All Is Not Lost

Our plan was to backpack close to forty miles along the Colorado River on the rarely traveled Escalante Route in the Grand Canyon. 

But in one of the busiest national parks in the United States, even permits for the more remote routes are incredibly difficult to secure. After days of arduous back and forth, switching dates and negotiating where we would pitch our tents each night, we finally landed one of the most epic permits in the park. 

In my excitement, I shared this great news with my wife, who just stared at me blankly with no visible emotion on her face. 

“You do realize those dates are during Easter, right?” she asked, knowing exactly how I would answer.

“Um, no,” I sheepishly confessed.

These kinds of oversights are typical for me, though.

Like the time I left the car seat in the car and showed up at the airport terminal with Starbucks in hand, only to have my wife, baby in arms, ask where the car seat was. 

Like the time I left a week’s worth of breast milk at home when we went to my wife’s friend’s wedding in Florida with our newborn. I was supposed to be the one watching our daughter while my wife participated in all of the wedding activities.

You get the picture.

Life is full of inevitable disruptions and difficulties. 

Sometimes they are of our own doing. 

Other times, they are out of our control.

Like this season of the pandemic.

While we have made important and necessary sacrifices to protect the most vulnerable among us, there is no question that our isolation has created a sense of disruption, helplessness, and loss.

We have lost embraces to standing six feet apart.

We have lost the subtlety of a smile to face coverings.

We have lost the ease of conversations to dividers and shields.

We have lost plays and musicals and concerts, sporting events, parades and block parties, community social events, faith community gatherings, schools and classmates, work and coworkers, meals with extended families and friends.

We have lost the physical to the virtual, our natural rhythm to an unfamiliar beat.

And to compound our isolation, our sense of helplessness, and our loss of control during this time, we are fed nonstop media narratives that continue to polarize us, pit us against one another, and make us feel increasingly anxious and depressed. 

In a desperate attempt to find some semblance of community and connectedness in our isolation, we retreat to social media only to find more anger, division, and hostility, which leaves us even more fragmented and alone.

We are losing so much more than lives to this virus.

We are losing our humanity.

We are being broken down individually into isolated and fragmented parts that are increasingly anxious and angry. We are rapidly losing our sense of what it means to be a fully integrated, fully alive human being that works toward healthy relationships and community. And we can either continue down this hateful and antagonistic trajectory, feeding the beast until it consumes our souls and causes us to devolve into utter chaos, or we can draw a line in the sand and resolve to fight for our hearts and take back our humanity, finding a different, more life-giving way forward in the process.

But it has to begin with each one of us.

For there is no remedying the whole until the parts themselves find wholeness. 

As a people, we always have this mistaken idea that our help, our change, our salvation can only come from on high… from elected officials, from governments, from courts, from social organizations, from political action groups, and so on. 

But every wisdom tradition I have ever studied teaches us that our communities only change when we change individually. Our communities only find health when we find health individually. Our communities only become just, merciful, forgiving when we become just, merciful, and forgiving individually. And our communities only become whole and healed when we become whole and healed ourselves.

Jesus said that even a little yeast will permeate the entire batch of dough.

It is always the transformation of the smallest part that leads to the transformation of the whole.

While I grieve for those affected by the virus, I believe this season of loss is giving us an opportunity to look inward and evaluate who we are as individuals. 

Every construct upon which we have depended and that have held us up feebly like a crutch have been violently ripped away. Our endless rat races around life’s circumference have all ended abruptly. Our preoccupations prioritizing the exterior to the continual neglect of our interior have all ceased. 

We have never been more naked and exposed and vulnerable in our lifetime than right now. There are no metaphorical bushes behind which we can hide. We have been given an opportunity during this time of loss to honestly look inward and see ourselves and rediscover our inherent goodness and our shared humanity.

But what are we doing with this opportunity? Do we go through this unchanged and continue down this downward spiral together? Or, do we embrace this time of disruption and difficulty as an opportunity to find our hearts again and save our communities?

On Easter morning of 2014, the guys and I sat in a circle on large rocks next to the Colorado River in the heart of the Grand Canyon and watched the sunrise. I unwrapped the foil that had preserved the homemade honey-molasses communion bread I had baked before the trip. While aching and feeling the loss of not being with my family to celebrate the day, I prayed with my brothers, broke the bread, and savored one of the most life-giving and holy Easter moments I have ever experienced.

Life is difficult and many times feels like profound loss, but we always have the opportunity to embrace the moment and look-inwardly. For it is only in this place where we can recover that which is life-giving and holy.

This Body of Death, Part 2

With the purchase of my last book Beauty in the Wreckage I offered a free bonus chapter. I have decided to make that bonus chapter available now as two blog posts. This is part two. Part one can be found here. Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support friends.

I am not one who has much affection for the King James Version of the Bible. It’s too hard to read and understand. But, on occasion, I go back to ole King James to see how a verse is translated. And I have been surprised quite a few times with my discoveries.

As a lover of Romans 8, I can almost tell you word for word what it says from memory. But there is some phrasing that most modern versions of the Bible surprisingly leave out, which I have recently uncovered in the King James Version. 

Verses 22-23 in the King James read like this, “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.”

And if you don’t immediately see the beauty here, let me paint the picture for you.

All of creation, all of God’s good creation, brought into being by the loving and creative hand of God, is groaning and travailing. 

All of God’s good creation is crying out. 

All of God’s good creation is laboring through this painful experience. 

And it is not just every delicate blade of grass, every towering tree, every mighty body of water, every magnificent celestial body, and every beautifully diverse animal that runs across the land and swims in the sea, it is we too, God’s image bearers, God’s partners and caretakers, who join this collective chorus of pain and suffering, together, even while we embody and manifest the Spirit of God, a life of shalom.

It is not just that the King James Version rightly included both words, groaneth and travaileth, while other versions include just one of the words, it is that the King James Version uniquely says that we groan and travail together. 

I can’t underscore just how important this point is- we groan and cry out in this painful life experience together.

And that is the real beauty and insight of the text. The passage not only assumes that each one of us will experience and live through pain and suffering, it assumes that we will do it together.

That is why we should never be afraid to talk about what we are going through with others. That is why we should never have to suffer quietly or alone. That is why we should never have to hide in embarrassment or believe that no one else will understand.

Because we all suffer through this, together. 

Each one of us should be able to share the pain we are experiencing without judgment, condemnation, or questions about our faith, or lack of faith, in God. 

Each one of us should be able to be real about the stress, anxiety, and depression we are experiencing without being told that we simply need to read the Bible more or pray more, as if those things alone are the simple fixes to make everything go away. 

And each one of us should be able to be honest about our mental illnesses without feeling like a “lesser Christian.” 

The goal is not to be healed with enough faith. The goal is the journey of who we are becoming, in light of what we are suffering, in light of the pain we are experiencing, in light of what we are going through. 

And that is why you should never apologize for singing the praises of God in one breath, and groaning in the next.     

Because there is shalom in this fractured place. And we hold both together within us in hope.

I just attended the funeral of my 87-year old uncle who died with Parkinson’s disease. He had been a preacher almost as long as he had been alive. And the church he started was the same church I grew up in for the first 20 years of my life.

I probably didn’t agree with every doctrine of that church. And I didn’t necessarily agree with every nuance of their theology. But man, my uncle loved people. The love of the Christ radiated outward in his words and in his actions. He loved and cared for all of the people he knew and even people he didn’t know. He was one of the most loving people I have ever met. 

The amazing truth is that love can cover a multitude of differing doctrines and theologies, because it is all ultimately about how much we love God, love others, and love ourselves.

That he did. 

And it was a beautiful thing to hear all of the stories of how he loved. 

Even when his health was deteriorating, even when he was in pain, even when his body continued to tremor from his disease, he loved God and everyone around him. He lived in the wholeness of the Christ, he resided in the completeness of the Christ. And in this harmonious relationship with the Christ was the deep well of God’s goodness. It was his fullness and satisfaction, even while his body deteriorated and failed, even while his body deteriorated and failed.

That is what I want in my life.

I want to experience and share a love that transcends my broken body, that reaches down deep into the well of God’s goodness despite my pain and suffering. 

For it is in that place where we discover beauty, despite the wreckage.

God, we praise you for your goodness, but we also groan longingly, and hopefully, looking toward a future in which every tear will be wiped away, every heartache will be healed, and every burdened body will be lifted.

But for today, we groan and travail together, seeking the shalom of the Christ.

Even while these bodies exist in dysfunction, disability, debilitation, and disorder, we pray for your deep well of goodness to be our satisfaction. 

For when we are prospering, let us be satisfied in your fullness. And when we are in need, let us be satisfied in your fullness. 

For when we have plenty, let us be satisfied in your fullness. And when we are in want, let us be satisfied in your fullness.

For when we are well-fed, let us be satisfied in your fullness. And when we are hungry, let us be satisfied in your fullness.

For when our bodies are healthy and functional, let us be satisfied in your fullness. And when our bodies are unhealthy and broken, let us be satisfied in your fullness.

For when our minds are clear and balanced and thinking rightly, let us be satisfied in your fullness. And when our minds are cloudy and imbalanced and confused, let us be satisfied in your fullness.

Father, let us be patient, content, and joyful examples of what it looks like to bear the tension of our bodily pain and suffering, while becoming the wholeness, completeness, and harmony of your shalom. 

Let us experience and share your love that transcends our broken bodies.

Work in and through our every weakness, our every physical, mental, and emotional dysfunction, our every pain and through our suffering to reveal that which is eternal and valuable.

Amen.

Beauty in the Wreckage: Finding Peace in the Age of Outrage is available everywhere online in digital, audiobook, and paper versions. It is also available as a signed paperback at Viewpoint Bookstore.

But They Are Sinners!

 Yes, God has forgiven all people, for all time (and you can read that post here if you missed it).

I know this may sound different than what you have heard from preachers and church people in the past, but the forgiveness and embrace of God is so much deeper and so much wider than any of our finite minds can even comprehend. And there are many people who struggle to understand a God who unconditionally and preemptively forgives everyone, even when they don’t ask for forgiveness.

But that is who this God is.

Too many times, the religious try to create God in their own image. And this little god ends up being as stingy and conditional in doling out grace and mercy and forgiveness and love as those who created it. This little god ends up being a sad projection of their own disunion with God.

In his second letter to the church in Corinth, the Apostle Paul makes an appeal to this church by telling them that the motivating force that compels them is the love of the Christ. And it is this singular force that has, not only changed them, but has changed how they view everyone in the world.

Again, the motivation for those in the Christ is love and it changes how we live and how we see others.

He says that since the Christ died, all have died. And since Christ was raised from the dead, we should all be raised to a new brand new life.

Therefore, in light of this new reality, we no longer view anyone from a worldly point of view. We no longer hold a single trespass against anyone. We no longer have enmity or hostility toward others. Because the old ways have gone and new ways have come. All things have been made new. This restoration has already started. And we are all invited into that reality as we are.

God’s peace has already been given to all. Past tense.
God’s forgiveness has already been given to all. Past tense.

And all we can do is receive it, be immersed in it, be restored to God in light of it, and be transformed through it.

To the religious, the major obstacle to God’s unconditional, preemptive forgiveness is their belief that sin can only be forgiven when a person is repentant, or when one confesses their sins. But it is this misunderstanding of sin by the religious which has created an incredibly finicky god who has the audacity to tell us to unconditionally and preemptively forgive everyone, including our enemies, but who can’t quite live up to that standard himself.

I find that god inconsistent and unbelievable. So there must be more to the story.

Interestingly, close to eighty-percent of the time the word sin is used in the New Testament, it is used as a noun.

This is interesting because we typically hear people talk about sin as a verb.

They describe all of the bad things we do that make God angry at us. And inevitably, when people focus on sin primarily as a verb, they get obsessed with saying this sin is worse than that sin, this sin can be overlooked but that one can’t, and this sin is unforgivable but that sin is okay (since we are all doing it).

But the original Greek word for sin, as a noun, is hamartano and it means to be without a share in, or to miss the mark, or to stray.

Sin is a position in which we find ourselves. It is a position out of alignment with God, or in disunion with God. And in that place of disunion, we are the opposite of shalom, the opposite of wholeness, completeness, and harmony in all things. It is the road that leads to destruction.

And this begins to open our eyes to the central issue.

It’s not that we are horrible wretches for committing all of these terrible sins every day. It is that we are in a position of disunion with the Divine. And when we live out of this disunion, out of this broken relationship, it very naturally begins to look to unwhole, incomplete, and inharmonious. It is the natural consequence of us living out of shalom.

That is why God’s intention has always been to get rid of sin, or to remove the relational barrier between us, because we were always meant to be in union with God, to be in relationship with God. We were always meant for wholeness, completeness, and harmony with God and with all things, because that is where life to the fullest is found.

That’s why the wisdom of Paul ought to be so eye-opening to each one of us today, because he echoes this exact point when he says that we all fall short of God’s glory. We are all in the same position, equally. We are all in a position of disunion from God, equally. There is not one single person who has a position that is any better or any worse than another. We are all in a position of disunion and have missed the mark of the Divine. And in this position, we are not presently sharing in this shalom. That is sin, as a noun.

So when religious people begin creating these crazy hierarchies of sin and telling us that certain people or groups are worse than others, telling us who’s in and who’s out, all it does is alienate and devalue people. It sends a message that the religious are good and righteous and all the rest of us sinners are bad and unworthy. And all that does is create more judgment and condemnation and anger and hostility. All it does is build up more walls of division between us all.

The point is that when the religious view sin primarily, or exclusively, as a verb, they fall back into that old way of labeling, categorizing, ranking, and then dividing. And it completely misses the big picture that we are all in the same position and that the heart of God has always been an invitation back into relational union with every single one of us equally.

Every. Single. One. Of. Us. Equally.

So when we begin to see sin correctly, as a place of disunion, we more accurately understand that we all stand in the exact same place together and there can be no hierarchy of sin or worthiness. We are all disconnected from the Source of Life, and we are in that place together.

Hard stop.

And once we begin to understand this simple truth, it is the place where humility and grace can begin to come to life and shine. It is the place where everyone is welcome to the table of invitation together without exclusion. It is the place of remarkable beauty and breakthrough. It is the place where all the broken pieces of the world can begin to come back together as one.

It’s possible that all this talk of everyone being forgiven is giving you heartburn, because you keep thinking of Acts 2:38-39, which specifically states that God’s forgiveness is conditional and is only given when a person is repentant and baptized. I get it. But I want to share something very eye opening with you about that passage.

On the day of Pentecost, Peter is preaching to the crowd and says, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.”

From the outside looking in, it sounds like Peter is telling the people that in order to be forgiven, they must first repent and be baptized and then, and only then, will they be forgiven by God.

And that is the way countless numbers of Church leaders and Christians have taken that verse over the centuries. It is viewed as a conditional transaction between God and a person. In essence, the forgiveness of God will only be given when you say the right words, have a repentant heart, and are baptized in the water.

But here is the crazy part.

In that verse spoken by Peter, the word translated as for is the Greek word eis.

Eis means a motion into, penetration, union.

So what many have always read as this conditional transaction between people and God is actually a movement we make into something that is already there, something that has already been given, something that already surrounds us. And our acts of repentance and baptism are the faithful movements we make that penetrate into, and find union with, a forgiveness that had been given long ago.

God’s forgiveness is not being withheld like a stingy miser. Nor is it dependent upon you being good or perfect, or going through the right steps. God’s forgiveness is already here. It has already been extended to all. It is right in front of you. The invitation into shalom was sent long ago. All you have to do is enter into it.

If this truth has been withheld from you, or if you have received something very different than this message of radical invitation and inclusion, please let me tell you that the grace and love of God has always been surrounding you, even in your disunion, even when you have felt disconnected, and has always been inviting you back, as you are, into loving union with the Source of Life.

But there may be some of you, maybe a lot of you, who are reading these words and still carrying around so much pain and so many wounds from past church experiences or past dealings with religious people.

I am sorry and I understand.

But.

No matter what you may have been told.

No matter how badly you may have been treated.

No matter the judgments and accusations that may have been thrown at you.

No matter if you may have been told that you are not worthy or not redeemable.

No matter if you may have been told that God will never forgive you.

Let me tell you emphatically, once and for all, that you are loved and you are already forgiven, as you are.

Every one of you.

Past tense.

Done deal.

God loves you and has always been inviting you, as you are, into shalom. Inviting you, as you are, out of the wreckage and into a new beginning of life and love and beauty and wholeness and completeness and harmony. Inviting you, as you are, into the full immersion of an entirely different present reality. And God is speaking your name to let you know that you have always been loved as you are, that you have always been worthy as you are, and that in this embrace of the Divine you are being made whole.

I rarely say this, but when I do you know I mean it. Praise God!

Brandon