Papal (Easter - Day 2)

Last night after church, I decided to go to a certain Starbucks to work on my paper. I was planning on going to one near my house, but my girlfriend convinced me to go to a different one because it stayed open longer. I had forty-five dollars in my pocket, and my phone was dead.

As I was retrieving my coffee, I looked through the front door and saw an old friend walking up. When I saw him, I realized that I had arranged to meet him at that Starbucks at 7:30. The reason I was meeting him was to make amends. I had borrowed $40 from him nearly eight years ago, and had never paid him back. 

I had completely forgotten about this meeting, and I would have gone to a different Starbucks were it not for someone convincing me to come to this one. My phone was dead, so he would have had no way to contact me if I didn't show up to this specific Starbucks. I happened to have forty-five dollars in my pocket from a housesitting gig I did over the weekend. When I handed him the cash, I asked him if he remembered what it was for. He vaguely remembered something about bills from eight years ago, and I told him how I had avoided him back when he kept asking me for the money I owed him. We caught up on each other's lives and smoked some cigarettes. It turned out we were both in recovery from alcohol. And, it turned out that a drunk woman would get dropped off at the Starbucks we were sitting in as we talked about our sobriety. We offered the woman a ride home, but her friend had called the police and they ended up giving her a ride. 

I told my friend that "the stars have aligned" for us to be here tonight. It's moments like these that give me a glimpse of the invisible God who is working for us. 

I talked with my friend about how I nearly feel hopeless about the possibilities of the message of Jesus being reclaimed by the Christian religion. It seems like the message has been turned into such an exclusive membership that people are just put off when it comes to Jesus, God, Christianity. I've been thinking, though, about the Pope. He's been doing things that are not normal for a pope.

Recently, he washed the feet prisoners and invited Christians and non-Christians to take Communion. He declined from staying in the mansion designated specifically for the papacy, and has chosen to live in the guest house. In my opinion, he's using his platform to reclaim the message of Christ, and it's causing heads to turn and questions to be asked. He's doing things that haven't been done in centuries. The last two popes to actually wash peoples' feet were the first two. That was a very long time ago. 

If there's anything I want to convey through this simple form of messaging it's this: God is for all of us. 

Jesus says that he is in the Father and the Father is in Jesus. He says that when we see himself, we see God. When we see God, we see Jesus. God is love. Love is God. 

Jesus was speaking to a crowd face to face. He was standing next to them. They could actually see him. He was literally saying, "As you look at me right now, you are witnessing God." 

Obviously, we can't see Jesus today, so we can't see God. But, Jesus also says that what we believe about him confirms what we believe about God. He says that no one can know God apart from himself, which makes sense. I don't know God because I don't know Jesus. I don't have the ability to call Jesus on the phone to see if he wants to go eat at Rudy's today. But, I believe in Jesus and I believe in God.

All I've really got to stand on is a faith that tells me that God is inclusive. The way I build on this faith is by reading the scriptures and practicing them. Relying on the media to build my faith would most definitely cause me to construct a faith around a God who is exclusive. Towards the end of chapter fourteen in John, Jesus says that "anything you request that's along the lines of who I am and what I am doing, will be given to you."

This passage has been taken out of context in many ways and been manipulated into, "Ask and I'll give you anything." Jesus says specifically how to ask. Request things that are in line with who he claims he is. Request things that are in line with what he claims he is doing. Then, they will be given to us.

The only way to find out who he claims he is or what he's done, is to read the scriptures. Otherwise, it's a cat-and-mouse formula game. It's a shot in the dark. Maybe it will, maybe it won't. Jesus gives us the opportunity to experience something mystical and tangible at the same time. He invites us to request, and says that it will be given. There are parameters though. In order to receive what we ask for, he is saying our requests need to be in line with who he is and what he does.

So, what he is not saying is to pray like this: God, please show Tommy that he's wrong; God, please help me not get in trouble for not paying my taxes; or, like the one I've been praying recently, God, please the cops away from me with this headlight out. 

We're told throughout the scriptures who Jesus is. He's a healer of the sick. He's a friend of the poor. He's a washer of feet. He's an advocate for the people nobody likes. He's God in the flesh. He calls us his brothers and sisters. He calls himself the head of the church. 

We're also told what he does. He sets the lame to walk again. He restores sight to the blind. He restores the dignity of prostitutes. He hangs out with tax collectors and drunks. He eats with the poor. He constantly turns the heads of the religious community. He's very much sacrilegious. 

When we become more in line with who Jesus is and what he does, we begin to pray like Jesus does. Things like new jobs and cars, vacations, and 401(k)s - though they are necessary - aren't what I believe Jesus had in mind when he invited us to request things "along the lines of who he is and what he does." 

Maybe prayers like these are what he was talking about: Jesus, please help my mom get through her chemotherapy; Please help Bobby get off the streets; Please help Amber get to A.A.; Please help me show tolerance and grace to Stephen; Please give me an opportunity to give to someone in need today.

When we begin living in the way that Jesus did, our prayers take on new meaning. They start to center around who Jesus claims he is, and what Jesus does, the invisible meets the tangible. Heaven meets earth. The imagination intersects reality. 

In closing, I want to say something very important and inclusive. Prayer is not designed to be religious. It's not designed to be a slot machine token. Everyone is invited to test what Jesus says, regardless of belief or background. It's not the person praying that makes the difference. It's not the doctrine, dogma, belief system, or history that matters. It's the content. Anyone and everyone has open communication with the God we can't see but who uses real things and real people to get our attention. 

Today's Action: Along the lines of who Jesus claims he is, or what we're told he did in the scriptures, pray for someone or something today. Pay attention to see if any opportunities to play an active part show up. See what happens!