Visiting the Redwoods

 We just returned from a glorious road trip down to the Redwoods National and State Parks via the Pacific Coast Highway. I had never been to the Redwoods, so have wanted to take this trip for a long time. It did not disappoint.

We hiked several trails, hugged a few of the giant trees. We stared at the ocean’s grandeur and enjoyed aquarium and museum learning experiences. We ate a lot of good food. Obviously, we had a great time, full of images to remember. We attempted some photographs, but they never compare. How do you take a picture of a 300 foot tall, 2000 year old Redwood and convey the impact that experience has on you? I did come away with a few philosophical impressions I’d like to share.

I have written before about the diversity of the world’s flora and fauna. I know I come from a place of bias, but I can’t imagine what purpose it serves evolution to have over 35,000 species of fish, 3-4,000 in Pacific Ocean, over 1,000 different sea anemone, 64,000 documented types of trees, and almost 50 different species of fir trees alone. What is the purpose of all this diversity? Wouldn’t just one type serve? And even accounting for adaptations to a variety of habitat, the numbers seem excessive.

And why all the color? Why color at all?  There are scientific reasons, and those alone are amazing. Certainly plant and animal species have evolved to survive in their varied environments. But if we all came from just one cell…that doesn’t explain all the diversity that exits. Whereas, if you believe in a Creator, a Grand Designer, you can view all of nature as more than a science experiment. The beauty of it alone is stunning, breath taking and gives pleasure to the viewer when we get a chance to see what’s there.  Our Creator must love color beauty and variety. He gave us the ability to appreciate and even, to a much lesser extent, duplicate in creating our own art.

The Apostle Paul makes an astounding statement about creation and humans viewing their world. “What may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” Romans 1:19-20 We are meant to see God in creation. Creation can lead us to God if we are open to it.  To stand at the ocean, to look through a tide pool, to stand beneath a giant redwood tree – is to get a glimpse of God.

For the Lord is a great God, the great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry ground. Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Ps 95:3-7

Another epiphany came from learning about the giant redwoods. They stand straight, towering over us by up to 300 feet. They form these beautiful groupings, older with younger trees. Trees that might have fallen are propped up by larger, stronger trees, and eventually merge together. They can withstand Pacific Coast storms and fires because of how they are made. Their bark can keep the tree safe from multiple fires. They can hold water when supply is low. They stand tall and together because, though their roots are shallow, they intertwine with each other to give each other strength. They “hold hands” as it were, and are stronger together.

In several groves I noted the people who had put together explanations about the trees used the word “cathedral” to describe a grouping of trees.  Interesting choice of words. And indeed, in the presence of these trees I felt like I was in a holy place.  You would think seeing one big tree would have a “seen them all” sort of reaction. I couldn’t see enough. Every corner you turn there are more, and they are beautiful. Again, I am biased. I have long been a tree lover. I don’t even like to see necessary pruning done to a tree. I love the magical Ents from Lord of the Rings, and the “trees” in Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s series that come from inside a sentient species, and are sentient themselves. I’ve read about trees communicating with each other, perhaps through their connected roots. And trees clean our air and help us exist. In a sense we are part of their root community.

Think about the connectedness, the better together-ness of trees. We can apply that to ourselves. We are better together. We really could use that lesson today when all of us are being pulled apart by, of all things, politics. We have loosened our grip on each other. The redwoods, though giant and tall, do not stand alone. Among their giant shadows exist all manner of other trees and plants, an entire ecosystem dependent upon one another. This is something we humans are losing. Experiencing isolation, like we had during Covid, hurt us. We are not meant to live alone. God created us for community, even those of us introverts.

And what about diversity. In the sea, in the forest, you see so much diversity at play. All of it together forming a symbiotic community where each plays a role. Certainly, the circle of life can be pretty brutal, but it can also be empowering. Everyone having a part to play. We could also learn from this. There is not just one color or type of sea anemones or sea star. There are multiple, vibrant colors and sizes. But all of them are anemones or stars. I doubt they try to segregate themselves, or are secretly glad to be white rather than rose colored.

Needless to say, I had a lot of time to think as I stood in a redwood cathedral or looking over a cliff at the ocean crashing on the rocks below. When I put it all together, my bottom line experience was one of worship.

“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things and by your will they were created and have their being.” Revelations 4:11

Accepting Our Need For Grace

In the Timothy Keller book I’m reading he writes, “To the degree you understand your need for grace, to that degree faith explodes in your life in the form of love.”* The problem comes in our ability to see our need for grace.

I’ve written before about Jesus coming to Simon the Pharisee’s house for dinner. (Luke 7:26-50) While at the table, a woman comes in and kneels at Jesus feet. She’s crying and wiping her tears from his feet with her hair and anointing his feet with perfume. She is described as living “a sinful life”.  Simon thinks, “if only he knew what type of woman she is, he wouldn’t let her near him. If he really were a prophet, he’d know she was a sinner.” We know what Simon was thinking because Jesus knew. He is God, remember. But Simon couldn’t see that.

 Jesus tells Simon a story about two men who owed another money, one significantly more than the other. The man who held the debt forgave the debt of the man who owed the most. Amazing. The other man owed considerably less, but his debt was also paid. “Who loves the debt reliever more?” Jesus asked.  Simon responded, “well, of course, the one who’d been forgiven the most debt.” Ah, so it is with this woman. 

Simon had no idea who Jesus really was. And Simon also saw himself as superior to this woman, and probably to Jesus too, since he hadn’t been a very gracious host to Jesus. But the woman, she knew her sin, and she recognized her Savior. She loved more because she knew her sin was great and His forgiveness amazing. Simon, probably not believing he had much to be forgiven at all, didn’t see what was right in front of him. Jesus tells the woman, “your sins are forgiven…your faith has saved you.”

We could look right at Jesus and not see Him. Like Simon, our sin blocks our view. “No human being seeks the true God. We seek spirituality, but the human heart wants a God who fits our desires, a God we can control, who doesn’t challenge our self-assessments and narratives.”*

Interesting that we will seek all manner of ways to fix ourselves. Self-help books fly off the shelves. We know we need some fixing; some of us might even believe we need a lot of fixing. But self-help books and therapy can only take us so far. They can’t forgive us our sins. They can’t heal our guilt. But they also don’t require much of us. If we admit we need Jesus and respond to his moves, we might have to give up something – ourselves – and we find that quite hard to do. Self-help only asks as much as we are willing to give, with very little success as result. Jesus asks for our entire self, and to those who accept His offer, His free gift, we find the healing we seek.

This is why God doesn’t wait for us to make the first move. The woman in the story had seen Jesus’ response to others, and seeing Him in action brought her to Him. He was immediately accepting of her when she came in. It was probably as odd then as it would be today to have someone crying at our feet. But Jesus was available and accepting. The gospel writings show us how available Jesus was too anyone who came to Him.

Romans 3:23 teaches that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. None are righteous, sinless, meeting God’s standard. None. (see also Romans 3:10-20) We, like Simon, think our sins are not so bad, if indeed we have any. It’s always easier to see the sin in others. In fact, it usually makes us feel better to do so. But in God’s sight all are declared sinners, regardless of where we stand on the human measure of “sin”.  And, Romans also declares that the wages of sin is death (6:23).  All of our trying to work out our issues only ends in the same place – death. But the free gift of God is salvation and eternal life. Nothing to work for, nothing to work out, Christ did all the work for us, and all we have to do is, like the woman, come confessing our need. He meets us there.

What we couldn’t do, to save ourselves, Jesus did for us. He took our punishment for sin. The issue today isn’t whether we’ve sinned or not. The issue is whether we are trying to take care of our brokenness some other way (self-help) rather than accepting God’s free gift of forgiveness, and healing of our brokenness.

People in Jesus’ day walked right past Him and didn’t realize they had God in the midst. Even His own disciples often missed his presence in a real way.  I’ve wondered if it would have been easier to accept Jesus’ claims of being God and dying for our sins if we’d lived during His time on earth. But I don’t think so, because only a few who walked with Him truly believed. Most were threatened by Him, or only looking for some immediate payoff.  Regardless, He was available to all. He’d come for all, even Simon the Pharisee.

And even better, we are told that we can have God’s Spirit living in us. “We can have a view of his glory and an intimacy with him better than any of his followers had when he was on earth, greater than if Jesus had actually held us in his arms and kissed us.”* With the Holy Spirit living in us, we have the opportunity to live in very close intimacy with God, freed from the burden of sin.

Not that we don’t still sin. I John says “if we say we have no sin, we lie.”  And we all know we still sin – anger, jealousy, judgmentalism, greed (to mention a few). But the real power and chains sin held over us are gone, we only need to accept the gift.

Perhaps we can’t really feel a lot of love toward Jesus and God because we don’t appreciate all that has been done for us. Like Simon, we think we are OK and it’s others that need saving, just look at their sins. Maybe we need to accept the fact that no one is immune from sin, and even if we’d been the only human alive – we still would have needed to pay the impossible wage for our sin. Yet, Jesus did that for us, and when we accept that we are just like the woman, we will find our way to a relationship with Him.

“To the degree you understand your need for grace, to that degree faith explodes in your life in the form of love."*

 

*Quotes from Timothy Keller, The Resurrection and the Meaning of Easter, Penguine Books 2021. Chapter 6. “Personal Hope”.

When I Am Weak, Then I am Strong

 Working in a church can bring a lot of challenges as well as rewards. It helped that I was a pastor’s daughter and raised in the church environment. I saw for myself that church people can be harsh task masters, fiercely loyal, judgmental, loving sinners, like all of us. I also knew well the vulnerability of church employees, also sinners. My pastor boss used to half-tease that I had no respect for the dignity of the clergy, having been raised by one.

I had rich and beautiful experiences working as a Christian Education/Youth Director. I also had some PTSD producing moments. Women in ministry were few and far between. Youth pastors without at least a Bachelor’s degree from a Bible School, if not a full Master’s of Divinity were unheard of. I was a woman with a Bachelor’s in Education and a Master’s degree, but not from a seminary. And, I didn’t play the guitar (an inside joke regarding what a really qualified youth director should have). But there I was, brought on staff by a great mentor who saw in me gifts needed for his church. I wasn't qualified as some would have it, but I was qualified where God placed me.

One bone of contention came from two of my core beliefs. I’ve since come to see these are also core principles taught throughout the Bible, but it was more instinctual to me at the time. To be honest, Spirit led instinct that I served. My core beliefs - first, I believe we learn best by doing. For example, if we were doing a drama, I felt everyone should learn what goes on behind the production, not just the adults. Everyone needed to participate in set building, painting, set up and tear down. This especially included those doing the acting. I wanted them to experience what it took to allow them their 15 minutes of fame on the stage. It formed a tighter unit, and produced fewer divas and more appreciative participants. An additional benefit of this style was putting the emphasis on serving, rather than being served.

This way of working didn't always come off polished and professional. But that wasn't the point. The point was to involve everyone in the process. They all felt a part of the bigger production, and gave it their best. 

Second, I also believed every kid in the youth group had something to offer, not just the popular, beautiful ones. The Bible teaches we’ve all been given gifts to use. I wanted all the kids to have a variety of experiences so they could better discover what their gifts were. This meant that sometimes we had a sublime experience, and sometimes it was pretty cringe worthy, but everyone was encouraged to participate and try a taste of everything. This included the tone deaf leading the singing, the poor reader reading the scripture, the introvert leading the devotional, and the cheerleader washing the dishes.

My naysayers felt I was doing youth ministry all wrong. The going trend was to put the beautiful, talented kids up front with the belief they would entice everyone else to follow them. If you put the less beautiful, less talented up front, you will discourage everyone else from even coming, let alone participating. You also always wanted to present a polished, professional result. To do that you can't use lesser entities. Put the beautiful out there and you will have success.

I don’t know your experience, but in my life that never played well.  The popular and beautiful can be quite intimidating to us mere mortals, and sometimes they can be outright mean. Our culture isn’t unique in idolizing famous, beautiful people. Perhaps it seems more so today, but I attribute that to social media and easy access. Cultural influencers are all around us. We are overwhelmed with our culture’s ideals, and this includes the church.

My instinct led me to giving other kids a chance. I didn’t neglect the more obvious leaders, but I didn’t give them anything special by way of my attention. I tried to give everyone my attention. I was well aware that those kids who had “made it” out there in the secular culture weren’t always as confident as they acted. We all have insecurities and social fears. I tried to be sensitive, but I didn’t let those kids dominate the scene, and that caused some issues. One issue it didn’t cause, our group thrived rather than diminished.

It’s interesting to go through the Bible and see whom God chose. Very few would have made the football team or become a cheerleader, let alone a rock or movie star. The ancient cultures also valued the beautiful, rich, first born, and mostly, men. Throughout the Bible God overturned the world’s values. He chose those who, in the eyes of the socially, culturally elite, were marginal. “God takes the people whom the world consigns to the margins and brings them to the center.”*  Examples that stand out would be Jacob, Joseph, David (all younger siblings) who became great leaders. And how about Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba Tamar – women of questionable morals in their day as well as a couple being racially inferior (non-Jews) – all in the lineage of Jesus. Who would expect women there at all, let alone those women?  But that’s how God does business.

And it’s not that God doesn’t or can’t use the elite. He has and does, but more often than not, He goes with the underdog. Their biggest strength being their faith, and even that faltered along the way. The fact is we are all fragile. We are all, as Paul refers to us in II Corinthians, clay jars. (4:7) Some of us are just shinier jars than others, but push us off the table and we all break. The only thing that makes us special at all is God at work in us, what Paul refers to as the “treasure” in the jar of clay.

I found that the kids on the margins had as much to contribute as the shinier jars. Those popular kids were going to find and use their gifts with much greater ease, mostly because they’d be called on first. But since all of us have gifts to share, pulling kids out of the margins and encouraging them to find their gifts was amazing. Many of those kids went on to serve in ministry, making an impact for the Lord

As I read the Bible more, I discovered how often God chose weakness. Moses kept arguing with God about all he couldn’t do, and God kept making up the difference. When we recognize our weakness, we can probably rely on God more. If we feel we have it all together, we probably think we don’t need God at all. At the very least we just won’t think to invite God in. Paul spoke of his own weaknesses, especially some unnamed physical disability. He kept asking God to remove/heal it. Instead Paul learned to minister with it, because God taught him “when I am weak I am strong.” (II Corinthians 12:10)

Jesus was, and still is, seen as weak. What kind of superpower leader ends up dying? And what God would ever chose to become human? Both just show weakness. But out of what humans see as weakness came the greatest of strengths. Jesus also taught that he didn’t come to be served, He came to serve. He taught his disciples to do the same. Culturally, servanthood has never been an aspiration, yet in God’s world this is what we should aspire to.

God made, loves and died for all of us, those of us who are culturally in and those of us who are out. He sees us as all equal, even if society puts us in hierarchies. But the Bible is pretty clear that if we are trying to live by and rely on our physical strengths and abilities, we won’t get far in God’s Kingdom, where He says the first shall be last, the greatest least. And Jesus models that for us. He is the Greatest, who stooped low to take our sins to the cross. And human strength can limit us in God’s Kingdom, because of our tendency to rely on our self, rather than on God’s strength and power.

I look back on all the kids God brought into my life as a youth leader and teacher. What a blessing. People underestimate teenagers, at their own peril. It was a privilege to see all they have to offer. And for those who also had Christ in their lives, I knew they were going to set their world quietly (or maybe not so quietly) on fire.  And some of the brightest were those the world would probably not have noticed at all, at least not yet.

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” II Corinthians 12:9

 

*Timothy Keller, Hope in Times of Fear. Penguin Books 2021

 

Unconditional Love

 Many years ago, when our chosen son came to live with us, his mother told me that once her financial situation turned around, she’d take him back. She wanted him with her, but circumstances didn’t allow it.  That is somewhat fair. Lots of people find themselves in financial straits, unable to adequately care for their family. Circumstances can force us into difficult situations. I would imagine in most of those cases, the sixteen year old wasn’t asked to leave and fend for themselves. I would also hope that in most of those cases, once circumstances changed the first desire would be to gather their family back together under one roof. Sadly, when we set conditions on our love, sometimes we can never break through.

As a result of that event in our life, I’ve become more sensitive to families putting conditions on their love. “We can’t work on this until.” “I do care, but.” “I want nothing but the best for you, however.” “When our circumstances change, then.” “I would be more than happy to change/help/compromise, but.” 

Conditional love isn’t anything new. We all have put conditions upon relationships – friends, spouses, children. And sometimes conditions are necessary. If a person has struggled with addiction and the family must stop enabling their loved one, often an intervention occurs and conditions are put on the addict in order to continue benefiting from the family.  The harsh intervention, hopefully, comes from a position of unconditional love – We love you, but we cannot keep enabling you in your addiction. Enabling is not the best expression of our love.

Unfortunately, too many of our relationships have conditions put on them that have nothing to do with others looking out for our best, or our looking out for the best of others. Conditional love tends to come from a selfish heart, rather than a well-meaning one. “I’d love to help, but I have my own life to look after.” "If I do this for you, then I will be miserable."

I really dislike the conjunction “but”. Too often it is used as a way to slip a negative into a sentence. "I really like what you've done in the house, but didn't that style go out in the 80's?" “I really liked your work, but ….” I never remember anything said before the “but”. The statement that follows continues to ring long after. Words couched to be well meaning suggestions too often are really used to break down a person rather than give honest advice for growth. As a teacher I know I am supposed to balance negative with positive comments, especially when needing to correct a student (true also for an employee or child or friend). I also know too often the positive falls flat, even if the negative is warranted. Maybe instead of, “you are a good writer, but this paper falls far short of your capabilities” we could just honestly lead with “this wasn’t your best paper. I’ve noted these problems…” After that you could end with pointing out where the paper was good or you only observed these things because their other writing was on a higher level.

Complicating how we phrase statements is how the person hears us. Too often the subliminal message feels like “I don’t like you.” “My liking you is dependent on how you write your paper” or how you dress, eat, talk, work. “If you would just ___, then I could really like you.”  That may not have been the intent of the speaker, but it’s how it’s taken.

We all set conditions. It comes easy for us, particularly when we feel our position or wellbeing is best served by conditions and boundaries. Taking a look at our use of conditions probably isn’t something we do very often. We might not even notice when we add a “but” or an “if you” to our well intentioned comments. Nonetheless, too often we put conditions on our love and acceptance.

Fortunately, God presents us with the polar opposite of conditional love. I John 4:7 tells us God is love. The Greeks had several words for love, much more specific than our one, over used word. The word used in I John is agape. Agape is the highest form of love in the Greek language, and means selfless, unconditional, sacrificial love that prioritizes the welfare of others (definition from Logos Bible Study) Agape love is a choice, not a feeling. This is the love that God is. This is a defining characteristic of God – unconditional love.

We find it difficult to love unconditionally because of our nature. We naturally put ourselves first and seek the best for ourselves. We have to choose to love unconditionally because it doesn’t come naturally for us to put others first. That is why we need the Holy Spirit to love through us, resulting in the Fruit of Spirit (the first word listed in the Fruit is love – agape. Galatians 5:22).

I Corinthians 13 is very familiar to us. The passage is used in a lot of wedding ceremonies. In this passage Paul defines unconditional, agape love – patient, kind, not envious, not boastful, not proud, doesn’t keep a list of wrongs, doesn’t delight in evil, rejoices in truth, protects, trusts, hopes and preserves. Agape love never fails.  The passage ends talking about all the things that eventually leave, but faith, hope and love remains. The greatest of these is love (agape). Don’t we all wish to be loved like this? This is God’s love for us, accepting us as we are, having paid the price already for all our sins and shortcomings. Because of what Jesus has already done for us, we can be accepted and loved unconditionally by God. And, because of God’s Spirit living in us, we can, at least at times, also love others unconditionally.

Agape love doesn’t say “I love you but…” or “I will love you if…”  There are no conditions put on agape love, because the choice is being made to love even if all the conditions fall apart and the person we are loving falls way short of our expectations. Agape love says “I’ll accept you, regardless”.  Agape love put Jesus on the cross in our place, taking our sin, all of it, on Himself. Amazing grace. That same love is available for us to give to others, through His power.

Recently I watched some pretty bad middle school improvisation. No matter how awkward their budding skills were, I was reminded of the key rule of improvisation – “Yes, and”.  Whatever is thrown at you, you respond with “Yes, and” and continue the flow. I think “yes and” is good as a reminder to love and accept unconditionally. Instead of “I love you, but…” stop and choose to rephrase “I love you, yes, and…” Choose to love unconditionally, asking for the Spirit’s power to actually do so.