"Good" Friday

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53:6

My 11-year-old daughter asked me an interesting question this week. She asked, “Why is Good Friday considered “good” if that’s the day that Jesus died?” I’m sure I must’ve wondered that same question before, I just never articulated it quite as well and simply as my daughter did. After pondering her question a bit, I told her, “It was a bad day for Jesus because he suffered and died, but it was good news for us because we believe it gives us hope and a future. He carried the punishment that we should have received. Because he loved us, we can love and have a relationship with God and love and have healthy relationships with our neighbors.”

I think this question that my daughter asked me is a question we should ask ourselves every year. “Why is Good Friday still ‘good’?”

How is God inviting you to die to yourself so that you can experience resurrection?

Making Sense of Violence

“For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; it is the Lord who will save us.”
Isaiah 33:22

Like many of you, I was disgusted, angered, and saddened by the news of the shooting in Nashville this Monday. While every mass shooting is appalling, this one impacted people differently. It happened at an independent Christian school in Tennessee and its victims were school staff and young children. As a father of two young children, this was gut wrenching. And the loose connection that this school shooting has with Perch.Church is that we are a part of a Presbyterian network and the school was an extension of Covenant Presbyterian Church. 

Often with these weekly devotionals, I try to send something uplifting or inspirational. I have none of that for you this week. When we live in a country that wants to protects its usage of assault rifles over the protection of its children, I feel utterly helpless. May God help America and may God help us all.

Morning Pages

And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
Hebrews 4:13

Have you heard of “Morning Pages?” I was introduced to it by artist and author Julia Cameron in her bestselling book, “The Artist’s Way.” I’ve mentioned this book before because it’s been very helpful for me in discovering myself, at least parts of myself. Even though this book was designed for artists, it’s applicable for anyone who is creative, spiritual, or introspective. In short, Morning Pages is a mind dump; it’s a time you put your thoughts, ramblings, frustrations, complaints, or anything on paper. It removes any obstacles that an artist might have limiting their creativity. Surprisingly, it’s been helpful for me to put on paper any blockages or negative emotions limiting my spiritual growth/health. It’s not supposed to be poetic, articulate, or even cohesive. Nobody would see this except for you and (if you’re spiritual) God. Yet I always feel unconditional love and acceptance from God whenever I put my dark thoughts on paper.

You can read the description of it here.

How is God inviting you to be more vulnerable with God?

You Are Dust

All go to the same place. All came from the dust and all return to the dust.
Ecclesiastes 3:20

For those of us who identify as Christian, Catholic, or Orthodox, many of us celebrated Ash Wednesday last week. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Season of Lent, the forty days leading into Easter Sunday. At the hospital where I work as a chaplain, I went from room to room, floor to floor placing ashes on the foreheads of anyone who requested it saying, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” If they were Christian, Catholic, or Orthodox, I would draw a cross like the one in my selfie. If they were non-believers such as agnostic, atheist, or SBNR (spiritual but not religious), I would simply put a line across their foreheads. Surprisingly, a good number of non-believers still requested ashes to be placed on their foreheads with the saying, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Why is that? Perhaps it is because we all need to be reminded that life is temporary, fleeting, and delicate. When we recognize it as such, we treasure it more and want to make the most of the short time that we have.

How is God inviting you to remember your temporal state of being?

Your Legitimate suffering

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
Romans 5:3-5

I arrived in Las Vegas last night with my kids to have a short fun weekend getaway. The book I brought to read during my downtimes is “The Road Less Traveled” by Dr. M. Scott Peck. The first chapter of this book tackles with humans’ tendency to avoid facing our problems. Yet the avoidance of facing our problems actually creates a bigger problem. Dr. Peck wrestles with the Jungian concept of legitimate suffering, which is the necessary and informative pain we need to endure in order to heal or grow. Occasionally spiritual growth can be euphoric and enjoyable, but most of what healthy spirituality looks like is mundane, unrewarded, and even painful; it’s when Jesus prayed alone in the Garden; it’s when Moses spent time with God in the wilderness; it’s when Queen Esther quietly convinced the King of Persia to save her people. The irony of the fact that I’m reading this book while in Las Vegas doesn’t go pass me; Vegas, the city of distractions, debauchery, and endless entertainment. If there’s anywhere in the world someone can go to avoid legitimate suffering, it’s here. But it does beg the question…

How is God inviting you to enter into your own legitimate suffering?

Last week I left you with a quote from psychiatrist Carl Jung, and today I leave you with another.

“Neurosis is always a substitute for legitimate suffering.”
–Carl Jung

What Do You Need to Shed

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.”
Isaiah 43:18

I’ve recently become a plant owner. I never really took care of plants on my own before, so I’m still learning. One thing I was recently frustrated by was the fact that my fiddle leaf fig plant kept shedding good leaves. As you can see, the leaf I was holding in the picture has a gorgeous green color. I was confused by this, so I asked my more green thumbed friends why this was happening. One of them told me that it’s completely normal for healthy plants to shed green leaves so they make space for new ones to grow. If you look closely at the plant, you can see two new buds of leaves starting to bloom. Now, whenever I find a green leaf on the ground, I know it just means that a new leaf is coming.

This made me wonder…
What are some old leaves that you need to shed in order for a new leaf to grow?

Perhaps this old leaf might still look good, but it’s still gotta go. This may be a way for God to remove something “good” in your life for something better. There’s only so much space we have in our hearts, minds, lives, and spirits.

Page from My Journal

Not only so, but we rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.
Romans 5:4-5

Yesterday I had a difficult spiritual care in the hospital visit with a 25-year-old male. He was a former gang member who’s been living in a nursing home for the last four years because he was shot six times. While he was struggling with bouts of depression, anger, and confusion over the course of that time, he also did a radical 180º shift to turn his life around toward God and away from a life of crime. But as he was sharing some of his “shadow” thoughts and feelings, he kept saying phrases like, “But I shouldn’t be saying that,” or “But I don’t want to question God.” I surprised him when I responded with, “You can totally question God.”

It made me realize that I thought very similarly to him when I was in my 20’s; very binary. “I can’t be both devoted and doubtful. I can’t be trusting and scared.” But now as I’m getting older, I realize I can hold these seemingly opposite feelings or concepts together. As we progress through life, we grow the capacity to hold these conflicting and wayward concepts together in tension within the same space of our hearts, minds, and spirits.

This is why I drew this diagram in my journal last summer. And the quote on top of the diagram is from one of my favorite recent books, “Falling Upward” by Franciscan Priest Richard Rohr.

“To hold the full mystery of life is always to endure its other half, which is the equal mystery of death and doubt. To know anything fully is always to hold that part of it which is still mysterious and unknowable.” –pp.111-112

Blessing for New Beginning

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”
Jeremiah 29:11

“Blessing for New Beginnings” by John O’Donohue

In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.

For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.

It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the gray promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.

Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.

Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life's desire.

Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.

People Do Not Fear Change

“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”
Isaiah 43:19

“People do not fear change, they fear loss.” –Ronald Heifetz

Have you heard this before? When I first read this by bestselling author and former professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School Ronald Heifetz, it took me some time to process and digest it. Most of the reason why this was such a difficult concept for me to grasp was because I’ve always felt a lot of anxiety every time there was a big change or transition happening in my life. But over the years I have discovered that this is, in fact, very true. People do not fear change, per se, because they don’t resist getting a promotion, winning the lottery, or moving into a nicer home, all of which are big changes. Most of us fear the types of changes that lead to some sort of loss; a death of a loved one, a divorce, or losing a job.

But have you considered that maybe even a loss has occurred in your life to make space for something new to arrive? Maybe you lost a job so that you can get a better one. Perhaps a relationship ended so that you can experience a healthier relationship. Or consider that you need to let go of unforgiveness so that you can actually have peace. Sometimes we need to empty our hands of the old thing we were holding onto to make space for something better ahead. Ultimately, some of your biggest losses can even become gains. So instead of thinking of making a New Year’s resolution, consider making a New Year’s Change.

With this in mind, what is a positive change you need to make in 2023?

Christmas Peace

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6

last Sunday was a blessed one because a group of us were able to hand deliver gifts to various children in Glendale through Angel Tree Ministry. Angel Tree is a wonderful program of Prison Fellowship that provides Christmas gifts for children of prisoners. We were able to purchase, gift wrap, write messages, and deliver gifts for six children. Their faces lit up with joy and excitement when they received the gifts and when they heard it’s from their parent whom they haven’t seen in awhile. While this act was rewarding, bonding, and even fun for us as a group, we still remembered that these kids’ moms or dads were still in prison. It’s a poignant reminder that as hard as we might try to save ourselves, God is the only one who can free us from our own prisons. This salvation comes to us in the form a little baby, wrapped in swaddling cloths, placed in an animal’s feeding trough, and surrounded by a small group of underprivileged people. Believe it or not, all our readings, therapy, and healing starts with baby Jesus. (If you don’t believe me, feel free to email me to dialogue further.) Therefore, we give, share, and love not because we want to earn God’s approval; we give, share, and love because God already approved us and made a way through His Son Jesus Christ.

May you experience peace God desires for you this Christmas and into 2023.

“Christmas is believing that the salvation of the world is God’s work, not mine.”
–Henri Nouwen