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A Place to Fail

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Phil Vischer, creator of VeggieTales, built a small Christian animation kingdom called Big Idea and then watched it slip through his fingers. He has told his story to numerous groups. Toward the end of his recounting on his podcast of how it all got away from him, he mentions something about 40-something men that really breaks my heart:

Skye Jethani of Christianity Today chimed in too. His is a refrain I’ve sung before on Cerulean Sanctum:

We Need a Gospel That Speaks to Failure

Still Looking for a Gospel That Speaks to Failure

Mistakes As Sin: Does the Church Need a New Grace?

Steve Went Looking for Grace

I think one reason that grace, the lifeblood of the Church, remains just a concept in most Christians’ lives in the West is because of the very problem Vischer mentions: Anything less than success is considered unworthy of our attention. Therefore, people who fail go wanting, looking for grace, when grace is only afforded to those who triumph in the eyes of the world.

What do you say to the guy who finds the perfect girl—only to lose her to someone else? Or who lands the perfect job—only at a company soon to fail? Or who spends plenty of time with his kids and tries to train them up right—only for them to rebel and complain about him to friends? Or who listens to his heart and goes for his dream—only for it to crumble in loss?

Why don’t we preach a gospel that reaches that guy? Why don’t we practice a gospel that makes a safe place for him to fail? Where is that pool of grace to be found when all of life goes to pieces? And why is it so hard to find in the very place one should expect to find it?

Lastly, what if that guy tries to live by every Christian principle in the Book and still fails?

We need something better than what we’re giving people Sunday in and Sunday out. We may talk about the brokenhearted, but nine times out of 10, that brokenhearted person is someone who failed, often spectacularly. God help us if we have no grace to offer him.

How to Fix Everything That Is Wrong with Everything

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In the last week, I’ve seen more talk than usual about what’s right and wrong with the contemporary Church in America and the way we Americans worship…or don’t. Some of this may be in response to Donald Miller’s confession last week that he didn’t attend church regularly (see my response “Donald Miller and the Anti-Church“).  A quick pass through the Interwebs reveals more comments on Church worship and how it’s not right. I suspect some of that is in response to Miller too.

And if I go on Facebook, I read what’s wrong with our government. I read what’s wrong with entertainment. I read what’s wrong with kids today. I read what’s wrong with the elderly.

Well, maybe not so much that last one.

Nonetheless, there’s a whole lot of wrong out there.

My first thought is that each of us needs to drill this truth into our heads:

This life is not about me.

What if every person in the United States woke up tomorrow and said to himself or herself, This life is not about me ? And what if that thought echoed through our heads the entire day and affected everything we do?

I can’t help but think everything would be changed for the better. Maybe not overnight, but soon enough.

Human self-centeredness and pride is at the root of so much that is wrong in our country, government, schools, churches, and homes. Most of the egregious wrong that happens in the world is because someone, somewhere is looking out solely for number one. What’s in it for me? has replaced E Pluribus Unum as the motto of the United States of America. We just don’t want to admit it because it looks bad. And it looks bad because there is still that “thing” deep down inside us that considers looking out for number one wrong—whenever someone else lives that way.

Oh my.

Sun & CrossThe funny thing is, This life is not about me  is at the heart of the Christian faith. Imagine if Jesus had said to the Father, “Taking on the sins of the world and dying on a cross—you know, I’m not really into doing that.” Fact is, He didn’t want to do that. But He did it anyway.

By its very nature, the cross is hard to bear. No one said it wouldn’t be.

The cross hurts? No, it downright kills. But what spring from that death is life itself

That cross is at the heart of Christianity. There’s a cross for each person who follows Jesus. The cross epitomizes This life is not about me.

If we want to fix everything that is wrong with everything, we have to start at the cross. We pick it up daily and walk in its shadow.

There is no other solution.

The Apocalypse Now Upon Us!

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Carson PalmerPlenty of Christian sites out there have been asking if the apocalypse is imminent. They point to the devastation on the Gulf Coast, pullouts in Israel, troubles in Iraq, continued flakiness in North Korea, and on and on.

I was not a believer in any of this until yesterday.

Why do I now believe the end is nigh?

Simple. The Cincinnati Bengals are 3-0.

😉