Wonderings and Wanderings

I was spending some time today reading the different gospel accounts of the Resurrection as I spiritually prepare for the Easter celebration.  Those who have read books or Scripture several times know what it is like to suddenly see something new in the words that were not obvious before or that you simply missed because you were looking for something else.

Today I had that experience with John, the one Jesus loved.  Now, I had never missed that statement before because John says it over and over again in the Gospel of John and it always strikes me as humorous when he refers to himself that way – "the one Jesus loved".

Today I was reading and comparing the different account of the women trying to convince the men that Jesus had risen. [Note who comprehended the truth first. ] Anyway, in the gospel of John, note John’s description of what happened.

"Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone was moved away from the entrance. She ran at once to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, breathlessly panting, ‘They took the Master from the tomb. We don’t know where they’ve put him.’ Peter and the other disciple left immediately for the tomb.  They ran, neck and neck.  The other disciple got to the tomb first, outrunning Peter."  John 20:2-4

I was laughing out loud when I read this.  Of all that was going on – Christ’s body was missing from the tomb – John makes sure to mention that he and Peter were running neck and neck and he got there first – outrunning Peter.  Doesn’t that just sound like guys?  I mean, really who cares?  Women wouldn’t mention those facts. There would be a simple statement that they ran to the tomb (maybe a sidenote about what shoes were carrying them there so quickly) but other than that, we’d get to the point – JESUS isn’t there!!

John, "the other disciple" goes on to say in the next verse

"Stopping to look in, he [John] saw the pieces of linen cloth lying there,  but he didn’t go in. Simon Peter arrived after him, entered the tomb, observed the linen cloths lying there, and the kerchief used to cover his head not lying with the linen cloths but separate, neatly folded by itself.  Then the other disciple, the one who had gotten there first, went into the tomb, took one look at the evidence, and believed."

Just in case you missed the point in the first few verses, John wants to remind you that he got there first.  He outran Peter.  Oh, and yes, he took one look at the evidence and believed. Way to go, John, the beloved, the one Jesus loved, the one who outran Peter.  This account sounds just like my high school guys.

John was a man’s man.

Happy Easter. Whether you can outrun John or not, I do pray that you will take a look at the evidence and believe.  Believe that you, like John, can lay claim as the one Jesus loves.

Stephen Colbert makes me happy.  There aren’t too many folks who can make recession humorous. 

Wouldn’t it be liberating to have a time in church services for "The Word" and it referred to a Colbert-type segment rather than Scripture?

The preacher could be preaching but the projection screens show little comments along the way that help to clarify what is really being said. There are several preachers that could really benefit from this. Actually, it would be the congregation that would benefit.

Preacher man says "God says, ‘love your neighbor’.".

Screen says "Unless he is gay… or Muslim… or Jew … or a Democrat …. or …"

Preacher man says "Be in the world but not of it."

Screen says "By in the world, we mean in homogenious gated communities where we can all be home-schooled and protected from the evils of the world and public education until Jesus comes back."

I’m in a sarcastic mood tonight.  Humor me.

Last weekend was our youth DiscipleNow weekend.  It is one of our big events of the year and one of the reasons I haven’t blogged recently.  It has been pretty busy leading up to the weekend as we get all the details and assignments worked out.  At DNow, youth stay in homes of church members for the weekend and have small group Bible studies along with larger group worship, service projects and fun activities.  We had 58 youth participate and it was a great weekend.  We had our awesome DNOW band back with us – No Longer Quiet and some great small group leaders. Our theme was "Becoming" and is published by Student Life. It was a really great study and the student books were great!  We volunteered on Saturday at the Samaritan Center – our local food pantry.  It was the Boy Scouts Annual Food Drive and helped to sort the food and box it up.  It is a great service project and we love helping the Samaritan Center.  Starting 8 years ago, we always do a "Mission JC" piece to our DNow weekend as we commit to helping out others while we have fun.  On Saturday, we did the game "Amazing Race" based on the tv show and it was a definite hit!   The end was very exciting as two of my groups were neck and neck throughout the entire race and finished withing seconds of one another.  One of my junior girls group beat out the senior boys by just a few seconds!  CRAZY!  It was a great spiritual weekend for us.  The youth really received a much-needed challenge on Saturday night about whether they were truly taking their faith seriously or not.  It was a very honest, in-your-face talk and several of the youth were convicted.  I was a little uncomfortable with it at times.  Partly because that is not my approach and I’ve seen that type of talk do more damage than good.  The last thing I want is to create a legalistic youth group – youth who are more concerned with right and wrong than about a loving relationship that transforms their life.  But there were some things they really needed to hear and the person who said it did a great job of communicating love in the midst of the challenge. 

The challenge is living that out in the real world – the world away from a weekend like DNow.  My struggle is helping the youth to do that. To give them the one-on-one time, the resources, the encouragement as soon as possible while they are motivated to start a new habit of relationship building with Christ.  After 8 years, I’ve seen these "windows" come and go. It is the frustrating part of ministry – ministry to any age group.

Tonight at the C-Group at my house, all the kids that were present were also present at DNow.  So we spent the evening talking about their spiritual experience at DNow.  It was interesting to hear the different reactions to the talk on Saturday.  Some felt it was needed and it really nailed it on the head.  A couple of others were angry and turned-off by it.  Both reactions were honest and telling. But either way – there was a reaction which led to a great discussion.  As one youth said, "It was so much easier when you were a kid."