There's a new TV show called GCB. It's a bit like Hope Floats meets Desperate Housewives. "GCB" stands for Good Christian B-tches. Now, if you're a person who gets offended when someone says "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" I can tell you right now - you will HATE this show. I believe God happens to have a clever sense of humor, so I am wildly amused by the fun poked at the stereotyping of many things that I am/have been at times: Southern, blond, hypocritical and closed-minded about religion. The show is hysterical, and as my friends gathered yesterday to celebrate Easter together, it was referenced a few times.
If like me, you're a Christian without a church home you know that Easter can be a bit of a challenge (especially if you don't live near your family and/or your spouse has tickets to the O's game). You feel like it's wrong to pop into a church just because it's Easter (and if you watch GCB you know the Don't-Miss-a-Sunday types will accuse you of just coming to show off your Easter outfit anyway).
At the same time, you still want to mark the holiday. So, what's a girl to do?
Well, first you make a brunch reservation....
then you find a church nearby and become so sweetly surprised when the strangers there greet you so warmly. That's how I spent Easter yesterday - with really good friends, at a beautiful church in Washington, where a very life-applicable message on Second Chances was offered. While there I was reminded of just how much I appreciate the rituals of church, and the sense of renewal that returns instantly, even inside a sanctuary you have never been in before...and may never be in again.
After the service, our group settled in for a little GCB-ing of our own...
Good Christian Brunching! While there, I was reminded of just how much I appreciate the fun and loyal friends that bless my life.
And the people said...amen.
There have been many times in my life - usually very dark, sad times - when I've been really good at praying. When I do pray, mostly I write prayers in pretty journals, or on yellow legal paper if that's all I have on hand.
The more I write prayers, the easier it becomes for me to "think" prayers, or even to offer them out loud.
It's been a long time, years, in fact, since I've prayed regularly and purposefully. The longer between my chats with God, the harder it is for me to make the effort to talk. This is not not unlike any relationship, really. You move on from friends, even family, not staying in touch, 'til one day something makes you think of a certain person. I should call her, I think...but I don't always do it. Likewise, I'll go about life, seemingly in control until it throws me somethng that's too big to process. I should pray about this, I think...but I don't always do it.
As the new year sets in, prayer is something to which I feel very strongly about returning. Practicing it has always rewarded my spirit and always been healthy for me. I have been putting it off, though. It's been so long since I've offered more than just a quick request to God that a real heart-to-heart with Him seemed uncomfortable - much like even sharing things about faith sometimes is for me.
I'm happy to say that it took just a few times, before it felt natural. Like riding a bike, one can't really forget how to pray.
The Bible verse that, when at a loss for personal prayers, I pray the most is Isiah 26:3: "I will keep in perfect peace he whose imagination is on Thee". I have prayed this countless times in recent years, so naturally as I was easing back into praying, this verse served as my re-training wheels.
I think all people who pray Scripture will tell you that the same verse can resonate with them in so may ways, and this happened to me recently as I prayed my favorite verse. The word "imagination" [in your Bible it may say "mind" or "thoughts" - but the interpretation is the same] kept ringing the loudest.
Friends who know me well will agree - I have one crazy, twisted, peculiar, wild and often angst-fueled imagination. Sometimes it serves me well, and sometimes it haunts me. If you recall - as I surely did while repating this verse - all my thoughts on starting 2011 centered around imagining my new year- storyboarding my thoughts, bringing to life my imagination to shape this new year.
As I prayed "I will keep in perfect peace he whose imagination is on Thee" I kind of got this message:
Quit it with your imagination.
Quit it with just thinking about how to organize your life.
Focus on Thee. Focus through Thee. That focus, I pray, is where I will find perfect peace.
One thing I am certainly not in this life is consistant.
My house is not consistently tidy, my weight is not consistently the same. Let's not even talk about my hormones...! I would so love to be as on time as the Red Line, but alas, that's just not me.
I probably don't need to tell you this. If you read this blog regulary you know one day I will be talking about a recipe, and the next, body odor. I'm throwing out this disclaimer, though, because I am going to begin writing more candidly about faith, a topic that hasn't appeared often as I go about my typical babble.
Though I wasn't baptized until my late 20's, I've always been a Christian. Still, even after serving on my church's council and joining small groups for Bible study I have never felt entirely natural talking about my faith, and there are a few reasons why:
- I'm by no means a theologian or even a good Bible scholar, so I try to only spout off things in total confidence that I know like the back of my hand - Dolly Parton lyrics, for example, or the vegatable of the day at Cracker Barell.
- Christian vernacular sometimes turns me off. Words like "blessed" and "called" and "led" while probably heartfelt when offered or even heard by others seem trite to me because they are so over-used - like the secular equvilant of calling someone "sweet", or the Southern backhanded offering of "Bless her heart".
- I think faith is highly personal, so to share alot about my walk {"walk" - there's a buzz word for you!} is to venture outside my comfort zone. I'd rather just tell you how much I weigh, or that I need regular chin waxings.
I will be daring to share, though, because I do believe no matter what one's religion, so many of us share similar struggles, and I believe so much that being candid about the problems we face - and especially how we work through them - can help other people. Empathy is good medicine. I know, because recently I've been so inspired by bloggers who I feel are painfully honest in sharing how their faith is sustaining that it has not only made me want to re-establish faith in my life, but maybe even share about it.
So please, if I start to sound hokey or insincere, or if I pass the virtual offering plate, asking you to send me money that I will give to God and then you see photos of me wearing a pair of Louboutins be very quick to tell me, and I will interrupt my occassional blogevengalism to remind you how cute my dog is....deal?
It candies my yams a bit when Christians get selfish about Christmas. It's around this time every year when we who believe in Jesus start getting real territorial about His birthday just because it's celebrated alongside some other winter festivities. You know what I mean: The great "Merry Christmas" versus "Happy Holidays" contest.
I am exhausted by this debate. After all, the time between November and January hosts a number of different holidays - including, but not limited to, Christmas. Just because I celebrate Christmas in the true spirit of Christianity, and even sign my cards "Merry Christmas" doesn't mean that everyone else in our nation of religious freedom does. Because I believe God wants me to be tolerant - especially during Advent Season - I'll take no offense if someone offers me a more inclusive wish this winter. In fact, I think just accepting it with graciousness is the Christian thing to do.
Even though I don't celebrate it, I tell my Jewish friends that I hope they enjoy Hanukkah. I say Merry Christmas to people who I know celebrate the birth of Christ. When the man at Target hands me my receipt and says, "Happy Holidays," I don't think he is doing it to slight Jesus; I think he's doing it because he doesn't know what particular holiday I honor. That...and he's just being friendly.
I live in a very culturally diverse part of the United States, and never once have I felt like all these so-called grinches from other faiths have tried to steal my Christmas. Ever. The only hostility between Thanksgiving and the New Year I sense comes from Christians who spend far too much energy and voice yelling about what Wal-mart calls December 25th than living in the spirit of love and acceptance that Christ was born into this world to provide.
I grew up in a rural part of the small town South that is buckled pretty tightly in the Bible Belt. When I go home every year in December I see businesses declaring that We Do Not Celebrate the Holidays. We Celebrate Christmas. Is a simple Merry Christmas! not enough?
If I didn't still speak East Tennessee and know that what the sign really means is "We love God and we're not afraid to show it" I'd be quick to decifer their seemingly harsh sounding Christmas message as a little bit hateful...icey, even.
Does the confused soul looking for magic at Christmas time because she's lonely and broken think, "Oh...these angry, anti-holiday/Christmas-exclusive people seem loving and open-hearted?" I would guess no. I see a We Only Like Our Kind attitude that I don't think celebrates the birth, and certainly not the life of Christ what so ever. I think the well-intenioned people who "do not" celebrate the holidays are doing so from a pure place; I just think such an attempt to share Christ is sometimes lost.
Yesterday one of my favorite Christians, the author Donald Miller, tweeted (with a clear hint of sarcasm and humor aimed at this debate) that he would like it if stores took Christ out of Christmas to seperate Jesus from all the consumerism. Miller made me laugh, but I don't think this continuing argument every season is funny. Once again this year I'm seeing people put up their Christmas defenses, and I just think if Christians went, instead, on the offensive to be happy about (or at least not in some competition, commericial or otherwise) with other holidays during - dare I say..."the holidays" - it would make for such better marketing of our faith, all while showcasing the Spirit of the season Christians proudly celebrate.
This is a bold statement, I know, but I’m going to make it: I feel like if C.S. Lewis was rocking in 2010, Donald Miller is the only religious writer he’d care to read. Or, at least Miller would be his favorite.
If you aren’t reading Donald Miller's blog (or his books) you should be.
Unlike most bloggers, myself included, Donald Miller won’t tell you about his weekend or what kind of earrings he wears. He won’t tell you about his new Tory Burch shoes, his new designer handbag or share a recipe he makes in his Le Creuset dutch oven. You won’t find pictures of his cute children (or shamless plugs to get you to vote for his friend's kid in a contest) either.
You will, however, find someone who I think has the most realistic approach to modern day Christianity and religion. He will write candidly about human nature and his own struggles. He will make you think, I’ve felt like that before! …and then he’ll make you wonder, Why can’t I put my feelings into words so well???
I should have written a post on how much I love Miller’s last book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, because I did love it. Like, as soon as I finished the final page, I started reading again it. I should have passed it around for my friends to borrow, but I didn’t because I made too many personal notes and scribbles that would have revealed too much about my own inner-crazies. I didn’t write about how wonderful a story it is on embracing life, because whenever I start to write about "embracing life", I just sound cliché and insincere. Cue the country music. So…I never posted about it.
Miller writes unapologetically about how he leans on Christ, but he’s not at all preachy or sappy or pious. He is none of the things that turn off even Believers to religion. He avoids all the over-used Christian vernacular you probably A) know if you’re active in a church and/or B) use, as I have, if you’re trying to sound like a good Christian.
I follow Donald Miller on Twitter but don't check his blog as often I should. When I read this post I thought to myself…this is the kind of stuff I need to read every day.
Don’t get me wrong – I love my home décor and party planning blogs and my peaks into the world of glam women I don’t even know...and I like to write about totally fluffy topics, too. But, if it’s substance you’re looking for in blogland…follow Donald Miller.
For as much as I mention Southern Living magazine, you may have wondered if I consider it my bible. While it's a handy resource, my Bible it is not.
This is.....
I've had this NIV devotional for so many years, I can't even recall when I got it. I know it was before college. It was a gift from my dad.
Like many Christians I know, I'm not as disciplined with reading the Bible as I should be, as I want to be. There have been seasons throughout my years where I've had a very solid routine of seeking and studying Scripture. Likewise, there are times - like those of late - when this pink paperback gets pretty dusty.
For the first time in a long, long while I opened my Bible. I like to play what I call Bible Roulette. I open up to a random page and hope for a Scripture that will inspire me.
For the record, Bible Roulette can be as dangerous as any game of chance. Sometimes I happen on a life changing verse; other times, I open to a rambling list naming someone's many sons. I don't think that means anything about the effectiveness of God's Word, it's just the reality of this game I play...and God and I are fine with that.
I was hoping to find some perfect story or verse that would immediatly transform me into a grounded, grateful and purposeful person. Alas, I did not instantly find that.
What I found instead, though, where notes that I had scribbled and important phrases I had underlined and dated throughout my many years of opening this Book.
I kept opening and closing my Bible and every page would reveal some old marking.
I can read a verse I've underlined and recall what I was feeling when I noted its importance. I love that about this old Bible.
While this round of Bible Roullete did not reveal any new, magical Words, it did show me all the old ones on which I've meditated, prayed and found peace. It reminded me of how fulfulling using these Words as a resource can be. I also recalled , quite quickly, that as telling, assuring -sometimes even as scary- as a verse can be, it is often most effective after it marinades in one's mind, one's heart for a while. Unlike in Vegas, even when one wins at this game of roulette, the pay out is rarely instant.
What I realized with all these old notes, also, is that I need a new Bible.
These markings represent some hopeful times, but also some dark days. I don't want to ever throw away this Bible. Still, I need -and I want- a new one.
As I work to bring myself back into a disciplined place spiritually, it is clear that God has blessed my life with a new chapter. My new chapter needs its own Book.
