You are valuable, significant, and loved.

If anyone reading this blog has ever had any questions as to weather or not they have significance, I invite you to spend some time considering birds – sparrows in particular.  Jesus brought the simplicity and depths of God’s affections for us to light using these seemingly insignificant creatures.

“Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.”  Matthew 6:26a (ESV)

“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?  And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.  But even the hairs on your head are all numbered.  “  Matthew 10:29-30 (ESV)

In both of these sermon illustrations Jesus was pointing to God’s care of birds to make specific points to the people listening, but I invite you to stop and ponder what it means for God to care for sparrows.  Often we quickly move on to the applications of not being afraid and not worrying, and fail to dwell in the weight and intimacy of the Father’s care.  Sitting in the reality of God’s care for birds readies the heart for considering God’s interest in you.  In our economy scarcity determines value, but Jesus points to the numerous sparrows and says that God has value for each of them.  He takes notice of their needs and of each time one perishes.  Keep that in mind as you read this next passage.

“Even the sparrow finds a home,

and the swallow a nest for herself,

where she may lay her young,

at your altars, O LORD of hosts,

my King and my God.

Blessed are those who dwell in your house,

ever singing your praise!”

Psalm 84:3-4 (ESV)

The altar was the place of worship, the place of sacrifice, the place where man was able to approach God.  Because of what happened at the altar, the temple was the place where God’s presence was pleased to dwell.  At that sacred place, near the heart of God, the Father made room for the sparrow.  The sparrow he fed and clothed.  The sparrow whose death would not pass un-noticed.  Having considered that Jesus rhetorically asks, “Are you not of more value than they?” and later proclaims “Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Matthew 6:26b, 10:31).

God’s invitation into His presence is ever an invitation of love.  A love that is passionate, caring, intimate and satisfying.  A love that massively outshines, yet still exists alongside, His sustaining care and concern for birds.  More importantly, a love that will exist fully independent of whether you accept it or not.  But make no mistakes – accepting that love will destroy your life in the best way possible.

Sexual Theology (Why I am Voting Yes on 8)

I’ve been absent from the blog for a few weeks so I thought to myself, “Why not write on something that can get people angry at you?”  Ok, so that wasn’t what prompted this blog but I did take it into consideration when I chose to write.  If you are already offended by the title, please listen to my words and respond with theology, thought, scripture and love.

I wrestled with voting on Prop. 8 for longer than some of you may suppose.  A big part of me wanted to vote no, simply to upset the Church out of her cathartic slumber.  Had I kept with that descision I wouldn’t really have been doing anything but submitting to the authority and governmental structure of our state.  After all, for all our independent spirit we are nonetheless a democratic republic, not a democracy, and the judges simply did what they were supposed to do.  They are a check to interpret the law, and reject things that they find unconstitutional or unlawful.  Obviously I did not keep to this decision (hence the blog title), and here is why: The more I fall in love with the Christ and His church, the more reverence I have for marriage.

Ultimately, it’s not about sex or sexual sin as black and white morality.  As Don Everts captured in his book The Smell of Sin and the Fresh Air of Grace, that kind of understanding turns sin into point by point list that smells “(l)ike a childhood classroom.”  A simple laminated list of things not to do, ’cause they’re bad.  That kind of list often fails to stand up to the question of “Why not?”.  We weren’t ready for the why not when we learned the list, and often times neither were the people we learned it from.  I think that for some of us when we questioned and didn’t get a straight answer we rejected the whole list.  Truth be told, if we had prayerfully sought God and searched scripture we would have found the answers.  When it comes to the list that falls under the heading “Sexual Sins” I see the “why not” through out God’s word.  I see it when I read Hosea, where God chose to use an adulterous marriage as an allegory to describe the broken relationship between the people of Israel and Himself.  I find it in Revelation where the relationship between Christ and the New Jerusalem is described as a union between a bride and groom.  Christ’s own use of wedding imagery in parables seems to give answer to that simple, two word question.  In my heart and mind, the reason why marriage between a man and a woman is important is that it is the image God chose to use over and over again to give us insight into the depth of His affections for us.  With Hosea, God shows himself vulnerable in that He is impacted by a faithless, wandering Israel in something like the way a husband is impacted by an unfaithful wife.  Faithfulness is a characteristic of God that He chose to make known to us by gracing us with marriage.  When it comes to the Church, Christ’s love for Her is the example for husbands to love their wives.  At the end of time we have a wedding!  A celebration of union between God and his people.  In each of these cases there is a bride and a groom, male and female.  Out of all the ways that we could come up with for why this is a poor choice on God’s part (e.g. it excludes homosexual marriage, it is sexist having God spoken of in gender terms, etc.), in my mind none of them stands up to the simplicity of submitting to God’s choice and seeking desperately to understand it as the most loving and satisfying.  In voting to define marriage as between a man and woman, I feel I am being faithful in preserving in a small way the earthly institution that was meant to be foundational to understanding God’s feelings towards His people.  In short, I’m doing it out of loving the very best that I can, which means loving God with all my heart, soul and mind and loving my neighbor as myself.

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This issue is so polarized and heated I fear some will automatically read things into this post.  Either that this is some sort of ammunition that can be used to bully moderates or opponents to Prop. 8 to vote yes, or that it will be read through a lens that interprets it (and me) as hateful, and unloving.

So if you were trying to shove this post into your ammo clip or if you have swallowed the propaganda that Yes on 8 will “protect marriage” – God loves you, and I love you but if prop Prop. 8 passes it won’t protect marriage, and if it fails it won’t kill God.  Marriage and sexuality have been undervalued by the church for far too long, and one piece of legislation does not relieve you of responsibility to live out biblical love, sexuality, and marriage.  Besides, pornography, divorce, and premarital sex have likely done far more harm to traditional marriage than homosexuality, and legislation is a piss poor substitute for the people of God showing the love of God.

If you were on the other side of things, I apologize for the lack of love.  Beyond that, I am sorry for every act from a Christian that made you feel that homosexuals were somehow less valuable to God, more sinful, or somehow unlovable.  I repent of every area in which I am not motivated by God’s love and by His standards, and I will try harder to love better.

And to all who chose to read this blog: Truly, I’m trying to love the very best I can, which for me means submitting to the love of God which exists fully outside of myself.  It’s the only unchanging standard of love I’ve ever found and I’ve found it to be deeply satisfying.