Multiplying Miracles: Thoughts on John 14:12

John 14:12 "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father."

This passage has always been one that has led me to respond, "Really Lord? You can't be serious." But I think Jesus is serious here. Jesus was fully human and fully divine, yet he was still only one man whose earthly ministry lasted less than four years. Yet he has blessed many of us with long life and a clear ministry that can last decades. Not only that, but we can pass our ministries and missions on to the next generation, steadily growing a vast army of workers to do God's will on earth. Time and communal effort multiply miracles.

Isn't it interesting that Jesus says we will do greater things because he is going to the Father, not despite it? I think Jesus needed to go to the Father instead of remaining on earth to give us space and underscore the reality that we need to take full responsibility for every aspect of our lives in him. This is a tough one for all of us. There always seems to be at least a corner of our hearts that we shield from him, keeping it in the dark, away from his blinding light (or so we think). But of course Jesus has all the time in the world and infinite patience. It is we who are slow to learn (see 2 Peter 3:9).

I think it's also interesting that this passage is a response to a request for Jesus to show his apostles the Father. I can just see the look on his face when they made this request - incredulity. "Are you kidding me?" seems to be the subtext of Jesus' response. Unlike us, Jesus reflects the Father perfectly. Yet I'm just as guilty as Philip on this front. I stand here, despite his continued presence, patience, and grace, and have the audacity to ask to see the Father. Yet in the midst of his admonishment, Jesus makes the above outlandish promise. Do we have audacity in our faith that is equal to our audacity we show in our disbelief? If so, according to Jesus himself, we will actually do greater things than he did while on earth. Amazing.

Movie Review: The King's Speech (2010)

The King's Speech is my story and yours. On the surface, it's a fictionalized account of a reluctant king and his speech coach in 1930's England. But you don't have to dig very deeply to discover layers of symbolism about finding one's voice, facing (and slaying) demons, and the power of relationship waiting to be discovered. Geoffry Rush and Colin Firth are their usual brilliant selves as they parry and thrust their way to a lifelong friendship. Each of them expresses such complete vulnerability on screen that I immediately identified with aspects of each of these characters, and recognized a deep longing inside of myself around other aspects of them.
Rush turns in a performance for the ages (hello, Oscar). I pray I will someday have the absolute, full-bodied confidence in my craft as he has in his. He pushes, pokes, and prods his royal client at just the right time and in just the right way throughout the film to challenge and sharpen him. But he never takes responsibility for Firth's character (the prince and later king). He knows which rules to break and which ones to hold fast to. I especially enjoyed the interactions between Rush and the Archbishop, a symbol of the way things have always been done. He helps his client, Firth, find his voice and stare into the face of his greatest fears, then walk away triumphant. The story and the performance are both dazzling.
Firth's performance may be a bit overlooked here, but shouldn't be. Even though I had seen him in several films, it didn't take long before I was right there with him, feeling his frustration and anger over the lack of ownership of his life and his impotence, expressed through his inability to have even the most basic verbal interactions. He is humiliated to be reduced to working with a commoner, and enters their relationship a broken, wounded, angry man. The emergence of his character is subtle and the performance is perhaps even more brilliant than Rush's.
This is an important film to see, even if you're not a movie fan. Pay special attention to the content of the speech in the final scene. The ideas contained therein are a big reason why, IMHO, the Allies were triumphant in WWII. And the amazing courage displayed by each of these protagonists is the core of the human journey - challenge, failure, struggle, relationship, hard work, emergence, triumph. Bravo, gentlemen. Thank you for this gift to humanity.

Simplicity and Complexity

I am often surprised by the infinite complexity within any field of study. Physics, sociology, psychology, leadership, theology, cosmology – you could take any of these fields and focus on one of the specialties contained therein for the rest of your life, and never plumb its depths. Eventually, if you stay in any field of study and continue to explore it long enough, you will have explored everything that’s already been discovered, and you become one of the pioneers. You begin to assimilate new understandings and test your own theories based on what you’ve learned and experienced. This is where “original” thought comes into play (though we know nothing is truly “original”, right?).

Becoming a pioneer doesn’t mean we come to the end of a subject, however. I believe that life is constructed to be inherently mysterious, so that as we learn more about a particular subject, part of what we discover is that we can’t know it all. The latest development in physics research (e.g. string theory) is a great example. As we get closer to discovering the very mysteries of how the universe is constructed, the answers get more ambiguous and these great minds eventually just throw up their hands and say collectively, “We don’t know.” This is a comforting reality to me. I don’t want to live in a world that can be plumbed fully. I always want there to be something more to discover, learn, and embody.

On the other hand, the more I learn about the essentials of life, the simpler things get. (Notice I didn’t say “easy”, I said “simple” – many people have written about this distinction). I think life basically boils down to 1) waking up, and 2) growing up (doing our inner work). Most of the energy many of us expend on a daily basis is related to either staying asleep and numbing pain or avoiding the things we really know we need to do. Of course, one must first become aware of something before making a choice to do something about it. And unfortunately, human nature is such that we usually need to feel loads of pain before we’ll actually do something different consistently. And even then, it’s no guarantee substantive change will occur. But the thing that gives me hope here is the centrality of the human will. The will is where decisions are made. Once we make the decision to wake up and grow up, the entire universe begins conspiring to assist us in that effort. All other details begin to align and almost take care of themselves if we make an honest, consistent effort on these two fronts. We don’t even have to succeed; we just need to want to. Whatever “it” is for you, if you really want it – really, really, really – you can get it. But be prepared, it will cost you the illusions you hold most dear.

"Sorry" Doesn't Fix The Mess

My three-year-old continues to be my best teacher. Yesterday he knocked some stuff off the counter. When we called him on it, he apologized immediately. But I said to him, “Thank you for your apology, but it doesn’t fix this mess. Clean it up.” And that’s when it hit me – this is EXACTLY what I do with God! I screw up, God forgives me, then I move on. But too often I don’t stop to see clearly what mess I may have created and take steps to clean it up. I miss the fact that being forgiven merely enables me to clean up my mess, but doesn’t clean it up on its own. This is a basic reality. In fact, this truth is something A.A. gets quite well. Step 9 of the 12 steps reads: “[We] made direct amends to such people (persons harmed) wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.”

My messes are rarely physical in nature at this age, but it’s much more difficult to clean up spiritual and emotional messes, isn’t it? A physical mess I can usually take care of myself, but “cleaning up” in the invisible realm usually means admitting I’m wrong and asking someone else for forgiveness or other assistance. It means putting me at risk of being rejected. But it needs to be done, otherwise I find myself facing a years-old mess, which has hardened and festered and is really ugly and pernicious. It’s much harder to begin the cleanup effort when things have reached this stage.

I also find it’s much more difficult to make internal amends than it is to make amends to others. When I’m the one doing the hurting and receiving the injury, I usually need some third-party intervention in order to gain enough perspective to be able to forgive myself and move on. But if the hurt is allowed to continue unhealed, it has dramatic, destructive effects long-term.

What mess do you have to clean up? If something comes to mind, don’t delay, but take a concrete step toward that healing today.

Things I Say To My Children That God Is Really Trying To Say To Me

• Take a deep breath.
• Clean up your mess.
• Can you ask nicely?
• What a bummer.
• Look at me.
• I know you don't like the taste of this, but it's for your own good.
• I got you.
• You're safe.
• You can do it.
• Keep trying.
• We make rules because we love you and want you to be safe.
• Sometimes you have to do things you don't want to do.
• Keep your pants on, you're not gettng naked. (OK, not this one so much - just seeing if you're paying attention!)
• Hang on with me.
• Take a bite. You'll like it.
• Give me a kiss and a hug.
• That's too bad, there isn't a choice.
• Be gentle.
• No hitting.
• It's not time to play, it's time to ______ (work, eat, sleep, etc.)
• Excellent job, buddy!
• What a sweet baby.
• Shhh.
• I love you.

God's Will?

I just found this study on the Internet...be careful when citing God's will as your reason for doing anything...it turns out that's a pretty malleable concept...

Creating God In One’s Own Image For many religious people, the popular question “What would Jesus do?” is essentially the same as “What would I do?” Through a combination of surveys, psychological manipulation and brain-scanning, researchers found that when religious Americans try to infer the will of God they mainly draw on their own personal beliefs. They use their own beliefs as a starting point, which colors their final conclusions about what God wants.
Researchers even manipulated people to change their views on God by getting them to read a speech that either supported or went against their (and God’s) stated position. The task shifted people’s attitudes towards the position in their speech, either strengthening or moderating their original views, and altering their estimation about what God’s attitude was.
People may use religious agents as a moral compass, forming impressions and making decisions based on what they presume God as the ultimate moral authority would believe or want. The central feature of a compass, however, is that it points north no matter what direction a person is facing. This research suggests that, unlike an actual compass, inferences about God’s beliefs may instead point people further in whatever direction they are already facing. If the first link is too academic, here’s another link to an article about the research.

Movie Review: The Visitor (2007)

We just watched The Visitor (2007) for the first time this week. I was riveted by this movie. The characters were real and nuanced. The direction really allowed the actors to settle in and embody the characters. The cinematography and editing really let you feel New York in an unflinching manner vs. the glitz and glamour in which large studios usually cloak the city. The story was compelling without being sugary-sweet or formulaic. In fact, I was continually surprised by the way the story kept evolving with new layers being revealed and highlighted throughout. In that way it was very much like life. It was also similar to life in that everything wasn’t sewn up neatly at the end. This shows much courage by Participant productions, and was quite refreshing, though a bit unsettling.
I think that was really the point of the movie – to leave the viewer unsettled and upset, just as its characters are. It leaves you with many more questions than answers – how can injustices such as this one happen in modern-day America? Is the episode an injustice, or justice? It also illustrates how issues that are so black-and-white when you’re dealing with abstractions become nuanced, sticky, and difficult when the issue is breathed to life in the form of an actual person.
The other theme that screamed at me was the plight of the main character, Professor Walter Vale (played brilliantly by Richard Jenkins), who hadn’t been really living his life for some time. The complications of the plot call him to truly connect with others for the first time in decades, and force him to care about subjects that were completely off his radar previously. It’s an amazing illustration of just how many aspects of life are transparent to us until we are confronted by them.
If you’ve seen The Visitor, what are your theories about how Prof. Vale’s life changes from the end of the movie forward into his life? I have my theories, but I’ll keep them to myself until I hear from you.