Day 3 & 4 of Hope

Wednesdays are difficult to post due to a busy schedule. However, I won't "skimp". 

Psalm 121: 1 & 2  - "I lift up my eyes to the mountains — where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth."  Many people read this as a verse thinking the author is appreciating creation and that the God of creation is where his hope comes from. Only the second part of the preceding statement is true.  If we know much about the context, there were many altars built to false gods in the mountains. While it is nice to think about the beauty of creation, we must understand that the author is telling us that his hope DOES NOT come from the "gods" represented in the mountainside shrines.

When looking for hope, we need to TRULY seek after God. Not that He is hard to find, rather we become so distracted looking for beauty (hope), we are not really seeking God or pursuing Him with ALL we have. So, where is my hope found? The obvious, and spiritual answer, is God. And where is God found? In our circumstances? In others? In The Body? Working through non-believers and pagan world systems? Sometimes. Yet sometimes, the difficult struggle can be found in the desire to see God tangibly - not just try to "tie Him" to some providential work. 

It is like the story of the little boy who lost his daddy. His mother, being keenly aware of the her son's profound sense of longing tried to encourage the boy by saying, "Remember, Jesus is a father to the fatherless. God is your daddy," to which the boy replied, "I know mommy, but sometimes I need God to have a body so I can throw the football with Him." Maybe we as believers lose hope because we need to see MORE of Jesus from each other - especially from other Believers that we respect. Like the little boy, is it really wrong to desire to see "God with a body"?

None-the-less, our hope comes from the Lord. I think the challenge for me is to be God with a body. My hope is that THE Body, will truly become HIS Body.

Day 4 - Is it easy to come by or difficult to come by? I suppose it all depends on how individuals see their circumstances. Of course, the more trying the circumstance, the more difficult hope is to come by and yet, it is hope that keeps us going. It is easy to become "despondent" over our current economy, government, personal finances, not having "enough" and so on and so on. However, put yourself in the place of a mother in an impoverished nation frantically praying for food for her child who is slowly starving to death. Hope seems hard to come by and her situation makes our concerns seem rather petty.

Our hope is in God. So is the mother's hope... but the mother's hope is also in US, the Body of Christ, to do SOMETHING! Anything! We are the hope. We are the hope from God and of God. God has put us here to be the hope, not to get concerned about relatively petty concerns. Sometimes we need to see that we are the hope. So if we are looking for hope, the closest place to look is in the mirror but only if the mirror allows us to see others, not ourselves!
² 

Day 2 - Hope

Psalm 25:5 says, "Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long." I have to constantly remind myself that keeping my eyes "on the world", is what could leave me with a sense of losing hope. Don't get me wrong, there are times when I can see hope in the world, but I do not look at the world for my hope.

This means I must find my hope in God, for as the Psalmist said, "...you are my God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long." This means I must seek out God much more than I seek out hope in the world. Seeking God brings about hope.

No matter what the world or the culture may say, God is still at work through His people. I think of places like the Philippines. When tragedy hits, it is often The Church that steps up and delivers hope in the name of Jesus. We must remember that our job is not to "change the world", or job is to love God's creation (not love the things of the world). "For God so loved the world..." This verse speaks of loving God's Creation. Loving His Creation brings about redemption and restoration. Other governments might bring relief, but there is still another disaster waiting around the corner. Relief brought in the name of Jesus brings more than food, water, shelter and medication - it brings hope for eternal salvation.

Our hope is not found in the world. God can use the things of this world, but it is His presence in His people that brings hope. "Seek FIRST the Kingdom of God, all all these things will be added..." Matthew 6:33. What if all true believers sought after God FIRST and His Kingdom rather than trying to "fight the world"? This is what it means to bring about His Kingdom on earth. When we do this, it will be God who brings about the change for we are allowing His presence to break through. This is where I MUST find my hope.

How about you? Once again, if you have a story of hope, please send me your story at richgriffith@yahoo.com

30 Days of Hope and Joy

It has been a while since I have posted and posting is mainly for myself. I do have a few "readers" and I hope that those few will keep me accountable for the posts to follow.

I am beginning (and hopefully will stick with) two-30 day blogs. The first blog will focus on looking for hope and the second will focus on looking for joy.

After some serious "introspection", I have decided that there are two things that I desperately lack in my life: hope and joy. I think one must first find hope in order to obtain joy. As many might know, joy is not "happiness". We live in a culture obsessed with being happy. Happiness is based on circumstances while joy is something found more "deeply within" - even in light of negative circumstances.

I am not sure where my emotional apathy began. Maybe it first reared it's ugly head after taking a course on "At Risk Children" as part of my Masters Degree. Hearing about child-soldiers, human trafficking, abuse and neglect of children world-wide put a wound in me that maybe I did not want to acknowledge. This wound grew deeper with multiple senses of betrayal throughout a long career in ministry and various dimensions that come with that call.

I am convinced that the fight against human depravity, whether personal or societal, is the most difficult fight humanity ever faces. Personal demons or national atrocities seem to be in abundance. As a Christian, I have to believe that there is redemption to be had. As a human, I want that redemption to happen in the here and now, not just wait until Jesus comes back.

So, day one in my search for hope begins...

Sometimes hope can be difficult to find - especially on a daily basis. I fear that this may be a daunting task if I undertake this on my own. I don't want the search for hope to be inauthentic. I don't want it to be the kind of thing we experience when we are told to, "Say something nice about a person," and the only thing we come up with is, "I really like your shoes." I may need help and encouragement to find hope.

I suppose it would be cliche to say I always have my hope in Jesus, but truth be known, sometimes I need to see "Jesus in action" and, more than likely, that is going to have to come through other people. Some of those people may not even be Christians. I do believe that God can use ALL things and ALL people to bring about hope - even if they do not call upon His name.

Day 1 of Hope - https://www.operationundergroundrailroad.org/

This organization is headed up by ex-Special Forces and former Navy Seal Operators. Where governments fail to declare war on sexual perpetrators and those who run human sex trafficking rings, these folks step in and take care of business. In Matthew 18:1-9, Jesus gives a profound warning to those who would harm children or cause them to be taken advantage of.

My hope today is that God would use Operation Underground Railroad to dramatically eliminate sex trafficking of children and that hope would come to these rescued children.

The Stressed Out Society Contributes To Children And Youth Mental And Emotional Issues

There has been a continued significant rise in the amount of children diagnosed with everything from ADHD to Asperger’s and various Autism Spectrum maladies. Could it be that we are causing these issues, not only through medications, preservatives and additives in our foods and drinks, but also through stressing our children? For past multiple years now, authors have been commenting on the stress that our children are facing and yet little is being done to “alleviate” that stress.

Studies in neuroscience and brain development show that a child’s brain development is dramatically impacted by stress. The impact on brain development is significant as the brain is the organ that also controls chemical regulation as well as emotional development. It seems that every institution that was supposedly the bastions of child protection and development have done more to harm child development than help. Families in America are fractured through divorce, abuse, systemic abandonment, parental negligence by pursuing adult desires and agendas for personal fulfillment as well as a move from nuclear families to permeable families (See Elkind, “Ties That Stress, The New Family Imbalance”). This fracturing causes a significant amount of trauma in the lives of children and youth.

Families are not the only “institution” in America to blame. Educational institutions, with their “No Child Left Behind” policies that focus on standardized testing, produce a new level of stress in both the classroom and at home. We have all been hearing and reading about the loss of common sense in the public classroom through Zero Tolerance policies. Who can forget the outrageous actions taken against the infamous “Pop tart gun” and “Hello Kitty bubble gun”? Statistically, both No Child Left Behind and Zero Tolerance policies have inadvertently (I hope) targeted families already struggling with stresses in their home life. Schools no longer teach children how to think, rather they teach children what to think by teaching to tests and standards. Granted, standards and safety are never the issue. How you go about meeting standards and safety are the issue. Children, as young as 3 and 4 years of age are already being academically and rigorously tested. The age of learning through socialization seems to be a thing of bygone days. Is it any wonder that our children are facing more and more awkwardness when it comes to socialization, and therefore learning, as they grow older? 

Along with the technology of education comes the technology of socialization. As children are growing up, deprived of education through socialization and best educational practices, children now grow up in a virtual world. This virtual world can often expose children to stressors unheard of before the 1990’s. Virtual bullying has become a problem. Now, bullying can follow a child through the internet into a child’s home through the computer or phone. What is more, few parents think of the ramifications of exposing a child to the internet and pornography on the portable pornography portal known as the phone. Countless young people, who do not really need internet access on their phones, are exposed to countless disturbing images ranging from “live” pornography to “virtual” and anime pornography to horror and blood spattered pictures. These issues produce another level of stress that kids are left to figure out on their own – especially when parents have little knowledge of what their children are being exposed to.

Recreational outlets have also become stress producers in the lives of our children. Sports have now become high-stress producers as parents and coaches live vicariously through the youth participants. We send mixed messages that, “Everyone is a winner” and yet on the other hand coaches, parents and officials get into fights right in front of the youth participants because of a “win at all costs” mentality. Children, once again, find themselves in an environment where sportsmanship and playing for the fun of it have been thrown under the bus of adult driven agendas. The result, of course, is additional stress in and on the lives of our young people.

Of course, as a Youth and Family Pastor of 28 years, I have to point an incriminating finger at “The Church” as well! I would not know where to even begin on this. The issues here range from “deeper discipleship” (meaning we cut out socialization and having fun in order to produce yet another adult-agenda driven worship service thereby separating youth from adult role models and the body of Christ), to success based on numbers of bottoms in seats (the Youth Pastor who can’t produce numbers will soon find herself looking for a new ministry position), which leads to the ridiculous turn over rate of Youth professionals at a church, the egos of Pastors (both Youth and Senior/Lead), to the judgmental and exclusive air of youth clubs, to the segregation of The Body of Christ programmatically; all of these things cause The Church in America contribute to the growing stress felt by young people. I would suspect that much of what I have mentioned above are not exclusive to youth ministry but also occur in the younger ages of children’s ministry.

What is my point? Simply this: American society, and all of the institutions that are supposed to help children and youth develop into healthy interdependent adults, have abandoned approaches that are child-driven agendas in favor of adult-driven agendas thereby producing more stress in children and youth and contributing to the heightened stress the escalation of mental and social health issues among our children and youth contributing to the social and emotional decay our society. I can wrap all this up in a simple statement that we have known to be true for years: Stress kills, and in this case, our stress handed down to children is causing a cacophony of mental and social health issues.

Is It Really "Fair"?

I love them.  I think they are a great idea, but there seems to be a very real imbalance. We are very glad to send our Women to things like, "Women of Faith" and we are even more happy to send our young ladies to "Revolve" and such tours.  I think they are awesome and I hope those tours continue to go on and our women and young ladies attend.  At these tours, the talk about some wonderful things, integrity, body image, being God's daughter... all things that are wonderful and true.  Our girls are taught about sexual purity and finding their worth in God.

The problem is, it takes two to tango... if you know what I mean.  It seems to me that there have been very few conferences of the magnitude of Revolve and Women of Faith for men and boys.  Yes, I understand that there is Promise Keepers... a wonderful movement I tend to hear less and less about.  So, we've established we have a conference for women, we have a conference for young ladies and we have a conference for men.  BUT, what about a conference of this magnitude for boys?

It seems to me that there is a little imbalance if we put the expectation for purity on girls when we do not have the same venue type for boys. This puts ALL the responsibility on the girls!  Does that sound right?  Does it sound fair?

More and more in today's society, our young men are deprived of male role models and mentors.  More and more of our young men are left to figure out life on their own.  What would it take to have a similar type of conference for boys, one that is adrenaline pumping, challenging, in your face opportunity to connect these young men with God, each other and with godly men?  I can see dirt bike stunts, comedy, extreme sports and all sort of other things that will appeal to young men.  Bringing the message of Jesus to our young men today is something that seems to have been abandoned.

Have we abandoned our young men because they do not seem interested in this kind of conference?  Do we just chalk them up to a demographic that is just too lost to reach?  Too disconnected? Too not worth our time?  Do any of these reasons justify our abandoning these young men?  Is it not worth the potential financial risk?

I am not claiming to have the answers to these questions but I am not sure I have seen a conference in the likes of "Revolve" for boys.  What gives?

Part 2 - A More Robust Theology

As mentioned, the difficulty with some "Western" theology, is that it is less robust.  Revelation 3:20 says, "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me." This is one of the few times where the scripture talks about us, in essence, inviting Christ into our life. However, this theological statement, once again, is less than robust by itself. The point of good exegesis is to take the scripture in all its context. The reality is that we are told to, "Invite Christ into our lives," but the truth is that Christ has invited us into HIS life. Which is the larger life, the life where we invite Christ into our smaller individual lives, or where we join in Christ's life? Do we ask Christ to come into our lives and bless what we are doing or do we ask for Christ to allow us into HIS life and for us to be blessed by what HE is doing? Do we receive more power by asking Christ to empower us in our life or are we empowered by being in his life? Christ is united with us, but the bigger picture is that we are united with Christ.

Interestingly enough, Philippians 2 addresses this "being united with Christ" AND does so in the context of in community, humility and not being selfish - among other things.  These are the very things that go against individualism. Once again, this is theology in the context of community, not just the individual. The concept of individuals asking Jesus into his or her life, once again, is so very individual and separate from community. Asking for Jesus to invite us into HIS life, gives us the life he was talking about in John 10:10, "I have come that they may have life, and life to the fullest."  "They," not "he" or "she".  They implies a community, not an individual.

Life in and of The Church is not about the individual, it is about The Body (1 Corinthians 12). Salvation can occur outside the context of community, though it is difficult. Sanctification, however, must happen in the context of community. Community guards against individualism, narcissism, selfish ambition, conceit and all the other things that have been contributing to the steady and continued decline of our culture. Community brings about a more full life of fellowship, joy, struggles, opportunities, giving, receiving, listening, hearing, and so many other things that help us experience "life to the fullest". 

We so miss these concepts of full theology and community that, I suspect, if Jesus Himself were to walk into most Western churches or youth functions, few would recognize him. Should we think this impossible, remember the Pharisees and Sadducees did not recognize God though he walked in their presence. And what exactly was it that blinded these devoted and religious "servants of God" to His very presence? It was the fact that these religious people were so into self-righteousness and so exclusive in their religious pursuits that they left many out of The Kingdom. Their community was a very exclusive one. Does this sound familiar to today's denominationalism, segregated Sunday Mornings (by age, denomination, socio-economics, race, etc.), focus on individual salvation at the cost of community?

Finally, the Body of Christ is supposed to be the reflection of community found in the complete community found in The Trinity. This is why we must reclaim an fuller understanding of Trinitarian Theology, community and what it means to die to ourselves (Matthew 10:39, John 12:24). The single seed (the individual) must die to itself in order to produce many seeds (community). This is a message so desperately needed in today's ego-centric, selfish and narcissistic culture.

A More Robust Theology

I have recently been stating that something is missing in Western theology.  Our cultural perspectives have become individualistic, shallow and narcissistic.  I believe that this stems from our theology.  What I have been trying to state in a very struggling manner can be put this way:

"Christocentric Reformed ecclesiology tends to focus on the salvation of an individual rather than on the demonstration of the kingdom of God; thus it can lead to individualism of faith and individualism in the local church."  (This contributes to individualism within the culture. My addition to this quote.)

"All three persons of the Trinity are involved in the emergence and life of the Christian community.  The Father sends the Son to redeem a people for himself, the Son dies on the cross to effect this redemption and the Spirit is given by the Father through the Son to the redeemed community, the church."

"A trinitarian ecclesiology is far more effective in understanding the nature and function of the church and its ministry: it not only allows the church to overcome underlying hierarchical thinking with regard to gender and various offices, but it also enables the mission of the church to be viewed and practiced in the broader perspective of proclamation and the demonstration of God's sovereigh authority all over the world.  A trinitarian ecclesiology, however, need not weaken the Christological center of its ecclesiology.  It does not lead to a denial of Christ's death on the cross as the only way to salvation, because the meaning of the cross is even mor fully explicated within a trinitarian framework."

(Quotes taken from The Missional Church In Context, The Possibility of Transforming GAPCK into a Missional Church, Joon Ho Lee, Craig VanGelder, Editor, 2007, William B. Eerdmans Publishing, Pp. 180-181.)

This is the perspective of a Korean Missiologist and Theologian.  This is why we need to get out of our Western theological slant that leans toward individualism.

The larger question is how much has Western theology contributed to the downfall of community and given us a slant toward the narcissism we now face?  Can the Church be a catalyst for a renewed vision for community?

The Most Dangerous "ism" Of All

The older I get and the more I know, the more I know I do not know.  Life is full of paradox.  No matter what an individual may think, say or right, there seems to always be a counter thought.  I know this will be true of what I write here.  However, paradox seems to have trumped common sense.  There are many dangerous “-isms” in our world today, but especially in Western societies.  There certainly are dangers in the isms of sexism, racism, classism, communism, socialism and even capitalism.  There is perhaps no more dangerous “ism” than that of individualism.  The shooting sprees that have seemingly become rampant in America recently are definitely a product of individualism coupled with narcissism.  Think about the mass shootings that have occurred in recent American history – most carried out by lone individuals or no more than two individuals.

            It has been said that, “Things like this have always occurred but we are simply hearing more about it now with the proliferation of media.”  To which my response is, “Really?  Do you mean to tell me that when my parents were growing up on the cusp of the age of television and beyond, they were not made aware of nationally traumatic events over the radio and newspaper?”  If an adult or child had gone into a school on a shooting rampage during my parents’ day, they certainly would have heard about it.  As to other crimes against children, the horrific crimes of sexual exploitation and child molestation, may certainly have been covered up.  They may have occurred during a time when people “did not talk of such things”, but is it logical to then say that it happened to the same degree and depth that it occurs in today’s society?  In a hyper-sexualized culture where the care of children has been systemically abandoned from the smallest family units to larger institutions, is it any wonder that the sexual exploitation of children has become seemingly more rampant?  To say, “pish-posh” to such an accusation is naïve.  One only has to look at the sexualizing of children from child models to toddler “beauty” pageants to the progression from “Disneyesque” preteen stars to young pop culture icons.

            The marketing machine has found its way into the pockets, wallets and purses of children under the age of 18 either through marketing to the children themselves or to their parents.   Children have become little more than consumers for manufacturers and status symbols for parents.  A recent, and excellent movie entitled, “The Odd Life of Timothy Green” reflects the shift in the mentality of caring for the needs of a child to using children to provide for the emotional needs of the parents.  In the movie, which I believe reflects this sentiment; two parents desire a child and make a wish list of the characteristics of the child should have making him (or her) near perfect.  While the child fulfills nearly every wish (in his own unique way), the parents begin to realize that this child, let alone any other child, will not be “perfect”.  Behind the scenes however, the child makes many personal sacrifices in order to make the adults happy.  “Timothy Green” reflects the current Western sentiment of using children for the happiness of the parents.  When this cannot happen, or the child is perceived as inconvenient, he or she is aborted.

            Individualism and narcissism present many problems to the detriment of a society.  A considerable problem is that too many people are looking for systematic failures when ascribing blame to individuals, organizations or institutions when the problem is more complex than systematic failures.  Systematic failures are much easier to see, quantify, explain, and used to place blame on someone else.  Systematic failures are also more easy to deal with.  The real culprit and problem is systemic failures.  Systemic failures are more complex and difficult to deal with for they come about from decisions that have unforeseeable results that can become complex by related decisions in the future.  What is more, these unforeseeable results are often linked to other seemingly unrelated decisions that add to the complexity and brokenness of other decisions made.  It is indeed a complex matrix that becomes very difficult to disentangle, let alone set straight.

            Individualism has become such a matrix.  We have become a nation that was once “for the people, of the people and by the people” and is now, “for the person, of the person and by the person”.  The systemic failures resulting from the individualism are only now becoming very apparent.  Rights such as freedom of speech, the freedom to bear arms and all other “rights” guaranteed to the American people have been taken to such extreme that we are reaping the systemic consequences to our own demise.  We have sacrificed any semblance of what is best for the community on the altar of individual “rights”.

            Ironically, sociopathic behaviors can be defined as such individualism – not caring for the norms of the collective for the benefit of society.  A paraphrased definition of sociopath, according to the DSM IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition) is, “People with Antisocial Personality Disorder (sociopath, psychopath) try to get their way without being considerate of others. They show spontaneous behavior, which humiliates or harms other people. They lack any feeling for or understanding of norms, nor have they any feeling of guilt. They do not seem to be able to plan actions or to act with foresight.”  This definition fits the current individualistic and narcissistic pursuits of current day America.  Parents have abandoned parental responsibilities in order to be their child’s “friend” and to pursue their own agendas and comfort.  It is easy to be a friend; it is much more difficult to be the loving and disciplinary parent all children need.

            Different forms of media are sociopathic as well.  Producing pornographic images, movies other media is protected under freedom of speech rather then acknowledged as the harmful smut that it is.  Pornography is nothing more than a medium for individual sexual gratification and the sexualization of another human being.  Media also protrays violence, prolific foul language and the degradation of other human beings and is protected under freedom of expression.  Our children are exposed to conversations on morning radio rampant with sexual content.  Those who would make the argument, “Turn off the radio or television or do not purchase certain items,” are unaware of their shallow arguments because they are not aware of systemic issues.  Decision A leads to decision B, which leads eventually to unforeseen outcome D, E or F.  Indeed, I may be able to turn off a radio station or a television station but how do I avoid my son seeing a rolling advertisement on a truck that has a scantily clad woman selling vodka?  (This has indeed happened in a couple of different situations.  When liberties are granted in excess ad nauseam, common sense is lost – all under the banner of “freedoms”.  Do I now have to be the responsible adult by requiring my 10 year-old son to wear a blindfold whenever we are traveling down the road?)

            A few years ago, a movie that portrayed gratuitous violence hid behind the cloak of freedom of expression and claimed that their media output had no effect on societal violence.  This statement was made in one breath but then in the very next breath the producers lauded their efforts on public safety as the characters put on their seatbelts before a high speed chase and made the comment, “Safety first”.  This is akin to saying, “Your child…” to your spouse when your child misbehaves and then, “My child…” when the child does something well.  It is called passing the blame.  It is convenient for media to play up what they consider to be noble and yet hide behind rights for ignoble or malevolent actions.  If media does not have an effect on people, why even have it?  If media does not have an effect on people then logically commercials and advertising would be a waste of billions of dollars.  Media matters.

            The most dangerous thing about individualism, coupled with narcissism, is when they become “protected rights” to the detriment of the society in which the individuals live.  More then protected, all the evils listed above are labeled as rights simply for the satisfaction of individuals.  The obvious outcome is the disintegration of a society at the cost of protecting individualism.  The mantra, “Everyone has the right to be right (or have certain rights)” in non-sensical and illogical.  Not everyone can be right.  To insist that two plus two equals five simply because an individual has a right to freedom of speech only serves to validate the insanity of that individual.  I suppose it would be easy to then say that a society obsessed with individualism is bound to be a society where insanity is the norm.