! [Tongue out, thumbs in ears, fingers wiggling.]

At a recent meeting of our Board of Directors one of its members quipped- If you’re not Dutch, you’re not much. Yes, he was of Dutch decent. He was making a point—namely, that it always seems necessary to put someone else down so we can lift up ourselves, our sexual orientation, or our nationality, or pedigree, or race, or team, or whatever. Then we taunt those who are “not like us.” Brilliant!

In our current setting we term this treatment Bullying. It is a problem our school systems and professional sports teams face on a daily basis; of course, it rises up in the home as “sibling rivalry.” Through all attempts to level the playing field, our life-long desire for supremacy infests the spirit of too many of us. On a global scale that usually means other people die. At least in the NFL people aren’t killed. Yet.

Might I suggest we cease taunting each other, putting each other down, and, individually, corporately, even in the global arena, and start encouraging each other in practical, functional ways. Remember the words of Jesus as he started his ministry—

Blessed are the peace-makers, for they shall be known as sons of God. (Matthew 5:9)

Not a bad descriptor for anyone, Christian or otherwise.

And please put your tongue back in your mouth before someone pounds your jaw and you bite it off.

For what it’s worth,

Gary

Prophet…

Prophet, do you have something to say that is compatible with life?

Most of us arrive at various tipping points in our lives where it is time for us to change, time for a shift in who we are and how we live. We need to re-think everything about ourselves, from the kind of work we do, to our relationships, to our life perspectives. Or at least we should. We need to ask ourselves some very basic questions about life—

1. What am I all about?

2. Is this what I want to be about?

3. Well, if not this, then what?

4. Then, what do I need to do to get started?

It is at these tipping points when we most need the perspective and insights of others. It is also at these points in life when we are most vulnerable to the most persuasive voices. There are men and women among us with prophetic voices that are able to guide us along a healthy path to fulfill our journey with meaning and a sense of completion.

But there are also false prophets who just want a following; they claim to have an edge on the truth, special insights into your life that you should follow. They can be health guru’s, business advisors, life coaches, spiritual advisors, or simply good drinking buddies you listen to…, 8 beers in. Really!?!

How do you determine if your particular brand of prophet, or consultant, counselor, advisor, knows what they are talking about?

1. Listen carefully; then get a second, or third, or fourth opinion.

2. Scrutinize their lives to discover if they are taking their own advice, living by their own principles.

3. To what extent are they considering the risks you will be taking based on their advice?

4. To what extent are they coming alongside you? To what extent sending you out on your own?

Finding a voice to trust is no simple matter. It involves a good bit of trial and error—especially error. In my formative days I played with the Bible with some degree of philosophical skepticism and child-like disbelief. The whole thing seemed no more than fanciful stories. Except for the stories of Jesus—his stories seemed compatible with life the way I saw it around me. His stories seemed to fit life; my life. Thus, my conversion to the Christian faith was prompted more by philosophical investigation than anything else.

If Jesus were asked then, or now, “Prophet, do you have anything to say that is compatible with life?” he would more than likely not answer. Rather, he would continue teaching the principles God had sent him here to teach and live a life that backed up his claims, leaving his credibility to our discretion.

For what it’s worth,

Gary

culturally incurious

A great friend of mine, and mastermind in all aspects of world-cultural history, once described a group of Christians as culturally incurious. An odd but insightful comment to be sure, but one that he would not make lightly; though much of his brilliance rolled off his tongue the way most of us would drool for pizza.

How many of us are culturally incurious? What we don’t know we don’t want to know: our world is fine the way it is. “Don’t bother me with more information I don’t want to think about. I don’t want my perception of the world challenged or changed. Leave me alone!”

For some people the deepest thinking they ever do is the decision to buy a truck or a cross-over, to watch NCIS or CSI: Miami. They are culturally incurious. If anyone challenges them that they might need a world view or a life philosophy they simply dismiss it as either not necessary to their nice little packaged life or too much work.

Why have so many of us, especially genuine Christians, lost most interest in the world around us? Why has our curiosity dissolved to little more than sound-bite news clips on TV?

Maybe we’re too pressured with our own problems. Maybe we believe that government should sort through this massive mess—it’s just too big for us to make a difference. Maybe we’re on information overload and refuse to handle even one more thought!

Whatever the reason, too many of us (genuine Christians) seem too content to attend church, tithe 2% off our net income, provide for our families, and strive to be as stress-free and as comfortable as possible the rest of the time.

What has happened to us?!? How about it, folks, can we make a difference in people’s lives around us? Can we support movements, organizations, political lobbies, and missions that are active change agents in our world? Sometimes I wonder if we have more of an interest in getting our bodies in shape that in getting our world in shape.

Life is messy: get used to it. Life is dirty: learn to build castles out of dirt. Life is painful: learn to celebrate in the midst of the pain. Life is hard: toughen up!

But, you say, I’m pretty beaten down, broken, and have little hope for the future. Don’t you know that our God wants to lift you out of the pain and mire and hold you in His arms? Why don’t you let Him do His job? And then go out and make a difference in our world!

collateral damage

One of the givens of war is collateral damage— the incidental destruction of property and human life not intended as part of a tactical military maneuver; also known as- the casualties of war. Each side in the conflict will report and dramatize the extent of collateral damage inflicted by the other side as if the intended targets were indeed the innocents. The propaganda and misinformation war waged alongside of the military conflict will always seek to claim moral justification for its retaliation by producing the most graphic images. The truth is
that too many innocent people are used as military shields, as propaganda tools, and, sadly, as actual targets. IF they have any military value whatsoever, they are expendable. Casualties of war.

Similarly, some of us have no idea of the collateral damage we leave in our wake. Some, to be sure, are glibly blind to the havoc they cause. They are simply stupid people who need to be confronted with their stupidity. It is those who have no issue with littering casualties along the way as long as they can achieve their personal goals that are at issue here. Why is it that some of us believe we have the right to use others, to step on them to climb one more rung up the ladder, to wound them deeply, and then to dispose of them as little more than rotting rubbish!?! And then they continue their climb up the ladder, suffering no moral or ethical pangs in what they have done.

Common decency and courtesy would seem to dictate that a simple apology containing some degree of civil or humane restitution would be in order. Yet if it remains with the abuser to put forth the contrition, to take the lower place, you may well have to provide your own snowballs in hell. Thus, just or not, it will most probably fall to you to take the lower place, and accordingly to rise to the level of bringing some reconciliation to the situation— even though you remain the collaterally damaged and discarded one . Ever heard this adage?

If you place yourself on top, there’s only one direction you can go.

If you place yourself on the bottom, there’s only one direction you can go.

Never, ever be the one who inflicts collateral damage on others!

Have a nice week,

Gary

so what !?!

An article in a recent US newspaper struck me as quite perspicuous. It was titled “God, Religion Atheism. So What!?!” It seems that many government and private market forms, when asking for religious identification encompass a variation on this article’s title— “Christian, Jewish, Muslim, NONE.” The article pointed out that more and more, Americans are selecting NONE as their category of choice. It’s not that we are not religious; we just don’t want to identify with any “organized religion.” (From my observations there’s good news then; religion isn’t that organized anymore.) The article certainly did not reveal anything new when it noted that there is a growing number of us who not only have NO religious affiliation, but believe that there is no god, no higher principles, no magnificent scheme, no metanarrative, no purpose-for-living to which they should dedicate their energy and allegiance. Their life’s significance and direction are set solely by their own desires, skills, decisions, and preferences. It is the enjoyment of life’s predilections & pleasures that determine their direction. They are NOT concerned with fitting in with some divine purpose or search for meaning. Selah.

From the vantage point of a person (ok, me) who has lived as a servant of the Most HIGH GOD this seems an evasion of both societal and spiritual participation; choosing, instead, to place the desires of the moment and a penchant for personal fulfillment above any need to be included or concerned in the lives of the people of this planet. It is not arrogant self-centeredness: it is irresponsible self-absorption. It flies in the face of all the sacrifices and efforts made to forestall a global Armageddon. Government isn’t all bad: but at least it’s trying. Religious people don’t always agree: but at least they are endeavouring to make a difference.

The non-religious, non-caring, so-whats!?! of our culture are wrong. Inherent within us all, cognizant of it or not, lies a deep sense of purpose and meaning for life. Their arrogance asserting a belief in self as the ultimate determiner of meaning is unfathomable. None of us would be here today had not some of us dedicated our lives to making a difference. Then again, a world without God is as devoid of meaning as it gets; created or imputed meaning leaves much to be desired. The world and the universe do not revolve around us. It is not about So what!?! It is about what if, I can, I’m sorry, together, & making a difference. So be it!

Have a nice week,

Gary

Courage

Socrates, Chin, Hammurabi, Abram, Moses, David, Alexander the Great, Cleopatra, Eric the Great, Charlemagne, Odo the Great, Elizabeth I, Peter the Great, Susan B Anthony, Clara Barton, Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, Annie Sullivan, Mother Teresa, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Martin Luther King, Jr., Aung San Suu Kyi, Sgt. Dakota Meyer. Every one of these individuals possesses a quality every person on earth must acquire— courage. In our present era we talk more about our rights than about our responsibilities; we are more concerned about bottom-lines than life-lines for others. We have become more a people of self-preservation than of self-sacrifice.

Self-protection and self-gratification are not, mind you, the definers of all of us; certainly not of those in the opening inventory. There are still some who put others before themselves. Why do they do this? They possess qualities that others deem weaknesses, or foolish. Qualities like, graciousness, forgiveness, humility, and courage. These qualities are not often rewarded in the civic arena. In fact, they go mostly unnoticed. Acts of kindness & courage are most often done in secret; actions which come to light only at a later date (if at all).

Amidst the stresses swirling about in our postModern/postChristian society it takes courage for many of us just to get out of bed to face another day. Things are not as simple as they once were. The smorgasbord of choices and decisions we must make every day— what to do with our time & priorities, our commitments, our financial restrictions, our emotional highs & lows, our energies & exhaustion, notwithstanding the ethical & moral dilemmas we encounter, are overwhelming.

Unless we each hold some guiding principles, some basic beliefs about life, faith, and trust in something (Someone) beyond ourselves, we will be quite confounded as to how to grapple with it all. You see, courage rests on a foundation of belief, which rests on a certain realties beyond individual mere self-preservation. Call it faith in God, belief in a “higher-power,” or even a “…if it is God’s will.” Courage rarely issues forth from a basis of superiority; rather, it arises from a sense of one’s own humility in the grand scheme of things, in believing that there are powerful forces at work in our world, that there is a greater plan in place, than my own puny little existence.

In the ancient Greek Temple of Apollo at Delphi, inscribed above the forecourt was the Socratic maxim— γνῶθισεαυτόν. “Know thyself.” We would all do well to take a measure of ourselves within, before our fellow man (and women), and before the God who made us. For it is only from a true knowledge of who we truly are that true courage can take root and be called upon when the time is at hand.

Have a nice week,

Gary

afterlife

What will you be like when you are dead? People have been obsessed with this question for millennia. Ancient Egypt established the afterlife as a destination, a passing over to another realm, at least for the worthy (or wealthy). Emperor Qin Shi Huang (259 BCE – 210 BCE) did take it with him— 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses and 150 cavalry horses, all in earthy terracotta. Dante Alighieri’s 14^th century Divine Comedy describes for us the Nine Circles of Hell (Dante’s Inferno)— Limbo, Lust, Gluttony, Avarice, Wrath, Heresy, Violence, Fraud, and Treachery; as well as a depiction of Heaven as the Four Cardinal Virtures— Justice, Fortitude, Prudence, and Temperance, coupled with the Three Theological Virtues— Faith, Hope and Love. Hinduism offers us Reincarnation, Islam— Paradise, Christianity— Heaven (or Hell, depending). And postmodern scientific uncertainty— well, uncertainty, or nothingness, or, just the end. Then there are those Near Death Experiences, when people seemingly return from beyond and tell us of visions of light, a tunnel, even Jesus. Hum. Oddly, they report that it is the little things in life, kindness, caring, touch, forgiveness, that truly matter.

What seems amazing, though, is how much energy we expend on preparing for death, or at least for retirement. It’s all about protecting ourselves, isn’t it. Nothing wrong with that, of course; but history reveals just how obsessive we can become with it. On the other end of the spectrum are those who live for the moment. Future be damned! Live for NOW. This disregard for the consequences of our actions, though oft pleasurable, has its own built in self-destruct machinery. Obviously, we need to establish a happier, more sensible middle arrangement.

Though most religions offer us some revelations of the afterlife, most can be considered to be speculative, metaphorical, or at best, scant. Even within my own faith, Biblical Christianity, the descriptions of the afterlife usually describe encounters with God the Father, Throne Rooms, Judgment, etc. Even if these descriptions are merely metaphorical, versus actual, they are enough to give me pause about my own position before a Holy God. Shouldn’t we be giving our energies to making a difference in this life, on this planet, in the lives of some of those we know, and some we don’t know— quite yet! I’m not living my life, being good, to avoid Hell, or to gain a reward in Heaven. I live my life as honorably as I know how, as compassionately as I can be, and as in line with the principles set-up by God at Creation for this world to run smoothly.

As long as I am alive, I want to be someone who makes a difference in other people’s lives. (I’ll probably drive God crazy when I’m dead.) How ‘bout you?

Have a nice week.

Gary

Fertilizer

I grew up a city kid. The Baltimore harbor-front was my turf. I was in a teenage gang; but we all were in those days; that’s just the way it was. Through my father’s business acquaintances I found a friendship in my total opposite—a farm boy, Asa Sharp. When our families would visit their farm in rural Maryland, Asa and I would always escape to the barn where we would build tunnels & forts through the hay bales. It was a miracle we weren’t killed by their collapsing on top of us.

From below the hay-loft, where the cows were milked, there arose such an awful stench! From the other end of the cow. The cows were making fertilizer…, at no extra cost to the farmer. The smell was so horrible I asked Asa how he ever stood it! He replied “What smell?” (I much preferred the aroma of oil slicks & refuse floating in the Baltimore harbor. The scent of home!)

This past week I received probably the oddest compliment of my life. A well known individual, commenting on a lecture I had just delivered, Growing a postChristian Faith, remarked that I was fertilizer! Now, not a few people have oft noted that they thought I was full of it (it being, well, you know). But this comment went way beyond that; I was no longer merely full-of-it, I WAS IT!

This gentleman went on to remind me that the purpose of fertilizer is to add nutrients to the soil so the seeds can grow. Fertilizer nurtured the seed planted to make both the ground and the young plant more vibrant and full of life. Truly, when I understood, it was probably one of the highest compliments I had ever been paid.

That led me to wonder how many of us are fertilizer to our friends, family, and work associates— nurturing them, feeding their growth, and providing an environment for their healthy journey to maturity? Fertilizing the soil, to receive the seed takes a lot more work. First you need the cows; then you need to feed them; then you need to clean up after them when they make a mew of things; then you need to let their mess sit around a bit, ‘till it settles (sound familiar?); finally, you need to spread their manure all over a freshly tilled field. THEN, you get to plant the seed. Then, you wait for God to work His miracles. It’s just so more natural to yell and scream, to confront and condemn, to cast blame and to judge…, and to simply dump @#$& on people, isn’t it!?! Right, that will produce positive results.

Have a nice week.

Gary

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