wedding day

I’m a big fan of weddings. One of my goals in life is to officiate a wedding one day. So, if you need someone to do your wedding, give me a 24 hour notice, and I will find a website to get whatever it is you need to legally marry people.

However I don’t know much about marriage, so I doubt anyone will trust me to perform their wedding. Still, I do enjoy being part of a wedding. I like being part of a wedding party and getting my picture taken. I even like prepping for the big day. Groomsmen preparation is probably a lot different and less stressful than it is for the lady maids. The responsibilities can range from simply show up to the venue in your tux, or move some chairs and tables around and hang decorations from the ceiling. My height disadvantage doesn’t allow me to hang things from the ceiling, so my role is traditionally reduced to moving around heavy objects. And moving around heavy objects is one of my favorite things to do. But don’t try to have too much fun around the bride to be. She’s very stressed out and even though you were on great terms one week before, all of sudden, you’re the worst person in the world for making fun of the centerpieces that were stolen from Pintrest.

Weddings are beautiful because of how well they illustrate the Gospel. They call back to the beginning of humanity when God instituted marriage in Genesis as a perfect union between man, woman, and God in the Garden of Eden in a world without sin. They hint at the ultimate wedding of Christ and his church as depicted at the end of Revelation. And in between the fall and the ultimate redemption celebration, there is the story of how love is depicted as Christ willing to die for his bride, showing what the ultimate expression of love is.

There is a ton of theology and implications to unpack there, and what it means to live that out in marriage every day for the happy couple. However, I’m grossly unqualified to accurately speak on that subject so I'll just focus on what I do know.

My favorite part of the ceremony however is at the beginning when the doors open and the bride walks in. After the last bridesmaid has walked down the aisle and the flower girl has just thrown the last of the petals, those in attendance eagerly shift in their seats with anticipation and look towards the back of the room as they stare at the doors. The bride walks in shortly after and there are murmurs and gasps, reacting to the astonishing beauty. Her face is radiant. For all the trouble that went into hanging the flowers on the aisles or how they ran out of tool (I just learned what that is!), the colors of the dresses, who should and shouldn’t be invited, none of that matters. Her eyes aren’t looking to see who sat where, how the bridesmaids look. Her eyes are fixed on her awaiting husband.

I make sure to observe the groom as well. Before she walks in, he might display an odd combination of several traits. A man who is normally stoic and always collected is suddenly fidgety as he waits at the altar. When the doors open, the jaw drops slightly and he takes a step back, enthralled by her beauty, and then a wide grin breaks out across his face. Perhaps both the bride and groom are wondering why they picked such a slow song to walk to, when they would much rather sprint to meet one another.

What is Christ’s reaction when he sees his church, holy and blameless? What is the Church’s reaction when she sees Jesus without a cloud of sin that obscure’s her vision?

Jesus yielded his rights as the rightful ruler sitting next to the Father in heaven to come to earth and die for a bride that did not know him, or even want him. And through his blood, an unfaithful bride is made clean, wearing a perfect white dress. Jesus rises from the grave so he can enjoy his rightful place in heaven and does not leave his bride a widower.

God’s love for us is not one of passive indifference; it is not a begrudging duty. It is active and it is full of joy. God looks upon us with joy. He is renewing us and cleansing us to be a perfect presentable bride. And right now, we dabble in sin, we stress out about the preparations, how we can make ourselves look perfect for God when no amount of damage control will suffice. And if you need any hint about how the Lord of the universe feels about you, look at the face of the groom at the next wedding you go to.

When that moment comes, when we see Jesus face to face, all else will melt away. We will not worry about anything else. There may be tears but they will be wiped away. It will be the perfect wedding day.

Oh look, here’s a song that pertains to what I just talked about. You should listen to it. It's pretty great.

dream on

Tonight, at least 700 college students at Ohio State will walk into the doors of Mershon Auditorium for Cru’s first Real Life meeting of the semester. 5 years ago, I walked into the doors of Independence Hall for my first Real Life meeting. The people in Real Life became a community that surrounded and supported me. They continually pointed me towards Christ, and those I count as brothers and sisters today, I met them through that ministry.

At a Real Life retreat freshmen year of winter quarter, I was given this bookmark. It contains what the mission statement of Cru at Ohio State.

It reads:

“As a Colony of Heaven that anticipates the arrival of our King we affirm that:

What is honored among us is faithfulness in worshipping God, building community and proclaiming the Gospel.

                What is cultivated is the kingdom mindset of faith, hope, and love.

What fuels our passion is our mission to transform OSU into a pipeline of Christ-centered laborers to reach every people group in the world

                What rallies our troops is Mershon”

A couple things stand out from this bookmark. One, there is some odd choices in capitalization and a typo in a couple statements. But a more significant aspect of this mission statement is the last point. I’ll get to that in a bit.

The first two affirmations are ones that should be true of any church or ministry that worships the God of the Bible. And while I will readily acknowledge that Cru is far from perfect, I can say confidently that Real Life continually strived to live up to this expectation. I found my closest friends through Cru. It wasn’t because I thought them exceptionally cool, but because they were authentic people. They were honest about their sin, and they openly confessed their short comings to each other. They wanted a real community devoid of fakeness and superficiality. They actively preached the gospel, explicitly with words, or through their lives. They took initiative in sharing their faith, and built relationships to open avenues where the Gospel could be proclaimed.

It was difficult to experience the third affirmation while I was still a student. After graduation however, I have seen it begin to come to fruition. My friends have been transplanted to various parts of the city, the state, and to other countries, all with common goal of reaching people for Christ. A few of them are missionaries in the traditional sense, but most have made their workplace their mission field. Any college of any size will inevitably send their alumni all over the world. Ohio State will send more than most. If those from Ohio State know the Lord, how much of an impact can they make for eternity?

The last affirmation warrants some explaining. Today it is outdated.

When I was a student Real Life met in Independence Hall, a 700 seat lecture hall. It is the largest classroom on campus. That first Thursday of my freshman year when I walked in, there were empty seats. I was a little early, but I doubted whether or not a Christian ministry could fill 700 seats in a secular college. I was wrong and in a few minutes when the lights dimmed, 700 voices were filling the classroom with praises to God.

I don’t remember when I was introduced to our campus director’s “Schott Dream,”  but its impact has been evident on the movement at Ohio State. For those unfamiliar, the “Schott Dream” refers to the Schottenstein Center, an 18,000 seat arena that is filled up for basketball games and various concerts. The dream is to one day see the Schottenstein Center become the meeting place for Real Life. It’s not because they are obsessed with numbers or because sheer size is a good indicator of the health of a community. Real Life wants to see the Schott filled because there is no other place to go on campus. The dream is to have the Gospel truly transform the campus. The Gospel message would become so contagious that everyone on Ohio State would know someone who truly follows Christ.  The campus would be filled with people who wanted to worship Jesus and there would be no room in any classroom or auditorium save for the Schott. To borrow some words from a large Georgian man, “the university wouldn’t dare to schedule a basketball game on a Thursday night again” because the Schott would be full of people worshiping the God of the universe.

It’s a very ambitious dream. 

When my bookmark was created, it hadn’t been thought of quite yet. See, Mershon Auditorium is the largest meeting space on campus save for the Schottenstein Center or the slightly smaller St. John Arena. The idea of seeing Mershon fill with college students worshipping Jesus on a Thursday night is ambitious in its own right. It seats 2,500 people, more than 3 times the size of Independence Hall. Our campus director must have thought that was too small a task for God to accomplish.

Tonight, the Mershon becomes the rallying point for Real Life. Will all 2500 seats be filled up? Probably not tonight. It may not be for several years. But it could be sooner. This is a significant milestone for Real Life. It is just further evidence that God has been moving on campus, to grow the size of the movement.

Tonight a freshman I do not know and will never speak to will encounter God in that room. He will encounter a community that lives to worship. It is my prayer that Real Life would continue to affirm the statements on that bookmark I received five years ago. It is my prayer that this nameless freshman would come to view God as center of his entire existence, that he would place his identity not in his major, his classes, his dot number, but in Christ. It is my prayer that Mershon would be a temporary rallying point, and that the “Schott Dream” would come to fruition. Perhaps the “Schott Dream” would change once more to the “Shoe Dream”? Ambitious, yes I know. And Ohio State would have to triple in size for that to be a possibility.

All I know for sure is that one day every tribe nation and tongue will bow down before Christ. When all of human existence does that, when all the elect from the beginning of time do that, there will need to be a bigger space. That place is heaven (obvi).

Real Life claims to be a colony of heaven. It only makes sense that they can dream big.

BLOOP BLOOP!

This next series of posts will focus on music. Music has been a big part of my life. Like all good Asian parents, my mom and dad enrolled me in piano lessons when I was 4. And I must have enjoyed it because I kept on taking lessons for 14 years. In middle school and high school, I picked up violin as part of the school orchestra. I think I got by on Asian reputation alone because I wasn’t very good at violin, but since I knew how to read music, that put me light years ahead of just about everyone else. A couple summers ago I learned to play guitar. And by “learn” I mean that I figured out the 4 or 5 chords that make up every pop and Christian songs, and bought a capo so now I can play just about any song released on the radio or played by your favorite CCM band in the last 20 years.

I don’t claim to be a music snob, but I do disdain people in Columbus who listen to 97.9 WNCI (the pop music station). I don’t like hipsters, but hipsters usually have a good taste in music, so I listen to 102.5, the only truly alternative music station in Columbus. (LOCALLY OWNED! INDEPENDENTLY OPERATED! NOT A KNOCK OFF! NOT CLEAR CHANNEL! CD 102.5!). Although sometimes, hipster music is just a little too hipster for my liking.

However since I am a Christian, I have an obligation to have the Christian music stations preset on my radio. That means you can find 104.9 The River (BLOOP BLOOP) on my radio. Unfortunately, 104.9 seems to be stuck in 2003 and has an unhealthy obsession with anything Christ Tomlin or Matthew West. The radio station prides themselves on being a “kid safe” station with “positive hits!”.

Which brings me to the subject of this post. Why does a Christian radio station feel the need to promote themselves as family friendly? I mean if you’re not a Christian, you might find the music offensive and you wouldn’t want your kids listening to this nonsense. They are obviously a Christian station, and glimpses of the Gospel or evident through their broadcasting. And they’re not the only Christian station to do this. I know of several other stations that promote themselves as being “Positive” and “uplifting”. Why they don’t drop the thinly veiled disguise and just say that they are a God centered, worshiping station is confusing to me. And ultimately I think it disguises other potential problems for their listeners.

If you’ve made it this far, you’re probably a Christian (if not, more power to you. Stick with me though). Do you have worship music on your iPod? Do you have a Pandora worship music station? Do you own Hillsong Live albums? Do you listen to worship music in the car? Do you listen to worship music when you work out?

I answer yes to most of those questions. But why? The River (BLOOP BLOOP) would have you believe that your choice in music is good for your life. It’s uplifting and makes you feel good about yourself. I admit that it’s more difficult to have road rage when I’m listening to a song singing of God’s love and grace (but it’s definitely still possible). But there is no difference in the quality of my workout when I listen to worship music as opposed to hard rock (99.7 THE BLITZ!!!!) or rap music (POWER 107.5 COLUMBUS’S HOTTEST HIP HOP AND R&B!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). And what does the moniker “Positive” hits imply? Does it assume that all other genres of music are “negative?” Admittedly the subject matter of other songs could be deemed degrading towards women, or celebratory of promiscuity and drugs, but most of the time, they’re not.

The primary goal of worship music is not to make you feel good about yourself. It’s meant for, well this may be obvious but it must be stated, worship. I’m not worshipping God when I’m lifting weights, and I’m for sure not bringing Him glory when I’m showing some unfriendly hand gestures towards that jerk who cut me off on the freeway. I don’t work out to have mini worship sessions in my head. I don’t try to get in mini worship sessions on drive to work. I simply enjoy the music because I like the melodies. I like the familiar steady beats, the repetitive chords. I don’t pay special attention to the words. They mostly say the same things anyway. It’s all about God’s love and mercy, which you know, are good, great things, and things that I agree with. They make me feel good. But I’m not approaching the throne of God singing these words back to him. These words aren’t meant for me, but I act as if they were there for my benefit.

I’m not saying that listening to worship music in the car is a bad thing, but if you listen to them simply because they are uplifting and positive, you could be missing the point. I hope these songs refocus your attention on God. I hope they frame your view on the day, that God is the center of everything. I hope that they prompt you to pray out of genuine worshipful heart. But I fear that I’m not alone in saying that these tunes simply become commonplace in your life. I turn the radio station when a song I don’t enjoy comes on. At that point I know that I’m listening for my personal enjoyment and not for God.  

Besides(and let’s be honest) from a purely musical standpoint, most of those songs just aren’t that good or creative. They’re repetitive and boring. If you’re listening for leisure, there’s plenty of other good music out there.

Worship music can make you feel good about yourself in one of two ways. Like I’ve said before, you can take away a purely emotional response away from the mostly superficial (but true) lyrics and familiar chords. Or it can make you feel good because your attention is drawn to a God who loves you, who sent his son to die for you, and who was raised from the dead so you can be with him for eternity. And this reality, that the God of the universe chooses you to be part of His plans, that He has not abandoned you in the midst of a broken world and that one day you will be with Him forever, fills you with an unspeakable joy.

BLOOP BLOOP

(Sorry to anyone not from Columbus who doesn't understand the bloop bloop reference)

Anatomy of the awkward worship clap

Anyone who has been to a modern evangelical worship service knows what I’m talking about. You got your worship band up front. The worship leader probably has a v-neck on. He’s young and hip, and all the girls in the congregation will sign up to tear down the stage just so they can be closer to him, and all the guys simultaneously have man crushes and hatred directed towards him. They scoff at his skinny jeans, but wish they could play guitar and sing like him. He’s just so darn talented. You’re not sure what hairstyle he’s going for (a combination of a faux hawk and messy get out of bed hair) but you like it. He’s got some tats too, but not too many. Maybe some Hebrew words, or Latin, but no cliché verses. They’re obscure and a good conversation starter.

The song starts out. It’s very upbeat. Maybe the drums kicked it off without accompanying music so the congregation can get a feel for the rhythm. The worship leader starts bobbing his head awkwardly on stage. Someone sitting towards the back starts to clap with the beat. The worship leader takes his cue. Before he starts strumming the same 4 chords over and over for the next five minutes, he starts clapping his hands, encouraging the congregation to do the same. The female vocalist chuckles with a nervous smile and reluctantly goes along and closes her eyes, either to focus more on the worship, or to avoid the hundreds of eyes who are staring at her awkwardly clap on stage. There’s nowhere to hide behind the microphone and she can’t actually clap since on hand is holding on to the mic. The music itself starts as the rest of the band joins in. The clapping has spread to the whole congregation. They’re enthusiastic, but there’s not much room to move in the rows of seats so they’ll sway from side to side like an awkward 13 year old at a middle school dance or bob their shoulders. There are some stoic men who have their arms crossed, but even they can’t resist nodding their heads up and down or at least tapping their feet. It must be the work of the Spirit. The Chris Tomlin/Matthew West/Hillsong/Michael W Smith/(insert other mainstream CCM artist here) song is a crowd favorite.

“Sing it out!” the worship leader says and he begins verse one. He’s no longer clapping (those four same chords aren’t going to strum themselves).  The clapping slowly dies down in the verse, but when that chorus hits, the clapping picks up full speed. But then you realize, your arms are getting tired, and your palms are a little sore. This song is longer than you remember. And the band added 4 musical interludes between each verse. The worship leader starts repeating the chorus, saying “sing that again!” Probably because he needs to buy more time so he can remember how the next verse starts. Either the lyric screen is broken, or PowerPoint has frozen up again. It’s verse 3 and the clapping has almost ceased except for the enthusiastic elderly woman sitting in the front. Then it’s time for the bridge. The clapping finds new life as the instruments drop out and the worship leader says, “just the voices now!”

The chorus repeats for what seems like the 40^th time. But that drummer is so energetic and the lead guitarist is strumming so hard. He’s jumping up and down too. They don’t seem to notice that the claps have died down once more. The song starts to close, and the rhythmic clapping turns into actual applause. Who are they applauding? The band, themselves for making it through the song? The whole service as a whole? The correct answer, as the worship leader knows, is for Jesus, so he tells them, “Yeah! Put your hands together for Jesus! Amen!” The drummer is doing some free styling until he makes eye contact with the guitarists and they end together on one resolving chord. The band members wipe some sweat from their brows. He gives some quick announcements about the upcoming week and says a quick prayer. Hopefully it’s quick because you’re feet are tired from standing and you really have to pee. And you can’t be fidgety when you go up to talk to that attractive girl you’ve been eyeing across the row. You weren’t going to say hi, but that song, somehow, gave you the confidence you needed. It must have been all that clapping.

welcome to the real world. now keep on running

One becomes a “real person” or enters the “real world” several times in life. I became a “real person” when I turned 16 and got my driver’s license. Then I became a “real person” when I turned 18 according to the US government. Then I became a “real person” and entered the “real world” a month later when I graduated high school. After that, I became a “real person” again when I started college 3 months later. I probably got “more real” when I turned 21 and celebrated with a Corona with lime, (ironically, not a Bud Light Lime). And then of course, I turned into a “real person” after I graduated college. But I didn’t see myself as a “real person” since I made my money by making coffee and sandwiches and trying to start my Asian Burrito Business. I got a “real job” a few months after graduating, and everyone around me told me I was really a “real person” then. It sure looks like it. You can tell your job is “real” because they make you listen to presentations on insurance and retirement plans.I have 40 hour work weeks now.

So if I’m in the “real world” now, why does it feel so boring?

I spend 8 hours a day in a lab with fewer windows then a prison. Gone are official ministry duties that came with being a prototypical “Cru” kid. Since my community group is a few hours after the Sunday church gathering, some might say that I literally have become a “Sunday Only Christian.” But I know better than to equate a Christian lifestyle with simply ministry or church stuff. So I’ll read (or try to) read my Bible every day before work. I’ll try to spend some time praying, listen to Christian music, read Christian blogs, and do more Christian things, only to find them tiresome and redundant after a few days and slip into a weird mix of idleness, apathy, anger, and numbness, all too eager to spend my time at the gym or in front of the television instead of with God.

...

I recently agreed to run a half marathon in October with my co-workers. Since I've always seen myself as a “real athlete” and lately have been baffled by others who aren't good at sports, yet somehow manage to run 13.1 miles. I figured that since in my athletic prime, I could easily knockout 4 miles after months of not running, adding 9 more to that wouldn't be so difficult. Then I remembered as I was running one day, that lifting weights and gaining bulk is counter-intuitive to the whole endurance thing, and I was out of breath less than a mile into my planned 3 mile route.

I never understood how distance running was considered a sport. To me, sports have scores that are straight forward and easy to understand. Put the ball in the basket to score some points, or in the goal, or cross the plane of the goal line. Competitive racing makes sense to me. Beat the other people to the finish line first and you win.

But after high school, or college intramurals, participation in competitive sports abruptly ends. Since I’m an athlete and have an urge to do physical things, I have to do something. So I lift weights. And I can see the results immediately in the mirror, and see the number of pounds and sets that I can do increase. But with this distance running thing, I just get tired. Even if I increase my distance, I feel just as tired running 2 miles or 4. There is no “high” I get from running. I always saw running as training for something else. That way, in the third period of a middle school wrestling match, I’d have more in the tank than my opponent (although I was terrible at wrestling and didn’t make it to the third period a whole lot), or as time wound down in the second half of a soccer game, I had enough energy to get past the defense, or in the third set tie breaker of the sectional tennis tournament to get to the quarter finals, I could come back and defeat the much older, stronger high school senior when I was a tiny sophomore (the highlight of my athletic career. Forgive me for exposing you to my high school glory days. I reached my athletic peak way too early).

With running, you are training to run more. And it’s boring. That’s why I’m having trouble building my endurance right now and even getting motivated to run.

...

Paul’s words about “finishing the race” (2 Timothy) are taken way out of context all the time, although it’s easy to see why it seems like a verse Tim Tebow would use on his eye black. Paul is about to die. He has been persecuted, shipwrecked, beaten, and tortured, all for the Gospel. Paul didn't earn extra heaven points for starting churches.

(Warning: cheesy Christian metaphor ahead)

Paul’s job (or ours for that matter) is not to score as many heaven points as possible. Jesus scored all the points we need (ahh there’s the cheese!). It’s not even to build up “spiritual muscle” (I wrote about that before, and it’s important, but not our primary focus). Our job is to endure, to set our eyes fixed on Christ.

This life is a marathon. It will hurt. It will be painful. There will be stretches of easy soft terrain through beautiful scenery, and stretches of uphill rocky climbs, but perhaps the most difficult stretch is through the flat, boring desert.

I’m only 23 and don’t pretend to be a sage full of wisdom (ok actually I do), but in my limited experience, most of life is boring. If you enter the work place right out of college, have fun with those 40 hour weeks, doing the same things, over and over again. Yes you can look forward to better times, to better scenery and such, but the next stage of life is not your ultimate pleasure.  If you come to the next bend of the road in life and think, “ah yes, now I’ll be a real person after I get a job/degree/wife” you're only guarantee is disappointment. I've got 2 out of 3, and I still want more. And as much as I’d like to think that getting #3 on that list will satisfy me completely, I know better.

CS Lewis writes in The Four Loves , “We find thus by experience that there is no good applying to Heaven for earthly comfort. Heaven can give heavenly comfort; no other kind. And earth cannot give earthly comfort either. There is no earthly comfort in the long run.”   

The daily devotions, the Hillsong music, the poorly written Christian blogs, they all become cliché when we zoom in on us, when we have lost sight of heaven, when we look for our rewards here on earth and when they are not given, we are disillusioned. That lovely valley and stretch of life is all too short, and the uphill struggle doesn't always give way to a life lesson or reward.

...

I won’t understand this whole marathon thing in full until I finish and complete it. I won’t understand this whole life thing either until it is completed. But that’s meant to be a comfort. I’m told (by Facebook statuses and tweets by unathletic people) about the satisfaction that comes with finishing a long run. God tells me that unspeakable joy is said to be had with him forever in eternity. Jesus died for my sins, scored all the points needed to have victory over evil. I’ll keep on running, I’ll get distracted along the way probably, may even turn back for a bit, maybe stop by the side of the road to rest, maybe get off the road. I don’t know what my fickle heart will decide. But I believe a faithful God will give me endurance to finish and to one day see Him, and understand the full satisfaction of a race run well.

The words, “Well done good and faithful servant” are waiting for you, if you want them. “Real life” begins when that’s what you start living for.

Hey that’s the name of Cru at Ohio State! It all makes sense now!

"Jesus wept"

Every day, I go walk into my place of work, a hospital full of dying people. But I don’t know them. I enter in through the front doors, quickly make my way up a few flights of stairs (because elevators are for wimps), put my lunch in the break room fridge and then make my way to the lab. It’s isolated there. The hum of machines and vents dominate the sound space. A timer will go off, an alarm will sound, the rattling of the keyboard, a cordial beep every time a bar code is scanned. I’m no doctor. I’m no nurse. I have no need of ever talking to a dying patient. I’ll spend my time in this lab for 8 hours and then walk out those doors after the sun sets and drive back home.

Patient names and identities are reduced to a series of numbers and letters, necessary only for identification of lab specimens. The initial amusement of funny sounding names and alternate spellings of common monikers wears off quite quickly.

Several times a day, the loudspeaker pierces through the monotony of the work, an announcement of an incoming trauma case, cardiac arrest somewhere within the confines of the massive medical complex, perhaps a stroke. The alarm goes off, the announcement is made, and my co-workers and I continue our work, perhaps more annoyed then anything by the siren. Our jobs aren’t directly affected by these codes. It makes no difference to us, yet it is entirely possible that death will shortly follow these sirens.

Specimens will occasionally come from the morgue or perhaps from an organ donor. But this reminder of death does little to provoke any fear or sadness in me. Again, it is a mild inconvenience to me as I must use a slightly different procedure for these items.

Only once have I realized that the shadow of death is real in the hospital. One winter grey afternoon, I entered the hospital doors. No doubt I was either griping about the long walk from the parking lot, the wind and the cold. I was greeted in the lobby by a weeping family. They were distraught, as hugs were exchanged and tears flooded their faces. Tissues were out, and heads were buried. I quickly moved past them and into the stairwell, but it was clear that something terrible had happened to a loved one. Someone was lost forever, ripped from their lives a moment too soon. It was a staunch reminder of the dark shadow that hovers over the place where I earn my paycheck. For all the business of the Medcenter, the construction of a massive state of the art building, the bureaucracy, and the television commercials with uplifting stories of survivors, the fact remains that several people enter that building, never to come out again. Their story will not be told in the next PR campaign.

The reality of death is all around us. And in the face of death, we ask, where is God? Where is the God who allows these injustices to occur, who allows these families to be cut down? Is he there? Does he care? Is he “good” as the greeting cards with the Bible verses say he is?

God is there. And I think I know his response to death. It’s found in John 11:35, the shortest verse in the Bible. “Jesus wept,” As Jesus is shown the tomb of his friend Lazarus, his first action is not to call him out of the tomb. Surely he knows that he will raise him from the dead. He has the power to do so, but first, he mourns him. He sees the death of his friend and knows that this is not the way things should be.

Before he is betrayed and handed over to be crucified, we find Jesus praying. He tells his disciples, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.” (Matthew 11:35). He knows what cup he must drink. He knows of the glory that will follow when he will rise in 3 days. He knows he is going to be with the Father once more. But right now, the offensive face and stench of death is right in front of him.

God sees death. He sees that it is not right. He is not a God who stands idly by while his creation suffers and moans for him, whether they know it or not. He sends his Son, to live among his creation, to walk among his people while they mock him and despise him all the way to Calvary. These people are not innocent; they are part of the problem. They willingly choose sin and death over worship and life. He dies for these people, who don’t deserve this pardon, but God “demonstrates his own love for us in this; while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

I have never seen Romans 5:8 on a sympathy card from Hallmark. But this is the reminder we all need when faced with the reality of death. God did not simply sit idly, isolated from the death. He did not see redeeming his people as an inconvenience to his perfect plan, rather it was the plan the whole time. Death is defeated. Jesus does not hang on the cross forever, and he will not be found in his tomb. But that will not cheapen the ordeal that Jesus experienced.

I leave for work in a few minutes as I finish this writing. I will be annoyed by the traffic on the way to work, the lack of parking, and the business of the day. Perhaps I have exaggerated the presence of death in my job.( Don’t forget there’s a lot of “fun” things I get to play with like dermatology skin swabs, STD swabs, and things in people’s poop!) But the shadow of death looms over the entire world. Physical death is the most tangible example we have, but spiritually people are dead everywhere I look. Relationships are dead. Dreams are dead. Hope is dead. But there is a God who wants to give us life and who is there to comfort us in this world, this side of eternity. That’s what we remember this weekend on Good Friday.

That’s what we should remember every day.

vaccinations

I work at a hospital, and there is hospital policy that all employees get vaccinated for the flu every year. That makes sense. I work in a building that is full of sick people. I should take every incentive to protect myself against influenza.

The deadline for getting vaccinated is the end of the year. If an employee doesn’t want to get the shot, he has to sign a waiver and complete a computer based learning module on vaccinations and the flu. Or he could just not do either, and then lose computer access and not be permitted to come into work, and subsequently lose his job.

What is the motivation for the vaccination? Is it to avoid taking an online quiz? Is it to avoid losing my job? Or is it to avoid getting the flu?

It seems obvious that avoiding the flu should be the clear cut answer. As an employee of the hospital, it’s free, so nothing is stopping me from walking into employee health services and getting the needle. 

Considering my work environment I should really take advantage of the vaccination. Still, the email reminders I get every week place a greater emphasis on potential disciplinary action I could receive if I don’t get the shot then on the whole avoiding being sick thing.

I have little interest in getting the vaccination. I have faith in my superior immune system. I drink lots of orange juice and wash my hands all the time. But the fact remains that day after day I walk into a building with the distinct possibility of touching an infected door knob or pass by a sneezing patient.

The idea of sin being a virus, a sickness, a disease, is nothing new in Christian circles. (I even wrote about it once before here) There is a world of sin all around us. We put high stock in our own ability to avoid sin and temptation. We think we will not make the same mistakes again, that we have learned from the past, that we have been to enough church services and Bible studies, and know all the verses to combat sin. Our confidence is in ourselves to beat temptation, and that rarely yields positive results.

We have Christ as our “vaccination” against sin. We are confident of our position before the Father if we are in Christ and know that sin has no power against us. Still, Christ is used simply as our reason to not “get fired” from heaven, all the while forgetting that Christ gives strength for today to actively fight sin.

“And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.” Romans 8:11

We need Christ because he gives us life in dying, infected world. Just don’t forget that not only does it give us the benefit of living with God forever as some abstract idea in the future, but that it gives us hope and strength for life today in the very present. Sin isn’t just conquered in the future when Christ returns, but it is conquered today.