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the good people of iowa

the good people of iowa

I’ll admit it. I’m a sentimentalist. I’ve been known to get teary-eyed at the end of a good movie … or sometimes even in the middle!

On the other hand, I’m no fan of reality television in any form, and I’m no fan of contrived and very public demonstrations of charity. (As Jesus put it: When you give something to a needy person, do not make a big show of it, as the hypocrites do in the houses of worship and on the streets. They do it so that people will praise them …)

So when I sat down the other night with my wife to watch Three Wishes with Amy Grant, I did so with some pretty low expectations and a healthy dose of skepticism. But I liked the show … and there were a few tears.

The format of the show is this: Amy and her crew descend on a town, set up a tent, and invite the townspeople to come and share their wishes. The hour-long show documents the efforts of Amy and company to grant three of these wishes. In this particular show, they rebuilt a dairy barn for a young couple who had lost their barn to a fire; they arranged to have the college loan debt of a young Iowa State graduate cancelled; and they staged a graduation ceremony for a young woman who had been severely disabled in an automobile accident just days before her original high school graduation.

I liked it … not because I was so impressed with the great generosity of Amy and her friends, and not so much because I shared the joy of these three people, these three families, who had the good fortune to get what they wanted. What stayed with me, what impressed me, was the good people of Lemars, Iowa, the town featured in this week’s episode. I was impressed by the deep loyalty and commitment to family, the courage of a young woman who had no family, the sincere affection and readiness to help of folks — young and old alike — for a neighbor in need. I was reminded of what has kept me here in Iowa for eleven years — the people.

The people of Iowa, like people anywhere, are by no means perfect. They have, as people everywhere do, their own particular, even glaring, flaws. But, on the whole, Iowa people do care deeply about family. They come through for each other in crunch time. And they aren’t shy about expressing affection.

Why? Because they have remained close to the land? Because of the necessary interdependence of an agricultural economy? Because of deeply ingrained ethnic and cultural traditions? Maybe for all these reasons. But I would like to think that at the root of the character of many a good Iowan is a genuine and most practical faith in God. It’s there and it shows …

genuine faith

genuine faith

Genuine faith can be such an elusive thing …

So much of what we believe derives from childhood experiences, from our parents’ faith or lack of it. We “inherit” our faith just as we inherit so much of what we think and feel and believe. Or we learn when we are young to despise or distrust the protestations of faith that seem so disingenuous. We want to be like mom or like dad, or we want to be anything but like mom or like dad.

Faith can be a hedge against fear or doubt, a way to avoid staring into the emptiness … of a vast and incomprehensible universe, or of a dark and incomprehensible soul. Faith can be a security blanket, a means of cobbling a sense of order onto the chaos of our lives. Faith can be a tool of denial, a means of avoiding questions and bypassing uncertainty.

Faith can be a wall, a wall to stand between us and our shame, a wall to stand between us and those parts of ourselves that baffle us and frighten us and resist our control.

Faith can derive from so many different roots and thrive for so many different reasons. Which makes it all the more amazing, truly amazing, that genuine faith does exist among us! Faith that is unselfish, that is humble, that seeks above all else simply to honor God and follow where God leads. Faith that knows itself, that knows its weaknesses and fragility and acknowledges them. Faith that is teachable and agile and always enlarging. Faith that does not have to have all the answers because the presence of God is answer enough. Faith that does not have to maintain control, because it knows enough to know that it can’t. Faith that is gentle. faith that listens … to God and to other human beings. Faith that is full of joy, not because all is well or all is in order, but simply because God is. Simply because God is …

Genuine faith is such an elusive thing. But it does exist … and it is a beautiful thing indeed!

faith without passion?

faith without passion?

Faith without passion …

… is like playing soccer without the ball. You may go through all the motions, but you don’t really accomplish anything and it’s not much fun!

Faith without passion …

… is like marriage without love. All form and no substance. It may serve a purpose — for maintaining some kind of social stability and keeping people out of trouble, but has no depth or intimacy or life … or satisfaction.

Faith without passion …

… is demeaning to God. If God is God — the one whose breath is the source of life, whose power and wisdom and glory are beyond imagination, whose grace and mercy and love seek and save and lift up a wandering and broken humanity — how can we relate to this God with indifference, with a shrug of the shoulders or a nod of acknowledgment … or a lukewarm faith?

Faith without passion …

… is an oxymoron, because faith is passion!

grief

grief

Grief …

Grief takes something from us that can never be regained. We cannot get it back … but nevertheless what we do have is enough. We have Jesus.

Jesus is with us … and that is enough.

Faith is not magical. We do not invoke the name of Jesus and expect everything to bounce our way. Faith is mystical. Jesus is with us, at all times, in all circumstances, in this very moment … and forever. And when Jesus is with us, it is not that everything will be okay … it is that everything is okay!

good people

good people

I have been privileged to know some good people in my lifetime:

  • people who fight to defend other people’s rights
  • people who say “I forgive you” … and mean it
  • people who seem never to tire of serving friends and strangers
  • people who believe in a project and support it wholeheartedly … and don’t care about who takes the credit
  • people who can be passionate and articulate about their faith without drawing attention to themselves
  • people who live their faith in decisions about lifestyle, investments, career, politics, social life
  • people who teach their children about social justice
  • people who tell their children about Jesus

I have been so blessed to know some good people in my lifetime …

true Christian?

true Christian?

What makes a true Christian? Sometimes it is hard to tell!

People calling themselves Christian worship in any number of different ways — from very formal to very informal, with classical music to contemporary music to Christian rap to no music at all, celebrating communion at every worship service or every first Sunday or once a quarter or even almost never.

People calling themselves Christian have very different political persuasions, from far right to far left and everything in between, from believing that religion should have nothing to do with politics to believing religion should have everything to do with politics.

Some people calling themselves Christian focus their energies on “winning souls,” while other people calling themselves Christian focus their energies on relieving human suffering.

So in the midst of all these differences what does make a true Christian? Or is there no such thing?

I believe a true Christian does worship — in whatever fashion. A true Christian lives out the faith in the real world — which means faith will have something to say about politics. A true Christian cares about people’s bodies and their souls. But the defining characteristic of true Christians — however they worship, whatever they think about politics, however they choose to show love their neighbors … the defining characteristic of true Christians is this: knowing for a fact that they are not master of their own lives.

True Christians know that all they are and all they have comes by grace. They know they must look outside themselves for wisdom and direction. They know that personal value is not earned or won, but is bestowed, a gift from God thanks to the obedience and sacrifice of Jesus.

True Christians are humble, recognizing the very real limits of their own wisdom and power. True Christians know they belong to God by God’s choice. True Christians spend much of their time saying “Thank you!”

first words

first words

I’m a believer. Of all the things that define who I am, this comes first. My faith in Jesus affects the way I think about my identity, the way I think about what I do, the way I think about the world. Perception, interpretation, motivation, action — all are processed through the eyes of faith.

But that is true of any of us. You believe something. Your belief may not be in Jesus, but you too have some core belief, some core value, through which you filter everything else.

The purpose of this journal is to give opportunity to discuss our core values, to look together at the world through the eyes of faith, to share with each other what we see and think and feel. The goal? Transformation! Thinking deeper and broader than the boundaries of conventional wisdom. Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind!

Feel free to register and join the discussion!