Jonah and Redemption

When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.
 But this was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry. 2 He prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing. 3 And now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” 4 And the Lord said, “Is it right for you to be angry?” 5 Then Jonah went out of the city and sat down east of the city, and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, waiting to see what would become of the city.
6 The Lord God appointed a bush,[a] and made it come up over Jonah, to give shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort; so Jonah was very happy about the bush. 7 But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the bush, so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God prepared a sultry east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint and asked that he might die. He said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”
9 But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?” And he said, “Yes, angry enough to die.” 10 Then the Lord said, “You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labor and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night. 11 And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?”-Jonah 3:10-4:11

When I heard this passage read as the Old Testament Lectionary reading on Sunday I could not help but be reminded of high school. Since the my early high school years I had a passion of letting people know how Jonah actually ended. I got so tired of seeing the flannel graph adaptations where kids assume that Jonah changed his ways after he preached to Ninevah. People often neglect the fact that he was bitter, had prejudices, and wanted God to destroy this city of the Assyrians. How often do we, as Christians, act just like Jonah here?

How often do we preach that God is loving and wants to forgive us if we are repentant but, then assume that God will obliterate anyone who thinks differently than we do? We look at horrible situations like ISIS and demand retribution but, as the Pastor at church so greatly pointed out, modern day Ninevah would be like ISIS. Yes, what they are doing is some of the most horrendous and dehumanizing things but, we have to wonder how God views them and if they are in the scope of God's redeeming love and forgiveness. It can be easy to think of our enemies, of that person right down the street that just gets under your skin, and say we'll "pray for them" while secretly hoping that they "get what they deserve" for the way they treat us. Instead maybe we should walk over, share the good news of redemption, and get to know their story. When we pray for our enemies let's actually mean it and hope for God's redemption to come into their lives.

Why do we do ministry? Why do we preach the "good news" and why should we even live out the "good news"? Is it to fulfill an obligation? Is it because we're told we have to? Or is it because it's actually good news? Is it that God actually does have mercy and chooses to love all of us? Is sharing the good news a response to the grace we have been given?

Let's stop whining about why we cannot have instant gratification or why sometimes we are uncomfortable. Let's stop assuming that God won't do what God says God will do! If God says that He is merciful and will free us then that is what God will do! Let's get up and share this good news with the assurance that God is one who forgives. God provides new life. And God can redeem even the worst of foes. 

The Pineapple Incident...

It's the end of the day and I am exhausted. I have done a lot throughout this particular day and I was ready just to crash into my bed. There were good aspects of the day and there were bad aspects. I was ready to return to dreamland in hopes to escape certain moments of this particular day. I was tired of thinking for right now.

As I climbed up into my top bunk I reflected on my entire day. I thought of things I could have done differently and then I pondered whether or not I would want to have done them differently. I felt bogged down and exhausted. As I began to lay my head down I caught a whiff of something fruity. Something was off. Luckily I looked at my pillow before I set my head on it. There was an odd shaped lump in my pillow. I pulled it out to examine my discovery and found...

A simple prank. I found myself chuckling and wanting to share with others this reference to an unanswered HIMYM episode. This simple act brightened my night. It took my mind off of the craziness of the day and focused on the fact that I have acquired a pineapple. How great is that? It put today into a better perspective. It's senior year and even though I do not know where I am going next I know where I am today. I need to live in the present with my community in the here and now. I need to enjoy the little things. I need to partake in godly play, as one of my former youth ministry classes taught. I need to find a balance between all the academics and ministry opportunities to play with others. We are made for community and relaxation.

So take a step back, live in the present, and give someone a pineapple. Who knows? You may just make their night.

Thoughts from Kayaking

"I've looked into this option and it could work if we did this...but I also looked into this other option which could help in this situation." As I paddled my kayak ahead down the stream I rambled on and on about the research I had been doing for post-grad plans. I kept talking about all the different options I knew of and the various ideas I had been concocting that day. Before I knew it I had paddled my way a significant distance away from my kayaking partner...my date.

My lovely girlfriend finally caught up to me and pointed out a baby eagle flying above us. I looked up briefly to see this beautiful creature and then returned to my ramblings. The lovely woman of valor next to me continued to look around the river at the beautiful green forest and all the creatures around it. Then a thought from my past sputtered through my mind. I began to bring up old memories and experiences from before. I talked and talked as I slowly fell behind my companion until I found myself just as far behind her as I had previously been in front of her. Falling behind as I journeyed down memory lane.

THUNK. My kayak stopped dead in its tracks. I tried to scoot it forward but, it simply would not moved. bottomed out. I had bottomed out. I quickly got out of my kayak and brought it up towards where my dearest was and began to place it back in the water.

"That's not where you put it." She smiled at me as I looked quizzically at her. In my confusion, she walked over to me and pointed towards where we had come from. "We are not there anymore..." then she pointed to where we were headed. "We are not there yet..." finally she motioned around us. "This is where we are at now. This is our present. Be here, now." 

As I looked around at God's creation and looked at the woman next to me I realized I had the wrong focus. I had been focusing too much on either the past or what I could do for the future. I was not focusing on the present while I was on this date with my amazing girlfriend. This kayaking trip taught me that though Senior year may have stress and senioritis, I need to learn to be truly present with those around me. As a great speaker once said to me, "If you know what God wants you to do in the present when the future comes you'll know what he wants you to do because you knew what He was calling you to in that present."

We all need that person in our life who can anchor us back to the present and help us see the beauty all around us.

Pondering on Atonement

For the past several months I have been wrestling with Atonement theories. I have grown up hearing the idea that Christ had to come down and take the place on the cross for our sins. We quote Bible verses such as, "“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life" (John 3.16, New Revised Standard Version) and translate it to mean that Christ took the place to satisfy an angry God. Or there is the theory that God in His love could not be near sin so sent His Son to die and destroy Sin so that we may be able to be purified and enter into His presence. There are many theories of Atonement and I would agree with the theologian Tony Jones that many of them likely got some aspects right but, not all.

But I would like to present another idea one that very likely is not original but, has been on my mind. What if the reason why Jesus became human and allowed himself to die on a cross was to show us that He loved us enough to become like us and die the worst possible death that we could experience. He came simply to suffer with us, love with us, dwell among us. He wanted to show he was not some far off, transcendent God who did not care. This would show us that if the Son of God is able to come down and go through this we should not be discouraged and should follow His example of the life He lived. It seems to me that we often stop atonement theories here. We say the Cross is what it's all about but, here's the problem with that: if the Cross is all that matters then we are hopeless. All that the Cross shows us is death. If the story ended with the Cross then it would end with Jesus' death but, we know the story does not end there. Three days later Jesus is resurrected and what if His resurrection is to show the resurrection that will await us in the age to come? What if Jesus was saying, "Just as I have loved the best I could until my death--and had the worst kind of death--so can you and if you will do as I have done you will to be resurrected." That is the good news. That Jesus is inviting us to live the life of the Resurrection. He is inviting us to choose life, reject evil, love the unlovable, love the lovable, and spread the good news of the Resurrection as we await that day where Christ returns to be fully here, fully reigning on earth as it is in Heaven. 

Strengths build community

Positivity. Includer. Input. Developer. Connectedness.

These are my top five strengths according to the Strength Finder 2.0 test (http://www.strengthsfinder.com/home.aspx). Properly understanding how these strengths work and what they mean helped me to see how they completely describe my life.  I have found that understanding my strengths can open my eyes to why I can struggle with working well with certain types of people. We have different strengths. We do things differently. 

In life and in our vocation it can be easy to focus on perfecting our weaknesses. We tend to see what we are not good at and try to change that. We are a culture that strives for perfection even one that is diverse in its appearance. This perfection can lead to competition which when not kept in check can rule a persons life. 

I'd like to argue that we need to focus on our strengths. Point out what strengths our co-workers have and let them work with those strengths as we work with our own. We need to stop falling into the competitive life style and realize that whatever vocation we have we can still work together with people to further the kingdom. We all have different strengths to bring to the table. 

This mentality is what brought my YouthWorks staff team close this summer. Instead of living a life of competing who was better, we realized we all had our own strengths to bring to the team. Where one member was lacking another could step in. That's what true Christian community looks like: building each other up with our strengths.  

It's always hard to say 'Goodbye'

"Tanner! I missed you! You came back!" I heard the voice before I felt the small arms wrap around my waist. I looked down into the beautiful brown eyes of six year old Peyton as she took my hand and led me to the front of the Boys and Girls Club. Her face was beaming as she paraded me around as her best friend who had finally come back to visit. This was my third or fourth time at the Boys and Girls Club but, those times I had been there I really connected with this particular student. "Can I have that?!" She asked as she noticed the little Youth Specialties flash light on my key chain and knowing this was my last day at this site I decided to let her have the light. Her smile grew as she analyzed the flashlight I had put into her hand and she skipped to her classroom. After 5 minutes of making sure that everyone was situated I made my way to Peyton's classroom to say my final goodbye. As I entered the room we made eye contact and it was as if she knew what was coming and she began to tear up. I hugged her several times as I explained how I would be leaving New Orleans and she would be starting school soon so I would not see her anymore. With tears in her eyes she hugged me one last time as I told her the flashlight was a gift so she could remember me.
I walked out of that building praying and hoping that Peyton would have a good life. That she would realize she is an amazing daughter of God and has so much great potential. She greatly impacted my life.

******************

"I should have bought her flowers!" Eric, an intellectually disabled worker, sang for the fifth time as he presented one of the girl volunteers at Arc with fake Mardi Gras flowers. Eric had been doing the move all morning and many people were getting tired of it but, I could not help but smile at him. He loved this song and he loved the attention it gave him. At the beginning of the summer Eric was the last worker at Arc that I thought I'd get to know and yet through the weeks we had developed a friendship. It was tradition for me to lose at a thumb wrestling match every Monday and greet him by yelling, "Eric!" when I entered the room. We would always talk about what songs he liked and occasionally he would invite me to sing with him in his toy microphone. I will never forget serving alongside Eric this summer.

At the end of the day as I said my goodbyes to our volunteer coordinator and community cookout singer, Margie Perez, I could not help but feel a desire to return to Arc one day to reconnect with Eric, Mike, and Peter and to see how Margie is doing. This site has been one of my favorite service sites to work at even though most of the work is just sorting recycled Mardi Gras beads. The work was pretty easy but, it was the relationships that made this site such an amazing one to go to. I will never forget seeing students dance to the Wobble as the worker Mike showed them how to. I will never forget quiet Peter who had a great heart but never said too much. And I will never forget the memories made at this amazing organization where we sorted around 3,000 pounds of beads per day.

******************

"Hey Tanner!" As I looked up a piece of cake hit the side of my face before I could process what happened. In the middle of our staff meeting Rebekah had taken a piece of birthday cake and shoved it in my face. This led to an all out cake war among our staff as we ran through the halls after each other during church group time. By the end of the fight our faces were covered in cake and there was frosting all over the ground. This was just one of the crazy, random things we would do at our late night staff meetings. We have grown so much over the past summer and it is hard to believe that our time together is coming to an end after next week. 

This line of thinking has put me in a contemplative mood all weekend. My thoughts have been wandering around concepts of community, longevity, and intentionality. This summer has shown me how important it is to invest into the community you are ministering in. It is not healthy to invest into people's lives only to leave shortly after. Now I am not saying that only living some place for a summer is a bad thing but, it has helped me transition to the mindset of finding a community to invest in for a while. I went into this summer with the idea that my ideal job would be being a nomad and traveling all over the world for a couple months at a time. Nothing is wrong with that idea but, this summer has shown me that my passions for youth, community, and development require commitment, longevity, and intentional community. As much as I have a love for traveling and wandering the world I need to find a community where I feel led to invest in. I do not want to always be saying "goodbye" to the Peytons, Erics, and YouthWorks teams in my life. 

******************

All of this talk of community has shown me how important it is to invest in the local community in which I live. This coming school year will be my senior year and I want to leave Mount Vernon knowing that I invested myself in that community. I have done a decent job of doing that on campus but, now my challenge for myself is to become more invested and involved in the local community of the town. I want to get involved with programs for lower income children. I want to get involved with programs like the Arc of Greater New Orleans. I want to find ways to help the homeless and be relational with them. I will commit to my community during this final year of school. It will be hard to let go and move on with my life at the end of this year but, I am ready to give this final year my all. I am ready to truly invest my senior year into the community as one of MVNU's Student Mentors. 

These are simply my thoughts on the ending of a summer in New Orleans and the need for community. 

Community on the 4th

11:30am-woke up. It was the first real sleep in day I've had in almost 2 months and it was July 4th. The day that fills me with so much conflicting emotions. I love living in the US and I know there is a lot of need here, but there is something about patriotism and nationalism that does not sit well with me. Yes, I know that is something I should work on...it would be good to be patriotic at least on the fourth. That's the mentality that I started my holiday with. For the first time in forever I was massively missing home and everyone was all busy doing their own patriotic festivities. I was not ready for an adventurous day, I was just wanting to sit home, drink coffee, and read all day.

Nevertheless, my team wanted to dress patriotic and go adventuring around town. For the sake of community I joined their festivities but, I was not that happy about it if we are being completely honest. Despite my disappointment that was the best decision that I could have made. 

After exploring the city we ended up at the French Quarter--which is so different to be at without students all around us. As we were walking along the Mississippi River we started hearing someone preaching the gospel. I immediately was turned off by what I was hearing because I am not a fan of that form of evangelism; luckily my team does a great job at keeping my attitude in check and reminding me that there are other great forms of evangelism than what I prefer. They had the idea of going up and listening to the message. We learned this group was called R.A.V.I.N. and that they had a church on Bourbin street which is exactly the kind of place that would need Christians at it. We got to talk with two of their members--Chloe and PT--which allowed us get to know more about their ministry and to pray with them. Because of my team I was able to get to know fellow Christians instead of judging their megaphone evangelism methods. They're still people, still need love, and are striving to build God's kingdom like I am.  

After this grand adventure we met up with one of the Episcopal youth groups from our previous week. We watched the fireworks and just hung out and spent time getting to know them. I learned so much about the teens, the Episcopal church, and youth ministry in general. It felt so humanizing to hang out with this group outside of work and get to know them all. It was exactly what I needed. They provided the community that I was yearning for on this 4th of July. 

After 2 hours of walking around the French Quarter and conversing with this amazing group, we departed from them to get Froyo and get to know each other more. As we walked down Canal street, around midnight, we took a journey down memory lane to our high school years. We grew closer as a team in the late hours of the night. My day of boredom was redeemed by community. Community is what we're made for.