Taking Notice

I've been reading my pocket New Testament a lot lately. The page layout is different, but the version is the same one I have used for years. Somehow the stories now feel so fresh to me. I'm noticing new details. I find story threads and repeated phrases. I see the context of Jesus's conversations. I feel like I'm more dialed-in to the author's train of thought.

There is so much depth to the story of the Bible. The more I learn the more I see. The more I understand, the more I experience the depth of God's love. And that helps me live out the Kingdom of God.

I need to notice the words on the page and the heart of the scripture's author. I also need to notice the world around me. God can also speak to me through people who are helping and people who are hurting. He can speak through the frustrations and the successes. Of course he can reveal himself through the vast outdoors. 

There is so much richness in the pages and the world. I just need to take notice.

Tax Day, Free Markets, and Housing Crisis

I have always been an advocate for free markets. Tax Day seems like an appropriate time for some reflections. 

Entrepreneurs should be rewarded for their risk and innovation. Those with property should be allowed to sell it, develop it, or hoard it. The free market seems like the only fair way to allocate resources. And employers and employees can negotiate appropriate wages without the interference of government. If wages are too low, a worker can find another employer who will pay a fair wage. The market is impartial and favors no one. 

Capitalism has served the Western world well, creating wealth like the world has never seen,  bringing new ways of meeting many of life's challenges. This system also allows investors to invest in innovation by purchasing stock. Enterprises can move at greater speed and greater scale thanks to the capital created with shared ownership.

But what happens when the free market goes wrong? Some would say that only interference in the free market causes problems. 

Today we see a growing problem in the housing market. Real estate prices have skyrocketed, while interest rates have moved to the highest levels in decades. That looks like the free market at work. But this free market now has a new kind of player. Investment firms with deep pockets are buying houses at high prices and high volumes. That is, these groups are buying up as much real estate as they can get their hands on. They are holding on to these properties and turning them into rentals. As demand for housing keeps rising, rental rates rise as well. Fewer homes are owned by individuals, giving these investment groups a lot of leverage in the housing market, allowing them to charge more and more rent. Those who don't own property are left with few choices. They have to pay high rent rates just to have a home.

This is the free market at work. The system works great for those with resources, but takes advantage of the poor. 

We are called by Jesus to love our neighbors. We need to find a loving way to help people have a place to live. Seems like the least we could do as a society.

Rethinking Righteousness

Jesus talks a lot about righteousness in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). But what's he talking about? 

I have always thought that righteousness was pretty simple. It's me doing the right thing, keeping the rules, being obedient. The checklist includes things like Bible reading, prayer, helping people, keeping promises, being honest, staying in Christian fellowship. 

In short, righteousness is about me being good. For the most part, it feels like righteousness is just between me and God.

But thanks to the Bible Project's study of the Sermon, I have a clearer understanding of righteousness. It's not just about me being good. It is about me being in right relationship with others. As Tim Mackie says, righteousness is "doing right by you." 

This understanding better captures the meaning of the original words. And we can clearly see that emphasis in other parts of the Sermon. Jesus goes on to say that if there is a problem between you and someone else, you need to chase the person down and make it right. You need to repair the relationship before you even worship. Don't murder, but don't even be angry. Don't commit adultery, but don't even lust. It's all about relationship.

And this tracks well with the second part of the Great Commandment: Love your neighbor as yourself. 

So, yes, be righteous. But know that it means making relationships right. It's not just between me and God. We are all in this together. It's the kingdom of heaven.

More Confessions

OK, so my Lent idea of confessing something every day sounded good. But here's my confession today. I haven't been confessing as much as I had planned or expected. 

I'm not quite sure what went wrong. Maybe it was not a great idea to start with. Maybe I just failed to make confession a priority. But God has still been at work. 

Even when we don't follow through, even when we have wrong priorities, even when we get distracted--even then, God is at work. He is at work behind the scenes. He is at work to reveal his love to us, as we discover our own imperfections.

And that's what Lent is about. 

Book review: Devout

Today I picked up Anna Gazmarian's new book Devout: A Memoir of Doubt. I began by reading the foreword, just to get a sense of the work. And it was good. It was so good that I read the whole book today. Learn more about the book here.

(Full disclosure: Anna is my daughter's sister-in-law. I have known her for years, and I knew a good bit of her story already. And I want to cheer her on.)

This book shows one young woman's struggle with church culture and her deep desire to honor God. For some, the Christian life at least appears to be easy, but for Anna it felt all but impossible. She notes how shallow some Christian communities can be, how she tried so hard to fit in. But her own experience did not fit the mold. 

Many churches and Christians could not grasp Anna's challenges with mental health. Well-meaning people urged her to try more prayer, more faith, more Bible reading. But easy answers were simplistic. 

As she tells her story, Anna shares insights from the scripture, showing struggles of faith in the heroes of the faith. Her depth of understanding inspires people like me to keep digging into the riches of relationship with God. 

As a gifted story-teller, Anna takes us with her on her journey. She leans on the Christian community as well as the world of psychiatry. In both spheres she finds those who can help and those who just don't get it. She shows how creativity can connect us with the work of the Spirit in us. She shows us the pain and the rewards of addressing mental health. 

I can think of dozens of people I want to give this book to. It's a real story about a real struggle. It calls out Christian cliches and calls us to take mental health seriously. 

Anna, your story gives us permission to live with doubt and to face our own struggles with mental health. For many, reading your story will be a game-changer.

Change your mind

About something. Change your mind. You "know" some things that are not true. 

So do I. 

So change your mind. I don't know where you are wrong, but I know it's somewhere. I am (cautiously) on the lookout for places where I'm wrong. I do not hold the same opinions at 61 that I held 31. I have learned. And I'm learning.

Just knowing that I have some wrong opinions helps me hold my opinions more loosely. When I encounter people who see the world differently from me, I remind myself that their experiences are far different from mine. I might (probably would) share their opinions if I had walked in their shoes.

Being willing to see things from another perspective softens my heart. It helps me not be so dogmatic or judgmental. I do agree that there are absolute truths. I think I have found some of them. But I try to give myself the freedom to rethink, to take into account new information, to consider another point of view. Even about those absolutes, I want to hold those perspectives graciously.

And that's the most important thing about dialing back the dogmatism: It allows for kindness. Even when we disagree, we can be kind. Maybe even when we are angry we can be kind.

So today I encourage you: Change your mind. About something. Maybe something small, like "People who drive Chevrolets are idiots." Just start changing your mind. It might open up a whole new world.

And yeah, this is my Chevy and my rooster.

Oscar tone

I have been cynical about the Oscars. A bunch of self-important people live out a popularity contest while the little people fawn all over them. At least that's how it has so often seemed to me. And obviously I have not gone out of my way to see every Oscar moment every year.

But this year's Academy Awards show has a different vibe to it. OK, it's only an hour into the show, but the attitudes of the actors has been so refreshing. They seem to be more humble, more interested in other people. They just seem more sincere to me.

I did watch the red carpet segment before the show, where they interview the stars, and that's where I first noticed a hint of humility. Maybe a hint is all they can risk, but I still find it refreshing.

There is still more time for pride and vanity, but thanks, Hollywood, for reminding us that you are real people.