Sad Saturday.

And now in the narrative of the Passion week, we arrive at today; the lonesome, forgotten day of this week. Last year, I coined the term “Sad Saturday.”

It’s the 24 hour space that lies between the torture of the cross and the triumph of the empty tomb. None of the gospel accounts give us any recounting of what happened on this day leading up to the first Easter. And while I certainly don’t want to write history (especially as far as the Bible is concerned), I can only imagine that this day was filled with many emotions for Jesus’ early followers and their families.

No doubt it was filled with heartbreak, grieving and mourning. Yes, the greatest man they had ever known had died. But beyond that, there had to be heartbreak over a now-dead dream. If I were one of the twelve, I’m pretty sure the predominant thought racing through my mind would have been, “I gave three years of my life… for this?!” At one point, Jesus had talked about conferring on his disciples a kingdom. He had talked about a mansion with many rooms awaiting them. And now, in the minds of the disciples, all that talk seemed like just that… talk.

Which leads to another emotion I think they would have experienced: Shame. The disciples had hinged their future on Jesus, only to feel like they had chained themselves to the wrong star. There had to be embarrassment. Regret. Surely doubting why they would ever make such a decision and I have to believe doubt that what they had once believed about Jesus was ever really true at all.

Maybe the first “Sad Saturday” was spent in comforting community. Maybe it was spent alone, reflecting. I don’t know. But what I do know is that it is part of our journey to the empty tomb. The disciples would be given this 24 hour period to reflect on their lives, their decisions, the time they had spent with Jesus. But I imagine that in the midst of confusing thoughts and emotions there was still one other: hope. The disciples had seen Jesus do some crazy things. Just days (or maybe weeks) earlier, they had seen him raise one of his best friends back from the dead. And while hope felt like it was quickly fading, it was still there. And that hope would be fully and finally realized with the triumph of the empty tomb the next morning.

I don’t know that there’s a huge take-away for us in all of this. But I have to imagine that laid against the backdrop of doubt, shame, and depression that the first Easter for the disciples took on an entirely new identity for them. Today, I want to reach a place where (in the words of the prophet Joel) I rend my heart and not my garments, returning to my gracious and compassionate Lord. I’m sure that this day brought the disciples to a place of incredible dependency (albeit a frustrated and torn dependency) on God. Surely arriving there today only makes the victory of Easter morning that much sweeter.

Happy Sad Saturday, everyone.

Seek First.

Well, I hate the fact that every time I write on here I always feel like I’m apologizing for not writing. I’ve been doing a lot of writing over at the Suncrest Cultivate blog lately, so if you’re looking for some resources and tools and music to help you grow in your relationship with Jesus, check it out.

I thought today I would share on here a little about something I think God is reminding me of. One of the things I love about my job is that the people I work with are always concerned about each other. We want what’s best for one another and every now and then we’ll have conversations just to check in on each other and see how we’re doing. We even allow some retreat time every month or two for a morning or afternoon just to take some time to work on our relationship with Christ.

The last retreat experience I did was in October or November, and I took some time during that experience to pray and simply listen to God. I’ve always kind of hated the practice of listening to God, mostly because it always feels kind of awkward and usually ends with God putting his finger on a very sensitive (but helpful and necessary to change) part of my life. During this particular time, God put his finger on a few different areas that were dead on, but surprising to me. I wouldn’t have expected him to observe them. One of those revelations was this simple thought of, “Wes, you just need to stop worrying about if this and that and the other are ever going to fall into place. I just want you to trust me.” God was right. But if I’m honest, I didn’t really do anything about it. 

Tuesday night, I attended worship event led by my friend Brian, and during that experience, he had programmed some time in for everyone to stop and simply be quiet to listen to the Lord. I stopped. And again, I thought I had an idea of what God would say. Tuesday was a bit of a trying day; I thought God was going to tell me to quit being so selfish, to be a little more patient, or to grow in love. But God didn’t say any of those things. Instead, he said, “Wes, you are so worried about so many things. I just want you to trust me.”

Apparently, lightning can strike twice.

One of the foremost commands from Jesus comes in Matthew chapter 6, where he says that we shouldn’t worry. Instead, we are to seek first the kingdom of God and in the process discover all of the things we worry about being taken care of as well. It’s not a license to be irresponsible, but a reminder that after we have done all we can to trust God for our tomorrow.  I get so focused on the “what if’s” of the future; what if those people don’t like me, what if I don’t get married, what if there’s not enough money, what if our church doesn’t grow, and the list goes on. God’s inviting me to simply pursue his kingdom, take care of what’s in front of me, and to trust him to be at work in the things I can’t control (which is a pretty large list of stuff). It’s a command I’m learning to take him up on.

What about you? What would it look like for you to seek first God’s kingdom and to drop your worries?

Another Book Review!

Yet again, I got another opportunity to review a book thanks to Mike Morrell and Speakeasy. This time, it was a book written by Daniel Meeter entitled Why Be a Christian If No One Goes to Hell.

I thought the premise of the book was cool, which is actually what caused me to pick it up. The whole premise of the book is that if there were no such thing as hell, then why would someone become a Christian? In many different sects of evangelical Christianity, people become Christians not because of a deep love for Jesus, but because they are scared to go to hell. While there may be some merit to this, it certainly doesn’t create the type of love-motivated faith that God desires. While I don’t agree with Meeter’s views on the existence of hell (or lack thereof; I hold a far more orthodox view on the issue), I still found the concept of this book very interesting, especially given the recent discussion on this topic thanks to works like Rob Bell’s Love Wins.

In the book, Meeter did a good job of approaching the reasons to become a Christian from a philosophical point of view. I think that this book would definitely be a great resource for more philosophical friends who might be considering Christianity. Meeter does a good job of not assuming that his readers won’t automatically just know the concepts he talks about, and the terminology he uses is friendly to those who may not have more than a cursory knowledge of Christianity (and when he does use some “Christianese,” he makes sure it’s defined). In this regard, the book is certainly good.

I personally struggled with this read, though. At points, I found myself losing interest. I felt Meeter was a bit verbose at points, though I will admit that it probably doesn’t help that I don’t enjoy more “philosophical” reads. Some of Meeter’s arguments felt a bit underdeveloped or seemed to ignore some obvious flaws, though on the whole he provided a good overall overview.

As a side note, Meeter proposes that hell does not exist in the beginning of the book. I found this argument to be exceedingly underdeveloped, but the point of the book is not arguing for or against the existence of hell. Obviously, many large books have been written on this subject, so to expect an exceedingly thorough treatment is probably unrealistic. If that’s what you’re expecting, there are some other books and resources that I’d suggest you pick up first.

To conclude, in spite of my own differences with some of Meeter’s arguments, I still appreciate his desire to provide a comprehensive “field guide” for those looking to explore Christianity. If you know someone who’s interested in poking a little more at the thought behind Christianity, this would be a good read.

(You can check out Daniel’s blog here, and if you’re interested in purchasing either a Kindle version of the book from Amazon, you can do so here.)

Steeple Envy.

So, on occasion I get a chance to review books for free (thanks, Speakeasy and Mike Morrell!) and recently I just finished one called Steeple Envy by Vic Cuccia.

For me, this book came at a pretty timely moment. One of the things we are talking about quite a bit as a staff at Suncrest is what it looks like to truly live “on mission” in our world. To approach (what I think is) the same issue from a different angle, how do we really accomplish discipleship? How do we truly mold people into the image of Jesus? After all, that’s the job that Jesus gave his followers right before he left the earth (see Matthew 28:19).

I’m sure it’s because of my heavy background/career in worship programming, but I have a tendency to think of church sometimes as just worship services. I get addicted to the “show” of Sunday morning; making a cool video, teaching a really compelling message, getting caught up in really awesome music (normally accented by lights, colorful backgrounds, and cool presentation). All that stuff’s fine. But the problem is that oftentimes I get caught up in that and I miss Jesus in the midst of it. And he’s kind of important.

I don’t agree with everything Vic says here. Working for a multi-site church, I think he’s being somewhat generalized in some of the things he asserts about the culture and desire of multi-site (for one, it could be argued multi-site is more economical. Instead of building new multi-million dollar buildings to expand, you are meeting in smaller, more modest facilities that already exist or you rent. But I digress). There’s some other stuff in here that made me cringe and think, “I don’t know if I agree with you there, buddy.” But overall, I love Vic’s heart here. I love how he made me think about church way beyond a group of people gathered for an event, but an army of men and women who are living to make a difference in the world as they follow the leading and teaching of Jesus. As a pastor, that’s a needed reminder for me to take my attention, time, and focus off of the “show” and instead to spend it investing in people and investing in things outside of Sunday that are going to make an eternal difference and impact.

(Interested in learning more? Check out the booksite for Steeple Envy here, and the link to Amazon here. You can also follow Vic on Twitter and Facebook.)

Step Into the Party.

I was originally going to put this in something to send out to our campus on Wednesday morning, but in the end I felt like it was right for here instead.

In Luke 15, Jesus tells three stories about “lostness” to a crowd that had gathered around him. In his typical parable style, Jesus uses these three stories to illustrate God’s heart for lost people, and to illustrate that he is all about bringing them back to him

Without question, the most famous of these three parables is the parable of the Lost Son. You may know it (and if not, you can read it here). Jesus begins the story by talking about a man who has two sons. The younger son one day asks his father for his share of the inheritance (basically saying, “Dad, I wish you were dead”), and then leaves to go off to a far country where he squanders all of his money on what Jesus referred to as “wild living.” Unfortunately, though, the money eventually ran out. A famine hit the land. And now, this son found himself in dire straits, working on a farm feeding pigs. Things were so bad that he actually found himself longing to eat the slop that the pigs were eating.

So the son had an idea. He was going to go home and ask if he could become one of his father’s hired servants. He knew he couldn’t be a son again… he blew that when he walked out earlier. But maybe he could still find some grace in his father’s heart to help him out with a job. So he set off for home.

But while he was still a long way off, the father saw him, ran out to him, and embraced him. He made him a part of the family again. He threw a huge party to welcome him home. Things appeared to be good again.

But while the party was starting, the older son was still out in the field. When he saw the dancing, heard the music, smelled the food, and found out this massive party was for his brother, he was angry. Indignant. The father pleaded with him to come inside, but the older son wouldn’t. He was too proud. He couldn’t believe that his father would throw a big party for his messed up brother, while ignoring him.

That’s where Jesus’ story ends. And I think there are a couple of big things we learn here.

For one, God’s heart absolutely lights up when we are reunited with him. In this story that Jesus told, the father is representative of God and his heart toward us. If there was ever someone who didn’t deserve grace, who didn’t deserve a second chance, it was the younger son in this story. He blew it. He messed it up. You and I both have “younger brother” seasons of our lives where we’ve absolutely screwed it up and feel totally unworthy of coming before God ever again. Yet even (or especially) in those moments, God’s greatest delight isn’t in paying us back. It’s in welcoming us back. That’s why stuff like baptism is so important… it’s a celebration of someone stepping back into the family of God. Regardless of who you are or what you’ve done, there’s room at the party for you. Come and be a part of it.

But secondly, some of us are too proud to step into the party. This is my story too. I’ve got some “younger brother” moments, but I’ve got many more “older brother” ones. Moments where God has invited me to be a part of what he’s doing and how he’s working, and I was too proud to admit my shortcomings and say that I needed help. Don’t let pride get in your way. God’s inviting you to take a beautiful next step toward him, whether that’s through baptism, service, or just in how you handle a specific situation in your life. Don’t let pride interfere. Chase after him and step into the party.