Bill Dahl » faith

Stumbling Toward Heaven by Mike Hamel -

bill — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 21:20:59 +0000

STUMBLING Toward Heaven

“The ‘C’ word typically evokes ‘F’ words: Fear, Flight, Fate, Freak, or Failure – from sufferers, families and friends alike. In Stumbling Toward Heaven, Mike Hamel rises above it all with an incredibly useful and unique approach; he’s funny – and I mean really funny. Mike is a fabulous storyteller – capturing the essence of how one of life’s many tragic realities cause us to re-examine the frailties of our faith. You don’t have to be afflicted or affected by cancer to derive practical benefits from this book. The occurrence of the unexpected is an experience we all share in this life. It takes a gifted writer like Mike Hamel to help us make sense of it all…and have some laughs along the way. Prescription: Buy This Book!

Bill Dahl

You can follow Mike’s blog at www.mikehamel.wordpress.com

“Faith” in unprecedented times (?)

bill — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 20:52:12 +0000

“Faith” in Unprecedented Times…a contemplation

In these unprecedented economic times , what might faith mean? Theologian Brian McLaren suggests:

“Faith involves admitting with humility and boldness that we need to change, to go against the flow, to be different, to face and shine the light on our cherished illusions and prejudices, and to discover new truths that can be liberating even though they may be difficult for the ego, painful to the pride.” (1)

From the above, we can see that the faith required to reimagine creating tomorrow today involves a multi-dimensional approach. Let me explain:

(1) It requires admission – a confession, if you will.

(2) The nature of this admission is twofold: it must be humble and bold.

In terms of the humility dimension of this matter, the following from Rabbi Harold Kushner speaks to the heart of the matter:

“being human is such a complicated challenge that all of us will make mistakes in the process of learning how to do it right, then we can come to see our mistakes not as emblems of our unworthiness but as experiences we can learn from. We will be brave enough to try something new without being afraid of getting it wrong. Our sense of shame will be the result of our humility, our learning our limits, rather than our wanting to hide from scrutiny because we have done badly.” (2)

The boldness dimension of the admission is characterized concisely by Senator John McCain. He refers to it as courage:

“Courage (emphasis is mine) is that rare moment of unity between conscience, fear, and action, when something deep within us strikes the flint of love, of honor, of duty, to make the spark that fires our resolve.” (3)

3) In terms of speaking about illuminating our illusions, most folks can get pretty riled up. Why? Because it causes us to truly examine and evaluate the truthfulness and practical application of what we have been assuming, thinking and doing. Consider the following from Daniel Levinson:

“As he attempts to reappraise his life, a man discovers how much it has been based on illusions, and he is faced with the task of de-illusionment. By this expression I mean a reduction of illusions, a recognition that long held assumptions and beliefs about self and world are not true. This process merits special attention because illusions play so vital a role in our lives throughout the life cycle.”(4)

(4) Residing comfortably within many of our illusions rest our prejudices. As Dr. King once said:

“There is little hope for us until we become tough-minded enough to break loose from the shackles of prejudice, half-truths and downright ignorance.” (5)

Finally, there’s that issue about what to do with faith. As McLaren defines it, faith is certainly not something the human species is imbued with whose sole purpose is some form of peace of mind, resting comfortably on a couch. No, faith is designed to move us from spectating to participation. The following from Paul Rogat-Loeb sums it up quite nicely:

“Whatever our passions and commitments may be, we all face similar questions about how to cross the threshold from passivity to participation, to make our voices heard and make our actions count, and reawaken and sustain our faith in the future.” (6)

So, what’s your response? Once again, the words of Dr. King echo a truth with a poignant, present day application:

“To be honest is to confront the truth. However unpleasant and inconvenient the truth may be, I believe we must expose and face it if we are to achieve a better quality of American life.” (7)

May this writing be one element of inspiration that provides you with the courage to act on your faith to improve the community/nation/world you reside in….it begins with each of us….today.

Reflect on this.

NOTES:

Faith To Confront Unprecedented Economic Times

bill — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 05:45:25 +0000

In these unprecedented economic times , what might faith mean? Theologian Brian McLaren suggests:

“Faith involves admitting with humility and boldness that we need to change, to go against the flow, to be different, to face and shine the light on our cherished illusions and prejudices, and to discover new truths that can be liberating even though they may be difficult for the ego, painful to the pride.” (1)

From the above, we can see that the faith required to reimagine creating tomorrow today involves a multi-dimensional approach. Let me explain:

(1) It requires admission – a confession, if you will.

(2) The nature of this admission is twofold: it must be humble and bold.

In terms of the humility dimension of this matter, the following from Rabbi Harold Kushner speaks to the heart of the matter:

“being human is such a complicated challenge that all of us will make mistakes in the process of learning how to do it right, then we can come to see our mistakes not as emblems of our unworthiness but as experiences we can learn from. We will be brave enough to try something new without being afraid of getting it wrong. Our sense of shame will be the result of our humility, our learning our limits, rather than our wanting to hide from scrutiny because we have done badly.” (2)

The boldness dimension of the admission is characterized concisely by Senator John McCain. He refers to it as courage:

“Courage (emphasis is mine) is that rare moment of unity between conscience, fear, and action, when something deep within us strikes the flint of love, of honor, of duty, to make the spark that fires our resolve.” (3)

“As he attempts to reappraise his life, a man discovers how much it has been based on illusions, and he is faced with the task of de-illusionment. By this expression I mean a reduction of illusions, a recognition that long held assumptions and beliefs about self and world are not true. This process merits special attention because illusions play so vital a role in our lives throughout the life cycle.”(4)

(4) Residing comfortably within many of our illusions rest our prejudices. As Dr. King once said:

“There is little hope for us until we become tough-minded enough to break loose from the shackles of prejudice, half-truths and downright ignorance.” (5)

Finally, there’s that issue about what to do with faith. As McLaren defines it, faith is certainly not something the human species is imbued with whose sole purpose is some form of peace of mind, resting comfortably on a couch. No, faith is designed to move us from spectating to participation. The following sums it up quite nicely:

“Whatever our passions and commitments may be, we all face similar questions about how to cross the threshold from passivity to participation, to make our voices heard and make our actions count, and reawaken and sustain our faith in the future.” (6)

So, what’s your response? Once again, the words of Dr. King echo a truth with a poignant, present day application:

“To be honest is to confront the truth. However unpleasant and inconvenient the truth may be, I believe we must expose and face it if we are to achieve a better quality of American life.” (7)

May this writing be one element of inspiration that provides you with the courage to act on your faith to improve the community you reside in.

Reflect on this.

NOTES:

The Fatal Thing

bill — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 21:20:51 +0000

“The fatal thing is to reduce faith to an explanation. It is not an explanation, it is a passion.”

The Porpoise Diving Life – Day 65 – Rolling

bill — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 21:14:26 +0000

Day 65

Rolling

While observing Porpoise, one notices they don’t swim like most of the fish inhabiting the sea. Most fish swimming in the ocean are never actually seen by the casual observer. The distinguishing characteristic of Porpoise, dolphins and whales from other sea creatures, is that they roll across the surface of the water, allowing us to catch a glimpse of their visible existence.

My wife answered the home phone at about 3:45PM. It was Norman. He was calling from a convenience store pay phone in an adjacent city. He said he had been in a wreck driving home from community college. He didn’t want to go home and face his parents just yet. He wanted to come over and talk to us for a while and settle down first. The police had impounded his car as the accident involved another person who Norman said was seriously injured and taken away by ambulance to the nearest hospital. Norman was not injured. The Police investigating the accident told him it was unlikely he would be cited. My wife called me at work and asked me to meet her and Norman at our house. Jacki was going to pick up Norman.

I arrived home to find Norman pacing the living room, visibly shaking. This was an eighteen year-old young man who had recently obtained his driver’s license. He had completed an important exam at school that he had studied for over several days. He was feeling great because he thought he had done very well. He was driving home to share the good news with his mom. “I was on a roll man!” he exclaimed.

A middle-aged man on a bicycle darted directly in front of Norman’s vehicle. Norman’s vehicle was traveling at the speed limit, forty mph. The bicycle disintegrated on impact and the rider was partially impaled in Norman’s front windshield. (We learned later that the police officers at the incident intentionally told Norman that the man on the bicycle was alive, even though he had no vital signs when they arrived. They did this so Norman wouldn’t go into shock.).

Typically a quiet and contemplative young man, Norman was talking very rapidly, couldn’t sit down, was waving his arms in the air, eyes darting around the room, and wanted to go for a walk. Walk we did, for the next several hours. I listened to every imaginable question that pierced this young adult’s soul. “Why me? Why today? What if I had only taken another road or left a few minutes earlier or later? What are my parents going to say? Oh! That poor man and his family. Am I going to prison?”

Norman lived with his parents and three sisters in a one-bedroom apartment. Although he was proud to have obtained his driver’s license, his family couldn’t afford any insurance. His family struggled to put food on the table and pay the rent. His community college tuition and books were paid through a subsidized program for the poor. They didn’t even have the money to fix the broken windshield on the car.

During the next several months, Norman became a recluse, cloistered in the family’s apartment. He was filled with shame and grief to such a degree that we became concerned for his vulnerability to harm himself. His angst turned toward God with questions like, “Why did He allow this to happen? Is He trying to get my attention? What sort of God is this anyway? Was it because my faith was weak? That must be it!”

Have you ever been on a roll or just rolling along in life when seemingly out of nowhere catastrophe strikes? I have. I’m sure you have too. I’ve known people whose lives have been literally destroyed by a single occurrence, like the one Norman experienced. I find the casualties of these unfortunate incidents have something in common; somewhere along the line, after the incident, their angst turns toward God, just as Norman’s did. What’s peculiarly sinister about these casualties is that they take personal responsibility for something they had absolutely no control over whatsoever. Like Norman, the name of far too many of these casualties is the same, faith.

Why? Why is faith so frequently a casualty of the unpredictable, the horrific, the unanticipated and the unexpected that undeniably occur in each and every life? I think it’s because many of us buy into a bunch of hooey packaged in a God wrapper. As one author says, “We’ve learned to our sorrow that religious people lie more than most others—and lies in the name of God are the worst lies of all.” [i] You see, Norman, like far too many of us, have bought into a pack of lies that suggests, “if you believe and do this or that, you will somehow wall yourself off from disease, financial insecurity, unhappiness, the inexplicable, and anything that might make life uncomfortable.”

Based upon buying into this nonsense, when those things occur in the lives of folks like Norman, they feel abandoned by God. They wake up to the fact that the hooey God’s people have soaked their souls with, is just that, hooey.

For me, the essence of faith is that it is alive, malleable and has a composition similar to a mosaic that changes its constitution over time. One writer captures the essence I’m attempting to convey when he writes, “The central authority figures in my life told me that God was real and that Christianity was true, and I had no reason to think otherwise. When I was in my teens, faith meant believing claims that went beyond what we knew and — as my doubt increased—that seemed highly unlikely to be true. But, I thought that’s why we talk so much about faith; faith meant believing the improbable.” [ii]

I’m all for faith that embraces the improbable. Hooey that unequivocally promises that the inevitable in life is less likely to occur to you or yours is akin to urging unwitting folks to ride bicycles in front of SUV’s moving forty miles per hour, is not faith. Hooey that smells appetizing is still hooey. The next time you meet someone like Norman, who is struggling to stay afloat on the sea of faith, regurgitating the hooey they have been fed throughout their lifetime, remember this: “Faith is more than holding the “right” beliefs; it is holding the “right’ (that is, the “least of these”) hands.” [iii] Hold them tight. Don’t let them abandon faith. Facilitate the disposal of hooey. Roll with em.

NOTES

just chURch

bill — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 22:34:39 +0000

Just Church:

I was driving down the freeway today when I was struck by six letters on the outside of a white warehouse shaped building on the south side of the freeway: C.H.U.R.C.H. That’s it! Nothing more. Nothing less. No neon. No pastor name. No denominational affiliation. No cross, religious symbol, slogan or logo of any kind. Just Church.

I can’t imagine how many thousands of times I have read, said or heard the word church. I’ve been in these places thousands of times as well. I began to realize that I had become so familiar with this word, God decided to get my attention to refresh me with a new perspective. (He has a tendency to do that with me when I become complacent or think I understand anything very well). Let me explain.

What’s in a word?

As I pondered the word, I realized there was only one vowel and it was ‘U.’ Hmm…you. I looked at the next letter, ‘R,’ or are. You are the church. It was like Jesus was speaking to me personally about this issue. I had become accustomed to using the word church to refer to a place, an institution, other people or something out there, external to myself.

You’re Surrounded!

When I looked at the word again, I realized that the same two bookends protect who U.R. There’s a C.H. on each side. When I got my hands on the nearest dictionary, I looked up the word church. Guess what? It’s the only word in Webster that begins with a C.H. and ends with a C.H. What are the odds that the Greek for the word church is translated into an English spelling that is so distinct and unique? As I thought about this, I heard a still small voice whisper: “You are protected and surrounded.”

By What?

As I contemplated this, it became clear that you are protected and surrounded by Christ’s hands, Christ’s heart. It’s not by what. It’s by Whom. It’s Christ Himself.

It will never be just church for me again.

Christiamnesia

bill — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 07:35:50 +0000

Living a life of faith.
A relationship with the invisible God.
Forgive me if I confess,
At times it seems very odd.

Yearning to hear his voice,
Anxiety cinches up its’ noose.
Yearning for relief,
I feel like a screws come loose.

Living through these times,
I pray for His supernatural jolt.
Reassurance from on high,
That I’m not some faceless nut without a bolt.

I understand so little about the ways of God,
His mysteries that seem to tease ya.
Sometimes I wish I didn’t remember what I know.
Afflicted with a disease called Christiamnesia.

History may someday tells us,
It’s what we think we know that causes our regret.
Yes God equipped us all with memory,
Counterbalanced by the ability to forget.

What if we could awaken tomorrow?
Slate wiped clean with what we knew today.
And encountered the person of Jesus,
Sweeping the leaves on our pathway.

He lifts his eyes and says “Good morning!”
As you stumble out your door.
Will you engage Him in conversation?
Or blow by Him in pursuit of something more.

You find yourself at Starbucks,
Waiting impatiently in that line.
From behind you hear “How you doin?”
Without turning around you say, “I’m fine.”

As you pay for your order,
You turn and catch His glance.
You’re startled by His presence,
You almost wet your pants.

As you head for the exit,
You feel winters forthcoming breezes.
A warm hand on your right shoulder says,
“What’s your name? My name’s Jesus.”

He motions to a table and says,
“Do you have time to chat?
Befuddled by it all you surrender.
Unable to make excuses with this or that.

An unusual sensation envelopes you,
With this stranger you begin to share.
“I awoke today realizing I forgot what I know about God.”
“It’s really been quite a scare.”

He gazes at you with loving eyes and says,
“Your future need not be determined by your past.”
“Perhaps you’ve received a blessing?”
“Maybe what you think know is not intended to last.”

Perplexed you sink back in your chair,
Bringing your latte to your lips.
Listening intently to His every word,
As He speaks between His sips.

“Maybe, God is trying to teach you
Well beyond what you think that you now know.
Have you thought about the possibility?
What presently fills your head retards your ability to grow?”

“Oh, the little children!
How precious is their simplicity.
Hearts and minds void of adult clutter,
Enhances their receptivity.”

“As you grow older you begin to worship,
The things you think you know that make you smart.
This affliction called Christiamnesia,
Allows you to make a brand new start.”

“Thank Me each and every morning
For the ignorance that you now know.
That’s the dimension of your life,
Where our relationship can grow.”

“The idol of knowledge must tumble,
It’s humility we must restore.
The pedestal is Mine.
For I am the God of More.”

“How can the mind of man,
Think you have captured the essence of Me, your God?”
Such a posture precludes Me from revealing more of Myself,
It’s unacceptable and quite odd.”

“Rise from here and move on My child,
It’s more of Me that will surely please ya.
Be grateful each and every day,
Cherish the blessing of Christiamnesia.”

He rose from our table,
On my forehead he placed a kiss.
“I have more folks to talk to now.
In a crowd like this one cannot miss!”

“Perhaps you might wish to share the revelation,
The blessing of Christiamnesia that you now see.”
I rose from my seat and moved to join Him,
As He whispered “Follow Me.”

The Question

bill — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 07:24:14 +0000

Sacred questions,
Mysteries beyond my reach.
I stretch and strain to grasp you.
Through curiosity you teach.

Lives soaked in tradition,
The rain upon every generation.
You squeeze us like a sponge,
Reawakening our thirst for imagination.

We believe too much
Of what we’ve heard so many repeat.
Suffering silently in acceptance,
Our ignorance complete.

Experts, teachers, and noted authorities.
Blind faith without exploration they serve to guide.
Your question draws me out beyond the fog:
“Is it possible they’re wrong or their truths have died?

Questions born of you Great Spirit.
In pursuit of certainty we race.
Perhaps it’s the beauty of your mystery,
We must learn to cherish and embrace?

Unknown, Unfounded, Undiscovered.
We refer to You and Yours by name.
Lives anesthetized by routines,
Reinforce captivity to more of the same.

Transform our reluctance into courage!
We surrender to Your inspiration.
We beg you Great God of More,
Teach us to treasure Your gift of the imagination.

Walls, ceiling, floors and traffic lights.
Structural attempts to insure uniformity and order.
Surrounded everyday on all sides,
Unaware of the seriousness of our disorder.

Norms, beliefs, attitudes and media
Lenses sifting what we think we know.
Worn out couches left behind by heart disease,
Evidence of the postmodern’s new death row.

Our relentless pursuit of certainty.
How You must ponder what seems so odd.
The centuries we’ve spent defining You,
The Creator of the question…our sacred God.

Endless expressions of doctrine and theology,
Attempts to decipher the truth of Your essence.
We’ve crammed it down the throats of others,
Distancing all from the beauty of Your presence.

Blessed Mystery of Mysteries,
Never quell our indigestion.
Soothe us only as we pursue You,
Led by your gift for the capacity to question.

Majestic beauty that surrounds us,

Forgive us as we ignore,

The truth of your ever unfolding wonder—

You are The God of More!

Portianity

bill — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 07:20:45 +0000

Created to become.
Designed as less than whole.
This journey to fulfill
The incessant yearning of my soul.

Great Maker of it all.
Bring clarity to this distortion.
Help me celebrate your intention.
To design me as a portion.

The wisdom of men surrounds me.
Worshipping the illusion of the complete.
Lives burned up in the bonfires,
Where we camp out to learn how to compete.

Encircled on all sides,
War, poverty and cancers.
Your creations run helter skelter,
Searching for the answers.

People bobbing on the surface,
Dreams of somehow being swept away and thrilled.
Cemeteries filled with wasted lives.
Misguided attempts to become fulfilled.

Lives measured in years,
Achievements, responsibilities, pleasures and the dollar.
Discarded yardsticks litter the Earth.
Listen, you can hear their former owners holler.
Where will this journey end?
Will we recall where we came from?
Maybe it’s not about finishing in first place.
Perhaps, You’ve birthed us to become.

What are we to do?
Which way are we to turn?
Please speak up and spell it out.
This truth that we must learn.

As the years go by,
I treasure the glimpses beneath Your curtain.
I’m arriving at some conclusions,
One of which I’m rather certain.

This yearning that we feel,
The one that drives us from our core.
I believe it to be Your Spirit,
Inviting us to You, the God of More.

If this is Your truth,
I am yet to be all that I can be.
Help me take my place as Your portion,
At your feet, in forthright humility.

I empty myself before you,
A life filled with clutter and clatter.
Forgive me my sweet Jesus,
For filling my life with things that just don’t matter.

Today I stand before You.
I confess much of what I rationalized as a need.
Was nothing more than falling prey to a continuing deception,
The satisfaction of self-centered, human greed.

I surrender my facade,
To appear complete, together and whole.
It’s the realization that I’m Your portion
That now satisfies my soul.

In a world focused on the answers for,
Self-preservation, diseases, security and abortion.
May we reawaken to the blessing of,
Being designed as Your Portion.

For the millions that have taken Your name,
Those that declare their faith as Christianity.
Perhaps it’s time to declare this new revelation,
As those of Portianity.

Enough!

bill — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 07:18:46 +0000

“Enough!” He cried,
“Rise! Let us go!”
Disciples resting on their laurels,
Asleep in Gethsemane’s garden, lying low.

Out in a desolate, remote place we asked,
“Where can we find enough to feed this famished horde?”
“Bring Me the seven loaves you have?”
Grace always sufficient, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Leftovers are quite common,
As Jesus satisfies our every need.
Yearning for the wrong stuff we hear His voice,
“Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed.”

Barns filled with earthly treasures,
Crowding out the promise of His joy.
Frantically accumulating piles of the meaningless,
That moths and rust destroy.

“For where your treasure is,
There will be your heart.”
A spring-cleaning is in order.
Perhaps today’s the day to start.

Maybe you think this is silly,
Some half-baked truth within this yarn.
Could it be time to reconsider?
What you’re offering to be gathered into His barn.

“If I only Had this or that,
My life would be just fine.”
Accumulating more instead of offering,
Firstfruits for new wine.

Living on bread alone,
He told us this was hollow.
Voracious yearning for more of the wrong stuff,
Choking as we attempt to swallow.

The precious voice of Jesus is drowned out amidst
Insatiable appetites screaming, “I need my piece of the pie!”
Standing in line at the pharmacy,
Filling prescriptions to medicate the lie.

“This is My Son I love, listen to Him
In Him I am well pleased!”
It’s like we need Him to repeat Himself,
He spoke just as we supposedly sneezed.

Recalls from the FDA,
Breakthrough drugs, false promises they tease us.
Creating casualties through greed and deception,
We ignore the outstretched arms of sweet Jesus.

Big Tobacco continues to make cigarettes.
Have you seen their recent ads?
Promotions to stop smoking while
Stealing life’s breath from moms & dads.

On-demand, real-time, on-line,
Anything convenient, portable and fast.
“Time’s my most precious asset!”
Christ’s tears fall to Earth aghast.

There seems to be a disconnect in our lives,
Between enough and more.
It might have something to do with greatness,
An important subject Jesus has addressed before.

It has something to do with our culture,
The insatiable desire to be at the head table of the feast.
We must return to the enduring truth of Christ,
“The greatest among you shall be the least.”

Jockeying for position at life’s table we manipulate.
To insure our share of more we muster the unconscionable nerve.
All the while ignoring the sufficiency of His voice,
“To be the greatest you must become a slave and serve.”

If you’re like me and you get to places
Where your life seems unfair and really tough.
Examine the Scripture that populates this poem,
In Jesus Christ we have enough.

Bibliography & Notes:

1 NIV- Mark 14:41-42

2 NIV – Mark 8:4

3 NIV – 2 Cor. 12:9

4 Matthew 15:37

5 NIV – Luke 12:15

6 NIV – 6:19

7 NIV – Matthew 6:21

8 NIV – Luke 3:17

9 NIV – Proverbs 3:9-10

10 NIV – Matthew 4:4

11 NIV – Mark 9:7

12 NIV – Mark 10:16

13 NIV – Acts 17:25

14 NIV – Matthew 27:50

15 NIV – Luke 9:48

16 NIV – Luke 9:48

17 NIV – Mark 10:37

18 NIV – Mark 10:43-44

19 NIV – 2 Cor. 9:8