Lent Meditations (alwyn)

Meditations on Lent

By Alwyn Lau

TIME OUT. LOG-OFF. LISTEN. “Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom...” (1 Corinthians 1:22) No space. No space for breathing, not much for silence, not at all for praying. And if Nike, Sony, Nokia and all the other buy Buy BUY giants have their way, there won’t be any space for free choice anymore i.e. we just gotta have it, right? Maybe Lent is a good time to dedicate our spaces to God. The spaces in our wallets, the spaces at home, the space between our ears. Jews seek abracadabra miracles, which they think are acts of God. Greeks want smart-alec philosophers, whom they think embody wisdom. Modern Malaysians? Ah, we don’t want much. All we need is money, good looks, clothes, high grades and second-helpings of the expensive food on the table. But it’s the same thing. In the end we want to feel more capable than our peers. We want to feel more. Lent could be God’s way of saying: It’s okay to have less. It’s alright to do less. It’s fine to be less in the eyes of other people. Remember, WHO is the focus of our message? Some Rambo who can blow up Russian tanks single-handedly? Some young hotshot who can fly and turn his enemies into frogs? Some sexy lass who can kungfu-kick her way past a dozen nasty monsters? No, we preach about a man nailed naked to a piece of wood. Yeah, that’s it. Really awesome, huh? Oh, but it is. It is truly out of this world. “…but we preach Christ crucified; a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called…Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:23-25) Listen to the story of Jesus. In His last few days, His last few hours. Turn off the mobile. Logoff. Give some space in your heart to listen and learn. All power and all wisdom were ‘crammed’ into this heart-breaking story. Let’s allow it to wash over us. Faith-Steps 1. Map out your daily routine. From the time you awake till the time you sleep. How can you create more space for God in your life? 2. Read 1Corinthians 1:22-25 and write down a) what immediately strikes you and b) two questions you want to ask God about the passage. Go online to see if the questions you asked have been answered already. Share this experience with someone close to you.

UNFINISHED Any time I think I’m ‘spiritual’ enough, I only need to open the psalms. “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” (Psalms 42:2) Aiyoh(!), I can’t compete with the psalmist. He actually asks, “When can I go and meet with God?” Un-believable. The closest kind of thing I normally say is, “When can we go and see Batman Begins?” He misses God’s presence; I miss my Web connection when I go out of town. He craves for God’s arms; I long for the arms of a comfortable chair at the end of a working day. He longs to hear God’s voice; I long to listen to my favourite CD. “My tears have been my food day and night, whilst men say to me all day long, ‘Where is your God’?” (Psalms 42:3) “Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me…” (Psalms 43:3) I am nowhere near the psalmist. The psalmist weeps when people mock God; I just look down or try to change the subject. He asks God for more light and truth; I tell myself my “daily readings” once a day (sometimes less) dah cukup la. “…let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell” (Psalms 43:3) See there? Still can’t enough of God’s presence. Gotta be where He is. God is an addiction the psalmist can’t seem to get enough of. Me? I’ve got enough trouble trying to out-smart my egoistic indulgent self and its addictions. “Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight. I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God. (Psalms 43:4) What was the psalmist aiming at? What is his ‘goal in life’? It looks like his whole being is pointed towards praising God – that’s his purpose for getting up every morning, that’s the magnet which pulls him on every day. For me, if it’s not my examinations it’s usually my Nama, my Gaya, my Duit, my Badan, whatever boosts Aku the Great. I’ve got lots to learn. May God teach me well. If you find you’re more like the psalmist, praise be to God! If you find you’re more like yours truly, then praise Him too. For God loves His unfinished works of love. Just ask Him to keep molding you. Always.

LENT ROCKS Lent can be a somewhat dour, sour and gloomy affair at times, don’t you think? It’s like suddenly a few million Christians in the city have sadder demeanours, talk more hush-hush, go out less, and walk with their heads slightly more bowed. A part of me genuinely ‘prefers’ Christmas. At least during this time, millions of Christians are more cheerful, more inviting, sing more wonderful carols, give gifts, smile more. Even the ‘secular’ shopping malls start playing songs containing the name, Jesus Christ. People are visibly impacted by Christmas, at least a leeeeee-tle bit, right? Christmas rocks the world. But what about Lent? How can we ‘rock the world’ with Lent? “(When) Christ came into the world, he said: ‘Sacrifice and offering you did not desire but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. Then I (i.e. Christ) said: ‘Here I am – it is written about me in the scroll – I have come to do your will, O God.” (Hebrews 10:5-7) So it’s not so much about how much time we ‘sacrifice’ in church. It’s not about how much money and talent we ‘offer’ to God in our worship services. It’s about how far we’re willing to go to do the will of God. How about we dedicate Lent towards loving our enemies? How about we dedicate the month of Lent towards repairing ruined relationships, towards showing extraordinary kindness to those we wouldn’t normally be caught dead even smiling at? How about we set aside Holy Week to risk being rejected by our enemies, by making the first move of gentleness, of forgiveness? Like sending them a card, calling them to ask about their welfare, buying them a gift, asking them out for lunch, giving them a hug, saying sorry for our harsh words, sharing an idea, and so on. Lent is as good a time as any to the one thing our selfish nature HATES to do: Love those who hate us. Lent, and the story that this season reminds us of, is therefore the best time to launch a counter-attack on our selfish habits. To defeat the focus on self with other-focused love. It all starts with one Christian showing astonishing, hatred-killing care and giving to one who least expects such glorious love. Then a hundred. Then a few thousand. Until Lent has rocked the world so much it will shake with its own tears. Let the Lentian groove begin. Faith-Steps 1. Calm yourself down. Relax. Picture your ‘worst enemy’ in your mind. See this person coming up to you. He/She is getting closer. He/She calls your name in a gentle voice. Then – imagine this! – he/she weeps quietly with shame over the broken relationship, asks for your forgiveness and promises to restore the friendship. Now, picture Jesus embracing the both of you together. What do you think of this picture? How has it made you feel? 2. List down THREE people you know you don’t like. Pray for these people. Put yourself in their shoes, feel their pain, their hurts, their sorrows. Then commit yourself to do ONE ‘extraordinary’ and unexpected act of kindness for them. I promise you your life will change.

REMEDIAL CLASSES Even in the kingdom of God, there are rankings. Some get As’, others get Es’. Schooling in heaven? Well, sorta. Except we have to remember that heaven happens on earth. Eternal life is about knowing Jesus. Right here, right now. Schooling in heaven? Yup. Rejoice, though, because Jesus is our teacher. Not just our teacher, He is our text book, our exam question, our examiner, our student counsellor, our certificate. We graduate with Him. At the end of our course, He is our reward. But, again, this doesn’t mean that everyone gets the same score. Check this out: “Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teachers others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teachers these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:19) ‘Least’ vs. ‘Great’. Yet both are still IN the kingdom of heaven! Just like a family. There can be good children and naughty children, but the father loves them all. What kind of children are we? What kind of students are we? How have we been performing the school of Christ? Do we need ‘extra classes’ to get in shape for the exams? Oh, by the way, examinations are on a day-to-day basis. Marking is done by the moment. And no cheating is possible. “What am I being examined on?!” you may ask. Well, go have a chat with your Teacher. Sort out the “important topics” you must work on. Get some feedback on your learning methods. Improve on your previous errors. Think about putting more thought and discipline into your revision, your presentations, your substance. And now is Lent. The time when the lessons may get a little bit more intensive, a little bit more stressful. Maybe we’ll have to “burn midnight oil”. Indeed, we may. Perhaps we may need extra remedial classes to smoothen out the rough edges in our studies. To get back on track. To avoid failure. Faith-Steps 1. If Sunday service is “class”, then what we doing BETWEEN classes? Do we even make a conscious effort to record clearly what we learn “in class”? And if we don’t understand, do we make it a point to ask? 2. In today’s schooling, tuition is pervasive. Almost everyone has to attend tuition. What kind of ‘Christian tuition’ are we taking?

SAVING PRIVATE HUMANITY Barney’s adventures, Barney’s songs, Barney’s dances, Barney’s imaginations, are shown everyday in my house. My son can’t get enough of this skipping, singing, moralizing purple T-rex. In one of the episodes we learn about the Cowboy Way: Always do something nice for somebody everyday, speak softly animals and whatever we do, whether working or playing, always do our best. And the children in the shows always look so positive, so motivated, so happy. It almost makes me believe that the human heart has not fallen, that there’s nothing wrong with the world, that life is a rosy bed of fun, food and festivities. Barney and his friends almost make me forget that the world is fundamentally at war. “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armour in which the man trusted and divides up the spoils. He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters.” (Luke 11:21-23). Jesus has gate-crashed Satan’s party and messed his place up. It wasn’t easy and Jesus was beaten up badly, even killed and left hanging. But the bad guy’s walls are penetrated. It’s blown to bits. The main defenses are lost. It is the job of the church to complete the victory. It is our task to take Satan out. Out of the house he’s occupied illegally, out of the hearts he still holds ransom, out of the air which still has his stench. And we do this each time we love and give like Jesus has told us to. How, where and with whom can you plant the victory flag of Jesus each and every day? What strongholds has the church lost in recent times? What new battles have we won? And how often, and why, do we sometimes act like we don’t know whose side we’re on?

TOUGH LOVE Try to do a survey. Ask your friends, whenever they think of Christians, what word comes to mind? I can bet you a Big Mac (or whatever high-sodium horse food you like) that most of them will say one of the following: Truth, Hypocrisy, Old-fashioned, Holy holy, Bible, Christmas and Church. A few of them may even say: Doctrine, Prayer, Jesus or Easter. Only very few will actually say: Love, Compassion, Warmth, Gentleness. Like most groups in the world, Christians are often known for second-best reasons. We tend to emphasize the footnotes and miss out the Main Point. And what is the Main Point of this whole ‘Christian’ thinggy? Let’s quote a famous person: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. And to love your neighbour as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” (Matthew 12:30-33) Someone once told me that when a group goes trekking up a hill, it is only as fast as the slowest member. That makes sense. Likewise, I think our love for God, our genuine love for our God, is only as true as the love we have for those we love the least. If we can allow ourselves to HATE another person then – like the unfit team member holding the entire group back – we CANNOT truly love God. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they’re doing. Jesus said this whilst nails were being driven through his hands and feet. Love doesn’t get more real than that.

HEAVEN’S BY-PRODUCT Garfield has a cute way with words. I recall a cartoon in which our friendly fat cat says, “It’s so difficult to be humble - when you’re so great.” I like that. Jokes aside, I believe it is pretty hard to…err…get humility. Especially in an age of shows like The Apprentice, Fear Factor, Survivor, World Sports, Hollywood celebrities and other I’m-Better-Than-You elements. Oh yah it’s difficult. But not impossible. We just gotta get our thinking right. You don’t become humble by striving for it. Neither do you do so by meditating or reading or thinking about it. Even if you ask God for it, you can’t just sit around and wait for it to drop on you. In fact, humility is a by-product of being a servant. Humility is what gradually but surely wraps itself around you the more you wrap yourself with a towel and go to work for those in need. Humility is like the dew in the flowers which ‘rubs off’ you whenever you spend time in the garden of God’s mission. Humility is like the earth which sticks to you each time you bring your head to the ground in confession, in repentance and in rededication. “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 18:14) And of course, don’t forget. You are the last person to ‘check with’ regarding how humble you are. Let others speak for you. And speak well about others. Watch and learn from those who inspire servanthood and other-centeredness in your heart. Faith-Step: Think of TWO people you consider very humble. Ask yourself how they became that way. What is their daily routine? How do they deal with issues in life? And so on. (I know various people who have renounced television in their homes. Believe it or not, there is NO mediadispensing square box in any of their rooms - gasp! This is undoubtedly a great way to sustain humility in the home).