A NEW YEAR

It's been a long time since posting. I feel as if I have earned a 'cone of shame'for being such a bad dog.

Interestingly, we are often caught in the vise of shame. We have not lived up to the expectations of others, let alone ourselves, and are left with the reminder of all the other times we failed. Some of us are so caught up in this never-ending downward cycle that we feel like giving up. What's the use?

Isn't this the engine behind the very profitable diet industry in America? People try to lose weight, but get behind only to find themselves worse off than before, and give up thinking of themselves as failures. Each time they try they discover they are worse off than they were before.

All too often, I see this in the church as well. Someone makes a goal to read the Bible from front to back, and once they get stuck in Leviticus, they give up. Others commit to give a certain amount of money and then a crisis intervenes and they feel like they're a failure. Is this the message the church wants to encourage?

I guess everything would be okay if we just thought differntly about ourselves. If only we all could practice positive self-eteem. Yes, there are as many motivators of the mind out there as those who shill for diet developers. Yes we know the results are about the same for each. I'm not much better at thinking positively about myself than I am imagining myself skinnier than I am.

So what are we to do? Well a lot of churches offer the mind motivator 'stuff' with a little bit of Jesus and call it a miracle method. Obviously, I don't go for that! I believe that thinking positive results when we experinece what Jesus came to offer us.

First of all, how about real community. A community that is like family (including dysfunctionalities) built around the promise of grace. We hunger for a family that knows that none of us measures up and we can nonetheless live with one another.

Second, how about real service. More than just an 'tip' in the plate, but offering ourselves in service of others in need. Nothing makes us feel better about ourselves than knowing we were of assistance to another in their need. We were created to give it all away.

Third, let's consider worship. As one T-Shirt said, 'The difference between God and me is that he doesn't think he's me.' Worship that isn't about getting a spiritual high, but worship that is an offering of myself and a willingness to live with imperfection. Let's get back to making worship center around God and not my needs.

Fourth, reading the written Word is not to be an exercise so that I can prove myself more knowledgable or worthy than you. Hopefully, by getting into Scripture we will experience God's grace revealed to undeserving people and realize that we are those people. Such a way of reading just may make us more compassionate and caring for those who don't agree with us.

I don't like wearing the 'cone of shame,' yet I realize that it is me not God who attaches this around my collar. Perhaps as I experience the marks of faithful living, I will be less controled by the cone of shame, and more free to see the world without blinders. As we begin 2010, wouldn't it be great if we could trust that God does truly love us without condition. Something I need to think about.