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Living God’s Story

“For I know the plans I have you,” declares the Lord, “…plans to give you a hope and a future.” (Jer 29:11)

Imagine this scene. A diverse group of persons arrive at the community theater one evening to begin working on the play they will perform a few months from now. The annual production is a tradition in this small town and they are both excited and nervous about getting started. The director distributes the scripts.

The group begins flipping through the script and one person after another makes an odd discovery. There is an entire section missing from the book. Shortly after the climax of the plot, the next act is missing. A page or two, which seems to be the final few scenes, is stapled on at the back. Perplexed, the actors cast sideways glances at one another. Finally, one speaks up and asks the director, “Where is the missing act? How are we supposed to perform that part of the story?”

A playful smile crosses the director’s face as he responds, “That’s the part you’ll improvise.”

“Improvise!?!”

Heart rates pick up a bit as the actors start wondering what they’ve gotten themselves into.

Sound familiar? It should. This “improvisation” we call Christian living is based on (1) knowing the story thus far (in the bible) and (2) knowing and trusting the Author—God, for the ending.

“Hope” is about who or what we believe has the last word on how the story ends. The actors will improvise differently depending on how they think the story ends. We will live differently based on who or what we believe holds our story’s end—global financial markets, our children’s accomplishments, our achievements at work, our political party’s success, our moral excellence, and a host of other things.

Only with our Hope in Christ alone can we live faithfully in relation to everyone and everything else in our lives. That true hope is what our church exists to inspire in people. We begin inspiring that hope in others when it lives in us.

So be grounded in the Story of God in Scripture and trust Christ with your Hope for the future. The Author has handed out the script. And He gives His Spirit to guide us as we live day-to-day faithfully and boldly.

seven stanzas at easter

Seven Stanzas at Easter

By John Updike

Make no mistake: if He rose at all
it was as His body;
if the cells’ dissolution did not reverse, the molecules
reknit, the amino acids rekindle,
the Church will fall.

It was not as the flowers,
each soft Spring recurrent;
it was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled
eyes of the eleven apostles;
it was as His Flesh: ours.

The same hinged thumbs and toes,
the same valved heart
that — pierced — died, withered, paused, and then
regathered out of enduring Might
new strength to enclose.

Let us not mock God with metaphor,
analogy, sidestepping transcendence;
making of the event a parable, a sign painted in the
faded credulity of earlier ages:
let us walk through the door.

The stone is rolled back, not papier-mache,
not a stone in a story,
but the vast rock of materiality that in the slow
grinding of time will eclipse for each of us
the wide light of day.

And if we will have an angel at the tomb,
make it a real angel,
weighty with Max Planck’s quanta, vivid with hair,
opaque in the dawn light, robed in real linen
spun on a definite loom.

Let us not seek to make it less monstrous,
for our own convenience, our own sense of beauty,
lest, awakened in one unthinkable hour, we are
embarrassed by the miracle,
and crushed by remonstrance.

what rome and god were both saying in the cross

All four Gospels include in their accounts the notice placed above Jesus on the cross. But the Gospel of John includes an extra piece of detail in 19:19-20:

Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek.

We have thought of the cross as located “on a hill far away,” like the old hymn about “the old rugged cross.” But the cross wasn’t very far away at all. The condemned were crucified just outside the city, nearby in order to serve as an example. Anyone journeying to or near the city of Jerusalem would get the message.

And in Jesus’ case in particular, the notice is written in Aramaic (or Hebrew), Latin, and Greek. What is the significance of these three languages? Aramaic was the local languages of the Jews living in the area. Latin was the language of the Roman Empire. And Greek was nearer to the universal language of the day. So, whether you were a local Jew, a Roman citizen, or a traveler on economic business, you should get the message. Today it would be something like posting a sign written in English, Chinese, and a local language.

So Jesus is crucified near the city where plenty of people would pass by and witness the sight. And the sign over him, “Jesus of Nazareth: The King of the Jews” is written to be read by persons from every conceivable background.

Rome is saying to any passerby: “This is what happens when people dare to transgress the power and sovereignty of Rome.”

And I think God is saying basically the same thing: “This is what happens when people dare to transgress the power and sovereignty of Almighty God.”

But the difference is critical, of course. For Rome, it is a message of destruction.

For God, it is a message of forgiveness.

looking for spring

When will spring be here? That’s been a question in my home for the past month or so. I live with people who love to play in the dirt and garden and see the signs of ne w life that emerge. There is a unique joy in seeing the first buds on the trees and bushes. There’s a thrill in seeing what we know is on its way actually begin to show up.

We’ve been answering that question in relation to the date on the calendar, March 21. But this is a spiritual question for us too, of course.

“When will spring be here?” can also be a way of wondering…

• When will my work be noticed by people who matter?
• When will my children begin making decisions I’m prouder of?
• When will my parents meaningfully trust me?
• When will my grief become bearable?
• When will my faults stop dragging me down?

Thankfully, our God enjoys playing in the dirt too. He saw dirt and imagined something more. And he said, “Let us create humanity in our image” (Genesis 1:26-31). But we left the playfulness of creativity with the dirt outside. We traded that healthy enjoyment of God’s creation for idolatries that get dirt on the soul. And God again imagined something more. Jesus became like one made of dirt in order to clean us from the dirt on the soul (2 Corinthians 5:21).

The hope of Easter, the hope of resurrection, is something like buds on branches, the hope of spring. In Jesus’ resurrection, we see evidence that heaven has gained a foothold in our world and that signs of new life are beginning to show up in people’s lives and in situations that seemed hopeless.