“Ignorance is bliss.” English poet Thomas Gray

Yesterday I tweeted an old thought that came to mind a couple of years ago.  It said, “Which is better, to be happily deceived or disillusioned, yet aware?” So much of my life over the last 10 years has been about wrestling with my own disillusions, yet aware that they exist.

And as I was driving this morning I was thinking there are essentially three approaches to dealing with pain and suffering.  We can simply ignore the pain and suffering, moving through life as happily deceived, yet still suffering under the weight of circumstance.  We can acknowledge it’s existence as though we have no capacity or power to deal with it.  Or we choose to move in through and beyond it by addressing it.

The first option I think is the most common.  It’s just easier to ignore reality, even when it our ignorance is the very thing that fuels that reality’s existence.  The second option is depressive.  To see the problem and resolve the self to the idea that nothing can change is despairing, if not nihilistic.  The third option is to confront the problem causing the pain and suffering.  Yet to do that we have to assume we have the capacity to overcome it.  And unless we see who we really are, as beloved children of God, we likely won’t.

When Jesus said, “Come follow me,” I can’t ignore that it led him to the cross.  But the cross was a waystation.  It wasn’t the final destination.  What if Jesus knew that to get to the other side of pain and suffering we had to go through it.

I’m learning that my ignorance is not bliss.  It’s destructive and painful in all the wrong ways.  It compels me to infinitely poor choices that usually lead to regret.  But when I confront my ignorance and set down my pride, I can usually find my way through.

I was also thinking, “So much of pain and suffering feels like hell.  It feels like walking through the fire.  It feels like separation from God.  Because in the midst of pain and suffering, when I’m ridiculously honest with myself, my heart is crying out, “Where are you God!”  Is it really possible that God could actually forget me.

“When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.” Isa 43:2

The only way I can discover the other side of the cross is to keep walking towards it.

It’s enjoyable to be loved.

Last night my brother-in-law took me to see the Giants play the Dodgers, and it was good.  My brother was treating me to front row seats as a birthday present.  From the moment I got to the game, to the moment I left, he went out of his way to shower me with love.  He treated me to dinner, bought me a Guinness, garlic fries, a Brian Wilson beard, and even a World Series Champion hat. We laughed about “fear the beard” because the moment he put on his beard (literally ten seconds later) Big Pappy hit a home run to tie it.  And the next batter hit a dinger to go ahead.  It was one of those moments you remember because of how fun it was.

The kicker was seeing the Giants win.  And as nice as that was, it was icing on the cake.  We shared stories of our families, work, kids, fatherhood, and how we were doing. And as I walked away, as we parted to go home, I stood at the entrance of AT&T Park and just said, “Thank you.”  It was all I had to give at that moment.  Anything else would have taken away from his amazing gift.

As I walked to my car I was deeply aware of the experience of being loved.  When someone goes out of their way to make you feel loved, it’s deeply enjoyable.  Something arose in my chest that made me feel alive.  And it came at a time when I am acutely aware of that love.  This is a season of tremendous difficulty and change in my life.  And my brother was there to say I am worth it.

Thank you Drew.

Is God’s Word Inerrant? I don’t know but it’s an interesting question. I don’t have any issue with someone believing it is, or believing it’s not.

A friend of mine recently told me that in order to get a job with a ministry, he had to sign a statement of faith which included, among other things, the words, “All Scripture is the infallible word of God.” My friend was wrestling with some of the traditional elements of his faith and working through what it all means. He was pressed to sign it, yet at the same time acknowledging he wasn’t sure if he would be honest in signing it.

I get that.

Unfortunately the idea of inerrancy comes with a truck load of baggage.  We like to take the idea of inspired and then superimpose the idea of inerrant on top of that.  Scripture itself suggests the Bible is inspired.  This site has done a good job of culling all the passages that reinforce the idea. And I’m beginning to know my friend well enough that he wouldn’t question it’s inspiration.  Neither do I.  I  find it incredibly valuable.  The problem is that people then question the difference between inspired and inerrant.  This site did a good job of breaking down that argument.

The question for me is NOT whether Scripture in inerrant or infallible. I can’t prove it one way or another.  It seems like a labyrinth to me that can easily ensnare someone in it’s trap.  And what ends up happening is we get stuck on distinctions that then define the parameters of whether or not someone IS a christian. In other words, we have to believe in inerrancy/infallibility to BE a true Christian.

The question for me is then, “Is Scripture true?” And there’s a huge difference between the two. Infallibility is about perfection, and I’ve found (and you may have a different experience) that it’s largely about winning an argument.  True is different.  It’s largely about experience.  It’s about engaging the text and asking deeply profound questions about it’s legitimacy for life. Does it produce something of value? When I spent my time living in the space of infallibility, I felt like I had to defend my territory.  I was always managing the data that confronted the existing tensions in the Bible itself.  And it was somewhat maddening because the Bible “seems” flawed. There are tensions within the text.  Holding infallibility requires a strange tension.

But when I lived in the space of True, my framework changed.  I didn’t have to defend the idea anymore.  And this freed me up to focus on the actual story presented in the text.  It allowed me to see the story in a whole new way, one that liberated me from religion and into relationship.  It allowed me to begin experiencing what was true by engaging God in the midst of testing what is true.  Because I can’t really prove if Scripture is perfect, but I can’t live into the idea that all of creation has value.  I can’t live into the idea of taking up my cross.  I can live into the idea of practicing love.  And when I do, my experience of Scripture deepens.

Any thoughts to add?

This is a post about friendship.

Some of you may know that a couple of weeks I ago I began looking for work.  The long term funding for Thrive ended this summer and I’ve been wrestling with what that means.  I’ve loved every second of ministry and the freedom that it has afforded me to work directly with people.  Yet sometimes really good things come to an end. The hardest part is letting go of what I thought would be a much longer project.

Some of you might wonder if Civitas Press, my boutique publishing agency is the next step.  Surprisingly it has taken off in ways that I could never imagine.  We’ve already got two projects in the works and two more in development.  My hope is to have 12 by summer. I’m working with some of the best people and the interest has astounded me.  But it will likely not provide me with a sustaining income for the next 2 years.  I plan on developing it slowly and putting most of the revenues back into it for some time, because I value it so much. I love the idea of working with writers, thought leaders, and people willing to take the risk to publish their inspiration.

So that leaves me with the present reality of finding work. Meaningful work.

Two weeks ago when I really started this process, the only thing I was hearing was, “Apply.”  I took that to mean begin looking.  So I have.  And as many of you know this process is not easy in this economy.  On average, for every open position, there are 200-300 submissions for that position.  Networking is the critical aspect of the process.  So I called a friend who used to be a recruiter for Cisco.  I used to work in technology and know that I can go back to that space.

This morning we talked extensively about my next steps.  And what struck me about the call is that my friend was willing to give me some really hard advice.  You know that kind of advice that I didn’t want to hear, but needed to hear.  Some of it was just practical reality, and some of it was very inspirational.  I needed to hear it.  And as I got off the call I was very conscious that I have friends.  In the midst of this painful transition, I could see that my biggest blessing is not money, but people.  I am not rich by any stretch of the imagination, but I am wealthy.  I have a community of people around me that are willing to speak into my life in ways that I need.  They’re not blowing smoke.  Their willing to tell me what I need to hear.

And I know that many of you who read this blog have been incredibly valuable in my life. So I say thank you for taking the time in your day to spend a little of it with me here.

Much love my friends

Jonathan

What is the very best you’ve seen in the community that you are involved in, meet with, see on a regular basis, or even have left.  I don’t want this blog to consistent be a critique.  I want to call out that which is awesome, good and sound too.  So fill me in.  What has been the best the church has revealed to you?

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Sometimes all we have is the ability to sit with the other and give presence.

So I’m having lunch with a good friend of mine, talking about all things relational.  And the topic of divorce came up.  I lamented that the problem isn’t necessarily solved by one’s faith, and that the divorce numbers are just as high in religious circles as outside of it.  Which says to me the problem isn’t one of morality.  Just because we have a moral structure to support it doesn’t mean it stops.

And then my friend said, “The problem isn’t divorce.  The problem is we don’t know how to be married.”

That’s freaking brilliant.

Today’s post is my contribution to the Eighth Letter project, which invites participants to compose letters to the North American church in the spirit of John’s seven letters of Revelation.  A handful of these letters will be chosen for public reading at the Eight Letter conference in October.

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To the Church in North America,

Much love you my brothers and sisters.  Our journey is about remembering.  It’s about discovering what has always been true.  As we enter a new age, one defined by media, social networking, and a longing for life, we’re beginning to see a change in culture that is unprecedented. People are beginning to question everything, including what it means to be a follower of Jesus in a unstable world.  In the midst of this doubt, people are longing for answers to the most fundamental questions of the soul.  What does it mean to be human?  Who am I?  And, what am I supposed to do?  But deeper than that, we’re all wondering, is there anybody out there who will love me?

The answer is yes.

I invite you to return to love. Return to the beginning of time, to the words that inform your soul and define your dignity. Return to the declaration that is imprinted on every human mind, “It is good.”  These are the very words of God, and inform the heart of love.  Love is simply a judgment of good.  These words inform our judgment of each and every person we encounter. Love reminds us that there is nothing we can do to lose the love of God?

God’s love can’t and won’t change because it was never dependent on circumstance.  We can’t change what was true.  But we can forget what is true.  We can judge ourselves as outside of God’s love and create a reality that blinds us from God’s love.  Much of the problem we encounter is biological.  As human beings created in the image of God, we do what God does.  We create and we judge.  But unlike God, we’re bent towards seeing ourselves as unlovable because we assume God is like us.  We’re bent towards seeing love as dependent on tangible things, as conditional. Once we enter into the space of doubt, our minds are biased towards thinking God can’t love us.  So we run.

Thank God for the cross.  I implore you to remember that the cross is not defining God’s statement of love. Grace was always true, from the beginning of time. The cross is God’s defining statement that reiterates the love that was always there. Thank God that Jesus was willing to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that God will always love us.  God never loses site of good.  God never forgets his own words.

So we embrace love because it is the defining act of humanity.  To be human means getting the judgment right.  This is wholeness. When we love we are remembering who we are. It strips the blinders off to the one thing that gives us peace, what is true.  We know its true because it produces something valuable. It allows us to rule over the body in a way that produces life.  Love allows us to step into the spaces of pain and suffering, and remained undefined by it.  It allows us to give without the necessity of obligation or receiving.  It allows us to see past the constructed identities of black or white, Muslim or Christian, American or African, or homosexual or heterosexual, to the one true identity that informs the soul, one of child of the living God. It allows us to rule over the self in a way that produces Shalom.

When Jesus simplified everything to the command of love, He was giving us God’s original structure.  Everything came down to the simplicity of love.  We’re free to do anything but we’re guided by love.  To love was a return to God’s rule, to the Kingdom of God.  When we love we’re revealing heaven in our midst.  To love is to see the God image in each and every human being, including ourselves.  Love validates our own dignity as much as the other.

So I invite you to return to love so that you may experience life in its fullest. Much love.

Your brother, Jonathan

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Updated: Rachel Held Evans turned this into a Synchroblog.  You can read some of the letters from participants below.

Rachel Held Evans: Lets Build Bigger Banquet Tables.

Michael Mercer (imonk): A Letter to the North American Church

Sarah Askins: Removing the Make-Up of Perfection

Alise Wright: My Letter to North American Churches

Alan Ward: Alan’s Epistle to the Church in North America

Blue Collard Daughter: More Walk, Less Talk

Amanda Mac: To the Church in North America, Canada

David Henson: A Good Death

John Armstrong: My Letter to the North American Church

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If you haven’t seen the double rainbow guy, you need to.  This guy captures a moment on video that is priceless.  The original video blew up to 11 million hits and was featured on the Huffington Post.  On Huffington, it was shared over 12,000 times and tweeted over 6,000 times.

He’s in Yosemite and sees a double rainbow, which I’ve never seen, and then proceeds to enjoy it for about four minutes on video.  But his enjoyment is not a mere pleasure.  Its a deep resonance with beauty.  At the end of the video he literally starts crying.  And because he’s capturing himself on video, he’s completely uninhibited in his expression. I was amazed at his ability to appreciate beauty as much as what he was appreciating.  To take in beauty is a rare art that requires an almost complete surrender to the moment.

As funny as it originally seems – the guy might be on drugs – there’s also something deeply spiritual about it.  I would suggest that we long to appreciate beauty in a very tangible way.  There is so much chaos in our lives on a daily basis, that it’s easy to completely miss beauty. It’s easy to just pass it by because we’re consumed by our pain and suffering.  So when we see someone connecting to it in a deep and meaningful way it captures our attention.

What shows up for you in this?

A friend of mine recently said, “I came to this conference for soul care.”  When I heard that it resonated with me.  I too had come not just for the speakers and event, but for the nurturing soul care that happens when I gather with people who reflect love.  Sometimes I need to receive. And it made me wonder.

What restores your soul?  What do you do or encounter or practice that feeds you and gives you soul care?