Meditation On Mortality

Over the last few days, I have had circumstances happening around me that have led me to really think deeply about my own mortality. A few weeks weeks ago, I received a phone call that let me know that the principal chief of my tribe had died at age 55 from a heart attack. More recently, I found out that another close friend of mine had recognized early signs he was having a heart attack, and was able to arrive at a hospital in time to save his life, he’s 42 years old. My dad suffered a massive heart attack in 2009, and his life was saved because it happened in a hospital.—he’s still going strong though. My mom died at age 61 in an inspirational fight she lost to stage four cancer, high-blood pressure, diabetes, and congestive heart failure.

As each of these events have occurred, they have brought into focus some basic truths to which I personally don’t like to give a lot of thought. Every single one of us will meet the end of our days one day.  When life events calls me to freshly consider the bigger questions of our mortality and purpose, I do not place my focus in pop-culture platitudes, but rather to ancient and timeless truths of the scriptures. This life will end. Saul of Tarsus tells us that it is appointed for each of us to die, and then after that comes the judgment. James, the half-brother of Jesus of Nazareth, warns that our life is a vapor and that tomorrow is not promised. One of the Hebrew Psalmists encourages us to learn to number our days. And with all of these myriad warnings, and the daily reality that there are people who are dying from various causes, I feel like we can lose sight of this reality.

But the last few weeks, have been a megaphone for these truths. So what does a person do with the reality that this life is temporary? I find myself looking to the wisdom of scriptures, and considering the application of the wisdom of the ages. In my estimation, the scriptures are a guidepost for living life on purpose, in light of our earthly mortality, and in light of the fact that each of us are, as the philosopher Dallas Willard has said, “unceasing spiritual beings with an eternal destiny in God’s great universe.” The ancient theologian Saul of Tarsus has also written an exhortation for the ages to, “Make the most of the time because the days are evil, and understand what the will of the Lord is.”

When I consider these truths, that my life is short, and that I’m seeking to make the most of the time, I still find myself in need of guidance. We live in a world FULL of chocies, at least most of us in the West seem to have limitless choices. I’ve spent enough time in other areas of the world (and honestly even here) to know that our circumstances can sometimes limit our choices—but we ALWAYS have a choice of some type. So, again, I look to ancient texts for truths that have stood the test of time. An Ancient Hebrew Prophet laid it out this way, “What is required of you o man, but to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”

These are powerful words, but we need more than wise words to live by, we need to cautiously and humbly seek to apply these words and embody them in our lives. The reason I encourage caution and humility is because, if these words are meant to move us toward a life of purpose from the perspective our own mortality, then we need to be willing to course-correct if we may be mis-applying the wisdom. We need to be in a place to listen to the feedback of others. We need to be open to suggestion, but at the same time, we need to be resolute. If we aren’t resolved to a degree, then we will waffle and waver from our purpose, and we will likely live a less fulfilling life.

So as I consider all of the events swirling around me, death of a close friend, near death of another close friend, and the arrival to this earth of our first child, I consider this text in the following ways.

Do Justice—This is an active part of our life rhythm. In order to be able to do justice, I need to wisely steward the limited resources I have, in the limited time I have, for the good of others. This encourages me to pursue my own physical health, not so much so I can live longer (although there is a correlation between physical health and longevity), but more so I can do more in terms of justice. If I am healthy and strong, I can give more of my resources to service. I can volunteer. I can run and play with my child. I can help friends move, and it just leaves me in a place where I have more to give.

Love Mercy—There is so much wrapped up in this phrase. This phrase helps me to more fully be present to all that is going on around me. If I am loving mercy, I am willing to walk in forgiveness—I’m neither carrying bitterness toward others, nor toward myself. There are times in our life where all of us “do injustice” to ourselves and to others. There are times when we will have injustice done to us. It is in those times we have an ability to love mercy and extend mercy toward ourselves and others. Carrying bitterness, anxiety, and disappointment are not the way of mercy, and they will rob us of our life long before we breathe our last, if we let them. In this spirit, I strive to make space to choose to believe the best of myself and of others, and to extend mercy rather than enmity.

Walk humbly with your God—This is probably the least popular aspect of this ancient nugget of wisdom. Our pride screams defiantly at any form of humility. We want to do things in our way, according to our time schedule, and according to our own priorities—we do not like the thought of anyone or anything dictating how we should spend our time, talents, and treasures. And yet, when we walk in humility, we are able to have eyes to see our own shortcomings. When we walk humbly with God, we are choosing to listen to the ONE voice that desires the best for us, and has the clearest insight into how we can live the most fulfilled and purposeful life, the wisdom and guidance of God nudges us to the best life we can live. And by taking time regularly to listen and to respond, we can truly make the most of our limited window of time on this earth.

I would never claim to execute these three principles perfectly, but I believe they offer each of us guidance toward how we might each live our lives in a way that truly “makes the most of the time because the days are evil.” May we each strive to walk in a way that is mindful of our mortality, and that savors and makes the most of each magical moment of our lives.

Ash Wednesday 2016 And Lenten Commitments

Each year, on Ash Wednesday millions of Christians around the world begin a pilgrimage of sorts. Ash Wednesday begins a period of intentional reflection and deeper identification with Jesus as individuals add disciplines or fast from certain foods or activities during the weeks leading up to Resurrection Sunday. For me personally, I have found Ash Wednesday and the Lenten season to be an incredible period for assessing where I am in my faith journey and for resetting or recalibrating my focus. It is so easy over the course of a year to become distracted or start a gradual or subtle slide into lethargy, complacency, or worse, and to lose sight of one's purpose or focus because of those urgent but often unimportant activities that can quickly swarm to drown out the voice of Jesus.

Today, I started Ash Wednesday in the way I have for many years, after a tradition instilled in me by my former chief. Although today was somewhat different because I did not actually make it to a gathering to receive ashes, I did carve out time in my early morning this morning, and my late evening last night to consider what I would be doing to grow in my faith and "journey with Jesus in the wilderness" during this season. Would I add to my devotional habits or practice self-denial in order to more fully connect and identify with Jesus during the weeks leading up to Easter?

Here is where I have landed. For the last eight years, I have walked through this book, Developing Intimacy With God by Alex Aronis. This book was suggested to me by a good friend of mine, JR Woodward, during the summer of 2008 as I was considering a potential shift in vocation. The book is an excellent framework for walking through the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. After reading Aronis' book for the first time in 2008, I have gone through it at least once a year--usually during Lent. And, I plan on doing the same this year--that's my Lenten commitment.

Why do the same thing? I have found this book to be an incredible gift, far beyond what I would have considered when JR suggested it a few years ago. It has been a gift because it has helped me to cultivate greater simplicity and generosity in my life, and it has helped me to grow in my relationship with God. Each time I come to the book, it encourages me toward an abiding in Christ, and rather than concerning myself with what I can do for Christ, the exercises encourage me to simply spend time with Christ. In a world that is growing increasingly distracted and "busy," taking this time to reset and refocus has been transformative, and in my opinion, could be one of the best things we do for spiritual health.

What about you? Do you have any Lenten traditions you have or commitments you are making this year as you take time to identify with Jesus during his wilderness fast and journey to the cross?

May each of us who participate in this ancient tradition grow in the depth of our love for God and neighbor, and may this growth spill over into action for the good of the world.

Reflection: A Long Obedience In The Same Direction

Today, celebrates the twenty-first anniversary of a special day for me. While I remember the event and the occasion clearly, I think I'm more aware of the changes the time wrought in me. In many ways they were unanticipated and unexpected, and honestly they have been pivotal in shaping me into the person I am today.

I was attending an inter-tribal gathering at a 4-H camp, Camp Muffly, near Morgantown. I was the president of the Organization for Native American Interests (ONAI) at WVU, and our group was invited to this gathering. It was my junior year at WVU. My good friend, Matt Thorn (ONAI's VP), had let me borrow his tent as me and my other friend Reza Marvashti would be camping for the weekend and representing our group. We were going to be connecting and spending time with members of the local indigenous community and exploring opportunities to serve. And that happened, but something more transformative and unexpected also happened that weekend. I became a Christian.

I had engaged in many conversations about faith and Christianity over the years with friends and family members, but when I came to college, I would say that I became a deep searcher. I really wanted to know God, and I wanted to live my life for Him. But the funny thing about it is that I didn't really grow up in church. I do feel like my family had a number of rich traditions grounded in a deep sense of right and wrong, but I don't think I gave a lot of thought to the why of those traditions.

But in college, I had a number of friends who were starting to explore a life of faith, and in their explorations, they were seeking to live out what they were learning. These weren't people who just attended a religious gathering on Sundays, but they were daily people of prayer and they were daily reading and applying the sacred text. And as admirable as their discipline was, I thought it was misplaced, and honestly, I was pretty judgmental of Christians--the irony was that I thought they were judgmental.

But that all changed on a weekend in November 1994 at Camp Muffly. To be clear, there wasn't an altar call or someone nudging me toward a decision--it was not what people refer to as a 'revival' weekend or 'camp-meeting'. For reasons that only God knows, he was choosing this particular weekend to illuminate to me His deep love for me, and that the very thing I had been searching for was Him. I had been praying earnestly for months that the Creator of the universe would reveal His truth to me and lead me in living out the ultimate purpose for my life. In all of my considerations about a life of faith, I was reticent to think about Christianity, but, that weekend, I found myself more and more convinced that Jesus was the person who I was looking for.  That somehow, there was something powerful about His death and resurrection, that in Him was hope, light, life, and redemption, and more importantly I was growing more and more cognizant that I was a sinner and I was in desperate need of the Savior. There were a few conversations that happened that weekend with various tribal leaders and friends that touched on areas of faith, but that was not the center of the purpose of the gathering. The gathering was about service and community among native people.

And yet, God was reaching out to me, and letting me know that I was loved. More than that, he was impressing upon me that my ultimate purpose was to be found in love. That my highest purpose was to love God with all of my heart, mind, soul, and strength, and in the wake of that love, that I was to love my neighbor as myself, and further, that there is no greater love than this, that a man would lay down his life for his friends.

The weekend of November 11-13, 1994, I began to walk in obedience to this radical love, forgiveness, and mercy I received from Jesus. I became a Christian. And from that point in time I have been continually blessed with an amazing group of fellow sojourners on the journey, mentors and spiritual guides who have helped me to grow in my discernment and my capacity and desire to serve, and a deep and abiding relationship with my Creator who relentlessly loves me, forgives me, leads me, and guides me to be the best version of myself that I can be, and to be an ambassador of the love, mercy, forgiveness, and restoration that can be found in Him.

As I celebrate this 21st year of life in Christ, I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the ways that God has given me a greater capacity to love, and a greater desire to keep following His gentle but strong leadership as I seek to make the most of my limited time on this earth. And my prayer is that we would all grow more deeply aware of incredible love, mercy, and hope that are continually being extended to us by the Creator of the universe.

Remembering My Aunt Rosemary

It was late Sunday evening January 19th when I was able to talk to my Uncle Bill. He, my cousins, their children, and their pastor had gathered at the hospital to wait. Aunt Rosemary was taken to the hospital earlier in the day with critical vitals, and doctors had just said that my aunt was septic, and that her systems were slowly going to be shutting down. And now, as you read this, my aunt has left this world to be with her King Jesus.

As I prayed with my uncle over the phone Sunday night, I burst into tears. Not because my aunt was not destined for a better place, but because of the great void she will leave behind here. My mind flooded with an incredible array of memories of my aunt and the way she cared for me and so many others.

My family's loss is heaven's gain. My aunt fought a number of illnesses during the years I knew her, but that's just the thing. She fought. She fought the good fight and finished the race. There was a point in time a few years ago, that the doctors had said she was dying, but she fought back to stay because she wanted more time with her family and people she loved.

Aunt Rosemary was always quick to open her home and give generously of her resources to help others. For several years, she and Uncle Bill supported the work I was doing with Great Commission Ministries, and I know she supported many other activities in the area. She always opened her home and made sure that my cousins' children, Brandon and Liz, always had a safe environment for themselves and their friends from school to hang out.

Aunt Rosemary was very proud of her sons and her family members for their accomplishments, and LOVED having visitors. I can remember many visits, even when my aunt wasn't feeling well, when she would hear the voices of company in the living room of the house, she would rally the energy to come visit, sit for a spell, and catch up with folks.

While Aunt Rosemary is already with Jesus, it is my prayer that those of us she left behind would continue to honor her legacy of love for God, compassion, and hospitality. The world could use more people who live the quality life of character of my Aunt Rosemary.

Washing Dishes, Serving, and Christmas

My wife and her family are absolutely amazing. There are a number of reasons I could list for why I feel this way, but this little post will be centered on just one of them—doing dishes on Christmas.

For the last three years Jamie and her family have allowed me the privilege of joining them in this long time Reaser tradition. It started when Jamie was in middle school/junior high, and her parents were a little concerned that their daughter might somehow get distracted by all of the gift-giving around Christmas and think the day is really about her.

As a result, Jamie’s mom started looking for opportunities in which they could serve on Christmas day in the local community. In Clarksburg, a group had organized a Christmas dinner where they invited people to come for a meal in a local Methodist church (or have the meal delivered). Jamie and her parents signed themselves up to wash dishes and stay behind the scenes. (Ironically, the first time I went with them the local TV station interviewed Jamie about serving there.)

There is something healing that happens in our souls when we serve and look out for the interests of others instead of just ourselves. I believe that this gesture that flies in the face of what has become a ‘normal’ celebration of Christmas (lots of un-needed gifts, and a mid-afternoon visit to a movie theater). Now, don’t get me wrong, movies are great, and the thought behind most gifts is also wonderful, but they just don’t hold a candle to serving.

Jesus said that He “came not to be served but to serve others…”, and when we serve, we are actually following the example and teaching of Jesus. And what better day to serve than on the day the world celebrates His birth.

As 2013 gets started, I want to encourage you to look for opportunities to serve, and then serve. I believe that serving changes us in a good way. I believe that if we all took a little more time to serve others, our families would be healthier, our neighborhoods would be safer, and our world would be a little brighter. And service doesn’t have to be part of a big event. Often the best opportunities to serve show up in the mundane and the every day.

Here’s to making a fresh commitment to service in 2013!

Review: "How God Became King" by NT Wright

Last spring I purchased NT Wright’s latest book and had the great aspirations of reading it and reviewing it in 2012. I was able to do the former in 2012, but barely. In fact, it was New Year’s Eve, sitting in the Morgantown Starbucks that I was able to pour through the latter two thirds of the book.  In some ways, the reading and review of this book typified 2012. There were goals that just got away from me and so these goals need to be carried into the new year.

That being said, at last, I have been able to sit down and write a brief review of Wright’s book. The book How God Became King: The Forgotten Story of the Gospels is a highly accessible book for people who have committed their vocations to the teaching of the Bible as well as to those who have committed their lives to being ambassadors of the Kingdom of God.

The book is divided into four sections with the fourth being a response to understanding Jesus birth, life, death, and resurrection as not only in terms of atonement for sin, but as the beginnings of God putting all things to right (including our own relationship with Him).

In the first section of the book, he deals with two extremes that currently exist with regard to the life and teachings of Jesus. One is to so fully focus on His divinity and His birth, death, and resurrection that one misses His life. The other is to so focus on His life, that one misses the meaning and significance of his birth, death, and resurrection. He also gives some proposals as to how this split has happened as well as the incomplete image both offer.

In the second section, Wright speaks of four areas of emphasis within the gospels as four speakers in a sound system that need to be brought into harmony. Two of the speakers are turned up really loud and play distortedly, and in many ways drown out the remaining two speakers. Wright proposes that what needs to happen for us to hear all of the fullness of the message of the gospels is that we need to adjust the balance and volume of these stories.

In the third section, he proposes what happens as the four speakers are properly balanced. A story emerges that is the story of Israel coming to it’s climax as well as the story of Israel’s God becoming king and making his presence with humanity. In this story, everything doesn’t quite look the way one would expect it to look, but part of the reason for this is the linkage with the establishment of God’s Kingdom through suffering, service, and taking up of one’s cross.

Wright further builds a case that in much of our modern readings of the Gospels, we have uncoupled the Kingdom of God from being anything of this world or having any place in this world, and as a result we miss some of the very real and tangible opportunities for learning not only from the life of Jesus, but also seeking to live life as ambassadors of the Kingdom of God in the here and now.

Unfortunately a review this brief simply does not do the book justice, so rather than try to write lots more, I will simply encourage you to purchase a copy and give it a read, along with Wright’s other writings.

And regardless of whether you read the book or not, I invite you to take a moment, and reflect on what life might look like in your neighborhood, in your job, and in this world, if God’s rule was reflected there? And what might it look like for you to be an ambassador of what it would look like?

Just a little food for thought for 2013.

Review: Who Is This Man? By John Ortberg

Recently, my friend Doug Scott, the former creative officer for Nuru International, and the founder of the Chicago based media firm, Advocate Creative told me about a project he was working on. Doug and I became friends through Nuru back in 2008, and thankfully, he and his team are still actively involved in creating incredible videos, and other media for Nuru. Now though, by forming Advocate Creative he and his team are able to work on a more diverse array of projects.

One of his team’s more recent projects is the video embedded in this blog post. It is a short teaser video to promote a new book by a guy named John Ortberg who leads a church in Menlo Park, California. By the way, John and his wife Nancy, are both very talented authors and passionate supporters of Nuru’s work as well. Both John and Nancy have written a number of books, and all are quite good, but this one has become extra special since one of my good friends was involved in the process of promoting the book.

To start, I have to admit that, had my friend Doug not encouraged me to check it out, I probably would not have read this book. There are about 1500 books written each year about the life of Jesus, and very few are saying anything really new. Besides, just like many others, my life is pretty busy, and when I read a book, I want it to be a worthwhile use of my time. I want the book to be something that will be formative, and maybe help me be a better human being.

I ordered a copy of this book, Who Is This Man?, online, and when it arrived, one of the first things I noticed was the litany of blurbs about the book. Many authors and theologians who I deeply respect and appreciate had written a snippet about the value they saw in what Ortberg’s book had to say. People as diverse as Dallas Willard, N. T. Wright, and Shaine Claiborne had good things to say about this book, and remarkably, former US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice wrote the foreword to the book.

But the book didn’t stop being quality at the end of the foreword. In fact, the array of comments had served the author and the book well by building a solid foundation from which to build and move forward.  The book is not an apologetic for Jesus being God. It is not a book that lays out steps to salvation or anything like that. It is more of an examination of the truly unpredictable impact that Jesus has had in the twenty centuries since his life.

Chapter after chapter, Ortberg sets the stage for what was considered normative at the time of Jesus, and how Jesus’ life has shaped for generations from then to now what values we tend to admire, how we treat others, and even how we have arrived at some of the systems we have today, like our education system.

I am really tempted to go into detail regarding some of the key insights of each chapter, but I don’t want to give too much away for you. I will say this. John Ortberg lifts up historical context around many of Jesus’ stories told in the gospels that allow us to see how truly profound his statements and teachings were. He also builds a compelling case that Jesus, through a relatively short period of time in his life was able to exert more influence on the way we live and think today than any person before him and really any person since.

If you enjoy historical biography, or if you want to learn more about the life and legacy of Jesus of Nazareth in a concise format, I highly recommend this book. I found it to be inspiring and life giving as I pursue this life of faith in Jesus the Messiah. It made me want to pour over scriptures with renewed vigor to study the life and example of how Jesus lived his life, and to work more zealously to live this life as He would live it, to live my life in service for others, and to truly love my neighbors.

May you enjoy your reading of this short book that illustrates some of the profound and unpredictable impact of the life of Jesus. I know I certainly did.