Morning Prayer: Valley of Vision

Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly,
Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision,
where I live in the depths but see Thee in the heights;
hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold Thy glory.
Let me learn by paradox that the way down is the way up,
that to be low is to be high,
that the broken heart is the healed heart,
that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
that to have nothing is to possess all,
that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,
that to give is to receive,
that the valley is the place of vision.

Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells,
and the deeper the wells the brighter Thy stars shine;
let me find Thy light in my darkness,
Thy life in my death,
Thy joy in my sorrow,
Thy grace in my sin,
Thy riches in my poverty,
Thy glory in my valley.

Serving to Death

Good leaders serve. They do so, not to gain recognition or to be praised by their peers, but simply for the sake of serving and loving their followers. As Christians, when we lead we should serve and love because Christ first served and loved us. However, this idea of servant leadership is radically different than what we usually see in the world.

We see leaders who seek the limelight, yet Christ performed miracles and told people to keep quite. We hear leaders who say only what pleases the masses, yet Christ offended so many people that they crucified him. We have leaders who seek their own gain, yet Christ came and served until they killed him. We watch leaders operate by striking fear into the hearts of the people, yet Christ came and loved people. To become a great leader, we must not pursue charisma, power or popularity, we must seek humility. As we humble ourselves, as we lower ourselves, we will rise to be great leaders who lead people to a place where they can see Jesus more clearly. We lead, not to be powerful or likeable, but to bring people to a place where they can see the beauty of the Cross and wonder of God’s grace. We must lead like Christ.

He humbled himself to the point of death, as a way to lead people into life. The Great Shepherd lowered himself to become a lamb to be sacrificed for our redemption, and in His blood we are clean. He leads us to God’s grace by serving us, and we must lead in a similar manner that others who are lost in their sin may come to know His grace.

To Reality, And Beyond…

One of the greatest draws of Pixar movies is their ability to arrest the imagination of adults and children alike. While they are each great, none of the movies have captured those common childhood fantasies as perfectly as Toy Story. In the world of Woody, Rex, Slinky, and Hamm, toys exist and live for the sole pleasure of their boy. Although there is a world outside of Andy’s house, the characters only care about one ultimate truth: They are Andy’s toys. This world creates a community where they share a common goal, they live to fulfill their only purpose, and they love their toy friends in a utopic society.

You know the story: One day a self-absorbed, rubber-headed space cadet arrives on the scene. Although they are all in Andy’s room, Buzz Lightyear lives in a different reality. Engulfed in his mission to defeat the Evil Emperor Zerg, Buzz dutifully ignores the signs that he is delusional. The other toys, impressed by the new-toy-on-the-block, become distracted from their goal and purpose. Even Woody, Andy’s most faithful toy, begins to lose his way.

At the low-point of the story, Buzz and Woody are lost. They wander away from Andy—one fueled by ignorance and the other by jealousy—and they are captured by the delinquent neighbor boy, Sid. Fleeing from the maniac schemes of Sid, Buzz finally discovers that his world is a farce. Realizing the lie (which he had believed from his inception), Buzz begins to self-destruct. All seems lost until Woody (realizing the same truth in a deeper way) begins to repeat message he had known all along: “You are Andy’s toy!” With this truth ringing in their ears Buzz and Woody embark on their unified pursuit to return to Andy.

The plot of the story speaks for itself but another contour must be acknowledged. Until the moment that Buzz realized his true purpose, he had been living an existence that was ultimately self-destructive and joyless. Afterwards, Buzz flourishes in his uniqueness as a toy and only then does he experience the intended fullness of life.

Twenty-three years ago, a baby boy was born. Although I was pretty cute (as babies tend to be), I was born into a life of ignorant delusion. Accepting a reality that fabricates personal value and purpose, I was enslaved to a fantasy that is ultimately self-destructive and joyless. As time went on I began to see that my pursuits were meaningless vanities made only to stroke my own ego. Until the delusion was shattered and the truth was shown, I could not pursue the intended fullness of life. Look to Christ. We can only taste and see the fullness of Life through the truth of the One who was in the beginning.

Toy Story Theology

Yes yes, cutesy names are just about as annoying as tantrum-throwing children being dragged by their ankles down the cereal aisle at the grocery store. That said, I am embarking on a several part (five as of now) blog series that explores my thoughts on this time of year. The newly-finished Toy Story Trilogy is a great story that I will use analogously for some of my musings. As a warning (or incentive, depending on what you think about my series title), half the posts won't have anything to do with Toy Story; it's just a vehicle. Please stay posted as I hope to publish a new part every two days or so. The first will come later today or tomorrow.

Morning Prayer: The Prayer of Zechariah

"Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, 
for he has visited and redeemed his people 
and has raised up a horn of salvation 
for us in the house of his servant David, 
as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, 
that we should be saved from our enemies 
and from the hand of all who hate us; 
to show the mercy promised to our fathers 
and to remember his holy covenant, 
the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, 
to grant us that we, 
being delivered from the hand of our enemies, 
might serve him without fear, 
in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. 
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; 
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, 
to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, 
whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high 
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, 
to guide our feet into the way of peace."

"She left him; and they parted."

One of the struggles of English Language Learners (ELL students) is a lack of basic "active" reading skills. If you grew up reading, then you have likely developed active reading skills: you pause momentarily as you read, you note important details, re-read key passages, or even tab a page to return to after you finish the chapter. Sadly, my students grew up and thought reading was "passive" reading; in passive reading, the main goal is to read as many words out loud as quickly as you can. Some tests assume that if you read quickly, you are an effective reader; often, however, if you read quickly as an ELL student, you're missing major (key) points and have limited comprehension.

This is especially problematic with a novel like A Christmas Carol because you need to stop after every paragraph to understand the ponderous weight of each word. A key example that also provides a larger message during the Christmas season is in Stave Two of A Christmas Carol, when Belle releases a younger Scrooge from their engagement.

We never learn how Scrooge met Belle. Both poor, they fell hopelessly in love. Eventually, as Scrooge gained wealth, a golden idol replaces Belle.

Belle releases him from his engagement. She says:

I would gladly think otherwise if I could," she answered, "Heaven knows. When I have learned a Truth like this, I know how strong and irresistible it must be. But if you were free to-day, to-morrow, yesterday, can even I believe that you would choose a dowerless girl -- you who, in your very confidence with her, weigh everything by Gain: or, choosing her, if for a moment you were false enough to your one guiding principle to do so, do I not know that your repentance and regret would surely follow? I do; and I release you. With a full heart, for the love of him you once were."

A few short lines of dialogue later, and the narrator tells us that "she left him; and they parted." At first glance, it seems like a simple statement. But if you pause and read carefully, the words "and they parted" reveal far more about the moment of heartbreak. Scrooge does not chase after Belle; he lets her leave, and even walks the other way. [After this pause an explanation, my students were shocked that Scrooge would act so foolishly.]

And so I ask you, dear reader, to pause when you are reading. Studies show that as you have read this blog post, you only truly read the first paragraph (I'm sorry that it was a boring paragraph). By the time you are reading the last paragraph, you will likely read THIS but not this, since you skim only the right hand side of the page as you scroll down.

But most importantly, make sure you pause in life. It would be a true tragedy that in a rush to read the pages of your life story, you missed the most important moments of the novel.

Morning Prayer: Come Thou Fount

Come Thou Fount of every blessing tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet, sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it, mount of God's unchanging love.
   
Here I raise my Ebenezer; hither by Thy help I'm come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger, interposed His precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be!
Let that grace now like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love;
Here's my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for Thy courts above

O that day when freed from sinning, I shall see Thy lovely face;
Clothed then in blood washed linen how I’ll sing Thy sovereign grace;
Come, my Lord, no longer tarry, take my ransomed soul away;
Send thine angels now to carry me to realms of endless day.