beautiful ugly, all

To hear Brandi read the essay instead, click here: https://youtu.be/AeNGFIxkeRo

I spent nearly a decade of my life on staff with Young Life. As a result, I have an irrationally large brain-file of absurd games meant to help kids connect, laugh, get out of their own heads, and stop taking themselves so seriously. Ever convinced a teenager to feed another teenager chips and salsa using only their toes? I have. Ever wondered how many clothespins can dangle unassisted from your husband’s face? I know, and it is more than you would think.  Ever Saran-wrapped a cup to the front of your body so someone can throw hotdogs across the room while you try to catch them with no arms? I could go all day….

As I’ve aged, I observe a similar use of such “mixers” among adults. Having invested far too much in our serious-adult-selves, we no longer play with hotdogs. However, we absolutely need help getting out of our own heads to really see the people around us. Some gatherings begin with a confession of our favorite show or podcast to binge. I tend to go a little darker, and often ask dinner guests when they last knew they were just the worst. When did you lose your temper at the worst possible time? When were you sort of a jerk for no reason? (I know, I know, I’m not for everybody!)

I like these kinds of questions because, like the toe dipping salsa game, they force everyone in the room to not take themselves so seriously. My humorous public confession invites us to admit we are beautiful ugly. As my friend Patti says, “We are all mixed bags.” Naming our worst, even in jest, bears fruit. In the Bible, Jesus’s cousin and womb buddy John the Baptist, urges others to “produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” I love his admonition because it reminds me that when I confess my worst and name my troubles, I often see the fruit of connection with others, of safety in failure, of a humble welcome into a community of people trying to find their way.

This week’s readings remind us to live as people on the way. We are not people on strictly linear journeys, but we are folks designed for eternity living in the here and now. Immortal mortals. We live knowing that all we see is not all there is, and that gives us hope for the redemption possible when we take the mysterious love of God seriously. If we know that one day, every sad thing will come untrue when God redeems the world to life, then we also have to patiently offer hope and possible redemption to those around us.

This week, show up for others, knowing they are a mess and they are also holy, being transformed in ways we cannot see. My friend David often reminds me that “to love a person is to love a process,” and this means I get to love the people around me like they are gorgeous disasters who are learning a whole lot about their place in the world every single day. Live into the reality that God is with us and promises to do more for more than we could possibly imagine. Ponder it, believe it, and see it. For yourself and others.

Week Six: Live as people on the way

“The future orientation of Christian time reminds us that we are people on the way. It allows us to live in the present as an alternative people, patiently waiting for what is to come, but never giving up on our telos. We are never quite comfortable. We seek justice, practice mercy, and herald the kingdom to come.”                                                                               -Tish Harrison Warren

“The incarnation, the concrete, powerful, paradoxical, even scandalous engagement of God in history, changes forever our perception and reception of one another…For his cross teaches us that conversion of life is not merely something about which we speak; rather, despite whatever consequences, the living out and living out of that transformation is the subject of our daily struggle.”  -M. Shawn Copeland

“We spend too much time trying to fix the things we don’t like rather than simply reconciling everything to God….But I’ve come to understand that true justice is wrapped up in love…God’s love and justice come together in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, and we can’t be about one and not the other. They’re inextricably connected.”                                               -John Perkins

4/6 Ps 9:7-14; 17:6-11

4/7 Ps 3:1-5; 21:3

4/8 Micah 7:18-20

4/9 Ps 28:1-2; 40:1-11

4/10 John 14:1-7

4/11 Ps 102:1-4

4/12 Isaiah 54:1-8