Jesus - on Facebook?

     Would Jesus have a Facebook page?  How many friends would he have?  What sorts of things would he post?  “Interesting interaction with a leper this morning.”  “Instagram photo of me walking on water.”  “Check out my blog bashing the Pharisees.”  “Any advice on what to say when on trial before Pontius Pilate?”  “A dozen guys coming for dinner tonight; I’m serving lamb.”  “I’m back.”

     I have Facebook, and a startling number of friends.  Sometimes I post serious stuff; sometimes it’s just something fun I did.  Jesus was no stick-in-the-mud; I doubt he smugly chides us for Facebook; I believe he chuckles over some of the humor and cute pix.
     But I wonder about a few things, like How much time do I really spend on Facebook?  I read a study that says every person asked this question grossly underestimates how much time actually rolls by as we scroll about, like, comment, and post.  Not that Facebook time is evil.  If anything, it demonstrates our deep need for community, our craving for connection.  God made us this way.
     What sort of connection do we make on Facebook?  Much is fine, but more of it is trivial, shallow.  Maybe we need to get together, and share in depth.  I’ve somehow garnered hundreds of Facebook friends – but do I have even 12 like those Jesus had?
     I also fret a bit over the nature of photos people post.  Everyone is smiling, having a terrific time – and I believe the studies that suggest the omnipresence of all our friends looking as if life is perpetual happiness can lead to a sneaky depression.  Does the “norm” become the composite image of giggly, scenic life posted on Facebook? and therefore something must be wrong with me because I haven’t been happy for quite a few days, and wasn’t included in that witty video of the party I didn’t get invited to.  How many “likes” did my contribution get anyhow?  None?  Just two?
     How do I narrate my true self?  How do I measure my worth? or what my day is like?  Can I dabble in Facebook, but still remember to go deep, maybe to use some of that ticking Facebook time to pray?  What’s my “status” with God?  What do I “like” about God this day?  What would I share from my heart that matters – either an item of joy, or a plea from sorrow?
     What if Jesus had posted photos of his journey?  Not all smiles and parties, that’s for sure.  Does Facebook whittle away at our ability to grasp the depth of Jesus’ suffering love, or of the sorrows of our world?
     “What a friend we have in Jesus.”  We might have to trim some Facebook time to know him a little better…

Think like Jesus - the Bible....

Avid reader or not, you probably have some books where you live - and increasingly people find their reading material on a laptop, Kindle, Nook or even your phone. What do we read? and why do we read what we read? What is the big picture impact of the varied diet of what I read? Am I getting smarter? or being entertained? or more aware of the real world? or even closer to God?

In Sunday's sermon I spoke of the great gift of the Bible in the most compelling way I'm capable of... Watch it here!

My primal thoughts were 1. Any time we read the Bible, God is pleased. I like that: if I can do something that I know will please God, I want to do it daily. And 2. The way to think like Jesus is to read what Jesus read and talked about all the time, namely the Scriptures.

The Bible is itself a library of 66 books, wildly divergent in style and tone, best read in sips than in huge gulps. You benefit from having a plan, or a guide, or being in a group. I once had a lawyer tell me he couldn't understand the Bible. I snickered a little - as attorneys devise complex documents only other attorneys can comprehend. My grandfather, with an eighth grade education, wore out a couple of Bibles, reading, understanding, adoring, obeying.

Where to begin? Go to this page and click on Year Through the Bible, a series I did highlighting the key passages you need to be familiar with. There's more info on that page as well. Or ask around, research it a little - or just start reading Mark, or John, or the Psalms, or Philippians: every page beautiful, moving, helpful, and holy. This is the way to think like Jesus.

Think like Jesus - at the grocery store

     Armed with my list, I get my basket, take to the aisles, nab the items I came for, and try not to indulge in too much impulse buying. I don't think much about Jesus, or anything at all except replenishing my refrigerator and pantry, securing dinner, and nosing out a few bargains.

     Jesus wasn't a farmer, so like everybody else he stopped by little markets with his mother and then his friends, studied the produce, made his purchases and took the haul (meager as it may have been) back home. What was on his mind? He spoke directly with the farmer who'd grown the chickpeas. We miss that part - but might think about it. The food is in the cans, but what's canned is God's goodness, the long chain of rain, sunshine, fertile earth, a farmer's gritty determination, pickers (many of whom are the immigrants we debate politically!), factory folk, and shelf stockers. I might pause, think of God and all of them, and marvel with gratitude.

     Jesus had precious few choices. We have too many. How many types of cereal does humanity really need? Why is it Lisa sends me to get something simple like stuffing mix, but then there are a dozen types of mix, and multiple brands of each type? My temperature rises - but I might calm down, and humbly confess to God how spoiled and picky we have all become, and plead for mercy, and some simplicity.

     I might, as I make my way down the long aisles, remember those who have few or no choices, or no food at all. I've had Third World guests before, and they aren't sure whether to laugh, moan or weep when they survey our stores. I can pray for them - and I can also develop simple habits, like if I get a can of beans, I get another can to drop off at church.

     Other grocery store questions loom. Can I be patient with the shopper who thoughtlessly crashes her basket into mine? Can I be kind to the harried checkout person? or grateful to the bagger? Paper or plastic? or those green bags Lisa gently suggests I use? Lord Jesus: I need some help in the grocery store!

Praxis - Think like Jesus - Exercise

     The world says get fit, look good, stay trim, live longer.  I suspect Jesus nods, and maybe says “Amen” – but it’s interesting that Jesus never “exercised.”  In fact, the whole notion of “exercise” only makes sense in a comfortable society where you sit all day and thus need exercise.  I know a woman in Haiti who walks 5 miles carrying her woven goods to market – and 5 miles back home, where she also carries water, on her head, about a mile uphill for her family. 

     Paul recalled Olympic games he had observed, and thought of the Christian life as running a race, “to obtain the prize…  Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. I do not run aimlessly… I pommel my body and subdue it” (1 Corinthians 9:25).  And, “I press on toward the goal” (Philippians 3:14).  And “I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.  Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day” (2 Timothy 4:7).  I wonder if we might exercise, not only to feel or look better, but as a chance to “glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:20)?

     Can we think like Jesus while at Zumba, while running, walking or biking, lifting weights?  I’m not merely staying fit, but pressing on toward the prize of fitness for Christ’s Kingdom.

Praxis - Look, a rich person!

     Oh, look:  there’s a rich person!  Maybe it’s you in the mirror… but let’s say it’s somebody else.  He seems so cool:  chic clothes, cool car.  She probably doesn’t have a care in the world, is jetting off someplace hip, knows all the right people.  If only I had what he has; if only she were my friend.

     Jesus says Look if you’d like, but don’t gawk.  Under the veneer there’s a child of God, with wounds, craziness, goodness, but with the complication of having enough money to fall for the lie that he’s independent, that what she needs can be purchased. 

     Jesus says Look at the rich person, and remember I asked them to part with their wealth for the good of their souls.  I warned them (and you too) about Laying up treasure on earth instead of in heaven.  One of my best stories was about a rich man who did nothing for the poor man on his door step – and he wound up separated from God by an unbridgeable chasm (Luke 16:19-31).
 
    So say a prayer for him, shed any twinge of envy you might feel – and remember that Jesus came to make each one of us unfathomably rich, people with purpose, the inheritors of eternal life, those destined to dwell in the mansions of God’s presence forever.

Praxis - Look! a Poor Person.

Oh, look: there's a poor person. Bless her heart. Avert your gaze; don't stare! If children should be seen and not heard, the poor should be neither seen nor heard.


The world gives us 2 options when the poor do appear. (1) Pity: oh, it's so sad they have so little. I feel sorry for her. Maybe I even feel sorry enough at Thanksgiving to donate to the food drive, or if it's winter, I have an old worn out coat I don't want any more, so she can have it.

But increasingly Americans choose option (2) Blame: it's her fault she's poor, she ought to get a job, I'd never let myself get in that mess, she's a drain on society, handouts deepen dependence...

Jesus, interestingly enough, was poor, homeless, convicted as a criminal. In his last sermon before they killed him, Jesus spoke of helping the poor, hungry, homeless - and said that when we love them, we love Jesus, and that our very salvation depends upon it. However we respond to the poor = our response to Jesus.

So if I avert my gaze, I look away from Jesus. If I blame the poor for being poor, I find fault with Jesus. If I do nothing, I do not love Jesus. The political drift in our country is away from sharing what is mine with others. But for Christians this simply isn't an option.

We speak of taking responsibility. Here's what Mother Teresa said about people she was trying to help: "We do not ask why they have AIDS. We simply love them. It is not what they may have done that matters. What matters is what we do."

Our programs that work with the poor are geared toward sustainable responsibility. The Praxis question you and I have to answer is Do we pity, or blame? or do nothing? or do we love Jesus and get active in his endeavors with his people?

Look - a poor person.

Praxis - Think like Jesus - my calendar?

     Although my smart phone, my laptop, and my secretary all have calendars, I still carry a little black pocket calendar on which I scribble things I need to do.  What’s the meaning of all this ink?  Is it an albatross? or evidence that I must be somebody, since I have so much to do?

     What makes it onto my calendar?  Things to do?  Things I fear I’ll forget?  Who decides?  Am I a victim of what barges into my schedule?  Am I the controller of my own time – and destiny?

   Do I ever jot down, Be still and pray? or Block out time to find a service opportunity? or Reach out to the person nobody else likes?  If a stranger performed an analysis on my pocket calendar, would they discover any evidence of God? or holiness? or humble service?  How do I account for the time God has given me?

   For the final 57 years of his life, Wesley kept an “exacter diary,” in which every hour of every day he jotted down little notations of how he had lived during that past hour with respect to the grace of God.  Have I been faithful? or grateful?  Did I harbor dark thoughts? or pass up an opportunity to do good?  Imagine this kind of stellar devotion to God, working as diligently as possible to live a life that in some way was appropriate to the immense glory of God’s grace!

   Wesley understood, and would teach us, that religion is not “the mere saying of a few prayers, something superadded now and then to a careless or worldly life,” but rather “a constant habit of soul, the renewal of our minds in the image of God.”

   This Sunday we’ll be handing out simplified “exacter diaries” you may use during the week.  Try this!  It will take a little time, of course – but it might be the one truly valuable entry into your calendar, whoever keeps the thing.  Click here to view, download or print the short, simplified version to use each day; and here is the fuller, week-long spiritual diary.