good news of peace and pizza

it is on cold, dark, rainy nights when i am deeply in need and yet find the prospect of venturing out into the abyss for a dine-in experience overwhelming, that i am most ready for the good news that is pizza, and it is at these times that i am most grateful for those who will bring the pizza to me free of charge.

free delivery is awesome.

it’s not that i want my pizza free- i’m happy to pay for it- i just don’t have what it takes on nights like that to go get it myself… i’m more likely to just be hungry and miserable.

that’s why, if we had a family pizza place, i would offer free delivery… because i know what it’s like to need something and yet to be overwhelmed by the things that stand in the way of getting what i need. see, it’s not that people are avoiding the transaction- that exchange where they give of that which they have in exchange for that which they need- it’s that they are more likely to engage in this life-giving transaction if the transaction itself is brought to them.

sure- we could stick to our guns and keep our exclusively dine-in establishment going for the regular dine-in crowd (for both those our regular clientele and those who like to sample a variety of dine-in experiences) OR we could also endeavor to make our pizza available to those who are hungry and are, for reasons of their own, unable to or uninterested in coming to our fine restaurant.

it would all come down to this: what’s the focus of our pizza business-
to provide a dining experience or to get our pizzas into people?
***

Jesus gives us a well modeled example of his answer to this question when he sends his friends out to make a difference in the world in an internship experience of sorts. he acknowledges that there are needs out there... there is work to be done. then he challenges them to go out on purpose, with nothing but a song of peace- of God's shalom to give. he challenges them to build relationships and participate in community by simply engaging in fellowship with those who open their doors to them, and to pursue the realization of this greeting of shalom that they bring to people.
(luke 10.1-9)

a friend of mine (his blog is found HERE) has done some extensive study, leadership, experience and writing on pursuing shalom in cross cultural contexts. he notes in a piece of his writing that

Shalom is a multifaceted word with a complex set of meanings:

Wholeness, health, well-being and belonging - individual, but especially communal or societal VS sickness, fragmentation, broken and divided relationships, greed, hostility, fraud…

Harmony, love, friendship, cooperation - again, between individuals, but most especially in community or societal relations VS competitive, ethnocentric, self-centred, power accumulative and unbalanced economic distributive structures…

Justice, truth (integrity), right (righteousness) -particularly in relation to communities VS the entrapment of much of the world in cul-de-sacs of impoverishment and powerlessness.

Peace, unafraid, safety as characteristics of community relations VS violence, war, rampant crime, and political aggression…

Beauty, order, coherence, radiance, loveliness VS the chaos, disorder, littered, smelly, unsanitary, overcrowded ugliness that characterizes so much of the world's cities, and "developed" countryside.

Wholeheartedness, goodness, Godliness VS environmentally damaging, devious, slothful, non-caring, evil and sinfulness…

in other words. shalom is more than flashing a 'peace sign' or pronouncing a 'God be with you' type greeting. it is loaded with intention. it flies in the face of every consequence of our brokenness, the way the tiniest of lights can gain dominion over the darkest of nights. the original way of things in the garden was shalom. the broken shalom of our world is that problem to which God has been directing all of his greatest energy, creativity, grace, mercy, patience and love since the fall that we read of in genesis 3.

it is God's kingdom come
it is his will being done on earth as it is in heaven.
it is the missio dei.
and it is awesome.

the word 'awesome' was not invented in the valley. it has not always meant the same thing as 'incredible' or 'fabulous' or 'cool' or 'nifty' or 'swell' (depending on how far back we want to go with our little words of exclamation and delight)

the NIV translation of the bible, features this word fairly regularly, in the old testament especially... however, usage of the word awesome is almost always part of a phrase describing God. see, there is no Jewish word for the adjective ‘awesome’... it is part of a two-pronged idea which couples a word describing the greatness or powerfulness of God with deeds, works and wonders. God’s awesomeness is expressed through God's active involvement in things- God's doing, not simply God's being- and we are challenged by Christ to participate in this expressed awesomeness. it's part of why we were created: reflecting God’s image partially means being about what God is about: restored shalom.
(Exodus 34.10; Deut 4.34; 7.21; 10.17, 21)

i found i said the word 'awesome' a lot while watching and reflecting upon an inspiring performance from 'britain's got talent' posted on youtube this past week.in it, unemployed 47 year-old amateur singer susan boyle goes purposefully like a lamb into a pack of wolves with nothing but a song in pursuit of her lifelong dream. in the view of the judges and of the crowd gathered, she's a longshot- you can read it on their faces. (sorry, embedding is disabled by request, so the best i can do is invite you to click HERE)

and then she begins to sing a song of shalom in a way that breaks cynical hearts and reminds us of that which was to be except for life and people's selfish vanity and control getting in the way and creating an environment of disparity. the song is i dreamed a dream from the musical les miserables:

There was a time when men were kind
When their voices were soft and their words inviting
There was a time when love was blind
And the world was a song
And the song was exciting
There was a time
Then it all went wrong

I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high and life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving
Then I was young and unafraid
And dreams were made and used and wasted
There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung, no wine untasted

But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hope apart
And they turn your dream to shame

He slept a summer by my side
He filled my days with endless wonder
He took my childhood in his stride
But he was gone when autumn came

And still I dream he'll come to me
That we will live the years together
But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms we cannot weather

I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I'm living
So different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed the dream I dreamed.

now, the life we bring
the song we sing...
do we freely deliver, taking it to the streets?
and is this delivery so richly steeped in God's love and grace that even the most cynical and hardened heart is touched by this beautiful truth that is the good news of peace?

awesome.


note: can you find the pizza in the picture above?

break this thieving heart and place it in the ground
turn and walk away as darkness falls all around
pick up all the pieces of your life
as if we'd never met
and maybe then i'd know how to love

crucify this thieving heart-bind it with thorns
strike it with your fists, subject it to scorn
pledge undying faithfulness
and then betray it with a kiss
and maybe then i'd know how to love

take this thieving heart and do with it what you must
feast upon the flesh, forsake its every trust
drink deeply from the cup
it laboured so earnestly to fill
and maybe then
just maybe then
and maybe then i'd know how to love
(1999)

for some futher context and such, click here: whole nother blog

get on your boots

i was never a dancer. always wanted to be, always loved watching others dance. few things move me to tears as fast as a big dance number and the sound of young feet pounding out a rhythmic cadence on a stage in a visual celebration of life that is so explosive that the shock is registered on my heart…

there are probably many reasons for my own inability to dance, however: ranging from basic personal rhythm and coordination issues to gravity, the rotation of the earth and the strange 23.5 degree axial tilt, officially called the obliquity of the ecliptic. it’s quite incredible the extent to which one will go to make self-justifying excuses for the things he or she just can’t pull off. all i know is that, in order to compensate for my disability in this area, i got myself some corrective shoes… roller skates.

however, although these shoes still fit today, it has been many years since i danced in them. i remember ignoring everything else when the song for speed skating came on, making my way out onto the floor with every other guy in the place, and blazing around the floor- no style, finesse or smooth moves were necessary here... this was a stampede on wheels, with every guy competing for the position of rollerdome alpha male. at the end of the song, we would, all sweaty and steaming, rejoin the girls we had been with only to find that the fries and ketchup were all gone and none of the girls had really even been paying attention. adolescent disappointment at its best.

still, how long has it been since many of us released ourselves to this kind of movement in a celebration of life- the kind that reduces you, sweaty and out of breath, to a stiff and blistered mass of happy, used flesh, completely spent with nothing left to give? does this ever happen in worship- do we ever give ourselves over completely the way king david did?
(2 Samuel 6.12-23)



see, like the crazy people in the video above, david was this great leader who, in a moment of exultation, stripped down to his boxers and lead a dance party through the streets of jerusalem that just wouldn't quit. it wasn't that david was dancing by himself, completely unaware and therefore unembarrassed that he was making an ass of himself- he lead the people in a worship dance through those city streets, blessing the whole city as he prayed and praised with his feet. his worshipful abandon just made his leadership all the more attractive to the people- and may explain the strangely cold response of his wife to the whole thing. perhaps she was jealous because david was, once again, capturing the hearts of the people, prompting the singing and dancing that her father, saul failed to inspire.

in my view, our difficulties with the aftermath of the fall are directly linked to a diabolical resistance to God's shalom- that perfect peace and balance that was present in creation and in the garden, but lost to us and to God in our rebellion. hell assails our pre-fall identity with post-fall accusation… succeeding in ceasing our dancing through a strategy of basic intimidation.

and yet children draw
children dance
children speak truth openly

and Jesus challenges us in his teaching, to embrace our childlikeness… it’s as if, through life, our orientation to eternity wears off with time and we reflect less and less of the image of God that we were intended to bear, the more we are immersed in physical life.

in zephaniah’s prophetic book, we get a picture of God which may be unfamiliar to us, but may serve us here… in zephaniah 3.16-20 the words are in first person, spoken from a dancing God, rejoicing over his restored people come home with joyous abandon in the same way that david danced when the ark, representing the presence of God himself 'came home' to jerusalem. in the original language, the word in verse 17 that is translated into the phrase rejoice over you with singing is the same word used to describe the round and round dancing of a happy little child.

several centuries later, the first day of Jesus' final week in jerusalem was marked with music and drama. palm sunday was the beginning of the final act in the 3-year run of God’s Divine Musical… a song and dance piece of grand performance art the likes of which the world had never seen, unfolding for the attending crowd in real time, all the while challenging the society of its day and informing all generations to come. part of the energy of that day was marked by children's singing and dancing. (matthew 21.16)

so at this little church on the corner, when the kids start doing laps around the front at the foot of the cross during the opening songs, perhaps they are entering into the time-honoured tradition that the faithful, both young and old, have been actively observing since we found ourselves on the wrong side of the garden gate.

smudge walks, prayer runs, mission trips…
dance if you wanna go where he will send
dance if you wanna take his love to a friend
dance if you wanna bring the good news home
dance if you wanna hear him say 'well done'

let our every footfall be a dance towards God, celebrating who God is by reflecting his love to a world that desperately needs to be reminded of what life was meant to look and feel like. the church cannot afford to be wallflowers, sitting coolly off to the side while its neighbours become less and less adept at pounding out the rhythm of life and love on God’s stage.

open up the doors and let the music play
let the streets resound with singing
songs that bring your hope and
songs that bring your joy
dancers who dance upon injustice
(martin smith)
(1999)

for some futher context and such, click here: northVUs

tests and the progressive power of the wager

interesting how people can be driven to do incredible things just to win a bet… i mean, after playing three games in one day and managing to win the B final, the boys are all sitting together in the dressing room, half dead in pools of their own DNA and someone says 'we should wait around and challenge the winners of the A side to an A+B final for bragging rights!'

and for an instant you can tell from the glances around the room that many of the guys are ready to go one more round if someone just says 'okay.'

composer maurice ravel (1875-1937) wrote arguably his most famous composition bolero- over 9 minutes of music written in 9 minutes- on a napkin at the local pub on a bet.

photographer eadward muybridge (1830-1904) invented motion picture photography to prove his assertion that, for a horse mid-gallup, there is a point where all four hooves are off the ground.

the progressive power of the wager is undeniable. we take on great challenges just to make the big point and win the big prize... to prove that, in john eldredge's words, 'we have what it takes.'

even God, in the book of Job, seeks to prove the integrity of ‘his servant, Job’ against the accusations of one particularly recalcitrant angel. God’s right to brag in the story of job isn’t because God is powerful or even because God has proven a point. God’s right to brag is found in the fact that he sees in job something eternal- something which neither time nor circumstance can impugn- that this man is capable of incredible strength and faith, and the only way to demonstrate this is to challenge the affluence that his righteousness could be attributed to.
(Job 1.6-22;2.1-10; 42.7-16)

as a teacher, i would give tests to the students, but an exam would never be given to my students to destroy them… on the contrary: a good teacher only gives a test when that teacher is sure that the students are ready to move to the next unit of study. it is given to provide the student with the opportunity to demonstrate that which the teacher already knows to be true- that the student is ready to move on. often the test is the only way that some students ever learn about themselves what their teachers already know.




however, it’s hard to remember this when life is spinning out of control all around us- when the whole world seems to be koyaanisqatsi (life out of balance) and we have to move at that speed just to keep up with the rest of the machine. the problem with having life move at the pace it does is that, like trying to sing a tricky traditional song or hymn, our focus becomes fixed upon keeping up rather than drawing the content from the experience. the lessons are lost in our deliberation.

For centuries, mystics, prophets and contemplatives have been called to the solitude and the silence of the ‘cave of the heart’ before they embarked upon their mission to the world.
(John Michael Talbot)

however, we mustn't remain in the cave, as hermits escaping the perils of a corrupt and fallen society. did you notice talbot's words? "before they embarked upon their mission to the world." the point of the hermitage is to prepare for the mission.

mission often comes in surprising places. in scripture, israel is dragged away by the babylonians into exile and their future as God's 'chosen people' is in jeopardy. however, rather than hear from their resident holy man that they are to sit in mourning for the age of david, the people are told to build houses, plant gardens and raise families. apparently, there is a lot yet to be learned amidst the toil. apparently they are still God's 'chosen' and are to bring light and life even into this land of exile, living amongst the huns and being God's light of hope and freedom in their own slavery.
(Jeremiah, 29.4-14.)



the recent adam sandler film, click, tells the story of a guy who purchases a universal remote to make his life "a little easier- less complicated." the device enables him to, among other things, fast-forward through the workaday aspects of life. unfortunately for him, he discovers that it is beneath the stuff of regular everyday life that true inspiration and hope of fulfillment are buried.

see, waiting is tough, but it is part of life on this fallen planet bound by time, and is our mission- a context in which God develops and displays in us the things that bring him greater honour... the things that give him bragging rights.