The Strange Violinist

Drink the Water?

I have a friend who works in water treatment for the City of Buffalo.  This persons job is to help provide clean water to the people of our City.  So the question is, do they drink tap-water?

They know what's in it!  They know where it comes from!  Their job is to tell people its safe to drink!

So the question is, do they drink the water?

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This is, of course, a wonderful parable...

...there once was a City that got its drinking water from a particular man.  This man had become rich selling the water, but he wouldn't touch the water himself...

The question is most easily applicable to us as followers of Jesus.  When we encourage others to 'drink the water,' are we hypocrites?  Are we embracing the teachings of Jesus in our own life?  Do we live in community?  Are we learning to love our enemies?  Are we growing in our love for God?  Are we learning a life of joy and celebration?  Are we sacrificially generous?  Are we engaged in friendships with non-Christians?  Are we learning how to throw great parties?  Are we mentoring others in the ways of Jesus?

...are we indeed His followers?

Do we love Him, and His wisdom, or do we love the idea of Him?

Do we drink the water?

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My friend, does drink the tap water...

Lateral Thinking

A truck drives under a low bridge and gets stuck.  It can't go on, and it can't back out.  The driver calls his dispatcher who calls a tow truck, but the rig is still stuck.  Soon enough the highway patrol is called out and along with them a construction crew.  They are in the middle of trying to removed one of the struts from under the bridge when a small boy comes up to the foreman and says, "Sir, I think I know how you can get that truck out."  The foreman first dismisses him, but then, thinking better of it, asks the boy what he has in mind.

"Let the air out of the tires," says the boy.

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Sometimes the problem isn't the problem.  Sometimes the way we see the problem is the problem.

Grace is God's Favor on the Broken

Here is the link to the video and lyrics to Michael Guglielmucci's now infamous song 'Healer.'

The story behind the song is a sad one, yet it is a contemporary parable about human brokenness and God's illimitable grace.

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Michael is the son of a pastor.

He is also a pastor.

He writes songs glorifying God. Wonderful, powerful songs, sung by masses of devoted Christians; blessing the Church and blessing God with his songwriting.

Michael was diagnosed with cancer.

He wrote the song 'Healer' as an anthem testifying to God's power to heal, and His strength in troublesome times. He would perform the song on stage sitting down, with the oxygen tubes hooking him to the supply that his weak body desperately needed...

It was a powerful reminder that God's grace is available in the midst of human brokenness.

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It was, of course, a huge deception; Michael was lying about the cancer.

He had never been diagnosed with cancer, and was in fact perfectly physically healthy. There was, however, something desperately wrong with Michael.

He had been telling people he had cancer to cover the fact that he had been compulsively looking at pornography for 16 years. He was ashamed and afraid; he was defeated.

Upon this revelation, many of us in the wider Christian community were appalled at this hypocrisy. The world of course, was overjoyed at the opportunity to point to yet another disgraced figure on the stage of global Christianity. I have heard many Christians talk about how the song has been ruined for them, now that they have heard the whole story. The situation was, in all respects, a colossal failure...

...or perhaps not.

Perhaps Michael's hypocrisy is a contemporary parable. Perhaps we can learn from the ugliness and the deception. Perhaps by digging into the open wound, painful though it might be, we can root out the cause of the of the injury...

In short, that image of Michael on the stage, lying to everyone about his own holiness, singing of God's goodness while deceiving the worldwide church, a sinner hiding in plain sight, is not a reason to throw away Michael, or the song he wrote, rather it is a powerful reminder that God's grace is available in the midst of human brokenness.

It is for this reason that I continue to be blessed by this powerful song. The story behind it far from detracts from the power of the song, rather it increases its potency as a reminder of God's glory. It speaks to me of God's glorious grace, that I am never so far away, that He cannot reach me...

The Parable of the Hungry Girl

Double Entendre pt II

As a disciple of Jesus, it may be sad to see Christian communities disintegrate, leaving behind their beautiful buildings to rot, or be converted to other uses.

But what is infinitely more horrifying to see, is the abundance of Christian communities who are still in existence but fail at the very mission for which God created the church in the first place.

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We are saddened by the Church-turned-storage-unit. But is our church anything other than a place to store Christians for the rapture? Is our functional definition of church simply 'what to do with Christians after they get saved and before they die?' Is church the method by which we hermetically seal ourselves from contact with the outside world? Or do our gatherings, sermons, songs, projects, programs, and buildings serve a greater purpose?

We must heed this lesson; do we exist to pursue God's redemptive purposes on the earth, or are we just waiting for Him let us out of the storage locker we call Church when its time to 'go to heaven?'

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We shake our heads at the Church-turned-business-center. We roll our eyes at the Church-turned-music-hall. But is our church anything other than a center for commerce? Do we 'go to church' for any reason other than personal entertainment? Isn't personal preference the real reason we choose a church? Don't we attempt to build our 'successful churches' by creating programs that entertain and meet people's needs?

We need to pay attention here; do we exist to entertain and be entertained? ...do we exist merely to provide and consume religious goods and services?

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We are depressed by the Church-full-of-weeds-and-drug-deals, we drive by the ruins with painful hearts. But is there life in our existing communities? ...and lest we mistake activity for life; lives spent examining and proclaiming the value of God, not great music and charismatic experience once a week; broken people restored and lives intimately intertwined, not plastic smiles and plastic conversations on Sunday morning; sacrificial living during the week, not sacrificial giving on Sunday morning; an open table in our living room all week, not merely an open table on Sunday morning.

We must not have our fingers in our ears, nor our hands over our eyes! What is the point of our existing Church communities?

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So, in spite of the fact that we should be saddened at the loss of many vibrant communities of faith who have abandoned their post in the City of Buffalo, we should also be grateful for the parable told in stone and mortar, and vigilant that we 'have ears to hear and eyes to see.'

They serve as a reminder to us...

Double Entendre pt I

This building is on the corner of Bird and West on the Westside of Buffalo. At one time this was the meeting place for a thriving Church. In recent years, the people no longer worship God in the space. It is no longer an epicenter for relationship and purpose, but has found a new incarnation as a collection of storage units.

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This building is on the corner of Ferry and Elmwood in the Elmwood Village area of Buffalo. It too, was once a center of worship and community, but has been recently turned into a suite of offices and businesses. What once was a center for life is now a commercial center.

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This is the headquarters of Righteous Babe Records. It was once a center for worship. Now it is the headquarters and performance center for Ani DeFranco, a musical entertainer.

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There are buildings all over Buffalo that once held events to glorify God, but now are completely empty. They grow only weeds, and harbor only midnight drug users...

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Many decry the loss of churches in the Cities of America, and Buffalo in particular. Churches are closing down their buildings, selling them, acknowledging that the communities that own the buildings have long since abandoned any sense of mission to the surrounding neighborhood. They have, in fact, largely moved to the suburbs, and no longer live in the area, much less care for it.

But there is a much more insidious problem to attend to, and a much more important lesson to be learned here...

A Parable

If you didn't already read this, then make sure you do!

Broken Tomato Cages pt I

A wonderful metaphor that I have had rattling around the innards of my skull lately is the tomato cage. It is a structure that is very useful. If you have ever planted a tomato plant, you know what happens as the plant grows bigger. The weight of the fruit, and of the plant itself, is too much for it to bear. Its own weight causes it to fall over, which damages the plant, and the tomatoes, which defeats the purpose of planting them! So you put a metal cage around it to help it stay upright. The cage provides support for the plant and allows it to continue its growth far beyond its self-sufficiency without the additional structure.

What has been insightful for me to think on is this: a picture of a gardener putting tomato cages into her garden, but she has no tomato plants! Instead she is putting tomato cages around herbs, carrots, and lettuce, the cages have no point! She continues to focus on the cages themselves and neglecting the plants in the process; the cages have become their own end, they are no longer the means to other ends. She then brags to other gardeners about her marvelous cages, she begins to hold workshops on 'How to Install Tomato Cages,' and markets her own brand of cage.

A Climatology Parable

John and Bob walked into the garage, turned the car on, and closed the garage door...

Hours later...

John, "Hey Bob, do you think its getting warm in here?"

Bob, "Maybe."

John, "No maybe about it Bob, it sure is warmer! In fact, I think the fumes from the car exhaust are causing some sort of 'effect' that is raising the temperature!"

Bob, "Okay John, you're right, it is getting warmer, but it has nothing to do with the fumes from the car. It's just the sun beating down on the roof like normal. The garage always goes through cycles of heating and cooling."

John, (cough) "I think we should turn the car off and then it will cool down."

Bob, (cough, cough) "John, I just told you, these poisonous fumes aren't causing it to heat up in here, it's just the noon-day sun!!!"

Hours later...

Bob, (barely conscious) "See John, (cough, wheeze, cough) I told you these poisonous fumes wouldn't increase the temperature that much... (hacking up blood) trust me John, we aren't going to die of heat stroke."

;-)

John, "It could keep heating up... we could die of heat stroke! We've gotta turn this car off!"

Bob, (cough, hack, cough) "You are plain silly! It is just the sun, it will never get hot enough to be (wheeze, hack) dangerous, and even if it does, that won't be until long after we've left the garage!"

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I gotta admit, the science behind Climate Change is opaque to me. I have no idea how to evaluate whether humans are the cause of global warming. I have a BS in Social Studies! But it does seem a little silly to be arguing over climate change when surely we can all agree that emitting toxins into our air and water supply is a bad idea?