05.25.19 - week 5
guys, it’s baseball.
one of the things you need to accept about baseball,
is that you’re going to get hit by baseballs.
- coach tad
carter’s coach yelled this across the field after one of the guys bailed out of the box on an inside pitch. the nature of the game requires being willing to occasionally get hit.
although i doubt he meant it to have layers of metaphor, i have wrung a few weeks of thought out of this sentence yelled across a field of 10-year-old little leaguers. if you simply replace the word ‘baseball’ with the word ‘people,’ you perfectly encapsulate the challenge of relationships and life.
we hurt each other. sometimes on purpose, most often inadvertently, but truly we do. and when we get hurt, we withdraw or maybe fight back passively. and it just produces more hurt. and then there’s social media. which did to hurting each other what steroids did to barry bonds, stronger/better/faster.
we are better at hurting each other than ever before.
and so the temptation is to quit. write-off people and church and the people that hurt me. become an emotional hermit and find a path through without substantially engaging with anyone. but that just makes the hurt more.
a friend taught me that the antidote to trauma is relationship. the only healthy path is to buckle back in. and try again. and say we’re sorry. and keep trying.
know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. – james 1:19-20
guys, it’s people.
one of the things you need to accept about people,
is that you’re going to get hit by people.
- coach tad
Cup of Leadership
when relationships fray or seasons change, its easy to start keeping track.
they didn’t text me, so i’m out on them.
they didn’t stick up for me, so i will allow them to be hurt.
they have distanced themselves from me, so i …. sometimes people decide you are ‘out.’
it’s the way they look at you or the way they look away when you walk towards them.
it’s what you hear they say when you aren’t around or in the way you conveniently stop getting invited to things.
it doesn’t feel good, and it definitely can become a motive to respond. but … when jesus said, ‘turn the other cheek’ and ‘go the extra mile,’ he opened the door to a powerful reality. we don’t have to respond in kind. eye-for-an-eye is the world’s way, it isn’t jesus’ way.
1. jesus’ relationship to us is anchored in disproportionate, unfair relationship. we were, faithless, promise-breakers. he is a faithful, promise keeper.’
2. the strongest people figure out a way to reach across the divide as best they can, no matter the reasons not to. sometimes that means being a in one way relationship.
just because someone doesn’t want you in their circle anymore doesn’t mean they can’t be in yours.
Book Review
a big disappointment in my second decade of pastoral ministry has been witnessing an astonishing amount of ‘theological insecurity.’ it’s as though error is a contagious disease, DONT GET TOO CLOSE. if we really have the truth (god/sin/substitution/believe/life), why all the fear? shouldn’t those who lack certainty be more afraid than those who have it? anyway, more than on that another day. my point is:
eugene peterson isn’t afraid. he takes lessons from catholics + nature + bono (though that’s not in the book ;). he amalgamates any streams and decades of pastoral life into a powerfully simple philosophy of relational presence and prayerful faith. i was helped by the perspective shared and i bet you will be too.
3 Things I Really Liked This Week
1. i found this sermon clip super encouraging
2. this is one of my favorite new songs, this performance will enhance it
3. #housefullofmacboys update - we sold our house and finished school in the past few days, lots of decisions to make in the next week or two, we would appreciate your prayers