Undiluted Beauty

Undiluted Beauty

(“Do not be so certain you have won. Do not speak with your head held so high.” Psalm 75:5)

Do you know what I do not;
Is your power so great you have brought it to the battle?
Do you take counsel or do you put your head inside a
soundproof booth to keep your personal plans alive?

I used to need to be certain. I figured I was truly right.
I met every argument with a counter more wise,
I heard every disagreement as a disguise keeping
people from candor. I was the conveyer of truth,
my arguments were leakproof as they left my mouth.

But my soul hungered for more. My soul left me to
wonder why the surer arguments started to leave me empty.
I could hold my answers in a single hand but the truth
was numerous as all the grains of sand. How could I
be that foolish;
how could my doctrine be so brutish?

Are you still grasping dearly to parchment paper
copied hundreds of years ago? Do you remain sure of
the single verses you have plastered across your walls?
Has your mind ever changed? Has your fight ever ceased its
battles?

Under this sapphire sky are seashell eyes waiting for
freedom and unshackled fire within their soul. They long
to see
a day turning to night as the pastels of evening paint
the horizon.
They long to hear undiluted beauty and see the symphonies
of love from an orchestra of joy.

What shall we feed them this time? What recipes will we use?
Have we chosen saran-wrapped sandwiches from the deli counter?
Or are we willing to freestyle some bread and fixings, humble
ingredients, and water springing from underground. Shall we
admit we don’t always know what to do with so much fresh
produce. But we will feed you just the same.

Of Brides and Badges

Of Brides and Badges

“Then one of the seven angels…came and spoke with me, saying, ‘Come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.’” Revelation 21:9

A late-model black Ford Mustang drove past me on my walk earlier this week. It was a beautiful car, sleek and freshly polished. I waved at the driver and she waved back. (I wave at everybody on my walk, makes them scratch their head and say, “Do I know that guy?”)

The next day I took the same route and about 15 minutes into my walk saw the same black Mustang parked in the driveway of a house nearby. “That’s nice,” I thought. “The owner lives in the neighborhood.” Then, about 10 minutes later, passing another house I saw a second black Mustang. I thought, “Well, it is a nice car. But two in the same neighborhood?”

Today I took my walk, same route, same cars. But this time I looked closer at the second “Mustang”. Oh no, it had a Chevrolet badge on the front. It’s a Camaro!

That made me think of my early teens. I grew up in a very car-centric time and place. I turned 13 in 1968 living near East Los Angeles. Almost every friend I knew was into cars. We are also not far from some of the most famous drag strips in the country. I watched the Funny Cars more than once as the red to green countdown sent them roaring down the quarter-mile track. So, cars were a big part of our scene.

Sitting in the front yard with my friends, they would often identify the make and model of each car well before it drove by. Me? I had no idea. I couldn’t distinguish a Ford from a Chevy from a Dodge, let alone the model and year. But they could! I take that back. I knew what a Ford Fairlane was, our next-door neighbor owned one. I don’t think I even knew the difference between a sedan and a coupe. (Yes, if you are asking, I do know now. Four-door, two-door.)

I never asked those long-ago friends how they could tell the difference. For one thing, it would betray my ignorance. Whether they had read Car and Driver from front to back since they were ten or had glued models together of all the popular cars, they knew what they were talking about. On my walk, it was the Chevy insignia that identified my mistake.

How do we know what group or groups are the “church”? What insignia or badge can we identify? Does the church have modern fuel-injection, hemi engines, or gull fins? There are many pictures of the church throughout the New Testament. One of the most frequent is the “bride of Christ.”

I’ve performed over 100 weddings in my ministry. I’ve seen brides in glorious white and beaded dresses, in cowboy boots and in their favorite team’s jersey. No matter how they were dressed, there was no one more beautiful than the bride standing with her groom. (Sorry guys, nobody comes away from a wedding saying, “And wasn’t the groom beautiful?”)

Brides are radiant; they are effusive. They are like a firework display of protons brightening the world for the few moments of the ceremony. Their faces shine, their makeup runs, but even that is beautiful. It really doesn’t matter if they took all morning to pretty themselves up or went minimal for a simple exchange of vows. A bride is love and loveliness on visual display.

There is a reason she glows. (And you can thank me now, guys.) Brides do not stand alone. They beam because they are in love with their groom. She may have been “pretty” before the wedding but combine that with the depth of love the couple shares, and there are few moments like it.

I believe these two qualities, beauty and love, are the primary marks of the church. Whatever else we might say about any particular bride, she is beautiful. And so is the church.

Now, I do not mean, necessarily, the religious expression of Christianity. I am referring to the beauty of those who have kept their heart and eyes upon Jesus alone. They have learned there is no other like Him. They take the blush in their cheeks from the love He has for them.

Imagine the moments when you have seen someone carry out a selfless act. Perhaps, struggling financially themselves, a family decides to adopt a child from out of poverty. Or another, in retirement, decides to mentor a preteen child. Or think about former President Jimmy Carter, at 95 and still building houses with Habitat of Humanity. Recently he was back on site the day after falling at home and receiving 14 stitches.

There is beauty in all of these acts. I would venture to say that most people who give selflessly have been on the receiving end of great love and mercy at one time in their lives. Those who keep Christ in view have received the infinite grace of God. The more we realize that and experience it, the more beautiful the church becomes.

Which lead to the second attribute; brides are full of love. That is the source of their beauty, isn’t it? You see, we really do have a choice. Is our relationship with Christ about rules? Is it about some view that sees Him as a taskmaster who expects our slavish devotion? Or, are we like a bride who, knowing great love, can only give the same?

It is far too easy to replace these insignias with labored practices that wear us out. Or, we become political polarized, seeing every act of one party as “godless” and another as “God’s own will.” Never forget that during the American Civil War preachers were using the Bible to preach both slavery and emancipation. But which view was beautiful? Which was loving? Which looked like a beautiful bride?

I haven’t used the word “romance” yet but let me conclude with it. Men may have a difficult time with the concept because Jesus is male, and we are called the Bride. But I believe Jesus wants to romance us. If it helps, the Holy Spirit was often referred to as feminine in early church writings. Nonetheless, let the idea of romance inform your response to Christ. Allow the Divine Love that gave everything for you sweep you off your feet. Allow the Divine Love that asked nothing of you, but simply gives, transfix you. Let the thought that the entire universe if filled with the glory of Love invoke a tear, or even make you a bit giddy today.

Beauty and love; be the Bride.

Radically Loved

Radically Loved

(“Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Be tolerant with each other.” Colossians 3:12, 13a)

Do you give much thought to what others think about you? Granted, some of us think about it far too much. My brain seems to be wired in a way that is always asking, “Yeah, but what did they think about that? How did they interpret my words or actions?” Thinking through the effect of our life is a sign of maturity. But, overthinking how we are perceived by others can result in stagnation, stunting our growth into the beauty of a fulfilling life.

That is why the Scriptures so often declare God’s view of people. Frequently, we get stuck in the “humans are sinful” parts of the Bible and fail to ask, “Yes, but how does God feel about us?” If we view God as vengefully angry at us, we become vengefully angry people. If we view Him as forgiving and loving toward us, we become more forgiving and loving ourselves.

There is little doubt that people who are compassionate, kind, and humble do much more for the world than those who are abrasive and judgmental. These are the qualities of life that Father God wants for His children. Sometimes we put the cart before the horse. We demand of others and ourselves a measure of love and compassion which we may not have fully experienced.

This is why, in this verse, and throughout Scripture, we are reminded first who we are. God has called us His chosen ones. He sees us as holy. And we are dearly loved by Him! It is my firm belief that the more we actually believe we are the beloved of God, the more we will act in loving and compassionate ways.

Your identity is not rooted in your failures, nor even in your sin. It is rooted in God’s relentless tenderness that has been revealed in Jesus Christ. Brennan Manning wrote, “Define yourself radically as one beloved by God. This is the true self. Every other identity is illusion.” You cannot be holy until you see yourself as holy, set apart by God Himself. You will have trouble loving others dearly until you understand how deeply God has loved you; how radically He has loved you.

Patti and I will celebrate our 40^th wedding anniversary in just a few days. I have learned so much about the accepting, tolerant, radical love of Jesus from my wife. As much as she acts in love and forgiveness towards me, it is just as important that I know within my own heart the I am her beloved. One part of that is her responsibility; being loving. The other is mine; believing I am loved.

Take to heart what God has done in His love for you. “He destroyed the record of the debt we owed, with its requirements that worked against us. He canceled it by nailing it to the cross.” (Colossians 2:14) Inhale it deeply. Drink it as the water that slakes your deepest thirst. Every debt you owed God because you did not measure up has been “destroyed” and “nailed to the cross!” Can you imagine the freedom when you fully comprehend the depths of the Father’s love for you?

Now you can go on, enabled by your status as “the beloved” to love without fear. You can put on compassion and kindness, instead of feeling the need to correct people. You can humbly listen without being threatened by others’ opinions. You are able to be gentle in the face of fear or antagonism. And, you can patiently go at someone else’s pace instead of your own, all because you know you are the Father’s beloved child.

When a church of Jesus-followers operates out of a deep understanding of God’s love through Christ, they will be seen as tolerant. This is not because they “sugar-coat” sin, it is because they know the only answer to the sin problem is the relentless love of God shown through Jesus Christ. Not only that, people will never call that church “boring”!

Do you struggle with what God thinks about you? Then take to heart these words today: You are His chosen one. You are holy to Him. And, you are His beloved. Now, go and show that same relentless tenderness to the world around you.

Whispers Home

Whispers Home

(pour une amie)

Never trust a mirror distorted by blood words;
by one-vowel epithets like sword-thrusts to the brain.
Your image is befogged by the hot breath
of boiling sentences cracking upon the lava dome
sealed over and over, (a blind eye’s slap on the hand,
a fuming heat, molten sand) so that scar and wound
explode too closely. The eyes

Once soft with love, the man you found to
take you (a piece here, a piece there), a man
you hoped would astound you; he saw the
finished work while you were still shattered;
shards on concrete and lawn.

But he churned instead; his eyes
crimson red and not staring. His gaze looked ahead,
behind, through and over, but never
at the beauty he could behold if only
he had not boiled over, scalding the love
that could have made his own debris a
creation of love, degree after degree.

You are love, and listen; you are loved.
You are beauty, and behold; you are pretty,
appealing; worth gold fired twice,
worth translucent jewels; a renewal that hears
the better Word, the truer Names that
princesses carry; that have taken everything the
hateful sounds could muster, and waited,

And prayed

And waited, and wore her beauty
like Spring’s first clear morning; the fog
dispersed overnight, the roses bedewed
at first light, and her eyes shining the way new
mothers do, at the first sight and sound of
the tiny life she will love with embraces and
protective glances;

The richest and deepest brown, her eyes were
beauty too, for each happy acquaintance who,
with lost bearings finds her the welcome that
whispers “home” over the ocean’s explosions.

She is beauty; and she will still be from day,
to year, to decade and again. Call her daughter,
sister, mate or friend; she is beauty, then and now
and to the end.

Certain for the Chaos

Certain for the Chaos

(“For the Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our King. He will save us." Isaiah 33:22)

God does not lean upon your faith tiny one,
nor does your doubt violate the decorations
in space and time
that He has imagined for your early questions
or your late day why’s.

He is rain for the forest, for deer and fox,
coyote and rabbit; He is rain for the forest
and needs no consent for the showers
He drenches upon warm and open,
cold and crowded. Unasked,
the fair mist and drizzles dress
the limbs that wait for their next greening.

He is certain for the chaos, for the flood undammed,
the thieves of innocent understanding. He is certain for the chaos
and calls it circle and gravity, names it wave and particle,
writes it love and honesty; and the galaxies obey
Him
better than the reasoning animal who observes
their turning.

He is Light where stars are shadow,
He is Music where molecules are absent,
He is Best though we settle for better,
He is Beauty who began the extra-spectral pigments
from introspective rings of joy. He is in
and over, out and under, before and behind,
after and leading all from the first noise
no one heard to the last
chorus of happy justice! The universe
applauds
whether we believe it or not.

In my most withered moments when
pen is dry and hope is drought,
He still wakes the sun,
speaks the warm,
loves the oblique
just the same.