January 30, 2007
We Are a City on a Hill
Let what we do in here, fill the streets out there - "Madly," Charlie Hall
A few years ago, the Math+1 forum discussed the movie "The Passion of the Christ," and I made the off-handed comment that all Christians are called to be evangelical, as the word evangelical simply means "in accordance with the Christian Gospel," a.k.a. the Books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John that chronicle the life of Christ. In Acts, Luke tells us that following the resurrection, the last thing Jesus said to his disciples was that they would be given the gift of the Holy Spirit and that they were to proclaim His glory to the "ends of the Earth." It didn't occur to me that my statement would be controversial. (It rarely does!)
My comment, of course, set off a firestorm of discussion where people vehemently argued that no, no, evangelical means Bible-thumper, crazy-street-person, a Pat Robertson type. That you could be a Christian and have no interest in spreading the Good News; that you could hear the story of Christ, place your faith in Him and leave it at that. How? I asked. HOW? I really wanted to know: at that point in my life I was desperate to figure out a way to continue living my life my own way and still cling to my salvation. I was desperate to remain in myself; to remain unchanged. If someone had strong reasoning, I was ready to jump on it.
But of course, there isn't any Biblically-based reasoning for such an argument. It doesn't exist in Scripture. It does exist, however, in the latent American church; in the lifestyle and mindset of the cultural Christian. It's a problem of definition, I guess, what makes one a Christian. Today's post on blog.worship.com discusses this very issue, and I immediately e-mailed the link to almost everyone in my address book.
The root problem might be described as a failure to define 'Christian' and Christianity in terms that bring into sharper contrast regenerate and unregenerate life, in terms that stress spiritual conversion, faith, grace, love and hope over and against moralism, patriotism, and spiritual relativism.
Distinctive Christianity in a Nominal Christian Culture, Part 1: Definitions
The author, Thabiti Anyabwile, goes on to describe many notions - or myths - that muddy definitions. Ideas such as the one where people believe you are a Christian at birth because your parents are Christians; or that baptizing is something that makes you a Christian; or it's just about walking the aisle to the alter and repeating a script; or the idea that because you're an American, or a Southerner or from a small town, you're a Christian.
Fruitful Christian ministry must supplant these notions with Gospel truth. Faithful Gospel labor must work against these currents to present a joyful, abiding-in-Christ, free, grace-filled, spiritually-minded, heaven-directed, Jesus following, God-loving, observant Christian witness.
It's an issue I've discussed here before and it's been on my heart for months now: a desire to combat the lies in the American church. The latent energy that persists. The MYTHS that persist in our culture because a silent minority live up to the lies or because people are afraid to speak Truth for fear of alienating themselves or being unliked or being seen as Other.
A few weeks ago Andy Stanley asked us what we were praying for big in 2007. When he asked that question, I was overwhelmed. I often feel overwhelmed by the world, by my role in it, but I believe that's because God is working to narrow my focus; to hone a vision for my life so that I will not be distracted by the many, many Big Things out there that aren't for ME to fight.
We are all part of the body, and as such, we all have different roles. Some of us are hands, some feet, some knees and elbows and fingertips. Sometimes I feel like I'm all over the place, trying to do the work of eight different body parts at once; my Big Prayer for 2007 is simply that He continues to focus me in, so that I can fight and serve and struggle and shine light until my last breath escapes my body.
And I have to believe that this blog is one of the gifts he has given me; this knowledge, this ability to transcribe my heart thoughts so that you, who are feeling them too, will know that we are all in this together. That we can change the world because He has already won. Stand Up. Be Light. Speak Truth.
Matthew 5:14-16 - You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Nether do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. (NIV)
Posted by hannah at 05:05 PM
January 29, 2007
Michael - 5 1/2 months
One of the many, many photographs I took of him at Christmas. Every time I look at this shot, I feel like he is about to tell me something. Maybe he wanted to tell me to put my camera down.
Posted by hannah at 04:38 PM
January 22, 2007
Everything Will Be Okay
Yes, it will.
Posted by hannah at 02:01 PM
January 19, 2007
Cong
I came to Ney's office straight from a month-long internship program with the at-the-time junior senator from Texas, because I wanted more time in Washington, more time on the Hill, more time to sample a taste of the life I thought I wanted to live.
Ney was a bright star in 1997. It was his sophomore term and he was a stand out from that 1994 class that rocked the Hill when the GOP took control of Congress.
My memories from those few weeks as the sole intern in his office consist mostly of fun times and trips with his other staffers. Of course sorting the mail became an instant duty (actual stamped, addressed, hand-written mail), and I often called constituents in response to their letters and was the first line of communication when the outside phone line rang.
We played softball on the mall against other Congressmans' offices and Cong, as his staffers affectionately called him, joined us at bat more than once. I couldn't believe it sometimes - that I was manning second base trying to get the distinguished gentleman from Arkansas out so we could win the game - all the while in the shadow of the Capitol.
It turned out that Ney's District chief-of-staff was the nephew of the wife of one of my cousin's, and about a year later, when I was working for the Ohio House of Reps, I drove out to Eastern Ohio and campaiged for him. He lost, and I have no idea if he ran again or even what he is doing now.
Unfortunately, I know what former Rep. Ney is doing now, as he was just sentenced to 30 months in prison for his involvement in the Abramoff lobbying scandal.
Although it's been almost a decade, it's still hard to think that the young congressman who represented his district with pride and idealism fell into the snares and scandals of public life. It makes me sad - for him, for his district, for Ohio, for the state of our country's politics on the whole.
I hold onto those memories of coffee breaks with his just-out-of-college secretary; the crazy Appalachian constituent who wanted the Congressman do to something about the Dollar Store who sold her expired toothpaste; of softball games and lunchtimes sitting in the shadow of a building where much should be accomplished, and where hopefully, idealism still lives.
Posted by hannah at 11:01 AM
January 17, 2007
Where in the world?
River Street Sweets
The Lady & Sons
Tubby's Tankhouse
"The Book"
Broughton Street
We've been here about 24 hours and so far I've already eaten at least two pralines, the best green beans I've ever had, ever, biscuits and gravy, and tonight we're going to fill up on Grouper fingers.
Our rooms overlook the river and last night we wrapped ourselves in blankets and stood out on the balcony to watch a giant ship roar toward the ocean. A man on the street shouted up that he would bring us roses. The dank smell of the water wafted in and the wind whipped through our hair.
It's a city full of mystery, full of possibility. And lots of Grouper fingers.
Posted by hannah at 03:07 PM
January 12, 2007
Goodbye MATH+1
After more than five years, MATH+1 is closing its virtual doors. It's pretty bittersweet but like many things in life, when it's just time, it was just time.
When we started the forum, back on Greenspun in 2001, AB was the only one of us who had a spouse. Now I'm the only single one left. T and Mike have both not only gotten married, but have also become parents to gorgeous baby boys, who aren't even babies anymore! That forum saw Al and the MOC move from Texas to Atlanta; me from Ohio to Atlanta; and AB and her family relocate from Dallas back to their Louisiana hometown. And those are just the life changes experienced by the five of us; it says nothing of the dozens of MATHletes who got married (so many weddings!), had babies (oh so many babies!), changed jobs, graduated college, went back to college (and grad school and law school), moved cross country or across the hemisphere.
So many friendships have evolved out of that forum; people who went from strangers to virtual friends to BFFs who fly across the country to visit one another. Of all the wonderful things we've experienced, that fact stands out as one of the things that pleases me most: that I may have had a small hand in setting up a way for people to connect, to fall in love, to establish relationships.
So thank you for all the good advice, all the hilarious stories, all the catch phrases, all the deciphering of Lost, all the support, all the love, all the friendships. MATH+1 shaped not only my Internet experience but also my life and I can't imagine what it is going to be like without it. Who will trade endless Office quotes with me? ("I once outran a black pepper snake.")
I'll see y'all somewhere along the Highway. Till then.
Posted by hannah at 01:37 PM
January 11, 2007
Passion '07
"Oh Lord, your mercy turns us into grateful people
We can't seem to find the words
So take our lives that there might be enough
To tell you how grateful
Lord, we are grateful"
Watermark, Grateful People
I finally took off my Passion wristband yesterday. It had gotten so stretched out that I simply pulled it off over my hand and slipped it on the gear shift in my car. I don't know why I kept it on as long as I did; maybe part of me was afraid once I removed it, I would somehow remove the change in me, remove the passion that was stirred in my heart.
I'm finding myself in the same predicament as when I returned from Romania; I'm not quite sure how to summarize the experience of Passion '07 to someone who wasn't there, or doesn't know much about it. I talked nonstop to my mom for more than two hours last weekend, and even that was just retelling bits of messages or catching her up on general things in my life. There is no way to succinctly summarize my heart change, my life change or what happened those four days to me and to the 24,000+ other people with whom I shared that space.
In my head I keep hearing little snippets of some of the speakers' messages, specifically John Piper's. At one point he asked, "Do you really want to be riding high in your SUV dropping nickels into other people's dreams?*" It was the first time I'd heard a major American pastor speak negatively about the middle class American Dream, and I never realized before how vehemently I agree with him. It's not something I've ever verbalized really, because it's what everyone wants, isn't it? To get married and live in a big house with enough extra bedrooms for your someday children and retire somewhere with a boat and a lake house and "leav[e] a big fat inheritance to your middle-aged children to confirm them in their worldliness," as he put it. And yes, culturally, part of me does want that. That is security. It is safety. It is being able to sleep at night knowing you can wake up the next morning and afford your Starbucks and everything will be okay. I would be lying to you, and to myself, if I said that part of me doesn't want that. But the catch is, in order for me to afford all those things, all I will EVER be able to do is drop nickels.
During the final session, Louie asked the students to stand if they'd heard the call that week to go out into the world - to go into the nations - on behalf of their Savior. One by one they began to rise around the Arena and we got on our symbolic knees before God and we prayed for them. But not before those of us sitting near one of those standing students put our hands on them. I was sitting on the floor during that session, so I was able to walk up a few risers and place my hand on some 20-year-old guy who'd just stood up before 18,000+ people to announce that he feels called. He doesn't know when or where or even how, but he knows he is going.
And here I am at 30 with my full-time job and my mortgage payments and my consumer debt, and though God has shaped my heart to love mercy, to want to do justice, I am covered in middle class America, and I am a slave to my lenders.
But yet, I still dream of dirt roads in India. I dream of standing by a well and placing my hand on the arm of someone who was born believing they were literally Untouchable, and telling them that their Creator has invited them to drink from a LIVING well. That they are loved by the God of the sky, the God of the ocean, the God of the heavens. When I sleep, I smell curry. I hear the strings of the sitar. And I see the gorgeous, brown-eyed faces of the three children my family has adopted as our own.
My cousin Matt will venture to India this Spring to pick up their fourth child from a Delhi orphanage, where she has spent the first four years of her life, speaking only Hindi, cared for by petite Indian woman. And soon her father will come and get her - this man who looks nothing like her and speaks a language she can't understand. But he is her daddy and his love for her will cause him to fly to her country so that he may bring her home.
He is our Daddy and His love for us caused Him to nail His only son to a cross for sins we haven't even committed yet! Just to bring us home. That is the message for the world, for all the nations, for all the people. And in His great grace and glory He may allow me - me! - to share it.
*Dr. Piper's exact quote: "The point is not what you do with your loose change. The point is: what you do with your life. You don’t want to always be sitting high in your SUV dropping nickels into other people’s dreams. Satan wants that for you. But you don’t! You want to dream your own dream for the glory of Christ. Why am I on this planet? What has God put me here for?"
Posted by hannah at 03:29 PM
January 10, 2007
Repentance
Last week, as Melissa and I drove back to my house after another long day volunteering at Passion '07, we got onto the topic of repentance and how it's not a one time event, but something you do continuously. Melissa made the incredibly wise remark that God draws us closer to Him through a cycle of repentance, forgiveness and filling us with His grace. Yesterday, I e-mailed her asking her to expand on that thought because our conversation last week was one of those that you have after a long day, in a weary state, where you're not always sure what you're saying and then you certainly can't remember it clearly the next day.
She responded with the following and I found it so simple - yet so profound - that I thought I would repost it here:
Like anything else, there are no systems, steps or rules that are always absolute; saying that is true about anything would take away from the power of Jesus. This is just a pattern I believe God tends to use in drawing us closer to Him. We could just think that repentance is needed when we first come into a relationship with Christ, but I think it’s often a pattern of how we grow closer to Him and become more like Him.
REPENTANCE: Repentance is not only realizing that we are sinning, but requires that we also change our habits. John the Baptist came to deliver a message of repentance in preparation for the coming of Christ. This was intentional and I believe a pattern with how we should model change in our own lives. I think a lot of people think they have repented for something when they have not. Only God can give us a repentant heart and a lot of times we try to muster up a repentant heart instead of being honest with God and asking Him to give this to us. If I only am convicted of my sin, but do not change, was I ever really convicted in the first place? It might be a self conviction but I believe that if the Lord is stirring up repentance in our hearts, He will also give us the power to change. We always have the option of being disobedient, but obedience would be accepting God's power and grace.
Once we experience this repentance, and we are free from that sin, this is when God comes in and saves us from whatever it is we are suffering from. Many, many times in Acts when the apostles were teaching the message of God to unbelievers, the first step was to repent (or baptism of repentance), then the baptism of water (Jesus), then they receive an abundance of the power of the Holy Spirit (also referred to as baptism of the Holy Spirit) [Acts 2:38; Acts 8: 15-25; Acts 19:4-7]. In Acts, when someone asks how they receive Christ, the response if often repentance. It’s my opinion that we cannot often forgive ourselves, because we have not yet repented. Once we have repented, and we STILL cannot forgive ourselves, then we are saying that our judgments are more important than God's, even though we may not consciously think this.
When we experience true repentance, we always experience Christ’s love and become more like Him. This leads us to death of self and life to the spirit. Deep calls out to deep giving birth to the sprit in us. All life flowing from God.
Posted by hannah at 04:14 PM
Micah 6:8
Act justly.
Love mercy.
Walk humbly.
(The 007 Resolution)
Posted by hannah at 03:13 PM
January 09, 2007
We Commit
I don't think it's that our generation is "waiting on the world to change," as John Mayer says, but rather that we're often overwhelmed wondering HOW to change it. But when given opportunities and tangible ways to do so, we jump in full force.
Last week at Passion 07, my friends and I committed to raising $3,000 to drill a well in an African village through the organization Blood:Water Mission. The non-profit, founded by the band Jars of Clay, works to reduce the impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic by providing clean water, one well and one village at a time. It seems too simple - that clean water can reduce the number of AIDS deaths - but that is what makes is so utterly heartbreaking. For some, the difference between living and dying is the blood of life that surrounds us all; that fills us, washes us, satisfies us. And all they need to drink from that cup is $1.
One dollar will provide one African with clean water for one year. That's half a gallon of gas. One-third of a Cinnamon Dolce latte. Two Cokes from the vending machine. Three quarters of a soft drink at a restaurant. One dollar.
Today I sent an e-mail to my small group, my friends who volunteered at Passion with me, and a few other people I knew who would be interested in this endeavor. Within minutes, I had pledges that put us almost halfway to the goal amount.
We want to help. We want to save the world. All we need is someone willing to show us how.
When we ask God, "Why do you let this happen?" He asks us, "Why do YOU?"
Posted by hannah at 04:13 PM
